Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mended Hearts ❯ Records ( Chapter 17 )

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I did, but I don't.

 

Original Summary: AU Naruto hides many secrets from Konohagakure no Sato. As time continues, Naruto's precious people learn the hard way that many secrets are best left untouched, and that Naruto is not at all what they believed.

 

New Summary: AU Beginning and ending with his name, Naruto's past is veiled in mystery. Even as Kakashi teaches him the meaning of affection and love, Naruto's secrets come into the open, and it falls to Naruto's precious people to protect and support him as his father's name and legacy threatens to crush him and destroy the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Chapter 17: Records~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Naruto woke to the sensation of a warm body pressed against his backside. He turned and opened his eyes to find Kakashi with his head on his hand, smiling at him.

 

“Good morning, koishii,” the jounin murmured as he leaned down to steal a kiss.

 

Naruto closed his eyes as they parted, and snuggled closer to Kakashi. “Mmm,” he muttered.

 

Kakashi chuckled and ran his fingers through silken golden strands. “It's time to get up, Naruto…”

 

“Hnn,” golden strands shifted as Naruto shook his head.

 

Kakashi's smile widened. Naruto just gets cuter and cuter every time I see him, he thought. “It's half past noon, Naruto,” he said, “Don't you have a meeting with Tsunade at one?”

 

“Screw Tsunade,” Naruto muttered, wrapping his arms around Kakashi's waist and burying his head against his chest, “Rather stay here.”

 

Kakashi rolled his eyes (he was grinning by now) and said calmly, “It's your funeral…” and vanished in a puff of smoke.

 

Naruto sat up and glared at the pale figure leaning against the wall, naked as the day he was born. “You were a lot more fun when I was still a genin.”

 

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. “I don't think you were ever a genin at all, Naruto.”

 

“Now that's just mean,” Naruto pouted. “Wasn't I a part of Team 7, however short lived it was?”

 

Kakashi laughed. “Alright, get up; you're going to be late.”

 

Naruto rolled his eyes and dragged his sore body out of bed, grumbling all the while. He went into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door, and got in the shower. Not long after, he found himself pulled against a toned chest under the hot spray as hungry lips captured his own and deft hands ran over his skin.

 

“I thought you said we were going to be late?” Naruto said, after they parted.

 

Kakashi smiled, his eyes taking in the pale skin, flushed from the hot water and desire. “Well, it's faster this way,” he said lightly.

 

“You…” Naruto shook his head, smiling slightly.

 

Several minutes later, the two nin stepped out of the shower with bruised lips and several new love bites, and quickly set to work getting dressed. Once both were fully dressed and equipped, the two nin shared another kiss and vanished in puffs of smoke.

 

They reappeared at training ground 7 and parted ways, Kakashi to pick up his newest genin team, and Naruto to the Hokage Tower.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“Kazuki was given into the custody of the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, both of which bear dojutsu descended from the All-Seeing-Eye borne by the Yondaime's clan. Both clans took their pride from being trusted to raise the Yondaime's legacy and no one but I knew his secret. Once a year, Kazuki was passed between clans, and one day on his second birthday, by sheer chance, Hyuuga Jin discovered the secret and the Hyuuga cast him out. The Uchiha, in a show of absolutely loyalty, adhered to the Yondaime's last wish for Kazuki, took him in and raised him until his fourth birthday, after which, Kazuki was sent to the apartment secured by the Yondaime for his use.

 

The year that passed was more than enough for Kazuki to endure hardships that no child should have to endure, and according to the Yondaime's wishes, I kept my distance. Three days after his fifth birthday, Kazuki displayed skills beyond that of a child his age, and as the Yondaime and his sister predicted, he was taken as an apprentice of the Hunters.

 

The years passed, and on the night of his seventh birthday, Kazuki was initiated as a fully fledged Hunter Ninja. Within four months, he became the most feared of Konoha's Hunters, and by the time he was nine, there was no sign of the boisterous child who had declared to the world that he would follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, when we inquired about his dream, Kazuki simply answered, “To know why my father saved this village, and then to die.” It was a dream that worried me, but by then, he had made over two hundred kills, a little over a quarter of which had been our own ninja who had defected or had gone mad.

 

To combat the instability that often came with such a bloody lifestyle, I gave Kazuki an indefinite S rank mission, to infiltrate the Ninja Academy and to watch one Uchiha Sasuke without revealing his identity or the extent of his skills. Slowly, throughout his time in the Academy, I noted that he was slowly withdrawing into himself, until he came in contact with one Umino Iruka. After that one brief moment, it seemed that the child that he had been shone through, even though it vanished afterward, and so, I assigned him to the care of Umino Iruka. As the years passed, one could see the improvement, and by the time the genin exams came about, Kazuki had begun to experience life as a child does, and though there was still that part of him that was sealed off, he trusted Iruka unconditionally.

 

Iruka came to me, being worried about the smell of blood that clings to Kazuki' skin… He knows that Kazuki is not what he seems, that he leads a life outside that of an Academy Student, and despite that, still worries for him. Any other person would have turned their backs, but Iruka stands there still, watching him, worrying for him. I think, if Kazuki-kun were to reveal himself to Iruka, the bond between them would strengthen, rather than break…”

 

Tsunade frowned as she looked up from the scroll. She turned her eyes out the window toward the Hokage Monument, and murmured, “What is going on? This sounds like Naruto's history, but the name is not his… Sarutobi sensei…”

 

“An ambassador from Hidden Cloud noticed Kazuki today. I hope that the resemblance to Arashi will be ignored due to the rumor that Jiraiya had circulated twelve years ago about the death of the last Kazama. If not, then I fear that neither the Hunters of Konoha nor the Kyuubi can save Kazuki from the assassins of Cloud and Stone…

 

On the other hand, Jiraiya has given me news that adds to my unease. I had hoped to reveal Kazuki during the Chunin Exams, but if what Jiraiya has told me is true, then it's not safe for him… I only hope that if Hidden Sound does invade Konoha that no harm will come to Iruka. He and I are Kazuki's only anchor to Konoha at this time, and if both of us were to fall, there may not be any guarantee that his affection for the Hunters that raised him or his respect for Kakashi will bind him to guard Konoha…”

 

Shizune set a cup of tea beside Tsunade and a stack of papers in front of her. “Find anything of interest, Tsunade-sama?”

 

Tsunade glanced at the dark haired woman and said, “This entire scroll relates the history of a child who doesn't exist. The strange thing is that I recognize some of these events, it's all in the sealed records, but the name that Sarutobi-sensei put down is different. The thing is that not once does sensei note the boy's heritage, but he hints at it. I know the boy, very well in fact… But the Sandaime's records…”

 

“It makes you doubt how well you know this person?” Shizune guessed.

 

Tsunade nodded. She turned to look out the window once more and said, “What is being hidden and why? His safety is paramount if what sensei hinted at is true, but why all the secrecy? To my knowledge, there is no heir to Arashi's bloodline, but sensei's records give the impression that the bloodline does exist, despite the rumors. Does Jiraiya know? And what about him?”

 

She sighed, rubbing her temples. Wordlessly, she picked up the cup and sipped from it. The office door opened, and unnoticed, a scrap of paper on the windowsill flew out of the office.

 

Briefly, the words, “Look to the Sandaime's records,” could be read before the scrap flew out the window and was carried away by the wind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CSA Version 7 Mended Hearts What Are You Hiding?