A/N: Sorry to those who expect to see Sakura. Yes she will be in the story, but not for a little while. All will be explained next chapter in Author's comments.

To BallSabre: I always write my stories in present tense. I always feel like i miss something when everyone does it in past tense. Besides, it is another way to distinguish my stories for others. Thanks for the input though. Also, Naruto is 15. I'm making it so that he was born 4 years earlier than the rest of the rookies and 3 older than his teammates. I don't do lemons for kids and that's what 11 and 12 year olds are. Naruto is a special case with Konoha because Kushina wasn't asking for permission to leave. She was going to if she had permission or not. Sarutobi just made a condition to keep her close so she doesn't run away with Naruto.

To cmcwiki: I agree, but i think of her being a master of many things. Ninjutsu and kenjustu are two of many. I just chose to focus more on the kenjutsu side of it. Also the way i set up the bloodlines, the Namikaze side would provide more ninjutsu since his side has the extra chakra from the bloodline.

Before someone flames about "old enough to kill is old enough to have sex" I have something to say. While their minds may mature faster than normal, their bodies still progress at the normal rates. Meaning that boys don't hit puberty until 11 or 12 and girls a year or two before that. They physically aren't ready for sex.

So... on with the story!

Chapter 3: Propositions

Naruto's Apartment-8pm

Naruto walks in the door feeling more emotionally drained in a long time. He doesn't like seeing his mom cry, but not to be able to go to her, that was worse. He takes off his katana and hangs it on the wall and gets undressed.

His mother wasn't the only stressful thing that happened today. He ran across Lee and Tenten on their way to Ichiraku's. After Tenten finished literally glowing (her face lit up like a multi-colored Christmas tree) with admiration they joined Naruto and Kushina for some ramen. He didn't even get to say goodbye to his mom before being literally dragged off by Lee by his collar.

The next part he would rather forget most. He had met with the "Rookie 9" as they call them. Kami knows he wanted so badly to give into the Kyuubi's wishes and just kill most of them at one point.

(Flashback – 1pm) Yamanaka Household

Naruto notices that he isn't being dragged anymore. He looks up and sees that they have stopped outside a flower shop.

"Great, now my allergies will start to act up." He hopes his captors will take the bait. No luck as they completely ignore him.

"You don't have any allergies. And you're welcome." Kyuubi says with a grin (or as much as a fox can grin).

'Damn you. You're no help! For once, bet off you lazy ass and help me think of a way out of this!' he furiously thinks at Kyuubi.

Lee lets him go and Naruto seriously considers bolting away before a girl comes out of the shop.

"Hello Tenten, Lee. Who is this?" She asks. Naruto looks up at her from the floor as he has yet to get up.

She has long, straight blonde hair tied in a high pony tail and has purple all over her. She has a Konoha Hitai-ate (forehead protector) over her stomach and green eyes (In the manga they are green, not that you can tell since it is in black and white).

"Ino, meet Naruto Uzumaki, our new teammate. He has been with us for some weeks, but he is kind of anti-social. We found him about to have lunch with his mother." Tenten informs her. Then Tenten remembers something and squeals.

"OOOHHH Ino, do you know who I met today?" Tenten asks excitedly.

Ino shakes her head apathetically. Naruto just rolls his eyes. He knows where this is going.

"I met the Red Death of Konoha!"

Ino's eyes go wide. "You didn't?" Ino exclaims. The Red Death is easily one of the most powerful and well known kunoichi in the ninja world. She is as famous as Tsunade, the Slug Sannin.

Tenten only nods her head.

"How did you meet her? Was she nice? Was she wearing armor and tons of weapons? Did you see her fight?" Ino bombards Tenten with questions.

Tenten just laughs. "Come on, I'll tell you inside."

Ino squeals in excitement and jumps aside to ushers them in. Naruto really doesn't want to go, but now he is trapped. He knows that they will look for him and his mother will beat his ass for being impolite.

Hesitantly, Naruto follows Tenten in.

Once inside he finds a very open living room. It is easily the largest living room he has seen.

Tenten and Lee walk in and are greeted with a Fonzie-like "Ey!" from most people. He follows them into the living room and the room stops. Totally silent. All of the Genin stop where they are, mid-stride and mid-sentence. All pairs of eyes are on Naruto. Tenten follows Ino into the kitchen, leaving him with Lee.

Feeling uncomfortable, he rubs the back of his head. "Um… hi. I'm Tenten and Lee's teammate."

"Wait, you have 4 Genin members now?" a male with red upside down triangle on his face with a white dog on his head almost shouts.

"Yeah, he joined a few weeks ago." Tenten says with a mouthful of crackers as she comes out of the kitchen with Ino in tow.

He shrugs. "Must have graduated late then. Not everyone is good enough to graduate on time."

"Actually, I didn't go to the Academy." Naruto says as he finds a seat on a stool.

Most people do a double take. "How is that possible? Everyone who is a Genin has to go through the Academy to be certified to be a Genin." The boy with the white dog says.

Naruto sighs. "Look why don't I tell you my name and you guys tell me yours so I know what to call you besides loud mouth." That gets a laugh from most people but the boy is glaring at Naruto. The rest snicker at the nickname.

"I'll start off. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

The room sounds off. Naruto catalogs each name with a face or whatever is covering the face in Shino's case.

"Good and to answer your question I… who is the guy in the back?"

Everyone looks to the back of the room and sitting in the corner is a boy with black hair and lose clothing.

"Oh him, that's the rookie of the year, Uchiha Sasuke-kun." Ino says with a rapt voice and stars in her eyes.

'I don't see what's so great about him. Kyuubi are you growling?'

"Kill him! He is a damn Uchiha! You better let me loose right now so I can rip his throat out!"

'What the hell? I'm not letting you out. Not only do these guy not know about you buy your going to kill someone neither you nor I know.'

"I don't care! He is an Uchiha and that's all the reason I need!" Kyuubi smashes himself against the cage again and again in a vain attempt to break loose.

Naruto cuts the connection between them. He can't talk to Kyuubi while he is in a blind rage like that.

"So, rookie of the year, eh. I don't care. Anyways, to answer your question…"

"And what makes you so great?" Sasuke finally speaks up.

"What?" Naruto asks, confused.

"I asked you what makes you so great that me, the great rookie of the year, doesn't mean anything!" Sasuke gets up from the chair, glaring.

Naruto shrugs and turns back to Kiba. "Anyways, I had extenuating circumstances and I trained with my ka-chan in the forest for 10 years."

"Heh, your ka-san must be a terrible teacher because there is no way you can beat me."

Before anyone can even move, Naruto is behind Sasuke, Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi drawn and up against Sasuke's jugular. Everyone, including Sasuke, have wide eyes. They have never seen anyone mover that fast.

"I don't care if you insult me, but my ka-chan is off limits."

Sasuke smirks. "She must be worse than I thought to have a dobe like you come to her defense."

"Kushina is not weak!" Tenten shouts, coming to her defense as well.

Everyone looks at her. "His mother is Kushina, the Red Death of Konoha!" No explanation is necessary as everyone understands.

A collective intake of breath is drawn from everyone. Even Sasuke has wide eyes.

"That's right. I am Naruto Uzumaki, sochi (son) of Kushina Uzumaki. Insult her again and you won't be conscious enough to regret it!"

That's when Shikamaru sees the design on the katana.

"Hey, Naruto, when you are done making the number one rookie piss his pants, can I see that katana?"

Naruto pulls it a fraction of an inch closer to Sasuke's neck, just enough to make his threat felt. The then slowly pulls Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi away from Sasuke's throat. Once the blade is clear, Sasuke storms out of the house, not saying anything to anybody.

'Geeze, I just met him and want to kick his arrogant ass!'

"I'll help you in that department as long as I get to eat him afterwards."Naruto is slightly surprised to hear the Kyuubi so calm after his rant earlier.

'I thought you didn't like human flesh. Too stringy and tough in some places.'

"Your right, I don't like human flesh all that much, but I'm willing to make an exception."

Naruto shakes his head clear. He remembers that Shikamaru wanted to see his blade.

He walks over to Shikamaru. He carefully hands it to him.

"Here. I call it the Tenma Kitsune no Tsurugi. It was a gift from my ka-chan right before we came back here a few weeks ago."

'Majorly troublesome! Between this blade and what I have heard from my father, that confirms it. He houses the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He could be a little more subtle about it. Sword of the Demon Fox? It doesn't take a genius to figure that out.'

"It is a beautiful sword. It suits you." He says as lethargically hands the blade back to Naruto, who gives him a hard look, trying to find out by what he meant by it suits him.

Shikamaru gives him a quick wink. 'So he does know. Why isn't he telling everyone about it?'

Just then, Ino walks into the room after following Sasuke out, trying to get him to stay.

"Thanks Uzumaki, you made Sasuke-kun leave. Do you know how hard it was to get him to come here?" She yells at him at near banshee levels. Naruto hears a feint "troublesome" from Shikamaru.

Un-phased Naruto just looks at her."Look, I'm sorry I made you boy crush leave, but he had it coming. Nobody insults my Ka-chan and gets away with it. She is my only parent and only relative. I'll do anything to protect her, even her honor when she isn't here. You're a kunoichi who should know that my mother deserves the respect that she has earned!"

Ino doesn't know what to say. Never before has someone her age completely overpowered and destroyed her opinion of Sasuke, even if it for this once. Even she has to admit that he was an ass and deserved what he got.

She lowers her face to the ground. "I guess."

Silence fills the room. "So, Naruto, tell us about yourself." Shino says from the back.

"Ok. The Hokage allowed my mother and me to live a few hours from here in the forest. I know kenjutsu, several A rank and two S-Rank ninjutsu, I have really good chakra control, I am terrible at Genjutsu, but I can detect and dispel them easily, I love Fuuinjutsu, I have a huge amount of chakra, courtesy of a my father, and I want to become Hokage, but I doubt that will happen."

Once again the room is in silence.

"Can we see an S-Rank ninjutsu?" asks Kiba.

Naruto shakes his head. "I don' think that is a good idea. They are way too powerful to be used in the city and maybe even at a practice field."

"Ha, I knew it. Your bluffing!"

A eyebrow twitches. "Really you think I'm bluffing?"

Naruto holds out his right hand and a small blue ball begins to form. Everyone watches in amazement as the ball swirls and expands.

'Holy shit! That is pure chakra in his hand!' thinks Ino.

After a few seconds Naruto lets the chakra diffuse.

"That is an A rank jutsu made by the Yondaime Hokage himself. Although he never finished it, I have."

Everyone's mouth drops open.

"How…how did you learn that?" asks Hinata, speaking up for the first time since roll call.

"Didn't you know that my mother was a personal friend to the Yondaime Hokage? He was the last of his clan so in his Will he gave the scroll to my mom. Most are still stored at the Namikaze compound to keep them from being stolen, but I have access to them."

"Can I learn that?" shouts Kiba in an asking kind of way.

Naruto just looks at him. "No, sorry, but I have to keep those jutsu's to myself. I may teach them to my kids, but not to anyone else minus who I marry."

A disappointed look comes over Kiba's face.

"You know how these things work Kiba. A clan's jutsu stays in the family no matter how much a friend my want to learn it." Choji speaks up now that his bag of chips is empty.

"You could kill them all and get these ignorant individuals out of both our hair."

'I'm ignoring you. Besides, not all of them are bad. Shikamaru figured out that you are inside me and he is keeping his mouth shut.'

Naruto spends the rest of the time mingling with the others. He mostly talks with Shino and Shikamaru. Although he wanted to go talk to the two purple haired girls in the corner who watched him the entire time, he couldn't get away long enough to do so.

(End Flashback)

It was nice to talk to other people that isn't his mom and doesn't have a thing about destiny or extreme youthfulness. Shikamaru is an enigma to him. He knows about the Kyuubi and doesn't hate him. In fact, he seems to enjoy Naruto's company. He treats him like everyone else. None of the adults but his mother, the Hokage, and Kushina's friends treats him like that.

He deactivates the seal he placed on his lower back. With a grunt, out sprouts 9 long tails that reach above his head come. The tails come out of the exact spot the seal is placed. But these tails are not red like the Kyuubi's. They are the same shade of blonde as his hair with snow cap tips.

"I never get used to that."

A week after the Kyuubi informed him of how to alter the seal, Naruto proceeded. Aside from the tails, the only real difference is Naruto like his meat rare. The forming of the tails was very painful. They had to grow bones and nerve endings in a matter of minutes and that was no walk in the park. It took him a little while to be able to use his tails fluently. Every night he comes home and practices using his tails to grab things, open things, even putting on his clothes with them. The hardest thing however, was learning to sleep with them.

He came up with the seal before he altered the Kyuubi's seal to suppress the extra amounts of Bijuu chakra. It also has the added benefit of making the tails recede. He had also hid chakra blocking seals all over the apartment so the Hokage and dozens of Anbu don't descend on him every time he deactivates the seal.

He doesn't want to keep hiding his tails, but the only people to know of his "companion" are the adults. Even further, most of them will use this against him and be convinced that he really is a demon. Even his mother and the Old Man will freak out about this transformation and the Old Man doesn't even know that the Kyuubi can talk!

Naruto sighs at his predicament, but promises himself that he will tell the important people to him soon. He lies down on his bed and instantly starts to fall asleep. He pulls himself into his mindscape. Before he knows it, he is sitting in front of the Kyuubi.

"Alright, why did you completely lose it today?"

"Shut up brat. I owe you nothing."

Naruto doesn't back down.

"You will tell me because I will not let you out again. I don't care if I'm dying, I will not let you out because I cannot trust you to not go on a rampage!" Naruto shouts.

"How dare you speak to the me this way! You are nothing but a lowly human and I am the immortal Kyuubi! I have destroyed cities with a flick of my tails. I have destroyed nations because I was board. I will NOT be questioned by a human who is hundreds of years younger than me!"

The Kyuubi roars so loudly and ferociously that the walls shake and Naruto has to activate chakra in his feet so his isn't blown away by the force of the Kyuubi's words.

Naruto kicks the cage. "Get over yourself already! You will tell me why you are so afraid of the Uchiha that you would lose control like that!"

"Afraid? And what makes you think I am afraid of the Uchiha? Of that Gaki (brat)?"

"Oh, I didn't say the teme, (bastard) I said the Uchiha! And I meant them as a clan. You must fear them very badly if you don't want a child like him to grow up. I can see that you hate them with a fury that I can't even begin to understand. I can help you, but first you have to let me in. I want to help you, so let me."

The Kyuubi takes a deep breath and calms down.

"Look, kit, I admire your curiosity and willingness to help, but I am not ready to tell you or anyone yet. Just let me be."

The Kyuubi's voice becomes soft as a gentle breeze and Naruto hears a flurry of emotions. Sorrow, despair, agony. So many emotions it is impossible for Naruto to get even half of them. It is obvious the Kyuubi has suffered greatly.

The Kyuubi turns around and slowly pads back into the dark recesses of the cage. Naruto can't help but feel sorry for Kyuubi. The great Lord of the Bijuu reduced to a broken, discarded shadow of his prideful self.

(Time skip – 3 days)

Naruto wakes at his normal time. He pushes himself out of bed. He feels very refreshed. Every since his talk with Kyuubi, they haven't had a training session once. This of course allows Naruto to get a full night's sleep without having his brain work in overtime. But he is still very worried about Kyuubi.

Naruto goes through his normal routine. He gets up at 5am, eats a short breakfast, runs around Konoha, meditates, works on katas while slowly increasing his chakra weights and gravity seal. At the end he is up to 40lbs on each arm right above his wrists, 80lbs on each leg right above his ankles and 120lbs around his torso. Add to that a gravity of 2x the normal pull of gravity, his advanced healing which allows his to instantly repair his tearing muscles while training allows him to improve his strength and endurance vastly in a relatively very short amount of time.

After the katas around 7:30am, he comes back and takes a shower and relaxes for a half hour before going off and training with the Kyuubi. Around noon, he joins his teammates for training, though he doesn't get near the amount of workout his teammates do. His taijutsu has improved as well as his stamina. After a few hours of training, they go off for D-rank missions.

On this particular day, the mission of retrieving the Daimyo's wife's cat…again drew the team towards the main gates. They pounce as the cat tries to make a getaway and slip out into the forest. Just as they retrieve the cat, Team 7 walks into view. With them, Kakashi carries an unconscious woman over his shoulder.

Naruto waves to the grey haired Jonin and walks over to him. As he walks over, he sees a very smug Sasuke.

"Hey Shi-chan, how was your mission?"

Sasuke snorts. "What dobe? Can't help but feel jealous that our mission turned into an A-rank and we kicked ass?"

Naruto raises an eyebrow at him before returning his gaze to Kakashi who is rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment of Sasuke's ego.

"Yeah, we had a little bit of a problem with our mission. Momochi Zabuza was paid to kill our client and I ended up killing him." Guy's eyes bug out as big as his eyebrows. He beings ranting about his eternal rival, but that's as far as Naruto listened.

"Yeah and I kicked his little hunter-nin's ass!" Sasuke says with a triumphant smirk.

"Sasuke, you only won because of Sai. She had you on the ropes if Sai hadn't destroyed her mirrors and knocked her out. If it weren't for him, you would probably be dead by now."

Sasuke broiled at his statement. "I would have won even without Sai's interference!"

Naruto smirked at Sasuke's reaction. "Whatever you say teme (bastard)." He turns to Kakashi.

"Is that her?" He says motioning to the unconscious woman on Kakashi's shoulder, completely ignoring Sasuke's Sharingan stare.

'So he activated them? That will only serve to boost his already inflated ego.'

"Yeah. She doesn't have anywhere else to go so I brought her here in hopes that she can find a way to have a normal life."

"Well, if she needs a place to stay, I'm sure Ka-chan wouldn't mind letting her stay for a while. She is on a mission right now. She should be back in a few days so if nowhere else, tell the Old Man she can stay at my place until Ka-chan gets back."

Kakashi nods and is preparing to go walk past Naruto but Sasuke has other ideas.

"Weakling women belong with each other."

Faster than anyone can follow except the two Jonin who were either too far away or weighed down to stop him. Naruto appears beside Sasuke who jumps back after registering that Naruto was indeed in his face. He feels something dribble down his cheek and wipes at it. His hand comes away bloody.

"How dare you make me bleed? Do you know how precious my blood is?" Sasuke shouts.

Naruto licks the blood off of the nail that had scratched his cheek. "I told you once and I will NOT tell you again. Insult me all you want, I don't give a fuck. But insult my Ka-chan again and you will be in the hospital for WEEKS! Do I make myself clear?"

Kakashi grabs Naruto's arm and wheels him around. He looks to the finger that scratched Sasuke's face and doesn't see any blood on the finger.

"Did you just do what I think you did?" His voice is deadly serious.

"What? It's not like he didn't deserve it and it will be payback later if he doesn't heed my warning." Naruto fires back slightly glaring.

Kakashi's eyes glower. "Your mother will hear of this as will the Sandaime. And never again threaten a fellow Shinobi. Do I make myself clear?"

Knowing that there is no point in arguing, he just nods his head.

Kakashi walks off without another word and his Genin follow him, Sasuke glaring and holding his cheek.

Guy walks up to Naruto, clearly not happy with Naruto's actions.

"That was very un-youthful Naruto. I get your protective of your mother but that is no reason to attack a fellow Shinobi. Ninja must be level headed at all times."

Naruto faces Guy.

"I didn't lose my cool. I meant to do that for more than one reason. One being that I told him before not to insult her and he didn't heed my warning so more drastic measures needed to be taken to insure that he would not do so again. And now I have ensured his destruction if he ever does it again.

"Before you go off and tell me not to the only way to make a donkey leave a habit is to break it of the habit with punishment. The only punishment a donkey of that stubbornness is to physically beat down that stubbornness and arrogance. The Uchiha is nothing but egotistical bastards that the entire village has helped create by treating like royalty. I will not tolerate that attitude when he is around me."

Guy is speechless by Naruto's outburst. That doesn't compare to the looks that his teammates have on their faces. Luckily Tenten has an iron grasp on their target or it would have gotten away again.

"Come on, let's turn in the mission." Naruto starts to walk off towards the Hokage Tower. His movement snaps the other out of their stupor and follows him.

Hokage Tower

Guy walks in the door and his Genin follow. Tenten hurriedly hands the devil cat to a leery Chuunin who holds the cat as far away from him body as he can before handing it to a very large woman. The woman squeals in delight and leave the room after paying the Chuunin sitting next to the Hokage.

"Ah, Team Guy. I have a mission for you."

He hands Guy a slip.

"It is a C-Rank mission. You are to escort the Fire Daimyo's granddaughter to the Capital. This will be a weeklong mission. Bandits are expected, but shouldn't present a challenge for your team. Her name is Shibasaki Natsumi. She is going back to the Capital from meeting a potential husband. Her guard was recalled so we are providing security for the convoy."

Guy turns to his team.

"HOSH! Use your youthfulness and meet at the gates in 1 hour!"

(Time skip -2 days)

Team Guy arrives at town the Daimyo's granddaughter is in. Only the village is currently in flames. Guy turns to his students.

"Make your way into the town and find the target. Protect her with your life. If you find her flare your chakra so we can find you. Rules of engagement are no civilian casualties and keep the collateral to a minimum. Move out!"

The team splits up and engages the enemy. Naruto runs into the center of the town and looks around. Buildings are a flame, scorched and bludgeoned bodies of men, women, and children lay strewn across the ground. A tear falls down his face at the sight.

He hears a scream to his left and takes off after it. He sees 3 men in shinobi armor restraining a young woman. She had bleach blonde hair and jade eyes, her face a mash of bruises and blood. Her clothing is torn, revealing her breasts which one shinobi is currently is molesting and her skirt is torn and almost non-existent and wearing no panties, but from the bruising it is clear that they were ripped off her. A malicious grin forms on all of the men as one starts to undo his pants.

"You're going to love this!" The woman gives another scream and gets backhanded across the face.

He doesn't draw another breath. Naruto's Tenma Kitsune (I don't want to have to spell it out all the time so I am giving it a nickname) is sticking out of the man's chest and slumps to the ground, dead. Naruto's eyes are red slits and have a red aura around him. Not even giving them a chance to run, he shunshins behind them and cuts both of their Achilles tendon, rendering them both unable to run.

Naruto quickly slices open one shinobi's wrists and stabs both his thighs and pierces both arteries. His friend watches as his friend dies a very painful death as he bleeds out. He looks back to Naruto who has a sadistic grin on his face.

"You motherfuckers chose the wrong village to attack!"

He moves and lifts the man up and uses a couple of kunai to pin the man to the walls through his arms. Using Tenma Kitsune he stabs each shoulder and forces them out of their sockets. He does the same for the man's legs at both the knee and the hip joint.

By now the man is almost passed out from the pain and his throat is dry and cracked from the screaming. Before the man loses consciousness, he rips the man's pants off and cuts off his penis and testicles and implants them in the wall next to his face. The sight of his own dick and balls next to him makes him pass out.

Being a little merciful, Naruto then slices the man's jugular and the last of his blood seeps out.

The whole time, the woman just stares at her savior in horror as he tortures and kills her attackers. When Naruto turns back to her, his eyes are once again piercing blue. He cleans the blood off Tenma Kitsune and sheathes it. He slowly walks toward her with his hands outstretched to show her he has no intention to hurt her.

As he approaches, she tries to back as far away as she can, but finds herself in a corner. Naruto sees this and stops. He takes off his shirt and tosses it to her.

"Here, use my shirt. I have extra's so you can keep it. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. No one will hurt you again but I need you to stay here. I'm going to go but I will leave a friend here to keep you safe."

He bits his thumb and performs the necessary seals and puts his hand on his stomach.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke and a very large red fox with 9 tails appears in front of the frightened woman.

"What do you want? I was having a very nice nap." The girl starts. The fox just talked.

Naruto ignores the comment. "I need you to look after her until I get back." He points to the girl 10 feet away.

Kyuubi looks and sees the state of the girl who is holding onto Naruto's shirt with a death grip. He looks from the girl to the man plastered to the wall to the appendage next to the body and back to Naruto.

"And people say that I'm a sadist. Geeze kit, I didn't think you had it in you."

Naruto rolls his eyes. "Look, will you look after her or not? Because if not then you go back into the seal. I have a mission to complete."

He weighs his options. Stay in the real world and babysit or back to the sewer to sleep. He chooses the former.

"Alright. You're such a pain in my ass." The Kyuubi approaches the girl who slightly recoils.

"Do not fear me. I'm here to watch over you and protect you from harm until my partner gets back."

Naruto sees the girl very hesitantly reach out and gently stroke his fur.

'This is the only time I will allow a human to pet me like some common dog.'

"Your such a softy." Naruto thinks to Kyuubi, earning a glare that can set fire to a block of ice.

He decided that she is going to be fine and takes off further into the village.

After 5 minutes of searching, he stumbles across the enemy leader. He is in a ring of 15 men as they move through the village. He is a large, heavy-set man. He is wearing a dark yellow, sleeveless shirt and dark blue shorts that looks like they were once pants. On his right arm he wears an Iwa headband.

At the moment they are stopped. At his feet is a woman about his height and has red hair. She has a tiara in her hair and is wearing dirt, but intact expensive clothing. She is tied and gagged and is struggling against her restraints. One of the shinobi approaches her, only to be smacked away.

"Fool, she is not to be touched! She is more valuable to us intact." The man's voice could turn a lake to ice.

Naruto thinks for a moment. He can't flare his chakra or he will be detected and hunted down. So he goes for something else.

Naruto jumps into the ring of men, a few feet away from the leader. They all look at him like he is crazy.

"A Konoha Nin eh? This might be fun," one says.

"Looks like Konoha decided to show up. Leave or the girl dies." The leader says coldly.

Naruto just stares at him before shifting his gaze to the girl.

"You are Shibasaki Natsumi, correct?"

She nods her head before being picked up by her neck.

"Leave now or she WILL die!"

Naruto shakes his head. "I don't think you're going to kill your meal ticket. Right now, she is the only thing keeping you alive, so if you kill her, you all are dead."

The leader just laughs. "You got spunk kid, I'll give you that. The name's Fibiki (Fee-bee-kee). Now scram or you won't walk out of here alive."

Naruto draws Tenma Kitsune and rushes one of the men, who is sliced almost in half. He moves onto the second man. By now the circle has collapsed and all 15, well 14, now rush Naruto. Naruto throws down a couple of smoke bombs.

The entire are is obscured. Fibiki is looking around; his field of vision is slightly greater than his men as he is at the edge of the cloud. The cloud disperses and he sees Naruto surrounded by his men, swords pushed up against his neck and torso. Fibiki laughs.

"I like you. You have some balls but when your equipment doesn't match the size of your balls, you get into trouble. Deal with him." He gives a dismissive wave and almost turns around. Something isn't right. Naruto is grinning.

"What's so funny? Your life must be pretty pathetic to be glad for it to be over."

Naruto just laughs. "Jokes on you."

POOF!

Naruto bursts into smoke.

'A clone?'

"Ha, very clever. But now you are going to pay. We don't need her to live, but it would have been a nice bonus. Say goodbye to your girl friend."

He reaches down to pick up Natsumi and lifts her up by her neck again and chokes her. She struggles for a few seconds before smiling.

"I told you. The jokes on you."

POOF!

The clone bursts into smoke.

Fibiki is dumbfounded. How the fuck did he pull that off? She was right by his side the whole time. He hears something behind him and sees massive red fox standing beside Naruto, who is holding Natsumi bridal style. He also has the Iwa halite-ate from Fibiki in his hand.

"Boss says you can have them." Naruto says before he shunshins away.

Fibiki turns his gaze to the fox. A massive amount of Killing Intent (KI) floods the area, making most of his men fall to their knees. The Fox give a feral grin and launches himself at the group.

They never stood a chance.

Village Square

Guy, Tenten, Lee, and Neji stand in the middle of the Village square. They had yet to find any trace of Natsumi Shibasaki. Guy is about to call it quits when Naruto shunshins into the square hold said girl. He hands her to Tenten and gives the Haiti-ate to Guy.

"Here, Boss said he will be with you in a minute." The clone informs them before poofing out of existence.

The team looks confused. They undo Natsumi's ties and sit her down. A few minutes later, the real Naruto joins them, a girl in tow. They all stare at his shirtless self to Mibi who has said shirt on and a pair of Naruto's pants.

"Sorry about making you guys wait, but Mibi needed help." He takes a seat next to his team and Mibi takes a seat a few feet behind him.

Then they all feel it. A malevolent KI washes over the entire area. As far away as they are, it is still stifling.

"What…what is that?" Neji asks, his body shaking from the sheer weight of the KI.

"Oh that? That is the rest of the shinobi that attacked the town being taken care of by a friend." Naruto says nonchalantly.

"A…a friend? What kind of friend do you have?" asks Tenten. She looks like she is about to pee herself.

The KI dies down and the group lets out a collective breath. Naruto feels the Kyuubi return to the seal. He can practically see the very sated look on Kyuubi's face.

"Pray you never have to meet him." Naruto answers cryptically.

"Anyways, how did you get Shibasaki-sama? We have been looking all over. I said to flare your chakra when you find her." Guy says. His usual speech patterns thrown off, showing just how much the KI had affected him.

"Well, I couldn't because at the time she was being held hostage and doing so would have endangered her. So I created a clone to distract them while I tunneled underneath them and when my clone used a smoke bomb I created another clone and henged it to look like Shibasaki-sama and replaced her with the clone and grabbed the Haiti-ate off the leader at the same time. The clone then came here and I picked up Mibi from where I left her."

The group looks at Mibi who flinches at the stares. Tenten at once recognizes the symptoms of a girl who either had been or was about to be raped.

"Mibi here was about to be raped when I saved her. I left her to find Shibasaki-sama and then came to retrieve her and gave her a pair of pants. This village is finished and there isn't much we can do. I would like to take her with us to the Capital. She obviously can't stay here. We are already going to be going slow with the Daimyo's granddaughter so I figure what is one more?"

Guy thinks it over for a second.

"HOSH!" he says loudly, making Mibi jump and slightly latch onto Naruto. Guy doesn't miss this and lowers his voice.

"I agree with Naruto. We will take her with us to the Capital. We have covered much of the village and I doubt there is anyone else alive. Let's move out within 30 minutes."

Team Guy nods. Tenten immediately moves to Mibi, who clings to Naruto.

"Mibi, it's ok. No one is going to hurt you. This is Tenten. She is a kunoichi and she won't hurt you." Naruto says as gently as he can.

"Oh, Guy-sensei, before I forget." Naruto reaches into his pack and produces a Haiti-ate. It had an Iwa symbol on it. He tosses it to Guy.

"All the ninja wore them. Which begs the question of why Iwa ninja were in the Land of Fire without permission and attacking the Daimyo's family?"

Guy frowns in thought and looks at the two Iwa headbands in his hands. "That is a disturbing thought. I will give these to Hokage-sama when we return. Continue to prepare."

(Time skip-1 hour)

Team Guy along with Natsumi and Mibi trudge down the forest road toward the capital. Guy taking point, Tenten in the rear, Lee and Neji on the flanks, and Naruto dead center. Naruto between Natsumi and Mibi, this time with a shirt on. Natsumi turns to Naruto.

"So, with the destruction of that village, I am going to need a new suitor. Care to take his spot?" She asks.

The whole team nearly face faults at her question.

"Wh…what?" is all his brain can spit out.

Natsumi gives a look of annoyance. "I said I need a new candidate for my husband. I chose you to be that replacement."

Naruto is taken aback. No one has ever said they liked him much less propositioned him.

"Uh… why don't we just get back to the Capitol first? We can worry about that later." Naruto says carefully.

Natsumi huffs and crosses her arms. "Why won't you answer me? It is a privilege to be asked to become the future Daimyo."

Naruto sweat drops. He looks around for help, but his team is conveniently finding the foliage very interesting. Naruto sighs and turns back to Natsumi who has an annoyed and expectant look on her face.

"I can't marry you."

Natsumi nearly blows a gasket. "And why the fuck not!" she screams.

Naruto hurriedly places a hand gently over her mouth.

"You need to be quieter so we don't attract more attention to ourselves and get attacked. And as for why I can't: I'm not royalty. I'm a shinobi on Konoha. Your family would never accept me as a husband for you."

Naruto decided to let her down gently. After all he doesn't want to break the girl's spirit.

Natsumi chews this answer for a minute before turning back to him and grabbing his left arm in crushing it into her chest.

"I don't care. They will accept you because it is my choice." She says very giddily.

Throughout the whole conversation, Mibi looks at Naruto. After this last sentence though, she can't hold herself back. She clutches on to Naruto's right arm.

Naruto whips his head around to look at her. He mentally rolls his eyes.

'A little taste of what dad went through, eh.'

As much as he would normally love the attention of two beautiful girls, he feels… he doesn't know what he feels. All he doesn't want to take advantage of them.

'Right now these girls see me as their savior. They see me as their safe haven and they think they like me. I can't do this. I have to distance myself from them for a while or they will not let go when we have to leave.'

Naruto looks to Tenten. "Hey Tenten I'll take rear for a while." He slips out of their grasp much to their dislike and Naruto moves to the back of the group.

Naruto gets next to Tenten and whispers something in her ear. She nods her understanding and moves to take the middle where Naruto had just vacated. Natsumi huffs resentfully, puffs out her chest, crosses her arms, and puts her nose in the air. Mibi on the other hand slips her arm into Tenten's, but doesn't have the near death grip that she had on Naruto.

"Dear Kami, I enjoyed that. You should try it sometime. Slaughtering dozens and letting the blood drip down your claws. And oh, the screams were music to my ears."

'You can keep those thoughts to yourself you know.'

"Oh come on. That is the first time I cut lose in 15 years. Do you know the withdrawal I went through when I was unable to quench the bloodlust? I can still remember the cravings."

'Yeah, I'm glad for you. Don't expect to be let out like that all the time. People can't know that I can summon you besides those I trust.'

"Yeah yeah. Oh, and the hime (princess) is staring at you."

(Time skip- 2 days: 4pm) Land of Fire Capital

Naruto and his team are at the front gates and are minutes away from leaving. They had gotten in earlier and after a meeting with the Daimyo in which he thanked Naruto and his team, had lunch and prepared to leave.

Mibi is currently clinging to Naruto and is not letting go. Naruto had anticipated this and asked the Daimyo to see them off. He had agreed to take care of Mibi until she is in her right mind.

"Listen Mibi-san. I have to go, but you need to stay here. These people will give you a good life. I can't do that. Here you will be safe and have friends."

Mibi shakes her head and silently cries.

Naruto pries Mibi off of him and looks her right in the eyes. "I know you think you love me, but I don't think that is true. I saved you and right now you are confused and you need to get better. These people will help you much more than I can ever hope to. I care about you, but that is as far as it goes. We are still friends and I will try to write to you. I think you will enjoy it here." He nods to the Daimyo. He motions for a female servant to gently restrain Mibi as Naruto lets go.

"Bye for now Mibi-san. I hope we meet in the future."

They start down the road and disappear. Right as they round the corner, a huge dust cloud can be seen down the road, heading right for the Daimyo. Natsumi slams on the breaks and stops right in front of the Daimyo.

"Where did he go?"

"Where did who go?" he asks Natsumi.

"Naruto! Who else would I be interested in Old Man?"

"Oh, they already left. They wanted to get back to Konoha."

Natsumi looks down the road before turning on her Grandfather.

"Damn you Old Man! You were supposed to keep him here so I can marry him!"

The Daimyo just rolls his eyes and drags her off toward the Governor's Mansion.

(Time Skip-2 days: 7am) Naruto's Apartment, Konohagakure

Naruto walks in the door and stumbles to the kitchen. Guy had pushed them really hard the past 2 days. He had only 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. Naruto pulls out an instant Ramen package and puts some water in it and microwaves it.

After 30 seconds in the microwave, a knock at his door distracts him. He tiredly walks over to the door and opens it. He finds Kurenai at his front door with a girl he has never seen.

"Can I help you Kurenai-san?" Naruto asks groggily.

"Yes. You told Kakashi that you could take Haku-san for a few days until Kushina gets back right?"

Naruto searches his brain, which feels like wading through oil, until he finds the appropriate memory.

"Hai (yes) I did. Is this her?" he motions toward the girl. She is wearing a plain red kimono and has straight black hair and pale skin.

"Yeah. She was at my place for since she awoke since you were on a mission. I have to leave on one now, so if you wouldn't mind taking care of her until Kushina returns it would be a great help."

Naruto just nods and yawns widely. Kurenai steps aside and allows Haku into the apartment.

"Ja ne! (bye or see you later)" Kurenai says before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto looks back to Haku who is looking around his apartment.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I live here and I am very tired. I just got back from a mission."

Haku takes a short but deep bow. "My name is Haku. My old master and I were defeated and I was brought to live here as spoils."

Naruto raises his eyebrows at the term 'spoils'.

"Look, I don't really care what you do, but I am incredibly tired. So after I eat I am going to bed. Do what you like but don't leave the apartment. I don't want you getting lost and something happening."

Haku just nods her understanding. Naruto gives her a quick tour of the place before going to the kitchen and retrieving his now cold Ramen.

'Damn. If there is one thing I hate in this world it is cold Ramen.'

The growl coming from his stomach is demanding nourishment and Naruto decides to eat it anyways. Once done he flops on his bed and bounces several times. He is asleep before he bounces a second time.


End Chapter 3

word count without comments: 7,839

total word of all chapters without comments: 20,307

Date released: 1/1/11

An: Sorry about the visual and the almost rape scene. It was one of the only things I could think of that would make Naruto so postal on them. It is also his first kill, but he doesn't seem effected by it because he talks it over with the Kyuubi and he knows that they deserved it. For those of you who are asking, Mibi will not be part of the harem nor will Natsumi, although he will meet up with Mibi later on. As for Natsumi, she is just there because Naruto needs some C-Ranked missions. Because of the Iwa ninja, it turned to an A-Class mission.

I also had fun with the Kyuubi. I let him lose. Mu-ha-ha. I thought the Kyuubi deserved some kind of treat for being cooped up in the seal for 15 years with no outlet for the bloodlust. And let's face it. The Kyuubi takes the cake when it comes to painful deaths.

*From Paradox Jast's Whirlpool Country. I don't own this character, just using her because she is so perfect for my story and I don't have to

Anonymous or people who haven't signed up can now review as well. Keep those reviews coming! Your reviews do influence what i write.

Have a very safe New Year and have a blast. I sure did. Playing Dirty Minds is sssoooo fun!

Until next time:

tomhunt