Chapter 9: Some love and a home

The Hokage does not reply for a couple of seconds, he runs the words through his mind a couple of times. He wonders whether he heard the little boy wrong. But then immediately rules out the possibility. He is a ninja, an old one but still one of the strongest in the village and as a ninja, his senses are inhumanely sharp. His hearing is not the one at fault.

"Why?" he finally replies as he looks at the bound blond in front of him. The blond replies by shaking his hands a little, gesturing to be released. But not once does he meet the eyes of the old man.

"Kakashi, unbind him. ANBU, do not speak about anything that you heard or saw today and give us some privacy." The old man is quite interested in the young shinobi in front of him. He figured that he and Kakashi would be able to stop the little kid if he tries anything. The ANBU leave the room in silence and move from their previous position. Kakashi looks at the old man with slight surprise hidden in his eyes. Inoichi, on the other hand, continues to stand behind the old man silently.

As the ropes fall away, the red and bruised wrist of the child comes into view. He stands up from his previously kneeling position moving his fingers to make the blood flow in his arms. The bruises disappear soon as the three men in the room never take their eyes off him. He continues to remove his shirt from his chest. The three shinobi all gasp at the scene in front of them. They all see the huge number of scars covering his body.

"These scars are all people I have killed for father's sake. I have taken too many lives for the man and wish to do to be able to repent for my sins in hell." The blond replies to the question of the Hokage. He looks down towards his feet fearing the looks of hate and disgust. But he never would have expected the warmth he got instead.

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He feels the robed old man move towards him. Probably to push him away or tell him he hates him like the many before. But he would never have expected the old man to put his arms around the small shoulders of the blond. The old man pulls him closer and buries Naruto's face in his chest. Naruto found himself suddenly enveloped in gentle warmth. A warmth he has never experienced before. His eyes begin to moisten as his bottled emotions spill out in front of three strangers. His small hands desperately move towards the chest of the old man. His chest begins to heave as his tortured cries begin to fill the room. He grips the loose robes of the Hokage as his face presses closer into the warm chest of the old man, seeking warmth. The three shinobi remain quiet and allow the child to let loose of his emotions. For the first time in his entire hellish life, Naruto felt peace. After a significant amount of time, the sobs begin to fade, but the blond doesn't move away from the old man.

"W-what is this?" comes the uncharacteristically quiet voice of the child. The gentle face of the Hokage looks at the child in front of him. He realises that the child in front of him has never felt affection before. He has never been loved, he has never been hugged before, he has never been put to bed with a goodnight kiss nor has he been allowed to eat warm food together with a family. He pulls the child in closer as he remembers Konohamaru, his grandson.

"A hug," he says to the little boy.

"It's warm and feels good, can we be in this hug a little while longer?" the boy replies, being selfish after a very long time in his life.

"Of course"

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It's been exactly two years since he became a citizen of Konohagakure. He is currently wearing a very dark blue outfit, all made of the same colour. One thing many people don't realize is that the night is never completely black thanks to the moon. Thus a completely black outfit still stands out from the background as a silhouette. This kind of a dark blue works much better and allows the wearer to completely disappear. It even allows the wearer to hide in plain sight of guards, right in front of their faces.

Naruto's blond hair is hidden underneath a tight-fitting hood with a mask on its side. He walks slowly, sticking to the shadows. He occasionally looks up at the huge towering Hokage tower, registering his destination. He then jumps up onto a roof and speeds up. Moving towards the window of the Hokage's office he jumps into the office at breakneck speeds.

He then hears a drawer closing hastily as he looks at the clearly flustered old man. His eyes move towards the suspicious slightly open drawer, noticing a hastily put book inside it with an odd orange cover. He looks towards the Hokage with questioning eyes.

"What was that?" comes the flat voice of the 8-year-old innocent kid.

"Nothing you need to worry about, innocent child" comes the clearly guilty voice of the Hokage. His eyes move away from the blinding innocence of the little kid in front of him. He starts to try to whistle, failing miserably in the process, while looking as guilty as possible.

"Anyway, the mission is over" the blond answers while throwing a scroll at the Hokage. This kind of a situation was not an oddity for him lately. Though he does wonder what kind of book could have the Hokage so hooked. The leader of the village even forsakes his sacred duty to do paperwork in favour of reading the same book for the 100th time.

"Sure, I have received the evidence of the completion of the request and will give you the reward now." He replies while throwing another scroll in return. The Hokage had come to an agreement with the small child. The little blond would complete small missions occasionally and receive a reward in return. The reward was a couple bowls of ramen, prepared by Teuchi with a small amount of ninja equipment. The old man doesn't trust a little kid with money. Even if the little kid is a hardened warrior taking missions to kill people every once in a while. He chooses to give the kid deadly and dangerous weapons designed to kill people instead. Recently though, Naruto had asked him for customised light armour in an odd colour. It was quite fascinating and he planned to make all the ANBU wear the same soon. Its colour was much more effective than their traditional black. The white masks had also been replaced. Giving assassins white beacons on their faces only allowed the enemy to locate them. It was quite stupid of them, he had realized. Naruto had probably saved the lives of many ANBU by pointing this out.

"Thanks, old man"

(AN: Hiruzen is much more involved in the life of Naruto here. The council doesn't know of the Jinchuriki and so doesn't try to keep the Hokage away from the little kid. Hiruzen has also registered him in the ANBU to keep him away from ROOT. He also thinks of Naruto as a second grandson and Naruto feels the same.)

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Naruto rounds around a corner as he reaches his apartment building. It was a small one-room flat on the second floor. He could get a bigger apartment from the old man but he liked the anonymity of his place. No one disturbed him in his home. He also loved the feeling of returning after a mission and the peace and quiet of Konoha.

Before making Konoha his home, he never really looked forward to completing a mission. At his father's base, his bed was nothing but a tool to keep his body functioning, food nothing but nourishment for his body. But here, his bed was a place of comfort and rest, sleep was blissful and ramen was a delicious delicacy. His home was a place of safety every single time he returned. He stepped into the darkroom and closed the door behind him. He always sought happiness from the words he spoke next. They never failed to hammer into his heart that he always had a warm place to return to no matter what.

"I'm home"