Disclaimer: Naruto and all material related to him does not, in any way belong to me. .

Naruto was drumming his fingers repeatedly against the table in a constant rhythm. The waiting room to the Hokage's office always seemed so dreadfully boring to him, even when he was a mere toddler.

The teacher always sent him to the Hokage when he had done severe pranks so the old man could give him the moral lecture, like the twisted principal they made him out to be. But first the blond would spend most of the time in this room, waiting for the old Shinobi to finish up with his business.

Even now he was bored to death.16 years of age; the whiskered boy had not learned the virtue of patience. Naruto had tried to read those magazines laid out to visitors, but quickly put them down when he noticed they were the same magazines from years past. The cliché was true; they never change out the magazines. The demon-like boy sweatdropped when he realised it.

So here he was, sitting in the cheap wooden chair, shifting restlessly. One would think the Hokage could afford something better for her waiting room, but no. The walls were still covered in tasteless green, and the parquet floor scratched as it always had been. Cheap asses. All of them.

Naruto ended his train of thoughts when the head of a well-known medic ninja popped out from office door. She looked around the waiting room, searching for the person who had made the appointment. Her eyes lit up when she saw who it was. The medic ninja's mouth turned into a loving smile.

"Naruto-kun! I knew you couldn't have died on us! So the rumour was true!" The blond's eyes crinkled up in response, Shizune was of the few people he knew, that didn't hate him, which meant he couldn't treat her like he would treat the rest of the accursed village.

"You should know, I'm made of tougher stuff than that, nee-chan!" His grin reflected the warmth he felt by seeing her again. Shizune couldn't help but let out a slight giggle.

The spiky haired boy walked up to her and engulfed her in a hug; he had missed their little conversations where Tsunade baa-chan always was the main topic. She used to give him all kind of slander, which Naruto took a note of for blackmail purposes.

Shizune measured the young shinobi up from head to toe. The medic smiled when she noticed that the little blond boy she knew was no more, in his place stood a full grown man. This was kind of odd considering he was only 16.

"My oh my, you have certainly grown!" Naruto nodded proudly, he liked it when people acknowledged that fact, and it made him feel quite proud.

"But we don't have time to chat around Naruto-kun, Hokage-sama is waiting!" She said in a tone that resembled a lecture. The blond boy's smile disappeared quickly, and was replaced with a deep frown. This was it. He knew that now he needed to explain exactly why he had changed, and why he was gone the last three years.

He managed to give her a stiff nod and proceeded into the office, where to his surprise, he found a working Tsunade. It was quite different from last time he was there, when people would constantly find her sleeping.

The voluptuous Hokage raised her head when she heard someone enter her "humble office". She smiled gently at the figure walking in. The number one hyperactive ninja.

Although it dropped quickly when she noticed his deep frown, something was obviously bothering him.

Tsunade gestured him to sit down, the young man hesitated for a while, but reluctantly did just that. The secretary from the other day walked in, her high heels tapping rhythmically against the parquet floor, while carrying a large amount of papers.

'Judging from the look in Tsunades eyes, it's probably more paper work.' The stack of papers was crudely dumped on her royal desk. The blond medic heaved a heavy sigh; the Hokage's work seemed never ending. She scoffed the paperwork away, and focused on the dark-clothed lad.

Tsunade marvelled at him, the new clothes made Naruto resemble Yondaime to a frightening degree, but what stood out the most for her, was the necklace she gave him that one time. Even now, he wore it proudly. Tsunade's hearth softened for him, something that Naruto had planned. Because he knew how much Shodaimes necklace meant to her, and everything that would help him gain admittance to Konoha, he would use.

An eerie silence covered the room, the Hokage had sent away Shizune, telling her this was to be between the two of them, which she did, although unwillingly.

"Well?" Tsunade inquired, her patience was wearing thin. She had to know what exactly happened to her little blond boy.

"Well what?" Naruto tried to avoid the subject, although he knew it was inevitable. The young Shinobi noticed the twitch Tsunade was developing, and gave in.

"Oh yeah, that." Tsunade gestured him to continue.

"Hmmm, where do I begin? Ah, yes. Me an' Kyuubi have fused, to put it bluntly." Tsunade had a facial expression that just screamed out confusion. Naruto understood that he needed to elaborate.

"When me and Sasuke fought in the Valley of the end, that's where it happened. He held me by the collar with his Chidori activated, when he was about to kill me, the Kyuubi gained consciousness through my body. From what I remember from the fight, it ended with both of us using our "ultimate attacks"." Naruto moved his fingers to imitate quotation marks. "In other words, the Rasengan versus the Chidori. The outcome was a draw, but I was the one who came out worse. The force of the two jutsus hitting each other was too great. It flung both of us at opposite ends. That bastard, Sasuke managed to come out of okay. While I got flinged head first into a rock"

Tsunade flinched at the tone Naruto spoke with, it sounded bitter and furious, something that was quite out of character for the spiky haired shinobi.

"The impact gave me a severe head trauma. In fact, it was so severe I would have most likely died of it, or at very best be handicapped for the rest of my life, I could actually feel myself dying, I remember how tempting the darkness was, but then something dragged me back into the living. I didn't realise it at the time, but it seemed the seal absorbed the Kyuubi's mind to heal my own, like some kind of self-defence mechanism."

Tsunade eyes widened, how could the seal do such a thing? She wanted to interject, but Naruto lifted his finger to silence her before she could even open her mouth.

"Please let me finish." She nodded, accepting his terms.

"The powers of the fox healed the broken tissue in my head, and its thoughts replaced the ones that were broken beyond repair. That was supposed to be it. But the mind of the fox was too strong; it actually overlapped with my own, infecting my thoughts with its killer intent. It corrupted the mind beyond my own control. The Kyuubi's Chakra transformed my body, giving me the monstrous features you see on me today."

"For now, the seal holds back most of the fox's chakra, as my body can't handle it. But my power increases by the day as the body gets more and more used to the monstrous energy."

By now the Hokage's jaw was hanging loosely. She couldn't believe what happened to him. It may have made him powerful,but the price had been too much; the small boy's mind had been thrown into havoc.

"When I awoke, I had no control over my killer-intent, and the transformation frightened me. I knew that now, the village would never accept me. It would prove them right, that I really was a monster." Naruto's eyes were shadowed over; making it hard to figure out is emotions, as his tone had changed from something of a snarl, into a monotone rhythm.

"That's why I didn't return. I wanted to get the changes under control, which I did…. To a certain extent." The last part came out like a quiet mutter.

The blond boy looked around him uncomfortably; he needed to change the subject.

"You might wonder about the eye…." Naruto pointed his clawed finger to his singular blood red eye. "You see, the eyes represent the balance of our minds. Mine and what's left of Kyuubi's. Although the fox's mind isn't really an entity anymore, but rather something like an emotion. Right now we are somewhat equal, with me in control, as I am the one with a full mind, since Kyuubi's was used to repair mine. The slitted eye is also is also the key to use a demonic doujutsu."

Tsunades's golden brown eyes were one of pity, glazed over. How the boy's fragile mind had suffered thoughts never meant for a human and how he had sacrificed his home for others safety. Naruto face turned into a deep frown, his eyes blistering with anger when he understood what her facial expression meant.

"But make no mistake, if it weren't for the Sound, I would have done everything in my power to decimate this village!"

It was a small lie; the young Shinobi didn't possess the abilities to destroy the leaf. At least not right now.

"But for the time of being, you have me as an ally…. If you want." Tsunade nodded, she found his words quite trustworthy.

"I have spoken to the council about this earlier today, and the story we heard from you do not give us any reason to kick you out of here. We agreed, somewhat reluctantly to let you back in to the village. Somehow I have a feeling that your abilities, whatever they may be, will be of some use to us." She raised a finger as a warning. "But if you somehow prove yourself treacherous, I will get you killed faster than you could say Poker."

Naruto only grinned in response, revealing his sharp canines. He liked her spunk, always did.

"You will be observed by ANBU from a distance, as we need to keep tabs on you. Do you agree to the conditions?"

"I agree." She smiled in return, hers was a warm one, she really did miss his noisy presence.

"Good, now we have one more thing left, your rank as a shinobi." His eyes lit up, this was more interesting. "Since we don't know the extent of your abilities, we will get a jounin to test you, and then give his recommendation to me, as we don't have the time to send you through a bunch of exams." Naruto eyes looked like they agreed, it made sense after all.

"The test will be a one on one battle, simple, huh?" Naruto grinned.

"Now he should be here any minute, since I told him to come to my office three hours ago…." Naruto froze up, that was way too familiar. Out of all the jounins in the village, it couldn't be him.

A light poof was heard followed by a cloud of smoke, then a casual greeting. That voice. That annoying "Yo".

Dear God, it was Kakashi!

When Tsunade had told Kakashi that he was to meet up at the Hokage tower, he would not imagine this to happen, not by a longshot. In the chair next to him sat a blond man, something that wouldn't usually have fazed him much, except for the tell-tale scars covering his cheeks told him that this was his presumed-dead pupil.

"Na-Naruto?" To say that the silver haired jounin was shocked, was the understatement of the year. Kakashi's gaped unnoticed at his missing pupil. Naruto returned the favour with a feral sneer.

"What does it look like, Yondaime?" The tone of voice was cold and hateful, with a hint of sarcasm. Naruto's response had sparked the curiosity of the Hokage,

"Oi, Naruto-kun, what's the matter?" She was not going to walk on eggshells around him now that he was officially her soldier.

Naruto gave her the coldest look she had ever seen, the contrast of red and blue giving her the creeps.

"That bastard is to blame…" He whispered, his voice was even colder this time, entirely void of emotions. Kakashi flinched at it. The medic ninja only raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, How so?" The demon Shinobi's mouth turned into a sneer, revealing some of his fangs. He clenched his hands tightly, letting a droplet of blood flow down from his palm.

"He taught Sasuke that jutsu, the first real taste of power. If it hadn't been for him, this wouldn't have happened!" Naruto's voice rose as he talked, his words were furious at the end. Kakashi eye sharpened.

"You…. Are you blaming me for Sasuke's betrayal?!" The young man growled a death threat.

"You can bet your Sharingan eye on it! You, Sakura, the villagers, Orochimaru, Itachi, you are all catalyst to what happened to us, and I'll never forgive you for it!" Naruto's single blue eye started to get strands of crimson in it, something that didn't go unnoticed by Tsunade.

"Naruto, calm down you brat!" He gave her a hard, defiant look. "That's an order!" That hit home. If anything, the lad had always followed orders, which he did in this case as well. Naruto took deep breaths in order to calm himself down, trying to keep the demonic presence at bay. Tsunade nodded in approval. "Good, now I don't care what thing you two have between each other. It is irrelevant to me. For now I want you two at a truce. We can't have people in our own forces having disputes for the time of being." The two Shinobis exchange glances, glances that practically screamed "I want to kill you!"

Tsunade's eyebrow got that twitch again; it made both of the arguing ninjas to stop their mental assaults. She didn't even have to tell them that it was an order; it was in a way, already said. They both offered their hands, reluctantly.

"Truce?"

"Truce." The sight made Tsunade smile, crinkling her eyes up. She did love her position of power.

"Good, good . Now I want you two to go the training fields and finish this case up, so we can continue with our work."

"Hai Hokage-sama" Both of them chorused dully, exchanging slightly dirty looks, which in return made the Hokage raise her fist ever so little. Making them both flinch. They both gave each other a desperate look, which quickly changed into a mutual agreement.

"Hey Kakashi, let's go out and have fun!" It sounded so fake that it made her sweatdrop.

"Indeed my dear Naruto-kun, onwards!" Kakashi was even worse, and before she could exact her punishment, the pair of Shinobi was out the door.

"What the…"

The spiky haired blond let out a sigh of relief as they walked out the door; even now he feared the finger of Tsunade, something that had stuck with him since their first meeting. It seemed his former sensei; Kakashi shared his sentiment, as he exhaled as well.

"She has a point you know." Naruto eyed the white haired man, raising an eyebrow.

"What, you mean the truce thing?" The demon put his finger to his chin, making him look rather thoughtfull. He raced through different scenarios, whereas Kakashi's destruction didn't aid him in any of them, how sad.

In one however, Kakashi's survival could mean the possibility of a sparring partner with a Sharingan. That could benefit Naruto greatly, as he still had rather little experiences against a fully evolved Sharingan. The blond shinobi offered a charming smirk.

"I don't see why not."

Anko had gotten a headache after the consumption of alchohol from the day before, giving her an excuse to sleep in. It had done her well and she was on her way to the Hokage's office to receive a mission. The brown-eyed jounin grinned in anticipation, for who knew what fun stuff she was to do. She got a tear in her eye-nook when she thought of the possibility of another assassination mission.

Opening the door to the waiting room she saw someone who promised a lot of fun, Uzumaki Naruto. The whiskered prankster was talking to the copy-ninja known as Kakashi, by the looks of it they were coming to some kind of agreement, as both of them were smiling smugly, or at least Naruto was. You never knew what that silver haired guy was doing.

This was a perfect situation for Anko though, now she would be able to make him her official play-thing. The special-jounin grabbed something from one of the hidden pockets inside her trench coat. Moving into an attack position, she held the mystery item in her hands, keeping it ready for use.

Anko moved with a blurring speed. The two Shinobi conversing were too occupied to notice her, or at least Naruto was.

Before the blond haired lad had time to react, she had put the item around his neck, closing it with an audible click. Quickly the young man turned around only to see her. His eyes were on of relief and surprise.

"Anko?!" The purple haired shinobi nodded her head vigorously, proud of her achievement. Naruto then realised that she had put something on him and started to feel the area around his neck, he touched the leathery item, feeling its texture. The blond shinobi then sighed deeply.

"Did you just put a collar on me? No wait, let me rephrase that. Anko, did you just put a collar studded with spikes on me?"

"Yup" Anko's eyes were crinkled up while she continued to nod. Naruto on the other hand started to develop a twitch.

"….. WHY?!" The Kunoichi thought for a second, trying to find a logic in her own actions, finding none, she just shrugged.

Kakashi had chosen to stay silent, seeing how he had no idea what was going on. But while studying Naruto's new collar, he had noticed something that made him curious.

"Oi, Naruto, what does it say on that name tag?" The silver haired jounin inspected it closely, reading the small print on the silver medallion hanging from the leather.

""Property of Anko"?" Kakashi chuckled lightly at the bizarre situation; while Naruto was trying desperately to wriggle open the lock of the collar.

To Anko's displeasure, of course.

"Naruto-kuuuuun, you aren't refusing my kind gift, are you?" Her voice was sweet and luring, she was obviously expecting one certain answer. Naruto's reply wasn't it.

"So what if I am?" He frowned at her sweet smile, which had quickly turned into a grim snarl, Naruto's frown deepened.

Two shinobis walked out of the grand Hokage building, one was seemingly trying to comfort the other.

"Calm down Naruto, I am sure that it's not physically possible to do that with a kunai." The words didn't comfort the lad much.

"But what if it is! Is there nothing holy anymore?!" Kakashi could only shudder in response; he hoped he told himself the truth.

The two men managed to calm themselves down, and started to walk towards the old training area of team seven where they were to have the test. Walking down the familiar streets of Konoha they where greeted with odd looks, most of them directed at Naruto's facial markings.

They knew it, the Kyuubi no Kitsune was back!

The blond boy only grinned savagely as he heard the repeated whispers.

"Is that him?"

"He is supposed to be dead!"

"Oh my god, he's back!"

Kakashi could do naught but shake his head in disappointment. One would think Konoha had evolved past such behaviour.

Still inside her office, Tsunade, the Hokage was doing her daily paper work. She opened another letter containing a bill. She read the prize and her eyes widened, that was a lot of money indeed.

"What? Weapon restoring and decoration? What the h-"

"-ey Kakashi, over here" The younger shinobi pointed towards the shop he had paid a visit to as late as the day before. He had convinced Kakashi to take a quick visit inside the extravagant store.

The boutique was indeed impressive; it had several intricate items at display, ranging from gold rings, to beautifully decorated Katanas.

Naruto walked right past the display and talked to the store owner, making it clear he had real business to attend to. The store owner nodded politely at the blond boy, carrying out several kunai, and one Fuuma Shuriken.

The boy picked up his precious weapon, folding and unfolding it. The grand weapon was now rid of its rust, making it more veritable weapon. He inspected the blades of his giant shuriken, and as he had instructed the smith, the blades were now decorated with golden fox tails.

Naruto took a hold of the weapons, sheeting them in their assigned pockets, the young boy grinned at the feeling of carrying his weapons again.

"Hey Naruto, how could you afford a place like this, wouldn't think you had the bling bling for it." Kakashi's question made Naruto grin even wider, all of his fangs where revealed.

"That is for me to know, and the hopefully Tsunade to never find out." The shinobi laughed an awkward laugh, while Kakashi could only raise his single eyebrow.

"Oh man, this placed hasn't changed, a bit disappointing actually." Kakashi only grumped, slightly annoyed with Naruto. The training ground had indeed not changed at all, it had been that long. The logs were still standing in the middle of it, nature surrounding the area. Behind the three logs there were placed the memorial of Shinobi heroes. This was the place where the blond boy's Ninja adventure had started, where he was initiated as a Genin.

"Well I am sure you will cope with it, don't you?" The copy-cat responded sourly. Naruto only grimaced at him, going into a battle ready position.

"You ready Kakashi?" The silver haired man nodded and went into his battle stance.

"1… 2… 3… Go!"

Both Shinobi jumped away from each other to create space. The first to do hand seals was the demon child, he moved his hands into the different positions quickly, making many that were not recognised by the jounin.

"Ninpo: Kyuubi Shippo no jutsu! " Four red Chakra tails emerged from his back, and they started to wave around gently, the mesmerizing movements fascinated Kakashi. Naruto only smirked and continued his formation of handseals?, ending with the tails being covered with red fur.

"Ah, I see, you create tails of chakra, and use genjutsu to make them look like real tails. Nifty." Naruto grinned in return, he personally loved this jutsu.

Kakashi moved quickly, launching several shurikens at the younger shinobi, to his disappointment, the tails reacted by instinct, and reflected the metal object with several lashes. Kakashi found himself impressed by the jutsu.

"Shall we get started for real, or just throw shiny stuff at each other?" Naruto stepped down into a taijutsu stance that mimicked that of an attacking animal. His fingers positioned like claws, making them formidable weapons.

Kakashi nodded and went into his own taijutsu stance, using a common style among the leaf-Shinobis.

A moment of silence ensued before they both ran at each other with blinding speed, exchanging punches and kicks, or in Naruto's case; animal-like slashes

The animalistic shinobi had his tails to fight with, giving him quite an edge in close combat; it became clear to the silver hair jounin that he had to use his ace to even be able to survive in close combat.

Kakashi backed away while lifting his head protector, revealing his single Sharingan eye. The blond lad had to restrain himself as to not loosing control at the sight. It reminded him too much of a certain raven haired Uchiha.

"Oh, playing though are we? Jolly!" His tone was sour as acid. Again Naruto did handseals, this time he did the familiar seals of Goukakyuu no jutsu. He moved his hand up to his mouth, blowing a massive fireball. Doing some more handseals the prankster smirked and whispered a following: "Kage bunshin no jutsu.

The fireball mass doubled itself, but the silver haired shinobi didn't even bat an eyelash when the inferno hit with great fury.

As the fire dispersed, leaving only scorched ground left, Naruto noticed charred wood where his old sensei had been.

"Kawarimi no jutsu…" The blond boy had no time to react as a familiar arm flew up from the ground, grabbing his right boot.

"Doton: Shinjuu Shanshu no jutsu!" The arm dragged the boy under ground, until only the head remained. He saw Kakashi coming up from the ground, giving him a rather smug look.

"How disappointing, Naruto-kun. I would figure you would have gotten stronger after 3 years. But instead, you've only gotten worse." Kakashi's voice was sugary sweet, not hiding the dry tone at all. The boy smirked himself, and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

'Shit, Kage bunshin!'

Before Kakashi had time to cope with the situation, several Fuuma Shurikens flew out from between the trees. The silver haired copy-ninja got cut in half. Alas no blood was spilled, it was another Kawarimi.

Naruto ran into the clearing, he had no clue where the jounin was now; the boy berated himself for loosing the old man out of sight, after all; how fast could the senile coot be?

He looked around; tails swaying behind him, the movements being cautious and battle ready. The shinobi clenched his teeth; this could prove harder than he had imagined. Hopefully he wouldn't need to use more of his "special" jutsus.

Out of nowhere the copy-cat came lunging at Naruto, wielding a kunai in hand. His Shunshin no jutsu could almost rival his sensei's in battle.

Kakashi delivered many swift blows towards the younger man, taking advantage of his stunned state, his kunai moving in a flurry of slashes.

Only thanks to his tails could the demon block his opponent by making the powerful limbs take all the damage for him. They exchanged more Taijutsu attacks, this time Kakashi made more resistance, as the Sharingan predicted the movements of the tails.

Naruto shifted his weight over to one of his leg to give the older man a rising kick while he was busy dealing with the attacking tails. Kakashi was sent flying several meters away, but when the jounin landed, he disappeared with a similar puff. It had been a Kage bunshin.

Naruto created a choked growl from his troath, he was displeased with how his opponent had been a shadow clone, yet being able to keep up with his moves. Kakashi was as good as he remembered, maybe even better. The fox-like man sniffed into the air, trying to find his adversary. Nothing, of course a jounin cold cover his smell somehow.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshun no jutsu" Naruto's eyes widened uncharacteristically when he heard the name of the technique, he had little time to think when a flock of dogs flew up from the ground, latching themselves to the whiskered boy with mouth and paws.

The jounin appeared out of a smoke cloud, his eyes were sharpened at his foxy target. In his hand a blade shaped cyclone appeared, it was the technique known as Kenkaze, the blade of wind. The silver haired man moved into an attack position, his hand pointed towards the opposite direction, making room for a largest possible slash.

Naruto's eyes widened when Kakashi started running towards him. In panic, the grand fox tails started to tense up. Instincts took over when the jounin moved into an attack, forcing the tails to break away the hounds with a defiant flex of muscles. The canines puffed into oblivion with a whimper as they where de-summoned. It was a small victory for Naruto this time, for finally the lad had lured the older man into the opening, the first step in defeating his opponent.

Again Naruto did numerous handseals, followed by Kakashi, who copied the sequel of seals with an eerie accuracy; thanks to his Sharingan, of course. Finishing the hand movements the duo both moved their hand to their mouth, the opening of a fire jutsu.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" Both shinobis called out in chorus. The flames met and cancelled each other out, leaving one pissed of teenager, and a smug looking jounin. The power of the Sharingan could indeed be frustrating for the adversary.

Something hit Naruto, making his curiosity peak.

"Wait, wait!" Kakashi did as requested and gave the boy a look of curiosity.

"How did you do that with the mask on?" Kakashi seemingly smiled, or his eyes seemed like he smiled.

"That…. will forever be a mystery for you." Naruto only gave him a depraved look, before he shook the thoughts away, and prepared for battle yet again.

The Kyuubi carrier started again the process of making handseals, this time for the Housenka no jutsu. And yet again Kakashi copied his movements with precision and zeroed out the jutsu. Naruto only sneered, he needed to end it quickly, as not to reveal all his tricks, but he couldn't kill the old man, it would piss Granny Tsunade off.

This time Naruto formed more of the unknown seals, many more, the Sharingan was unable to copy them, as they weren't of human origin, or at least they didn't seem to be. The silver haired jounin jumped away, trying to keep a distance between the two.

Naruto moved his hand up to the lip, the sign of a Katon jutsu. The silver haired jounin prepared for another inferno, albeit his mind was trying to figure out why he couldn't copy the jutsu with his red iris.

"Katon: Kitsune Bakushin no jutsu!" A giant fox head made out of fire spewed out of Naruto's mouth, moving at an impossible speed. The land underneath it was scorched heavily in its path, proving its lethality.

Kakashi had to move fast out of the way to avoid the inferno. He barely made it, but was stunned from the exertion of doing such. This was Naruto's single chance; to stun a jounin at such a level was hard for anyone.

The blond shinobi formed a one handed seal while closing his eyes, Kakashi decided to wait to see the effect of the new jutsu, since it would be stupid to just rush into the unknown. Naruto opened his eyes and shouted:

"Kinjutsu: Youma Satsui!"

TBC

AN: Yay, biggest chapter yet. 10 and a half pages long! Sorry it took so much time to update though. It was done last week, but I had trouble getting someone to look over it for me. As everyone I know that was able to, was busy at the time.

I am also happy everyone likes the AnkoXNaruto pairing, since I like it too XP

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate it, and I take every suggestion to heart. To the people who pointed out spelling errors, I will do my best to get rid of them. The fic is now put on R, at recommendation from a reader.

And panuru4u, I hope this chapter answered your questions!