Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. All recognizable characters in this work belong to esteemed writer Masashi Kishimoto. I don't own Naruto.

Iruka Umino stood nervously in front of his village leader the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze with slight trepidation. He was promoted to the rank of Chunin five years and applied to be an instructor in the Academy where he has been working for two years since then. So when he's called by his village leader about Academy he's slightly worried. He felt the piercing stare of the Fourth from his kneeling position and wondered why is he summoned. Normally the matters of Academy were usually dealt by the entirety of Village council with heads of clans and important merchants of civilians also known as the civilian council.

Only when the students are divided into teams the homeroom teacher was called along with Jounins to give an insight into the minds of their might be students and it has been two weeks since the team formations were decided with two-fifths of the passing students kept in reserves. The details of the failed students along with new students who will graduate this year were him just a few days ago as he's the homeroom teacher for the class that will graduate this year.

" Iruka-kun," the blond Kage spoke calmly. "Please be at ease. I hope that you've gone through the file given to you about the graduation class."

The scarred man simply nodded his head. This year's graduating class has nine heirs of their respective clans with one of the clan members who is the second daughter of the head of Uchiha clan with Hokage's eldest child who's also a clan heir in the class. And let's not forget three containers of Tailed Beasts (Bijuu). Suddenly the reason behind the summons is made clear to the instructor.

"The Shinobi Council has put a lot of pressure on me to improve the standards of the Academy. This is designed by our T&I expert Orochimaru-sama and it will be the schedule from this year onwards. It isn't like the one during the war time but it's enough to shut their complaints." He sighed softly. "And thankfully Chunin Mizuki was apprehended for being a traitor, so it quelled their protests."

Iruka looked uncomfortable at these words. Mizuki was his best friend and his co-instructor. He was caught passing an important document to a ninja from Rain village and was sent to T&I. A mind walk was done by Inoichi Yamanaka which showed his sabotage in the Academy. He also passed many important info about the village security systems for exchange of money and if the document he almost have given to the Rain shinobi would have cost Leaf few business deals if it was leaked to Grass (Kusa) and Waterfall (Taki) countries and if it is leaked to other Great Five, it might lead to an other war. Thankfully they managed to retrieve it safely.

Iruka cleared his thoughts and took the file given to him and went through it carefully. There was less emphasis on history and more on tactics and strategies. The physical part was raised to meet war standards and ninjutsu portion along with Academy three the students are to learn at least two C ranked jutsu of their choice to pass, this remained the same... Iruka stopped when Minato cleared his throat to get his attention.

"Sorry, Hokage-sama." He said.

Minato took a deep breath and asked "How's Naruto doing?"

Naruto. One of the sore topics for Hokage-sama and his family (at least for Kushina-sama and Minato-sama). First born of triplets and Minato's eldest child and easily the most hated child in Konohagakure no Sato. Unknowingly neglected by his parents who regretted it since last year and tried to make amends. But it's too late and the child wanted nothing to do with them.

Iruka to this date remembered the first time he met Naruto

Iruka was overjoyed when he read the letter given to him by Hiruzen-sama. He was selected as a teacher in Konoha's Shinobi Academy last year and was appointed as the homeroom teacher in just one year. Usually anyone has to serve at least two years before they were given his position And to his happy mood, his friend Mizuki was selected as an assistant teacher this year. Mizuki helped him in his exams last year but for some reason he isn't selected. Iruka was surprised because without Mizuki's help he wouldn't be passed the selection exam.

Orphaned during Kyuubi's attack on Konoha nine years ago, Iruka became a prankster to ward off his loneliness. He was regarded as the class clown and was mocked by his peers. He laughed off their jeers but inwardly sought for their attention.

Hiruzen-sama found him one day sitting on the mountain after one of his pranks. Iruka never knew why but the Third always had a soft spot for him. He usually never said anything but listened to his ramblings patiently. It soon became a tradition till he passed and was put on Genin Team.

Whenever he closed his eyes he saw his mother's love smile and good father's proud face as he was dragged away by the ANBU on that fateful day. Iruka never understood why his parents have laid their lives and once asked Hiruzen about it.

"It doesn't matter what you do, if you live and die as you like. However, no matter what road you end up taking, remember to protect the people that are precious to you.' These words, Iruka-kun, are taught to me by my sensei, Senju Hashirama who is our First Hokage. This is called as the Hi no Ishi which every Konoha Shinobi puts their will on. Hiruzen-sama spoke calmly. " You, Iruka-kun, are your parents' most precious treasure. They died on that day so that you may live happily and risked their lives to keep you safe."

On that day those words are ingrained in his mind. With a desire to pass on that will to future generation, he decided to become a teacher.

His cheer lasted until he saw the list of students assigned to him. He sincerely had no problem with any of them except for a lone child. The name itself invoked a lot of bitterness with small amount of hatred. Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki. The photo showed a boy with mask covering lower half of his face. His gravity defying blond hair covered the right eye which could be seen if one looked close enough. The only part clearly visible is his ocean blue left eye.

He was well known in entirety of Konoha as the 'demon child'. When Minato-sama fought the beast, who had left him as an orphan, he sealed the Yin portion of its chakra into his daughter Mito and Yang portion into his son Menma. The talk was that Hokage-sama took away the beast's chakra and reduced the demon in form of this boy.

He was rumoured to be thrown out of his home at age of seven and everyone thought that Hokage-sama finally saw the demon's real nature and got rid of him. 'Serves it right,' Iruka thought bitterly. 'How did it survive out on streets without dying for three years?' were his thoughts on that day.

He tried to get Hiruzen change his class to other one or at least get Naruto transferred to other class. But Hiruzen put his foot down and asked him to give the boy a chance. Not willing to deny the only request the older man has made, he went on with it.

The day started normally and without any fuss Iruka reached the class before two hours before schedule and checked the syllabus. Slowly, the class was filled and by the time bell rang, class was filled with students except for few who didn't arrive in time. Iruka was pleased to see that the demon wasn't in the class and hoped that the boy chickened out.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Umino Iruka and I'm your homeroom teacher. Please introduce yourselves by telling your name and age." He greeted brightly.

A timid pink haired civilian girl with large forehead stood up (might be daughter of Councilman Kizashi) "M-my name is H-haruno Sakura. I-I turned e-eight this March. P-please take care of me." She stuttered out nervously.

"Hello guys. My name's is Yamanaka Ino. I am eight last year September. Nice to meet you all. Let's be friends." The platinum blond haired girl who's clearly Inoichi Yamanaka's daughter chirped brightly. Iruka nodded calmly. Only to loose the calm and his vein popped when he saw the boy to her right.

The blond girl turned to her right where she saw her sleeping classmate. "SHIKA," She screeched with. (Damn the girl got good pair of lungs) "GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP AND GREET OUR CLASSMATES."

"Troublesome," the pineapple hair styled boy groaned "Should have taken the last bench. Yo, my name is Shikamaru Nara. Eight, September 22nd." He promptly fell asleep ignoring the eye twitch of blond girl and the teacher and sweatdrops of all the remaining students. Iruka heard that the Naras are legendary sloths but this is pushing it.

"Hi. My name is Akimichi Choji." The slightly tall and round boy spoke kindly. "I'm eight years old this May." As he's about to sit down a civilian student behind him poked him saying"fatass" and snickered loudly.

The boy's demeanor turned zero to one-eighty within seconds. Grabbing the civilian by his collar, he punched him on his nose, knocking out the small civilian. "I'm not fat. I'm just big-boned. Just big-boned." He shouted glaring at the unconscious boy.

Iruka scolded him about his behaviour and ordered him to stay outside the class for the entire period. Just when Choji left the bench, heavy footsteps are heard from the corridor.

The door opened forcibly and three children rushed in. Iruka saw that two were obviously civilian boys who looked slightly winded. But the third child was one whom he recognised. It's the Kyuubi-gaki.

The boy was really short and really thin. He was wearing white t-shirt with spiral design on it with cream coloured coat and cargo pants. Both of them are large for his frame. As in photograph, he wore black mask which covered half of his face and let his gravity defying blond hair cover his right eye. (Kakashi's childhood hair style).

All three students looked sheepishly at him. "Sorry sensei. We overslept." The civilian student spoke calmly. The blond didn't even say anything searching for something carelessly in his bag.

Muttering "Demon" quickly and softly he turned to Choji. "Choji-kun, sit down and don't repeat it again. You two," he smiled amiably at the students, "can sit anywhere you like." Turning to the blond kid, whatever he wanted to say was struck in his mouth.

The previously apologetic blond looked straight into his eyes with no emotion whatsoever. It chilled his spine but he gathered his courage. "You introduce yourself and stand out of the class for the entire day... your punishment for not apologising." barely managing to get those words out.

"Good Morning everyone." He spoke in a sharp tone. The occasional murmur disappeared with everyone paying attention to the blond kid. Iruka noted this subconsciously straightening his spine. "My name is Naruto. I turned eight last October." Saying this he slapped a paper on the bench and walked out. Before he stepped out of the class, he looked straight into Iruka's eyes and with cold glare he spoke one word that only Iruka can hear. "Coward."

Iruka never felt as much ashamed in his entire life. Picking up the paper, he saw that it is a letter of apology from Ichiraku Teuchi that he made boy late because he had to deliver bentos as he's low on manpower.

"Iruka-kun." The voice of fourth snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry Hokage-sama," he spoke bowing down slightly. "I was lost in thought."

Clearing his throat he answered the question. "Naruto is... fine Hokage-sama. He's average in everything except Taijutsu which is solid Chunin level. Expected as he usually trains with Maito Gai in his free time. And let's not forget his stealth. Has been an year but still none of us have found where he lives. Suspected to be a sensor and Fuinjutsu expert.

Usually skips classes and detentions, doesn't take anything seriously, class clown and plays pranks. No friends at all, keeps to himself, just works enough to pass. Indifferent to the entirety of Konoha except for really few members." He replied calmly.

"Really can't blame the kid but I can say for certain of not for those really few ones he would have left Konoha several years ago. He loves children Hokage-sama. Not to overstep my bounds in your family only Natsumi has any chance of connecting with Naruto."

Minato simply nodded to the Iruka's explanation. After dismissing the poor man, Minato sighed before looking at the picture of his family that he always had in his desk. Now normally this picture would always bring a smile to the powerful shinobi, but this time it did nothing but to bring even more shame and sadness to him. The reason for that was because in this particular picture you could see both him and his wife happily smiling, while in front of them were Menma, Mito and Natsumi, the three of them showing different amount of happiness. It was taken the day that both Menma and Mito started the Academy. Since an year it mocked him showing his greatest failure.

Naruto wasn't in it.

What in Kami's name had made him ignore his son to the point of Naruto denying him as his father? What has gotten into his mind? How could he have done something like that? What kind of father was he? Those were the thought that plagued the Hokage's mind right now, showing that like his wife he was deeply ashamed of his action towards the eldest of his triplets.

And how could he not be? His children were his pride and joy and yet he had mistreated one of them to the point of him not wanting anything to do with his family

His family was completely torn apart. Kushina lost weight over an year and was a complete mess. Menma and Moto wanted to tear Naruto apart for making Kushina that way. They were not in the office when Naruto spoke to them last time but seeing both their faces was enough for them. Natsumi never left Kushina's side and he's thankful for that. Hell he himself encouraged suicidal thoughts from time to time.

It all started with Orochimaru-sama's visit year and half ago.

"We need to talk" Were the first words that the 4th Hokage, Minato Namikaze, heard after opening the door of his house and seeing that the person who decided to visit him this late at night was none other than Orochimaru, one of the three legendary Densetsu no Sannin (Three Great Ninjas)

"Talk about what Orochimaru? did something happen?" asked the blonde Hokage, his completely attention in the Snake summoner, after all it was really weird if not unheard of for Orochimaru to actually come to this house, after all he normally reported whatever he had to report in the Hokage's office, never here

"I guess you could say that... may I come in? I believe is better if we have this conversation in private" said the black haired ninja, his normal creepy smile completely gone since his face was one of seriousness, which made both Minato and Kushina, who was standing a little behind her husband, look at the snake summoner funny.

"Sure" was the only thing Minato said before he led Orochimaru to the living room of the house, in which Orochimaru took a seat in one of the chair that was around a coffee table while the hero of the 3rd shinobi war sat in the nearby couch.

"Would you like some tea Orochimaru-san?" asked Kushina, speaking for the first time since Orochimaru entered her house, but her question just got a little shook of the man head.

"That won't be necessary, but I would appreciate if you could stay to hear what I have to tell, after all it concerns the both of you" answered Orochimalu swiftly, his attention focused in both the Hokage and his wife. He wondered exactly how they were going to react to what he was going to say, but if his own assumption were correct then this was going to be one interesting conversation.

This declaration brought look of suspicion from both Minato and Kushina, but neither of them said anything. The read headed jounin sat alongside her husband in the sofa, expecting to hear whatever was the news that Orochimaru so urgently had to share with them.

"So, what is the problem Orochimaru? Its about the assignment I appointed you about the Academy?" asked Minato, considering the different thing that could have bring the snake summoner here since he has never done so in the past

To those that knew Orochimaru they could tell you that the man had a little sadistic side inside of him that complemented a little bit his thirst for knowledge, so for those people it was not surprise that said man was none other than the head of the Torture and Interrogation Division of Konoha, but it was only the Hokage, his wife and a few number of people that knew that Orochimaru was given the task of observing the students that entered the academy and their progress in it.

The reason for giving Orochimaru was simple since, in Minato's opinion, Orochimaru was one of the person that knew more about human psychology in the whole village, something that made him really effective in his job at the T&I Division, so Minato assigned Orochimaru the task of observing the development of the student of the Academy so that he could not only form the most effective teams by the time the student graduated, but so that Orochimaru could find out which student were better suited for some specialized task like the Healer Squad Tsunade made.

It was after a year of Orochimaru having that job that he made the recommendation to Minato of changing how the team system worked, so that, instead of having teams with 3 genins and one jounin, Konoha would have teams made of 4 genins and 2 jounins. While some of the member of the council complained about how that system would use too many of the jonin that the village had, Minato still went with it since he had no reason to doubt Orochimaru at all, and he was glad he did, after all the system worked even better than the old one since this new one allowed not only for the jonin to focus more on their genin and allow them to teach them a bigger variety if things, but it also improved the survival rate of teams.

"Yes it is... I'm not going to lose anyone's time here so I'll go straight to the matter at hand Minato, how good is your relationship with your son?" asked Orochimatu to both Minato and Kushina, making one of then look at him with a frown while the other had a preoccupied expression on her face

"Why are you asking this? did something happen to Menma-kun?!" asked Kushina, obviously worried about anything that could have happened to her son, but she was even more worried because if something did happen then her son had not told neither her of his father.

"Calm down Kushina, nothing happened to Menma-kun at all, he's actually in the top of his class, although he could do better in the written part if you ask me" said Orochimaru, making both parent sigh in relieve, although the black haired snake summoner was now even more preoccupied, after all it did not escape his attention the fact that they only asked for one of their sons.

"Why are you asking then?" asked Minato, confusion obvious in his face and voice

"I think you misunderstood a little bit there so let me be more specific this time, how good is your relationship with your son Naruto-kun?" And just there Orochimaru saw a reaction that made all his suspicion even more of a reality, which made him release a mental sigh since this just made everything harder.

As soon as Orochimaru asked his question both Minato and Kushina just looked at him with an unreadable expression just before their eyes widened until they were like plates, then the both of them just looked at each other with the same expression. All of this just made Orochimaru to raise a brow in interest.

Meanwhile the young user of the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) pondered the question in his mind and he really did not like the answer he was getting, after all it even took him a couple of seconds to actually remember that he had another son besides Menma and even tough he was trying really hard to remember any memory with his first son he could not actually do it, like he had completely forgotten about him, and that feeling was something that made Minato panic a little bit, how could he forget his own son?

Kushina's thoughts were even more wild than her husband, but just like him she could not remember any moment with her son, even tough she thought hard about important moments like birthdays, training days and their first day at the academy, she just could not picture him in any of those, like if he never was there, which was something that made Kushina's heart to twist in pain. How was it possible to not have any memories with one of her sons? There was no way she could have neglected him like that!... right?

Both the Hokage and her wife's attention were taken out of their thoughts by a cough from Orochimaru, who knew enough about human conduct to figure out the answer to his question just by looking at them

"I'm going to guess that it's not good, isn't it? Well that explains a part of the problem..." said Orochimaru, and even though the last part was said in low voice is was loud enough for both Minato and Kushina to hear it.

"What are you talking about Orochimaru?! did something happen to Naru-kun at the academy?!" almost yelled Kushina after standing up, her expression one of panic and fear, after all if something did happen to her son at the Academy like him having to repeat a year of it just because neither her or her husband helped him when they should, she would not be able to forgive herself

Minato stood up and put a hand over his wife's shoulder, trying to calm her down, but Orochimaru could easily see that the fourth fire shadow too was concerned about his son, he just was better at controlling his emotions, something that Orochimaru actually respected from this man.

Orochimaru then took out two files which was hidden in his coat and gave it to both the parents. "Please take a look over them and tell me if you found any oddities."

Both Kage level shinobis looked over the files given to them and frowned. "Except that he's average in everything except Taijutsu alone with stealth, there's nothing odd here Orochimaru. And that he skips class regularly" Kushina replied while Minato nodded along with her.

The snake sannin pinched his nose in irritation. Taking both the files, he instead of going each individual testing, he showed all tests under same criteria. They are dumbfounded.

"Now if you see clearly Kushina, all scores for his Taijutsu is 94, all scores for ninjutsu is 60, same for genjutsu and shurikenjutsu with both of them 54 and 56 respectively. All the written tests are likewise exactly half correct and half wrong.

Now I can understand that happening sometimes, but the fact is that in the two years Naruto-kun has been in the academy he has always got the same points in every written exam... almost like he did this on purpose" said Orochimaru, seeing how Minato's frown became bigger and how Kushina's attention went from the floor to himself.

"You might have been wondering why I have problem with your eldest son? I'll tell you why. I have already completed first three years Academy students assessment three months ago. I was supposed to start the assessment of potential genins when I saw an unusual spectacle.

You know Naruto-kun loves to play pranks and everyone knows it's him but can't prove anything, right?" Seeing them nod he continued "Three months ago I sent a Shadow Clone to the Academy to oversee the classes and went to the market to buy supplies for my latest experiment...

Orochimaru looked over his lab sighing calmly. His latest experiment was to produce a chakra pill which can be used up to four times per day for an average Chunin. The present ones shouldn't be taken more than two times unless he wanted to die. He constructed a theory which might work but in practice different results might occur. He walked to and fro frustrated in his personal office. It's little room that had nothing but a wooden desk with a chair, some book case filled with them and it was illuminated by some torches. This place could be found and his secret lab that only he, the Hokage and other few peoples like his teammates knew about. This was the place in which Orochimaru would normally do his experiments; of course he could not use any test subject for those experiments unless they were prisoners or any other person that the Hokage approved, and even that only happened once Orochimatu was more than sure that the procedure would not kill the patient.

He would have to express his gratitude to his busty teammate one of these days; after all she really helped in improving the surviving expectation of the patients.

But today he has to go to check on the potential genins in Academy and he's low on supplies. Creating a Shadow Clone, he sent it to the Academy, he left to restock his supplies.

Getting everything he required, he's prepared to get back to the sanctity of his office when he heard a loud commotion.

Turning to the source, he saw a squad of ANBU whose leader was barking orders to his team. Not unusual unless you count each and every one of them are wearing tight spandex Gai was so fond of wearing except they are in sparkling rainbow colours. And each of their masks are weird design (obscene) painted on them. The ANBU are looking highly agitated and having no immediate work he approached them.

"ANBU squad Delta. May I knew why the hell is your team dressed like that?" He asked amused at their precardiment.

"Greetings Orochimaru-sama." The squad leader Boar greeted him in a low baritone voice. "Someone infiltrated ANBU yesterday and changed our clothes. And put permanent glue on our masks. The clothes are lined with few seals which made them look like our normal ANBU unit. But on using them. They changed into this."

"We found chakra trail of the culprit in this place few minutes ago. He/She might have noticed us coming so that chakra has completely disappeared." Yugao, the Cat ANBU spoke.

"Then why on earth haven't you guys used the Henge jutsu?" Orochimaru questioned.

Being an expert in Human psychology, he could see each of the ANBU are highly embarrassed. "W-we would have O-orochimaru-sama. B-but... err" Lizard started.

"But.." He pressed on.

The ANBU squad took him to the closest alley. Looking at the operatives Lizard and Cat, Boar ordered get on with it

"Why don't you do it Boss?" Lizard whined as Cat nodded in agreement.

"I'm the leader of the squad and you are the rookie. And Cat you're the only female in the squad."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow in amusement. ANBU are said to be the best of the best. They are trained to bear any humiliation, embarrassment, torture and discomfort thoroughly. To them to behave this way it should be really embarrassing.

"Henge." They shouted in unison.

When the smoke cleared, Orochimaru's jaw dropped and he tried to stop a heavy nose bleed which threatened to knocked him out.

Orochimaru knew that even as a rookie Lizard is a intimidating man. Reaching 6feet in height with heavy dense muscles and a scowling face, he could make an average Chunin pee in fear. But in his place platinum blond haired buxom woman is present. She had curves rivalling his teammate with long hair. Best part is that she's totally naked. With one hand covering the breasts and other hand on crotch and blushing cheeks she looked as the poster picture of embarrassed naked female. Jiraiya would have killed to see this sight

Cat whom he known to be a really beautiful kunoichi with a pleasant smiling woman, now turned into scowling young man with hard dense muscles and short purple hair.

Controlling the laughter that have threatened to erupt from his throat (he has reputation to uphold), he told that he would help them in catching the culprit. Most likely he'd some perverse jonin who might be an ex-ANBU who played it.

"We aren't the only ones who were targeted Orochimaru-sama. The entire ANBU are targeted and are searching for him." Cat said in a pissed off tone. "He let it up. There he is." she shouted suddenly.

Orochimaru saw a hooded tall young man and disappeared when he was about to turn towards him. Gathering Senjutsu, he locked on to the target and erased his smell, chakra and made himself invisible. Chasing him discreetly till the man was boxed in a place with ANBU approaching him on all sides. He immediately ran up the building and released his Henge. Most surprising thing is that he changed the feel of his chakra and walked out none the wiser.

If it is jonin, hell even if it is Chunin who rejected promotion for Tokujo he wouldn't have been surprised. But the brat is not even a Genin. He's an Academy student. Naruto Namikaze.

"So to learn his capabilities, I tried to find clues. Before anyone could tamper the evidence I checked the wall he climbed by wall walking technique. There are really really small indents. If not for very faint shoe print traces I would have missed them. Only a person trained in medical arts have that level of control. Your boy's chakra control at this age rivals Tsunade's when she's eleven. He's nine now right? Tsunade at eleven can do kunai balancing technique easily and began senbon balancing technique. And his ninjutsu and genjutsu grades are average I can't believe it.

And here comes the shocker. His chakra pool is higher than an jonin by miles. Mito and Menma didn't have that much chakra and they have Kyuubi increasing their reserves. They still can't do clone jutsu so you've taught them Shadow Clones right?" Both of them nodded. "The boy has double chakra pool of yourself children without Kyuubi's chakra." Their eyes widened. "I found it on the same day. After dispelling the Shadow Clone I sent to the Academy. I found that he's in class all the day. Participanted in Taijutsu matches and everything. So next day I used Senjutsu to feel his presence and it's the same. I thought he overloaded the Shadow Clone and left it in the class so that it might take heavy damage. But it's not the case he's using Senjutsu."

"What the hell are you saying Orochimaru." Senjutsu is near impossible to learn and you have to have a summon to help you with the absorption along with High Jonin reserves." Kushina shouted. "You're saying that a child of nine autumns learnt it. Have you gone senile?"

Orochimaru glared at them. "Before you shout listen to me first. I might have slipped up when I watched that kid. He refused to go to his residence I sure as hell knew isn't this place. After a week he lost it. Want to know what happened on that day. I'm in sage mode and was watching him. Suddenly his presence and chakra completely disappeared. Even in my Sage mode I couldn't feel any thing from him. If he's not visible to my eyes I would have thought he was not there at all. Only a Senjutsu user can hide from other Senjutsu user." He growled out. "From that day it became impossible to trace him."

Both The Hokage's and his wife's eyes widened in surprise after hearing that, after all they both knew that fact. So how was possible that their son, who had yet to have any special training, something that made both parent to feel more ashamed of themselves and knew didn't let him sign any contract learn one of the most dangerous and difficult technique like that?

"So, it was after looking at all of these facts that I decided that, in my opinion, your son is hiding his real abilities at the Academy" revealed Orochimaru, surprising both Minato and Kushina once again

"W-what? why would he do that?!" asked the read-headed beauty, wondering why would her son fake his skills in the Academy, after all that was hardly the normal conduct a boy of his age would have

Meanwhile Minato's thought were a little different. If what Orochimaru was saying is really true then that meant that his son had been training, since there was no way that he could learn those arts without any source of training, but if that was true then, who trained him? Sure there was the possibility that he trained alone, but that was highly unlikely, which meant that someone had been helping his son with his ninja training, but the question was who?

"I can't tell you the exact reasons since I'm not him, but I'm going to guess that he just did not wanted anyone knowing his real strength" said Orochimaru before releasing a sigh, knowing that what he was going to say next was going to really upset them both

"Considering the information that I have about Naruto-kun I must say that right now I have no choice but consider him a mid level flight risk" said Orochimaru, and almost as soon as he did he was hit by two powerful killer instincts, courtesy of both Minato and Kushina, whose powerful glare was directed fully at the snake summoner

"Are you implying that my son could become a traitor Orochimaru?" asked Minato, his voice cold and his glare powerful, after all there was no way he would ever let anyone said something like that to anyone from his family, never.

"I said mid level flight risk Minato." Orochimaru snapped out. "We're lucky that he didn't leave Konoha by now. first he hides his true abilities in the academy, abilities that we have no idea from were he got them since I know you're also thinking that someone must have been teaching him. He's really close to sensei, so there might be a chance he learnt from him. His only bonds of important in the village as now is Hiruzen-sensei, Maito Gai, the Ichirakus and few branch members of Hyuuga family. Nothing more, nothing less. Here are few of his medical records. Your so called loving people treated him like shit and you know funnily there is annual fox hunt." ignoring the killing intent he continued. "I suppose you understand it. Broken bones, fractured ribs and what not in record of child who's no more than five years old. From sixth year he didn't even bother to come to hospital. And wanna know my opinion about his mask. Yes he wears a mask. I don't think it's a fashion statement or anything else and he's hiding something. He hates this place.

And I will commend his will if at the very least he didn't loathe you. Malnutrition, chakra burns etc. Did you key in his chakra?" Here he let out his own killing intent. "The boy's hands has one degree chakra burns which can be only caused by seals around your home when they detect an intruder.

Thanks to the prejudice of teachers he has no friends except that girl Fu, the Nanabi jinchuriki. And the girl would have been a Taki shinobi. And even that bond was flimsy at best. Iruka tried to connect with the child but as I said it's already too late.

And he looks at everyone in Konoha like they were ghosts. I think when he sees a person he sees their prejudice towards him and walks away immediately. So tell me Minato Namikaze is it surprising that I see your son as mid flight risk?" He shouted.

For a few minutes there was nothing but silence and a powerful battle of glares between the three Kage level ninja to the point in which you could easily cut the tension in the air even with a rusty kunai

"Is this everything you came to say Orochimaru?" asked Minato with a cold voice, getting nothing but a nod from the snake summoner, who stood up alongside the blonde Hokage , after all he had already done his job here, so there was not really any reason for him to stay

"Orochimaru" said Minato, now standing at the door of his house and seeing the head of the T&I department leaving, but he still had some words to say before that

"What is it Minato?" asked Orochimaru with a raised brow, wondering what the fourth fire shadow wanted to say to him now

"Just... thank you... for telling me all of this"

"I was just doing my job... but now it's your turn to fix this before something happens..." said Orochimaru before simply leaving in a leaf Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique); after all he still had one work to finish.

"Don't worry, I will" said the blonde Hokage, more than himself that to anyone just before entering the house and pondering everything that just happened. How could he have been such a lousy father? He remembered how it felt to grow without a family, he was an orphan after all, and it was only when his sensei and father figure started to train him that he actually felt true happiness, so he made a vow to himself that he would be the best father he could be to his children, to make sure that they could have the happiness that came with the family that Minato didn't have the first years of his life... But apparently he had failed somehow

Meanwhile in the living room Kushina was also pondering about everything that happened this night. At first she could not believe at all that she had really forgot about one of her sons like that, but the more she tried to remember anything about Naruto the more she realized how bad of a mother she really was. Since the destruction of her clan Kushina had always wanted a big family, and she had promised herself that she would do anything to bring joy to that family, but it looks like that was a promise she did not manage to fulfill, after all what kind of mother neglects her son like that?

The Uzumaki-Namikaze matriarch was taken out of her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder, and when she saw that it was her husband who had a sad face she finally released everything she was holding and started to cry while hugging her husband as tight as she could while Minato tried his best to comfort her

"H-how d-did we forget about him Minato-kun?" asked Kushina between sobs, fearing how bad the relationship with her first born child truly was

"I don't know Kushi-chan, I don't know... but we're going to fix this no matter what" said Minato, who felt her wife nod in his chest, her sobs becoming less loud. It was at that moment that both of them promised to themselves that, no matter how hard it might be they will find a way to reconnect with their neglected son

That was the promise of a life time

Fat lot of good it did.

But what Orochimaru said was true. His son was not in his room.

It was just the day after the visit from Orochimaru that you could find both Minato and Kushina sitting in the living room of their house, once again pondering about their conversation with Orochimaru

The first thing that the two S-rank shinobi had decided was that they would start doing their best to reconnect with their son as soon as they could, which was the reason they woke up extra early this day. One of the things they decided to change immediately was to include Naruto in the training time their family had. For this purpose they decided that, even though today was an academy day, their children would not go since both Minato and Kushina decided to use this day as a good start to show their first born child that he was an important part of the family and that he was loved by them

For this to work well they decided to tell their other children first, since they could surely help them in make Naruto feel as a part of the family just like he was. This was the reason they were both waiting for their kids to come down, so that they could tell them the news about their brother now training with them. Of course a worry that both parent had was that Naruto was probably not at the same level of Menma o Mito, but then what Orochimaru said about Naruto hiding his strength. Senjutsu and that level stealth and chakra control it's mind boggling.

It was after some minutes of them waiting that their three children, Menma, Mito and Natsumi, finally reached down to the living room, their youngest child had a sleepy expression while both Menma and Mito had a more confused expression in their faces, after all it was not normal for their parents to wake them up so early!

The three Uzumaki-Namikaze children sat in front of their parents, who were standing and looking at them with both pride and sadness. Menma was wearing his regular clothes for the academy, which were a blue sleeveless shirt, black ANBU pants and blue ninja sandals. Over his shirt he was wearing a white high-collar jacket that had the Uzumaki symbol in red in its back.

Meanwhile Mito wore a short-sleeved, purple kimono-like blouse with a dark embroidered border that hugged her b-cup breast, held closed with a deep red obi, a dark skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs along with blue ninja sandals, and just like her brother she also had the Uzumaki Clan symbol in the back of her blouse.

Last but not least was Natsumi, who sat in between her brother and sister. She was also wearing a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was black orange in color and held closed with a deep blue obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts and blue shinobi sandals.

The Uzumaki-Namikaze trio were looking at their parent, Menma with his arms crossed and Mito with her hands on her lap, both curious about what their parents wanted so early. Meanwhile Natsumi was still rubbing her eyes with her hands, doing her best to stay awake since she normally slept a little more than her brother and sister

"Children, yesterday your father and I made a decision that I'm sure will help our family a lot!" said Kushina with a loving smile directed at her children before looking at her husband and giving him a little nod, signaling him to continue from here

"We decided that, starting today your brother will now be joining use for training!" announced Minato with a care-free smile, expecting a lot of reactions from his three kids, but definitely not the ones he saw.

Menma's eyes widened in surprise just before his face adopted an annoyed expression, apparently he was not amused by this news at all. Meanwhile Mito's eyes also widened at hearing the news, and after that she simply lowered her gaze and started muttering thing too low for anyone to hear. Natsumi on the other hand adopted a confused expression before she mover one of her fingers to her chin, apparently she was deep in thought about something. In the end it was Menma the one who was vocal about his thoughts, and both Minato and Kushina certainly did not expect what he said.

"Why on earth did we have to train with that loser? Sure he kicks all our collective in Taijutsu but sucks at everything else. You know he hates to be called Namikaze-Uzumaki. Unless you call him Naruto he'd never bother to look at you. Train him first in ninjutsu, then we'll train with him." He said in annoyed tone. "He needs all the help he can in that department."

Meanwhile his little sister still had the same thinking expression from before, which just made her look cuter if you asked anyone

"Menma! That's not the way to talk about your brother!" reprimanded Kushina in a stern voice, her hands on her hips and an angry expression plastered on her face.

"Not that it ain't truth though," He muttered.

"Menma that's enough!" said Minato, quite angry at one of his sons speaking like that about his brother "It doesn't matter if Naruto is behind you in terms of training, he's still your brother and you will treat him with the respect he deserves!"

"Kaa-chan how does Naruto-Onii-chan looks like?" asked Natsumi with an innocent expression out of nowhere, which made both Minato and Kushina's eyes to widen and for Menma and Mito to raise an eyebrow at her question

In reality Natsumi had been trying to remember her other brother ever since the start of the conversation, but it was just now that she remembered Naruto's name, let alone remember how he even looks like, something that made her frustrated, although in her defense she sometimes forgets she had another brother since she haven't even talked to him in years.

Both Minato and Kushina looked alarmed at one another since apparently their relationship with Naruto was not the only one who was bad at best.

This just brought even more sadness to both Minato and Kushina's hearts. Ho bad had they been as parents that they not only forgot about one of their children but they didn't even realize how Naruto had separated himself from their family

They found themselves once again vowing that they will make amend to their son no matter what.

The oldest red-head realized a sigh before smiling toward her children, although both Mito and Menma could easily see that her smile was quite strained

"Natsumi-chan, why don't you go and wake up Naruto-kun so that we can start the day" said Minato, trying his best to redirect the question his daughter just made, after all he could not just tell her that both him and Kushina didn't knew how their son looked like for sure

This seemed like the right thing to say though, since little Natsumi nodded with a smile on her face before practically skipping towards the stairs leading to the second floor of the house while the rest of the family waited there in the living room

Minato and Kushina wanted to talk to Naruto before doing anything else today, to make sure that he knew they loved him and that they were sorry for not have been showing it as much as they should

It war after just a few minutes that Natsumi returned to the living room, although she did it with a shy look and without her brother

"What happened Natsumi-chan?" asked Kushina after getting closer to her daughter, concern evident in her voice

"I didn't want to make Naruto-Onii-chan mad at me by waking him up" answered Natsumi in a shy voice that was not normal for her at all

"I'm sure Naruto-kun won't get mad at you for that Natsumi-chan, but why don't we all go to wake him up?" said Minato with a loving smile directed towards his youngest daughter, although in the back on his mind the though that he really didn't knew how his son would react almost made him release a sigh.

That answer got another happy nod from Natsumi who leaded not only her parent's but also Mito, who was really curious about how Naruto's room looked like, and Menma, who simply tagged along because there wasn't anything else he could do at this point

When the Uzumaki-Namikaze family reached Naruto's room it was Minato the one that knocked the door, expecting to see his son opening or saying something in any moment. After some seconds of nothing happening Minato knocked the door again but it was the same result, which actually made Kushina to worry a little

"Naru-kun its time to wake up" said Kushina while knocking the door, but just like when her husband did she got no answer, which made her look at her husband a little alarmed, but he only answered with a nod and a sigh, thinking that his wife was overreacting a little bit

"Naruto-kun we're going in" announced the oldest male of the family before opening the door and entering Naruto's room, and what they saw was definitely not what they were expecting

The room was, to put it simply, empty. The only thing it had was nothing but a bed, a bookcase that had no books at all and an empty wooden desk. The walls were completely white and had no poster or anything that suggested a fourteen year old boy lived here at all

Of course this just made not only Kushina alarmed and preoccupied, but also Minato, who walked around the room and saw the dust that was over both the bookcase and the desk, something that indicated no one used this room in a while

'But that's impossible' thought Minato, now sharing his wife worries about Naruto more than ever, but it was what Natsumi said next that really got the two adults in a state of panic

"Where's Naruto-Onii-chan?"

It was true; there was obviously no sign of Naruto in this room. Heck, there was not even a sign of him living here at all. Both Minato and Kushina looked at each other and they needed no words to know that the other one was thinking. Orochimaru said that once but they didn't believe it but in face of the cold blind truth they nearly collapsed

Where was their son?

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