The Real Monster

by Shadenight123

Monster. He was Monster. On one side, the happy bright family of the Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage, on the other, Monster. Four years of hell in orphanage, one year in Root, and finally five years in Kumo. Still, will he get over his traumas, or will his traumas bring him to deeper pits of darkness? Naru-Shizuka Chap-26onwards . Sad story. Finished. Dojutsu!

14. Surprising

Fourteenth chapter

Burnt marks weren't beautiful. Burnt marks were horrible, sickening, pieces of brown and dark brown flesh on one's own body made of perfect pink and smooth skin. It didn't matter the quantity of soap, of oils, of scents, those brown stains stayed there, no matter what. Sure, she was happy she wasn't foaming like a sex addict over a brigand, sure, she was happy she at least got back home, to her loving family, instead of what happened to Katsumi-chan, but those burnt marks on her side, those burnt marks made her feel uncomfortable. It wasn't like Ino, Ino had done a couple of easy level missions, and had come out unscathed, obviously crying in a corner of staying behind Shikamaru and Chouji, she, instead, had done what? Sakura left her right index and thumb pass through her now shorter hair, and stared at the window. She wasn't ugly, no, it was clearly she wasn't, but her forehead protector was probably the only reason she was no longer called *forehead girl*. She stared out of the window, at the white clouds that passed lazily, at the ninjas passing by on the rooftops or the civilian going about their work by walking on the ground. She slowly let her left hand pass over her right side of the body, where the burnt mark, like a sort of coiling snake, stood from half of her right arm till the back of her shoulder. She bit her lip. Yakumo, Naruto's teammate, didn't have a single scar. At first Sakura had thought she had been lying, under the use of Genjutsu, she did take a good deal of the flames for her, after all. Instead it had turned out the truth. Her skin was smooth, and no amount of disrupting Genjutsu had proven the opposite. The difference between them had been simple, Sakura recalled having yelled at Naruto on why there had been the difference of result with the same treatment, and to that, the boy had replied, she still recalled it. He had told her about Zabuza and her being healed by Haku, and she had cringed. She could have ended up dead, actually, and she was now fussing over a burnt mark.

It sounded stupid, but as she kept looking out of the window, at the people who walked around, lazily, without any burnt marks, without any imperfections, not that she could see them, she gritted her teeth, and moved out of her room. Sakura Haruno grabbed her long sleeved red dress, it was a bit warmer now, but still, she wouldn't wear a sleeveless one. She wore her long shorts, and then she walked down the stairs, to leave, without saying goodbye to her mother, or father. Maybe she just felt the need to make them worry. Maybe she just wanted them to feel something, instead of keeping on the snarky comments she had received, when battered, bruised and imperfect, she had come back from the mission and had been reprimanded, not hugged, she had been reprimanded for not having done enough as a ninja, and that maybe, it was due time she admitted she'd never be worthy of being a ninja, and of the gruesome path that they took. Still, she wouldn't give up, not with Sasuke in the same team, not with a high chance there wouldn't be competition, as the other new addition, a Genin called Yagura, was more a Taijutsu practitioner like Rock Lee. She should have felt sad for Katsumi-chan, she should have, but she couldn't, it was the way of the ninja, to live and to die in battles, Sakura had no doubt her friend from the academy was dead, carried away by the sudden failing of the ground, probably because of the overuse of high rank jutsus by the bandits. She walked silently, on the side of the dirt road, aiming towards the training grounds she was meant to be in, together with Sasuke and Yagura. It was by the side of the hot springs, with hot scorching water. Scorching, she hated scorching things, why couldn't it be freezing cold? She'd have accepted it being even dirty, cold, mud, but not scorching hot. She couldn't stand it: it made her scar itch and burn again. She slowly reached the position; Sasuke was already there, staring at her for just a brief moment, before turning to watch their sensei, Ebisu, a tokubetsu Jounin, specialized in training ninjas till they became elite. Usually, he'd be training Konohamaru, the third's grandson, but Kakashi had called in a favor, dropping the kids on him, as he had taken over the team that Kushina-san was no longer able to teach.

Sakura flinched, as the Jounin-sensei explained their exercise. She didn't want to be vocal about it, she didn't actually want to be there, to try and put a step in the water, the hot water, the boiling water, the scorching water, was there fire down below? Was there a deep horrible fire that burnt the skin and melted the fat and made ugly burnt marks? She let out a cry of pain as she felt in the water, after a few steps, and, like if her life depended on it, because in truth it did, she swam back as fast as she could, getting back onto the fine porcelain ground tiles that made this part of the street, near the hot springs, so pretty, so much different from her. She coughed out the water, and started shivering, while Sasuke, not caring in the slightest, kept trying, jumping back on the dry land, when he realized he'd fall. He had already trained to walk on surfaces, if water was the next step, then so be it. Yaguro was doing his best, albeit it was like he was cheating, skipping on the water through sheer use of Taijutsu, which meant he was pretty skilled in that, rather than using chakra. They both would probably get the exercise done by the end of the day, she, as a failure, would try and try again, with no use.

When the sun finally settled, Yaguro and Sasuke left, and even Ebisu, after a while, did so too. Sakura was drenched in the water and the night's breeze would probably make her feel even colder. Yet, she couldn't move. She could only gasp, looking at the porcelain tiles, as tears would run down her cheeks, mixed with the water from her wet hair, raining down on the perfect porcelain tiles. Why couldn't she go back to being beautiful? Naruto had healed Yakumo without leaving scars, of any type. Maybe he could help her.

"Why are you crying?" the voice interrupted her from her situation, and as she dried her tears and face, she turned her gaze upward, to the man wearing a wolf-like Anbu mask, dressed in what looked like black, but in the shimmering light of the hot springs, obtained by the use of lanterns and the light burning of charcoals and incenses, it showed speckles of green, with dark red armguards, filled with senbon needles, and small blades.

"I…I was not crying!" Sakura replied, with a snap, he could be an Anbu for all she cared: she had better things to do then amuse a higher level ninja, like, perhaps, take on her mother's job, and become a Housewife for someone important.

"You were," the voice replied, slightly amused, as he gently offered his right glove, covered in thick black gloves, "it's nothing to be embarrassed about," he added, softly. Whoever the man was, he had to have kids, as it was the sole reason he could speak so gently, easing her into actually grabbing that hand and then being lifted off with ease. Sure, she was a lightweight, but the strength of the man's grip was something different.

"A ninja should show no emotions," Sakura muttered back, biting her lower lip.

"A ninja is not a tool, miss, we have emotions, refuting them is refuting reality," the man spoke again, before gently ruffling her short pink hair. She could have bitten back, but the man's words and the man's actions, just, it made her feel at ease in his presence, it was soothing, silent…

The next moment, she closed her eyes, tiredness taking the better of her, as she drifted into sleep, straight there, in the man's arms.

"Yoru, understood how it works?" The voice spoke, slowly.

"Yes Boss, your gloves are covered in a light sleep inducing toxin, that through the use of fire chakra channeled into it, can become airborne. The fact *we* are immune to toxins makes it a perfect weapon for finesse, but not for battle," The black snake slithered out from the man's jacket, before staring at the girl, fallen asleep into his boss' arms, "father told me you had a knack for stealing women's hearts".

"If I know him, he told you that he slept with double my number in snakes," Yoru chuckled at that, "let's get her back home."

"He also said you were a softie, deep down…didn't you hate her in particular, however?" Yoru hissed slightly, as Naruto, because it was him, grabbed the Kunoichi and placed her on his back, dashing off in the night.

"She has purpose…and one more kunai with me," he muttered, "is one less kunai for him," he added.

"You know I don't care boss. Remember the ramen though: I like mine spicy like a volcanic eruption" Naruto rolled his eyes over, in his mask, making it an unseen motion.

"You always eat…" Naruto stopped midway, sidestepping and avoiding a handful of snakes directed at the place where he would have been, hadn't he changed his trajectory.

"Hey Assassin-kun! I found you!" the voice came from someone that Naruto knew, as his heart skipped a beat.

Yoru kept quiet, feeling his boss tense. This wasn't going to be pretty at all.

Anko stood, with four Anbu-class ninjas, surrounding the man.

"You're going on a date somewhere, Assassin-kun?" Anko queried, chuckling, "I can't have you do that, can we? We just found out where..." the Kunoichi had begun speaking, in the hope of the Anbu surrounding the assassin to take the first move, and incapacitate him while she distracted him. No such luck.

As the one behind charged through, Ninjato in hand, Naruto didn't need to see him, Yoru felt it, and tensed in the appropriate places to signal it. In the blink of a second, he sidestepped, throwing Sakura at the ninja's feet, making him lose his balance and sending a senbon straight into the man's mask and through it, to pierce his skull through the use of his wind affinity.

One down, Naruto thought, as he jumped in midair, to avoid the other two and their kunais.

"Can't dodge in mid-air, Assassin-kun!" as Anko threw a kunai swiftly, it impacted harmlessly against the ninja's armguards, placed in a crossing position to maximize the defended area of the chest.

"Well…you can parry…" Anko muttered, the two Anbu's below turned their gaze upward, readying the hand signs for their respective jutsus, as one used air and the other fire, a great ball of flames sprouted forward, surrounding and possibly incinerating the man, who disappeared from view.

"We got him!" one of the Anbu guards said, as the other grabbed their dead comrade, to move his body to the side, and to take a look at the pink-haired girl.

"No we didn't! Keep your guards up!" Anko yelled at the two, "He's toying with us! There's no charred body around, and I'll be damned if I know how he managed to get away, but still, he's around!"

"Precisely," the voice spoke slowly as two assassins appeared at the back of the two Anbu-class ninjas, one with a lion mask, the other with a hare mask, "Your mistake, however," the voice was coarse, really coarse and guttural, "Was thinking there was only one of us." The two Anbu guards fell, their throats slit, without being able to do more…

Anko felt the typical cold metal on her neck too, and as her neck hair tensed, she could hear the voice behind her speak once more.

"I'm enjoying this, I know I shouldn't…but I'm enjoying this…The thrill, the hunt, the blood, I'll kill all the evildoers in Konoha, those you protect, those you hide, those you make look innocent, and when I'll be finished Konoha will be clean, perfect, and empty," with those final words, he dashed away, together with the other two, leaving the pink-haired, and fainted girl, on the ground, right in the middle of the three Anbu's corpses.

Anko bit her lip, clenching her fists, this was another Orochimaru. This was worse than another Orochimaru. At least Orochimaru was being taken seriously, this guy, instead, wasn't. He had just killed three Anbu ninjas, with a speed that rivaled that of Maito Gai in his best days and he wasn't alone, at least three. This meant it had been an organization all along; an organization which enjoyed hunting down Jounin and Anbu-class ninjas to make them suffer. Many had outright called quits, and for once, Konoha was in dire need of ninjas to do missions, and not because they had died. The Chuunin exams were around the corner, if these assassins weren't caught by then…it could mean a political disaster. They had tracked him down through a pattern the assassin used to follow. The targets were at first only low-level Jounins, then he had started splitting into doing a Jounin-middle level and an Anbu-low level, then it went with Jounin-high level, and Anbu-middle level. He had yet to touch a high level Anbu, but he was getting stronger and stronger. Whoever he was, whatever he used, he was smart.

Even in the fight, he didn't use Ninjutsus to easily recognize his type of fighting skill. He had a hostage, which had forced the first guy to come in with a sword, albeit the girl would have been normally sacrificed, but who can call cold-hearted an Anbu, when you're speaking of an eleven year old girl? She didn't even have her forehead protector on, so she had to be a civilian…had it been a Kunoichi instead…

Anko touched the pockets of the girl, and removed from within it a Konoha's headband protector, that made her narrow her eyes. He had removed it from the girl to make her look like a civilian hostage! He knew full well what it would mean not to, since Shinobi and Kunoichi could be sacrificed. She didn't know wherever to applaud him or curse him, they had lost three Anbus not to save a civilian, but to save a Genin. Maybe the girl could be interrogated, later on. She too felt a bit of a headache coming, as she was the only one left alive…

"Maybe he doesn't touch girls," she mused the thought, shaking her head later on, "nah, probably thought I was too much for him to fight," grabbing the pink-haired girl, she dashed towards the hospital.

*Next Day*

Naruto stood quietly, his white armguards perfectly clean and polished, as Yoru was peacefully sleeping, making hiss sounds every now and then. He stood, his legs crossed, on top of a tree in the forest of death. The mission *retrieve Tora* had suddenly jolted from a D-level mission to a C level one. Because the cat had, obviously, decided that he would now try his best in hiding in the forest of death.

"Pops is always sad when we have to capture Tora-chan," Yoru muttered, "He thinks it's unfair to take away his freedom for the enjoyment of that big fat woman."

"I know…the day I'll leave Konoha I'll bring that cat to Kuro. So he'll be fine." Naruto replied, before closing his eyes and sighing.

"I can feel you, Sai." Sai, his *teammate* and Danzo's associate, appeared on an ink bird behind him, slowly lifted up from his hiding spot in the middle of the tree branches.

"This forest of death seems peaceful, Naruto-san," he stated.

"Dead things make no noise, Sai-kun," Naruto replied with a chuckle, "nor do they answer your questions, or speak with you, or tell you stories, they do not make noise, as they do not breath, nor eat, nor drink, or anything else you might think of…dead only rot."

"Macabre as always Naruto-kun," Kakashi had in the meantime climbed the tree with his feet enhanced with chakra, "still, shouldn't you all be searching for that cat? The forest is big, and while you already *did* hand in the entry for the Chuunin examination…this is training I tell you."

"I know Kakashi-sensei…and if I weren't disturbed, I'd tell you that I'm sensing Tora right now," Naruto muttered, pointing towards Nord-east, "two hundred meters, on a rock near a creek, taking the sun."

Sai nodded, before dashing off with the speed of his Ink-bird.

"I'll tell Yakumo-chan she can stop cutting down trees in the forest." Kakashi muttered, as he slowly descended once more. The death of Katsumi had probably impacted on Naruto: Kakashi knew that, at least, he thought it had to be that. Naruto was the one he had tasked to clog the water of truth, but who would have known that doing that would have made half the city collapse? Naruto had been pale for most of the following hours, and when he had woken up in that *nearly* adult body, he had simply started laughing for a good part…completely snapping out of it after Kushina had slapped him, telling him to keep calm, because Katsumi-chan was certainly going to be alive.

Kushina-san had been positive on that for a while, but signs of her mental instability had increased with the passing of time. At first, Yakumo had been considered a threat by her, then a friend, then, at times, they had spoken about how nice orange would look on Yakumo, and the day Yakumo had tried something orange, Kushina had outright gone with a red wig, and forced the girl, for the day, to answer only to the name of Katsumi-chan.

They had been alone, when that had happened. Kakashi shivered, recalling how for an entire day of private training, Yakumo had been scared senseless, the chakra chains around her making her look like a dog on a leash, sapping away her chakra, preventing her from casting Genjutsus of sorts to try and free herself. Naruto had arrived however, and, while saving Yakumo…he had delivered her another fatal blow of sorts. It had taken Minato's efforts combined with that of him, to calm her down long enough to seal away her chakra. Kakashi shook his head. His sensei had it tough now, not only was his ex-wife mad, but he had probably even lost his daughter, and his son didn't even look at him.

Still, Kakashi couldn't help but feel that the boy needed someone to vent out all of his pent-up rage, or at least his distaste for the world.

Something else, however, bothered the silver-haired Jounin.

The forest of Death is too quiet. This isn't any different from finding Tora in the village, I wonder why. Kakashi had barely finished the thought, that one of the forest lions inhabiting the area decided to prove him wrong, advancing towards him with his fierce teeth in show, roaring against the ninja, readying himself to pounce at him.

Kakashi wasn't much bothered, his Icha-Icha book in one hand he prepared his Kunai to knock out cold the lion, but as he expected his Kunai to land on the lion's face, he felt nothing.

Turning his attention back to the area, he realized the lion was gone.

"…Did it just disappear in mid-air?" Kakashi was curious about this strange fact. Maybe he shouldn't have been too distracted by the book.

As the silver-haired Jounin shrugged, keeping reading Icha-Icha while going where he had last left Yakumo, a dark green and black snake hissed his final warning to the lion somewhere away in the bushes, and the lion, wincing in pain, meowed in reply.

The mission done, the team went to report, but just as they were about to enter the Hokage's office, Anko emerged from it, stopping for a moment, Sakura next to her, her gaze down.

Naruto stared at her, and she stared back at him, while Sakura, realizing that Anko had stopped, looked up to see Naruto's team, and Naruto himself, and couldn't help but feel her throat parch up, in nervousness.

Naruto wasn't the eleven year old boy that Anko had cared for, he was now taller, leaner, and, to Anko, he looked precisely like the assassin on the rooftop, if not for the different color of the armguards, and for the fact that he wasn't wearing a mask. It was too little not to try and think that her little bundle of happiness had turned into an assassin, a soaked in blood one. There were too many things they had in common. She couldn't help but feel saddened by it, was it really always like that? Were all the people she truly liked, and felt the need to care for, turning out to be blood thirsty monsters? She didn't want to hear his voice because she didn't want to feel her doubts come true, by recognizing it. She didn't want that, and so, she simply walked through, not a single word uttered.

"…Onee…" Naruto tried, his voice dying in his throat as Anko simply passed him by, not speaking to him at all. Sakura tailed straight behind her, not even looking at Kakashi, who had abandoned her and Sasuke to another teacher.

Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow in surprise. Not even answering was a new thing for the purple-haired Kunoichi: he'd have to ask his contacts in Anbu about that, he felt hurt when not even Sakura said anything, but he expected that, he knew it would hurt, but there was no choice in the matter, sensei had decided that he had to keep an eye out for Naruto, without Kushina able to. They entered soon afterwards, and Kakashi couldn't help but see the look on Minato's face tense slightly, before shaking his head.

"Did you get the cat?" Naruto pointed to Sai, who, nodding, grabbed a scroll and *unsealed* Tora the cat, who began meowing heavily, and screeching, before Yakumo grabbed him and held him thanks to her *oni*'s hand.

"Nice to see you've gained control of your reality Genjutsu, Yakumo-chan," Minato said with a smile at the girl, who nodded, with a happy grin, before handing the cat over to the Daimyo's wife.

"Good, there are no more missions for the remainder of the day, so you're all free to go, except you Naruto, I need to speak to you in private," as Minato pointed that out, the team left Naruto alone in the office with the Hokage.

"Listen…I've been thinking," Minato muttered, "that you might enjoy Konoha more," Naruto rolled his eyes over, "if you transferred to the Namikaze mansion, Kushina-san would surely appreciate having a relative nearby and…"

"Order me then, don't ask me to, you're the Hokage, right? Make it a long-term S-rank mission." Naruto retorted, sarcastically.

"S-rank? Come on, D-rank would be better…if it ever was a rank, no, I won't order you to…but your…relative, Kushina-san, really would like to see you, Naruto…she was more hurt by your words back then than by Katsumi's gone missing."

"I just told her the truth, Hokage-sama," Naruto stressed the *sama*, "her daughter is dead, and same applies for her son, she just needs to accept reality, that is what she needs."

Minato hardened his glare on Naruto, but said nothing.

"Fine, then can you explain why someone goes around killing Jounin and Anbu class level ninjas, using wind affinity,"

How did he find that out?

You probably charged the senbon needle too much, and some wind chakra remained.

Sheesh.

"Who dresses like you, and who also has white armguards?"

Yoru tensed in the way to silently mention *trap*, and Naruto narrowed his eyes back, before shrugging.

"It this assassin dresses stylishly with white armguards, it means he has to be following my fashion sense."

Minato hadn't yet given out the details of the assassin, nor his *red* armguards, had Naruto corrected him, or used that as a defense, it would have nailed the coffin.

"You know we could torture you…" Minato muttered.

"Then you'd have hell to pay, as my father is coming soon enough, and unless you go all the way and kill me, I'll be sure to report it to him when the time comes, and you can't use a mind dive on me to check it out." Naruto replied.

"Are you threatening me, brat?"

"I'm telling you the truth, Hokage-sama…I'm a weapon leased to Konoha, who's given a choice. My choice is Kumo, will be Kumo tomorrow and the day next to that, and I will go back to Kumo, nothing, no-one, and not even Kami himself will make me change this idea!" as Naruto said that, Minato sighed.

"People change. I'm sure you'll change your mind, maybe after getting yourself a girlfriend too, how about that Sakura girl? You know she asked some questions about you earlier…like where you lived."

Naruto raised an eyebrow perplexed.

"Doesn't all of Konoha know where I live? I mean: the fact that I'm piling paralyzed bodies of civilian in front of my house, covering them in pink paint, should be a big enough sign."

"Maybe she just wanted to be sure," Minato shrugged, "anyway, you have personally been assigned to act as the *guide* of a recently returned to town important clan's head, the head of the Senju clan, Tsunade Senju. She's also the grand-daughter of the first Hokage, and her grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, belonged to the Uzumaki clan of which you are a part of, so, in a certain way…you're family." Naruto growled under his breath.

"Listen here, I'm Naruto. Naruto and that's final, if Otou-san had a surname I'd use it, but since he doesn't, I'm Naruto, son of A, son of the Raikage of Kumo, and that's final. I'll deal with the woman, but I won't go around having my cheeks pinched," Naruto's growl turned slightly feral, as Minato chuckled.

"She's also one of the legendary Sannin so trust me when I say that if she does pinch your cheek, you'd lose half your face." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"So, where is the woman?"

"At the Namikaze mansion of course, she's using a guest room," Minato smiled while Naruto's murderous aura started to grow thicker by the minute, "Now, now, *Naru-chan*, go along on your mission, before I actually force you to transfer there," Minato's tone grew icy cold, as Naruto, for once, felt the urgent need to actually bring actions into his words, but instead, he nodded, and turned to leave.

"I'll mark this one down as a free mission. He didn't ask me what level it was after all." Minato whispered, as the door closed behind him. Well, with that, he was hopeful that Tsunade would actually convince the boy of the will of fire, and to remain in the village. Since working with people that liked the village didn't work, why not try with people who disliked it?

Still better than Danzo's alternative of using torture and mind breaking on the boy…that would go as a last resort though…the assassin, whoever he was, wasn't alone. Still, Naruto fit the bill, with his use of Kage Bunshins, but then how did the other assassins come with different masks? There had to be more than one of them, of that, he was sure. Unless Naruto could read out the missions and prepare beforehand his plans to con the Anbus, but the Anbus were the best there were in Konoha, they wouldn't lose to a brat!

Naruto sneezed, as he cursed the Hokage for a moment, before walking down an alleyway, where a rectangular rock stood in wait.

Iruka-sensei was looming over the rectangular rock with a really angry face, and, just as he was about to hit it, the rock, demonstrating good preservation senses, dashed to hit against Naruto's legs, making a small boy with a blue scarf, to pop out from under the carton box painted to resemble a rock.

"Konohamaru-kun! You cannot…" skip lessons, that was the usual drill of Iruka-sensei, but Konoha's history was boring, and he didn't want to go home to Asuma-san, who was a heavy smoker. Still, Iruka's voice had stopped speaking, and, as Konohamaru raised his eyes, he stared at a broad shouldered boy with blue eyes, long blond hair tied in a pony-tail on his back, till shoulder length, white armguards filled with senbon needles and combat knives, and dressing with a dark green jacket, a dark brown shirt and black cargo pants, who had a curious look on his face, which seemed to have whisker's marks on it.

"Playing truant?" Naruto queried looking at the boy, who stood up before pointing his finger at the older one.

"I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi! My grandfather was the third Hokage, he sacrificed himself to kill the Kyuubi and…" Iruka paled, drastically. The *Kyuubi* being inside the boy that was listening to the boy's rant with an interesting expression.

"…So I'm not playing truant!" with that, the boy huffed his chest outside, in pride, before he felt himself being pulled up and then thrown straight into Iruka's chest, who grabbed him while letting out a gasp.

"I am Naruto, and I hate long winded idiots," with that, Naruto kept on walking down the road, with Konohamaru's face turning pale, as the boy had simply thrown him out of the way without regards or concerns.

"Naruto! This is not how…" Iruka would have wanted to scold the boy, but the stare he got back…he froze on his spot, words dying in his throat, as he recognized that stare of hardened anger and gleeful hatred, the same stare the boy used before brutally murdering an already defenseless Mizuki.

"Did you say something, Iruka-san?"

"Nothing…nothing," grabbing Konohamaru, Iruka dashed away, leaving a slightly satisfied Naruto, who was, however, reprimanded by Yoru.

"Did you have to do that?" the snake hissed.

"What? He bumped into me and expected me to be sorry." Naruto replied, sighing deeply as he assumed a slightly more tranquil walk, there was no way he'd go there *early* if he could go there *late*.

"Throwing him against Iruka-sensei wasn't…" Yoru felt the boy tense up, and sighed, "There's a story behind this, isn't it?"

"Yeah…when we came back, and Katsumi wasn't with us, *he* gave the fault to me. Not to her being weak, but to *me*…she was weak, and unfit to be a Kunoichi, like Sakura and the rest of those fan girls are. If they can't understand that, why should I care?"

"Still…I think you should have a chat with Pops eventually, you know?" Naruto sighed, letting his right hand pass through his blond hair.

"I suppose…it's getting a bit out of hand. There's something wrong with me, I know…thank Kami Kuro is a good counselor."

"Don't tell that to me…you know that Teuchi is thinking there are fairies in his shop? Orders for take-away pop out in increasingly quantities, and he has no idea where the food ends up. He hired three more people to manage to dish out the ramen quantities," Yoru chuckled, "so, anyway, we're being followed."

"Yeah, and judging by the smell, it's something who takes little to no baths all the time."

"I took a bath last month boss!" Kiba yelled, as he gave away his position from a couple of meters behind Naruto.

"Gave away our position," Shino muttered, appearing from behind Kiba, and shaking his head, "Hinata-san, please come out too."

As the timid Hyuga girl actually emerged, she whimpered slightly, before starting to fidget with her fingers.

"Shino, Kiba, how are my two troublemakers doing today?" Naruto said, with a smile, as he moved closer to them, until he was right in front of Kiba, at which point he threw him a straight punch to the side of the face, sending him against a wall.

"I told you never, ever to give away your position Kiba! Do you want to die on your first mission, huh!" Naruto yelled, grabbing the boy by the sides of the jacket, as Akamaru barked at the sight of Yoru, who hissed a chuckle back.

"I'm…I'm sorry boss, did you have to hit me?" Kiba whined.

"You only understand with hits, now, have you understood the lesson?" as the Inuzuka nodded, Naruto sighed in relief, letting him go, and then turning to Shino with a small smile.

"Why were you following me?"

"I was curious," the voice came from a female voice, that one belonging to Yuuhi Kurenai, who appeared from the side of the wall, "as to why my team was refusing entering the Chuunin exams."

"Well…" Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "I've got no idea too: why are you lot not entering?"

Shino was the one to speak, slowly.

"When Sensei asked us when we would be ready to take the Chuunin exams, Kiba replied *the day Naruto says we are*…sensei then got curious." Naruto turned his eyes to Kiba, who was now fidgeting just like the Hyuga girl was.

"Sorry boss, it's just, I can't even scratch you the times when we spar, if you're in the exam and we fight off, I've got zero to none chances. I know it, I'm not ready yet." Naruto sighed.

"Which is why I'd like to speak with Kakashi-san about combined team training," Kurenai spoke, "in this way, I'll also see how he's taking care of Yakumo-chan, I homeschooled her for a long while, and I'm hoping she's gone over her…fears."

"Oh she has done that, trust me," Naruto chuckled, "Well… I'll talk to Kakashi-san when I see him. Right now I've got a mission to escort someone around town." With that, he waved goodbye to the three, but mentally noted down how stupid he had been.

Konoha's got the Byakugan, and it took me now to realize it!

Which means?

They can see through masks! If one of those Hyuga goody-two-shoes gets sent to capture me…I know it's slim, but still…

My…you're an idiot.

What is it?

Just coat the mask in chakra: it will prevent the byakugan from seeing through towards your face, because all they'd see would be the flickering blue of the chakra.

You know, I'm starting to think you're being too nice recently.

Well, you did age considerably…and you still are. You're probably going to die soon.

Naruto froze. What? What was the fox saying now?
Wait, you didn't understand? You took a sauna in Hero Water, that thing, normally, increases tenfold the capacity of the chakra coils, by burning up cells from the human body ten times faster, you, instead, got completely submerged in it through the fog, and you just got lucky that you were immediately thrown into the water of the waterfall, and then my chakra coursed through your veins. Instead of dying, you aged faster. You are actually a fourteen or fifteen years old. Still, the process will take time to stop. You might, in the following years, reach the twenty-five or even thirty mark, before actually returning to your normal aging way.

Naruto relaxed, letting out a sigh in relief.

Don't scare me like that! I thought I was going to die tomorrow!

What? You probably lost a good chunk of life, twenty years at worse…shouldn't you be crying over it?

I'm a ninja. Self-pitying will get me nowhere, and hey, the lifespan of a ninja isn't all that grand.

That's why I should have ended up into a fisher boy. I love fish. The Kyuubi actually pouted that, before turning her gaze to the cage she was in. She could see the Uzumaki chains rattling just outside it, waiting. The boy had learned to play her same game. She could try and force his way out, as the seal, with the increased aging of the boy, had been weakening, but those chains…would be waiting. She had started to come to terms with the fact that, either the boy freed her as he had promised, or that she was bound to get moved into another container at due time. She snorted, retreating to the depths of her cage, and waited.

Naruto reached the Namikaze mansion, for all his time in Konoha this was the first, actual, time that he had been there. At the gates, where two chuunin ranked ninjas stood, probably waiting for him, he shrugged, before coughing out.

"I'm here to escort Miss Senju-sama, I'll be waiting here." He tried the polite tone at least, so when the two guards stared at each other, before trying to lash out at the *demon*, with harsh words, he was perfectly entitled to show his fiercest snakes emerge from his shoulders, adding, in a slightly angry tone, "Go call her."

The two guards obeyed, as the two snakes retracted into his shoulders, disappearing from view.

If one could create many snakes to dart up from the arms, why not from the shoulders, or the back, or the legs?

"You really need anger control, Naruto," Yoru pointed out, "and maybe a vacation. Father will insist on that, you know."

"Why does everyone think that only three hours of sleep is such a bad habit?" The boy whined, looking at the sky.

"Because *it* is a bad habit. You need to stop self-destructing yourself," Yoru hissed gently, "it will make people sad then."

"Fine, I promise I'll go talk to Kuro first thing after this mission, how long could it take?" After a couple of minutes, a blond woman with twin tails emerged from the mansion, on her back a green coat, and with most prominent features that would have made even Samui blink in surprise.

She moved stomping the ground, leaving cracks where she walked, before stopping straight in front of the boy, as behind her, her assistant, probably, a girl with hazel hair, reached for her running slightly.

"Tsunade-sama!"

"You're Naruto Uzumaki?" as Tsunade queried that, looking at the boy, Jiraiya had to be wrong, he had described a gaki not much tall, of eleven years old, but this guy did fit all the other descriptions, but he was just taller, leaner, she could see the muscles tensing up at the surname being spoken in the same way an animal prepares to pounce at a prey, and then relax after it was done. She could see, with her expert eyes, something moving under his jacket, as slowly, a black snake emerged from it, Jiraiya had told her about the boy's passion for snakes, something he had taken after being brought into the life of Mitarashi Anko, Orochimaru's previous student.

Still, the boy resembled so much Minato and Kushina, that it kind of hurt her knowing how much he actually hated them, and even Konoha. She…she disliked Konoha, it had taken away everything from her, and the only reason she still was there was because Kushina was a relative, and because she had been the godmother for Katsumi. That meant she was supposed to be the godmother for Naruto, too. Nobody had told her that, however. They had only told her that, out of the twins, one had died. Jiraiya had been told, and she hadn't, because, obviously, she'd have punched Minato all the way through the land of fire twice, for the pain he'd subject Kushina to. Instead, now the kid hated the guts out of the two, to the point where his last words, to Kushina, had actually broken her psyche. She didn't know how, or when, she had worsened that much, maybe the death of Katsumi, because for Tsunade too, as it was unlikely for a Genin to survive a waterfall without preparation, Katsumi was dead. Now, Kushina simply stood in her room, chakra suppressant seals active, to avoid her lashing out with her chains, holding tightly onto Katsumi's clothes, refusing to let them go, even to eat. She had to be force fed.

It pained her, it pained her to no end, and she needed a healthy dose of drinks.

"My name is Naruto, Senju-sama, I am the weapon leased to Konoha from Kumo, nothing more," Naruto replied, biting his tongue to avoid saying anything more, "and my duty is to escort you around this city."

"I am Yoru, Naruto's partner, pleasure to meet you," the snake talked. The snake actually raised his head, made a polite bow, and talked. Tsunade stared at the snake narrowing her eyes, since when did snakes talk? Shizune instead let out a small shriek, as she grabbed onto Tonton, her pig pet, a bit harder, making it whine.

"You're a …talking snake?" Tsunade queried.

"That, or my Boss has a knack for ventriloquism," Yoru replied as Naruto groaned, "What? Lighten up the atmosphere! That's my specialty."

"I thought your name was Kuro, are you related?"

"Kuro's my father, he's the head of the Boss' summons," Yoru explained, earning himself a hiss from Naruto.

"Why didn't you learn silence?" Naruto muttered gritting his teeth.

"I shouldn't have said that?" Yoru meekly replied, "Well, come on Boss, it means you just have to talk to pops sooner than later!"

"Summon boss? The snakes summon boss can't be your father, I mean…you can't have snakes summoning as that scroll is…" Tsunade's eyes widened at the realization: did the boy…could he actually have done…

"What I can or can't have isn't the discussion now. I'm escorting you, Senju-sama, so, where do you wish to go?" Naruto snapped in, keeping a bad stare towards Yoru, who made pleading sorry red eyes, until he got his head slightly scratched by the boy. He couldn't keep being angry at the poor reptile. It was mostly his fault for having taken him and not trained him completely…but a slip of the tongue was bound to happen eventually, and his nature was more fiery and easy going then that of Kuro…for what it meant Kuro's nature being more reserved, obviously.

"Well, you know, I'd like to go around town, gambling slots and sake bars...come on, let's get going," as Tsunade began walking, Naruto simply nodded, staying next to the woman, not uttering a word more, as Shizune slowly moved behind the two.

"You speak little for being eleven years old," Tsunade said, after half an hour of walking Konoha's streets, strangely without having to go through the mass of people, who stood apart with little difficulty once they realized just who was walking.

Naruto simply nodded in acknowledgement, without saying another word.

"You could say something, brat," Tsunade's forehead had now a tick mark, appearing at the side of her temple.

"Why should I, Senju-sama? I'm forced here to avoid a war starting: I'm not here because I like the village, or its people. That guy over there," Naruto growled pointing at someone who had strangely pink hues in his hair, "Tried to enter my house last night, to write with pig blood on my walls, I could have killed him, should have killed him, instead, I let him go…after dousing him in pink paint." Yoru hissed a chuckle, as the man question, feeling Naruto's gaze, let out a small scream and dashed back inside his shop.

"So…it's not fashion," Tsunade muttered, realizing just then how many, of the people that were making space for them to walk through, had something pink on their face, hair, or something else, "you actually have that many people hating you?"

"Oh come on…they told you who I am, right?" Naruto muttered back, clearly annoyed.

"Well, but, they should see you as a…" Tsunade was interrupted once more, she hated being interrupted, but this time, Naruto's gaze was cold and staring straight at her, like Orochimaru's, once.

"I am the son of the Kage of Kumo, I am a Kumo ninja who wears the Kumo headband," Pointing at his right arm, "and am forced to wear the Konoha's one," pointing at his wrist, "Kumo and Konoha nins don't go well together, and that's why they hate me. If we add that other thing, then hello, why the hell am I still here? Oh yes, I can't leave…just try and get over it, I am not wanted by Konoha, and I do not want to stay in Konoha. At the present, the Hokage has tried everything *but* forcing me to marry someone," Naruto muttered, angrily.

"Calm down boss…DOWN!" Naruto barely lowered his head, as Tsunade's right fist hit the air, where moments before it was, then he sidestepped to the side, to avoid a sweeping kick that still made a fissure, a damn fissure, in the ground.

"Senju-sama?" Naruto queried, keeping his senses high.

"Then you've broken Kushina's mind with your words on purpose?" Tsunade queried, looking at the boy with her eyes narrowing down, "I thought it was strange, but Minato told me how much you acted like you actually *loved* her during your trip back, just to take all of that away in an instant, in the moment she needed it the most...you destroyed her mind, do you realize that?"

"So what?" Naruto replied, bitterly, "It's too easy to see only one side of the coin, isn't it? Too difficult to see everything, to see the reason, well, maybe I did, maybe I did not," Naruto's weight came down from his body, letting a dust cloud form around himself, hiding him from view, "but then, she *did* kidnap me!" with that, Naruto emerged from the cloud, his right punch directed at Tsunade's face, who smirked, blocking it with her left arm.

"You think you can go up against a Sannin!" as her right hook went through the boy's ribs, he puffed into smoke.

"No, alone I cannot," another one dashed towards her, from up above, in a spin-wheel kick as Tsunade swiftly sidestepped, to avoid the enhanced kick with air chakra.

"Then again, I am the one man army, didn't you know that?" as Tsunade's fist connected once more, it puffed away again.

"Kage Bunshins? You must be at your wits end now…" Tsunade muttered, before recalling Jiraiya's words.

The brat has got so much chakra that he trained all day on the rasengan without fainting and still ended up having the strength for twenty more Kage Bunshins…twenty!

"How many can you create?" Tsunade queried, as the people in the street had all but started screaming and leaving in confusion.

"More than two thousands…" another one appeared, but Tsunade narrowed her eyes, it wasn't a boast, so…

"Where's the real one?"

"Forest of Death." The clone replied, shrugging.

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because Yoru received the call back from Kuro, and Naruto has gone there too. It was starting to get out of hand."

"You seem more collected than the other clones," as Tsunade pointed that out, the Naruto in question nodded.

"I am alpha, the first Kage Bunshin of the month. The more the time passes, the more stress the original one accumulates, while I keep to myself, training in the forest of death, so as not to be disturbed."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"He has kage bunshins to hold out an entire month! That's bordering the insane! The chakra consumption is…"

"Hush," Clone Naruto dismissed the issue, with a hand wave, "we have chakra, far more than we actually would ever need, it nearly doubled after the event in Takigakure, and thus we have no trouble."

"So…I take it you're not the only one," Shizune kept staring surprised, firstly on one side, then the other, Tsunade's usually angry demeanor was now replaced by sheer curiosity, something the legendary medic-nin didn't feel in a long time.

"No, there is Beta, who concentrates on Ninjutsu's theory, there is Gamma, who takes care of Genjutsu part, and then there's Delta and Epsilon."

"Why don't you tell me what those two concentrate on?" Tsunade queried, as a horrible suspicion arised, was the boy really another Orochimaru? Did he go around killing people, sectioning them, using them for his experiments?

"I'm being called back…oh well." With that, Alpha dismissed himself in a cloud of smoke, leaving a perplexed Tsunade and Shizune.

"Shizune!"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"

"I'm going on a stroll in a forest. You stay here!" with that, Tsunade began marching defiantly towards the forest of death. Someone was in need of answering questions, but worse of all, she felt the distinct feeling of being toyed with, something that hadn't happened in a long time.

Shizune looked at the weights the boy had dropped, probably to at least try and get a speed to match that of her sensei, and, while trying to lift one, realized she couldn't, actually, even *push* them or *pull* them. They simply were too heavy.

While Tsunade stormed over the forest of Death, a purple-haired Kunoichi was already inside the forest, letting her body rest against a giant tree, staring strangely at the empty, now she knew, river. Slithery-kun wasn't there either. She had looked for Scaly-chan, but hadn't found her, not a trace of where she had gone, nor Slithery-kun, or the others…they had all just, kind of disappeared in the forest. There still were snakes going around, but *her* snakes? They had all been gone. It was like someone had hunted them down, and killed them before making their bodies disappear into thin air, and Slithery-kun *was* big!

It was at that moment, that she felt a twig crack, a bird fly away, and a gurgle of pain coming from high above. She felt droplets of something warm fall on her shoulder, and she tensed. The Anbu that had been following her closely was no more, something, or someone, had killed him, without leaving a trace or making a sound.

She stood very still, for a moment, before running away from the tree's roots, and turning around, to stare at the base of the tree, were the half-eaten body of an Anbu stood, but no signs of the beast that had done that.

That's when she stopped, turning her gaze in front of her, where a giant, brownish, snake stood, staring at her with curiosity in his eyes. It was as tall as her, and clearly didn't have the *bite* to chew half the Anbu's body in half like that, which meant that, whatever thing did that, it was still hidden, still around, and probably this snake's relative.

"Oh come on, I know you like Anko-chan, right?" as she said that, in a flirty tone, trying to ease the Snake, the snake actually nodded.

"Huh?" Now, there was a difference between Slithery-kun nodding and this snake nodding. First, Slithery-kun had learned to nod after years of practicing, years, this snake, on the other hand, didn't seem to have years, secondly, the nod came without her using pheromones, or anything else, to convince the snake she was a friend, and not an enemy.

"Please, come this way, Anko-san," oh, she had lost it! The snake talked! Then, she narrowed her eyes, no, she knew just who could actually teach snakes to talk, and it wasn't someone she wanted to meet…still, as she tried to turn around, there stood the mother of all forest snakes, staring at her with a small grin, if a giant anaconda bigger than a building could make a small grin, and with that, Anko raised her hands, admitting defeating, and started to follow the *little* one.

The forest of death was a circular construction, with gates all around at identical distances, and a tower in the middle, with a river cutting the place in half. So, when she brought near the end of the river, she started to think they wanted her to actually hop over the fence, and keep going, instead, they pointed at a small bundle of rocks, that removed, revealed an even smaller Fuinjutsu seal.

"You want me to activate that?" As she queried that, the snake nodded, before moving under the water.

"Well…oh, Kami be damned, I'll do it!" as she did, on the other side of the river bed, the trunk of a tree slowly slid down.

"Why are things getting complicated?" she cursed, as she dashed onto the water, making her way to the other side, and looking, her eyes narrowing, at the hollow tree trunk, that seemed to have a rope ladder to get down.

"Anko-chan, you're getting into trouble, you know that?" She muttered to herself, as, finally, she reached the end of the descent. The walls, the ground, and all around her, seemed to have been smoothed out, as it seemed to have been dug by hand, actually, before having been passed once more with some sort of Jutsu to keep it compacted.

The long corridor had multiple round doors around, in a manner that resembled some sort of hollowed hive system, just…filled with snakes.

Anko slowly heard a humming sound, kind of like a lullaby, coming from deeper in the complex, and, seeing how none of the snakes seemed to care, at all, about her being there, she slowly started to walk over, biting nervously on her dango stick.

The humming grew stronger, until it became clear that it was a lullaby, some sort of hissed lullaby.

"Sleep well, my child, sleep well, my precious,

Dream of starry skies, and of gentle breezes,

Sleep till the sun, rises over the horizon,

Sleep till the moon, drops over the mountain,

Let the wind tell you, the story of life,

Let the earth crumble, and the fire burn bright,

Let the water flow, silent in the river…"

Anko had barely gotten over a sort of arched place, and there, her dango stick had fallen.

A sort of enormous, humongous, out of the world black cobra snake was singing a lullaby, inside of the cave, which barely could contain him, with his black scales reflecting the light of the torches, and surrounded by slithering masses of snakes, there, there stood Naruto, sleeping like a baby.

Well, that was what Naruto meant when *he'd take care of it*.

"No shit. He's gotten an army," was all that Anko could mutter, before the blue soft gaze of the black snake, Kuro, turned to her, with a small grin that still was more than enough to show his set of sharp fangs.

"Anko-san, it's a pleasure to see you once more." Kuro spoke softly, as he uncoiled and then recoiled until Naruto had just gently been moved, without waking him up, next to the woman.

"Well…I need to be filled in, just when did you get *this* big? You're nearly the size of a mountain," Anko muttered softly, as she moved closer to the brat, who was sleeping so peacefully, and gently touching his hair, he had really grown, but his sleeping face was always the same, so cute, so defenseless.

"The older an animal summon becomes, the stronger he or she gets," Kuro spoke, "when I was first born, I was taken away from the rest of the snakes, because my eyes were different. I was taken in by Naruto, and he and I formed a bond, over the countless hours, and hours, and days, and then weeks and months, of training together. He helped me, and I helped him, and this still goes on."

"How does that relate to you getting that big?" Anko queried.

"You see, he possessed a natural wind affinity, but was more apt in learning lightning jutsus, and normally, snakes don't have affinities…so, he handed it over to me," Kuro spoke softly, "he kept giving me chakra, wind chakra, until I became naturally able to produce it, and then…well, I became Kuro the wind snake, the slithering darkness of the night, the biter of the apocalypse," he chuckled, slightly, "that's when Takigakure came into play, Anko-san, the Hero water's effects usually are meant to go straight towards the chakra coils, passing through the stomach. Instead, when Naruto made the water evaporate…it worked as a sauna, and he, and I, began aging, as even our cells started growing tenfold. While he could lower its effects, thanks to the chakra of the Kyuubi inside of him, I could not…but as we can live for hundreds and hundreds of years…it worked in my favor." Kuro chuckled slightly, as the noise made Naruto whine in his sleep for a moment, before going back to peacefully sleep, latching onto Anko's hand tightly.

"I see…still, what is he thinking of doing? I mean, it's not like he can take on the fourth or Konoha, no offense, but you're all just snakes…"

"No offense taken, but no, we are here for another reason, Anko-san, we are his summons," pointing at the boy, "and we are his family too. He'll have to stay in Konoha for five years, the least we can do is stay here too, and he needs someone to convince him to go to sleep, he barely sleeps when I'm not around, and even Yoru sometimes has to force his *tail* to make him go to sleep."

"Why? He looks so peaceful right now." As Anko gently scratched Naruto's hair, the boy actually purred before, through a recoiling of Kuro's spire, Anko found herself having the boy's head on her lap.

"That's because he's here. That, and because the lanterns around here generate a natural incense with calming proprieties, usually Yoru can confirm his sleeping is all but peaceful."

"Hey, Kuro-kun, can you tell me something?" Anko queried, as the snake, silently nodding, waited for the woman's question, "is he the assassin that goes around at night, killing people?"

"If I answered that, would you do something about it?" Kuro replied, softly.

"At first if I had known, no, as he had barely sent into shock whores and whoresons…but you know that as of recent…he's been targeting good Jounins and some of the most loyal Konoha's men? Even a couple of civilians too have been hit," with those words, the atmosphere tensed.

"Are you sure about that, Anko-san?" Kuro queried, neutrally.

"Yes…so it's him, right?" Anko slowly let a tear roll down her cheek as the boy she was holding on her lap was a murderer, a cold-blooded one too, but it was still the only one who understood all her pain, who called her Oneechan, and she didn't know what to do...

"No," Kuro replied, "I will not refute him having, in the past, entered rooms of Jounin and Anbus to teach them a lesson, but he has never killed anyone intentionally, at least, and if someone is trying to frame him…then I know who it is, and it just proves how some of Konoha's shinobis are worse than our kind."

Anko started to sob in relief, holding tightly onto the head of Naruto, she should have at least placed some doubt in Kuro's words, but she had heard what she had wanted to hear, there was nothing else that mattered, to her.

"Oneechan," Naruto queried, having woken up for the sobs of Anko, and her tears falling on his face, "why are you crying?" as he stared at her with his blue eyes, which held deep down hideous scars, the purple-haired woman couldn't help but give him a light kiss on the forehead, muttering back.

"Everything is fine, Otouto, get some sleep now. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Promise?" Naruto whispered back, with his eyes slightly sparkling, like they used to, even though his body was one of a fourteen or fifteen years old, he was still a child, at heart.

"Promise," Anko nodded back, as Naruto slowly closed his eyes, dozing off to sleep a couple of minutes later.

In the end, the incense around the room made also Anko feel sleepy, and with that, the two fell at sleep. Kuro slowly moved them on his coils, to have them placed into an area a bit behind him, where some pillows and mats were. Gently having them dropped there, he turned around, hissing lightly at some of his sons, who hissed back.

They had to test how actually *hidden* the place was, after all.

Tsunade, truth be told, had been toyed with. She had kind of hoped to find something, anything at all that would make it clear just where the brat had gone. Instead, not only had the forest of death gone awfully quiet over the course of the years she hadn't been in there, but she hadn't found the brat no matter where she went and where she searched! She was starting to growl angrily, as she smashed a couple of trees down, flinging them around.

"Just where are you hiding, brat!"

"Damn, he got you too?" Tsunade turned around just in time to see Jiraiya standing there, in his sage mode.

"Jiraiya? What are you doing in your sage mode?"

"I'm trying to sense out the imbalance in the forest, because, Kami be damned, the brat made a deal with me to help him strengthen out his *hide-out* security…And I can't find him anymore, so, I say I'm giving up on it," the toad sage shrugged off his natural chakra, before grabbing a bloc notes, as inspiration had suddenly hit him.

"Why didn't you warn me he's outright hateful of Kushina?" Tsunade queried, a tick mark appearing over her forehead.

"If he's become that while I wasn't here, I don't know. I just know that every time I come here, months later, the boy gets a darker shade of Orochimaru, we need to stop this, before he actually becomes like our former teammate." Jiraiya's face had darkened, as Tsunade too had nodded at the Toad Sage's words.

"He just doesn't even seem a Genin anymore, he actually seems more like a fourteen years old now, and…well, he's cunning. If he can conjure two thousands of Kage Bunshins…and he wasn't boasting, then, even now, he's getting stronger. Coupled with him not sleeping, Jiraiya, I'm afraid Minato *has* something to worry about in the long term, he's turning into a time bomb, the more he stays in Konoha, the worst it gets," Tsunade used her right hand to grab at the necklace that was around her neck, "the will of fire should have nothing to do with kidnapping children…he considers himself a weapon, Jiraiya."

"That's worse than I thought then…he's returning into his Root mentality," as Jiraiya, slowly, but surely, explained the entire situation to Tsunade, the crack under the slug princess' right foot grew, as she had been hitting it for a while.

"Fucking Danzo bastard," Tsunade spat to the side, on the ground, "Well, let's go drink some sake, I couldn't find him at all, and he probably lied about being here from the beginning."

"Yeah, thought so too." Unknown to the duo, just under the crack, one could have seen a slight shimmer of light, that soon closed up however, as a snake decided that a crack wasn't meant to exist in that point of the galleries.

*Sakura* *Warning-Yandere!*

It was night: she had been waiting inside of Naruto's house for a while now, and in the end, she had fallen asleep on his couch. She obviously wouldn't have wanted to, but she was just tired from all the recent events, and she wanted to speak with Naruto, to ask him if he could do something for her burnt mark.

The first thing that had woken her up had been a slight knocking on the door. Somebody had knocked, and then the door had opened slowly, with a light creaking sound. She had barely opened her eye, but, not seeing anyone, had closed it again. Behind her, and behind the couch, Kushina's hazed figure lingered next to Naruto's bed the red-haired woman's hair grown a couple of inches, her face pale from slight lack of food, as she had been forced to feed, and chains made of chakra slowly appearing behind her back. She was in a white nightgown that slowly moved because of the wind breeze from the open window.

The red haired woman decided to go into the bathroom: after all, her Naruto wasn't in bed, so he had to be in the bathroom. As she slowly walked over there, chains rattling, Sakura opened her eyes. She slowly got up, thirsty for a glass of water and as she moved into the kitchen, for a glass of water, that was when Kushina heard the noise coming from the same room. Oh, it was simple, her Naruto had gone to take some water to drink, he had to be thirsty, the poor boy. She slowly took her steps into the kitchen, and stopped, her face contorting into a mad and hateful one at seeing a girls' back. She had short pink hair, and stood drinking a glass of water from the tap. She was in Naruto's kitchen, drinking from his glass. That was her son's glass. The pink hair, where had she seen it before? Oh yes, she knew where, she knew it, the whore was the pink one, she had taken her Naruto away, she had known, when she had snapped the neck of the kunoichi assigned to guard her for the day, and had removed her own chakra seal, she had known that Naruto, her Naruto-kun, would have never, ever, talked to her like that on that day.

Your children are dead! You need to live with it!

It had to be *her* fault. The chains rattled again, and Sakura, this time, turned around. She turned around and she screamed, as the face that Kushina was showing wasn't something the Kunoichi could bring to understand in the realm of mortals, it was like that of a monster born from nightmares, as the chains launched themselves forward, she barely got down on her knees, avoiding them from hitting straight through the concrete walls, the kitchen sink, and sending water everywhere, as they retracted, ready for another hit.

Sakura tried to run, but slipped on the water, falling down on her knees and feeling sore on her right arm, which had taken most of the impact.

Kushina's chains hit the table of the kitchen that was in the way, everything was always in the way of saving her son from harm. Why couldn't anyone, anyone at all understand her? Tsunade had at least told her she would do something about Naruto! The old hag wanted Naruto for herself, she knew it! She hadn't come back all day and nearly all night, she knew she had taken Naruto as her new grandson and had helped him escape! She was too much friends with Jiraiya, that faking whore! Why can't she understand I'm doing this for MY SON! WHY WHY!

As the table splintered, Kushina took a step forward, she had to do something about the pink haired girl, but as the kunoichi trembled, Kushina thought of something. The whore had taken her son's first kiss away sure, she had claimed it back one night, when everyone else was sleeping. She had done the same with Yakumo, and the two hadn't even realized it. Now, however, the whore had slept in Naruto's house, maybe she had been in his bed, even, and had gone to the kitchen without Kushina realizing it, there was no other way around, she had to make sure.

More chains dashed forward encircling all of Sakura's arts and even her neck, as she had that pleading and crying tone that Kushina didn't like on the whores, so, she flung her against the wall once, making her groan in pain, before bringing her closer.

"Sa-ku-ra-chan," Kushina said with a playful tone, "have you slept with my son?" her eyes stared at the pink haired girl who wasn't answering back. Why wasn't she answering back? Sure she had a chain around her neck that was preventing her from speaking, sure, she seemed to have fainted from the hit on the head, but still…she was guilty! That was the reason she wasn't speaking.

"Sa-ku-ra-chan…you shouldn't sleep with other people's sons," with that Kushina moved towards Naruto's bed, throwing the kunoichi on it, "You slept in this bed, right?" a chain slashed at the pink girls stomach, making her open her eyes for the pain, "you opened your legs in this bed," as chains wrapped around the girl's thighs, they actually moved them apart, making the girl gurgle in pain.

"I'll have to make sure you'll never do this again…" as Kushina muttered that gleefully, readying a chain to skewer straight through the pink-haired girl, at that moment, when Sakura was just about to pray to Kami for a quick death, that was the moment someone went *puff*. Kushina turned around, the noise had distracted her, but there was nothing strange…except the couch was now missing.

She turned back to the pink-haired girl, gently touching the girl's pink hair, before yanking some of it away, making Sakura cry out in pain, albeit it came as a muffled scream, the chains in her neck starting to make her bleed.

"Sa-ku-ra-chan," Kushina said once more, "you've got a pretty skin," as the red-haired woman let a finger trace gently onto Sakura's body, she giggled, slightly, "I had it too…before I gave birth to two wonderful babies," her hand was getting towards Sakura's waist, and didn't seem inclined to stop, "but you know what happened? One died…and I was so sad…but then, he wasn't dead no longer…but he didn't know me…then he died again…but then, I found him once more…and he still doesn't know ME!" she punched straight at Sakura's low stomach area, making the girl nearly barf by the pain, "and you know what's funny? I try, I tried, I thought I had managed it, but then I lost my other girl, my little girl…and then he HATED me for that!" Sakura could feel the chains straighten her up, bringing her face closer to that of Kushina, who moved her own closer to the girl.

"You made him hate me, didn't you?" the woman touched Sakura's right cheek, "that's why I'm going to take you out…in that way, you will never, ever, take him away from me…Dattebayo!" with a final, wicked, grin, Kushina's chain dashed forward, only to stop, inches before doing anything, as Sakura's eyes, closed to prepare herself for her painful execution, slowly opened back.

Kushina had a Ninjato straight through her head, while her all body had been pierced with senbon needles, and as the woman closed her eyes, her chains dispersing, Sakura fell on the bed, staring in surprise, and shock, as she had already peed herself from the utter fear she had felt.

"Are you fine?" the voice came gently, the voice of the masked man that had spoken to her, and made her feel relaxed, came to her ears, and she…she couldn't help but run over to him and start crying out in his chest.

He slowly ruffled her hair, holding her gently, not tightly, and waiting for her to calm down, in silence.

"Na…Naruto…I…I was so scared!" Sakura kept the tears going down her face, as Naruto, staring at her with saddened eyes, whispered back.

"Don't be…I'm here now, I'll take care of everything." Sakura nodded, slightly blushing when the thoughts of how she was, and where she was, and what she had done, slowly returned into her mind as adrenaline dispersed.

"I…I…" she muttered.

"You need," Naruto grabbed her chin with his right hand, "to take a shower, then, I'll lend you some clothes and I'll walk you home, if you want to, or I'll bring you someplace safe to get this all out of your system, okay?" Sakura nodded, blushing, as she slowly, and hesitantly, moved towards his bathroom, turning just slightly around to make sure it wasn't a dream, or that she wasn't dead.

It took a good half an hour in the shower to clean herself, and by the time she was done, she realized clothes had been piled in a neatly manner on top of a chair, they were all dark green and light green, but she wasn't going to complain about fashion to her life savior.

She took a deep breath, as she had rationalized it all, Naruto had probably come back home and seen that scene, and had saved her. So far so good, but then why was Kushina in Naruto's house, ranting about her son and Sakura taking him away? It couldn't be that Naruto was Kushina's son, it simply…as she walked into the living room, she nearly let out another screech, as there was a Kushina there, still alive, nodding to Naruto.

"N-Naruto!" she screeched, but Naruto, with a calming smile, beckoned her closer.

"It's just a henge, Sakura-chan…" with that the pink-haired girl still didn't move from her afraid and in a corner fetal position.

"I'll go and get out of here, should trick the Anbu patrol, I'll use some chains to make it look the same," as the Kushina-Naruto Clone muttered, leaving after a while, in the same slow walk the woman had, Naruto, the real one, moved closer to the crying in a corner Sakura, and felt himself being hugged forcefully by the girl.

"Na…Naruto…please hold me." The boy sighed, saying nothing, as he hugged the incredibly looking minute pink-haired girl, until she finally fell asleep.

You just killed your…

She was not my mother. Yugito-oneechan was more of a mom than that red-haired woman will ever be.

I was going to say *former sensei* sheesh.

Like if I could believe you…

Well, you did get a good dose of sleep didn't you? Slept like a rock through the afternoon and into the night.

Yeah, Alpha is back doing is job, and Delta and Epsilon are doing their own, increasing security.

Paranoia is the first sign of…

If I had been paranoid to begin with, then Shiro wouldn't have been dead, I wouldn't have been caught by trusting a red-haired woman, and all this wouldn't have happened.

Still, you had the *couch* eat her.

Nobody questions the Couch.

…you know, I think that was a crack joke.

Naruto thought about it for a minute, before chuckling, slightly, as he stared into Sakura's sleeping face, was that the same face he made when he fell asleep, that same look so defenseless and without problems at the same time? Or was it only because right now, Sakura felt safe? Would she sleep like that even at home? Still, she had gotten lucky, extremely lucky. Had the couch not appeared straight on top of Naruto, and hadn't Kuro been there to translate, it would have turned sore fast. Sakura dead wouldn't have made Naruto lose much sleep, that much was true. Having to explain a dead Kunoichi in his bed, and probably seeing Kushina get free again would have been worse. In this way, at least…one of his troubles was clear. The clone would slowly move towards the edge of town, near the gates, and disperse in a back alley once out of Anbu's range…and that he did a few minutes afterwards.

Naruto closed his eyes, well, he had had enough surprises for a night; so he might as well try and take some more sleep in.

*Next Day*

Sakura woke up to a faint breathing sound. A couple of seconds later, the breathing sound stopped being that regular, and as she felt herself being lifted, and then deposited somewhere, she slowly opened her eyes to see Naruto's grin as he headed towards the kitchen. She stood up, her face red in embarrassment, as the living room seemed like she had found it the first time. The bed had clean sheets, there was no blood, and nothing seemed out of place, until she got up and followed Naruto in the kitchen, where the kitchen sink was destroyed and the wooden table smashed to the side. Furthermore, Sakura knew she had never had dark green clothes in her wardrobe, or black pants. As she slowly but surely, tried to reason on where Naruto was going to put the plates for breakfast, she realized that some sort of snakes had slithered their way in. Normally, she would have screamed, but, right now, she had seen far more than enough to be scared of some snakes, which even seemed tame.

"Table formation boys, get to it, please." As Naruto said that with a small smile, the snakes nodded, starting to grab the scattered wood pieces and incorporating them on their skin, until, in the end, it turned into a table. A table made of snakes and wood.

"Chairs are fine, thank Kami." Naruto muttered, as he lay the breakfast on the table, scrambled eggs and ham.

"Na…Naruto-kun," Sakura muttered, meekly, as the boy had filled her platter generously, before doing the same for his own, "what…what are you going to do now?" He had killed the Hokage's wife, to defend her, yes, but still…

"I'm going to do nothing." Naruto replied, with a shrug.

"But…the Hokage's wife…"

"The Hokage's wife has been seen walking towards Konoha's gates in a nightgown, her chains rattling. She'll probably become a ghost story sometime soon." Naruto shrugged, as Sakura, hesitantly, began eating some bits of eggs, on the side.

"Want bread?" Naruto queried, as he shot from his arm a snake that grabbed the bread in the upper shelf, bringing it on the table.

"I should be on a diet…anything to drink?" Sakura queried, as she broke up a piece of it, to make a sort of makeshift sandwich.

"Orange juice or milk?" It was strange, as their breakfast degenerated into simple small chatter, how much Sakura felt at ease. It wasn't like being with her family, where her father snorted accusations about her being unfit for being a shinobi, and it wasn't like her mother, who wanted her to just stop playing ninja and get her to become a housewife.

"By the way," Naruto queried, once they had both finished breakfast, "what was the reason you were in my house?"

"I…I wanted to know if…if there was anything you could do for my scar…" as Sakura muttered that, pointing at her side, with a sad look, Naruto shook his head.

"You see, it's not because I healed Yakumo, that she doesn't have a scar, Yakumo has a special ability, to make Genjutsus reality. So she simply made her real skin real, she could, willingly, transform into anything by simply using a Henge. It's a real neat skill, limited only by her imagination…but has a horrible downside to it."

"Which is?" Sakura queried, curious.

"It makes the user develop a split personality, really evil too, bent on destruction and carnage. The only reason Yakumo is still sane is because she had it sealed away." Naruto explained that slowly, as Sakura nodded, before starting to fidget with a chunk of her own hair.

"Listen…Naruto…"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for saving me," she whispered, "I'm a failure as a Kunoichi, and what you did could have repercussions with Kumo, but you saved me never the less, so…thank you," with that, she stood up, giving Naruto a small kiss to the side of the cheek, before dashing out of his house, leaving the blond boy to sigh and shake his head.

"Boss, you're a heart stealer, I tell you." Yoru muttered, coming out from his jacket.

"Kami be damned…well, are you sure Kuro insisted on that?"

"Yeah, pops says that if he sees more than five clones at a time, for the next weeks, he's going to personally come over here and throw you against the Hokage's mountain until you get the lesson. You need sleep, and you need to cool down. You're burning up your life fuse if you insist on these rhythms." As Yoru spoke politely, Naruto rolled his eyes over, and then moved to get to the door, only to find a chuckling Jiraiya and an outright furious Tsunade, with Shizune behind her.

"Hey Boy! Did you use *protection*?" as Jiraiya winked that, Tsunade punched him, sending him to fly against the wall to the side of the room, before marching straight in front of the boy.

"You dropped your charge in the middle of the afternoon, you know brat? And you weren't in the forest of death, because I'll be damned if…"

"Hey now, the boss was there!" Yoru replied, "He even slept like a baby for more than…" Naruto grabbed Yoru by the neck, narrowing his gaze on the snake.

"I do not sleep like a baby!" as he let Yoru go, who chuckled, he then added, to Tsunade, politely, "Senju-sama, I was in the forest of death, and I am sorry about my disappearance, but you *did* try and hit me."

"I just wanted to knuckle some good sense in you…but I did act rashly, without asking for the full version of the story…he didn't do a good job explaining it all either," as Tsunade pointed at Jiraiya, who had just gotten out of the crack in the wall, the toad sage laughed.

"Ehi! It wasn't my fault! When I told you about having a great grandson I could just get a couple more words in and you were already dashing back to Konoha!"

"I just want to know... Did Kushina pass by?" Tsunade queried, clearly worried, at which point, Naruto nodded.

"Well…luckily I wasn't home," He added, slowly, "she did a mess with the kitchen, and I don't know why, Couch-san warned me in time and so I didn't come back until she was gone."

"Couch-san?" as the Couch slowly unraveled to reveal a giant anaconda, Tsunade and Shizune stared at the scene with their mouth agape.

"Yup, he's one of my summonses: so…I actually managed to be warned by him since he disappeared back to where I hold the scroll for my summons, then Alpha and Beta," two giant boa constrictors emerged from the ceiling, "reverse summoned me here once she was gone."

"Fine brat, now I want to see the scroll with my own eyes, you can't seriously tell me it all went off without a hitch, I mean, snakes summoning? Fine, but creating your own scroll of summons means that you had to at least have a talk with their sage…and he should have killed you!" Jiraiya basically screeched.

"Yeah, I'm curious too about that." Tsunade muttered, as Naruto, instead, shrugged.

"Only if I see yours too," as he spoke, politely, Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"And why would you want that?"

"Because, all it would take would be someone to destroy my scroll, and it would turn out a mess with my summons. So, since *mine* is in a safe place, I will not risk it alone, seems pretty logical to me."

"Fine, we'll do that later then, now there's something else I want to know: How the hell did you age so fast in a couple of months!" Jiraiya exclaimed.

"Actually…Hero Water Sauna, coupled with someone's chakra, added plus being that his father saved me in the nick of time." Naruto muttered pointing at Yoru, "I'll probably keep the aging sprint till I reach twenty-five thirty years, probably, but then, I should return to aging normally…well, it won't be bad I suppose," Naruto shrugged, "I don't actually *need* to be young, I wasn't young a long time ago, and I won't be anymore, so where's the problem with it?"

"You're really not caring at all about this? It's your childhood we're talking about!" Tsunade muttered, pale, she had thought she could at least do the same things that Katsumi-chan usually liked, she had hoped to see a spark of happiness in the boy's eyes, but instead, he was an adult, done and thorough, and nothing, not even if Tsunade turned out that very instant in the best of grandmothers, would make it change.

"I had five years of childhood, in Kumo, more than enough for me." Naruto whispered back, before chuckling.

"Now, however, I'd like to know why else I've got two legendary Sannin in my living room, as I should go training until the…"

"Oh no, you don't!" Yoru yelled, slapping him on the cheek and jumping on the boy's head.

"Listen here! He's to remain at rest for at least a week. Do what you need to, but keep him rested, and…"

"Oh be quiet! Your father was a hell of a lot more quiet!" As Naruto tried to grab the snake, the snake jumped straight out from the boy's hair, on the Couch, and then on the ceiling.

"Yoru, don't make me come up there!" Naruto whined.

"Not until you promise me you'll take it easy for a week."

"There are the chuunin exams around the corner! I need training!" the blond haired boy whined, as Jiraiya actually chuckled at such a display of *childhood*.

Tsunade stared perplexed at the rapid change of emotions in the boy…it was more like he put up different barriers, depending on who he was speaking to. She was *Senju-sama*, Jiraiya was *Jiraiya-san*, but with the snake, it was a kid and his talking pet-friend.

"Promise!"

Naruto sighed, before sitting his legs crossed, sulking for a moment.

"Fine, I promise!"

Yoru stared at the boy for a moment, and then, nodding, jumped down onto his lap.

"Good!" before disappearing into the boy's jacket.

Naruto sighed.

"So… Now what am I going to do?" as Jiraiya actually gave him a sympathetic look, Tsunade coughed, slightly nervous.

"Well…you could make it up by going around town, properly, with me. You can call me Obaa-san…and I'll call you Naruto-kun." She was actually slightly blushing at that, as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"But you're too pretty to be an Obaa…Oba-chan would be better," as he nodded that, Tsunade was bought in the same way Jiraiya was, she kind of wondered where the angry and hateful brat of the day before had gone.

"Yeah…just let the boy sleep an entire night, and you'll get this results, I told him three hours of sleep weren't enough, heck, everyone told him that three hours of sleep weren't enough," Yoru said, answering the general question that Tsunade had.

"You baka! You should sleep at least eight hours, for your heart!" As she pouted that, she turned around.

"Well, we're going out, there's not even a gamble place open of the old one I knew of."

"I can bring you to where I usually go, Oba-chan." Naruto said, as he began walking easily, Yoru on his head.

"Since when do you gamble!" Jiraiya muttered following out of sheer curiosity the brat as Tsunade too wanted to ask the same question.

"Kuro loves ramen, but thankfully he only needs to eat once in a very long while…so I managed to put the cash apart through gambling. Some time I wonder if my life sucks just so my luck could rise." As Naruto pointed that out, entering a casino after having henged himself as a busty brunette, something that made Jiraiya approve, for some reason, he sat down, and rolled the slot machine, the first one in a row.

Obviously, it hit jackpot.

Five hours later, Tsunade had lost over twenty millions ryos, but Naruto had won over twenty millions and a half, handing back to Tsunade her losses, he simply placed the half-million of Ryos on his bank account.

"This month's food bills are accounted for then," Naruto chuckled, as he returned being his usual blond self.

"You spend half a million ryos a month? In food?" Tsunade queried, surprised.

"Yeah, my family eats a lot, isn't that right?" as Yoru nodded, grinning, Naruto was suddenly upright lifted by a strong arm, a really strong, and tanned arm.

It took Naruto a moment to turn around, and then, as tears began flowing down, he hugged the living hell out of the man's neck, screaming in joy.

"OTOU-SAN!"

Author's notes

CLIFFHANGER NO JUTSU: MAXIMUM EDITION OF *Reviewers are going to hate you to the death*

*cough* sorry, had to do it.

Over 14K and half words later, another chapter.

Right now it's just one week away from the Chuunin exams, but don't worry, next chapter will be a blast!

…no, no Deidara involved, sorry guys.

Q&A time

Yesshe: well, it's long and blond and in a ponytail…it's like Yugito's (he took her style of hair)

Lanslet: You read all the story insulting Minato till this point? XD I'm imaging the scene: "CURSE YOU MINATO!" "What?" "nothing…" "CURSE YOU MINATO!" "What is it?" "Nothing!" and Sasuke being bashed…well, he is a sulky dark emo type. Sure, he could become someone better, but since none of my characters will ever do anything to him (none are the type to help him out) he'll get worst and worst…by his own accord. Flames of youth, YOSH! I'm sure you're going to love this update, this much long.

Reddiamond: Hope I kept the good stuff up!

Narutoluver: I'm not even sure about pairings, as I said before, until he gets to the shippuuden part, there exist no writing in my part that in any way may devolve into fixing a pair. Even Sakura's piece here, purely casual. I just try and reason like my characters, and see what they would do, stopping them from going *too far* (Like actually skewering Sakura. It was on the list, then I recalled that Naruto would probably have the couch as a sentinel with a summon-reverse summon mechanism. So he'd probably save the pink haired girl to use her for his purpose. Or something like that.

Tzeentch: You cannot have the biter of the apocalypse retire! You will never have him lie down and go to sleep! He's the boss summons, so expect a lot of him in the future chapters! (I'm sure you're now even more scared, aren't you?)

Dbzsotrum: harem, nope, for Kakashi…well, he's got his own business.

Tamult: I actually gave him the Couatl wings, if you're familiar with D&D (basically, quetzcoatl, the Aztec god, he's the inspiration) and no, she hasn't…when Yakumo will meet guy and lee…"YOSH LET THE BLAZING INFERNO OF YOUTH M…"

Fuyutaro son: There, another cliffy, down with the smacking!

My name my game: Why go that low? We need more low to be a really angry blow!

Dragonskyt: Wig Comment? Man, you are undervaluing the episode's true sadness…glad I made it clearer here! And yeah, I write them on the spot, only taking care to recall what happened, what has to happen, and if my characters hate me, if my muse hates me, or if someone, somewhere, wants to see me being bashed by my reviewers for placing cliffhangers.

General answers:

I'm sure you're noticing how I'm Bashing, literally, the Anbu side of Konoha.

It's the truth. I mean, I know it seems bashing, but except a few named anbu, the damn guys couldn't even catch a frigging kid dressed in orange. Root guys are the true *anbu* force of Konoha, the *anbu* guys of Konoha are something like a mixture of parade officials who are weak. And…yeah, Kuro lied to Anko. And she bought it together with the shoes…

Oh, by the way, Kuro's lullaby is something I invented on the spot, I just thought about a couple of words easily pronounceable in a low tone, at night, in a sort of whisper-like behavior.