Did I ever tell you I hate my life? Sorry for the long wait for the undate, but me english teacher has decided to tourch us more by giving us an essay a week to write and I haven't had much time to do anything else seeing as the essays, plus all my other homework, has been ganging up on me. Stupid teachers... Anyways, like always, I still haven't found an beta, so it's not beta-ed, so please be nice, I know I suck at writing, but I do it for fun anyways.


The sun was high in the sky, its heat burning down on the white hot desert sand. The rays were so hot that anyone could see them with their bare eyes. Not a drop of water was seen for miles around, excluding the sweat pouring off of any person dumb enough to walk through the desert at this time of day. Without any water around, no clouds were able to form, and with no clouds to cast shadows onto the desert sands, there was no shade to catch relief from the sun. With no water, there were also no plants to grow for food, another horrible thing about the desert for anyone trying to hide out there. However, in the middle of this barren desert was a village and not just any village, but a shinobi village. The village Hidden in the Sand, Sunagakure.

Sunagakure was a very dangerous hidden village, and its location was just perfect for it. If the long trek through the desert and its heat did not kill any enemies, then the Suna shinobi would. From a young age the people of Sand, shinobi and villagers alike, were taught to live in the desert without any complaint about the heat or their small reserve of food and water. This was why Sunagakure was renowned for their shinobi when it came to doing long term missions. Their shinobi could go days with no food and very little water and still be able to work effectively. They did not need to stop for anything, other than sleep, and the only thing that bothered them was rainy climate, since they lived in a hot desert all their life and there was next to no rain, they really could not handle the watery droplets from the sky.

There was something else special about the Suna shinobi that only the people of Sunagakure knew. More specifically, there was one special thing about one of the Kazekage's children that only the people of Sand knew. As of the past few years, Sunagakure was not doing well at all, their village's economy was dropping. The lord that supplied them with their water and food stopped providing them with money and started to slowly diminish the amount they sent until they were no longer sending Suna anything. The village started to hurt for money and hurt bad. So to make his village prosperous once more, the Kazekage used the newly developing child in his wife's womb as a container for the Ichi no Tanuki, otherwise known as Suna no Shukaku. At first, this was done merely to gain back the respect and power that was lost, but something inside the Kazekage changed when his wife died giving birth to his son. Instead of making his new son a respectable shinobi of Sunagakure, the Kazekage decided to make him a weapon of destruction.

It had been five years since the Kazekage's wife died giving birth to Gaara, the youngest of the Kazekage's children, and the Kazekage realized that his perfect weapon was not so perfect after all, so he started trying to assassinate him. The young child of five was hated throughout the village but more so feared for what he held inside of him and the sands he controlled. People felt as though he was not just the container but the demon himself. His looked did not help him in that matter at all. Blood red hair was not exactly something that could be called natural, even if the Kazekage had the same color of hair, and green eyes of an unearthly color surrounded by black circles, from being an insomniac, added to his demonic looks. Yet he still had the face of a child, and no one seemed to be interested in that fact.

Not even his older brother and sister seemed to care for him, which is why at a young age he had taken to wandering the streets looking for something, anything that could make the little redhead feel like everyone else in the village. Yet it seemed like nothing ever went right for the boy, which was proven today when he retrieved a red ball for some other children his age with his sands, and all they did was run away from him in fear. He had almost killed the children by accident. Thankfully, his uncle stopped him from doing so, but that left him with another question. What was pain? What did it feel like?

His sands had always stopped him from being hurt, and he wanted to know what pain felt like. Yet when he tried to cut himself with a knife, his sands and his uncle stopped him. At that moment, he felt like he was a normal boy getting advice form a relative, but something seemed wrong to him after he had spoken with his uncle. Something did not settle well with him, and to figure it out why, Gaara decided to walk around the village to clear his head so he could think without any interference. Still, it was very hard to clear one's head, or even think straight, when one could just feel the hatred and glares directed towards them.

Wandering around for more than two hours, attempting to ignore the glares sent his way, Gaara finally gave up trying to figure out what his uneasy feeling towards his uncle had been and opted to go get something to eat. However, that turned into a mission in itself. Trying to find a place that would let him in and not scorn him while he ate there in peace was a problem. Place after place would either ignore his existence entirely until he left, or the braver of the few places he visited would refuse him at the door before he could even walk in. After the fifth turn down, and the seventh place that ignored his existence, Gaara came across something that was not such an odd occurrence in Suna anymore.

Three cages filled with children were sent up in the slums of Suna, and men carrying a variety of weapons were on guard near the entrances of each cage. The men were big and greasy looking, and one could tell they were not shinobi but regular thugs by their outer appearance. However, the children inside the cages were even more ragged looking than their guards. Most, if not all, of the children were emaciated, though whether it was because of starvation or sickness could not be determined. Their clothes were covered in dried dirt and blood and had rips and tears in them everywhere. Some children did not even have the pleasure of wearing any clothing.

This was the slave trade, and before Suna's economy hit rock bottom, the selling of one human to another was not allowed in any village. However, once their economy did hit rock bottom, Suna became a breeding ground for illegal things such as slave trading and black-market goods. Many of the people of Suna frowned upon such activities in their town, but they turned their heads at the occurrences and looked the other way, just as the Kazekage did. Even if they frowned upon such dealings, the illegal trade brought some money back into Suna. They turned their heads away in the same fashion as when someone was treating Gaara badly in a public area.

Still, that was not what caught the young redhead's attention. What did catch Gaara's interest was a small group standing outside the second cage. Two of the slave traders were trying to get one of their slaves, what looked to be a boy around his age, to go along peacefully with the buyer, but the boy was not cooperating with them. Instead, he was standing protectively in front of a heap of a dark orange, almost brown, pile of clothing. It did not look like the boy was going to last very long. He seemed almost dead on his feet and was about to drop. The boy would not have to worry about that much longer, though, since the buyer appeared discouraged by his feistiness.

"I thought you said he was an obedient child," Gaara heard the buyer growled out at the two slave traders.

"But sir, the boy is obedient. He is just overprotective of that runt of a brat. We'll give you the runt free of charge, and you can take them both home. The boy will go with you obediently that way, and you won't have to worry about feeding two new mouths. The runt is on the verge of death as it is," one of the traders bartered. The buyer seemed to think about this new deal and looked over the two boys with lust filled eyes. He was discouraged once again when the boy that was still standing glared at him with a foul, bitter look that spoke of defiance every step of the way.

"No," the buyer said simply, a chill running down his spine as he looked at the two boys once again and briefly locked eyes with the disobedient child.

"How about another one then?" the second slave trader asked, not wanting to lose a sale, and it seemed to work too. The buyer just nodded his head, and the trader led him away from the two while showing him other, more obedient, children that he would probably like for a new sex slave. While the buyer and the first trader walked away, Gaara watched the other slave trader walk purposefully towards the two boys. The one still standing leaned down and picked the one on the ground up. Upon seeing the first boy trying to carry the one on the ground, Gaara got a better look at the two boys.

The first boy, the one that was his age, had greasy, black hair that was a disaster from not being taken care of properly or washed in a long time it seemed. He wore a dirty, ragged fighting style kimono and had cuts and smudges all over his white skin. Even though he seemed to be defeated, the brunet's brown eyes still shone with an inner fire that was as cold as ice. The other boy, on the other hand, did not look as good as the brunet.

The boy did not seem to be even four years of age, and it looked as though he was about to die. At such a young age, it was a very depressing sight to see. Blond hair was slick with sweat and stuck to his face, but it was also matted with dried blood. What looked to have once been an orange jumpsuit was mangled beyond recognition, and he looked worse than the first boy when it came to cuts and smudges. This boy was even paler than the first, and with half lidded blue eyes and shallow, nearly non-existent breathing, it was a sure sign that this boy was sick, very sick.

Half carrying, half dragging the sick child, the older boy walked into the cage closest to Gaara with no help from the slave trader except for him opening the cage door and slamming it shut once the two were fully inside. In the cage, the brunet dragged the blond through the crowd of children to the farthest corner, away from the door of the cage, which was conveniently located closest to Gaara. Once there, the brunet laid the blond down on the cage floor very carefully and sat down on his knees before rearranging the younger boy's head on his lap. The blond then rolled his head over on the brunet's lap and opened unique blue eyes that locked with Gaara's own unearthly green ones.

Through their locked eyes, Gaara felt something, something that he had never felt before. It made him feel for the first time. It made him feel alive, but most importantly, it made him feel something that he had always wished to feel, it made him feel human. He could not explain it, but the boy's eyes were pure and innocent, even if they looked half dead. They also seemed as if they were giving Gaara the life he never had. They were reviving him from the death that he had never suffered, but hid. The death that slowly got to him every time a hateful glare, a loathing word, a sneer was thrown his way. The magic of the moment was lost, though, when some villager screaming disturbed him.

Rotating his head, Gaara saw a small blood red fox, the size of a newborn puppy, with golden eyes, carrying a small sack in its mouth as it ran away from an angry shop owner. The shopkeeper was screaming for someone to stop the fox, but no one did. Instead, the fox slipped through the crowd and lost the shop owner in the mass, but the fox did not lose Gaara, whose eyes were focused on it. Gaara watched as the fox slyly weaved in and out of the crowd, making sure it lost the shopkeeper, before it slipped into one of the slave cages. A slave cage that just happened to be the one that held the two boys in it that caught his attention.

Watching the fox, Gaara saw it trot right over to the sickly blond, who was now propped up against the bars in the corner; the brunet was nowhere to be seen. Shifting his eyes away from the fox and the blond, Gaara scanned the contents of the cage for the brunet. Spotting the boy near the cage's door with his hand sticking out, trying to grab hold of something like the rest of the children, the redhead wondered what they all were doing. That was when he caught sight of one of the guards of the cages shoving small plates, bowls, and pots of food into some of the children's hands while others did not get any. As one of the children that already had a plate started eating, Gaara felt as if he was going to puke even though he had nothing to eat himself, for the food that the children were eating looked like it had already been eaten and puked back up and they were still eating it.

Feeling a tug at his right pant leg, Gaara looked down to see the red fox kittling from earlier, standing right next to his leg looking up at him cutely. Seeing that he had gotten the boy's attention, the fox turned on its heels and trotted away but stopped once it realized the redhead was not following him. Turning back around, the red fox walked over to the boy and bit his pant leg again, this time tugging on it a little bit before Gaara stumbled forward. Letting go, the fox trotted off yet again, and this time Gaara followed him, though he only had to take a few steps forward before he was right in front of one of the cages.

Suddenly, a red object was in his direct line of vision and it startled the Suna boy, yet he quickly gained composure. Blinking a few times to clear his sight, Gaara finally focused in on what was in front of him and found it to be a simple red apple. Looking up, blue clashed with green yet again. This time, their locked eyes did not break because of a shopkeeper's scream but because the blond closed his eyes as he tilted his head and directed a small, genuine smile towards him. It was the first true smile Gaara had ever received in his short lifetime, and the blond boy was also offering him a gift. It may have been a simple apple, but it was the first gift he had ever received.

Smiling back at the boy with his own small grin that caused his eyes to closed, Gaara took the apple. Once the blond boy's hand was free, he reached up and traced Gaara's face in a soft, tender way. Though at first he had flinched away, thinking the small boy was going to hurt him, when the boy gave him a questioning look Gaara let him continue to trace his face. He was glad he did, since the boy's touch was kind and gentle, heaven compared to the hellish, rough grasps his father gave him as he was inspecting his weapon. Gaara closed his eyes to savor the soothing touch that he was sure to never feel again. He started when a gentle, but hot, sensation hit his forehead. Opening his eyes, he was greeted with those unique blue orbs and a white aura that surrounded him and the boy.

Even though the situation would have been scary to any other child, Gaara was not afraid for the sole reason that the exceptional blue eyes were not scared. Instead, they were smiling happily at him. Closing his eyes once again, Gaara let his mind drift off.


Gaara walked calmly down the streets of Suna as he made his way towards his house. It was still early evening, and he knew his siblings would still be out and about around the Kazekage Tower for another hour or so. His father and uncle would be taking care of important business till very late that night, yet he did not care. He just wanted to get to his house. Though it would appear that some higher power was against him doing so. It seemed as if everyone was trying to get to their homes for an early dinner today, and for once, they did not seem to notice that it was him they were pushing about in their hurry. Through all of the mayhem, Gaara had somehow ended up near the playground, which was made up of sand surprisingly. In the middle of the sand there was a field for different types of ballgames. The good thing about that was that it was a shortcut to his house. No, it was not his home, it was just a house that he stayed at.

Walking across the sand, Gaara made his way slowly over the field, vaguely wondering if anyone would notice. Yet he thought better of it. He knew no one would notice. They could be looking straight at it and still would not notice because they never did pay attention to him. Sighing, Gaara slightly rubbed the sore skin on his forehead and smiled to himself. Even though it hurt a little, he liked his second gift from the blond boy with unique blue eyes. At first glance, anyone would mistake it for a tattoo of the kanji for love, but he knew better. He knew it was a seal, and a powerful one at that. It sealed away his demon, cutting off the connection that it used to torment him while leaving him the ability to draw on its power without any harm coming to him because of it. It would probably let him sleep peacefully at night, too.

"Are you grateful?"

"Yes," Gaara answered the female voice as he heard soft steps fall into pace beside him. Yet he did not bother to look, because he knew just who it was that walked beside him without fear. He could picture the twenty year old girl in his mind now. Dark green hair flowed freely to her shoulders, two strands framed her heart-shaped face with plump pink lips and a small nose attached, and light green eyes, the color of grass, shone clearly. A slight tan contrasted with the simple, pure white, ankle length dress she wore and the pure white angel wings on her back.

The girl had come to him in his dreams and told him that there was someone that he needed to meet, someone that would like him for who he was, and he believed her. He never questioned why she would only come to him in his dreams to tell him that he needed to meet this person and soon or else he would die. He just took it calmly. Though he was surprised that she was here, for the very first time, outside his dreams and talking to him, but he suspected it had something to do with the person he needed to meet and the boy with the unique color of blue eyes. Them being one in the same.

"He's not going to live much longer you know," the angel told the boy, but all she got in response was a "hn." She ignored it, though, since she knew how he was treated and that he really did not know how to interact with people because of it. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"Free him."


Haku was worry about Naruto, ever since that Kyo and the Raibu event happened the blond was not looking so good. But that was just the beginning of it all. The Kyo guy went and kidnapped him and Naruto, making things even worse since he would not get Naruto professional help at all. At first Haku had threatened him, saying that, when their grandmother caught up with them, he would be dead, and that seemed to have been the only thing giving him and Naruto any hope that they would survive. Haku would then continue on that, when their grandmother did catch up with them, they would be fine, and she would take them back home and get Naruto help. However, when Kyo bluntly told them that Hoshi was dead and was never coming to get them, everything went down hill.

Naruto got worse. He became very sick, with what Haku did not know, and started to waste away. His body weight, which was already small for a child his age, seemed to be reduced by half, and he grew very pale. The blond grew weak and started to have problems walking when they crossed the desert with Kyo. They were dragged by the ropes that bound them to Kyo if they even tried to stop for a small break or to runaway. They were then thrown in these cages, ready to be sold, once they had crossed the desert and had had very little food since.

Kyuubi had tried to help them out by sneaking out between the bars and stealing what food he could for the two boys. Lately, though, Naruto had taken to not eating anything, causing him to grow even weaker. If he did not get help soon, Haku was afraid that what the slave traders said would be true, Naruto would die. He prayed to any god that was listening that it would not end up like that, but as of late, he was not quite so sure of Naruto's survival himself. Even the green haired angel in his dreams did not know if he would endure or not. He prayed with all his might that Naruto would live to see another day. Maybe the green eyed angel was correct. Maybe one of the gods would favor Naruto and breathe life back into him, and he would get better if anything really wrong were to happen to him.

If any god were to do that, it would be the Fox God, Inari, since Naruto took especially good care of one of his foxes. Inari was the God of Foxes after all and would reward those that tended to his foxes, or at least that was what the angel had said.


"Naruto…" Nothing.

"Naruto…" A small twitch.

"Naruto…" Finally, a heavy eyelid opened up before its companion followed suit. Yet the rest of the boy's body did not move. It just lay there, taking in the dark abyss of the area surrounding around him. There was nothing as far as the eye could see; no trees, no birds, no land, no sky, no nothing. Just a dark void that encircled him, along with that soft, mother-like voice that called to him. "Do you know who I am, Naruto?"

Twisting his body, though it felt like he was moving in water while doing so, the blond saw the person that the motherly voice was coming from. The woman looked to be around her mid twenties and in her prime. She was very slender and cat-like in the way she moved. Long, silver hair, the color of moonlight, fell in waves down her back and stopped at her waist. Eyes the color of the night sky shone with a knowledge that came from years of experience, and pale skin made the woman as beautiful as the white angel wings on her back. Her clothing consisted of knee-length white skirt held up by a golden chain and a white tube top with only its right sleeve that stopped above her midriff.

Smiling, Naruto answered her. "You're a Pure One, like me, but you have already ascended to a Tenshi. Not only that; you're the first Pure One ever, as well as first Tenshi ever. You're Tama Shina."

"That's right, and do you know why I'm here Naruto?" Shina asked with a small smile on her face. At first the blond did not say anything, but keep quiet and looked in another direction. Smiling at him, the first Pure One, walked towards the boy and ruffled his hair. "It's okay if you don't know Naruto, I was just asking to see."

"You're here because I'm a Pure One," Naruto finally answered, turning his head and looking the angel woman straight in the eyes.

A little shocked that the boy actually did know why she was here, even if he was a Pure One, Shina just smiled at him. "That's right, and do you know a Pure One is?"

"They are people born with the knowledge of things that many with years of experience would never learn. Some are even born with the knowledge of events that will happen in the future," Naruto recited, as if it were his age or something that everyone knew, but he still spoke proudly.

"And that leads to why I am here once again, which is-"

"The knowledge of what I was born with," Naruto finished for Shina, surprising the angel even further. He was smart, even for a Pure One as it is, but that is why she knew that he was the one that would help save them all.

"And that knowledge is?" Shina egged the boy on.

"Of a destroyer, one who will annihilate mortals to try and gain immortally. One who wants to destroy all gods and goddesses alike for power, and to do so he must become immortal so that he can go to their lands to kill them. The Destroyer has already started, for he was once a Chosen One like me, but he has killed his own god and the god's secret love. He does not know the secret of immorality and will go about trying to gain it in a way that will never work. Though this gives others the time to prepare, it also gives him the time to construct his armies," the boy told the angel as his eyes became glazed over, and an emotionless voice told the tale that he had known since birth for the first time in his life. Turning his gaze towards Shina, the blond boy cocked his head to one side and looked her in the eyes again. "There's more, but I think that is what you wanted to hear Shina-sama."

"That's correct Naruto," Shina answered before she began to answer the unspoken question. "Since the gods and goddesses can't really interfere with the mortal realm, they use their Chosen Ones to act for them. But, as you know, the Destroyer -as you call him- has been killing off all the Chosen Ones he can find, and no god can pick another Chosen One for another millennium. As a result, there is no one to act for the gods, and with that the Destroyer might succeed. There is one way for the gods to win, though. A Pure One's power is said to be the strongest there is because of how innocent and pure they are. Yet, what the gods are asking is for a Pure One to fight and kill, and that can cause the Pure One to become tainted."

"But the only Pure One around is me. Since you and the other Tenshi have already ascended, you're technically not Pure Ones anymore. They want me to do this, right?" the boy said, with eyes still glazed over.

"That's correct, but it's your choice to make and no one else's," the angel told the boy, not wanting him to feel the pressure of the fate of the world resting on his shoulders and to say yes just to make everyone else happy. Though if he did not, the world would probably be destroyed. Not something you want to tell a three year old boy who already had a burden placed upon him that any grown man could not handle. Being a Chosen One was not easy, nor was being a Pure One, since they knew and saw things others would never even dream of.

The boy blinked, and when he opened his eyes again they were not glazed over anymore. A genuine smile spread across his face. "Death is just another stage of life. One must die to move on, and being a warrior will only help free those traded souls from their corrupted shells and giving them a fresh start."

Looking at Naruto, Shina noticed something that she was happy to see, for she knew that Naruto had accepted it, and she knew he would not be corrupted by the killing. He would keep his purity and innocence for a long time because he had a different outlook on life from any one else. He did not think that dying was a bad thing, just another stage in life. However, he was still against wrongful killings, killings for no reason. He would become a warrior, just like them, so that he may try to stop the killings, and if he had to kill himself, he would still come out untainted because of who he was and not what he was.

"You are truly strong, Naruto," Shina told the boy with a small smile on her face.


The twin fox gods and their foxes stood in silence over a newly dug grave denoted by a simple marker with a snake drawn on it. After a small prayer, the group began walking away from the grave. They walked and walked, not realizing where they were going, so lost in their own thoughts. Both gods were thinking about what they had just witness and learned and wondering how they would save their Chosen One from the same fate. The best idea was to have Chibi One become a Tenshi, but they did not know how to do so, so that was thrown out as of the moment. The next was to make him their Heir, which they could not do to the child as he would probably break from doing so. That left the binding of his powers, which they really did not want to do either, but it seemed that it was the only way.

"It's sad to know that he was killed by his own Chosen One, don't you think?"

Snapping their heads towards the voice, the divine beings caught a glimpse of someone in the high reaches of the tree, but they could not quite make the person out. The person's smell gave them away to be a female, if the voice had not already, but that was it. They had never encountered a smell like hers before, and they knew every other god or goddess's scent. That meant that there was a mortal being in the immortal realm, how that was possible they did not quite understand themselves.

"Who are you?" Inari growled out as he prepared for any kind of attack, his sister doing the same thing. Oddly enough, the foxes were not getting ready for a fight, which went unnoticed by the two wary gods.

"Do all gods forget that easily, or is it just you two?" the mysterious female asked, confusing the two greatly. They had never met this female before, or they would have remembered her scent. "I mean, come on, Quetzalcoatl just told you about me, though I don't think he told the two of you my name. Let me introduce myself properly. I'm Tama Shina." With that the female flew down to the grown and landed softly in front of them. "The first Pure One and Tenshi. Pleasure to meet the Fox God and Fox Goddess."

"You're…you're…You can help us with Chibi One then! You can make Chibi One a Tenshi and save him from Quetzalcoatl's Chosen One," Inari stuttered at first before she could find the words she needed. Though when the Tenshi gave them a sad smile, Inari did not know what to think, she did not know if it was a good sign or bad.

"I sorry, but that's not possible," Shina said with a solemn tone.

"Nani?! Why not?!" the goddess asked, her voice hoarse and tears in her eyes.

"Because, Tenshi are neither immortals nor mortals. We are summonings; we cannot die and are sent back to our plane of existence if critically damaged. Being so, we will live forever until our duty is complete, and we are not allowed on the mortal plane unless summoned. The only plane of existence that Tenshi are allowed on without being called, other than our own, is the immortal, but we don't come here often since we feel as if we are invading your world. These are just a few reasons why I cannot change Naruto into a Tenshi. I can't to that to him, like you couldn't go through with making him your Heir," the high angel explained to the two gods. "Besides, until now all the Pure Ones have been female, and Naruto is the first male Pure One. I don't know what the affect of the boy ascending into Tenshi would be. Also, there is already a plan made for him by my summoner."

"And who would that be?" Inari asked, holding his sister closed to him to keep her from crying.

"Kami-sama, since I am his Chosen One after all," Shina said with a smirk on her face as she saw the two's disbelieving looks.

"What?!"

Sighing, Kami-sama's Chosen One began to explain to them what was going on. She described what would happen should Quetzalcoatl's Chosen One succeed in his plans. The world would be sent into a dark age and would not recover for eons. It would then take over three millennia to even get a decent start at rebuilding the world. To stop this from happening, Kami-sama had summoned her and her angels to find a way to stop it from happening, and she had found a way; through a child. A child that was already burdened with so much from a young age.

"But Chibi One can't do anything if he is already dead," the fox god told Shina, thinking that she had already forgotten what Quetzalcoatl's Chosen One was planning on doing to the small boy.

"That's why he won't become immortal or Tenshi, but he won't be completely mortal either. He will be a hybrid of sorts; a hybrid between Tenshi, immortal, and mortal, and a Pure One to boot," explained Shina as she waved her hand, and three small globes of white light formed around her, taking shape as a mortal boy, a fox, and an angel. The three shapes swirled around each other in a dance to an unknown tune before merging with one another and forming a new shape. This shape was an outline of a young teenager wearing a cloak, with foxes dancing at the figure's feet, and two warrior-like angels hovering just above his head. "If done correctly, Naruto will become a mortal Heir of Foxes with the powers of a Tenshi and, in a way, becoming a Tenshi himself, whilst still being a Pure One and having the demonic powers of his familiar, the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

"But you can't do that without Chibi One's permission," the fox goddess pointed out and was surprised when Shina agreed with her.

"That's why I already asked him, and he agreed with it," Shina said with a smile on her face. Though, before either of the gods could say anything else, another angel with dark green hair appeared before them.

"It's done Shina-sama. Naruto-san has two guardians, though not in the way we planned," the dark green haired angel told the other.

"Thank you Yumiko-san. You may leave," the higher angel told the lower. Yumiko bowed in respect, and without another warning, she disappeared all together. Turning back to the others, Shina explained to them what had just happened before they had anytime to ask. "Yumiko was to find two guardians for Naruto so that he has someone to share some of his burden with and to help him out along the way. However, it didn't come out how we had expected. Instead of accepting them as guardians, Naruto made both of them his older brothers instead."

"You mean-"

"Naruto met Haku and Gaara because of Yumiko," Shina told the two.

"How can Chibi One have two guardians to share the burden with if we can only show ourselves to him?" Inari asked. He knew that gods and goddesses could only show themselves to their Chosen One and other Chosen Ones, and he defiantly did not want to break any laws by showing himself to a mortal who knew who and what he was. He really did not want to be sent to purgatory for an indefinite amount of time. Purgatory and him did not bond well at all.

"Whoever said you would be showing yourselves to morals? Last I checked, it was alright to show yourselves to other gods' descendants and demons, or demon containers in Gaara's case," the angel said with a slight sly grin on her face. After all, bending the rules was something she loved to do and seeing how Gaara was a demon container he could interact with any deity if they chose. In Haku's case, though it was not a well known fact, some of the clans with bloodline limits had them because they were descendants of one of the divine beings, and Haku was one of them.

"Oh, one question though," the goddess of fertility said, and the angel motioned to her to ask what ever she wanted to know.

"Whose Gaara?" the two asked together.

Shina almost wanted to smack her head, but she did not and instead answered their question. "The one breaking him out of the hellhole he is in-"


An ice mirror was in front of the doorway of the cage, not letting anyone of the pounding, raging slave traders and thugs in. Children huddled in the farthest corner from the door of the cage. Only one boy stood in the middle of the enclosure, senbon in hands and a raging look in his eyes. Sweat was pouring down his face as he stood protectively over a fallen boy that the slave traders wanted to take out of the cage and kill. He did not know how much longer it would take them to break down his ice mirror, since he did not have much chakra left. Though, the little red fox was standing protectively in front of the two, ready to attack if the mirror were to fall.

Suddenly, when he felt as if he were ready to drop, sands surrounded the cage they were in and bent the bars, allowing the scared children to run out free. The only three that did not run were the one guarding the sickly boy, the little red fox, and the sickly boy himself. The sand that had bent the bars started to surround the three until the thugs and slave traders could not see them anymore. Then, the sphere of sand that surrounded the three disappeared along with them.


"-and both Gaara and Haku will protected Naruto with all they have and more.-"
Two boys hid in the shadows of an alleyway, watching the shinobi guards, waiting for them to change guard duty for the nightshift. They did not have to wait long. Seeing them get their gear, the two knew it was about time to change guards, and they slipped back further into the alley. At the end of the passage was a blond boy that seemed about ready to die. By his side, whimpering quietly, was a little red kitsune.

Getting on either side of the blond, the two slung one of the boy's arms over each of their shoulders and started to carry him forward with the fox following. Stopping at the entrance of the alleyway, the boys waited quietly for the shinobi to change shifts. When that happened, they started to drag the sick blond boy towards the gate. They made their way past the gate and were a few feet away from the village before anyone stopped them.

Hearing the yells of the shinobi guards, the brunet pulled out chakra that he did not have and formed an ice mirror right in front of them. Running into the mirror, the small group was absorbed into the ice before it sank into the sand. A few hundred feet away, another ice mirror rose from the ground, and the small group stumbled out, unharmed of any injuries from the Suna shinobi.


"-Things from now on will be difficult for Naruto and his brothers, but if they do it together, they'll be fine. And with the family they already have and the family they will gain, they just might make it," Shina finished off with a smile on her face.
The small family dragged on through the desert night sand. All of them were tired, but they would not stop, because, if they did, they did not think that the youngest part of the family would make it. The body in their arms suddenly jerked and looked up into the distance with glazed over eyes. Following his gaze, the two other boys saw the faint silhouette of a person in the distance, walking towards them. At first they were scared of what was going to happen, but what Naruto said next made them at ease.

"Oji-san."


Thanks for reading and hopefully I can have a new chapter out. My goal is to have a chapter done at least once a month, if not twice a month. If I can't do that, then I've failed, yet again, as a writer. Oh and to

Lost ninja #1: Thanks again for the name, but I'm sorry to say there will be no child Sasuke, actually this chapter is the end of Naruto's childhood. Next chapter is a time jump to the future! (Finally)

lee: Yes, the fourth will find out Naruto is his son, but not right away, (smirks evilly) nor for a very long time if it continues how I have planned. Though nothing goes the way I want it to half the time.

I think that's everything I have to say, well hope you like!

3/16/07

Okay now it's been beta-ed, hope it sounds better now.

2/3/2008

Hey, it has been etided again! By me this time... I'm on a writers block and to get over it, I am trying to reread my whole story, but the problem is I keep finding the most stupid of mistakes so I just have to fix them. Hope you're all okay with that.

Shi no Tenshi 902