"How many times has it been now that I've told you to stop getting into fights and start making friends?" Naruko wearily asked as she used a wet towel to wash off all of the dirt and grime off of Naruto's face. Naruto gave her an angry and stubborn pout before averting her eyes away from her gaze and crossing his arms. Naruko sighed. "Naruto," she said, giving him a rare instance of her actually being stern and losing her patience with him.

Naruto gulped upon seeing the look on his mother's face before shoving his hands into his pockets and reluctantly answering, "A bunch of times now."

"Exactly!" Naruko said pleadingly. "And no matter how many times I tell you, you never seem to listen!"

"I do listen!" Naruto argued adamantly. "It's not my fault that they keep starting it!"

"And that's another thing!" Naruko cried. "You keep getting into fights because other people 'keep starting it'! How many times have I made it clear that I don't care who 'started it', I won't allow anybody who keeps getting into fights in this house!"

"Well, if you were there, you'd want to hit them too!"

Naruko let out an offended gasp upon hearing the absurd accusation. "You and I both know that that is very unlikely!"

"Well, if you were my mom, then you would've!"

Naruko was visibly shaken from this argument, but for reasons that were different than Naruto had assumed. "What?" Naruko asked softly.

Naruto angrily nodded. "You heard me!" He bowed his head as he was noticeably trying to hold back tears. "They keep treating me like I'm different! Like I'm some kind of monster! And for no good reason either! And not just the other kids, but the parents and the adults too!" He whimpered a bit as he continued to try and hold back the tears from falling. "I don't understand!" He looked up at his mother, unshed tears at the corners of his eyes. "What am I doing wrong?"

Naruko inwardly let out a sigh of relief upon realizing that Naruto's argument wasn't what she had feared it was. "Oh, thank goodness," she thought before walking up to Naruto and wrapping him in a warm and gentle hug, which he desperately reciprocated.

"There, there," Naruko gently soothed as she rubbed circles in the back of Naruto's back. "It's going to be alright. I'm here now, and one day, so will everyone else."

Naruto lifted his head to look at his mother. "But -"

Naruko gently placed her index finger over Naruto's lips to silence him and gave him a reassuring smile. "But nothing. Trust me, you're not doing anything wrong. In fact," she clapped her hands happily, "I heard that you actually got a decent grade on your test today." Despite her absense from Naruto during the day, she had always tried to stress the importance of doing well in the academy, and despite Naruto's admittedly irresponsible behavior, she had somewhat succeeded. After all, if she hadn't, then for all she knew, Naruto would've flunked to the point where he would still be in the early stages of primary school. True, she wished that his grades would've been better, but considering the circumstances, she would have to cut her boy some slack.

Naruto grinned proudly as he smugly rubbed the bottom of his nose with the back of his finger. "Aw, it was nothing!" he bragged. "The lesson the test was based on was actually interesting for a change!"

"That's not something I wanted to hear," Naruko muttered. "But I guess I'll take what I can get." She then walked up towards her bag and pulled something out of it, extending it for Naruto to take. "Here. For a job well done." Before Naruto could excitedly grab it from her though, she held it up away from his reach for a moment and added, "And hopefully to many more in the future."

Naruto rolled his eyes at this. "Yeah, yeah, I will!" He then extended his hands in an attempt to reach his gift by himself, but when he failed to do so, asked, "So can I have it now, huh, can I?"

"Can you say, 'please'?"

"Please!"

Naruko wearily sighed before lowering her arm and handing Naruto's his gift. "Honestly, sweetie, how can you expect to make any friends if you can't even remember basic manners?" This particular criticism, however, flew right over Naruto's head as he was too busy opening his present to listen properly, letting out a gasp of surprise and delight as he saw what his present was.

"This is -"

Naruko nodded her head and smiled. "These were those goggles you were talking so much about, right? I hope you like the color. It was the only ones they had at the time."

"They're even cooler up close!" Naruto cried. He ran up and hugged Naruko's legs. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Oh, you shouldn't be thanking me," Naruko said as she patted Naruto's head. "I swear, I spoil you too much."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who gives me presents, so it's fine!" Naruto said, now attempting to get goggles out of their plastic cover. "Heh heh, now whenever I get into a fight, no one can cheat by throwing dust in my eyes."

Naruko sighed. "Naruto, what did I just tell you about not getting into fights and trying to make friends?"

"Who needs friends when I've got the best mom in the world?" Naruto asked with a grin.

Naruko let out a small, concerned gasp. "Come on now, you don't really mean that."

"But I do!" Naruto insisted as he continued to pick against the goggles' plastic casing. "I don't need them! I don't need anyone else except you!"

"And what happens if we have other family besides us?" Naruko questioned. "Are you going to hate them too?"

"Of course I will!" Naruto argued angrily. "If they really cared about me then they would've come to visit by now! Families shouldn't abandon each other, but that's exactly what they did!" He stopped picking at the plastic to look at his mother with a solemn and angry look on his face. "I don't even care if they suddenly start coming to visit now! If they do, then I'll kick them out of the house myself! I don't care what their reasons are!"

Naruko released another tiny gasp. Did Naruto truly mean that? If so, then would that mean that if she ever told him who his real parents were, would he still reject them? Would he reject Minato and Kushina even though they were his actual mother and father? No, he shouldn't, he won't. But how could she change Naruto's entire attitude towards the whole thing? What could she possibly say that could make the stubborn Naruto just a bit more open-minded about the people around him?

Just then, a thought came to her of how she could do just that, a thought that she had long been dreading since the moment he had first called him "mama" all those years ago. At first, Naruko opened her mouth in an attempt to initiate her plan, but no words came out. She then closed it and took a moment to collect herself before quietly asking, "And what if... what if I wasn't your mother?"

Naruto stopped what he was doing as his eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

Naruko gulped as she considered backing out last minute, but mentally shook the thought away and pressed forward. It was too late to turn back now. "What if I wasn't really your mother? Would you hate me too?"

Naruto lowered his gift, his lip quivering upon hearing such a thing being said, and by his mother no less. "Why would you ask something like that?" he demanded. "There's no 'if' about it! You're my mom! You'll always be my mom!" He waited for his mother to reply that he was right, but when no reply came, his voiced cracked as he quietly asked, "You are... aren't you?"

Naruko once again lost her voice for a moment before kneeling down, placing her hands gently onto Naruto's shoulders, shaking her head, and answering, "I'm so sorry, sweetie." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she held them in. She couldn't tell Naruto who his real parents were if she were to turn into a crying mess. "I really am."

Naruto stared into space for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "No... that's not possible." He looked back at Naruko, eyes wide with disbelief. "You're... not my mother?"

Naruko bit her lip as she shook her head. "I really am sorry, Naruto... but I'm not."

Naruto shook his head again. "No, that can't be... that can't be right!" He placed one of his hands over the whisker marks on Naruko's face. "We both look the same!"

Naruko placed her hands gently onto Naruto's and forced him to lower them. "It's a coincidence. It's one of the reasons why I was chosen to take care of you." Naruto dropped his newly acquired, green goggles and slowly began to back away from her. "Naruto, please, let me explain," Naruko pleaded.

Naruto shook his heads. "You're not my mother," he said quietly.

"Biologically!" Naruko whispered. "But that doesn't change anything, Naruto, honest!"

Naruto shook his head. "No, it changes everything." He then bolted for the door, but Naruko grabbed his arm just in time. "Let me go!" he cried.

"Not until you listen to what I have to say!" Naruko pleaded.

He glared angrily at her. "Why should I trust anything you say?!" he cried. "You're not my mother! You're just a big, fat, two-faced liar!"

Naruko's eyes widened in surprise as she let out a horrified gasp, weakening her hold on Naruto's arm enough to allow the boy to reach the door. She held out her hand to him, tears in her eyes, as she cried, "Naruto, please wait!"

"No!" Naruto cried, tears in his eyes as well. "I don't want to wait! I don't want to see you ever again!" And with that, he left, slamming the door of the apartment behind him and leaving a weeping Naruko as he did, running off as far as he could.

"Naruto," she silently cried out in anguish, her hand still extended out to where Naruto had been before she lowered it and buried her face into the ground and sobbing uncontrollably. "What have I done?"

He ran. He ran as far and as fast as his young legs could take him and navigated as best as he could despite how unfamiliar the village looked at night. He ran until he could run no more, collapsing to the ground in tears, crying silently to himself with no one there to comfort him. He truly was alone now. Before, he at least had a mother who loved, but now? Now he realized that what little he had had just been a lie. Did she really love him like she kept saying she did? Was she really working as the Hokage's assistant or was that just an excuse to get away from him the entire day? Who was she really? Where were his real parents? Did they abandon him? In a way, a part of him wanted to go back so that he could get some answers, but no; he had already declared that he never wanted to see her again, and he had vowed to never back down on his word.

He couldn't go back, even if he wanted to.

"Naruto, Minato, Kushina... I'm sorry," Naruko thought as she continued to sit in the same spot where she had been when Naruto had left. "I've failed all of you." Naruko shook her head as the tears threatened to fall down her face again. "To think that I used to dream about being one. What a joke!" She buried her face into her hands. "I'm a terrible mother! And now he's out there probably feeling lonelier than he's ever felt before and... and... and..."

And why wasn't she running after him? Naruko slowly raised her head from her hands upon coming to this realization. "That's right, why aren't I running after him?" She nodded her head with resolve as she slowly picked herself up off of the floor. "Despite what he thinks of me, he needs me now more than ever! I don't have time to feel bad about myself! I need to be there for him!" She then ran to the door and put her hand on the door knob. "Please be safe, Naruto! Your auntie is coming!" She then opened the door... only to be greeted by the presence of a man with a black and red cloak and a red mask.

Naruko gasped upon being taken by surprise from her surprised guest, but quickly recomposed herself, wiped her face a bit, and asked, "Um, hello. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Much to her surprise, the masked man raised his hands as if to signal for Naruko to calm down and innocently said, "Actually, there is!" He looked past Naruko and peered into her house a bit before asking, "I'm looking for someone who has a Nine-Tailed Fox spirit sealed inside of them, and I heard that someone like that lives in this very apartment!" He then looked back at the shocked and horrified Naruko. "Does a person fitting that description live here or did I just get the apartment number mixed up?" He scratched the side of his head bashfully. "I'm really not sure at this point."

Naruko gulped as her mind raced frantically to consider all of her options. She then chose to shake her head, act innocent, and answer, "I'm sorry, I've never heard of anyone around here fitting that description. Maybe you just heard it wrong?"

"Really?" the masked man asked, before leaning dangerously close to her and menacingly whispering, "Because it would make a lot of sense for the fourth Hokage to seal that type of beast inside his little sister, who actually has been told that she had great potential as a ninja instead of his own son, isn't that right... Naruko Namikaze?"

Naruko let out a horrified gasp upon hearing the name that she had long since abandoned uttered to her again. She slowly backed away from the mysterious masked man and asked, "Who are you?"

The masked man slowly advanced towards her and answered, "A friend," before Naruko's vision went black.

A few minutes later, as Naruto was walking around, minding his own business, three masked Lead ninja appeared before him, causing him to let out a gasp of surprise and step back a bit. One of the ANBU Black Ops ninja raised his hand in an attempt to calm Naruto down. "Keep quiet," he whispered. "We need to get you to a safe place this instant!"

Naruto eyed the three ANBU suspiciously. "What do you mean by that?!" he cried, something the ANBU had hoped that they could avoid. "Who are you?! And what do you want with me?!"

"We don't have time for this!" another ANBU hissed, advancing towards Naruto and raising a hand sign up. "Let's just knock him out and leave before anything bad happens!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Naruto held up the hand sign for the Transformation Technique. "Sexy Technique!" And in a flash of smoke, he turned into his infamous technique, which then posed suggestively towards the three ANBU soldiers and gave them a flirtatious wink, causing two thirds of them to scream and fall back, practically knocked out and bleeding from the nose, which caused this version of Naruko to celebrate by jumping up and down excitedly, giggle, and cry out, "Yes! No one can beat this technique! No one!" before instantly getting knocked out by a chop to the back of the neck from the third ANBU soldier, who just so happened to be female.

As Naruto naturally changed back to his true form, the female ANBU took a moment to take the entire scene in before sighing, shaking her head, and saying, "Boys, honestly."

Naruto groggily woke up in a dark room with only a single light above him to illuminate it. His head was certainly hurting a great deal after his encounter with the ANBU, but waking up in a strange place certainly made him focus despite it. He quickly looked around the room and realized that beyond the chair he was sitting on and the ropes that were typing him down to it, there seemed to be nothing else in the room... that is until a familiar voice came out from the darkness and said, "So, it looks like you're finally awake, Naruto." The owner of the voice then stepped out from the shadows to reveal himself as the third Hokage.

Naruto let out a gasp of surprise and relief. "Gramps!" He then began to dangle his legs frantically and cried, "Boy, am I glad to see you! Some crazy ninjas just kidnapped me! You gotta get me out of these ropes and kick their butts, you know?" When the third Hokage still didn't do anything, Naruto gave him a questionable look and asked, "Hey, what's the matter, gramps? Get me out of this!"

The third Hokage let out a weary sigh before fixing his hat and saying, "Naruto, this entire ordeal was made specifically for you."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, cocking an eyebrow in surprise. "What do you mean?"

The third Hokage sighed once again before explaining, "We have received reports that enemy ninja have invaded the village and that their primary target was the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Naruto let out a gasp of surprise. "The Nine-Tailed Fox?!" he repeated incredulously. "But that can't be! The fourth Hokage already beat it and saved the village!"

The third Hokage nodded his head solemnly. "Yes, the key term being 'beat' and not 'kill'."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "So wait... you're telling me that the Nine-Tailed Fox is still alive?"

"More than just alive, Naruto," the third Hokage answered. "The Nine-Tailed Fox... is sealed inside of you."

"I-Inside of me?"

The third Hokage nodded. "Yes. The forth Hokage sealed the demon inside of you as a last ditch effort to save the village."

Naruto was stunned. "But... but why?!" he demanded. "Why me?! Why did he choose me to have the Nine-Tailed Fox be sealed into?!"

The third Hokage shook his head. "That, I cannot say, but what I CAN say is that the enemies seem to have successfully pinpointed where you live and seemed to have taken Naruko."

"What? But why would they do that?!"

"It appears that they may have mistaken her for the vessel instead of you. Still, despite that, we made the necessary precautions so that they couldn't kidnap you as well." He then turned to leave and said, "Do not worry, Naruto. I promise you that we will find your mother and bring her back safely. All that you have to do is to be patient."

"But she's not my mother though," the third Hokage heard Naruto say dejectedly from behind him. "She lied to me all this time," Naruto looked up at the third. "And you knew, didn't you? Everyone knew, didn't they?"

The third let out a weary sigh before turning around and saying, "Yes, yes I did."

"Then why didn't any of you tell me?!" Naruto cried, struggling even more against the ropes binding him to the chair he was sitting in. "Instead of telling me the truth, everyone lied to me! You're all a bunch of liars!"

"And what do you suppose we should have done?" the third asked. "Tell you that you had no parents and risk you resenting the village for viewing you as the Nine-Tailed Fox, even though you are not, and without a proper upbringing? Is that what you are suggesting?"

Naruto let out a small gasp of surprise before shaking his head stubbornly and answering, "Well, yeah! It's better than having someone pretending to be my mom and then me finding out that everything about her was a lie!"

The third nodded his head understandingly. "I see," he said. "But if that's the case, then I suppose that every happy moment you spent with her was also a lie, is that it?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah!"

"Then if it wasn't happiness that you are were feeling all of those times, then what was it that you were truly feeling?"

Naruto gave the third a questionable look. "Huh?"

The third placed his hands behind his back. "Regardless of whether she was not your true mother, did she not give you moments of happiness in your life? Did she not give you comfort whenever you needed and desired it? Did you not feel loved whenever she told you how much she loved you?"

"But that's the point!" Naruto angrily argued. "All of it was a lie!"

"And what I am saying," the third said sternly, "is that despite that, she made you feel true emotions and feelings!" This earned him a surprised gasp and stunned silence from Naruto. "Your time with her was precious, you cannot deny that." He then turned his back to him, intending on leaving the room again and gently added, "And if it makes any difference to you, I can attest that she did, in fact, love you with all of her heart. That is just the type of person that she is."

He was about to leave the room once again, only to be interrupted this time by three ANBU ninjas, who bowed to him out of respect before one of them said, "Lord Hokage!" They all looked up at him. "We searched the entire village, but we couldn't find Naruko or the enemy ninja anywhere!"

"What?!" Naruto cried, struggling once more against the ropes holding him down. "Gramps, let me go! We have to go find her!"

"We will do everything we can, Naruto," the third attempted to reassure. "In the meantime, you need to stay here so that they don't take you as well."

"But I have to go!" Naruto insisted. "I have to!"

"You will not!" the third commanded sternly.

"Yes," Naruto gritted his teeth, "I," he began to emit a monstrous, orange chakra, "will!" he roared, the ropes wrapped around his body breaking a bit, much to the shock of the third and the ANBU behind him.

"It can't be!" the third thought. "Is the Nine-Tailed Fox actually escaping?!"

"Let... me... go!" Naruto cried, almost successfully escaping from his binds if it had not been for the mysterious figure appearing behind him and knocking him out before he could, the monstrous and orange chakra receding back into him as Naruto lost consciousness.

The third let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Danzo," he said as Danzo stepped out of the darkness and walked up to the Hokage. "A second longer, and who knows what would've happened?"

Danzo nodded. "Of course," he said. "But I regret to inform you that I didn't come all the way here just to save you from an unforeseeable threat."

The third Hokage raised an eyebrow gravely. "Oh?" he asked. "Then why exactly did you come all the way here then?"

Danzo gave the third a solemn, stern look. "The girl," he began, "I believe her to be a lost cause."

The ANBU behind the third let out horrified and surprised gasps as the third continued to eye Danzo gravely. "I see. And what exactly do you mean by that, Danzo?"

"What I mean," Danzo explained in a hush and urgent tone of voice, "is that if they haven't killed her now, they will; and with us unable to locate her within the village walls, it is safe to say that they have already escaped the village and could be anywhere now. We have no chance of finding her, and if she is, in fact, dead," he glanced back at Naruto's unconscious form, "then that last outburst won't be the last."

The third took a moment to consider what Danzo was saying before nodding his head wearily. "Yes, I suppose you have a point there. So what do you suggest that we do about it then?"

"I know of an ability that can make the boy forget her," Danzo explained. "And just in case, we will simply enforce a stronger taboo on mentioning her existence than the existence of her brother and sister-in-law."

The third contemplated over this option for a moment before letting out a resigned sigh and saying, "I guess it can't be helped." He nodded towards Danzo. "You have my permission to carry out this plan of yours."

The ANBU gasped. "But Lord Hokage, you can't!" one of them cried.

"And even if you did," one of them said, shaking their head, "we couldn't possibly forget about her!"

"We are not asking for you to forget about her," the third reassured gently. "We are simply asking for you to cease mentioning about her within the public eye, that is all."

"But even if you DID enforce such a law," the third one said, "then there will surely be an uproar amongst the villagers! Naruko is simply too popular to -"

"The Hokage has made his decision!" Danzo cried out angrily. He the stepped forward menacingly. "And all off those who oppose will be branded for treason and be put to death! That is final!" He glowered at the three ANBU. "Do I make myself clear?"

The three gulped nervously before quickly nodding their heads and giving the two a respectful and obedient bow. "Yes, Lord Danzo!" they cried.

Danzo nodded solemnly. "Good. Now," he waved his hand, "out of our sights, this instant!"

They raised their heads and gave them an understanding nod. "Yes!" they cried before disappearing in a flash.

The third sighed. "They had a point," he said dejectedly. "The villagers won't be too keen on being prohibited to talk about another person that they loved."

"Then it's a good thing that they have no choice in the manner," Danzo replied. "Not unless they want to risk the destruction of the entire village." They both then heard Naruto letting out a painful groan as he was about to come to. "Well then, it seems that I am going to carry out my part of the plan sooner rather than later." He turned to the third and nodded towards the door. "I expect that you will now start preparing to perform yours."

The third Hokage nodded and began to leave the room. "Yes, you can expect at least that much from me." He shook his head as he placed his hands behind his back. "I just hope that we're making the right decision by doing this." He then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Danzo shook his head disapprovingly. "You are weak, Sarutobi." He then began to remove the bandages over his eye. "A Hokage must have the resolve to do what needs to be done, no matter how questionable the methods are. Your inability to do such things is proof that you are unfit to lead. But until the day I truly replace you as Hokage comes, I will do what I must to protect this village."

"Ugh," Naruto said groggily as he slowly regained consciousness. "What just happened? Where am I?" He then looked down at his bonds and instantly remembered. "Ah, that's right!" He began struggling against them again. "I have to get out of here! Mom needs me!" He then noticed the man standing before him. "Hey! Who the heck are you!?" When Danzo didn't immediately answer, Naruto scoffed and cried, "Fine, be like that! I'm getting out of here, and I'm going to save my mom whether you people like it or not!"

Danzo let out a grave hum. "Is that so?" he asked.

"Yeah!"

Danzo scoffed. "Such insolence." He looked at Naruto straight in the eyes and activated Shisui's Sharingan, causing Naruto to gasp in surprise before being put into a trance.

Naruko groaned as she slowly began to wake up. "W-What just happened?" She then attempted to move, only to find out that she was bounded to the floor in chains. Naruko's eyes widened with panic as she tried in vain to break out of her restraints. "W-What is this?!" She looked around frantically. "Where am I?!"

"Considering what we're going to do to you, that's going to be the least of your concerns," a voice said. Naruko turned her head towards the voice and nearly screamed out in horror upon laying eyes on the person said voice belonged to. The alien-like man looked across from her. "Hey, she's awake!" Zetsu cried. "What should we do now?"

"We proceed as planned," the familiar voice of the masked man said as Naruko quickly turned her head around to look at him. He then slowly walked down at Naruko, his eyes narrowing under his mask, and whispered, "I had really hoped that you would stay unconscious for this," before he and Zetsu got into place on top of one of the fingertips of the Demonic Statue, which Naruko silently yelped in terror at the sight of, performing a few hand signs, declaring, "Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals!" and letting the nine dragon-like effigies pour out of the statue's mouth, surround the chained up and terrified Naruko, and let it painfully remove the supposed Nine-Tailed Fox from out of her body.

At least, that would've happened if she had had it in her body to begin with.

"Hey, what's going on?!" one of the cloaked figures asked. "I thought you said that she was the host for the Nine-Tails! What gives?!"

"Humph," another cloaked figure scoffed. "It seems that you got the wrong one after all."

The masked man quickly looked down at the screaming Naruko, his eyes widening behind his mask out of shock and dread upon realizing what he had just done. "What?!"

"What a shame," another cloaked figure said. "This technique already kills actual hosts. I doubt being a normal human would make her any different."

"Humph," another cloaked figure scoffed. "If anything, it should make things worse."

"Agh!" Naruko screamed as the technique continued to try find and painfully extract the tailed beast she was supposedly supposed to have. "Please, make it stop! Make it stop, I'm begging you!" Tears were flowing from her eyes as she was subjugated to a pain she had never thought was humanly possible to bear. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she wailed, the obscene amount of pain causing her to partially lose her mind.

"Oh?" one of the cloaked figures asked amusingly. "Interesting! Then if you're truly sorry, then could you tell us who the host of the Nine-Tailed Fox really is then? It would make our job a lot easier if you did!"

Naruko let out another shriek of pain as she dragons continued trying to find the tailed beast inside of her. For a brief second, she had honestly considered telling them. Maybe, just maybe, if she told them, they would end all of this terrible pain and she'd actually have a chance of living through the ordeal; but then she remembered Naruto, and how she was his aunt, his Godmother, his caretaker and protector. She was Minato's baby sister, Kushina's sister-in-law, the third's faithful assistant, a member of the Leaf Village. Tears continued to flow down her face as she slowly shook her head defiantly, gritting her teeth in the hopes that it could help with the pain somewhat.

"Oh, is that so?" Zetsu asked. "Interesting. For a normal person to make that type of sacrifice. I'm honestly surprised. But," he frowned down at her, "I'm sure you know what this means then, right?"

Naruko silently screamed as the nine dragon effigies took one last look through her body before returning back to the Demonic Statue and leaving near dead Naruko to take her last futile breaths of life before death finally took her.

The masked man leapt down to her to inspect her. He shook his head grimly as she heard him mutter, "There really is nothing I can do to save you," and he clenched his fist in frustration.

"Well, it looks like you've failed, Tobi," one of the cloaked figures said from the fingertip he was standing on. "And if I remember correctly, we agreed that if you failed this particular mission, then your request to join the Akatsuki would be rejected, isn't that right?"

Tobi immediately recomposed himself and turned around to give the cloaked figure an awkward laugh as he embarrassingly scratched the back of his neck. "Aw, come on! Give me a second chance! Besides," he pointed nonchalantly at them, "didn't we all admit that the tailed beasts had to be collected in order or else the statue would shatter? Why were we gunning for the Nine-Tails so early on, huh? Seems kind of dumb if you ask me."

"Silence, you fool! the cloaked figure cried, and with a wave of his hand, Tobi was immediately sent crashing to the floor.

One of the cloaked figures let out a bored sigh. "We were going to let the statue extract the beast and try out a method to keep the beast under our belt for safe keeping, but since she wasn't the host of the Nine-Tailed Fox in the first place, I guess we did this all for nothing."

"Yeah!" one of the cloaked figures cried out angrily. "Thanks for wasting our time by making us perform our part of the technique for days while you were busy bringing back the wrong person!"

Tobi slowly picked himself up and dusted himself off as if the technique performed on him was nothing more than a clumsy fall. "Aw, come on guys! If it wasn't her, then there's only one other person that it could be! All I've got to do is just go back and I can get him like this whole incident never even happened!"

"Except it did happen," Zetsu pointed out. "And because it happened, the ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village are moving closer and closer to us as we speak. I can sense it."

"Then we will discuss this another time," one of the cloaked figures said as he performed a hand sign that made the gigantic statue disappear in a puff of smoke. "For now, we must retreat and focus our time on the other tailed beasts."

"And what about her?" one of the cloaked figures asked, nodding towards a slowly dying Naruko.

The cloaked figure pondered for a moment before looking at Tobi and instructing, "Dispose of the body. I'm sure that you can do at least that correctly."

Tobi let out a gasp of delight before giving the cloaked figure a goofy salute. "You can count on me, sir!"

"Humph," the cloaked figure scoffed before he and the rest of them disappeared.

Tobi let out a dejected and weary sigh before turning back towards Naruko, her hand extended towards him pleadingly in the last ditch hope that he could somehow save her life. "Help... me..." Tears were in her eyes. "Please. I don't want to die."

Tobi looked away from her for a moment before kneeling down and saying, "I'm so sorry I dragged you into this, Naruko. I really am."

Now that the initial fear was mostly gone at this point, Naruko mentally noted that the voice sounded quite familiar. She stared questionable at him for a long time before her eyes widened slightly (her body was too tired to make them widen even more than that), before quietly asking, "Obito?"

Naruko could hear a sniffle coming from the mask man as he nodded his head. "Yes," he said with a cracked voice. "It's me. It's Obito."

Naruko shook her head. "I thought you were dead," she whispered, as she no longer had the strength to talk normally anymore.

Obito took a moment to consider how he should respond before settling with, "In a way, I guess I am."

Naruko shook her head again. "I don't understand."

Obito simply shrugged. "It's all just dumb luck, really."

Realizing that she probably wasn't going to get a straight answer from him, and that now was probably not the time to insist upon it, Naruko looked up at him pleadingly and said, "Help me, please." She shook her head as the tears slowly began to fall down her face. "I don't want to die."

Tobi stared at her for a moment before softly answering, "I'm sorry, but at this point, there's nothing me or anyone can do."

It was at this point that Naruko truly broke. This was it. She was going to die. The reality of the situation was too much for her. She sobbed for a moment at the unfairness of the situation before looking back at a guilt-filled Obito and asking, "Why? What's going on? Why did this even happen? What did I just die for?"

Obito shook his head. "I can't tell you that," he said while comfortingly cupping one side of Naruko's face with his hand. "But what I can tell you," he continued, his voice growing ominously dark, "is that I'm going to make this right. I'm going to make everything right. I'm going to make a better world." He then wiped away Naruko's tears with his thumb. "I just regret the fact that you couldn't be there to see it too."

Naruto looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "I don't understand."

"And I don't expect someone like you to," Onito replied. He held Naruko's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Now sleep." When Naruko still looked hesitant to let go, he added, "Don't worry. Everyone you care about, everyone we care about, I'm going to lead them to a better place, I promise. Just leave the rest to me."

Naruko wasn't so sure about that, but at the same time, she could tell that she didn't really have much of a choice. Her eyes here closing on her no matter how much she tried to open them; she could feel her heartbeat slowing down at a pace she never thought she'd hear it beat at; she was losing her grip on Obito's hand. "Minato. Kushina. Naruto. I'm so sorry."

And with that, Obito picked up Naruko's body and ran off to go and properly dispose of it.

Naruto woke up in his bed and yawned, stretching his arms over his head and opening his mouth a few times before drowsily looking around his apartment. For as long as he could remember, he had lived here completely alone, with no one to come home to or to take care of him like the parents of the other kids throughout the village. He supposed Sasuke was the only other exception nowadays, and in a way, he had wanted to approach the boy because of that very thing that they had in common, but the raven-haired boy was just so infuriatingly good at everything that it made it hard to muster up the courage to befriend him. The only other exception was the Hokage, but he was like that with everyone, so he technically didn't count, at least, not in Naruto's mind.

He dejectedly looked around his apartment only for his eyes to widen in surprise upon seeing the pair of goggles still in its plastic packaging on the floor. He got out of bed and inspected it curiously. Since when did these get there? He could've sworn that he had not stolen them, so what gives? He then tried to remember if he had bought them or not. No, he couldn't have. No one would let him buy anything from their stores, except Ichiraku Ramen, but ramen was a completely different. When nothing came to him, he just assumed that the third Hokage had given them to him and happily tore off the plastic and put the goggles on. He looked at himself in the mirror and grinned. He felt like they really did suit him. And besides, even if they didn't, now he had a way to keep the other kids from kicking dust into his eyes. Boy, was he going to show them! He was going to show everyone in the entire village! They may be treating him poorly now, but once he finally becomes Hokage, then they'll see who gets the last laugh!

Naruto laughed at the thought before brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, getting dressed, and running out the door. Today was going to be a new day, and who knows? Maybe things will finally change for him, maybe they wouldn't, but Naruto knew one thing for sure. He wasn't going to find out from staying cooped up in his apartment all day!

Author's Note #1: Well, that's that. My first ever story on this site has finally been completed. I'm sorry if some of you were hoping that this story would keep going a little bit longer, but in all honesty, I just couldn't think of anything else for Naruko and Naruto to do or anything else interesting to write or explain from the canon, so I decided to end it here. I know it may seem like I put Naruko in a particularly harsh fate, but since this story was trying to follow the canon story as much as possible (despite being a "what-if" story), I had to find a way to explain why Naruko was no longer there once Naruto becomes a Genin. The alternative would've been to branch away from the canon and let her stay alive and let her still be a part of Naruto's life, but I figured that at the rate the story was going, Naruko would've been reduced to a glorified minor character at that point. I felt like in the end, this was the best way to send her off while still making her feel important.

Author's Note #2: Like I said, this is the end of this story. I want to thank everyone who stuck with it until the end despite the choppy updates with long hiatuses in between chapters. You all had to be really patient with me, so thank you for that. Seeing that people still cared despite my lack of frequent updating encouraged me to finish this story til the very end. I hope you all ended up finding a special place in your hearts for this version of Naruko, as this version was quite different compared to most versions of her on this site/in fanfiction. This version was definitely much more feminine than others, so thank you for giving this version a chance!

Author's Note #3: That being said, what are your thoughts on this story overall? This is the first time that I've officially completed a story like this (one that isn't a one-shot and is just a multi-parter of what is technically a single story/single story split into parts), so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about this one!

Author's Note #4: For any of those who wish to see more Naruko, then check out my "Relic of the Past" story. I must warn you though. That version of her is very different compared to this one. Basically, the feminine levels go up in that story, so if that piques your curiosity, go ahead and check it out!

Author's Note #5: Seriously, thank you for checking this story out and especially those who stayed with it until the end. I can't thank you guys enough.