Sakura awoke to the feel of soft kisses being laid on the back of her neck. She nearly purred with contentment and heard a husky chuckle from behind her. The lips on her neck moved to her ear and nibbled softly. Strong arms were wrapped around her lovingly, and a large hand cupped her breast. Fingertips teased the sensitive tip until it became as hard as glass, and Sakura gasped as her lover pinched it sharply. Turning her head, she found beautiful, blue eyes gazing at her with all the love in the world, and a foxy grin on their owner's face.

Naruto shushed her from saying a word as he saw her mouth begin to move. He lifted her top leg back over his hip and angled his waist down slightly. He growled in delight at finding her already wet and ready for him and slid inside her tight womanhood.

Sakura gasped sharply as her body stretched to accommodate his large girth, but she'd never felt better in her life. Lifting her arms, she wrapped them around her lover's neck as began thrusting in and out of her eager entrance.

Naruto's movements weren't demanding or lust-driven; this was all about a slow, sweet buildup. Both of his hands moved to her breasts and caressed their suppleness; his Sakura-chan had such perfect breasts. Even though the angle was a little odd, he craned his neck down and fused their lips together.

The two lovers never said a word as their bodies rocked together in perfect harmony. They had no idea how long they were lost in their own world, but it didn't matter to either of them. Sakura felt a well of pleasure burst inside her, but it wasn't an explosion or anything intense. Her orgasm was long, drawn out, and utterly wonderful; it was topped off by feeling the exquisite sensation of Naruto's own release spilling into her depths.

He laid soft kisses against her neck and nuzzled her softly.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan," he said with a goofy grin.

"Hmm, thank you for the wonderful wake-up call," she cooed.

After ten minutes of wonderful cuddling, Sakura knew that they had to get up soon. It had been a week since she'd come to Suna to fetch her beloved baka, and she was basking in the depths of being in love with Naruto. They were still in the sand village, and Naruto practiced with Gaara every morning so the pinkette knew he had to get ready soon.

"Naruto, you need to get up soon," she stated even though she'd much rather have him stay right where he was – his arms wrapped around her, and his cock buried deep inside her.

"I don't want to get up; I'm happy right here," he pouted rather pathetically and hid his face in her hair. Sakura chuckled and reluctantly evicted his shaft from its warm home much to the disagreement of its owner.

"Come on, we both need to get up," and she reluctantly slid out of the warm cocoon of his arms and climbed out of bed.

Sakura strolled towards the bathroom door, and Naruto let out a disappointed groan.

"Sakura-chan, come on, we can afford to be lazy now and again," he protested.

"We were lazy yesterday, baka, we spent half the day here," she answered. She was trying to look tough and authoritive while standing naked in Naruto's bathroom doorway.

"I know, I barely let you wear clothes yesterday," Naruto replied cheekily, and his eyes raked over her naked body.

Sakura then had a rather wicked idea to get him out of bed. Turning around, she swayed her hips back and forth knowing Naruto had a certain fixation with her sexy ass. Sure enough, his eyes followed her firm backside, and he almost started drooling.

"Come on, baka, you can wash my back," and she disappeared into the bathroom.

Naruto groaned again but climbed out of bed until he saw his beloved cherry blossom reappear in the doorway. She was facing towards him and cocked her hips to the side as if teasing him to come and get her.

"There, that wasn't so hard. Now, come on, and if you're a good boy, I'll let you wash all of me," and she licked her lips while running her fingertips down between her breasts towards the apex of her thighs.

Naruto saw red and within a matter of seconds he had her in his arms. Pushing her back into his shower and turning on the taps, he growled in approval at seeing his mate dripping wet.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'll be very good…"

He stepped in to join her and cupped her breasts firmly making her gasp in surprise.

"…but, I'm also going to be verrrrryyy bad," and he lowered his head to suckle on her breasts.

Sakura gasped in pleasure and clutched his head against her breasts; she nearly shrieked when his talented fingers began stroking her sensitive womanhood.

"Oh Naruto…I love it when you multi-task!" she gasped.

"Then hang on, love, cause I'm going to multi-task you to death," he laughed and went back to ravaging her.

An hour later, a widely grinning Naruto met Gaara at their training grounds. Temari had decided to join him this morning and arched an eyebrow at Naruto's gleeful look.

"Alright blondie, what's with the dopey look on your face?" she snickered.

"Nothing, I'm just enjoying this beautiful morning," he sighed happily, but Temari knew better.

"You are so full of it! There's only one thing that makes you smile like that, and it has pink hair on its head. So, she wear you out last night," she teased.

Naruto's smile just grew even larger, and he ignored her comment. He had hoped that Sakura could have joined him this morning, but she had actually spent the last few days at Suna's hospital. Since she was the best medic-nin around, she was helping out their staff and also making sure that all of their chakra techniques and healing remedies were up to date.

"Well Naruto, shall we begin?" Gaara asked and set down his jug of sand. His friend nodded at him, and the two walked out to face each other.

Temari was very anxious to watch this. This was the first time she was going to watch them train together, and she was very interested to see how they matched up.

However, before they even started fighting, Naruto formed a series of hand signs, and she felt a wall of chakra envelope the entire area.

"What was the hell was that?" the kunoichi gasped.

" A little trick Ero-Sennin taught me. It's a variant of genjutsu. It throws an illusion up over this whole area so people can't watch us train. It's designed so that if you are practicing with dangerous or secret techniques no one will see you or use them without proper knowledge."

Temari's eyes widened at his explanation, but she could definitely see the advantages of this jutsu. She further understood the reason as the two combatants went after each other with a vengeance.

Gaara immediately sent his sand out to envelope Naruto in a solid cocoon, but not more than a few seconds later, it was shredded as the blonde ninja used his wind chakra to slash through the hardened shell.

From there, they mainly kept to taijustu, and it was quite an even match. Temari was mesmerized as she watched the two friends trade blow for blow. She knew that her brother was the strongest sand-nin there was, but he was barely keeping up with Naruto. She was amazed at the young man's speed and agility – not to mention his power.

'It's a good thing he's on our side; I'd hate to see him as an enemy.'

Five hours later, the pair finished, and Temari was exhausted just from watching them. Her brother was breathing rather heavily, but Naruto had barely broken a sweat.

'His stamina is just unreal!'

The two friends shook hands, and Naruto grinned at the sand-nin.

"You've gotten faster since last time, Gaara."

"But your stamina is still unmatched, Naruto."

"Nah, Sakura-chan can out last me any day of the week," he replied.

"Is that in training or in bed, Naruto," Temari cut in with a smile, and she chuckled as the young man blushed furiously.

Naruto pressed his hands together, and his illusion barrier dropped to allow the trio to leave.

"Oh man, I'm starving!" Naruto growled, and his stomach answered right along with him. The two sand-nin siblings look at each other with similar expressions. Some things never changed.

Without his daily supply of ramen anymore, Naruto was nearly catatonic until Temari had forced to eat something else. Actually, it was really a matter of Shikamaru freezing Naruto with his shadow jutsu, and Temari shoving the food down his throat until he acquired a taste for it, which thankfully for her took all of fifteen minutes.

Naruto had discovered he enjoyed several types of food such as teriyaki dishes and chow mien noodles. He still thought that ramen was his favorite, but it was a nice alternative to have. The three sat down in a small café off the main street. They frequented the place regularly after training so the staff knew immediately what to bring them.

"Guess who?" a soft voice stated, and a pair of hands covered Naruto's eyes. He could smell his beloved behind him and grinned widely.

"Hmm, let me see now. Who do I know that has such a delightful scent? I believe it would be a beautiful cherry blossom with a gorgeous smile," and he turned his head to see said smile on her face.

"Hi," he said simply and pulled her down onto his lap. Sakura set herself down on his knee but not too close.

"Ewwww, you're all sticky and sweaty, Naruto," she teased and ran her fingers through his sweaty hair.

"I thought you liked me this way, Sakura-chan," he answered in a husky whisper.

She leaned closer so only he could hear her and licked her lips seductively.

"Only when I'm the cause of it, love," she replied and pecked him on the lips.

"Uh, you do know there are others here too right?" Temari asked with a grin. The two lovers had completely ignored everything else but each other. Naruto's food had even shown up, but he hadn't noticed it yet.

'That dope must have it bad for her if he didn't even notice his food.'

Sakura slid off her lover's lap into an adjacent chair. Naruto happily shared his lunch with her. Considering he ordered five times the normal amount, there was plenty to go around.

"So, how was training today?" she asked, and Naruto quickly swallowed a mouthful of noodles.

"Great! Gaara's gotten even faster than last time so it's really an even match between us."

"We only practiced taijutsu today, Naruto; you would have beaten me easily if we would've gone all out," his friend interjected.

"Ah, come on, I'm not that good. I mean, I probably would have won, but you definitely would have pounded me at the same time."

Gaara looked at his friend with quiet eyes and did not say anything else. Naruto had no idea how much more powerful he had become in the last six months. The leaf-nin had spent his first three months here not even in Suna but someplace else entirely. Only he and Naruto knew exactly where, and if anyone ever found out, they would probably call them both crazy.

"Sakura-chan, are you finished at the hospital today?" Naruto asked, and his lover nodded.

"After we're done here, do you mind if we go home. There are some things I need to talk to you about, and it is going to be better if I show you."

The pinkette looked for the humor in his words because she figured it would be something silly, but his face was dead serious.

"Sure, Naruto, you know that you can tell me anything," she replied and squeezed his hand.

A short while later, Sakura followed Naruto inside his apartment. She sat down at the kitchen table and waited for whatever he was going to tell her. Naruto came out of his bedroom holding a rather thick scroll and a small box. He set them down on the table and sat down opposite of Sakura.

"Naruto, before you start, there are two things I need to tell you as well, but I'm not sure how you're going to take them," she stated while fidgeting restlessly.

"What are they?"

"Before I left Konoha, I had made a decision that I was coming to get you and bring you back home. More importantly, I had made up my mind that it was you I wanted to be with, and I wanted it to be you that loved me. The problem was that I had officially been dating Sasuke since you had been gone so I had to tell him how I felt before I left. It wouldn't have been right if I had just left him with no explanation," Sakura explained

"I wouldn't have expected any less from you, Sakura-chan."

"Looking back though, I almost wish I hadn't talked to him," and she lowered her head.

"What happened between you two?" Naruto prodded, and Sakura began to explain.

Sakura Haruno was on a mission as she quickly packed her necessities for her travel to Suna. She was going to bring Naruto home with her if she had to drag him back here by his hair. She was finished and ready to leave when someone knocked on her door. Checking her peephole, Sakura gawked to see Sasuke standing outside her door; she'd totally forgotten about him. What was she going to say to him? She couldn't just leave and not tell him what she was doing. Gathering her wits about her, she opened her door and asked him to come inside.

"Hey Sasuke, I'm glad you're here; I need to talk to you."

The dark-haired young man looked at the serious expression on her face and wondered what the problem was.

"Sasuke…I…I…I'm not sure how to go about this exactly so I think it would be best if I just said it simply. I can't be your girlfriend anymore," and her statement made the Uchiha's eyes widen slightly.

"And may I ask why not? You seemed to be quite happy with our situation; I don't recall you ever complaining about our relationship before now."

"You're right, I haven't. This is so complicated to explain. Saying that I 'seemed' to be happy is good way to explain it. I thought I was happy being with you, but after looking at my feelings for last six months, I realized that I wasn't. I was content with being with you, but my heart truly wasn't in it. It has nothing to do with how you treated me, Sasuke; I just can't force myself to ignore my feelings anymore. Please, I don't to keep lying to you or myself anymore. I thought that my feelings for you when I was a young girl were actual love, but I've learned what loving someone really is, and I didn't love you. I was infatuated with you."

"Oh, that makes me feel a whole lot better," Sasuke sneered.

"I'm not trying to insult you; I'm trying to explain myself alright."

"Just save it, Sakura, you're saying that when I first asked you to dinner your response was based on how you felt when you were eleven years old and acting like a stupid fangirl," he accused.

"Truthfully, yes, it was. I wanted to see if my feelings for you were still there, and if they were, if they had matured along with the rest of me. I wanted my attraction to you to be based on how I felt for you now instead of when I was eleven years old. I know that doesn't make much sense, but it's really the only way I can explain it."

"So why the change? What changed since six months ago that caused…" Sasuke stopped talking as his mind gave him the answer, and an angry sneer crossed his face.

"Don't even tell me this about Naruto!"

Sakura's face turned slightly red, and that gave her away. Sasuke actually laughed.

"Don't even tell me you have feelings for that, dobe, please. He's like a walking container of idiocy; he can barely walk down the street without shouting something stupid."

"That's not fair, Sasuke. Naruto spent years trying to get you to come back here because you were his friend. He worked so hard, and he shed so much blood. He…he…he even made a promise to me that he would bring you back…" Sakura stated as tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Oh great, here come the tears. Am I supposed to feel sorry for you now, Sakura? Naruto didn't bring me back here if you remember. I came back here of my own free will. The dobe tried to bring me back here before, and it took me nearly killing him before he finally shut up. He kept going on and on about how he was going to stop me from making a mistake; he was the only mistake I ever made. The only reason I didn't kill him was because it was what Itachi wanted me to do. He told me I had to kill a precious friend to obtain the Mangeyou Sharingan, but I wanted to obtain it in my way so I left Naruto unconscious instead."

Sakura's eyes were wide with horror as she listened to his words.

"Sasuke…how…how could you?" she gasped.

"That's already ancient history, Sakura; it doesn't matter anymore."

"It matters to me!" she growled and stomped her foot.

"Oh, stop pouting like a two year old. Jeez, if this is how you behave, I don't want to go out with you anymore so you have what you want."

Sasuke walked out her front door but stopped before closing it. He turned his head and sneered at her cruelly.

"I hope you enjoy being that demon's whore!" he spat out and slammed the door behind him.

Something inside Sakura snapped, and she tore out the door after him. She leapt down the stairs and caught up to him at the bottom.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" she shouted into his face.

"You heard me loud and clear, Sakura. I hope you enjoy being the Kyuubi's bitch; I'm sure you know that it lives inside Naruto. Do you really think you can have a normal relationship with that idiot? Maybe you'll grow whiskers and a tail on your way to see him."

"That's enough, Sasuke!"

"Oh, did I strike a nerve. Tell me, Sakura, were you planning to just bend over when you meet him and drop your panties, or better yet, did you want to beat him up first and then let him fuck you as a punishment for yourself," Sasuke said with a sick smile on his face.

Sakura had heard enough. She slammed her chakra-enhanced fist right into Sasuke's stomach, and she smirked as she heard something crack. The young man doubled over in pain, and she backed away from as he took a swing at her.

"You bitch, you're going to pay for that cheap shot," he growled as he held his injured ribs.

The pink-haired kunoichi turned away and prepared to leave when a nasty idea came into her head. She turned and looked at Sasuke again.

"By the way, Sasuke, just so you know…" she waited until he looked her in the eye.

"…I'd rather be Naruto's whore than an Uchiha's wife," and she jumped up onto Konoha's rooftops bound for Suna.

Sakura finished her story, and Naruto's jaw was on the floor. He quickly recovered though and took her hands in his.

"Sakura-chan, I want you to listen to me. Don't you ever think for one second that you are a whore or slut. You're not! You're simply a woman who wanted to be happy, but you weren't to sure what made you happy in the first place. So help me, if Sasuke ever calls you that again, I will personally castrate him!" he growled menacingly.

His lover smiled and clutched his hands tightly.

"Naruto, you don't have to go that far; I know that I'm not. Although, I do enjoy being your wanton, little vixen," she cooed and licked her lips making him smirk at her.

"And I love you for it," he said as he kissed her fingers.

"That was the harder of the two to explain, Naruto, but I still have something else to confess to you that I did before you came back from your mission with Gaara."

"I doubt it could be any worse that what you've just said so go ahead."

"Well…the first day I arrived here you weren't home so I nosed around a bit. Well, I went into your bedroom and saw a book on your desk. Curious person that I am, I opened it and realized that it was your journal. I immediately closed it because I didn't want to invade your privacy, but something in me couldn't stand not knowing what was inside."

"So you read the whole thing," Naruto cut in with a neutral expression on his face.

"Yes, and I also found the other volumes you had under your desk. I read all of them over the course of the day. I read everything – your childhood, our early adventures, the battle with Orochimaru, the meeting in Tsunade's office – everything. I…I…I'm so sorry, Naruto, but I kept having this nagging voice in the back of my head that wanted to know more about you. I know it sounds stupid, but I guess I thought that you were keeping things from me that you didn't want me to know. I know it's not an excuse, and I wouldn't blame you if you got angry at me," she sighed and lowered her head in shame.

Naruto squeezed her hands again and shook his head. He asked her to look him, and she saw no anger in his eyes.

"Sakura-chan, I am not angry with you; I have no secrets from you; I thought you knew that by now. I just wish you hadn't read certain things in there. I didn't want you to have to see what happened me as a kid. It was a long time ago, and I don't want to remember it anymore. I don't want to keep secrets from you which is why I'm showing you this…"

Naruto let go of her hands and unrolled the parchment across the table. Sakura recognized the design immediately; it was a legacy scroll. Most ninja clans kept a legacy scroll of their history and major events. Also, it contained a list of all members belonging to the clan.

"Naruto! This…is this…"

"My family's legacy scroll. Baa-chan gave to me just before I left along with this box. This scroll contains the names of my ancestors…and my parents."

"Your parents! Oh Naruto, I'm so happy for you; you finally found out about your parents!" Sakura said happily, but something didn't make sense to her.

"Wait a minute, why did shishou wait so long to give you this? I mean, why would she hide this from you?"

"Because of who my parents are," Naruto answered.

He walked around the table to her side and rotated the scroll so she could read it.

"My mother's name was Kushina Uzmaki; she was a kunoichi from Whirlpool Country. She wasn't a strong combat ninja, but she had a massive supply of chakra along with excellent control. In addition, her body could handle high levels of chakra output for long periods of time. She was one of the best support ninja there were."

"What about your father?"

Naruto paused for a long second before he unrolled the scroll further.

"My father's name was Minato Namikaze."

That name struck something in Sakura's mind, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Naruto did not say anything so she thought about it for a minute until her eyes shot open.

"The fourth hokage!" she gasped, and Naruto nodded slightly.

"Your father was the fourth hokage!"

"Yes, he was married to my mother in secret to hide her from his enemies. My birth was also concealed for that reason as well. However, when the Kyuubi incident happened, my existence was brought to the forefront when my father sealed him inside of me."

"But Naruto…why would your father do that to you? Why would he curse his own son like that?" she said with tears in her eyes.

"I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is that he didn't want to use someone else's child. He'd rather have his son hate him than sacrifice someone else's son or daughter."

"Sounds like something you would do," Sakura cut in, and Naruto nodded in agreement.

"But I still don't see why he would seal a demon inside of you."

"Sakura…Kyuubi is no demon," Naruto said firmly, and she looked at him in shock.

"What are you talking about? Of course, he is; he nearly destroyed the village back then. What about what his chakra's done to you numerous times," the pinkette said angrily.

"Let me explain, Sakura. Kyuubi is no longer sealed inside of me."

"WHAT?" she shouted and jumped up from her chair.

"What do you mean he's not sealed anymore? You mean to tell me he's out there roaming around ready to rampage and destroy everything!"

"Sakura, Kyuubi does not attack someone unless he is provoked. He is what is called a spirit fox. They have a code of honor just as shinobi do which is they only attack when threatened, and they do not harm anyone without a specific reason."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing, but how did Naruto know all this?

"Naruto, how do you know that? I know that Kyuubi was locked up inside you for a long time, but how can you know that for sure?"

Something poked Sakura in the leg, and she looked down to see a tail wrapped around her leg. It was a tail made of red chakra, and it was coming from Naruto!

"Sakura-chan, I know all this because Kyuubi is no longer sealed inside me; he is a part of me," and his normally blue eyes changed to dark red with slits for pupils.

Sakura drew back slightly, and Naruto looked hurt but understood her doubts.

"Wait a minute, Naruto, you're telling me that you have full control over the Kyuubi! I thought his power was toxic for your body."

'Kit, you might want me to explain this to her,' came a voice inside Naruto's head.

"Sakura, there is someone I would like to you to meet."

The young man closed his eyes, and red chakra enveloped his body. Sakura was surprised to see it detach from Naruto and form a shape of its own. It took the form of a fox with nine tails. The kitsune sat back on its haunches and grinned slightly at the stunned pinkette.

"It is a pleasure to see you in person, my dear, I'm glad to see the kit has excellent taste in women," the fox chuckled, and Sakura felt like she was going to faint.

"You…you…you're…" she stuttered.

"Yes, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. This is my true form. That large intimidating one that most people are familiar with is essentially created from chakra as way of frightening my opponents. Now, I believe that I can answer your question."

Sakura was still stunned that she was talking to a fox – much less the Kyuubi, and Naruto was trying hard not to laugh.

"After the kit left Konoha, one of things he did was spend a lot of time talking to me in my cage inside his mind. That was the cage his father created from the seal, which locked me inside him. Originally, I didn't want to even talk to him, but the kit is as stubborn at they come, and he asked me something I never thought I'd hear."

"What was that?"

"He asked me for my side of the story. The people in Konoha, and humans in general believe me to be this monster of massive chaos and destruction. That, of course, is based on stories that are washed over so many times it's sick. Yes, it is true I had a conflict with Konoha all those years ago, but I did not start it. First of all, do you think I could just suddenly appear? No, I was summoned."

"By whom?" Sakura asked. She was becoming quite intrigued by the beast.

"Someone I believe your former teammate in Konoha is familiar with – Madara Uchiha."

"But, he's dead, isn't he?"

"There are ways to stay alive for long periods of time, Sakura, you should know that from seeing Orochimaru. Madara summoned me as part of his revenge against the Uchiha clan for their so called betrayal of him."

"I don't understand. What betrayal?"

"I'll take it from here, Kyuubi," Naruto cut in.

"Sakura-chan, on this scroll, there was also a seal which contained my father's journal. It contains the truth about what happened eighteen years ago. As you know, the Senju and Uchiha clans were the ones who founded the leaf village. Now, there was a dispute over who should be the first Hokage. The leader of the Senju clan was chosen based on his merit and character, and the members of the Uchiha clan agreed to his appointment – except for Madara. He felt betrayed by his own clan, and his anger towards grew to enormous proportions. They had betrayed him so he felt they had no right to exist anymore. He then began a plan to wipe both clans out completely. However, he was not alone in this plot."

"There were others as well?" Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing, but the scariest part was that she began to see the pieces fall into place.

"Madara Uchiha had the chakra and power to summon me, but he could not control me. So instead, he decided to use me to destroy Konoha for him. That is where the next player in this sick drama comes into play," Kyuubi continued.

"Madara was not the only one who did not approve of the first Hokage's appointment. One in particular I believe you have heard of before – Danzo."

Sakura's eyes widened again, and Kyuubi saw her mind begin to work.

"Danzo and several others on the original council did not like the first Hokage. The main reason was that he appointed several members of the Uchiha clan to key positions in Konoha. They were qualified for their posts, but Danzo felt that the Hokage appointed them to appease their cooperation in supporting him as their leader. Danzo also did not like the Uchiha clan in the first place so when Madara came to him with the idea to wipe them out he jumped at the chance. It was really quite simple when you think about it. Madara Uchiha would summon me, one of Danzo's men would provoke me, and I would destroy Konoha for them allowing them to rebuild it however they chose."

"If that's true, why did they wait so many years?" Sakura questioned.

"I don't know the exact answer to that. However, I believe that it pertains to the story of Itachi Uchiha. Madara and Danzo wanted absolute confirmation that the Uchiha would be wiped out. So, preying on his good nature, they secretly ordered Itachi to carry out the slaughter of his own family the night I was summoned. In return, Madara offered to make me disappear from Konoha once the clan was dead. The young man was forced to choose between his clan and the entire village. Of course, he didn't know that Madara could not have sent me away if he wanted to in the first place; I'm not that easy to get rid of."

"And so it went that Madara Uchiha summoned me to Konoha that night eighteen years ago. One of Danzo's ninjas – I believe you call them Root – secretly attacked and provoked me to make sure I headed straight for Konoha's center. During this chaos, Itachi carried out the massacre of his clan with the exception of one person…"

"That would be Sasuke," Naruto interjected.

"…Exactly. Itachi realized too late that Madara could not send me back so as penance he left Sasuke alive hoping that someday his little brother would come for him. Danzo allowed himself to be injured in the ensuing battle to absolve himself of any blame or accusation. No one would know about Madara Uchiha's involvement because they thought he was already dead. The fourth Hokage was forced to seal me inside his newborn son as a last resort, and the rest is history."

"I…I…don't believe this. The scary part is that it all makes sense – especially after Danzo had Sai spying for him on our team," Sakura said with a shake of her head.

"Sakura-chan, your next question is probably going to be why I let Kyuubi out. The answer to that question is very simple; he was used just like the rest of us; and no one bothered to ask him for his side of the story. I, more than anyone, know the feeling of being judged without moral or just consideration. I had done the same thing to the Kyuubi for eighteen years, which is why he became very angry and bitter. It took quite a while for him to calm down and trust me," Naruto explained.

"So, if the Kyuubi was set free, why is he a part of you now?"

"I'll answer that one, kit. Because I was inside Naruto for so long, I can no longer take a solid form for long periods of time anymore. I existed as pure chakra for eighteen straight years, and I cannot survive without something to serve as my anchor. You may remember what happened to that Sora kid when my chakra was expelled from his body; it disappeared into thin air. I explained this to the kit, and being the honorable person he is, he offered me a compromise. He would allow me to merge completely with him in exchange for I would never try to undermine his personality. He would be the dominant one and allow me to continue to survive. Of course, after I agreed, he could have just shoved me to the back corner of his mind again, but Naruto never does anything normally. So, the two of us experience just about everything simultaneously – except of course when the two of you are alone together. Naruto is very picky about keeping you to himself," the Kyuubi finished with a chuckle.

"Damn right, I don't want anybody spying on us," Naruto grunted.

Sakura was flabbergasted as she took in everything she heard this afternoon. She found out that the man she loves is the son of the fourth Hokage, friend to a spirit fox, and keeper of the fox's enormous power.

"So Naruto, do you have access to Kyuubi's chakra at all anymore?"

"All nine tails, but they don't hurt me anymore. Best of all, it won't hurt you either."

"What do you mean?"

"You are the kit's bond mate, Sakura, and that bond was infused with my chakra. Any decent male knows you don't hurt your mate – unless she asks for it!" he said with a grin.

"You're thinking about her again aren't you?" Naruto stated and looked at the fox.

"About who?" Sakura asked.

"Kyuubi is thinking about his own mate."

"He has a mate!" the young woman gasped.

"Yes, I've actually met her; her name is Kyoko," Naruto stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"What do mean you've met her?"

Naruto stood up and took a deep breath.

"Sakura-chan, I think it's time I showed you where I was training for most of this half year I've been gone. Plus, I want you to see where Kyuubi came from. All you have to do is trust me."

He extended his hand, and Sakura instinctively took as he helped her to her feet. Naruto picked up the box on the table as they prepared to leave.

"Where are we going?"

Kyuubi chuckled slightly, and Sakura watched his form dissipate and return back inside Naruto's body.

"The place where summons come from, Sakura. People call it various things, but the most popular two are Spirit World and Demon World."

The young woman's widened again, and she clutched her lover's hand tightly. Naruto raised his other hand, and red chakra enveloped the two of them. Not more than few seconds later, the pair disappeared right out of the kitchen.