From now on I'm going to be including a kind of extract at the bottom of each chapter, like a side story. It's going to be called Memoirs of the nine-tailed fox, and it'll be written from the Kyuubi's point of view. This concept is directly taken from "Better left unsaid" by Kenchi618. It's a great story and it has a similar sort of thing at the end of each chapter, except in this case it's a sealing book or various omakes. Thanks for the idea Kenchi :3

"Don't you dare take that boy. Don't you dare. I swore to the hokage that I would protect him and I swear again, to you, to kami, to anyone. Even if it kills me to do so I will ensure that you would pay."

"As admirable as your courage is, I have no intention of allowing this boy to die."

"Your word?"

Now the Kyuubi hesitated. He knew the repercussions that a promise like this would involve. But now wasn't the time to be selfish – he could do that all he liked when the boy was safe.

"My word."

Growth 5 – Recovery

The ANBU nodded, but did not drop his head. He'd heard from others about the power of promises made by bijuu, but that still didn't mean that he would embrace the comfort of unconsciousness until he knew the boy was safe once and for all.

"They need to hurry, though, or the choice will be taken from me."

"What do you mean?"

"The seal does not allow for me to fully possess him; it's fighting back against me. It will drag my consciousness back, and I'll be trapped. He will continue to draw on my chakra and this time around I will have no power to stop him."

"Is there nothing you can do to stop this?"

Yamato's concern began to grow as the seconds stretched by. The Kyuubi had failed to answer him, and he didn't know why; prompting him to fear the worst. He was about to try to scramble back to his feet when he heard the bijuu speak again, filling him with relief.

"There might be a way."

The Kyuubi manipulated Naruto's body to rise to his knees, shuffling forwards until they were directly next to each other. The ANBU was watching him apprehensively, unsure what was about to happen. 'Naruto' raised his right hand, clumsily placing it on Yamato's shoulder, as if he was barely in control of his own actions.

He supposed that was true, to a degree.

"Given your reaction to my chakra previously, this may feel uncomfortable." The demon told him. He wanted to ask what that meant, but before he had a chance to speak his question was answered for him.

A sensation of heat began to radiate in waves across his body, starting at the hand on his shoulder. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling per se, but it was certainly a strange feeling to have foreign chakra moving around within his body. Yamato could feel his muscles tensing again and braced for the cramping to begin, clenching his eyes shut tight.

But the pain never came, and as the warmth began to fade he was left feeling much stronger than he had been before.

"My chakra has healing properties, that small amount should have given you enough to move now." The Kyuubi said, as Naruto's body collapsed back. "It works faster within the boy thanks to his Uzumaki heritage, but it still works nonetheless."

It took everything Yamato had to force his body into a seated position, but he managed it eventually. There were wisps of chakra left in his system that mixed with his own, making him feel stronger than ever before – well, he did on the inside, anyway.

"You intend me to suppress him should you lose control. Correct?"

It seemed that the demon was about to answer, but a new voice cut over him.

"Naruto!?"

Iruka jogged over to the prone figure, closely followed by Koyaku. He barely noticed Yamato sitting there, such was his concern for the boy. The chuunin fell to his knees beside him, checking him over for a sign of life.

"The boy is unconscious right now. I am possessing him." The Kyuubi said, startling the two new arrivals. Koyaku simply stared at 'Naruto's' eyes in horror, taking in the blood-red tinge and the slit pupils in silence.

"What do you mean? What have you done, nine-tails?" Iruka growled, his voice deepening in anger.

"What I have done is save the boy's life." Came the response, more confusing him than anything else. "When I release my possession he will become conscious once more. He will begin siphoning more and more chakra from me, and the seal will prevent my interference. Yamato will keep my chakra in check."

"Yamato?"

"Over here."

The clone that had been sent to find Iruka and Koyaku had stayed with the ANBU when the group had arrived, and with the extra help he'd been able to get to his feet, leaning heavily on a wooden staff he'd created. Iruka's eyes widened as he realised who was there, and he took a momentary step back. The chuunin had known this man back when he was in the ANBU himself.

"Ten-"

But Yamato cut over him sharply.

"No. Yamato."

He then moved his hands, falling into the black-ops-communication signs to pass a message to him. Iruka understood immediately and signed back, before turning back to Naruto's form.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Be there when the boy wakes up. He needs someone he can trust to calm himself down from this; and you're one of the few people who he holds in that regard."

The former ANBU operative nodded, a part of him honoured that Naruto felt that way. But there was a more pressing matter to attend to here, so he pushed that thought out of his mind to deal with later.

"I'm releasing."

It wasn't hard to see when Naruto had awoken, as his breathing had begun to increase to a rapid pace within seconds. He sat up, looking around him in a sheer panic as the chakra enveloping him began to bubble and warp. It was growing.

Yamato's hand began to glow with green-tinted chakra, and the "sit" kanji appeared on his palm. He stumbled to the boy, placing a hand on his chest for a moment, before withdrawing back. As his hand left Naruto's chest, a line of blue chakra seemed to keep them connected; growing in length as the man walked further back. With a grunt of exertion, he pulled back at the chakra one more time, and the ground began to shake slightly. A number of wooden pillars extended from the ground, embedded with spikes all pointing towards Naruto. As the pillars settled into place, the chakra surrounding the boy seemed to slide away from his arms and legs, gradually moving in towards his abdomen.

Once the chakra had dissipated back into the seal, the ANBU retracted the pillars, collapsing to the ground as the exhaustion took its hold again, and the demonic chakra that had been keeping him standing ran out.

Naruto had lain still after the chakra had been suppressed; staring vacantly towards the sky as if he was unaware of what had just happened. But as Yamato fell to the ground, the clone had tried to save him and instead ended up being pulled down itself, promptly dispelling. The sudden input of memories seemed to trigger Naruto, rousing him from his calm state and sending him back into the hyperventilation that had started the whole thing in the first place.

Sensing his turn was up, Iruka leapt towards the blond, enveloping him in a hug just as he sat up. He whispered words of comfort into his ears, talking about anything and everything as he tried to calm him down.

"Come on Naruto, it's okay. It's alright, I'm here. You can get through this, we're all here to help you."

And gradually, Naruto began to relax.

OoOoO

Naruto could swear that his head was being split in half. Every slight noise seemed to beat down on his poor brain, sending sharp pains shooting through it. And he could forget about looking around, too – even the slight movement of light behind his tightly closed eyelids was excruciating. He groaned, digging his face further into Iruka's jacket. How he got there, he had no idea.

"Naruto?"

That was Iruka's voice. Or was it Yamato's? He didn't know. It hurt to hear, anyway.

"Headache. Light hurts." He replied, his voice a little muffled as he was still pressed into his sensei.

They must have understood what he'd said, as moments later a hand was placed on top of his head, and a buzzing sensation seemed to emanate from it. It didn't take more than a few seconds for the ache to reduce into a dull throb, and the boy found he could now open his eyes and look around him.

He and Iruka were sat on the ground, facing one another. Koyaku was behind the chuunin, and Naruto could see Yamato slumped on the ground nearby. But almost as If he could sense the blond's eyes on him, the ANBU raised his head and gave a weary smile.

"Yamato-san..." He asked seriously. "Is that really what my jutsu felt like?"

"I'd imagine it was worse for you, though." Was the reply, as the downed man nodded. "You had it a hundred times over."

"No, I didn't. It just felt like the same event happened several times in a row. Like if I'd hit you with the jutsu a hundred different times. But it was the emotion that got to me, I guess."

In truth, Yamato had an unfortunate feeling that his dosage had been much higher than the rest, because the boy had still had the residual chakra from his botched attempt flowing through his system. Not that he would tell him that, of course.

"Would someone like to explain to me what you're talking about please?" Iruka interjected before they could converse further. "I've just watched my s- student get possessed by the Kyuubi, get sealed away, not to mention the fact that he's just had a panic attack too!"

"Oh, right, sorry Iruka. I was practicing a new jutsu."

"The one you were talking about before?"

"Yeah. The one I said I would test on you."

"Go on then."

Naruto paused, remembering the events that had just occurred.

"Um, I don't want to any more. Not on the people I care about." He said slowly.

"You already told me it wasn't a very nice jutsu before, Naruto. After everything I've told you, are you going to tell me I can't handle it?"

The boy closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and pointing wordlessly to Yamato, who was still looking at them. Iruka seemed to get the gist of his pointing, and a terse nod from the on-duty ANBU sent a shiver down his spine. But Naruto seemed to think he still hadn't made his point.

"I especially don't want to because of what you told me Iruka. The jutsu, it... it has a habit of... bringing things up. I didn't realise until my clones gave me the backlash; that's what caused this problem here."

"Does you jutsu have a name?" Koyaku asked, having finished with his headache and stepping back to look at him. The boy realised that actually, he hadn't come up with a name for the jutsu yet.

He cocked his head to one side for a moment, before a gruff voice gave him a suggestion.

"Mister nine calls it Akuma Toei no jutsu. (Demonic Projection technique.)" Naruto replied. "Or that was his suggestion. I like it, so I'll keep it."

He could see Iruka and Koyaku think it over for a moment, before the former's eyes widened considerably.

"You don't mean..?"

"It's exactly what you think, Iruka. I take some demonic chakra and condense it up, then go like this and project it at someone." The boy responded nonchalantly, mimicking the stance he'd held earlier. "But I can't show you, I don't want to do that to you. It feels horrible."

"Okay, that's fair. So what do we do now?"

"Yamato-san needs to head to the hospital, by the looks of it." Koyaku called, having gone over to the man at some point. "Where is your mask?"

"I had to remove it lest I splatter my own face with vomit." He replied. "Of course that's meant exposing my face to the boy."

"Don't worry about that ten- Yamato. I'll ensure that your identity remains a secret." Iruka held out a hand, which Naruto declined and hopped to his feet with ease, creating a trio of clones.

"I'll take him to the hospital, obasan. I put him in this position so it's only fair."

Koyaku nodded, but reminded him that she was a nurse and would be following him straight there. She shook her head when Iruka remarked that it was her day off.

"Necessary sacrifice, Iruka-kun. Besides, I could do with the overtime."

With that Naruto and his clones bent down, picking the ANBU up carefully. The nurse waited until their backs were turned, then approached the chuunin hurriedly. When she got to him she planted a brief kiss on his lips, startling him, before bidding him goodbye. "I'll come see you later tonight if that's okay."

Iruka just nodded dumbly and watched her go.

Yamato only needed two clones to pick him up, so the other clone bent to pick up his mask and fix it to his face. Naruto had noticed the two of them behind him but chose not to say anything; instead turning to his casualty of sorts.

"Are you... will you tell anyone about Akuma Toei?" he asked tentatively.

"I'll only have to tell the hokage. He's my boss so I don't have much choice there. But if you're worried about being punished, then you can rest assured I'm pretty certain he wouldn't do that. And if he did I'd make sure to stop him."

Naruto nodded, a grateful expression on his face. "And in return I won't tell anyone about what you look like. It's only fair."

OoOoO

"Sorry Naruto, but when we're treating ANBU only doctors and nurses are allowed access." Koyaku told the boy, ruffling his hair as he pouted. "Why don't you go back and talk to Iruka for a while?"

He was about to answer her, but before he could he spotted a familiar face walking down the corridor.

"Inoichi?" He called. "I'm going to talk to him for a while. See you later, obasan!"

"Hey Naruto, what's up?" the older blond replied. "I've just finished my last appointment, so I've some time if you need to talk."

Naruto nodded. For once Inoichi was struggling to read his expression. It was different to any emotion he'd outwardly expressed in their previous appointments, so he'd had a feeling the boy might want to talk.

"Please, if that's okay."

"Well we can find an empty room here if you like? Or we can walk back to the Yamanaka compound. I have an office so you don't need to worry about anyone else hearing."

"I think I'd like the walk."

As they walked down the corridor, Inoichi had been stopped by a nurse looking to talk to him for a second. The Yamanaka had sent Naruto on, apologising profusely and telling him he'd meet him in the reception area in ten minutes.

The boy found his mind wandering to the events of the past day once more when he'd finally settled. The way that Yamato had reacted to his Toei really stuck in his mind – was he really capable of having such an effect on people?

'Don't flatter yourself. It was my chakra that did that, not yours. I could possess you and make you slit your own throat in two seconds if I wanted to.'

'You still saved me though.'

The Kyuubi stayed silent after that. Naruto just figured he found it too much effort to answer him, but in truth, the bijuu wasn't able to. A wave of agony had coursed through him, leaving him almost breathless if it weren't for the fact that he didn't actually need to breathe.

It had started when he had spoke of killing the boy. And a pain like that? There was only one cause.

'My promise...' He muttered to himself, unheard by his captor. 'What have I done?"

OoOoO

"Sorry about that, Naruto." Inoichi smiled sheepishly. "I just had to sort out a schedule with one of my apprentices. She's one of the people I'm teaching to do my job as a counsellor."

In the time Naruto had been in the hospital, the sun had set, and a gentle breeze had begun to blow. There were several clouds dotting the sky, too.

"Looks like it'll rain tonight." The older blond remarked, to which Naruto simply nodded. They walked in silence for a while longer, before he decided to speak again. "If you don't mind, why were you at the hospital anyway?"

"It's a long story." the boy replied. He knew Inoichi would respond with the usual "I've got time" response though, so he continued before he had a chance. "I created a jutsu. I didn't realise how strong it was, and the person who let me test it on them had to go to hospital to recover."

"That must be some jutsu. Who did you test it on?"

"It was an ANBU who was keeping an eye on me. I sensed him and asked if he could give me some tips and he ended up getting included."

Anyone trained to detect subtle movements would have noticed the way Inoichi's steps faltered for just a moment.

"My jutsu is kinda the reason I wanted to talk to you, actually." Naruto continued, fortunately oblivious to the Jounin's pause. "I wanted to know... if there was any way to stop flashbacks from happening."

"I'm sorry to say there's no easy way to stop them."

Naruto's face fell, but he picked up on the man's deliberate wording. "No easy way?"

"That's what I said. There is a way to stop yourself from flashing back, but it's going to be hard on you." The grave look on Inoichi's face was all he needed to see to understand the gravity of the situation. "What are your triggers?"

"Being on the receiving end of my jutsu. I had a panic attack when I dispelled the clones I'd practiced on."

"Then it's relatively simple. To stop your flashbacks from happening, you have to deliberately trigger them hundreds, even thousands of times, bring yourself through those horrible memories until you're so used to them that they don't even cause you to flash back in the first place."

"That sounds horrible." Naruto commented, paling considerably at the idea of it. "But if it's what I have to do in order to get better, then that's what I'll do. At least I can practice the jutsu at the same time."

The pair were drawing near to the compound gates.

"So, do you mind telling me what this jutsu is, exactly?"

"It's called the Akuma Toei no jutsu." He replied, lowering his voice. The older blond seemed to understand what the name meant. "I take the chakra and I stand like this, and project it at someone. It feels really strong, and really hot. And with the ANBU I tested it on it made all his muscles cramp up and made him sick."

Inoichi was opening the compound gate, and so he chose to let the boy talk.

"Iruka wanted me to show him the jutsu. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it, because of how bad it is. I don't want to practice it on anyone I care about so that means I don't have any way of testing it on anyone but myself."

"You know, I might just be able-" The Yamanaka was cut off as a shrill female voice reverberated around the compound.

"What's he doing here?"

Ino Yamanaka, Inoichi's daughter, leaned out of what Naruto figured was her bedroom window, sending a heated glare at him. Naruto, for his part, just looked at the ground.

"Young Naruto here was just telling me about a jutsu he's been working on. I brought him back to talk to him about it, because I have a colleague who'd be interested in training him."

"You do?" The boy exclaimed in awe, before remembering himself. "I mean, that's right."

Ino just scowled at him again, before withdrawing back to her room.

"Inoichi, did you really mean what you said about your colleague?" Naruto asked, once he was settled in the man's office.

"I did. We both work in the same department, and I know for certain that a jutsu like yours would be incredibly helpful." He replied. "The question is whether you'd be able to handle it."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell anyone I told you this, okay?" Inoichi asked seriously. The boy nodded at him. "We work in the ANBU, in torture and interrogation. A jutsu like yours would be perfect for... encouraging certain captives to talk."

Whatever reaction the Yamanaka had been expecting, it certainly wasn't this. The very moment he'd told Naruto about his affiliation with ANBU, a glimmer had formed in his eye, which had only grown when he continued to speak.

"Oh right," Naruto said. "I haven't told you yet."

Now it was Inoichi's turn to ask the same thing that the boy had only a couple of minutes earlier.

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't told you about how I'm training to join the ANBU!"

OoOoO

Almost two hours had passed as Naruto talked about everything that had happened since their last meeting. The Jounin was genuinely intrigued by his conversations with the Kyuubi, and the younger blond was happy that he was the first person not to treat this news with disdain.

It wasn't until he'd finished telling his story that Naruto realised just how heavy his eyelids were beginning to feel.

"I should go, Iruka will be wondering where I've gone." He told the man. But before he could say any more there was a flash outside.

Inoichi was the first to the window, opening the curtains and looking out at the torrential rain that had arrived as they'd been talking. A few seconds later the rumbling of thunder explained the flash they'd saw, prompting the man to look at the boy.

"It'd be rude of me to make you go out in that weather, especially when your house is on the other side of the village. I can sort out the spare bedroom for you, if you'd like."

Naruto hesitated for a moment. He'd never really stayed anywhere other than his old flat and Iruka's house, so he was unsure about whether or not he would be comfortable. But then he looked at the Yamanaka, who was studying his face with a gentle smile, and realised that he trusted this man almost as much as he did Iruka.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like that please."

"Of course not. It's what the spare room is there for, after all."

True to his word, less than half an hour later Inoichi led Naruto to the spare room, pointing out the locations of different rooms on the way. He was happy to know that the room had an en suite – at least then if he needed to use the bathroom he wouldn't have to worry about disturbing anyone.

"I won't be going to bed for another hour or so, as I have a couple of things to do first. So if you find you still need to talk to me, I'll be in my office. Otherwise you're welcome to do some drawing or reading, if you'd like to."

The boy nodded. "Goodnight Inoichi" He told him with a small smile. The Jounin simply crouched down, coaxing him into a hug.

"See you in the morning."

When the Yamanaka had left, Naruto took a moment to look around the room. It wasn't much larger than his room back at Iruka's place, but it was certainly different. The bed was larger, and there was a desk in the corner beside it, underneath a window which was obscured by a set of blinds. The desk was stocked with paper, pens, pencils, and a few other pieces of stationery. A bookshelf in the opposite corner stood from floor to ceiling, holding a variety of books from fairy tales to psychology theories.

He was considering looking at some of the books when a gruff voice pulled him from his thoughts.

'Kid. I'm going to cut you a deal.'

'A deal?' The boy asked with interest.

'I'll teach you how to control your jutsu, and in return you give me a clone to instruct every now and then.'

'What are you going to do with a clone?'

'First of all I want to write.'

This confused Naruto, until the Kyuubi decided to elaborate.

'There are too many misconceptions about the bijuu. I wish to correct them by writing a book. And hey, who knows? You might get to make some money out of publishing it. So it's a double win for you.'

'And in return you'll help me work on my jutsu more?'

'Exactly.'

There was no question in it for him. He knew that there was little the Kyuubi could do within his clones that would cause harm, and all he'd have to do is create a single clone under the instructions "Do what the Kyuubi says – within reason."

His clone would ensure that nothing bad happens. And it could just dispel itself if things got too bad too.

'Okay, I'll do it.'

'Great. I'd like a clone now. You can do as you wish – read, sleep, whatever. Just leave a clone.'

OoOoO

In the early hours of the morning, not long before sunrise, the residents of Inoichi Yamanaka's house were awakened by an anguished scream. It was quickly muffled, but the sound had ripped through the house, sending everyone into high alert.

Ino in particular was shaking with the adrenaline rush that coursed through her veins. With a well-practiced movement, she pulled out the kunai she kept hidden under her bed, and crept towards her door.

Inoichi had given her the kunai when she turned six, and told her to always keep it accessible in her room. She'd never really understood his reasoning for her to do so – not until now, in any case.

When Ino opened her door, she stuck her head out tentatively. Looking first to her right, she made sure the area was clear before turning to her left – and nearly letting out a scream of her own as her father's silhouette loomed over her.

"It's okay, Ino. Go back to bed." He muttered, before hurrying past her and down the hallway.

Ino chose to obey her father, and collapsed back on to the bed. She was still shaking from the shock, and she knew even as she began to calm down that she certainly wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon.

The older Yamanaka, however, went straight to the spare room, knowing exactly what had happened even before he entered. Naruto was curled up on the bed, weeping and mumbling incoherently while a clone crouched beside him, seeming to be comforting him as best it could.

There seemed to be a few things different about the clone, but Inoichi chose to ignore that for now in favour of ensuring Naruto was okay.

He sat on the opposite side of the bed to the one Naruto was laying on, and touched a hand to his shoulder. The boy flinched violently, putting his hands up as if to defend himself from his 'attacker,' but seemed to sober up when he realised who it was.

"Inoichi, I'm sorry, I-" He tried to say, but he was shushed by the man.

"Don't apologise for something out of your control. It's okay." Inoichi reassured him. "If anything, I'm the one who's sorry. I should have realised after you told me about how bad your reaction was and gave you some sleeping aids."

"I still woke you up though."

"It's okay Naruto, my alarm goes off in half an hour anyway. I'm an early riser."

Naruto tried to tell the older Yamanaka that he was okay, that he didn't have to keep an eye on him, but the man stayed next to him for almost twenty minutes as he got the panic out of his system. They made small talk throughout this time, the normalcy helping him to calm down and regain his senses.

"I'm going to get you some tablets, okay? I'll give you a minor one so you'll only be out for an hour or two at best, but these are specifically designed to make sure that you won't have any more dreams." He eventually said, when the small talk had tapered off.

He lingered only long enough to hear some affirmation from Naruto, before leaving the room and heading to his office to grab the medication. The clone that was following the Kyuubi's instructions sat back at the desk and continued writing.

Less than a minute later his footsteps returned, surprising Naruto as to his speed. But when he heard a knock and a feminine voice called his name, the boy realised that he had been mistaken.

The door handle turned, but the door didn't open right away. The person behind seemed to be hesitating, or maybe listening for him to tell them not to enter. But after hearing no response at all, the person must have decided to enter anyway, as the door opened to reveal a very different-looking Ino.

Different-looking because she didn't have her hair straightened to a razor's edge and a face full of makeup. She glanced at the clone at the desk, but since it was ignoring her she chose to ignore it.

"I heard dad talking to you." She said bluntly. Even the way she spoke was different to when she was in class. "I don't know what's happening, but it must be bad."

"Nah." He tried to feign nonchalance. "It's just a couple of bad dreams."

But the girl wouldn't take that excuse. "I'm not stupid, Naruto. I've followed dad around enough to know when someone's just got nightmares."

"It's none of your business." Naruto snapped at her. Why oh why did he decide to stay here?

He'd expected Ino to snap back at him after that. That's what she usually did. But instead she seemed to just deflate.

"I know. I'm sorry."

She turned to leave again, one hand on the door.

"And… I'm sorry for the way I've treated you in the academy. It doesn't take a genius to see you're hurting – I'm sorry if I've made that worse."

And with that she did leave, closing the door behind her with a muffled click.

She saw her father on the way back to her room. He seemed to understand what had happened, but he just nodded and walked past her. A silent request for her to go to bed.

When Inoichi entered the spare room again, he found that Naruto's eyes were beginning to drift closed. He placed the tablets and a glass of warm milk he'd made on to the bedside table, before shaking him gently.

"Your meds are here Naruto. If you need anything else you know where I am."

The boy nodded his thanks, and grabbed the milk just as soon as the man had left the room. Less than ten minutes later he was fast asleep, in a blissful state of unconsciousness.

OoOoO

When Naruto awoke, he was initially confused as to his location. But when his clone brought a sheaf of papers to him with messy writing scrawled all over it, his memories began to return.

He groaned when the clone dispelled itself after putting the papers safely away, as he basically had to relive the events of the night. For some reason having a clone that stayed awake all night seemed to make him feel much more tired.

He didn't stay for long once he'd trudged down into the kitchen. Both Ino and her father were sat down there, and while the latter greeted him with a bright smile and an offer of coffee, the haggard expression on Ino's face filled him with guilt. The way she caught his eye for a millisecond before looking down at her lap didn't do anything to help that either, so he only stayed long enough to try this drink that the man was offering him, then made the excuse that he needed to let Iruka know where he was.

"Thanks for everything Inoichi," he muttered once he was out of earshot of Ino – or so he thought. "Talking about everything really helped. And the coffee, that was really nice. It helped me wake up too, which is cool."

When he got back home he was faced with a rather anxious-looking Iruka, who wrenched the door open before he'd even reached for the handle. But instead of shouting at Naruto like he was expecting, the chuunin just reached for him and enveloped him in a hug.

"I've been worried, Naruto. Koyaku told me you spoke to Inoichi, but when you didn't come back I was so scared something happened to you." he exclaimed, looking the boy over.

"I did go to Inoichi's. But with the storm he said it'd be best if I stayed in the spare room instead."

"Told you!"

The shout came from Iruka's living room, and Naruto knew immediately who had said it. When he finally freed himself from the tight hug that Iruka had trapped him in, he jogged through to find exactly the woman he'd expected to see sat on the sofa.

"Hey obasan!" he called. But then he realised something from the say before, and smirked. "Sooo... you and Iruka, huh?"

He could hear the chuunin splutter behind him, and his smirk grew.

Yes, it'll definitely be fun to mess with him.

OoOoO

[The previous night]

Iruka stirred from his pacing as a knock sounded at the door. When he opened it he discovered a thoroughly soaked Koyaku. He ushered her quickly into the house, grabbing a towel for her to dry her hair as best she could. The rest of her clothes seemed okay as she'd been wearing waterproofs.

"Koyaku, where's Naruto?" he asked frantically.

"He wasn't allowed in the room when we took Yamato in so I told him to come back here. But he saw Inoichi and said he'd go talk to him for a while. He probably got caught in the storm and decided to stay."

It served to calm the chuunin down a bit, but he was still anxious.

"Come on, which way is the living room? Let's talk." She continued, pulling him through when he pointed the way. "He's a good kid. Even if something happened to him, he has the fox on his side by the looks of things. He'll be okay."

"I sure hope so."

"Anyway, I have a slightly more pressing matter to talk about."

Iruka cocked his head slightly, intrigued by her words. "What matter would that be?"

"When were you planning on telling me you were in the ANBU?"

His blood ran cold for a moment as he stuttered, trying to formulate an answer. But in the end all he could come up with was a single word.

"How?"

"Easy." She answered, with a kind of smirk on her face. "You're not a medical professional, therefore the only reason you should know the ANBU communication signs is being an ANBU yourself."

Iruka gave her a blank look. She let out a small sigh, before repeating the signs that he and Yamato had flashed towards one another earlier that day.

"Later." Koyaku said, as she signed the translated words. "Okay. Good to see you again."

"So you know ANBU CS?"

"I'm one of the nurses dedicated to treating ANBU. Of course I'll have learned that."

The chuunin slapped a palm to his face, before standing up and deciding to make himself busy.

"I have some cheesecake in the fridge. Would you like some?" He asked.

"That depends. Do you have wasabi in your cheesecake too?"

Iruka just laughed sheepishly.

OoOoO

Memories of the nine-tailed fox chapter 1

Introduction

I am the nine-tailed demon fox. Some of you may know me as the Kyuubi. I am a bijuu, a construct of demonic, evil chakra which many of you humans seek to control. My chakra is a source of power unlike any this world has otherwise seen.

I am one of nine bijuu spread across the globe; and due to my possession of nine tails I am also the strongest.

I am known because I am evil. Because I am the metaphysical incarnation of all of the hatred and evil within the world, and of course I act as such.

...Except I do not.

The introduction I have just given you is riddled with untruths and ignorant rumours created by humans so scared of the truth that they choose to tell lies.

The truth is that I am no demon. I am no evil creature, and I am certainly not here to spread terror and chaos.

Like my fellow bijuu, I was created in the name of peace.

I will not force you to read this book. It is not in my nature to do so. But if you are willing to question the stereotypes, break the bonds that the actions of our captors have created, then I invite you to take part in this unique opportunity.

But I warn you; curious reader. The truth is far from what you believe it to be.

OoOoO

Akuma Toei is supposed to be called Akuma Tōei, but it's annoying to keep writing out the accents so I'm leaving those out. Sometimes the jutsu will be referred to as Toei, just to make it easier and less monotonous than constantly writing out the whole name each time.

My sister drew Naruto in the Akuma Toei stance for me, and it's on my DeviantArt folder. There are instructions to get to that folder at the top of my profile. In there is also a picture of the old Kurama, the new design Kurama in better detail, the picture of Naruto in his new clothes and a WIP piece I'm working on with Naruto and Kurama.

Dobbyhasnomastr – He is. It's a shame that sometimes his best just won't be enough. But he's a smart kid, I have no doubt he'll overcome his obstacles, and I'm the writer so I can do that

Glad you liked the idea with Hinata. It's a good way for me to open up into their friendship with an awkward moment xD