Hey guys, here's another chapter.

A buunchhhh of new stuff's been going on in my life, and I'm trying to slow things down by writing.

Seriously, it's a really therapeutic activity. If you haven't already, you should try it sometime!

Anyways, hope you enjoy! ^^.


Kuchel Namikaze was knocked down on her butt in the middle of the street after something impossible happened before her eyes.

One moment she was minding her business with her friends along the narrow streets of Northern Konoha, and the next, a whole bus almost rammed into her group, almost killing her. What was even more absurd was the guy with the mask who stopped the bus and lifted it in mid air!

Maybe she should pick up reading comics again…

Standing up and patting the dust off of her clothes, she gave one of her friends who was shaking a warm, comforting hug.

She heard the screams of innocent people rushing out of the bus as the criminals were thrown out of the window by the man who saved her life.

Kuchel tilted her head to the side as some of them had blood pooling from… interesting locations.

Psh… serves them right… mom's gonna kill me if she finds out…

"Oi! Kuch- Female Ed Sheeran! Move out of the way!"

I swear, if one more person makes fun of my hair…

"Don't call me that!"

"Whatever you say, tomato-girl," Naruto said, waving her away.

Hnnng!

With a small stomp of frustration, Kuchel quickly moved backwards alongside her friend in her arms. The man who had saved her life, as well as insulted her, was now rallying the civilians away from the bus, which was quickly spilling oil. Phones lit up as calls were made to the police, and the man now started pulling the criminals from the bus, leaning them against the ancient, brown brick wall.

They were all whining in pain.

Kuchel allowed herself to relax as safety returned to her status quo. Her friend wasn't clenching onto her with a death grip, and the general tension of the scene seemed to dissipate quickly.

"NAMIKAZE!"

Shit! Why is she here?! Did she recognize me?!

SHIT! Why is she here?! Goodbye hangout privileges…

Two heads turned towards the voice of Kushina Uzumaki, her red hair matching her state of emotion.

"Kuchel?! What are you doing here?!"

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he realized that his mother didn't recognize him, but was more focused on Kuchel.

"W-were you in that bus? What are you doing in Northern Konoha? I thought I told you and Naruto not to come here, it's Dangerous!"

Kuchel awkwardly looked around nervously, innocently scratching her head.

"Ahaa! Th-this is Northern Konoha? I t-totally was, like, wondering why everything seemed so v-vintage! Ahaaa! This is, like, such an embarrassment!"

Eyes darting everywhere but her mother's eyes, she was caught by surprise when her mother put her arms around her in a huge hug.

"Sweetie… You're such a bad liar, you know that? Why do you and Naruto never listen to me?"

"cuz it's fun here…" Kuchel mumbled, her face buried in Kushina's hair.

"Seriously… my heart can't take it…" Kushina said, running her hand through her daughter's hair and hugging her even tighter. "Y-you aren't hurt, are you? Were you in that bus?"

"N-no! I was just walking down the street with my friends," Kuchel said, purposely removing the part where she almost got rammed to death by said bus.

Just a few meters away, Naruto awkwardly stood as his mother lectured his sister about listening to adult figures, and not allowing "teenage instincts" to lead to her making irrational decisions.

Tiptoeing away, Naruto had hoped to escape the scene unnoticed as he heard the police sirens approaching from far away with his enhanced hearing.

"Oi, dark and dusty, you're not getting away that easily."

This is the end.

Kushina was still hugging her daughter, but was now staring at him with narrowed eyes and suspicion.

It was a little weird seeing his mother stare at him this way, but Naruto was too keen to escape to care.

"You're the guy who broke into that facility and did 80% of Fugaku's job, aren't you?"

Naruto stayed silent and nodded.

Yeah, HELL IF I'm talking, there's no way she of all people doesn't recognize my voice!

"WHAT'S THAT?" Naruto said, making his voice much more raspy than usual.

Everyone turned towards where Naruto had pointed, and when Kushina turned back around, Naruto was gone.

"...Did I really just fall for that?" Kushina asked herself. "I didn't even get to say thank you…"

Neither did I… thought Kuchel.


Naruto zoomed to his house as fast as he could, jumping between buildings at speeds that would make Sonic the Hedgehog proud.

That was WAY too close, hooooollllyyyy shit!

He needed to get home before the two of the most hot-tempered women he knew returned.

Landing on the top of his apartment, Naruto slammed open the door and skipped down to his house, throwing off his black clothes and shoving them deep inside his wardrobe, finally tossing his body onto the bed with his blankets covering his body.

K-9, who was busy licking his arm, gave him a short bark as he noticed one of his owner's presence enter the house.

The familiar jingle of the elevator reaching his floor signaled to him that he just made it in time.

"That was close…"

"Do you mind getting off of my tails, boy?"

Naruto looked to his right, and in front of him was one of the most magnificent creatures he had ever seen.

It was a fox, but slightly bigger than the ones he had seen near the woods, as well as the ones he'd seen in pictures. That being said, it was smaller than K-9. His fur was mostly fiery orange, with black covering his limbs like gloves, and around his eyes like mascara. White fur covered his underbelly, as well as under his free tails.

Naruto and the fox stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Naruto lifted his hip, freeing the fox's tails from under him.

"Wait… did you just speak?"

"No, blondie, you're just imagining a voice every time my mouth opens."

"You know what? I just stopped a bus from ramming into my sister about five minutes ago, so nothing seems impossible at this point," Naruto said, running a hand through his hair. "That being said… How are you even speaking? It should be anatomically impossible…"

The fox scoffed, and pushed Naruto with one of his black paws. "The same science that allowed you to stop a bus from ramming into your sister."

"You're… one of Orochimaru's?"

"Yes, and before you ask, no, I'm not here to take you back to him so he can experiment on you… in fact, I'm more concerned you'd do that to me."

Naruto was beyond confused. "This is crazy… and I'd hate to be inhospitable, but now is REALLY not a good time for me to have a talking nine-tailed fox in my room… Uh… do you have a name?"

"Kurama."

"Kurama, yes. My name's Naruto, and my sister and mom are literally just outside that door right now!"

Almost on queue, Kushina called out from the other side of the house. "Naruto! Do you have guests over?"

"Uhh… no! I'm just calling a friend!"

"Oh, okay, sweetie! Sorry to be a bother!"

"Nah, he's definitely watching porn and mastu-"

"SHUT UP, KUCHEL!" Naruto yelled.

Naruto quickly locked his door, and looked back at the animal on his bed.

"I'm guessing you have questions besides 'How can you speak?', ask away."

Naruto took a second to think before responding.

"Why are you here, Kurama? Do you need anything from me?"

The fox relaxed on the bed, getting on top of Naruto's pillow and curling into a ball.

"Mmm… soft…"

"Focus, Kurama, focus."

"I guess I'm here because I have nowhere else to go, and I feel like you need my help," Kurama said. "I'm the fox that bit you, Naruto. It's how you've been gifted with abilities now."

Naruto stood dumbfounded, his mouth open and his eyebrows relaxed.

"Oh…"

"And I'm here because I think we can help each other out, Naruto," Kurama said.

"Elaborate," Naruto said.

"I'm Project #9 of the pale-skinned mad scientist's secret. He's been trying to develop organic enhancers for some reason, I'm not entirely sure why. However, as far as I know, Orochimaru is actively looking for you and I, Naruto. We're not safe."

Naruto processed this information as Kurama continued.

"I'm a genetically engineered fox with venom in my fangs that was deposited into you when I bit you. The venom, created by my body, has given you a bunch of enhancements, such as super strength, senses, instincts, and healing factor."

"Wait, healing factor? You mean like Deadpool?"

"Not as intense and unrealistic, but yes. You're going to need to eat a lot of protein in order to fuel the healing, but if you pack up a couple hours before, yes. You're like Deadpool."

Naruto quickly checked his arm where the bullet had grazed him before, and sure enough, the wound was gone. His hoodie was torn, but his skin felt smooth to the touch. Not even a scar remained.

"Dang… nice," Naruto said. "W-wait, does that mean I can't get drunk?!"

"Yes."

"FUCK! I'm only 16… urgh… is it permanent?"

"Yes."

"Goodbye, my University partying career… gone before it started," Naruto said, lying down on the bed again.

"In any case, think of me as your… partner, from now on. Come here, I've gotta bite you again," Kurama said.

"Why? It was quite unpleasant the first time around, I'd rather not…"

"It'll telepathically link me to you, Naruto."

"...Fine," Naruto said, allowing Kurama to bite him. This time, however, the sensation was much warmer than the first. "How many of you guys are there?"

"As far as I know, nine," Kurama replied.

"Have you tried escaping before?" Naruto asked, fascinated that his arm had already healed from the bite. "Speaking of which, actually, how did you escape?"

Kurama sighed, his ears dropping slightly. "I couldn't, Naruto. The bite… it works two ways. We're not given sentience until we bite a human host. We extract some of their blood, their DNA merges with ours, and we're bound to them for life. If you die, so do I. Honestly, I'm thankful that you're not some furry or anything… that would be horrifying."

Naruto shuddered involuntarily. He'd seen some weird shit at school.

"I escaped through the ventilation system. I had to do some mission impossible shit to escape through the forest, and afterwards, I hid out in a cave away from Orochimaru's goons before heading towards your house. I wasn't sure where exactly it was, but I had a general idea. I saw you jumping across the buildings, and I instantly knew it was you. Try not to be too flamboyant with your abilities by the way, it draws attention."

"Right. Sorry, I had to get here before my mom did," Naruto said. "In any case, that's quite the story. I'm guessing you're hungry?"

"Food would be nice."

"Alright, stay here, let me try to sneak in a sandwich or something…"


"Okay… Google… what do foxes eat?" Naruto whispered to himself, scrolling through his phone. "Ring ding dings… really funny, internet, really funny. Worms and insects? Pretty sure we don't have any of those…"

"And even if you did, I wouldn't eat them, asshole," Kurama's voice rang in his head.

"Oh, so we're actually telepathically linked now?" Naruto said, opening his fridge.

"Correct, and get into the habit of thinking your dialogue towards me, people will look at you funny if you're talking out loud to yourself."

Right.

"Vegetables… fruits… rabbits… whatever," Naruto said, throwing some cherries and steak onto a plate.

Smelling the scent of meat from across the house, K-9 trotted towards the kitchen as Naruto put the steak into the microwave. Sitting down next to him, K-9 wagged his tail in anticipation.

"K-9… this isn't for you bro, sorry," Naruto said, looking down at K-9's singular organic eye.

Barking with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice, the dog walked away.

"Yeah yeah, take out your frustrations on me, won't you."

Walking back to his room, Naruto noticed that his dog was now snarling angrily at his door. It didn't take long for him to realize why.

"Is that because of me?"

Probably, he's been trained to sense intruders from back when he was still in the police force, don't worry. It'll be an easy fix.

"How long will it take until he stops growling at me?"

Five minutes, tops.

Naruto slid open his door, making sure not to let K-9 inside. The half husky was leaned back with his front paws extended forward, his butt lifted towards the roof. Snarling even louder as Naruto opened the door, K-9 continued to guard the door as Naruto booted up his computer.

Digging into the steak, Kurama's mood noticeably brightened.

"How come the dog's got robotic parts?" Kurama asked.

"Nasty shotgun blast to his side. Took out an eye, a leg, and ruptured a few internal organs. The doc and I spent a few weeks building him new parts that were compatible with his anatomy. We need to change the gears every few months or so, but besides that, he's just a retired dog now. Well, mostly. He's still got a few enhancements that I've put into him over time, including this neat trick," Naruto said, tapping away at his mechanical keyboard as Kurama devoured his food. "Can you stop making a mess? I just washed those sheets a few days ago."

"Mhm."

Compiling his code, Naruto ejected a USB from his very expensive PC, and let K-9 into the room. Kurama watched intently while spitting out cherry seeds into Naruto's trashcan.

"C'mere boy," Naruto said, sitting on the bed and letting K-9 jump onto his lap.

K-9 continued growling at Kurama, his fangs glaring, and nostrils flaring. Kurama stuck out his tongue, and started waving his tails around. "Jealous of these?"

Naruto plugged the USB into K-9's head, and pushed a few buttons. Within moments, K-9 calmed down, and started sniffing Kurama's whole body.

"Did you just… code a dog?"

"Meh, more or less. He usually understands what humans are thinking because he's socially intelligent, but more complicated commands and concepts I have to encode into his brain. I just added in a Boolean that recognizes you as a friendly entity."

Kurama spit out the final cherry seed, and allowed K-9 to curl up next to him. "He's on the cuddly side, isn't he?"

"Yup. You should've seen him while he was still in service. I once saw him take down like, five guys at once with no Kevlar," Naruto said.

"Wait, seriously? And since when do dogs have Kevlar?"

"Yap, ripped out their dicks and throats one by one, dodging bullets left and right. Also, have you not seen John Wick?"

"You think I had time to watch John Wick?"

"Right, Sorry."

Kurama looked at the dog, who was now starting to snore, with slightly narrowed eyes. "You sure he wasn't one of Rochi's before?"

"Nah, guaranteed. He was bred to be a police dog, and he's top of the crop even within his family."

Kurama relaxed a little, and allowed the pleasant sensation of the dog's warm body, as well as his light breaths to become familiar to him.

"I'm going to sleep now. It's been a rough week for me, and make sure not to tell anyone, not even your family, about our secret. Although I don't think I need to verbally tell you that," Kurama said, closing his eyes and putting his nuzzle on top of K-9's body.

"Oh yeah, about that, the Doc knows, but he's absolutely trustworthy."

"The doc? Who's that?"

"Doctor Hiruzen Sarutobi," Naruto explained, "He was Orochimaru's teacher. Before you get all suspicious though, I trust him with my life, and you will too when you meet him."

Kurama kept his eyes closed, and looked into Naruto's memory. He saw that he was being genuine. Looking a little further, he let out a small laugh.

"Sheesh… You're really into western porn aren't yo-"

"IF I KILL MYSELF, YOU DIE TOO, KURAMA!"


Next day, at school, Naruto's worst fears manifested into reality.

While normally, he'd be knocked out within two minutes of entering the classroom, today, his classmates were talking about something too interesting to fall asleep.

More specifically, they were talking about… him.

"Man… that's so cool! All he needs is a tight blue suit and red underwear, and he's basically Superman!"

Naruto looked over to see that almost everyone had their phones up, which was not unusual, but were all playing the same video on Youtube.

"Ayo wassup guys, SkinnyPenis618 back at it again with another analysis video on the bus fight!"

Naruto groaned as he pulled out his own phone, booting up Youtube. It didn't take long for him to find the video in his recommended feed. It had almost a million views already, and was on #3 for trending.

"Don't tell me you believe that nonsense, Naruto," Sakura said, pulling up her chair next to him and staring at his phone. "It's clearly edited, there's no other explanation! Surely you of all people recognize that it's biologically impossible for a human to cushion a force that large!"

Sakura made sure to enunciate and exaggerate a few words to get her point across, while Naruto simply shrugged.

"It was live streamed, and it was on the news, and there are a handful of witnesses… from a physics perspective, yes, it should be impossible. From a logistics perspective considering human factors, no, it must have happened for so many people to agree on something," Naruto explained.

"B-but how…"

"No idea. Maybe he's hiding some tech under that sweater of his…"

"Naruto, that's not-"

"I BET HE'S SUPER HOT!" Ino shrieked, cutting Sakura off as she put her head in between Naruto and Sakura's.

Yeah, I bet he is.

"Self indulgent prick," Kurama said in Naruto's head.

"Apparently he always leads behind a trail of fire, and he was responsible for that gang raid in the paper. Remember?" Ino asked, poking Sakura.

"Next thing you know, they'll be making up stupid hero names for you. Clap clap, motherfucker, you've already dragged attention to yourself."

Attention to this personna, not me. Don't worry! I've got things covered.

"A singular black mask? You do realize that Orochimaru probably has an entire team dedicated to finding us by now. How likely is it that a trending video on Youtube that everyone's talking about won't go noticed by them?"

Guess I'll burn the mask when I go home.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Choji drop his bag of chips as he stared at his phone.

Please stay silent, Choji…


Hiruzen Sarutobi was a slow man to anger, especially for someone he cared about dearly.

Which was why Naruto was sitting awkwardly in his stool with his hands fidgeting in front of him, like a little boy who was just caught rolling in the mud by his mother.

"This is you," Hiruzen said, pulling up his phone into Naruto's face. Naruto looked at the screen, and saw himself taking on multiple criminals at once, disarming and punishing them individually. "Isn't it, Naruto?"

"... I plead to the fifth," Naruto said.

"I'm this close to tossing you from the fifth floor," Sarutobi said sarcastically, pinching his nose bridge in stress. A long, tired sigh came out of his mouth. "I do believe hearing you promise me that you'll stay under the radar, Naruto."

Slightly frustrated, Naruto looked back into the old tired eyes of Sarutobi. "And what else was I supposed to do? My sister could've been killed, Doc, she would've been if I hadn't done anything. I… normally wouldn't, and I wasn't going to, but whatever happened, I can't explain. It was like… every cell of my body was screaming at me to move. Not by logic, but more on instinct. It was like a gut feeling that I had to trust, or else I'd paralyze myself because my body wants to move, but my mind is the only thing preventing me from acting."

Silence filled the room as Naruto finished his tantrum, the quiet hum and distant chatter of students filling the air.

"Your sister was there?"

"Yeah, she was. No idea what she was doing in Northern Konoha," Naruto said.

"And you acted solely on instinct, because it… told you to?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto nodded as Sarutobi opened the comments section.

"As I expected, the comments are filled with stupid super hero names for you. This one's very interesting, it was pinned by… SkinnyPenis618. What an interesting name. The Hokage, since you 'always leave behind a trail of fire'," Sarutobi said.

"Fire shadow? Really?" Naruto said, moving over to look at the Doc's phone. Sure enough, the top comment with thousands of likes had just named him Hokage.

"Naruto, be honest with me now," Sarutobi said, grabbing the boy's shoulders and facing him. "Will you continue to do the things you did in that video?"

Naruto thought for a few moments, and answered him. "I won't, unless I have to."

"Define what warrants that."

"When my little sister, or my parents, or Sasuke, or you, or Tayuya, or anyone who's important to me is in danger, I'm not going to just stick my thumb up my ass and stand around there like a lemon, Doc," Naruto said. His voice had not a drop of sarcasm in it.

Seldom did Naruto ever turn this serious, which let Sarutobi know that there was no changing his mind.

He gets that from his mother… who gets it from Tsunade…

"If that's the reason for acting, consider the amount of pain you would have felt if you weren't there for Kuchel yesterday, Naruto. You'd be devastated, wouldn't you?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto nodded in agreement.

"While it isn't the same as using these gifts for your own gain, remember that a large portion of the police force in our city has the ability to stop crime, but many look the other direction. I'd like to think you're very different from them, Naruto."

"Well of course, Doc, I'm not sitting on my ass-"

"You essentially are, Naruto."

Naruto paused for a few moments to absorb his words.

"He's not entirely wrong, Kit." Kurama whispered in his head.

"Then what would you have me do? Fight crime after school like it's a hobby?" Naruto said.

Sarutobi smiled slightly. "If you agree to it, we'd do it properly."

"We?" Naruto asked, an eyebrow shooting upwards in confusion.

Sarutobi's smile grew larger. "I researched in the military department for enhancement suits when I was a younger man before the project was scrapped. As a memento, I kept a few prototypes, although I had no use for them. Includes a few masks that can block out poisons and impurities, and a very powerful suit. I'll take another look at them for you. It'll make it much safer than running around with… sweatpants and sweaters."

"Thanks Doc."

"Go home now, Naruto. Keep what I said at the back of your mind."


Naruto however, didn't go home right away. Today was a special day in the month for Naruto, and he had never missed this monthly event since the first time he began it. He ignored Sasuke's pleas to go on a double date with him, and declined Sakura's offer to work on their research paper together.

Walking out of the school, he pulled out his earbuds and allowed his autopilot brain to take him from the bus to his destination.

"So, are you going to do it?" Kurama asked as Naruto got off of his stop.

I really don't know… should I?

"It certainly would be terrific entertainment." Kurama said.

Great. I'm nothing but TV Material for a sentient, smartass fox.

"I'll put it this way if it helps. Lowering the overall crime rate of Konoha will make the city a safer place for your family and friends, Naruto."

Finally, A valid argument, and perhaps a good reason to actually go through with it

Entering the facility, Naruto was greeted with a few security checks, a dog sniffing his body, and being put through a metal detector to ensure that he wasn't bringing any contraband into the location. He put his backpack down as he walked down the claustrophobic, gray corridors accompanied by a very large, intimidating man. The interior of the building had a mysteriously blue hue.

Finally arriving at the room before his destination, the man handed him a piece of paper, pencil, and a small board to write on.

"Fill out the form and give it to me before entering."

Naruto took a seat, and began filling it out as the man waited for him.

"You don't have to be so macho with me, bro, I've been here way too many times to be intimidated by you," Naruto said, checking off a few boxes 'no' which asked him if he had any criminal records.

The man stayed silent until Naruto handed him his form. Opening the door to an empty room filled with booths, Naruto made his way to booth #4 and sat down.

"Naruto Namikaze, why the fuck are you… in a prison?"

To me, it might be just an hour out of my day, but for him, it may very well be the only thing he looks forward to.

Naruto waited as a few guards with batons in their hands led a man with long brown hair and lavender eyes towards the other side of the mirror.

He looked visibly tired, dark circles and wrinkles depicting his age and health. A worn out orange jumpsuit covered his unhealthily pale skin, yet a small smile was on his face as he picked up the phone from the other side.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. How have you been?"

Naruto smiled brightly at him. "Better than you, by the looks of it."

The two of them chuckled, the prisoner's mood brightening by the second as his visitor tried to improve it.

"Are you sick, Hizashi-san? At least last time you looked closer to living than dying… if I'm being honest, that's swapped," Naruto said, concerned for his friend's health.

"I'm… doing fine, Naruto. Just missing my family, that's all," Hizashi said, his hand trembling slightly, and his voice unsteady. "Have they… reconsidered? At least she'd let Hanabi-chan visit her uncle, wouldn't she?"

Naruto sighed deeply, his voice turning slightly darker. "They won't come, Hizashi-san. I've tried to bring it up, but every time, Hana-san… she won't listen to me, and she starts crying if I ever bring up Hinata or Neji. Hanabi-chan can't visit without her permission, and even if she could, I'm not sure that she would. She's too young to understand, and Hana-san… while she's an amazing mother, she's too traumatized to tell her the entire story."

Hizashi's smile disappeared from his face. "Have you… heard from Neji?"

"I… No," Naruto said.

"Naruto… please, have you heard of Neji?" Hizashi asked, desperation in his voice.

It was terrible to hear such despair coming from a voice that had once held so much confidence, power, and hope for the future.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Please…"

Naruto took a huge breath in. "A few weeks ago, the Blood gang was found in their main hideout, not a single member was alive."

"The bodies left behind in the scene… honestly, I don't know if it's safe for anyone to approach him anymore, not even me, you, or even Hanabi-chan. In fact, definitely not fireworks, he'd go ballistic if he saw her," Naruto continued. "He still hasn't visited you?"

Hizashi put his face into his free hand, covering his eyes, nose, and most of his mouth. "Could you do me a favor, Naruto?"

"Anything Hizashi-san, anything."

"If you meet Neji," Hizashi said, his voice choking as he spit out each syllable. "Tell him that he doesn't need to talk to me if he doesn't want to. Just… show up, one time. So I can see his face one last time before I die."

Naruto gave Hizashi a hopeful smile behind the other side of the glass, trying to comfort him "Hizashi-san, you're not dying in here, you'll be out soon enough, and you'll see him again. We can find him together once you're out!"

Hizashi stayed silent as he tried to figure out a way to formulate his words for a few minutes. Naruto stayed in his seat, fidgeting slightly due to the awkward tension of the room.

"Naruto, I've been diagnosed with terminal cancer."

Naruto's jaw slackened as his eyes stared at the holes in the glass for communication.

"What?"

"I was diagnosed with liver cancer last week, Naruto. I haven't much time left."

Naruto slowly lowered his head while clenching the phone in his left hand tighter and tighter. Hot tears of helplessness and injustice swelled in Naruto's eyes as his body started shaking slightly from the other worldly, infuriating frustration of his situation.

"W-what if I get Granny Tsunade? S-she could probably take a look at you! S-she can fix anything. Don't lose h-hope, Hizashi-san, there's still time left-"

"Naruto, it's metastasized to multiple bones and vital organs, including my brain," Hizashi said, his face void of all emotions.

"This… this is just- just too unfair, why you?! Of all people…!" Naruto said, his voice choking with tears as he hit himself in the head with the phone in his hand. He felt his heart beat out of control as he clenched his chest with his free hand, emotions making his head spin.

Kurama stayed absolutely silent. There were no words that he could say to comfort Naruto in this situation, as the full context of the situation was indeed one of the most unfortunate scenarios he could have thought of for a family.

The Hyuga family was one full of tragedy, loss, and injustice.

"Naruto, I've already come to terms with this fact… please don't cry for me, you've still got the rest of your life ahead of you. Don't let yourself be brought down by little old me," Hizashi said, trying his best to stay strong for himself, and the boy in front of him who had provided him hope when he needed it most. "Just- if you happen to run into Neji, please tell him, his dad misses him… and I'd give everything, anything just to see his face for one more second."

Naruto nodded quietly as he wished more than anything to go over the glass and give the man a huge hug.

The injustice was agonizing.


Opening the door to his apartment, Naruto wanted nothing but to throw himself on his bed and wallow in pity for a few hours.

"What's got you all down and depressed?"

The voice of his little sister snapped him out of his unfocused daze momentarily. Her hair was still damp from her shower, and she was sitting on their couch, staring at the TV on the other side of the living room.

"Oh, uhm… it's nothing, Kuchel," Naruto said, closing the door and locking it.

Big blue eyes stared at him as Naruto started chugging a carton of milk.

"That's expired, by the way," Kuchel said.

With a noise that resembled an explosion, Naruto spit out all of his milk into the sink almost instantaneously. The taste of sour, spoiled milk attacked his tongue as he ran cold water into his mouth to get the taste out.

Lovely day I'm having…

"You're gross, Onii-chan, you know that?"

Naruto threw the empty carton of milk behind him, which Kuchel dodged lightly by tilting her body to one side. With quick reflexes, she gave it a small kick to readjust its course into a trashcan.

On the TV was the video of the Hokage fighting back the hijackers in the bus. Kuchel watched intently, as if hypnotized by the content on screen. The video cut to the masked vigilante stopping a bus with his bare hands, with Kuchel just behind the Hokage as he dropped it back down, glass shattering everywhere.

"That's you, isn't it?" Naruto asked, taking a seat next to Kuchel, a bag of chips in hand. His nose was still slightly stuffy from the expired milk. "Scooch over."

"Mhm, tis moi," Kuchel said, moving over very slightly while brushing her wet red hair. "He made fun of my hair. Seriously though, why are you so sad today? Did your $400 donation to Pokimane get unnoticed by her or something?"

"Why the hell would I watch Pokimane- Nevermind. What were you even doing in Northern Konoha?" Naruto asked.

"None of your business," Kuchel quipped, reaching over for some chips herself. "Don't give me shit for it, mom already grounded me…"

Naruto internally smiled, the stress of his day elevating just a little. "The cops are saying that they advise people to stay away from that guy," He said. "What do you think?"

"Psh, Konoha cops being Konoha cops. Typical. Except for Rin-san. She's the only exception, and maybe Obito. Actually, definitely Obito, if he wasn't such a goofball all the time. He's actually a genuinely good cop when he's serious," Kuchel said. "He's a good guy. Why else would he throw himself to save someone he's never met before?"

"Yeah, about that…" Kurama said in Naruto's head.

"What do you think he's thinking, Kuchel?" Naruto asked.

"He's thinking of doing the right thing, probably. If he wants to genuinely save lives, he's super cool," Kuchel said, munching on some chips. "Man, I never actually said thanks… I kind of gave him a tantrum after he called me 'tomato-girl', he probably needs someone to tell him not to listen to what others say, this city could really use someone like him."

Thanks Kuchel, Naruto thought, giving her a headpat. Under his hand, he heard her whine ever so slightly in an annoyed way.

Returning to his room, he locked the door behind him. K-9 and Kurama were playing tug of war with one of Naruto's towels, K-9 growling as Kurama stared back in silence. The moment Naruto entered the room, however, K-9 let go and pretended to fall asleep on Naruto's bed.

"So," Kurama asked, sitting up on Naruto's pillow, "What happens now?"

"Neji Hyuga," with these two words, Naruto sat down in front of his desk and started typing and clicking furiously as his three curved monitors lit up with opened tabs.

"What about him? Kurama asked, peeking over Naruto's shoulder to get a better look at what Naruto was doing on his computer.

"I need to find him, I don't care how long it takes, as long as I can get him to visit Hizashi-san before he dies. I'll knock him out and put him in the chair," Naruto said.

"He kicked your ass pretty hard back when you two trained together if I remember your memories correctly," Kurama replied, his voice laced with a bit of concern.

"Yeah, back when we were fuckin' toddlers, furball. Things have changed from them, and I've gotten your enhancer, haven't I?" Naruto said, turning back to face Kurama for half a second.

"True. How will you find him though? It's not like you haven't been trying," Kurama said, dropping down from the bed and jumping onto Naruto's lap in order to get a better view of the monitors.

"I haven't been actively trying. After the headlines those years back, there was a part of me that didn't even want to find him. Unless he knows that Hizashi-san is terminal, all Neji'd do is spit out his anger towards Hizashi-san if he actually ever visited him," Naruto said, finishing up the algorithm for finding articles related to Neji Hyuga. "Things have changed now."

Kurama stared intently at the computers as Naruto manually sorted through some of the highest matching searches. "You know, while you run the software here, you could… do a manual search."

Naruto looked down at his furry companion. "What do you mean?"

"He's involved in criminal activity, no?"

"Yeah… but it's not like I'm about to go looking for him, Doc and Mom would kill me…"

Kurama smiled at his blond friend. "Then find him through… another way."

All nine of Kurama's tails pointed towards the wardrobe, where Naruto's mask was in.

"...You know what? Fuck it."

Opening up his wardrobe, Naruto stared down at the worn-out mask. "This makes me seem too much like a thief though…" Naruto said, picking it up and putting his finger through the eye hole. With his other hand, he dialed up a number.

"Hey Doc… how long would that suit take to get it combat-ready?... Yap… Yeah, I know, I just have a good reason now… Yes, I promise it's a good reason… No, I haven't told anyone… Really? That sounds good, thanks!"

Alright, Neji. Naruto thought, grabbing the mask and opening up his window into the night sky of Konoha.

You're coming home.


AN: Finally some good fucking food.

I've been playing around with the future plot, and changing my notes a little bit. With that being said, I wouldn't mind taking a few suggestions, so if you've got any, please let me know. Chances are I might slip them in here and there.

Reviews are always appreciated. It keeps me going! ^^.

Thanks for reading.

Next chapter: Blindsighted self experimentation.