AN: I don't own Naruto, or One Piece

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Chapter I: What have I gotten myself into

A man was walking along a dirt road surrounded by large trees. His long wavy silver hair swayed in the slight breeze and the sun's rays washed down upon him. Just about anyone would say that he was oddly dressed.

He had an yellowish orange colored buttoned shirt and brown spotted, greenish shorts. His fashion statement was completed with a white hooded cloak with a green lining. As for his facial appearance, he wore rounded frame-less glasses which partially hid a vertical scar over his right eye and had a silver beard arranged in a stripe-like pattern across his lower jaw. His skin was rather tanned and he had large muscles on his neck and shoulders which were visible.

His name was Rayleigh and he used the surname Silvers, but many decades previously it had been Uzumaki and his silver hair had been red. The few people that knew him would be surprised at his current serious demeanor and sad face. He was known for being a light hearted and fun loving person. Today was not one of those days, and this week had started out rather bad. He was trying to enjoy his retirement when he overheard that the Kyuubi had 'attacked' Konoha and been 'defeated' by the Yondaime. It had been nearly a year since he had visited Konoha and the only reason he had visited was to see Uzumaki Kushina as no one else in Konoha held any interest to him anymore.

Rayleigh was one of only a handful of people that knew Kushina was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and one of an even a fewer numbered group that knew she was the second Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. When he was a genin in Uzushiogakure, Uzumaki Mito had been his jonin sensei. After she was married to the first Hokage, and became the first Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, he had always visited her regularly as did the other surviving member of his genin team. The third member had perished during the second shinobi war. Rayleigh could never forget that day and after Mito's passing, Kushina inheriting her 'burden.' Rayleigh had checked in on Kushina every now and then. It was nice knowing that there was someone left of their village and clan, who would pass on their knowledge to a future generation.

He had never had children and neither did his teammate. His sensei had a child but because of the Kyuubi, their Uzumaki heritage was mostly covered up and any teachings that were from Uzushiogakure were passed off as being that of the Senju clan. Even the last remaining relative of his deceased sensei, Senju Tsunade, had no idea her grandmother was from a different village or that the diamond shaped seal on her forehead was based off of fuinjutsu from Uzushio.

Kushina was the last person left who would be able to pass on that knowledge to any future children, but now he knew that she was dead. The Kyuubi had somehow been released and another Uzumaki had left the world. Her husband the Yondaime was also dead and he had the feeling that the Kyuubi was not defeated as the rumors had said. He was now on his way to Konoha to find out exactly what happened.

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Inside Konoha

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"Wheeeeew." Rayleigh whistled at the sight of large hole in the defensive wall that surrounded the leaf village. A four hundred foot section was almost finished being rebuilt by dozens of workers and there was also damage to a small portion of the village. It had been nearly two weeks since the the Kyuubi attack and they were just about finished with the wall and buildings.

'I can't believe in all the years I have been breaking into this village that they have never once bothered to change the access code to the barrier that is supposed to protect the village from intruders'. Thought Rayleigh idly while shaking his head. It had been easier to sneak into the village this time because of the damage to the wall and the distracted ninja but he had never had a problem breaking in at any other time previously. Even during two ninja wars, he had managed to sneak into the hidden leaf village.

'Now I better find out what exactly happened.' were the thoughts going through Rayleigh's head as he made his way to the Hokage tower.

He didn't bother trying to hide his face or take any backstreets to the tower, instead he made his way down the main street straight to the tall red building. There was once a time when he had been known as an exceptional shinobi and his team were known to be quite skilled. They never had summoning contracts like the Densetsu no Sannin but he knew that his team, in their prime, could go head to head with the three legendary ninja without their large summons. Those days had passed though, and he wasn't even in a bingo book anymore. Only a handful of people in the village would even recognize him.

As Rayleigh walked down the dirt road with and against a steady stream of people, he noticed that the ninja were still wearing the symbol of Uzushiogakure on the village standard uniform. This actually made him rather sad and annoyed. Sad because of the feeling it brought up and annoyed because they were wearing it in the first place. Konoha and Uzushio had been allies and after the loss of his village and Mito's passing, Sarutobi had placed the symbol on the leaf's ninja uniform in remembrance to the alliance but now it had no real meaning. The people wearing those uniforms had no idea of it's significance for Konoha or Uzushio and only wore it because it was sold on the standard uniform. They wore the symbol of his once great village in complete ignorance.

To Rayleigh, that symbol had great deal of meaning and it seemed rather insulting for them to wear it so brazenly without knowing anything about it or what it stood for. No one probably even mentioned it at the village ninja academy or the significance of it in the leaf villages symbol worn on their forehead protectors. 'Just something else that has been lost to the passage of time. Sometimes the longevity of those from Uzushio can be more of a curse than a gift.' Rayleigh thought sadly and continued on while ignoring the crowds.

Had he been paying more attention to the voices, he would have heard talk of a certain baby as well as talk about the Yondaime, demons, monsters, revenge, and the Kyuubi.

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Hokage Tower

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"I'd like to speak to the monkey in charge of this place." Rayleigh said to the secretary in a serious tone but with a faint hint of a smile on his lips.

The poor women looked up at him from her paperwork and said rather indignantly, "Excuse me."

"I said, I'd like to speak to the monkey they have running this place. It's rather important. Could you point me in the direction of his cage so that I can talk with him." repeated Rayleigh in a higher voice and having a harder time holding back his smile. He could sense Sarutobi in the Hokage's office and he decided to take a break from his sad demeanor to have a laugh to brighten things up. He could easily sense the hidden ANBU who were getting ready to pounce should anything happen.

The secretaries mouth just seemed to open and close without a words coming out. She really didn't know how to respond, and dealing with crazies wasn't in her job description. She was about to signal to the ANBU when the door to the Hokage's office opened.

"It's no problem Aiko-san, I'll fit him into my schedule." Came the deep and annoyed voice of the Sandaime Hokage. The ANBU relaxed the Rayleigh calmly walked into the office and shut the door. The newly named secretary, Aiko, just sighed and got back to her work.

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Hokage's Office

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"I have a feeling that I know why you are here." said the Hokage to his guest as he offered a chair to the man and sat himself down in his chair behind his desk.

"Your cage hasn't changed much since the last time I saw you here, and I see they've even given you a fresh supply of paperwork." replied Rayleigh in a jovial voice while smiling and inspecting the room. The Hokage merely sweat-dropped.

Rayleigh's smile ended and he became serious as he saw the Hokage was in no mood for any banter. "I'd like to know what happened and I don't want some shortened story to keep me from finding out the rest while keeping the real version of events to yourself?" said Rayleigh in a serious tone.

The Hokage's frown increased and he knew that the man in front of him had lived long enough to possibly determine if he was telling the whole truth or just a modified version to keep him from prying any further.

"I don't completely know what happened but the Kyuubi managed to escape from Kushina and appeared at the walls of the village. I know that at one point the Kyuubi was being controlled but I have no idea by who. Minato managed to transport it away from the village where he used the dead demon consuming seal to stop the Kyuubi. " replied the Hokage. Rayleigh's eyes widened at the mention of the jutsu used as it was a powerful kinjutsu.

"Why did Kushina's seal fail and where is the Kyuubi?" was Rayleigh's next question.

The Hokage sighed as he knew the man was not going to accept anything less than the absolute truth. "The seal was weakened and I told you what happened to the Kyuubi."

"So Kushina was pregnant?" was the surprised response to the Hokage's explanation and Sandaime winced slightly as Rayleigh obviously knew far more about the seal than he had anticipated, as the seal would only weaken during a pregnancy when giving birth.

"Yes she was pregnant and taken outside the village along with my wife, the Yondaime, a nurse, and three trusted ANBU to give birth to her child. They were protected with the most powerful barrier we have but someone managed to get through. We found the guards, the nurse, and...and my wife all dead." the Hokage said in an unsteady voice.

Rayleigh nodded and gave his condolences to the Hokage for his loss. "So Kushina perished when the Kyuubi was removed and the Yondaime perished while sealing the Kyuubi." he received a nod from the Hokage and continued, "Where is the Kyuubi?" asked Rayleigh in a serious tone.

The Sandaime answered, "As I already said, the Kyuubi was sealed by Minato with the dead demon consuming seal." Rayleigh eyed the Hokage and tried to determine whether this was the whole truth or another of Sarutobi's half truths.

"What of the child? Did he survive?" asked Rayleigh in a slightly strained voice.

The Hokage mentally sighed as he had managed to not give away too much information and answered, "Yes, he is fine. Minato and Kushina decided to call him Naruto and he is registered under Kushina surname for safety reasons. Since he doesn't have any family he was placed in the orphanage."

Rayleigh thought about this, 'He doesn't have anyone else and he is Kushina's child. I always made sure to stop and see Kushina once in a while just to make sure she was alright. We weren't exactly immediate family but we are both apart of the same clan...My retirement isn't exactly what I pictured it to be...but I'm really too old to look after a child...There's no one else to teach him...but I know more about his Uzumaki heritage than almost anyone else alive in the elemental countries...Kushina would have taught him our fuinjutsu but she didn't know any of the other jutsu and secret techniques of our village...I've mastered them all...I could teach him. I may not have very many years left but I can still teach him all that I can...that way Uzushio and the Uzumaki clan won't be completely forgotten. I've sought out other survivors but none of them have any ambitions to become a ninja or for their children to become ninja. He's the last of our clan left.' were some of the many thoughts running through the silver haired man's mind.

Thus far, the life of Silvers Rayleigh had been a good one but he had many regrets. He couldn't save his teammate and he couldn't stop the destruction of his village. He had drifted apart from his surviving teammate and only stopped by to see her once or twice a year. He never had a family or any children and the few students he taught had perished with the destruction of the village. Now one of the last surviving members of his village was gone, and Uzushio would probably be completely forgotten. He doubted he had a decade left in his long life span but he would try. "So he doesn't have any left to take care of him?" he asked the Hokage.

The Hokage realized where this might be going and he tried to change the man's mind. "Are you sure you should be even considering taking care of child at your age. I can't even image how difficult it would be to try that again and I'm younger than you." the Hokage said while trying to give a kind smile.

Rayleigh on the other hand could tell the smile was fake and decided to push farther. "Oh I'll be fine, I'm sure I can find or hire someone to help me until he is out of diapers we can just say that I am his godfather or something." replied Rayleigh with a real smile on his face and losing much of his previous melancholy.

"I really don't..." but the Hokage was cut off by a piercing stare from Rayleigh. "What aren't you telling me Sarutobi?" interrupted Rayleigh. In all the time he had met the older silver haired man he had never been able to shake off or deal with the man's stare when he was being completely serious. The man' eyes could go from enthusiasm and happiness to a set of sharp kunai in an instant. He had even witnessed the man knock out chunin and jonin with just his stare; in something which resembled the temporary paralysis technique except it put them unconscious for a couple of hours and did not just hinder their movements.

It was this intense stare that the Hokage was now trying to deal with and was actually failing. "He already has a godfather." was all that the Sandaime managed to get out and even then he really didn't want to tell the man that much.

Rayleigh's eyes narrowed and he asked, "Where is this person and why aren't they taking care of him then?" Rayleigh did release his stare and let the Hokage talk.

"Minato and Kushina made Jiraiya the boys godfather. Jiraiya already came to the village and left. I don't think he is coming back anytime soon after the death of his student. He didn't even show up the funeral. Though he was never one to show up at funerals anyway." replied the Hokage. He was starting to get frustrated with having to reveal this information to someone who was not part of the village and did not need to know.

"So that perverted student of yours ran away." Rayleigh said and frowned. "I don't see what this has to do with anything. There's something else your not telling me?...So Minato didn't seal the Kyuubi away completely and sealed the rest in his son." said Rayleigh sadly as his mind put together what must have happened. "Did you really think I would care about that. I'm still willing to take care of the boy regardless of the Kyuubi. It would be better if I did take care of him considering I have the most experience with seals than anyone else in the village now and know more about that seal in particular than anyone else in the elemental countries."

Sarutobi winced and Rayleigh knew that there was more. "I can't let you take care of him or anyone take care of him for that matter, it was an agreement by the shinobi council. Every shinobi clan fought over how the boy should be taken care of and that was the final decision; that he should be placed into the orphanage and be put into the ninja academy when he reaches the required age." said the Sandaime.

Rayleigh looked rather confused at this revaluation. "I thought only the Hokage and the village elders were to know about the Kyuubi being sealed. You told the all the clan heads!" asked Rayleigh and his voiced raised on the last sentence.

Sarutobi sighed heavily and looked down while refusing to meet the eyes of the other person in the room. He finally spoke moments later. "I decided that after the attack, the village deserved to know about the sealing and how the Yondaime died."

"You told the whole village!" Rayleigh said in a deadly voice and both his chakra and killing intent flared up.

"What's the matter with you Sarutobi, have you gone senile! You just decided to tell the entire village about the Kyuubi being sealed into the boy and broke a secret that has been kept for longer than you have been alive! It was made secret to protect the Jinchuuriki from inside and outside threats and you just decided to throw that to the wind! Shouted Rayleigh even more intensely than before.

"I had no idea that the villagers would act the way that they did! I thought they would welcome him as a hero like the Yondaime wanted. I didn't know that they would call for his death." replied the Hokage.

If anything, this actually made Rayleigh even more angry. Rayleigh didn't move from his spot or show any emotion on his face. He had tilted his head so that his glasses hid his eyes but the Hokage could still feel the anger and killing intent radiating from the man. The Hokage contemplated calling for his ANBU but would try to diffuse the situation first.

"The council decided it would be best to put the boy in the orphanage, which was better than the alternatives. I don't like it anymore than you but I can't look after the boy myself and I can't let you look after him, no matter how much I want to. Naruto will be fine in the orphanage. After he has become a ninja I will inform him of his burden and after he has graduated to the rank to jonin, I will tell him of his parents." the Hokage said while trying to discern any reaction from the man in front of him.

The room was thick with tension. The ANBU arrived in the room and were ready to attack with weapons drawn. Reinforcements would arrive shortly. The Hokage was ready to fight if necessary but hoped that Rayleigh would calm down and accept the situation.

It was a few tense moments before Rayleigh spoke in a calm but deadly tone. "That's not good enough. You're a fool Sarutobi. That fact has become more apparent with age it seems. While you have doomed the boy to a terrible life within the village, I won't accept it. It would be too difficult to take the boy outside of the village because you will come after me, but that doesn't mean that I won't look after the boy inside of the village. I am not a ninja of Konoha, or citizen of the village, and I won't be following the decrees of a inept old man and a council of idiots anytime soon."

As soon as Rayleigh finished, the ANBU attacked and in the moment before they struck he looked up and narrowed his eyes. The result of this simple gesture was not what anyone was expecting. The ANBU that were about to strike him were blown back by a force and was produced by the man. It was some kind of technique that faintly resembled that of a wind jutsu and had an overpowering effect on those present. They collapsed on the floor in a heap and were completely unconscious while foaming at the mouth. The Hokage was in no better shape. He was not thrown back but was knocked out by a pulse that emanated from the man in front of him. It radiated out from his eyes and seemed to produce a visible wave that passed over everyone in the room and the ANBU that had just arrived at the window. The windows in the room were all cracked and when it was over, everyone but Rayleigh was unconscious. "Maybe I overdid it?" said the man before he disappeared in a burst of smoke that indicated the use of shadow clone and that the real Rayleigh had never been in the room in the first place. Of course, no one was conscious to figure this out.

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Dango Restaurant

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"Damn!" came the response of oddly dressed old man sitting at a dango restaurant as he banged on the table. Several guests were startled at his outburst. He had found the place after a little searching and had just ordered a large plate of dango when the memories from his shadow clone had reached him.

He looked at the plate and realized that he couldn't take it with him, so he looked around and saw a sad purple haired girl sitting in the corner eating slowly from a small plate of dango. Rayleigh smiled as he got an idea.

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Same restaurant

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It was official. Mitarashi Anko was having one of her worst birthdays ever. The young chunin was stuck doing a D-rank mission in the morning to help with the reconstruction and that meant she couldn't get a higher paying C-rank. She needed to pay her rent and thus she was stuck with almost no money leftover for anything else. She didn't have any savings and lived from mission to mission. That meant no birthday meal nor any present that she would have to buy herself. The chunin didn't have many friends and even then they weren't really close friends. The best she could do was a few sticks of dango. Not that she was complaining about dango, she loved dango. Unfortunately she could only buy a few sticks as compared to her usual family sized platter. The only things that happened which was good was that the majority of the village were focused on hating the Kyuubi container and not solely her for once.

She was broken out of her thoughts by a loud curse. She looked up and found an oddly dressed man looking around the restaurant. His eyes settled on her and he...smiled. 'Great, I don't know why that perverted old geezer is smiling but if he tries anything, he'll get a crotch full of kunai.' she thought as she eyed the man and fingered a kunai underneath the table.

The man picked up his platter of dango and walked towards her. He stopped when he was at her table and his smiled got even bigger as he spoke, "Unfortunately I have some business to take care of so here.." he put his platter dango in front of her, "you can have this. Also.." he moved inside his cloak and Anko tensed ready to parry an attack but he pulled out a wallet, "here is enough to cover the food and leave a tip. Do you happen to know where the orphanage is by any chance?" the man asked, the smile never leaving his face.

"Ehhhhh...umm...its down the main street, then you turn left onto Nidaime Street and take it to the end. It should be right there." Anko replied in a confused voice. The man smiled, handed her the money and left, presumably to the orphanage.

Anko blinked owlishly several times and looked down at the family sized platter of dango, which was exactly what she had wanted earlier. Then she looked at the wad of cash that appeared to be several times more than what the man should have left.

"Huh...things are looking up for once. That old man left me the dango that I wanted and more money than I need. Just enough to buy something nice. It's like my wish came true."

Narrowing her eyes, Anko looked around cautiously and then said, "Orochimaru's head on a silver platter." Of course nothing happened and she knew that it wouldn't happen, but on the off chance that it could have happened, she was not going to waste the opportunity. 'Well, I guess you can't get everything but this is probably the best birthday I've had in years.' and with that sad thought, she began devouring the platter of dango and thinking about what she would buy with the extra money. Maybe that trench coat that she always wanted.

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Orphanage

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Rayleigh knew that he had little time and he needed to act fast. Displaying speed that was unknown for someone of his age he raced in the direction that the girl had told him. His clone was right in thinking that it was too difficult to take the boy outside of the village. He would have nearly every ninja in the village on his tail and he doubted he could keep ahead of teams of ANBU and tracking squads for very long. He didn't have the stamina that he used to. He could barely make four shadow clones without tiring himself out anymore which was a far cry from his younger years. Running from a village of shinobi while carrying a child was out of the question. He still had a plan though and it might work too. He just needed to accomplish several things in the time it took for the Hokage or his guards to wake up.

The girls information about the location of the orphanage had been correct and walked right in. Getting past the ANBU guarding the orphanage was rather easy, the man wasn't even paying attention. Once inside of the building, he was met by the receptionist. The head of the receptionist was lifting from reading through the paperwork on her desk and Rayleigh acted before she could see him. He released enough of his Haki to make her fall unconscious. He really didn't like using that technique on someone that was just a civilian and no threat to him, but time was of the essence and he had to get to the boy fast.

He looked through the files and found the Uzumaki Naruto on one of the files. Stopping to ask one of the children their about where the nursery was, he henged into the women at the front desk to avoid knocking out anyone else.

One would think that it would be difficult to find a baby, especially when you don't even know what the infant looked like in the first place but that proved not to be an obstacle. Uzumaki Naruto seemed to be the only baby in the nursery that was crying and nobody was bothering to check on. His gaze passed a nurse and she didn't even seem to acknowledge that blonde haired boy was crying. He moved through several hand seals and placed a genjutsu over the nurse to keep her from noticing him. Since she was a civilian, it was easy to place and keep the jutsu up.

While still disguised, Rayleigh picked up the baby and looked at him curiously. The boy stopped crying as soon as he was picked up. 'He has his father's hair and a combination of their eyes, but his face seems to resemble more his mother. Where did those whisker marks come from. Neither Kushina-chan, Mito-sensei, or any other member of the Uzumaki clan had marks like that. Perhaps because he is the son of a jinchuuriki but Mito-sensei's child never had marks like that either. Strange, I wonder if he had them before or after the sealing? No one else in Uzushio had any kind of marks like that and neither did Minato. Though I have idea about any of Minato's family.' were Rayleigh's thoughts as he held the boy. He looked into the blue eyes that seemingly stared back and he had the feeling that he was doing the right thing for the boy.

Getting back to the situation at hand, Rayleigh moved out of the nursery with the boy and headed for a back door which he believed was an exit to the building. He didn't even have to explain why he was kidnapping a child because he didn't pass anyone save for the nurse he passed on the way in and she was still under the genjutsu. Hopefully he still had time before the Hokage woke and started a village wide search and hopefully Naruto would stay quiet.

He still needed to send a message to his former teammate. He had no idea how to take care of a baby and even though she had never had any kids herself, he remembered that she did have some experience taking care of babies. It may have been a D-rank mission that they performed in Uzushio or something along those lines. What he did know was that he was in over his head on this one and needed her for backup.

'I just hope she can help me for an extended period of time. I'm not sure if she'll be willing to leave her bar in the hands of someone else for that long. Also whatever else she happens to be doing on the side. Shakky always has more going on in that bar then meets the eye. Whether information brokering, buying and selling valuable/stolen items, gambling, or even a loan shark. The women does it all while inconspicuously being a small bar that only serves food and drink. Of course she always charges insane prices and rips off every customer that enters the place.' thought Rayleigh with a smile on his face as he thought about what his former teammate and that Rip-off Bar of her's.

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