WHAZ UP ladies, gents and other! I'm gonna wrap up the Yuki no Kuni 'arc' and then we're gonna see Naruto's method of freein' his friends of the burden that is what they know of him. Bit of a sad chapter when Team 7 gets back to Konoha... This shit is mine, Naruto and the eventual continuation into Shippuden aren't mine, there were no foxes hurt in the production of this story.
Naruto: REALLY?! THAT AWESOME, DATTEBOYO!
I said, foxes, not shinobi! *evil smirk* RUN BITCH, RUN!
*Sounds of Naruto's screams*
I feel fulfilled.
"Normal speech"
Thoughts and or emphasis
'Paraphrasing and character perceived person, place, thing, and or event'
"Demonic speech or Inner Sakura" (Like that's not a demon in and of itself)
jutsu
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This is it. I don't know if you can hear me at all Kyuubi, but I hope you can and I hope you're ready! Naruto was hanging from the ceiling, hands and feet tied up. After the fight with the ninja 'Polar Express', Koyuki had been captured as soon as Sandayu's last breath left him and Naruto had done the stupidly-done-but-smart thing, he grabbed the rope that took her onto the airship. Now here he was; in a mansion-with-a-dungeon, dangling from the ceiling with his hands separated so he couldn't make any hand seals and with his feet chain to the floor. "There's no spring her Tou-san, there never was..."
Hearing Koyuki's pessimistic outlooks for the past two days was driving him insane, or more insane than he already was, "Are trying to piss me off as an escape plan?" His simple question made her look at him with defeated eyes, even though he was turned to the side at the moment for security purposes of his strange eyes, even though his chakra was being drained rapidly. "Cause if you are, it's working! And don't say spring doesn't exist in this country, that's a load of prickshit, even in Kaze no Kuni there's winter. It's that way the whole world over, an environment might not show it in ways the human mind can understand, but the four seasons come and go as they do everywhere else. This country is in the season of spring as we speak, the weather is nicer at the moment than winter, you people...Just don't know when there's a good thing until someone crushes it in front of your face or cracks your skull!"
Naruto began to finagle around until he got a blade out of his collar, "Even though my chakra's being drained, I'm much too fucking stubborn to give up this soon, or ever! I've also, hehe, made a contingency plan incase of a situation similar to this..." The blade was being held by his incisors inside of a hole at the end, as if he'd made it himself. Koyuki looked at him with a confused face, "Back in the forest, you said you found something that made all of the pain tolerable and worth it...What was that something?" Naruto glared at her condescendingly, "I'm a child and I can see it, wouldn't you like to know! You've got to find your reason, for everyone has a different one, and mine is...None of your business, datteboyo!"
Naruto began to rapidly move his head left and right, making the blade start to cut through the chains. "You've got to move forward," Naruto's eyes became slitted, blues, "Keep learning," His fingernails became claws, "Never stop moving and don't look back unless necessary," Hid incisors lengthened and his smirk became feral, "...And never, GIVE UP DATTEBOYO! TSURGA!" Naruto's voice was demonic for a moment as he spun and broke the chains before returning to normal.
"Damn...I hate this chakra disruption device! It's ruining me for all the good I can do..." He got off the ground and made his body change again, but he unsealed Moeru Tsume and melted the cell's bars. "Now let's get outta here. How's about we go on and kill some folks?!" Naruto then did something stupid, he brought the clawed gauntlet's ability to life and began to melt the device off of himself, "Hothothothot! Hothothot! Hothothot!"
After two grueling minutes of Naruto's complaining, the device was molten away and he was ready to kill anyone who even looked at him wrong. "I'M BACK BITCHES! DATTEBOYO!" With a ferality that was unknown to normal humans, he got ready for the fight or fights to come. He looked to Koyuki with red, slitted eyes, "Are you with me? Are you going to change, going to forgive and move forward, are you going to...Live for those lost?! Because if you aren't, I'll leave you here to rot and never look back."
Koyuki looked to him as he walked forward to the bars and knelt down to look her in the eyes, "I'm with you, please let me out...Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto smirked, not condescendingly or threateningly, but kindly. "Good, 'cause we're gonna make sure that we open that vault of your father's! I think I know what's inside, but we need to get that crystal around your neck in there to unlock it, are you okay with this?" Naruto's eyes weren't red, but they were still slitted and still dangerous if angered.
Koyuki looked concerned about Naruto's idea before she nodded, "I need to know what this crystal is for and why my uncle's after it." "Good. Because I move fast, and I'll need you at your A-game while I kill on my feet!" Without anything else said, Naruto melted the bars with a flaming punch from his clawed gauntlet. He then picked her bridal-style before jumping and spinning while she was in the air and she landed on his back, where she wrapped her arms around him and watched as he entered his three-tailed fusion form. "Why aren't you entering the four-tails form? Wouldn't it be faster?!"
"No, I can't enter it at the moment. I used up so much chakra getting onto the airship and then with the disruptor on me...I don't enough chakra to give my battlefury a kickstart and get into that form!" He then ran, sounds of feet and hands meeting the floor at a fast pace. Every now and then they'd meet a guard and Naruto would make short work of them, and when it was a group he'd jump to the ceiling and sit there with chakra control keeping Koyuki on him and his claws keeping him on the ceiling.
"Stop!" Naruto and Koyuki suddenly came across a guard who smelled all too familiar, the jinchuuriki then began to flip around him and clawed at his suit like nobody's business. "Naruto! It's me, Kakashi!" "I know, but it's just so much fun fighting! I can't over this euphoria...It's a toxin that eats away at the soul before consuming it until it is fed properly! Hehehehe..." Naruto's crazed words made Kakashi take off the tattered suit reluctantly in case the blonde decided he was a target.
"Inu-sensei, I've a plan, but I need Koyuki to pull a stunt that the other two and yourself are going to hate..." Kakashi and Koyuki looked to the crouched young man curiously and worriedly, "Here's what we're going to do..."
Three minutes later
"I hate this plan, Naruto! At least you could've used yourself, you're a powerful shinobi..." Naruto was loping quadrupedal-style, while Koyuki had been whining about the plan, Kakashi had been running alongside his former student silently. "Quit whining, it's unbecoming of a future Daimyo, child." Koyuki, having learned from Naruto to feel emotions properly again, pouted at his calling of her a child, "I'm older than you, and at least treat me with some respect! Like you'd do with your Daimyo."
Naruto stopped abruptly and slammed his head into the floor, making the other two think he was possessed, until they heard his muffled laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT FAT WOMAN?! HAHAHAHAHA! I DON'T HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR HER AT ALL, I'M CONSTANTLY RESISTING THE URGE TO KILL HER FOR TORTURING HER POOR KITTEN WITH SMOTHERINGS!" That's when Sakura and Sasuke appeared, "And now the kids are here, fan-fucking-tastic! Let's go meet Koyuki's uncle now, shall we?"
The two genie looked to each other curiously as they tried to figure out why Naruto sounded weird. After they reached the 'throne room', a tall man with black - brown hair that fell back except for four strands of hair that fell on to his forehead. "Ah, you must be the ones who are here to stop me, good luck with that." Naruto decided to show his hand, "So you're going to set us aflame like your brother, Kazahana Sosetsu!" At that moment, Naruto picked up a scent he recognized as..."Guilty feelings aren't felt by murdering backstabbers. You're innocent, you did the deed, but you regret it."
Doto looked to Naruto amazedly, "H-how..." "Does the term, 'power of human sacrifice', mean anything to you?" Doto shook his head in surprise, trying to wake himself up, making Naruto smirk ferally. Naruto sent out killer intent, but then began to shape it in a manner like a genjutsu as his voice spoke from motionless lips, "There were nine of us who escaped..."
A silhouette of Naruto with chains over him and a ninetailed fox-like animal outlining him appeared and was followed by: a muscular male silhouette with eight tentacles and eight swords flipping and spinning around; a lithe female silhouette with six wings, a tail and had scale-like dust floating around her; a male silhouetted figure in a loose-fitting kimono hovered inside a bubble before floating into the bright-white background; a silhouette of an armored man let steam escape his armor as he disappeared into the white, fog-like background with the others; another armored, male shadowed figure appeared and spewed lava before running into the white distance; a short shadowed figure spun a polearm of some variety around and became water, a shadowed woman clawed and spun before leaping vanishing, and a young man stood in front of a horse-sized tanuki which turned to sand and engulfed the shadowed boy before dropping to the ground as nothing more than sand.
"Number one is hunted in Suna..." Gaara appeared and fought off two dark-garbed assassins with his sand, "Number two lives in the mountain forests with Number eight..." A blonde woman sparred with a dark-skinned man, "Number three is in Kirigakure, fixing his mistakes..." The face of a young man with a scar running from his eye to his chin ordered people around with a sad smile as they did as asked happily, "Number four through Number six are either unknown or aren't friendly while Number seven is in Takigakure, making friends..." Fuu hovered in the air with a kid on her back, seemingly unhindered by his weight as she flew with a smile that the kid reciprocated. "And Number nine, stands in front of you!" The fog-like area cleared to reveal an irritated Naruto, "Those are jinchuuriki, Kazahana Doto, and I can smell negative emotions as a power. I can tell that you st the fire up, trying to get the crystal out of greed, but you never wanted to kill your brother. You wanted the money to pay for something...You're in charge of Yukigakure no Sato, a hefty price that you can't make all the time, and you must've needed that money to further develop you machines and made enough money to have paid him back twice over. But when he didn't give his treasure, more than likely money, you devised a plan to get the key to the vault, that crystal around Koyuki's neck! You want to find out what's in the vault now, to see if you'r indirect-murdering of your brother was worth it, and now you're afraid of the answer and the young man lecturing you on what you've done and or will do!"
Doto looked at Naruto with wide eyes while the others were shocked at Naruto's words, He's not evil?! Sakura then voiced her confusion, "THEN WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SEND SHINOBI AFTER YOUR NIECE?!" Naruto answered as he returned to normal, "He didn't want her killed, he learned his mistake when Sosetsu died, he just wanted the crystal and to save his hidden village. That's all any Kage wants to do, isn't that right...Yukikage, Kazahana Doto?" Naruto ran at him with a Rasengan in hand, and it turned rainbow-colored as he bumped into Koyuki's crystal. "...Rainbow-chakra?! I remember that from a movie..." Naruto hit Doto in the chest, making his coat shred to reveal chakra armor that exploded and made him crash into the wall.
"I will not decide your fate, I will only carry it out, the honor of choosing it is your niece: Kazahana Koyuki, Daimyo of Yuki no Kuni! What is your decision, Princess?" Said princess looked to Naruto with wide eyes at his show of respect, "...Let him live, he's family and he'll do everything in his power to atone for his mistake. And as for the treasure...Let us see what was inside the vault!" Naruto picked up Doto and channeled his chakra into the wounded man, then began to channel Kyuubi's chakra so that it would heal him, his normal chakra made him heal faster than the average hum but Kyuubi's made it ridiculously so. Doto, got up and nodded his thanks to Naruto as he drove an airship to the treasure vault, where there stood six gigantic pillars that resembled mirrors.
Naruto looked intrigued for once, Kakashi was watching the workers suspiciously, Sasuke and Sakura were looking at the giant mirror-like pillars in awe of their size, Koyuki was alongside her uncle with a soft smile directed to him now knowing that he wasn't evil. Koyuki still missed her father, but now she knew that her own kin wasn't trying to kill her, and that brought a smile to her face. Naruto's demeanor was slightly miffed, he didn't get the chance to act upon his plan, which involved the princess acting like she sided with Doto and also a lot of ridiculousness. Sakura and Sasuke were just glad that the mission was over and that they could leave the frigid country.
The airship's landing was fine, aside from sliding whenever someone moved, and the group neared the vault's center. Placing the crystal in its slot, a snowflake pattern spread to the six pillars, making them glow and the snow began to melt, "A heat generator, that is worth dying for! He was going to make this place a gorgeous spring vacation spot, and with that in mind...I'd say that you're village would be able to get more trade and such in, so when he denied you, he was actually saying a 'yes behind a no'! He died for a good purpose, and that purpose was doing what any Kage or Daimyo should do..."
Kakashi looked to his student-turned-chunin dazedly, "I didn't know you were so empathetic, Naruto!" Naruto looked to his former sensei with a greenish face, "I know and it's making me sick...Excuse me while I go vomit!" He walked over to a bush, and true to his word, threw up and getting everyone to laugh heartily at his show of mock-disgust. He then passed out from the device's work on his coils, "I sleep from exhaustion of chakra loss now, good night-day!" He then fell, face-first into the arms of Koyuki, who gave him a peck on the cheek in thanks for all he'd done, when she realized that Sakura had taken a picture as blackmail material.
Konohagakure no Sato, three weeks later, Training Ground 44: The Forest of Death
"I'm ready guys and girls! I'm getting bored here..." He had a maniacally, feral smirk on his face as his kitsune imitators made the domed genjutsu. His smirk grew, as the rest of the Konoha 12 began to gather around him with battle-ready faces. Shikamaru's face was bored but serious, Choji looked like someone had insulted his weight again, Ino's smirk was both confident and pissed off at Naruto for killing her clone, Shino was silent but he radiated battle-readiness, Kiba and Akamaru were bustling with energy, Hinata was blushing up a storm at Naruto's new appearance while twiddling her fingers, Tenten was smirking confidently at her old classmate, Rock Lee was bouncing in place with excitement, Neji was stoic as always but he gave off a vibe of payback, while Sakura and Sasuke thought they were stronger from their memory problems, making Inner take control of Sakura.
"Let's kick his ass!" "Mendokuse..." "Alright, let's get this over with quickly, I'm starving!" "You're within our Divination." "Get-t-t-t r-r-reaady, Naruto-kun..." "I'll get you back for getting rid of me, Foxy-kun!" "Yosh! Be prepared Naruto-kun, I shall defeat you with my Flames of Youth or I will run around Konoha on my thumbs, backwards!" Everyone looked at him with surprised and curious looks, "Is that even possible, Lee?" "I do not know, my beautiful flower, but we shall find out!" "You may be my old classmate and roommate from the orphanage, but we're still going to beat your ass into submission!" "SHANNARO! WE'LL SHOW YOU, NARUTO!" "You may be a chunin, but all of us against one of you is nothing, Usuratonkachi!" Naruto's smirk became a Cheshire cat smile, getting all of them to glare at Sasuke as Inner punched him upside the head.
"OW! WHAT THE HELL INNER?! I WAS JUST STATING THE OBVIOUS!" "CHA! YOU TEME, HE CAN USE KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU, WHICH MAKES SOLID CLONES!" Sasuke paled as Naruto called out, "TAJU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" And a hundred Narutos appeared around them, "Oh...shit!" Naruto then dispelled them and entered his third-tailed fusion form whilst leaving , "Yugo: Mio no Katachi! The walls break down, the sea boils, and the sky bleeds...As our power makes itself one for this briefest of moments, creating a warrior unknown to the world! BE PREPARED!"
The genjutsu started, singing Katy Perry 'Part of me' and making Ino start to bounce in recognition, "How'd you know my favorite song, Foxy-kun?!" Naruto's fox jaw moved with his mouth, as if they were one and the same, "First off: Enough with the nickname! Second off: I make it my business to know, Ino-chan!" Naruto's husky and demonic voice made Ino blush at the same level as a near-fainting Hinata, while the other girls tried to keep themselves from suffering nosebleeds after thinking over the implications. Naruto, smirked primally, and all of him ran at them with a different plan of attack.
The Naruto using Moeru Tsume went after Sasuke, the Naruto using the Melody Gauntlet went after Choji, the Naruto with the gauntlets of the Demon Brothers zeroed in on Tenten, Naruto using the weapon he made against Kankuro was heading for Hinata, a random clone went at Shikamaru without any weaponry, a Naruto with makeshift boxing gear on went for Lee, one Naruto called out, "DOTON: TSURGA!", as he grabbed rocks of varying sizes from his pouch and spun whilst making a dark brown and truly-drill-like vortex in the direction of the Inuzuka Duo, Inner and Sakura were then nearly sliced in half by a Naruto carrying his fox-in-a-henge scythe, Shino was bombarded by foxes coming from the original, Neji became a puppeteering Naruto's opponent, and Ino was rushed by the original.
"I'M GONNA TEAR YOU INTO TINY PIECES, DATTEBOYO! HAHAHAHAHA!" The scythesman Naruto was spinning and swinging like crazy, making Inner flip and jump around without being able to attack. The orange-haired swordsman that was Naruto's puppet-foxes, had been unaffected by Neji's Juken and was making quite an impression on him, literally. Choji had been incapacitated by the Melody Gauntlet, whilst Shikamaru was fighting off his own shadow. "HOW ARE YOU CONTROLLING MY SHADOW?!"
The bunshin looked at Shikamaru with a proud and feral smirk, "I'm sending chakra into my feet, but since you're shadow's connected to mine which's connected to my feet..." He left it hanging there, letting the genius put it together, "You're overpowering my shadow with your own! YOU BASTARD! YOU KNEW THAT WE'D USE OUR CLAN JUTSUS AND YOU'RE USING THIS AS A WAY TO MAKE MORE!" The bunshin bowed deeply, "Guilty as charged, your honor! I feel no shame in this, I'm not using your clans' jutsus, I'm just making my own, so it's not illegal. Look at the Tsurga, I've used elemental affinities and approximations to strengthen it, and it's legal..."
Choji woke up and went at his Naruto clone with the, "Nikudan Sensha!" "WAIT CHOJI! HE'S MADE HIS OWN VERSIONS OF OUR JUTSUS, HE CAN COUNTERACT THEM AND BEAT US EASILY!" It was too late, for as soon as the Akimichi heir heard him, Naruto's clone had rolled up into a smaller ball that charged him and knocked the young-man-with-swirls-on-his-cheeks out. Sasuke's Katon jutsu had become nothing when the clone began to use stronger and better jutsu with the Moeru Tsume, as he was starting to get burnt and crisped. Tenten's weapons were being caught by the shuriken chains and being thrown back at her, Lee was already finished with his clone when more surrounded him and made him take his weights off to deal with the army that had zeroed in on him.
"Gaatsuga! Beat that, Pal!" Naruto's clone did, he created two other clones that did the same as him, except one was then engulfed in fire from the Moeru Tsume-using-clone and the other gathered Futon chakra as they called out their respective technique, "Katon: Tsurga!" "Futon: Tsurga!" And Kiba then regretted his words, for the three Naruto's drills combined as they said in unison, "BAATSURGA!" The Inuzuka pair was then out of the fight. Shino's insects were being squashed and overpowered by a dark chakra within each clone, as he was then swarmed and knocked unconscious. Hinata was dodging the senbon, whip and kunai weapon-concoction as she was facing different poisons on each until she too was out for the count.
(Uncue music. Cue: Hollywood Undead-Lion) The music's turn made everyone look to the dome's roof questioningly, when Sasuke and Sakura were taken out of the fight. Neji and Lee were next, as a clone had hit Lee in a pressure point hard enough to knock him out while another blinded Neji's Byakugan with a strong pulse of chakra. The only one left was Ino, who'd run into the forest in hopes to formulate a plan and to find Naruto's weakness. Each clone dispelled except for ten of them, those ten placed a hand on the individual fighter's forehead and heart as they entered the fighters' mindscapes and cleared all memories involving him from their minds. Akamaru's mind was difficult to clear, seeing as he was a ninken and not a human.
With Ino and a chasing Naruto
Ino was watching the fighters and the clones place hands on the respective hearts and foreheads of the rest of the Konoha 12. Her eyes were wide as she saw the respective clone turn to smoke and the clouds of smoke circled around their subject's heads in an odd display. What could Foxy-kun be up to? His clones seem to be dispelled, but the smoke should've dispersed by now, as if he were...He's using a mind jutsu! He's entered their minds...But, why?
"Outside the window just to watch you as you sleep...Because I am a lion, born from things you cannot be." Ino jumped and turned around to see a sad-looking Naruto as he placed a hand on Ino's cheek, making her tear up for reasons she didn't know, "How can I sleep at night, there's a war inside my head. I found a lion hidden right beneath my bed. I will not hide myself from the tears that you have shed," His eyes held apologetic tears now as he sobbed lightly, "...Cause I am a lion and you are...dead."
All of a sudden, Ino was in her mindscape, What?! Why am I here?! I should be out there, not in my garden... True to her spoken thoughts, her mindscape was a gigantic garden with a greenhouse next to it. Her questions were answered by a sad and apologetic voice, "I brought you here to clear your mind of all that I've done..." She turned to the voice quickly, believing an enemy shinobi had invaded her mind, when she saw and recognized the voice of... Foxy-kun?! What are y-How are y-Why are you in my mindscape?
He looked to her with eyes that made her remember her tears, "I have to erase all of your memories of what I've done. Except for the nonsense, those may stay because they won't be of use to anyone but you as you see fit to think on them...I created my own version of every jutsu I came across if I could, which meant any clan jutsu I saw was to be my next attempt. Every jutsu I used, if it was an approximation, I'd flood every part of my body with chakra and see where that went. This method worked on several occasions, and when I saw the Shintenshin no Jutsu, I saw a technique where I could search an enemy or ally's mind without harming them or possessing them unless needed. This jutsu is called the Shinbeda no Jutsu, I enter the mind and I can interact with the memories as I've learned from searching in my clones' memories deeper than I could do within myself easily."
He looked to her with tears in his eyes as he grabbed her shoulders and held her in a hug, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I'm so, so sorry...Please forgive me..." His diminutive voice caught Ino off guard, Why are you apologizing? Why are you erasing my memories of you? Why are you in here and what did you do to the others?! She held him close, feeling that she wouldn't like the answer and that she would never have this chance again as they slumped to the flowered ground, "I've had my bunshin erase the true accomplishments I made from their memories, this way they won't be targeted...I'm doing this for everyone's safety, Inner's the only one who'll remember everything, she's Sakura's inner personality...I have to protect everyone! That is who I am, and who I will always be, as I must keep my promises and I made a promise of a lifetime to protect everyone precious to me!"
Naruto was outright crying right now, as Ino listened with tears following each word. Why are you doing this? Why do you have to protect us?! What are you protecting us from?! She looked into his eyes pleadingly for him to tell her what she wanted to know, "I'm a jinchuuriki, a village's greatest weapon and I'm targeted by S-rank criminals for my power, I can't let anyone I care about know what I can do or what I am...I'm taking back what's mine, all of the knowledge our group has on me will no longer be with them, I've no choice! Please forgive me...Ino-chan!" Him calling her by the honorific caught her by surprise, he'd never said her name in any way like that in any of their interactions since they truly met on the day her team went to help them in Nami no Kuni. Who's targeting you?! Let me find them and I'll-Wait...S-rank! Oh, my, god...You're, oh my god!
She nuzzled closer to him, hoping that this didn't have to be, wishing against wish that he was joking or pulling an in-depth prank. "I'm a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, but I'm a kitsune first! Kitsune never abandon their friends and or family, they're loyalty is stronger than any canine's...But I...I don't want to be alone anymore, I want to be remembered by my friends and not seen as the old me's mask, I want them to remember me for me, and not for the stupidity I did! Please forgive me..." He was holding her tighter and tighter, as if she wouldn't be there the next moment, and she did the same as she held him close. I don't want to forget either, I want to remember you, I don't care that you're targeted and that I'm now a potential target! I want to be the me that wants to be your friend, the me that wants to help how she can and the me who won't pine over a guy who doesn't want anything to do with me...Please don't do this, please!
"If I don't, you'll be killed and I can't let someone I hold precious die, I'm so sorry...But I've no choice, I will leave you with one memory of your choice of what I've done however, that way you won't be a liability in a dangerous situation and you'll still have something to remember the real me by..." His sobs had subsided slowly, as his voice brightened slightly. Ino choked up, seeing that there wasn't anything else she would be getting, Okay...I'll choose one... "It can't be of me as a fox, or of any of my jutsus, so it'll have to be of me and you interacting socially!"
She nodded slowly as her tears stopped, Alright. I don't like it, but I'll choose one of my best memories of you, Foxy-kun... Her eyes were watering again, this time Naruto held her in his arms with his chin on her head. He pressed his face into her platinum-blonde, memorizing her scent for later, he then pressed his lips to her head in a show of affection that she treasured for however long she could. Can you...Give me this memory, the moment where you showed...just a hint of affection towards me, please?! You can change it around a bit, but please give me this memory, please!
Naruto looked into her red eyes, "Okay...I'll give you this memory, I have to change it around, but you may have this memory." He smiled softly at her, letting her know that no matter what would happen, everything would be alright. She looked into his teary eyes, trying to smile back, but her lips wouldn't curve up and meet that same expression no matter how much she tried. "I'm sorry, I truly am, Ino-chan. If there were another way out of this, I'd take it in a heartbeat, but we don't have any other options...Please, forgive me, Ino-chan!"
I'll miss you, the real you! I hope you know that... He looked to her with silent tears rolling down his face, "No, you won't..." He kissed her head once more, but this time he was accessing her memories and he found each one involving the real him. The memories he'd unspokenly enjoyed with her were now his from both perspectives, each encounter they had where he felt somewhat happy, every moment when she had tried to smother him and everytime she did he felt closer to her. The most recent memory of her on a mission was on the boat when he told her, knowing she wouldn't listen, to not call him by her nickname for him and her glompings.
He came upon the memory she wanted, and he felt what she felt during this moment. He looked into the memory and began to change it to a better scenery. Instead of Ino's garden, he changed it to her family's greenhouse and instead of a conscious choice to kiss her head, he made the kissing her choice after he did her a favor. Ino was dreaming now as Naruto whispered in her ear sobbingly, "...Forgive me, Ino-chan, please forgive me!"
(Uncue music) Naruto exited Ino's mindscape and held her unconscious head against his chest as he cried, tears being heard by the senseis, Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya, Iruka and Anko, "I ruined them...And it hurts so much, why did they have to get attached to me?! WHY?!" Anko walked over to her companion in pain and brought him into a heartfelt hug, "It's okay, they're safe now, mission accomplished. You did the right thing, you saved them before they had to be, you're a hero..."
"A hero they'll never recognize or remember as a hero, I had to erase all true knowledge of who I am from my friends! What kind of friends will they be now? They don't know me and they won't be allowed to, because I put them in danger by being friends with them, how can I live with myself?!" He began to thrash in sorrow, Anko's grip on him waning until Gai grabbed him with a stern face, "NARUTO-KUN! GET A GRIP! THIS IS VERY UNYOUTHFUL AND YOU'RE DISGRACING THE MEMORIES YOU HOLD FROM THEM BY ACTING LIKE THIS!" His shout made all of the conscious shinobi around him have wide eyes, he had just acted aggressively towards an ally shinobi.
"I...I'm all alone now, they don't know me anymore, you guys are remembered, I'm always forgotten! I'm always left behind! Always abused! Always left alone and unloved!" His tears were strong as Anko held him closer as tears left her eyes as well, "I know Gaki, I know..." Her soothing words eventually pacified Naruto enough for him to sleep, "I hate this life! I hate that this," She gestured towards what had become of her surrogate son/little brother, "Does to children! I hate this life, and yet I've no other life to live...I hate it! Hate it! HATE IT! This life ruined him and his kindred from birth, this life ruins them now, and it will ruin them into and through death...All because people want power!"
She held her little one close, tears rolling down her eyes as she made it clear that he wasn't a weapon or tool to be used. The senseis, Iruka, Jiraiya, Shizune and Tsunade watched her maternal side as she safeguarded her son and little brother-figure, with sad eyes. That day, they knew that whatever happened, the Konoha 12 were not a group of shinobi to be toyed with from that day forward and that they would be recognized as Naruto's territory...
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Sad chapter, sad ending. I had to change Doto's history ladies, gents and other, I had to. I wanted to make a happy start, to make the ending less tragic...R&R, no flamin', constructive criticism, SEE YA.