My muse is on caffeine and sugar pills for some reason these days, so you guys get another daily update! SQUEEBIES!

I had a bit of a problem with this chapter though. I was stuck on either going through a bit more of Narutos childhood, or doing a small time-skip to when he's 8 years old and starts in the Academy (He's almost 5 years old in the fic right now). All in all I decided to wrap up the bit I did decide to do, then skip ahead a bit. I got some favorable reviews from the scene at the end of chapter 3, and I'm glad you guys liked it hehe.

You guys also gave some interesting theories on the reaction of Arashi as well. Only one got the relation of the two pics in my profile (either that or he was the only one that cared to put it in a review).

There is also going to be the beginning of the ACTUAL fic in this chapter (the action/Kyuubi finally appear), though that mostly hints at a certain one of our favorite blondes. Things will get a bit better now that I have the slow stuff out of the way (or at least I'm hoping so).

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, at least not until I kidnap Kishimoto-san!

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Kyuubi speech"

"Kyuubi Thought"

Flashback


Last time, on DRAGONB...

……I hate you Muse

Kakashi stood as the stretcher came out of the seal room, nodding towards the Hyuugas. They returned the gesture, before picking up Hinata and making their way towards the door to go home.

"No! NO! I WANT TO SEE NARU-KUN!" Hinata struggled in her father's grip, having lapsed for a brief moment into using her chosen nickname for the blonde boy. Hikari gave a wane smile, before shushing her, gently and soothingly running her fingers through her daughters' dark blue hair.

"Shhhh, he's ok little love. He just needs his rest. We'll come see him tomorrow ok?"

Hinata sniffled, tears coursing down her cheeks before she gave a weak nod, turning pale lavender eyes back down the hall towards where the energetic blonde had been wheeled to his room.

"….Naruto-kun."

Kakashi watched them walk down the hall and out of sight, before he turned to follow the stretcher, sitting down beside the bed to gaze down at its small occupant. His sharingan had been covered up again, his head bowed as he watched the slow breathing of the kid he thought of as his own flesh and blood son.

"Never again Naruto. I will never let it happen again."

His gloved hand gently rubbed the blonde locks, a single tear sliding down from his exposed eye….


Konoha Hospital…

The scene that greeted the Third as he walked into the room containing Naruto was a mixture of something out of a picture book, and something….else. He couldn't quite place the name on it. The only word he could think of to describe it was 'sadness'.

Kakashi hadn't moved apparently, his head bowed slightly almost as if in thought…listening to the slow rise and fall of Narutos breathing, the quiet beeping of the machines in the room recording his vitals. Sarutobi glanced at one of the machines, then down to Naruto, eyes softening in sadness. Yes, it was an emotion he and others had been feeling all too much these last twenty four hours. He chuckled quietly, remembering the actions of some of the elder and elite Jounin they had when they heard about the assault on Naruto.

"WHAT?!?!" Sarutobi winced, quietly stepping off to the side to avoid the chair as it slammed into the wall next to him…all four feet embedded into the concrete. The owner of the voice stood there almost growling, her brown eyes smoldering in anger. Behind her another scarred Jounin frowned, the only sign of any sort of emotion on his face.

"KUSO! Just wait until I get my hands on them! I'LL BREAK EVERY BONE IN THEIR BODY!" The scarred Jounin, known as Ibiki, shrugged to Sarutobi as Anko stalked out of the room. "I can't exactly speak for her actions Hokage-sama, but I feel the same way as she does. Irregardless of what this village believes, that boy is not and never will be a demon of any sort." Nodding slightly in respect to the old man, he made his way towards the door, most likely to stop Anko from doing something incredibly stupid.

Like butchering half of Konoha.

Stopping in the doorway, he gazed silently out of the window…before Sarutobi looked up at his words. "I hope you will bring them to me when you find them, Hokage-sama." With that, he departed the room to disappear down the hall. But Sarutobi would never forget the anger in those words, just barely held back. When they found the assailants (and he had no doubt they would, he would make sure of that) they were going to wish they were in Makai by the time Ibiki and Anko were done with them.

The Third smiled quietly to himself, turning his head to look out the window at the rising sun. 'Naruto, if only you knew how many people cared for you. Enough to even kill for you if it came down to it.' Walking over towards the motionless Kakashi, he gently set one hand on his shoulder…surprised when he heard the young man's voice though his head remained bowed.

"I found them….Hokage-sama."

Eyes widening, Sarutobi gazed down at the young ANBU, before a lone howl echoed in the streets as if paying homage to the rising sun. The few villagers that were out and about shivered. A wolf howling during the day was considered an ill omen, one of death or destruction. If they only knew how right they were, yet how wrong as well. Kakashi stood up, head still bowed as he gazed down at the one child he considered his son, even though no blood relations existed. The soft words of the Third caused him to stiffen, before slowly relaxing under the elderly mans' hand.

"It's not your fault Kakashi. You know that, I know that. No one can keep a watch on the boy at all hours of the day."

Kakashi sighed, before straightening to look the Third in the eye, the old man taken aback at the grief and sadness in the depths of the one eye. It looked like he had been crying silently all throughout the night. All Kakashi could think about was the death of his friend Obito and how he failed him. And now, he had almost done it again after he SWORE to never let another comrade die again if he could take the blow in their place. The fact it was his adopted son, and the REAL son of his sensei, only made this attack that much harder to bear.

"I'll be fine Hokage-sama. Pakkun!"

A small poof of smoke appeared on the bed, the little dogs paw raised in salute. "Yo!"

"You found how who the culprits were?"

"Hai. There's five of them, retired ninjas it looks like, that have shops along the main road. I could smell his blood on them as I walked past them. They're remarkably open after what they pulled last night."

The little dog glanced over towards the Third, remembering the massive killing intent and chakra pressure the old man and put out last night. It was amazing the four men and one woman hadn't high-tailed it out of town as fast as they could. It only showed the stupidity of the attackers.

"And one more thing. One of them is a woman. Weirdest pink hair I've ever seen."

Kakashi nodded, turning to move towards the door before Sarutobi stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head at the icy anger he could feel coming from the ANBU. "Not alone Kakashi. They need to be questioned first, not killed outright without question." The silver-haired Jounin sighed, before nodding quietly, glancing over towards the motionless body of his young 'son'.

'Don't worry Naruto. I'll make sure they pay for what they did to you…'

Some hours later…

Kakashi walked down the main road, one hand in his pockets as he held his trademark orange book in front of him, eyes locked onto its pages. To anyone else, it would appear as if he was merely walking down the street reading his book. But to the more observant, they could see his eyes staring straight forward onto the pages as well as the barely suppressed killing intent that threatened to explode off the man.

Three figures stealthily jumped from roof to roof, following the Jounin. Anko and Ibiki, having been summoned to the hospital room the very moment Pakkun had relayed his message, had instantly jumped at the opportunity. They, along with the Third, were now quietly following Kakashi as he strolled down the street past the shops in question. His one exposed eye turned upwards towards the roofs above before giving a slight nod, turning to walk into the middle shop of the four. Laughter echoed out into the streets, along with mixed voices muffled by a curtain leading to the back.

"…you see what we did to that little runt? I bet he'll think twice about walking down OUR street."

Four voices joined with the man in laughter, one the lighter voice of a woman, before they quickly quieted as Kakashi walked towards the counter. He closed his book, pushing it back into his pocket while raising one hand in salute, his exposed eye turning into a 'U' shape. Little did the five know that the hand that held the book now gripped a kunai that resided in the same pocket.

"Yo!"

The five glanced at each other, before the owner of the shop stepped forward with a smile on his face. All five knew who he was, and they all knew who he protected.

"Ah Kakashi-san! Welcome to my store! What can I get you?"

The young ANBU hmmm'ed, one hand on his chin as he looked around. So focused were they on the Jounin in front of them that they didn't heal the triple 'tap' of feet above them on the roof, nor the shadows that descended down from the side. Shaking himself from his reverie, he smiled through his mask at the five in front of him.

"I was wandering lost on the road of life, when I decided to stop by and ask why you thought attacking my son was a good idea."

The five were taken aback, the still smiling face (or at least so they thought from his upturned eye) the last thing they had thought to see when he said something like THAT.

"W-Whatever are you talking about Kakashi-san? We didn't know you had a son."

Five heads nodded curiously, the shock of pink hair in the middle of them a sharp contrast. Mentally Kakashi was furious. A Haruno? They should know better than to do something like this, especially after what happened to her husband and how he died.

"Ooooh? You mean you don't know of little Naruto?"

All five paled. The demon brat? SON of Kakashi? Nervous glances shifted between them, before the woman laughed slightly. "Oy come now Kakashi that was some joke. We all know you're not that…that DEMONS father." The word 'demon' was spat out with a particular hatred, which he did not miss. They all fidgeted as the one eye that had been so happy before, suddenly narrowed in an anger that frightened them to their core. The last thing they were prepared for was the killing intent that was suddenly let lose in the small shop, making all five struggle to breathe. They couldn't help but back away an involuntary step as Kakashi slowly leaned on the counter, tilting his head as he gazed up at them with one eye.

"That boy is no more a demon than anyone else here. That BOY is a hero of this village, while insects like you abuse him."

His anger was a palpable thing, radiating off him like physical force. He didn't expect the Haruno woman, whom he knew only as 'Sori', to step forward with a laugh smirking down at him. "Is that right you demon lover? We did this town a SERVICE killing that little Kyuubi brat." The four men behind let a nervous chuckle as they nodded, once more getting arrogant looks on their faces.

"That's right! And there's nothing you can do about it either. Hell the Hokage will probably give us a reward for killing that bastard child!"

A bell rang an end to his tirade, signaling that someone was entering the store. Snorting, they brushed aside the Hatake, smiling almost eerily as the Hokage himself walked up to the counter. "What is all this about? I heard raised voices out in the street and come in here to see this." Sarutobi looked to Kakashi, who nodded ever so imperceptibly, before he turned to look at the five with a benign expression on his face…though inside he was seething in anger. So these were the five. And the Haruno too! Anko was going to have a field day with that one.

"Hokage-sama, this so called shinobi came into our store threatening us! We did the village a huge favor, yet he comes in here and threatens to kill us!"

The Hokage turned to fix a mock disapproving gaze on Kakashi, who merely smiled at him through his mask. He sighed, before turning towards the shopkeeper. "And what with Hatake-san threaten you for? It must be something serious if he thinks it's worth my anger."

Sori was practically giddy at what the old man said. She might even be able to get her little daughter something special if this all went through! "Hmph, we killed the demon brat last night. Then this DEMON LOVER had the gall to come into our shop and threaten us! We demand that he be taken away for interrupting our business! I'm sure you have some reward for us as well Hokage-sama?" The pink-haired woman practically beamed at the old man, who was feeling nauseous just standing by her.

"Hai, I have a reward for you."

He snapped his fingers. Anko and Ibiki, who had stayed in the shadow until this time, walked out and bowed slightly towards their Hokage. "Hai Hokage-sama?" Sarutobi smiled at the shocked looks on their faces, before he turned towards his two chief interrogators.

"Ibiki-san, Anko-san, I would like you to extend your "hospitality" to these five upstanding citizens for the attempted murder of one Uzumaki Naruto as well as treason towards the village of Konoha."

One Haruno Sori was livid, before blanching. Treason? Surely there was nothing they did that was treason! She was about to step forward and plead with the Hokage before a loud crack echoed in the small shop, the back of Ankos hand meeting the cheek of said Haruno. Stunned, she fell to the floor in heap, clutching her bruised cheek and gazing wide-eyed up at the leering woman in front of her.

"Silence wench. You get no say so in this matter, not after what we saw you did to the poor boy. Me and you are going to have a nice long chat."

The glint in her brown eyes showed however that they would be doing anything BUT a chat, not that the woman was able to pick up on it. Sori huffed, turning her head to the side. "None of you can do anything to us! We didn't do a damn thing wrong." She grinned.

It was only then that she noticed that the four she had been with had disappeared, along with Ibiki and the Hokage. She looked fearfully up into the eyes of Anko, then into the eye of one Hatake Kakashi. Spinning, she tried to flee before a loud POOF was heard and she was smashed back down into the floor as the most enormous dog she had ever seen appeared on her back. She frantically tried to crawl out underneath the dog, even more so when she found a grip on her ankle that yanked her out from underneath it. She was dragged bodily out into the street, both Kakashi and Anko having one ankle in their hands. The spectacle would be remembered for quite a few weeks, as a pink haired woman was dragged screaming for help down the street before disappearing into the door of the Hokage tower.

The screams of pain and torture that echoed that night did little to help people forget about it either….


Two weeks later, October 10th….

Naruto was finally dismissed from the hospital, having fully healed from his injuries at the hands of the villagers earlier that month only to be almost readmitted as a certain blue haired girl tackled him with a squeal as soon as he stepped outside. Chuckles were had all around as Hiashi and Hikari, Kakashi and Sarutobi watched the reunion of childhood friends…though they soon parted, bright red blushes adorning their cheeks. Both children were hauled up onto their respective parents' shoulders before they walked off towards the Hyuuga estate to hold a very special birthday party for one Uzumaki Naruto.


Elsewhere…

Arashi groaned as he rolled over onto his side, before blinking. One hand slid behind him, comically feeling the empty air beneath him, before a pitiful whimper escaped his lips. The resulting THUMP echoed into the small house, awakening any residents that weren't already awake as he fell to the floor.

'I hate my birthdays…'

He mumbled quietly to himself, straining to pull himself to his feet from underneath the push of his weights. The slave drivers (aka his teachers) had decided to never let him take the seals off, not that he knew how anyway. It was just one thing in a looonngggg list of annoying things that he would get back at them for.

'They will pay! THEY WILL ALLL PAAAAAYYYY!'

He cackled evilly, one hand fisted in the air shaking childishly before he sighed and hung his head at the laughter of four people gathered in the doorway.

"Come on now son, it couldn't be that bad!"

"Your father's right. Just think on how much you're going to improve!"

Arashi muttered as he turned to walk over towards the four, eyeing them carefully. All four looked the very definition of innocent, but he wasn't fooled. They had something planned and he was going to find out one way or another. The wonderful thoughts of what pranks he could pull on them to get his information were suddenly cut off as the mood grew more somber, all four gazing down at him. He blinked, unsure of what to make of this new mood.

"What is it Otou-san? Okaa-san?" He looked towards his self-proclaimed Ojii-san and Baa-chan as well, seeing the same solemn moods on their faces.

"Arashi, today we will begin the apex of your training. On your eleventh birthday, something will happen that may change everything." Arashi looked confused, before growing wide-eyed. "I see you understand. We only have 5 more years to continue your training before we disappear. We only managed to buy 10 years of time before we had to leave again." Arashi merely stood there stunned, tears rolling down his cheeks as he stared at them.

"On your eleventh birthday, you will fus—"


Look out behind you! dodges time-skip

Six years later…

Hyuuga Estate, Age 11

Naruto was happier than he had been in a long time. Not only had he and Hinata finished the partner training in record time, but they were going to be starting their third year at the ninja academy! He couldn't wait for next week. Smiling, he skipped towards the gate, waving to "Guard-san" as he called him before moving inside. The Hyuuga merely shook his head with a small smile at the child's antics.

"HINATA-CHAN! WHERE AAARRREEEEE YYYOOUUU!"

He stood in the gardens, small hands fisted on his hips as he looked around with a small pout. She was always around here somewhere, at least in the mornings. She loved this garden. His pout disappeared with a smile as small pale hands wrapped around his waist from behind, the soft scent of lilacs surrounding him as Hinata hugged him from behind…nuzzling her cheek into his back.

"Morning Naru-kun."

Things had changed for the two young children. Hiashi and Hikari couldn't have been more right when they chose them for partner training. Not only had it gotten rid of Hinatas shyness (at least around Naruto and to a lesser extent everyone else) but they had grown together to such a degree that it was almost impossible to not see them together at any moment of the day. Unknowingly to them, they had reached a level of intimacy not found by most couples (at least girlfriend/boyfriend couples), and to Naruto he considered it to be the best friendship in the world (Hinata was a different story). Their teamwork was off the charts, so completely did they mesh together. Most genin teams were put to shame, both in technique as well as teamwork...something that caused their parents no amount of amusement. But for now, they were merely happy to have each other's company.

"Ne ne Hina-chan, what do you want to do today?"

Hinata, having turned around her boyfriend (at least in her mind, he was still dense in most respects) and gently pressed into him in a gentle hug, scrunched up her nose in thought. It was a morning ritual of sorts, one they never deviated from. They would just sit in the garden holding each other as the sun rose in the sky, a comfortable silence between them. It was only recently that she had started sitting in his lap.

"Ano, why not train a bit? We could always use—"Her soft-spoken words were cut off as the earth beneath her rumbled, swaying slightly. Both of them turned wide-eyed to each other, as Hiashi and Hikari ran out of the house.

"Naru-chan, Hina-chan, come here. It's time to go back inside."

Neither of their voices allowed anything to be said otherwise, and they nodded running back into the house with Hikari. Hiashi however stayed outside, the column of red light shooting up faintly in the distance something he had been both expecting yet dreading since that fateful day 11 years ago.

"So it finally begins…"


"KUSO! The seal won't hold out for much longer like this! We need to do something!"

"This is the only thing we CAN do you pervert. T-hey…they already left remember?"

Only three figures remained now in that house, or rather behind it. An enormous glowing seal covered up the entire backyard, two figures watching off to the side. Both of their attention was given to the smaller figure in the center of the massively intricate seal, engulfed in a giant tower of red chakra that seemed to shoot up into the sky without end. A low rumble echoed in the air, the earth beneath them seeming torn between shuddering and giving way at the massive outpouring of chakra and power that assaulted it.

"Minato said the only thing we can do is watch. If this doesn't work…."

The sentence was left unsaid as the column of eerie red light slowly thinned out, before disappearing. Red chakra seemed to ripple about the boy, who could now be seen as Arashi, in the center…joined by another figure slightly raised in the air in front of him. They stared, unable to contain their shock. This wasn't supposed to happen!

The slender, lithe figure seemed to hover in front of Arashi. Smooth pale skin almost seemed to glow underneath the red light of chakra, only to be outshone by the fiery mane of red hair that cascaded down the slender back to her hips. She was perfectly proportioned, a figure that made the female of the two figures watching envious, something that shocked the male counterpart…the little book in his hands falling to the floor. The levitating girl, as it could now be seen as female, drifted down in front of the boy. Her head was tilted back, lips parted ever so slightly before a gasp escaped them, closed eyes slowly opening. With nary a sound, she gently alit in front of him, eyes of purest violet gazing at the boy in front of her.

To say that silence reigned in the small clearing was an understatement of the year.

Neither said anything, before Arashi slowly opened his eyes. Violet met…..

Both figures ran out from underneath the trees towards the two. The girl ignored them, focused entirely on the boy in front of her. Collective gasps escaped their lips.

Arashi was….different, his once golden hair now a dark red that waved slowly in the wind left over by the shockwave of chakra. But what shocked them the most was his eyes. Eyes, that were once the color of the deepest sky, were now a solid gold…bright in the disipitating light. A ring of silver circled around the edge of his golden pupils, the edge facing the whiteness of his outer eye while the inside was wavy like the swells of the ocean. Four tendrils of silver color leapt from the inside ring of the silver ring, forming into flame-like tendrils of silver color the curved towards the iris which was also silver. It was breathtaking, even more so when the four flame-like tendrils disappeared.

No one spoke, nor moved as gold met violet, eyes locked and never moving from each other. Both of those that had merely watched suddenly fell over at what happened next, twitching comically.

The pale skinned beauty, for they had no other way to think of her, slowly stepped forward towards Arashi…her bottom lip bitten in an adorable gesture. Slender arms circled around his neck, head tilted to let a soft breath leave those pillow soft lips as one word left them before their lips slowly met in a tender kiss….bodies gently pressing into each other.

"….Ara-kun…."


Bwehehehe! -insert evil cackle here-. I got tired of pussy-footing around in the childhood period and decided to start out on the third year of the Academy. However, if people tell me they want to see Narutos training with Hinata, or the full extent of Arashi's training I MIGHT do a few flashbacks. As for who the girl is, why she is acting that way to Arashi after just "appearing", and HOW she got to acting that way will be left for later if enough people are curious.

It's more fun that way to keep you all guessing.

Anyway, with stuff finally out of the slow period of the fic, things should pick up fairly quickly…and my chapters should be a bit longer now as well (I am not happy with their length. It's too short in my opinion.)

Anyway, please review and let me know what you think! Reviews let me know how I'm doing in the story, and what few review I got so far (makes me cry ;;) have been positive. If you want to know what Arashi and Kyuubi look like, just go to my profile. I have both their pictures up. They look EXACTLY like them (though when I describe them int he next chapter they will have different clothes).

Ja ne!

I also plan to go into more detail on Arashi's eyes. Yes it's a Kek…-coughcough- never mind. But I didn't like my description, so we'll see. I might try and get a picture up in my profile later on.

Kuso – General term for swearing. Could be anything from damn to the more graphic swear words.

Makai - Hell