1928

Naruto parted the curtain slightly, looking out. Jiraiya had stepped out of the hotel room to make a quick call and would be back momentarily. They had been traveling a lot more of late, rarely spending more than three days in one place.
He had gotten the feeling a long time ago that they were running from someone or something, but he didn’t know what until the past six months. Not only had Jiraiya began to drop little hints, but Naruto had listened in on some of the telephone conversations.
Mr. Namikaze was the head of the Irish Mafia in Butte, the Italian Mafia, the Akatsuki, had taken out a hit on Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto’s mother, almost five years before. Exactly why Naruto hadn’t figured out, not could he figure out why the Akatsuki wanted him so bad.
From the phone conversations, Naruto heard that that old man Orrochimaru, who had a taste for raven haired boys, had been found murdered in his home, and a new gang was on the loose, showing allegiance to neither the Namikaze nor the Akatsuki.
Naruto moved from the window as a car passed by. Moment’s later, Jiraiya keyed into the room.
“Come on, kiddo, were goin’ back to Butte.”
Naruto flashed a dashing grin. The teen had become rather handsome.
“Already way ahead of you.” He pulled the pre-packed suitcases out from under the bed. Jiraiya laughed.
“Kid, you got a one track mind…”
It was hard for Naruto, going through puberty and remaining chaste. The truth was he was waiting for him…for Sai. He knew that when he next saw Sai…he would tell him exactly how he felt…
It had been nearly five years since they had parted, and it never ceased to amaze Naruto that even for the little while he knew Sai, that the crush would have stuck. He had tried many times to forget the other boy, but found it many times to be impossible. He loved too deep, but that’s the way his mother taught him.
Naruto climbed into the front of the blue truck, having sold Jiraiya’s old, all too recognizable Ford some time ago. He sat back, waiting for the older man to get in and start it up.
Naruto was relieved when they passed the Coeur d’Alene city limit sign a half hour later. Jiraiya had been oddly quiet as the city lights faded into the trees behind them. They rumbled along twisting road in dead silence, nothing but night and trees surrounding them as they drove.
Once they passed the Montana border sign, Jiraiya pulled over, stopping the car and getting out. Naruto followed suit, shivering slightly in the March air. The snow was still laying thickly on the high mountain passes.
“Naruto, come here, I want to talk to you about something important.”
Naruto came around the front of the truck, careful not to slip on the ice.
“What is it?”
“Well…” Jiraiya said, leaning back against the truck, the frame creaking from the man’s weight. “It’s about Sai…You see, about four years ago or so he paid off his debt to Mrs. Chin and moved in with the Uchiha boy and Orrochimaru…” Jiraiya paused to sneeze, Naruto waited impatiently for him to finish. “ Well, about a month ago, Orrochimaru was found murdered and Uchiha was nowhere to be found. The police cleared Sai, but it’s getting sketchy. I would advise when we arrive in Butte to not go looking for trouble. Especially not trouble named Sai. He’ll know you’re in town soon enough, if he wants to, he’ll come to you, ya got that, kiddo?”
Naruto nodded, knowing full well that Jiraiya couldn’t see him in the oppressive darkness of the Montana night. “Yes, sir.”
“Ah, and Naruto…one more thing…” Jiraiya said, his voice shaking slightly.
Naruto cocked his head innocently, looking at the older man.
“What is it?”
Jiraiya shook his head. “Ah…nothing… Now get back in the truck we got another two hours ‘til Butte.” He climbed back in the truck. Naruto stared out the window, picking out the high cliffs in the darkness. His thoughts wandered towards Sai.
It was true, and maybe the best plan, that if Sai felt the same way, he would find him… but one could never be sure…what if Sai didn’t know Naruto was back?
Or worse?
What if Sai didn’t feel the same way?

Sai sat in the corner of the bar, looking coolly at the people talking and laughing around him. He had learned a long time ago from Sasuke and Orrochimaru not to let his emotions show. It only made things more complicated. He listened to the conversations around him, gleaning them for any bit of information that he could. He had heard that once Naruto left, the Akatsuki had gone underground, but he didn’t care about that anymore…he had money to make, rent to pay…
It’s not like he had to do this, he had inherited a great deal from Orrochimaru, much to Sasuke’s disapproval. But it was more out of habit than out of need. The businessmen had said Wall Street fell, and the town would be in ruins sooner or later, so Sai knew it was a good idea to make money while he still could. Then he could leave this hellhole for greener pastures…he was thinking of someplace out west, like San Francisco, or Pasadena.
He found a target, sitting alone at a table on the opposite end. He was middle aged, and from the style of his clothing, Sai guessed he was a miner, from the quality, Sai guessed he was a foreman.
Bingo.
The exotic, dark haired teen stood up fluidly, just as Sasuke had taught him many years ago. He glided almost noiselessly over to the man’s table. The man had been downing whisky shots like there was not tomorrow, and Sai guessed by the look on the man’s face, there was no tomorrow for him.
“Good evening.” Sai said, sitting down saucily in the chair opposite the man, who looked up with a pair or surprised, piercing green eyes. Sai smiled seductively.
“What?” The man spoke in a harsh Irish accent. “What do you want?”
Sai smiled and leaned forward. “The question is, what do you want?” He said, his voice low and smoky. He had learned to change himself for every possible fetish there was out there. The man struck him as the kind that would go for that, so…
The green eyes looked him carefully up and down.
“How much you charging?” He asked, lowering his voice.
Sai smiled. “How much you got?”

Naruto and Jiraiya pulled into Butte in the silence of the early morning hours. The entire town seemed dead, quiet. Even through the darkness, Naruto could tell that Butte had changed altogether. He saw the tops of the mines that had sprung up all over the hillside in the middle of town, lit up in the night. It was almost sad.
They turned up the steep streets, passing an old stone church and turning left, passing Chinatown. Naruto wondered where they were going, why they weren’t going straight to Walkerville. He suppressed a yawn as the truck pulled to a halt in front of a familiar Jazz club.
The Konoha’s lights cut through the misty darkness as Naruto pulled the truck door open and climbed out after Jiraiya.
Even the Konoha had changed it’s face since he had left, but Naruto guessed it was because of the shooting. Bells rang above the door as Naruto and Jiraiya entered the quiet hall.
“I’m sorry sir, we were about to…Oh, my!”
Two men who had been sitting by the door stood up as Tsunade dropped the glass she was polishing in surprise. She came around the side of the bar and threw her arms around Jiraiya, pulling him close to her large breasts.
“I can’t believe you’re back!” She sighed in excitement, pulling away and smiling up at the other man. Her amber eyes fell on Naruto.
“This…that can’t be the same little brat that was with you a couple years ago, is it? Oh, look at you, kid! Oh, you look just like your father…” Tsunade pulled him into a stifling hug before pulling away and turning him around on the spot, looking him up and down. “Oh, my…”
Naruto flashed her his dashing smile and she nearly swooned.
“Oh!” She said, her eyes lighting up. “Show that smile around here and you’ll have a girl within a week!” she cooed.
Naruto smiled again. He didn’t want a girl…he wanted Sai… Naruto yawned yet again, looking around. Sakura was clearing a table in the corner, and Kakashi was playing cards with a stoic looking, square-jawed, dark eyed man. Kakashi looked up as Tsunade began to fuss over Naruto.
He put his cards down and stood up.
“Well, well, look who it is!” He said, walking over and leaning heavily on the bar with a smile.
“How have you been, Kakashi?” Naruto asked with a smile.

Sai and the man, who’s name was simply ‘John‘, like everyone else’s, stumbled drunkenly down the street towards the back of Chinatown. John’s fingers grasped roughly at Sai’s thin black coat as they fell against a rough brick wall. John immediately began to kiss Sai roughly, his tongue launching down the teen’s throat. Sai pulled away slightly in surprise. He would never be used to this, no matter how many times he did it.
“Come on.” Sai whispered against the man’s neck, nuzzling slightly just for the added emphasis. John wreaked of whisky and mud, like every other man named ‘John’ that Sai picked up.
The stumbled down towards the Konoha, where a dark colored truck was parked. Sai wondered for a moment, having never seen that truck before, but he was distracted as John pulled him down the alleyway none to gently.
They bypassed Mrs. Chin’s laundry and cut through a small mini-street done up to look like a Shanghai marketplace. Sai smiled at the irony, how appropriate.
No one cared to cast a second glance at the Japanese prostitute and his client. It was nothing they hadn’t seen before.
John rubbed his whiskered face against Sai’s cheek, nearly sticking his nose in the teen’s ear. Sai mustered all of his drunken dignity and persisted down the street to a darker part where people of all walks of life filed in and out of a broken down looking building. Sai smiled dimly as he escorted the man inside and down a set of stairs, straight into the dirty underground of Butte.

Naruto felt his blood run cold when he heard the news: Mr. Namikaze had been killed.
“H-how did it happen?” He asked, thinking of the blond-haired man who had seemed so full of life the last time he’d seen him.
“Naruto…as you know we do some pretty dangerous things. Mr. Namikaze had a hit taken out on him about a year ago.” Jiraiya said quietly. One could tell that this news had taken it’s toll on him. Even Kakashi looked as if he had been hit hard.
“He…he knew it was going to happen eventually.” Tsunade said, pulling something out of the front of her dress and passing it across the table to Naruto. Naruto looked down at the envelope, confused as he picked it up. Everyone at the table was silent, watching him intently as he opened it.
It was from Mr. Namikaze.
After reading a few lines, Naruto knew the intent of the letter, and had rather mixed emotions about it.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me he was my father?” He asked, the question filled with a mixture of anger and sorrow. Immediately, thoughts of what might have been flashed through his head, and he struggled to suppress his tears.
Kakashi took a deep breath, but Jiraiya cut him off.
“He wanted to protect you, Naruto…and your mother. He loved you two more than life itself, and he was crushed when he found out she had been killed.” Jiraiya said evenly. He knew all too well that Naruto had developed a bad temper, which was kept under control for the most part, but every once in a while…
Naruto looked down at the letter again.
“What am I supposed to do now?” He said quietly.
He looked up at Tsunade. “It says that you are to take over until I am old enough to handle the Namikaze’s affairs on my own.” He said passing the letter to Tsunade, who took it from him with sad eyes.
“I know, kiddo.” She said softly. “I’ve been doing my best, but unfortunately in these times, it seems like it’s not enough.” She said quietly. Naruto knew what she was talking about. He had remembered eavesdropping on one of Jiraiya’s telephone conversations, talking about the stock market crash. Naruto nodded, his azure blue eyes reflecting the strength of his soul.
“It’s all right, Miss Tsunade. I have faith in you.” He said, smiling brightly.
guilty.

Sai stumbled down the darkened street. Things with ‘John’ hadn’t gone well at all. Sure, he had gotten his money, but the price he had paid had been much greater.
He stared down at his blood-soaked hands, the blood not his own. He paused by a gutter not far from the Konoha and rinsed them off in the melting snow. He stood up, and wiped his split lip just as the door to the Konoha opened.
Sai frowned; It was late, the club should have been closed.
He watched as a stoic looking man came out behind Sakura and Kakashi. They were followed shortly by a very handsome, very familiar looking yellow haired boy.
Sai froze, almost instantly. “Naruto…?” He whispered into the night air. He knew he shouldn’t have cared, but he felt something rising in his chest. He shook it off, dismissing it at the chill in the march air. He watched as the group walked down the street a little ways, completely oblivious to him, and climbed into a blue Chevy.
Sai’s heart beat wildly as he watched Naruto open the door for Sakura. It wasn’t often nowadays that one found such a gentleman.
The Chevrolet pulled away in to the night, it’s tail light’s fading slowly into the mist.
Sai let out a depressed sigh and turned away, shoving his reddened hands into his pockets and trudging back to his shared apartment above the Motherland Theatre.

Naruto stared absently out the window of Tenzou’s car, glancing back at the Konoha. Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw a dark shadow turn down an alleyway, but he said nothing as they drove up the steep streets, tuning, once again, to Walkerville.
Naruto was shocked at the blatant and shameless progress that had invaded the city limits. A new mine had sprung up, practically in Jiraiya’s back yard. Naruto couldn’t help but notice, though, that even Jiraiya’s house seemed a little run-down looking. Kakashi got out, opening the door for Sakura.
“He left me in charge of his place while he was gone…” He said, opening the door.
Naruto sighed happily. Not one thing had changed since he was gone. The pervy naked pictures were still there, the hose was still in disarray…
He inhaled, sitting down with a smile. Sakura glowered at the pictures and sneered at the mess, but to Naruto, it was home.