Chapter 2: Framed

Naruto was no stranger to nightmares, in fact they were a regular occurrence for him. Though he of course did his best to hide this fact from his friends. However, this particular nightmare was different. Naruto was having problems separating this nightmare realm from reality. He found himself inside his mindscape, in the section that was supposed to represent the demon fox being imprisoned inside him. But all he could see was gray, like he was surrounded by a thick fog. Even stranger, neither the fox nor its cage were anywhere to be seen. The only indicator that this was his mindscape was the water from the leaky pipes flowing over the floor, washing over his feet.

"What is this place?" he asked. In the next second, he gasped and reached for his throat. What the hell was wrong with his voice? It sounded echo like and distant.

"This is the other side," a voice suddenly spoke behind him.

Naruto spun around quickly and braced himself to fight but he relaxed when he saw the figure who had spoke. He looked frail, Naruto could see that his arms and legs were mostly just skin and bone. There was not much else he could tell about him though as a long black cloak covered the rest of his body as well as a hood which shrouded his face in darkness.

"Who the hell are you?" Naruto asked. His voice still sounded distant like but Naruto had no difficulty in understanding what was being said so he just went with it.

The figure cocked its head a little before answering, "What an odd question. I would think you of all people would know who I am but I guess it's only natural that you're so clueless." The figure's voice also had the same problems as Naruto's, rendering Naruto unable to identify him via speech recognition.

"You're not making any sense. Have we met before?" Naruto asked squinting his eyes.

The boy laughed. "That's so like you. It's like you forgot the situation you're in already."

Naruto then remembered where he was and immediately turned serious. "Oh yeah! Where the hell am I and who are you?!" Naruto demanded again.

The boy shrugged. "I already answered those questions, but it seems my words are lost on you."

"Stop being vague and start making sense!" Naruto yelled.

The boy sighed and said, "Let me ask a question of my own then, Naruto. Why do you still have this idea in your head that Sasuke is worth saving?"

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed angrily, "What the hell do you know about Sasuke? What the hell do you know about me for that matter?" Naruto asked.

"You know you won't get answers if all you do is ask questions." The boy said holding his hands to the side and shaking his head. "But I will answer yours first, I guess. Let it suffice to say you may not know me yet, but I know you. I mean, that's not uncommon, right? Everyone knows who you are. That's why they avoid you, right?" the boy asked.

Naruto could not find a reply to that his lips moved a little bit no sound came from them. 'Who the hell is this guy?' Naruto thought.

The boy waved to him and said, "I wouldn't worry about it, after all this is just a dream, right?"

"I don't know are you telling me it is?" Naruto asked.

The boy sighed again and sat down against the wall, he riding seem to mind the water under him. "I wonder...dream and reality are two sides of the same coin but to you I'll just disappear when you wake up. So maybe I never existed in the first place."

Naruto did not know why but for some reason he found himself pitying this stranger who seemed to know him. But why would that be? "If your thoughts are your own then doesn't that mean you exist?" Naruto asked.

The boy laughed at the question, "There you go again with those pointless questions…" he turned his head away, "But if those thoughts are not my own, then that's still a false existence Isn't it?" Naruto was about to reply but boy stood up and began to walk away. "Forget it. This was a waste of time."

"Hey where are you going?! How do I get out of here?!" Naruto yelled after him.

"Enjoy playtime while it lasts, I guess. I hope we don't meet again," he whispered before vanishing.

Naruto was prevented from calling out to the dream boy by the sound of a bell chime pulling him back into reality.

x-x

Naruto fell out of his bed roughly as he heard his doorbell ring again, "Alright already! I'm coming! He yelled still drowsy. He quickly threw on his orange jacket over his t-shirt and headed for the front door.

"Damn it! Do you have any idea what time it is?" he complained.

His complaint was shortly met with an iron fist to his face through the front door and he found both himself and the door flying backwards in a tailspin. "That's what I should be telling you, smart ass!" Sakura's voice yelled through the doorway.

Naruto was dazed for a moment as he counted the stars flying around his head but he got ahold of his bearings and rubbed his sore face, "That really hurt, Sakura-chan," Naruto whined wondering what he had done to deserve such a harsh wake up call. "And you owe me a new door too, y'know!"

"It's gonna be worse in a minute if you don't get in gear and wake up," Sakura ignored Naruto's complaints as she yelled, her expression showing great annoyance with her teammate.

"What's the rush?" Naruto promptly forgot his complaints and asked out of curiosity.

"Kakashi-sensei is waiting for us at Training Ground Three. What else do you think it would be, idiot?" Sakura asked as if it were obvious.

"Kakashi-sensei? What does he want?" Naruto asked.

"I dunno. I guess we'll find out when we get there so hurry up!"

"But I haven't even ate yet-" but before Naruto could finish his sentence Sakura gave him an evil glare and asked in a dark ominous voice,

"What was that?"

Naruto gulped and scratched his head. "Nothing at all! I'll get ready right away!" he said while dashing back to his room.

He threw on his pants and his headband after taking a brief shower. But as he went to look at himself in the mirror he saw something off. "What the hell is that…?" Naruto whispered looking at his left eye. The color of the iris had turned red, the sclerae from white to black, and the pupil vanished. He quickly rubbed his eyes and looked in the mirror again, and this time, his eye looked perfectly normal. "Must have been that weird dream," he muttered.

"Hurry up, Naruto!" he heard Sakura yell.

"Right! Sorry! I'm on my way!" he yelled back. But he was suddenly stopped when he felt his stomach growl loudly. 'Ahhh I'm really hungry…' he thought.

"Naruto?!" Sakura yelled.

"Coming, Sakura-chan," Naruto gritted out, forcing himself to forget his hunger and follow after his pink-haired teammate, who was actually starting to get on his nerves.

x-x

Meanwhile, Hinata Hyūga was also waking up and preparing for her morning as well. As she put on her lavender parka she wore everyday, she could hear voices coming from her father's office. Hinata had never known her father to shout before and so far he had not this time but Hinata could tell her father was at the very least annoyed with whoever else was in that office. Curiosity took over and Hinata activated her Byakugan and focused it on her father's office. She could clearly see her father in a heated argument with a much younger man, someone who appeared to be the same age as her.

'That's odd. Otō-sama never spoke about this man,' Hinata thought to herself. Of course the most reasonable explanation was that her father didn't know the man either otherwise he wouldn't be as easily annoyed. Of course she couldn't make out what they were discussing but she could now see her father was slightly more than aggravated with his guest. Hinata decided it would be best not to snoop, so she quickly deactivated her Byakugan and returned to preparing for the day. Had she kept her dōjutsu active a few seconds longer, however, she would have likely seen something that would have made her more annoyed than her father. But since she did not, as she resumed her morning rituals, she could not help but smile remembering the events of yesterday.

'I still cannot believe what happened. Naruto-kun is back and he came to see me of all people!'' Hinata thought excitedly. Though their meeting at the training grounds was most likely a coincidence, the ramen they had shared afterward was certainly not. Hinata giggled to herself as she remembered talking with Naruto about his journey and getting lost in the stories of the places he and Jiraiya of the Sannin had visited. With the exception of Teuchi and his daughter, they had been the only ones there and Hinata would have had no issue with spending the whole night there. "Though Naruto-kun doesn't think of it like that…" she said quietly, and sighed.

She straightened up immediately though and shook herself out of it then smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. 'Well, there is no point in thinking about it right now. I will just have to try harder to get Naruto-kun to notice me!' And with that determination in her mind she set off to look for Kiba and Shino to start the day.

X-x

"You don't need to give me your answer right now, Hyūga Hiashi. But I will expect one soon. This is-"

"There is no need for you to wait for an answer when you already know that answer is no, Ōtsutsuki Toneri," Hiashi snapped. He was quite fed up with the holier-than-thou attitude that seemed to be an inherent bloodline trait of the Hyūga's near-extinct cousin clan.

Toneri said nothing for a few moments before giving Hiashi a smile that sent a chill down his spine. "Very well, then. I'm sorry to have disturbed you." He rose up from the zabuton and excused himself from the office without giving Hiashi a second glance. The only sound made during his departure from the complex was from the footsteps of a few Branch House members backing away from him.

Hiashi let out an exasperated breath when he was gone and shook his head. "The nerve of that man," he grumbled. He remained in silence in his office for a few minutes before the door slid open to reveal his nephew. "Ah, Neji. Just who I wanted to see."

"What do you need, Hiashi-sama?"

"This is going to sound like an odd request coming from me, Neji, but I will need you to bear with me," Hiashi said.

"Sir?" Neji asked, slightly confused.

Hiashi stood up and walked over to Neji. "I need you to watch Hinata for the foreseeable future. And keep it discrete. Make sure she does not know you are following her," he whispered.

"Does this have anything to do with that man from earlier, Hiashi-sama?" Neji asked.

Hiashi nodded. "Just keep this between us for now. I don't want Hanabi or Hinata to grow concerned."

"Understood, sir," Neji said and bowed to Hiashi before leaving.

Hiashi sighed and went back to his desk. 'That takes care of that at least.' he thought to himself. "Still though…" he muttered as he skimmed over the paper Toneri had given him. A marriage contract. Hiashi didn't need to read the details; as the patriarch of the Hyūga Clan he had been through many shady business deals, but this one took the cake. The contract would have certainly offered a substantial amount of money or influence for the Hyūga, and two and a half years ago, Hiashi would have likely accepted without a second thought. But now Hiashi understood the decision did not rest in his hands, but in those of his eldest daughter, who he knew would give the Ōtsutsuki the same answer as him.

Hiashi was also fully aware of Naruto's return to Konoha last night; Hinata's late return to the complex was all the proof he could ever need of that event taking place. This made him slightly less nervous; after all, knowing the history of Hinata's behavior, he knew that she would not hesitate to spend several hours at a time in Naruto's company if given the chance. But taking added precautions, such as deploying Neji to watch over her, was more than necessary in light of this development.

"Hopefully the need won't come to that though." Hiashi commented to himself as he began going through the log of papers on his desk. Hiashi was also certain Hinata could handle herself against any regular foe, but the Ōtsutsuki's presence had unnerved him greatly, and he had no idea how much worse his daughter's reaction would be. He felt much better knowing that should anything happen to Hinata, Naruto would be close by.

"Well, Naruto, let's see if you are worthy of the trust I am placing in you," Hiashi said, forcing the matter to the back of his mind, but it was not content to stay there as he continued his work.

x-x

Hiashi was not the only one with an interesting morning. Though that was not the word either he or Tsunade would have used to describe it. In Tsunade's case, it had started out as a normal morning. Shizune was saying something while Tsunade went through the piles of paperwork on her desk. Tsunade also knew that Kakashi was testing Sakura and Naruto to see how far they had come in their training and she was tempted to go watch the event herself. However her hopes were dashed when there was a knock on the door and an urgent one at that. Tsunade sighed as Shizune looked at her and nodded the ok to let the visitor in.

Much to Tsunade's dismay, it was an Anbu and whenever one of their number appeared in front of her desk without being summoned, she knew it was bad news. "Okay, make this fast and I swear it better be important," she told the man.

"Certainly, Hokage-sama. However, this may not be the best place to say it," the Anbu said.

The implications of that statement made Tsunade raise an eyebrow. She gave a brief look to Shizune, who nodded and closed all the windows as well as the blinds. When she was done she shut the door as well. Tsunade turned to the Anbu and said, "We're as alone as one can be in this village now, so speak up."

"Yes, ma'am. I was making my rounds this morning when I came across a rather disturbing sight. I regret to inform you that the village elder, Shimura Danzō has been killed."

Shizune dropped the stack of papers in her hand in shock but Tsunade did not move a muscle. The Hokage was unsure of how she should react to this news. Danzō had always been a thorn in her side and while she would normally be glad to be rid of him, something about this was off. "Who has the gall to perform an assassination of such magnitude? They would need to be very skilled to get past all of his guards undetected and catch him off-guard. And if the assassin came from outside the village, why did the barrier not detect them?" Tsunade wondered.

"I checked the barrier before reporting to you and saw no signs of interference, ma'am," the Anbu said.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Shizune asked.

"Aside from Root, I'm not sure."

"Do we at least have a suspect?" Tsunade asked. The Anbu did not respond. "Well? Let me hear it if there is something you have to say!"

"We have a suspect, but you're not going to like this…" the Anbu said slowly. He pulled out a small sealed vial which looked liked it contained some type of red misty substance.

"What is that?" Tsunade asked.

"Many stealth assassinations leave behind some sort of chakra residue from the jutsu they used to kill their target. Normally this method doesn't help track down the assassin because of the similarities found in every chakra nature, which makes it difficult to narrow down a unique signature. However, the assassin we are dealing with is both a novice and apparently closer than we thought. This chakra has the distinct potency of the Nine-Tails."

x-x

Both Naruto and Sakura were breathing heavily, but they had huge smiles on their faces as each one held a smell bell in their hands.

"Well done. To be honest, I did not expect you two to push me as far as you did," their master and teacher Kakashi said with pride.

"Heh! It was too easy!" Naruto boosted.

"Easy? We had to trick him using that trashy smut he reads all the time to finally get the bells," Sakura pointed out.

"Call it what you will, but we can safely say you two passed with flying colors," Kakashi said, choosing to ignore the jab Sakura took at the Icha Icha series.

"Awesome!" Naruto yelled.

"Jeez, Naruto. What's come over you?" Sakura asked.

"I can feel it. Next time we meet, Sasuke, I'm gonna beat you and bring you back home," Naruto said. Kakashi and Sakura had no verbal response to that declaration. Sakura glanced at Naruto with a glimmer of hope in her eyes while Kakashi remained stoic.

'They certainly have grown a lot over the past two years.' Kakashi thought to himself. 'Naruto is still as confident as ever. He'll need to be.'

"Well I'm gonna go get some ramen! You guys wanna come with me?" Naruto asked. Before either could answer there was a slight gust of wind signaling the arrival of the other three jōnin instructors of the Konoha Eleven.

"Kakashi, we need you to come with us," Asuma Sarutobi said.

"What's this all about, Asuma?" Kakashi asked.

"Hokage-sama has summoned all of us for something urgent," Kurenai Yūhi stated flatly. It wasn't an attempt to annoy Kakashi but she needed him to understand the gravity of the situation that Asuma had done a little too well on.

"Kakashi, whatever it is that Hokage-sama needs to tell us is nothing good," Guy agreed with his colleagues. "We should make haste."

Kakashi furrowed his brow. "Ramen will have to wait, Naruto."

"Hold on, Kakashi-sensei! I'll go with you and-"

"No, Naruto!" Kurenai snapped. "Hokage-sama has forbidden you and Sakura from being present at this meeting."

"Why can't we come?" Sakura asked.

"Does this have something to do with Sasuke?!" Naruto demanded.

"Calm down, Naruto! We don't know any more than you do!" Asuma yelled. The argument ceased for the moment before Asuma continued, "And even if it was about Sasuke, which I very much doubt it is, Tsunade-sama would not keep it from you," he went on to assure him.

"Then why did she say we couldn't come?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, if there is something you need to know, we will tell you. For now, just go home and rest," Kakashi said. Then he nodded to the others and they all vanished in the next moment.

Naruto frowned after they had left. "The nerve of them! What the hell is so important they can't tell us?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, about that ramen…." Sakura said.

"Oh, you wanna go grab some?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Sakura shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I have to be somewhere. I'll catch up with you soon though." She gave Naruto an apologetic look before she too disappeared in a Body Flicker. As she raced through the trees she looked at the note she had found in her pocket before the sensei had left, written by Tsunade:

'Meet me as soon as possible after this briefing, but don't let Naruto know'

x-x

Alone once again, Naruto kicked at the air and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Whatever. I'll just go by myself," he muttered. The trip from the training ground to Ramen Ichiraku only took a few minutes, but when he arrived, he was confronted with a grievous sight that sent him to his knees, wailing.

The restaurant was closed with a notice from Teuchi taped onto the curtains saying that he would be away for the rest of the evening.

Naruto tried to force himself up after several minutes and a few passersby giving him weird stares, but one growl from his stomach caused him to curl into himself instead. "So hungry…" he muttered, bemoaning how he had been forced into the retake of the Bell Test on an empty stomach.

"Naruto-kun?" a voice suddenly asked. A second later, Naruto felt a light tap on his shoulder and slowly turned his head to face her.

"Oh Hinata!" Naruto said happily.

"Might I ask why you are kneeling in front of Ichiraku's?" she asked with a curious look on her face.

Unaware he was blushing Naruto scratched his head and said, "Uh, well, I wanted to get some ramen but looks like the old man is out. And, well, I haven't eaten all day so, um, heheh…"

Hinata frowned for a moment when heard his story but the light came back to her face and she smiled. She took his hand in hers and stood up. "Come with me, Naruto-kun," she said sweetly.

Naruto felt himself looking up at her and was curious about what he saw. The sun was hanging low signaling the coming of the evening. The breeze blew gently against them and Naruto watched Hinata's long hair blow with it. She continued to smile as she used her free hand to shield herself a little from the wind. "Sure…." he replied, almost in a trance as she helped him stand up.

Hinata led them to the market street and led them around a few stores. Naruto would patiently wait for outside most of them though. Hinata asked him why but he told her he preferred waiting. Hinata would come out with a few bags and Naruto would take them and then they would move on to the next one. "Um, Hinata, why are we going grocery shopping?" Naruto asked. He didn't mind helping Hinata, it's not like he had anything better to do, but he was still hungry after all.

"Well I can't very well make you any ramen without any of the ingredients, now can I?" She asked.

Naruto blinked a moment and asked, "Wait! You're gonna make me some ramen?" Naruto asked.

"Well, sure. I made that bento we had on that mission we had together, after all. Or do you not remember?" she asked, looking slightly disappointed at the possibility that Naruto had forgotten about the mission to capture Gosunkugi.

Naruto smiled as the memory of the rice balls shaped like his head came back to him. "Oh yeah, I remember that. But wait, I didn't know you could make ramen too."

"Well I haven't tried it before," Hinata admitted.

"So this will be…"

"That's right, my first time. But since it's for Naruto-kun I'll make sure it's the very best!" she declared.

Naruto tried to look hopeful. He knew Hinata was a great cook and all but he wasn't sure anyone could beat the old man at ramen. Once they got back to Naruto's apartment, Hinata told Naruto to wait on the couch. He complied as she went to work in the kitchen. He heard some noises that sounded like she was digging through the few kitchen supplies he had. Not that Naruto couldn't afford them it was just he ate out more then not and very rarely cooked for himself so there was not much point. After about an hour he started to smell something coming from the kitchen. It was a light smell that tickled the underside of his nose. As if he was taking in the fresh morning dampness after a rain. Then about twenty minutes later, she came out carrying a large bowl in her hand. "All done!" she announced.

Naruto's mouth was watering at this point. The smell was so strong, so near, as if his mind was trying to figure out the taste before his tongue. But he didn't say anything, too eager with anticipation.

Hinata could see the hunger in Naruto's eyes. Though all of sudden she felt her confidence swaying. What if he didn't like it? She shook her head, now was not the time. Naruto was hungry that is what mattered. She took the pair of chopsticks in her hands and sat down next to him. "I'll...I'll feed you if you want," Hinata said shyly.

Naruto didn't know why she was so nervous but he liked the offer since most of his muscles were sore from the day. "That would be great Hinata!"

"R-right!" she said. Then with one hand holding the bowl and the other holding the chopsticks, she took a large portion of the noodles and brought it to Naruto's lips.

Naruto didn't even notice Hinata's hand was shaking, too enamoured with the scent coming from the chopsticks. He finally took that first bite. Instantly he felt his mouth burst with flavor. The broth and noodles washed down his throat like a waterfall with the noodles themselves close behind. But it didn't end there, he felt their warmth even as they entered his stomach filling him greatly with just that one bite. "Wow Hinata, that was-"

Before he could finish and just as Hinata's eyes began to light up, several men wearing blank white porcelain masks and gray cloaks, most of them wielding a tantō in one of their hands, stormed into the room and surrounded the two. "Uzumaki Naruto?" one of the men asked.

"Naruto-kun, those are Root Anbu. Danzō's private and illegal ninja unit," Hinata whispered.

"What the hell is so important that you had to interrupt my meal?!" Naruto shouted at the intruders as he stood up, sufficiently angry with their presence that he was ready to start a fight.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Shimura Danzō-sama," the earlier Root ninja said. In the next instant, Naruto found himself being restrained by half of the Root ninja present in his apartment. He was so sore and tired he didn't even have time to form his signature Clone seal and summon his own reinforcements before they slammed his head into the floor.

"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!" All of the men on top of Naruto were suddenly blown away as a force of wind hit them like a sledgehammer.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled thankful for the rescue. But it was short lived, the man who had first spoken was behind Hinata in an instant, her attack had left her flank open. With a swift chop to the neck, Hinata fell like a rag doll.

"There will be none of that now."

And before Naruto could even think about doing anything to fight back, the men slammed his head down again, knocking him unconscious.

x-x

A/N Hello my readers. Sorry it took so long to post this second chapter. I don't know why my motivation to write is so low these days. It could be any number of reasons, but I am still writing when I can find some inspiration. I am also still co-writing another fic some of you are reading called Healing the Sun so that takes some of my time here and there as well. I do want to at least finish both this story and HtS at some point. This fic might be the longer of the two. Also keep in mind that my co-author on HtS (who is also my beta reader on this fic) is a busy person as well and I can only get chapters out as fast as we can agree on the contents and edit everything. Also I gotta cut this A/N a bit short but I will try to answer review questions as chapters get posted because this fic does indeed have a lot of contradictions. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.