Chapter 6: I'll Be An Armored Hero

Naruto was standing in front of the Hokage once more with his team. They were getting a mission but this time they were being paired with another team. That team wasn't here yet though and Asuma hadn't told them who they were going with.

A few minutes later and Naruto could barely hold back a groan when Hinata walked into the room directly behind her sensei. Kiba and Choji entering the room a moment later with Akamaru barking in excitement/fear from where he was held in Kiba's arms.

Kiba saw Kurama in Naruto's hands and obviously wanted to talk about the blonde's fox but had enough sense not to talk about it now in the middle of the Hokage's office. When they were all watching him the Sandaime finally spoke about what the mission was going to be.

"Alright teams eight and ten, your mission is a C-rank, but it is likely to become a B-rank which is why we are sending two teams. You see, we just had a client from Wave who lied about his mission, the one which Team Seven and Team Gai took, and I realized that this mission could change rank as well." He paused for a moment letting that sink in before continuing, "I would have preferred the second genin team to be more experienced, but your teams are the only two available at the moment.

You will be headed to the Land of Tea, a new village there has just appeared in the last few months. Though this village is rumored to be more of a bandit outpost than a civilian hamlet, and even if they aren't, they refuse to abide by the Lord of Tea's laws." The old man explained. "You are to go there and access the situation, and if needed, relocate these supposed villagers."

The two jonin sent their genin to pack while they stayed behind to talk with the Sandaime. "Any more news on the fox summon, Asuma?" The old man asked the second the three were alone.

The younger Sarutobi nodded his head. "Actually, I have been observing the fox a little more closely since we learned it was a summon and I have reached a conclusion. I think the fox actually cares for Naruto. There have been times when Naruto wanted to eat extra ramen and the fox nipped his ears or he started to slack on his training only to get a tail whack to the back of the head. It really seems as though the fox has his best interests at heart."

Taking a breath Asuma continued. "As you know, Naruto was saved by the Kyuubi when he was younger at the price of having to rearrange his mindscape. However there is no sign of the demon influencing either Naruto or his summon. Naruto knows not to trust the demon and the Yondaime's seal is incredibly complex. So it seems that the demon still has no real freedom."

The Sandaime nodded and waved the two on and dismissed them.

Naruto for his part had made it back to his apartment and packed. A few seconds later and his normal supplies were sealed within a scroll which was then placed with his emergency supplies scroll in his tool pouch. As he made his way to the village's main gates, Naruto wondered if Hinata, Choji, or Kiba used storage seals since they came from a ninja family.

The blond had already given his team a few scrolls so both Shino and Ino would be using them. Of course, he mused, the two hadn't used them on their first mission and they had come from clans.

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, the genin took to the roofs and made his way to the gates. Seeing that he was the first one there, he sat down on top of a building to wait for the others.

Kurama took this opportunity to curl up in Naruto's lap and take a short nap.

Hinata was the second to arrive, although she held back a ways and Naruto could practically feel her staring at him with her family's doujutsu. The next to arrive was Shino and the taller genin came to sit beside beside Naruto and offered the blond one of the two rice balls that his mother had forced him to take.

Naruto accepted it with a smile and ate happily next to his teammate, chatting about what they had packed for the mission and the likelihood of it turning into a B rank as the Sandaime had implied. Shino, Naruto had decided, was his best friend. The blonde was almost certain that the bug user knew that Naruto had lied about Kurama and knew that the chakra construct was really the Kyuubi, and yet he still treated Naruto as a friend and trusted him.

The other boy didn't talk much but he was smart, and Naruto trusted him more than anyone else in his life, but only if you excluded Kurama.

Choji and Kiba arrived together next, but given that their clan compounds were close to each other it wasn't really a surprise. Before anyone else arrived, Hinata made herself known to the others, although Kiba and Shino both likely knew she had been close by.

In that moment though, Ino came into view with the two jonin right beside her. Naruto for his part found himself staring into the eyes of woman that lead team eight. He knew now why he thought her eyes were so pretty.

He had noticed they were red before, but with a closer look he could see they were two different shades. The outer ring of her iris was a crimson that reminded him of Kurama's own eyes, and the inner ring was a darker muted red that reminded Naruto of his mother's hair.

Offering the woman a smile, he jumped down from the building and tried to recall if he had ever heard her name before. She didn't introduce herself at the academy and just picked up her team and left, and the Hokage hadn't said anything about the team they were working with before Team Eight had shown up.

Asuma had also neglected to mention what her name was when he had talked about the other teams that would form. With that in mind, Naruto offered his hand to her. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and this is Kurama."

The woman smiled at him and took his hand. "Yuuhi Kurenai. It is going to be a pleasure to work with you and your team, Naruto. Hinata, Choji, Kiba, and Akamaru, this is Asuma." She said gesturing to Team Ten's sensei in order to introduce him to her team.

With the introductions over the group left the gates and Kiba couldn't wait more than a few minutes before speaking up. "Yo, Naruto. What is up with the fox?"

Naruto smiled at the dog fanatic and looked to Kurama. "He is a summon, more specifically my personal summon from the fox clan." As the blond informed Kiba, Kurama jumped from his arms and grew into a horse-sized fox with four tails and Naruto allowed himself to be picked up by two of the tails and placed on the fox's back.

Team Eight all looked shocked at the sight,and Kiba looked down to Akamaru who had whimpered. "Hey don't worry bud, Naruto said that his fox is a summon. So you are still the best ninkin around."

Kurama for his part scoffed at that. "Even if I was a ninja animal I wouldn't be a ninkin. I would be a ninkitsune. Foo-"

Naruto cut the fox off though. "Still having Akamaru around will be cool. An extra set of heightened senses."

Akamaru barked what Naruto assumed was a thank-you and the group traveled for a ways in quiet.

Hours later, the group had stopped to make camp for the night and Naruto unsealed his tent, which thanks to some nifty chakra seals Kurama had shown him, took about thirty seconds to set up. He then rummaged around for some blank scrolls, a full inkwell and a set of brushes. He had noticed when the trio of genin from the other team had shown up, that they had packs instead of scrolls and decided to make them each one.

Kurama for his part transformed back into his smallest form and lay down beside him. 'Are you sure you wish to make one for the stalker?'

Naruto sent a mental nod back to the fox. 'It wouldn't be fair to make one for Choji and Kiba but not Hinata.'

'Yet she could obsess over you giving her this and further convince herself that you two are 'meant to be.'' The demon explained as he yawned, seemingly content to nap beside Naruto as he worked.

The human started humming as he got to work on the first storage scroll. Unlike the ones bought in the shops within Konoha, his had multiple sealing sections so things could be stored or retrieved individually. Most jonin knew how to make the scrolls, but few rarely did.

After a few strokes on his first scroll, the blond spoke to his demon once more. 'That is true… She might. However, the only person who I will ever be with is you, Kurama. You know that, and if it bothers you that much, then once we are back outside of the Land of Fire's borders transform into your human form and stake a claim.'

The final thought from the blond had such a cheeky overtone to it and Kurama had to suppress a growl. 'Well, seeing as how you want me to, Saiai, then just wait. The moment we set up camp over the border you will be ravished by me and they will ALL know you're mine.'

The human couldn't help but to smile at that and with all the cheek he could muster responded. 'Promises, Promises.' Of course, he did want the demon to fulfill that promise. It had seemed like ever since their date, the boy couldn't kiss the demon enough, even if he felt like anything more was rather far off for the time being.

Not more than a few seconds later though, Kurenai noticed what Naruto was working on and addressed him. "Are you making more storage seals, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded as he finished the first one and realized everyone was looking at him. "Yeah, I made one for Ino and Shino after our first mission and thought that Kiba, Hinata, and Choji would like one and it is good practice for me too. The more I work on the formulas the more at ease I will feel when working on new seals."

Hinata blushed at the information, while Kiba and Choji both looked happy at the news. Kurenai for her part smiled softly. "That is kind of you still. Although I should let you know that Choji already has a standard storage scroll for his food."

Naruto gave the woman a smile and handed her the first scroll. "These aren't the standard ones though. They are the multi-compartment variety."

Kurenai looked the scroll over with wide-eyes here. "This is impressive seal work for a genin. I thought the only genin that could make these was the girl on Gai's crew."

Naruto shrugged and went back to his seals. He could make them rather easily but still didn't want to be distracted. One wrong line could have the scrolls exploding after all.

Soon enough the blond was finished with the three scrolls and gave one to a grinning Kiba, an eating Choji, and a blushing Hinata. The two boys had both offered a thank you, with Choji offering Naruto some chips as well. Hinata though barely managed to stutter out her thanks before she ran into her tent.

Ino for her part winced as she remembered how Naruto had cuddled with his summon during their last mission. She could only hope that Hinata wouldn't have her heart broken too badly. In fact, the young mind walker was certain that with the summon having a human form, Naruto and the creature were in some type of relationship. It certainly didn't hurt that the summons human form was cute!

That thought had formed early on their mission and only solidified by the two's behavior since then. With that in mind, the platinum blonde started thinking of ways to comfort the other girl when she found out.

Two days later would be when everyone would know for sure that Naruto was dating his supposed summon. Because the moment they had finished setting up camp across the border Kurama transformed into his human form getting shocked stares from Kiba, Choji, Hinata, Kurenai, and Akamaru.

After the demon had finished popping his knuckles, neck, back, and knees he found himself grinning and moving towards Naruto. "It is nice to stretch out like this." He muttered and he stopped the blond from saying anything in return when Kurama pulled the boy close to him and kissed him, quite thoroughly.

There were several sounds of shock from the others before a silence fell over the clearing but Kurama merely focused on the moan he pulled from his human as he pillaged the blond's mouth. "That was for your cheek, brat."

Naruto's response was to grin and pull the demon back to him for another kiss. At this point, Kurama started cataloguing the various reactions they received even as he submitted to being kissed by his smaller mate.

Kiba and Choji had both frozen in complete and total shock, jaws dropped low as they gaped at the two making out. Hinata took one look at the intimate interactions and ran into her tent heartbroken. Ino had made to follow and comfort the other girl after a quick fist pump to celebrate her correct intuition. On Shino's part, the ninja from the bug clan just shrugged, interpreting correctly that this had something to do with the Kyuubi's more relaxed nature.

The two sensei's, Asuma and Kurenai, shared a weighted look before quickly replacing themselves with clones to go talk about what they had just witnessed.

Kurenai for her part was greatly perturbed and turned to Asuma the moment they felt they were out of earshot. "What in the hell just happened!?"

Asuma shook his head and reached for a cigarette. "I am not entirely sure. I knew that the summon had a human form, but I wasn't expecting to see something like that."

Kurenai shook her head. "I… Is that allowed? Will the other summons say something about it, should we say something about it?"

Asuma lit his smoke, took a drag and exhaled, "I don't really know. On the one hand Kurama is Naruto's summon and it is, to put it politely, quite odd and a little disturbing. On the other hand, Naruto feels like that summon is the only one he can truly trust at times. I have seen it. He is still guarded with me and his teammates and while he tries to be friends with them he doesn't trust us completely. I feel like anything we might say will be promptly ignored regardless."

Kurenai still looked like she was searching for something to say but for the moment stayed quiet.

(break)

Meanwhile back at the camp Naruto was getting grilled for information by both Kiba and Choji. "How did this even happen!?" The dog lover shouted.

Naruto blushed a little and scratched his head. "Well, I have had Kurama as a summon for a long time. Since around the time I started improving in the academy. After a little while of knowing him, he would sometimes switch to his human form and we would play games and stuff. I didn't really have a lot of friends when we were younger, you know. Sometimes it felt like it was just Kurama and me."

The blond took a breath here before continuing with his half-truth. "I was an orphan for as long as I could remember and while I knew what a mom and dad were I didn't really understand the concept of marriage until Kurama explained it to me when I saw an outdoor wedding. The idiot I was back then, I told him that I would marry him one day and well foxes take that stuff seriously."

As the boy scratched the back of his head embarrassed, Kurama took over. "So I have been and will continue to court him until we do marry. Just recently we went on a date and he decided I was allowed to kiss him. It helps that he enjoys cuddling with me."

Naruto laughed a little at that. "You're the one obsessed with cuddling me. It doesn't matter if it is in your fox form or human form, you just want to wrap yourself around me. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would swear you needed to cuddle in order to live."

Kiba and Choji were both still shocked but the awkward silence was broken when Kiba turned to Akamaru and spoke. "No more sleeping in the same bed or cuddling, agreed bud?"

Naruto was probably the one that laughed the hardest at that. He had thought the entire situation was a little funny though. A great prank for sure.

Things did become a little awkward once more when Hinata and Ino emerged from the pale-eyed girl's tent. It was obvious that the Hyuuga had been crying. The white of her eyes, almost unnoticeable with the large pale lavender irises, were easily visible at the moment due to their bloodshot appearance.

Naruto felt bad for the girl but didn't really know what he could or should say to her. He had never once in the past expressed interest in her in any sense, and the only time that they had really communicated had been when he had saved her from some bullies.

He understood that her feelings were likely borne of that, but even so he still found her obsession with him a tad bit creepy at the same time. In that moment the blond figured the best thing he could do was go to either Kurenai or Ino for advice when one of them was alone.

Besides, Ino would likely help Hinata through it more than Naruto would. With that plan in mind, Naruto helped get a few things ready around camp. Before long the entire group was sitting in front of the fire with Konoha's resident demon 'container' snuggled up to his demon.

At this point things had settled enough that Kiba had more questions. "So why doesn't Kurama stay in his human form all the time? I can't imagine he likes to be carried around a lot."

Everyone seemed to be all ears, as Asuma, Ino, and Shino had similar questions but had wanted to wait until a better time to ask. Kurama didn't mind the questions though. "The main reason I stay in my small form is for the peace of mind of the citizens of Konoha. I figure that it would make them uncomfortable to see me in my battle ready form after the Kyuubi attack."

Naruto took over here. "As for why he doesn't stay human, it is mainly because he didn't want to be a ninja of Konoha. Foxes like to be free so you would have a hard time convincing any of them to really stay in one place. That is why I don't really summon any of the others."

Ino was the next to have a question. "I thought all summons went back to their realm after the chakra that brought them out had been expended, how often does Kurama return?"

The blond human scratched the back of his head. "Well when he first became my summon he went back while I was asleep and at the academy. Now though with him being my personal summon, he doesn't need to go back."

The two jonin both looked doubtful at that so Kurama took over. "See I have bound myself to Naruto and will go where he goes. To do this, I severed a link I had with my summoning realm and made one to this plane with Naruto as a tether of sorts. It is hard to explain but it essentially lets me gather chakra from this plane instead of returning home to gather chakra there."

A few more stupid questions flew around at this point, like what did Kurama eat, but before long it was time for the genin to turn in. Asuma and Kurenai had decided to take turns keeping watch as the genin would need their energy tomorrow when they had to deal with whatever town had sprung up.

The night had passed quickly and now the group of Konoha shinobi found themselves in front of a small settlement that was surrounded by wooden walls. Before they could do anything a woman came out of the settlement to greet them. "Welcome to Ushinawareta, a place for the lost who are looking for a home."

The woman seemed polite enough and after introductions had been made, she let the assembled party into the village. She also immediately invited the lot of them to a feast that was set for that night. 'Careful kit, this woman reeks of bad intentions.'

Due to the warning from his demon Naruto didn't relax and he noticed Kurenai and Asuma hadn't either. Of course, as the day passed within the village it got harder to stay suspicious. In fact everyone in the village seemed to bend over backwards to welcome the Konoha shinobi.

The only person who wasn't, the only person they had yet to see, was the leader of the settlement and they were informed that they would meet him after the feast.

The feast though, is when the trouble would begin. Because after all this time, even Asuma and Kurenai had let their guard down. What was Naruto supposed to say to them. Sorry my summon doesn't feel good about this place when he couldn't explain that Kurama could sense the negative emotions of others. If the emotion sensing got back to the Hokage, the old man would liken it to Mito's ability and likely realize who Kurama really was.

They were the leaders of the mission and Kurama and Naruto both agreed they would just stay vigilant until something happened and then report it to Kurenai or Asuma.

The feast had started and before the demon could say anything, all of the other genin were digging into the food. Choji had his plate piled high with the assortment of meats that were available while Ino was eating a salad.

Of course it didn't matter what any of them had eaten because it was all laced with a sedative. The only shinobi that hadn't eaten was Naruto, and that was because Kurama had managed to take control of his body in time to stop the ramen from touching the human's lip. 'We have a problem Saiai. The food has been tampered with.'

Right as those words had crossed into the blond's mind, the young genin saw his peers' heads drop into their plates. Asuma and Kurenai had both stopped eating after just a few bites and were obviously fighting the urge to pass out, both barely able to stay awake.

That was when the leader of the town showed his face. The man was dark skinned, had grey hair and brown eyes, and wore a Iwa headband that had the village symbol scratched out. As Naruto looked at the man he felt a little nervous due to how strong the missing-nin looked.

The man wasn't that big, but his chakra was visibly swirling around him and the muscles that the man did have were bulging from the amount of chakra going through them. "Well, well, well, it seems one of the little genin didn't feel hungry. Don't worry kid, you will just be the first sacrificed to the great Lord Shinigami! I WILL MAKE SURE YOU BLEED FOR HIM!" The man chuckled.

Before the blond could retort something hit the back of his neck and he collapsed.

When he woke up Naruto noticed that he was the only one awake at the moment. He also noticed that Kurama wasn't with him and he was tied up. That more than anything was freaking him out. He had never been without Kurama since the day he was born. 'Relax kid, I am nearby. I figured you would want to save any others that might be being held captive so I let them think I was a normal nin-animal and that I had ate. Asuma, Kurenai, Akamaru, and I are all in another room.'

Taking a deep breath when he heard Kurama's 'voice', Naruto relaxed and now that he was a little more focused he could see several other children were tied up in the room he was in and that the jonin weren't either. With that in mind, the whiskered male decided it was time to start planning his escape.

Before he could plan too much though the door to the room he was being kept in was opened. The woman who entered was the same woman that had greeted them when they had first arrived in the village. "Good you are up. Master Shi is waiting for your presence at the altar." She said with a smile.

As she went to grab him, he sneered at her and launched forward, slamming his forehead into the woman's nose. He didn't knock her out like he had planned, but he did send her reeling back into Choji who woke at the sudden impact. "How about you tell your master to let these people go before I take him down!" Naruto snapped as he focused enough chakra into his hands to break the ropes that bound them.

When the woman saw that he was free she ran from the room, and Naruto unknotted the rope that had been binding his feet together. Now free, he moved to where his weapon pouch was on a nearby table and unsealed a kunai.

Throwing the knife to Choji, Naruto faced the door. "Wake and free the others. I will go try to find Asuma-sensei."

The whiskered male didn't wait on a reply though. Instead he rushed out the door and saw that the woman was running down the hall. 'Kurama, can you get everyone in there with you free?' When the blond got a mental nod from his demon, he grinned. 'Good then I will stop them from alerting the missing-nin that we are breaking free. Bring Asuma-sensei with you and come find me so we can stop this before anyone else is hurt.'

Naruto didn't wait on a reply from his demon before rushing after the woman. Unfortunately, she had made it through two hallways into a large open-ceiling room that had an altar in the center of it. There next to the altar was the woman as well as the missing-nin who had orchestrated this whole situation.

The man burst out laughing when he saw Naruto. Before slitting the woman next to him's throat. "My first sacrifice has made it despite this bitch's failure, and just in time too. The moon is in the proper position and the Lord Shinigami will thank me when I hand him your beautiful soul. I will please my lord when I give him your friends too. Then… Then, he will make sure to never take me. My followers and I will become immortal as long as we please him."

Inside his head, Naruto heard a scoff. 'Mortals always get stupid ideas in their heads about immortality, but the fact of the matter is the Gods will ignore his supposed offering even if he did kill you. The man is insane. I will enjoy killing him when I get in there.'

That wasn't what Naruto wanted at the moment though. 'No Kurama, let me handle this. I need to test myself, I need to make sure I have gotten strong enough to be by your side!'

That got another scoff from the demon, and Naruto knew that it was because the demon didn't care how strong Naruto was in the end. Naruto knew that it was his heart that drew the demon in, so he continued. 'Besides… I want to protect the people of the Land of Tea. I want to keep them safe and the best way I can do that is to take him down.'

With that in mind Naruto glared into Shi's eyes. The man had finally stopped his monologue while Naruto finished his conversation with the Kyuubi. "I will give you one chance to surrender Shi. You can come back to Konoha and face trial, or I can drag you back. Either way, you won't get a chance to hurt anyone else ever again."

That got another insane chuckle from the older ninja. "Who do you think you are?! Some pathetic wanna-be ninja. News flash kid, ninja die!" With that Shi charged at Naruto, drawing a sword as he did.

Naruto let the man charge as he noticed the other prisoners, including the jonin come into the room. As Shi got closer Naruto closed his eyes and orange armor suddenly covered his form. Shi's sword struck the armor and broke, causing the man's eyes to widen. "Ninja might die in the line of duty."

Naruto had made this statement as calm as he could as his sword appeared in his hand. The blood red blade was glowing with orange energy and the light of the moon hitting the blade made the sword look almost ethereal. "So, I won't be just another ninja. I will be a hero!" The blond called out as his blade swung through the air, cutting an arc through the night to pierce the older ninja's side.

As Shi dropped to the ground, the man started convulsing. "My blade is poisonous to all but a select few and you are not one of them. All it takes is a single cut. and you will be rendered useless. The larger the cut the larger the chance that you die. I am sorry that you chose this path Shi, but maybe you can find peace in the next life."

With his piece said, Naruto let the armor and sword melt away back into the seal and made sure to stand tall as the life left Shi's eyes. He had never killed someone before but Kurama had done his best to prepare the blond for the day it would happen. Ninjas killed people, it was a fact of the occupation.

Still as Naruto turned to his teammates and friends he couldn't keep a few tears from building up in his eyes. He wasn't the only one affected by what just happened though. Ino had a hand over her mouth and was obviously in shock over what she had just seen. Shino looked calm for the most part but his fingers were twitching showing that the boy wasn't completely calm.

Kiba looked a little scared and Choji too had tears in his eyes. Naruto realized that the chubby boy was probably a little too empathetic for a ninja, but he was the same way himself. Asuma looked like he had failed some task he had set himself and Kurenai was currently walking towards Naruto slowly.

Then there was Hinata. After Naruto's speech to Shi, the girl had stars in her eyes and was staring at Naruto as if he was some knight in shining armor. The thought made Naruto send a desperate plea to any Gods that would listen that she took the hint that was shoved in her face when Kurama had kissed the blond in front of her.

Somehow he doubted his prayers were heard. Looking away from the other shinobi though, Naruto saw relief and guilt on the faces of the other former prisoners. The adults looked guilty, most likely because a child had to kill someone to save them, while the children looked glad to see their parents safe and sound.

It was at that moment that Kurenai, who had Kurama on her shoulders, made it to Naruto. The fox was quick to jump onto Naruto's shoulders and do his best to hug the blond in his small form, by curling his body around the back of the human's neck.

Kurenai dropped to her knees in front of Naruto and wrapped him in a hug as well. The contact shocked Naruto, as the only other person that had hugged him was Kurama. "I am so sorry you had to deal with him, Naruto. It should have never been on you to kill someone so soon into your career. Sometimes it just can't be helped though. I am sorry Asuma or I didn't realize the food was drugged. We should have..."

The woman was likely going to say something else so Naruto stopped her. "Kurenai-sensei it is okay. The only reason I didn't eat was because Kurama said the food smelled funny. You couldn't have known. Everyone in the village had been so welcoming. It isn't your fault, and even if it was sooner than most, this is something that I would have had to deal with eventually.

Don't be sad alright… I can handle it better than the others, Kurama made sure I understood that a shinobi kills from a young age. I… It… I will be alright I promise." Naruto said, whispering the last part and breaking a little at the end. He wasn't sure how long it would be until he could talk about exactly what he was feeling, but he could hold it together until they got back to Konoha.

With that done, Naruto noticed that the others were moving towards him. Kurenai had also released him and Naruto turned to Asuma. "What do we do now, Sensei? The rest of the town was in on this to some degree weren't they? He said he had followers."

The man nodded. "That is true and we will have to deal with them. However, they are civilians and it will be easier to arrest them, than it would have been to arrest Shi. Now, you don't have to watch this but I am going to cut Shi's head off and seal both his head and body away to take to Konoha. I will also be making sure that you get the funds that his bounty will bring in."

Naruto was glad for the heads up, but he still turned and watched as Asuma did exactly that. He had killed the man already and he understood that studying his body might reveal secrets that could save lives. He owed it to his fellow shinobi to make sure that the body was brought in. He was, however, glad that he wasn't the one that had to cut the head off the corpse.

With Shi sealed away, the group made their way out of the building they were in. The villagers, who were now enjoying an actual feast were shocked when the shinobi walked out of the prison they had been kept in.

It started a panic in the town and Naruto closed his eyes for a moment before placing his hands in a cross-shaped seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He called out, making thirty clones of himself. The clones instantly got to work knocking out and tying up the villagers that had turned out to be more akin to bandits than civilians.

Asuma and Kurenai helped too, as did the other genin, but in the end Naruto's clones had captured the most. 'I know it is hard right now kid, and we will talk more back home… But I am proud of how you did today. You will be a hero… an armored hero perhaps, but a hero still. And I will be right beside you as you remake Konoha into a place my father would be proud of. A place where anyone will be welcome and if anyone threatens that… threatens your dream. I will deal with them. I will keep you and your dream safe.'

Naruto felt more tears threatening to spill at that, but he held them back using every ounce of willpower he possessed. He knew that his demon was violent towards others. In fact he was certain that if it wasn't for him, that Kurama would be content to sit back and watch the other humans kill themselves.

The Kyuubi wouldn't though, because Naruto wouldn't want that. The thought that he was the only thing keeping the demon from being this mass of hate hellbent on watching the world was both frightening and exhilarating.

Yet, in those moments where Kurama said something so tender, so amazingly perfect, or so touching Naruto could feel his heart stop and start again. He could imagine giving up everything else and living for no one but Kurama. In this moment, the blond could see it too.

He could see them going back to Konoha, turning in his headband, slipping away from the village unnoticed… He could see them settling down hidden in a small town and opening a small inn. Something to provide a steady income.

He would use his shadow clones to keep the place clean and Kurama would spend half his time napping in the sun and the other half the time locked in a room with Naruto. It would be a simple life and they would both be happy.

Then as the picture completed itself in his mind, Naruto saw Konoha. He saw it becoming just like The Bloody Mist. He saw it being a place that hunted down and shackled or killed bloodline users. Then he saw the wealthy civilians having those who upset them executed.

It was true he could turn his back on Konoha and hide away with Kurama, and he might be happier if he did and he would never have to kill again… But he wouldn't. He would fulfill his dream and turn Konoha into a better place. A village that cared more about what was just than the best way to line a pocket. He would turn it into a haven for those that had nowhere else to go.

With that in mind, a fire was lit in Naruto's eyes. He didn't want to kill and he would only do it when needed, but if he had to do it to save others or to protect his dream than he would. And no matter what happened, Kurama would be by his side. With his demon at his side Naruto would tear the world apart and rebuild it if that was what it took.

Peace through diplomacy would always be his first choice though. 'I love you Kurama… More than I can express in words.'

It didn't take long for them to have every one of the men and women that had gathered to support Shi tied up. They also knew that the nearest outpost they could use to send word to the Lord of Tea was a Day's run away.

Then they would still have to wait for someone to show up to take custody of the prisoners. Luckily, there was plenty of food and water there to keep everyone fed until the Samurai showed up.

Sadly, that meant the genin were stuck spending half their day feeding some of the bandits. At least that was what it took the other genin to feed their group of bandits. Naruto fed all of his at once with his clones and the day before the Samurai showed up, Kurenai took the time to pull Naruto away from the others for a talk.

They walked away from the village and Naruto was curious as to what was going on. Kurama had already told him that the woman had no negative intent though so he wasn't worried. Once they were a respectable distance away from the village Kurenai spoke. "Are you alright, Naruto?"

The boy instantly understood and slowly nodded his head. "I won't say I am not still thinking about it Kurenai-sensei, but I have a dream and focusing on that helps." He said with a determined look.

The woman smiled softly. "Tell me about your dream, Naruto-kun."

The blond nodded with a smile at her words and launched into telling her his hopes for the future. "I have been mistreated in Konoha, because of the fact that the Kyuubi was sealed inside me." He said, stating this as a fact. "I don't want that to happen to anyone else. No one should be treated as less than human. I want to change Konoha. The village takes missions for money and I get that it is needed.

Still I want it to change. I want Konoha to be a place that cares more about honor and justice than money. I want the shinobi of the village to see something going on and fix it instead of looking the other way. I want everyone in the village to be seen as equal no matter how much money they have or how strong they are."

Taking a deep breath the boy continued. "I know that it is impossible to have that happen but it doesn't mean it is a goal that isn't worth striving for. I will do everything I can to make it happen." Kurenai smiled a little and patted the boy's head at that. His dream was something worth striving for after all. "Keep your focus on that Naruto and I will be proud of you if you succeed."