Chapter 7

Senju's Heir

~~Daimyō's Palace~~

Asuma considered himself a man of principle.

Loyalty. That was at the top of his list, no exceptions. When six of his former colleagues had tried a coup d'état against the Fire Daimyō, under the guise that they would do it to unify the Land of Fire under one ruler, his first thought was to kill all six of them. Mercilessly.

He would not lie. Slitting their throats had been a treat.

Shinobi needed a certain joy out of killing - it was the medicine that kept them sane. After that whole ordeal, his medicine had lost some of its potency, and therefore needed something more than just joy to keep his stress levels controlled. Smoking had served as his balancing tool. A disgusting act, even he knew that - he used to loath his father for that very reason.

Hypocrisy runs in the family, he once told his mother.

Turning a corner, Asuma stopped when he saw Chiriku standing before the large double doors holding the royal chambers.

He stared at the man, his eyes growing with amusement. "Chiriku, Chiriku... Am I to assume you are here to talk me out of it?"

"On the contrary," Chiriku's steps were faint and barely audible even to keen senses. "I happen to think a man has to do what he must. However" -he stopped in front of Asuma for a moment- "make sure that's what you want. We've both lived through hell and fought for our beliefs, the least we deserve is that."

Asuma considered this man one of his best friends. Their relationship had started from shaky foundations, ones smelted and fortified with the flames of battle. They were the last of the proud Twelve Guardian Ninja, and such was their burden to bear.

"Don't worry, it's what I want. The next generation of ninja will need me, and I'm more than willing to serve... I hope to see you again, Chiriku."

Shaking Asuma's hand, Chiriku continued on his way and nodded his agreement. "As do I, friend..."

Seeing Chiriku turn the same corner he sourced from, Asuma neared the doors and raised his hand to knock.

"Enter, Asuma."

The muffled words caught him slightly off guard. He huffed realizing Chiriku had probably requested an audience with the Daimyō beforehand. He turned the left door's handle and stepped in, quickly closing it behind him.

"My Lord."

The Daimyō sat at the edge of a massive, white canopy bed with his daughter's sleeping head in his lap. The room was decorated in varying types of luxury, from large paintings to priceless artifacts, ranging from katanas to armor. At the very back rested two glass doors, ones leading to a veranda overlooking the small village.

Hazuki, Asuma instantly realized, was no longer a child - the beginnings of womanhood starting to bloom being responsible. Her face was much less round, her lips had started filling, and her dark hair was much bolder and brighter. She was growing to be a beautiful young lady.

The Land of Fire's greatest political figure ran his slim fingers through Hazuki's raven hair. He trailed them across her hitherto cheeks, a smile crossing her lips the moment he made contact.

"I'm getting old, Asuma," the Daimyō began. "I live solely for the reason that I fear death, and because I want to be there when Hazuki takes the throne. I've only made it this far because of you and Chiriku. For that, you have my heartfelt gratitude."

"Nonesense, Daimyō-sama." Asuma neared, and stood there, before the man with his arms behind him. "Working for you and protecting you has been one of my greatest honors. Every ninja lives with a purpose. Mine was to serve under you and fight for my father."

"An expected answer from the Hokage's son," the man nodded. "So, may I assume you will be departing to enact your unwavering courage to the next generation?"

"I am," Asuma bowed. "Thank you for all these years of entrusting your safety to me, Daimyō-sama. I swear I will do my very best to crop a more worthy advocate for my replacement. One who will guard you as vigorously as I did."

"You need not worry about me." For the first time since the conversation began, the Daimyō's eyes separated themselves from his daughter. Instead he stared out into the veranda, his eyes clouded in melancholy, but his smile countering some of its effects. "I have a feeling I won't be around much longer, unfortunately..."

Before Asuma could demand what he meant, the Daimyō pulled a small, polished wooden box from behind him. He laid it next to him, and returned Asuma's eyes of worry with his own of mischief. "Besides, I have already decided on the best candidate."

"Sir... Inside that box, could it be...?" When the Daimyō opened it, Asuma's eyes widened at the sight of a sash that had the kanji for "Ember" inside the small box, one nearly a perfect copy of his and Chiriku's. "I see... So this was your plan all along?"

"Don't be so quick to misjudge my intentions, Asuma," the Daimyō quickly said. "I meant every word I said back then. I've grown to care for him as if he were my own son; it's the only reason I've allowed him to stay within the confines of my compound for so long. I will not lie and say I did not have the intention since I figured you were bound to resign, but I had no ill principles."

The man closed the lid, sighing as his eyes yet again found his daughter. "Throughout the years I have been witness to their relationship flourishing, one only seen between siblings, and perhaps..." he chuckled. "Well, I doubt I could guess what lies beyond that horizon... I wasn't always there, after all..."

"Daimyō-sama..."

To Asuma, it was like staring at his own father when he was growing up. With enough diligence, many could probably balance their careers and families evenly, but such a foreign concept was no more than fantasy when it came to men of such high responsibilities.

"I'm sure he will accept. Of course, changes will have to be made to accommodate his choice of career, but I wager he will be more than willing to protect someone he considers a younger sister..."

"Younger sister, huh...?" The Daimyō nodded, his thoughts going for his own childhood. "As you know, I grew up with countless siblings. It's only natural in royal families, and ironically, I never met my father, nor my mother. All I met were the traps and attempts against my life since the age of four... Most of them from my diseased siblings...

"It is not an environment a child should grow in. Which is why I only had one child, despite the risk of bearing an incompetent heir. I selfishly went against that custom for the sole reason of keeping Hazuki away from such a life. I wanted her to grow as normally as any other child. But of course... after my wife died, I got severely entranced in my work and... and I nearly lost my way..."

Accommodating his daughter's head over a pillow, the elder man picked up the box and held it next to him. "I didn't bring Naruto here so he could have a chance at becoming a great ninja and assign him to my guard. No, from the very beginning, I brought him here so he could grow and swear to protect Hazuki... I care not if he becomes a criminal, so long as he remains true to his vow..." He offered the box to Asuma, "You will know when to give it to him. I'm sure."

~~Academy, Iruka's Classroom~~

"And therefor," Iruka patted Naruto's blond head. "Senju Naruto will be joining... or should I say, rejoining our classroom for the duration of the week. You all know him well so it's pointless to have him introduce himself. Still, I want all of you to treat him like you do Sasuke. Do not treat him any different just because he's a Senju."

"Naruto-san! Sit here!"

"Forget her, Naruto! Over here!"

"Screw you! Sit over here, Naruto!"

Iruka growled seeing nearly half of the class shouting for the young man. In a split second, his head grew to impossible sizes. "WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!"

Naruto parted from his sensei, fear and surprise stunning him for the first time today. "How did you do that, Iruka-sensei?! Is it a Jutsu?! A disease?! Is it contagious...?! I have so many questions...!"

Iruka sighed, "Stop being so overdramatic. Let's see, where to sit you..."

"No seriously, why isn't the universe imploding or something?" Naruto waved at the bored-looking Shikamaru in the back of the class. "Hey Shika, it's impossible right?"

"Should be. It's a direct violation to the law of conservation of mass."

"I said don't worry about it! Now," Iruka pointed northward, like a captain at the helm of his ship. "Sit over there! Between Sasuke and Sakura!"

...

Naruto had forgotten how boring Iruka's lectures were.

He spoke of graduation, clones that sloppily resembled his for some test -one Jiji had told him not to worry about-, and something about the Shodaime's Will of Fire. He had never been very good at this studying crap. Tsunade'd had to bribe him with ramen -now an enigma in his diet when she had found out he ate nothing but- just to encourage him into learning some Medical Jutsu.

His forehead pressed against the cold surface of the table, he turned towards the smartest student in their class, Sakura. She had given him a warm welcoming the moment he had sat next to her, though had seemed a tad reserved.

But did it feel good...?

Not really. He liked Sakura, but he had never liked liked.

The sole reason he had gone after her to begin with was because she liked Sasuke, and he'd wanted to take her away from him. However, Sasuke had -literally- tons of girls going after him, so what was so special about Sakura? That he could feel something was... off, whenever Sakura came into Sasuke's line of sight. It was impossible to explain.

As the day neared its end, Naruto'd gotten so bored he'd decided he needed something to keep his thoughts from considering self-inflicted first-degree murder. Turning to Sasuke, he decided he had found a source of joy. Raising his right hand into the tiger-seal, he aimed his left index at Sasuke's waist.

"Mokuton..." Whispering, a small branch stretched out from his finger and met Sasuke's waste. Naruto, arbitrarily, proceeded to initiate a series of pokes.

Sasuke considered this day to be complete and utter crap.

The last thing he needed was Naruto -the one responsible for making today appalling in general- poking his ribs. He growled, a glare capable of drilling through planet earth over his face. "What are you doing...?"

"I'm poking you... What of it?"

"Do you value life...?"

"That depends. Are we talking mine or yours...?"

"You have five seconds... or fire will become your second skin..."

"Hoh, ominous...! How did that work out for ya last time...? Oh yeah, your face ended up all purple..."

As soon as the bell rang its soothing melody, Naruto was instantly on his feet and ignoring Sasuke. "Oh thank god!" He strolled his way down, grinning from ear to ear. "We'll fight later, Sasuke. I have things to do."

"Alright class!" Iruka cried, "The day's over! Make sure you don't forget to practice your clone Jutsu for the test a few days from now! No excuses!"

Kiba groaned from somewhere in the room, "Shit! How could I forget about that...?!"

"Cause you're an idiot!"

"Screw you, Naruto!"

Reaching the bottom stair with half of the girls in the class amassing behind him, Naruto stopped when a peculiar hair color skimmed his peripheral. "Oh hey, you're that one girl from that one time! Hinata, right?"

There were times Hinata wished she could suddenly develop a knack for invisibility, or perhaps have a device that produced it. Of course, technologically speaking something so convenient was very far off. There were Jutsus, but she unfortunately knew none. As such, that only left facing the... challenge standing before her.

Now, if only she could somehow open her mouth to speak so Naruto wouldn't think she was a Byakugan-using fish out of water...

Remembering her father's words, Hinata smiled as solidly as her character would allow. So basically like jelly. "Ye-yes..." Oh God she couldn't think of anything else to say. Time to improvise! "N-nice weather we're having, isn't it?"

She had the strangest feeling Father would be disappointed... Hm...

Naruto was too far of an oblivious creature to notice her completely off topic inquiry. Though to be fair they were both in a classroom so the question was practically obsolete from the beginning.

"Oh yeah! So that's why I've noticed the trees have been abnormally happy ever since I got here... You really have keen eyes."

For the life of her, Hinata couldn't stifle the giggle escaping her rosy lips. Part of her wanted to ask him if he'd been serious since he hadn't laughed immediately too. Keen eyes... Hyūga. He totally did that on purpose. At least she hoped he did.

"U-um, so I heard you're a Senju, Naruto-kun. I kinda expected that ever since I saw you make those two bulbs grow years back. I was really surprised!"

"As was I!" He laughed remembering the first fluctuations of Mokuton he felt as a child. "To be honest, I thought I was sick when I felt the first signs of Mokuton pulsing inside me. And with good reason! I felt like I was puking my own stomach."

It reeked of ill intent behind Naruto.

Behind him, a collection of rabid girls glared at Hinata with every intention of spontaneously lighting her on fire. They were talking so casually, so familiarly it seemed Naruto and Hinata were close from years back, something some of them knew was not a fact. She was shy, and he was outgoing - they shouldn't be mixing so well.

As a respected member of the female gender, Hinata was not oblivious to her peers' ugly aura. As she chatted away about frivolous things with Naruto, her smile grew in confidence. She purposely ignored their existence like they used to do Naruto's. So now that he was an acknowledged Senju, they were suddenly ignoring their parents' advice and going after him?

These girls were shallower than a leftover puddle from an evening drizzle...

"So!" Naruto closed his eyes, his whiskers rising as his innocent smile did the same. "I'll see you around, right? I kinda wanna go train some more and I have to meet my granny somewhere."

As always, his bright complexion was contagious. Hinata's pupil-less eyes slimmed as her lips pulled. "Mm, I'll see you tomorrow." She watched him take off, her smile not fading even as the groupies following Naruto only glared further. Their hate -and adversity in general- was like paint, and Naruto was her paint-thinner.

Ever since he'd saved her from those bullies, that hadn't changed.

Most of his colleagues knew Naruto had the stamina of a horse on performance enhancement drugs. Which is why, after jumping, running and flipping over the rooftops of Konoha, at some point he had lost the tail of girls that had been -unknowingly- following him.

Now he stood before the gates of an old building, one the size of the Uchiha clan's main house. "This place looks like it's a couple years from collapsing..." His Shield of Leaves was forced to act when a board fell straight for his face. "Or a couple days..."

"It's yours." Sarutobi bravely lined himself next to Naruto, his arms crossed behind him and a smile over his lips. "I'll admit it looks like a millennia old haunted house, but we will start renovating with funds from the Senju's bottomless pockets starting tomorrow. Pockets, might I add, are yours. You are the clan's heir, after all."

Naruto hummed as he shoved his hands in said pockets. Empty pockets, mind you. "I've wondered for a while now why Obaa would want to make me the heir when she's the older and wiser one. It's not that I don't think I'm ready, but... I'm just curious, y'know?"

Chuckling, Sarutobi closed in on the wooden doors. He pushed them with ease and revealed the large compound that resembled a mild wilderness. "Hashirama-sama used to live here, Naruto. It was foreclosed by us when nobody claimed it after decades of warrants and lack thereof. It's the same with the title 'Senju' in Konoha. She doesn't feel worthy of taking the throne. But she thinks you are.

"The grief she's experienced is more than any person should. Every day she had to live with the fact that she had lost everything for a name. Everything she had gained was given to her, and stripped from her, by the Senju blood coursing through her veins. Still, she never harbored grudge against it, instead she felt unworthy of it. Senju are supposed to be the strongest, after all. But even with all her strength, it just wasn't enough."

His grandmother had been mingling with such thoughts for this long...?

Foolish was short of how Naruto felt, perhaps outright disgusted with himself. He had thought she didn't want the responsibility, that she was shoving it to him - but now he knew it had nothing to do with that. The truth was that she felt unworthy of standing in the Shodaime's shoes. The loss of her only son further enhanced just how life had deemed her unfit for happiness.

"She's going to be furious when she hears I told you this," Sarutobi laughed. Though deep within, he wondered if such an act was merely to derail his own fear. "Well then, looks like she's on her way here. I'll leave you two for now, Naruto. Come visit me in my office once in a while."

"Sure, Jiji." When Sarutobi bursted into a plume of white smoke -Shadow Clone ftw-, Naruto shoved the doors to reveal the contents within. "How much is this gonna cost...?"

"Definitely a pretty good amount..." Tsunade appeared next to him with her arms crossed under her chest. "Especially since most of the workers are the same ninjas who fix training grounds. We'll probably have to stay in a hotel, but it should be back to its pristine condition in just a few day-" She was suddenly hugged by Naruto. "Oi! What are you doing, Naruto?"

The young Jinchūriki had known loneliness for years, but never had he been wide-minded enough to consider that there were others suffering in ways similar to him. There were things still unknown to him, pains yet experienced - but this woman had seen them all and strived to return to him nonetheless. She was one of his personal heroes.

"Obaa..." His voice came muffled, more from being in between her breasts than anything else. "I've never told you this before because it was embarrassing... But I really, really love you."

A few things had ever made Tsunade cry in the entirety of her life, most of them out of grief. Minato's death had destroyed -practically fragmented- her sanity. The constant years of shedding tears for his death could not be ignored, either. Meeting Minato had been one of the happiest days in her life, and she had cried then.

As far as she knew, that was the last time she had cried out of pure joy. And that was decades ago.

But now, as this little copy of Minato encircled her with his short arms, for the first time in decades, she was crying tears of happiness yet again. She hugged his head and allowed the streams to roll freely. They slipped off her chin and met his hair, a smile blooming over her face.

"I really, really, really love you too, Naruto..."

~~Days Later~~

The days flew by and Naruto had yet to understand why girls insisted on escorting him home. Frankly, he was