Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Four years had passed since that fateful day which claimed the lives of so many. Both young and old. The village managed to maintain it strength in spite of everything. With Minato Namikaze still reigning as the Hokage the village felt capable to be able to withstand even the mightiest of storms.

During these three years many things were being done. Due to the damage that Shukaku did to the merchant district, many were out of jobs and the village had to rely on it's ninja force to supply it's income. Luckily, Minato had convinced the Civilian and Shinobi council to lend their vast wealth to help the village recover. With their help and the and some from the Fire Lord, the village made a speedy recovery with Minato leading the charge.

Speaking of which, Minato was currently in the Hokage tower with his three year old son. The boy was turning out to be very much like his mother and father, both in looks and physical traits. The boy had a rounder face that more closely resembled his mother while his unruly hair most certainly followed in the wake of his father. His skin tone and eyes also seemed to follow closely in league with his father as well.

Naruto was walking, more like stumbling and falling, but nonetheless trying his hardest to move about. Minato always watched his son with great interest for many reasons. First and foremost, as a Father. To him it was exciting to watch him grow and help him along when needed it. Secondly, he watched for Kushina who never got to make it this far.

Lastly, he was watching for signs of how Shukaku affected him. Naruto sometimes had trouble sleeping and would toss and turn at night. Sometimes his eyes would change color to Shukaku's yellow when he woke up. When questioned about it Naruto would say he was having weird dreams about an odd pile of sand. Minato also noted that during a full moon Naruto would be far more agitated than normal.

Minato was pulled out of his thoughts as his son stumbled and knocked into his desk followed by a rather loud "Ow" from the boy.

"Naruto." Minato said in his fatherly tone"You need to be more careful then that. You might get hurt." Naruto for his part was hardly paying attention as he ran about and smacked directly into a chair. Minato sighed and shook his head. Teaching the boy was bound to be rough. Naruto tried to stay conscious but quickly drifted off into darkness.

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[Naruto's Mindscape]

Naruto opened his eyes and smiled at his surroundings. He always enjoyed his trips here though he never understood quite how he got here. He looked into the giant set of bars and his smile widened.

"Sand Man!" Naruto belted out trying to get the beast's attention, while not knowing his name. Shukaku stiffed and turned around only to smile.

"Naruto!" Shukaku bellowed out. While it is true Shukaku is normally psychotic and wild and dangerous he couldn't act that way now. Not with the Sage counting on him. Shukaku loved his father dearly and thus took his job protecting Naruto very seriously. Of course being able to play with the boy every now and then was fun too.

Naruto ran inside the huge bars. Shukaku lowered his head, if a bit clumsily, and put his snout directly in front of Naruto. Naruto, as per usual with Shukaku, reached out and began to pet Shukaku on the nose. This caused Shukaku to wave his enormous tail back and forth. The two spent the next several minutes playing before he woke up.

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[Real World]

When Naruto awoke he looked upon a strange sight. Above him was his Father, a rather busty blonde women, and another man with exceptionally white spiky hair and red lines on his face.

"Just as I thought. The brats head is way to thick for him to be actually hurt." The blonde women spoke. Causing a frown from his father.

"Tsunade. That isn't very nice to say about little Naruto." The women, now known as Tsunade, scoffed at him.

"Oh come on. The brats head is about as thick as Jiraiya's head." She pointed to the spiky haired man now identified as Jiraiya. Jiraiya crossed his arms over his chest.

"It can't be that bad." Both Tsunade and Minato looked at him sternly. In return his simply sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Meanwhile, Naruto began to stir and sit up.

"Ah it lives!" Jiraiya said with an amusing tone. Minato himself just sighed, happy his son was alright. Tsunade rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Minato relax. Its not like anything serious happened to him." Following this both Jiraiya and Minato stood up.

"True but as a parent you can't help but to worry." Jiraiya laughed happily at his pupil.

"I'll bet it does!" Minato chuckled with his Sensei. Naruto on the other hand was back up and running around like nothing had happened to him, smiling and laughing all the while.

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One year later, Minato and Naruto were on their way to a political meeting with the Hyuuga Clan and Aburame Clan. Minato being the Clan Head of the Namikaze Clan meant that he had to make allies and be friendly with the other clans. It could be rough at times, especially with Hiashi's stubborn elders, but Minato enjoyed the company it brought. Plus it gave Naruto someone to play with as the branch members often had kids around his age.

Of course Naruto never saw it this way and normally proceeded to complain about it as often as he could.

"But Dad do we haaave to go?"Naruto drawled out in an exaggeratedly bored tone of voice. Being in a noble family, due to his Father's accession into the Hokage ranks, meant that he had to dress like such. If only for important meetings like this one. Minato was dressed in his full Hokage robes and hat. Naruto was dressed in a bright orange and tan colored kimono made of silk.

"Yes Naruto we do and you might want to pay attention. You will have to do this some day yanno?" Minato said as they walked down the street to the Hyuuga compound. Naruto groaned loudly and drug his feet across the ground in silent protest.

"Stop that Naruto. Tell you what. If you are good during this meeting. Afterwards we will head out to go get ramen. Whaddya say?" Naruto instantly perked up at that thought.

"Okay yeah! Ramen time!" He began to do a little dance in the middle of the street causing Minato to sweatdrop.

"Uhh Naruto I did say after the meeting." Naruto instantly looked beyond devastated but figured he was still getting ramen. The two picked up the pace and quickly made their way to the house.

[A few minutes later]

After a few moments of travel the duo arrived to their location. They were quickly greeted by two Hyuuga branch member guards. After making sure they were really who they said they were (Can never be too careful eh?) they went in.

Minato suspected it might be a rather boring gathering and he was right. He had been in there merely five minutes and one of the elders were already trying to convince him to listen to his idea. Minato politely told him that he couldn't listen right now but the man insisted! Lucky for him Hiashi came to the rescue.

"Lord Hokage it is an honor to have you here in my estate." Hiashi said with a bow of respect. His wife, Hitomi, bowed also. Minato and Naruto bowed in return. Naruto was looking up when he noticed a small amount of cloth and hair moving.

"Hey dad who is that?" He pointed to the little mass that was hiding behind Hitomi's leg. Hiashi and Hitomi both looked down and smiled. Causing the little girl to let out an 'eep' like noise.

"Naruto, this is my daughter Hinata. Hinata be polite and say hello." Hiashi asked.

"H-h-hello." The girl named Hinata said with a brilliant stutter to her voice. She raised her head so her face could be seen. The girl had lavender hair and the Hyuuga eyes. He skin and facial shape followed very close to that of her mother. Hitomi smiled.

"She does stutter quite a bit. She is just a tad shy." Hitomi spoke with a kindness to her voice that most certainly is not a Hyuuga voice.

Minato smiled and knelt down to the girls height "Hello little Hinata. My name is Minato. It is nice to meet you." He smiled at the little girl who in turn smiled back. "Naruto come say hello."

Naruto awkwardly waddled his way over to his fathers side and smiled "Nice to meet you Hinata. I'm Naruto!" He proclaimed loudly causing the little girl to blush. Hitomi noticed this and smiled.

"Quite the pair eh?" Hiashi said with a slight grin.

"Indeed!" Minato laughed while returning to his standing position. The trio of adults were about to leave when Naruto pulled on his dad's robes. Minato looked down and knew exactly what he wanted. Without a second thought he tossed down a small bag and the three left to go to another room, leaving the two kids alone.

Naruto caught the bag and smiled widely. Hinata tilted her head to side.

"N-Naruto what is in t-that?" Hinata asked with a blush on her face. Naruto turned to her like she was crazy but remembered she had never seen him before so he let it slide. Naruto smiled so wide Hinata thought his face might break.

"Well I have this cool thingy dad told me where I can move sand with my mind!" Naruto stated proudly. Not even noticing that two people had shown up next to them. One adult and one child. Both looked somewhat creepy.

"That sounds like something my Clan does. Why you may ask? It is because through the use of our mind and chakra network we too can control things with our mind. In our case bugs." Shibi spoke in a plain tone, scaring the little children. Almost as soon as the duo showed up a Hyuuga came and took Shibi to the meeting room with the others, leaving his son behind.

Naruto and Hinata both looked at each other before looking to the new boy in sunglasses. Naruto decided to take the imitative.

"Uh Hi there! My name is Naruto Namikaze! Nice to meet you." Naruto said with a certain happiness to his voice. Hinata, being the painfully shy person she was, could only manage a nod. The boy eyed the scene carefully.

"I am Shino Aburame." Shino said rather dryly. The three all nodded to each other. "What was that thing you were doing with the sand?" Shino asked in a curious tone of voice. Naruto seemed to snap back to reality and re-adopt his large grin.

"Oh right!I can move it and make shapes with it!" To further his point Naruto took the sand out of the bag and poured it on the floor. To everyone's surprise the sand began to float up and land in Naruto's hand, forming a small pyramid.

The rest of the time for the little kids was spent with them watching Naruto make various things with his sand and the three getting to know each other. Naruto found that he rather enjoyed the company of Hinata and Shino, they were both very good listeners. Shino enjoyed the trip and company because they never once judged him for his family and their style of fighting. Hinata enjoyed it because they were never mean to her nor did that ever make fun of her.

Before long the parents came back out to collect their respective children. Each of them were smiling which was odd considering who Hiashi and Shibi were.

"Hey Naruto, did you have fun playing?" Minato asked. Naruto looked up and smiled.

"Oh hey dad. Yeah I had tons of fun with Shino and Hinata!" Naruto proclaimed loudly. The other adults simply smiled at the scene.

"Well maybe sometime later we can set up a play date?" Minato asked looking more towards Hiashi and Shibi, both of which simply nodded in return. Naruto saw this and smiled to his two new friends.

"I hate to do this but we have to be going now. Come on Naruto. Say bye to your friends." Minato reached down and grabbed his son's hand. The two moved for the door while Naruto was saying by. Both gave another bow before leaving nearly bumping into a man.

Hiashi watched the two leave with a smile. That quickly vanished when a ninja from the cloud showed up.

"There you are. I am sorry but my meeting went on a moment longer than expected. We will have to convene tomorrow. For now I will have a branch member show you to your room." Hiashi said with a bow before collecting his daughter and wife and heading back. Hiashi did notice the odd look the Cloud ninja was giving his daughter.

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Just as promised, and as Naruto begged, the two ended up at the Ramen stand. Minato of course was on good terms with them being Hokage and their greatest customer wrapped into one. Naruto on the other was quickly joining his father. The two ordered their food and quickly took to it, piling bowls on top of bowls till they were both done and full. Naruto was standing at the edge of the stand when he felt something.

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what he felt but it was like he could feel someone's feet hitting the ground. Another feeling nagged at Naruto. Something...wrong was going on and he had to find out. While Minato was catching up with the shop owners, Naruto took off in the direction of the noise.

Running as quick as his little feet could carry him he heard Shukaku speak to him, although this wasn't the first time.

"Hey pup, keep an eye out. Somethin' 'ere smells wrong." Naruto nodded as he ran feeling as though Shukaku is right. As he was running he literally ran face first into a man.

"Watch yourself kid!" said the man as he bent over and picked up a wiggling sack. Naruto eyed the sack and sniffed the air a moment and recognized the scent.

"Hey why is Hinata in that bag?" Naruto asked sternly. The man snarled at the sack.

"Help!" Hinata yelled. The man cocked his leg back and moved to kick her but something grabbed his leg and refused to let go. He looked over and was completely shocked.

Naruto had willed the small amount of sand his dad gave him and made it expand to a size big enough to restrain him. Naruto's left eye was now that of Shukaku's eye. The man growled and broke the hold the sand had on him. Growling deeply Naruto dropped into a fighting stance, albeit a very loose and unskilled stance.

The man dashed at him with the speed and grace of a jonin and clocked him across the face. Naruto was sent flying and landed harshly. Naruto slowly began to stand up and his chakra began spiking to an all new level. Naruto looked up and much to his opponent's surprise, both of his eyes were now Shukaku yellow.

"You will not hurt Hinata anymore!" Naruto roared in a mix between Shukaku's and his voice, releasing a blast of killer intent along with each word. The jonin level assailant, despite his best efforts, began to shake in fear of the young boy. Without another moment passing Naruto inhaled a large amount of air and shot it out at such a high speed the man could not counter or dodge the move at all. He was hit dead on and sent careening into a nearby building. His sand seemed to follow his subconscious and protected Hinata from taking any kind of damage.

Naruto roared out in obvious blood-lust and pain. It wasn't until Minato arrived that the boy gave out and collapsed on the ground. Minato rushed over and checked his seal and vitals. Within moments Hiashi and Hitomi Hyuuga were both there and looked to be in a severe panic. Upon seeing Naruto on the ground and a squirming bag they relaxed a bit. Hiashi went to go check on the boy with his eyes and Hitomi went to go check on the bag. Much to her joy, little Hinata was not harmed in anyway. She was just scared.

Naruto on the other hand was not doing as well as he could. His chakra coils were overly expanded due to the sudden influx of chakra and he was in a state of severe chakra exhaustion. His seal was only slightly weakened but not so much that the demon could break through. Minato wondered how Shukaku could affect Naruto so much with the seal fully intact. Minato looked up and to his surprise the moon was full and shining brightly. He figured it must have something to do with that.

"Hiashi how is Naruto doing?" Minato asked curiously, worried for his son's health.

"He is fine. His chakra coils are a bit over extended but nothing a few weeks in the hospital cannot fix." Hiashi stated calmly. Though his voice did betray a slight hint of concern. Minato let out a small sigh. His son would be okay. Hitomi came back with an unconscious Hinata in her arms.

"Hitomi, how is little Hinata doing?" Hiashi asked, fully allowing his voice to show concern. Hitomi smiled.

"She is doing fine. Just scared after what happen." Hiashi sighed in contentment.

"Good good. I cannot believe the ambassador from the Cloud was here only for her." Hiashi said with venom in his voice. Not a moment later a noise was heard coming from a hole inside of a building. The three adults looked over to the hole to see an Anbu with gravity defying white hair come out holding a barely conscious man in his hand.

"Lord Hokage, I was scanning the disruption when I stumbled upon this man. I believe him to be the culprit." Hiashi quickly looked over and studied the man before looking to Minato and nodding.

"That is him." Hiashi said with barely controlled anger. Minato nodded and stood up with Naruto in his arms.

"Take him to Torture and Interrogation and have Ibiki get what he can out of him when he wakes up." Minato said with a calm to his voice before turning to Hiashi and Hitomi "I am sorry to cut this short but I want to get him to the Hospital." They both nodded.

"We will be visiting him often. We are going to take Hinata home so that she may rest. I wish him a speedy recovery." Hitomi said and both bowed before turning to leave. Minato himself bowed slighty and left with haste to the hospital.

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[Naruto's Mindscape]

"Ow!" Naruto said as he sat up quickly and was confused as to why he was back in his mind. He looked around curiously. Yep, this most certainly his mind. The tell tale signs of sand every were proof enough. The whole place looked like a large pyramid with sand as the floor, random inscriptions littered the walls.

Shukaku woke up from his slumber and looked at Naruto curiously. Shukaku himself was just getting over the feeling of someone forcefully drawing on his chakra. It was a surprising and exhausting sensation.

"Oi pup, I was sleepin'. What was happen out there?" Shukaku asked curiously, his loud voice booming over everything and echoing in the halls.

"Hinata was begin attacked I think. I remember him trying to kick her...after that I don't remember what happened." Shukaku lowered his head as a show to calm his host down from his visibly scared state.

"Calm down pup. I don't think he got away. You drew on my chakra. We must have got him" Shukaku assured to Naruto who seemed to accept it well enough.

"Oh that makes sense I guess. I wonder where I am now. Or what even happened." Naruto said while his face screwed up in deep thought. Shukaku closed his eyes and thought about it as well. Neither of them could come up with answer. So Naruto thought, until he wakes up he may as well talk with Shukaku.

"Hey umm I'm embarrassed to ask this but uhh what is your name?" Shukaku just sat there and blinked once...then twice. What was it with these humans and thinking they could talk to him like another human. Shukaku sighed.

"I am the Ichibi, Shukaku." he said with pride in his voice. "And I am stronger then that damned fox!" He roared. Naruto looked up at the crazy Tanuki like he was. Well, like he was crazy.

"Fox?" Naruto asked curiously. Shukaku stopped his stomping around and ranting to look at Naruto.

"Yeah the Kyuubi?" Shukaku said as if everyone would know what he was talking about. This served just to confuse Naruto even more so than he was before.

"Kyuubi? What is that?" Shukaku looked at the kid like he was the most sheltered person to ever exist but he had to remind himself that the Kyuubi was a rare sight.

"Pup, do you know what I am?" Shukaku asked and Naruto shook his head. "I am a Tailed Beast. The first of nine. Kyuubi is the ninth." Naruto nodded before a question entered his head.

"Wait Shukaku, if there are nine and you are the first does that make you the strongest?" Shukaku looked as though he might kill the kid at that point but sighed and shook his massive head.

"No pup. Each of us are better at things than others but our strength is often counted by our tails. Making me the weakest." He growled as he let that out. "But I am not weak! I have the strongest defense!" Shukaku roared proudly. Naruto looked at him curiously for a moment.

"How do you have the best defense?" Naruto asked innocently enough. Shukaku calmed down and motioned to Naruto to come closer to the bars.

"I control sand. As my host you get this ability too. In fact now that my chakra is known to your system I believe the protection sand ability is yours." Naruto looked beyond confused at the last part. "Just ask ye pops for a large jar of sand. Ye will see what I mean!" Shukaku stated proudly.

Naruto smiled and stuck his hand out in a fist. Shukaku eyed it but looked at the boy's face. That smile was one that believed in happiness and believed in himself, and by extension, in Shukaku. Shukaku smiled a feral smile and stuck his fist out and bumped it with Naruto.

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AN: Chapter two done! Thank you to all for the support thus far. Means a lot to me. Next chapter will be up soon. Until then!