Promises Kept

A/N: Before we continue on with the story I think I should explain a few things about Raven first. As I said before he is a Jinchuuriki just like Naruto so he’s lived through the same persecution as Naruto. His Bijuu in this story will be Hatibi no Tatsu or the Eight Tailed Dragon. (I think I got this right… please correct me if it’s wrong. Thanks.) I created Hatibi because I like Dragons and we have no idea what the eight-tailed demon actual is yet. At this point in the story Raven is what Naruto could be in twenty years since Raven is twenty-four at the moment.

I’ll go into more detail about Raven at the end of the chapter but for now I’ve taken up enough of your time so lets get on with the story.

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The sun was already peeking through the curtains of the room by the time Naruto woke up from the best night sleep he could ever remember having in his admittedly short life. The seductive smells drifting up to his room from the kitchen caused his mouth to water as he slid from under the covers and slowly made his way down the stairs. ‘The nice man said that his friend would be taking care of me from now on.’ he remembered as he reached the bottom of the steps.

Naruto remembers the Dog Masked ANBU from the nearly countless times the man had saved his life over the years and had grown to trust him the same way he trusted the Hokage and the nice people that ran the
ramen stand. ‘They always make sure I had at least one meal a day,’ he smiles to himself, ‘Even if it is ONLY three bowls.’

As he enters the room he sees the strange man that saved him from the mob last night before the ANBU arrived to take the villagers away. The man smiles at him as he slides a plate of food towards an empty chair before signaling Naruto to take a seat. The young boy holds his teddy tightly as he slowly approaches the seat and then climbs up to get a better look at the food.

Raven grins as he sees the boy pick up the fork and almost instantly begin devouring the bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast before chugging the milk. The boy takes less then three seconds to consume the entire meal before holding up his plate and asking for more. ‘I remember when you used to eat like that,’ the voice in his head chuckles.

‘What do you mean USED to?’ Raven replies mentally as he collects the plate and glass before walking over to the counter to replace the food. ‘I still do.’ he thinks, ‘Just not in public.’

‘True,’ the voice laughs. ‘He looks so much like his father,’ the voice sighs sadly as it watches the boy through Raven’s eyes scarf down yet another helping of the meal. ‘But he seems to have his mother‘s table manners,’ it laughs as the boy lets out a loud burp.

Raven mentally laughs along with the voice as he clears the table, placing the dishes in the sink before returning to his seat across from the boy to begin the talk he knew they had to have. “I already know who you are Naruto-san,” he tells the boy, “But I should probably tell you who I am. My name is Raven Hiroku and like you I too am an orphan.”

The man’s voice is kind and gentle as he speaks to Naruto and he can’t help but smile at the man that calls himself Raven. What he likes even more is the fact that Raven is also an orphan like himself. “Am I going to be living here like the nice man said, Raven-sama?” he asks, his eyes shimmering with hope.

“Hai,” Raven answers with a smile as Naruto leaps out of his chair and runs across the table to hug him. With reflexes born from years as a shinobi , Raven catches the boy easily and returns the hug warmly. “But please call me Raven,” he tells the boy. “Raven-sama is way too formal for my tastes.”

“Hai Raven-niisan,” Naruto says still clinging tightly to the man.

“Niisan works,” Raven chuckles as does the voice in his head.

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Naruto finally let go of Raven a few minutes later as the man told him that they had some shopping to do before lunch. Now they were walking down the streets of Konoha on their way to the shopping district to buy the things that Naruto would need. Their first stop was to get the young boy some new clothes and as they entered the store the shop owner immediately glared at them. “I do not allow demon brats in my store,” the man tells them. “Leave now before I call the ANBU to remove you both.”

Raven looks at the man with an almost smug grin on his face. “Send for the ANBU,” he tells the man. “Be sure to ask for Kakashi’s team and while you’re at it have them inform the Hokage that you violated his law by referring to the boy by that name.” Raven’s grin only grew as the man’s face began to pale at the mention of the law. “Are you going to call them or shall we simply forget the matter and do some business?” he asks the owner who nods his head before showing them to the children’s section.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending upon your point of view this very same scene would continue to play out in every store they visited until they finally stopped for lunch just after noon. Never the less they had still managed to purchase Naruto several children’s books, toys and clothing as well as restock the cupboards and pantries with enough food to last even them for a week or two, longer if they ate out at least twice a week.

They had decided to eat at Ichiraku Ramen since it was not only Naruto’s favorite place to eat but also the only restaurant that didn’t immediately try and throw him out. As they sat down Raven couldn’t help but chuckle at how wide Naruto’s eyes got when Raven told him to eat as much as he wanted. Raven was still laughing when Naruto finally stopped eating Both Ayame and Teuchi, who had been smiling at the man who was kind enough to not only treat the poor boy to lunch but also take him into his home, were now in shock as the man not only paid for the 14 bowls they had just eaten (12 of which were Naruto’s) but also left them a rather sizable tip (50% to be precise) without even batting an eyelash.

After lunch they make their way towards the shinobi supply shop talking as the go. “Starting tomorrow we’ll begin your training,” Raven informs Naruto.

“Training?” Naruto asks, “Training for what?”

“To be the greatest shinobi this world has ever known,” Raven answers causing the boy’s eyes to light up.

“You mean like the nice man and the Hokage?” Naruto asks.

“Hai,” Raven tells him as the enter the shop.

Unlike the others shops they visited that day the owner doesn’t try and chase them away, instead the man walks over to Raven and extends his hand. “Welcome back Raven-san,” the man greets him. “It’s been a long time.”

“Hai,” Raven replies taking the hand before pulling the man towards him and so he can hug his friend. “It‘s good to see you old friend.”

“And you too,” the man replies returning the hug. Pulling away he looks over Raven’s shoulder and smiles at Naruto before stepping in front of the boy and then squatting down to the child’s level. “I’m Ryo and you are?” he asks the boy though he already knows full well who he is. Unlike most of the other villagers Ryo knows the truth about Naruto having been friends with the Fourth. If the truth were to be told he would have gladly taken the poor boy into his own family if he could have. Unfortunately for Naruto the council had forbid him from attempting to adopt the boy, going so far as to threaten to put him out of business if he did. ‘Bastards.’

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki…sir,” Naruto answers the man.

“Well Naruto Uzumaki welcome to my shop,” he smiles before standing back up so he can turn around and look at Raven once again. “Resupplying or arming the kid?” he asks.

“Both actually,” Raven answers. “I’m going to start his training tomorrow as we’ll also need training gear along with a full set of ninja equipment.”

“Standard equipment or Raven equipment?” Ryo asks with a chuckle.

“Do you even need to ask?” Raven asks his old friend with a chuckle of his own.

“Same old Raven,” Ryo answers as he heads towards the back. A few minutes later he returns with a box and sets it on the counter. “The weapons and other gear I already had waiting,” he informs his friend. “The clothes will take a while to make since I’ll need his measurements before I can begin.”

“Not a problem,” Raven smiles as he hands Ryo a slip of paper before opening the box and looking inside. His eyes light up as he catches sight of something inside the box. “I had almost forgotten about these,” he exclaims as he pulls out an odd looking kunai. (It’s the same one as Yondaime gave to Kakashi in the manga.) He spins the kunai in his hand as a smile tugs at the corners of his lips. “I can’t believe you actually made two sets. Thanks,” he says as he puts the kunai back in the box before reaching for his wallet.

“No charge,” Ryo tells him before Raven can start taking the money out. “Consider them late birthday presents.”

Raven nods as he puts the wallet away knowing that the man is referring to Naruto and not him. “Alright but I’m still paying for the clothes,” he tells Ryo.

“Only if you let Naruto come over to play with Ten-Ten.” Ryo laughs.

“Ten-Ten?” Raven asks confused for a moment before realization dawns on him. “So it was a girl?” he asks excited for the man.

“Hai,” Ryo answers beaming with fatherly pride. “She’s a hell of a shot too, just like her mother.”

“Speaking of her mother,” Raven says, “How is Suka? I haven’t seen her since you guys announced you were expecting.”

“She’s fine,” Ryo answers, “She and Ten-Ten are out visiting her folks right now but they should be back soon if you want to hang around.”

“I’d love to,” Raven tells him, “But I need to get this stuff home and start on Naruto’s education before dinner.”

“Alright,” Ryo says understandingly. “How about you two join us tonight? I know Suka will love to see you again and I’m sure the Naruto and Ten-Ten will get along just fine.”

“We’ll be there,” Raven tells his friend before picking up the box and signaling for Naruto to get the door. “See you tonight then.”

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A/N: I’ll explain Raven’s abilities and powers in the story here since he will NEVER and I mean NEVER use his full power at any time in this story. He won’t even remove his weights no matter how badly a fight may seem to be going for him. By weights I mean his coat and armor, which each weigh about 500 lbs for a total of roughly about 3 tons. In addition to his weighted gear he has also converted 90% of his maximum chakra into even more weight leaving only 10% usable chakra, though this 10% still makes him as powerful as any of the Sannin. If I had to wager a guess I’d say that without the weights and full chakra he’s probably about as powerful as Shukaku when Naruto fought him during the invasion.

In addition to this he and Hatibi have fully merged allowing him to access Hatibi’s full power and not only remain in complete control when he transforms but also return to his normal form afterwards. By transform I mean with all eight tails to become the demon Dragon himself. Also each of tail he uses multiplies his power by a factor of 10. Example: 1 tail is 10 times stronger then normal, 2 tails is 10 times stronger then 1 tail and so on until he finally becomes 100,000,000 times more powerful then his unrestrained human form which as stated is roughly about as powerful as Shukaku.

I know this sounds like a Mary-Sue GOD character and in almost everyway it is but as I’ve stated before he will never remove the restraints he has placed upon his powers nor will he actually fight except in self defense or in defense of another and even then he won’t need more then one or two moves to finish the fight. His SOLE purpose in this story is to raise and train Naruto until the time Naruto is able to survive on his own. So after Naruto Graduates from the Academy his appearances will become less frequent until some where around the point of Akatsuki’s appearance in the series. After that he may either leave Konoha all together and resume wandering or he may stick around and just make the random cameo appearance from time to time. (Still haven’t decided yet.)

Also I just made up the names of Ten-Ten's parents since I can't find any information on them. If anyone knows anything about them let me know and I'll make the changes otherwise they'll stay as they are.

As always Reviews are greatly appreciated as they continue to help me in improving my writing. They also let me know whether or not you’re enjoying the story so far.