Sorry guys, was studying so not enough time to write. Exams are coming in five weeks time so don't expect fast updates. Thanks for the reviews guys and I'll try to update on a weekly basis, lengths are undetermined.

Changes:

Oh yeah if you have noticed any changes in Naruto's age it's because I'm still wondering on what the right age is for him. Any grammatical errors like missing letters are to me writing on Pages App, it's freaking pissing me off how the app keeps on replacing my words with random ones. I'll fix my chapters soon.

My OC will change her name to Setsura, she'll be the same age as Naruto. Naruto will not graduate in Sasuke's class. He will graduate in Lee and Neji's class. Reason being it allows me room to make more canon changes because they had an extra year to train before doing Chunin exams which allows me to write more about missions from the movies, while Team 7 only did a few D-ranked missions and the Waves mission.

He can be friendly with Konoha girls, but he will not be paired with any of them.

Chapter 2: A time to let it out

"So basically you've got a power-hungry dirty old midget that's taken over your country and you want someone to deal with him, that's all right?"

"Well, that was a really simplistic description but yeah. But he's got an army behind him, literally no matter how many of our hired ninjas we had sent, their heads had all come back on top of a wooden spike and as a result, he had killed one civilian for every ninja we had sent to kill him. Eventually most of us gave up and just continued to live in poverty under a greedy tyrant."

"So what made you decide to hire the group from before? Zabuza made short work of them."

"…they killed my son."

"Oh….I'm sorry." Now regretting that he had even asked.

"Oh don't worry about it boy, you're not the one who killed my son, it was that scum, Gato."

"So where exactly are we going again?"

"Oh yeah I thought you could get some rest at my home before I can continue building the bridge, it'd do us some good to be at full strength if Gato's hired thugs show up again."

"…you're right. Any relatives I should be aware of when we get there?"

"Mmmm Tsunami is probably going to be spastic about you being my bodyguard and Inari…well you'll understand when he talks to you." Turning his head to the other side, the builder had a thoughtful yet lonely gaze in his eyes. He was probably thinking about his grandson, it must've been incredibly heart-breaking for the boy to lose his step-father.

"Must have made him a bit antisocial" was Naruto's last thought as the silence lingered on for the remainder of their journey.

It was a pain to not have some experienced advice right when he needed it the most. This was literally his first mission, and it wasn't even an official mission. So of course, he was nervous as hell although he had enough composure to not show it as to not lower the older man's trust in him.

As he was really bored during the walk, he would remember his training. Kakashi-sensei's advanced ninjutsu and elemental training, Gai-sensei's 'youthful' taijutsu training, Hayate-sensei's kenjutsu training, Sarutobi-jij's bojutsu training and the occasional spars between him, Shisui and Itachi. It was a really useful way to calm his anxieties, not to mention there was absolutely nothing else to do.

"Naruto, can I talk with you for a few minutes…privately of course, wouldn't want the old man to think you're crazy."

Um can't this wait until we get to Tazuna-san's home? I mean I'm kind of busy walking here and going into my subconsciousness means I would just collapse in the middle of the road.

"Don't worry; I'll control your body for you while we walk and when we arrive or anything happens then you'll snap back to reality. Now hurry up and enter my domain."

Ok then.

XXXXXXXXXX

So Kuromi-chan what do you need to talk about?

"Awww meanie, do I really need a reason to have a nice chat with my favourite human?" Pouting, Naruto could not resist the cuteness of such an expression as he felt the softness of those irresistible breasts that clung onto him as she wrapped her arms around him and dragged him onto a bed that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

As much as I enjoy the feeling of your breasts up rubbing against my chest, is there a reason why you called me to your domain?

"...you should turn back now, I fear that you are out of your league for this one." At Kuromi's vague warning, Naruto adopted a serious expression, whenever she gave him an occasional warning, it's usually correct.

How so...

"Call it...woman's intuition."

Vague much Kuromi-chan, I mean I beat Zabuza pretty easily and come on, how many people nearby could possibly be stronger than him.

"That was you being lucky, if he took you more seriously I dare say that not even you could win unscathed."

Then I'll just have to get more serious next time. Itachi was a lot tougher to fight than Zabuza and we're pretty much even in spars.

"No doubt you will but I am concerned about this Gato character. He sounds like a very wealthy businessman."

That's an understatement Kuromi-chan, he's the richest freaking shrimp in the world.

"Then all the more reason to keep your guard up, he most likely has more ninja like that Zabuza, if not stronger, considering his status."

Good point...but hey, I knew it was a good decision to ditch Konoha today, it hasn't even been 10 hours and I'm already having fun.

"That's good and all but I fear that you do not fully understand the gravity of the situation...you just attacked a hired assassin of the richest man in the world."

Yeah so?

"...*sigh* let me make it easier for you to understand" even if Naruto was a strong boy, he could be really clueless sometimes "what do you need to hire people like that Zabuza."

Ummm, money?

"Correct, now let's retrace back to what Tazuna said...who is his boss?"

Gato...

"And what is he best known for?"

Being the richest man in the world.

"Which means?"

Suddenly an image of a hundred A-rank nin ganging up on him popped up causing the young boy to slightly shiver in fright.

...

...

...

Well shit!

"Naruto...I know you enjoy a good fight, it's in your blood...but don't get too overconfident, fighting with Itachi may be a good confidence boost and he's a talented shinobi, but there's a load of a difference between a spar and a real fight. Not to mention Itachi isn't the strongest shinobi in the world, there is bound to be tons of people stronger than him."

Fight seriously, don't underestimate opponents and be a badass while kicking everyone's ass...got it, anything else Kuromi-chan.

"You don't care, do you?" Which earned a silly, wide grin from the boy.

Not in the slightest!

"Teehee I see my worries were unfounded. Your confidence was always one of your most charming qualities."

"Good to know..." As if afraid that he would suddenly lose the comfort and warmth that her body provided, he hugged her even tighter than usual as he asked her in a pleading tone "...Kuromi-chan, can we stay like this for awhile?"

"You may."

Wake me up if anything happens...Kuromi-chan.

Snuggling his head between her breasts he dozed off almost immediately.

Completely confident that he could no longer hear her, she nuzzled her cheek against his as she sensually whispered in his ear.

"We'll be together forever...but for now Naruto, show me your worth...show me just how special you really are."

Right on cue, as if he could hear her whisper, he shook his head once between her breast, eyes closed and all, and smiled even wider in response. That cute unconscious gesture, however, earned a small giggle from the demon as she protectively swung her arms around the boy.

"Sweet dreams...Naruto."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sitting in a corner of the room, Haku silently watched over her resting master. She was glad that they made it out of the battle with all limbs attached but that only prompted her to ask one question.

Why did he spare me? Surely he had time to kill me then go on to fight Zabuza-sama.

But before her mind could come up with a logical answer. Gato and two of his henchman abruptly came in loud and all.

The smack of the door caused the injured swordsman to wake up. Obviously in a foul mood, of course, due to that loud entrance.

"Ha, well look at the might Zabuza now. Not so tough now are you? When I hired you, I heard that you were one of the best there is, but you couldn't even kill one fucking builder how pathetic."

"..." Zabuza chose not to reply at the midget's mockery of his skills. But it was obvious that his foul mood intensified, the mere thought of being so badly by a boy no less was humiliating. Not to mention he had just woken up only to listen to that fucking shrimp first thing after. If he didn't the know the whereabouts of the target, then he would've just cut him up right here and now.

His silence, however, only fueled the midget's ego as well as his ire. Walking towards the bed, he brought out his hand to grab Zabuza by his neck but stopped and yelped when his wrist was caught by something.

"Don't you dare touch Zabuza-sama with your filthy hands." Haku, drawing the line at someone who would dare try to harm her master, stood up and ran towards the unsuspecting Gato and caught his wrist in a strong hold.

The two guards behind them immediately went for their swords only to find themselves grasping at nothing. In a heartbeat Haku had shunshined right in front of the pair, holding their sword only inches away from slitting their throats.

"I'd advice you boys not to interrupt...otherwise I might be forced to do something I really don't want to do." Gulping in fear, the two could only sweat profusely as Gato made his way out of the room in blind rage, albeit in a more nervous state than his bodyguards.

"Just-just don't fail me again you hear me!" Walking out of the room, it was unknown to the pair of assassins, but Gato was literally peeing his pants.

"Well that was amusing." Turning their attention back to the entrance, a tall, muscular pale green-skinned (the wikia say he's pale green) man was leaning against the door flashing an amused smirk, allowing his sharp teeth and gills to be seen.

"Kisame-sama I was not aware that you had came back. Was the search successful?"

"No, Aoi is still scouting for it, but so far there's no luck, her chakra signature is completely concealed."

"Dammit, that Gato. When we find her, I'm gonna rip his guts out. The rebel alliance is crumbling and here we are still looking for breadcrumbs."

"It can't be helped, no one is as charismatic as her and the Uzumaki lady refuses to take the position as leader."

"Speaking of Uzumaki, I met a boy today who claimed he was an Uzumaki as well." With a glint in his eye, Kisame was a bit shocked that another survivor of that famous clan appeared.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, but I'm still skeptical about it, he lacks their trademark red hair. Not to mention, he didn't use any pure chakra attacks or Fuinjutsu that they're so famed for."

"So how come you're lazing about in bed right now when you could be helping with the search and where did you get those injuries?" Looking at Zabuza's upper body which was no longer covered by the bed sheet, it was covered with bandages.

"...it was the boy." This reluctant response made Kisame laugh out like a madman.

"Seriously you got your ass handed to you by a genin, no wonder Gato was complaining."

Zabuza was about to say that the boy wasn't even a genin, but refrained from doing so after a second thought, his reputation would crumble if everyone back home heard that someone still in his training pants could beat one of the famed Seven Swordmen of the Mist.

"Ha...ha...ha" panting tiredly now he wiped the tears from his eyes but his grin was still plastered on his face "thanks for the laughs man, I want to meet this kid now."

"Don't underestimate him, he's pretty good. The moment I get out of these bandages I'm gonna find him and send him back home in a body bag."

"Who says we should kill him? Why not ask him for help and while we're at it ask Uzumaki to confirm the boy's lineage."

"Hn" replying with the Uchiha clan's signature grunt, Haku chose this particular moment to speak up.

"Why not Zabuza-sama, we could use the extra help."

"...fine, but I'm not the one that's going to do the convincing." Looking over at Haku he continued "Haku, since you're so willing, you do it."

"Yes Zabuza-sama."

Bowing to both swordsman, Haku proceeded with her new mission to search for the boy.

As soon as they were alone, the atmosphere became tense. Zabuza broke the silence first.

"Three more days, that's all the time we have left. I heard from my spies that Yagura is planning to attack HQ and without a leader morale is low, it's bad enough that we're not there too."

"Calm down Zabuza, we'll find her. Hopefully she's still safe."

"Is it true, that Gato is selling bloodline users as slaves."

"Yep, it adds up and it explains why our leader was captured instead of killed, Gato probably made a deal with Yagura to spare some bloodline users for his business in exchange for supplying him with weapons, food and manpower."

"Damn that midget! He'll pay for this."

"He will, he will in due time."

XXXXXXXXXX

*Knock Knock*

The pair of contrasting males had arrived at Tazuna's house, knocking on the door it took only a few seconds before someone opened it.

Before him, a pretty dark-haired woman who was probably in her twenties looked at them suspiciously before turning towards the old man she had recognized as Tazuna. Now smiling a bit, she opened the door completely and made way for both of them.

"Welcome back father."

"It's good to be back, Tsunami."

"Ummm who is this? I thought you went out to hire several shinobi instead of just one."

"Uh well they kind of died and this boy here happened to pass by at the time, so he saved me."

Looking towards Naruto's direction, she scanned his entire body as if questioning the validity of Tazuna's explanation. As her eyes made way to his chest she blushed profusely, since it was visible since Naruto only wore an open dark-orange jacket with jet black on the upper shoulder areas. It was a lot more convenient to wear during training, feeling the cold wind brush up against his slim muscular chest, and it didn't hurt when it attracted a lot of blushing woman back home whenever they saw his chest. Her reaction was pretty normal.

"Nice to meet you, Tsunami-san." Flashing a wide smile, he brought out his hand for a handshake which Tsunami nervously took.

"Uh...um...nice to meet you...um"

"The name's Naruto...Naruto Uzumaki." It was extremely amusing that a 12-year old boy such as himself could reduce a woman in her mid-20s to a blushing mess, exaggerating much.

"Naruto-kun...thank you for saving my father." Bowing deeply, Naruto could only wave his hands in response, he was not expecting such a humble action.

"Oh, no need to thank me." Truthfully he couldn't care less about saving anyone, he just wanted a good fight and protecting an old man from a rich-ass midget who would hire dozens of professional missing-nin sounded fun, never mind the odds of surviving.

"Well, regardless come in."

"Thank you."

Behind them, Tazuna was oblivious to the pink hue on his daughter's cheeks due to being busy mentally sighing in relief.

Thank god, she doesn't seem to realize this boy is 12. But who could blame her, his build and height makes him look like a freaking 16 to 17 year old exercise jock.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Mmmm this is really really good cooking, how'd you make it?" It was even comparable to his own.

"Oh Naruto you tease, it was nothing really."

It's been 3 hours since Tazuna and Naruto had arrived at his house, bored out of his mind he was about to go training until Tsunami came up to him and thanked him again. From there they conversed a lot, she was in a lot of ways like Ayame except she had a more mature...presence, the random momentarily sad glimpse in her eyes spoke wonders about her life even after he had already heard about her situation from Tazuna, it was something he could relate to in certain aspects, to be alone but be unable to let out the tears, the emotion, in fear of looking weak in front of others. His reason, however, was so that the tears would not encourage the brutal beatings of Konoha's citizens while hers was so that she would not discourage her son, her father, her family which was already so fragile from the look of her son, Inari.

But nonetheless, they had both enjoyed each other's company. Even their relationship was similar to that of his relation to Ayame, except he had no trouble bonding with Tsunami within a span of 3 hours, while it took several years with Ayame.

"Seriously can I have the recipe." Originally he would say something like "you'd make a good wife" but considering the mental scar of her husband dying was still fresh, he deemed it wise not to make any husband/wife remarks and settled for this compliment.

"Sure, it's the least I could do for you."

"Haha thanks."

"Why..." Hearing Inari mutter something the first time since he had arrived, he turned his head immediately in mocking shock, grasping both cheeks with his palm as if to emphasize his surprise. He was well aware that Inari didn't use to be all anti-social.

"Why even bother coming here? You're just going to fail like all the others."

"Oh really now?" It was amusing how pitiful this kid could be. A few days of losing someone precious to him and he already thinks he knows everything about pain, about loneliness.

"Go home, nobody needs you, you'd just cause Gato to kill more people."

"And how exactly is living in poverty, in constant fear of being unable to survive another day better than dying?" Naruto liked to think he was a patient man, but seriously someone needed to smack some sense into the boy before he becomes a dark, moody brat who could only think of vengeance.

"You don't know anything. You don't know anything about pain." He ignored the religion but when the boy mentioned something about pain, he immediately stood over the boy looking down on him with an intimidating glare.

"Do enlighten me then." It was obvious that Inari was scared, but to Naruto's amusement he didn't completely back down.

"You don't know anything about losing a loved one, just go back to where you came from."

"Inari now listen here young man..." However she was interrupted by the hand in front of her, Naruto's hand to be specific.

"No, he needs this."

"Livi..."

"Shut up brat!" It was full of menace, that promised a world full of pain if one didn't listen to his command. It worked, since Inari stopped his naive ranting, too intimidated to continue.

"It's pitiful how naive you are." Forgetting his fear, the boy looked angry at this remark but before he could open his mouth he was held by his collar and his feet took off the ground as he came closer towards Naruto until they were face to face.

"You think you're the only who knows what's it like to suffer, you think you know what's it like to be alone. Have you even considered how much pain your mother must be feeling? how much pain your grandfather is feeling? In your delusion, you forgot that you still have loved ones, in your pitiful despair, you forgot that you had people who still care for you, who still feed you, who still dresses you, who still shelters you."

"I've seen the state of your village, I've seen the people, children even, who lie on the street struggling to survive, struggling to get their next meal. But here in your home, what those people out there don't have, you have in abundance, provided to you for free, while they search through the rubbish desperately. So no, you have no right...no right to brag about your suffering as if it's a trophy. Because as far as I'm concerned, compared to the others, you're living in luxury."

Slamming the boy against the ground, Naruto made his way towards the door while Inari went up the stairs crying.

Tsunami who was watching the entire spectacle was torn between comforting Inari or talking to Naruto. In the end she decided to comfort Inari later and talk to Naruto first.

"Naruto-kun where are you going?" Before exiting the house, he turned towards Tsunami and gave her a warm, comforting smile.

"Don't worry, I'll just be off training for a bit."

"But it's getting dark."

"Don't worry I'll be fine, just leave Inari alone for a while he needs to soak it in that he's not the only who's suffering from Gato's tyranny." Sensing the true meaning behind her frown he reassured her before leaving "Don't worry we'll have a private talk later."

Nodding in response, Naruto now left the house.

XXXXXXXXXX

Some distance away from Tazuna's house, Kuromi decided to speak up now.

Are you okay Naruto?

"...yeah, it's just that this place brought up a few memories."

That's not the only reason is it?

"...that Inari boy, it's infuriating how he could just ignore Tsunami-chan like that. If it was me, I would use all the help I could get. It's infuriating that he would ignore something that I've been craving for 6 years, someone to love me and he just tosses it away like nothing."

Not everyone is as strong-willed as you, they can't exactly be positive 24/7 after something traumatic happens...and to make up for that weakness they decide to lock their hearts away from others.

"..."

What is it Naruto?

"I can sense the presence of that masked girl from before." Focusing a bit more, she could sense it as well.

Alright, but we're going to talk about this later.

"Okay."

XXXXXXXXXX

"What do you want seeing as you're so desperate to come near Tazuna-san's house all alone."

Initially shocked that she was spotted, it took only a few moments to regain her composure and leap down behind the blonde boy.

"Actually in all honesty, I came here looking for your help."

"Oh? I thought your job was simply to kill the builders. In case you haven't noticed I'm kind of opposing you."

"No...although we cannot tell you what our real mission is, I assure you our end goal is not to kill Tazuna-san. In fact they actually coincide with his own."

Now he was really confused because not 5 hours ago, the pair of assassins had just tried to kill the old man "uh correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Tazuna's goal isn't to get killed."

Waving her hand repeatedly in denial, she corrected his misconceptions "No, I apologize for the fact that my master went off the deep end and tried to kill Tazuna, but we needed to do that as to not arouse our employer's suspicion."

"You mean Gato? Suspicion? What the hell are you talking about."

"It's not safe to talk in such an open space...wait a few seconds."

Forming a closed ice dome around the pair, it ensured that no outsiders could hear the conversation.

"We are undercover agents sent from Kiri's Rebel Alliance to retrieve a very important person who we believe is being held captive by Gato." There was no point beating around the bush so she decided to come out with the blunt truth.

...

...

...

...

"...Holy crap!"

"Um are you okay?"

"Sign me up!"

"What?...can you repeat that please." She was genuinely confused now, usually people took a couple of hours before they made a decision and she would leave and then come back. She honestly wasn't expecting him to answer so fast, especially when it looked like he was going against him.

"I said I'm joining up. You caught me at the worst possible time tonight, but after hearing this I'm pumped woohoo! This is like some mission impossible crap where we go up against impossible odds, sneak in a fortress full of somewhat professional killers with only 5 or so people on our side and then kick some villainous ass. Now wait, before you say anything, let me make a checklist."

"Impossible odds?" She gave a nod "Check."

"Betrayal?" She gave a nod "Check."

"Drama?" She was a bit hesitant about this one but just nodded for the heck of it "Check."

"Damsel in distress?" Nod, although she was a bit ticked off about the stereotypical question about helpless females "Check."

"Annoying villain that deserves a good ass-kicking?" She nodded instantly, Gato was an annoying prick "Check."

"Check, check and check..." Looking at the checklist which he somehow retrieved out of nowhere, he drooled at the prospects of this next adventure but remembered Tazuna and Tsunami before he hastily decided to follow Haku back to her base.

"Now wait a minute...if I join you, what happens to Tazuna and his family? Will you stop targeting them?"

"I would like to but..." Naruto mentally sighed, there was always a but somewhere "we haven't found Gato's slavery house, the place where he keeps most of his war captives, we believe that's where he's keeping our target. But until we know the location of said base, we have to follow Gato's orders in the meantime as to not attract suspicion. Since you've injured Zabuza for two days, we have that much time to look for the slave house before we must actively hunt Tazuna-san again."

"I see so all I have to do is find where he's keeping the slaves in two days and you'll stop hunting Tazuna?"

"Yes."

"I'll see what I can do. How can I find you?"

"Here, just fill your hands with chakra and place your palm on this seal, it'll notify us and we'll meet here again."

Being handed the slip of paper, he noticed that the seal was somewhat similar to Hiraishin's, although it lacked the function for teleporting. But before he could ask about it, the girl had already disappeared.

"Damn, and I didn't even get to know her name."

XXXXXXXXXX

For the next three hours he trained with a couple of clones until midnight, he sent a clone back to check if everyone was asleep and to his surprise, after his clone had dispersed, he had found that Tsunami was lying on her bed wide awake.

Deciding that it was time to have that one-on-one talk he went back to their house and quietly made his way towards Tsunami's room. Opening the door quietly, Tsunami nodded at him and patted on the spot next to her, he obliged after locking the door.

"Hey Tsunami." Ignoring the lack of suffix, she greeted him back. Sitting down on her mat next to her he started first.

"I'm...I'm sorry about what I did to Inari before. It was just...frustrating, how he could just throw away your love like that, how he could just cause you pain and think that's he the only one that's suffering in this world."

"I understand, I think...I think your outburst before did some good. I don't think he's ever been yelled at before, this was probably a very confusing yet mentally refreshing experience for him. He just needs time."

"So what do you want to talk about Tsunami?"

"...have you...have you ever lost anybody precious to you before? I was just thinking that those pain-filled words before...were due to experience."

"No...but I know how Inari must be feeling. No, I had it worse, for most of my childhood I grew up alone, nobody was there for me at first. I had to feed myself, I had to fend for myself , I could only struggle everyday hoping that one day things would turn for the better like those people out there in the streets right now." Looking out the window towards the direction of the village, flashback images of those children laying on the street popped up. He decided that he wouldn't tell her about the brutal beatings, he didn't want her to be too sympathetic, it'd be a blow to his pride, trivial as it is.

"Before when we were walking to get you some groceries, those children reminded me of me. Heck they have it worse than me, god knows how long they must've been hoping for a savior, for a shining knight who would save them from this hellhole."

"They must feel so lost right now, souls like them...and you." Turning slowly towards her, he saw the widening of her expression and the slight tearing up of her eyes, she turned away in embarrassment. "It's alright Tsunami." Wrapping his arms around her shoulder he pulled her in to lay her head on his shoulder, while rubbing his fingers against her smooth silky hair while gently whispering in her ear,

"It's alright to feel lost, it's alright to feel hopeless, it's alright to feel weak. So let out the emotions, it goes to show that you're still human. No one is looking except me, so it's okay to cry, we're just two lost souls comforting each other." Feeling the tears run down his naked chest, he smiled warmly as he continued to stroke her hair.

"Let out your frustrations...you can tell me...anything."

Waiting a few minutes for her to stop crying, she told him everything: her husband, her life, her sorrows, her joys, her pain, for the rest of the night Naruto allowed himself to be her outlet, because it was what she needed, it was what both of them needed, to feel safe in each other's presence as they let it out...all of it.

I wanted to continue to 10k but at this rate the end of the cheater would end as cliffhanger, to those who will be making comparisons to Fishcakes Affair and Reaching for a dream. I loved those stories, but my story deviates from theirs in both the femkyuubi/Naruto romance and the story in general. The only similarity would be the Mei/Naruto romance in Fishcakes Affair, out of all the incidents where Naruto meets Mei I loved this one the most, it sets the groundwork for the romance.

Anyway I will update by next week...hopefully. Oh yeah to those who are concerned about how his mood changes from cheerful to sad, to cheerful to sad between the small intervals I am well aware of it. But in this case, what kind of ninja-in-training would Naruto be if he shows his vulnerability, his emotions in front of someone who he currently perceives as his enemy but at the same time he has to let it out with someone who can sympathies with him hence the mood juxtaposition in Haku/Naruto and Naruto/Tsunami scene.