I woke up in the morning from a light knock on the door. My eyes opened and stared into Naruko's golden hair as a stray breath of wind made a wisp of her hair drift across my face, alerting me to just how close we lay. I realized that I could feel her body, her small back and soft skin lay against my chest as we spooned under the sheets. Blushing I pulled back and slid out from under the covers and got up, sitting on the edge of the bed and I put my head in my hands planning how I was going to move forward from here, when I heard the knock again. I stood up, grabbed my pants, and put them on, before walking to the door and opened it.

Sasuke looked very shocked when I opened the door.

"What are you doing here?!"

I blinked at her, still feeling the cloudiness of sleep tugging at the back of my mind.

"Taking care of a friend. What do you want?"

She looked down at the admonishment, then looked away blushing. The only person she had ever tried to approach after Itachi killed everyone in the Uchiha clan was me, the only other survivor, even if my bloodline had been sealed away along with my chakra.

"I was told to give this to Naruko-san and to speak with her. May I come in?"

She proffered up a forehead protector engraved with the emblem of the leaf and a pang of jealousy coursed through me. I ruthlessly crushed it and opened the door wider, before leaving the doorway and heading back into the apartment.

"I'm taking a shower, do what you want. Naruko is in the bedroom back that way" I gestured in the general direction, "she is still asleep though."

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door noticing Sasuke trying to peek on me.

Crazy girl.

I quickly took my shower and walked out of the bathroom in a towel, my pants under my arm as I planned on ironing them. Both Naruko and Sasuke were sitting in the kitchen/living area as I walked by and they looked at me in shock, neither one saying a word, but both looking as if they wished I wasn't wearing the towel. I shook my head and walked back into the laundry room, closing the door behind me. It's not that I didn't want to have sex with them, it's that I had other things on my mind at the moment that were more pressing, after they were dealt with… well, we'll see.

I walked out of the laundry room with my pants on and saw both Naruko and Sasuke looking sheepish and somewhat embarrassed. I ignored them as I walked back into the bedroom and grabbed my shirt, putting it on as I walked towards the door.

"I'll be out for a bit, need to get a clean change of clothes as well a talk to someone. Do you want me to get something Naruko?"

She shook her head and I left, longing to spring to the rooftops and sprint to my destination. But as of the current moment that path was sealed away from me. I glanced down at my right wrist seeing the black ink that had been tattooed to me. I walked away from the apartment, hoping that my plan would work and that I would soon be free of the damned seal.

Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe and sighed before putting down the folder that had been in his hand onto his surprisingly clean desk.

"Tell me straight Kukazu, why is it that you wish to rejoin the ninja forces after you were expelled in such a manner?"

I blinked not understanding why he asked me with such words. I had not been expelled, I had been forcibly removed by the Uchiha clan right before they sealed my bloodline and exiled me from the clan.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could he sighed again and looked at the ceiling.

"Nevermind, you don't remember, it was taken with your chakra."

My eyes widened in anger, but I said nothing, silently seething. Watching me the Third puffed on his pipe several more times before writing something on a piece of paper, folding it, and handing it to me.

"Give this to Sasuke-chan, she will give you something you need to read. If after reading it you wished to continue down this path, come talk to me on the marrow. Good day."

I took the paper and left, wondering what secrets it spoke of.

I took me 15 minutes to get back to Naruko's apartment, when by rooftop it would have only taken me two. I missed the perks of being a shinobi. I sighed, and then straightened my expression as I opened the door, and seeing the faces of the two girls at the table I guessed that I had interrupted a conversation that they didn't want me to overhear. I walked up to Sasuke and handed her the piece of paper, which, after looking at me, she read, her face falling while she did so, and when she looked up, her face was so filled with sadness that I was taken aback.

"Come with me. There is something I must give you."

She got up and headed for the door and I followed, only to be stopped as she stopped at the door.

"Naruko-chan, come with us."

She got up and hurriedly joined us as we left, walking the streets to the Uchiha clan complex. Again I was annoyed by the amount of time it took to travel without chakra, especially when I was so close to getting mine back. When we finally go there she lead us to the clan library and once inside she disappeared between the shelves for a few minutes before reappearing with a dusty scroll in her hands.

"Hokage-sama instructed that I give this to you and that I tell you that you must read it if you want your position back."

I grabbed it instantly, part of me wondering why I must read this scroll and another part just wanting to get it over with so I can be a ninja again. As I read further down the single entry I realized why I wasn't allowed to rejoin the shinobi forces without reading this. I closed it and got up and when they moved to follow I looked over my shoulder at them.

"I wish to be alone for now. Please don't follow me."

They both sat down and I left the library, heading for a corner of the complex forgotten by the clan. After nestling into a notch in a tree I opend back up the scroll and started at the top again.

It's a sad thing really, he showed so much potential, and no one truly knows how he lost control, but he did and now we must all live with the consequences. Five lives are no more and no one in the clan is unscathed by the accident. First and perhaps foremost on the list of deaths is the poor boy's mother, Shio, who, seven years ago returned to us pregnant and refused to tell us who his father is. The next death to occur was Fugaku's youngest, a little girl of four who wandered to close to him while he was out of control. Then it was the girl's nanny, followed by two gardeners before the noise of his killings had attracted enough attention for stronger members of the clan we sent in to stop him. Even they couldn't stop him though and the Fourth had to be called in to defeat him. After doing so he had Kushina-san place a chakra seal on him, which after the clan council meeting was made permanent. The boy was truly sorry and was crying the entire meeting, and afterwards asked Kushina-san to remove the memories of the event from him, so that he may live in peace with himself at least.

So as of this date, the 24 of March, in the 2ndyear of the rule of the Fourth Hokage, Kukazu had his chakra sealed away for the deaths of five members of the Uchiha clan, the wounding of 12 members of the same clan, and the damaging of much of the afore mentioned clan's property.

The entry went on, going into detail of the dead and wounded as well as the property damage I had caused, but I stopped reading, putting my hands down and the scroll fell from my unfeeling fingers. I sat there for an undeterminable amount of time before I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I looked down, startled and saw Sasuke's black hair leaning against my arm.

"I forgive you."

Somehow that sparked my tears; the idea that what I did was forgivable was more horrifying than what I had done. I had killed my own mother! My mother and Sasuke's younger sister had fallen before me and this girl says she forgives me. I put my head in my hands as I cry and before long another pair of arms enfold me, and Naruko's voice whispers softly into my ear reassurances that everything would be alright, even though it wasn't the future that I was crying for. No, it was the past… Show me a fresh corpse so that I may weep old tears… I cried as if I hadn't had a chance to ever morn my mother's passing.

I woke up the next morning with Naruko pressed against my side, her body flush with mine. Looking around I guessed that we were in one of the guest rooms at Sasuke's home. Turning my attention back to Naruko, I watched her face in the hazy light of pre-dawn that came in through the window. Her face was so peaceful, calm and realaxed. I reached up and brushed a lock of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear, and was surprised when her eyes fluttered open at the light touch.

"Morning." Her voice was light and playful, yet held that heaviness of sleep.

I leaned over and kissed her forehead as I sat up.

"Go back to sleep love."

I walked out of Sasuke's house shortly afterwards, enjoying the chill of the pre-dawn morning air on my skin. With only a pair of shorts on I set out running, letting the simple work of the exercise and the cool air clear my mind. I had no destination, simply a decision to make, and only a little more time to make it in.

As the sun peaked over the horizon I found myself before a small shrine in the forest. Flashes of images of my mother and I being here came unbidden from my memory. I stepped inside; not very shocked by the state of ill repair it was in. Before me was a sword rack, empty but for a sword that's forging was lost in time. Rumors of unimaginable power surrounded it. The only reason the Uchiha hadn't ever used it for themselves was that my mother had been given it by my father apparently, and only she and I knew of its location. I reached out and grabbed the sheath in my left hand, its weight comfortable in my hand. I looked to my right; the wooden practices swords I had been raised with still lay scattered on the floor; as I grew older my mother had put leaden cores into some of them, so as to strengthen my arms faster. My attention fell back to the sheathed sword in my hand; reaching up with my right, I grasped its hilt, drawing it from its sheath. A burning sensation ignited on my wrist, the chakra seal trying to keep in control, though I couldn't say whether it was trying to keep the sword's chakra out of me, or my chakra out of the sword. I held on for as long as I could before the pain forced me to let go. I cried out, falling to my knees, the sword bouncing off of the matted floor. The pain in my wrist told me the decision had been made. I refuse to be protected. I am the one who protects.

I ran as fast as I could to the Hokage's office, drawing more than a few looks from early birds. I was actually surprised that Sarutobi was at his office at this hour, instead of his home. The old fart had to be in his late 50's if not his 60's. I brushed past his secretary, who seemed more interested in my body than in stopping me. I slammed my hand down on his desk, causing the old man to look up at me with a tired expression.

"I want the seal gone."

He sighed and puffed on his pipe a couple of times. The only reason I hadn't exploded on him was I had somewhat grown accustomed to his ways. It still pissed me off though.

"Do you really trust yourself with it off?"

His voice was old, ruffed by age and smoke, but held an air of kindness that one wouldn't expect of the veteran of two shinobi wars and the leader of one of the great 5 shinobi villages.

I looked down at the seal for a moment before looking back up at him.

"I've got an angle watching me, keeping me on the straight and narrow. I trust her, and she trusts me."

Another couple of clouds of smoke filled the room before he sat up and reached across his desk for my hand. Turning it over, he pulled out a knife, poising it over my wrist before looking up at me. I nodded, I trusted the old man. He made a series of cuts in my wrist, they felt like kitten scratches, stinging a little, but not really hurting. When he used a fire jutsu to heat the blade and put that to my wrist however, I had to bite my tongue not to cry out. He held it there for about 10 seconds, searing the cuts into my wrist, permanently burning them into my skin. When he removed the blade I felt my chakra quietly awakening, and stir within my body, like a cat getting up from its nap, slowly starting to move and stretch. I smiled my thanks and was about to leave when his voice stopped me.

"There's one more thing I've got for you."

I half turned and looked at him, waiting for him as he puffed on his pipe.

"Your mother's eyes."

I stiffened and my eyes widened as I fully turned to face him.

"What?"