"Lemme go!" Naruto struggled but the hands of his captor remained tight on the neck of his jacket and on the seat of his pants.
The four-year-old closed his eyes. The world seemed spin round and round as his captor ran across the rooftops of Konoha.
He tried to remember that he was a big boy who lived by himself but he'd already spent part of the day running from a group of people who wanted to hurt him and just when he thought his hiding place was going to be good enough for a few hours, he was caught.
Naruto's lower lip trembled and a few tears fell through the air.
Suddenly his captor made a huge leap and landed on the ground. Naruto opened his eyes and tried to look around but because of the tight grip his captor had on him all he could see were grass and flowers.
"Where did you find him?" It was a woman's voice. Soft. Gentle.
"In the dumpster behind The Red Lantern?"
The woman's voice was shocked. "The Red Lantern? Why was he in the red light district?"
His captor's voice became hard. "Hiding from a group of civilians who'd been chasing him for hours."
"Hours?!" The woman's voice also turned hard. "Who was supposed to be watching him? Why did they let it occur?"
"Two ANBU. You know I can't tell you their names but the idiots lost friends four years ago…"
"And the idiots thought that this four-year-old was getting what he deserved?"
"Basically. They won't be doing that again. For several weeks."
"And the civilians?"
"From now on, the mere thought of the boy will make them pee themselves."
"Good." The woman's feet came into Naruto's view. She knelt down so he could see her face. She had black hair and dark eyes. She looked kind but Naruto already knew that looks could be deceiving. "Naruto-chan, Shisui is going to put you down…if you promise not to run. If you run, one of us will catch you. Do you promise not to run?"
Naruto sniffled. He couldn't figure out how he was going to get away but he figured that he'd be able to sooner or later. He didn't have to tell strangers the truth. "Okay."
He was promptly set on his feet and he staggered a bit until he got his balance.
The woman reached out and Naruto flinched. Sadness entered the woman's face and eyes but she still continued to reach out and gently stroked Naruto's face. "Welcome home, my son."
"I'm not your son."
"No, I'm not your birth mother. But I'm going to be your adoptive mother. Do you know what adoption is?"
"Yeah, but I'm not 'dopta'ble 'cause I have a demon in my tummy."
The woman looked even sadder. "Well, Naruto-chan, that's not entirely correct. You don't have a demon IN your tummy but he's ON your tummy."
"That's not quite true, Aunt Mikoto." Naruto twisted around and looked at his captor. The man looked like the woman only with a happier face and eyes.
"I know, Shisui. But he's four. More technical explanations can wait until he's older." She straightened and looked at the man. "You better leave before you're missed. But before you do, help me strip him and you need to burn those clothes."
"They reek! Burning would be a mercy."
"NO!" Naruto turned to run but was quickly caught again. He tried to struggle but their hands stripped him of his clothes and he was picked up and carried stark naked through a house. Another woman pattered ahead and slid open a door.
The room was plain and had a box full of water. In front of the box was a stool and a bucket. The woman plopped Naruto on the stool and before he could get up to run, she poured water over his head! Naruto was so startled he didn't move when she took a cloth, rubbed a white bar across it then began rubbing him with the cloth all over!
She was washing him!
She washed his face, his ears, behind his ears, his neck, his back, his tummy, his….
"NOOOO! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH ME THERE! JIJI SAID THAT NO ONE IS SUPPOSED TO TOUCH MY SPECIAL BITS! NOOOO!"
"Hush, Naruto! I'm your mother. It's okay for me to make sure your genitals are clean."
"Gen-tal?"
"Gen-i-tals" She smiled at him. "Also known as your 'special bits'."
Then she poured some more water in his hair, poured some thick funny colored water into her hand and began scrubbing at his hair. The funny water smelled nice.
"Close your eyes and your mouth, Naruto-chan." Naruto did as he was told and she poured water over his head. "Still keep your eyes closed." He heard metal squeak and the sound of water going into a bucket. Then more water was poured over his head.
Just when he thought it was all over, she began scrubbing him again!
Finally, she was finished. Naruto looked at himself and realized that he not only smelled different, his skin looked different too. The woman scooped him up and placed him in the box of water. "You sit there and soak. I have to do something really quick."
Naruto sat in the water and watched as the woman went to the door, slid it open and spoke to someone outside. "Even though he looks half starved, he won't be able to wear Sasuke's clothes. "Get some of Itachi's things from when he was five and six and we'll see if those fit. They should do until we're able to get him clothes of his own. Oh, and get Yumi-san. There's something I want her to look at."
"Yes, ma'am."
She slid the door closed and walked back over to Naruto. She ran her fingers through his hair and he shivered at the touch. "How do you feel?"
"Different."
"Good different or bad different?"
"I dunno…"
"Oh my poor little boy." She leaned over and pressed her lips to his forehead.
The door slid open and a really old wrinkly lady entered. "Ah, Yumi-san. I want you to look at his seal." The woman scooped Naruto out of the box, wrapped a towel around him and dried him off. Then she took a dry towel and wrapped than around him and stood him on the stool. She unwrapped the towel enough so that his tummy was showing.
"What do you think?"
"NOOOO! I'm not 'posed to let people see my tummy!"
The woman pulled him into her arms and he struggled but he couldn't get free of the towel and her arms. "Naruto-chan, I will never ever let anyone hurt you ever again. I'm your mother and mothers don't let people hurt their children. It's okay for Yumi-san to see your tummy because I say it's okay. Let her look, she won't hurt you I promise."
Naruto sniffled back his tears. "Okay."
The woman…his mother…stood him again on the stool and peeled away the towel until his tummy was bare.
The really old lady peered at the marks on his tummy and her face became even more wrinkly. And her eyes turned red. After staring at his tummy for several minutes the old lady leaned back. "Well, if Minato-sama had the time to do it properly this would be an incredible work."
"The seal won't hold?"
The old lady waved a hand in the air. "It should but it was done in haste. That much is obvious. But it's doing its job. The main problem that I see is that the boy has access to incredible amounts of chakra but not the control necessary for it."
"And if he learns that control?"
"He'll be able to make hundreds of shadow clones, at the very least."
"Oh. My."
"He must learn control first. I can probably work something out that a lot of the chakra won't be available to him until he does learn control. Perhaps the same amount Sasuke-kun has. I'm not sure. I need to write down this seal and study it for a bit before I do anything. But control is going to be the first necessary thing."
"What about Jiraiya?"
"That pervert? If you can find him, he might be able to do something but you'll have to find him first."
"How can I do that?"
"Send people to every onsen and whorehouse on the continent."
"Oh, thanks so much."
"Anytime." The old lady walked to the door. "I'll let you know what I have in a few days."
"Thank you, Yumi-san."
"You're welcome, Mikoto-chan."
The old lady walked out of the room and another woman, much younger entered with an armful of clothes.
"Ah, thank you." The young woman bowed and exited the room. Naruto's mother held up one piece after another to Naruto's body. Then she tugged the towel off and began to dress him. Naruto was startled; there were clean undies, clean EVERYTHING.
He looked up at his mother. "What am I supposed to call you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know what you're supposed to call a mother."
A tear rolled down her cheek. "Well, my given name is Mikoto but my other two sons call me 'mother'. You can call me that too if you'd like or you could also call me 'mom'."
"Mother…mother…." Naruto repeated the word several more times. He liked the sound of it. He liked saying it. He lunged at his mother and wrapped his arms around her legs. "Mother!"
Mikoto began to cry and lifted her newest son into her arms and held him close. His head went to her shoulder and his nose pressed against her neck. "Naruto, my precious son."