Previously on The Deception Gone Awry:

Even as he finished his story, he held up his hands defensively as he could see Ayame and Sakura were looking at him dangerously. "Don't hurt me, I was unconscious well before I fell forwards, so I didn't do it on purpose, I swear it's true!" it seemed to mollify them as the rest of the group burst into applause, several of the men wolf whistling as well bringing a blush to his face as he tried to act modest in front of all the attention. Slowly the crowd dispersed realising that there was no more to come and he was left with his friends once more. Umi, Akko and Yuna were looking at him with Awe, and even Sakura was looking very impressed with his work. But before they could say anything else, there was a very cross voice from the door, and when Naruto turned he found himself faced by two Tentens, one looking very angry whilst the other was cringing and looking apologetically at Naruto. "Perhaps you have time now you have finished telling tales, to tell me exactly why one of your clones is currently pretending to be me and asking my sensei about his eternal rival?" With a flick of her wrist, she dispelled the quivering clone even as Naruto gulped apprehensively. "Well, it's all like this really..." If he survived the next encounter, he knew he owed Kami quite the amount of good karma to pay all of this good luck that he had been receiving recently off of her...

Chapter 11: The Last of the Nights Affairs

"And with us knowing nothing about Kakashi's test tomorrow, or about the test tomorrow, I decided to do a bit of investigating. You popped into my head as I knew you graduated last year and thus had a genin team and sensei, my clone obviously thought that your team might know something about what we were to expect, that's all I was doing, and I'm very sorry and won't do it again... Don't hit me please! I have far too many bruises and cuts already without you adding anymore." Looking up between his defensively placed hands after his impassioned plea, he found himself looking at Tenten, who was smirking down at him, the other girls looking at him with a grin.

"Well, at least you know how to apologise for making my next few weeks absolute hell, which it most definitely going to be now he thinks that I am interested in getting an eternal rival like he likes to keep going on about. Now, buy me some ramen and promise to help me train some time, and I might forgive you in time... What do you say?" Naruto sighed, it could be worse he supposed, at least it was only dinner, though the other request... "Train with you? Why would you want me to train with you? I've only just graduated?" She looked at him like he was stupid "you can create solid clones, and if your story is true you can create loads of them, that's the best targets I can ever have for throwing practice."

That made some sense he supposed, and he acquiesced with a downhearted sigh and turned to Ayame. "You can add Tentens meal to my bill as well as the others. The only good news is that I get the bounties for all the bandits I defeated tomorrow, even if I didn't get paid for the mission itself. I'm just hoping that Jiji has been keeping track of how much money and time this counts as in regards to my prank fine, as I really haven't had time to care since yesterday." They sat down and ate, the girls chatting amongst themselves whilst Naruto inhaled his ramen as quickly as he could. He managed to reach seven bowls before Ayame forced him to slow down, as Akko was trying to copy his mannerisms, or the complete lack of them as the case was when he got into one of his ramen sprees. With the added incentive of someone trying to copy him on something for the first time, he remembered his manners as best he could, even though it slowed him considerably it was worth it.

It was eight o'clock when Sakura put down her third ramen bowl with a contented sigh. "Right, I have to be off home now, chores to do and I want to be up early tomorrow for Kakashi's test. Thank you very much for an interesting evening Naruto, I will cover my part of the bill as you sound like you will be short of funds for the near future. And besides, you did very well this evening, you didn't even try and call it a date or anything." she smiled even as I pouted. "Sakura-chan!" she and Umi giggled at the response, Ayame bringing her her change before she waved goodbye to everyone before leaping off to the roof tops. Ayame looked at him with a wicked smile. "She seemed nice enough, should I be worried about you ignoring your promise to me that you made all those years ago? You seem to be gathering quite the group of girls together." Naruto winced, he had forgotten that particular promise. "Ayame-chan, i was like five when I made that promise, I didn't think you would take it seriously, I mean I'm sure you would prefer someone else by now rather than me, even if I do make it to be Hokage."

The incident in question had happened on the first night Naruto had discovered the little ramen stand, and Ayame had giggled at his shyness as he slowly edged his way in looking absolutely terrified, grabbing his hand and bringing him to the bar with a huge smile on her face. Her dad was busy cooking for the other customers they had, so she took Narutos hesitant order of a miso ramen, and having been learning how to make ramen from her dad, had made the bowl for him herself. Whilst she had since made much better ramen for him, at the time it had been the nicest thing he had ever tasted, declaring as much to Ayame, who had blushed before stating that it wasn't as good as her dads. He had told her he didn't care and that if she would cook this well for him, when he was Hokage he would marry her so that only he would be able to have her ramen. He had no real idea about marriage at that point, only that it seemed to make most people really happy, even when they were really old. Ayame had known more, being older and having been a much better student at school, and had blushed before asking if he was serious. He had affirmed that he was, going so far as to pinky promise with her about the matter, to the gruff laughter of her father who had been listening in.

He was brought forth from his reminiscing by a thwack to the side of the head, Ayame glaring at him. "I did only mean it as a joke Naruto, though I advise you not to assume you know about what a woman wants, it will not end well for you." he nodded meekly "Hai Ayame-chan, I won't do it again." she smiled and all was well in the world again. Tenten spoke after it was clear the two had finished. "Right, well I am going now, thanks for the meal Naruto-san, and I expect you tomorrow evening for training, I'm sure you can find my team then, you seem quite adept at doing so." After receiving a chorus of farewells, she too left the stand, and Naruto decided that now was probably as good a time as any to settle the bill, as everyone had finished eating. Teuchi had shaken his head when Naruto had asked for the bill, instead opening the till that the ichikarus used for their money, pulling out a few fifty ryo notes and waving them at Naruto.

" I don't think you noticed Naruto, but with your stories keeping people eating and drinking, this was the most successful night that I have had in almost twenty years, we made almost 1000 ryo profit, and if you had continued, I may well have run out of ramen stock. So I would like to offer you a deal, every time you come and tell of your adventures and they gather a crowd, I will give you a third of the takings that we make more than normal, minus the cost of anything you order. With your friends food I count it at one hundred and fifty ryo for the night, which isn't a bad little sum." Naruto waved his hands dismissively. "You know I can't accept that Jiji, that's your money you earned with your awesome cooking, you can't expect me to take it for simply telling my friends a story."

Teuchi grinned even as Naruto felt a pair of feminine hands entwine lightly but firmly around his neck from behind him and Ayames voice spoke softly in his ear. "But Naruto-kun, if you don't start earning money soon, how will you ever pay Umi-chan back? I don't want my future husband to be in debt before he marries me, how will you buy me lots of pretty things if you have no money?" Whilst there was a teasing tone in Ayames voice, he could also tell that if he continued to refuse the money she would make him regret it very very much. With the countenance of a man on his way to the chopping block he spoke "well Jiji, you sure know how to use your beautiful daughter to win your arguments for you. I accept the job offer, though I'm not promising any more tales for sometime I don't know whether we will get anything interesting in the near future."

After loosing that argument the evening had ended shortly afterwards, with Akko and Yuna yawning loudly and wishing for bed. After telling them that he had a place for them to stay, which meant he had to survive another attempt at knocking him to the floor as the two younger girls hugged him happily before going and hugging Umi who told the two that she was also living in the same place, Naruto said goodbye to the Ichikarus and thanked them once more for their support and excellent food. He was surprised when Ayame shook her head at him before stepping up to him and embracing him in a hug, thanking him for a nice evening. She then pulled back and grinned wickedly before stating that she looked forward to him starting on his promise soon, as she wanted at least a dozen dates before the engagement began. That comment left Naruto red faced but grinning as he shouted back that to do so might annoy her father, but he would be In touch. He had walked the girls home, ushering Akko and Yuna into the apartment next to Umi's that he had had clones clear out and prepare whilst they had been having ramen. He promised to help them decorate it as they liked the next day, as well as giving Yuna a spare key for his room, in case they needed him for whatever reason.

With the two young ones in bed, Umi and Naruto had gone into Umi's apartment, and whilst Naruto had slowly replenished the clones chakra, which had been running dangerously low by this point, the two had discussed what had happened over the last day that Umi may have missed. After his case with Yugao and the girl spy, Naruto kept it serious, and Umi obviously got the hint as the two talked as they would in public, saying nothing that might reveal themselves as the same person. Once the talking was done and the clone recharged, Naruto had bid her goodnight on her doorstep, only to be surprised by the hug that he recieved from Umi, who then pulled back and smiled tearfully at him. "I was so worried when i opened this door and you were stood there like you were, please don't do that again, i don't think i could take it."Naruto did his best to reassure her with a smile. "Don't worry about me Umi-chan, I will always be here, i have to make it to Hokage don't I?" She giggled, and let him go without further comment, but he had to admit that the clone was really acting the part well now, obviously had worked very hard to align himself with the role he had created.

Closing the door, Naruto didn't even jump this time as a voice came from behind him, getting annoyingly used to people appearing unannounced into his home. Turning he found himself facing the purple haired woman that had saved him earlier today, her face unreadable. "You know, i should be angry with you for the whole revealing the bust thing you did... but i feel you are in enough trouble without having me on your case." He grimaced, walking up to her as she stood next to his kitchen counter and bowing respectfully. "You were listening as well? You could have come and joined us I'm sure... Sorry I do not know your name Kunochi-san." The woman smirked and leaned against the counter, and after a moment of pondering Naruto joined her nervously. "No sweat, your not old enough to have heard of me yet I imagine. I am Anko Mitarashi, member of the torture and Interrogation department, who the survivors of the attack today were taken to, though i doubt we will get anything from them, minions like that aren't told anything by their masters." Feeling a little relieved by the fact the woman wasn't mad at him for anything, Naruto relaxed into the sofa, smile leaving his face and his face becoming sadder.

"Okay then Anko-san, no offence, but what are doing here? If you need a full report i can write you one for the morning, but I would really prefer to be alone for the night." That got rid of the teasing smirk that had been seemingly fixed on her countenance, her face becoming serious as she sat forward, eyes fixed on him. "Surprisingly enough kid, when our ninja make their first kills, we like to look after them. What you have been through today is more than can be expected from any of our graduates, and I am here as the current expert in psychology, albeit off duty right now. What I am saying I suppose is that I am here to give you any help you need with dealing with death and your role in it." Naruto scoffed darkly, obviously the hokage had been telling the truth all those years ago.

"Thanks Anko-san, but this isn't my first kill, after my childhood, it should not be surprising that I have already had to defend my life and take another ones." He could tell that shocked her and she actually grabbed his arm lightly as she leaned closer to look at his face. "How old were you? Does the Hokage know? Did you get any counseling?" Once more he shrugged, eyes darkening as he recalled the event to her, clear as crystal even after all these years. "I was five years old, it was my birthday, a drunkard broke into my flat that i had just been given by the Hokage, and set about me with a knife screaming at me that I would pay for killing his brother. I was terrified, and when the man dropped the knife after stabbing me twice, I grabbed it and held it defensively in front of me, backing away from the man, one hand on the knife, the other reaching for my door handle when he rushed towards me drawing another knife. Without thinking i thrust the blade forward hoping to make him back off, but he had been too drunk to care and instead had thrust himself on my blade. He didn't die quickly and it was not fun too watch even as my 'guards' eventually got their acts together and called the Hokage to the scene. He quieted the event from public view and left it at that, only Ino's dad knew as well as he was the one that i needed to see about the trauma."

He looked down at his hands, before shuddering and looking away from them "And i thought that it would become easier the next time it happened." Anko's face softened somewhat and she moved to grab his shoulder and drag him to the couch. Sitting the two of them down upon it, close to each other but not touching, she smiled reassuringly and leant back relaxingly. "Come on then kid, i think we need to have a chat about this, or whatever the hell you liked to chat about." And thus, Naruto slowly began to speak, about the fight when he was younger, the hate of the villagers and how it made him feel even now, and before he knew it he was revealing things that he had never told anyone before, the times he had considered attacking those that had ignored and glared at him, just so that they would not do so again without thinking about the consequences first. The times he had contemplated running away from the village, having heard the wonderful tales of the fire country capital and hoping he would be accepted there. And before he had realised it, he was falling asleep, completely unaware that he was doing so.

Persona change: Anko Mitarashi, Special Jounin of Konoha

Watching the kid drop off to sleep, Anko was struggling to suppress her emotions and to maintain her facade, the psychological persona that she used when her more physical methods of extracting information was considered too extreme or inappropriate for the target. It evidently had worked however, the kid had told her a lot that had not been known about his psyche. If it weren't for the two facts that firstly he seemed to have stabilised himself on the psychological front, and more importantly she thought that him being a ninja would reduce the chance of him running out of the country, she would have been forced to report him to the Hokage and have him removed from active duty before he had even begun participating in official missions. "Terrifying isn't it? The psyche of one of the most powerful entities of the planet, so fragile and yet no one knows the truth, even those that know of the lie only know some of the truth." Anko was on her feet in a moment at the noise, and her paranoia ramped up when a moment later a cloaked girl appeared out of the shadows. Even as Anko raised her hands for her kunai pouch, the girl held up her hands.

"Peace Anko-san, I am not here to fight, and besides, do you truly believe that you can truly do better than the ANBU squads last night? Especially with someone you need to protect as well..." The girl gestured to the sleeping container and Anko felt her blood run cold even as the girl continued. "So you understand your position? Good, that reduces the chance of you trying to do something foolish during our conversation." Anko was confused, this was the girl who had been hunted through Konoha, every ninja above chuunin had been informed in case they were on duty if she was spotted again, yet here she was in the gaki's lounge as if it were the most normal thing in the world. In an attempt to glean some information, Anko gestured at Naruto with one hand. "What do you want with the gaki? You know that should you try and take him you wouldn't make it out of the village."

That was true enough, Anko would at least be able to raise a form of alert before the girl would be able to effect an escape, and once it was clear the container was gone, the village would be put on lock-down that nobody would be able to escape until he was found once more. The girl scoffed as if Anko had just insulted her. "The boy is no interest of mine to kidnap, simply a valuable target that should make even the Hokage take me seriously with what I have to say to you, and what you will tell him, as the man obviously likes the boy, so the threat of removing him will be countered effectively or that is the hope." Now Anko made no subtlety in her motions towards her kunai pouch, and the girl stiffened in response, hand going to her katana hilt. Both kunochi stood off for a moment longer before the masked girl relaxed once more.

"Calm yourself, Naruto is simply an insurance policy for this meeting to go as planned, he will not come to harm as long as you do not attack me or try to alert anyone else. Now, i have information that will be of use to you, if you will allow me to tell it." Now Anko was really suspicious, but decided not to be hasty and would allow the girl to at least say her piece. "Well, you hardly give me any other choice, so tell me quickly so that we can get this conversation with." The girl nodded "Very well, I am here to tell you that someone is going to infiltrate the village, if they haven't already, and that they will be planning a level of sabotage by the end of the year which will damage Konoha greatly." Anko looked confused, this wasn't exactly what she had expected. "Why are you telling me this information? What do you gain from this?" The girl shrugged carelessly before turning away from Anko to look at the sleeping Naruto. "My reasons are my own, my rewards are mine to know, but i suppose you can know that whilst spying on Naruto-san, my feelings towards this village and its inhabitants have changed. I mean, if he can withstand such hate without breaking down and destroying this place, perhaps there is something about it that is worth saving, for his sake at least."

Anko smirked even as the girl realised that she might have said too much and backed away a couple of steps. "You just lost your biggest bargaining chip with admitting your feelings there, but I suppose if you are genuine about them you are also genuine about the warning, so I will let you go for now, as i doubt i could stop you anyways." The girl didn't respond, and in a poof of smoke laced with lightning she was gone in a shushin, leaving Anko alone. Looking across at the sleeping boy, she couldn't stop the chuckle that came to her a moment later. "Oh gaki, can't leave you alone for a minute can we?" And then she was gone, off to notify her leader of the latest threat to present itself towards the young container, and to assess the warning that she had just been given in its entirety.

Persona: Ne agent 371

She bowed her head as she entered Danzo's study once more as a sign of respect and he looked up with a small smile, obviously amused by something in the situation they were in, though before she could figure out what it was he spoke to her with almost a slight teasing tone to his voice. "Well agent, you seem to be making this a habit of breaking contact with your target earlier than you are meant to, what is your reason for doing so this time?" She failed to understand why that pattern would be amusing to him, but it was not for her to question his humour and as such she replied hastily, hoping he would approve of her latest change in their plan. "I am here to inform you of an opportunity that appeared this evening after Naruto returned from his mission." She paused to check that he knew of what she was talking about and surprisingly his grin was still present as he spoke to confirm his knowledge. "I know about what happened today, very impressive work even if it was only fluke that he stumbled upon the trail as he did. And it is Naruto now? You aren't getting too attached to the boy are you?"

She froze, not having even realised that she had used the targets actual name in such a familiar manner, though she now realised why Danzo was still smiling in the manner of a tiger that had his prey stuck right where he wanted them. She managed to think up of a logical deflection that might help her however, and spoke normally in an attempt to hide her discomfort. "Apologies Danzo-sama, as part of the opportunity that I mentioned before, I had to take on a persona of someone who cares for the target and I have not yet truly dropped the facade." He seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding and gesturing for her to continue, withholding judgement until he knew more. "I was observing the targets on his return, and once he returned to his apartment Anko Mitarashi was waiting for him, having been uninformed of his previous assault and managed to wrangle quite the few secrets out of the target due to his exhaustion and her own skills at psychology. There was the risk that she could want to take him off active service and have him properly interviewed by a Yamanaka, which would have revealed the ploy that we have been trying to hide. Therefore i took a logical gamble and revealed myself to her."

That cause Danzo to lose his smile and he sat up seriously, though he did not speak, instead he merely waited, though the gleam in his eye showed her that her reasoning for the situation had better be sound. "My reasons for doing so were twofold, firstly it was to inform them that there would be an infiltration attempt against Konoha that would prove very damaging to them. This combined with my 'accidental' slip of somewhat caring for the container will make them think that he is the infiltrators target and they will tighten security around him, despite how useless that will be as they will not think to investigate Umi at all. It also increases his chances of becoming a successful genin this year as the Hokage will probably tell the jounin in charge of his squad to pass his team so that he can be watched by them during the daylight hours. My second reason was that it allowed me to further separate myself from any idea that I am a member of the organisation, which will further throw off any ideas they have of my intentions in the village."

Danzo didn't say anything for a few moments and she felt the slightest pang of something she identified as worry that he thought that she had done the wrong thing. After another moment however he leaned back and shrugged. "I suppose it is a sound decision, though it does make our next move quite difficult in regards to the boy, as watching him and his project will become almost impossible now that Sarutobi has truly been made paranoid about his safety." She looked up and the slightest sense of relief washed over her before she brushed it off and broached her next slightly risky idea. "Perhaps Danzo-sama the way around this problem is to be a little less covert about the situation. The target is a friendly and attention seeking boy who loves to make more friends with people, so perhaps the solution is that I befriend him in my official role rather than spy on him during my off time from missions?"

He looked her in the eye for a moment, face set in stone before he posed his reply to her. "Are you sure that you have considered this properly? You would be exposing your cover and I would be forced to place the seal on you for the security of root." She nodded, the risks were present but she was sure she could avoid exposure, it was not like anyone would know that she was spying on the container once she found a way to make contact with him in a believable and non suspicious manner. "Hai Danzo-sama, I know what I am asking for and I understand the risks. Besides, I think i am in need of reinforcing my public persona somewhat anyways, with this step up in scrutiny I might fall under suspicion if i am as anti-social as I am currently being." He nodded, accepting her decision and stood slowly, walking round his desk. "Come then, we will apply the seal now and then you can be on your way, just make sure that you remember that your mission is to keep the target safe, not too get too close to Naruto the container, though I am sure you wouldn't mind that either..." It was a good job she was wearing her mask, as she was blushing slightly at the insinuation he had just thrown at her, and him seeing that would do her no good whatsoever.

A/N: Phew, long chapter that covers a fair bit of character development for both Naruto, some of the canon characters and my OC's. I can see several points I might get complaints for, especially the fact that Naruto got attacked by a drunkard and killed him. In my defense I don't think its unbelievable for one person to go over the edge and try and do what he sees as the source of his loss harm, but those who disagree with that are probably already against my story because I had Naruto be treated badly so meh :P. Ayames character can either be taken as a teasing older sister figure, or as a serious contender for Naruto's other half in this story, I haven't decided yet and I will not for a while. There are of course other points, but I will it for readers who wish to discuss them to review about them. Hope you all enjoyed it Ja Ne!