Author's Mistake: I've made a translation mistake (in chapter 2) with the term 'gosai-ani' (for those of you who recall it). Gosai does not mean 'yellow'. It means something closer to five colors, and it also means 'second wife' according the source I typically use. Needless to say, I've been using it wrongly. It has been replaced with a more accurate term: kiiroi (and thus, Kiiroi-ani). (Thanks, Serenarey Chiba and Reaper Nanashi, especially, for pointing it out to me) and sorry for any confusion I've caused.
Reaper Nanashi, thank you for an amazing, constructive review. It will undoubtedly help me greatly, and I will be taking your comments into account. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Naruto and etc. aren't mine, but there is a growing collection of original characters that will undoubtedly make their appearances.
oooOoooOoooOooo
Namikaze Brothers Arc One : Magirekomu Bettenchi(to be lost in another world)
By Renatus
Chapter 05 – Urabanashi (story not generally known)
oooOoooOoooOooo
Six weeks after arrival…
'Chakra exhaustion sucks.' Naruto thought, staring off without really seeing anything. He didn't have much to look at anyways. He was not in any pain, in fact he felt quite refreshed if a little stiff. He figured he would have had a couple days of bruises from Hiroi's chakra-laden strikes, but he had slept through any healing he did. Naruto stared at the ceiling of his hospital room with barely contained boredom and frustration. He had woken in the hospital the day before – after nearly a week of being asleep – and had been itching to escape since he discovered that he could move. As it was the medic nin had tied him to his bed to keep him from – "running off before your body is ready and doing something stupid."
He was pretty sure that that medic had taken lessons from Tsunade.
Naruto heaved a sigh and wiggled his arms, feeling the pull of the rope twisted around the length of his arms and legs dig into his skin a bit. It attached him to the bed quite effectively.
"Need a rope escape jutsu." He grumbled, staring straight up at the smooth plastered ceiling.
"I've never heard of that one."
Naruto raised his head and saw the Fourth standing in the doorway, a slightly crooked smile on his face.
"It's obscure." Naruto retorted, then shook his arms sharply. "Let me out!"
Minato laughed and entered the room, closing the door behind him. "They had to tie you down?"
"You're the Hokage. You can order them to let me go."
"They've never done that to me."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the other blonde. "That's because you can just flash your way out of places like this. They wouldn't have even seen you with that stupid Hiraishin."
Minato's grin widened. "True."
Naruto scowled and flopped back onto the bed.
"They told me you were suffering from a mild case of chakra exhaustion." Minato said.
"Mild? I slept for a week!"
"Is that unusual for you?"
Naruto tilted his head up enough to look at him. "Yea. I usually don't need to rest up that long. Or at all."
"But you no longer have the Kyubi."
Naruto nodded and let his head fall back to the bed. "Yea."
The Fourth watched him for a moment before speaking again. "Your level of chakra exhaustion wasn't serious, but coupled with the mild concussion and some of your physical weariness, your body simply needed to rest. It is a natural process of healing for ninjas after so much exertion. No doubt your body has been trying to accustom itself to the Kyubi's absence as well."
"Makes sense." Naruto said, " The end of the trials is the first time since I arrived that I actually got to the point that I would have pulled on the Kyubi's chakra. And my rate of healing is lower than it was, now."
"That is expected. But it is still far faster than normal."
Naruto didn't say anything. It was strange for him to need to sleep for so long after such a mild case of exhaustion. He had barely ever experienced chakra exhaustion. Chakra overload was a more common ailment for him, what with the Kyubi's seemingly endless supply of chakra that he could draw on. The sheer weariness that came with chakra exhaustion was a strange feeling to him. He wasn't used to it.
"I would recommend chakra control exercises." Minato said. "It'll help you develop your chakra reserves, and more importantly, give you a better feel for what you are capable of."
"Tree climbing it is, then." Naruto mumbled, making a face. "Or maybe water walking." That was a bit more interesting than trees. Maybe he could find a waterfall to play with for a good challenge. Water walking up a waterfall always made for a good workout. And something fun to show off to over-proud Uchihas who couldn't do it.
"Well done in the Trials, Naruto." Minato said, his voice clear but soft.
Naruto blinked and looked at the other man. He hadn't heard his name spoken aloud in over a month. He had even started to think of himself as 'Kinatsu' at times. It was almost strange to hear his name again. It was something else entirely to hear it from his father, with the man's voice laced with a note of pride that Naruto had so seldom heard directed to him. The Yondaime was standing near him, looking down at him with an expression that Naruto had seen so often on the faces of the parents of his peers – an expression that he recognized but had never had directed really at him. He had seen traces of it from Kakashi and Jiraiya, and even from Tsunade. But Minato was his father, looking at him with pride.
"Thanks." Naruto said, trying to figure out what he was feeling while he stared at the man.
The Fourth met his gaze for a minute before nodding. "You showed your skills and abilities off nicely, and handled your opponents well. I think you impressed quite a few people. Nara Shikaku especially."
Naruto blinked and shook his head. "I think I managed to piss off the Uchiha. He didn't seem to like the idea of a Chunin winning the tournament."
"Hiroi?" Minato asked. Naruto nodded. "He'll get over it. He underestimated you, even after all the matches you had and won. He shouldn't have done so and paid the price for his overconfidence. He'll learn from it."
Naruto nodded again, wondering if he would have to steer clear of the Uchiha compound for a while. Ninja's tended to like to get even, and he was pretty sure that he should expect some form of retaliation from Hiroi for beating him so publicly, especially after Hiroi had sworn not to let him win.
"I wouldn't be surprised if someone submitted your name to be considered for Jonin rank." Minato said, settling into the chair beside his bed – Naruto had to crane his neck further in order to look at him properly. "You could also petition your own name if you had a Jonin to second your request. There is no guarantee that you would make Jonin, but the option is there for you."
"Really?" Naruto asked, a little surprised. "But I just made Chunin."
"Not officially."
"What?"
"Your file states that you came to Konoha as a Chunin, and that you had been one since you were thirteen." Minato said. "I merely tested your skills as a new Shinobi to Konoha."
Naruto thought about that for a minute. He had only ever taken one Chunin exam – which got interrupted quite spectacularly. He had always been a Genin. His rank had never stopped him from getting assigned missions of a high grade, nor did it ever hold him back from doing what he had to do. While his friends and peers had each raised among the ranks, he had never bothered to retake the Chunin exam and try for Chunin again. He hadn't really had the time, and he had barely ever thought about it.
"What else does my file say?"
"Not much." Minato smiled a bit. "Without you taking missions, and you being so new to Konoha, there isn't much to put in your file. It's been updated somewhat since the Trials to include some of your skill sets; your stamina, use of the Shadow Clones and your wind element. It doesn't say that you know fuinjutsu, however."
"Why not? I used it at the Trials. Everyone saw it."
"They saw you use seals, but they don't know who made them."
"Why keep it out of my file?"
Minato leaned back in the chair and regarded him. "How much do you know about creating seals?"
"A bit I guess. Ero-sennin taught me a bit about them, and I figured some stuff out on my own."
"Did you create the tags you used to make the flash seal in the Trials?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I actually drew them out a couple weeks ago. Along with a lot of others. I've been bored, so I've been making tags."
"What sort of tags?"
"Exploding tags mostly. And those flash seal tags, and some other field-based tags. I like to use tags to make seal fields. They're quicker than trying to draw a seal in the middle of a battle. And less obvious."
"Can you tell me what your level of skill is?"
Naruto shrugged. "Dunno. Never really thought about it."
"Think about it." The Fourth said. Naruto started a bit at the Hokage's tone, raising his shoulders and head up so he could look at the man more fully. The Fourth's expression was serious, and Naruto wondered why his skill level with seal techniques was so important.
"Kinatsu, do you know how rare a Seal Master is in the ninja world?" Minato asked.
Naruto shook his head. "I guess not. Ninjas use tags all the time. They're considered seals. So I guess they aren't that rare."
"Exploding tags aren't difficult to draw up." Minato said, "Half or more of the Jonin level Shinobi can draw an exploding tag."
"Ok."
"Seal fields, however, are much more difficult."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I know. They're dependant on more variables and are more unstable compared to the exploding tags."
"You don't understand." The Fourth said, narrowing his eyes a bit, "The skill and knowledge to create a successful seal that affects the environment – a seal field – is rare. Even rarer is the ability to do so using multiple paper tags. The theory exists, and I've heard rumors, but I've never actually seen anyone do that before."
Naruto stared. "But…" Naruto shook his head, "You use tags for your Hiraishin. Those are seals."
"Single tag seals that do not have to interact with each other."
"So…" Naruto felt his face scrunch up as he thought. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying, Kinatsu, that your ability to create a set of tags that interact directly and specifically with each other is a skill that I have never seen before, especially in order to create a seal field on the arena of battle."
"Oh."
Minato chuckled lightly, looking away and towards the window in the room. "Ninjas who use seals in a combat situation are highly rare. Few have the opportunity or time to draw a seal and then lure their opponent into its range. A Seal Master is capable of doing a great amount of damage to his opponent and their environment if they can choose their field of battle – which is a rare thing when fighting ninja. No ninja will easily submit to your choice of battlefield. Your skill in creating tags that interact with each other to create a seal field – which you can carry with you and place in moments wherever you desire – could be greatly advantageous."
Naruto let his body fall back to the bed, watching his father out of the corner of his eyes. Minato continued to look out the window while Naruto took in his words. He hadn't really thought about the tactical advantages of his tag seals. Thinking of them as portable seal fields – which usually have to be drawn onto whatever surface they are affecting – was an interesting way to view them. He had never thought about it. He had never really had the time to, either.
"I didn't place that in your file, because I don't want just anyone to know you can do that." Minato said, turning back to look at him again.
"Why?"
"Partially because it is a unique skill that I want to keep from any enemies as long as possible. Konoha has just recently come out of a war. Even though the war is over, and has been for about a year, we still have enemies. Also, so that the council does not try to push you into spending all your time creating portable seal fields for every ninja in the village." Minato grinned at him. "There is a reason why Seal Masters are rarely also active ninja. Most who have the skill to create decent seals and tags spend most of their time stocking shops and selling their wares to their villages."
Naruto crossed his eyes and made a face of disgust. He had no desire to get pushed into being a shopkeeper. Minato chuckled lightly at his side, and Naruto turned his head to look at him.
"So you want me to keep it a secret." Naruto said.
"You can use them." The Fourth said. "But keep your ability to create them to yourself. Only reveal it if absolutely necessary. I want you to be able to prove yourself as an active Shinobi before the council gets it into their heads that you'd be better off serving Konoha creating tags all day long."
"Alright." Naruto said, "I can do that."
"And think about your skill level." Minato added. "I still want to know just how good you are at making seals."
"I can show you."
"How?"
"I kept notes." Naruto said. "My memory wasn't always so good, so I started writing things down. I don't need to so much anymore, but I still have my developmental and learning notes for some of the seals I've made."
"You still have them?"
Naruto nodded, "Yea. I've got them hidden in a scroll."
"Destroy them."
"What? Why?"
"So they don't fall into enemy hands." Minato said, looking at him as though Naruto should have known that already. Naruto looked back at him with a blank face for a moment then grinned.
"They're in code."
The Fourth blinked and Naruto's grin widened. "Ero-sennin taught me codes, too. I didn't get them at first, and I was horrible at writing in code, and I still can't break codes much. But Ero-sennin can't read mine. He never did figure it out. He thought I was just making it up and that my scrolls didn't actually say anything real at all. He complained about my faulty codes for years."
Minato was silent for a moment before bursting into laughter, making Naruto's wide grin widen more as he watched his father laugh. Minato smiled and chuckled easily, Naruto had noticed, but his laughter seemed like a rare thing. Naruto had barely heard he or Kushina truly laugh. The sight of either of them feeling happy enough to do so sparked some emotion deep inside him that he couldn't really identify.
"That must have just rubbed him raw." Minato said, still chuckling. "Jiraiya-sensei had always prided himself on his coding skills."
Naruto made a content sound and settled back into his pillow.
"Speaking of," The Fourth said, "Jiraiya-sensei is back."
"Really?"
"He came to deliver a report and see if the council has finally agreed to put you on active duty."
"Did they?" Naruto asked, eager for the answer. The Jonin Trials had taken the edge off of his energy, but he was getting a little stir-crazy. He had never been on such a long stretch of inactive status before and he was desperate to start missions again. He was almost to the point of willingly taking a D-ranked mission. He'd even go after that thrice-damned cat that went missing every week – anything for a mission.
Minato gave him a bright grin. "Yes."
Naruto let out a woop and tried to sit up again, only to be tugged back to the bed by the ropes, cutting his celebration off with a sudden jolt.
"Damn." He grumbled, glaring at the ropes wrapped around his limbs. He ignored the chuckles of his father, and instead wiggled in the barely-there slack of his bindings. The medic had been very good at making knots.
"He'll be leaving again in the morning." Minato said. "You're going with him. Come by my office this afternoon and I'll give you both a briefing. I also need to brief you on your backstory."
"Sure." Naruto said, still glaring at his ropes as the Fourth got to his feet. "You got an idea for a history?"
Minato grinned, "Yes. One that will fit rather well."
"Really?"
"And bring by those seal notes of yours." Minato said, not answering his question.
Naruto frowned but nodded and glanced up at the man as he started towards the door. "Hey, Yondaime!"
"I've got paperwork to do." The Hokage said with a nonchalant wave over his shoulder.
"Kiiroi-ani (1)!" Naruto called out, staring incredulously as the man left the room and closed the door behind him. Naruto stared at the door for a second before struggling against his bonds again.
"Hey! Let me out of here!" Naruto yelled after him. "Damnit."
oooOoooOoooOooo
The Hokage's office at the top of the tower was empty save for two. The Fourth Hokage leaned far back in his chair behind the wide desk and stared up at the ceiling, while his old sensei stood against the wall behind him. Jiraiya stared as well, his eyes fixed somewhere on the floor at his feet while he stood with his arms crossed loosely over his chest. The soft sounds of the village sounded through the cracked windows, and they could hear the muffled sounds of the Hokage's assistants move outside the door.
"I've been hearing rumors, Minato." Jiraiya said, not moving.
"There are always rumors, Jiraiya-sensei."
"These could be dangerous."
Minato sighed, and shifted enough to see the older man from the corner of his eyes. It was rare for the older man to take on such a serious air, even with the recent war. Jiraiya had been one of the few bright spots in Konoha during the Ninja War. The battles and planning and missions had not seemed to affect the man's daily routine or outlook much. So the man's seriousness bespoke of something to take note of. "What's bothering you?"
Jiraiya met his eyes and held them for a few long minutes, each man looking at the other, quiet and questioning, waiting.
"You know the rumors about the Uchiha clan." Jiraiya said, his voice quiet, barely carrying the short distance between them.
The Hokage nodded. He had heard more than he cared to. The Uchiha's were a powerful clan, both politically and in skill. They were considered the elite, and not just of Fire Country. There were many rumors about that clan, more so than there was for any other Minato had heard. But he knew which rumors Jiraiya spoke of. They were the rumors that were dangerous, and not just for the Uchiha and those tied to them. They were dangerous for the entire village. Rumors that the Uchiha held some sort of power over the tailed-beasts. Minato had heard them, and not just from Jiraiya. Since the Kyubi's attack and withdrawal on Konoha, the rumors had been easy to hear. People were talking, looking for reasons why the devastating force of nature that was the Kyubi would attack Konoha and then stop so suddenly – and retreat.
"The village is whispering, Minato." Jiraiya continued, breaking into his thoughts. "They're looking for somewhere to point. They only need a reason, any reason would do, and they're looking for it in the Uchiha."
"I'm sure that the clan is aware of this." Minato said, "They will be careful."
"For a while, perhaps." Jiraiya shifted and let his head fall back to the wall, his eyes raking across the ceiling before returning to the blond at the desk. Jiraiya watched his old student for a while, both silent in the warm afternoon. "It's leaking out that the one who attacked Kushina had the Sharingan. It's well known that she was pregnant. It's no longer a secret that the two of you are together. You know what that adds up to, Minato."
Minato nodded once and turned his chair away from the other man. "Yes."
He knew. He was the Hokage, the leader of one of the greatest ninja villages in the elemental countries. And one of his own village's clans-members had attacked and killed his son. Even if the one who attacked Kushina was not an accepted member of the Uchiha clan, he still bore the Sharingan. What was worse, was that the man was unclaimed. No one knew who he was or where he came from. The Uchiha clan had only sought to claim the man's body to keep the Sharingan within their clan, but they did not explain where he had come from. Minato knew the truth; that Madara had come from some future or other timeline, but that was a classified fact and he was going to keep it that way if he could. But the village did not know the man's origins. They saw only a man with the Sharingan – a bloodline jealously guarded by its clan, attack the wife of their Hokage. Minato knew well what that added up to. Jiraiya was right. If given a reason, any reason, the village would point their collective fingers straight at the Uchiha clan and the clan would retaliate. Retaliation from ninjas was never a simple thing, and the Uchiha clan was among the best.
Silence stretched between them, augmented by the distant sounds of the village below the window and the office outside the door. Neither spoke or moved, and then Jiraiya silently moved, his feet silent on the floor as he left the wall to stand before the window. The chair creaked softly as Minato moved to watch the older man.
"Keep an eye on them, Minato." Jiraiya said. "There is some substance to these rumors. They may be trouble, at some time. I'm looking into it when I can."
"Focus on Akatsuki, Jiraiya-sensei." Minato said, his voice that of his station; commanding. "Let me worry about the clans."
Jiraiya turned his head to look at him, his face unreadable. He smiled widely, suddenly and shook his head. "Fine, fine, Hokage-sama."
Minato frowned, but didn't bother to speak. He could count the number of times Jiraiya had called him Hokage-sama on one hand, and none of those occasions denoted obedience from the man.
"You should ask Kinatsu about it. He mentioned something about them, didn't he?" Jiraiya said with a grin and then jumped from the window, disappearing into the village street below. Minato continued to frown after his sensei, both for the title and for the mode of his exit. He knew that Jiraiya would not stop is inquiries into the Uchiha clan, despite his order. His old sensei saw some sort of merit in the things he heard about the clan, and would follow that information, whether it was true or not and no matter that Minato said he could handle himself. It was something he was very good at, Minato knew. Jiraiya would continue to keep his ears on the Uchiha clan and anything to do with them. Minato thought he could deal with the clans and political field of Konoha without too much worry from his sensei, but he would appreciate whatever information Jiraiya dug up just the same.
A mild commotion outside his door drew him from his thoughts. He could hear the Chunin aids yelling, and another voice that was familiar, before his door was thrown open with a bang and an orange-masked blonde waltzed into his office.
"Yondaime!" Kinatsu called, raising one hand in greeting. One of the aids trailed after him, looking both highly disapproving and angry, the Chunin's hands twitched as if barely being restrained from reaching for a kunai, or Kinatsu's neck. He was deathly silent, his lips pursed harshly as he stalked and stared after the blonde, stopping behind him stiffly.
"Hey!" the second aid ran in after the two, "You can't just walk in here! He's the Hokage!"
"Yea, yea." Kinatsu said, waving one hand in a nonchalant manner, and ignoring the walking death threat of the first aid behind his shoulder. "Whatever, I know."
"You need an appointment!" the second aid continued, "Or a summons!"
"I got one." Kinatsu said, waving a finger in Minato's direction. The first aid's face darkened a bit.
"Kinatsu." Minato interjected softly - harshly, hoping to save his office from any destruction his aids and son would cause if they decided to start a brawl. All three froze and looked over at him with varying reactions. The first aid with his still stiff, angry face, Kinatsu looked a bit sheepish – his hand rubbing at the back of his head, while his second aid sighed in relief. Minato refrained from sighing himself, though barely.
"Why must you make such a commotion whenever you enter my office?"
"Well, you told me to use the door."
Minato sighed and waved for his aids to leave.
oooOoooOoooOooo
Naruto watched the aids leave in silence, not meeting either of their eyes as they did so. 'Should have just used the damned window.' He thought, as the door closed behind them, leaving the two blondes alone in the office. He glanced around the room once, and then strode forward, pulling the scarf from his face as he did so.
"Ne, Yondaime," Naruto said, ignoring the raised eyebrow, "I think I saw ero-sennin (2) headed towards the bathhouse a minute ago."
Minato frowned. "I'm not surprised."
"Didn't think you would be." Naruto grabbed a chair and dragged it across the room, stopping in front of the desk and plopping down on it. He sprawled his legs out in front of him and met the familiar blue eyes of his father. The same blue eyes that looked back at him in the mirror.
"So what's going on that ero-sennin feels like he needs to eavesdrop on the women's gossip?" Naruto asked.
Minato raised his eyebrows and leaned forward over his desk, clasping his fingers beneath his chin. "I wouldn't say that it's their conversation that he's interested in."
Naruto grinned, but didn't contradict his father. He knew that while Jiraiya researched his books at the women's bathhouses, he also heard an awful lot of gossip and local rumors while he was there. It was the way he worked. Naruto knew it well. He had spent nearly three years traveling with the man. He knew Jiraiya's methods of information gathering.
Naruto shrugged and let the subject drop. He knew Jiraiya was looking for something, some information, else he would have been in the office for their meeting or spending time visiting with Kushina, or at one of the gambling houses reminiscing about Tsunade, not peeping at a bunch of women from a ninja village. It was asking for more trouble than he usually sought out just to research his books. Despite his curiosity, Naruto didn't need to try and pry information out of the Yondaime Hokage when all he had to do with bribe or blackmail Jiraiya later on.
"So what's the mission?" Naruto asked.
Minato was silent for a minute, then leaned back in his chair. "Jiraiya has been tracking Orochimaru since he left Konoha. That's how we found out about the Akatsuki."
"How much do you know about them?"
Minato shook his head slightly. "Very little. They consistently work in teams of two and currently seem to be more interested in raising funds than anything else. Right now they are very much beneath the radar of most villages. They keep themselves as low key as they can, considering their collective missing-nin status."
Naruto nodded.
"Right now, I just want the two of you to keep an eye on them. I'm more concerned with Orochimaru and his doings. He has a habit for experimentation and a thirst for jutsus. He's not worth sending Hunter-nin after him yet, but I want an eye kept on him and Jiraiya thinks he might be trouble."
"More than you might know." Naruto said. "He caused a lot of grief with his experiments, and not all for Konoha. He built himself his own hidden village after Akatsuki kicked him out."
"Kicked him out?"
Naruto rocked his hand from side to side. "From what I understand they highly encouraged him to leave. I think it had something to do with Itachi."
"Uchiha Itachi?" Minato raised one eyebrow. Naruto paused and thought about the Uchiha for a moment, actually trying to picture what the man would look like at this point in time, years before Naruto had ever recalled meeting the mysterious, arrogant missing-nin. Naruto didn't know the man's exact age, but he knew that he was a good few years older than Sasuke had been. Itachi had to be somewhere between four and seven, if Naruto had to guess. He wondered if he was in the Academy yet.
Naruto shook his head to try to get out thoughts of the strange almost paradox that his life had become and addressed the Hokage's question. "Yea. Orochimaru has been after the Sharingan for ages. Actually, he's kinda into any bloodline limit. Some kind of obsession for him. He wants their bodies."
Minato blinked and was silent, staring hard at him. Naruto endured the scrutiny, knowing that Minato was digesting a fact that he hadn't previously known – even if that fact was a little skewed by the time differences and Naruto's memories being what they were in relation to his situation. . Naruto could feel the man's chakra churn then disappear, as if being tightly controlled and masked. It made Naruto's instincts stir in response and he shifted slightly in his chair.
"He wants their bodies," Minato began, his voice soft but his eyes hard. "For what?"
"A host." Naruto scrunched his face, stuck out his tongue and waggled his fingers. "He made some jutsu that allows him to go from one body to the next. It's a way for him to prolong his life. He can also use any bloodlines that come with those bodies. I don't know when he started it, but I do know that Itachi wasn't his first target. I think Itachi was his second, which would mean his first was at least three years before that. Eh, maybe about four, five years from now."
"That's why he wants the Uchiha? Longevity?"
"He calls it immortality." Naruto nodded. "Any would do, but he's a prideful bastard. He'll go for the best that he can get his hands on. Itachi was too good for him to overpower, so Orochimaru lured Sasuke to him." Naruto shook his head, looking away from the Hokage, "Orochimaru will try for any bloodline or body or skills that he can."
The office descended into silence and both men let it. Naruto found it strange to be talking about things that were so well known to him and his team for so many years. With Orochimaru's interest in Sasuke and Team Seven's dogged determination to retrieve their wayward teammate, Naruto was intimately familiar with Orochimaru's desire for power and jutsus. Orochimaru had drawn power to him, luring in anyone who caught his attention or who he thought he could use. He had a special interest in bloodlines and clans.
'The damn snake-bastard is almost as annoying as all the stupid Uchihas.'
"I'll inform the clans to be wary of anyone with abnormal interest in them." Minato said. Naruto nodded, but knew that there wasn't much that could be told to Konoha's clan heads about Orochimaru. As of the current time, there was very little that warranted much worry about a lone missing-nin, no matter who he was. Telling the clans to be specifically watchful for Orochimaru would be a little strange, and the clans tended to be overly watchful on their own anyways. Naruto could try to warn them about the snake-sennin, but he had to be careful about what he said, and to who. He knew things about the future – or a possible future – that would be extremely odd for him to know if he let it out.
"Naruto,"
Naruto looked back at his father at the use of his name, catching the man's serious expression. "With your – history, you are privy to a great deal of information and intel."
"Yea, about that,"
Minato held up a hand and Naruto closed his mouth.
"Naruto, I trust that you are who you say you are, and this is not just because of your demonstration of the Namikaze bloodline and your physical appearances. I trust you based on my instincts and what I know of your character. And this is completely disregarding the shear strangeness of your story and the appearance of Madara." Minato shifted slightly and continued, "I am also trusting that your interests align with Konoha's. The council, however, would not be so trusting, nor would they appreciate the trust that I am placing in you."
"I understand." Naruto said, simply.
"Do you?" Minato pushed his chair back and stood. "Ignoring the fact that whatever future you lived is already changed, it is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to explain how you know some of the things that you do."
"So I have to be careful with what I say." Naruto added. He had already figured that out for himself.
"Yes." Minato nodded. Naruto watched him for a bit. The Hokage stood over his desk looking back at him, looking like he wanted to say something else, but not speaking. "Yes, be careful." He said finally.
Naruto nodded slowly, wondering what else was on the man's mind, but not wanting to push it. "Sure."
"Going back to the issue of the council," Minato said, shifting to stand more comfortably. "I think I have a solution for that."
"A history for me?"
Minato nodded and reached for a folder of papers. "As of now your file does not list your origins and only includes your code name. This is working for now, but as you start to take missions and people get to know you, it won't be enough. We need to be ready for anyone who is going to come around looking for more information on you, and they will."
"Alright. What's the story?"
Minato looked at him for a minute, his eyes bright and a small smile on his face. "You will be my brother."
Naruto blinked. "Your – what?"
"You're too old to be my son without revealing your bit of time or dimensional traveling, or whatever it was that you got yourself into."
Naruto frowned, but didn't bother to defend himself about the trouble. He had known what Madara was doing, and while he hadn't exactly meant to go along with him and get stuck in some alternate timeline of his life, he had purposely put himself in Madara's jutsu in some half-brained, desperate attempt to stop him – not that it had worked. At least not in the way he had expected it to.
"Since you look so much like me, like a Namikaze," Minato continued, "You need some sort of believable tie to my father's family, or more specifically, his bloodline."
"I used the Hakinkage during the Trials." Naruto said, suddenly realizing his mistake. "Someone will figure it out eventually, that I'm from the Namikaze family."
"Yes." Minato tossed the file folder back to his desk, and sat back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest loosely. "My mother died when I was young, very young. I barely remember her. After her death my father spent more time outside of the village than it. He sought his comfort in his missions. He died on one of them, a couple years after my mother."
Naruto was speechless. He had rarely heard anything about either of his parents. Most didn't know of his heritage, and those who may have either didn't speak much of it, or refused to. That's ignoring that he had rarely ever asked about them. He had heard nothing of his grandparents. To hear his father speak of his family was like a dream he had never dared to believe in. It was one thing that he couldn't have worked for or earned like his dream to be Hokage. His parents, his family, were one of the few things he knew and acknowledged as being beyond his reach. He didn't know what to think.
"Kinatsu?"
Naruto blinked and shook his head slightly. "Heh, I didn't know that."
Minato was silent for a minute before settling more into his chair. "I see. No one told you of your family's history?"
Naruto shrugged. "No one knew I was a Namikaze. Jiraiya and Kakashi told me a little. But there wasn't much opportunity for stories."
"I will tell you."
Naruto looked up at the man suddenly, a bit surprised at his words. Minato looked back at him with an expression that Naruto didn't know and couldn't read. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Minato nodded with a smile.
"So, this history of mine," Naruto prompted, grinning. "I'm going to pose as your brother?"
"Yes. It's a plausible situation. My father took long missions and spent a lot of time outside of both Konoha and Fire Country. The possibility of him fathering another child from a woman of another country or village is quite high. You'll pose as my younger half-brother. We'll have to work out some of the details of your life story, but that will effectively explain how you have the Namikaze bloodline limit and why we look so much alike."
"That makes sense." Naruto nodded, turning the story over in his head. "It also explains why no one would know me here."
"Yes, and why I trust you."
"What about some of my techniques? The Rasengan?"
"You've been in Konoha for six weeks." Minato said, "That's more than enough time for me to have taught you the Rasengan, or at least the basics of it. This is another reason why I'm sending you with Jiraiya."
"I thought it was because of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru?"
"Jiraiya could probably handle keeping an eye on them on his own until Akatsuki starts to get more active." Minato said, "And I could have you write up reports about what you know on them without sending you outside the village to do it. No, I want you out of the village for a while and with someone who has a lot of information about Konoha and isn't someone who is known to follow all the rules."
"To explain why I know so much about Konoha." Naruto summed up, catching on to the man's train of thought. "Jiraiya would be more than willing to share information with his student's little brother if he trusted him. No matter that he shouldn't be talking about sensitive village intel, even to the Hokage's brother."
"Exactly." Minato raised an eyebrow at him, "And that's not taking into account the subtleties of your mannerisms and techniques that scream Jiraiya's teachings. You act like one of his students and the longer you are around, the more people will start to see that."
"Heh, I haven't even summoned the toads or done any of his techniques." Naruto said, "I've tried not to do anything suspicious where it could be seen."
"I don't want to know what you've done where you thought you were unseen." Minato said wryly.
Naruto scratched at the back of his neck, trying to decide if his father really didn't want to know, or if he could tell him about his new technique that Kushina nearly stumbled onto. 'Maybe another time,' he thought.
"You haven't summoned the toads?"
"Nope. Actually, I wasn't sure that it would work, what with the time travel or whatever, and the blood contract and all."
"Interesting. Ask Jiraiya to see the contract sometime and see if your name is on it. Then try to summon. Since the toads are summoned, essentially, from a different dimension it may be possible that your contract with them is still active. It's worth looking into. It may also help to explain how you are still here and alive, considering."
"Yeah." Naruto made a face and shook his head. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to try and figure that out. He got a headache every time he tried to reason out his own existence. His infant-self had died, but he was still there. It didn't make any sense to him. Minato's separate dimension theory hurt his head less to think about it, but he wasn't sure what he thought about it at all.
"You remember your history?" Minato asked.
Naruto nodded and thought for a moment before starting. He barely remembered his undercover lessons from the Academy, but he had witnessed Jiraiya's half-assed attempts at creating plausible back-stories for whatever cover he tried to adopt on the many occasions that he was running from crowds of angry women, or looking for information. Naruto figured that after spending nearly three years with the man that he would have learned something about it. "Your fa- my father was from Konoha and my mother was from," Naruto thought for a minute, "Water Country and was a fisherman's daughter. She was raised in a ninja village and taught me what she knew. I learned the ninja arts and traveled, lending my services to small villages and travelers. My mother died recently and finally told me who my father was and so I came to Konoha to see if I had any family left here."
Minato nodded, satisfied. "Why Water Country?"
"I know it a bit. I know its borders were pretty closed up for a while until my Genin team got there, so it would be hard for anyone to go in and check out my story. Me and Jiraiya spent some time there, too. The only other country I've spent equal time in was Wind or River, and I think I might want to avoid River Country, considering Akatsuki favors it."
"Yes, the borders of Water Country are difficult to cross. Good." Minato said, not commenting on his other two country options. "Jiraiya will help you to flesh that out and make sure it's solid. As of now, your file will remain under high clearance access but will now contain the basic heritage of your story, namely, that you are of the Namikaze line and are my half-brother and that you were born and raised outside of Konoha. It will also list your name as Namikaze Naruto, with the codename of Kinatsu."
"Naruto?"
"Would you prefer Kodora?" Minato asked with a smirk.
Naruto frowned, momentarily wondering where the hell the man had heard that name, then he remembered giving it when he had first met him. "You remember that?"
"It was the first thing you said to me."
Naruto blinked and thought back to the day he had followed Madara into the past and met his father. Some of his memories of the time before and some after that point were a little hazy, as they tended to be when using the Kyubi's chakra shrouds to the extent that he had. He did remember the chuck of time after he woke up to see the fox attacking Konoha with only the Fourth Hokage standing between them. He had introduced himself as Kodora, one of the many half-degrading nicknames that Sai had bestowed upon him over the years. It was one of the codenames he had used on the rare, short occasions that he needed one, or was told that he did.
"I think I prefer Naruto." He said.
"I thought you might." The Fourth said, "Kodora isn't a typical name given to a boy."
Naruto ignored that comment. "What about…" Naruto trailed off, not sure if he should or wanted to bring up the death of his infant counterpart. He wasn't sure how his father was feeling about that. On one hand the man had lost his son before the child had had a chance to breathe and nearly lost his wife as well, but on the other hand that same child – or some other timeline's version of him, was currently sitting in front of him as an adult. Naruto rather thought it was all a bit confusing if he thought about it for too long, but in the end, he wondered how the Fourth was handling the situation. Naruto thought it was strange enough on his end of things. He couldn't quite imagine how his father was feeling.
"My son?" Minato asked softly. Naruto nodded slowly, and Minato let out a low breath. "Kushina and I had planned to name our son Naruto, though we told few about our decision." Minato glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, "There were few who knew that we had married in secret and that her child was mine. So, while the name is rare, I think we can get by with you keeping your first name, though you will have to give up the name Uzumaki, I'm afraid. It would be too conspicuous for you to use that name." The Hokage gave him a questioning look. "Why were you called Uzumaki, anyways?"
Naruto shrugged. "Dunno, really. Ero-sennin hinted that the Third wanted me to grow up normal, or something." Naruto shrugged again and forced a half smile as he glanced away from his father. "The Third had made a law that forbade anyone to talk about the Kyubi or what had happened."
"I see."
Naruto looked up to see a strange look flicker across the man's face before it was replaced with a neutral expression.
Naruto sucked in a breath and let it out in a rush. He was glad to be able to keep his first name, it was his and he was fond of it. Even if he didn't use it for a while, it was still his name and that brought him a level of comfort that he hadn't quite expected from such a simple thing. "Alright. So I should start using that story?"
"No."
"Uh, what? Why not?" Naruto asked.
"It'll come out on its own." Minato waved one hand nonchalantly. "After the Trials people are curious about you. You came out of nowhere and no one knows anything about you. You hide your face and your file is under high clearance access only. They will start looking on their own. Let them figure it out rather than tell them. It'll be less suspicious."
Naruto nodded, "Alright. I think I get it."
"Once a few figure some things out about you, the rumor mill will take care of informing the rest of the village. We just need to make sure that they figure the things out that we want them to. Keep your time travel an absolute secret. For now, keep your fabricated history low key. With your situation, people are seeing you as being a bit secretive. While this isn't exactly unusual in a ninja village, ninjas are quite good at finding information, and they'll be looking for your secrets."
"So I let them think they found my secret because I didn't just give it to them."
"Exactly."
"Does that mean I have to keep wearing this scarf?"
Minato chuckled, "Yes. For now at least, though later you could probably get away with being lax about it. Wait until after you return."
Naruto sighed but didn't argue. While he wasn't much fond of the scarf he used to cover his face, he was getting used to it a bit, and it didn't bother him so much anymore. He at least was happy with the orange color of it.
"Did you bring your fuinjutsu notes?" Minato asked.
"Huh? Yeah." Naruto pushed the collar of his coat aside and pulled three small scrolls from the slots on the front of his flak vest. They were small enough to fit into his hand easily, and therefore easily carried. He tossed them onto the desk and watched as his father picked one up and inspected the simple, but strange seal wrapped around it.
"A blood-based seal?" Minato asked.
"Sort of." Naruto said, rocking his hand side to side. "Do you want me to tell you? Ero-sennin told me not to say anything when I gave them to him – er, the first time? Eh, whatever. He wanted to figure it out on his own."
Minato gave him a look, but turned his eyes back to the scroll in his hand. Naruto watched him inspect the seal on the outside of it in silence. Each of the three scrolls bore the same seal. It was a simple thing, Naruto had thought, but Jiraiya had found the theory behind it to be convoluted. Naruto hadn't minded the comments Jiraiya made about his thought processes, despite his complaints at the time. The seal did what he had wanted it to do, even if it didn't make logical sense to the old hermit. Naruto hadn't realized then that it was such an odd thing. It had made sense to him.
"It's designed similar to the summing seals." Minato said, still staring at the scroll. "But it uses the runes and markings of a simple blood seal used to close and mark documents."
"Like message scrolls." Naruto said, smiling.
"Yes." Minato looked back up at him. "It's a seal that only allows someone with a specific summoning contract to open it."
Naruto grinned widely. "Yup. It didn't take you nearly as long as it took Ero-sennin to figure it out."
"Jiraiya is good with seals, but he thinks linearly with them." Minato said. "I'm impressed, Naruto. I had not thought to specialize a message seal in this way."
"Heh, thanks." Naruto said, rubbing at the back of his head, somewhere between embarrassed and proud at the praise. "Anyways, you should be able to open them, since you have a contract with the toads. Do you want me to tell you how to decode them?"
"Not yet." Minato said. "Let me see if I can decipher them, first."
Naruto shrugged. "Suit yourself, kiiroi-ani."
Minato looked up at him with a wry look. "You know, it was you calling me that that gave me the idea to have you pose as my brother."
"Really?" Naruto shrugged again, running a hand through his bangs. "Heh, I guess it really fits, now."
"Yes," Minato said with a smile, "it does, otouto (3). Now," he said, leaning over the desk and crossing his fingers beneath his chin, "Kushina tells me that you train out in the far fields."
Naruto shifted his eyes slightly, eyeing the window and debating the possibility of jumping out of it before the Hokage stopped him. He should have suspected that Kushina would mention the incident to Minato. The two were married, after all, and Naruto had torn quite the fissure through a once densely wooded area.
"She also told me that you were wounded."
Naruto rolled his shoulders and made an abortive gesture with his hand as he restrained himself from reaching for his head. "That was a while ago. Before the Trials."
"You were hurt?"
Naruto waved his hand. "No, not really. It was a clone."
"Kinatsu, clones can't take hits and not dissipate."
Naruto blinked. "Well, no. Not normal ones."
Minato looked at him strangely.
"Hey, I did the same thing in that match with Ibiki, remember? My clones took hits."
Minato leaned backwards in his chair again, looking at him contemplatively. Naruto considered the window again. It was kind of strange to have the man so interested in his techniques, strangely enough. Naruto had revealed more about his jutsus in one sitting than he ever had before. People just didn't typically ask him about how he did things too often, not outside of a battle at any rate.
"Look," Naruto started, looking back at his father, "I was just training. I was fine. I wasn't really hurt, my clones took most of any damage."
"Most?"
Naruto opened his mouth to respond then closed it suddenly, cocking his head slightly at the man across from him. He recognized the look the Hokage was giving him, though barely. He had never had it directed at him very often, and never to such a level as he was seeing in the blonde man's eyes. Protectiveness, and if Naruto had to guess, concern as well. It caused a strange feeling in his gut and Naruto couldn't quite bring himself to speak as he stared at the man. His father, was concerned for him.
"Uh, yea." Naruto finally got his mouth to say, then shook his head slightly and grinned at his father. "I'll show you sometime. I think I finally got it down. I've been working on it for years. A couple of the advanced Rasengan techniques I got are self-damaging, so I've been working on my clones to make them strong enough to carry the attacks without dissipating in the backlash of them. I think I finally got it down."
The Hokage looked at him blankly, his eyes unreadable and his face slightly slack. Naruto thought it made him look surprised, in a subtle sort of way.
Minato pulled in a deep breath, smiling softly at him. "You are full of surprises."
Naruto grinned widely. "Kakashi-sensei called me the Number One Loudest, Unpredictable, Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja."
"I'm beginning to see why." His father said wryly.
oooOoooOoooOooo
The morning of their departure Naruto met Jiraiya at the Namikaze's home, where the old man had slept the night before. He was greeted at the door by Kushina, who was dressed in a soft green jumper and slim ninja pants. Her hair was loose and she pushed a long lock of it back over her shoulder as she smiled at him.
"Good morning, Kinatsu-kun."
Naruto returned the woman's smile easily. "Morning, Kushina-san. Is ero-sennin here?"
"Ero-" Kushina tilted her head slightly then blinked. "Jiraiya?"
"Heh, yea." Naruto hunched his shoulders and rubbed at the back of his head. While he had always called Jiraiya perverted, he had over the years become aware of the level of respect that most people expected others to have for the sennin. Naruto respected the man, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to honestly call the old hermit a perverted old man. As often as he was given opportunity. Preferably in front of as many people as possible.
The red-head smiled brightly at him and let out a soft laugh. "That's fitting."
"Yea, considering how I first met him." Naruto mumbled.
Kushina either didn't hear him or decided not to respond. "Come in, Kinatsu-kun." She said, stepping to the side to let him enter the house. "Minato is in the kitchen with Jiraiya-sennin."
Naruto mumbled his thanks as he entered the house. The small entry opened up to a living room that had a half-wall separating the kitchen. Naruto spotted the blonde hair of his father seated across from Jiraiya, but it was the two young women in the living room that drew his immediate attention. He didn't know either of them, though they both looked vaguely familiar and for different reasons. The younger he couldn't place, even with the distinctive violet markings on her cheeks, though he knew he had seen her somewhere important. The second young woman was clearly a Hyuga, and looked like a mixture between Neji and Hinata, which was what made her so familiar to him. She had Neji's height and poise, but her face looked remarkably like Hinata's, despite the browner hair. Both were dressed in street-wear, though he could see the subtle traces of their ninja training in the way they moved and sat and watched him in return.
"Kinatsu-kun," Kushina said, moving past him to stand near the two women, "Let me introduce you." She pointed to the younger brunette first. "This is Adachi Rin (4), and Hyuga Hemene. We have some training scheduled for this morning, so they're here for breakfast before we go the fields."
"Pleased to meet you." Hemene said, her voice even but clear, which pushed Naruto's comparisons of her closer to Neji.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Kinatsu-san." Rin said, bowing her head slightly. "Kushina has mentioned you before."
"Oh?" Naruto glanced at his mother, then back to the girls.
"Rin was in the hospital with Kushina during the Kyubi attack." Minato's voice floated over to them. Naruto turned to look at his father over the partition wall, silent. He remembered. Rin was the girl who had been crouched over Kushina, both bloodied, her hands laced with the green of healing chakra. He had only glanced at her before attacking Madara, but it had been enough to imprint the girl's facial characteristics in his memory.
"Ah, yes." Naruto said, smiling slightly as he nodded once.
"Have you had breakfast, Kinatsu-kun?" Kushina asked. Naruto looked over at her, wondering at the subject change, though she didn't appear to be strained or upset about the mention of the day her son had died. But she was a ninja, he knew. Ninjas as a whole, tended to get over such things quicker as both a necessity and a response to their training. There usually wasn't time for long periods of grief or mourning.
"Sort of." Naruto said, eyeing the rice and fish out on the tables in the kitchen and living room. He had already eaten, but he would rarely deny the offer of food, especially from his mother.
"Help yourself, Kinatsu." Minato said, his lips quirking slightly. Kushina handed him a bowl and chopsticks and Naruto moved to sit at the table with his father, taking the place that put him facing the short wall separating the two rooms. He picked up his chopsticks then paused, his eyes glancing towards the Hokage as he recalled the scarf masking his face. Minato seemed to have been waiting for it for he nodded immediately and returned to his own breakfast. Nartuo reached up and pulled the orange scarf from his face slowly, noticing that all three of the women in the living room watched as he did so. He also noticed the two men on either side of him watching the girls in return, though Minato was far more subtle about it.
The scarf pooled around his neck and Naruto took in the curiosity and surprise on the women's faces. Kushina studied him carefully, before looking towards her husband and back again, clearly seeing the resemblance. Naruto, in order to avoid saying anything stupid, pushed a large bite of rice in his mouth and waited to see who would ask the question they all knew the girls wanted to ask.
"Ok, Minato," Kushina said, her eyes locked on the blonde Hokage. "Explain, please."
Minato raked a hand through his hair in a gesture that was quite familiar to Naruto and smiled a bit sheepishly at the red-head. "It's a bit of a story." Eh said, glancing at Naruto as Naruto put another bite of food into his mouth. He figured that Minato knew what he was doing when he had let Naruto remove the scarf in front of them, though Naruto didn't know quite what he was up to. There really was no denying their similarities. If the Hokage wanted to reveal his face to them, then who was Naruto to argue against the Hokage? Naruto held back a smirk at that thought. He always argued with the Hokage, no matter who it was.
"The two of you look very similar." Rin commented.
"What are you, twins?" Kushina demanded.
"Twins!" Naruto spluttered, "I'm not that old!"
"Who are you calling old?" Minato said, looking indignant. Naruto stuck his tongue out at him and his father narrowed his eyes slightly.
"As fascinating as this drama is," Jiraiya said, looking quite entertained, "We have a long way to travel today, so could you hurry it along a bit?"
Naruto sent him a hard look, catching a similar action from his father out of the corner of his eye. Jiraiya blinked and stared between them before laughing. "You two even act alike!"
Naruto sniffed and shoveled another clump of rice into his mouth, slouching into his chair, determined to ignore the man.
"Minato?" Kushina asked, standing near the partition wall and watching the two of them carefully.
Minato sighed and gestured towards Naruto. "Kinatsu is my brother, Kushina."
"Your brother? I didn't know you had one."
"Neither did I, until recently." Minato said, "He's my half brother, actually."
Naruto glanced at him at the use of his cover story and then turned to watch Kushina. She looked between the two of them for a minute before nodding. "There is certainly a resemblance." She said. "You're sure?"
"Quite." Minato said with a small quirk to his lips. "He has the Hakinkage."
Kushina blinked and then smiled suddenly. "I see. Welcome to the family, then, Kinatsu-kun."
"Uh, thanks." Naruto said, swallowing his rice thickly but returning her smile.
oooOoooOoooOooo
A/N: The Japanese used this chapter:
1)Kiiroi-ani - kiiroi means 'yellow' and ani means 'older brother'. Kiiroi-ani is meant to be a throw off of Minato's nickname as the Yellow Flash. It's what I've got Naruto calling the Yondaime.
2)Ero-sennin – perverted hermit (Naruto calls Jiraiya this).
3)Otouto – younger brother. Can I use this? Is this too much Japanese? I just like the word…I may be biased in using it in this fic, though, after I said I was going to translate most things…
4)Adachi Rin – Rin never gets a family name in canon, so I gave her one since she's alive and running around interacting with people. Adachi means "peaceful standing." Side note: Rin could mean a few things, including: "companion", "a small bell" and/or "cold" among others. She's the same age as Kakashi, so would be 14 now.
Hyuga Hemene is an original character.
Kodora means "small tiger", which I believe I've covered already. It also happens to mean "drinker", which helped me make up a terribly humorous tale (which will show itself in the story later) about why exactly Sai started calling Naruto it. I'm sure you can imagine…
Someone asked about Kurenai's age and rank; the sources I use state that she made Chunin at 13, and Jonin sometime around 24-27-ish or so. (she's 27 when Naruto makes Genin). At this point in this story she is, therefore, 15. So yes, it took her over a decade to move up to Jonin. Maybe she taught at the academy for a few years or something. Do I need to cover anyone else's ages? I put links in my profile to a couple online sites for canon Naruto info that I use.
Also: Maito Gai vs. Might Guy. I have seen both of these versions of his name used. I think Might Guy is used in the English anime. I'll likely stick to Maito Gai, unless I forget to keep an eye on the spellcheck… in which case, please let me know that I missed one (past chapters have been double checked and corrected).
Please note that Kushina calls Naruto "Kinatsu-kun" not in the way that Sakura called Sasuke, Sasuke-kun. Kushina has absolutely no romantic notions towards him – nor will she. Kushina uses it in a way that denotes someone who is younger than her, and whom she is at least limitedly familiar with. Naruto, however, would not call her 'chan', for she is older and chan is almost always used with children or girls (though not exclusively so) as a sign of affection or endearment.
Right, I've talked too much, and this chapter was looong. Ta.