Broken Bonds: The Leaf and the Whirlpool

by FoxSpirit17

The ancient alliance between Konoha and Uzushio was shattered. Seven years later, the two Hidden Villages must stand united against mysterious organization known as 'Akatsuki'. However, the only one who can rekindle the old alliance is the boy Konoha betrayed not so long ago: Uzumaki Naruto. Semi-AU, NaruHina, SasuSaku.

5. Chapter Four: Home

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Chapter Four: Home

Naruto yelped and jumped away from the railing when he felt someone trying to place something on his shoulders. Turning around, he saw that it was just Konan holding a blanket.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," the young woman said, holding out the blue woolen cloth. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I just thought you might be cold out here."

The boy accepted the blanket and wrapped it around himself, grateful for the warmth. "Is it always so cold at sea, Konan-oba-chan?"

"It is during winter." She moved closer and rested her elbows on the ship's railing. "Thankfully, the weather is good today; rain would have made the trip very miserable for everyone."

Naruto looked to the front again, trying to see something other than the endless blue. "When will we get to Uzushio?"

"In a few hours."

Naruto nodded, not taking his eyes away from the horizon. On the one hand, he was eager to see the place his grandfather and uncle had told him so much about ever since they'd left Konoha. On the other hand, however, he was terrified of what he would find there. What if the strange voice was right?

"Everything is going to be alright," Konan said gently. "There's nothing to worry about, Naruto."

"I'm not worried." Unconsciously, the well-honed reflex kicked in; he smiled his biggest, goofiest grin at her. "I'm just tired of waiting to see Uzushio. It sounds like an awesome place!"

"It is," the young woman assured him, although she didn't appear to be convinced by his show of cheerfulness.

They both went back to silently watching the horizon.

-XOXO-

For such a supposedly amazing place, Uzushio certainly didn't look all that extraordinary to Naruto. In fact, it seemed to be just like any other village.

The only things different from Konoha were the sea and the lack of a stone monument carved on a cliff.

Uzushio was built near the shoreline and expanded deep into the mainland. Most of the buildings were painted off-white, appearing pale yellow in the sunlight, and had many wide windows, but they weren't as tall as Konoha's and stood further apart from each other. A small river was running through the village, splitting it in two. As the ship passed near its estuary, Naruto saw that it was spanned by many bridges, connecting the two sides of the village.

The ship tied in the part of Uzushio built near the sea, which Kaji told Naruto was called the Harbor. There was an old man with white hair waiting for them on the pier; about a dozen shinobi were standing behind him.

"Welcome back," the old man greeted them after they disembarked, bowing his head politely to everyone present. "How was the Rinne Festival in Konoha?"

"It was exquisite," Rei, the old lady with the long brown hair, answered with what Naruto would call a 'pranking grin'. Many of the shinobi following them, including his uncle, flashed similar smiles. "Shame we couldn't stay, though..."

"Don't worry," the old man chuckled, "your presence, although brief, made quite the impact. Kumo and Suna both had spies in Konoha; they got the news a few hours after you gave the Hokage our ultimatum. By now, I imagine that the news will have reached Iwa and Kiri as well. The son of the Yellow Flash and grandchild of the Uzumaki clan head returns to his home at last after years of being presumed dead."

The old man turned to Naruto. "It is a great pleasure to meet you in person, Naruto-kun. My name is Nagare Shin. I apologize for not personally escorting you here, but someone had to stay behind to make sure everything was running smoothly in Uzushio. As I am not a shinobi, this duty often falls to me."

Naruto blinked, stunned. Even after three days, he still couldn't help feeling a little lost when someone talked to him so politely.

Felling his uncle nudging his side softly, he remembered he had to answer the old man. "Pleasure to meet you too, Shin-jii-chan!"

"Don't look so scandalized, Shin," Rei said, laughing at the expression on the white-haired old man's face. "The kid means well. Judging by what I saw in Konoha, I don't think anyone there taught him any manners –or anything whatsoever, for that matter."

Old man Shin stood there gaping, moving his mouth but not making any sound. Then, he turned to look at Kaji. "I thought you had been exaggerating, Kaji-kun."

"He wasn't," Naruto's grandfather mumbled under his breath.

"You said that news about Naruto has circulated across the elemental nations?" Hiro, the old man with the graying black hair, asked suddenly.

"Ah," Shin closed his mouth and cleared his throat, "yes. It has spread with astonishing speed. I have all the reports in my office."

"Excellent," Kenjiro said. "Let's convene in two hours; I would like to show my grandson his new home first." He turned to the shinobi that had been on the ships with them. "I want to congratulate all of you for the successful completion of this mission and, on a personal note, to thank you for helping me reunite my family.

"But I won't keep you here with any long, boring speeches. I know that you're all eager to return to your homes. Everyone is dismissed."

The shinobi bowed and broke ranks. Some jumped to the rooftops and took off in different directions, while others followed the street that, Naruto guessed, led to the center of the village. Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, however, stayed behind, along with the elders and some of the guards.

His uncle touched his shoulder lightly. "Come on, Naruto. Time to show you our home." The young man bowed his head to the three elders. "Rei-sama, Hiro-sama, Shin-sama."

Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan mimicked the dark-haired man's action.

"I'll see you later in my office," Kenjiro said to the three elders.

"Take your time, Kenjiro," Hiro replied; Rei and Shin nodded their heads in agreement.

After the small group comprised of five ninja and a small boy had put some distance between them and the three elders, Rei's voice reached Naruto.

"You can thank Hiro for taking your foot out of your mouth," the brown-haired woman said quietly.

'...Foot out of... What...?'

Naruto frowned in confusion, before shrugging and deciding to not bother with it anymore. He really couldn't understand some of the things grown-ups said. Besides, there were much more important things for him to focus on.

Home. He wondered what that would be like.

-XOXO-

Kenjiro watched his son and grandson unpacking the boy's belongings with a smile on his face. The sound of laughter filled his daughter's childhood bedroom as Kaji lifted Naruto and placed him on top of a chair.

"There," the young man said. "Now I won't have to worry about tripping over you when I'm trying to move something."

The old man's smile widened. It had been so long since he'd heard his son laugh like that –almost seven years now. Kaji, who had idolized his siblings, had taken Kenshin and Kaito's deaths even harder than he had. Kushina and Minato's passing had only made him close himself off even more.

"You're going to ruin my flowers, 'ttebayo!" Naruto jumped off the chair and went back to 'helping' his uncle. The blond boy carefully placed the two flower pots on the windowsill, where the iris and the orange lily could bask in the sunlight.

Even though Naruto looked remarkably like Minato, Kenjiro could see his daughter in the child's face and in his mannerisms. The boy was curious about everything and always asked questions, managing to jump from one topic to the next with a speed that would have baffled most people. Kenjiro, however, was used to hyperactive children that were unable to sit still for long; he'd had four of them. And the first time he had heard the boy say 'dattebayo', he had nearly choked on his tea; so had his son, but only because of how hard he was laughing at the old man's reaction.

Although his daughter had never cared much for something as dull as botany; Kushina liked flowers, but she didn't want to spend hours tending a garden. Minato had been the introspective one.

But for all of Naruto's seeming good cheer and talkative nature, it was his silence that spoke volumes about what his life had been like.

Kenjiro may have known his grandson for only a few days, but he could tell that 'timid' wasn't really in Naruto's character. Nevertheless, when someone spoke to him, Naruto just stared at them before answering timidly. When Yahiko had offered to play a few games with the blond boy on the ship to Uzushio in order to pass the time, Naruto had almost teared up before admitting that he didn't know any games. The orange-haired man had proclaimed that this was unacceptable and had taught the boy how to play snap. The five-year-old had proceeded to clean out the jounin, much to everyone's surprise – and amusement.

The old man looked again at the two specks of color brightening up the almost bare room. The little purple-blue iris stood for loyalty and good news, while the vibrant orange lily stood for hatred and revenge.

'Loyalty and hatred; how appropriate.' He wondered if his grandson had known what these flowers meant when he had decided to keep them in his apartment.

Kaji had told him about what Naruto's life was like in Konoha, but Kenjiro was beginning to suspect that his son had deliberately withheld the worst parts of it to spare him additional pain. He needn't have bothered; Kenjiro already blamed himself for everything. If only he had been more vigilant back then…

No, it was no use dwelling on the past; what was done was done. It was time to look to the future. Naruto was with them now; that was all that mattered. Kenjiro would do everything in his power to make sure that the boy would have a home here.

Besides, one day he would have his revenge. The tide always turned. One day, Sarutobi would pay for taking five years away from him, his son, and his grandson.

-XOXO-

"Hatake Kakashi, did you reveal to Uzumaki Kaji classified information regarding Namikaze Naruto?"

Kakashi had to bite his tongue to keep himself from yelling at the geezers the first thing that came to his mind.

The second thing on his mind wasn't all that complimentary, either. "'Namikaze'? It had to come to this for you to recognize him as the son of the Fourth Hokage?"

"Watch your tone, Kakashi!" Koharu warned tersely. "This is not the time for you to indulge in insubordination."

Kakashi pressed his lips together and willed himself to stay silent. As much as he wanted to unleash five years' worth of pent-up rage, he had to keep a cool head right now if he wanted to get out of this alive.

"Did you or did you not reveal classified information about Namikaze Naruto to Uzumaki Kaji?" Homura repeated through clenched teeth.

The silver-haired man folded his arms behind his back and tried to adopt a nonchalant pose. "No, sir, I did not."

"Did you reveal to him any classified information about the Kyuubi incident?"

"No, sir."

"Did you engage him in conversation at any time during his stay in Konoha?"

"Yes, sir."

"When?" Homura asked curtly.

"The night he encountered Naruto at the restaurant of Ichiraku Teuchi."

"What did the two of you talk about?"

"He was curious about Naruto, whom he had correctly identified as the vessel of the Kyuubi. I declined to answer his questions and redirected him to Hokage-sama, instead."

"Yes, I remember," the aging Hokage said sourly; Kakashi found it difficult to suppress a smirk.

"Was that all you talked about?" Homura continued with the interrogation as if the interruption hadn't taken place.

"No, sir. He was also angered by the way the citizens of Konoha behaved towards Naruto. He said that jinchuuriki or no, no child should be treated like that." Kakashi sighed inwardly; so much for keeping a cool head.

At least the old geezers had the grace to wince at the young man's words.

"Did he inquire about the identities of Naruto's parents?"

"No, sir."

"Did he state or even imply at any time during your conversation that he was aware of their identities?"

"No, sir."

"Where were you that night between four fifteen a.m., when your guard shift ended, and six a.m., when you had to deliver your report to the Hokage?" Shimura Danzou asked.

'Shit.' The one-eyed old man hadn't said a word until now, so Kakashi was beginning to hope that he'd been too busy reorganizing security to take an active interest in the investigations. He really should have known better.

"I was running a personal errant, sir."

"Perhaps it would interest you to know, Kakashi," the crippled old man said with the hint of a smirk, "that, according to several witnesses, Uzumaki Kaji had barrier seals placed in his hotel room at all times. Therefore, no-one can confirm his whereabouts during that time frame."

Kakashi was well aware that he was treading on extremely thin ice right now. His previous statements could be proven false by only one man, who was currently hundreds of kilometers away from the Leaf and wouldn't contradict him even if he were here. This, however, was entirely different; someone might have noticed that he hadn't returned to his small apartment that night.

"I was at the Memorial Stone, paying my respects to the fallen." The closer he kept things to the truth, the less likely it would be for the old war-hawk to catch him lying.

"Are there any witnesses to confirm this, Kakashi?"

"None that I'm aware of, sir." He'd made sure of that.

"What made you go there at that late hour?" The Hokage asked.

Lying was pointless now; after all, Kakashi had done a poor job of hiding his true feelings on the subject of Naruto all these years. "After seeing Kaji-san, I was… conflicted, Hokage-sama. I needed some time to think."

"And what did you decide, Kakashi?"

"I decided to do my duty, Hokage-sama."

Danzou narrowed his sole remaining eye. "What constitutes as your 'duty'?"

Dammit. He should have known that a lie of omission wouldn't work on Danzou; the man could smell deception better than a bloodhound.

The silver-haired man tightened his grip, feeling his fingernails biting into his flesh. "My duty is to protect the Hidden Leaf."

'…and to uphold the Will of Fire.' He didn't dare say the last part out loud, though.

"We have no further questions for you, Kakashi," the Hokage said after exchanging a few looks with his advisors. "You're dismissed."

Kakashi bowed stiffly to the Hokage and the three elders and exited the interrogation room. Once he was out of their sight, he allowed his spine to relax a little. He wasn't the only suspect –he wasn't even the most likely one! Rumors flying around the ANBU headquarters said that Uchiha Mikoto had been placed under house arrest pending the investigation.

As the silver-haired man walked out of the Hokage Tower, he wondered what he would do if the council condemned the Uchiha matriarch for revealing Naruto's existence to the Uzumaki.

'I know what I have to do if that happens.'

He traced the leaf on his hitai-ate with his fingertips. He had been wearing the symbol of his home village for more than a decade, even though he hadn't always been proud of it. He didn't know if he could leave it behind, along with all the memories it carried – the promises he had made, the friends who counted on him, the guilt over his failures.

It would feel strange to suddenly have a spiral etched there.

'I hope it won't come to that.'

-XOXO-

"Another dead end," Koharu sighed.

Danzou stared at the place the Hatake boy had just vacated. There was no doubt in his mind that Kakashi was guilty.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a recent development.

Kakashi, along with Uchiha Mikoto, had been entirely unreasonable when it came to the welfare of Konoha. They were by far the most vocal detractors of Danzou's plans for Naruto, which was why he had made sure that neither of them could contact the Uzumaki. Fugaku had been keeping an eye on Mikoto ever since she had attempted to send a letter to Kushina's family five years ago, and Kakashi's every move was monitored by his fellow ANBU.

"He had an opportunity," Homura pointed out. "He could have told Kaji everything when they talked outside Naruto's apartment."

"No, he couldn't have," Danzou countered. He wanted to find the real traitor, not just pin the blame on someone in order to close the investigation. "A shinobi as experienced as Hatake Kakashi would never expose himself by having such a sensitive conversation with someone in the middle of a street."

"I agree," Koharu said, nodding.

"What about the two hours he spent unsupervised in front of the Memorial Stone?"

"There is no evidence suggesting that Uzumaki Kaji met him there that night." Danzou had checked – thoroughly.

The bespectacled elder narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said that Kaji's whereabouts couldn't be confirmed."

"The receptionist working the night shift had taken a liking to the Uzumaki prince," Danzou said with a faint smirk; sometimes, emotions like that could be extremely useful. "She would always find excuses to hover around his room."

The Uzumaki boy, however, had shown decorum and had never indulged any of the young women fawning over him. Unfortunately. It was always advantageous to have information of a more personal nature on the son of another village's Head.

Homura rubbed his temples. "Where is Jiraiya? Shouldn't we have heard from him by now?"

"I sent him a message right after the incident," Hiruzen informed them. "I don't know when it will reach him, but he should be on his way back any day now."

"Or he might be on his way to Uzushio," Koharu snapped. "You have too much faith in him, Hiruzen. He had more reasons than any of the others to reveal the truth to the Uzumaki."

Considering that the man was both the Yondaime's mentor and Naruto's godfather, everyone's suspicions naturally fell on him.

Kakashi and Mikoto's actions had been monitored closely for years. Itachi was too young to remember the Fourth and his wife, so he too was mostly cleared of suspicions; the four elders were still considering the possibility that his mother had asked for his help. Shikaku and Hiashi were both the heads of prominent clans; while they could have contacted the Uzumaki in a way that wouldn't incriminate them, neither would betray the Leaf and his clan lightly.

The Toad Sage, however, had been away from Konoha for almost five years, sending only the occasional letter back to inform the Hokage about any intelligence he uncovered on their enemies.

Danzou shut out the discussion the other three were having about Jiraiya's supposed guilt and focused on the six folders on the desk in front of him. He didn't need to consult them anymore; he had read them so many times that he had memorized every piece of information written in them. Nevertheless, he found that the sight of them helped him organize his thoughts.

Six shinobi, each with both a reason to help Naruto reunite with his family and the means to accomplish this.

A small part of him was displeased with the number of suspects. Even though it made his job considerably easier, it was... distressing to see that so few people cared about a young boy. Danzou was perhaps the most hated man in Konoha, a reputation he had spent his entire life cultivating, and yet hundreds would be concerned if anything happened to him, if only because of the temporary chaos the void in the seat of power would create.

The man known as the Darkness of Shinobi looked at the folders one last time before gathering them and placing them on one of the desk's corners. His task was futile. Unless he obtained more information, he might as well write numbers on the folders and throw dice to determine which of the six were guilty and which weren't.

If he could, he would have just thrown all of them in prison and assigned the Torture and Interrogation department to get the truth out of them. As it were, however, accusing without proof six shinobi who held prominent positions in the Leaf would be equal to treason. For now, their continued existence was necessary for Konoha's survival.

The six suspected traitors would be placed under strict surveillance. Eventually, someone would slip up and reveal the truth.

When that happened, Danzou would be waiting.

-XOXO-

The bright –much too bright– light of the sun hit Naruto's eyes, making the boy groan. He raised his blanket higher to cover his eyes and buried his head in his pillow.

Mornings were evil.

It took a few minutes for his sleepy mind to realize that the blanket covering him was softer and warmer than his own. It took a few more minutes for him to remember why: this wasn't his home.

He was in Uzushio, in his grandfather's house, sleeping in his mother's old room.

He opened his eyes, squinting at the light coming in from the two windows, and looked around. The room was larger than his entire apartment and almost completely empty. The only furniture inside it were the bed, the wardrobe, a desk, and an empty bookcase. The walls were also bare, save for a few drawings of weapons and two strange hooks. 'Uncle said that mom had a sword, too.' Maybe one day he could get one of his own. After all, his grandfather had told him that he could decorate the room any way he liked.

Naruto grinned and hopped off the bed.

After washing his teeth and changing out of his pajamas, the blond boy headed downstairs, trying to remember where the kitchen was. This house had so many rooms that Naruto was a bit worried he was going to get lost in here. 'Later, I'm going to explore all of them.'

He had only taken a few steps inside the spacious kitchen when he saw someone standing in front of the stove, cooking what looked like breakfast. The woman had her back turned to him, but he recognized her from her dark brown hair tied in a knot on the top of her head.

Naruto grinned mischievously and approached her as quietly as he could, walking on his tip-toes.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, Naruto-chan," she chided him lightly without turning around.

Naruto's grin fell. "How did you know it was me, Kaede-obaa-chan?"

The old woman laughed softly. "I've been working in a house of prank-loving ninja for more than twenty years, Naruto-chan. You're not the first to try that little trick on me. Would you like some eggs?"

"Uh-huh!" Naruto nodded eagerly and took a seat on the table. "Can I have some ramen, too?"

Kaede sighed and muttered something that sounded like 'Figures'. "No, child. Ramen is not for breakfast."

The blond boy pouted at his empty plate.

"Don't look so glum, kid," an amused voice said from behind him. Naruto turned around and saw his uncle walking into the kitchen. "She always makes some ramen for lunch and dinner."

The boy smiled again, and not just from the news that he'd have his favorite food for lunch.

"As if I have any other choice," Kaede huffed. "Good morning, Kaji-kun."

"Good morning, Kaede-san," the young man said obediently. He sat down next to Naruto and ruffled his hair. "Good morning to you too, little squirt. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh-huh!" Naruto said as Kaede placed a plate full of eggs and toast in front of him and another in front of his uncle.

The old woman looked him up and down critically. "Naruto-chan, why did you wear such shabby clothes today?"

'Shabby?' Naruto checked the t-shirt and pants he was wearing. "Uh, these are my good clothes, Kaede-obaa-chan."

"Your…" The old woman pursed her lips and shook her head. "Kaji-kun, Naruto-chan needs some new clothes."

His uncle reluctantly lowered the piece of toast he had been about to eat. "Why? What's wrong with the ones…" The young man looked at the boy and sighed. "…Right. Looks like you and I are going shopping together, Naruto.

"After breakfast." He took a bite out of his toast, looking defiantly at the brown-haired woman.

"What's going to happen after breakfast?" Naruto's grandfather asked as he entered the kitchen. The old man sat across the table from the young man and the boy, bidding good morning to everyone present.

Kaji nodded in greeting and hastily swallowed his mouthful of toast. "Naruto and I are going to get some new clothes for him."

"That's fortunate. I was just thinking about asking you to take care of it." The old man chuckled softly as his son scowled at him. "Make sure to have the Uzumaki crest added on the back of his new shirts and jackets."

One of Kaji's eyebrows shot up. "Has the clan already accepted him officially?"

"No, not yet. There simply wasn't time yesterday for a clan meeting. I'm going to present all the paperwork to them this morning." The old man nodded at Kaede as he accepted a plate filled with food. "Nevertheless, I don't think anyone is going to object. The medical exams alone are enough to prove that Naruto is a member of our clan."

"What's so important about the clan?" Naruto's brows were drawn together as he tried to figure out the answer to his question. "And the spiral?"

"The spiral is the crest of our clan, Naruto. See?" Kaji turned his shoulder slightly and showed the boy the red spiral on the back of his shirt. "It marks you as a member of the Uzumaki clan."

That confused Naruto even more. "But lots of people wear that here. Are they all family?"

"Kind of. They're extended family, with whom we share ancestors," his uncle explained.

Naruto found that this didn't help at all.

"As for the clan," his grandfather said, "their acceptance means that you can carry the Uzumaki name. As soon as the papers are signed, you'll be known as Uzumaki Naruto."

Uzumaki Naruto.

He'd never had a family name but, somehow, it sounded… right.

"Being my grandson," his grandfather continued, "there are certain expectations of you from the other clan members. Don't worry, though, Kaji and I will explain everything and introduce you everyone in the clan soon."

"Introduce me to… everyone?" The boy's voice sounded considerably more high-pitched as he imagined being surrounded by a crowd of strangers.

"Unfortunately," Kaji sighed. "Don't worry, we'll suffer through it together."

Naruto's face fell. He should have known that nothing would change.

"I meant because it's going to be so tedious," the dark-haired man said hastily. "You don't have to worry about– That is, no-one is going to–"

"The worst you'll have to endure is the endless swarm of people wanting to meet you, child." Naruto noticed the grateful look his uncle send to his grandfather. "But, as Kaji said, we'll be with you the entire time."

"Oh." Naruto's shoulders slumped in relief, although he tried his best not to show it. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Just wait until you've spent an hour in the company of more than two Uzumaki," his uncle mumbled.

"Don't be so dramatic, Kaji," Naruto's grandfather said as he poured a cup of tea. "Naruto will have no trouble fitting in with the rest of the clan."

"That's what worries me most, Father."

"You're really not one to talk, son."

The blond boy shrugged and decided not to dwell on the strange things his grandfather and uncle often said when they were talking to each other. He didn't know what to say in order to take part in the conversation, anyway.

'But I'll find out,' Naruto promised to himself.

-XOXO-

As it turned out, shopping for clothes with his nephew wasn't as onerous a task as Kaji had feared it would be. Other than a mild fascination with the color orange, Naruto hadn't been overly picky.

The dark-haired man still couldn't believe that this was happening. Here he was after months of scheming, walking with his nephew in the heart of Uzushio, doing something as trivial as picking out clothes.

'I guess it won't sink in until I see him wearing the Uzumaki crest on his back.'

"Uncle Kaji?"

Naruto's hesitant query drew him out of his contemplations. "Yes, Naruto? Did you want something?"

The boy nodded. "Why are all these women staring at you?"

Kaji looked around him and stifled a groan. So much for getting through this shopping trip without attracting the usual crowd of fangirls. Thankfully, Naruto's presence seemed to keep them at bay.

"Because…" How could he explain what 'fangirls' were to a five-year-old? "…Because they want me to pay attention to them."

"But you don't want to?"

"No way!" The dark-haired man actually cringed at the innocent suggestion. Enjoying the… ah, benefits… of a relationship with one of those women wasn't worth putting up with jealous outbursts over all the other predators circling him on a daily basis.

Naruto closed his eyes a bit and tilted his head to the side, a gesture the young man had learnt to identify as 'confused pondering'. "Why not?"

"Because…." Kaji gave up; he wasn't going to have that talk with Naruto. "Look, kid, it's a grown-up thing. Don't worry, you'll learn about that too soon enough."

"I will?"

"Oh, yes," the young man nodded emphatically. "I'd be lying if I told you that you won't have the same problem when you're older."

"Problem?" Naruto seemed to be getting more and more puzzled by Kaji's words.

'Feh. Shows what he knows. He should be feeling fear, not confusion.'

"Yes, 'problem'. You're the grandson of the Head of Uzushio, so girls would flock around you even if you looked like an oni. Unfortunately for your mental health, you've also got both your parents' good looks." The boy was a whiskered miniature copy of Minato, but with Kushina's jawline and eye shape. In other words, he was already doomed. "Give it a few years and you'll have to beat girls off with a stick."

At long last, Naruto's face was showing some degree of apprehension. "What–"

A girl's squealing laughter interrupted whatever the blond boy was about to say. Kaji quickly spotted the source of the high-pitched sound: two red-haired girls who were running down the busy street. Judging by the way the one with the glasses was chasing the other one, they seemed to be playing a game of tag.

The first girl easily navigated her way through the crowded street. Her bespectacled companion, however, was not so lucky. Only the dark-haired man's swift intervention stopped her from crashing into Naruto.

'That was a bit more literal than what I had in mind, not to mention a few years too early.'

Kaji shook his head and released the girl. "Close call."

"Sorry, mister." The girl with the glasses looked at Naruto; her red eyes were filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." The blond boy hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and standing straighter. "My name's Naruto… er, Uzumaki Naruto."

The girl smiled faintly, obviously put at ease by the lack of hostility on Naruto's part. "Mine is Uzumaki Karin. Sorry for nearly hitting you."

"That's okay!" Naruto said with a bright grin, before frowning. "'Uzumaki'? Uncle Kaji, is she family, too?"

Kaji examined the girl closely. Unless he was mistaken, she was the daughter of Uzumaki Hisa and a merchant from Kusagakure.

"She's a member of our clan, but not directly related by blood to either of us." He hummed thoughtfully as he tried to find a simple way to explain what 'extended family' meant. "She's more of a very, very distant cousin to you."

Naruto's eyes widened as he tried to wrap his head around the notion. The dark-haired man couldn't really blame him. He may have grown up surrounded by his three older siblings and innumerable cousins, but the blond boy had been all alone until about a week ago. Naruto would need some time to get used to the concept of 'family'.

"Karin!" The other red-haired girl had evidently noticed that she was no longer being chased. "Why have you… oh. Hello!"

"Honoka!" Karin ran over to the girl staring quizzically at the three of them and grabbed her by the arm. "This is Naruto! I almost ran into him a moment ago!"

"Karin!"

"I said 'almost'." The bespectacled girl somehow managed to sound offended by her friend's scolding. "Anyway, guess what? He's an Uzumaki too, just like you and me, although I've never seen him before."

The girl whose name appeared to be Honoka studied Naruto's face carefully. "Neither have I."

"That's because Naruto came to live in Uzushio only a couple of days ago," Kaji informed them.

"Really? Where did you live before?" the dark-eyed red-haired girl asked.

"…In Konoha," Naruto mumbled.

The two girls exchanged a look. Even though they seemed to be barely a year older than Naruto, they had nevertheless caught on to his reluctance to speak about his former home.

"So," Karin asked, tracing a small circle on the ground with her sandal, "would you like to play tag with us?"

Naruto just stared at her for a few moments. "...You want me to play with you?"

"Uh-huh." Dark-eyed Honoka grinned at the boy. "It's more fun with more people, but we have to stay in the marketplace where my mom can watch us from her store."

The girl pointed at the flower shop a couple dozen meters away, where a brown-haired woman –presumably her mother– was sitting. The young woman saw them looking at her and waved a hand at them.

From the look on the boy's face, Kaji guessed that he was about to refuse the offer. That simply would not do. "Sounds like fun. Wouldn't you agree, Naruto?"

"Yeah. Only… I don't know how to play tag."

The dark-haired man clenched his hands into fists, but somehow managed to keep a smile on his face. He opened his mouth to reassure his nephew, but Karin beat him to it.

"It's easy. The one marked has to chase the others until he manages to mark someone else. All he has to do is touch the other person" Karin demonstrated by placing her hand on Naruto's shoulder "and say: 'Tag! You're it!'"

Giggling madly, both girls ran away, leaving the blond boy to stare at them in confusion.

"Hey! No fair, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled and took off after them.

Kaji chuckled at their antics. He'd planned to return home and spend some time with his nephew, but this was actually much better. Besides, the two of them could always catch up later. He was going to file an application for a desk job before his temporary leave of absence was over. He'd miss being on the field, but he wanted to be here.

Not knowing how long it would take for the kids to tire out, he entered a nearby teashop and, seating himself at a table with a clear view of the street, he ordered a cup of green tea and some dango.

The dark-haired man smiled to himself as he heard the children's laughter from outside.

It was strange to reflect on how much his life had changed since he'd walked into that ramen shop five months ago.

-XOXO-

"You're looking terrible, old man."

That wasn't the proper way to greet his former sensei, but Jiraiya couldn't honestly say that the Hokage was looking as good as ever. Even perched as he was on the window of the Hokage's office, the Toad Sage could see the dark circles around the other man's eyes. Sarutobi Hiruzen was looking beyond worn out.

"Jiraiya." The elderly Hokage put down his pen and turned his chair to get a better look at the only member of the Sannin who hadn't cut ties with his home village. "I didn't think my message would find you so soon."

"It didn't." Jiraiya jumped down from the windowsill and sat on one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk. "I returned as soon as I heard what happened."

The Hokage slumped in his chair and rubbed his forehead; the Toad Sage was struck by how old he seemed to be. "How bad is it outside the Land of Fire?"

"Bad." Since the word failed to do the situation justice, Jiraiya decided to elaborate. "Suna and Kumo both had spies in Konoha during the Rinne Festival. Naturally, they knew everything that had transpired just hours after Uzushio seceded. And, for once, they weren't averse to sharing information with the other Hidden Villages. The news spread across the elemental nations faster than a wildfire.

"And not just about the breaking of the alliance." Jiraiya shook his head and shot his sensei a cold look. "There's also a lot of chatter about Naruto. The son of the Yellow Flash of Konoha, grandson of the Head of Uzushio… and jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

The boy was barely old enough to use chakra and yet he had already been marked as a threat potentially just as powerful as his father.

"Unsurprising," the Hokage said with a heavy sigh, "considering that Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra in front of everyone in the village."

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes even further until they resembled thin slits. "What made Naruto react that way, sensei?"

He already knew the answer to that; he just wanted to see if his sensei was going to be entirely honest with him at long last.

Before he had come here, he'd done a little research and had made a few inquiries around the village. The mere memory of those conversations was enough to make his blood boil. ''Demon child'. How dare they.' The only reason the people he'd questioned were still breathing was because, no matter what his personal feelings were, Jiraiya was a shinobi of Konoha.

The Hokage returned Jiraiya's accusatory glare with an even stare. "If you want to know why I didn't tell you the truth about–"

"Why did you lie to me about Naruto, sensei?" His knuckles had turned white from gripping the chair's arms so tightly, but he had somehow managed not to yell at the old man.

"Because telling you the truth would have created a host of different problems."

"Like what?" Jiraiya scoffed. "Me returning to Konoha to do something about improving the boy's life?"

"Yes." The Hokage stared down his former student. "How do you think it would have looked if the sensei of the Yondaime–"

"I don't care how it would have looked!" Jiraiya snarled.

"You sound just like Kakashi and Mikoto."

That actually was the best news the Toad Sage had heard in days. "Good to know I'm not the only one who objected to this crazy plan of yours."

"Don't look so smug," the Hokage snapped. "You're by far the most likely suspect for treason."

Considering that he'd spent the last five years away from the Leaf with only minimal contact and absolutely no oversight from the Hokage or his ANBU, the Toad Sage couldn't blame his sensei for coming to that conclusion.

'But I'm not the one who babbled.' Not that he was ever going to admit that.

"Really? Who are the others?" Jiraiya asked, even though he doubted the old man would indulge his curiosity.

"Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Itachi, Nara Shikaku, and Hyuuga Hiashi." The Hokage bit out each name as if they left a foul taste in his mouth.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence as Jiraiya waited for his sensei to continue reciting the names of the suspected traitors.

"…That's all of them?" The Toad Sage asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"You're telling me that only five people in the entire village cared about Naruto?"

"No. Just that those five –and you," the Hokage said, giving him a dark look, "had both a reason and the means to contact the Uzumaki."

"That's..." Jiraiya clamped his mouth shut before he said something he'd regret –although, at this point, he couldn't imagine what that would be. What kind of hell had Naruto been through?

'I should have killed my so-called 'informants' here, not put them in the hospital.'

"You're lucky I need your talents, Jiraiya, otherwise I'd have you confined to Konoha, just like the others." Judging by the look in the old man's face, he wasn't joking about this.

"What's so important that overrules suspicions of high treason?" He was honestly curious about that. Standard procedure demanded to at least pretend to interrogate him before sending him off on another mission.

"I need you to disarm the remaining seals in the residential block Naruto's apartment is located."

"Is the parting gift of the Uzumaki giving you trouble, sensei?"

The Hokage pressed his lips together, but refused to take the bait. "After you're done with that, I need you to find Tsunade and convince her to return to Konoha."

Now Jiraiya understood why he was getting off so easily; the old man was sending him on a suicide mission. "No. Absolutely not. She's going to kill me!"

"If you refuse, then I'll hand you over to Danzou." The Toad Sage could swear the Hokage was smirking at him. "He's been rather… on edge these past few days."

Of course he was; the old war-hawk was probably itching to pin the blame on someone. "That's a cheap shot, old man."

The Hokage shrugged, uncaring. "Will you find Tsunade?"

The Toad Sage scowled at his old sensei. "You know that she's going to be furious with you for the disaster with Uzushio, don't you?"

"As long as she agrees to oversee the training of the medical corps, I don't care if she demolishes the Hokage Tower."

Jiraiya had to admit that this was something Tsunade might do. Even though she considered herself a Senju, she was nevertheless very fond of her Uzumaki heritage. 'She certainly has their infamous temper.'

"Fine. I'll track her down after I have a talk with Uzumaki Kenjiro."

"A talk with…" The Hokage gaped at him for a few moments. "You can't go to Uzushio! No shinobi of Konoha can."

"So I heard," Jiraiya said with a nonchalant shrug. "However, it's imperative that we talk to them now, while the alliance is still in fresh their minds. Of course," Jiraiya couldn't resist giving his old sensei a pointed look, "it would be easier to negotiate with them if you and your esteemed advisors hadn't enforced a war-time levy on Konoha's oldest ally for five years with absolutely no justification."

When Jiraiya had looked into the agreements that had been made with Uzushio after Minato's death, he had seriously begun to believe that his old sensei had gone senile during his absence.

"Do not presume to pass judgement, Jiraiya. It was a difficult time after the Kyuubi's rampage; we needed as many shinobi as we could get to protect the Leaf from the other villages."

"Well, you protected it." The Toad Sage's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "And the Akashio, Takashio, and Nagare clans were all so grateful to Konoha for this that instead of holding back the Uzumaki, they supported them fully."

The Hokage looked like he'd aged a decade in the span of a few seconds. "Do you think talking with them will change anything?"

"Honestly? No," Jiraiya said bluntly. "That won't stop me from trying, though. Besides, I want to finally introduce myself to my godson."

"I understand your desire to meet Naruto. Regardless," the Hokage said, "I cannot allow you to do that. As bad as things are between Konoha and Uzushio now, your presence there is only going to start a war."

Jiraiya gritted his teeth; the old man might be right, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "I can't just sit by and do nothing. The other Kage will be cautious for now; they'll want test Konoha's strength before they do anything. But soon, they're going to grow bolder."

"I think I have a few good years left," the old man said with forced optimism. "And the other Kage know it, too. They won't attack Konoha while I'm still alive and holding the position of Hokage. We have time – enough to train the new generation and, maybe, to let the Uzumaki calm down and reconsider the alliance.

"The key is Kenjiro. If he can be convinced to forgive and forget, then then the shinobi of Uzushio will follow suit. However," the Hokage said, giving Jiraiya a meaningful look, "he will only listen to someone he trusts – someone he owes a deep, personal debt to."

The one who reunited him with his presumed dead grandson.

The words hung between them, unspoken but clearly understood by both men. The only Konoha shinobi Uzumaki Kenjiro would listen to was the traitor responsible for their predicament. And the Hokage was willing to let that person go unpunished as long as he helped reforge the alliance.

"I understand, Sarutobi-sensei. I'll do what needs to be done." Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Itachi, Nara Shikaku, Hyuuga Hiashi. He'd need to find as much about them as he possibly could.

'And I know just the man to ask.'

Jiraiya stood up and walked towards the window.

"Jiraiya?"

The Toad Sage paused with one foot resting on the windowsill.

"Did you tell the Uzumaki about Naruto?"

He didn't turn around; he had always been a terrible liar. "What do you think, sensei?"

Before the Hokage could respond, Jiraiya used a Shunshin to get as far away from the Hokage Tower as possible. 'Let the old man think I'm the traitor.' The Toad Sage was indispensable to Konoha; the others, despite their talents and social standing, were not.

If this was the only way to protect the one who had done what Jiraiya had been too hesitant to do, then so be it.

-XOXO-

Kakashi wasn't certain whether it was force of habit or guilt that drew him to Naruto's empty apartment. Standing in his usual spot with his hands inside his pockets, he examined the building in front of him.

Even a civilian's untrained eyes would be able to see the intricate geometric drawings covering many of the walls in Naruto's apartment complex and the adjacent buildings.

Giving in to the temptation, he walked inside the empty apartment. He was well aware of what the two ANBU shadowing him would think, but he simply didn't give a damn about it. He had spent five years watching over Naruto. He had more right to be here than anyone in Konoha.

Contrary to what he had expected, the small apartment hadn't been picked clean. The furniture was still there, along with all the cookware and most of the boy's clothes. 'Makes sense.' The Uzumaki were very wealthy; they probably took only what Naruto wanted to have with him in his new home.

Home. That was what Uzushio would be to the boy; he was certain of that.

'Am I regretting it?'

He should be. He should be disgusted with himself for his actions. It was his weakness, his inability to place the good of the village over the wellbeing of a single child, his selfish desire to see that child happy that had brought upon Konoha the worst disaster since the Kyuubi. The next few years would be very difficult for Konoha, there was no doubt about it.

But, despite what many doomsayers were claiming, they would survive this. There were plenty of talented shinobi here –himself included. During the Second Shinobi World War, the Leaf had managed to stand against the other villages without the aid of the Whirlpool in the years after the invasion.

"Admiring your handiwork?"

Kakashi felt a shiver run down his spine. He hadn't heard anyone enter Naruto's apartment. Not to mention that the unidentified person's choice of words was anything but comforting. Turning around, he saw a middle-aged man with a shaggy mane of white hair; the older man had his arms folded over his chest and was looking at Kakashi through narrowed eyes.

'When did he return to Konoha?' "Jiraiya-sama?"

"Don't play dumb with me," the Toad Sage scoffed.

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about," Kakashi said, concealing his growing panic behind a mask of confusion.

Jiraiya turned away from him and pointed to one of the apartment's walls. "Do you know what this is?"

"A barrier seal?" the young man hazarded a guess. The design vaguely resembled the standard barrier seal he knew, but so many additions had been made to it that it could have been anything.

"It's a barrier combined with a trap. See these parts here, here, and here?" The Toad Sage indicated three particularly complex matrices. "The first is a seal that converts half of the chakra stored in the central matrix into water. The second converts the other half into fire. The third combines the two, recreating the Boil Release kekkei genkai."

Kakashi stared at the seal with apprehension. Thankfully, it appeared to be disarmed.

There were many reasons the Uzumaki clan's fuuinjutsu was legendary; this was just one of them. Kekkei genkai were secrets jealously guarded by the clans that possessed them, but the Uzumaki had discovered a long time ago how to recreate some of them through the use of seals. They could then inscribe those seals in anything, including weapons. It took a tremendous amount of time and effort to learn how to use and sustain the seals, as losing control of either of the two elements –even for an instant– would result in an explosion which would most likely be fatal for the wielder, but the results were more than worth the risks.

'No wonder so many nations banded together to destroy Uzushio twenty years ago.'

"The Futton chakra is then channeled into the main seal through this part." Jiraiya pointed at something Kakashi could recognize as a link between different types of seals. "If the barrier is broken, then you have an explosion of super-heated steam. Nasty way to go.

"I suspect that this one is Uzumaki Kaji's handiwork," the Toad Sage added innocently. "He's widely feared for his use of Futton in combat through the seals inscribed on his sword, along with his unique kenjutsu style. He was even given a moniker during the War. You remember, don't you, Kakashi?" Jiraiya scratched his chin, deep in thought. "What was it again?"

'Keep it together. No matter what he says, he has no proof. He's only trying to get me to slip up.' Sadly, the Sannin's tactic was working better than Kakashi would care to admit.

"Oh well," Jiraiya said with a dismissive hand wave. "It will come to me eventually."

Kakashi decided that it was time for him to get as far away from the Sannin as possible. "I'm sure it will, Jiraiya-sama. But I've already taken up enough of your time. I really should–"

"How many such seals do you think were placed around this block, Kakashi?"

The Copy Ninja would have to be a complete idiot to miss the sudden change in the other man's demeanor. "I don't know. A dozen?"

"Not even close," Jiraiya scoffed. "I disarmed thirty-two barrier traps; I've been told that the ANBU had disarmed at least twice as many standard trap and sentry seals before I got here. I've seen fortresses with inferior defenses. Just what were you thinking?"

"Jiraiya-sama, I'm afraid that you're confused. I'm not the one who placed these seals here." Kakashi was very proud that his voice hadn't trembled in the slightest.

"Like I said, Kakashi, stop playing dumb with me." The Toad Sage narrowed his eyes even further. "I know it was you who tipped off the Uzumaki about Naruto."

The young man managed to keep a puzzled, carefully blank expression on his face, even though his heart was beating twice as fast as it had a few moments ago. 'He's bluffing. He has to be.'

"I had one on my toads sneak into Danzou's office," Jiraiya said as he leaned against the wall. "The old man has narrowed the number of suspects down to six although, frankly, I think that there are only three people who would risk everything to help Minato and Kushina's son.

"The first is Uchiha Mikoto. We can safely rule her out, however, because she's been under close surveillance by half her clan for the past five years. Ever since she tried to send a message to Kushina's family, I believe."

The Uchiha matriarch was the only person in Konoha other than Kakashi who had openly objected to the Hokage's decision to keep Naruto away from his mother's family. Shortly after the boy had been born, she had approached him with a plan to contact Kushina's father and brother, but the he had refused to help her, telling her that his duty was to follow the Hokage's orders and protect Konoha.

What a fool he'd been.

"The second is yours truly." Jiraiya accompanied his words with a rather flamboyant gesture to his chest. "Now, I know that I'm not the one who talked. Which leaves only the third one."

The young man found himself sweating under the Sannin's piercing gaze. "I'm afraid that I don't–"

"Don't try to deny it," the Toad Sage said. "I'm certain it was you because this is exactly what I would have done if I'd been in your place."

Jiraiya's words should have petrified Kakashi. The truth was out, and he was as good as dead. There was no way he could escape from one of the Sannin.

Instead, the only thing he felt was anger.

Drawing a shuriken from his leg holster, he nicked his thumb and, after a quick sequence of hand seals, he slammed his right on the ground. With a puff of smoke, eight ninja hounds of varying colors and sizes materialized from thin air. They all greeted him with friendly barks.

"What do you need, Kakashi?" the small, brown-colored pug sitting on top of the large black bulldog asked.

"Guard the perimeter," the young man said. "Make sure there's no-one snooping around us."

The eight dogs barked in acknowledgement of the order and scattered.

Jiraiya was staring at him with an eyebrow raised in confusion.

Somehow, that only served to make the Copy Ninja even angrier. "Then why weren't you in my place?"

The Toad Sage's other eyebrow joined the first; the older man appeared to be taken completely aback by Kakashi's sudden hostility.

"Five years is a long time, Jiraiya-sama, long enough for you to find some time to check up on your godson and see how he was doing. Instead, you chose to focus on your duty."

"You're really in no position to be lecturing me about duty, Kakashi." Jiraiya said darkly.

"Am I not?" Kakashi knew that his outburst was going to get him arrested and probably executed but, right now, he didn't care one bit about the consequences. After five years of bottling up his anger inside him, it felt good to finally lash out and say what was really on his mind. "It was duty that kept me silent for so long.

"I should never have agreed to follow Hokage-sama's orders. But I did," the young man said bitterly, "and I had to live with the consequences of my inaction." He gave the Sannin his coldest look. "Do you even know what Naruto's life had been like?"

"I do. But this doesn't excuse your actions. You should have done something to help the boy instead of committing treason."

"Help," Kakashi laughed harshly. "I killed fourteen shinobi of Konoha who were plotting to get rid of the 'demon child' before Naruto celebrated his first birthday. I threatened the people working in the orphanage more times than I can count. I always made sure that the boy was properly fed and clothed. Do you know what all my efforts amounted to?"

"No," Jiraiya said quietly; the Sannin had grown progressively paler as the silver-haired ninja kept talking, resembling a ghost with a shaggy ponytail.

"Nothing," Kakashi stated bluntly. "Absolutely nothing. No matter how many threats I removed, there was always someone ready and eager to remind Naruto that he was nothing but a monster. 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' At least I got to choose what kind of trash I am."

"As did I, I suppose," Jiraiya muttered. "You know, Kakashi, if you had betrayed Konoha for any other reason, then you wouldn't have to worry about Danzou getting his claws on you. I'd have killed you the moment you opened your mouth."

The young man didn't doubt that for an instant. "I know. Are you going to inform the Hokage about my involvement in this?"

"No. However," Jiraiya added before Kakashi could get his hopes up, "I'm going to have to ask you to do something for me. Consider it the price of my silence."

He should have figured; nothing in the shinobi world was without a price. Although, in this case, anything was preferable to the treatment Danzou and the T&I department would offer him. "What do you want of me, Jiraiya-sama?"

"I want you to put me in contact with Uzumaki Kaji," Jiraiya said without any preamble.

Kakashi just stared at the man, bug-eyed. "You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid that I am. You revealed Naruto's existence to the Uzumaki–"

"No, I didn't," the silver-haired man interjected before the Sannin could build up momentum. "Kaji had already figured out who Naruto was just from talking to the boy for a few minutes. I simply filled in the missing pieces for him."

"He had?" Jiraiya hummed thoughtfully. "That wasn't the impression I got from Danzou's files. It seems that both he and the Hokage are severely underestimating the Uzumaki prince."

Kakashi held back a snort. They wouldn't be the first ones. Many people mistook Kaji's absentmindedness for stupidity, a mistake they often payed for with their lives. The dark-haired man was as cunning as a fox, with a keen mind and sharp eyes that took in every detail of his surroundings.

"Still," Jiraiya continued, "your blabbering escalated things, so you're going to help me fix this mess. I need to talk to Uzumaki Kenjiro and Kaji is my best hope of reaching him."

"Don't you have three students in Uzushio, Jiraiya-sama?" Kakashi reminded the older man. "Why not ask them?"

"Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan?" Jiraiya shook his head. "They've been in Uzushio for almost a decade now, so I don't know if they would be willing to help me with this."

'If they're the same three that were accompanying Kaji when he introduced Naruto to Kenjiro-sama, then I seriously doubt they'd help you.' Kakashi knew better than to give voice to his thoughts, however.

"You, on the other hand," the Toad Sage added, "don't have a choice in the matter."

"And what makes you think that Kaji will listen to me in the first place?"

"Because he owes you for helping him with Naruto," the Toad Sage said simply.

That was a valid point, one that Kakashi could not dispute. The Uzumaki clan was famous for three things: their mastery over the Sealing Arts, their hair-trigger temper, and their generosity towards their friends. 'And, probably, their vindictiveness against their enemies.' Their recent actions certainly proved as much. Besides, Kakashi really wanted to help the Sannin repair the relations between the Leaf and the Whirlpool.

However, there was one small problem. "I can't. Danzou-sama has me under strict surveillance."

He didn't even dare visit the spot in the forest Kaji's message had indicated, knowing that whatever was waiting for him there would definitely be incriminating. If he attempted to send a message to Uzushio now, then he might as well sign his confession and get it over with.

"You and five others, myself included," Jiraiya reminded him. "However, not even the old war-hawk will be able to keep it up forever."

"That could be years from now," the silver-haired man pointed out.

"I know. But, as the Hokage reminded me yesterday, it might be prudent to wait a while for tempers to cool off before contacting the Uzumaki."

That was indeed a wise strategy. Besides, the Uzumaki weren't the only ones who needed some time to deal with their lingering anger.

"Then I'll send Kaji a message when I can. I'll let you know what he replies."

At the very least, it would be nice to get news from Uzushio.

-XOXO-

Senju Tsunade glared at the white-haired pest sitting across the table and inwardly weighed the pros and cons of punching him into the wall. The man just refused to acknowledge how much his incessant babbling was aggravating her already blinding headache; he kept talking and talking…

"Jiraiya…" she growled warningly. "If you say one more word, you're going to need Shizune's help to walk away from here."

The pervert's mouth snapped shut and he met her glare with one of his own.

"I wouldn't have to repeat myself if you were paying attention to me instead of this." He reached out and, before she could react, grabbed the sake bottle that was on the table, holding it out of her reach.

'That's it! I'm going to kill him!'

She rose from her seat and, supporting herself on the table with both hands, fixed him with her coldest, most terrifying look. "Give. It. Back."

Apparently, her terrifying glare needed some work because he didn't even quail under her fury. "Not until you hear me out properly. Konoha needs you, Tsunade."

She examined the table for possible weapons to use against her insufferable former teammate. Spotting a nice, heavy-looking porcelain cup, she lifted it and threw it at him.

He dodged it effortlessly. "Sensei wants you to–"

"I don't care!" She grabbed another cup. "I'm done with Konoha."

"You used to care about the village more than anyone." Jiraiya ducked under the second cup she threw at him. "I know this hasn't changed, Tsunade!"

Dammit! Why couldn't the pervert just stand still and let her hit him?

"Yes, I did care. And what has that gotten me?" She grabbed an empty bottle this time. "Nothing but heartache. Now go away!"

"Don't talk to me about heartache, Tsunade!" Jiraiya's cheerful façade was gone now; she hadn't seen him so angry in years. "The past few weeks have been extremely trying for me, so I'm not in the best of moods right now."

"And whose fault is that? I'm not the one who kept Minato's child away from his family, am I?" That managed to shut the pervert up. "I heard about the fiasco with Uzushio. Sarutobi-sensei can fix his own mess!"

"It's not just 'his' mess, Tsunade," Jiraiya protested. "If you refuse to help, Konoha might fall."

"Maybe it deserves to fall." The Slug Princess had many fond memories of Uzushio from the times she had visited the small island with her grandparents and her little brother.

"You've really changed, Tsunade. What would Nawaki and Dan say if they could hear you now?"

She froze with her right hand ready to throw the bottle at him. Then, she narrowed her eyes at him and threw it so hard that it turned into dust when it hit the wall.

"Don't you dare!" Tsunade screeched, furious.

"They both wanted to protect Konoha," Jiraiya continued, heedless of the imminent danger of sustaining grievous bodily harm he was in. "It was their dream to become Hokage so they could protect the village and every person living in it. If you refuse to help now, then every sacrifice you've made – every sacrifice they've made – will have been for nothing."

She glared at him again, trying to convince herself that he was wrong. Unfortunately, he knew her better than most.

Nawaki, her beloved little brother, had dreamed about following in their grandfather's footsteps, wanting to become Hokage so he could protect Konoha. And Dan, the man she had loved more than anyone else, had had the same dream. They had both died trying to accomplish that, leaving her broken.

Tsunade had quit being a kunoichi after Dan died – and not just because a ninja who froze up in fear at the sight of blood was completely useless. She had severed all ties with her home village, taking only Shizune, her sort-of niece, with her. Jiraiya knew this, and yet here he was, trying to guilt her into returning to Konoha just as she was about to begin another day of gambling and drinking.

'How dare he come here and ask for my help? How dare he make it sound like I am the only one who can help?'

She sighed and sat down again. She was far too sober to deal with this. "How could this happen, Jiraiya? The four great clans of Uzushio wouldn't have broken the old alliance over a little boy."

"You're right, they wouldn't." Her old teammate squirmed in his chair. "You know that Uzushio has been undermanned since Iwa and Kiri's invasion, right?"

Tsunade simply shot him a look that screamed 'Get to the point already or I'm going to hit you'. She knew better than him what had happened in Uzushio after the invasion.

"After the Kyuubi incident," Jiraiya said, "Konoha needed more shinobi to fill in for the ones that had been killed. Naturally, Uzushio was the first place they turned to for help."

"But Uzushio could barely cover its own borders and the demands for missions with the number of active ninja it had!" Up till she had left Konoha, she had been volunteering regularly to participate in joint missions precisely for this reason.

"I know that," Jiraiya said, gesturing for her to settle down and not draw any more attention to them than she already had. "And the Hokage and his Council knew that, too."

"Why would the four clan heads even agree to such a proposal?" Tsunade asked in a much quieter tone of voice.

"If you ask me, I would say that even though helping the Leaf would hurt their interests, refusing to help would hurt them even more." The white-haired pervert squirmed in his seat again. "Unfortunately, Hokage-sama took it a little too far."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"They were still enforcing the war-time levy on Uzushio five years after the Kyuubi's attack."

"That's–" she sputtered, aghast.

"A terrible abuse of power," Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "But also necessary for the survival of the Leaf." His expression soured. "Or so I've been told. Which brings us back to the reason I'm here."

Tsunade looked briefly at the sake bottle that was – regrettably – out of her reach; her instincts told her that she was going to need a drink after this. "What does Sarutobi-sensei want from me, Jiraiya?"

"The Hokage asks you to return to the Leaf and oversee the training of the medical corps. He's also offering you the position of Chief Medic in Konoha's hospital."

"'Asks'? Or 'demands'?"

"Sensei would never be foolish enough to demand anything out of you, Tsunade," Jiraiya assured her hastily.

"Good." Even though she hadn't been an active kunoichi for years, Tsunade was glad to see that people hadn't forgotten what she was capable of with just a flick of her fingers.

"Will you accept the position?" Jiraiya asked – a little anxiously, in the blonde woman's opinion.

Would she? Should she?

'Yes, I should. For Nawaki and Dan.' It was what they would have done in her place. Shizune would have to stand in for her during surgeries for a while, but Tsunade would find some way to rid herself of her fear of blood. She would be a medic again.

But only under her own terms.

"I will. However, when we get back to Konoha, I'm going to have a talk with Sarutobi-sensei about the way he treated the shinobi of Uzushio."

"Warn me before you do that," Jiraiya asked, snickering like a schoolboy. "I want to find a safe spot far away from the Hokage Tower to watch."

Tsunade simply smiled at him. He really knew her way too well.

-XOXO-

"What do you mean you didn't see Naruto sneaking into the library?" Kaji asked incredulously. "You were supposed to be watching him!"

The two chuunin Naruto's uncle was yelling at flinched under the dark-haired man's fury.

"W-We're terribly s-sorry, Kaji-sama," the red-haired one said. "We were just –"

"You were slacking off, weren't you?" Kaji gave the two men a cold look. "Don't even bother trying to deny it."

Naruto watched his uncle scold the two chuunin responsible for the huge library housed in Uzushio's administrative building with interest, suitably impressed by the young man's glare and deeply grateful he wasn't on the receiving end of it. Back in Konoha, people would yell at him even when he hadn't done anything to them, assuming that he was the one to blame for whatever it was that had gone wrong that day.

'But this isn't Konoha.'

Uzushio was so different from his old home that it might as well be part of a different world. He had family here and plenty of good friends. Karin and Honoka were his first – and closest – ones, but he had made many others in the two months he'd been here.

Although he still didn't know what he had done wrong this time.

"Three hours," Kaji half-growled, making the two clerks shiver in fear. "You had to watch my nephew for three measly hours while I attended the jounin council meeting.

"Instead, I come back to find that he'd somehow gotten hold of an advanced book on fuuinjutsu and had even begun copying one of the kekkei genkai seals. Quite accurately, I might add." One of the clerks squeaked as Naruto's uncle narrowed his eyes even further. "Do you have any idea of the kind of disaster this could have turned into?"

The two men stuttered their way through an apology, but Kaji just waved his hand in a slashing motion, cutting them short.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses," the young man said. "See to it that something like this doesn't happen again or I'll reassign the both of you to patrol duty on the border with Kiri. Now get out of my office."

"Yes, Kaji-sama!" They cried in unison and fled before the dark-haired man could change his mind.

Naruto snickered at their completely undignified exit.

"And you," Kaji said, turning to face him. "What were you thinking? S-class fuuinjutsu are not a toy. That book was locked away for a reason!"

The blond boy's laughter died out when he saw the look on his uncle's face. "I'm sorry, Uncle. I didn't mean to worry you like that. It's just that the book seemed really interesting."

"It's alright, Naruto," Kaji said, mellowing out considerably. "But please be more careful next time. Don't start copying seals just because they look interesting."

"I won't, I promise." The relief flooding the young man's face made Naruto feel even worse.

"Good. Although," Kaji added, "I suppose it's time I taught you the basics of fuuinjutsu."

"Yes!" Naruto noticed the look his uncle was giving him. "Uh, I mean… Thank you, Uncle."

"I do have two conditions, however." Kaji smirked. "No experiments on seals without my or Father's permission. And no sneaking peeks in books that are too advanced for you."

"But–"

"I'm serious, Naruto. You have to learn the basics before dabbling in more advanced jutsu or you're only going to hurt yourself."

"Okay," the blond boy agreed reluctantly.

Naruto watched, puzzled, as his uncle started gathering folders from his desk.

"Come on, Naruto," Kaji said before the boy had a chance to ask him what he was doing. "Time to go."

The blond furrowed his brows in confusion. "But I thought you still had some work to do here."

"This is supposed to be my day off and I refuse to spend it in the office. I'll finish these later, at home." He held the folders in the crook of his arm and motioned for the boy to exit the room. "Besides, I've had my fill of excitement for today."

"Okay," Naruto shrugged and walked out to let his uncle close and lock the door.

As soon as they exited the administrative building of Uzushio, where Kaji had been transferred recently, the blond boy instinctively reached up to hold his uncle's hand. His fingers found only the edges of the folders, however. Embarrassed, he lowered his hand and looked at the seal-engraved walls of the buildings around them.

Kaji chuckled softly and shifted the folders to his other arm. "Here you go, kid."

Naruto smiled and took the offered hand.

"Uncle?" the blond boy asked after they'd crossed one of the bridges spanning over the small river that flowed through Uzushio.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"What's a 'kekkei genkai seal'?"

"It's a sealing technique our clan developed a long time ago," the dark-haired man explained. "It allows us to convert ordinary chakra into two separate elements, combine them, and recreate a bloodline limit. It's one of our most powerful fuuinjutsu and perhaps the most difficult to master."

"Can you use it, Uncle?" As soon as the words flew out of the boy's mouth, Naruto realized that of course a ninja as cool as his uncle would be able to use such a jutsu. "Which elements do you use?"

"I use water and fire. Together, they create the Boil Release bloodline limit. Super-heated, corrosive steam," the young man added when he saw the boy's puzzled look.

"That sounds awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, awed. "I want to learn how to do that, too! No, wait…" He mentally ran through the five elements, trying to determine which ones sounded better. "I want fire and lightning!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, kid, but nobody's managed to safely combine fire and lightning so far. The result is extremely volatile. You also don't want wind and lightning; these two just cancel each other out. One of the best combinations, if you have the affinity for one of them, is–" Kaji stopped talking and stared at Naruto for a few moments. "Wait, why am I even telling you how to create a bigger explosion?"

"Come on, Uncle," Naruto pleaded. "You have to tell me!"

"I will. When you're older. Much older."

"You're mean."

"And you're only five years old," the dark-haired man countered. "Ask me again when you're fifteen."

"Fifteen?!" Naruto squawked.

"You're right, that's too soon. Twenty sounds better."

"Uncle!"

Kaji laughed, a light, gleeful sound that let the blond boy know his uncle was just messing with him.

"This isn't funny, Uncle!"

"It is from where I'm standing," the young man snickered.

Naruto tried to sulk at him, but the effect was ruined by the smile that had crept on his face.

"You know, kid," Kaji said, "we have a couple of hours before it's time to meet Father for lunch. Would you like to start your fuuinjutsu training now?"

"Uh-huh!" Naruto nodded eagerly.

"Then we'd better hurry home; we're going to need to use the library."

-XOXO-

It was four hours later and after Naruto's grandfather had joined the two of them in their training that the realization hit the blond boy.

This was his family.

It wasn't the family he had dreamed of back in the orphanage. He wouldn't grow up happily under the shadow of the Hokage Monument with his mother and father who had returned to Konoha to find him again, like they always did in his daydreams. He wouldn't grow up to wear a hitai-ate with the leaf etched on the metal plate.

No, he would bear the spiral on his hitai-ate. He would be a proud shinobi of Uzushio. 'And,' Naruto thought as he listened to his grandfather and his uncle bickering with each other over whether to have lunch before continuing with the basics on seals or finish the lesson and eat later, 'I wouldn't trade them for anyone else.'

This was where he belonged. He was finally home.

---

Author's Notes:

And this marks the end of CSI: Konoha.

I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. A combination of a busy schedule and a nasty writer's block kept me from finishing this for weeks.

And to think that I used to scoff when people mentioned 'writer's block'. How could it be possible to know what you want to write but not find the words to write it? It's nonsense, right?

Heh. Shows what I know.

To give you an idea of what this chapter went through: the only segments that made it intact from the draft to the first writing to editing to the proof-readings were Kakashi's interrogation and Naruto waking up in Uzushio for the first time. All the others were rewritten (at least) a couple of times. The segment in which Jiraiya and Kakashi talk, for instance, was supposed to be two separate ones (one with Jiraiya, one with Itachi), but I figured that if I kept both, then I might as well rename this chapter 'The Copy Ninja Rises', in which everyone under the sun learns Kakashi's secret.

But enough of my ranting. Moving on to the actual notes…

-X-

Many of you are going to ask: Why aren't Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade defecting?

The answer is simple: because loyalty isn't broken so easily.

-X-

Jiraiya has been a shinobi of Konoha for almost three decades at this point. Sure, he loved Minato like a son and wants only the best for Naruto but, ultimately, he's not willing to turn his back on his village for his godson. In the Search for Tsunade arc, we see him threaten to kill the woman he loves if she sides with Orochimaru and betrays the Leaf; that's how far he's willing to go to protect his home village.

If he actually knew Naruto, or even if he'd spent some time in Konoha during the past five years, things would have been different. Even in canon, it took a while before Jiraiya warmed up to Naruto. After all, it's one thing to be told 'someone had a crappy life', but it's a whole other story to have to watch that person as he goes through hell for years.

Does this mean that things are peachy between him and the Hokage? Hell no.

-X-

Tsunade is, at this point, a disillusioned gambling addict who drinks herself into a stupor almost every day to forget her past. Before she became that, though, she was a kunoichi of Konoha who cared deeply about her home. She may be ¼ Uzumaki, but she's also ¼ Senju. She's the granddaughter of the founder of Konoha and First Hokage, which is why everyone addresses her as 'princess' ('Tsunade-hime').

Why does she agree to return so easily: Two reasons. First, Jiraiya isn't asking her to take up the mantle of Hokage; he's simply asking her to return to being a medical ninja. Second, this happens seven years before their encounter in canon, so Tsunade is less jaded at this point than she was in the manga/anime.

Does this mean she doesn't care about Uzushio? Oh, she cares. She's going to be very angry with the Hokage for alienating her second homeland.

As to why she's not affected by Naruto's predicament: Why should she be? She doesn't know him. The two of them have never met, so she hasn't associated him with Nawaki and Dan. Naruto is just a random child to her.

-X-

Kakashi got the worst deal out of the three. Unlike Jiraiya, who had been a shinobi of Konoha long before he took Minato as his student, Kakashi met Minato at a more impressionable age. Then, after losing almost everyone who mattered to him, he had to spend five years in Konoha watching his sensei's son receiving a village-wide 'silent treatment', knowing that the boy could have a better life in Uzushio.

By Naruto's fifth birthday, he had almost reached the limit of his patience. If the meeting between Kaji and Naruto hadn't taken place, Kakashi would have found a way to contact the Uzumaki on his own within the year.

All things considered, it's no wonder he revealed the truth to the Uzumaki when the opportunity presented itself. However, the way things are now, he wouldn't defect unless there was no other choice.

-X-

Uchiha Mikoto: I didn't forget about her and only remembered to add her now. The reason she hadn't been mentioned before is that she wasn't involved in the Uzumaki's plan. Kakashi wouldn't drag anyone else into this scheme and, at this point, the Uzumaki wouldn't care to look for more Konoha shinobi who might be willing to work with them.

The incident I'm alluding to: A few months after Naruto was born, Mikoto tried to send a letter to the Uzumaki. Knowing that Kakashi was on her side, she asked for his help, but he turned her down. She went on with her plan anyway, but she was caught before she could send the letter (mostly because she was acting alone). Since then, she has been under surveillance by her husband and most of the Military Police.

-X-

Jiraiya, Danzou, and the search for the traitor

Danzou is the cop that values only evidence and disdains 'gut feelings', while Jiraiya is the cop that listens to his gut.

Normally, they would both reach the same conclusion. However, Jiraiya has evidence he's never going to share with Danzou. The Sannin knows for certain that the prime suspect (namely, himself) is innocent. Therefore, he can safely focus on the others while Danzou is still preoccupied with investigating suspect No 1.

-X-

Kekkei genkai seals: That's something I made up by taking the principles of fuuinjutsu to their logical extreme. (I posted this chapter on 13 March 2016, so if anyone's mentioned this anywhere earlier, then I apologize, but I swear I didn't steal your idea.)

A kekkei genkai means that someone has an affinity for two elements instead of one and is able to activate both of them at the same time. Yamato explained it better in canon.

The same principle applies to the kekkei genkai seal (which is a combination of three other, 'lesser' seals). The ninja channels chakra in it, which is split in two and transformed into two elements by two different seals meant to convert normal chakra into a specific type of elemental chakra. Different seals mean different elements. Then, the two separate elemental chakra are combined again by a third seal in a 1:1 ratio and *boom* kekkei genkai.

The trick is that if the chakra ratio is off even a little bit due to poor chakra control, the ninja is likely to blow themselves up. Therefore, it's preferable for a ninja to use the element they have an affinity for and another they're familiar with in order to reduce the risk of losing control over the seal.

If you've been wondering why so many Hidden Villages signed treaties with Uzushio so easily and are determined to honor those treaties, this is one of the reasons. It's also one of the reasons Konoha shinobi think they're screwed without Uzushio.

As to whether Naruto will master this: Do you even need to ask?

On a side note: I have another jutsu in mind (hint: it has to do with Kaji's unique kenjutsu style) which is partially based on this one, so I would appreciate any kind of feedback about this particular fuuinjutsu.

-X-

Additional Notes:

Kaede: She's not an Uzumaki; she's a civilian woman working as a servant in the house of the Uzumaki clan head.

-X-

War-time levy: When a nation is part of an alliance, then it has to commit forces for the defense of its allied nations. During peace, this is just a formality; the promise stands but, since no ally needs aid, the troops stay in their countries. During wartime, however, the forces each nation has committed to the alliance are deployed to aid the nation that is in need.

What this means here: After the Kyuubi incident, Konoha requested relief troops from Uzushio. And, since they didn't rescind the call for aid after the immediate danger passed, the Whirlpool had to send a number of troops to the Leaf while they got nothing in return.

Make no mistake: Konoha asking for help was necessary after the Kyuubi's attack. Keeping that up for five years, however… Granted, the Leaf still wasn't back at full strength, but the shinobi of the Whirlpool could only take so much of this.

-X-

Kaji's moniker: From what we've seen, a lot of powerful ninja have been given unofficial titles to indicate how dangerous they are. The 'Yellow Flash', the 'Copy Ninja', the 'Professor', the 'White Fang', 'Sasori of the Red Sand', 'Gaara of the Desert', 'Ohnoki the Fence-Sitter', 'Unruly Ay', and so on and so forth.

-X-

Reassignment to the border with Kiri: For those who don't remember, Uzushio and Kiri's borders are on the sea. Therefore, border patrol there is basically being stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean for weeks or maybe months on end, far away from civilization, watching the horizon for any other ships.

-X-

Answers to reviewers:

Shikaku and Yoshino talking about 'How long can we last on our own': Basically, Yoshino is asking how long can Konoha survive when almost every other Hidden Village, especially Uzushio, is now against them. No-one has declared war yet, but she and Shikaku think that it's only a matter of time.

-X-

The red spiral in Konoha's uniforms: Since Uzushio was never destroyed and the Uzumaki clan is very much alive (and more than a little cranky), the spiral was never added in Konoha's flak jackets. It doesn't have the 'remember Uzushio' meaning it has in canon. Quite the opposite, in fact: Konoha shinobi wearing the Uzumaki crest would be a grave insult, much like some random guy wearing, say, the Uchiha crest.

-X-

Character Information

Uzumaki Kenjiro

Age: 64

Height: 175 cm (5ft 9)

Weight: 62 kg

Rank: Kage

Chakra Nature Transformation: Water (affinity), Fire, Lightning, Earth, Yang

Kekkei Genkai: Adamantine Chakra Chains

-X-

Jiraiya, clan name unknown

Age: 43

Height: 191.2 cm (6ft 3.3)

Weight: 87.5 kg

Rank: Jounin / Sage

Chakra Nature Transformation: Fire (affinity), Wind, Earth, Water, Yin, Yang

Kekkei Genkai: -

-X-

Senju Tsunade

Age: 43

Height: 163.1 cm (5ft 4.2)

Weight: 49 kg

Rank: Jounin

Chakra Nature Transformation: Lightning (affinity), Earth, Water, Fire, Yang

Kekkei Genkai: -

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