Hey all. Yes I know, it's been awhile, but I have a good and original excuse! I got lost on the road of life… what? That's been done? Kakashi? Crap. Um, I was doing research... That to? Jiraiya? Fuck it. The truth is I was lazy as crap and was reading everyone else's stories and the manga, happy?

READ: going over my last chapter I found a mistake, the mysterious boys name is Ryuden Tamarashi

I don't own Naruto, but I do own Ryuden Tamarashi, and he's just as good (if not better)

The only time I shall use writing like THIS in the story, is for jutsu, summons or demons in demon form

He was in darkness, darkness was all that could be seen, nothing going on forever, it was a few seconds later that Naruto opened his eyes. As he sat up he almost slapped himself for thinking he was in darkness, except he was frozen in place by the scene before him. He was in a throne room, torches lined the walls every few meters, and the ceiling was so high it could not be seen, the walls were made from a dark obsidian stone, and a blood red carpet lead to the throne of the room, where Narutos eyes were glued.

"Take me to the land of the dead, I don't want to die, but if I must then let this boy return" pleaded Kyuubi. She stood, her nine tails waving in an agitated manor, before a throne made of gold, inlaid with mystic runes made from bone, upon the thrown was the shinigami himself.

"As I have said" he said, voice rumbling deeply "I cannot just send him back-"

"Why not? He's dealt with more than anyone I've known, he deserves a second chance, do what you will with me, just let him live a normal-" Kyuubi was silenced as a muzzle appeared over her mouth; she glared at the shinigami who returned the gaze.

"Now if you'd be quiet and listen, I have something to say" he said the impatience clear in his voice. "I cannot send just him back, because you two are now combined, chakra and soul, thanks to the seal" he paused a moment to let this sink in to her before continuing "Normally I do not mess with affairs of the human world, but because of how closely you are intertwined, and that he is deserving of a second chance, I am going to send you both back, just how you were" Kyuubis eyes grew wide, she bowed even lower before the shinigami and tried to offer thanks, but was quite hindered by the muzzle. The Shinigami released the muzzle on Kyuubi and turned to where the boy sat. Naruto looked back at him a little nervously.

"Umm, hi?" he said loudly, the Shinigami chuckled at the boy before making a coming motion.

"Approach me child, we have some things to discuss before I send you back"

A week and 2 days after Narutos death

The sun was hidden by cloud as the gathering started the funeral. Naruto was to be buried along side the Hokages, as a reward for saving the village from the evil of Kyuubi. His death had been announced to the village by a tearful Tsunade, and though many of the elder generations celebrated, the younger of the generations were mostly upset. They soon after were told of the Kyuubi (those that didn't already know) and all that knew Naruto, except two, came to the same conclusion. Naruto was Naruto, and they would honour his memory at the service. The two that didn't were not present at the funeral, Sakura was following around Sasuke, who was under constant supervision by jounin, but also received training from all of them.

The funeral was held atop the Hokage monument, but it was barely large enough for all that attended. Attending was all the teams of Narutos year and their jounin sensei, except for team 7 and Kakashi (most noticeably a hysterical Hinata). Gai and his team were there, also there was Ryuden, Tsunade, Shizune, Teuchi, Ayame, Anko, Konohamaru, Mizuki, Udon, Iruka, Asuma, Jiraiya and the clan heads of Aburame, Inuzuka, Akimichi, Nara and Yamanka. This, however, was just the list from Konoha, the news had gotten out and also present was Princess Yuki from snow, The sand sibs, Inari Tsunami & Tazuna from wave, and many other people that Naruto had helped out (soz don't know all filler characters). All the out of town guests had been informed of Narutos 'burden' but none of them had left. Tsunade was standing at the speakers' podium, next to a closed casket that held Narutos body, about to deliver the opening sermon when two light landings echoed over the otherwise silent rooftop. Everyone stared in shock as they took in the arrival of Itachi and Kisame, but it was only momentary as all the ninja present slipped into various stances ready for a conflict.

"Relax" said Itachi, not even slightly bothered by the many ninja around him "we're just here to see if the container really is dead, not for a fight"

"Well I was, but looks like you arrived just in time" said a voice; everyone had been so focused on the intruders they failed to notice Naruto sitting up in his casket. He looked around at all the shocked and some even scared faces, "what? You all look like you just saw someone rise from the dead, or something" the joke was completely lost on the crowd, an awkward silence held for a bit before four squeals echoed out across Konoha. Naruto gasped in shock and suffocation as he was smothered by Tsunade, Shizune, Hinata and, to the surprise of most of the guests, Tenten. Forgotten by the sudden revival then reunion, Itachi & Kisame shushined away. Once freed from the girls death grip, Naruto looked around at everyone and smiled, "well look at you lot, I was dead for an hour or so and your already burying me, can't tell ya how wanted I feel".

"Umm, Naruto?" said Tsunade, gaining his attention she continued "you've been… you were dead, that is, for nine days" Naruto blinked.

"Huh?"

"I said you were dead for nine days" Naruto looked at her, then the other guests, then back to her.

"Umm, excuse me for a minute" said Naruto politely, he turned away from everyone and ran through hand signs. A large plume of smoke enveloped him, obscuring him from view, until it blew gently away to reveal an angry Naruto glaring at clone that was beside itself with laughter (AN: yes, that pun was very much intended).

"Why" said the angry Naruto, "was I not told this?" the laughing Naruto stoped laughing, now only grinning widely at him.

"Because I knew the look on your face would be priceless" it giggled "and I was right"

"Vixen" Naruto sighed; he turned away from her and met the dead-pan gazes of the assembled guests. It suddenly occurred to him how strange it must seem that he rose from the dead, and then had a conversation entirely with a clone that had a different personality. He smiled and was about to explain but was interrupted by said clone.

"Let me explain, I have a feeling it will be MUCH more fun" it said happily, Naruto looked back at it and grinned at the mischief in its eyes. He stepped aside and let the clone walk forward; it winked at the crowd "can anyone guess who I am?"-Silence-"no? We'll try this, then" it quickly did a few hand signs, before transforming into a lapdog sized Kyuubi no Kitsune.

A ripple of fear rush through the crowd, all of them slipping back into fighting stances. Naruto couldn't help but laugh, a group consisting of extremely skilled shinobi in battle stances, ready to fight a tiny fox doing its best to look cute and cuddly. It 'hmphed' at their threatening gazes, before standing (causing everyone to flinch) and promptly dispersing.

"Thanks a lot everyone" said Naruto sarcastically, drawing attention back to him "now she's gonna be annoying me to kill you for being so rude to her"

"Damn straight" echoed a voice in Narutos head, causing him to chuckle lightly. Tsunade, on the other hand, just wanted to know something.

"Okay, ignoring all these unexpected guests" she said calmly "how the hell are you alive?" Naruto gave her a foxy grin.

"That, is a secret that is not lightly shared" he responded, Tsunade sighed and nodded her acceptance, being a shinobi she had learned to deal with secrets. Naruto on the other hand had already forgotten about it.

"Come on people, this isn't a funeral anymore, brighten up" he yelled at the still silent crowd, they instantly cheered up, but again, Fate had decided to screw with Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki" spoke a voice all too familiar to Tsunade, all heads turned to where Danzo, as well as the civilian council, stood "regardless of your amazing revival, you are in violation of your banishment, thus correct punishment shall be applied in the form of imprisonment" a look of shock came over the peoples faces, and Tsunade was about to argue when Naruto raised his hand.

"Its fine, Tsunade, I'm just glad so many people thought so much of me, and that they came to my funeral" he said politely to her, he switched his gaze to Danzo and once again spoke with politeness "Forgive my rude intrusion upon Konoha soil, I did not mean to break my banishment and shall leave, I ask only to be given the rest of today here to once again gather the things I need and say any final goodbyes" Danzo and the council grinned happily at the semi-defeated look on the blonds face. All the shinobi present, however, were half distracted as they tried to dispel whatever genjutsu had made them think Naruto was actually being polite.

"Very well, you have till the gates close at sundown to leave" he said, relishing every word, Naruto watched as Danzo and the council walked away with a neutral face, today was going to suck.

That afternoon

Naruto sighed as turned once more to face konoha, most hated him, but he still had called it home. He already felt a touch homesick as the sun descended behind the Hokages faces, bathing the city in a beautiful glow of orange. After watching for a few minutes, Naruto moved off the path. The slight orange that still peeked over from the sun left him in a twilight that, remarkably, made him blend in with the forest. Moving swiftly through the trees, Naruto looked back upon his childhood at the village, and apart from a few things, it was all just a blur. He shook his head in annoyance; I'll have to ask Tsunade about it, Thought Naruto.

Naruto arrived at the designated meeting place on time, a ten foot rock in a small clearing by a strong flowing river. He sat on the rock and prepared himself for the long wait for Tsunade and the others when a cough startled him. Spinning around in surprise, Naruto met the gaze of one Ryuden Tamarashi. He was leaning leisurely on a tree, eyes locked on to Narutos, giving a cold, ruthless and intelligent gaze that held Naruto transfixed for a brief moment.

"Um, do I know you?" asked Naruto with his usual tact, Ryuden smirked at him.

"It would seem not" he answered in a level voice "I am Ryuden Tamarashi, and I will be accompanying you and your friends on your banishment" Naruto blinked in surprise.

"Wait, why?"

"Because" said Ryuden "I've got nothing left for me at the village, but you, I've watched you for awhile and I've found that we have much in common. First though, I'd like to ask you how you did that jutsu, the one that allowed Kyuubi out of the seal" Naruto was a bit surprised at the request, but decided if he was coming with them, it was fine. After running through the hand signs slowly, Naruto used it and summoned out Kyuubi.

"Kit, you gotta stop trusting everyone you come across. I can tell he's not lying, but what if he had been an enemy?" chided Kyuubi as the smoke from her appearance cleared. Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, she had a point. "hm" continued Kyuubi, I'll need to get rid of this look, doesn't suit me" she complained, indicating her Naruto form, she quickly fixed this, though, as she performed a henge, changing to a red headed, slightly older and, sharper, version of Narutos female henge, although she let her hair fall down to her mid-back, instead of the usual ponytails. She turned to Ryuden and smiled.

"So why did you want to learn this little trick?" she asked him. He smiled in return and quickly used the jutsu; a large billow of smoke covered him, and as it cleared away, left two Ryuden's.

"Hey, it worked!" exclaimed the second Ryuden, but in a very feminine voice. "hm, I have to agree with Kyuubi over there, not quite me" the clone continued, almost to itself. Following in Kyuubis footsteps, it performed a henge and, once the smoke cleared, revealed a vastly different form. Standing even in height with Ryuden, was an anthro-dragon (AN: just for those that do not know, anthro is a term meaning an animal with very human like characteristics, like having a basic human anatomy with added animal parts, like tails, wings or even scales instead of skin) with smooth and shiny black scales, giving the impression that they had been meticulously polished. She wore the same outfit as Ryuden, although it accommodated for her sizable bust and slighter frame easily. Looking her up and down, Kyuubi smiled.

"Well I believe we haven't been introduced yet, although you seem to have heard of me" she said, slightly preening at the notion of how well known she was. The dragoness giggled at her lightly, bringing a small, almost unseeable smile to Ryuden's lips.

"yeah, I've heard of you" said the black dragoness once she had calmed down, "I'm Ember Tamarashi, and no, we're not related, by blood or by marriage, I allowed him to take the family name" she said, quickly adding on the last part, seeing the question on Kyuubis lips before it could be asked.

"why?" asked Naruto, "doesn't he have a name?"

"I was never given one" answered Ryuden, "but I won't go any further, I'd prefer to have this conversation with the whole group, because I hate repeating a long story"

"Okay, I'll try to remember that" mumbled Naruto, mind already wandering as he seemed to stare off into the distance. Ryuden noticed the blank, wandering look on his face and frowned, coughing to gain his attention, Ryuden returned to being quite serious.

"Naruto, do you find it hard to concentrate at all?" he asked, Naruto was caught off guard by the odd question, thinking quickly he nodded.

"Yeah, unless I'm fighting or really training hard, and I also find it hard to remember things, why?" said Naruto, Ryuden gained a thoughtful expression, before turning to Kyuubi.

"Hey, have you noticed any abnormalities about Narutos body?" Kyuubi copied his thoughtful pose, thinking through what she knew.

"Well" she finally said "he can't concentrate, he doesn't retain a lot of information, bad chakra control…" she trailed off, trying to think of other things.

"That's not what I meant" said Ryuden, he got a questioning look from the group and he sighed "I meant things like, Naruto being short and scrawny. With your influence in his body, surely he'd be quite tall and muscularly defined"

"That could have something to do with his malnutrition, and the attacks on him when he was younger" Kyuubi answered.

"Still, he shouldn't be so short at least"

"HEY" yelled Naruto "I am NOT short" Ryuden chuckled and whacked him over the back of the head lightly.

"Face it, you're the shortest in your class, and I'd say shorter than most of the year below you" Naruto glared at him angrily, getting a snicker from the girls.

"Get over it Naruto" said Ember, earning a glare for her trouble, she replied in a polite and sophisticated manner, by poking her tongue at him.

"Now what are you getting at, Ryuden?" said Kyuubi, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"It's just a feeling, but I think someone may have put seals on Naruto" silence followed this statement, Naruto, being clueless and restless, decided to put in his two cents.

"Um, please explain" Ryuden looked at Naruto and sighed.

"There are many types of seals Naruto, more than just the average storage seal and seals for demons. There are seals that can drain chakra, impede movement, block memory and a thousand other things" he explained quickly "one of those is that to stunt physical growth of any kind" Naruto grew wide eyed at this.

"What? But how, I mean, wouldn't Kyuubi have noticed it?" Ryuden shook his head sadly.

"Not necessarily, seals aren't always that obvious, and they don't have to activate straight away. If I'm right, then somebody has inscribed a seal or seals that are slow acting. Meaning the effects would be gradual, but would build up unbelievably, feeding off your own chakra in minute amounts until they either reach a limit, or you die" Naruto just stared at him, wanting to not believe that it could be true.

"But, this is all just guessing, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, but I know how we can find out if I'm right" Ryuden replied, "I'll need you to strip to your boxers and stand with your arms slightly lifted from your sides"

"WHAT!?" he exclaimed, "to my boxers? There are girls here and…" he was cut off by another slap over the head, this time from Kyuubi.

"oh get over it kit, I've been in your body since the day you were born, I know what you look like" Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah well, I suppose" he mumbled "but hey! What about Ember?"

"Who me?" Ember said with a sweet smile. "I'm staying wether you want me to or not. I love seeing Ryuden here working on seals. I might live in him, but I still haven't seen everything that goes on in his mind. So seeing him work with seals is always interesting" Naruto sighed in defeat; He could tell there would be no dissuading her. And so Naruto began on the extremely embarrassing task of striping down.

-----

four shadows raced through the tree tops, completely silent except the rustle of clothes, the ever so soft noise of their footfalls, and one other noise

Hinata giggled to herself, she simply couldn't help it. Here she was, leaving her village, the only home she had ever known, to possibly never return to it. But she was not only with a close friend and two great teachers, but also her Naruto-kun. During the days after Narutos death, Tenten had been there for her, as shoulder to cry on, and as a friend. Infact, she may have not still been around if not for Tenten. In between her annoying, tedious D-rank missions, and her harsh family, Naruto had been the bright light that cheered up her life, with his boundless energy and enthusiasm. When he had died, she fell into depression, the first days after his death where spent on Tenten's shoulders before being forced to go back to her average routine, although to her it all felt numb, the only relief was the nights she spent, talking and crying with Tenten. The result of this time together resulted in an incredibly bond of trust and friendship between the girls. Her musings where brought to an end as they broke from the trees and into the small clearing beside the river.

A warm light illuminated the clearing, the light being cast from a small campfire that gave of a comfortable heat but without smoke. Naruto was lying by the fire, and Kyuubi, Ember and Ryuden were sitting close together, looking down at a scroll Ryuden was drawing on, on the opposite side of the fire. Tsunade walked ahead of the girls and loudly announced herself.

"Hey Naruto, wake up!" she yelled, scaring the crap out of the half asleep boy, that had been napping lightly. Shizune and Tenten couldn't help but laugh at him, while Hinata just whispered 'Naruto-kun' in concern. He leapt up and shook his fist angrily.

"WHATS THE BIG IDEA!" yelled Naruto "SNEAKING UP ON ME LIKE THAT!" Tsunade growled and stood over him, in an attempt at intimidation, before yelling back.

"WELL A REAL NINJA WOULD HAVE KNOWN I WAS HERE! I NEVER EVEN TRIED TO SNEAK UP ON YOU, MORON!"

"UGLY"

"SHORTASS"

"OLD BAT"

"THAT'S IT" yelled Kyuubi, putting a bit of her youki to demonize her voice and slowly leaking killing intent into the air, this gained the fearful attention of Naruto and the girls, and amused looks from Ryuden and Ember,. Said fox rose to her feet and stalked angrily over to the previously fighting blonds, "IF YOU TWO DON'T STOP FIGHTING AND SHUT THE FUCK UP, THEN I SWEAR TO KAMI THAT I'LL RIP YOU BOTH APART, AND WHEN I'M DONE, THERE WON'T BE ENOUGH OF YOU LEFT TO FILL A THIMBLE, GOT IT?" Tsunade and Naruto nodded in confirmation as they quivered under the gaze of Kyuubi, and under the mounting KI (I'm too lazy to write killer intent every time) that was almost suffocating. Suddenly, it was gone; it was like a pressure valve being released. As Kyuubi walked calmly back over to Ryuden and Ember, she spoke again, in her normal human voice. "Now if you'll be quiet for awhile, Ryuden here has almost finished this seal array of his"

"Actually" he said, as he and Ember stood, "I finished it during your little tirade there" everyone except Ember looked at him in surprise, that KI had been ridiculous, and he was doing a seal during it! It was only then that Tenten realized something.

"Uh, not to be rude, or anything" she started, drawing everyone's attention to her, making her slightly nervous "Um, I know that we had this guy coming with us, but who's the lizard-chick with him?" this made everyone that had recently arrived look to Ember for answers, who was growling at Tenten.

"dragon, not lizard, dragon, and if you must know, I'm ember, Ember Tamarashi, but before anyone asks me and Ryu-kun aren't related at all, I just live in him" she answered, earning a glare from Ryuden at the nickname, note to self, keep calling him that.

"Wait, did you say you live IN him?" asked Shizune, Ember smirked.

"What? Did you think only demons could be sealed in humans?" replied Ember with a snort.

"Oh" said Tsunade as she turned to Ryuden, "so that's what you meant by having something in common with Naruto, eh Ryuden?"

"That's half of it, however we have something more important to discuss, but we can talk while we move" he replied. He smothered the fire with a single stamp, sending ash into the air and leaving only glowing embers on the ground, he looked at the group and, finding everyone ready, leapt off into the trees, with the others close behind. Kyuubi and Ember decided to just return to their hosts. As they made their way away from Konoha, Tsunade made her way quickly up to be beside, yet slightly in front of Ryuden, she was the leader here, so she was going to lead.

"So, what did you want to talk about" she asked Ryuden, making sure everyone was able to hear.

"I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is this afternoon I discovered many minor and several high level, uncoordinated seals placed on Narutos body" the girls almost missed their next step. They all had experience with seals, and knew how dangerous uncoordinated sealing's could potentially be to someone, and even more so on a Jinchikcuri with an already at least Kage level seal.

"Alright" growled Tsunade through gritted teeth, she had half a mind to go back to the village and find whoever had placed the seals, she'd make sure Anko and Ibiki had fun. "How many and what type of seals are we talking about here?" Ryuden smiled grimly.

"53" this time someone did miss their landing, luckily for Hinata, Tenten had been beside her at the time and managed to grab her before she fell.

"T-thanks Tenten-Chan" stuttered Hinata, Tenten just smiled at her and nodded for Ryuden to continue.

"6 high and 19 low level seals to affect and/or suppress his ability to memorize, memories, decision making, motor skills and also to give him ADHD like symptoms when outside of fights" continued Ryuden.

"What do you mean outside of fight?" asked Naruto

"Have you ever noticed when you're fighting, everything's clearer and its easier to think?" Ryuden asked.

"I think so, yeah" replied Naruto

"well that's because the seals used would limit the chakra flow to certain arts of your brain, thus during a fight, when there is a lot of chakra surging through your body, a lot gets past the seals and allows you to attain near normal brain function" explained Ryuden, "infact, probably the only reason your not a drooling vegetable is your naturally large chakra reserves allowed some chakra get past the seals" Naruto nodded, it made sense to him…mostly.

"So what about the physical ones?" asked Tsunade.

"Well he has 8 high and 20 low level seals, these affect and/or suppress Narutos chakra control and flow, muscle development and general growth, senses and muscle memory. Once again, his naturally high chakra reserves helped to overcome this" explained Ryuden, a silence followed in which everyone absorbed the information. About five minutes afterwards Tsunade spoke again.

"So what was the good new?" she asked

"I already knew about three quaters of them, mostly the lower ones, and I have two ways to fix the seals. I could pick them apart one by one, but that would be time consuming and exhausting, as well as the fact that Naruto would need to relearn his entire nervous system, making him physically inept at anything from using chakra to moving a finger for at least two to five weeks, or I could use the array I made this afternoon to break down all the physical seals very slowly, over the time span of about a week. This means that with regular chakra and body exercises he'll keep most of his current ability, before his skills start increasing. The memory seals however will be immediately disabled, rendering him unconscious for up to twenty-four hours because of the memory and brain function backlash" the girls just stared at him. Inventing a new basic seal takes days, decoding even a chunin or low jounin level seal could take weeks, and decoding various high level seals could take months. Yet he just casually stated that he knew most of the more basic of the 53 seals on Naruto, and had decoded the rest of the more complex ones, created an array to break down the seals, and made it so the backlash was at a minimum from the physical seals, all in one afternoon.

"Just how good are you at seals?" asked Shizune in amazement.

"Probably a fly shit below Jiraiya" he replied, normally Tsunade or Shizune would question this, but they could only believe it if what Ryuden said was true.

"So was the seal for Kyuubi damaged?" asked Tsunade.

"Not that I could tell, but I'll have to check more in-depth later" he answered.

"hey" Naruto said suddenly, "are we actually going anywhere in particular?" Tsunade grinned back at him.

"Oh I think you'll like where we're headed, you're quite popular there" she answered him with a grin.

"Really? Where are we going? Huh? Huh?" he asked in excitement.

"Oh, just a little village by the water, I'm sure Tazuna will be thrilled to see you"

TaaDaa, the interesting thing is, I did the last half of this in one day, where the first took me months….

Oh well, reviews would be nice, and the more I get the sooner I'll get the next chapter up.