Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, except for original characters created by myself.

A looked at the child.

Small, frail looking, and blond, he was utterly terrified. He glanced back once where Raira stood. Her mission report mentioned he was taken off the orphanage. Orphans often have very little emotional attachments and they long for it, making them particularly vulnerable to manipulation. Did he get attached to her over the last few days? That won't do. He needed to be loyal to only Kumogakure, not a specific person.

"C, escort him to the hospital for a medical checkup." He said.

C, who was observing the whole scene from near the door leading outside, stood up straight at the order. Walking up to the kid, he offered his hand, with a kind disarming smile. The boy, who still looked scared, hesitated to take his hand.

"Let's go take a stroll outside," C suggested, still maintaining his smile. "We can get you checked out at the hospital, then grab something to eat." He added, emphasizing his point. "The Raikage-sama is busy right now; we will come back and talk when he is free."

The child nodded and took his hand, and C led him out of the office, but not before the boy turned to Raira and waved goodbye.

"Nice rapport you have built with him." A said once they were out of sight.

Raira stared him down, her expression impassive.

"Right. So what to do with you now. You officially are a missing-nin, and Kumogakure has a zero tolerance policy for missing-nins. But your mission came with a guarantee from me…and you have earned it."

"Never thought I'd come back, did you?" she asked with a sneer. "That any of us would come back."

A looked on silently.

"I don't care what happens to me. But you better make good on your word A."

The kunoichi seemed to grow impatient with each second.

"You promised you wouldn't hurt our families if we took the mission."

A simply put his chin against his knuckle, otherwise completely ignoring her.

"Is Omoi even alive? I want to see him."

His silence seemed to aggravate her even more. One of the Anbu guards silently stepped forward, now within range for an attack.

"Speak, mutt! Where is he? I want to see my brother!"

"Easy there, Raira-san." Darui said from behind her.

"Hmmm…sorry, I was busy thinking what to do with you, so I couldn't speak." A spoke, and Raira fumed at his words. "But yes. Ika Sendō, Karui Sendō and Omoi…all are safe and sound. And they will be for the foreseeable future, as I had promised. They are free to live in Kumogakure, and Kaminari no Kuni for as long as they want, at least until they commit some crime themselves."

Like a deflating balloon, Raira seemed to shrink back on herself. "Can I see Omoi?"

"Yes. After all, that is part of the last rights of a death row inmate."

Raira only sighed.

"My name is C. I am a Jōnin of Kumogakure no Sato."

The child's head bobbed briefly; it seemed as though he were processing the information. How old was he? Three? Four? C wondered if he even knew what the rank meant. "I-my name is Uzumaki Naruto," he answered, now seeming slightly more confident.

"Uzumaki?" C cracked a smile, giving a side-eye to the medic-nin who stopped briefly at the name. That was…unexpected... Raira's mission report didn't mention the title. His hands quickly flashed the signs 'secret' and 'death' at the medic-nin, who nodded almost imperceptibly. "Is that your father's name or your mother's?"

The kid stayed silent for a few seconds. "I dunno." He finally squeaked out.

"I have never met an Uzumaki." C spoke again, trying to hold a conversation. "I heard they all had red hair. You don't look much like them."

The kid looked at him with a confused expression. "There...are others?" he said. "I am the only one in Konoha named Uzumaki."

Hm…war orphans perhaps? C thought. But he was too young…perhaps his parents were Konoha Anbu who died during Kyūbi's rampage? Why else would Konoha hide from a child their parents' identity?

"Sadly you are the only Uzumaki in Kumogakure too. But it won't matter. Because you'll have plenty of friends anyway." C said with a smile, and the child, Naruto, did not return it. He looked at him with a bit of confusion and disbelief.

The medic-nin interrupted. "Now lie down for a bit. Don't worry, it won't hurt."

The child nodded and laid down on the bed. The medic-nin made the hand-signs for a diagnostic jutsu, as was the standard procedure. So far, nothing bad has been found. The child was slightly underweight and malnourished, but nothing that'd have a long-lasting impact. C was surprised by the fact that Konoha apparently seemed to neglect their resident Jinchuuriki's health. This would never fly in Kumo. Perhaps the old monkey Hiruzen was finally losing his touch.

As soon as the medic-nin's hand touched Naruto's skin, dark ink appeared over his stomach, sending both shinobi jumping back in anticipation of an explosion.

After all, booby trapping assets was not too uncommon. Ruthless, but practical.

The boy, Naruto, himself had sat up, startled by their reactions. Tense seconds passed by as nothing happened, and finally C gathered enough courage to approach the boy.

He had never seen a seal like this.

C himself wasn't a sealing expert, but he, and basically anyone who had ever met Killer B or Yugito, knew what the Iron Armor seal looked like. Small and simple, it was sufficient for weaker Tailed Beasts. But this…this seal was huge. The massive spiral in the center clearly showed its origin.

"Wha-what did you do to me?!" the child shrieked.

"Relax, Naruto-chan," C said as he gently but firmly sat him down. "The shinobi-san simply used a jutsu that activates your chakra. This seal was on you already. Do you know when it was put on you? It must have happened while you were in Konoha."

The child looked on with confusion. "No... I don't know... what's chakra?" he asked back.

"You will be told in due time," C said. He wasn't getting into academics now; time was of the essence. "Now, shinobi-san needs you to be really still for the next part, so I am going to put you to sleep. Don't worry, it won't hurt. I will be here with you. Has anything hurt until this point?"

The kid looked at him with hesitation, before slowly shaking his head. C smiled again, trying to make him feel more comfortable. He knew he could easily achieve this with a genjutsu if needed. The child stood no chance against him. But he wanted to build trust.

"Relax. Everything will be fine; I give you my word."

He touched the child's temple, allowing his chakra to seep into the child's chakra network. The boy went limp, and C gently laid him down.

"Now…I need you to make a copy of this seal." He said to the medic-nin with authority. "As precisely as possible. And of course, this patient and everything related to him is to remain an SS-ranked secret until declared otherwise. Are we clear?"

Naruto opened his eyes to darkness.

That place again…

He tried to stand up; the water felt cold and gross. It reached a little above his ankles. His movements created splashes and ripples.

"H-hello? Anyone there?"

No reply.

There was no light source, but there was light. It reached about thirty to forty paces from him. There were rows of bars in front of him...like the windows of the orphanage, he remembered. The very thought made his mood sour.

I never want to go back to that place again...

Not that there was anything to go back to...

The strange light moved with him as he walked forward. The row of bars stretched as far as he could see on left and right, and in the middle there was a pair of wooden frames instead of metal. A door of some sort? Naruto pressed his hand against it. it didn't budge.

Why would someone make a door where bars had so much gap in between?

"Hello? C-san? Raira-nee?"

His little voice seemed to reverberate. Naruto turned around, craning his head back to see above. There was no ceiling, nor a sky. Just darkness.

Then there was something.

The sound of a gust of wind.

Then the wind itself hit him in the back.

It was a light breeze, but it was noticeable. Naruto turned around, unsure of what to expect.

"You are visiting frequently these days. Almost too frequently."

Ripples on the water spread from beyond the door, and then two large eyes made themselves visible behind the bars. Large red orbs, with black circles at the center that shrunk and dilated every once in a while, stared at him. Naruto instinctively took a step back.

Something massive and orange shot through the bars, and Naruto had a fraction of a second to move. His feet were frozen in place, so he simply fell on his ass, hitting the water with a splash. The orange thing swiped above him. A massive hand... no, a mix of paw and hand, with sharp claws at the end, snapped into a fist, before slowly withdrawing.

"Who-who are you? Where am I?" Naruto spoke, his heart beating like a drum in his ear.

The eyes drew closer, before the face attached to those became visible. A large fox, with orange fur, looked at him, his teeth bared in a snarl.

"I am what you humans call Kyūbi no Yoko. I am the fox with nine tails, the greatest of all tailed beasts. I am the beast that laid waste to the little hamlet they call Konohagakure no Sato. I am what killed your parents. Just like I will kill you, the moment I get free."

Naruto scrambled back, with his hands and feet as the maw of the fox slammed against the bars, rattling them and sending ripples through the water. The door, however, held true. Naruto could see a piece of paper stuck to the door, with some squiggles on it.

"And you are still here... maybe you are just as much of an idiot as your mother was. It must run in the family... or perhaps I have been playing too nice." The water around him started to bubble up, now an orange hue, and the temperature continued to rise. Naruto took two more steps back. Boiling water wasn't a pleasant thing.

"Your new friends think it's child's play to steal a tailed beast, like it's a little bag of coins. Well, let's show them, shall we? They should know what Kyūbi no Yoko is...what terror is."

Tsume sighed, before downing the shot and slamming it back down on the counter.

Fuck.

Kushina had been a personal friend. She even remembered attending the secret baby shower Mikoto had thrown, using her own pregnancy as the cover for both of them. To think things would go wrong this way from there…it hasn't even been full five years from then…

And now the topic had been swept under the rug. No one was to even talk about the poor child. Not only Kushina's, but even Yondaime's legacy was gone, and no one batted an eye.

Tsume was surprised how well the top brass was taking it. Sandaime seemed casual about it, and so did the elders. Tsume could see the importance of the gag order, but her mind rebelled against this. Could they have done nothing? A more dogged pursuit? A small search and rescue squad was all Konohagakure could spare to rescue one of the family members of a former Hokage who also happened to be the village's secret weapon?

Orochimaru seemed oddly disinterested. The stories Tsume had heard about him, from the second war, made her feel as if he was holding back, and not only himself, but the whole team. Inuzuka's always were more reliant on instinct, and that instinct told her something was wrong with how the mission was being conducted. Too bad she couldn't put her finger on anything specific enough to report.

Tsume slammed her face against the countertop.

The bartender, probably more out of kindness at this point than fear, refilled her glass. Tsume downed it without a word.

"Tsume…you should go home now. Hana and Kiba are alone. Drinking this much isn't good for your health either." Shibi said, sounding almost kind.

"I have sent Kuromaru home so they know I am alive." she muttered. "And I am not in the mood to face them yet. Just let me have this one."

Shibi sighed, then again turned to her, perhaps to offer some more consolation, but he was interrupted by someone kicking down the doors of the bar.

Hound.

He was followed by a visibly worried Maito Gai, who clearly had been trying to talk sense into him and failing. "-kashi please! Listen to me! You can't blame others for this! This is so unyouth-"

Hound almost nonchalantly shoved an elbow into the green-clad teen's face, knocking him out cold.

Tsume slipped off her stool, facing him down, standing on unsteady feet. "Go home kid. It's been a long day."

"Why are you here?" Hound asked, his left eye glowing red behind his mask.

Tsume stared him down.

"You had a mission! How dare you come back without finishing it, AND DRINK YOUR ASS OFF LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED! YOU…YOU…" a snarl ripped through Hound's throat as he lunged like a feral beast. Shibi already had his kikkaichu out, but Tsume beat him to it, stepping in front of the incoming ball of limbs and anger.

Hell broke loose.

The entire bar watched with increasing horror as Hound proceeded to wipe the floor with the Inuzuka clan head. Tsume barely put up a fight, just protecting her vital organs. Hound kicked her around all over the place, making a wreck of the bar in the process.

"You ungrateful bitch… Kushina-nee called you a friend!" Hound's punches were becoming sluggish, his Anbu mask had fallen off, and his tears were soaking the remaining mask as he straddled Tsume, hitting her face repeatedly. He raised his fist up for one more punch, but couldn't land it. Instead, he slumped forward, falling onto Tsume's chest and passing out.

"Happy?" Shibi said, trying his best to sound like he didn't care, while withdrawing his swarm.

Tsume slowly turned to her side, letting Kakashi's limp body slide off her. "No. But I deserved that." She said, before sitting up. Her face was battered, bruises forming. "Is someone going to drag these brats to the hospital already?" She barked.

The crowd stirred into action. Some shinobi, Jōnins and Tokujos, carefully approached the prone form of Kakashi, while someone sprinkled water on Gai's face. Tsume stood up with some effort, ignoring Shibi's extended hand. She could feel her right eye swelling up already.