Broken Mask

Danzo could feel the headache before it had even started, he had sent Sai out to watch over his nephew. It wasn't that he didn't trust Haru, it was he didn't trust the others around his nephew simple as that. Danzo both loved and hated his home, that was for certain just like he was friends and rivals with the Hokage. Danzo took been Haru's uncle very serious and he would be damned if he let someone else tell him who could and couldn't be in his family. Haru may not be his by blood but Haru was part of his family the one that came from the heart and to Danzo that's all that mattered. Danzo looked at the demon that was paperwork and sighed today was going to be a long day no matter how sunny and beautiful it was. Danzo heard a knock on his door and barked: "Come in!"

Danzo found himself facing Sai. "Has something happened to Haru?" Danzo asked quickly already standing and getting ready to head out.

"Negative," Sai replied with a shake of his head. "Haru-sama is perfectly fine but I have apprehended the man that has begun to spend so much time with Haru-sama. He is waiting in interrogation room 3."

And already Sai had reported a potential danger to Haru. Couldn't the kid last a week without getting into some sort of trouble? Not to mention the Hyuuga incident which only brought more attention to Danzo's nephew. Maybe if Danzo locked the kid in a cell deep under ground he'd be safe...

Danzo strolled along to the interrogation room, he wanted to know who was the new person in Haru's life. As far as he knew Haru didn't have any friends and only had him and someone else someone he called Tousan, Danzo didn't know who Haru called father but he had an idea one he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out about. Shaking his head Danzo walked along the corridor to the interrogation rooms , Danzo had no idea who would want to get to know Haru other than the greedy civilians who wanted Haru's money or his recipes just so they could sell them.

Danzo didn't know what to think, on one side Haru was making friends and on the other there was now an unknown factor to consider.

Sai followed behind Danzo-sama silently, Sai hadn't seen the face of Haru's new 'friend' Sai was sure that it was a greedy civilian, whom wanted to get there hands on Haru's recipes. But if that was so then why were they dressed as a shinobi?

That didn't make any sense to Sai, why would a civilian dress as a shinobi? After all they would get into a lot of trouble from the Hokage and Danzo-sama.

But what if the man really was a shinobi? Why would Haru-sama befriend a shinobi so easily? they were dangerous and Haru-sama knew that. Sai's thoughts were interrupted as they arrived at the interrogation room holding the maybe-civilian inside.

Danzo paused at the sight that greeted him inside the interrogation room. A shinobi, Chunnin by the looks of it, was sitting tied to a chair looking utterly bored. The man was in an interrogation how could he look so bored? Even trained shinobi just looked blank!

"Are you the one who kidnapped me?" The shinobi asked. Danzo studied his face and recognized it as Umino Iruka from the scar across his nose.

"You know you're not the first one to do this. I think this might become a habit if I don't break it soon."

"You are not afraid." Danzo stated confused. Everyone in Konoha, and the other elemental nations, knew of him and his reputation. It was not often he met a shinobi not afraid of him or at the least apprehensive.

"What's the worst you can do?" Iruka questioned in resignation. "Cut out my eyes and force me to eat them as you slowly skin my body? Maybe you'll burn patches of my skin and I'll watch as you cook me. I dont think you will. Haru told me about an Uncle he has, a crazy man who is paranoid and over protective." Iruka slumped as much as he could tied to the chair as he was before muttering, mostly to himself. "I should have known he would have had an excessively powerful Uncle. If his Tousan was any indication."

Danzo paused. Did Haru truly trust this man to the point he would begin sharing personal information with him? Haru was always a very careful child yet this shinobi seemed to wiggle his way past all of Haru's defenses. "If you know I am Haru's uncle then you know why you are here." Danzo stated. If he agreed with Iruka's uncle comment maybe he would relax more and accidentally spill something he didn't mean to.

"Look I'm not going to sell any of Haru's recipes. I didn't even know about his shop until I ran into him when I was drunk okay? It was all a complete accident." Iruka shifted in his chair trying to get more comfortable. Why did he put up with this? He hadn't even been the one to try and become friends with Haru yet he still had to go through this madness.

"Why not?" Danzo questioned frowning internally. This shinobi was far too comfortable. "He's just some stranger not anyone really important. He's a broken kid who happened to get a lot of money, its not like he deserves it. Shouldn't a strong, hard working shinobi get more money than some weak civilian?"

Iruka reacted to that practically snarling at Danzo. "Aren't you supposed to be his uncle?! Where do you get off saying such cruel things about one of the kindest people I know!? And if he's a civilian I will eat my own kunai! He is a kind and selfless man who is willing to help anyone even if they are just drunken strangers!"

Danzo raised one eyebrow silently. Seems this man was a bit more than a friend for Haru. Grinning just slightly Danzo let the man continue on his tangent as he contemplated his reaction. If Iruka really did have feelings for Haru it could bring the kid out of his shell but it could also hurt him irreparably if things didn't work out. But then again seeing Haru, the emotionally stunted oblivious boy, react to any of ruka's advances would be rather amusing. Maybe he could help Iruka out a little...after making sure he knew what he would face if he ever hurt Haru.

~~~LINE BREAK~~~

"Naruto. Naruto are you awake?" Naruto stirred at the soft voice. Only one person spoke to him like that but the last thing he remembered was being beaten by the villagers not being with Haru-aniki. "Naruto I need you to wake up for me."

Naruto struggled to do as the voice asked wanting to please his aniki. Haru-aniki was the only person, other than hokage-jiji and the shy girl with strange eyes, that was actually kind to him and Haru-aniki also gave him the leftover treats from the bakery! He was the best and Naruto wanted to do him proud so he slowly forced his eyelids to lift. A soft light met Naruto's eyes and the chibi was grateful for the dimness. He didn't think his head could handle a sharper light.

"Great to see you up Naru-chan." Haru smiled green eyes glinting happily at the little chibi lying on his blue couch. Which was actually kind of interesting. Usually when Haru brought Naruto to his apartment the couch would turn yellow but for now it was a rather soft blue a shade or two lighter than Naruto's eyes. The spell Haru had placed on the couch had actually been an accident. It had happened when he had been practicing with his magic and trying to adjust it to this new world.

When Haru had first arrived in the elemental countries he hadn't been able to perform magic very well. The natural magic around him was different than it had been in his original dimension and, unlike every living thing in this world, Haru had no chakra coils. It left him feeling rather light as if gravity here was significantly less than it had been in Haru's original world. His lack of chakra coils also resulted in a lack of the ability to use the natural energy of the world to perform magic.

A wizard's core was used to gather magic from outside sources to use in spells. The bigger the core the more magic can be stored and used at any given time. It had taken Haru about five months to be able to do wandless spells again and the couch had been his first success. The only problem was that now it wouldn't stop changing colors and it never seemed to match with the rest of the decore. Not that Haru had really tried to get it to stop with its colour changing. In fact he found it rather amusing, it was almost like a mood ring in couch form.

"How'd I get here Haru-aniki?" Naruto questioned his thumb slipping into his mouth. Haru bit back his coo at the action. With his wide blue eyes and fluffy puppy-dog blond hair Naruto was the most adorable child Haru could ever remember meeting. Naruto could get Haru to do anything he wanted with a pout. Thankfully the chibi didn't know that or Haru's little one would be eating ramen all day every day.

"You crawled into my shop Naru-chan so I brought you to my apartment and patched you up. I also made food." Naruto's formerly forlorn blue eyes lit up at the promise of food. Naruto always loved Haru-aniki's cooking it was the best cooking ever! Before Naruto had thought that ramen was the best, because this little ramen stand always gave him free food and they were never mean to him, but now he knew that anything Haru-aniki made was better. Maybe he could get Haru-aniki to make ramen? That would be the best thing ever!

Shaking from his thoughts, the little seven-year-old chibi hopped up from the couch, not noticing its change in colour, and ran to the kitchen having been in Haru's apartment often enough to know where it was. Hopping onto one of the high stools, a rather difficult feat for the tiny chibi, he waited eagerly for his food to be placed in front of him, legs swinging as practically vibrated with happiness.

Haru grinned at Naruto's excitement even as he felt a horrible churning in his gut. He remembered what it was like to starve, what it was like to be hated for reasons you didn't know or understand. Personally Haru was just waiting for Naruto to enter the academy then he would tell the chibi the truth. Naruto deserved to know about the nine tailed fox and his parents. Besides the worst his Tousan could do was spank him and his Tousan would never actually do that...or at least Haru didn't think he would. Haru was a full grown man and his Tousan would never do such a thing. Haru purposefully forced away the memories of his Tousan's threats and the few warning smacks he had gotten before. That was years ago anyway.

~~~LINE BREAK~~~

Hinata was nervous for her first lesson with Haru-sama. The man had been incredible when he had saved her from those ninja but he had also been terrifying. There had been green electricity sparking from his hair and his eyes had glowed eerily as he attacked, almost like a cats. Hinata supposed he had lightning style chakra and wondered if he would be able to teach her any. She highly doubted it though. It was very well known that Hinata was not a good ninja and never would be.

Shoulders slumping a bit Hinata left her house forlornly noting that no one bothered to say good bye or wish her luck. It was always like this for Hinata. The only time anyone ever cared about her was when they needed something. Her father was always trying to get her to be a better shinobi and trained her mercilessly before insulting her ability and leaving her with whatever injuries she had gained during their sessions together. Her mother tended to ignore the pathetic daughter she had given birth to and instead focused all of her attention on the new baby, Hinabi.

That was okay... At least thats what Hinata told herself. She didn't need her father or her mother or any of the Hyuga clan. They were all useless to her, she only needed herself and the really nice blond kid that had tried to stop the bullies. Ever since that day he had been very kind to Hinata and would talk to her whenever they saw each other, not that that happened a lot.

Squaring her shoulders and knowing she would probably not be enjoying this training session Hinata stepped into Haru-sama's bakery almost shivering with fear. This would most likely not be a good day.

~~~LINE BREAK~~~

Danzo grinned ferally as he set Iruka's unconscious body on the shinobi's bed. The two of them had had a long talk and Danzo was sure that Iruka would never hurt Haru, even unintentionally. But just to make sure Danzo had given him a taste of what would happen should Haru end up hurt, though the man had been oddly insistent that he didn't 'like Haru in that way'. Either way the man would wake up in no pain but would be terrified of rubber chickens, small shrubs, and marbles. Oh well at least Danzo knew the man didn't plan on betraying Haru. Danzo would do anything to keep Haru happy and safe so a little bit or psychological torture was nothing.

Danzo hopped out the window heading back to ROOT headquarters leaving behind one severely traumatized shinobi and one ROOT member who would watch over said traumatized shinobi. For Danzo life was good.