Saviour || A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter Fifteen : Madara Uchiha

The next day, Itachi had a mission, so Naruto was bored. Tobirama and Hashirama had things to help Hiruzen with, so that the Godaime Hokage could take over office. There was nothing to do in the Senju district anymore, so she went out, to play in the Valley of the End by herself.

After some time, a soft rustling noise caught her attention. She found a small white fox with red tinge to its tail tip looking at her. Just as she reached out to pick it up, it ran away. Intrigued, she followed the little feline, not even realising when she left the borders of the Fire Country.

She ran recklessly across a bridge, but the fox slipped, and fell into the gushing current below. The kind hearted little blonde couldn't just leave the fox, and so she bent over, picking up the fox, and started to return to the village. On the way, she took a few wrong turns, and ended up having to go through a different village in order to get back to Konohagakure before sundown.

"Hey, isn't that THE girl?" "You mean, really?!" "SHE is the Yondaime's daughter?" "What a brat!" "No wonder no one likes her..." "Heh, doesn't even look up?!" "I feel bad for Yondaime-sama." "No one deserves a kid like that." "What a freak." "Stupid little Kyubi brat." "Why is she covering her eyes with that weird fringe?" "She probably has the Kyubi eyes that's why." "Ah, I see."

Naruto heard all the dirty remarks, which, unknown to her, had caught someone's attention. The attention of a man everyone believed dead, who lurked around in the shadows since he got food and clothes and occasionally shelter from this particular village. His gaze was fixed on the little girl who never once dropped her smile, but just walked on, hugging the little white fox.

Something changed within the man's heart. Hearing the insults hurled at her made him furious. His nails were digging into his palms, from holding back against attacking the villagers. 

The villagers seemed to get more confident. A few of them began to throw things at her: garbage, rotten fruits, just about anything that came to hand. The girl dodged whatever she could of them, and the others just hit her. When kunais and shuriken began to fly at her out of nowhere though, her shadow follower could no longer handle it. He didn't care if he was going to get exposed. He didn't care that his identity was going to be revealed. He didn't care that all Five Elemental Nations would fly into a panic by this one action of stepping into plain view.

He moved so fast, blowing away the approaching weapons with a spot-on Kamui, before he glared at the villagers. It took less than a second before the entire place was deserted. When he was sure that no one was around, he turned to the little girl who was cowering behind him.

"Are you alright?" he asked. For so many years, he had had no one to protect. This kid didn't look like she had anyone to protect her, and something about her just made him protective.

"Yes. Thank you." She looked up at him and blew her fringe away, revealing huge blue eyes.

"You really are the Yondaime's daughter, aren't you?" he asked. "What's your name then?"

"Naruto Otsutsuki." She loved her new name, and she didn't want to be called Namikaze.

"Madara Uchiha." He didn't know why he told her the truth, it just didn't feel right lying to her.

"You used to be oji-chan's friend?" Naru looked up at him, delighted. "You used to, didn't you?"

"Who is oji-chan?" he asked, amused, as he bent to brush off some of the dirt from her clothes.

"Hashirama Senju," she smiled. His eyes flew up to hers. "Don't worry, I don't hate you. I don't hate anyone, because I want everyone to be friends. I don't want friends to fight, so you can just come back with me, and make up with oji-chan, okay? I mean, he still considers you a friend."

Madara's eyes nearly fell out of his head. But then, he remembered that he was talking to a four-year-old. Obviously, Hashirama still considering him a friend was no surprise. That was just how the man was, no matter how infuriating he found it. Her idea of going back was quite tempting.

"You saved me," Naruto continued. "So I'm sure oji-chan, jiji and nii-chan would accept you back. You're really powerful too. Can you teach me how to do that with the Sharingan?"

"You... you have the Sharingan?" Madara was dumbfounded. "Okay, maybe if they let me live in the village again, I can teach you. You're a very sharp kid, to catch that I activated it."

"Um... so what do I call you?" Naruto asked, taking an instant liking to the protective man.

"Well, we both have sharingan, and it sounds like you're calling anyone elder than you with a familial name, so how about Aniki?" he suggested. "Only if you want to, though!"

"Of course!" Naruto looked delighted, and laughed. "Nii-chan sure is going to be surprised. He adopted me when Dad and Mom didn't want me anymore. He's very protevtive like you."

"You mean protective. By the way, who is your nii-chan?" Madara asked, picking her up.

"Tobirama Senju," Naruto grinned. Madara sighed, fate just seemed to love teasing him.

"That man... gah, never mind. Come on, I'll take you back to Konoha." Then he noticed a furry little beast of a fox cuddled between him and the underweight blond that he was carrying.

"Who's your friend?" he asked. The fox looked quite content, sleeping in the girl's arms.

"I didn't name her yet," Naruto said, making him look at the fox again and roll his eyes, smiling.

"Him," he corrected. "How about we think of a name while we get back to the village, Naru?"

"Okay. What do you think is a good name, Aniki?" Madara was slightly stunned by her easy use of the word. It felt right, coming from her, she said it the exact way Izuna used  to say it.

At that moment, he knew that he would do anything for the precious blond in his arms. He would give his life to protect the girl who had pulled him back into the sunshine.