Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Better Start ❯ A Better Home ( Chapter 5 )

Last time on A Better Start!

As soon as they landed Naruto heard a yell of “MY BABY!!!” and was assaulted by a middle aged woman with long dark blond hair swinging her purse and hitting him in the face. “LET GO OF MY BABY YOU MONSTER!!” she yelled as she swung again.

Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the purse to hit him again, only it never came. He opened his eyes to see that Akiko had reached around him from his back and pushed the purse away. “Mommy! He saved me, don't hurt him!”

The woman stammered for a moment, before Naruto set the child down. The woman reached out and grabbed her child's arm and dragged her away to hug her.

Jiraya walked over and placed the safe into his arms. “Can't win them all, kid. Come on; let's get back to the tower.” With his left hand still on the blond he made a one handed seal with his right and they Shunshin-ed away.

--------Chapter 5:

Naruto and Jiraya both appeared on the roof of the Hokage tower, just outside the window. Naruto looked inside and noticed that both Kimiko and Mikoto were still in the office talking with the Hokage.

When he opened the window and stepped inside he just barely caught the end of what was being said. “…Remember that he is just as new to this as you are. Ah! Your back, nothing bad happened I hope?”

Jiraya stepped in through the window and walked to sit in one of the other chairs against the wall. “Half the block went down. Unfortunately his place wasn't spared.”

The rest of the rooms occupants faces showed their concern. Even Mikoto couldn't stop herself from feeling sad for what happened.

Naruto just stood there, safe still in his arms and his jacket across his shoulders. “At least I didn't have anything valuable to get destroyed since I got to my safe before it got too damaged.”

Jiraya spoke up again from his seat against the wall. “The brat even saved another brat while he was in there. But..uh.. didn't get any credit for it.”

“Very brave of you. I will see to it that you get a reward and I'll see what I can do to get you a new apartment Naruto. But with the number of people that will be effected by the fire and also looking for a new place it might take a while.” `And all the paperwork. Damn that paper work! If only there was some way to make it disappear, or even make the process go faster.' Sarutobi said, lighting another pipe for the 27 th time that day.

“What about our place? We don't have another room but you could use the couch until you can find a place for yourself.” Mikoto looked at her like she was crazy, but after a few seconds just sighed and nodded.

“You don't have to. I'm sure I can find a place to stay for a while. Iruka-sensei would probably let me crash at his place again.”

“…What do you mean again?” Mikoto asked, almost dreading the answer.

Naruto dreaded the answer just as much. “Well this isn't…exactly the first time…my place has been destroyed.”

“Now Naruto, why don't you take these girls up on their offer? I don't see a reason to decline them.”

Naruto glanced at the girls and blushed slightly. “B-But.. isn't it against the rules to have boys and girls living together? That's what Iruka-sensei told me, and he's always right.”

Both of the older men laughed a bit at this. “Yes, well, normally it is Naruto. But I'm sure that all three of you are mature enough to make sure that nothing happens until you are Gennin, when you will be seen as an adult.” Jiraya was still laughing at Naruto's innocence. “Speaking of which, could you three wait outside in the hall for a small moment. I wish to speak to Naruto alone.”

As soon as all 3 had left the room Sarutobi looked opened one of the many drawers in his desk and rummaged around for a moment. “Ah. Here it is.” He said as he pulled out a scroll.

“What is that?”

“A scroll.” Naruto just stared at him, causing him to chuckle. “It is a scroll that is going to change your future, in a sense.” He opened the scroll and read it aloud. “Counsel order Number 1125. Abiding to the bloodline revival act, imparted upon the village by the Shodaime Hokage, a member of the village that carries a bloodline is to decide on the 3 choices written on the scroll. The choice must be made one year from the time this day. One, you may choose a minimum of 3 civilians to marry and procreate with. Two, you may marry and procreate with a minimum of two licensed ninja. Three, you may marry and procreate with a minimum of one ninja that carries a bloodline.”

Naruto's face was priceless. His jaw couldn't be any lower without fear of breaking completely off, and his eyes were about to pop completely out of his head. There was no other movement from him for a few moments, until his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell backward, unconscious.

The door cracked open and Mikoto poked her head inside. “Is everything okay? What happened to him?” The Hokage chuckled and took another drag from his pipe. “Oh, nothing. Could you take him outside to Kimiko? He just needs some rest. Then come back in here, we have something to discuss.”

After dragging Naruto out to the benches in the hall where Kimiko was sitting Mikoto re-entered the office and stood before the Hokage.

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Out in the hall Kimiko was sitting on one of the benches lining the wall. Next to her, or rather, leaning on her was Naruto. He still had his shocked expression but he was completely out of it. She had tried shaking him awake, but that just led him to tilt over and lean against her in the first place. Occupying her time with counting the number of tiles on the floor she waited for Mikoto to finish up with whatever it was that the Third Fire Shadow wanted to discuss.

She had been waiting for all of five minutes when she suddenly heard a -thump- sound. She gently pushed Naruto against the wall so that he could support his own unconscious weight before going to the door. “Is everything…. her too huh?”

Sarutobi just leaned back in his chair and nodded. “Could you get a Chunin in the halls to help them home with you? Don't forget that you three still have to be at the Academy tomorrow. I will see if I can get some of his things replaced. Could you tell him that when he wakes up?”

Kimiko nodded “Yeah, I can do that. See ya later old man.” and dragged her other unconscious friend into the hallway to look for some help.

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The first thing that Naruto saw was a plate, a small one that usually holds a tea cup. “Huh?” he mumbled now noticing that he also had a rather warm pillow.

The plate moved a little and he could see the upper half of “Kyuubi? How did I get back here?” he asked, still not getting up. He didn't see any reason too, since he didn't know what position he was in, being the oblivious person that he is.

“Hmm, finally awake are you? You seem to come here naturally when you are unconscious, not that the seal is fully active.” Kyuubi calmly replied, taking a small sip of her tea. “So…what are your thoughts on this whole marriage ordeal?”

Naruto “hmm”-ed for a moment and stretched a bit, rubbing his head back against his pillow. He completely missed the small blush that Kyuubi sported, or the small “eep!” that she covered by taking another sip from her cup. “Well I don't really know. I don't really know any girls that even remotely like me. I think it would be really hard for me to a girl to like me enough in one year to marry her.”

“But you only have to decide from the three choices, not get married, in a year.” Kyuubi reminded, before reaching forward and placing her plate and cup on the table in front of the couch.

But it was this motion that drew Naruto to realize that his head was in her lap since her torso pressed against the side of his face when she leant forward. He shot up and sat up properly beside her. “S-sorry. I didn't realize…” his apology was stopped as Kyuubi gently pushed him back in his former position.

“I don't mind you know.” She started as she twirled a strand of his hair around her finger. “I'm not like most women. I don't mind a little physical contact, as long as I like the person enough.”

Naruto stammered for a moment. “Di-Did you just…?”

“Hmm? Yes, I did. Your memories are quite amazing you know, in quite vivid detail too. I spent most of my time sealed here in your mind. While roaming through the corridors of your mind I stumbled upon many of your memories.” She let a smile form on her face. “From what I have seen in your memories and what you went through for that young girl today I think you are very interesting.”

“Interesting huh?” Naruto seemed to get lost in the blackness of the ceiling past Kyuubi. He felt something touch his arm and looked down. He saw some of her tails swaying slightly, as if they had a mind of their own. Out of curiosity he reached out and touched one. Kyuubi jumped slightly, causing Naruto to draw his hand back. But then the tail moved closer and waved slightly.

He looked up at Kyuubi, not seeing any anger or pain. He reached out and touched it again, feeling the softness under his touch. Getting bolder he brought up his other hand and began to pet it. “This is pretty interesting.” He joked, getting Kyuubi to giggle and move one of her other tails to tickle his ears. He laughed and nudged the furry appendage away.”Oh yeah. I wanted to ask you about that technique you had me use. What was it called?”

“Well” She hooked her tail through the loop in the cup and brought it to her hand.”It really doesn't have a name. Most of my techniques are nameless, save a few.” After taking a sip from her seemingly endless cup she had her tail place the cup back on its plate.

“Then I'll have to come up with a really awesome name for it then? Like `Awesomeness Blast'?”

Kyuubi laughed at the ridiculous name. “Speaking of techniques, you couldn't have pulled that technique off if I hadn't been controlling my chakra to make it as malleable as it was. Normally it resembles something close to liquid fire. You also should know that some of my techniques you can't use. The users body needs to be a demon, due to the strain exerted on it.” Naruto “Aww~”-ed a bit. “But don't worry, there are many powers that I plan to share with you.”

There was a short silence afterwards. “You know, I think this is the first time that I have ever been this relaxed around a woman. It feels nice.”

Kyuubi grinned, finding her chance to tease him. “Ohoh! So you see me as a woman now? I thought you were a little young for that.”

Naruto blushed and looked away. “I-I didn't mean it like that!” Kyuubi pouted playfully. “So am I not attractive to you? Is that it?” She even added a sniffle at the end.

Naruto looked back at her with wide eyes. “No! No, I didn't say that! I-I just… I just…your messing with me aren't you?” Kyuubi chuckled and rubbed his cheek, something he found was very pleasant. “What can I say? I'm playful by nature, and your just so fun to get flustered.”

Another pause, Naruto was quietly enjoying the ministrations of the beautiful woman while Kyuubi was marveling how sensitive his cheeks seemed to be to a soft touch. But suddenly she stopped. “It seems that your friend is trying to wake you up, rather harshly at that.”

“Huh?” Naruto asked, still having a glazed look in his eye. “Someone is trying to slap you into consciousness. Not really hard, but you'll feel it when you get up.”

Naruto whimpered slightly “But I don't want to get up~.”

Kyuubi formed another door. “Don't be a stranger, come back and visit soon.”

Naruto sat up and stepped up to the door. “Really soon. Hopefully.” He mumbled the last part, as he stepped through the door.

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When Naruto could feel that he was conscious again he was startled to feel a stinging pain on his left cheek. He jerked up and grabbed the offending hand, finding that it belonged to Kimiko. He rubbed his cheek until he felt the stinging fade away. “Owww, you couldn't shake me awake? Or even just poke me?”

Kimiko just shrugged. “I find that pain is the fastest way to wake a person up. Besides, I tried those, they didn't work. Anyway, the old man said that he would try and get you some new stuff. And since there are only two bedrooms, and only two beds, you can use this couch to sleep on. I have some blankets and stuff in the hallway closet that you can use.”

Naruto looked sheepishly at her and rubbed the back of his head. “Um, yeah, thanks. You know, for giving me a place to stay and all.”

Kimiko stood up and waved her hand dismissively. “Think nothing of it. We have been friends and running buddies for a long time. I'm cool with you staying here, Mikoto may be against it in the beginning but she'll warm up to you. The same thing happened when she first started living here with me. Anyway, I'm going to bed. The closet is just down the hall to your left, and across from it is the bathroom. Good night.” She walked down the hall and went into the door on the left at the end of the hall.

Naruto got off the couch and went to rummage the closet for a blanket and a pillow. After getting back to the couch and getting comfortable again he started to doze off. “I wonder if I can find my way back to the seal again. That would be a nice dream.”

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Tsunade and her trusty apprentice and pet pig were walking up the winding stairs of the Hokage tower. After finally reaching the top, the group walked down the hall to the door that was labeled as the Hokage's. As soon as they entered they noticed that Jiraya was already in the office. “You had better have a good reason for calling me back here. You know I don't like to be in the village after what happened.”

The Sandaime nodded, his serious façade in place. “Good to see you too, Tsunade. The reason I called you both back to the village is quite simple. But let me ask you this, have either of you ever thought of teaching again? Full time?”

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A/N

Yeah, a quick chapter. I couldn't stop thinking about the story so I just forced myself to get this chapter over and done with so that I could move on in the story.

I still haven't named the technique so I'm still open to suggestions.

Next chapter! Back to school, and meeting the new teachers!