It's five more days before Naruto gets another part of his orphan stipend, his pants have a rip from knee to ankle, and his grocery bag is torn.
They're three separate facts, randomly joined together, like the pants and shirt he has on today. In reality, besides the tracksuit from Jiji, clothes (people are willing to sell him) are rather hard to find.
Together though, these three facts are the reasons why today is miserable.
His trip to the market starts early, so early that he does not sleep beforehand in anticipation. He usually restricts his trips to nighttime, but the fruits are squishy and taste funny. And if he wants to eat for the week, he can't go to Ichiraku's for at least a few days.
Naruto decides mornings are the best of both worlds—if gets there before anyone else, and leaves before anyone else, the people at the market won't get too mad, right?
(Right? He needs to be right on this one.)
He slips out of the apartment building silently, and begins his walk. The sun has just started to rise, and there are so few people out that besides a few looks, Naruto feels like everyone else.
The people of the market are still setting up their stands for the day, and naruto waits in one of the alleyways. Sound is always better than silence, people looking is always better than them turning away, even if they're not friendly.
But sometimes...he likes to watch for the Moments. Because everyone is nice, and they show it so often to everyone else, except him.
Naruto watches the sun cast gold rays on the fisherman who always glares at him, and he sees the first one: the woman selling watermelons (whose watermelons must be made of gold, because they're always so expensive for him) knocks one over as she fixes her sign. The fisherman, without missing a beat, lurches forward to grab it.
He misses, but miraculously, the watermelon did not crack. Watermelon Lady and Mr. Fisherman laugh together, and Watermelon Lady washes off the watermelon and borrows a clean knife from the butcher. She doles out expertly sliced pieces to the other owners, who thank her.
Naruto's stomach rumbles.
The second moment is only a few minutes later: the girl who came with her father to sell peaches and apples jumps up to help the old man selling buns. The old man laughs, pats her head, and gives her a bun for free.
The next takes time. But one of the masked ninjas, the ones who hang around Jiji's office, strolls through with a grocery bag, and the woman selling cuts of beef begins to wrap some without the masked ninja even asking. She smiles as the ninja hands over their money.
Naruto swallows, and tightens his grip on his bag. The Moments are warm, maybe not for him, but he thinks of them when Watermelon Lady hikes her prices or Mr. Fisherman tells him he has nothing left to sell when he still has carp left.
People are nice. They may not be nice to him, but they can be nice when they want to be. One day, he'll learn to be good enough so that they're nice to him too.
With one last shaky breath, he walks into the market. He can feel conversations stop. The looks come next. Naruto continues to walk in silence.
When he goes up to Watermelon Lady and asks for the prices, the fruits are suddenly three times more expensive than he was expecting, but he looks at the harsh lines of her face and remembers her laugh with the fisherman. He thanks her anyways, and walks over to the fisherman.
When he goes and asks the fisherman for 2 fish, the fisherman pauses, glances at the mask ninja over by the peaches, and names his price. This time, the fisherman does have fish to sell, but they're small and not very cheap. Naruto could get fish like this from the streams in the forest, but this is the first time the fisherman has ever sold anything to him. He beams wide as he hands over half his money.
His total haul is two fish and some roughed-up apples. He'll take it.
And the day would have been good, great, even, if he hadn't tripped on his own pant leg.
As he turns, the pant leg rips, he goes down, and the fish and apples tumble out of the bag. The apples are salvageable, he thinks, but the fish? Not so much.
There's a snicker behind him. The fisherman smiles, and the mask ninja is long gone. Naruto's face is hot.
He should have just gotten Ichiraku's.
Still, he grabs as many fallen apples as he can, and shoves them in his pockets. He'll have to find sewing thread for his pants, and he doesn't have enough money for a sewing kit.
Naruto swallows roughly, and walks away.
But as he's turning the corner, there's another hand on his arm. Naruto flinches—
"Ah, it may be better to just get a new bag. Here you go!"
Naruto stares into an unfamiliar face. Not from the features, but the short brown hair and dark blue eyes are far different from anyone he's seen.
That's not it. The face is unfamiliar because it's…
The woman smiles, and holds out a bag. It's new, woven, and already looks a bit full. "I saw you put those apples in your pockets. They get even more banged up that way. You can use my bag."
Naruto stares. She's not laughing. He peers into the bag, and he sees the wrappings of fish and beef. Far more than he'd ever be able to afford.
"You… those are your groceries," Naruto whispers. The woman shrugs, still holding out the bag.
"It looks like you might need it more. I don't mind! It's fine." She shakes the bag, almost teasingly. "Those apples need a new home."
Jiji says he's not supposed to talk to strangers. Naruto doesn't know why. If they're strangers, if they've never met before, then maybe they won't look at him with those eyes yet. And that's enough for Naruto.
And she's already been so nice…
With trembling hands, Naruto takes the bag. She doesn't pull back. His stomach feels warm, and he gives her a small smile.
"Thank you." That's what he's supposed to say, right? People don't do things for him.
But… this must be one of those Moments, right?
She smiles, and ruffles his hair.
"You're welcome, kiddo."
He burns the beef, but eats every bite with a smile on his face.
None of it tastes funny.
He sees the woman often, but just in flashes. Outside the Academy, on one of his trips to the store, and again at the market. She never frowns. Instead she beams wide, and in the case there was another person with her, a man with brown eyes and black hair, they both wave. Naruto grins back.
It's on his trip to the forest that the woman reappears. He's been hunting for fish, and she seems to appear from the shadows.
"You never told me your name," Naruto blurts out. She blinks, before laughing.
"I didn't. My name is Rumi."
"What's your last name?" Naruto says. She may be nice, but he wasn't a total idiot.
Rumi's eyebrows scrunched, as she stared at him for a moment. She smiled.
"I'll tell you soon, okay? But not right now." She doesn't look like she's lying, so Naruto drops it. She stares down at his fake fishing rod.
What you got there, Uzumaki-kun?"
Naruto jolts. "I didn't tell you my name."
For a moment, surprise flickers on her face, then it's gone. "You didn't," she agrees. She points to his jacket, wrinkled and dirty from a day outside. "But you're wearing the Uzumaki crest right there."
Uzumaki crest?
Naruto stares hard at the spiral. The woman sits next to him, silent.
"Did no one ever tell you about the Uzumaki?"
Naruto shakes his head wordlessly. The woman's features contort to something familiar, something angry, before they smooth out. She looks up at the setting sun.
"Well, would you like me to?"
Naruto's eyes are wide. He's bobbing his head rapidly before he can stop himself. The woman laughs, but her eyes are sad.
"Okay. Well, the Uzumaki were—"
She pauses, and squints out into the forest.
"I have to go," she says suddenly. "But I promise I'll tell you the next time me or Kosuke sees you, okay? Let's let it be our secret for now, alright? "
Naruto doesn't know who Kosuke is, but Rumi-san stares at him seriously. He nods anyway.
The woman flashes away, but unlike the times he's seen other ninja flash away, with a flurry of leaves, she leaves with a burst of humidity. He stares at the place she sat for a moment, before he hears a rustle in the bushes.
Jiji steps out with a smile. "It's warm out here," he remarks. He stares at Naruto's fish, still on the fire, and smiles.
"Would you like some help with that?"
The next time he's in the forest, he meets Kosuke, the black-haired man. Kosuke doesn't say as much, but what he says rings in Naruto's head.
"The Uzumaki lived far away from here, on an island where the whirlpools raged," Kosuke starts. He's brought beef with him, and it cooks next to the fish on the flames.
"Their gods watched them from the stars. They fished, just like we do, and they were great sensors."
Naruto drinks the words in. "Sensors?" He asks. Kosuke nods.
"They could feel the chakra of other people from far off distances." Kosuke's head tilts, and some black hair falls out of his bun. "Can you close your eyes for me?"
Naruto does so without hesitation.
"Breathe in, and breathe out," Kosuke says quietly. "Listen to the river, and the birds above. Can you hear them?"
He bobs his head. Kosuke chuckles.
"Good, Naruto-kun."
It's not a joke. There's honest praise in his tone, and Naruto opens his eyes, shocked, to meet Kosuke's amused ones.
"You still have to close your eyes," the man says, and Naruto complies.
"Listen to the animals, and the wind, and keep breathing. Soon, you'll feel it."
It? Still, Naruto listens for the animals, the wind, the leaves crunching in the distance. The breeze has just started to blow in, and the squirrels a few feet away knock into one of the tall oak trees. Naruto feels himself begin to relax, and somewhere in between listening to the rush of the river and what may have been a raccoon, something switches.
For a moment, he can feel it—life, small and light from the squirrels, burning brightly from Kosuke, and even the fish.
Naruto gasps, and his eyes pop open. Next to him, Kosuke beams, ruffling his hair.
"Look at you! That's the Uzushio in you already."
Naruto can't stop grinning.
Maybe he should tell Jiji about Kosuke and Rumi, but he doesn't. They look at him without any fear, or anger, they smile and teach him tricks and sneak him dango and tell him stories. When Rumi kisses his cheek and Kosuke ruffles his hair, Naruto feels so full he could burst.
He doesn't want to jeopardize that. So he rambles about nothing to Jiji, nothing of forest visits and groceries. Naruto still receives the orphan allowance, but he has enough money now that he can go up to Watermelon Lady and buy one if he really wants to, and not regret his decision.
Besides, Jiji has a lot to do anyways. He probably wouldn't care about Naruto's new friends.
Kosuke and Rumi tell him all about a magical village called Uzushio, the home of the Uzumaki. (Clan, there's a clan and they're scattered but they're there.)
"Uzumaki Rumi," she says one day with a small smile, before jabbing a thumb at Kosuke. "And this is my best friend, Uzumaki Kosuke."
Naruto lets out a small squeak.
They tell him about waking to the burble of whirlpools on the coast, fisherman singing songs on the harbor while they cast their nets made from glowing chakra chains. The sun painting the sea red, the Noh plays they put on of the yokai who roamed the seas and ghosts who flew through the skies. The four gods they worshipped, and the songs they sing on their boats.
"When the sea called the shore, the gods were watching, watching," Rumi sings. He'd have to go home soon, but Naruto was drowsy and warm by the fire.
"Where the sea called the shore, the gods mailed me home," Naruto yawns back.
Kosuke laughs. "It's sailed, Naruto."
Rumi's ever-present smile widens. "Enough for tonight. Alright, hatchling, let's get you home."
Kosuke swings Naruto onto his back, and he dozes in and out, with the new but ever comforting feeling of safety. They begin the trek out of the forest. When they reach the edge, Kosuke and Rumi still. Kosuke immediately puts him down.
"We'll see you soon," Rumi promises. "Remember Naruto, don't tell anyone we're here, okay?"
Naruto nods drowsily, swaying as he stands. Kosuke looks conflicted.
"It won't always be like this," Kosuke says softly, with burning eyes. "We just need a bit more time, and then—"
"Unless you want us to end up in Konoha's prison, we need to go. Now." Rumi interrupts.
With one last glance, they flash away in a burst of humidity. Five seconds or five minutes could have passed as Naruto stumbles away from the edge of the forest—
Right into the arms of one of the masked ninjas.
Jiji's not happy.
He sits Naruto down the next day to say he shouldn't stay out so late, that it's not safe and anything could happen to him.
Naruto doesn't really agree. He has no one to come home to, and the forest is where Rumi and Kosuke will laugh with him and smile and fill him with so much warmth he feels like he's floating for hours afterwards.
Still, he nods along to what Jiji's saying.
It won't always be like this, Kosuke had said. Naruto dreams he lives in Uzushio with red sunsets and singing fisherman, and Kosuke and Rumi to come back to every day.
For the next few weeks, neither Rumi nor Kosuke come. Instead, a gray-haired masked ninja watches him day in and day out when he's not at the Academy. He's not paying attention, or not as much, anyways.
(In Uzushio, Rumi tells him, they learn to walk on water first, and how to make these cool drawings called fuinjutsu. Naruto would rather learn that than who the four Hokages are.)
Naruto uses his money sparingly to buy groceries, but he never runs out. He comes back to Gama-chan with a small drawing on his stomach. A seal, like the ones Kosuke talked about.
He puts chakra into it, and Gama-chan's overflowing with cash.
Use it wisely, hatchling! We'll be back soon. is on a small note.
Naruto grins widely.
The next time he sees Rumi and Kosuke, almost a year since his morning trip to the market, both of them look at him with an odd sort of gravity. Rumi crouches to meet his height, and Naruto bulldozes her in a hug.
"Tell me, Naruto," Rumi says cautiously, arms warm around him, "If you could live in Uzushio with us, would you?"
Naruto stares immediately. "You said Uzushio was gone."
Kosuke's head moves left and right. He shifts in place. "True, and untrue. It's….in repair."
Naruto's eyes grow round. Uzushio, in the stories, sounded like heaven on earth.
"You—you'd really want to take me?"
Rumi pulls back, and studies him with warm eyes. She looks over his head at Kosuke, and back at him. And her face changes.
Her skin is shades darker, and hair the color of blood falls to her waist. Her eyes are darker, less like his, closer to purple. Naruto gasps, and turns to Kosuke, whose hair is red but much lighter. As he smiles, gray eyes crinkle.
"Of course we would. But if you would like to stay in Konoha, we understand." Her face contorts at that.
Naruto's nose wrinkles. It's not that Konoha was a bad place. It wasn't, really! It was filled with Moments and people were happy and nice and it wasn't for him, not really, but sometimes Iruka-sensei got ramen with him and sometimes Teuchi-san gave him a free bowl and Jiji gave him money every other week.
He'd miss them. But…. for the magical shores, and the fisherman songs, and Kosuke and Rumi with him every day….
"I—please? " Naruto says to the forest floor. "Please, can we go?"
Rumi smiles widely, and he's crushed into a hug.
Rumi and Kosuke come to the forest more, with red hair and tan skin. The hair of the clan, Rumi explains, too noticeable to be shown. Naruto runs his hands through it with awe.
This time, there are plans. Rumi is convinced the village won't want him to go, which Naruto doesn't understand because they don't like him at all, but he nods along anyway. Kosuke says they'll leave in two weeks, and Naruto should only take things he can't live without.
In the two weeks, he wanders around the village.
He'll miss Jiji, and his rumbling voice, and the way he laughed with Naruto. He'll miss Iruka-sensei's talks over ramen, and the way that he looked at Naruto with something like pride if he ever got an answer right. He'll miss Teuchi's warm laugh. Heck, he'd even miss his classmates.
But there was family, and they were so close, and in a few days, Naruto could come home to people who wanted him there, who smiled and laughed every time they saw him.
He couldn't wait.
The day of his planned escape, Naruto packs Gama-chan, a cup of ramen, and his spare tracksuit. He runs his hands over the bumps and nicks of his apartment, a place he's lived in for the past two years, and sheds a few tears.
He'd miss it, all of it, but not enough to stay.
Naruto goes to class, and decides to go through the day quietly. People stare at him. Sound is always better than silence, but today, it's okay. He watches Iruka-sensei laugh with the rest of the class. He looks happy. Naruto hopes he won't be mad when he finds out Naruto's gone.
He sits on the swing one last time during recess, and allows himself to swing as far and laugh as loudly as he could. Only a little while longer.
When night falls, Kosuke and Rumi end up in his room. Rumi puts a seal on the door, flares her chakra, and turns back to him. Naruto grins, just a bit nervous.
"All set?" Kosuke asks, black hair whipping back and forth as he looks over the apartment. Naruto didn't clean up, just like they told him to. He nods.
Kosuke turns to Rumi, who also has her henge up. "Do it."
Rumi puts her hands together for a few short seals. "Kage Bunshin!"
There's a puff of smoke, and five clones of himself are in front of him. Rumi smiles, and whips out a scroll. There's a few quick strokes of ink on paper, and the five clones are slapped with a seal. It disappears in a few moments.
"Cool," Naruto breathes. "What does it do?"
"It's essentially a storage seal, filled with chakra," Rumi explains, shoving four of the clones into the closet. "The clone is fed that chakra to sustain itself. As long as it's not doing a lot of activity, each of these should last at least a week, maybe two. Which is more than enough time for us to get out of here and get back to Uzu."
"Can you teach me that?"
Kosuke ruffles his hair. "When we get to the island, there'll be a ton more sealing work you have to do before you get to that level. You'll be sticking with basic storage seals for right now."
Naruto groans, but he's smiling too hard.
"Speaking of storage seals, I need your bag."
Naruto gives Kosuke his grocery bag, filled with Gama-chan and his clothes, and Kosuke pulls back a dark sleeve to show the curves of sealing tattoos.
"Woah," Naruto breathes. Kosuke chuckles and places his other hand on the seal. The lines glow, and the bag disappears.
As per their plan, Naruto heads into the forest, with two rather inconspicuous squirrels after him. He follows a familiar trail to the river, and, holding his breath, jumps in.
The Naka will take him out of the village, they explained, and the chakra of the river should keep him from being discovered. He just needed to stay quiet. Above him, two robins charted his path.
The flow of the river carried him away, towards the outskirts of the village.
It would have worked. But a hand stopped his path, wrangling him out of the river with surprisingly strong hands.
Wide black eyes stare at him. A woman looks at him like she's seen a ghost.
"Naruto? What are you doing here?"
Naruto blinks. The way she says his name isn't violent, isn't annoyed, but genuinely confused.
The woman frowns at him. "Did you fall in? It's way too late for you to be outside. Here, I can get you warmed up."
She begins to move Naruto towards some houses in the distance, but the two robins are suddenly people, and Kosuke and Rumi stare her down. The woman tenses immediately, black eyes swirling red.
"Uchiha-san," Kosuke said, and in the dark Naruto can barely see him. "We need you to let go of the boy."
"No," the Uchiha woman snarls back, and Naruto is surprised at her rage. "Who are you? You think you can just kidnap him?"
"It's two against one, Uchiha-san," Rumi says, and she sounds almost bored. "Don't make this difficult for yourself."
In response, the Uchiha woman takes a sword out of her arm, which, cool, and rushes forward, meeting Rumi-san's kunai. Rumi-san's eyes flash, and the two begin to fight. Naruto cannot keep up with their speed.
"Who are you?" the woman demands again, and she sounds so angry. Naruto would flinch back if he could. "Did you think you could get away with kidnapping a jinchuriki?"
Jinchuriki. Naruto's never heard that word before.
Rumi doesn't answer. The two blur together once more, and finally, the black haired woman has the upper hand, with a sword to Rumi's throat.
Next to him, Kosuke, who had been quiet, makes a small noise, and golden chains emerge from his body. Naruto takes a step back. The chains shoot forward towards the Uchiha woman, who seems to dodge them reflexively, before stilling.
"Uzumaki," she breathes, turning back to Kosuke with wide red eyes. "You're part of the Uzumaki clan."
"And you have experience with chakra chains," Rumi says, with a sword still at her throat. Copper chains erupt from her, and the Uchiha woman takes a step back. " How."
The Uchiha woman stares at Kosuke, then Rumi, then back. "Kushina was my genin teammate. I was there when she awakened her chains in the first place."
Kosuke inhales sharply, and it's the first time Naruto sees him upset. "And you left Princess Kushina's son to live alone?"
"You think it's my choice?" The Uchiha woman shoots back. "Have you seen the Hokage?"
Something about the heartbreak in her voice unsettles Naruto. Kosuke and Rumi relax.
"What did you plan to do with him?" The woman asks.
Kosuke scoffs. "Why would we tell you?"
The Uchiha woman sighs, and, hand on her chest, looks up at the stars. "As the warrior watches, as the vermillion bird flies, as the dragon protects, and as the tiger defends, I swear, no harm will come to Naruto as long as you tell me the truth."
Rumi's jaw dropped. "She taught you the Celestials, Uchiha-san?"
The Uchiha woman nodded, before staring back at him. "Mikoto. My name is Mikoto."
Rumi and Kosuke look at each other, nod once, and their henges drop. Uchiha Mikoto steps back as she takes in Rumi.
"You look just like Kushina," she whispers. Rumi nods.
"Our mothers were sisters," She responded quietly. "As none of Kushina's sisters are available, it's my responsibility to make sure Naruto is safe." Kosuke nods behind her.
"Where did you want to go?" Mikoto asks.
"Home. Uzushio grows by night, and the Uzumaki are building a village that will never fall."
Mikoto's face spasms. "Kushina always thought she was the last one." She straightens a moment later, glancing at Naruto. "Can you promise that he'll be safe?"
Rumi laughs without humor. "We're shinobi, what is safe?" When she sobers, she adds, "We can promise a village that will treat him far better than this one ever will."
Mikoto sags. "You're right," she says, "I—you're right. The Uchiha clan is on the cusp of change, but…" she trails off.
A moment later, she turns back to them. "I will not stop you, but there is something I want to give to you. Can you wait here for a moment?"
Kosuke shifts. "We're behind schedule, so please hurry."
Mikoto blurs. A minute or two later, she's back, with a scroll in her hands. She walks over to Naruto, and folds him into a hug.
"I'm sorry," she whispers. Naruto shakes in confusion.
When she pulls back, a scroll is pressed into his hand. She steps back, looking at Rumi for a moment, then glancing away, as if even looking upset her.
"Kushina's fuinjutsu notes are in there. I kept them after she passed."
Kosuke stares at her, before bowing. "Those….are invaluable, Uchiha-san. Thank you."
Mikoto nods. "It's the least I could do." She pauses. "When you get back to Uzushio, can you give me a sign that you're safe? Please?"
Rumi stares at Kosuke, then looks back at Mikoto. "We can send a summons."
Mikoto smiles, full of relief. She turns back to Naruto with a small smile, bittersweet but there. "Take care of yourself, Naruto-kun. Your mother would want you to be happy."
Rumi bows to Mikoto, before placing a hand on her chest.
"May the great turtle lead your path, may the dragon protect your crops, may the tiger guard your back, and may the vermillion bird guide you home."
Nostalgia flashes across Mikoto's face, then it's gone, and she repeats the gesture. Naruto shivers in the cold.
"We should go," Rumi says. She waves at Mikoto, as does Kosuke. Naruto sidles up in between them. It's the three of them now, until they finally reach Uzushio.
They disappear into the night.