Disclaimer: Ok by now everyone should know I don't own the cannon of this story or any of the characters written about herein. However it is very good to know that so many of you are really enjoying the slightly twisted ideas my fertile mind keeps coming up with.

Hubby: would you just get on with the next chapter Rose? I'm sure they all want to know what Tsunade is gonna do with her traitor ninjas. Like I do.

Disclaimer: Hold your horses, Dear. I'll get to it. Anyway you got to wait for that a little bit longer. This chapter is just a short excerpt to let the readers see where Naruto is in his development. He has a long road to travel back to normalcy.

Chapter Eleven: Naruto's View

By the time evening came Tsunade was more tired than she would have been if she'd spent the entire day running from bill collectors trying to collect all of her various debts at the same time. She still hadn't managed to read the mission reports she'd asked Shizune to get for her so she took them with her for bedtime reading. She had one more stop to make before she could go home. Wearily she made her way back to the cabin to check in on Jiraiya and Naruto. Jiraiya had been fixing a pot of stew for them when she arrived and he told her about the trip around town.

She found Naruto sitting in the garden near the niche with Kami's statuette in it. He had placed some pretty flowers there and was just gazing at it. For a few minutes she just stood there watching him but then he turned his head and smiled at her. It wasn't the smile she remembered seeing in the past but it was genuine nonetheless and it made her smile in response. She walked over and sat down beside him. "Hello Naruto. How was your day today?"

"Better." He pointed to her. It wasn't a question but she chose to treat it as one just as she'd done earlier that day with Hiashi.

"My day was fine. Lots of people in and out but altogether a good day."

He gave her a scrutinizing look before placing the tip of one finger on a wrinkle in her forehead. "Better." was all he said.

She laughed and said, "Well yeah you are too young for wrinkles yet. Tell me what you did today."

"Walked." He paused and then fingered his hair with a frown. "Haircut. Walked."

"Did you meet anyone else Naruto?" He looked at her but didn't answer. She tried again. "Would you like to meet your friends again?" He frowned. He looked at the ground. "Not really," he replied.

Tsunade sighed. "Alot of your friends came by my office today. They want to see you. They've all missed you and they want to let you know they're happy you're back. Are you sure you don't want to see any of them?"

He tensed as a far away look settled in his eyes. He appeared to be lost in thought and so she just sat on the grass and waited. Sometimes responses came very slowly. Then he said, "Mother says Hinata. Iruka."

"Kami told you to see them?"

He nodded and pointed at her. "Hinata." Then turned his finger to his own chest and said, "Iruka."

Now it was Tsunade's turn to think for a bit. Dealing with Naruto of few words was in it's own way much harder than dealing with the old Naruto had ever been. Back then if you took what he said at face value, he seemed to be just a stupid empty-headed blond who lived his life out in the wide open. But for those who took the time to think about what he said and did it was quite clear that he hid way more than he revealed. His words and actions usually showed something totally different than what they appeared to. Now he wasn't using inane sentences to convey his meanings. He honestly didn't have the ability to do that. So each word had to be puzzled over and the meaning derived. She considered possible meanings before she finally asked, "So she wants you to see Hinata for me but Iruka for yourself?"

He nodded and answered, "Iruka teach. Iruka friend. Iruka courage."

"Yes. He is a brave man and a good teacher and he was your friend. So she wants Iruka to teach you again? But did she explain why she wanted Hinata to see you for me?"

"Iruka-sensei. Help me. Hinata help you."

"What about Sasuke? Or Sakura?"

She saw the chakra start forming in his hand when she had mentioned her apprentice and wondered just what the girl had really said to upset him so bad he wanted to hurt her. "No," he growled. "No princeling and his whore."

Tsunade was shocked. In all the years she had known Naruto she'd never heard such language from him before. She wasn't even sure he'd known about those kind of relationships.

"Hate her. Mean. Disgusting girl." He was practically growling the words out and the chakra was growing large around his clenched hand. "Bitch in heat," he muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"He had her smell."

"When you came to the tower you could smell her on him so you don't want to see either of them? Well, they want to see you but I'll keep them away."

"He want fight. She want yell."

"Well yeah. You're probably right."

"No fight unless to kill. No kill except food, life."

"So you won't fight anymore unless it's something you'll eat or you are threatened with your life. And then you will fight to kill." She sighed but Jiraiya had already given her a heads up about it so she'd expected it. "Ok Naruto. I can accept that." She stood up and he stood with her. She gave him a quick hug and said, "I'll see you tomorrow. Be good now."

He nodded and watched as she left the garden. He knew she'd stop and talk to the red faced man again but he didn't care. Red face wasn't so bad and she seemed to care about him. He wondered why as he took a slow stroll around the yard. He checked on the feeders before he sat down again with his back to the stone wall. Who were they to him? They both seemed to be very upset by him now but he didn't know why. It made no sense to him. He tried to talk to Kami about it but she either wasn't ready to tell him or she thought he'd figure it out on his own.

After a few hours had passed Jiraiya came out to tell him it was time for sleep. He found Naruto sleeping as he was and roused him to go into bed. Once again the boy had fallen asleep without dinner and, though he knew Tsunade wouldn't be happy about it, Jiraiya didn't have the heart to wake him just for food. Besides Naruto never could eat first thing upon waking.

Author Notes: Ok I know it's just a short chapter and all but sometimes in long stories there are so many people involved a short chapter is necessary just to remember where a character is. As always send in your reviews as they help me remember threads that might otherwise get dropped because I forgot about them. Next up. . . A meeting between Master and Apprentice.