Chapter III

Well hello everybody. I know I said this would be just a side project but so many of these ideas just won't leave my head. And I'm making no headway on my other stories. Wagtail Shinobi is tied up because of "reasons" and Final Reign is just presenting a real pain in the ass to write. So I decided to work on this instead. The ideas are flowing, and things are finally getting going in the story. What I'm curious is if anyone recognized "Murasaki" from the last chapter. If not this chapter should start to reveal a few things. Things I'll mention next time. For now I'll just stick to thanking my coauthor, seeker of true anime fan fic, and move on to reviewer responses. There aren't a huge number more than before, but enough I should be able to respond to a few.

Rose Tiger: He is, isn't he? Nice profile pic by the way. (-_o)

coduss: I happen to like her. Or at least, the version of her I've created in my head since we know practically nothing about her besides appearance. You could be reading too much into it. Or you could not be.

Duanemaster: So you noticed that, huh? Don't worry, it's coming. These first few years are important though, they set up a lot of stuff for later. So don't get too impatient. Almost everything that happens here ties into the future, so I don't want to leave too much out.

That seems to be it. I hope this story picks up soon, I'd like to get more reviews, but I'll stick with what I've got. Four per chapter is a good assortment for now I suppose. On to the story.

A/N: I've done a heavy overhaul on the story so that's why I'm reposting this chapter with some heavily edited content, including adding in a few scenes I was planning on saving for chapter four. It was beginning to turn into a Naruto/Senran Kagura crossover but for several external reasons I decided not to do that so I had to rework chapters two and three. Two wasn't that difficult but reworking three to remove all of the Senran Kagura characters was a pain. Anyway, enough of my whining and onto the story.

Naruto groaned after he left the Uchiha district, his hoodie now having a tear in it. He then perked up as he got an idea.

Naruto slowly made his way to the Hyuga compound, to find the one person he knew could sew well.

Naturally the guards were ready to kick him out, but Ko managed to calm them down enough to let the boy in.

Naruto thanked Ko as he walked into Hanari's room.

"Oh, and why would you make a special trip here? You didn't come here just to see me did you?"

Naruto laughed weakly as he took off his orange, sleeveless hoodie. "Actually, I did." He handed it to her, showing her the tear.

Hanari looked at it for a moment and smiled. "Ah, I see. Don't worry, I will have it repaired in a few minutes, you can just wait outside."

Naruto nodded as he moved to sit out on the walkway.

"Naruto?"

The blonde turned as he saw Hinata walking up to him. "Oh, Hinata, hey."

Hinata nodded to him. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto laughed weakly. "I accidentally tore one of my hoodies, so Hanari's fixing it."

Hinata nodded with a smile as she sat down. "Mom is really good at sewing."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yup, she sure is."

"Alright, here you go."

Both children turned as Naruto took his hoodie back from Hanari and threw it on. He chuckled happily at the fixed seem. He gave the Hyuga matriarch a comical salute. "Thanks, y'know!"

Hanari giggled amusedly. "Anytime. I don't have all that much to do most days, so feel free to visit with any such projects."

Naruto nodded with a thumbs up as he ran out of the compound.

Hanari couldn't suppress a giggle as she noticed Hinata watching him leave. "My, my, has Naruto caught your fancy?"

Hinata looked at her confused before blushing, sputtering and dashing into her room.

"Fufufu…"

Naruto dashed back to his room as the sun swiftly set over the mountains.

Unfortunately he wasn't watching where he was going very carefully and slammed into someone when he rounded a corner.

Naruto groaned as he sat up.

"Why you little…"

Naruto looked up and saw a man carrying a basket standing above him. He was very pissed. Naruto stood up, trying not to look the man in the eyes. He bowed respectfully and apologized.

The man growled at him. "I don't want your apologies you beast. Just be gone!"

Naruto frowned at the man angrily before moving to circle around him.

He ran past the man and several other people, who were all hurling insults at him before he managed to get to the relative safety of his apartment.

Naruto arrived back home, which had been mostly restored after his first break in, and flopped down on his bed. "This sucks."

'I told you this village is filled with morons.'

'You aren't helping.'

'Whoever said I was here to help?'

Naruto just sighed. He then turned over and sat up. He looked over at his door and got up.

He flipped down several pieces of paper. In the time since he started practicing sealing jutsu, his calligraphy was not yet perfect but he was able to make simple seals by copying existing ones. So the ones he used most often were effectively friction seals. A series of three seals, shaped like paper bombs, place on his door, overlapping the door and the wall, that worked by making the door impossible to move unless the right hand sign is made, causing the seals to tear, or if Naruto lifted them away from the door.

After finishing with that particular task he made his way to make a meal for himself.

The next day Naruto arrived at Training Ground Seven bright and early, Itachi was there as usual.

Itachi turned to Naruto and they began their training.

That day was focused on strength training.

Itachi noticed how distracted Naruto was during their training, but did nothing to comment on it as he figured Naruto would bring it up if he wanted.

Anko, however, was not so graceful. She noticed Naruto's distracted state and immediately called him out on it.

"Oy, brat, what's got you all hung up?"

Naruto flinched and Itachi tried to subtly regress her actions, but it was too late.

Naruto tightened a fist as he looked away. "It's…nothing."

Anko sighed and lightly tapped him on the head. "C'mon kid, I work with the I&T Department, I'm trained to notice the slightest hint of unease in a person, and you're practically cloaked in mire."

Naruto clenched a fist further and then sighed. He looked at Anko with a weak smile. "It's really nothing. I just got shouted at by a few of the villagers."

Anko sighed. "You know kid, you need a spine."

Naruto tilted his head and pointed to his back. "I have one."

Anko waved her hand. "No, no, not the literal kind. The metaphorical kind. If someone dogs you, taunts you, insults you, and hurts you, there's a great, single, universal way to get back at them. Prank the hell outta them."

Naruto furrowed his brow. "But how?"

Anko patted his back. "C'mon, you're the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, you gotta have a sly or slick bone in there somewhere. Just think of something crazy and stupid to do to piss someone off, but not kill'em, and then do it. It's especially great if you can't be tied to it. Hmm…I got one. For most people, you could color them your favorite color with paint bombs."

Itachi began to sweat.

Naruto thought about it and then grinned. "I know exactly what to do."

Naruto had decided to act on Anko's suggestion.

He would recognize the man anywhere due to his distinctively large chin.

He found the man easily enough as he was walking down the street. He did some light trailing and found out where the old fool worked and then set his plan into motion.

Using a combination of tripwires, buckets and paint, he set it up so that when the man opened his door the next morning to begin work, paint would cover him and part of his workplace.

To the end of "not being tied to the crime" Naruto used a color he didn't like, namely pink, and a combination of other things that he knew were actually more indicative of some other pranking kids.

Anko praised Naruto amusedly for his acts.

Itachi just sighed.

The next day Naruto and Itachi trained, Itachi decided Naruto should do something new.

Itachi then explained what would be next. "We'll be covering the Teleportation Jutsu for now."

"You mean the smoke bomb thing?" Naruto asked.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and then nodded slowly. "Probably." He then pulled out several wooden planks and laid them down. "First I'll explain it. The Teleportation Jutsu isn't actual teleportation, despite the name. It uses a short burst of chakra to help you move at incredibly fast speeds. The smoke that normally accompanies the jutsu is merely a distractor so enemies can't tell what direction you went." Itachi demonstrated by going through the necessary hand signs and then turning into a blur before reappearing on one of the wooden planks. "That's what the jutsu looks like without the smoke." He moved back to his previous position. He then performed the jutsu again, this time releasing a small amount of chakra as smoke when he moved, and then again when he reappeared. "Understand it? It's always best to start with a target in mind so try moving to these wooden planks."

The children nodded and went through the hand signs.

Naruto went first. "Teleportation Jutsu!" He excluded the burst of smoke and then stopped at the wooden plank, or intended too. He instead kept going and slammed right into the tree behind it.

Itachi sighed. "Usually you stop the flow of chakra when you want to stop."

"Could have…told me…earlier…" Naruto moaned as he lay twitching on the ground.

Hinata couldn't hide her light laughs, but then covered her mouth in shame.

Naruto laughed back. "It's alright, it's my own fault for messing up."

That seemed to cheer the girl up some.

Naruto continued to practice the Teleportation Jutsu while an Itachi clone took Hinata off to continue her training.

Although Itachi began to notice something peculiar with Hinata as she continued her training that he hadn't witnessed before.

In the short few months that she'd been training with Naruto and himself her chakra reserves had nearly doubled.

That was impressive because while chakra control training had the possibility of increasing someone's reserves, it usually didn't do so to such a great extent.

Her reserves will still on the low end for even most genin but if they kept increasing at that same rate then Itachi was certain she would soon surpass the high end.

After that another period of normality developed for a few weeks.

Naruto's training progressed as fast as normal. He had fully mastered tree-walking, at least under Anko's terms; which were that you haven't fully mastered tree-walking until you can fight for half an hour on a vertical surface the same way you can on the ground. Under normal terms Naruto had already mastered it but he liked Anko's terms better.

His clones had begun to focus even further on water-walking, having some trouble handling it, primarily because of the exact control it required.

After that period of time Itachi decided Naruto's progression in chakra control was stalled, so he came up with a new exercise, or rather, decided to implement an old one.

"A new jutsu?" Naruto asked.

Itachi nodded. "Yes. It's something that not even I myself have fully mastered." He then held out his right hand, grasping it with his left to keep it steady. Naruto watched as chakra began to swirl and collect in his hand before forming into a small, baseball sized ball of spiraling chakra.

"Woww…what is it?"

"It's called…the Rasengan," Itachi said through grunts before releasing it, the technique being hard for him to maintain. He then pointed to a small wooden bucket nearby that held water balloons.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What am I supposed to do with those?"

Itachi nodded and picked one up. Using only his chakra he caused the balloon to burst.

"Wah!?"

Itachi nodded. "You need to control your chakra in such a way that it causes the water to swirl until the balloon bursts."

Naruto nodded and picked one of the balloons up. "How…do I do that exactly?"

"You will need to figure that out on your own, along with your clones."

Naruto nodded and caught his meaning. That being that Naruto would now devote his time and the time of his clones into learning the Rasengan. He didn't know how long it would take but he was going to learn it.

Itachi then left to check on the others and Naruto dispelled all of his clones. He grit his teeth due to the massive influx of information but was able to sort through it shortly and sat down with a sigh. After a moment he picked up the water balloon and thought about how best to make his chakra manipulate the water. After a few moments of thinking he thought back to the training he'd been having with Hanari about the Gentle Fist.

Hanari stood in front of a group of Naruto clones, explaining the basics of the Gentle Fist.

"Now, unlike the Intercepting Fist or the basic academy style, the Gentle Fist does not focus on direct strikes to the opponent, but on getting close to them." She demonstrated by facing a straw dummy suspended by a rope. She punched it normally, causing it to be shaken by the force. She then grasped the dummy and opened her palm, thrusting at the dummy but not hitting it, getting the same effect.

The clones gasped in shock.

Hanari smiled knowingly. "The easiest way to train how to utilize the Gentle Fist's unique chakra based attacks is with another object. For example a suspended straw dummy. I'm certain you've learned how to control and flow chakra from your fingers and hands," the clones nodded, "this works the same way. Except you are bursting chakra from your hands rather than flowing it."

The clones stood up and began practicing, placing their hands against the dummies and trying to surge small amounts of chakra from their palms to hit the dummy.

Naruto snickered proudly after coming up with the idea and burst some chakra from his hand. He watched the balloon shift in his hand. "Heh, heh, this'll work."

He then concentrated on flowing chakra from his hand into the balloon and causing it to spin. He was having a little trouble with that last part. Getting the chakra to flow out from his hand was easy enough. Making it do what he wanted after that was a little harder. "Grr…crap!" He then got an idea. "Hmm…I'm supposed to make it spin…but what if I stirred it?"

He created a single Shadow Clone which nodded and knelt down next to him.

As he flowed chakra into the balloon the clone condensed some chakra in its hands and thrust some of it into the balloon at an angle.

Naruto flinched when he felt the balloon shift. "Do it again!"

The clone nodded and did that again from a different angle. It then did it again and again. The balloon began to shift in Naruto's hand and he also tried to control some of its shifting.

The water in the balloon began to shift more and more, spinning and rotating until finally, it burst. He grinned proudly. He then went to work doing it again and again.

He spent several days practicing the Rasengan while Itachi was out on a mission.

On one of those days he decided to take a break and head down to the park. That and because Hinata had announced she wished to do so.

He was also curious if Sasuke would be there again, it would be fun to prank him once more.

To his satisfaction, the sullen oaf was there again, sitting on the dock.

Naruto snuck up slowly behind him.

"I know you're there."

Naruto froze and then laughed uncomfortably. "Oh…you, uh…do, huh?"

Sasuke stood up and turned and frowned at Naruto, then raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you said you're name was Naruto, right?"

He nodded.

"Do you know any easy paths to take to evade someone you really don't want to meet?"

Naruto grinned and pointed a thumb at himself. "I'm a master at it."

Sasuke nodded. "Good. I don't know the village outside the Uchiha district well. And even if it's you I'll accept what help I can get."

Naruto looked at him flatly. "You sound so grateful."

"Hn, shut up, loser."

Naruto twitched an eyebrow. "You need to can it, jerk."

Sasuke then stood up and looked at Naruto. "Well, how about we get going then?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, but is there really someone you're trying to avoid so badly?"

Sasuke sighed heavily. "It's…a long story."

"There he is!"

Sasuke turned scared.

Naruto turned confused, an entire group of girls standing there that suddenly charged them.

Sasuke gulped and turned to Naruto. "Run! Fast!"

Naruto nodded emphatically and the two of them took off running.

Naturally the two boys were able to outrun the group of pursuers rather easily, but each time they thought they could take a breather the group located them again.

So the two kept evading the pursuing group of girls, evading them and then being found a few seconds later.

The two sat in an alleyway panting.

"Geez, jerk! How'd this even happen!?" Naruto asked.

In between pants, Sasuke answered, "…I…don't…know…they just…keep…coming…" Sasuke then sighed as he caught his breath. "So, about those escape routes?"

Naruto stood up with a nod and then looked around. "Hmmm…I'm not overly familiar with this section of the village, but there are a few buildings that have crawlspaces you can use or small chunks of buildings that connect two of them you can use to escape if you can climb up there."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Hmm…I guess higher ground is better."

Naruto nodded and then turned to two buildings behind him, a small concrete divider sitting between them. He then jumped, high, up to the top of the first floor and then propelled off onto the divider.

Sasuke looked at Naruto surprised. "You gotta be kidding…" He then sighed annoyed and used some of the pipes to climb up. He lost his balance partway up but Naruto caught him and helped him up. "Good grief…what is up with you?"

Naruto just grinned. "I need to run off from people a lot…though it's for a different reason than yours."

Sasuke sighed as he stood up. "I see. So, where should we go from here?"

Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. "Anywhere we want really."

Sasuke slumped against the wall in frustration. "Well, I think I can handle it from here. I just need to try and get back to the Uchiha district before they find me."

Naruto grinned playfully. "Well good luck, Sasuke." Naruto then ran and jumped to the adjacent building, which had the ravenette blinking in curiosity for a moment before he sighed and jumped back down into the street and began running for the Uchiha district.

He didn't get far before he heard a familiar shriek. He turned around and saw only a few of the girls this time, namely the two loudest, one with blonde hair and featureless blue eyes and one with pink hair and green eyes.

Sasuke groaned as he rounded one of the corners to make his way into the shadows, when he bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch it," he grumbled before opening his eyes.

In front of him was a small girl with long orange hair and brown eyes.

Sasuke looked at her puzzled before noticing her rather despondent look. "Hey…you lost?"

The girl looked at him roughly. "Why do you care?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't. Bye."

"What?! That's not what you're supposed to say you jerk!"

Sasuke glanced back at her. "So…you are lost?"

The girl moaned before folding her arms. "Alright, fine! I'm lost! Now, think you can help me?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe. Where are you trying to go?"

The girl flopped down. "That's what I don't know. I came here with a few of the other Fuma ninja and got separated. Now I have no idea where I am."

"Fuma?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my name's Sasame Fuma. Why? You never heard of them?"

Sasuke scratched his chin in thought. "Didn't you guys invent the Fuma shuriken?"

Sasame dropped her shoulders. "Sheesh, is that really all we're known for? Whatever, yes, we're the ones that came up with it, obviously. Now I'm looking for a few of my fellow clan members, think you can help me or not?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "Maybe. Any idea where they were planning on going?"

Sasame folded her arms in thought. "Yeah…I think my brother mentioned something about setting up a weapons trade with the Hokage or something."

Sasuke nodded. "Then that would mean they went to the Hokage tower. You do know how to get there, don't you?"

She looked at him deadpan.

Sasuke sighed and turned around and motioned her to follow him.

The young Uchiha led her to the Hokage's tower where they asked a few of the attendants if they had seen Sasame's clan members.

Fortunately they were still in the village and had in fact gone to the last place Sasuke had expected.

"Why would they go to your clan's district instead of directly to your leader?" Sasame asked.

"Because, my clan makes up the village's internal police force. So we'd be the most interested in new weapons. At least, that's what I'd think. We'll ask my dad or big brother when we get there if they know where Arashi and the others are."

Sasame nodded as they continued walking. "Uhm…I never got your name."

"Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasame nodded again, with a minute smile, "Thanks, Sasuke."

The ravenette raised an eyebrow but nodded anyway.

Naruto was busy on his way back to the playground where Hinata was, using the rooftops so he could test out his new strength and speed thanks to the gravity seals. He found that with his seals completely deactivated he was much, much faster than normal. He knew that almost anyone above high genin would probably outpace him, but he was having fun just running at the speed he was going. However, as he sped along, he stopped when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Stopping atop a water tower, he turned and saw a nearby water tower with someone else standing on it.

A girl about his age with very fair skin, short, pale blue-green hair, featureless violet eyes and wearing a simple white dress.

Naruto was confused as to what the girl was doing atop the tower when she seemed to notice him and turned towards him. Naruto looked at her puzzled for a moment before waving with a smile.

The girl looked at him bemused before smiling weakly, however, she lost her balance and began to tumble off the tower.

"Crap!" Naruto shouted, using an idea he had learned from his tree-walking to reach her.

Naruto was busy struggling with his tree-walking exercise, groaning heavily about not being able to reach the top in a manageable amount of time.

Snarling he charged forward, already concentrating his chakra into his feet and began running up the tree.

He made it about a quarter of the way up when he used too much chakra and got sent flying back.

"W-what the...?!" he shouted in surprise, before realized that he had effectively just jumped a great distance.

He did his best to land upright on the ground and decided to test an idea off a nearby rock.

Naruto surged chakra from his feet while standing on the water tower, the blast, combined with his move to jump, sent him rocketing forward.

He managed to reach and grab the falling girl before she fell too far down, unfortunately ending up himself slamming into the wall as he hit the roof below with a thud.

"Ow, ow, ow..." Naruto moaned. He then looked at the girl in his arms before she swiftly stood up.

She looked at him bewildered and slightly embarrassed.

Naruto stood up with a smile and looked at her with a worried expression. "You alright?"

It took a moment for the girl's brain to reboot as she nodded slowly.

Naruto noticed the strangely vacant expression she seemed to be constantly stuck in. "Think you'll manage not to fall off of anything else?"

The girl nodded silently. She then pointed to Naruto.

Naruto tilted his head then understood what she meant. "I'm Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki, y'know!"

The girl laughed lightly at his tic and then nodded. "Kagero. Kagero Fuma."

Naruto nodded and began to run off. "Be careful Kagero!" He then took off, having forgotten again about meeting Hinata.

Naruto managed to arrive in the playground before the day got too terribly late, still having some time to play with Hinata before the night ended. They spent several hours merely playing alone in the park.

Naruto sighed as he and Hinata finished building a small sandcastle in the sandbox at the park. "Geez, who'd have thought it'd be this hard?"

Hinata laughed lightly. "Actually, it was pretty fun."

Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Yeah, says the girl who just sat there with her teddy bear."

After cleaning up their mess, Hinata said her goodbyes to Naruto and they went to their respective homes.

Naruto returned to practicing the Rasengan and had gotten the balloon popping down to where he could do it with one hand and no help from a clone.

Good for him too as he mastered it practically the day before Itachi arrived.

After witnessing Naruto's progress, Itachi approved and showed him the next part.

"A rubber ball?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Itachi answered with a nod. Popping this isn't as easy as popping the water balloon. There's no water inside to accelerate the process and the rubber is thicker and denser than the balloon, requiring more power to pop.

Naruto titled his head back and forth in thought. He then cracked one eye open. "So the last one was about the Rasengan's rotation and this one's about the power?"

Itachi smirked. "You learn fast. That's exactly it. Now, get practicing yourself for a bit. Once you've got the main idea down hand it off to your clones. I have a new strength training method that will help the plateau you're at."

Naruto nodded and spent an hour or two practicing with the ball. He formed a clone to help him form the chakra's rotation inside the ball and found it extremely difficult to make the ball even shift, let alone pop. After spending two hours grinding at it he figured he had the rough basics down and made a group of clones to handle the rest, the group running off with the bucket of rubber balls.

Itachi nodded. "Good. Now, put these on your arms and legs."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

Itachi was holding four paper slips, each one with a complex seal on it.

Naruto narrowed his eyes curiously. "What…is that?"

"Gravity seals. They increase the amount of gravitational pull your body experiences."

Naruto gaped in confusion.

Itachi sighed and simplified it. "It makes your body heavier, requiring more strength and power to do the same tasks. This way we needn't alter your training regimen a great degree, you will need to struggle to do the same tasks over again."

Naruto was still confused.

Itachi just shook his head and applied the seal. He then made a half-sign.

Naruto suddenly felt his body become really heavy before he fell forward in a slump. "Gah! What is this?"

"I've increased the gravity you experience to twice normal, meaning your body will need to work twice as hard to do something as simple as stand up."

Naruto groaned as he strained to lift his arms enough to get into a proper position to stand up. He understood the basic concept behind the seals now, but it was a severe pain trying to work with them.

He grunted and groaned as he lifted himself up into a mere sitting position. He panted heavily as he did. "Holy cow, these things are heavy!"

"That's the idea. It will also mean you will be much stronger under normal gravity. If you can get to some of the higher levels then you can keep them on at all times, increasing them for training or lowering them for when you need a boost in power."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he then worked at something that seemed insurmountable now, standing up. He made it to a kneeling position and then fell flat on his face. "Oww…"

Naruto spent the rest of the day training that way, trying to perform just normal functions like standing, walking and running while under the effects of the seals. He eventually made it to an uneven standing position, but a slight push from Itachi showed that he wasn't comfortable standing yet.

So after deactivating the seals and leaving for the day, Itachi left a few with Naruto should he decide to do any of the training on his own.

Hinata was surprised to see the new development in Naruto's training, neither of them had yet reached that point yet.

Another comfortable pattern formed in Naruto's life at that point with his and Hinata's training. His clones were having a lot of trouble with the second stage of the Rasengan and stayed there for a few more weeks.

Naruto himself managed to build up the strength necessary to be able to run for nearly a minute without getting fatigued, though considering he could run almost indefinitely under normal conditions meant he had a long way to go.

His jutsu clones had since mastered the Teleportation Jutsu and had in fact moved on to weapon based jutsu, including the Shadow Kunai Jutsu, a technique that's based on the Shadow Clone Jutsu that creates four solid clones of every kunai thrown, meaning that if Naruto threw one kunai it'd become five and throwing ten kunai would create fifty, as well as the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu, the same technique applied to shuriken. He had also learned to start replicating the effects of simple genjutsu with his Sharingan, which had progressed to stage three, two tomoe in each eye, out of the total five stages. He was forced to rely on his Sharingan since his chakra reserves were far too large to utilize the minute chakra amounts needed for genjutsu, the same problem he encountered with the Clone Jutsu.

In taijutsu, Naruto had effectively aced the majority of learning the Intercepting Fist and how it functioned with his Sharingan as well as the basics of the Gentle Fist. While keeping a small group of clones focused on honing his use of the Intercepting Fist, Naruto sent most of his clones to bring his knowledge of the Gentle Fist up to par, even though he could never master it without the Byakugan.

In chakra control, Naruto had advanced to water-walking admirably, his clones able to stand and run on the water just as comfortably as land. Jumping presented some issues but he was quickly getting past those. He wasn't able to maintain the focus for very long as his control would falter after a few minutes, meaning he still hadn't mastered water-walking by his own criteria.

His kunai and shuriken throwing had essentially become as good as can be expected for a child, so Itachi had moved on to a new subject, kenjutsu. While he himself was not a master at it he had the same level of skill all ANBU were required to have with the sword, which was enough to comfortably teach Naruto. His progression was slow at first but he had managed to get a hang of the basic stances and moves of Leaf-style kenjutsu, even managing to throw in a stray taijutsu strike at random points.

His Sharingan training had effectively been fused with his jutsu training since Itachi had trained Naruto to spot and individualize the twelve basic hand signs at high speeds, and be able to gather most of them at blinding speeds. He had also taught Naruto how to see and differentiate the six different types of chakra, fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, and neutral chakra.

His Rasengan training left a little to be desired. His clones had managed to get the power up to the point where, with the use of their free hand, they could make the ball pop after five seconds of formation, which was far too long Itachi had told him, it needed to be no longer than three seconds.

Hinata had progressed to being able to do ten handstand pushups, ten sit-ups and ten chin-ups along with two minutes of running altogether before her strength let out.

Her chakra control had actually excelled. She had reached tree-walking and had nearly mastered it by Anko/Naruto's criteria. She was able to spar with Itachi's clone while standing on the tree for twenty-six minutes before she lost grip.

Her taijutsu, which consisted solely of the Gentle Fist, had progressed quickly as well. She had gotten the basic movements down pat and was handling striking specific spots, which were still marked externally with pen, with precision. Bursting the chakra wasn't going well though.

With her Byakugan, she was getting to where she could spot the chakra points after a few seconds of study, able to see almost half of them. However, she needed to be able to see them immediately to use her Byakugan in combat.

Her weapon skills were progressing at an average rate, but Itachi had noticed that while her power in throwing was not very high, her precision was excellent, so he moved her to a different weapon, senbon. She seemed to fit perfectly with the ultra-precise weapon. Able to land a bull's-eye at a fair distance and hit close to the center at farther distances.

Her ninjutsu was going well too. She had passed mastering the Transformation Jutsu and was nearly finished the Clone Jutsu, something Naruto was proud of her for, though she was disappointed as she knew it meant she had small reserves.

After a few weeks of this regular progression, Naruto had finally made a breakthrough, literally, on the Rasengan. He could now, with only one hand, make the ball pop from the swirling force of the chakra alone after a mere three seconds of formation.

Itachi nodded with a smirk as Naruto jumped up and down with joy.

"That's great Naruto," Hinata encouraged.

Naruto grinned. "Yeahh…it was so hard too."

Anko smirked as well. She then turned to Naruto with a frown. "I suppose we won't be seeing much of you tomorrow, will we?"

Naruto frowned somberly and shook his head. "No, I'll be staying in my apartment most of the day."

"Why?" Hinata asked.

"Because, the village kinda hates me. Especially on my birthday."

Hinata frowned somberly. "Oh…I'm sorry."

Naruto grinned. "Don't sweat it, Hinata. All I gotta do is stay in my house until it's over and they'll be done."

Itachi frowned lightly at that comment, remembering the night he and Naruto had officially met.

Hinata had remained mostly silent during the discussion. "Uhm, Naruto…"

Naruto turned to her puzzled. "Yeah?"

"Uhm…well…you could…you could…stay at…at…the…the…" Hinata trailed off as her face turned bright red.

Naruto tilted his head. "Stay where?"

Hinata swallowed nervously and then almost shouted, "You could stay at the Hyuga compound!" She paused for a moment and then covered her mouth in embarrassment.

Naruto thought for a moment and then folded his arms. "I don't think-"

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Hanari interrupted. "With all of the help and support you've given to my little Hinata since she met you two years ago I see that this is the absolute least we can do. Give you a safe place with good food and a warm bed for a night or two while the village writhes in its own depravity."

Naruto's eyes almost became the size of dinner plates. "Y-…y-…you…you really…mean…it…?" he asked in disbelief.

Hanari smiled warmly. "Of course dear."

Naruto sprinted at the woman with a rough hug as tears began flowing down his face, the boy sobbing his gratitude into her dress.

Hanari laughed sweetly as she knelt down and ran a hand through his hair. "There, there. You needn't be so thankful for such a simple act."

"But…but…," Naruto attempted to squeeze out through his sobs. "No one's…ever been…that kind to me…"

Anko couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow, really makes you feel like chop liver, eh, Itachi?"

Itachi shrugged. "I suppose if you looked at it that way. But to him, putting yourself in what he believes is harm's way to give him shelter from the swarms of villagers is possibly the kindest act in the world."

Anko leaned over and threw an arm over his shoulder, "Aww, that's so cute. You really understand your little student, don't you?"

Itachi frowned at her, trying to hide his discomfort with her…assets…being so close to his face. ANBU or not he was only thirteen, and Anko was almost twenty.

Anko just chuckled at him as she stood up away from him. "You might want to go to a doctor, you're running a fever," she said playfully at his reddened complexion.

Itachi feigned ignorance as his focus returned to his still happy with tears student. He did happen to have a minute twitch in his lip though.

Naruto laughed with Hanari and Hinata as the three formed plans for the night Naruto would be there.

Naruto deciding to stay behind a little to receive the last step of the Rasengan.

Itachi held a balloon in his hand.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I thought I already did the water balloon part."

Itachi nodded, the balloon then bursting. "You did. But those two parts, the water balloon and the rubber ball were about rotation and power. This is about control. Your goal with this is to take what you've mastered now and get it so that it won't burst the balloon. The Rasengan will be useless to you if you can't form it properly."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he took the balloon from Itachi. He concentrated his chakra into the balloon as he had before but the balloon popped almost immediately. He groaned and did it again, this time trying to tighten the rotation of the chakra; with no positive results.

He sighed and then nodded. "Okay, I think I know the basic idea of it."

Itachi nodded. "Good. I'll leave you here to train on your own. Try not to wait too long, though."

Naruto nodded as Itachi left. He formed his favorite hand sign and shouted, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" One hundred Shadow Clones burst into existence and Naruto gave the order to practice the Rasengan.

Naruto wasn't sure how long he and his clones had been training, the sun was just beginning to fall when he started and it had been dark for quite a while when he stopped.

Naruto fell backwards onto the ground panting heavily, his clones dispelled and the pieces of several hundred balloons lying on the ground in shreds. "Crap…I…couldn't…get it…once…" After a heavy sigh he sat up in frustration. "Guess I might as well go home. I bet Hanari's getting worried." He stood up, groaning from the exertion he had experienced.

Naruto walked on a different path home, circling around a few of the other training grounds, hoping to stay out of the center of town.

As he walked through the small trails around the training grounds he heard some odd sounds and decided to investigate the source, which turned out to be Training Ground Six, the spot Itachi and he used to use for training.

He skirted around the edge and peered into the training ground, where he saw two people who seemed to be fighting.

One was a young man with short brown hair, dark eyes, and dark markings under his eyes who wore the standard Leaf shinobi uniform for jonin, as well as a bandana style headband, and wielded a katana with a rectangular hand guard.

He was involved in what Naruto assumed was a sparring match, a dangerous one, with another person.

It was a young woman with straight purple hair that reached her waist, brown eyes and a dark shade of red lipstick and wore what Naruto recognized as ANBU equipment. She also used a katana as she and the man were involved in a spar.

Naruto was amazed at watching the two of them, specifically the woman.

While he recognized Itachi as skilled, he was surprised to watch how fluid the woman's movements were, she didn't spare any energy, moving just enough to escape the man's attacks, and then retaliating with just enough strength to hit him, but not enough to overextend herself.

He lunged at her with a thrust, she spun around him with a horizontal slash at his midsection. He smirked as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding her blade.

She continued her attack with another slash, diagonally up to the left.

The man grunted as he stepped back, getting a small tuft of hair cut off.

Naruto gasped in surprise and amazement, unintentionally shifting his position in the tree too much, resulting in him falling from the branch and plummeting to the earth, hard.

The duo stopped their spar and turned to see Naruto lying on the ground with circles in his eyes.

They walked over to see who exactly it was and the woman's eyes widened momentarily when she saw Naruto. 'What's he doing here? He is usually home by this hour.'

Naruto grunted as he came to, seeing the two standing above him. He scrunched up against the tree frightened. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to spy!"

The woman raised an eyebrow and then chuckled amusedly as she sheathed her katana. She then knelt down to Naruto. "It's alright, you needn't apologize. I suppose you were enjoying the spar?"

Naruto blinked in curiosity at her random kindness, he wasn't used to anyone but Itachi, Hanari, and Hinata being nice to him, and then nodded lamely. "Ah…uh…yeah. You two were really cool."

The man sighed. "Yugao, any idea why this kid is here?"

The now named Yugao stood up and shook her head. "Not particularly, Hayate. My guess is he was just wandering around and happened upon us sparring."

Hayate raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Naruto looked at the man unsurely. He gave him an odd look. Not the normal disdainful looks the village and other shinobi gave him, but more of a disinterested look that, while not cruel like most, was a little unnerving for the blonde. Hearing the question in his words after a few seconds Naruto nodded silently.

Hayate smirked. "Interested in kenjutsu are we?"

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Yeah! I'm actually practicing it a little myself!"

Yugao raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Mind showing me what you know?"

Naruto looked at her plainly. "You're an ANBU, I wouldn't stand a chance."

She raised both eyebrows curiously. Most children weren't sharp enough to spot the differences between the different ranks, or to be able to specifically identify an ANBU. She then shook her head. "Don't worry, I won't go all-out on you."

Naruto slumped his shoulders as he stood. "I don't know if I should feel happy or insulted at that."

Yugao chuckled in light amusement at the boy. She then grabbed two of the practice swords that she and Hayate habitually bring with them and handed one to Naruto.

Naruto nodded and adopted the kenjutsu stance Itachi had taught him.

Yugao couldn't hide her widened eyes. 'That's the ANBU's own kenjutsu stance. The only way he could know that is…' She shook her head and assumed the same stance.

Hayate looked between them and then tilted his head puzzled, noticing the same thing Yugao did after comparing their stances.

Yugao smirked. "Whenever you're ready."

Naruto grinned and started, faking a forward charge when he dashed to the side.

Yugao smirked at Naruto's smart movements, though she was able to track them easily.

Naruto stopped, pushed off with one foot and charged at Yugao.

She swung her sword down to knock his sword to the side.

Naruto smirked and let her knock his blade off course but came in with a sliding kick.

Yugao was surprised at his sudden adaptation but was able to easily account for and dodge it, he wasn't even a genin yet after all. She swung her blade down to hit Naruto, but he rolled forward and ran around her. Yugao smirked in surprise. 'I see. He's using his size to his advantage.'

Naruto stopped his circling, made to lung forward but then jumped back as Yugao swung.

She actually hadn't expected that and as a result ended up losing her balance.

Naruto took advantage of this and charged forward.

Naturally Yugao was able to recover faster than he could lunge and corrected, circling around him and ending their spar by putting the tip of her sword right at the base of his neck. Yugao smirked as she lowered her sword. "I'm actually impressed. You have some good instincts and decent tactics, for a child."

Naruto twitched an eyebrow at the "for a child" remark.

"But I'd say if you continued your training you might become rather skilled." She then smiled at him in a slightly challenging manner. "Maybe you could even spar against me with a real sword someday."

Naruto grinned. "I'll keep training 'til I can, y'know." Naruto then, without thinking, Teleported out of the field.

Yugao raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She then narrowed her eyes. 'I can't be certain who…but somebody has to be training him.'

Naruto returned to his house and swiftly gathered his things, in a new form of transportation he had managed to learn called storage scrolls, specialized scrolls with a series of seals on them that store the contents inside the seal itself. He didn't understand the intricacies of how they worked, he just knew they did. And that was good enough.

It wasn't too much longer before he made his way to the Hyuga compound.

As expected the rest of the clan were not pleased with his arrival. Fortunately Hanari had set Ko out to wait for Naruto so he could pass through the halls undeterred.

Ko led Naruto to an extra room where he could stay and showed him it was situated directly next to Hanari's room.

Naruto thanked the man and then went into Hanari's room, primarily to apologize.

Hanari turned as Naruto walked into the room slightly embarrassed. She brought up her sleeve as she laughed quietly. "My, my, you sure took your sweet time."

Naruto rubbed the back of his with a weak chuckle. "Heh, heh, heh…yeah…sorry. I, uh…got…lost…"

Hanari knew he was just trying to cover it up, so she decided to play with him a little. "Oh, and where did you get lost?"

Naruto froze, he hadn't expected her to dig that far. "Well…I…uh…got…lost on…the…road of…life…yeah! Ahem, I got lost on the road of life!"

Hanari looked at him for a moment before laughing. Loudly. For several seconds. After taking a moment to catch her breath and wipe away an errant tear she looked at the boy amused. "Oh my…I haven't laughed that hard in far too long."

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Did I…say something stupid?"

Hanari shook her head with one last amused giggle. "No, no. You just reminded me of someone. It's quite alright though. I'm sure that whatever kept you busy it was for good reason. Now, Hinata and I were about to take care of some knitting. Want to help?"

Naruto folded his arms in a huff. "No way."

"Oh really? I'm certain that any woman would be thrilled to have a man that can sew. Fufu, I know I would."

Naruto sweat for a few seconds. "Ahh…crap. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Fufufu, you're such a gentleman."

Naruto turned away with a huff and a blush, before turning back to the woman with a smile as she handed him some of the supplies and explained the process.

Naruto awoke groggily the next morning looking around puzzled. At first he didn't recognize where he was and woke up tense before remembering it was the Hyuga compound and easing up.

"My, my, you certainly wake up early."

Naruto froze and turned.

Hanari seemed to have a certain talent for simply showing up unnoticed. She stood at the edge to his room, merely smiling. "I was actually coming in to check on you. Since you're awake, why don't accompany me for breakfast?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. "After everything you've done, I couldn't eat some of your food too." He patted the bag of scrolls next to him. "I brought some with me."

Hanari giggled lightly. "It's fine, I assure you. We have enough food to feed the entire village for several days, so feeding a single growing boy for a couple meals is hardly a setback. Besides, you're our guest. We would considered ungracious hosts if we did not offer our guests proper meals and forced them to eat by themselves." A slight dark aura then developed her as she asked sweetly, "You wouldn't want to be singlehandedly responsible in tarnishing my image now would you?"

Naruto shook his head briskly.

"Good. Just follow me."

Naruto nodded just as briskly.

Breakfast was…uncomfortable for the blonde, to say the least. The food was good and the service at least seemed good.

But as he had come to expect, the room was filled with the usual hushed whispers and murmurings as normal.

"What's it doing here?"

"I can't believe Lady Hanari is actually allowing that thing to eat with us, let alone stay here."

"Unbelievable. We'll need an expert cleaning team after that thing leaves."

Hanari glanced down and saw Naruto's slowed pace and sullen expression, easily making the connection. After peering around the room she lightly coughed into her hand.

The room fell eerily silent.

Even Hiashi looked uncomfortable. After a short gulp he decided to ascertain the reason for Naruto's presence. In a non-confrontational way of course. He wasn't that eager to see Hizashi again. "Ah…Hanari, care to explain the presence of our current…guest?"

Hanari smiled at him. A smile that reeked of, "Accept my answer and shut up." She then answered, "He is simply having a few problems so I am helping him to pass through them with little trouble."

Hiashi smiled weakly. "Ahahh…I, uh…see. In that case…I suppose we should…"

"Just let him be," Hanari said, or rather ordered, in a sweet tone.

Hiashi gulped and responded with a curt nod.

Naruto almost gasped. He was amazed how easily Hanari was able to turn Hiashi Hyuga, Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga clan, into a sweating, sputtering mess. He smiled astounded at the woman.

She glanced down at him, noticing his gaze and returned a warm smile.

Naruto just grinned happily and returned to his food.

Naruto Teleported to Training Ground Seven that day, partly because it was faster and safer than walking on that particular day and partly because Itachi had ordered Naruto become accustomed to using the jutsu by Teleporting around the village. An order that just so happened to go into effect on that specific day.

Splitting up his clones into their particular duties Naruto set out to perform his training for that day, which was his standard strength training.

He had continued using the gravity seals as Itachi had ordered and had since advanced to performing at a higher setting than before, five times normal gravity.

When Itachi upgraded his training to that point, at which point Naruto had achieved moving and fighting under two times normal gravity at the same level as he would under normal circumstances, able to perform fifty, one-handed, handstand pushups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred chin-ups, and able to run for ten minutes straight, after performing his other activities, with the seals on at two times normal.

So Itachi had doubled the intensity to five, which proved to be even harder for Naruto to do, as Itachi had desired, and then dropped a bombshell on Naruto. Now that he was able to move at two times normal gravity the same way he had been able to without the seals on at all, Itachi had drawn the seals on his body and had Naruto infuse his own chakra into them. That way Naruto could control them. That was because Naruto was to keep them on at all times at that point.

Naruto was not pleased at that point with that order, before Itachi explained part of the reason.

"Naruto," Itachi began, "I am not one to normally say this, but you should feel gifted."

Naruto tilted his head as he sat with his now permanent seals active. "And just why is that? I'm having my abilities limited at all times now."

"Not technically. Your skill based abilities, such as ninjutsu and genjutsu, are relatively unaffected, they will progress and be at the same rate no matter what level you have the seals at. It's your strength-based skills, weaponry, kenjutsu, taijutsu, mere strength itself, which will receive a massive boost. With your seals activated, you will be able to perform those skills at the same level you were at all previous times. That will seemingly limit your abilities, but will actually increase them. Because the moment you release those seals, your strength will multiply immensely. You will be faster, stronger, and more agile. All of your skills pertaining to your muscles will seem to be remaining at a steady plateau to others, making it seem as though you are not getting any better. When in fact you are training at all times. By keeping those seals active you can make your body used to more strenuous conditions, making normal conditions feel easier."

Naruto scratched his chin in thought. "I think I get it. So instead of turning the seals off when I'm done training and returning to normal, being stronger at all times, I force myself to have to work harder most of the time, meaning I'm even stronger when they're off."

Itachi nodded. "More or less. You see, this is an ANBU level training tool. Most jonin aren't even aware of this tool. The main reason is that it's incredibly dangerous, much like the Shadow Clone Jutsu. If you aren't careful, increasing the levels slowly, you could very well kill yourself without trying."

Naruto almost gaped. "S-…seriously?"

Itachi nodded again. "Yes. So while your strength may appear average for an academy student right now, and perhaps even beyond that, even when your training at seal levels of fifty or more, by keeping your seals at half the level you're training at, you'll appear weaker. But with them off you will be demonstrably stronger. A shinobi's best weapon is deception. While it may be frustrating to have an enemy, or a rival or anyone, laugh at you, mock you, or say that you're weaker than you are, that is exactly what you want. If they underestimate your capabilities, they're likely to not try as hard as they can, making it easier for you to defeat them. And that is part of what this does, hides your true skills so that it's all the more surprising when you release them."

Naruto nodded emphatically. "Alright! Alright! I get it, I get it! That's so awesome! I'm using a training tool used by the ANBU!"

Itachi blinked in curiosity before sighing in amusement. 'Of course, that's the part he'd focus on.'

So at that time, Naruto was training with five times normal gravity, finding it to be a very difficult task to merely perform five pushups, let alone the remaining exercises.

After finishing his training for the day, Naruto reduced his seals back down to two times normal and Teleported back to the Hyuga compound.

Naruto had elected to remain in his own room during the night. The main reason being the vast number of people running through the streets demanding the blonde's blood.

This had been a double-edged sword however, as he was able to hide himself well enough from the horde to not be discovered by them, but was also left alone during their hunt, only able to cover his ears while it happened.

He lay on his bed, hands over his ears and eyes snapped shut as he heard the vulgar and venomous shouts from the world outside, even when the main group was away from the compound there were still numerous other groups of villagers who frequently passed by the compound, leaving the blonde little time for mental restoration.

His eyes snapped open in reflex when he heard a knock at the door. He turned slowly towards it, his heightened sense forcing him to expect the worst.

What he got was Hanari standing in the doorway. She looked at the boy sympathetically and closed the door before making her way over to him. She sat down next to him and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "It's alright, Naruto. As long as you're here they won't be able to hurt you, even if they do realize you're here. Though that is near impossible, I can assure you."

Naruto snuggled into the woman's robe and asked lowly, "Cou-…could you…"

"Stay here for a while?" Hanari finished.

Naruto looked up at her surprised and then back at the floor, nodding slowly.

Hanari smiled and nodded. "Of course." She lightly rubbed the boy's back as she sat next to him, his breathing regulating until she realized he had fallen asleep. She smiled warmly at his sleeping form before looking back out at the sky through the window with a frown. 'Kushina…you needn't worry about him. As long as Naruto is close to Hinata, close to me, he will always have a place to call home.'

Naruto had awakened the next morning to find Hanari gone, he frowned momentarily before sitting up and looking out the window. He saw the sky was already a bright blue, meaning it was approaching noon, were it not that time already.

'Oy, kit.'

Naruto blinked curiously. 'K-…kit?'

'Yes. It's the name you humans use to identify young foxes. Well, one of them. I assumed that it was a passable nickname for you. It probably makes you feel better than brat or meatbag.'

Naruto raised an eyebrow but then nodded with a smile. 'Yeah…it does. Thanks Nine.'

'Oy, don't get all warm and fuzzy on me Kit.'

Naruto chuckled weakly. 'Right, right. Sorry 'bout that.'

'Whatever. Anyway, that woman stayed here most of the night. She actually left only a few hours ago.'

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'But…that would mean she hasn't really gotten any sleep.'

'True. Just thought I'd let you know. It seems at least one of these mongrels is watching out for you. It's tiring being the only one.'

'"Only one?" You mean you watch out for me?'

'Course I do you little snot! You think those injuries and wounds of yours heal automatically? They only heal because I command them to. And don't think it's because I like you Kit. It's only because you remaining alive is mutually beneficial to us both.'

'You don't say,' he responded dryly.

'Watch it. Just as easily as I can flow my chakra to heal you, I can just as easily pull away chakra to hurt you.'

Naruto sweat-dropped. 'Oh…I, uh…didn't know that.'

'There's a lot you don't know. But that's not important.'

After a short pause, the fox said, 'Naruto.'

'Hm?' Naruto responded mindlessly as he went about packing his things in storage seals.

'I think it's time you were told a few things. And that Uchiha's made it clear he won't do it.'

Naruto stopped and gave a puzzled look. '"Things?" Like…what?'

'Well…for starters, the whole reason and history behind why I'm even sealed inside of you. Your parents.'

'M-my…parents?' Naruto asked in disbelief.

'Yes. Your parents, the ones who sealed me inside of you.'

Naruto sat puzzled for a moment before his eyes widened greatly. He then snapped them shut and concentrated.

Naruto instantly appeared before the fox, looking at it confused and frantic. "But…I heard that…it was the…Fourth Hokage who…sealed you in me."

The Nine-Tails nodded. "It was. He was also…your father."

Naruto fell backwards, having lost all strength in his legs. "S-so…you're saying that…my…own father…sealed you…inside…me?"

The fox nodded again.

Naruto looked down as he simply became numb.

The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes thoughtfully. "Naruto…"

"…What…?" he asked weakly.

"How are you…?"

"What do you think?! I just found out my own father sealed you inside of me and then died! He left me all alone, knowing that the village would hate and despise me! My own father!"

That seemed to actually anger the fox. "Watch your tone…brat. I may not have liked your father, for a variety of reasons, but I respected him. He was a very powerful man, and he lived for a single reason. To protect the woman I was sealed in."

Naruto stopped and raised an eyebrow. "What do you…mean?"

"Your father, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, lived and breathed to defend and protect my previous container, my previous Jinchuriki, your mother, Kushina Uzumaki. She went through everything you went through, being hated, despised and beguiled by the village."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought for several seconds before looking at the Nine-Tails suspiciously. "Why? Why are you telling me this? You don't even sound like…you hated them?"

"Che, there are only a few humans in this world I actually hate. Most of you aren't worth the energy it'd take to hate you. Your mother wasn't one I particularly like, for obvious reasons, but we lived with each other's mutual disdain. She no more wanted me inside her seal than I wanted to be in there. But what she was stuck with is the same seal you've got. Meaning that if she died, I died."

Naruto's face suddenly lit up.

"Don't get your hopes up. She lived just long enough for me to be transferred into your seal. The seal you've got, the Reaper Death Seal, is a very annoying seal to say the least. Under normal circumstances, when a Jinchuriki dies, so would we. However, we will eventually reform. Not with that damn thing, it feeds us to the Reaper."

Naruto frowned in thought for several seconds. He then looked up at the Nine-Tails thoughtfully. "So…my parents sealed you inside of me with a special seal, and it's different because if the seal breaks you'll die?"

The fox shrugged. "Mostly, but it'll also kill me if you die. Permanently. I can also be released by you or someone who understands the seal but I'll get sucked back in after a few minutes. That's what would've happened with Kushina."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'would've happened'?"

"What I mean…is that something…or rather, someone got in the way of that process."

Naruto sighed in frustration. "I don't get it."

"I'm not surprised. …Naruto…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know why your parents sealed me inside of you?"

Naruto shook his head with a frustrated look. "No, I can't think of anything."

"Because, they knew you were their child."

Naruto looked at the fox disgruntled. "What does that even mean?"

The fox sighed. "They trusted you could keep the village safe with me inside your body. That you'd be strong enough to handle everything the village would throw at you."

Naruto responded with a disdainful spit. "Yeah, well the only reason I have is because of Itachi-sensei and the others."

"That's what I mean, dolt."

Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion. "You know Nine-Tails…I really can't figure you out."

"And what does that mean?"

"I can't tell if you hate me or like me."

"Neither."

That just confused the blonde further.

"I don't particularly like anyone, but you're not infuriating enough to hate."

Naruto tilted his head with a moan. "Why are you telling me all this stuff anyway, Nine-Tails?"

"Because…I promised them."

Naruto blinked in shock and confusion. "Promised…who?"

"Them. Minato and Kushina. I promised those two I'd watch over you, or, at the very least, not let you get killed."

"But, I thought…"

"You thought I hated them?"

Naruto nodded dumbly.

"I already told you, I know very few humans who are worth my hatred. Mito Uzumaki, the first woman of the Leaf Village I was sealed in, is hardly the first person I was ever sealed inside of. I have lived for more than one hundred human lifetimes, several thousand years at least. Being sealed inside of one human for about sixty years is nothing but a slight annoyance. Aside from the first person I was ever sealed in, who sealed me inside of his own body to use my power, my Jinchuriki have never regarded me as anything more than a nuisance that wanted me just as little as I wanted to be there. For them, their entire lives were spent with me in their bodies, but for me, it was usually less than fifty years I had to spend, as humans have until recently lived far less than the eighty years most live to now. Despite the tails and myths your kind have spun about me, I never went around randomly attacking villages or kidnapping 'fair maidens'. All I wanted to do was live in peace as far away from you annoying creatures as possible. The few times I have done what they've alleged are for good reason, reasons I would prefer not to get into with you."

Naruto just sat as he listened to the fox speak.

"It wasn't until the last hundred years or so that you humans started getting on my nerves. First were those damned Gold and Silver Brothers, then Madara and several others. Ever since Madara and Hashirama beat the stuffing out of each other at the Final Valley I've been stuck inside one of you miserable fleshbags constantly. Fortunately I was relatively lucky. Mito would have just as soon assumed I didn't exist and let me sleep until she was done and then Kushina pretty much let me do as I please inside her bizarre mindscape. She was a scary woman…ahem. It wasn't until I was sealed inside you that I got stuck in this," it paused as it tapped a claw against one of the bars, "cage. And that's mostly because of the Reaper's seal."

Naruto nodded in thought. "Hey, Nine-"

The fox stopped him by raising one of its humanoid paws. "That's enough of calling me by that annoying title."

"Huh?"

"I've told you enough about me at this point I think I wouldn't mind sharing one last piece of information: my name."

Naruto looked at it puzzled. "You have a name?"

That gave the fox a tic mark. "Yes I have a name you little runt!"

Naruto fell backward from the strength of his shout. "Geez! How was I supposed to know, y'know?!"

The fox sighed. "Whatever…my name…is Kurama."

"K-…Kurama?"

The now identified Kurama nodded.

Naruto nodded in return. "Alright…Kurama. You still haven't answered one thing: why you promised my mom and dad that you'd protect me. I mean, I know you…tolerate my existence or however you put it, but why would you actively protect me?"

Kurama shrugged. "Several reasons. Part of it is my own safety. Under normal circumstances you dying wouldn't affect me too much, my body would reform in about nine years. But with that Reaper Death Seal I would die for good if you died. Another reason…is because your father, Minato, greatly reminded me of someone…important, that I used to know. I may be a Tailed Beast, a being that lives so long beyond human lifetimes that an entire generation can be born and then die in a matter of moments to my perception, but even I can appreciate the emotions of love. Since what most people associate me with, hatred, is born out of love."

"I-it is?" Naruto asked dumbly.

Kurama nodded. "Yes. A person hates another because they took, damaged or destroyed something they loved. One of the abilities I have, and one I don't particularly care for, is the ability to sense hatred bore by humans. I find it petty when you creatures with such short lives hate each other for the entirety of it. So sometimes, when I'm feeling philanthropic, I show up and cause havoc. That way you idiots stop wasting time and energy hating each other."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "That seems rather…odd. You say that you don't care for humans, but then you do something like that." Naruto then chuckled. "You know Kurama, you're pretty neat."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Well…because. Everyone always says how you're a giant, evil monster. But I don't think you are. You even promised my parents to help me. And you have."

"Che, don't get touchy feely with me, Kit. I promised because they asked me, not because of you."

Naruto just grinned. "Yeah, but ya know you love me!"

"Bah, you're just an annoying little brat! However, I have grown rather fond of your particularly unusual sense of self."

Naruto blanked. "My…whatnow?"

"It means your personality. You're surprisingly similar to that mother of yours. You seem to have that same boundless energy she did, and you have that unnatural talent to make humans find you less infuriating than dirty pond scum."

Naruto twitched an eyebrow. "You sound so caring…" he deadpanned.

"I never said I was. Also, one last thing. Your parents also sealed me inside of you for another reason. Not just because they knew you would be able to withstand the unjust punishment the village would and has and will give you, but because they somehow believed you would be able to change this sorry village."

Naruto looked at Kurama curiously. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you think I can fix the village?"

"Hmph, the way I see it, this village is beyond saving."

Naruto grinned widely. "I don't think so. With people like Hanari, Hinata, the old man and Itachi-sensei in it, I think that the village not only can be save…but is worth saving."

Kurama looked Naruto dead in the eyes and then sighed. "I see. Well, I can tell by that look nothing I say will stop you. I just wish you good luck in that task. Although…there is one last thing you may want to know before you give in to that train of thought completely."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "W-…what is it?"

"Have you ever considered how you have a Sharingan? You certainly don't look like any other Uchiha."

Well, that's this chapter over with. I'll hopefully have the fourth sometime here soon. The production of this story will start to slow down once I decide to get back to work on Final Reign and will effectively stop for a while once I start back on Wagtail Shinobi.