Edited 10/19/2014, 07/31/2014

(A/N Ok, I just learned I made a major mistake, Tenzo (Yamato) is NOT Neko, that's Yūgao, Tenzo is Tora (tiger), so from this chapter on when I call the Anbu Tora, I mean Tenzo. I will go back and fix my mistake in earlier chapters soon. And please, please, please more reviews, I'm happy I have few negative reviews, but this is an entirely new genre for me and honestly enough I stopped watching Naruto years ago after the Pain arc and, while I still like the series up to then for the most part, I might make more mistakes like with Tora, so please review, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism welcome.)

Chapter 3 – Homecoming…..sort of

Konoha Village Entrance, with Naruto

As soon as the group announced their presence to the gate guards, a group of Anbu appeared. The one with a Swan mask stepped forward and said, "You are to take our new guests straight to Hokage-sama's office by his orders."

Inu, Tori, Tora, and Kuma nodded and grabbed their charges in order to shunshin them to their Hokage's office. Arriving at the office, they saw their Hokage sitting behind his usual desk, but what surprised them was the fact that Inoichi Yamanaka was standing near him.

"Ah good, you guys are here, earlier than planned as well. Inu, Tora, please stay, Tori, Kuma, you are dismissed, feel free to take a week long break before taking your next missions, but you are under no circumstances to tell anyone about our new citizens, understood?"

Getting a chorus of hai's, the dismissed Anbu left while the other two remained where they were.

Hiruzen looked at the three former prisoners and said "I spoke with the council and they all agree to your wishes to become shinobi while following your conditions, if you agree to some conditions of our own."

"And what kind of conditions are these Hokage-sama," Asahi asked with a hint of suspicion.

"First, let me ask you if you know of the Yamanaka clan and their clan's abilities," getting a round of nods he continued, "good, the first condition you must accept is to let Inoichi here mind-walk all three of you in order to confirm your mental stability. I assure you that anything he sees in your mind will not go further than the people in this room, and even that will be kept strictly to things we need to know."

The three exchanged glances, nodded, and let Yui say, "We accept this condition Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded and said "Good, Inoichi will do this as soon as I finish listing the other conditions. The second condition is for Naruto only," getting a curious look from the boy he continued, "Naruto, while I'm sure you're at least genin level both knowledge and skill wise, I am worried about your lack of interaction with people who aren't your family or people who mean you harm, that and your lack of experience leads me to putting you in the academy." Seeing the boys worried look he was quick to assure, "Don't worry I'm going to put you under an apprenticeship, mostly under Asahi, and, if he agrees, Tora, but also under anyone else willing to teach you that I and Yui-san approve of. So you will be under my jurisdiction. Also, if she wants to, she will become your legal guardian by adoption; on the condition she takes your name."

"I accept these conditions Hokage-same, I am curious, however, over whether you mean my full name, or just the Uzumaki part of my name, as I don't think I'm ready to handle my father's enemies yet," Naruto said.

"Ah yes, I would prefer it if the both of you simply went by Uzumaki until you are ready, I had meant to address that latter, but seeing as how you brought it up, and have pretty much already agreed to it, from now until you are a tokubetsu jonin, you will only go by the Uzumaki part of your name," Hiruzen stated.

"Understood, Hokage-sama, can we please pause in the conditions for a minute to let Yui-obasan sign the adoption papers if she wants to," Naruto asked, getting an "Of course I want to, silly," from Yui in reply.

Nodding, Hiruzen took out the already prepared document (as in already signed and stamped by him as well as already filled out,) and put it on the desk for her to sign. After she finished signing the document he said somewhat cheerfully, "Very well than, from now on you are Yui Uzumaki, I hope you continue to take as good care of Naruto as you already have been." After getting a nod of confirmation from Yui, he added, "I too have something I need to do before giving you the final condition."

He reached for a secret storage seal under his desk and added chakra to it, causing a scroll slightly longer and thicker than his arm, two letters, and three documents to come out of it. Looking straight into Naruto's eyes as he put them on the desk he told the boy "Naruto, what I have here is your inheritance from both of your parents. The scroll is locked by a blood seal only you can open, and contains both the Namikaze and Uzumaki kenjutsu styles, all of their taijutsu styles, all of their sealing styles, and their signature techniques, among other things, go through it later at your leisure. The two letters are letters your parents wrote in their final moments, just before they went off to fight the Kyūbi. And finally the three documents, two of them are your parents' bank account, which also happens to be the clan funds for their respective clans, you are not allowed to use your father's until you start using his name, but you are free to your mother's. The final document is the deed to the Namikaze estate, which you will all be living at; you don't need to worry about anyone discovering your heritage by living there, as few people know of it. I have to warn you that because of that and the security seals which prevent anyone other than a select few from entering it that it and the property around it will have most likely fallen into a state of disrepair."

"Don't worry Hokage-sama, I know enough about carpentry to perform any repairs, and am able to make more than enough shadow clones to make cleaning and repairs a simple task as long I have the tools necessary for it," Naruto told him.

"Alright then, if you say so," Hiruzen stated, "Anyway, the final condition is that you stay at the house until the council meeting tomorrow to meet the council, as they wish to meet you, and then to once again to stay at the house until the mayhem that will be caused by the announcement of Naruto's return to the village, which I will be making shortly after the council meeting, calms down. Don't worry about food and supplies as I will assign Inu and Tora to watch over you during the day and bring you any food or supplies you need as long as you supply the funds, as you will find more than enough money to pay for whatever you need in the house itself."

Once again they exchanged looks and nods and this time it was Asahi that said "We accept all three conditions Hokage-sama."

Nodding, Hiruzen looked to Inoichi, who nodded and walked over to the three. Deciding to start with Asahi, he asked permission, and, after receiving it, put his hands on the man's head and began his technique. After a couple of minutes he removed his hands from the now unconscious man's head and said, "He's stable, but does have a bit of a temper issue that makes me recommend not making him a jonin, regardless of what the test he will take to determine his rank says."

Getting a nod of understanding from Hiruzen, he moved on to Yui and did the same thing. Removing his hands from the now unconscious woman he said "Other than a habit of giving minor frostbite to those who insult her looks and perverts, she is completely stable, and as there are plenty of kunoichi who assault those who insult their looks and perverts, I find no problem in her getting whatever rank she deserves."

Getting yet another nod of understanding from Hiruzen, he moved on to Naruto, once again doing the same thing. After a couple minutes he paled and removed his hands from the now unconscious child and said in a slightly shaky voice, "The things they did to the child to get him to obey them are simply horrible. They almost never physically abused him, but the things they did to terrify him are simply horrible and I am shocked that I didn't find any permanent mental scaring or rational or irrational fears from it, don't get me wrong he is scared, but he has a high chance of recovering from it, and he does have fears, they're just not directly caused by it.. He's completely stable, but your idea to have him go to the academy first is a good one, as he deserves to have at least a semi-normal rest of his childhood before becoming a ninja."

Getting another nod from Hiruzen he was then told, "Very good, please remember that everything you saw in their minds is completely confidential. You are dismissed." Inoichi nodded and shunshined away in a poof of smoke.

Taking the couple of minutes it would take for the three to wake back up, Hiruzen took out two Konoha hitai-ates. When they did wake up a couple of seconds later and realized Inoichi was gone, they looked at Hiruzen questioningly. Noticing this Hiruzen tossed Yui and Asahi the headbands on the desk and said, "Congratulations, all three of you pass, Asahi, Yui, you will be tested for what rank you will be given after everything calms down. Afterwards, Asahi will be put on the active duty list while Yui, as requested, will be put on reserve until Naruto is older."

The two of them nodded and put on their headbands, Yui tied hers around her waist like a belt and Asahi put his around his left bicep. (A/N Second image request, if no one wants to do the hounds alone then could you do the whole family, Asahi, Yui, Naruto, and the hounds all together. Yui likes to wear Kimonos and Yukatas designed for battle, and Asahi likes to wear black Anbu pants with a black or navy blue shirt. Once again if you want to make them older look at what I said about what Naruto and the hounds will look like by the time they graduate. I'd actually prefer to see them older than at this age. To anyone that's good at art [or at least better than me, who can't even make a circle round or make a stick figure without it looking crippled T.T] that's reading this story I would really love to see this or my other requested image. *Puppy dog eyes no jutsu* PLEAAASE!)

Thinking for a second and realizing he had nothing more to tell them right this instant, he said "Now that that's all over, Inu, as you know where the compound is please make enough clones to shunshin everyone to the front gate of their new home. Naruto, in order to enter the house draw a little blood and put it on the Uzumaki swirl on the gate, then push a little of your chakra in it."

Getting a couple of hai's, Inu quickly made enough Kage Bunshins to shunshin everyone to the compound, which grabbed them and did so. Arriving there himself he found Naruto already opening the gates and the group walking in, so he quickly joined them.

As soon as the last person was through, the gates slammed shut behind them, sealing shut once more. The group looked around in awe at the compound and property. Despite being overrun with weeds the yard was both beautiful and huge, with flower and what seemed to be herb gardens, three different kinds of training grounds, one with lots of trees, one with a large pond with a clear area around it, and one that seemed to be an extremely rocky terrain. There was even a meditation garden with a small pond that had what seemed to be koi in it and a small artificial waterfall.

The house itself was also beautiful; it was a three story (four if you count the basement they don't know about yet) country style wood house in a homey light yellow color with a tiled roof, but they could see the state of disrepair it had fallen into, ivy grew over almost the entire house, covering the windows, and the porch swing was off its hinges, and that's just what they could see from this angle. They could also see a reasonably large tool shed not too far off in the distance, also in a state of disrepair.

"Looks like you guys have your work cut out for you," Kakashi said in a lazy tone.

"Not really, or were you not paying attention when I said I could just spam enough Kage Bunshin to do all the work in no time," right after saying that he made 200 seal-less, but not smokeless, Kage Bunshins, noticing the small amount of smoke he frowned and added, "Looks like I still need to do some work on it though."

The two Anbu were glad that their masks hid their shock, for a kid to effortlessly produce so many clones at such a young age showed a frightening amount of chakra….which really shouldn't be that shocking seeing as how he had a giant entity made entirely of chakra sealed into him slowly leaking and mixing its chakra with his.

Turning to his shadow clones he began issuing out orders, "Alright, 60 of you head to the tool shed and get what you need to take care of the land, cut the grass, repair or replace the training posts, clean out the ponds, weed out the flower and herb gardens, for those of you who do the last two chores after you finish weeding each bed out go back through and label all the flowers and herbs, the order will be name, uses (if they have any), and dangers (if there are any.)"

After getting a series of "Yes, boss" from 60 of the clones, which automatically went to start their tasks, he moved on. "Five of you will also go to the tool shed and get the necessary supplies to clean up and repair the shed itself," once again getting a reply, five clones also automatically went to start their assigned tasks.

Pausing a minute to make sure his clones were really doing what he told them to do he continued, "Ten of you start working on fixing up the outside of the house, don't get rid of all the ivy though, keep enough of it for decorative purposes, also keep your eyes peeled for any seals that might be present and document them, the order goes, the condition they're in, what they do, whether they're active or not, and where they are, when you're done, bring the finished list to me," same reply, same action.

"After I open the house in the same way I opened the gates I want ten clones each cleaning all three floors, with an extra five working on the kitchen, as I'm sure you don't want to smell rotting food and I don't want the memory of the smell, make sure you use your masks," same reply, and, after he opened the door, same action.

"Next I want ten clones each to find the library, armory, and study respectively and organize, sort, and list every single thing we have, you know how detailed I want it, and who to return the finished lists to. Also look for, but don't try to open, the safe that's probably hidden in one of those three rooms, one of you come out and tell me when you do. Before you go I want the group going to the library to come to me and grab the scroll that has all the books and scrolls we brought from the lab, as I want them added to it, oh, and try not to get in the way of the cleaners," same replies, similar actions only one group walked up to Naruto and collected the scroll he mentioned before walking off.

"Next I want groups of five per floor going over the walls and floors of the house thoroughly, once again searching for and thoroughly documenting any seals you find, you know the order and what to do with them," same reply, same action, there were now 50 clones left.

Just as he was about to continue, one of the first floor clones came out and said, "Boss, seems like there's a basement, a really big one too. I just wanted to tell you that and I will get back to my own work now."

"Alright then, I want 30 of you to go down to the basement, ten to clean, ten to go through and organize and document whatever is down there, and ten to go through it looking for any seals that have been placed around it, same organization, and once again, give the finished lists to me when you're done," same reply, same action.

"The rest of you will be going over the fence around the property, ten to clean and repair it, ten to look for and document any seals on it, you know what to do with the list," yet again, same reply, same action.

Looking at the two Anbu Naruto politely asked "Could one of the two of you please go out and get enough food, toiletries [toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, ect.], and, after you get our sizes and preferences, clothes to last us two weeks, as we will probably be here for at least that long without being able to leave and we should probably be wearing clean clothes when we meet the council. I'm sure I'll have found and opened the safe by the time you get back so we can pay for it all."

"I'll do it," Tora volunteered, as he knew Kakashi never would, and, after getting each person's sizes and preferences, left to buy the requested items.

Looking around at his various Kage Bunshins Naruto decided to go and help out the ones working on the meditation garden as that would be a nice place to sit and wait for his clones to do what they were tasked to do. After looking at each other and shrugging, Asahi and Yui went to help a group of clones with what they felt like helping with. Inu simply went over to a tree, jumped up to a branch, sat on it, and took out a certain little orange book that we all know well.

Half an hour later Naruto and the clones were done cleaning and fixing the meditation garden and, while the clones moved on to work on other areas, Naruto sat down and decided to read the letters his parents left him. So he unsealed them from one of the many storage seals (among others) he kept on his sash.

These storage seals are, one for weapons, one for medical supplies, one for poisons, one for important documents (where he had the deeds and inheritance still,) one for weapons laced with paralyzing and disorienting poisons (it had six sections to it where all you had to do was add chakra to the section you wanted and you'd get either a senbon, kunai, or shuriken with one or the other kind of poison depending on which section he put chakra into), one with weapons laced with deadly poisons (same as the other laced weapons with only three sections this time), one with antidotes for said poisons (except the instant kills), one with a large amount of high quality sealing material, one for other things of importance such as food, water, firewood, a lighter, ect, and one that had been empty that he was now going to use for money, and once he got one, the wallet he'd use to hold it in (which he had asked Tora to get one shaped like a dog if possible,) and finally one for miscellaneous items. (A/N Hey, he's still a kid, so sue me for wanting to give him a cute wallet.) The last two he had added during the trip to Konoha, all in all he could store everything he needed in his sash and get rid of the need to carry items around.

Along the inside of the belt was a seal to make it fireproof, a seal that made it as hard as diamond while staying as flexible as cloth, a seal that allowed the sash to grow with him so he didn't need to worry about replacing it as he got older, a seal that kept it clean and free from all forms of filth (so that he wouldn't have to hand it over to be washed and possibly never see it again),a seal that made it so that all the seals are hidden from all forms of detection even when they were in use, a seal that made it so that all the seals would only recognize and activate to/for his chakra, and, most importantly, three self-repairing seals that, if someone managed to get through all the other seals and damage it, would not only repair the sash but also all the seals on the sash. And with three of the seals in three different places around his belt he had backups just in case one or even two of them were damaged.

Opening the first letter, one that had son on it in an obviously feminine hand, he began to read.

To my dear son Naruto,

In case you haven't realized this yet this letter is from your mother Kushina Uzumaki, me. I'm afraid that after having the Kyūbi ripped out of me by a mysterious masked man that I don't have much time left in this world. Know that I love you, I know that your father is going to seal the Kyūbi in you and I know that because of that you're most likely going to lead a hard life, as people can be cruel and stupid about things they're ignorant about, but try not to let it get to you too strongly. Find friends and people you can see as family who are smart enough to see you as you, not as the Kyūbi. Know that no matter what happens or what you choose to do in life that I will always be proud of you and love you, my son, and now I must go and help your father seal the Kyūbi.

Take care and be safe my lovely little boy,

Love, Kushina –attebane!

Naruto was on the verge of crying by the time he finished the letter, he was ecstatic to know that his mother truly did love him. Taking a couple of minutes to compose himself he then opened his father's letter.

Naruto,

If your reading this than Hiruzen decided it was time to tell you about your mother and I, if this is coming pretty late in your life, please don't blame the man for keeping it from you, as I requested he did so until you were at least chunin level in strength. I wanted you strong and mature enough to know about your heritage and about the contents of this letter. If you are reading this it also means that I died sealing the Kyūbi into you. I hope you can forgive me for it, but no matter how much it pains me I am a Hokage before I'm a father, and what kind of Kage can ask his people to do what he himself can't? I wish I could be there for you, but hopefully you've been raised with love even without me and your mother there. Now I have something very important that I need to tell you, so pay close attention. On the day of your birth, shortly after your birth when your mother's seal was at its weakest, a mysterious orange masked man claiming to be Madara Uchiha appeared and took you hostage, demanding your mother in return for you. (A/N The story of what happened goes the same as in cannon, so if you want to know the rest look it up.) I'm sure that the masked man will return, and he'll be after you as the new jinchūriki of the Kyūbi. So please be careful, get strong, and stay safe. Know that I love you and will always be proud of you, even if you hate me for sealing the Kyūbi into you.

Your father, Minato (P.S. I hope you didn't inherit your mother's verbal tick, as she was praying you wouldn't the entire time she was pregnant with you.)

Once again on the verge of tears, Naruto quickly closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm himself down. After a couple minutes he was once again calm, and reopening his eyes to see Tora return, he made several more clones the grab the stuff from him and put them in their proper places and one to grab some of the money from the safe he had paused in cleaning the meditation garden to open a little over fifteen minutes ago so he could pay him back.

Shortly after that the clones that he had made to check the inside and outside of the house, the ones charged with the gate, and the ones who went through the basement for seals, came to him and, handing him the lists, dispelled themselves, giving him a memory of the lists without the need to read them. (He had the lists made so that if he felt like he was forgetting one later he could go over them.) He then made 60 new clones and charged them with repairing all the seals that needed maintenance, as they would need the chakra levels of fresh clones to repair them all.

He was shocked by the sheer amount of seals on and in the house, not to mention the ones on the gate. Protection seals of all kinds, trap seals for thieves (and assassins), repelling seals to deflect chakra related attacks, and even maintenance seals….which had been overwhelmed and broken without humans there to help and maintain them. The biggest surprise came from the seals in the basement.

There were seals meant to make the giant basement, which he quickly realized was a training area, able to sustain the apocalypse without problems. It was obviously the place where his parents practiced their most dangerous and secret jutsus, and he was happy to know almost all those seals were still in excellent condition as some of them were beyond his level still. All in all no one was getting into their property or house without their permission.

Having finished going over all the facts in his head he made two clones. One he handed the lists and told it to go to the study and put them where other seal related scrolls were. The other he ordered to get a sample of blood from Yui and Asahi and then add both of them to the seals on the house and gate so they could enter at will.

Over the next three hours his clones gradually dispelled giving him their memories. He now knew the house had five bedrooms, the master, which would be his and his hounds (Yui and Asahi insisted on it), was large with a king sized bed, two end tables with lamps on them, a chest at the foot of the bed, a vanity (probably his mom's), a desk, and a walk in closet. Naruto took all his parents clothes and stored them in a storage scroll, and then put it in a drawer in the desk (the whole thing was completely empty some reason) because he wanted to keep them for sentimental reasons.

The only other items in the room were his mother's jewelry and journal, and some photos, which he kept right where they were. It also had a joint bathroom with an enormous shower and equally huge bath.

This bedroom and two other large ones, if not as large, that also had large (but not as large) connected bathrooms made up the entire third floor. Asahi and Yui would be taking these bedrooms…once they replaced the nursery with furniture that matched the other room, the sight of that made the clones that saw it almost go into hysterics. In the nursery the only things Naruto would be keeping would be the stuffed toad, fox, and dog that had been in his crib, and the photo of his parents, with his mother showing to be far along in her pregnancy on the table next to it (the closest thing he will ever have to a family photo), which he had already moved into his room. The rest he already had clones remove from the room, store into scrolls, and hand to Tora so that he could sell them and then use the scrolls again to buy furniture that matched the other room (Yui insisted on it, saying having one room with different furniture from every other room in the house would mess up the elegance of the house, they could always personalize it with decorations and such later.)

The other room had a queen sized bed, a nightstand with a lamp on it, a good sized dresser, and a desk. When Yui said that she liked the view she got from the room's window, Asahi said she could have it. Naruto then insisted on giving her the vanity that was in his room, which she happily accepted.

Soon enough, with the exception of Asahi's room, for which they were still waiting on the furniture for, Naruto had a complete map of the rest of the house and its contents in his head.

The second floor had two guest bedrooms and a bathroom on one side, and the study and armory took up the other side. The study was obviously his fathers, it had all his notes on Fuinjutsu, his special hirashin kunai, a large amount of Kage related paperwork that one of the Naruto clones took the obligation of storing it all in a storage scroll and taking it to Inu to deliver to the Hokage without feeling the need to ask the original before returning to work. It also had his father's journal and a whole shelf full of books and scrolls on fuinjutsu, various taijutsu and kenjutsu styles, and other things of interest. It had been disorganized when the clones started going through it, but it was now extremely well organized, and Asahi and Yui both said they had no interest in it, so Naruto took it as his own.

The armory had a mind-boggling amount of shuriken, kunai, senbon, fuma shuriken, and ninja wire all stored in their own personal labeled storage scrolls, telling them how much of what was in each. Just to make sure the weapons stayed maintained while in the scrolls the clones unsealed each scroll one by one and confirmed their contents were still in perfect condition. There were also two swords which were obviously the Namikaze and Uzumaki clan swords respectively, he added a new seal to the last open space in his belt and put them into it, but told himself he wouldn't use them until he learned both clans kenjutsu styles. (A/N New request, I know almost nothing about weapons, so if you guys could give me descriptions of what you want both of Naruto's new clan swords to look like, I'll take the ones I like the most for both and describe them in later chapters.)

For other weapons, there were also two tantos made of chakra conductive metal, which he gave to Asahi when asked as the man was amazing at kenjutsu and specialized in a double short sword style. He had only been allowed to use bokens since his capture, but if his warm-up with his new swords was any indication it hadn't dulled his skills much. One chakra conductive bostaff, which he gave to Yui as she had always wanted to learn how to use a weapon and it seemed to suit her perfectly. And finally an assortment of different kinds of daggers and knives which seemed to be a collection of some sort, since they knew there was no way some of them could be used in actual combat. There were also various oils, polishing cloths, and whetstones needed to maintain the weapons, more than enough to last years, if not longer.

As for books and scrolls, there was at least the basics of five different styles each for each weapon present (Yui quickly started reading one of the ones for Bojustu) and an amazing amount for at least the basics of over twenty different taijutsu styles, and up to the advanced styles of ten of them.

The first floor was composed of the kitchen, a descent sized dining room, a large living room, the library, another bathroom (without a tub or shower), a pantry, and a reasonably sized closet for cleaning supplies and such.

The library was filled with books about everything previously mentioned and more, including many of the things Naruto learned while in Orochimaru's lab, with more on each subject.

As for the flower and herb gardens, they were chock full of useful (and often expensive) flowers and herbs that could be used to make medicines, salves, and poisons, some of which are extremely valuable as they are incredibly potent. Just as Naruto finished giving everyone a tour of the property (I already covered the basement), Tora showed up with the new furniture, and, after being paid what they still owed despite the stuff he sold first, they all moved the furniture into Asahi's room.

After they finished putting their new clothes away in their respective rooms, except for one pair each, they all went to their bathrooms to wash. Naruto, of course, washed his hounds first, using the puppy shampoo Tora got from the Inuzuka's pet store (Tora also got special puppy chow, three dog bowls, dog treats, special fur friendly doggy towels, new collars [no name tags,] and chew toys for them); he thoroughly washed all three in the bathtub with warm water, as he'd already decided he'd only be using the shower anyway. After all three hounds were clean and dried off with the doggy towels; he put their new collars on them, after putting new flea and tick repellent and gravity seals on them and setting them to the level they were at (they can deactivate and activate them themselves by removing or adding chakra to them, but not set the levels they're at.) The colors of the collars matched the main color of their fur respectively, and therefore were hard to notice, as they had no metal on them in order to prevent them from flashing in sources of light.

After Naruto finished taking a shower of his own and dressing in his new clothes (minus the sash) that, since he wasn't planning of doing any training for the day as it was already time to prepare dinner (and he didn't feel like training at night yet), wasn't his standard "robe" as Asahi called it. With that thought in mind he was wearing one of the few "non-robes" he had asked for, other than some comfortable pajamas, he got three all black tops, and two pairs of black shinobi pants, he decided to go barefoot, but he normally wore black shinobi sandals, and didn't have Tora get him anything other than another couple of new pairs. And of course he tied his sash over the pants.

He headed down, poured his hounds their food, and, after asking Tora and Inu if they'd join in and getting no's in response, they'd be going home since they were only told to be there during the day, less as guards and more as errand boys, he started cooking enough Yakisoba for three.

Soon after he finished Yui and Asahi came down, Asahi normally dressed exactly like Naruto was right now, and this time was no different, Yui, on the other hand, was dressed in a blue kimono with falling snowflakes all over it, she usually went with more battle oriented ones with shorts under them when training or something like that. They all sat down at the dining room table and began eating, pausing occasionally to talk some, Asahi about accustoming himself to his swords, Yui about a Bojustu style that would work perfectly with her bloodline, and Naruto simply listening to them and occasionally commenting.

Once dinner was finished Naruto decided he had something he needed to do so he said, "I'm going to meditate at the garden, please don't disturb me unless it's important."

"Sure thing, kiddo, just don't stay out there too late or you'll have Yui after you," Asahi said.

"And what, exactly, do you mean by that," Yui asked in a slightly peeved tone.

"Exactly what I said, of course" Asahi said bluntly, and thus another "old married couple argument" started, which prompted Naruto to leave, and the hounds to go to their new room.

Walking over to the meditation pond, Naruto sat down and began to meditate, soon entering his mindscape. His mindscape, when he had first entered it, had looked like a sewer, a dank, leaky, dark, sewer. After a little mental work however, his mindscape now looked like what he had always imagined a forest would look like, with mountains not far off and the sound of a waterfall leading into a river coming from them. As he looked around he realized that while the land was highly accurate, the sky was way too blue and the sun a bit too dull, and the scents were off too, so he closed his eyes and focused, and when he opened them again things were as they should be.

Nodding in satisfaction, Naruto headed for the nearby mountain range, and soon reached a giant cage that reached halfway up the mountain it was on and was nearly as wide. Looking through the bars one could see that the entire mountain was hollow on the inside, and that it looked like a really comfortable den with a huge bed of grass, a small waterfall feeding water into a large pool, and no sharp rocks or stalagmites to deal with. This was the residence of the Kyūbi no Yoko, or, as Naruto knew him, Kurama.

Soon enough said demon fox walked up from a deeper part of the cave to the gate itself. He truly was an enormous beast, easily the size of the Hokage Monument, with teeth and claws the length and size of Naruto himself and orange-red fur. After what seemed like an hour long staring contest one of them spoke.

"So, miracle of miracles, we're finally out of that hell-hole," Kurama said in a deep, resounding voice.

"Yes, yes we are, and now that we are I can convert that seal of yours into a collar or anklet so you can run around freely without the risk of snake-face noticing something different with the seal," Naruto replied.

"Ah yes, and I will finally give you the next ability you receive as my host after an even more rapid healing ability than your Uzumaki blood gives you, which is Negative Emotion Sensing," Kurama said in satisfaction at the thought of being able to run through the forest that was his host's mind.

"I'd appreciate it, not everyone in this village can be categorized as enemy or not like at the lab, and I can't exactly go running around with my Dōjutsu active all the time to read people or they'd look at me funny," Naruto replied. He then added, "And technically you already gave me a gift when you helped me save the pups."

*Flashback no Jutsu*

Naruto was bored, usually when they wanted to take his blood for yet another one of their tests they'd just do it, but now they left him all alone in the lab just sitting there waiting for them. So he decided to go to the room they'd stepped into and see if he could listen in without getting caught, as they'd left the door slightly ajar.

Getting close enough to listen in he heard the head doctor say, "This time we will be injecting #23's genes into a freshly seeded female hound, using the sperm of an Inuzuka hound to help chances of survival. As all animals we have attempted this on died from some complication or another before the fetuses had a chance to fully develop, this will be our last attempt one way or another. As soon as I finish preparing her, I will go get a fresh sample from #23 to use."

Backing away with wide eyes, Naruto quickly went back to the chair he was supposed to be sitting in and desperately mentally said "Kurama is there anything we can do," having given the fox access to his senses shortly after meeting him the fox heard exactly what Naruto did.

Thinking for what seemed to be a very long time Kurama finally said, "There is one way kit, but it's highly risky and not guaranteed to work."

"What is it,' Naruto asked.

"While taking your blood sample we inject as much of our chakra as possible into it and with our chakra mixed with the natural healing abilities of your blood it will likely save the pups, the mother will still die but the pups won't," Kurama said.

"Okay, so the risks are that it won't be enough and that the head doctor might notice, though I doubt it as he isn't the least bit chakra sensitive, any others," Naruto asked.

"No, but there will be benefits, if the pups survive, they will have no more of our chakra left in their systems, as they will have used it all up to survive, but due to having our chakra in their systems while in the womb they will be smarter than even an Inuzuka hound, will live as long as an Inuzuka hound, will quite possibly be stronger and faster than even an Inuzuka hound, and there might be other things we can't even imagine from it," Kurama replied.

The head doctor stepped out of the room and approached Naruto with a needle in hand, making Naruto have to make a split second decision, "Let's do it," he thought, getting a grunt in the affirmative from Kurama, they did just that.

Four months later it worked, with all expected results, and more, though they kept it all a secret of course, Naruto was happy he at least managed to save the pups, if not their mother.

*Flashback no Jutsu end*

"Anklet please," is all Kurama said in reply, feeling embarrassed Naruto said all that to him.

At which Naruto once again closed his eyes and focused. Soon enough the gate that held Kurama caged in his den turned into sparkly golden lights that swirled around Kurama's right fore-hand-paw (?) and soon turned into a simple leather band that had the seal on it.

Walking out of the now gateless cave Kurama took a deep breath of forest air and said, "Well it's not true freedom, but I'll take what I can get, thanks kit."

"No problem, Kurama, if it weren't for your healing and advice over the years I'd be dead right now, it's too bad I can't start working on mastering your chakra yet. Not only is the seal still not loose enough for you to send much more than what was needed to heal me safely, there's also the fact that if I started using it before I at least hit puberty, it could cause permanent damage to my chakra coils," Naruto said in reply.

"True kit, I'm glad I decided to give you that chance when you asked for my friendship when you showed up in front of me in a near-death state three years ago. You are the best host I could ask for, if I was asking for a host rather than true freedom anyway. You always ask rather than take, you believed me when I said I actually prefer peace over blood and death unless threatened, despite the fact I do hate humans in general, and that I never chose to attack your village either time, but was actually forced to by those damned Uchiha. You even changed my cage to be as comfortable as possible until you could let me out of it more completely, showing your trust in me at the same time," Kurama's voice sounded gruff, but Naruto could see all sorts of emotions swimming through his eyes, so all he did was nod in reply.

"Alright then enough mushy stuff, now I start training you in the use of the new ability I'm about to give you, it will sting since I'll be sending some of my chakra into you to give it to you," getting a nod in reply, Kurama pushed a small amount of his chakra into Naruto, who hissed out his breath in pain but otherwise seemed unaffected. After a couple of minutes it was over and Kurama said, "So, let's begin, shall we?"