Kurenai sat beside the bed that the man that was only known as Reaper was on in the hospital. Kurenai lifted one of her delicate hands and moved it towards the man's bandages 'just one look won't hurt anything' she thought to herself. Kurenai grabbed one of the bandages a bit hesitantly and was about to pull at it before a hand caught her wrist. Kurenai jumped a bit shocked before slowly looking to see who grabbed her wrist and calmed a bit before looking up to see the face of the third Hokage.

"Are you sure you want to know who the man behind those bandages is Yuhi-san" the wise old man asked her. Kurenai began to think it over 'he saved me from a fate worse than death, he brought me to the hospital when I needed it, and now he has saved the village from losing a lot of innocent lives' she thought before nodding "Hai Hokage-sama". Hiruzen gave a light smile at her reply 'seems you have made a large impact on this woman's life Naruto-kun' he thought appraisingly before looking down at Naruto's bandaged covered face. "I will tell you, you have met this man before though he is not the same as you remember, if you still wish you can look Yuhi-san but do not tell anyone else who is under those bandages. Do I make myself clear?" The third asked with authority clear in his voice.

Kurenai was surprised by what he told her and the authority that was in his voice about this matter. She had met this man before she was wondering how but decided to ignore that for now and turned to look at the bandaged face of the man again before nodding "Hai I will not tell anyone else" she said firmly before reaching out again and grabbing a bandage. Pulling at the bandage she watched as the rest came off with it revealing the calm face of a blonde haired man. Kurenai smiled seeing the face of the man but then noticed something on his cheeks 'Wait Whisker marks but he was registered as MIA there is no way this is….'

As if reading her thoughts Hiruzen said "indeed Kurenai, it is Kakashi's missing student Naruto Uzumaki" He said kindly with a smile on his face. "B-but how Naruto was only 12 this man seems to be in his mid-teens sixteen to be precise" Kurenai asked shocked that her savior may have been the same child she once saved from a mob of villagers.

Flashback

A newly promoted to chunin, Kurenai walked through the village hidden in the leafs with a smile on her face happy as ever having just been promoted. 'Wonder if I could find Anko to celebrate with may….' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of yelling. Kurenai turned to see a blonde child run past her quickly with a look of fear in his eyes as a mob of civilians and a few shinobi chased after him. Kurenai decided Anko could wait as she decided to figure out what was going on and ran after the mob.

Eventually Kurenai caught up to the mob to find them beating on the blonde child, having him trapped in an alley "why me, what did I do to any of you" She heard it was weak and full of pain and she could tell it came from the child. "you killed our families our loved ones you demon now it's our turn to repay the favor" she heard from a chunin and watched as he pulled out a kunai. Kurenai acted quickly and put the crowd in a genjutsu that knocked most out before walking behind the remaining chunin and quickly striking at his neck making him fall to the ground out cold, leaving only the boy.

Kurenai kneeled down and looked at the cowering boy and before she could even say anything "I'm sorry please don't hurt me" She heard. Kurenai could not believe these people she looked at the boy again and noticed the whisker marks 'the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune I should have guessed, when will these people learn he is not the same' she thought. "I'm not here to hurt you my name is Kurenai Yuhi what is yours" She asked gently. The boy stood up frailly and looked her over warily before saying "Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki" before Kurenai knew what happened the boy bowed to her "I promise on my life to keep you safe for helping me Kurenai-San."

Present

At that time Kurenai hadn't really believed it as it came from a small child but now , now she didn't know what to believe. "That is a question to ask him Yuhi-san" The Hokage told her before turning to walk out of the room. Kurenai wrapped the bandages back around Naruto's face before leaning back in her chair to think as her eyes ran over the boy. 'You sure have changed a lot haven't you, thank you Naruto' she thought before closing her eyes to sleep.

A few hours later Naruto opened his eyes to see the white ceiling of the hospital 'damnit I hate these things' he thought before looking around to see his surroundings. His eyes landed on Kurenai sitting in the chair beside his bed and he smiled. Naruto looked down before getting out of the hospital bed grabbing the blanket that had been on him and placing it on Kurenai. 'Don't want you catching a cold' He thought before turning to see the window of his hospital room.

Walking over to the window he undid the lock and pulled it open before stepping into the windowsill. Naruto was about to jump out but was stopped by a soft voice "where do you think you're going….. Naruto" Naruto froze hearing his name and turned his head to look over his shoulder at Kurenai who had her eyes open. She knew.

Kurenai sat in the chair the blanket covering her as she watched Naruto step back into the room slowly. 'So it truly is him' She looked down a bit 'and he thought of me before going to leave' she thought feeling the blanket over with her hands. "I looked under the bandages Naruto" She said softly and watched as Naruto sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her giving her his full attention. "Mind telling me why you did it, why you left the village" She asked almost as if she was begging.

Naruto lowered his gaze feeling a bit guilty "I left so that I could protect the ones I loved, protect those precious to me, Kakashi-sensei didn't really train me and no one in the village would really miss me." Naruto stopped and looked up at Kurenai. "on the way back to the village I stumbled across something, Someone who would teach me" so with that Naruto begins to tell the woman who showed him kindness when he was little about his training and his return.

AN: up and coming will be a Quick speed through of Naruto's time with the shinigami. and remember to review I like reading all of your thoughts about my story , thank you