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So here's the next chapter guys! Hope you enjoy it.

"Human=Thinking/Thoughts/Memories"

"Demon/Demonic Voice=Talking"

"Demon/Demonic Voice=Thinking/Thoughts"

7 years later…

All was quiet in the lush green forest on the outskirt of Konohagakure. There was the faint calls of a cricket and the sweet songs of birds filled the air until they were all silenced with a sudden whooshing sound.

In the middle of the forest, a portal appeared. From the portal, a twelve year old blonde-haired boy with sky blue eyes stepped out. He was 5'5" tall and had three distinctive whiskers that seemed to resemble a fox's whiskers on both of his cheeks.

He was wearing a red tracksuit with black on the upper shoulders and three black stripes around the sleeves of his tracksuit, black pants with a kunai pouch attached to his right knee, a red belt around his waist with a ninjato in a black scabbard strapped to it, black ninja sandals and the black Uzumaki whirlpool symbol on the back of his tracksuit. He had his tracksuit zipped open down to his collarbone, revealing a black shirt that he wore inside the tracksuit. He also had a long yellow headband wrapped around his forehead.

From the same portal, three people came forth and stood behind Naruto. One of them was Hanzo Hasashi while the other was a 5'7" seventeen year old girl with long braided black hair, with streaks of blue and white, and lavender eyes. The third member in the little party was a 5'3" girl about Naruto's age with short raven black hair and forest green eyes.

The older girl was wearing a white short-sleeved double zipper jacket flowing down to her thighs, yellow cargo pants, black ninja sandals, a brown belt around her waist with a ninjato in a black scabbard adorned with white and blue swirling patterns on it, a yellow band with a scorpion symbol on it wrapped around her upper right arm and tape wrapped up to her elbows on both arms. She also had her jacket zipped open at the top and bottom, revealing a black shirt that she wore underneath the jacket.

The younger girl was dressed in an ice blue sleeveless shirt with the symbol of the Lin Kuei clan on the back of her shirt, long flowing black pants with a large pouch hooked to the back of her pants, and blue ninja sandals. She also wore black fingerless gloves with steel plates on the backhand.

Naruto took in a deep breath as he smelled the familiar woody scent of Konoha's forests. Deep down, he was glad to be back but on the other hand, he also dreaded it.

"It's been seven years since I left Konoha. I could have chosen to leave Konoha forever but… Konoha is my home too just as the Shirai Ryu is my home." thought Naruto.

For seven years, Naruto grew up and trained alongside with Hikari in the Shirai Ryu clan. Hanzo had been a strict master but he was also fair. With the strict training and the nutritious food that he was given, Naruto became healthier and also grew in height quickly. He also became quite a formidable fighter and rose quickly through the ranks but it would be another couple of years before he could become chujin.

He had also became friends with a girl named Cho. Cho was a member of the Lin Kuei and Kuai Liang's second apprentice. She had the same cryomancer abilities as Kuai Liang and Frost but she also had Tomas's ability much to Kuai's surprise.

Naruto had met her when Hanzo took him to meet Kuai and the rest of the Lin Kuei clan after the boy practically begged Hanzo to take him with him and stating that he wanted to meet the clan's new ally. Naruto met the Grandmaster and both his apprentices and got along pretty well with them.

Despite being slightly more serious than Naruto, Cho clicked with the young boy and the two became fast friends and rivals. Every time they would meet, they would spar to test each other on their abilities before catching up with each other.

In those seven years, the Shirai Ryu became the family that Naruto always wished for and had also met Takeda when he visits the clan and bonding closer to him. Over time, he began to see Takeda as his older brother. He also grew closer to both Hanzo and Hikari seeing Hanzo as his father and Hikari as his big sister.

Naruto grew up from the shy, frightened little boy that Hanzo rescued to a boisterous and exuberant boy. However, the one thing that he still kept since he was little was his bad habit of giving nicknames or not addressing older respected individuals with the appropriate honorifics. He even once called Sonya Scary Blonde Old Lady nearly causing all hell to break loose in the base. Thankfully that little habit of his has toned down a bit all thanks to Hanzo's strict training and scary punishments.

With each passing year, Naruto grew closer and closer to Hanzo and Hikari, later calling them Otou-san and Onee-san, until one day on his tenth birthday, he finally decided to add Hanzo's last name into his full name and asked Hanzo if he could do so. Touched by the young boy's decision, Hanzo agreed.

But as he grew up, Naruto couldn't help feeling slightly homesick. He missed his previous home despite the cruelty of the villagers and some of the ninjas. He had even thought of building a branch of the Shirai Ryu clan in Konoha. It was only after his twelfth birthday that Naruto finally decided to return to Konoha and had informed Hanzo of his decision.

For years, Hanzo had suspected that this day would finally arrive. Despite internally protesting against the decision, Hanzo hesitantly agreed to let Naruto return to Konoha but not without him. Hikari, who had overheard the conversation, had burst into the room startling both Naruto and Hanzo and had also stated adamantly that she was coming with the two of them.

Hanzo had protested about Hikari's decision to join them as the Shirai Ryu here in Earthrealm needed a leader to guide them when they were gone. Being quite the stubborn one, Hikari had argued with Hanzo and told him that Takeda, who had more experience than her, would be able to lead the clan more efficiently than her. Hearing her logic, Hanzo finally gave in.

Recalling Naruto's goal, Hanzo gave a small smile, "You have an admirable goal Naruto. But once the Shirai Ryu branch clan is built in Konoha, I will be the temporary leader of the clan before handing Hikari the reins once she has passed her chujin exam. Once you have passed the chujin exam as well, Hikari will hand you leadership of the Shirai Ryu clan in Konoha and she will become your advisor and second-in-command. Is that alright with you Hikari?"

Naruto agreed to Hanzo's reasons. Hikari nodded, glad that she could help out her little brother. Ever since she had learnt of Naruto's miserable past and of one individual named Danzo and his plans for Naruto, she had been very overprotective of him.

Naruto still remembered the day when Hikari promised him to never let anyone hurt him ever again.

"I promise you Naruto! I won't let anyone ANYONE hurt you ever again!" Hikari declared.

Naruto smiled at the memory. He couldn't have asked for a better big sister than Hikari.

"So kid, you ready?" Kurama asked. Naruto nodded. During those seven years, Naruto had also made two new friends, Svet and surprisingly Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox responsible for the attack on Konoha.

Naruto had first made contact with Kurama when he was seven years old. He had been training really hard in the forest surrounding the Shirai Ryu when he passed out from exhaustion. He found himself in a room that looked like a sewer and a large gate with a sealed paper on it.

"Finally, I get to meet my jailer." boomed a loud demonic voice coming from behind the gate. Peering closer, Naruto met the angry fox glaring back at him.

At first, Naruto had been mad with Kurama for attacking his village and killing his parents but refused to be like the villagers after being hated for so long without any reason thus, he questioned the fox as to what would make him do such a thing.

Kurama was surprised at the boy's question as he had always been hated and seen as a mindless monster to be used as a weapon. No one, not even his previous hosts, would bother to try to get to know him let alone talk with him.

Kurama answered the boy's question and told the entire story of what happened on that fateful night. He told Naruto about him being sealed in his previous hosts, the wife of the First Hokage, and his mother. How they would see him as nothing but a mindless beast that shouldn't be let loose into the world and never even bothering to get to know him and this just made his hatred for humans grow even more. He also told him of the masked man who attacked his parents and attempted to break him out which he did successfully only for him to be controlled to attack Konoha by the masked man with the stranger's Sharingan, indicating that the masked man was an Uchiha, a clan whom he deeply despises.

"But your father did break me out of the stranger's mind control in the end." ended Kurama. Naruto stood before the gate as he let Kurama's story sink in. He then looked up to the tailed beast with a sad look on his face.

"If my father already broke you out of the man's control, why did you have to kill my parents then? You could have just left." Naruto muttered out loud enough for Kurama to hear him. The fox felt a twinge of guilt and regret for his part in the boy's miserable life and the abuses he faced daily before Hanzo found him.

Sighing, Kurama then told Naruto his reason as to why he killed the boy's parents, "I would have gladly left but your parents believe that I am a danger to the world if I was set loose. They didn't know that I was a creature that could think and reason like them. So when your parents prepared to seal me into you, I panicked. I had just gotten my first taste of freedom after so many decades and I wasn't about to give it up. So I killed them hoping that they wouldn't be able to seal me in time but they did and so here I am. I cannot say anything to you to make you feel better or bring your parents back but I hope that you can forgive me for my actions."

Both boy and fox didn't say anything for a few minutes before Naruto, with a sad smile on his face, said, "I forgive you, Kyubi." Naruto knew the feeling of loneliness for he too was the victim of ignorance and loneliness just like Kurama who was in his prison for so many years, alone and ignored.

The fox's eyes widened from the boy's statement. "I know how it feels to be lonely and ignored and I'm sure you must know too since you are inside me. I am sad that my parents are gone but if that night hadn't happened then I wouldn't have met Tou-san and Nee-san. So thank you Kyubi."

Kurama could only stare down at the puny human standing before the gate separating them. "Could it be that this boy is the one that Father was talking about?" thought Kurama. The fox was even more surprised when Naruto asked if he could be friends with him. Kurama laughed out loud from the boy's offer, "Maybe he is the one."

"Very well kit. I'll be your friend. But you have to call me by my proper name. Kyubi is just a title. My real name is Kurama." the fox said with a toothy grin. Naruto gave the fox a big grin and nodded. After ridding the seal and a tearful reunion with Naruto's parents whose souls were tied to the seal, both boy and tailed beast established a friendship that no one would have thought possible.

"So Naruto, are we going to Konoha or what?" asked Cho.

Naruto turned to face Cho with a big grin on his face. "Of course we're going to Konoha Cho. What, you'd think we would be standing here all day in the forest pretending to be trees?" Cho couldn't help but chuckle along with Hanzo and Hikari.

Before Naruto left, he had left to meet Cho one last time and told him of his plans to return to Konoha. To his surprise, she was also adamant on coming along with him to Konoha. After talking with the Grandmaster, Kuai agreed to let Cho go with Naruto and also told her not to slack off on her training in order to prepare for her test to become a fully-fledged ninja of the Lin Kuei clan.

Cho simply nodded. Both teens gave their thanks and went to bid their goodbyes to Frost. Cho then returned to her room to collect her stuff and as soon as she was packed, she left with Naruto to the Shirai Ryu village where both Hikari and Hanzo awaited their arrival.

Excitement coursing through him, Naruto turned around and sped off with a burst of speed laughing as he raced through the forest. Hikari grinned and followed after her little brother, shouting at him to slow down. Cho, with a small smile gracing her face, also quickly joined the duo. Hanzo simply smiled at the sight of the three teens running straight through the forest.

In all his years as a living man, he had never thought to have a family let alone children once again. But that was all put to rest when Hikari and then Naruto joined his clan and became his children in all but blood. He was also glad that Cho, Naruto's childhood friend, came with them. He knew it would have saddened Naruto if Cho hadn't come with them. Without a word, he took off and quickly caught up with the teens and together they sped off for Konoha.