Edited 08/02/2014

(In reply to Etionin: Yes, things are going too easy for them right now, but trust me when I say I am going to be very evil to my Naruto beginning either during or after the mission to Wave. Of course that's all three or so chapters away still, but trust me when I say things will not be going easy for my Naruto or anyone with him.

Thank you for the positive comments and reviews everyone, and sorry this one took so much longer, my college semester started on the 27th of January and I've enjoyed the holidays and my break so much I just didn't really write all that much, and now the evil that is chemistry class is sucking out both my soul and my muse so I have almost no time to write since I'm usually doing homework….CURSE CHEMISTRY!

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, please be specific. I'm also hoping someone will be willing to make and send me my image request(s), I really want to see them, or at least one of them!)

Chapter 4 – Reception

Village Gate, Next Day, Early Morning

Izumo and Kotetsu, commonly known and referred to as the eternal gate guards, were, as usual, playing a game of cards and barley paying attention to their duty. Also as usual, Kotetsu was complaining about their job, despite the fact that nine times out of ten he chooses this job to be with his best friend.

"Man, nothing ever happens while doing this job, so boring," he said, drawing out the "o" in boring for a time.

"What do you mean nothing ever happens, just a little over two weeks ago the Hokage himself came with a contingent of Anbu, how can you call that nothing? And even if that wasn't true you should take your duties more seriously," Izumo scolded, "You never know when something might happen."

Just then, as though he had tempted fate, a large man came charging up towards the gate at high speeds, to the point he was almost a blur. Noticing this and exchanging wary glances, Izumo and Kotetsu stood up and called out a challenge to the blur.

"Halt, stop running at those speeds and state your business," they called out together, hoping to get strength from one another.

The man, realizing that despite his status he would get in trouble if he ignored the gate guards hails, slowed down and came to a stop in front of them, no matter how much he wanted to just continue on.

As soon as he did they were gaping and thinking, "I think Izumo/I might have tempted fate," at the same time. They were doing this because the man standing in front of them was noneother than Jiraiya, the legendary toad sage.

"Yo, sorry about worrying you like that, I'm just in a rush to meet Sarutobi-sensei, so can we maybe do the sign in real quick, please," Jiraiya said, showing his impatience.

Izumo and Kotetsu could do nothing but nod, walk back the booth, check his id, and let Izumo say in a kind of dazed voice, "You're all good, go ahead and enter."

Jiraiya nodded, and, as soon as the gate was open, entered and shunshined to the window of his sensei's office. Despite the seriousness of the topic he wanted to discuss with the man, old habits die hard, and the annoyance the old man showed whenever he entered this way was too fun to pass up. So, after getting an annoyed "Enter" from his sensei, he came in through the window.

As soon as he entered he stood in front of his sensei's desk and asked at a rapid pace, "Is it true you found him, where was he, how is he?"

"Before I say anything I need you to calm down, I was excited to have found him too, but we are trying to keep the information secret until after the shinobi council meets him and the others we saved later today," Hiruzen said strictly, then added, "After that we will have no choice but to announce it before the civilian council catches wind of it and spreads lies and rumors to fan the flames of hatred in those who've forgotten it. So if you want to talk calm down and put up your strongest silencing seal."

Jiraiya, realizing the fact his sensei was dead serious, took deep breaths to calm himself and then took out an already prepared silence seal. He looked at his sensei, who signaled for his Anbu to leave them alone in the office. Putting it on the wall, he activated it and watched as a blue glow filled the room and especially the seams and cracks for the windows and door.

"Alright Sarutobi-sensei, could you please tell me about my godson now," Jiraiya said, he was much calmer now but obviously still impatient.

"We found him, it turns out it was Orochimaru that took him," at Jiraiya's curse Hiruzen nodded, "It is most likely as bad as you are imagining, he had been experimented on practically from the moment my former student got his fangs in him. Luckily he shows no loyalty and actually quite a bit of hatred for the man, so we were able to save him and some of the other people Orochimaru had at the lab and bring them to Konoha. They actually just arrived yesterday."

"You mentioned they were meeting the shinobi council today and then you would announce his presence right," getting a nod from Hiruzen, he continued, "Then I guess I'll wait to meet him personally after the meeting, where is he staying and what is his relationship with the others you mentioned?"

"His relationship with them is that they all consider him and he considers them family. I'll give you these copies of all their profiles so you can know how to handle meeting them. Burn them after you memorize them though, we don't want that information getting into the wrong hands. Oh, and make sure to be especially careful with Yui-san as she has no tolerance for perverts and is known to use her bloodline to give them minor frostbite in very uncomfortable areas," seeing Jiraiya pale slightly and hold his hands protectively over his groin at that information, Hiruzen continued, "As for where they're staying, as he was told of his family I gave him the deed to the Namikaze compound since it isn't very well known and he knows not to go around telling people about his parents or who's house it was before him."

Jiraiya nodded in understanding at that, there really was no point in denying him his inheritance if he already knows and he's responsible enough not to go around telling people…though he did have one question "What about this family of his?"

"If you're asking if they know as well, they do, if you're asking if they'll keep it secret, of course they will. Yui looks at Naruto like a son and Asahi like a little brother, despite being old enough to be his father, if only just barely. They would never endanger his life like that," Hiruzen replied. (Since I don't really find this important to the story-line I realized I never bothered to mention either of their ages. Yui is 31 years old and Asahi is 28.)

Jiraiya nodded his understanding and asked, "Should I be present at the council meeting while hidden or can you handle things on your own?"

"I think I can handle things on my own, but you should be there as his godfather just in case things gets too rough for him," Hiruzen replied.

"Alright then, until then I guess I'll stick to reading these guy's files," Jiraiya replied, and sat down on one of the chairs in the office to do just that.

Naruto's house, 1 hour later, 30 minutes before the council meeting

Naruto yawned, despite the fact that he had gone to bed at a reasonable time to everyone else he had actually stayed awake in his mindscape almost the entire night training in is new sensory abilities, with only a small amount of progress. And while his physical body got plenty of rest as it was asleep, he was now mentally tired from lack of rest in that department. Not without good reason and some results, of course.

He was now able to accurately sense the negative emotions of people in the same room as him, with no need to actually focus on the ability. But that wasn't nearly good enough, according to Kurama, Uzumaki Mito, his first jinchūriki, was able to accurately sense people throughout a quarter of the entire village when she wanted to, and a little over 12 ft of area without thinking about it or focusing on it. She was even able to sense positive emotions to a much weaker extent and lesser range. (A/N Accurately as in they're able to tell whose emotions they're sensing (individual people rather than just a general sense of a uniformed entity, of course they might have no idea as to who the person is personally, just because they can sense an individual person doesn't mean that they recognize who the person is, and that is an entirely made up range for Mito...as far as I know anyway.)

At least now he'll be able to tell if the people at the council or in the area around him had bad intentions for him or his family. And besides, he had an advantage over Mito in the fact that she naturally gained the ability from Kurama just by being his jinchūriki, and had to learn and train in it all on her own. Naruto, on the other hand, was on good terms with Kurama and is therefore receiving training in his ability from the fox.

Yawning once more Naruto finished the last of the breakfast Yui cooked, as she was a decent cook, not as good at Naruto, who usually cooked their meals for them ever since they "met" in the lab, but good enough to make a simple breakfast and save a tired Naruto from the risk of burning it or himself.

Finishing his breakfast and realizing he still had about twenty minutes before they were summoned to the council room, Naruto took his mother's journal out of the "important documents" seal on his sash, opened it to where he bookmarked it, and began reading.

Fifteen minutes later on the dot Inu and Tora appeared from where they'd been watching the house and told them it was time to go, and, since they knew where they were going this time, they all shunshined there themselves. (A/N Question about that, can the Inuzuka hounds use jutsu other than fang over fang and their collaboration jutsu with their partners or can they not? I'm going to make mine able to use Shunshin and Kawarimi [since those can be taught and used without hand-seals, it's just harder] and am not going to change that. But if the others can't then I'll make it a special condition from the experiment done on them.)

Appearing in front of the Hokage tower, they allowed the two Anbu to lead them to the council meeting room, and, once they got there, waited outside as Inu went in to announce their presence. A couple minutes later Inu stuck his head out the door and nodded to them, so they headed in.

Yui and Asahi looked at the occupants of the room nervously; Naruto hid his nervousness behind a seemingly cold mask. After all, these were the people who had very strong say in their fate.

At the same time as he was looking them over, Naruto was also examining the emotions of the people in the room, including the hidden ones. The Hyūga seemed to feel slightly hostile towards them, but from what Kurama and he could put together the hostility was more like a worry over whether he was a threat rather than anything personal. The Aburame held no negative emotions toward him. The Inuzuka seemed to be feeling nervous and somewhat frustrated by something. The Yamanaka seemed to feel guilt toward him, probably from what he got from Naruto's mind the day before. The Akimichi also held no negative emotions toward him. And the Nara was currently half asleep if his expression was anything to go by, and therefore hard to read. And finally Hiruzen was nervous and worried, probably about how the others were going to react.

As for the hidden people of the room most of them were Anbu and therefore just as stoic as the Aburame with their emotions. But there seemed to be one more signature in the room that was standing right behind Hiruzen hidden that was giving off an enormous amount of guilt directed at Naruto and anger that seemed to be directed at no one in the room. He stared at the spot that signature was coming from for a while getting a surprised look from Hiruzen. He looked at the man silently asking with his eyes if he should ignore the signature and got an almost imperceptible nod in return, so he returned to examining the visible people in the room.

While they looked at the council the council looked at them, they only gave cursory glances over Yui and Asahi and then focused on Naruto and his hounds. Practically as soon as their scent had entered the room, Kuromaru had stiffened; he recognized who their father was alright. Stiffly walking up to the pups he gave them each a thorough sniffing over while they returned the courtesy.

"Um, excuse me, but is there a problem," Naruto asked, looking at the hound that was sniffing his warily.

"No, we all heard what happened to you and Kuromaru is trying to 'see' by scent whether or not he knows their father," Tsume tried to reassure the boy, but was actually making Naruto's worry worse.

"And what happens if he does, you're not going to take them away are you," Naruto asked, concerned, and, hearing this, his hounds either whined worriedly or growled defiantly depending on their personalities.

"No, I can tell that the pups are bonded to you, it would be cruel to separate you now. I would, however, like to offer to train all of you, basically teaching you everything an Inuzuka learns that you can do. You're a little old to be starting, and the pups need to be at least a couple months older to start soldier pill and other chakra necessary training, but we could at least start with the basics," Tsume told him.

Naruto looked down at his hounds, they had already grown bored of Kuromaru sniffing them and were now ignoring him, so they looked up and met Naruto's eyes. He met each of their eyes and, after a couple minutes of deliberation said, "We would be honored Inuzuka-sama."

"Tsume-san or Tsume-sensei's fine, gaki," shortly after Tsume got a nod of acknowledgement from Naruto, Kuromaru growled in anger, though it was obvious to everyone in the room that the anger was not directed at any of them, so she asked, "What's wrong Kuromaru, is it something about who their father is?"

"Yeah it's about that, their father is me," Kuromaru said in a growl.

"What, huh, how…..oh yeah, we did get separated temporarily around that time where I later found you unconscious for seemingly no reason…there were no suspicious sights, scents, or sounds in the area so I kind of forgot…damn," Tsume said in a shocked tone drawing out the "a" in damn for a while. (A/N As you might have already guessed, I don't like writing in stuttering or drawn out vowels, but will mention the fact that someone does it.)

The rest of the council was shocked as well, after all, Kuromaru was an extremely unique Inuzuka hound in the fact that he could use human speech rather than simply understand it. "If Naruto's pups truly are Kuromaru's offspring there is a chance they have or will develop his ability to speak, don't you think," Hiruzen asked curiously.

Hearing this they all looked at Naruto and his hounds, who all seemed stunned to know that their father was the one standing in front of them. But Naruto kept his senses about him and noticed the looks they were given so he replied, "I'm sorry if this disappoints you, but they've never shown any signs of having the ability to speak," which was true, they simply didn't have to know about his added thought, "At least not out loud."

"That's fine, I did not develop the ability to speak until after I was fully matured, so there is still a chance they could develop this ability later," Kuromaru said. He honestly didn't know what to think about this development, he had never planned on having pups, ever. He was just too…unusual of a hound to think of taking a mate and having pups with her, not only that but he didn't know what kind of affect the things that made him the way he is would have on any pups. And now he not only had pups, but they had been experimented on, so who knows what they'll grow up to become with not only his genes but those of a rather unusual human as well.

"Putting that aside for now, we have other things to discuss as well," Shibi said in his usual stoic voice, while he admitted he was somewhat curious about the pups, he was far more interested in their partner. The boy was not only descended from two of the villages strongest shinobi, he also had multiple bloodlines. Shibi wanted to know the boys usefulness to the village in general, and also wanted to see what the boy was going to do about his origins since he knows.

"Yes, yes, of course," Hiruzen said, then added, "Well then, since I'm sure this is what we're all the most curious about, why don't each of you give a list of your skill sets and what you believe their levels would be."

"I'll go first," Asahi said, then cleared his throat and continued, "Well first and foremost would be my specialization, kenjutsu, before my capture I'd say I was high Anbu level, but now, without the proper practice or opponents to practice against I'd say I'm more likely high jonin-low Anbu level. For ninjutsu I'd be low to mid jonin level. For taijutsu I'd say I'm mid jonin level. Genjutsu I'd have to say high chunin level. Fuinjutsu I can make storage scrolls and explosive notes and don't plan on learning any more than that. That's it for me."

"I guess I'll go next," Yuri said, "My specialty would be ninjutsu where I'd have to say I'm low jonin level without using my bloodline and mid to high jonin level with my bloodline. I am only just starting to learn bojutsu and have no skills in any other weapons than the standard kunai and shuriken. Taijutsu is probably my weakest point where I'm either high chunin low jonin level. Genjutsu I'm low jonin level, but I honestly don't use it very often unless in collaboration with my bloodline, so it might actually be mid to high chunin level without the use of my bloodline. Fuinjutsu I have no interest in and only learned to make the most basic storage scrolls and don't plan on going any further with."

"I guess I'm last then, huh," Naruto said, "For ninjutsu it would be easier for me to categorize by element and bloodline, so this'll take a while. I'd have to say I was most likely a natural Futon type as that element comes easiest to me. I know 5 B and A-class wind jutsus, one S-class, and 10 D to C-rank, and have mastered up to waterfall splitting in elemental manipulation. For Suiton I'd have to say I probably would have had a strong secondary affinity to it as well, I know three B to A-rank jutsu, no S-ranks, and 8 D to C-rank, I have completed the second stage of elemental manipulation for this and am starting on the third with some difficulty."

He stopped for a minute to catch his breath, "For Katon I have only 1 A and B-rank each and 4 D to C-rank jutsus, and have also only barely managed to master the first stage of elemental manipulation. For Doton I know 5 B to A-rank jutsus and 4 D to C-rank, I have almost mastered the second stage of elemental manipulation, but am having a small amount of trouble with it. Raiton is by far my worst element, which makes sense if my theory about originally being a wind type is true. I only know one B-rank and 3 D to C-rank jutsu for this element, and am struggling with the first stage of elemental manipulation."

He once again stopped for a minute, this time to give his audience a couple minutes to process his main elemental abilities and knowledge, then continued, "My best bloodlines would have to be my Hyoton, Mokuton, and my Shikotsumyaku. Yui-obasan says that I'm so good at controlling ice and freezing water that I might as well be a natural born Yuki, while I'm not ready yet for the most advanced levels of this bloodline's jutsus, I am well on my way. With my Mokuton I have almost as much of an affinity for using it as my Hyoton, but unfortunately don't truly know how good I am with it as I was only allowed to learn the Moku Bunshin and work with a decent sized garden to give me an understanding of how to control and feel plants of various types and sizes due to the destructive nature of most of the techniques, along with other general plant knowledge."

He made yet another pause to catch his breath, "For Shikotsumyaku, I have good control over my bone density and manipulation, but still have some trouble with my ability to pull them out of my body properly, other than my bone blades I get from my wrists. As for my hounds the only thing I know how to do with them is the Jujin Bunshin, and that's only because I read about it in one of my books on various Bunshin."

He paused for a minute in thought, "Actually, if you count my knowledge of Bunshins into my elemental jutsu list you can add one more D to C-ranked jutsu to each element as I know each elemental Bunshin including those of my sub-elements."

Pausing to wait for them to nod to that fact, he continued after they did, "My mastery over Jinton is also very good, I can last for 15 minutes using it without causing strain on my body and the powers of perception my Mamagen gives me helps me a lot. My Yoton I have only mixed success with, I can make the lava with no problem or damage to myself, but other than my Yoton Bunshin and Yoton: Lava Globs, I have almost no talent with it. And finally with my Ranton I have no talent or skill what-so-ever for it, most likely because of the Raiton element that makes up a part of it, the only move I have any success in is Ranton: Laser Circus, and even then it's far weaker than it should be." (A/N Yes, the majority of jutsus will be in English, with the exception of ones that sound crappy in English like Bunshin techniques and jutsus like Chidori and Rasengan.)

"As for my other talents I'd say in Kenjutsu I'm low to mid-chunin, for daggers, which are my more preferred weapons, I'm high chunin level. With other weapons I know how to use them well enough to not hurt myself or others unless I mean to and can even use some of them proficiently enough to get into a fight with them and be comfortable about it, but not as much as the two I mentioned, I am at most high genin level with them. I am also able to use Chakra Flow in them with my Futon and Doton elements as long as the weapon can handle it."

He once again paused for breath, "I'm able to break any Genjutsu I want due to my Mamagen, but am probably only high genin, maybe low chunin in casting them, despite my chakra control being good. I have a minor talent for Iryō jutsu, but nothing beyond the ability to heal bruises and cuts and help set bones or numb pain. In Fuinjutsu I'm level 8 so if you go by normal standards I'm on my way to mastery with them, but if you go by Uzumakistandards, I'm still at apprentice level," he finished, leaving many of them shocked at the skill level this nine year old child had. (A/N There you go all you people who worried about an overpowered Naruto, a full summary of all his abilities and overall level. I don't plan on increasing his knowledge or abilities in Yoton or Ranton and only add one or two higher level jutsus to the Katon and Raiton element, as he will have little talent or power with them beyond the ability to use them.)

"That is a very good skill set, especially for one so young, but I'm curious as when I read some of the head doctors notes I noticed that he mentioned you came in contact with your tenant, do you have any control over its powers," Hiashi asked.

Naruto scanned the man's emotions, and from them he determined (with a little help from Kurama) that he was not doing this out of a desire to control Naruto for his power but because he felt threatened by Naruto's level of power. He determined how he was going to answer the question from there.

"I don't think I'm going to be using his power any time soon," Naruto stated, which was completely true after all, they'd just most likely interpret it differently.

"What about the fact you've talked to it," Tsume asked curiously, she'd been too lazy to read through the whole thing and was therefore surprised by this news.

"Well if you count traded insults and curse words as a conversation," Naruto said slowly. This was, once again, true, though a more stretched truth, they did regularly trade insults and use curse words. But it was in a playful, almost brotherly way and out of frustration when things go wrong than out of any form of malice. Once again if they interpret it wrong (which they most likely would), it wasn't really his fault.

They all nodded in understanding at that, after all it was pretty much what they were expecting him to say. It's not like they were wrong about it being nothing more than a being of extreme power and malice, right? (A/N Lol, yup, right, lol.)

Naruto breathed an inner sigh of relief, he really didn't want anyone knowing of his and Kurama's relationship. After all they wouldn't believe the fact that he was actually good (well…not bad anyway) and would probably lock him up assuming he was being controlled by the fox, or at least be highly suspicious of them. So he was very relieved that they'd interpreted things the way he wanted them to. He knew he'd have to tell at least Hiruzen eventually, especially when he can start training in using Kurama's chakra, but eventually was not any time soon.

"The next question I'm sure you all can't seem to straight out ask him in worry that you'd revel something you shouldn't, I'll answer for you. Since you know he knows who his parents were, you're wondering what he's going to be doing about it," receiving nods from all the members of the council, he answered, "Other than receiving his inheritance, which he will only be using his mothers half of the fortune for now, he will not be doing anything about his origins. He has already agreed to only go by Uzumaki for now and wait to announce his Namikaze blood and exactly who his parents were until he's strong enough to take care of himself."

Getting nods of understanding from the clan heads he asked the room, "Any other questions?"

"When can you start training kid," Tsume asked Naruto.

"Not for a couple weeks at least Tsume-sensei, I want things to settle down first," Naruto replied, getting a nod of understanding from the woman.

Seeing that there were no more questions Hiruzen said, "It seems like we are finished here, the meeting is over, know that I will be announcing Naruto's return to the village at noon in a couple of hours," noticing the worry some of the clan heads had over that fact he elaborated, "I do this so that it can be done in a simple manner rather than what would happen if those fools on the civilian council learned of his return before the village as a whole does they would blow the whole thing out of proportion."

Getting nods of understanding from everyone present he repeated, "Good meeting dismissed. Remember that all that you've heard here today except Naruto's return and Yui and Asahis' identities is an S-class secret, though."

Getting nods of understanding from everyone they all filed out to head home, Inu and Tora appearing only to Shunshin away with their charges right afterwards.

Hiruzen sat in the now quiet and empty (minus his Anbu guards) council room for a couple of minutes, ponderously puffing on his pipe as he thought about what could possibly happen a couple of hours from now. Finally letting out a particularly large puff of smoke out with a sigh, Hiruzen finally got up and walked out of the room as well, all the while hoping his village would be accepting and understanding of the young boy who had already been through too much in his young life…..but knowing they might not.

Village Square (Front of Hokage Tower), Time for Announcement

Hiruzen stood on the roof of the Hokage tower looking down on the citizens and shinobi of the village of Konoha, doing last minute reviews of his speech and subtly checking to make sure the Anbu he assigned for crowd control were in position before walking into view of his people and raising his hand in a silent command/request for silence. Silence which was a few minutes coming as everyone was anxiously trying to figure out why there was a city wide announcement going on, excluding any one 15 or younger….as long as they weren't Jonin or Anbu anyway.

When the crowd had silenced Hiruzen cleared his throat and subtly activated the voice projection seals he had set up all around the square so that even the people in the furthest back sections of the square could hear him. With the seal activated he knew that it was time to start his announcement, "People of Konoha I called you here today to announce the return of a civilian we long thought lost or dead to us," Hiruzen began, once again raising his hand to silence the disconcerted rumblings of the crowd.

"I am glad to say that our village jinchūriki and hero, Naruto Uzumaki, has been found and saved from his captors after nine long years of him being missing. He has gone through much trauma at the hands of his captors, but remains surprisingly stable despite that, and will soon be able to join the academy with his age group after a couple of follow up tests," Hiruzen continued, bracing himself for the unknown reactions of his people.

Silence, dead silence echoed through the entire square as people took the time necessary to comprehend what was just told to them. And then there were cries of anger and outrage from a thankfully small majority of the crowd. About a fourth of the civilians, perhaps slightly more, were actually showing honest anger toward Naruto's return, about an eighth of that was showing any hostility by calling for his blood.

The rest of the civilians were looking either uncaring, as they had had time to lay down their grief and therefore their hostility, and the rest looked….displeased but not angry or hostile. Like they would act towards a dog they're not entirely sure is fully tamed or not and need time to see how they should treat it or not.

The shinobi, of course, were mainly neutral. Having been forced to learn at least the basics of sealing in special required classes for everyone of shinobi rank after their…not so good reactions to the first time this had been announced, they knew the difference between a kunai and the scroll it was sealed in. Some were ecstatic as they had taken their lessons one step further and knew of the political and military power having a jinchūriki would give them, even if it's a young one.

Hiruzen was internally both sighing in relief over how good a majority of the villagers were reacting while also frowning worriedly about the group reacting badly. Subtly hand-signing a message to one of his Anbu guard with the order to tell all Anbu on crowd control to memorize the angry and hostile ones faces and give him a full profile on each of them later, he let the crowd have time to go through their emotions to give his Anbu a chance to follow his orders.

After five minutes of allowing the crowd freedom to talk and react amongst themselves Hiruzen noticed his Anbu signal that the faces have had a picture taken of them. Seeing this he once again raised his hand to gain the crowds' attention and when he did he said, "Remember that my law about telling anyone of the younger generation of young Naruto's status is a crime punishable by immediate execution with the only exceptions to this rule being the Hokage, currently myself, and young Naruto himself, do not make me need to enforce that law," Hiruzen's statement was greeted with silence, as they did in fact remember that law, seeing as how he still enforced it despite Naruto's disappearance all those years ago.

"That is all I had to say, so you are all free to go," Hiruzen said, and then watched as the crowd dispersed, many muttering to one another about what they'd just heard while others simply silently returned to their duties and obligations. No one noticed the pair of bright blue eyes watching the entire thing from a hidden corner of a building, before dispelling in a small puff of smoke.

Naruto's House, After the Clone's Dispel

Naruto, once again at the houses meditation garden, only to really meditate this time, suddenly tensed as the memory of the clone he'd sent to spy on the announcement dispelled (after all he promised he wouldn't leave the house or yard, he never said anything about his clones, which he had been sending out waves of to spy on certain influential people to lean their threat level since this morning) then relaxed his body while he went over all the info in his mind.

It seemed like the old Hokage had been telling the truth about his shinobi, and from what he could tell he only had a fourth of the village to worry about, and only an eighth of that to consider possible hostiles, which was much better than what he expected.

"So what are you going to do kit," Kurama asked his host.

"Wait, watch, keep my guard up, make a couple dozen more clones to go out and spy on more additions to the list, but mostly wait, I want to seem like the victim I am after all," Naruto mentally replied to his tenant.

"The best plan you can take, I suppose, a little boring, but understandable," Kurama replied.

"Yes, yes it is…..hey Kurama did I react as bad as those guys when we first met, I can't entirely remember," Naruto hesitantly asked.

"You weren't happy, but you weren't hostile either. Then again by the time you "fell" into your mindscape you were as close to death as a person can be while still alive, so you were more focused on my offer for partnership for mutual survival than anything else right then," Kurama replied after a couple minutes silence.

"True, damn that Orochimaru-teme and his giving me the Mamagen so damn late in my life compared to the rest, I mean yeah it's useful, but not worth dying over," Naruto replied.

"True kit, and the very reason why I was willing to ally myself with you in order to survive the crazy bastard. I'm glad I did it for more reasons than that now, though, you're a good friend to have after all, even if you're still a kit," Kurama replied.

"I'm glad too Kurama, but enough of this mushy stuff it's time for me to go cook lunch," Naruto said while getting up and heading for the house.

Raided laboratory, Midnight, Orochimaru and Kabuto

A pale faced man with gold, silted eyes seethed in rage at the sight of his lab, his silver haired bespectacled assistant wisely staying silent and out of the way. It was empty with nothing but blood-splatters to signify what happened to the place. But that wasn't what had him seething, almost everything in this lab was inconsequential in its loss, or even in its retrieval. No, what had him seething was the empty cell door he was standing in front of, free of any blood stains that would state the deaths of its occupants, #23, his next vessel, and his hounds were gone. He didn't have any concrete evidence, yet, but was almost certain it was Konoha that took him, meaning he couldn't retrieve him until later without great risks to himself and his agents. He'd have to wait, so he'd have to find and take a different vessel, he was seriously pissed…and that meant bad things for his old sensei and village, very bad things.