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Hubby: You do NOT.

Disclaimer: Do too. You do everything I tell you to...eventually.

Hubby: Get on with the chapter Rose.

Disclaimer: But. . . but. . .

Hubby: Your readers are waiting.

Chapter Fourteen: Friends Revealed

The next morning the town was buzz with conversation. Everyone wondered when they would see Naruto around and about swinging from the light fixtures again yet somehow everyone doubted that Naruto would ever be back. Those who didn't believe the Nine-tails was in possession of his body believed he'd finally grown up but a lot of them wondered if he harbored enough love for the village to protect it still. After the way the village had always treated him they doubted it would be possible but still they hoped he did. Shikamaru found himself among that number as he sat in the Shogi parlor playing his favorite game with Asuma, his old sensei.

Hinata made her way to the tower to report her findings from her scan of the night before. She had found it very hard to sleep when she had finally gotten home and her father had held and comforted her for hours over the change she'd seen in her favorite villager. She knocked on the door to Tsunade's office and was told to enter. She pushed the door open and walked inside, closing it behind her.

"Hokage-sama. You asked me to scan Naruto-kun's coils and to observe his seal if it was at all possible. His seal has been changed. It isn't a big change but it is different. What I can say is that except for healing Kyuubi can no longer do anything to Naruto-kun. Not even when he is fighting an opponent can Kyuubi overpower Naruto-kun's will. Naruto-kun's coils appear to be healthy and he has absorbed most of the red chakra. He doesn't appear to be absorbing it anymore though. Rather it is constantly swirling around in his body in almost a circle. It almost looks as if the red chakra is being used to keep his organs functioning the way they are supposed to and as long as that chakra holds out Naruto will live. There was evidence of old injuries that Kyuubi had struggled to heal. Multiple scar-like defects showed in my scan but I don't know how old those injuries are or what necessarily caused them."

"If you had to guess Hinata, how old would you place them at? And how do you know they are evidence of past injuries?"

"When I look into Naruto-kun's pathways I can see everything about him. Every time we take an injury we receive a mark. Even though most scars are too small to be seen, they are there none-the-less. If you cut your finger a scar is left behind. You might need a microscope to see it but that doesn't mean it isn't there. This true also of the inside of our bodies. And when Naruto-kun loses control over Kyuubi it hurts him for it. The village doesn't understand why Naruto-kun won't let go but I do. He doesn't like pain any more than the rest of us do. Anyway, when Kyuubi takes over, the more tails he has, the more damage he does. At six tails Naruto-kun is lucky to survive. At seven I doubt he would. Even as fast as Kyuubi can channel his chakra to heal him Naruto-kun would die even faster." She paused for breath. A lot of what she had just said Tsunade already knew but she had said it so that Tsunade would see that she understood the symbiosis between boy and demon.

"Now when I looked at him last night I could see old marks that resembled scars from repeated injuries to the same organs and tissues. Those scars, if you will, appear to be of about the same age and duration. If I had to venture a guess I would say, from the scarring, he would have died about six years ago had Kyuubi not interfered. When I scanned his head I saw evidence of a deep and lasting coma. I know Naruto-kun has never been in a coma here in the village but this coma was noticeable because of it's depth and how long it lasted. He was in such a near death state I'm surprised no one noticed it and it lasted for about a year. Therefore, I have to conclude that Naruto-kun entered this coma during that battle."

"So that's how he did it. Smart Kyuubi. Very smart," Tsunade muttered. Hinata just gave her a puzzled look and waited for an explanation. "I don't know if he'll consent to more visits from you Hinata but I promise I will try. As you saw for yourself he is not exactly the same person he was back then. Please keep this information to yourself. About the seal at least."

"I already told my father. I was so upset by the changes in him that I had to talk to someone and Father was waiting for me."

"That's ok. Your Father hasn't been an enemy of Gaki's ever since you forced him to see the lonely little boy he really was. Please tell him I ask that he not tell anyone about the seal though. Let's make it official." She grinned and Hinata shyly smiled back.

After Hinata left Iruka came in to report on his visit with Naruto. He had also found the boy to be radically different from before but he said nearly being killed in a battle you had no chance of winning and then being cast-off by your comrades will do that to a person. Iruka asked, "Are you gonna do something about those that left him behind like that?"

"It's already in the works. Sakura is a genin once more so don't let her try to pull rank on you. You out rank her now. She will stay a genin until I feel she has learned her lesson but she will still have the work of a chunnin if I think it's something that won't endanger my good nins."

Iruka nodded and said, "Naruto has no doubt in his mind that Kakashi-sensei and his teammates had willingly left him behind on the battlefield not knowing or caring whether he was alive or dead. And he had explained he was dead so he had just crawled off to find a secluded spot and wait for Kyuubi to realize it so they could move on. If he'd given me even the slightest doubt about the issue I would have not been . . . as insistent, I guess. But he knew what he was saying and meant every word of it. He said he laid inside that cave just watching the seasons turn as he waited for Kyuubi to give up but the damn fox didn't. Eventually people found him. Some tried to rob him but he had nothing to steal and they quickly left him alone. Others were from here and tried to talk to him but he couldn't understand them. He was out of touch with words by then and didn't know what they were saying. Some came from other places too and some of them seemed to know him while others recognized what he was and ran as fast as they could. He talked about a red-headed guy who came fairly regularly with two others but although he felt he should have known them he can't remember who they are. It's like all his memories are jumbled. He recognizes someone but he can't place where he knows them from, whether he liked them or not or anything." He sighed and said, "I stuck by him before and I'll stick by him now. By Kami, he needs to be able to fully trust someone to be there when everything goes to the lowest level of hell in a handbasket."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows at the expression but couldn't help agreeing. He did need to know there was someone he could fully trust. She decided to tell him about Kami sending him back to Konoha and the visit from her while he was here. Iruka's eyes nearly popped out of his head. She also told him about Naruto's reactions to Sakura and how anytime he was out with him if they saw her to get Naruto away as fast as he could since it seemed Naruto fully understood what she'd done to him. Then she reminded him about the punishment she'd given Sakura over the incident. Iruka looked grimly satisfied with her justice.

"But what about One-eye? What are you going to do with him? He knowingly allowed this situation to develop in the first place and then knowing, he needed help he walked away turning his back on one of his charges. Sakura may not have checked to see whether he needed help but she at least can claim that she truly might have thought he could follow them. But Kakashi has no such claim. He watched Naruto fighting. He knew he was hurt."

"And then lied to me about the situation when I came to. I went back and reread my report of the incident cause I couldn't believe I would have taken the chance that Kyuubi had broken free without trying to make sure the Demon was dead." Yamato came into the office and set the old report on Tsunade's desk. He pointed to the section where Kakashi had informed him that Naruto was covering their retreat to make sure they weren't followed as they got everyone back to safety. "He knew Naruto wasn't dead but he just left him behind."

Tsunade reread the sentence and wondered what Kakashi had told her that she hadn't even sent the team Yamato had recommended. Then she remembered that she had been busy at the hospital at the time. The village had suffered an outbreak that had decimated their town for a few years. Young and old alike were stricken and it was all she could do to get a handle on the disease. By the time it was under control several months had gone by and so she had given the order to be on the lookout for him but didn't send a rescue team figuring he would have been long dead or captured by then.

"Well, guys I honestly don't know what I could do that would make any impression on Kakashi but if you think of something let me know. He definitely shouldn't get away with this or he'll do it again and next time his victim won't have a demon looking out for him. Yeah you heard that right. Apparently Kyuubi protected Naruto by sending him into a deep coma and then kept healing his body until he came out of it on his own. Kyuubi took care of him until Kami came and sent him back here. Even when he got here the Demon had to take care of him because the guards didn't tell anyone about him. He spent a year living in the woods outside our gates eating nuts and berries the animals brought for him."

"Well, he did look pretty scruffy. Not sure I would have let him in either," said Yamato.

"He came to the gate everyday at the same time and in the same place. Rain or shine. You'd think after a while one of the bright bulbs would have at least mentioned the strange guy in orange tatters with big blue eyes and stringy blond hair."

"Every day? For a year?" exclaimed Iruka. "And noone mentioned him? At all?"

"Not a single word. I've combed through the watch reports and not once was the strange vagabond mentioned. Kakashi recognized the remains of his suit when he passed too close to the gate and saw him walking up. He followed him when the guard turned him away. Funny thing is you'd have thought the guards would have noticed he left no footprints behind no matter what the weather conditions were." Tsunade shook her head. Gate duty was boring but usually anything that broke up the normal routine would get mentioned and someone who walked on the ground without leaving prints was obviously a ninja. That this one was dressed in tatters should have raised all kind of flags over the village.

"No one?" repeated Iruka.

Shizune came in with a stack of mission reports and handed her a report from Sand village. She excused Iruka and Yamato before breaking the seal. Gaara informed her that he had heard that Naruto might be leaving his cave soon and heading home. He and his siblings would like to come for a visit if it might be convenient. She dashed off a reply telling him of course it would be ok but as Naruto was already home to please stop by to see her before trying to see him. Though she suspected he already knew, she told him there were changes in his friend he needed to be prepared for before seeing him. She wished him safe travel and sent the message off by messenger bird.

She sent for Shikamaru knowing he'd want to have a heads up to Temari being in the village before she actually got here. Tsunade understood the complicated relationship between the Sand kunoichi and her jounin. She knew just how hard it was for a high ranking kunoichi to find someone who wasn't using her and she understood why the girl was attracted to the laziest ninja to ever pass out of an academy. She also thought that Shikamaru returned the girl's affections but would never hurt her or compromise his village. He gave her the only real laugh she'd had all day when he greeted the info with, "Troublesome. How very troublesome."

She was still chuckling hours later when all the mission reports were finally categorized and labeled. She handed them off to Shizune and they both watched stunned as another stack magically appeared on her desk. She pulled a sheet off the top of the stack and exclaimed, "What the Ell? I already filed this report." She grabbed the next one and again she recognized that mission also. She had Shizune close the door and spread the papers out on the floor in order. Then they went through the stack that had appeared on her desk. Every single paper was a repeat of a report in the pile she had just finished. As soon as the last paper was off her desk another stack showed up.

Now she was getting a crafty look in her eye. "Someone is going to pay," she said as she removed the entire stack. She set it on the floor and watched as a new copy appeared. She sent Shizune out snooping. As soon as she was gone she removed that stack and watched as the fifth copy took it's place. "No wonder the desk is never clear of paperwork." She removed that stack also and was just about to send it up in flames when Shizune came back and told her where it was coming from. Tsunade sent a jutsu racing back across the chakra lines and a whole bunch of smoke came pouring out of the records room as well as the accounting office. Several workers came choking into the main hallways to be confronted by a smirking Hokage and her assistant. "Don't ever do that to me again or next time it won't be just smoke bombs I send. You'll go home stinking like you've wallowed with the pigs and with clown hair to boot. Am I clear?" Several heads bobbed as best they could while still trying to clean the smoke from their lungs. Sometimes it paid to know pranksters.