Disclaimer (For all my Stories): I don't own Naruto nor any thing from other sources. If any infringement is spotted feel free to claim your due credit.

This story of Rated M for its Mature content.

Chapter 5

The first thought that crossed Naruto's mind as he sat quietly next to Kurenai facing the Council members was how much the room smelled like old people. For the first time since his unsealing Naruto was beginning to curse his sensitive nose. As it were, Naruto was doing his best resisting the instinctually impulse to cover his nose at the unpleasant order permeating the room.

Shooting a quick glance through the corner of his slitted eyes, Naruto moved closer to Kurenai hoping her smell would be of help. Unfortunately for him despite how pleasant she smelled the approximate of his position near her didn't help at all. Realising how pointless it was, Naruto decided to focus on other things.

Naruto eyed the group of shinobi and civilians sitting around the table with interest. Sitting in front of the present people, sat the Council members themselves who consisted of Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane both Naruto knew alongside the old man had been part of Team Tobirama under the guide of the second Fire Shadow Tobirama Senju. Naruto knew this thanks to his father's insistence for him to learn shinobi politics.

Shifting his gaze away from those three, he turned to the other side of the council members. Where the three Council members helped the Hokage govern in the interest of the village and its inhabitants as a whole there was also another side to the council that pertained to the shinobi well fare alone. This side of the group was generally comprised of the clan heads and other shinobi that held a higher position in the shinobi hierarchy.

With everyone currently facing in their direction or to be exact his direction, Naruto had no problem of identifying each clan head. He saw the pale eyes of Hiashi Hyūga watching him with interest besides him, Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Aburame Shibi, Tsume Inuzuka and a few other notable shinobi such as Morino Ibiki among others and….

Naruto blinked then stared for a moment at Shimura Danzo, eyeing the bandages that covered part of the man's face and right arm. There was a feeling of power coming from both his covered hand and where his eye should have been. Naruto was felt as if he knew what it was. After a moment of contemplating what was wrong with Danzo's arm and missing eye, Naruto shifter his gaze back to the old man who was sitting like a ruler before everyone his red and white Kage hat on the table before him.

Clearing his throat, the Sandaime brought everyone's attention back to the subject of this council, everyone besides Naruto who was deep in thought beginning to wonder how his friends from his childhood were doing. Thus as the Hokage began his speech Naruto was lost somewhere in his mind oblivious to the goings of the council members.

The presence of Hiashi Hyūga had sparked buried memories in Naruto's mind. The memories where about two almost identical pale eyed girls that had taken the same class in politics with him. Searching his mind for the names, two familiar names flashed into his mind. The older girl was Hinata and if he remembered correctly the younger sister by a year was called Hanabi.

Being the son of the Yondaime, Naruto's childhood had been one filled with friends most being from the clans and one or two outside from that did not belong to any of the clans. The gossiping Ino Yamanaka, lazy Shikamaru Nara, ever eating Akimichi Choji, the calm and stoic Shino Aburame and of course there was Kiba Inuzuka who liked to boast about his prowess in combat much to the irritation of everyone that knew the Inuzuki.

A hand on his shoulder brought Naruto from his thoughts. Looking up he found Kurenai eyeing him with concern and worry.

Naruto looked at her questioningly wondering if he had just missed something important, not that he cared the least. As far as he was concerned the only thing holding him here was the seal keeping his chakra out of his control, practically holding his power hostage.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked in a whisper.

Naruto looked at her blankly for a moment before answering her question.

"Nothing, just wondering how everyone is doing" he said with an uncaring shrug. While he could simply have lied, he realised getting into the woman's good grace couldn't hurt. As he thought about this could also play into his hands. After all the more she fell under the illusion of his human facade the better his life would be. He was now a greater being beyond human beings or was he? He wondered before dismissing the thought. If there was one thing he had learnt after he had lost to the old man was that power wasn't everything. Still...

Kurenai smiled, "Don't worry about that you will be meeting your friends again after the meeting."

"…Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze to attend the academy like anyone else in the village capable of being a shinobi." at the mention of his name, Naruto's ears instinctively swivelled at the origination of the voice and found himself looking at the frowning face of Homura Mitokado.

A buzz of whisper swept through the room before the sound from the Hokage brought silence back into the room.

Naruto having missed the beginnings of the whole thing decided to hold his tongue. Turning to Kurenai, he found her observing the shinobi in the room with her red eyes.

"Any objections?" Koharu Utatane asked, squinting her eye as if to see better.

Tsume Inuzuka spoke first in the silence. "How do we know the boy is stable? If what you said is true them wouldn't the seal on him weaken once he is out of Yuhi Kurenai's presences?"

"Hmm I would be worrying about that anytime soon. While the seal does indeed weaken over a period of time outside Yuhi-san's presence, it also means it would take as much for the boy to gain control over his instincts for carnage and power." Jiraiya who was sitting away from everyone answered the question, Fuinjutsu being his element.

"If that's the case then how will the boy be of any help to the village if he cannot utilise his chakra." Stoically enquired, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. The few who had been thinking along the same lines nodded. And also knew that without the ability to mold chakra his career as a shinobi was very limited and they supposed that wouldn't it have been more productive if he was allowed and training well to utilise all that amount of chakra in his system.

Watching in the sidelines, Naruto was intently following everything being said, his ears flicking at each sound. He also wanted to know and inwardly he was hoping the answer would help him regain what was being kept from him.

This time the answer can from the Hokage himself. "That's were Kurenai-san comes into play. You see as long as she is in his presence she has the ability to limit Naruto's abilities and how much chakra he can access for a limited time of her choosing."

"That sounds much like holding a lash to a wild untamed animal." Danzo finally spoke. "Why not put the child under a more suitable environment for someone with his power. Wouldn't it be more productive to have the boy serve the village directly?"

Every council member present cast wary glances the war hawk fanatical adherence to the ideals of a shinobi was well known to everyone in the room and a few on the outside.

Sarutobi tried to keep his face impassive. He had expected this much from Danzo as he himself had entertained the thought before; after all placing a power house such as Naruto among the like of genin was going to have its problems.

Fortunately for everyone, much as the Nara had advised the village did not need a trained killer rather they needed to send the boy where he could mingle with children his age in order to influence his mental growth. He wasn't the only one on that line of thought. Turning a boy into a weapon of mass destruction in order to keep other villages at bay would only spell disaster for Konoha in the long run. The amount of power the child wielded was already getting into his head as it was and any more, they would have a creature much more terrible than the Kyuubi had been.

Naruto who was doing his best to follow what was being said, suddenly had a feeling he was missing something.

"How do we know he won't turn against the village once he has been trained?" someone Naruto couldn't place asked.

"What does that matter? If you haven't noticed it's only a matter of time before he does so at any rate."Danzo smirked, "The only difference is that under my tutelage the boy will be given all he needs."

The word Root swept through the thoughts of everyone present.

"I suggest letting the boy mature at the normal pace."Inoichi Yamanaka said for the first time. Naruto turned the man. "As Ibiki advised I agree that pushing the boy's growth too fast could have severe consequences further in his training."

Since no-one seemed inclined to include him, Naruto held his tongue testing the waters but as he listened to the people detect his life like he wasn't even there he began to wonder why he was keeping his mouth shut. Sure he wanted to make everyone think better of him but the more he listened to the talks the more he started thinking this was a bad idea, this was stretching thing a bit too much for his nature.

"Placing the boy among children his age will only stunt his growth." Danzo countered evenly.

"And creating a weapon out of the boy will be too troublesome in the future." Shikaku Nara lazily commented shooting down Danzo's proposal.

"I agree with Danzou, with that much power well trained and to call upon even Iwa will think three times before attacking us. Let's not forget that Kumo has two fully trained Tail beast hosts." Someone said making everyone think for a moment.

This statement started a chain of shouts as everyone tried to be heard .Naruto winced and covered his ears.

Sarutobi had to admit the man had a point. While it was true that over the year Konoha was losing his hold as the top hidden village in terms of military might, it was only thanks to the number of shinobi they produced that kept other hidden villages at bay. Sarutobi shook his head; Konoha was no longer the great hidden village it once was in the past. In his time even the combined might of three Great shinobi villages together wouldn't have hoped to bring Konoha to its knees. Sadly those time where long since gone.

But still he couldn't allow Danzo to have his way. Having the boy trained by the man potentially could spell the end of Konoha as everyone knew it. As these thoughts went past his brain, his face revealed nothing of his thoughts.

"Do we really have to argue over what to do with the boy? Anyone can see that killing the thing before it gains sufficient power is our best option in the process." A shout from the civilian side cut above everyone.

Sarutobi along with the rest of the council members turned to see a fat man glaring at Naruto as if he was the course of his problems. "Without the boy's father who know what the boy would do."

"Killing the son of the Yondaime is out of question. Besides despite his unfortunate demise the will he left behind still holds authority." Sarutobi finally spoke his voice so calmly that the merchant felt shivers run down his spin.

If he wasn't mistaken, Sarutobi was sure this was the same man along a selected few who had lost much of their power in the council right after Minato had taken his position as a Kage.

Naruto listened as ideas on what to do with him were raised and discarded for something new until he lost track of what the meeting was about. In an hour a bored Naruto found that he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer so with little thought or interest to what was going on around him, Naruto fell asleep his head on Kurenai's shoulder.

Wondering why Naruto had not raised a commotion yet, Kurenai turned to see what the boy was doing only to find him snoring softly at her side. Sighing to herself, Kurenai thought it better to let the boy sleep. After all there was no knowing what Naruto would have said if a question had been thrown his way. Realising that as Naruto's new guardian it was her duty to look after Naruto's wellbeing, she turned her attention back to the meeting at hand.

…

When morning came, Naruto awoke to the smell of cooking. Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Naruto tried to recall where he was. The last thing he could remember was sitting in the council room before falling asleep as boredom and exhaustion from everything he had gone through took its toll on his young body.

Must have slept throughout the day, Naruto silently groaned. It seemed his body was still in the process of adjusting for the limits placed on him.

Sniffing the air for any lingering scent, Naruto grinned happily when he caught of flowery smell that belonged to the crimson eye woman. Naruto was sure he didn't need his keen nose to confirm he was in Kurenai's home. Even before his subsequent transformation Naruto could recognize the distinct smell she wore, so it was not surprise at how easily he knew where he was without much effort. He could remember his father's laughter as he made fun of him each time he had mentioned how nice she smelled alongside how pretty her crimson eyes were.

In fact that particular night his dreams had been the kind his godfather had at great lengths to him about. And that week and the following week Naruto had spent the rest of his nights unable to rest as the pervert's words induced erotic and even in his sleep his dreams had been about her.

This dream however had been different from the one he had dreamt before. In the dream Naruto had been surrounded by faceless figures worshiping him like he was a deity with Kurenai as his goddess. In his dream Naruto had been so powerful that even the strongest Kages of the Elemental Nations had been nothing to him. And of cause with that power Naruto had then taken everything he had wanted making Kurenai his queen.

The thought made Naruto blush a little.

Naruto let his mind wonder. He certainly now had the power to make that dream a reality if he wanted to. That much was obvious to him and the council hence the invisible shuckles placed on him. The only problem he could see in that plan was Kurenai. As long as she was beside him his power was further limited than what it already limited to. Not only his strength, but him thought processes was severally hampered.

Naruto lost himself in his plans and fantasies until a growl from his stomach brought him back to reality.

Letting him mouth open wide in a yawn, Naruto allowed his limbs to stretch before he got out of his bed. As he stood up his keen nose once again caught the aroma of food. His stomach once gain let out a growl of protest. He was hungry and other things could wait until he had filled his stomach. Jumping off his bed in haste, Naruto dashed to the bathroom before walked out a few minutes later bathed and wearing a new pair of cloths Kurenai had bought for him.

Naruto grinning as he stretched his arms. All the stiffness he had felt upon waking up from his prison had loosened up thanks to the long sleep. Still as pleased as he was with being free and back to working condition the fact that most of his chakra was locked away annoyed him. His grin dropped at the reminder.

His mood however quickly lifted up as the smell of food wafted into his room. His grin plastered back on his face Naruto bolted out the room navigating the house from memory. He was slightly surprised by the fact that he still remembered the place from the few times his father had left him in her care during his diplomatic missions outside the village. A few stairs took Naruto to a small corridor with doors on each side before his nose took him to a door on his right.

Naruto's grin turned into a frown once he entered the kitchen.

Huh I swear I heard…, Naruto shook his head as his stomach growled once again. Aside from a few small changes the kitchen was still the same from the last time he had been there. In the middle of the kitchen there was a large table with white chairs on each of its four sides. At the far side of the room there was a small stove and placed to its right was similarly small white fridge with a paper stack on its front.

Naruto blinked as his eyes landed on the paper before turning his gaze away in dismissal as he continued to look over the place. However even as his eyes turned to other things the image of the paper remained stuck in his head. It was a strange feeling. There was something about the paper that drew his attention, something a normal paper shouldn't be able to do.

Naruto shook his head. He was hungry. He felt as if the emptiness in his stomach was that of someone who hadn't ate for years. Absently he took note that his observation wasn't far off the mark. But then again since he had no way of knowing if had been fed or not during his time at the hospital it was possible he was wrong.

After taking a few more seconds to appraise the place, Naruto turned his attention back to the paper on the fridge door. He was curious. He made his way towards the fridge and plucked the paper into his hand.

Good morning,

I hope you had a pleasant sleep. I have left some food in the microwave next to the stove in case you are hungry. Please help yourself to juice in the fridge or some green tea on the table if you prefer some tea.

Kurenai.

As he finished reading the note the paper seemed to vanish from his senses. Naruto almost dropped the paper as he felt the change. It was unnerving. There had been a presence to the paper and the next that presence simply vanished.

Genjutsu?, Naruto wondered as he stared at the paper in curiosity and a little bit of fascination. Naruto turned the paper this way and that trying to puzzle it out. When he failed to uncover what he wanted to know, Naruto put it down on the table any curiosity he had felt towards it gone.

Naruto then made his way towards the microwave, he stomach growling in anticipation. When he opened the microwave, Naruto scowled at its contents.

His meal, if Naruto could call it that, was a simply combination of bread and fired eggs. Naruto shook his head in disgust. This was an insult to his kind. His body was demanding something much more satisfying. His stomach was demanding something with a lot of meat insides.

Naruto scowled. He was hungry.

A memory crystallized in his mind. He knew just the right place to get what he needed. Grinning from ear to ear, Naruto put everything back where he had found it then left the kitchen and out the door to the apartment.

Outside the apartment, Naruto paused for a moment trying to remember the layout of the village. He knew Konoha was a maze of intersecting streets and alleyways, that one could actually loose them self if not careful.

It took him a few seconds to pull the memory of his current position in the village, and holding the image in his mind's eye, Naruto used his new strength and agility and jumped on top the nearest building before using the rooftops heading towards the direction he was sure was the centre of the Konoha.

It was time to visit Ichiraku's ramen stand and see if the village had changed since the last time he had seen it.