DISCLAIMER: Every time I write this dislaimer…. a small part of my soul dies…. I don't own Naruto… just all that junk you spent the last few chaps reading about…

'never alone'

CH.7

It was once again a beautiful day in Konoha. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing, and the people were out in throngs enjoying the pleasant warmth of the sun and a steady breeze. If not for a few tell tale signs of danger, death, and destruction, no one would ever be able to tell that things were far from perfect. For instance, in one remote corner of Konoha, smoke still wafted up into the air in huge pillars as the last vestiges of what was once a housing complex smoldered. Not too far from that complex and another large pile of ash and debris lay one Uzumaki Naruto…

As the sun's heat began to beat down upon his covering of trash, Naruto started to stir. Sitting up slightly while wiping the sleep from his eyes, Naruto smiled as the events of the night before ran through his mind.

Kyubi, seals, an age of demons long gone by, bloodlines, and Warai…

All these things ran through his mind and he continued to smile despite the fact that his home was destroyed and what few earthly possessions he'd acquired had also been lost. He smiled because he now knew something that warmed his heart more than anything else had ever done.

He learned that he had never been alone.

He had learned that someone had actually always been there. That someone had seen every thing…

That someone cared…

It felt great.

When did he learn this? Only after he had 'disengaged' himself from Warai's 'features' of course. She had told him all of her inner feelings, about how she felt miserable for what had happened to him, how she had grown to care for him and how she was saddened that she had only been able to heal him by flooding him with her chakra, how she admired his determination, and most importantly…

How she wanted to help with his dreams.

'Yep' he concluded to himself. 'It's pretty kick-ass to have an eons old demon that wants to help you out!'

He was giddy with excitement. He couldn't wait to learn more about everything she'd told him. He also couldn't wait to USE what she'd shown him…

It appeared that Warai had been rather studious in her observations of the other ninja around Naruto through his memories and as such she had taken great care in learning their techniques in the hopes that one day she could share them with Naruto. To both of their delights, that day had come... to a point at least.

He still remembered her other instructions …

(scene change)

Warai put one hand on Naruto's shoulder as he got ready to travel back outside the cage and into the real world. " Remember Naruto, I've only taught you the most basic principles of chakra and the henge technique and even then your control isn't all that great. Don't think you can take on anyone… They'll mob you and then even all my abilities won't be able to heal you completely… Your best bet is to make it into the Hokage's tower through disguise and wait for him there in secret before any of the nins in the group consider the possibility of you using ninjutsu… You're on a timer… be safe, okay?

Naruto grinned at his new friend and gave her a quick hug.

"Don't worry Warai-chan I'll be careful. I know you only showed me the absolutely most basic stuff and since I've never really molded my chakra into anything it won't be that good, but I ought to be able to do it enough to pass if I'm quick. Now as for the training thing… How come you want me to try and get the old man to teach me stuff too when I have you? "

"Listen Naruto, right now we've made contact and that's great… but from here on out, we'll only be able to speak and meet through your dreams when you're asleep. That's just not going to do for serious training. I'd have to be able to speak to you consistently through your mind to give you all the pointers and information you'd need and even then, I'm inside your body. I can't see if you have the correct stance or anything… the most I can do for right now is to observe your memories and comment to you on your performance when you sleep. Later, maybe we'll see about altering the seal a little… I don't want to mess with it too much, you can never be sure when the Shinigami are involved…" Warai trailed off momentarily.

" Anyways, it's obvious you need to learn to protect yourself. Even IF the hokage goes out and executes or arrests all of the mob members, there's going to be a lot of bad blood about this. The fact is… you're always going to be under fire for one reason or another as my container… You need to learn to protect yourself now…and… when you do, you'll be preparing yourself for my own training later on..."

Warai broke off into evil laughter as lightning randomly flashed behind her in the cage. Subsequently, Naruto sweat dropped.

Coming back to her senses, Waria continued on. " Seriously though Naruto, I want to help you become the strongest nin ever to walk this earth and to make sure your dream becomes true….but you're just too weak right now to undergo my type of training… you need to build up first. Besides,I already gave you a good reason to use with the old man… just kind of tweak it when you need to or something…and don't forget, I want to you to specifically ask for someone to help teach you the basics of swordsmanship…okay?"

Naruto looked down, nodded his head, and continued on out of the cage. Turning his head just slightly, he called out and waved a goodbye as he disappeared…

(scene change)

Quietly closing the door to the hokage's office behind him, a young chunin vanished into smoke revealing the form of a blonde seven year old.

'Hmmm, that wasn't as hard as I thought. I guess no one even…'

Naruto's thoughts were cut off as he heard a few mumbled voices and the movement of approaching feet near the door to the hokage's chambers. Thinking quickly (spazzing out) he did the only thing that seemed logical to any other seven year old. He jumped about four feet into the air and then scurried off to hide behind the old man's desk….

The door opened and one brown haired jounin c and one black haired chunin entered.

"Listen to me Kansanshi, there's no way he's in here. We were watching this place the whole time in case he forgot the Hokage was out of town and tried to come here for safety or something, the dumb brat…Listen, The only person that left the area was some drunk that happened to be sleeping behind a bunch of garbage! The damn demon brat was probably somewhere hidden in the complex we all torched."

"But…but…. The byakugan found no trace of…."

"Bullshit, and you know it…The Hyuga aren't really all seeing… and besides, with everything that was going on, I clearly doubt that they were completely focused. Plus, as hot as those fires were… do you really think even his ashes would be left?"

"but…"

"Listen, I'll stay and keep watch myself… Alright? "

"…are you sure?" Kasanshi questioned. When he received a nod he smiled. "okay then."

And with that both stepped outside as Naruto let out a small sigh of relief.

(scene break)

To say the least, the Sandaime Hokage was pissed. How pissed you ask? Why, pissed enough that the overwhelming waves of killing intent rolling off of him were more than enough to cause the weaker captured nins and villagers involved with the attack on Naruto to pass out.

He had just returned from a meeting with the Kazekage of the Sand and what is the first thing he find when returning home?

Murderous mobs out in force…

A housing complex left in ruins…

The aftermath of a bonfire that had once made up the few comforts of a lonely child's life…

And a missing child…possibly dead…if not likely.

Gathering his wits and considering the facts at hand the Sandaime Hokage spoke to the Wolf masked ANBU member beside him.

"Kakashi-san…I am doubtful as to what you will find but…" The older man trailed off as his desperation and hopelessness surfaced.

Thankfully, the wolf-masked ANBU known as Hatake Kakashi interjected…

"No problem Hokage-sama it's the least I could do for him now… all things considered…" Kakashi himself trailed off as memories bounced aroubd in his head. " I will take three squads to scour the city. If he is still alive and in the village we will find him."

"Thank you…Kakashi…"

The ANBU made no further remark as he backed up slightly and then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Moving wearily towards his desk the old man couldn't help but let out a shudder as he considered the grim possibilities of Naruto's fate.

'Was it worth it?' he thought to himself. 'Was the security and unity of this village worth the life of an innocent… worth the life of a child? I allowed so much to go on unchecked merely because I needed to maintain absolute faith in my capabilities as their leader… to maintain their trust… but what have I really done? Yes, I kept their faith ..by…turning a mostly blind eye… and I have restored the village mostly but…now what? Isn't it the truth that I abandoned the one person in Konoha who needed me more than anyone else…that I have failed HIM in every way. You wanted him to be a hero Arashi… not a daily sacrifice to the hate and anger of Konoha…I…am sorry…"

With that last thought, the old man sat himself down behind his desk. Moving his chair forward he came across something blocking his way.

'What in the devil could that be?' the old man pondered. As he finally brought himself to look underneath his desk, his heart swelled with joy and his eyes filled with tears as he gazed down upon the form of a drooling blonde. 'Thank kami you're safe Naruto' the old man thought as he smiled. His smile quickly turned into a determined grimace however when his thoughts took a slightly darker turn. ' I promise you Naruto, things will NOT be the same. I never moved against them in a major way before for fear of a civil war…but that won't happen now. I swear to you Naruto… the ones who have done this to you… they will pay. I don't ever want to see this happen again… though I wonder… will you ever be the same…'

As the Hokage finished his line of thought the young blonde turned over in his sleep and grasped the bunched up cloth of the bottom of the Hokage's robes like a pillow for comfort, thus causing a genuine smile to once again come over the old man's face.

"I promise you Naruto" he whispered so as not to wake the boy up. "Things will be different from now…"

(scene change)

Roughly three hours later a somber looking Hataki Kakashi knocked at the door of the Hokage's office. Hearing an affirmation from within, Kakashi entered and stood before the third hokage himself.

"I am sorry Hokage-sama… we have found no evidence of Uzumaki Naruto's presence. It is… believed… that he burned to death in the inferno of his housing complex and that his remains have also been reduced to nothing more than ashes…" Kakashi paused to express his regret at having not been there to save the boy but trashed that idea when he got a look at the hokage. It just didn't make sense to the ANBU member… The hokage cared for the boy and yet…upon hearing of his death he sat there and smiled off into nothing? After considering the facts and the kage's odd behavior Kakkshi spoke.

"Ummm, Hokage-sama…do you know something that the search and rescue teams do not?

"Hmmm?" said the hokage as he sat back in his chair smoking his pipe

" I asked if you know something I don't" replied the man in the wolf mask.

"Oh, yes… Naruto is not dead. He's actually in quite good care at the moment." Seeing the ANBU's incredulous look and the obvious line of questions just waiting to be asked, he cut him to the chase. "He's in my care Kakashi. He's sleeping right here underneath my desk. As for how he got here or when? I don't know. I only discovered him a few minutes after your last departure."

"Has he awoken at any point yet?" asked Kakashi.

Remaining silent for but a moment, the Sandaime replied in kind.

"No and to be perfectly honest I'm not even really sure I'd want him up yet. I still haven't decided what to do with all those involved… there's a substantial amount… and this time their intentions were quite obvious… not too mention all the damage they've caused, both to property and to Naruto. I don't know if he'll ever be the same carefree child again Kakashi. Who knows how he will turn out now? A human being can only take so much and…"

"As young as he is it's been even worse." Kakashi finished for the old man. "Yes, it's doubtful he will ever be able to truly love Konoha now. All we can do now is try to stem any more damage or attacks from occurring… But how will you do that Hokage-sama. We thought the law and prosecuting select individuals would be enough to turn aside many but now…"

"But now they seem as if nothing?" The Hokage grumbled. " Yes, I've noticed Kakshi-san. The trouble is… that for the longest time we've tolerated all sorts of abuse on the boy. We were afraid that too strong a reprisal would spark a civil war or worse. This whole time the peace of Konoha has been aid with the blood and suffering of a child. No more Kakashi … no more. We've allowed this to go on for far too long already. The villagers and rebellious nin have become too bold… You know what I want you and your squads to do…"

"Are any to be spared Hokage-sama" questioned the Anbu in a now stone-cold business manner. The old man was hesitant to answer and the ANBU had to prod him for a response. "Hokage-sama?"

"No Kakashi…this… has to be done."

"Hai Hokage-sama." Replied the ANBU. With that, he once again disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Whispering only to himself and the silent room the old man spoke once more.

"For the future…for Konoha…for him"

Well hello there every body. I bet you're still wondering what the whole T or H thing was neh? WELL GUESS WHAT! You find out next chapter. Seriously though, I thought I kinda said it wasn't pairing related. I got a bunch of vote for either Tenten, Temari, or Hinata, Jesus etc… ha hah a, I bet you guys will be surprised. Oh well. As to some negative comments about the length of the intro… well to answer you. YES this will be epic length. I've got BIG plans for Naruto and his world. Although, it will take awhile to get there and a lot will occur along the way. I always love reviews both negative and positive… 'hint hint' .

reposting Whoops! Sorry about the confusion. I put in scene breaks but for some odd reason they were removed in the data transfer grumbles oh well. I just did this really fast to fix this. Now, I've had time to read a couple a' reviews. My my my, aren't WE all out for a little vengeance? Hmmm, well, I'll say this. You won't see it first hand but it will be obvious when it's happening and I think you will find the after effect "enlightening" to those in the Naruto world… 'borrows thunfer and lgithning background from Warai's earlier evil laughter' HA HA HA HAH HA HAH HA….yeah….. time to go to class.

Well this is Madnarutofan signing of for now!