Upside Down Hourglass

by nooneheretowrite

What if, after the Fourth Shinobi War and Naruto's battles with Sasuke and Madara, something restarted his life and they all went back, only, they never remembered what happened? He lives a different life, with parents he doesn't remember being without. AU semi-time travel.

5. Listen to the Battle Hymn

AN: Hah…so 36 pages…Sorry? Also sorry if there are mistakes. I don't have a beta!

Though the secret of Naruto's sealing is technically out in the open now, Sasuke is the only one in his generation besides Naruto himself that knows the nitty-gritty details and about the seal in general. The law is still mostly in effect and the rest of his class and the people that either were not there during the Kyuubi attack or weren't old enough to remember it will NOT know anything about the Kyuubi unless otherwise exposed early or until they are capable genin.

I have one last important thing to state before you read the chapter. There have been a lot of questions regarding Naruto's "dreams." Yes, they will play an important role, but not until later. All I will say is that this is not your typical "Naruto changes the past" time travel fanfiction. Without giving anything away, I can say that you could think of it as "symbolic," while keeping in mind that this is a time travel fanfcition, but just not a conventional one so to speak.

Also was extremely painful to write in some areas because of the appearance of certain characters that are now dead in canon. (613 and 614 anyone? Who else will Kishi kill?) Shit will probably hit the fan in the chapter.

Extra notes: Yuriko is a Japanese name meaning "hundred-perfect-child." Also, good songs to listen to while reading this chapter include Chances by Athlete and Diamonds by The A-Sides.

Chapter Five:
Listen to the Battle Hymn

"The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do."

—Unknown

---

They were eight-years-old, no longer the bottom of the food chain in the Academy. They were third years, the middle of the pack, and above all, they sure as hell weren't first years. And so this meant that they could beef up their efforts in the delicate art of taijutsu, an art that was imperative for all aspiring shinobi to learn.

And so here they were in the middle of the school grounds, burning with adrenaline and anticipation, watching as droplets of sweat trickled like rain onto the bamboo floorboards. This was a typical third year taijutsu sparring session, complete with a bellowing Noriko-sensei, who happened to not only be the first years' homeroom teacher, but the resident taijutsu specialist in the Academy, and other numerous chuunin instructors that alternated from frowning, to nodding their heads, to writing notes on their clipboards.

Sasuke blocked the punch as he saw it coming towards his exposed face and saw as his opponent lazily stuck his hands into his shorts pockets. He raised an eyebrow in curiosity, but abruptly shook his head in order to clear his thoughts. He could not afford to be distracted. If that was his opponent's strategy, the so be it. The dark-haired boy would never fall for a cheap trick like that display.

The raven ducked when a lethargic kick swept over his head, but then he swiftly pushed back with his knee, effectively knocking his partner to the ground. He blinked when his opponent did not even bother to stand back up. It even looked like he wanted to just keep lying there. What a lazy pile of bones.

"Seriously, Shikamaru," the Uchiha noticeably frowned at the Nara who still appeared to lay stock still upon the floorboards in an odd sleep-like trance, "Are you even trying?"

"Honestly?" the boy asked with a bored tone as he pouted and stared out of the high glass window near the ceiling to take a peek at the clouds. "Not really."

Sasuke planted a palm on his forehead in exasperation. "Figures," he responded with a groan.

Needless to say, Sasuke was immediately declared the winner as his opponent had been declared "unfit to fight via extreme inability to get off his ass and actually try to hit something for once." Shikamaru didn't feel the need to complain. That was just all in a day's work for a member of the Nara Clan. As long as it got him out of doing more troublesome things than he was willing to do, he was totally fine with the circumstances.

The duo unceremoniously sat off to the sidelines and watched as Naruto thoroughly defeated a peaky looking kid that had an abnormally huge nose and a perpetually timid expression painted onto his face. One of the instructors shook his head, ashamed of the student who was now sitting on his behind and rubbing the back of his head with a pout as the teacher reprimanded him for not paying enough attention to taijutsu classes. If he had, maybe he would have been able to land at least one punch or at least blocked something.

Naruto plopped himself beside Shikamaru and they all sighed in sync with each other. The boys of the third year class were more or less finished with their practice time and all that were left was a small group of girls. However, the group of friends was in duress mostly because a pink-haired girl named Sakura Haruno and a blond girl with hair tied high up into a bun that was called Ino Yamanaka, were taking out their frustrations over the affections over the boys again.

"I told you, Ino-pig," Sakura spat venomously as she made a sad attempted at a back hook kick, "One of them will like me first!"

"Shut up, Billboard Brow!" Ino bellowed when she elbowed at the air, clearly missing her target, "I'll have Sasuke or any of his friends before you ever do! You're just an ugly chicken face with a big enough forehead that I can use it to write essays on!"

The rosette snarled and whipped around, effectively hitting Ino as they both tumbled onto the bamboo panels and went from traditional sparring to a match between admittedly vicious brawling females as they pulled at each other's hair. Each one screamed out curses and colorful insults at the other to the point that everything in the dojo stopped and all activity was now locked onto the yelling pair. The males of the class blinked and some turned to look at the forms of Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru as they toppled over and complained woefully at the scene. Good thing Chouji was out that day because of food poisoning, otherwise they would have more than three poor souls on the ground at the moment.

A strange and permeating chill engulfed the air and each student tensed briefly as a growling teacher stalked up to the disruptive girls. Sakura and Ino did not seem to notice however, and were still continuing to go at it with what appeared to be more aggressiveness than just a few seconds prior.

Noriko-sensei was definitely not a happy camper. Her dark azure eyes narrowed significantly and her silver braid hung loosely off her shoulder as she leaned in closer to glare at the fighting girls. Her lips twisted into a snarl and she extended out her right arm until it was touching the edge of Ino's jaw, who halted in her actions immediately, and Norkio flicked her painfully there while she used her free arm to lift Sakura by the ear to pull them apart.

"What the heck do you two think you're doing?!" The teacher thundered angrily. "This is supposed to be a taijutsu lesson and practice class, not a wrestling match with front row seats! You are supposed to be training to become ninja, not wild animals struggling for the last scrap of meat! Do I make myself clear?!"

The girls hesitated and inched farther away from each other.

The older woman stomped a hostile foot onto the floor which caused a miniature earthquake to reverberate throughout the room and she placed her hands firmly upon her hips, a look of pure irritation never leaving her face.

She roared and said, "WELL?! I just asked you two idiots a question! Now answer it before I make you write five-hundred lines after school today!"

The two glanced at each other and gulped, replying with quick and successive responses of, "Yes, ma'am, you made yourself clear." However, that was obviously not enough because a sadistic smile cracked the chuunin instructor's face in half and they knew that they were nowhere near out of the woods yet. The whole class waited with bated breath for the inevitable punishment to be given out. They actually felt a little sorry for them.

"I'll be nice today," said the silver-haired woman with a strange and oddly gleeful look, to the surprise of everyone witnessing it, "I hate writing lines myself. My hand hurts after a while and I have to massage it for about an hour before it gets back to normal and my calluses start disappearing…" The girls seemed relieved for a moment as they started nodding in approval, but the woman was not done yet, "So I'll just have you two clean out the toilets in the entire school after class every day for the next week.

"And not only that," she added deceptively sweetly at the look of terror on both of their young faces, "You'll only be allowed to use latex gloves and soap and no toilet brushes! Don't forget to change them periodically, especially when you get to the boys' bathroom! We wouldn't want the germs on your hands to find their way onto our nice clean toilets, now would we?"

Luckily, or unluckily for the girls that were in trouble, the intercom resounded in the school campus and the annoying beeping noise the signified the end of the day echoed in their ears before the chuunin could continue with her lecture. Almost everyone sighed in relief and they halted in practicing their forms or from observing others after a spar, and a whole collection of students left to go to their respective classrooms to gather their things and finally leave for the day while Sakura and Ino grudgingly stood up so that they could follow Noriko-sensei to the supply closet for the beginning of their sentence.

In the cluster of boys, one of them beamed and leaned into the group as if sharing a piece of vital information. "Hey," the boy murmured secretively, "you know they say that Noriko-sensei spends her nights writing down punishments in a notebook," Kiba Inuzuka, a brunette boy with red triangular clan markings on each of his cheeks whispered to Naruto who grinned in reply.

A scream of "Excuse me? What did you just say?" interrupted their chat, and they tried to ignored the incoming Noriko-sensei by saying that they had no idea was she was talking about while the crowd swiftly ran away to the exit of the dojo, sprinting tirelessly to the entrance to the third years' schoolroom.

"And to think she was technically on our side," grumbled Sasuke as he panted slightly from the run.

"Troublesome," said Shikamaru.

The trio followed their classmates out after picking up various scrolls and blunted kunai from shelves and stuffing them into their bags and backpacks, watching as Kiba started to speak rather animatedly about what sounded like dogs to the same boy that Naruto had beaten earlier. Taking quick glimpses at each other, the friends collectively agreed that they should take a bit of time to visit Chouji to see how he was handling his food-related sickness before heading home. They all thought that it was really a shame that a guy like him that loves food was temporarily betrayed by it.

The boys shivered when they made it outside as the weather was getting cold. Autumn had just completed its foray upon the environment, but it had made way for the winter. Even though it did not normally become cold to the point that it was freezing in the Land of Fire, the climate felt unusually icy this time.

Naruto pulled his dark orange jacket closer to his person and led the way to the entrance to the Akimichi Compound located on an outer part of the village. The clan needed the space for their large training grounds that usually consisted of vast open areas and gigantic hills. It was imperative to use that space for performing their techniques like the Human Boulder. Because their practices took up so much room, they were given a fairly sizable piece of land when Konoha was created, and being considered one of the four noble clans along with the Aburame, Uchiha, and the Hyuuga was a plus in their favor as well.

They nodded to the clan members who were standing nearest to the entrance, the circular symbol of the Akimichi Clan painted in bright red upon a pair of greenish-brown wooden gates. The three were let inside and they casually made their way to Chouji's home where they knew they would be eagerly welcomed.

"Hey Chouji!" shouted the Namikaze happily after he had knocked on the doorframe and slipped off his sandals. "We came to visit you because we thought you'd be bored!"

It was a highly predictable fact that the main entrance to the household of any Akimichi would first lead to the dining area, and that is exactly what the trio had encountered as soon as they crossed the threshold. Sitting on a fluffed out red pillow at the base of a grand and elongated table was their friend, unhappily slurping a colorless looking soup from a porcelain bowl with square patterns painted all over it.

"Hi guys," Chouji moaned miserably. "I'm just eating my snack. You can come in. I think my mom knows you're here."

Shikamaru raised a thin eyebrow. "What happened and why are you eating that? It can't be that bad. I mean your mom's a great cook."

With a dramatic whimper, Chouji managed to explain to them that his mother had deduced that he had eaten bad rice the previous night when he had ventured out into the kitchen to grab his midnight snack. He had apparently taken the container of rice that she had set aside on the counter to be thrown out with the garbage in the morning. It was a frantic puking session from then on.

As for the soup, well…

"It's chicken broth," the sick child's mother came in just in time to clarify. Her hair was brown and cropped short and her arms were rounded with a bit more than healthy amounts of body fat. She was quite the large woman, but she radiated a homely atmosphere that surrounded her in copious amounts. "Can't have my little boy eating something too heavy after he just threw up everything he ate for the past day and a half…"

The youngest Akimichi pouted while his bottom lip was protruding. "But mom," he whined, putting emphasis on the 'o,' "I want some barbeque! This stuff's boring!"

That complaint earned him a smack to the back of his head and his mother started to reprimand him for being such a stubborn one. "Really Chouji," the woman sighed, "You either drink up or starve. This isn't the first time this happened in this household either, you know," and she waved a suddenly visible wooden spoon as she spoke, "When I was pregnant with you I had the strangest craving for crushed avocados with wasabi, mung beans, yellowtail fish collar (1), and dragon fruit. You're father decided to try it and let's just say that the next day I wasn't the one with morning sickness."

Naruto grimaced and glanced over at Sasuke who remotely seemed like he was about to be sick. Shikamaru did not look too well either as he was discreetly twitching his right eye. The Namikaze was about to make a comment on how that sounded really gross when a sharp pain struck in the middle of his forehead out of nowhere. He blinked, taking in a breath and his eyes teared slightly. He did not notice the silence until it was too late and his friends were giving him inquisitive stares.

"Are you okay, dear?" inquired Chouji's mother concernedly. "You're looking rather peaky."

The blond roughly shook his head, all the while stating that he was fine.

Footsteps interrupted his thought process and a deep, bored voice echoed throughout the room. "Don't be too troublesome, Naruto," drawled Shikaku Nara who was a rather tall man with straight scars marring the right side of his forehead and his cheek. A similar spiky pineapple-like ponytail stuck up neatly on the top of his head just like his son, Shikamaru had. He wore a mesh undershirt underneath the traditional Konoha green jounin vest with a unique deerskin coat over that, and he sported a rather pointed goatee.

"I wouldn't want to have to explain any sudden sicknesses you might have to the Hokage," the man continued. "That would be a drag."

Naruto frowned and rubbed the middle of his forehead, wondering why the pain had turned into a dull but horrifying ache now. The blond thought that maybe he had a migraine. It definitely did not feel pleasant.

"Nah, I think I'm fine," replied Naruto with a sidelong glance to Sasuke who raised a questioning eyebrow. "I think it's just a headache, but I probably should go just in case I got something. Mom is scary if I don't tell her stuff."

Shikamaru complained about his dad arriving a Chouji's in the background because apparently he was there to give the family a good Nara dose of upset-stomach-medicine (the Nara Clan was known for their expertise in creating medicines), because that also meant that his old man would have to walk him home otherwise Mrs. Nara would surely throw a troublesome fit. Sasuke offered to walk Naruto home, but the friend turned down his offer, saying that it would probably be better if he hung out with the group for a while, and anyway Mikoto was out on a mission so no one would be at the Uchiha Complex to cook anything for dinner.

So the blond got up, waved goodbye, and started on his way home towards the Hokage Mansion near the Tower and the Academy grounds, unconsciously touching his forehead all the while. He soon reached the entranceway and carefully slid off his sandals, noting the familiar presence of the few ANBU operatives that guarded the house at all times, and slipped in through the sliding doors.

"I'm home!" Naruto bellowed and he walked over to the kitchen, hoping to sip on a cold glass of water to distract him from his pounding head. The throbbing only seemed to worsen and it was worrying him. He had never had a headache before.

"Oh, Naruto," the melodic speech of his redheaded mother resounded beside him. She noticed her son reaching for a glass in the cupboards on his tiptoes and she fetched it for him. He opened the refrigerator with a click and pulled out the icy pitcher of water steadily and carefully tipped the container over his glass to catch the soothing liquid.

An abrupt harsh pain hit him in the temple again. There was a loud crash and the water spilled all over the tiles and shards of glass scattered rapidly on the flat. He distantly heard his mom yelp in surprise and she was surely about to scold him, but she stopped as soon as she thought of it because her son had sunken to his knees, clutching his head and was silently screaming. Naruto felt so much of that aching feeling in the center of his forehead that he did not have the strength to yell out.

"Naruto!" That was his mother who was gripping his shoulders like a lifeline. Her voice sounded fuzzy to his ears and he could not reply. "Naruto! What's wrong?!" He vaguely heard her shift a little and he imagined her desperate violet eyes searching for something, anything, to help her son.

"MINATO!" she bellowed. "Something's wrong! HURRY—" And it all went black for the boy who had totally collapsed on the pristine white tiles of the kitchen floor…

But he had awoken inside his mind, unbeknownst to them all, and he was terrified.

Naruto was in someplace strange. He was oddly walking atop an enormous pool of water and there was a sparkling waterfall before him that splashed droplets all over his clothing. Everything was bright and blue, and the background was the color of the sunset which flashed across a nonexistent sky. There was no sun, only light that seemed to stream from everywhere and in the gigantic space of water, there was only one thing besides the waterfall that disturbed the surface.

It was bizarre, really. A circular metallic-looking table sat in the center. Sitting on top of it was a framed photograph except it was flipped over, its white back staring at him straight in the face. On its back was handwriting that appeared just like his. It was black and scrawny, and written in thick marker:

UZUMAKI

Whatever that meant. The blond had never been so confused in his life. What was his mother's surname doing on the back of a photograph anyway?

He reached out and was about to examine the object, but when the eight-year-old's fingers brushed up against the frame, he heard a voice that whispered disconnected sentences in his ears. He felt that he should know that voice because it sounded warm and familiar, but he couldn't quite place it and whatever the voice was saying he could not understand.

A break appeared in the waterfall and a curtain of water separated into a triangle to reveal a dark interior behind it. A piece of thin rope dangled from the triangle's tip and tied to it was a set of keys that looked like they could be for someone's apartment complex, but Naruto did not find that odd at all. The keys seemed familiar somehow.

The curious child walked over to the cascade and stood on his tip-toes as he unknotted the keys, and suddenly the water beneath him changed.

The pool was golden underneath his bare feet. The liquid tickled unpleasantly against his skin, like a snake sliding nearby, cold and uninviting. It reflected his body ominously, the ripples ripping through the mirror image like multiple knives slicing him, and the air was biting and prickly. There was something evil there and he knew it, but he entered through the arch of water anyway.

Despite his feelings of fear, Naruto bit his lip and proceeded towards a door with the metal numbers of 500 bolted onto it. Somehow, he knew in his gut that this was the apartment door that the keys unlocked, and so he stuck them inside and twisted as he watched for the tell-tale click. He grabbed the knob which was as tall as his nose, and he struggled to push the door open.

When he did finally see into the apartment, he was met was a wave of abnormal nostalgia as if he had been there before. A bed sat in the corner to his left with a poster of ramen pasted on the wall above it, and there were things strewn all over the floor, things that probably might have belonged to him. He stepped forward onto the rug that served as a welcome mat and he immediately regretted it because he fell right through.

"WAH—" He tried to scream but the air was taken straight out of his lungs and he landed with a thud on his behind and yet another splash as gold water smacked him in the face.

Now the place was dark and dank and pipes lined the walls. A cage with bars as tall as the Hokage Monument loomed in front of him and a paper tag with the symbol for "seal" scrawled upon it was attached to them.

"Human," a deep rumbling sounded and Naruto was suddenly more terrified than he could ever remember being. "Be prepared."

The Namikaze gasped and the sight of a gigantic orange-red fox with glinting and knowing yellow eyes entered his vision. Its nine tails swished ominously behind its body.

He tried to question the creature with a trembling voice, for he was both confused and scared. "I—I don't get it. W—why…?"

"SILENCE." The fox cut the boy off easily and without remorse. "Be prepared, human," it boomed, "or we will be condemned. You must accept my power. More are coming. Be prepared."

And then he attempted to speak to it again, his lips shaking, but he closed his eyes for a second and everything turned bleached and everything vanished like nothing was ever there in the deep recesses of his mindscape. Everything was gone. There was no cage, there was no demonic fox to intimidate him, there was no strangely familiar apartment, nor the picture frame he was so curious about, nor the water, nor the keys.

Naruto blinked repeatedly and he found himself in the arms of his worried mother who was still crouching on the kitchen floor, his mop of blond hair on her lap. His father was touching his forehead with a wet cloth, a knit forming in between his eyebrows. Apparently he had only been knocked out for several minutes.

The child swiftly latched onto the sleeve of his mother's white shirt, a frantic look in his eye. "It said something's coming," he mumbled out loud. "Mommy what do I do?" He had turned to his mom specifically because he knew that she was the previous host. If anyone knew what to do, she definitely would, but that did not mean she understood what was running through her son's head.

"Naruto," the redhead asked gently. "What are you talking about? You fainted. Are you feeling alright?"

"Kyuubi," and at this word both of his parents' eyes widened in both shock and dismay, "it's talking to me."

ooo

One month later…

It was the beginning of January and the cold was suddenly biting. In fact, it had snowed in Konoha for the first time in twenty years. Naturally this would make any child currently living in the village undeniably excited and happy, and maybe a few of them would be bouncing off the walls. Surprisingly, the snow had stayed stuck to the ground for more than few days and people started to speculate that it would be there for two weeks at most. But even with all the joyfulness simmering around the crowds at the prospect of actual decently cold weather, the day would probably be so much better if Naruto did not feel so incredibly irritated.

The blond in question was staring at his black snow boots, watching as the soles crunched satisfactorily on the white blanket beneath them. He was on his way out from the Academy as class had just ended for the day, but this just so happened to be one of the rare occasions that he was alone. Sasuke had to hurriedly exit the classroom to help with chores around his home because apparently important guests from the Village Hidden in the Clouds and from the Sand Village as well were coming to town within the week, and the main clans of Konoha had to be prepared for an timely visit just in case.

The young Uchiha had groaned in defeat when he told his best friend of his predicament as the two had planned on training with Itachi and Kakashi for a few hours before his mother announced that neither of her sons would have their hands free on that day. Even Sasuke's older brother seemed just a bit disappointed. Kakashi, on the other hand, was the student of the Yondaime, and even though he had finally laid down his dog mask after almost eight years of service in the ANBU and even as a captain, he was part of "making a good impression."

All the political mumbo-jumbo made their heads hurt.

Unfortunately, that was not all that was making the Hokage's son so irritated, and that emotion clearly showed up on the scowl that was upon his face.

"Stupid Shou," the boy muttered angrily to himself. "Stupid test. Stupid dad and him being the Hokage. Stupid school," and he paused abruptly for a split second to stomp a foot onto the ground, leaving a deep impression in the snow as he left behind a trail of footprints and petulantly continued on his way home, a frown forming.

So to top off the fact that his plans to train with his friend were nipped in the bud, there was an annoying little prick named Shou Sato that marred what could be his cheerful thoughts. Naruto could have been totally content with himself because they had recently taken an exam on hand seals in the Academy and he had aced it. If he were honest with himself, hand seals really were not his forte. The concept appeared so foreign to him most times that he would sometimes begin to wonder how he had gotten so far in his shinobi training in the first place. After all, making hand signs and positioning your fingers into the right places for certain techniques was an integral part of being a ninja.

Nonetheless, the boy was so pleased with his accomplishment. He had worked hard to do well on that test and stared at his Ninja Hand Signs and Basic Techniques textbook for hours, trying to ingrain the information in his head. He had not done too well on the small quizzes his class had received on hand signs previously and he had this incredible urge to redeem himself and make his parents proud.

He wanted to be a talented ninja that his village and his family could flaunt around and be honored to have produced. After all, if he was friends with an Uchiha with a genius of a brother, if he had a brother-like figure in his life that was the genius student of the genius Fourth Hokage, if the Hokage was his own father, and if his mother was a renowned kunoichi as well, he had a lot to live up to especially if he wanted to take the hat from his dad someday in the future.

Naruto had even asked his Kakashi-nii for help when he could not understand the concept of the dragon seal and how it actually symbolized strength, fire, power, and capacity, and rather why it was a seal used to make a technique less vulnerable.

But really, even with the amount of work he had put into trying to pass one of the biggest exams of their year, he was so shocked to have gotten all of the questions correct. The exam had been the most difficult they had taken in their third year of schooling, and really he was only one of the very few that actually passed with flying colors. Even though Sasuke passed, he still got a handful of the questions wrong, but he was satisfied enough with his grade because his previous quiz scores on the same subject balanced everything out. Naruto was just glad he had caught up and was no longer close to failing in that subject.

However, when the chuunin instructor handed back their papers, a sparking red one-hundred percent written at the top of his, his classmate, Shou Sato just had to point out that "Mr. Almost-Failing-Hand-Signs-Class got such a good grade and probably had cheated because there was no way that he could have possibly passed that thing without some help."

Naruto had stared at the tanned skinned boy with messy black hair that stuck up in the front and pointed an accusatory finger at the boy's sharp and freckled nose as he watched Shou's dull gray eyes start to cross while looking at where Naruto had placed his finger. The blond had subsequently refuted that statement by saying, "Take that back! I studied really hard for this test!"

The classmate had glowered and replied, "No way. You were one of the worst of us here until now," then he put on the most disgusting smirk and added, "You probably got daddy to step in, didn't you? It's all because you're the Hokage's son."

The Namikaze shuddered at the memory and how absolutely furious he had gotten afterward. More than half the class, including Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, and astonishingly the timid Hinata Hyuuga was up in arms in his defense and shouted and accused the bully for being such an enormously jealous freak and that he should keep to himself because even with the surprising grade that Naruto had received, the eight-year-old was never an advocate of cheating and everyone knew it, including the teacher.

"My dad would never do that! He's not like that and he'd probably kill me if I asked him to!" the jinchuuriki had heatedly answered back, even as the class was practically defending him.

To that, the teacher commented with a sigh and shook his head, white locks of aging hair swaying from side to side at the sight of such disarray. "Sato," the man had dictated steadfastly and with the wrinkles under his eyes crinkling with the use of his student's last name, "I'll have to know that Hokage-sama is not that kind of man and that he has absolutely no influence over his son's education here at the Academy. Here, he is simply just a student's parent and nothing else. If any Hokage had a hand in their offspring's education here, then the son of our Sandaime would have surely graduated earlier.

"If I were you, I would instead focus on the fact that I had failed the hand seals exam rather than pushing my frustration out on other pupils," the chuunin had said finally with an eyebrow raised and that was the end of that.

And so with that recollection still brightly fresh on his mind, the young blond persisted to stomp on his way to the front entrance of his house and through the sliding doors where he was immediately intercepted by something broad and kind of hard, but definitely human. He had run headfirst into the back of his father.

The kid growled and attempted to sidestep the man while he headed to the stairs that lead up to the second storey (2) where his bedroom was, but he resigned himself to defeat when he felt the back of his jacket being hooked up by a hand and soon his feet were dangling above the wooden panels of the floor.

Minato chuckled as he raised his son higher up with his arm. "Woah there," he remarked jokingly, "No 'I'm home'? If your mother were back from shopping for groceries, I don't think she would appreciate that."

"Dad!" Naruto complained as he kicked and struggled in his father's grip, "Get off me!"

The Yellow Flash only beamed and dropped his son like a sack of potatoes. The child scrambled to his feet immediately and picked up his fallen book bag, not noticing that the exam he had just gotten back had slipped out from between the folders inside, and not noticing that fact that his father had definitely seen the stapled papers slide out and had leaned over to pick them up as his son huffed.

The younger Namikaze was about to step past the first few steps when he heard the papers ruffle in the background and Minato chimed "I see someone did very well on his big exam," the smile abundantly evident in his voice. "Good job. If I remember correctly, this was one of the harder units in the curriculum…"

Naruto sighed and walked up to him, quickly snatching the thick papers away from his parent's prying eyes. "Doesn't matter," he ground out, "I'm going upstairs and sleeping."

The kid scoffed when he felt Minato snatch him by the back of his clothing again. He asked himself why his dad was being particularly nosy that day and what he did to deserve it. This must be Murphy's Law (3) or something. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong, he supposed sadly.

The Fourth crossed his arms on his chest while giving his son a suspicious look. "With that kind of attitude, of course I'm going to be curious." Then with an intense sparkle in his gaze, he placed a hand on the back of Naruto's coat and guided him to the circular kitchen table where the two of them sat down across from each other, chairs screeching, face-to-face.

"Now," the father went on sternly, "You know you can't hide everything from me."

Naruto exhaled and glanced downward, fiddling with the endings of his coat sleeves. He had only just now realized that he had forgotten to take it off when he entered the Hokage Mansion and was sorely regretting it. He thought that maybe if he did not have a hood at his back then it would not be as easy for his dad to snatch him like that.

The child thought of school and how his friends defended him in the face of adversity. He really did have great friends, but even so, the incident with Shou really felt like a wakeup call. He had not really thought of the fact that people could be wary of him or even envious of him just because of who he was, and for some odd reason, the youth started to feel horrible about getting such a fantastic grade on his test. Somehow, it did not seem quite fair, so he told his father so even with how uncomfortable about the entire situation he was at first.

He said everything from the beginning; how he had studied with absolute dedication, how he had asked for help when he needed it (and Minato could attest to that because he was admittedly impressed when he witnessed part of that), how he was utterly stunned when he received the final score, and of course how he had been slightly bullied afterward.

"Naruto," his father stressed calmly as he stared seriously into his son's azure irises. "You don't have to apologize for being successful."

"But—" And Minato held up a palm to stop him from talking. Naruto shut his mouth straightaway.

"You have to understand that being prosperous is about working hard to earn what you have. It is not all based on the injustice of society or who your family is," the Hokage acknowledged with conviction, "In order to gain success, you have to work hard first and you have to keep working hard to maintain that success. Maybe you need a little luck too, and maybe it helps to be in the right place at the right time, but you have to remember that recognition is the act of standing out because you have strived to be the best you can be. Nothing was made to be free, son. If things were, don't you think this Shou boy would have gotten a passing grade on his exam just because he asked for it? And wouldn't you have for that matter?"

By the end of his short lecture, Minato was intently trying to gauge the reaction that he was expecting from the younger blond. For a moment he was imagining some sort of outburst or for a passionate retort about how things still weren't fair anyway. What he did not expect, however, was what Naruto said next.

"Oh," the boy frowned, "But what about him then? Are there really people out there like him that hate me because I'm your son?" He bit his lip then added, his voice a whisper, "…like those people who took me away before? Like Riku?"

The Yondaime blinked and suddenly a rush of internal thoughts bombarded his mind and he tried to sieve through them carefully, gently, but they came like a violent river, like white washed water splashing hard against jagged rocks made of doubt and confusion.

"I hate you," he remembered the enemy shinobi spitting that in his face. He remembered the aftereffects of his first kill and how conflicted he felt about it, but he knew that he had no choice. He had to kill that woman. If he didn't, they would have taken the scroll of vital information on the Leaf Village and everything he held dear would have been danger. The Leaf would have burned.

"I hate you," she hissed in his memories. The female was faceless to him now, but he recalled all too well that look in her eyes, the haunted, terribly horrified look she shot at him as his kunai dripped with the crimson of the blood he had drawn. "You killed her. You killed my little sister. I'll never forgive you."

After that, Minato remembered that the scroll somehow made it into his team's possession and their forced B-rank mission was completed successfully even though they were only green genin. The forest had exploded in blinding light behind them as they scampered off into the darkness and the trees had rustled in agitation. He knew the kunoichi had died.

But they were in the middle of a war. That was the way things were. At that point, he remembered how he tried not to think about what he had done. After all, his team and Jiraya-sensei had thought nothing of it because of the world they had lived in. Young, freshly graduated Academy students were pushed into war because they needed all the manpower they could get. He had to kill, even at that age.

Minato was only ten then.

"Listen, son," the older Namikaze said as he shook his thoughts away. The solemnity in his tenor caused the boy in question to perk up. "There are people like your classmate who are easily influenced by their envy and try to get the easy way out, and we both know that that's wrong because there are never any shortcuts to true success. Those are the kinds of people you should not worry about because their path of jealousy is of their own design and they cannot get anywhere that way," and he glimpsed at the intricate grains of wood on the table, not looking Naruto in the eye, "but then there are other people that can't let go of their hatred; they can't learn to forgive…

"I'm not going to pretend that there are no people that hate you because of who you are. You and I know that would be a lie. But those people are the ones that cannot see past what they hate. They only see the act and not the reason, and eventually their hatred becomes blinding."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "I don't really get it."

The father put on a bittersweet smile. "I don't expect you to. I don't understand it either," and he shook his head at the belief, "but we're human, you know. We love and we hate and often the two come together. They are my enemies because I was forced to defend my home in the war back then, and they hate me because I succeeded many times. I suppose you can say that the anger is justified, but two wrongs don't make a right." He saw his son stare at him in awe for the first time and he relaxed his shoulders. "This is the kind of world we live in, but you can avoid that cycle too, like many others before have, if only you just make an attempt to understand why someone despises you rather than concentrating on hating them back.

"You need to learn forgiveness."

"Okay," said the younger of the two. "I promise to always get past my hatred."

The pair sat in silence for a while after that, both basking in the gravity of what those words held, and for the first time, Minato realized that he should put his own lesson to use because he really needed to learn to forgive as well. There was a good amount of people that he had yet to fully forgive.

But in the moment, it was just the two of them, sitting there and understanding the things they never thought they could understand, and eventually they stood up together in unison when they heard the loud bang that indicated the incoming red tornado that was Kushina.

For that short while—Kushina excitedly added into the mix—they were just a family and not a family of shinobi. The mother was barking orders at her husband and son who were unwittingly agreeing to do everything she commanded. They were probably going to have guests after all, and she pointedly glared at Minato who explained to Naruto that Suna and Kumo were coming that week and all the significant Clans and the Hokage had to make a great impression, but he supposed that he had already figured that out, considering his best friend was an Uchiha.

So they were normal for a bit. Well, as normal as they could get. Minato was ushered off to sweep the staircase and Naruto was told to make the living room appear presentable. ("Kushina, why does our son get the easy job?!")

Naruto never got the nap he deserved, but at least the house was clean enough for the political figures to invade it.

ooo

The week was at its middle and that meant that the emissaries from the Sand and Cloud would come knocking at their front door that very day. Minato grumbled as he thought about that, laying his forehead on the wide desktop before him and lifting it up in seconds.

The Hokage's office was as organized as it could get. The usually towering piles of paperwork were at considerably lowered stacks, but that also meant that the Hokage had been there since the crack of dawn the previous day and it was already afternoon a day later.

He had not been home in more than twenty-four hours because he had to finish as much paperwork as possible before the peace talks could come into fruition. It was times like these that he was grateful to have such an understanding family because his wife and son decided to have a sleepover in his office with him.

Of course nothing helped when they had to leave and his super pervert of a teacher had sauntered in afterward.

"Honestly, Minato," Jiraya laughed boisterously. "You're too idealistic for your own good!"

The blond smiled and quipped, "Says the man who tries to change the world through his debauched books."

"They're good reads!" The Sannin interjected quickly and defensively. "Besides, I'm not saying your idealism is a bad thing. In fact, you could say we need more leaders like you. Idealism is the key to changing things." He grinned and continued, "And without idealistic annoying geniuses like you, I'd have no one to brag about!"

The Hokage groaned loudly as he dropped his head unceremoniously and dramatically to his chest. "At first you started sounding utterly philosophical and then it turned into an unadulterated insult. I'm touched. Really.

"Besides, all I'm saying is that if this treaty with Kumo is successful, and my plan to allow our ally, Suna, into it is as well, we'll be one step closer to a more unified shinobi front and maybe the other elemental nations will want to follow suit. It isn't a bad thing."

"No, no, of course not," the older man waved his hand in dismissal, "It's a good thing, yeah. But once you got this whole 'unifying the entire world' thing down—which I totally support by the way—I'm looking forward to the spread of my very valuable literature."

"Let me guess," Minato deadpanned, "you just can't wait to have the opportunity to see the more 'exotic kinds of women' in the other hot springs."

"That's right! You really are a genius, my precious student!"

The Fourth's eye twitched multiple times before he found it on his conscience to reply. "Honestly, you really are a hopeless case. There has to be a way to make peeking illegal. I'm sure the Council would wholeheartedly approve. Although Kakashi has developed a disturbing interest in your erotic novels, so I wouldn't put it past him to attempt to veto that idea instantly…"

Teacher and student continued their explicit bantering, shifting conversation topics from teasing Minato for not being able to hold his alcohol for more than a pathetic number of drinks, to the lure of naked women, to how Sarutobi would want in on the peeking as well. Though the Hokage frowned and defensively stated that he was married and that his mentor really needed to get a grip and drag Tsunade back to Konoha so that he could get married too.

And as this occurred, these brief few minutes of joking that was nowhere near worrisome, the gates of the Hidden Leaf finally opened to reveal that the representatives from the Sand had arrived with Cloud not too far behind. The Hokage would be notified immediately, and the talks would begin.

The seven shinobi from both nations were thoroughly checked and their passports were carefully scrutinized by multiple Konoha shinobi and ABNU, and finally they were let in through the massive green gates that led into the village proper by the bored-looking gate guards who called themselves Izumo and Kotetsu.

As the whole village was formerly notified of the peace talks with Kumo and the additional presence of their allies, everyone was excitedly crowding around them. There was much chatter and the guests were happily greeted and welcomed with wide arms. Civilians threw confetti from the rooftops as many knew that Kumo had been their adversary in recent years virtually almost as much as Iwa had been. Bunches of people parted and they were led to the base of the Hokage Tower by a small squad of three cloaked and masked ANBU.

The three hailing from the Cloud were a mostly serious group, save for one young girl with dark blue locks of hair cropped shaggily to the end of her chin who was bouncing on the balls of her sandaled feet. She had intense black eyes that seemed to twinkle oddly with every inch she decided to move and she wore a pure white kimono with the typical gray-white and one strapped jounin vest over the top. The forehead protector of her home village with the stylized symbol of three clouds was tied tightly around the top of her right shoulder. The girl appeared to be very youthful, maybe even a child, as her height paled in comparison to the other two adults travelling with her.

The second female of the Cloud team was a stoic woman with long dirty blond hair bound with taut bandages and dark eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design that suggested clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of white beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumo forehead protector and wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.

"Yuriko, Yugito," the eldest man from Kumo turned to speak with his subordinates briefly as they cut their way through the throngs of people. He was known as the Head Ninja of his village, only second in command to the Raikage himself. He was a brunette with a scruffy, short, and pointed beard. Bandages were wrapped around his head to the point where you could not see the rest of his hair and a hitai-ate covered their ends and slanted over his right eye. "Behave yourselves," he ordered, and they looked on to the Tower with significance.

Behind them was the group of four Sand ninja. Only one of which was stern adult. A pair of streaks of bright red face paint decorated his right cheek and a cream cloth covered the other half of his face.

"Remember that the reason you three are here is because this is a political gesture of trust," Baki explained urgently to the three children that trailed behind them. None of them appeared to be ninja quite yet. The oldest seemed to be a girl who was around twelve and had four blond ponytails tied tightly to the back of her head. The second in line was a brown haired boy with a pout of his face, a few messily done portions of purple paint defined his facial features, and the last one looked to be the youngest. He had close-cropped red hair, dark edges around his light green eyes that might have been from insomnia, and a gruesome fresh-looking scar over where one of his eyebrows should have been that resembled the kanji for love.

"The Yondaime Kazekage wants to show that he trusts the Hokage," continued the single adult, "especially after he allowed Suna to take part in their peace talks with Kumo. Both kages know how much our economy needs this, and the fact that the Hokage is even letting us become potential candidates for allies of Kumo so that we can trade with them is a huge plus in our favor. Your father is sending you out in his stead. You would do well to remember that."

He looked pointedly to Temari, the eldest sibling, and added, "That means you three must keep yourselves in line and no killing anybody. Not here," then he glanced over to the redhead, "Gaara."

"I kill if mother tells me to," murmured the child, his eyes downcast and maybe a little sad.

And they traversed along behind their fellow ninja, thoughts of a potential and permanent peace taking up most of their thoughts, save for a few who honestly could not give enough of their effort in to care and the snow crunched below their feet.

Meanwhile, the Yondaime's son carefully pushed open the double doors that led to the Hokage's office, fully aware that he had to hurry up and finish his errand before the representatives arrived. "Dad, I got you some soup. It's pretty cold outside and you probably forgot to eat again…"

He held out the warm metal thermos to his father, who was still quirking an eyebrow at something Jiraya had said.

Exhaling, the Hokage replied that he would make sure to eat it before things got overly busy and that Naruto really should head back out because their guests would be in the office in minutes.

"And speaking of that," Minato craned his neck to glimpse over at one of the Legendary Sannin, "My perverted sensei should really put away the bottles of sake before anyone notices and decides to tarnish my reputation because of my supposed alcoholic tendencies…"

"Aw, c'mon brat," the white-haired adult moaned, "You can't blame me for wanting to test out your alcohol intake. You did say that you've gotten better at it!"

"Not now sensei! I'm not Gamabunta!" He gestured indignantly to Naruto who was staring, open-mouthed, at the duo. "And my son is here! What kind of horrible influence are you? Why did Kushina and I make you his godfather? What were we thinking?"

Jiraya had a wide grin on his expression. "If I remember correctly, something along the lines of 'You're a man with true skill…an example we should all follow. I can't think of a finer shinobi than you!' You really can't take back your words now."

The Hokage objected and Naruto was confused.

Then an ANBU wearing a boar's mask poof-ed into existence before his commander's desk and the trio in the room could tell that he had been listening in to a least part of the conversation because his whole figure screamed that he was trying to hide his amusement and definitely failing.

"Lord Hokage," the shinobi muttered soundly, a slight tone of underlying mirth in his tenor, "The emissaries from Suna and Kumo have come. Shall I let them into your office now?"

Well, so much for Naruto leaving before the visitors reached their destination. At that, the leader gave his offspring a look that silently told him that he was to behave and not say anything that was unnecessary for the duration of their stay, to which the boy nodded and agreed with wholeheartedly. He did not want to be the cause of an international dispute. In Shikamaru's terms, that would be highly troublesome.

The eldest Namikaze waved at the entrance and instantly seven shinobi entered into his field of vision. They stood ready and at attention, greeting them with both essential politeness and dignity.

But even in the course of action, Naruto suddenly felt extremely uneasy. It was not the fact that he was surrounded by virtually unknown foreign ninja, but the fact that two of them really stood out to him. The blond woman from Kumo barely even twitched and for some reason that bothered him, and not to mention the creepy boy from Suna that looked to be about his own age who had the dark circles around his eyes.

A deep voice from a memory in the not-too-distant past resounded in his head that rumbled, "More are coming. Be prepared." He shuddered unconsciously, thankful that no one noticed his trembling fingers and he made an attempt to keep his breathing normal. The boy did not care to realize that he was backing up into the darkest corner available until he heard the voice of who he supposed was the leader of the Kumo squad. Apparently, the group was in the middle of introducing themselves.

"And who exactly am I speaking with today?" the Head Jounin inquired with a sigh as he observed the petite blue-haired girl to his left. Then, he furthered in his explanation at the questioning looks of the Konoha shinobi in the room, "My apologies, Hokage-sama, but my subordinate has a bit of a…condition, if you will. The question is necessary." (4)

"Yuri," replied the girl nonchalantly and who was still as a glass doll, effectively ignoring the heads that turned in her direction.

"Then stop staring like that, Yuriko," the man demanded coldly. "It's unnerving."

"I told you to call me 'Yuri.'" And the strange female tilted her head, her eyes still gazing off into the distance somewhere that no one else could see. "And I like staring. It makes me notice things that other people can't." She reached up with a pointed index finger, singling out a certain area of the room with her gesture. "Like the little monster in that corner over there," she sang.

Naruto stiffened and his heart pounded painfully in his chest. It wasn't as if he was hiding; he was supposed to be there, but the fact that this eerie teenaged girl had pointed him out like that…that was scary. And he couldn't help but wonder if this girl knew about his secret, if she had somehow peered deep into his soul and his psyche to see exactly what he had to hide, and his pupils shifted to take a look at the redheaded kid without his consent.

The blond stepped out more into the open and smiled shakily. He did not see the speedily alert gaze of his godfather in response to the comment. "Ah," he stuttered out, "I'm Naruto N—Namikaze. Nice to meet you," and he bowed curtly.

"Your son, Hokage-sama?" the jounin of the Sand Village asked and at the confirming nod he received, he inclined his head towards the eight-year-old and said, "Quite pleased and honored that you are here."

"And we are honored that the Kazekage has taken upon himself to offer the Leaf with the confidence of looking after his children while you are here, Baki," complimented Minato as he folded his palms on top of his mahogany desk. "We will be sure to show them around the village during their stay. I'm sure as aspiring genin, it will be in their great interest to learn of another ninja village."

He motioned over to his son and he suggested that Naruto be the one to give the Sand siblings a tour while the jounin stayed behind to negotiate. The young jinchuuriki bit his bottom lip and soon agreed to do what he was told.

They were off and out of the office in seconds, leaving the more experienced ninja to do the political dealings.

The four children walked out from the base entrance of the Tower confidently, Naruto relaxing his shoulders significantly after his own self-imposed tension was ended. Now that he was away from the Kumo ninja, he no longer felt that uneasiness around Gaara as he did before. Although he still felt just a little wary, he was comfortable around the siblings for the most part. He was not afraid.

He placed his arms on the back of his head and his winter coat rode up his stomach a bit. "So where do you guys want to go?" And he faced the trio with a kind smile. The emotionless redhead was internally surprised at the gesture, but did not say a word.

The answer was given to him when he heard a grumbling sound coming from the brunette boy with face paint and Naruto burst out laughing.

"A food place, then," the blond male commented. "I'll bring you to the best place there is! Ichiraku Ramen! I hope you like it!" With a grin still splitting his face in half, the boy walked backwards until he was nearest to the preteen that was obviously the hungry one. "Kankuro, right?"

The second oldest of the Kazekage's children nodded uncertainly.

"I'm really bad at remembering names, so sorry if I get it wrong the first few times, ya know. I'm not as smart as my old man."

Temari frowned as she followed behind her brothers, all the while keeping a tentative eye on her youngest one. "The Hokage isn't that old though."

In response, Naruto only chuckled again. "Nah, not to other people he's not. But to me, dad's ancient. There's no way a guy like him could know that much and not be really, really old. My mom, though…I'll just say she's young forever otherwise she'll probably murder me. Scary woman…"

They came to a partially outdoor ramen stand with an entrance covered in cloth flags with writing sewed onto them. The Hokage's son led the trio to the front where he shouted at "old man Teuichi" to make them eight bowls of hot, steamy, miso ramen noodles with extra pork. The extra five bowls were for Naruto's extensive appetite and bottomless pit of a stomach, of course.

Temari, taking responsibility as the oldest sibling, was about to sit nearest to Gaara, who appeared perpetually angry at the world and was practically seeping less and less emotion as time went on, when Naruto intercepted and placed a steaming bowl right in front of him. Nevertheless, she was shocked when the boy sat on the stool directly next to her little brother.

He beamed at Gaara, who still had not said anything and clasped a hand on his back. Temari tensed when she noticed sand started to agitatedly swirl in Naruto's direction, but exhaled in relief when it did nothing more than that. Somehow, this boy was affecting her brother in strange ways and she could not say it was a terrible bad thing.

"You and I are around the same age, right?" the Namikaze asked. He basically brushed off the impassive glower he was receiving and the slight tingle of anxiety he felt for a split second. "That means we're the same year in the Academy!

"I'm definitely sure that we can be friends, ya know! You should meet my friends Sasuke, and Chouji, and Shikamaru…you'll like them! They're great!"

The redhead parted his lips in a momentary bout of surprise. The swirling sand slipped away and vanished into the gourd that was strapped on his back.

"Well, c'mon! Why don't you eat something Gaara? Your brother over there sure is enjoying himself!" And the blond-haired boy divided his chopsticks apart and began to slurp on the noodles from one of the five bowls of ramen that were set in front of him. "It'sth definitely the besth, ya know!" His words were muffled by the food in his mouth, but somehow Gaara didn't care and his siblings were amazed even as they themselves ate less enthusiastically.

But most shocking to the brother and sister was the fact that their little brother did in fact indulge in his food at the request. He had blinked, confusion flashing on his features and hesitantly consumed a small piece of pork.

"I—it's good," the boy muttered quietly, to which Naruto continued to lighten the atmosphere with laughter and continuous talking. For the rest of lunchtime, the sand never slithered out of the gourd again.

Afterwards, the Sand siblings plus the Fourth's offspring exited the establishment with satisfied appetites. The chatterbox that was Naruto Namikaze asked all three siblings a lot of questions, inquiring about life in the Sand Village, and adding in his thoughts and experiences with life in the Leaf. He pointed out notable areas like the carvings on the Hokage Mountain, and he talked about how the curriculum at the Academy was for him.

But as he lead them to the training grounds explicitly reserved for Academy students only, Gaara of the Sand could not help but ponder why he felt so attached to this boy, why he even considered thinking of him as a friend of all things.

"Another resides in him," mother boomed inside his mind, but he did not understand what that meant.

After all, almost a year ago was when the incident happened. Almost as year ago was when mother wanted to kill his uncle Yashimaru and when the One-Tailed Shukaku rampaged the Sand Village. No one seemed to like him before, and even his own family was wary of him at times, but he had accepted it, saying that his heart hurt and that it was a wound he could not seem to heal.

But uncle Yashimaru had pointed out that the best way to put medicine on a wound like that was love, that he had a mother who loved him, that if he could make friends then his chest would not feel so painful anymore…that he wouldn't be so alone…

But mother never really loved him, did she? Uncle had said. Was it all a lie? He didn't know.

This boy though…he was the first since his uncle that was never afraid of him. He was the first who seemed to not mind him at all. He treated him like a person and not a monster, not a demon. Gaara wanted to know how this was possible, so he voiced his thoughts.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?" mumbled Gaara, breaking the comfortable silence that embraced the group for a while. His light green eyes were wide with disbelief and his siblings abruptly stood still.

"Why should I be afraid of you?" Naruto questioned, and the boy grinned gently at his fellow jinchuuriki—though he did not know what they shared in common—beckoning him to come closer so that they could walk side-by-side.

Gaara of the Sand had never been so confused, relieved, and even kind of angry with himself in his entire short existence, but for a moment the hurt on his heart disappeared and something akin to warmth spread from deep within him, a calming balm, a feeling of acceptance.

He hoped this feeling would last.

ooo

The peace talks went well and Kumo had agreed to allow Suna in on their trade planes; gold dust for iron weaponry. Minato suggested to Baki that the Sand jumpstart a textile industry as that would also boost their economy and he could not help but marvel at the fact that kunoichi from all over admired the quality of the lasting fabrics. This lead to slight teasing from Jiraya, who implied that his student probably was more in touch with his feminine side than most men were.

The comment was not appreciated and subsequently ignored.

Nevertheless, Baki agreed to the idea, saying that it was a fact he was not aware of before because his village never concentrated on trading textiles, but rather on the Kazekage's talent with golden sand and grappling with shinobi missions.

Kumo offered to trade iron for some of Konoha's abundant medicinal plants.

All was well and everyone was rejoicing. All that was left was to sign the final contracts the following morning. It was already late into the evening and the jounin had parted, going to their separate hotels and leaving the Hokage behind to finish some last minute paperwork well into the night. He knew he wouldn't come home until later, but his wife and son were already aware of that. He would make up for it later.

But in the darkness something ominous moved in the grass, rustling the leaves behind the Hyuuga Compound, and the masters of the bloodline limit of the infamous all-seeing eye, the Byakugan, would not be stirred awake until it was too late. The trespasser's blue hair wavered in the moonlight as she stared through the square window and at the small, innocent little girl lying in bed. She was the daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, the heiress that will inherit the Clan. How perfect.

And yet another disturbance joined the Uchiha Compound simultaneously, a feline-like smirk on the face of the intruder, and she quietly tiptoed on the wooden floorboards of someone else's home…

Creak.

Naruto stirred awake. He shoved off the comforter and his ears perked up as he heard the noise yet again.

Creak.

He gulped. Something was there and he was still half asleep. This was bad. This was very, very bad. He didn't know what to do besides yank his sandals on, his pajama pants whipping out as he quietly jumped from the mattress and onto the floor. Glancing to his bedside table, he took the one pouch of meager weapons that he owned and clipped it around his thigh. He was not allowed to own a full set yet because he wasn't quite a shinobi.

He heard a loud crash and leaped into the air in fright. Eyes wide and scared, the blond pulled open the door that led to the outside of his room and he sprinted down the hallway.

"Trying to get me again, Kumo?!" He heard his mother's voice bellow furiously. "I don't think so, ya know!" Another booming noise and a "Kushina-sama, he's already down!" He deduced that that was probably one of the ANBU that watched the house. That meant whatever provoked his irate mother was serious.

Naruto turned a corner and rapidly ran down the stairs. The boar masked ANBU glanced upward from the twitching body of what looked to be the Head Jounin from Kumogakure who was crushed heavily into the tiles of their kitchen. His mom was fuming beside him, a fist still raised in anger and her hair seemed to be made out of flames.

"Mom!" the boy shouted in surprise. "What happened? What's this guy doing here?" He skidded to a halt beside them.

"WHAT HAPPENED?! I'll tell you, ya know! The Cloud ninjas are nothing but dirty, filthy, little—" She roared, but she was cut off by the decidedly calmer façade of the ANBU guard.

"We defeated the enemy quickly, Naruto-sama," remarked the man seriously. "But his attack means that the Cloud has betrayed us and that others are in grave danger. Considering their interest in our bloodline limits and their considerable lack of them, they probably attacked your mother in an attempt to capture her for her special Uzumaki chakra."

"Wait," Naruto gasped. "Bloodline limits? You mean doujutsu?!" His eyes widened in realization. "Sasuke! The Hyuuga!"

Boar nodded grimly.

"We've got to help them!" the boy exclaimed and he headed to the door but was stopped by the same ANBU.

"No," said the man. "You will go to the safety of the Hokage Tower this time. Your mother has agreed to assist with this mission and I'm sure the Hokage will agree that she will be sufficient help. You, on the other hand, are not yet a ninja.

"You will meet the Kazekage's children when you get there and the Hokage has already been notified. Shikaku-sama will use his tactical knowledge to aid us in nullifying the threat. I assure you that the Uchiha and the Hyuuga will be safe by the end of this night." He then nodded to a wall and another masked ninja melted into existence. This one had a cat mask on.

Cat was told to escort Naruto to the Tower and Kushina nodded resolutely in the direction of her son before she huffed irritably and disappeared with the other man, no doubt bent on knocking heads together.

The hurried to the base of the Tower, quickly spotting the trio that was the Sand siblings. Baki must have been assisting with the problem; he was part of the alliance after all. That was probably why the Kazekage's children were to be put under security surveillance.

But just when safety was in sight, just when they could enter the safety of the Tower's inherent barrier, the dam broke. Naruto should have known that plans in the shinobi world never actually flourished fully because something always, always would go wrong, no matter how perfect the plan was , no matter how intricately thought out a strategy was. There were a million and one ways things could explode in your face.

And that's exactly what happened.

"Mokuton!" Cat shouted and the three siblings instinctively dived behind him and Naruto. The ground rumbled beneath them and thick slivers of wood erupted out and formed a dome-like shield around them.

For a moment, it seemed like nothing collided, but they were soon proved wrong. All five of them were blasted backwards and they grunted on the impact. The sizzling that signaled a leftover technique resounded in their eardrums and the wall that had protected them previously had exploded into shards of pointed wood; a crater of blackened earth was in its place while the debris flew across the street in all directions while some scraped the sides of buildings.

A small girl appeared in the smoke, her hair seemed bluer than it was what Naruto first met her. He fingered the clip of his weapons pouch and eyes her rippling form cautiously. Her feet were sparkling with tendrils of lightning. That couldn't be good.

"You're that girl," he mumbled in comprehension as he and the rest of the group stood up.

She sighed and looked away like she could not bear to see his face because of fear. "I thought we already met, little demon," and both Gaara and Naruto tensed at that statement.

"I'm not a demon!" the Namikaze growled, thoughts rapidly shifting to the very real monster that was locked within his gut. "You take that back!"

"I have a name you know," the girl murmured while biting her lip. For a person who had tried to kill them not a few seconds ago, she looked awfully shy. "My name is Yuriko. You can call me 'Yuri' for short or you could—" Suddenly she stopped talking altogether and her entire countenance changed. Her dark pupils seemed to dilate and her shyness abruptly left her. Upon its place was a feral grin.

"I'm Koh," she spat out instead. "And I'd like to kill you…I'd like to see you little twerps squirm while I shove my kunai down your throat."

Naruto gasped and she ran towards them at an unreal pace, the cloth of her white kimono ruffled in the air and she licked a kunai before throwing it and multiple others towards them. He tried to duck, but he knew that there wasn't enough time to dodge it.

A barrier of sand whipped around to block anything from hitting them and he only took a moment to not that it came from the strange clay gourd that Gaara had strapped to his back.

Cat stopped for a second, ushering the kids to make run for it, and made a series of hand signs, shouting, "Wood Release: Wood Spikes Rising!" In quick succession, the technique formed and spikes shot out of the earth with each step Koh took towards them, but she was able to avoid every single one of them, sliding from left to right until one last one rose just in front of the ANBU where she leaped into the air, grin still plastered on her face and two short swords flashed in each of her hands, catching light from the moon.

Her knees tucked into her chest and the swords made a deliberate arc until the metal sliced through the man. But instead of the telltale squelching noise, she was met with a plunk. It was a wood clone.

Frustrated, she shipped her weapons to her sides and hacked the clone to bits, yelling madly into the night, finally noticing that her prey had disappeared, but she could still find them. She had to. And she too vanished in a twirl.

Yuriko may have failed to kidnap the Hyuuga brat, but Koh would not fail her mission. She would destroy tonight if she had anything to say about it.

And through the evening atmosphere, Naruto and his companions cut through the bushes, leaves cutting at their cheeks. Gaara's sand escaped the confines of its entrapment for time to time, searching for their pursuer. They made it into a clearing that consisted of a river with a red, traditional-looking bridge built over the top of it.

Cat put out an arm, indicating that he thought they should rest. They huffed in the background, trying to catch their breaths.

A crack, and then—

"You think you can escape from me, you stupid little twerps?!" And Koh came bounding into the clearing, casting a determined shadow over the group until she flashed above them, zipping into existence. Her feet crackled with lighting like they did before, bluish-white ribbons of the element began to zap the ground and her unsheathed swords reflected the light produced, blinding them, and she aimed at Naruto.

Her foot banged into the rocks beneath her, rocks that just so happened to be right where Naruto was standing not too long ago, and like a strike of lightning hit the earth during a particularly tremendous lightning storm, that spot sizzled then detonated mightily.

The boy fell back, breathing deeply. He clutched onto a single shuriken in his pouch and threw it at her nose. She grinned and simply electrified one of her swords, subsequently touching the thrown weapon, and hit it, effectively making the shuriken swivel around and travel to the blonde's head instead.

The problem was that this time the metal of the weapon he had released in defense had started to conduct the electricity and was now more deadly than ever.

Tiger‒Rabbit‒Dog‒Ram‒Dragon! Temari deftly made the hand seals for one of the few wind jutsu she was lucky enough to have studied at this age. It was one of those times where she was grateful to be the Yondaime Kazekage's daughter.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!" she bellowed and a great gust of wind erupted from her hands while she shielded the Hokage's son. "Hah! Wind cancels out lightning! You've got nothing!" And true to her word, the wind sliced the shuriken in half, the electricity it produced fizzling out, and the technique slammed Koh squarely in the chest. She would have bled out if not for the swords she used to clock the attack as she crossed them into an x-shape.

Koh landed on her rear yards away, dust lifting up in response, and instantly rounded bullets made of sand spewed forth towards her prone form and she rolled out of the way, but Kankuro brought his hands towards him and out of the tips of his fingers shot out strings of blue chakra that attached themselves to her body and arms.

"I don't think so, loser!" the brunette yelled and she lifted his arms, watching as his opponent's body rose into the sky and twitched as she fought for control.

A ripple of lightning surrounded her like armor and Kankuro was forced backwards as parts of it zapped the places where he was before, causing black hold to mar the grass. But wooden hands came out of seemingly nowhere; Cat controlled them flawlessly and she used them to grip their common adversary even as she started to fall from the air. The wood fingered wrapped around Koh tightly and she struggled to no end, so much so that the ANBU gritted his teeth and tightened the grip.

She gasped out in shock and then her body went limp, suddenly convulsing and that feral grin wiped off her face. Eerily, back was the shy girl, and now she was begging for help and crying, but none of them would fall for it.

Cat crossed his fingers together and the trap morphed into a tall tree-like cage. The girl banged her fists on the bars like her life depended on it. Which, if Naruto was being truthful to himself, it probably did, and he observed as her knuckled turned bloody from trying to break out.

"What was that about?" asked Kankuro who was dusting his clothes off. "Do you think it's over?"

The only real shinobi with the group narrowed his eyes suspiciously behind his porcelain mask. "Something tells me there's more."

True to his premonition, sounds came out from the forest grounds that were in front of them and soon after, out came tumbling a pile of children that consisted of Sasuke, two Hyuuga children which Naruto saw was Hinata and her older cousin, Neji, and Shikamaru Nara. From behind them walked out a very serious Mikoto Uchiha. Her dark eyes were livid.

Little Hinata looked absolutely terrified, her dark indigo hair was ruffled and her pupil-less white eyes were teary. Neji had his long dark hair tied at the bottom and he had similar eyes, but he had thin bandages wrapped around his forehead. He gripped his younger cousin's smaller hand protectively. Meanwhile, Sasuke inched toward his mother instinctively and Shikamaru looked utterly lost.

"Sasuke," Naruto panted out in disbelief, "Hinata, Neji, Mikoto-sama…" He blinked and stared intently at the last arrival before hastily adding, "Shikamaru?! I mean, I think I can get why the others are here, but why are you here? You don't have a bloodline!"

"Eh," the Nara acknowledged sheepishly, "I might have been pretty stupid and followed dad and kind of ran into these guys because I got separated. When I heard 'bloodline limits,' well…"

"But your dad's the guy with the strategies! 'Course he's gonna go and do something dangerous!" The Namikaze huffed. "So you just decided to follow him into this mess?! Are you crazy?!"

"I know it was troublesome, but I was worried about you guys, and since you seem to get yourselves into really troublesome situations…"

"You're an idiot, Shika!" the blond boomed to his friend.

Mikoto stomped over to Naruto and Shikamaru and whacked them soundly on the backs of their heads. "Stop arguing!" the woman screamed. "There are ten of us here and only two of us are fully trained shinobi! You will listen to any order the both of us give you. Do you understand?! We don't have to time figure out why each of us is here! I was trusted with the safety of the Hyuuga and now the Nara and I was to bring them to the Tower along with Sasuke, which I'm guessing was the same direction you were heading until your little present appeared, correct?" To that she pointed to the trapped and still sobbing Yuriko.

Cat nodded in reply for the group.

The Uchiha woman scowled. "Anyway, I highly suggest we get out of here as quickly as possible and to the Tower because we may have been chased by a present as well." She glanced over at the ANBU and continued firmly, "A two-tailed present."

Swiftly, Cat ordered the children to make a run for it, knowing full well that his Mokuton ability would at least be able to hold back a tailed beast for a short while. Mikoto ushered them away and sent a clone after them; if it was a tailed beast she was asking this man to face, he would need all the help he could get. She hoped Kushina could alert her husband quickly because they were going to need his help and fast. The problem was somehow getting the Hokage to the immediate battlefield without the consent of the Council.

The children shoved through the bushes, wheezing and winded, Naruto in the lead.

In the background, the heaviest chakra any of them had felt hit them hard, laying down on them like a thick chainmail coat. Suddenly they couldn't breathe and the air was thick with tension.

Gaara tensed nearest to Naruto and his green eyes snapped to attention.

"No," the redhead said coolly, "I won't have my existence taken," and he flashed away in less than a second.

Temari shouted her brother's name, but they all knew it was futile. "NO! GAARA!" she cried. "This is bad! This is really bad!" She turned to her only remaining sibling who put on a determined face. "Kankuro!" They too almost disappeared, but Naruto halted their advance, touching the forearm of his fellow blonde.

A frustrated growl exited his throat. "Does your brother have a demon sealed inside him?" he questioned the sister doggedly.

"What?" Her hands lifted to her own weapons pouch on their own accord and she defensively clenched a fist. "That's impossible! How do you know that? What do you want with him?!"

"You heard me," and his gaze was intriguing to her. She had never seen someone so resolute. He pointed to the clearing they had just left. They could hear the roars of what could not be anything else other than a demon. "You heard them too. The Two Tails was after them, right?" At that, Sasuke nodded in worried confirmation. "I can definitely feel that. And now that your brother is unleashing some of his chakra, I can feel that too," he went on.

Temari glanced downward, closing her eyelids in resignation. "Okay, fine," she sneered. "What does this information do for us?"

The jinchuuriki blinked and took a deep breath. "It means that you guys need to get out of here," and Sasuke and Sikamaru quickly scanned their mutual friend in anticipation, "because I'm the only one here who stands a chance against that thing."

ooo

Okay, thought Temari as she watched from behind the bushes while watching Naruto creep back onto the battlefield. Behind her were the other Academy students. All of them pretended to accept that they would leave the Namikaze behind to take care of their situation, but in the end, not even the Hyuuga found it in their hearts to actually do it. So much for following orders no matter what, she said in her mind.

And they followed him up until the moment he began to interfere.

It was just as she feared. Gaara had already partially transformed into the Shukaku. She supposed that the oppressing chakra of a fellow jinchuuriki would be enough to trigger a transformation. That was probably exactly what happened. Gaara's sense of survival was enormous.

Ka-boom! A crater formed where a tree should have been.

So that wasn't the best first thing to feel when entering a fight for your life.

Wooden spikes shot out from the ground a magnificent spout of fire came from the mouth of the Uchiha woman, charring the sides of trees and plants and blackening the snow. Before the two sweating jounin was a gargantuan cat, taller than any house and as wide as one and a half training fields. It was made of sizzling blue fire, its eyes were a sickly bright yellow, and it had two lashing tails attached to its rear.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight the Two-Tailed Demon Cat?!" yelled Mikoto, who barely dodged a paw. Instead, the appendage destroyed the beautiful red bridge that was built across the river behind them.

"We have more than that to worry about," the Wood Style user gasped as he ducked an extending sand arm that reached towards one of the tails of the giant cat, "because apparently we have the One Tails here as well."

The fight had become more than just two puny shinobi against one large demon. Now with the Shukaku added into the mix, sand swirled ominously around then, lifting what they thought were nonexistent winds and fireballs flew from left and right. It was all they could do to keep away from the crossfire because this was now a battle between monsters.

A wooded shield rose from the earth and the ANBU was about to protect himself from a whip of blue fire, but it ended up burning the wood that was used to separate him from it. He bounced backwards on the soles of his feet. And rolled over when a tail crashed into the remains of the shield as well.

From the tall cage where Yuriko was held, they could hear screams of anguish, agony, and an odd tone of amusement.

"SHUT UP YOU INSUFFERABLE FAILURE," the demon cat wailed to the girl, "Here I am fixing your mistakes, and this is the thanks I get?! REMEMBER YOUR PLACE, HUMAN." And its left paw came down to sweep the smaller form of a partially formed one-tailed Gaara away.

The redhead flew past their heads and suddenly there was a flash of yellow, but it wasn't the Yellow Flash they were hoping would be there soon.

It was Naruto.

He caught Gaara and they skidded in the dirt on the impact. His pajamas were covered in dry mud and his shoulder blades were scratched to no tomorrow. The other boy squirmed in his grip, and then turned an angry demonic scowl on him.

"This is my fight! What are you doing here?" the influenced Gaara spat.

"Trying to save your butt," the blond replied calmly.

They shot up together, not noticing how the adults stared at the duo in both horror and awe. Together they ran towards the demon and bullets of sand bombarded the monster while Naruto attempted to throw handfuls of kunai at its big yellow eye in hopes of blinding it.

The animal hissed when a shuriken came close and it slammed its back foot into the ground, forming yet another gigantic crater in the scene of battle.

A rumbling sounded and abruptly the group was surrounded by squads of masked ANBU, including a fiery Kushina who punched a hole in a boulder nearby and caused cracks to litter the terrain. Caught in surprise, all the residents stumbled on their feet, but the cat was not done yet.

Its eyes focused on the pair of young jinchuuriki and breathed in deeply.

Kushina's violet eyes widened in dismay. "GET OUT OF HERE!" She belted frantically. "IT'S GOING TO MAKE A TAILED BEAST BOMB!"

Hearing this, the children that were hiding in the bushes while watching the battle unfold before them sprinted in the opposite direction of where the beast was aiming, but Shikamaru noticed that Naruto and Gaara would not have enough time to get out of the way. It was in the moment that he made a decision and his hands formed into the unique hand sign of the Nara Clan. He would not let his friends die.

"Shadow Possession Technique!" the Nara called and arms of black shows snaked stealthily on the landscape, illuminated by the moon's light. The tendrils grasped a hold of Naruto, who was already gripping onto Gaara, and on Shikamaru's command, they yanked the pair out of the clearing and away from the line of fire.

Unfortunately for the Nara, now he was the one who was in danger.

There was a terrifying outburst and trees uprooted as a massive and corrosive ball of purely dense chakra detonated. Waves of air spread out in circles and the bystanders had to cover their eyes and ears. The sound was too much and the dust made tickled their tear ducts unpleasantly.

When all was silent and relatively still, all that was left of the cat demon was the fallen and exhausted form of Yugito Nii. Her jounin vest was badly torn and her blonde hair was dirty and splayed. But in the portion of the field where the bomb had come to fruition, everything that used to be there was left as ashes, disintegrated, and there was no sign of Shikamaru Nara.

"SHIKAMARU!" Naruto heard Sasuke yell.

The Hokage's son was crouched, curled up next to Gaara whose sand had calmed and returned to the container. But Naruto saw it all. He knew from the start that when he felt himself lose total control of his body, that one of his closest friends had sacrificed himself for him. And suddenly his head was throbbing in pain.

All he saw was coated in the angry color of red. He breathed, trying to control his emotions, trying to control the tears that prickled at the back of his eyeballs. His fingers trembled and his palms began to sweat. His eyes faced downward and all he could see was blood and furiousness and nothing else. He wanted to kill the thing that had caused this pain to explode in his gut.

"That's right," the deep voice in his mind snarled, "Remember your power. Remember our power."

Naruto's head lifted and his pupils had turned to slits, his irises a dark crimson. The whiskers on his cheeks thickened and his face morphed into something feral. The canines of his teeth extended and grew out past his lips and then he was growling, an orange and bubbling cloak of pure chakra covered his body and fox ears shaped along with the immediate formation of two tails.

"You killed him!" the eight-year-old roared.

The boy bounded over to the downed form of Yugito and snatched the front of her shirt with his hand that now had fingernails that resembled claws. He scratched her face and she bled, screaming in agony as she attempted to scramble away. The woman no longer had the strength to call on her tailed beast.

More chakra bubbled outward and a third tail formed on Naruto's cloak. The fox had awakened.

In the background, Gaara's eyes were wide. "He's…he's like me…"

"Yes," a voice agreed behind the jinchuuriki and he swiveled around to see the form of the Yondaime Hokage. His eyes were intense and were no longer the twinkling light blue he witnessed when he first met him. Now they were dark and forbidding. "Naruto is like you, but unfortunately, he holds the Kyuubi."

The man flashed away and Gaara could see behind him the unconscious body of Shikamaru who was luckily breathing, and behind that the hand of a three pronged kunai that was embedded into the trunk of a tree.

And Minato confronted the rampaging form of his son, a determined look in his eye. He had faced the actual, full demon that was the Kyuubi. He could not be afraid of this. He could not be afraid of his own flesh and blood.

"Naruto," he commanded while staring at his son who was now on all fours. "You need to calm down. Control your power. Control it."

The boy lashed out to his own father and he was blocked by two kunai that zoomed in the moonlight.

"Control it!"

Naruto growled and swiped a claw to the Hokage, who easily dodged it and still appeared completely composed despite having to fight his own family. He ducked when both claws came together in an attempt to clasp him and trap him. The bystanders watched on in intense anticipation. Kushina was itching to go out there herself and fix everything.

"NARUTO!" Minato bellowed loudly. The others in the clearing were shocked to hear it, especially the ANBU. They had never heard their leader shout, let alone so…desperately. "Remember who you are! Remember what I told you!" And here he flashed away in his trademark move, appearing on top of the seal he had placed on the grass behind his son's feet. "You are not a demon! Remember!

"I told you! You have to learn to forgive!" He jumped backwards, narrowly missing another blow and added, "And Shikamaru is fine! I was able to get him out before anything happened!"

His son was really acting like a monster now, and that terrified Minato to no end. He didn't want this for Naruto. He didn't want his only child to have to succumb to this kind of torture, to have to be forced to use a power that he did not yet have full control over. But the worst part of it all was that he knew that it was all his fault. He had made that decision eight years ago. He had made that decision, and now his son had to pay for something he did not willingly do.

"You promised me that you would always get past hatred! You promised me, Naruto!"

The wind blew past them, the snow whirling, and the fighting and dodging halted.

"I promise to always get past my hatred." Naruto remembered he had said something like that and the anger was pushed away to the furthest recesses of his psyche. The fox flowed away and was no more. He no longer felt the need to kill and maim and murder so needlessly anymore, even as Yugito moaned near his person.

The child's body stopped instantly at his father's words and he stiffened. The heavy chakra of the demon fox boiled away and vanished, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed to his knees, gasping out unintentionally, and his fingernails retracted back to their normal size. Minato was there to catch him before he fell face first into the dirt and light blanket of snow.

"Good," the father whispered softly, and no one else could hear even if they tried, "I knew you would remember."

Afterwards, the multitudes of ANBU agents once again took up the entire clearing, which was now utterly destroyed. The red bridge was gone and pieces of it could be seen floating down the half frozen river. The frosted grass was more black than green, and there was a significantly less amount of trees in the forests than there were mere hours ago. The children were brutally scolded for not following through on orders and Temari was profusely apologizing for the trouble her youngest brother had caused. Gaara was oddly quiet and even though he already had a reserved personality, and he kept staring at the knocked out Naruto while also looking at his hands like they were somehow different than he remembered them being.

Kushina was fussing over her husband and son, the latter of which probably would not wake up for a good day or so, they suspected.

The Kumo shinobi were all detained. Yuriko had changed to Koh and was shouting obscenities to her captors, while Yugito was resigned and subdued. Inside, the woman was berating herself for losing to a brat that was way younger than her. And Tahn, which they found out was the name of the Head Ninja from the Cloud, was sent in for questioning in the Torture and Interrogation Department with extra torture.

Inoichi had described the man's questioning to the Hokage and said how Anko sauntered up to Kumo's Head Ninja, her walk confident with stride, how she leaned in front of him—whether intentionally or unintentionally showing off her assets, they didn't know—and spoke in a low, threatening yet somehow inviting voice.

He then said how she lifted her index finger and poked the tied up man under the chin, his eyes widening with horror and started to speak. "Now," Inoichi said she purred with a knowing smirk, "You're going to tell me exactly what your little plan was from the start or else I will gladly introduce you to a close friend of mine."

What the "friend of hers" was, none of them were sure, but they suspected that it was either one of her pet snakes or the knife trick she was known for doing, especially when she wanted information. That said, the knife was usually found bloodied and the victim would have disturbing doodles of explicit symbols carved into their bodies when she was done with them.

They collected their information quickly because of her help.

Kumo had never actually planned on agreeing to an alliance in the first place. The Raikage, A, only wanted an easy route into the village without looking totally suspicious. He also wanted to improve his arsenal of shinobi—quite the predictable move—and he wanted to do that by taking advantage of either the Uzumaki chakra coils, the Uchiha bloodline, or the Hyuuga bloodline. The grand prize, of course, would hopefully be the Byakugan as that was the doujutsu the conniving man had been eyeing for years.

Now with all the paperwork mostly completed and the Sand ninja travelling back to their home village, Minato was feeling incredibly guilty and he voiced his opinion to his only remaining student who stood before him in his office, silver hair swept the side.

"After all of this," the Fourth sighed as he fingered the bristles of one of his inking brushes, "I really do feel like I can't be a father to Naruto. I've felt this way before, multiple times, but now…"

"You can't doubt yourself suddenly, sensei," Kakashi offered in his typical nonchalant tone.

"But he saw Gaara and how he turned out, and not to mention that the Kyuubi—"

The former ANBU rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly and explained, "Any man can be a father," and he smiled behind his mask while thinking of his own father, "but it takes someone special to be a dad."

Minato parted his lips, not knowing what to say to that.

"Naruto looks up to you," the Hatake continued. "If he didn't, would he have listened to you when you tried to stop him from going on as the Kyuubi?"

A knock echoed on the door, interrupting their conversation. The leader allowed whoever it was inside his workplace, and in came the new ANBU captain that replaced Kakashi, Itachi Uchiha.

"If I may, Hokage-sama…" the teen trailed off, awaiting a reply to which he received an affirmative. "All your orders have been taken care of and the enemy shinobi thoroughly imprisoned. We just have to wait for the notification to the Raikage."

"Right," the blond agreed. "I have already taken care of it."

The Uchiha frowned after a pause. "We also have the problem of Mizuki," he informed his commander-in-chief. "Kakashi-senpai—" he gestured toward the other ninja in the room "—and I were able to capture him before he succeeded in stealing the Scroll of Sealing, but the fact that he broke out of prison to do so is worrying. It could mean that someone is helping him."

Minato narrowed his eyes. "Yes, we've been suspecting treasonous actions beneath Konoha for a couple of years, but were never able to find adequate evidence until now. However, we still don't know who it could be for sure and it would be too dangerous to make a move now, especially with the position we've put Kumo in."

The teenager crinkled his eyebrows together in thought. "But Hokage-sama," he wondered, "don't you think it's too large of a coincidence that all of this occurred during the Kumo incident?"

"I think you're thinking exactly in line," the fair-haried man decided. "But I suspect that whoever planned to use Mizuki now simply used that as a cover. There's no way the Cloud could know about the Scroll; it's an S-class village secret that is heavily guarded and only a handful know of it. If you recall, Mizuki was one of its previous guards…

"I won't deny that this is getting dangerous, though. We need to keep alert. The fact that that traitor wanted the Scroll is troubling, seeing as there are many forbidden techniques contained in it such as the true completed form of the Niidaime's Impure World Resurrection Technique. We can't let something like this get into the wrong hands."

Itachi nodded once in confirmation.

"Itachi," the Hokage commanded and the adolescent was attentive, "From now on you and your squad will be put in charge of protecting that Scroll and all of its contents. I want new security measures put in place. You are also to inform the prison that they are to soundly improve their security detail by the end of this week and an inspection will take place once every month."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed," he said to the both of them and both ninja vanished in puffs of smoke.

Minato took a deep breath. So far, there were so many threats to the Leaf, and the problems with the fox were not helping either. The father tried to not let the guilt eat away at him. Kakashi was right. Naruto didn't hate him; he couldn't. Otherwise he would not have taken his lesson so seriously.

He decided that he would go home early that day. Then he could see if his son had finally awoken. It had been a full day since those happenings and he would be kidding himself if he said that he was not worried.

And his thoughts returned to one month previously and how Naruto was scared because the Kyuubi had contacted him for the first time. Was that some sort of sign? It might have been. After all, his son did say something about "more coming." Maybe that should have been Minato's warning. Maybe he should have been more attentive. Maybe he should have listened.

There were too many maybes and too many questions that needed to be answered. But even in that moment, the Fourth Hokage was completely human and nowhere near the legendary Yellow Flash he was called so often, because even as much as he wanted to push away the guilt, he still hated himself.

And locked away in his own son's mind was this giant chakra construct of a demon that could speak with him, that could possibly control his actions if provoked. He wondered if the fox was trying to contact Naruto right now, or whether it would be anything significant if it did.

But he was not aware that he was right…

"There are certain things that a great tailed demon such as myself could never forget," the Kyuubi said with echoing power in his prison hold in the blond child's mind. "The Ichibi and Niibi may have forgotten it all, but I am attached to you. I know everything. I know all. I have seen what has been and what could have been…

"And you, my entertaining little jinchuuriki, will probably never remember until it's too late," the devastatingly enormous beast finished forebodingly.

And he faded out into the darkness, leaving Naruto to wake up with a start after yet another terrifying and confusing nightmare. But even after all the times he had forgotten his dreams, even after all the times he had awoken and it felt like something important was pounding in the back of his awareness like a memory that was trying to outflow from his clutches but could not, this dream sequence felt all the more different because this time he did remember everything.

This time, Naruto did not forget and he wondered what exactly the demon wanted him to remember.

AN: If any of you are wondering, yes, the name "Koh" is a tribute to the spirit in Avatar: The Last Airbender that can steal faces and shift faces. Obviously, this name is relevant here.

Coming up next…

Chapter Six: Blue Moon Rising

Naruto graduates from the Academy and starts to take on missions. Meanwhile, the shadows beneath the Leaf Village are finally starting to move.

Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask:

(1) Fish collar or hamachi kama is a common delicacy in Japan and in other Asian countries. It can come from many kinds of fish, the most popular including yellowtails and salmon. It is literally the collarbone of the fish covered in meat. (Quite tasty in my opinion.) If you are curious and live outside of a country that would serve this, the best way to get it is to specifically ask for it in a Japanese restaurant because it most likely won't be on the menu. They might be a little surprised if you ask as usually only natives know of it, but it's worth a shot! They usually save the collar anyway.

(2) Storey is the British English spelling for the American story. No it does not mean story as in a book story. It means the storey, or level of a building. While I use American English, there are a small handful of words that I prefer the British English spelling for. Like gray versus grey, color versus colour, and whatnot. They still mean the same thing.

(3) Murphy's Law is a famous adage that is usually stated as, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." In more straight terms that would be equivalent to "shit goes wrong."

(4) Asking "Who am I talking with today?" is a common question physiatrists ask patients that are suffering from Dissociative Personality Disorder (DID), or as was known until recently, Multiple Personality Disorder. For those that do not know, DID is a mental disorder that entails that the patient experiences two or more completely separate personalities. They are typically so separate from each other that the person is often not aware of the other personalities when he or she is acting as one personality versus another, but sometimes they are aware of each other. They are also so different that their likes and dislikes are not the same, and even a strange phenomenon like completely different blood pressures or heartbeat patterns occur that no one can explain. Even the voices vary.
So I am sure you can adequately deduce that Yuriko has that mental disorder.