"Old man, can we go home now?!" A very annoyed Naruto asked as he sat in the Hokage's office. The ANBU had made him come here, where Sarutobi had examined the seal on his stomach. The nine tailed fox had remained silent during that time. The hokage sighed heavily, not happy at seeing the sulking youth refusing to face him at all. Spoke to him, yes. But his his back had been facing the hokage the whole time. Gaara stood nearby, similarly understanding his friend's frustration, but choosing to remain silent. He would do his best to calm Naruto down when they were back at the house.

"Very well." Sarutobi agreed. "But you'll be escorted by Jiraiya. Until we find out who has been behind these attacks you'll have either ANBU or jounin with you at all times." Gaara saw Naruto's eyes narrow, almost swearing he saw a flash of red in them. "Is that agreed? It's either that or you two go into protective custody. Take your pick."

"We'll take the bodyguards." Gaara answered, speaking for the both of them. "Sorry about him. He's had a hard time the past few days. It's a lot to take in." Sarutobi brushed this off.

"It's surprising that he's even taking it this well. It's understandable that he's upset." Sarutobi agreed. "He just needs some time to relax. I have an idea. Perhaps this weekend you two can enjoy some time at the hot spring." Sarutobi handed Gaara something. It was the kunai that Naruto had made burst into flame. It was now pitch black. "I had a metal worker examine this. They could name no harder metal. And it can cut through almost anything. Wherever that flame came from it changed the metal into an entirely new metal." Gaara took the kunai and tucked into his belt.

"The hot spring sounds like a good idea." Gaara admitted. "But we'll have to talk to Kushina-kaa-san about it."

--

"My Lord Orochimaru, the attempt to bring in the jinchuuriki failed." Kabuto said to the snakish man before him. "But he did do as ordered. He pretended like it was an attempt on the Kazekage's son's life."

"I want Naruto Uzamaki before me soon. He may be able to provide us with the information needed. We know that the demon contacted him. Maybe from that bond, we can figure out a way to learn how to control these demons. With them fighting on our side, our conquest of this world will go faster. I know the first place to fall: Konoha." Orochimaru smirked as he ordered this. "It'd be even nicer if we could convince him to join our side willingly. Kabuto, I need you to do something. Somehow find a way to meet him. Convince him to join us."

"Yes Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto said with a bow. "I shall not fail you."

--

"Ah, this feels good." Kushina said softly, settling into the hotsprings. "It was nice for the Hokage to pay for this. I still could've done paid though." She looked for Naruto and Gaara. They were in a family hotspring, so they could all be in the same one. She spotted the two boys just climbing in. Naruto had come home yesterday after another attack in a very annoyed mood. Having been dragged to the the hokage's office afterward's by the ANBU who had seen Naruto manifest his new ability. Those two ANBU had told her in person what they had seen and Sarutobi had shown her the kunai before giving it back to the boys. Naruto had gone to bed that night still in a bad bood. Thankfully, he had woken up in a much better one.

He hadn't told anyone that Kitsune had contacted him again, answering all of Naruto's questions while Naruto slept, pulling Naruto's consciousness into a dreamscape where they talked the night after the manifestation of his new power. He hadn't even told people about the first time.

"Naruto-kun, let's go play some ping pong." Gaara suggested after they had been soaking for awhile. Naruto eagerly agreed. "Kushina-kaa-san, is that okay?"

"Sure." Kushina replied. "The Hokage has people watching this place, so you'll be ok." The boys whooped and ran into the changing room to get dressed, both clearly looking like they had just gotten out of the hot spring. Kushina shook her head as she saw this. Those two had so much energy, energy they would hopefully work off in ping pong.

Soon enough they were in the game room, where they grabbed their paddles and a ball, moving to the nearest table. As they started to get into the game, Naruto using only his left hand still thanks to the sling and cast, a teenager walked into the room.

"May I join you two in a game?" The teenager asked, white hair still clinging to his head from the hot spring. "I'm here alone, so I don't have anyone to play with. How about two on one? Me against the both of you?" Naruto and Gaara looked at each other with a grin.

"Sure." They answered as one, Gaara moving to Naruto's side of the table. Kabuto took the first serve. As they volleyed the ball back and forth, the two younger working up a sweat, they grinned even harder.

"You two are good." The teenager said. "My name is Kabuto. I'm a ninja around here. Who are you two?" He asked as they all took a break.

"Gaara." Gaara said. "Naruto, I'm going to get three drinks." Kabuto began to protest this. "No, it's thanks for the game. Naruto's not much of a challenge with his primary arm in a sling." Gaara smiled and ran out of the room before Naruto could give chase.

"What happened to your arm? I'm a medical ninja, so I may be able to help." Kabuto offered.

"I injured it in a fight. But you don't need to worry about it. Tsunade of the sannin already looked at it and it'll be fine. Besides, I heal really fast, so hopefully the 3-4 weeks in a sling like this will be cut down." Naruto looked wistfully at his arm during his last sentence. "It's so annoying. And it itches a whole lot too. Not only that, I can't go on the more serious missions either. I'm only a genin, but I've already been missions that have taken me out of the village. Heck, that's where I asked my girlfriend out."

Kabuto burst out laughing. "Now that's a story to tell your grand kids someday. Someday I'd like to hear that story. What are you doing while it heals? Have you been hanging out with Gaara-kun?" Naruto smiled and nodded. "It looks like you two are really good friends. Which means he must be the ninja from Suna staying here. I know that he's staying with the Uzamaki family at the moment. One of your teammates must have gone to Suna then."

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun went. He didn't even say goodbye though. He just left. Hinata-chan and I were about to invite him to go to ramen to try and get him to open up." Naruto told him. "Sasuke-kun's not really much of a team player. We were planning on changing that before he left." Naruto sighed.

"Naruto, how does it feel to be the son of a hero?" Kabuto asked. "It sounds silly, I know. But that has always been on my mind. I don't have any family of my own, so it makes me wonder how it feels to not only only have a father but a hero for a father."

Sadness filled Naruto's expression. "I'm always being compared to him. My looks, my skills, my personality. It kind of depresses me." Naruto paused. "It makes me wonder who they're seeing. Are they seeing my father, the Yondaime Hokage? Or are they seeing me, Naruto Namikaze? I know we are bound to be similar since we're so closely related. But sometimes, I just want to be seen as me. But even more than that, I want a chance to get to know him, though I know that's not possible. Then I can know whether they're seeing me or someone who died a hero for the sake of his home."

"What would you do for that chance? I mean to make it known you aren't your father." Kabuto inquired. "Even medical ninjutsu today can't revive a person from the dead today." (Before I get a review saying I'm wrong, I know that he's lying.)

"Almost anything really." Naruto admitted.

"I know someone who can help you then." Kabuto told him. Naruto looked up curiously. "He's a great man, haven given a purpose to many a person's life. He can make almost anything happen. Maybe I can introduce you. He has a way of making things known. With him, I'm sure it can become known that you're not your father. What do you say?"

A warning bell went off in Naruto's mind. Grappling with inner emotions still, he didn't instantly answer. Kabuto waited patiently for Naruto's answer. Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't hear Kabuto swear loudly all of a sudden. But he did feel himself be pushed aside, falling into the hot spring that he was sitting near. Sputtering and coughing, he got his head above the surface, still coughing badly. He didn't hear everything that a hooded man wearing a black cloak was saying over his coughing, catching only the last few words.

"-away from him." The hooded man warned, drawing a sword from it's sheath. Kabuto swore again, jumping back drawing a couple of kunai of his own. "You think those compare with a sword? I heard from the snake that you were smart. Apparently he was wrong. But then again, I won't be able to go back to confirm it. Here, a present." He threw a bag at Kabuto's feet. It came open and Naruto immediately started retching.

A severed head rolled out the bag. Even in life, whoever the head belonged to had been pale. Black hair had been severed off with a clean sword attack. Gaudy gold earrings hung from the ears and gold, slitted eyes were still wide open in shock. "No! Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto yelled. Naruto had stopped retching by now, stopping in time to hear what Kabuto yelled out.

"Orochimaru." Naruto murmured in shock. "No way..." Naruto said, backing up as he remembered the lessons from his academy days. The hooded man lowered his hood and turned to look at Naruto. At the same time, the door slid open, a large group of people running into the room. Part of the ANBU that had been watching the place stood frozen in shock. Gaara ran into the hot spring and pulled Naruto out of the hotspring, not caring if his yukata got soaked in the process. But it was Kushina who had the best reaction.

"Minato...you're alive." She managed to get out before she passed out. The man caught her.

"Kaa-san!" Naruto yelled, running to his mother's side. He looked up at the stranger as he reached her and also stopped in shock. He remembered the pictures he had seen of his dad. "No..way..." He stammered. He backed up again in shock, shaking his head furiously. "It can't be. My father died the day I was born! Who are you?!"