Chapter 5: Family ties
Naruto and Jiraiya had been talking to the Hokage for a couple of hours. The Sandaime was shocked to find out how deep Naruto's reserves were, and perhaps even more surprised to learn how far along he was in his chakra control exercises.
Suddenly, the door to the Hokages office burst open and a familiar purple pineapple ponytailed young woman walked in the door. "Hey old man, you asked for me?"
Hiruzen sighed, "Yes Anko-chan, thank you. You remember Naruto kun here, right? Well Jiraiya and I need to talk about a few things, and he'll be attending the treaty signing ceremony with me later, so I thought you could maybe take him for a bowl of ramen," he gave the young kunoichi a knowing look.
"Well, dango would be better," Anko said tapping her chin as if she was deep in thought, "but I guess that's fine, come on gaki."
Naruto was nervous walking around Konoha without Jiraiya with him, though Anko did give him some comfort. He was relieved at first when people started to actively move out of his path, but then he started to hear some of the not so hushed whispers. Things like "that's him, the demon boy," or the somewhat confusing "figures the demon brat would be with the snake whore." Some even went as far as to cross to the other side of the pathway when they saw Naruto in front of him. He was scared for a moment when he came across a black-haired woman with an Uchiha crest on her shirt, but when she saw Naruto, she turned around and took off in the other direction.
Seeing how bummed out Naruto was, Anko decided to take him for some ice cream to cheer him up. She was shocked, though, when the owner of the parlor took one look at Naruto and declared they were closed. Anko could see that the sitting area was nearly full of customers happily eating their ice cream. She started to say something, but Naruto just tugged on her sleeve and left.
It seemed that the villagers decided that if they couldn't kill the boy without bring down Jiraiya's wrath upon them, they should completely ignore him, pretending as if he didn't even exist. Anko asked Naruto if there was a place in the village where he felt safe going, and he dragged her off to Ichiraku Ramen.
Ichiraku Ramen
Naruto had just finished his fourth bowl of miso ramen when he sat back patting his stomach. Anko could only look at the boy impressed. The two, along with Teuchi, were sitting and standing around the counter talking, it was after the regular dinner rush and Ayame had yet to return from picking up groceries for the following day.
"Hey dad, can you give me a hand with these?" came Ayame's voice. Teuchi walked over to help his daughter, but when she saw the blonde boy sitting at the counter, she dumped all the bags on her father and ran over to wrap the boy in her arms yet again. But this time, when her cheek nuzzling solicited Naruto's purr, Anko's eyes shot wide open.
"Kawaii!" Anko squealed, and in a blur of motion she was on Naruto's other side, arms wrapped around him, nuzzling his other cheek with her own. Naruto's purr deepened and he got a dreamy look on his face.
After a few minutes, Teuchi managed to help Naruto regain his freedom. "Ayame nee-chan, Anko chan, not fair!" Naruto shouted.
"What's not fair is I've with you all afternoon and evening and you never told me about that!" Anko shot back, "and I told you, Anko nee-chan!"
Naruto sighed, "fine Anko nee-chan, well anyway I think we have to go meet back up with Jiraiya, but I'll definitely be back tomorrow! See ya old man, nee-san!"
Anko and Naruto were walking hand in hand back towards the Hokage Tower to meet back up with Jiraiya and the Hokage. Suddenly, a man landed in front of them and ran straight through them, pushing Anko aside and knocking Naruto to his butt. The man was dressed in all black and had a squirming black sack on his back.
"Hey asshole, watch where you're going!" Anko yelled after the man.
"Kit, I sense a small chakra source coming in the bundle on that man's shoulder, and his malice is rich, you should let the purple haired vixen know," Kurama's voice rang out in Naruto's mind.
Naruto mentally nodded, "Uh, nee-san, I think there was a person there in the sack. I think we should stop him."
Anko looked at Naruto for a few moments and decided it was worth at least checking out and she ran after the man, ordering Naruto to stay close but out of site in case it was another attempt to get at Naruto.
With the man trying to be somewhat stealthy, Anko was able to catch up pretty quickly and she jumped out in front of the man. Naruto wasn't too far behind, but he stayed hidden behind a stand that was closed down for the night.
"You know, it's not polite to bump into a lady and take off like that," Anko opened, "why don't you let me take a look inside the bag as your apology?"
"I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll make this simple," the man replied, "fuck off or die here," he finished, shifting his load to take a fighting stance.
Using the moment of distraction as he shifted the load, Anko did a fast set of hand seals and thrust her arms forward shouting, "Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" a bunch of snakes shot out of her sleeves moving to restrain the strange man.
"Lighting beats snake," said the man, forming a single hand sign and pointing his index and middle fingers towards Anko. A bolt of lightning shot out from the man's fingertips and struck Anko directly in the chest causing her to cry out and fall to the ground. Seeing she was still alive and deciding he should remove the witness, the man drew a kunai and walked towards Anko.
When the man walked past a vendor stand, something flew out and rammed into the man, making him drop his load and stumble back a few feet. "Stop! I won't let you hurt nee-san!" Naruto shouted at the man.
The man took a look at the boy standing in front of him and after a couple of seconds his eyes shot open, "Yondaime," he whispered so quietly that Naruto couldn't even here him. The man decided then and there to kill the boy and the woman. He put his kunai back in its holster and drew a short sword from his back. He jumped forward planting a kick in Naruto's gut knocking him to the ground and driving the air out of his lungs.
The man walked up to Naruto and held the sword high, ready to strike him down. Naruto could only sit there on his knees, still not even to breathe, and the man began to swing his sword to take the blonde's life.
"Kit, you need to move!" Kurama yelled in Naruto's mind, but Naruto didn't respond and still could not even draw in a breath. Doing the only thing he could, Kurama pushed as much chakra through the seal as he could and before the sword could strike Naruto down, a cloak of chakra surrounded him forming the shape of a fox with a single tail. Kurama knew Naruto's body could not tolerate the form so he immediately cancelled it. The brief flare of the demonic chakra though was enough to startle the man and force him to jump back.
The man was thinking he was lucky, he knew this type of demonic chakra all too well, and now he had the chance to take a jinchuriki with him, in addition to his previous find. The man smiled wickedly and shot forward towards Naruto.
Kurama was slamming against the bars of the seal; he was frustrated knowing Naruto's body couldn't handle another flare of his chakra. He could only hope the demonic chakra would bring Jiraiya here in time.
The man was in front of Naruto again and drew back his sword, once again ready to strike the boy. Naruto closed his eyes and held his arms up as if to block, right as he felt the wind from the man's swing, he shouted out, "No!" After a few seconds, Naruto wondered what happened as the pain never came. "Am I dead?" he thought.
Naruto opened his eyes and threw up at the sight that greeted him. In front of him was the man, being held in the air by eight golden chains that were piercing him throughout his torso, arms, and face. Blood was flowing down his body and pooling beneath him.
Just then, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, two tall men with long brown hair and white pupilless eyes with veins bulging around them, and several Anbu jumped into the area all taking fighting stances. When they noticed a man being held in the air by several chakra chains, they traced them back to the source and gasped when they saw the chains originating from Naruto's back. Taking in the scene, Hiashi Hyuga and his twin brother Hizashi dashed over to the bundle the man had been carrying, carefully opening it, they revealed a small girl with dark blue hair and similar white pupilless eyes. Hiashi pulled her into his chest and held her tightly.
Hiruzen turned to Jiraiya, "did you know he had Kushina's chains, Jiraiya?"
"N-no, Sensei, this is the first time I've seen them. Looking at the fallout, they must have come when he thought his life was in danger. Last time, with the Uchiha, we hadn't tapped into his chakra yet, or they probably would have manifested then," Jiraiya answered his former teacher.
Jiraiya walked over to Naruto, who couldn't take his eyes off the man impaled on his chains. He put his hand on the blonde boy's shoulder, startling him and causing him to turn to the older man. "It's okay, Naruto, just think about drawing them into yourself."
Naruto, relieved for Jiraiya's presence to distract him from his first kill, did just as he said, and to his surprise the chains reeled back inside of him, disappearing completely, and causing the man to fall limply to the ground.
Anbu quickly surrounded the man, a cat masked Anbu, sword drawn, moved in and removed the man's mask. "It's the Kumo ambassador, Hokage Sama," said the Anbu, her voice that of a young woman.
Just then, Anko having just woken up, gasped out "Foxy!" Then she blushed, taking a look around and seeing everyone who definitely just heard her.
Hiruzen cleared his voice, drawing everyone's attention, "right, well, Anbu, get him to Ibiki, and call in Inoichi to see if he can find anything. Jiraiya, Anko, Hiashi, Hizashi, with me back to my office.
Back in the Sandaime's office, Hiashi reported that the man in black, now known to be the Kumo ambassador, had kidnapped Hinata Hyuga, the Hyuga clan heir, from their compound and set off numerous explosive tags to delay their pursuit. Anko's story started next, she told everyone about how they came across the man while walking back to the tower and her defeat when he surprised her with his speed and lightning jutsu. Then Naruto finished out the tail up to the point the others arrived.
"I'm very proud of you Naruto kun, that was very brave of you to stand up to protect Anko and Hinata," the Sandaime said giving Naruto a soft smile.
"Yeah, that's right Gaki, that was really smart thinking flaring the chakra like that, you did good kid," Jiraiya added.
Hiashi handed the now awake Hinata to his brother and stepped before Naruto, he dropped to a knee to be on the boy's level and inclined his head, "Uzumaki san, you have my deepest gratitude for saving my daughter."
The others in the room were staring at the scene wide eyed, none of them had known the Hyuga head prostrate himself before anyone like this. Naruto wasn't sure what to say, he looked at the man and over at the girl, who turned her face into her uncle's chest. "You're welcome, Mister Hyuga, but please you don't need to bow to me," Naruto said to Hiashi.
Hiashi rose to his feet and nodded to Naruto, "If you ever need the Hyuga's assistance, please come find me. Hokage Sama, if you don't need anything else for now, I'd like to get Hinata back home." At the Sandaime's nod, the Hyuga trio left, Hinata taking one more look towards Naruto and blushing ever so slightly.
Jiraiya turned to Naruto, "Naruto, I just need to make sure, are you okay? With what happened, I mean?"
"I-I don't know, I mean I just wanted him to stop hurting Anko nee-chan. I didn't mean to, to . . ." Naruto trailed off.
Jiraiya sighed, "Kid, I had hoped we wouldn't have to have this conversation for quite some time, but make no mistake, what you did was good. This world is full of evil, but there's also so much good, if you look for it. You didn't set out in malice, but to protect. So long as you keep the people precious to you in your heart, they will keep you on the right path."
"Well said Jiraiya, that is the will of fire that is the strength of Konoha. Here, we don't fight for land and buildings, or even for the hokage, but to protect all of those precious to us," Sandaime continued.
"But Naruto, one more thing, is that the first time you've used those chains?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto answered with a nod. Jiraiya continued, "well, Naruto, there was actually one other person who had chains just like that, it was your mother, Kushina." Anko's eyes shot wide open, but she managed to school her features. "Those chains are actually a bloodline for the Uzumaki," Jiraiya finished.
"Bloodline?" Questioned Naruto, "so does that mean the Uzumaki are a clan? Are there others out there?"
"They were a clan," said Jiraiya, "unfortunately they were wiped out decades ago. But there may be some of them out there somewhere in the elemental nations."
Jiraiya and Sandaime proceeded to tell Naruto the story of the fall of Uzushiogakure, the one-time home of the Uzumaki. The story of how, driven by jealousy and fear of the small nation clan, Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa joined forces to wipe them out. The story of how the seal masters gave the united force hell and wiped out nearly three quarters of them despite being outnumbered at least 20 to 1.
Naruto was a mess of emotions, he was still somewhat in shock from killing the man earlier, happy learning about his heritage, ecstatic about the connection to his mother, profoundly sad to learn about the current state of his family, and hopeful at the thought that others may be out there.
"Sensei, Kushina learned to use her chains in Uzu, and we don't have any information on them here. I want to head to Uzu to see if I can find anything. And I think Naruto should come with me, the Uzumaki love seals and they might have locked down their secrets with blood seals to make sure Kumo, Kiri, and Iwa couldn't get their hands on them," Jiraiya said to Hiruzen.
It took some convincing, but the Hokage finally agreed to let Jiraiya take Naruto to Uzu, but they would have to leave soon so that Naruto could be back to begin his new life living in the village as the five-year agreement was coming to a close, and Jiraiya also thought it was time for Naruto to start spending more time around people.
The two stayed in Konoha that night and early the next morning they set out to Wave Country to board a boat to Uzu.