Chapter Two

It wasn't uncommon for the collective Council of Konoha to go over a week without meeting, so it came as a slight shock to some of the more indifferent members to be called back to the Chambers for second meeting in as many days. A few of the more outspoken members looked as though they had recently tasted something sour.

After everyone was seated and privacy seals erected the meeting began.

"Yesterday, Uzumaki Naruto was stripped of his ninja status and demoted to that of a civilian," the Yondaime began. "Today, under the personal escort of the Kazekage and a large number of Suna-nin, he left the village.

"The purpose of this meeting is not to send any teams after him or to propose any missions to convince him to return. The reason I have called his meeting is to silence any personal opinions that could cause dissent amongst the villagers concerning the events of the day. This will be brief, once we have left these chambers this matter will be closed and it will not be open for further discussion."

Koharu, Homura and Danzo were willing to attack the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but only when they had the law on their side. While the Yondaime hadn't publicly executed anyone, he had privately executed dozens of people that had abused his son; the Hokage had zero tolerance for any unlawful attacks toward Uzumaki. With this knowledge, no-one in the Chambers was willing to speak candidly their opinion and were forced to grit their teeth and try to find out just how they had lost their Jinchuuriki.

One councilman, who was only able to just barely able to keep his tone level, asked the question that had been on most peoples' minds.

"Just how could the Uzumaki boy be this close to the Kazekage while we weren't aware of their relationship?"

Their leader fielded the question.

"When Kazekage-san, Sabaku no Gaara, was here for the Chuunin Exams three years ago he fought and was beaten by Uzumaki Naruto in the finals. It was made apparent during the fight that Gaara was a Jinchuuriki, an unstable one at that, when he proceeded to readily use the demonic chakra after Uzumaki succeeded in causing physical damage with a concentrated Fuuton attack.

"After Gaara assumed a demonic form, Uzumaki was able to subdue him using Fuuinjutsu. During Gaara's incoherent mental state after his recent change, Uzumaki summoned a large number of Kage Bunshins to distract the Suna-nin long enough to prepare a seal that would close-off Gaara's access to his demonic chakra."

Everyone remembered the fight and most took note of the way the Yondaime had glossed over the obvious signs of insanity and madness that the Kazekage showed at the sight of his blood during that confrontation.

"Once the seal was placed on Gaara, all access to his sand based attacks, both defensive and offensive, were taken away. The Suna-nin then forfeited after a short conversation with Uzumaki. No-one is sure exactly what was said during this discussion, not even Inuzuka Hana, Uzumaki Naruto's confidante and closest friend at the time, is aware of the details," their blond leader stated.

"I anticipated her need at this session, so I'm going to bring in Hana-san for you all to question."

After taking a glance at Inuzuka Tsume, Clan Head and mother of Hana, he noticed the worried expression she bore. It wasn't hard for him to figure out why, so he firmly added something to ease her concerns.

"Just to remind you, Inuzuka Hana is not here to be interrogated, she is here to better ascertain the relationship between the Kazekage and Uzumaki. She is not being accused of any wrong doing, nor is she to be treated as though she is. You will watch your tone and demeanor when questioning or making comments in regards to her and her actions."

With one last hard look around the Council he signaled to an ANBU near the door to retrieve the Inuzuka heiress.

Seated in a chair was a young woman in her later teens. She was easily a girl that most would normally find attractive with her dark brown colored hair, dark eyes, pretty face, even in-spite of her slightly large nose and red inverted triangle-like marks adorning each check.

But, Inuzuka Hana had seen better days, it was apparent to everyone who had seen her waiting for the Council that she had a rough week. Her eyes swollen red from crying, hair which normally was combed and controlled was as wild as her mothers, a noticeable slump in her shoulders and an unfocused look in her eyes. Her world had come crashing around her barely a week ago and she couldn't help but think of the events that lead her here.

She had been fifteen, just made Chuunin, and was heading home to see her little brother, Kiba, when she was informed to see the Hokage in regards to a mission.

The mission type was the last she ever expected and something she didn't think she would ever have to take part in. Infiltration missions were typically limited to Jounin rank, a rank she had no desire to ever reach. Chuunin was a substantial pay grade above Genin and it allowed her to spend far more time inside the village working as a Veterinarian. She also loved her family and wanted one of her own, being Jounin would take her out of the village for months at a time and that was not acceptable to her.

Just as she was going to decline the mission, something she could do without any ramifications being the heiress to a major Clan, her Kage informed her that the target was only eleven years old. To say she was confused would be an understatement; why in the hell would an infiltration mission be needed against a kid who likely couldn't survive one day without supervision?

'Uzumaki Naruto'

She took note of the target's name and took a moment to consider everything she knew about him, which was admittedly not much. She remembered years ago when he would spend a large amount of time pranking people, it didn't last long though and it was gone before she even had a chance to appreciate the cunning and skill of the blond kid with the weird marks on his face. Her mother, when asked if he was related to an Inuzuka, as she had never seen anyone else with marks on their cheeks, only adopted a pitying look and said that he didn't have any family. That was the last she thought of him before this mission.

After a few minutes of introspection, calculating just how much she would be earning on this mission and comparing it to how difficult it would be. She highly doubted she would have to do anything romantic with someone so young; it would essentially be her getting paid a substantial amount of money to act as a friend to some kid.

Researching her target turned out to be more difficult than she had anticipated. People had very few opinions of him, or better said; people would rarely speak honestly and openly about the young blond. He was eleven, blond, had whisker marks, used to play pranks when he was around six or seven, and had failed the academy twice. That was the extent of what she could find out, she couldn't even determine his birthday.

It took the combined effort of her triplet companions, the Haimaru Brothers, and herself to track down the child at a remote training ground.

As Hana came out from the woods, seemingly looking for her dogs, she took note of her target and his suspicious and wary stance. She would have to be delicate in dealing with this mission and how hard she could press to be a friend of the young blond.

The boy didn't look like someone who required an A-rank mission to keep watch for. He was of average height for a boy his age, short blond hair which seemed to defy gravity, blue eyes which reminded her of the sky, and three dark symmetric whisker-like marks on each cheek. His clothes were standard issue for a shinboi in training; dark brown, almost black, colored pants and a dark smoky-gray colored shirt.

"Sorry, was taking a walk around the edges of the village when they got away from me. I hope they didn't scare you." The teenage girl spoke, indicating she was referring to the three dogs.

Naruto took a moment to consider her before replying.

"That's alright, what are you doing this far out here? People never come this far away from the main part of Konoha."

"One of my companions is rehabbing an injury and I wanted to bring them into the forest to see how he does on uneven terrain. But, why are you out this far? Are you even a Genin?"

Naruto's suspicion lessened as frustration began taking its place. His fists clenched as he seemed to try to stare a whole into the ground.

"Sorry, didn't mean to anger you." Hana was quick to attempt to calm him down; she wasn't sure why he was so angered, it obviously had to do with his failing the Genin exams, but nothing that should have prompted this level of animosity.

"Do you- do you wanna talk about it?"

He didn't appear to of heard her and she was about to make some apologies before leaving, not wanting to seem too forceful, but before she could, he turned toward her and let out a frustrated sigh.

"They- I mean, I failed the exams for the second time; the ones to become a Genin."

"You said something about 'they,' who were you talking about?" she gently pressed.

Hana noticed his reluctance to talk about it and knew from experience with her brother that it was best to just give him time to work up the courage to talk. It paid off when he relaxed slightly and took a seat on the ground, she followed suit after checking to make sure her dogs weren't too far away.

"The instructors. I can't make a Bunshin and they failed me," his frustration building. "I can deal with that, I can understand being required to make one to pass. I don't like it, but I can accept it. But Rock Lee, a complete idiot and the Dead Last of the class, couldn't either and he passed!" He practically spat out the last part.

"I just- I just don't understand why this shit always happens to me.

"When I was little, I would try to be acknowledged by people. I'd would talk loud, wear obnoxiously bright clothing, play pranks and try to get people to look at me and take notice. I didn't care if the attention was good or not, I just wanted it! I wanted people to see me!"

Hana wasn't even sure if he was speaking to her anymore, or if he was just venting frustrations that had been boiling over.

"But, it didn't work. It was like people were purposefully looking the other way. It was actually rare for people to become angry with me when I pranked or annoyed someone. So I just quit, what's the purpose of looking and acting like an idiot if it doesn't even accomplish the goal you set out to do?"

That answered that; she remembered some of the pranks, a few of them were very clever and well-done.

"I don't know when, or even why, but I eventually started to read. Fiction at first, stories like Gutsy Shinobi, I'd imagine myself as the hero of the story who saves the day and gets the respect. It's why I became a ninja, you know, to get respect. But it didn't happen. I knew as soon as I entered the academy that this wasn't going to go any differently.

"It's the eyes, they always give people away. The teachers, they looked at me like I didn't belong there, like I wasn't worthy of sitting next to the rest of those kids. That's when I realized I wasn't ever going to be the hero. So, I figured I'd just change my dream, I had always aimed for greatness." He snorted before adding, "I had actually wanted to be the Hokage once, don't know where I ever got that idea, can't even pass the damn Genin exams. Some Kage I'd make."

Hana was shocked at the vehemence that the younger boy was speaking with, she was also confused. What looks was he talking about? What could have jaded this kid so much? Sure, he was an orphan, but she knew other orphans who were happy and satisfied with their lives.

The conversation went on for a while, moving on to other topics and became so enjoyable she soon forgot she was even on a mission. Soon after Naruto joined the academy he stopped reading fiction and started looking into other genres. He took his shinobi studies more seriously than most Genin did, he didn't have access to Clan techniques or private tutors, so he had to make up for this if he wanted to make anything of himself by spending more time in the libraries he did have access to.

While he may have been far behind some when it came to jutsu knowledge, she soon discovered his knowledge of tactics and physiology where miles beyond the other academy students. Given his intelligence and his application of chakra control exercises it confused even her why he couldn't complete such a basic jutsu as the common Bunshin.

The answer wouldn't come for nearly one year, she had become much closer to Naruto in this time. He slowly became her best friend, even more important than her former Genin teammates. He was loyal, hardworking, mature for his age, independent and intelligent; she hadn't expected any of this. She expected her eleven year old target to be just another whiny kid who tried her patience, just like Kiba. She might love him dearly but there were times when even she wanted to tell her brother to shut up.

After he failed the Genin exams for the third time he seemed to disappear and she didn't see him again until it was near midnight that night.

Even though he had a hitai-ate in hand, personally given to him from the Hokage, he didn't seem happy or excited at all. If anything, he seemed crushed. That was a very emotional conversation involving lots of hugging and even some sobbing from both sides.

The Kyuubi, the monster that nearly destroyed Konoha and did destroy many other villages, was literally sealed inside him.

That night was the first night she spent with him in his bed, nothing sexual happened, but it was an extremely important emotional line that they crossed that night. Their close friendship began to morph after that, slowly their hugs stopped being so platonic and started be more about physically touching the other - seeking intimacy.

She never expected when she first took the mission to fall in love with her target. The Council meeting a week ago was when it all came to a conclusion. She purposefully ignored thinking about her mission over the last four years, the guilt would eat her up whenever she would spend even a few moments dwelling on it. Her mother had warned her to be careful about getting emotionally attached to Naruto. Every time Hana just shrugged off the concerns, assuming that even if Naruto did discover the initial reason for her befriending him that she would have time to explain; and she did have time - one week.

She spent the last week going from sobbing into her pillows to feeling sorry for herself. Her mother grew exhausted of her depression and literally slapped her. After getting over the initial shock of that, her mother explained that while she may be feeling terrible, Naruto had to be feeling worse and so she should stop being so self-centered. Her mother was barely able to stop her from rushing out of the house toward his apartment, pointing out that she should probably shower and clean-up a little before heading outside.

Forty-five minutes later she found herself on her knees, sobbing, staring at a large group of ninja leading Naruto away from Konoha. She tried to run to him, she really did, but the Hokage ordered her to stand down and be present at the Council Chambers. She wasn't sure of what was going to happen, but she truly didn't care, she just wanted to apologize and beg for Naruto to understand her position.

It was at this moment that the chamber door opened and she was motioned inside.

Hana was still unfocused, lost in thought, she absentmindedly heard the Hokage speaking; she didn't pick up the exact words but was able to get the gist of what the session was about. They were inquiring about why none of her reports mentioned a close relationship between the Kazekage and Naruto. It was quite simple – it was because she didn't know of how close they were. Whenever she would bring up the topic of Gaara, Naruto would tease and taunt her with his secrecy. She was pretty sure they had only talked twice to each other, both times were at each of the Chuunin Exams that had been held in Konoha in the last three years.

She refocused on the meeting, hoping it would be over soon so she could find some comfort in the arms of her mother about her situation.

"Inuzuka-san, the Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, is barely mentioned in any of your reports." The one-eyed cripple she knew as Danzo paused for a moment before continuing. "Explain how they could be close enough that the Kazekage would risk our already fragile relationship in order to extract a Jinchuuriki from Konohagakure and yet you only mention the Kazekage in passing a few times."

Hana shifted her weight for a moment, going over everything she could remember about the redheaded Suna Kage and what she wrote in her reports before glancing at her mother, seeking strength.

"Honorable Council, Sabaku no Gaara only came up in discussion a few times during my-," she took a deep breath to collect her already fragile emotional stability. "…during my mission with Uzumaki Naruto.

"On those times that it did come up he was tight-lipped about how close they were, preferring to make light of the situation by teasing and taunting me about how in the dark I was concerning the Kazekage. The only thing I knew for a fact was that Naru-ku-; excuse me, was that Uzumaki," she corrected before moving on, "has only been in physical contact with Gaara during both Chuunin Exams that Konoha has hosted.

"The first time during the finals in which Uzumaki was able to defeat Gaara and the second was a brief meeting that I was not present for nor made aware of what was talked about at some time during the Chuunin Exams that took place less than one year ago."

Hana paused, taking another glance of her mother before finishing up.

"I cannot recall any other times where they could have had any contact, and I cannot recall any substantial or note-worthy conversations that were not placed in my reports concerning this matter."

The young Inuzuka girl could see the one-armed war hawk Danzo was frustrated with how little she seemed to know, but a single, hard look by the Hokage was enough to force him to hold his tongue.

"Just to have it clear and on record; Inuzuka Hana, with your knowledge of and close relationship to Uzumaki Naruto," the Yondaime paused before finishing his question. "Did you have any impression that the relationship of Sabaku no Gaara and Uzumaki Naruto was close enough that would lead you to believe today's events would have or could have transpired?"

"Iie, Hokage-sama."

There were audible grumbles of disbelief that surrounded her, but even her excellent hearing couldn't understand any of the words.

Shimura Danzo was not having a very good day. He could make the case this was the worst day he had since the time he lost the use of one of his arms and his eye decades ago.

Years of planning spent with the sole intention of breaking the spirit of the Yondaime's son down the drain. It had been slow, almost unnoticeable, but effective. He knew he could never outright attack the Jinchuuriki; that would be the same as committing suicide, so he had to be very subtle. His experience as the former leader of Ne gave him intimate knowledge of how to break the soul of a person.

At first, he had been excited to have a Jinchuuriki in Konoha - it would allow them to easily assert themselves as the greatest of all the villages. But, that didn't last long, it only took a single glance to identify who the child's father was and Danzo knew the elder Namikaze would never allow his son to be conditioned to be ANBU from a young age. It was then that he seen another possible use for the boy, if he could correctly manipulate events in the proper timing he could force the Yondaime to take a more hands-on approach to the protection and care of the demon container.

The blond leader had decided to not openly acknowledge his blood relationship to the Uzumaki boy; the man knew that while he could protect Konoha from his enemies, he wouldn't be able to effectively protect his child, especially not with his lover being dead. Combine that with the rebuilding that was required after the Kyuubi attack and it forced the Yellow Flash to make a very tough sacrifice, a sacrifice that every Hokage must be required to make when they swear the oath to do whatever they can to ensure Konoha's growth and protection.

Danzo didn't think the man would have made that choice, he was more than surprised when he did, just before locking the file on the boy so that only the council would be able to have access to its contents. Just because most experienced ninja didn't have access to the file didn't mean that they couldn't figure out who the boy was related to.

It was tough for Danzo to move instructors into position to make Uzumaki's ninja career difficult. He had expected the boy to struggle, barely passing or outright failing, forcing the Yondaime to step in and help the child. It would have been easy to influence a close relationship between the two blonds, just drop a few hints and it wouldn't be too hard to have it revealed that they were father and son. The boy had surprised him though, instead of struggling he only seemed to be pushed harder. Against the odds and without any assistance he began to spend inordinate amounts of time studying in the library and practicing in various training grounds.

After picking up on the bitter resentment towards the village, Danzo knew something would need to be done in order to keep the boy in the village. It took more than a little blackmail and bribery to get enough of the council behind his proposal to force the Hokage to assign the infiltration mission.

Danzo was aware of how much the boy cared about the Inuzuka girl and vice versa, everything played out how it should… well, almost everything.

The war hawk had already planned out the accident that would take the Inuzuka heiress out of the picture, leaving the boy alone to suffer in the despair of betrayal. The elder blond Namikaze would be forced to step in and take a very active role in his son's life to save him both from himself and protect him from outside enemies. Leaving the current leader of Konoha open to attacks of his position as he would be force to split attention between his son and Konoha; there wasn't anything Danzo wanted more than the position of Hokage.

With the Uzumaki boy now gone, the Yondaime would be much more ruthless and controlling of the Council; which was saying something considering the man had a pretty firm grip on it already.

Danzo couldn't help but lament his failure when he was so close to getting what he wanted.

'Arrogance and assumption; I was arrogant and allowed myself to not consider just how much the Ichibi no Shukaku Jinchuuriki would come to respect and care for the well-being of another demon container. Even one he had only met twice before.'

He should have looked more into their relationship, but he discarded any worries concerning it. He had assumed that the Kazekage would never risk doing more damage to the already weakened village of Sunagakure by risking an attack from Konoha and he would pay for that assumption.

Danzo wasn't willing to throw in the towel involving his dreams of becoming the Godaime Hokage, but even he could admit the game was nearly over.

Author's Notes:

I. The pairing is officially going to be Naruto/Hana unless something drastic changes in the future that I can't foresee.

II. I'm not sure what that means as far as my desire to pull him away from the Leaf, but I'll play it by ear. I don't exactly have a plan for where to go with this story or how to get there, so I'm gonna try my best to come up with something believable and entertaining to read.

III. Does anyone know if Hana's triplet companions have names in canon? The wiki for Naruto doesn't list anything other than calling them the Haimaru Brothers and I couldn't find anything more on another site.