Chapter

1

The end one life, and the beginning of another

"Please…. Hold my hand….." Her voice was barely a whisper, the essence of life fleeting in her tone. "I-I-… I don't… I-It's so cold…"

She could barely open her eyes, the light all but faded from her once beautiful lavender orbs. Her hair had years ago lost its vibrant color that he fell in love with, leaving it a dull faded white.

She was too young….

He was too young…

She didn't deserve this…

She wasn't supposed to die… She wasn't supposed to have been taken from him!

The tears burned as they trailed down his whiskered cheeks, hands shaking as they grasped desperately to the cold hands of his beloved…

"Please… Don't leave me…" He was unaware of the broken voice that slipped past his lips, his heartbroken plea falling on deaf ears. He'd pleaded the same thing for hours, but it mattered little in the end.

If only he was stronger, then maybe….

Then maybe…

Hinata wouldn't have to die…

Then...

Then maybe his...

His two beloved...

Her hand shook as she raised it to cup his cheeks, brushing the wild blond bangs out of his eyes. A bleeding red met her weak frail gaze, his eyes blazing with a strong stolen power that was not his own.

"Those eyes… they are so violent… so full of… hate…" She muttered in a barely audibly breath, her light fading. "But… I still love you… even after… What you did…" She breathed ever so softly. "If our children could... see you now..."

His grip grew tighter, begging the gods or whoever would listen that she stayed with him. Her hand lost the little strength it had left, falling to the bed below.

She stopped moving…

"I-It was all for you…! Please! You can't leave me! Don't… Don't leave me…" His voice was horse, raw and destroyed from his crying. "Why…?" He finally fell to his knees, cradling her dying body to his own. She didn't react, when he pulled her tightly to his body.

When he cried out her name, screaming to the heavens that she don't go..

"I-It's…"

"It's not… your fault…"

"Darling…"

He couldn't bring himself to utter a sound as she muttered her last words. She took her final breath, a beautiful smile on her lifeless face.

"I… Love you… Nar… uto-K…un…"

And she said no more, for the Shinigami had taken her.

Bent on his knees he stayed there for hours, eyes never leaving her.

As the world fell to ashes around him, he was once again left alone…

Why…?

Why couldn't he just be left unbothered with her? Why did they have to intervene?

Why did she have to die? Why did they have to die?

It didn't make sense! It all didn't make sense!

"No…" The first words uttered out of his mouth within the last few hours were of a blazing defiance. "It's not going to end like this…. I refuse!"

Blood poured out from his eyes, the unmatched power of the Sharingan blazing. His eyes morphed into something else, fueled by his unending hate.

Fine…

If they wished to take everything that was ever important to him away, then so be it…

But…

He would take even more back…

Powered by the mixed dna and the eyes of legend, he made it change. Reality started to bend, the walls that made up the room didn't exist any more.

The world shifted underneath his stolen power, and nothing would stop him. The clock rewound, everything moving in reverse, steadily picking up speed until it was blinding. He could already feel his memory being locked away, retreating into the deepest recesses of his mind.

He would go back…

Back to the beginning….

And when he got there he would fix this…

Make sure that it would never happen, no matter what the cost.

He wouldn't lose her. He'd first see the world burn then let her die.

He'd return to the start, and she would live. His children would live!

He'd take their victory away from them, their progress in their mission, their accomplishments against him. Everything. He'd undo it all. Because even if he brought her back now, there was nothing left in this world. They'd taken it all away...

So he'd reset it all...

He swore by it…

And the next time around, when he finally remembered this moment in time that would never again come to pass, he'd strike first. No one would ever dare to touch her, his precious wife.

Because if they did….

They would meet the same fate as the burning world around him…

Konohagakure-no-Sato, a village hidden deep in the depths of the land of fire. It was a legendary village, one filled to the brim with stories bordering on insane and sometimes unbelievable. The place was one of the most powerful cities in the elemental nations, and it held that title for a very good reason.

Famed for producing some of the most powerful Ninja to ever exist, and some of the worst threats to ever grace the planet as well. It was a ninja village that had never properly known defeat, and it had its powerful warriors to thank for that.

But for all of its amazing accomplishments, it had also suffered greatly in the years since its creation. Some of the worldwide legends that they produced were also widely known for going rouge, leading a life of crime and violence. Many of the ninja that the people apprised had either left the village, or simply quit, and left to seek out a new life.

Madara Uchiha, one of the most powerful men to have ever lived, and the close friend of the very first leader to the village, Hashirama Senju. This man's legacy was a hard one, filled with rage, hate, loss, dispair, and at the end, betrayal.

It was said that his life had led him to madness, and the end result was chaotic disaster. A fight took place that shook the nations forever, a battle never to be forgotten. In the end, it was his best friend that took him down.

Then came the second ninja world war, and all the legends that arose in the chaos. This war would prove to be the one that truly left its scars on the world. For every battle they won, they lost a great number of their own to the chaos. By the time of the second shinobi world war's end, they had lost more then fifty percent of their fighting force. Not that their enemies fared any better, but it was still worth mentioning.

However, it was this war that produced three undeniable legends. The first was Tsunade Senju, the sole granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, and holder of the title, strongest woman in the world. She was a woman famed for her superhuman strength, her world renowned healing abilities, her beautiful womanly features, and her rather legendary bosom.

Then there was Jiraya, a man famed as a sage of sorts. He was know for the creation of many new and powerful Nin-jutsu, as well as his ability to summon powerful toad warriors that would assist him in battle. The man was also known as a pervert, though he claimed to be the biggest pervert in the nation, so it wasn't hard to believe.

Then came Orochimaru. A man that was overtly affected by the war, more mentally then physically. A man already mentally unsound from an estranged childhood, suffered painfully from the horrors of war. Though extremely powerful, and overwhelmingly smart in his own right, he still came up short when it came to the village's moto; The will of fire.

These three had become known as the Legendary Trio. They had proved to be one of the strongest teams in the world, and that title has yet to be passed on to another. However, after the war's end, things changed.

Tsunade had been a victim of loss one too many times, and after the rather bloody loss of her lover Dan, she developed a crippling fear of blood. Unable to escape her past, she became a drunkard and left the village in a sort of extreme long term mission. A mission that would most likely never seen an end till the day she died.

Orochimaru, so affected by death around him, became addicted to finding a way to live forever. His theories eventually gave way to experiments that slowly became more and more inhumane.

Where he once experimented on dead animals, it eventually led to human experiments. He eventually began to experiment on his own body in his search for immortality. One day word got out about his horrible deeds, and he fled the village and was labeled as a missing-Nin.

Another war took place years later, a war that would spell the end of all wars for many years to come. By this time in history, all of the elemental nations had felt the pain of loss, and simply did not have the manpower to mount any more wars. It was partially thanks to a treaty that konoha made that stopped all of the fighting for a time. But this last war still had its drawbacks, and because of it, the world was once again changed forever.

Not even a year after their victory over their sworn enemy, the village hidden the stone, something horrible took place.

No one really remembered how it truly happened that fateful night, but everyone remembered the terror that enveloped them when it did. It was in the dead of night when it happened.

One moment all was quiet, then suddenly as if from thin air a beast was summoned. A monster so terrifying that many died merely from the killing intent that the beast produced. It was a fox. A nine tailed fox. Only one of its kind existed, and it was famed in legend as being the strongest creature in the entire world. It was also known for its destructive potential, and the untold devastation that it could cause if it so desired.

Towering over the village, it's many tails swung about, reeking havoc and chaos. If not for the timely intervention by the Fourth Hokage, the village would have seen its end that night.

The death toll that night was great, and the ones lost were unreplaceable. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his own life to seal the beast into the body of his newborn son, effectively putting an end to the beast's rampage. With his dying breath he begged the aging third Hokage to protect his child, to allow him to be seen as a hero to the villagers. The third had promised him that he would do so, and he had faith in the village as a whole.

With the beast defeated and the battle over, the third Hokage thought it right to show the village their hero. For it was because of the fourth Hokage's sacrifice and his newborn son's that the village was still standing. He had faith that they would be thankful to him, and see him as a hero just like the Fourth hoped.

But the Forth's faith was...

Misplaced…

When he made the declaration to the village council, their response was anything but positive. The council had immediately called for the boy's death, calling him a monster, an abomination of life. The Third had pleaded with them to see the good of the situation, but they were unmoved.

They would not listen, their minds were already set. Knowing that they would most likely go behind his back and try to kill the child, he hastily created a law that would hopefully do some damage control. It was a simple rule, that if broken was punishable by death. The rule was that no one was to tell anyone outside of the council about the child's containment of the Kyuubi. But they found a way around that, and soon enough the entire village was aware of his exsistance.

The child's safety was in jepordy, and without his help he was sure that he wouldn't survive the night. In an attempt to hide him, he placed him in an orphanage with other babies. He had prayed that because the villagers weren't aware of what he looked like that he would be able to hide him. At the very least he just needed to protect him until he could hold his own in life. But accomplishing that would prove to be harder then he thought possible.

As the years slowly passed by, the village's treatment of young Naruto got gradually worse. The Hokage's personal ninja made sure that the kid wasn't killed, but there was only so much that they could do with their busy lives. There were times when his guardians had to be called away for an important mission, leaving him unattended for days on end.

Those were the days of his life that would shape him into who he was, and what kind of person he turned out to be in the end. Those were the times in his life that almost broke him, but for some reason he carried on. If one thing was for certain, it was that Naruto was very strong in mind, and it would take a lot to put him in the ground. But the village was tempted to try it anyway.

But the boy was smart for his age, too smart. He suffered the people's wrath with a stone cold will that they dared to try and shatter.

They would do so much to him, and somehow so much of it went under the radar, letting the punishment continue unaltered. He wasn't free from those his own age it seemed, as the parents had spoken ill of him to their own children, and in turn the children grew to hate him as well.

When he was finally old enough to attend the Ninja Academy he was freed from the orphanage entirely, as on his sixth birthday the Hokage got him an apartment to live in away from prying eyes. It was sad to know that something as minor as a rundown apartment was the best thing he had ever received in his life. But the boy loved it like it was his own, and couldn't even bring himself to hate it at all.

His time at the academy, however, would prove to be another test in his life. The teachers there hated him just about as much as the rest if the villagers did. But they were bound by their oath to teach, and couldn't just kick him out. That being said, that didn't stop them from altering his education to a painful degree. His teachers would mistreat him, and punish him for even the smallest of things.

He'd developed a bad verbal tick and a strange way of speaking in general due to a lack of proper teaching, and it was practically hard coded into his brain to the point that it wasn't going away anytime soon. But his friends didn't care, it just became one of his charms in their eyes.

His eyes had become cynical much too early in his life, and the Hokage feared that he'd never recover that adolescence again. He talked and behaved like someone far too old, yet it seemed to switch between that and his normal personality occasionally.

The Hokage feared that he'd become stunted in his thinking, forcing him to view the world differently then others.

It couldn't be helped...

Still, he was somewhat outgoing and had attempted to make friends with those his age. The few times he actually started to become friendly with someone, they were eventually pulled away by their parents and tricked into thinking he was a monster.

But there was one that stood out to him. Like a shining light in a darkened world, she was the one that his soul told him to become friends with. A young lavender haired girl who was the young heiress to the prestigious Hyuuga Clan, a member of royalty in the Land of Fire.

As a young boy he'd watched her from a distance, nervous and scared to approach in the fear that he'd be rejected by her.

But then one day she approached him, asking if he would be her friend.

That was the happiest day of his life, and he would remember it forever. The two quickly became inseparable after that point, and try as he might, Hinata's father was simply unable to separate the two. Young Naruto had a look in his eyes, a gaze that only a man that had lost everything could possibly be able of holding.

But he was just a child, never having experienced such trials before. And despite his horrendous upbringing, he was so kind to those he held dear.

First it was Hinata, then the Inuzuka clan heir in Kiba, quickly followed by Shikamaru of the Nara clan. The three became close, and were the first to be called his friends, and Hinata his closest most precious person.

The four became great friends, and even when the rest of the world hated him, he could continue on forward with them by his side. And it would continue like this for the next five years, until his eleventh birthday.

Young eleven year old Naruto was seen talking with a member of the Third Hokage's personal ANBU. Being as they were tasked as his personal guard, no one batted an eye.

Although, perhaps they should have.

Because not long after that, Uzumaki Naruto vanished.

No one ever really noticed the boy's sudden disappearance. Only a few took note, and his close friends weren't content to stand by if he was in danger.

It was nearing the later half of the afternoon, and the sun was still up in the sky above the Ninja Academy. The time for learning had just come to an end for the day, and the young ninja in training had begun to file out of the room, their minds set on what they were going to do for the rest of the afternoon.

Iruka, Naruto's homeroom teacher had been rather distracted all day, and it had really started to show. His body was on autopilot as he gathered together the children's homework and assinmeants, but his gaze had been locked onto the window for the past twenty minutes.

He was worried.

It had been a few days now since he last saw Naruto, and the stress had been eating away at him. Iruka was another one of the very few in the village that didn't see the boy as a monster, and had even befriend him on a certain level.

It would be all to easy to simply hate the boy, but he wasn't like that. He was brought out of his dazed state when he noticed the last few students preparing to leave, and he reached out to them before they could.

"Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru." He called out, grabbing the attention of the three ninja in training. "Are you three busy at the moment?" He asked. The kids shared a glance with each other, before turning back to him.

"Yeah, actually. What's up, Sensei?" It was Kiba who spoke up, hands behind his head in a relaxed position. Iruka seemed to ponder something for a moment, before he spoke up again.

"If its not too bothersome, could the three of you go by Naruto's place? I haven't seen him in a few days and I'm starting to worry about him." The man asked, though his face was pleading. It was the Hyuuga heiress that spoke up next.

"We w-were actually on our way there n-now, Sensei." She responded. Iruka blinked in surprise, but his look melted into a smile.

"Thank you. I'm sorry to task you three with this, but I simply don't have time to do so myself." Iruka stated, a thankful smile adorning his face. "Do any of you know where he lives?"

"U-Um, I do." Hinata stuttered. The three of them turned to her at her response, and she blushed bright red at their playful looks. She liked him, no secret there.

"Well, either way, you should be heading out now. I don't want you three out late, you hear?" Iruka stated, glancing up at the clock. The sun would be setting within an hour or two, and he didn't want them out that late. It would be on his head were something to happen to them. Although he was sure they could defend themselves from a common thug at this point.

"Yes Iruka-Sensei!" They all responded. The two boys quickly left the room, quickly followed by Hinata who bowed to Iruka before leaving.

A few minutes later found the three ninja in training on a set course for the Red-Light-District, the part of town where Naruto's apartment was located. Shikamaru looked as if he couldn't be bothered, while Kiba was having trouble not running over to get it over with sooner.

Yet, despite the two boys nonchalance they were both just as concerned as Hinata had been.

The walk was rather silent, the only sound the quiet late day conversations between some of the villagers. People stopped to greet the trio as they passed, offering up smiles as waving as they went. Hinata waved back out of respect, that and she had to keep up an image in public lest she get punished by her father for acting out. Although she was sure he wouldn't mind if she proved that they deserved it.

He was a strict man, not a harsh man.

"So what do you think's wrong?" Kiba asked, his gaze locked onto a stray bird that had busied itself with patrolling the skies. Shikamaru hummed in thought for a moment before turning to him in response.

"Not sure.. Maybe he got sick?" Shikamaru responded in a reaching tone.

Kiba mulled the response over for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, no way! You ever seen Naruto sick?" He said with laugh.

Shikamaru thought about it before he realised that Kiba was right.

"W-Well, Naruto-Kun's never been sick before..." Hinata muttered, looking down nervously. This statement had the downside of drawing the two boys attention to her. "W-Well I m-mean..." She stuttered, nervously pressing her fingers together. "I-I-I, u-m.."

"Whoa! Hinata, relax! We ain't making fun of you." Kiba laughed, patting the girl on the back in a sort of friendly gesture. Didn't really have the desired affect, as she was still blushing up a storm.

Damage control Kiba! Damage control!

"Oh hey, look! Is that the place?" Kiba said, pointing at a run down looking apartment. Hinata snapped out of her daze, glancing at the building.

Genius Kiba, genius.

"Oh uh, maybe not that one..." Kiba laughed nervously. In retrospect, maybe the building covered in offensive graffiti wasn't the first place he should have pointed out. He tried to continue walking when he noticed that Hinata had stopped. "Hey uh, common Hinata, let's not stick around a place like this, we gotta find Naruto." Kiba tried reasoning, taking another glance at the building.

The walls of the apartment building were covered with aggressive slurs, such as monster, evil creature, and even demon. It made Kiba sick just looking at it. He honestly didn't know what whoever lived there had to do to earn the wrath of the people, but it must have been pretty horrible.

"Kiba-Kun... T-This is where N-Naruto lives." The statement caught the two boys off guard. Shikamaru's eyes widened , before settling in disappointment. He was disappointed, not in anything she just said, but in the people of the village. To make him live in such a place…

Sickening…

"W-Wait.. Hinata, you're kidding yeah?" Kiba said, his tone hopeful. Hinata's head was down, her hands balled into fists at her side. Her lack of a response was a loud indication of the fact that she was telling the truth. The boys turned back to the building again, truly taking in the sight of it. To them, they couldn't believe that someone as kind, loving, and caring as Naruto would live in such a place as this. It just didn't seem possible.

"N-Naruto-Kun's always been treated like this. You both know it to be true…" The Hyuuga heiress muttered. "They a-always insisted on calling him a M-Monster..." By this point the Hyuuga heiress was shaking with barely restrained emotions, and anger was indeed one of them. She started walking forward, trudging up the delapidated stairwell towards the top. She wasn't going to just stand around out here while her friend was hurting, it just wasn't who she was.

The two boys shared a concerned look with each other before quickly following after her, intent on checking up on their friend. The stairs creaked and groaned under their combined weight, the building's lack of general maintenance obvious. They passed by many different apartments on their way up, Hinata's assumption about the lack of residence spot on. Most of the doors they passed were broken down, exposing the old shadowy living rooms of times long gone.

It was ominous, unnerving even. With the thunder pounding overhead it painted a stressful scene, one that had the three ninja in training jumping at the slightest sound. As the trio approached the top floor, one of the weaker sections of floor gave way under their weight, resulting it what would have been a dangerous fall if not for their twitchy nerves saving them from the pain.

Kiba gave a weary glance to the newly created hole in the floor. The fall was easily two hundred feet down, lethal for anyone not trained in the ninja arts. A nervous laugh escaped from him as he ushered the group forward a little faster, eager to get to Naruto's apartment and out of the rain.

The one big pitfall aside, the three didn't have too much trouble scaling the building to reach Naruto. It was then that they reached his front door, and surprising to say, but his front was not in nearly the major disrepair that the rest of the building was in. The one main window was even still intact, unlike the ones one the back side of the building. It was also devoid of any graffiti, which was probably due to how dangerous it was to even reach his front door...

Well, dangerous for a civilian anyway...

"The guy better be home…" Kiba muttered, already shivering from the affects the rain was causing. Shikamaru was quick to act, knocking on the door and calling out his name.

"Naruto! Are you there?" Shikamaru called out, his voice being drowned out by the rain. He waited for a moment, but no response came his way. Unwilling to give up so easily, he knocked again, harder this time. "Naruto! Hello!?" He yelled louder, his voice echoing throughout the stormy night.

He stood back next to Hinata and Kiba in wait, but after a few moments passed they knew they weren't going to get a response.

"Maybe the guy's not home..?" Kiba said, though from the way it sounded he wasn't so sure of that himself. He would have said more, but stopped himself short when Hinata opened the door and let herself in. Concern quickly filled the minds of the trio at what they saw on the inside.

"O-Oh my.." Hinata muttered, staring in shock at the destroyed interior of Naruto's apartment. His living room was trashed, with most of the furniture torn up badly. Pillows were shredded, leaving their stuffing strewn about everywhere. It looked as if something exploded in his living room...

"No!" Hinata shouted suddenly, running headfirst into Naruto's house. Before the two boys could ask what had her upset they spotted the shredded remains of Naruto's trademark orange jumpsuit littering the ground.

Both Shikamaru and Kiba quickly joined Hinata who was kneeling down next to the bloody torn remains of Naruto's clothes. Shikamaru stood back, his mind reeling at the sight. The blood was everywhere, but there was no sign of Naruto or his...

Body…

Shikamaru took a shaky breath to try and calm his racing mind. He scanned the room, looking for anything out of place. Then he saw it.

There was fur littering the ground, untouched by the blood. It was a firey orange in color, and it seemed to trail off into another room.

"Kiba..." Shikamaru muttered quietly, gaining the other boy's attention. The ferel looking ninja in training was quick to join back at his side. "I think there's something in here..." He informed, pointing to the doorway that led to the small bedroom only a few paces away.

Kiba was quick to use his nose, catching the scent of something else in the house, something distinctly not human. And yet... "I think we shou- Kiba what are you doing?!" Shikamaru hissed as Kiba went to open the door. By this point Hinata had stood up and joined up with Shikamaru again.

Shikamaru would have tried to stop him, but he was more worried about what lay on the other side of the bedroom door that Kiba had just opened. The opened with a loud creek as the rusty hinges strained against the weight. Hinata's voice caught in her throat at the sight before her. Her eyes couldn't leave it, no matter what her brain said. In the dark, almost lightless room lay before them all a fox, a nine tailed fox to be precise. It's crimson colored fur shone in the darkness surrounding it, its tails coiled up to it protectively. It was large, definitely larger then any normal fox had the right to be. It was easily three times larger then Kiba's mother's ninja hound, and those dogs were huge. It's face was framed with two thick lines of black fur that started from the flare of the eye and extended all the way up into its ears, ending at the tip.

It's face seemed to be pulled into one of extreme discomfort. Her eyes glanced down to the white claws that gleamed in the darkness, sharpened to a dangerously sharp point.

The beast looked powerful and extremely dangerous. And yet, with it sleeping there, she found it beautiful in a strange sort of way. It also looked as if it could tear them apart in a matter of seconds, easily. Yet that didn't deter her from thinking that it was cute in strange way. Like a giant stuffed animal, very cuddly.

"W-Wait.. I-Is that...?" Hinata muttered suddenly as she caught the sight of something around the beast's neck. Drawing the others attention to it they were quick to spot what she did. A white collar was situated around its neck, a collar that connected to the tattered remains of an orange jumpsuit belonging to one Uzumaki Naruto.

"How did that thing even..." Kiba trailed off, too shocked to even respond properly. He turned back to Hinata who was too busy not paying attention to him to pay attention to him.

Meanwhile Shikamaru's mind was racing. He was slowly starting to connect the dots as more and more things began to make sense. The attack from the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune eleven years ago was no secret, nor was the way that in its defeat it suddenly vanished into thin air. Many of the higher ups knew the reason, but the main majority was left unaware. It was common knowledge however, that the villagers of Konoha seemed to suddenly turn their grief into hatred, and that hatred had been directed at young Naruto.

The explanation was 'unknown', but Shikamaru had deduced that it had something to do with Naruto's uncanny resemblance to a fox, with his whisker marks and more angular face and pointed eyes. That and he'd overheard enough people talking about it in hushed conversations that he could easily piece it together.

That seemed like a very childish reason to direct all their hatred on him, but he realized that there was something more behind it. There had to be, and he believed that what lay before them was that proof. It seemed impossible, but it also seemed like it was the only thing that made sense at the moment. The other two had a similar train of thought, although for different reasons.

''Well, here goes nothing...'' Shikamaru thought, before surprising the other two as he walked towards the sleeping fox.

"Naruto..?" He called out uncertainly, teaching out towards the fox. The response he got he would have to wait to determine whether it was a good one or not.

Tightly closed eyelids snapped open, revealing the blood red slitted eyes that lay beneath. Shikamaru flinched back from the suddenness of its reaction. Shikamaru would only call what happened afterwards as chaotic, as the second the fox's eyes opened it started scanning the room wildly, as if looking for something or even someone. But when it couldn't find whatever it was looking for, it became greatly dismayed.

"No... No No No...!" It spoke suddenly, the dispair in its voice very apparent as it stood up, its limbs shaking under its own weight.

Shikamaru and the others stood back suddenly as its tails began to wave sporadically, as if they had a mind of their own. The trio fell to the ground as a stray tail flew overhead, nearly taking Kiba's head off. "H-He-... This body is..!? What did he do to me?!" It started to cry out, slamming its claws to the ground in agony. They watched on in morbid curiosity as tears began to fall from its eyes before it fell back to the ground, its strength giving out.

The tails that were flying around also gave out, landing back on the ground with a thud. Now the beast was left laying there, tired, exhausted, and emotionally drained from whatever problem troubled it.

Hinata felt horrible as she stood there watching it struggle, unable to do anything to soothe the strange beast's woes. She couldn't help but compare it now to a puppet that had its strings cut as it lay there almost lifelessly, the energy it had seemingly sucked away. Silent tears fell from its eyes as it lay there, staring blankly at a wall, completely oblivious to the three human's next to it.

Kiba was content to stay there and not move, and Shikamaru was busy trying to calm his racing heart. It was Hinata that dared to approach the beast after its little outburst. With her heart pounding in her ears and her breathing heavy, she shakily approached the fox with an outstretched hand.

"H-H-Hey there b-big guy..." The Hyuuga Heiress said as she slowly inched her way over to it. It's gaze was still locked on the wall, the only sign that it even heard her was the slight twitch of its ear. Deciding to try and push her luck, she continued closer to it. Sneaking up at its side she slowly placed her hand upon its head, gently petting the crimson fur. It was probably the softest thing she had ever felt in her entire life, and that was saying a lot.

She could visibly see the tension in its shoulders start to fade away under ministrations, and its breathing began to slow. It was only then after it had calmed significantly that it actually took notice of the three people in its room, and more importantly, the supple hand that was petting its head. Her hand brushed against a large gem like object imbedded in his forehead, which was was truly snapped him from his stupor.

It's vision was blurred by the tears, but it clearly made out the shapes of three people it knew by heart. Red eyes panned up to meet the pale eyes of its friend, the Hyuuga Heiress, Hinata.

"Hina- Hinata..? I wonder?" His voice was dry and raspy, but still managed a deep dark tone. The trio's eyes widened as the fox spoke her name, and the reality finally struck them. The nine tailed fox that lay weakened before them, was non other then their friend they had been searching for. Naruto.

His body trembled as Hinata swiftly brought him into a hug, as awkward as it was, but it meant everything to the fox. He tried to stand up but his legs shook under his weight before he collapsed back to the ground. The other two were at his side without a moment to waste.

"Woah! Alright! Let's not do that again!" Kiba urged as he stopped Naruto from trying to stand up again, lest he hurt himself. The fox wearily turned to face the feral looking kid.

"Kiba..." He muttered, before turning to face the other member of the group. Shikamaru gave the kid turned fox a lazy wave in response. "Wha-What are you-?" He rasped out before being shushed by Hinata who's hands were quickly putting him to sleep with how comforting they were.

"It's okay N-Naruto-Kun, just r-rest now." Hinata said as she gently urged his head to join with his paws of the floor. He tried to resist for a moment before ultimately giving in to her order and laying back down. Hinata deftly ran her fingers over his frame, trying to get a feel for his new…

H-His new…

Body…

Kiba at point stepped back, running a hand through his hair. His mind was still reeling at the fact that his friend was somehow turned into a fox, or that his friend was always a giant nine tailed fox, he didn't know which was the truth. But even then, that didn't stop him from acting when it was required of him to do so.

An uncomfortable silence followed after that, with the only sound being the fox's tails slowly thumping the floorboards, over and over.

An hour had passed since the trio found Naruto. After the initial shock wore off, the three Ninja in training took it upon themselves to make sure that they did everything they could for their friend in need.

For example...

"What are we going to do..?" Kiba asked out loud, glancing around the room with a nervous fervor. Now that they knew Naruto was…

Well…

Naruto…

The reality of the situation started to dawn on them. What were they going to do? They couldn't spend the rest of their lives taking care of a giant nine tailed fox. None of them even knew how to care for normal foxes, let alone this one. That problem aside, how in the world were they going to hide him? It wasn't like no one would notice that Naruto suddenly disappeared off the face of planet, people would notice.

In fact, people had noticed, that was the main reason that they found him in the first place. They couldn't keep this a secret forever, the truth would eventually find its way to the light one way or another, no matter how much they tried to stop it. That and the fact that they still had lives of their own to attend to, and it would be very hard to just vanish for random amounts of time every day without being noticed.

In fact, the sun had already gone down a while ago now, and they could be sure that their respective family's had noticed that their children had yet to come home from school. If they didn't leave now, they would be in serious trouble. They knew that, and yet, one of them was having trouble pulling herself away.

"Hinata, common. We've got to get going." Shikamaru urged, trying to separate the young Heiress from the fox's grasp. Hinata was practically in tears at the thought of having to leave Naruto alone in the situation he was in.

"B-But... We c-can't just leave him!" She responded hotly, her eyes puffy. The pineapple haired teen sighed in response, as he had already had this conversation with her once that evening.

He knew he would have to play into her caring role to even attempt to pull her away from her friend in need.

"I understand! But we don't have the necessities to care for him here. Do you even know how to care for a fox in general?" Shikamaru stated with a frown.

Hinata pulled back at that. She really didn't want to leave him, but Shikamaru was right. Hinata didn't know how to care for a fox. More importantly, no one here knew what it took to care for a nine tailed fox, so they wouldn't be of much help anyway...

"N-Naruto-Kun...?" Hinata prodded, shaking the fox lightly to gain his attention. He had been resting since, but woke to her gentle touch. He blearily brought his head around to face her, the way his eyes shimmered messed with her heart.

"I-I wish we didn't have t-to, but we cannot stay. I-I'm sorry, but-" Hinata stated quietly, gently petting the massive fox in an effort to calm both his nerves and her own. But a fear began to take hold of his mind. He didn't want to be left alone again.

"W-What? Must you leave me like this?" His voice was shaky. Hinata pulled his head into her embrace in a vain attempt to calm him back down. "P-Please don't leave me alone here... I think I will lose my sanity if I'm left alone... I suppose.." He muttered quietly, which sounded quite strange considering his deep growly tone of voice attained from the transformation.

"We'll be back, you can count on it." Shikamaru chimed in, adding his attempt at assuring the fox. He pat the fox on his head, his hand getting lost in the fur.

"Yeah man! We ain't gonna ditch you! We're here for you dude." Kiba assured in his own way, flashing a bright smile for affect. All of their responses helped assure him, but his heart still worried.

"Now c-come on. You need your rest." Hinata said softly, her petting finally getting the better of him. He eventually started to fall asleep after some coaxing, and the trio silently snuck away. It was dark out, and they knew that it was going to be hard hiding this from their parents. But that wasn't going to stop them from trying. Over everything that they believed in, taking care of their friends was first as a priority.

Author's Notes

I've gone back and revised this story. It is the same and most of it is relatively unchanged, however after being fourteen chapters into it, I finally realize the underlying story that I've been developing all along and I felt like I needed to go back and add a little for context to help ground the story and add a little to it.

It is worth re-reading in my opinion, as I've spellchecked it and much of the exposition and useless text has been thrown out, and many scenes have been rewritten to a more…

Updated writing style to match the most recent chapters.

That's all…

LEGEND BELOW

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

''I kinda wanted to know.'' = Normal thoughts.

"You dare to defy me!?" = Unknown speech.

''That's what I thought.'' = Unknown thoughts.

Revised as of

03/06/2022