CHAPTER TWO
"We're here!" his uncle finally called out, and while his voice sounded relaxed, Kiba saw how the large man's shoulders were still tensed.
Clearly, Hamaru had been paying attention to the whispering and staring villagers as well. And he had been paying attention to something else as well, since for some reason the man turned around, looked to a nearby rooftop and gave a cheeky wave, while Guren merely let out a sharp grin as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"This is what passes for stealth these days in the Village Hidden in the Leaf? Color me impressed. Not in a good way, but impressed nonetheless. That this is the level of skill deemed sufficient to join Konoha's ranks of 'elite'." The woman said haughtily as she glanced up at a different rooftop to the children's growing confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto exclaimed warily as the boys now began looking around themselves as well as Hamaru let out a small laugh.
"Our ANBU tails. Clearly, the Hokage prefers a more hands-on approach to surveillance when it comes to me than merely his Telescope Technique." The large Inuzuka said with a shrug, surprisingly unbothered with being shadowed by Konoha's most illusive (official) task force to the surprise of the boys.
However, the knowledge that their Village's strongest shinobi were nearby and keeping a watchful eye on them did put the boys more at ease.
"Psst… Shika… what's ANBU?"
Well, those who even knew about their Village's strongest shinobi at least.
"Naruto, you really are troublesome, you know that?"
As the sighing Nara explained just who ANBU were ("basically ninja among ninja" "cool!") Kiba kept glancing around the neighbourhood, trying to spot the black ops shinobi himself as well. As he looked around, he quickly realized Hamaru's house was just a walking distance away from his own clan compound. As much as his uncle seemed wary about being there, he certainly picked a place nearby. Said place turned out to be closer to a small mansion than a house, with multiple stories and a decently sized backyard. There was a training post there, but it didn't seem used yet.
Something that went for most of the house the children quickly figured, seeing many moving boxes still stacked up in hallways and even some rooms with old furniture still covered in white cloths.
"You haven't been back long I take it?" Shikamaru mused out loud, getting a chuckle from Hamaru as they finished the tour in the kitchen, the only room in the house that seemed well-used.
As promised, Guren was already firing up the hibachi, Choji immediately coming over and eagerly offering his help as he unloaded bag after bag of meat cuts, while the others took their places around a large dinner table. Akamaru got his own cushion, of course. This was an Inuzuka household after all, former exile or no.
"Only been back in Konoha for less than a week. This house was made available to us the day before yesterday. Most of this stuff isn't even ours, it's just crap that came with the place or was taken from Konoha's storage."
"Must have been one big favour from the Old Man." Naruto said, both awed by and slightly jealous about the spacious house and doing a bad job at hiding both.
Guren raised a surprised eyebrow at the rude moniker, but Hamaru merely seemed pleased for some reason.
"You could say that." He nodded, studying the saddened blonde as the kid kept glancing around the spacious kitchen that was larger than his own living room.
"What… uhm, what exactly did you have to do for the Old Man to give you… all of this?" Naruto asked, desperately going for a casual tone but not fooling anybody.
"Let me guess: said favour is part of the story you're finally going to tell us?" Shikamaru spoke up, his curiosity now fanned enough he had begun tapping his fingers on the tabletop.
"Indeed. Though… I'm not entirely sure where to even begin…" Hamaru mused, getting a snort from Guren.
"A wise, but insane, man once told me that its usually easiest to begin with the beginning." She said, Hamaru chuckling in response.
"Very well."
He turned to face Kiba, Shikamaru and Naruto, his face serious. He took a deep breath as the children leaned in closer in anticipation. Finally, Hamaru opened his eyes and spoke.
"I killed Orochimaru."
"… love, that's hardly the beginning." Guren whispered from behind a facepalm as the children kept staring at the beastly man with large eyes.
"… Orochi-who now?" Naruto broke the silence after the dramatic pause, almost causing both Guren and Hamaru to face-fault.
"Wait, seriously?!" Guren called out, her face red with anger even as she brandished a spatula at the innocent youths.
"I mean, the name does sound familiar…" Shikamaru attempted to placate the woman.
"Honestly, what are they teaching you at that Academy?" she said frustrated.
"Boring stuff!" Naruto helpfully explained, causing Shikamaru to pinch his brow.
"Boring? Well, the next time I see that prissy little teacher, I'll-!"
"Easy, dear." Hamaru interrupted with a smile, causing the woman to whirl around to face him with an imperious expression.
"We're withdrawing the kids. Clearly, they're not being taught properly."
"It's not even been a day-"
"And these children have been taught for years and don't even know about Orochimaru-sam-… one of Konoha's biggest traitors! Better for our children to be home-schooled." Guren argued, catching herself on the honorific before forging ahead, though Kiba noticed how her scent sharply spiked for a moment.
"You know they need the socialization-"
The argument was interrupted when Shikamaru snapped his fingers, a satisfied smile on his face.
"I remember now! Orochimaru was one of the Sannin who went rogue! He was Lord Third's student until he was banished from the Village and…" slowly, the Nara fell silent as he stared at the massive man on the other end of the table with eyes as large as the dinner plate that had just been placed in front of him.
"… and you killed him? You killed one of the Sannin?"
"Indeed I did." Hamaru said with a grave nod.
"How did you kill him?" Kiba asked eagerly.
"I'm not telling you." His uncle dryly responded, completely deflating his nephew as the searching gleam in Shikamaru's eyes intensified.
Clearly, the young Nara wouldn't let this new mystery rest. Meanwhile, Naruto was frowning in confusion.
"Wait, hold on! You killed one of the Old Man's students and he owes you a favour?" the blonde asked incredulously, only to get poked in the side by Kiba.
"Haven't you been listening? Orochimaru was a traitor to the Village. Of course he owes my uncle: all traitors have to die." Kiba said proudly, only to be surprised by the melancholic expression on his uncle's face.
"I was a traitor as well, Kiba." He said sadly, causing his nephew to stare at him in shock.
"Love… is it wise, to tell them this much? They barely know you… if you wait-" Guren cautioned, getting a bitter laugh from Hamaru.
"If I wait, then they're going to learn about it before I ever get the chance to tell them, Guren. Konoha loves its gossip after all, just ask Kakashi or Naruto here. No, better they hear it all, right here and now from me, than from hearsay. I won't allow their minds to be poisoned by ignorance." Hamaru stated firmly.
Guren stared at her man for a long moment with a melancholic expression on her face, before shaking her head with a sad smile.
"You said something similar to me once, long ago. I guess you really haven't changed a bit since then, huh? Very well." She conceded, getting a warm smile in return from Hamaru before he turned back to the confused boys.
"Yes Kiba, I too left the Village, following my sensei, though it was always my hope to someday return here, make up for my sins… You see, in order to kill Orochimaru, I first had to gain his trust. I had to choose him over the Village. Had to do… bad things, in order to remain by his side. Grow stronger, until I had reached the point where he was weak enough, I could kill him off and return home. Bring my family home." Hamaru explained in a grave tone.
"But… why did it have to be you? Why did you have to leave the clan… leave Konoha?" Kiba asked (the 'why leave us' question unspoken but obvious), not sure what to think of the large man anymore.
On the one hand, this Orochimaru sounded like he was really strong, so that made his uncle really cool for being to take down a traitor of that level. But needing to abandon the village to do it?
"I felt that it had to be me. There are certain… challenges when it comes to making sure a shinobi of Orochimaru's level is truly dead. I was the only one who knew about these difficulties. His failsafes. I was the only one who could see the monster he truly was at the time. Or perhaps, the only one willing to see what he had become."
"How come?" Shikamaru questioned, a grim smile forming on Hamaru's rough face.
"Well, I was his student after all."
That little revelation was enough to make all the boy's jaw drop (including Akamaru).
"For a guy that was the student of Konoha's most infamous traitors, you… well, uhm…" Shikamaru began, looking somewhat flustered as Hamaru cocked his head at him with a grin.
"I don't sound as scary as I look?" he suggested and now Naruto went red.
With a bitter chuckle Hamaru explained as he helped Guren set the table while Choji remained preoccupied with preparing the food, not seemingly particularly invested in the ongoing discussion.
"There are two ways to survive a man like Orochimaru: you adapt to become like him, cynical and monstrous and… hollow inside. Or, you can choose to become the opposite. To be a light whenever you find yourself surrounded by darkness. It was… hard. Incredibly hard to keep that outlook, that attitude. Sometimes I wondered if it was even real, or just an illusion Orochimaru allowed for his own twisted entertainment. You couldn't be certain of anything with that monster. Other times, I felt like a hypocrite, putting on a smile and acting like I was a normal person, a good man even, when I was stained from head to toe from the assignments and experiments Orochimaru forced on me."
"The how did you do it? How did you not give in to all that darkness?" Naruto whispered, a small hand coming up to rub at his chest as his eyes were downcast, Hamaru shooting him an understanding look.
"I realized that my light was needed. Not just for me, for the sake of my own sanity. But to illuminate the world and hearts of my precious people as well. To drive away the darkness that Orochimaru was trying to cultivate, in the hearts of Guren here and those of my kids. If I had let him… if I had given in to the darkness, to despair and apathy, if I had become the weapon that Orochimaru wanted to shape me into… then their worlds would've remained dark. I knew, from the very moment I met them, that the Snake Bastard would've corrupted them to the very core of their being and I also knew from that same moment I would never allow him to, no matter the cost."
Hamaru's words were strong, even if the man's expression was tired as Naruto stared at him with widened eyes. Guren placed a kiss on the Inuzuka's cheek, making him chuckle as he visibly shrugged off the melancholic aura from before, swiping a few pieces of half-cooked meat from the Hibachi despite Choji's valiant usage of various Chopstick no Jutsu's.
"To start at the very beginning of the beginning: I was born twelve years after your mother, Kiba and incidentally also twelve years before you. I attended the Academy with my ninken Shiromaru, much like you now do with Akamaru. I finished at the top of my class, though after prodigies like Uchiha Itachi and Hatake Kakashi, my scores weren't that amazing. Still, it got me put with both the strongest kunoichi and the class' dead-last. In my case, those were Anko Mitarashi and Ren Watabe. The performances of Anko and I had caught the attention of Ochimaru. Originally, he had only desired Anko as an apprentice, but when he wanted me as well, the three of us got formed into a Genin team and placed under his supervision."
Hamaru shook his head sadly, even as he began piling up his plate with rice and meats (which looked suspiciously raw to Choji's visible distress) and the boys, enraptured with the story (even Naruto) quickly followed suit as they kept staring at the morose looking beast-man.
"In hindsight, Ren never should have joined our team. Orochimaru isn't the patient sort. Or the forgiving one. Which is why he ended up dead." He said darkly, causing Kiba to choke on his food.
"How… how did he die?" Shikamaru hesitantly asked while Naruto vigorously (and somewhat excessively) began slapping Kiba's back and it took a long moment before Hamaru answered in a low tone, his eyes downcast.
"I killed him."
Again, deafening silence blanketed the kitchen as Guren took a seat next to Hamaru, laying a supportive hand on his arm.
"Why?" Kiba managed to whisper, getting a deep, heavy sigh from his uncle.
"Because that's the sort of cruelty that Orochimaru delights in. As I said, the man is a monster and nothing delights him more than cultivating pain and despair in others in every possible way imaginable. The man is as methodical and creative about torture as he is about chakra theory." Hamaru spat angrily, before shaking his head as he continued his story.
"Ren died less than a year before the Kyuubi would attack. You were barely a month old, Kiba, and Namikaze Minato had just been declared the Fourth Hokage."
As expected, the mention of his hero caused Naruto to sit up straight and start paying (even more) attention.
"While the Village celebrated the appointment, since the Fourth was a respected and well-liked man, my sensei seethed. He felt the position should have rightfully been his. Angered, he threw caution in the wind as he pushed his projects even further… eventually being caught by the Third himself as he began experimenting on citizens from Konoha. The Third could not bring himself to kill his own student however, so Orochimaru got away. The Village held many legendary ninja at the time, too many for the Snake Bastard's comfort, so he became a missing nin instead. But right before he left, he performed one final experiment, one that required, and ruined, live test subjects. The first of those subjects being Anko, my teammate."
Hamaru fell silent as the kids digested his words, drawing a deep breath as he made to continue.
"He had gathered our team a little distance away outside of Konoha. Before we knew what was going on, he had implanted a Cursed Seal on her and offered her a chance to come with him. Even as his foul chakra ravaged her body and left her convulsing on the ground, she remained loyal to Konoha and rejected his proposal. Brave, but not the answer Orochimaru had been expecting."
Hamaru fell silent as he glanced at the enraptured children.
"Like I said: the Snake Sannin is not one for mercy or forgiveness. As she kept crying and rejecting him, he was contemplating killing her on the spot. Which is when I intervened and accepted the offer in her stead."
He fell silent for a long moment, before shaking his head and glancing at the enraptured children.
"Orochimaru was pleased, but suspicious. Something about me… I must have done something wrong, revealed my true intentions somehow… because he didn't trust me. Didn't want to take me with him to his secret new base, the one that I knew Konoha would never be able to find by themselves. I had to earn that right, prove that his secrets would be safe with me. So, he implanted his Cursed Seal on me… and then ordered me to kill Ren. If I didn't, he'd decapitate all three of us, in a single swing. He was very explicit about that. I think he saw it as a self-imposed challenge, a game of sorts." Hamaru said darkly, before closing his eyes.
"To choose between killing a teammate or condemning you all… that doesn't sound like much of a choice to me." Shikamaru muttered darkly while Naruto, Choji and Kiba could only look on in silence.
"W-what… what did you do?" Kiba hesitantly asked his uncle, who had a faraway look in his eyes as he slowly responded in a soft voice.
"I did what I could to protect as many lives as possible at the time. So, I took out a kunai and slit my own teammate's throat. Like I said, Ren was the dead-last of my year. It was easy… so much easier than it should've been… I had nightmares for months, years even. Ren and I had never been close, but he had been my teammate for over a year at that point. But it worked: Anko was allowed to remain in the Village, unharmed and unmolested beyond the Seal he had already placed on her. Not that the villagers gave a shit about that, the way they kept treating Anko." Hamaru muttered darkly as he leaned his bearded chin on his clawed fist.
"He took me to a country far away from here, where he began building his support base as he continued his experiments, each one more bloody, demanding and insane than the last. Don't bother asking me what he was researching. That knowledge deserved to die right alongside him." The large Inuzuka warned the boys, Shikamaru's frown instensifying as the man blatantly admitted to keeping back parts of his story.
Which was fair enough: what he was telling them was pretty heavy stuff, especially since they barely even knew him. Clearly it was important to the large man to get this all off his chest before the villager's suspicious attitudes could influence them against him.
Briefly, Hamaru fell silent, for the first time looking truly haunted by recalling his past experiences and the boys briefly wondered if this would be the part where the ninja would clam up and kick them out of his house. Still, the beast-like man continued in a pained voice.
"He even kept experimenting on me, which in a way eventually cost Shiromaru his life."
Kiba gasped at that, intuitively grabbing Akamaru close to his chest as the puppy let out a small cry. After a deep breath, during which he distractedly rubbed his left shoulder, Hamaru continued and by now the children could understand why he wanted them to learn this from him instead of hearing it through rumours and hearsay on the streets.
Naruto especially had personally experienced just how twisted and harmful gossip could become, even if you didn't know what was even being said about you in the first place.
"But we didn't stay in his hidden bases. As his hideouts grew in size and number, we kept travelling throughout the lands, mostly the Land of Water as it was in a state of violent civil war at the time. I can't tell you exactly where we went or what we did there: bunch of that stuff are is considered a state secret. All I can tell you, is that our presence certainly didn't help matters. During our travels there, we picked up Guren here, as well as the three boys you saw outside the Academy. They'll be a Genin team together soon. Several others joined us as well, but they did not become part of my precious people and they aren't important to talk about now: either they're dead, or they should be, or Konoha, Kiri and Oto prefer that they were."
Glancing at the woman at his side as he talked about their (apparently adopted) children, the earlier stress bled out of Hamaru's voice and posture, his signature grin returning as he radiated vindication and pride.
"But what Orochimaru didn't know, was that after our return I kept him from corrupting them as best I could. I kept intervening in their tests, called them away on extended 'training' trip sand did everything in my power to spend as much time as possible with them, and away from him. It wasn't always possible and sometimes our quarters were more like cells or labs, but we pulled through. We managed to rely on each other and I made them see that, even though we were hidden underground, there was a whole other world out there, a different, better way of life. It came at a price, but we managed to fight for at least a measure of separation and independence, during with I tried to reach them as best I could, strengthen the bonds that we had formed, to the point that they realized and strengthened the bonds between themselves as well. It was these bonds that gave us the strength to resist Orochimaru's torture and programming and in turn we kept relying on them more and more, so much so that we grew into a family. This was what allowed us to beat him, because it was something that Orochimaru could never understand. To a man like that, the idea of loved ones, of having precious people to protect, to draw strength from and more importantly share strength with… that is a power that he will never grasp, not even if he fulfills his dream of learning every jutsu ever made."
Naruto sat up straighter in his chair as Hamaru told them of his precious people, how he saw the dark path that their loyalty to Orochimaru was leading them down and how he tried his best to keep them from falling too far. The words resonated with him, the idea of gaining strength, not out of a sense of devotion to a superior, but out of a wish to defend a loved one, just feeling right to the blonde.
None of the children at the table were aware of it, but the first seeds of the greatest hero the Great Nations had seen in over a century had just been planted, almost two whole years ahead of schedule. Hamaru and Guren on the other hand had seen the gleam in the blonde's eyes as he gained a thoughtful expression and the two of them shared a hidden smile as the beast-like man wrapped up his tale.
"It was thanks to the strength of my family that, when Orochimaru was at his weakest… I killed the son of a bitch, burned several of his main bases and labs down to a cinder and applied for asylum here, back in Konoha." He finished.
The boys got the distinct impression that there was much, much more to that story, but judging from Hamaru's tone it was also abundantly clear that said story was done for today. In the privacy of their own thoughts, all four boys resolved to return to this house with the scary looking man and pretty looking woman in the future, for their own reasons.
Kiba wanted to learn more about his long-lost uncle.
Shikamaru wanted to learn more about this shinobi that had rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous and infamous figures in Konoha's recent history.
Naruto wanted to learn everything the man knew about the Fourth, assuming it had to be more than average if his sensei had been the Fourth's rival.
Choji wanted to BBQ more often.
"Well, that's quite enough history I think! Let's talk about you! When are you going to be placed in Genin teams?" Hamaru quite clearly changed the subject, putting on an obviously fake smile and since they didn't want to push the large (and obviously very dangerous) man, the kids followed along.
"We still have one more year to go, Inuzuka-sama." Shikamaru said, his tone more polite after the harrowing story the man told them, though he clearly shouldn't have bothered when Hamaru shot him and Kiba a confused look before he realized the Nara had been addressing him instead.
"Ha! Speak for yourselves! I am gonna take the Genin test at the end of this year!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and proudly planting his fists on his hips.
Before any of the kids could berate the blonde for his claim (as they had so often done these past two years), Hamaru spoke up in his rumbling voice.
"Are you ready for the Genin test this year?"
There was no ridicule or judgement in his words as he calmly stared at the proud blonde, who shuffled somewhat awkwardly as Guren turned to glance at him as well, interest clear to see on her fair face, not that Kiba understood why. The woman had seemed unusually interested in Naruto from the start, but like Hamaru himself had said, Konoha liked its gossip, and Naruto with his frequent pranks and annoying antics was more often than not the topic of said rumours.
Though something told Kiba that the way the woman looked at Naruto was different from the way most mothers tended to sneer at the loudmouth. Even his own mom had been uncharacteristically touchy around the subject of Naruto, though she didn't go so far as most civilians did in forbidding Kiba from playing with the blonde.
Looking up at the now red-faced Naruto, Kiba wondered if perhaps there was something more to it all? Though he was at a loss as to what it could possibly be: Naruto didn't have any family and his grades were pretty awful.
Which he and Shikamaru were quick to point out when Naruto tried to claim that "of course I'm ready, I'm the strongest ninja in our Academy!"
"Bullshit Naruto, I could beat the crap out of you right now if I wanted to!"
"Naruto, you have some of the lowest grades in our entire class. That includes Kiba and myself." Shikamaru spoke up dryly, resting his face in his palms, his eyes drooping once more.
"Hey!" "Hey!" the two wild boys called out, but before either of them could pounce on Naruto, Hamaru's deep voice halted them in their tracks.
"It was an honest question Naruto. Are you ready for the test? Do you know the answers to the questions they'll ask? Do you possess the skills necessary to overcome the challenges they'll pose you?"
Naruto stammered his way through an answer to the large Inuzuka's question, his usual bravado disappearing before an adult's genuine interest in him. After a few awkward moments, Hamaru took pity on him.
"I'll take that as a no, Naruto."
"It's not my fault! How am I supposed to know what questions they're gonna ask or what skills I need?! The teachers never tell me any of that stuff anyways!" the blonde exclaimed angrily as he dropped down in his seat again with an angry huff.
"Naruto, they tell that sort of information to the entire class. It's hardly their fault if you're not paying attention, or not even in class to begin with." Shikamaru pointed out, Naruto turning away from him with a pout.
"You know they don't like me there. You guys said it yourselves: Iruka is the nicest guy there and even he keeps yelling at me and giving me detention all day." He said under his breath, but sitting at a table full of ninja meant that everyone had heard him clearly and for once Shikamaru didn't have a rebuttal, shooting the blonde an apologetic glance.
"Well, then it's a good thing that we like you Naruto." Guren suddenly spoke up with a sharp grin.
"You do? Wait, you do?! That's… uhm, why though?" the young Uzumaki shouted, before his expression became somewhat confused and guarded.
"Why? Why not?" the kunoichi shot back, her smirk growing wider when the blonde just kept staring at her with a dumbfounded expression.
"Besides, as atrocious as his lesson plan apparently is, I did promise that prissy teacher of yours I'd teach you some remedial bukijutsu, didn't I?" Guren said with a smile as she rose from the table and to the amazement of the boys flicked her wrist, pink crystalline kunai suddenly appearing between her fingers in a deadly fan.
"Whoa! How did you do that?!" Naruto yelled out in awe, while Shikamaru's eyes went wide.
"A Kekkei Genkai?" he whispered to himself, the kunoichi shooting him an appraising look before glancing towards a widely grinning Hamaru.
"My, those Nara really are clever."
Guren made true on her promise to Iruka, leading the boys to the backyard and demonstrating a few straightforward throws with her crystal kunai, an added bonus of which were that she didn't have to retrieve them: merely releasing the chakra construct like one would dismiss a clone would cause the sharp knives to fall away into tiny flecks of glass-like dust before dissipating entirely.
It was why she wouldn't be crashing any economies any time soon, as the constructs, while incredibly durable, weren't permanent unless she fed them a constant stream of her chakra. Which had been of course Shikamaru's first question, after which the immediate second question had been for just how long she could keep such a crystal going, which had caused both Guren and Hamaru to laugh out loud.
Apparently, they had swindled a village or two during their mad escape from the Land of Sound as they travelled towards Konoha whenever the locals had been particularly unpleasant. The sound of a snooty noblewoman wailing in despair when she found that the gorgeous necklaces she'd been given had somehow turned to dust overnight, had been a soothing symphony to their frayed nerves.
The boys eagerly began following Guren's instructions, awed at the prettiness of her blades and the obvious ease with which she expertly manipulated them. It quickly became clear why Iruka had been easy to convince that the kunoichi would be an effective trainer in bukijutsu (besides the scary looking tower of muscle that was always at her side) as Guren showed herself to be a demanding taskmaster. Still, they apparently were more hands-off with training back in Otogakure than they were here in Konoha, with Guren dismissive of the potential dangers of wielding sharp pieces of metal.
"If you throw a kunai well, it'll be a good lesson. If you don't throw it well… it'll be an even better lesson." The woman had said with a sharp grin.
While Choji had blanched at the look and Shikmaru had muttered a "troublesome" under his breath, the warning only seemed to have fired up the other two boys and it wasn't long before Kiba and Naruto began holding a competition to see who could make the most extravagant, cool looking throw.
On the side, Shikamaru and Choji were betting snacks on which of the wild boys would be the first to spear themselves in the foot. Shikamaru had three gummy bears riding on Naruto being the one by doing a backwards somersault.
Choji had an entire bag of chips on Naruto doing that and then trying to play it cool by continuing the game, only to end up stabbing himself in the same foot again.
Sadly, their betting game was never finished, since before things could truly escalate, the group heard the front door open as a voice called out.
"Mom? Dad? We're home!"
"We've lived here less than a week. There have been literal holes in the ground we've spent more time in." a voice replied coolly, though the first speaker didn't seem to mind.
"Those were hideouts. This is a house. A house all of us are staying in, so, this is now home!"
"You are far too optimistic Yukimaru."
"And you're far too serious Kimi. You need to- oh! Uhm, hello!" the speaker suddenly halted in his tracks as the group entered the backyard, causing Naruto and Kiba to halt their throws (much to the disappointment of Choji and Shikamaru.
Immediately, Guren seemed to chance in front of the boy's eyes, going from scary kunoichi and supporting wife to beaming mother as she engulfed the pink-eyed boy in the front in a strong hug, lifting him clean off his feet. Even Hamaru seemed to soften as he approached the remaining two boys, hugging the orange-haired one to his side as he shot the white-haired on a proud smile.
Kiba was glancing at the three newcomers with narrowed eyes. Going by Hamaru's story, these were all people who would've been manipulated into Orochimaru into giving into their 'darkness' (whatever that meant, Kiba wasn't entirely sure though for some reason Naruto of all people seemed to get it). Again though, much like Hamaru himself hardly acted like he was the student of the Snake Sannin, these people hardly looked like they were just a bad day away from becoming deranged psychopaths who enjoyed putting people in emotionally devastating, impossible to win scenarios.
Their smells were interesting as well. The wimpy looking one (who was steadily growing slightly blue in the face as Guren kept a hold of him) smelled like the sea for some reason, despite the Land of Fire being a landlocked nation. The tall, orange-haired one smelled like forest and small birds and animals, which Kiba privately thought was pretty cool. Maybe the big guy would like to help around their kennel sometime? Hana was always complaining how busy it was and understaffed they were 'cause their man-sized wolves kept scaring people off.
The regal-looking boy in the front though… Kiba's nose curled at the scent he gave off. It was the sent of death, the sent of graveyards. Though interestingly enough, Akamaru (who had jumped onto his usual spot in Kiba's hair when the newcomers had entered the garden) yipped that he smelled some strange herbs and chemicals on the boy as well.
Maybe he was sick? It would explain the white hairs, Kiba supposed, though he still thought the red dots looked silly. Was the boy trying to imitate having pimples or something? His marks had nothing on the awesome, cool looking fang-marks Kiba and his family had, so there!
Said boy meanwhile was staring down the quartet so intensely they quickly began to feel somewhat awkward, which naturally meant that Naruto relied on his usual defensive tactics.
"What?! The hell you lookin' at weirdo!?"
Which was of course to begin yelling very loudly.
The pale boy frowned as he began lifting his arm, but Hamaru's massive clawed hand on his narrow shoulder halted him in his tracks as he glanced up at the towering man with a suspicious look.
"Easy there Kimimaro. These are guests." The large Inuzuka drawled, and while judging by the now-named Kimimaro's guarded face the boy didn't agree, he did relax his posture.
"Very well, Hamaru-sama. By your judgement, I shall refrain from teaching these interlopers that-" the pale boy began in a cold voice.
It would never be known just what exactly Kimimaro had intended to educate the other children in, since Hamaru shot forwards, his large claws engulfing the Kaguya's head before lifting him bodily off the ground. The movement was so sudden that the group of troublemaker's barely got a shout off before they realized what was going on.
Instead of being the one attacked, Kimimaro was looking furious, appearing red-faced and pouting. Though the latter was probably because Hamaru's palms were smushing his cheeks together as he held him aloft. Meanwhile, the large Inuzuka himself had an exaggerated look of pain and despair on his face as he cried up at his adopted son.
"Why do you insist on hurting me so, Kimi-chan? I know you can say it! Please say it! Call me 'tou-san', go on! Do it for your ol' pops, huh?" the man almost roared in his son's face with tearful eyes, before suddenly getting a boot to his face as Kimimaro desperately gave it his all to escape the giant's immense grip.
"Gerroff a me!" the boy shouted, though his words came out muffled from behind smushed cheeks.
Meanwhile, Hamaru himself seemingly didn't even register his son's desperate moves as he kept crying to the heavens about how his son was so cold and distant despite his best efforts at raising him right and how much of his love and heart he had poured into him and that he really wasn't asking that much, honestly etc. etc.
Standing in stunned silence, Kiba and his friends could only look on in mute shock until the orange-haired son (who looked… particularly unbothered by having one brother nearly choked out by his mother and his other brother man-handled by his father) merely approached Hamaru from behind and slipped two arms across his middle.
"I will call you tou-san." The boy said in a calming voice, causing Hamaru to gain a look of pure happiness.
"So let go of Kimimaro, you damn geezer!" the orange-haired kid continued suddenly in a far lower, more monstrous voice as both his scent and chakra spiked, before to the utter and continued shock of their onlookers, he lifted Hamaru up and over, slamming the large man down into the ground in a picture-perfect suplex.
As Kimimaro jumped to his feet with an embarrassed huff, rubbing his now reddened cheeks, Hamaru easily clambered out of the small crater his largest son had formed, not even a scratch on him as he merely engulfed said child in a leaping hug.
"Oh, Jugo-kun! I can always rely on you to call me tou-san!" the man roared in glee, the orange haired boy merely patting the large man on his shoulder as his voice returned to normal.
"There, there… you're embarrassing us all in front of our guests…"
"Right!" Hamaru called out as he jumped up, the earlier dirt and tears disappeared as if they were never there and all that the boys could do with that point is just accept the madness seemingly inherent in this family while hoping for a stealthy getaway.
"Allow me to introduce you all. The loudmouth at the front who just greeted you boys is Uzumaki Naruto. To his right are Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji. And on the left is my nephew, Kiba and his ninken Akamaru."
At that last one, all three boys picked up as they stared at the younger Inuzuka with interest.
"He's your family?" the pink-eyed one said curiously, having finally been put down by Guren after he (breathlessly) pointed out she was squeezing the air right out of him.
"Indeed. Hopefully, you'll meet others of the clan in time as we settle in here. Kiba and friends, meet my precious people. Kimimaro is the uptight one here in the front, the big guy here at my side is called Jugo and momma's boy over there is Yukimaru." The large Inuzuka said with a proud grin, which widened when both Yukimaru and Guren simply shrugged at his dig.
"I apologise for nothing." Guren boldly stated with her hands in her hips, getting a chuckle from Hamaru as he gave Jugo and Kimimaro a light push in the back.
"Go on, say hello. They will be your future comrades. After that, I think it's time for you all to go home, no?"
Choji easily agreed, while both Shikamaru and Kiba shared a nervous glance between each other as they realized they had never told their respective mothers they'd be out late today. Naruto on the other hand remained quiet.
Hands were quickly shook between all the boys (Kiba tried to squeeze Kimimaro's hand to no noticeable effect) before the Clan boys quickly ran off, one of them already thinking of what would be for dinner while the other two were mostly trying to come up with good excuses and running-away techniques. They were in such a hurry to leave in fact, that they hadn't even noticed that Yukimaru's handshake with Naruto had been strangely long.
Very long in fact, to the point that the blonde began looking creeped out by the other boy, who kept staring intensely at him.
"Uhmm… you can let go now… please?" Naruto stammered, getting a surprised look from Yukimaru.
"Wait, you don't feel it?" which caused the Uzumaki to blink in surprise as he stared at their clasped hands.
"What? Feel what?"
Seeing Yukimaru's baffled look, Hamaru spoke up.
"It's alright Yuki. Most of them, aside from B in Kumo, won't be nearly as connected with their burden as you are. Naruto here doesn't even know about it yet." The large Inuzuka explained, causing Naruto to frown.
"I don't know about what? I'm not dumb you know! I know lotsa stuff!" he began shouting, getting worked up even as he was still holding hands with Yukimaru, which made him look somewhat silly.
He appeared so utterly non-threatening in fact that neither of Yukimaru's brothers activated their own jutsu, which was somewhat of a blessing in disguise, given that they both looked scary enough in those forms that Naruto's screams would've attracted the personal attention of the Hokage himself.
"You're like me! We're Jinchuuriki." Yukimaru helpfully explained, which caused Naruto to halt mid-shout as he blinked at Yukimaru in surprise while behind him Hamaru face-palmed with enough strength to leave a red imprint of his clawed hand on his brow as he grit his teeth.
"Crap… guess that particular cat is out of the bag now… and I fucking hate cats…"
"We're a what-now?" Naruto asked as he rubbed his head, causing Hamaru to peek at the tiny blonde from between his fingers.
"… well, maybe not just yet."
"Maybe it's best that we leave that particular lesson until tomorrow? You know, given the state secrets involved?" Guren interjected, shooting a very obvious look towards a nearby rooftop.
Had Kiba's hearing been on the same level of his uncle (and had he not left already), he would've caught the muttered 'not again' that sounded utterly exasperated before the sound of a Shunshin sounded from atop the rooftop.
"Besides, I'm sure Naruto has to get home as well." Guren continued, though her gaze turned surprised when said Uzumaki's head dipped down.
"Ah, yeah sure. I mean… yeah, got plenty of people waiting for me, ha!" the blonde tried to brush off the woman's looks with an obviously pained smile and Guren glanced towards Hamaru with a questioning look.
When he mouthed 'orphan' back to her with a sombre expression, her eyes widened while the three brothers shared a look with her as well. Yukimaru was already nodding rapidly, moving his head just as fast as Kimimaro was vehemently shaking his 'no' instead. Jugo merely gave Guren a firm nod, displacing the small songbird that had nestled in his spikey hair. It tweeted in aggravation until Jugo gently picked up and placed it back among his orange locks. Meanwhile, Kimimaro pouted (though of course he'd never admit it) as he knew that he had been beat, shrugging his shoulders as he turned away from the group.
Yukimaru pumped his fist in silent victory as he punched his tallest brother friendly on the shoulder (Jugo being large enough he barely felt it) as Guren looked on with her hands on her hips and a proud smile.
"Uhm… are you guys ok?" Naruto's hesitant voice snapped the odd little family out of their mimed conversation and it was a widely grinning Hamaru who placed an enormous hand on the kid's shoulder, smiling down at the surprised looking blonde.
"How'd you like to stay for dinner as well, Naruto? The house is plenty big and we like having guests over. Or we can go out to these Ichiraku you were talking about earlier, I could go for some ramen." The large man offered, his deep and gravelly voice sounding warm.
Naruto's expression was gob-smacked for a long moment, before he hurriedly rubbed his suspiciously wet eyes with his sleeve as he tried (and absolutely failed) to play it cool.
"Uhm, yeah. That'd be cool. But…" Naruto spoke up hesitantly, before taking a deep breath as he steeled himself.
"But… are you sure you me want along? You're new here and people were already whispering about you… and they whisper about me too and-"
Hamaru seemed surprised at the thoughtfulness the blonde exhibited, before kneeling down with a smile that was somehow comforting despite the large canines he displayed.
"Let 'em whisper. Anything anyone has to say about me that they can't say to my face, is talk I couldn't care less about."
Naruto seemed stunned by the man's words before giving him a teary-eyed nod as Guren and Yukimaru looked on with smiles on their faces. Kimimaro was still shooting the blonde analysing looks as if he was picking apart a threat towards his family (which was true in a way, depending on how you looked at it and how aware you were of Konoha's ugly underbelly).
And Jugo was absorbed in the songbird's story about the noisy children its neighbours had just hatched and their atrocious parenting skills.