The Hunt

Naruto turned over again in his new bed, it wasn't that he wasn't comfortable, his four-poster was definitely comfortable, he just wasn't tired after his earlier nap in Sasuke's room. Sighing, Naruto sat up. Glancing around his new room he shook his head, a small smile on his face. He could no longer kid himself; this was all real. He didn't have to steal food out of the rubbish anymore, or endure the countless attempts of drunks to pick a fight. This place was surely better than anywhere he had lived his entire life... except perhaps the place he had been born.

Naruto had very few memories of those precious few years when he had been part of a family. He had lived with his father in one of the nicer suburbs of Konoha. Naruto closed his eyes, trying to make out the face of his father, it was fuzzy but the resemblance to himself was obvious. Their house had been warm and comfortable, Naruto remembered staring at the picture of his mother on the mantle for hours on end. She had died giving birth to him but his father had made sure to keep plenty of photos of her around the house. Naruto had always thought she looked like one of those mothers that everyone loves, with long bright red hair and dark blue eyes... but perhaps that had only been his imagination trying to conjure up an image he could treasure.

Then one night when Naruto had been 4 years old he had woken up in the middle of the night to find his father gone. He had curled up in his fathers bed to wait for him but in the morning an old man had arrived. He had introduced himself as 'Uncle Jiraiya' and told Naruto he would be living with him from now on in his downtown flat. Jiraiya had been good to him, even if he was a total pervert who always spied on women. Naruto smiled at the memories of a younger him telling his Uncle off. Jiraiya had never been a very good parental unit, there was always strange people turning up demanding money and they had to move several times but at least he'd had a roof over his head.

Until it had happened again, Jiraiya had gone missing in the middle of the night just like his father and this time no one had come to tell Naruto what had happened. So Naruto had tried to keep the flat, whilst working at a local bar. But his pay was bad, his education lacking and after he'd lost his pitiful job there really was nowhere else for him.

Naruto looked around his room again, fingering the covers of his bed, and smiled; he'd been given another chance. He was living in the most interesting place he'd been so far with some dangerous, crazy but essentially nice people. All he had to do was learn to control the magick inside of him and he would be able to live the exciting life of a Hunter. It certainly beat working in some dodgy bar where you had to pretend you didn't see any of the illegal stuff going on.

It's not everyone who gets to observe people levitate objects, lift things three times their weight and throw lightening at will. It was all so crazy! A part of Naruto knew he wouldn't believe he really belonged here until he started doing weird stuff too but he was beginning to trust the Hyuuga's judgement a little more now. Perhaps it was because Sasuke seemed to wholeheartedly believe that Naruto was going to have to face that ominous decision and Naruto found himself more inclined to trust the Uchiha's judgement.

Naruto sighed; maybe if this 'sixth sense' made itself known he'd be prepared to believe that he had blood magick. Sasuke had said that he could learn to listen to it through meditation.

"No time like the present," muttered Naruto.

He climbed out of bed and settled himself in the middle of his bedroom floor on the thick old rug. It would probably be more effective to do this in the arena but Naruto didn't fancy getting lost in the tunnels during the day, when no one was awake to show him the way. Remembering Sasuke's instructions he began to slow his breathing. He could almost hear Sasuke's voice...

"Clear you mind... Do not think... Concentrate only on my voice... And then on letting my voice drift from your consciousness leaving only the sounds of you own body...

"No!"

Naruto frowned. Sasuke's voice had changed; it was no longer in his mind... it felt far away but yet it sounded close.

"No! Aniki please, don't do this! Come back to me!"

Naruto's eyes snapped open. He wasn't imagining it! He could hear Sasuke's voice, panicked and trembling. Naruto looked at his right hand wall; the cries were coming from this direction. Sasuke's words were no longer distinguishable now that Naruto had broken out of his trance. He knew the Uchiha's room was in that direction, down the hall... but there must be nearly 10 metres of solid wall before you even reached the bathroom, he couldn't possibly be hearing Sasuke through that?!

Sasuke suddenly cried out in pain, 'What the hell am I doing?!' thought Naruto frantically. 'I should be helping him!'

He dashed out of the door, ran down the hallway and burst into Sasuke's room in a matter of seconds. Naruto scanned the room quickly for the distressed Sasuke, but the man was lying in bed. He felt an enormous relief hit him as he realised Sasuke was just having a nightmare. It was a violent one though; Sasuke was tossing and turning, muttering to himself and his covers had been thrown to the floor.

"Stop it...! Mpmh... nooo!" Sasuke's cries didn't seem as loud now that Naruto was here with him, when he'd heard him through the wall Naruto had thought Sasuke must have been screaming as though his life depended on it, but he wasn't.

Naruto walked cautiously over to Sasuke's bed. What should he do? Sasuke wouldn't like to be seen like this, that was for sure... But Naruto couldn't just leave him. He bit his lip in decision as Sasuke turned over again, his face screwed up in pain.

Slowly he reached out a hand and gripped Sasuke's shoulder, giving him a good shake.

Sasuke woke up immediately. Naruto jumped back in surprise as he bolted upright, eyes wide and his hand swiftly revealing a tantou (1) from under his pillow.

"Woah, chill out man!" said Naruto, holding his hands up in a gesture that showed he was unarmed. He eyed the tantou that was already halfway out of it's sheath. Sasuke glared at him as he put it away again with a decisive click.

"Why are you in my room again, dobe?" he asked, sounding utterly exasperated.

Naruto felt an annoyed growl rumble in his throat. "Jeez teme! I came in here because I thought you were being bloody attacked! I mean how the hell am I supposed to sleep when you're in here screaming?!"

-0-

Sasuke visibly stiffened. "What did you hear?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"Erm... well... you were doing a lot of shouting, calling out for someone to stop... you called out to your... brother," Naruto shifted awkwardly.

Sasuke inhaled and exhaled slowly. "I don't understand how the hell you heard that," he began, an angry edge to his voice. "I mean what were you doing, meditating or something?"

"Well... yeah," said Naruto lamely.

Sasuke looked at him with something close to shock. "Wow great time for you to start listening to what I say," he said sarcastically.

"Whatever you paranoiac bastard." Sasuke scowled at the comment turning the sheathed tantou over in his fingers. "I thought it was going pretty well actually. That sixth sense will come in handy if you ever actually need to me to rush to your aid."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You will never get the chance to play the hero since it will most likely be me who has to save your ass. And anyway it wasn't the sixth sense that alerted you to my apparent 'danger' since the sixth sense would know I was not actually in danger, therefore you still failed at tuning in to it's subtle signals and only succeeded in using your advanced hearing."

"Eeeeh? B-but there is no way I could have heard through that wall!" spluttered Naruto waving wildly in the direction of Sasuke's en suite.

"You couldn't, but a Hunter could if he listened hard enough."

Naruto gaped a little and Sasuke smirked. "Not still doubting you own ability are you?"

Naruto scowled, crossing his arms and looking away, "Not anymore I'm not," he muttered under his breath.

Sasuke smirked again, "You should also know that I can hear you perfectly when you speak like that."

"Whatever bastard, you're avoiding the fact that you obviously have family issues!"

-0-

The change in the smirking Uchiha was instantaneous. Sasuke's face turned to one of such raw fury that Naruto immediately regretted his words. Sasuke flung himself off of the bed and began stalking towards Naruto who started backing away. When he felt his back hit the wall the blond's eyes flicked to the door. The Uchiha was emitting such an menacing aura that Naruto was seriously surprised that he hadn't been hit by lightening yet.

"Family issues?" hissed Sasuke, his demeanour reminiscent of an angry snake. "Oh Naruto you have no idea," he said in that dangerously soft voice, sounding out every syllable.

Naruto frowned; Sasuke was admitting that Naruto had been right? "Tell me then," he said defiantly.

Sasuke let out a low growl and closed the distance between Naruto's neck and his hand effectively pinning Naruto in a stranglehold not two metres from where he had first experienced the Uchiha's physical strength.

But this time Naruto expected it. One hand wrapped around Sasuke's wrist whilst the other balled into a fist and flew straight at Sasuke's unguarded stomach. Naruto heard Sasuke's breath leave him in a rush but had no time to think as the Uchiha's other fist made contact with his jaw. Naruto groaned and fell to his knees only to feel a well aimed kick connect with his side. Sasuke was on him in an instant, straddling him and pinning Naruto to the floor, preparing to land another hit to his face.

Naruto caught his fist just in time, gripping Sasuke's other wrist as it aimed for his stomach. "Dammit Sasuke, your family can't be that bad!" he gritted out, flicking his tongue over the split in his lip.

Sasuke glared at him, panting more from pent up anger than physical exertion. "They're dead," he bit out snatching his wrists away from Naruto and sitting back a little.

Clear blue eyes widened in understanding, "Then... your brother..."

"Dead," Sasuke pushed away from Naruto and moved to sit leaning against the wall, "At my hand," he finished bitterly.

Naruto leant up on his elbows to stare at Sasuke; surely he hadn't heard right? Did Sasuke just admit to murdering his brother?

Sasuke caught him staring and glared as if to say: don't you dare look at me like that!

As Sasuke looked down at his clenched fists Naruto watched his face for any sign that he hadn't meant it. His usually carefully controlled features had taken on an odd expression and Naruto suspected he was lost in memories. He had a feeling Sasuke wouldn't tell him anything until he was good and ready so Naruto made himself comfortable leaning against the wall beside Sasuke.

They sat in silence for a long time, neither looking at the other. Sasuke was absorbed in the past but Naruto was itching to ask about his brother.

"I didn't want to kill him."

Naruto started in surprise; he hadn't really expected Sasuke to break the silence.

"So he was a real brother to you, huh?"

Sasuke 'hmm'ed in agreement and when Naruto looked his way he found the Uchiha resting his head on the wall, his eyes unfocused.

"Then why...?"

*

Sasuke was close to telling Naruto it wasn't any of his business but something stopped him. He knew if he refused to tell Naruto then the boy could ask anyone in the coven and Sasuke knew Neji would be all too happy to share the story of the Uchiha family's downfall. Sasuke didn't want Naruto to hear Neji's version which would surely portray his brother as the hideous bloodthirsty demon that he never was.

"He changed."

Sasuke sighed deeply, it was not something he liked to think about. Itachi had been the one person whom he had really loved and admired. His brother had been one of the strongest Hunters in the Uchiha family and had astounded everyone with his flawless control.

"He met a demon in battle, I think it was the first time anyone had ever bested Itachi. The demon's name was Madara, he had a way of bringing out the worst in people. I had to watch as Itachi's defeat began to eat at him, it shouldn't have done, he would never have let anyone get to him like that. I don't know what exactly that demon's power was but it got Itachi bad. He became obsessed with gaining the power to beat Madara and he eventually lost control. The entire Uchiha family was wiped out during that night."

"But you managed to beat him?" asked Naruto.

Sasuke turned to him to see blue eyes sparkling with admiration. "I was no match for Itachi," he said coldly.

"But... then how-"

"When he fought me he didn't use his full strength," he explained softly, his fingers automatically tracing the outline of the pendant under his shirt. "I think the real Itachi was trying to gain some control over himself."

Sasuke refused to look away from Naruto. In those blue orbs swirled a million different emotions, each laid out for him to observe; understanding, admiration and perhaps even gratitude towards Sasuke for telling his secret. He was surprised to find no pity in Naruto's gaze and he was thankful; they all pitied him and, to a certain extent, feared him. Everyone knew the basics of his story; they had found out via the members of the last remaining Hunter family: the Hyuuga's. Sasuke found that he had to use all his self control not to look away from Naruto, he didn't want to appear weak or ashamed, because he wasn't, but it was hard to keep eye contact with Naruto; it did funny things to his insides.

Eventually Naruto broke their staring contest frowning slightly, "So your whole family had magick inside them?"

"Yeah, the Uchiha clan was the strongest Hunter family in Konoha," said Sasuke proudly. "Why?"

Naruto looked thoughtful, "So does that mean my parents were Hunters too?"

"Not necessarily. Magick used to reside only within strict family boundaries resulting in strong clans of Hunters or demons but they slowly began to diminish, constantly killing each other probably didn't help. So the old families split up, marrying normal people and concealing their powers from their spouses, meaning their children may or may not possess blood magick. With the downfall of such families as the Namikaze clan and most recently the Uchiha clan there is only one old family left."

"Who's that?"

"The Hyuuga's."

"Wait a minute... did you say Namikaze?" Naruto said suddenly turning to Sasuke, understanding dawning all over his face.

"Yeah, why?"

"It can't be... otou-san..." he said slowly, staring into the distance.

"Your father?"

"Mmmm... I think his last name was Namikaze."

"What?!" Sasuke sat up a little straighter. "But you said your name was Uzumaki."

"Yeah, but that was my mother's name. Dad called me after her in memory of her death..."

Sasuke suddenly sprang to his feet, "Follow me."

*

"What?" Naruto watched as Sasuke threw his coat on and walked briskly out of the door. "Hey, teme! Wait up!"

Sasuke sped through the labyrinth with Naruto hot on his heals. The Uchiha refused to say where they were going no matter how many times Naruto asked him. Naruto thought he recognised where they were going by the faint feeling of déjà vu but that might have been his imagination.

When Sasuke stopped abruptly outside a seemingly random door Naruto nearly crashed into him. Sasuke scowled and put his finger to his lips urging Naruto to be quiet. Naruto watched with amusement as Sasuke pulled several lock picks from a hidden pocket in the sleeve of his coat.

"Hehe prepared for everything aren't you?" muttered Naruto.

Sasuke replied with a glare and a swift gesture to 'shut the hell up'. Then he pushed the door open and sidled into a room full of the flickering light of pale flames. Naruto recognised the place immediately, it was Tsunade's office. There were doors leading out on either side of the room. Sasuke gave the right hand one a wary look before heading left. Naruto followed him into a dark lounge area as silently as he could; it was quite obvious they weren't allowed in here.

As Sasuke closed the door trying not to let it click, Naruto looked around. None of the braziers were lit but the light filtering under the door was enough. The room looked as though it was used for meetings with two sofas positioned either side of a low table. Sasuke walked around him to the far wall and beckoned him over. The wall was adorned with a long line of portraits and photos going from old to new.

Sasuke pointed at one of the more recent photos, "Is this your father?"

Naruto looked at it, once again failing to notice how he didn't need light to see every detail of the mans face. The man looked just like an older version of Naruto, with slightly longer hair and more slanted eyes. His eyes were of the same bright blue as Naruto's and his skin was tanned though it lacked the distinctive whisker scars. The name plaque below the picture read: Namikaze Minato.

"I don't fucking believe it," said Naruto, scanning every detail of the image that was so like his own. "He was a Hunter!" he exclaimed.

"Shhh keep your voice down! Yes he was a Hunter-"

"And coven leader for a short while too."

Both of them jumped and spun quickly. In the doorway stood Tsunade with her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face.

But Naruto didn't seem to register her annoyance, "He was coven leader?! But what do you mean 'for a short while'?"

"You should remember the night when he didn't come home," she said tiredly, taking a seat on the sofa facing them.

"He died."

"He was killed by a demon," she corrected. "And then, at Minato's request, my old friend, Jiraiya, took you in."

"You knew about all this, all the time I was with Jiraiya oji-san you knew I had magick in me?!" Naruto burst out.

"No. When you walked in here I didn't know who you were, though you bear a striking resemblance to your father I couldn't be certain. Sit," she ordered, directing him to the opposite sofa. "Minato gave you your mother's name to prevent demons tracking you down by his name. There was no way of knowing whether you had inherited his blood magick until it began to manifest and, as you know, neither of your guardians lived long enough to see that happen. Jiraiya never told me anything about you: your name, what you looked like, nothing. I believe that was also Minato's wish."

"Why? Why did he want to hide me from everyone?" asked Naruto.

"It's not that he wanted to hide you but that he wanted to hide this world from you. You would certainly have had a more peaceful life away from the coven; our world is not an easy one to survive in."

Naruto nodded slowly, he thought he understood though he would still need time to get used to the idea of being the last Namikaze Hunter.

"So you knew my father?" he asked Tsunade eagerly.

She sighed wearily, "Yes and I absolutely refuse to tell you about him at this time of the day. It's nearly the evening and I don't know what the hell you two are doing up but I'm tired so you had better get your asses back to bed this instance or I'll do something that would make your father very unhappy!"

"But-" began Naruto before Sasuke grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and dragged him out of the door.

"Are you going to start calling yourself Namikaze now?" asked Sasuke quietly as they walked back through the tunnels.

"Nah, I think I'm more of an Uzumaki," proclaimed Naruto, slapping a hand to his chest proudly.

As they rounded another corner Naruto thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made his step falter. For a second there he thought he had seen a genuine smile pull at the corners of Sasuke's mouth but then it was gone. 'I probably imagined it.'