Restless

Sorry for the wait. Thanks for being patient.

As some of you will note, this story is no longer following cannon at this point. Enjoy!


Restless


Chapter 18: Restless Deaths: Part 1


"He's eating the poisoned dish and nothing issss happening!" Dokueki squeaked from her hiding place under Sasuke’s tunic. Sasuke ignored her. Not that he could have answered anyway because that would have been a bit of a give away if he did. Still, he didn’t need her telling him what was happening. He wasn't stupid, and he had obviously noticed that Orochimaru had yet to keel over.

Sasuke sat at the small table, taking quiet sips from his own, non-poisoned stew, keeping his face impassive as he watched the snake-sannin out of the corner of his eye. Sasuke noticed that Kabuto kept on sending searching glances between himself and Orochimaru, clearly suspecting something. He had a feeling that everyone at the table already knew what was going on - Kabuto wouldn't be so openly looking back and forth otherwise. It was obvious he wanted Sasuke to know he knew something was up.

"Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said silkily, turning to face Sasuke, "you should try some of this." Orochimaru offered Sasuke a bite of the poisoned stew that Sasuke had prepared for him personally. Sasuke didn't even hesitate before putting down his own spoon and reaching out to take the spoon offered to him. He knew that Orochimaru had caught on to him and was testing to see if he would eat it. Kabuto looked at Sasuke, a smug look on his face as though he too knew what Sasuke had been plotting. His eyes flashed in sadistic glee that Sasuke had been caught.

Sasuke took the spoon, put it close to his mouth, and promptly flung the hot contents back into Orochimaru's eyes.

"Gaaah!" Orochimaru screamed in pain. Before anyone else could move, Sasuke took his unused chopsticks and flung them at Kabuto, both chopsticks piercing the medical-nin's throat. Kabuto spluttered and gasped, clutching at his throat before collapsing onto the floor. Sasuke had no time to register this though, as Orochimaru had sent a fireball in the spot that he had just been sitting. Sasuke did a back flip, putting his hands on the back of the chair, flipping it around with him as he landed, then proceeded to fling the chair towards Orochimaru, followed immediately by one of his own fire techniques.

"Katon! Ryuka no jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, firing an even larger and more powerful fire blaze back at Orochimaru, the flames catching the wooden chair in its path. It splintered and blazed apart with the impact at which the fireball had hit it, its flaming shards bursting in all directions.

"Too hot! Too warm! Not thissss warm!" Dokueki hissed as Orochimaru fired another fire attack in their direction. Sasuke continued to ignore Dokueki as he dashed out of the small dining hall, his hand gripping the edge of the doorframe. He used it to help whip his entire body to the right out of the immediate danger of any attacks that came through the door. Sasuke could hear the crackling of the roaring fire their fire attacks had started in the dining hall as he saw Orochimaru come charging out of the room after him. Orochimaru sent kunai flying off in all directions, one of them just whizzing by Sasuke who had pressed himself flat against the wall. Sharingan blaring, with one finger, Sasuke caught another kunai mid flight through the hole on the end, twirled it once, and threw it back at Orochimaru, missing his body; it merely grazed by, cutting off a few strands of the snake-sannin's hair.

Sasuke's hand shot to his weapon's pouch. He threw two ninja star at Orochimaru. Orochimaru smirked as he used one of the kunai he was going to throw to easily deflect the stars, one to the right, the other to the left. Sasuke smirked, his hands moving likes blurs as he threw two more ninja stars at the two that Orochimaru had deflected, hitting each one dead on, and once again sending them sailing back towards Orochimaru, but now coming at him from both sides instead of straight on. Orochimaru cursed as he deflected one, but could not turn around in time to deflect the second that hit his arm.

In the split second it took Orochimaru to examine the damage to his arm, Sasuke had sent a kunai with an exploding tag on it towards Orochimaru's stomach. The snake sannin dodged it by hopping backwards out of the way, but the tag exploded, sending debris and rocks flying. Part of the cave began to collapse as more rocks fell from the ceiling, the blast creating smoke and dust to fly. Sasuke coughed heavily, covering his mouth at the amount of dust the blast had created as he turned and ran.

Within a few moments, Sasuke could no longer hear Orochimaru cursing from the other side of the debris as he ran for his bedroom, his expression never changing, his face as impassive as ever. He idly heard Dokueki's hysterical ramblings as he turned a corner.

"-almost died - totally recklesssss - no respect for my nervessss - still could die -"

"Shut up," Sasuke hissed as he skidded to a halt outside his room, only to see Orochimaru standing there. Orochimaru sent a rapid jet of water at him, Sasuke unable to completely dodge it, his left pant leg catching the majority of the blast, but Sasuke could still feel the heat of the boiling water that grazed him stinging like a cut. Orochimaru opened his mouth wide, preparing for his next attack. Seeing it with his sharingan before it actually came out, Sasuke easily avoided the sword that had emerged from Orochimaru's mouth.

He drew a kunai, and banged down hard on the sword with it, the clanging noise echoing in the cavern as he saw Orochimaru gag on the unwelcome vibrations. Sasuke slammed his fist into Orochimaru's face, sending Orochimaru's cheek into his own sword, his blood splattering onto the arm Sasuke held up to protect himself from the blood spray.

Sasuke darted into his room, and grabbed his faithful sword, Kusanagi, but next minute having to jump as Orochimaru had darted his long neck inside the room after him, trying to bite at Sasuke. Sasuke’s eyes narrowed as he saw that Orochimaru had mutated himself into a giant snake. Glaring at the sannin, he jumped to avoid the tail that whipped towards him, noting that Orochimaru's humanly features were practically all gone. A man no longer stood to fight Sasuke, but instead, a mutated human in snake form, the form that kept Orochimaru alive. His scales were as deathly white as his skin had been.

"Ewww..." Dokueki hissed as she peaked her head out of Sasuke’s tunic, disgusted at her first glimpse of seeing Orochimaru as a giant serpent, his head the only thing now akin to a human. Plenty knew that Orochimaru kept himself alive by taking over another's body, but very few knew that his other attempts at mortality had mutated him beyond humanity's features. However, not only had he mutated his original body, but his soul as well, therefore whichever body he resided in ended turning more and more serpent like the longer he resided within it.

Instead of going towards Sasuke, Orochimaru struck his strong, whip-like tail at the ceiling, causing rocks and what not to shower down upon Sasuke.

Sasuke emerged from the rocks, but his skin was no longer pale white, nor was his hair ebony black; he had activated the curse seal, and the bluish-purple tinge to his wild hair, and his skin that had a bizarre brownish-purple tint gave him a monstrous look. Wings had sprouted from his back which managed to shield him from the attack. He stood up, pushing the debris off of him, and then proceeded to stretch them to their full length, his curse seal blaring in second stage.

"You were foolish to think that you could ever defeat an Uchiha," Sasuke said, raising his sword above his head, jumping high, and then using his wings to soar towards Orochimaru, taking one swipe, severing the snake-sannin's head and upper half from the rest of the scaly white body.

"This…is not...over..." Orochimaru hissed, his severed body thrashing about wildly as his words came out in pathetic gasps.

"Oh, I think you'll find it is," Sasuke said, his eyes emotionless as he watched the pathetic form below him. Orochimaru's yellow eyes widened, as though realizing something terrible. Sasuke took his sword again, slashing the head clean off. Orochimaru’s head thrashed about a few more moments before going still, his eyes wide, sightless, his long tongue lapping helplessly before finally falling still, his mouth hanging open wide as though the hinges of his jaw were stuck there.

"That'ssss right Sasuke! You did it!" Dokueki practically squealed, emerging from her hiding spot around his waist as Sasuke deactivated his seal, her head and tail both poking out from underneath his tunic. "Give him thissss!" She jabbed her tail wildly about, as though punching an opponent with it, "And that!" She snapped her jaws as though she could destroy her imaginary foe with her teeth.

"Amusing," Sasuke drooled, watching her antics before pulling an empty vial from within his shirt. He walked over to the enlarged and snake-like version of Orochimaru's now severed head. He reached into the sannin's open mouth, and placed the vial against Orochimaru's gums as a gooey substance dripped from his teeth.

"Grosssss!" Dokueki said, disgusted, as Sasuke milked the gooey venom from Orochimaru's fangs. "Hissss breath stinkssss," Dokueki said, her voice slightly muffled having put her tail in front of her nostrils and mouth to avoid the rancid smell.

Sasuke placed the stopper back atop the vial and pocketed it.

"I had a feeling that Orochimaru would be at least partially immune to your venom," Sasuke began to explain things to Dokueki, "but it had the desired effect anyway." Sasuke grabbed a small knapsack he had packed before going to dinner that had managed to escape the destruction of his room, save for a stray rock that was leaning up against it. Sasuke kicked the rock aside with his foot, grabbing the knapsack with the few things he treasured, and then proceeded to head out of what had been his room; another one blasted to bits.

"The poison had a desired effect? What effect? He still chased you down!" Dokueki said as she moved her tail away from her nose as the smell had wafted away for the most part, though a small portion still lingered on Sasuke's clothes.

"Orochimaru could not use his body transfer jutsu," Sasuke further explained. "Didn't you see him? Even after I had cut off his head it was as though he was going to try and take over my body still. Your venom prevented that."

"Wait just a minute! You mean from the beginning you knew that he wassss not going to just keel over after my poison was put into hissss stew?" Dokueki asked, incredulously.

"There was always a possibility, but I highly doubted it. He is a snake-sannin after all. It would have been rather stupid of him not to have made himself immune to most poisons," Sasuke said logically.

"Why the hell didn't you warn me? I wouldn't have come along if I had known I would have to be hiding under your shirt to avoid fireballssss and boiling jetssss of water coming at me," Dokueki hissed angrily.

"I could have, but this way you won't be bugging me about all the details later on," Sasuke said, his voice indicating just the slightest hint of amusement.

"I hate you. You are a cold, arrogant bastard who issss a total prick and-" Dokueki continued to tell him what he was, but he completely ignored her. Sasuke walked back towards the dining area. The entrance was now partially hidden by the rock clutter from the earlier battle. Sasuke climbed atop of it from the side, and slid down the middle of it towards the doorway, catching his balance by grasping the top of the doorframe. He hopped inside, easily jumping over the few rocks that had actually slid into the dining room. "What, aren't we leaving?" Dokueki asked.

"Need to do a few things first," Sasuke said as he walked over to where Kabuto was lying on the floor, and pointed his sword at Kabuto. Kabuto laid sprawled out on the floor, his glasses askew and practically hanging off his nose. "I know you're still alive," Sasuke growled. Kabuto opened his eyes, but he did not turn to face Sasuke, though he wore a scowl across his face.

"Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked, and Sasuke didn't need him to elaborate to understand the underlying question.

"Dead, of course," Sasuke said, pointing the sword at Kabuto again.

"Come back to kill me then?" Kabuto asked with a sneer.

"No. Obviously you've noticed that those chopsticks I threw at you had a paralyzing poison on their tips."

"Yes. Clever, sneaking them in before dinner. It clearly effects merely certain nerves and not the muscles because I can still speak," Kabuto said airily.

"It would be like you analyze the poison's medical properties, but no matter. No, I am not going to kill you because you are going to come with me and help me defeat Itachi," Sasuke said.

"What?" Kabuto asked, surprised.

"Him?" Dokueki said, also surprised. Kabuto glared at her as best he could with the limited mobility that he had.

"Yes. From what I understand, you have been concocting some sort of potion, medicine, vaccine, or whatever you like to call it for Orochimaru to do that body transfer and make the transfer permanent," Sasuke said, remembering what Dokueki had told him the very same day that Naruto had come for him.

"What about it?" Kabuto asked warily.

"You're going to bring it with you, of course," Sasuke murmured.

"Why? What is it to you?" Kabuto demanded. Sasuke chuckled softly as a sudden chill seemed to radiate through the room. Dokueki actually loosened herself from Sasuke who seemed to be radiating the coldness.

"None of your concern," Sasuke said, his voice dangerously low. Reaching into his weapons pouch, Sasuke drew out another chopstick, and rammed it into Kabuto's shoulder. Kabuto would have cried out in pain - if he could have felt it.

"You really do have a bad habit of ramming your pointy thingssss where ever you like," Dokueki muttered to herself.

"That chopstick had the antidote on it to the previous drug. You can move again now, so do so. Get up and go to your lab," Sasuke ordered Kabuto pointing his sword at him. "Get your medical things. We're leaving."

[AN: Just as an FYI, I wasn’t trying to make Orochimaru sound like Voldemort for all of you Harry Potter fans out there; Orochimaru really does look like a snake because of all the attempts he tried with immortality. I wonder if Masashi Kishimoto got the idea from J.K. Rowling.]


- - - - - - - - - - - -


"Nani?" Naruto repeated, looking at Kakashi who had just said that he was going to be tested to see whether or not he was the Yondaime's son, and this woman's grandson. Naruto looked up at Kyohaku, a mixture of shock and incredulity flashing across his features. Kyohaku, on the other hand, remained completely and utterly motionless in her shock.

Kakashi sighed, looking at his student. He really should have warned Naruto, but he knew Naruto; Naruto would forgive him in the end.

"It appears that we may be related," Kakashi said quietly, a small smile gracing his features, his eyes wrinkling happily at Naruto. Naruto could merely stare at him opened mouthed. Kakashi continued to explain. "You see, I found a note from my father, Hatake Sakumo, not too long before I became the sensei of Team seven. It indicated that I had a half brother, and all evidence suggested that he was Yondaime. Naturally I had mixed feelings on the subject. I was happy that I had an older brother, and that I at least knew him to some degree, but I felt slightly cheated that I was not able to spend more time with him, especially as brothers,” Kakashi paused, looking at Naruto to see his reaction. Naruto just stared back, looking entrapped in his story.

“When I began doing research into his past, I found some curious information that indicated that he had a secret lover, as well as a son that very few knew about. For some time I have been gathering data that leads me to suspect you, but it is inconclusive. Naturally, from what I know of you, and from what I know of Yondaime, I don’t really need DNA proof to know that it’s true. However, it is now time to test our DNA anyway, for those who would try and say otherwise," Kakashi said, as he nodded towards Yamato. Yamato pulled out a strange looking device that looked to Naruto like nothing more than a pouch that held long needles, but realized whatever it was holding were not throwing weapons, despite their similarity in shape. He noticed that where the end was, it had a sharp point, but the point had a miniscule hole in it that looked like it would scoop something out – like blood.

"You'll need to give a blood sample first, Kyohaku-san," Yamato said kindly. She seemed to awake from her daze. She had been staring at Naruto the entire time. She nodded and held out her delicate wrist. Yamato took one of the "needle" looking items, and pricked a small amount from her finger before placing it back into its holder. It was then that Naruto noticed that Yamato had also pulled out a white box-line piece of equipment. Yamato took the needle, placing the end with the blood into a small hole in the box. The little instrument shaped like a white box began to buzz. Yamato then took blood from Kakashi, and finally Naruto. He also pulled out a little bottle that had some liquid in it. He dipped another one of the needle instruments into it, then placed it dripping end down into another one of the small holes.

Naruto watched as Yamato pushed the little buttons on the white box, looking back at Kakashi and Kyohaku in a stupor. He couldn't think of anything to say, and he couldn't decide if he should be happy or not at this new revelation about finding out that he had a family, so instead remained silent.

The white box let out a long beep. Yamato glanced down at the small screen, nodding at it.

"Yondaime was indeed Kyohaku and your father's son," Yamato said, looking at Kakashi who merely nodded, "naturally Yondaime was therefore your brother, but as for Naruto," Yamato said, frowning at the information on the screen strangely.

"Nani?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"It isn't giving a reading for your blood," Yamato said.

"What?" Kakashi said, looking over at the white box, as though he didn't believe it. Naruto even leaned over, but he didn't understand what the display meant, so didn't know what to read for the information.

Something flashed across the screen, and both Yamato and Kakashi who were looking at it, narrowed their eyes at it. Naruto tried to glance at the screen again, but the small display was completely blank.

"Damn it," Yamato said.

"They expected something like this," Kakashi sighed.

"Huh?" Naruto said, confused, eagerly wanting to know his own results, anger forgotten, replaced by a desperate need to just know. "B-but, why won't it work for me?" Naruto demanded.

"The council did not want us to test to see if you were Yondaime's son," Yamato said bitterly.

"We took it upon ourselves to do the extra test. It appears that they were prepared for us to do something likes this," Kakashi said, his voice rising angrily.

"It doesn't matter," Kyohaku said, speaking for the first time, staring at Naruto. "He's my grandson; I can tell. He has the same eyes as my son did. I remember those eyes," Kyohaku said, reaching out across the table, and cupping Naruto's face with her hand. Naruto couldn't say anything, as the feeling of the soft hand on his face gave him a soft squeeze on the cheek. He could feel tears spring to his eyes, and before he could try to wipe them away, Kyohaku had stood up leaning all the way across the table so that she could better reach him, her other hand now on his other cheek, wiping away the few stray tears with her thumbs.

Naruto wanted to be angry. Why had this woman given up his father and made him an “orphan”? Had his grandfather, Kakashi’s father even gotten to see Yondaime as a baby? Why had no one told him that the Yondaime was his father before? Why hadn't Kakashi told him that he was his nephew? But, Naruto just could not be angry. The way his face was being held so gently, so motherly, so lovingly made his poor heart, the heart that had longed for a family, longed for someone to love him for so long, just felt overwhelmingly joyful and happy. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around Kyohaku as well.

He felt another hand on his back, and realized it was Kakashi-sensei, no his Uncle Kakashi...

Naruto couldn't remember feeling so connected to another being besides Sasuke, and despite the fact that he should be thinking about his new found family, he couldn’t help but think of Sasuke, wishing Sasuke were with him, even though a small part of him felt a little guilty. He had a family now, and Sasuke didn't. Still, he wanted to share this moment with Sasuke too.

The spell of the moment was broken as the door banged open. The three shinobi in the room whipped their heads around, prepared for the worst.

"I have a great-grandson?" Sen-san said, obviously having come back to listen at the door, despite Kakashi having sent him away. He came bouncing in the room and engulfed Naruto in a crushing hug. He then released Naruto who gasped for breath. Sen-san then turned to Kakashi and gave him a bone-crushing hug.” And I have my grandson's half brother here too!" The skinny daimyo released Kakashi. Kakashi laughed nervously, though he was once again looking at Naruto, gauging his reaction, waiting for an explosion of anger - happiness - anything, but it didn't come. Naruto was too stunned to do more than rub the back of his head sheepishly.

"Dad, I-" Kyohaku began, her words dying on her lips as her father turned to look at her.

"I don't understand why you didn't tell me or your mother, about-" Sen-san waved his hand around, as though trying to find the words in thin air, but couldn't quite finish what he was going to say. He sighed, and shook his head. "I will discuss this with you later. It doesn't matter right now," he said firmly, a smiling lighting up on his face, "I didn't realize I had any great-grandchildren! I have several grandchildren, but you are my first great-grandson. We have much to catch up on!" Sen-san said, grinning broadly at Naruto.

Despite Sen-san's apparent lack of anger at his daughter for hiding that she had a child, Kakashi saw that something had flashed in his eyes at his daughter briefly. It was this fleeting glance that told Kakashi that Kyohaku would be going through an entire interrogation later on. This attitude was not, as it appeared, one of lax acceptance, but rather one who knew that he was in control. Kakashi could tell that the retired daimyo was a powerful man who knew how to use his attitude well. Kakashi let out a sigh of relief, finally feeling like his original idea to get the old daimyo to back Naruto would work after all. His musings were interrupted as he saw Sen-san give Yamato a hug too.

"You seemed left out!" Sen-san said enthusiastically, as Yamato grimaced. Whizzing about, Sen-san grabbed Naruto's hand, and began to tug. "You have many family members to meet, and many lost years to make up for. We should get you acquainted now," Sen-san said happily. Naruto could merely look around at Kakashi for help before he was tugged out the door. Kyohaku reached out her hand, but pulled it back quickly, her father and grandson disappearing before she could say anything. She looked down at her hand.

"I-I had wanted to talk to Naruto-kun myself, alone," she said dejectedly. Then her eyes narrowed, her face set in complete determination. "I better go after them so I don't miss anything more than I already have," she said defiantly, regally floating out of the room.

Kakashi and Yamato were left looking at each other in the small room, both wondering if they should follow.

"Well, that went a little differently than planned," Yamato said awkwardly.

"Just a little."

"Are you okay?" Yamato asked, tentatively.

"Not sure," Kakashi said truthfully. "I'm happy they accepted Naruto so fast," Kakashi said, smiling. Yamato nodded.

"Should we go collect Naruto, and save him from the Sen-san?" Yamato said, a wry smile forming on his lips.

"Nah. He'll love the attention."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto indeed loved the attention. Everything was a happy blur as he was introduced to many people, most of them he knew he'd never be able to remember their names, but all seemed strangely happy to meet him anyway, some of them murmuring that he looked like so-and-so, a few muttering that he looked like the Yondaime Hokage, some of them simply saying things he didn't understand since they all seemed to be babbling about him, and at him, all at the same time. Sen-san had taken him outside, and then yelled for everyone's attention as he introduced Naruto as Kyohaku's grandson. Everyone had then mobbed toward him, waiting to meet him.

"This is your mother's eldest brother. He's currently acting as daimyo head – Sen Shijimi, though since everyone knows me as Sen-san, he goes by Lord Shijimi, and of course, I believe you've met his wife, Madam Shijimi and her cat-" Sen-san was saying.

"And these are your first cousins once removed, Hiroko and Hiroshi-" Kyohaku said, catching up to them, not wanting to be left out, a firm grip now kept on her grandson's arm.

"Your second cousin Yana-"

"Actually Yana would be his first cousin twice removed-"

"Right you are Kyohaku-"

"And this is your great Uncle Kiyoshi and his wife Lady Rieko-"

"And this is another of your first cousins once removed Mura-"

"I'm Mura!"

"Sorry Mura, I meant Miko-"

Naruto's head whirled as he merely smiled at the people. What he did seem to gather was that Kyohaku was one of four children, and that she had six nieces and nephews which made them his father's cousins, and after that, he kind of lost track of all the other cousins and their spouses. He was rather clueless at what the difference between first and second cousins, and why some of them had been removed.

The best part of everything was that they didn't seem to expect him to remember their names, and they were all extremely glad that he was a member of their family. However, it struck Naruto as extremely odd that no one seemed to be surprised that Kyohaku had a random grandson.

"Knew she wasn't a pure as Dad always made her out to be," Shima, another one of his great Uncles had said with a large grin on his face that indicated he was happy rather than annoyed about this fact.

"Izanami!" Sen-san suddenly burst out, looking horrified. Who or what Izanami was, Naruto wasn't sure, but everyone seemed to gasp, and then began running about madly.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking up at Kyohaku, his grandmother (it still felt weird to think of her, let alone call her his grandmother).

"Izanami is my Mom, you great-grandma. The reason that there are so many family members here today is because it's her 80th birthday. We had expected the meeting with the Konoha shinobi, you and your friends, to only last a little while. We're having a surprise party for her. Well, we certainly have a surprise for her," Kyohaku said, smiling as she ruffled Naruto's hair, even though he was slightly taller than she was. "She should be here any time now."

It was then that Naruto realized that the people that he had seen earlier, besides his family members, the extra servants, must have been setting up decorations. Sure enough, as he looked around, he noticed that there were banners and balloons, plus a huge buffet table set-up.

"This day keeps getting more off the wall by the minute," Naruto muttered to himself, thinking about how he first had a random mission, then got a new hair cut, went to the bath house, went clothes shopping, found out that his father was Yondaime Hokage, his grandmother was still alive and happened to be the retired daimyo's daughter, Kakashi was his uncle, or half-uncle or whatever, he had a bazillion and one relatives who only happened to be at his grandmother's and great-grandparents' house because his grandmother happened to be turning 80. To top it off, none of his relatives had seemed the least bit surprised by his sudden addition to the family.

Yes, today had definitely been a strange day.

"Is everything okay?" Kakashi asked as he walked outside with Yamato. "There seemed to be an increase in activity," Kakashi said, looking at Naruto.

"Umm...it's Izanami, my er, great-grandmother's 80th birthday," Naruto said awkwardly.

"I guess we should stay then," Yamato said, as Kakashi nodded.

"I don't think you'll be getting any training in today Naruto," Kakashi said, amused.

"No, I don't think I will be either."

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto was utterly exhausted. He felt even more drained than he sometimes did after a long day of training. The emotional roller coaster ride was not something that he was used to. He stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom, wondering if the day had really happened at all. Everything seemed so surreal that he wasn't sure. A warm feeling had swept through him, and he couldn't stop grinning.

He had a family!

A crazy, bizarre, overly large, hyperactive family, but a family. It had been a little awkward upon leaving when everyone had asked when Naruto would be moving in. Kakashi-sensei had saved him from answering by telling everyone that Naruto was currently in the process of training for an extremely hard mission. Everyone seemed upset, especially his grandmother and great-grandfather, but they also seemed extremely impressed. It was only upon promising that he would visit again, and often, that they allowed him to leave.

Naruto still couldn’t quite grasp the idea that Kakashi-sensei was his Uncle. Kakashi had told him he would treat him to lunch tomorrow in order to talk some things over, and Naruto was looking forward to it.

Of course, what had really been boggling Naruto's mind was the fact that he was the Yondaime Hokage's son. His hero, the man who had saved the village was his father. After learning that it was not just Yondaime, not just any person, but his father who had sacrificed himself by sealing the Kyuubi inside of Naruto to save the Village, only strengthened Naruto's desire to become Hokage. He felt as though that was what his father had wanted him to do – to follow in his footsteps and protect Konoha.

Thoughts whirled around Naruto’s head, making it nearly impossible for him to go to sleep. Finally, Naruto closed his eyes feeling as though he might be able to drift off to sleep when he first heard the noises outside.

"Fire!"

"Fire - at the old Uchiha complex!"

Naruto's eyes snapped up, and a sudden feeling of dread hit him. That HAD to be Sasuke's signal. Naruto quickly got dressed, and jumped out of his window, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, remembering what Sasuke had said to him. Naruto could see the distant flames flickering against Konoha's night sky. He saw a few more shadowy figures jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It was common knowledge that the shinobi of Konoha were the Village's fire department, so those ninja that could, went to help, though naturally many civilians helped as well - especially those that could lose homes if the fire spread.

"Sasuke you prat - you better hope no one gets hurt from your little stunt," Naruto grumbled to himself as he drew nearer to the flames as the wind blew the smoke towards him, remembering what Sasuke had said to him when he'd last seen him.


"...I need you to leave me alone until I am ready. Stop coming after me. Wait until I make my move. Then make it seem like you are going to go after me. But not until I make my move," Sasuke said.

"How will I know what your move is?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Even you aren't a big enough dobe to miss it."

This had to be Sasuke's move. Naruto ran full out, adrenaline pumping as he reached the Uchiha complex. Two of the buildings were on fire, but the flames on what appeared to be a shrine were the highest. Several shinobi had already arrived using what water techniques they could to help douse the flames. Below, he saw a line of civilians passing buckets of water. Naruto jumped down, grabbed one of the buckets, and made his trademark hand seals.

"Tajuu, kage bunshi no jutsu!" Naruto cried as he duplicated himself along with the bucket of water that he held. There was a loud hissing sound as the thousands of Naruto's clones took turns throwing their water buckets upon the burning shrine, dousing its flames down a good deal. However, the shrine as well as the other building that still burned, and it was then that Naruto realized just how powerful fire really was, especially with wind behind it as another gust brought another wave of smoke towards him.

'Sasuke is like fire, and I am like wind. I’ll be able to support Sasuke, and make him stronger.' Naruto thought as he dispelled all of his clones, loud popping noises cracking in the night air as he ran in the opposite direction of the fire towards the lake, the bucket still in his hand.

"Naruto!" Naruto heard Sakura call his voice as he ran in the opposite direction, but ignored her as he ran head on towards the lake where he had so often seen Sasuke sitting alone on the dock. Naruto's feet pounded on the ground as the thud of his heart pounded in his ears. He had a feeling he knew where Sasuke would be.

Sure enough, Naruto stopped as he overlooked the lake, seeing the solitary figure sitting on the edge of the dock, just like in their childhood. Naruto ran down the hill and then out onto the pier.

"Sasuke, you prick! People could get hurt," Naruto snarled.

"Don't worry. I secured the area. If anything burns down it will be the complex, which, I happen to own, and I can guarantee you that I will not miss the buildings that are burning. If the fire happens to spread, as I said, the substances I have on the ground will make it so that only Uchiha buildings burn. I took the few things of value to me, so it really doesn't matter what is destroyed," Sasuke said. Naruto narrowed his eyes, glaring at Sasuke, before molding chakra and creating another thousand or so clones. All of them jumped into the lake and grabbed bucketfuls of water. All of the clones concentrated on helping to put out the fire, leaving the original Naruto and Sasuke to glare at each other. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw his clones begin to form an assembly line of sorts.

"I-is this it then?" Naruto asked. "Are you ready for me to come with you now?"

"I wouldn't be here other wise," Sasuke said, his eyes narrowing. Something about the way that Naruto had said "is this it then" had unnerved him. "You sound as though you don't want to leave," Sasuke said, accusingly. Naruto looked away, watching his clones as some were already returning with empty buckets. Instead of all of them going the full way down to the lake though, they were now standing in a line of Naruto clones. Two clones stood side by side - one side the clones had buckets filled with water. The other side had empty buckets being handed back down from the site of the fire to be refilled, while several Naruto clones stood waist deep refilling the empty buckets, and handed them off to be sent to douse out the fire. Sasuke glanced over to appreciate Naruto's efficient use of his clones to put the fire out.

"The fire will be out quickly at this rate. We won't have much time to use it as a distraction for us to leave," Sasuke said, his gaze returning back towards Naruto who was looking down at the pier. "You don't want to leave, do you?" Sasuke said, this time wording his accusation as a question.

"It's not that. It's just-" Naruto said, swallowing. Why did this have to happen now? He had just discovered that he had a family. "I-I found my family," Naruto said, looking up at Sasuke. Sasuke's face remained expressionless.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"My family. I'm related to the Sen family. My great-grandfather is called Sen-san, and my great-grandmother's name is Izanami. My grandmother's name is Kyohaku, and you'll never believe this, but guess what? My father was Yondaime Hokage. Obviously my Dad's dead, but I still have my grandmother, and..." Naruto trailed off, looking at Sasuke's face.

"I-I see," Sasuke said, his eyes adverted from Naruto's. He took a step back, and Naruto felt as though a wall had come up between them with Sasuke's movement. A sinking feeling appeared in Naruto's stomach. He felt as though Sasuke was drawing away from him.

"But of course I'm coming with you!" Naruto said, stepping forward and gripping Sasuke’s shoulder as though to prove to himself that there wasn’t a barrier between them. "I made a promise to you that I would come with you, didn't I? You know I never go back on promises," Naruto said, trying to smile. Sasuke merely nodded. Naruto's voice became even more serious. "Besides, I need to make sure that Itachi doesn't try and come after me any more, right? I can't have him threatening my family in order to get to me."

Something seemed to spark life back into Sasuke, whose head shot up.

"Yes. We have to stop Itachi from doing to your family what he did to mine," Sasuke said, a determined look in his eyes.

"And no matter what, you're still like a part of my family," Naruto said, his grip on Sasuke's bicep tightening, as he smiled genuinely at Sasuke. A smirk began to spread on Sasuke's face.

"Hn. Seems to me, with the relationship we have, you're more like my wife," Sasuke taunted.

"Hey! I am not a woman!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke remained silent, as the smirk fell from his face, looking back up the hill.

"The fire's practically out," Sasuke said. Naruto turned to look, and indeed could no longer see flames in the distance. "I had expected that to burn for a few more hours," Sasuke murmured worriedly. "Do you trust me?" Sasuke said. Naruto didn't even hesitate to answer.

"I don't know why, but yes, I do teme," Naruto said, cautiously.

"Dispel your clones and follow me," Sasuke demanded before running up back towards his old home.

"Teme! What are you doing? They'll see you!" Naruto hollered as he ran after Sasuke, dispelling his clones as Sasuke said, and running after his friend.

Naruto almost collided into Sasuke who had stopped abruptly. They were relatively close to the Uchiha compound now.

"Good job Naruto," Kakashi's voice rang out, as Naruto could hear his and others footsteps running towards them.

"Teme," Naruto hissed, knowing that the darkness of night would only hide them for so much longer. What was Sasuke playing at?

"You're coming with me whether you like it or not Naruto!" Sasuke yelled loudly, though he wasn't even looking at Naruto. The footsteps that were approaching stopped as Naruto heard the scrape of weapons being pulled out.

"What are you doing?" Naruto hissed. Sasuke didn't bother to answer as he gave a hard jab to Naruto's stomach, hitting him in the exact same spot that Jiraiya had once hit him in in order to make him pass out - which is exactly what Naruto did.

"Naruto!" Someone yelled in distress seeing their friend slump over.

"It's Uchiha Sasuke!" Another voice yelled. Sasuke didn't wait to hear anyone else yell towards them before scooping up Naruto's prone body and dashing off into the night.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Naruto awoke for the second time in his life to the feeling as though he were flying. And for the second time he was once again coming back to consciousness as he was hanging onto Sasuke's back as Sasuke flew from treetop to treetop. Naruto's eyes hurt as he opened them to the morning light, the prior night's events rushing back to him.

"Teme! What the hell did you do that for?" Naruto demanded.

"Isn't it obvious? To save your sorry ass from being labeled as a missing nin," Sasuke said.

"Oh," Naruto said. "Thanks." Naruto paused. "You didn't have to hurt anyone to escape, did you?" Naruto asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"I'm sure I left a few people with lovely bruises, but nothing life-threatening," Sasuke reassured Naruto. "Also, this way your family doesn't think that you've abandoned them. I didn't want them to think you had left them, like Itachi left my family," Sasuke said quietly.

"I would never leave my family like Itachi left you, especially not in such a horrible way!" Naruto said indignantly. Sasuke merely shook his head.

"You still would have been leaving them. I'm sure your family will not be happy with me taking you, but I'd rather them think that you were kidnapped, rather than deserting them."

"I'm was never really going to desert them. I'm going to protect them!" Naruto said.

"Yes, but you couldn't tell them that, at least, not yet. You can explain everything when you get back."

"Ano, Sasuke?" Naruto said, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"What?"

"I don't think my family will be too pleased with you taking me away..."

"Obviously. What's the point Naruto?"

"My great-grandfather is the retired daimyo. My great uncle is the current daimyo, and uh – I forgot to mention this last night, but, uh, - Kakashi-sensei's my uncle..." Sasuke stopped dead on the next branch.

"So in other words we'll be having even more people chasing after us for you?" Sasuke said, trying hard not to sigh.

"Probably..."

"We'll deal with that later," Sasuke said, as he allowed Naruto to slide off his back so that he could continue on his own.

"I told you, it would be a bigger hassle to go back for him," Kabuto said as he landed lightly on the branch next to them. Naruto blinked once, and then pointed his finger at Kabuto.

"Why the hell did you bring him?"

"That'ssss exactly what I thought..."

Next Chapter: Restless Deaths: Part 2


To clarify a few other questions that people have asked, as far as the manga and anime goes, Naruto is not in any way related to Kakashi as far as we know, and nothing close to that has been mentioned. All of Naruto's family members are original characters that I made up. Dokueki is another character I made up. Naruto's eyes are in perfect working order as far as I know, and I don’t think he was ever raised by Monks, nor was Chinese his first language. Anything else you want clarity on – let me know.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought! ~ Jelp