Edited 01/19/2014, 07/31/2014

(A/N Ok, wow, I'm shocked by all the positive reviews, followers, and favorites I got, thank you everyone, I'm glad to know I haven't lost my story writing touch just because I switched my genre.

I received a comment that I'd like to address directly. The person basically said "Naruto's going to be strong to the point he'll be kicking everyone's ass and that's boring." So yeah, I can see where you and others would be worried about that, so here's my reply, "Naruto will be much stronger than his generation and those around it, but except for his chakra control and fuinjutsu (which he will be good at, especially after he starts learning under Jiraiya) he'll be mid to high chunin levels in everything until later in the story. One, because he hasn't hit puberty yet and that limits his growth and development until he does, and two, because of a severe lack of actual in battle experience. So to those reading this expecting a godlike Naruto right off the bat, I apologize but that won't be till much later in the story, if at all.

And once again I'd like to mention that the title to this story can be changed if someone suggests something better, since I don't think it suits my story perfectly.

I'm also looking for a cover image, if you guys want to send some you think would work to me I'll pick the one I like the most and put it on, but you'll find a request in the chapter for the one I'd most like to see.)

Chapter 2 - Return

The raid of the rest of the lab actually took the rest of the night, between taking care of the rest of the experiments and prisoners (which, sadly, were all too insane or messed up to save), collecting all the files about all the prisoners, including Yui's and Asahi's, and all the experiments, including Naruto's and the pups', and making their way through the security in the cpu's took much longer than they originally thought it would. The only thing they didn't take in that lab were some of the bodies (they burned the ones they didn't recognize and kept the ones they knew were from the village in special storage scrolls so they could be taken back and mourned) and the books and scrolls in Naruto's room, which he personally put into a storage scroll of his own (and then stored the scroll in a storage seal on his sash), saying that they were the only objects of importance he didn't want to lose. The only other thing they did in the lab was that Hiruzen and the Anbu took turns asking the group various questions both about the lab and the people, and also about what they plan on doing and becoming when they went to the village. They were finally ready to leave the lab, walking out into dawns light; though they forgot something important that was mentioned earlier until it was too late.

"It's too bright, it hurts my eyes," Naruto shouted in shock and pain the second the morning rays of light hit his face as he left the lab. The pups were also whimpering in shock and pain as they were hit by the rays at almost the same time Naruto was. Even Asahi and Yui were having a bad reaction to it, though to a lesser extent.

"Not good, if they're having this bad of a reaction to sunlight we will have to go very slow for at least the first half of the trip back to Konoha, and while the lab is only a four day run for shinobi's, it's a nearly two week trip at a civilian's pace. While I would love to escort them back to Konoha myself, I cannot afford to be away for much longer. Ever since Minato died and I was reinstated, the Civilian Council has been trying to steal power and control over things that only the Hokage should have. I managed to stop them from doing so, and for a while it seemed like they had given up. But then the Uchiha Clan Massacre happened they have started up again, I guess I have no choice than to leave them with some of my Anbu as guides and take the rest as an escort home," sighing Hiruzen turned to the group and explained the parts in his thoughts that directly related to them.

"It's fine, it's understandable that the leader of the village must return to the village as soon as possible, and we have to agree to the fact that it will take us a while to adjust to being outside," Yui said in a calm voice, despite the fact she was still blinking rapidly and slightly cringing from the sunlight.

"Could we have the group with Inu and Tora, they seem to like me and I'd kinda like to know why," Naruto added in a slightly strained voice, making said Anbu twitch wondering how he knew that until they remembered his Dōjutsu.

Hiruzen chuckled and raised his brow at the aforementioned Anbu, getting a nod from both in response he replied "Certainly, I will leave Inu, Tora, Tori, and Kuma to escort you where you need to go, I also give Inu and Tora permission to take off their masks and talk to you personally if they wish." That part shocked the Anbu present until they stopped to think for a minute about both Anbu's relationship with the boy, if you could consider knowing his father and having the same thing done to you (to a lesser extent) as was done to him a relationship.

"Then I suppose we should head off now, Inu, Tora, Tori, Kuma, make sure they make it to Konoha safely, and take all the time you need to get there, as there's no reason to push them," receiving nods as confirmation to his orders, Hiruzen turned and began tree hopping toward Konoha at a rapid pace, his Anbu forming a loose protective circle around him. "At least this gives me a chance to set the ground work of setting them up as shinobi of Konoha with the council without them there and without the need to admit that #23 is actually Naruto, I should also notify and call in Jiraiya as I'm sure he'll want to meet the godson he's been desperately searching for since his disappearance."

Back with Naruto's group the Anbu left all looked to Inu for orders as he was the highest ranking person there and therefore the leader of the group. Sighing and looking at the still cringing and whining former prisoners he knew that there was really only one thing they could do, "We'll get at least a short distance away from the lab and then we'll settle down and wait until these guys adjust to being in the light. After that we'll walk or jog to Konoha and give Naruto and the pups a chance to get used to be outside as everything will probably be overwhelming to them for a while."

Nodding the group each grabbed one of the former prisoner's shoulders while the odd one out picked up the pups, and, leading them away from the lab, started walking in the direction Konoha at a slow pace to make sure they didn't trip over anything. They hoped that at least the two who had been outside before would recover soon, as they could tell that neither Naruto nor the pups liked being touched by strangers, not that they were offended since they figured the only times they'd been touched by someone other than Yui and Asahi were probably not pleasant experiences. (A/N No, I am NOT implying rape; I hate rape scenes, even as a flashback, it is one of the most disgusting things one human can do to another in my opinion.)

They walked for three hours straight with little progress because, despite their best efforts, the practically blinded prisoners tripped over rocks and roots along the not really existent path. This is what happens when they try to walk with basically blind people in the middle of nowhere with no signs of anything having been so much as touched by humans for at least another couple of hours walk at this pace. At least Asahi and Yui had mostly recovered by now and were walking without help or tripping.

Naruto and the pups, on the other hand, were understandably overwhelmed. There's a huge difference between reading about and sometimes seeing pictures in books about something, and seeing, hearing, and smelling the thing for themselves for the first time. Naruto was looking around at everything with his mouth open so wide Asahi had more than once teased him about trying to catch flies with it….not that he heard the man.

The pups were constantly sniffing the air and then sneezing in an attempt to clear their noses of the overwhelming combination of new smells, plant rot and decay, animals of different types and sizes, pollen and the flowers it comes from, fruit, and so much more practically assaulted their sensitive noses that were so used to smelling death, fear, misery, unwashed humans, and so many other unpleasant scents they quickly learned to do their best to ignore. Not to mention all the sounds most took for granted, the chirping of birds, the rustle of grass and bushes, the wind blowing through the trees, all things most people naturally tune out after a short while that Naruto and the pups had no experience dealing with.

All in all they were making very little progress now not due to the fact that some of their group were sun-blinded but because of the fact that some of them were going through sensory overload as their brains tried to comprehend the extremely long list of new things they were seeing and experiencing for the first time.

They were so busy craning their necks trying to take in as much as they could that they would of walked into things multiple times if it weren't for the fact someone steered them clear of the thing in time, though they were sorely becoming tempted to let them do it in the hopes that they would pay at least a little more attention to where they were going.

Honestly enough if they weren't still too close to the lab for Inu's comfort, they would have just stopped and given them a chance to calm down and process everything, but as it was Inu wanted to be as far away from the place as they could be before they had to settle down for the night. Which was another cause for concern, as Anbu, they were trained to be able to go days without sleep if necessary while on a mission, either to be able to stay in enemy territory without risk of being caught unaware or, for cases such as this, where they need to get as far away from an enemy encampment as soon as they possibly can.

But they had two prisoners who, while better taken care of than some of the others that weren't so lucky, were obviously not in the best of shape. On top of that they had a child and three recently born pups to take into consideration. They could not go without sleep like them, which meant that, despite the fact that his instincts screamed in protest, they would have to stop and camp for the night and make sure their charges got the proper amount of food and sleep, or they would be slowed even further as their charges weakened.

Which meant they'd also have to hunt and gather since all they carried with them was the standard Anbu rations….which is something even a hardened Anbu has trouble eating, while it did have all the necessary nutrients, he did not want to imagine the reaction a young child would have to it, not to mention the fact the pups wouldn't be able to eat it. This mission was getting, as a certain clan would phrase it, troublesome.

Don't get him wrong, Kakashi (A/N I will call him Inu when he's thinking like an Anbu, Kakashi in general, and will add the proper suffix to one or the other depending on the person addressing him and what persona he's in at the time) was sincerely looking forward to talking to the son of his sensei, whom he had thought was dead until just a few hours ago. But the fact of the matter was that Kakashi was a naturally lazy, laid back person…unless in a serious fight or scolding someone he thought was in the wrong (and that includes Anbu or shinobi in his charge that makes a mistake).

So he was just now coming to realize that he'd agreed to pick the harder of two assignments, a basically over glorified yet at the same time extremely dangerous babysitting mission.

Over glorified because they were Anbu and because their charges, while still somewhat overwhelmed, would most likely be able to protect themselves from any bandits they'd encounter in the two week walk to Konoha.

Extremely dangerous because if any of Orochimaru's more powerful people, or even Orochimaru himself, returned to the lab and discovered the state of it and the loss of their most important experiments and prisoners (of that lab) without any sign of their bodies, they'd naturally realize someone saved them. Come to realize it was most likely Konoha, and come after them in an attempt to recapture their charges. Which would be an extremely deadly situation if they weren't at or at least close to Konoha by the time that happened, and it most certainly would happen….eventually.

Inu sighed slightly as he once again stopped Naruto from nearly walking into a tree, catching the bays attention. "Is something wrong Inu-san," the boy asked with slight curiosity in his voice. (A/N…again…Most of you are probably thinking Naruto will be at least somewhat emotionally crippled and socially awkward, and that will be true for the most part. But he had Yui and Asahi, and later the pups, there to not only help him out in the emotions department by treating him like family, but Yui (as you will notice later in the story) has a somewhat "high-class" personality and practically beat manners and proper treatment of others (except their wardens) into Naruto's head. So while he'll come off as somewhat cool and withdrawn to people he doesn't know or like, he won't be another Sai. That and the fact he's pretty much suffering from sensory overload and is happy he and his family are free and going to get a home, can you really blame him for being so open?)

Kakashi looked down at Naruto with an eye-smile…."Which he can't see because of the mask…riiiight…...no I didn't forget, it just slipped my mind for a second….and now I'm trying to justify myself to my own mind, the stress this mission is going to cause is already getting to me it seems….and now I really need to stop this."

Luckily for Kakashi and his wandering stress related thoughts, Naruto's concern at not being replied to right away had him say "Inu-san," in a questioning tone, breaking Kakashi out of his maddening talking to himself thoughts.

Silently thanking the boy for breaking him out of his seemingly messed up thought process Kakashi finally replied "Nothing you need to worry about Naruto, I'm just planning out the trip back to Konoha."

"Oh," Naruto was silent for a few seconds and seemed to be deep in thought about something, he then asked "Can you tell me some about what Konoha is like, I read all about its' history and laws, but know next to nothing about what it's actually like."

"Hmmm…well I suppose what you'd think of Konoha depends on what role you take there," Kakashi said in a thoughtful tone.

"What do you mean Inu-san," Naruto asked in slight confusion.

"Well, what I mean is that why you're at the village and what you do as a part of the village helps you decide what you feel about the village," Kakashi explained.

"So what does it mean for each person of the village than Inu-san," Naruto asked.

"Well, let's see here, for the regular citizens, it means safety, protection, and prosperity as they feel they are, and are, safe within the walls of one of the five great shinobi villages. For the merchants it means a prosperous place to trade and sell their wares as they make their stop there. For the shinobi, it is their most important thing to protect, the place they swear their loyalty to and will give their lives for if necessary," Inu's voice started of light and jovial, but by the end of his explanation it was hard and serious, conveying the importance and gravity of his words.

"But what about the Hokage," Naruto asked curiously, wondering why Inu hadn't said anything about their villages most important person.

"Ah, that is a good question. The Hokage, as you probably already know, is the most important person in our village, but what you might not realize is that he is also the most burdened at the same time," Inu said.

"Most burdened," Naruto asked curiously, little did they notice that they now had the attention of the rest of the former prisoners. The rest of the Anbu, of course, kept their attention to their surroundings.

"Yes Naruto, most burdened, the Hokage, as the villages leader, must make all the hard decisions. He must choose what missions to take and what to ignore, what shinobi to send on what mission, and as such he takes part of the blame if a mission goes awry and shinobi's, client's, or civilian's lives are lost. He must also find ways to settle political problems both internally and with other villages and people. He must also be willing to give his life to protect the village and its people if necessary, as the Hokage is a shinobi as well. The Hokage's job is without a doubt the most important one, but it is also one of the most dangerous and stressful jobs as well," Inu explained in a serious, solemn tone.

"Kage's, not just the Hokage but all Kage's, must be very strong willed people to bear such a burden," Naruto murmured in a hushed tone.

"Yes, yes they are," Kakashi said with a slight chuckle, he was glad Naruto had taken an interest in the village that would soon become his home, and even more glad that this distracted him from gawking at the scenery enough that he started paying attention to where he was going. The pups seemed to follow Naruto's lead, so they, too, were now paying attention to where they were going.

Realizing this was a good opportunity to speed up their pace a bit and get further away from the lab before they had to camp for the night Inu said, "Let's up our pace some, I want to be as far away from the lab as we can before we have to camp for the night."

Getting a chorus of hai's, Inu increased the groups pace to a speedy jog.

Four hours later the Anbu were honestly surprised that their charges were only just starting to get tired, yes, the folder said they trained regularly, but there's a big difference between training in a cool, probably only somewhat large room, and jogging at a fast pace in the heat of the sun while dogging and jumping over all sorts of obstacles, little did they know or think to ask that all three of them, and even the pups, all had gravity seals on to make up for the lack of space in their training.

Noticing a river nearby, Inu called out "All right, let's take a short break," once again getting a series of hai's in response.

As soon as the group stopped, Yui and Asahi sat down, panting slightly, but Naruto and the pups seemed to still have energy to burn, so Kakashi decided to take advantage of that fact and said to Naruto, "Naruto, since you and your pups seem to still have energy to spare, why don't I escort you to the river and you can give them what seems like it would be their first bath in a long time, no shampoo though."

Naruto looked down at his hounds and thought, "It's true, it's been a long time since I've been allowed to clean these guys, ever since they were weaned in fact. They're so dirt encrusted that I actually can't tell what color they really are anymore, everyone probably thinks they're just brown, but that's actually not true. And besides, he's probably also using this as an excuse to talk to me in private, which I'm interested in doing."

Having finished his thoughts and come to a decision he replied, "I would appreciate that Inu-san."

Inu nodded to Naruto and looked over to the Anbu under his command and ordered, "Keep your eyes and ears peeled, you never know when our raid will be discovered, so it's best to keep our guard up. Eat if you have to, and share some of your rations with Asahi-san and Yui-san if they're hungry, we want to keep everyone's energy up after all." Once again getting a chorus of hai's from the group, Kakashi nodded to Naruto and began heading to the river, which took only about ten minutes of walking to reach.

"So may I ask who you are and why you seem to be happy to see me now, Inu-san?" Naruto asked as he began washing Kimi to the best of his abilities without any soap.

In reply Kakashi removed his mask to show….another mask. The man's face was covered from the top of his nose down in a navy blue mask. His left eye was covered by his Konoha hitai-ate, so all Naruto really saw of him was his right eye, which was entirely black without even a pupil, his ears (since he also pulled down his hood,) and his already seen gravity defying silver hair.

"Ok, so, that doesn't really answer my question you know," Naruto said, glad that the river water was warm so he didn't have to worry about his teeth chattering.

"First off, let me answer a question with a question, do you know who your parents were, you're answer will decide how much I tell you," Kakashi answered in a serious tone.

"I know my mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the Red-hot Habanero to Konoha, and the Red Death to her enemies, I also know all about our clan and the fact it was wiped out at the start of the Third Shinobi World War. I know that my father was the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, but other than that and the fact that they're both dead I know nothing about them. The people at the lab, Orochimaru especially, tried to tell me all sorts of lies about them, but I knew that that's what they were," Naruto said, barely pausing to take a breath. Having done the best he could for Kimi, he switched her out with Jun.

"Well, then I guess I can tell I you I was a student and member of your father's genin squad, and a close friend of both him and your mother. That and my name is Kakashi Hatake," Kakashi told him, Naruto heard the sad melancholy in Kakashi's voice, but decided he wasn't close enough with the man to comment on it.

"I know that you probably want to learn more about me, but I'm not quite ready for that yet, so would you maybe tell me everything you're willing to about my parents," Naruto asked hesitantly.

Seeing the hesitance, hope, and most of all fear of being reprimanded in Naruto's eyes Kakashi sighed and nodded to him, "Well then let's start first with your father, shall we, Minato-sensei was a great man, he…."

For the rest of the time Naruto spent washing the dogs, letting them dry (all the while keeping Ryuu from rolling around in the dirt and making himself dirty all over again), and even for some time afterwards, they stayed there, one listening to and absorbing everything the other told him, three just trying to dry themselves off by licking themselves, only succeeding in making themselves cleaner…..and wetter.

They spent an hour total by the river, and by the time the hour was over Kakashi had told Naruto everything he knew and thought about his parents, which was quite a bit, and Naruto seemed to have warmed up to him a bit. But he would have to save that fact for another time, as their break had lasted more than long enough. So he got up, put his Inu mask back on, and told Naruto, "It's time to return to the group and start moving again." To which he got a hai in response.

When they returned to the rest of their group, every ones' eyes (except Kakashi's and Naruto's) were drawn to the pups, as though they were just now seeing them for the first time, which in a way they were. Without the dirt covering them they were all very different colors, which came as quite a surprise, even Kakashi was surprised by how much of a change a wash could cause.

Kimi has deep green eyes, and her fur is almost entirely white, with black front paws, a black tail and rump, and the top half of her ears a startling red. Jun has hazel/gold eyes, and his fur is almost all black, with his right forepaw and left hind paw being red, the top half of his tail was red as well, and his left ear was entirely white with a spot of white surrounding it. Ryuu was the biggest surprise of all; he was almost entirely red, with black paws (all four of them), white on the tips of his ears, and the tip of his tail also white, all of which made his still blue eyes all the more startling. All three had stick up ears and puffy fur and tails (imagine Akamaru only with stick up ears instead of droopy.) Jun was slightly smaller than both Kimi and Ryuu, who were the same size as each other. They didn't think dogs could be red, let alone the almost crimson red these three had. (A/N I'd like to ask someone who's good at art to please send me an image of these three as I just described them, it doesn't matter to me if you want to add Naruto to the image or not, as long as you use my Naruto. You can even make Naruto as he'd be at 13, as he'll look and dress almost the same, except taller, 5ft 2in. Also, if you make him 13, put his hitai-ate around his neck with a black cloth. Since Inuzuka hounds grow at a much slower pace than a normal hounds since they have a human's lifespan, and my hounds are half Inuzuka, if you do make him 13, make Kimi and Ryuu only slightly bigger than Akamaru at that point, and Jun at the same size as Akamaru [at that time period.] I'd really appreciate it.)

"Wow, I figured you guys would be surprised by how they really look, but I didn't think you'd be this surprised, if I had known that, I would have warned you," Naruto's slightly sheepish voice broke them out of their shock.

"Well Naruto, while you were bottle feeding them we didn't see you, and by the time we did see you again the pups were already dirty, and the lighting wasn't exactly the best in the first place. I honestly didn't think dogs could be red, especially not that shade of red" Yui admitted in a slightly shocked tone of voice.

"Well, they actually can't in most cases dogs with red in their coats is a sign of illness, but these guys were naturally born with it, and all tests state that they're perfectly healthy, so I think the only explanation I can give is that it's probably 'cause of me," he admitted in a low tone while looking down at the ground and pointing at the unruly mop of strawberry blonde that was his hair.

That got a round of blinks, they had all honestly forgotten about the fact that the pups had Naruto's genes in them. They acted so much like normal pups and, until they'd been washed, looked so much like ordinary pups that it was an easy thing to forget. But now that they'd seen their natural fur color it was easy to see the physical sign of his genes influence on them.

Noticing his beginning depression Asahi walked over and lightly hit Naruto on the head saying, "It's not your fault they did that to them and you know it, so don't go blaming yourself over anything out of the ordinary about them, blame those sick bastards instead."

"Language," Yui snapped.

"You know as well as I do that those jerks never watched their tongues around him, he's heard and said far worse, so long as he isn't foolish enough to say anything in an important conversation or to an important person, I see no reason to worry about it," Asahi replied.

"That's how it always is with you, you never consider the fact that if we let it become a habit with him then it most likely will cause problems at some point," Yui shot back.

And so the two began bickering back and forth over all sorts of things, starting from differences of opinion over how to raise him and ending up at how they felt about how they treated other people in general. As the confrontation escalated, Naruto looked up from the ground with a smile, it was a small smile, but a genuine one all the same, the first the Anbu (other than Kakashi) had seen him make.

Suddenly that smile turned into a mischievous grin and, in a slightly amused tone, he said to them, "Why don't the two of you just confess your love for each other and get married already, you guys act like an old married couple anyway, so you might as well."

This statement had the automatic effect of turning them both as red as a tomato and spitting and stuttering out attempted counters and denials. Getting a laugh from Naruto and amused yips from the pups. Even the Anbu present were having trouble holding in their amusement at the duo's reaction.

In a desperate attempt at changing the subject Yui turned to Inu and said "We're all rested and ready to go whenever you are," getting emphatic nods of agreement from Asahi.

This time Inu was unable to completely hold back and he let out a small chuckle at their expense before saying, "Alright then, we're going to go at a faster pace than before and we're not stopping until we camp for the night, and make sure to keep your guards up, understood?" Once again getting a series of hai's or nods from those present he set of at mid to high genin speeds towards the village, though they didn't tree hop yet since Naruto and the hounds would need to be taught how.

They continued this pattern of starting out slow and gradually speeding up through the day with the only break being a one hour lunch break all the way until they camped for the night. The hounds and Naruto proved to be excellent foragers and hunters, and regularly helped the Anbu get the food needed to feed everyone at night. While at the same time being taught how to tree hop, already knowing the wall-walking exercise helped. During the lunch breaks and sometimes while Naruto was out foraging he and Kakashi would often talk about one another, and quickly grew an almost brotherly attitude towards one another when Kakashi was not in his Inu persona, as Naruto liked the calming, yet sad aura Kakashi gave off, and Kakashi liked the kind, (if withdrawn) aura Naruto gave off. All and all, they were making a pretty good pace, and if the pattern continued as it had so far they'd be at the village in just over a week, which was four days faster than estimated.

This pattern, however, was broken slightly the lunch break of the fourth day. When Kakashi (with his Inu mask on) tilted his head toward Naruto in an invite to take a walk together, as per usual, Naruto instead said, "Actually, I think it should be Tora's turn now, don't you?"

Kakashi sighed, he'd come to like the private time he'd spent getting to know Naruto, but understood where he was coming from, so even though he wasn't entirely happy about it, he turned to Tora and simply said "Go ahead," getting a nod from the man in response.

And so Naruto and Tora walked off into the forest. After getting a reasonable distance away from the group they came across a small clearing with large rocks scattered about, and decided to settle there to talk.

"So did you know my parents too, or did you have another reason for wanting to get to know me," Naruto asked the man curiously.

Just like Kakashi, Tora first removed his mask and hood, revealing what he looked like to Naruto. (I'm not going to bother explaining, just imagine what he looks like in canon, only younger (should be 19-20 right now) and in Anbu gear rather than standard jonin gear.) "It would have to be the second reason I'm talking to you, Naruto. You see, we happen to share a similar burden; I was taken and experimented on by Orochimaru at a young age. I was one of his original attempts at giving the Mokuton to children, babies really, the only one to survive the experiment, and as for my name…simply keep calling me Tora," Tora said in a solemn tone.

His explanation to Naruto as to why he wanted to get to know him left the boy staring at him wide eyed for what seemed to be a long moment, before finally saying "So I guess that means in a way we're related then, huh, well that's a shock," with a bittersweet smile on his face. Bitter at the thought of someone else having already gone through a little of what he did, but sweet at the thought of having yet another extended family member.

Tora, as though understanding the thoughts behind the smile said, "I hope we get to know each other well, and, with Hokage-sama's permission, that I get to teach you everything I know about our shared bloodline, if you're okay with that, of course."

All Naruto could do in reply was smile and nod, and so they spent the rest of the break simply talking about whatever they were willing to talk about with one another until it was time for them to return to the rest of the group.

The rest of their trip back to Konoha followed the same pattern as before, only now Naruto switched between spending time with Kakashi, Tora, both, or simply staying with Yui, Asahi, and the hounds for their break. All in all it took the group a little over a week and a half to reach the rather impressive looking gates of Konoha, much to the relief of some…and the anxiety of others.

Konoha, 5 days after raid on lab, afternoon

Hiruzen and his Anbu escort, after days of near non-stop travel, were finally back at Konoha, much to their relief. But, before he could head to the Hokage tower and begin not only the probably large stack of paperwork on his desk, but also on building the groundwork for Naruto's return and the other's welcome, he had one more thing to do.

Turning to the Anbu present he ordered "Get the bodies we stored away to the morgue, take the people we captured and put in containment seals to Ibiki at T&I, take all data we managed to obtain to the Intelligence Department to go through, and finally keep all news of our soon to be new citizens a secret, you are not to say so much as a peep about any of them, not even about their existence, I will handle all things about them, including their files, personally, do you understand me?" He began leaking out killing intent (KI) to make his point clear.

Getting a chorus of hai's from his Anbu, and assured that no one was going to learn anything about them without him telling the person himself, Hiruzen nodded and said "Good, feel free to take a week long break after completing what I've told you to do, dismissed."

Getting a chorus of "Hai Hokage-sama's" and "Thank you Hokage-sama's," the Anbu shunshined to the locations they were told to go in order to drop the stuff off and begin their break.

Sighing and looking around his village for a second, detecting his normal Anbu guard take their accustomed positions, Hiruzen soon shunshined to his office, knowing he was going to have a monstrously big pile of all Kage's bane….paperwork. Appearing in his office in a puff of smoke and looking at his desk, Hiruzen nearly started crying and banging his head against the nearest hard surface (which just so happened to be the wall) at the sheer amount of paperwork sitting there waiting for him on his desk. Deciding that there were more immediately important things to do than go through that terror of a pile, Hiruzen sat at his desk and cleared enough space on it to write a letter to his wayward student, Jiraiya of the Sanin, Naruto's godfather.

Luckily due to a recent report from him that was conveniently at the top of the pile of paperwork, he knew the area in which to send the letter that simply stated a certain someone he'd been searching for had been found and that he would be told more once he got back to the village, since Hiruzen didn't want to risk sensitive information getting around if the messenger hawk was intercepted. Finishing that, he sent out a small pulse of his chakra to summon one of his hidden guards to stand in from of him.

"Swan, please tell the members of the shinobi council to be present for an important council meeting in one hour. JUST them, not the civilian council, and not my advisers, if any of them try to get in, you and the other Anbu have my permission to escort them out of the tower, understood?" (A/N Swan in Japanese is pronounced almost the same as in English, for those of you who may be wondering why I used English for Anbu all of a sudden.)

Getting a "Hai, Hokage-sama" in response, the Anbu shunshined away in a swirl of leaves in order to begin sending out the summons to the various clan leaders that made up the Shinobi Council.

Sighing once more he looked down at the paperwork, which somehow seemed to have grown since he came in and muttered to himself "Might as well get started," with anime tears running down his face.

1 hour later, Council chamber

Hiruzen calmly looked around the table at the other members participating in this council meeting, Tsume Inuzuka, head of the Inuzuka clan, Chōza Akimichi, head of the Akimichi clan, Inoichi Yamanaka, head of the Yamanaka clan, Shikaku Nara, head of the Nara clan, Hiashi Hyūga, head of the Hyūga clan, Shibi Aburame, head of the Aburame clan, the Senju clan seat was empty (and has been empty since Tsunade left the village), the Uchiha clan seat was empty since the only loyal Uchiha left was not of an age to take it yet, the Uzumaki clan's special seat granted to them as close allies of Konoha, which most councilors have forgotten exists, is empty for the same reason as the Uchiha, (not that they know that yet,) and the Sarutobi clan seat and vote was his as was the Hokage's (no duh). All in all the most powerful clans' leaders were the members of the esteemed shinobi council.

Finishing his examination of each individual person, who were all showing their curiosity at being called into a council meeting just an hour after their Hokage went on a mission personally was enough to get even the normally lazy Nara and stoic Hyūga and Aburame to show their curiosity in their own ways. Deciding that he'd delayed long enough, Hiruzen took out a silence seal, the most powerful and airtight Jiraiya could make, set it on the table, and activated it, then activated the silence seals already present in the room as an added precaution.

Looking straight at the members of the council Hiruzen said to them, "Everything that is about to be discussed here today is to be considered an S-rank secret, discussing this with anyone outside of this room without my express permission is grounds for immediate execution, your clan head status will not save you, am I understood.

He received a chorus of "Hai Hokage-sama's," they knew better than to argue with him when he used that tone.

"This must be a very important topic if you're taking this many precautions to make sure it stays secret Hokage-sama," said the ever stoic Shibi.

"That is correct, Shibi-san, as it involves my former student Orochimaru," Hiruzen's statement got gasps and murmurs of surprise and concern from various members of the council, if one listened closely you'd also hear Shikaku's murmur of "Troublesome," mixed in.

"What has that slimy snake done now," Tsume growled out, Inuzuka's valued loyalty and pack above all else so a traitor like Orochimaru really gets on their nerves.

"You all are probably aware of the recent string of kidnappings of civilian children and orphans that's been happening in the village the past couple of years," receiving nods of confirmation from them, he continued, "well, I received information from a reliable source stating that Orochimaru was up to his old tricks again, and giving the location of the place he was doing them in. Unfortunately, it was right."

Silence filled the room at his statement; they all remembered the last meeting that was called after their Hokage performed a raid on one of Orochimaru's labs. The horrors and atrocities they heard about and saw pictures of was enough to turn even Shibi green. The only good thing they got out of it was Tenzo, who has an invaluable ability that was lost until then. They felt sorry for the child, but they couldn't deny his usefulness, and he was now an excellent shinobi and member of the village. They were hoping this raid was not as bad as the last, but knew that it likely was.

"Is it all bad, or did we manage to save at least one of them like last time," Inoichi asked curiously.

"It was defiantly as bad as, if not worse than the last one, but yes, we did manage to save someone, several someone's in fact. That is what we are here to discuss today, what was done to them, who they are, and what their possible status in the village might be. I warn you, these ones that were saved are much older than Tenzo was when we found him, and therefore have an actual choice in whether or not they join this village or not, so don't try to push them into something they don't want when they get here," Hiruzen told them sternly, "This is also the reason why only you are here, as the others will try to twist things to satisfy their own desires."

Noticing Shikaku was about to ask a question Hiruzen replied to it before he could get it out "They were in no condition to come to the village at the pace I needed to return, so I left them with an Anbu escort so they can get here at their own pace." This answer satisfied him.

The rest of it got a round of nods from all present; they knew that the elder advisors, Danzo especially, would love to sink their claws into them.

"I will now pass around copies of all of their files, as you will probably be able to tell from reading through them, that they will probably need to go through at least a couple of sessions with Inoichi-san before making any final decisions about them," as he finished saying this, the members of the council opened the top file and began reading (The order goes Asahi, Yui, Naruto, the pups.)

After reading through Asahi's folder, the questions started.

"Is he as hotheaded as explained in the file," that came from Inoichi.

"Yes, but seemingly only for good reasons, he was actually pleasant and respectful towards me and the Anbu," replied Hiruzen.

"What are his plans in the village," asked Hiashi.

"He expressed an interest in becoming a shinobi, but only on the conditions that he is never put on the CRA and that all of them are not separated, as they are like family to each other, and of course we should put him through a few sessions with Inoichi to confirm his mental stability," Hiruzen replied.

The members of the council murmured to one another before Hiashi finally spoke to Hiruzen directly, "I can accept that."

"Shall we vote now about the decision to accept Asahi as a ninja on the condition he passes Inoichi's psych evaluation, while accepting the conditions he himself set before us, or shall we wait until they arrive," he asked them.

While waiting for them to make their decision, he was secretly hoping they'd choose to vote now, as there was a chance Danzo might find a way to influence this if they waited. He was just glad that the Hokage's advisers did not need to be present for the vote on whether or not to accept foreigners as shinobi or not, (the only ones that needed to present were the Hokage himself and the shinobi council,) or things would be much harder right now.

Once again acting as the groups' spokesperson Hiashi said "We'll vote now."

Giving an internal sigh of relief Hiruzen said, "Very well, all in favor of allowing Asahi to become a shinobi grated he pass our condition and we pass his, stand now." Everyone in the room stood, "Good, as of the moment he becomes a shinobi, as I am confident he will, Asahi will be immune to the CRA."

Realizing they were done with this man, at least until he actually got here, they moved on to the next file.

After getting through Yui's file Tsume couldn't help but chuckle and say, "I like this woman, freezing off the balls of anyone who tried to rape her despite the punishments she got for it; please tell me she wants to be a kunoichi as well, Hokage-sama."

"Yes she does, but she wants to be kept off the active duty list for a couple years at least since the person in the next file is a child she's taken to raising, and she wants to be there for him until he's older, so she doesn't want to risk herself on missions. She also has the condition she never gets put into any sort of breeding program, which I'm sure you'll all agree to since all of us think those things are disgusting. And of course she'll have to go through a mental evaluation as well," Hiruzen stated, and settled back to once again let them discuss this with one another.

This time it was Tsume who spoke for them all, "We'll do the vote on all of this now, since we figure that will be your next question"

Getting a nod from Hiruzen he said the same thing he said for Asahi, once again everyone voted yes. Seeing this he said "Very well, Yui, if she passes her psyche test, will become an official kunoichi of Konoha but will not be put on the active duty list until the child is older, she will also be immune to being put into any breeding programs as well."

Once again they moved on to the next file…and were horrified by what they read, especially Tsume who questioned, "Hokage-sama, the pups?"

"Are completely and totally loyal to the boy, and will not be separated from him. However, if you wish to bring Kuromaru to see if he can smell their father in them, and, with their approval, if you want to train them, you are free to. They are also the last file on the table as you might have already guessed," Hiruzen told her.

She nodded and said, "I believe I will do just that Hokage-sama, and I hope they and the boy will be willing to train under me and let the hounds learn of their roots."

"What of the boy himself, he seems to be very powerful, and while I'm already assuming he's not to be put under the CRA, what else will be done with him, as he's a bit young to be a chunin, especially after what the others we made chunin at this age became like," Shikaku asked in his typical lazy manner.

"The boy also wishes to become a shinobi, however I agree with you on the fact he is a bit young to become one. So what I will do is apprentice him to both Asahi and Tenzo, making him an up and coming shinobi-to-be, and therefore under my direct jurisdiction despite not being a full shinobi. I will also be putting him in the academy alongside his age group so that he can to learn how to better react to and interact with others, after putting him through the same mental evaluation as the others, of course," Hiruzen said, telling them of his plan for him.

This time they did not even take the time to discuss, they simply looked at each other, nodded, and let Shikaku say, "We all cast our vote in a yes to all of that and the fact that he is immune to the CRA."

"Just out of curiosity, who is the boy," Chōza asked curiously, voicing everyone else's question for them.

Hiruzen sighed, he knew this was coming, he was just glad that they had nothing against the boy and were smart enough to see his heritage despite the fact he was a newborn at the time, but this would still be an explosive reaction. Mostly because many of them, having recognized his heritage, had wanted to adopt him, and all of them were devastated when they learned that the last link to their precious Yondaime was most likely dead or permanently out of their grasp.

He took a moment to pack his pipe with tobacco and light it with a minor fire jutsu, knowing he would need its soothing qualities soon enough. Once it was lit he took a breath in and out of it and said, "He is someone we all know very well and thought was lost to us," causing most the people in the room to tense, not knowing who he meant, and Shikaku to stare at him with wide eyes, being able to make a guess just from that putting that statement together with what little physical description he had of the boy, "He is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze," he finished simply.

They all stared at him, frozen, for a long minute, and then chaos descended. Voices rose in shouts, offers to adopt him were put forth, and the general insanity that happens when people are told something stunning ensued.

He gave them all five minutes to let them get the worst of it out of their systems, and then shouted "ENOUGH," while leaking out enough KI to instantly shut them up. "He, as you already know, has people to take care of him, and therefore doesn't need to be adopted. As for a place for them to live, I will be giving them the deed to the Namikaze estate, as it is Naruto's birth right, as well as the Uzumaki clan funds for the same reason, so he will not need what you are offering. As for telling the rest of the populous of his heritage, we will wait until he becomes a jonin as originally decided so that his parents' enemies do not make him a target before he is strong enough to deal with them. I believe he will comply with only using the Uzumaki part of his name until then. As for your concerns about him being discovered by living in his parents' house, remember the fact that they built it in the forest, on top of the Hokage monument, and the only people who really knew about it were us, some Anbu, and their closest friends. Not even the elder advisors knew where they lived, and no one who did will break their trust in them by blabbing about it just because they're dead. Not to mention the security seals are so complex the only ones with access to the place was them, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and me, and if that wasn't enough it's out of the way enough that no one goes there unless they know about the place, so there's no need to worry."

His words calmed them as they knew they were true, but there was one last issue they needed covered before he dismissed them for the day.

"What about the civilians' reactions to the matter, you know one of the civilian council members leaked the fact he was a jinchūriki to them. Your law about the fact being an S-rank secret where if anyone other than you or him tells someone not already in the know is automatically executed being enforced despite his disappearance might give him a chance with the younger generations. That and there will be no problem what so ever on the shinobi side due to your strict teachings to everyone on exactly what a jinchūriki is, even adding a lecture on them and the bijū to the academy, has more than enforced the fact that the container is NOT the beast to them, but grudges can last a long time, and not everyone has let go," Tsume said in concern.

At that Hiruzen let out a weary sigh and admitted, "I don't honestly know."