Naruto woke up to the doorknob of Anko's hospital room door being turned and sat up in the chair he had been sleeping in beside the bed. His genjutsu was up before the door opened to let in a woman with red eyes and wild black hair. She wore a dress that appeared to be white strips of cloth wrapped together with a single red sleeve on the right side. "You two must have really bonded after the exam yesterday to have you visit so early Uzumaki-san."

"I take it you're one of the jonin looking to take on a team, did you get Ojii-san's book?"

"Unfortunately no, he has quick reflexes for his age. I know what happened, and I want to thank you, you saved her life."

"It was nothing, accidents happen all the time during training. I'm sorry, but I have yet to learn you name kunoichi-san."

"Oh how rude of me, my name is Kurenai Yuuhi, but please just call me Kurenai."

"I understand, I prefer my given name as well. She hasn't woken up yet, but the nurses that have come to check on her say it's only a matter of time."

"I'm happy to hear that. Naruto, I was wondering if you'd mind using the transformation technique you used during the exam I'm quite interested in it and I'd like to see if what Hokage-sama said about it was true."

"Any person in particular?"

"No, anyone should do." Naruto nodded and closed his eyes for a second, when he opened them back up, his form started to morph. His hair sank into the skin as he grew about a head taller and a blue bandana covered the top of his head. His arms grew wider, his coat grew another sleeve while the other turned leather, and his coat opened and became plain. Everything underneath the coat became a simple black shirt, his steel-toed boots grew larger but otherwise remained the same, and his pants turned black. For the finishing touches, three scars appeared going diagonally on his face and his eyes became black as coal. "Would you mind removing the bandana?" He did so and she saw that the scars continued up on to his hairless head, along with scarred over screw holes and burn scars. "The details are incredible."

He held out the bandana and spoke in a gruff voice not his own. "They have to be." He motioned for her to take the bandana. She hesitantly grabbed on to the piece of cloth and was surprised at how real it felt, and even more so when Naruto let it go and it didn't disappear. "The devil's in the details."

"This is amazing, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you didn't have an illusion on yourself. I can't sense anything, and most transformations can't remain after being separated from the user." She placed a hand on the top of his head. 'I can't feel the hair I know to be there, but I can feel the texture of the skin and scars. It's also solid, with a normal transformation, a person's hand would pass through the areas that the user can't fill when they form someone or something bigger than they are.'

They both heard a bit of snickering and turned to find Anko's eyes open. "Why Nai-chan, you never told me you were so close to Ibiki." Kurenai stepped back with a blush on her face as Naruto's form revert to his normal one and Anko smile spread further. " Shame on you Naruto, you shouldn't toy with Nai-chan's feelings for Ibiki." Anko laughed as Kurenai's face turned bright red, until pain shot though her side. She winced and placed a hand against it.

"You need to take it easy Anko, or your stitches will rip open."

"I can't believe that bastard was able to do this to me, when can I get out of here?"

"A few days, you lost a lot of blood and they want to make sure your body doesn't react badly to the transfusions they had to give you. Ojii-san came by earlier while you were still sleeping."

Anko laid back in her bed. "That was nice of him I guess. So how long have you two been here?"

"I only got here a few minutes ago and since Naruto was already here and you were still asleep I asked him to show me his unique transformation technique. Speaking of which, how do you fill in the areas you're not physically able to?"

"Look in your hand." Both of the women looked at Kurenai's hand and saw that the bandana was still there, but it was light blue and semi-transparent, slowly it started to vanish. "It only lasts for a short time once I lose contact with it."

"You use chakra? I've never heard of anyone suppressing so much chakra before, I mean I was standing right in front of you and I couldn't feel anything from you."

The blond shrugged. "Not entirely sure myself. Before I forget, as far as anyone's concerned, everything that happened last night was a training exercise, and Mizuki died in interrogation for leaking teaching methods to a new village."

"Alright, but don't think I'm going to over look the fact you haven't answered my question."

"I've been here since I brought you in."

This really got both women's attention. "You haven't left once? What about the scroll and his body?"

"I gave them to Ojii-san when he stopped by, this being after refusing an order from an Anbu commander to go see him. I also ignored Ojii-san's suggestion to go home."

Kurenai looked worriedly at him, but he preferred Anko's glare to it. "Are you fucking stupid gaki?! You could have been court marshaled for that! Why the hell would you risk that, you barely even know me!"

Naruto didn't look away, nor did the expression on his face change. "Do you really have to ask? I was worried about you. I wasn't going to just leave without knowing if you were going to be alright." For a brief moment, both women caught a flicker of something in his eyes, and thought they saw five barely visible lines on his face, before both things disappeared completely. Naruto saw their shocked expressions and turned to the side. "I have to get going, there are some things I need to take care of before the team placements meeting. I'll see you than Kurenai-sensei. Anko, I hope you get better soon." He walked calmly out the door, but as soon as it was shut behind him, his pace quickened. 'I almost lost it in there, I was only barely able to save the genjutsu.' He found it somewhat odd that Kyuubi didn't comment after a few moments, but figured she was still mad about having to rid his body of all the alcohol he had consumed the night before.

This was not the case as she had simply cut the connection from her side and was sitting in her cage with a smile on her face as she watched what had happened in the hospital room. 'It looks as though the door is not the only potential way to bring his emotions back to him. Anko Mitarashi, how will you affect the kit's life?'

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Back in the hospital room, Anko was staring at the door Naruto had gone through. "He risked his shinobi career because he was worried about me? Why would he do that, it doesn't make sense."

Kurenai plopped down in the chair Naruto had previously occupied. "Actually, when you think about it, it kind of does. Due to his status, I doubt there are all that many people who spend more than a half hour with him without being ordered to, and even most of those who are neutral towards him don't make an effort to get to know him or spend time with him like you did yesterday. You are probably one of a very few people that he truly cares about, aside from Sandaime-sama and Iruka-san."

"There's no way he could feel that close to me of all people, after four hours of drinking. Sure we talked a little, but it was nothing, a few funny stories."

"That may not be enough for most people, but he's obviously perceptive of what going on around him, and just seeing and hearing the things directed towards you is enough to tell the villagers like you almost as much as they do him. He may feel close to you because you have had similar lives."

"Maybe, but there has to be something more to it than that Nai-chan, he wouldn't risk so much over that."

"It could have been something you did or said, coming from someone with a similar life may have meant more to him than if it had come from someone else. It would also explain why he reacted like he did. He was just worried about you and, let's be honest, you pretty much spat it back in his face." Anko looked away from her towards the window. "Anko, I know you don't exactly warm up to somebody easily, I mean it took almost five years for you to let me in, but he may be the only person in the village that can truly understand what you've gone through, what you're still going through. You saw the look he had in his eyes before he left didn't you?" Anko remained silent, but she nodded. "I've seen it before in your eyes when everything starts to get to be too much for you to handle by yourself, usually the two of us spend most of the night talking after you drink yourself stupid."

"Our lives are screwed up enough, but you want us to make it worse by dumping our own problems on the other?"

"No, I meant that by talking to one another, you'd both be able to vent, while taking strength from the fact that you aren't alone." Kurenai could tell that she was hesitant about it. "You don't have to and you know I'm always happy to talk if you want to, but you should consider it, not only for you but for him as well. Anyways, I have to start preparing for the test I'm going to give my potential team, and I brought you some clothes for when you get out of here since I doubt the ones you wore are in very good shape. I'll see you later Anko."

"Yeah, later Nai-chan." The red-eyed woman left after setting down a scroll on her bedside table and Anko went back to looking out of the window. 'Maybe she's right, I mean from what he told me last night, the only person he talks to on a daily basis is Kyuubi, and it's pretty much pointless talking to her about something she already knows about, and the others that are kind to him are either too busy or wouldn't understand.' She grabbed the scroll on sat up slowly. 'I have to at least apologize for going off on him.' Not long after she was dressed in her normal clothes and leaping out the window.

Seconds later a nurse came in pushing a small cart that had a few dishes on it. "Mitarashi-san, I have lunch for you." When she saw the bed was empty and the window open she got a frustrated look on her face. "I swear, she does this just to annoy us, she acts like what the doctors tell her means nothing." She sighed. 'At least she's better than that Uzumaki boy the few times he's been here, leaving after have a bone set without being put under for the procedure, I don't think even she's that crazy.'

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After Naruto reached the street, he jumped up on the rooftops and headed into the forest towards the shack near where he had killed Mizuki. He had tried to get his mind off of what had happened in the Hospital, but he couldn't, and the fact that Kyuubi still wasn't talking to him made things worse. 'I don't understand, why was she mad that I was worried about her? I know I shouldn't have refused to do what the Anbu commander said, but Ojii-san understood, why didn't she? It's not like I didn't return the scroll.' By the time he reached the shack, his control over his chakra had become so bad the genjutsu had dropped, his chakra arm was gone, and he was leaving deep gashes in every tree he passed. He landed in the clearing that held the old shack and sat down beside it and closed his eyes. As soon as he was within his mindscape, he ran to the single door of the second passage, only two tags remained. He drowned himself in chakra and ripped the final two tags off the door.

Kyuubi for her part was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Naruto was in his mindscape till she felt the massive build up of chakra. Her claws dug into the wooden bar as she looked out through them with scared eyes when it all disappeared at once and his presence along with it. "Kit, what have you done?"

Naruto found himself in a small room with walls of stone and a wooden door behind him. He looked around and found… nothing, the room was empty except for him. "What the hell!" He clenched his fist and struck the wall behind him, creating a spider web of cracks that allowed what looked like sunlight to shine through. With a smirk, Naruto went to the center of the room. He spread his feet to shoulder width and crouched down a little while he brought his arm back to his side bent at a ninety-degree angle and turned slightly to the outside. "AaaaaaaahhhhhHHHHH." His body started to shake as he drew on even more of his chakra, enough to take the form of blue flames engulfing his body, and to cause the ground beneath him to crack. "AHHH!" He shot to full height and his arm went to full length towards the ground, his hand still clenched into a fist, as the chakra surged in all direction like a shockwave. When it collided with the walls of the room, the walls crumbled like they were made of sand, but the door stood strong against it. Naruto stood panting heavily as he looked around. He was in the Hokage's office, but there were three major things wrong, the first was that the desk was empty of papers, the Sandaime was nowhere to be seen, and he couldn't feel the presence of any hidden Anbu in the room. Not feeling anyone in the room, he walked around the desk and flopped down into the chair, propping his feet up on the desk.

Almost as soon as he did, the door opened revealing a man with a mane of blonde hair even more unruly than his own, deep blue eyes that matched his, and a long white coat with red flames along the bottom. He looked surprised to see him there, but it soon passed and a smile found its way onto the man's face. "You're earlier than I expected, by a few years in fact, but I guess I can attribute that to your mother, she never did like to wait."

"She can burn in hell for all I care, and I really hope that what you're experiencing in the Shinigami's stomach is even worse a fate than hell."

This didn't seem to affect the man before him as he kept smiling. "While I'm sure you're shock to see me, I'm sorry to say that I'm not actually here, as a price to pay for saving the village from Kyuubi, I had to give up my soul to the Shinigami, so I won't ever get the chance to know you, in this life or in the next. Simply put, what you see before you is a complex genjutsu fuinjutsu hybrid I placed on you and Tayuya designed to release when you turned sixteen, but it seems you found a way to active it early. I placed this on the two of you so that I could teach you my two original jutsu, as well as help you Naruto understand why I had to use you as the container of Kyuubi." The smile was replaced by a grim look. "You were not the only possible candidate as you may or may not think, in fact there were over a dozen, but most of them came from shinobi clans. I know that may not sound like a bad thing, but I believe that had I placed Kyuubi in one of them, their clan may use its power to attempt to seize control of the village. It is for almost the same reason I could not use a civilian child as the clans would stop at nothing to marry such a child into their family, and by extension, under their control."

The smile once again appeared. "While I have no delusion that they won't try the same with you, your mother will see to it that their plans fall through, she will want you to marry for love, not political standing, the same goes for Tayuya. I'm also sure that more than a few villagers and possibly even shinobi will not honor my wish that you be seen as the hero you are, but I know that your mother, my student Kakashi, my sensei Jiraiya, and Sandaime-sama will see to it that you're safe from enemies both inside and outside the village. Now as to why I used this to teach you my jutsu instead of leaving scrolls like other people might is because Iwa, the Uchiha clan, and Councilman Danzo would do anything to get a hold of such scrolls. My sensei knows one of the jutsu, the Rasengan, and should he visit, and is not peeping on the women's bath house, he should be able to help you learn it, but the other, the Hiraishin, you will be on your own as the seal pattern is different for each user. Not even my sensei, who is consider a seal master, could figure out the pattern needed, but I have faith in you and your sister, after all, you are my children and if you've inherited Kushina's stubbornness, I'm sure it won't take either of you long. The next time you come, I will begin teaching you my jutsu. The two of you are my legacy and I love you both and your mother very much, look after each other. Naruto I want you to know that I'm truly sorry that I had to do what I did, and I would give anything to see you grow up, going to the academy, becoming ninja, and seeing you get married to the love of your life."

Naruto stood up and walked right in front of the image of Minato, being almost eye-to-eye with him, glaring at the image. "I'll never get to say this to you face to face, so this will have to do. You and Kaa-san" He spat the word out like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "can go fuck yourselves, I'm no longer your son, and I want nothing to do with you or your jutsu." He walked past the Namikaze and out the door. As soon as he shut it, he summoned what chakra he had left to his right palm and slammed it against the door. A large steel wall spread from his palm and to the sidewalls of the corridor. When he removed his hand, a small panel appeared where it had been with the Kanji for lock in the center.

He slowly made his way to Kyuubi's chamber and nearly collapsed when he stepped through the doorway. Kyuubi's eyes were staring back at him with worry. "What have you done Kit?"

"I opened the door." He saw her eyes widen a fraction and looking at him as if urging him to continue. "I saw To… the Yondaime. He place a genjutsu fuinjutsu hybrid on Nee-san and I to teach us his two original jutsu as well as talk a bit about why he choose me. He couldn't react to what I said or anything, but I told 'him' that I wanted nothing to do with him or his jutsu and that I'm not their son before leaving and locking the door behind a wall of steel."

"Are you sure that was wise Kit? From what you've read about the man, those two moves are incredibly powerful, power you may need further down the road."

"I don't need his power, I'll work for my own, and if it's not enough oh well." Seeing the worry in her eyes increase he decided it was time for a change in topic. "So how come you haven't been talking to me, I've been trying to get your attention since I left the hospital, you're not still mad about the sake are you?"

"A little, but that's not why I haven't been answering, I've just been think about a few things, like how to rework your training schedule so it won't interfere with your team meetings, of course until we know when they'll be, nothing's certain." 'Kami I hope he buys it.'

"True, but please be a little lenient once we do, for all we know I could get a slave driver for a sensei, and they could make it worse if I'm late for a meeting because you had me work myself to exhaustion."

"Please kit, I'm the one who normally has to tear you away from training to make sure you get back to your apartment."

Naruto smiled. "That's true enough, so why were you so worried when I got here?"

"Aside from the fact that after you removed the tags your presence disappeared from your mindscape, your body's suffering from chakra exhaustion outside, and need I remind you, you're in the middle of the forest out in the open." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Luckily, you're most likely out farther than anyone not searching for you will come. You should be fine in about a day's time, plenty of time to get the photo for your Shinobi file taken, as well as restock any supplies you may need."

"I don't really need anything, but I think I'll get a few more storage scrolls. In any case, what should we do till then?"

"You could use some more practice with tactics, Shoji or Go?"

"Shoji this time." A table rose out of the ground before the bars, the board and pieces in place, as well as two cushions on either side.

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When Naruto opened his eyes, he found he was no longer in the forest, but lying in a bed, the blanket was pulled up to his neck, a wet cloth on his forehead, and only wearing his pants. He looked around the room he was in and was somewhat glad to see he wasn't in a hospital room. The room was a bit bigger than his own bedroom, the walls were painted a blue color close to that of his eyes, the blanket was burnt orange, there were a couple of photos on a dress across the room, but the light coming in from the window caused them to glare, making them hard to make out. He also noted that the rest of his clothes were piled on a chair next to one of the two doors in the room. He tried to sit up, and found his body to be stiff. He heard the doorknob start to turn and quickly put up his genjutsu, forgoing the creation of his arm, and when the door opened, it revealed one of the people he least expected, Anko, but her clothes were different than usual she was barefoot in baggy black pants and a light blue t-shirt. "It's about time you woke up gaki, you've been hogging my bed since I found your ass in the forest. You're lucky I could tell you were only suffering from chakra exhaustion, or I'd have taken you to the hospital and everyone would know your secret, and I'd prefer you not wear that while you're here." Naruto didn't say anything, but his left arm started to disappear from the fingertips, and small nearly invisible marks all over his chest and arm slowly grew darker and more defined, as well as the five on his face. Among all others, the word DEMON craved into his chest stood out the most, second only to the ones on his face and his stub of a left arm. "I honestly can't see how you put up with it Gaki, I mean I almost went totally insane when I first returned, but they didn't even try to do this kind of shit to me."

"That's because your old sensei is still walking around, I on the other hand, am the only link to Kyuubi except for the other Bijuu."

"You heard about that huh."

"Well, the snake summon was a pretty big giveaway, but your name is highly associated with his, along with Ojii-san and the other two Sannin. I should probably be going, thank you for your help, and I apologize for burdening you for however long I've been unconscious and if I did something to upset you the other day at the hospital."

"I should be the one apologizing about that, I shouldn't have gone off on you like I did. Ever since that bastard's betrayal, I haven't let many people get close, not only because off how the villagers reacted when I returned, but because of the parting gift he left me." She pulled the collar of the shirt away from her neck and tilted her head to the right showing him a circle of three tomoes. As his eyes landed on the tomoes, he could feel a malicious aura about it, but it was weak. When she covered it again, the feeling all but disappeared. "It's a Juin Jutsu and there's a nine in ten chance that the person it's used on will die. He put it on me and left me in Umi no Kuni, not caring if I lived or died. I was found a few days later by Anbu and brought back here. Ibiki interrogated me, if you can even call it that since he wasn't allow to use any of his normal methods. When that didn't turn up anything, Sandaime-sama asked a Yamanaka to look through my memories of the time I spent with the hebi, but they couldn't find them. It seemed that when he put the seal on me, he also sealed away my memories."

"Why exactly are you telling me this? You said it yourself at the hospital, we barely know each other."

A nervous smile replaced Anko's normal one. "I was kind of hoping we could change that. There aren't many people in this village that would risk their lives, or even their careers, for me, but you did both in a single night when we are basically complete strangers. Maybe Nai-chan was right and it was only because we have led similar lives, but even if that's true, I have this feeling that nothing but good can come from getting to know you better."

"You realize that by associating with me the villagers and even some shinobi will treat you worse than they already do don't you?"

"Please gaki, I've built up such a reputation that no one in their right mind will try to lay a finger on me, and while there's nothing I can do to stop their muttered comments, I'm use to it and it does affect me as much as it did when I first came back." A small smile appeared on Naruto's face before it vanished and his eyes took on a far away look. After a few seconds, Anko waved her hand in front of his face and he didn't so much as blink.

After a few moments, Naruto returned to normal and stood up looking Anko dead in the eyes. "Anko do you want the Juin Jutsu removed."

Anko looked confused and slightly angry. "Of course I do, but Sandaime-sama's already had Jiraiya-sama look at it, but he said it was impossible without Orochimaru's notes. Why?"

"I need you to trust me, turn around and show me the seal again. This will hurt, but the end result will be worth the pain, I promise you."

As she did what Naruto instructed, she could hide the fear that crept into his eyes and voice. "What are you going to do?"

Kyuubi's red yokai coated the palm of his right hand as he held it over the Juin Jutsu. "The impossible." He pressed his hand down on her shoulder and steeled himself as her whimpers of pain quickly became screams and held tight as her body started to writhe in pain. As this was happening, his chakra flowed from his stub of a left shoulder and took the basic shape of his arm. He felt the yokai receded into his arm and the pain left Anko, and while she remained conscious, her legs gave out from under her. He caught her with his left arm and laid her down on the bed, hiding his right arm behind him. Even in her state, Anko noticed this and in a flash of movement held his right arm out in front of him by the wrist.

Her eyes went wide at the sight before her, there on his palm was the Juin Jutsu, glowing bright red and writing around, trying to move up his arm. "What did you do?"

"I removed it from you and took it into myself."

"I was right, you are fucking stupid, that thing could kill you!"

"No it can't, watch." She looked back at his palm and the glow was growing dimmer as it moved back towards his palm until it turned back into three black tomoes in a circle and eventually faded into nothing. "Her chakra destroys any foreign substance that enters my body."

"Then how can you have seals on your arm?"

"They were made from my blood and infused with both our energies." A large smile formed on Naruto's face. "I believe congratulations are in order, you are free of the Juin Jutsu, however I do not know if this will return your memories or not."

A smile slowly came to Anko's face, but it still held confusion. "Naruto, why did you ask if I wanted the seal removed, when I'm sure you knew the answer?"

"I had a feeling, but in order for the transfer to work, it had to be done willingly, otherwise the Juin Jutsu would have sent its roots deeper become stronger, and therefore harder to resist." Anko got up from the bed and threw her arms around him. His body stiffened at first, but he began to relax in her embrace and began to worry when he felt his something wet on his chest. "Anko, are you alright? The pain's not still bothering you is it?"

She pulled away and smiled at him. "No, I'm fine. I'm better than fine, you have no idea what you've done for me. I'm finally free of his influence, and I don't know if I can repay you for what you did. There are really only two thing I can give you, but I don't really think you're my type, so option number two it is." Anko started laughing as Naruto's face turned bright red as his mind ran wild with possibilities. "I knew that would get you, every man is at least slightly perverted, I was surprised when Nai-chan didn't get a reaction, but she's never been the type to try to make a guy blush."

Naruto got a mischievous grin on his face and leaned in so his mouth was next to her ear and when he spoke again it was in a whisper. "I was thinking all the things I would do to you if I was your 'type', because if I was, I'd take your offer without a second thought." He leaned back with a sad sigh. "But since I'm not, I'm kind of sad to say it makes Icha Icha Paradise seem tame in comparison."