Promises Kept

Raven and Naruto returned to Ryo’s shop later that day in time for dinner as promised. Ryo like most of the other shop owners in Konoha lived above his shop. Raven had begun teaching Naruto how to read telling the boy that it was important for everyone, especially shinobi to be able to read and write as most of the information for their missions were handed out in scrolls.

As soon as Raven had walked through the door he found himself nearly tackled by a short brunet wearing a traditional style Chinese sleeveless blue shirt and green pants. “Raven-kun,” the woman says trying to squeeze him tighter only to find his clothing and armor prevented her from doing so. “Where have you been?”

“Suka-chan,” Raven laughs as he returns the hug gently so as not to harm the smaller woman. “Here and there,” he tells here. “Mostly moving between Hidden Villages doing missions their shinobi isn’t able to do.”

“Same old Raven-kun,” Suka nearly giggles as she lets him go before walking over to Naruto. “And this must be Naruto-kun,” she says as she leans down to look at the boy. “Listen to Raven-kun and you’ll be an even greater shinobi then him someday.”

“I’m going to be the greatest shinobi the world has ever known,” Naruto beams, “Raven-niisan said so.”

“I believe it,” she smiles ruffling his hair a little. “Come on and I’ll introduce you to Ten-Ten. You’ll like her, she starts the Academy next month.”

Raven watches as Suka and Naruto go into the dinning room while he looks around and can’t help but grin at the coat rack with the image of Raven carved into the wood. The coat rack is lined with several seals and has enough arms to hold all of his equipment. Deciding not to be rude he accepts the hospitality as he begins removing his coat, armor and weapons placing each piece on the arm designated for them.

As he enters the dinning room he notices the empty chair for him and shakes his head as he performs a special seal. In an instant he feels almost ten times lighter and stronger then he had in years. “Forgot who you were having over?” he asks Ryo as he sits down in the chair.

“What do you…” Ryo begins before he realizes what Raven had been taking about. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly as he begins to get up.

“Don’t worry it’s okay,” Raven says as he signals for the man to sit back down. “Just bare with me since it’s been awhile.”

“What’s been awhile?” the girl to his right asks.

Raven looks at her and smiles as he sees how much she resembles her mother. Ten-Ten is wearing an outfit similar to her mother’s with her brown hair done up in to neat buns. “It’s been awhile since I’ve had to remove my chakra weights,” he tells her.

“What are chakra weights?” Naruto asks curious.

“Well you see there is a special Jutsu that converts the user’s chakra into weight,” Raven tells them. “While it limit’s the amount of chakra you’ll be able to use while it’s active it helps to train your muscles making you even faster and stronger once it’s released.”

“How much chakra were you using this time Raven-kun?” Suka asks. “Last time I saw you it was up to 75%.”

“I’ve been using about 90% for the last four and a half years.” Raven answers.

“90%?” Ryo asks surprised by the amount. “You’ve been doing S-Ranked mission for four and a half years with only 10% of your chakra?”

“Pretty much.” Raven answers. “It took me about a month to get used to the extra weight like usual but once I did it hasn’t been an issue.”

“He’s really given you that much power?” Suka asks before she can stop herself. “I’m sorry,” she says realizing what she had just asked.

Raven smiles at her reassuringly. “It’s okay Suka I was going to tell him anyways,” he tells her.

“Tell who what?“ Ten-Ten asks looking between her mother and Raven. “Who gave him that much power?”

“What’s going on?” Naruto asks. “I’m lost.”

“It’s alright Naruto-kun,” Raven tells the boy. “We’re just talking about a village secret, my secret to be more precise. You see Naruto you and I are a lot alike,” he tells the boy. “I was once hated by my village for no other reason then the fact I existed.”

Naruto’s eyes widen as he hears the man’s words. “You were hated too?” he asks unable to believe that anyone could hate Raven.

“Hai,” Raven answers simply. “You see Naruto when I was born I had the Hatibi no Tatsu sealed inside me.”

“The Hatibi no Tatsu?” Ten-Ten asks. “What’s that?”

“The Hatibi no Tatsu is the Eight-Tailed Demon Dragon,” Ryo tells his daughter. “Raven is what’s known as a Jinchuuriki or the container for the Hatibi no Tatsu.”

“So they thought you were a demon too?” Naruto asks. “The call me demon spawn or fox brat,” he says more to himself then to the others. “So that means that I’m Jinch…uki whatever too?”

“Jinchuuriki,” Raven corrects him, “And yes you are. You hold the most powerful of the nine tailed Bijuu or demons inside you. The Kyuubi no Kitsune or the Nine-Tailed Fox.”

“I thought the Yondaime Hokage killed the Kyuubi,” Ten-Ten says.

“Bijuu are too powerful for anything but a stronger Bijuu to destroy,” Ryo tells her. “The best humans can hope for is to seal them away.”

“So if you were so hated Raven-niisan then how did you become so powerful?” Naruto asks curious if he too could be just like Raven.

“It wasn’t until after my fifth birthday,” Raven tells him. “That was when I finally met Hatibi and he began to help me.”

“Help you?” Ten-Ten asks. “How and how did you meet him if he’s inside you?”

“I met him while I was in a comma,” Raven tells her. “You see the people in my village had finally decided to kill me and would have succeeded too if Sarutobi-sama hadn’t found me and saved me.”

“The old man?” Naruto asks in shock.

“Hai,” Raven answers, “He was just returning from a mission when he found me lying in the forest left for dead. He brought back to Konoha and he and his wife raised me as one of their own.” Raven can’t help but chuckle to himself. “That reminds me how is Asuma doing? I haven’t seen him yet.”

“He’s doing well,” Ryo answers. “He made Jounin almost a year ago.”

“Really,” Raven grins. “Good for him, I’ll have to get him something special.”

“So you were raised by Hokage-sama?” Ten-Ten asks trying to get Raven back on track.

“Hai,” Raven says. “Of Course this was a couple years before he became the Hokage. After I graduated from the Academy I was placed on the same Genin Team as the Yondaime though back then I knew him as Minato Namikaze,” he chuckles. “Minato was a bit of a prodigy but he had a good heart and we soon became best friends.” Raven’s mood seems to darken slightly as he remembers his lost friend. “I had left the village to pursue some ‘special’ training and only now just returned so I wasn’t here when he fought Kyuubi. Though I know why he did what he did I still wish that I could have said goodbye before he died.”

Naruto’s eyes begin to shimmer with unshed tears as he hears his Niisan’s words. Noticing the boy’s reaction Raven places a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder. “None of this was your doing Naruto,” he tells him. “Like me you weren’t even a day old when this was done to you. I do not blame you, honestly I don’t blame anyone except myself for not being here to say goodbye. Minato did the only thing he could do to protect this village and I will honor that sacrifice and not dwell on things that can’t be undone.”

As Raven finishes tucking Naruto into bed be heads down stairs and opens the backdoor and grins at the ANBU standing before him wearing a Dog mask. “Evening Kakashi,” he says, “What can I do for you?”

“The Council wishes to speak to you about Naruto,” Kakashi tells him. “You are to report to them at 8:00am tomorrow morning.”

Raven sighs as he nods, “I’ll be there.” Kakashi simply nods before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

‘So they‘re at it again,’ Hatibi says. ‘We both knew this was coming.’

‘Hai,’ Raven replies, ‘Still I thought we’d have a little more time.’

‘Nothing we can do about it now,’ the demon tells him. ‘Get some sleep and we’ll deal with them in the morning while Naruto’s training.’ Raven just nods mentally before following the Demon’s advise and going to bed.

==++==++==++==++==

A/N: Okay so now you know Raven’s past, at least as much as he’s willing to share for the time being. Since we don’t know who was on Jiraiya’s team, how old the Fourth was and since this is an AU fic I’ve decided that he and Raven would be about the same age and on the same team. And yeah I know that telling Naruto about Kyuubi or even talking about the demon is against the law but since Raven is now Naruto’s guardian I figured it’d be all right. Repercussions if there are any will come later.

Up next is the council meeting and the start of Naruto’s training with Raven, see you then.