Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: AU for parts of both worlds (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), mild character bashing, mild to moderate violence (there are shinobi involved after all), and a few others that will be announced as they crop up.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

Chapter 14: A Namikaze Homecoming

Tuesday, September 25, 2001, Afternoon
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Sarutobi Hiruzen skimmed through yet another mission report (this one detailing the routing of a band of bandits from the Western Road) before he initialed the report and set it on the stack of completed paperwork ready to be filed with a soft sigh of boredom. Instead of immediately reaching for the next report, he climbed to his feet and made his way over to the window to stare out over Konoha as he let his mind wander. It had been almost three years since the disappearance of Uzumaki Naruto and Hiruzen still often wondered and worried about what had happened to the hyperactive child.

During that time, the Sandaime Hokage had all but torn the village apart from the inside out in his efforts to find the eight year old. He'd unearthed a disturbing number of spies from all over the world and shut Danzou's Root program down hard but he'd not found even the smallest clue as to Naruto's whereabouts. Hiruzen had then rebuilt the village from the ground up (figuratively speaking since most of the village had still been standing) before he carefully began to systematically search for the Kyuubi's young host outside of Konoha's walls. The results had been less than satisfactory as they had not even found the ghost of a whispered rumor as to what might have happened to the child.

Hiruzen had gone so far as to recall both Jiraiya and Tsunade to the village (despite their protests). He had sent Jiraiya back out to continue the search for the missing Uzumaki (after he'd had his former student upgrade the various barrier seals on the Hokage's office and in key locations around the village). Tsunade had been given a choice between taking over as the director of Konoha's Hospital or starting a medical Academy that would train future medics the moment an Academy student or young Genin showed an interest in the healing arts or demonstrated high potential (such as those with instinctive chakra control).

After throwing a week long tantrum over the ultimatum, Tsunade had opted to open Konoha's first medical school with the help of her apprentice, Shizune.

That had been a year and a half ago and the school appeared to be a rousing success. Those Academy students that didn't have what it took to become Genin but were still skilled enough to become medics were no longer lost to the system when they failed to pass the Academy Exam or the Genin Exam. Instead those children were enrolled in the Medical Academy where their abilities were honed so that they could one day take their place as a full time medic at Konoha's Hospital. Those Genin that passed through the Medical Academy, on the other hand, would become future field medics where their skills would help save lives outside of the village.

The Hokage's thoughts next turned to the clans…

The Uchiha Clan had not reacted well to Hiruzen's house cleaning and their attempted coup was crushed in less than an hour when Hiruzen and his most loyal shinobi took them down hard on the heels of Danzou's removal. Two-thirds of the Uchiha Clan had died during the brief fight and the only survivors were the children under the age of ten (at the time), the civilians that had never developed the Sharingan, and a very small handful of loyal Uchiha that had helped crush the rebellion. The most notable of the surviving clan members were Uchiha Itachi (the clan's beloved prodigy and the eldest son of the former clan head and former chief of Konoha's military police force) and Uchiha Shisui (Itachi's cousin).

The situation with the Uchiha had made the other clans wary but with the lesson of what happened to the Uchiha at the forefront of their minds, there wasn't any chance that they would attempt a rebellion of their own. That didn't stop the clans from eyeing each other with suspicion from time to time; especially those that had a history of contention between them. The tension between the clans and the civilians was even higher as the clans blamed the civilians for the current problems while the civilians blamed all of the shinobi. Even after nearly three years, the friction between the shinobi and the civilians was both obvious and high.

In fact, Konoha had lost close to a fifth of its civilian population when the people had left the city in droves in response to the slue of interrogations that everyone aged fourteen or older (regardless of background or status) had been subjected to in the wake of Naruto's disappearance. On top of that, the number of civilians that had been looking to immigrate to Konoha had been drastically reduced once word began to spread about the housecleaning the village was undergoing. The fact that all potential immigrants were now required to subject themselves to intensive and intrusive interrogations before their applications would be accepted didn't really help.

Hiruzen attention was abruptly returned to the present at that moment as Kamizuki Izumo burst into the room quite unexpectedly and blurted out, "There's a man claiming to be a Namikaze at the gate…"

"Nani…?" Hiruzen exclaimed as he jerked around to stare at the Chuunin.

"The man arrived at the gates a few minutes ago and stated that he and his family were seeking an audience with you as they wished to move to Konoha. He introduced himself as Namikaze Takeshi."

"Describe them to me," Hiruzen ordered as he returned to his desk.

"The man is in his early twenties and stands about five foot six with a slender build. He has messy black hair that sticks up all over the place, a faded lightning bolt scar on his forehead, and piercing leaf green eyes. He wore at least three swords on his person, carried himself like a shinobi, and his chakra levels are at least equivalent to a high Jounin though I'd put them closer to Kage level based upon how potent he felt from a distance of five feet. I did not see the rest of his family nor was any mention made of how many of them there were in total before I left my post to report to you."

"The man's description sounds familiar…" Hiruzen mused with a slight frown as he reached for the most recent mission report he'd reviewed less than a half an hour earlier. He skimmed through the report until he reached the part where the Jounin described the leader of a small caravan that he'd spoken to in regards to the bandits. Sure enough, the description of the man in the report matched the description of the man Izumo had given him. "The man should have arrived with a small caravan of four horse drawn wagons with a mounted guard of twelve."

"A caravan of that description was sitting a ways back from the gates just off the road."

A masked AnBu guard appeared in the room in a curl of smoke at that point and passed an envelope to the Hokage as he reported, "Tori and I just escorted a small family of five individuals (three adults and two children) to the tower. Tori is currently keeping an eye on them in the lobby as we speak."

"Thank you, Inu; send them in," Hiruzen instructed as he set the envelope on the desk without opening it and reached for the red and white Hokage's hat with the kanji for fire on it so that he could place it on his head.

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I suggest you take a look at all of the identification papers in the envelope before you meet with the family," Inu stated as he made no move to obey the Hokage's orders.

Hiruzen frowned at the silver-haired AnBu Guard before he did as suggested and opened the envelope that the man had handed him. The topmost packet was the identification papers for one Namikaze Takeshi but Hiruzen barely glanced at the photo of the greened eyed man as he was distracted by the fact that the format of the form was identical to the forms that Konoha had used for all native born citizens up until three years earlier. His frown deepened because he knew that there had been no Namikazes born in the village since Naruto's birth (and his father's birth before him) and the only way someone born outside the village could have known to use the older format was if the documents were a forgery (one of the reasons that the forms had been altered after Naruto disappeared).

The Sandaime was certain that there was no way the black haired man could be a Namikaze; if only because the man looked nothing like Minato (bar the fact that his hair was a veritable bird's nest). Flipping to the next packet, Hiruzen found himself face to face with a green eyed child with sunshine yellow hair that bore a startling resemblance to the missing Uzumaki Naruto (minus the whisker marks). The boy's name was Namikaze Satoshi and he was Takeshi's son according to the information on the top page of the packet. Hiruzen's certainty that the first man was a fraud slipped as he stared at the child.

When he flipped to the third packet, the Sandaime Hokage felt like he'd just been sucker punched in the gut as an oh-so familiar face stared up at him. The boy in the picture was older than he remembered but there was no mistaking those sapphire blue eyes, that sunshine yellow hair, or those whisker marks. Hiruzen immediately knew that this was what Inu had wanted him to see and he was torn between sharp relief and white hot rage as it dawned on him that Naruto had finally been found.

It was at that point that the Sandaime finally noticed that the last name on Naruto's paperwork was listed as Namikaze and not Uzumaki and his blood ran cold. There was a reason why Naruto's parentage had been considered a state secret and it had nothing to do with his status as the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and everything to do with the number of enemies that his father had made during his lifetime.

Needing time to think, Hiruzen flipped to the final two packets to find a blond hair, blued eyed man that bore only a passing resemblance to Minato and a passably pretty young woman with long curly black hair and brown eyes; Namikaze Arata and his wife of almost two months weeks, Eri. Slightly confused as to how a quartet of unknown Namikaze's could pop up from out of nowhere, Hiruzen flipped back to Takeshi's identification packet and skimmed through the man's background information and his eyebrows nearly climbed off of his face when he learned that the man's grandfather was Namikaze Kichiro.

Hiruzen knew exactly what had happened to Kichiro; he'd been the one to authorize the man's expedition to the Outer Countries fifty years earlier; just one year after being named as the Sandaime Hokage. Hiruzen had all but forgotten about the broken fourteen year old that he'd pretty much sent out into the world to die all those years ago. When they hadn't seen or heard from the teen after five years, Hiruzen had assumed that the teen had died after passing through the portal. He never once considered the possibility that the man might have survived let alone produced a family.

How Kichiro's grandsons managed to find Naruto was even more of a mystery; since the only way the Namikaze family would have escaped notice all of these years was if they'd remained in the Outer Countries. Hiruzen was confident that there was no way that Naruto could have known about Kichiro or Kichiro's family since the kid had never been told who his parents were. He was also worried about what it meant that Kichiro's grandsons had chosen to return to the village now, after all of this time.

"Izumo, return to your post," Hiruzen ordered once he'd collected himself. "Inu, fetch our guests and tell Tori to guard the door to insure that we are not interrupted." The aged Kage then addressed the room at large. "The rest of you need to vacate my office for the duration of my meeting."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," six voices intoned in sync before four puffs of smoke and a swirl of leaves filled the office while Inu opened the door to collect the small family waiting on the other side.

The young newlyweds entered the room first and Hiruzen took a moment to study the confident young man that looked like a pale copy of Minato. He was tall, just an inch or two shy of six feet, and stocky with the hint of a beer belly. He walked with a slight swagger that was tempered by the pleasant (if small) smile he wore on his face. The man wore a sun bleached pair of blue jeans and a gray t-shirt that were both lightly coated with dust and dried sweat stains (a clear indication that he'd spent at least part of the day on the road).

The woman beside him looked positively dainty in comparison. Namikaze Eri stood a whopping five foot four inches with a moderately plump frame that spoke of a rather easy civilian lifestyle. She wore a loose, sleeveless yellow summer dress with a black and yellow striped shawl draped loosely around her shoulders. And while her clothes were obviously travel worn, they were no where near as dirty as her husband's (an indication that she'd stayed inside of the wagons for long periods of time). Propped on the woman's hip was the three year old Namikaze Satoshi; the young child attempting to take in everything with his wide green eyes.

Hiruzen's eyes were then drawn to the other child in the group as Uzumaki Naruto walked through the door next. Naruto had shot up like a weed since the last time he'd seen the boy and there was not a single trace of baby fat to be found on his lean frame. He also carried himself with far less brashness and more confidence (even if it was obvious that the boy was tense and nervous). Dressed in dark blue jeans and a burnt orange t-shirt, the kid was a sight for sore eyes and the old man's heart soared to see his surrogate grandson safe and sound at last even as his heart ached when he noted the angry scowl the bewhiskered boy sent at him.

Before the Sandaime could think of a reason why Naruto would be angry with him, his eyes were immediately drawn to the last member of the small family (almost against his will) as the man strode into the office on Naruto's heels. The man exuded a presence that demanded attention as he moved with a natural grace equal to that of a stalking tiger. Any shinobi worth their salt would recognize the warrior in the young man in a single glance and those that missed the visual signs of the man's occupation would sense it in the tightly leashed power that clung to the man. Those who were stupid enough to ignore those signs would likely end up dead the moment they irritated the man.

The dark haired man was dressed in loose black pants, a dark red long sleeved shirt, and a heavy black trench coat. He had three swords strapped to his back, a fourth to his left hip, and a dagger strapped to each arm (the hilts peeking out from the end of his coat sleeves). On his feet he wore bulky knee high boots that completely enclosed his feet. Dust clung thickly to the man's clothes along with hundreds of short white hairs that Hiruzen assumed to be from the horse the man was reported to ride. Inspection complete, the Sandaime lifted his eyes to the man's face.

The moment Hiruzen met Namikaze Takeshi's gaze, he had to fight the urge to rear back and apologize to the man. It had been over eleven years since the last time he'd been on the receiving end of what he'd secretly termed the Namikaze Death Glare. It was a look that Minato had only ever used when he was pissed beyond words and even Orochimaru had squirmed like a new made Genin beneath that particular glare. Any doubts that the green eyed man was not who he claimed to be fled in that instant (that particular look could never be reproduced by anyone other than a Namikaze) and Hiruzen wondered what the hell he'd done to piss off a man he'd never even met.

"Good afternoon lady and gentlemen, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen; Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Please allow me to welcome you to Konoha. Inu, please take the children…"

"Touch my son and I will break your fingers. Touch my itoko and I will cut off your fingers. Attempt to remove either child from my sight and I will skin you alive, salt the resulting wounds, slow roast you over an open fire, and feed you to my dogs inch by inch starting from your feet all the while making certain you live through the entire process," Takeshi interrupted in a deadly soft voice filled with icy rage as his eyes turned even colder and Hiruzen wondered if the glare he now saw was the last thing that Minato's enemies had seen just before they died at the hands of Konoha no Kiiroi Senko.

"Excuse me?" Hiruzen barked in shock as Inu palmed the hilt of his sword in response to the threat.

"Takeshi-nii isn't very happy with you right now, Hokage-sama," Naruto explained with an aggrieved sigh and the Sandaime flinched imperceptively at being addressed so formally by the blond. "Not that I'm all that happy to see you either. Takeshi-nii also doesn't trust you and that means he's not going to let me or my otouto out of his sight because he's rather protective of us."

"And what exactly is it that I have done to anger a man that I've never set eyes on until now?"

"Where would you like me to start?" Takeshi retorted as he dropped his hand on Naruto's head to silence him. "With the decision you made to allow an entire village to heap verbal abuse on a helpless child? With your decision to allow this village's civilians to form lynching mobs that would chase a helpless child through the streets? Or maybe it was the decision you made to lie and withhold information from said child and let him think that his parents hated him just as much as the rest of the village? Or how about the fact that you left a child to fend for himself in a hostile environment where your entire village not only shunned him, belittled him, and threatened him but also took pains to steal and destroy his worldly possessions and overcharge him for the basic necessities he needed to survive?"

Hiruzen opened his mouth to make a retort but the younger man didn't given him a chance to get a word in edgewise as he raised his voice slightly and continued his angry rant.

"I despise men like you with a passion. I knew a man that was like you once, I saw him as the grandfather I never had and thought that he could do no wrong. He too was the vaunted leader of an entire society (despite the fact that he was not the figurehead of the government); a powerful icon and a war hero that was respected all over the world. He was a smart and talented man as well and over time he began to believe that he was the only one with the knowledge and power to guide his society down the right path. His shortsightedness and his absolute belief in his own hubris that he termed the Greater Good nearly destroyed our entire society."

"He forged a child weapon once too. Only he didn't want a powerful weapon that could turn against him, so he made a broken weapon that was loyal to a fault and eager to please but lacked the skills and knowledge he needed to fight the battles he would face. A weapon that cared nothing for his own life because he had no sense of self-worth, a weapon that was revered and reviled at the drop of a hat by an entire society, and a weapon that was meant to sacrifice himself for the Greater Good. That man died over five years ago and I still haven't forgiven him for manipulating me all of my life just to set me up as a sacrificial lamb for a society that blamed me for all of their problems while they simultaneously demanded that I save them. It infuriates me to know that another, that you, attempted to do the same thing to my itoko."

"Don't hold back now, Takeshi; tell the man how you really feel," Arata interjected in a dry tone.

"Urusai, Arata," Takeshi muttered as he immediately deflated in response to the other man's words; his anger vanishing in the blink of an eye. The dark haired Namikaze then bowed low and contritely stated, "Moushiwake arimasen deshita, Hokage-sama. I should not have spoken to you that way. We have been traveling for weeks and the moment we arrived at the gates of your village, we were dragged before you without even a chance for us to rest; let alone wash the dirt from our faces."

"I suppose it did not help that I have been nursing my anger for nearly two years and would have preferred to have kept my itoko as far from this village as humanly possible. And your attempt to shuffle the kids off to some place else was just the last straw. I am also aware that it is not entirely your fault that Naruto-kun was treated so poorly while he lived in your village; you are, after all, only one man. It is just hard to not hold you responsible for everything now that I am standing in front you."

"Apology accepted, young man," Hiruzen replied after studying the man for several seconds. "Why don't we start over; you can begin introductions."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama," Takeshi murmured in relief as he bowed a second time. "My name is Namikaze Takeshi. Behind me are my cousin Namikaze Arata, his lovely wife Namikaze Eri, my son Namikaze Satoshi, and I believe that you are familiar with my youngest cousin, Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki…? Not Namikaze…? How is it that Naruto-kun's identification papers declare him to be a Namikaze if he is still referring to himself as Uzumaki?" Hiruzen inquired with some surprise.

"Naruto…? When did you find the time to switch the packets?" Takeshi declared as he turned to the now sheepish blond. "For that matter, why did you switch them? I thought we agreed not to reveal your relationship to Minato until you were at least fifteen or a Chuunin?"

"I didn't like being the odd one out," Naruto confessed with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I suppose I should have expected that and you should have said something sooner. No point is squabbling about the matter now though because what is done is done and you have every right to use your father's name. Just don't go flaunting your surname about when you eventually step out of the villager."

"Wakatta, Keshi-nii."

"Namikaze-san, would you be opposed to allowing Inu to take the children to get a treat while the rest of us have a short discussion? You have my word that no one will harm either child while they are in Inu's care and that they will be returned to you as soon as we are finished."

Hiruzen watched the man tense once more as his gaze cut down and to the side towards Naruto before flicking to the young child in the woman's arms. The young man then turned to study the masked Inu for a full minute before he dropped his gaze to the floor and canted his head to one side (as if he was listening to something only he could hear).

A few seconds later, the man nodded his head, lifted his eyes to meet Hiruzen's gaze, and replied, "I will allow it." He then turned to the young woman and held out his hand. Eri quickly set the child in her arms down on his feet and the boy rushed into his father's arms as the man crouched down. "Toshi-kun, the gentleman in the red and white doggy mask is going to take you and Naruto-kun to get a small snack and I need for you to be on your best behavior while you are out. Can you do that for me?"

"Hai, papa," Satoshi replied with an enthusiastic nod.

"Remember; no changing no matter how cool you think someone looks."

"Hai, papa," Satoshi murmured with a slight pout.

"Naruto, I expect you to keep an eye on Satoshi for me and make certain he doesn't get into any trouble."

"Hai, niisan," Naruto immediately agreed as he scooped up the younger boy and settled him on his shoulders. "Where are we going, Inu-san?"

"How does ramen sound?" Inu inquired with an undertone of amusement.

Hiruzen held back the grin that threatened to break out as Naruto's entire demeanor changed the moment the word ramen passed through Inu's lips. It did his old heart a world of good to know that the child he'd been so fond of was still there inside of the not-quite eleven year old beneath the serious (and angry) child that had entered his office.

"Mendoukusei. Here, Naruto, you'd better take this; I know how you are when it comes to ramen," Takeshi sighed as he fished a bulging money pouch out of his left coat pocket and tossed it to the blond. "Try not to eat yourself sick."

"Thanks, Keshi-nii!"

"You're welcome, squirt," Takeshi replied with a fond smile that slipped from his face when he turned his gaze back to the masked Inu and delivered a warning. "If any harm comes to either child while they are in your care, I will hunt you down and hurt you in ways you couldn't possibly imagine and no one will ever find your body by the time that I am finished with you."

"Understood, Namikaze-san."

The two children and Inu were gone two minutes later and Hiruzen activated the privacy barrier and one of three alert beacons that surrounded his office with a pulse of chakra knowing that activating the beacon would also let Ibiki and Inoichi know that their presence would be needed. The aged shinobi then leaned back in his chair and studied the three young adults in his office as he allowed the displeasure he'd been hiding to show.

"Now, why don't we get down to business?" Hiruzen stated in a stern tone. "You can start by giving me one good reason why I shouldn't have all three of you arrested on charges of kidnapping."

"You mean aside from the fact that we are not guilty of kidnapping anyone?" Takeshi countered as he crossed his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow as he calmly looked Hiruzen in the eye.

"Just under three years ago, Uzumaki Naruto vanished from his apartment and the village without a trace… Are you implying that you had nothing to do with his disappearance?"

"Until two years ago, we didn't even know that the Elemental Countries existed," Arata stated as he shoved his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists. "Until Naruto turned up on my parent's doorsteps out of the blue two years ago we never knew that we had family living on this side of the portal."

"In other words, Hokage-sama; we didn't kidnap Naruto," Takeshi added once Arata had finished speaking.

"And you expect me to believe that Naruto-kun miraculously transported himself across the barrier that separates our world from the Outer Countries and lost a full year of time in the process?"

"No," Takeshi snorted as he fished out a thick document sized envelop from the inside of his trench coat, broke the seal with a thread of chakra, and tossed it on the desk. "It's more like Naruto discovered the fact that you'd been lying to him his entire life and he ran away from the village in order to search for the only possible family he had and found us a year later."

Hiruzen frowned even as he reached for the envelope. He quickly opened the envelope and withdrew the thick sheaf of very familiar documents that were inside. Five minutes later, Hiruzen was feeling his age weighing down on him once more after he'd confirmed that the documents in the folder were the unaltered originals that were supposed to be safely stored in the archive with the rest of the village's important outdated documents. Originals that he had not even known were missing as he'd never once thought to have someone check the archives for thefts because the barriers around the building had been undisturbed (something he should have checked on anyway).

"I still find it hard to believe that an eight year old child could have slipped out of the village without alerting one of the AnBu Guards that I had assigned to watch him."

"Naruto is a very enterprising you man and when he is properly motivated, he can pull off some pretty amazing pranks and schemes," Eri shyly pointed out as she spoke up for the first time since entering the office.

"An alert would have been sent the moment he crossed the defensive barrier that protects the village and an AnBu team dispatched to retrieve him even if he did manage to evade the guards assigned to him," Hiruzen insisted.

Takeshi snorted as he lifted his right hand just enough to raise two fingers as he drawled, "The answer you are looking for is comprised of two words, Hokage-sama; Kage Bunshin. Naruto knew that the AnBu were dispatched each time he was chased out of the village by angry mobs and he took advantage of that and the rampant misconception that he was incapable of performing ninjutsu because of poor chakra control. Poor chakra control, I might add, that was strictly due to the enormous size of his reserves thanks to the furball hitching a ride inside of him and the piss-poor teachers that were sabotaging his education."

"Speaking of the Kyuubi and the fact that Naruto is the fox's host is a crime punishable by death…"

"How does that apply to me…?" Takeshi countered with a scowl. "I was not born in this village and therefore am not aware of any laws that were created after Minato's death. And it's not like I spoke of the Kyuubi out in the middle of the village where anyone could overhear me. On top of that, how often have you even bothered to enforce that law…? After all, a large percentage of the adults in this village went around breaking that stupid law each time they called Naruto a demon within his hearing."

"The law was my attempt to prevent the adults from spreading their hate to their children but looking back now, I can see that it failed to provide Naruto with a measure of protection as I had hoped it would," Hiruzen admitted wearily as he pulled off his hat and returned it to the bottom drawer of his desk before he pulled out his pipe, stuffed it full of tobacco leaves, and tamped the leaves down before he lit the pipe. He drew deeply on the pipe, held his breath for a moment, and then released the smoke in a series of smoke rings before he asked, "What exactly is it that you want from me? Why are you here in Konoha? Why bring Naruto back to Konoha at all if you didn't want to be here?"

"Minato told me that I had to have Naruto back in Konoha by his twelfth birthday."

"Minato is dead," Hiruzen deadpanned as he tried not to gape at the green-eyed man.

"Oh there has never been any doubt that my cousin was well and truly dead when I first met him," Takeshi quipped with a grim smile. "His spirit has been a veritable font of information and anecdotes about life in the Elemental Nations over the past two years; specifically within Konoha."

"How is that even possible?"

"One aspect of my Kekkei Genkai is an ability that allows me to communicate with the dead."

"Prove it," Hiruzen ordered impulsively.

Takeshi arched his eyebrow again before he glanced to the empty air beside him and nodded his head to the side once in question. Hiruzen thought the young man might be touched in the head only to nearly swallow his pipe when Minato's shade shimmered into existence in the exact place that the other man had been staring. He attempted to dispel a genjutsu several times before he scrutinized his pipe as he wondered if someone had slipped a hallucinogenic into his tobacco when he wasn't looking.

"You're not imagining things, Sarutobi, and you are not in a genjutsu," Minato's shade pointed out with a laugh.

"You can't be here… you're dead; I saw you die."

"And I am still dead."

"How do I know that you are the real Minato and not just an illusion?"

"Would you believe that I am me if I was to remind you about the day Kushina and I caught you peeping on the women bathing in the hot spring using your nifty little crystal ball when you were supposed to be going through your paperwork?"

"Damn it, did you have to bring that up now? I still have nightmares about that day! You could have picked a different memory to prove yourself, you know."

"Why…? It's so much more entertaining to watch your face turn red in mortification and horror over any reference to that day when Kushina invented Konoha's Sennen Goroshi and gave you a personal demonstration."

"Naruto couldn't stop giggling like a loon when Kushina first started teaching us how to use that particular technique; she called it the ultimate pervert punishment," Takeshi snickered as he bit his lip and ducked his head.

"Have you been here all this time or did you only appear just now?"

"I've been here the entire time."

"Why are you dragging around Minato's ghost?" Hiruzen demanded as he turned back to Takeshi.

"Normally, the spirits I call upon leave as soon as I release them; unfortunately, there were a couple of complications involved in Minato's case and he'll be a permanent fixture in my life until I can find a way to fix it so that he can finally enter the afterlife and join his loved ones that have already passed. So, it's more that I can't get rid of him rather than a desire to hold him here."

"You never did finish answering my questions, Takeshi-san," Hiruzen stated in order to divert the attention away from the discomforting topic of dead shades (and his embarrassing personal history). "Aside from the belief that Naruto was required to be here by this time next year, why are you here? If you still had a year's time before you had to return, why come back sooner if you didn't want to be here?"

"Minato advised us to turn up around Naruto's eleventh birthday in order for us to have plenty of time to get settled in before Jiraiya turned up to claim him as his apprentice. And I am here because I refused to allow Naruto to return to a place where he had been hated alone and without a friendly face."

"You intend to become citizens of Konoha?" Hiruzen asked with some surprise.

"Yes."

"Once the hospital has confirmed that the two of you are descendants of Namikaze Kichiro, gentlemen, I'm certain that we can issue you your citizenship as a civilians of Konoha as a blood relation to a current citizen," Hiruzen began as he automatically reached for the form to request a full medical screening for all five members of the small family.

"Actually, Hokage-sama, I'm looking to join the shinobi force alongside Naruto," Takeshi corrected; his declaration making the Sandaime freeze.

"And I was hoping to apply for a business license and any permits necessary so that I could open a restaurant," Arata added a heartbeat later.

"I don't anticipate there being any issues with you joining the village as a businessman, Arata-san; attracting new businesses has been difficult during the past three years due to a recent reorganization of the village's infrastructure and bylaws. The restaurant and food industries in particular took a heavy hit these past few years as a number of businesses pulled out of Konoha. On the other hand, Takeshi-san, you are far too old for me to send through the Academy alongside of Naruto…"

"I will not allow Naruto to be sent back to the people that sabotaged his education; he worked too damn hard over the past three years to correct the damage they did."

"There have been many changes in the Academy curriculum since Naruto vanished and all of the staff have been sent through an intensive evaluation to insure that they are all qualified to continue teaching the future generations of our shinobi forces. I can arrange for Naruto to take an assessment test to determine whether or not he'd benefit from taking a minimum of one year at the Academy. Should he score high enough, I will gladly clear him to take the graduation test to earn his hitai-ate instead; providing that is what he wishes."

"That would be acceptable," Takeshi allowed as he relaxed once more. "I would be willing to take the same assessment tests in order to demonstrate my knowledge and skills."

"Actually, before you interrupted me, I was about to tell you that you would be required to visit the Konoha Hospital for an intensive medical examination to insure that you are in optimum health. After that, it would be necessary for you to demonstrate the full range of your skills to a panel of seasoned Jounin to determine if you have the skills necessary to join the ranks of Konoha's shinobi. Once we know whether or not you are physically capable of performing as a shinobi, you would be required to take a handful of assessment tests before we can arrange for you to be tutored in those subjects that you scored poorly in."

"That doesn't sound too different than what Minato told me to expect."

"You still wish to apply for a place on the shinobi force?"

"Hai; no point in wasting the grueling training I suffered through over the past two years."

Hiruzen nodded in response and grabbed five medical evaluation forms, a merchant's application (which doubled as a business license application), a shinobi application, a supplemental citizenship application (for Takeshi's son), and after a quick consultation on the young woman's intentions, a standard civilian's application for citizenship. Once he handed the applications over to the three adults along with their identification papers and the packet of legal documents, he politely asked them to fill out the applications right then before he kicked them out of his office.

Ibiki and Inoichi joined him a moment later; the two shinobi had been waiting just out of site outside of his window for just over an hour now.

Translations: Japanese to English

Arigatou – thank you
Gaki – brat
Hai – yes
Inu – Dog
Itoko – cousin
Konoha no Kiiroi Senko – Konoha's Yellow Flash
Mendoukusei – how troublesome or what a drag
Moushiwake arimasen deshita – A very formal apology, usually used when one has seriously messed up and is apologizing to a stranger or a superior. I believe the literal translation is 'I have no excuse' and the deshita turns the phrase into the past tense. At least that is how I understood it. Again, I apologize to any native speakers for butchering your language; I'm blonde and I'm dyslexic which is really a terrible combination when it comes to learning new languages. I do try though. =)
Tori – bird
Urusai – shut up (rude)

Techniques/Skills:

Kage Bunshin – Shadow Clone
Sennen Goroshi – One Thousand Years of Death (I used creative license to name Kushina as the original creator of this particular technique as the canon creator of it is left unstated as far as I could tell)

10-24-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.