Ch. 4
Blood Bonds
"JIJI!" yelled a young voice frantically as a child burst into the Hokage's office, the doors slamming open. The old village leader's eyes went wide with shock and relief. The child that had gone missing for over two months had suddenly appeared in his office and the old man found himself thanking the gods above.
His relief was quickly replaced with fear as the child's sobbing met his old ears, his old eyes locked on the blood he spotted on the child's clothing. The older man surged to his feet quickly to check the child over for injury mounting fury nearly making his hands shake. If someone hurt Naruto, he would kill them himself.
"Naruto? Naruto. Naruto! What's happened?" he demanded as he tried to get the child's attention in his panicked state, sharp eyes taking in the blood that dotted the boy's clothing and the tears on the child's face as he turned the distraught child this way and that looking for injury.
"I don't know what happened! One moment she was fine, an' the next she was shaking on the ground! I told her to go to the doctor, but she said the bad men would find her an' she didn't wan' them to so you've got to make sure no one finds out about her, ok Jiji?" demanded the sobbing child as he grabbed the older man's hand and all but dragged him along, worry clear on the old man's features.
"Naruto, who are you talking about?" demanded the village elder as they made their way swiftly through the office, the man signaling the secretary to leave them be as they passed, also signaling his Anbu bodyguards to stay put. If things were as the child described, discretion would be best. He didn't need the council to find out about a possible incident that could be blamed on the boy. The third Hokage knew that some would try and take advantage of events to make a power play if they had the chance.
"Moriko-nee. I has been staying with her for a while now. She's really special to me Jiji," the blonde hacked out through his sobs and tears as the old man shot Naruto a sharp look at the boy's words. The idea of the boy being taken to someone's home without telling him was rather alarming. They burst out of the Hokage tower and started heading for the tree line to the Hokage's surprise and resignation. So the child had been hiding in the woods this whole time. It didn't make him feel any better about the whole thing.
The boy immediately cut a swift path through the forest, until they reached a clearing where a young woman lay deathly still. The Hokage's eyes widened in surprise as he took in the pale-looking young woman. He had seen corpses with better color and for a moment feared that she was already dead. His dread dissolved quickly as he frowned, moving forward to kneel beside her prone form as he looked her over carefully, taking in the short red hair that was only a couple inches long and the gently rising chest that indicated that she was still alive.
"She started shaking an' then when it stopped Shado- I mean she told me to put something in her mouth so she wouldn't bite off her tongue an' then she bit me! By accident I mean," The child explained through his sniffles and hiccups as he crouched next to the unconscious young woman, grasping her hand in both of his. The Hokage's lips tightened as he crouched to rub the child's back comfortingly, a part of him taking note that Naruto was not shying away from the gentle touch like usual. He had also noticed the slip-up but wasn't going to interrogate the distraught child.
"Her hair fell off an' then started growing all red which is weird 'cause her hair is curly an' brown an' stuff. Um, I'm not really sure what else happened but she passed out an' I started crying. I kept feeling more an' more tired Jiji, an' then everything went dark. Then I woke up, she was asleep an' I went an' got you after putting a blanket on her. Is she going to be ok?" demanded the blonde worriedly after speaking nonstop, tear-stained eyes red and tired. The older man froze in place at the description of what had happened before his grip on the child tightened.
Quietly he pulled the child into his lap and held him close, rocking him quietly as he thanked the heavens once more. All these symptoms pointed to one explanation, and Naruto was very lucky to be alive. So was the young woman for that matter. This wouldn't be the first time that someone from the forbidden lake had accidentally bitten someone during their metamorphosis, and changed because of the blood of the host.
Shadow. The boy had almost said Shadow. The great Hokage shuddered.
No one else had come through the lake since that fateful day two months ago when the creature had come through. The last person who had come through, a young woman, had had brown curly hair, and was the only missing person from the incident. How terrifying. What could it mean that she had ended up here and not taken? What did it mean that she had survived despite all odd.
His mind's eye replayed the last footage they had seen of her. She had run to the creature's side before fading away as if they had never existed.
He could help but sigh, feeling already weary even though it was just morning. Holding the boy was his only comfort at the moment, one of the day's mysteries having been solved only for many others to open. To think that the day had only just begun.
There was no way all of this could have just been a coincidence, with all the details that Naruto had just described. The fact that she had survived two months without treatment was rare. Without the proper medical equipment and healers on hand, it was unlikely that she would have been able to receive enough chakra to complete the transformation process that was brought on by her body attempting the metamorphosis. Naruto growing tired from a bite suggested that she had begun draining the boy's life energy during her change. If it had been anyone else they would have died.
Long ago it had been established by Konoha's leading scientists that when people from that other world, beyond the lake's waters, managed to pass through the lake their bodies began to deteriorate swiftly. This happened because the body was incompatible with this world. The interesting thing about this though, was that their bodies, instilled with the drive to survive, began to unconsciously attempt to adapt, and by adapting, their bodies tried to generate chakra.
This was usually the starting point of the metamorphosis, for those people. Their bodies would begin to generate Chakra at a tremendous rate because the body had nothing in its DNA to properly augment the process, which would quickly drain the life out of the body as it began overproducing chakra, usually leading to a swift and painful death for the patient, their entire beings being converted into a tremendous amount of chakra.
The trick that the workers at the Lake hospital and the Konoha researchers had found, had been something that had been discovered by accident many years ago. It had been when one of the foreigners had begun to go through their transformation earlier than expected.
The person had gone into seizures and had accidentally bitten a hospital worker, only to transform afterward. They still hadn't lived long afterward since the transformation had still taken a great toll on the body despite the body having the DNA needed to create the proper amount of chakra, but it had set the researchers at the hospital and hidden base on the right path.
After all, the person's appearance had altered greatly, and the staff wanted to know why only to realize what had been taking place in the transformation process itself. It took many years of trial and error, but the staff soon came to the conclusion that the foreigners could survive the transformation IF they had a compatible DNA type chosen for them, and they had a team of specialized medical ninjas feeding the patient chakra through the transformation process, to keep the body from overproducing.
However, to the researcher's irritation, they found that even after the metamorphosis, the patient's bodies still overdrew on chakra, which would eventually kill them.
Overproducing and overdrawing chakra was a rare phenomenon with these people since it was the body breaking itself down into energy faster than the body could handle, leading to a vicious cycle.
Their bodies got used to producing more energy because of their overproduction of it and thus the person in question couldn't maintain their health as the breakdown process gradually sped up over time, giving these people a year to live at best.
Indeed, it was a pity, but despite the DNA samples used to curb the breakdown rate, there was still the problem that their bodies, for whatever reason, began to convert into tremendous amounts of chakra.
Their physical bodies could not handle the strain and they could not adapt.
But out of all the people the foreigner had come across, she had come across Naruto.
Tail beasts themselves were a manifestation of pure chakra that would run amok unless sealed in a human, like Naruto.
Out of everyone, she could have come across, Naruto would have been the only one to have enough chakra to fuel her change, and from the look of it, her having red hair and all, Naruto's Uzumaki blood decided to help her along.
The Uzumaki bloodline where known for its special chakra and vitality, the oldest most founding member of the Uzumaki family having lived to a great age. Uzumaki Mito, who had lived well before the time of Konoha's founding and well into the third Hokage's reign, his reign, was a perfect example of the power of the Uzumaki bloodline. They had never tried giving the foreigners Uzumaki blood before.
There was no telling what would happen now… All Hiruzen could hope for was that Naruto wasn't too attached to this woman. There was a possibility that she would only live a few more years, or that she wasn't a person Hiruzen could allow to live in the village. They had had some low lives come through the lake before, it wouldn't be the first time. Hiruzen would have to have blood tests and chakra readings done on her to gauge how well her body was handling everything that had happened to it so far and to see the decay rate of her cells.
He would also have to call Inoichi to come and take a look through her mind to see if she was to be trusted.
"She should be fine for now Naruto. We've actually been looking for her for a while now without any luck for the past few weeks." muttered the Hokage distractedly as he turned her head to the side to take in the young woman's features.
"We'll talk about this later, Naruto. For now, we need to take her to the hospital for-"
"No! You can't. The bad ninja will find her," cut in Naruto as he jumped up the Hokage's lap to lay over the unconscious woman as if he could shield her from the idea. Hiruzen frowned as he took in the boy crouched before him.
Despite the fact that Naruto was barefooted, and his clothing too big for him, the child was clean, his feet unmarred, and the clothing new. He had clearly had a growth spurt very recently, the boy already bigger since the last time he had seen him.
All in all, he looked better than he had living at the orphanage where people were being paid to care for children, not like he had been living with a fugitive in the woods for two months. If Hiruzen hadn't seen the small stack of supplies that had been carefully hidden in the camp or the old fire sight, then he wouldn't have believed that they had been living out here. It sent a burn of anger washing through his stomach as he thought of the orphanage.
Naruto continued to stare at him. The seriousness in his young eyes held weight that they usually didn't carry.
"The bad ninja?" Hiruzen asked, his voice deepening slightly with concern. Naruto nodded swiftly, his face grim as he gripped her tighter.
"Uh huh. She said that there were some bad people after her. She was going to leave the village, but… I made her stay," said the boy quietly, looking shamefaced as his lower lip began to tremble.
Hiruzen's frown deepened. There were ninjas after her? Who would- Hiruzen's eyes widened in realization. Danzo… if anyone would go after her, it would be him. Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to locate her that swiftly, even if he had spies strewn all throughout Konoha. Very few had known of her due to her swift disappearance and the high classification of her file for the appearance of the Shadow.
He was the only one that Hiruzen could think of that would have the clearance for the information, means, and motive to hunt her and the creature. Besides, who would think twice about her disappearing after all? Danzo could turn her into an expendable asset with the right blood mixture, cursed seals, and brainwashing. Getting rid of the Boogyman of Konoha was well would have only sweetened the deal.
The people that came from the lake were known to be rather powerful even if they didn't live long, with their affinity for every element, flexible and growing chakra coils, and their resilience to toxins since the world they came from was full of very potent toxins, most of which in the air from the cars they drove or the plants that released toxic waste into the air. The fact that this foreign race didn't originally have chakra made them physically more durable and toned in muscle mass than most shinobi since they couldn't use chakra in their world to help power their motions when they did exercise.
And then there was the fact that most of the people that came through the lake were highly educated, fast learners, and very sensitive to different chakras since they didn't have any in their world. Some even had the training to condition and strengthen their muscles for sports, or taijutsu disciplines along with everything else in their already large arsenal of information. There had been musicians, warriors, engineers, fast food workers, bums, doctors… you name it, and it was more likely than not that they had traveled through the lake and into this world. With so many skills and specializations, Hiruzen's head swam every time he thought about how elite these people were.
What kind of a world they must live in?
Hiruzen shook his head, berating himself for not realizing sooner the potential threat that had been lurking in his backyard.
If Root had been hunting her then he should make the security tighter on this incident...
And then there was her unknown association with the Creature.
The thought made the older man shiver considering the young woman had been staying almost two months with the boy he considered his grandson and ward in all but name.
He was going to have Inoichi use mind-walking techniques on her to determine what she knew of the creature, and who she was. From there they would figure out what to do regarding her future, even if it would be a short-lived one.
He would have to have one of his shinobi in the blood labs run a confidential series of tests on her cell decay rate to see how long they would be expecting her to live. He would probably have to pull Nara Shikaku, his Jonin commander and head of the Nara Clan, his chief strategist into the mess as well. The man was a brilliant tactician, who was bound to notice what Hiruzen missed when making his plans. Finally coming to his decision, the man nodded.
"Alright Naruto, we'll make sure to keep this quiet, but we are going to have to take some precautions for her safety," said the aging man as the boy nodded, clearly relieved. His tense shoulder seemed to loosen and he relaxed into her side with a sigh of relief. With the threat of danger gone, the child's fatigue began to catch up with him and he nestled into her side, already blinking tiredly as he rubbed an eye.
"Ok Jiji," he murmured quietly before dropping off to sleep the old man's lips pursed. Naruto was clearly used to being tucked into her side to sleep. Hiruzen felt his heart clenching at the sight and he found himself dearly praying in his heart that this woman would turn out to be good.
Making up his mind the Hokage turned to leave. He had a lot of work to do, but the first thing that needed to be done was to get Yamanaka Inoichi.
Having her mind read was going to take top priority.
AN: Naruto is around four in this story.