2 of 3
that is as far as that one got so yeah then there's this it's like five years old i think i have no idea
"Naruto…"
Someone was calling him, softly and kindly. It was a dream. It had to be. No-one except the Hokage had ever spoken to him like that--and it was most defiantly not the Hokage's voice. It had a higher pitch, and was much more clear then the gruff voice that belonged to the Sandaime.
The small hope--the small dream that he hoped for oh so much rose up and gave way.
"Kaa-san…?" his voice was small, and weak. His throat still hurt some--which was strange because he had thought his throat had healed almost automatically.
The voice was quiet. "I'm sorry."
The dream broke. His eyes opened as he looked to his side, staring at the woman--no, not even there yet, more like teenager--sitting at his side. She had long hair, dangling over her shoulder somewhat, that was a calming honey color with pretty sea-green eyes and the kindest smile he ever saw.
"Who are you," he gasped out, reaching a hand up to his throat. It was still raw. A flicker or…something flashed across her face. Something dangerous. But, just as quickly as he saw it, it had disappeared.
She gave a small smile, before hopping in her seat. "You can call me Hanae."
"Han…eh?" he sounded out slowly. She nodded, still bouncing.
"I'm gonna be your caretaker for awhile."
Even though she sounded happy by the fact, the hidden tone gave away something. He still couldn't place what it was. Naruto blinked, before pulling himself up in the hospital bed, looking around the white cloth room.
"Like a…" he tried, carefully. "Like a…mom?"
Another flicker. "Yup!" Hanae gave an even wider smile. "I mean," her face faulted, "If you'd like."
He could feel the Hokage's presence outside of the door, could even see his wide brim hat through the thing window. Hanae didn't even seem to notice--even though the hi-ate slung around her neck showed that she should have. She was still smiling at him--and even though it screamed that it was genuine, part of him felt like it was fake.
An older child, a more experience person would have shaken his head and left.
Naruto was six years old, and while he had a hard life, he was still stuck on the simple hope that there were people in the world that would like him for him.
"Could I…" he didn't want to ruin it, didn't want to question it, "Could I call you…Kaa-san?"
Hanae blinked, her jaw tightening just a little, before she nodded. "I'd like it if you did."
-
Naruto woke up and lied still, wondering why he had woken up so suddenly.
Something creaked as he evened out his breathing and peeked towards his bedroom door, breath catching as a hand raised and the light reflect off of a sharp metal service before it started its descent.
It only made it half way before the hand started to tremble.
He knew why he had woken up. It had been for the same reason he had woken up in the middle of the night for the past two months, watching the figure enter his bedroom and raise the sharp edged object into the air, before sending it crashing down and catching it half way down. The first few times, he had though it was a bad dream--Hanae's right in the next room, I'll be fine--but it just kept happening, and happening, and happening.
Hanae, like usually, slipped the kunai back into it's holster and stumbled out of the room.
-
He'd catch her staring out the window sometimes, gripping the railing so tight it looked like it was going to crack. She'd mutter things under her breath, before looking towards the mountains and whispering 'what should I do?'
-
"What'd cha do in class today, Naruto?" asked Hanae at promptly 3:41, moving the rag in her hand in a circular motion on the plate, around and around, and around.
"I drew," Naruto responded promptly at 3:43. Hanae looked over her shoulder. Naruto dug in his backpack, before pulling out a white piece of paper filled with cruel scribbles. Hanae blinked, before setting down the plate, stripping the gloves off and coming around to look at it. "See?" he questioned, pointing towards the crudely drawn orange, blue and yellow figure. "That's me."
It was. Three black marks on either side of the drawings face confirmed it.
"And who's that?" Hanae questioned, pointing towards the other figure. It had long string brown hair with green dots for eyes--it's long stick arm connected with the smaller Naruto-type figure.
"It's Kaa-san, duh," Naruto said, before shoving it aside and pulling out a blank paper. "They asked us to draw our favorite person."
Hanae just stared. Stared, and stared, and stared at the piece of paper, before picking it up gingerly and looking it over again.
"And…" she said quietly. "You drew…me?"
Naruto gave a sharp nod as Hanae gave a half-breath. "You know," she continued on. "I remember when they asked me to do this. I drew my parents. You know what they did when I showed it to them?"
The boy shook his head. Hanae frowned. "They tore it up and threw it away--before complaining about why I was drawing instead of practicing."
A pang of realization hit her through her head. You're not good enough--You'll never be good enough. Try harder or stop completely. Was that was she was forcing on...
Naruto's eyes widened, before he made an attempt to grab it. Hanae gently moved it out of the way, before giving a laugh. This time, as always, it felt genuine. But there was no underneath tone of something he didn't understand. She was genuinely happy with the drawing, a wide smile on her face and everything. She moved towards the window, and leaned back on the sill, before looking out the open space, still gripping the drawing in her hands.
Her eyes trailed something in the distance, before glancing back at him and biting her lip.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun," she said, her voice light, dancing from the window back into the kitchen. Naruto lit up at the honorific that she used for the first time. "I'm not going to do that."
She made her way over to the fridge, before staring at the empty white. Reaching into a nearby drawer, she drew out a magnet and attached it and the drawing to the fridge. Something my parents never did. Something he did. Once.
"You know what, Naruto-kun?" she questioned, looking over her shoulder.
"What?" Naruto questioned, still slightly scared for his drawing.
"I think I'm gonna start changing somethings around here, alright?"
-
Naruto woke up, and lied still, wondering why he woke up in the first place.
His bedroom door creaked open and a figure stood in the doorway, shrouded in the dark before it made it's way towards him and perched itself on the edge of the bed lightly.
"Naruto…" the figure said quietly, voice barely audible. "I'm really sorry."
For what?
"For everything," she continued on, shifting on the covers. "For treating you the way my parents treated me--cold and distant. I just wanted to get rid of you, at first. And you just remind me a lot...But…I realize now that…I really do like you, Naruto. I really do…" she struggled, almost clawing at her throat, "l-love you…" she stuttered.
Naruto bit back a twitch. Love. Love. She-she loved him.
"I'll make it better," she said louder, thumping her fist against the mattress. "I swear I will. I'll help you every step of the way and support you in anyway I can."
The weight lifted, before she stood up shakily, and drew a hand across her face, laughing to herself.
"He would have never wanted this for you," she said, just before leaving the room. "Never."
The door closed.
-
"Naruto-kun," Hanae called from her room, the sound of metal clacking together coming from it. "Have you seen my kunai holster? Could have sworn I left it on…"
Naruto gulped down the rest of his ramen, before dropping the styrofoam and wooded chopsticks into the garbage. Carefully, he lowered himself under the table, giggling to himself as he held the beige pouch in his hands. Hanae's footsteps pounded into the family room, then his room, before coming into the kitchen.
She pulled a face, before sighing. "Oh, where could Naruto be!? It seems his ninja skills are so much more impressive then mine--but oh wait! Could it be…he's under the table?! I must investigate!"
Naruto whined as she leaned down and made a 'give it here' gesture with her hand. "Hand it over."
"Do you have to leave?" he whined, handing over the beige pouch. She gave a rueful smile.
"I'm afraid I do." He pulled his face down into a watery frown.
"But…why?! You never had to before!"
"Naruto," she said slowly, before sitting down on the floor. "We've been together…almost a year, right?" He nodded. "Well," she continued, "You're going to be enter academy soon, so I need to start earning some extra money--which means I need to start taking on missions again. Everything that was left over from my parents is draining, quickly. I'm just going to run to Suna for awhile and protect this person, before I head right back."
Naruto sniffed, before wiping his face with the back of his hand. "Hanae-chan," he said, voice still wavering. "Is it gonna be hard?"
Hanae sighed. "It shouldn't be, Naruto-kun. Remember what I told you before? This should be simple for me--just because I've been demoted back to chuunin doesn't mean I don't have just as much experience as all those high-class jounin."
"But-"
She pressed a finger against his mouth. "Look. It works out wonderfully both ways. We get the money, you can get into the academy no problem, and I start building my way back to where I was. It's not going to be any different from normal."
"What if…what if I get lonely or something…" he trailed off, before slumping on the floor. Hanae smiled.
"What about all your plants?" the house was literally covered in them. And that was after they gave the Hokage about a third of them. Speaking of him… "And if you ever get super lonely, you can go and see the Hokage. How's that?"
He still didn't look convinced. Hanae sighed, before picking him up in her arms, cradling him against her side. He scowled and scratched at the green vest that got in the way of her neck. It was a harsh change from the yellow sundress and grey cardigan that she usually wore.
Instead, she was decked out in standard gear--green vest, and blue full body leotard with the edges wrapped in white bandages. Her long hair was pulled back in a bun with some of the edges fraying out. The worst change that he could see, though, was the change in location of her hi-ate. Instead of her neck, it was now snuggly pulled around her forehead, protecting her head from any harm.
"I'll be back before you know it. I know you can handle this." Naruto glared at her. She tried to ignore it. "And when I get back? I'll train with you for as long as you want, and then take you out from ramen. How's that sound."
He glared and then looked away. She felt her face fall slightly. Have…Have I been doing something wrong? Does every child do this? Is it because I'm being a bad parent--I'm sorry! I'm trying for you-
"Fine," he bit out, before pointing towards her and shouting at the top of his lungs, "but if you don't come back I'm going to take all your bras and hand them out to our neighbors!"
It made her feel a bit better.
-
"This is NOT what I was expecting!" she grumbled under her breath.
Hanae ducked underneath the sword, before vaulting back up, against the dead tree and throwing the three shurikan in her hand. Only one hit their mark, skimming the covered skin of the black covered ninja.
Her teammates were divided, one injured, the other trying to heal him, and she was failing fast.
"I guess I should have gotten a clue when the fricken' ANBU came after us," she muttered to herself before clasping her hands together and charging her chakra. It was still weak, but if she concentrated enough. Her fingers twisted around the proper movements, before she slammed a hand into the loose ground. It wouldn't work as efficiently as it should have, but it'd have to do.
"Earth Style: Total Immersion Technique!" she shouted, watching as the sand dropped away and sucked down one of the two enemies into one of her personalize jutsu. She had to work around normal jutsu's because of her chakra system. Like she predicted, it was sluggish, as the style tried to adapt to the sand, instead of solid earth like it was used to.
She waited for a second, watching as the sand trembled, before laying still. It took three chuunin to take down the fairly standard missing nin (admittedly, she was really out of practice).
"You alright?" Hanae asked, hopping over towards the bleeding captain and the struggling medic. The medic looked panicked at all the sand seeping into the would, but the captain's face kept still.
"I'll be fine once I get out of this sun," the captain said ruefully. Even the medic cracked a smile at that.
"Well, you'll defiantly live, Kara-taicho," the medic said, smiling towards the bleeding girl.
"Great," Kara-taicho drawled, before blinking. "Where's the ANBU?"
Hanae winced, before leaning on the balls of her feet, and surveying the empty space. Narrowing her eyes, she gestured towards the area in front of her. "I think…I see them. But, from this distance and with the heat, it's hard to tell. I think they're still going at it."
"Can you help him?" Kara said seriously. "We want him alive so we can ask questions."
"Hai, Kara-taicho. And the lord is still in that cave we left him in," Hanae said, before pulling out the slightly dull kunai's out of the ground and packing them in her pouch.
Kara nodded. "We'll go check on him in a second. Go."
Hanae nodded, before taking off, wishing there were more trees in the outskirts of Suna, instead of just the sinking sand. Putting more chakra into the balls of her feet, she leapt into the air, before taking three of the kunai and grasping them in her hand.
"Need help?" she said flatly, as she landed besides the mask covered nin. His head turned over his shoulder as she gave him a quick once over, wincing at the large gash across his chest.
His voice was muffled by the mask as he lifted an arm and pointed towards the smaller ninja leaning on his knees. "He's fast--but I suspect he's using a teleportation technique."
"Pointers?" she said, keeping her eyes straight. The wind picked up, blowing the ANBU's silver hair clean of sand.
"Besides try to be faster? None. A chuunin wouldn't be able to…" he trailed off at her fiercely indigent look.
"What? You think just because I'm a chuunin I can't do it?"
"Not like that," he retracted. "It's just, I'm already one of the fastest--I just don't want to take a risk."
Hanae twisted her face. "I understand. But I have a technique--"
"Total Immersion," he cut her off. She narrowed her eyes.
"How-"
"I saw you preform it over there--and only one other person I know does it like that. Koneko." She made a face, a mix between anger and annoyance.
"I generally went by Izumi when I needed a name," she ground out. "ANBU has that thing with names. Should I even ask how you figured it out?"
"Simply enough," he said. She could feel him start to build chakra. "Koneko is the only one that uses that move--she created it. You had to use your real name on this mission, Nakasone Hanae. Simple to connect the dots."
"Okay. So then you know I used to be…" she struggled, "Like you. Point is, if we can get him to stop for just a second, I can use something to pull him under--and at least get him to hold still enough for you to get some information out of him.
"Sounds like a plan," the muffled voice agreed. "I'll get him close enough, you catch him."
She nodded before reaching into her pocket and taking out two small red pills, chewing them quickly and channeling the sudden spike of chakra. The ANBU shot forward and unhinged his sword, before the smaller enemy leapt out of the way, moving faster and faster till he became something akin to a blur.
Hanae narrowed her eyes, before flipping through the hand seals, holding the chakra in before breaking her fingers apart and slamming her open palm on the ground.
"Earth Style! Total Immersion Technique!"
The ground sunk inwards as the smaller nin shrieked, falling into the pit before the sand covered him fully. "It won't hold long," she winced, already feeling the sand slip away.
"It's enough," the ANBU called, before sticking his hand into the ground and pulling him out. "Now. Let's talk."
-
Running a hand through her hair, Hanae climbed the steps up to the eight floor of her apartment building, ready to get some sleep, even though it had barely even passed noon. She was covered in sand, and her face was beginning to get irritated.
"Don't ask questions, just take it," she heard someone say, before perking up. Naruto!
Scaling the last couple of steps to arrive on her ninth floor, she smiled widely, looking for her charge.
The smile slipped as she took in the sight of Naruto holding a weeks worth of bras on his arm, handing off the only frilly one to a older man. He raised an eyebrow, before taking it and inspecting it. "Should I even ask where you got this?"
Moving quicker than she thought she could have, Hanae darted forward and yanked the bra away, before standing in front of Naruto.
The man, wearing a jounin style vest and his hi-ate backwards over his brown hair, raised an eyebrow as she turned red. They just kept staring at each other until he coughed, twisting the sebon needle around in his mouth.
"I just moved in," he said flatly, as means of introductions.
"Oh," Hanae said, before exhaling. "That's…nice."
"That bra seems soft."
She promptly turned on her heel, still beet red, grabbed Naruto, and ran inside.
-
"He's a handful," Hanae stressed, tugging Naruto back near her leg as she talked to the student teacher assigned to the first class. "And he gets bored if you don't entertain him, and for god's sake, don't put him near the window, because you will never get his attention back. And he doesn't have trouble making friends, but not a lot of people will try, for reasons you understand," she whispered, before goring back to her normal voice. "And I SWEAR TO GOD!" her voice raised as she pointed towards the scarred teenager, "If I hear one prejudiced thing happening in this school I will bring down the Hokage on your ass so fast you won't even be able to BLINK!"
Umino Iruka tried to form words, but nothing was coming out. The woman in front of him, even with her cardigan and sundress--hair done up in a messy bun, looked like the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. The little blond boy near her legs had his eyes closed, but still looked around the room with an awareness he had never seen before.
"If he doesn't give any trouble, Nakasone-san…" he said, trailing off, before staring at the boy. Well…he was kind of cute. And he was cleaner than he expected, and was nothing but polite so far. The only thing he seemed to have a problem was paying attention for long periods of time. "I think…we'll get along just fine."
"Good," she nodded, before bending down towards her…son. "Now. Naruto-kun. I want you to go sit next to Sasuke," she made a gesture towards the nervous boy sitting in the middle by a pink-haired girl. "Mainly because I promised his brother I'd make sure he'd have someone close," she scratched her cheek.
Naruto nodded determinately, grabbing his backpack and marching towards the seat. Iruka watched as Nakasone-san stood up and nodded to herself. She started to back out of the room, only just catching Naruto grinning widely and dropping his backpack next to his seat.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage!"
He'd be fine, Hanae told herself. School was normal for kids.
Normal…
Defiantly something Naruto was not.
-
"I think they'll be friends," her partner said quietly. Hanae almost didn't hear him, looking over before guessing at what he said. Her attention, however, returned to the practice dummy in front of her.
"'Course they will, Itachi," she said, biting her tongue in concentration. The blind fold over her eyes was a pitch black and covered most of her forehead, eyes and nose. The tip of the kunai was perched on her index finger, wavering just the slightest. Without any way to see if it was standing straight, she was focusing on how well the tip was digging into her skin. "Naruto has that uncanny ability to be friends with anyone."
She flicked her hand, and the kunai went flying towards the dummy. The blind fold was lifted up as she heard a dull thud, before making a face.
She was off. If this had been a real fight, she would have been screwed, missing the heart like that. A kunai a few cementers to the right of it wouldn't have done anything.
"Balance, Hanae," Itachi said cooly as he came near her. He balanced the kunai on his finger tip, upside down, closed his eyes, and let it fly. It struck the dummy so hard in the heard, only the handle was showing. Hanae looked towards him and gave him a flat look.
"I hate you."
"I know."
Hanae sighed, before dropping to the ground. "I hate taijutsu."
"It's the only thing you can do," Itachi admonished. "After you do that technique of yours, you're dipping into reserved chakra. If you don't get your taijutsu back up to par-"
"Shhhhhhhhhhh." She glared at him, and shushed him an extra time for measure. "I know. I don't mind be a chuunin for awhile."
"Weren't you a chuunin, like, eight years ago?" he questioned, giving her a look. She scowled.
"Seven. And yes." A fierce fire lit up in her eyes. "And this time, I will get that Jounin vest--even if I have to steal it out of your closet."
"I'm sure."
She fell backwards on the ground. "It kinda sucks that even though we were on the same genin cell, you're so much younger than me. And already so much better. Damn you Uchiha's, making us normal shinobi look bad."
Itachi sat down next to her. "Sorry."
Hanae turned and gave him a look. "Really. Don't apologize."
"You're quiet."
"I'm just…" she trailed of and struggled. "Remembering. That's all. But, don't worry about me." Hanae gave a wide, cheesy smile.
"We're the only two left," he said, in the same beat. "That makes us friends…right?"
Hanae gave him a confused look. "Yeah. We always were."
"Hanae…If…If anything ever happens, I trust you to take care of Sasuke," he said finally. Hanae rolled over and sat up, more alert.
"…that's…an honor, Itachi. But I don't think-"
"Trust me," he said quietly. "Just take care of him."
-
"Are you sure, Sasuke?" Hanae asked quietly. The six year old gave her a cold look, before turning back into the empty compound. A cold shiver ran up her spine, before she bit her lip and turned away.
She'd still look after him, but it looked like it wouldn't be from the view she thought Itachi had imagined.
-
"My momma has your eyes."
Haruno Sakura blinked, looking over her lunch box to the blond-haired boy sitting on the other side of the table. She raised an eyebrow, contemplating whether she should just ignore him or not. Her papa had said not to talk to…
But what did her father know? He didn't want her to become a kunochi, like her mom and didn't like her hanging out with Ino--so as far as she was concerned, he was sort of a jerk. Sakura shrugged, before leaning forward over her lunch box just the slightest.
"Really?"
Naruto nodded, still slurping down his ramen. Once the string of noodles stop, he turned back towards her. "It's really pretty."
Naruto may have meant 'my momma's eyes are really pretty,' but Sakura heard 'your eyes are really pretty,' and that pretty much endeared her to him forever. Leaning back, satisfied, she nodded.
"I'm going to be your friend," she announced. "We'll play at recess."
Naruto lit up.
-
"Momma, I brought home a friend!"
Hanae perked up at Naruto's call from the front door, setting down the watering can on the kitchen table. A friend--no way! Who is it!? Is it that Nara kid--the Inuzuka?
Tiny foot steps ran through the hallway, stopping at every single room as Naruto announced what they were. "This is the bathroom," he said before moving on. "This is Hanae's room," more footsteps, "the family room, my room, and this is the kitchen!"
The newly restored chuunin leapt gracefully from the counter, looking towards the cut out door. The first one through it was Naruto, slightly wet from, well, she wasn't quiet sure. The second one who followed had bright pink hair, cut close to her shoulders, and simple beige overalls on. Hanae thought for a second, trying to put a clan name to her, but couldn't place it.
"Momma," Naruto called, excited, "this is Sakura-chan--she has your eyes!"
The woman bent down towards the pink haired girl and extended a hand. "Please to meet you, Sakura-chan," she smiled. "Nakasone Hanae."