And the door sat, guarding as it had for the long ages past, and the longer ages to come, the secrets of the shadow lords of the Uzumaki.

It had been an hour and Naruto was still clueless to the fact that that he was being followed. As he walked distractedly though the town people would stop talking as he walked past only to take up an excited buzz a short time later. Already he had a following of giggling girls whom he was completely ignoring.

I wonder where Hinata-chan is? She mentioned something about seeing me this afternoon. I wonder if she got in trouble for being out so late last night? I hope not, It'd be a shame if she got in trouble for keeping me company. Hmmm well, I suppose that I'll just have to apologize if that's the case.

--sniff sniff--

Hmmm… Raman? I must be near Ichiraku's. It'd be nice to have a warm bowl again; I wonder what's on the menu?

Briefly Naruto paused to look over at the entrance to the Raman shop. The people who had been staring at him in stunned silence quickly looked away, and several of the more curious of his followers (whom he had yet to notice) immediately walked into the store to investigate what he was staring at.

Damn… looks like old man Ichiraku is busier than usual today… well perhaps when I'm done I can… what the?

Naruto's musing had been interrupted by a high-pitched scream and the sound of branches breaking. Relying purely on instinct Naruto leapt toward the sound of the scream, something was happening, and it just wasn't in him to ignore such an obvious cry for help. Once again it appeared that Naruto's instincts had served to give him proper time to react, unfortunately however he could already tell that he'd be to late. The scream had been made by none other than the girl that he had bumped into earlier that morning.

While lost in thought Naruto had spent nearly an hour wandering aimlessly around town, at first it hadn't been a problem, but as time passed more and more people had begun following him. Saratobi Sebeki was frustrated, here she was, a special Jounin who had been drafted to help none other than Uchiha Sasuke, She, the youngest Jounin since the fourth himself, and she was being defeated by a crowd of bloody CIVILIANS! It was a tad embarrassing really. She had been on the way to the academy to help Ikura this morning when she had literally run into someone. She had been about to stand up and give the Idiot who got in her way a good tongue lashing when he had bent down and offered her a hand up… as she got a good look at him the oaths she had been ready to mutter had died in her mouth, there looking down at her had been a young man who bore a rather striking resemblance to the fourth Hokage. In fact he bore such a strong resemblance that she had actually believed that it was him for a moment… that alone had stunned her long enough for the man to help her to her feet and brush her off. It wasn't until he had waved a causal goodbye and started though the village again that she had completely come to her senses. Convinced that she was watching a ghost causally weave its way though the village she had leapt into action and had begun shadowing the stranger. After an hour however the press of people had made it nearly impossible to keep her target in sight, and so she had resorted to climbing trees. That tactic had worked well enough until she had climbed the one across the road from the Raman stand. She had misjudged the strength of one of the branches and it had snapped. With a yelp she dropped straight down. (She had been upside down). Worse yet she had been unprepared, and couldn't seem to get her feet under her. All she could do was watch in horror as the ground rushed up to meet her.

Just my luck… I'm never going to live this one down.

Naruto realized that the chances of catching the girl before she hit the ground were rather slim, but he tried nonetheless.

Come on… come ON! Just a Little bit faster… Just a hair more…

Time seemed to slow as Naruto threw all of his chakra into his body. Normally speed would only require that he push it into his legs, but he was too focused on catching the girl to bother with thoughts like that. Unconsciously Naruto infused chakra into every part of his body, causing all of his body's regular functions to heighten… heart rate, brain activity, muscular strength and control… Everything. Without realizing it, Naruto was creating an effect that it had taken the fourth Hokage over three years of studying peoples reactions in life threatening situations to create… for Naruto time seemed to slow… for everyone else watching, the speeding nin disappeared from view leaving only a flash of light where he had been moments before, only to re-appear at the base of a tree just in time to catch a fellow nin as she fell into his arms.

Gotcha!

Slowly Sebeki opened her eyes, and blinked… she should have hit by now… what was taking the ground so damn long? It was then that she realized that she was looking directly into a pair of crystal blue eyes… Sebeki blinked again.

"errr… are you alright?"

Sebeki raised her eyebrows and concern quickly became evident in the face she was staring at.

"Um hello?"

Sebeki was startled out of her thoughts as the man who caught her waved a hand in front of her face. Blushing she realized that the owner of those beautiful eyes had caught her and was apparently still supporting the majority of her weight as she had yet to move.

"Sorry."

She muttered, hurriedly pulling herself out of his arms. Embarrassed she began brushing invisible dust off of her clothes. Smiling Naruto graciously pretended not to notice the highly flustered state she was in by looking away… It was then that he noticed the crowd staring at him, shock evident on all of their faces.

"Don't worry, she's fine."

Not so much as a sound…. Naruto was definitely getting uncomfortable.

"Um… I guess I'll be going now"

Carefully Naruto reached up and placed his hand on the spiral symbol carved into the tree trunk and then… Disappeared. It was at this point that Sebeki finished her mock dusting and looked up, fully expecting to see her savior still standing there… the fact that he wasn't shocked her almost as much as the fact that he had caught her in the first place. Frowning Sebeki looked over the townspeople who were finally going back about their business. A small frown appeared on her face. That had made twice in a day that the same odd man had helped her, and she had yet to thank him.

Ahh well, I'll just have to keep my eyes open and thank him when I get the chance.

Suddenly remembering the time Sebeki turned and took off at high speed for the academy, Ikura was NOT going to be pleased.

Well that was odd

Thought Naruto to himself. He had just gotten into the tunnel that led to his own private sanctuary

I wonder why everyone was staring? 'Sigh' Sometimes it's such a pain to be known for carrying Kyuubi.

Naruto of course had no way of knowing that not a single person recognized him as Uzumaki Naruto… even those few people who could have recognized him wouldn't have. Everyone thought him dead. As Naruto wandered down the hallway that had become so familiar during his childhood he suddenly stopped, some second nature, some sixth sense, some infemestial detail brought him up short of the door.

Something is wrong…

Looking around carefully Naruto noticed that since his last visit someone had brushed the dirt away from two patches immediately in front of the door… and on closer inspection he could see scuff marks that appeared to be from some brief struggle. He was about to investigate further when he finally realized what it was that had startled him from his musing… the room beyond the door… was active.

Shikamaru sighed again… today was just getting worse and worse in the background he could still hear Ino babbling… it was just getting annoying… sure he hadn't expected the C class missing nin who was hiding in the treetops, and he CERTAINLY hadn't expected said nin to be intelligent enough to try taking Ino a prisoner… but was she a Kunoichi or not? Shikamaru sighed again,

You'd think that she wouldn't mind a little risk considering what she does for a living… and she surly can't expect that we would have been willing to just let him walk away… I mean it wasn't even that difficult to dispose of him but to hear her tell it…

Briefly Shikamaru tuned Ino back in

"… Never been so scared in my life, thank you so much for protecting me like that Shino, you to Kiba I mean he had that blade to my neck and I SWEAR that I was certain he was going to slit my throat, and then I could feel him tense up and I started thinking that this was it, and then all of a sudden there is this big wall of bugs between me and him, andthenakamarubithisleg,andthenInoticedtheshadowbutIswearthatI'veneverbeenso…"

Shikamaru tuned her out as the words started to run together again

I still can't believe you thought I wouldn't come to your rescue, I mean I had him bound with a shadow LONG before Shino had his bugs in place, and it's not like Akamaru really did all that much… he was already immobilized… 'sigh' We need to head back home, but it's obvious she's not going to wind down for a while… I guess that there is nothing else to be done… unless…

Looking over, Shikamaru couldn't help but let a small smile show on his usually impassive face. Standing up he walked over to her.

"Ino"

Ino turned from where she had been incoherently repeating the same story to face him. She had just enough time to notice an odd half-smile on Shikamaru's face before he leaned over and silenced her with a kiss. Vaguely in the background she could hear a wolf whistle from Kiba, but it was quickly forgotten as she lost herself in one of her (oddly enough) recent and re-occurring fantasies. Breaking the kiss Shikamaru stared at her stunned face, that odd half smile of his more pronounced than ever before. Still in shock she seemed to see a smirking Shino in the background, but somehow it just didn't seem very important… in fact she only managed a single soft word

"What?.."

In that instant Shikamaru's half smile blossomed into what was probably the first true smile she had seen on his face in years.

"Ino… Shut up."

Turning to the rest of the group he was leading Shikamaru motioned them forward

"Come on guys, lets move."

Staring at Shikamaru's retreating back Ino brought one hand up to her mouth.

He KISSED me?

She looked at Shikamaru's back again, and then at the retreating forms of her team. Grabbing her equipment Ino hurried to catch up to them.

I think I Like it.

"I'M TELLING YOU GRANNY IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

"NARUTO! YOU TELL ME THIS INSTANT EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT HIS CONDITION."

Hinata frowned, something big was going on… Tsunade rarely sounded that concerned, and although she did yell a lot more when Naruto was around her voice usually held a hint of amusement that seemed to be missing at the moment. Hinata tried to clear her thoughts by shaking her head… it didn't help, and as she started foreword she heard Naruto speaking in a much more subdued voice.

"Look Nee-Chan. I was visiting this place."

Tsunade interrupted

"What Place"

Hinata had to hold back a grin when she heard Naruto's vague answer

"Hmm? Oh, just a place I visit now and then… anyway I get there and something makes me stop right?"

The look on Tsunade's face showed quite clearly that she was only a hair away from losing her temper again.

"So," continued Naruto "Being the exceptionally skilled ninja I am, I stopped and tried to figure out what was out of place. It was then that I noticed that someone had been in… um… my thinking spot since I left it last."

Tsunade was getting slightly frustrated and blurted out

"Oh for heaven's sake Naruto, your not the only person who can find places you know"

Naruto looked at her as though a little amused

"Not this place, before I found it, this spot looked like it hadn't been disturbed in ages… anyway, I stop and look around right? And I notice that someone has recently disturbed the dust in front of the door, almost looked like two people had sat down for a talk, a short distance from there was a patch that looked like a miniature struggle had taken place. So I start looking around, and THAT is when I notice that the door had been opened recently"

Here Naruto paused, obviously waiting for someone to ask him what door he was talking about, therefore he was a little surprised when Tsunade sank into a nearby chair. Putting her elbows on her knee's she buried her face in her hands before giving a muffled

"He went into the testing room didn't he?"

Naruto looked slightly startled

"How did you know about the… 'Sigh' ya, he went in. got quite a bit farther than I would have predicted he could too, but even so it was less than half."

Tsunade sighed tiredly, and once again Hinata could hear her muffled voice

"Is the damage reversible?"

Naruto stood silently for a moment, completely oblivious to the crowd that had gathered to watch the fighting. After a moment he shrugged,

"It's had to say. If I hadn't passed the trial already I almost certainly wouldn't have been able to get him out before irreparable damage was done, he was still partially conscious when I got there you know. As things stand… either he has to come to terms with what he's seen, or someone has to find a way to put him in a healing trance designed for mind trauma."

Tsunade, now resting her chin on the back of her hands, quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh? And what type of trance would be suffice?"

Naruto laughed aloud at the question

"I have no Idea, in one of the scrolls hidden back there, there is a comment about 'the voice's healing trance level 1' It's the only time I've seen it mentioned, but I admit to not having read everything hidden there yet."

As Naruto shrugged and Tsunade sighed, Hinata's breath was caught in her throat.

----Flashback----

Hinata had just stumbled away from the place where Naruto had disappeared, she was cold, tired, and heart sore she had just watched her precious Naruto-kun disappear in a blast of flames, In fact she was so distraught that she nearly walked into the fire before she realized that she had stumbled on to someone's camp.

"Hello? Heeellllooo?"

"What the Hell? Jirayia! Catch her!"

"Shit! Kawarimi!"

"Nice catch! Do you know her?"

"Hmmm Looks like a Hyuuga…"

At this point Hinata just couldn't keep her eyes open any more… she had lost Naruto-kun again… and this time probably forever. Hinata had no Idea how much time had passed in the blackness of sleep, but when she had woken she found herself wrapped firmly in a blanket and laying near the fire. In the background she could hear the voices from earlier talking again.

"So what was wrong with her Kyuubi-san?"

"I told you before that the old lady wants me called Kyubito, and as for the girl she was rather badly in shock… That was a good Idea By the way, substituting yourself for a blade of grass so that you could get close fast enough."

"eh, that's an old trick. Very people bother to think about using it for things like that. especially considering that it's only a moderate range ability… of course it does take a fair amount of chakra, but still. Anyway, what did you say to her? Was it a jutsu or something? Because if it was then it's like none I've ever heard of… like a weak sleep jutsu that leaves you feeling refreshed if you manage to stay awake."

As Hinata drifted back off to sleep she faintly caught the other man saying

"That… That was the first part of 'Angel's voice'. Anyway enough about that… do you think we could add a fight like the kids in our new Ichi Ichi Elemental…"

--------End Flashback--------

"Anno, Tsunade-sama?"

Even as distracted as Hinata was she couldn't help but notice a slight smile appear on Tsunade's face, Nor did she miss the fact that Naruto had stopped frowning the moment he heard her voice.

"Yes Hinata-san?"

"Um… It may be nothing but, when I first woke after Jirayia-san and Kyubito-san helped me, I seem to recall having heard Kyubito-san saying something about an 'Angel's Voice', Perhaps…"

Hinata trailed off as she watched Tsunade's eyes widen.

"OF COURSE! Kyubito knows… he has to know… He mentioned it before… how to get him to help though…"

Hinata took a step back as she saw a feral grin appear on Tsunade's face moments before Tsunade marched down the hall muttering to herself.

Well, That was just plain odd. I wonder if all Sannin are insane, or if it's just the one's from leaf…

Hinata was so lost in thought that she didn't even register that Naruto was still there until he gave a false cough from behind her. Whirling around Hinata blushed again at Naruto's grin.

"Thinking hard Hinata-chan?"

Hinata let a small smile grace her delicate face as she answered as boldly as she could.

"S…Someone has to make up for your hardly thinking at all Naruto-kun"

Naruto grimaced and clutched his heart as though he had been stabbed.

"OUCH! Burned by Hinata."

Hinata was about to apologize and explain that she didn't know what had come over her when she saw that he was grinning again.

"Well, if your done insulting me Hinata-chan I was about to ask if you were terribly busy today."

Although the room suddenly felt far to warm, Hinata managed a small smile of her own.

"There is nothing that I would mind missing Naruto-kun."

A/N: Well there you have it. I almost hate to say this (Please don't kill me) But i've been sitting on this chapter for about two weeks now. It seems to me that I'm missing some rather important bit that I was going to add, but having not found it after all this time I"m forced to convince myself that I imagioned it. We have the courtesy fluff of course, as part of the developing relationship between naruto and Hinata of course, but I'm wondering what you all think about sasuke's perdiciment. I'd ask about the current pairings, but I already know what most of you think of them. well, thats all for tonight. R&R, OH and thank you all for reviewing!
comanderlink:
Am I happy... Perhaps :D Ikura is the exception? hmmm ---Memo self, turn Ikura into a perv.--- Obviously I can corrupt as nice a fellew as him now can I ----Innocent look---- Thanks for the complement on the Phoenix bit, I'm rather proud of some of the incantations there, they may or may not feature more promanatly in the future, I haven't really decided yet. As for the whole 'Naruto the heart-throb thing' it's mainly just kyuubi tampering with outside image, or perhaps it's the fact that I have him wearing decent clothes rather than that gawd-aweful orange jumpsuit. whatever the reason, it's happened.

Dragon Noir:
you liked neji teasing hinata? hmm, then you'll love this little scene that I have planned for a chapter or two from now

crakbaby23:
---Check myself sarcastically--- Nope, I still appear to be alive ;)

Jays Arravan:
Hmmm that shouldn't be happening. as for how the good people of konoha will react... so far it's only been one of those passing glance things, at first glance he looks like the fourth, but once you've done a double take you realize that he's not.

naruto-fanfic:
Hmmm, I'm trying how to deal with the shika/ino/fanclub thing. I could hook those to up, but I think that a couple of akward moments would be better. as for 'legends' it's a pity that he couldn't even get the framework back up so we could keep posting...

Death By Kunai:
Yup, still kicking!

madnarutofan:
Been there, done that.

Dragon Man 180:
they eventually melted their way out

raging hobo:
Sadly enough I've recently realized that It might take another arc or two to finish this story... we'll see. Oh! and thanks for the complement on my advice to other writers.

Thanks also to:
SerenityMelody, Kai Otogi, Hiei's Cute Girl, Cloud-1-3-5 and Ame Emi Dai, NaruHina113, nonengel, RockBane, Shinta Azechi, Shadow-Sensei, Expired Doughnuts.
I couldn't do it without you guys!

Sincerly,
Manatheron