The smell of antiseptic reeked in the air and the bright lights were harsh as Uzumaki Naruto opened his eyes into them. His head was pounding, his stomach hurt, and he felt like he just got his ass kicked. What had happened?

He sat up in the hospital bed, blinking and rubbing his aching head. There was a pulsing coming from his stomach. It was quite uncomfortable, so he lifted up his shirt to inspect it. To his surprise, there was a paper seal plastered to it that seemed to be the source of the pulses. He carefully lifted up one corner of it, and tore it off. Tossing it across the room, he threw his head back as a rushing sensation emanated from his gut. His breath left him in a gasp and the pounding in his head, as well as his other pains, left him. Only to be replaced by a deep, gravelly voice.

"Grr! I hate seals! Those seals will be the death of me!" the Kyuubi roared out. Slowly the memories of the past day started to reform in Naruto's mind. He remembered Sakura hitting him, her insulting him, her kicking him across the room. He remembered Kyuubi taking control for a short minute before the Hokage put that damned seal on his stomach. Then he remembered Hinata.

"Hinata-chan!" he shouted out loud, tearing the covers from on top of himself. He yanked himself out of the medical wires and burst from the room. He followed his nose and found a faint lavender odor over the smell of medicine. The scent led in a trail and was strongest outside a room on the fourth floor. This was the intensive care floor, if he remembered correctly. His eagerness ebbed as he slowly opened the door and crept into the room.

Hinata lay in the middle of the room, surrounded by machines and tubes. She was, of course, asleep. It was estimated that she wouldn't wake up for at least anther month. Sadness surged through the Kyuubi container like a wave and he rushed forward. There were flowers and cards from her friends, but none of them were labeled from the Hyuuga. Naruto remembered the bear-masked ANBU from yesterday reporting that her family didn't even care that she was going to die. Anger flowed through him next, but it was fleeting as he grasped Hinata's hand gently. A tear slipped out of his eye and fell onto her hand. He clutched her hand tighter.

"Hinata-chan," he whispered, distraught. He had really screwed up this time. His left hand started to trace her face softly as he looked at her. She whimpered in her sleep as Naruto's hand rested on her shoulder. He let go and leapt backwards with a horrified expression. The container watched in apprehension as her face cleared and she remained in her coma.

'I…I did it again. I-I hurt Hinata. I can't seem to be near her without her being hurt…' Naruto sighed in his mindscape.

"Oh, give it a rest, kit! You didn't do anything! It was that boy, Hyuuga Neji, that hurt her! Just dispense justice, get that healer, and then you can do what ever you want to her!" Kyuubi sighed and then grinned. Naruto turned crimson.

'I… I…I wouldn't do anything like that to Hinata-chan!' he stuttered. Kyuubi rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, as if in exasperation.

"Kit, you call her 'Hinata-chan' and are kind of possessive of her too, I might add," he told Naruto offhandedly. Naruto blushed even darker and opened his mouth to rebuff the demon, but Kyuubi cut him off. "I guess that's just my influence, though. It's a kitsune thing, you know, like me. Each demon will choose a mate and must protect her at all costs for the rest of their lives. You seem to have made your choice," the demon explained, raising his eyebrows and grinning suggestively. Naruto's jaw dropped open.

'I'm a fox demon?!' he shouted in shock. Kyuubi sighed once again, and Naruto walked closer to the cage.

"I was going to wait awhile before telling you, but you need to know now," Kyuubi started seriously. "Kit, your seal is designed to siphon off my power that flows into you constantly. As you grow older it will let more and more of your power into me. Originally it was supposed to wait until you were over 20 to completely fuse with me. But, kit, your seal is damaged. I managed to get that extra seal that Orochimaru-teme placed over the existing one off, but it broke some of the seal. (A/N thank you Hektols for reminding me about that!) Haven't you noticed that my chakra is coming forward more and more often? It's because the seal is slowly degenerating, letting more and more of me fuse with you. By the time you're fifteen, you should be a real kitsune demon, or at least a half-demon," the Kyuubi explained sympathetically. Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Him, a real demon?

'So, what the villagers say… will be true?' Naruto asked sullenly. Kyuubi just snorted.

"Kit, you've always had at least some of my kitsune qualities. We are known for being pranksters and having the knack of transforming into beautiful women. We're also very loyal, like you are to your village," Kyuubi spoke, dryly, "You have always been, at least in some ways, influenced by me" Kyuubi explained. Naruto's eyes began to water so then he added frantically, "But, that doesn't make you a bad person, per se. You're not the demon that all those villagers say that you are," Naruto looked down in despair. He left the mental conversation with Kyuubi to return to his place next to Hinata. With one more thought, he fell asleep at her side.

'Hinata-chan… I will do whatever I have to make sure that you are never, ever hurt again. I swear,'

During all this, there was an ANBU watching. Sarutobi placed Tori there, an ANBU with a bird mask, to watch and make sure that no one tried to hurt Hinata while she was incapacitated. He knew that if the Hyuuga knew that she was going to waste away in the hospital for three months, they would come to the hospital and eradicate the Main Branch's shame. The Hyuuga- and all higher class family's like that- were very predictable in this manner. Always wanting to get rid of weakness and failure. They let their pride blind them to the truth of things.

The ANBU was also told to alert the Hokage if Uzumaki Naruto were to enter her room. The tori ninja assumed that it was so the Kyuubi brat didn't hurt her, but in reality, the Sandaime had a way to help Naruto in the final round of the Chunin exams.

"Hokage-sama," the shinobi entered the room via window, "Uzumaki Naruto is, at this moment, in the hospital room of Hyuuga Hinata," he reported solemnly. The aging Hokage smiled.

"Could you bring him here please, Tori?" he asked, chuckling slightly. The ANBU nodded and disappeared from the room. Said ANBU re-appeared in Hyuuga Hinata's room.

The ninja's view of the Kyuubi container shifted when he came upon the sight of the boy asleep next to the Hyuuga heiress, his right hand gently holding her left one. The shinobi smiled under his mask, and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, lightly shaking him awake. The boy blearily opened his eyes and smiled at the sight of Hinata.

"Hinata-chan," he murmured, not fully awake yet and still not aware that the ANBU was right behind him. Tori shifted and coughed, he felt slightly uncomfortable for being here, interrupting this touching scene. Naruto shot up from the chair as he heard the bird ANBU cough to get his attention. The container spun around to face him and turned a bright red at being caught. He scratched the back of his head and grinned falsely, trying to cover up the fact that he was thoroughly embarrassed. "Uh… sorry, ANBU-san! I was… just… uh…" Naruto trailed off. The ninja held his hand up and lost his smile. It was his mission time now.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I have come to take you to the Hokage upon his orders," he stated. He then grabbed Naruto and leapt out the window.

"I'll be back Hinata!" Naruto yelled out behind him. Back towards the open window. Back towards the hospital. Back towards his Hina-chan.

Naruto had spent the last few days thinking about Hinata. Although not surprising, it was useful information, as he found out. He compared all of his current friends to Hinata and her to them. He gleaned a few valuable pieces of information out of this.

1) Hinata had never once, ever, made fun of him, or laughed at him, even if he had screwed up. Even Shikamaru had made comments about how Naruto was an idiot. And we all know that Sakura puts him down on a regular basis. But Hinata was different. She was really nice.

2) Hinata always seemed to blush and stutter around him. At first he thought it was out of fear; the whole village seemed to either hate or fear him, so it was a logical conclusion. But, not necessarily true. If she was scared, she wouldn't have been so kind.

3) Hinata wanted to help him. He'd always have to beg for help when he needed it, so it came as a shock to him when she- just a week ago at the beginning of the Chunin exams- tried to let him cheat off of her when she knew that, if they were caught, her whole team could be disqualified. She'd also given him a healing salve after his fight with her own teammate.

4) Hinata was strong. As opposed to Sakura, who almost never trained, she seemed to always be training. From what he had heard from Kiba before, she was determined to earn the respect of her father, who hated her.

5) Hinata was also alone. Naruto had just recently found out that none of her immediate family cared that she was slowly dying in a hospital room; from injuries inflicted by another family member. She too had known the loneliness of having everyone hate you or ignore you. Naruto himself felt very guilty because he had- unknowingly of course- added to that ignorance by never truly looking at his, 'dark, plain and weird' friend before.

And he was wrong.

He saw now that she was not dark, just shy. She wasn't plain, she was actually quite cute when she blushed. And she wasn't weird. She was just lonely. Lonely like him. And he was wrong.

When they got to the Hokage's office, Naruto was dropped roughly on the ground. The ANBU saluted, then disappeared once again. Naruto scowled and rubbed his head.

"What do you want? Want to put another seal on me?" he almost growled at the old Sandaime. The man sighed.

"Naruto, you were going to rip your own teammate's throat out," he reminded the angry container calmly. Naruto just snorted.

"Yeah, it would've been an improvement," he mumbled, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes in frustration. Sarutobi sighed and ignored the comment before pressing on.

"Naruto, I've found you someone to help you train for the upcoming Chunin final exams," he started. The boy's face lit up with a smile. For the first time in days he looked excited, back to his old self again. After a moment, though, his smile dropped and a crestfallen look passed across his face.

"Kakashi-sensei is going to train Sasuke, isn't he?" he asked quietly; dejectedly. Sarutobi frowned and nodded. After another minute Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and sighed again. "I should've known. Oh well. He's treated Sasuke-teme with favoritism before, why not now?" he stared at the ground. Then he looked up and the Hokage with a weak smile. "Well, you've got another tutor anyway, huh? So, who is it?"

Again, Sarutobi smiled. "He's one of my students. One of the legendary Sannin, a toad sage, and the sensei of the Yondaime," he announced. Naruto looked excited again, and the turned around quickly, just in time to see the large oak door burst open.

"Hello ladies!"

(Tora: Ha ha ha! Cliffhanger no jutsu!

Kurotora: Baka! You can't just type less than three pages! Onward you lazy bitch!

Tora: [after a blow to the head] Okay…)

The man that had rudely broke into the room was tall and had long white hair. He wore a red vest and an odd hitai-ate with the kanji for oil on it. He had two red lines from the corner of his eyes extending to the bottom of his chin.

"Hello sensei! It's your old pupil Jiraiya,, come home! I have conquered the land and gathered many a great tale in my quests!" he shouted dramatically. Naruto sweat dropped. He raised his eyebrows in skepticism.

"This is the great Sannin, teacher of the Yondaime, and a toad sage? He looks more like a pervert to me," Naruto said dryly. Hiruzen grimaced.

'You caught on to that whole 'pervert' thing already, huh?' the Hokage thought with a sigh. This might be even harder than he had originally guessed. Jiraiya too, looked like he was going to interfere with the Sandaime's brilliant plan. He was looking at Naruto with unabashed weariness. As though just Naruto's presence wore him out.

"Naruto," the old man started, sending a look towards Jiraiya, who's eyes widened at the name, "this is indeed my student, Jiraiya. I would like for him to train you for the Chunin exams," Naruto opened his mouth to complain, but the Hokage cut him off, "He taught the Yondaime, Naruto. Wouldn't someone who did that be able to train you too? He's knows the Rasengan and all of Minato's other jutsu," he explained. Jiraiya's jaw dropped, but not for the reason that Hiruzen thought. It was for the reason that even the Kyuubi boy questioned.

"Who's Minato?" he asked plainly. The Hokage flinched and mentally berated himself for revealing the fourth Hokage's real first name. He tried not to let that show though. He cleared his voice and coughed twice.

"Um… that's the Yondaime's first name. Minato," he reluctantly explained. The boy immediately started to bounce up and down in excitement.

"You know it?! What's his last name? Come on, old man! You've gotta tell me!" he shouted. Jiraiya had, by this point, walked forward to stand behind Naruto. He conked the young man on the head roughly.

"Shut up, shrimp. The Yondaime's name is classified. Why should the third here tell you the fourth's true name?" Jiraiya dismissed Naruto brusquely. The container's head dropped. Jiraiya had meant that the Hokage would never tell a kid; but to Naruto, all it sounded like 'We'd never tell a demon'.

'Even the Hokage's apprentice thinks I'm a demon! When will anybody accept me?!' he mentally screamed. Sarutobi saw the sudden depression in Naruto's mood and guessed the probable cause. He asked Naruto politely if he and Jiraiya could talk privately for a minute. The boy just nodded sullenly. As soon as he was out of sight, the Hokage's pupil whipped around to glare at his master.

"Telling a child Minato's real name! Are you crazy?" he shouted at the old man. The Sandaime sighed.

"Jiraiya, you have just hurt your godchild very deeply," he admonished softly. The toad sannin's eyes widened.

"So, I was right then? That was Minato's son right there?" he asked quietly, head bent, looking at the floor. The hokage sighed.

"You know it is. He is the Yondaime's carbon copy, though his personality is more like Kushina's. He cares deeply for all his friends and would protect them with his life. His name is a tribute to you, Jiraiya. You are that boy's godfather. Who else would Minato seal the Kyuubi in, but his own son? He wouldn't ask that of another family. And he believed that Naruto could handle it. His last wish was to make sure that Naruto was to be seen as a hero," the old Hokage explained Naruto's heritage. Jiraiya, startled, stepped back from the man. He then sighed and smiled deeply.

"Oh. Well if that's the case, then I'm kind of glad that I left. I wouldn't have wanted him to become un-cool with his 'pervy' godparent," Jiraiya chuckled weakly. Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned. He glanced towards his pupil, but very quickly resumed his study of the floor.

"No," he spoke firmly, shocking Jiraiya, "though that was the fourth's final wish, he has not been 'cool'. He has not been loved. He has not even been liked. This village has hated that boy and made him a pariah among all his peers and fellow citizens. He was kicked out of the orphanage that he was put in at the age of ten. He was beaten and shunned regularly, especially on his birthday; the night of the Kyuubi festival," the Sandaime sighed as he described Naruto's life up until this point.

The Toad Sannin was floored. He had thought that when he returned, he would find Minato's little boy in protective custody or under surveillance, or even adopted into a new family. He couldn't have possibly prepared himself for this. "Even so," Hiruzen continued, "he was a bright and happy boy, always playing pranks and trying to be noticed. He never once fought back against the villagers. He doesn't even hate them. He instead has decided to become Hokage and prove his worth to the village. When he learned about the Kyuubi -which was an S-class secret, by the way, never to be told to Naruto or any of his generation- he was saved by his teacher Iruka. He mastered the kagebunshin no jutsu in one night. He defended his teacher, even when he was told that he was monster. He always has tried to protect Konoha.

He then went on to become a Genin. He was placed under Hatake Kakashi, though he shows favoritism toward the Uchiha on his team, Sasuke. Naruto had a crush on his other teammate, Haruno Sakura, but, since he tried to rip her throat out the other day, I have a feeling that his infatuation has ended," the Hokage said with a chuckle. The Super-Pervert's eyes bugged out of his head.

"He tried to kill one of his teammates?! How is the seal? Is she okay? Is he?" Jiraiya shot questions at his old sensei like senbon. The Hokage laughed again.

"You just saw him, Jiraiya, he's fine. The seal is holding but, for some reason, Kyuubi's chakra and his own are mixing faster than anticipated. Let me explain this deal with the girl to you. Sakura, like most girls in the village, are quite taken with the local 'heartthrob' Uchiha Sasuke. The same one as on Naruto's team. So, whenever Naruto asks Sakura out on dates or the like, she hits him. Quite hard as I've seen," he admitted, frowning again.

"Yesterday, when I was explaining something to all of the Rookie 9 and their senseis, minus Inuzuka Kiba and Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto said something that upset the pink haired girl. So, she hit him, kicked him, and beat him until there was blood coming from his mouth. Of course, Kyuubi's demon chakra reacts to anger and rage, and Naruto kind of transformed. His nails and teeth lengthened while his whisker-marks deepened and his eyes turned red and slitted. He jumped at her, but I put a seal that repressed Kyuubi's chakra on him. He was knocked out and only woke up about an hour ago," he finished.

Jiraiya just stood there, taking in all in. This boy… this boy that should've been treated like a hero… beaten by his teammate… abused by the village… it was awful. "But… but… what did he say to make her want to hurt him that bad?" he asked sadly. The Sandaime looked at him tiredly. He then sighed and covered his eyes with his hand.

"With Sakura, often nothing, but this time? He told the group that he was going after Tsunade," the old man heaved another sigh.

Jiraiya gasped. "And why the hell would he want to do that?! Tsunade would never come back to the village of her own free will! She hates it here!" he screeched. Hiruzen looked confused, but then his expression cleared.

"Oh, I seem to be leaving out a character in this little drama. There is one girl who does like Naruto," he smiled, "Hyuuga Hinata. She's the heiress of her clan, but is horribly shy and has a severe confidence problem. Her whole clan thinks that she's unfit to be clan head, and her father hates her because she so resembles her late mother. Her sister, Hanabi, looks more like him and is more of a natural fighter; while Hinata is more suited for the healing arts. But, her cousin Neji hates her most of all. Due to some incident with his main branch father and his twin, Hiashi, Hinata's father, Neji lost his faith in the world and is convinced that he's fated to serve the main branch forever; serve Hinata forever, even when he sees himself as the superior Hyuuga. And he kind of is. His Byakugan is the most advanced at his age then any we've seen in a long while," he once again explained a child's back-story to the clueless Jiraiya.

"Therefore, Hinata's world has been a little dark since the death of her mother. To her, Naruto is a beacon of light in a cold world. He's everything she wants to be; confident, persevering, and always able to smile. She adores him for those qualities and has kind of been watching him all of her life, since the very first day of the ninja academy," he shrugged.

Jiraiya's head was spinning at this overload of information. Hyuuga Hinata was a very interesting girl, to say the least. For Konoha's strongest clan's heiress to fall in love with the village outcast who holds the Leaf's greatest foe, Kyuubi no Kitsune, was a strange twist indeed.

"But what does any of this have to do with Tsunade?" he asked, still wondering about her possible involvement.

"Well, you see, in the preliminary rounds of the Chunin exams, about two days ago, Hinata and Neji were paired up as opponents," the Sandaime sighed.

"Oh no," the Sannin breathed.

"Yes," he nodded sadly, "she was beaten. Neji landed a hit to her heart and she collapsed. Here's where Naruto comes in. He'd been cheering her on the whole batch because Neji started it by verbally terrorizing Hinata. Calling her a failure, a worthless loser, all that. Naruto couldn't stand to see one of his friends ridiculed so he cheered for her. When she collapsed that first time, Hayate was going to call the match, but Naruto stopped him. He was hit by sakura and Kakashi told him that it was cruel to make Hinata keep fighting. But Hinata got back up anyway. After a brief exchange of words, Neji's anger was restored and he unexpectedly charged one more time. Though the match was over, the boy's final attack, another Jyuuken to the heart, hit Hinata and she was technically dead for over five minutes. They brought her back, just barely, but the whole area on and around her heart is mutilated and she won't last more than three months. Naruto feels responsible because, he says, that if he'd let her stop fighting the first time, she wouldn't be dying.

Don't tell Naruto, but they've already replaced her heart and left lung, but the lasting damage of the Jyuuken -the foreign chakra in her body- will also tear those new ones apart by the time her three months are up," he admitted dejectedly. The Toad Sannin was crushed to learn that his godchild felt responsible for this horrible tragedy. That he…

They were cut off by a sob.

Unbeknownst to the two older Kage-level ninja, Naruto had been listening to their whole conversation. Kyuubi had showed him how to mask his chakra effectively, and used some of his fox chakra to enhance the boy's hearing. Since they had started to talk about Hinata, Naruto had been gasping quietly. He had held fast to the hope that, maybe without Tsunade, if they just replaced the damaged organs, Hinata would live. Now, it seemed, all the responsibility -Hinata's whole life- rested on Naruto's shoulders. And those of Senju Tsunade.

He had been shocked to learn that the Yondaime was his dad, but after thinking it over and hearing what the Sandaime had to say about it, it made sense to him. He had been angry for awhile, but he reasoned that, as the Hokage, it was only natural that he wouldn't ask any other family to behold such a burden but his own. But Hinata… it was so sad. How could her dad hate her just because she looked like her mother? It was monstrous! And he knew… he knew that Kyuubi wouldn't help this time. Normally, he could rely on the beast for some advice, but the demon was silent. Stunned.

The door behind him opened to reveal Jiraiya looking at him tiredly.

"Hey, kid," he said gruffly. Naruto looked up at him.

"What?" Naruto snarled. This was his godfather that just left him alone in this awful village to be preyed upon by the spiteful and fearful villagers. Jiraiya flinched.

"Look, I'm sorry about leaving you. If I had known… I never would've left. Or, at the very least, I would've come back sooner. And I'm sorry about your Hyuuga friend, but-" he was cut off by Naruto.

"Don't talk about her like that!" he screamed. Jiraiya stepped back. He knew that Kyuubi's chakra was unstable when the boy was angry. He held up his hands defensively.

"What?" he whined slightly. This just stirred up Naruto's anger more.

"Don't talk about Hinata-chan like she's just another Hyuuga! She's different! She's not some stuck-up asshole!" the container shouted, shaking in fury. Jiraiya sighed.

"I'm sorry. I know she's different. But, if you'd let me, I'll make up for leaving you," eh offered.

Naruto froze and his face twisted out of one of rage and into one of confusion. "What you could you possibly do?" he asked dully.

"Well, duh!" the old pervert laughed, holding up a thumbs up, "I'm gonna teach you you're father's old jutsu! The Rasengan!"

Author's Note: NEW POLL! :D