Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters are the properties of Masashi Kishimoto. No profit is made off of this fan-fiction story. Any additional original characters located in this story are designated at such and belong to the author, Jae (Dirtyangel).

A/N: I know what many of you are thinking; and yes, this is a new chapter. A lot has happened in a few years but let's see if we can make it through the long haul, yes? Thanks to all of you who caused the sudden influx of emails and reviews to my inbox the last few months. I don't think I would have found the inspiration to finish this fic without you. As a final note: I am aware of all that's happened in the manga and this story is officially following canon very loosely. Enjoy! - (Oct 2012)

Beta'd version

—.&.&.—

V.

Doubt

When she was still alive, Kanaye's mother used to tell him stories before he went to bed. They were mostly tales about noble samurai fighting wars for powerful emperors, or ancient creatures that lived under mountains and lakes. Bedtime was his favorite time of the day because of the stories his mother told.

Out of all the stories she shared, there had been one fairytale he loved hearing over and over again. It was the story of the boy without a name.

The story started with a little boy who once lived in a village far, far away. And he was born without a name. No one knew why he had none because his mother and father would not tell. So the people of his village took pity on the boy and tried to name him themselves. But each time someone gave the child a name, it was strangely forgotten the next day. The villagers tried and tried for many months but to no avail. Then people stopped trying, and some forgot about the boy with no name.

Years went by, and the boy grew older. It was when he had grown tall and soon would be a man that he finally decided to ask his parents why he had no name. The boy's mother and father were now older and tired, and could not bring themselves to keep anymore secrets.

They told him that he did once have a name—when he was new to the world and very small. Though, on that same day, they had been visited by a kitsune disguised as a midwife. At the moment the boy's mother gave him his name, the kitsune transformed and stole it from her lips. The fox had laughed and said that it would keep the name for itself. Only if the boy could catch it would the fox return his name. Then the kitsune had run off. The mother and father had despaired at their misfortune, knowing that as a baby the boy could not catch the kitsune. After that day, they had refused to speak of what happened, until the boy had asked.

Now that he knew that he did have a name, the boy vowed to get it back. The next day he left his village to search for the kitsune that stole his name. He travelled a great distance across the land and soon ventured deep into the vast, dark forest of his country. All knew that in this forest lived strange creatures and spirits. It was here the boy hoped to find the kitsune. For months, the boy searched the forest and learned many new things from the creatures there. Then one day, while resting by a stream, the boy spotted a fox across the way drinking from the water.

Immediately he knew that this was the kitsune he searched for and drew his bow and arrow. Before the kitsune could scurry off the arrow struck its leg and felled the fox. When the boy approached the kitsune, it cried and hissed, asking why he had struck it. The boy told the fox that it had stolen his name and now it must return it. But upon hearing this, the kitsune grinned and laughed. It said that it no longer had his name and that it had given it to one of its many brothers and sisters.

The boy learned that the kitsune was a part of a very old and cunning fox that had split itself into nine to match each of its powerful tails. If the boy was to retrieve his name, he would need to catch all of the fox's aspects.

Kanaye loved hearing the great adventure the boy embarked on and how the kitsune tried to trick him at every turn. His mother repeated the story as many times as he wanted, but she had only told him the ending a handful of times. He didn't remember much about the end of the story since the last time he heard it was when he was five. But he did remember the name of the old and powerful kitsune—Kyuubi.

Sometimes Kanaye thought he saw Kyuubi, or at least one of its kitsune forms, sitting in the corner of his bedroom at night. He would also catch glimpses of it in the shadows of the neighbor's house when the sun set and the daylight was fading. It was not often that he saw this creature, but when he did, it was always from a distance. After his mother passed away, he stopped seeing it altogether.

That was two years ago.

Kanaye's dreams faded away like they usually did when he awoke. It was dark in the room he and his father had spent the night. The slightest halo of light managed to seep in from behind the thick, dark curtains that covered the windows. He breathed in deeply, exhaling away the last dregs of sleep as his eyes fluttered open.

For a moment, Kanaye wondered if he was back home in his own bed; but he made out the outline of his father's long form on the bed opposite his and remembered where he was. The figure perched on his father's bed staring back at him did confuse him, though.

It was the kitsune. Kanaye had not seen this apparition in years but recognized it right away.

The creature was a simple silhouette of a fox and had no real details to speak of. It was hazy and translucent on the inside, but had a deep red glow in its eyes and around its body. Kanaye watched the fox peering back at him. He had never seen it this close before, just a few feet away.

Kanaye dared a glance over at his father. The man's eyes were still closed, and the slow rise and fall of his chest showed he was asleep.

"What... What is it you want?" Kanaye whispered, looking back at the fox.

It didn't reply. Kanaye swallowed and propped himself up on an elbow. The fox followed his movement with its eyes. Its tail stayed curled around its feet and its ears didn't twitch from his father's soft snoring. Kanaye suddenly remembered the story of the boy with no name. He wondered if the reason why the kitsune had appeared again was because it wanted to steal his name.

"Are you going to try and take my name?" Kanaye whispered again. Still no reply. He furrowed his brows and sat up in bed.

"If you are, you can't have it," he stated firmly. No lousy kitsune was going to come and take his name. Unlike the boy from the story, he'd had his for a while.

This time the creature unfurled itself and stood on all fours. Kanaye gasped in surprise, not expecting it to move so quickly. It leaped from the edge of his father's bed onto his. All at once, Kanaye felt unsure of this encounter.

"What's the matter, Na-chan?"

His father's groggy voice filled the dimmed space of the room. Kanaye turned to the other bed to find his father sitting on the edge and watching him worriedly. The boy looked from him to where the kitsune had been. There was nothing there.

"I think I saw Kyuubi, 'tou-san," Kanaye said in an excited but hushed tone.

The worried look on his father's face slowly transformed into a more disturbed expression.

"You know, from the stories 'kaa-san used to tell me," Kanaye reminded him.

His father blinked in realization, and then chuckled softly. The action seemed more like a huff of relief than anything else. Kanaye found it curious that the older blond would act that way; but sometimes his father was just weird. He pulled back his covers and crawled over to the spot the fox had been moments ago. There were no signs of anything being there.

"I woke up and saw it sitting on your bed; and then, it jumped onto my bed right here," Kanaye pointed to the spot.

His father smiled at him and stood up, reaching over to ruffle Kanaye's hair. "Did it try to trick you into giving it your teeth," he asked, jokingly. Kanaye gave the man an unimpressed look from under his messy bangs.

"Don't be ridiculous, 'tou-san. Kitsune don't take teeth. What would they need them for? They've got plenty of their own teeth."

His father shrugged, walked over to the window, and pulled back only one of the curtains. Early morning sunlight rushed past him to fill the room, casting most of the shadows aside. Kanaye squinted against the sudden change in lighting.

Over his father's shoulder he could see the many rooftops and trees of Konoha's skyline. Konoha was so much larger than his own village. Back home there weren't half as many tall buildings and oddly-shaped houses as there were here. It was almost like being in one of the big cities his father had taken him to.

"Then if kitsune don't need your teeth, maybe you should get about brushing them. Hmm?" his father looked back at him with one of his I'm-asking-but-I'm-really-telling-you kind of looks.

Kanaye sighed and made his way out of bed.

—.&.&.—

Naruto watched his son crawl out of bed and shuffle toward the bathroom. Once the door closed, he pulled back the other window curtain. Sitting on the outer window sill, reading one of his trademark books, was his former team leader.

"Were you sitting out here all night?" Naruto asked, opening the window on his left.

Kakashi pulled a pencil out from one of the pockets of his flak jacket and made a mark in the small green book he was reading. He then closed the book and placed both it and the pencil in the same pocket.

"No, no," Kakashi drawled, "I have the daywatch."

Naruto stepped back from the open window to allow Kakashi in. The jounin gracefully got to his feet and strode into the room as casually as if he were entering through the door. After living in a non-shinobi village for a number of years, Naruto felt as if he now understood why Tsunade used to grumble about ninja not using doors.

"So who's got nightwatch?" Naruto asked, monitoring the bathroom door.

"Sasuke," Kakashi answered.

"Uchiha, huh? I'm sure not much arm-twisting was involved in that one."

"None at all, actually. He'd volunteered," Kakashi leaned against the window's edge with his hands in his pockets. Naruto made a noncommittal sound, then ran a hand through his hair. He was dressed in only in a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt.

"How long am I going to be stuck here, Kakashi?" There was a measure of weariness in Naruto's voice as he spoke. He pinched the bridge of his nose as if to ward off an impending headache.

Kakashi felt a small amount of pity for his former student. He, like everyone else, had been surprised that Naruto had left the village all those years ago. It had been stranger still when a few of them tried searching for him afterwards. But every man had his own unique set of demons to fight and it seemed Naruto had been losing a battle with his. It was, however, each man's responsibility to deal with the consequences of whatever actions he took while fighting those battles. Kakashi was still coping with the guilt from his own past.

"As of now, the only decision that's been made is to keep you here under house-arrest as an alternative to an ANBU holding cell," he told Naruto. "Hokage-sama hasn't shared much else, but I suspect that you may be here a few more days or a week at most."

Naruto's head snapped back toward him. He looked indignant.

"A week! Kakashi, I can't be locked up in an inn room with my kid for a week."

Under his mask, Kakashi pursed his lips in agreement. This was a peculiar situation for Naruto to be in. He had already deduced that Naruto hadn't shared with his son that he was a ninja or that the man was facing charges of being a missing-nin. Admittedly, the entire matter was incredibly interesting.

"Hmm. So I wouldn't be wrong in assuming you've not told Kanaye-kun you're a Konoha nin."

Naruto's eyes flashed between the bathroom door and Kakashi. "Before the last twenty-four hours Kanaye had never even seen a shinobi."

"And why is that?"

"I have my reasons," Naruto said curtly.

The bathroom door clicked open. Both men watched the small blond boy wipe his face with his pajama shirt and smiled at them. Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and raised his brows in an amused expression.

A silent message passed between them. Naruto's face sunk into what could only be described as disparaged submission. With just a few words and a look Kakashi had managed to fill him with serious doubts about what he should do next. Naruto never expected to be back in this village and around these people. He was supposed to live out the rest of his life in relative peace and obscurity, like he had promised to.

"Then I would suggest, Naruto-kun," Kakashi said lowly, "that, to best control the progression of things, you allow your son to explore the village. He'll find out soon enough that you are a ninja, but perhaps it would be better to do so in a way that doesn't suggest his father is a criminal."

"And how do I go about doing that, Kakashi? You've told be I can't even leave this room."

The jounin patted the man's shoulder reassuringly, "I think Sakura can help. She's already on her way."

That statement alone told Naruto that he didn't have much say in what happened from then on. It was strange being on the other end of the missing-nin title, however filtered his experience was. Some reassessing was due.

Naruto nodded slowly and looked away.

—.o.—

Two days had gone by without an update of what the Hokage had in store for him. Naruto knew that Kanaye suspected something was wrong, but the boy made no mention of it. His lack of enthusiasm was hard to miss and it pained Naruto to see his son so solemn. That morning Kanaye had politely declined going out with Sakura to a children's fair in the East district. He had told the woman that he wanted to stay in with his father for a while. Naruto recalled how apologetic Sakura had looked before she said that she would try to come see them again tomorrow.

It was a few minutes after seven in the evening as he and Kanaye made their way back upstairs from eating in the inn's dinner parlor. The owner's wife had been kind enough to give Kanaye a popsicle for dessert, which he munched on contently while he followed his father to their landing. Dinner had gone without many words exchanged between them. Naruto asked about what other places Kanaye wanted to see once they left Konoha, but the little boy had shrugged and said he wasn't sure. The walk to their room had even less conversation. It was slowly killing Naruto.

When they reached their door, Naruto retrieved the room key from his vest pocket. Before he placed the key within the lock, he felt a tug on his arm. He looked over at his son in askance.

"'Tou-san..." Kanaye said hesitantly.

"What's up, Na-chan?"

The boy looked down at his feet, then at his half-eaten popsicle. He was deliberating something rather intently.

"Nothing bad is going to happen, right?"

A lump instantly formed in the back of Naruto's throat. His suspicions were validated. He turned and knelt to Kanaye's level.

"What a question to ask, Kanaye. Of course nothing bad is going to happen." Naruto rubbed the boy's arms, hoping to comfort him. "Why would you think that?"

Kanaye shrugged despondently. "I don't know. Just wanted to ask, I guess."

Naruto brushed the child's hair back and tapped his chin affectionately. He didn't know what the future held at the moment, but he would be damned if he let his son feel anything but safe.

"Hey, kiddo, don't be so glum. You're old 'tou-san is not going to let anything bad happen, okay?" He gave Kanaye the brightest smile he could. The boy gave a smaller smile before deciding to grin back at him and nodded. Naruto ruffled his hair again then stood up to open the door, all the while asking any higher power up there to give him strength.

—.&.o.o.&.—