Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. You do.

"YOU WHAT!?"

Rang out around the entirety of Konohagakure no Sato, its epicentre however, one of her many parks.

"I told you Naruto-kun, we can still play sometimes!" Ino reasoned, as she had drawn the short straw in this situation.

"But, but, why?!" the young demon vessel asked with a pout on his face.

"We have to start at the ninja academy next week, so we can be awesome ninjas! That's why! I told you, we'll be free to come to the park on the weekends but…" she trailed off with an apologetic look on her face, matching right in with Choji and Shikamaru, who stood just behind her. However the last thing Naruto wanted was pity and apologies, he wanted his friends.

"Then I'll join too! I'm gonna be the -the…" He paused, finding the word he had recently learned, "The Hokage! Then I get to wear that funny hat jiji wears! And then we can stay together!"

"Are you sure you want to be a ninja Naruto?" Choji inquired. Coming from a ninja clan Choji, along with Ino and Shikamaru, was more aware than others of what being a ninja entailed. He'd been to a couple of funerals of relatives before.

"Yeah! Then I get to be super cool, and people will start to notice me!"

"Hmm, you live on your own, don't you Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeahhhh…" the blond drawled out, with an odd look on his face, unsure of where he was going with this.

"You might have to talk to the Hokage about that then Naruto, 'cause some stuff needs to be signed by your… parents," Shikamaru said, carefully adding the word parents, as he knew it was a bit of a touchy subject for Naruto, for obvious reasons too.

"Well that's fine then!" Naruto knew he'd be able to convince his jiji to let him be a ninja.

"Yeah, then we can all be ninjas and kick ass together! And that's a promise! Got it!" cried Ino happily, confidently placing an out stretched hand between all four of them, prompting all of them to look at it for a small second.

Soon Choji lay his hand on top of hers, giving off a wide grin and a small giggle.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru said as he fought a though battle to keep a small, but warm smile off his face, placing his hand over Choji's.

Next they all turned to Naruto, while the blond himself simply stared in slight awe, before noticing their stares, and with slight hesitation, placed his hand onto the top of the pile. "Yeah!" he yelled as they all smiled together, an unseen tear running down young Naruto's face.

From then on they had a plan, and they would follow it.

Or try to anyway.

"Bah!" the fearsome Kyuubi no Kitsune scoffed, honestly a little disappointed with his… son-figures life choice. Geez, even the thought going through his head seemed incomprehensible, absurd, preposterous, ridiculous, ludicrous, and many, many others. At the top of that list however, scary. He wouldn't admit it though. Who was he – some laughable ningen?

Never.

The very fact that looked at some being as his own son – Kurama didn't like it. It was different. It was impossible. And it was something else he would never admit to anyone.

"Hokage, eh?"

"Yeah! Then everyone will have to respect= me! I'm gonna see jiji right now!" The blond responded without hesitation, his voice echoing throughout his empty subconscious. It was beginning to not startle him as much when one minute he was walking through the evening streets of Konoha, from the park to find his jiji, and the next he found himself in a flooded basement.

The small smirk on the foxes face quickly fell into something much more serious.

"That means you would have to be willing to give your own life, to protect the people of this pathetic village. Each and every single one of them. Could you do that?" Kurama said flatly.

"…Well, yeah," the blue eyed child said, now with some hesitation, "I mean, if I had to, maybe-"

"The drunk, near where you live? The one that glares hatefully at you?" the bijuu returned instantly, cutting him off as a disgusted sneer grew on his mouth just thinking about the dirty ningen. "Would you? Could you give your life so he could live?"

Naruto averted his gaze from the obscenely large kitsune as he studied the odd liquid covering the floor that was oh so interesting right now, an oddly serious face gracing his features for a moment before it broke into a pout.

"…No…" he said softly, looking away as if disgusted with himself.

"And either would I," Kurama said, causing his son-figure to look up at him immediately, "What's he ever done for me? Nothing." Naruto's mouth was left slightly agape as he processed this, "What's he ever done for you? Less than nothing."

"…But…" Naruto said quietly, his blue eyes watering, "But I don't want anyone to die because of me!" Tears streamed out of his eyes as he buried his face into his 'Mr Kyuubi-san's' fur. Said 'Mr Kyuubi-san' momentarily flinched away in shock before composing himself.

Every thought that went through his mind momentarily turned to: 'Yell at the gaki,' and 'Deny it,' however it seemed the feeling in his gut had returned with a vengeance, and an oddly similar feeling to that time ningen were eating his insides. In a word? Unpleasant.

Before he knew what he was doing, Kurama was already making a move to comfort the crying child he viewed of as a son. At least that was what he was going to before he sensed something.

All of a sudden Naruto found himself in the street he was previously walking down. All he had time to do was turn around halfway, catching the silvery glint of a hitai-ate in his peripheral vision, before a loud voice rang throughout his head, 'NARUTO!' Only he never caught the last of the word, as a strong hit connected with the back of his neck, sending him spiralling into unconsciousness.

"Hokage-sama," a cold, level voice said, originating from a bird masked ANBU knelling close to the ground, "There was an attempted kidnapping on the heiress of the Hyuuga main branch at approximately 1952. Suspected Kumo involvement, however identity is currently unconfirmed. Suspect was terminated by clan head Hyuuga Hiashi at approximately 1955."

A frown deepened on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face as he heard the grim report. This would no doubt cause huge political backlash, for both parties, perhaps even the start of another war if they did not tread carefully. However that was not the extent of the news.

"Hokage-sama," the ANBU started again, "We also detected a breach in village security at approximately 1953, suspected Kumo-nin making unauthorised exit. Permission to pursue?"

Turning to face him, the wizened Hokage took all but a second to respond in a serious voice, perfectly reflecting his grim face.

"Permission granted, Tori, since time is of the essence, alert Inu, he shall accompany you in tracking the suspect. If possible, capture the suspect and return them to the Intelligence Division. If capture is not possible I expect the suspect terminated before he reaches the border, also, be prepared for possible hostage situation, if suspect is fleeing they may have taken hostage while still in the village."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," was all the cold voice of Tori said before vanishing from the room.

It was still early in the night, Hiruzen noted as he turned back to looking out of his office window, his hands tightly gripping each other behind his back as his frown deepened yet again. Perhaps it was a sense only present in the highest calibre of ninjas? But The Professor knew something was going to happen. Something in the air perhaps? God. He sure hoped not. The last time he had such a feeling had been that night, close to five and half years ago now.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Was pretty much all that was running through Kurama's head at this point, as he stared worriedly – yes, fucking worriedly! – at the unconscious body of his blond son laying, well, unconsciously just outside the rusted gate. His first idea had been to channel his chakra into the boy's body, alerting shinobi of their presence, but that plan was so flawed it was fucking ridiculous! Like without Naruto awake to channel the chakra, for example, it wouldn't even make it through the seal. Sure he could force some through, but forcing any real amount through would just result in complete failure of the seal, something he was looking to avoid at all costs. Another problem was it might not even gather attention of the ningens, or they might simply ignore it, being the stupid monkeys they were. The whole plan hinged on the fact that himself and Naruto were Kohoha's "weapon," and that Konoha would have to secure Naruto because of this.

Quite frankly. It made Kurama sick. Having to rely on pathetic humans to provide safety for his son? While he himself was completely and utterly helpless? He hated that. Actually, on his list of things he hates, the feeling of helplessness ranks in at number one. He hated being helpless more than he hated Uchiha Madara.

You see, of course, if you were helpless, it meant you were that you were dependant on something, and if you were dependant on something, it meant that you were weak, and if you were weak it meant that… that…

That was it! As much as he hated to say it, Naruto was weak right now, in the form of being unconscious, knocked out specifically, which meant if Kurama could force a tiny about of chakra through the seal it would speed up Naruto's natural regeneration ability enough to be able to wake him up, in which he could then be able to channel his chakra, hopefully creating a small beacon for the stupid leaf nin to follow.

Without hesitation Kurama quickly began forcing some chakra against the seal.

If he was honest, this wasn't his most genius plan.

In the forest that surrounded Konoha, three blurs could faintly be seen against the darkness of the night, as they made their way through the trees jumping from branch to branch.

"Kakashi," the small pug summon started, only to get a disapproving look from his summoner at the use of name while he was in ANBU his persona, "Whatever! You might want to hear this."

"What is it Pakkun?" Kaka – er… Inu asked.

"The Kumo-nin has somebody with him, and they have a strong smell fox on them-"

"You mean…" Inu said paling, as he interrupted the pug, nearly missing the branch he was aiming for.

"Yeah. Chances are the Kumo-nin has Naruto, that's what it smells like at least."

Inu said nothing else, only doubling the speed he was moving at, leaving Tori behind to catch up.

"OI! GAKI! GET THE HELL UP!" Kurama yelled at the unresponsive body of the blond.

Enough of his chakra should have sept into the boy by now to heal him enough to wake up.

"NARUTO!"

The only problem that remained was waking his son up from his catatonic state.

"LOOK! DOUGH IN A SALTY BROTH!"

The blond stirred at that one, but he was expecting a bigger reaction, seeing as how the stuff was nearly all his son talked about. He let out a deep growl of frustration, it seemed much easier in his head.

"SON! GET YOUR ASS UP RIGHT NOW!" Immediately after the words left his mouth, he clamped down firmly on his tongue. He shouldn't have said that. He didn't want to say that. But after all, speaking wasn't really his strong point. It did however, have the intentional result of waking the boy up. Rather abruptly too, as Naruto heard the word he never thought he would ever hear in his life. His eyes quickly flicked opened and he scrambled up from his laying position in the weird liquid, upon seeing his surroundings.

An incredibly awkward moment passed by as they simply looked at each other, at least awkward to Kurama that is. Naruto was trying to figure out if heard what he thought he heard.

"Mr Kyuubi-san?" Naruto said breaking the short silence, "What's going on? What happened?"

Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, the Nine-Tails unclamped on his tongue, letting a loud growl rumble in his throat.

"Ningens," he responded bitterly, "The damnable monkeys kidnapped you. One of them is taking you out of the country right now."

"Nande (What/Why)?! I don't want to leave my home but, Mr Kyuubi-san!" The young blond complained.

"Which, is precisely why I have a plan," the fox said without hesitation, "You are going to wake up now, and channel some of my chakra. The leaf shinobi that are likely out looking for you now, will feel that and come rushing here. So all you need to do is channel some of my chakra when I tell you, okay?"

"O-okay," Naruto confirmed, obviously nervous.

"Show… Show them Naruto. Show them why they should never have come after my son," was all Kurama said in a quiet, low voice, that he had used only a very limited number of times. He didn't know why he said it, but it felt right. Perhaps the feeling that had returned in his gut was making him do this? If so, it certainly didn't feel anything like when a bastard Uchiha was controlling him, so what was it?

Naruto suddenly felt like all the air had been knocked out of his lungs, and his jaw dropped upon comprehending the sentence, but before he could act on it, he found himself tossed from his subconscious and into the grim reality of the situation.

The first thing Naruto noticed was an arm was firmly placed in an uncomfortable position around his torso. The next thing he noticed was the constant jumping motion of the world. Then he noticed something rough around his wrists binding them together behind his back. After that he noticed something else. He was terrified.

Where was he being taken?

What was going to happen if he couldn't get home?

What if he couldn't do as Mr Kyuubi-san said?

Mr Kyuubi-san! His small body was almost vibrating with joy as his eyes started to moisten. There was no way he was going to let him down. Not after what he'd said especially!

'Naruto,' Mr Kyuubi-san's voice said, 'Channel some chakra now.'

Naruto gave small nod, luckily going unnoticed by the Kumo-nin carrying him. It would be a lot harder to channel the chakra without putting his hands in that funny position, but luckily he had been practicing every day since he unlocked his chakra.

Quickly he felt around for his chakra, slowly finding it within himself, he then tapped into it. However the chakra he pulled out didn't seem the same as what he'd been practicing with.

'That has to be Mr Kyuubi-san's chakra!' he thought, letting its warmth fill his body. Mr Kyuubi-san's chakra was a bit different to his own chakra, Naruto decided. Whereas his felt a bit prickly, Mr Kyuubi-san's felt warm and comforting like a fire.

Naruto's musings and concentration were then cut short as he was thrown from the man carrying him to the ground. Oddly enough, even with his concentration broken he still felt Mr Kyuubi-san's chakra building up inside him.

"You're awake are ya brat?" the Kumo-nin sneered at him as he approached where he had tossed the boy.

"G-get away, f-from me!" Naruto stuttered.

Naruto knew he should have moved – should have done something, however all he could do was sit there and shiver as his eyes flicked down to what the approaching nin held in his hand. A kunai glinting in the moonlight.

Reaching the shivering boy, the Kumo-nin firmly grasped the child's hair, lifting him up to eye level, ignoring the squeal of pain given off by the five year old, before spinning his kunai in his hand and raising it to the boy's throat.

"How about you just go back to sleep then kid?" he said in a condescending tone, briefly taking note of the boy's odd appearance, including the thick scar-like whisker marks on the boy's cheeks, and the odd red slitted eyes he had, but brushed it off. Ninjas often looked far stranger than that.

It was at that moment, when the Nine-Tails chakra building up inside Naruto's body, burst out and nearly completely left it, saturating the clearing of the forest they were situated in.

"What's that chakra brat?! What'd you do!" the nin yelled as he was slightly buffeted by the explosion of orange chakra that came from the boy. Naruto himself was shocked out of his stupor by the chakra, and quickly retaliated by doing the only thing he could do in this situation, he shifted his weight forwards a little and seeing the man's kunai wielding hand, went for it, biting down hard.

"AARRGH!" the Kumo-nin yelled in pain, before swinging his arm, and Naruto, to the side, shaking Naruto off, "DAMN BRAT! You'll pay for that!" he cried as he inspected his now bleeding hand momentarily.

Naruto let out a small grunt of pain as he landed on his shoulder, before taking in his new surroundings. Perhaps it may have just been the adrenaline, but the night actually looked quite a lot brighter than it normally did. Realising that this was his chance, Naruto started shuffling on the ground, as well as he could with his hands tied, towards the exit of the clearing, only for his world to erupt into pain.

"Get back here ya little monster!" the foreign shinobi cried as he threw the kunai still gripped in his bloody hand at the boy's calf muscle, effectively cutting off his movement.

"AAAHHHHHHH!" Naruto squealed in his prepubescent voice as the kunai buried itself through the muscle of the small boy's thin leg and straight into the bone.

"To hell with what Raikage-sama wants! I'm teaching you a lesson brat!" He said reaching behind with his still bleeding hand to retrieve a new kunai, as he made his purposeful stride towards the whimpering, bleeding boy on the ground.

"S-s-stay a-away!" Naruto cried in terror, tears streaming down his face from the pain and fear, as the shadow of the man cast by the moonlight slowly completely encompassed him.

Upon reaching him, the man gave a cruel sneer, barely visible on his shadowed face, before raising the kunai up, blood from the wound leaking down the man's hand and across the surface of the knifes blade, before dribbling onto the ground.

Then the birds came.

A/N: *GASP* Cliffhanger! Any thoughts on what's going to happen?

Anyway, we have some things to discuss! And when I say that I mean I'm just going to say a load of stuff.

Firstly, very, very, very sorry for this taking so long! I had this great idea for an excuse involving velociraptor eating exams, but in actuality I just got lazy.

Secondly, after reading this you may have gone something like this: "Hmm, this is pretty short, is there any reason for that?" and if you said that then you would be correct! Basically this chapter and the next chapter were originally going to be one chapter, however, I saw how long it had been since this was last updated, and decided that not a lot, was better than none at all. Right? Riiiiight?

Thirdly, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited, followed, and even just took the time out of their day to read this, because of that, this story has over 10,000 views, over a 100 favourites, and 170 followers, which might not seem like much, but honestly I doubt I actually greet 100 different people in a month, so in comparison, yeah.

As a response to BROTH3R MENACE, hopefully this is enough realism for you then, and cleared things up a bit. ;)

As a response to andrewrodriguez6433, nope. Flat and simple. Kinda... He will teach him how to do a couple of fancy tricks though.

As a response to mellra, glad you're enjoying, and I'm actually looking forward to writing Kurama's reaction to Sasuke myself, I mean he can't just go and kill him, like he does with all his other problems, that would stir up way to much trouble!

As a response to guest, I'm sorry!

Will Naruto survive his deadly encounter? What are the birds? Will Gohan ever find out where that bird flew off to that one time? Find out next time, on Dragon Ball Z! Dun dun da-da da dun da daa~ da dun dun da~ da na na da na na daa~ da da da~

Ja ne!