Who Are You?

33

*Bear with me for this chapter, it's the final one before the epilogue, and trying to tie up some loose ends*

It turned out Mada and Tobi-Sama sent a letter to Uzushiogakure that day, informing the head of the Uzumaki clan about what I had learned, though they left out the details of how. Somehow, Mada managed to sneak in the letter a detail about Tobi-Sama being the true Alpha brother, and current Hokage of the village. That led into Mito's father sending his second oldest daughter in hopes of maintaining an alliance with us. That was how Akane ended up arriving at the gate unannounced.

During all the craziness with celebrating Tobi-Sama's marriage, there was also tragedy.

Hashi-Sama gave birth to a healthy baby boy he chose to name Nawaki, but my friend was too weak from the strain and passed away a few days later. Rikuto-San tried his best to be there for their children, but it was hard on him.

During the ceremony, Tsuna-Chan cried for her mother while she held her baby brother.

When little Nawaki was four, the kids all graduated from the academy and became a team under Sarutobi Hiruzen. The day they graduated, the three immediately went to Hashi-Sama's grave and reported their success to him, wanting to share their excitement with him. I suspected it was more Tsuna-Chan wanting to share her excitement, and Jira-Chan and Orochimaru simply following along with her just because.

When Orochimaru returned to his own time, it was a surprise to everyone, and it forced us all to rebuild the bonds we'd already formed with him during the past four years.

Thankfully it wasn't all that difficult, because he was an easy child to get along with. Things seemed to move along well.

Kai-Chan found a sweet girl from a civilian clan and decided she would be the one he wanted to marry. It wasn't long before he declared the girl was carrying his child. It was a baby boy with Kai's silver hair. They named him Hatake Sakumo.

The name sounded familiar, but I didn't want to dwell on it too much.

Tragedy struck once more when a pair, who claimed they were envoys from Kumogakure to discuss a treaty, assassinated Tobi-Sama suddenly. Nobody saw it coming. Thankfully, he had been training his apprentice, Sarutobi-San to take his place.

Akane was devastated. Nawaki, who was now eight, was just as upset.

It was this event which caused Rikuto-San to return to his nomadic roots. He couldn't deal with any more loss. He promised he would help any lost children he came across on his travels, and then left.

Oro-Chan declared he wanted to train Nawaki as his first apprentice, which pleased me greatly. I hoped that having training from such a young age would benefit the boy.

It was four years later, when Nawaki had turned twelve, Tsuna-Chan gifted him their mother's necklace as a good luck charm. He'd said he wanted to follow in his mother and uncle's footsteps and become Hokage.

Shortly after, the nations began to grow a bit tumultuous, and Nawaki was sent on a recon mission.

News was delivered swiftly the team had been discovered and taken down. It destroyed Tsunade. The whole village mourned.

Tsunade leaned heavily on her fiancé, Kato Dan for comfort. She had lost her only remaining blood family.

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One day, a boy appeared at the village gates.

"Please state your name and business in the village," the guard stated.

"I'm Namikaze Minato. I was sent here by Namikaze Rikuto to join this village. I am an orphan and have nowhere else to go," the boy replied.

I had been walking by the gate at the time, and overheard the conversation.

I turned to see who it was at the gates, and I couldn't help my reaction, my eyes widening, and jaw dropping slightly. He had blond hair and blue eyes, and his resemblance to me was uncanny. I knew who he was in a heartbeat. He was my father. Or, would be in the future.

I walked over to the two and smiled at the guard, who straightened immediately upon seeing me.

"I can take him to see Sarutobi-Sama," I suggested. "I was just on my way there now anyway."

The guard simply nodded and allowed the boy to go with me.

Sarutobi-Sama swiftly enrolled the boy in the academy, and he did well.

A few months later, another child appeared at the gates. I had been speaking with the Hokage at the time, so I didn't see them come in, but when I saw who it was, I struggled not to react. Long, fiery red hair, and pale blue eyes. I couldn't understand how anyone could call her Tomato.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything," she said, speaking softly.

"No, no, dear child. What is it?" The Hokage asked kindly.

"My name is Uzumaki Kushina, and I was sent here by my village in order to become a student. Also, we have been seeing threats from the other villages."

Hiruzen stroked his small beard in thought at her declaration. He thanked Kushina for informing him of the dangers, and then helped her enroll in the academy. I reminded him that Keiko was newly graduated, and thought she would be of some help to the redhead.

We spoke some of sending aid to our allies for the remaining time of our meeting.

It wasn't even a month after that conversation that news reached us of Uzu's destruction at the hands of several villages. It was this tragedy that caused all flak jackets, as well as standard Jonin/Chūnin shirts to have the spiral pattern. It was the Uzumaki clan symbol.

It was an odd feeling, being witness to my own parents falling in love. I didn't quite understand all that was going on between them, but I knew it was a good thing they were getting along so well.

Amidst the second war to break out, my parents fell more in love and I lost track of Kai's family. He had moved out after getting married, and I never heard anything else from him after his wife had Sakumo. Jira-Chan left the village to help out, and even when Tsuna-Chan and Oro-Chan returned to the village, my son stayed away for several months. When he returned, he said he'd been taking care of a trio of orphans near Ame. The story sounded vaguely familiar, so I let it slide.

Dan was killed in a battle after Tsuna-Chan gifted him Hashi-Sama's necklace, just like her brother. She struggled with wanting to stay gone, or returning to the village. She'd lost her only remaining family in the span of just a few years. It had to cause her some severe problems and resentment toward the village.

When the second war ended, tension between the villages was still high, and I knew it was only a matter of time before a third war broke out. We took the opportunity to train as many shinobi as we could before something else happened.

Even during the tense moments, there were still happy times. I found out that Minato and Kushina both became Jonin, and Minato took up a three-man squad of his own. One of them happened to be a boy with silver hair, named Hatake Kakashi. Hearing the name from Uchiha Obito, one of my cousins, I immediately recognized him as being Kai's grandson. Akashi must have influenced Kai and Sakumo a great deal for Sakumo to name his child after his own grandfather.

Everyone around me was growing older quickly, but I didn't look much different than I had before. Keiko was nearing thirty, and had already found her own mate and settled down. She visited often, though her mate was not an Uchiha.

The years kept passing me by, but I didn't let that bother me. Mada and I were happy together, and nothing would change that.