Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Faith of the Heart ❯ Chapter 3: Full Circle ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

 

Flashback: Konoha, December 29th, 15 Years Ago

 

The eighty-one days following the Kyuubi's attack had been some of the worst in Konohagakure no Sato's history. The demon had devastated the village. Sixty percent of the buildings in the village were either destroyed or so badly damaged that they would have to be torn down. Even worse hit were the village's fortifications and infrastructure. The demon fox had leveled nearly a mile of the massive stonewall that surrounded the village during its rampage, and the village's engineers were worried other sections were structurally unsound due to the earthquake-like shaking the demon caused during the attack. The rebuilding task was further complicated by the fact that the power station that supplied the city with electricity had been destroyed in a single swipe of one of the fox's tails. It would probably be another month before the construction of the replacement power station was finished and all of Konoha had electricity again. An even bigger crisis was the shortage of potable water. The water level of Konoha's main reservoir had to be dropped to a dangerously low level to prevent a catastrophic collapse of its dam, which had also been damaged during the attack. The damage to the dam had been repaired, but it would take several more weeks for the water level to return to normal.

 

However, the material loses paled in comparison to the loss of life. The civilian deaths numbered over five thousand, but the toll could have easily reached the tens of thousands if it had not been for the sacrifice of Konoha's defenders. Fully a third of Konoha's shinobi were killed defending the village. Especially hard hit were the medical ninjas, as many of them had died while trying to pull the injured out of the path of the rampaging kitsune.

 

Despite the severity of the damage and the high death toll, the loss that hit Konoha the hardest was the death of the Hokage and his young wife. The Yondaime Hokage was widely held to be the strongest ninja Konoha had ever produced. When he was named Hokage, most of the village welcomed it as the beginning of a golden age for Konoha. The war with Iwagakure, which the Yondaime had played a major role in winning as a jonin, had been over for little more than three months, and Konoha was experiencing the beginnings of a post-war baby boom when the announcement came. The village simply fell in love with their young, handsome new Hokage who always took the time to talk with the villagers and listen to their concerns or share a hearty laugh during his frequent walks through the streets of Konoha. The village was equally smitten with the Hokage's mysterious and beautiful young wife, who, unlike her husband, preferred to stay out of the public eye. Never the less, she could frequently be found strolling arm-in-arm with her husband during one of his walks, and her warm, yet mischievous, smile and the musical sound of her laughter soon endeared her in the hearts of Konoha's citizens just as her husband's gregarious nature had.

 

However, all good things come to an end, and the end for the Yondaime Hokage and his wife had been especially tragic. The Hokage sacrificed his life to stop the Kyuubi by sealing it away in an infant, sentencing his own soul to an eternity of torment in the belly of the Death God in the process. His wife, who was rumored to be eight months pregnant with the couple's first child, died when the west wing of the hospital collapsed into a pile of fiery rumble. The village was not even able to identify her remains so she could be laid to rest alongside her husband since her body had been reduced to ashes in the inferno. Instead, they were forced to entomb her remains in a mass grave with the ashes of the other victims of the collapse and subsequent fire. After the funerals, the people of Konoha handled their grief in different ways. Some buried themselves in their work and rebuilding. Others left Konoha never to return. More than a few found an outlet for their grief in misdirected anger toward the infant the Yondaime had sealed the Kyuubi in, despite their fallen leaders last request that the boy be regarded as a hero.

 

Especially hard hit by the loss of the Yondaime Hokage was Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. Jiraiya had not only been the Yondaime's sensei, advisor, and friend, but also shared something akin to a father-son relationship with the Yondaime, who had grown up as an orphan. When the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, Jiraiya had been in the Land of Wind trying to track down his traitorous former teammate, Orchimaru. When news of the demon fox's attack reached the white-haired sannin, he raced back to Konoha only to arrive just in time to see the young Hokage end his own life in a blinding flash of light to seal the demon. The loss of the young man he loved like a son and the young woman he had begun to regard as a daughter devastated the normally jovial sannin, and he quickly sank into a deep depression, even temporarily withdrawing from those closest to him in the wake of the attack. In fact, the only thing Jiraiya still seemed to be passionate about was expressing his rage at the fact his former student's dying wish was not being respected by the village he died to protect.

 

All of this was common knowledge among the populace of Konoha, so the sight of the legendary sannin Jiraiya walking through the streets of the village with a huge grin on his face caused many to stare in wonder and others to run to see if Konoha's bathhouses, which had been closed due to the water shortage, had reopened. However, the return of Jiraiya's good mood was not due to the resumption of his favorite perverted hobby but the news that his sole surviving student had recently given birth to a healthy baby girl. It had been the first good news he had gotten since the attack. As soon as he had returned from his latest mission and heard the news, Jiraiya decided to make his way to his former student's home to meet the new addition to her family for the first time.

 

When Jiraiya arrived at the estate of his student's clan, he was quickly shown in and led to a suite of rooms toward the back of the main house.

 

“Greetings, Jiraiya-sama, Lady Michiko has been expecting you,” the young woman who answered the door of the suite said before showing Jiraiya to the nursery.

 

When Jiraiya walked into the nursery he was greeted with the sight of an attractive woman with dark blue eyes and long black hair, that had a slightly bluish sheen to it in the sunlight streaming in through the nursery window, sitting in a rocking chair with a small bundle in her arms while softly humming.

 

“Michiko?” Jiraiya asked in a quiet voice out of fear of waking the baby.

 

The young woman looked up as a smile began to appear on her face.

 

“I was wondering when you'd show up. It's okay, she just woke up a few minutes ago.”

 

Jiraiya grinned and walked up to the mother and daughter.

 

“Well she's got Hiashi's eyes, but luckily for her it looks like she got the rest of her looks from you,” Jiraiya laughed as he saw a pair of pupil-less lavender colored eyes looking up at him from the blanket the infant was wrapped in.

 

“Oh hush, Jiraiya-sensei,” Michiko Hyuuga said with a laugh as a light blush spread across her cheeks in response to the indirect complement, even if it was at the expense of her husband. Her sensei loved to joke about her marrying Hiashi, although she knew he was one of the few Hyuuga the sannin genuinely respected.

 

“What did you and the `Ice Cube' decide to name her?”

 

“Hinata Kushina Hyuuga,” Michiko said with a slightly nervous look as she waited to see how her former-sensei would react.

 

“I like it. I think Minato and Kushina would have approved, too,” Jiraiya answered with a smile as he thought of his friend and his friend's wife for the first time since their deaths without feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness. “Especially, since you were so close to both of them.”

 

Michiko relaxed when she saw Jiraiya's reaction. She'd known he would approve of her naming her newborn daughter after the Yondaime's wife, especially considering Kushina Uzumaki had been her best friend since they were both ten years old, but she had still worried about throwing salt on her sensei's fresh wounds.

 

“Would you like to hold her for a minute?”

 

“I'd love to. You want to come see your Uncle Jiraiya, don't you, little Hinata-chan. Yeah, I thought you did. You are such a cutie. Yes, you are,” Jiraiya said as he carefully picked Hinata up and held her in his arms.

 

Michiko fought back the urge to laugh at hearing her sensei, one of the most powerful shinobi in the world and an admitted super pervert, cooing and talking to her two-day old daughter with a cutesy baby voice.

 

“Have you heard any news about Naruto?” Michiko asked.

 

“Sarutobi-sensei is keeping Naruto for the time being. He's got Rin and Kakashi helping watch after him. Sensei finally got those idiots on the village council who wanted to kill the kid `to keep the Kyuubi from escaping' to shut up, but he's still dealing with Danzo and his followers who want to turn Naruto into some kind of weapon.”

 

“I wish Hiashi-kun and I could adopt him, but the Hyuuga council is dead-set against it. A few of the council members are just being idiots, but a lot of them are genuinely concerned it would place the members of the clan in danger. I can't really blame them after the near riot when the Sandaime announced the Kyuubi had been sealed in Naruto,” Michiko sighed.

 

“I thought about adopting him too, but Old Ape Face nixed it,” Jiraiya grumbled.

 

“By the way, how are Rin and Kakashi holding up?”

 

“Kakashi is handling it surprising well, but Rin is still depressed. I think helping watch after Naruto is good for her, though. He keeps her too busy to mope around,” Jiraiya replied. “That boy is going to be a handful one day,” he added with a chuckle as he remembered how ragged the normally neat and tidy Rin looked with spit-up on her shoulder and strands of her hair going in random directions when she'd answered the Third's door the day before.

 

“Yes, I heard he's pretty lively for a baby who isn't even three months old yet,” Michiko said with a smile. “I just wish we could tell everyone who Naruto's parents are. It would make everything so much easier for him,” she added as her smile began to turn into a frown. “I actually slapped one of the Hyuuga council members a couple of weeks ago when I heard him talking about the `demon spawn' like Naruto wasn't even a human being. I don't think I've ever been angrier in my life. I just wanted to scream out that Naruto is Minato's son.”

 

“I know what you mean. I haven't been doing a very good job keeping a lid on my temper either when it comes to Naruto,” Jiraiya sighed.

 

There was a moment of silence before Jiraiya chuckled and asked, “So you really slapped one of the council members, huh?”

 

“Yes, I did. According to Hiashi-kun, Haru had a handprint on his face for the better part of two days,” Michiko replied.

 

“Well if it was Haru Hyuuga, I'm sure most of the clan was cheering you on. Haru's always been a jackass.”

 

“Michiko, as much as I hate to admit it, I think Minato was right in asking that Naruto's heritage be kept a secret,” Jiraiya said in a more serious voice. “It might be easier on Naruto if the whole village knew he was the Hokage's son, but it'd also put his life in more danger due to all of his father's enemies. The last thing the boy needs is Iwa and Kumo coming after him in addition to the few crazies here who wouldn't care whose son he is. Don't worry, though, I'll make sure Naruto's told when the time is right.”

 

Michiko gave Jiraiya a look that said she didn't agree but would go along with it, as she reached up and took back her daughter, who was starting to get a little fussy. “I think she's getting hungry.”

 

Jiraiya smirked and looked like he was about to make a comment when Michiko interrupted him, “If you make one crack about breastfeeding, so help me Jiraiya, I will kick your ass! And don't think I can't do it just because I had a baby a couple of days ago!”

 

Jiraiya held up his hands defensively. “Come on Michiko-chan, you know my students are where I draw the line when it comes to being a pervert.”

 

“True, at least when it came to me, although I'd be willing to bet my mother being friends with Tsunade-sama had a lot to do with that,” Michiko replied.

 

Jiraiya sighed in an exaggerated fashion. “I remember when you were a shy, sweet twelve year old genin that I had trouble getting to talk. I wonder what happened to that little girl.”

 

“She spent a few years following a pervert and two knuckleheads around the world and was never quite the same,” Michiko said as student and teacher shared a laugh.

 

“Well, I happen to think the time you spend with Minato, Nori, and me was good for you, and I really am proud of you, Michiko. I'm sure you'll be a great mother to Hinata.”

 

Michiko blushed at the praise, “I think it was good for me, too, and thank you.”

 

“I should probably get going so you can feed little Hinata-chan. I'm leaving for a mission to the Land of Lightning this afternoon. I'll stop by again when I come back in a week or two,” Jiraiya said.

 

“Okay, stay safe, Sensei,” his former student replied, suddenly worrying about something happening to the only other surviving member of her old team, despite him being one of the legendary sannin.

 

“Don't worry, I will.”

 

“Now you be a good girl and don't cause any trouble for your momma,” Jiraiya said to Hinata as he gently touched her nose with the tip of his finger. Both adults laughed when Hinata went cross-eyed trying to follow the sannin's finger with her eyes.

 

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“Do you like it?”

 

“Huh? Yeah, I like it. Thanks. Sorry if I spaced out there for a minute, I was remembering the time I visited Michiko right after Hinata was born,” Jiraiya answered.

 

It was one of the few good memories Jiraiya had of those dark days, tainted only by the knowledge of what happened after he left the Hyuuga estate.

 

Guessing why Jiraiya's happy expression began to fade, Tsunade spoke, “It wasn't your fault, you know? You had no way of knowing what they were planning.”

 

“I know, but it still feels like I failed Michiko and Hinata, somehow,” Jiraiya sighed.

 

“So when are you going to tell Naruto about his parents?” Tsunade attempted to change the subject.

 

“When he turns sixteen in three months, like Minato instructed in his letter.”

 

Jiraiya began laughing drawing a perplexed look from Tsunade. “When I tell Naruto, I wonder if I should also mention Michiko wanting to adopt him after he was born. Can you imagine the look on his face when he realizes how close he came to being Hinata's brother instead of her boyfriend?”

 

At the mental image of Naruto's likely reaction, Tsunade spewed a mouthful of sake across the paperwork on her desk.

 

“Don't you dare tell him…unless I'm there with my camera.”

 

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Author's Note:

 

I am unaware of whether or not the Japanese really use middle names as we do in some Western cultures, but I'm going to use a bit of literary license to give Hinata one.