It wasn't three days later that Kakashi was sent out on a high ranking A mission, that would leave him outside the village for a week. Naruto pouted when he was told and hid on top of the house until Kakashi was forced to summon a Nin-Ken to help him search for the boy. Naruto had grabbed one of his disguise blankets and used it rather effectively to shield himself from view next to the top of the roof which Kakashi figured out after being led there by his Nin-Ken.

"Come on down Naruto, there's no reason to be upset. This just means you get to meet some new friends." Kakashi said from the other side of the blanket. His voice was soothing trying to coax Naruto out of his hiding spot. It didn't take to much longer for Naruto's bright blonde hair to peak out at him and red puffy eyes were slowly revealed next.

" I just don't want you going out and getting hurt Ni-san." His voice was small and scared and shook as he spoke. A fresh round of tears was just starting to fall when Kakashi wrapped him in a hug and didn't let him go. He held him for a time, letting him cry as he rubbed his hand over Naruto's back slowly. Eventually he stopped and Kakashi gave him a smile before answering him.

"Naruto you just have to trust me to come back to you okay? I promise I will always do everything I can to come back, and you know what we say about Ninja who don't keep their word to comrades?" Kakashi said slowly making sure Naruto was following.

" They're worse than trash…" Naruto finished sniffling. He ran his arm over his eyes drying them, the puffiness was already fading quickly and before long Naruto looked just like he always did.

"That's right that's why we never break our word. Now let's get down and head to the meeting where we get to watch silly adults fight over who you get to stay the week with." Kakashi finished as he scooped Naruto up in his arms and jumped down from the roof easily landing on his feet. As soon as they touched the ground Naruto was off in his own little blur of white and orange. He was fast, faster than any kid his age should be even for a ninja, the current thought from the best personal healers around, excluding of course Tsunade who had not returned to the village in many years, was that the Kyuubi healing him had caused it. Naruto being the rambunctious child he was had climbed his way up on top of a light post and was hanging onto it and looking out over the village when he lost his grip and fell badly. As Kakashi had rushed him to the Hospital he had already seen his legs straighten as if set. The healing stopped there though and the hospital was able to patch him up in two days afterwards, but ever since that moment Naruto was the fastest child in Konoha. This was much to the chagrin of the ninja population who would try and chase him after his pranks. So far only a few had managed to catch him, and when caught Naruto was still raring to go.

It took them ten minutes to make it to the unofficial meeting and they were greeted warmly when they arrived walking through the door with Naruto half a step behind Kakashi.

" Ahh Naruto-san, Kakashi-kun good to see you both." The warm voice of Tsume greeted them. She was standing there with her large dog laying at her feet which Naruto instantly began moving towards. He stopped though and looked up at Tsume who nodded her head at which point Naruto stuck his hand out so that the dog could sniff it.

The dog sniffed it casually and then lowered his head back down so Naruto could pet him "You are wise to seek permission and allow me to judge you, before you moved so close young one." The voice rumbled out. Naruto looked straight at the dog before grinning and saying "Kakashi Ni-Chan taught me all about ninja animals with his own summons, but I didn't know that others could talk!"

The dog cracked its on visible eye and looked at Naruto closely." I am the only one of the Inuzuka hounds who has the ability currently, you could say that I am a rarity." After saying that he moved his head slightly so Naruto could scratch behind his ears and he relaxed wagging his tail in contentment.

Naruto didn't pet him for to long though before he was off and around introducing himself to anyone he came across. This lasted for a few minutes before the door opened and a young woman walked in with a small girl behind her.

" My apologies for being late, Hiashi-Kun had an urgent matter come up, but he did not want to leave you all waiting so I volunteered to go in his sted. " Hitomi Hyuga was the picture of serene grace and fluid beauty she moved among the people seamlessly shacking hands and answering questions with smiles. When Naruto came up to them to introduce himself she greeted him kindly and also introduced her daughter Hinata who waved at him from slightly behind her mother and gave him a small smile.

" Alright since everyone is here, I suppose we can begin. I know you all would like a chance to foster Naruto for the next week, but I'll have no fighting. Surely we can work out some sort of schedule that appeases everyone." Kakashi announced. At the sound of his voice the group moved in to form a more compact circle with everyone present and accounted for.

" Hmm what would be fair?" The voice of Inoichi Yamanaka carried easily through the mostly quiet room. " Perhaps we should let Naruto-san choose, since he is the one who will be most affected after all."

" Ahh a wonderful idea Inoichi", the voice of Mikoto Uchiha the matron of the Uchiha clan said. Her eyes were of course dyed the red of her clan's Doujutsu, this did little to take away from her beauty, and indeed some said it just enhanced it.

Naruto was watching all of this and wondered who he would like to go with. Everyone seemed so nice it was hard to choose between them. He looked around the room once more before he made his way to Inoichi and put his hand up to his in the Konoha Symbol of Comradery(finger and middle finger held out). Inoichi smiled down at him and linked his pointer and middle fingers with Naruto's much smaller fingers.

" I would like to stay with Inoichi-san and his family first if that is okay?" He turned back to Kakashi questioningly and he could have sworn he saw a tear threatening to escape his brother's eye but it was gone the next second.

"Of course Naruto, if that is what you want you can of course stay with them. Inoichi-san thank you for allowing Naruto to stay with you this week, I'm sure he will be the perfect guest inside the house. Outside the house though, well I hope you're ready for some exercise." Kakashi laughed out. He handed Inoichi a scroll with a weeks' worth of Naruto's clothes and such and then leaned down and opened his arms. It didn't take but a moment for Naruto to tackle his brother into a hug. It lasted for a while and several of the women in the room cooed and awed at them.

" Come back soon okay?!" Naruto's voice rang out as Kakashi wished him farewell and made his way out of the town and onward to his mission.

The gathering soon began to break down as people made their own ways home, wishing each other well. Naruto followed Inoichi through the winding streets closely. He knew where the Inoichi flower shop was, but he had never been to their clan grounds before. It took them the better part of twenty minutes to wind their way through the crowds. Along the way Inoichi told him about his clan and what they did for Konoha, he spoke at length about his wife, and his little princess Ino.

" The set of gates they stood in front of were very well made, Naruto noticed as he saw Inoichi put his hand up to them before he saw a short arc of electricity jump to his hand. Naruto jumped up and pulled Inoichi away quickly by the arm before noticing that Inoichi wasn't freaking out, he was actually chuckling.

"Excellent reaction time Naruto, you will make a fine ninja one day, but for today it's alright. This is simply the way the gate recognizes who you are so it can let you in. As of today you will be added to the list of people allowed onto the Yamanaka Clan grounds once we make it inside." Inoichi answered to him as he helped Naruto up off the ground from where he had pulled Inoichi down with him. The gates swung open shortly after and Naruto was lead off to the side inside where he saw what looked like a strange bowl with squiggly lines all over it.

"This Naruto is a special bowl that has a seal on it, all you have to do is place your hands inside of it and push down. From now on the gate will recognize you so you may come and go." He answered to the questioning look on Naruto's face. Naruto nodded at him before placing his hands in the bowl where he felt a strange sense of liquid moving over his hands. After a few moments he felt the strange sensation pass and he withdrew his hands.

" Now Naruto this is a big responsibility you've been given, clan grounds are very special places and unless invited by someone special inside the clan you should never let anyone other than yourself or Kakashi-san in." Inoichi explained as he began walking up the paving stoned path. The grounds lead through several flower fields and large houses. He saw tons of people out relaxing, kids playing, and older folks moving about. Naruto knew that they must be part of the Yamanka clan as they were on the clan grounds, but the other thing that gave it away was that everyone had some sort of shade of blonde hair. The walk only lasted a few more minutes before they stopped in front of the largest building Naruto had seen so far.

" This is my house Naruto, if you ever need somewhere to go you can always feel free to come here." Inoichi pushed open the door and opened his mouth to shout, but didn't make it before a small fast moving shape with platinum blonde hair hit him square in the chest. Inoichi let out a grunt but caught the fast moving object and held her.

"DADDY! You're back, I missed you. I haven't seen you all day today, how was work, did you talk to mister Nara, how about mister Akamichi? " The girl babbled on for a few more moments before Inoichi gave her a kiss on the forehead and said "Calm down Princess, I'm back and I have the next two days off. Yes I saw both of them today. We have a special guest you should introduce yourself to."

Naruto looked up at the girl in her father's arms before she clambered down, and slightly bowed to him. " Hi my name's Ino Yamanaka, its nice to meet you Namikaze-san." Naruto goggled at this girl who introduced herself so easily before he returned the bow to her and said " Thank you for inviting me to your home, It's a pleasure my name is Naruto Namikaze."

" Oh he's so cute." A female voice called out from another room. The voice was given a face and body a few moments later as the woman walked into the room. "Hello Deary, my name is Dorothy, I'm Ino's Mother and Inoichi's wife."

Naruto bowed to her as well " Its an honor to be invited into your home like this. Inoichi talked a lot about you two on our way here, about how he was proud to be married to such a beautiful and important lady and how his daughter had already shown great promise in several ninja skills. I'm truly thankful to be allowed to stay while Kakashi-ni is away." Naruto explained as he began looking around the room. He followed as they all moved into the kitchen and sat down around a nice table.

" Well my Inoichi is a charmer, and so are you. You seem to know just what to say to get the best effect." Dorothy said as she moved around the kitchen gathering up the ingredients to make sandwiches. " Are you hungry dears I was just about to make Ino lunch and I have plenty here."

"If it wouldn't be an inconvenience yes I would like a sandwich." Naruto said slowly. He was still working on this being respectful thing. He didn't like it much he preferred to just go ahead and say how he really felt, but it was obvious that these people would appreciate his cutesy.

The conversation wound down as they ate lunch, and Naruto was given a tour of the house and was shown the room he would be staying in. It was a nice room with plenty of light and was decorated tastefully. The bed was soft and he allowed himself to sit on the edge of it as he looked around. He didn't get much time to relax though as Ino knocked on the door

"Naruto-San do you want to come play with me and some of the other Yamanaka kids?" Naruto looked up at her and smiled before agreeing and racing her outside where she led them a little ways away toward a bunch of kids.

After the initial greetings and pleasantries, they started playing ninja doing cool moves and generally attempting to outdo each other. Naruto won, in his own opinion, by performing his brothers infamous Chidori technique when he defeated the enemy child pretending to be a Kumo nin. They continued playing, swapping sides back and forth until the sun was setting low in the sky and they were running out of energy. Naruto though was still brim full and kept running around jumping off of trees and generally doing cool stuff until he landed next to Ino on the ground with the other kids. he laid there next to her as the sun was setting which lit up the sky in glowing reds and oranges. This would be a fun week!