Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ His Family ❯ The Secret of Shichimi ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters that appear in the series….otherwise someone would have bitch-slapped Sasuke before he left.

 

 

 

Chapter One: The Secret of Shichimi

 

 

~*~*~

 

Sakura was bored…more than bored, she was in agony due to the boredom of the task Tsunade had assigned her to this week. Naruto was training and Sai was off painting, and Sakura…Sakura was recording all the birth certificates of all the ninjas of Konoha into a ledger while writing down the matching death certificates and death report…when there was a death.

 

She yawned as she grabbed the next birthday….October tenth….that was Naruto's birthday. Sakura looked at the certificate before blinking, this was the exact date of Naruto's birthday…the day of the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, but it was not Naruto's name on the certificate. Sakura flipped to the next document to see the Fourth Hokage's death certificate. Sakura flipped to the next document, but it was one of the various death certificates for the Kyuubi's victims.

 

Sakura began flipping through the documents and began to feel something was wrong as she looked at the papers before moving a months beyond without success. Naruto's birth certificate was nowhere in the pile. Sakura looked at the certificate that started all of this.

 

The person's family name was blacked out, but his first name was Shichimi, he was born 3.9 kilograms, had blood type B, had blond hair, had blue eyes, all details that matched one Uzumaki Naruto. Sakura stared at the details before moving her eyes to two very important spots. Mother and Father….both names were blacked out with ink. Sakura bit her lip.

 

`Oh man this is so freaky!' Inner Sakura yelled as Sakura looked at the certificate. “Why mark out the parents' names and the family name unless you wanted to keep the child from finding them?” Sakura looked down before thinking. Someone definitely didn't want Shichimi to be claimed. It was weird and the fact that Shichimi could too easily be Naruto made Sakura curious.

 

She obviously couldn't ask Tsunade, more likely than not, it had been the Third who had ordered the names hidden. Tsunade would not undo that unless it was life threatening and Sakura would bet a million jugs of sake that if she asked, Tsunade would find an even worse chore to keep her busy. Sakura gnawed her lip, this was important to Naruto, what if it turned out that he had family alive, family that thought Shichimi had died. Of course, maybe Shichimi HAD died.

 

`No way, he's so totally Naruto!' Inner Sakura cried and Sakura couldn't deny her inner voice. The similarities of the baby to the young man she knew so well. She couldn't face Naruto again if she wasn't sure that she was mistaken and Naruto's own birth certificate was only lost. `Nothing we can do but snoop!'

 

Sakura nodded to her inner self's comment. First she'd flip through the death certificates and see if Shichimi had died, he wouldn't be in this pile if he wasn't a ninja, these birth certificates were sorted by the Hokages themselves. Someone put Shichimi in this pile and it was most definitely not the Fourth, seeing as Shichimi was born only an hour and a half before the Fourth met his end to save the village.

 

“First things first,” Sakura stated as she prepared to snoop through the death certificates, if she couldn't find Shichimi in the deaths, then she'd check the MIA ninja lists as well as the Missing Nin lists. Sakura chuckled, sometimes she was so smart she scared herself.

 

~*~*~

 

Sakura was woman enough to admit when she was in over her head, that's why she called in some reinforcements. Of course, the three of them didn't look amused as they sat in the cafe booth with her. Still, Sakura didn't want anyone to notice, so a group of friends meeting together wouldn't seem suspicious at all. Of course, Sakura really wasn't friends with any of the young men at the table, but she knew they were all Naruto's friends and this was an interesting puzzle.

 

“Why are we here, hag?” Sai asked and Sakura controlled her temper before dropping the birth certificate on the table.

 

“Tsuande has me making a record of all Konoha ninja, the births, deaths, and death reports of all ninja, active and missing. Those who are still alive are, obviously, left open,” Sakura explained. “Except this one caught my attention. The family name and parents' names were hidden and the child is rather…familiar. I looked thought the deaths, MIA, and Missing Nin lists, but there's no record of any Shichimi.”

 

“This matches Naruto's description,” Neji commented and Sakura nodded and Shikamaru looked at the certificate before resuming his bored-out-of-his-mind pose.

 

“I noticed that, I checked the academy's record, there has never been a student by the name of Shichimi enrolled. I also did a complete check of the hospitals birth records, Uzumaki Naruto doesn't exist as being birthed in Konoha at all,” Sakura added.

 

“Did you check under civilian births?” Shikamaru asked and Sakura nodded.

 

“My first impulse after the ninja birth records proved lacking,” Sakura sighed. “There's no record of this Shichimi existing beyond his birth and there's no evidence that Uzumaki Naruto was ever born. I came up with only one other alternative.” Sakura's eyes fell on Sai.

 

“Roots candidate,” Sai smiled as he kept his face blank.

 

“ANBU member,” Neji suggested.

 

“Special operations,” Shikamaru nodded. “He could be in any of the various elite and private organizations.” Sakura nodded again.

 

“Neji knows the very limited number of ANBU members close to our age as Sai knows the Roots members who are our age,” Sakura stated.

 

“Why bother with this?” Shikamaru asked.

 

“Naruto,” Sai stated with another smile. “Naruto doesn't have a family, this Shichimi might.” Sakura stared in shock, she had through Shikamaru would have known that, but Sai she'd never guess would figure it out first.

 

“Exactly, Naruto has always fought for his very existence, but he had a mother and a father. He was born here and in time for the Fourth to use him to seal Kyuubi, but the records say that Shichimi is the only infant that was born the day of the Kyuubi's attack. This Shichimi might just be Naruto and his parents might still be alive and we can check my records to see if they are or not,” Sakura said enthusiastically.

 

“First we must prove that Shichimi really does not exist,” Neji added with a nod.

 

“You and Sai can confirm from the rosters you have access to whether or not there IS a Shichimi who is Naruto's age. That's all, we don't want to know more than if there is or is not a Shichimi, that should be easy enough right?” Sakura asked.

 

“I may have happened across the Roots roster already,” Sai said with a look. “There was no one by the name of Shichimi.”

 

“You sure?” Shikamaru asked and Sai nodded.

 

“Positive,” he said with a smile.

 

“I can be back in an a few minutes,” Neji stated as he got up. “Don't leave.” The three nodded as they watched the Hyuuga vanish in a puff of smoke.

 

“I don't know what to hope for,” Sakura confessed.

 

“Well it would make things simple if Naruto's birth certificate was just lost,” Shikamaru yawned.

 

“Stupid probably lost it,” Sai added with a smile.

 

“I don't think so, record keeping was very important to the Second Hokage. There are three copies of every birth, death, and achievement report. One at the hospital, one at the Hokage tower, and then one in a secure location,” Sakura added. “I checked for Naruto's birth certificate at the hospital and the Hokage tower. I only found Shichimi again at the hospital,” Sakura sighed. The three jumped when Neji returned with a curiously blank look.

 

“No one in ANBU is named Shichimi,” Neji stated and Sakura blinked before chewing on her lip.

 

“Now what?” she grumbled as she looked at the paper and Shikamaru pulled the certificate over to him. Rubbing the ink covered family name before smirking.

 

“Sai, you're good with ink. Is there a method to remove this ink but not the ink that makes up the family name?” Shikamaru asked and Sai thought for a moment.

 

“I may have just the jutsu to use. I created it as a safety to help remove damage to my art that might happen due to sneak attack while I was working,” he said with a nod.

 

“Please use it Sai,” Sakura asked and the newest member of her team looked at her a moment before shaking his head.

 

“Not here,” he said with a smile.

 

After a quick drink the four left and proceeded to a deserted training area. Sakura was actually quite pleased that Neji and Shikamaru were as drawn into this as they were. Neji never seemed that emotional, but then, Neji had been deprived of his father and Shikamaru had always had a family like she did. Sai was a teammate and he liked at challenge, plus, he was trying to make friends.

 

“It is quite simple,” Sai said. “It simply removes the any marks that were made after the initial markings.” Quickly he began a series of seals before his chakra whipped around the paper and the ink literally blew away like dust and the paper fell to the ground. For a moment Sakura was certain that all the ink was gone.

 

Sai reached down and picked up the paper, not even looking at it as he handed it to Sakura. Neji and Shikamaru looked at her with Sai, for some reason it was her job to look at it.

 

`Jerks don't want to take responsibility for this!' Inner Sakura shouted, but she was wrong to be made at the guys. Sakura started this, it was her job to see it through. Sakura lifted the paper and blinked. It was perfect.

 

“Kayaku Shichimi, son of Kayaku Kansha and Kayaku Kousou….” Sakura's eyes widened.

 

“Kayaku Kousou….that…that…” Shikamaru was speechless in disbelieve.

 

“The Fourth Hokage had a wife and son,” Neji said, a look of complete and utter shock was etched onto his face.

 

“How interesting,” Sai said with the only expression he could give…a smile.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~

 

Author's Note: I'm a total Fourth fan so I happened to note someplace that the name Kayaku is on the contract that Naruto signed for his summon technique. It is the one that is between Naruto and Jiraiya's signatures, and since only Jiraiya, Naruto, and the Fourth can summon the Frogs…I'm going with Kayaku being part of the Fourth's name. So I chose Kayaku for the family name. Shichimi, Kousou, and Kayaku all are different ways of saying Spice in Japanese, while Kansha is a type of sugar in Japanese. Again, I'm a supporter of the Fourth being Naruto's father theory, so I have Sugar and Spice being Naruto's parents, Spice being his father. I hope you enjoy, I'm not sure what's going to come of this story, it just kind of demanded I write it. Feedback welcomed, flamers will be mocked.