Our Progeny

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Warning: This fic will eventually contain shonen ai and possibly yaoi. SasuNaru NaruSasu past SasuOC (barely mentioned) There is also one major OC and a few minor OCs in the future.

Updates until Chapter 12 will come at least once a week as I edit and change previous chapters. We’ll see where it goes from there.

Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Flames will be ignored.

“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
Flashback
---.---: break/ time lapse
oooOooo: Scene change

Our Progeny

Summary: Set 5 years in the future. Naruto comes across a young boy while on a mission and takes him in. Who is this boy and what does he have to do with Naruto and Sasuke?

---.---

Outside of the Hokage Tower, both Tsunade and Naruto had the same thought:

‘I wonder what the others are going to think?’

---.---

Naruto’s train of thought was broken by a loud rumble and his eyes darted to the boy on his right. Yahiko had a worried look on his face.

“You hungry kid?” Naruto asked.

Yahiko nodded and looked down at the ground.

‘He’s going to yell at me now. Grownups always yell if you tell them you’re hungry and Father would punish me if I complained.’

Yahiko’s unresponsiveness concerned Naruto, but he decided to press on.

“I’m going to treat you to the best ramen in the entire world. Ichiraku has the greatest ramen ever.”

The blonde shinobi led the way and Yahiko followed.
When Naruto and Yahiko arrived at Ichiraku, they took a seat. Yahiko decided to let Naruto order since he didn’t want to order anything too expensive.

“Hey Pops,” Naruto said, “We’re celebrating, so give me two of your specialty ramen dishes.”
“Sure Naruto, coming right up,” the owner replied. “Who’s that young man you’re sitting next to?”
“This is Yahiko. He’s staying with me right now and he’s only had ramen once in his life. He likes it so I’ve decided to treat him to the best.”

Yahiko blushed a bit and shifted slightly closer to Naruto.

‘I wonder why he’s being so shy?’ the blonde wondered.

He didn’t have much time to reflect because the food was ready. Yahiko’s eyes widened in awe when he saw Ichiraku’s specialty dish. He’d never seen a nicer and fancier bowl of food in his life and he bet it tasted great.

‘It’s probably really expensive,’ the boy thought. ‘Naruto doesn’t need to buy me a lot of stuff. I’d be happy with a rice bowl.’

“Don’t worry about the price kid.” Naruto stated. “Even though 20 bucks is a lot for a bowl of ramen, I have the money. The mission I was on paid pretty well and we’re celebrating. You’re easily worth a hell of a lot more than 20 bucks.” (1)

The blonde decided to lead by example and attacked his bowl. Yahiko followed him and they finished their meal in a silence broken only by the slurping of noodles.

After they finished eating, Naruto walked Yahiko to his house. He’d been appointed guardian of the Uchiha Estates after the “incident” so they had to walk to the outskirts of Konoha. Their journey did not go unnoticed by the villagers and Naruto’s heightened senses were able to pick up the crowd’s murmurings.

“Who’s that child with the demon?”
“I heard that the demon’s looking after him.”
“Really? I bet it’s out of guilt. The demon probably murdered the child’s parents.”
“I agree. Either that or it’s just taking the child in because of duty. Everyone knows that the demon could never care for someone else.”

Yahiko stiffened at the increasingly hostile tone that the crowd’s muttering was taking. This time however, he didn’t move closer to Naruto.

‘Does he really want me here? Am I a burden?’ Yahiko thought.

Once again Naruto noticed Yahiko’s strange behavior and once again his train of thought was interrupted. They arrived at the Uchiha mansion and Naruto let them in.

“Come on kid, I’ll show you your new room,” Naruto stated. He turned around and started heading up the stairs.

‘He never uses my name,’ Yahiko worried. ‘I used to think that it was a nice nickname, but could it be that he doesn’t like me? Does he call me “kid” so that he won’t grow to like me?’

Yahiko followed Naruto into one of the many rooms in a long hallway, but all of his thoughts were instantly forgotten when a tall silver-haired ninja with a face mask and a forehead protector over one eye materialized in the room.

“Yo,” the ninja said. It was addressed to Naruto but his eye quickly refocused on Yahiko.

“Kakashi, what the hell are you doing here?” Naruto asked. “You can’t just go barging into people’s houses, especially since this is Yahiko’s room now.”
“I can’t visit my former student?” Kakashi asked in a (fake) offended tone. “This is just a friendly post-mission visit. And who’s Yahiko?”
“This is Yahiko. Yahiko this is Kakashi- a former sensei of mine.”
“Hello Yahiko,” Kakashi stated.

He extended his hand in greeting but Yahiko didn’t take it.

“Hey kid, what’s the matter?” Naruto asked.

Kakashi took a step closer to Yahiko, who in turn took one step back. Kakashi’s eye crinkled into a smile, but when he took one more step forward, Yahiko bolted.

Naruto frowned.

“I’m going to go see what’s bothering him. I’ll talk to you later Kakashi.”
“Alright,” Kakashi replied, “I’ll…” He didn’t bother finishing his sentence. Naruto had already left the room.

oooOooo

After searching for a while, Naruto found Yahiko sitting on the edge of the dock in the small pond next to the Uchiha mansion. He silently sat down next to him.

“What’s wrong kid?”

Yahiko was startled and started to dart away again but before he could leave, Naruto grabbed a hold of his arm. As soon as he felt contact, Yahiko flinched and closed his eyes as if he were waiting for a blow.

“What’s going on?” Naruto asked in a worried tone, “I’m not going to hit you buddy, I just want to talk. Why did you run away? Kakashi wasn’t going to hurt you or anything.”

Yahiko’s only answer was silence.

“We really need to talk this out kid, and we’re not leaving this dock until we do.”

After a few moments, Yahiko sat back down. He took a deep breath and whispered so softly that Naruto had to rely on his Kyuubi senses to hear it.

“Do you really want me here?”
“What?” Naruto practically yelled. “What kind of question is that?”
“Do you?”
“Of course I do. I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t. Why do you wanna know?”
“I heard the villagers talking.” Yahiko said, lowering his voice once more.
“Oh,” Naruto muttered quietly. “Don’t… don’t pay any attention to them. That’s what I do. Besides, they don’t know what they’re talking about. I told you that I’d take care of you because I DO care about you. I don’t ever go back on my word. That is my ninja way.”

Naruto pulled Yahiko in for a hug.

“Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise buddy. I’ll always be there for you.”

Yahiko returned the hug, but remained silent. After a few minutes, he spoke:

“I… I’ve never told anyone about my past before but… I think I can trust you. Can I trust you?”

Yahiko looked up at Naruto and their eyes met. Naruto’s eyes began to water and instead of answering; the blonde nin nodded his head and gave the boy a gentle squeeze.

“I’m going to… to tell you the part that has to do with him.”

Yahiko took a deep breath and began.

“I had traveled with him… my father… for as long as I could remember. I never knew my mother, so one day I asked him where she was. He must have been in a good mood that day because he actually answered.”

---.---

“Father, why don’t I have a mother?” A younger version of Yahiko asks a tall black haired man.
“Your mother is dead,” the man responded. “Right when she was about to die, she took a kunai and cut open her belly to save you. The scar on your back is from the cut you received while your mother was giving birth to you.”
“How did she die?” Yahiko asked.
“We’re not going to speak about that. Never bring this subject up again.”

---.---

“The next time I mentioned it, he punished me.” Yahiko shuddered.
“What did he do?” Naruto asked after a moment of silence.

Yahiko ignored him and instead continued his story.
“Shortly afterwards, he abandoned me,”

---.---

“Father, where are you going?”
“Away,” the man says harshly, “Don’t try to follow me.”
“But Father…”
“Silence!” the man orders. His eyes flash red dangerously and Yahiko shuts his mouth.
“Let me tell you the truth about your mother. I killed her. That bitch escaped for a moment and saved your miserable life. I don’t know why I kept you alive. Perhaps I was hoping you would become useful in the future. I was wrong, and it looks like you’re going to be very similar to my sniveling younger brother.”

“This,” he says holding up a kunai, “was the kunai your mother used when she brought your miserable existence into being. You’re too weak to kill, but perhaps you have the guts to kill yourself. However, before I give you this, I have one more thing for you.”

The man’s eyes flash, and images of his mother’s death flash through Yahiko’s mind until he passes out. When he awakens, his father is gone. All that remains is the box with the lone kunai inside.

---.---

“I kept the kunai because it was the only thing I had left from my mother,” Yahiko whispered. “It’s all I have of her.”

He looked up at Naruto’s eyes and saw them widen in shock. The boy panicked and tried to escape again but Naruto held on and pulled the boy closer to keep him from escaping. Yahiko tensed and finally relaxed when he realized that he was in a tight hug.

“It’s okay buddy,” Naruto said soothingly. “Nothing about your past will make me abandon you. We’re going to train so that you can protect yourself and now that you’re a Konoha citizen, the entire shinobi community will lay down their lives to protect you.”

Yahiko looked up at Naruto.

“There’s more. My father… he said that I wasn’t even his real son. I don’t know who my real father is. The only reason I refer to him as my father is that he always forced me to call him that. He killed my mother after she saved my life. And… his name is really important… he was Uchiha It…”
“I know buddy,” Naruto interrupted. “I’ve met him and he’s always wanted the Kyuubi’s power but it’s too late now, I’ve completely merged with the demon. Did… did Itachi use the Mangekyou Sharingan on you often?”
“He only used it that one time... Most of the time he’d use regular genjitsu to punish me.

Yahiko paused for another moment and then continued in a voice cracked with emotion.

“That’s all I wanna talk about now. I’m so happy that you didn’t abandon me like everyone else.”

They stayed on the dock in a comfortable silence. After a while, Naruto decided to break the somber mood.

“Okay, enough of this sad stuff. Come with me buddy. I want you to meet someone, but we have to prepare first.”

After leading them back into the Uchiha Mansion, Naruto gave Yahiko a few instructions before they left.

“Take a really good bath and then get dressed. I’m going to go hunting because it’ll help if we bring a gift.”

When Yahiko got out of the shower, Naruto was already back. There was a large salmon and a rabbit on the table.

Yahiko ran up to Naruto and grabbed him in a hug, knocking the blonde nin into a chair.

“Ooff. What’s this for?” Naruto asked with a smile.

Yahiko muffled back a response through Naruto’s jacket.

“I was afraid you weren’t coming back.”

Naruto didn’t know what to say so he just ruffled Yahiko’s hair.

“You ready to go?”

Yahiko nodded his head.

“Here,” Naruto said after handing an old orange jacket to Yahiko. “Wear that. It still has a little of my scent on it and she’ll realize you are with me.”

Yahiko was curious, but did what he was told.

“Who are we meeting? And why do we have to be careful?” he asked.
“We’re meeting a friend of mine,” Naruto replied. “She isn’t very trusting but I think she’ll like you. She also gave birth six weeks ago so we’re going to have to work extra hard to earn her confidence. Let’s go meet her now.”

Naruto led them deep into the woods. There was no obvious trail to follow, and Yahiko was hopelessly lost after only a few minutes. After a bit Naruto stopped and dropped to a knee.

“Do you want a shoulder ride?” he asked. “The area ahead is moderately trapped and we’ll make better time if I can carry you.

Yahiko didn’t bother to answer and eagerly scrambled up on Naruto’s shoulders. Once the boy was secure, Naruto began to move around the forest in zigzags to avoid the traps. Ten minutes later, the duo came to a stop in front of an impassable copse of trees.

“Are we there yet?” Yahiko asked.
“Just watch.”

Naruto gently dropped Yahiko to his side and touched one of the wooden knobs on the oldest center tree. He released a surge of chakra and the trees parted to reveal a small clearing and a fox’s den. There were three small red kits playing with an even smaller black kit in the clearing. Yahiko and Naruto’s presence startled the kits and they ran inside.

“I’ll be right back.” Naruto said and walked into the den with his gifts. After a short while, Yahiko heard him yell out, “OK buddy, you can come in now.”

Yahiko carefully approached the den. When he went in, he saw the four cubs playing tag with each other on top of Naruto. When they saw Yahiko again, they darted out of sight. Two of them hid behind their mother and the other two hid behind Naruto.

“Kitsune, I’d like you to meet Yahiko,” Naruto said. “Yahiko, I’d like you to meet ’Sune.”
“Alright buddy,” Naruto instructed, “approach ’Sune slowly and offer your palm to her so she can sniff it. She already knows I’m taking care of you because you smell similar to me.”

Before Yahiko could approach ’Sune, the smallest kit poked his head out from behind his mother. Yahiko paused, and before he could do anything, the kit darted out and stopped right before Yahiko with a curious expression on his face.

’Sune barked warningly, but the kit only glanced back at her quickly before diverting his attention to Yahiko again.

Yahiko timidly extended his hand towards the kit and offered it to him to sniff. The kit gave it a whiff, then gently grabbed Yahiko’s hand in its mouth and dragged him to his mother.

“Hey!” Yahiko exclaimed. The biting hold didn’t hurt, but it had startled him.

Once they reached ’Sune, the kit jumped up onto Yahiko’s head and peered down at his mother. ’Sune examined Yahiko and her kit with weirdly intelligent eyes before giving a yip of approval. As soon as it was given the other three fox kits tackled Yahiko. Giggling, Yahiko allowed them to knock him to the ground.

After about thirty minutes, Naruto told Yahiko that they needed to leave. When Yahiko got up, the three bigger kits just continued playing amongst themselves but the smallest one kept with Yahiko.

“It seems like he really likes you buddy,” Naruto observed. “Why don’t you give him a name?”
“Well…” Yahiko thought out loud, “He’s a kittling right? What about a name like that? How about Ling? Or Link? I like Link.”
“Link it is then,” Naruto stated.

Link started to whine when he realized that Yahiko was going to leave.

“Don’t worry little guy,” Yahiko said as he scratched behind Link’s ear. “I’ll be back.”

This seemed to calm him down and Link stopped crying. He sat down on his hind legs and watched as Yahiko and Naruto left.

After Naruto showed Yahiko how to reseal the clearing, Yahiko hugged Naruto and thanked him for cheering him up.

“Why are they hidden so deeply in the forest?”
“After the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, foxes were hunted almost to extinction.” Naruto explained. “That is the only family of foxes left in Konoha and I feel like it’s partially my fault that they are hunted, so I take care of them.”
“What does stink-shun mean? Something smelly?”
“No *chuckle*. It means that a type of animal dies and you can’t find them anywhere.”
“Oh. Where is their father?”
“He’s probably out hunting but now that you mention it I haven’t seen `Sune’s mate in a week or so…”

Naruto rubbed his chin for a moment in thought and then shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know where he is. It’s time for us to train now, so we have to head back to the house in order to get your equipment but from now on, I don’t want you to go anywhere without your ninja gear.”

Yahiko nodded and they set out.

oooOooo

Sakura entered the Yamanaka flower shop as she did every week to hear the current village gossip.

“Hey Sakura, did you hear about the kid Naruto brought back to Konoha?” Ino asked.
“What?! Naruto’s taking care of a kid? He’s barely an adult himself!” scoffed Sakura.
“I know, it’s the talk of the village,” Ino elaborated. “The only ninja’s that have seen the kid are Shikamaru and Kakashi. Shikamaru is too lazy to explain what the kid looks like and Kakashi has been surprisingly quiet about it. I wanna meet the kid. Do you have any ideas?”

Sakura pondered for a moment before snapping her fingers.

“Why don’t we have a party?” Sakura suggested. “We can hold a surprise party later this week. Whenever Naruto doesn’t have a mission he disappears to the forest to train almost all morning. We can set up the party at the Uchiha mansion and ambush him when he gets back. We’ll invite everyone and it’ll be a lot of fun.”

They started to make plans, and secretly sent out invitations.

oooOooo

Today would make it exactly 10 years. Ten years from the first time he ever noticed Naruto. He had been too sheltered and happy before his family’s murder to pay attention to the “demon” child, but after the incident, he finally noticed the other orphan his age in Konoha. There was a connection between them but Sasuke had denied it for so many years.

‘I guess I’m still denying it. I wouldn’t let Naruto bring me back twice in a row and I suppose I’m afraid that if I do go back, I won’t be able to leave… I have to go back this year. I haven’t paid my respects to my family at our shrine in eight years, and they deserve more respect than that. I’ll just get in and out and no one will even know I was there.’

The decision gave Sasuke some concrete purpose in his actions and he started towards Konoha.

TBC…

(1) I suppose now is a good time to mention this. I’m not familiar with Japanese currency so I’m going to stick to US amounts. You’ll also notice that I stay away from Japanese “fan language’. I don’t speak Japanese so its use will be very limited within this story. I will use it for honorifics and nicknames because it’s easier that way. I will also use it occasionally in jutsus and such. Other than that, I won’t use it for random phrases like “please” and “thank you”.

Next time: The party, Sasuke comes back home, and a cliffhanger.