Disclaimer: i shall state this only once, i wish i woned Naruto, then i woulndn't have to work, i would just get paid for my ideas...

Location: konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

Naruto sat in his apartment pondering recent developments, his hands gentle, but firm as they ease a stone across a knife, an identical one sat at his knee, the polished edge beautiful and deadly. His hands guiding themselves, his mind wanders back to the beginning.

"welcome back naruto." Sakura's voice, he truly had missed it while he was travelling with jiraya, but all that time away had given him time to figure out what he really wanted.

"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed as he bolted to her, and wrapped her in a hug. 'Thunk' a solid sound, and a pain in his head told him exactly what happened.

"put me down you idiot." While not said with the venom she used to put into her curses at him, it still hurt to hear it.

"ne sakura, what was that for? I just wanted to give you a hug, you didn't have to hit me for it." Naruto gently put her back on her feet, and stepped back, to see her face.

Shaking her head, sakura dropped her hands, "look, I'm sorry about that, but it's more like a reflex now. Are you ok? I didn't hit you to hard did I?"

The true concern in her face lifted naruto back up, as he replied. "no, it's ok, I kinda asked for it, catching you off guard and all. But I do have something I need to talk to you about."

This was new, Naruto never admitted that he might have deserved a punch from sakura, and the serious look on his face… well that was new. "what did you want to talk to me about?"

Naruto sheepishly grinned, and scratched the back of his head." Well, you probably won't think it needs discussing, but it's about us…"

That's as far as sakura let him get before her mind jumps to its own conclusion. "There is no us, there never was, and I highly doubt there ever will be!"

"that's just it sakura, there is, was, and always will be, but not like I used to want it, and not like you are thinking. The us that was, is gone, we have both grown up. The us that is, is the remnants of team seven…" naruto let sadness tinge his voice as he drifted off into silence.

Properly chastened, sakura dropped her head, and softly whispered, "and the us that will be?"

Naruto gently embraced sakura, as he whispered in her ear. "the us that will be… that remains to be seen, I know you are not even slightly interested in me, and I know that I used to always bug you for a date, but for the future, I would just be happy if you would be my friend. That is the 'us' that I wish to be."

Sakura sighed when she felt naruto let her go, it felt good to have a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, protecting her from the world, and even though it was naruto, she just couldn't bring herself to hit him this time. "you're right, I guess I owe ino a free lunch now…" she looked up, and a genuine smile bloomed on her face. "thank you for being my friend naruto, even after everything I have done to you."

"why do you owe Ino lunch?" naruto actually looked cute as his face scrunched up in confusion.

Seeing Naruto's face, Sakura laughed. "because she said that one day I'd get into an argument with you, and you would win…"

The funny look naruto gave her made her chuckle as he pouted, "of course I'd win an argument, I am Naruto Uzumaki after all." So saying, he struck a heroic pose.

Sakura couldn't hold in the giggles, and soon, was clutching her sides, laughing breathlessly, as naruto let a genuine smile grace his face. "ne Sakura, does this mean you're going to stop hitting me so much?"

Sakura had to take several deep breaths before she could speak. "hey, naruto?" at his questioning look, she continued. "half the reasons I had for hitting you, were because you'd ask me out. If you don't bug me like that, I promise, I will try to keep from hitting you."

"Works for me!" naruto grinned, and turned, before saying, "well, I gotta go, something tells me I need to find and prank pervy sage…" and with a bound, he was off.

Coming out of his memory, naruto took a glance at the time. Carefully placing the stone he held down, his eyes began to inspect his work. 'hmmm, almost ready to change stones again.' He thought to himself as he gently placed the knife off to the side, and rose to his feet. "well, baa-chan asked to talk to me today, guess I better go see what she wants."

As naruto walked into the hokage's tower, he idly waved at the guards. The tower seemed almost empty, but naruto knew from experience that this was just a break in the storm that was the workday. He reached the door to the hokage's office, and just as he was about to knock, Tsunade's voice bid him enter.

The office was, as always, neat, and empty. Tsunade, fifth hokage, and sannin of konohagakure, sat behind her desk, hands clasped before her, standing to her left, and slightly behind, was jiraya, toad sage, and also one of the sannin of the leaf.

"jiraya, if you would." Tsunade spoke softly, but there was no mistaking the order in her words, so with a silent nod, he began a set of hand seals.

Closing the door, naruto watched as his teacher built his chakra, but idly questioned, "why the privacy barrier baa-chan?"

Tsunade sighed, this was a day she didn't want to come, but it had arrived, and with it, the terror that was nagging at her, whispering to her that she was going to lose another one of her precious people, but that this time, it would all be her fault. Shaking off her doubts, she gestured at a chair, and began to speak. "Naruto, jiraya has told me that you have managed to harness the kyuubi's chakra, and that now when you use it, it glows purple instead of red, please explain."

Huffing in displeasure, Naruto took a deep breath, and let out a sigh. "where to begin? Well, I guess I should state that I have been able to talk with the kyuubi since the chuunin exams. Every time I got a chance, I would go talk with kyuubi, to try and understand why konoha was attacked. I still don't know, but I guess that having someone who actually wanted to listen calmed the kyuubi, though it did help that every time it wanted to hurt me, the seal held it back." Tsunade looked as though she wanted to say something, but held her peace. Naruto was glad she held her thoughts, because this wasn't going to get any easier before it was done.

"eventually, kyuubi decided that I didn't come just to gloat, and we began talking, mostly about different places at first. Then one day, I went to talk, and just about had a heart attack. There, inside kyuubi's cell, was a girl, it took a moment before I realized that she looked just like my oiroke no jutsu, and as I looked, she sprouted nine tails. That was the day I found out that the nine tailed fox was actually a female. After that, we started discussing other stuff, and surprising as it is, she offered to help me with my chakra control. It's just my opinion, but I think she was so happy when I figured out how to let her experience life with me, her cell was all closed up, and she couldn't even stretch her legs. But now, she can see through my eyes, and hear through my ears. I didn't restrict her, so if she wants, she can come and go. I have been considering this for a while, but I didn't want to bring it up, because I figured I knew how you would react, but I guess now is as good a time as any." Naruto screwed up his courage, and steeled himself, "I was thinking that I could let the kyuubi out, kind of like 'on parole' or something."

Sure enough, Jiraya went bug eyed and slack jawed, while Tsunade jumped from her chair, and screamed. "you want to WHAT?! Don't you know what happened the LAST time she was loose in konoha? Just exactly how many family members do you intend to lose THIS time?"

Jiraya wasn't fast enough to catch her before she said that, so all he could do was slap his forehead, and sigh. "Tsunade…"

"WHAT? Oh…" she spun on jiraya, and once she realized what she had said, clamped her hand over her mouth, before sliding bonelessly into her chair.

Naruto was speechless, the only thought in is head was, 'they knew… they knew my parents, and never told me.' Another voice called to him gently, asking him if he was alright. The concern echoing through him warmed him enough to grab his thoughts and forcibly order them. A single thought travelled through his mind, directed inward, and that was 'thank you Sena'

Pulling in a deep breath of air, Naruto growled, freezing tsunade as she was bringing her hand away from her mouth. "you knew." Not a question, a statement. "you would keep me from it, and yet you won't let me do what I think is right." A single hand sign, and a cloud of smoke later, there stood naruto next to a clone, henged into a female. "you will trust me on this, and nothing you can do will reverse it." Channeling chakra into one hand, naruto forced his seal to appear, and bridged two symbols with his thumb and forefinger. "my body, my burden, MY CHOICE!" Naruto yelled as he pinched and pulled, part of the volume of his voice was anger, but another part was of pain. Drawing his hand away from the seal, he held a pulsing ball of purple chakra, and with a gentle motion, placed his hand over the clone's heart, and pushed.