Here we are at Chapter 8. The Akatsuki have already met the masters, made Chuunin, learned of his parents, Sakura shrank and is now a little kid again...Holy Crap! Things have just been happening so quickly in just a few days! But...if you really concentrate on the world around you, you'll see that it's possible. I don't mean to sound like a PSA, but get out more! Do some running, jogging, catch up with a friend, shoot some hoops! Ride a bike, rollerblades, or whatever wheeled conveyance out there! The world's a big place and has lots of stuff to do if you care to look for it. There...That's the ramblings of a fool for you, take it as it is...
Anyway, a lot has happened, with more to go still. The Uzumaki clan has a couple more members hidden within the village and won't YOU be surprized as to who they are!
BACK AT RYOUZANPAKU
Naruto arrived back at Ryouzanpaku in a swirl of leaves that was standard for many Konoha shinobi, just outside of the gates as he set the now Chibi-Sakura down. The little girl walked up to the gates and tried to push them open, but it was an exercise in futility which was pretty damn fun to watch (Watch Spaceballs, the fight scene between Dark Helmet and Lonestar...Damn, that's funny!).
"Here, let me get the door." Naruto chuckled as he assumed his stance.
MUBYOSHI!
The door flew open from the force of Naruto's blow, much to the awe of the small child.
"Sugoi...That was awesome, Nii-chan!" Sakura cheered as Naruto led her inside.
"Come on, Sakura-chan. Let's go find my Auntie Tsunade and have her take a look at you." Naruto told the little girl, who suddenly became a bit scared and clutched at his vest.
"Don't worry, she's just going to see if you're healthy." Naruto comforted.
"N-No shots? I d-don't like needles." She told him.
"No, no. She's not gonna do anything like that." He said to soothe the frightened child. She seemed to feel a little better as he led her by the hand inside of the meeting room, where it seemed everyone was waiting for him to return.
"No one...left? You guys were waiting for me?" He asked, a bit puzzled but glad that his Godmother had stuck around. It saved him the trouble of tracking her down.
"No, we wanted hear about what happened out there and what the end result was." Kensei told his future son-in-law.
"Yeah...So spill the beans, Gaki!" Sakaki called out.
No sooner than he said that, a tiny girl with pink hair stepped out from behind him, shaking in fright.
"Eh? Who the hell is this brat?" Sakaki asked in his own personal style, which seemed to scare her even more.
"I'm s-scared Naruto-nii!" She cried, clutching his side for dear life.
"What'd I do?" Sakaki asked, puzzled as to why she was so scared of him. It wasn't his fault since he had no experience with small children.
"I do believe that you come off as a touch scary for her, Sakaki-kun." Akisame explained to the confused Karate-ka.
"Hello! I'm Apachai!" The towering Muay Thai master greeted the small girl, who seemed to loosen up.
"Don't be shy, Sakura-chan. Say hello to Apachai-sensei. He won't hurt you." Naruto coaxed.
"H-hello, Apachai-san." Sakura managed to squeak out in greeting. The girls saw her timid reaction and couldn't contain themselves.
"Aww...She's so CUTE!" Renka exclaimed as she rushed up to the little girl, Raichi following her. Hinata held back, noticing the pink hair.
'It IS Sakura! So THAT'S what happened to her...' Hinata gasped in surprize as little Sakura looked up at her questioningly. She then tugged at her sleeve.
"Excuse me? Why are your eyes like that? They look kinda like the moon." The little girl asked innocently.
All of Hinata's hatred for the older Sakura had begun to dissipate. She was now coming to grips with the fact the Sakura she knew no longer existed and left this innocent little girl who was around Hanabi's age in her place. Just like her betrothed, she just couldn't bring herself to place her anger onto this now innocent child who knew nothing of what her former self had done. She looked down at the girl kindly and responded.
"You see, my whole clan has eyes like mine. It's simply the way we're born, that's all." She answered patiently.
"Yeah, some people are just born that way, just different, but that's not a bad thing. I'm different, but I'm not bad, remember?" Naruto added, to which the girl nodded her head.
"I know, Naruto-nii! It's just that her eyes are really pretty!" Sakura complmented.
"Thank you, Sakura-chan. That was very nice of you." Hinata encouraged, patting her on the head and earning a giggle for it.
Miu had her own misgivings originally, but upon hearing that she was literally a child again, she felt that she would need a fresh start and to be treated as a little girl should. She was above such pettiness and believed that she had been given a second chance and would not spoil it. She saw that Sakura's clothes were way too big on her now tiny frame, so she left upstairs to fetch some of her clothes from when she was Sakura's age. She came back down and helped the little girl dress into a pair of shorts and a gray Gi top that looked rather cute on her.
"Thank you, Miu-oneechan! I like these clothes!" The little one thanked her with a wide grin.
"You're quite welcome, Sakura-chan." Miu told her with a gentle smile.
The little girl then bounded up to her adopted big brother figure to ask his opinion.
"How do I look?" She asked him with a shy smile that all of the females in the room found completely adorable. They had a hard time accepting that this was the same psychotic fan girl back before her mental health took a swan dive off of Hokage Mountain.
Tsunade and the rest of the adults watched on as the younger ones, Shizune included, fussed over the little girl, Raichi offering to give her some of the clothes that she out grew years ago but were kept in storage.
"It's almost like fate granted her a chance to redeem herself. I just hope that this works out and she grows up right this time." The medic commented as she stood up.
"Oi, Gaki...What'd you bring her here for besides show and tell?" Tsunade asked with a half smirk.
"Oh yeah...I was wondering if you could take a look at her, just to make sure everything's alright." Naruto requested of her.
"Sure...Let's get her to my office at the Hospital." He told her godson/nephew as she and Shizune left the building, motioning for them to follow.
Naruto loaded the girl onto his shoulders and followed after his Godmother with Hinata while Raichi left back to her place to pick out some old clothes that would fit the small girl and Renka went to look through her things for anything she could use.
Hayato and the other masters looked on with pride as the younger generation saw it in their hearts to forgive and forget.
"Indeed, this generation has much promise." Sarutobi mentioned aloud.
"I agree, old friend. This village is in good hands so long as young ones like them stay on this path. If they can do that, this village has a bright future ahead." Hayato agreed.
"Yeah...The way I see it, I'm just keeping the seat warm for Naruto, 'till he's ready for it. He's got the heart for it, now everything else just needs to catch up." Jiraiya said of his apprentice and god child as he and Sarutobi rose from the table and returned to the tower to deal with the fall out of Itachi's sudden appearance and his objective.
"Now...How will we go about dealing with the threat of the Akatsuki? We already have Yami to deal with, you know." Akisame asked.
"Yeah...Those psychopaths aren't just going to go away and they're just as bad and powerful as this Akatsuki." Sakaki agreed.
"I just hope he won't come back for Miu-chan. Poor girl was messed up pretty badly from when he killed her mother." Kensei added.
"We will just need to be vigilant. From what I hear, they all have apprentices of their own, and will see our having Naruto-chan as a direct challenge. They will have an advantage in the fact that Naruto is a sworn shinobi of this village, but they have no such loyalties tying them down. He will need to know about them soon. He needs to be ready...or he will die at their hands." Hayato told the others gravely.
KONOHA HOSPITAL - EXAMINATION ROOM
Tsunade led her patient, along with Naruto and Hinata in tow to see if she was alright and they found themselves in an Examination room near her office. Once inside, Tsunade told them to stay put while she left to get a couple of things. Sakura noticed that throughout the trip there, Hinata would hold Naruto's hand on and off, so she decided to ask about it. From her last memory, she had liked Naruto a lot but he was so much older than her now as well as a Chuunin! She was only a little girl. She didn't have much time to think much else since Tsunade came back in.
"Naruto, could you wait in the lobby for me?" She asked.
"Sure, Oba-san." He replied.
Sakura made to grab his hand to keep him from leaving, but Tsunade held her shoulder.
"I won't hurt you, sweetie. Now, let's get started on your physical." She told the girl as she did the standard battery of tests for a child her age, height, weight, a blood sample, sight, hearing, etc. Finally, she was done and Tsunade had given her a sucker for being so calm when she drew the blood sample.
"Now, you just wait here with Hinata while I get your results from the lab, okay honey?" Tsunade asked of the little girl, who nodded. Tsuande smiled and left the room. Sakura turned to Hinata.
"Ne...Hinata-neesan? What is Naruto-nii to you?" She asked intently.
"Oh? Well, he and I are engaged to be married when we come of age." Hinata answered truthfully, making the little girl's face take on a saddened visage.
"Oh...I see." Sakura said, her tone even more morose.
"Sakura-chan, do you...like Naruto-kun?" Hinata chanced to ask.
The little girl sniffled some more.
"He was the first boy to like me...to talk to me and be my friend. He saved me from those bullies. I really liked him but...Now he's so much older than me and a Chuunin! Not just him...everybody else is older and I can't remember what happened! I'm still so scared!" Sakura admitted, tears beginning to run down her small face. Not to beat a dead horse, but she IS a six year old now, one that's going through a VERY scary ordeal and couldn't be reversed. To her, it's like time stopped for her by and she got left her behind.
Hinata felt her heart go out to this little girl, it really did. Before the incident that caused Sakura to start hating his guts almost overnight, the little girl was completely smitten with him, very much the same way she was all those years ago.
"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I know how you feel. I've liked him for a long time, too. Now, I am engaged to marry him, along with two other girls who really like him..." Hinata told her as she explained the situation.
"Hey wait...Can't I be one of Nii-san's girls? I like him too!" Sakura declared as she gave the Hyuuga girl one of the cutest pouts that she'd ever seen, Hanabi not withstanding.
Hinata couldn't resist giggling at the sight before she replied.
"Sakura-chan...You're too little for that! You might not be able to be his wife, but you will always have him as your Onii-chan, right?" Hinata answered her, making the little girl smile.
"I can live with that!" Sakura beamed with a huge smile. She really was different from before. She was a very shy and timid girl, but now she's more upbeat.
'It must be because of Naruto-kun...He bolstered her confidence with how he received her condition, seeing her as a kid sister instead of hating her. This really is for the best. She really was an adorable little girl. It just shows how corruptive the Uchiha's influence was.' Hinata thought as she entertained the child until Tsunade returned.
HOSPITAL LABS
Tsunade had just finished conducting the tests on Sakura's blood sample and found something odd. On a hunch, she tested the genomic sequences within the blood against another sample and was presented with a startling discovery.
"Naruto! Get in here!" She yelled.
Naruto came crashing through the door to the lab when he heard her call for him.
"Wh-What? What's wrong?" He exclaimed, looking around wildly.
"Come over here for a moment. There's something that you need to see and hear. You see, I thought there was something odd about Sakura's blood and it's sequencing, because it looked very familiar to me. I checked it against yours and your mothers DNA...and found that she had half of her allieles in common with you from her mother's side." Shizune explained.
She had explained minor genetics to him during her tutoring sessions with him during the month prior to the Chuunin Exams. Naruto understood what had she was trying to say...Sakura was a direct blood relation to himself...a cousin.
'A cousin? I was chasing after my COUSIN? SICK! BAD NARUTO!' Naruto blanched.
"Something wrong?" Tsunade asked with an amused smirk. She could see what his problem was clear as day.
"I can't believe I was in love with my own cousin for a while...Anyway, who was she related to?" Naruto asked.
"I did some tracing with a blood sample from her mother and found that her mother's side of the family were Uzumaki, more specifically her mother herself. She and your mother shared the same parents." Shizune told him without looking up from her microscope.
"So Chiaki-san...is my aunt?" Naruto asked, completely bewildered.
"Yes...She is. As you know, I myself am related to you by blood since my grandmother was an Uzumaki, so I knew what to look for. There's no doubting it. They are Uzumaki, just like you." Tsunade explained.
"But...Where did their pink hair come from?" Naruto asked.
"It was more than likely a genetic quirk, like my blond hair, since my neither of my parents had blond hair and neither did my grandparents. She is younger than your mother, so they may not have even known about it themselves. Uzu was destroyed when Kushina was younger than you and had been away for some time before that, so she may not have even known about her sister, or vice versa." The Blond Senju related to her Godson.
"But one question remains, Lady Tsunade...One of the Uzumaki traits is having massive chakra stores and hers were, well...pitiful." Shizune posed.
"Well...That might be due to her father's DNA. He's from a long line of civilians, so their chakra stores are severely under-developed. That would explain her chakra deficiency." Tsunade surmised.
"Think we should tell them?" Naruto asked.
"I think we should tell them together and ask Chiaki what she knows about her family." Tsunade suggested as they left to get Sakura.
EXAMINATION ROOM
Hinata was teaching Sakura to play Cat's Cradle when Tsunade, Shizune, and Naruto walked into the room. No sooner than Sakura saw him, she launched her tiny body at him like a pink missile, making the three females there chuckle slightly.
'Well...I guess it's a good thing she's so affectionate toward Naruto-kun. She IS related to him by blood...and to Lady Tsunade, too.' Shizune thought as Tonton lept hopped out of her grasp and made her way over to Sakura, sniffing her and making her backpedal.
"Don't be scared, Sakura-chan. Tonton just wants to say hello." Shizune coaxed.
Sakura extended a wary hand to the small pig who sniffed her intently as it hopped into her arms, oinking happily and nuzzling her. The little girl giggled in response as she cuddled the animal.
"I guess Tonton has a new friend." Tsunade mused with a grin as the door to the room opened up to reveal the other two brides-to-be, Raichi and Renka. Both of the girls had a bag of clothes apiece for the little girl.
"Oh! Hi One-chans!" Sakura greeted the newly entered pair.
"Sakura-chan...here! I went through some of the clothes I outgrew when I was your age and I think you'll like them!" Raichi told her as she pulled out a small white sundress with a matching barrette that Sakura was eyeing.
"Hey kiddo! I had some of my stuff stored at the Ryozanpaku after all thanks to papa, so I had some clothes for ya!" Renka added, pulling out a child sized Chinese style dress that looked like it would fit her perfectly.
"Ohhh...These would so cute on you!" Hinata gushed.
"That was really kind of you girls to do this." Shizune commented and praised as she looked at the clock. It was already getting late.
"We should really get her home. Her parents might be getting worried about her by now." The brown haired medic told the young ones.
"Is it really that late? Well, c'mon Sakura-chan! I'll get you home!" Naruto told his young relative, but was halted by Tsunade.
"Hold on there, gaki...Did you forget? I'm going with you." Tsunade told him before turning to the other girls.
"You all should head home...This is a family affair." She told the cryptically.
"Shizune...Go and tell Hayato that Naruto is with me. Meet me back at the house.
Naturally, it confused the hell out of them and of course they resisted at first, but a stern look from the Sannin was all that was required. She did say that they could leave their bags with Naruto and that he would deliver them for them. After a quick goodnight from each of them, Tsunade and Co. took of at a rapid clip for the Haruno residence.
HARUNO RESIDENCE
Tsunade and Naruto carrying Sakura arrived at the Haruno Household with breakneck speeds, eager to reunite missing pieces of their lost and shattered family. Tsunade walked up and knocked on the door herself.
Chiaki answered the door to find Tsunade standing there, Naruto holding her daughter on his back. It seemed as though she had fallen asleep on the way there. She quickly ushered them inside the house. Takato was working at that time as he always worked the late shift at the accounting offices.
"I guess my daughter really is attached to you, Naruto-kun." Chiaki joked as she removed the small girl from his back, tucking her into bed. She noticed the bags that his clones had dropped off at their doorstep.
"What are these, Naruto-kun?" She asked.
"Oh, uh...My fiancees thought that they would give Sakura-chan some of the clothes they wore when they were her age, since the clothes she has now are too big for her. Miu-onechan gave her the Gi and shorts to wear when I brought her to my place." Naruto told her.
"That was very kind of them to do. Please thank them for me and tell them that they are welcome here at any time." Chiaki thanked the young man as Tsunade cleared her throat, getting to business.
"Chiaki-san...Naruto and I...Have something you need to know about." Tsunade said, her serious tone beginning to scare her.
"Wh-what is it? Is there something wrong with her?" Chiaki asked with great alarm in her voice, her pale pink tresses flying.
"There's nothing wrong with her. She's a perfectly healthy little girl with a big appetite, but we found something odd in her blood. Shizune, my assistant, did some hereditary tracing based on her blood and yours...Tell me, what do you know about your family?" Tsunade asked.
"M-my family? Well, I was found in the orphanage as a baby, but I was adopted quickly by a civilian family. I went to the Academy and retired from service as a Chuunin after I met my husband. We got married, had Sakura, and that's pretty much the end of it. Why...Do you ask, Lady Tsunade?" The woman answered timidly.
"As I told you, we did some digging on a hunch and found whose family you belong to and you have a nephew that you've already met, along with being related to one of the founding clans, as well as a once close ally. Your real maiden name is Uzumaki. Your blood sister was Uzumaki Kushina, and by blood, my relative as well. I guess you can figure out who your nephew is." Tsunade smirked at her gobsmacked reaction.
"I'm...an Uzumaki?" She asked as she sank into the chair.
"Yes. Uzumaki Kushina was your elder sister, but since she left Uzu at such a young age, it's likely you were born soon after, since she never knew about you. Add in the fact that nearly all information and records were lost when Iwa destroyed Uzu, it was by no small miracle that you wound up at the Orphanage here in Konoha and and that's when you adoptive parents took you in. It's really kind of aggravating that we never saw the fact that you basically look like a pink haired version of her. Bottom line here is that you are related to the Senju and belong to the long thought dead Uzumaki clan, which now has two heirs, Naruto and his now younger cousin Sakura." Tsunade explained.
Chiaki was happy to have learned of her birth family and of her birthright, but was still pensive.
"But...What of the council? Once they catch wind of this, they will be sending wave after wave of suitors who are just after the clan name. They will want to turn her into breeding stock." Chiaki argued.
"Like hell I'll let that happen to my itoko. You two are my family, just like Hayato-jiisan, Miu-onechan, and Shigure-onechan. I'll kill off the entire council before I let that happen to her." Naruto vowed, his eyes glowing blood red for a brief moment.
"He's right. I know that Jiraiya will not let it happen. He will know, since is was Minato's sensei and Naruto-chan's Godfather, and so will Sarutobi-sensei. We will keep this a secret until you're ready to tell the world that the Uzumaki clan isn't dead yet." Tsunade assured her.
Chiaki seemed to calm down after Tsunade's reassurance. She knew that while he WAS a massive pervert, Jiraiya was actually quite moral and wouldn't dream of forcing Sakura through something as traumatic as being a baby making machine for the highest bidder. In fact, he highly frowned on such things. He chased after women, yes...but he would never force himself on them. On another front, she was wondering how she would tell her husband about this.
"I wonder how Takato will take this..." She wondered.
They didn't need to wonder for very long as the man in question slumped into the house, exhausted.
"I'm home..." He yawned, walking into the living room, finding his wife there along with Naruto and one of the ledgendary Sannin.
"Uhhh...What's going on here?" He asked nerviously.
"We have some rather...surprizing news to tell you. I hope that you will keep this in the strictest confidence, as will we." Tsunade told him, spooking him a bit.
"Nothing happened to Sakura, right?" He exclaimed.
"Easy there, Sakura-chan's fine! I tucked her into bed myself and Oba-san said she's healthy as can be." Naruto explained to calm him down.
"R-really? Okay, then..." He sighed in relief.
"What's going on, dear?" He asked his wife.
"Well...Uhm...Tsunade-sama and her assistant were running the standard tests on Sakura's blood when...they found something familiar. Did I ever tell you that I was adopted when I was a baby?" Chiaki told her husband, who looked dumbfounded.
"N-No...You didn't." He replied.
"Well, I was and I never knew about my blood relatives...until now." She said, taking a deep breath to continue.
"Tsunade-sama found common elements within mine and Sakura's blood that ties us to one of the founding clans of this village...as well as to Tsunade-sama herself and one more person. He's standing in this room now." She explained to him, trying to let him do the math himself.
"You're a...Senju?" He asked incredulously.
"No...But I'm related to them by blood. The other relative that's here now is Naruto-kun, my nephew." She replied.
"B-but...then...who was his mother?" He asked.
"That is the part that I was sworn to secrecy about. I've been authorized to tell you, since you technically married into the clan, but you have to keep this a secret. Our daughter's welfare is hanging inthe balance, as well as my nephew's. Hokage-sama will KILL you if you tell anyone else. Now...Promise me." Chiaki asked her husband forcefully, trying to convey just how serious the situation really was.
He hadn't seen her so serious and grave since her kunoichi days. Chiaki was a woman to be reckoned with back then and he knew that she was dead serious about this matter. The added grave looks from Tsunade and Naruto only added to the air of seriousness.
"I...I promise. I swear I won't tell a soul." Takato swore to his wife.
"I'll take over here, Chiaki." Tsunade spoke up, taking over the explainations.
"Most people today don't know this, but there was once a village called Uzushiogakure, that the Uzumaki clan hailed from, and were close allies with the Senju. So close, that a woman from that clan was married to the Shodaime Hokage, my Grandparents. A woman from that clan had been married to almost each Hokage, save the Sandaime and Godaime. Among them, was Uzumaki Kushina, wife of the Yondaime Hokage, the elder sister of your wife. As for what happened, from what we gathered, your wife is a few years younger than her sister, Kushina having come to this village when she was very young herself. Just mere months after she came here, Uzu was completely destroyed by a combined force from Iwa and Kumo. By some miracle, your wife was found alive and brought to the orphanage here as a baby, where she was adopted soon after. That explains why they never knew. As for her hair, the Uzumaki women are know for their red hair, but her's is pale pink. That is merely a genetic quirk. Take myself for example, neither of my parents or grandparents had blond hair, yet I do. The bottomline here is that Chiaki's maiden name is Uzumaki and Naruto here is her nephew. Since you have married outside of the family, he is the defacto Uzumaki clan head once we can restore it and he becomes a Jounin. Once that happens, you will be able to come out with the truth without the council's interference and meddling. This will include an alliance with the Senju, the Hyuuga, the Li and Ma families, as well as Ryouzanpaku. You stand to gain a lot of powerful friends and protection, provided you keep your silence." The blond Sannin explained to him.
'This is crazy! Even worse...What Tsunade-sama said made more sense than I thought it would...Nobody knew anything about her real parents, even her adopted parents didn't know anything. They always say that blood never lies...' He thought as he mentally poured over the information he just learned.
"Hey...I know I'm just beating a dead horse here, but you need to keep this quiet, okay? I don't want to have to silence you, since I just found out that you're my uncle and Sakura-chan is my cousin. I don't want to make her cry, but I'll do what I have to do to protect my family." The young Chuunin told the full grown man, his voice and crystal blue eyes as hard as the strongest steel.
"I...I understand, Naruto-san. I, too, will do what it takes to defend my family. I may not be a shinobi or know how to fight, but I'll do anything to protect them." Takato responded to his declaration.
Naruto and Tsunade grinned to each other and nodded.
"Welcome to the family." Tsunade told him as they continued to go over the finer points of everything that had occured.
"Well, we should really be going. I need to inform Jiraiya and Sensei, while Naruto needs to tell the masters and his greatuncle the news." Tsunade informed them as they vanished in a swirl of leaves.
A/N: Well...Here's yet another chapter. For all of those who don't like this...DON'T READ IT. I simply exploited another of canon's gaping plot holes and made it my bitch, as any author worth their salt should be able to pull off. Any good professional author uses these types of plot hooks to keep things from getting too stale and I felt that this was a good twist. Sakura isn't in the harem, especially now that she has turned out to be his first cousin. I felt that with so many plot holes and that Nagato turned out to be an Uzumaki, I figured that it would be possible for there to be more unknown Uzumaki out there. Tsunade and Shizune are more than capable of analyzing her DNA and Tsunade would recognise anything familiar, since the Uzumaki and the Senju bloodlines have mixed like they have in her. Remember that her grandmother was an Uzumaki. That is a direct relation.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings and justifications. I know that his fiancees haven't gotten much in the way of screen time, but they will have their moments soon. There is just more family business to attend to. Don't worry about me abandoning this or any of my fics without warning, because I hate it when people do that to a good fic. I'll inform you all if something that dire arises.
Adieu...