Yo yo! What is up! Man, this story hit much better than I was expecting. This update came earlier than my schedule says because of popular demand, and because I had this one planned for a while, too. I'm giving this a twist to make Kurama have doubts: Kill Naruto, or let him live? What do I mean by that? Hehe, you'll find out soon enough! Hey, Lucy? Can you do the Disclaimer this time?

Lucy: Nyu?

Not falling for it! You've spent a little too much time with Naruto as of late…

Lucy: Fine… BladeOfThePoet does not own Elfen Lied, Naruto, or any of its characters and rights.

Outside the Konoha Walls

Outside of the Hidden Leaf, several plumes of smoke appeared out of nowhere, and within them came the Diclonii Rescue Squad. Naruto began to look around in confusion, apparently forgetting he had a passenger that was quickly getting dizzier than she already was.

"Hey, Shikamaru? How come we're outside the Konoha walls?" the lazy chuunin sighed in exasperation, not entirely content with his teammate's lack of knowledge.

"Naruto, we've gone over this a lot. Konoha has anti-teleport seals on the walls, drawn by Jiraiya and the Yondaime working together. Jiraiya alone wasn't able to create a bypass to get us inside the walls instantly, so instead he got us as close as he could. It may be a drag, but he have to walk inside. Now, let's get these girls inside. Some of them need medical attention, ASAP." Lucy tensed up quite visibly at the words 'Medical Attention', something Naruto noticed.

"Don't worry, Kaede-chan." Naruto told her comfortingly. "Tsunade Baa-Chan is the greatest medic I've met. She's patched me up more times I can count. I trust her with my life, so you don't have to worry about her, k?" Lucy calmed down with those words, although her vectors were still firmly on his neck. As they began their walk, a soft moan was heard from the back of the group, followed by a small gasp, a POOF, and then the sound of a body hitting the floor. The squad turned around, each Naruto clone with a Kunai ready. What they saw made tears well up in Naruto's eyes.

A little girl, one with blond hair (A/N This is her Manga appearance) desperately struggling to rise to her own feet, with several ghostly hands assisting her. His heart went out to the girl. "Hey, could someone hold Kaede-chan for a sec?" One of his clones nodded and took the girl from his back, forcing her to let go of his neck. Naruto walked up to the girl, kneeled down, and picked her up, frightening the Diclonii. They had all heard that the girl would kill anyone got close. The ghostly (yet visible) vectors began to redirect towards Naruto, ready to cut him into bite sized chunks. The Shinobi all grabbed a Kunai, some of which were snatched by the conscious Diclonii, and prepared to stop the murderous child. Before her attack connected, though, Naruto spoke.

"How old are you?" this caused Mariko to stop her attack in confusion.

"What?" The girl asked, trying to figure out his motives.

"I said, how old are you?" The girl couldn't seem to figure out why the young man that was carrying her wanted to know that, so she answered.

"I-I'm five years old." Naruto's hands tightened, and his face contorted in pure rage. The Shinobi squad tensed when his eyes turned red with slit pupils, before returning to their usual ocean blue. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Those bastards took so much from you girls... I'll tell you a little story, Mariko. I once had a friend that was just like you." Mariko simply scoffed at the Jinchuuriki, not believing him. "Oh? You don't believe me? Even though he's standing right next to you?" Gaara, who had been silent this whole time, winced at a certain memory. Temari wondered if he was seriously going to reveal that to them, and secretly planned how to kill Naruto or mentioning that. Her doubts were put to rest when the Kazekage began to speak.

"You see, Ms. Mariko. When I was in my mother's womb, my father used a special technique to seal a demon into me." he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, they were the eyes of the One Tailed Tanuki, the Shukaku. "Before meeting Naruto, I was nothing more than a bloodthirsty killer. If you stood in my way, I'd simply kill you and feed your blood to my sand. However, a little while after meeting Naruto, he and I got into a little fight."

"Yeah, well, if you can call fighting a giant demon and his container on top of a giant toad 'getting into a little fight', then sure, we got into a little fight." Naruto interrupted the Kazekage. Gaara glared at Naruto for a second before continuing.

"Anyway, before my fight with Naruto, I thought that killing was the only way for me to prove I existed, and I fought only for myself. But then, he opened my eyes. He made me realize that I had never been fully alone. I had my brother and my sister with me, and they stood by me, even though they were afraid of me. After that, I managed to quell my bloodlust and began to fight for what really matters: my family" By the end of the story, the conscious Diclonii felt oddly identified with the man. "I managed to earn the trust of my fellow villagers and they eventually chose me as their leader. In all, there are 9 of us who have suffered this fate, and while it's common that they take the path I took, there is one who, instead of wishing revenge against those who mistreated him, he began to fight for their respect" Gaara finished, his eyes showing some sadness at the memories. Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the question that was sure to come.

"Do you know that one? The one that didn't wish to kill?" Gaara was about to answer Lucy's question with a negative response, when Naruto spoke.

"Of course he does. He knows me." the Shinobi in the group's eyes saddened. "But, now is not the time to talk about it. Listen, Mariko, maybe in that hell hole in which you used to live you had to act strong, to avoid breaking down. But not here. Here you can live the life you should've had. Find someone precious and let them lighten the burden you carry." At this, Mariko was left speechless. In her short life, she had never seen her situation like that, and yet, it described her perfectly. The fact that she no longer had to bottle up her feelings dawned on her, and before she could stop it, she began to cry. All the sadness she had gathered came pouring out. "That's it, come on, let it all out."

He motioned for the other's to start walking, as he cradled the crying child so she could do so on his shoulder. He heard her say all the things she had suffered through and comforted her. It took her well over half an hour to stop leaking tears, and Naruto was pretty sure she stopped only because she ran out. "There, do you feel better?" He asked her. The girl nodded, but suddenly found the floor to be very interesting. "is something wrong?"

"I-I cried... And so much, too… I can't remember the last time I did something like this…" Naruto smiled tenderly at her, the way a parent would do to his child.

"It's ok. You've lived a pretty messed up life. You're more than entitled to cry" Naruto told her affectionately. He felt really connected to this girl... And this caused the craziest idea to pop up in his head. "Say, what can you tell me about your parents?' he asked while picking her up for a piggy-back ride to Konoha. A lone tear flowed down her cheek.

"I have no parents..." she said glumly. Aside from that doctor she called 'mommy' from time to time, she had no one she could call an actual parent. Naruto closed his eyes at her answer.

"Ya know what? I think I'm gonna adopt you." he said bluntly. Farther ahead, where the rest of the squad was eavesdropping, several jaws hit the ground.

"C-can he do that!?" Temari whisper yelled at Shikamaru. While surprised, the Chuunin answered with his lazy voice.

"In Konoha we're considered adults at a young age, since we shinobi have notoriously short lives. So yeah, he can adopt her... I can't wait to see how Tsunade will react to this..."

"10 ryo say she'll punch Naruto before accepting" Gaara deadpanned.

"You're on, Lord Kazekage" Temari answered at her brother. They resumed their walk, Naruto carrying the little girl a little ways behind them. Lucy and Nana were amazed that the girl hadn't killed the young shinobi, having heard the rumors concerning Mariko's bloodlust.

'How could he do what no one has ever been able to do? Anyone that tried to bond with her usually ends up sliced in half!' Lucy thought. More than once she had seen the remains of whatever poor doctor tried to talk to Mariko directly.

"D-do you mean it?" Mariko asked Naruto.

"Of course I do! If you accept that is." Meanwhile, inside Naruto's mind, a certain fox demon was raging on.

"ARE YOU STUPID, KIT!? THIS GIRL HAS MORE HATE IN HER THAN ME, AND THAT'S SAYING A LOT!'

'Be quiet, baka-Kitsune. This girl has gone through things worse than what Gaara and I have. Despite this, I'm pretty sure I can get her to let go of that hate and appreciate life.' Naruto snapped at him. The blond saw the glimmer of hope in the girl's eyes, but it was quickly extinguished. Before he could ask, the girl spoke.

"Why would you want that? Not even my own parents wanted me. No one could ever want a monster like me." those words caused Naruto to feel not only sadness and sympathy, but an amazing rage.

"You listen to me, Mariko. The only monster I see when I look at you is whatever bastard locked you up. Just because you have horns doesn't mean you're a monster, nor does having killed in self-defense. The only monsters I saw while in there; were those outside the cages." Naruto told her, his face stone-hard with rage. It softened, however, at his next words. "So, how about it? Would you like to be my daughter?"

Mariko debated in her mind the situation. All of her life she had dreamed about having a loving family. Hell, she'd settle for a loving parent, and now she had the chance to have one… it was too good an offer… so tempting… but one doubt remained in her mind.

"H-how do I now you won't simply abandon me one day? Abandon me for a normal little girl?" She asked, teary eyed. Naruto smiled warmly at her again.

"I promise you, Mariko, that I will never do such a thing. And ask anyone around here, I never break my promises." In the time they were talking, they had already caught up to the rest of the group. When they heard Naruto say that, the Shinobi all grinned.

"Ain't that the truth…" Shikamaru said. "I have yet to see this guy go back on his word. He's even done things considered impossible to complete his promises."

"Yeah, like when he defeated my most Youthful rival!" Lee yelled out, nearly deafening the Diclonii he was carrying. One of the Narutos put his hand on his face to shut him up before he could wake up his passenger.

"Or when he beat up a Chuunin without having even graduated. That may have not been a promise but still counts as 'Impossible'." Temari said, adding her own two cents. "You'd be amazed how rapidly that tale spread through the nations." Naruto was sure they were going to go on and on about that, and thanked the heavens when they arrived at the gate, where the eternal chuunin, Izumo and Kotetsu, were playing a board game of sorts. Rumor had it that those two had made up most of Konoha's newest board games in an attempt to escape the boredom of their watch duty. They perked when Shikamaru placed his I.D. on the desk.

"Horned Rescue Team, returning from a successful mission." The conscious Diclonii sweatdropped at the name given to the Rescue Team.

"What the…?" Lucy said out loud. The Naruto clone that was holding her sweatdropped as hell.

"Don't blame any of us. The one that came up with the name was Naruto-dono's sensei, Jiraiya the Sannin. The man might be a writer, but sure has trouble when it comes to originality…"

A few minutes later, Hokage's Office

The rescue squad was standing in front of Tsunade, while the rescued Diclonii were either sitting or sleeping in the couch, except for Mariko, who had refused to leave Naruto's back.

"So, you stormed into an area with technology higher than our own, weapons that fire metal faster than the eye can see, and successfully rescued all captives?" The team nodded. Every one of them hated giving reports, and envied the red-haired Kazekage that was sitting next to Tsunade. The Naruto clone that was holding the Diclonius baby walked up and gave her to Tsunade. After using a Diagnostic jutsu to make sure she was ok, she gave the child to Gaara. "Well, Lord Kazekage, I'm sure the girl's parents will be delighted to see their daughter returned to them. I suggest you, your escort, and our ambassador return to Suna soon." Gaara nodded as he took the child from Tsunade's arms. He walked out of the office, followed by Temari and Shikamaru. Tsunade sighed and drew out a bottle of Sake. "I'm impressed that you came up with this plan, Gaki…" She said to Naruto.

"Plan? What plan?" Lucy asked out loud. Naruto turned to her with a grin on his face.

"Well, there was no way I'd get clearance to take a team of Shinobi to an unknown land only to rescue a friend of mine. I mean, Baa-chan here would've given me the mission if I bugged her about it for a few weeks, but instead I went for a quicker route." Naruto's grin increased as he paused for dramatic effect. "The child that Gaara just took was born in one of our Allied villages, so instead of saying the mission was to rescue a friend, I said it was a mission to rescue a group of kidnapped children. The council bought it, especially when I gave the money to pay for the mission."

"Yes, Naruto can be quite the trickster when he wants to. Now, before I dismiss you, are there any other issues you wish to address?" Naruto nodded at Tsunade, making her groan inwardly at being deprived longer from her drink.

"Yes, Baa-chan. Three, actually." Naruto started, holding up one finger. "First, we need to get them a place to stay"

"That is obvious, Naruto. I'll talk to them about their living arrangements when they're all awake."

"Ok. Now, second, do you have adoption papers?" Tsunade nodded at the knucklehead again, fearing his next words. "Good, 'cause I'm going to adopt Mariko" Naruto said while motioning to the girl on his back. The girl nodded happily, still excited about the idea of having a father. Her smile vanished, however, when she felt a rush of wind, and found herself and her (hopefully) new father on the other side of the room. Where they once stood, wooden log had just been turned to splinters by a powerful Tsunade punch. The Diclonii all felt their jaws hit the floor at the feat of strength they had seen, while Lee took off, escaping from the wrath of the Hokage. Tsunade breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself down.

"All right, Gaki, I'll grant you the adoption. BUT! You're going to have to get a better apartment, a source of income for when Missions are low, and someone to look after her if you have to go on a long mission, ok?" Naruto nodded, looking a little pale. "Good, we'll handle this later, but first, what was your last request?"

"Oh, right! Could you give each of them a check-up?" The Legendary Sucker sighed, nodded, and walked up to the Diclonii. Naruto set Mariko on the couch along with the others so as to make it easier for Tsunade. "Don't worry, Kaede-chan. This won't hurt at all." Naruto told his friend, having noticed how she extended her vectors. "Also, try not to arc your back so much when you release your extra hands, makes it easy to notice" The Diclonius nodded, shocked that he had notice that small flaw. Tsunade began to run the Diagnostic Jutsu on each of them, and frowned each time she reached the neck area. "What's the matter, Baa-chan?"

"I'm… not sure… There's something here, on the back of their necks, that does not belong there. It isn't biological by any means, but it's connected to some of the nerves in the nerve cluster. If I remember correctly, those lead straight to the emotional part of the brain..." When she finished, she created a Chakra Scalpel on her left hand, and slowly made a cut where the object was on one of the unconscious Diclonii. The sight of blood made her hesitate slightly, but quickly used a Jutsu to clean it up and redirect it slightly around the unknown object. The object was a small, square device, with a small blinking light. Naruto recognized it as a chip, having seen one when he accidentally blew up his microwave.

"Hey, what's a chip doing in there?" Naruto asked her. After running another Jutsu, Tsunade's eyes widened to amazing proportions.

"I-I can not believe this… what kind of monster could create such a devilish object!" Tsunade yelled, causing Naruto to cover his ears. For some reason, the Diclonii were unaffected by the sound. Tsunade pointed an accusing finger at the device. "That thing is sending electric signals to the brain, creating massive amounts of bloodlust and rage! Not only that, it's sending scrambling signals to the pineal gland!" While Naruto had no idea what she was talking about, Lucy stared at the object in disbelief.

"Y-you mean, that thing is the reason we Diclonii have a desire to kill?" She asked the healer, her lower lip trembling. The other two conscious Diclonii had a similar look on their faces. Tsunade nodded at the pinkette, the rage never leaving her eyes.

"However, from what I can tell, the electric signals it sends can be overridden by strong emotions, such as happiness or sadness. It also seems like the ones on these two…" She pointed at Nana and one of the unconscious Diclonii "… are defective. They're only sending the scrambling signals to the brain. It doesn't matter though, I'll schedule an OR to extract them before…"

*SQUELCH*

A horrible squelching sound interrupted Tsunade. When they turned to the source of the sound, they saw Kaede holding her own chip in one of her vectors. Apparently, she had used them to sever the connection to her nerves and then ripped it out, causing a mess on the wall. Not a few seconds after, two more squelches were heard, from Mariko and Nana. Naruto freaked out when he saw the blood gushing down his friend's and his daughter's necks.

"AHHH! WHATTHEHELLWEREYOUTHINKING!? I NEED BANDAGES! BAA-CHAN, WE NEED BANDAGES! WE NEED…"

*BONK!*

Thankfully, Tsunade cut off the blonde's panic with a swift punch. It did relieve her that he showed such concern for the girl he wanted to adopt and for his friend. After healing up the girls, she returned to her desk and told them 3 words.

"Welcome to Konoha!"

And that's it. Next chapter will be for Percy Jackson, Guardian of the Nile. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I also have a request for you readers. I'm having trouble creating Jutsu for the Diclonii to use that involve their Vectors or Horns. I've thought of things such as Vector Rasengans, the ability to control several puppets with Vectors, and a Raiton jutsu that uses the Horns as shooters. I hope you can help me with that. This is BladeOfThePoet, logging out.

Jutsu submitting format:

Jutsu Name:

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