AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry guys. I absolutely have no excuse whatsoever for being late. But, throughout this month absence, I found another beta-reader by the username Yuna the Ninja (go check out their profile). Once again, sorry for the absence, and enjoy!
One month quickly flew by from the time Naruto took temporary custody of Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko.
"C'mon, nee-chan! Teach us something worthwhile for once!" Yahiko complained.
Naruto had her scrolls parched out all over the floor, writing delicate characters on the parchments. The boy's sudden whining caused her to accidently knock over the black ink, carelessly staining the bamboo floor.
Naruto snapped her bamboo brush in half. She got up and stalked towards Yahiko with a glare, causing him to cringe back with fear. "Yahiko," Naruto growled in a low voice, "shut up."
The orange haired boy gaped but did not have enough courage to talk back. Naruto smirked in triumph and looked down at the ex-Ame boy.
Konan and Nagato sighed as they watched the scene unfurl itself. However, both smiled when they reminisced back to the days they began staying in Naruto's apartment.
One month before the present time, when Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan first entered the small but homely apartment, Naruto had been thoughtfully kind to them. For all three children, it was the first time in years taking shelter inside an actual home instead of a cave or alleyway.
The first thing that came out of Yahiko's mouth after seeing through the apartment had been a single phrase,"Hey, Nee-chan, would it be rude to ask if you got some food around this place?"
"Yahiko, be polite." Konan quickly reprimanded the boy.
Yahiko laughed sheepishly and slightly bowed his head down towards Naruto, who took it in surprise. The orange-haired boy muttered, "Sorry, umm..."
Naruto widened her eyes in surprise. "Oh, no, it's fine," her eyes softened. "and it's only natural to be hungry after travelling all the way from Ame."
Yahiko's eyes gleamed in joy at the prospect of finally filling their stomachs with something.
She grinned foxily at the children. "Oh, by the way, my name's Naruto."
After that day, the blond guardian's compassionate attitude towards the children had steadily changed the kids throughout the month, as she had gotten closer to them. Now, Yahiko was tolerably loud, albeit barely, Konan was just like the little sister Naruto never had, and Nagato was finally starting to open up to her.
Soon after Naruto had met the three children, she came to learn more about the three children's personalities. The self-proclaimed leader of the three-person group had grown into an extremely obnoxious and loud child, even more so than when they had first met. Surprisingly though, Yahiko was intelligent, which showed in the way he spoke to others when he used complex vocabulary that most kids his age didn't even know, but this side of him was seldom shown.
Konan was both kind and gentle to both the boys she had grown up with. She had the politeness of a princess but the personality of steel when it came to protecting her friends. The indigo-haired girl was the type to never leave behind her comrades and friends—the solid traits a Konoha shinobi should have.
Nagato was a wholeheartedly honest person. This became painfully obvious when he opened his mouth to speak. He wasn't afraid of speaking his mind, even to his superiors. He was the type of person who would stride to the direction he felt was right. Like Konan, Nagato shared the trait to be like a person who never strayed away from his comrades and friends.
All children had extremely exceptional personalities and traits. They were all very intelligent in their own ways, causing Naruto to believe that they would surely become prodigies in the future (even if Naruto already knew that all three orphans would become S-rank ninjas).
It was two weeks later when the three Ame orphans grew on Naruto. The children had just started to call her "nee-chan" by then. It was then the kids and Naruto had stopped being formal with each other. The reason for all four's relationship to grow closer was none other then training, something that Yahiko convinced Naruto to do with his incessant pestering.
The training itself wasn't anything extravagant; Naruto usually gave the kids a simple E-ranked jutsu or taught them the basics of properly holding and throwing a kunai or shuriken. The blond jinchuuriki tried her best to give the mini training sessions every afternoon, always freeing up her schedule to fit the three children's training regime.
This agenda had been going on for a month.
Now, Naruto and Yahiko were so comfortable with each other's presence that they bantered very often, while Konan and Nagato watched the duo with an amused grin.
"It's nice here, huh?" Konan slightly nudged Nagato's shoulder.
"Sure is," the redhead replied quietly.
The indigo-haired girl turned her head to face Nagato, who had a small but genuine smile on his face. Her content smile suddenly faded away at seeing the boy's face, and a visible frown marred her delicate features.
"Why is it that your hair always covers your eyes, Nagato?" She suddenly inquired.
"My hair?" Nagato inquired worryingly.
Konan nodded and raised her hand to move away the hair away from his eyes. The boy bit his lips in panic as he desperately searched for a way to get out of this situation. "Umm, Konan, I-"
"Okay kids, help me clean up!" Naruto called out commandingly.
Nagato breathed out a sigh of relief. Konan's attention was broken from Nagato as she smiled widely and called out to her sister figure, "Okay, Nee-chan!"
Aww, can't you just make 'em clone thingies, Nee-chan?" Yagato whined. The orange-haired boy had a stubborn look on his face while he crossed his arms on his chest.
Naruto shook her head. "No can do. I promised my past sensei that I won't make clones for stupid reasons like doing my chores for me. I'm only ever going to summon them for battles or special cases." She sighed wistfully at the thought of Kakashi,"Now, I understand why Sensei told me to promise him. I would've gotten lazy and that could hold me down on the battle field."
"Argh. Finneee!" Yahiko trudged to pick up the papers on the floor.
Then, a slight knocking noise was heard from the window. "Hmm?" Naruto paused midway from wiping the dishes dry. The children had not seemed to notice, too busy doing their own chore.
"I'm heading out for a while, Guys."
Yahiko threw an accusing finger. "But, Nee-chan! What abou-"
His voice was drowned out when Naruto closed her front door shut.
"Naruto-san."
"Tadashi-kun?" Naruto raised a golden eyebrow.
Fugaku nodded as he heard his code name. "Yes. I'm here to escort you to the Hokage's office. You were summoned by Hokage-sama."
"Sure," the Kyuubi jinchuuriki couldn't fully mask the uneasiness in her voice. 'So the Uchiha are still on to me, huh? They've done a good job hiding their chakra from me, dattebayo.' She must have been too distracted to notice this during the past month due to the three children in her apartment.
"Just wait a bit," Naruto said to Tadashi.
The blond came back inside and caught the children's attention. "Guys, scratch what I said before. I'm gonna head out for more than a while. While I'm gone, please try not to break anything," she then looked at Yahiko. "and I'm talking to you, Yahiko."
Naruto looked at Nagato and mentally nodded to herself.
And once again, before Yahiko was able to retort, Naruto effectively cut him off by slamming her door shut.
The Hokage sat silently on his seat as he quietly waited for Fugaku to bring Naruto to his office. Just as his hand was about to touch a certain orange book hidden in his drawer, a small knock on the door was heard.
"Come in," the Sandaime said in a nonchalant tone, while withdrawing his hand in a speed worthy of his hokage title.
The whiskered blonde entered and stood in the center of the Hokage's office. "You called, Hokage-sama?" Even to this day, the feeling was foreign as Naruto was still trying to get used to saying "Hokage-sama" instead of yelling out "Jiji" and running to hug the old man.
Hiruzen relaxed his face, smoothing out his faint, but surely forming, wrinkles. "Naruto-san." He looked her in the eyes before handing her a small yellow envelop.
Naruto took the envelope and gave Hiruzen an inquisitive gaze. "That's your paycheck, Naruto-san, it's about three-thousand ryo." He puffed smoke out from his pipe. "You still have two months of labor left."
"Hokage-sama..." Naruto glanced at the envelope in her hands. Then she looked at the aging man again, raising both her eyebrows to show her surprise. "But I thought that I wouldn't able to get money cause I still needed to pay for the destruction of Konoha property…"
Another whiff of smoke blew out from Hiruzen's pipe, causing the smell of tobacco to thicken. The Sandaime then shook his head with a straight face. "Just think of it as a gift for taking care of the children."
Now that she thought about, the kids were sucking up a lot of her savings—especially Yahiko. He almost had an appetite as big as hers with ramen when it came to dango.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, Naruto smiled thankfully to her Hokage.
"If that's all set, then I guess you dismissed, Naruto-san."
Naruto's once cheerful face slowly morphed into a serious one. "A moment please, Hokage-sama."
"Hm?" The Hokage blew out another puff of smoke from his pipe.
"May I speak to you in private? With none of the…operatives listening in. " Naruto spoke in a hushed tone.
Hiruzen blinked. 'So she can even feel my ANBU's presence. Quite a talented girl, that one.' He decided to comply to Naruto's request and dismissed his ANBU guards with a single chakra flare.
Leaning back on his leather chair, the Sandaime looked straight into Naruto's eyes, signaling her to proceed.
The blonde was still uncertain on whether telling the man would be a good idea, but steeled her resolve once again and began speaking. "This matter is about one of the children that I am taking temporary custody of—namely Nagato-kun. He's the one with red hair."
Adverting his eyes for a moment to look at his papers, Hiruzen finally recalled the boy from Ame. What could have possibly happened about Nagato to instigate a serious conversation like this?
Naruto didn't waste any time meandering around, and went straight to the point. "Nagato holds one of the most powerful doujutsu known to man in the shinobi world—the Rinnegan."
Even though he was the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen could not help but clearly show his shock by dropping his pipe from his mouth while he gaped. How wouldn't one have the same expression as he?
The Rinnegan was like a myth, as was the doujutsu's last known user—The Sage of Six Paths. The man was only able to regain his calm when he breathed in another few puffs from his pipe. A small drop of sweat formed on Hiruzen left temple. "Have you seen Nagato-kun's Rinnegan before?"
The current Hokage still couldn't trust the blonde's words, or rather the blonde herself. And for her to suddenly approach him with such an absurd piece of information…He sighed in the pipe, causing smoke to flitter in the room again.
Naruto's voice retained the deadly serious tone when she replied without a moment of hesitation. "Yes, I have." She half-lied, but technically speaking, Naruto did see Nagato's Rinnegan back when she was in her original timeline.
Hiruzen was shocked once again at the woman's confidant proclamation, but kept his head and stubbornly said, "How can you be for sure that Nagato-kun possesses the legendary Rinnegan? As far as I know, the Rinnegan wasn't seen for at least several decades." He continued pressing the woman. "The Rinnegan depicted in most books vary and is most likely to be false."
'The old man is still as stubborn as even, dattebayo!' Naruto barely stopped herself from twitching her eye. "Trust me, Hokage-sama, when I was still in the academy, I never picked up any of those dumb, complicated textbooks 'cause I never had the money to buy them to begin with." The Hokage raised a single brow at the unexpected revelation.
Naruto continued, undeterred. "But what I can do is describe Nagato-kun's Rinnegan." Again, the Sandaime could not help but feel a bit anxious when hearing about the Rinnegan's naked appearance. "His Rinnegan is light purple in color and looks like a target with four surrounding circled rows ascending from his pupils."
The Sandaime widened both his eyes in surprise. It was beyond belief. That was, in fact, exactly how the Rinnegan was supposed to look like, based on ancient books and scrolls in the Hokage's library. So unless the girl was somehow able to access the book, which was extremely unlikely even with her prowess, Nagato's Rinnegan was most likely to be true. However, the aging man couldn't help but think that this was a bit too far fetched.
But, as for now, Hiruzen had no choice but to believe her.
"Naruto-san, I'm still a bit iffy on this subject."
"Naturally," Naruto straight face gave no sign of emotion.
"So, that means I need more proof." He breathed in the smoke smoking from his pipe. "And they do say 'seeing is believing.' "
Naruto nodded her head. "I understand, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen nodded back. "You can come here anytime tomorrow. You are dismissed now, Naruto-san."
The blonde curtly bowed and exited the room.
Upon entering her home, Naruto shouted out, "I'm home!" She came inside, attracting all three kids. "Lookie, moola!"
"Money?" Yahiko questioned with stars in his eyes. He tried to touch the envelope in her hands.
"Sorry Yahiko," she held the envelope out of his reach, "but I'm not wasting my hard-earned money on dango."
Yahiko deflated immediately at the sound of that.
Konan giggled lightly and comforted Yahiko with a pat on his shoulder. "Hey, Nee-chan, what will it be used for then?" Konan asked.
The blonde looked at the younger girl and cocked her head sideways. "I dunno, ramen?"
"Hey! That's the same thing as spending money on dango, only dango being better is the difference." Yahiko sheltered a smug look on his face.
A flick met Yahiko's face from the irate Naruto.
"Ouch!" The orangehead held his nose gently in his palms while trying not to glare at the now-smug face of Naruto.
"I was just kidding, kiddos. I'm going to save up the money for when we may need it." Naruto nodded to herself.
"Then, if it's not to rude to ask, how much money did you get?" Yahiko asked, curious.
"Why are you acting so polite now?" Naruto narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"You're being so rude and nosy, Yahiko-kun," Konan added.
Yahiko rolled his eyes and put his left arm around Nagato's shoulder. "Nagato, you wanna know too, right?"
"Huh? Know what?" Nagato asked back, snapping out of his dazed state.
Three pairs of eyes were now set on the bewildered redhead. "I'm sorr-"
"Nagato," Naruto said. She decided to cut off her conversation with the other two kids and focus on Nagato.
"Yes, Nee-chan?"
"I need to speak to you for a moment, privately."
The boy nodded quietly and followed the woman towards the door.
The remaining kids' curiosity peaked to a dangerous degree, leading them to stalk the duo out the door. "What do you think Nee-chan needs to talk to Nagato-kun about?" Konan whispered.
Yahiko gaped. Had Konan just asked that? Wasn't being nosy and impolite not in Konan's book? "Konan, is there somethin' the matter with you today?"
Konan frown, now getting what Yahiko was thinking about. "Just forget that I asked, Yahiko-chan."
"Yahiko-chan? Konan, that's girly!" The orangehead whined childishly.
"Huh? Where did they go?" Konan poked her head out the door and frantically searched, but they were already long gone.
Naruto sighed as she activated privacy seals around the room where she and Nagato were in. It was inevitable that both Yahiko and Konan were going to be curious about a secret prohibited to them. Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to single the boy out in such an obvious way.
"You've been spacing out a lot on us today, Nagato-kun."
He looked up to her from behind his hair, which was still hiding his eyes from view.
Then, the blond's eyes landed on the smaller boy as she ruffled his hair playfully. Almost instincively, Nagato raised his hand to fix his hair back over his eyes. Naruto stopped the boy by holding his wrist. "Nagato, it's okay. It's fine. I know why you're trying so hard to hide your eyes."
Nagato's face paled instantly at her words, and his now-visible eyes were wide, clearly showing the ringed pattern of his Rinnegan.
Walking backwards, Naruto came to a halt as she felt the solid wall behind her. She then slumped down, sliding her back on the wall into a sitting position.
Nagato did not know what to do then until his blond guardian pointed to the floor as a sign to sit down. He complied with her speechless command.
In a soothing voice, Naruto asked the redhead, "Would you mind sharing?"
Five minuets passed without anyone saying anything. Finally, knitting his eyebrows, Nagato began speaking tentatively. "I k-killed with these eyes."
Naruto nodded her head with a sympathetic look in her eyes. She had already known of Nagato's past because of Jiraiya, but didn't say anything because she wanted the boy to get his tragic past off his chest.
Nagato anxiously glanced at the woman before continuing. "Just when the war started, my-my mama and papa and I chose to stay in the village. It was actually a big mistake because shinobi taking part of the war went into people's homes and took everything, including people's lives."
Seeing the tears forming on Nagato's eyes, Naruto raised a hand to console the boy, but stopped herself from doing so. That could come after this was over.
Nagato's purple orbs gleamed as the light coming from the window shone on his eyes.
"They happened to come to the house where we lived in and my papa and mama attacked the intruders." Naruto's mouth formed a firm line when she realized what was coming next. "My parents died by the shinobi's hand. I-I didn't know my eyes became like this right before I killed the shinobi."
His words became jumbled. "I-but I didn't mea-n to kill 'em." Even as the tears fell incessantly, Nagato adverted his eyes away from Naruto's, not wanting see her pitying eyes.
However, when his gaze laid on the Konoha symbol on a poster Naruto had, something mentally hit him like a ton of bricks. His eyes widened as he came to a single realization—wasn't it Konoha shinobi who he killed?
A sense of dread and anger thundered through Nagato's being. Konoha—the shinobi he killed was from Konoha. His stomach dropped as he squeezed his eyes shut to try to keep his tears at bay. However, this action came in vain as wet, hot tears came pouring even more uncontrollably than before.
The light that seemed to encase Konoha when Nagato first came to the shinobi village disappeared, being replaced with a dark gloom instead. He screamed at the top of his lungs, unable to handle the dread any longer.
Naruto sighed, mentally patting herself on the back for putting up the privacy seals in her room. She knitted her golden brows together and took the ten-year-old into her arms
And slowly, Nagato's cries turned into whimpers, which then turned into sniffles.
Smiling softly to herself, Naruto's familial embrace for the younger child tightened as she whispered, "Do you have something else to tell me, Nagato-kun?"
His sniffled some more. "Ne-nee-chan?"
"Yes?"
"They were Konoha shinobi." He whimpered and buried his head on the blonde's shoulder.
"Ko-konoha shinobi?" She stuttered in shock. That complicated things a little. It wouldn't do for him to harbor too much hate for the village. Naruto almost hesitated to ask the following question. "Does this…give you a different opinion on Konoha?"
The redhead paused. "Yeah."
Naruto feared for the worst. "Do you want to leave now?"
Tears came cascading from Nagato's orbs again. Naruto hugged the boy closer to her again, and soothingly rubbed his back to comfort the boy.
"N-no." He whimpered pitifully. "I feel like I'm in the middle, Nee-chan. I hate the village for killing my parents, but I feel guilty for killing the village's shinobi."
"Nagato, I'm very sorry for what happened to you." She paused briefly. "However, I think that you already have your life set with both Yahiko and Konan who have been with you throughout this war. You're not planning on leaving those two alone, are you?"
Nagato widened his eyes in realization. Yahiko and Konan never parted from him after that fateful day. They both have been his angels who saved him when he was about to die. "Your-you're right, Nee-chan." He whispered almost inaudibly.
Yahiko and Konan was his family and now, he also had Naruto as his Nee-chan. He smiled at his thoughts. It was a great feeling to know that his family was so close to him, never drifting away.
Naruto let go of the boy and patted the top of his head. "I'm not telling you to do it right this moment, but promise me to at least try to forgive Konoha, even if it's just a little." She smiled lovingly as she peered into his glowing eyes. "I'm not saying that you must forgive and forget. But just don't get ballistic and become an avenger—I know all too well that that never goes right."
Nagato hugged his sisterly figure and spoke in a hoarse tone. "I promise."
"I don't believe this," the Sandaime groaned as he massaged his forehead.
It seemed that Naruto wasn't lying at all when she said that Nagato possessed the legendary Rinnegan.
Several times now, Hiruzen had tried to dispel what he thought was a genjutsu, in many different ways, too. Despite having said, "seeing is believing," Hiruzen still could not believe that the little boy possessed the natural phenomenon called the Rinnegan.
Could it be that Nagato was a direct descendant of the Sage of Six Paths? Hiruzen nodded to himself mentally as that could be a possibility. He couldn't say anything for sure though, as barely anything was known about the eyes.
On the other side of the room, Naruto smirked amusedly. The old jiji must be having a mental breakdown right now. Served him right for doubting her until the very last moment.
Nagato, however, just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, fidgeting in the presence of the most powerful man in Konoha.
His head perked up at the sound of the Sandaime's voice. "Nagato-kun, may I see your eyes a bit closely?"
Nagato felt hesitant to accept the Hokage's request due to his still lingering thoughts from when he confessed to Naruto the other day, but complied with it nonetheless.
Walking behind the desk and next to the Hokage, Nagato held his fringe up for the Hokage to look.
The Sandaime scrutinized the boy's eyes and sighed. He could feel chakra powerfully radiating off the eyes. The purple gleam reminded the Hokage of the Hyūga and their Byakugan, though this was obviously much more potent and powerful.
The man mulled over a few things for a moment, and called out to the secretary who was waiting just outside the door. He then gave an order to the woman in a hushed tone so that the others couldn't hear anything. She nodded and swiftly left the room.
After several minuets, the same secretary came back with a small container in her hands. The secretary gave the small container to the Hokage and bowed to him before she left his office.
"Naruto-san, can you come here?" The Sarutobi ordered.
She nodded and walked to his desk.
Just in case, I got Nagato some contacts so that he can hide his Rinnegan. Surely, if one were to find out of Nagato-kun's gift, chaos would arise. We absolutely cannot let the council know, especially the civilians' side."
Naruto grimaced at the thought of the dreaded council. "That's a great idea, Hokage-sama!"
Hiruzen nodded. "These contacts here are special. The Hyūga use them to hide their Bayakugan during missions that require them to be undercover or infiltration. But, because normal contacts can only change one's eye color, they will be useless to the Byakugan users because they are both without pupils and their eyes are all through the same color as Nagato-kun's Rinnegan."
Naruto nodded at what the Sandaime explained to her. He continued. "With these special contacts, they are protected with chakra and cover the full visible eye, making Nagato's natural Rinnegan eyes appear to look like a civilian's, Naruto-san."
"That'll be very useful in the future," Naruto thought out loud.
"Indeed it will be."
"How much can I get them for?"
Hiruzen looked surprised. "How much? What are you saying? I'm giving this to you."
"Really? Free of charge?" Naruto perked up.
"Free of charge," Hiruzen repeated.
And Naruto smiled and bowed to him. 'Thanks for always looking out for me, Old Man.'
Putting on Nagato's contacts was an easy task that had the end result of Nagato having blue eyes that clashed with his crimson hair. However, the look fit Nagato like a glove.
Now, Nagato's bangs were positioned to the side, making him look gorgeous.
Naruto smiled, feeling as if she was even closer with Nagato now then before. The smile on Naruto's face grew as she remembered that there were two other kids waiting for her at home.
Occupied by her thoughts, Naruto narrowly prevented herself from bumping into someone. "Sorry," she apologized.
"Hm? Is that you, Naruto-san?" A voice came from behind Nagato and Naruto.
'That voice…' She turned around and mentally groaned. It just had to coincidentally be Hatake Sakumo whom she nearly bumped into. Then without looking back at him, Naruto said,"Actually, I take back what I just said."
Sakumo had an amused look on his face as he concealed his laughter by somewhat coughing.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, with faux cheerfulness.
"Oh, I'm getting my first mission after my month-long break. " Sakumo replied with a smile.
This peaked her interest. She didn't have a proper mission in ages. "What's this mission about?"
"Confidential." was Sakumo's simple reply. He then asked, "Did you just come from the Hokage's office?"
"Yup."
"Is it because you got in trouble again?" He asked with the mask of innocence.
Naruto blinked once, and then blinked again. Oh, so that was why she did not like the elder Hatake; he constantly found a way to get on her nerves. "To clarify, Hatake, it was actually your fault that I slipped."
Sakumo shook his head and replied sagely. "But was it I who physically slipped and knocked down like twenty, fifty-ton shelves?"
Naruto narrowed her eyes. Sakumo was excessively sarcastic and exaggerated. She glared at the man, who only smiled back pleasantly.
"Watch your back, Hatake. 'Cause you never know when your hair will fall out one of these days." She grinned, imagining a bald Sakumo. She cackled to herself as she also imagined him sulking in a corner.
For some reason, Sakumo actually took that threat to heart. While putting on his gloves, Sakumo told Naruto, "You're oddly obvious in your threats, Naruto-san. Perhaps you could learn something called subtlety, an art that ninjas should have mastered by the time they graduate from the academy."
Naruto stared at him blankly. She has never been called obvious before. Unpredictable, yes, but obvious, never. Her stare turned into a smirk, "We'll just have to see about that, Hatake."
Sakumo gave Naruto one more smile before he turned around to walk away with his hand held up in a waving gesture. At least talking to him now wasn't as awkward as before. Naruto shook her head and unknowingly smiled, walking away with Nagato in her hand.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter was a bit longer than the others and I promise I'll give more Sakumo and Naruto time in the next chapter. Please tell me what you guys think of this installment, but I hope you all did enjoy it. Till next time!