Tsunade turned over in her sleep; it was 2 days until Naruto was going to be 'officially' exiled and Tsunade couldn't sleep as she remembered all that had happened.

TIMESKIP (backwards)

Naruto nodded slowly as Tsunade finished. He was trying not to let his emotions through, it wasn't really working. He sighed and pulled on his shirt, he grabbed his pouch and turned to leave, Tsunade grabbed him and spun him around "what are you doing?" she demanded.

"I'm getting ready to leave" he said in a monotone, Tsunade was taken aback by his coldness and he turned again, eyes lowered "I saw this coming, didn't know when but I knew it would come. I know what I'll need and I know where to get them, I'll have to use my henge again but at least I'll be able to afford more than moldy bread" he started to leave again but Tsunade grabbed his shoulder and shushined them out of the hospital. Naruto looked around and found himself outside of the wolf claw weapon shop, he looked up at Tsunade and she smiled sadly.

"I'd read about the whole 'won't sell demon boy things' through the thirds files, he couldn't do anything without causing trouble but I do know that here at least they should sell you what you'll need. I gotta go do some stuff, when I get back I'll pay for everything that you need, cya soon" Tsunade shushined away and Naruto sighed before walking into the shop. A bun-haired girl looked up at him from a counter and waved.

"Hey, welcome to the wolf claw weapon shop… um, what's your name again? Naruto or something?" she asked politely, Naruto nodded and she continued "thought so, I'm Tenten, good job on Neji by the way, after that fight he got rid of half the stick up his ass" Naruto couldn't't help it, he burst out laughing and Tenten joined him, when he recovered he sighed again and pulled a list out of his pouch and placed it on the counter.

"Umm, if it's alright, I kinda need the stuff on this list" he said, Tenten picked up the list and read over it curiously. There many mistakes that made his words only half comprehensible, but being a weapon/supplies shop it was easy as pie to figure what he wanted, She stood and started to collect the things on the list, but kept on talking.

"So what's all this for anyway? If you weren't't a genin I'd swear it's a real long-term mission" Naruto thought about his answer for a second, but decided to simply tell the truth because he wasn't going to be around.

"Council's exiling me" he said coldly, Tenten almost dropped the box of kunai she had and she looked at him suspiciously. He sighed and ran through what the council had done, at the end Tenten was furious, and she slammed the box of soldier pills she'd collected down on the counter, almost busting open the box.

"Why the hell would they do that to you? You brought back that Uchiha they love so much; they should be praising the ground you walk on, what the FUCK is wrong with those retarded bastards" she yelled, shocking Naruto, an even bigger shock came for both of them when a voice said.

"Wow, never heard you swear before" they both looked over and Tenten blushed.

"Well, dad, they, uh...." she was silenced by her father as he waved his hand

"I know, I heard it all. Hell, most of the village is about to have a party cause of it, by the way Naruto, the names Dustin" Naruto nodded to Dustin, but Tenten was just angry and confused

"What's going on? Why would everyone be happy Narutos exiled, and why did the council do it?" she asked, Naruto sighed and said.

"You know about the Kyuubi attack, right? *nod* what happened and what they say happened are two different things" Tenten raised an eye brow curiously "the Yondaime couldn't't kill Kyuubi cause its immortal, so he made it mortal through human sacrifice. He gave his soul to seal it into a new born baby. I was that baby, and most of the entire village thinks of me as the Kyuubi, that's why I was beaten, abused, avoided, hated, had over 2000 assassination attempts before I graduated and sold nothing but the worst quality of everything at five times the normal price" Naruto looked away as he finished venting.

Emotions flew through Tenten, shock, anger and hate all among them, but she settled on sadness, before she even realized it she had come up behind Naruto and wrapped her arms around him, Dustin smiled sadly and silently left. Tenten felt Naruto stiffen in her hold and felt another pang of sadness as she realized how few people must have shown him affection. She gently rested her head on his shoulder and felt him slowly start to relax, they stood like that for almost a minute before Tenten felt a tear splash onto her arm. She released Naruto and walked around in front of him, before gently wiping another tear off of his face; He slowly looked up into her eyes and whispered.

"Why? Why do you care?" Tenten stepped forward and embraced him again, setting her chin to his left shoulder.

"Because" she said quietly "you've taken so much and you still had a smile on your face, because I know the difference between you and the Kyuubi. I care because I know you deserve to be cared for" Naruto wasn't expecting the hug, and was completely amazed at what she thought of him. Tenten released him and lead him over to a sofa, they sat together and Tenten held Narutos hand gently, "so, do you need to talk about it?" Naruto didn't't know what to say, so he started from the beginning, he didn't't feel like he had to hide anything from her so he told her all about his life. He finished after almost an hour, Tenten sighed as she leaned on Narutos side, head on his shoulder again.

"What are you thinking?" Naruto asked her, Dustin chose that moment to come back into view, a sour look on his face. It was easy to tell he'd heard most of what Naruto said.

"I was wondering if my dad would want to come with me when you and I leave this Kami forsaken village" replied Tenten, Naruto and Dustin's eyes widened and Naruto managed to say.

"But why?"

"Because, I don't wanna live in a village that can't tell the difference between a scroll and what's inside of it" she said angrily "and even if dad doesn't come with me, and you refuse to let me go with you, I will leave this village" the other two gasped as she undid her head band and dropped it on the floor, before she got a glint in her eye and snuggled up really close to Naruto and said in a cute voice "you don't want me to go out there alone do you? I'd be so lonely, and an easy target for attacks"

Naruto had turned red and shook his head 'no' slowly; Dustin found it hard not to laugh. However two other Kunoichi did laugh. Everyone looked towards the sound and found Tsunade, Shizune and an angry looking Hinata, who was glaring at Tenten, standing there. Tenten removed herself from Naruto and smiled at the new arrivals politely

"Sorry Hinata, it was just too good of an opportunity" Hinata blushed a bit, her anger dissipating, and nodded meekly, meanwhile Dustin had introduced himself and his daughter to Tsunade and Shizune.

"So, to what do we owe the honor of this visit?" Dustin asked politely, Tsunade motioned toward Naruto and smiled sadly.

"I'm assuming that he's told you about the banishment?" She received two nods of acknowledgment "anything else you tell Tenten? Naruto?"

"If your referring to Kyuubi, then yes , she knows" Tsunade was a bit surprised that he'd told her, but she could see that he really didn't care about it, that he would think nothing of it to announce it to the whole village (even though almost everyone almost knew, except the younger generation)

"well I think you should tell Hinata here all about it, because she wants to leave with you as well" Naruto almost fell of the chair in shock, but decided to simply tell her than ask why, but before he could hinata stutteringly declared.

"um.. i a..a..already know a..about the K..Kyuubi" they all looked at her in surprise and she blushed before pushing her fingers together "I..I heard S..some of the i..insults people had s..said to him, A..and also h..heard some villiagers t..talking about i..it"

Naruto was floored, two girls that knew about the Kyuubi, and they were willing to leave their villiage with him. HIM. The villiage pariah, Naruto thought that if he were to die before he left the villiage than he'd be a happy man…. Well, AFTER he became hokage, but now that he was being banished, those chances were extremely slim. More so than before.

"well" said Dustin finally "I guess I'd better get things ready to go, then" Tentens eyes lit up, but that quickly changed to embarressment as he proclaimed "I'd better be along to make sure that nothing inappropriate happens to my little angel" Now, having been Tentens father, he knew what kind of reaction to expect, so when he leapt out into the back room, it was with good reason, as 20 unsealed shurikan and kunai hit where he had just been, as a scream of 'DAAAAAAAAAD' was followed by racious laughter at Tenten and Naruto's expense.

"don't worry" Tsunade called after him, "me and Shizune will make sure nothing inappropriate happens" naruto blushed furiously, as did Tenten, but he picked up a small bit of information that Tenten missed in her embarresment. Naruto was good at that, like when he pointed out the bandages Lee wore on his arms weren't a fashion statement (and one could tell Lee DEFINITELY didn't have any fashion sense, anyway, back to the actual story)

"wait a second" Naruto exclaimed loudly "YOU"RE coming with us?" Tsunade and Shizune nodded and he almost cried. Suddenly so many people cared, about HIM. "well, uh, thanks!" Tsunade ruffled his hair and smiled.

"well, I had a talk with Shizune here, and we decided that you were probably the ONLY reason we came back here" she turned to Hinata, then to Tenten and said "I also figured that I could take Hinata, who has near perfect control, and Naruto, who has the reserves to do a lot of operations without rest, as medic apprentices. One more couldn't hurt I suppose" Tenten leapt up and almost suffocated Tsunade with the force of her hug, her dream had always been to be on par with her idol Tsunade, and if she was going to be trained by her than she was almost guaranteed it. when she had finally settled down Tsunade regarded her soon to be apprentices.

"Alright, now I want no one to speak of any details about Narutos banishment to anyone. You may tell them why he is being banished, and if Naruto doesn't mind you can tell those who don't already know about the Kyuubi. You may inform your team mates and team leaders of the truth and you're leaving, but they must tell no one, including their families."

"Tenten, it would be better not to inform Neji as he will probably tell Hiashi and he'll be a thorn in my ass. Make any preparations you need before hand and if there's anything you need to buy than you can charge it under the villages Ninja mission funds. Anyone who questions you than tell them it's for a mission and that you are not aloud to tell details. If they still press it then tell them to take it up with me, I meanwhile, will be busy and you may not see me till we leave, we have 3 days starting tomorrow" And with that, she and Shizune shushined away.

"Well that was informative" said Tenten sarcastically. Naruto grinned at her and Hinata, while said Hyuuga blushed profusely, they sat quietly for a few minutes before Tenten asked. "SO, Naruto. You mind if we let people know about Kyuubi?" Naruto merely shrugged and answered.

"They won't really be around to pass judgment on me so I suppose it's alright. At least then they'll know why I got banished" he sighed before he announced he had things to do. Tenten sealed his stuff and ten minutes later (after a small conversation that started on the question "how do I unseal it?") had two young Kunoichi VERY unhappy at the academy instructors because they had, for lack of better words, shit all over his and their education. Not only that, but the villages hate had even stopped him from learning outside of the academy, not even being aloud into the public library.

"well anyway, I have to go, see ya soon" said Naruto, his usual happy go lucky mask back on. He left the store and decided to go do some training at the team training grounds. It was usually pretty deserted, and right now he felt like being alone.

"so, when you gonna ask him out?" asked Tenten straight after Naruto left. Hinata blushed, but there was more than embarrassment in her eyes, there was sadness.

"well" she answered, "t…to be honest, I…I think I shouldn't" Tenten's jaw almost hit the floor, everyone but Naruto could tell that Hinata had an adoration of Naruto. And she had always seemed unfaltering in her silent support, even if she was to shy to be anywhere near him without fainting. To be fair, her confidence had shot up after the chunin exams pre-lims, and then again after the actually finals, but it was still bad

"But, WHY?" Tenten managed to ask, Hinata sighed but still answered.

"Naruto needs someone strong to love and support him. I'm too weak for it. And I can also tell he feels safe around you, your instant acceptance of him, especially after you heard of the fox, earned you a place amongst his precious people" Tenten was surprised at this, just because she showed him a bit of kindness and understanding, she was precious to him? Only after this did what Hinata really mean hit her.

"WHOA!" she exclaimed, startling the shy Hyuuga "I really only just met him, I mean, I like him, but only as a friend!" Hinata gasped and tried to stutter out an apology.

"I…I didn't m…mean it like t...that!" Tenten giggled girlishly, placing an arm over the younger girls shoulder she lead Hinata over to the couch so they could talk awhile, though for Tenten she had already set her mind on talking out some of Hinata shyness to help her chances with Naruto. She made almost no progress.

With Tsunade and Shizune

"so what do we have to do?" asked Shizune seconds after they shushined back to the Hokage office, Tsunade grinned evilly and Shizune visably shuddered, after the last time she had seen that look, there had been five less perverts in the world.

"We" announced Tsunade "are going to take what is ours, plus interest" the rest of the day and the day after had been spent gathering many things. This included the entire jutsu collection of Konoha, the Hokages personal jutsu collection, the forbidden scroll, the legendary Raijin and other assorted weapons and scrolls. Shizune could only guess at what her teacher was thinking up. She had also seen Tsunade sitting at her desk, writing something, before she stamped the page with her official Hokage stamp with a satisfied and evil grin, and as with the items, Shizune didn't even ask.

TIMESKIP END

An explosion rocked Konoha, ten seconds later Tsunade was dressed, ready for combat, and looking over konoha for the threatened area. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the origins of a large burning fire, Narutos apartment block.

Minutes earlier

A lone genin of three years leapt from roof to roof in complete silence, the only evidence of his passing were the small disturbances he made on the ground where there was dust, and the extremely light rustling of his clothes. Any normal person would've sworn he was a passing ghost at night for his swiftness and silence. He stopped abruptly and stared at a seemingly abandoned apartment block in the 'bad' part of town that was Narutos residence. Now that he had stopped you could see this boy in the pale moonlight.

He was a foot taller than Sasuke and had the same tan skin as Naruto, wearing black ANBU pants with an electrical dragon winding up each leg, each ending at the opening of his pockets. His matching black coat was reminiscent of Shinos, though it did not hide his face, it was also decorated with dragons, two of them wound around each arm though they were not electric, and his left arm depicted fire and wind elemental dragons while his left showed a water one and an earthen one. On his back the word Kageryu was written in a rich red over a beautiful yin-yang symbol. His blond hair fell down to his shoulders, though his konoha headband kept it from his face a single strand fell down over sapphire-blue eyes. Eyes that would be warm and welcoming with about any expression, but not on this boys face.

He stood there for a few minutes, before he turned away and started to head home. Only five houses down though he felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck, he spun around even as three dark blurs disappeared entered through Narutos open window. Being a shinobi he naturally assumed the worst and jumped back towards the building, stopping and crouching in the same place he had been about a minute earlier. He peered through the window to asses the situation, and though he couldn't see much he felt a small pulse of concentrated chakra. He decided that the time for stealth was over and simply leapt across the street and through Narutos window.

A few minutes earlier

"Who's that?" whispered a figure clad completely in black, the only other colour was a dull white mask with the letters 'NE' on them in a murky blood-red. He and his two companions stopped on a roof, one back from their destination, they all had their eyes on the boy standing across from the apartment block. He had approached with little warning of his presence and they had been slightly worried, but one of them sighed in relief at the sight of him.

"That boy there used to be on my genin team" replied what seemed to be the leader of the small group, "his name is Ryuden Tamahi, and he is an orphan as far as I'm informed. When my team was told they were being promoted he had politely refused and requested to be a 'one man genin team'. the sandaime had allowed it as he had the ability and experience to" he explained to the others.

"So, Mantis, what level skills?" asked the third man, seeing him still there and wanting to be prepared if there was a confrontation.

"Honestly? No clue" replied the leader, now called Mantis the other two looked at him and he sighed "Nobodies actually been able to pin it down, though he would be high genin to low chunin if you watched him train or spar. As if to oppose that however, He has never once failed a mission, even the B rank ones he gets, and has never come back injured" the other two looked at Ryuden in a new light, noticing that even the way he held himself was that of an experienced Shinobi, curiosity about him as well as annoyance at never hearing of him before washed through them. "That's not all, however. We went on an escort mission about a year and a half back, but it ended up as more than the original C-rank, turning out to be quite dangerous as the man we escorted was actually an important researcher and held information about someone in power. They sent a B rank missing-nin after us, some guy that idolized that Zabuza Momichi. I'll remember that fight for a long time…..

FLASHBACK

'Mantis' and his genin team were escorting the client to his home town and things so far had been extremely dull. They had just happened upon a reasonable size lake and 'Mantis' decided to give his team a break, they walked casually and were about 20 metres from the lake side when any dullness ended.

"Duck!" yelled 'Mantis', even as he grabbed the man they were escorting and dragged him down, two of his genin team complied while Ryuden stayed standing. An exact replica of Zabuza's sword sliced through where the others heads had been a moment ago, before being stopped dead as Ryuden stepped back out of said swords way and grabbed it effortlessly. A moment later he ducked under a round house kick from behind him, he reversed his hold on the sword and thrust it behind him in an attempt to skewer his attacker. he instead stabbed straight through and shattered a log that had been used as a replacement, Ryuden sensed several kunai flying at him and was forced to release the sword as to not be killed. He landed next to his amazed, but alert team, and it wasn't half a second later that the released sword was caught on its way to the ground by there attacker.

His attire screamed Zabuza, being an exact copy of what he wore, the mans hair, sword, skin tan, height… EVERYTHING was exactly Zabuza. The only difference was that he had elected to not wear the bandages on his face, for whatever reason. He grinned evilly and pointed his sword at the group in front of him.

"Looks like I get to have some fun with a few thirsty looking leaves" he said to himself psychotically, a glint appearing in his eye "maybe they'll appreciate a bit of hydration" without hesitation he formed a hand sign over his sword and mist quickly rose up from the lake, encompassing the entire area. It had happened so fast that nobody could even react…..almost.

"You three protect the client, I'll deal wi.." 'Mantis' was cut off by a blood curdling scream that pierced through the sense-dampening mist. It quickly died and with it the mist fell, the sight that greeted them cause the two other genin and the client to 'spill' there lunches. Ryuden was crouched over the Nins body, holding the bodies' hair while he hacked at the neck with a kunai. He soon removed the entire head and sealed it into a scroll he produced from a pouch, by this time his team mates had calmed down but the client still looked rather ill. 'Mantis' quickly examined the body and gave Ryuden a sharp look.

"Please explain what the fuck just happened" he asked before glancing again at the body "and tell me what you did to him that looks like he was killed by two spastic swords" Ryuden looked at his leader emotionlessly, though inside he was musing at how close he actually was to the truth. Still, the description given was rather accurate as the body was now nothing more than a pile of skin, blood and eternal organs, only the head had been untouched,

"Meh" he grunted, "I noticed he was a bit relaxed and overconfident when he cast the jutsu and I used that as an advantage to use a chakra enhanced dash to the exact place he had been. This is the result of two kunai and a hatred for wanna-bee's"

Flashback End

A stunned silence settled on the group as the boy they spied upon stood silently and jumped away. 'Mantis' shook his head in amazement.

"Don't know how he does it, but it seems when he's not paying attention he has the most extraordinary stealth skills" he commented before signalling for them to move out, they silently jumped to the apartment blocks roof before slipping in through a window that was Narutos bedroom. They smirked at the sight of a soundly sleeping Naruto; the leader moved to stand over him and ran through a few hand signs. Several tree branches burst from below Naruto and strapped him to the bed.

Naruto's eyes shot open as he felt something restraining him. He looked down at the branches, and then back up to the man standing over him, even behind his 'NE' mask you could tell he was smiling. Naruto saw him reach into a pouch and pull out a seed, he chuckled and went through a few hand signs, making the seed in his hand grow into a small sprout, then a thicker, dagger like branch. He raised it over Naruto's heart and smiled as a strange green liquid, that was most defiantly poison, formed on the tip, before he violently thrust it down into Naruto's heart. Pain exploded through him as the dagger pierced his heart; the green liquid quickly invaded his system as it circulated through his body.

"Have fun healing that without the demons help" snickered 'Mantis'. As Blood poured out of the wound, and Naruto lay there dying, he couldn't help but wonder quietly. his last thoughts were before his heart stopped was, I will die here tonight, but even in death I will protect what's precious to me, saving it from Kyuubis evil…. Though I wonder how Kami-sama shall judge my soul.

"we are finally free of Kyuubis evil" 'Mantis said happily, the three man team relaxed as they looked down at Naruto's body, and that was their down fall.

"Lightning & Wind style: disabling shockwave" yelled Ryuden from behind them they jumped and spun around to defend themselves but it was already to late as an electrically charged and almost invisible wave of air washed through them and they fell limply to the ground. 'Mantis' grunted as he tried to move, but found that the Jutsu's name held it's meaning, he tried to ask what he wanted but found that he couldn't speak either. This jutsu was potentially an A-rank capture jutsu, not allowing the target to escape OR call for help. Ryuden ignored the men and rushed over to Naruto, he grabbed the wood wrapped around him and, to the surprise of the three 'NE' men, ripped them off with pure strength, taking the sides of the bed with them, before removing the dagger in his heart.

His sudden frenzy stopped as he sighted Naruto's destroyed and unbeating heart, after a few moments he turned away and looked down at the men, with a look that could be seen as emotionless but was actually a cover for the hidden rage and sadness. He reached down to grab the leader when he noticed movement from on of the other men, who had only got hit by the edge of the technique, he had managed to force his arm into his pouch and send a weak burst of chakra into it. A faint hissing noise was heard and Ryuden grew wide eyed, he reached back and grabbed Naruto's lifeless body, before they were surrounded by a strange yellow fire. Half a second later the apartment block exploded.

The fire was already being put out by ANBU when Tsunade arrived, she looked about frantically for Naruto, hoping that he was okay. She was distracted, however, by a ring of ANBU surrounding two blond boys. She raced over to them and pushed two of the ANBU aside, accidently sending them flying across Konoha, but she didn't even notice as she looked upon Narutos still form. Blood had seeped through his night shirt, changing the tan white to dark red. His wound was still opened and she could see where his heart had been pierced with…..something, before it was ripped out. She knelt in front of him and gently ran a hand through his hair; she tried to stop herself from crying, but couldn't help it as a few tears escaped, after awhile she looked up at the other blond boy. He had been sitting next to Naruto when she arrived; staring at Narutos body, at some point though, his gaze had switched to her. She could tell that he wore a mask not unlike Naruto did, except Narutos mask was of care free happiness, this boy had one of being completely unemotional, something rarely found on even the most battle hardened Jounin.

"You alright?" he asked softly, though he kept no emotion in his voice. Tsunade looked at him through the tears, and managed to choke out a question.

"W-Who are you? And do you know what happened here?" she asked.

"Really, you don't remember me, the only other blond apart from the Yamanka's, the only one-man genin team at the moment?" he asked, Tsunade shook her head and he sighed "I'll put it down to emotional stress. I'm Ryuden Tamarasahi; I was headed home and noticed three figures enter through Narutos window. I decided I'd better check it out, but by the time I got there, they had killed him. I disabled them and checked on Naruto; however one of the men managed to overcome my jutsu and activate a pouch full of exploding tags." Tsunade stared deep into the boys' eyes and he returned the gaze unflinchingly. No matter how she tried, Tsunade couldn't find even the slightest hint deceit. She sighed as she looked down at Naruto, before returning her gaze to Ryuden.

"Ok, you can go home, I'm gonna need to do some things, but I need time first" Ryuden nodded as he stood, he looked once more at Naruto, before he leaped off into the night.

Hey all, soz for the wait, I've had a hell of a lot on, but after I post this, I'm gonna start on my next one.