Disclaimer: I DO NO OWN NARUTO! I DO NOT OWN ANY OTHER WORKS THAT MAY APPEAR! I do own any original characters (OCs) that I create, as well as the unique bits of the story.

Chapter 02 [Explanations]

Naruto was mortified. He didn't know what the word mean, per say, but he was fairly sure it summed up what he was feeling. A gorgeous woman was in front of him, giggling her cute little tushy off, as he stood there clad only in his boxers.

The Lady finally calmed down after several minutes and was able to look him in the, quite red, face without busting out again. Still, there was a merry twinkle in her eye and a little smirk on her lips as she spoke. "So... You're Naruto-kun, I take it?"

"Uh yeah..." was the boy's oh-so-intelligent response.

"Right then," the beauty nodded to herself and gave a determined sort of look. "I guess this'll work. I'm Ume, by the way." She held out her hand to him expectantly.

"Um, yeah, I'm Naruto." he said, shaking hands.

Ume giggled again, "Yup, we just went over that, remember."

A sweatdrop formed on Naruto's head. 'Right...'

"Anyway, I'm the one who's been assigned your case, as I'm sure you guessed, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on." Ume smiled brightly. "So, do you want the full speech? This is actually my first time as a full caseworker, so I've always wanted to do it. I mean, I know its a little melodramatic and all, but its so cool that I really want to. Do you mind?"

Naruto could only nod dumbly, not having a clue what she was going on about.

"Really? Awesome, here goes." Ume took a deep breath and struck a pose. "Greetings oh Seeker of Wisdom. Know ye who look beyond, that only those with pure intent shall be rewarded. Should you bring darkness in your heart you shall in turn be devoured by it. Seek ye now knowledge from across the divides?" she ended, pointing a finger at Naruto's face.

After several moments of him staring blankly at the finger she leaned forward and whispered "Your supposed to say yes here."

"Oh, right. Yeah, sure." Said Naruto, snapping out of his daze.

"Oh good!" Ume beamed, before snapping back into her pose. "Very well then, mortal Seeker, by your consent you shall enter the Flow and learn what you might. Know then that you are bound by the Oath and shall not be released until thy purpose is complete." A shining light struck Naruto then, knocking him back and onto his rear. A sensation somewhere between burning and tingling spread across the boy's body as countless strange and intricate tattoos appeared upon him for a moment before disappearing.

At this Naruto simply couldn't take it any more. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" he shouted, startling the smiling Ume.

"What do you mean? That was the Binding, it was mentioned in the contract." She seemed honestly confused.

This gave Naruto pause for a moment before he asked, sheepishly, "What contract?"

Ume face-faulted. "The Seal Contract. The one you activated to bring you here. Remember? You did read it right?" she told him as she climbed back to her feet.

Sorting through his memories Naruto started to nod, relieving Ume. "Yeah... I have no idea what your talking about." There went her relief and Ume face-faulted again.

"You don't know?" Ume was really starting to panic now. This was so not what she needed on her first solo case. "How could you not know?" Naruto just shrugged. "How did you even get here if you didn't use the Contract!" Ume was really starting to panic now.

"You know, I'm not sure. One second I was fighting Mizuke-teme and the next I wake up here... in my underpants..." A thought struck Naruto 'I'm not sure I really want to know what happened in between.'

"Fighting? Who's Mizuki?" Ume was desperate to pull the pieces together and maybe salvage something before the case went totally FUBAR.

"Yeah, they guy tricked me into stealing this big scroll and then started attacking me and Iruka-sensei." Naruto winced as his eyes glazed a little. "Anyway, last thing I remember was him throwing this huge shuriken at me... you know, I don't even remember dodging..."

Ume couldn't see how a trickster, a teacher and a big throwing star could lead to him activating a Contract and winding up in Limbo, but she really hoped he didn't make a habit of stealing things. That would really go over well with the Higher Ups. Seizing upon what she saw as her last chance to make heads or tails of this mess, she asked. "Um, Naruto, do you mind if I take a look?"

"Huh, a look at what?" Naruto was having a very hard time following whatever was going on. It wasn't stupidity on his part though, he really just lacked any frame of reference for what was going on. A lack of social interaction will do that to a person, even in normal situations. And this was far from normal.

"Your memories, Naruto. I want to see your memories so I can figure out what happened" 'And make sure you're not a bad-guy or something.'

"You can do that? Cool. Sur- oh. Ah, wait, do you really need to? I mean-" Naruto started, remembering what Mizuki had said about him and the Kyuubi and not wanting Ume to find out about it and think less of him.

"I'm afraid I do, Naruto, its the only way for me to figure things out." Ume said as firmly as her bubbly personality would let her. Naruto was a child and needed a firm had, she told herself.

"Uh, alright. But, please don't hate me, okay? Promise?" Naruto's request was setting off warning bell for Ume left and right, but one look ate his face was enough to squash them. The sheer pathetic wretchedness in his eyes. Not just fear of rejection and pain, but the near certainty of it displayed there was enough to flip her switch from stern professional (more or less) to maternal concern in half-a-heartbeat.

Nealing down and placing one hand on the miserable boy's shoulder she looked right into his eyes and said "I promise" firmly and without a trace of doubt or deception.

Naruto nodded and Ume placed her forehead against his. In the next few seconds his entire life passed before her eyes, even the parts he'd either repressed or been too young to remember. Ume saw what had happened the day he was born, and his parent's sacrifice to protect their beloved village. She saw how that same ungrateful village spat upon that sacrifice and tormented their child in petty vengeance. She saw as the child who should have been hailed as a hero was treated as a wretch and villain before he could even walk. She saw the Leader's ineffectual attempts to protect the boy while denying him the only thing that would have made his life bearable. She saw as he was denied the basic necessities and simple comforts of daily life. She saw as even those tasked with teaching him and others intentionally sabotaged him, and even other children as well, in an effort to keep him simple, weak and ignorant. She saw the beatings and the thefts. She saw as even the squalid apartment he was given to live in was repeatedly vandalized. She saw him growing up with a strong and kind heart despite the hatred he was surrounded with. Finally, she saw as, in his desperation, he sought any way to reach his dreams and was betrayed, and still sought to protect one of the few people who had shown him kindness.

Seeing his last few seconds showed her what she'd originally wanted to know. The blood on his hand combined with residual Chakra in his fingers from his last Jutsu had activated the Seal on the Contract and brought him here. Probably a good thing too, as it didn't seem he would have survived more than a few moments otherwise.

Unable to hold herself back, she grabbed Naruto's shoulders and drew him into a tight hug. This boy had suffered FAR too much and remained pure despite it all. With tears falling from her eyes she promised herself that, accident or now, she would help him no matter what. She would be the best damn caseworker in history for this boy.

In a sense, he was an ideal candidate. Naruto's will was strong, and his goals decidedly benevolent. It wouldn't be surprising if he'd become a twisted monster, considering the environment in which he was raised, but instead of vengeance all he sought was to prove them wrong and earn their respect. In Ume's opinion they could all rot and burn, but it was Naruto's dream and as his caseworker she would help him achieve it. Still, given his situation, maybe she could get him some extra leeway. Make things easier for him or maybe a reward of some kind. She'd have to check with the Higher Ups.

"Alright Naru-kun." she told the now decidedly uncomfortable boy, as he tried to figure out why the she was crying. "I'm sorry for getting you all wet there." Ume tried to smile for him as she leaned back a bit to look him over.

"So, ah, you don't hate me?" Naruto ventured hopefully, praying that her tears didn't mean she was afraid of him or anything.

"What! NO! Naru-kun, you didn't do anything wrong! I would never hate you!" Ume was adamant about expressing this, even grabbing his shoulders and shaking the boy to get her point through.

A dizzy Naruto smiled a little as she released him and he tried to regain his balance. "Does that mean you know what happened?"

"Ah, yes. I found out how you got here, Naru-kun." Ume smiled happily at the boy, glad to be able to put his fears to rest. "You actually did use the Contract, you see, though it seems you did it by accident. The Seal was part of the Forbidden Scroll and you managed to smear some of your blood on it when you collapsed."

"It was an accident, I swear!" Naruto insisted, fearing he'd get in trouble for getting the precious scroll dirty. It had happened before at the Academy.

"I know, Naru-kun, you're not in any trouble. Don't worry." Ume reassured the boy, her maternal instincts firmly in overdrive. "If anything, I'd be the one in trouble, since I didn't check before setting up the Binding."

This actually angered Naruto a little. This lady who was being to nice to him could get in trouble because he got blood on a scroll he shouldn't have had in the first place? That wasn't fair!

Naruto was working up a good head of steam on his righteous indignation when Ume laid a hand on his face, brushing the bangs, which he usually kept back with his goggles, back out of his eyes and smiled down at him. "Don't worry about me either, Naru-kun. All it means is that I've got to have a talk with my bosses. I'll be fine." Rising the turned and started walking away before looking back over her shoulder. "Wait here for me, okay Naru-kun? I'll be back real soon." And with that she headed off, disappearing from sight a moment later.

Without a clue what to do next, Naruto plopped down to take a nap.

It was perhaps an hour later, from Naruto's perspective, when Ume returned to the White Room to find Naruto asleep. She'd just gotten out of, what was to her, a week long conference with the Higher Ups and had finally gotten something approaching what she thought of as fair for the poor battered youth. The Binding was already in place, so they couldn't go back on it, but she'd managed to get him considerable special dispensation. Multiple level access, use of restricted abilities, sanctioned interference, even spiritual stabilization. Hell, she'd even gotten them to offer the Kyuubi some incentives for working with Naru-kun rather than against him. It might not be everything she could have wanted for the boy, which would have been to make him an invincible immortal absolutely safe from any harm or hurt, but it was a lot more than they usually gave out or had given out in centuries.

Still, she could wait to explain things to him until he woke up. Gently, she placed the boy's head on her lap and stroked his hair as she watched him sleep.

Naruto woke having slept more comfortably then he could remember ever having slept. He felt warm and safe, despite having gone to bed on the ground in a strange white room with just his underwear on and absolutely no idea what was happening. Still, the feeling was there and he let himself bask in in for a few moments before opening his eyes.

And nearly jumped at the sight that greeted him. There, looking down at him happily as she stroked his cheek, was Ume. She smiled when she saw his eyes open and gently pinched his nose. "Good morning sleepy." she cooed brightly.

"Ah, uh, morning Ume-chan," was his mumbled response as he was torn between scrambling away and staying right where he was in the lady's warm lap. In the end comfort won out and he relaxed and let her keep petting him for a while longer. Naruto did wonder if it was normal for him to start purring though.

About fifteen minutes later Naruto finally convinced himself to move and shifted to a sitting position facing Ume.

"Ready for the day, Naruto-kun?" Ume wouldn't admit it, but seeing Naruto confused and embarrassed was just about the cutest thing she'd ever imagined and was actively trying to trigger more. She also felt happy that he trusted her enough not to freak out about her face-petting habits. And those purrs where just so adorable.

"Sure, what are we doing?" Since Naruto had no idea what he was supposed to do, or even where he was, he was fine with following Ume's lead for the time being. She'd been kind to him and shown him genuine affection, and thus was well on her way to a spot in his "precious person" list.

"Well~, do you remember when I said I had to go talk to my bosses? Well, it took some doing but I managed to get you some special extras. I had to pull a few strings, call in a couple favors and exploit every legal loophole I could find, but I managed to get you the Full-out, Official Ultra Deluxe Package."

"Eh... what?" Naruto's confused face appeared again, making Ume feel all warm and fuzzy. "Wait, I mean, thanks for everything you did and all, but I still don't know what I'm doing here, you know?"

Ume froze, she hadn't forgotten that again, had she? "Um, hehe, sorry about that Naruto-kun. I meant to explain things, but I guess I got caught up in the moment. Sorry." Naruto waved away her apology with a grin and she continued. "Well... Oh, where to start? Ah, I know. This place. It's called the Waiting Room. It's where new Seekers, like you, arrive and are assigned a Caseworker, like me. Seeker is the official term for someone who's activated the Seal Contract. The Contract basically says that, in exchange for various knowledge, the Seeker will preform various tasks and labors. Basically, it means you'll work in exchange for training."

At this Naruto couldn't help an exited "Hell Yeah, dattebayo!" Proper training was what he wanted practically more than anything else in the world, with the possible exception of Ichiraku Ramen. The idea that someone would be willing to provide Real Training in exchange for a few odd jobs was a dream come true for the poor kid.

"Now, the way you got here was very unorthodox (that means unusual, Naruto-kun), with you activating the Contract by accident, so I managed to get you a free pass on the more mundane and boring jobs" Naruto Yay-ed here and Ume gently shushed him. "And, having reviewed your life so far, and considering how well you turned out despite everything, the Higher Ups okay-ed the full, Six Paths treatment. You'll even get a couple bonuses and extras on top of all that. Isn't that great Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's exited agreement came in the form of a flying tackle hug and the two blonds wound up rolling around, with things quickly degrading into a tickle fight and Ume finally pinning the laughing boy after a long struggle.

It was a happily breathless Naruto that finally climbed to his feet a few minutes later. "Um, Ume-chan, can I ask something?"

"Sure Naruto-kun, as your Caseworker it's my job to help you anyway I can. That includes answering questions, so don't worry about that from now on, okay? So just go ahead and ask." Ume was glad for the chance to help him. If she got her way the boy would become the greatest warrior, scholar and leader his world had ever known, if only to show those blind, ungrateful villagers just who they'd been treating like trash. Anything she could do to help him, she would.

"Well... do you think I could have some clothes?"

Authors Notes:

And that's a wrap for chapter two. I'll be editing it some later, cause I know that the uploader keeps taking out my scene breaks and stuff (stupid thing) and I'll be putting up some better Notes when I do and maybe answering some questions if anyone wants to ask. See ya then.