Two Years Later
A thirteen year old Naruto sprinted along the rooftops as he headed away from the Hokage Building.
He had just finished a week long mission away with a three formation team who were sent to take care of two aligned bandit camps that had been causing some problems up north of Konoha. The mission was easy and the people he worked with were friendly enough with Naruto, not really caring much that he was just a kid like some others acted.
A fair few times some of the other chunin Naruto went on missions with would complain how they got stuck with a kid, the Hokage's son or not and thought that Naruto would drag them down.
Quickly though Naruto proved them wrong and he quickly showed them why he had become a chunin. He got no more complaints afterwards.
Itachi was not around much since Itachi was usually on separate missions, confined to the Uchiha compound since Fugaku wanted to make sure his prized Uchiha son did not sully himself with others too much or was getting ready to head into the Anbu forces.
Anko as well he did not see as much as he would like since she had taken a keen interest in the Torture and Interrogation Division that was headed by the sadist Ibiki Morino. She quickly impressed the head of the division and was quickly making a name for herself.
Though they did go on a few missions from time to time, it was not as many as he would have liked since they were his original teammates.
Though one good thing that he was looking forward to was that the trio were beginning to decide to move out of their current homes and move in together.
The three had done mission after mission to afford a nice three bedroom apartment where they could live together since Anko wanted to have some company and not live on her own so much anymore. They were putting what money they could spare to one side which would help pay for a nice, decent place for them. Most of their money went into their training equipment, new clothing etc.
While Naruto and Itachi wanted their space from their family since Fugaku and some of other clan members of the Uchiha Clan were pushing Itachi down a path he did not want while Naruto felt suffocated by his parents. They figured they would look around for a year before settling with a place that the three of the made.
Since the big confrontation after the chunin exams two years ago, Minato and Kushina had done everything to try and make it up to Naruto but the blonde boy was just not interested. They were doing it out of pity and pity was the last thing he ever wanted from them.
After seeing Naruto in the chunin exams they wanted to find out just how strong he was and how he got so strong in such a short time.
Both were gob smacked when they were told from people like Tsunade, Mikoto and Hiruzen that Naruto was truly a prodigy and a genius of both natural talent and of hard work.
Their son had been a once in a lifetime genius and prodigy alongside Itachi Uchiha and neither had even noticed.
Since then both wanted to help Naruto in his training but it never went very well.
Minato constantly asked him whether he wanted help with his Fuinjutsu and each time Naruto rebuffed him saying he was fine on his own and that he could handle it. He never saw the sad and sorry look Minato would give his distant son.
Kushina however was the worst. Since that day, she had tried to cling to him and bring her baby boy back to her but Naruto stood away every time. She wanted to help him with Kenjutsu multiple times but like Minato, she got rebuffed. It had made her sad that her son did not want her help but then again she realized that it was probably what she deserved.
Naruto did not want to be cruel to his parents, he loves them like a child should love his parents but he just felt let down by them. He had made it this far in becoming a great shinobi and he would finish it without their help or at least until he was ready to begin accepting it.
Everyone has a goal and his was to surpass his parents. Whether it be in Fuinjutsu or Kenjutsu, he would surpass them.
'Kaa-san, Tou-san.' Naruto thought as he jumped across the rooftops before he stopped and saw Yugao, Hana and Hayate down below walking in the streets.
Smiling he jumped down and landed next to Hana who yelped in surprise before she swatted his arm.
"Naruto I told you to stop doing that." She said growling while Naruto just laughed and petted her three ninken who were barking for his attention.
"Hey guys, I missed you too." He said as they licked his hand before his attention went back to the trio.
"So where you guys headed?" He asked as Yugao answered.
"To get some food down at the Akamichi barbeque place; Kushina-sensei finished our training an hour ago but we decided to do some light sparring for an hour."
Naruto nodded. He was genuinely surprised that his mother had decided to take on a genin team though he had a feeling it had something to do with her arch rival and his team sensei Mikoto Uchiha rubbing it in her face that her first genin team became chunin in a single year, something that never been done before since the Sannin.
The trio had been a team for about six months and Kushina was hoping to get them ready for the chunin exams in six months time.
Never would she allow Mikoto Uchiha to get the better over her.
"How was the mission?" Yugao asked. "Kushina-sensei has been worried ever since you left. She kept looking in the direction of the gate every five minutes trying to sense if you had arrived back yet."
"She knows I am a big boy and that I can take care of myself. Besides I had teammates with me."
"True but she still worries. I don't think she can help it since she is your mother." Hayate said before coughing into his hand while the other two nodded.
"Okay well I will see you guys later. I got some training to catch up on." He said as he said his goodbyes, jumped away, and headed towards the training grounds.
He sprinted past each training ground, watching the shinobi is some of them as they trained and practiced their jutsu.
Eventually he wound up at an isolated and far off training ground that Anko had showed him and quickly fell in love with.
Training ground 44, currently known as the Forest of Death
Anko had showed it to him about a year ago and he was amazed he had not found this place before. It was the most dangerous of all the training ground because of the giant animals and insects that live inside it as well as all the natural hazards and natures' traps.
It was the perfect environment for training and he, Anko and Itachi went there as often as possible.
Approaching the fences that lay around the training ground, he quickly jumped on top of the metal beams and pushed himself forward and onto one of the giant tree's.
He leapt along the tree and braches when he sensed a large object heading straight towards him with quick speed.
Instead of panicking, Naruto just rolled his eyes before he halted and kicked his leg out with super strength packed behind it.
When his leg went forward, it connected to a large spider four times the size of Naruto, sent it hurling forty meters into the air, and sent it far away from him.
'I think I might have kicked it to the other side of the forest.' He thought before shrugging knowing it was the spiders own fault for attacking him in the first place.
As he ran across the tops of the tree's and headed towards his normal spot, he stopped and frowned suddenly when he sensed a small chakra signature nearby and when he felt it and its emotions were on in distress and fear.
'That's odd, no one else should be out in this area. Only myself, Itachi and Anko train in here and I know for a fact Anko and Itachi would not get themselves into troubleā¦.well Anko maybe.'
Turning left and running towards it at his top speed, dodging the branches and sharp edges of tree's that stuck out before he quickly landed beside a large plot of quick sand that was about ten meters long in length and width.
At first, he frowned because he could not see any one nearby but he still sensed a chakra signature nearby and wondered if he had just been sensing some kind of giant animal.
Looking towards the center of the quicksand, a small indent on the surface of the quicksand made him realize whoever it was, was already drowning in the sand and would meet their death in a matter of moments. It felt scared and helpless and Naruto had to help whatever it was.
He made a few hand signs before slamming his two hands together. "Wood Style: Wooden Pillar Jutsu!" He called out as wood shot out from the ground and made its way towards the center of the quicksand before it evened out and formed into a makeshift bridge.
Naruto ran across the small wooden bridge and channeled chakra into his arms to give him more strength before he dived his hands into the quick sand and wrapped around whoever was sinking.
With great strength, he fought against the quick sand and pulled whoever it was out.
He stumbled back a little and landed on his butt. He took a deep breath since he had to use more strength then he thought he would against the quicksand, something many shinobi hated since there were very few ways to get out of it.
Whoever it was in the quick sand was very small, so small in fact that if he squeezed them any tighter then they might have popped. He looked down to see the person he just saved.
Though who he saved was not a person at all.
Look down he saw it was a small cat, very small in fact that he could probably put her on top of his head. The little cat was completely white and had black stripes all over its body. It's paws were tiny, almost as tiny as a baby's hand. A pair of sharp teeth were protruding from its mouth.
"Hey there little guy. What are you doing in a big scary place like this?" He said as the little cat opened its eyes to reveal big green eyes looking back at him with a cat slit like pupil looking back at him.
It stared at him for a moment before it let out a small meow and licked his cheek affectionately making him laugh a little.
"HA HA that tickles little fella." He said as he patted its head.
"Thanks you mister. I thought I was gonna die." The little cat said making Naruto look at it in surprise.
"You talk?" He asked as it bopped its head up and down.
"Yuh huh of course I talk."
"Wells that's pretty cool. I have never met a talking cat before. Talking toads and slugs yes but never a little cat."
He guessed he said something wrong because the little cat began hitting it tiny paws against him while it made a facial expression that he guessed was a pout.
"I'm not a cat you big dummy. I'm a tiger, a white tiger from the White Tiger clan. And stop calling me fella, I'm a girl." The little tiger revealed making Naruto look at her in surprise.
"Oh well I am sorry about that." He said before he put his hand out to her. "My name is Naruto. It's nice to meet you." He said as the little tiger cub looked at him with her big green eyes before she copied his motions and placed her paw on top his hand.
"My names Kiara, part of the White Tiger Clan." She said as Naruto nodded and stood he walked away from the quick sand with Kiara still in his arms.
He held her close so that she did not fall back into the quicksand and he gently stroked her beautiful coat of fur, removing bits of sand from it as he did.
"You know I don't think I have ever heard of a White Tiger Clan before." Naruto said. "I am aware of the Toads, Snakes, Slugs, Monkeys and Dogs but White Tigers are a new one on me."
Kiara moved her little head to look up at him.
"Kaa-san doesn't like our kind going out in the world too much. She says long ago people killed the small Tigers for sport and lots of us died. So Kaa-san wants us to stay in our homeland since its safe there and no one can hurt us."
Naruto smiled. "Your Kaa-san sounds very smart and she sound like she cared a lot for her family."
Kiara bobbed her head. "She is and she is very powerful. Kaa-san is the chief of the White Tiger Clan. A lot of the other Tigers are a little scared of her since she is very strong. But I think Kaa-san is a big softie."
'Yeah I bet.' Naruto thought.
"If you are not allowed usually allowed to leave you home then why are you in this forest?" He asked.
Kiara gave him a very toothy smile. "Kaa-san says I'm a very curious child and I always want to see what's outside of home. But Kaa-san likes it when I'm close by since I am mama's only cub."
"So she's very protective over you." He said as Kiara nodded.
"Very so she might be a little mad that I am out here." she said before she jumped out of Naruto's arms. "You should meet her. I think she would like you since you saved me!"
"I don't think that would be a good idea." He said waving his arms but Kiara did not listen and placed her paw on the ground in front of them. As she did, black marking appeared on the ground, as Naruto recognized the summoning seals.
A second later a large cloud of smoke appeared and it made Naruto go very nervous. He thought the cloud would be small, about a man size of bigger but instead it was enormous, covering parts of the forest, and went far over the tops of the trees.
'Oh crap.' He thought hoping that Kiara's mother would not turn him into 'cat' food.
As the cloud began to disappear, Naruto unconsciously took a step back and for good reason.
The creature in front of him was the very definition of enormous. She towered over the tree's tops and if he had to guess, he would say that she was even bigger than his father's summon Gamabunta, at least a good head taller. Not quite as big as the Kyubi no Yoko he had seen when he was five but she was not far off.
Her fur was like Kiara's, snow white with long black stripes over her body but her coat had a shine to it that he guessed came with age. Her eyes were jade green as well and her claws on her paws were even bigger than his Shusui. On the top of her head was what looked like some kind of tiara with an emerald in the centre of it and her tail and shoulder muscles had this grayish silver armor to it.
The enormous White Tiger looked round in confusion. "Where am I?" she called out in a strong but very elegant sounding voice. The voice had nobility laced all over it.
"Kaa-san down here!" Kiara's squeaky voice called and at first he wondered if the giant Tiger would even be able to her. But she obviously did when her large head looked down and towards Kiara.
"Kiara." She said in a stern voice as her head lowered down to the ground to look at her daughter. "What have I told you about leaving Mount Rhaynor? You know I don't like you leaving our home without me knowing or at all."
Kiara stood up o her hind legs, which would have reach to Naruto knee, against her mother's enormous nose. "But Kaa-san it's so boring at home. And I met a new friend. See?" She said looking over at Naruto whose eyes went a little wide as the enormous eyes of the White Tiger chief moved towards him and narrowed.
A deep growl came out of her throat that made the area vibrate and Naruto could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"Did this person hurt you my little cub?" She asked as the mother Tiger rose to its full height making Naruto wonder if anyone else from the village could see the enormous Tiger since he doubted anyone could ever miss her.
Naruto gulped and readied himself to defend himself if possible but Kiara leapt in front of Naruto and looked at her mother with a pout on her face. "Kaa-san please don't hurt him. He saved me. I might have died if he had not arrived."
The great tiger obvious looked a little put back when her daughter spoke before her eyes narrowed again and went back down to look at Kiara's.
"Start explaining daughter," she said though it sounded more like a command.
So Kiara began to explain what had happened, how she fell into quicksand as she chased a butterfly around and was drowning in it when Naruto arrived and took her out of the sand before it could completely engulf her.
Naruto stood to the side as the mother tiger scolded her little cub at her foolish actions before her giant nose touched Kiara's body.
"I thought I might have lost you." She said softly as Kiara stood on her hind legs again and licked her mother's nose in comfort.
Naruto smiled. She just a mother worried about her child.
The giant Tiger moved her head and looked towards Naruto before she stood at her full height again making Naruto take a gulp. No words were spoke for a moment as the mighty White Tiger chief boss looked down at Naruto with her large green eyes gazing right into him.
After a moment of silence she spoke.
"Saving my daughter as you did have put you in a favorable light and your actions have gained my thanks young man. Few would dare to risk saving another from death, less likely counting we are of different species. For saving my daughter, you have my thanks. I am Sheba, Chief of the White Tiger Clan of Mount Rhaynor."
Knowing to be polite in this situation, Naruto bowed to the giant White Tiger leader. "I am Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. It's nice to meet you." He said as Sheba nodded to him.
"You will have to forgive my earlier rudeness to you young cub, my kind have had bad experiences with humanity so we tend to avoid interaction with them. You are the first human I have spoken in many decades."
"He is real nice Kaa-san. He cleaned me and got rid of the sand." Kiara said as she showed her mother her clean fur.
"It was no problem at all Sheba-sama. I was just glad that I could help and save your daughter when I did. If not then I dread to think what might have happened."
Sheba nodded her head and was about to speak when Kiara was waving her paws in the air, trying to get her attention.
"Kaa-san we should reward him. I know how we can reward him. It my best idea I have ever had." She said as Naruto chuckled at the little cub while Sheba rolled her eyes but smiled a big toothy smile showing her large sharp teeth.
"What is your idea young one?"
Kiara gave her a big smile and padded over to Naruto as she rubbed her head against his leg purring before answering.
"Let him become our summoner and sign the White Tiger Contract." She said as both Naruto and Sheba looked at her in surprise.
Naruto did not have any words to say though inwardly he was bursting with happiness. He had always wanted to have a summons after seeing Anko use her Snake summons back in the chunin exams and it had stayed with him ever since.
Sheba meanwhile narrowed her eyes to look at her daughter and Kiara.
"Kiara, might I remind you we have never had a summoner before. Why should we start now?"
Kiara frowned. "But Kaa-san this could be a good way to get back into this world, plus Naruto would be a good summoner. Right?" She asked as Naruto quickly nodded his head.
Sheba stood tall as she looked down at Naruto with her piercing green eyes staring intently into him, almost as if she was staring into his very soul and trying to see if he was worthy enough to be their first summoner.
"What would you do if we gave you permission to sign our contract? Would you use us simply for our power? To gain respect and make people fear you?" Sheba asked as if testing him.
Naruto quickly shook his head.
"No that would not be the reason." He said as Sheba and Kiara listened in. "If I got the chance to sign your contract then I would be eternally grateful. With your power I would use it to help protect my home, my village, my friends and my family."
"I would use your power to fight the evil and the darkness of this world and keep it at bay while keeping everything I hold dear safe and protected. That is what I would do if you allowed me to sign your contract."
Sheba said nothing as she stared down at Naruto as she listen contemplated his words in her head. Beside Naruto, Kiara beamed up at him and was rubbing her body against his leg while purring happily, showing her like to the words that he had just spoken.
After a moment Sheba looked down towards Kiara and gave her a small nod which made the little cub bounce in happiness before she placed her paw on the ground and another poof went out, though this time was only a tiny one.
Out of the smoke was a large scroll, about the size of the one Jiraiya carried on his back for the Toads. It was grey in color and on each end had a silver tiger heads while the Kanji's for White Tiger was written on the side.
"Open it up." Sheba said to Naruto who quick nodded and did so. He opened up the scroll to show long empty columns, once again proving that they really had never had any summoners before.
'Cool.' He thought as he went down to his knees and look the scroll over as Kiara sat beside him and Sheba looked over him.
"How do I do this?" he asked looking up at the Tiger boss.
"Bite your finger and write your name in one of the columns with your blood. Once your name has been applied to the scroll, the contract will be complete."
'Sounds easy enough.' He thought before he took his right thumb and bit into the skin. He saw a tiny bit of blood flow out of the wounds and quickly began to write his name into the scroll. After a few moments he took his hand away and looks at the scroll that now had his name written in the first column.
"And that's it." Sheba said as the name glowed for a moment before it turned black, now permanently becoming part of the scroll. "You are now officially the first summoner of the White Tiger Summons. Don't disappoint us." She warned as Naruto quickly nodded though he had a big smile plastered on his face.
As she quickly told him the hand signs for the summoning jutsu and Naruto familiarized himself with the set Sheba looked to Kiara. "Kiara, since this was your idea, you will be the boys familiar."
Kiara happily nodded before she jumped up and climbed on Naruto until she sat comfortably on his head while an amused Naruto looked up at her.
Sheba coughed getting their attention back to her. "If that will be all then I shall return home. I want you home before sunset Kiara." She said as her little cub nodded at her mother before Sheba disappeared in a large puff of smoke leaving behind a very happy Naruto and Kiara as the two began to get to know one another a little better.
Namikaze Household
Kushina swept the floor with her broom as she kept looking towards the front door of her house wondering when her eldest was going to step through it. Since the big reveal of how they had been pushing their eldest away despite doing so unknowingly, Kushina had tried to bring her eldest back to them but it was proving to be more of a challenge then both thought and deep down Kushina's heart was cracking.
'It's nothing more then I deserve though. We did this and we can't expect to have forgive us so quickly. Five years he had to suffer because of our stupidity.' She thought. She rarely saw him at meal time since he either had it with Anko, or around at the Senju compound with Tsunade or at the Sarutobi manor.
After she finished sweeping, Mina and Eiji came down the stairs with Eiji chasing Mina with a pillow while Mina squealed in mock horror. She knew Mito was at the Yamanaka's house at the moment having a girly afternoon with Inora's daughter Ino.
Kushina chuckled at her two children antics and put the broom away before she went to one of the cabinets in the hallway. She began looking through it in order to give it a quick tidy up but saw four photo albums at the back. Three were quite clean and had obviously been used recently but her gaze was fixed on the one at the bottom.
She pulled it out and blew on it, removing some of the dust that was on the top of it.
It was a little smaller than the other three but was very fancy looking with a grey cover and gold leaf designs around it. On front she read what it said and was surprised at what she saw.
Naruto's Baby Book
'I forgot all about this.' She thought to herself before she stood up, went into the living room and sat on the largest sofa as she brought her legs up onto the couch and placed the photo book on her lap.
She opened up the first page and immediately felt her eyes water. The first picture was the ultrasound of when she was still pregnant with Naruto and was about six months into her first pregnancy. The photo was a little torn around the edges but other than that it was fine.
The photo beneath it was of Kushina at eight months and had Minato cuddling into her stomach as if trying to cuddle their first born.
'We look so young in this picture.' Kushina thought to herself. She and Minato had been quite young when they had Naruto. They were barely married and had both turned twenty three when Naruto entered the world. But they didn't care, they fell in love with their little boy the moment they found out they were having him.
The next picture was of Naruto when he was barely an hour old and was cuddled into Kushina's chest as had her arms delicately but securely carrying him as she kissed the top of his head. His little mop of blonde hair on his head look like it tickled her nose from the smile she was giving in the picture.
As she looked at the photo she felt two small weights appear beside her and saw Mina and Eiji look at the book.
"What's this Kaa-chan?" Eiji asked while Mina had her little finger trace over one of the photos.
"It's your big brothers baby book for when he was little. See this is him here." She said pointing to the picture she just looked at.
Mina scrunched her nose. "He looks like a knee." she said cutely making Kushina laugh.
"He was only just born when this was taken sweetheart and you looked like that when you were born as well." She said though Mina shook her head as if saying no she did not.
She turned the pages and Kushina forgot all about the photos in the book and it brought back so many memories. When Minato became Hokage when Naruto was two, for three years it would just be Kushina and Naruto throughout the day and they were days of fun, love and comfort.
When he fell down, she picked him up and soothed him. When he got hurt, she healed him. When he had a bad dream during his naps, she would lie next to him.
She saw a picture of her and Naruto in the park with Kushina pushing Naruto on the swing and had the biggest smile on his face. The one next to it was of Minato with Naruto on his shoulder and then another of Naruto being read a bedtime story by Hiruzen.
She could not help but see how much the people around them loved and cared for her eldest.
Beside her Mito and Eiji were drawn in to seeing their big brother looking so little. To them Naruto had always been their big strong older brother, so seeing him when he was their age and younger was odd.
Her eyes then went down to a photo that she recognized as Naruto's fifth birthday with her stand next to him very heavily pregnant and with her arms wrapped around his shoulders while Minato stood beside her and Kakashi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hiruzen, Kurenai and Shizune around them.
Smiling she turned the page but frowned when she saw the page was completely empty.
'That's odd.' She thought before she starting skimming the pages and got a bit more frantic the further she went through it. By the end of it, she realized the rest of it was empty.
'We never got back to it.' She realized. 'When the twins were born we just stopped putting photo's in here and Naruto thirteen now. Seven year of memories and we don't have anything to document it with.'
It hit her that she did not have anything to commemorate Naruto's later years. Nothing when he was six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven or twelve. There was nothing to document his entering the Academy, graduation, first mission, first chunin exam application.
'And what about his first kill, who helped him with that? Where was I?'
Unknowingly more tears went down her cheeks and left small dark splotches on the photo book. After a moment a small hand was put on her hands as Eiji and Mina looked at her in confusion.
"Kaa-chan what's wrong?" Eiji asked looking up at his mother in worry while Mina hugged into her mother's side.
Not wanting her son and daughter see her cry, she quickly wiped the tears away before she laughed it off. "It's nothing, Kaa-chans just being a little silly that's all."
Before anyone could speak the front door opened and closed. "I'm home." Naruto said walking towards the stairs.
Kushina quickly put the book down, went to the hallway, and saw her son taking his sandals off. When he turned he looked at her and just nodded at her before walking towards the stairs.
Mina and Eiji came barreling towards him and hugged him round the waist while Mina nuzzled into him.
"Oni-chan I missed you." Mina said as Naruto patted her head.
"Nii-san do you think you can help me with my kunai throwing again? I still can't get the bullseye." Eiji asked looking up at Naruto who nodded down at him.
"Sure, go out back and I will be there in a moment."
Eiji smiled at him before he jogged out to the backyard.
"You want to come watch Mina-chan?" He asked as Mina quickly nodded her head with a big smile and giggled when Naruto picked her up.
Naruto walked towards the backyard, quickly slipping his sandals back on. He walked past Kushina and he saw the saw look on her face and the way she looked at him it made his heart ache a little.
He thought back to what Yugao said about Kushina being worried about him and wanting him to be safe and sound. Then there was earlier where he saw Sheba act towards Kiara and how happy she was when she saw she was safe and unhurt.
He stopped but did not turn around.
"The mission was fine." He said as Kushina perked up and looked towards him. "There were no problems and I am unharmed. Everyone made it back and I should be home for a few days."
He then walked away and when he when he left her sight a smile appeared on her face as she sniffed.
'I still have a chance to bring by baby back. I just have to be patient and let him come to me and to be there for him when he needs it.' Kushina thought since perhaps just giving Naruto his space would be what was needed to repair the bridge between Naruto and Kushina and Minato.
Wiping her eyes she started dinner as she watched three of her children from the kitchen window.