Welcome back everybody, I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Thank you bigtrunk for being my beta and let's get into the next chapter of our story. Disclaimer in the prologue.
Chapter one
It had been about five years since the day he had been fully initiated into his new family. He's done plenty of jobs for their benefit but today was different, today he was in the middle of his test. A test that would cement his place in the underworld of crime.
Currently, he was sitting in the shadows wearing black pants, a black turtleneck, a balaclava that was tucked into his collar, and eye black as a kind of war paint, waiting for his target to arrive home. He was on a hunt and he always caught his prey.
While he sat in the dark he thought back on his time with the yakuza and all he's done for them. He's stolen, he's supplied drugs, sold weapons, and killed for the family. Everything he's done it's been for the benefit of the family and to help his father with the bills, and more recently he's been saving up money to potentially propose to his girlfriend of five years and best friend of more than a decade.
At that point, he heard a car pull into the driveway and saw beams of lights from the car come through the curtains in the windows that showed his position briefly before they were shut off. He had already moved positions by then to insure he wouldn't be seen until it was too late.
The jiggling of the doorknob was heard until the door opened and his target entered the house.
Takeo Nakamura was entering his house after a long day of helping manage a criminal empire and was exhausted, so tired he didn't even bother turning on the lights of his home before just flopping onto his couch and leaning his head back.
After a few minutes of decompressing, he got up and walked over to his kitchen to grab a bite to eat before bed.
While he was digging around his depressingly almost empty fridge he felt a shiver go down his spine causing him to look up and into the dark that was slightly illuminated by the light in his fridge. Seeing nothing he shrugged, thinking it was just his nerves he began to look through his fridge again and grabbed a container of leftover takeout, and sniffed it… before he gagged at the smell and took it over to the trash can to throw out.
After setting the food in the trash he felt a slight but sharp poke in his neck. Touching the area where he felt the poke, he grabbed onto something and pulled it out before seeing a dart of some kind.
His vision started to swirl and blur, making him stumble back with dizziness and fall on his ass. He heard steps coming towards him, looking up from the floor he saw a figure shrouded in darkness before he fell unconscious but not before hearing it speak.
"Finally, I've been waiting hours for you to get home."
Naruto looked at his unconscious prey on the tiled floor for a few minutes, wondering what he should do next before deciding and grabbing the man by his ankles and dragging him into the dining room.
He picked up Takeo and planted him on the table the long way. Grabbing the bag that he brought for this job and unzipping it, Naruto pulled out about a dozen railroad spikes and a hammer. He began to hammer the nails into specific points in the wrists, knees, ankles, and shoulders to prevent death from coming too soon. He was quite surprised Mr. Nakamura didn't wake up from the pain but assumed it was because of the poison he used.
Grabbing a chair, Naruto sat in it and waited for his new friend to wake up while he grabbed an engraved tomahawk and a stone from his bag. The ax had a simple symbol engraved into the blade, the design was a swirl with four lines going behind it horizontally and four more lines going behind vertically. It had a wooden handle with cloth wrapped around it for a comfortable grip.
He sat patiently, sharpening his ax with the stone, methodically waiting for the man attached to the table to awaken. After an hour Takeo began to blink his eyes, he tried to reach up to rub them but realized he couldn't move his arms. He could move any of his limbs, his neck would barely budge. He tried to talk but no noise would come out.
Naruto noticed this and stood up and loomed over him before speaking, "Oh you're awake? Took you long enough. I bet you're wondering why you can't feel anything or talk, the reason for that would be the poison you were hit with. It's from a specific type of poison dart frog that had just the right effects that I wanted for this exact situation."
He paused to see the fear in Takeo's eyes before continuing the speech he had been practicing in his head while waiting.
"You know I've made quite the name in the life that we live, do you recognize mine? It's The Apache." He said while moving his face uncomfortably close to the man stuck to the table before suddenly pulling back. "Ah. It seems you do. You know I was surprised when I was given that name since I don't have a single drop of Native American blood in my body, it might have been because of my mentor but moving on."
He lifted his tomahawk and began running his finger along the blade. "Here's a fun fact about the Apache tribe: The warriors were feared by all, even by those of their own. They scalped over one hundred thousand men." He paused to let that fact sink in before continuing, "Now I won't be scalping you, 'cause I was told to bring your whole damn head and that's what I plan to do. It's basically the same thing but with more effort on my part, I'm mostly doing it in the spirit of the Apache warriors. I also don't have a scalping knife on hand but what can you do?"
He shrugged at that last sentence before bringing the tomahawk up and slamming it down causing Takeo to close his eyes…
Before he opened them back up after still being alive to see the blade right next to his face, embedded in the table.
"You see, I'm a warrior Takeo, I was trained to be one. Now listen here, I don't likes ya and I don't wants ya but I need your head. Now we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. The choice is yours."
They sat in silence for approximately thirty seconds before Naruto broke out into laughter at his joke. Not being able to keep a straight face despite having a mask, he calmed down and spoke again, " Haha I'm only kidding, you don't have a choice in this." Holding his finger in front of the face of his hostage he continued, "But I'll tell you why I'm doing this with a little story. The Native American warriors fought to protect their land from the enemy, that enemy was The White Man. Men with horses and sticks that made loud booms and killed from a great distance, much greater than bows and arrows could ever hope to match. See I've been told you and your little group have been trying to take our land, our territory. Now I get to make an example out of you. To show we will not… have our land taken by no named punks like you."
With that being said he grabbed the handle of his ax and pulled it out of the table and put his hand on the man's forehead and tilted it so his neck would be exposed.
Lifting up his tomahawk, he began to chop his way through the neck starting with the hyoid bone. While doing this blood was splattering against his clothes, mask, and war paint.
He eventually finished and wiped his ax clean of blood before he grabbed a burlap sack from his duffel bag and placed the severed head in it and tied off the end.
With that over with he closed his duffel bag and left the house, beginning his trek to his ride away from the crime scene.
He eventually made it to a blacked-out limo about three blocks away and got in. Inside the limo already waiting for him was Madam Fukitsuna but to him she was Mother.
Taking off his mask, he bowed his head in respect to his Mother before speaking, "It is done Mother, Takeo Nakamura is no more."
He presented the burlap sack to her which she took and opened. Once seeing the head of an opposing family's lieutenant she nodded her head in approval before signaling the driver to take off.
They sat in silence with Naruto being slightly nervous before she spoke, "You did well my son, congratulations on your promotion to first lieutenant. I am proud of you." With that being said she gave him a small smile.
He found himself smiling back at her and saying, "Thank you for the kind words Mother, and thank you for allowing me to stand by your side from now on."
"Of course my boy, my favorite child, must be prepared to take over the family business one day. Now change out of those clothes they're filthy." She demanded before throwing a rag at him which he caught, "And wipe that paint off your face, why must you insist on wearing it whenever you're on a hunt?"
Taking off his shirt and pants, he put on more comfortable clothes began to clean his face of blood and paint, he spoke while doing this, "You know I do it to honor my mentor, he taught me the skills of an Apache warrior, it's also how I got my moniker which you gave me might I add."
Leaning forward, she popped him lightly on his head, " Respect your elders little boy, I may be old but I can still teach you a thing or two about respect."
Rubbing his head, he rolled his eyes and said, "Yes Mother."
After a few minutes of idle chatter they arrived a block away from Naruto house to avoid suspicion from his father. He moved to get out of the vehicle before he paused and spoke nervously, "Um Mother?"
Looking up from her phone she responded, "What is it Naruto?"
"Uh this might seem weird to ask but would you be willing to come to my college graduation tomorrow? The reason I ask is because you really have been like a mother to me, something that I've needed since my um biological mother died ya know?" He said while scratching the back of his head nervously, hoping this wouldn't set back the relationship the two had.
Fukitsuna was simply shocked at the request before she regained her wits and responded, "I would love to come to your graduation, Naruto but what about your father and girlfriend? How would you explain my being there to them?"
"You let me worry about that, I'll make sure everything goes right. Just make sure to play along." He said, giving her a reassuring smile.
Humming at the answer she nodded and said, "Very well, I'll be there. Now go on, it's quite late. I'll make sure your tools are taken care of"
"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am." With that he got out and started walking home. After five minutes of walking he arrived at his front door and quietly unlocked it and slowly opened the door, tiptoeing in he closed the door as quietly as he could to not wake up his father and his girlfriend who had moved in recently since their house happened to be closer to the local university.
Taking off his shoes and putting on his slippers, he made his way to the kitchen to grab some food, opening the fridge he grabbed a soda and a sandwich that he left earlier so he could eat it when he got home.
Moving into the living room he sat down on the couch and placed his plate beside him and cracked open his drink and took a sip.
While he was taking a sip, a lamp that was next to a recliner was turned on revealing his girlfriend Suki in her pajamas, who had stayed up waiting for him, causing the soda to go down the wrong pipe and making him cough, "cough cough Jesus Suki how long were you sitting there? And why didn't you say anything?" He asked, wondering why she was still up.
Not answering, she began to ask her own questions, "Where were you? I was worried sick about you. Do you know what time it is?" She asked before gasping, "Were you with another woman? After five years together you cheat on me? I thought you loved me?" She said while tearing up slightly.
He gave her a flat stare at the fake tears before speaking, "Really Suki? I told you I was working late tonight. Also stop with the tears, I can tell you're faking it."
Pouting at being caught, she crossed her arms and huffed, "Fine. Hurry up and eat, I wanna go to bed."
"Then go to bed. I'll be up there soon."
They had moved their room upstairs at the request of his father so he wouldn't have to listen to them have sex again.
"You know I can't sleep if you aren't next to me." She mumbled while turning her head to hide her blush.
Unfortunately it was caught by Naruto and he gained a mischievous smile, "Aw did you miss me? Were you not able to stand being separated from me for so long?"
Her blush turned crimson and she began to stutter lightly, "S-shut up dumbass! You can't sleep without me being next to you either." She said with smugness at the end.
"And I'll admit that fact anyday, you're the one who's embarrassed by it." He said, "Are you ashamed of me?"
Deadpanning at him, she spoke with a monotone voice, "Very."
"Oof, that hurts Suki."
"Good." With that said she stood up and moved to the stairs while saying, "Now hurry up and finish, I'll be waiting for you in bed."
"Che, whatever you say princess."
With that said Naruto quickly finished his food and drink before taking a shower in the downstairs bathroom to wash any blood that was still on his body, and to rid himself of a potential smell that would piss off his girlfriend and her sensitive nose.
After drying off and putting on a simple pair of black boxers he made his way up the stairs to end his night. Opening the door to his room he saw Suki facing the opposite direction of the door while underneath the covers.
Sliding into bed next to her, he placed his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. Despite being pulled closer she still felt the need to shuffle back further until her back hit his chest and laid her head on his arm.
Naruto closed his eyes and put his forehead against the back of her head and took a deep breath, causing his heart rate to slow down to prepare for a nice night of sleep.
Suki exhaled slightly at the feeling of his breath against her neck and relaxed even further into his embrace before speaking ever so gently, "Get a good night of rest Naruto, we have a big day tomorrow."
Chuckling lightly at how true her statement was, "That we do Suki, that we do." He said,
"Good night Suki, I love you."
"Good night Naruto, I love you too."
With that they were fast asleep and cuddling to prepare for their college graduation the next day.
"Suki Uchiha!"
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
Suki and Naruto happened to be the only two graduating that year to have a last name that started with the letter U which allowed them to sit next to each other during the ceremony and to walk up the stage right behind the other.
Suki took her diploma and shook hands with the presenter before moving to walk off stage with Naruto doing the same.
Before Suki could make it to the stairs, Naruto caught up with her, spinning her around and grabbing her with one hand on her back and the other on her hip. Dipping her down and kissing her on the stage, causing the other graduates and their families to cheer out at the power couple.
Letting her up, she was seen with a tomato red blush at the public display of affection. She punched Naruto in the shoulder and buried her head in his chest to hide her embarrassment causing him to chuckle before he put his hand on the back of her head and guided her off stage.
Soon after the ceremony came to a close, allowing the graduates to meet with their families.
Minato's wheelchair was pushed by Itachi, Suki's older brother, with Mikoto and Fugaku walking beside them.
Soon enough the four found Suki with Mikoto rushing up to her to give a tight hug before pulling back, "Where's Naruto?" She asked, wondering why he wasn't with her after the little performance he put on stage.
"He said he had to go grab someone first." Suki replied to her mother's inquiry. Fugaku walked closer while asking, "Did he say who?"
Shaking her head in negative , Suki said, "No he only said it was someone important to him."
Right after that was said, Naruto appeared with an older woman who seemed to be in her late 40's, she was wearing a red dress with a black jacket on top of it. The most noticeable thing about her though was the eyepatch that covered where her right eye was supposed to be.
Naruto gave his father a hug with Minato congratulating him on his graduation. Once separated the young blonde was engulfed with a hug from Mikoto and was given a firm handshake from Fugaku, and finally Itachi and Naruto dapped each other up before they both brought the other into a one armed hug.
"It's good to see you again, Brother."
"It's good to see you too, Little brother."
With that said the two separated before Minato cleared his throat and decided to ask who Naruto's guest was, "So son, who's your friend?"
Perking up at the question, Naruto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and answered the question, "Whoops, sorry for not introducing her sooner. Everyone, this is Miss Fukitsuna, she was a tutor that I got for chemistry." He said, making sure to use an appropriate cover story for her. "She certainly knows her material but unfortunately this was her last year at the school so she could go back to the business she owns."
Stepping forward, Fukitsuna gave a small bow which Minato returned to the best of his abilities, "It's nice to meet you Mr. Namikaze, Naruto has told me much about you."
Tilting his head slightly, Minato voiced his curiosity, "Is that so? I hope they were all good."
Naruto scoffed before saying, "Only thing I told her was that you're a hardcore Stephen Hawking wannabe."
"Hey I might not be able to walk but I can still kick your ass son, you better watch yourself."
Despite the seemingly harsh words exchanged by the two, they had very obvious smiles. Indicating it was a regular joke between the two.
Suki moved forward to speak with Fukitsuna while the father and son joked around with each other, "So Miss Fukitsuna, how come we've never met before today? Considering you were tutoring my boyfriend you'd think we would have met already."
Giving a small shrug, Fukitsuna responded to the innocent question, "Pure coincidence maybe? Naruto was the only student I have been tutoring for a few years now so I could transition back to my business."
"What kind of business do you run?" Suki asked, curious as to what kind of business a chemistry tutor could run.
"A small pharmaceutical company, we've been hoping to expand more, which is quite achievable now that I'm finished here." Fukitsuna responded, making sure to not reveal the criminal activities that she controls in the city.
Minato and Naruto, who were done joking around and were listening to the conversation between the two. Eventually Minato cut in to ask a question, "Miss Fukitsuna, I hope it isn't rude of me to ask but what happened to your eye?"
Turning to look at him, she touched her eye patch slightly with one hand, she wasn't sensitive about it, it was just a reminder to be more careful. "It was too damaged during an accident so it had to be removed, it was a long time ago so I'm comfortable with it now." She replied to the question, not offended at how personal it was, everyone gets curious about it at least once.
"I see, I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories." Minato apologized, feeling bad about bringing up past trauma.
"It's quite alright, like I said it was a long time." She said, accepting the apology. To change the subject Minato asked a different question that everyone else was wondering, "So I'm curious, why did Naruto want us to meet you if you're his tutor?"
Before Fukitsuna could come up with an appropriate answer, Naruto cut in to tell the real reason why, "I can answer that dad, the reason I wanted her to meet you all was because you guys are my family and Miss Fukitsuna has become something of a mother to me during my time here."
The others were quite shocked at that statement but it had Fukitsuna smiling at the young man who had become her lieutenant and a son to her despite never having children herself.
After recovering from that new discovery, Minato decided the best thing to do was to welcome her to the family. "Well Fukitsuna, if my son sees you as another mother the only right thing to do would be to invite you to the party we're having at our house. We would love to have you there."
"Thank you Mr. Namikaze, shall we go now?" She asked, wanting to be out of the public view for the rest of today.
"We shall, and please call me Minato, you're family now." He said with a smile that she returned.
With that said, Naruto began to push his father's chair and lead the way, "Well let's go then, time's wasting folks."
Everyone else followed after him with small smiles on their faces.
The party had calmed down significantly and most of the members of the party had passed out by now or had left. The only two still awake were Naruto and Suki who had moved to the backyard at some point.
Currently they were laying on a blanket and stargazing. The couple was quiet for a while, just staring into the sky and enjoying the company of the other. Soon Naruto decided to speak up, "You know this seems awfully familiar, doesn't it Suki?" He asked rhetorically.
Smiling slightly at his question, she responded with a tiny bit of mirth, "Yeah, it does. I seem to remember a certain blond hair fool who told me that he loved me."
Naruto chuckled lightly at the true statement, "That certain blond happens to still love you princess." He teased, still using that nickname from so long ago.
She slapped his chest with a small blush on her face, "God would you stop calling me that? You've been using that same nickname for longer than a decade."
"But it suits you so well~" He whined playfully, knowing it would get under her skin, "I want to love you, pretty young thing, you need some loving. Tender love and care, and I'll take you there, girl, ooh-oh"
Suki stared at him with the biggest amount of deadpan she could muster, "Stop it Naruto, you are not the King of Pop."
"Feh what do you know?"
"A lot more than you stupid." She replied, making sure he knew that she was the smarter one of the two.
"Wow. I guess you don't want the surprise I have for you." He said, knowing she would take the bait.
Suki began to panic slightly but managed to hide it in time, "I didn't say that, give me the surprise you have for me." She demanded of him.
"Geez I don't know, you didn't seem to want it before." He said, making sure to tease her extra hard.
Suki knew what she had to do next to get this so-called 'surprise' from her boyfriend. She began to use her signature pout that made Naruto cave whenever she really wanted something, which wasn't often.
"Stop… stop it… gah! Fine, you can have your surprise." He finally caved before he instructed her to get up, "Stand up so I can give it to you." He said, which she obliged.
"Now turn around and cover your eyes, don't look until I tell you okay?" He asked, trying to make sure it wouldn't be ruined.
Suki rolled her eyes before doing so, "Okay I promise I won't look."
After about thirty seconds of waiting Naruto told her to turn around, doing so she saw him on his knee with a small box which held a… ring.
"Suki you have been the best thing to ever happen to me in my whole life and I want to ensure you'll still be in it." He said, making sure she knew how important she was to him before continuing, "Suki Uchiha, will you marry me and be my wife?"
With those words said, She began to cry tears of happiness and covered her eyes, while crying she tried to talk but kept sobbing in the middle of her sentence.
"G-god Naruto y-you're such a hic a dumbass~ sob I can't believe you want to marry me of all people. sob"
"I'm sorry for making you cry Suki, but what do you say? Will you be mine till death do us part?" He asked one more time, wanting to get an answer from her.
"Obviously I'll marry you… you dumbass!" She cried before jumping at him, mashing her lips against his.
Pulling apart from the kiss filled with all of love the two could muster up for the other. They turned and faced the guests of their wedding, holding each other's hands and waving to all of their friends and family.
Suki was wearing a western style wedding dress while Naruto wore a black tuxedo with a black bow tie and had an orange pocket square in his chest pocket.
Mikoto was crying her eyes out with Fugaku comforting her who also had tears in his eyes but was controlling himself. Itachi was next to them with a small smile on his face while his girlfriend Izumi was fantasizing when her boyfriend would finally propose to her which he saw and began to sweat lightly.
Minato sat next to Fukitsuna who was also invited to the wedding, the two had become decent friends with each other.
Moving down from the altar, the now married couple walked out of the venue and moved to the reception hall where the party began. The guests we're drinking and dancing, having an all around good time.
Eventually it was time for the bride and groom to dance. The pair moved into the circle made by the guests. Naruto put his hand on his wife's hip while she grabbed onto his shoulder, they both grabbed the other's hand and held it out to the side. The song Merry-Go-Round of Life started to play as the two began their dance.
They stepped and stepped and stepped to the tune of the music. While they were dancing, Naruto leaned closer to her ear to whisper something to her, "Oh my days, you are absolutely beautiful you know that? I can't wait for our honeymoon like oh my days."
She blushed at his kind words before she realized something, "Did… did you just quote a TikTok at our wedding?"
Smiling sheepishly at getting caught, he decided it would be better to come clean, "Yes I did, and it was totally worth it. But you can be mad at me later, let's enjoy this for now okay?"
She huffed at that before agreeing with him and continued their dance until the song ended. With the dance concluded the two bowed to their guests and moved on to the bouquet tossing, the bridesmaids and all the unmarried women gathered into a group.
Suki turned around and tossed the bouquet over and behind into the group with Izumi catching the bouquet who had a look of ecstasy on her face and began to search for Itachi… who had started to run away while sipping a beer. And Izumi had started to chase after him while still holding onto the bouquet.
The scene had caused the guests to laugh and cheer them on. Suki and Naruto watched on with small smiles before turning to the other and giving each other a small kiss.
The reception began to slow down and the young married couple went outside where a limo was waiting for them to take them to their honeymoon destination.
Naruto opened the door for his wife before stepping in beside her and closing the door and signaling the driver to take off. The two waved at the guests they were leaving at the hall before leaning into each other and basking in the other's presence.
The young couple were finishing up the last two days of their two week honeymoon by having sex and relaxing in the hot tub that was in the room they rented.
The two had made a promise that if Suki didn't get pregnant during their time away that they wouldn't try again until their anniversary or when they felt ready for kids.
For some odd reason that was unknown to Suki, Naruto had worn a shirt almost the whole time, even while in the hot tub together, she had asked why but he had only said, "I don't know, it's just comfy."
She had shrugged at the reasoning but had a suspicion, she just couldn't put her finger on it quite yet.
They had already packed and were ready to leave at any time but right now they were just cuddling on the bed and watching a movie. Once finishing the movie Naruto got up and went to take a shower.
Walking inside the bathroom and closing the door but forgetting to lock the door, he began to strip, starting with his shirt revealing a large tattoo of a tiger with a snarl on its face while surrounded by Sakura petals on his back.
Hearing a gasp he spun around to see his wife, who had planned on joining him in the shower.
"Naruto… why do you have that on your back?" She asked with a discernible amount of concern in her voice.
"Shit."
That's the next chapter everyone, I hope you all enjoyed it. If you did click that follow button if you feel like it, like I said it's free.