"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"Demon/Summon speech"

'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'

"Jutsu name"

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Reviews Corner

DragonSensei: glad you enjoyed it

OtakuMode: I felt that naruto needed something good to happen for him after I put him through all he went through

Autobot-Wolfsketch: might add more of Asa. might make a chapter mostly about her

TempestHawke: tried to think of something that would be an appropriate punishment and came up with that.

Codathewizard: yes

Thor94: glad you thought it was enjoyable

Dragon Man 180: they might meet soon :) and yeah Naruto would have a Ramen storage room. It came to me randomly and I thought he needed to have one

Guest: it's kinda obvious that they are dead since they are no longer in the story. I didn see a purpose in actually putting in their execution since it would just be whining and begging for their lives. It would kind of be a useless scene in my opinion but to accurately answer your question, yes they were with Danzo and in turn ended up executed.

Chapter 53: Truths revealed to the Rookies

"You guys have any idea what Naruto wants with us?" was the question Kiba asked the others.

Right now every single one of the rookies, including Haku, were walking towards a location that Naruto had asked them to go to. He didn't ask them personally, he just left a note for each of them to have a specific day free from any missions or anything else so that they could all meet. It had been a couple of months since any of them had seen the blonde and they were all wondering what he had been doing for al this time.

Neji was the one to answer the question "I believe he now wishes to tell us about what we had seen during the retrieval mission."

This made most of them understand what that meant. However, Tenten, Shino, Sakura, and Haku were a little confused about what they were referring to.

Sakura grew a little confused about this since she was unsure about what they were referring to. She assumed that they referring to Naruto's healing factor that she had witnessed during the mission. (*1 read authors notes please)

Tenten placed her hands on her hips as she glared at everyone "what do you mean? What did you guys see during the mission."

Neji looked to her and spoke, "it will be explained when we get there." Neji than looked to Hinata "although, I am surprised that you are bringing Hanabi-sama with us."

Hanabi was indeed with them as she was holding on to Hinata's hand as they all walked

Hinata looked to Neji with a small guilty look on her face "Hanabi-chan had been wanting to see Naruto-kun again and when she heard that we were going to meet him, she asked to join."

Shikamaru looked behind him at the girl "yeah but this is an important meeting. Don't you think that he wouldn't want her to know?"

Hanabi, in an act of rare childishness, stuck her tongue out at the boy

Hinata shook her head "he cares for Hanabi-chan a lot. I think it would be nice if he knew that he didn't have to hide this from her either."

Lee brought his fist up "YES! WE SHALL ALL HEAR THE YOUTHFUL STORY ABOUT NARUTO AND HOW HE …...mmmph mmmmm."

Ino had slapped her hand over Lee's mouth to make him stop shouting out not only because he was being loud but the fact that they were in public and this wasn't something that they should be saying out here. "Lee! We know, so don't shout it out for everyone else."

Lee grew sheepish as he nodded

Karin sighed at how Lee had gotten more enthusiastic now that he is no longer confined to a hospital bed which meant he was no longer her problem. "Anyone know how much farther it is?"

Choji paused his eating as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. Looking at what was written he nodded "yeah, from what this says we should almost be there. The address should be around here somewhere."

Everyone looked around and they finally noticed where they were exactly.

Sakura gained a looked of confusion "arent we in the high-class district? Why would he want us to meet him here? Wouldn't it make more sense if we met him at his apartment?"

Ino looked to Sakura answering her last question "his apartment was destroyed during the invasion."

"So where has he been staying?"

Ino and Hinata sighed as Ino answered again "he told me and Hinata that he has been living in the Forest of Death."

Kiba couldn't help but find this somewhat funny "Makes a lot of sense to me heh heh."

*slap*

Kiba ended up getting slapped in the back of his head by Ino "ow what the hell was that for?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh and shake his head "troublesome. He looked over Choji's shoulder to look at the address and looked around until he saw the address. His eyes widened when he saw it. "It's over there."

Everyone looked to where Shikamaru was looking and their eyes widened to the size of dish plates.

The extremely long, tall, wall that they had been walking past was in fact the wall to the very address they had been trying to find.

They looked up the large gate that was now in front of them and were astonished at it. They looked to their left and could barely see the end of it, the same to their right. The wall itself was 15ft tall with ornate tiles for its roofing. To all of them, it looked like one of the walls of the compounds.

Kiba was the one to break out of his shock first "what the hell is this? Since when is there another compound here!?"

Sakura asked the group "is this the Uchiha compound?"

Shino shook his head "no. the Uchiha compound is on the other side of the district and I do not see the Uchiha clan symbol on the wall."

Shikamaru shook off his shock "regardless, this is the place."

Tenten looked at the gate before asking "do we knock or just go in?"

Neji noticed that there was a note on the side of the gate frame. He pulled it off and saw that it had chibi fox in the top corner with the words "come in written in the center of the note. "I believe we are to go in." he showed everyone the note and they all agreed to enter.

Once they entered past the gate, they saw that an extremely large courtyard was between them and a large mansion that they all noticed was styled similar to the Hyuga buildings (Japanese style.)

One thing that the three Hyugas of the group had noticed was that….the compound was bigger than the Hyuga compound.

Neji couldn't help but wonder 'how could this compound have not been noticed before? The Hyuga compound itself is not that far from here." (based on ninja distance)

Kiba couldn't help but comment "damn this courtyard has plenty of room to train, don't it?"

*ARF*

Shikamaru looked to Kiba "well don't think about trying it. We don't know who this compound belongs to and we don't know how Naruto was able to get permission to use it for this meeting."

"Well, maybe I could ask them?"

Karin sighed as she looked up into the air as if asking Kami for patience "we are here for ONE thing only. Let's get that over with before you go off to make a fool of yourself."

Kiba slumped down as he growled under his breath.

They made it to the building and saw another note that had another chibi fox and an arrow on it. This made them all sweatdropped at how they would know where to go. They followed the directions of the arrows as they made their way deeper and deeper into the compound mansion. As they continued, they noticed several empty rooms that looked really spacious, like each room could hold five people comfortable, including their own stuff. They had also past several smaller courtyards, each spacious enough for a spar between three people at least. Several different roos could bee seen as well, Tea rooms, living rooms, storage rooms, and Choji's favorite a couple of kitchens. Something that caught their eyes was that there were many rooms that seemed to be under renovation but as they looked closer at them, they were actually under construction.

After a bit more walking they all started to get a little peeved at how long they had been exploring the place. That was until they made it int an open area inside the building.

They all could not help but gasp at what they saw. A large garden, with many different flowers and plants and at the far end was a Sakura tree. They all walked a stone pathway that led to the tree and as they got closer, they saw that just past a small koi pond was the one they were looking for.

Laying under the Sakura tree was Naruto in his fox form with his side facing them, tails swishing about leisurely and looking up at the falling petals.

Some of them could not help but think that it looked like something out of a fantasy story

Once they got closer, Naruto turned his head to look at them and could not help but smile at the shocked look they all had. "Hey everyone."

This got them out of their shock as they regained their senses.

However, Tenten, Haku, Sakura, Shino, and Hanabi just gained a more shocked look as the youngest asked. "...Naruto-nii?"

Naruto looked a the younger Hyuga with a smile as he felt no fear coming from her, just confusion "hey, Hanabi-chan." he looked to the rest of the group "glad you guys could come."

Ino huffed as she put her hands on her hips "you gave us the heads up weeks ago. Not like it would be hard to ask our senseis if we could have this specific day to ourselves."

Sakura looked at Ino incredulously "Ino-pig! How can you act like nothing is wrong when there is a large six tailed fox laying right in front of us and is talking like Naruto!?"

Shikamaru sighed as he moved forward and lowered himself onto the grass, before laying back and looking up to the sky. "Because this is Naruto. This is what we came here for. To get answers as to why he is like this."

Something clicked in Haku's mind as e remembered that day in the hospital "this is what you all discovered during that mission. You learned about Naruto looking like this."

Choji plopped don next to Shikamaru "yep *munch munch* we found out since he gave us all a ride during that mission. Thanks to him *munch* we all were able to get through our fights with less damage than we probably would ave had."

Tenten looked to Neji and Lee with an accusatory look "why didn't you tell me about this?"

Lee brought his hands up n surrender as he broke out into a nervous sweat "it would be unyouthful to tell another's secret, Tenten."

Tenten sighed in defeat as she sat down on the grass as well.

Sakura looked around to see everyone begin to sit on the grass. She was unsure of what to do until Haku grasped her hand and gently pulled her down to sit next to him.

Ino and Hinata, however, were still standing. They knew what Naruto was about to tell them and they knew that although it had been a while since it happened, Naruto still didn't like the memory. After looking at each other for a second they both moved over to Naruto.

Naruto watched as the two moved closer to him. He smiled as they both hugged him around his neck before they sat down next to him and leaned against his side as they looked at the rest of the group much like Naruto was.

This got several reactions from the group.

Sakura saw the way the two were with Naruto and she tried to think of why both of them were sitting like that. She would have understood if it was Hinata or Ino but to have them both just didn't seem to click really in her mind

Kiba, on the other hand, got the gist of it immediately although not fully "what the hell!"

Naruto looked to Kiba and could feel the jealousy coming from the Inuzuka. The prankster side of him couldn't help but show itself "what's wrong Kiba? You look like you saw your life's greatest treasure."

Kiba stood up pointing dramatically at the fox "you….what….how…..when!"

Karin was once again asking for patience 'I'm surrounded by kids.' "can we get to the reason why we are here!"

Naruto couldn't help but stifle a laugh at how Kiba grumbled a bit at this and sat down. He was about to speak when he could still feel a bit of jealousy coming from one in the group. Looking at Hanabi, he could see that she was keeping her Hyuga face on but he could feel the jealousy coming from her. He then noticed that she wasn't really looking at him but his tails. To test this he moved one of his tails a bit further away from the rest and saw that her eyes followed it ever so slightly. He moved it a bot more teasingly before he chose to do something about it.

Hanabi squeaked a bit when she suddenly felt something fury wrap around her and pulled her into the air. She waved her arms around childishly before she found herself sitting next to Hinata and a tail was on her lap. After a minute of contemplation, she realized what happened and hmphed in the air as if she was better than sitting there. Her hands, however, began to pet the fluffy appendage much to the amusement of her sister and the large fox she was now leaning against.

Naruto, no longer feeling the jealousy from the little girl looked to the others. "So…..where do you want me to start?"

Haku smiled as he spoke, "why don't you just start from the very beginning?"

Naruto grew nervous as this was the moment of truth for him. This was something he didn't want to bring up with his friends since he was afraid of their reactions. But it was too late to turn back now and nothing he could think of could divert them from the truth now. "Well….it started on the day I was born…"

~Hokage Office~

Tsunade was having another drink of sake as she relaxed on the couch with Hiruzen across from her.

The old man could not help but twitch his eye at the fact that she was having a much easier time with the Hokage job than he was and it as all because Naruto gave her the key to paperwork. He sighed as he spoke to his student "so have you heard anything from Jiraiya?"

Tsunade let out a satisfied gasp as she put her sake cup down "he has sent in a report that says that the Akatsuki are beginning to focus on their monetary needs. They are taking more jobs now as if they have need of it for what they are after. The one that has been seen the most is the former Taki shinobi: Kakazu."

Hiruzen nodded "sounds to me that they are preparing for battle. The monetary need would mean they must need it for supplies and or resources."

"I want to say you are growing paranoid in your old age but from the fact that they are after the tailed beasts, they might be preparing to go to war over them."

"Do you know if they have acquired any of them yet?"

Tsunade shook her head "no. from what our sources indicate, they do not yet have any of them but they are preparing for it. This is concerning since it means that they might be coming for Naruto soon."

"Have you informed Naruto-kun about this?"

Tsunade took another swig of her sake "yeah. He was told about them some time ago by the pervert. He said that based on the relationship between the gaki and the fox, it would do us no good by keeping this a secret. Not to mention that already had an encounter with Itachi and Kisame of the mist."

Hiruzen nodded as he leaned back on the couch. "The boy has far too much on his shoulders."

Tsunade smiled at this "not as much as you think."

"Oh?"

Tsunade nodded "tell me honestly, what were your intentions with him when you were in the Hokage chair?"

Hiruzen pulled out his pipe as he began to smoke and seemed to age a few decades "as Hokage, I knew for a fact that we needed him in our shinobi forces. As the Jinchuriki of Konoha, he would have been an extremely useful asset."

"And now?"

Hiruzen smiled "I want him to do whatever it is he wants. As an old man, I would l have liked to see the boy do anything else he wanted. Work at Ichiraku's, work in the flower shop, a grocery store, or just even a delivery boy. He could have been anything he wanted to be but circumstances made him what he is and now he has become something that none of us ever wanted."

"And yet he doesn't seem to mind it really. He just has a fear of what those important to him think about it."

"Mm….. isn't he discussing it with them today?"

Tsunade nodded "yep. They are meeting him at his new place. Have you seen it yet? Cause he told me to wait till I can see it."

Hiruzen laughed hard at this. The idea was just something that Naruto would come up with. What better way to spite the villagers that caused his old life so much misery than to make a new compound that is larger than any other and have it all in his name. Hiruzen knew deep down that it was also a bit of spite against him as well since he was the one that got him that apartment but he couldn't be happier for the boy. Once he caught his breath he spoke to Tsunade with a big smile n his face "when you see it, you will know how far Naruto will go to get subtle payback."

~Later with Naruto~

"...and after I was healed, I was finally a complete Bijuu." Naruto had finished telling them all a shortened version of how he had become a bijuu himself. He sugar-coated it a bit for Hanabi, even if she figured it all out on her own, but the main points were there and everyone could understand what he had gone through.

No one knew how to take everything they had heard. They had just learned that one of their classmates and the strongest of them all had to go through much more than anyone had actually gone through. He had died in order to become more than human and feeling, actually feeling the hatred the whole village had for him every single day for twelve years would have made anyone else snap but from the years they had experienced with the boy showed that he was the strongest out of all of them not just in power but in character

Kiba couldn't hold it in "YOU DIED!"

"Yep."

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"Hard to believe isn't it?"

Several of them had thoughts going through their head after hearing the story

Neji thought back to their fight during the Chunin exams 'so that is why everyone had such hatred for him during our match. His will is much stronger than mine could ever be.'

Sakura thought back to the wave mission 'so that's why he always slept away from us and that power he showed must have been his demonic power. And I was terrible to him during the academy when he didn't deserve it.'

Naruto looked over all of them and could see various versions of shock and pity in their eyes. He would have hated being pitied but he was more relieved that none of them held fear or hatred towards him.

Shikamaru sighed as he just lay back on to the ground "your still the same troublesome blonde we had to deal with in the academy."

Choji went back to eating his chips "*munch* don't matter to e really. Since you and I still have to have our eating rematch. And if you can still enjoy good food with me than I'm fine with this."

Tenten shrugged "your still my friend so it's all ok with me."

Lee was crying with fire in his eyes "you are the most youthful friend anyone could ever ask for. In honor of your youthful journey, I will run around the walls of Konoha a hundred times and if I cannot do this I will….mmm"

Tenten unsealed some tape and put it over Lee's mouth. It was something that Naruto had told her to do once and although it works for a few minutes it's still a few minutes of peace

Sakura could see some trepidation in Naruto's eyes and knew that her teammate needed to know that they knew he was still the same prankster they are friends with. Looking to Haku who smiled at her and nodded his agreement. She leaned against him as she spoke "Naruto, we all still think that you are the same knucklehead we went to the academy with and that none of us are afraid of you."

Haku nodded with this statement

Naruto looked at everyone to see that they all agreed with this statement and he couldn't help but smile at them "thanks, everyone."

Ino smacked him on the top of his head "see, you didn't have to worry so much."

"Can you blame me? I usually get hate from everyone else in the village for holding the Kyuubi and not being close to being one."

Hinata got up and moved to the other side of Naruto's head and wrapped her arms around it. "You don't have to worry anymore Naruto-kun. We know you are still you." she placed a kiss on his head and tightened her hug

Ino got up and did the same on the opposite side of Hinata

Naruto couldn't help but smile at what his girlfriends did for him.

Sakura seeing this couldn't take it anymore "ok! What's with you three!? You are acting like you are all dating each other!"

Hinata buried her ace into Naruto's fur as Ino looked cheekily at Sakura "we are."

Most of them with Kiba and Sakura being the loudest shouted out "What!?"

Choji gained a question as he saw how the two acted with Naruto. "Hey who else knows about this?"

Naruto thought about who else had known about his Bijuu status. "Hiruzen-Jiji knew from the beginning, Kakashi kinda knew as well but he fully learned it during Wave. Teuchi and Ayame-Nee-chan know as well. Oh, Hana-nee-chan and Akamaru knew as well."

Kiba was now shocked even more "What!" he grabbed the pup from atop his head and brought him to his face "you knew and didn't tell me!?"

*arf*

"Why?!"

Naruto couldn't help but smirk "because I gave him a steak to keep quiet."

Akamaru remembered that steak and couldn't help but drool at how tasty it was.

Kiba began to shake Akamaru "you traitor. You were bribed by such a simple thing. When did you even figure it out anyway!?"

*arf arf*

Kiba paused as he heard what Akamaru said and looked to Naruto. His smile grew as he busted out laughing "you went to Hanato get a bath from her! HAHAHAHA"

Naruto was embarrassed by this and smiled sheepishly "hey it is kinda like a spa treatment for me. I mean come on look at me."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at this but they all did it good-naturedly

"*sigh* troublesome. You guys shouldn't make so much noise. You don't know if the owner will allow such noise."

Naruto's smile grew from embarrassed to mischievous at this "I don't think he will."

Although he was chuckling a moment ago, Neji looked to Naruto with both an angered look at remembering that he was dating both Hinata and Ino and a quizzical at his statement "what makes you say that?" he did his best to hide his anger even if it was useless against someone that could feel negative emotions.

Naruto gained his foxy grin as he looked at them all "because I own this compound.

Everyone looked at him for a minute, with even Shikamaru bolting into a sitting position himself.

"WHAT!"

All the while Hanabi was just enjoying petting the fluffy tail that Naruto gave her earlier.

End of Chapter

I know there wasn't much on the interaction between the rookies and Naruto for his storytelling but it was obvious that they would already have accepted him since most of them already knew about it.

1: I realized a mistake that I made in chapter 51 and I have gone back and fixed this little tidbit. Sakura and Haku NEVER saw Naruto as a fox. Added a few lines in that chapter

Next chapter might have a tour of the compound and since the compound is still incomplete, I might a few more different rooms. Might also have Asa in it as well. But we will just have to wait and see

Also next few chapters or so will be chapters like this more or less. Fillers (although not the filler episodes from the anime) but hopefully entertaining ones before we get back to the main story event

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