AN: Here is yet another exciting and somewhat rushed chapter! Enjoy all

"Get out of here you monster! Konoha would be better off with you dead!" With that a rather angry brunette in her forties picked up a rock and through it towards the object of her targeted rage. Her remark and callous attempt to cause the blond ninja was met with much gusto and approval by her fellow protestors who wished to 'cleanse Konoha of its demons.'

All the while Naruto failed to easily dodge the stone that was hurdled towards him and let it collide with the side of his head to create a gentle river of blood to slowly flow down. It only took moments for the wound to heal up again on its own, but the pain caused from it only buried itself deeper within his heart.

Sometimes it just hurt too much to stand up for yourself and continue to prove the value of your existence when the people around you were content to see you gone and dead. But no, truly he had no reason to harm these people for attacking him both verbally and physically which they sought to do on a daily basis. Why then…did he refuse to even dodge the embodiment of hate as they continued to throw more objects at the loyal shinobi? Why couldn't they be content with the fact that he, the son of the fourth, would never truly be able to come home again?

Someone had to pay for the sins of the kyuubi. It may as well be the container that confined him from doing anymore. It wasn't that much of a stretch of the imagination really. While it was obvious none cared for those jailed inside prisons, it shouldn't surprise anyone to learn that people didn't care for the presence of prisons themselves. The last thing anyone wanted was for one to be located near there homes. The bonus Naruto had was that he could easily be kicked out.

Yet another projectile was launched through the air to head towards Naruto. The assault definitely came from a shinobi as it was flung so fast it almost made a whistling sound. The impact would create a sting that would have left quite an impression upon him.

That is if it had hit him.

A smack was heard as an outstretched hand reached for and intercepted the rock that was destined for the shunned one of the village. The fingers closed around it in a fist and shattered the object into dust as a low growl emanated from a fierce looking pink haired girl who grit her teeth in anger. Why…why couldn't Naruto just run away from them. No one would think him a coward. Part of being a ninja included knowing when to back away from a battle that just wasn't worth fighting.

"She's with the demon! Get her too!" Naruto's eyes flashed red as he snapped his head towards the crazed mob. Things certainly got too personal. He was about to get angry.

A voice from the midst of the crowd cut through the air and offered a warning. "Wait! That's the hokage's assistant! We'll be in for it if Hokage-sama finds out her student was harmed! Run!" Quickly the group tried to swarm away from the place and scatter in order to avoid being identified and having this incident placed on their record. Little did they know about the squad of ANBU hiding in the trees above taking note of everyone present. It was good to have friends in high places.

Sakura spun around on her boots to face her teammate and boyfriend to find that familiar smile upon his face. It was the one that showed the world that he wasn't afraid to get hurt, to get trampled on. It was the one she had seen everyday since Team 7 was formed so many years ago up until the time he had to leave. It was the one she knew was obviously fake and hid the pain underneath. And it was the one that broke her heart and made her feel as if Naruto still didn't trust her enough to open up completely to her yet.

"Naruto…why?" She could feel the swirl of chakra that steadily flowed around his body. Ever since he explained that particular technique to him, she had gained the ability to distinguish his aura as if she could almost…feel it. He couldn't possibly have had too little to use his technique. He would have had time enough to quickly get away without being followed. But no, like a pea brained macho man he had to stay there and take it. While it might be good enough for Naruto, it wasn't something Sakura was going to stand for.

"Why!" She lifted one leg up so it was perfectly perpendicular to the ground and brought it back down to create a wave of earth as the ground beneath her scattered and crumbled by the simulated earth quake she had just created.

Naruto's body simply moved as if he was part of the earth, allowing him to maintain his stance though he did avert his gaze towards her. His eyes had returned to that cool soothing blue he had always had. Considering he was restricting his access to the kyuubi, that comment made earlier to attack her must have shaken his resolve. She truly was one of his…precious people.

"Ninjas are the scum of society." That wasn't something Sakura Haruno ever expected to hear from the man who wanted to be Hokage. "They live in the shadows, kill and deceive, and take on jobs unworthy and unwanted by the rest of humanity." Well, it was true that ninjas used to be seen like that. But that's why the hidden villages started came about. "But now ninjas needed something else to look down upon. Something to prove that they weren't the lowest of the low." He smirked softly as he gazed into her lush green eyes. "I guess I make them feel better about themselves. If I left or ran, they would pick on someone else."

That stupid…big-hearted…bastard.

Sakura quickly lunged towards him to steal a kiss again in what was becoming almost a daily ritual, only to be spun around a bit before landing in her feet. She didn't want to kiss him, just yet. There was something else stuck on her mind. "Naruto…lets…lets leave Konoha."

The blue eyed ninja stood shocked at the suggestion he had just heard. Why would Sakura ever want to leave this village? Everything she knew and loved was here. Her family, her friends, her sensei. She had the respect and care of her fellow shinobi. Why would she…

"Sakura I can't ask you to give up everything for…" His speech was stopped when the pink ninja placed a finger upon his lips which sent a shiver down his body.

"So don't ask me and accept the fact that we're leaving." By now Sakura didn't have to add the fact that she would start pounding him if he disagreed. Ah, it was good to be a woman. "We'll find somewhere else to go. I could ask Tsunade-sama to help us find someplace where we can be happy together." Not to mention ask the hokage not to list them as runaway ninjas. There were enough problems to be had as is.

Naruto began perking up at the idea little by little. He loved this village and would always do his best to protect it from his enemies. But now…his presence was causing more problems than anything else. Jiraiya had warned him earlier that staying here just may not be an option.

"We could find a nice little home in the country somewhere. Where we could raise little Sakuras and Narutos and…." The blonde's rantings quickly came to an end when the pink haired kunoichi's fist connected with the top of his head leaving the shinobi somewhat disoriented.

"Not so fast! Baka!!!" In a way those were pleasant things to think about. Finally being able to settle down and start a family. But thinking about kids was something that was a little ways off for her. Lets face it, at times she feels like she already has one big one to take care of already.

There was that and…Naruto would never be happy settling down in solitude like that. As much as it would help keep him away from those that despised him, Naruto was still a ninja. The only place a ninja could live with some sense of safety remained one of the hidden villages. "Besides Naruto, you know you would never be happy living alone in the countryside like that." But they couldn't stay in Konoha much longer. That much was for certain.

"You know…Gaara keeps asking for me to return to his country." Where else but the wind country would one who was a wind type go to learn those kinds of jutsus. "We could always find something there for a while. Maybe we could call it ….a goodwill mission or an exchange program or-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as his body froze with hearing the voice of a man who constantly plagued his nightmares.

"Well well well. If it isn't beauty and the beast." The scars upon Naruto's cheeks began to burn as the memory of the incident rapidly replayed itself through his mind. It was the man who had marked Naruto forever and robbed him of the chance to live a normal life. It was the one who gave him these cursed whisker marks.

"I see you still remember me, demon!" And it was the one who organized a rally the evening before to help rid Konoha of this dangerous threat to its security.

Naruto's eyes fixated on the man as he slowly approached the duo, except the eyes were his no longer. Instead of the clear blue ocean that usually resided there, a more feral red swirled up within his eyes as his body started to shiver. It wasn't often that a demon was able to confront his own demons. Perhaps if this man thought him to be such a threat and menace to society, then he shouldn't make a liar out of him.

The man slowly drew closer with an odd shaped knife that Naruto remembered all to well. A normal child would have blocked out portions of that memory in order to retain his own sanity. Unfortunately the beast within the demon carrier had long ago gone mad and refused him such a luxury.

"You remember this blade, don't you kyuubi?" Undoubtedly this man would become a hero for finally doing what even the fourth could not. He would permanently eradicate the kyuubi from this world and be called a hero by all. At least, that was the plan he had in mind.

"Stay…away….from….Sakura…." He was gritting his teeth so hard they nearly shattered under the pressure. Someone he loved was going to be threatened because of who he was and who he remains to this day. Should he tell Sakura to run and seek refuge from this man?

In all honesty that hardly seemed logical. Their attacker was after all an older crippled ninja while they were the students of two of the sannins. The fight should be an easy win with Naruto once again defeating his opponents in a surprised but unsuspecting manner.

But something else was holding him back from fighting. Fear. Pure…untainted and mind numbing fear as he remembered every moment from his childhood. He remembered watching this man approach him from the crib in the orphanage, with a shiny object in one hand.

Slowly, the stranger reached down and pulled out a baby Naruto who was happily giggling at finally being held for the first time by someone. He reached out to grab one of the stranger's finger's in a playful gesture, but the man couldn't let such an 'attack' by the apparently infant child to go unpunished.

The child was haphazardly dropped back into the crib while the shiny object gleamed against the moonlight one last time before he felt a burning sensation repeatedly over his cheeks. These marks on such young flesh were too deep to be healed completely. The scars would never go away.

The kyuubi had been angered then, and ironically enough showed far more emotion within his prison at having been dishonored so easily by a mere adult human. It was decided then. The child will need his protection and his ability to heal if the nine-tails was ever to be released. Unfortunately the damage that had been done could not be reversed. The child was marked.

"Oh she will be spared, for the moment at least. Though I imagine she will be punished for having such an affair with a beast. Such things are frowned upon by the ninja council."

That…was…it…!

Did that man just compare the love she felt towards Naruto with the unholy act of bestiality!? He would pay….oh yes…he would pay!!!

The attacker from Naruto's past was forgetting just one thing on his advance to finish the job he had started nearly twenty years ago. He wasn't picking on a harmless infant anymore. No, the boy had aged and matured. And now…now the boy was a man, a man with powerful friends.

A crazed look overcame the attacker's eyes as he raised the dagger once more in his diluted state and ran towards the object of his hate. "Die! Monster!" He lunged towards the still hugging couple and was about to complete his lifelong goal.

But as said before. Naruto was a man now. A man with friends.

He was stopped mid attack a few feet away from Naruto with blood dripping down from the corners of his mouth while his eyes nearly popped out of his head with the surprise and ferocity of the attack. The single blow was enough to properly deal with someone crippled and insane in the head. He would die from this. It looked like…it looked like the kyuubi would be the end of him after all.

The world felt funny when one was about to die. Suddenly time decided to slow to prolong the pain until his demise decided to settle upon him. The air chilled and left his body cold and shivering from the experience while there was an almost acidic taste in his mouth.

Perhaps the most peculiar of these where how his nose and eyes responded to dying. He had heard that most people start to see red when the end is near. He however, only saw pink while the wafting smell of cherry blossoms filled his nose while he inhaled his last few breathes.

The man slumped backwards and fell upon the ground with a thud while Sakura retracted her fist from the punch, her body moving far slower than it had been moments ago. While she didn't have the god-like speed and speed-enhancing techniques Naruto developed, she could always pour chakra into her legs to lunge herself at the enemy at an accelerated rate. It had been a little excessive, and Naruto certainly didn't need her help in dealing with such an adversary, once he had been relieved of the shock of the moment. However sometimes you need an angel to help you fight your not so inner demons.

It was Naruto who would be the first to speak as Sakura reflected on the damage she had done. Sure she had seen much death in the many years at the hospital, but few were the result of her own hands. "Who….who are you?" Perhaps were you would have been a better question.

"I'm….I'm those who will never accept you" The man's eyes closed for the last time as Sakura made an attempt to heal his injuries. She hadn't gone back on her oath as a doctor and medical ninja by waiting for the man to collapse. The strike was meant to kill. She had damaged a critical portion of his anatomy that ensured his demise, though she had counted on it being quite so slow. Sakura was not going to make a martyr out of a man and raise more people to his cause.

It was almost symbolic in the way Sakura had killed a part of the past that clinged to Naruto throughout his life. Maybe now he wouldn't dream the way he had since his return to this town. Maybe now the man had been purged of his evil tendencies towards the boy and allowed to live as a second chance to redeem himself for the sins he committed against Naruto.

Truthfully only time could tell. The sad truth was time in Konoha was something they did not have.

Just as Naruto walked forward to wrap a comforting hand around Sakura as she healed the man just enough so he wouldn't die right away, a masked ANBU dropped from the trees above and collected the body of the slightly disfigured ninja. "We will take it from here." As quickly as he had arrived, the masked ANBU was gone.

Naruto stopped for a brief second as a bit of confusion entered him. There was something familiar about the sense of that person's chakra. A mystery for another time perhaps.

For now he had a loved one to help.

For the first time someone had protected him from danger, even though he was under no real threat. For the first time someone had shown him that he was worth fighting for and protecting. For the first time in his life, Naruto understood what it truly meant to love someone.

"Sakura…I" Sakura's bossy nature couldn't possibly let Naruto get the last word into this conversation.

"Naruto…how many children did you want?" Uh…that was quite unexpected.

"Th…three" In truth he often hoped he would father the next legendary three. He wanted two sons to carry out the Uzumaki name, and a daughter that he could spoil rotten.

There was no doubt in the pink shinobi's mind that Naruto would be an excellent father. One who would love and cherish his children while using his strengths to propel them further in life than even he could go.

"Maybe when we get to the Country of Sand, we should start practicing."

Funny wasn't it? Naruto certainly didn't object to that.

Take some time to review now that you have read. I am interested in your comments. Until next time, take care. :-)