Deception: Chapter 2

Sakura moved quickly through the halls of the hospital. She passed bustling nurses and patients, failing to acknowledge any of them. Her head was bowed, lost in thought.

She didn't understand. Kakashi-sensei was siding with Naruto over Sasuke! It didn't make any sense. Why would he believe the orphan boy who made a living playing pranks over the heir to the legendary Uchiha clan? It was obvious to her that Naruto wasn't telling the truth.

If Kakashi-sensei can't see the truth, then I only have one option.

Sakura exited the hospital and took off towards her destination, intent on setting things straight.

Naruto currently found himself in his mindscape once again, staring through the cage at the demon fox hidden in the darkness. He had agreed to meet with the fox when it said that they would have to discuss the plans for his training.

"So Kyuubi, what's the plan? How will I get stronger? Are you going to teach me a bunch of techniques?" Naruto pestered the fox with questions. Suddenly he placed his hand under his chin and seemed to ponder something.

"How the fuck does a demon train a human anyway? " The Kyuubi let out a sigh of exasperation.

"I have lived for thousands of years. I have been caged within you humans for most of the last century. It was quite easy for a being such as myself to pick up on the skills and training methods that you measly humans have developed." Naruto scowled at the insults.

"Oh yeah? Well those 'measly humans' are the reason you're stuck inside me, having this conversation right now. So go fuck yourself you giant fur ball!" The Kyuubi blinked. It blinked again.

"YOU INSOLENT BRAT! I HAVE THE ABILITY TO MAKE YOU ONE OF THE MOST FEARED SHINOBI IN THIS WORLD. YOU WOULD DO WELL TO REMEMBER THAT." The blast of chakra that accompanied the outburst was enough to send Naruto crashing into the far wall. He fell to the ground in a heap. He slowly stood up and dusted himself off. Looking up, he grinned at the fox.

"Well what are we waiting for? I'll leave my mindscape and we can escape the village right now!"

"Unfortunately, it is not that simple. As soon as we leave the village, we will be hunted down and either killed or arrested for desertion. Your village council will jump at any opportunity to kill you off and you are nowhere near strong enough to fight the ANBU that they would undoubtedly send."

"Well then what can we do? It's not like no one will notice the disappearance of the only demon container in the whole village."

"I… I might have a plan. However I will address another problem first. I will not be able to teach you in the form I am in now. It is much to impractical to use this large body."

"…Eh? That's not your only form? I thought you were supposed to be a demon fox!"

The Kyuubi sighed.

"I suppose I should teach you some of our history. Very well. No, this is not my true form. Technically, I am not a demon fox. I am a demon who controls the Fox Spirit."

"Fox Spirit? What is that?"

"I'm getting to that. Long ago, when the Sage of the Six Paths split us into nine different beings, he gave each of us the spirit of one of the nine mythical animals that reside in this world. They are: the Raccoon, the Cat, the Turtle, the Ape, the Horse, the Slug, the Beetle, the Bull, and finally the Fox. The number of tails we have in our Beast Form represents our strength. Obviously I have nine, so I am considered the strongest."

"Wow. So… if that's your Beast Form, what do you actually look like?"

"Allow me to show you."

Naruto watched as the Kyuubi started to glow bright red. Naruto covered his eyes and waited for the light to fade. When it did, he could see nothing inside the depths of the cage in front of him. As he was wondering what happened, he suddenly heard footsteps. A figure appeared from the shadows and easily slipped between the bars of the cage. After taking a moment to comprehend what he was seeing, Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"W-what… You're a girl!" Naruto openly gaped in shock. He had never in a million years suspected that the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the harbinger of destruction, would be a girl. And as Naruto stared even longer, he realized that she was not just a girl, but also an extremely attractive woman.

The woman in front of him had waist-length orange hair and fair skin. She wore a small black tank top over a long sleeve fishnet shirt, and an equally small black skirt. Both left little to the imagination. An orange sash tied around her waist completed the wardrobe.

"Phew, it feels good to finally be back in this form. I think it's been a couple hundred years at least!" The Kyuubi yawned and stretched her arms above her head, pushing her already sizeable bust out a little further.

When Naruto finally recovered from his shock and had fully appreciated the amazing figure of the woman in front of him, he started to notice smaller details about her appearance. Details that differentiated her from looking quite like a normal human. For starters, her eyes were blood red with vertical slits for pupils. She had elongated canines and long, sharp nails. He realized that she had whisker marks just like his on her cheeks as well. Naruto also spotted the kanji for nine that was tattooed in orange ink on her right shoulder. However, the most glaring part of her appearance, one that Naruto had no idea how he missed at first, were the orange fox-like ears that sat on top of her head. Naruto looked at them for a few seconds, trying to process exactly what he was seeing. Suddenly, one of the ears twitched slightly and he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"HAHAHAHA! Your ears! What's up with your ears!?" Naruto pointed and laughed mercilessly as tears fell from his eyes.

The Kyuubi was not amused.

"Shut up you brat! I'll have you know that these ears make me look exotic! It's part of my sex appeal!" She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. However, her anger caused both ears to twitch rapidly and this sent Naruto into another fit of giggles. She growled in annoyance but waited until he finally calmed down before entering lecture mode once again.

"As you can see, this is my Partial Demon Form. It is the most comfortable and easy to maneuver in. The Full Demon Form looks similar, but is much more powerful and not quite as practical. This is the form I will be in during your training. So from this point forward, I will be your Sensei, and you will refer to me as such."

To his credit, Naruto immediately straightened up and gave the half-demon a salute.

"Hai, Kyuubi-sensei!"

The Kyuubi frowned and seemed to ponder something for a moment. She stared at him intently and just when Naruto was beginning to get nervous, she let out deep breath.

"Minami."

Naruto stared at her in confusion.

"Uh… what?"

She growled in annoyance once again.

"My name you idiot. My name is Minami."

Naruto looked at her in shock.

"I thought your name was Kyuubi! Isn't that what everyone calls you?"

"Of course my name isn't Kyuubi! That LITERALLY means Nine Tails! What kind of asshole would name their kid that!? No, when the Sage of the Six Paths created us, he gave us all names. Most humans are unaware of this, and gave us names themselves. That is where the name you know of came from."

Naruto was too dumbfounded to speak properly.

"Oh."

Minami let out a sigh.

"Now that we're acquainted and everything, let's talk about how we're going to get out of this village."

"You said you might have a plan to do that?" Naruto gave her a quizzical look.

"Yes. Although you probably won't like it."

Naruto shrugged.

"It can't be that bad. I'm sure I'll-"

"Fake your own death."

Naruto immediately shut up. He tried to process what she had said. However he was having trouble and all he could do was open and close his mouth several times. Finally, he seemed to salvage his ability to speak once again.

"Eh?"

"You heard me. You're going to fake your own death. It's the only way. If you do that, then no one will search for you because they'll think you're dead and buried right under their noses."

"Oh. But what about the people who still care about me? What about Baa-chan, Ero-sennin, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei and Ichiraku's? Or my classmates? They'll think I'm dead!"

Minami sighed.

"Look, I know that this will be hard. But just remember that one day you can come back, stronger than ever, and show them all that you're still alive. It's not like you'll be gone forever. It'll be worth it. You'll just have to trust me on this."

For some reason that Naruto couldn't quite explain, he did trust her. He took a deep breath.

"Fine, I'll do it… But how? Won't they need a body to bury?"

Upon hearing his question, Minami gave a feral grin that made Naruto shudder instinctively.

Tsunade sat in her office, gazing out the window towards the late morning activity of the beautiful village below. Unfortunately, her mind was too preoccupied to appreciate the view in front of her.

She was attempting to sort out the information she had received just the day before.

Kakashi's had brought news concerning a confrontation between Naruto and Sakura. He had said that Sakura seemed to believe wholeheartedly that Naruto had attacked Sasuke without provocation, while Sasuke was trying to return to the village on his own. Tsunade, of course, knew none of that was true. Kakashi gave his official report saying that he found Naruto attempting to return an unconscious Sasuke back to the village before Naruto himself passed out as well. And she trusted Kakashi Hatake with her life.

A knock at her door startled her out of her thoughts.

"Come in!"

The door opened and revealed Homura and Koharu, advisers to the Hokage and members of the Council. Tsunade despised them almost as much as she did that old war hawk Danzo. They lived in the past and did everything they could to usurp her position and weaken her power.

"What do you two want?"

Koharu spoke first.

"Certain… information has been brought to our attention. And we the Council have decided to take action accordingly. We merely came by to inform you of our decision, so you would not be caught by surprise."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. Something wasn't right. They appeared much too smug for her liking.

"What the hell are you talking about? What information?"

This time it was Homura.

"We were informed of the Kyuubi brat's traitorous actions towards a fellow Konoha shinobi. That shinobi of course, was the heir to the Uchiha clan, and a very important member of this village. We cannot let his actions go unpunished. We have issued a warrant for his arrest to all ANBU for the crime of treason."

Tsunade could not believe what she was hearing. She stood up and slammed her hands down on her desk, cracking it in two.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! I will not allow that to happen! Naruto is innocent and you old bastards know it! Call off that order NOW!"

Koharu sighed.

"Language, Tsunade-hime. But I am afraid we cannot do that. We have sources confirming the boy's treason, and we must take action accordingly. He is probably being detained as we speak."

Tsunade's eyes widened, then narrowed in anger.

"Get the fuck out. Now. I'll deal with you and the Council later."

The two old advisers turned and left without another word.

Tsunade knew that Naruto had been released from the hospital just that morning, so he could be anywhere in the village at this point. It was only a matter of time until the ANBU pinpointed his location. There was no way to contact all the ANBU teams immediately, so she would have to wait until they found him, then issue the release order. Then she would take care of the Council.

Naruto walked down a busy road of Konoha, enjoying the feeling of finally being released from the hospital. He noticed the glares he was receiving from most of the villagers, but paid them no mind.

Fuck you all. Soon I'll be out of here and you guys can celebrate as much as you want!

He really couldn't wait to get away from his teammates. After what Sakura had said to him, he hoped he never saw her face again. And he was almost positive that Sasuke was the one who fed her those lies about what happened during their battle. As far as Naruto was concerned, Team 7 no longer existed.

Before Naruto could react, six ANBU members appeared out of thin air and moved to surround him. Naruto instinctively raised his arms, preparing for an attack. An ANBU with the mask of a bear spoke.

"Uzumaki Naruto. You are hereby placed under arrest for the act of treason against Konohagakure no Sato. Any resistance on your part will be met with lethal force. Do you understand?"

The six agents all drew their tantos. Naruto was dumbfounded. He could understand Sakura listening to Sasuke's story, but the fucking ANBU? What the actual fuck was going on?

Seeing the commotion, villagers began to gather around and cheered when they heard the ANBU's words.

"Wait! I haven't done anything! Whatever you guys were told isn't true!" Naruto waved his hands, desperately trying to get his point across.

The bear mask spoke again.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I will not repeat myself. Stand down or we will use lethal force."

This could not be happening. He was going to be arrested! For treason! There was no way he was going to spend the rest of his life rotting away in some jail cell! Where the hell was the Hokage? He needed someone with authority here! He was innocent dammit!

Naruto entered a state of panic. He flared his chakra and attempted to escape from the ANBU. Before he could even make it a few feet, he felt the bear mask's tanto impale him through the abdomen. He looked down in shock, unable to process what he was seeing. He grabbed at the bloody sword and gasped for breath. Blood ran out of his mouth and trickled down his chin. With a viscous pull, the ANBU removed the weapon from Naruto's body, causing Naruto to cough up blood. Without the support of the sword, Naruto collapsed to his knees. He could faintly hear the ANBU speaking to him once again.

"You resisted. This is your fault."

Naruto reached for the man's leg as he continued to cough and his vision started to dim. The last thing he felt was the sliding of cold metal across his neck.

Tsunade raced through the village in a state of panic. She had felt Naruto's surge of chakra. It most likely meant the ANBU had found him. But if they thought he was trying to fight back… Tsunade knew ANBU were always authorized to use force to subdue their target.

She finally reached the area where she had felt his chakra spike. Sure enough, she spotted the ANBU members and a crowd of villagers around them. They all seemed to be standing in a circle, as if surrounding someone… Tsunade's eyes widened and she quickened her pace. As she got closer, she could start to see inside the circle.

There was blood all over the ground. A lot of blood. That couldn't all be from one person, there was no way. Tsunade finally reached the edge of the circle and franticly pushed through the throng of villagers and reached the ANBU inside.

She could not comprehend what she was seeing. She stared in shock at the body in front of her. It was Naruto. And he wasn't moving.

She pushed aside the ANBU and collapsed on her knees next to him. She didn't have to search his body for wounds. The gash across his throat and the hole in his chest were clearly visible.

"No… no no no!" Tsunade desperately tried to heal him. But even in her crazed frenzy she could tell that she was too late. His eyes looked up towards the clouds, glazed and unseeing. His body was already becoming cold.

"No, this can't be happening! Please! NO!" Tsunade held his body close to her as she began to cry out in anguish.

Kakashi had arrived on the scene just after Tsunade and could only look on in shock. He could faintly hear the cheers coming from some of the villagers around him. Suddenly angry beyond words, he turned on everyone else.

"All of you! Get the fuck out of here! You disgust me. You have no idea what this boy was really like, or who he really was! LEAVE!" With the last word Kakashi flared his chakra and scared the villagers away. The ANBU reluctantly left as well, most likely to report the success of the mission to the council.

Kakashi knew all he could do now was comfort his grieving Hokage.

And so it was on this day that Konoha lost the boy known as Uzumaki Naruto. His funeral was held the next day, with only a small number in attendance. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and the Konoha 11 excluding Sasuke and Sakura were the only attendees. The grief of the people who had known Naruto was tangible in the air. He was a star that had burned brightly for all of them, and they vowed to never forget him.

Deep within the forests of Fire Country, a single cloaked figure made their way towards the border, intent on leaving the village of Konoha far behind.