Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Way of the Jinchuuriki ❯ Arc 3, Chapter 15 - Love of a Father and Daughter ( Chapter 15 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"So that's what happened..." Hizuren sighed as he had not expected the Akatsuki to suddenly show up in the area as all the reports he received there was only Mist missing ninja there. "I commend you for completing the mission... But the moment they arrived you should have sent them home and requested your unit."

"I wasn't necessary. We both know how the Akatsuki works. After they fail at attempting a bijuu they will draw back and formulate a new plan and possibly different members to capture them and will not come after the vessel again for a long stand of time." Naruto replied in a neutral tone as he figured the Third would know that.

The said Hokage did know how they operated but that wasn't the point. "Naruto... You put your team in jeopardy for the mission..."

"Sir, with all due respect they were never in danger from them." Naruto narrowed his eyes as he knew damn well what he was doing. "If I hadn't seen Yugito put her fear aside I would have flickered to their protection. Now if you wish to continue this pointless diatribe I suggest you pull that kunai out of your ass before I shove another one in."

Sarutobi growled at Naruto's insubordination as it wasn't the point they weren't in danger. He knew damn well that Naruto would have not let them be harmed by those two. What was ticking him off was that was feverishly defending his actions and trying to bully the Hokage. And unfortunately he was one of the few people in the world that could possibly pull off such a feat...

Still Hizuren was not going to accept his jounin and head ninja's insubordination. "I know all of this Naruto but you need to learn your place! You may be the strongest in these walls but I still am your superior. You would do well not to disobey my orders."

Naruto raised his eyebrow at the old man before shrugging. "You know me, Lord Hokage. I will follow almost all of your laws and orders unless they are senseless. And I will follow them to the exact order... And you ordered them onto that mission. You knew the consequences."

Fuming as Naruto was still being defiant, this time at least he could only sigh about it though. Naruto was the closest thing to a robot there possibly was... At least he was a robot that learned how to feel and care for others and thankfully learning to become human once more.

Now Naruto was confused. The old man had began to chuckle leaving him very, very confused about what just transpired. Just as he was about to ask the Third spoke. "Naruto... Do you know that is the first time you've ever been rebellious before?"

Still looking confused as he had no clue what this was about, Hizuren wanted to bust out laughing at Naruto but calmed himself. "Never before have you ever questioned my orders. You went out and did them without much thought and here you are now, arguing about you following my orders and doing what you were told."

"I don't get it. What is this all about?" Naruto finally got annoyed enough that this was passing by his head and decided to flat out make the Third tell him... One way or another.

Hizuren only shook his head at Naruto, as some things he was rather slow, he looked at the young jounin with a bright smile. "You are finally coming out of the robotic shell I once said you had. You are becoming more human each day... I think giving you that team was the best for everyone involved."

"You may go... But please keep your disobedience at a minimum. Kakashi and Anko give me enough problems." Sarutobi chuckled as he pulled out his new pipe and lit it. "And bring the blood work to me as soon as you do the test and I'll have the papers ready if your suspicion is right."

"Thank you, old man." Naruto gave the elderly Hokage a half grin and lightly bowed before leaving the room as it was eleven at night and his team just got back only an hour before.

But still in his chair, taking a puff of his pipe, Hizuren softly chuckled to himself. "If you were anyone else Naruto you would have been severely punished... But now that you are finally returning to humanity it is almost time."

"The Godaime is almost upon us."

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"Who could be here at six in the morning...? I haven't even made any coffee yet." Haruno Yeshua complained as while he normally woke at six as he had his duties of a chunin to do he still needed coffee to fully wake up. "Oh... Lord Namikaze... What is this about?"

"I'm taking Sakura to do a blood test. I have a feeling I know who her father is and now we both want to find out for sure." Naruto informed him as he wasn't adverse to the time as he woke up at this time often, if not an hour or two before.

Yeshua looked somewhat stunned by this as Sakura came in and nearly collapsed into her bed and quickly fell asleep, he only nodded as he invited him in. "I'll go get here... Make yourself comfortable as it will take ten minutes for her to get ready."

Naruto only shrugged as he had noticed that women, no matter the age, always took longer to get ready then any male he knew. The only exception to that rule was Anko as she would just come out... Stark-naked or wearing very little clothes that left nothing to the imagination.

So deciding that he was going to have to wait at least ten minutes as he said, Naruto took a seat on their couch. Now what would he do now that he had sit? Meditation was the only thing he could think of doing at a time like this as he didn't converse with others that often, especially outside his small little family group.

"She'll be out in about five... I guess she is a hurry to get this done." Yeshua stated as he flicked his hand through his sapphire blue hair. "Do you want some coffee our something..."

"I'm fine. I'm use to waking much earlier then this. It kind of becomes a habit when you train with Gai and now his mini-clone for six years." Naruto explain why he didn't need coffee or any stimulant to wake him in the morning. There was also Kyuubi but he didn't want to say that she was part of the reason...

Yeshua could only nod his head as he knew how that man trained, being ran over by Gai once and then taken to the hospital by the said man, he entered the kitchen and set up the coffee pot as he still need some.

Naruto was somewhat grateful that the apartment wasn't that bad. Then again it was in the shinobi district so many wouldn't dare touch it as there would be no doubt they would get caught. He noted some of the stuff seemed to be a little damage or older and seemed to have came from a thrift shop, probably because they got charged extra to buy things.

Only mentally growling at that, as he could be wrong and they just liked the thrift shop, Naruto shook his head as Yeshua came out of the kitchen sipping a cup of pure black coffee and sat down on the other end. "I've heard a lot of stuff about you, Lord Namikaze..."

"You can drop the formalities. I am not one for them outside of duty, Yeshua." Naruto responded as when he was off duty he found that he didn't like to be called such.

Nearly fumbling his cup of coffee, as the Prince knew his name and practically told him to treat him as a friend, Yeshua nodded numbly. "O-Okay. ...If I may, but what is this about a blood test? Sakura hasn't told anything about this to me and she got home last night and passed out soon as she made it to her room."

"During some training exercises during a rest in the mission I found some weird traits about her that remind me... A lot of a good friend and sensei of mine." Naruto responded as there was no harm in telling him as he was Sakura's flesh and blood. "As we are now both a little curious I'm going to pay for the procedure and see what the test results are."

Surprised at this, as he knew the procedure cost more then he made in a month and that his sister's sensei was willing to dish out such money, Yeshua nodded numbly once more before he softly smiled. "Thank you... She's wanted to know who her father was as far back as I remember. Maybe this will bring her some closure..."

"Or a father." Naruto stated as that was the true reason he was paying for this test. If she truly was Gai's daughter he deserved to be in her life as the man honestly didn't have very much thanks to his past.

Raising his eyebrow as he had been told by their mother Sakura's father had died before her birth, something he did somewhat doubt, Yeshua had to ask as it seemed Naruto truly did know who it was. "So are you sure about who here father is?"

"I can't be without the test but all the signs point to him being the father." Naruto admitted as he wasn't a medic and could not be one hundred percent sure in anything that involved those kind of skills. They happened to be his one weak point.

"Could you tell me who you believe it is?" Yeshua asked as he was rather curious who he thought his sister's father was.

"Sensei told me it was a friend of his that taught him in taijutsu... Maito Gai I think his name was." Sakura said as she came out, strangely enough wearing a white version of her dress with a blue circle instead.

Naruto only raised his eyebrow at her dress but shrugged as she did have multiple versions of them and he should have suspect she had many different types. "So are you ready? I have everything set up so if we get there now we will get the results after some light training today."

"Training! We just got back from a mission and we're still going to train!" Sakura nearly screeched as the thought of training after a serious mission like the one they had just gone through was absolutely ridiculous.

"I said light, Sakura." Naruto spoke in an annoyed tone as he wasn't going to put her and the rest of his team through the blender. "I just have some things to go over with all three of you and a little practice. And after that I'm taking you three out for lunch as you performed well and deserve a small break."

Feeling better about that, Sakura sighed in relief as she hoped that was all they would be doing. Turning to her brother, she smiled and hugged him lightly. "I'll see you later tonight when you get off your shift."

Embracing her lightly, kissing her lightly on the forehead, Yeshua only shook his head. He wasn't sure what to say now that he knew she would know who her father was before the end of the day and she might move out and in with him. But there was one thing he did know. "I love sis... You have any problems just come tell me."

Sakura simply nodded as her smiled brightened, she quickly followed Naruto out the door. Chuckling at her, Yeshua took another sip of his coffee. "I hope your sensei is right... As I don't think there is another man in this village that is as trustworthy as him."

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"Ah... I was expecting you." Mikoto commented as she saw Naruto and Sakura enter the room. "I almost have everything set up so if you wouldn't mind sitting here so we can get started."

Naruto leaned up against the wall as Sakura did as Mikoto asked. He had been glad that after Sasuke became a shinobi that she took back up her old position as a medic ninja. A specialized one at that... A geneticist. He just got lucky that she actually was the one to perform the procedures and pushed some of her other less important appointments back.

"Okay, this procedure is rather simple but it is because of all the high tech specs that are involved is why it cost so much." Mikoto admitted as she strapped a tourniquet on Sakura's bicep, slightly surprised on how well toned it was. "All I'm going to do here is take two vials of blood from you and then you are free to go."

"What's the second vial for, Miss Uchiha? Isn't one more then enough for this?" Sakura asked as politely as she could knowing this was Sasuke's mother having seen her from time to time.

Checking the syringe to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary, Mikoto smiled as she looked over at Sakura. "Yes, one is enough to find out who your father is. The second is in case of an accident and so I can keep it on record in case I need to look at it again for something."

"Oh." Sakura could only say as she understood before she braced herself as Mikoto began tracing the vein to make sure she had a good one before she stuck her.

Drawing two vials of blood and setting them onto a small rack, she softly pulled the syringe free before her other hand glowed a soft green and quickly attached the vein back as it was and covered the hole before finally removing the tourniquet. "There! All done! I should have the test done somewhere around two to three if I'm not interrupted."

Sakura had watched in awe as she saw Mikoto quickly heal the damage the syringe had caused. Any doctors and medics she knew before would simply put a dressing over it and let them be on her way. "What... What was that you used?"

Frowning as it seemed Sakura had no clue what it was she had just done, Mikoto erased the frown with a bright smile. "It known as medical jutsu. Most people are unable to do it as it requires complete focus and near perfect chakra control."

Naruto couldn't repress his smirk. This was working better then he thought as Sakura's interest rose exponentially as she had always want to become a medical ninja. And seeing her look over towards him, he hid his grin as she spoke. "Sensei... Do you know any medical jutsu?"

"Sorry, but no. I don't have the control for such a thing due to my massive reserves of chakra." Naruto told the girl letting it sink in for a moment before speaking again. "However if you want to learn, you can. Your control is already extremely impressive so you might be able to."

Mikoto narrowed her eyes towards Naruto as she had a feeling of what he was trying to pull. He was somehow trying to wrangle her into being a teacher to this girl for medical... She quickly had a change of heart. "You know, that isn't a bad idea. As I said before our numbers are low and while have more then enough to take care of the injuries that happen here we lack in field medics."

Sakura's head was whirling around as she caught wind of what was going. Not missing a beat, she got of the stool and bowed towards Mikoto. "I want to learn how to become a medic. It is my goal to become a medical ninja and not only help my friends and family but everyone I can!"

Barely repressing her grin, seeing Naruto was doing no better, Mikoto looked at Sakura for a little while longer with her Sharingan active before slightly nodding. "Fine, I'll see what you got. I want you here at six tomorrow morning as that the most free time I have in a normal day."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Sakura rapidly stated and jumped up in joy as she had a chance to follow her dream. "I'll be on time, no doubt!"

Biting back the giggle she was repressing, Naruto motioned for Sakura and waved her goodbye before the two exited. Soon as they left, she busted out laughing. That was too humorous for her.

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"Oh come on!" Sasuke was a 'little' annoyed at being called in by Naruto for a training session though he had to wonder why he called here in the library. "Seriously, I thought we are going to get a break for a few days! We aren't some super soldiers that you can just push to the limit every day!"

"Sasuke, shut up." Sakura twitched as she was somewhat annoyed at Sasuke complaining and felt like she was ready to punch him for some reason, probably because he was interrupting her reading. "Sensei has a good reason for bringing us out here today and we aren't really even going to be doing any training."

Sasuke's jaw dropped. Did Sakura just tell him off? That was something that would have never happened two months ago. He wasn't sure if he liked this change or not as there was so many possibilities. However that was when he noticed... "Why are you reading that? That's the things perverts read."

"What are you...? Oh." Sakura was about to question before she noted she was holding the second of the series of Icha Icha. "I liked the first book so much that I stole the second one from the same guy as I actually kind of like the plot twists and everything. The smut is okay but the author makes a great story overall."

"You stole two of Kakashi's precious books... Are you secretly a jounin without me knowing?" Naruto had to ask as there was almost no one that could steal one of those books from Kakashi and she had done it twice without him even noticing.

Sakura blushed deeply and buried her head into the red book, hoping to find some escape from it. Thankfully after a few words she was blissfully unaware of the world around her.

Both Naruto and Sasuke took a step back from how quickly she was able to absorb herself into the book. Neither of them knew if this was a good thing but they weren't going to question it. They simply hoped that she wasn't going to turn into an open pervert and/or Anko... Something Naruto feared as Anko was one of the few women he knew to read those books in public despite her disdain towards Jiraiya for writing them.

Ignoring Anko's weird personality conflicts, Naruto shook his head out of his funk and noted Kerlya was almost being dragged to them by Ralts... Who seemed determined not to get punished again for being late as Naruto hadn't just punished his partner.

Smirking at this, he only shook his head as her partner bit Kerlya on the ear before she jumped up and screamed. "Ralts! What the hell was that...? Uh-oh."

"You're not late, if that is what you are thinking." Naruto told her with his light smirk plastered on his face. "In fact you're just a few minutes early so we can start early."

As both Sasuke and Kerlya dreaded starting early, Naruto rolled his eyes at them before bonking them both on the head, lightly of course. "We aren't going to be physically training today. ...I'll be teaching you a little in seals until around lunch time."

"You have a date with Yugito, don't you?" Sasuke snickered as he quickly recovered from the hit and knew that the two were now an 'official' couple.

Naruto did nothing in response other then continue on with his announcement to his team. "But first off I have good news. The chunin exams are at the end of next month so we have about fifty days before then. Since I've gotten Sasuke instated as an elite gennin you three will be taking apart of the exam. I have also filed for you to be enlisted as an elite as well, Kerlya. However I doubt you will receive the ranking but nonetheless I tried."

"Wait, why didn't you enlist me sensei?" Sakura rudely commented as she was somewhat upset that Naruto had not put her name into the list.

The blonde vessel only smiled at her, something that was bothering the three as he rarely ever smiled, he rolled a scroll in front of her. "Because I already have. Congratulations! Now since you will be taking medical lessons from Mikoto you are now a ranked elite gennin as medics are in dire demand and as such the Third recognized you as such."

As Sakura leapt up in joy, getting a shush from the librarian as she was being too loud, both Sasuke and Kerlya looked at Sakura in slight shock. Kerlya was somewhat upset that Sakura got accepted, albeit on technicality as she was learning to be a medic, and she wasn't. Sasuke... Sasuke was just surprised.

"Anyways..." Naruto brought them out of their stupor and Sakura to her seat. "This next month in half will be split into two sections of your training to round you out as a team. Sasuke, you will be going through ninjutsu and then taijutsu. Kerlya, I will have you going through kenjutsu..."

"Weaponry training?" Kerlya frowned as she heard this as they all thought they were going to be going through a cycle. "I thought we were going to be learning taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu from you."

"I never said that." Naruto reprimanded her with a stare as he wasn't finished. "I said I would cycle you through three aspects that you will benefit the most from. I never once said that I would be cycling through the big three as there are far more elements to being a ninja then those."

Kerlya blushed at being corrected as Sakura and Sasuke only nodded. Taking this as a sign he wouldn't be interrupted again, he hoped, Naruto continued with his schedule. "And after kenjutsu I will have you go through taijutsu. Sakura this will be our first lesson actually as you will be going into sealing and then ninjutsu."

"Also we won't start any serious training till next week. After tomorrow we'll be meeting at our normal site for nature manipulation." Naruto began to wind up his announcements and start their session. "And one last thing... You will need to find a tutor for additional training outside of my own. You may use your own families and Sakura I already know you have one, maybe two once we see the test results."

As both Kerlya and Sasuke were going to ask about it, Naruto simply glanced at them to let them know to drop it. Then picking up a single scroll before him, he unraveled it before them. "We first are going to learn about storage seals... As you three need to learn them badly."

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Almo st wanting to drop his head into the stand before him, Naruto rubbed his temple. Of course Yugito was rubbing his shoulder and telling him it would all be over soon. He didn't believe her though. He didn't think the damn blonde haired banshee would shut up!

"Oh Sasuke..." Ino winked as she somehow managed to steal the seat next to him, something Naruto was wondering as that was his seat. "What you been doing?"

"Training." Sasuke nonchalantly stated with a twitching eyebrow as it seemed Ino was in a more fervent mode then normal and that was not good in his opinion. What was even worse was that she managed to knock Naruto out of the chair and forced him to relocate on the other side of Yugito...

And that scared him.

Frowning as she wanted to know a little more about her (not so secret) crush, Ino gently pushed on his shoulder. "Come on... You can tell me more... Wait, your not dating Sakura are you?!"

As Sasuke huffed, though the thought seemed appealing now that she was very strong and no longer fixed on him, Sakura rolled her eyes as she sat two seats away and took a bite of her ramen as she kept reading. "I stopped crushing after him after a few weeks of training. We don't have that much in common and we have different mind sets."

Widening her mouth in shock, not believing what she heard Sakura said while Kerlya giggled, Ino looked at Sakura as if she had a second head. Then she thought she had a third head because of what she was reading. "SAKURA! WHY ARE YOU READING THAT SMUT?!"

"This isn't smut... It's a piece of art." Sakura countered as she flipped through a page without missing a beat. "It has great advice on relationships and dating material along with many other wonderful aspects to it. I'm surprised so many women hate this book. The author is a genius as he disguises the book as smut to give guys relationship pointers."

"What?" Came from Yugito's mouth with her mouth agape in horror as it was simply too baffling to realize that was what Icha was about. "That doesn't make any sense! That man is always peeping around at the bath houses for research!"

"It's a cover, Yugito." Naruto tried to calm her down as he knew Jiraiya pretty well and while he didn't agree with his tactics they were affective. "While he does enjoy that aspect of his writing as it gives him pointers on his female leads, the man knows a thing or two about courting women... Now if he would just practice it instead of peeping maybe he wouldn't be so lonely."

While no one else got that reference as they did not know who Jiraiya was Yugito busted out laughing. Naruto had a great point as she knew the man complained out not getting laid despite knowing what he needed to do. He was really the world's greatest retard and still was the world's reigning champion.

Ignoring the two jounin, Ino turned her gaze back towards Sasuke with a wicked smile. "So Sasuke... Would you like to try some of those things out in that book?"

Sasuke spit out the ramen in his mouth. Then he shivered. That was the most direct any girl had ever been with him before. Now he was completely sure what she was after. "No... Ino, I'm twelve! I don't even care about sexual intercourse yet! I'm not even really into girl's that much as I'm still just a kid! That stuff comes later in life."

"Hey girl... You want some advice." Yugito stated as she in her stool and gave her an annoyed glance as Ino simply nodded. "Stop being so aggressive about courting him. Most men don't like it and Sasuke is definitely not like his brother in that aspect. Most guys like to be the dominant one in the relationship so stalking him and constantly fawning for his affection is a turn off."

As Sasuke glared at Yugito for giving her any information on how to bag him, something he wondered how she knew, the neko vessel only smiled as it seemed Ino was absorbing what she was saying. "There is also another fact... Sasuke is a ninja and most ninja prefer there spouse or girlfriend to be as well. And while you wear that headband does not mean you have taken the job seriously yet as he has. ...Do that before anything else and maybe he'll start to acknowledge you."

Ino's eyes went wide at the revelations that came from the other blonde girl's mouth. Was that truly the case? Then did that mean... Did that mean she would have train harder and become a better kunoichi?

"Oh, and by the way... Sasuke did ask Sakura out a few weeks ago because she began doing all those things. The funny part is she was no longer interested and she actually turned him down stating 'While I'm honored, I'm no longer interested. I just want to get home, crawl into my bed and crash for the rest of the day'." Yugito added with some humor as she had been their sensei for that day as Naruto was out on a S-class mission.

Sasuke was now at a full blush as that had been the first time he ever decided to ask a girl out and was shot down in a blaze of failure. "Don't remind me..."

Looking at Sasuke in a new light then she did before, realizing there was something far deeper then there was before, Ino quietly slipped out of her chair. She had training to do if she was going to have any chance with Sasuke if he had already asked Sakura out, though he failed.

However as she was about to leave her eyes twitched as the bush was shaking. At first she thought it was some of Sasuke's fan girls before she heard a familiar voice. "Um... You have some visitors here blondie."

As Naruto twitched at the nickname as no one called him that before, Yugito bit her lip to keep from laughing before she shrugged her shoulders. "We know. They've been there for a while now..."

"For nineteen minutes to be exact." Naruto commented as he slurped down what was left of his ramen. "But I will have to give them some credit. They've been somewhat stealthy and patient up until now. I think it mainly was because of the Hyuuga and the weapon girl."

Both screamed out as they had been discovered and fled in terror, for some odd reason, Naruto twitched his eye and turned to Sasuke. "How do you deal with them?"

Grinning as for once he knew something that his sensei didn't, Sasuke simply shrugged as he was going to keep this a secret for a while...

Until Naruto decided to roast his ass for that information.

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It was finally time and Sakura was a little nervous.

They didn't even bother to meet with Mikoto as she had informed Naruto that she had already sent the information to the Third Hokage. Her brother was there in the office with her, called off duty by Hizuren personally, so he could be there with his sister. Both Sasuke and Kerlya were there for support as well once she informed them what this was about.

Meeting her father for the first time was a rather nerve wrecking experience.

It also didn't help her that the Third was keeping who it was under wraps as he wanted to make this as surprising as possible. Of course Naruto already knew as he could read the name on the document from the reflection in the windows behind the Third. But he was just there for her support as well.

"He should be here any moment... I hope." Sarutobi stated as he had sent Kakashi to inform him and he pleaded to the gods that he didn't stall the man for the next few hours.

His prayers were actually answered for once as the door opened to reveal Gai with Kakashi trailing him. "This better be good Kakashi... I don't like missing out in shining in the POWER OF MY YOUTHFUL TEAM!"

As everyone cleared out their ears from such a violent verbal explosion, Hizuren chuckled as he knew Gai very well. "I assure you Gai this is important enough to let your team have the rest of the day off."

Standing a little straighter then normal as he noticed the rest of the company in the room, mostly Naruto and Yugito, Gai simply nodded as this might not be very good. Then again his team was here so this obviously wasn't an extreme mission assignment. "Yes Lord Hokage. What is it that you have brought me here today?"

"It is something that you asked me about twelve years or so ago, a little after Kyuubi's attack I believe." The Third told the azure beast as he hoped that would be enough to jog his jounin's memory. He knew Gai wasn't dumb, like he tried to act, and he would catch the hint.

Gai was standing even straighter then before. He knew all too well what the Hokage was insinuating. Twelve years ago after Kyuubi's attack... He had asked to see if any of the orphans happened to be his child as he received a letter from an unknown source that he had a child, not remembering having being with someone nine months before, probably because it was around his birthday and he was hammered at the time. The Third did everything he could at the time but it was to no avail.

"Yes... I remember. But why now after all this time have you brought this up." Gai kept his voice normal despite his very soul was trembling as he really hoped that this wasn't leading down the path he thought it was.

Not many people knew it but he had a very traumatic childhood. At the age of three he lost both of his parents in the war at the time on the same day. A year late his grandmother was next as old age finally took its course and his grandfather had past away long before he was born. So he grew up as an orphan as his father's grand parents had past away when he was one.

While he got to play with other children, he was scared that he lost everything so quickly and at a young age. He just couldn't understand it and so he couldn't enjoy playing with the others which left him ostracized from the others and they made fun of him and bullied him. He nearly did not become a ninja because of all their taunting but he still managed.

That was probably why he emphasized with Naruto due to how the others treated him. But even when he became a gennin his teacher wasn't exactly the nicest person to him and told him to quit on multiple occasions.

It was then he started developing his joyful and never die facade that he displayed to the entire world and he finally began to blossom into the man he was today by pure hard work and dedication. Only his closest friend's, three of which were in the very room, knew it wasn't the real him and he would show the true him around.

But if this was leading to what he thought it was, he wouldn't be able to keep his mask on any longer. If he actually had a child then and that child had passed away... He would never be able to forgive himself for not finding them sooner.

"Gai." The Third snapped the man out of his thought track, knowing what was going through his head, the Hokage softly smiled at him. "I know this is twelve years too late... But I would like to formally introduce you to your daughter, Sakura."

For the first time in Gai's that he truly broke down and began to cry. Not only did he finally get to meet his child, he knew she hadn't grown up alone and was safe and sound. It was too much for him to take as tears began to fall freely.

Just seeing the damn began to break, Sakura knew how much this meant to the man. He had been looking for her all this time and had not been able to find her as her blood had not been on file until recently thanks to her few injuries during training and the blood test. He wanted to find her... He wanted to be with her.

As both were beginning to break down, Yeshua sadly smiled as knelt down and whispered into his sister's ear. "Go to him..."

While it hurt that he was letting his sister go, he had to some day. She was a ninja now and there was the possibility that he could lose her at any moment. But at least now... She had someone to look up to as a father figure... Her real father, someone they had been trying to find.

Everyone moved out of her way to create her a path as Sakura rushed to Gai as he fell onto his knees and embraced her, crying loud enough for people outside the room to hear them. Neither could say a word, as they didn't know what to say, but instead cried in one another's arms.

The rest of the room had a tear in their eyes as they saw this. A father and his daughter finally being united after twelve years without knowing the other even existed or was alive. It brought a tear to all but one eye.

Naruto couldn't cry. That was probably why his mind was like a sewer but nonetheless. He was simply satisfied by what he done. Not only did he find his student's father... He gave his best friend the one thing he had been wanting for years.

To be a father.

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"You know... That was a great thing you did." Yugito softly spoke as they had finished cleaning up and were currently in their joined room. "I've never seen Gai so ecstatic and emotional about something... Not even his mask could have matched that sheer amount of emotion."

Naruto smiled. There was nothing else he really could do about the situation. All he could say was that he felt rather good about the entire thing. However he wasn't one to toot his own horn so he simply wasn't going to respond to the first half of what she said. "It is good to see him drop his facade like that. Hopefully now he'll be like his true self more often now."

Slightly frowning as Naruto would not admit he did something great, Yugito could only shrug as that she understood well. He didn't accept it as he practically had no ego and wanted nothing that could feed it. "Still... You did a great thing in bring them together. I didn't know you could play match maker so well! Maybe we'll work out after all!"

Twitching at her chirp, Naruto simply glanced over at the innocent looking Yugito. "Uniting a long lost father with his estranged daughter is completely different from getting a couple together. Besides, what about your advice to the ponytail girl? Do you enjoy playing match maker?"

"Yep!" Yugito chirped once more and Naruto face faulted onto his bed.

But as he looked up to say something to her, her lips brushed against his completely freezing him as they briefly kissed. "I've watched you give Anko advice for it too long and decided to get into the game myself. Now if I could just catch the big game..."

Naruto completely recovered from her kiss and was unfazed as he sat up; he shook his head at his roommate. "As the wise Zen master said, we'll see."

"That we will, that we will."  Yugito could only nod as she moved to her bed and slipped in before smiling over at Naruto as he did the same as a clone of his turned out the lights. "Good night..."

"My wonderful fox-boy." She trailed off ever so quietly as to make sure even Naruto couldn't hear her.

"And to you, Yugito." Naruto mumbled to himself, having just heard her.
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