Chapter 20
Reverberations

It was black and he was tired. But he couldn't rest. Something was bothering him. Something…

…He was moving?

With a great deal of effort, he peeled his eyelids open and blearily glanced around. The sky was a deep gray with ghostly flickers of stars scattered about. He was slung over someone's back—piggy-back. He saw the back of a blonde head…

"Dad?" he croaked feebly.

"Oh, you're awake?" His dad turned his head slightly. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," Naruto mumbled, "sore." The final moments of the fight drifted back to the forefront of his mind and he wilted. "…I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Whatever for?"

"You looked mad…before." Naruto rested his cheek on his father's shoulder and stared off to the side. "I thought I did something wrong…?"

"Well…did you brag about village secrets to the enemy?"

"No."

"Did you attack your teammates?"

"No way!"

"You did your best during the mission?"

"Of course I did…"

"Well then, I can't see anything that you did wrong," his father announced cheerfully. "And preliminary reports say that you did an excellent job."

"But…you looked so mad…" Naruto shuddered. "You looked scary."

"I didn't mean to scare you," his dad apologized. "I only meant to intimidate the Kumo-nin." There was a pause. "And I was a little worried about you—what was that grin on your face for?"

"I was glad that it was over," Naruto sighed, his eyes drooping shut. "Glad that we won…an' everything." He yawned.

"Ah," the Hokage nodded.

Naruto snuggled into his father's back. His brain was feeling fuzzier and fuzzier. "We goin' to th' hospital now?"

"You were already there, Naruto," his father chuckled. "The doctors couldn't find any injury serious enough to keep you there, so I'm taking you home. All you need is rest."

"Oh… Okay…"

"Go back to sleep, son. You did well. We'll talk more about it later, okay?"

"Mmm…" Naruto mumbled.

And then he was out again.

The Hokage yawned and took a good gulp of coffee. And here I thought that one of the perks of being Hokage would be a more stable sleep cycle. He sank back into his worn leather chair and scrubbed a hand over his face. Oh well…

It had been a few days since Kumo's botched kidnapping attempt and things were just barely starting to settle down. The three prisoners were all secured and a message sent to Kumogakure to start negotiations with the Raikage about returning them. All the injured were being treated and most would soon be released from the hospital. And Naruto was starting to spend slightly more time awake than asleep.

A knock on his door distracted him from trying to focus on his paperwork.

"Come in."

Nara Shikaku slunk inside, and shut the door behind him. "Hokage-sama," he nodded politely.

"Shikaku-san," Minato smiled, equally polite. "What can I do for you?"

"It's far too troublesome to try and dance around this," the scarred man grunted. "Permission to be blunt?"

Minato blinked. "Of course."

"You're going to have to tell the kids something. They saw too much of what that boy can do to avoid it. If you don't satisfy their curiosity, they'll just start asking dangerous questions." The Nara man's frown deepened. "My boy's already been asking around, actually."

"Yes, I've noticed," Minato sighed wearily.

Shikaku shifted anxiously. "I told him to stop poking around about that boy—"

"It's fine," he assured the man. "Shikamaru's a smart boy—at the very least I can trust him with most of truth. Some of the others I'm less sure of, but…" He sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair. "I'll figure out something to tell them," the Hokage muttered finally.

Shikaku nodded, "Alright."

Minato swallowed a groan and took a gulp of coffee. There's always something…

The Nara man started to leave, but hesitated. "When Shikamaru first started asking those troublesome questions, he asked about the boy's family. I didn't tell him anything, but…it makes me realize that I haven't seen Kushina around in a long time. I don't think Inoichi or Chouza have either. Do you know what's going on with her?"

His heart twisted up and he stared fixedly into his coffee mug. "She's dead," he said hollowly. Why does it still hurt so much?

"Damn," Shikaku grumbled. "I was afraid of that. The demon got her, eh? Figures…"

Minato snorted bitterly. "No, actually; it didn't."

"Really?" Shikaku's usual lazy tone was light with surprise. "A bad mission, then?"

"Not that either." The Hokage chuckled bitterly. "It was the last thing most people would expect."

"What, childbirth?" Shikaku drawled, half-joking.

"Yeah," he nodded and polished off the last of his coffee.

Minato stared into the bottom of the cup for a while, before glancing up at his visitor. It was almost comical to see the Nara's usual half-lidded look replaced with something more wide-eyed. There was shock at this unexpected information, amusement at the odd pairing, and of course sadness and sympathy for the loss, which restrained any laughter or other overt reaction.

"I'd appreciate it if you don't spread around whatever you end up deducing from that," Minato smiled tiredly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get more coffee."

"Of course," Shikaku muttered and sketched a shallow bow. "I should get home so Yoshino can nag me some more…troublesome woman."

"Enjoy," the Hokage chuckled drily, forcing down a tiny spark of jealousy. I wish Kushina was still around to nag me! Even though her idea of "nag" was to punch me…

Naruto frowned blankly at the GAME OVER screen, the game controller limp in his hands. He wasn't really upset at losing (again)—it had been a long time since he'd played so he was sorely out of practice. His frown was due to the unhappy line of thought that had struck him shortly after his game character had been slaughtered.

They might have seen something. Heck, they probably had seen something. And even if they hadn't directly seen him use the fox's chakra, they would have to suspect something for him to have survived combat with the giant cat demon, let alone held his own against it. No normal genin could do that. His friends weren't stupid.

It had been several days since the big fight, and he was feeling a lot better. Aside from a few faded bruises and some soreness he was fine. And even though none of his friends had a demon to heal them up, they would probably be released soon, depending on their individual injuries. Any day now he was bound to run into at least one of them.

What am I going to tell them? He slumped down off the edge of his mattress. What can I tell them?

If they cannot handle the truth, why bother with them? the fox sneered.

"I'm not like you," Naruto mumbled and stabbed the power button on the game console. "I hate being alone…"

Shikamaru leaned lazily against the hospital wall as Ino cheerfully gossiped poor Hinata's ear off as the girl sat on her bed. Nearby, Shino sat on his own hospital cot. He looked rather strange without his signature coat, but for some reason he still had his shades. It was difficult to tell if he was actually paying attention to the girls or not. And in the next bed over was Tenten, also looking strange with her hair down out of their usual buns. The young weapon mistress sat very still, trying not to aggravate her broken ribs. Neji sat in a chair near her bed, displaced from his cousin's side by Ino.

His arm was mostly healed from the improvised mission and he'd originally come to the hospital with Ino to help her deliver all their hospital-bound comrades flowers from her family's shop. But after passing out the flowers, Ino settled herself in for a long chat—mostly with Hinata, whose meek temperament allowed Ino to do most of the talking. Shikamaru had exchanged some words with Neji and Shino and a polite greeting with Tenten, but otherwise was content to let Ino do all the socializing. He considered leaving, but he had some chores waiting at home and procrastinating them was currently the less troublesome option.

"…and just this morning I heard a couple of girls our age trying to figure out some way to get into the Hyuuga compound and visit Sasuke-kun," Ino chattered on. "Can you believe that?!"

"They would never make it past the outside walls," Neji scoffed.

"I don't see why they're still after him," Shikamaru grumbled. "Surely they've heard that he's a traitor by now."

"They probably think they can save him or change him somehow," Tenten snorted, and then winced as her ribs protested. "And once they've healed his broken soul, he'll be their prince charming and they'll live happily ever after as 'Mrs. Uchiha' or something."

"Probably," Ino agreed. "He's good-looking, from a good family with lots of money, and landing him would make one lucky girl into a near princess. There are some girls that overlook just about anything to get a guy like him and the social prestige that comes with him."

Shikamaru squinted at his teammate. "What about you?"

"I'm through with him," Ino sniffed. "I'm not chasing after a traitor, no matter how pretty he is! Besides, if anyone could snag him, I'd put my money on Billboard Brow. Even though he did betray us all, he said good-bye to her—no one else."

"It could've been chance that she caught him as he was leaving," Tenten suggested.

"Maybe," Ino shrugged. "But anyway, I'm through with Uchiha Sasuke!" she declared boldly. "There are plenty of other nice, handsome boys out there—boys who aren't lousy traitors. And I bet I'll get myself a boyfriend before Forehead Girl, too!"

You always have to compete with her, don't you? Shikamaru sighed.

"I-Ino-san," Hinata timidly squeaked. "H-have you s-seen N-Naruto-kun? He's n-not in the hospital…"

"No." Ino frowned. "With how wiped out he looked after the battle how isn't he in the hospital? Are you sure they just didn't put him in another room?"

"I l-looked…with m-my Byakugan." Hinata stared fixedly at her tapping index fingers. "H-he's not here."

"Well I haven't seen him," Ino shrugged.

"He's probably recovering at home," Shikamaru suggested.

"If he's allowed to heal at home, he must not be badly hurt," Tenten observed. "Lucky guy…"

"Not just lucky," Shino remarked, adjusting his shades. "To withstand such a devastating foe, he must a comparable power in addition to luck, at the very least."

"A comparable power" indeed, Shikamaru nodded. It's almost certain that Naruto hosts the Kyuubi no Yoko, he thought, recalling the fox-like shape the chakra had taken. It's the only thing that really explains everything that needs explaining… Except the family situation.

"Shikamaru-san," Neji interjected. "From what you experienced of the battle, are your theories confirmed?"

"I believe so," the young Nara sighed.

"Theories?" Hinata blinked. "W-what theories?"

"Theories on Naruto's background," Shikamaru replied. "Why people seem to treat him the way that they do…"

"Like that s-shopkeeper?" Hinata asked softly.

"What shopkeeper?"

Shikamaru snapped his head around to find the Hokage peering into the hospital room with a frown on his face. His sharp blue eyes swept over them. "Well?"

Ino was the first to recover her wits from the surprise and immediately launched into a fairly accurate retelling of the incident. As he listened, the Hokage seemed to gain a few years of age. When Ino finished, the older shinobi looked angry, but mostly tired.

"Were you aware of such problems, Hokage-sama?" Shino hesitantly asked after a long stretch of silence.

"Yes," the Hokage sighed. He fully entered the room, slid the door solidly shut behind him, and settled into one of the plastic visitors' chairs. "In the past it was a common problem, but Naruto stopped complaining about it and I foolishly assumed that the village business owners were finally through being so petty."

"…You knew shop owners would do this and you didn't do anything about it?" Tenten asked, rather boldly.

"There isn't too much I can realistically do." The Hokage tried to smile, but it came off more as a pained grimace. "The villagers treat Naruto the way that they do because they feel they have a legitimate reason to do so. No matter how I threaten them for what they do, they'll continue to do what they do when they feel they have the opportunity to get away with it. Until they change their minds about Naruto, they will keep on being unfair to him. You can't change a person's opinions by force; if I could, I would gladly go around to every shop owner, hold a kunai to their throat, and order them to like Naruto."

The Hokage had a point. It made perfect sense. And Shikamaru hated it all the more because the man was right.

"Well, onto the real point of my visit," the Yondaime sighed, managing a more friendly smile. "I'd like to congratulate you all on your performance in getting Hinata back home. Without your timely response, and your efforts to relay intelligence back to the village, it's very possible that Hinata could've been smuggled into the Land of Lightning or that lives could've been lost."

"I-I'm s-s-sorry f-for—"

"There's no need to apologize, Hinata," the Hokage reassured the trembling girl. "You had no reason to suspect that you were in danger while still within the bounds of the village. I don't feel that it's your fault at all. And you certainly didn't do it on purpose, so there's no reason for you to be sorry."

The Hyuuga girl seemed to shrink in on herself. "But O-otou-sama said…"

"I think your father has trouble openly expressing what he really feels. As the head of such a prestigious clan, he's expected to put up a stoic face at all times, so when a situation comes up where he needs a gentler face, he's not sure how to go about it." The Hokage looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think that he was very worried about you, but he wasn't sure how to show it so he hid it behind criticism."

Hinata stared at the ninja leader, wide-eyed.

"He might have done that," Neji reluctantly admitted after some thought.

"Oh." Hinata fiddled with the sleeve of her hospital pajamas before scrapping together the courage to ask a question. "H-Hokage-sama…w-where is N-Naruto-kun?"

"He's at home. I think in another day or two he should be recovered enough to get back on active duty." He gave her a questioning look. "Why do you ask?"

"I w-was worried," Hinata half-whispered. "He just s-sort of…fell down."

"Kind of like a puppet with its strings cut," Ino helpfully interjected.

"Well he'll be just fine," the Hokage assured them. "Feel free to visit him if you like. I think he'd enjoy that. He doesn't seem to get many visitors." He sat back in his chair and studied them all for a long moment. "Now, do you have any questions about anything you saw in the course of your recent mission?"

Shikamaru considered his options before speaking up. "Hokage-sama, how many demons are there out there?"

The Hokage seemed surprised at the question, but answered nonetheless. "A lot; however, most are fairly weak and live in remote regions, away from humans. There are a few who are strong enough to be fearless and still roam around human territories. They are called the Bijuu and there are nine of them—each one stronger than the last."

Nine of them? "Tailed Beasts"? Shikamaru frowned thoughtfully. "So the Kyuubi no Yoko is the strongest of them?"

"Yes," the Yondaime nodded.

"And the Nibi no Nekomata is one of the weaker of these Bijuu?" Shino inquired.

"Yes."

That certainly put things into perspective. If the nearly unstoppable demon cat was weak, what had the demon fox been like? Shikamaru really couldn't imagine it, and respected his dad a whole lot more for having seen it and survived.

"Hokage-sama, earlier you said that the villagers feel that they have some legitimate reason to discriminate against Naruto. What is it?" Neji asked, voicing the question that the Hokage had probably been expecting before the demon question.

The older ninja gave them all a hard look before replying. "Before I answer, I need you all to promise that the information that I give you does not leave this room. This is an S-class village secret and you are not to share it with anyone who doesn't know unless you have permission to do so. Do you understand?"

They all agreed and swore their silence on the matter.

"It seems that some of you already suspect the answer, but…thirteen years ago the Kyuubi no Yoko was not destroyed as the textbooks say. Instead, the Sandaime Hokage sacrificed himself to power a jutsu strong enough to seal the demon's spirit into a vessel and end its rampage before it could reach the village. Naruto is that vessel. In light of the village's inability to handle this information, I had to classify it from the younger generations in hopes that they would treat Naruto without prejudice." The Hokage scowled slightly. "Of course, they've managed to find loopholes that keep Naruto the isolated village pariah…"

There was a long stretch of quiet as they all digested this information.

"…U-um…um, H-Hokage-sama?"

"Yes, Hinata?"

"If N-Naruto-kun keeps the K-Kyuubi s-sealed, why do the v-villagers dislike him so? S-shouldn't they be g-glad f-for what he does?"

"Ah, if only everyone thought as you do," he smiled sadly. "The civilian villagers at least have ignorance as an excuse. Even though I assure them that the Kyuubi will never escape and stalk them again, they really don't understand that Naruto is the dominant force—that the Kyuubi is subservient to him. Some seem to think that the Kyuubi has devoured Naruto's soul and possesses his body like a human skin. And some think that he was never human at all, just the Kyuubi locked into a human shape."

"But…Naruto-kun is Naruto-kun," Hinata blinked, baffled.

"I know," the Hokage chuckled. "I'm glad you think so, too."

"What of the ninja who know?" Shino frowned. "What is their excuse for their dislike of Naruto?"

"They have lost friends and family members to the demon, and as it is out of reach, they see Naruto as an acceptable scapegoat for the rage they feel at the Kyuubi." He shook his head. "They never bother to think that Naruto has nothing to do with what the demon did, and that he's just a boy."

"That's horrible!" Ino sputtered. "It's totally unfair!"

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Tenten asked.

"Be his friend," the Yondaime replied. "He's finally found some friends—friends his own age. His greatest fear is to lose you, and be lonely again."

"No problem!" Ino declared. "We can do that just fine."

There was no dissent with her statement.

"Thank you; Naruto will appreciate that." The Hokage stood up and stretched out his back.

"Should we let Naruto know that we know?" Shikamaru asked. "He'd get edgy the few times I mentioned noticing people giving him a hard time."

"If you can find a way to let him know without making a big deal about it…that would probably be best." The Hokage started to open the door to leave, but hesitated. "Remember, you're not to tell anyone about this who doesn't know—not even your teammates. Naruto has to tell them himself, or give you permission to tell them. I'm sure he'll be furious with me for telling you without getting his permission first." He nodded to them and stepped out into the hallway. "Have a nice day."

They said their farewells, and then a pensive silence fell over the room—each of them lost in their own thoughts.

"Just 'be his friend'?" Ino sighed. "Is that really all we can do?"

"It's a starting point, at least." Shikamaru yawned and pushed off from the wall. "Naruto's birthday is in a few weeks. Let's see what we can do with that."