AN: Sorry it took a bit longer to update but work is starting to catch up to me. I checked all your reviews and I'd like to thank you for all the extra information, it helped me figure out where to take this fic. I know I made a few errors, which I apologise for, but I'll stick through it all. Thanks for all your suggestions, I am definitely using some of them. On to the story...

Her eyes shot wide open as she landed with a light splash and a dull thud, the sensation of falling for an eternity was still very fresh. She quickly got to her feet, which was a bit difficult because of the initial shock. She realized that she was soaked and when she looked down she saw water that rose above her feet. She quickly took in her surroundings and realized that she was in a narrow passage with pipes, resembling a sewer of some sorts.

Rumbling, she thought she was actually hearing things until the sound came again. It sounded like a distant earthquake, stopping just for a few seconds and then continuing. The ground shook with tremor effort as the rumbling continued. She didn't know what to make of the situation but she was very curious to know what the hell was going on. Where was she? What was causing that noise? It seemed that she had to venture closer to the source in order to get answers.

She looked around. Pipes, pipes, and more pipes, on the ceiling and walls. How the hell did she end up here? Did someone just dump her, and if so then for what reason? The water she was walking through seemed to be knee high now and she couldn't shake off the sense of foreboding as the rumbling increased in accordance to her distance, or lack of.

She was getting closer now and it seemed that her heart had picked the worst moment to start hammering in her chest. She was nervous, scared even. Something wasn't right about all of this, and she had a feeling she wouldn't want to know what the matter was.

She saw, in the distance, that the narrow passage was beginning to stretch out and as she approached she could see the faint outline of a room, and that made her curiosity turn to wary. None the less she persisted without pause.

When she made it into the room she was treated to a very large cage, even as she looked up she could see no ceiling. Her head whipped in the direction of the rumbling, so, it was coming from in there. It was actually really loud now and it shook the entire room, albeit only slightly.

Just as suddenly the rumbling stopped and she froze in place. If she didn't know any better she could have sworn that the rumbling was actually someone, or something, breathing.

Something was in there, she wasn't certain but her instincts were telling her otherwise. Something was in there and she was sure it was aware of her presence as well.

"Mmmmm..." She shivered at the sound, something was definitely in there. Whatever it was seemed silent, as if assessing her in some way, her fears increasing tenfold, but what happened next through her into complete bewilderment,"Your father is a fool."

She shot out of her bed. Her breath in short bursts, gasping for air, eyes wide open on the prospect that if she dared to even close them then that would mean the end of her. She took in her surroundings quickly and her tense body relaxed when she noticed that she was in her room.

"What was that?" Naruko whispered to herself in wary and fear. That was the most vivid dream she had ever experienced, so much detail and she was completely aware of everything around her. That had never happened to her before and she was actually scared.

"Calm down, it was just a dream." She scolded herself for getting so emotional, it wasn't as if that dream could harm her, it wasn't real, right?

She hoped that she didn't wake Narumi from her sleep. It didn't matter how many rooms this place had, Narumi refused to be separated from her, Naruko felt warm at that. Narumi was like the naïve, loving, bright, little girl that anyone would love. Naruko was pretty sure that even enemy shinobi couldn't harm Narumi, she was just to adorable for her own good.

She took a glance at Narumi's bed and her eyes widened in shock. Narumi wasn't on the bed, she was gone.

"Kaa-san! Tou-san!" Naruko screamed.

It didn't take long for both parents to rush into the girls' room in alarm.

"Naruko, what's wrong?" Kushina asked in worry when she saw her distraught daughter.

"Narumi's gone!" Naruko said frantically.

Both parents were shocked but it was Minato who first acted.

"Search anywhere you can. I'll use my hiraishin to look for her," Minato said seriously. He did not want another child to suffer, he would not allow it. He disappeared from them in a yellow flash.

Kushina was already making for the door, not caring that she was wearing pyjamas, one of her children needed her and who ever was involved in taking Narumi shall meet a swift death at her hands. Once she found her daughter she would request for Aki to stay in the Namikaze estate permanently. In truth Aki wasn't even from Konoha, she only had arrived a few weeks ago, so Kushina could not fault her in Naruto's suffering, that didn't mean she didn't take precautionary measures to ensure that Aki would not harm Narumi.

"Kaasan!" Naruko rushed to catch up to her irate mother.

"Naruko, stay here." She was all mother now and she was falling into her protective instincts.

"I-I think I know where Narumi is," Naruko squeaked out. Her mother could be very scary at times, but she needed to voice out her opinion. She had her suspicions, for a long time, where Narumi would disappear to, and she hoped that she was correct.

"...Where?" Kushina decided to listen, she would take anything she got.

Naruko and Kushina raced to Naruto's apartment. It was early into the morning and not many people were outside but the pair were not focusing on that, they didn't even care if any of these people never saw the light of day again, except for a select few. Kushina prayed that Narumi was at the apartment but she was a bit wary on what might be happening there.

They entered the building and approached Naruto's door hesitantly, both for different reasons. Naruko gulped and then knocked softly. There was no reply whatsoever.

"Do you think he knows it's us?" Naruko asked timidly.

"I don't think that's it, I think he must be sleeping," Kushina said thoughtfully. It would make sense. She had been training him to exhaustion for the past week, adding to the fact that they still had D-rank missions then it was easily comprehensible that he must be sleeping.

"Do you think we should go inside? I don't want him to get angry at us." She was nervous, Kushina understood that, but if there was something happening in this place then they needed to investigate.

"We have to Musume, we need to make sure that there isn't anything wrong. Plus, Narumi is still missing so we have to act quickly." With that said she opened the door and looked around, not a single soul was in the living room.

They made their way to Naruto's bedroom and were met with a startling sight. Naruto was still sleeping, snoring loudly to the world, but he wasn't alone. Narumi was on his bed, using his chest as a pillow as she slept soundly. Kushina couldn't stop the tears as she stared at the scene in front of her.

It was heart warming that Narumi was also doing her best to be with her brother, and it was another slap to her face for all the mistakes she made that drifted Naruto apart from them. It wasn't fair to the girls, they obviously loved him but since Naruto had a dislike for the Namikazes then he wouldn't return their feelings. Kami she wanted to die.

"Don't worry Kaa-san, he'll come around. Just don't give up. It will take time, years perhaps, but please don't give up on him," Naruko said comfortingly as she took hold of her mother's hand.

"I would never," Kushina said with a small bittersweet smile. She didn't have that kind of right, she had to make up for her failures. He was her child, her blood, her sochi, she would never give up on him, never.

"Should we leave her here?" Naruko asked suddenly.

Kushina looked at Naruko for a moment. She was actually considering her daughter's silent request but they were all stopped from their musings by a yellow flash.

"Oh wow...She was here all along? How did she even get here? She's three years old." Minato kept his voice at a whisper. It was truly a shocking site to see his daughter and son sleeping on the same bed.

"You know she has a knack for running out of the house, ever since we got here anyway," Kushina said evenly.

"Oh...yeah," Minato said dumbly.

"How did you get here so quickly," Kushina asked Minato suspiciously.

"... I hid some of my kunai in the living room and I was able to use them to get here quick enough." He just knew he upset Kushina with what he said. He knew the reason of course, it was a breach of trust, Naruto's trust, however small it was.

"Remove every kunai in this place," Kushina whispered with an edge. She was furious with Minato for this blatant act and disregard for Naruto's privacy.

"Then how can I come to his aid quickly?" Minato countered.

"Kaa-san, Tou-san, we have to go. He could wake at any moment," Naruko said while eyeing her brother's prone form nervously.

"You will remove them when he is out," Kushina replied, although it seemed more of an order, as she made her way to the bed and carefully took her daughter from her sleeping position. Narumi whimpered softly in protest and Kushina had to resist the urge to sigh. Even in her sleep, Narumi still wanted to be close to Naruto.

"Alright, but I'll leave the ones just outside his apartment," Minato said in resignation.

Kushina did not protest to that, as long as it wasn't against Naruto's privacy then it was fine with her.

They all came together and then disappeared in another yellow flash.

It was about an hour later when Kushina and Minato where conversing in his office.

"Any luck in finding them?" Kushina asked impatiently.

"Well Jiraiya was quite easy to find, using the spy network. Tsunade however is a whole different story. She's disappeared, none of the ANBU could report anything and I doubt we will be able to locate her so easily," Minato said with a frown.

"Right, when will Jiriaya be here?" Kushina asked, deciding to focus on an easier target.

"The message from my ANBU came a few days ago, detailing the estimated time of arrival with Jiraiya. Today is the day," Minato said indifferently.

"I see." There was nothing else she could say on the subject, things were already in motion and they would soon be seeing that bastard of a godfather anytime now.

"Kushina-chan?" Kushina was cut from her thoughts when Minato called to her in worry.

"Yes Minato-kun?" Kushina responded.

"I know you're furious, I am too, but we have to hear him out before anything else, okay?" Minato said carefully.

"Let me make one thing clear Minato-kun. It doesn't matter what excuse he gives us. He will still get the beating of his life, but I'll hear him out before I tear him apart," Kushina replied mirthlessly.

"That's good enough for me," Minato said.

"For a moment I thought you would try to put your former sensei in a good light," Kushina said, raising an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

"My true family comes first. It is my duty as a father and a husband to put my family first," Minato said seriously.

"And here I actually thought you'd put Hokage first," Kushina replied with a small smile.

Minato scoffed, she had to be joking. Put these people before his own family? These despicable villagers? Minato did not find that thought amusing whatsoever. However, all those thoughts did remind him of one thing.

"That reminds me. I've got a special announcement for my beloved villagers tomorrow," Minato said with a glint in his eye.

Kushina only raised an eyebrow. She was very interested in that, but decided to not pry.

"I just wonder how long we have to wait for your ANBU," Kushina said in annoyance. She was not a patient woman and she wanted justice now!

Minato was about to reply, but he was stopped by a poof of smoke. He and Kushina both looked to the figure crouched in front of them.

"Hokage-sama, we have arrived as estimated from our retrieval mission of Jiraiya of the Sannin," The ANBU bowed lower in loyalty and respect.

"Where is he?" Kushina immediately asked.

"In the waiting room, along with my subordinates." The agent knew not to mess with a woman scorned, and he did not want to end up in the crossfire of an angry mother.

"Alright, send him in."

Jiraiya was in a bit of a situation. One moment he was utilising information on a possible uprising, in another village, when suddenly he was surrounded by Konoha ANBU. Now that in itself was nothing to be alarmed of since they were his allies, but when they told him that, as per the Hokage's request, he needed to return to Konoha, effective immediately, that's when he felt something was wrong.

He had tried to pry information out of his escorts, but they denied him anything other than, "All will be explained by the Hokage himself." Nothing more was said.

He had wondered what on earth would Sarutobi need him for, especially using his best tracking ANBU agents to locate him. It was frustrating, he was on a mission and he didn't need Sarutobi interfering.

Oh well, he was back in Konoha now, not that he cared that much, but he did want to get this meeting over and done with as soon as possible. He would have easily went into Sarutobi's office uninvited, like he always did, but these agents weren't giving him space to do so, in fact they were very adamant in making sure he didn't move an inch.

"Jiraiya-sama, the Hokage will see you now," the secretary said respectfully. She was lucky that Minato had let her keep this job. She had begged and pleaded, promising to accept any punishment, any suffering, to keep her job. It was mostly because of the guilt that she felt for Naruto. She didn't know him well enough, but she was involved in his suffering a number of times, under the illusion that he was the Kyuubi.

She didn't know of anyway she could make up for her crimes other then punishment from the parents themselves, so she waited until that faithful day came.

"Thanks, I wouldn't mind getting together later," Jiraiya said with a flirtatious grin.

"Uhh...Please make haste Jiraiya-sama." The secretary knew all about Jiraiya's tendencies and she wasn't in the least interested.

"Sure, sure." Jiraiya waved it off, maybe he'll stop for some research before he left the village again. He couldn't help the nagging feeling of impending doom coming forth, even though he knew full well that he wasn't in any possible danger here, who would be stupid enough to attack on of the three legendary Sannin?

He approached the Hokage's office and alarm bells were starting to go off. What the hell was wrong with him? Did he eat some bad sushi or something? He decided to ignore his on and off instincts and made his way into the Hokage's office.

"Sarutobi, what is the meani-" he cut off his rant when he realized that it wasn't Sarutobi sitting at the usual desk, but Minato.

"Ah! Sensei, I hope your trip back to Konoha was a peaceful one," Minato said in false happiness.

Jiraiya was truly shocked to the core. Minato was back in Konoha? Since when? Had it been twelve years already? His brain struggled to think of any coherent thoughts.

"Well, I apologies for inviting you here so suddenly. I just needed your report in Naruto's progress. Can he perform the Rasengan? Did you teach him any useful jutsu? Is he the prodigy that you always boasted about before his birth? Take your time sensei." The statement was gentle, but the air was thick with tension, hardly breathable.

Jiraiya's mind was still trying to sort itself out. The fact that Minato was here was a surprise, bu the more pressing matter would be the fact that he immediately wanted his opinion on Naruto's progress as a shinobi. He had to be honest with himself, he had no idea how to answer the onslaught of questions.

He remembered that faithful day. Tsunade had left suddenly, so suddenly that he couldn't find a reason to the sudden departure, it could have been because Konoha reminded her of Dan, but if that was the case then she would have left years prior to the Kyuubi attack. So he was left with the baby, and to be honest he couldn't be there all the time for the child, he had a spy network to run.

He looked after Naruto, secretly of course, for only a week before giving him to an orphanage and putting the child's responsibility into the Hokage's hands. He figured it would be good for the child in the end. Minato had grown up in an orphanage, going into the academy, and then finally came to be his student. He turned out to be one of the greatest Hokages that had ever lived.

He figured if Naruto had the same upbringing, then he would turn out just like his father. He had planned to come and teach the kid when he reached twelve years of age, but due to his spy network he had forgotten about it and only now did he realize that he HAD to know information on Naruto since he wrote it in the letters.

He whirled around when he heard the door close and saw Kushina herself, looking at him with a small smile, which was anything but welcoming.

"Hello Jiraiya, so how has our son been doing? With all the letters you sent us then I'm sure you and Tsunade made him a great prodigy," Kushina said evenly, but her body shook only slightly.

Jiraiya felt like a fish out of water, struggling to breath and get his bearings. He knew he was in dangerious territory, so he decided to pry for information first before he would answer their questions.

"Hey Kushina, Minato, when did you guys get back?" He had to put up a smile to try and defuse the tension, but it seemed to only fuel the sense of dread.

"Hmmm, not long ago. We wanted to see you, but you weren't here. So I deduced that you were somewhere involved in your spy network, luckily my ANBU found you easily," Minato said evenly. He wasn't going to give too much information yet.

"So why weren't you with Naruto?" Kushina asked.

Jiraiya was starting to sweat. This was definitely not a warm welcome.

"I was busy with the spy network Kushina-chan," Jiraiya said carefully.

"Oh... How were you able to check on Naruto then?" Minato asked.

"Well I-" he paused when he realized something...they knew already.

"Yes?" Kushina prompted.

"I uhm."

"Enough of this! Did you look after our son or not," Kushina said strongly. The game was up and she wanted answers.

"Well, I kind of let the village look after him. Make him into a responsible person before I came back to train him personally. Something similar to your life Minato," Jiraiya said.

"And Tsunade?" Minato asked calmly as he saw Kushina struggling to stop herself from lashing out.

"Left after you did, never seen her since. Now I know that I promised to look after the kid but I thought it would be better this way. He would grow up strong just like you Minato and then I would come and teach him everything I know. Besides, this village would be more than enough to help him grow." Jiraiya said easily. It was for Naruto's own good, Minato could understand that.

"...Go ahead Kushina-chan." The moment Minato said those words was the moment when a powerful fist made contact with Jiraiya's face, which sent him flying out of the tower and crashing to the ground.

Jiraiya was a bit dazed, that was the epitome of a sucker punch, he never saw it coming at all. He could barely make out the redhead that was coming to him.

Kushina was letting all her anger out as she made her way to that despicable man. Once she was in range she went on the man's stomach and proceeded to beat the living hell out of Jiraiya, all the while letting all her thoughts and emotions out.

"You bastard! You sorry excuse of a man! How could you! How could you betray us! Stab us in the back! Do you have any idea what we're going through! Naruto suffered, he almost died countless times, for twelve years, because of this VILLAGE! My sochi hates me! HE HATES ME!" She couldn't stop herself as she continued to let out all her frustration and fury on Jiraiya's face. Hot tears of regret and sorrow stung her eyes and her vision was blurred.

When she felt someone force her away from Jiraiya she wanted to punch them until she realized it was Minato, calling to her.

"Calm down love! Calm down!" Minato implored as he held Kushina tightly.

Kushina buried her face in Minato's shoulder and cried with heart wrenching sobs, it was too much for her.

Minato waited until she was feeling better before he let go of her and made his way to his 'sensei', who was battered from Kushina's attack. He grabbed ahold of Jiraiya's shirt and yanked the old man to his feet. He created a rasengan and carelessly observed it while he addressed Jiraiya.

"All the letters you sent to us were lies. Do you know how Naruto suffered? Even the beating Kushina had given you couldn't compare to all those reports. Nothing short of killing you could make up for your betrayal," Minato said indifferently.

Jiraiya didn't even protest. He had no idea that Naruto had it that badly, he knew that the villagers were still angered by the Kyuubi attack but he didn't think they would've made Naruto suffer so much. He didn't fight back when Kushina beat him to a bloody pulp, after hearing the reason he didn't think he deserved to retort. He was in pain but stayed strong and tried to make amends for his mistake, "Minato, I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't, none of us did. You abandoned him to a life of hell and something like that is unforgivable. You will tell me where I can find Tsunade, after you wake up," Minato said serously.

"I'm sorry," Jiraiya said remorsefully.

"Me too sensei," Minato said seriously then thrust the rasengan to Jiraiya, making him hit a building and knocking him out instantly, the pain from all the broken bones and inner damage too much to bare.

"*Sigh*...You-" Minato pointed at one of the villagers, from the gathered crowd, and spoke, "Take him to the hospital and tell the nurses to treat him until he is stable, nothing more. No special treatment or they will be punished, understood?" Minato ordered and the stunned villager did as ordered, albeit with a lot of help.

"Don't worry, I can't and won't hurt my loyal villagers." Everyone in the vicinity shivered at what Minato said, the statement had an undertone of malice. They never feared for their lives any more then now.

"I have a special announcement tomorrow. Tell everyone to be at the tower at noon," Minato said and then led his distraught wife away from the scene.

"Where is Kushina-sensei," Sakura asked curiously.

"She decided that I would be best suited for your D-rank missions today." Kakashi gave an eye smile at the group.

"*Yawn* Ah man! D-rank missions again?!" Naruto said a bit tiredly. The training he was subject to was really intense and demanding. Kushina showed him absolutely no mercy when it came to ninjutsu and taijutsu, always highlighting the fact that these two types of jutsu will be very important to his development in the future. His taijutsu was gradually improving, it had to with the way Kushina always beat him, she could hit really hard, her only excuse was that everything she did was because of her love for him, he didn't know how to feel about that. His ninjutsu still sucked but he was starting with a simple wind type jutsu.

He had to admit that Kushina did make a good sensei. She was teaching him honestly and not trying to sabotage him in any way which he, to a minuscule amount, appreciated. He kept his feelings in check when it came to thinking of her as his mother, he didn't want to think about that, it was getting difficult to sort out his emotions. He knew he didn't hate his mother, he didn't know if there was anything else after that.

"Don't worry Nii-san. Let's just get through this together," Naruko reassured.

"Stupid dobe, do you think complaining all the time will make those D-rank missions disappear?" Sasuke stared at Naruto incredulously, as incredulous as an emo could get.

"Tch, whatever teme," Naruto said off-handedly. He didn't like this at all, he was so tired of the same mundane routine over and over again. He had enough.

Bang!

"I've had enough of these D-rank mission, you hear me?!" Naruto screamed at the Hokage.

"Naruto, show some respect," Kakashi scolded.

Minato was a bit surprised with his son's outburst. Team seven had come here for their standard D-rank missions but it seemed they had grown tired of it.

"Come on! These missions are pointless, we can do better then this!" Naruto said irritably.

"Naruto-" Kakashi was cut off with a stern look from Minato.

"I see, are you sure you're ready for something different Naruto?" He knew it was a stupid question but he had to ask.

"Of course I am!" Naruto replied hotly, he didn't like the fact that he had to request a mission from his father, but he had no choice.

"Alright." They all looked at him shocked but it didn't matter.

"I've got the perfect C-rank mission for all of you-" he looked at his secretary, who was busy sorting papers, he didn't trust her one bit, but Kushina had agreed to let her keep her job and see what happens from there,"-you will go and call him in now."

"Hai Hokage-sama." The secretary bowed meekly and hurried to her duty. She would do anything and everything to make up to the Namikaze family for her acts, this was at least a small start.

It took a while but when the door opened again, an old man walked in, looking slightly tipsy for the time of day.

"This is Tazuna, your escort mission. Tazuna, these are your escorts," Minato said accordingly.

"Huh... Are you serious? You're giving me a bunch of brats as my escorts?"