"Stop there! You're not leaving any where!" yelled the hunter-nin. "Put away your childish scorn and let us get Naruto and we can drag that boy back with us to Konoha where we can do whatever we want to him!" order the nin as he started to surround Azrael and Naruto.

"Geez if you were going to actually attack me then actually be INTELLIGENT about it," sighed Azrael throwing his hands up into the air in mock defeat as the remaining hunter-nin… maybe they weren't really hunter-nin… gathered around him and his new found 'partner.'

"Men," –a cough- "And woman. Let's get them!" growled the hunter-nin that took notice to Azrael.

Azrael looked at the rushing ninjas and just blinked. The 'hunter-nin' took this as a 'good' sign and pressed themselves to go faster to rush the boy, but where completely taken aback when Azrael burst out into laughter, thus making them stop and look confused and fearful.

'Why is he laughing!' thought one of the Nin with a dog mask.

'We'll show him!' thought another Nin but with a bear mask.

"You…ha-ha, you really, hah must be, heh joking! Seriously! HA!" Azrael laughed as he held his sides trying to control his laughter at how the hunter-nin rushed straight into him an 'enemy' without probable cause and without knowing who or exactly what he was. Azrael finally got his laughter controlled and now just came out as a soft snort or giggle; thus making the 'hunter-nin' to feel rather scared and were glad they had the masks on to 'hide' their fear.

Azrael looked at them his with no emotion at all on his face. "Do not think I am what you see. Didn't your mothers' and fathers' teach you not to judge people? Oh wait you judge the male behind because of what he had SEALED inside of him, so I guess it is only logical that you would judge me as a weakling," Azrael said smiling an eerily dead smile that as much as it tried to hide, it couldn't mask the maniac glint in the boy's eyes.

'Had? Isn't the… fox still sealed inside of him? Wait that means!' thought the 'hunter-nin' with the dog mask.

"No," was the short response before Azrael disappeared only to reappear just like he had done to the shadow clone to each of the 'nin.' Instead of going for a killing blow, Azrael hit them hard enough only to knock out since he didn't think the prince wished for the group to die. As the final member of the lousy group fell to the ground with a startled cry, Azrael sighed as he looked over at the prince.

"Naruto-sama? Naruto-sama?" Azrael asked as he knelt in front of the half sleeping, half awake male. "Please tell I did not just make the Prince of Youkai go into shock, just because I told him I knew the King… Or did I just say I knew about the King… Okay… wonder if this would work like it doe… did with the king?" Azrael said thoughtfully.

Azrael looked thoughtful for a minute before he lifted his left hand in front of Naruto's unseeing face and smirked. 'Oh how I am going to be killed for this… Stupid Queen and her rules… ah never mind sheesh,' Azrael thought before letting his hand graze gently on Naruto's face only to grab furiously and pulled it toward him and head butted the male, causing the said victim to wake up with a furious yell and lashed out at the attacker. Azrael winced as he tried to back away from the line of fire but ended up getting hit in the shoulder by the Prince's fire claws.

"Ouch…" Azrael sighed as he looked at his now bleeding shoulder, "Remind me to think through things since… HITTING A DAMNED ROYAL PRINCE IN THE DAMNED YOUKAI RACE DOESN'T HEAL AS IT NORMALLY WOULD! Or maybe I just like getting hurt since it doesn't happen to often…" Azrael said thoughtful as he stood up looking down at Naruto and offered his hand. "Sorry about that… I learned how to do that to wake the King when my father couldn't wake him up. We should leave…" Azrael said as he looked at the group of fallen Nin and then back down at Naruto.

"…I? Why… wait… How do you know about Kyuubi-sama?" Naruto asked looking up at the boy and took his hand to get up.

"I'll answer your questions later… We need to get out of here fast… I think someone or two people have followed you as well," Azrael said as helped Naruto up and smiled lightly trying to lighten the mood. "Do you, ah, have a place to go?" he asked looking up at the now taller male.

"Not really… Once there will you answer my questions?" Naruto said narrowing his eyes looking more thoughtful than ready to attack if given the wrong answer.

"Yes… follow me please," Azrael said not waiting for a reply as he jumped up into one of the trees heading south away from the small amount of disturbance toward the north.

Naruto just nodded and followed the boy wondering what could have been following them since it didn't feel like another group of actual hunter-nin chasing him. 'Why does being around this boy make me feel at rest? It's like having otou-san in me again but… that doesn't make sense. I thought the only demons left were Shukaku and I… this doesn't make sense! Damn it! Why does it have to be so hard?' Naruto yelled in his mind as he caught up to Azrael now more focused on learning exactly who the boy was and why he was helping him… as a stranger.

(Further into the forest near about 20 minutes later. Again normal POV)

Azrael smiled as his temporary 'home' came into view. Once inside the clearings borders only he and who ever was with him personally would actually be able to see his camp and who ever was following them wouldn't be able to sense them, basically giving the followers the sense that they just dropped from the planet's surface. Azrael slowed down, dodging when Naruto almost crashed into him from the sudden stop into the clearing. Naruto looked around confusedly and looked over at Azrael and watched as he waved one of his hands and suddenly the entire place changed and was replaced by a small camp, with basic camp equipment.

"I'm right to admit that this place is rather decent eh?" Azrael asked as he watched the Prince examine the little fort. "Should I also be right in believing you want answers…correct?" he asked as he waved his hand making the edges of the borders seem rather hazy but still normal.

Naruto stopped mid-step and turned back toward Azrael and nodded as he sat down on the soft, green grass near the rather huge tent. "I'd really like to know why you are helping me… and who, or should I say what are you?" Naruto said narrowing his eyes again in thought as he looked at Azrael.

"Alright fair enough I guess," Azrael nodded as he walked over toward a fire marker and murmured something before bright blue flames appeared and he set a small tri-pod onto it that was now full of water. "I might as well get dinner started while I tell you, eh? Anyway, as I already told you my name is Azrael. But however my full name is something that can wait until I tell you a tad more of exactly what or rather who your body has 'adjusted' to. Yes I realize Lord Kyuubi has chosen you as his heir which means you know most of the King's memories. However there are probably several he left you but you do not have access too since he wanted you to open them yourself or wait until certain 'events', shall I say occurred…" Azrael stated in a near monotone but every now and then stopped to attend to the now cooking stew and to allow what he was saying to be taken in by Naruto and if he had questions he would respond.

"Again I'm getting ahead of myself, and I feel like an old guy. Anyway Kyuubi as you already know was the King of all youkai, which places you as the Prince of all Youkai. However several want to use you and thus the Queen is the one who will be governing the race until you are ready and want to or you don't and she has other 'children' that are willing to govern after her. And that in itself isn't going to come until well past another two or so millennia. Alright… you wanted to know why I'm helping you correct?" –A nod- "It is my duty to basically help the heir to the throne anyway he/she sees fit. I was assigned to help you in particular, since there are others that protect the other heirs to the other thrones or of just plain nobility blood, be it a long lost cousin, in this they can't be lost since we know how and where they are. Again explaining my role in helping you is basically to tell you who I am or as you put it 'what' I am," he stated looking over the pot that was now full of vegetables and meat from a pouch that hung from the tri-pods top. Azrael paused from the story to look over at the clearings edge shaking his head slightly and then continued.

"My full name is Azrael Adramelechk Mihael Sandalphon. Mouth full isn't it? And it more than likely rings a bell from the look on your face," Azrael commented as he looked at Naruto with amusement at how thoughtful he had made the older male look. "Yes my father was Kyuubi's protector. However, I know that Kyuubi told you he attacked Konoha because the village had killed someone very important to him, not because he just wanted to 'party.' That person was my father. Protector's will always be slightly strong in a way towards their charges. Be it physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever they will be stronger in one of the categories. It's how the sub-races are balanced. Only the elder of the race, or the Queen herself, and/or the King, can pick who exactly protects the royal line. I was chosen before either of us was even thought about. Usually once a former King picks his heir's protector usually it is implied that one of the sons or daughters of the protector is chosen. However this has changed before, but that has nothing to do to relate to this. I was chosen because most of my brothers and sisters have already been chosen to be someone else's protector. Those too young obviously can't help you," Azrael paused as he poured the brew into two cups and handed one to Naruto as the flames slowly died out, now that their purpose was filled.

"Kyuubi never told you what my father was, did he?" –a frown in thought and then a nod of Naruto's head to tell Azrael that Kyuubi hadn't.- "Alright, he was a wrath demon. Or to say a wolf demon bent on bringing destruction and pain to anyone that thought even for a second to bring harm to the ones he cared for. Funny enough that trait lives on in my line. I am part wrath demon and part death demon. Death demons are what your father Kyuubi was. Foxes are known to the rest of the youkai race as death demons. Human's put the names of animals as to how to separate us from others of our race. So to say, I'm a wolf and a fox. Thus, making it hard for people not to judge me," Azrael stated as he turned his head suddenly and his eyes narrowed dangerously as he caught sight of what exactly had been following them.

Naruto looked over towards where Azrael turned toward suddenly and his eyes too narrowed into slits as he saw exactly who had been following him. 'Itachi!' Naruto growled in his mind as he wanted to know more about Azrael and how everything worked in a youkai society. He however stood up annoyed, after placing his now empty cup onto the forest floor.

"He can't see us… unless we want him to," Azrael stated as he too stood up after placing the cup onto the forest floor.

To be continued…

Now that's the end of chapter four. New question: Do you want them to fight Itachi or wait until he 'leaves'?

If anyone wants to know exactly where Azrael came from then by all means ask I won't bite. To answer your question Naru-Kit there wasn't any mistake unless OMC doesn't mean Original Male Character since I created him… unless there's a character from Naruto named Azrael… OOC I thought meant Out of Character. Either way thanks for the review it helped.

And winners of the cookies are Naru-Kit and RabidButterfly seeing how they came close to exactly who Azrael is.

And to answer your question Kaba-chan the reason there are so many votes like that is because that's input from other readers of this, from other websites. But thanks for bringing it up.

And to bookwork51485 thanks for telling me that. I didn't realize I still had that blocked so thanks for telling me.

Poor DrolKrad lol. This story will more than likely have like two or three versions of the pairings since NO ONE can make up their mind about it. That includes myself. But so far this one is no pairings and once this is done there will be two more version for those that want het pairings such as NaruIno and OMCTen… that last one is up for debate actually so you guys will have to vote for that one as well. And another version for those that like shounen-ai since yaoi I can't post on fanfiction . net with the pairings ItaNaru and KisaOMC. You guys just have to wait for the ending of this one… then again I'll most likely post the other versions after chapter 5 or 6 since that's probably where they meet Itachi and Kisame. But another note… in the Het version the going to Konoha will be faster than the one in this version and the shounen-ai version. But it'll basically be the same just slightly fast-forward.

This is the best compromise I can think of and I actually like it since it helps ease my mind off that I'll lose reviewers if I don't accomdate everyone and I have too much time on my hands… lol. But it is definite that the shounen-ai pairing is ItaNaru. But the pairing for the OMC is still up for grabs in that one since I've gotten KakaOMC and IruOMC as well as a pairing from my other reviewers. But anyway enough of my babbling lol. I'll try to get this updated with your input by at least Wednesday or Thursday depending on how fast people review. Later all.

-Chris.