Standard disclaimer applies, as always.
The Yellow Flash stared at the test results in shock. An hour ago, he would have laughed at the possibility. But now... DNA tests don't lie. He cursed under his breath.
His father had a grandson. That could only mean one thing. He had a half sibling out there somewhere who had a kid. And his nephew had been almost literally dropped right off at his door. A nephew who had nearly killed himself and could very well be a spy working for the enemy.
In fact, now that he knew they were related, it was more likely for him to be an enemy; after all, family members tended to trust one another, and killing a relative was far more difficult than killing a complete stranger. And with him being a war-hero and it being his nephew, it would be even worse. The public would love the kid.
He went through the list in his head as he sat outside the Hokage's office, waiting for a meeting to finish.
--Defeat a powerful enemy. I can handle that, no problem.
--Fend off a thousand fan-girls. Been there, done that.
--Take out multiple targets in the blink of an eye. Well, I am the Yellow Flash.
--Create jutsus capable of leveling a building. Rasengan, check.
--Deal with an emotionally-stunted robot, a dim-witted, fun-loving Uchiha outcast, and a gentle girl that hates to kill, all on the same team. Yup, got that.
--Kill his 13-year-old nephew for being a spy. I...don't know.
The jonin put his head in his hands and thought about the boy he'd gotten to know over the last few days. They were so different from each other! The boy definitely had some Namikaze characteristics with his physical appearance, that was for sure. But from what he could tell of his attitude, not so much. Namikaze men were known for being polite and calm, not to mention intelligent and serious.
Goldie simply wasn't. Like Obito, Minato hoped and prayed that at least some of it was an act. Polite? Not a chance after calling his new teammate a hedgehog. Calm? Ha! The kid couldn't sit still for an hour if his life depended on it. Intelligent? He had a feeling he shouldn't even go there. And serious? Maybe he had seemed like it at first, but when Minato discovered that his toothpaste now stained his teeth purple every time he brushed, well, that went out the door fast. And so did he...to buy some new toothpaste.
Lovely. He was already getting attached. To his only living relative. A boy whose life might have to end by his own hand. Minato desperately needed some advice.
He looked up as the door opened and the meeting finally ended. He noted the Hokage's two former teammates leaving, along with a few other members of the council. That could only mean one thing. Sarutobi-sama was going to be in a foul mood. Pesky ex-teammates with delusions of authority tended to do that to a person. Arrogant little twits. Elders or not, they could be real jerks sometimes. Still, he bowed respectfully as they walked past him, not that they noticed.
He walked forward after they had gone and couldn't help but dread the discussion he and the village leader were sure to have.
"Ah, Minato-san. How is your new house guest?" The voice was polite, but clearly strained.
"Actually, that's what I came here to talk to you about, Hokage-sama." He had the older man's full attention now. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
"As you know, spies showing up randomly isn't exactly rare, even if they've never made such a grand entrance before. But if I had to guess, the most effective type of spy an enemy could use is one with an excellent connection to the village, such as actually being a citizen." His boss nodded, eyes narrowing slightly. "Well, if this 'Goldie' really is a spy, then he's almost the perfect plant."
Now the Hokage's eyes widened. "Do explain, Namikaze-san," he commanded, voice sharp and demanding.
Minato closed his eyes briefly, wondering why he was ever stupid enough to think there were no risks involved in that DNA test. Oh, that's right; he was just so certain that it'd be negative, that's why. And all those little warning bells going off in his head were completely ignored. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Nothing was ever that easy.
"You remember my father, right?" Sarutobi just stared. Of course he remembered. "Well, do you remember the reputation he had before he married my mother?" Ah. Now the pipe-smoking genius was starting to see where he was going with this. "The nurses and doctors always made sure to keep a sample of his DNA around, just in case certain...problems...ever came up when he wasn't in the village. And one just popped up out of nowhere. Literally."
The Third interrupted. "Are you saying he's your brother?" The man's voice was deceptively calm, but his eyes looked like daggers.
"No. I'm saying he's my nephew." At this, Minato was no longer able to look his fearless leader in the eyes. But he looked back up when he heard a loud BANG.
Said fearless leader had just slammed his fearless head on his wooden desk, and the jonin caught a few muttered phrases.
"Kaito, how could you do this to me! I thought we were friends and yet you left me this ticking time-bomb as a going-away present!" He lifted his head back up and stared at the ceiling as he continued. "When I see you in the afterlife, I'm going to beat the crap out of you!"
It was almost, ALMOST, enough to make his subordinate chuckle. He stopped himself, thankfully, but he couldn't help the tiny grin that threatened to expand. Till the ever-observant Hokage looked back at him, that is.
"There's nothing funny about this, you know."
Minato gulped, grin suddenly nowhere to be found. "Yes, sir."
Sarutobi sighed and asked, "Well, what have you learned about him so far?"
The Yellow Flash thought back for a moment, thinking of all the written conversations the boy had had with both himself and Inoichi. "You recall when I told you about what he said regarding the Valley of the End?" Yes, he recalled that. "Well, from what I can gather, not a single Uchiha has ever seen, heard, or had any contact with him whatsoever, and I even checked with the Hyuuga clan just to make sure. Not one person knows anything about him." The Third agreed that the news was interesting, but not necessarily all that surprising. "Also, I figured I'd take him to our training grounds yesterday to see what he can do. His neck is mostly healed, except for his voice (if it weren't for Rin's quick and efficient work, he'd never speak again at all), so I didn't think it'd be a problem. The rest of the team was already there, each practicing different techniques. I figured it'd be a good idea to see how familiar he was with jutsu. But, as usual, Obito just had to spruce things up."
"What did he do this time?" Sarutobi groaned.
"He turned the place into a fire hazard!" Minato was unable to help the irritation that laced his words. "He said he wanted to experiment with a new fire jutsu that he'd just invented and voila, nearly half the trees were turned into torches! I thought it was going to be the end of us all with the way he was shooting off those flames..." his voice drifted off for a moment.
"Let me guess; the new kid had a hand in your survival. Correct?"
"You have no idea. He reacted purely on instinct and shot a massive water dragon straight at the Uchiha without using a single hand sign. And to top it off, there wasn't even a puddle of water nearby for him to use, meaning it was all chakra-generated. That kid is powerful. While I'm grateful he was able to cool Obito off quickly, the evidence against him is getting thicker by the day. And yet, Inoichi assures me that he still can't remember who he is."
"I think I need an aspirin." He opened his desk to look for a bottle of the medicine, came across a bottle of something else instead, and poured himself a cup. Why not. "Please continue with the other things you have discovered."
"He has deadly accuracy with any weapon he throws. After that fireworks fiasco, I figured there was no need to ask him if he knew any ninjutsus. So we moved on to senbon. Five minutes later, every single target had a needle perfectly in its center. Then, somehow Obito got it into his head to yell, 'Make a design! Do a smiley face!' A few minutes later, each of the targets was grinning."
Sarutobi chuckled a little at that while the jonin in front of him sported a wry grin. He was used to the Uchiha's antics by now, but they were still amusing. Still, there was something else the man needed to know, so he continued.
"Goldie knows how he got cut and poisoned and it seemed to shake him up pretty badly. He told us that he doesn't want to remember what happened before if it was that bad. At this point, both Inoichi and I think he is repressing things on purpose. Whether or not it's because of the reason he gave us, we don't know."
Fearless Leader broke in. "And there's no way to be sure, thanks to that impressive mental barrier of his." The Kage turned his chair around and faced his window and was silent for several minutes as he watched his village, a gentle smile gradually taking over his tired face. "Do you see all those people out there, Minato-san? Each one of them has a story. How many do you think would change theirs if they could?"
The blonde was silent. He knew what the Hokage was asking. This could be an opportunity to help a young man out and possibly gain a powerful ally in the meantime. But there were also so many risks involved; was it worth it? Was it worth the risks for him to connect with a family he never knew, and if it turned out that the boy was an enemy, could he bring himself to kill his only known relative no matter how close they became?
As his hands clenched at his sides, he sad, "I'll give it some thought, Hokage-sama. Thank you for your audience today." Then he bowed and left.
It was time to meet up with his team and let them know what was going on with Goldie. And darn it! There had to be a better name to call him than THAT! It made the blue-eyed youth sound like a puppy!
As usual, the hyperactive Uchiha was the first to talk. "So, let me get this straight. He's powerful, a possible enemy, an amnesiac, has an impressive shield that protects his mind, lives at your house, and just happens to be your never-before-seen nephew?"
Yeah, that pretty much covered it.
"No," the mask-covered Kakashi corrected. "You missed one other piece of information."
"And what's that?" challenged his self-proclaimed rival.
"We might have to kill him."
Oh. That. Count on the Hatake to make bad news worse. Anyway, now that that was brought to their attention... "We need to think of a name for him. 'Goldie' just doesn't cut it."
They thought for a moment. Rin, as always, had the most sensible suggestion. "How about we call him Aoi for his blue eyes? It's still a color, but it's also an actual name. What do you think?"
"NO!" There was only one person on the team who had a set of lungs like that. "Have you seen how much ramen that guy eats?? It's obvious that we should give him a name that has something to do with that. How about that book your sensei wrote? That awesome main character was named after ramen, wasn't he?"
He blinked. "You mean you want to call him Naruto?" Obito nodded. "Um, I know you mean well and all, but I seriously doubt he'd really want a name like that." The kid's face fell. Great. Another round at Ichiraku's.
Kakashi spoke in his usual emotionless voice, "I agree. Naruto is a stupid idea. Aoi is preferable over both that and Goldie." His teammate literally bristled at his idea being shot down like that but held his tongue. Rin was blushing. Thank goodness their newest member was with Inoichi at the moment. Who knows what would happen if he were present.
Minato shook his head. Team dynamics from Hel--
"Aoi Namikaze. Not bad, even if it's not as good as Naruto Namikaze," the Uchiha muttered grudgingly. The boy was putty when it came to Rin (and not much else).
"Good. Then it's settled. Let's head over to the training grounds now and see what we can do to repair them." Everyone got up from his living room floor (where they usually held team meetings) and headed out the door.
"Oh, and Obito?" The boy turned back. "No fire jutsus for two weeks." The other two chunin looked relieved.
I said that things never quite turn out the way we hope they will, that I did what I had to do, that I don't regret the price I've had to pay, and that when I said not to mourn too much for me. Well, I meant it. I meant all of it. This isn't how any of us imagined things would turn out. We all thought we'd grow up together and then grow old together, not have us picked off one-by-one as time passed. It hurts and it's not fair. But that's how things are, and there isn't enough time in eternity for "what if's". The seal has gotten too weak for me to keep holding the Kyuubi back and we all know what that means. And the key that was supposed to strengthen it isn't helping anymore, either. Even I can't figure out exactly what he did, and I'm supposedly an expert. There was nothing that could have been done, believe me, and Kakashi, you should know better than anyone what this thing is capable of. We're talking about the most powerful demon human kind has ever seen. As a jonin ninja and future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, it is my job that I keep you safe, even if it costs me my life. Remember what you said, Kakashi-sensei? Those who don't care for their teammates aren't even worthy of being called garbage, and I care for you all too much to let anything happen to you. Long ago, my father made a similar sacrifice for his precious ones, and I do the same for you with no regrets. I can't promise that there are no tears, but I can say that when I think of all of your futures filled with the freedom and peace the generation before could only dream of, I laugh in joy and find myself content. I hope that you will understand and can do the same. It's time for me to go now. I entrust my Will of Fire to you all. We will meet again some day, but not too soon, alright? Goodbye...
Aoi shot up straight out of bed, panting and sweating profusely. That dream was no ordinary dream. He cursed in his head, still unable to talk, even though it had been more than a week. He didn't mind that so much anymore, though. Silence had become almost comforting. These dreams, however, were another story. They were memories, memories that he didn't want, especially since they could very easily be called waking nightmares.
He was young in this one, around four years old, and he was running from a group of teenagers that thought it would be fun to "see It squirm." The man who had pulled him out of their grasp and into his home had seemed like a guardian angel at first. He'd fed him, let him get cleaned up, and given him a place to sleep, acting as the perfect host and friend. Until later that night, that is.
He shuddered at the images. Pushing them out of his head, he checked his digital alarm clock. 3 a.m. Ah, might as well put the time to use. Yesterday, he had discovered that he knew how to create shadow clones (which had caused no end of fuss and confusion over how he'd learned them in the first place) and had been briefed on their many uses and weaknesses. Kakashi thought they were dangerous. Aoi thought they were fun! A whole bunch of little "hims" running around causing havoc--I mean, having fun! What could be better than that? Besides, he had a new prank he wanted to play on Minato-sensei. Uncle or not, he was the youth's favorite target. Oh, yes, he loved shadow clones!
Another image popped its way into his mind: A whole line of clones shooting up out of water, covered in some weird-feeling red chakra. He fell of his bed as he gripped his skull in agony. Image after image flashed before his mind's eye. No, no, NO! But these would not be pushed back, and he screamed as he "felt" a blade of electricity rip through his chest. Then, strange hands were grabbing him, touching him, and he screamed again, trying to move away, only to meet his attacker's eyes and see they were a bright blue. They weren't black like...his. They weren't cursed.
But Aoi didn't relax. He couldn't. The man was too close--too close! He crawled backwards until his back touched the wall, the world around him spinning. The blue-eyed man was saying something, but he couldn't understand it. Was this guy a threat? It'd be better not to stay and find out. The last time he had stayed, the one with green eyes had--
"Aoi! Aoi, it's ok. It's just me. You're ok, you're ok." His mind had suddenly started comprehending sounds again, and with that calming voice, the boy's breathing slowed.
"Minato-sensei?" he called weakly.
"Yeah, kid, it's me." He moved to touch him and Aoi jerked back.
"Don't!" His teacher moved away quickly. The adrenaline rush had left the youth shaking and panting, but at least he was out of the nightmares again.
His teacher smiled. "Hey, you got your voice back. I guess you don't need to carry around that chalkboard all day anymore, huh? Maybe we can take the team out later and celebrate at--"
"He had green eyes." Aoi's voice was barely above a whisper.
The older blonde's head jerked up at that. "What?"
"The man. He called me a monster, said that demon-boys couldn't do anything about it. Couldn't stop him." He felt dead. Not tired. Just dead. Limply, he fell over, Minato barely having time to catch him, and fell back asleep into another deep dream. This one, however, was different.
He opened his eyes to find himself in total darkness. Even so, he could see his own body, as though it glowed in the dark. Where was he? How did he get here?
"You're being very stubborn, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. I figured it was time to give you a little push, so to speak."
The blonde twisted from side to side, desperate to meet this person who had spoken a name that was all too familiar. "Who are you and why did you call me that?"
The being sighed. "Because it's your name, Naruto, the name your father gave you when you were born."
"My father. You mean Minato's half-brother?" He had the sinking feeling that he was missing something important.
"No, I mean Minato himself."
Shocked, the boy could do nothing but stare at...well, nothing, as his former self came back to him full-force with all the experiences he had been so desperate to suppress. But there was no pain this time, no resistance. After awhile, he blinked. "Ayu. It's you."
The man was ecstatic. "Yup! It's me! I'm glad you're back. Things are going to start to heat up now, and if you want to make a difference, you're going to have to get a move on."
"Right. But I have a few questions I'd like to ask you, if you don't mind, Sir."
"Ask away."
"Why did I lose my memories like that? It doesn't make any sense. I mean, did I land on my head or something?"
He couldn't see Ayu, but he had a feeling that the man was shaking his head in amusement. "No, I did that. Couldn't have them figuring you out, now, could we? It would have resulted in questions that should not be asked. Inoichi Yamanaka was NOT happy with the results."
Naruto couldn't help but laugh. The man had never liked him back in his own time and had done everything short of spitting in his face to show his disrespect, but here, Ino's father was treating him like an actual person. And all it took was a little failed interrogation attempt.
"Ok, second question. Did I die?"
"Yes."
Hm. Short, simple, and straight to the point. "Then, does that mean you're dead, too? I mean, you did say that you had given your life, right? So, are you, um, a ghost?" His voice shook slightly at that last word. Naruto hated ghosts.
But Ayu just laughed. "Both yes and no, I'm afraid, but that is the best answer I will give you for now."
"Awww...well, then, how come I'm back in my younger body?"
"That, Naruto, is for you to figure out. It's time for you to wake up." And with that, the dark space disappeared, replaced by a nice, bright light...
...THAT WAS BURNING A HOLE THROUGH HIS CORNEAS!! "Hey, what's the big idea?" he asked irritably.
"Aoi? Aoi, THANK GOODNESS! You had us all worried sick!" That voice...it was so annoying. There's only one person it could be.
"Obito." The boy leaned closer to listen. "Shut up and turn off that stupid flashlight before I shove it down your throat."
He leaped back in surprise. "You can talk now?!" You just noticed, kid?
Naruto sighed. "Yeah. I got my voice back just a little bit ago. Didn't Minato-sensei tell you? No? Then what are you doing here in my room and where is he?"
"Oh, um, he said you were tired and needed to rest. Then, he left me here to keep an eye on you while they left to go train. They're always leaving me behind..." he finished with a presumably dejected mutter and pout.
"Drop the act. I'm not buying you any ramen." The blonde had to laugh as he saw Obito's chin drop in shock. Apparently, this was the first time his bluff had ever been called.
"Hmph! I knew I never liked you, you meanie! And to think I stood up for you when they decided to give you that stupid name." Good actor, thought Naruto wryly as he watched the chunin shake his head in disappointment and walk towards the hall. Wait a minute...
"What are you talking about?"
The boy stopped and tossed his answer over his shoulder. "Since you like ramen so much, I suggested we call you Naruto. But nooooo, they wanted the color blue. Stuck-up, self-absorbed, grey-haired..." his voice faded as Obito continued walking down the hall. "Aoi," however, was now the shocked one.
That kid was a LOT smarter than he seemed. Either that, or just really lucky. But if things worked out, he could actually use his real name here! Yes! Things were looking up. Finally!
He got up out of bed, hurriedly threw some clothes on, and followed Obito to the training grounds, determined to make up for lost time.
I loved writing this chapter. Needless to say, Minato came to the wrong conclusion regarding that DNA test, but it's going to come in very handy for his "nephew," so no harm done. Now that Naruto has his memories back, what will he do with his knowledge and strength?
By the way, in this story, Kakashi and the others are around 12 years old, so it's an entire year before the incident that gave him his sharingan takes place.
Hope you all enjoyed and I'll try to have another chapter up by tomorrow or the next day :)