(Sigh) High school, what a drag. I really hate it! (sighs dramatically) High school is evil! Oh well, that's just life. Anyway, my updates will be waaay slower. Slower than usual, and that's pretty bad!

"Blah" -talking

'Blah' -thinking

-Blah- -italics

Blah -Kyubi talking (You'll be able to tell, doesn't allow me to do the equal sign.)

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto or Inu-Yasha.

(Begin Chapter)

Naruto stood in the middle of the forest, huffing. He wearily looked up, at the demon staring at him. The demon was waiting, watching. Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration, eyes glaring at the demon.

"Impressive. Simply impressive, human," the demon said in his native tongue, hungry eyes scanning the human. "For a human, to survive for this long in our territory. And for a human so young, also. Most impressive. But your life ends here." The demon charged.

Naruto dived to the right, rolling when he hit the ground. 'Stupid Inu-Yasha! Leaving me in the forest for a -month- like this! No food, no water, nothing! He thinks only after learning about auras and the minimum about spirit energy will help me survive!?' Naruto growled while he took out his last weapon on him, a shuriken.

This is survival training in its maximum, kit. Kyubi snickered.

'You think I can handle this!?'

You've been doing pretty well for a month now.

'I repeatedly had to borrow your youki!'

At least you're alive.

It had only been about seven weeks since Naruto met the dog demon, it had only been four weeks since he last saw said dog demon.

Naruto ran up a tree and did a back flip, going behind the attacking demon. The demon, surprised, turned around and growled in annoyance. Naruto smirked and threw the shuriken. "Ha! You think that will defeat me? A measly toy?" The demon grabbed the shuriken in midair and smirked back. Naruto's smirk only grew wider when the demon fell down, dead. Behind him stood one of Naruto's clones, hands just bloodied. Then, the shuriken exploded, destroying the clone and spreading the remains of the demon around the clearing. Naruto smiled, relieved, showing off small fangs.

True, Naruto's physical attributes changed quite a bit in the time spending in this forest. His hair grew about an inch, how it grew so long in a short amount of time, no one really knew. His eyes were still the unique sky blue color that no one else had, except it held more wisdom than before. Going through two hundred years worth of memories did that to you. If you looked closer, then you would notice that there were flecks of red near the pupil, making it almost look like it was a light purple near the center, but it was close to unnoticeable. His scar like whiskers were only slightly darker, again, almost unnoticeable. His canines were sharper but only if you knew what to look for. Naruto's hands were a little different, distantly resembling Inu-Yasha's. His ears were pointier, but not much. No one would notice the changes unless they took a good, long look.

He hadn't merged with Kyubi, but his body had changed to better control the immense youki that the kitsune possessed. Personally, Naruto liked the look but was glad that it wasn't drastic enough so he didn't recognized himself. He knew, later on, that if he really wanted to someday have full control of Kyubi's youki then his body would have to change to look more demonic. He'd still be a human, but he wanted to change slowly, to let it go slowly so he could get used to it.

'Wait a minute...why haven't I thought of this before!? This isn't only a damn survival test, this is also for me to learn how to control your youki efficiently!"

...Um...no, this really -is- just survival training. But at least you tried to look underneath the underneath, you just looked -too- far into it.

'...You demons are really confusing.'

Or maybe it's you ningens. Anyway, 'Tou-san and I don't expect you to learn how to use my energy so quickly, it has only been a month. Oh, look, here comes a demon.

Naruto's eyes widened in alarm and stepped into a defensive look. Inu-Yasha appeared before him and said, "Jeez, it's just me."

'Hey! It was only...' Naruto made a fist and punched the demon in the face. The demon staggered back, looking surprised. "Humph, you're not Inu-Yasha. If you were, you wouldn't have taken that hit," Naruto said triumphantly.

The imposter, who looked like a spider, glared angrily at him and said, "The other demons weren't kidding when they said you were constantly on your guard. Somehow, you would always find a way to escape them if they tried to gang up on you or if it was a one-on-one, you'd miraculously beat it." The demon took a disgusted glance at the corpse Naruto had beaten earlier. "You -will- fall into my web of illusions." The demon seemingly disappeared.

"Why are all demons so arrogant? Why not just brag -after- you kill me? That is, -if- you kill me." Naruto smirked at the sky and declared, "As a fox, I'm sly and cunning. Plus, I'm a master of illusions." With that, he snapped his fingers and set the place within twenty feet of him in flames. These weren't ordinary flames, of course not. They were a dazzling blue instead of the customary red. They were fox flames. "Fox Fire!"

"What did-you will burn our forest down, you fool!" The spider shot a web that came from his mouth at the vessel. Naruto stood there calmly and waited for the wed to disappear, for it was only an illusion.

"You've revealed to me where you are," Naruto said confidently. "Iron Rever Soul Stealer!" He rushed at the tree behind him and sliced it to pieces. The head of the demon rolled to the boy's feet. Naruto released the enchantment and sighed in relief. He collapsed in exhaustion. He pulled himself in a sitting position, legs crossed.

Maybe you shouldn't have wasted your energy acting so confident.

'Maybe that was the key to victory.'

Kyubi smiled proudly. Ah, clever you have gotten, young kit. Plus, you handled that demon with relative ease, though it was only a C-class. Did you know C-class-

'Demons were the same level as your jounins?' Naruto said at the same time as Kyubi. 'Yeah, yeah, I've heard it a million times.'

Actually, it was only six times, including just now.

'Why do you bother remembering that kind of stuff?'

Do you know how boring it is in here? Oh look, a wall. Oh! Another wall! And guess what? A wall behind me! Do you know what is in front of me? A gate! Very interesting, don't you think?

'No need to be so sarcastic, Kyubi.' Naruto mentally rolled his eyes. Then, an idea popped in his head. 'I got an idea!'

I can see that, kit. I don't think it'll work though. It just looks like one of those crazy pranks you pull.

'Hey! Those were creative! And they always worked, didn't they?'

-Barely-, the demon stressed out the word.

'It wouldn't hurt to try, now would it?'

With you involved, I'm just not so sure.

'Who knew you'd be so chicken?'

We foxes -eat- raw chicken!

'You mean, not -cooked-!?'

No, raw means plants, Kyubi said sarcastically, complete with the rolling of eyes.

'Why in the seven hell do you continuously insult me?'

I'm making up for all those years of being stuck inside you and not being able to say anything. For instance, do you remember that time you dyed all the boys in your class's clothes pink?

'Oh yeah...That was hilarious!' Naruto chuckled at the thought.

Remember what they did to you once they found out? They beat you to a pulp!

'Ok, that wasn't funny.'

I really wanted to say something but at the time the seal was too strong for me to do anything. I'm making up for all those times.

'Demons truly are weird. Speaking of plants...oh shit! I forgot about my house plants! They're probably dead by now!'

I never figured out why you liked plants so much. I guess you subconsciously picked that up from me.

'I guess...oh fuck!' Naruto dived to the left. Tetsusaiga lay embedded to the tree behind him. Naruto stared wide eyed at the sword, breathing harshly.

"Always be on your guard," Inu-Yasha said calmly, jumping down from a tree.

Naruto glared at him and replied, "I was!"

"Then you need to heighten your senses," Inu-Yasha said with a smirk. "Survival training's over. You're doing pretty well in here, not quite thriving, but it's good for such a short amount of time. I'll admit, I didn't think you'd still be alive."

"You mean you didn't know if I'd live or not!?" Naruto exclaimed, wide eyed.

"Well...yeah." Inu-Yasha smirked at him but you could easily see he was amused at Naruto's shock. "No human should be alive, in the heart of demon territory too! But I suppose looking through Kyubi's memories broadened your intelligence, some of the escapes or attacks you made were brilliant. Heh, in the beginning of the test you were still clumsy and weak, but now, did you even notice the difference? If you were a demon, you'd have been a fifth rate demon turned C-class. That's a big difference. Your ability to adapt to your surroundings is impressive, kit."

Naruto blinked at the compliments. He certainly wasn't used to getting compliments, and from someone like Inu-Yasha to boot! He smiled, relishing them. Inu-Yasha must have been really impressed to even utter the word "good."

Inu-Yasha, noticing the smile, rolled his eyes and said, "Don't let it get to your head."

"Whatever!" Naruto answered, smiling broadly.

A dark eyebrow quirked and a question came out. "How come you're loud now that I'm here?"

"Because I know that no demon here stands a chance against you, so it won't matter if I attract attention or not."

Inu-Yasha sighed in annoyance and walked over the vessel of Kyubi. "You're really something else, runt."

Naruto smiled in response. The demon helped the human stand up. They began the five day long journey to get out of the forest.

On the way out, Naruto asked, "Hey, if I'm a C-class, why didn't I encounter any A-class or S-class in that forest? Sometimes I met a B-class demon...but, I mean, if I did, wouldn't I be dead?"

Inu-Yasha didn't answer, pretending he didn't hear but Naruto knew he heard perfectly well with his acute hearing. Kyubi snorted and said, I guess he -was- watching your back. I bet he even took care of any demons he knew you couldn't handle!

Naruto frowned and thought, 'Does that mean I'm not a C-class?'

No, I think he only took out the A-class or S-class demons and let you run away or attack the others. Kyubi shrugged. I'm thinking that if you couldn't handle the B-class demons then he would have forced you back at that village of yours.

'This is confusing.'

It's always confusing with him. Then again, so is it with you.

(Scene Change)

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura began, "when is Naruto coming back?"

Kakashi looked up from his book. Sasuke and Sakura were doing a D-rank mission, weeding someone's garden. He, himself, was sitting on a tree branch enjoying his book. "Didn't I already tell you?"

Sakura thought about it and said, "No. Actually, whenever I talked about where or when Naruto was coming back, you would somehow change the subject."

Sasuke glared suspiciously at the jounin. Said jounin chuckled but deep down he was worried at what happened to his pupil. Right then, the owner of the garden, who was a kindly old woman, poked her head out of the door and said, "How about a break? You've been working so hard! I have tea and cookies inside!"

Sakura, who had forgotten about Naruto by the time she said "break", cheered and rushed inside the house. Sasuke was about to follow but stopped. He turned back to his sensei, remembering that he didn't answer the question about Naruto but Kakashi was already gone.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Something was wrong concerning the whereabouts of the blond ninja. He had a feeling that the higher ups were hiding something.

Sakura ran to him and clung to his arm, squealing, "Don't you want to eat the cookies with me, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke grunted, but it didn't mean he wanted to eat, it only meant that he would stay to finish the chore of a mission. Sasuke shook off the pink haired ninja and walked inside the house. Sakura followed the Uchiha inside, unperturbed about his behavior.

Kakashi, who was now sitting on the roof of the house, had his book safely in his pocket. He didn't have the lazy, carefree expression anymore but a serious and slightly worried one. He sighed and whispered, "I hope you didn't get yourself killed."

(Scene Change)

"Why am I getting new clothes?" Naruto inquired. Inu-Yasha, who had his hood up, and Naruto were walking into a village.

Inu-Yasha said, "Do you see what you have on? People are staring."

Indeed, Naruto was attracting quite a bit of attention. The vessel looked down on himself. All he had on were his orange pants that now resembled tattered shorts. His shirt was worn away from the numerous fights he had in the forest. His hitai-ate, though dirty, was still in one piece. It was tied around his neck for safe keeping. His body had cuts, bruises, and other injuries. Naruto ran a hand through his dirty hair (that looked brown instead of blond) and sighed. He glanced at his companion and saw that he only looked travel worn. Naruto asked, "Ok, do you have money?"

The demon didn't even answer when he turned left, into a store. The store had different styles of clothing but none that were the traditional style for ninja. "Pick something," was all he said.

Naruto browsed around and saw something orange that caught his eye.

No way! What kind of ninja wears orange!? Kyubi shrieked.

'For a good ninja, it wouldn't matter,' Naruto countered.

Hey, you sound smarter.

'Maybe I -am- smarter.' Naruto smiled at it all. He had turned it into a game, to see who would last longer with the insults and counters. It was a game he shared with Kyubi and occasionally Inu-Yasha.

Ah, I concede, Kyubi said dramatically, sending a mental image of a person bowing.

Naruto smiled at the small victory and looked around the store, deciding not to get the orange outfit, and saw a nice navy cloak that had a zipper to seal it shut around his body, it also had a hood. It looked a little thick and heavy but he assumed it was like that since it rained a lot in this area.

He glanced around a bit more and saw Inu-Yasha in front of him, holding something. It was a dark blue sleeveless shirt with black rimming the neck, the opening for the arms, and the hem. Naruto took a hold of that along with the cloak from earlier.

Naruto looked for a new pair of pants and saw a black colored one that clung to the ankles. He took a hold of it and thought of how it would fit him. It seemed loose but not too loose to get in the way. He took some undergarments and blue sandals that looked like his old pair before they were lost. He handed them over to Inu-Yasha for him to pay and the demon walked over to the owner.

When they were outside, Inu-Yasha muttered loud enough for Naruto to hear, "Thank the Gods, I thought you were going to get that awful orange color."

"What's wrong with orange?"

"It hurt my eyes."

Naruto sniggered. He started to head out the village before the demon grabbed his shoulders and pushed him in another direction. Naruto looked at the silver haired demon, confused.

"You stink, get a bath and put on your new clothes."

Naruto blinked at the bluntness but walked to the bath house anyway. When he looked over his shoulders to see if the demon was there, he wasn't surprised to see that Inu-Yasha wasn't. When Naruto arrived, he let himself relax in the soothing hot water but not completely. He couldn't shake off the paranoia of being attacked. It was something he got from staying in the forest.

Naruto had his clothes in a shelf where everyone else kept their clothes. He closed his eyes and dipped his head in the water. Some people, who happened to look, where a little shocked to see that his hair was blond instead of brown. All of a sudden, Naruto was tackled. Naruto, who didn't let his guard down, didn't even stumble but stared at the child hugging him in shock. "Inari?"

"Naruto-nii-san!" the child said gleefully. Behind him was Tazuna, who was looking at Naruto in pleasant surprise.

"Naruto! When did you get in Water Country?" Tazuna asked.

Naruto blinked and said dumbly, "I didn't even know I was..."

Inari and Tazuna stared at Naruto in surprise. "You didn't know? So you weren't even going to visit us!?" Inari puffed out angrily.

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, with his grin in place. "Hehehe...sorry about that. Hey, how about I come over after my bath?"

Inari brightened up at that. Once they were all done, they headed over to the bridge builder's house. Tsunami was also surprised and happy to see Naruto again. Tsunami asked Naruto, "I like your new look, did you buy it here?"

"Ah yeah, I was kind of traveling and my clothes were damaged beyond repair." Naruto chuckled nervously.

Damaged beyond repair? They were in shreds! Kyubi said, laughing.

That day, Naruto, Inari, Tazuna, and Tsunami talked and had a pleasant time listening to each other. Naruto didn't reveal anything about his affairs with demons or that he left his village. Naruto absently wondered if anyone got the second message that Inu-Yasha told him to make.

Speaking of the half demon...Inu-Yasha, who was at the bridge, was almost smirking that someone named a bridge after his charge. He was amused by it all.

(Scene Change)

"I'm not going in there."

"Neither am I."

The last one, the leader, silently agreed. They were near a forest. It wasn't any forest, it was a forest full of demons. The same forest that Naruto and Inu-Yasha went in before. The Anbu squad that the Hokage sent to look for Naruto tracked him down in there but were hesitating to go after the blond.

"I heard this forest was full of monsters," one of the ninja said.

His companion commented, "I heard it was full of missing-nins that were carnivores."

The leader said grimly, "I heard it was full of demons."

That put silence over the group before the leader spoke again. "We do not go in there, we shall go back to Konoha. Let's move!"

"Wait!" one of the ninja said. "Look!"

A snake crawled out of the forest. It wasn't a "red touches black, you're okay, Jack, red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow" either. The snake demon looked like a beautiful woman except her body from the waist down was a snake's. Her eyes were slits and had a jade green color, her hair deep black that reached lower than her waist, and the snake portion of her body was a deep green. The snake slowly slithered up to the shocked ninja. She hissed out, "A message..." It promptly dropped a scroll to their feet from her tail. Its mission done, the demon slithered away. Now she wouldn't have to worry about a certain dog demon coming after her.

The three ninja looked at each other, then at the scroll warily, as if the scroll would come alive and attack them. The leader, cautiously, picked it up. He slowly and warily opened it. It held a simple message and request.

"Stop following me. Tell Iruka-sensei I said 'Hi!'

-Uzumaki Naruto"

The captain's eyes widened at it and stared at the forest in shock. This was too strange. He finally got out of his shock when his subordinates called out for him. He rolled the scroll back up and ordered them to run back to their village.

They didn't even notice the demons of the forest watching them leave. They stared at the humans hungrily but dared not attack. They were warned prior not to kill any humans with the leaf insignia or face the wrath of Inu-Yasha. Even after a century, they would never forget about that one.

(Scene Change)

Naruto waved good bye to Tazuna and his family. They waved back, Inari yelling for him to visit. Naruto turned and walked out of the village. Right when he was out of site from other people, Inu-Yasha jumped and walked by his side.

"The Great Naruto Bridge?" Inu-Yasha asked in an amused tone.

Naruto smirked and said, "Jealous?"

Inu-Yasha actually laughed. He hadn't laughed in a long time so he found it sounded odd to him. When he was done laughing, he said, "You're an interesting one."

"You're more so," Naruto shot back playfully.

"Feh." Inu-Yasha turned Naruto so they were facing each other and told the human, "Hold out your hands and roll up your sleeves."

"Why?"

"Do it."

Naruto obeyed. Inu-Yasha then stuck some paper things with funny writing on them to the vessel's wrists. Naruto suddenly felt his hands fall to his sides and had trouble lifting his arms. Inu-Yasha kneeled down and did the same thing to his ankles. He also did it to his neck.

"The fuck is this!?" Naruto suddenly had trouble standing and had to sit down.

Inu-Yasha smirked and said, "The demon version of weights. They're about...oh, 50 pounds..."

"50 pounds!?"

"Each," the demon finished.

Naruto grumbled but rolled down his sleeves to cover the "weights" and pushed down his pant legs to cover the other ones. He tied his hitai-ate around his neck to cover the last weight, but the collar of the cloak would have done it anyway. He struggled to stand on his feet, all the while glaring at the demon standing in front of him.

"Now, we're going to go traveling around the place, just until you get used to these kinds of weights. I'll exchange them for 60 pound ones after...I think you'll need a week, then I'll leave you back in demon territory for a month. This time I'm not going to help you one bit."

"You're sadistic," Naruto muttered. He caught on to the little admission his companion knowingly let slip. Then he realized something. "Hey! I thought my training there was done!"

"Maybe I changed my mind."

"You suck."

"Feh."

(Scene Change)

"Naruto..." the chuunin academy teacher said worriedly. He held the scroll that the Hokage had given to him from Naruto. The chuunin read the two lines for the twenty-third time. Iruka sighed and rubbed the side of his head, feeling a headache coming.

He had no idea that Naruto wasn't going to be gone for long.

(Scene Change)

"Please tell me you're joking!" Naruto stared at the hanyou incredulously.

"I'm not," Inu-Yasha said seriously.

After six weeks, Naruto wore his head band over his eyes now, training his other senses, also hiding his eyes. They were a slightly darker blue with slits. His ears, noticeably pointier, but not too pointy to arouse suspicion. His hands now had thick blue gloves to cover his more claw like hands. He could do nothing to hide his pointed canines but it didn't resemble fangs too much. His hair, still the same blond color, had grown shoulder length. Inu-Yasha wondered what Naruto did to make it that long but Naruto just shrugged, not really sure himself. Back to the matter at hand...

"I'm -not- going back!"

"After three months, with no sign of Naraku, it'd be better if you went back to Konoha," Inu-Yasha gritted out, barely keeping his temper in check.

Naruto glared angrily at the dog demon. "That place treated me like crap!"

"That place is your home!" Inu-Yasha finally yelled back.

"It's so much better on the road with you!"

Inu-Yasha smacked his forehead and growled out, "What if I get killed by Naraku, huh? And you were left alive? What the hell are you going to do? You're a kid, Naruto! You may be a decent fighter, but you don't match up to me or him!"

"I'm a high C-class!"

"He's an S-class!" Inu-Yasha shot back. "You can't make your life only living to have revenge!"

"You did!"

The demon glared at Naruto, amber eyes intense. Naruto looked away. Inu-Yasha took a deep breath and said in relative calm, "And look where that took me. Naruto, kit, you're a human. The life of a demon is drastically different from a human's. You can't live your life like this. Once Naraku is dead, I want you to have a life to go back to."

Naruto bit his bottom lip and stomped on the ground. "I hate that place."

He's right, you know, Kyubi interjected.

'Why can't I stay with him!?'

What about Iruka?

Whatever path he follows, you should know you can't follow him.

'Why?'

'Tou-san won't allow it.

'Why!?'

He knows you deserve better than the life of a demon's.

After a long silence, Naruto said dejectedly, "...I understand."

Inu-Yasha offered him a sad smile and ruffled his hair. The demon grimaced at that small sign of weakness and went back to his arrogant, smart ass self. "Let's go, you've been gone a long time."

Naruto, adopting a better expression, said, "You'll visit?"

Knowing what Naruto meant, Inu-Yasha could only say, "If I couldn't even visit my own brother, what do you think?"

Naruto smirked confidently and said, "You'll visit."

Inu-Yasha rolled his eyes and muttered, "Smart ass."

"Damn straight."

Great, now you talk like 'Tou-san.

Naruto, with a fox grin, repeated, 'Damn straight.'

(Scene Change)

Sakura, who had woken up early to brush her hair and perfect her outfit, walked out the door of her house to see the village heart throb, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke, who had run a little late, suddenly had another person's body attached to his arm. Him, being an Uchiha, was used to such treatment when it came to the female population. Especially when it came to his female teammate.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura squealed in delight. "Isn't it great we met up on the way to training?"

'Damn, I shouldn't have gone this way,' the Uchiha heir thought bitterly. He ignored her all together and made his way to the little red bridge, the pink haired ninja still clinging to his arm. Weren't they surprised when they saw someone already there? Thinking it was their sensei, they rushed over. They were even more surprised when they found out it wasn't. They couldn't identify the figure. Who dressed like -that- around here?

"Hey! This is our spot! Get off!" Sakura yelled at the person.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was glad she wasn't paying him any attention. He skillfully left her grasp and studied the person in front of him. The person had a navy cloak on that was zipped in the middle so no one could see what he wore underneath. He had on, other then the cloak, a pair of blue sandals, the leaf headband used as a blindfold and a bandanna, covering his hair and eyes from view. His ears...were pointier then the average person but it reminded Sasuke of Kiba's. Not too unusual. Wait...he had three scars on each cheek...where had Sasuke seen them before?

Right then, Kakashi, who had been hiding in the trees, popped in. His one uncovered eye was wide with shock. He breathed out through his mask, "Naruto?"

Sasuke and Sakura stared, just as surprised, at the boy in front of them.

The person turned around with a wide grin stretched on his face. "Hey! Long time no see! Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-san, Sasuke-san!"

'"San"? Why did he say -that-?' all three of the shinobi thought, confused.

Seeing them confused, Naruto said with a smirk, knowing full well what he was about to say had nothing to do with their confusion, "What? Did I change that much? Yeah, I bet I grew an inch or two."

"Sakura--san-?" the pink haired shinobi asked, making sure to stress out the last syllable.

"What? Do you want me to call you Sakura-sama!?" Naruto asked, faking disbelief.

"No! You're such an idiot, Naruto! Your sense of fashion is the only thing that changed!" Sakura fumed.

Kakashi sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "What she meant, Naruto, was why you didn't call her 'chan' like you used to."

"Well...I guess I don't wanna say why, but as to why I say 'Sasuke-san,' I'll say this, I owe you."

Sasuke blinked, not sure what he meant. "Owe me?"

Naruto seemingly (how could you tell? He has a sort of blind fold on) turned to the water on the side of the bridge, leaning on it so he was side ways to them. "I didn't properly thank you when it happened, so I'll do it now. Thanks, for saving my life back in Water Country. I really owe you. You have no idea, you really don't, how much that meant to me. I just didn't realize it until a while ago."

None were sure of what to say to that, so they didn't. What -happened- to make the hyper active blond shinobi to the boy they saw in front of them? It was too different, much too different.

Finally, the silence was broken when Naruto turned back to them and said, "Well...if there's no training or missions...I'll just go, then. Kakashi-sensei, before you leave, can you bring Iruka-sensei with you? Thanks in advance." With that, Naruto walked past them and into the village. None stopped him but still watched.

Kakashi finally got back from his daze when Naruto was out of sight and said, "No training, no missions, free day." He dispersed with a poof of smoke.

The two left behind didn't know what to do so they just went home.

(Scene Change)

Naruto walked up to the secretary and asked politely, "May I see Hokage-sama?"

"I'm sorry, but he's busy at the moment. If you want to see him, you'll have to be on the waiting list. He's free next week on Tuesday," the lady behind the desk said in monotone, not even looking up.

"Actually, Hokage-sama will see him -now-," someone said behind Naruto. The blond turned around and smiled when he saw his jounin teacher along with his old chuunin teacher there. The chuunin was staring wide-eyed at him, not sure how to react.

"Oh, Hatake-san, I did not see you there. Well, if you say so, then he can go now," the secretary said when she finally looked up.

Kakashi nodded in thanks and lead the blond and brunette into the office. Iruka was opening and closing his mouth, no sound coming out. The Hokage looked up from his paper work and his tired eyes widened, alert now.

"Hey, old-man," Naruto said in a reserved tone, a small smile playing on his face.

"Na...Naruto! Where have you been?" The old man quickly cleared his desk and motioned for the three standing to take a seat. They obliged, Naruto making a show of getting comfortable.

"Oh, here and there," the vessel said vaguely.

The other occupants raised an eye brow. Iruka finally spoke and yelled, "Do you know how worried I was about you!? Where were you? You could have gotten hurt!"

Naruto took a deep breath, as if to give a long explanation, and said simply, "Nowhere."

"Brought speechless by my stunningly good looks?" Naruto asked, and tapped the medal part of his head band, revealing a gloved hand.

"Naruto, be serious, where have you been? The reports have shown demons left on your trail," the third said gravely.

"Actually, they were imps."

"...Imps, then."

"Well, there -was- one demon. I believe an Anbu squad had the pleasure to meet the beautiful and lovely Mistress Serpent?"

The Third had an odd look in his eye and said, "Naruto, let us talk about this like one adult to another. You do realize you are dealing with -demons- of all things?"

Naruto nodded, finally getting serious, or at least looking like it. "Well, I've been dealing with one since I was born, so why should this be a big deal?"

All three had a guilty look at that but Kakashi hid it and replied, "This may put the village in danger."

"Oh, if that's all you're worried about, no problem. They won't leave their forest unless they have to. Not many of them dare," Naruto said calmly, confidently. "Trust me on this." 'Especially with a certain dog eared hanyou threatening everyone. Ever since they found out Inu-Yasha was still alive, they've been scared to death of him.'

But Kouga and Sesshomaru have been looking for him. Too bad for them they still can't find him, Kyubi added.

"Naruto, tell me what happened," the Hokage ordered.

The blond calmly replied, "I respectively refuse. It's none of your business, it won't endanger this village, and it won't matter if you know except for the fact that you would know a little more about demons."

They all blinked at that. The Hokage finally sighed in defeat and said, "All right, Naruto, I will trust you on this. This meeting will be kept secret and no one is to reveal there ever was one. But Naruto, if I see anyone attacked or saw a demon, imp, or anything like that, be sure I will expect something from you." 'I just hope I'm doing the right thing,' was silently added.

"Understood." Naruto did a mock salute and walked off. Iruka looked worried at him but left, thinking he needed some time to think. Kakashi went home, nothing left to do here. Hokage just went back to his paper work, mind filled with questions but he felt a little more at ease.

The old guy has a good sixth sense, or else he wouldn't have let this go so easily.

'I know, I think that was why he didn't have Anbu swarming all over Inu-Yasha's and Kakashi's fight.'

Indeed. Heh, they didn't learn anything today besides from what they already know and that you changed.

'Yeah, I was kind of aiming for that.'

No need to be so sarcastic. So, what are you going to do now with your first day back in Konoha?

'Get a tan. No, I'm kidding. I'm going to play a bunch of pranks to celebrate my return!'

I hope you're kidding.

'Nope.'

I thought we got that stuff out of your system!

'Nuh-uh. Want to help?'

Damn straight! Now watch the king at work here, kit! Watch and learn.

'Ah, how vain ye are.'

(End Chapter)

I thought that since Shippo was turned into the Kyubi at a pretty young age he would still be a -little- childish. Think of it like, you're sane, then you turn insane and kill a lot of people that you don't want to but you do anyway since you can't help it, and then you go back to normal, but still with a lot of guilt over what you did.

Plus, just to clear some things up, Naruto looked through Shippo's memories and matured but going through over 200 years worth is a lot so he won't remember it all, thus he is still a little childish. I love Naruto's childishness and I can't bare for him to part with it! Well...not really, but I like how he's sometimes dense so I'll leave him having little to no experience at love, dealing with girls, and stuff like parental stuff. Oh, and maybe reading hidden messages.

Another thing is, there is about a 200 year separation between the Great War and where they are today. Just so you know. So there was sorta plenty of time for these bloodline limits to develop and if that still doesn't make sense to you, just think that some people experimented with themselves, like Naraku did with himself to turn into a half-demon, except that they didn't have help from demons.

Anymore questions or confusion will/might be cleared up. And, just so this is clear to everyone, ABSOLUTELY NO PAIRINGS! I might give hints to shonen-ai or any other pairings with people but I don't want them to have anything serious, it would only ruin this story, or make it really crappy! Not that anyone really asked for pairings, just that I want to express my dislike for it in this fic.

I doubt I would really give my hints for Sasuke x Sakura since I seriously hate that pairing. Sakura is so mean to Naruto and is so disgustingly sweet to Sasuke. Plus, Sasuke has an over inflated ego. I don't think Sasuke is mean to Sakura because he didn't ask for her "love"! She's just giving it to him without caring for his feelings on the matter. Though, I'm not saying that I hate them by themselves, I like them, I just hate them -together-.

The whole last paragraph was kind of pointless...there really was no reason for it being there. I could have just said "no Sasuke x Sakura" but I went off and talked about this and that. In fact, this paragraph is pointless...anyway...

Have a nice day or whatever! Review, if you would please.