Yasaka rubbed the bridge of her nose, desperate to ward off the headache rapidly clouding her mind. Mass genocide, visiting political delegation, and now, to top it off, her missing uncle randomly shows up.

With a nine-tailed fox yokai.

Great.

"Okay. Time out. Wait. Explain. NOW." Yasaka spoke to the three infront of her. Her uncle, his former student, and the aforementioned fox yokai. An odd trio to be sure, and one that Yasaka really didn't want or need to deal with right now.

"As I was telling you, this is Naruto. I believe he is someone directly related to my siblings and my past." Shukaku spoke calmly. Far to calmly in Yasaka's opinion.

"Yeah, I heard you. I'm just trying to make any sense of what you said. How does a ten year old relate to anything in your past?" The Yokai Leader shot back, irritation in her tone.

"Call the council and I'll be happy to explain, they need to hear this far more than you do in any case." Shukaku spoke, eyeing his niece calmly. He knew she was close to exploding, but he really didnt have ti-

"EXCUSE ME!!" Yasaka screamed, slamming her hands into her table and jumping to her feet. "I am the Leader of the Yokai! Do you think that title means nothing?" She glared at her uncle, anger drowning the room. The small blond who had been mostly inattentive for the last twenty minutes stared at her wide eyed, fear rolling off him in waves.

"For the moment," Shukaku started, before letting his presence fill the room, "yes. It. Means. Nothing. I have far more pressing issues with the council than you may ever realize. They MUST be brought together." The Desert Madman replied simply.

The suffocating auras realeased by the two monster gradually ebbed away, leaving Aijo and Naruto with beads of sweat sliding down their faces. Yasaka looked her uncle in the eye, trying to gauge how important this really was.

She really didn't like what she found.

She cast her eyes to the young blond, weighing him with her eyes. Judging if the child was actually worthy of her time.

A sigh.

"Fine. Take them to the Council Chambers. I'll have everyone else gathered soon." Yasaka slumped in her chair in defeat. Sometimes, she hated being in charge.

"Thank you Yasaka-chan. I promise to make this up to you." Shukaku spoke as he led his two companions out of the room. Yasaka waved a dismissive hand in the doors direction, to spent to really care at the moment.

"Ah...Miss Yasaka-sama ma'am..." A young voice called, making Yasaka look up, as Shukaku stopped to look at his young charge.

Naruto blushed a little at all the attention on him but soldiered on. "Um...thank you for having us...and sorry that we're causing so much trouble..." Naruto looked at his feet for a moment, before bowing at the waist. Aijo has taught him about manners and how to act with important figures, and until now he had never put those skills to use.

Yasaka seemed like a nice woman, and even he could tell she was dealing with a lot. The least he could do is show her he was somewhat worth the stress.

Aijo stared at Naruto incredulously. How come he didn't pay HER that kind of respect!

Shukaku felt his eyes widen a bit involuntarily. The Naruto he once knew wouldn't defer to someone like this unless what they were doing was really important to him...interesting.

Yasaka stared at the bowed boy, a small sense of curiousity taking hold. She glanced up at the older two of the trio and was pleasantly surprised at the shocked look on both their faces. A small grin stretched across the fox yokai's lips, followed by a small chuckle.

"It's quite alright...Naruto-san was it? Go with my uncle. I'll have one of the monks bring refreshments in a few minutes." Yasaka spoke much more calmly. A small weight sliding off her shoulders. If nothing else, the boy was trying.

Who was she to hold it against him?

Naruto stood from his bow and gave a bright smile, with one more quick bow, he turned and ran out of the room, a shout of "Come on Granny!! I wanna explore some more!"

"Naruto wait!" Aijo shouted as she raced out of the room after the wayward ten year old.

"Interesting charge you have there Uncle." Yasaka spoke as she returned to the paper work on her desk. A glance up to make sure the legendary yokai had heard her.

"Interesting isn't even the start of it...Little Yas Yas." Shukaku spoke as he exited the office door.

The paper weight that smashed into the wall after him only missing by centimeters.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!"

-NGD-

Aijo groaned as she slumped against a decorative wall. This shrine was MASSIVE. And now, Naruto had managed to run off.

Fantastic.

"Naruto! When I find you I swear to Inari I'll ground you for a month!" Aijo shouted as she stomped her foot childishly. That brat could be so taxing sometimes!

"I haven't seen you this riled up since you were a teenager Aijo-chan." Her teachers voice filled the hall.

Aijo spun on her heel and pointed a danity finger at her mentor. "You don't have to deal with a blond hellion day in and out!" She shouted. She was frustrated, annoyed, and worst of all hungry.

"Let Naruto explore a bit. We'll be able to find him when we need to." Shukaku tried to assure his student from so long ago. 'That or he'll find trouble. One of the two.'

Aijo hung her head before scratching her hair irritably. "Fine. Just take me to the meeting room. I heard Yasaka-sama mention food, and I'm too tired and hungry to deal with all this."

Shukaku just chuckled, before nodding his head forward and continuing down the hall.

-NGD-

Naruto continued to run around with wild abandon. While the sights of this place really were amazing, he mostly was trying to find a place to think. Everything was happening too fast for him and he just needed somewhere quite to process it all.

After awakening earlier that morning, Aijo and Shukaku has been in such a rush to reach Kyoto that he hadn't been able to process what happened the day before.

The visions he saw...what were they? They felt familiar in a way he couldn't explain.

Coming to a stop infront of a large outdoor garden, he sighed. Why did he know Shukaku? He remembered bits and pieces. A fight against a monster of sand, red hair. A feeling of understanding. Desperation, sorrow, relief. Meeting the monster once more on better terms. A flash of pain. Then it's a group of faces. Each with their own distinct features. They were circled above him, worry written on each of them.

Naruto slowly trekked out into the open air, the soft caress of wind on his skin beckoning him forward.

And that was it. Names came and went in the blond's mind, fleeting in nature. They were so important though. He should know all of them by heart, he could just feel it.

Naruto stumbled back as he snapped back into focus on the world around him, the tree he had bounced off of standing mockingly infront of him. The pink petals falling slowly with the wind. Naruto scowled, at least no one saw THAT. Releasing a sigh, the ten year old sat in the shade of the mighty Sakura tree.

What did everything mean? Why did Aijo and Shukaku bring him here?

Naruto tilted his head back and lightly smacked it against the bark of the Sakura tree, eyes rolling up to take in the pretty petals as they danced from the branches.

He hated not understanding, of not knowing who he was or what was going on. It was his adventurous and curious nature that made him yearn for anything that would connect to his past, of anything that would tell him who he was, who he was suppose to be.

A petal drifted down slowly, Naruto's eyes tracking it the whole way, until it landed on his cheek, as soft as a kiss.

Green eyes and a thankful smile flashed in his mind and Naruto jolted, looking around. A gasp dragged his attention to the right, and a flash of yellow made him stand.

'Is someone else here?' Naruto thought to himself. "Hello?" He began to circle the tree slowly, the wide base keeping the other person just out of sight. Naruto looked back to the shrine building, seeing no one else on the paths or walk ways.

Naruto stopped and pondered for a moment, his previous issues pushed aside. Should he leave whoever was hidding from him alone...or trick them and figure out why they were watching him?

With his mind made up and a firm nod, Naruto sat about silently scaling the tree between them.

A young face poked out from the left side of the tree, cautiously looking for the blond boy from a moment ago. Golden yellow eyes scanned the area as a young girl slowly moved from behind the tree. It was a little girl, perhaps seven or eight years of age. At a diminutive four foot one, with long hair spun from gold. She wore a traditional miko outfit with some slight adjustments, the white hoari was a size to big and seemingly swallowing the girl from the neck down, stylized stitching decorating the sleeves. Her hair was also loose and flowing as opposed to the traditional style of keeping it up with a red ribbon.

She looked around the clearing of the tree, a slight disappointment on her face. It seems as if the boy she had saw had run off, not something she could really blame him for, she was hidding from him just a moment ago. She was just so shocked though! He looked so familiar. Like an old friend. Like she should know him like the back of her hand. The whisker like marks on his cheeks were cute too!

But the last few days had been catching up to her and she just felt so nervous to talk to him. She had been so close to working up the nerve to speak up when the boy had suddenly snapped back to attention.

Kunou sighed, slumping into a seated position just under the shade of the Sakura tree. These last few weeks had been trying for the little girl. Nightmares, lack of sleep, the stress her mother was under with the Nekomata incident. Not to mention the anger her Idaina Oba-sama had been letting out in waves since news of the massacre had reached them.

It was quite a lot to put an eight year old through.

Kunou looked up as the sound of leaves shifting reached her ears, only to jump back in surprise when the boy from before landed in front of her on his back!

"Ow~" Naruto groaned from his position. He had been trying to get a better look at the girls face from the seat in the tree he had taken, but had slipped in his haste to move.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" A slightly panicked voice filled Naruto's ears, soft and melodic. Naruto opened his eyes as a hand brushed his forehead, before slowly sliding down his cheek.

Kunou began to fuss over Naruto before he could reply, quickly looking him over for any obvious signs of damage. Her mother had told her a little about first aid, how to patch minor injuries and the like.

Naruto just looked at the younger girl, bemusement clear on his face. He felt fine in all honesty but this girl was acting like he had just taken a knife to the chest. Her hands worked swiftly, passing along his arms before stopping just above his left elbow.

"We're gonna need to bandage this.." The girl spoke to herself quietly, looking at his elbow closely, it was bleeding slightly and seemed mostly superficial but could still get infected. Using her naturally sharpened canine's, Kunou tore a bit of her sleeve and slowly began to wrap the small wound.

"Uhh...I'm not sure that was...necessary.." Naruto said, watching as the small girl carefully wrap his arm. It was a scrap, really, no reason to ruin her clothes!

It was like the world crashed back into focus for Kunou as Naruto spoke. With a startled gasp and a slight stumble back, Kunou was on her butt, blushing and stammering apologies for who knows what reason.

"Hey, hey, calm down it's fine!" Naruto tried to placate the young girl, confused at her random response to his words. "I'm sorry for scaring you like that. I just thought someone was hiding from me so I hid in the tree to figure out who. I didn't mean to surprise you." He carried on holding his hands up, trying to look as unthreatening as possible.

Being only ten, what kind of threat he could be was open to debt. Aijo would have a very interesting opinion on that matter.

Kunou took in the boy before her as she slowly calmed down. He had an easy smile on his face, and his blue eyes shined like crystal in the sunlight. He seemed so open. Happy.

"Are...are you okay?" She asked softly, her previous nervousness melting away at his boyish grin. She had acted without really thinking when she saw the boy fall, so caught up in the moment she didn't even care if he had surprised her.

"Uh Yeah. I heal pretty quickly in most cases. My Granny says I have a healing factor or something." Naruto said waving a hand with his bandaged arm. "You really didn't have to mess up your shirt like that."

"Oh...my mom says you should always tend to an injury, no matter how superficial..." Kunou replied, casting her eyes to the ground, fearing she may have offended him by acting so quickly.

"Nah nah, it's cool. I do appreciate it though! No one but my Granny has ever bandaged me up that quick." Naruto smiled at the girl, she had been so precise about it, looking him over quickly and bandaging him even before anything was said. It was like she was a mini-doctor!

Kunou glanced up at Naruto's face and caught his bright smile, a small grin of her own worked its way forward. "I'm glad you're alright then."

"It'll take more than a tree to put me down! Heheh." Naruto laughed boastfully, "I'm Naruto by the way!" He said, shooting his right hand forward for a handshake.

"Naruto.." Kunou tested the name, a pleasant smile stretched her lips as a fleeting feeling passed over her. It was a nice name. Fitting. "I'm Kunou." She greeted, her own hand grasping his. And for a moment they just sat in peaceful silence.

"Say...you wouldn't happen to know how to get to the council chambers would you?" Naruto asked suddenly, looking a touch contrite.

"Yes. I have lived here my whole life after all." Kunou spoke with a giggle.

"Great! I was suppose to go there after meeting with Yasak-sama, but I kinda just needed a minute.." Naruto replied, a far off expression shifting on to his face.

Kunou tilted her head slightly, "You met my mother?" She asked, confusion clear in her tone. Who was this boy? At first she had assumed he was just a lost tourist. No matter what feeling she had gotten about him, she would never have guessed he had a meeting with her Okaa-sama.

"You're mom is Yasaka-sama?" Naruto pointed a surprised finger at the young girl, before a look of realization crossed his face. "That means you're a yokai too!" Naruto shouted happily.

Naruto was ecstatic, aside from Granny Aijo, Naruto only knew two other yokai, only having met them in the last two days! This was awesome!

"Uh...yeah..? Too?" Kunou asked, her head tilting cutely.

Naruto nodded sharply before letting his illusion drop, his golden ears and tails spilling forth like sunlight through a window.

Kunou gasped in surprise, it wasn't unusual to see other yokai in Kyoto, far from it, but it WAS rare to meet a fox yokai, and SHOULD have been impossible to see a nine-tailed fox yokai! Her mother and she were suppose to be the only two in existence!

She slowly stretched a hand out and lightly pressed her fingers against the rounded triangular ears that were perched atop the blond boys head and drew a sharp breathe as they flickered and twitched.

They were real!

Kunou felt her face light up in a smile as she let her own false image drop, her own ears and tails coming forth at will. Naruto gapped at the younger girl taking in her visage in stupefied wonder.

"Nine...nine tails..." He spoke softly, falling on to his butt in shock. How? Aijo has never told him about others like him, she had said there was no one like him in the world! But this girl was...

Kunou looked at Naruto's shocked face in concern, "Of course...my mother is the a nine-tailed yokai as well...didn't you know that?" She asked softly.

Naruto slowly shook his head, eyes lingering on the tails of the younger girl. Did this mean they were family? Was Yasaka his mother as well? Or did he have family here in Kyoto? Was that why Shukaku-

Naruto looked up, "Shukaku. Do you know who that is?" He asked, far more serious than a ten year had any need to be.

Kunou took a step back at the tone, even as she nodded. "My mother talks about someone with that name every so often with Oba-sama and Oji-sama."

Naruto stood, a fierce look crossing his face. That was it then. Shukaku was trying to bring him back to his family. But why had Aijo hidden him from everyone? Was she the one who took him? Or did his family abandon him?

"I need you to take to the Council Chamber...I have to know what's going on." Naruto spoke, looking Kunou in the eye.

A hesitant nod was his reply, before taking Naruto's hand and pulling him inside. She had questions of her own after all.

Like, did she just meet her long lost brother?

-NGD-

The shouting in the room was telling. A debate had devolved into a childish argument. Who was wrong, who was right? It didn't matter at this point. All that could be heard was screaming.

Shukaku had assumed his brothers and sisters, those that had decided to show up in any case, would be happy with his discovery.

Apparently, they were furious.

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK! He has been dead for CENTURIES. You were there Shukaku. We all were. We saw him pass, and now you have the goddamn AUDACITY to suggest he is alive?!" An older man shouted. He stood at a solid six foot one, with a black kimono wrapped around his body. A ornamental cane rested in his right hand, being gripped tightly in anger. His grey hair was held back in cornrows, with black shades covering his eyes, even while in doors. A strange black mark sat just under his left eye.

This was Gyūki, Current Chair of The Council of Nine and 'Octobull of Eight Blades'. A master swordsman, and excellent politician.

"Brother you have to meet the boy! You can't just push this aside! You know what we've seen in this world, the miracles that this planet is capable of. Whose to say it didn't seem his life necessary?" Shukaku tried to reason.

After Naruto had freed them in this plane, they had lived countless years, helping as they could. A whole society had sprung from they're interference in this world. They had born witness to countless impossibilities. Why could they see this was one of them?

"Gyūki is right Kaku-kun...we...we saw him die." A soft voice cut the shouting. All parties took in the five foot six frame of a beautiful blue haired girl. It was cut short, framing her face beautifully. Her heterochromatic eyes, a shining yellow and jade green, showed the hurt the current conversation was placing in her heart. Her clothes consisted on a simple pair of jeans and jade green t-shirt.

She was Matatabi, Queen of the Nekomata. Shukaku honestly felt bad for dropping this on her now, considering the loss she was currently struck with. After years of living promiscuously, of giving birth to a race of people that could all be traced back to her, the blow she had been dealt was harsh. Too harsh.

"Matatabi...I understand. I do. But he knows me. Knows my name. He recognized me. We can't just ignore this." Shukaku spoke in almost a whisper. If there was even a chance this was THEIR Naruto...

Matatabi looked at the table, mulling the words in her head.

"So where is the brat then? You said you brought him with you. If he really is Naruto, and I'm not saying I believe he is, why isn't he here?" A gruff voice called from the opposite end of the table. A burly man, five foot ten and with a beard of bright red flowing along his jaw to his hair line. A scar was nestled over his right eye as running towards his ear. He was decked in a burgundy suit, with a white under shirt.

Son Goku, Monkey King Under The Sun. A voice of both reason (shocking in of itself) and disbelief. He didn't take much stock in the miracles of the world, and passed them off as strange one time things whenever they did appear. A healthy skeptic as he liked to call himself.

"I let him continue exploring the grounds for a little. Coming into contact with me put him down for quite a while, after all." Shukaku replied. He had wanted the boy to familiarize himself with the area. If everything worked out, Naruto may be spending quite a bit of time here.

The chamber doors opened and in stumbled said blond, with Kunou in tow. They both froze as eight pairs of eyes locked on them.

"Uh...Hi?" Naruto spoke lamely, getting a quite giggle from his new friend.

Shukaku felt a palm slide down his face at the strange entrance, but couldn't fault the boy. From what he remembered, that was just like Naruto.

A bubbling laugh left a pale skinned girl in one corner, an ornamental pipe that released bubbles in one hand. Her hair was a dull grey, with of white eyes tinged in blue. All eyes focused on her, as she spoke. "Well, if nothing else, he certainly makes an entrance like the boy of old." Her mind thinking back to the first time Naruto and Utakata met.

Saiken, Medicine Woman Of The Mountian. A world class toxicologist, and medical professional in their new world.

A grumble met her words as several others cast doubtful eyes on the blond still standing by the door.

Naruto let his eyes harden as those words reached him. "What do you mean...do you know who I am?" The boy demanded. A silence fell over the room like a shroud, as each person gazed at the boy curiously.

"Enough secrets! What's going on? Why didn't anyone tell me I have family!?" Naruto almost shouted, as he allowed his illusion to fall.

A gasp left the group at the table as Nine Lucious tails of gold spilled forth.

"Do you see now why I demanded you meet him?" Shukaku spoke directly at Gyūki, who kept his glasses focused on the boy by the door.

A.N.: Jesus fuck this took me forever to do and I still ain't done. I'll hit more on this next chapter, but I NEEDED to update something for this story. Next chapter will have the last of the council introduction, Naruto learning some things, and lots of touchy feely shit. I'm tired, Peace.

DarkStar.