Naruto woke up to find himself in a familiar hallway, filled with water and pipes.
"What does the damn fox want now?" He grumbled out loud. He began to walk down the familiar passage, until it made an unexpected turn. Instead of finding himself in front of a large foreboding cage, he found himself in a wide open field, surprisingly reminiscent of Konoha.
"What the hell? Since when did the fur ball move?
"The Kyuubi isn't here." A voice declared from behind the blonde.
Naruto spun around to confront…himself?
"Who are you?" He yelled at the familiar figure.
"My name is Kazama Arashi. I am the Yondaime." The figure said.
"What the hell? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked in a loud voice.
Well, it's a long story." The Yondaime said. "I'm sure you know that I sealed the Kyuubi into you, and that the power you contain is too powerful for any one whose inner coils have solidified."
"Yeah, ero-sennin said something like that." The young blonde said.
"Well, you see, there weren't any children who I could entrust to hold the Kyuubi, so I made you." The Yondaime said.
"WHAT! YOU MADE ME?" Naruto screamed at the older golden headed man.
The blonde man flinched at the screaming. "Yeah, I made you. In reality you are a shadow clone so advanced that you became self-sustaining. That's the reason that Kage Bunshin is on the scroll of seals, because if Orochimaru got his hands on it…"
"He could create unlimited amounts of bodies that he could take." Naruto finished the sentence for the famous Hokage.
"Yes." Was the only response he received. "I don't know weather or not you heard this before, but, I never imagined that the villagers would react to you like that. I thought that they would hold you as a hero for imprisoning the Kyuubi, I'm sorry that I was wrong."
Naruto just sat down on the grass across from the blonde in his white robes. For a while silence permeated throughout the field.
"You know, for about six months after I found out about the Kyuubi, I didn't know what to think about you." Naruto said in a serious tone of voice. "Up until I was twelve, I adored you and the old man. You were some one to look up to, the Yondaime Hokage, greatest ninja in the know world. Then I find out that you sealed that fox in me, and I was confused. The third told me that it was your wish that the village treat me like a hero, and they were just too stupid to see me for who I was. But, I just couldn't get the idea that this was another one of kami's jokes at my expense, out of my head. I don't think it was until I left with the perverted hermit, that I was able burry those thoughts. You did what had to be done for the village. After the chunnin exams, I began to see many different people in the village as my precious people. I would gladly die for them, and yet they call for my head on a pole." During his monologue, Naruto's face had fallen from his usual grin to a flat line bordering on a scowl. Suddenly, his thousand watt smile came back. "Oh, well, I'll just become the Hokage and make sure that they finally see me for who I am!"
With this statement, the face of the entrapped Kage sprung into an identical smile.
"Well, since you are technically a clone of me, you'll instinctively know all of my jutsus. How about I teach you a few of 'em; since you probably won't awaken for a week or so."
"Yosh, all right, let's do this!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
The group returning to Konoha had stopped only long enough for Jiraiya to burn the bodies of the fallen enemies. Using a large amount of chakra and soldier pills, the group made it back to the village in a day, as compared to the day and three-quarters that it took them to arrive at the cave. Tsunade was constantly checking on Naruto, who was being supported by Gaara's sand, to make sure that the re-integration of the nine-tails wasn't harming her adopted brother. Since they were just outside of the village, and no one was in any need of urgent medical attention, they took a break and rested for a while.
Around her, Tsunade heard the rest of the group was conversing about their new found knowledge. Ok, to be fair, there wasn't a lot of conversation going on, seeing as almost everyone was dumbstruck at the new developments.
Sasuke could only go over his history with the blonde shinobi who had declared himself to be the Uchiha's brother. Sure, Naruto could be an idiotic dobe, who couldn't do a bunshin to save his life, but then often times he was the one that would risk his own neck to save a member of his team or finish the mission. Images of Naruto throwing himself in front of a giant snake, saving Sasuke from being eaten in the forest of death, or Naruto driving a rasengan into the blade of the Raijin no Ken (Thunder God Sword) and breaking it, when the chidori couldn't, flashed through the mind of the surviving Uchiha. In a way, all of Naruto's actions made it seem as if he really was two different people, and now he knew why.
Meanwhile, Hinata was sitting with Tsunade and Naruto, just watching the steady rise and fall of his chest, proving that her boyfriend was alive and well. They were suddenly joined by the Kazekage.
"May I talk with you?" He asked Hinata.
"S-sure." She said. Gaara led them away from the camp.
"My brother and sister told me that you were able to destroy a cloud Nin, who was dead." Gaara said, emotionlessly.
"H-hai, I b-broke a s-s-seal on his c-che-chest." She said, trying to tame her stutter.
"You wouldn't happen to be the vessel of a demon, would you?" He asked after a moment's thought.
Hinata gasped. "How did you know?"
"I don't know, if Uzumaki Naruto told you, but I am the vessel of Shukaku, the sand demon. I thought it would be nice to get to know as many vessels as I could. What demon do you carry?" He asked.
"I am the v-vessel for the N-Nibi. S-she is a s-sw-swan demon from kumogakure." Hinata said, calming her stutter a small amount.
The two demon vessels continued to talk for a quit a while. They discussed their upbringing, and how they dealt with their respective burdens. In doing this, they discovered that they both though very highly of Naruto and both owed him much for helping to change their lives.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
When the group returned to Konoha, Tsunade and Jiraiya quickly took Naruto to the hospital, so that he could continue to absorb the chakra of the Kyuubi where they could help him if anything went wrong. After checking on his condition, Tsunade returned to her office to check on Shizune, who she had left in charge while she was away. When she walked into her office, she was greeted by both of her apprentices, who were awaiting her arrival.
"Tsunade-sensei, where were you?" Sakura asked.
"I had an urgent mission, Sakura." Tsunade said.
"Oh, what was it about?" The floral headed girl asked.
"Sakura, what I say is not to leave this room, until I am ready to break the news to all of the shinobi in the village. Do I make my self clear?"
"Hai, what happened, why is it a secret?" Sakura asked.
"A joint operation consisting of Myself, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Gai, Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, Rock Lee, Hyuuga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, Subaka no Temari, Subaka no Kankuro, and the Kazekage went on an S-Class mission to rescue Naruto and destroy the Akatsuki." The Hokage explained.
This elicited a gasp of fright from Sakura.
"Is everyone ok, what happened?" She asked in a frantic manner.
"The Akatsuki abducted Naruto for reasons that I won't tell you about right now, and we were forced to rescue him. The organization was made up of S-Class criminals, hence why such high class shinobi of our own were needed." Tsunade explained. "Everyone is fine, except for Naruto, who is sleeping due to chakra exhaustion."
Sakura bowed and exited the room to go check on her comrade.
"What really happened, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.
The Hokage just smile and said.
"You won't believe it, even after you hear it." She then proceeded to tell the complete story to Shizune, who took notes for a mission report.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
One week later, Kakashi, Hinata, and Sasuke were sitting in Naruto's room, waiting for the blonde loud mouth to awaken. Sakura had come in earlier, but due to her duty as a medic Nin, she had to leave to check on her other patients.
Shortly after noon, Naruto's eyes began to twitch and fluttered open. Upon seeing her boyfriend conscious for the first time in nearly two weeks, Hinata immediately pulled the groggy teenager into a hug.
"Good to see you're awake, Naruto." Kakashi said, in a lazy drawl.
Naruto made to answer his chronically late sensei, but no words came out.
"Here, drink some water." Sasuke said, as he handed his teammate/brother/best friend a glass of water, which Naruto quickly downed.
"Hey, what happened, why am I in the hospital, the last thing I remember was being blasted in the face by an exploding note." Naruto asked in mild confusion. "Then, something happened to the stupid fox, and the next thing I remember, I'm talking with the Yondaime of all people. What happened?"
Quickly, Hinata and Sasuke launched into the tale of his abduction and the Kyuubi's extraction and eventual rescue. When they asked about what the Yondaime had said, Naruto told them of the mental training he had done with his 'dad'.
Finally taking note of his surroundings, Naruto noticed that there were a large number of gifts from his friends. Flowers from Ino, ramen from Chouji and Shikamaru, a card from the members of team eight that didn't go with them, as well as Ten-ten and Neji. When Tsunade and Sakura heard that Naruto had awoken, they rushed into his room to check on him and make sure everything had turned out all right.
"Baa-chan! Sakura-chan!"
"NARUTO! What have I said about calling me that!" Tsunade growled.
"I'm glad to see your awake again Naruto, but how did you get captured in the first place?" Sakura asked.
"They put an exploding note on my door." Naruto pouted at his method of abduction.
The rest of the day was spent recounting the exploits of the rescue team, while glossing over the fact that Naruto was a shadow clone of the fourth Hokage, or that the Kyuubi was sealed into him… twice. The sun sank lower into the sky, until around seven o'clock it disappeared completely. When Tsunade was convinced that the seal wasn't weakened or broken, she allowed Naruto to leave the hospital.
"Hey, baa-chan, where am I going to live? I can't go back to the apartment if there isn't a land lord, can I?" The blonde shinobi asked.
"He can spend the night with me, Hokage-sama." Sasuke replied.
"Really? Thanks Sasuke!" Gushed Naruto.
"All right, tonight you can stay with Sasuke, but tomorrow, you'll have to look for a new apartment, I had all of your belongings transferred into a personal storage container in my name, so you don't have to worry about them." The Hokage said.
"Ok, um, can I ask you for a favor?" Naruto said, in a suddenly serious tone.
"That would depend on what this favor is." Tsunade said.
"Well, I figured that since most of my friends know about the Kyuubi I might as well let the others know as well, so I was hoping you could call them into your office or something so I could tell them." Naruto said.
"All right, I can do that. What time would work for you?" She asked.
"Pretty much whenever, is fine, but might as well make it before lunch, so I can still go house hunting." Naruto explained.
With that, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke left the hospital and headed towards the Hyuuga compound to drop of Hinata. At the gate, Naruto said a quick good night to Hinata and returned her previous kiss, this time leaving her the one rooted to the ground.
"Good night, Hinata-chan, I'll see you tomorrow!" Naruto called out.
Hinata simply waved her good bye before heading inside. When Naruto and Sasuke arrived at his apartment, Naruto was impressed by how clean it was.
"I never would have picked you as the compulsive cleaning type, Sasuke." The blonde joked.
Sasuke simply shrugged his shoulders and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'dobe' before showing Naruto around. The two friends ate dinner and talked about different things well into the night before they split off and went to sleep.
'Maybe tomorrow, I can finally start a new life.' Naruto thought before sleep caught up with him.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
(A/N: Wow! Thanks for the overwhelming number of reviews for the last chapter. Please keep reviewing, while this story nears its close I have started a new one, so any advice you can give me will go to a good cause. Thank you!)