A/N: Why hey there! This is quite a long chapter, so If it's too much to read in one sitting then bookmark it, which smarties like you don't need telling anyway lol I hope you enjoy it, so get reading and feel free to leave a review, they'll be more than appreciated!

Naruto was wheeled down the seemingly endless corridors, turning left then right repeatedly, starting to make his head spin. He heard whispers from the medical staff who was escorting him, talking about Naruto's possession and who could have done it. Naruto also wondered who it was, but already had a disturbing inkling that it was one of his friends in the Rookie 9, Ino. He remembered seeing the platinum blonde hair and green eyes, both things that Ino had. He tried to remember her voice, but it seemed distorted.

I don't want to have to prosecute my friends, but I guess I might as well try to figure out if it really was Ino, what else could prove it was her...? I'll have to check her Genjutsu affinity from the Databook given to me by Sai when I'm outta here, as even that will help at least a bit.

Naruto continued trying to produce a reason to see if it was her who was The Manipulator, while he almost reached his destination of the special medical station for his fast-recovery treatment, led by Tsunade. They finally arrived at a white double-door with the words "Special Access" visible on a plaque above the door handles. The blonde really felt grateful to Tsunade after seeing the plaque, as it made him realize he was lucky to have such powerful and influential people, the damn Hokage, by his side.

Tsunade slammed the doors open, this time avoiding using her 'Kicks of Pain & Punches of Destiny' as her tab for collateral damage to her own village was high enough as it was. The room was quite large, looking like it originally catered for the needs of multiple Shinobi at once. However the room was largely empty, warranting confusion from Naruto, while he was wheeled into the center of the room.

"Uhh baa-chan? Are you sure this is the right place?" He asked with all honesty, thinking that there must have been a misunderstanding.

"Of course it is idiot! Take a look under your hospital bed and you'll see why."

Naruto done as instructed and painfully lifted himself up slowly to avoid reopening any wounds, he was surprised yet terrified to see a whole network of signs and Jutsu symbols arranged right beneath his bed, stretching out in a diamond shape across the entire floor. There seemed to be a circular diagram beneath his hospital bed that had various ethereal inscriptions within it, frightening him more.

"U-Uhh what Jutsu are you exactly gonna use on me? Hehehe..." Naruto's nervous laugh emerging, worried that he'll somehow be turned to dust by the Mega-Jutsu going wrong.

"It's the Healing Regeneration Technique and it's the fastest way to get you healed so stop panicking you big dummy and lie back down!" She snapped, getting tired of him asking questions and slowing her down.

Naruto done as commanded, hesitantly laying back down and trying to get himself comfortable while ridding himself of any ill-thoughts. He heard an array of tools and equipment being moved to each corner of the room, where a medical-nin had sat down while beginning to perform hand-signs in each corner. He couldn't help but lift his head to see what else the medical-nin were doing, but had his head pushed down forcefully by Tsunade, giving the hint that looking up equaled having worse head trauma, which equaled no date with Kiba.

"So what exactly is gonna happen granny? Is there any side effects or..."

"Naruto you'll be fine, there's no side effects as this is a pure healing Jutsu, and the more you talk the less chance you have of going on that date tomorrow!"

The medical-nin from each corner looked up at Tsunade and Naruto, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Get back to work!"

Tsunade caught on immediately of their spying as she felt a disturbance in the chakra field of the Jutsu, they all snapped their heads downwards hoping not to get slugged by the foul-tempered Hokage. Naruto had to suppress a laugh as he loved seeing her scare the crap out of people other than himself for once.

"You won't feel any pain Naruto, so now that we got this covered I don't expect any more out of you!"

"Yes, but make it quick, I can't miss that date!"

He swore he saw a vein pop out of Tsunade's temple. She started mumbling something about "ungrateful" and "these days" but he shrugged it off, not willing to ruffle her feathers anymore. Tsunade went to a desk near the other side of the room and took out an Anesthesia dose to give to Naruto, as she strictly told the truth about it not being painful, while being unconscious that is.

She walked over to Naruto, while thinking of how to inject him without him freaking out and managing to break something as always.

Yeah... he's stupid enough, that'll work!

Naruto turned his head to see a serenely smiling Tsunade looking surprisingly, yet unbelievably, happy to see him.

"What are you up to old bat?"

Damn, gotta make this fast as he's already seeing past my façade!

"Look! A limited edition triple-pork Ramen!" She pointed to the other direction.

"What where?!"

She stabbed him in the right arm with the injector, the same place her student did only 10 minutes or so ago, showing worrying similarities between Master and Apprentice.

"There's no... Ramen..." Naruto began to go under already, showing how susceptible he was to drugs.

"Kami forbid he takes up drinking, he'd be smashed just by a sip of saké" she laughed, bewildered how such a strong and enduring Shinobi could be such a lightweight to chemicals at the same time.

She placed her hands on his chest, emitting a green flow of chakra.

"Begin the Jutsu!"

"Hai!" The four medical-nin channeled their chakra through the symbols on the floor to the hospital bed in the center, eventually converging into Tsunade's hands. Naruto was surrounded in green energy from the gathering of Healing Chakra, the Jutsu had officially begun.

This will take at least 8 hours, you're one lucky kid that I signed myself up to this Naruto, or it could have been days!

"Shizune!" Tsunade shouted.

An explosion of cloud appeared next to the Sannin, as Shizune was summoned but in her rather kinky pajamas.

"L-Lady Tsunade?! W-Why did you summon me at this hour?!" Shizune was blushing uncontrollably, covering her printed nightshirt that said "Deep Throat" with a picture of a giraffe next to it .

"Bring me Sake!"

Sakura's P.O.V

The pink-haired nin decided it would be best to tell Kiba now of the situation, before he goes waking up to knock at Naruto's house to then realize he's gone, leading to an emotional manhunt around the village. Sakura was deliberating over who The Manipulator could be, but like Naruto she also thought it could be Ino.

She clenched her fists, determined to find more evidence on who The Manipulator really was, and that it hopefully weren't her close friend. Sakura then went on to think about the best way to gain that extra needed evidence. A meeting with Naruto, Tsunade, Kiba and Sai in the Hokage's office tomorrow was what she thought to be the best way to converge existing evidence to draft up a plan.

Sakura jumped across the rooftops towards the Inuzuka Estate, quite fatigued after so much commotion in early hours. "Damn, gonna need to take a seat when I get there." She breathed heavily, and was also contemplating on the best way to tell Kiba without him waking up the entire village with his ensuing rampage.

She finally saw the grandeur gates of the compound. It really was a prestigious residence, with multiple houses and communal buildings, hinting that there were actually more Inuzuka clansmen and women than most people would first assume.

"Kami... Naruto will be one lucky guy when he gets to lives here with Kiba!" Sakura murmured. She didn't quite know why she said that he 'will' live there; it was just one of her female intuitions she thought.

She carefully pushed the giant gate open with ease due to her immense strength, but was concerned about it waking up the entire clan (due to their sensitive hearing) by making a noise of some kind. She opened it just wide enough to let her through and she slipped into the compound, trying to hazard a guess to where Kiba was residing. She knew that if she were to announce her visit openly, they would probably kick her out and tell her to come back the next day, which she weren't going to allow.

Sakura focused her chakra to try to find Kiba, like on a radar. She learned a special technique that allowed her to focus and see multiple lines of chakra float in the air, each one belonging to individual people. The one who she was looking for, Kiba's of course, was crimson red. She recently discovered that she was a sensory-type nin, so Tsunade trained her in that sector to make her more efficient. Thankfully the training pulled off, as Sakura found Kiba's red chakra string and made her way cautiously to his location. She quietly slipped through the shadows around trees and other natural objects to help keep her obscure, than spotting Kiba's bedroom window and threw rocks up at it to try to wake him up, although ironically after trying to be so stealthy as before.

Kiba's P.O.V

The ever so subtle smell of Vanilla flowed around him and the room, it was wonderful. He glanced up slightly to see who had smelt so nice, the gorgeous smell of Vanilla still forefront in his mind. Kiba thought this was Naruto, but In fact he didn't even look up at the blondes face to certify that.

Kiba decided it would be best to actually look him in the eyes before anything else, so he lifted his head from the blonde and - something was off.

"I hope you're not getting any second thoughts Kibbles!"

"T-Tenten?!"

He looked up in astonishment to see that it was now Tenten who he was admiring, her body instantly morphing back into its original female form.

"Why are you surprised? Am I not good enough?" She purred.

"W-What are you doing here?!" Kiba shouted, yet Tenten smirked In response.

"Forget that stupid fox, I'm better than he is!" She moved closer and smiled coyly at him, causing him to move back.

"N-No, I can't..." Kiba tried to restrain himself, knowing that letting Tenten get her way the night before his date wouldn't be good at all.

"Oh hush Kibbles, you know you want to." She looked into his eyes and slightly pouted, which Kiba thought was actually quite pathetic.

A burst of Vanilla assaulted his nose again, and it made him feel woozy. He slowly laid back down on his bed, starting to give in to the strangely intoxicating smell. He saw Tenten give an almost sly smile and crawl closer to him.

'No! I cant do this, what kind of boyfriend would I be doing this?!...

Boyfriend? It's only one date, and I'm not even really sure If It'll work...' Kiba argued to himself on what to do, the dream being too realistic for him to realize he could just try to wake himself up.

But he then saw images of a smiling blonde laying beside him, snuggling closer to Kiba's warmth, expressing something amazing, obscure and heartfelt... something he couldn't describe. Kiba had decided that he weren't about to forsake something as beautiful as that, even if it was only a possibility.

"Tenten..." He spoke softly.

The brunette girl stopped just before she went to kiss the Inuzuka, "Yes, my Kibbles?"

"Get the hell out of my house!"

Kiba roared at Tenten, a huge burst of mental energy overwhelming his petty physical urges. She was just centimeters away from him, making Kiba grateful for the thoughts of Naruto helping him as quick as they did.

"Humph!" Tenten scoffed disgustingly at the other Brunette, vexed that he managed to resist her approaches. She crawled back and got off from his bed.

"I'll be seeing you then." She said, something quite ambiguous yet sinister about its tone. She faded from the room, and now it was just Kiba.

"Thank Kami she's gone, she would have completely messed things up in my head if she'd stayed any longer."

*KNOCK*

General P.O.V

Kiba slowly began to open his eyes, realizing that it was luckily just a dream, albeit a very lifelike one. He thought the knock that awoke him was just a noise from the drains maybe, his house did tend to make all kinds of sounds at night. He turned around to face the window, looking at the ethereal moonlight slip through his window and now on to his double bed.

"That thought of Naruto being here..." He began to ponder yet again on the Jinchuuriki, which seemed to be a habit in recent events. He remembered seeing Naruto laying in Kiba's bed sleeping with a peaceful, smiling face while close to Kiba's body.

"It felt right somehow, maybe the date won't be such a bad idea after all." He smirked tiredly, grateful that he still has Naruto to fight for.

*KNOCK*

Kiba saw and heard a pebble hit his window, assuring his interest as he got up to see who threw it. He stumbled off his bed and tiredly shuffled to the window, sliding it open to be greeted by a pebble to the face.

"OW! You didn't need to throw another one baka!"

"Oh sorry Kiba hehe."

"Sakura? What're you doing here at like..." Kiba looked over to the digital clock by his bed stand, "3.a.m?"

"I need to talk to you, it's about Naruto."

That was all Kiba needed to hear, he beckoned Sakura to jump up through his window so they could have a proper conversation in his room. Sakura entered his room, taken back by Kiba's scent radiating from the surroundings, almost overpowering her nose.

'Gosh he must be hormonal!'

Sakura managed to ignore the scent and told Kiba of everything that happened throughout the night, with her having to wrestle him back from jumping out the window to find Naruto multiple times.

"How dare she! When I get my hands on her I'll!-" Kiba was roaring at the top of his voice, surely waking some of the residents up already.

"Keep it down you dumbass! You'll wake the entire village!" Sakura bopped him on the head, making him see stars for a while before regaining his posture.

'D-Damn she hits hard!'

"So I was thinking we should conduct a meeting with everyone to focus our efforts. Also, Naruto might not be up to the date so-" Sakura saw Kiba's face first look shocked to her knowing, but than instantly appear disheartened at the mention of the date being delayed, so she decided to veer from her original conversation to cheer him up by bringing up something he wouldn't expect.

"Actually, if he can go on the date, how about I help you prepare for the it? I could give you tips on what to wear, It could change your confidence and it's pretty easy to be honest!" Sakura smiled at seeing his face lighten up.

"T-That would be great Sakura! Thank you!" He hugged her warmly, taking her by surprise but cheering her up nonetheless.

"B-But how did you find out?" He asked curiously, not too bothered either way as he knew he could trust her.

"Well seeing you both last night for starters! But we can talk about that another time."

Kiba nodded to her in acceptance, making Sakura feel less intrusive for knowing their secret.

Sakura knew that they had great potential; the fact that Naruto already crushes on Kiba made it that much more likely, and with Sakura's help it could be a very productive date. Unless The Manipulator plans on ruining it, but Sakura also had plans to help prevent that for at least the one night.

"Well I better get going now, I really need to rest up after tonight!" Sakura began to walk off to the window and waved goodbye to Kiba.

"See ya later Sakura, come back later so we can talk over the plans!"

"Got ya, Oh and Naruto can't have any visitors yet so don't bother trying to see him!"

Kiba nodded to her and waved her goodbye, watching her sneak out of the compound towards the center of the village where she lived. Kiba returned to his bed and laid back down while now reflecting on that life-like dream he had.

"Why was it Tenten? I barely talk to her so it's odd that I was dreaming about her. I don't have any big attraction to her either, so why was the dream sexual?"

He was perplexed by the abnormal dream, but needed to rest up so he could get through the busy agenda of tomorrow: probably an important meeting and of course, hopefully his date if Naruto recovered. He returned back into a peaceful slumber, thankfully devoid of Tenten.

It was 7.a.m and The Medical team assigned to Naruto was mostly done with the Jutsu, but needed a bit longer to finish the synthesis of his new cells to his chakra network. Tsunade had Shizune assist the healing when she wasn't sent on Sake Runs. Naruto had slept comfortably throughout the night, largely due to the Anesthesia.

"I think we're almost done here Shizune, Kyuubi must have assisted in healing his body as this is quicker then I thought it would take, even with generous estimates!" Tsunade was surprised to say the least, as most Jinchuuriki didn't have a bond quite as strong with their tailed beast like Naruto and Kyuubi. Naruto didn't develop any scar tissue, so he was completely rejuvenated from the process.

Naruto had a somber face, but changed to smiling then something like... extreme relief. Tsunade turned red at guessing what he was dreaming about, so she placed her finger on his forehead and tried to gain access to his mind to see if she was correct.

'O-Oh god... what are they doing?!'

Tsunade was sent flying by a nose-bleed, completely knocking her out momentarily by one of the walls from the impact. Shizune also had a face of horror when she saw Naruto's enlightened face, and reluctantly guessed to why he was so happy.

"T-That dirty little teme!" Tsunade regained consciousness and staggered back up to her feet and limped towards the unconscious blonde, ready to deliver her Elbow-Drop of Infertility upon the sleeping nin. Shizune quickly wheeled Naruto's bed away from Tsunade's attack, leaving a sizable crater in the middle of the room from the impact. Tsunade went over to the blonde, shaking him awake.

*Yawn* "Good morning Tsunade!" The blonde chirped, not bothered by the rigorous shaking he was subjected to.

He's being moderately respectful for once; obviously must still be in the afterglow of that dream!

Tsunade smirked and went to whisper in Naruto's ears "How good was he?"

Naruto turned pale, and after he looked to see Shizune cowering away from him, he wanted the ground to swallow him up. After a very awkward conversation about safe sex and lubricants, Tsunade allowed Naruto to leave his bed and have a walk while she got the discharge papers sorted. Naruto waited in the lobby of the hospital taking a read through the Databook given to him by Sai.

He flipped to page 32 and saw the Rookie 9 stats, trying to inspect who was most apt at Genjutsu in the group.

No one in the group is actually a skilled Genjutsu user... Sakura is the most able, but she obviously isn't the Manipulator as she saved me from her in the alley. Of course, it's must be a female!

Naruto had just realized that The Manipulator was a female if he was to judge it by the alley incident, effectively halving his search. Naruto saw that the most skilled in the Rookie 9 who was female were Sakura, followed by Hinata, Ino and then Tenten.

"But if Sakura or Hinata couldn't manipulate people, how could Ino do so when she's less skilled in Genjutsu?" Naruto was starting to confuse himself with all the contradictory evidence flying around, not sure at all if Ino really was The Manipulator or not. Before he could confuse himself even more, Tsunade had arrived with the forms for him to sign to be discharged. Naruto signed each form and handed it to reception, then walking out the exit with Tsunade and Shizune.

It was a sunny start to the day, which they all hoped would mean it would be an uneventful day; except for the date of course, which Naruto was practically buzzing over.

A messenger bird flew over to Tsunade and landed on her wrist, warranting the interest of the Sannin. She took out a scroll from its pouch and sent the bird back to the Messaging office. She opened the Scroll while trying to push back a nosy Naruto, sending him flying as always.

Lady Tsunade,

We need to hold a meeting In your office within a few hours If possible, it would be the best way to merge existing evidence and try to formulate a new plan against this Manipulator. I just spoke to Kiba and he's made extra sure to keep his Amulet on hand and to be vigilant. Hopefully the new amulet for Naruto is almost completed, I'd hate to see him be possessed again.

Sakura.

Tsunade put the scroll in her pocket and continued walking Naruto and Shizune to the center of town. Although she was already planning on hosting a multilateral meeting, she was impressed by Sakura taking the initiative with the investigation, showing her to already be great Jonin material.

"What did that scroll say baa-chan?"

"We're holding a meeting in an 1 hour and 30 minutes in my office, so I expect you to go get something to eat and then clean yourself up in the meanwhile. I'll send Shizune with you as a bodyguard."

Naruto grunted as he didn't want a bodyguard at all, but he knew that Tsunade would always get her way in the end, so there was no point fighting over it. Naruto thanked Tsunade again for healing him and made his way to Ichiraku's with Shizune, hoping to get her perspective on who The Manipulator could be while she was there. Naruto led the way and within minutes they were already sat down on the stalls ordering their food.

"Hey old man Teuchi!"

"Ah our favorite customer! How are ya Naruto?

"Been better I guess, but anyways, I'd like 4 extra pork miso Ramen!"

'Kami I hope this kid has his wallet on him, or I'll be in debt by the end of the morning.'

Shizune worried that his insatiable appetite would cost her a heap load of Ryo.

And how right she was.

After another 3 bowls for him and just one bowl for Shizune, they decided to let their food go down before leaving to his apartment.

"So, Shizune." He caught her attention from staring at Teuchi processing the bill.

"Who do you think The Manipulator is?"

Shizune pondered for about 10 seconds, making Naruto already begin to fidget with impatience. "I honestly don't know Naruto, but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say someone who you'd least expect."

"But that doesn't help at all!"

"If I had to hazard a guess on the evidence we have now, I'd say it could be Ino, but it's usually those who hide in the shadows of other ninja who score the best kills."

Naruto looked perplexed at this philosophy, but eventually saw how it actually could make more sense. Ninja who uses another ninja's persona instead of theirs could use that as a safety net, preventing people from ever guessing it was them. Naruto was really back to step one with the mystery, not sure who it could be now as he had very little conclusive evidence.

Shizune reluctantly paid for the Ramen and escorted Naruto back to his apartment. There was very little trouble as most criminals wouldn't dare to attack the Hokage's apprentice as she could certainly hold her own.

They reached his apartment and Naruto had jumped in the shower while Shizune "inspected", or nosed rather, around his living area. The place was surprisingly clean other than the Kitchen, which was littered with Instant Ramen pots. She walked into his living room and saw a cosy yet dilapidated sofa, along with a small, old yet functional TV. She was distracted by her inspection, however, by Naruto bursting out from his bathroom draped only by a towel; his torso covered in beads of hot water, which made Shizune heckle him to get dressed before she died of a continuous nose bleed.

Naruto grabbed a black tee with an orange Uzumaki clan sign in the center, along with black trousers and his black and orange Shinobi boots. Naruto and Shizune left the apartment and made their way to the Hokage tower to attend the meeting, they reached the Tower entrance to see Sakura and Sai waiting outside.

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto bolted towards his best-friend to talk before they had to enter the meeting. Naruto was just a few meters away from reaching her when he saw Sai supernaturally slide in front of him with his cringe-smile and opened his arms to trap Naruto in the Hug of Devastation and Friendship.

"Greetings my compatriot, Naru!" Sai successfully trapped Naruto in the hug, relieved that he wasn't to-hurt or badly disfigured after the attack. Naruto pried himself from it after much struggle, fearing it actually made his wounds worse.

"Kiba!" Sakura waved behind Naruto, causing him to turn around anxiously to see the brunette jogging towards them.

'Oh Kami, Kyu! What do I say?!'

'Uhh be natural you ass-wipe, the more worked up you get the more obvious is becomes!' Kyu was getting tired of Naruto constantly asking for help in recent events, especially as she was just in the midst of a very good nap.

Kiba reached the group, wearing his leather jacket, black trousers and shinobi boots as usual but this time wearing the emerald-green Amulet of the Senju clan, letting Naruto feel safer at mind knowing that he couldn't be possessed anymore. Kiba greeted Sakura, Sai and Shizune but when he turned to Naruto, it was a different kind of greeting.

"Hey... Naruto."

"Hi Kiba, how are you?" Naruto surprisingly replied with no sign of Hinata's influence, causing some surprise by the rest of the group.

"I'm fine, but I'm more worried about you, you had me worried sick ya know?" Kiba moved slightly towards Naruto, closing the gap.

"Don't worry about me, I can handle myself now."

Naruto pulled off his shining cheeky grin, making Kiba's heart beat uncontrollably. Naruto was told by Kyuubi to save the romance and flirting for the Date, to show Kiba that he weren't 'going to be an easy catch' and certainly 'Not an Uke.' as she so put it.

"He's making it hard for me to control myself, I just wanna take those lips right now!" Kiba thought longingly.

Naruto saw Kiba breathe heavier than before and saw a desire in his chocolate-brown eyes, a longing for something. Naruto instinctively began to move towards him, oblivious of the surrounding groups proximity as he was so mesmerized by those beautiful eyes.

'Save this for later Kit, Tsunade's coming'

Naruto reluctantly turned his gaze away from Kiba's eyes towards the doors of the tower to see Tsunade standing there, with two ANBU guards.

"Everyone, come in!" Tsunade barked at the group and they all hurried up the stairs hoping not to antagonize the Hokage before the meeting actually began. Naruto led the group followed by Kiba and then the rest.

'This is how your relationship should be, you in charge and leading him!' Kyuubi said with delight, hoping her kit would take after her as a dominant figure.

"Stop banging on about dominance, our relationship won't be like that!"

Kyuubi laughed, 'There is always a dominant figure, even if it's by a small amount! Don't be such a naive baka.'

Naruto once again blocked her out and continued up the stairs towards the office, seeing another two ANBU guards by the door.

"Why are there so many guards granny? There's never usually this much."

"The threat of this so-called "Manipulator" is still there, and after recent events I don't want you to be unguarded until the threat is eradicated. But we'll move on to that during the meeting." The Sannin explained.

Naruto looked troubled to who she would assign to look over Naruto, as he expected to have a heartless ANBU guard that won't give him any privacy at all. Naruto sighed and continued on into the meeting room followed by the rest of the group, with the door being thoroughly closed by the outer guards to prevent any disturbances.

The Meeting Room

Tsunade led the teens into a secret room that she had hidden behind a bookcase, which although called "cliché" by Naruto, still worked very effectively in being obscure. The room was fairly large with a meeting table in the center, with 10 chairs around it with ample room between them. Tsunade instructed them to take a seat and they all did so with Naruto and Sakura sitting together at the top left of the table with Kiba and Sai facing them on the other side, with Tsunade taking the main seat at the top.

"We're still expecting one more person, so bear with us."

"Who else did you bring old bag?! We don't need anyone else!" Naruto said again disrespectfully, vexed how this was becoming a nation-wide crisis at this rate.

Just as Tsunade was about to respond, the door opened showing a purple eyed young women who was the founder of Naruto's syndrome, Hinata. She made her way towards Tsunade and respectfully greeted her, completely contrary to how Naruto would have done so. She then spoke before taking her seat.

"I hope y-you're Ok, N-Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled at Hinata's concern, "Thank you Hinata, it's good to know I have friends like you!"

Hinata blushed uncontrollably but managed to take her seat on the bottom end of the table before passing out.

"Why is she sitting all the way over there?" Naruto whispered to Sakura.

"Hinata is here to detect any spies or signs of The Manipulator within or outside of this office, in case he or she decides to interrupt this meeting." Tsunade interjected as she heard Naruto easily from her seat.

Naruto nodded and remained quiet so that the meeting could get under way. Tsunade cleared her throat and placed her hand in her inner pocket to retrieve something. She pulled out another Senju Amulet that was just recently made, while handing it over to Naruto.

"Thanks baa-chan." Naruto smirked and put his new Amulet on straight away, not wanting a second more of being vulnerable.

"You all know why you have been summoned here today, to figure out who the so-called "Manipulator" is and put a stop to his or her villainous activities. They had possessed Kiba but a day ago, and possessed Naruto later that same day. You are all required to tell anything you know about who they might be, even if it's something as small as a vision perhaps."

Kiba immediately remembered his dream with Tenten, but was hesitant whether or not to tell them as it was so embarrassing, or even relevant, especially with Naruto there. Kiba remained quiet and decided it would be best to tell if it was really necessary. Naruto was the first to speak up.

"I think it was Ino!" He shouted.

"Explain why you think it's her then." Tsunade countered.

"When I was assaulted in the alley, I saw very light blonde hair and green eyes, both things that Ino has!" He accused, now stood from his seat.

"I'll have to agree with him Lady Tsunade, as when he was possessed by, perhaps, The Manipulator, he called me "Forehead" ,which only Ino usually points out about my features." She backed Naruto's claim, albeit embarrassingly as she pointed out her large forehead too. Naruto snickered at hearing what he apparently called her, much to the pinkette's anger.

"However she always called me, although more embarrassing to say, "Billboard Brow" and never just "Forehead", so maybe it could have been another shinobi hiding under the guise of her."

Tsunade had to take these claims into account to assess if it really was Ino in the Alley, as they knew that whoever it was, it was most likely The Manipulator, as proven by the poison that they used. She finally came up with a question to try to prove the validity of their claims.

"Kiba, what do you remember from before you were possessed? It seems that this Manipulator could act by using a poison, so you must have been either attacked or poisoned through other means, try to remember what could have caused it!" She barked, trying to jump-start his memory through intimidation.

"I-I honestly don't remember Lady Tsunade! All I remember that happened was coming across Team Guy..."

"What did you do with Team Guy?" She pressed, trying to extract every bit of information she can get from the brunette.

"I think we stopped for a bit and I was offered drinks by one of them, I honestly don't remember anything else!" Kiba told everything he knew, as he didn't know at all which one of them offered him a drink.

So it seems that could have been how he was poisoned; through a drink given to him by one of them...

Tsunade thought over the possibility of it being one of Team Guy who was disguised as Ino, but cleverly as they attempted to hide some of her features through cloaks and bandanas, to give the impression that it was the real Ino who tried to mask her appearance. If they were to just fully transform into Ino without another disguise, that shows shoddy thinking and it makes it obvious to assume it was an attempt to blame it on another person.

This one is smart it seems, this could be tricky.

"Sai, what made you think that it was someone in the Rookie 9?" Tsunade turned her focus to the solemn ANBU operative, sitting furthest on the other side of the table to Naruto.

"I've read in multiple books and novels that strength among certain peers can elicit strong jealousy, not only for their strength, but also for their ability to impress other team mates, which The Manipulator probably can not. So I thought that The Manipulator is actually a generally unimpressive but very vengeful peer to Naruto, and has a strong obsession with Kiba." Sai explained his theory to the rest of the attendees, with his ironically vast knowledge of emotions via books that shouldn't be discredited.

"I'll back that." Naruto supported Sai's theory, as although he originally thought it was Ino, after the current theories he's heard it could most definitely be someone else.

"I asked Kyuubi to look at the Chakra that was on Kiba after his possession, it must have escaped through his pores as it was in his body after all. She found out that it had jealousy, just as Sai pointed out." Naruto had just proven Sai's theory to be correct, which could help narrow down their search through more analysis.

So it seems that The Manipulator is probably a self-conscious and jealous peer to Naruto, who has an obscene crush on Kiba which fuels that jealousy... interesting...

"Sakura, you spend a fair amount of time with Ino. Has she ever showed signs of being infatuated with Kiba?" Kiba blushed after seeing all this attention he was getting, but bared with it if it meant an end to the rogue that almost made him kill his best friend.

"I haven't seen her recently, but she didn't have any kind of crush on Kiba from what I've noticed, not taking into account general talk about hot boys hehe..." Sakura said, essentially just called Kiba "hot" which caused Naruto to almost snarl at her.

"Is there another rat?" Sai smiled at Naruto for his growling, just the same as he did with Kiba the previous day in the archives. Naruto shot across a look that could have burned into Sai if he weren't so impervious to it, as his same cringe-worthy smile hadn't changed.

"Don't be so angry, Naru!"

"Why you-"

"Enough!" Tsunade shouted to stop the pretty feud, as it was entirely inappropriate for such a serious meeting.

"Naruto, how has your friendship been with Rock Lee?"

"W-Well ever since I defeated Pain he's been somewhat distant from me, and he no longer challenges me to those annoying rivalry challenges. But the last time we spoke he said he's been trying to strengthen his chakra control to try to learn Ninjutsu or something like that." The blonde explained to Tsunade.

"Do you remember anything from the Training field before you fought the possessed Kiba?" Tsunade continued asking.

"Well it was pretty quiet, overcast and-"

"I'm not asking for a weather forecast, was anyone else there!" The anger vein began to show from her short-tempered head.

"I was getting to that old bag! I heard some Ninja tools on the field so I thought it was a shinobi training with Kunai or something." He exclaimed.

"Try and remember what tools were used by their sounds, surely you must hazard another guess then just Kunai!" Tsunade seemed to be on to something in her head, but needed Naruto to try to prove it right or wrong with a little more description.

"W-Well I don't know! I guess they sounded like something clanking, but not like two Kunai's clashing in a fight or anything like that, but more gentle, like it was for another use maybe.

"Did you sense any chakra from near you? Like in a bush or hiding somewhere?"

"I sensed something nearby that was familiar, but I was too preoccupied with the spar and in my thoughts to try spying on peoples chakra!"

Something nearby that was familiar, clanking tools that didn't sound like they were used in a fight, Hmm...

"Well, I'd like to thank you all for attending this meeting, I'll need until tomorrow to discuss this further with Shizune and The Elders to try to target a particular Shinobi for questioning. The evidence that we've heard isn't enough to pursue anyone fully as it's just not solid enough, but after tomorrow with further research on my part, I'll let you all know what our plan of action is."

"Wait!"

Everyone turned around to see Kiba stand up, trying to gather the attention of Tsunade who almost dismissed them all.

"You said that even something as small as a dream could contribute to the evidence, right?"

Tsunade inspected Kiba with great scrutiny, already wondering what kind of dream it was that he had.

"Yes, I did. If you have something to say about a dream you've had, that's relevant to the investigation, then go ahead."

Kiba took a deep breath to try to compose himself and prepare to tell of this embarrassing dream. He was worried that Naruto would take offence to him dreaming about Tenten being in his bedroom, so he had devised a plan to try to curb a bad reaction.

Kiba had explained his dream to the Hokage while leaving out some unneeded and embarrassing parts such as the strange smell of vanilla and her insulting of Naruto, as he replaced them with simply saying she was "hitting on me". He saw Naruto's face become increasingly crestfallen the more he spoke of Tenten's advances, but made sure to emphasize how he indeed turned her down and did not succumb to her advances. The dream itself was not conclusive evidence, at all. However Kiba made sure to explain how it felt lifelike and that it could've been her invading his mind to try to seduce him, perhaps showing her to be The Manipulator.

Tsunade saw this is as, although inconclusive, another thing to consider as this may have not been just a wet dream in progress until he was woken up by Sakura. However many dreams seem life-like to make more sense to the brain, so although he did indeed turn her down and saw her disappear, it may have been because he was being awoken, not because Tenten literally invaded his mind then left on her own accord.

"Thank you Kiba, that may have been embarrassing for you but well done for telling, that could help with this investigation." Tsunade was impressed by Kiba's ability to put the investigation and something else before his pride, a sign of a true man she always thought, especially rare of the pride-fueled Inuzuka.

"Now I believe that we have something, albeit minute, to go on, even if it is combined from all different sources with varying validity. As I said before, I'll evaluate everything I've heard from today and formulate a strategy, I'll get back to each one of you once I do, you are dismissed."

The teens all stood up from their chairs and respectfully wished the Hokage goodbye, all leaving the room through the bookcase entrance.

"Naruto, Kiba, I'd like you both to stay for a moment."

Naruto turned to look at Kiba, but wasn't experiencing the same kind of reaction of fatigue as he was, as Kiba looked surprisingly happy. They both walked back towards Tsunade's seat and stood either side, waiting for her to speak.

"If you recall Naruto, before the meeting I said I don't wish for you to be unguarded while this situation is still happening, correct?" Naruto nodded to show he was listening.

"Good, well I know how much you like to have your privacy, and that the ANBU ops tend to overlook such a luxury, so I was considering letting Kiba take you into his residence at least until this crisis with The Manipulator is over."

Naruto's jaw almost literally dropped to the ground, unable to process what his now beloved baa-chan had just said. His jaw was still on the floor after about a minute but Tsunade decided to carry on speaking rather than wait for him to recover, which could have been Kami-knows how long.

"Me and Kiba had discussed this via messenger bird while you went back to your apartment with Shizune, and he was perfectly happy with you moving in tomorrow, the Inuzuka clan leader Tsume said it would be fine also, after some persuasion. They will try to keep you safe from this rogue." Tsunade almost smirked at seeing Naruto's otherworldly expression, clearly not believing he was about to move in with Kiba, to eat there, live there, sleep there!

'By Kami you look like you're brain-dead kit! Stop drooling over the thought of sleeping there, in his bed!' Kyuubi knew that would finish him off, to great effect.

Naruto began to fall backwards but was saved by Shizune, who tried to muzzle a laugh at how affected Naruto was from this news. Naruto however seemed to snap out of his state and his face was replaced with elation.

"Y-Yeah that would be great, thanks a lot guys!"

Kiba showed his toothy grin to Naruto, clearly pleased that Naruto was so glad at the aspect of moving in with him.

"Well that's all you need to know boys, and remember to keep your Amulets on always!" Tsunade dismissed the boys and bid them goodbye while she talked over the meeting's revelations with Shizune. Both teens left the secret meeting room and made their way back down the stone steps leading down from the entrance of the Tower. They both stood in the same area they did the night before, feeling mixed emotions of excitement yet nervousness all the more.

"So, are you glad you're moving in Naruto?"

"Pssh, you wish! I bet the place reeks of dog, gonna smell like you by the end of it!" Naruto smirked at Kiba's first devastated expression, before realizing he was kidding around.

"How do you think I feel? I gotta put up with a needy fox who will make me take him out to Ichiraku's every day!" He grinned at seeing Naruto playfully stick his tongue out, not denying anything Kiba said about Ichiraku's as it was probably true. Both boys reached the end of the stone path leading from the steps and had to split up to go to their own houses.

"I'll see you tonight then Kiba!"

"Yep! See ya Nar." Kiba winked in return, slowly feeling more confident for the night ahead. Both boys waved to each-other, already thinking about what to do for the date later that night. Kiba saw Sakura leaning on a wall on the path to his compound and hollered at her. Sakura smiled and ran towards Kiba.

"Hey Kiba! How did Naruto react to finding out about moving in with you?" She said excitedly, waiting to hear of his reaction.

"Yeah, his reaction was priceless as he just stared into space for about 5 minutes!"

Both teens laughed at Naruto's antics again, and then started walking towards Kiba's house.

"When we get to your house, I'll pick out some good clothes for you, you'll have to worry about the dialogue during the date though!"

"W-Why can't you help with that?" Kiba sounded anxious, not sure how dating really worked in all fairness.

"This is your date, not mine baka! I'm not gonna write you a script. Besides, you're both best-friends dobe!" Sakura hit him on the head again.

"OK, OK!" He gave in, knowing she was pretty much always right.

Naruto on the other hand was discussing it with a much more ruthless figure, Kyuubi. Kyuubi had already begun to give him 'tips' on how to dominate Kiba and be the alpha. Naruto sighed as he blocked her out for not being a great help at all, but she sometimes had other good tips that he could be used on the date though.

'I'm sorry Kit, I'll help out with the actual date, not the rutting... yet!'

Naruto hit her with a Rasenshuriken for being so focused on the sex. He wanted this date to work, so if he had to force her into helping with it, he would.

A/N: Phew, that was a long chapter right? I hope you're enjoying it so far and review your thoughts on it, critique is always welcomed. :)