A/N: Another question from the mysterious "Guest Registry" this week concerning the Omake at the end of Chapter 18. The excerpt shows a section of Council dialogue that takes place a week after the Mizuki incident (the following Friday). The Hokage needed to allow Iruka time to mend and investigate what happened during Naruto's academic stint with the goal being to prove or discount bias and academic sabotage, either towards Naruto or other members of his class. At this point, the civilian side of the Council is aware of Mizuki's betrayal but not the fact that Naruto was prematurely passed by Iruka. Iruka's opening statements at the end imply nothing good will happen to those involved and that some measure of justice was or would be metered out.

Also, I'm getting an increasing number of inquiries about "Nature of the Beast" and "Taming of the Savage Beast" no longer being posted. Yes, those have been taken down; I am going to repost them after a major overhaul. I'd rather not post them with an altered title, so Nature is getting a spa day. I'll be combining the two stories and fleshing it out a bit more in the later chapters with what I've learned in writing all three fanfics. It is my hope that it will be an improved storyline with better polish. I will not, however, be returning to it until I've finished "No More." Fair warning.

That said, this latest chapter did not want to be written. Bloody thing fought me the entire way. I guess that's the Kyuubi's way of telling me to quit farting around and push through Nadeshiko Village and on to the Chunin Exams.

Now, more than ever, please read and review. Constructive feedback helps the creative process when writer's block becomes a very real pain in the arse.

Anywho, on with the show.

~Siva'a-tasi

~III~

Chapter 19: First Step of the Shinobi: A Hard Look in the Mirror

~ Previously on No More

He glanced up long enough to see her lower lips pinched by her teeth before returning to her goose-bump riddled skin. Setting the jar and brush aside, he lifted his left hand into a half ram sign, pushed chakra into the two fingers of his right hand as he pressed them directly beneath the seal, then whispered, "Fuuin!"

The array glowed, his chakra racing through her network to link them all. Ino, not prepared for the tingling sensation arcing across her entire body, arched her back thrusting her chest up into his face with a grunt. Once the seal took effect, Naruto lifted his hand from her chest and looked up into Ino's face to make sure she was okay, the girl's eyes opening to lock with his as her heart hammered in her ears.

"All done?" she hissed out.

Unsure how she'd react, Naruto nodded quietly then reached down to lift the towel freezing as her hands clamped to either side of his head pulling his face back up to look into her own.

"Good!" Her body surged up off the floor as she smashed her lips against his frantically, almost desperately as her mouth began to work at his lips first individually then simultaneously.

Naruto's entire world froze as he melted into her embrace.

~III~

~ ANBU Warrens, Deep Within Hokage Tower ~

Yugao paused just outside of her Commander's closed office door a nervous wreck. A summons to see Dragon was never a good thing to be on the receiving end of; Anko's on-going example vilified that concept as she earned them on a regular basis but never enjoyed them. No one in ANBU liked extended sewer patrols for infiltrators.

Checking over her uniform in the full-length mirror mounted next to the door frame one last time, she squared up her shoulders to face the plaque bearing the kanji for her boss's namesake and winced. Several deep breaths later a gloved hand raised to perform the necessary triple-knock on the heavy (read heavily-reinforced) door sill.

"Enter, Neko," came the electronically-modulated voice that made her spine crawl. The normally stoic swordswoman froze in place. She'd made no noise she could detect, and her knuckles hadn't struck the frame yet. Her ANBU mask quickly scanned the hallway for hidden cameras before she pushed the door open and slipped inside.

"Leave it open." The already nervous Yugao stiffened with the door half sealed. "You shouldn't be here that long since I called for both of my purple-headed step-children and you're the only one to arrive. This means I already have the answer I sought." Yugao spun around after opening the heavy office door to its fullest, her eyes blinking behind her mask in muted shock.

"Perhaps you can instead tell me," her volcanic Commander hissed out while waiving a small stack of complaint forms in the air, "why I have received a bevy of public reports concerning a 'purple-haired ANBU female' causing trouble in the Slums near a certain apartment complex." Yugao muttered out a nearly-silent curse, her keen eyes catching the name Rusty Kunai on at least one of those waving scraps of paper. She internally cringed.

Neko always hated Dragon's voice modulating seals not because of the sound but due to the pain it made out of reading her Commander's mood. This time there were no delusions about his prickly mood. The S-ranked ANBU had always been touchy about anything referring to the village's jinchuuriki fearing that idiotic villagers would finally make the boy into the homicidal maniac everyone feared he would become. The recent Yamamaka dust-up had been a stark reminder of the possibilities.

Anko had been warned on more than one occasion to back off from Naruto since their return from Istoria but she had fair reason to interfere. This time.

"No comment, Agent Neko?" Yugao jolted out of her introspection having lost herself worrying over Anko's current rage. "Fair enough then. It appears I'll have to punish Hebi when she returns from whatever ruckus she is currently raising."

Yugao winced again underneath her mask and made a hasty (for her) decision. Punishment from Dragon was never taken lightly nor did it ever end well.

"Sir, you may want to cut Hebi a break this time." The black gloved hand holding the angry forms wavered then lowered to the ancient desktop but Dragon's silence, and slightly angled mask, demanded the void be filled with sound. It demanded that the sound take the form of information from his subordinate.

Neko responded by rising and closing the office door, her voice silent until the stoic Shadow Commander pushed chakra from one palm into a seal atop her desk wrapping the small office in noise warping protection. No one was stupid enough to hide in the walls or ceiling of the Commander's sanctuary. Every spy that ever tried ended up skinned alive and hanging from the Hokage monument before being shipped home in a body storage scroll (once thoroughly examined by both T&I and ANBU Forensics).

Agent Neko 0117, a.k.a. Yugao Uzuki, straightened her spine while preparing to bare her soul to the one person in all of Konoha that truly frightened her to death.

~ Naruto's Apartment Complex, Walkway Platform Outside His Home ~

"Give it up, Anko." The smug look on the Sannin's face was the last straw for the angry, tired and battered purplette.

Locked in a grappling tug of war, the aforementioned kunoichi reversed her push stepping back enough to pull Jiraiya forward and off-balance. Her metal forehead protector simultaneously found its way into the bridge of his nose with a meaty crunch forcing the sturdy shinobi's eyes closed in a searing rush of pain accompanying the blow. Knowing he'd only be distracted for a moment, Anko finished her combination with vengeful glee.

Lifting her leading foot, she smashed her heel down onto his instep making the toad sage howl in pain. It was a childish tactic taught to civilian girls escaping bullies, but she didn't care. Whatever worked, right?

With that distraction, it was a simple matter to lift her trailing knee directly into his groin folding the larger man into a fetal position on the hallway floor.

As she stomped off past him to the apartment, Anko remembered how the Sannin directed most of his blows to her unprotected, and now heavily bruised chest, and turned to bury her other foot between his legs from his unguarded rear. Rubbing her sore breast, the simmering woman gave one last look of distaste to the moaning and twitching mass of white hair before moving away for good.

The human-sized orange toad guarding the door noticed her approach and grew decidedly worried.

"Jiraiya…" The old summoner gasped and writhed in pain but did not answer as the furious scowl of the clearly deranged woman focused on the hesitant toad.

"Jiraiya…" Gamakichi saw the flicker of green healing jutsu between the legs of the coughing male.

"Move or I make a new belt out of you." Kichi swallowed audibly but stood firm. Jiraiya had warned that this woman was a threat to the Yondaime's son, and he wasn't about to stand aside and get him killed no matter how much the Amazonian frightened him.

"Jiraiya!" he barked out even as his stance firmed up and the female's scowl became all too sickly-sweet. "Get up, dirty old man!"

The toad's unease made Anko chuckle as she prepared to send it home in a cloud of smoke. Jiraiya's croaking voice made it all unnecessary and he called off the warty defender.

"Leave her…(pant)…'kichi. Hokage will deal with her," the slow-rising Sannin groaned, "and I promise to summon you so you can watch her squirm." Jiraiya vanished in an angry swirl of wind.

Gamakichi tsked loudly but quickly followed suit.

Trying not to show her sudden bout of uncertainty at the pervert's last comment, Anko strode boldly up to the door and delivered three resounding knocks on its mostly-rusted frame.

Then the world swirled out from under her feet as a pair of arms stronger than steel locked around her exhausted body.

'Damnit! So close…' she groused internally.

When the world stopped reeling, Anko found herself flung into a waiting chair rather roughly. Once the burst of air shot from her lungs, she opened her eyes and scowled, er, abruptly cringed at the menacing facemask of her ANBU Commander. Her eyes snapped forward immediately thereafter recognizing her new location and straight into the furious gaze of her superior's superior, the Sandaime Hokage.

"Bang me sideways," the cringing kunoichi whimpered.

"You can arrange that on your personal time, Special Jounin Mitarashi. For now, I'd like you to explain to me why you're trying to ruin fifteen years of meticulous planning by both Dragon and me." She did not particularly like the way he emphasized the word "special." Then the last fifteen words of his second statement registered in her frazzled brain.

Anko had a sudden rush of queasiness and the distinct urge to vomit along with her overriding sense of confusion. "Wait… what?"

~III~

He was in heaven. At least it felt like heaven to Naruto.

Beneath him lay his freshly showered and recently inked teammate, her entire upper body unclothed and bare to the world, which meant just him inside his apartment. Her arms lay wrapped around his head and shoulders as her mouth sucked, kissed, and licked his own, his trembling arms keeping his upper body from smushing her like a soft-skinned pancake. At some point, she'd managed to free her legs and those were now linked behind the small of his back as she tried to pull him down on top of her despite his heavier bulk.

He was trying to enjoy the soft feel of her lips against his own and the occasional probing stroke of her tongue. He was trying to enjoy the soft moans coming from her throat as he tried his best to keep up with her frantic and passionate desire to devour his face. He was trying to enjoy the strawberry like fragrances wafting from her heated skin as it invaded his fox-like sense of smell.

It was very difficult to do any of that with the yelling and thumping going on just outside his apartment door. For the third time, Ino sunk both hands into his unruly mane of golden hair and wrenched his face around so she could once again lock lips with him, her own frustration growing at the insensitive bastards outside trying to ruin their moment.

When the door nearly thundered off its hinges, Naruto broke away with a growl and drew a kunai from his pouch on the kitchen table, his ears noting the soft steps of his make out partner retreating to the bathroom.

"Ichiraku's better be on fire!" he roared as he unlocked and threw the door open to reveal – nothing. There was a dying vortex of wind just outside his door but no bleeding, broken or crippled bodies lying on the harsh concrete platform. He growled as this was clearly someone's piss poor idea of joke gone very wrong.

"Someone's gonna diiiiiiiiiieeeeeeee when I catch you!" He caught the residual scents of sake, snakes and toads, his eyes narrowing as a fully-dressed Ino wriggled out from behind him with her bag slung over one slender shoulder.

"Ino, wait!" She turned back to smile up at him as one soft hand reached up to stroke his cheek. Much to her shocked surprise, his eyes closed instantly as a soft humming sound bubbled up from his throat like a large cat purring. Ino's tickled giggling was like music to his ears.

"Don't worry Naruto. It's probably best that we got interrupted until we've had a chance to talk this out." His face scrunched up in confusion as his left hand reached up to cover hers and his eyes creaked open halfway.

"But… I don't understand. What does this make us?" The pain just below the surface nearly broke her heart but she needed to be honest with him. Hell, if whoever that was hadn't interrupted them it was a good chance her hormones would have taken things further than she was prepared to let happen. Kami he was edible goods.

"Complicated." She stepped forward lightly to softly kiss him on the lips. "I'll come back Friday for our next training lesson." She bounced lightly before taking to the roofs and racing home, her heart hammering furiously in her chest and her mood giddy despite the inferno between her thighs.

"Well, looks like you blew that one, Romeo." Naruto's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Who?" The Kyuubi's roaring laughter was his only reply and it lasted up until Naruto's angry face grew malicious and a tiger's thundering roar shook his mindscape. Kyuubi's terrified squawk brought a satisfying smirk to his face as the great fox repeatedly cursed his name, the bijuu's foul language coming in gasping breaths as it sprinted for its life.

Naruto, initially high on emotion, turned back into his apartment with a snarl and a pair of increasingly sore family jewels.

"I hate complicated," he griped. The door slammed shut, the number two pivoting to hang upside down.

~III~

"Why can't people stay out of my life?" Naruto was standing just inside his small but cozy apartment, his eyes taking in the now clean table and tidy living space. His single clone walked by and comfortingly placed one hand on his shoulder with a commiserating sigh.

"I was rooting for you, Boss." With one last sigh, the construct released, and Naruto immediately summoned two more meeting the saddening gazes of Ku-chan and Ruko-chan respectively.

"C'mon, big guy. Let's get you cleaned up and ready for the rest of the day. We've got an appointment with Inoichi this afternoon." Taking his hand, Naruko tugged on his arm until the gloomy Genin unwillingly trudged off to the shower.

A half hour later, a clean (and still frustrated) Naruto Uzumaki sat perched on his couch with his two remaining fragments, a term he'd adopted for the special clones now responsible for the good changes in his life. On the floor sitting lotus were another six clones each with a clean sheet of paper and a pen. Behind them were another five sitting seiza similarly armed with writing materials and one standing by the door.

"Okay, your job is to head to the library and shinobi archives. Find everything you can about Nadeshiko Village. If there's nothing there, swing by all four bookstores and then the Hokage's office as a backup." The clone by the door nodded, shapechanged into Tai-kun, then stepped outside with haste as Naruto turned to the remaining bunch.

"Barring this trip in three days, we are planning for the Chunin Exams this summer. I cannot stress how important this is towards earning ANBU Commander Dragon's attention, so we need to do well." All of his doppelgangers were nodding their heads in fierce agreement.

"Let's start with taking an honest look at where we are with skills. Each one of you is going to be responsible for presenting whatever we know about a specific area of shinobi expertise." He began pointing a finger at each clone while rattling off a title. It started with physical conditioning, then moved through chakra control, genjutsu, taijutsu, weapons (not just kenjutsu), fūinjutsu, basic ninjutsu, then ended with the elemental strains of Doton, Fūton, Suiton, and Raiton jutsus.

"Here are the rules. Standard shinobi rankings for physical skills and genjutsu. There are three ninjutsu grades: Novice, Intermediate, and Master." Naruto then proceeded to spell out the criteria in painful detail.

The Art of Sealing had its own grading criteria for both Konoha and the Uzumaki and, as such, he'd leave it be. For the physical skills, he wanted to keep it simple. This would make it easy to compare his combative skills against his peers. For his ninjutsu and elemental affinities, he chose to group them based on speed of execution, control, power, with mastery contingent upon whether or not they could be performed with hand seals (within five seconds or less), single hand seals (same time frame), or no seals and no verbalization. High benchmarks indeed but he spelled out enough detail to explain what shaped his decision. It also made it easier to base their assessed grade by shoe-horning the more difficult to contain jutsu strengths into larger groupings with mastery as the desired end state for every jutsu he knew. His reason to push so hard? The thieving Uchiha.

"The sheets are to list the next techniques on your priority list to master between now and the Chunin Exams. You are allowed to list no more than five, for now." The clones all groaned and grumbled but Naruto silenced them by slamming a palm on the coffee table.

"Every jutsu will be mastered before moving on. Once we go through everything already on the table, you're going to find there isn't all that much time left for new skills. If your group masters everything on their list before then, and only then, will we add something new." His scowl took in every clone now reluctantly nodding in agreement. "We need to be ready in case we fight Sasuke with his thieving Sharingan. I for one don't want him to steal our hard work." His face was positively feral.

"He's going to have to earn it in blood." That seemed to galvanize them and raise more than a few downtrodden spirits. Pummeling the moody emo king always made the clones feel better.

"I'll go first!" Naruto nodded to the first clone in the back row. "Fundamentals reporting on Physical Conditioning: We're currently at level four-point-four on resistance scales. Our running regimen, when not with Ino," many of the clones blushed at the fresh memory this morning's romp, "consists of twenty-five laps around Konoha within the standard hour time frame. We've incorporated parkour in the laps breaking through training areas seven, twelve, thirty-three, fifty-one, and fifty-six, our abandoned one in the slums, incorporating tree climbing and water walking at the request of Control Division. Repetitions for calisthenics are still set at five-hundred following the Nami Affair but include log swinging to prepare the wrists for more intense kenjutsu training." Naruto nodded at the succinct report and winced at the memory of his sore wrists.

It seemed a little surreal listening to a clone of himself discussing his personal workout routine but there you had it.

"Increase repetitions by ten percent and work alternating sprints into the cardio blitz." The clone nodded and began writing down its priority list for training advancements before handing the sheet to the Boss. Naruto's eyebrows climbed into his hairline at the request for chakra-modulated weights to use with their current resistance seals. That was definitely going to hurt tomorrow morning.

"Control Division," another clone piped up as the process continued on for the next hour.

~ III ~

Anko's brain was a scrambled mess. Her sore body protesting the rough treatment that deposited her sexy ass into the rather uncomfortable chairs of the Hokage's office was just the tip of the kunai enema. Now she was struggling to process the words of the one man in Konoha she trusted implicitly and how he was telling her that it was his idea to sell Naruto up shit creek?

This was too much to process.

Hiruzen looked to the ANBU Commander who tilted their head almost as if asking, "Are you sure?"

"Do it," the Sandaime ordered in a tone that brooked no argument.

"All of you, OUT!" Three shadows blurred as the Hokage's personal guard evaporated without a trace. Anko flinched and rose to follow suit before an iron grip pushed her roughly back into her seat.

"Not you, princess. You get front row tickets for this." Hiruzen fought to keep a straight grimace given the petrified yet defiant looks flickering alternately across Anko's lowered face.

Placing one palm against the windows behind the Hokage, Dragon pulsed their chakra once sending inky black tendrils streaking across every surface that started out as curling vines. As they spread out, the vines began to bleed into growing pools of darkness blacking out windows on all sides of the circular office. Anko flinched as three spots on the wall flashed and burned when the ink overtook them and again when a hidden compartment above the Hokage's desk flapped open to drop a Root ANBU's body onto the wooden floors.

"Now we can begin." Anko's head snapped from the twitching spy back to her ANBU superior whose hands were unfastening their mask with multiple clicks and hissing bursts of air.

Despite herself, Anko found her body straightening in her chair, her hands gripping the arms as she leaned forward with the prolonged tease of Dragon's grand reveal. Entire assassination squads had been sent to eliminate this person and he'd bested them all. The greatest spies of the elemental nations had lain in wait for months, years even just to glimpse a look behind the ebony-scaled mask that looked strangely familiar now that she took a good look at it. To Anko's knowledge, only two people knew Dragon's true identity and one of them was sitting across the heavy desk watching her every move.

When the mask finally fell free, Anko's jaw dropped open as her head began to shake, timidly at first then increasingly with her growing disbelief.

"It can't be. You're dead! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!"

~ III ~

The last sight the slowly dying Root spy convulsing on the floor could see as their vision dimmed forever, was the seriously unhappy face and wild mane of crimson hair belonging to one Kushina Uzumaki. With a ragged sigh as the last breath left their lungs, the agent passed on into the next world not understanding the annoying sensation that made their heart beat violently one last time.

It was fear.

~ III ~

Naruto took in the last report with mixed emotions. If what he heard and read among their individual reports was true, he was considerably farther along than his graduating classmates but not as far as he wanted to be. I supposed mixed blessings were a thing to be pleased about?

Nothing unusual grabbed his interest during the first clone's report; he was intimately familiar with his daily training routine and knew that his partially-active Uzumaki blood traits would combine with the Kyuubi's restorative chakra to keep him in peak condition. His clone placed him conservatively at mid-Chunin with his resistance seals active with a goal of mid-Tokujo by the time the Exams started, barring long-term missions taking away from his training opportunities.

His chakra control was unusually high for someone with his reserves, the self-assessed low-Jounin ranking something to be proud of given the Academy's attempts to sabotage him. The downside was that he'd need to pick it all up again once he activated his bloodline fully and it thrashed his control back to academy levels of pitifulness. Thankfully, his self-study in Fūinjutsu offered some relief.

As it was new territory, his sealing study would take time. His calligraphy was still improving but it had long since passed the minimums to begin working with uncharged seals and arrays. Furthermore, Abe-san and his family were empowered by the Hokage to test anyone, once he was ready, up to level six in Konoha Fūin. They actually performed this function for all shinobi forces in Konoha making them an unassailable certifying official, a good perk in his book. Passing their exams would make him an official intermediate master. Anything beyond that would require someone like Jiraiya to test him. In the meantime, it would be enough to learn about external chakra networks and the benefits they provided beyond limiter and chakra-filter seals.

He could do nothing about Genjutsu unless someone more versed with it offered to work with him. There the abysmal high-Genin ranking (based solely on his ability to disrupt genjutsu with chakra pulses) was woefully optimistic in his opinion.

His kenjutsu was mid-Genin considering all he had to work with were some introductory scrolls from the Genin library and the odd lesson or two he'd weaseled from Neko-chan last year. His bukijutsu was formidable, probably high-Chunin, but there was always room for improvement. He resolved to add a squad of clones to work on muscle memory and katas.

Things got really interesting when the ninjutsu reports started rifling in.

His core ninjutsu included things like the Basic Three from the Academy, the Traveling Ten (used in camping and building minor elemental affinities), and his shadow clones. All total, he knew an amazing twenty-two ranging from E-rank to S-rank (the Tajuu Kage Bunshin fell solidly in the 'S-Rank-Might-Kill-You' category). Unfortunately, he could only claim true mastery of six of them meaning no seals and no words using minimal smoke or other indicators. Even half of those still needed work to fall within the "five-seconds-or-less rule" but the clones were ecstatic – at first. The new jutsus the Ninpou Squad (as they were calling themselves) would have to wait until each and every one in the current inventory was fully mastered to the Boss' demanding specifications. They had a lot of work ahead and his prohibition about adding stuff made more sense.

Doton, Fuuton, and Suiton were his next strongest even if jutsu knowledge was reduced to less than six apiece. While his affinities were strong in those three and most had progressed beyond the third stage of affinity training, they were going to need a strong library resource of instructors to broaden their range. The scowling faces on each clone showed a simmering disapproval for his reluctance to tap into the ready resource of the Umihebi, the two currently listening in patiently from the tattoos on his upper body specifically.

"Okay, for Doton we have [Doton: Dochū Eigyo], [Doton: Doryū Taiga], [Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu], [Doton: Meisai Gakure no Jutsu], and [Doton: Doryūheki], the latter two of which are not mastered. Make sure they are all up to standard, and inspected, then break up into groups of ten to work on [Doton: Yomi Numa], [Doton: Tsuchi Gunjikoudou no Jutsu], and [Doton: Iwagakure: Shunshin no Jutsu]. I'll search the scrolls from my family to see if we have any new ones in there." The Iwagakure variant of the Body Flicker was limited to earth-bound movement but it was nice to see on the scroll Jiraiya had given him along with the powerful A-ranked swamp jutsu.

He would be increasing his ninjutsu clone packs to thirty apiece to help with mastering new techniques. This should keep them gainfully employed in the mornings.

"For Fūton, we have [Fūton: Chakūra-tō Machimonji] and [Fūton: Hein] – both compliments of Asuma Sensei, [Fūton: Bofū Kyouzū no Jutsu], [Fūton: Hanpatsu Kaze no Jutsu], and [Fūton: Bonseki Tate no Kaze]. I know our choices are limited with Fūton at the moment but master these first then move on to [Fūton: Daitoppa] and [Fūton: Renkudan] also from Jiraiya's scroll. I'll ask Asuma-sensei if he has anything new for us on the way to Nadeshiko Village." The Fūton Squad, not happy about ignoring Titus' possible contributions to their growth, grumbled their reluctant acceptance.

'I would be honored to assist you, Naruto-san.' Naruto smiled even as his mind turned inward.

'I know you would, Titus-san, and I am grateful for that. Really, I am. I just think I need to master what I have available to me before I move on. Gotta learn to stand on my own two first.'

The Stormbringer smiled. He was so like his mother without knowing it and the royal sibling made his decision vowing to return to his enclave before the next lunar cycle to voice his opinion. Now if the boy would just choose his bond already…

Naruto, unaware of his passenger's inner monologue, moved on to address the five Suiton jutsus available to him for mastery and the two Raiton training techniques he'd put off for far too long and not mastered. He wasn't worried about water techniques as there were almost a dozen left to choose from between Konoha's academy library and Jiraiya's scrolls. Fūton and Raiton were both extremely rare in Konoha but he'd find a way to deal with that problem sooner or later.

After laying out the necessary directions to their respective squads, he dispersed his clone audience and rose with a satisfying pop to his back.

He was going to need to head out for lunch soon then meander his way over to Inoichi's shop. With a warm smile, he turned and held out his hand for his chosen company to travel with.

"Ready, Ku-chan?" The gorgeous redhead smiled and rose with him, Naruko's sad smile her only farewell to the soft-spoken clone.

It was a beautiful day for a walk after all.

~III~

Four robed figures were kneeling in a perfect row before the mummified leader of their organization, the x-marked scar on his chin seeming to radiate his displeasure at their clear lack of success. Unfortunately, the almost non-existent lighting of the looming cavern made it difficult to be certain.

"It is troubling that you were not able to inject the boy."

Agent Four-Four-Three would have winced if her training had not been so thorough. How could so few words carry so much weight? It was hard enough to portray the vapid and wanton women they needed to present themselves as even though they were the best infiltration specialists Root had produced in nearly a decade. As it was, she found being nearly exposed before their comrades…displeasing, but carried it well on her otherwise impeccable features.

The memory of the jinchuuriki with his face smothered between her breasts was difficult enough to come to grips with but her duty demanded that she cope. It was a seduction mission after all.

"Shall we reconfigure, Danzo-sama?" Her question was simple, concise, and necessary but the immovable shinobi deliberated as his sole orb took in the four of them for several tense minutes.

"No. Continue as before," the subtle command to "maintain your cover" understood by all four women. He made a minute gesture summoning four cloaked shadows from the far edges of the chamber.

"Obtain the jinchuuriki host before his Monday departure." The four robed shadows bowed once then vanished as a torrent of shadows, the same as they arrived.

Jiraiya was a fool clearly untrustworthy of guiding the vessel and he'd indulged his aging teammate long enough. His eye swung back to the four women as they also departed in four subtle shifts of wind.

One way or another, Danzo would have his superweapon. The boy's phenomenal progress in recent months demanded no less.

~III~

Ku-chan agreed to henge for the trip out. Although she was not the real Kushina Uzumaki, explaining her uncanny resemblance was a monumental headache neither of them wanted. Instead, she became a brunette a hair shorter than the original and a body wrapped in an all-too-familiar swath of black leather.

Naruto smiled wistfully at Fuu-chan's temporary rebirth as they strolled leisurely through the village. The air was clean in the way a clear Fall could be with just that hint of a crisp winter chill. Puffy white pillows floating in a never-ending sea of blue were as far as the eye could see and he was beginning to understand his Nara teammate's infatuation with watching the soothing islands of cotton from below. It was calming, an emotional balm almost.

Too bad the fine citizens of Konoha were doing their dead-level best to ruin the mood.

The Slums had never been an unhappy place for the permanent orphan. Every person living in the Entertainment District was very aware of their lot in life. It wasn't a lot, but it was a life and each one found their personal measure of happiness and acceptance. Through the first fifteen years of his life, even Naruto could find peace and acceptance among his fellow pariahs.

Everyone suffered the same pain in the Red-Light District and accepted each other accordingly. The same dignity did not exist beyond the imaginary borders of their internal exile.

Strolling through the clean streets of the Market Quarter, open civility gave way thinly-veneered hostility, the angry stares sliding over his skin like angry bees. Tied to his clone by the warm thread of chakra, his doppelganger could feel the negative feedback through their link and puzzled as it changed to confusion once their eyes took in her henged identity.

It didn't matter to either that their confusion came from the demon brat being seen in public with the gorgeous emblem-bearing kunoichi. It didn't matter that most tried to hide their hatred (and failed) or openly whispered harsh insults and slurs. The lewd glares at the sleek female figure did little to weigh in their favor either. None of that mattered anymore as Naruto paused in the heart of the district and looked at his clone with determination set in every line of his face.

"No more, Ku-chan." The clone looked back in confusion, her raised eyebrows pleading silently for an explanation.

"No more fighting a losing cause. No more trying to win the acceptance and love of a people that want to see me die. No more wallowing in my misery especially when my clan has given me the key to change my existence." When the message still didn't sink in, he turned back to his destination and pushed on with a smirk on his face for the confused villagers unsure about his indifference to their hatred.

"I know what I need to do finally."

Since "The Boss" wasn't being more communicative, the clone fell silently into step until they reached the sweet smells of Yamanaka Florals, a peaceful lunch long since forgotten.

With Ino out on deliveries, it took almost zero time to find the two incarnations of Naruto inside Inoichi's Fortress of Therapy. When the clone eventually released her transformation, Inoichi sat stunned for a good ten minutes with his hand covering his wide-open mouth.

Though he knew it was a chakra construct, its representation of the "motherly Kushina" was eerily accurate even in only in the physical sense.

"My daughter stated you were concerned about 'the Three?'" The pleasantly smiling redhead nodded even as she sat next to the reclining Genin on the very comfortable couch. "What, or who, is the Three?"

The clone known as Ku-chan turned briefly to smile down at the puzzled looking boy responsible for her existence, a warm palm gently pressed to his cheek as she answered the bewildered doctor.

"A healthy mind functions as a well-oiled construct, all of its individual sectors seamlessly performing their responsibilities while sharing information to create a single picture, a complete being if you will. In our case, the trauma of a life filled with pain has broken apart those individual pieces into separate entities each disconnected from the remaining core identity." Her head tilted as her eyes softened a bit.

"Of those separate identities, we each represent a specific aspect or function of the whole and, as a cluster of personality aspects, are divided into three groups. The majority of the clones, as you've come to call us, represent primary order functions such as intelligence, patience, and cunning to name a few. Among the clones, we recognize this selection as The Core as they comprise the core auxiliary capabilities of Naruto's mental personality matrix and tend to be neutral in origin, neither good nor evil.

"A smaller cluster of fragments, six to be exact, are split evenly down the middle and represent the extremes of human personality and emotion. They represent those aspects most affected by the catastrophic pain of his life and were separated to hopefully contain the scarring and damage inflicted by the people of this village.

"Half form the Heavenly sphere of emotion: Love, Forgiveness, and Hope, of which I represent the first aspect. Unfortunately, for each benevolent aspect, there exists a polar opposite." She glanced up to the pale-faced mind walker.

"The opposite of love is…" he began.

"Hate, doctor. The opposite of Love is Hatred and nestled deep in the shadows of Naruto's mindspace is a being designed to house all of the hatred accumulating in Naruto's heart after a decade and a half of pain and suffering at the hands of people that despise him. It has grown strong enough that I can no longer contain it on my own. It was with the hope that we could help Naruto find love in other sources so that I could grow strong enough to defend him that we assimilated his actual clone constructs to fill the emptiness of his life." Her eyes looked terribly aggrieved as she mouthed, "I'm sorry" to the clearly shaken Genin.

"We have had some good fortune, to include the growing affections of your daughter, lovely and confusing creature that she is." Ku-chan's smile seemed to brighten the room and give some measure of ease to the concerned clan head.

"Now I fear we are running out of time, hence my presence here today in lieu of Naruko-chan."

"You hope to merge with the aspect of Hate and preserve the host." Inoichi's eyes wandered to the stunned Naruto as he listened to Ku-chan's plea to be merged, a certain death for the caring mother figure if ever he heard one.

She nodded in utter calm. "It is for the best."

Inoichi flew through a complicated series of hand seals, his hands reaching forward to land on the foreheads of both "persons" on the couch as he whispered, [Ninpou: Holding-Door Mind Transmission!]

All three of them blinked as they stood in the center of a rather large cave with soft blue glows illuminating the ground, the pleasant sound of running water, and the large empty cage of the Kyuubi.

It was as Inoichi's mind registered the empty cell and the opening leading to a forest of enormous trees that all three heard the distant roar of an enormous beast and the furiously scrabbling steps of something fleeing for its life.

Inoichi glanced to the smirking face of Naruto and his red-headed escort then back to the cave opening as the aforementioned sounds drew closer. Just as he was about to cancel his jutsu and make a "strategic withdrawal," the Kyuubi, in all its terrified glory, dashed, stumbled, tumbled, rolled, then splatted against the bars of its cage with a resounding clang of flesh on metal.

All three lesser beings winced at the spread-eagled bijuu's impact.

Apparently immune to the immense pain a body should feel, it scrambled up from its undignified sprawl to firmly place its back against the safe metal of its normal home.

Not two minutes later, as Inoichi was trying to comprehend the sheer terror on the face of the Nightmare of Legends, a paw as large as the Kyuubi's head (attached to an orange and white furred arm bearing black stripes and claws bigger than Inoichi's body), shot into the cave opening to dig deep gouges into the stone floor of Kyuubi's home.

"Welcome home, Kyuubi-san," Naruto oozed out with utter joy.

Even though Naruto was grinning from ear to ear, Kyuubi's terrified grimace both worried Inoichi and set him on edge. What on earth would be horrible enough to scare the Kyuubi?!

~ III ~

Haku sat comfortably on the partial wrap-around porch sighing contentedly as she leaned back on her hands, her dainty feet swinging easily over the edge. The setting sun, as usual, was gorgeous, the warm colors of the dying sky a symphony of purples, reds, and oranges.

Next to her sat the always excitable Inari as he shared stories of the new "friends" he'd made in town, especially the annoying Chikafusa, his newest rival. Haku chuckled at the utter irony of the meaning behind the boy's name (The Close One) and winced gingerly as her palm lightly brushed against the wound on her right hip.

Inari never noticed as his arms gestured and articulated his latest adventure of "Win Etsudo-chan's Affections." Haku couldn't help but grin at the boy's enthusiasm. To be honest, she never thought he'd break away from her since the liberation from Gato and feared his attachment to her would become something of a bother given her tenuous relationship with his-.

"Inari! Time to wash up for dinner."

'Ah, yes. There it is.' Tsunami's voice was marvelously adept at hiding her contempt for all shinobi from her son, who simply adored Haku. It was only a matter of time before…

"I would like you to depart as soon as you are strong enough to do so." Haku didn't turn to face the bitter woman but bowed her head in abeyance. It's not like she could blame her as the Kiri nin responsible for her engineering father's death was Haku's own master, Zabuza Momochi.

Adding insult to injury, Haku spent the following week protecting the helpless woman and her son from the army of hooligans looking to force themselves upon her again, and again, and again. The bitter sting of that realization must have been grueling for the proud woman to accept, a bitter pill indeed.

"I shall be strong enough to travel in a few days. Please forgive my burden to your family."

Tsunami sniffed dismissively. Burden? This slip of a girl helped kill her father in cold blood. If it wouldn't dishonor her newly deceased parent, she would have slit the girl's throat in her sleep if she could. She saw firsthand just how deadly Haku could be and held no illusions of overcoming her in any sort of confrontation.

"I will draw the herbal bath after dinner. Please do not tarry." The ice user heard Tsunami's soft steps retreat and could almost picture the woman's rigid back in her mind.

Haku had been earnest in her apology. She had been earnest in her desire to protect Tsunami and her family once Gato betrayed the Kiri shinobi cell leaving them high-and-dry – just before he tried to have them eliminated just to save a few Ryu. She had been earnest in her desire to keep the woman safe until things returned to normal.

If not for her injuries in fighting off the ronin sent to kill the only symbol remaining of Tazuna's bravery, she would have departed immediately afterward. Going even one problem further and, if not for the masked Konoha ANBU that undoubtedly saved her life, Haku would have happily perished defending their lives. While quite okay with dying in their defense, it would have left them defenseless afterward and increased her honor debt to them. Too bad that Tsunami's well-deserved hatred of all shinobi would never let her acquit herself of that debt but there was one she could make good on.

Her fingers lightly traced the bandages across her slender chest and her face flushed a bright pink. Her scars would be minimal thanks to his quick use of strong herbals meant to enhance her body's ability to recover. He'd done wonders to reduce harmful bacteria and infection and quickly bind her wounds.

An enemy saved her life and, while she'd made up as much ground as she could towards her debt to the Aono family, she hadn't even begun to scratch the surface of the life debt she owed this mysterious shinobi with the powerful ocean blue eyes.

Besides, he had a responsibility to own up to. He'd seen more of her growing body than even Zabuza-sama and that could not stand without restitution. He may not marry her, as was his choice, but she would serve him as she had her former master and, in doing so, properly discharge her debt. Perhaps she could do something about that pesky maidenhood problem while she was at it.

It was the honorable thing to do.

~ III ~

~ Hidden Laboratory in the Land of Sound ~

Kabuto was lost deep within the walls of his own mind even as his feet carried him without error to the lab his master was tinkering away in. The swirling patterns along the walls were often soothing but not today. He'd been summoned by his master's usual messenger, a tiny viper of purple scales with white marks around the crown of its head, which roused from his own experiments and disturbed him a tiny bit.

He rarely got the time needed to wrap up his own affairs with the preparations for war taking up so much of his time.

Pushing aside his personal, and trivial complaints, the silver-haired spy found the appropriate door and forced it open, his eyes adjusting to the various glows and burners both heating and lighting up the dark lab. It wasn't enough to keep the room comfortable if he was to judge from the behavior of the naked female subject strapped to the table, her pained look and full-torso shivering giving away her discomfort as her mind fought the pull of shock while Orochimaru-sama operated on her body.

The Sannin's right hand sighed at the shock of red hair strapped to the once-sterile metal table. Such a waste of valuable resources. Instead, he stood by silently, hands neatly folded across his waist until his master acknowledged him.

One did not interrupt Orochimaru mid-procedure unless you had a death wish.

The long-haired figure with his back to him sighed and set his bloody instruments on the small support table next to the metal holding slab. "Another failure. What a shame." The sound of surgical gloves snapping into place rang out as his pale hand gently stroked the pain-laced face of the woman straining against her bonds. "I had such high hopes for this one." The slim mass-murderer turned from the subject snatching up a fresh towel and he fastidiously cleaned the blood from his implements.

"Kabuto, please clean this up and prepare subjects twenty and forty-one. They aren't special like poor Goren here, but they'll serve my needs." Kabuto bowed missing the struggling woman's hate-filled eyes flickering to the man she once thought to be her savior.

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama. If I may be so bold?" His eyes flickered to the sweating, shivering, and bloody mess barely clinging to life as his master's gaze leisurely raked over her still-open wounds.

"She is yours. I have no need for failures." Orochimaru boldly strolled towards the door. "Take her with you when you re-institute yourself in Konoha for all I care. She won't be able to betray us once you cleanse her memories."

And with that, the Snake Sannin departed leaving and quickly moving Kabuto to approach the bench and place the nearly dead woman into a deep anesthetic-induced slumber.

"Never fear, Goren-chan. I will not discard you so frivolously." His soft hands caressed her unconscious body gliding from her forehead down her neck and across her bare breast before hovering above the gaping incisions in her lower abdomen where they began blaring with soothing medical chakra. Her unconscious shiver that followed his clammy touch had nothing to do with the pervasive cold in the lab.

It would take an hour or more to repair the damage, replace the missing blood, remove the foreign objects from her body cavity, and heal her completely but Kabuto was more than confident in his ability.

"You and I are going to get along splendidly."

~III~

[Jutsu Used In This Chapter]

Because of the large number of jutsu referenced in this chapter (but not used), I have not spelled them out fully here in the jutsu glossary. If you're curious, I'm using the Narutopedia jutsu reference barring original jutsu created by myself, which Naruto is not capable of creating right now. Translations for the above jutsu are as follows:

[Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu] – Underground Projection Fish

[Doton: Doryū Taiga] – Earth Flow River

[Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu] – Double Suicide Decapitation Technique

[Doton: Meisai Gakure no Jutsu] – Hidden Camouflage Technique

[Doton: Doryūheki] – Earth Release Wall

[Doton: Yomi Numa] – Swamp of the Underworld

[Doton: Tsuchi Gunjikoudou no Jutsu] – Earth Military Movement Technique

[Doton: Iwagakure: Shunshin no Jutsu] – Hidden Earth: Instantaneous Body Skill

[Fūton: Chakūra-tō Machimonji] – Chakra Blade: Straight Line

[Fūton: Hein] – Flying Swallow

[Fūton: Bofū Kyouzū no Jutsu] – Gale Surge (Affinity Training Jutsu)

[Fūton: Hanpatsu Kaze no Jutsu] – Retrieving Wind (Affinity Training Jutsu)

[Fūton: Bonseki Tate no Kaze] – Spinning Shield of Wind

[Fūton: Daitoppa] – Great Breakthrough

[Fūton: Renkudan] – Drilling Air Bullet (B-Ranked version not Bijū S-Ranked attack)

Jutsu implied but not specifically listed:

[Suiton: Mizu Soujū] – Water Manipulation (Affinity Training Jutsu)

[Suiton: Mizu no Yaiba] – Water Sword

[Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu] – Water Clone

[Suiton: Uo Tsuba] – Fish Spit (Affinity Training Jutsu)

[Suiton: Suimenka no Kisoku] – Breathing Underwater Technique

[Suiton: Mizu Tate no Jutsu] – Water Shield Technique

[Suiton: Mizu Peretto] – Water Pellet (Affinity Training Jutsu – Stage 2 Uo Tsuba)

[Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri] – Rising Water Cutter

[Raiton: Teikou no Kuntou] – Electricity Resistance Training (Affinity Training Jutsu)

[Raiton: Yurayura Ranpu no Jutsu] – Flickering Light Technique (Affinity Training Jutsu)

~III~