Author's Note: I will not be repeating that I don't own Naruto (except this one more time) so keep that in mind going forward. I liked how my first chapter came out though it did feel a little short, and I always try to make each progressing chapter a little longer than the last. I actually haven't written anything for years so I'm more than open to some feedback. For everyone's knowledge, the time span between the beginning of the attack to the end of the first part of this chapter is less than ten minutes.

OoO

Naruto looked at Ino, a little surprised that she had thanked him, but he could see the hurt in her eyes. There was something in that pained look that he recognized, a loathing at ones self for being weak, and one of loneliness. He knew those two all too well, even if he couldn't fully empathize with her situation. He nodded at her then looked back up to the sky, the blackness interrupted by the small points of light. "You're welcome." He still wasn't sure there was anything he could say to her, and the Nine-tails seemed be remaining silent now.

Ino continued to look at Naruto, she couldn't help but feel a little comfort in his presence. 'He's struggling with something too.' It was clear to her from the look in his eyes. Normally she would have called him annoying, and told him to get lost, but suddenly things had changed. 'Every time he boasted about becoming Hokage...he really believed in himself, and he must be working really hard. He was never able to do the Clone Jutsu, but just now he created solid clones, and three of them at that.' It made her dream of being noticed by Sasuke, who generally seemed uninterested in the opposite sex, kind of childish in comparison to Naruto's. She glanced at the corpse laying at the back of the alley and shuddered, the memories of the incident hit her, and she vomited. 'I'm weak.'

"Ino!" Naruto called as he stood and was about to rush to her side, but her entire frame cringed away from him. He stopped midway and took a step back instead. "Are you alright Ino? Do you want me to take you home?" He knew that she lived in this neighborhood but he wasn't entirely sure where.

Ino shook her head, and heaved for a couple more seconds. The last place she wanted to be was anywhere near here, and unfortunately her house was less than two hundred feet from the place where she had almost been raped. She wanted to be as far from here as possible as soon as possible. "Could I stay at your place tonight?" Ino choked out. It was late, her father was away on a mission, and her mother was probably asleep by now, and she didn't want to have to recount this tale if she were awake.

"Yeah." Naruto replied. Ino tried to stand but stumbled. Naruto was about to move to catch her but thought better of it, instead he turned around and got down on one knee, holding his arms behind him. "Here, if you feel ok with it I can carry you." His offer was met with a weight against his back and arms around his neck. He carefully placed his arms behind her knees and stood up, then took off, leaving the grizzly scene behind them.

OoO

They arrived at his apartment, and Naruto set Ino down on his bed, where she curled up with her knees to her chest. "There's a small shower in the next room if you'd like to use it." Naruto said awkwardly, not sure what to say. "I don't have any clean clothes for you to wear, but if you tell me where you live, I can send a clone to go pick some up for you."

Ino nodded, "I live above the flower shop on the same street we were on, my room is on the top floor at the end of the hall. I laid my pajamas out on the end of the bed." she said. Naruto created a clone that jumped out the window, "When did you learn to do that?" she asked as she stared at where the clone had just been.

Naruto smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I took a scroll from old man Hokage on the evening after graduation, the Shadow Clone Jutsu was the first technique in it. It took me all night, but I finally learned it before Iruka caught me." His smile vanished as he remembered the events that transpired after. "Mizuki sensei told me that Iruka would let me graduate if I learned a jutsu from that scroll, but it was a trick." He fell silent, not sure if he should tell her everything that happened.

"Then how did you graduate?" Ino asked tentatively. 'Obviously he's gotten a lot stronger. He definitely doesn't seem like the Naruto I remember.'

"It's complicated." He said looking at the floor. 'I don't know if should tell her, I don't want her to think I'm a monster.'

'Like me?' Rumbled the Nine-tails, in his head.

Ino noticed Naruto's head snap up like he heard something. "What? What is it?" She asked looking around for what had drawn his attention.

"It's nothing." he replied shaking his head. "But back to your question, I'll tell you." He still wasn't sure about telling her, but she had a right to know. He just hoped that they could be friends once she knew, it felt like they both could use one.

OoO

"Lord Danzo. I've convinced him to bring Naruto Uzumaki in to be detained 'temporarily.'" Said the ANBU kneeling before the older man, with bandages around his head.

"Thank you, Foo." It had paid well for Danzo to have a loyal subordinate in the squad of ANBU black ops, whom were supposed to answer to only the Hokage. Danzo had gone to great lengths to place the seals on Torune's memory that could be activated and deactivated upon hearing key phrases. "It's clear that the seal is faulty, and the boy himself is a nuisance to the village. The Nine-tails would be better suited to a vessel that is more adept in the ninja arts, and one 'we' have more control over. I have 'Shin' prepared to receive the seal. His illness should be counteracted by the healing properties of the Nine-tails chakra. We will tell the others that the Jinchuriki went berserk and we were forced to put him down, while Shin selflessly offered himself up to become the new host." Danzo's plan was years in the making, and now all his painstaking labors would finally come to fruition. 'Soon I will be Hokage, and I will turn this village into what it was supposed to be to begin with, a village with 'true' ninja.' "You destroyed any trace that the girl was there?" he questioned.

"Yes Lord Danzo, no one will even suspect that another person had been there."

"Good, once we've dealt with the resealing of the Nine-tails I want you to take care of her, I don't want her ruining my plans. Now go, Torune, and one more thing, 'Peace is the lie of the weak.'"

Fu stood and vanished from sight. 'I must retrieve Naruto Uzumaki for Lord Third. Hopefully he will be able to help the boy with whatever is going on.'

OoO

Kakashi stood at the alley where a man lay dead, four kunai sticking deep into his chest. Another man was found in the shop across the way from the alley laying in shards of glass with a large hole through the center of his chest. "Are we certain Naruto did this? I know I reported a leak in the seal, but he seemed to get it under control. If he DID do this, it had to have been for a good reason."

"He's your student and subordinate. I think you're allowing you feelings to get in the way of evidence. Even if you're right about his reasoning, it's becoming hard to believe that the seal is holding properly. He could become a danger to those around him. At this point he may not even be hum.." Ibiki was cut short as killing intent was directed at him from the man behind him.

"You don't even want to finish that sentence. Naruto may be a lot of things, but he is not a monster, or some mindless beast." Said Kakashi threateningly.

"I apologize, but face the facts, we all felt the Nine-tails chakra, and the medics place these two Suna nins' deaths at approximately the same time. And unfortunately dead men tell no tales, so the sensor's information about Naruto being here at that time, are all we have to go on." Ibiki replied and he sealed the corpse for the Suna ninja standing next to him. He handed the two scrolls to Baki.

"Much appreciated, I will have our men examine the bodies and relay any relevant information directly to your Hokage." said Baki as he vanished from sight.

"Well all we can do is wait to see what Naruto has to say for himself. Since you are forbidden from seeing him at this time, I suggest we return to Hokage tower and wait." Ibiki said to Kakashi, giving the younger Jounin a stern gaze.

"Yeah yeah, I get it." replied Kakashi lazily. 'I hope you're ok Naruto, show these guys that they're wrong about you.'

OoO

Ino looked at Naruto, shocked at what she had just been told. 'He's not lying, I saw it with my own eyes. Naruto has the Nine-tails inside him.' He seemed to be awaiting her response, not looking at her, but out the window at the night sky. 'This kind of explains some things though, I mean I just thought most people found him annoying, like me and Sakura, and that's why they avoided him, or even looking at him. He may not be smart, but he knew something was wrong for people to treat him that way, and so he wanted to become Hokage. I can't even imagine being that alone.' She quietly contemplated. "I'm sorry Naruto."

This time it was Naruto's turn to be surprised. "Why are you sorry? It's not your fault, yaknow." he stated. "You're not scared of me or that I might lose control?"

Ino was still curled up with her knees to her chest but she had remained in that position since arriving, not due to some fear of him. She shook her head. "I know it's not my fault, but I could have been nicer to you when we were at the academy. I knew you didn't have any parents and so I thought that's why you acted like an annoying brat sometimes, but I didn't know things were that bad for you. And I don't see a reason to be scared of you, I saw what you looked like and I saw you fight it down. Really I'm just glad you were there, and..." she choked up and bit as tears started trickling down her cheeks.

"I'm glad I was there too, yaknow." Naruto said as he placed a hand on Ino's shoulder gently, so as not to alarm her, but she didn't retract from the contact. She looked up at him to see his goofy smile, but tears were also in his eyes. It brought a small smile to her face. 'She knows, and she doesn't think I'm a monster.' He couldn't help being happy.

'He's still annoying...but that's ok.' she thought as he continued to give her that grin while crying with her. Ino wasn't sure if she was sad or happy in that moment, but she did know one thing, she felt safe.

Naruto's clone jumped into the room startling them both and bit and causing Naruto to remove his hand from Ino's shoulder. "Whoa sorry guys, didn't mean to scare you, yaknow." Naruto's clone said as he placed Ino's pajamas next to her and vanished.

"I'll let you clean up and change, I'll go sleep on the couch." said Naruto as he started to leave the bedroom, but a hand gripping his coat stopped him.

"Will you stay in here...with me, please...?" Ino asked afraid that he would insist on being in a separate room. She wasn't sure why but his presence had comforted her nerves and she could feel her panic returning as he had moved to leave.

"Ok." Naruto said as he sat down on the floor beneath the window. "I'll wait right here."

"You promise?" Ino's voice cracked as she held back from crying. Naruto just looked at her and slowly pulled out a kunai which he drew across his palm, letting blood flow out. He clenched his fist and held it out allowing the blood to drip to the floor.

"I promise I will stay here with you Ino, and I never go back on my word, that's my nindo." He said solemnly. "You're my friend, and I will always be there for you." He finished and smiled at her.

Ino smiled back, fresh tears emerging from her eyes. 'Thanks Naruto' she thought to herself as she nodded and went to the bathroom to clean up. It had only been thirty minutes, but it felt like an eternity. She would never look at her fellow blonde the same way again.

OoO

Baki stood alone in the forest waiting for his contact within the village to arrive. 'I hope Lord Kazekage knows what he's doing dealing with someone as dangerous as Orochimaru' This wasn't the first time the thought crossed his mind, and it wouldn't be the last. There was something unnerving about that man, and he would be damned if he allowed Orochimaru to betray them.

"I feel like someone is thinking ill of my master." said a young silver haired, bespectacled ninja. "Hello Baki, what was so urgent that you called me away in the middle of the night? I risk my identity as a spy, having to meet you unnecessarily."

"These two slipped up and got themselves killed, I was informed that I need to give their corpses to you so that your master can ascertain whether the invasion plans got leaked or not." replied Baki stoically.

"Ah yes, I had gotten wind of that through the grape vine. I suggest you warn your allies to exercise more subtlety from this point forward." The younger ninja said, taking the two scrolls and stashing them away. "I look forward to see what Suna's Jinchuriki is capable of." He then vanished in a puff of smoke.

OoO

OK that's Chapter 2, I'm glad I got some reviews and that you enjoyed my first chapter. I have a question for those reading though, as I go forth from here would you prefer I write longer chapters and update once a month, or shorter chapters and maybe update twice or three times a month? (depending on my schedule or if inspiration allows) As always reviews and advice welcome.