A/N: Wow, a lot of good reviews for this. I want to thank everyone who posted a review, more reviews keeps me happy and a happy me makes writing fun. So thanks for all of the reviews. My computer crashed, and I lost a lot of work I had done for this chapter, as well as rewrites for my other story. I only managed to get a replacement a few days ago, and had to redo this entire chapter.

NxKxMxKxM brought up a very good point about Disguise vs. Henge, but there is a reason that I want Naruto to master Henge which will appear later on in the story. To make things clear, Naruto WILL eventually go back to the Elemental Nations (as per the summary), but there are still things that have to happen first. Again, I will not specify anything that may or may not happen (except for whatever I gave away in the summary, kinda hard not to).

To answer chaosglory626, there are a few differences between canon Naruto and my version. The first difference is that he is used to processing lifetimes worth of knowledge and memories in one go after having gone through the events of the first Prototype game. He's Consumed many, many people, and gained all of their memories. A few hours worth of training, even from hundreds of clones, does not compare to that.

As to your second point, if you notice, he's not training in any aspect that he has Consumed yet (that he knew of). All he is training in is in the ninja arts, and there are no ninjas for him to Consume outside of the Elemental Nations. He currently has no plans to go back there, so the only way for him to learn is to train. Also, while you are mostly right about him learning skills and kekkei genkai by Consuming opponents, he would still have to train them if he wants to use them with his body. Every person's body is different; the way a tall, slender person punches is different from a short, stocky person. And I assume that no two people have tenketsu in the exact same spots (Although they should be very close. This is why the Byakugan is needed for the Gentle Fist to work, instead of just memorizing anatomy). This means that while he can use the skills of anyone he Consumes, unless he shifts his body into the person that he Consumed, he will be unable to use a skill with the same mastery that the original did, although it should be close. And that's assuming that the person mastered the skill in the first place.

Point number three, yes the virus could potentially be released by Naruto falling unconscious, but remember: Naruto has a VERY strong will. Even asleep or unconscious, his subconscious is capable of holding back the virus. He really, really, does not want to be a monster, in ANY way. That would just prove the villagers right, and he'd rather die before doing that.

As for point number four, I honestly forgot about it. So I'll just explain it away as him having used up most of the biomass while fighting Gentek.

To answer another question that was made, no he does not need to eat any more. All he needs to do is Consume biomass to stay alive (I'm making it so that just staying alive burns biomass, just like we burn calories, not to mention using powers and healing himself). However, that does not mean that he does not eat. He has a sense of taste, and eating good food is enjoyable. So why not take in biomass through eating it?

As for suggestions, I thank everyone for any suggestions they may have. I do already have an idea as to how I want everything to go, at least up to his return, so I most likely won't use any plot suggestions until then. Any minor suggestions are welcome however, and if I like them I will incorporate them along with giving credit to the suggestor.

As for how the Kyuubi was consumed and why there was no Web of Intrigue in the second chapter, if you check the first chapter, you can see the signs of when the Kyuubi was consumed there (it happened when Naruto was shot). When Naruto was infected, this gave the virus knowledge on how to use chakra. This in turn allowed the virus to access the two seals on Naruto's body (the storage and Kyuubi seals). That is how the Kyuubi was consumed, and the Web of Intrigue happened then, but Naruto subconsciously suppressed it due to the fact that he did NOT want to be a demon.

As a heads up, Naruto did not actually die then, at least not fully. His heart stopped for a few moments after he passed out (he was checked for a heartbeat then, which is why everyone thought he was dead) but his healing factor kicked in and restarted his heart. After he had finished assimilating the Kyuubi, he woke up and found himself in a morgue. So he is not the virus thinking that it is Naruto, but Naruto with the powers of the virus.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Demon/Large Summon Speech"

'Demon/Large Summon Thoughts'

Jutsu/Skills

Chapter 3: Home

-One Week Later-

Naruto leaned back against the cliff-side where he made his home. It's been one week since he learned that the being that he had sealed inside of himself had been consumed and absorbed by him, and Naruto was now contemplating the results of finally having sorted through the majority of the Kyuu… no, Kurama's memories. While he didn't actually re-live most of the memories, he did see enough of them to organize them in his head so that he could review them later, as well as to give him a better understanding of the being that was inside of him. In the end, there was only one thing that he could say.

As bad as Naruto's life was, Kurama's was a hundred times worse.

Everything that Naruto lived through; Kurama had gone through as well. Well, maybe not the beatings… but the hatred and persecution were old news to him. Kurama's earliest memory was of him and his brothers and sisters losing their father after he gave them their names, and his last piece of wisdom. After that, they were all hunted down and enslaved for the power that they had. Even though they tried to help humanity and bring peace like their father wanted, mankind stole their freedom and strength and used it to wage war.

Eventually he was the only one that was left, and he was forced to wander alone, wondering if he would ever see his family again. Finally he was also enslaved by those damned eyes that were a mockery of his father's eyes. A member of the clan of power-hungry war mongers that defiled the wish of their greatest ancestor, his own father, and tried to subjugate everyone else had forced him to fight. And after that he was enslaved again, and this time forced to watch as his family was traded away like party favors!

He was forced to live his live imprisoned in the wife of the first Hokage, and then was placed inside an even worse seal, one that actively tortured him and forced him to give his power away! And when he finally escapes, THOSE DAMNED EYES AGAIN! And then he is imprisoned again, although at least the torture stopped, only to finally be killed. Not only that, but killed in a way that would prevent his reformation in the world.

Yeah, Kurama's life beat his hands down in terms of crap.

Naruto felt extreme guilt over what had happened to Kurama. While he knew that he could not have prevented his death, he still wished that he could have done something for one who had suffered as much as Kurama had. No one should have been forced to go through the things that he had.

The Ravens had noticed how his mood seemed to have changed and had asked if everything was OK. He responded that he had finally gone through the journal of someone who had been very close to him, but had passed away, and found out what a hard life he had. They understood, and did not bring up the subject again, although they did keep a closer eye on him and made sure that he had everything he needed.

Naruto sighed at both how bad Kurama had it, and at how he had worried the Ravens. He had to admit that they had grown on him during the time that he had met them, and he looked forward to their visits. They had truly become the most precious people in his life and he would do anything for them.

Seeing as it was early in the day, Naruto decided to start practicing some of the techniques that he had learned from Kurama's memories. He quickly got up and ran to the most secluded area he could find. Although he was going to keep everything low powered, he still wanted to do everything he could to reduce the chance of alerting anyone that there was something going on.

Once Naruto arrived, he looked around to make sure that there were no hikers. After having the Ravens stumble across his training, he wanted to make sure that he wasn't disturbed again. This clearing was much smaller than his usual training ground, being less of a clearing and more of a small spot without trees. There was a cliff face nearby, which was going to be the target of his training, and to his left there was a small stream that he could use for water when he needed a break. All he had to do was use a basic water jutsu to remove only pure water and he was good to go.

Having confirmed that there was no one close by, Naruto sat down and meditated. So far, Naruto had not noticed an increase to his chakra reserves, so he reasoned that Kurama's chakra was still separate from his own, and needed to be accessed. So to discover it, Naruto decided to return to the same basic meditation he used to first find his own chakra years ago.

After a few minutes of meditation, Naruto sensed his own chakra within him. Ignoring it for now, he continued searching within himself for Kurama's chakra. After half an hour of searching, Naruto figured that since Kurama's chakra was sealed into his sister, there was nothing for the virus to consume. As he was about to pull out however, he sense something. Focusing on the new sensation, he felt another source of power.

When describing his own chakra, Naruto would say that it felt "blue". Almost all other chakra users would describe their chakra the same way. This power however, had a different feeling to it. If he had to describe it, it would be "red". However, as he studied the power, he found that his first assessment was wrong. It was not red, or at least not totally red, but in fact it was a red mantle surrounding a golden center. Naruto found it fitting, considering that he saw Kurama as a pure soul wrapped in a righteous anger for what had been done to him and his family.

Having felt this power, Naruto left his meditation and stood up. Focusing on the feeling that Kurama's chakra produced, he began to lightly touch upon it. Instantly, he felt stronger and he found that his senses were heightened. Pressing down on the chakra a little more, a red shroud began to form around him. Deciding to see what he looked like, Naruto made a clone that Henged into a mirror. He could have had the clone access the chakra, but since he didn't know how it would react he decided to experiment later.

Looking at his reflection, Naruto saw that the chakra shroud had taken a foxlike appearance with two tails behind him, and his eyes were now red and slitted. As he used more or less chakra, the number of tails, and his strength, went up and down. He did notice however that he had trouble controlling how much of the chakra he used, causing him to misjudge how much chakra he needed to form a specific number of tails. Instead of forming the number of tails that he chose, he would form a tail more or less than he wanted. He realized that he would have to focus on chakra control again for Kurama's chakra. Even if Kurama had perfect control over his chakra, the physical differences between Naruto and a giant, nine-tailed fox had to be taken into account. He could probably control it perfectly if he shifted his form into Kurama's but he wanted to make sure that he could fight perfectly in his base form.

Having experimented enough with his chakra shroud, Naruto pushed past the red chakra and entered the golden core. Immediately he noticed a change. Instead of the chakra forming a shroud around him, his body seemed to transform itself into golden flames made of chakra, although nothing caught on fire. He was amazed at the difference, and he noticed black markings appear on his body. There were six magatama around his neck, and black markings that seemed to be centered on a seal on his stomach but spread to his limbs. His hair also stood up, giving him the appearance of having horns, and his eyes were orange. All in all, he seemed to look like a rendition of the Sage of the Six Paths that he saw in a book once.

He was pleased to notice however that the seal on his stomach and on his shoulders looked like a biohazard symbol, which he had begun taking as his personal symbol. He credited that to the influence of the virus; no doubt that otherwise he would have had Uzumaki swirls in their place instead. As much as he might benefit from their bloodline and knowledge, he wanted to distance himself from Minato and Kushina as much as possible, and not having an of their clan symbols on him was a plus in his books.

Deciding to finish this portion of the experimentation, Naruto accessed the entirety of Kurama's chakra. Doing this, his torso turned black and his markings turned golden instead. They also changed their positioning slightly. But he also formed a golden cloak that seemed to be made out of flames. He noted with slight irritation that it looked similar to Minato's cloak, but still he thought that the overall impression was badass, so he put it behind him.

After admiring his form for a few moments longer, he decided to start training on his abilities. The first thing that he wanted to try was the Bijudama. From Kurama's memories, he saw that the power that it contains is immense, and should be learned so that he could use it as a game changer if needed. He also wanted to learn how to create the attack without having to place it in his mouth. Not only was it slightly disgusting, looking like the user was throwing up, it was also unwieldy. He wanted to instead be able to use the attack from his hands. He would be better able to use it and aim it with higher accuracy. Not only that, but he could potentially use two attacks at the same time.

However, even though he wanted to try that first, he knew that before anything else what he needed to do was test out his body's new capabilities while in this mode. No matter how strong his attacks are, unless he has a body that can keep up (or in this case he can keep up with his body), his attacks would be all useless. With that in mind, he walked to one end of the clearing and prepared to sprint to the other side.

'Let's try going at a light pace.' he thought to himself and began running… only to crash face first through a tree on the other side in an instant. He fell to the ground and began rolling around clutching his face.

"OWOWOWOW… wait, that didn't really hurt." Naruto said to himself as he sat up. He slowly stood up and began stretching himself, checking for any injuries that might have occurred. Finding none, a large grin spread across his face. "I'm even tougher now? … Now that's just cool. I still need to get used to moving at high speed, but this just proves it. I. Am. Awesome!"

Naruto then spent the rest of the day getting used to his new speed. By this time, he had started to get a hold of his new physical abilities although he still couldn't go all out. As the sun started to set, Naruto stopped channeling Kurama's chakra, and looked around himself. Although he was becoming used to the extreme high speed movement, he has still caused a lot of damage to the surrounding clearing. Dozens of trees had collapsed, and there were craters in the nearby cliff face.

He decided to end the day there and pick up again the next day. He made his way to his campsite, and finished his preparations for the day.

-A Week Later-

Naruto had finally gotten used to his newfound speed and strength, although only enough to control it. He could determine how fast he wanted to go, or how much strength he wanted to use, but if he tried to use more than a quarter of his speed, he would still crash into objects. He was making good process however, and figured that he would be able to fully use his speed by the end of the year.

Now however, it was time for another visit by the Ravens. He noticed that the last time that they visited a few days ago, they seemed pensive about something, but he decided not to pry. Around four in the afternoon, he heard their footsteps and got ready to greet them.

As soon as they appeared, Naruto could tell that they had a hopeful expression, like they were expecting something. He was curious as to what they were up to, but decided to wait for them to bring up what they wanted.

After a few hours together, Jim looked at Mary and the two seemed to have a quick but silent conversation through their eyes alone. 'Maybe their related to the Uchiha clan' Naruto thought humorously.

After coming to a conclusion, Jim turned to Naruto and cleared his throat. He then started speaking. "Naruto, the family and I have been talking with each other, and we've all agreed with a certain decision, if you accept it that is."

Slightly wary due to being unsure as to what is going on, Naruto indicated for Jim to continue.

"Well, you see…" said Jim, unsure as to how to put into words his next thought, "we've been speaking, and we would like to invite you to live with us, as part of our family."

Naruto was stunned, and it showed on his shocked face. They wanted him to join their family? They wanted to adopt him? Why? Why would they do that? Due to his upbringing, or rather lack of one, he never thought that he would ever be wanted as part of a family. Maybe he would one day be able to start his own, but to find people who wanted him as a son? Impossible. And yet, here they were, making that very offer.

He considered his feelings for the Ravens. He knew that he considered them as his precious people, but were they family? He wasn't sure. Not because he wasn't sure about his feelings for them, but because he wasn't sure as to what family was. Despite having Minato, Kushina, and Natsumi in his life, he could never consider them as family. The three of them ignored him completely, to the point that he knew that they sometimes forgot that they had a son. That isn't a family, but that was the only thing he knew a family to be.

Did he want the Ravens as a family? Was a family the thing that he imagined it was from secretly watching other families? From watching Minato and Kushina with Natsumi? But what if that wasn't what a real family was? How would this change his relationship with the Ravens? All of these thought were whirling through his head at extreme speeds, as if they were using Hiraishin.

Sensing the turmoil in his thoughts, Mary said to him, "You don't have to make any decision now. Take your time and think it over. We know that this is a big choice for you, and that it will change a lot of things for you, so you don't need to rush anything. And no matter what you choose, please know that we care for you and that will not change."

Naruto's thoughts calmed down after hearing her words. He had time, he didn't have to choose now… but at the same time, they solidified another decision that he knew had to be made. The fact that they even offered him a choice to join them, that alone solidified them in his heart and made them hold his utmost trust.

"Thank you for giving me this chance," Naruto said softly. "but before I give you an answer, there are some things that you should know about me first." Naruto thought for a bit, and turned to Jim. "Can you follow me for a bit? I have to show you something, and then I'll let you decide the next step." He said.

Slightly confused, Jim nodded his head, and the two began walking away from the clearing. Naruto lead him to his campsite, but did not let him in yet. This was the first time anyone had seen where he was living, and he wanted to give Jim some background information first before showing him any superhuman feats.

Jim, seeing the camp, quickly figured that this was where Naruto was living, but couldn't see any way for him to get inside. Sure, there was a large slab of stone making what appeared to be a door, but for the life of him, he couldn't see any way for Naruto to move it. Heck, he couldn't figure out a way for himself to move it. That stone looked heavy.

Naruto thought for a bit, and then turned to Jim and said, "I have a lot to tell you, but for you to believe me, first I need to show you."

With that, Naruto turned and walked to a nearby tree. Jim looked on with confusion, especially when Naruto placed a foot on the trunk of the tree. His confusion however, turned to a mixture of wonder and disbelief when Naruto placed his other foot on the tree as well and then proceeded to walk up the tree. He gawked as Naruto reached a large branch, and continued to walk along the underside of the branch.

Naruto looked down and snickered at the gob-smacked expression on Jim's face. He released his hold on the tree, dropping down and flipping in midair to land on his feet. Looking at Jim, he said "You see, I'm not from around here…"

-Three Days Later-

Today was the day that he was going to speak with the Ravens about joining their family. Three days ago, he had Given Jim a rundown of the Elemental Nations. He explained about the different nations, their culture, about ninjas and the hidden villages, and about chakra.

He gave a few more demonstrations as to what could be done with chakra, but then informed Jim that he couldn't teach him or the rest of the family to use chakra. They were too old to start accessing and using chakra, their chakra pathways were set and withered from disuse. The oldest that a person could be was before puberty kicked in, as that seemed to lock down on the potential that a person had for learning chakra.

He then explained that he called Jim aside and showed him this separately because he did not know how much he should let the others know. Since Jim used to be in the military, he would know how valuable this knowledge was, as well as what others would do to get their hands on it. Therefore, Jim should decide what his family would know, and what should be kept from them. He also asked Jim to come back the next day, so that he could hear Naruto's personal story.

Jim came back the next day, and Naruto explained about his life. He started speaking about the Biju, and how on the day of his birth a masked man caused the Kyuubi to attack his village. He then explained about how the Third Hokage gave up his life to seal away the Kyuubi, and then explained his treatment by the village and his family.

To say that Jim was horrified was an understatement. There were parts of the story that made him unable to hold back his own tears, damn his image. Naruto spared nothing of his treatment in the village, and of his parent's lack of care. There were points that caused Jim to run to some bushed to vomit, they were so bad. He cursed Konoha and Naruto's ex-family, for the monstrosities that they performed on him. He wondered as to how Naruto wasn't insane or broken, and marveled at his absolute will for never giving in.

Naruto left off on the story with his exit of the Elemental Nations, and his arrival on the shores of California, and then asked Jim to come again the next day, so that he could finish his tale.

Then yesterday, Naruto had explained the events of New York, and how they had changed him. He explained about the virus, and showed Jim some of his powers. In some ways, this was the hardest part for Naruto. This was about events that Jim knew about, and had formed opinions on. This was something that Jim had enough understanding of to be properly afraid. What if his family was somehow accidentally infected? This was something that he would have to consider, and could change his offer to join his family.

After all this, Naruto had asked Jim if he had any questions. While he did have many, many questions racing through his head, Jim had known that these questions could wait until afterwards and weren't fully relevant to the choices that they were going to make. They were important, but wouldn't really make a difference in their choices. Expect for one that is.

"Have you killed anyone that had nothing to do with any of this?" Jim had asked. Naruto stayed silent for a few moments, and then softly confirmed that he had Consumed innocents. He explained the circumstances of his actions, being that he was heavily injured in fights with both the military and the infected, and that there were times that he had to choose between dying, or killing and Consuming a bystander to heal himself so that he could continue fighting. He had rationalized his choices, in that if he had died, then the victim would have died anyways, along with countless others. And even then, he had tried to pick his victims to try to avoid children, women, and parents as much as possible. He knew that it made little difference to the families of the deceased, but it was his own way of minimizing the affected.

Jim kept silent through-out Naruto's explanation, and just nodded when he finished. He then got up to go discuss all of this with his family, but before he left he had asked one final question.

"… If you had a choice, and found yourself in the same situation again, would you do the same again?" Naruto again stayed silent for a few moments, before looking away and nodding while shedding a small tear. With that, Jim had left to speak with his family.

Now was the day that the Ravens would appear once more. Would the offer to join them still be open? Would he accept if it was? Could he accept, knowing what he was and what he had done?

With these thoughts, it was a nervous Naruto that found himself facing the Ravens a few hours later. They were seated around a campfire he had setup earlier in the clearing where they first met. He had taken the time to properly set one up, and had prepared logs for them to use as stools. He looked at them carefully, seeing their serious expressions and noting that they seemed just as nervous as he was. He waited with bated breath, having decided to let them make the first move.

Sensing this, Jim looked at his family and then turned to Naruto. "Naruto, we've been talking about what you've told me over the past few days. After thinking about it, I told them everything, although not in the same detail you did. I figured that if you were going to be a part of this family that they should know." Naruto blinked at this, not knowing how to react.

At this point Mary cut in. "We spent a lot of time last night talking over everything, and trying to figure out how this changes things. Because something this big does change things, there's no way that it can't." She glanced over to her husband. Seeing his queue, he continued.

"You've killed people, and innocent people at that. That's not something that we neither can nor should ignore." As he heard all of this, Naruto felt himself sinking more and more. 'They hate me now.' he thought to himself.

"That being said, I've killed people as well. I was a soldier, and I fought overseas. I know what battle is like, but even I can't imagine what it was like in New York. You made choices and have chosen to live with the consequences of your actions. You fully accepted the guilt and acknowledged that part of yourself instead of running away. That shows maturity in ways that most people don't understand."

Mary continued. "We can't judge you, because frankly no one can. No one has been in any situation quite like yours. You had no formal training, and you could have run away and let innocents die. Instead, you chose to fight and try to protect as many as you could. Even if you killed some of them..." at this she gave a pause before continuing, "… you still did it only for the benefit of others, not just yourself. I'm not a fighter, just the wife of one, so I'm not the best choice to say what you should have done. But I do know this… there have been cases where people have killed others in emergency situations so that they and others could live. An example of this was on the Titanic. There were not enough lifeboats for everyone, so those who managed to get on one were forced to keep others from boarding and capsizing the boats. Are they murderers? Are they monsters?"

Jim picked up again. "The only thing that we can say is, we've come to know you as a person over the months that we've known you. We know that you are kind, but hurt and afraid. You're smart and funny, and can be adventurous, but you're also calm and collected. You want to be close to others, but at the same time you don't think that you deserve to be, and push others away. Knowing your story, we know why that is, and can even partially understand it. You have your good points, and also things about you that we… dislike as well. That holds true for all of us. Taking all of that into account, we've decided to ask you again, do you want to join our family?"

With this, Naruto was openly crying. How could they still want him to be part of their lives, even after knowing that he's a monster? Even with all that he's done? How? Unable to speak, he simply nodded his acceptance, covering his face with his hands. He felt the Ravens gather around him, and all of them hugged him as one, welcoming him into their family. He just cried harder, fully weeping with emotion at the love he felt, both from them, and the love and gratefulness he felt for them.

It felt right.

It felt like home.

A/N: Chapter three - done. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. As a heads up, I'm also starting a few new stories, so updates for this story will most likely not be speedy. I'll update the most quickly the stories that catch my interest the most (currently it's this one), but I will still be working on all of my stories. To reassure everyone, I will never abandon any story, although I may take a break from one if there is no inspiration currently for it. Check my profile to see what the upcoming stories are and feel free to send me a message as to what you think about them.

Also, the next chapter is going to be fairly short in comparison to the others. It's more of a transition chapter to show some changes before starting the next arc of the story. I will most likely post it within a week, but most updates will probably not be that fast or short.