Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto, or any of the movies that I may reference.

Ichiraku's Ramen Stand

Naruto was having just a lovely time talking with Teuchi-san and Ayame-neechan, going over everything that had just occurred, when he heard a familiar chuckle coming up the street.

'Why did Sakura have to come?' he grumbled internally. He then noticed his new Otousan having what seemed to be a pleasurable and spirited conversation while Sasuke-niisan looked completely miserable.

'Maybe this won't be so bad after all. I could continue my prank!' he thought mischievously.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan. Have you come to help me with my request earlier??" Naruto teased twitching his eyebrows.

"Stuff it, Naruto-baka." Sakura growled. She would have continued the tirade but she felt a wave of anger come from Chronos who was standing beside her. She looked over at him timidly. She swore that a small trickle of steam was leaking from his ears.

Chronos let out a breath before speaking. "I do not like repeating myself, Sakura, but I will this time. Do not insult Naruto in my presence."

Sakura nodded meekly in response. Just as quickly as the anger came from him, it was replaced by a cheerful grin. "Good. Time to eat then. So Naruto, what is good here?"

Naruto practically beamed in response. "Everything! This is Ichiraku's after all, the best Ramen Stand in the world. Where else would I want to eat the most delicious food Kami graced us with??"

Chronos face-vaulted hearing that. "You are more like James than I thought."

"What do you mean, Otousan?"

"That daredevil of mine would always want Ramen for lunch. Funny thing is he would never take the broth. I had to drain the broth and just serve him the noodles and meat, preferably chicken."

Naruto smiled. "Your James had such good taste. I would have liked to have met him."

Chronos smiled remembering fonder times sitting down next to Naruto. "He probably would have enjoyed it. He always liked to meet new friends."

"Is this the man who has adopted you, Naruto-niisan?" Ayame asked sweetly.

"Hai! Isn't he great? He was a Marine where he came from, which was some sort of ninja or samurai in his world."

"Is that so?" Teuchi questioned joining in the conversation. "You think you can keep up with Naruto?"

"Surely, especially since I will have Sasuke's help."

"My help will not be enough. More will be needed, Otousan. Trust me on that one." Sasuke emphatically stated sitting to the left of Chronos.

Seeing she was almost left out, Sakura sat to the left of Sasuke and interjected. "Naruto can be a definite problem-child, Chronos-san."

"Well, we will just have to see, won't we?" He turned to Naruto, clasping his shoulder. "Hurry up Naruto. Order for your old man, will ya??"

Naruto grinned. "Sure thing, Ojiisan. Hit me up with a bowl of chicken ramen with extra chicken and mushrooms to start. Want one of those??"

"That does sound nice. Make that a double, miss…?"

"Please, call me Ayame. The wonderful chef behind me is my father Teuchi. We have been Naruto's unofficial caterers for the past few years."

Puzzled, Chronos decided to explore the issue as Sasuke and Sakura ordered their meals. "How often does he eat here?"

"At least twice a day, Chronos-san," Teuchi stated with a hint of pride and sorrow. "He is our favorite and best customer, even though it is the only place he gets decent food from."

"I heard that and your care is most appreciated. Unfortunately, I will have to curtail some of your business."

"NANI!?!" Naruto exclaimed snapping his head to gaze pleadingly at his new father.

"Listen Naruto, No son of mine is not going to have the best of foods. Ramen is nice but you can't have it all the time. Plus, since I am around, you will have someone cooking all those other foods without fear of contamination or poison."

"Please Otousan," Naruto whimpered, "do not separate me from the golden noodles from the heavens."

Chronos laughed and wrapped an arm around his adoptive son. "Oh, you can have some ramen, but only for lunch. I will have breakfast and dinner covered, got it?"

"I understand." Naruto mumbled dejectedly.

"Well don't worry about it tonight. You get all the ramen you want tonight, on me." Chronos said lovingly, placing the bag of coins on the counter. Everyone but Naruto groaned. "What is it? Did I do something wrong??"

"Do you know how much Naruto eats??" Sasuke questioned.

"How could I? I just got here a couple days ago and emerged from the hospital today."

Sakura looked Chronos dead in the eyes with the most sympathetic look she could muster. "The last time Iruka-sensei treated Naruto to all he could eat, that boy put down twenty-two bowls."

His jaw dropped to the floor. "Twenty-two bowls? Twenty-two!? Dear Kami, how did you stay so thin?"

"I train a lot." Naruto explained.

"Well this is the last time you eat that much. Ramen by itself is empty. It's the add-ins that are giving you all the things you need. It is obvious that your body is trying to compensate due to your horrible diet."

"Fine." Naruto huffed as Ayame placed the bowls down. He broke his chopsticks and started digging in, slurping up the noodles and broth with gusto. Chronos slowly ate a few bites while watching the scene. It took Naruto a minute before asking for his next bowl.

"You know, Naruto, this is also part of the problem."

"What do you mean, Otousan?" Naruto asked curiously.

"It is quite simple, Naruto." Sakura interjected. "You eat so fast that you do not savor your food."

"I savor it, I really do! If I didn't like how it tastes, then I wouldn't eat it!" Naruto objected.

"That may be true, but you also don't give your stomach time to get full." Chronos observed.

"Yeah, right."

"Don't believe me? I'll fix that. If you want me to pay for your meal, I want you to eat the rest of it slowly." Chronos demanded with a domineering glare.

Naruto buckled under the pressure and agreed. The next couple bowls took at least fifteen minutes, which pleased his new father very much. Now the focus of that parenting instinct wandered to his other new son.

"Sasuke, you have been rather quiet. Is something wrong?" He just grunted and finished his bowl. "Come on Sasuke, so far I learned a few things about Naruto, but nothing about you."

"What is there to talk about?" grumbled the boy. "I wake up, eat, train, eat again, train, and then sleep. That is what I do."

"That is a very boring life, Sasuke-kun." Sakura mentioned looking to gain some information on her crush. "Don't you have any hobbies or things you like to do?"

"Don't have the time. I need to train."

"And I thought I was the dobe..." mumbled Naruto in between bites of food.

"What the hell do you know?" scoffed Sasuke.

"It's simple. You have to have some time for something else, or your life will be empty." Sakura said comfortingly. "I'll give you an example. Chronos-san, do you have any hobbies?"

"Let's see," he stated screwing his eyes up in thought. "I like movies and music. I also like playing cards and different strategy games. Plus, I love to cook and grow my own food. That reminds me. Sasuke, what do you like to eat?"

"Ekika." (tomato/grape type fruits) Sasuke stated in a monotone.

"Anything else?"

"Ekika."

"What about any kind of meat?"

"Ekika. I said ekika!"

Sakura, Naruto and Chronos could do nothing but stare at how serious he was. It took all they could muster not to laugh at him.

"Alright, Sasuke," Chronos reasoned. "I think I have just the hobby for you. You will learn how to grow the Akanasu, or tomato plant."

"How will that help me train?"

Chronos pondered that thought before continuing. "It does take patience and precise care to grow tasty tomatoes. Luckily for you, I love tomatoes as well, so I can show you how to properly grow them. Now don't you think doing something that takes patience and precision would help?"

"We'll see." Sasuke scoffed. Sakura giggled at the thought of Sasuke gardening. Chronos and Sasuke glared at her.

"Is there a problem, Sakura?" Chronos questioned.

"Not at all." she managed to say through the case of the giggles she caught.

"I see. Now that the attention is on you, I got one question that has puzzled me." Sakura stopped her giggles and gazed at the man curiously. "Is that hair natural or did you dye it? The only people that had pink hair where I came from were drug addicts and degenerates, not counting the horrible singer with a small chest and a few piercings."

Sakura stared wide-eyed as if the comments offended her. "I'll have you know that this is the most beautiful hair in Konoha, and I am not any of those things you mentioned, Chronos-san," she stated turning her head away.

"Gomen, Sakura, but surely you'd understand that I would not want my two sons to be associated with anyone not of the highest character." Chronos said obviously trying to hold back his own laughter.

"I guess then I will have to make sure you approve of me," she replied glancing at Sasuke. All Sasuke could do is roll his eyes. Then something unheard of in Sasuke's life occurred. Naruto got up from his seat with only five empty bowls in front of him.

"I guess you were right, Otousan. I did get full when I ate slower," Naruto stated with a satisfied face.

"I guess we are done here. How much did that run to?" Chronos inquired.

Ayame and Teuchi glanced at each other and then smiled. "Nothing," they said in unison.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be seen as some charity case..." Chronos replied while digging through his bag of coins.

"There's no need." Ayame stated, placing a hand on Chronos's. "Just seeing Naruto-niisan with real family for a change was payment enough."

Chronos smiled and blushed a tiny bit, then quickly removed his hand and put the bag back into his coat. Quickly saying their goodbyes, the four walked down the street heading to the Uchiha district.

Noticing their destination, Sakura spoke. "Are you all staying where Sasuke lives?"

"Just for tonight, Sakura-chan," Naruto muttered quickly. "We should have a new place for the three of us tomorrow."

"Really?? Do you know where it is, Sasuke-kun??"

"No, but supposedly we will be shown the way tomorrow. It appears that the dobe's great grandfather had a private residence somewhere, supposedly reserved for the clan head."

"And that's where all three of you will be staying??"

"For the time being," Sasuke mentioned. "I probably will move out when I try to accomplish one of my goals."

Chronos raised an eyebrow and was about to ask why before Sakura beat him to it.

"What goal is that, Sasuke-kun?"

"I want to rebuild my clan."

Sakura blushed at the idea, knowing full well what part of it entailed. Such thoughts were ones from her dreams. She was lost in those thoughts until a cough startled her from them. Looking up to see that she was a bit away from the group, she raced to catch up.

"Nice of you to join us again!" teased Chronos. "I hope you enjoyed yourself back there." Sakura blushed again redder than usual. "Well, enough of my teasing. I've got a proposition for you. I assume these two will need help in the morning packing up and getting their stuff moved to the tower by noon. Care to help?"

Sakura cheered at the thought inwardly. "Definitely. I even bet a few of our friends would like to help."

Naruto looked over to Sakura. "Who would you get??"

"I know Ino, and Kiba would like to help. I could convince Shikamaru to come if the effort wasn't too troublesome. Chouji would come if we promised dinner, and I know Hinata would love to help you, Naruto."

"Really?? That would be great. Even though Hinata keeps stuttering all the time, she is nice to talk to."

"I guess it's settled then," Chronos interjected. "Sakura, please gather everyone you can here at eight tomorrow morning."

Sakura noticed they had reached the Uchiha compound and sighed dejectedly, knowing this was the end of the road for her.

"Sure thing. It was a pleasure meeting you, Chronos-san," Sakura said with a bow. "Oyasuminasai, Sasuke-kun." With that, she smiled and walked home. Sasuke watched her walking away with a little more intent than normal.

"You like that girl, Sasuke?" Chronos asked.

"Not really," Sasuke shrugged as he spoke. "She did seem quieter this time, which is a good thing."

"You know, if rebuilding your clan means what I think it does, you may want to give someone like her a chance."

"Why should I? I seem to attract a crowd. I can bide my time. Anyways, I got another goal I need to do first," muttered Sasuke with a hint of darkness in the last sentence.

As the three went inside and settled themselves in for the night, one thought kept Chronos awake a bit longer than he intended.

'I wonder if that has anything to do with what happened to him.'


The Next Morning

After a decent breakfast, Sakura and the people she managed to round up arrived at the compound. Following some quick introductions, the group separated into two. Shikamaru brought some storage scrolls with him, but since Sasuke already had a few, he gave them to Naruto to pack up all of his belongings.

With Naruto stating he did not have much to pack, just Shikamaru and Hinata went with Naruto and Chronos, while the rest helped Sasuke pack clothes, equipment, and clan scrolls.

Chronos was amazed at the state of Naruto's little apartment. There was graffiti spray painted outside. When Hinata asked why "Die Demon!" was sprayed on his door, Naruto just shrugged and told her not to worry. She wondered why someone would be so mean to the boy she admired.

Inside was not much better. A couple of the windows were broken, the furniture looked like something out of a junkyard, and more graffiti lined the walls. Luckily, most of the things that were of value were kept in a separate room hidden by a false panel.

While Shikamaru and Naruto packed up his things in that room, Chronos and Hinata checked out the kitchen. There was milk that was past the expiration date, some assorted fruits, and plenty of miso soup and instant ramen. Hinata gasped in shock at what little he had. She was surprised anyone could live like this and still be outwardly happy. Chronos, on the other hand, resolved to give the best to his sons.

They went back to the other room and saw Naruto starting to pack his orange jumpsuits. In Chronos's mind, that had to be stopped at all costs.

"What are you doing?"

"Packing up my clothes, Otousan." stated Naruto bewildered. "I thought we were taking everything?"

"Except the things you aren't keeping anymore. How can you stand that orange suit? It looks like you're a big ripe orange."

"I like orange. It's my favorite color," said Naruto in a huff.

"Naruto," Shikamaru frustratingly remarked. "Your Otousan is right. Think about when you actually take on missions. That orange practically screams 'Kill me!'"

"It isn't that bad Shikamaru. What about you Hinata? Do you like my orange clothes?"

Hinata blushed while looking over this choice of attire. 'He actually wants my opinion? He's always been cute, but that orange hurts to look at sometimes.'

"Ano… N-Naruto-kun. I… I like h-how you look."

Naruto beamed when he heard that. He was about to point it out to the others, but Hinata continued her observation after taking a breath.

"However, Naruto-kun, I… I think you would l-look… b-better in other c-clothes," Hinata said giving a small smile to her hero.

Naruto couldn't help to stare when he saw her smile. It was the first time she smiled at him. 'I never have seen her smile before... I wonder why? It looks great on her.' he thought.

After a few seconds of him staring at her, she looked away before her blush became evident, finding a spot on the floor that looked appealing.

Chronos smiled at the display. 'I guess she has it bad for Naruto. This will be interesting then.'

"Hinata," he said trying to get her attention. He continued when she looked up at him. "How about we go shopping and get Naruto some new clothes?" She smiled and nodded her head, knowing she would end up spending more of the day with Naruto.

"If you are going to get new clothes, then I suggest getting new kunai and shuriken for him," Shikamaru observed, "A lot of them look used and in bad shape."

This got his father worried. "Why do you have such things, Naruto?"

"It was all I could get," Naruto mumbled sadly looking at the floor. "I would usually get thrown out of most stores just seconds after walking in."

Chronos just smiled at the boy. Feeling the warmth from the smile, Naruto looked into his father's eyes and wondered why.

"You won't have to worry about that now, Naruto. If they try to throw me out with you, they won't like what happens." he said giving his son a wicked smile. "Alright, forget about packing anything unless it has sentimental value. We got two hours before we got to make our way to see Sarutobi-sama. We will stop at a few stores and get what you need as well as some groceries."

"Why groceries, C-Chronos-san?" Hinata asked.

"Simple really. It is my way of saying thanks for helping out by having everyone that helped over for dinner tonight. Hurry up now, let's get going!" he said slowly walking to the door. "Remember to bring the medallion, Naruto."

"Hai!" Naruto acknowledged grabbing the medallion as well as a couple pictures, scrolls, and books. He gave all but the medallion to Shikamaru who sealed them in a small storage scroll.

The rest of the morning was rather enjoyable. After stopping at a bank to exchange the gold coins for ryo, they made their way to a clothing store. It took some careful persuasion and simple show of Chronos's sword to convince the owner to let them shop there.

Naruto seemed to start picking out clothes that were similar to his father's. He grabbed a pair of black combat boots, black and gray cargo pants, burnt red and dark violet and black t-shirts, a black long coat, and a pair of fingerless gloves to go with each color shirt. To appease Naruto's need for orange, a dark orange belt was added.

Everyone was pleased, especially Hinata after Naruto changed into the set with the black pants and red t-shirt. Her blush seemed as red as the shirt when he came out of the changing booth. She thought he couldn't get much more handsome than what she saw that moment.

They repeated the same process at the weapons store and the grocery store, then made their way to the tower, everything they bought placed securely in the storage scrolls Shikamaru brought. Chronos was fascinated with them and chatted with Shikamaru the whole way to the tower about how they worked. That left Hinata and Naruto time to talk.

"Y-your Otousan s-seems rather n-nice, N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "He is rather good to me so far. I never had someone buy all this stuff before or constantly look out for me. Sure Ojiisan and Iruka-sensei would help from time to time, but they're busy people – it's not like they can drop everything for me."

He looked over at Hinata and saw her glancing away from his gaze. It gave him the perfect opportunity to bring up a thought that gnawed at him.

"Hinata, why don't you look at me?"

She froze at the comment as well as the concerned look on Naruto's face. 'Should I tell him? How would he react if he knew my feelings?'

"I am not ugly to look at, am I Hinata??"

"No. Not at all Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed with a little more force than necessary. Naruto was shock. For once, she didn't stutter around him.

"Good, I wouldn't want my friends uncomfortable around me." Naruto said with a friendly and warming smile. "You know, I can't wait to see this new place I'll be living in. It will be so much fun."

Hinata watched and listened as the boy was energized by the idea of a new home and a family to live with. She felt the warmth and caring coming from Naruto, but still didn't have the courage to say everything she was feeling and thinking. 'I wish I could tell you, Naruto-kun, but who am I kidding? You said we were friends. You probably wouldn't see it any other way… yet.'


Hokage Tower

The group met up outside of the Hokage's Office and discussed the day's events. Sakura and Ino saw Naruto's new outfit and actually complimented him on it. Curiosity got the better of Kiba and he started grilling Chronos about his past life. After regaling the group with a couple stories, and finding more about Akamaru, Kiba's loyal hound, the doors opened and a guard ushered everyone inside.

"Welcome back, Chronos-san. I see you brought guests," Sarutobi mentioned waving at the Academy students joining the three of them.

"Oh these kids? I figured Naruto's and Sasuke's friends would like to help us move in to the new place. I may have lured some of them with the promise of a good meal, but it has served all of the purposes I wanted, Sarutobi-sama." Chronos wistfully mentioned as if nothing was out of place.

"You do realize that they will be intruding on clan business. It does seem that your ancestor went to great lengths to keep the location a secret." the Third posed thoughtfully.

"Of course, but I doubt that these friends of my two youshi would either betray anything clan related, or want to be unaware of where their friends lived."

Sarutobi sighed in acquiescence. "If you are comfortable with that, let's proceed. Do you have the pieces of the medallion?"

The two Uzumaki pulled out their respective halves of the medallion. Taking the time to look over the medallion pieces, they quickly found how the fit together and combined them. When the pieces joined, a small flash occurred, causing Naruto to drop the medallion. It gave a resounding clank when it struck the floor, but remarkably it stayed in one piece.

Picking it up off the floor, Chronos discovered that there was an inscribed map on the back of the medallion. Showing it to the Hokage, he mentioned to the group to follow them with all of the packed belongings.

The Hokage led them through a winding path behind the tower up the mountain into the caves contained behind the faces carved into the mountain. Most of the Academy students were complaining about the long hike, but their enthusiasm was supplied in excess by Naruto's constant chattering about how cool it would be to live on the mountain.

After a good thirty minute walk, they came to a wall with a metal indentation with an orange line going from the top of the indentation to the ceiling.

"Great," Naruto exclaimed in frustration. "This dumb thing showed us a dead end. Where is the damn entrance!?"

Shikamaru just shook his head. "How troublesome you are, Naruto. Can't you tell the entrance is right in front of us??"

"Nani? What do you mean, Shikamaru?? All I see in front of us is just a wall and some circular indentation thingy."

Chronos laughed catching on. "Sarutobi-sama, if I could have the medallion please?"

Sarutobi quietly handed it over, with Chronos giving a slight bow upon its receipt. He took the medallion over to the indentation on the wall. Going through a careful inspection, he noticed that there was a small notch in the indentation. It seemed to match the eye hole on the medallion used for a chain.

Chronos cautiously placed the medallion into the indentation and stepped back. Nothing happened, even though the medallion fit perfectly into it. He took another quick look at the medallion and saw that the ending line on the medallion did not line up with the line on the wall. After a small twist, the lines now matched, ending with a satisfying clunk.

Immediately the wall seemed to swing outward like a door revealing a bright light, causing everyone to shield their eyes. The first to adjust to the light was Hinata.

To her, the sight was breathtaking. There was a lush grass field that stretched for several hundred meters. Light from the sun bounced off what appeared to be glass rooftops on a pair of buildings to the right. Immediately towards the back center of the field, there were three stone buildings that seemed to be carved out of the mountain itself. Encompassing the entire area was the rock wall of the same mountain, shaped as if it were wrapping everything in its protective arms. In front of said rock wall, scattered every few meters, was a fruit tree of some type.

Everyone else stared in awe as they adjusted to the light, until Chronos finally managed to find his voice.

"Naruto, Sasuke... welcome home."


(A/N) Thanks to Quackpotty, HNN, and Moroha-sensei for helping with the bloodline development and naming. I may end up taking more time than normal with the next chapters due to family problems. Everyone please say a prayer for my son, James.