Where Loyalties Lie

By Chibi Tsuki

Summary: After leaving Konoha for ten years and working undercover with a new identity as a wanderer, Naruto is recalled back to Konoha by Tsunade, bringing his son for another new beginning as a Konoha shinobi. However, his identity is to be kept a secret and his real mission is unspoken of.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: A bit of change to the synopsis and I've decided to change the title (it seems more appropriate in a subtler sense) now that I can see the direction this story is heading in.

Chapter Three

Childhood Memories

It was shortly after two when Naruto and Ryuuya were standing facing at their newest and more permanent accommodation. They had spent the morning purchasing furniture to create a homier atmosphere to their one bedroom apartment. Standing close to the small balcony doors on the tatami mats was a kotatsu, a Japanese style low table with four cushions on each side. A drawer was placed by the door, a few trinkets and a framed photograph already decorated the previously empty surface. Another recent purchase – the cream coloured refrigerator stood proudly, pinned with medallions of magnets. On the wall just beside it was a small whiteboard. In the neat writing of a child was a roster of chores to be done with enough space for short messages. Bowls and cups filled the cupboards with brilliant colours of blue and green while pans were stored neatly in their drawer space. Similarly, their shared bedroom was just as simple. A built-in wardrobe stored their relatively few pieces of clothing and their futon, according to Ryuuya, that would only be laid out at night. Near the small wooden-floored area of the apartment entrance was a door to the bathroom. Everything was placed to their fancy in a short span of time.

"Not bad, right?" Naruto asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Ryuuya too had the same grin planted on his face, but then it faltered a bit when he said, "As long as you don't start getting lazy and not do your share of the work."

The older man shouted with a mock salute, "Yes sir!" Suddenly Ryuuya pounced at him like a fierce lion cub and the two came crashing down to the ground, rolling about in laughter. They lay on the floor panting slightly after their little tousle.

Through the glass door, Naruto saw the familiar scenery of the village – the place where he spent the first fifteen years of his life surrounded by. He too, once had his own apartment but however, would return every evening to find it silently empty. No mother to say "Welcome home," no father to pull him up into a tight hug and ruffle his hair. For company he simply had the mechanic humming of the refrigerator and the ticking of the clock. Naruto had often hated the thought of returning to the apartment. Without a family it wasn't much of a home either.

Warmth seeped into his senses and brought him back from his absentminded recollection of the past. Ryuuya had crawled half onto his lap and leaned against his broad chest. Naruto couldn't help but grin and settled his arms around his boy in a warm embrace. The child could often gauge people's emotions and understood what actions to take. Now was time for a bit of quiet comfort. The past nine years was a different story. Naruto no longer returned to the frigid silence of his shelter since he had his family in his heart. The best gift one could have.

'Knock, knock.' Leaping up from the floor, Naruto rushed to put on his discarded white-clothed facemask while Ryuuya made an act of rushing to the door by yelling, "Coming!" Slipping the uncomfortable apparel over his nose and mouth the older male was careful not to rub it against his most recent, although faded injury to his cheeks. Ready, Ryuuya started unlocking the few locks that chained the door in place and looked up at the visitor - thick dark eyebrows and a hearty, enthusiastic,

"Hello young man! I see that my new neighbour is in the springtime of his youth!" Shocked and with his mouth agape, Ryuuya could only stare at the man dressed in green before him. The stranger was wearing a jounin vest, body-clinging green spandex and had his hands wrapped up in layers of white bandages. What had startled the boy the most was his thick black hair cut into the shape of a helmet and the blinding white toothy grin as the man gave him a thumbs-up. Naruto stood behind Ryuuya, questioning eyes staring in slight surprise. His immediate thought was, Is this Rock Lee or Maito Gai? "My name is Rock Lee and I welcome your stay here."

Straightening up, Naruto gave the familiar man a similar brilliant grin behind his mask and brought his hand out. "My name is Kanazaki Tatsuya and this is Ryuuya." The man named Rock Lee shook his hand as they gave each other a direct, solid stare. Observing their intense stares, Ryuuya felt as if the two men were gauging each other. After measuring the other, both men relaxed and started talking casually. Their conversation was more of a welcoming than a questioning of the duo's background. Not even once did Lee mention a why or how but rather insisted that they went to his abode and enjoyed a welcome dinner.

When Lee had left, Naruto closed the door and sighed. As much as he tried to open himself up in that interaction with Lee, he still couldn't ease away the guilt of holding back his real identity. Perhaps his old friend, like many other shinobi, was used to the idea of a ninja wearing a facemask like Hatake Kakashi, his former sensei. Nonetheless, Naruto still felt as if he had hidden away a part of himself. Returning to Konoha had stirred up many unwanted thoughts, not that he could do much to solve the problems. "Let's go out and take a proper look around Konoha," Naruto suggested. Ryuuya nodded enthusiastically and plonked down on the ground to secure his sandals to his feet.

As they walked down the streets towards the lake, Naruto pointed out the grandeur of the reliefs of their previous and current Hokage. Skilled artisans over many generations had been carefully selected for the carving of the faces. Murmuring into Ryuuya's ear, he recalled a moment where he had caused a mockery, waking up early to 'artistically paint' additional features to the serious faces, only to be caught and made to scrub it all off. The boy exploded into fits of laughter and stared at his father with incredibility. Of all things his dad had to graffiti on, it had to be those monuments. They walked by the shimmering blue lake, the colours as brilliant as the father and son's telltale sapphire-blue eyes. Ducks swam into the watery mass, their heads bobbing gently as they waded across the surface. Sitting down on a patch of soft green grass, Naruto asked, "Remember how I mentioned about a ninja academy?" Ryuuya nodded in anticipation. "If you'd like to be a shinobi, I could enrol you into the academy."

"That means I'll officially become a ninja," the boy said eagerly. Throughout his young life, the boy had never expected to be given the opportunity of serving a country as a shinobi. The village where he was born was situated in the remote area of the mountains – a place where there rarely were outside visitors. His father's work, which he didn't understand back then, had kept Naruto away from the village in long periods of time. But being luckier than most of the village children, his father would take him and his mother away for a week to one of the closest trading villages twice a year. For him, that was a thrilling experience. After being swept into the tide of events, they had left the village and he had learned to quickly adapt to the dangers of the foreign world that he had been shielded from in order to survive. Forcefully, he was dropped into the raging torrents and all he could do was to hold tightly onto his father's strong hand. Circumstances gave him a chance to understand the secrets his parents had tucked away for his safety, although it seemed more like a bitter reality. But now, he could become a proper ninja, not some wishy washy wannabe warrior who had learnt a few skills here and there. He would become the best shinobi to protect what he loved the most. "When do I start?"

Naruto chuckled. "If you're that keen, I can try to arrange it with the Hokage so that you can start soon. The new school year for the students should have started a month ago, but if we do some private training," with that, he winked "I'm sure we'll be able to catch up fairly soon. You'll go to school and play with kids your age again but then you'll forget about dear old Toto."

"Never!" Ryuuya refuted, casting him a confident stare. "If I forget about you, you'll make our home into a pigsty again!" In a softer note he added, "Besides, you're my Toto. No one replaces Toto." Resisting the urge to pull him into a hug, Naruto simply ruffled his hair fondly. "I remember you and the Hokage talking yesterday. She said that you'll be placed into a team, didn't she?"

"Yeah," his voice came out in a sigh. "I may have to go on missions again for periods of time. It'll be hard on you." The waves of loneliness seeped into his emotions again. He didn't want Ryuuya to feel the same way he had.

"I will be waiting for you to come back everyday you're gone, and when you do get back you'll see how much I've improved!" The child was so encouraging, he could only smile.

Four days had come and gone since they had first arrived at Konoha. They had talked to Tsunade about enrolling Ryuuya into the Ninja Academy. It turned out that the kids attending their first year were a year older than Ryuuya which meant that there was still an age gap. She had suggested that he attended normal school, waited another eleven months before starting at the Ninja Academy. However, the boy was persistent in attending ninja lessons rather than learning substraction skills all over again. With much effort and convincing Ryuuya managed to secure himself a position as the newest addition to the academy.

That morning, Naruto accompanied his son to the academy. Throughout the trip Ryuuya was energetically bounding down the street in front of him and doubling back to urge him to walk faster. Other children around his age were giving them curious glances as they made their way to school. Parents who had insisted on taking their children were at first cautious when they saw the suspiciously half-masked man but when they noticed the interaction between the father and son, the tension disappeared. Arriving at the academy, Naruto brought them immediately to the staffroom, his feet automatically tracing the path he had often taken as a child, especially when he was in trouble.

Academy teacher, Umino Iruka, was a tall, dark-haired man. He had an identifiable scar that ran horizontally across his face and wore a forehead protector with the Konoha symbol etched onto it at its proper place while his hair was pulled back and tied up, away from his face. Dressed in the usual gear of black shirts and pants and the tactical vest, Iruka was reading the letter he had received from the Hokage earlier that morning. It clearly stated that a boy by the name of Kanazaki Ryuuya, seven years old, would be entering the Ninja Academy. The boy would be placed into his first year class. Kanazaki Ryuuya, he thought, isn't Kanazaki the surname of the two brothers who have come to stay in the village? He frowned as he stared harder, if it were possible, at the name written on paper. Isn't it suspicious that the two figures have decided to come to Konoha Village amidst the confusion of the episodes concerning the missing-nin? Either way he had no choice but to see these characters for himself. He would question them a bit and stickybeak into their backgrounds before judging for himself.

On good timing, there was a knock at the door. Iruka turned around from his desk and pulled the door open. In front of him stood a duo he hadn't quite pictured them to be. They were dressed in garments quite the opposite of each other – one suspicious in a masked disguise and the other in plain civilian clothing. The boy he guessed was Ryuuya was dressed in a white collared T-shirt and dark blue shorts. He was beaming under his long black bangs and his eyes mirrored his happiness. Likewise, his companion's aqua-green eyes were emitting rays of cheerfulness and his facemask stretched with his smile. Somewhat the opposite of an acquaintance he knew who either never smiled or just giggled like a lecher behind that horrendous orange book. The man wore a mixture of dark and light colours – he wore a thick, sleeveless, beige-coloured top over a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. Jet black gloves wrapped around his hands, the colour matching the donned jet black three-quarter pants. Iruka could only know who this man was trying to imitate.

"You're our newest student, Kanazaki Ryuuya, aren't you?" he directed the question to the boy who nodded before replying yes. "You don't look seven with your height. Would you two like to come and sit down first? I'd just like to ask you a few questions for our database." They followed him to the gestured chairs that were positioned to face one chair, obviously for the teacher. He offered them a smile and introduced himself. "My name is Umino Iruka and I'll be teaching Ryuuya." Turning to look at the surprisingly attentive man he continued, "I understand that you've recently arrived in Konoha Village, but what sort profession are you in Kanazaki-san or what type of occupation will you be seeking?"

In an honest voice, the man said, "I've been instated by the Hokage as a Chuunin and have been assigned to a team." Iruka looked at him, scepticism written on his face. Seeing the reaction he continued, "I was actually a ninja in a small village in the Cloud Country until we were involved in the war many years back. Our village was burnt to the ground and only a few survived."

At this point, Naruto inwardly felt remorse for having to lie to this man whom he had looked up as a big brother. However, he tried to alleviate the guilt by telling himself that not all of it was a lie. "It was quite a few years after living at a farming village that I heard about Konoha Village and came in hopes of finding work as a shinobi again."

"I understand." The teacher could sympathise with a man who had lost his cause and was trying to seek it again, especially for a warrior. Without a country or even a village, a ninja cannot perform his duties to serve. Yet there are those who have stepped into misguided path of a missing-nin. Besides, this man was still young which prompted him to ask, "What is your relationship with Ryuuya?"

Chuckling, Naruto replied, "People have been asking me that lately."

"It is for record purposes."

Although knowing that it wasn't his position to speak, Ryuuya was itching to get this interview over with so that he could meet his new classmates. "He's my father."

"Oh." Once again the information had surprised him. Once again, Uzumaki Naruto had caused others to be confused about his age because of his carefree grin. Iruka couldn't help but wonder how old the man in front of him was when he and his partner first had intercourse. Sex education was definitely lacking in remote villages, or perhaps they followed the traditional ways and all married young. He, Umino Iruka, aged thirty-five was still in the stage of proposing to his girlfriend and here was a man much younger than him, with a son. "I believe that was the last question. But before I take Ryuuya to his new class, are there any questions you'd like me to answer?"

Primarily wanting to hear the familiar voice of his former teacher, Naruto asked a number of questions regarding Ryuuya's education. To Ryuuya's frustration, the conversation was in his perspective, too long. But luckily, since the school bell had rung, his father was to leave, allowing Ryuuya to finally start his first day at school.

Judging by the position of the sun, Naruto guessed that it was around ten. He was to meet his new team members fairly soon at tallest oak tree at one of the smaller parks. Normally, he would've taken the most direct route to his destination as he knew the path, however, he could sense eyes following his every movement. Doubtlessly, it was an Anbu who was keeping his or her guard up to make sure the newcomer didn't have any ulterior motives. It was good that they were taking their jobs so seriously but for Naruto, this meant doing a little performance. Walking down the cobbled footpath in the wrong direction, he decided to ask the first person he saw for directions. "Excuse me sir," he said to back of a dark headed man who was leaning against a tree. "Excuse me?" he said again when there was no reply.

"What do you want?" asked the man in an irritated voice who slowly turned around to look up at him, for he was hunched over and slightly shorter in height. Suddenly, in mixed emotions, Naruto was speechless. The man's dark eyes bore into his – those eyes that would change in a deep shocking red and at its centre, a pinwheel-shaped seal. This man was Uchiha Sasuke, the man who had betrayed him for greater power, the man who had been his love rival, the man who had the attention Naruto had hoped for and the man whom he called his brother. Even though he managed to knock some sense into the Uchiha over ten years ago Naruto never expected to see that face full of expression, albeit a scowl. When he had met Sasuke again two years after he had defected, it was almost as if meeting a stranger.

Instead, he kept his face stoic like he had on his secret missions to avoid suspecting glances and suppressed the leaping excitement he felt. Nonchalantly he asked for directions and as he walked away, he heard the grumble, "What an idiot." That was another sign of Sasuke being Sasuke.

I'm thinking of putting a few het pairings in but I have no personal preferences so if anyone would like to input some suggestions. You can pull Naruto into the pairings if you'd like. Otherwise I'll just stick to the supposed canon pairings. Except I do stress that the main focus is not romance between characters. Also, there may only be hints of your chosen pairings - Naruto/? inclusive.

I know it's a bit slow paced at the moment but I didn't want to rush into the plot but from now the plot should start flowing. So expect more action in the next chapter!

Lastly, I'm not sure whether you prefer me writing with the usual Japanese vocab, eg. Genin, shinobi, Name-san, etc. or just leaving that out altogether and using translated terms for them.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Greatly appreciated XD