Naruto gulped and took a tentative step back. The stories Namikaze had poured into Naruto's ears about ROOT roared to the forefront of the young boy's mind. Horrible premonitions of being emotionally torn down and stripped of everything that made him Naruto danced in his mind's eye.

I refuse to be a tool! I won't be anything other than Uzumaki Naruto!

"Do not resist, Container. There is nothing to fear. If you come with us, we shall teach you to control the power within you. Help us make Konoha invincible." The Agent pleaded with Naruto, but the effect was severely lessened by the utterly dry tone.

"I'm not a tool." Naruto tried to sound defiant, but his declaration came out more as a whimper.

Naruto swore could see the ninja frown behind his mask. "But you are a shinobi of the Leaf. We are all tools of the village. How we serve does not matter, as long as we serve."

"What about our emotions? What about being proud of Konoha? What about being happy?"

The ninja took a single step forward. "Emotions are superfluous. Happiness and pride are for civilians. All that matters is ensuring the dominance of Konoha."

"We aren't kunai! We're people as well as ninja." Naruto shouted. "There's no way I'm coming with you."

The ROOT ANBU stood impassively. Naruto tensed when the unnamed ninja's shoulders slumped. The blond knew the ANBU wasn't going to be letting Naruto go. Come on! Someone has to hear me yelling and making a scene!

"Container, my allies and I are not giving you a choice. You will serve Konoha." The ANBU's voice remained impassive as he spoke.

Naruto felt a trickle of sweat roll down his cheek. Where did the second ANBU go? Did he take the kids and leave his buddy to deal with me? Or…

"I'm going to protect Konoha, but I'm going to do it as Uzumaki Naruto not some tool!" Naruto heard his yell echo in the alley below him.

"It seems my attempts to convince you to willingly join the Foundation have failed. I do not relish this, but I must resort to force." The ANBU shook his head as he spoke.

Damn it. I thought all my yelling would at least get some civilians to check to see what the racket was.

"Mokuton: Jukai Heki." A voice called out mere seconds before several twisted wooden pillars exploded from the roof. The pillars formed a solid wall that separated Naruto from the ANBU.

The ROOT disappeared with a Body Flicker before Yamato even landed on the roof. "Damn it!"

Yamato ended his jutsu with a sigh. Naruto was now in a fighting stance after getting a moment to compose himself.

"It's ok, Naruto-san. The ROOT agent is gone." Yamato spoke calmly and held his hands open at his sides.

"You're the ANBU who is buddies with Namikaze. Captain Yamato right?" Naruto asked warily.

"That is how your… old friend knows me. We need to go to the Hokage." The man currently known as Tenzō removed his mask.

Naruto gasped. "What the hell are you doing? You're ANBU! You just can't take off your mask!"

"I want you to trust me, Naruto. I might just be the only person you can trust in all of Konoha right now." Yamato knelt to Naruto's eye level.

"You aren't the only one I can trust. I know I can trust Iruka-sensei and I know there is one person in my class I can trust." Naruto was almost desperate to remind the world that he wasn't alone. Yamato nodded and didn't say another word. His young friend took a deep breath. "Let's go see the Hokage. I can't get Hinata in trouble for missing class and causing her to lose credit for that take home assignment."

Maybe there is some hope. Yamato didn't voice his concerns, but guided Naruto the Hokage's tower. Even though it was late, Yamato and Naruto knew the Hokage would be dutifully working on the business of Konoha. As an up and coming member of ANBU, Tenzō had easy access to the Hokage.

The wizened Hokage was exactly where the elite shinobi and the academy student were motioned into the office. Sarutobi Hiruzen was sitting behind his desk finishing off the last of the day's paperwork.

"Tenzō and Naruto, what brings you to my office so late?" The Third Hokage asked with a smile.

"There was an attempt by a rogue ANBU to capture Naruto. I was on patrol and intervened." Yamato reported evenly. The Hokage nodded and turned his attention to Naruto.

"Naruto, what were you doing out so late?" The Hokage asked. Naruto bristled at the question.

"I needed to get out of the house. I'd been sitting for a really long time doing my homework and was going crazy." Naruto answered. The boy almost glared at the Hokage. I can't believe he's more shocked that I was doing my homework than me nearly being kidnapped by a renegade ANBU!

"This rogue ANBU, did he say anything to you?" Sarutobi continued to question Naruto.

"He called me the 'Container'." Naruto paused and took a breath. He knew instinctively not to reveal that he was aware of the Kyuubi. The Hokage would hunt down and stop Namikaze. That would doom any attempts to prevent the horrible betrayal Naruto's future incarnation had sacrificed so much to try to prevent. "What does that mean, Old Man?"

The Hokage lit his pipe and closed his eyes. Naruto watched the Third Hokage under a new and harsh light. I am not going to disappear, Hokage-sama.

"I never wanted you to find out this way, Naruto. I am going to reveal a difficult truth. Please, allow me to tell you everything before you speak."

Naruto nodded and listened as Hiruzen explained the truth about the Kyūbi and how the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Demon into Naruto to protect the village. The Hokage continued to talk about how Naruto was the village's protector. The Hokage had a sad smile on his lips when he spoke of how Naruto did not deserve to be hated for the sacrifice he made for the village.

"Why me?" Naruto asked. He doubted the Third would tell him the truth. There was no way Sarutobi would reveal that Minato had faith in Naruto as his son.

"The Yondaime never revealed why he chose you. I believe he saw the amazing potential you possessed.

Why can't you tell me that my father saw the amazing potential I possessed? Why can't you tell me that he sacrificed everything to protect me because my father loved me?

The Hokage noticed the slump in Naruto's shoulders and misread the reason behind the reaction. "I am sure this is a lot to take in. We can continue this discussion tomorrow."

"Hokage-sama, there is something else." Yamato spoke up. The ANBU noticed how the Sandaime's eyes hardened for a fraction of a second.

"Yes, Tenzō?"

"The individual who attempted to abduct Naruto mentioned the Foundation. That was the official name for Danzō's ROOT organization. I was led to believe that you disbanded ROOT years ago."

"There is no more ROOT." Hiruzen said with finality.

"But, Hokage-sama…" Yamato pressed.

The Hokage stared down the ANBU. "There. Is. No. ROOT."

"But Old Man, there's no way real ANBU would buy kids as slaves!" Naruto shot from his chair and shouted.

"That is a disturbing accusation Naruto and I promise I will personally look into it. Go home and rest, Naruto." The Third ordered. Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing and began to leave. "Tenzō, you have a new long term mission. You are to observe Naruto and ensure there are no further attempts to seize him."

"Is this assignment purely ANBU or full time, Hokage-sama?" Tenzō asked.

"Use your own discretion. Dismissed."

Hinata entered the Academy nearly fifteen minutes early. She had barely slept at all the previous night. Kō had confirmed what Namikaze had told her yesterday after school. At first, Hinata had been ecstatic that becoming the top ranked kunoichi would not only force her father to acknowledge her, but insure she would be on the same team as Naruto-kun!

But, her hopes depended on Naruto continuing to fail in the eyes of the Academy. Hinata couldn't stand to see the world put Naruto down. He continued to persevere when lesser people, like Hinata, would have given up long ago. Konoha should admire Naruto. The village should respect the hard work and hopes of someone willing to pull themselves from the gutters to the heights of power, especially when their drive was out of selflessness.

Naruto deserves so much better. Hinata shook off her melancholy as she entered the classroom.

"Morning Hinata." Naruto said as he leaned back in his chair. Hinata felt the words catch in her throat. Naruto had not arrived early for class since the first days of the first year.

"G…good M…morning Naruto-kun." Hinata finally forced out and took her usual seat. Naruto had claimed the seat next to hers. Hinata felt her hopes rise as fast as her blush.

"I hope Iruka-sensei is the one to take up our homework." Naruto said after an exaggerated yawn that caused Hinata to giggle.

"Why is that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata kept her eyes fixated on the desk.

"Mizuki-sensei loses my homework occasionally. It's annoying. If I'm going to take time away from training to do the homework, I want to get credit for it." Naruto grunted out. "But I did do yesterday's homework! I promise!" He quickly added.

The rest of the class started filtering in and slowly Naruto and Hinata's conversation slipped away. Iruka, much to Naruto's outspoken relief and Hinata's amusement, collected the homework assignment. After reprimanding Naruto for his outburst, Mizuki-sensei began the lesson on the Shinobi Rules. Hinata would occasionally cast a quick glance at Naruto. She was surprised to discover that Naruto was paying attention. He wasn't taking notes, though. Instead, Naruto looked as if he had swallowed something incredibly bitter. Naruto didn't even bother writing down the homework assignment. Mizuki-sensei dismissed the class, but Naruto sat quietly for a moment. The Hyūga were renowned for their observational prowess, but Hinata found it difficult to read Naruto. Was he annoyed at a boring lesson? Or was it something deeper? Did he have a philosophical disagreement with the Shinobi Rules? Naruto had never struck Hinata as one to think philosophically.

"Hey Hinata, want to come with me to Ichiraku's?" Naruto's question shook Hinata out of her silent observations.

"C…can we make it in time? We only have thirty minutes for lunch." Hinata was thrilled that Naruto was inviting her to lunch. Maybe yesterday wasn't a fluke!

"Not if we stand around here." Naruto held out his hand. "Come on, we've only got one shot at today. Let's not have any regrets." Naruto knew that because time travel existed he had technically lied. However, it was a comforting lie for Hinata's sake and a lie he himself desperately wanted to believe.

I don't want to drown in my regrets like Namikaze does.

Hinata tentatively took Naruto's hand. "N… no regrets, Naruto-kun."

Namikaze entered the rundown tavern and walked to the bar. Ero-sennin had taught Naruto a great deal about espionage and information gathering during their three year training journey.

"You can know all the jutsu in the world, but if you can't find your quarry you can't bring them back."

That was not to say Jiraiya hadn't improved Naruto's jutsu repertoire. The Toad Sage had vastly improved Naruto's chakra control. At the beginning of the three year journey, Naruto couldn't perform even the most basic genjutsu. When Naruto returned to Konoha, he actually wasn't bad with genjutsu. He could make use of them in combat, but his primary opponents possessed the Sharingan and rendered any genjutsu moot. However, most of the training had been geared towards making sure Naruto would advance quickly towards his ultimate goal of becoming Hokage. Naruto had asked Jiraiya why equal time was given to politics, battlefield tactics and etiquette as jutsus and taijutsu.

"You aren't ending up like them, Naruto. I won't let you lose sight of your dreams. Sasuke and Orochimaru lost sight of their dreams and forfeited their future. I'll be damned if I let that happen to you."

Namikaze sighed in a combination of melancholy that swept over him as he remembered his beloved teacher and annoyance that he was being ignored by the bartender.

"Oi! Who does a guy have to kill to get some service around here?" Namikaze growled.

The bartender finally made his way to Naruto. He leaned in close and, with Hinata's Byakugan active behind the bandages, saw the man grin. "Mean that literally? 'Cause some folks 'round 'ere might make some offers."

"A man's got to earn a living." Namikaze said simply.

"Ah, you're one of dem wandering 'freelance' types." The older man cackled.

"That's right." Namikaze answered while desperately trying to avoid breathing through his nose.

"Well, couple of us need a right arsehole taken out. Calls himself the 'Demon of the Mist' and has a pretty little girl fallo'en him around. Last we heard he's up in Mizuho." The owner of the tavern wiped his hands on his grubby gray jacket.

Poor Haku, being mistaken for a girl seems to be more common than I thought. "Mizuho, you say?"

"You can't hear on top of being blind?" The old man waved his hand dismissively.

"You've got a spot right above your breast pocket. The dark soy sauce is really noticeable." Namikaze flashed a cheeky grin and rose from the bar.

"Son, I know we've got a decent bounty on that Demon, but you can't seriously be going after him, can ye?"

"Nah, I'm just going take a look. See how scary this demon and his partner really are." Naruto stopped in the doorway. The smile hadn't faded since he got off his stool. "Speaking of Zabuza's partner, it's a guy."

"There's no way anyone that pretty can be a man!"

"Don't feel bad, I made the same mistake the first time I ran into them." Namikaze laughed at the memory. Haku, Zabuza. I'll see you soon.

Hinata was breathing heavily as she ran behind Naruto. The pace wasn't strenuous enough to cause her to be winded. No, her breathless state was because Naruto hadn't let go of her hand since they left the Ichiraku stand.

"I told you not to worry, Hinata! We've got four minutes before the bell!" Naruto shouted as he guided Hinata through a path in the woods behind the Academy.

"I… I trust you, Naruto-kun." Hinata couldn't help but smile. Naruto's enthusiasm was contagious. She would never admit it to anyone other than Naruto, but sneaking out of the Academy for lunch had been thrilling. The conversation at lunch had been wonderful. I don't know if it was a conversation, Naruto-kun did most of the talking, but we learned something about each other. It was almost like we were real friends. Hinata confided in herself. In her heart, she wished her budding relationship with Naruto was actually a budding relationship. She contented herself with the knowledge that Naruto was now acknowledging her existence.

"Thanks!" Naruto and Hinata entered the Academy and entered the classroom at a sedate pace. "Two minutes to spare. Didn't I promise we'd get back in time?"

"You… you certainly have it down to an art form." The heiress slid into her chair.

"Art form?" Naruto rolled the word around on his tongue. "I like that! You're a genius, Hinata!"

"I'm not sure sneaking out of the Academy without permission can be called an art form!" Iruka shouted from behind the two students. Hinata practically bolted from her skin. Naruto, for his part, simply laughed at his exacerbated and favorite teacher.

"Oh come on, Iruka-sensei! One, we're the first ones back. Two, you never saw us leave."

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please stay out of trouble. The last thing I need is to anger the Hyūga Clan."

"Well, we'll try. But you know how bad an influence Hinata is on me." The blond troublemaker chuckled.

"N…Naruto-kun! I am not that bad of an influence!" Hinata sputtered.

"See! She doesn't even deny it!" Naruto poured a full pound of false innocence into his voice.

Hinata could only stare at Naruto, in shock for once. Iruka ceased pinching his nose and now covered his face with his hand. "You are karma. I swear that you are punishment from heaven for all my childhood sins."

The teacher wandered off and after a few minutes started the next lesson. Hinata turned all her focus into taking notes and away from Naruto's earlier teasing. Naruto zoned out the first part Iruka's lesson on the economic crisis that followed the Second Great Shinobi War. However, when Iruka-sensei began talking about how some guilds had been accused of using the shortages of food and medicine to become fabulously wealthy, Naruto became utterly focused.

This is what Namikaze was warning me about. How can you hoard and overcharge for food when people are dying in the streets? Naruto was grateful when Mizuki-sensei announced they were heading to the ranged weapons range. He didn't think he could swallow back his growing anger.

As the class made their way through the halls, Naruto noticed two things. First, the blond noticed Shikamaru, Kiba and Chōji had discretely rejoined the class. Naruto was usually arguing with Kiba about who would get the highest score on the range now. It was strange that Naruto didn't really miss sitting around and bragging about future glories.

What future glories? Namikaze only told me about suffering betrayals and watching my girlfriend die.

That dark thought led Naruto to his second observation. Hinata hadn't spoken to him or tried to sneak those little glances at him since lunch.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings early. I shouldn't have teased you." Naruto apologized.

He called me Hinata-chan. Hinata did not realize she had stopped walking until someone ran into her back.

"What is your problem, Hyūga?" The harsh voice of Uchiha Sasuke drove away Hinata's pleasant reverie.

"I… I'm sorry!" Hinata yelped as she jumped away from the Rookie of the Year.

"You were trying to feel up Sasuke-kun, weren't you?" Sakura yelled at Hinata.

"No! I've n…never liked Sasuke-san!" Hinata wilted a bit under Sakura and Ino's harsh glares. Before the other girls could accuse her of lying, Hinata practically tripped over herself to catch up to Naruto. "S…sorry about that Naruto-kun."

Naruto waved off Hinata's apology. "I'm the one who is saying he's sorry here. You didn't tease me earlier. Like I said I shouldn't have done that. And I'm sorry, again, if calling you Hinata-chan made you uncomfortable."

"No, I really liked that!" Hinata nearly shouted in her excitement. Her hands started pressing together when the snickering from the other students started. "And… and I know you weren't trying to… to be cruel. I know you were joking, Naruto-kun."

The blond nearly repeated Hinata's early action and stopped in the middle of the milling mass of students. A similar, if far more earth-shattering realization was beginning to coalesce in Naruto's mind.

Is it her?

"Hey Hinata-chan, do you…" Naruto's voice was as quite as Hinata had ever heard.

"Do I what?" Hinata crinkled her brow in confusion.

Do you love me? Naruto caught himself before he asked that foolish question. "Do you have any tips for target practice?"

"I… should be asking you that. My clan rarely uses shuriken or kunai. Our ranged attacks are almost exclusively variants of Jūken." Hinata confessed.

"That's actually pretty cool!" The young Jinchūriki shouted drawing even more attention to the pair.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Naruto noticed how the light seemed to dance in Hinata's eyes.

This is so much better than getting clobbered by Sakura! Gah! I wish Namikaze was still here, or at least told me how to contact him! I guess I'll have to talk to that Yamato guy. He'll probably be watching out for me after that ROOT mess last night.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, watch me kick Sasuke's butt!" Naruto shouted to push the thoughts of Namikaze and last night's trauma from his mind. In this moment, the gathering shadows could not touch Naruto. He felt the closest to peace he had felt since Namikaze had torn down Naruto's childhood.

Author's Notes: Here's Chapter Four! I hope you enjoy it, lots of Naruhina in this one! Sorry for the gap in the update, but the combination of Graduate school and a car wreck kind of made it hard to get the chapter out when I wanted to.

Anyway, please continue to the amazing response to this story!