English is not my first language and this is not a professional article, so be aware that there are grammar mistakes present. If you can't stomach any mistakes, please, DO NOT read this.

Also, yes, all my fics are just self-indulgence galore. This one is definitely not an exception; it's actually sharing No. 1 place with my One Piece TT fic 'For Better or For Worse'. Take it as you will.

Lest you fade here all alone

Chapter 6

The atmosphere in the Hokage's office was so tense that one could cut the air with a kunai.

With the face more weary than usual, the Sandaime stood at the window with his hands cupped behind his back, staring at the people, busying themselves in Konoha's street that lay right in front of the Hokage's Tower. His gaze followed random person until they disappeared around the corners, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.

Jiraiya stood on the left side of the room, one shoulder leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He seemed relaxed, though his eyebrows pulled into a deep scowl completely ruined that image.

Shisui and two ANBU operatives positioned themselves on the opposite side from sannin, also lost in their own thoughts.

Hiruzen sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can someone come up with a logical explanation of how Rei Uzumaki knows so many Konoha's exclusive jutsu and how he has slivers of the Kyuubi's chakra mixed with his own?"

The deathly silence was telling.

"Kumo's Gold and Silver Brothers," Jiraiya muttered finally. "Something like that could explain the Kyuubi's chakra."

"The Yondaime's seal on Naruto is untouched and in full power," the silver-haired ANBU reported hurriedly. "I checked it last night when the boy was sleeping."

"Owl," the Hokage called the second ANBU. "What do you think, how would you fair against that man? Can his chakra be subdued with your wood release?"

"I–" the ninja hesitated. "I sincerely doubt that, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen's age-lined face sunk into itself with the force of his frown. "Shisui, did Rei ever mentioned anything about Minato or maybe his sensei in your conversations that you might have missed to report?" he asked after another few tense minutes.

The Uchiha shook his head. "Nothing."

"Rei is the Uzumaki Seal Master of the highest level and lives in Uzushiogakure," Jiraiya noted absent-mindedly. "Maybe he freed Minato's soul and gained the knowledge of the jutsu from him personally."

"If Minato's soul was freed from the stomach of the Shinigami, then the other half of the Kyuubi was freed as well," the Sandaime pondered loudly.

"You think that he made himself into the Jinchuuriki?"

"It is a feasible assumption."

More like a wild guess, but it was something at least. Even with that, the mystery by the name of Rei Uzumaki was getting deeper and more obscure the more they thought about the elusive blond.

One fact was clear – he was the most powerful individual they, including the elderly Sarutobi, had ever met.

"Sensei," the sannin spoke, pushing himself off of the wall, "what are you planning to do about Naru–" Without any forewarning, he poofed away in the middle of the word.

Hiruzen glanced at the swirling chakra cloud in the spot where his student had been standing. "At ease," he placated the three alert ninjas in the room. "It's the Reverse Summoning Technique." Why would the Toads call Jiraiya? The timing was very suspicious. "Dog, Owl, you may leave."

Two ANBU dipped their heads in respect and shunshined away. It left only Shisui and the Hokage in the office.

"The Uchiha clan seems calm lately, but Danzo is acting strange," the Sandaime said, walking to his desk. "I fear that keeping you as bait in the ANBU detention center is futile. This is why I must ask if you are prepared to lure him in the open while working alone?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"

Hiruzen looked at him and saw his old friend instead. He heaved a heavy sigh. Hopefully, Kagami would forgive him for putting his grandson in danger. "Do you trust Rei?" he asked suddenly. Seeing signs of reluctance on the teen's face, he smiled. "You can tell me the truth. I will not judge or ask for a reason behind it."

"…I do."

"Then take this," the Hokage said as he pulled the Hiraishin kunai from the inside of his robe and put it down on the desk before pushing it towards Shisui. "Rei gave it to you in order to call him if you need any assistance, so ask for his help if you come in need of it."

As the boy took and then hid the kunai with no hesitation whatsoever, Hiruzen marveled at the fact that Rei Uzumaki managed to earn the trust of the Uchiha in such a short period of time. The members of that clan were famous for their paranoiac misgivings about everyone and everything. While Shisui did differ from the rest of his clansmen, he still was an Uchiha.

None of his inner musings showed on the Sandaime's face when he cautioned the young ninja, "Be careful, Shisui."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

It was over an hour later when Jiraiya reappeared in the Hokage's office, his face wrapped in a fierce scowl that didn't promise anything good.

The Sandaime leaned back against the chair, puffing on his pipe, and gave his undivided attention to his student. "Jiraiya."

The sannin snapped from his contemplative state, cleared his throat, and said, "The Great Toad Sage told me something very important."

"A new prophecy?"

"No." He looked his sensei straight into his eyes. "He sees nothing. Most of his old prophecies are completely annulled. "

A pipe slipped from Hiruzen's suddenly lax fingers, hit his hip, and clattered on the stone floor, scattering glowing cinders around.

"It started three months ago and it gradually spread until the old Sage suddenly realized the changes. The old future was swept away in a whirlpool, he said, and the new one is still forming." Jiraiya huffed and then grumbled, "How does that even work?"

"Whirlpool?" the Sandaime echoed. A foreboding feeling churned in his guts and he quickly rifled through a bundle of papers, pulling one out. "Three months ago was when the first report of the Yondaime's ghost sighting came in. The first time Rei Uzumaki was spotted in Konoha."

The white-haired man shifted his weight from one foot to another. "Seems a bit too coincidental to be a mere coincidence."

If that was the truth, Rei Uzumaki's arrival caused waves of alterations that apparently forced the future to collapse and then reform.

How was that even possible?

Who exactly was Rei Uzumaki?

Naruto wrung his hands nervously as he observed the small group of kids, dividing themselves into different teams, accompanied by joyful laughter and delighted squeals.

Anxious blue eyes darted behind the children and onto the circle of adults, chattering among themselves, sharing news, gossips, and discussing joys and troubles of the parenthood.

It was his last chance to play at least one game with his peers before their families brought them home. The thought of slinking back to his own empty apartment didn't scare the little blond as it had used to. He had Rei now. He had his uncle. And while the older blond couldn't spend all the time with him, the homemade dinner every other day and a loving, "Goodnight" as Rei tucked him in for the night was more than anyone gave him before.

Steeling himself and mercilessly pushing down the dreadful idea that he was just setting himself up to be hurt, Naruto approached the kids, hands trembling, and asked, "Can I play with you?"

They all turned to him. A sudden hush settled upon the playground, proud parental conversations falling silent for a brief moment before it returned as harsh whispers and sharp hisses, followed by cold glares.

The blond's already measly amounts of self-confident oozed out like air from a popped balloon no matter how hard he tried not to get discouraged.

An older boy stepped forward. "We don't want an ugly freak like you!" he declared. As a few giggles resounded from behind his back, he puffed his chest as if he had done something to be proud of.

"Yeah, we don't want to play with you!" another voice joined in.

"Just look at those whiskers," a girl pointed her finger at Naruto's face. "So gross!"

Naruto attempted to flee, but his retreat path was cut off by the kids encircling him. He bumped into someone and was shoved back into the center.

"He looks like an animal!"

"No wonder my mom said that he's a demon!"

"I betcha that's why nobody likes him. I betcha his own parents left him because they didn't like him."

"Ne, ugly freak, how is it not to have any family?"

"I– I do have a family."

Faintly spoken words stopped the group in their jeers of insults.

"You don't!"

Naruto felt anger churning deep into his guts. "I do, 'ttebayo! I have–" Rei was left unsaid as the blond bit his lip. He had a family. He had his uncle. And his parents loved him, Rei told him so and he believed him with all his heart. But Rei also told him to keep his existence a secret, because if someone knew they wouldn't be allowed to meet. The boy knew that and was determined to keep a promise–

"Liar! You don't have anyone! Nobody likes you!"

–but his mouth moved without his consent and words slipped through before he could swallow them down, "I'm not lying! I have Re–!"

"Shut up!" this time a harsh scream from one of the adults interrupted him and the parents who stood on the side till now swarmed closed.

Naruto saw eyes, cold eyes full of loathing and disdain. Glaring angry eyes attached to glaring angry people, accusing him of things he hadn't done and would never do. He cowered under their hateful gazes. "I–"

"Stay away from our children!" a woman shrieked, tugging her daughter behind her as if hiding her from some kind of monster.

"We don't want you to play with them," a man demanded sternly.

"You nasty little demon."

A muted hiss from behind his back caused the small blond flinch. "I'm– I'm not–" His own tongue failed him at this very moment, bright blue eyes shining with unshed tears. Rei said that he wasn't a demon. "Not– Not a–" Another attempt ended in failure. His shaking hands were balled into fists, nails digging into skin, desperation and anger and helplessness weaving around his brittle mind. Because Rei said– he said that he was not– he said he was, "…not a demon!" words finally tore out from his throat in a form of a cry at the top of his lungs

Hands landed on Naruto's shoulders and he froze, his heart skipping a beat in fear. He instantly screwed his eyes shut, awaiting the punishment with bated breath.

"Ah, such a charming community, color me impressed."

Naruto blinked a few times when he heard this new voice. The crowd around them suddenly withdrew several steps, unmistakable shock plastered on each of their faces.

"A community of brain-dead sheep and rutting goats, so, so eager to climb onto each other for a simple reason of satiating their primal need of reproduction."

The young blond raised his head and looked at the person hovering over him. Golden hair, mouth tilted into a smirk, super awesome orange haori… His happiness of seeing this man manifested outwards as a big, ecstatic, if a bit watery around the edges, grin. "Rei!" he exclaimed and a warm hand rose from where it was placed on the boy's shoulder and instead landed on his head, ruffling his hair in that intimately familiar affectionate manner. A giggle escaped Naruto's lips.

Rei's chilling gaze stayed fixed on the people in front of him, pinning them in place with cold efficiency. "And then we have a bunch of marvelous spawns running around, incapable of using even the tiniest bit of that squishy mass inside their skulls and keen to repeat the cycle as soon as their reproductive organs are mature enough, breeding imbeciles upon imbeciles for the generations to come. Perfect little followers of the asininity of their dams and sires." Rei paused. "How lovely."

"W-What?"

"…Who are you?"

Rei's grin widened, but there was nothing in it that even remotely resembled any form of friendliness. Just a pure viciousness, wild and savage, promising pain and death and everything in between. "Prey animals shouldn't go around bullying someone else's youngsters for they may doom themselves by choosing the wrong youngster and getting themselves hunted down like insignificant things they are," he said and observed adults blanching with malicious glee.

The meaning of his words was completely lost on children. "What does he mean?" a few of them asked curiously, impatiently tugging at their mother's or father's arms to get an answer. They never received one though, because their parents were afraid to even breathe let alone talk.

Rei shifted his gaze and dismissed them all with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "Run along now."

Sighs of relief rolled throughout the crowd. They hurried to gather their own and flee away from this person as far as possible.

"If you'll ever dare to hurt my nephew again, I'll let you witness the beauty of scarlet flowers blooming in full."

Everyone stiffened, the blond stranger's dark promise chilling them to the bone and ringing in their ears, and they immediately doubled the speed of skedaddling out of there.

Naruto watched in fascinated awe how those angry people trickled out of the playground with their kids in tow. He struggled to navigate through Rei's whole speech – too many hard words for his young mind – but he believed that his uncle was the coolest person in the world! He chased them away without lifting a single finger! And he protected him in front of everyone!

The small blond stilled when he comprehended the real weight of that statement. They saw him! They saw Rei! They were going to tell Jiji and he would never be allowed to see his uncle again! "You have to get out of here!" he suddenly yelled to the absolute bafflement of the older Uzumaki. "You can't– You can't be here, 'ttebayo!"

"I thought you'll be happy that I came to pick you up, not kick me out," the man commented, raising a questioning eyebrow at his obviously distressed nephew.

"You can't be here!" the kid insisted. As panic settled in deeper and deeper, his breathing became more rapid, shallower. "They saw you! They–"His thoughts seemed to jump from one thing to another and his sentences became fragmented. All his fears flooded his veins unchecked, rapidly spinning out of control. "Jiji will– He will– You said– Keep it a secret– I–" The world suddenly swam and he couldn't speak anymore, couldn't even suck in the air into his lungs.

"Whoa, whoa, kit, you're going into a panic attack."

There was a touch followed by a gentle rush of soothing chakra.

"Listen to my voice and breathe. In and out. Slowly, Naruto. In and out."

Rei's hand rubbed circles on his back, steady movements and tender voice working toward calming Naruto's uneven breathing and erratic thoughts.

"That's it. You're doing great," Rei said with a relieved smile. He cupped the kid's cheek with his palm and forced him to look into his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Naruto," he said, solid and firm. "No matter what others say or try to do, I'll never leave you alone. Do you understand me?"

The little blond nodded wordlessly.

Rei stared at him. "It's my fault that you misinterpreted my words, I should have explained the situation more," he muttered. "I'm sorry." He scooped the child up and stood up. Naruto instantly wrapped his thin arms around the man's neck and buried his face into the crook of it. "I've already met with the Hokage yesterday and he knows about me. You don't have to worry about that, okay?"

The boy nodded again, his golden mop brushing against the man's skin.

Rei furrowed his brow, eyes darkening. None of his inner worry or fury leaked into his soft tenor when he asked, "Rough day, eh? Wanna talk about it?"

Naruto shook his head.

"Alright," the older blond accepted his reluctance and didn't push the topic. "But if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here for you."

No reply came. Instead, the young Jinchuuriki tightened his death grip on the man's neck.

"Well… how about we go to the Ichiraku Ramen, m?"

This time, he heard a silent, silent whisper, "Okay."

A grin spread across Rei's face. He turned towards two Naras – big and little – who stood on the side and observed them with matching expressions of half-interest, half-boredom (how they managed to pull that off, he had never figured out), sent them a friendly hand wave, and strolled out of the playground.

Shikaku Nara scratched his three-day stubble, eyes now following the back of the unknown blond with a surprising sharpness. Uncle, huh? He never knew that Minato had a brother.

"I didn't know that Naruto has a family," young Shikamaru echoed his thoughts.

"Me neither."

This puzzle made a trip to the playground to pick his son after Yoshino almost nagged him to death quite worthy. Shikaku was intrigued. He was aware that until he satisfied his curiosity fully, he wouldn't be able to leave this be. And that meant lots of moving and asking questions.

Nara clan head groaned, "Aaah, how troublesome."

Rei smothered a laugh at another chuunin missing his step and tumbling down into an alley from the roof the moment he caught a glimpse of him leisurely walking down the street. If he had known that it would be this funny, he would have revealed himself to the ninjas much sooner.

Civilians followed his figure with shocked gazes and telltales of gossips. Some of them recognized him and fled his sight faster than one could utter 'run!'. Only minority paid enough attention to notice a child in his embrace.

Naruto hid from the rest of the world, safely snuggling up against Rei's chest with his face still buried in the crook of his neck. The panic attack certainly came as a surprise; the older blond didn't recall having one at any point in his life. Then again, he kind of blocked most of his early childhood memories and they were vague at best.

"Rei?"

A quiet call next to his ear shook the man out of his musings and he hummed in reply, "Hm?"

"Next time you leave, c-can you– can you take me with you?" Naruto sounded so unsure it was clear that he was grasping at straws and at the same time preparing himself to get rejected.

But such a request caught Rei off guard. "Take you with me?"

"I'll be good, I promise. I won't bother you, I listen to your every word, so, please…" The boy's voice cracked like glass shattering on a hard surface. "I don't wanna–" A sob choked him. "Don't wanna stay here..."

"You want to leave Konoha?" Feeling the little kid bobbing his head up and down, and just to be completely sure, Rei asked, "Do you realize that if you leave Konoha, you won't be able to fulfill your dream and become the Hokage?"

The man continued to make his way towards their favorite ramen restaurant in silence that followed his question.

After some time a hushed answer finally came from the young Jinchuuriki. "…Yeah."

"And you still want to move in Uzushio to live with me?"

"Yeah."

Oh, goodness. What an unexpected twist – Naruto himself asking to leave. Rei grinned. He had no problem of executing his plan a few weeks earlier. "Alright then," he said cheerfully. A shadow clone popped into existence and immediately moved onto the roofs to run towards the Hokage Tower.

The little blond jerked back, wide eyes locked on the man's face, searching. "Really?"

"Of course." Rei brushed the last drops of tears from Naruto's flushed cheeks, quickly running through the rebuilding progress in his mind. "Just give me, um, a week. It should be enough time to tidy up and prepare the place to welcome your arrival." He chuckled at the genuine wonder and amazement that replaced the drained out sadness and despair on the kid's features. "I have to warn you though – you might get lonely. Besides me, there are no other people yet in Uzushio."

"That's fine, 'ttebayo!" the boy assured in a rush lest his uncle changed his mind. "I'm all alone here anyway…"

"Well, the Whirlpool Island is not small. There are many places you can explore," the man comforted. "And we can visit Konoha whenever you want."

Naruto's mouth stretched into a toothy grin, blue eyes sparkling in their renewed happiness. "Yeah!" he burst out suddenly, fist-pumping the air, and then his limbs circled around his uncle's neck again. "Thank you."

Rei startled at the number of raw emotions in these two simple words: a swell of relief, mixed with overwhelming gratitude, as well as an unshakable trust. His face lit up with a soft smile and he patted the small blond's back. "That's what the family is for."

Naruto bubbled with laughter and squirmed in his arms. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the boy favored his uncle with a beaming grin, grabbed his hand, and tugged him impatiently. "Hurry up, Rei! I want ramen, 'ttebayo!"

"Alright, alright."

"Ramen, here we come!"

Allowing himself to be dragged along, the older blond watched the exuberant Jinchuuriki with a warm smile and amused glint in his eyes.

He should definitely push his Uzushio plans forward now and find Karin. She was the only Uzumaki that Rei was aware of, not to mention her age was similar to Naruto. The poor kid could use a friend. Or two, he thought as another redhead came to his mind. He wondered fleetingly if Gaara had Uzumaki ancestors hidden somewhere in his bloodline.

But first things first. Kusa, was it?

A mere thought later another shadow clone flashed away with a mission.

The Sandaime was gazing through the window, when his hidden ANBU guards unexpectedly swooped down from the shadows, filling the room with sharp sounds of blades being drawn. He frowned and turned around to see what exactly caused the disturbance and unconsciously stilled the second he saw the orange-clad man with his spiky golden hair, eyes that held one too many secrets, and a grin too wide and too wild to be trusted as something harmless.

When did he–

"Yo!" Rei greeted the Hokage cheerily, unbothered by the fact that four ANBU surrounded him with their weapons unsheathed, ready to cut him down at the moment's notice. "Sorry for barging in unannounced, I just dropped in to inform you that I'll be taking Naruto away from Konoha this week."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. "Why a sudden change?"

Something passed through the Uzumaki's cerulean irises, too fast to catch, but it caused the Hokage's heart tremble nonetheless. "The kid pleaded me to take him away," he revealed. There was an edge in his voice that promised nothing good. "After what happened today in the playground, I probably shouldn't be that surprised."

"What happened in the playground?"

"Shikaku Nara was there a minute or so earlier and was about to intervene when I showed up, so he can tell you. He's on his way here right now."

The Sandaime could kind of imagine what happened, as regretful as it was. The prejudice the villagers held against Naruto was truly troubling. "I understand," he said.

Rei stared at him. "You clearly don't," he deadpanned. "I'm not a good person, Old Man. Not anymore, anyways. There are lines that cannot be crossed with me and Konoha's people are teetering dangerously close doing exactly that," he warned. "I'm a patient man, but my patience is not unlimited. The moment it runs out…" He trailed off with a soft hum, leaving that unfinished sentence suspended in the air like an executioner's blade. "Lucky for you, it doesn't really matter now, since Naruto is coming with me."

It was neither a request nor asking for approval, merely a flat statement, a dry announcement of the thing to come.

The Hokage stayed silent.

"What's the point in Naruto's guards if they are there just to make sure that he's not hurt psychically?" Rei wondered all of a sudden, his head tilted slightly to the side as he fixed his gaze on one of the ANBU nearby, causing the latter to break in a cold sweat. "The emotional and psychological abuse is so much worse. At least Kakashi tries to lessen it when he's–" he abruptly cut himself off, stroking his chin in thought. "Oh, that might actually cheer the little kit up."

Rei vanished like the ghost he was, leaving the weary Sandaime and his startled guards alone in the office.

Someone knocked on the door.

Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Come in."

The door opened and Shikaku shuffled in, covering a yawn with his palm. He halted at the sight of the disheveled looking ANBU with their weapons still out and quirked an eyebrow. "Something happened?"

A/N

I think the Sandaime could use a break right about now :)

I never was a fan of the whole prophecy deal in Naruto. I usually ignore it completely, in most cases because I forget (oops?), but this time I remembered! And instantly turned them into moot points. Ha! Take that!

Besides, it's fun. The person who destroyed the future. Aren't that scary and mysterious? But, uh, Rei did it. Destroyed the future. So. Yeah.