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Disguised Curses	By : Raholea Category: Naruto AU/AR > General Views: 2438 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 52
- 53
- 54
Ok. So, I fibbed slightly, this chapter was partway done and the muse smacked me during a naptime. be thankful! lol. This chapter is a bit angsty, especially the end, so don't kill me for it.
I'm 2500 words into the next chapter and it's nowhere near done. I've been working on it for the last month and change, had to back-burner it to build-up to the chapter properly. and now I'm having issues making muses do what I need them to. (Let's just say keeping Naruto 'politically correct' is a pain in my freakin' arse) However, it should be sooner rather than later. at least compared to my usual updating schedule.
Alright. Enough author's note. Enjoy the fic!!!

Chapter 53

“I want to reinstate the Uzumaki name in Konoha.”
Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the announcement. The blonde bundle of energy had barely given himself time to let the door close. He strode to the center of the room, eyes glimmering at her. He was all business today, it seemed, no smirks or pacing, just honed focus. She wasn’t sure if she wanted that focus on herself, though. “Not Namikaze?”
“ My father’s clan didn’t come from here. Neither did the Uzumaki, but the Uzumaki clan has long-standing roots in this village. People have simply forgotten. The First Hokage’s wife was an Uzumaki.”
Tsunade sat back in her chair, suddenly very eager to see where Naruto was going with this. He may not ever be classed as a genius of the village, but he wasn’t stupid, and his ideas could be surprising but effective. “So will you claim Namikaze at all?”
“I will claim it before the clan elders, and I want to be acknowledged in the village as being the son of Minato Namizake and Kushina Uzumaki. But I won’t change my name. I want to make the Uzumaki clan name a safe place here in Konoha. I can’t do that if I take my father’s name.”
“Explain.”
“The Whirlpool annihilation, late in the Shinobi War. The Uzumaki clan was hunted down and killed but there have to be survivors out there in hiding. I want to claim my rights, under my mother’s name instead of his. My marriage will open a doorway for the clan name to become a recognizable thing here, so if there are any of the clan left out there, they might be able to come back to one of the first places that held a recognizable peace treaty with them. The swirl on every uniform flack jacket is the Uzumaki clan symbol. We already acknowledge them as allies, have for decades.” Naruto paused, but no reaction came to betray Tsunade’s thoughts on the matter. “If I can reestablish the clan here, it offers a safety hole for any more people out there like me and Sasuke, ninja or civilians that have nowhere left to turn because our families and clan have been gone. I know you would have to be careful about who joined the village, for security reasons, but I think the idea can work.”
Naruto let her think about it, holding his silence while he watched Tsunade turn the ideas over in her head. He had more reasons and suggestions, could try to lure her into the topic if she seemed hesitant, but she wasn’t a fool to be led. She would listen to what she wanted, and not budge once she reached her decision.
“I have no problem with you trying to reinstate the Uzumaki name as a clan here in Konoha,” she finally responded. “Whether you will be recognized as a proper clan at the current time will be up to the council and clan heads, or you may simply be treated as an establishing family within the village. I will look into what it may mean to provide a haven for Uzumaki refugees, should any find their way here. But I cannot make any promises at this time.”
Naruto grinned. It wasn’t completely a ‘yes’, but it surely wasn’t just a ‘no’, either. And he had permission to try. “Thank you,” he bowed. Hinata had been pounding manners and political decorum into his head every time she was around him lately, helping him learn how to deal with the delicate web of politics involved in facing the village council and clan heads. “I came across suggestions that the Senju and the Uzumaki were once distant cousins, not unlike the rumors behind the Uchiha and the Hyuga. If the Hokage can’t help me… maybe the last representative of the Senju clan could be able to offer her voice from among the other clans.” He gave her a little smile and left, letting that last thought settle in.
He had good teachers willing to put effort into making sure he could use the political dance to his benefit. He didn’t have to like it- probably never would- but it could be used in his favor.

*****

“I was thinking about selling some of the Uchiha property.”
“What! Why??” The shock that flashed onto Naruto’s face was reminiscing of their younger years. Sasuke rolled his eyes and ignored it, though.
“There were dozens of families here. I cannot hold upkeep for all the buildings, many have gone into disarray and ruin since the massacre. I will keep my family home and the handful between it and the front gate, in case we need them for the future. The rest can be sold.”
They were standing on top of the house, Sasuke’s house, the one Naruto had moved into for a while. They were here on break and to make sure the place hadn’t been bothered while they’d been busy body-guarding at the Hyuga estate. Naruto had to admit, the Uchiha grounds stretched quite a ways.
“Besides, I may not be able to offer much for you and Hinata, but I can at least help support this family.”
Naruto wrapped an arm around his beta’s shoulders and growled happily as he pulled Sasuke to him. “I wouldn’t mind living here, with both of you. We’d need to ask Hinata.” He looked back over the compound again, suddenly with a different perspective in mind. “Is that a park?”
“Playground.” Sasuke only took a slight glance where Naruto was pointing. “There’s a personal training field there,” he pointed to the other side of a well-built two-story house. “Spacious fenced backyard and at least four bedrooms. One of my aunts, an uncle and cousins lived there.” He pushed the memory away, of the last time he’d seen them. It was more bittersweet, now, those memories. No longer mind-breaking pain. “It’s a good family home.”
Naruto caught the underlying pain in Sasuke’s scent, but merely held him closer. The whole place was riddled with haunting memories. “Would you rather sell the whole thing and start somewhere new, Sasuke?”
Silence hung between them, long enough to hear just how quiet the compound was. Naruto couldn’t even imagine how busy this place had once been, never been inside to see what Sasuke had grown up with. To have it all gone, now… Naruto growled as he looked over the compound. It felt empty enough to send his hair- and his fur- on end. Kyuubi wasn’t kidding when instincts would demand family from him eventually, and he’s felt that more recently, but he never would have guessed that they would put him on edge about this. All the space and houses and plans for a family- lots of families with young everywhere- and not a single soul beyond him and Sasuke.
“Rent it out.” He said abruptly. He hadn’t even gotten an answer from Sasuke, but at the moment he didn’t want one. “Rent out the houses that are usable, turn the money into fixing up the other buildings. You could even offer a reduced rent if some of the tenants help fix up at least their own places. There’s enough single ninja and others our age that want to get out of their parents’ homes or have a place to retreat to off of clan- grounds. If you want to stay here, put our family here, we can. Otherwise you don’t have to stay here and you’ll still have the place being taken care of, built back up, and looking nice. Get some people here, Sasuke. Renting should go faster for people to move in than selling everything.”
“Naruto?” There were claws digging into Sasuke’s shoulder, and that was as telling as the tension in the body against him. Naruto had gotten accustomed long ago to the claws adorning his fingers, careful now to not hurt his lovers with them. He could shrug off his ghosts long enough to tend to Naruto’s stress, even if it came with random comments. Surprisingly good suggestions, really. “Are you okay?”
“This place should have kids running along the paths, playing and training and having fun,” Naruto answered. “I know you have memories of times like that, but all I can see is how empty your home is. I don’t want it to stay that way.”
“The houses are empty.” Sasuke conceded. He didn’t add more words, but he knew exactly what the place was full of. Ghosts of memories, long dead. “It’s just dirt and buildings, Naruto.”
Naruto simply squeezed him again in a tight hug and then let him go. “Think about it. If you sell it, you lose it. I don’t want you to lose anymore of this.”
Sasuke sighed slightly and turned away. Naruto caught up with him quickly, following him as Sasuke wound his way back toward the Hyuga compound. He’d never quite understand the raven’s mood swings, especially on this subject. Then again, he hoped he would never lose it all like Sasuke had. Seeing the current state of Sasuke’s once-proud home was bad enough, his hair standing on end and making him eager to wrap his arms around his precious mates.
May Kami have mercy on anyone that tried to harm his family, because he would have none. If anyone ever targeted them, if anything like the kidnapping happened again… Naruto growled. Hinata had kept him from the edge that day. Without her, he wasn’t sure what he would have done. Definitely he would have been more at risk of losing control, precious control he’d fought so hard to maintain.
His attachment to them scared him, some days. Just how far he was willing to go to protect them, how much he needed them. Sasuke and Hinata were his balancing points, and while he didn’t always like the fact he needed them so much, he wouldn’t change anything about the fact they belonged together. Even if it had been triggered by Kyuubi, something still mostly out of his control, he wanted the relationship he had with them. Needed it, initially, wanted it, now; wanted it with a possessive clarity that would continue to shake his world.
He growled under his breath as he followed in Sasuke’s wake, shaking off the disturbing vibes leftover from being at the old Uchiha grounds.

********

“Tsunade warned me that Naruto fully intends on taking on the village council. I may be called out within the next few days as backup.” Kakashi dropped his book onto the kitchen counter and turned to look at his roommate. He never failed to want to flinch when he saw those very not- Uchiha brown eyes in the otherwise familiar face. “She wants to give you a blank mask.”
“No.”
The answer came almost before Kakashi was done talking. He raised an eyebrow under the mask and nodded. “It would be just for this, to make sure Naruto walks out the same condition he went in as. No commitment, no assigned mask. Just a silent bodyguard.”
Itachi’s chuckle was dry and completely not amused, the sound rough in the man’s throat. Itachi really didn’t talk much, laughed less. He was somehow even less vocal than the boy Kakashi had worked with years before. “Of course she won’t trust them.”
“Danzou’s been sitting in on every meeting lately.”
There was no visible or audible response from Itachi, but Kakashi could still see the uneasy stillness seep into the young man. Mentioning Danzou was a good way to invite trouble from either of the brothers, Sasuke’s especially violent.
“…. Can’t.” Itachi whispered after a long moment. “If he recognized me, or my chakra… If anyone found me out right now…”
“Then don’t. Trust me, Itachi. If you don’t want to do this, then don’t. But she has made the offer open.”
Itachi didn’t answer that. Kakashi left him to his thoughts, aware of the shadows that lurked in the emotional pitfalls of the Uchiha’s mind. He wouldn’t push the man when it was so obvious that Itachi was not done working through the personal issues of the last few years.
He paused at the bedroom door. “You’re always welcome to join me in the mornings.” Kakashi left the words to the air, closing the door behind him.
He ignored the feeling of silencing jutsu going up around the other bedroom, knowing he couldn’t do anything about the tears Itachi would never admit to crying, or the grief he carried alone, silently.

____ End chappie ____

(Remember, R&R, don't kill me )
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