Author's notes:

And finally the new chapter it out. Sorry for taking to long to get this finished guys but I had gotten the first 2,000 words or so done easily, my writing was flowing as fast as ever before bam I got hit with a block and my writing stop for no reason. And no matter what I tried I couldn't get the flow back again.

I'll be honest this chapter fought me every step of the way, I had to force the words out of me, but I persevered and got finally got the chapter out. Hopefully, it will be up to standards despite the trouble I was having with it, and I really hope you end up enjoying it. Oh, and I'm still going over corrections so I'm sorry if there are more spelling errors than usual, I'll get them fixed up as soon as I could.

Well, without further ado, let the chapter begin.

*Chapter Start*


What Lies Hidden Beneath The Leaves

(Second half)


It was almost funny how the most world-changing events can happen on the most ordinary of days. Though admittedly it was stupid to believe that the weather would be affected by my own personal problems, a small childish part of me still expected, I don't know, a thunderstorm or something to blow in, so that this story would begin with the cliché of 'it was a dark and stormy night'.

But no, that didn't happen. It was morning for one thing and the weather didn't even have the decency to be cloudy. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there wasn't so much a single cloud in the clear blue sky. It was as perfect a start to the day as you have hoped for at this time of year. Which was why when Hanabi had walked up to me, I was blissfully unaware of the bombshell she was about to drop on my lap.

"Onii-sama." Feeling an insistence tugging on one of my sleeves, I looked down to find my little sister staring up at me with wide puppy-eyes. Resisting the urge to squeal and glomp her on sheer principle, I waited for her to finish speaking.

"Onii-sama," she repeated, tilting her head to one side, "is it true that you're going to become Naruto-nee's Waifu?"

I swear I could hear the sound of glassing shattering when she said that.

Unaware of that she had inadvertently shattered my world, Hanabi brought a finger up to her chin and gained a thoughtful look as she asked, "Does this mean you're going to wear a dress for your wedding?" Then she burst into an excited smile, "If so, then can I help you pick it out?"

It was on that bright sunny day, surrounded by the singing of birds that I began plotting my second murder. I didn't know how, I didn't even know when, but one day I will get revenge on Kakashi.

And when I do, my vengeance will be legendary.


"-And then Shikamaru was like," Naruto scrunched up her face, her voice coming out as a tired drawl as she tried to imitate Shikamaru, "this is bullshit."

The impersonation was so spot-on that I couldn't hold back a snicker from where I stood off to one side. It seemed Naruto had the same problem because after a few seconds of holding that expression she couldn't keep it up and lost it, collapsing into a heap and wrapping her arms around her stomach as she howled with laughter.

After she few seconds she managed to pull herself together and pushed herself back up into a sitting position, Naruto turned back to the gravestone, humor thick in her voice. "You should have to see it Mom, his face was covered in so much soot that he looked like a raccoon. It was hilarious." She shook her head as she snickered again at the memory. "But I don't know what he had to complain about. We got the bell in the end didn't we? And Hikaru only needed to blow up a single forest to do it."

"I blew up a forest?" I parroted, blinking dumbly at the girl, caught off guard by what she had just said. But soon I found myself straightening up with indignation as the meaning of the words began to sink in.

"I blew up a forest? I? Oh, no-no-no, no. You don't get to pin that one on me, that was all you." I pointed at blonde as I stalked up to her. She was still kneeling beside her mother's grave. "There is no me involved in that mess at all. You were the one who planted a thousand and one tags before triggering it and blowing the entire forest sky high. With us still in it!" Stressing the last line.

Seriously, that was perhaps the single most terrifying experience I have ever been through...except for the time Kakashi hunted me down after I stole his Icha Icha of course, that still earned top place. I had never been through one before so I never realised how terrifying a forest fire could be, especially when you don't see it coming. One minute we were fine, surrounded by miles of healthy green trees and in embrace of good old mother nature, then I caught sight of Naruto forming the 'snake' hand-seal and the next thing I know there was a big boom and were surrounded by a sea of fire. It was traumatizing.

Poor Shikamaru still flinches whenever someone strikes a match.

"Hey, that wasn't my fault." Naruto crossed her arms and gave me a stubborn look. "Kakashi was about to catch Shikamaru, what else was I supposed to do? And besides, it too was your fault. You were the one who told me to send my clones to the compound to get more tags."

"But that's only because nothing else would work on Kakashi." I countered as I approached Naruto and knelt down next to her before the grave. "We tried everything we could think of to try and stop him. Traps, ninjutsu, everything, it didn't even seem to slow him down. He just kept shrugging off everything we threw at him as if it were nothing. What choice did I have? We needed to get more fire-power or else we'd have failed the test."

"...So what you're trying to say is," Naruto finally spoke up after pondering over my words, "...it's really all Kakashi's fault."

I thought on it for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, pretty much."

Wordlessly, we both nodded to each other before turning to face the grave then, speaking as one, we said, "Kakashi blew up a forest."

That was team 7's official motto, 'If something goes wrong, blame it on Kakashi '. And I'm being totally serious here, it really was our motto. It had been ever since our third mission went fubar on us.

Funny thing was that our motto was born out of necessity rather than any ill-will towards our grey-haired Sensei. The amount of trouble our team kept attracting was unbelievable, and I mean I was literally having trouble believing how much trouble we kept getting into. And I knew for a fact that Hokage was as well if the disbelieving looks he gave us whenever we walked into his office was any indication. Our Genin Exam and the Tora mission aside, there were two other occasions where we had to be called into the Hokage office to be reprimanded.

At this point I'm sure that half the Konoha's population was convinced that our team is jinxed, and that the only reason why the Hokage hasn't proposed splitting our team up is because he's afraid that whatever unlucky curse that haunts our team might contaminate the rest of the Shinobi population and spread if he does.

I mean I always knew that Naruto and me had a certain knack into getting all sorts of trouble, and I had no doubt Kakashi was just the same as us if not worse, but throw us all in a team together and it was like our ability to attract trouble was amplified. I swear we must have had some kind of synergy going on because our ability to attract mayhem grew to insane levels and as a result our team was already gaining a reputation as a trouble magnet.

After a while of suffering through catastrophe after catastrophe, we realised that it would be easier to just heap all the blame on Kakashi instead of trying to think of excuses each and every time we got into trouble. And besides, odds are, it was probably his fault anyway.

And that was how the new Team 7 motto was born.

Naturally Kakashi tried to reject it outright, he wanted to go with the motto of 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are even worse than trash' instead. And while I had to admit that was a freaking awesome line, we all agreed that the 'blame Kakashi' was a more practical slogan so it stuck. And since choosing a team motto was a group decision instead of just the instructor, Kakashi couldn't do a single thing about it.

I swear that our Sensei sulked all day afterwards.

The sun had begun it's decent long ago and had already reached the horizon and bathed the graveyard in the colour of twilight. The smooth surface of the gravestones burned, set alight in crimson on orange as they reflected the light of the evening.

It was peaceful here, completely empty save for the two of us, the silence that filled the hill only disturbed by Naruto voice as she recounted tale after tale to her mother. It was how we always spent this day, an annual tradition that we started together since we were six. Every year we came here, just Naruto and me, and Naruto would spend all day telling her mum about all the adventures and mischief she had managed to get up during the year while I would occasionally chime in whenever Naruto left anything out.

And seeing that Naruto can get into a lot of trouble over the course of a year, it didn't surprise that we had to stay well after sunset to finish until she finished.

"...Wait," I cut in, interrupting Naruto as she was in the middle of recounting another tale. "What did you just say?"

"Huh?" Naruto had been caught off guard by interruption and turned to shoot me a perplexed look.

"Just now, that story you were telling to your mom." I explained, my voice sounding unnaturally calm even to my ears "What did you just say?"

"Uhm..." Naruto must have heard something off in my tone because she was giving me a worried look and edged away. But, after another moment of hesitation, she complied, "I said that Mio-san thought it was so cute that you wanted to become my house-wife."

"It was you!" I hissed out as I pointed at the girl, indignation and surprise filling my voice. "I thought it was Kakashi who was spreading those rumours but it-was-you!"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked in bewilderment, caught completely off guard at the accusation. She stared at the finger I thrust at her face, going a little cross-eyed, before looking back up to me, "What was me? What rumours."

"Waifu! Wai-fu!" I hissed the word out like was poison. I hadn't even know that term existed in this world until I saw Kakashi holding a copy of 'Icha Icha – How I met my Waifu'. Which reminds me, I'm going to have to do something really nasty to Jiraiya for his part in this, but for now I had another target for my rage. I stalked up to Naruto, how honestly looked baffled but I knew better, "It was you! Don't try to deny it. You're the reason why everyone keeps thinking I want to be your house-wife!"

"Ah!" Naruto gave me a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of her head, "Wasn't I suppose to not mention that?"

"No!" I snapped, resisting the urge to throttle the girl, "You weren't."

"He-he, sorry," She pokes her tongue out, "My bad, I didn't know."

Naruto tried to give me an apologetic expression, but I wasn't buying it. The way the edge of her lips kept twitching told me that she was fighting to keep a smile off her face.

"It's not like I went out of my way to tell people," She quickly began to explain, raising her hands up in surrender as caught the stormy look on my face, "but I was telling Mio-san about how we met Kakashi-Sensei for the first time and she wanted me to tell her everything, so I couldn't leave that part out now could I? Besides," by this point Naruto dropped any pretence of being sorry and a wicked grin bloomed on her lips. She reached out to pat my head condescendingly, "There is nothing to be embarrassed about Hikaru-chan, I'm sure you'd make a wonderful Waifu one day."

Apparently Naruto couldn't hold it in any longer before she broke into another fit of laughter and fell down to her side, kicking her legs in the air. The glare I sent her did nothing to diminish her humor as she kept on laughing for a good solid minute.

"It's not funny," I told her sullenly when her laughter began to abate, "do you have any idea what you've done? My entire Clan thinks I want to become your house-wife, not husband but wife. I'm not sure if they actually believed that or were just says it for laughs but they were all gossiping about it. Hanabi even told me I'd make a wonderful bride someday. Who the hell knows what my father thinks of this once he finds-" I stopped talking as I remembered a certain incident and felt my face turn pale. "Oh god."

"What?" Naruto asked, curious at what had caused the look of horrified mortification appeared on my face.

"My Dad, he must have heard the rumours." I answered while palming my face, "No wonder he was giving me all of those odds looks during dinner, he thinks that the rumours might be true." I lifted my hand off my face to glare at Naruto as she broke out laughing again, "Stop that." I snapped sullenly, "It's not funny."

"No," Naruto managed to reel in her laughter before she sat herself up, propping her hands behind her. Grinning mischievously, she pointed straight at me, "That is very funny." She snickered again, "And what makes it even better Mio-san had no trouble believing it."

"I know," I thought back to how my mother had been behaving recently, "I thought it was weird when she handed me an apron out of the blue last week. Oh god, my mom is actually supporting the idea, she's probably ecstatic with the idea of me becoming your wife. It was probably her fault that the rumours spread so fast."

"Now, now Hikaru-chan," Naruto gave me teasing grin, "you can't blame this all on Mio-san. It's partly your fault for giving her the impression that you want to be a happy house-wife."

"My fault?" I shot Naruto a half questioning, half offended look "How exactly was this my fault. When did I ever do anything that would give her that impression?"

All the humor drain from her face as Naruto shot me a deadpan look, "Hikaru, just this morning you were scrubbing the floor of my apartment wearing the very same apron your mum gave you."

"There was a STAIN!" I yelled out in outrage, "What was I supposed to do? Leave it?" All but snorting at the thought. Preposterous, as if I would allow such thing. You can't let dirt get a foothold in your house, give it an inch and the next thing you know your entire house will turn into a pigsty.

"...and you wonder why people have no trouble believing the rumours." Naruto stated while giving me a pitying look.

Seeing the expression, I decided enough was enough. She wanted to rat out my embarrassing secrets to my mom, well then two can play at that game.

"Kushina-san," ignoring Naruto completely, I turned to face the gravestone and began speaking directly to it, my tone pleasant and conversational, "did you know I once thought Naruto was a boy? It's true, back when we first met I honestly believed she was a boy instead of a girl. She wore her hair short back then and she had such a boyish name that I was convinced that she had to have been a boy. In fact, I had thought Naruto was a boy for the entire first day we met and only found out that she was a girl when I-"

Swift as lightning, a hand clamped over my mouth and muffled the rest of my words. To my right, the owner of the hand was glaring at me, her blue eyes narrowed in warning. But whatever threat Naruto held in her eyes was diminished considerably by the way her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"We agreed never to speak of that day." Naruto hissed, her entire face turned crimson at the memory of the event.

Gently pulling her hand free from my mouth, I turned and gave Naruto a smile, one that was every bit as wicked as the one she had been giving me earlier.

"But Goshujin-sama," I purred, deliberately using the traditional word for husband, one that only an overly submissive wife would use as it could also translate to 'master', "You surely must know how us lowly house-wives loves to gossip. Why, we couldn't keep a secret if our lives depend on it. Besides," I nodded to the grave, "this is your mum, my future mother-in-law, and I'm sure she would love to know about the first time you took a bath with a boy-"

"Nooooooooo-" The rest of my words were literally knocked out of me as a blonde missile crashed into my side and pushing me to the ground. I barely had the chance to gather my wits together when I felt a weight straddle my waist and before I knew it, I found myself pinned as two powerful hands latched to my shoulders and held me to the ground.

"Shut it, Hikaru." Naruto ordered from above me, face burning a such a shade of crimson red that would have put any Uzumaki's hair to shame.

"Now, now, Goshujin-sama." Still playing the role of a submissive house-wife, I looked away and pretended to be embarrassed, "Are you sure you should be doing this? Isn't this a little much?"

Naruto looked bewilderingly down at me, clearly not understanding what I was trying to imply, so to help her along I nodded to where she was straddling me. "I know you're excited but Goshujin-sama, it is rather inappropriate to mount your wife right in public, in front of your own mother no less?"

Still confused Naruto looked down to see what I was talking about and, somehow, managed to turn even redder at what she saw. She had me pinned by the shoulder while she sat on top of me, straddling my waist and her face right over mine while I laid trapped beneath her on my back. Had anyone been watching, and were our gender's reversed, it would have looked like she had pushed me to the ground and was about to have her way with me.

With her face only a few inches away from me, I had a first-row seat to witness her reaction. And let me tell you, it was a thing of beauty. What I wouldn't give to have a camera because watching the rest of face turn into a tomato red was a Kodak-worthy moment as I had ever seen.

"But if Goshujin-sama demands it," still playing my role I raise a hand to my cheek and looked to the side, feigning embarrassment, "then as your wife I have no choice to but to help sate your lust."

"Hikaru!" I swear, the sound of her mortified embarrassment was like music to my ears.


I felt Naruto shift behind me as she face her mother's grave, her arms moving in excitement as she resumed telling her the story of our now infamous first D-rank mission.

Around us the cemetery was dark, the sun having set long ago. Above us, the stars glimmered like an ocean of jewels in the night sky, with little light pollution to compete against they shone more brightly than I had ever seen back on my old world. And between the stars was the moon, a lone island in the middle of the ocean, providing us all the light we needed to see with.

I leaned a little further back into Naruto and stared up at the sky, taking the sight in. We were sitting on the ground with our backs to one another, propping ourselves up by leaning on each others back. Naruto was naturally facing her mother's grave while I got a view of Konoha instead.

It was a rather beautiful sight from up here. The hill towered over everything so there was nothing to block my view and I could see the entire village laid out before me like a painting, thousands of lights blazing from windows piercing the darkness, mirroring the stars that hung above them.

We've been out here for hours, Naruto speaking to her mother, telling her about her year while I just sat back against her, quietly listening to her speak.

Like every year, Naruto would start out slow, hesitant and uncertain. For the first few minutes her conversation came in fits and starts or were spoken in near silent murmurers more often than not, her usual bravado nowhere to bee seen. She constantly kept stopping in mid-speech, looking unsure what to say, only to visibly gather up her courage and start up again.

And like every year, I did nothing but watch as she did this, sitting quietly by her side in silent support, knowing this was something she had to do on her own. But as the minutes then hours passed by, she steadily began to get over her nerves and started to get really into it, until she ended up as she was now, chattering non-stop while gesturing all over the place as she tried to emphasize certain points during a story.

She told her everything that had happened throughout the year. From her pranks, to the time she spent in the Hyuuga compound, the Genin Exam, her new teammates and our latest missions. She talked about the everyday little misadventure she's been through to the major events of her life. I stayed silent through most of this, only occasionally interjecting to throw in a comment or two when Naruto had forgotten to mention certain bits of a story or tried to leave out the more embarrassing moments.

She talked about Shikamaru, who she referred as 'the laziest Genin Konoha had ever seen since Kakashi was promoted to Chuunin'. Though for all that she complained about our resident Nara, she ended her assessment of his character by saying, "He might be the laziest bum around but, well, he ain't so bad when you get to know him."

Kakashi had never shied away from the topic of the Kyuubi and even encouraged us to do the same. So instead of allowing Naruto's status of Jinchuuriki to hang over our heads like a guillotine, one that we all pretended wasn't there, he made sure bring the topic up as often as he could. It actually helped dispel any awkwardness we may have felt otherwise about talking about it and it reached the point you'd often find our team discussing the Kyuubi or the Tailed-beasts in general.

Maybe it was because of the environment Kakashi created or maybe it was a sign of how much maturity Naruto had again over the years that she was no longer terrified of rejection, but one day Naruto decided to confront Shikamaru on her status of the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.

After one of our daily training sessions she had corned Shikamaru before he could sneak back home, and outright asked him if her being the Kyuubi's host would be a problem.

Shikamaru, back slouched more than usual due to exhaustion, hair thoroughly soaked with sweat and plastered against his forehead, sent her a tired glare as before he drawled out, "If I wrote down every single reason why I hate you, the both of you," he amended as he shot me a quick glance from where I stood behind her, "I would have a list over two miles wide. And trust me, you being a Jinchuuriki won't be anywhere on the list. Hell, you could be the reincarnation of the Kyuubi for I cared and it still wouldn't make it on the list. Now will you leave me alone already so I can get some damn rest."

That must have been the first time Shikamaru got to experience one of Naruto's bone breaking hugs because I saw his eyes bulged with pain as she wrapped her arms around him, knocking most of the air out of his lungs. "This," he wheezed, "this is going on the list."

After that Naruto told her mother about our new Sensei, Kakashi.

"He's a dick."

And that was pretty much all she had to say about him.

I couldn't help but give our grey-haired Sensei a sympathetic wince. Kakashi, my man, I don't know what to tell you but you need to shape up fast and do something to redeem yourself because your reputation is in tatters.

Fortunately the cemetery had been mostly empty so we didn't bother anyone with our talking. With the exception of the grave-keeper, a taciturn man that only nodded in greeting whenever we saw him, the only other people we've seen since we got here were an elderly couple who visited a gave a few levels bellow us, paying their respects to dead relatives before leaving only a quarter of an hour later.

This was how it usually was in this time of year. Rather it was like this almost all year round, with the exception of Obon, the traditional time to visit dead relatives, the cemetery was almost always empty. However during the Obon season the cemetery would be crowded, packed full with people as entire families came to visit their dead. So it was actually a good think Naruto preferred visiting on her mom's birthday instead because the experience would have been far more public than either one of us would have liked. Not to mention awkward.

A lot of the more recent graves around us were from the victims of the Kyuubi. And while no one would have begrudged her for coming, it would have made the entire experience rather awkward when we would be surrounded by grieving people mourning their family and loved ones they lost during the Kyuubi attack. So it was better for us to just avoid the cemetery then.

But even had that not been the case we would have still have preferred coming now rather than during Obon. It was far more private this was and we ended up having the entire cemetery to ourselves.

"That's when Ji-ji whacked his pipe on Kakashi-Sensei's head." Naruto lifted her hand up before swinging it down, yelling out 'whack' as she did so before she collapsed into giggles. "It was hilarious mum, you should have seen his face. Well, you couldn't really see his face through his mask and all, but I could tell anyway. And...and...and," Naruto trailed off, drifting into silence before a moment later I felt her slumping on my back, "and this is stupid."

"Naruto?" I asked, glancing behind me.

"This is stupid Hikaru," She muttered, slipping lower to the ground as she slumped further against me.

"What is?"

"This." She waved a hand awkwardly before her, "Trying to hold a conversation when I don't even know what she would say. Heck, I don't even know her."

"Hey," I turned around completely and Naruto, who was still leaning again me, dropped into my lap. I scooted around to make sure she was comfortable, "Don't say that now."

"But it's true." She looked up at me from where her head was nestled on my lap, her blue eyes so bright even in the dark, "I don't know her. Hikaru, I don't know my own mom. I wish that I did but I don't, I don't know a single thing about her. Not one thing. What was she like? What did she hate? Would she laugh at my pranks or disapprove of them? Was she strict like your dad or was she like Mio-san?"

"God I hope not," I murmured, partly serious and partly to brighten the mood. "I don't think the world could survive if there were two Mios."

My little joke, however, did nothing to her cheer up and Naruto continue staring forlornly at the grave. When she spoke again her voice was quite, and there was a tiredness in it that I never wanted to hear coming from her. "Sometimes I feel so stupid doing this," she whispered, "talking to someone I don't even know. I don't even know if she'd like me."

"Now you're just being silly." I brushed away a strand of hair from her face and stared down at her. "Your mother loved you Naruto."

"But Hikaru," She yelled back, her eyes shining brightly with what may have been tears. "I killed her. If she didn't have me she would still be-"

"Hey," I flicked her on the nose, causing her to wince and crinkle her nose in surprise, "none of that now. How many times have we talked about this? Your mother loved you, and nothing is ever going to change that. Not even death. And I know that if she could go back in time and do it all over again, she would still choice to have you, and with her dying breath she'd still tell you," I wrapped my arms loosely around her and lowered my head so that my eye hung over hers, "'Thank you for being born'." I smiled down at the blonde, "And that's a fact."

"For a fact huh?" She responded gruffly back up at me, but even though she tried to hide it, I could tell she was pleased. "How would you know, you never met her either."

"Of course I know." I straightened up but left my arms where they were wrapped around her. "I don't need to have met her to know exactly what she would say if she was here."

"Oh yeah," she smirked up at me, eyebrows raised in challenge, "then tell me, if she was here what would she say?"

Though she tried to make it sound like a joke, there was an edge to her voice that let me know that he was serious. Naruto really did expect me to know what Kushina would say.

There it was again, that absolute faith that this girl held for me. Even though there was no possible way I could have known a thing about Uzumaki Kushina, she would believe every word that I said for no other reason that because it was me who said it. That was one thing I could never understand, just why did Naruto believe in me, trusted me with every drop of her soul, even it came to things I had no right knowing?

But even if I didn't understand why she did, I had no intention of ever proving her wrong.

"Well," I began, thinking back to the words she spoke so long ago for her newborn daughter, "first of all, she'll start off by saying: Naruto, don't be fussy eater."

Naruto looked gob-smacked, clearing not expecting me to say that, and she stared up at me with bewildered eyes before breaking out in laughter. "She would not!" Naruto guffawed, "Hikaru~, there is no way she would say that! Hahaha."

"Yes, she would." I answered primary, "Now hush and let me finish."

I waited for a few seconds for Naruto to stop her snickering before I carried on. Clearing my throat, I recited the words as well as I could. "Naruto, don't be a fussy eater. Eat a lot and grow up to be a big girl. Take your bath every day. Go to be bed early and sleep well. Make friends, it doesn't matter how many. Just make sure their real friends, people you can trust. Even a few is enough."

"Got it." She nodded as she slipped her hand into mine and gave it a firm squeeze.

I squeezed back before continuing. "And study your ninjutsu, I never was any good at it, maybe you will be."

Naruto snorted, "Nope."

"Everybody has things they're good at and things they're not, don't feel bad if can't do it at all." It honestly felt as if Kushina knew exactly how her daughter would have responded even so long ago. "Make sure to listen to the teachers at the Academy. And remember to avoid the three vices of Shinobi. Don't borrow money if you can help it. Save what you earn from missions."

"No worries there Mom, I'm rich." She quipped, watching her mother's grave from where she laid her head on my lap.

"No drinking Alcohol until your twenty. And don't overdo it, you'll ruin your body."

"As if Hikaru would let me." Naruto grumbled.

"Alcohol is evil and drunks are gross." I told her firmly, thinking about the few times Naruto tried to swipe a drink from one of the adults only for me to stop her. "Now hush and let me finish."

I shut my eyes and took a moment to think of a better way to phrase Kushina's words before speaking. "As for men, well I don't know what to say, but there are only men and women in this world, and you'll want to get a boyfriend someday. Just try not to pick a weird one, try to find someone like your father."

"Sorry Mom, I'm not sure who my dad is." Naruto answered wistfully, as her father's identity is one of the few things that had been hidden from her. However all signs of wistfulness were soon replaced as she gained a thoughtful look on her face. "But if your taste is like mine then Dad probably was a girly-boy wasn't he?"

"Hey!" I glared down at her, feeling vaguely insulted at that description, even if it did happen to accurately describe Minato, but Naruto only snickered in response. "Just shut up and let me finish." I grumbled half-heartedly before resuming.

"And the fourth warning, watch out for Jiraiya-Sensei."

Naruto frowned and glanced up at me. "Who?" But I ignored the question and carried on.

"Naruto you're going to experience a lot of pain and suffering but be sure to remember who you are. Find a goal, find a dream, and don't stop trying until it comes true. There's-There's-There's so much I want to say, to teach you about, I want to stay with you, I love you.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't there to raise you, I wasn't there to love you! I wish I could have stayed with you.

"But most importantly, I want you to know.

"I love you.

"And thank you…

"For letting me be your mother, for letting your Dad be your father.

"Thank you for being our Daughter.

"Thank you."

Having finished conveying the words she wanted to deliver to her daughter since birth, I drifted into silence and gazed at the grave of Uzumaki Kushina. For a long while neither of us said a thing.

"Though it was only for a short time, even with everything that happened, they- they still-" I stopped and looked down at their daughter. "Naruto, you were really loved."

There was no greater truth than that.

Naruto nodded, unable to speak as her chin trembled slightly while her eyes shone as the tears they held reflect under the moonlight.

"Yeah." she whispered at last, her voice thick with emotion. "I was, wasn't I?"

As always, Naruto didn't ask how I knew this, only that I spoke the truth.

And so we both remained there, Naruto nestled in my lap while my arms lay wrapped around her, one of her hands in mine, and we looked at the grave of her mother and thought of what might have been.


"Bye Mom." Naruto waved goodbye as she walked away backwards, her wooden sandals click-clacking against the stone floor. "I'll see you again next year."

"Goodbye, Kushina-san." I called out as I trailed after Naruto but didn't bother looking back and kept my eyes on the blonde in case she tripped, "And don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the idiot and make sure doesn't get in too much trouble."

"Hey!" Still walking backwards Naruto shot me a glare. "I'm not an-ahhh!"

And just like I suspected she would, Naruto ended up tripping as the edge of her wooden sandals snagged the hem of her kimono, pulling her off balance. Naruto fell backwards, her arms futilely pin-wheeling in an attempt to regain her balance as she dropped to the stone floor.

My hand shot out and snagged Naruto by the hand in the last second, her head dangling barely a foot off the floor.

I quirked an eyebrow down at the blonde, "You were saying?"

"Ah...hahaha," Naruto gave me an awkward laugh as she rubbed the back of her head with her other hand before shrugging. "Oops?

I rolled my eyes at the blonde before lifting her up and setting her back down on her feet.

"Thanks." She flashed me a smile before she resumed walking, facing forward this time.

She hadn't let go of my hand, and I made no comment of it as I let her pull me along after her.

As we begun to make our trek through of the cemetery and back to our homes, I caught sight of another familiar grave just a stone throw away from Kushina's and couldn't resist giving the top of it a friendlily pat. "Nice seeing you again Mito," I said as we passed it by, "I'll be seeing you next year so keep it real and stay awesome."

Naruto shot me a bemused look, probably thrown off as she usually was by my casual attitude towards the dead. "Are you sure you're allowed to do that?" She asked, looking pointedly behind us at Uzumaki Mito's grave stone, "Isn't that, I don't know, disrespectful or something?"

"Nah, Mito's cool." I patted another grave, which just happened to be another Uzumaki. "Besides, the entire purpose of a graveyard is to give people a place to rest. So no one will mind if I hand around a little."

"Dead people, Hikaru." Naruto gave me a deadpanned expressions, "It's made to give dead people a place to rest."

"Exactly," I quipped, feeling an ironic smile tugging on my lips at the thought. I did die after all, so technically I had just as much of right to belong in a graveyard as any of the people buried here. Just because I was reincarnated does not revoke my right to a grave, the living dead had just as much a right to one as the regular dead did. I mean zombies can move around like I could yet no one tried to claim that they didn't belong in a graveyard. I just applied the same logic to me.

Looking around at the thousands of gravestones that littered the hill around me, I waved and gave a mental hello to all of my fellow dead comrades. It was odd really, back in my past life graveyards creeped the crap our of me, especially at night, but now that I've died myself I lost all fear of the place. It was almost like returning back home in some ways.

"Besides," I turned to smile at Naruto as I patted another Uzumaki tomb, "this is the Uzumaki section of the cemetery. And if your relatives were anything like you I doubt they'd mind if I messed around a little."

"Fine." Naruto relented, but not before glancing worriedly around the graveyard. "But don't come crying to me if you find yourself haunted by a ghost."

I found myself rolling my eyes at Naruto. For a girl who would happy fight a bear with nothing but her bare hands, Naruto could be surprisingly timid at times. She had an irrational fear of spirits and ghost, and as a child a well-told ghost story would have clinging to my side, trembling with fear. She had gotten better over the years, but the fear of ghosts had never completely went away.

If only she knew that the hand she was holding technically belong to that of a dead man. I had to bite back the urge to laugh hysterically at the image that thought conjured up.

Lining the path were the graves of the Uzumaki, the last remnants of a once great Clan. After the destruction of Uzushiogakure – the village hidden in the whirling tidesthe surviving members fled to Konoha in hopes of finding refuge with their old allies, which they did. Konoha welcomed the survivors with open arms, of which there were only two dozen in number. With the destruction of their old home, the remaining Uzumaki decided to settle down here and try to make a new home in the village.

Unfortunately the Clan's streak of bad luck followed them to Konoha and by the end of the Third Shinobi War the great Clan had dwindled to but a small handful, having become nothing more but a pale shadow of their glory days. Just like their cousins the Senju, they were targeted by the other villages out of fear of their strength and so shared a similar fate to them. And after the Kyuubi's attack, there remained but one living Uzumaki in the village. The rest of Naruto's relatives lay buried all around us.

Well, all of her relatives with the notable exception for her father.

I had no idea where Namikaze Minato's grave was. They didn't bury him along with his wife, I checked, nor was he buried along with the rest of the Namikaze Clan. It was only after I searched the Senju section of the cemetery and failed to find either Hashirama's or Tobirama's grave that I figured out that the Hokages were buried in a separate location. With techniques like the Edo Tensei out there it made sense they would want to keep their bodies out of the public reach, even if Shinobi bodies were traditional cremated.

I considered asking around about Minato's grave but I decided it would be better if I just left things be. While the identity of Naruto's mother was common knowledge, her father wasn't it. If I started asking around about Minato some people might get suspicious. Besides there was nothing I could do even if I managed to tumble over his grave.

A comfortable silence had fallen between us as we by the time we reached the staircase that ran up the hill, neither one of us feeling the need to talk, so the only noise that could be heard in the quiet night was the chirping of crickets and the click-clack of Naruto's sandals. This time with Naruto walking by my side instead of riding on my back, we began the long climb down together. Our pace was leisurely as we went down the steps, neither of us in any hurry to reach home despite the lateness of the hour.

Our journey down the stairs afforded us an unobstructed view of the village of Konoha, which looked like it fallen asleep in the short time since I last paid attention to it. Hardly an hour earlier it had been blazing with life like a bonfire but in the short time since it looked like most of the villagers had gone to bed.

There were a few splashes of lights here and there pouring out from windows in the residential district, probably a few night owls, and on the main roads there were strings of light that showed that there were business still open and running even this late but for the most part, the village was dark as it's denizens slept the night away.

Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack, click-…..

It took me a few seconds to notice that sound of her footsteps had stopped and another second to realise what that meant.

"Naruto?" Halting my steps I turned around and to find the girl a few steps behind me, having slipped her hand out of mine at some point. "Naruto?" I repeated, but she didn't seem to hear me. Her face was turned away from me, her eyes locked at something at the distance.

Naruto's beautiful yellow kimono was no longer in the pristine condition it had been this morning, not surprise after all the time she spent either sitting or lying on the ground. Her obi, the sash, had come loose at some point and sat slightly askew on her waist while the kimono itself had gained several creases and wrinkles in it's folds. Strands of golden coloured hair had fallen loose from the elaborate design they had stylized in and now fell freely down her back.

Naturally Naruto didn't notice how she looked and wouldn't have cared even if she did notice. To her, the only purpose of getting dressed up was for her mother's sake and now that she had finished with what she wanted, she no cared what she looked liked.

Naruto's face, illuminated by the light of the moon as it peeked out from behind the clouds, was unreadable. Her expression was blank, an expressionless mask that hide what she was thinking from me as she looked toward the horizon, eyes riveted at something beyond the village. It was disconcerting to see her like this.

Following her line of sight I found myself looking at the Hokage monument where the faces of the Hokages, both past and present, were carved into the face of the cliff, where they continued to watch over the village in death as they did in life.

More specifically, I discovered that Naruto was staring at one face in particular, the one that sat on the far right of the mountain. She was staring into the visage of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, Konoha's famed yellow flash, the fasted man in the Elemental Nations and the master of the Hiraishin – The Flying Thunder God Technique.

And more relevantly he was also the man that defeated the Kyuubi when it attack Konoha, single-handedly stopping its rampage in time before it could completely wipe out the entire village, but failed to do it in time to save Naruto's mother. He was also the man who chose to seal the beast into the belly of an innocent newborn baby.

Thus dooming the child to carry the burden of the beast for the rest of her life.

"I hate him."

She spoke at last, eyes never leaving her father's face, the three words cutting through the silence of the night like a knife. Her voice was so cold, deprived of their usual warmth that I almost shivered.

"...But...Naruto," I began, awkwardly, wanting to stay something but not sure what. "The fourth...he's-"

My words died still-born on my lips when Naruto turned to me. Her blue eyes hard and unwavering, not a single fragment of uncertainty to be found anywhere inside of them as she stared down at me with a blank look on her face.

Then she spoke the words again.

"I hate him."

At the face of that, I found that there was nothing I could say.

"…I see." I finally said and smiled sadly at my friend, the cool night breeze tugging on my hair. I found it hard to watch her like this, her usually bright expression turning so hard, that I turned away and looked at the Fourth's face as it hung over the village instead.

Oh, how I wished I could laugh at the irony of it all.

Ah, to be hated by your own child. I gave the stone face of Naruto's father a wistful look. I know how that feels. Sucks, doesn't it?

I chuckled sadly before shrugging. Ah, well. It's only natural I supposed. I turned back around and began climbing up the stairs. It's only natural for a parent to love their children, but no one ever said that the opposite had to be true.

I covered the few steps that separated us and stopped once I stood by her side. Reaching out, I took hold of her hand and gripping it firmly in my own.

"Come on." I gently led her by the hand down the stairs, "Let's head home."

She didn't resist and followed silently after me as we made our way back home, the click-clack of her sandals echoing off the stone steps returning once again as we resumed our trek.

The rest of the journey down was spent in silence, not a single word passing between us until we stepped off the off the staircase.

It was a long walk down.


"Here's your meal." The waiter set a bowl of gyudon before me, a dish consisting from rice covered with beef and onions, and I almost felt myself drooling at the sight of it.

"Thank you," I called out but the waiter was already gone, rushing around to sever the other dozen or so waiting customers their orders. So without further ado I snapped open a pair of chopsticks, I began to dig in.

As I about to take another bite from my meal an elbow bumped into my arm, knocking my food out of my chopstick and onto the table. I stared down mournfully at the wasted food for a second, the first bite of a meal was always the best, before I turned and levelled a glare at the man seated to my right.

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to notice. The dark haired man was dressed up in white robes and a black overcoat wasn't even looking in my direction, instead he had his back towards me as he enthusiastically continued to chatter with his friends, who had dragged their stools so that they all gathered around him, and he was swinging his left arm about as he told them some joke involving his wife.

After of few second of futile glaring, I look away and returned to eating my meal. There was no point on telling him off, not when it was painfully obvious that the man was drunk. Even faced away I could smell the alcohol reeking off of him and the way he kept swaying on his seat told me he already was reaching his limit. The guy was also speaking far louder than he needed to and he kept snickering every few seconds, occasionally slamming his left hand on the counter as he laughed.

God how I hate drunks, always have. I hated alcohol entirely, the very idea of something affecting my mind was off-putting to say the least. While I didn't care if someone enjoyed a glass or two, I couldn't stand it when they got flat out drunks. It was…disturbing to see normally intelligent and well-mannered people dissolve into clowns whenever they got into their drinks. It was one of the reasons why I rarely ever touched the stuff.

Again the asshole next to me jabbed me with his elbow though this time I managed keep hold of my meal. I ignored him completely in favour of digging into my meal. I didn't know if it was because of how hungry I was or if the chief was having a good day, but whatever it was the food tasted absolutely amazing today. It the best meal I could remember having in a long while and I savoured each and every bite as I scarfed it down. And there was no way was I about to let a little bit of bad company ruin it.

I wish I could have simply picked my dish up and found someplace else to sit but the place was jam-packed with people, there simply wasn't any room anywhere else. The restaurant was a cozy little thing, with about a three or four long tables filling up the open space in the middle while a row of tiny booths lined up again one wall. There was a long counter that stretched almost from one end of the store to another with a line of stools set before it, while on the opposite wall from the booths was a small stage, which usually sat abandoned.

The restaurant was so currently filled to the brim with people that when I entered the place I couldn't find any place to sit. Crowds of men and women filled the benches that bracketed the long tables in the middle, leaving me with no room to squeeze in, while the booths were equally occupied with couples or even small families. I even spotted a few children mixed in with the people who sat on the table, though why would any parent bring their kids out so late at night was beyond me.

I had actually gotten really lucky to find this spot. After a quick futile glance around the restaurant for a place to sit, I had been about to give up and leave when at the last second a space opened up along the counter opened up as a customer had stood up, having just finished paying his bill and was getting ready to leave.

Unfortunately, that seat just happened to be next to this obnoxious bastard. Ah well, it was probably for the best, even if a spot did open up I would have probably just ended up next to another drunk. There must have been some kind of celebration or party going on that I hadn't heard about because it looked like half the people in the room had a drink in their hand and were either already drunk or well on their way to being so.

It was a bit of a surprise to see to find the place so busy so late at night. While the restaurant may have been a fairly popular spot to eat I had never seen it so crowded before, not even during the day time which was usually their busiest hours. The last couple of times I popped in this late the restaurant was all but deserted, with only a handful of other customers in here with me. But right now, the place was overflowing with so many people that it was obvious by the haggard looks the waiter were sporting that they could barely keep up with their number.

There was even a musician playing on the small stage, something that I can't remember ever seeing before. The stage usual sat empty no matter the time the day but tonight, a young lady in a dark blue kimono with beautiful black hair that reached down to her feet was on the stage, kneeling before a koto, a tradition stringed instrument. And it was obvious to all listening that she was remarkably skilled. The way her fingers flowed over the instruments like ripples on a lake as they plucked at the strings was memorizing to watch, and more that a few customers paused in their conversation to stop and listen to her play.

It was a shame that Naruto didn't tag along though, I'm sure she was enjoyed the food here if she was anywhere near as hungry as I was, and unlike me she wouldn't have minded the crowd either. But unfortunately, she wanted to spend some time alone.

Visiting Kushina's grave has almost become something of an annual tradition for the two of us. And like most traditions we ended up establishing a certain routine after a while that we went through every year.

Each year we would start by wake up early in the morning and enjoy a nice big breakfast to last us the day. Afterwards, we would get cleaned up and dress in our Sunday best. This year I had to leave early to pick up the flowers, but normally we'd leave the house together and head towards the cemetery. Once there we would spend the entire day in front of her mother's grave, and I do mean the entire day. Once Naruto finished saying everything she had to say to her mother, which usually took so long that we only left the hill long after the sun had set and night could just as easily been described as early morning. Once we were back in the streets of Konoha both of us would split up and head our separate ways.

Yeah, it was the last point that I always had trouble with.

Naruto always acted a bit strange around this time of year, and after visiting her mother she always seemed to want to spend some time alone, to reflect on things I guess. And while I couldn't understand why she wanted to be completely alone afterwards, I decided to respect her wishes and give her some space. Which is why she would spend the night without me in her apartment while I head back to the compound.

And while I did worry a bit about her spending the night alone, I knew she probably needed some time spent away from everyone else. Besides, if I got too worried I could always check up on her with the Byakugan, just a quick peek from time to time to make sure she was okay.

Have I mentioned how much I loved these eyes?

And sure, while some people might call it an invasion of privacy for me to use the Byakugan to check on my blonde friend, I would like to point out that this was the same girl who, at the age of six, had splatters of her own blood staining the ceiling of her apartment. And thought it was completely normal. God knows how much trouble she could get into at twelve. So for her sake, along with everyone around her that she may inadvertently traumatize, I made sure to periodically check up on her.

Anyway, my original plan had been to head straight back home and slip into bed, maybe even try and sneak in a quick bite to eat from the kitchen along the way. But as I was walking down the street which would take me to the compound I heard the sound of a koto playing, drifting in the air of the quiet street. And it was such a beautiful melancholic melody that I had to pause and investigate. When I noticed that the sound was coming from this restaurant it hit me, I was starving.

I couldn't understand how I failed to notice how hungry I was any sooner. I hadn't had a bite to eat since breakfast, and that must have been a good fourteen hours ago if not longer, so it was hardly surprising that I was starving. Hell, it was more surprising that my stomach hadn't been growling in protest by now.

Which is why I was stuffing my face like there was no tomorrow. I mean sure, gyudon wasn't anything like the five-star meals I could get the chief back at the compound to prepare, it was barely a step above fast food really, but sometimes it was the simple food that were the best. And I'm going to enjoy every last bite-

-My thoughts screeched to halt as an elbow smashed into the side of my meal, knocking the bowl completely off the counter.

It was as if time had slowed to a crawl. I watched as the beef bowl tumbled over and over in the air with infinite detail, strips of meat being tossed out in all direction while the grains of rice trialled after it, spilled out of the confines of the bowl. It was like watching a car crash, I could see it all happening in slow motion.

I tried to move, tried to force my hands to reach out and save it, but my body would not respond. My hands sat still in mid-air, pointlessly holding the chopsticks between their fingers, unwilling to obey my frantic commands to reach out and grab the food. It felt as I was frozen in time, helpless to do anything more than watch as my delicious bowl of food tumbled closer and close to the ground until-

*crash*

Roars of laughter erupted from right, the group of drunken men doubling as they howled in amusement over some joke, completely oblivious and unaware of the crime one of their own had just committed.

I stared down at the broken bowl of gyudon, it's contents splattered over the wooden floor, with a look of utter despair on my face, feeling my heart breaking at its loss. For a few second I just sat there staring disbelieving at my lost meal, unable to muster the will to move as I felt my very soul mourn at its loss, that is until another round of laughter erupted and I felt my despair replaced with a scalding hot rage fueled with righteous fury.

A great evil had been committed this night, and someone will pay for it, dearly.

"Alright! That's it!" I smashed my hands on the counter as I stood up and glared at the perpetrator, the drunkard on my right who still was facing away from me. "You, me, outside! Right now!"

"Oh?" The man didn't even bother turning around to face me, he just glanced over his left shoulder at me. His cheeks were flush red from alcohol as his brown eye stared unsteadily at me. His eye shifted down towards the floor then widened when he caught sight of the victim of his crime. "Oh! Did I do that? Sorry, sorry, kiddo, didn't mean to."

"It matters not your intentions fiend, only your actions." I told him in my coldest tone, a stark contrast to the boiling rage that I felt fill my veins as my mind raced with possible places I could stash the body once I was through with him. "And you have committed a grave sin this evening, one that can only be repaid with your blood."

"Hahaha, don't make such a scary face kiddo, you're beginning to look like my wife. Hahaha." The madman, for I had no doubt he must have been one, had the audacity to laugh at me. Well, we will see if he will continue laughing once I smashed in his kneecaps. "It's my bad, so here, let me make it up to you."

The drunkard raised his left arm in the air to signal the waiter, his other arm covered and tucked under his jacket, and once he caught the waiter's eyes he held up a single finger. "One more bowl for the kid here, put it on my tab. You know what, better make it two, the kid's too skinny, looks like he could use the extra meat on his bones."

When the waiter nodded his understanding the man glanced back over his shoulder at me, still not bothering to turn and fully face my way. "There, sorry again about that but this should make things right. So forgive this old man, alright kiddo?"

I tried to continued to glare imperiously at the older man but I ended up being betrayed by my own body, as my stomach chose that precise moment to rumbled loudly at the promise of so much food. For some reason I actually felt even hungrier now than I had when I walked in, probably because my meal was interrupted before I was anywhere near finished.

The old man and his friends must have heard my stomach rumble, and how could they not when it sounded like a dying whale, because they burst into peals of laughter. I could feel myself blushing at their response, my cheeks turning warm, but after shooting them a quick glare, I turned away and returned to my stool and tried to wait for my meal to arrive in peace.

Naturally that was not to be, as I had barely sat back down into my stool when the old man began speaking to me again. "Ho~~, what' this? Kiddo, your a Hyuuga ain't you?" He stared into my eyes from over his shoulder before he turned back to his friends. "Hey fellas, lookie here. We got a real live Hyuuga with us."

"What do you want?" I groused, feeling too fed up to bother conjuring any real heat in my voice.

That was one of the downsides of being a Hyuuga compared to almost any other Clan in the village, everyone could tell with a glance you were one. Other ninjas could have at least blended in with a crowd if they wanted to, even the Uchiha, when there were still any left in the village anyway, had the option of deactivating their Sharingan. But we Hyuuga didn't have that option, even in it's inactive state it was clear that our eyes were not normal so we naturally tend to stick out of any crowd.

"Ah, now don't be like that." He waved lazily at me with his left hand, his right still tucked into his coat. "We just have a question we want you to answer, that's all." He spun in his seat so that he now faced the counter instead of toward his friends, and almost ended up losing his balance for his effort. The man actually had to latch onto the counter with his hand to stop himself from toppling over.

He's change of position did, however, grant me a better look of his face and I noticed for the first time the oddly shaped scar he had on his chin. "See, earlier me and the boys were talking about genjutsu and how it works. So with you being a shinobi and all, you could answer a few things about it for us."

"Actually I can't," I replied curtly, hoping that the annoying man would take the hint and leave me alone. "Hyuugas can't use genjutsu."

Well, that wasn't precisely true. We could use genjutsu just as easily as anyone else, especially the simple ones like the basic clone techniques. It's when we attempted the more complex ones that difficulties start to crop up.

The heart of the problem lies ironically with our Clan's greatest strength, the Byakugan. Simply put, our eyes were too perfect. While it is well known that the Byakugan can grant's its wielder 360 degrees of vision for a distance of miles, what was less known was that even in it's inactive state the Byakugan granted it's user a perfect clarity of vision that could never be matched by ordinary eyes.

And I do mean perfect. Not only has there never existed a Hyuuga that was born colour blind or one that needed prescription lens, but even in their passive state our eyes can see farther and with far better clarity than the eyes of the average ninja.

And there lies the problem, none of use knew what the world looks like with normal or even bad eyesight.

How can we craft an illusion of the world when we don't know how the world looks like through normal eyes? Whenever we try to cast a genjutsu on our target, they immediately realise they are in one and try to break out of it. And that's not because our genjutsu were badly crafted but the opposite, they were too well made.

While most ninjas failed to add in enough details to their illusions, we ended up making ours too detailed instead. The colours in our illusion were far richer compared to what a normal person would see while objects in the distance appear far clearer than they were supposed to, and that's because that's how we see the world through the Byakugan.

In short, when we try to create an illusion of the world around us, we inadvertently create an image of what we would see through the Byakugan instead of normal eyes. And that's because no Hyuuga – with the exception of me – knows that the world looks like through normal eyes.

Which is why, with only on a couple of exceptions, my Clan as a whole tended to avoid genjutsu entirely. There was, however, an upside to all this. The very thing that prevented us from using genjutsu also made us resistant to them even with our Byakugan dormant.

Just like how we Hyuuga had no idea how the world looked like through normal eyes, the average ninja has no idea how the world appears through ours. So there is no way they could cast a convincing illusion over us when they had no idea how we see the world.

"Oh?" The man's head bobbed drunkenly as he stared ahead. "So it is true that it's impossible for a Hyuuga to fall for one."

"Yes." I lied through my teeth. There was a way to snare us in a genjutsu, at least when our eyes were inactive it was possible to do so, but there was no way I was going to tell him that. Even if it was common knowledge, it was the policy of the Clan to always deny any possible weaknesses that our eyes may hold. "No would you please leave me alone."

"Aww~~, come one." The man drawled out as seated in his seat, still facing ahead instead of towards me, and from the way his head kept bobbing up and down he honestly looked like he was about tip over and fall asleep any second now. "Just one last question. One more and I promise I would leave you be after. Alright, kiddo?"

Sniffling a sigh I just nodded resignedly, and he must caught the motion out of the edge of his eye because he started speaking.

"Well, it's like this kiddo." He waved a hand lazily before him as if swatting away a fly. "If it's so impossible for a Hyuuga to get snarled by a genjutsu, then why the hell haven't you realised you're in one?"

As if his words were the signal, the young lady on the stage playing the koto, her dexterous fingers plucking its strings skilfully and producing the beautiful melody that had constantly filled the room with its music ground to a stop, her fingers stilled in their place above the instrument and the entire restaurant fell silent.

And the hunger gnawing in the pit of my stomach, the one that filled my thoughts with an almost overwhelming need to eat, disappeared like morning mist as if it was never there. And along with the hunger I felt my mind begin to clear as the fog that had been clouding my thoughts, so subtly that I never noticed it was there, was lifted.

And for the first time since I stepped into restaurant, no, since I hear the koto being played as I walked down the street, my thoughts formed with crystal clarity and my mind raced as I realised what had happened to me.

What the-?

I spun in my seat and stared at Koto player, the lady in blue who knelt on stage, who was now staring right back at me with a blank expressionless face.

The brown eyes that met mine were like ice, so very cold. No, not cold, they were empty, hollow. When I looked them it felt I was looking into the eyes of corpse instead of a living person, and the empty expression on her face wasn't helping that impression.

It soon dawned on me that I couldn't hear anything else, that when the playing of the koto was silenced so had everything else. I could no longer hear the noise coming from the rest of the diners, who just seconds ago were chatting and laughing merrily as they drunk the night away. The entire restaurant had fallen silent, and as I looked around I realised why.

They were all staring at me, each and every single last one of them. From the diners, men, women, and even the handful of children, all of whom were sitting perfectly still in their seats, to the waiters who held up trays of food in the arms, the heads of every soul in here had swirled around to face me, watching me, their blank hollow eyes never blinking. Not even the children's.

And just like the koto player on stage, the hundreds of eyes that gazed at me from around the room were dead, empty things. Not a flicker of life burned in any of them. They all watched me with blind sightless eyes of a corpse, and I felt my skin crawl as those dead eyes bored into my soul.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Hyuuga Hikaru." The drunken man spoke from behind me, but he didn't sound drunk anymore.

His voice had turned hard, harsh and unforgiving.

The sound of it caused the hair on the back of neck stand on end and I felt an abject terror grip my soul, all of my instincts urging me to run, to get the hell away from the thing that stood behind me. It felt as I was a rabbit that was about to be caught by tiger, so close to dying that I could feel it's breath on the back of my neck as it's jaws were about to clamp down on my throat.

Killing Intent, my mind supplied helpfully, but even knowing what it was didn't help make it any less horrible to experience. The malevolence I felt coming from behind me was on a scale beyond anything I felt before. Unlike Kakashi's which had been fuelled with the passion of rage, this one was devoid of passion entirely though was no less deadly for it, it was like the uncaring cold cruelty of winter's breath.

It took every ounce of will I had in me to fight that fear, to push my instinctive urge to flee back down, and I forced myself to turn around so I could face the man.

He hadn't moved since I had last laid my eyes on him, he was still sitting on his stool and still facing the counter instead of me, so even now I could only see the left side of his face. But instead of his slouched form that kept swaying unevenly, his back now stood iron straight while all signs of weakness had bled out from his body.

And for the first time I noticed the strip of white cloth that circled around his head, almost entirely hidden within his black hair. A bandage.

"No matter how confident you hold in your prowess, no matter how certain you are in your safety," the man pulled his bandaged right arm from out his coat and used it to push himself toward me, steadily revealing more of his face to my eyes, "you must never allow yourself to lower you guard young Hyuuga. Because there does not exist a place where you are truly safe, this world holds no place that can keep you away from harm, for you are always, always in danger of getting killed."

As he turned to full face me, I got my first proper look at his face and the first thing that stood out to me was the bandages that covered most of the right side of his face. More precisely, it completely covered his right eye.

I finally realised who I was talking to.

And when I did, I wished that I had listened to my instincts and ran while I still had the chance.

"Hello, Hikaru." The voice was devoid of any warmth, cold as the single eye that watched me. "I have meaning to meet with your for quite a long time though this will be our first actual meeting."

Oh, Shit!

The man gave me a brief nod of his head in greeting. "Allow me to introduce myself."

Shit! Shit! Shit!

"My name is Shimura Danzo."

I'm dead! I'm so fucking dead!

He must have read the fear on my face because he gave me a firm nod. "I see you have heard of me."

The monster hidden beneath the leaves has finally come for me.


*Chapter End*

Author's notes:

And so Danzo finally makes an appearance at last. How did he turn out? Hopefully I got the first impression of him pat down.

Oh, and unlike with canon I'm going to make this man not only terrifying but as competent as hell. No sacrificing his sharingan eyes because he couldn't dodge shuriken throws from Sasuke for this guy. He's going to be a real monster. Danzo was supposed to be a candidate for the Hokage along with Sarutobi, and it's going to show. One of the alternate titles I had for this story was 'the monster hidden within the leaves' but I realised that the title could apply to Danzo as well so I went with current one (it's also easier to remember).

And the next chapter we will get some more hints of the Uchiha massacre and what was Itachi's reaction to his brother's disappearance. Just a glimpse though, but I know many of you wanted to know more about him and his reaction.

Well that's it for now. So how did I do? Did you enjoy the grave scene along with Naruto's reaction to both of her parents? Danzo's appearance? Please tell me, all feedback big and small is always appreciated.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading.