Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto. However, since he acts so much like my own son, you may now know why I am writing this.
The Hokage Offices
Sarutobi, the Third Hokage grimaced with the amount of paperwork that laid before him. Between reports from the outlying villages and farms, progress reports from the Academy, as well as mission requests, mission reports, and intelligence reports on the various Shinobi nations, it was nights like this that made him wish the Yondaime Hokage was still alive.
"This is for a younger man to do," he muttered under his breath. After pondering the events of the last decade, he came to the conclusion that sometimes life is cruel, but the truly strong move on and persevere. As he reached for a set of paperwork, a familiar scent drifted through the window.
'This must be important for Kakashi to send Pakkun to me.' the Third thought to himself. 'Hopefully this will be something of better news. I would not mind something nice to close out the day.'
He turned to see Pakkun sitting on the window waiting patiently for permission to speak. The Third then reached to his desk to grab his favorite pipe and lit it, taking a small drag before speaking.
"Well, I do not have all night. What does Kakashi report at such a late hour that warrants my attention??"
"Hokage-sama, we have a visitor in need of shelter. It is believed to be the great grandson of Uzumaki Yamada and Uchiha Kina. It appears the man is in need of medical assistance and Kakashi requested an ANBU to help with escorting him to the hospital."
What came next was a shock to Pakkun. Numerous times, he gave reports to the Hokage on various things from mission status, intruder sightings, and intelligence reports. Never once did the Third give any expression. He was the embodiment of calm and decisiveness. So anyone would be shocked as Pakkun was now when the Third coughed while smoking his pipe and gave the look of complete surprise.
Sarutobi could not believe his ears. It was a closely guarded secret that, after the first Shinobi War with the Rock and Grass, the newly appointed head of the Uzumaki clan and his wife, the daughter of the Uchiha clan head disappeared. All that was left behind was a broken medallion signifying the clan head and a distraught brother. It was one of the two events for each house that virtually wiped them from existence. Both clans were shamed by the event and lost their majestic glory, allowing the Hyuuga clan to take prominence in the village. Then, a century or so later, acts of slaughter by man and demon wiped them away, save for lone survivors of each.
Now, according to Kakashi, an heir to both clans has returned. The Third beckoned for his attendant, and a lone ANBU dropped from the ceiling.
"Go to the hospital, grab a medical ninja and have Pakkun guide both of you to Kakashi's location. Assist him with bringing a person in his care to the hospital. I will meet you there." The ANBU nodded and disappeared out the window with Pakkun in tow.
Looking at the shrinking images of the summon dog and the ANBU, the Third silently sent a quiet prayer to Kami and started to walk to the hospital.
Training Ground Seven
Chronos sat on the rock being closely watched by Kakashi, contemplating the events of the day. Mere hours ago, he was reserved and accepting of his fate, ready to meet death and hopefully be worthy of being with his son and wife again. Suddenly he was stuck in another world, finding out he's supposedly related to two boys. To top it off, it appears that this place is more magical in nature.
'How am I going to get by in this world? I have been a military man and a farmer, but can I survive here? I probably will have two boys to support now. I don't know if I am ready for that,' he mused silently. While he was sitting there, Chronos started to feel light-headed and nauseous.
"Kakashi," he asked looking up at his guard with concern written all over his face, "how long will it take for someone to get here?"
Kakashi looked over at him and saw the sweat forming on his face, even in the dim light of the moon that was out tonight. Kakashi reached over and felt his pulse. He instantly could tell from the touch that Chronos was catching a fever and with his pulse heavy and rapid, more could be wrong than just that fever.
Looking at his pack, he noticed that there was a sleeping bag strapped to the top of the pack, so he removed it and spread it out.
"Lay down and relax," Kakashi said to his new patient as he reached over and guided Chronos to the sleeping bag. "It shouldn't take longer than a few more minutes. Did you bring any supplies? Water or medicine?" Chronos nodded and pointed over to his pack.
Searching through his pack, he quickly found the canteens and a box with a red cross on it. Opening the box, there were plenty of bandages and ointments, as well as packets with what appeared to be pills inside, but the labels listed names of the medicine that he did not recognize. He opened the canteen and had him sit up to take a drink. During that drink, he noticed a couple of presences approaching from behind him.
Laying Chronos back down, he turned to see the ANBU and the medic-nin lead by Pakkun jumping from tree to tree. "See there, help has arrived. Nothing more to worry about right??"
When Kakashi turned around and looked back at the traveler, he noticed Chronos was unconscious. Motioning to the medic-nin, he packed up the canteen and the first aid kit. As the medic-nin landed next to the patient and started to examine him, he took another look at the two scrolls before packing them in the his equipment pouch.
After about a minute, the medic-nin spoke. "We are going to have to move him and quickly. It appears his chakra system is unbalanced and there seems to be leakage into his internal organs." He then pointed to the ANBU beside him. "You, take him directly to the first floor emergency room. I will proceed there directly to prepare it."
Kakashi looked at the traveler as the ANBU carried him away with a bit of concern crossing his face. He steeled himself. 'Kami would not bring the descendant back to the village if he would not survive.'
Shaking off the thought, he motioned to Pakkun. "Retrieve the Hyuuga's personal medic. If she has any issue of the matter, tell her she would be indebted to one of the village's founding clans."
With a nod, Pakkun turned and took to the trees leaving the lone shinobi to roll up the sleeping bag and start the trek towards the hospital with Chronos's belongings in tow.
Konoha Hospital, next day.
After a report from Kakashi at the hospital, both shinobi retired for a decent rest, knowing the next day would prove to be interesting, to say the least. During mid-morning, the Third and Kakashi returned, but both men were now losing their patience. Typically this would be an interesting sight – two prominent shinobi pacing through a hospital waiting room as medics struggled to save a life. If it were any other two, this would not have been of any concern, but since this was the Third and the famous Copy-Ninja Kakashi, every nurse, attendant, and doctor in the hospital was on edge wondering what was so special of the person in the ER.
Suddenly the doors opened, causing the two to stop their pacing. The Third was first to speak.
"Report."
"The repair to his chakra network was a success with the help of Amari-san," the Konoha medic stated as he bowed to the Hyuuga medic beside him. "There are some abnormalities, but it appears that the patient is going to make a full recovery. Tests should be made in the next few days in order to determine what the abnormalities are, Hokage-sama."
"Hmm. Interesting. What do you mean by abnormalities?"
"It appears that the concentration of the chakra is denser than normal chakra and it keeps changing colors from blue to a silver and even sometimes a gold color," Amari stated with a bit of concern. "I have never seen those colors in a human or in any summon, either animal or demon. This is not the most concerning thing."
Kakashi spoke for the first time getting over the shock of the situation. "What concerning thing could be worse than having dense and changing chakra??"
Amari glanced at Kakashi and sighed with a hint of reservation and regret. "The chakra is in high abundance, even more so than the Uzumaki when the clan was at its peak. Compound that with the chakra network seeming to be that of a very young child, and the combination could cause a debilitating effect at anytime. But from what I have seen, that won't stay the same."
"Now why do you say that?" asked the Third raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"Well, Hokage-sama, the patient's chakra network when it was first repaired was that of a newborn. It seems his chakra network was implanted or granted to him and is now growing to catch up to the bodies actual age."
"How long will it take before he stabilizes?"
"It should take about three days with the rate of growth. We have him under medication, to keep him in a coma during the process," replied the medic-nin.
"Keep him under close observation. I want to be notified as soon as he is awake."
"Hai!" both medics said in unison, turning away to perform their duties before they were interrupted by Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama, I have a request."
"What is it Kakashi?"
Pulling out the scrolls from his equipment pouch, Kakashi handed them to the Hokage. "I think we should take a small sample of his blood and also bring Sasuke and Naruto here to test them against the seals. It should provide for all the verification if the initial claim this traveler made is true."
Inspecting the scrolls' seal gave the Hokage all the information he needed.
"Agreed. You retrieve a small vial of his blood for a sample," pointing at the Konoha medic-nin. "Kakashi, please retrieve the two boys for me and bring them to the conference room here."
Both the medic and Kakashi bowed and scurried off to perform their tasks, leaving the Hokage and the Hyuuga alone.
"Amari-san, this is to be kept confidential until the person's identity is confirmed. Consider this an S-class secret until I state otherwise or relayed to you from the head of your clan. You are dismissed, and my thanks for a job well done."
"Understood, Hokage-sama." Amari bowed and then disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.
Leaving the Third alone with his thoughts, one thing kept pushing to the forefront of his mind. 'I wonder how those two will take THIS news.'
Konoha Ninja Academy, early afternoon
It was just another typical sparring session at the Academy. All of the students were outside in the training courtyard sitting on a set of bleachers while the class instructor, Umino Iruka, was monitoring the individual matches. Today's instruction was in taijutsu and as usual, the students, or at least the female ones were waiting for one particular boy to begin his sparring match.
Iruka sighed as he looked at the last two for sparring today. 'I wonder if I'll have to restrain those two like last time.'
"Ok, for the last sparring match for the day, Sasuke and Naruto, step forward."
Naturally the reactions were the same as usual.
"YATTA!!" shouted Naruto as he leaded into the ring punching his fist high above his head. "Today I will put that Sasuke-teme in his place."
Quietly approaching the sparring circle, Sasuke just shook his head. "Hn. Like you could do anything other than be an idiot."
Naruto almost lost his temper. He could practically feel his blood boiling inside him, like he was going to explode. 'Who does that teme think he is? I'll show him who is best around here!'
"You ready to get beat down, Sasuke-teme?!"
"It won't be from the likes of you, dobe."
"Quiet, you two. Get ready!" Both boys settled into their fighting stances. "BEGIN!!"
As the two boys started to pace around each other, waiting for the other to make his first move, cheers started to come from the crowd of fellow students.
"Get 'em Sasuke. Shut that baka up!"
"No one is better than Sasuke-kun. GO SASUKE!!"
"That baka is just going to fail again. What a loser."
As usual, all but a handful were cheering loudly for Sasuke and throwing insults at Naruto. One of those handful was a young girl sitting in the top corner of the bleachers. She didn't say a word for fear of being embarrassed or possibly rejection. She always has watched and admired him. In her heart, she saw the boy as everything she wanted to be herself – dedicated, loyal, determined, courageous, and strong. As she looked at him now, a small blush creeped onto her face.
'You can do it Naruto-kun. I believe in you. Do your best.'
Ever since she met him on the way to the academy the first day, she had an attachment to him. But she was too shy to do anything more than watch from afar. In that way, her appearance matches how she is. Her lavender hair kept short and neat, her pearl-like eyes, and her diminutive face seemed to keep people from noticing her. Along with the bulky jacket and nondescript blue pants, everything seemed to have a purpose of getting by unnoticed. For now, that is how Hyuuga Hinata liked it.
The two boys finished circling around the sparring area and looked at each other with fierce determination. Naruto tired of waiting and launched at his opponent.
"Get ready, Sasuke-teme! Here I come!!"
Naruto screamed as he launched himself thrusting his right knee out in an attempt to catch Sasuke in the stomach. Sasuke smirked and blocked his attack, which Naruto followed with a spinning back fist. Sasuke easily ducked under the move and swept out Naruto's feet, but then frowned when he saw his opponent roll through the sweep and get behind him.
That frown, soon turned into a small of a smile, or what could ever be considered a smile from Sasuke as he back-flipped over Naruto as he was trying to land a palm strike to Sasuke's back. Right before Sasuke landed behind Naruto, he landed palm strikes to Naruto's shoulder blades sending Naruto into a headfirst slide 15 feet away.
Naruto flipped over onto his back only to see Sasuke leaping forward in an attempt to drive his knee through Naruto's chest. As Naruto slid out of the way, a small poof of smoke appeared next to Iruka, out of which appeared a Jounin with gray hair and his hitai-ate covering his left eye.
"Ah, just the two that I was looking for. Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, I presume??" Kakashi asked of the two boys sparring.
Both boys stopped their attacks. Sasuke just nodded while Naruto dusted himself off and glared at the Jounin.
"Yeah, what's it to ya? We were having a spar here. I'd like to get back to kicking that teme's ass!"
Sasuke just smirked. "You were the one on the ground, dobe."
"I was just letting you get a false sense of confidence. Believe it!"
"Alright, knock it off. The Hokage wants a word with you." stated Kakashi firmly as he restrained the two boys who appeared ready to fight again.
Naruto looked up at the Jounin and sighed hanging his head. "If it was cause of the prank I pulled on that store clerk who wouldn't sell me some decent plates, I was in the right, there, Sasuke had nothing to do with it!"
Shaking his head Kakashi grinned slightly, even though no one could notice through his mask. "Fortunately Naruto, this is actually of a more important personal matter for both of you." Turning to Iruka, he bowed slightly. "Gomen, Iruka, but these two won't be back to class for the rest of the day and maybe longer."
With that said, Kakashi jumped away with a boy under each arm. As he jumped from the arena with the boys, you could hear murmurs flowing through the crowd.
"I wonder what happened. Must be important."
"I bet that baka got Sasuke in trouble."
"Yeah, hope Sasuke-kun will be okay."
Up in the corner of the bleachers came a different view.
'I hope you are alright, Naruto-kun.'
Konoha Hospital
Sarutobi sat at the head of the conference table looking over the scrolls as well as a broken medallion that was around the traveler's neck. He knew the secret of the head of the Uzumaki clan and the heir of Uchiha clan marrying in secret and then after the Leaf Independence War, fleeing the village. However, no one including him ever knew why. The brother of the clan head would never state why. There was only one way to be sure of the reason, and the traveler will provide it, so long as his claim holds true.
He looked up as Kakashi came through the door with the two boys in tow.
"No need for formalities. This is an important matter and I would like it to be solved quickly. Please sit down."
As they sat down, he saw the inquisitive and somewhat scared looks on the boys faces. Typically if a Hokage thought something was an important matter, it meant something was wrong and needed fixed. He allowed himself a small smile in order to calm their nerves before explaining.
"Last night, a traveler ventured into our gates using a rather unique method – one that may not have been used in over a century. When Kakashi found him, he made a claim that I need both of your help verifying."
Naruto, never one to hold back his thoughts, spoke for both of the boys. "No offense Ojii-san, but what could we verify? We're still just academy students." Sasuke, looking over at Naruto was curious as to why the baka had a decent thought for once, nodded.
"Simple," the Third said while holding up two scrolls. "These scrolls were found at the site where the person was discovered. They are sealed with blood seals that only a blood from a clan member can open. The reason for both of you being present is that there is an Uzumaki and Uchiha seal on both of these scrolls. The larger one is the one we would want you to open. It has four seals, which you two will open only one seal."
Passing the scroll over to Sasuke, he noticed two Uchiha seals, each one next to an Uzumaki seal. Sasuke bit his thumb and press a couple drops of his blood onto the first seal. After a brief moment, it flashed and dissolved.
With a curious look, he passed the scroll to Naruto, who quietly followed Sasuke's lead. The same result occurred. Passing it back to the Third, a thought came to Naruto and Sasuke, but Sasuke spoke first.
"Why are there four seals and where is this traveler??"
Kakashi looked over to the young boy. "The traveler is recovering from his journey here, which seemed to be rather strenuous. As for the four seals, well the traveler is supposed to open the last two."
"Wait a minute," exclaimed Naruto. "I thought I was the only Uzumaki alive. How can this traveler have my blood?"
"Simple Naruto. If the traveler's claim is correct, then he actually is a cousin of yours. From your great grandfather's family."
Sasuke then finally finished the thought. "Does that mean that this person also is related to my great grandmother as well?"
Pulling a vile from his robe, the Third used a drop of blood to dissolve the last two seals on the scroll. After they vanished, the Hokage actually smiled at the two boys.
"Yes, Sasuke. It appears that both of you two are related to this man. So then, the story is true."
"What story is that?" asked Naruto practically beaming from the news.
"We will see later. We will open the scroll when the traveler recovers and figure out what to do then. I do not want either of you two saying anything about this until after we meet with this man. Considering what is happening here, it might be best that you two not go back to class for the next two days. Kakashi will watch after you two, since I have a mission for the both of you."
The two boys looked up at the Hokage with a sense of puzzlement. The shock that crossed their faces after what the Hokage said next was priceless. Enough that the Third wished he had a camera to take the picture.
"Since you two are somewhat related, I want you to spend the next two days together, learning more about each other. Family is important, right?"
(A/N: I know I didn't get to everything that I wanted to, but this chapter took a life of its own. This was the longest chapter I ever written. If anyone reading this wishes to become a beta, please note it in a review. I need a wise sage to help out with some of the wording as well as work on bloodline traits.)
