Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
_

Tsunade was sitting in her office, Minato, Kushina and Jiraiya sitting before her, all terrible nervous because of the twitch on Tsunade's brow. "So let me see if I got this strait. When you two woke up last morning, Natsuki was hopping around on your bed, rushing you to hurry up so that she could see her friends. In your drowsy state of mind, you got dressed and left with her, completely forgetting that Naruto was sleeping only a few feet away. Has something like this ever happened before? Is occasionally forgetting your quiet son in favor of your loud daughter on the list of things you do or did you just pick a lousy time to try something new?" Sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

Kushina sobbed, but nodded. "It may have happened once or twice. Naruto is just so quiet, you completely forget he's there, especially with Natsuki around."

That part Tsunade couldn't deny, as she herself had once taken five minutes to notice Naruto was there when the Namikaze-family had come to her for a checkup. "Anyways, you sealed the compound when you left, to ensure that no assassin sneaks in while you're away and hides to kill you in your sleep, like that man from Iwa a few months ago. While sealing the gate, Minato, you noticed a surge in the chakra-flow. You didn't investigate, why?"

Minato looked uncomfortable. "A spike or surge in a seal-array is usually the first warning that one of the seals is fading, either because the surface it was applied on is wearing down or because the ink is fading off. However, it is not necessarily a cause for alarm, especially not when there have been no prior surges, as it is merely a warning that one of the seals is not in perfect condition. When the first surge comes, that is a sign that you should check the array out in the next few months, or something might fail. I had planned to thoroughly inspect the seals on my free day tomorrow. Also, the surge was weak and gone as soon as it came, which indicates only a minor defect. When I made a rudimentary analysis, the flow was just how it was supposed to be, so I figured that the damage must have been minor at worst. Also, not only the gates, but the walls and my entire house are connected through that array, which means there are almost 10.000 individual seals that I would have to carefully analyze to find the damaged seal, as the surge was weak and didn't give any indication of where I would have to look to find the problem. Which means that it would have taken hours to find the problem, which at the moment I really didn't want to spend crawling into all dusty corners of the compound to check the seals while my wife enjoyed the day alone. And after the incident with the Iwa-nin, I added a second array of security-seals working independently from the main array. Anyone not keyed into the system who would enter the compound would have been knocked out and kept unconscious and paralyzed until I woke him up for interrogation, and I activated that system before leaving, and it was working perfectly, so I didn't see a danger in leaving the surge alone for a day."

Jiraiya nodded. "That is how it works. A surge would suggest that one looks over his arrays, but if it is the first time it happens, you generally have around half a year until any real problems show."

"Naruto should be grateful then that you didn't decide to camp out for a few months? And Minato, did you at least remember to key Naruto into that system, or did you forget him too while you worked on the seals?" Tsunade asked in a sneer.

Now Minato was offended. "Of course he is keyed in!"

Tsunade sighed. "Anyways, you then visited a dozen or so compounds, and because all of the children running around there, you didn't have time to think of Naruto. Even when you visited the Yamanaka their blond hair did not remind anyone that you had a son with the same hair-color, correct? and nobody in any of the compounds asked where Naruto was either, or even had a present for him. Is that right?"

Slow nods answered her. She took a deep breath. "And then you went to the festival, where practically the entire village welcomed you, and again, nobody thought of Naruto. You let the kids run around and when you had your free and calm moment, you all decided to get shit-faced and pretend children did not exist, is that right? And Jiraiya, who I know has been in the country for at least three days, decided he'd rather go peep on women in the hotsprings rather than visit his godchildren. Meanwhile, Naruto got his arm shredded by your arrays because he touched the gate his family had closed in front of his face, and spent his entire birthday bleeding into the yard. And lets not forget, the only present he got that day, the ones locked up in your compound don't count, was a crippling injury and the end of his career as a shinobi, long before it officially began. Does that about sum it up?"

All three looked at each other. It sounded horrible when Tsunade said it like that, but they couldn't really say anything, because that was essentially what happened. So they slowly nodded.

Tsunade looked ready to explode, but with inhuman effort, she managed to reign her temper in. she took a deep, calming breath. "Name one reason why I should not pick up this desk and whack you all with it until you look like triplets." She pinched her nose, before turning to the door. "SHIZUNE, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT, I NEED SAKE RIGHT NOW!"

As it turned out, Shizune had been eavesdropping, and for once actually agreed with Tsunade. When shit like this happened, alcohol was a good friend to lean on. She brought a bottle and two cups, one for Tsunade and one for herself. She wasn't a heavy drinker, but you don't spend years with Tsunade without learning how to hold your liquor.

Tsunade finished her first cup in one go, before looking at the downcast parents plus godfather. "You've caused a wonderful mess. Now you deal with it. You three decide which one of you gets to explain to Naruto that he'll never be shinobi, and especially why." With that, she stood up and left. Silence reigned in the room after the door closed.

-0-

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. The ceiling was unfamiliar, but somehow, he didn't really care. He felt hollow inside. He tried to sit up, but dropped back into the cushions, realizing that it was futile. He felt weak, horribly weak. Had Natsuki crawled into his bed again? No, he was alone. Also, this wasn't his room, so he couldn't be in his bed. Why was he here?

Then it slowly came back to him. He remembered seeing his parents, laughing happily while accompanying Natsuki outside, without even thinking about him. He remembered running to the gate, then pain. Unbearable pain in his arm. The rest was a blur, but one more thing he did remember. He remembered how colors had erupted in his field of vision, breaking through darkness while loud booms broke the silence that reigned for what seemed like an eternity. He had laid there on the ground, and for the entire day, for his entire birthday, and nobody had come for him. His parents had just let him lay there and bleed out. That Natsuki didn't say anything even if she remembered wouldn't surprise Naruto, she was becoming unbearable.

Still, a part of him could not believe what had happened. That part was dying off quicker than his glutton of a sister could devour a bowl of ramen, but a part of him had still held this believe of the parents that would always be there when you really needed them, and that part was crushed.

Naruto looked down on his right arm. It was in a cast. Well, he had suspected that bones were broken when his wrist and fingers had bent backwards the second time he sat down to rest in the sun. Good thing that for all his genjutsu but Zekkou Sekai, he no longer needed handsigns. Well, he needed eye-contact, concentration and some obvious gesture to get it to work, and they were only low-ranking ones, but a success was a success.

Even more so since Naruto was now on his own. While he knew that his parents, who had to have brought him here, as they were the only ones who could open the gate, would probably not discard him, from this point on, the only person Naruto would trust and rely on was Naruto. Never again would he give anyone a chance to betray him like his parents had.

And speak of the devil, the door opened, and two patches of yellow and red with two people attached to them entered Naruto's field of vision. Strangely, the sight of his parents filled Naruto with no more emotion than he had before, if anything his emotions seemed to fade away.

-0-

Minato and Kushina entered the room. To their surprise, Naruto was awake, something Tsunade had said she was not sure if it would happen within the year, depending on how long Naruto's mind would need to get over the shock. Was his almost immediate awakening a good sign for his recovery, or was it bad that it only took a few hours to get over the feeling of being effectively abandoned by his parents in his greatest hour of need?

Minato gulped. "Hi Naruto."

The boy didn't answer. He simply laid in the bed, Tsunade had said that the boy would probably feel extremely weak because of the amounts of blood he had lost, so it was unlikely he'd be sitting up if he woke up earlier than the day after tomorrow, but the silence was unnerving.

Kushina tried again. "How are you feeling?"

Naruto's brow raised a fraction of an inch. Kushina cursed herself, it was a stupid question.

Naruto looked at her with those strangely empty eyes. "How long?" He finally asked.

Kushina blinked. "How long until what?"

"Until my arm is healed." Naruto replied.

Kushina and Minato exchanged a glance, each not wanting to be the bearer of the news. Minato grimaced, before slowly replying. "It'll take... time. A lot of time I'm afraid. For now, you may want to learn how to operate with one arm."

Naruto slowly nodded. If his suspicion was correct, the bones in his arm were probably little more than splinters, and he had a feeling that a number of those splinters had left his arm with the blood. Fixing all that would probably take weeks, and then he had to go through rehabilitation. All in all, months would probably pass before he was back to normal.

Kushina fidgeted. "Naruto, sweetie, please speak with us." She pleaded. This silence was more than she could take.

Naruto looked at her. "Fine. Where were you last night?"

Kushina looked as if she had just been slapped. "I-I..."

Naruto gave both her and his father a cold look. "I waited, but you did not come. The fireworks went off, and you still weren't there." With that, he closed his eyes and let himself fall into the darkness, the conversation finished from his point of view.

Kushina was pale as a ghost. Her lips moved, but no sound escaped them. Naruto had really stayed conscious the entire time until midnight, suffering through what Tsunade had said could only have been living hell, waiting for them?

Minato, equally pale, took his wife's shoulder. He tried to speak, but his mouth was so dry, it took him three tries. "I... I don't think he wants to see us right now."

Kushina nodded and they left. That night, neither of them slept.

-0-

Three days later, Naruto was cleared by Tsunade to go home, with clear instructions of taking it easy, not doing any strenuous activity for longer than five minutes, putting absolutely no pressure on the arm and not try and channel chakra with it. Naruto nodded, understanding the need of leaving the arm alone to heal.

Of course, that didn't mean he would just sit back and watch his muscles degenerate. He would do bits of light exercise, and continue with his genjutsu. He would not channel any chakra into his left arm, the doctor didn't say such things without a reason after all, but the rest of his body was fair game. And seals were something he could work on without putting strain on his body. Good thing he was right-handed, his calligraphy would not be impaired by this...circumstance. And he could still draw and paint. He had started latter recently, and it had taken him a while to figure out how to mix colors and create a picture without making a mess out of both himself and the canvas, and he needed more practice, but nobody could say he had no hobbies outside of ninja-work. It was also a perfect disguise, as artists were some of the few people who wandered everywhere and roused no suspicion when looking around or checking out places in detail.

During the next week, he improved on both his art, although those did not last, as he managed to make a for his standards complicated array that summoned the paint back into their jars when Naruto was done, giving him both the opportunity to practice without wasting paint or canvasses, thus saving money, and doing so in secrecy, as whenever Minato and Kushina entered, all they saw was a blank canvas, a remain of something that Naruto, so they believed, once planned to start but never really did. It also kept everything clean, which was another plus.

Still, his arm was a bother right now. It didn't hurt, but it was a handicap that barred him from a few things he wanted to do, not only unarmed combat, but swordsmanship and, what left a bitter taste in his mouth despite not really expecting anything from his parents anymore, jutsu-lessons. With only one hand, he couldn't form the handsigns needed for new jutsu, meaning Natsuki was slowly starting to get ahead of him in those aspects, especially now that his parents could completely focus on her during those lessons and correct her mistakes.

Remembering when he had come for the usual lessons, only to be sent away, still upset Naruto, not that he showed it to anyone.

-0-

Flashback

He had been about enter the dojo, but his mother stood before him, looking regretful. "I'm sorry Naruto, but right now, you're in no condition for swordplay."

Naruto was upset. "Why not?"

Kushina sighed. "Naruto, I'm not trying to be mean, but you're not in a condition to fight. Your left side is a obvious weakness you can't defend. You can't even correctly hold a sword. Please understand, it's just not possible."

Naruto's expression turned emotionless. "And whose fault is that?" He asked bitterly.

Kushina's lips moved, but whatever she had wanted to say got stuck in her throat.

Naruto turned away. "Never mind," he muttered. "I understand perfectly."

He walked away. Somehow, he was not very surprised when a few hours later his father stopped him when he moved to jutsu-practice, saying because of his arm he couldn't participate, although it filled him with an even deeper bitterness, as one-handed handsigns existed, and Naruto knew Minato knew they existed, although Minato had no idea that Naruto knew. He had spat out something similar to what he'd said to Kushina and left.

Minato and Kushina met up in the evening, and knowing that Naruto that Naruto was upset, they tried to gather the courage to tell him the truth. That his arm would never really heal and that he couldn't be a shinobi. That they had canceled his lessons to prevent him from going on a rampage or run off to live as a ronin or something like that was something they didn't even admit to themselves, although they were both worried. Without any real ability or skill, they knew that Naruto would be less likely to run off and get himself killed, as he was smart. Still, neither could shake a bad feeling.

End of Flashback

-0-

But that was not to say that Minato and Kushina didn't look out for Naruto. Quite the opposite, after he returned home, there was constantly at least one of them around him, unless it was time for the now solely devoted to Natsuki training or shinobi-duties, looking out for him and offering assistance wherever he may need it.

While a week ago that would have been the fulfillment of Naruto's wildest dreams, things had changed, and now Naruto was getting annoyed by them buzzing around him because of their guilty conscience. Honestly, he began wishing they would just act like they had before, and leave him alone to spend time with his sister, as he really didn't want to see their faces. That's not to say he didn't use opportunities when they arose, as on the first day home, he had asked his father for a written permission to use the library, and got it. The man had been on such a guilt-trip when seeing his son dragging his body into the house, the left arm little more than a club-shaped mess of bandages, that he probably would have even signed his own execution.

Naruto had used that permission as a reason to spend as much time as possible out of the house, most of it in the library, but he also simply wandered through Konoha. It gave him some much-needed relief from his family, although the ANBU were getting annoying.

Speaking of his family, Natsuki was slowly getting unbearable. She was smart enough not to do anything but send dirty looks while her parents were in earshot, but when alone, she was getting really nasty. While she couldn't blame any pranks on him right now, she kept taking shots at his injury and kept bragging that she could still take lessons, something that actually got under his skin.

However, there was something going on that he didn't know about. The first indication was when Naruto had been walking around and accidentally stumbled upon a training-ground where a group of the main-branch of the Hyuuga-clan were currently practicing their techniques. He had paused to look at the display, it was after all the greatest of all taijutsu of Konoha, assuming one compared the damage they could cause on a specific level of proficiency with the style. No other taijutsu-style allowed its user to cause the same degree of damage at little training.

Of course, after standing there for a few minutes, one of the Hyuuga had looked his way. At first he seemed angry, but after looking at him closely, his eyes filled with something that could almost be described as pity, and he and all others just went on with their training, ignoring him.

What Naruto didn't know was that the news of the Hokage's son being permanently crippled and was now unable to become a shinobi, since he was unable to even mold chakra correctly, had spread throughout the village, although nobody talked of it often and the children had no idea. And as is usual with rumors, this one like many others before it spiraled out of control, until everyone believed Naruto was unable to produce chakra or even feel his arm. So the Hyuuga, and all others he would observe in the next weeks saw him not as someone spying on their training, but as a broken figure that out of a masochistic craving watched others practice what was forever out of his reach, just so that he could feel some connection to the shinobi-life. Ironically, the harshest clans, the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, were the most tolerant of his existence, both pitying him for the loss of what they considered the most precious gift, the ability to properly move one's body and the ability to use chakra and leaving him alone as long as he didn't bother anyone. After all, what harm could one boy do? They didn't teach him any secrets he could spill, not that it was likely he would even if they did, as he was the son of the Hokage. What could it hurt to let him watch?

Naruto didn't understand what was going on, but he would not look a gift horse in the mouth as he observed other shinobi training in their art. As an artist and a genjutsu-prodigy, even if unacknowledged, he had an eye for details and a sharp mind that could analyze almost anything. So as he watched the shinobi fight, he learned. He saw how they moved in combat, how they used their bodies to put maximum power into their attacks, how they aimed for the points that would do the most damage, how they held themselves when they threw different weapons, how they held and moved theirs swords, and what basic principles allowed the different techniques to work. He also memorized handsigns, picking the jutsu apart to see how they worked. Just because he intended to be a genjutsu- and seal-master didn't mean he had to be helpless if he for whatever reason was not able to use either.

However, with his careful observation, he was slowly gaining another ability that he himself did not know about, but would perfect in the following months and years. From looking how people moved, how they held themselves and to a certain degree how their chakra flowed, his ability as a sensor was weak, but it was there, he would eventually be able to evaluate a person's talent, determining what training would be best from minutes of observation. But that would not come until after he left Konoha.

But even though he did so much, he neither neglected his seal-work nor his genjutsu. It was amazing just how much knowledge the library contained, and even though little of it was actual techniques, it turned out that non-clan shinobi and even a few clan-shinobi had left scrolls about different theories and rules on all types of jutsu, including a few scrolls on the finer workings of fuinjutsu written by Minato Namikaze himself, in the library for public viewing. Of course Naruto was not foolish enough to take anything he read at face-value, and always made sure he was not working with some absurd theory before incorporating it into his work. His understanding of seals was now on a level where even Minato and Jiraiya themselves would be pressed to find a rule that Naruto didn't know. Of course, when it came to practical application and the creation of seals, they were light-years ahead of Naruto, but he now knew enough that he could soon start with seal-crafting, and although he knew enough to start with small, low-power seals to avoid blowing himself up on accident, he had a few ideas that he had developed when he was crippled.

His first idea would be basic, but if it worked, it could revolutionize the ninja-world. It would be twelve seals, located on basically random locations on the body. What made them special were that they would be the equal to the twelve handsigns, meaning that a shinobi simply had to charge the seals he wanted to with chakra, and he could use any jutsu while having both hands free to fight enemies and give them no warning he was about to blast them with something.

The second idea was built on the first one. If it was possible to use seals as handsigns, and Naruto was sure it was possible, then why not put an entire seal-sequence into a seal, allowing the user to activate a jutsu with just sending the necessary amount of chakra into the seal, which would take less than a second compared to maybe even twenty depending on the length of the sequence and the skill and speed of the caster? Perhaps even some additional seals to hide the sequence-seal when not used, so that someone knowledgeable with seals could not read the jutsu by simply seeing the seal when inactive.

On the field of genjutsu, Naruto had managed to complete and seallessly activate it. It was not as strong or draining as Zekkou Sekai, nor was it as intricate with the hallucinations it caused, but it wasn't supposed to be. Mekura was not designed to be flashy, or give it's victim a false world to live in. It had one simple purpose; the user would not be noticed. When used, all others simply didn't realize he was there. They would subconsciously walk around him to avoid bumping into him, but they would not realize why they did it or even that they did it. Even better, not only was the user unnoticeable, but so were indications that he was there. To give an example, they wouldn't just overlook him, but footprints made by him on a muddy road. Of course it wasn't perfect. Assuming he activated a security-system that raised an alarm, the people would notice the alarm and realize there was something wrong. Although they would not directly see him, at that point they would assume there was a genjutsu and dispel it. Also, if he slapped someone, they would feel it and again know he was there, even if they couldn't immediately locate him. So it couldn't be used for assassination, or at least he'd need a different trick to escape the crime-scene. Still, it was invaluable when walking around the village without the ANBU on his heels, although he didn't dare enter clan-compounds or the Hokage's tower with it.

His efforts to cast genjutsu using a catalyst other than sight were currently not going so well, but he knew it would take time.

By now, his bones had healed, thanks to the blond woman with the big chest that regularly checked on him in the hospital, but to his frustration, the nerves had apparently been damaged and he could barely move his arm from the elbow down, nor could he channel any chakra through it.

Though on the bright side, he had made a few friends on his wanderings through the village. Granted, they were a bit unusual, but he preferred their company to that of other humans. He was slowly getting sick of all the pitiful looks.

-0-

Flashback

It was one of Naruto's first walks, few days before he'd stumble onto the training-ground. He didn't really have any set destination, as he didn't feel like going to the library today, so he more or less just walked where his feet led him, simply wanting to get as far away from his family as he currently could. Eventually, when he walked into a dead end, he decided it was time for a break. He looked around, and finding a bakery, he bought himself a small loaf of bread. It wasn't much, but Naruto had not taken his wallet and was limited to a bit of spare-change in his pocket, and that bread was not only the cheapest thing, it was really the only thing he could currently afford.

So he sat down on a crate that was placed nearby, right at the entrance of that dead end he had walked into a few minutes earlier, nibbling on the sweetened bread while going over different ideas for his genjutsu and fuinjutsu.

His train of thought was interrupted by a squeaking noise coming from his right, from the dead end. Alarmed he looked, but there was nothing there. He was just about to try and cancel a genjutsu when he heard another squeak. He looked down, and found a rat, gray with a white spot between its eyes looking at him, more precisely the bread in his hand, nose twitching.

Naruto tilted his head. Unlike many others, he wasn't afraid of rats. Or spiders, or cockroaches for that matter. He didn't understand why his family's faces scrunched in disgust when they saw the brown insects, or why Natsuki would start screaming when she saw one. They were insects, or arachnids, but that was beside the point. They were harmless, most of them anyways, and there was no reason to panic. And how come people screamed at cockroaches, but went all ooh and aah when they spotted a butterfly, a ladybug or a firefly? And why was a rat gross, but a mouse was cute? There wasn't that much of a difference.

Naruto turned to the rat. It quickly ran backwards, but after a minute, it carefully peaked out of its hiding spot and inched towards him, twitching nose ahead. Naruto smiled. Somehow, he felt a bit related to that rodent. He was in the family, but he was not really a part of it, just like this rat was there in the great family of Konoha, as the villagers sometimes had the gall to call it, yet it was not really wanted. An odd sense of comradeship rose in Naruto, something he had never felt before. Maybe it was because this rat was not a human. There were no expectations, so there was no way to be betrayed.

Naruto looked at the rat, then at his bread, before holding onto it with his teeth, needing his only good hand to hold the in place while he tore a piece out. He set the bread on his lap, took the piece in his hand and held it to the rat. "Here."

The rat seemed, like all wild animals, distrusting at first, but eventually hunger won out and it started gnawing on the bread, Naruto letting it go to ensure his fingers wouldn't accidentally become part of the menu. After it and Naruto had finished, the rat ran away.

However, when Naruto wandered the streets the next day even though he walked a completely different route, when he sat down with a bit of food to take a break, there was a rat with a white spot between the eyes looking at him, this time with two others. Naruto sweat-dropped. "Seriously. Okay Shiro," he decided to call the rat that because of it's white spot "let's make this clear, okay? I don't mind if I share food with you and a few friend of yours, but I'm not going to become your family's main food-supplier, are we clear?" He knew just how fast a rat-population could grow. The rat didn't react, still looking at the food, although if Naruto didn't know better, he'd say it was trying to look cute. Naruto sighed and tossed him his share.

It went on like this, Naruto eventually resorting to taking food out of the compound with him to share with his new friends. At least the rat seemed to somewhat understand him, as while the numbers of rats changed every day, there were never more than seven. However, it seemed he was attracting other omnivores, as after the first weeks, he had fallen into a routine of reading in the library or watching training, sharing lunch with his new friends, then doing the thing he had not done before lunch, either the library or observation, depending on what day it was and who was training when, when he walked to a quiet place where he and the rats could eat in peace, not only did four rats crawl out of the bushes, but three crows, or maybe they were ravens, landed in front of his feet.

Naruto blinked. What was this about? But the rats didn't seem to mind, as Shiro and the others had barely looked up when they came. Naruto looked at what he brought this time, slices of apple. He looked at the animals. "I have no idea what's going on here, and I don't really care, but I don't want to be caught in any fighting, so you split your share between yourselves peacefully." In the back of his mind, he was starting to wonder if his brain had taken any damage when he got zapped. Here he was, sitting on a rock in the outskirts of the forest surrounding the training-ground, talking to animals while putting a plastic plate he had bought for that purpose full of fruit on the ground and watching them tear into it.

Naruto had shrugged it off and just accepted that he'd be feeding the birds together with the rodents from now on. It wasn't that surprising that when a new and easy source of food made itself available, the scavengers would come flocking, although he decided to draw a line if stray cats and dogs started following him. Thankfully though, that didn't happen, and Naruto found that he actually relaxed in the company of his furry and feathered friends.

End of Flashback

-0-

Naruto eventually realized that he liked his lunches with the animals more than his dinners with the family. Those had been extremely awkward, as both Minato and Kushina had tried to start a conversation with him, only to realize they had nothing to really talk about, as they knew nothing of his hobbies, of what he liked to do. They knew he spent time reading, and recently heard he seemed to be getting along with birds, but there were few topics of discussion they could share with him.

To make matters worse, Natsuki was being a worse brat than usual, so Minato and Kushina had little choice but to focus more and more attention on her to keep her out of trouble than on their son, who apparently didn't want it and spent more time outside than with them, so within two to three months, things had slowly returned to how they'd been before, Naruto's Mekura helping a bit, although he used if very sparsely on his parents. Natsuki had been under it practically nonstop since the day Naruto had completed it. Minato and Kushina did give him more attention than before, and tried to make up with him at least three times a week, and although Naruto didn't like it, he felt that he was slowly getting, he couldn't call it forgiving, but he was more tolerant of them, a part of him apparently still wanting to trust his parents, who really did make an effort.

-0-

Naruto had gone to bed in a good mood, his arm seemed to be getting better, as he had managed to grab a plastic cup with it and drink. Granted, the entire thing took almost half a minute, but Naruto saw it as a good sign. He had known that progress would be slow, admittedly he hadn't thought it'd take this long, and any progress was better than no progress, as it showed he was on the road to recovery.

Looking back, this entire mess had not only been bad for Naruto, as without it, not only would he be not even close to his current level with seals, as the library's knowledge would have been beyond his grasp, but he would also never have thought of a number of ideas he had come up with that would make things easier for those who had lost limbs, whether arms, hands or just fingers. Granted, he hadn't managed to actually complete those ideas, but he had a concept, which meant by his still childlike logic that the lion's share of the work was done. He didn't know that Minato had needed four years after coming up with the concept of the Hiraishin to work out all the details and actually complete it.

But still, Naruto fell asleep with a content smile, dreaming of what he would do once he was finally back to normal.

He had no idea that what would follow his next awakening would change his life forever.
_

Chapter 5 is done. I'm not completely happy with it. It's the longest yet, and yet it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it. Most of it is third person speech, and while it helps getting the story along and I deem it important, there is too little dialogue, which really fleshes the characters out, for me to call this a really good chapter. Still, I made progress, and the next chapters will be better.

Next chapter, the Devil's Arm, that currently only me and one other person whose name I will not give so that he won't be pestered to give away the secret know the abilities of, will finally come next chapter. That will probably also be the chapter Naruto leaves. Also, I didn't get as far as I'd hoped, so the explanation about what happens when Natsuki sleeps with him will definitely come next chapter. Sorry.

A short explanation: First, Naruto is not having saint-like patience with his family, he simply decided that instead of yelling, shouting, breaking things or playing pranks, which would not only make him like Natsuki and the image of him that has formed in his parents' mind, he ignores them, wanting as little to do with them as possible. He knows he can't live alone yet, as his parents wouldn't allow it and keep him under constant supervision even if they did, which he doesn't want, so he lives at their house, but simply ignores them unless there is no other option. That way, Kushina and Minato are worried, but after they had him shadowed for a week, they have the feeling that they basically know what's going on, and knowing from both the shinobi that notice him watching them train and the librarians, they know how he spends the majority of his day, so they know he's not doing anything crazy, dangerous or Orochimaru-ish. They think he simply needs a bit of time to deal with everything, and some time alone, and realized from his behavior that he currently wants to be left alone. They still try and make up for their mistakes, but they realized that forcing themselves on him would have the opposite effect.

And after he leaves Konoha, Naruto will make a name for himself, a few actually, but he makes sure nobody knows or can identify him as Naruto. He doesn't want to make the job easier for whoever his family sends out to find him.

As to why Naruto's family hasn't lost any reputation, while Konoha knows that Naruto is crippled, they don't know how it happened. They heard it was an accident with Minato's seals, so they're assuming Naruto had, accidentally or not, went somewhere he wasn't supposed to go and received divine punishment. And Tsunade cares for Naruto as a patient, meaning she calls him twice a week for a checkup, but doesn't really spend any free time with him.

IMPORTANT: I've gotten quite a bit of criticism on this story, and while I don't mind critics, flamers are different, it did get me thinking. So, to ask for public opinion, I've set up a poll on whether or not I should continue this story. It's on my profile, so please give me your opinion. Thank you.

Now onto the genjutsu I created.

Mekura (Blindness/Illiteracy/Ignorance)
Rank: B
Range: Short (0-5m), Middle (5-10m), Long (10m+)
Type: Support
This genjutsu was invented by Naruto. While most genjutsu create hallucinations or, if complex enough, an entire fake world, this one does the opposite. The victim still sees the world as it really is, which means even someone with photographic memory would not be able to tell he was in a genjutsu because some absolutely minor detail is wrong, but instead, all traces that indicate the presence of something, generally the user. This includes not only his body, but also things like sounds he makes, any smell he emits, minor physical contact, up to a certain point things he moves, for example doors, and even the presence a experienced shinobi can instinctively detect. However, if the user were to do something that cannot be easily ignored, for example attacking the victim or smashing or stealing something precious to the victim, the genjutsu would not cover that, and the victim would immediately realize something was wrong, although the genjutsu would not automatically cancel itself. If multiple victims are trapped, the only one who would notice in the case of an attack would be the target of the attack, although the others would notice if the target dropped dead. Like with any normal genjutsu, disrupting one's chakra-flow or a loss of conscience will end it, although like many other subtle ones, it will not be dispelled when the victim is asleep. This genjutsu will become one of the ones most often used by Naruto.

Now, the Q&A

Q: Will Naruto hate his family? Will he ever forgive them?
A: Yes, he will hate them, although he won't work towards his family's disruption or misery. He will dislike them greatly, but he will go on with life and simply not care what happens to them, as long as he doesn't have to spend time with them, something along the lines of 'I would never wish you ill, but I would read your obituary with great satisfaction'. Will he forgive? I haven't decided yet, but complete forgiveness is more than unlikely.

Q: This one will probably be asked next chapter. Why is Naruto so relaxed?
A: He doesn't know his injury is permanent, Minato and Kushina haven't gathered the guts to tell him. Such things take a completely different kind of courage than facing an enemy. So Naruto believes it's just something that takes more time to heal, although him learning the truth next chapter will be part of the reason why he leaves.

Q: Is the Devil's Arm a replacement-limb?
A: No, Naruto's arm is not and won't be amputated, only because of Tsunade's expertise. She actually used her own kinjutsu on Naruto's arm after removing the large patches of dead flesh to motivate those still living to replace those patches. It worked, but it did put additional strain on the arm that further weakened it. So the arm is there, it just doesn't really work, so he keeps it in a sash (?), just like Danzo keeps his right arm hidden while in public.

Q: Will Natsuki admit she lied?
A: Not everything, but she will admit a few things, but only after Naruto has already left.

Q: Pairings? Updates?
A: I haven't decided if and who I will pair with anyone, although I can already say that the only person from Konoha who I'd even consider would be Yakumo and maybe, this is a big maybe, Tenten. Affections from Hinata's side, while not only unlikely, would be one-sided, as Naruto, as you might have figured out yourselves, has some trust-issues. As for updates, I'm not updating on any kind of schedule. Updates will come when they come.

Also, thanks for all the good wishes for my hand, it healed nicely and you can barely tell there was ever something wrong.

Longest chapter so far, longest AN so far, I think I said enough, so

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