Naruto: The Renegade

Chapter V

Brother From Another Mother

Ghosh House

As night was deep both of them slept in their respective rooms since the emotions were still high and they were fatigued after all the shenanigans forgetting their dinner as they much wanted rest rather than food. The next morning, when the sun was on the horizon, Naruto woke up. It was a habit of his, to wake at the break of dawn to start his day. That day was also one of them, but after a bit of freshening up, he fully woke up. This time having a smile on his face, knowing the old woman who he was currently staying with, he could trust her to a degree. He was not going to tell all about his life including his tenant. Speaking of his tenant, last night, during his sleep when he visited his tenant he was fast asleep, making it 2nd week it was asleep.

With that thought process going in his mind, he went on the roof to start exercising. From what he could assess of his body, his strength and stamina had greatly decreased after the accident, even with the kyuubi's chakra healing him, the fatigue was still there. So, he started on the strength and stamina building slowly as his current level was that of a civilian and he wanted to go back to his previous strength.

With his entire workout routine done, he came down from the roof after three hours to meet Dhriti who was awake. "{Oh you are awake! Good morning Naruto.}" Dhriti said in a peppy voice while Naruto had one thing in mind, "{How the hell is she so peppy after what happened?!}" Then he greeted her back, "{Good morning Grandma}" He unintentionally said 'Grandma' and was going to rectify himself when he was interrupted by a smiling Dhriti who said, "{Well, then what would you like for breakfast, my grandson.}" These couple of words moved him. He used to call Tsunade Grandma as a term of endearment with no real attachment to that role while with Dhriti his subconscious mind wanted someone he could lean on and share his troubles with like a family member.

A smiling Naruto then followed her to the kitchen. "{Hey if you don't mind, can I help you here?}"

"{Yeah sure, the more, the merrier}" She said cheerfully as she did not expect Naruto to call her 'Grandma' so instantly. It warmed her heart and lit a fire to protect him and show him the right way to live.

As she and he started working in the kitchen, she started to request him to bring some ingredients. Some he understood and recognized others were new to him, like 'garam masala' and other stuff. Dhriti saw him interested and then she asked if he was interested in cooking. A flustered Naruto shyly shook his head in a yes. Then she instructed him like she would do to a child. Although he was a bit peeved, he knew he was a novice, so he sucked up his pride (which he begrudgingly agreed he had) and did what he was told. That day they made Roti (a type of bread) and Dal (Pulses) along with Tea.

He got the basics of tea quite easily, while Dhriti did not want him to make the Dal so she helped him in making Roti, which sometimes (a lot of times) he burnt, but in the end, he got decent with the Rotis and made several of them which Dhriti approved of. Then they started plating the food and for the first time, he noticed that they were not eating with chopsticks. While weird he thought since he was in a place far away altogether why not adjust like them?

Once they sat at the dining table, she saw that he was having problems eating (more like tearing the Roti.) with his hands so she helped him again with the eating. This time Dhriti noticed something odd, since she had a master's in psychology and also had been studying in foreign, she noticed his hesitation, which many would chalk up to the fight but for her, it was concerning. Humans do express themselves in a lot of ways, happiness, sadness, jealousy, anger, and remorse. For fights, it's mostly anger and remorse. But the case with Naruto was that he was hesitating to express himself. As if he was expecting rejection. This made her wonder what kind of environment he grew up in.

So she decided to test her theory. She first put less sugar in their tea intentionally, for days while he was here, he always needed more sugar, so she put the sugar to her side to see if he would hesitate to take it. As she thought he did hesitate, so she gave the initiative, "{Sugar}"

"{Yes thank you.}" He said shyly

Then she thought of doing another small but crucial test to hammer the nail in the coffin. She said, "{if you have anything to ask or say then do not hesitate okay grandson?}" The acceptance and relief on his face put the nail in the coffin and then she thought about his condition. While on the table, after eating they started conversing, "{So, Naruto you said you come from the elemental nations, so how are the people there.}"

"{Um guess people are the same without all these fancy machinery, but guess then they do have chakra to replace it.}" This interested Dhriti, so the people are a bit primitive, and this chakra thing interested her. "{So, what is this chakra Naruto?}" She queried to him.

"{Um chakra is like the cool thing we use to do ninja techniques.}" He answered in a half-hazard way since he did not know the definition. He always slept, skipped, or was kicked out of the classes, so he did know word to word of it.

Now Dhriti was intrigued more about this ninja thing, "{So Naruto, are you a ninja?}"

"{Yes, well no um it's a bit complicated.}"

Naruto thought about ways he could explain his situation without giving out much of the crucial parts he wanted to hide but was constantly, meeting a dead end. Seeing his hesitation she quickly said, "{you don't have to tell me right now, so anyways did you have school back there?}"

"{Yes we did have shinobi academy and civilian schools}" He said and then started explaining it and his experience in the academy, Dhriti noticed something about the answer that he was neglected or a better word ostracized but he was not explaining why was he ostracized, as if said why, she will start to do the same also. Since he did not want to speak about the topic, she did not poke her nose in it. She knew when to stop, unlike other people.

"{Hey if it's okay for you discuss what exactly happened between you and your son.}" He asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away and also to have some answers. As if to help his attempt she started explaining everything from her husband's death to her deteriorating relationship then him converting his religion officially breaking their relationship. "{Then the last knowing news I had of him was his death and my granddaughter's existence.}" This kind of shocked Naruto.

"{Wait granddaughter!}" He exclaimed.

"{Didn't I tell you about her?}" Dhriti asked, Naruto shook his head indicating a no to the posed question, "{Oh! Must have slipped my mind! Tehee!}" She said as she stuck her tongue out and winked and bonked her head, "{what the hell is this old woman?}" He thought with a sweat drop forming on the back of his head. (Clearly, Naruto hadn't met a woman from Delhi.)

"{Grandma could you tell more about her}" He asked and then he realized he shouldn't have asked said question when he saw the obsessed look on her face as she started rambling about her granddaughter. "{Oh she is an absolute munchkin…}" He tuned her out only listening to her for the important part, such as her name is Shrishti Ghosh, she goes to a boarding school for good quality of education and she is in third grade.

"{Hey don't mind me asking what is a boarding school and third grade?}" He asked her while interrupting her praise speech, when she heard the question, she felt like hitting herself for not explaining to him about the education system.

Then she started explaining about the Indian education system, about exams and marks along with the classes from nursery to 12th grade then she said, "{Naruto what is your age?}" He replied "{Thirteen and will be turning 14 on 10th October.}"

"{So that means you would be in 8th grade hmm. And then there is that.}"

"{Um. What is what?}" He asked not liking the tone. She looked sheepish, and then she started explaining about the certain 'there is that'.

"{Well you see that um...}"

"{See what?}" It looked like the roles had reversed, as Naruto became the 'parent' and Dhriti became the 'child'.

"{When you came here, on the shores. I picked you up and then got you to the hospital, I told them that you are my grandson, so, you get it right?}" Dhriti said in a strained tone.

"{When you mean, I am your grandson, Am I your 'biological' grandson?}" She just nodded, making Naruto despair, "{So, I am your illegitimate or step-grandson right?}" She nodded.

"{Yeah, somewhat like that}" She said then he queried, "{so how is this going to work?}"

"{Well, I did say that my son aka your 'supposed' father met your imaginary mother in the US and had you. Then they separated you grew up in the US and lost your mother 4 years ago and father 3 years ago, then you found me and are here to stay. Then there was an accident so you are right now recovering.}" She explained

"{Hey Dhriti what is the US?}" She was asked by him. She felt like again hitting herself. Then she started explaining how this part of the world works. Naruto was nothing short of fascinated with this part of the world, Like the western part of the world how some part speak English some, Spanish then how there are seven continents in the world and the world maps and all the things. As Naruto was thinking all about it he had an idea. Recently he had the secret of shadow clone discovered by him. When dispelled, A shadow clone can give back the clone's memories to the creator of said clone. It is known as a forbidden jutsu, due to the amount of chakra required and fatigue due to memory feedback, chakra requirement was not an issue thanks to his tenant but the memory part of it was still an uncharted territory so he had to wait for that. In theory, he could just get help from his shadow clones to learn a language faster so, he would work on that for right now.

"{And for the fact you have two months in hand for this learning stuff.}" Dhriti mumbled but was heard by Naruto, "{what do you mean by two months?}" he asked.

"{Oh right you don't know, well you see my granddaughter is in third grade in a boarding school, and will come in two months for her summer break here, before you ask summer break is during June when they get holiday for a month due to the heat and rest with their families and all. So we have to prepare you to meet her okay?}" She said.

"{Okay so I have two months to be ready for her when she meets her brother from another mother.}" He said for which she chuckled and nodded, "{well grandma I just have a jutsu for this occasion.}"

"{What kind of this jutsu is it?}" She asked, but instead of telling her he did the jutsu, he formed an all too familiar hand sign and then another Naruto popped up shocking Dhriti to the core. But Naruto was not done, "{Grandma goes with him and tells him anything secretly so that I cannot hear it and then hit him hard to pop him.}" Seeing her hesitance, he encouraged and assured her by telling her it was okay and to trust him.

So, she went with the clone and after some time he got the memory of the clone, and then Dhriti came back. "{So, 5th November, huh, your birthday.}" This shocked Dhriti to the core "{but how?}" Then it hit her, "{Say Naruto how I popped him?}" his reply was, "{you hit on the head hard.}" Then it clicked for her. "{What are they exactly?}"

"{Oh they are my clones.}"

"{So these clones of yours, when popped share their memory with their creator.}" She deduced and Naruto nodded agreeing to her deduction of the clone's mechanism. "{Yes, Shadow Clone Jutsu is a forbidden jutsu of my village due to the amount of chakra and memory feedback. The chakra would not be a problem but I am not sure about memory feedback.}" She nodded about it and then she said, "{We will figure something out about it, but first go, take a bath while I clean up stuff, and then we figure the memory problem out okay?}" Naruto nodded and left to take a bath while Dhriti cleaned up the table and went to do some other chores around the house.

As everything was done, he took a bath and her doing the household chores, after that, they again met in the kitchen where Naruto helped Dhriti with the cooking, and they ate rice and vegetable curry. As they ate the food Naruto for the first time tried eating with his hands, as expected it was hard but with Dhriti helping him it was a bit better.

After eating, Naruto helped Dhriti in cleaning the dining table and then did the dishes. As they did all the chores, they both went into another room. "{Ok, Naruto let's get started with the memory experiment. Wait a minute.}" She then started rummaging through what looked like a book cupboard and then she came out with a roughed-up book. "{Naruto these are some Japanese stories I want you to create 5 clones.}" He wordlessly did what he was told. And once they were formed Dhriti handed each one of them one story then she told them, "{Go out of the room and read the stories and memories it and dispel the clones.}" Each of the clones nodded and went out of the room.

Once they were done, they came back and handed her the stories. She then commanded them to dispel themselves one by one at intervals of 5 seconds, which confused Naruto but he trusted her so he gave all of the green light, to listen to her command. Seeing their creator giving them the green light, they did what they were told. Once all clones were popped Dhriti then turned towards Naruto. "{Naruto recall the lines you learned.}" He then recalled all the lines his clones were given with ease. So she repeated the process with 10 clones. He again did it but this time with a slight hiccup. When the experiment was done with 15 clones he was getting a bit of a problem, same with 20 clones. But with 25 clones he very much struggled to memorize the lines along with a severe headache.

So it was decided they would use 20 clones for learning. "{Well it's almost evening, let's eat, and then you rest while I make a learning planner}" Dhriti said and Naruto agreed as he was also exhausted so they ate and he went to sleep. Dhriti was still awake, she was ecstatic after knowing about the jutsu while a bit envious of him, thinking about all the things she could get done. So, now she had to make a routine to teach Naruto English enough to make Shrishti believe that he was her brother. Along with English, there are other subjects also. So she got to the planning and teaching, so she got working on her side of things.

Morning rolled up, Naruto woke up and after doing his morning rituals, he went into the kitchen and saw Dhriti was already there making breakfast in the kitchen. "{Good morning grandma.}" He greeted her. Seeing him, she smiled and greeted him, "{Good morning to you too.}" And then they made breakfast together, and both of them were relaxed a lot. As they ate breakfast they started to discuss their schedule for the upcoming weeks, "{Naruto, so we will start your lessons from today.}" He nodded and then replied, "{Okay, so how are we doing it?}"

"{Finish eating and then meet me in the study room.}" He nodded and they continued eating in relative silence. As they finished breakfast, both started to clean and proceeded to go to the study room, once there Dhriti spoke, "{Okay Naruto make 20 clones and then divide them into groups of ten.}" He did what he was told, then Dhriti brought twenty pieces of paper and gave two to each one of them and then instructed them, "{You lot, you have to just trace the characters given on the sheet and trace it about 10 to 50 times.}" They started to groan but one look from Dhriti set them straight while she was proud inwardly that her glare still had power.

As the group of ten went to another room to practice, the group with Dhriti along with the original Naruto saw a big blackboard in front of them, now Naruto (original) started groaning inwardly, thinking that it would be another boring lecture but was brought out of his thought when Dhriti started speaking, "{Everyone, I want you to repeat exactly what I say and pronounce, also try remembering the images given here.}" The Dhriti drew two symbols one of which was round and had a tail at its back while the other was a triangle with two of its sides extended. She said, "{this is 'A' repeat after me 'A'.}" So they repeated, then she said pointing to the former symbol, "{this is small 'a' while this is capital 'A'}" pointing towards the other symbol. The original raised his hand, and she nodded to him, "{so, why are there two symbols for the same thing}" She nodded and then said, "{I will tell you later but right now just learn them.}" He nodded back satisfied with the answer.

Then the session resumed for 6 hours (or 6 freaking long hours in Naruto's words) long, with Dhriti introducing Naruto to small and capital alphabets and the other team just continuously tracing the paper 42 times. Dhriti was satisfied then said, "{good work everyone, I am very proud of you all}" They all had brightened smiles on their faces, and then she continued, "{with the tracing group, I need you all to dispel one by one until one of you is left.}" It took them three minutes to do it as they went from 10 to 5 to 3 to 1. She smiled, and then she said the same command to the other group, and then they did the same thing until there were three Narutos left, "{I now want the one to dispel who was here}" the mentioned clone jot the message and dispelled while Naruto got the 6-hour long lecture 10 more times, then Dhriti instructed the other to dispel then he suddenly got another bunch of memories.

"{Okay Naruto now I want you to write all the letters in two pages one for small and another for capital.}" She said and he took the two pages and started writing, after about 20 minutes he gave her the papers and she motioned him to stand by her as she corrected his papers, it honestly astonished her that what children took three years he did it in merely 6 hours, this shadow clone jutsu was very handy as not only it transfers visual memories but muscle memories. He got 42 out of 52 right and was wrong at only places where the majority would be wrong. Dhriti then praised him and showed him where he was wrong. This made Naruto happy as no one in his shinobi academy praised him and was always sent out due the prejudice against him. If Dhriti was his shinobi teacher, he would have tried the hardest to get rookie of the year, so, that he could make her proud.

While he was thinking, Dhriti had other thoughts, Naruto was not a genius she would say that surely he was not book smarts but he had one thing that would make him a bloody genius, it was his hard work and determination, it was all that was required to be able to learn but then other thing stroked her, she recalled that Naruto was the dead last from their conversations, as the joined the clues, she concluded that he was sabotaged. Now this was becoming a big conspiracy for her, questions like, why was he sabotaged or what was the reason for the ostracizing to the point that they would be sabotaged? These questions plagued her mind but were shot down as she had faith in Naruto that when he was ready he would come clean. She then saw that Naruto had left his notebook there so, she went to give Naruto his notebook. "{Naruto you forgot your-}" As she was speaking she froze at the site before her.

A Few Moments Before

As Naruto was going to his room after Dhriti corrected the papers, he today felt something that he never felt before, acceptance, as the feeling came and it was gone as he thought about her reaction when he told her about Kyuubi. As he was thinking this he entered his room where he met an all too familiar face.

"Kohaku what are you doing here?" He asked shocked seeing the tiger summon his room

"You were not visiting me-us for three days so I came here, and I am not talking to you humph!" She said in a voice that aroused Naruto's urge to cuddle and pet her. Instead, he asked her.

"And your mother allowed you to visit here?" He was amused to see her reaction, as she puffed her chest and said, "Yes, I told Mommy" Then she realized she again answered him, "Hey I am not talking to you." She pouted as he smiled and said.

"Ok, look, I am sorry Kohaku for not visiting for so long but right now, it is a bit impossible due to some things, so I will be busy for three months after that promise."

She thought and then innocently asked, "Promise?" Naruto, if someone read his mind, had only one thought, "SO CUTE!" and he just nodded, immediately her demeanor changed as she smiled brightly and started rambling but then it came to a stop which got Naruto's attention, "Hey Naruto who is that old lady there?" she asked with a cute head tilt.

Present Time

As Dhriti entered the room, she was shocked to see a talking cat, "{Naruto is that cat talking?}" pointing towards Kohaku. As expected, Kohaku got triggered for being called a cat. "{Hey old lady, who are you calling a cat, I am a tiger, a freaking tiger, and should I spell it for you T-I-G-E-R tiger.}" She shouted at Dhriti. Naruto seeing this was amused beyond anything but he broke the conversation before it could get into a full-blown argument. "{Enough Kohaku, she did not know about you.}" Placating the tiger.

"{Grandma this is my summon.}" He started.

"{Summon?}"

"{Ah yes, you don't know about summoning jutsu, right?}"

"{No.}"

With that he started explaining to her about summoning jutsu, "{so, this summoning jutsu, lets you summon any kind of animal you are in contract with for your blood?}" He nods. "{And you are in contract with tigers?}" Another nod. She also nods showing that he understood the situation. "{So, can I pet her?}" She asked. He looked at Kohaku while she nodded telling her, she was okay with it. The moment she touched her fingers on Kohaku, she felt an electric shock throughout her body and then was immediately sent into a state of euphoria, purring loudly like a cat. Dhriti just smiled at that.

"{Hey grandma.}" Naruto caught Dhriti's attention. "{Yes?}" She replied.

"{Do you know how to read and write kanji?}"

"{Yes, I believe I do so, why?}"

"{Could you help me with it?}"

"{Of course, why not?}" She smiled at the happy Naruto who heard her.

Thus, they resumed their learning journey, now with their house tiger. As Kohaku just loved getting pampered by Dhriti and also seeing Naruto getting tortured by her so, she started coming over regularly. She always snickers whenever she sees him getting a headache and this results in him giving a stink eye towards her. Also during this time, Naruto had been affected in two areas, mental and dietary. When Dhriti learned about his diet, she became enraged and gave him a whole lecture on diet. And then started changing it, which made a difference in his physical abilities as he was getting taller and building more muscles.

Also during this time, she discovered that the ostracizing was not only in education but also in food, this raised serious red flags in Dhriti's head about Naruto's upbringing, as being an orphan is one thing, but being ostracized along with being an orphan causes a lot of mental health issue. That is why her concern for him was raised.

The following weeks were the proof of what an intelligent person who could use their mind can do. Naruto's learning skyrocketed, their initial plan was only to teach him English but with the liberal use of shadow clones, it skyrocketed, like never before.

In the first week after the first day, Naruto was learning rapidly. For the first three days, he managed to get the English alphabet down, which was followed by the next four days of him mastering words and their formation. Thankfully there was a dictionary helping him to learn more. Some words confused him like 'honesty'. Also, the homophones and homonyms confused him but he pulled through it. Next week, Naruto started to form sentences and learn about other parts of speech. This was followed by Dhriti helping him with his kanji writing, by now he could say that he had good, legible handwriting, both in kanji and English.

By the third week, Naruto could write and speak decent English, not as fluent as the foreigners but enough to convince the uneducated and a third-grade student. It did help that he was determined to do what was necessary, going into the house library to read different books, and watching English films on the television. This helped with the accent now if he spoke English, it would be as if an American spoke, and when he switches to Japanese as if he is a native of Japan. During this time she also had to fix his Japanese. It helps when you have friends around the world. As Naruto spoke Japanese, it was as if a high-class diplomat was speaking.

The fourth week saw Naruto speaking fluent English without any flaws grammatically whatsoever, most would call it a miracle but those who know the behind-the-scenes, meaning Dhriti and Kohaku, know the hard work behind the scenes. The first major roadblock was Naruto's hate for learning. It was the most difficult part was to get Naruto to settle down to study. It took a lot of punishment and beatdowns (which were a source of entertainment for Kohaku) to get him started.

In a month Naruto went from not speaking English to holding daily conversations in the house and their medium of conversation also changed to English. The funny thing about this was that Kohaku learned a bit of English too. And the other day her mother popped into their house thinking about, what the hell was her daughter learning. She met with Dhriti and cleared all the queries too. From a Shinobi standpoint, she found Kohaku speaking English beneficial. This would give them the edge on the battlefield as no one would know what they were planning.

The next month saw Naruto getting on with the other subjects. By this time he could speak excellent English and now started speaking broken Bengali, along with knowing fifth-grade subjects enough to make him look like a foreign student with the knowledge of a fifth-grader to fool a third-grader. Now all that was required was to make Shrishti believe that she had a step-brother and he came here after hearing their father's death and to hide his real identity. But the most crucial part was to see how she would react to this situation.

While this was going through Dhriti's mind Naruto was thinking something else, for him, Dhriti was a godsend person. She explained things so beautifully that for the first time in his life, he wanted to learn new things that were not 'cool jutsus'. Speaking of jutsus, he did not know what to think of his homeland. Dhriti's mentoring helped him to see through some of his glaring mistakes. Sure, she was an old woman, but she was nothing like Sandaime, that man always directed him to be a pacifist and forgive even in the face of unfair treatment while Dhriti taught him to stand up for unfair treatment and helped him by mentally healing him. Turns out he was mentally stunted and, thus was socially awkward. He regularly thanked her for helping him see his real self thus he made up his mind that after Shrishti leaves he will tell her about the fox.

Meanwhile in Elemental Nations

In a dark cave, 10 holograms were standing in front of a wooden statue with 9 eyes. "Zetsu, why have you called us here?" A person with spiky hair and a deep voice said. "Leader-sama-" "It turns out the nine tails jinchuuriki is missing."

"What do you mean by missing?"

"He could not be found in Konoha, most probably [He] is away with Jiraiya of the Sannin."

"Hmm... I see." Then he continued,

"Zetsu find out his exact location and report and the rest of you, gather finances and create spies, we will meet again in three years to complete our goal and will start with the Kyuubi."

"Hai! Leader-Sama!" The rest said and the holograms disappeared.

The atmosphere in the ROOT base was the same but not for leader Danzo Shimura, as he read the reports they stated that they could not find the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. "Run Jinchuuriki, run and hide all you can but I will find you for the good oh Konoha." Danzo thought.

In Konohagakure

A week after the disappearance of one Naruto Uzumaki, queries about his whereabouts started to come in, and thanks to the foresight they were able to tackle it with ease. First, it started with the last member of team seven. Due to the nature of the blast, no one except for the Black ops, the Retrieval Squad, and the Hokage knew about it, and the information on this was kept tight shut. The council meeting happened but due to Naruto going rogue or as the council knew Naruto going on a training trip with Jiraiya of the Sannin, their plans to banish him were foiled.

Next, when Sakura asked about his whereabouts to Kakashi, she was given the answer that was ordered to be given, and from Sakura, the news reached her best friend Ino Yamanaka from where the word spread to the Rookie 9 and Team Gai. Reactions were that for Sakura it was that she went to Tsunade to be an apprentice under her, when asked why, she answered she did not want to drag her team down, which made Tsunade think that there was still hope in the fangirl which immediately crushed by the next statement that was so that she and Naruto could bring back Sasuke.

That did it for her as she wanted to scream at that girl to break her out of her fantasies. But then she accepted her knowing how weak they were and that they needed powerful shinobis. Since the girl was a blank canvas, she could just mold her into a capable shinobi along with some other kunoichis. From what she read Sakura along with Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuuga were chosen. In Tsunade's mind, she could just straighten these three up. Breaking both the girls out of their Fangirlish phases and raising the Hyuuga's confidence.

While she was thinking this, her peers were receiving the news. Team Gai took it well as Rock Lee determined to catch up to Naruto while Neji thought about how would his cousin take the news. Team Eight on the other hand had a different reaction, Shino Aburame took the logical point of the side, and Kiba Inuzuka started a jealous rant while Hinata Hyuuga was downtrodden not being able to say goodbye to her secret yet not-so-secret crush. Team Ten had a different reaction Choji Akimichi was sad that he could not say goodbye to his friend, and Shikamaru Nara was a bit suspicious while Ino Yamanaka got the news from Sakura already.

Over these months several changes happened. Kakashi went back to his recluse life blaming himself for their defection. For Tsunade on the other hand, it was a wake-up call to take things seriously and she did the same. From now on she did take meetings and diplomacy with paperwork like a veteran shinobi not like an alcoholic. Her relationship with Jiraiya did mend as he became her unofficial advisor.

Jiraiya on the other hand was worried as the given time of six months was running out and he still could not find Naruto. One fortunate thing was that Akatsuki hadn't started their hunt yet. So he still had time before they caught up. Jiraiya thought of using his summons so he had to come clean. Once he did, the backlash was surely there but they were helpful too, although one thing he noticed was that during each of his conversations with the sages, they would whisper about something called a veil. But he did not prod in their matter. All that was going on in his mind was his grandson's safety.

In West Bengal, India

Not knowing what the situation was after his departure, Naruto was at the Sealdah Railway Station along with Dhriti waiting for his 'Step-Sister'. Not knowing about the havoc she was going to cause him in the upcoming years.

Shrishti Arundhuti Ghosh was a blessed child or so she thought. Growing up in a well-off family, she never had to care about trivial things like how to afford basic amenities. No that was taken care of. She lived in a posh area of Bombay, spoiled enough in her childhood that her parents sent her to boarding school in the first class only. Though a rough experience at the start still it was good. Then another major change came into his life in the form of the death of her parents. It broke her but thankfully her understanding grandmother was there for her in every step of the way. Thus, she could continue her education at the same school. During summer vacation she could visit her grandmother, otherwise, letters and landlines were there, but she preferred letters since landlines were expensive for her monthly allowance.

Shrishti's life was full of surprises, some of them she liked but the recent ones she did not like at all. First, she was sent to the boarding school, then her parents died in a bomb blast and now, she was seeing a blond guy with her grandmother.

As the Kumbh Express entered Sealdah, Naruto had only one thing on his mind how would they convince a 9-year-old child of their story he had faith in his grandma so he started playing out his part. As the train came to a halt at the platform, they waited in front of a coach. When he saw Dhriti's eyes change from anxiousness to relief, he knew she had de-boarded the train. So, he followed where her eyes were going and saw a girl of around 4'3'' waving at them or mostly at Dhriti along with another lady beside her, he knew that the girl was his would-be 'step-sister.'

As the train came to a halt, Dhriti anxiously waited for her granddaughter to de-board the train, searching all the exit points to see her face. Then she saw a teacher from the boarding school get out of the train a sense of relief came in her along with a sense of giddiness as she would see her granddaughter after a long year. She missed spending time with her. Even though, this year she would have Naruto with her to spend Durga Puja with. She still had a special corner for the daughter of her wayward son. All she wanted was a picture-perfect happy family, but sometimes you do not get everything you want. From her photo being her, her son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and grandson to her, her grandson and her granddaughter. But in her years, she had learnt one thing, you have to be happy with what you have. First her small family with her husband and her son, then after his death, she was all alone with her young son, who had a strong hatred towards the Indian Army due to his father's death. When he had come of his age, he left his mother to find a name for himself in Bombay. After that she was all alone until his death, still, she was alone for 11 months as for a month her granddaughter stayed with her during summer vacation but now she had Naruto with her, so she was happy with her life. Now, all that was left was for Shrishti to accept him as her 'step-brother' and for her to believe in their cooked story.

As she saw her granddaughter de-board the train a sense of relief spread in her, that she was safe. As Shrishti saw her grandmother, she immediately ran and hugged her and they started catching up at the station. (More like she rapid-fires questions, while her grandmother gives her answers to some questions in few words.) Then as the teacher approaches them, Naruto steps up to take the luggage, the teacher looks at Dhriti for confirmation and once she nods, she gives him the luggage, and they part ways as they go out of the station where a taxi was already waiting there to take them home. Once all the luggage was loaded, they straight up drove towards their home.

As they reached their house Shrishti skipped steps to enter the house while Naruto motioned to Dhriti saying that he would handle all the unloading and motioned her to go as he handled the luggage and took them inside the house. During this entire journey from Station to Home, Naruto could only get a few things out of the grandmother-granddaughter duo's conversation with his limited knowledge of Bengali. All he could get from their fluent conversation was, 'Hey grandma, miss you so' to 'I missed you too' then the greetings and when the teacher handed him the luggage, she asked 'Who is that guy', she answered 'I will tell you later' and then when they were in the taxi she again enquired about him but Dhriti skillfully evaded it by asking about how her school life, which resulted in the little girl giving animated responses.

From what Naruto could get on Shrishti, he would sketch her character as someone who is mentally strong with a bubbly mask on her face. How did he know that? Only a person who wears a mask to cover his/her real feelings can truly know about another one in a similar situation. Other than that from the conversations he could decipher that, she was average at studies, facial expression and tendencies, suggested that she was being bullied. How did he know that? When she first saw him for the first time, there was a sense of apprehension in her, normal for meeting anyone for the first time, but she was still apprehensive in the car, meaning she knew that her grandmother knew the guy and if she knew him, she told him about her being orphan. This sense of apprehension shown by her told him about her getting bullied by her peers in her state as an orphan. So all that was left was the final act that is when Dhriti tells her about him.

As they settled in her luggage while she freshened up, while the rest cooked all their lunch, the trio sat around the table and ate. One thing that Dhriti drilled into her grandchildren's minds was that no chatting while eating after that surely they could. Therefore the lunch went in relative silence. As they washed up their hands and then Dhriti asked them to meet in the living room where they sat as Dhriti began to speak.

"Shrishti I want to tell you something, but first I do not want you to jump to conclusions." Dhriti started speaking in English, but Shrishti interrupted her by saying, "{Thamma, why are we speaking in English?}" ('Thamma' ['Th' pronunciation as the same as the 'Th' of 'Thug'] is used for paternal grandmother, while Dida is used for general as well as maternal grandmother. Also {"Speaking"} means they are conversing in Bengali)

"{Because it is important, now let me continue.}" Dhriti's voice was soft yet firm sending the message across.

"Okay"

"Now as I was saying, I need you to be calm and listen. Okay?"

"Okay"

So she then started her tale, "Long ago, before your father met your mother, your father went to study abroad in Europe, specifically in the United Kingdom. I knew about it through a family friend. Shrishti, I don't know if your father told you about this or not, but my and Anurag's relationship was strained at best. During the war of 1971, your grandfather was martyred for this country. While I grieved at my loss, I still had pride knowing that he died doing something he felt pride in. But in this entire thing, I neglected my child, I neglected how he felt. I thought, that if I gave him some time, he might come to terms with his father's death, but it had the opposite effect on him, he became bitter. Bitter towards the army, bitter toward me. The relationship strained to the point that he moved out of the house. When he was in Europe he met another woman, and no, not your mother. She was a blonde euro-japanese woman, Naiomi Uzumaki. They both were enrolled in the same course, so they started interacting with each other. That interaction soon changed to attraction and before anyone knew they were ready for marriage. But then it all fell apart."

"How?" Shrishti, who was invested in this story asked.

"When Anurag went to ask her hand in marriage to her mother, she instantly declined it. The marriage fell apart and he came back to India. What he did not know was that she was pregnant with their male child. From what I know she argued with her mother and the mother and shortly after her mother died, she moved to Japan to raise her child. 10 years later she died of an incurable illness. Her child came here just months ago when he heard about Anurag's death."

"So you mean to say that?..."

"{Sigh} Shrishti you have a step-brother."

"Step-brother?"

"Brother from another mother, Shrishti."

"Ooo. So is it?"

"His name is Naruto Uzumaki and he is sitting in front of you."

As her grandmother said uttered those lines her whole world crashed down. The guy who was with them was her BROTHER! She needed time to process all the information, so she stood up and left. "Shrishti wait!"

While all the conversation was going on, the said person, Naruto was in deep thought. The original conversation was supposed to be short and precise, but Dhriti added the details and improvised it. During that improvisation, he pondered upon a question. A question which will be the question of his life. The question was, 'What is more important, Family or Duty?' As Dhriti was trying to go after Shrishti, Naruto stopped her by saying, "Let her go grandma, she needs to cope with the information. It might take some time but let her form her own opinion on this matter."

Dhriti proudly smiled at her eldest and then quipped, "You know I am the elder in the room." Naruto then bit back cleverly by saying, "I know but sometimes you act like a child." It gave him the desired reaction as she fumed then, she saw Naruto's face soften as he said, "I have been through these kinds of situations, so I know that it is best of her to form her own opinions on this matter." This caught Dhriti's attention, as she put the term, 'mental manipulations' in the list of psychological damages he had.

Later that night, dinner was a lot awkward needless to say due to the afternoon talk. Dhriti was trying to make it as normal as possible, but it would seem that her grandchildren did not share the same sentiment as her. Dinner was awkward as hell as not a single word was uttered. All of the conversations that happened were during asking for more food. This awkwardness continued for three days straight, during these days both of the grandchildren had normal conversations with their grandmother but between each other, it was done in hums, nods, and grunts.

After three days, being the true Uzumaki that Naruto was, his patient limit had been broken. He now, wanted to approach Shrishti like Dhriti approached him. Before that, he had sent a letter to the tiger clan telling them not to send Kohaku for a month since they were entertaining a guest. It was received with a positive response as they knew what he meant but did not certainly mean that Kohaku would be happy. She sent her displeasure through a video message seal, by calling him a dummy many times. However, that seal did remind him to continue his seal training after Shrishti left. But for now, he would do the basics, like brush strokes and fast writing.

His train of thought halted as he approached the door, knowing the next few minutes could decide the status of a relationship. He knocked on the door and a soft 'come in' was heard as he went in. Shrishti who was at her study table, turned to see Naruto entering and mentally freaked out, "No! Nope, this is too early to have that conversation!" Meanwhile, Naruto had his mind set on approaching this conversation the conversation cautiously knowing that one misstep could degrade the whole conversation and would ruin the whole relationship.

He awkwardly came and greeted her "Hey"

She also shyly greeted him. "Hey"

After a short awkward pause in which, one could cut the tension and awkwardness with a knife Naruto said, "Should I sit here?" pointing towards the bed.

Shrishti, for her life, wanted to say no but knowing that it would be rude, she nodded. After which he sat down.

"So… What are you doing?" He started while crying inside his mind, "Ahh! Idiot! What a great start!"

"Well, I was doing the math assignment." She replied as he nodded.

"The weather is nice today right?" She nodded as he screamed in his mind. "Weather is great today right?! What am I doing? Where is my natural charism-, Oh wait! I never had natural charisma, I have always been a socially awkward and obnoxious kid!"

"Sooo…. Which class are you in?" He asked hoping this would be a good start to the conversation.

"I am in Third Class."

"Oh and are you doing well?"

"Yes"

"Well, you could just continue with your work." She nodded and went in it while mentally sighing in relief for the end of the most awkward conversation she ever had, while Naruto was mentally berating himself for the awkward conversation. As we stood up to leave, he saw her struggling with a certain math problem. When he peeked and saw the problem, he knew it as he had the same issue with the problem. At first, math was not a subject he excelled at but after Dhriti teaching him, it was a piece of cake. (It goes to show that with the right teachers and the will to learn, one can find even the most difficult subject easily.) So, he decided to help her.

"Mind if I interrupt you?" He politely asked. She shook her head giving him the green light.

"You are doing the question wrong."

"Huh?"

"You are attempting the question wrongly."

"How?"

"Well, you don't have to necessarily use that formula here…" So it started as Naruto started explaining the question to Shrishti, from one question it became a subject, and then from one subject it became all the subjects where Naruto would supervise Shrishti and explain some concepts to her while she attempted the questions. Time flew by as he tutored/helped her. As dinner time came, Dhriti went into Shrishti's room to call her, the scenery there, moved her to tears as she saw both her grandchildren getting along and spending time with each other.

This scene reminded something from her past.

Flashback

The Ghosh house was quaking as the matriarch was rampaging inside the house. "Ok, Dhriti enough. Calm down." said the patriarch, Shankar Ghosh.

"YOU SHUT UP!" she roared, "this is your fucking fault!" Many would have been appalled hearing Dhriti, but Shankar did not. While what many thought to be an arranged marriage was a love marriage. Both of them met at the military academy of Dehradun during the late British colonial period. She was there due to her father being one of the instructors, while he was a student there. During the Army March where all of the cadets and instructors' families were present, he saw her. It was love at first sight. Out of all the young ladies who were meek and shy, she stood out being the only confident one.

Their love story happened like every cliché love story, through letters. The only people who knew about this were Dhriti's mother and his senior Sam Manekshaw. But like any other cliché love story, one of their letters went to Dhriti's father. That day in combat class he was his partner and asked him weird questions about women during sparring. The next week he got a letter from his parent telling him about a suitor, and when saw the name, it was like Christmas came early. Thus they became a wedded couple.

"Dhriti calm down, not every problem's answer is brute force. To solve a problem you need to have patience and give it time, the answer will automatically come to you." Being the gentle hand in the relationship he explained.

Flashback over

"Thank you sweetheart for showing me a way, and, thank you Naruto for helping her." Dhriti thought as she called them over for dinner. Over the next two weeks, a lot changed. Dhriti continued teaching Naruto (without the shadow clones.) He practiced kanji writing and speeding it, first with a brush, then with a pen, and finally with his finger as he had the sick idea of using his blood as a binder. Also during the same period Naruto and Shrishti familiarized with each other to the point that she started calling him baurda [ Baurda is pronounced with 'au' as in 'audit' and 'da' from 'dida' and its meaning is elder brother.]

In the middle of the third week, Naruto felt as if the mood had been somber with both the granddaughter-grandmother duo not speaking much. The house instead of its sunny nature now was in a state of gloom. Naruto being Naruto confronted Dhriti in the evening. "Ok, what is wrong with you and her?" He asked her.

"What do you mean?" She counter-questioned.

"From today morning only you two have a gloomy mood. What happened?"

"Today is their death anniversary" He did not need any further explanations and asked, "Where is she?"

"On the roof."

"Roof?"

"Yes, I have a little garden there, made it with my son and husband. She always goes there as it reminds her of her time spent with her father." With that information in mind, he left for the roof.

He climbed up the stairs towards the roof. As he reached there, he saw Shrishti sitting behind the railing with each of her legs dangling downwards in between the guard rail. Naruto approached her and sat by the rail as he also dangled his legs by the rails. "Air for thoughts" He asked her.

She smiled lightly but did not say anything. He then with a light smile asked, "You miss them don't you." This got the wanted reaction as she was visibly sulking now. Naruto could only look at her in camaraderie, knowing what it was like to be an orphan. He knows what it is to always think about what would their parents be like or if would they be proud of their children.

"You know you can talk, I am here to listen." He offered her which she took.

"It hurts." She said in a whisper, when he saw her face, he saw all the raw emotions in her making it obvious this was the first time she was opening up about this topic.

"I know how it feels, the feeling that you have lost everything and now you don't what to do." She absentmindedly nodded at that, while he continued, "I also felt the same way when mum and dad died."

"So then what can I do?" She asked

"Move on."

"Move on?"

"Yes, as cruel as it sounds, you have to move on, accept the reality as cruel as it is, accept it. Accept that they are dead. As harsh as it may sound this is the best you can do. Instead of mourning them, you work and do your best in the field you chose, make them proud." He could she was sobbing a bit, and then he asked the main question, "You have been bullied about your orphan status haven't you?"

She looked at him in shock as if someone had ratted out her deepest darkest secret, "How did you know?" She asked in a low voice

"I speak from experience. I know how relentlessly people bully you just because you don't have parents." He venomously spoke as he remembered his childhood.

"How do you deal with them then?" She asked.

"You know if you had asked me this a year ago, I would have said to endure it as you are better than others, but sometimes it is important to reply to others." He started, "Next when she says something, just to her that 'at least I don't bully others to feel better' she would push you then you punch her with full power, the teachers will know and then you tell them the whole truth."

"Will that work?"

"Hundred percent. Now let it out" He held his arms out towards her as she brawled into him and broke her dam.

He held and caressed Shrishti's hair while she cried on him that evening. The next day was a fresh day for everyone, as she now became extremely close to him they spent the next weeks with each other and their grandmother like a happy family.

The passed as the day she would be leaving for her school, tears were in the eyes of the younger sibling as she refused to separate from the older one, but the older one separated from her and put his hand on her heart as she nodded and left for the train. The train after five minutes started leaving the station. The grandson-grandmother duo waved at the granddaughter from the platform as the train left.

"Interesting people you live with brat." A very familiar voice in his mind spoke to him.

Arc: India Arc [Flashback Arc] (Arc II)

Date: 01.01.2024

Words: 9535

~ Cubicreates