Chapter 1

A Mysterious Old Man

A man watched the fight between Naruto and Sasuke come to a close. He had long gray spiky hair that flowed down his back, and a gray beard. His eyes were barely open. The man noticed that, at the very end, the blonde-haired boy had intentionally missed. The rain began to suddenly pour down in buckets.

"Very interesting. I wonder if the boy is still alive," the man mused to himself. The mysterious man made his way down to the blonde boy. He found him to be alive, but very weak. He scooped Naruto in his arms and started walking up the side of the cliff. "Perhaps you'll be the one I've been looking for all these years." The mysterious man disappeared into the forest with Naruto.

Kakashi came to the edge of the Valley of the End to see all the destruction. He surveyed the area, but he found no sign of either Naruto or Sasuke.

"Pakkun?"

Pakkun shook his head. "There is the scent of blood scattered all around the valley. It smells like most of it is Naruto's. It's rather hard to tell. The rain's washing the scent away too fast."

"Do you think Sasuke killed him and...?" Kakashi asked, looking downstream, not wanting to believe in the worst-case scenario.

"I'm sorry to say, that's probably what happened. I don't want to think he's dead either, but I have nothing for you that says otherwise." Pakkun saw a forehead protector. "It's Sasuke's. I'm sorry, Kakashi, but I think we may have to report Naruto as KIA. The scent of Naruto's blood is all over this."

Kakashi sighed. He really didn't want to have to file this report to the Hokage. He knew Tsunade would be very upset by the news. Kakashi picked up Sasuke's forehead protector and stuffed it in his vest. "Let's go, Pakkun. I might as well get this over with."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi..."

The two left the valley and headed back to the village. Kakashi and Pakkun traveled through the trees for some time before running into the medical unit that had been sent out.

"What is the status of Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki?" the medic asked.

"Sasuke Uchiha is gone. Naruto Uzumaki most likely killed in action," Kakashi replied in an almost dead tone.

The medic said nothing more on the matter. "The other Gennin are alive, but a few of them are in critical condition. All of them are expected to survive and make full recoveries."

"That's good," Kakashi stated before pulling ahead of the medic. He really didn't want to talk with anyone right now. All too soon, however, he reached the front gates of the village. He saw Tsunade standing there. Kakashi knew she wasn't going to take this news well at all.

"Where's Naruto, Kakashi?" It seemed Tsunade didn't care about Sasuke at all at the moment.

"I'm afraid I was too late, Tsunade. Sasuke has escaped. I found his forehead protector on the ground. I have it here with me."

"I don't care about Sasuke right now Kakashi. Where is Naruto?"

"When I arrived at the Valley of the End, there was no sign of Naruto Uzumaki, only the smell of his blood all around the valley."

Tsunade's eyes widened. She signaled for her ANBU who appeared behind her. "Gather all off-duty ANBU and head to the Valley of the End and search for any signs of Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hai!" The ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Two weeks later, somewhere in the Land of Fire

Naruto awoke to find he was in a place unknown to him. He was definitely not at the Valley of the End anymore, that was for certain. When he tried to sit up, a sharp pain shot through his body and he fell back down onto the bed. 'Where am I?' he thought as he looked around the room. He saw that he wasn't in a hospital. This place looked like someone's bedroom. Naruto sighed in realization that he had failed his mission to bring back Sasuke.

"Oh, so you're awake already. I figured you'd still be out for a few more days at least, with injuries that serious."

Naruto looked to see an old man walk into the room. The old man had a medium length gray beard and long spiky gray hair. He had never seen this man before in his life. Naruto saw something odd, though: the old man's eyes were closed.

"Where am I? The last thing I remember was fighting, and then everything went black."

"Yes, it was quite the interesting fight you had with that other boy," The man said, stroking his beard.

"Why am I here? Better yet, where am I?"

"You are currently in my home. I was intrigued by your actions so I brought you with me. Why would you intentionally miss that other boy, and only scratch his forehead protector?"

Naruto tried to move to a sitting up position, but failed. The old man, seeing that he was having a great deal of trouble, helped Naruto up.

"Why should I tell you?" Naruto asked suspicious of the old man standing before him. He then noticed his head felt a little lighter. "Where's my forehead protector?" Naruto asked touching the place where it had been.

"I'm just a simple old man who lives alone in this house. The least you could do is humor me by answering my rather simple question. And your forehead protector fell into the river."

Naruto had a feeling that was a complete lie. Well, at least him being a simple old man. Naruto sighed and decided to answer the old man's question. "Sasuke was my friend. You could say he was my best friend. Sure, neither of us got along at all, but we had a mutual understanding. Well at least I thought we did. When it came time to make the decision, I just couldn't go through with it."

"Interesting. However, why would you not try to kill him when he was most certainly trying to kill you?"

"I promised someone I would bring him back to the village."

"So you're a man of your word then?"

"I always keep my promises, no matter what. Although, I guess I broke this one by not bringing him back to the village."

"No, not broken. Not yet, at least. The boy you fought is still out there. You can still keep your promise. The boy you fought, in the end, had the chance to kill you before he left, but did not. There is still the chance he can be saved and be brought back as the friend you knew. However you will need to become much stronger than you are now to accomplish this, as I suspect the next time you two meet, he will be much stronger."

"How? How can I become stronger?"

The old man smiled and stood up. "We will speak of that subject at a later time once you've rested a little more and had time to think." The old man walked towards the door. He stopped, however, when his hand reached the door. "What is your name, young one?"

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name, old man?"

"You will find out soon enough. But now is not that time. For now just call me old man." The elderly man left the room, closing the door, allowing Naruto time to rest.

Naruto sank back down on the bed till he was in a lying position. The Kyuubi seemed to be growling behind his cage. Did that mean this man was good? Naruto really didn't know, but to him, the old man seemed like a good person. Naruto was also intrigued by the old man, since he seemed to be able to see without even opening his eyes.

In the Leaf Village

Tsunade sat at her desk, looking at a piece of paper. All the piece of paper required was her signature. The paper in her hands was a form that had Naruto's information on it; one part of it stated his current state of well-being. That part had KIA checked off. Tsunade had been very reluctant to sign the form until Jiraiya had told her a little bit of information.

Jiraiya had talked with Tsunade earlier and told her Naruto's name had been crossed off the active summoners list. She knew what that meant, it meant Naruto was either dead, or behind some type of barrier that prevented any form of outside tracking. Barriers like that were few and far between and she didn't know of any in particular. Tsunade sighed and signed her name on the document. The ones who'd be hit hardest by this would be Naruto's friends.

The door to her office opened. Tsunade looked up to see Naruto's friends walk in, or at least the ones well enough to leave the hospital. she had yet to tell any of them anything. They were probably impatient and wanted news. They all stood awaiting Tsunade to say something.

"I'm sorry but I don't have any good news for you." Tsunade pulled out Naruto's forehead protector and put it on her desk. "That's it. That's all that's been recovered." Tsunade wasn't going to sugar coat anything. There truly was no reason to. They were ninja, and they would lose friends eventually. That's just how things were.

Shikamaru scanned the Hokage's desk with a glance and saw the form with Naruto's name on it. "A little extreme to classify him as KIA, don't you think?"

"Naruto-kun's dead?" Hinata asked, her eyes widening, and her breathing becoming slightly labored. Tenten patted her on the back, trying to console her.

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I never personally consider someone dead until I see a body. But everything that has been brought to my attention leads to the belief that Naruto has passed on."

"I hope you have more than just his headband to go on, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru stated.

Tsunade sighed; she figured this would happen sooner or later. "You've all seen a summoning contract scroll before, at least in a picture, correct?" They all nodded. "Well, a summoning contract scroll has the ability to know when a user has passed on. The fact is, Jiraiya came to me yesterday, telling me that the Toad scroll has marked Naruto off, meaning he is no longer among the living."

"Isn't there a way to fool that part of the scroll?" Shikamaru asked.

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, multiple ways, none of which Naruto could possibly know. There are very few people alive that could teach or perform said technique on Naruto. The only one I know of is Jiraiya." Tsunade sighed. "The chances of Naruto being alive, knowing this, are slim to none. But if he is alive, I want him to return of his own free will, not because I had him hunted down by ANBU." Tsunade was almost a hundred percent sure Naruto was dead, but like she said if a body wasn't found there was always a chance. Also, saying that to his friend would at least give them that small ray of hope that he was still alive.

"So marking him off as KIA does that if he is indeed still alive?" Shino asked, thinking about what Tsunade had said.

"Again, like I said, the chances of Naruto being alive are very small, and, again, I never consider someone dead until I see a body, which we haven't found." Tsunade looked at Sakura, who had a dead look in her eyes. Sakura seemed to take the news far harder than anyone in the room. However, from the look in Hinata's eyes she wasn't exactly far behind. "Ino, could you take Sakura home? I think she needs a little more time to process all this."

Ino nodded. "Come on, Sakura. Let's get you home." Sakura didn't reply. She just let Ino guide her out of the room. The news had hit her very hard.

Tenten looked at her teammate's cousin. Hinata looked lost, and not sure what she was going to do. "When will the funeral be held?" she asked, getting Hinata to look up.

Tsunade looked at her papers trying not to make eye contact. "The funeral will be held in a few days, when the others will at least be well enough to be allowed out of the hospital for a short time. Now, if you three would leave, I'd like to be alone for a little while."

Shino, Tenten and Shikamaru nodded, and left the room with Hinata.

Once they were gone Tsunade decided it was time to call out the one who had been listening in on the conversation. "Come out, Gaara. I know you're there." Gaara appeared in front of Tsunade's desk in a swirl of sand. "I take it you heard everything?" He only nodded. "Will you be staying for the funeral?"

"Yes, I'll be staying for the funeral. Suna won't fall apart in just one more week." Gaara said a week because it would be a few days till the funeral, then it would take him another three days to get back to Suna.

"Naruto really changed you, didn't he Gaara?"

"Naruto Uzumaki showed me that there was still light at the end of the tunnel for me. The least I can do is pay my respects at his funeral." Gaara made his way to the front door of Tsunade's office. Just as he was about to leave, he spoke once more. "If any Suna ninja finds one Sasuke Uchiha, he will be dispatched with extreme prejudice. His Kekkei Genkai will be incinerated, and his body left to rot." Gaara opened the door and left.

….

Shikamaru had just parted ways with Shino, Hinata and Tenten. He had asked if Tenten needed help with Hinata, but she declined, saying she could handle this. Shikamaru never in his wildest imagination thought Naruto would die. He had beaten Gaara of the Desert and Neji. It just didn't add up how Sasuke had beaten and killed him. He knew the Hokage had said something about him being alive. He however knew that was just something she had said so he and the rest of Naruto's friends at least had some hope he was still alive.

"Yo lazy." Shikamaru turned to see Temari. "Wow, you look like the world just crashed down around you," she said, getting a look at his down trodden face.

"Do I really look that miserable?"

"Yeah, you look like hell." Temari had a thought. "Come on. Let's get something to eat." Temari walked by and grabbed him by his vest as she did.

Shikamaru didn't protest. He just allowed himself to basically be dragged by the rather HOT Suna Kunoichi. Shikamaru hoped that Ino and Tenten were at least getting through to Sakura and Hinata.

….

"Come on, Hinata. At least take a bite out of it..." Tenten asked. Hinata was staring at a cinnamon bun, poking it with a fork. "What would Naruto want you to do?"

"I don't know," she began to speak. "I just don't know what do to right now. I mean... Well, I'm not sure what I mean..." A few tears fell on the cinnamon bun in front of her.

"Hinata do you really think Naruto would die that easily?" Tenten asked. "I mean he beat both Neji and Gaara in the same day. I'm pretty sure Naruto can survive one round with Sasuke." Tenten drank some of her tea. "I mean, really, Naruto is far too stubborn to die before he becomes Hokage. At least that's what he kept saying he was going to do." Tenten was putting on a face for Hinata, like everything would be alright. However, she, herself, truly didn't believe it either, but she needed to do something to turn Hinata's mood around even if just a little.

A small smile appeared on Hinata's face. Tenten was right. Naruto was just too stubborn to die. He was probably just off training somewhere and he would come home eventually. Well, at least that's what she wanted to believe. "You're right..."

"Of course I am! Tenten is always right!" she said, referring to herself in the third person. "Now eat your cinnamon bun. I didn't buy it for you just so you could waste it."

Hinata started to eat her treat that Tenten had bought her. Tenten's words had not stopped the dread in Hinata's heart, but they had at least lightened her mood for the time being.

….

Ino and Sakura had just arrived at Sakura's house. "Look, Sakura, we're at your house," Ino said, seeing if she could get a reaction. Ino got a small reaction from Sakura, but it wasn't much. Ino sighed and knocked on the door. Sakura had been a nervous wreck ever since Naruto and Sasuke didn't come back. Now that Naruto is marked officially as KIA, Sakura just lost it. Ino hoped her friend would recover.

As soon as the door opened, and Ino saw Sakura's mom, she told her everything that had happened.

Sakura's mom leaned down and hugged her daughter. "Thank you, Ino, for bringing her home."

"Of course. I'll be by later today and tomorrow to check on her."

"Thank you Ino."

Ino nodded and walked off. She wondered what the village would really be like without Naruto. He did bring a good deal of excitement, always overdoing it with his training, or acting like an idiot to lighten the mood when need be. This place would seem far more dull without him around.

….

Tsunade walked through the halls, the piece of paper she had signed earlier in hand. She had called a council meeting. Tsunade was really not looking forward to this, not one bit. She walked through the doors and into the council chambers.

"Why have you called a council meeting Tsunade?" Danzou asked.

Tsunade ignored his question and began to speak. "I have officially marked Naruto Uzumaki off as killed in action." There was a silence throughout the room.

"Why would any of us care?" Danzou asked arrogantly.

"Because he will be honored as a hero of the village. I just thought you would all like to know that."

"That demon brat, a hero? Never!" one of the civilian council shouted. Suddenly, his head smashed back against his chair.

"Did I say it was up for debate?" Tsunade asked. Tsunade had flicked a pebble at the man's head. "I told you all as a courtesy, nothing more. If you don't like it, you can take a flying leap off a mountain or something. Now, if you will excuse me, I have other things to attend to." Tsunade turned and left without another word.

Tsunade walked out of the Hokage's building. She actually didn't have anything else to do today. Tsunade seemed to just walk aimlessly through the village. She stopped however when she found herself in front of the home of her old teammate. She sighed as she walked up to the door. She knocked twice and waited. The door opened moments later. She didn't know why, but she just hugged Jiraiya and started crying.

Jiraiya put his arms around Tsunade and held her close. "I'm sorry." he really didn't know what to say to her other than that. "Come on inside, Tsunade. I'm sure you don't want everyone to see you bawling your eyes out." Jiraiya wasn't trying to be hard on her or anything. He just knew she wouldn't want to be seen in public like this. Jiraiya led her inside and closed the door behind him.

….

Hinata sat in front of the pond within the Hyuga estate, her head buried in her knees. She had finished eating with Tenten and had come home. Tenten's words had helped Hinata feel slightly better, but not much. She just sat here in front of the pond, staring at her own reflection. Hinata didn't know what else to do right now.

"You know, I came here quite often when your mother passed away."

Hinata didn't even look around; she just continued to stare at the water. "Does it ever get any better?" she asked her tone neutral.

"Unless you try to shut off your own emotions like many do, it won't. No, even then, the pain of loss will never dissipate completely." Hiashi thought about how often he used to come here. "I don't come here as often as I once did, but there are nights when I'll sit here for hours. I'll do absolutely nothing but sit here and stare at the moon on those nights." Hiashi walked over to some of the flowering plants his wife had planted many years ago. "I knew you had a crush on Naruto Uzumaki."

"Was it that obvious?" she asked.

"Indeed, it was. You wear your emotions on your sleeves, as they say. Your feelings for the boy were quite obvious. The only problem with you being so shy is that he would have never figured it out for himself. Naruto never knew the love of his parents, and didn't really know what love was. Unless you told him directly, he would have never known of your feelings. In that regard, you are the same as your mother. Like you, she was very shy at a young age."

"Why are you telling me these things?"

"I honestly don't know. Maybe it was seeing you there, reminding me of your mother, that brought this on." Hiashi turned and started walking away. "Dinner will be ready in a few hours. At least make an attempt to come. If not, I'll send dinner to your room." Hiashi wanted to say something to help, but he truly didn't know what to say. He could run a clan, but he was helpless to say something that would encourage his daughter. He was indeed a terrible father, and he knew it. He also knew, if Izumi was still alive, she would know what to say. She always did, no matter what the situation. As soon as Hiashi walked into the mansion, he saw his younger daughter Hanabi.

"Why is Neechan so sad?" Hanabi asked. "I mean, she never really talked to Naruto at all."

"Your sister was very fond of that boy. You could say she even loved that boy."

"But she never talked to him. How could she love him if she really didn't even know him?"

"Love can be a very complicated thing, Hanabi. Even I don't know how to explain why she fell in love with Naruto. Maybe once you're older, you might understand."

….

Ino sat in a chair beside Chouji's hospital bed. She was peeling a red apple. Chouji loved red apples, but hated the skin of the apple. Ino didn't find it weird that she was doing this, or even that she knew or remembered how he liked his red apples peeled.

"So, Naruto's funeral will be in a few days?" Chouji asked, his normal chipper tone replaced with a downtrodden one. That's how all of Naruto's friends were right now, as a matter of fact.

"Yeah, that's what Tsunade said to us a little while ago," Ino replied as she finished peeling the apple, and began to cut it into sections. "So, how much longer do they have you in here for?" Ino asked trying to change the subject.

"Another few weeks it seems. I guess I did quite a number on myself with those three pills."

"Damn right you did. I swear you can be such an idiot sometimes...I mean from what you used to say about those pills, I'm guessing they were never supposed to be used in rapid succession." Whether or not Ino would admit it, she was always worried about Chouji, as he could be quite reckless at times. The fact was, some would call that love. Ino, on the other hand, called it being a good friend. She was obviously in denial about her own feelings for her portly teammate.

"Yeah I know, but it's not like I had much of a choice at the time, Ino."

Ino handed him the plate of freshly sliced apple. "You're hopeless..."

Chouji looked at his blonde teammate. She looked very conflicted, not sure what emotion to show to him. That's what it looked like to Chouji, at least. He chuckled a bit, and started eating the apple. "Have you seen Shikamaru?"

"Yeah. He was there when Tsunade told us all the news. Not sure where he is now. I'm sure he's off somewhere, staring at the clouds or something."

….

"You seriously expect me to believe that the Uchiha prick that couldn't beat my little brother killed Naruto?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru and Temari were eating at the BBQ restaurant. Shikamaru had suggested to come here. The two had just finished eating.

"Look, I don't want to believe it either, but that's what everything leads to."

"If you don't want to believe it, then just don't. I mean, you said they never found a body or anything." Temari took a sip of her drink. "Chances are he's alive and well. That's at least what my brother is thinking right now. Now stop looking all pathetic. I hate pathetic guys."

"So you and your brothers will be staying for the funeral?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure Gaara has already adjusted his plans for it."

"I see. Well, I should get going. If I don't get home soon, my mom will become very troublesome."

Temari started laughing. "You still fear your mom?"

"You have no idea what type of hell she can cause if you don't do as she asks. Especially when it's something as simple as coming home at a certain time." Shikamaru got up from the table and put money down to pay for the meal.

"Now this, I gotta see." Temari got up and followed him.

Somewhere in the Land of Fire

Naruto awoke after a few hours of sleep. His body still hurt like hell, but he couldn't sit around in bed much longer. Naruto sat up with a groan as his body was wracked with pain. Naruto saw a pair of crutches sitting next to the bed. He figured the old man had left them there for him. Naruto grabbed the crutches and used them to get himself off the bed.

Naruto made his way out of the room. He couldn't remember ever being in pain for this long after getting beat up. "Damn fox is taking his sweet time healing me," he mumbled. Naruto had no idea where he was going. He was lucky the path he took through house led him to a door.

He opened the door to see he was in a small village. Naruto was unsure of how big it was, but if he had to guess it couldn't hold more than a few hundred people. He looked around to see the old man with a bunch of small children that looked to be around five or so years old.

"You want to see that trick again?" he asked them. All the children started acting excited. The old man clapped his hands together and trees sprouted from the ground and formed duplicates of all of them. The children cheered in excitement. "Now you all run along. I have things I need to do today." the wooden copies sank back into the ground. The children ran off to get back to their homes. "I see you're up and about, Naruto."

"I hate sitting around in bed."

"I see; that's another thing I like about you."

"And what do you mean see? You're looking in the opposite direction." The old man turned around. "And your eyes are still closed..." Naruto was a bit annoyed. "How exactly do you see me? Also, how did you do that?"

"One does not need to have their eyes open to see what is before them."

'Well, that was a bit cryptic...' Naruto thought. "Well, anyhow, you still didn't answer my second question."

"Stay here and I will teach you how to do that and so much more."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Tell me, Naruto. What is the fox sealed inside you doing right now?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"If you stay, I can show you how to control him and his power. Now tell me, what is the fox doing right now? Is he growling at me and cursing my existence?"

"Well... now that you ask, that's exactly what he's doing. He's not using your name though."

"Sounds like him. To that old fox, my name is probably taboo." The old man walked up to Naruto. "So, child, what is your answer? Will you stay and allow me to train you, or will you leave and go back to your village?"

Naruto looked around at the small village he was in and the people that walked by. "Could I have a few days to think about that?"

"Very well. Take all the time you need. Now, come with me. You must be starving by now." the old man motioned Naruto to come inside his home.

Naruto's stomach growled, as if on cue. Naruto followed the old man inside. He didn't know what his decision would be, but if the old man could do what he claimed, it would be more than worthwhile to stay just for that.

A/N So whatcha think?

This story has been one I've wanted to write, so the other day I finally sat down and wrote it.

Can anyone guess who the old man is?

Please review.