AN: Thanks to all those who reviewed.Special thanks to inarealpickle, simonmountney, and causeiambetta for picking up the slack for betaing. All reviews/criticism are welcomed.

'THOUGHTS'

LINEBREAKS=CHANGE OF SCENE/POV

CHAPTER 11

Sarutobi sighed irritably as he glared up at his Anbu over the report in his hands. The report detailed how Naruto had managed to leave his apartment unnoticed, for the seventh time in half a month. His Anbu still couldn't figure out how the boy kept doing so.

If it wasn't so dangerous, Sarutobi would have been proud of his little friend. Not even he had been able to find out how the boy did it. All of his attempts to watch the boy through his crystal ball had only shown Naruto reading, either the scrolls from the Sanadas or books from the library and Yoshino, or Naruto and his young friend playing shogi or go.

That, at least, had been a marked improvement for Naruto.

Sarutobi knew from both Yoshino, and his own covert surveillance that Naruto and young Shikamaru had grown amazingly close for someone of Naruto's paranoia. Though to be fair, the two only ever played board games, mixed with the occasional conversation, and they had only ever met a handful of times. They had also yet to leave Naruto's apartment together, and they had never met anywhere else as far as he knew.

Which brought him back to the matter at hand. A six-year-old boy was making a mockery of the Anbu and had caused half a dozen security alerts as shinobi covertly searched the village for Naruto, only to fail repeatedly.

Several members of the Anbu -and some of the more paranoid council members- were convinced that something was going on. Whether it being some ability granted to Naruto by the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi taking over Naruto's body when he was asleep, or Naruto developing some new Genjutsu to bypass the Anbu, to some secret faction of the Anbu or the Uchiha clan even, smuggling Naruto out to perform experimentation on him. Those were some of the more reasonable theories going around, though Sarutobi wasn't supposed to be aware of them.

As amusing as some of the theories could be, Sarutobi couldn't make light of the situation. He knew exactly what was in those scrolls of Naruto's and nothing in them could have enabled the boy to evade the Anbu so easily. Plus, if Naruto was purposefully avoiding the Anbu, then that meant that he was aware they were around him and watching his building -and seeing as Sarutobi had been very careful in making sure the shinobi assigned to Naruto knew not to watch him specifically, unless they themselves were out in the open, that was even more disturbing.

If that were the case, then Naruto would have most certainly fled by now, as the boy was still far too jumpy when he felt threatened.

So how was the boy doing it?

"What about the ramen stand Yoshino told us about?" he questioned the Tora masked Anbu standing at attention in front of his desk.

"We've had the stand under surveillance since the Uzumaki's third disappearance. We haven't got a solid grasp on who the regulars are, but no one has reported seeing anyone even remotely resembling Uzumaki entering the stand." Tora reported.

Sarutobi nodded his head as pulled his pipe from his robes. Stuffing it with tobacco, he asked, "What of the stand's owners?"

Tora shook his head, "Both father and daughter were born and raised in the village. Neither has any military training, and the girl -Ayame - attends the local civilian school. The teachers at the school say she's been there for years. Anyone we ask about the stand says the same thing." Tora paused for a moment before continuing. "Shishi entered the stand personally and questioned the father -Teuchi - while disguised as a civilian. He feels that the man is genuine."

'Teuchi?' he thought in surprise at the mention of Jiraiya's one time student. 'I see, so he's still in the village after all. I thought he would have left for a more peaceful place after I purged his records...' The fate of Jiraiya's Genin team was something of a mystery to most of the world. Oh, everyone knew what became of Minato obviously, but the fates of Saotomi and Teuchi were unknown to all but Jiraiya and himself. One dead, the other unable to cope with the harsh realities of the shinobi life. Really, Sarutobi hadn't had any reason to refuse when Jiraiya asked him to remove Teuchi's records. After all, even if he had only lasted a year or so, the man was Jiraiya's student. A dangerous association for anyone.

Was Naruto's visiting Teuchi's stand of all places mere coincidence?

"I see. And the libraries? What have you found there?" Sarutobi inquired as he lit his pipe and took several puffs.

"Nothing suspicious, but it doesn't help that we don't know which library the boy supposedly uses." If it were anyone other than an Anbu, Sarutobi would say the man sounded irritated.

"I understand, inform me when he returns to his apartment building." Sarutobi ordered.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." the Anbu saluted before disappearing via Shunshin.

The situation really was becoming dangerous. It wasn't so much that Naruto had evaded the Anbu that had people unnerved. It was the fact that no one had the slightest clue how he was doing it.

'Perhaps it's time to confront Naruto about this? To just ask the boy how he did it.' Sarutobi bleakly wondered.

Of course, if he did that, then he'd have to explain everything to Naruto, which would be dangerous at best.

Despite that, there were those who felt that to be the best course of action, Danzo surprisingly one of them.

To Danzo, keeping the truth from the boy was a mistake. In his eyes -or eye as the case may be- Naruto was far too valuable a resource to leave untapped. And with every incident, from the orphanage to the Sanadas, to these recent disappearing acts, Danzo had been there to advocate a change of policy. As much as Sarutobi hated to admit it, Danzo had warned him about how quickly the situation could deteriorate and had been proven right.

Danzo had even given up on trying to get Naruto for himself, simply insisting that Naruto be protected and trained so that he in turn could protect Konoha. Most of all, Danzo objected to the seals placed around Naruto. What Danzo -and Sarutobi if he was honest- feared was what would happen if Naruto discovered those seals. The boy was already preparing for a possible war with Konoha - even if Naruto's preparations were still in their infancy - and if he discovered those seals or the Anbu surrounding him the situation could rapidly spin out of control, possibly even causing Naruto to strike first against the village. Though at this stage, any such strike from Naruto would be doomed to fail, it would undoubtedly result in the boy's death. Something that both Sarutobi and Danzo wanted to avoid, though for different reasons.

Which brought him back to square one. Reveal the truth now and hope for the best, or stay the course and hope for the best. Both had risks. Both could end horribly.

Meanwhile, Naruto was rereading one of his Genjutsu scrolls while eating an apple.

It had taken him over week before he finally decided to look through the Genjutsu scrolls again. In the end, there had been two reasons for him to do this. Boredom was one, which could have easily been taken care of with the use of his Henge. The problem was, the Henge was the other reason.

Despite how long it had taken Naruto to master the Henge, it was still an academy level technique. So obviously, there would be some method of detecting or neutralizing a Henge, and while it had worked well so far, to Naruto, it was only a matter of time before someone saw through it on the street. Which led him back to Genjutsu, something that could help him remain hidden, if he could figure out how to do so.

So he had forced all of his anger and pain to the back and dived into the scrolls. The results were surprising, to say the least.

Whether it was naturally an easy subject or just a well-written group of scrolls, Naruto had burned through those scrolls at a pace that amazed even him. Even though the scrolls were only theory based, Naruto felt that he was quickly on his way to understanding Genjutsu in theory, even if not so much in practice.

However, he had applied what he learned from the scrolls to the one Genjutsu he knew, the Bunshin jutsu, finally perfecting the technique.

Other than that, Naruto had gained one other thing. Doubts.

The more he read through those scrolls, the more he found himself doubting his disbelief in the Old Man. As he read, Naruto found the things he had refused to believe two years ago, weren't as far-fetched as he had thought. Genjutsu was indeed capable of doing the things the Old Man had said was done.

Still, despite the fact that Genjutsu could be used the way the Old Man had said, it didn't explain other things. For instance, they was still no answer as to why.

Why would some assassin make Naruto see those things? Why not just kill him? Why wait until he had been taken to the hospital and then go through the hassle of replacing an Anbu?

Beyond that, why were the Anbu watching Naruto, and why did the villagers treat him the way they did?

More importantly, why does the Old Man treat him the way he does? No other orphan warranted regular visits from the Hokage. No other orphan received the attention that the Old Man bestowed on Naruto, regardless of whether he wanted the attention or not.

No, the scrolls might chip away at Naruto's beliefs, but they also brought other, unanswered questions to the fore front.

Shaking his head, Naruto did what he did best when it came to questioning why his life had been so terrible. He ignored it.

Sure from time he pondered one part or the other, like, "why do some villagers treat me like trash", or, "why does the Hokage want to kill me", but for the most part he just did what was easiest and pretended everything was fine. In an "everyone is trying to kill me" kind of way.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as easy as it sounded.

Turning his attention back to the scrolls, Naruto considered his options.

If he wanted to make use of these scrolls, he'd have to create the Genjutsu himself. No small task. He knew what he wanted the Genjutsu to do, but getting it to happen was slightly more difficult.

What he wanted was to go unnoticed, to be hidden from those around him.

The problem was, it couldn't be just a cloaking or invisibility otherwise someone might try to walk through him in the street. No, he needed to be seen, yet avoided.

Naruto frowned, 'So something that affects the eyes and the brain…' He'd want the Genjutsu to allow people to see him, but not register that it is him. But how?

What would they see when they looked at him? Someone else? An animal? No, then he'd still be seen.

Sighing, Naruto decided to take a break from the scrolls and head out to the library.

Applying his Henge, Naruto left the building and headed toward his favorite place outside the glorious ramen stand.

Once there, Naruto quickly dived back into the books. It would be this that would allow him to make a breakthrough with his thoughts on Genjutsu. As he slowly made his way down the shelf, he blinked in surprise when he bumped into a chair.

Looking away from the shelf, Naruto frowned down at the chair. 'I guess I was so lost in thought, I wasn't paying attention…paying attention…'

Naruto's mind began to race with possibilities. A chair, an unimportant piece of wood, just sitting there, ignored. What if he could make himself seem that unimportant? Make it so people look at him and have their minds registered as something as unimportant as an old chair.

As he began to piece together a possible Genjutsu, he ran into another obstacle. How to test the Genjutsu?

The only way to actually test it would be to walk among the villagers, something that he really didn't want to do.

'First things first, I have to actually make the Genjutsu. Then I can worry about testing it.' Naruto reminded himself as he made his way out of the library and back to his apartment.

It took several months, but eventually, Naruto was ready to test his Genjutsu.

The idea behind it was rather simple. The Genjutsu would be cast around himself, and grasp at the minds around him. He'd become… gray to the world… for lack of a better term. Just an ordinary-looking person while, in fact, being very difficult to notice, to the point of "hiding in plain sight". To anyone looking for him, he could walk around carrying a knife, and he'd be about as interesting as an old chair. In short, the eyes will perceive him but the mind will write him off as nothing important.

Perfect for avoiding attention, and as long as no Genjutsu specialist came along, he should be fine in theory.

Unfortunately, it was the "in theory" part that worried him. In order to test whether or not he could walk around with a knife…he'd have to actually walk around with one.

Dangerous to say the least, especially in a village full of trained assassins.

He was shaken from his thoughts when he a knock at his door followed by a voice.

"Oi, Naruto. I'm coming in." came the voice of a certain young Nara.

Thinking quickly, Naruto grinned and threw his Genjutsu around him. After all, it's better to start small when it comes to experiments.

Not a moment after his Genjutsu snapped into place, Shikamaru opened the door and stepped inside.

This in itself wasn't unusual, as the young Nara had taken to just popping in a couple times a week, with or without his kaa-san. They'd usually play a few games of shogi or some other game, before Yoshino showed up looking for her son. The first time this had happened, Yoshino had been like a different person. She'd proceeded to tear into the young Nara, admonishing him for going out by himself and not telling her. At first, Naruto had been surprised, and then after a few moments jealous.

Despite her apparent anger, Yoshino had clearly been relieved to find her son. This had stirred discontent in Naruto, who, not for the first time, wished that he too had a kaa-san to worry over him. But like always, he'd buried his feelings and continued with his life.

The Nara heir glanced around the apartment once, and then called out "Oi, Naruto! You here?"

Naruto's grin grew even wider. He was standing perfectly still in plain view, yet Shikamaru's eyes seemed to pass over him. Just like he was another piece of furniture.

Walking towards Shikamaru slowly before steadily increasing his speed, Naruto was pleased when the young Nara's expression didn't change, even when he passed Naruto on his way to check the rest of the apartment.

Deciding, to take things up a notch, Naruto jumped up and down a couple of times, stopping when Shikamaru spun around.

The young Nara scanned the apartment again, and then called out, "Naruto! Is that you?"

Stifling a chuckle when the Nara looked right at him, Naruto cautiously made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of pans. Then he rattled them together, before tossing them on the floor as Shikamaru came running into the room.

Shikamaru stared at the pans then gazed quickly around the room. "Troublesome… how did that happen?" Glancing around once more, he made his way back into the living room, with Naruto close behind.

'Perfect… it seems that he can't see me at all. Or more accurately, he does see me, just not really noticing.'Naruto thought as Shikamaru headed for the door.

Deciding to have a little fun, Naruto dropped the Genjutsu and cleared his throat.

Shikamaru jumped and whirled around to face him. "Naruto! Where did you come from!"

Through sheer will, Naruto kept his face blank other than raising an eyebrow. "Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…"

Naruto allowed himself to trail off when he saw Shikamaru's eye start twitching. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Troublesome blond idiot." Shikamaru growled angrily.

Naruto fought valiantly, he really did. But even he had his limits. So he did what he had to. He burst out laughing.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered as he closed the door. "Where were you? I was sure you weren't here."

That brought an end to Naruto's laughter. He'd been so busy having fun at the Nara's expense, that he didn't think about how he was going to answer any questions the younger boy might ask.

Luckily, thinking on his feet happened to be something Naruto was good at. "Oh, that, I was actually outside and I saw you heading here so I decided to follow you. I snuck in behind you when you were in the other room."

Shikamaru stared at him with a look of bored irritation. "And why did you feel the need to throw your pans around?"

Keeping his grin suppressed, Naruto instead put on a confused look and asked, "Pans?"

Shikamaru grunted, but didn't say anything else as he sat down in the middle of the room and pulled the shogi set that Naruto kept under his coffee table towards him.

As he began setting up the board he glanced up Naruto and drawled, "Are you going to sit down, or what?"

"Come on in, Shikamaru. You're always welcome here. Please, have a seat. How about a game of shogi?" Naruto said with a liberal amount of sarcasm.

Sarcasm that Shikamaru seemed to miss as he simply replied, "I know, now quit stalling and get over here and take your beating."

This time it was Naruto's eye that twitched. 'So the little brat thinks he can just waltz in here whenever he wants does he…I'll just have to remind him who's home this is.' Naruto thought as he sat down opposite the Nara heir.

"Try not to cry when you lose." Naruto sneered. "After all, your mommy isn't here to help you blow your nose."

"Eh, she'll be here soon enough, the troublesome woman." Shikamaru drawled as he moved a piece.

Naruto glanced up at him before returning his attention to the board. "Do you really plan on making her come get you again? Why don't you just head back at a reasonable time?"

Shikamaru glanced at the door and suddenly looked nervous.

Naruto frowned slightly before asking, "Shikamaru…what is Yoshino doing right now?"

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders nervously, glancing at the door again as he did so. "Looking for me."

Naruto slowly started to get alarmed. Yoshino had never done anything to hurt him before, but she could definitely be scary when she was angry. "What did you do?" Naruto asked, the game all but forgotten.

"She made me go shopping with her. I got bored so I sort of…walked off." Shikamaru muttered.

Naruto stared at him in horror. "And you came here!"

"I didn't have anywhere else to go." Shikamaru muttered defensively.

"Why didn't you go back to your own house?" Naruto asked loudly. Just loudly though, because he most certainly didn't shriek. Not at all.

"It would have been the first place she checked." Shikamaru replied.

Naruto opened his mouth, whether to argue or scream he didn't know, when he heard a very familiar voice shouting from the hallway. "Shikamaru Nara! You are in so much trouble mister!"

'Screw this!' Naruto thought as the door began to open. When the young Nara turned instinctively to look at the door, Naruto threw his Genjutsu around himself.

He definitely wasn't trying to hide from Yoshino, of course not. He just wanted to test his Genjutsu against an adult, that's all. He wasn't afraid in the slightest.

"I can't believe you! Not only did you run off on your own, but you broke into Naruto-kun's home as well!" Yoshino scolded the younger Nara.

"Huh? Wha-" Shikamaru spluttered as he turned back to see that Naruto had simply disappeared. "Oi, Naruto! Where'd you go?"

'Sorry, Shikamaru. But I'm not getting involved in this. Yoshino is damn scary when she's mad.' Naruto thought as he sat very, very still across from the doomed Nara.

Shikamaru looked around wildly before Yoshino grabbed his ear and twisted. "Owowow! Let go, you troublesome woman!"

"What did you call me? I can't believe you'd run off in the middle of shopping, to come break into Naruto-kun's house and play shogi by yourself!" Yoshino growled angrily.

"I didn't break in! And Naruto is here! Naruto! Get out here and get this troublesome woman off me!" Shikamaru drawled in irritation.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru, Naruto wasn't going to do any such thing.

"Nice try! Now put away Naruto-kun's shogi board! We're going shopping, and because of your little stunt, we're going to be late for dinner!" Yoshino ordered sternly.

Shikamaru attempted to convince her that Naruto was there, but seeing as how he never revealed himself, Yoshino just assumed he was lying.

A few minutes later, Naruto was alone once more. Sighing in relief, he released his Genjutsu. 'So far, it worked on a kid, and it worked on an adult. So I guess that means my Genjutsu is a success. Now I just have to think up a name.' Naruto thought to himself.

At that moment, a thought occurred to Naruto that made him grin. 'Since I completed my Genjutsu, I should go out and celebrate! And what better way to celebrate than ramen?'

Naruto certainly couldn't think of anything better. Giddily gathering his wallet, Naruto threw his Genjutsu around himself once again, performing his Henge a moment later.

When his Genjutsu didn't seem affected by the second technique, Naruto made his way outside.

Tori was bored. Well, that's not entirely accurate. He was also angry. His squad was quickly becoming the laughing stock the Anbu. News of his squad's inability to catch a six-year-old had already spread, and every time Uzumaki managed to elude them, the Anbu looked even worse.

He was shaken from his thoughts when his receiver came to life. "Observer Base to Stray Dog 1, Maelstrom has left his apartment and is in the stairwell, over."

Tori quickly began a slow pace toward the building from his position down the street. "Roger that, Observer Base. Stray Dog 1 to all elements, be advised Maelstrom is on the move, over."

Absentmindedly listening to the other members of his squad report in, Tori continued his slow pace, watching the front door of the apartment complex out of the corner of his eye. 'This would be so much easier if we could just watch the kid!' he thought irritably. But obviously, that wasn't an option with this target.

He vaguely took note of the door to the complex opening slightly before swing closed again. 'Probably just the win-'

"Observer Base to Stray Dog 1, Maelstrom has left the building, over."

Tori froze. It wasn't possible. "Stray Dog 1 to Lazy Cat 1, do you have Maelstrom? Over." Tori waited with bated breath.

"Negative, Stray Dog 1. Maelstrom did not leave via the back alley, over." came the reply.

"Damn it!" Tori swore before thumbing his transmitter to "village wide". "Stray Dog 1 to all elements, Maelstrom is running wild, I say again, Maelstrom is running wild, over."

Barely moments after he released the transmit button, a cacophony of voices, reports, and orders burst into life.

As Tori leapt to the rooftops to begin his search, he couldn't help but think, 'How? How does he keep doing this! If watching the little bastard wasn't my job, I'd be impressed!'

While all this chaos was going on, Naruto happily made his way to Ichiraku's. As he walked, he observed the people around him, and how they paid no attention to him. People looked right at him, before their eyes slipped away. They even unknowingly stepped around him in the crowd.

'Perfect.' Naruto thought with a triumphant grin as he hurriedly passed a young woman wearing a Chuunin vest.

Kurenai was on her way to pick up a new stock of dango -as Anko had eaten all of hers, and Kurenai learned long ago that not having dango in her apartment when Anko visits is just asking for a sermon on blasphemy- when she felt a slight tug on her senses. She dismissed it as unimportant and continued walking. Even when the tug happened repeatedly.

Glancing around, she frowned when she couldn't spot the source of- 'never mind it's not important…' Well it wasn't anything important- wait, what wasn't important?

Shaking her head, she looked around discreetly. The crowd had thinned out a little, which allowed her to more easily search for whatever was causing that tug. 'Is it Genjutsu? No, it's nothing importa-stop that!' Kurenai thought furiously.

Forcing herself to stay focused, she scanned the street. There was a small, brunette boy walking just in front of her, a trio of shopping housewives, a young teenage couple, and a sole Uchiha MP turning onto the street.

The Uchiha wasn't likely, as Kurenai had felt the tug before he arrived on the street. Glancing over at the teen couple, Kurenai was able to rule them out as well. From the looks of those two, they were far too…occupied…to be responsible for this Genjutsu. Especially with those roaming hands of theirs.

Which just left the housewives. Kurenai frowned as she studied them. They appeared to be normal women. Narrowing her eyes, she looked over the street once again. There was a trio of shopping housewives, a small, brunette boy walking just in front of her, a young teenage couple, and a sole Uchiha MP.

Looking intently at the Uchiha, Kurenai noticed him frown slightly, as he glanced over the road before seeming to relax.

'So, he can feel it too. But he doesn't seem to be able keep his mind on it…not surprising since it's not impor-damn it!' she thought angrily.

The teen couple had left the street by now, leaving only the housewives. She knew it had to be them, but she just couldn't find anything suspicious about them. Scanning the road again, she took note of the trio of housewives, a small, brunette boy walking just in front of her, and the Uchiha.

Kurenai had just begun studying the housewives again when her eyes suddenly snapped to the road in front of her. 'A small, brunette boy! How long has he been there?' she thought in shock. How could she, a Chuunin who was easily on the level of a Special Jounin, not notice him sooner? Even as she stared at the boy, she felt the urge to just let her eyes slide off him, to disregard him as something unimportant.

Focusing, she stopped her chakra flow, allowing the boy's Genjutsu to wash off her. Studying the boy, she was surprised to find that he didn't seem to be very threatening. He looked to be about ten or so, and seemed to be rather plain. Plain brown hair, plain face, plain clothes. Too plain in fact.

'A Henge?' Kurenai mused. 'But who wears a Henge and throws up a Genjutsu around them?' Her musing was cut short when the boy suddenly dropped his Genjutsu, dashed down the road and entered a…ramen stand?

Curious, Kurenai followed the young boy into the stand, taking a seat at the end of the counter. The boy glanced at her impatiently as she ordered, before turning to face the chef, practically dancing in his seat.

'How odd…I wouldn't think a ninja would be so excited about ramen of all-' before she could finish the thought she saw an image of Anko sitting at a table awaiting dango. The two were…disturbingly similar.

"Hey Teuchi, what's the hold up? I ordered my ramen like an hour ago!" the child called impatiently.

The chef -Teuchi- just chuckled. "You've only been here a few minutes Naruto-san. Besides, what would Ayame say if she heard you say that?"

Kurenai frowned. That name sounded very familiar…

"She's not here, is she?" Naruto asked nervously.

"No no, she's out right now. Still, you never know when she might be hiding in the back." Teuchi responded with a mischevious grin.

Naruto scowled. "Well, if she isn't around, then who gives a damn how I talk?"

Kurenai watched as the two talked back and forth, and while Naruto seemed rather rude, Teuchi just grinned and took it all in stride. Perhaps this was Naruto's way of showing affection to the old chef.

"Hey, Teuchi…" Naruto started quietly.

Kurenai tried to lean in closer without being too obvious.

"What is it, Naruto?" the old chef asked with concern.

Kurenai glanced over, wondering just what vital piece of information she might be able to snag from this conversation.

"You…you wouldn't let Ayame cut me off from the ramen would you?" Naruto finished shakily.

Kurenai tried very hard not to stare. 'So much for vital information…'

"Hmm…well, I wouldn't be able to serve you anymore if she did. She is my daughter after all." Teuchi answered.

Naruto seemed to droop in his seat at that.

"However…if you showed up a couple hours before the lunch and dinner rushes, then I might be able whip up a couple of bowls for you." Teuchi said with a grin as he placed a bowl of ramen in front of the boy.

"Thanks, Teuchi." Naruto said with a smile that drew Kurenai's attention.

For some odd reason, that smile seemed very familiar. And that name…

"No problem, Naruto-san. Of course, if you just did what Ayame told you and minded your manners, then you wouldn't have to worry about losing your ramen privileges, now would you?" Teuchi said with a grin.

"Traitor." Naruto accused as he ate his ramen. Teuchi just chuckled and went back to cooking, trading comments with Naruto throughout the boy's meal.

And so it went back and forth between the two. Kurenai was actually forced to eat so slow that her ramen went cold, and even then she'd been forced to order another bowl as Naruto ordered bowl after bowl.

It was around the sixth bowl that Teuchi said, "Alright, Naruto, you've had enough."

Naruto spluttered indignantly. "What do you mean, 'I've had enough'? I could easily eat another five bowls!"

"Sorry, Naruto, but ever since you threw up just outside the stand last month, Ayame decided that you could only have six bowls in one sitting." Teuchi said a tad bit sadly. "It's a shame too…if we let you eat as much as you could, I'd be able to retire, or maybe even turn this rickety old stand into an actual restaurant."

Kurenai chuckled quietly as Naruto twitched throughout Teuchi's lament.

"Fine then! I didn't want to hang out with your old ass anyway!" Naruto declared as he threw some money on the counter and stomped out of the stand.

"See you at supper, Naruto-san!" Teuchi called at the retreating boy.

"You're damn right, you will!" Naruto called over his shoulder.

Kurenai waited for a few moments, before paying for her own meal and following the boy.

Almost as soon as she stepped out, she was forced to dispel the boy's Genjutsu as he recast it.

It was much easier to dismiss this time, and Kurenai easily kept up with him. Glancing around, she decided to wait until there were more ninja before confronting him. As they walked, Kurenai took the chance to study him.

He seemed more tense than when they were in the stand, yet at the same time, he walked with a confident swagger in his step. Apparently, he thought his Genjutsu was impregnable. Which made him a rookie at best, though whether he was rookie ninja or a rookie Genjutsu user, was up for debate.

Then there was the name Teuchi called him. 'Naruto…why is that name so familiar…and why did that smile of his tug at my memories?' Kurenai wondered as they walked.

When they reached a more crowded area, Kurenai glanced around for other ninja. There was a trio of Jounin sharing drinks at an outdoor café, a couple of Uchiha on patrol, any number of Chuunin running across the rooftops, and a team of Genin working on painting a fence under the watchful eye of their Hyuuga sensei.

Deciding that now was the best time Kurenai lengthened her stride so she was walking next to the child, before stating in a conversational tone, "That's a nice Genjutsu you have there. But if you don't mind me asking, why do you have a Henge on under it, Naruto?"

Naruto turned to stare at the woman in shock. She saw him. She saw him! And she could see through his Henge! She knew exactly who he was. He was frozen only for a moment, before he panicked and tried to run away.

He vaguely heard the woman call out "Stop!" followed by a man's cry of "Genjutsu!"

But all that was running through his mind was 'She saw me…she saw me…SHE SAW ME!'

Naruto stumbled as he felt a stinging pain in his leg, losing his balance and falling head first into the ground. He barely had time to cry out as he slammed into the hard granite road.

His head swimming, and his vision tilting wildly, Naruto was barely aware of being scooped up and turned over. As his vision dimmed, Naruto found himself staring into a pair of crimson eyes before darkness claimed him.

Translations:

Tori=Bird

Tora=Tiger

Henge=Transformation

AN: There you have it. If you noticed, my Genjutsu is based on the "Graymen" from my favorite series, "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan. Anyway, any reviews, criticisms, suggestions, etc. are welcome.

Peace, Vaan.