I have no idea where this story came from...Honestly, I just searched my computer for Naruto and voila, a misnamed file somewhere in my music folder. I think I wrote this a few years ago or something ridiculous. Anyway, as far as I can tell, this is royalty Naruto, and from the notes I apparently left myself, it was meant to be Yaoi (though not with Sasuke). Nonetheless, if I ever do get to it, I will be sure to get your input on preferred pairings, if there will be any. PS: Sora was NOT a result of Mpreg
Standing calmly before the gathered council, Naruto steadily met the eyes of those sitting before him – some sympathetically kind, others vindictively joyful.
Finally locking gazes with the saddened eyes of the blonde haired hokage, he awaited her pronouncement.
Tsunade felt the cracks in her composure as she took in the teen standing before her. She was keenly aware of Jiraiya's presence by her side, lending her the strength she needed to see this through.
Finally gathering herself, she moved to speak,
"Uzumaki Naruto, owing to the debilitating injury you sustained in the line of duty, this council has seen fit to honorably discharge you from the Shinobi forces of Konohagakure. From this moment onwards, you are a civilian."
Some of the gathered council members didn't bother hiding the smiles on their faces as they took in the boy's features, even as they were disappointed by the lack of reaction on his face.
Just as Tsunade prepared to end the meeting, the head of the merchant's guild decided to speak up, smarmy smile on his face and malicious gleam in his eye,
"Now...Uzumaki, as unfortunate as these events have been, it still remains that without your job as a Shinobi, you will have to find some work elsewhere."
At those words, those gathered shifted in their seats, some in eager anticipation while others, in tired resignation.
Naruto, for his part, merely raised his eyes from where they had been on the floor, and focused on the person speaking, noticing but choosing to ignore the gleam of triumph in Danzo's eyes.
The speaker continued,
"Now then, some of my colleagues and I are more than willing to discuss – "
Naruto's even voice cut him off, much to his visible irritation,
"Takahiro-san, I thank you for your kind words, but I must decline. I am a civilian; there is nothing that says that I must live the rest of my life in this...place."
Blinking in startled surprise at his words, the gathered council members could only watch as Naruto gave a respectful bow to the Hokage and turned to leave the meeting room, walking with a fluid gait that reminded some there of a beast of prey.
Somehow, the empty sleeve where his left arm should have been did not detract from his bearing.
Tsunade sighed to herself as she gazed out onto the village from her window. For the past decade, the village had been a much quieter place, ever since her pseudo-brother-son had vanished without a trace.
Feeling the air shift beside her, she glanced to her right in time to see the swirl of red that heralded the arrival of her team-mate and fellow Sannin.
Turning back to the window, she said,
"Dare I ask, Jiraiya?"
Hearing his own sigh, she closed her eyes as her hope was once again crushed.
Another false lead
She knew that her teammate was just as baffled as she was about Naruto's heretofore unforeseen ability to vanish without a trace.
Even Konoha's best spymaster had been unable to so much as catch a glimpse of him since then.
Seconds after Naruto had walked out of the council room, the others had exploded in a hail of protests, most not wanting the boy out of their sphere of control.
She had not noticed at the time, but Danzo had been surprising mellow while his colleagues ranted and raved about the dangers of letting Konoha's jinchuuriki do as he pleased.
It was only after a scouting team had found the cooling corpses of four ninjas who wore blank masks and had the same tattoos on their tongues that she had realized why Danzo had not been bothered.
If anything, the old fool had probably been elated at the happenings.
Still, she worried.
Nobody could have predicted what Naruto had chosen to do. They had all believed that a combination of his ties to the village – or more aptly, some people in the village – and a fear of the unknown, would keep him rooted in Konoha.
Obviously, they had been wrong.
It was only years later when she had realized that of all the so called bonds Naruto was said to have had with some members of the village, only a handful had been genuine two-sided relationships: Iruka, Teuchi, Ayame, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune.
It was a sad, and somewhat shameful, realization that none of his own classmates had formed meaningful bonds with the missing ex-Shinobi. It was further worsened by the fact that the failing was through no fault of Naruto's own.
Now, as she looked upon the village that had practically driven out one of her most precious people, her sharp gaze picked up on the Uchiha clan symbol sewn unto the back of a dark blue shirt.
Suddenly hearing a crack, she cast a mild glance down at the window sill to see the crack she had inadvertently put there with her monstrous strength.
Recalling how Naruto had dragged back the Uchiha, bruised and broken, she felt the decade old anger threatening to rise up in her heart.
Naruto had won that battle – much to the disbelief of most of the populace – but it had cost him his arm when the Uchiha's chidori attack had been deflected into and through Naruto's left shoulder.
Her thoughts were dragged back to the present by a shoulder bump from the white haired Toad Sage.
Blinking up at him, her eyes cleared of past memories and locked with his knowing orbs.
Letting loose a huff of amusement at him, she turned to face her office, preparing to get back to work.
However, a hand on her shoulder stopped her, and after considering the single word spoken, she nodded and preceded Jiraiya out of the room,
"Lunch?"
Kakashi effortlessly dodged the people walking on the street he was on, while ignoring the glares aimed his way for his choice of reading material.
Though his eyes were focused on his book, they were having difficulty reading it, as they had been having for the past few years.
Feeling the approach of a few familiar chakra signatures, he raised his head to glimpse pink hair, sliding past it to find a head of black hair.
Observing the approaching duo, his gaze slid over the two people who now constituted his team: Sasuke and Sakura.
Putting aside his book, since he was obviously not about to read it, he gave a lazy wave to the two, and subsequently tuned out Sakura's scolding for having had his book out in public.
Easily falling into step on either side of him, they proceeded to make their way towards the Hokage tower for their next mission, while the sound of Sakura's voice continued to fill the air around them...just like another's used to do before.
The two men slowed to a stop once it registered that their pink haired teammate was no longer with them.
Turning as one, they saw her stationary form gazing somewhere to the side.
Following her gaze, their eyes rested on Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.
Biting back a sigh, while beside him, Sasuke's jaw clenched from some unidentifiable emotion, Kakashi called out softly,
"Sakura"
Blinking as she came back to herself, Sakura aimed a slightly trembling smile at her team leader and moved to return to the group, when she picked up green and red from the corner of her eyes.
Turning to look, she saw the Hokage making her way towards them, with Jiraiya at her side.
Wondering at that, she moved to greet her teacher, just as a blur of gold and blue knocked into Jiraiya from behind.
The blur resolved itself into a golden haired child wearing a blue shirt and black shorts, who somehow managed to keep his feet after stumbling from the collision with the mountain of a man.
Blinking devastatingly blue eyes up at the person he had just run into, the boy let loose a blinding grin and with a quick apology, dashed off once more, vanishing through the curtains of the ramen stand nearby.
Behind him, the two groups were frozen in shock as the image of gold and blue kept on repeating in their minds' eyes.
Not surprisingly, Tsunade was the first one to recover her wits, and in the blink of an eye, she was striding into Ichiraku's Ramen stand.
Surprisingly, the person hot on her tail was Sasuke.
The five ninjas piled into the stand to meet the stunned and gaping visage of old man Teuchi, who was looking at the blond haired child currently struggling to get onto one of the high stools at the stand, with a cutely determined look on his cherubic face.
Luckily, Teuchi managed to regain his thoroughly shaken composure just as the boy managed to get into his seat and face the aging chef.
With another wide grin on his face, the child chirped out in a voice so familiar, it left the old man weak kneed,
"Hey old man, can I get your best bowl of – "
Suddenly pausing in his speech, the child spun in his seat to face the entrance with a happy grin on his face.
The ninjas still standing there looked behind them, wondering why the kid had just turned, and subsequently had to fight to keep from reacting violently as their eyes landed on the newcomer none of them had sensed.
Still in some form of shock, they moved aside as the man, wearing a straw hat that somehow concealed his features along with a white cloak that covered his body save for the lower parts of his legs, made his way into the stand.
Making his way over to the boy bouncing in his seat, he released a low chuckle as his right hand came up to grasp the edge of his hat.
Pulling it off and placing it on the energetic boy's head, he said,
"What have I told you about running off like that, Sora?"
Pouting cutely up at the newly revealed older man, the kid used one hand to keep the too big hat in place as he responded,
"But I'm hungry"
Laughing at the reply, the man finally turned to old man Teuchi and said,
"It's been a while, Teuchi-ji-san."
With hopeful eyes, Teuchi drank in the features of the newcomer, not daring to believe though the proof was right before him, until he saw the whisker like marks on the man's face.
With a relieved and bright smile, he shakily replied,
"Naruto..."
In the silence which had begun with the harried entrance of the Hokage and her retinue, those present in the stand easily heard the exchange between the two men.
Like a spell being broken, Tsunade snapped out of her state of shock and took one hesitant step forward, while behind her, the others greedily drank in Naruto's revealed features.
However, before she could speak, the previously forgotten boy beside him reached up and tugged on his fingers, saying,
"Come on...I'm hungry, Daddy."
Hearing a gasp of surprise behind him, Sora turned his blue eyes on the ninjas gathered at the door, and in particular on the blond haired woman looking at his daddy with wide eyes.
Glimpsing a blue diamond mark on her forehead, his quick mind easily deduced her identity.
Turning back to his father, he once more tugged to gain his attention, and when he had it, he pointed and said,
"Look, Daddy, it's Aunty Tsunade."
Tsunade felt the breath still in her lungs as Naruto finally turned to fully face her.
Without prompting, her eyes danced across his form, taking in the changes that time had wrought on him.
Once she focused on his face, she had to keep from gasping again at the similarities the boy had to his father, Namikaze Minato.
As his blue eyes focused on her, Tsunade felt something in her heart finally loosen as a small smile spread across Naruto's face.
Walking forwards, Naruto wasted no time in embracing the blonde hokage, who hesitated for an instant, before gripping him just as hard in return.
As the tension and stress from a decade of worries bled out of her, Tsunade felt the tears of relief in her eyes, and even allowed a few of them to fall.
Finally pulling back, her eyes abruptly narrowed before she suddenly launched a powerful blow at the blond man's face with a snarl of annoyance that was quickly cut off,
"You think you can just –"
A wave of air pressure exploded out from the two blonds as Tsunade's fist met Naruto's palm and halted there.
Blinking disbelievingly at him, she focused on his face to find the small smile still there, just before he said,
"And I missed you too, Tsunade-nee."
Feeling her heart soften at the honest emotion shining in his eyes, she grumbled as she withdrew her hand from his, all the while fighting off the smile threatening to break out across her face.
Just then, a young voice chirped out, once more distracting everyone present,
"Daddy...she's scary."
That statement, spoken with a child's bluntness, startled a laugh out of those gathered, effortlessly breaking the tension in the room.
Moving back to his son's side, Naruto took a seat and waved the others into the ones available next to the duo.
As Tsunade sat next to Naruto, she found her eyes taking in the way he easily interacted with his son – the gentleness and caring and love that all his actions overflowed with.
Seeing him so happy soothed the last of the pains his absence had left in her soul.
Sakura couldn't take her eyes off the man seating in their midst, and beside her, she felt Sasuke subtly eying him as well.
This couldn't be Naruto.
This man was all elegant grace and fluid movement; he was impeccable manners and softly spoken words; he was tender father and responsible adult.
There was no way that her former teammate could have grown into this, and yet, the proof lay before her eyes.
Her quick mind had already cataloged the startling resemblance between his face and one of the ones on the Monument, and the presence of whisker marks and his unique coloration had had all doubt fleeing from her mind.
No matter how hard it was to accept, this was Naruto...he had come back...he had finally come home.
The gathered adults watched fondly as Sora chased the last few noodles in his bowl with the determination of a natural born hunter, pouting and threatening to send the females into fits of cooing whenever the noodles evaded him.
The easy and relaxed atmosphere was shattered though, when Jiraiya made a casual statement,
"I see you managed to regrow your arm."
As the ninjas around him suddenly tensed as Jiraiya pointed out what they had been too distracted to notice, Naruto calmly met Jiraiya's steely gaze and allowed the amusement he was feeling to shine through.
In a similarly casual way, he replied, while smoothening the front of his shirt and coincidentally brushing over his stomach,
"Indeed, someone was apparently not going to put up with a damaged...warden."
Not losing the look in his eyes, Jiraiya inquired further,
"And it took ten years for this someone to regrow it?"
Giving an unbothered shrug that perfectly mimicked the one-eyed ninja in their midst, Naruto finally said,
"Perhaps it was something in the air, in this village, that kept me from healing."
Closing his eyes as he deciphered the meaning behind that statement, Jiraiya finally lost the tension in his shoulders and aimed a slightly apologetic smile at his godson, conveying in it all the apologies he could never – and should never have needed to – make.
As the tension drained away, the ninjas once more found themselves relaxing, only to tense up again as Sasuke's even voice sounded nearby,
"What I am curious about...is how you managed to catch Hokage-sama's punch."
Raising an eyebrow at the focused look in his former teammate's eyes, Naruto's gaze held none of the negative emotions one would expect when facing a former enemy.
Instead, he merely responded,
"My...job...does not allow for weakness."
Furrowing his eyebrows at the response, Sasuke inquired further,
"Your job?"
Humming in contemplation, Naruto cast an assessing gaze on Sasuke, before replying,
"I am a...guardian...of sorts to the son of an important man."
Blinking at the thought of Naruto as a mere bodyguard, they all tried to take that image in before the Konoha ninjas present suddenly tensed.
Holding in the smile wanting to erupt on his face, Naruto easily held his son as he once again stood before the gathered council in a reflection of what had happened ten years previous.
Before they had had time to catchup properly, a ninja had appeared, telling them that there was an emergency council meeting being called, and that they were all required to attend.
Watching Jiraiya and Tsunade exchange looks, Naruto had easily deduced what was about to happen.
Still, he was not worried.
He had come to Konoha prepared.
Now, he watched as the council members became more and more uncomfortable as the seconds went past.
They were all awaiting the arrival of the Fire Country Daimyo, who had apparently decided to visit that day.
Suddenly, the doors sprung open, and before anyone could react, Sora was on the floor and barreling across the room in a flash, squealing happily,
"Ji-san, JI-san, Ji-san"
With a fond laugh, the old Daimyo swung the boy up into his arms and said,
"Now, how's my favorite grandson doing?"
Those gathered in the council room gaped as the blond haired boy babbled away at the most powerful man in the country, while said man appeared to be actually listening.
Naruto just hid his grin and moved to greet the Lord of the Land, while bowing respectfully and saying,
"It is good to see you again, Sawada-sama."
Letting out a fondly exasperated sigh, the Daimyo replied,
"And how many times must I tell you, Naruto-kun, call me Uncle."
Smiling at the man who had taken him in when he had had no where to go, he collected his exuberant son and moved to escort the ruler to his seat, all the while ignoring the wide eyes – and in some cases, pale faces – of the council members.
As the Daimyo took his seat, accepting the greetings of those around him, he turned to Tsunade and said,
"So, Tsunade-chan, what is the purpose of this impromptu meeting?"
Turning her gaze on the council members who were looking shifty eyed, she raised an eyebrow in silent question.
A spokesperson stood up and replied,
"Daimyo-sama, we called the meeting to discuss the return of Konoha's jinchuuriki."
As most of those gathered shifted in discomfort at the addressing of the elephant in the room, the Daimyo let loose a soft exclamation of realization and leaned forward to speak,
"There has obviously been a misunderstanding here. You see, Naruto-kun has not been returned to you. I daresay, my son would not thank me for letting you keep him. "
Confused at the meaning behind the old man's words, the spokesperson moved to seek clarification, while around him the faces of Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, Tsunade, and JIraiya, had looks of dawning realization,
"Forgive me, Daimyo-sama, but I do not understand what your son has to do with the person in question."
Leaning back in his chair and looking at the spokesperson for a moment, the Daimyo finally said,
"Though he is officially my personal bodyguard, Naruto-kun spends more time guarding my son these days."
As eyes turned to land on the slightly sheepish looking blond before them, the Daimyo allowed a knowing look to enter his eyes as Naruto locked gazes with him, causing a barely noticeable blush to suffuse Naruto's cheeks for a second.
The Daimyo's subtle teasing was interrupted by Danzo, who said,
"I was not aware, Daimyo-sama, that you had rebuilt the Twelve Guardian NInja."
Turning to the bandaged elder, the Daimyo wore a look of honest confusion as he replied,
"Why would I need twelve ninja when I have Naruto-kun?"
Looks of disbelief alighted on the faces of many present as the meaning of the man's words sank in, yet, before anyone could say anything to his statement, Shikaku spoke up,
"I see...then you must be the one they call Enjin."
As the meeting chamber erupted in shouts and questions caused by Shikaku's statement, Tsunade's mind flashed back to a bingo book entry from a few years ago
Name: Unknown; Enjin
Rank: SS-class, Flee on Sight
Skill: High skills in taijutsu, kenjutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu; Extremely skilled with Katon Jutsu.
*Note: The guardian of both the Fire Daimyo and his son. Famous for single-handedly defeating all the samurai and ninjas employed by the Royal Family, without sustaining any injury or killing any opponent.
Bounty: 120 million ryo dead or alive.