Disclaimer: Naruto (and everything in it) belongs to its owner(s) – Not me, the writer of this fanfiction. I'm just mooching off the framework already set in place... largely because I'm too lazy to finish my own, and, to a lesser degree, because I thought it'd be interesting to mix and match a few things...

Author's Note: A couple of hints regarding "Yurei" are dropped and Naruto makes his first friend, as well as sees a disturbing dream. Certain people are bashed just a little (or rather, lectured harshly).

Two

Hyuga Hinata

Naruto was flying.

Dense forest, endless desert – icy mountains and grassy plains... He passed over them all. All around the world. Over cities – both broken and live... along the ocean's surface – up toward the very moon, it seemed.

As he was flying – through a vast, starless night – something stirred in the darkness. A flash of shade.

Eyes widened, then winced in pain as something shot from the veil. Somethin cold – hard. It wrapped around his ankles, then his wrists, dragging him back. Pulling him into the night.

In the distance, the white moon was tainted a sick red before it, too, turned to darkness.

Naruto reached for it, desperate, as his hands vanished before him – covered in ink, it seemed.

And then there was nothing more. Everything had been taken by the night. Sucked away into the Void.

"NARUTO!"

.O.

Five to six years after the Kyubi attack.

Eyelids snapped open as Naruto nearly threw himself out of bed, only to be caught by a gentle, if firm, hand.

Shaking slightly, Naruto turned to face the hand's owner as his dream faded from memory. He was met with his guardian's traditionally dead-pan face.

"...baa-ka." Yurei drawled, releasing Naruto and letting him fall to the floor.

"Ouch!" The blonde exclaimed rubbing his forehead, "Why'd you do that?"

"You did it to yourself, bakuto." The other responded, nudging Naruto with the tip of her left foot. "You going to get up and eat breakfast or do I have to throw out another pack of ramen?"

Immediately Naruto was on his feet, pain forgotten, "Alright alright! I'm up – spare the ramen... and I told you not to call me that!"

"Call you what bakuto?" Yurei questioned as she exited the room.

"That!"

"...maybe if you stop acting like such a fool." Yurei's voice echoed from outside as Naruto hastily dressed himself and brushed his teeth, fuming, his dream completely forgotten.

Downstairs, Yurei allowed herself a miniscule smirk. 'Objective accomplished.'

Breakfast in the cheap, run-down apartment that was their home was always a simple affair. Naruto would eat too fast, choke on his food, and then start all over. Yurei would watch with an impassive mask and faint amusement in her eyes. Naruto would finish last, and Yurei would be waiting for him at the door, training supplies in hand and ready for five to six hours of endless drilling in the fine arts of the shinobi... Yurei's rendition of them, anway.

Typical days began at around five and ended somewhere near ten in the morning, though sometimes Yurei kept Naruto at it for an extra hour or two if she wanted to... impress... something on him thoroughly. (Naruto referred to this as Yurei venting stress on him; a notion Yurei found mildly entertaining).

When training was over, Yurei would take Naruto to a choice location (though he could only go to Icharaku's once a week) which would typically result in Naruto insisting they go to the park, visit "Jiji," the academy, or some such simple activity. Generally, Naruto avoided the park though – choosing to leave if a certain amount of people were there or, more specifically, if a few certain ones weren't.

It was a relief for both the villagers and Naruto. He got out of dealing with them... they got out of dealing with Yurei's "Dead Glare no Jutsu".

On one such outing, after turning back from the park (much to Yurei's ire), the pair encountered the first of what would be Naruto's circle of friends.

It wasn't a sunny day, by Konoha's standards – the sky was visible but there were several clouds. Yurei suspected rain. Naruto could care less; the "idiots" (as Yurei called them) were filling the park despite the weather, jiji was busy, and he'd already eaten at Icharaku's this week... meaning that he had absolutely nothing to do, so he could look forward to a long afternoon inside the apartment with Yurei.

Not an appealing thought to him. Yurei wasn't much for conversation.

It was just before the final turn of the corner that would take them home that Yurei realized they were being followed. Surprising, considering that the faux-kunoichi could detect the various ANBU assigned to Naruto at all times, and this one was an amateur at best. Must have slipped past due to all the other things Yurei was tracking...

"Hey," Yurei called over her shoulder, interrupting one of Naruto's beligerent rants, "you going to come out or do I have to deal with you like all the other people I've caught following us?"

There was a shrill 'Eep!' from the other end of the street and Naruto whirled about in surprise.

"People follow us?" He asked, confused, prompting Yurei to sigh as her oblivious charge leaned back and forth in a very obvious attempt to spy the person in question. "Who?"

Their follower wasn't hard to spot. Immediately after being called out, she tripped up and fell out of hiding, revealing a young girl about Naruto's age.

"Hm, what's this?" Yurei questioned curiously, guarded hostility seemingly evaporating, "Here I thought the Hyuga had settled on indifference... what are you doing following us home?"

"I-I... um..." The girl stuttered, picking herself up and stepping back as Yurei leaned forward slightly, arms crossed, "...er... bye?"

She bolted, only to find Yurei standing in front of her, head tilted to one side. "Want to try again?"

"Eep!" The girl exclaimed, shocked. 'So fast!'

Yurei sighed, "Calm down. Deep breaths. I don't hurt children."

This seemed to relax the girl somewhat, much to Yurei's relief and Naruto's curiosity. "Wow, I didn't know Yu-baa could be nice."

"...if you think commenting on my age is going to get a rise out of me, you're mistaken, bakuto." Yurei responded without taking her eyes off the young Hyuga. "So... your name?"

"No fun," Naruto muttered as Yurei's quarry averted her gaze.

"Hinata. H-Hyuga Hinata." She answered, blushing for some reason the kunoichi didn't care to think about.

"Hiashi's daughter?" Yurei questioned, garnering a halting nod. "...what are you doing outside the compound, in the most run-down district of the village, following me and Naruto – pariahs of the year –of all people?"

Sharp eyes spotted the callouses and minor cuts on Hinata's hands as the girl responded, "I... I wanted... I wanted to talk with Naruto!" She exclaimed in a rush, prompting a bemused blink from Yurei.

"...so you stalked him? That's not a habit you should keep into adulthood, you know. Not healthy... then again, this is a ninja village..." Seeing Hinata growing slightly redder at the vague implications, Yurei let out a sigh. What was her clan teaching her? "You wanted to talk to him, so talk; no backing out now."

Put on spot, Hinata gave a stiff nod before turning to Naruto, who was watching the entire affair with a sort of detached curiosity. Why would someone want to talk with him? A Hyuga at that? Every time he encountered one... well, they didn't glare at him. They didn't even look at him! '...then again, can't they see through the back of their heads or something? Do they even need to look at me to glare at me?' Naruto gave a slight shudder at the thought.

"Um..." The girl started, growing redder by the second and pulling Naruto from his thoughts, "w-would..." She trailed off, and Naruto stared at her expectantly. Hinata might have stopped then and fled, but the memory of Yurei's swift interception was still vivid – as was the warning 'No backing out now.' "Wouldyouliketobefriends?" The girl shot out, faster than before.

Naruto tilted his head, having missed almost half of what she said. "Um... sure?" He asked. Seeing Hinata's relieved face, Naruto smiled and gave her a cheeky thumbs-up. "Sure, no problem!"

Hinata fainted.

Naruto fumbled to catch her.

Yurei sighed.

.O.

When the young heiress woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room with next to no personal additions.

"Pleasant dreams, I hope?"

Hinata's head snapped to the side where Yurei was leaning against a wall, aquamarine eyes staring at the Hyuga with burning intensity.

"You'll find that your various injuries have all been healed... so don't waste the effort and start pushing yourself too hard again."

Hinata flinched, and Yurei stood up from the wall. "Naruto's been worried about you... I trust you can follow through with being his friend and not faint at his mere presence?"

Again, Hinata flinched, but gave Yurei a bewildered nod. Satisfied, Yurei opened the door and hastily stepped to the side... just in time for Naruto to fall flat on his face, hands splayed outward. "Again?" He shouted, springing back to his feet and pointing at Yurei accusingly.

"Again with what, bakuto?" His guardian asked, voice laced with mock-curiosity.

Uncharacteristically determining this was a battle that could not be won (at the moment) Naruto ended his fuming and rounded on Hinata, "Are you alright? What happened? Did Yurei heal you as well as... well, never mind."

Dazed by the barrage of questions, Hinata nodded, which was enough for Naruto. Satisfied, Naruto turned back to Yurei. "Say... I've been thinking-"

"Shocking," Yurei cut in, prompting Naruto to frown.

"...I've been thinking." he continued, trailing off as if to dare Yurei to interrupt him again. She didn't. "Hinata's a Hyuga. I'm... well, I'm me. What's your family like?"

There was a pregnant silence, then, as the children stared at the adult, and the adult looked away from them and out the window. "They were..." Yurei started, and then trailed off before picking it up again, "...loyal. Dedicated. And stubborn – more stubborn than you, Naruto."

"Hey!" The blond exclaimed, only to fall silent at a Dead Glare from Yurei.

"I can't say much, really, to describe them to you exactly. Most of what you would call my family... I was an orphan as well, so I guess you could say everyone was my family. The entire village... of course, "family" is not the term I would like to use to describe our... bond. Really, my only family was my sister – a fellow orphan. Loud, boisterous, talented – oh you wouldn't believe it. She could learn a jutsu as soon as you showed it to her. No sharingan. No tricks. Pure, unbridled genius..." Yurei gained a small grin, "and you know what she used that genius for, when she got bored with lessons?"

Deliberately pausing before she continued, Yurei's smile grew a bit more mischievous... and a bit more nostalgic. Bitter. "Pranks. Pranks and... breaking me out of my shell. Day after day, she'd sneak me out of my room and we'd terrorize everything that moved. I wish things could have stayed like that. She saved me. Now... she's gone, and I never got to return the favor and... believe me, I tried. There was no saving her... no matter what I did. No matter what she did. We couldn't escape."

As Yurei finished her "tale," Naruto was silent – for once. There was such... sadness, in Yurei's voice. Such anger that it had stilled him before he could speak.

"Naruto... I gave up." Yurei spoke suddenly, surprising both, "Never give up. Never. Do not allow destiny to decide upon your course, under any circumstances... Stay true to yourself. You will succeed... just don't do what I did, and lie."

"Y-Yurei..." Her charge trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"What was her name?" Hinata asked, suddenly, breaking the mood somewhat.

Yurei's burning gaze returned to the Hyuga once more, and she flinched, but held strong. "Akako."

It was a blatant lie. Even the children could see that. Yurei gave too little emotion to the name... but they did not question her.

"Now then," She clapped, "I should take Hinata back to her clan before they break into our house. Naruto; stay here."

He did, for once. He stewed over what he'd been told, and determined that Yurei was blaming herself for something. For whatever happened to Akako.

He decided to help her accept it – to forgive herself – and that was the promise of a lifetime!

.O.

Upon coming to the gate of the Hyuga compound, Yurei was unimpressed. That was it? A simple wooden gate? Wasn't this supposed to be one of the most powerful clans in Konoha? Were they modest or was this some new form of arrogance?

"...this is the main gate?" The special jonin asked, and Hinata nodded nervously.

Face blank, Yurei raised her fist to the gate, as if to knock... and then flicked it. There was a brief flare of chakra – visible as a sudden outpouring of blue fire – before the gate gave way and swung open, either door slamming into the side of the wall. Immediately, Yurei found herself surrounded by various members of the Hyuga clan.

"Truly, I did not expect your gate to be so flimsy," The only non-hyuga present quipped, "Perhaps next time I shall take it into account and knock more lightly."

"Are you mocking us?" One member questioned furiously, even as another pointed to Hinata.

"Hinata-sama!" He cried, "Release her!"

Expression hidden beneath her scarf, Yurei pushed Hinata forward gently, "I take her not. Only return that which you've so easily lost."

As Hinata disappeared into the throng, glancing back at Yurei nervously – Hiashi approached. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded, staring directly into Yurei's burning gaze.

"Hiashi-sama," The newcomer greeted neutrally, "It would seem you need a sturdier gate."

"Indeed, and it would seem you have yet to attain a measure of proper decorum." The clan head responded bitingly.

One of Yurei's brows rose, "Forgive me, I was under the impression your gate could withstand my knocking."

Hiashi would have snorted if the hokage hadn't made him aware of just what he was dealing with, "That is not what one would expect to constitute a 'knock.' I trust that my daughter was not harmed in your presence?"

"Of course not," Yurei assured passively, eyes still burning, "In truth, she was harmed sometime before, and I decided to help her recover rather than... throw her back to the wolves."

Hiashi frowned, "Do you mean to imply my clan has been dealing my daughter overt harm?"

"Perhaps," The false kunoichi responded easily, "Do you mean to say that she is perfectly healthy under your care?"

"Of course," He responded, "I would never allow my children to suffer."

"Truly?" Yurei asked, prompting Hiashi's frown to deepen. "Fractured phalanges, multiple bruises... I think there were even a couple internal injuries mixed in there. For instance, you knew, of course, that her chakra system was risking to burn itself out from overuse? That only covers the physical." There it was – the marginal widening of the eyes. The hidden surprise. 'So he does care for his daughter. Wonderful.'

"...Perhaps we should retire to a more secure setting," Hiashi suggested, motioning his various clansmen – a mixed sea of irritation, anger, surprise, and concern.

'Can't stomach your own failures, can you?' Yurei thought, even as she nodded and followed Hiashi into the estate, passing a pair of branch members repairing the battered gate.

Hiashi led her into the core of the estate, to his own room where his wife was currently resting – having grown somewhat ill after the birth of Hiashi's second daughter, Hanabi.

"Speak." He demanded immediately, quietly.

Yurei's brow rose at his intensity but, recalling the determination of Minato, determined that it must simply be another trait of this era's fathers. "You expect too much of your daughter and she, in turn, pushes herself too hard to meet that expectation."

"You've come to question my parenting?" the clan head responded, as much surprised as he was insulted. Surprise gave way to irritation when Yurei only nodded impassively.

"This cannot continue. I've already told you of the results. When your training sessions are over, what does you daughter do?"

Hiashi's face remained stoic, and Yurei took that as a cue to continue, "She trains more, I'm sure. And more. Until her hands are breaking from striking the posts. Until she's reaching chakra exhaustion. And then, if ever, she feels satisfied and goes about the rest of her day... weakened, frail, and tired because of the stress of the previous hours. I do not know your daughter, and cannot watch her – these are merely suspicions. You lost her today, and I returned her... be careful not to lose her a different way..I might not be able to hep you then."

Hiashi was visibly irritated by the end of Yurei's talk, but she dismissed herself before he could issue a rebuttal – vanishing, almost. Activating the byakugan, Hiashi winced upon spying her abnormal chakra network just outside the compound, a bright beacon amidst dim candlelight. Closing his eyes in pain, Hiashi deactivated his byakugan.

If the Uzumaki boy's chakra was a sun, then Yurei's was matched only by the gathering of a hundred stars.

.O.

Yurei meditated.

Naruto was asleep (at last), Hinata had been returned to her father, and Hiashi had been sufficiently... advised.

All troubling, as far as Yurei was concerned.

Yurei was not a sociable person by any means. In fact, some – a long, long time ago – had even theorized she was actually anti-social. This was not true, but the point remains.

But... that was the point of meditation, for Yurei. Some meditated to find themselves. Some to find another, or some sort of truth... Yurei meditated to escape.

In her mind's eye, Yurei began to fly. Drifting into her inner world, the being of lies allowed truth to be revealed. Scarf vanished and hair became unbound, drifting out in a long aquamarine wave as her eyes lit up – somehow sparkling while remaining simultaneously dim, burning with an inner fire. Robes stained gray by age turned resplendent white, and the scythe she kept by her side became a white staff emblazoned with the sun.

Soaring through crystalline passageways – marred by several large cracks and dark clouds – the ghost, for that was what she truly was (as far as she was concerned) came to rest in a large spherical chamber. Before her was a massive sphere of writhing azure fire, ferociously struggling against the countless white chains that bound it in place. Staring into the fire, as if in a trance, the woman who called herself Kioku Yurei settled into a seated position...

As the fire vanished behind a stone wall, and a desk full of papers appeared in front of her – crystal turning to stone, and candle appearing at her side... Yurei allowed herself to forget herself. To become distant from herself... to watch her old memories unfold once more.

"Everyday, the forests seem farther away. The sun seems colder. Paler. The breeze against my skin grows fainter... Tell me, aelyen... tell me they were real. That the breeze, the sun, the forests – Tell me they were real! Tell me they exist!"A familiar, frantic voice pleaded as Yurei's past self stared on impassively. "Tell me!" In her memory, she said nothing, and it was tears that followed.

'That's right...' She mused, as if remembering something long forgotten, '...I am nothing but a liar. A failure – a prophet of false hope and shatterer of dreams.'