Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 5

Meeting Acquaintances

Naruto walked down the street in automatic as his mind churned with confusion. What had happen to Iruka? Iruka loved to teach and he never thought he would see the day that his favorite teacher quit teaching. There was no other explanation for it since he couldn't see another reason for Iruka not to be at the academy. But what caused him to quit teaching? Was it his own death that prompted the chunin to go do something else? Or was it something much worse such as a crippling wound that made him unable to continue teaching. It worried him much.

He thought of possible ways of were Iruka could be now. He knew for sure that Iruka wasn't dead since Upstairs would have informed him. Perhaps the chunin moved up in ranks and now works as a jounin instructor. It would fit his teaching persona. If that was it, why didn't he see him at the hokage's mission office to receive a mission? Well, it was pretty early in the morning despite Iruka's thing for being on time. He could of just missed Iruka coming in as he left the building. If he didn't find anything today on Iruka; he could simply break into the hokage's office tonight to find the needed information. Yeah, that's a good plan. Break into the hokage's office tonight.

Naruto pulled out his notebook and jotted down the plan. This could also work on seeing the security inside the building though he didn't think it would be much since even during his life he could break into the office during his own genin exam. Setting the plan aside for now; Naruto continued down the street and watched the villagers.

He could definitely tell that the village was undergoing war from the looks on everyone's faces. Very few people were smiling and most were looking at everyone else in a thin disguise of suspicion. Buildings were looking haggard as money was diverted from repairs to war plans. He found a lot of stands selling more weaponry than what was conventional in a ninja village. He barely heard laughter and even then it was a harsh, bitter laughter. He soon hurried out of that disheartening street and continued down another that lead to a park.

There he found a few children playing with watchful parents nearby. Seeing some of children reminded Naruto of the demand that he get married and so he decided to go check out some of the local females for prospective wives. He walked over to some bushes and quickly shifted himself into his thirteen year old body while henging his fox appendages away. He was curious to see if anyone would notice a formal genin back from the dead. Plus, he could actually gauge what a female was really like if he disguised himself as a child. He noticed over the years that females tend to let their guard down around young teenagers and children.

Properly disguised but this time wearing a simple outfit of a black t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers; Naruto stepped out of the bushes and meander towards some children to ask if they had any older sisters. He was soon distracted from his goal when he spotted a group of four young teens picking on a little boy under a tree.

He quickly ran up to the group to see why they were doing this. The boy being picked on had dark tan skin and chocolate brown eyes. His dark purple hair was pulled up into a short, bushy pony tail that reminded Naruto of a pineapple. Dressed in a white t-shirt and blue shorts; Naruto could see some blood spilt on the shirt from a bloody nose and a black eye forming around an eye. He notice that the little boy was only four years old and that got him angry. Without warning, he attacked.

He booted on one teenager hard in the back that caused the teenager to fall to the ground hard. The teenager's friends noticed his assault and one yelled:

"Why are you attacking us!"

"Because you're attacking a defenseless little four year old!" Naruto retorted as he swung his hand hard into one of the teenager's face. He felt a satisfying crunch as he broke his nose. He then swept his foot under the guy and kicked his feet off under him. Another teenager cried out:

"But this kid's mother is ..oof!" He couldn't finish as Naruto quickly ran to him and punched him hard in the gut. He pulled his arm away and brought both hands clasped together down onto the teenager's back. The guy hit the ground hard and remained there.
Naruto turned to face the last teenager and said:

"I don't care who the kid's mother is. She could be Orochimaru for all I care but you don't attack children when I'm around." Saying that, Naruto quickly ran to the last guy and swung his leg hard into the guy's chest. The fellow immediately went flying and hit the tree they were under. He was immediately knocked out.

Snorting in disgust and distaste at the actions of the village boys, Naruto walked up to the little boy who was at that moment watching him in awe. He knelt down and examined the boy briefly to see if there was any broken bones. Seeing nothing too bad except the bloody nose and black eye; Naruto offered his hand to the little boy while saying:

"Hello there, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. What's yours?"

"That's so cool! We have the same name! Mine's Naruto Umino!" The boy exclaimed in wonder.

Naruto had to bite back a swear word when he heard this. Naruto Umino? Wasn't Umino the last name of Iruka? This would mean that he just saved his teacher's kid unwittingly. When did Iruka get married? Cause he seriously didn't remember Iruka seeing anyone when he was alive. The fact that the kid was only four years old meant that Iruka had him three years after his death. Why did Iruka name his kid after him? Did Iruka love him that much as son or little brother? He always did see Iruka as an elder brother looking out for him. It cheered Naruto immensely to find out that someone in the village definitely missed him when he died. Now to the question at hand, who did Iruka marry that would cause a stir among the villagers to hate his son.

He smiled at Iruka's son and helped the boy up. He asked:

"Whose your mom kid?"

"She's Mom." little Naruto replied innocently. Elder Naruto slapped his hand to his face over the kid's answer and gave a small sigh of frustration. Rubbing his temples, he asked:

"I meant what is your mother's name."

"Oh! I don't know. I've always known her as Mom."

"What does your father call her?"

"Well," little Naruto thought with his face scrunched up cutely, "I always hear Dad call her Dear or Honey."

'This is getting me nowhere' Elder Naruto thought to himself. He dug through his pockets to bring out a cloth and started to wipe some of the younger Naruto's blood of his face. A part of him kicked himself in knowing so few of healing arts since his body regenerated very fast. He kind of wished that he took up on the offers of healing arts from his third wife back then so he could heal Iruka's child's black eye. Cleaning the last of the blood of the child's face who oddly stayed still as he did so; he stuck the clothe back in his pocket for later and turned around to offer a piggyback rid to the kid.

"Hop on kid. I'll take you to your mother. She must be worried about you."

"Thanks Naruto!" He chirped as he climbed aboard the elder Naruto's back. After he was on top of Elder Naruto's shoulders; N. Uzumaki stood up and started to walk away from the scene with N. Umino. Uzumaki decided to forgo questioning Umino about his mother since the child didn't seem to know anything at all. He could probably get his answers by simply returning him to his mother. He asked:

"Where did you last see your mother?"

"Umm.. I last saw her near the sandbox. She was letting me be by myself for a few minutes while she went to get a snack. The bullies came after me as soon as she left out of sight. No one tried to stop them." he finished glumly.

"Hey don't be sad." Uzumaki tried to cheer him up. "I came to help you and will make sure that you are returned to your mother safely."

"Really?"

"Uh huh, it's a promise!" Uzumaki smiled widely at the kid and walked in the direction towards the sandbox. He decided to distract the boy from that topic by asking: "So what are you going to be when you grow up?"

"I want to be a great ninja like mom and dad!" Umino cried out happily.

"Oh, is that so? Well I certainly believe you can do it if your father is who I think he is."

"You know my dad?"

"Is his name Iruka?"

"Yup, that's his name! How did you know him?"

"Well, he use to be my old teacher long ago." Uzumaki figured the kid wouldn't question him on that since the child's four and probably isn't a good gauge on age yet.

"Wow, my daddy taught you? What was it like?"

Uzumaki laughed and began to tell the child stories of his escapades with Iruka and the pranks he performed on him. Umino showed his appreciation by laughing a lot at his father's reactions, though he did protest over the meaning of Iruka's reaction to Uzumaki's Sexy technique. Soon they arrived at the sandbox and Uzumaki had Umino look around for his mother. Little Naruto look around from the top of Elder Naruto's shoulders and soon pointed behind while crying out:

"Mom! She right behind you." He bounced a little on Uzumaki's shoulders in anticipation. Elder Naruto turned around to see a sight he never thought to see in a thousand years.

The woman standing behind them that Umino called mom was no one else but Anko; who was wearing a yellow maternity dress since she was six months pregnant. He never thought he would see her in a maternity dress. He still remembered the outfit she wore during the second part of the chunin exam; a combo of fishnets and miniskirts. How in the world did Iruka hook up with her? He wondered if Anko could recognize him from the chunin exam and looked in her eyes. He immediately knew from the look in her face that she knew him and knows that he's suppose to be dead.

Naruto started to sweat nervously. He remembered her reaction to his goofing around with the introduction to the forest of death. Pregnant or not, she was still a ninja and could very well try to kill him for holding her son. Anko's face gave a devilish sweet face and asked in a sarcastic voice: "Long time no see Naruto Uzumaki. What brings you here today and with my son?"

Oh boy, she sounded mad at the last part. Naruto gave a nervous grin and carefully brought the child off his shoulders. He held him out to her and Anko swiftly grabbed little Naruto out of his hands. She placed him behind her and immediately brought out a knife from the folds of her maternity dress. Naruto started to back away from her slowly.

"Before I pin you to the ground, answer me this." Anko hiss out in anger. "Why did you take the form of my husband's favorite little brother?"

"Well," Naruto began while holding his hands out in a placating manner. "It's kind of a complicated manner. This is a form I'm comfortable in."

"Wrong answer!" she yelled and flung the knife hard at him.

Naruto gave a yip in surprise as the knife nicked the edges of his cheek like she did last time at the chunin exam. His concentration on the henge over his fox appendages wavered and the henge disappeared. The area surrounding him went stock still at the sight of them. Naruto gave a nervous laugh and turn tail to run while hurriedly say:

"SorrythatIcouldnotstayandchatbutIgottobegoing" At these words the world erupted in all sorts of weapons and jutsu fired on him. Naruto narrowly dodged them and quickly shifted to a small nine tail orange fox version of himself to make a smaller target. He made sure to lead the adults away from the children in the park and made a line towards a nearby woods.

Dodge left, right, jump up, roll aside to be missed by knives. Naruto ran as quickly as he could to the woods to make his getaway. He didn't want to unleash any of his attacks on the ninja since they were acting in the correct manner for the situation. Unfortunately, the ninja parents manage to surround him and cut off his escape to the woods. Naruto looked around for a way to escape and seeing no other way, decided to perform a famous technique from Konoha.

"Flying thunder God Technique!" He cried out as his tails writhed in complicated ways. A bright orange flash was produce and he was gone from the scene. The ninja's who had surrounded him muttered in fear and wonder as some headed off to the hokage tower to report the incident. Anko was looking over her son and asked him if anything was done to him.

"It was strange Mom." Naruto Umino said to his mother in a serious tone. "He rescued me from the bullies even though it is well known that trying to beat me up is a bad idea and I can take care of myself. He didn't know that you are married to dad and he didn't know that dad was married. He was surprised to hear who my father was."

"Hmm, that is odd. My marriage to your father is well known and so is you birth and intelligence."

"It gets more interesting. He didn't notice my avoidance in saying your name and he knew a number of stories that dad told me about my namesake Naruto. He even told me about the old Sexy technique story."

"Well, the real Naruto Uzumaki exploits are well known. What worries me is that the guy sprouted fox appendages when I nicked his cheek and finally turned into a nine tail fox." Anko said in a worried tone as memories of a fox's rage sprang up in her mind. She grasped her son's hand and quickly headed off to the hokage tower to report her side of the incident.

A/N: I know that some people were wanting an Anko/Naruto pairing but I already had her planned with Iruka. I always liked the pairing. Yeah, I know, cliche' Anyway the next few chapters are basically Naruto meeting up with old friends and new and seeing their reactions. I know the Flying Thunder God technique requires him throwing a special knife (By the way, what are the knives called in Naruto world?) but I figured Naruto could of altered the techinique were he simply has special markers planted all over that he can summon himself to. (Umm, what was the technique called in Japonese? Could anyone tell me that and did I get a correct translation of it? I haven't seen the technique performed in the anime or manga yet.) I hope that the chapter was enjoyable. Please review!

Savanor