Naruto 1. Chapter 1

AN: So this is my first story

Cloudy skies loomed over the hill like a dark blanket. The rain had not fallen yet but he felt it in the air a sort of electricity. The boy knew something was going to happen. It was an instinct almost something you would expect to see in animals like when they flee from earthquakes. He wanted to hide from the rain but on the small hill there was nothing that would give him much in the way of Shelter. The grass was long though. It had made a good bed the other night. He had been walking for so long the other day when he finally collapsed on the hill. He wanted to hide from the rain but his stomach growled. How long had it been he thought since he had eaten. Maybe he would find food after the storm. He remembered how he used to like the rain. He used to laugh and enjoy it because no one would bother him when it rained. But now the rain filled him with to many bad memories. It really would not due for him to move other than it would keep him warm. Brush and grass were all he could see.

The boy stood up. It also would not do him any good to stay here. He started to walk, continuing a journey that he had started a long time ago. Perhaps boy would not be the right word for him but he looked like one. His face unchanged. Light flashed and suddenly he heard the crack and rumble. Behind him not even a few feet from where he had been sitting lightning had struck. He decided to move faster. The walk turning into a jog and eventually the jog turning into a full blown run as the rain started to fall. It had gotten a lot colder. The rain stung against his face like small slaps. It reminded him of home. A home that was so many miles and years away from him. A come where people slapped him and hit him, where their eyes were colder than ice. Were they looked at him with contempt and were he did not want to comeback until he was ready.

He had improved himself over the years. His muscles were stronger, he was both faster and more agile and even his stamina had improved. It was hard to imagine because even back then he had great stamina he supposed it was because he had to run away from those eyes so often. His knowledge of the world had also improved, he knew how to cook and clean, and simply put had learned how to live. He also had improved on hunting and foraging and knew how to treat poisons, the later he had learned while he had stayed with an old hermit that would go into the local village to treat the sick and injured. He also had worked on the things that home had taught him especially how to hide. He used to be loud in everything including what he wore as if to shout to the world, "I exist, notice me." Now he wore drab grays and browns with a little forest green thrown in there. He wore torn rags that he had wrapped around himself but underneath it all was a simple mesh shirt from home, it was one of the only things he kept from home. He still had the necklace, he would never let anyone take the necklace, he had won that in a bet and it was his.

He shivered in the cave. He was out of the rain but he was still very cold. At least now he had something to eat. The caves previous resident had been a small mountain cat. He was also working on making a small fire, the wood from the brushes was still wet but he would make it work he had to dry off. He might not get sick but he hated being cold. And wet cloths made him cold. He was in a state of undress because he simply needed to dry off his clothes. He thought it funny that here he was naked and no one complained or thought him weird he was alone.

In the distance a wolf was howling, it was more like calling to him like it wanted him to join it and give it company, but he knew better the only company wolves enjoyed were bones. With that thought he grabbed a leg of mountain cat still slightly raw. It was tough and chewy and altogether not pleasant but it was food. He would be able to stay here for a while and regain some of his strength. It would do him some good. He had shelter and food and when the rain stopped, he had a feeling he would have some water. Before it got to dark to see the cave entrance by fire and it did get really dark at night almost like looking at the cloak of Death himself, he set about securing the entrance from predators and humans after all he did not want to end up like the mountain cat.

The mourning sun scorched the earth quickly drying away hat water had fallen but on the bushes small bulbs about half the size of an apple had formed that he had not noticed before. He grabbed one and yanked it off the brush. He brought it to his nose and smelled it, it did not smell poisonous, carefully he bit into it, the outside was hard to crack but his teeth that had grown sharper as he aged and had become one of the only real changes that he noticed made short work of thee skin. It gushed out water. He thought for a little while contemplating if he should stay or go.

After some careful deliberation he set about drying the mountain cat and collecting more of the bulbs. After all he really did not like places like this. There simply was too little to forage and so far he assumed he had been lucky. It was a quick process that had only required him to turn some of his rags into sacks, which he hung from his trousers. Soon he was on his way, he wondered if he would find some civilization. He wanted to talk to someone other than himself although that could be rather easy to do. As one of his few friends might have said being alone could be too troublesome.

They seemed to keep their distance from him. It was not the same loathing and fear he was used to seeing like he had back home, but it was a related to what he had experienced all the same. He assumed he smelled a little and no doubt looked a little rough, being out in the wilderness for several weeks could do that to you, his face was also not the most human face he had seen, it was graced by whisker marks, coupled with his teeth and he probably looked like one of the children raised by wolves he had heard about. He was not one of the children though because wolves never raised those children, they ate them.

He moved towards one of the stalls and people backed off from him, he heard whispers, he hated whispers. He looked into the man's eyes with his blue ones, his eyes were always good at reading people and they would get to practice the skill today, he needed to ask some questions.

"Excuse me could you tell me the name of this town, I seem to be a little lost on my travels?" He asked. In years past he may have shouted it or been indignant but know he spoke in a calm and relaxed voice. The stall worker was chewing his gums for a few minutes, his eyes told the boy he was thinking. Finally with a few smacks of the lips he cleared his throat to talk. His voice had a slight drawl like a lazy afternoon.

"Well this here is Sora, I reckon you're gonna need some more bearings before you know where that is. Hmmm, try going a few days west as the bird flies and you will hit some low hill that eventually grow into mountains. Past the mountains is a large thing of water, now what did my father cal the darn thing, an ocean, head much farther that direction and you drown. I don't figure I need to tell ye what's east seeing as you come from that way so down south ye have some woods a starten to appear takes em awhile but eventually they be there. I don't know much what's beyond those seeing as not much comes that way. The to the north well I know there's another village up that away as that is were my trade is from but what's beyond that I just don't know." The boy was impressed. He had not expected the man to be quite so forth coming on his directions of sorts. He know was moving on to a place he could possibly stay. When he saw someone he never expected to see. If he did anything rash they would find him suspicious, she was that kind of person. So he kept a dialogue up with vendor hoping to whatever god was out there that she would not notice him.

She had a picture and was showing it around. He wanted to think she was here by chance. He wanted to think that she was looking for someone else. Maybe she had forgotten him, he hoped that was the case he did not want the pain of home again. She looked so much older now he wondered briefly if she would expect him to look the exact same; he hoped not, he hoped it would be enough for him to get away. He thanked the vendor and made his way to the inn. It was not the only inn of the town but it was cheap and the vendor had been willing to buy his perishable so he could sleep inside. Made the streets safer the vendor said as the boy left, the boy chose to ignore the comment.

He did not know when she planned to stay awhile or was just passing through. He however did count on being one of the few who would be staying in the inn, it was rather small, and if he was polite he would call it rustic, which meant it was a cheap piece of shit. Which meant it was an utter surprise to him that as he opened the door he pumped into another person he had never seen before, he briefly wondered if they were holding a convention or something, but that did not matter because the worst had happened, recognition had flooded into the mans eyes followed with a gasp.

"Naruto!" The man's eyes were wide now and for a moment every thing seemed to freeze. They just stood there staring at each other. Finally like a falling glass it crashed to the ground.

"Shit." Naruto said almost offhandedly and with that he bolted. He kept telling himself they would not catch him. He kept telling himself he would get away but where to and finally somewhere in the back of his mind like waking from a long dream he knew he would not get away. The fact that his gut told him he was going back home wither he wanted to or not did not deter him though. He ran as fast as he could, further augmenting his speed with wind and chakra.

He never saw it coming, maybe he had gotten rusty or maybe his subconscious had made him not notice, but the punch connected. It would be some time before he woke up again.

He was groggy, why was he groggy, oh yah because someone hit him in the head really hard. Why had he been hit really hard, because he was going back home, then it dawned on him, he was going back home. He did not want to go back home, he wanted to get stronger before he came back. He struggled and found himself tied up. Well it figured sort of, he did try to get away. They noticed him struggling. He could tell there was more than one because of their footsteps.

She had so much to ask them she did not know where to start. First was why he disappeared, why he never returned. The more obvious question though was that he had not changed. Oh he might have been a little leaner and feral, but he looked the same. He had left her behind again in a way that she could not explain. She had grown older she was twenty seven now it was becoming more noticeable that she was not the girl she had once been but a woman, whereas he… he seemed just as young as she remembered him like the photographs she kept that they had taken when he had returned from the first training trip. She grew angry when she saw him struggle, as if he was desperate to get away from her, as if there friendship had stopped meaning anything. She just wanted answers.

So many emotions were overrunning her that she just wanted to let it out until finally she mustered the strength to speak, "Why did you leave?" Her voice croaked, almost crumbling against the waves of emotion that bashed against her heart as she saw him continue to struggle. He stopped struggle for just a moment, one moment as his ice blue eyes assessed her as if seeing her for the first time as if they had never know each other. And then the moment was gone and he started to struggle against his restraints again. That was to much for her she just wanted to scream but all that she could do was run , she ran outside of the room and cried, she did not want to see him cry . She had not been able to answer the question she really wanted to ask, "Why did you leave me?" She whispered before she continued to cry silently whispering that question like a mantra over and over again.

"You really are a piece of work Naruto." The other captor said with a sigh. "She has been looking for you for some time now. She wanted to bring back her friend because I guess she realized how important you were to her. And the first time she has seen you in ten years you are struggling to get away from her without even saying a word. Are you afraid?"

"Enough Kakashi, It will hurt less if she forgets about me. As I am I will only remind her of the past. I can't come back to Konoha, not until the people forget me, because people ask questions and one of them I simply will not be able to answer. The simple question of why I stopped ageing, I know the answer and it frightens me. That night, the night I ran away, was because I knew something was going wrong with me. I did not run away because of Danzo or the council, those people never concerned me, I ran away because I did not want to hurt those I loved until I had learned to adjust to what I am.

"What you are?" Kakashi asked quizzically.

"I guess it should have been expected and all, trying to be the container to Kyuubi is not something really possible for a human. So in time I stopped being one. I am still not the Kyuubi but I am no longer a human." Naruto's eye held tears in them that would never fall. He still wore that smile that towards the end his friends had begun to loathe so much. Kakashi just sat there speechless. What do you say to that?

So Kakashi settled for what he could. It was not great, it did not help the situation, but he knew they could not just sit there. "Get some sleep Naruto. We have a long journey back." He said.

AN: Tell me what you think. Does it suck or is it good? What do I need to improve?


	2. Chapter 2

There were several weeks of travel ahead of them. He did not talk, not a word. The whole time she was around him Naruto played mute. It infuriated her. She wanted to smack him, him and Kakashi. Kakashi knew something, they had talked after she left the room, but he would not tell her what. She wanted to know very badly, but every time she asks he simply shrugged. In the silence between her and Naruto she talked. She had ten years of his life that she wanted to catch up on, so even though he never spoke a word she asked questions.

It started with a simple enough question, "If we had not found you when we did, where would you be headed know?" It escalated from there, "So what have you been learning, I pretty sure knowing you, you probably learned all kinds of cool jutsu, huh?" And she asked the broad question, "Have you seen anything amazing during your journey?" But she still got nothing.

So she started to talk about herself. "These past ten years I've really missed you. I put all my energy into training. I needed to be stronger in order to bring you back. Tsunada taught me everything she knew and I have been able to expand the knowledge she gave me. I did it all to help you. Ever since I found out about the Kyuubi I have spent my time trying to improve so that I might be able to call you back.

She's stepping down soon, Tsunada that is. The council chose me to be her successor. I will be the next Hokage. Its funny in a way, my dream was never to be Hokage but when you left I felt I had to become it, so that your dream would not die. I felt that if I could be Hokage in your stead, you would be able to know that Konoha was safe.

We all missed you actually. You know Hinata, she cried when you left. It hit her hardest I think. She is the Hyuuga head now. Turns out she liked you. She had been hoping to ask you out when we found out you left. She has moved on now though, she had to. The family needed her to produce adequate heirs, so she married one of her more distant cousins, I do not think you've met him. He is rather sweet. I think they are good for each other. You might laugh when you here this but they named their son after you.

Kiba still has not settled down, but go figure. It would take one hell of a woman to tame him. He has been trying to fill your role for our group as the prankster, but his never had quite the flair yours did. He told me that if I found you, you are welcome to stay with his pack anytime.

Next would be Shino I guess. He has started his clan duties like Hinata, has a daughter. He talks a little more than he used to. When I am Hokage, I need him be a part of my advising staff. Nothing major, he has clan duties on all, but I find that occasionally I require his insight.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji are as close as ever. They all started their clan duties at the exact same time. Ino is still single. She says she will never find a man good enough for her, but I think she simply cannot choose. She has become indecisive. Ever since she became in charge of interrogation, well, she has a hard time turning off her ability to seduce men. Now they practically throw themselves at her feet. I think she is looking for a challenge.

Choji is actually very good with kids. Never would have seen that, not that he is not kind, but he runs the academy now. One of his biggest goals was to teach Konoha's future gennin tolerance and compassion towards their comrades. Although he runs the academy he only teaches the first year students. After that he hands the kids over to Shikamaru and his team of teachers including Iruka.

Shikamaru sends letters daily to Temari. They are working on getting the Daimyos to let them have a "political" marriage. Who knows maybe by the time we get back they will be making wedding plans.

Garra went looking for you. He spent a year away from office just looking for you. He really misses you apparently, Kankuro complains constantly whenever we see him about Garra and how he is 'Naurto this' 'Naruto that" and 'What would Naruto do?'

Konohamaru, you would probably be interested to here that he is also getting married. He spends all his spare time with his fiancée. He plans to be Hokage after me. He let me have it because he thought that as it stands I can protect Konoha better. He has really matured.

Then there is team Gai, Tenten and Lee teach after hours at the academy, for those that have the drive to get better they teach weapons and taijutsu. They started dating last year, but none of are sure if it will last because they both originally had crushes on other people. I hope it works, but then I hope our entire friend's lives work out.

So that leaves us with Neji, he feels you betrayed him. You promised to change the Hyuuga ways for him but you left before you could. That was one promise you broke. He the head of the Branch family now, but go figure. He has managed to improve the Branch family's lot though. He has been working a lot with Hinata on that.

So yah, that is basically what we have been up to, you know if you care at all. What is eating you anyway? Why won't you talk to me, is it because you feel guilty about Sasuke's death? I never blamed you for that!" she was breathing hard now. Her face inches from his. She stared into his eyes looking for something, someone that she knew long ago. He looked the same but it was like his eyes were missing their warm glow. She wanted to ask what really bothered her. What happened to make him lose that warmth? She wanted to ask him if he still loved her.

Instead after the brief breakdown she had in front of him, that smallest crack in her appearance of strength. She got him to reply. It made her feel both happy and sad, like the sun on a cold winter day. It was brief and it held anguish, it hurt her to here his voice twisted into a form it was never meant to have. In her memory of him, he was the fire in the hearth warming her soul. His words left her standing still on the road. She was lost in nostalgia.

"I know, Sakura." Those words seemed to hover in the air like a butterfly and then like a gentle breeze the words seemed to flow away. Long after the words had been spoken they continued to echo inside her. Her name spoken in a way only one other had spoken her. It chilled her to remember how Sasuke had spoken her name the night he left Konoha.

So instead she did what she needed to do to get him out of the shell. "Hey, you talked." Her smile holding back the tears, she mustered on.

It was getting dark again. Naruto found that during the night he was having trouble sleeping. There was so much he wanted to tell Sakura but he was afraid. What would she think? He felt more alone now than he ever had during his journey. Everyone had moved on. He was a footnote in their lives now. He could see them now, in ways he never saw them before. He realized now that while his friends never knew everything about him he knew even less about them. Was he even their friend or simply an acquaintance?

He rolled over, now staring into the fire. Its flames leapt into the air. Hokage. Sakura was going to be Hokage. He tried to picture her wearing the hat, ji-san always wore. He could not see it. It was not Sakura, at least not the one he knew. She had moved on the most. She left him behind and it hurt.

Thinking about everyone hurt. He could not come back to Konoha, not yet, not until he had more strength, strength to control himself. It was hard for him even now. His demonic urges calling for him. He was getting better. The first year he had killed someone. He never wanted to kill again. But was he losing himself. Would he wake up one morning and find his friends dead beneath his feat?

Kakashi was awake. He was keeping watch. As Naruto stared into the fire their eyes met. He had told Kakashi because deep down, he was still the student. He told the older man because he needed to tell someone. Maybe Kakashi would help him understand what he was becoming. Maybe he could halt the process.

The Fire was a single entity protecting them from the night's cold. Naruto never slept as he stared into it remembering that he had vowed long ago to keep it burning.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: So hi there, for those of you who have made it this far thank you. My next Chapter will be rather long. Please review, it means a lot especially any tips for improving this fic. i want to make it well as the story is something I am excited about.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Sort of forgot to do that earlier. Well enjoy

It was raining. He wanted to laugh. He was almost to Konoha and the skies were crying. He wanted to laugh but he could no longer remember how to. They would have looked at him with those concerned eyes. He did not want their concern. Couldn't they tell he wanted to be away from this place? They did not need him in Konoha. That it was all just a foolish dream. To sum him up he was bitter.

It washed over Sakura, likes surf on the beach. Negative energy, it flowed out of Naruto and tried to consume her. It seemed that with every step they took towards Konoha, the waves of emotion grew more potent. It would not matter though. Soon they would be home. She could not wait to report back and then head for the hot spring were she could relax. About halfway she gave up on conversing with Naruto, at least for now. She found it rather odd though, for all of Naruto's efforts to stay away from Konoha, why did he let them capture him so easily, why did he not fight it. His actions were like a prisoner on death row devoid of emotion as if he resigned himself to a fate. She wanted to punch him. This was not the Naruto she knew. Even now she would take it as a positive sign if he at least put up a small fight.

Kakashi sighed. Looking back if he ever had the chance to tell his younger self one thing it would be this, flunk team seven. Give someone else the problems it was so much trouble. At first everyone envied him, he had the Uchiha, he had the brightest Kunochi of her year and well Naruto, no one envied him for Naruto, but those who recognized power wanted to add him to their ranks. Here he thought he had a good team, everyone had their roles, just like his old team. That sense of purpose and invincibility left him just like it had with his old team.

The rain kept falling. They had come to the point were they could now recognize certain parts of the road. Here a tree they had slept under once, there some herbs they had picked for medicinal purposes. It started to flood Naruto's mind, a part of him that he wanted to forget. Despite all of his wishes not to be here he was home. He loved home, but at the same time he was afraid. Would they look at him with those cold eyes? Part of not wanting to come home was his fear of being rejected. He did not want them to see him for what he had become.

There, right there he saw the gate. It looked the same as the day he had left. He had a feeling that if he were to escape now whatever god was watching him would have a sense of déjà vu. He looked over at Sakura again, she really was beautiful, he wanted to tell her, to talk to her but he felt his heart would betray him, that for the one moment he broke his new mask he would never be able to wear it again. He needed his mask it was comfortable, it made him feel safe.

Sakura was really beautiful though. She did not know it but he was playing with her hair. He had become a wind demon. Making someone's hair dance in his wind was rather soothing to him. He thought about that for a moment, he had never realized how utterly relaxing it was to play with people's hair. He wanted to run his hands through her hair it was so soft, but he couldn't. Her face was no longer as smooth as it had been when they were younger, it did not have wrinkles yet but he liked it as it was now. It gave her more personality. It made her more her. The then turned his gaze to her clothes. She always did like the color red. She wore a rather nice battle kimono with sakura petals swirling down as if caught in some forgotten dance of nature.

They crossed the gate and it was almost as if a large weight lifted off them. Naruto was home and he might as well see this to the end. At the checkpoint was a man Naruto did not recognize, he rather looked like what he remembered Asuma to look like but he was younger and he did not seem to smoke. He had a rather bored look on his face. Then it clicked.

"Konohamaru…" He did not manage to keep it from escaping his lips. Recognition suddenly sprang to the young man's face. It became vibrant and alive, were previously you might have need to poke it with a stick to check if he was alive now you would have the impression that he was ingesting to many soldier pills. Naruto braced himself, he had the feeling that he needed to but he did not know why.

"Naruto-nichan!" Cried out Konohamaru as he rushed in front of Naruto and briefly stared at him. He put his hands into the seal used to dispel genjutsu. "Kai!"

When nothing happened, Naruto could see all of the emotions running across his face, happiness, anger, wonder, hope, excitement… Wait anger, Naruto never saw it coming or if he did he chose not to guard against it, he found himself sprawled across the ground and his face stung slightly. As he made his way to stand up he felt someone's arms wrap around him, he thought to struggle against it at first, but stopped himself. It was a hug. Something warm and wet fell onto his face. Konohamaru was crying. Naruto stopped moving altogether and wrapped his arms around his friend, sometimes you just need to hold someone.

As Konohamaru went through his brief lapse of proper etiquette of a gate guard, Kakashi had to smile at the small gesture Naruto made. He might call himself a demon but in returning the hug however awkwardly he proved that at least part of him was still human. It was the most important part to Kakashi. It was the heart.

Kakashi coughed. He coughed again only louder. Finally he walked over to the pair as Konohamaru began excitedly explaining his life and how he would soon be married. Now standing over them he coughed as loud as he possibly could.

"Yeah, what do you want, can't you see I am busy? Oh Kakashi, what are you doing here?" Konohamaru said as he turned to face Kakashi.

Kakashi looked over to the abandoned guard post and coughed again. He was slightly annoyed. This was not professionalism, guards are supposed to wait until after they are off duty to behave in such a manner. That way anything unsightly like this for instance the Hokage could attribute to drunkenness.

With great haste Konohamaru scrambled to his post to assume his duties, namely giving them forms to fill out and stamping them. He made a fuss over Kakashi's all the while glaring at the older man. Could he have let him finish telling Naruto how great he had become, he wanted Naruto to know. Finally he came to Naruto's forms, he felt that pang again. He had felt it right before he had punched Naruto. He felt afraid though; he wanted to ask the question but was afraid that if he did Naruto would vanish forever.

As Naruto stood up to leave and make his way to the tower. Konohamaru whispered "welcome back." Instead of what he really wanted to say which was "Why did you ever leave?"


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for reading my story and for those of you who have reviewed or made it a favorites, thank you. After this initial brief flurry, I will be settling down to a more paced update schedule. I am thinking maybe once a week.

On that note I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, enjoy.

He remembered the door. It looked the same as it always had. What he did not remember was ever being this nervous standing in front of the door. He felt himself sweating, it trickled down his neck. Every part of his body told him to bolt. Finally with a creak the door opened. There she was. She looked tired and worn down, despite her genjustu you could see the wear and tear the position of Hokage had on her. It was how she moved and held herself. Her back bent slightly, her motions no longer as precise. How old was she again, he could not remember?

He felt a hand gently place itself on his shoulder. He looked over to see Sakura who gave him a small smile and nod of encouragement. He noticed he was shaking. He tried to stead himself and after a brief moment began to walk forward. He told himself over and over again to not drop his mask. He wanted to run toward her and hug her. He missed her. So three feet in front of the desk he stopped. He stared past the woman that he supposed was the closest he would ever come to a mother. This is what a runaway feels like. He was scared, scared to look her in the eyes.

He never heard who spoke, he guessed it might have been Kakashi, the man seemed to want to finish the mission. Suddenly though her face was before his, there eyes locked and he felt her searching for something. He wanted to leave that piercing gaze, to close his eyes, but something held him there in place hypnotized by a face he never thought he would see again. He found it harder and harder to hold up his mask, He could not stop himself and inwardly cursed his weakness. His voice quivered.

"Tsunada-ba-chan" He wanted to flew now. His body screamed to escape. He felt cold and wanted to wrap his arms around himself. He instinctively cringed expecting her to hit him. Instead he felt a warm embrace. He never heard a word she said. Naruto was lost in the distance. He wanted to remember this feeling for the rest of his life. He found himself crying, if anyone asked him why he was crying, he would say, it was because he was warm.

It was hard for Sakura to watch as another woman managed to get Naruto to open up in a way she had never been able. She wanted to be there for him, he had it so hard, but whenever she offered a hand he would soldier on. She understood the relationship though. Being held by your mother even if she was not blood, that feeling can never be replaced. So she stood there and let them have their moment. It made her happy though to start to see the Naruto from her childhood. It was a tart and that was fine. She swore to herself that even if it took her the rest of her life she would break down his mask, he would be able to trust her enough to let her love him.

Kakashi too found the particular moment difficult. He really wanted to get this over with, the mission that is. He wanted to finish the mission so he could finally break with formalities. This was his wayward student after all. He wanted to get to the library. He had to do some research to find a way. He also needed to inform Tsunada about the development of Naruto's demonic nature.

Tsunada did not want to let go. When Naruto had vanished she had turned up every rock, literally, searching for him. So she held him really hard. She looked at him, in an ethereal way that she could not explain, he had changed. He looked just as young as the pictures she had kept of him. She wondered if it was a genjutsu, if it was she did not care. All she cared about was that he was home, that he was safe.

She managed to stand back slightly and get a better look at him. She still needed to hold him, instincts told her to, but she just wanted a better look. He seemed a bit underfed. She would have to do something about that. His hair was long and wild, restless almost, as if it was a living creature, twisting and turning, rising and falling, it was everywhere. Her nostrils caught his scent; it was like the sea breeze. She smiled and hugged him again.

"I missed you," She said. "Oh how I missed you. After I stepped down I was going to search for you. I was so worried, what if you were hurt. I missed you so much. I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. That is a promise. Don't you ever do that again, not without telling me, you understand. I never want to be that afraid again. I thought I had lost you. Just let me hold you, let me know this is for real, or if it is a dream let me never wake."

Bewilderment can do funny things to people. Like an avalanche it can crush all your mental defenses. It can freeze you still or turn you into a tape recording repeating the same thing over and over again. In the back of his mind he was bewildered, he reverted to his childhood, becoming the little kid he never was. He snuggled into the hug. It would have been funny to the observers in the room if the emotional scene did not touch them as well.

Still hugging Naruto, now sitting on the floor with his head on her shoulder as she stroked his hair, she turned to Kakashi. "Report."

"Mission success." He grinned. "There will be a few things we should discuss after you have caught up, but I think I should let you have your moment, otherwise I might not live to see tomorrow."

"I know." She smiled at him. He could not tell if she was joking. What was the phrase, a mama bear and her cub…?

A few hours later Kakashi stood at attention his eye locked with Tsunada's. He did not want to tell her but he had to. It was his duty to both her and Konoha, and maybe even Naruto as well.

She spoke, "So what are some of the matters, you wanted to discuss?" She was Curious about what he had to say. Where had they found Naruto? Why did he leave? What had he done for all these years?

"We talked, Naruto and I, about why he left." She drew closer to Kakashi. "He said he was losing control of himself when he left. That he was becoming less human. The process has stopped now though. Naruto has told me he has become a Demon, a real one. He did not want to return in my opinion because somewhere inside him he is still protective of his friends. He probably thought the best way to protect us was to stop associating with Konoha."

She was worried now and her concern for Naruto showed on her face. She checked to see if anyone was listening in on them. She motioned for Kakashi to continue.

"From what I can tell part of him is still human. I plan to do some research this some more as soon as I have some spare time. I might be able to find a way to keep him from losing what parts of him are still human, and if that fails I will look for a way to keep Naruto at least still Naruto. It is the least I can do. That about covers what we talked about though. When I asked him what he had done over the past ten years he would become quite. It was as if he was afraid that if he opened up he might become closer to me. I think he thought that maybe by saying he was a demon he might scare me away."

He face eased up a little, if part of him was still human there was hope. "Does Sakura know about this?"

Kakashi sighed heavily. "Not that I know of. He won't talk to her. It is probably eating her up inside. She loves him you know. Took her a while to realize it and finally after Sasuke's death well, I guess she accepted that she loved him."

"She deserves to know Kakashi, It might be better if she heard from Naruto, but she deserves to know. If you could tell her I think it might relieve some pressure plus she might be able to help him better. As for the research I like your Idea. I am going to make it your next mission in fact. Gather a small team of more information oriented gennin and have them research demons, seals, anything that could be the cause of this, I want to know. Also during your research look for any previous cases where this might have happened before and what was done if anything to either halt or reverse the process." By this point she had gone full Hokage mode. She was already outlining the mission statement she would make for the gennin, what clearance she would give them, how to make them keep their findings secret.

With her final words the discussion was over. As Kakashi walked out the door he was stopped one final time, not by a Hokage but by a concerned mother. "Good luck." She whispered, with out saying a word he continued out the door. He did not need to speak though, there was an understanding. He needed all the luck he could receive and he was thankful.

Naruto and Sakura Walked side by side. She had decided to forgo the hot spring. With his recent breakdown in front of her she felt that she might be able to get him to talk to her. So she was giving him a tour of sorts. More like a walk down memory lane.

"That is where we first ran into Garra. Remember that? He frightened me so much back then. Look over there. Remember there. That is where we managed to corner that infernal cat right before the mission to Wave." And so it continued for a time she felt it was only right to take him there. It was a place that held so many good memories. Ichiraku, here she knew he had always been welcome. She did not expect, although she probably should have, the massive group waiting for them. Apparently Konohamaru had somehow gotten word out to everyone that Naruto was back.

They stood there staring at him. There would be a lot they wanted to talk about, he had hurt many of them when he had left. He wondered how long they would let him play mute before they beat the tar out of him. He hid the smallest of smiles as he started to move toward the group. He did not think he would be able to get away this time.


	5. Chapter 5

He did not know what to expect. If they wanted him to talk, what would he say? Maybe something like, "Hey sorry about the whole leaving for ten years and all, we're still friends right?" That would deliver him to the hospital. What if they asked him why he had not aged, how was he to explain that? These thoughts raced through his head. It also was not helping that Sakura was behind him.

He felt like he was in a petting zoo. No one had spoken a word, but everyone was poking him, prodding him, stretching his cheeks. Then the whispering started, it crept from the forwards back to those in the back until it had become a crescendo of noise. Naruto was back.

They backed off slightly. They all wanted to look at him. They looked different. Not in a bad way, they just looked different. They were older, most of them better toned then he remembered. Some had more bulk like Choji though, Kiba in particular. He looked like he spent all his time working on adding muscle. That was not what threw him off though. It was their faces, some showing their age, there were scars, a few of the scars looked bad like Lee's. Half of his face was marred by what looked like must have been a terrible burn. Looking at all of his friends it made him want to cry, they were all damaged in some way and he knew if he was human, if he had managed to stay in the village, they would not have suffered. He blamed himself.

He felt like someone stabbed him. Why did it hurt so much to see their faces? Finally someone spoke, "Where the hell have you been?" That was Kiba. Naruto looked closer at him. He flinched. Kiba was staring at him in a way that made Naruto feel worse. Sorry was not good enough and the truth, he could not tell them the truth. They should know but he did not want them to remember him as a demon.

"Hi." Naruto weakly replied.

"So where have you been?" Kiba was getting impatient. He really wanted to know. He always felt that Naruto was a little like him, not as cool of course, but like him. So when Naruto left he felt like a pack brother had left. His running mate, who was like his right hand in pranks, even if he was better at pranks, had upped and left without saying goodbye.

Hinata was worried. She thought Kiba was being too confrontational. Now would be a good time she told herself. She wanted to show Naruto her son who was standing behind her. She could tell that her son was getting fidgety. He would not be able to stand still much longer. She felt her husband put a hand on her shoulder. Looking into his eyes she felt him reassure her. Finally she motioned for her son to step out behind her.

"Hello Naruto, I would like you to meet my son, I named him after you." There she said it. The one thing she had wanted to tell him ever since her son was born. It sent her into euphoria. Now that Naruto was back she had many plans. She was so happy to see the man she had once loved.

Naruto looked at the child in front of him. He scrunched his face and squinted. If not for the color where had he seen that hair cut before? It was sort of like his… then it hit him about what Sakura had told him on their trip back to Konoha, "She named her son after you."

The kid looked him right in the eye and spoke, "You're not so tough, I bet I could kick your ass." Even the tone of voice was similar, it was as if someone had cloned himself and given his clone Hyuuga eyes and dark black hair. Naruto's face started to crack into a smile and then a grin. From the deepest part of him he started to chuckle until it became a full blown laugh. Falling down he began to roll on the ground holding his sides as he laughed some more.

The boy's face turned into a pout, he did not like people laughing at him. Naruto looked at his face and laughed even harder. He could not help it.

"You're me like twenty years ago, hahaha, priceless, hahaha, this is so great." He sighed while tears fell from his eyes from laughing so hard. "So kid, what is your dream?"

"My dream is to be Hokage." The boy's enthusiasm oozed out of him. Naruto sobered up. He was not going to laugh at that. He would never laugh at that dream

The group had become perfectly silent. Not even Kiba who was to put it bluntly, upset with Naruto, could find anything to say. They did not have to. Then Naruto's stomach growled. Like old times.

"Let's just eat already. We can talk during dinner." Someone spoke.

Naruto did not recognize who had spoken. "Who are you?" He asked. Now it was Kiba's turn to break into laughter while Shino huddled into the back of the group and began to mumble.

It took a while to get enough chairs and tables for everyone to sit down at Ichiraku. Despite his non verbal protests Naruto found himself sitting at the very center most table, with everyone facing him. Everyone looked at him expectantly. Finally they started to ask the questions that had bothering them for ten years.

"Why did you leave?" The first question, was so simple and yet impossible for him to answer it.

"I can't tell you." They all knew what he meant. He wouldn't tell them. Some showed signs of frustration, especially Iruka.

"Why not?!" Iruka demanded.

"I can't tell you that either." Naruto shifted uncomfortably his bowl of ramen forgotten.

"What can you tell us?" This time it was Ino asking the question.

"I did not want to have to leave." His words echoed around him. For Shikamaru the puzzle was growing faster than he could put the pieces together. Shikamaru was actually beginning to enjoy this even if it did make him have to work.

They were hesitant now. Shikamaru spoke up for the group. "Did you leave to protect us?" The words left unsaid reverberated throughout the group. Naruto found it hard to lie especially when his face was betraying him so quickly as he responded with a long suffering stare in Shikamaru's direction confirming the question. He was out of practice from using a mask for so long, it would be soon now when his mask would fall for good.

Sakura saw the reaction from Shikamaru's question on Naruto's face. A sense of worry suddenly overcame her. Memories flooded into her about their time together, searching for Sasuke. Memories from the time he had unknowingly hurt her, she wanted to hold him know. He needed to know that it would be alright. That she would help him control the Kyuubi.

Others had caught the look he had given Shikamaru and the dinner became a solemn affair. Finally Choji decide it would be his job to change the subject. With everyone like this the food would go to waste. He did not like the feeling of both misery and hunger.

"What have you been doing these past ten years?" Every one looked at Choji, some openly showed they were glad he broke the mood.

"Not much, traveling mostly, I spent sometime learning though." This perked everyone's interest. "I mostly learned things that were related to my affinity to wind, but a few medic and genjutsu as well. After I left I needed to change my fighting style. If I was going out alone I needed to become a bit better rounded."

"Would you be willing to spar with us say tomorrow so we can see just how you spent your time." Neji spoke, he was curious at just how much Naruto had improved. From the sounds of it Naruto had become more about finesse rather then power.

Sakura was shocked actually to hear that Naruto had actually learned genjutsu and medic jutsu. Again flash backs from the past plagued her mind. What would make Naruto change his fighting style so drastically? Control, he would do it to control the Kyuubi. If Naruto was losing himself to the Kyuubi it would explain why he left and why he spent so much time trying to be in control.

The night quickly devolved from a mode of inquiry to one of reunion. They still had not forgiven Naruto, but they were to happy seeing him at the moment to care. Besides, he was going to "spar" with them. Soon Naruto found himself listening to people from all sides as they told him about even the most obscure people he knew.

Finally it was time to leave. Hyuuga Naruto was getting cranky and everyone else agreed that here would be plenty of time to catch up now that Naruto was back.

Naruto stared out of the window. In the fading light that soon would become the night sky he peered out at the Hokage Monument. He felt more alone then ever now. The fact that there were ANBU just outside of every possible escape route did not help. He sighed. He had been doing that a lot lately. What had he been doing all these years, it was all just fleeting memories.

He sat up in bed unable to sleep. Pacing back and forth he started to think about all the years of his friends lives he missed. Hinata was a mother, Choji ran the academy, and Sakura… Sakura was going to be the next Hokage. How much would he have missed if he had stayed away longer? He sat against the wall and began to cry. It was not fair he told himself, it just was not fair. He fell asleep repeating that thought over and over.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Thank you everyone. I am happy that you enjoy my story so far or that if you don't you have gotten this far so that you could offer me some advice. If you see any spelling errors, grammar errors, or OOC please tell me. Some things are intentional but some are not and the only way I can improve is if I am aware of the problem. I like Concrit and would appreciate any you have to offer, once again thank you and I hope you have a nice day.

I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Bang, bang, bang. Naruto groaned and rolled over in his sleep. Bang, Bang, Bang. He started to whimper as he hid himself under the blankets. He just wanted five more minutes of peace and warmth. That was all. Why could they not just let him sleep for five more minutes? BANG, crack, BANG, crack, BANG!!! With a shudder the door to his room gave up its attempt at further impeding the fist before mercifully bursting into thousands of pieces, it no longer had to be in pain.

Naruto shot up and stared at the door expecting some great behemoth to reach in with a long hairy arm, grab him, and carry him away to be its breakfast. So Sakura found the poor demon huddled in his blankets shivering. She was not amused.

"Naruto!" She said emphasizing every syllable, "If you do not get out from under those sheets in the next five seconds I am going to be using you for medical demonstrations to the junior med-nin."

In less time than it took to say kunai, he bolted out from under the sheets. He did not know what demonstrations Sakura had planned for him, but knowing her that was a good thing.

"What is the hurry anyways?" He whined while rubbing the back of his head. She stared at him.

"Did you completely forget about what you promised you would do to day?" She was dumbfounded. Naruto loved to fight, to show off to anyone who would give him the time of day, and here he had forgotten that last night he had agreed to some friendly sparring. She shook her head; maybe this was a dumb prank.

Naruto snapped his fingers as he finally remembered a broad grin plastering his face like a billboard to the whole world. Now he was rubbing the back of his head for completely different reasons.

"Heh heh. Sorry about that Sakura, I kind of forgot about that. Can you leave for just a second while I get dressed?" Sakura held back a blush and nodded before exiting the ruined door.

Naruto looked about the room. It had been dark last night so this was his first time looking it over. It was rather plain. A dresser stood next to the window opposite his bed. He walked over to it and looked inside. Inside it were some rather ordinary clothes, some blue pants to go along with a blue shirt. Naruto grumbled in open disagreement with whoever chose the outfit. Somewhere Kakashi sneezed.

Putting on the pants and shirt he decided to personalize it by taking his rags and wrapping them around his torso and arms. It would give him better camouflage. He felt more comfortable. Years of living with the hermit followed by his travels had toned him down. That and blue reminded him of Sasuke.

He shook his head to erase the thought. He looked himself over and realized he had forgotten something. He did not have a kunai holster or equipment pouch. He looked around for one, in the dresser maybe. He had not used either of the standard shinobi items for the last nine years.

Naruto finally found them and began to slowly put them on. Did he still know how to use them, he wondered. After the holster and pouch were firmly in place, Naruto started to walk out the door.

Sakura was waiting just outside. She looked him over and snorted, Naruto was stubborn. Apparently he now held the same fanaticism about his rags as he used to hold for orange.

"What took you so long?" She asked while continuing her assessment of his overall appearance.

"I forgot how to put the Kunai holster on" He said as he began to sheepishly rub the back of his head while grinning.

"Well now we have to hurry or else we are going to be late." She said while grabbing a hold of his arm and dragging him along with her.

"But Sakura-chan I haven't had breakfast yet." He whined. He did not like fighting without having eaten. He remembered his gennin exam and shuddered.

"Well if someone did not decide to sleep in they would have been able to eat breakfast." Sakura was starting to get in a foul mood, any second now and there would not be a spar. She would send Naruto to the hospital with a concussion.

Naruto smiled slightly. It was sort of like when they had first started, her nagging him whining. He chuckled. Sakura no longer was dragging him as he walked under his own power.

"Who decided on the spar time anyways?" He mused. Sakura did not answer him as they continued walking to the training grounds. Naruto did not know which one, he just followed Sakura. When he came to the training ground he did not recognize it. He had hoped that they would go to training ground seven but here they were on unfamiliar ground.

"Oh Naruto, you might notice this but the training grounds have been remodeled since you were here last." Sakura said with a hint of sadness. A memory without Naruto in it sprang to her mind, one where she trained relentlessly so that she could find him. She knew Naruto was stronger, she could feel his power rippling off him like the ringing of a tuning fork.

"About time you showed up." Shikamaru said walking towards them in a rather lazy gait, his back hunched and his eyes drooping.

That was when Naruto noticed everyone. Not just people he knew either. It appeared as if the entire village of Konoha had showed up to watch Naruto spar.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru with bugged out eyes. "What gives!" He said waving his arms to direct Shikamaru's attention to the crowd.

Shikamaru gave Naruto a look as if to say, isn't it obvious, but instead said, "I am a teacher." It was as if he expected those words to explain the whole situation to Naruto. Shikamaru saw that that did not work and had in fact left Naruto with a dumbfounded expression.

So Shikamaru decided to fill in the gaps. "For you this may be just another sparing session, but for me it is an opportunity to teach without lifting a finger. All I had to do was tell the kids to show up and be prepared to take notes. I figure at the very least they will learn tactics and strategy from your opponents." With that he began to lazily stroll away towards the perimeter of the training grounds, leaving Naruto to think about what he had said.

When Naruto finally realized that Shikamaru had insulted him Shikamaru was a good hundred meters away. "Hey! That's not nice.' Naruto shouted at Shikamaru, who turned around.

Shikamaru once again looked at Naruto as if he was an idiot. "Took you long enough." He then continued on his way to the edge of the field before sitting down and taking up his thinking posture.

Naruto scrunched his face, but he did not have long to stew about Shikamaru or the situation he was in because he sensed a new presence quickly approaching him.

"Hi Akamaru." Sakura said in a cheerful tone as she reached up to scratch his head. Naruto looked at the dog. It was even bigger than he remembered. He silently thought to himself that the dog must be on a growth hormone or something. Dogs simply did not grow that big. Then again Gamabunta was over a hundred feet tall and he knew frogs were not naturally that huge. Maybe it was the chakra manipulating Akamaru's pituitary gland or something. Naruto shrugged still in thought.

"Don't I get a hello?" Kiba said as he jumped down from the back of Akamaru. Kiba looked jealously at his best friend, Akamaru, who Kiba swore winked at him.

"No, because you are not as fluffy as Akamaru is." Sakura said grinning at Kiba. Kiba scowled at Sakura before facing Naruto. Kiba seemed excited about the upcoming spar.

"I get to be your first opponent Naruto. Don't hold out on me or I will kick your ass. That win in the Chunnin exams still doesn't count in my opinion." He gave Naruto a rather feral look, which Naruto returned in spades.

"Don't worry Kiba, I'll kick your ass in record time." He said with a mad grin.

"Naruto I would suggest you don't take anyone lightly in your spars, we have all improved ourselves in every facet of the shinobi life." Sakura advised, but it fell onto deaf ears as the two men were locked in a staring contest. She sighed "I guess I will referee. Win by knockout or surrender, and no killing. This is a friendly spar. Lets make one last check to remove any non combatants and then when I give the signal begin." She glanced about looking for anyone who may have somehow forgotten that the event was occurring. Seeing no one in the surrounding area other than those watching from a relatively safe place, she backed up.

"Begin!" The crowed roared recognizing the start of the fight. Meanwhile the two fighters jumped backwards. Kiba moved much faster than Naruto had remembered. His motions fluid despite his new bulk from his apparent binge of whatever he was giving Akamaru. Seriously how else could you explain the amount of muscles on his body?

Naruto however moved faster, not quite vanishing from view but defiantly blurring. They stood apart watching each other looking for openings. It would not be a lie to say that Naruto had gotten rusty at what he had learned about being a ninja. He was more a wild animal now in how he fought. He was not brilliant, but he was cunning

Kiba thought about the battle. They had not exchanged blows but so far he had already learned one thing about Naruto. Naruto was very, very fast. He whistled out of admiration. Speed alone though would not win this fight though. Kiba knew that. His confidence coming from the fact that the entire group of Konoha ten spent their time training with each other regularly, pushing each other further. And while Naruto was fast, Lee was faster. With a smirk Kiba started to plan.

As Kiba began to think of a method for fighting Naruto taking into account what Naruto had divulged the night before about his fighting style, he thought back to when Naruto had left. If Kiba had sparred Naruto back then he would have simply rushed Naruto. Age had taught him many things though, namely that every opponent had something up their sleeve and he did not want to be caught by whatever Naruto had. By now Naruto probably had a stronger technique than Rasengan and Kiba shuddered to think about what would happen if he got hit by that. Finally he had made up his mind as to how he would approach Naruto, grabbing a soldier pill from his pouch he tossed it into his mouth and chewed it.

Naruto watched curiously as Kiba stood in thought. He swayed pack and forth, always moving, ready to dodge or counter. Kiba started to move. Not as fast as he had when Sakura had started the match but still rather fast. Kiba's movements were linear and almost boring for Naruto to watch. Naruto silently swore however. He still was not that great at taijustsu and he did not want this to become a close range fight. Kiba started to do hand signs but Naruto did not recognize the pattern. Before Kiba finished Naruto made up his mind, if Kiba wanted to fight up close, Naruto was going to resort to old tricks.

"Kage Bunshin." Naruto shouted as ten clones popped into existence and surrounded him.

Kiba swore. Well there went plan A. He had been hoping to have Akamaru catch Naruto from underground while he played decoy but with so many scents of Naruto floating around, Kiba knew that Akamaru would have trouble identifying the real Naruto. But if Naruto wanted to play this game Kiba would play along…sort of.

"Gatsuuga!" As Kiba spun towards the Naruto Bunshins, from under the ground erupted Akamaru, a large white blur. When they had stopped spinning and steadied themselves, the two took a look at their surroundings. Naruto had seemingly disappeared.

Kiba heard a chuckle from overhead. Looking up he saw Naruto grinning like an idiot. Kiba was shocked, but then he smirked. It must take Naruto a lot of chakra to maintain that he thought.

"Why don't you get your ass down here and fight me, unless you're to chicken." Kib had not prepared for an opponent who could seemingly fly. His specialty revolved around earth based jutsu, shuriken and kunai were his only real options. So now he had to resort to taunting, the Naruto of the past would have bum rushed him for it and he was relying on that at the moment.

Right before he managed to shout at Naruto to fight him he suddenly felt something slam into his gut. Whatever it was then caught him under the chin and spun him through the air. As Kiba hit the ground he felt the invisible force grab a hold of his leg and drag him through the air upside down towards Naruto.

Neji was observing the fight with his Byakugan active trying to discern how Kiba was being hurt. Finally he saw it. "Naruto is using air pressure. He is condensing it into an almost solid form and using it against Kiba, further more it appears he is forming his attacks right in front of Kiba making it difficult to dodge. Only someone who has either speed like Lee's or is able to sense the chakra disturbance would be able to dodge it. When fighting him think of how Gaara used to use his sand, only not as malicious."

The group looked on. Kiba was in many ways the second worst one on one fighter in the group right in front of Ino. He could wipe out other units faster but his attacks were inaccurate and against an individual who was agile, he would most likely lose.

Hanging upside down Kiba glared at Naruto. Blood was starting to rush to his head and he was becoming dizzy. Finally after a wordless exchange, Kiba gave a huff. "I give." He said.

Naruto sighed in relief. He could have only held both himself and Kiba in the air for about another minute before he ran out of chakra. That technique ate at his chakra reserves at an alarming rate. Slowly Naruto lowered both Kiba and himself to the ground. Upon touching down Naruto grabbed his knees and bent over huffing.

"Got anymore of those soldier pills?" He asked Kiba. Kiba looked at Naruto in shock. As he numbly handed Naruto a soldier pill Naruto's words bounced around in his head. It had been a bluff. Naruto had almost been out of chakra and Kiba had given up. He inwardly cursed himself.

Sakura stared in slight horror. She knew how much Chakra Naruto had ten years ago and she knew he probably had more. Also add in the fact that his control was much better; if he really could use medical ninjutsu the fact that this jutsu ate up his chakra so quickly was down right terrifying for her. She wanted to go right up to Naruto and smack him for creating so dangerous a technique for the user.

As Sakura mulled and fumed over how she was going to have a talk with Naruto when the spars were over, Neji and Shikamaru carefully began configuring strategies to counteract Naruto's abilities for their spars. Shikamaru additionally was contemplating methods for using Naruto's abilities during combat against enemy nin.

Most of the crowd was silent for a while. They had just seen someone fly and for most of the academy students it was as if someone had just answered their questions in life. Now if only they could get the blond man to show them how he did it.

Kiba and Naruto made their way to the rest of the group. Kiba was pouting over the fact that Naruto had outwitted him. He bet that if he had not been the first to face Naruto he might have been able to beat Naruto and he was right to some degree. The group had used Kiba to map out Naruto's abilities so that they would fair better.

"Well that was fun." Naruto chirped. "So which of you two is fighting next?" He openly wondered aloud. The group looked at him. Some of them were smirking and Naruto suddenly felt very uncomfortable. This was going to be a long day.

Naruto groaned. He hurt in places he had forgotten he had. He had lasted two fights after Kiba, losing to Neji. He told himself he could have won. He could have beaten all his friends, but he did not want to hurt them. So now he lay on a hospital bed. A few days bed rest they had said.

He heard a gentle nock on the door. As he tried to turn his head, he saw Sakura enter the room. She looked a little upset and he hoped it was not with him. It was though.

"I don't want to ever see you use such a dangerous jutsu again Naruto. Flying in the air is nice and all but if it wears you out that fast it is not practical." Naruto sat and listened to her begin to rant about how it was a tactical liability if he fought like that all the time. He occasionally winced whenever she glared at him to make sure he was listening to her.

"Besides if you really can use medical ninjutsu like you claim, I might be able to use you at the hospital. That way you won't have to worry about Kyuubi." She wanted to keep him safe and the best way to do that she told herself was to keep him close by.

Something lit up in his eyes, but for different reasons than the Kyuubi. He would be able to help his friends without hurting them. He was no longer worried about the Kyuubi, but more about his own lack of control.

"I would like that Sakura-chan." He said with a warm smile. He then continued. "What did you think of my genjutsu?"

She looked at him and gave a low whistle while shaking her head. "We will have to work on that a bit more. It is nice that you can perform it without any hand signs but it is still rather easy to break."

Sakura started to walk out the door before turning around. "Get some rest, when you are ready we can begin your formal training at medical ninjutsu."

With that thought in his mind Naruto closed his eyes and fell into bliss.

As Sakura closed the door to Naruto's room someone spoke to her. "Hello Sakura. Do you have a moment?" It was Kakashi

Sakura braced herself and choked. "What do you mean he is a demon?!" She demanded of Kakashi. She could not believe what her own sensei was saying about Naruto.

"You wanted to know what me and Naruto talked about when you had left the room that night right?" He gave her a questioning stare. "He told me why he left and it was not because of the Kyubbi. It was because of him. He told me he was becoming a demon, that he was losing what made him human and that he did not want to hurt his friends. Not in those words, not in that way but everything was there."

Sakura sank to her knees and began to cry. Her whole body shook. It just had to be a lie. Why didn't Naruto tell her? Why did he hide something like that from her? She asked herself that but she knew the answer already. Naruto was afraid of losing them, his precious people because of how they might see him.

Sakura wanted to rush into Naruto's room and hold him; to tell him that everything would turn out fine. She wanted to tell Naruto that she loved him. That she had since he had returned with Jiraiya and that it had only grown since he had run off. The love she felt for him was eating at her. But would Naruto let her tell him that or would he push her away and leave her behind afraid to hurt her?

Kakashi rested his hand on her shoulder trying to console her. He really was not good at this, but he knew it needed to be done. Finally deciding it was only appropriate that she know, he began to deluge his new mission that Tsunade had given him.

Sakura sniffed. But inside she felt a little better. If she could find a way to save him she would. She knew that with Kakashi she could trust him to help her out and bring light to Naruto's dimming world.

"Are you going to be alright?" She nodded that she was going to be okay. Kakshi began again "Good. I have to go now. Every seconds counts and my team would be lost without me." He gave her a reassuring smile and then left her there.

Sakura pulled herself up off the floor. Slowly she began to walk again occasionally steadying herself against the wall. Despite how she felt she had a lot of things she needed to do today. There were other patients she needed to attend to despite how she was feeling. It took her some effort to keep Naruto's situation from the forefront of her thoughts. She told herself she would wait for Naruto to wake up, then they would talk.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Before I give my thanks I want to say that this is not my best chapter. I have come to understand that I suck at writing timid characters like Hinata. It is very possible that I will rewrite this chapter after I have taken some advice from you the reader's.

Now that that is out of the way thank you all of you. To those who read and continue to read my story it is a great compliment and I am honored. I hope I continue to meet your expectations and in the future hope to exceed them. This chapter may not be my best so anything you can offer would be helpful. I may have regressed in this chapter when compared to the chapter immediately before it. Specific examples would be appreciated

I do not own Naruto or its characters. Enjoy the story and I hope you have a nice day.

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He was killing them. Theirs screams filled him, fed him, sated his hunger. He laughed. He watched as blood slowly drooled from the mouth of Ino as she looked at him already dead. It was intoxicating.

Violent winds flew about him nicking him ever so slightly causing him to bleed. The winds picked up and started to shred buildings like paper. Naruto heard screams from inside the buildings as people died. He laughed. He loved those screams.

Naruto looked down at his hands. Dark blood almost black from mixing with other body fluids covered them. He brought one hand to his face to get a closer look. He licked one of his fingers. The taste was delicious. It tasted sweet and tangy to him. He wanted more. Licking off both his hands he found he was still hungry.

Now he was hunting down the last of them. He liked how they begged him to stop. He would not stop, not until he was full. A few children were all that remained now. Deep in his mind he knew he had forgotten someone. Right before he reached for the last child his hunger almost sated he stopped.

She stood in front of him. No fear was in her eyes, only a grim determination and love. Love? Naruto tried to form his mind around the concept. It hurt him to think about it. That made him very angry. He lunged at her and grabbed her by the throat slowly crushing it. She looked at him, completely calm, spittle slowly coming from her mouth.

She reached out to him and wrapped her arms around him. Naruto was afraid. Every instinct in his body told him to flee. Her hug started to crush him and he felt his world dimming. He tried to tell her to stop. He looked into her green eyes as her hair so beautiful like cherry blossoms whipped about her face.

She was dying he could tell, but there was no reason he should die with her. She needed to stop. Every attempt he made only seamed to make her death hug tighter. Naruto felt his ribs start to pierce his lungs. He looked at her now pleading for her to stop, but no words left his mouth.

"I love you." She whispered and then his world went black.

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He awoke with a start. He was sweating profusely. It was that dream again. It kept coming back to him. It had been that dream that persuaded him to leave all those years ago.

Thinking back to the dream Naruto got sick. He rushed over to the trash and started to dry heave. H started to cry. It hurt so much. He could not stop shaking as the images kept playing through his mind. Now he was the villagers begging for him to stop. He pleaded and begged but the demon he had become did not listen.

Naruto sobbed. His throat became raw from screaming. He tried to tell himself it was a bad dream. He tried but something told him it would not be a dream. And that only made him cry harder.

Sakura heard Naruto screaming. It sent shivers down her spine. It was primal and it was in pain. It registered in her mind. Naruto was in pain. She dropped the charts she had been reading and ran toward Naruto's room. He needed her and she knew it.

Smashing the door down she looked around for the unknown assailant that had hurt Naruto. No one was there. In the corner, huddled she saw Naruto. He was holding a trash can and sobbing. He screamed again, it hurt her to listen to him scream. It was as if he was pouring his very being into that scream and he was weeping.

He needed comfort. Her gut told her that and so she started to walk toward him. He noticed her and tried to back away, he was afraid of her.

"Ssshhh. It is going to be okay." She told him as she wrapped her arms around him. He tried to struggle but that only made her hug him tighter. "No one is going to hurt you. You're safe now. Ssshhh." She brushed the hair out of his face and looked into his eyes.

He started to whimper. She held him there and finally he started to talk. "I had a nightmare." So it was a dream she thought to herself. "I lost control and killed everyone." He had started to cry again. "Right before I managed to kill the last person in the village you showed up. You stopped me but I killed you."

Sakura just held him. She tried to think about what he must have felt but no matter how hard she tried she could not picture herself in his position. She would have gone insane a long time ago.

They need to talk though. She felt it would be best if Naruto's condition as she called it was in the open between them. He needed to know that she would help him in any way that she could.

"Naruto there is something I think we need to talk about." He looked at her "I know… about you being a demon. I just want you to know that I am here for you."

Naruto's face began to pale. She knew. Somehow that thought just could not leave his mind, it ricocheted in his skull turning his brain into pudding. He could not speak an so he just sat there while Sakura talked to him.

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Naruto was sweating. The patient had a deep gash on their back. The bone showed and it took a lot of concentration to keep the wound from bleeding out. Slowly he managed to repair the tissue. It mended back together as if someone was knitting with an invisible thread.

Finally he was done. The patient would live albeit they would never move quite the same as it used to. Damage had occurred to the Nerve endings from the deep cut. Some of the nerves had controlled motor movement.

But that did not matter. What mattered was that Tora the cat would live after a young gennin had 'accidentally' hit it with a kunai. Maybe some good had come of this Naruto mused. After all now the cat would not be able to escape as easily as before.

He sighed and smiled. His lessons had been going smoothly under Sakura. Were once his medical ninjutsu had been little more than patchwork, with random skills seemingly thrown in to his repertoire, he now was starting to round out his abilities at healing. It made him feel good inside. Sakura told him that at the rate he was going he would soon make full time staff at the hospital.

"Good work." Sakura said as she leaned in for a better look. "Even with the amount of knowledge you started out with, most people would have needed a couple more weeks to have reached this level." Naruto beamed in pride. "But if you want to make it to the hospital you are going to need to learn how to restore the nerve tissue." And with that statement Naruto deflated.

Suddenly a thought came to him. He was hungry anyway so why not he told himself. "Hey Sakura do you want to get lunch we can go over methods and maybe you show me how to do that. I think I need a little help. The scrolls you gave me make sense most of the time but I am having trouble understanding how to do the nerve thingy."

Sakura laughed, Naruto had scrunched up his face to show his confusion on the matter. "Sure. I would be happy to. The sooner you learn the sooner you work at the hospital" And silently to herself she said, and with me.

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Hinata walked down the street with her son, the occasional passerby giving her a polite bow or nod of the head. Today was her son's favorite day of the week. Today they were going to Ichuraku's. The boy loved the place, his mother often giggled as he happily ate. He wanted to go more often but his mother said he needed to eat a wider variety of food so that he could get his proper nutrition.

Many of the villagers had often asked her why she had named her son Naruto. When they did she would smile at them and say, "Because he is Naruto."

To Hinata her son was Naruto. When ever he did something that Naruto would do she encouraged him to continue doing just that. Now she had a Naruto that she could mother. Often when she had seen Naruto on the swing by himself she had wanted to hug him, to show him that he was not alone.

It still hurt her somewhere in her heart that Naruto had never seen her love for him, but if she had to choose she would pick her son every time. Her son was precious and no one would take him away from her.

Hinata heard a familiar voice laughing. It sounded as if it was coming from Ichiraku's slowly she identified the person speaking. It used to be she would be she would know that voice in a heartbeat.

"Naruto?" She whispered.

"What Mom?" Her son asked her curiously. He had stopped in front of her and stared up at her.

She looked at her son. She had not meant to speak aloud. She felt slightly squeamish. She did not want to tell her son that she meant the other Naruto. How would he take that? The sudden pressure built up and all those lessons she had taken to build her confidence flew out the window.

"Um… N-n-e-v-vermind, I I was just thinking aloud. It was nothing." Hinata caught herself at the end and quickly recovered from her relapse.

There was Naruto sitting at Ichraku's with Sakura. Hinata had not managed to talk to him since the night he had returned. He was nervous but she quickly quelled the feeling. They were friends now. She was married, had a son, and was the Hyuuga head, being involved with Naruto was a pipe dream now.

"Hello." She said upon entering Ichiraku's. Naruto and Sakura turned around and greeted her warmly. Her son looked at the bowl of ramen that Naruto was eating.

"Hey that is my favorite." Mini-Naruto said to Naruto.

Naruto looked to where his faux-clone was pointing. "Really that's mine too. You must have great taste." Soon the two were happily chipping at a pace no one could follow about the many kinds of great ramen in the world. Sakura was disturbed. She had not known the lengths hinata had gone to create her son in Naruto's image. Sakura could not pull her eyes away from the scene.

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Lunch had ended with Naruto promising to hang out with Hinata's son and he soon resumed his discussion with Sakura on the many finer points of Nerve reconstruction through the uses of jutsu.

When they got back to Naruto's work station Tora the cat was not happy. Those humans had left him strapped down on the table. No one forgets about a cat. Cats are the natural rulers of the universe and these lowly humans had left him there. Not only that, but they had done a shoddy job of healing him. He his rear left leg no longer responded as quickly or as well as he wanted it to.

So as Naruto began to release Tora, the cat informed Naruto of his appreciation.

"Ow! That god damn cat scratched me." The cat tried to bolt. Tried needing some emphasis as Tora hobbled at a pace only slightly faster than a walk as he desperately wanted to get away before… to late. The bane of the cat's life had arrived and soon he found himself in the loving-yet suffocating embrace of his pet, the Fire-daimyo's wife.

Justice was served.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry for the wait. I was unable to access my computer for the passed two weeks. This update might be a little rushed. feel free to point out any mistakes that you find. Thank you for your patience and I hope you have a nice day. The next update will come sooner and if anyone can tell me how to line break in a better way than I do it would be appreciated.

Line break

The sun was shining brightly as if mocking everyone who had to work inside. The students in the classroom wanted to desperately get outside. Maybe they could ask to throw shuriken and kunai. Some even thought about escaping altogether like young Hyuuga Naruto who saw the class as a waste of time. In his opinion there were a lot more interesting things to do like running and throwing things.

He looked out the window and sighed. His mom had insisted for him to go to the academy even though he was learning the same things at home. It was so boring, if the teachers just let him and the others fight each other he would have a lot more fun. There was an Inuzuka girl that he really wanted to impress and the only way he could think of impressing her was by showing off how strong he was.

Shikamaru also sighed he was losing his students as he spoke, not physically just mentally. It was to troublesome for him to teach if no one was interested, not only that but he was only teaching this particular class because Choji got food poisoning last night. With a final sigh and a long gaze around the classroom he surrendered to the inevitable.

"Since it would be too much trouble to actually get you guys interested in what I say, how about we go outside for a while. We can throw shuriken and maybe have some taijutsu spars if you behave."

Shikamaru looked over the classroom observing the reactions. The children who were generally enthused by his decision would probably have more immediate potential than those who were not. His reasoning was that they were more likely to train their bodies physically and more likely to survive a combat because of that. But that information would only be valid if it became a pattern. At the moment this would require more data.

Inuzuka Teiru and Hyuuga Naruto were somewhat predictable from Shikamaru's prior experience. Teiru was Kiba's niece and she sometimes followed her uncle, she worshiped his peculiar sense of humor.

Naruto was just like his namesake and acted accordingly. Shikamaru half expected for the kid to pull a prank on him as he walked in this morning.

Right as the children began to leave something unexpected occurred. Someone crashed through the ceiling. Rubble lay on the ground everywhere and a particular pile slowly groaned. It took awhile for the dust to settle but when it did Shikamaru could see the faint specks of blond hair sprouting from under the bits of wood and concrete.

Uzumaki Naruto was thinking at the moment. His thoughts revolved around a pink haired medic-nin soon to be Hokage and her ridicules strength. He had tried to tell her it was an accident, but did she would not hear it. He would have continued to lay there in contemplating his chances if it were not for someone poking him.

"Sensei, do you think it is alive?" The particular kid looked curiously at the mound before continuing to poke it with a piece of wood.

"Of course I am alive and would you stop poking me!" Naruto shouted as he burst from under the pile of debris. Naruto would have continued to rant at the young kids if it were not for a young Hyuuga to throw the entire class minus Shikamaru for a loop.

"Naruto-nii-san." All of his fellow classmates looked at him. One thought echoed through their minds, there were two Naruto.

Shikamaru looked at the blond an idea quickly forming in his head, with any luck he would be able to watch the clouds today.

"Oy Naruto, the class was just about to go outside for some training. Maybe you could come with us and teach them some of your tricks."

Naruto grinned and nodded. Shikamaru felt cautious when he saw the look in Naruto's eyes. Shikamaru could not shake the nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong and that he might not be able to watch the clouds as he wanted to do.

The class, most of whom were still dumbfounded that there were two Naruto, followed the grinning blond as he led them outside to the school training grounds.

Naruto looked at the group, there eyes seemed empty and lost in thought and their bodies seemed to twitch with nervous energy. So Naruto decided to break them out of it. In less time then it would take the children to blink they received wet-willies.

Then Naruto laughed, the kids had squirmed around and fought against it. He had their attention now.

"Kagebunshin," Naruto said. "I don't expect you to learn it but it is important to know about something like this. For now though let us practice with shuriken along with hitting moving targets."

The children gave him looks that said he would die soon. Naruto smirked as he began to create Kagebunshin. On each bunshin there appeared multiple targets. The targets were on primary joint, on the throat and one on the eyes. The kids look confused.

Well it had been a good idea. Sakura had mentioned it to him the week earlier for his own training.

"The bunshin will dispel if you hit one of their areas with enough force. Sakura said that because you used shuriken to hinder or annoy opponents, not to kill them. Hit a joint and your opponent will not be able to react as quickly giving you and advantage. Well that is enough for now I think." Right as he was about to give the signal one of the kids with a mischievous grin spoke up.

"What if we hit you?"

Naruto smirked at the boy and after raising his hand brought it down there was an explosion of smoke. "Begin" he shouted.

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Shikamaru liked clouds. Clouds were free of obligations. Right as he was about to fall asleep watching them the nagging feeling returned in full force.

"What do you want?" Shikamaru groaned without looking.

"Hey Shikamaru I was wondering if maybe, you knew a way to apologize to Sakura." Naruto did not want to talk about what had happened but he wanted Sakura upset with him even less.

Shikamaru motioned for him to come over.

Line break

They finally managed to get a clone. It exploded in a puff of smoke. The clones were so hard to hit period and the difficulty compounded with the fact that they had to hit specific parts. Hyuuga Naruto would have to talk to his nii-san.

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Kakashi looked through the worn out pages. He carefully kept them from flaking to dust by enhancing the pages with chakra. The only books with any knowledge about the phenomenon happening to Naruto so far he found in the pre Konoha section. That made them old, not he oldest but still old enough to have become fragile.

The information was vague and pessimistic. The rough information said that when a human became a demon the process took under a year. And that left Kakashi with a question. Why had Naruto remained partially human? What was keeping him with them?

Kakashi had to find the answers to the questions and he had to do it soon. Something told him that time was running out.

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"Naruto I don't know why you are asking me. Women are too troublesome." Shikamaru really did not know how to deal with Naruto's situation. It was not as if he had planned to walk into Sakura's office while she was giving Hinata a routine breast examination. It was his fault though. Naruto really needed to check schedules more often.

So how do you say you are sorry? For all of his intelligence Shikamaru had yet to unravel the mystery of apologizing to women. Thankfully for Shikamaru that hardly ever happened for him. Maybe he was just lucky.

"Thanks anyways. We should probably star heading back your class has almost dispatched all of my clones." The two men stood up and began to walk back to the training area. Shikamaru envied Naruto slightly for his ability to make clones as he did. If Shikamaru had that ability he would never have to work on a mission again.

When they arrived the class was panting heavily. Naruto looked around before he spoke.

"Those of you who are faking exhaustion I already know who you are so you can stop with the act. Out of the thirty of you in the class only twelve of you successfully hit the targets, additionally only nineteen of you actually tried to any reasonable extent. I hope none of you feel that you can ride your friends coattails because you will only get them killed." With that Naruto walked off.

Shikamaru was shocked a littler. Naruto was the kind of person you would expect to work well with kids. Maybe he was trying to prevent what had happened to Sasuke. Still even if that was the reason most of these kids were just kids. The children were usually not from exclusive clans that made you into a ninja.

Shikamaru realized that he would need to talk with Naruto again. This had quickly become more troublesome than he wanted.

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Tsunade looked at the calendar, two more months. That was how long she had to work before she would retire. Soon all the paperwork all of the stress would be gone. She could go back to gambling and drinking sake without anyone to tell her not too, Shizune after all had settled down.

The door slammed open and startled Tsunade. As soon as she saw her successor's face she could tell the young woman was upset.

"What is the matter Sakura?" Concern showed on her face, Sakura had become more than just an apprentice over the last ten years, she had become family. Seeing Sakura like this hurt the Hokage in the chest, the pain was dull.

"I know it is not his fault. I just got so mad. I. You know. How was I supposed to react? It was just that I." Sakura was shaking all over. She collapsed toward the floor only for Tsunade to catch her before she hit the floor. Tsunade brushed the hair out of Sakura's facing. She cooed soothingly trying to calm down the younger woman.

"Sssshh, everything will be all right. Calm down I am hear for you. What is wrong Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes were red and puffed up. She tried to gain control of her breathing. Why did she screw things up? Why did she overreact? She knew he meant no harm. It was so frustrating. Regaining a semblance of composure she began to explain what happened. The only question left in her mind when she had finished was how she was going to fix this before it got too big?


	9. Chapter 9

Authors note: I feel good about this chapter. It explains some things . I would like to thank everyone who has told me what they thought of my story. What they liked, what they thought I should improve on. Some of you have even giving me ideas and influenced the plot a little. I hope you continue to enjoy my story. Don't be afraid though to voice your opinions. If you see an error or my quality of writing has gotten worse please inform me.

Enjoy and have a nice day. :)

Story start

In a dark room a women was breathing rapidly. Naruto had seen her breasts. Her face was still flush with embarrassment. It was an accident, but still, the man she had thought she had lost those feelings for had seen them. It sent her heart racing.

Hinata took a sip of tea. She probably did not look like an elegant Hyuuga head. How would she live this down? She felt squeamish to think about what would happen if anybody found out. But that was not her biggest worry. The biggest worry for Hinata was that the first moment Naruto had seen her like that she had felt giddy.

She heard a light tap on her door be fore it slide aside, in the doorway stood her husband. She did not know why but she had trouble looking at him.

"Are you alright?" He said with a worried smile.

"It is nothing." She said in reply.

Hinata stood up and walked towards him. He gently wrapped his arms around her and smiled. It was hard on him she knew. Because he was Hyuuga he knew why so few women lived long in their family. Breast cancer was hereditary and it was compounded by the method of taijutsu they used increasing the risk factors. That was why she had the check up. Fortunately nothing had shown up to indicate anything wrong. .

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Naruto did not want to enter the building in front of him. Not because he disliked plants or anything he loved plants. The problem was that the owner of the shop was a gossip. He did not want his mistake to become public knowledge. Tit was the only way he could think of to make it up to Sakura though.

With a deep breath he walked into the building. I small bell jingled overhead alerting Yamanaka Ino of his presence. She turned to face him and her eyes widened slightly.

"Well this is unexpected. Never took you for a flower person." Her eyes were calculating like a cat watching a piece of string.

"Um well, people change I guess." Naruto said while scratching the back of his head. She made him feel uncomfortable like he was prey or something.

"Well that tru…" She began to say when Naruto suddenly collapsed on the floor. "Naruto! Hey Naruto!" Ino rushed over to catch him before his head hit the ground. This was weird she told herself. It was not as if he was anemic or anything. What could possibly cause Naruto to feint like that?

Ino tried tot think about what to do. For all her own training as a medic-nin she could only draw up blanks. She told herself to calm down. If she panicked then she would not be able to do anything.

After settling her nerves she checked for a pulse and was shocked to find it rapid almost like his adrenaline was out of control. If his heart beat much faster it would probably tear itself apart. She needed to get him to the hospital and she knew it. Whatever was happening to him was out of her league.

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Sakura was on her daily routine. After she woke she would take a light jog around Konoha while working on chakra exercise. When she had finished that she would take a shower, get into her uniform and eat breakfast. Then she would walk over to Ino's talk with her friend a little before finally making her way to see Tsunade about any missions. If no missions were requiring her time she would then make her way to the hospital and begin making rounds.

As soon as she entered the Yamanaka flower shop however, there was no room for the routine. Naruto lay sprawled on the floor appearing unconscious. Yamanaka Ino was pacing back and for with panic and had apparently not noticed Sakura. In the back of Sakura's mind she knew what to do but it simply did not materialize. She stood in the door way frozen as she looked at Naruto.

Something did not feel right. It gripped at her heart and told her to run. That she needed to leave the room as fast as possible. It was like a genjutsu almost. With the control that she had earned from years of training she steadied herself in a way that only her and Tsunade could. She repeated the mantra she which Tsunade had painfully taught by her. Calm nerves make a calm mind, which leads to better choices.

She walked steadily over to Naruto. He was the primary patient and Ino was the secondary. She wanted to rush over to him but her training told her to not panic. Once she stood over him she kneeled down and checked his pulse. She took a sharp intake of air as she could not believe what she observed. No human could have a pulse that high and live for more than a few seconds. She checked to see if he had a fever and almost yelped as her hand felt like it burned merely from touching his forehead.

Ino for her part remained oblivious to Sakura's entrance into the room. She was instead trying to come up with the ideal way to transport Naruto to the hospital. She was failing. Suddenly Sakura was before her. When did Sakura enter the room she thought to herself? She tried to explain but the words would not come. Instead it sounded like a jumble of sounds with no coherent meaning. Before she could continue Sakura slapped her. Not hard but the sound and sudden jolt almost woke her.

"Get a hold of yourself Ino." Sakura said while taking her hand back. "Now help me get Naruto to the hospital. Since there are two of us all we need to do is make a makeshift stretcher."

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He tasted blood. It was sweet like honeysuckle. It was so pure. Why did he not drink it more often? He wanted to drink it. He wanted to bathe in it. So why did he hold back?

It would be so easy he told himself, so easy to simply let go. The pain would fade. He knew that to be true. Once he let go he would not hurt as much in his heart. Why did he hurt in his heart though? A picture of his friends rolled one by one. Their smiles seemed to wash the dark thoughts away.

"But what if they knew?" The voice asked. When had he given it a name? He did not know though. How would his friends react if they knew? Pictures this time floated by again. His friends were angry at him, hurt flowed through their eyes and stabbed at his heart slowly cutting it away.

"No!" He spoke to the shapeless voice. "My friends are not like that." It was more of a plea than a statement. The pictures kept coming one by one. The voice echoed in him. He should kill them. He should kill them all for what they had done. They made him think they were his friends. They should burn.

His world was crumbling. The happy memories he had were mutating into something twisted. Naruto protested and screamed with all his might for it to stop. It hurt so much. He tried to run from the images but they followed him everywhere. He closed his eyes but the voices of his friends jeered at him.

He started to cry. "Demons do not cry" his friends replied. It only made him weep harder. He tried to reach out to them. Someone grabbed his hand.

"It is alright. I am here for you." He could not see her face. That voice he remembered it but he could not remember whose it was.

"Please don't leave me!" He screamed. He did not want to be alone with that voice. It was. He was so scared. He heard laughter; it was like spring rain, a light pitter patter on the roof. He wanted to ask who she was but right as she answered him he woke up and he could not recall what she had said.

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It was almost frightening seeing Naruto sit up in that manner. It was sudden and it was purposeful. One minute Naruto had been lying on the bed making Sakura worried, and then he was sitting up staring at nowhere. It was an intense stare, like a predator. Then it was gone.

"Sorry Sakura, about the other day I am sorry." His face was expressionless. Sakura did not let him continue his apology choosing to hold him in a tight embrace. She couldn't help it, she cried and cried.

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It was hard for Kakashi to admit that he had passed over the written journal of the first Hokage in his attempt to research what was happening to Naruto. To be honest with himself it had simply slipped his mind. It had been one of his gennin appointed to him that had brought the book to his attention.

Shodaime's Log

It has come to my attention that the nature of my jutsu is inherently harmful to creatures of demonic origin. At my present capabilities I am proficient in it enough to subdue almost any demon. I hesitate to admit that it is harmful to all demons for the express purpose that I have yet to encounter all known demons.

I have in my possession a stone of crystallized chakra that I hope to imbue with my chakra affinity. In the instance none of my descendants are to inherit my blood limit I hope that if they are to encounter any demons it will be enough to at least temporarily subdue them.

Uchiha Madara has assured me that in the instance that a demon does attack and my family is unable to protect the village, his family will rise to the occasion. He is a good friend and I trust him with my life.

I do not know much about the true abilities of the Sharingan. He claims that what we know about his clan and even what his clan knows about themselves is a single drop of water in the well of Konoha, but enough about them. I was writing about demons and need to stay on track.

A few weeks ago we found a young demon but in truth it is hard to judge its true age. The demon was responsive in a way that I found very unusual and it makes me wonder about the purpose of demons in general.

While we would call the average demon sentient, they are not in any way like humans. They think to differently. Instead I would say they are more similar to a plant both in though process and in their method of consumption. It is hard to describe how plants think but in a way it is a lot like a mirror. The thoughts that you project towards a flower or tree, the plant copies and sends back. Therefore any negative emotions received by the plant, the plant will redirect toward the point of origin. Unlike a mirror though, the thoughts and emotions returned by the plant become progressively stronger.

I will now discuss demons rather unique eating habits. It appears to me that demon receive their primary nutrients from a method much like photosynthesis. While they require base nutrients like all living beings the base nutrients appear to inadequate for some reason. Also it appears that all material counts as a base ingredient. What makes them truly unique and fascinating to me is that there is an unknown mixed in. The unknown is not chakra I am certain of that. I require further research to identify what it is exactly that they need.

Kakashi set the book down. That was a lot of information to tackle at once. He wanted to continue but the remaining pages were missing as if someone had torn them out. It was so frustrating. Right when he had a lead it vanished again. Tsunade would want to see this though. Maybe she could remember if there was a spare.

Line Break

Naruto told Sakura what he could remember but he could not shake the feeling that large chunks were missing. The only thing that he could come up with was that he was losing control. They sat together looking out the window at the sunset of Konoha. They were both very scared of what the future would bring.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: I think I named Hinata's son Naruto so I could torture myself when writing a sentence that included the two of them.

Thank you everyone for your reviews. A question to you readers. Should or shouldn't I include the Kyuubi more in this story? It is up in the air for the moment and I am not sure. Even if you don't have an account, feel free to respond. Your response will decide a slight part of the story much in the way that NarutoL0ver helped me decide part of the story with the suggestion to include Hinata a bit more.

Any Errors I make I would like drawn to my attention. I seem to have difficulty placing commas so feel free to point out specific instances. When this story is finished I will go back and permanently revise it so if you decide to show it to anyone it won't look like crud.

I hope you enjoy the story and I hope that if there are any stories you want me to give an opinion on that you notify me. I would be happy to offer any suggestions. One final note, if you are looking for a good story out there where Naruto is a demon, check out Smiles are Forever by Hug-A-Mellie. I assure you it is quite an interesting and engaging read. That is all, have a nice day.

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"And that is what we have so far." Kakashi finished giving his report to Tsunade. She furrowed her brows in concentration. She obviously was wondering the same thing he was. Where had the missing and why would someone tear them out? What was on those pages that someone one would want to get rid of them?

As for who would do such a thing there were many possible culprits. The first that came to mind was the Shodaime. He might have found his research to have been dangerous to Konoha and decided to get rid of the information. But why leave the first page to create such speculation.

The next culprit was the Uchiha clan. The journal might have had classified information regarding their clan abilities and by right they would have been allowed to remove the information. Again though the question could be asked; why would they leave behind any clues whatsoever as to them being the culprits?

Past Hokages could have also decided to remove the information. If they felt that it was a danger to the village there would have been no hesitation in removing it. They would not have done an incomplete job though. It was as if the person did not do it for the sake of anyone.

That left prominent officials who were power hungry and missing-nin. It could have been someone else but these two were the most likely. The question raised by this then was when did it occur? If they could narrow down the timeframe they could find the culprit and quite possibly the missing pages.

"Kakashi…" Tsunade came to a decision. "I want you to continue looking through the library and any archives you can find. Meanwhile I will send Shizune to look for the missing pages. If you find any clues I would like you to relay them to her. That way you will be able to continue your research if this is just a wild goose chase."

Kakashi took that as a sign to leave and proceeded out the door. Now that that piece of information was no longer in his hands he was back to square one. Maybe it was better that way he told himself. By doing a dual pronged investigation one individual would be able to ask questions the other could not. He also had an idea. There was one man who had similar attributes to the Shodaime. He would ask the man for help if he could find him.

Now that Tsunade had finished planning out the course of action, she was able to go back to what she enjoyed. She pulled out an old bottle of sake. It had been a present from the Daimyo for the most recent capture of the cat Tora. It was one of the finer bottles of sake she owned. Fortunately, for her at least, because of Tora the Daiymo's cellar regularly supplied her with more bottles of equally high quality.

She took a sip and sighed. The job of Hokage sucked, but if she drank sake like this, she would manage. The times had really changed since she had started. Konoha was back to its bustling self and had even expanded. The military force had also increased. Konoha –ni did not as frequently encounter missing-nin on missions and hostilities between most of the villages had ended. Only Iwa posed any threat and usually it was resolved with a small skirmish. Both sides knew it would be futile to continue fighting on a large scale. They had both decided that they preferred the present state of prosperity.

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The clouds gently rolled through the air in a gentle breeze. Naruto looked up at the clouds. What color would they be if they followed his wind he wondered? Would they peacefully frolic in shades of white and cream or would they angrily stomp in modes of black and pitch. Maybe they would be melancholy and drab like an overcast sky.

A young kid with white eyes interrupted his musings. "Hey I thought you were going to teach us something." The kid landed on Naruto's stomach causing Naruto to sit up. Had he been like this when he was little? Before he could come to the conclusion that indeed he had he was tackled by the other kid, what was her name again? Naruto had not quite remembered.

Hyuuga Naruto had knocked on Naruto's apartment earlier that morning and requested for Naruto to teach him something. Trailing him was a girl about his age who looked like an Inuzuka. She had a matching Grin that Naruto knew spelled trouble for him. But they were kids he had reminded himself. What was the worst that could happen?

"Hey Nii-san?" Mini-Naruto said as he got off Naruto's stomach.

"What?" Naruto tried to not sound annoyed. He liked the kid and if he was not careful his slight agitation might be misinterpreted.

"Can you show us a cool jutsu?" The boy's tone was excited.

"Just don't jump on my stomach again and I will show you okay. Seriously though, why would you need me to teach you a jutsu? Hyuuga usually are supposed to stick with their clan's jutsu right?" Naruto was a little confused, but one look at his replic's face and he knew the answer. The boy wanted them to have something that they could share.

"Oh fine, I teach you one of my special moves just don't go showing anyone." The boy's eyes lit up. Naruto smiled a little until someone started tugging his hair. It was the Inuzuka.

"Show us already." Naruto decided to stand up forcing the young girl to let go. What would he teach them? Well what did he learn first? Then he had it, kage bunshin. In his mind it was the best Jutsu he had ever learned. It was easy to do, it required little concentration, and it helped you learn other jutsus faster. What Naruto forgot though, was that it required an insane amount of chakra to pull of safely.

"So I figure you both know how to channel your chakra, since you are both from clans. This is a rather easy jutsu to do. You both saw me perform it when I helped at the classroom. First you need to form a seal like this." Naruto pulled his hands to form the cross. After showing them the seal, he went and checked on how they formed it, making sure to correct any errors.

"This jutsu is unlike the type on bunshin that you will learn at the academy. You need to focus on sending your conscious outside your body. Focus on making a body around that conscious. Think about your body. When that is complete, create a burst of chakra." Naruto watched as the two children tried to comprehend it. Finally like a light bulbs on a sign, turning on simultaneously the two children shouted.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto looked at four sets of eyes. Something was not right he told himself. Why were they smirking at him? Just what did they have planned? Naruto took a hesitant step backwards.

"Hey Nii-san, we never had the chance to thank you the other day." The four demon children approached him. Both Naruto's pulled out an object that Naruto failed to recognize.

"What's that?" Naruto said nervously taking a few more steps backwards.

"You were right Teiru. That jutsu does copy everything. Even my paint bombs were copied."

The boy's young accomplice nodded in response. Naruto looked down at his clothes. Sakura had bought them for him because she did not trust him to make a valid decision when choosing clothing. They were slightly expensive. Naruto's stomach became uneasy. If those paint bombs hit him Sakura just might kill him.

"Now kids, why don't we just talk this out? No need to get rash you know." The young girl whose name Naruto had already forgotten again pulled out identical paint bombs.

"My uncle says these will even stain skin. Be careful though they have a large blast radius apparently." Naruto remembered those paint bombs now. He and Kiba had designed them together for one of their pranks. Sakura would defiantly kill him.

Because his current stance of non aggression; Naruto was left with few options. It would be pathetic to block the kid's attacks with a jutsu. He also wanted to avoid explaining to Hinata and the Inuzuka's mom why their children suddenly became tie-dyed. So refusing to man up and take the kids punishment for the training he had put them through, Naruto decided to run for it.

The chase was on. The four smaller bodies attempted to surround him while he attempted to navigate through the trees. Part of him kept it as fair as possible. He did not want to discourage the two. Naruto just did not want to have to buy new clothes, for that matter he did not want to go around looking like a mushroom trip either.

Just before he broke through the forest edge he heard a scream. It sounded like that Inuzuka. Telling himself he would regret it. That it was a trap. He still could not leave them alone. So he decided to rush back. It took him almost no time.

Naruto did not recognize the man standing above the two Children. He was tall though. The man was at least a head length taller. He was stocky with flesh everywhere it seemed. To sum it up the man was bigger the Choji. He was also very unclean and Naruto's keen sense of smell noticed this right away.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked while his hand edged towards his shuriken holster. "If we can, I would like to avoid fighting you. Please leave."

The man swiveled to face Naruto. It took a long time for mans body to stop moving. Now with a clear view, Naruto saw the man had a forehead protector. Cutting through the symbol was a line. The realization hit home. This man was a missing-nin.

Naruto's whole body tensed. What was a missing-nin doing in Konoha? Another thought entered Naruto mind, if this man was a missing-nin he should not be underestimated. This was bad.

"Well if you don't want to fight. I suggest you just leave these two heirs to me. They will make good money on the market after all." The man wore a toothy grin. He picked up one of the children and put a kunai to the kid's throat. "Or I could kill the kids. Some pales would pay me a lot of money for the corpses. But I don't want to have to do that, so scram will yah."

Naruto's features seemed to Darken. An air of Malice seemed to descend over the small patch of ground.

"Don't!"

"What I couldn't hear yah?" The man said as a reached to grab the other child.

"Don't you dare threaten my precious people!" Naruto Snarled before he lept towards the man. A loud scream echoed and then there was silence.

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Hinata walked towards the training grounds her son had specified he would be training. She had decided to bring lunch for him and his friend, and maybe a little for Naruto as well. As she entered the clearing she froze. The basket she had been carrying fell to the ground forgotten.

Standing in the middle of the field was Naruto. His shirt was missing for some reason or another. He was also panting heavily. He looked down at the ground and Hinata's eyes followed his gaze. Her son and his friend Teiru were in the grasp of a man she had never seen before.

Before she could run over Naruto spoke. "Don't worry Hinata-san they're just unconscious." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "But that really worried me. I thought I might kill that missing-nin. As it is I was able to hold back enough to only knock him out."

He brushed himself off and then proceeded to make a few clones. "Hinata, doo you think you could show me where this girl lives. I don't want her folks to worry. "

"What are you going to do with that man?" Hinata was furious. Memories of her own abduction began to flood her. How dare that man try to take her child? She wanted to kill him where he lay.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. He had not thought about where he should take the man now that he was unconscious.

"Well I guess we should hand him over to Tsunade. She will know what to do." With that three of his clones began to lift the large man up. "Damn this guy is heavy." Naruto grunted.

Hinata looked at the bare chested Naruto as he carried her son. She had never noticed the necklace before. It made him look almost ethereal as he was. She hid her blush and told herself that she was no longer attracted in that way to the man.

Upon entering the village several pairs of eye, most of them belonging to single women followed Naruto and Hinata as Naruto carried his burdens to their respective destinations. After dropping off his mini-me, he bid Hinata a good day and proceeded to carry the large man to Tsunade.

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He woke up with a fright. His spine still shivered. Where was he? Was this hell? Had that demon taken him to hell? He looked around and realized that is was a prison cell and sighed with relief. Then he heard the scrapping sound of feet approach the door.

The door groaned as it slowly opened. He could not make out the features of the man who entered. But when the man smiled it was if the teeth glowed.

"Hi I am Morino Ibiki, I hear you like to kidnap children." The man's screams were heard for hours throughout the Interrogation and Torture department. The man wished he had been sent to hell instead.

AN: I am going on a short vacation and will get back to writing next Wednesday. Because of this my responses to your reviews might be delayed. I hope you enjoyed the story so far. Have a nice day. .


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry for the wait. I suddenly had an offer to move into a new appartment that I could not pass up so I did not have the time to update. This chapter was a little rushed I think. I am still reading a book on commas so you might find some errors. Actually you probably will and for that I apologize. Hope you like the chapter though. Feel free to respond to it and offer any ideas on how to improve the story. After it is all done i intend to do a rewrite about a year from now to fix it up. Have a nice day and enjoy the show.

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Ramen was good. Sometimes Naruto had a hard time believing how ramen was so good, but with one taste he reconfirmed what he already knew. Sometimes Naruto had a hard time believing other people were unaware how delicious ramen was. If they knew how glorious the taste of ramen was they would never interrupt him during a meal. They might instead pull a chair up beside him and order a bowl of ramen for themselves.

People did not know how stupendous ramen was though. People like Shikamaru, a guy who for all his intelligence remained ignorant to the taste of ramen. Shikamaru currently walked towards were Naruto was eating. He walked purposefully towards Naruto, something he was a bit unused to doing.

Naruto blissfully unaware to the growing chance of intrusion upon his meal lifted another mouthful of that marvelous ramen to his waiting lips when…Smack! Naruto's face plummeted into the bowl of ramen. Naruto was angry. He did not know who decided to ruin his enjoyment of ramen but they would pay dearly. He turned around to give the perpetrator a piece of his mind when he saw Shikamaru.

Something seemed off. Naruto knew Shikamaru could be at times annoyed, he could be bored, he could be frustrated, he could bee many things, but rarely had Naruto seen Shikamaru angry. Miso soup dripping off his face and onto his clothes, Naruto looked closely at his friend standing before him.

"Oy Shikamaru why'd ya have to ruin my ramen like that?"

Shikamaru looked at Naruto as if he had grown a second head. He began to rub his forehead in frustration. "You really have to ask baka? What jutsu did you in your wisdom and experience decide to teach a couple of six year olds hmm?"

"Kage bunshin and why are you channeling Ino?" Naruto was getting a little worried for his friend. He seemed to be a little under the weather.

"And what are the requirements for Kage bunshin?" Shikamaru was leading up to something Naruto knew it. For the life of him though he did not know what.

"Umm, well, umm you need chakra." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"More than just needing chakra you need to have it in spades. Kage bunshin is a dangerous technique that you can't go around teaching to people who are only six or they might die from chakra exhaustion." Shikamaru had obviously taken lessons from Iruka, his head seemed to being growing, and it took every bit of control for Naruto to keep from popping it with a kunai. Shikamaru was being serious.

"But they managed to do it without repercussions when I taught them it." Shikamru's eyes had begun to bulge. If Naruto had to guess his friend would soon explode.

"That might be true but when they decide to use it for pranks in class until they lose consciousness in class it becomes a problem!" Naruto sat there slightly in shock. He was worried. He had not thought that it would be harmful to his friend.

"I did not think they would abuse it to that extent."

"They are six years old what do you expect? I have spent my morning explaining to Hinata-san and Hana-san that their children will be fine, that I would have someone personally teach them constraint in using a dangerous jutsu like that one. Where were you though?! I looked all over Konoha for you only to find you at this ramen stand?!"

Shikamaru appeared to be having a mental breakdown. He was right though Naruto would have to address the situation. He was not looking forward to that.

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Hinata waited on her son. It was only mild chakra exhaustion but with chakra exhaustion that meant about a weak of recovery at best. He slept most of the time waking up occasionally to eat. When he ate it was always more than his body could regularly handle as if he was trying to regain his chakra stores in an instant.

Her mind began to wander on to other thoughts. If the doctor had not assured her that her son would be all right she would not have done this, but because the doctor had she did. It wondered on to how her husband was doing, even though eh was loathe to admit it he was worried about their son. Thinking about her husband her mind briefly drifted to someone else.

The man stood in the door way. He had a shirt on this time and so did she. She blushed when she thought about the two separate events, but she quickly hid her feeling on the recent incidents before he noticed. She did not want him to get the wrong impression. She should be upset with him, he endangered her son. It was weird for her and she realized as she thought more about it she became confused.

"Sorry." Naruto spoke. "I really should have told him the limitations of the jutsu. I just did not think about it because for me, well, it's not an issue. When he is awake I will have a talk with him. I just finished talking to his friend."

He shifted his body weight trying to get comfortable. He was not used to apologizing. He felt bad but honestly apologizing was not something he had ever been truly taught. It hurt him inside when Hinata looked at him. It was not hate or coldness that she looked at him with, he had learned to deal with that a long time ago, it was disappointment that she looked at him with. It was like having your inside shredded slowly with a cheese grater. He could not look into her eyes for long and so he tried to hide from them looking in the direction of the boy. Finally he had to turn his eyes to the ground, he wanted to run.

Thirty minutes passed. Naruto looked at the ground, at the window, anywhere but the two other people that occupied the room. A groan notified him that the boy was awake. He stilled looked tired his eyes drooping and from the way his body moved Naruto could tell he was very stiff.

"You okay?" Naruto asked with concern evident in his voice. The boy groaned again before slowly turning to face Naruto. "You probably have been told this but you are suffering from chakra exhaustion which comes from overuse of the jutsu I taught you. I should not have taught you that because it is dangerous. I forgot about some of its key requirements and so I am sorry."

The boy continued to look at him until he finally opened his mouth to speak. "Hey Nii-san, you would not believe what I pulled off with that jutsu you taught me. I had so much fun with it though that I got really tired and I don't remember much after that. But it was fun. The looks on their faces were hilarious." His voice slowly drifted like a sea bird on an air current.

Naruto would need a much longer talk with the boy before he could leave, but first he needed the boy to be alert enough that what he said actually hit home and the boy remembered it.

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Sakura was still angry with Naruto for ruining his shirt. She wanted to hit him on the head. But when he entered her office she found she did not have the heart to berate him for it. He looked worn out and beaten. Not physically beaten, if that was the case she would have healed him and then beat him herself, but he was emotionally beaten. He crumpled into the chair in front of her desk. She had to remind herself that she was still mad at him.

"Hey Sakura, why does apologizing hurt so much? I want to just disappear. I so sorry, I nearly killed people close to me by teaching them something they were not ready for yet. And just being around them I feel like I am being killed over and over again." His body was shaking uncontrollably.

"It hurts because you care and because you honestly feel bad about it. If it makes you feel better you can look at it this way, it is part of you that is still human. Why don't you use one of the hospital beds to get some rest? You look exhausted and I can't have you like that if you are going to work the floor. Once you feel better we can talk about the shirt." Naruto cringed slightly and looked at her weakly.

"I think I'll do that, thanks Sakura."

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Kakashi had found another page of the Shodaime's journal. It had become like a treasure hunt. This one had been stuck in an obscure scroll about plants.

I may have found the missing factor. I identified it quite by accident actually. Two of my subordinates were having an argument outside the demons room as I observed it. The demon seemed to, I find it hard to describe, but it seemed to eat their emotions swelling in size as they continued until I had to ask them to leave before it became to large to contain. Due to its rapid growth it had to put down before it became a threat to the village.

That however was not what solidified my hypothesis. It was when during a mission I came across another demon, this one was much larger and more powerful, and I would not have been able to destroy it as it was one of the nine. I did however spend sometime carefully observing its habits. It seemed to take great pleasure in frightening the creatures around it but it would rarely eat any of them. If the first demon was anger this one would most likely be fear or another related emotion, not only that, but demons eventually learn ways to force other creatures to produce specific emotions.

I do not know why it is though that they require different emotions. Maybe it is according to species or maybe it is an acquired taste. I need more research before I can conclude the reasons.

It finished there. Kakashi was so shocked reading the page from the journal. It raised so many questions about that day. What had the Kyuubi been after? Was it simply trying to scare them? So many people had died, if it was the case that it never intended to hurt them, so many lives. Kakashi slowly stumbled out of the records room and made his way to Tsunade.

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Hinata wanted to tell Naruto that she forgave him. She was still disappointed with him because she admired him so much, but she could tell that he really did not mean what he had done. She looked down at where he lay. He slept peacefully only occasionally stirring to move into a different position. That was when Hinata noticed the necklace again. The stone itself was remarkable, but other than that it was nothing more than a tattered piece of string.

An idea formed into her mind. She knew the perfect way to show Naruto that she forgave him. Carefully so as not to disturb him she slipped the necklace off Naruto.

Deep inside his mind something began to move.


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