RiaN Chapter 09 (Patreon)

More years passed, and I was now five. Mine and Naruto’s relationship grew to best friends as I helped him and his mom stabilize the demon foxes in their soul space. Naruto had the opposite problem as Kushina, where the yang energy was strengthening his body but making it far harder to control the chakra inside himself. Naruto was a few months younger than me but had already passed me up in height.

It was clear that in the manga, he would have been extremely tall and muscular if he hadn’t been starved as a child. If he could eat his fill he’d outconsume Hinata; the only reason she could beat him was his stomach shrank from how little he consumed. He was a taijutsu expert, possibly even the best in the world in the manga, but imagine if he was well-fed instead of malnourished and taught by an actual expert during his childhood.

He was shaping up to be far, far stronger than he was in the show. I could only help recorrect the tailed beast maybe once every few months right now, but the different chakra natures meant I could alter both of them at the same time without being overwhelmed. I could feel the energy consolidating in my soul space as I had the hint that the energy I was absorbing might form its own nine-tailed beast as well.

It was only a fragment of the true strength of even half of the real nine tails, but I knew it would be different than what they had. It felt… More pure, like it hadn’t been corrupted by the hatred of humans. A pure-tailed beast, if that was a thing. I wouldn’t know for sure until it’s gained consciousness. 

…

It was Naruto’s fifth birthday. Most of my family came to visit, well the kids around his age anyway- as well as the Uchiha patriarch. Why? Well, because my father was his godfather and Mikoto was his godmother and also really good friends with Kushina. Even some of the other children he had met and befriended already came too.

Naruto was able to make friends even with the entire village hating him, so with his natural charisma, he had a lot of friends inside and outside the Uzumaki’s. It was a hectic event like my family's monthly dinners, but for some reason, I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face. It was nice that he got his good life this time. He and Sasuke weren’t really great friends, but they at least knew each other.

Fugaku had three wives, so not only did he have Sasuke and Itachi, but also five other children, with three of them in the age range to come to this party. It took me a moment to realize that the girl around our age must have had a Nara mother. She tried to hide on the side as she quietly read a book, but other children weren’t letting her read without constantly bothering her.

The boy who was a year or two older looked to be Hyuga. I wondered what their special eyes would look like. Would the Byakugan show tomoes? Would it make unlocking the sharingan easier or harder? I was curious but I was certain that testing had been done by now by other older Uchiha/Hyuga half breeds. The younger girl was a Hyuga/Uchiha hybrid, but her eyes didn’t have a byakugan.

I was keeping an eye on her before I saw her eyes shift when she grew angry. Sharingan appeared, but they weren’t the normal black colored tomoe, but light blue like the byakugan. An even younger boy was another Nara, and he wasn’t trying to avoid the group, instead, it looked like he was trying to scam the other younger kids out of the candy they were given.

I couldn’t help but smirk at all the little interactions going on over the house. Suddenly, the crowd began to quiet down, and even the children did as we all looked toward the door. Tsunade walked in first, but behind her was an aging Orochi. If Kushina looked like she was going to die soon, Orochi looked like he was on death's door. Only his medic wife, the best medic nin on the entire planet, was keeping him alive.

The rumors of his death were just that, rumors. He survived the fight with the mysterious person, but it cost him his body. I could tell he was still riddled with injuries, but also had his life force drained, and his soul was no longer aligned with his body. His soul was constantly rejecting its vessel; only his sheer force of will kept him alive.

He smiled before coughing into a bloody handkerchief. “Don’t let me interrupt your celebration. I’m just here to meet the birthday boy…” I didn’t feel a pull like I did to fix Kushina, instead, I knew there was nothing I could do to fix his problem. Trying to realign his soul would only make the problem worse now. There was no transferring to a new vessel like he did in the original story; he was doomed to die before he could swap bodies. 

Orochi looked at the crowd before our eyes met. They lingered on me longer than everyone else before he finished scanning and found his target. He made his way over to Naruto, who was playing a ninja card game with a bunch of other children. Coughing again, he asked. “Have you unwrapped your presents yet?” Naruto gulped before shaking his head no.

Tsunade began to open up storage scrolls as he went on to explain. “You might not know this, but me and your father worked together. He was one of the only people I could confide in when I was stuck creating a jutsu. Legacy has… Become important to me in my final days. The village attempted to take all the research your father was working on, thinking they could do better with it than his child… I had to fight to get it into the right hands, I don’t think you’ll realize how great a gift this is until you grow older but…” His hand reached into an inner pocket of his robe. “Here is a voucher for free food from any of my restaurants for the next year as well.”

He coughed again, and he and Tsunade began to leave. He only stopped to look at my father, giving him the slightest of head nods before continuing to leave. The entire situation was odd to me, but something I’d expect Orochi to do. With the first gift given, the party quickly became about present unwrapping. Most were fine: a shirt here, some candy, a toy a child would play with. Nothing too spectacular, until it came to Fugaku.

“My wife is your godmother, so it would be an insult to give similar gifts to your other friends. So… We’ve prepared three kendo swords for you to grow with and a full-sized Uchiha forged blade. The Uchiha have come a long way the past few decades on weapon making, so it should be superior to most weaponry you’ll find.” For the first time since Orochi’s gift, Naruto looked that extra level of happiness having a good present given to him.

My father was the next big gift. “Well, I know you’re technically a Namikaze, but we all see you as part of our family. I don’t know how well-maintained your mother's heritage scrolls were, so I’ve prepared the signature jutsus that any Uzumaki would learn.” Five scrolls were placed down, each holding different ranking jutsus from D to S. He whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “You’re mom will decide when you can access each scroll.”

Small chuckling came from the group. My gift was the last for him to unwrap. He unwrapped it before looking confused at the book with no cover. Opening it he finally understood as I explained. “I spent the last few weeks gathering as much information on your father as I possibly could. The book contains stories of him as well as pictures and mementos from his adventures. I hope you like it.”

He closed the book before tears formed in his eyes. I would think he was sad, except for the giant smile on his face as he finally said. “Thank you, Tama.”