Naruto 1. Prologue

I do not own Naruto…I do own the concept of the Yajuu clan though (hopefully) and the OC, Satoru.

* * *

He blinked once, twice, three times before he actually realized he had been in the Hospital once again. Training with his adopted son, while fun, had always gotten him exhausted and his chakra reserves spent. He sat up, taking in the room around him as he did so, noticing two people on a couch near his bed fast asleep, and smiled gratefully.

- Must have been a little rougher than usual if both of them came to see me.

He then proceeded to get up from his bed, his tail waving around behind him. It took a moment of searching before he was finally able to find his usual set of clothing lined up near the sleeping duo. _They need to wake up sooner or later anyway_, he mused to himself before he went toward them and unceremoniously pulled his clothes from below them, making them slide from the couch and land with a soft thump on the cold floor before he left for the bathroom, laughing at their sleepy glares.

- I'll get you for this you bastard!

One of them said while she quickly got to her feet. She had purple hair, which was usually tied into a short and spiky ponytail. She had brown, pupil-less eyes and on her forehead there was the unmistakable gleam of the protector which bore the symbol of their village. She wore a black trench coat, with a pocket on each side and a chain of seals on the inside, though most of them were not in use at the moment. Under said coat she wore a mesh suit that went from her neck down to her thighs, stopping just above her knees, and a dark orange mini-skirt that was held by a dark blue belt, which extended to a sash of sorts. On her neck there was a thick cord which held firmly onto a snake fang and on her feet she wore a pair of black, knee high boots with metal plates attached to the toes. Inside each boot there was a set of seals, which were not being used at the moment as well.

- We came to visit you and that's how you repay us, Satoru-kun?

Said the other, getting to her feet a little slower than the first, pouting cutely while doing so. She had long brown hair, eyes of the same color and a protector loosely hanging from around her neck. She wore on her torso a scale armor, which was composed by a brown long sleeved leather vest, with metal plates arranged around the front, back and part of the sleeves. There were still parts without the metallic protection, such as a thick line in the middle of the vest's front and, most of the sleeves, of which the plating only covered some of the upper arm and around the wrists, and a line on the back. She wore skin tight black pants, a kunai holster attached to her right thigh, and metal waist armor, with seals engraved on the inside. On her feet there was a pair of knee high gray boots, which had a set of seal inside.

- Of course I appreciate it, Ayame-chan, Anko-chan…but it was just too good an opportunity to pass up!

He laughed softly while he dressed inside the bathroom. Maybe being around that kid had this long was starting to change him after all. He finished strapping his belt before looking himself over in the mirror. He wore nothing on his torso, except a brown belt that crossed his front from left shoulder to hip and attached his shoulder guard to his body. Said guard was made of red leather, a golden medal on its center, where one could read Yajuu¹, and some animal fangs on both top and bottom of the guard. He wore black baggy pants, a red metallic belt strapped to his waist having a lion's head on the front. Like Ayame's Belt, his also had seals on the inside. Red metal also wrapped itself around his feet, going all the way to his knees. Again, it had seals on the inside. On both forearms there were bandages wrapped, but on his right one there was also red cloth over the bandages, strapped firmly in place by two leather belts.

Satisfied with his clothing, he turned his attention to his face; his black mane of a hair fell all the way down to his lower back, while a short, full beard graced his face. He usually tied his hair on a ponytail, but over the last few days he'd decided to keep it free, he liked it better this way. He took a moment to check his reflection once more, staring himself in the eyes for a moment, an odd pair of blue (left) and green (right) staring back at him, before he went back to his wives, and as he opened the door to his room, he sent chakra throughout his body, activating the seals and increasing the weight of his armor and bandages.

- Naru-chan's got waaaaaay too much stamina on him, I tell you…

He chuckled as he kept walking over to them, a smile plastered onto his face as he got near them. They were quite shorter than him, whereas he stood at 6'2"; Ayame was 5'2" and Anko 5'4". All three of them had white skin, and all wore a golden ring on the left hand. Satoru leaned toward Ayame, kissing her gently on the lips, before looking over to Anko, repeating the gesture.

* * *

Cerulean blue eyes opened slowly, the light that came from the window making them shine like jewels. Confused, he looked around; trying to remember why was he home already. Satoru-niichan had sparred with him for the last few days, neither wanted to stop or admit to the fact they were getting tired as time went by, and in the end both collapsed from exhaustion because of it. Being the Kurama's jinchuuriki had its advantages and he recovered quite fast, but he doubted niichan would be as lucky, he was probably at the hospital by now.

- I'm hungry…Ichiraku's it is then!

He slowly got up, wincing slightly when he felt the pain on his ribs from the punches Satoru threw at him. It was kind of annoying how he couldn't seem to be able to touch the man. He knew the only reason his niichan was exhausted after the fight was because whenever he used a jutsu during their match, Satoru would use some of his chakra to make it so they were both spending chakra while fighting.

Naruto walked toward a mirror, stopping in front of it to take in his improvement over the years. He'd been with Toru-niichan and Ayame and Anko-neechan for a total of five years now, even though the women only came years after him. He wore a fishnet long sleeved shirt, having a leather shoulder guard on each side, both of them with an engraving in them; most likely one of his niichan's training seals. The guard themselves were fairly simple; golden metal that covered his shoulder on front and back, but left the side open, obviously it was only a part of a full armor. On the left arm there was no such thing, but on his right arm a golden plate attached itself from his shoulder all the way down to his hand, having a clawed gauntlet. On his legs he wears simple black pants, with white lines running on either side. Black shinobi sandals completed his look, while he simply let his protector tightly wrapped around his right arm. Naruto then nodded to himself, taking a moment to look at his long hair, which fell to his waist and smiled to himself. Ever since he started living with Toru-nii he let his hair grow to become more like him, but he refused to tie it up, he just loved the way it felt when he was running around of simply enjoying the wind; which was why he swore to himself he'd make Toru stop tying his own hair up like that.

- Now where is…

He looked around for a moment, trying to find the weapon his niichan had crafted for him during his apprenticeship with the village's master smith. A wakizashi, made to be able to withstand the use of his elemental chakra without breaking. It was a simple design; the blade itself seemed to hold no light, nor showing any reflection in it. The handle was red with a rectangular guard separating it from the blade. It was the sheathe that called for attention. It was a shiny red with a black, nine tailed fox engraved. It seemed to be roaring to the skies.

He picked it up and proceeded to pass it under the sash he wore on his waist. As an afterthought, Naruto went to Toru-nii's room and picked some more money from under a loose floor board.

* * *

- Teuchi-ojiisan! Gimme a miso ramen! And keep 'em comin'!

He yelled as he sat down. He'd been coming here since he could remember, nowhere else sold him anything at all, they either ignored him or threw him out of their "fine establishment" for "disturbing their costumers". Not that he cared anymore anyway, Toru-niichan was a good cook after all, and sometimes he even let him come here to feed his addiction for ramen! He sighed happily as he inhaled the first bowl.

- This is food of the gods! Gods I tell you!

He yelled excitedly as Teuchi went back to preparing his next bowl, laughing loudly at the kid's antics. Business was a little slow ever since he accepted the boy as a costumer. Nearly no civilians came here, or shinobi for that matter, it was tough at first but with the blond gaki eating twenty or more bowls every time he came, plus the fact that he brought some friends with him from time to time, the stand was able to keep running, even with the low clientele.

- What'd I tell you? I knew the brat ought'a be here.

Naruto turned around to yell at the person who dared call him a brat before stopping abruptly. His nii-chan was walking toward the kitchen, Ayame and Anko behind him. Toru-nii usually came to Ichiraku's to be able to talk to Ayame, and with time he even started helping cook some meals when they came for a celebration or with friends. As he watched the scene, Naruto started thinking back to the days before Toru found him…

* * *

AN: ¹Yajuu – Beast (Interwebz says so =3)

As I said in the summary, this is a Naru/Harem story, why? Because I think the guy deserves some happiness =3 Anyway, so far I have Kyuubi, Tayuya, Karin, Karui, FemHaku and Amaru. I'm going for 10 max in the Harem so the other five I'll let you people decide. "She's hot" does not count…  
Hmm…dunno why but I thought this as an intro to the story would've been a better choice than what I had in mind '-' Hope you guys like it. See ya o/


	2. Chapter 1 - The Meeting

Still don't own Naruto.

* * *

It was his birthday again. He became eight years old today. Of course, he only knew that because the old man came to his apartment earlier to wish his a happy birthday. They spoke a little and Hokage-ojiisan promised to meet him at Ichiraku's later and buy him as many bowls as he could eat!

Naruto was happy the rest of the day because of that, he forgot about everything else, the glares, the festival, the hate…hell he even forgot about the "Fox Hunting day" that became a thing for the villagers who partied too hard on the festival. They'd assemble as many as they could before breaking into his home and throwing him out, with the only warning being "run". No one was stupid enough to do it normally, but too much sake emboldened even the worst coward.

Naruto had been hopping around the village during the festival, trying to be as invisible as he could ever hope to be, always avoiding open areas, preferring to move through the alleyways, using the boards he'd loosened up previously. That always made it easier to flee on Hunt days. He was headed to Ichiraku's; he was going to stuff himself! _Old man really knows the gifts I like_ he thought to himself with his usual childlike glee.

* * *

He stopped in front his favorite place in the village and stepped in, looking around for his jii-san. The old man never let him down before, and honestly, Naruto thought that he was never going to. Even he knew some things were beyond his control, but whenever he could, Saru-ojiisan was always there, he always came to the hospital after the beatings, comforted him when he was crying…_like a true grandfather should_ Naruto thought with a small smile.

- Naruto-kun, my boy! Come, come, Teuchi-san already started preparing your favorite.

Sarutobi smiled at the small, thin boy. Even for someone his age he is too thin, does he eat anything else? It was okay to like the ramen from Ichiraku's; hell if he was honest, he came here so often he got addicted to the stuff! Sarutobi then watched for a while as Naruto started a light-hearted conversation with Ayame, the chef's daughter. She was actually an academy student, but since it was tradition, on festival days there were no classes.

His smile died when he saw a small scar running down the boy's left leg. He wished he could do more, but as all ninja knew, there were times that for the good of the village one's suffering had to be simply ignored. He had to go through so many papers about possible alliances, like his ongoing negotiation with Kumo and Suna. Ambassadors of both villages were bound to come to Konoha in a couple of months to finalize their agreements but there were still documents being traded as part of their negotiation. Then there were clan documents, like the reports on the Uchiha, which were starting to worry him. He never thought Fugaku would have the balls to try a coup, but by Kami the man was convincing the elders of the Uchiha more with every passing day! He was still trying to resolve the situation before he had to fall back to the plan Danzo had come up with. He was not going to burden Itachi-kun like that, not if there was a possible alternative.

- …jiisan? Because if you ain't, I'll eat it for ya!

It took the old man a while to notice that his surrogate grandson was talking to him, but when he did and turned around, he saw that not only had Naruto-kun stopped eating to look at him with narrowed, curious eyes, but Teuchi and Ayame were looking at him with concern evident on their faces. The girl was ten years old, and she was in Konoha when the beast attacked, she knew what was the boy held, so he concluded that both their concerned faced were more about Naruto than himself, but it made him happier than anything else they could've done or said.

- Ohohoho…sorry my boy, I was simply thinking about some paperwork…

After that his attention was focused solely on the boy and the other two occupants of the ramen stand. They made some small talk about nothing at all, or simply heard as the hyperactive blond started making up combinations of ramen flavors.

After they were done with their dishes and the old man paid. He bade the trio goodbye and started toward his tower, where more paperwork waited for him.

- See ya, Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-jiisan!

Naruto yelled as he started making his way back to his apartment. The sun had already set when he and the old man left. A broad smile formed on his face as he remembered being with his three most precious people in the world. _Man, Saru-jiisan is the best! I'm so full with all the ramen I ate!_ He laughed to himself, a little too loudly.

- Hmm…whazzat? Heeey, innit the fox kid? Oooh, he spared us the trouble o' goin' ta fetch 'im!

He stopped dead in his tracks. _Shit shit shit shit shit!_ He started running, how could he be so stupid?! He was so happy he forgot to avoid the open areas. He spared the man a quick glance, noticing he had been hovering over a trembling girl. _Great, one THOSE…_ He sighed to himself, better him than that girl. At least he'd spare her of that.

He looked ahead again, ignoring the man's calls for the hunting party to gather. There was usually as many shinobi as there were civilians; he just hoped he could lose the man before the more skilled ones came around. He entered an alleyway and ran through the loosened board. He didn't count on colliding with one of the men that were answering the call. He tried to get the guy to let go, he promised not to leave his house for the rest of the year, he promised to clean the man's house while he was away at work, hell anything to avoid another beating.

The man simply chuckled at him and started dragging him, kicking and screaming, to the voice of the first hunter of this year. It was kind of an unspoken rule, whoever initiated the hunt got to choose what the boy would go through first. They always knew he was no demon, no fox. But it was easier to ignore that. The fact that no matter what they did, he always came through with no scar helped; except that one time someone cut him with a rusty knife, even though he got rid of possible infections, the boy had gotten the permanent reminder that it would not stop.

He threw the kid to the year's organizer and waited. The man simply shrugged and broke his sake bottle on the wall of a nearby store, before taking one of the broken pieces and walking to the boy and shoving it in his open mouth. He then started to hit the kid, knowing he would not scream, he'd refused to do so for the last two years, and instead ended up chewing on the broken glass, which in turn started to cut his tongue and the inside of his cheeks. After he was done he dragged the kid to the other pieces.

- Eat.

He commanded. At first the kid just looked back at him, his glare nullified by the fact tears streamed freely down his cheeks and blood seemed to ooze out of his mouth. After a minute of waiting his patience vanished and he kicked the boy on the ribs, almost smiling when he heard a few cracks. The kid had spirit, he'd give him that much. After three more kicks and a new command the kid relented and started placing some more of the glass into his mouth. Naruto made sure not to swallow any of it, of course, most of it just stuck to his cheeks or his tongue anyway.

Satisfied the man then turned his back on the brat and started to his home, having gotten some of his anger soothed for the time being. There was always next year. He ignored the when the screaming finally began and closed his eyes, peacefully asleep in a matter of seconds.

Back outside, some other guys had taken to simply beating on the poor bastard to alleviate their own stress and anger at the death of their loved ones, the rest of the men and women stood silent for a moment. It was not out of shock or pity; no they would never feel that toward **this** kid. No what they were doing was trying to come up with a worse punishment than the first one. A few minutes later and one of them had an idea; he went to the kid and started pulling out the shards from his face, and then had the boy open his mouth so he could take the ones inside away as well.

With that done, got the bottle of sake he was carrying around and poured its contents into the boy's mouth and face.

_Okay that's new_ were the thoughts of the young kid as the burning sensation started almost immediately. His scream was muffled by the amount of liquid inside his mouth, which made him just gurgle for a moment, which in turn made it worse, _of __**course**_.

He hated it when they came up with new shit. He tried being tough, he really did but it hurt so much. He looked around after spitting the mixture of alcohol and blood from his mouth, his eyes burning with tears he wouldn't let down, not for them. He wanted to hate them as much as they did him, he wanted to just let go and be able to make them suffer as much as he did _but…then I'd be just like them! I refuse to be like them! Ayame-neechan, Teuchi and Saru-ojiisan would be disappointed if I became like __**that!**_

- What in the nine circles of **hell** is going on here!

_That's a new voice_ he thought at first. He waited for a moment, knowing the moment whoever it was saw him; they'd start either cheering on or just ignoring, like they always did. But this was different; the person who walked out of the crowd made his way to the small, nearly broken kid and knelt, looking him in the eyes for a second. Okay, weird eyes…Naruto thought, before the man broke eye contact and turned around, getting up as he did._ What the fuck?! A __**tail**__?!_ Indeed, after the man turned, Naruto saw a long black appendage moving about on its own. It made him forget about the shit going on around him for a moment.

- Soo…anyone feels like explaining?

Satoru spoke, waiting for a moment, giving them time to compose themselves to reply. _It must be the first time someone opposed_ them he thought as he looked at the blank expressions around him.

- Come on man. You know who **that** is! Let us have our fun, he'll heal anyway!

He turned his head as he started hearing the man nearest to him speak. _So that's what this_ is he turned to the child once again and shook his head. He had no idea shit like this was happening to the boy; of course, he only came into the village to spend time with Anko anyway.

- Nope…sorry man, this shit stops now.

He was quite calm. He was not going to flip out because of a kid he didn't even know. Sure beating a child was disgusting but hey, the world he lived in had nine year olds killing and running amok anyway, so fuck that. But he was not…could not let this go on now that he was aware.

- Next one who comes near the gaki dies.

The challenge was met by silence. Everyone saw the protector on his forehead. They knew he was a shinobi, what was worse, he had been under Orochi, and the Sannin had kidnapped him when he was younger as she left. No one knew what was done to him during that time. Slowly at first the crowd started separating leaving both the boy and his protector alone. There was always next year anyway.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe his luck. This guy came around, and without a fuss made everyone leave him be! He wanted to hug the guy, and he would if the urge to touch that freaking tail wasn't so overwhelming. He stretched his trembling hand, reaching slowly for the still swaying around appendage, and carefully gave it a pet. The effect was instantaneous, both man and tail stopped and he swore he heard a purr. The man then visibly relaxed before turning around.

- Yeah it's real kid. Come on, let's get ya looked at. They're already closing, but better safe than sorry, eh?

The man smiled while extending a hand toward him. Slowly, almost timidly, a smile crept to his face and he lunged himself at his savior; he let himself cry then, holding onto the man's shirt. All the times he was hurt, all the hunts he'd been through. Everything came crashing down. He felt arms holding him as the man slowly got up. They started moving then, and as he snuggled further into that embrace, he heard some more purring coming from whoever the man was. He'd be sure to ask that later, he didn't trust his voice yet; sobs were still racking his breathing.

* * *

- Hey lady! The kid needs attention!

Satoru barked as he entered the Konoha hospital. He was usually a lot quieter than that and more polite too, but as it were he just wanted to get this over with. On the way to the hospital he had argued with himself and come to the conclusion that the boy needed to learn how to defend himself, and who better to teach him than the Taijutsu Tokubetsu Jōnin? Sure he knew some ninjutsu and genjutsu but whatever that bitch Sannin did to him had his chakra behaving strangely. Bitch had her spies in Konoha use him as a guinea pig on experimental shit too!

_Tell anyone, Anko-chan suffers_ he told himself, they had reminded him of that a few times too. Making sure it stuck. He shook himself out of those thoughts as he heard a nurse calling him down the corridor.

- What happened this time?

- 'Dunno lady, when I got there they were pouring alcohol on his face. They beat him a little bit too apparently, there are bruises all over, and a few cuts too.

They had reached the room where Naruto usually stayed whenever this happened. Not that Satoru knew that, but the nurse did and it made her sad that such a bright child had to go through that. She took a moment to study the guy carrying him, her mind working a mile a minute, trying to remember his face from one of the hunts she had witnessed, or as one of the people who threw glares at the kid; sure the list was huge, but she needed to be sure he wasn't going to try anything.

- Put him on the bed please. I need to check him for any internal injuries.

She watched as the guy passed her. _Is that a tail?! The fuck!?_ She shook her head and saw the gentleness that he handled the boy, seeing him wake up, in fear of letting go and then the soothing words that were said as he was gently dropped onto the bed.

She walked to the bed side and performed a quick medical analysis jutsu on the kid's body. She sighed as she felt whatever inner injury he received either close itself or in the case of his bones, reattach.

- He's healing already right?

* * *

He tried going back to sleep, he really did, but that dripping sound coming from all around him made it so hard he simply gave up. _Where is that coming from anyway? I thought I was in the hospital?_ Naruto got up slowly; fearing the guy that saved him would have just dumped him somewhere, and started exploring the place.

- This place is a fucking dump! What the hell?

Whoever did this had to be given proper respect, they managed to find the darkest, wettest, creepiest place ever to throw him. He was going to curse his luck some more when he heard soft snickering coming from somewhere further ahead, which gave him some hope. _If I can hear it, it can't be that far away_ he thought to himself as he started sprinting toward wherever the sound came from. It was obviously feminine, so maybe it was someone nice. It was harder to find women among the "hunters" after all.

His thoughts stopped as abruptly as his body, the sight before him being different than the one he was hoping for. He'd hoped for the clear sky to appear, the sound of the birds and the people passing throughout the street, but instead he came face to face with a giant cage, upon which was a piece of paper that was way too big to be normal, there was something written on it, and after some trouble; no one ever taught him how to read or write and so he asked old man Teuchi to help him whenever he could, that of course happened two years ago; he saw the word Seal painted there. Behind the humongous bars there was more darkness, though he could hear some laughter coming from inside…

- Hey? Anyone there!?

After a minute of silence followed his question, Naruto started to get scared. _Where am I? What the fucking hell is going on? Please…anyone…I don't wanna be alone…_ He started trembling as tears came to his eyes. This was worse than all the beatings, this feeling having nothing, this emptiness; he would hang on though, he didn't remember going to sleep, but maybe this was a nightmare. _Maybe, maybe the guy who took me to the hospital is watching over me while I'm sleeping and this is just a nightmare…it's normal for me to have nightmares after a fox hunt day so that's gotta be it!_ He turned around, wanting to leave the depressing sight of that huge thing, but again something laughed in there. Scared, but annoyed that whoever it was didn't respond; Naruto steeled himself and walked through the bars. He walked straight ahead, since he knew whoever it was that laughed, was in that direction.

- You're either very brave…or very stupid to come inside this cage, kid.

He jumped at the voice. _Yup, definitely feminine_ he thought to himself. Such a nice voice too, of course, he had already known that because that damnable melodic laugh had him blushing, now this soft voice when she spoke too! _Damn it, stop that!_ He shook himself, once more hearing laughter, and blushed.

- Okay lady, show yourself! This is getting creepy…

He had mumbled the last part to himself, but he knew she heard when more laughter followed his words. After it died down he heard the sound of steps coming his way and gulped. _What if it's a trap?_ He didn't exactly know what was going on, but since that guy helped him with the "hunt" the other day; he didn't know the time, it could've been a week for all he knew; they might have organized a new one. _Crap if that's the case I'm screwed!_ He took an involuntary step back, which caused the person to stop for a moment before the place they were became illuminated.

- Take the fun away from it, why don't you?

He heard coming from right in front of him and looked up. And blushed **again**. Damned Hokage-erojiisan, giving him that twice damned perverted book when he asked what fucking meant._ Hey! I live at the worst possible place in this village! I hear, and sometimes even see it, damn it!_ He sighed outwardly as he raged on in his head, forgetting his embarrassment at seeing the gorgeous lady for a moment. She had long, wavy red hair which was tied on a knot, even tied, her hair still fell down to her lower back. He could see a mesh shirt with only one long sleeve, over which was a there was what looked like broad bandages wrapped around her upper body, ending at her thighs. She had normal looking bandages wrapped around both her forearms and on her upper thighs as well. His eyes drifted back up and looked at her face; he could see the red lipstick and then her red eyes, with slit pupils. He clearly saw the mirth in them, having been caught checking her out.

- U-uhm…so-sorry ma'am…

_Kinda hard not to check you_ out he finished mentally. There was no laughter this time, and his suspicion that she could hear his thoughts crashed down, for the moment.

- It's okay kid. Now, why are you here?

He tilted his head to the side a little, a curious expression on his face.

- Well, I was kinda lost you see, and I heard laughing. So I followed the noise and wound up here!

His voice had started a little timid, but as his explanation went on his usual cheery mood reappeared and he ended his phrase with an exclamation and a wide grin. He had been a little nervous, but she seemed nice so he'd give her a chance.

- Hmm…well, do you know where here is?

- No idea!

He laughed as he answered, while she tried her best not to giggle at him.

- So, could you tell me where we are?

He looked at her after a moment and tilted his head again, he was quite lost, and if she could help him find his way back to the village, he could bring her with him! No, no, no…what if those guys hurt her because she's with me? I mean come on; she wouldn't want to be caught near me if I was made of gold! He kept looking at her, his facial expression not betraying his internal doubt.

- Well kiddo, we're in your head.

It took him a moment to acknowledge what she said; he stared at her for a while longer…

- **What!? This some kind of joke lady? It's not funny!**

This time she did laugh at the boy. It was quite fun to do that. She heard every compliment he'd thrown her way in his head. She laughed the first few times to mess with him, and the other times she had to control herself not to laugh or blush. This kid was a pervert in the making. She almost frowned though, when he started doubting himself, even if it was endearing to hear him say he'd like to be with her out there. She knew it wouldn't last though, she was bound to tell him who she was and then he'd be the one hating her…

- I'm not kidding. This **is** inside your head. Shitty place but hey, its home!

She giggled at his outraged scream when he heard the slight at the appearance of his mindscape. After that she steeled herself.

- I'm the Kyuubi kiddo. You forgot to look at the tails when you were checking me out. Gotta ask though, did you like what you've seen?

As she spoke, her tails began swaying around as if to try and get his attention. He'd been so mesmerized by the rest of her he never even noticed the tails! Even though he wasn't as surprised as he thought he'd be; hey I met a guy with a tail the other day so no news there. He walked to her, stopping when he was able to reach for one of her tails and pet it, like he did that dude. Again with the purring; although this time when he heard it he pulled his hand away and blushed. _Damn Ero-jiisan!_

- Don't stop kid, I liked that.

He looked at her again, his face red as a tomato. He held his hand out again and gave another one of her tails a pet. Then he stopped. _Wait, she said she's the Kyuubi! What the hell?_

- I wasn't lying brat, I am the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Come on, they do call you fox kid, they do fox hunts on you…kinda hard not to connect the dots.

He took a few steps back. _I never said that out loud…she hears what I think! ...did she hear those other things too?_ This time he kept watching her, trying to make head or tail of what was happening. She smiled at him, though he could see her cheeks were a little pink.

- Yep. Every last one of your thoughts, I can hear. You know, you're quite the perv for such a small child.

She giggled when he blushed and stuttered out a response something about a damned perverted Hokage and his books. She laughed and put a hand on his cheek, while crouching to come eye to eye with him.

- Those were the nicest things anyone ever said or thought about me. I've been sealed throughout my existence you know. You are the first man…well kid but you get the point…to see me like this, so don't make me regret this ok?

- Regret? Wha…

His response stopped when she pressed her lips to his, ever so lightly. But with that kiss she also started making certain modifications, being able to make her own chakra flow to him from her lips, making what she was going to do a little less painful for him. Her mind was assaulted with a barrage of questions, the feeling of insecurity, the fear of betrayal and the hope of being loved. She had to list the last one as a possible talk with the Hokage, after all he was thinking about starting a family.

It was after a minute of their lips being connected that the first twitch of pain came from him. His lower back felt like it was being torn apart! He looked at her, hurt that she would do that to him before trying to pull himself away from her, but she held firmly to him, her other hand had made it to his cheek and she kept him there. If he broke contact now it would hurt twice as much, her chakra was serving as an anesthetic, lowering the amount of pain he'd feel.

* * *

After what felt like ages, she pulled away from him, her hands going from his face to his shoulders, but she still held him firmly in place. She needed to tell him a few things; after all, she had just changed him to a hanyou and her mate. Boy was he in for a surprise when he woke up.

- **What was that about! It hurt goddammit!**

Naruto looked at her, showing that he was indeed not only physically hurt by what she did but emotionally as well. He'd developed something of a crush on her when he saw her, and then she acted all nice, just to hurt him! Like everyone else!

- No! Not like that Naruto, never like them. It's just that…well…I'll admit it was me being selfish but I kinda made you my mate.

- Mate? What's that?

- Pretty much means we're married. And I've changed you a little, since you need to be up to par to be with a demon, after all.

His eyes widened. Married? What the hell? Sure, she was beautiful and she was kinda fun to talk to and treated him better than anyone had ever done, but from that to married? Sure he wanted a family, and he did think of that with her a while ago, but why did she choose him? Why the brat no one wants? He knew she could hear his thoughts so he just looked at her, expecting his answer.

- Aww…ain't they cute? Kid's kinda young Kyuubi, don't you feel bad for robbing the cradle? Nice tail Naruto. And eyes too…

Both of them jumped, no one was supposed to be able to do this. They were in his mindscape after all; they were supposed to have some time to talk. The Kyuubi turned to the new voice and froze, his eyes being of that accursed bloodline. How she **hated** that doujutsu. Naruto wasn't much better; he slowly turned around, not believing that anyone would be able to enter his head like that. He saw that same dude, who saved his ass, but his eyes were different, they were red with a black, shuriken like pattern instead of his pupils. He seemed amused by the situation and saw as a blush crept up Kyuubi's face before turning to the gaki.

- So, kiddo, I was gonna ask you this when you woke up, but since I had to come here after that youki surge of yours I'll say it now. I'm taking you with me, you're gonna be learning how to protect yourself, okay?

He said before disappearing, satisfied with knowing that the "oh so dangerous fox" was not going to eat the brat's soul. He watched them as he left, the kid didn't seem to notice, but he was petting the woman's tails again, and she was blushing and purring softly as he did so. He wanted to laugh at that, but he knew the sensation, so he just shook his head as his consciousness left Naruto's mind.

- That wasn't creepy at all…nope…

Naruto mumbled to himself, before looking at the Kyuubi again. He momentarily forgot the bit about growing a tail, favoring to get some questions out of the way.

- Okay…married? Why me?

Kurama sighed; the kid had no self-esteem apparently, she was gonna need to work on that. She took a moment to compose herself and to come up with a better excuse than _"Hey, I lost a bet to your mother when she said she'd befriend me. I was honor bound to do this!"_

- Well, you see…Demons are vain creatures; you need to understand that first of all. We don't show our true form to just anyone, and when we do we either kill or mate that person. Now that is not to say I couldn't have waited a while for this, but seeing as you are way too thin for an eight year old boy, I rushed myself into it, to protect you, if nothing else.

She gave herself a mental pat on the back. _Seems credible, right?_ She watched the young blond as he just stared at her for a while, not entirely believing what she said, before he seemed to catch onto something, his eyes widening a little.

- Hey! You said something about killing…so why not kill me? Why tie yourself up like that?

Naruto had narrowed his eyes a little, not really trusting her after that little stunt she pulled. He crossed his arms as he waited for her reply, still trying to come to terms with his situation. He desperately wanted to talk to his jii-san…_wait a sec! The old man must've known! … Though, can't really say I blame him, what'd I expect, he'd come up and go "Naruto-kun, my boy! You have an immensely powerful, incredibly sexy demoness locked up in your head! Have fun!"_? Yeah, not happening.

Another giggle, he really shouldn't have thought that. Now she'd think him a pervert; _not far from the truth either, you do steal the old man's pervy books to read through…_ a tiny voice told him as he blushed crimson and closed his eyes,_ Kyuubi-chan does not need to know that, shush!_ He argued back, trying to reign himself in before looking up again, catching a light blush on her cheeks even though she did laugh again.

- Okay Naruto-kun, let me explain then. First I'm not in your head per se, more like in your stomach. Our meetings happen in your head because it'd be kinda weird talking while hearing your digestive system work, no? Now to your question, I can't kill you because then I'd die. Sure I could take over, but your body is much too weak as it is now to house my power anyway. Think of it as me being a little selfish here, I need you to be powerful, so I made you more like me. Stronger, faster, more chakra – not that you'd need more of that, she added mentally – and greater lifespan. The longer you live, the longer I live as well, and the longer I live, more time I'll have to come up with a way of leaving this place without dying. Did you get all that?

She offered him a small smile at the end of her small rant. She knew that lying to him would not help her case at all, and really she didn't care that much for him yet to say she did it outta love._ I did lose the bet though…fuck my life; I'm stuck with him even if I do leave this place!_ She just watched as understanding downed on him, and instead of being outraged as she thought he would, Naruto just offered her one of his foxy grins, which also served to show her his larger than normal fangs.

- Okay then!

Naruto laughed to himself and started leaving the cage. Eh, sure she was being selfish, just like she said, but she was being honest about it, at least. He had decided that hating others was not something he'd do without cause. She seemed nice enough and being trapped all your life would make anyone grumpy. Enough to level a village, I reckon Naruto thought as he heard her shout "I'm not grumpy, brat!" and laughed again. As soon as he left the cage, he felt his mind consciousness being taken back to the outside world

* * *

Satoru and Hiruzen Sarutobi were speaking about the changes on Naruto. At first the Hokage wanted to send the Yajuu Heir away, but the kid started convulsing on the bed and being the one with the ability to do something about it; Sarutobi knew about the experiments Orochi had done on the Jounin, he had earned enough of the boy's trust to be told everything...even the secret meetings he'd been forced to attend to protect Anko; the old man requested that he check on the jinchuuriki, they needed to be sure nothing bad was happening.

With a nod, Satoru walked to the bed where the brat had been trashing about for the last minute or so, the doctors and nurse around him trying to do their best to stop the brat from hurting himself. They eyed him skeptically, but he was under orders of the Hokage, so he should know what he was doing, right? The man slowly inclined his upper body to be able to peer at the kids face, reaching with one of his hands and forcing his right eye open as he activated the bloodline forced upon him.

He moved again little over a minute later, his eyes turning back to their original colors as he turned to the aged Hokage. He had a smirk on his face throughout the whole explanation, and the Sandaime could feel the headache forming as the report ended.

- So what does that mean? Is he in any danger from this transformation, like the Kyuubi assuming control?

He was worried about his surrogate grandson, but his duty was first and foremost to Konoha, and he would act on that duty. Sarutobi wanted to be able to comfort him through yet another pain, but this time things had changed, maybe the beatings over the years had weakened the seal enough that the demon was able to reach him.

- No worries Jiji, Kurama says she can't take over; my body wouldn't handle the power even with the changes. She says it'd be many years before that anyway. Youki is much more potent than chakra, you know.

His voice was a little rough from the screaming he'd done earlier that day, but it was still the childlike voice of Naruto. All adults turned toward the now awake kid, his cerulean blue eyes now having slits as pupils; like a fox thought the old man.

- Also what's this about living with that guy? I don't even know his name!

Naruto felt a little put out that the old man would just hand him over like that. The guy looked like some sort of hanyou; _Hey! So do you dumbass!_ - _Kurama?_ – _No, the other fox in your belly!_ The blond laughed at that; well, this is so cooool! He was so wrapped in his own little world that he nearly missed what was said next. Thankfully Kurama was curious as to why the older man was charged with caring for her container.

Hohoho! Sorry kid. Name's Yajuu Satoru, heir and only survival of the Beasts of Konoha. As I understand this happens more frequently than anyone would like – which is never – so I volunteered to teach you some Taijutsu. I'm currently the best Taijutsu user in Konoha. At the very least, this way you can protect yourself – beat the living shit outta them… - or outrun them on any other occurrences.

_Makes sense kit. And he does look the part too, you know._ Naruto mentally nodded at the fox on that comment, the guy had muscles everywhere! He didn't look like one of those muscle bound freaks that appeared every now and then, but he was built like a heavyweight champion. He turned to the old man Hokage for confirmation, still unsure about all this.

- Yes Naruto-kun, you'd live at his clan compound while training, and every month you'll report to me with your progress. That way, if anything happens I'll know, okay?

_Kurama?_ – _Well kit, the way the old monkey puts it is, if you aren't getting any stronger, he'll probably be able to do something; same if you don't show up. Looks like a deal to me._ With a sigh, the blond nodded at the Hokage, before turning to his new sensei, whose shoulders were trembling with controlled laughter.

- If you don't already, you'll learn to love your regenerative abilities kid…we'll have so much fun!

The way he said it, and the maniacal laughter that followed made the blond swallow an inexistent lump in his throat while the Hokage simply sweat dropped _Good luck Naruto-kun…_

AN:1 - Introducing the characters properly…it'll happen during the next chapters as well. Next character to get some time will be Ayame, since I wanna explain why she is a Kunoichi in this fic. Do note that while I have an OC in this story, it will mostly follow Naruto's days; only having bits and pieces with Satoru here and there. Hopefully this way you guys can "bond" with my OC while still enjoying a Naruto fic =3

2 - English ain't my main language, and while I am confident in my skill with it, I might get things wrong so if anyone wanna beta this story, please lemme know =P

3 – I'll try keeping it at a decent pace (one chapter per day, maybe two if I'm inspired)

Well now that I started posting, I'll promise you guys that I'll finish this story before starting a new one. Most stories I'll write will have my OC since I like messing with the timeline but not the usual way and I hope you'll enjoy that =3

Review if you liked it, I'll certainly enjoy the feedback. See ya o/


	3. Chapter 2 - Discoveries

Nope, still don't own Naruto

* * *

_I hate that guy._ Naruto was running for his life from the beasts inside the Forest of Death. Satoru had given him some chakra absorbing weights and told him to just survive in the forest for the next month. _Builds character, he says; It'll be fun, he says…_ He was never going to trust that guy again. The chakra absorption seal made it so that any chakra that was leaking out of his body; therefore uncontrolled and unnecessary; went to the weights, making them heavier. Satoru did say that he was going to train both his control over the chakra he had and his body. _What you __**should **__do is never doubt him again, kit._ He could hear Kurama's laughter echoing inside his head, distracting him every now and then.

It had been one week since Satoru gave him the task. At first Naruto thought he'd be on his own, and that thought terrified the young blond; but whenever the situation called for it, the older man would appear and with a warning growl made any beast about to eat him back off. _At least you know you won't die._ _He does let 'em rough you up though._ – _You do have the talent to point out the obvious don't ya, Kurama?_ He could literally see the pout the demoness gave at that and laughed; only to be caught by a massive swing from one of the larger felines; which made the damn thing as tall as some of the trees in the forest; and went flying through a few trees, he would have screamed in pain, but that would just attract even more of these **things** to him. He could feel the bones cracking and his skin tearing at some points, only to reattach when he finally hit the floor.

- Ugh…one month of this…I think I'll die…

* * *

_I lived! Oh my sweet Kami, I lived!_ – _Don't exaggerate, it wasn't __**that**__ bad… _Naruto had finished his month feeling faster and stronger than he had been after his change. He fought a few of them; the obviously weaker ones; and although he was confident at first, Satoru had told him that it **was** the Forest of Death for a reason. The monsters were as strong as shinobi were. Even those put up a great fight before he was able to knock them out. _Kill them and I kill you, Satoru said._

He was now making his way, Satoru at his side, to the Hokage Tower. He hadn't learnt any moves, but he was now positive that no civilian would be able to touch him ever again. Or Genin level shinobi, but that was still to be proven. He could literally feel his muscles toughen during his month "training". The chakra control was a little harder, given the fact that he **sucked **and also that Satoru had given him little to no explanation on how to manipulate it; Kurama did say that was probably because he wasn't the best to teach that subject; but Naruto thought back to that day in the hospital. He'd said he would train his Taijutsu, and apparently that was all he was going to train him in, indeed.

- Look alive, Naru-chan. We're here.

Naruto growled. Satoru had taken to calling him that since he started training; maybe it was just to piss him off; and it worked. He **hated **that nickname. _Being mad won't make him stop, Naruto. Get used to it. – Yeah I know…it's just infuriating! I can't believe he made me do that for a __**month**__! I almost died in there! – You're still here, though. Man up. Yeah… sorry Kurama-chan._

- Yoohoo, Naru-chaaan! The fossil is waitiiiing!

Naruto snapped to attention in time to see the twitch in the old man's brow, which did make him feel a little better; maybe it was a trait or something, he'd nickname people just to make them mad.

- Yeah yeah… sorry. Ahem… Uzumaki Naruto, reporting after a month of training, sir.

It felt weird talking like that, but Satoru said that even if it wasn't an actual mission, treating it like one would prepare him for proper conduct once he was out in the field, or when coming back from missions.

- Yajuu Satoru, appointed as my Taijutsu sensei, has begun improving my physical conditioning through survival training. I was made to wear chakra absorbing weighs and survive in the environment of the Forest of Death. In the first week all I could do was run away, too scared to fight back; because of the beasts' Killing Intent; and sensei had to intervene for my well-being a total of ten times.

He looked straight at the Hokage, which Satoru had informed him was standard when reporting; and also a show of proper respect to the man as well; and he could see that even the Hokage had been asked to at the very least pretend it was an actual post mission report.

- During the nights I would seek shelter wherever possible, maintaining proper distance from the wildlife of the Forest. Once the first week was over and I grew used to the Killing Intent of the more violent types; which I presume was sensei's intention – at this point Satoru nodded, watching with some pride as he gave the month's resumed report – I started looking for beasts to help me get used to my newfound strength, as well as the speed acquired from the training up to that point. The first animal was also the hardest – _obvious as it is_, he added mentally – since my arms had yet to be used since with the added weight.

- After that, the rest of the month was spent hunting down the lower rank beasts and knocking them out to improve strength, speed and stamina. Also, Hokage-sama, if I may, I was told that the use of the chakra absorbing seal was to improve chakra control, but was given no actual lesson on how to properly mold my chakra. I understand then that as informed back in the hospital, this will be only Taijutsu training?

As he finished, he saw the look of surprise that the Hokage gave him and caught in the corner of his eye the beam of – is that pride? – that came from his sensei. The Hokage then smiled warmly at him while pulling out his pipe from one of his drawers and lighting it up.

- Why, yes Naruto-kun, it is a Taijutsu only type of training. Since Satoru-kun specializes in Taijutsu and Fuinjutsu; and Fuinjutsu would do very little against a crowd; that is all the training you'll be receiving. You see, Satoru-kun is regarded as "dangerous" by the council because of his strange kekkei genkai, and some things that occurred a few years back made it so he is put on probation for the next few years so he can help you, but he is the only one I can afford to allow this; the village needs all the shinobi it has on missions and border patrol; we still feel the damage the Kyuubi made on the last rampage.

_The old man must be treating this seriously as well… - Yeah, I wouldn't think he'd detail his motives so much based on one question; though I have to say, nice one Naruto, catching that small detail from your conversation with Satoru. – Heh, thanks Kurama-chan_ He'd blushed at the praise, not at all used to receiving any; and nodded as the Hokage finished his instruction.

- Although I can see he is also teaching you proper conduct. It is very much appreciated, Satoru-kun.

Here the old man turned to the Yajuu, smiling kindly as he saw the man look at the ground and scratch at the back of his head in embarrassment.

- It was no problem, Hokage-sama…Once he started taking his training seriously, all information I gave him was absorbed quite easily. Although he does sometimes stop to converse with the Kyuubi; either for a secondary explanation or simply to discuss his understanding so far; and it almost cost him a few times…

He trailed off at the end, mumbling things like "probably need to train that too…talk to her and concentrate on what's going on…hmm" followed up by a dark chuckle that made the blond kid shiver in fear. Naruto knew the next month would be hell; that grin on Satoru's face told the story of a lot of pain for him; but at the moment he was with his jiji and wanted to celebrate being alive after a month with in that Forest.

- Jiji, can we go to Ichiraku's? I mean, I do deserve it right? I trained to my best and took everything Satoru said seriously…pleeeeeease?

The Hokage chuckled as Naruto went back to his usual self. _He is eight after all…hopefully this part of him won't change much._ He nodded to the eager boy, getting him from his desk and walking to stand beside him and Satoru.

- So, Satoru-kun, will you join us or are you off to spend time with Anko-chan?

- She's currently on a mission sir, so I'll stick with both of you…maybe I'll see what has this brat so addicted to the stuff.

He offered the young man a smile. He knew that he was in love with Anko, they were both close even before the incident years ago. After that they were nigh inseparable; made obvious by the fact that she was the only one that Satoru would even bother coming into town to see; another fact to that is that Anko's favorite place in Konoha became the Forest of Death.

They were walking out the door from the Hokage tower, Naruto and Satoru were discussing how the next month would go along; rather Naruto was annoying the older shinobi who refused to share the secret, opting to laugh darkly at the kid. _Sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice…_ The wizened old man sweat dropped at their antics.

* * *

- Teuchi-jiisan, gimme a miso and a pork ramen, for starters!

Naruto had barely stepped inside the stand when he announced far and wide what he'd be eating, making both older men laugh. He was very happy, now he was with his precious people all around him, and Satoru; the man didn't get that far yet on his list; _Hey, what about me?_ Again, he could see the cute pout forming on the face of the demoness as he mentally chuckled. _Not yet Kurama-chan, we're still trying to get past you calling me brat or kit anyway. – Been a while since I did that…_She huffed and stopped talking, making him laugh in his head at her before looking ahead.

- Hey, Teuchi-jiisan, where Ayame-neechan?

It had been a while since he last saw them, and he wanted to tell her all that he had learned while away! _The look on her face's gonna be priceless_ He was after all getting trained by a Jōnin not just that, a specialist! Satoru did say he was the best in Taijutsu out of all Jōnin in Konoha! She was going to be so jealous!

- Sorry kid, she's in the Academy now. Should be home…hmm weird, it's two in the afternoon…classes don't usually go that long.

As he spoke, Satoru was already on his feet and nearly out the door. Although Naruto thought it was weird, he passed it on as Satoru being Satoru. He happily kept on inhaling his ramen while making light talk with the chef, sometimes looking to the old man for some advice about chakra or even about Taijutsu.

_Fuck…fuck fuck fuck!_ He was frantic. This had happened before, many girls from when he was in the academy or the years after that. They'd always favor one of them over the others, but in the end they got her to pay for that preference, the girls wanting it or not. Sure, he let it go on because it didn't concern him, but the brat would never let him live it down if something happened to his precious "nee-chan" and he let it be. _Can't believe that pipsqueak is growing on me already…_ It'd been only one month since he saved the brat and he couldn't help but feel proud when he accomplished something, or happy when the brat just goofed about.

Satoru was nearing the Academy, and thanks to his enhanced hearing he could hear whimpers coming from inside, as well as some chuckles. Maybe he wasn't too late; he could still save the brat from **that.** He growled, oh how he despised rapists.

Ayame was scared out of her mind, she had been training hard and studying even harder the theories to show her dad that being a kunoichi was not a waste, he'd been skeptical about that lifestyle since her mother died during the Kyuubi's rampage. _Mom's memory won't be looked down!_ She thought that her teachers had seen how hard she applied herself to the studies and sought to help her, but every day they'd get a little pushier, they'd try to grope her, leered at her. After a few days she knew that something was up. They didn't do much at first, but now, a week before the final exams, both class teacher had come to her, saying it was time to pay for their "tutoring".

- Come on pretty thing, you'll learn to like it…they all do…

The way he said it…she shivered at the thought of being touched by them. She had tried to fight back, she landed a few hits but they lacked the strength to actually make them stop, they said they needed to be sure her fighting spirit was squashed before they could continue, and so they proceeded to beat her, landing punches on her face and a few kicks on her body, which served to their purpose; she hurt too much to actually try and put up a fight anymore. She was then thrown to the other side of the room, landing heavily on her back, which served the purpose of making the air in her lungs escape in soft whimpers as both men chuckled to themselves and started taking their pants off. This was what kunoichi were prostitutes for the shinobi? Her mind hazed over, and in her panic she forgot she **was** training to be a kunoichi, to become stronger than her mother and protect everyone, her dad, Naruto-kun, the Hokage, her home; all she wanted was to be far away from those two, she crawled backwards, her trembling hands slipping as she fell once more to her back, her body trembling with her sobs. She covered her face, giving into her fate; _maybe father was right after all, it's not worth it…_

- You know, I was gonna just beat you to a bloody pulp, but now…**you die.**

Satoru rushed to the source of the voices, and the scene he'd come upon made his vision become reddened in anger. The child was on the floor, her shirt torn and discarded somewhere. She had bruises on her face and body; she must have tried putting up a fight. He looked at both men, who rushed to pull their pants back up and grinned sinisterly, his eyes changing to a blood red color as he shot forward, his arms already poised for a punch to the stomach of the one nearest to him; a Chunin with black, spiky hair; who was then thrown to the other side of the classroom, the wall cracking slightly as he slid to the ground, grunting in pain.

The other one; a pale man who had his head shaved; tried to take advantage of the supposed opening and, pulling out a kunai from his pouch and went for a stab to the man's chest. He smirked as his lunge hit, the kunai digging into skin as Satoru stayed in place for a moment, a look of surprise on his face.

- Heeheehahahahahahahahaha!

His smirk faded as quickly as it had appeared, the damned red eyed demon in front of him was laughing at him! With a kunai in his chest! He tried applying more force to his arm, to dig the weapon further inside the body of his enemy; that would show him to mess with his business; but the man shook his head and grabbed at his extended arm with both hands, and then he grinned again, the murderous glint in his eyes; which were already present when the fighting started; were joined by glee.

Satoru sank his extended nails the flesh of the bald rapist with all his might, and then; using all the strength that years of training with weights and fighting Maito Gai granted; pulled them apart, opening his arms wide to the sides, something that served to rip the skin from the bald one's bones; a fact that made him laugh again, the sound serving to entice his bloodlust.

**_- Ahhh…yes. This is so good. Try not to die, we're gonna have some fun…_**

His voice had become warped by his bloodlust; a guttural growl escaped his lips as he spoke. The Chunin fell backward, clutching at his shoulder, tears appeared in his eyes as he begged…**_begged_** to be spared, something that only made the Yajuu laugh again, his chakra appearing around him in a dark aura; Orochi, in an attempt to make normal chakra more potent without the backlash jinchuuriki suffered, experimented on him with a the combined blood of the Uzumaki and her personal demon, Jugo; he stalked forward, a glob of molten rock appearing in his right hand.

**_- Open wide…_**

The man started screaming once more, telling him to stay away, to go back to hell and leave them alone. It was funny really; confusing a Beast with a Demon; he took the chance, as the man opened his mouth once again to order him to back away, and poured his lava element into the mouth of the desperate Chunin. He then pressed his hand to the man's mouth, observing as he went right ahead and fainted on the spot. Satoru pouted then, although his eyes shone with unrestrained glee; **_this one was too fast. _**He turned his head slowly to the remaining one, who was trying to become one with the wall apparently; **_he must have suffered more internal injuries than I anticipated if he couldn't bolt. _**He let go of the dead one, the chakra flow stopping as he let go of the man; which made the lava start losing its potency; and went for the other one, grin back in place.

**_- Please do try to hang on…I can't have you dying; Ibiki will want to speak to you, after all…_**

He laughed at the man's frantic breathing, the erratic beating of his heart was like a masterpiece; if he was not in such a hurry he'd stop to appreciate it. **_First, to make sure he will never be able to rape again. _**He crouched in front of the man; his smile threatened to split his face in two at this point; and ripped at the man's pants. His hand grabbed at the black haired Chunin's cock.

**_- So…you like abusing girls, do you? How do ya like…THIS!_**

He started tightening his grip as he spoke, and upon finishing he once more pulled with all the might his body could produce; the result being the man's eyes rolling to the back of his head as his manhood was forcefully separated from his body.

**_- Fuck…should have done something else first…_**

He was then brought back to reality as a quiet sob was heard from somewhere behind him. The red in his eyes started receding to his usual colors as he turned around. As usual, there was less blood on the ground than there should be; any blood that came in contact with his skin was absorbed to help his own regeneration; he sighed and went to the trembling girl.

- It's okay…they can't hurt you or anyone else anymore.

He stopped in front of her, his arms going around her in an attempt to soothe the poor girl. She had initially flinched at the contact, but relaxed as he pulled her to him, her head resting upon the muscles on his chest; there was no shirt to prevent this contact.

Satoru started running a hand through her hair smoothly.

- I won't let anyone hurt you anymore. Promise, so cheer up; you got yourself a knight!

He half joked, trying to get the kid to start putting the ordeal in the past. It served to make her grip him tighter and bury her face further into his chest. He sighed then and picked her up in an bridal carry, turning to leave; he had noticed however that a widespread protection of a seal was removed after both men had become incapacitated; and left, making his way to the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Her father needed to know this; he could take her to the hospital afterward.

- Yajuu Satoru. It's a pleasure to meetcha. I'll be your personal knight from now on, hime.

He laughed as he heard a semi amused snort, and laughed a little harder when he felt the heat coming from her face.

- I'm Ayame. I'll be Genin in a week…though I'll hold you to that, oh dear knight.

She smiled and turned her head up to meet his eyes, making him smile back at her. Satoru was amazed at the fact that she would not let this sway her from her decision; of course, receiving a beating would be something of a normal occurrence in the shinobi world; but her determination, which showed on her bright brown eyes, was astounding.

- Good to know Ayame-hime. I'll make sure you are strong enough not to need me one day. Soo…tell me about yourself, hime. What's your age? What's your favorite food? You know… the good stuff.

She laughed, but went on to tell him; she was fourteen years old. Her father was reluctant to let her attend the academy and she ended up going a few years later; and after a few more questions from both sides, they engaged in a light chat, the events of the academy pushed to the back of the teen's head.

* * *

- …and you should have seen his face when I told him that he'd stay outside for the month, by himself.

He finished as Ayame looked at him, torn between laughing at Naruto's misfortune and smacking the Jonin for his carelessness about her little brother's health. An amused smirk made its way to her face, and she ended up she shaking her head, trying not to show it.

- And guess what? I'll be doing the same to you!

He was watching her intently, and as her head shot back up, her eyes meeting his own with a dumbfounded expression on her face, he laughed. Oh yeah, messing with these young guys was quite fun actually. Satoru had been walking at a somewhat reduced pace with her on his arms, he didn't want to move to fast since he didn't know if it would hurt her worse than she was already. They had been talking for the last few minutes, and she had calmed down considerably; he did tell her not to dwell on it too much, she should focus on becoming stronger, strong enough to prevent things like this from ever happening again; he usually wouldn't care as much, he'd probably stop those guys and then alert the Anbu and the Hokage about their activities. But there was something about this kid; when he saw her like that, beaten and nearly broken, and after that the care free personality she'd shown as she played along, letting him try and ease up the tension and distract her from the pain; _she has you nearly gift wrapped already_.

**- Ayame!**

Both of them gave a slight jump at the voice, and Satoru noticed the soft gasp of pain that came from the teen. He had been quite lost in thought, and didn't notice when they were passing by the stand that her father ran. The old chef stopped when he was face to face – _more like face to neck really… - _and punched the Jonin with all the force he could muster. Satoru stumbled back a few steps, before composing himself and looking at the chef who was holding the fist he had hit Satoru with and gave the old man an incredulous look.

- What the **fuck**, old man!

**- What have you done to my daughter!?**

- …you know if I had done anything I'd never come **here**, right? What I did was save her from attempted rape. Hokage-sama, two Chunin instructors had cornered her in a classroom – a sealed classroom, if I may add – and had her beaten. I dealt with both as I saw fit. You should look into it sir, it doesn't seem like the first case, or the last if the preparations they went through are any indication.

Satoru then looked at Ayame, who glared at her father groggily and gave a small smile.

- Well then, report given and father warned. And now it's time to visit the hospital, my lady.

He chuckled as both of them melted away; his personal way of shunshin; the lava they left behind disappeared before ever touching the stone floor of Ichiraku's.

* * *

He was sitting on a chair by her bed; she had basically begged him to be there; and the only indication he gave of acknowledging the new presences in the room was a slight shift of his head; he had leaned backwards on his seat closing his eyes and enjoying the quiet moment he had.

- What you did was a little too brutal, don't you think?

A snort escaped his lips before he could suppress it. That was his Hokage speaking, the same man who said his job was to secure his village; safeguard his citizens and, whenever possible, his shinobi population.

- Permission to speak freely, sir?

- Granted.

- Thank you. Do you really believe what I did was too brutal? How many others had to go through this same situation!? How many other will have to? Aren't you obliged by your duties to safeguard your citizens? Well, where is this security when their daughters are being held and forced into these situations? Fuck it sir, if anything I was too **kind**!

Satoru then heard an appreciative grunt – _probably her father _– and a small gasp. He would never speak like that to the old man, both of them knew that, but the Hokage didn't know; he never included it on his report; that he had to watch as one of his old teammates was raped again and again on one of their missions to Iwagakure. The thought of such an act made his blood boil, but that the old man would say something like **that! **He took a deep breath turning his head to gaze at the wise leader and waited for a response.

- You know, jiji…Satoru-sensei kinda has a point. Isn't there supposed to be someone running security patrols inside the village? If that is the case, there had to be someone near the Academy during these attacks, again, if that's the case, why didn't they act?

Naruto, who up until that point had been discussing his idea with Kurama, had spoken for the first time since they saw Ayame beaten. He wanted to do something himself; anything at all, after all no one hurt his nee-chan! But when he saw Satoru and the way he said he dealt with both men relieved him a little.

Since then he had this suspicion; when he ran pranks on the village, be it simply painting someone's hair pink or making all the Hyuuga's underwear vanish; there was always an Anbu patrol nearby. He literally had their routes committed to memory to be able to avoid them, during and after his pranks.

Noticing the silence, he looked up; He'd been more than a little embarrassed to speak during such a serious situation; to see the shocked face of the old man, the equally shocked but also proud eyes of his sensei and Teuchi.

- …Naruto-kun, you are quite correct. In fact this demands investigation. If you will excuse me, I must check and summon the patrolling teams.

As soon as he finished, the Sandaime disappeared by way of the common Konoha shunshin, a smoke cloud and a small swirl of leaved appearing in his place. As soon as he was gone, both Teuchi and Naruto walked to the bed's side and looked upon the slumbering form of Ayame; who, both noticed, had an iron grip on Satoru's hand; and smiled softly.

- Ne…sensei, what will I be training in this month?

Satoru looked at the boy, a feral grin slowly coming to his face.

- This month we'll work on your agility….but take the week off, talk to the Kyuubi and whatnot, she probably has things to share with you. Things that the rest of us are not allowed telling you, hmm? – At this Naruto heard a gasp from inside his head, making his curiosity sky-rocket. – Besides, she's a Kitsune, and judging from your tail, so are you. The best person to show you a fox's style of battle; speed and trickery; would be her. I'll be staying here for this week, Ayame asked me to stay…oh and do remember to keep your weights on at all times, okay?

With that, Satoru rested his head once more against the wall as he got as comfortable as he could on the chair next to Ayame's bed.

- What do you mean fighting style?

He sighed, _knew the kid was gonna ask that_. He didn't move from his new position, it was the best so far, and so all he did was speak, his eyes still closed and his head leaning slightly to the right, resting on the edge of the bed.

- It's like this kid. The Yajuu clan is composed by all sorts of half animals. I'm a lion type, of which only one is born every generation – you know, the whole king of beasts thing? Yeah applies to us too – and the lion's fighting style is mainly power with quick bursts of speed to back it up when necessary. Seeing as you are a fox, and foxes are known for their trickery – and in the shinobi world that means genjutsu – I'm willing to bet you'll be using that in you fighting style, together with speed, which is also a trait of foxes – at least that is what I'm aware of, could be wrong, haven't gone through the whole of the clan's library yet – and as such only another fox could teach you this fighting style, luckily for you, you have the strongest of them in your belly. Now go enjoy your time with your _mate._

His last word came out as a purr, because at that time, Ayame had moved in her bed, her unoccupied hand finding its way to his head and she unconsciously started petting him. It did serve to make Naruto blush though, not that he saw it.

Back at the Yajuu compound; _who knew a whole clan compound could be created __**inside**__ the Forest of Death!;_ Naruto was sitting at the room that Satoru had given him the month before. His mind was revolving along one topic. He walked with old man Teuchi back to the stand, where he lived, and then started his trek toward the compound; Satoru had been kind enough to point it out in a map, since he still didn't memorize where it was. By the time he had gotten home; his pace had been much slower and quieter, he was still replaying some of the things that were said that day in his head; the moon was high in the sky and the creatures of the Forest were prowling about like they owned it _which in a way is true_.

- Kurama-chan, what did sensei mean with something no one else can tell me?

As he finished speaking, he felt his consciousness forced into the seal; Kurama was calling. She seemed nervous, her hands fumbling at the bottom of her strange dress, her head was bowed down. She didn't know how he'd react to this bit of news; she was keeping things from him; _Smart, saying outright that you __**can't**__ tell him…damnit._

- Fine…well, you see…I told you I was sealed throughout my existence, right – he nodded – w-well, thing is…one of these people in whom I was sealed was your mother…y-you could say I-I know who both your parents are.

Naruto's eyes widened at this. She knew his mother! He wanted to get her to hurry up, but it was probably taking a lot of willpower to say that to him so he decided to be patient; this was something worth being patient for, after all; and nodded slowly.

- W-well…yo-your mother was Uzumaki Kushina, Konoha's Red-Hot Habanero. She was very kind, even to someone like me. She'd come here when she was pregnant with you have us spend time together. She said she wanted me to meet you one day. In the end, she had thrown herself between you and me as I was under the control of an Uchiha; S-she might s-still be al-alive if…

Sometime during her explanation, Kurama had fallen to her knees and started sobbing while still forcing herself to finish the tale. She stopped suddenly, feeling arms wrapping around her.

- It's okay…you were not yourself then. Sure she might still be alive; lots of thing might have happened, but we can't trap ourselves on the "what if"s in life. You are your own per…uhh…demoness now, and you have been showing me that you cared, and still do. That is enough.

Naruto had listened with his utmost attention as Kurama explained to him about his mother. He giggled at the nickname; to him it was funny as hell. He felt himself, although relieved to know about her, more worried about the sadness Kurama seemed to be going through. _They did know each other over a long time_, he reminded himself. He couldn't really bond over memories that were not his own; with someone he never met.

They stayed like that a while and he had started playing with her hair. He heard her purr as he continued and smiled, apparently she liked it. He felt her shaking stop, she seemed to be calming down; she was still crying, the memories seemed to be resurfacing of their times together; and he placed his forehead on hers, looking into her eyes and smiling.

- Hey…we don't need to talk about this if it makes you sad. I like seeing you smile, so you don't have to do this if you become saddened, okay?

She smiled back at him; he was quite mature for someone his age. She nodded, placing a hand at his cheek and rubbing his whisker-like marks, which caused him to purr at the sensation.

- Don't worry, Naruto-kun. You need to know this…your father…can't say I know him, actually. Kushina did not trust me enough to let me see things through her eyes, or hear things she heard, but she would say he was quite gentle and caring to her…he did freak out when he learned she was pregnant though…his name was Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage and Konoha's Yellow Flash and he was the man who put me here, inside you.

That got a reaction. Naruto's eyes widened to comical proportions as he drew back and almost shrieked. _My father is the man I've been looking up to! My idol! What are the odds hahahaha…_

He sat down, his breathing was becoming faster. _Why would he seal her in me though? His son?...well my mother was a Jinchuuriki before me, so maybe it's something about being an Uzumaki? Anyway…can't really say I blame him. Hell, even if I did blame him, I couldn't be mad, if he hadn't I'd never meet Kura-chan!...fuck she hear this didn't she?_

Blushing, Naruto looked over toward Kurama, who was looking away to hide her own blush.

- A-anyway…n-now that that's out of the way, your sensei did tell you I could help you with a fox's fighting style, right? Let's get to it!

AN – 1: Yo, sorry for not posting yesterday, but I've been packing some stuff since we'll be moving soon. I'll try to put a chapter between tomorrow or the day after that, but it's been pretty hectic so I dunno…it'll be back to norm in a week or two tho, so be patient, please.

2: Naruto seems too mature? Yeah sorry about that, but I didn't want him being like in cannon since I can't really stand how he's portrayed. That plus having to avoid people for a living and being beaten and all, I feel like it would force his mind to become more focused or at least being able to think things through before doing them…

That's that, thanks for reading…review if you liked it, I do appreciate the feedback o/  
See ya


	4. Chapter 3 - The Past

Checked again…still don't own Naruto…damn.

* * *

It had been one year since he started training with Toru-niichan. The two of them had developed a sibling like relationship, Satoru would train him, take him out to eat ramen whenever they could; and spend time with Ayame in the process; and protect him whenever he wanted to go for a walk around the village on festival days. His probation time had been extended for two more years – this was a courtesy of the Hokage, to give them time to prepare the young Naruto for his own time in the Academy – and they'd mostly keep to themselves, inside the Forest of Death, where no one would really dare enter, fearing the beasts would devour them.

Naruto had developed pretty well over the year. His previous, malnourished stature was replaced by a muscular; but not too muscular, he preferred his speed over his nii-chan's absurd strength; build. He was now standing 4'5" tall, his hair had started to grow out; Naruto had said he wanted a cool hair like his nii-chan; ad was now just below his neck, having changed from the normal messy spikes to a straight style hair. His fighting ability had also improved quite a bit, and together with Kurama, he was able to come up with his own style; the one Kurama had shown him did not fit well with his personality, the style would have him going easy at first to determine his opponent's weak point and exploit them; and he had come up with something that he thought was perfect for him. Instead of finding a weakness on the opponent's style, Naruto would use his speed coupled with his unholy stamina to provoke his opponent into attacking and then dodge around them, having them tire out while he preserved himself. He'd allow some hit to land, even faking surprise when it happened to goad the opponent into thinking they had the upper hand at one point or another, making sure they'd renew their efforts.

It was hardly the only weapon in his arsenal, or deadliest, and he did like the trickery part of being a fox; the prankster in him in particular loved his newfound sense of mischief; so he had developed another style of combat, but this one revolved around his stealth, he'd use some minor, concentrated illusions; his developing Yōki was then used as base for his Genjutsu, since it was more potent than normal chakra, and therefore made it harder for the jutsu to be broken; and have himself disappear from the opponent's senses, and once he was invisible, he if he spoke, his voice surrounded the enemy, making it harder to pinpoint his location.

A month after he started training on his new fighting style, Anko came to his sensei's compound for a visit, and after a few days of trading insults with Naruto, she had decided she was going to help him with his chakra training herself.

- I said **I** wouldn't train you in anything else, I never said Anko-hime wouldn't take an interest in your development, kiddo.

The look on his face when Satoru had spoken must have been priceless, because it took all of ten minutes before either Anko or he could even speak again. As his lessons progressed, Satoru would join him in his training, saying that his own chakra control had been shot to hell and he hadn't felt like trying to keep it up to par until that point. They would make a friendly competition of it; whenever Naruto completed a step of the tree walking exercise before him, Satoru would treat him to Ichiraku's, and if the contrary happened, he would go alone and Naruto was forbidden to even get close to the stand. Of course, that led to many visits to the chef and his daughter for the three of them, Satoru's treat.

After another month of this and his usual training, Anko left for another assassination assignment, and it was only the two of them again. The day after she left, Satoru had grinned his maniacal grin, reserved for the more brutal lessons, and just yelled "dodge" before he chased after the young blond, a hail of kunai and shuriken on the kid's tail. It was always like this, he appreciated the fact that thanks to that his reaction time was astounding, his overall speed on par with most Jonin of the village, but he could never shake the feeling that sometimes his sensei just wanted to hurt him.

On a lighter note, his relationship with Kurama had developed quite nicely as well, his constant visits for training on theory of the foxes fighting ability and control of his yōki usually extended into constant chats about themselves, each other's personality and ever his training under Satoru. She had started trusting him enough to promise not to keep any secrets from him anymore, and he had promised the same, though both admitted that was nigh impossible for him, since she was inside his head and could see and hear everything he did. Satoru, a few days after that had called the young hanyou to his room and said they needed to have a talk long overdue. _Boy was that a shocker…._

* * *

**† Flashback †**

- Kid, remember when we went to the Hokage for your first report, three months ago and he said that because of things that happened long ago I was on probation? Well, it's time you knew what happened…

- I had just come back from a mission that had us going to Iwagakure to meet up our allied teammates, and had finished my report to the Hokage and went to find Anko, who was usually training with her Sensei, Orochi of the Sannin. That was when I first heard that her sensei was starting to plan leaving the village, and she was of course considering joining her. Orochi had always meant a lot to her, she was someone Anko said she could depend on, who she admired. You can probably guess I was quite shaken by that so I left, not really saying much – after all we had been together for years until that point, you know, the whole us against the world thing – and went back to the Forest of Death, to try and cool off.

- I didn't expect Orochi to take an interest in my kekkei genkai though, and the night her and Anko left to "train away from the village" I was beaten and taken by one of her mud clones, which of course humiliated me to no end, I was supposed to have low- Jonin grade Taijutsu after all, and she had me beat in barely three moves…anyways, I woke up when we got to a base of theirs, somewhere in Nami no Kuni and I was to be held as one of her guinea pigs; you see Orochi is like a mad scientist, she wants to put things that shouldn't blend together and see what the results give her; and here is where the fun really started…

- First I was to be given the blood of one of her other subjects; she had been gathering "resources" for a few years, apparently; and injected that into me; of course, she had taken enough of my blood to create a small army of beasts by then. She would usually say that my kekkei genkai was poison to others, since my blood seemed to kill whoever got it. At one point I remember her saying that she should inject it in Anko to see if she would react to it differently, but I knew she wouldn't and tried to force an agreement of sorts with her. She'd leave Anko alone and in exchange I'd willingly do whatever she needed, no matter what it was; again, she had to leave Anko alone, no harm could befall her; and she just grinned at me. "Deal" she laughed and I knew I had played right into her hands…I think she never really forgave me for saving **Nonō**-chan from her and Danzo. But that's another story.

- She had me with her for most of her travels, and whenever she saw something she became interested in, she would have me capture the person or kill off their whole village, just so she could "persuade" them into joining her little entourage. We came across a kid that had a unique ability; he could apparently absorb nature chakra and use it to transform into something of a monster; and she had a field trip with us then. She took the kid he was with under her wing, something about him being sick and one of her underlings being able to cure him, and had me take the kid to one of the labs, where she was going to inject me with his blood; her studies on me told her my body would reject her if she tried taking over – at Naruto's shocked expression, Satoru added a quick "I'll explain later" and continued with his story – she wanted the perfect hound as her personal pet.

- Days later, after she had started her preparations to leave Konoha; she kept saying she should have become Hokage, not that blond idiot of a Namikaze; she came to me and Jugo, with whom I had started something of a friendship, and told us it was time. First she had Kabuto, her personal medic, extract some of Jugo's blood and analyze it, she couldn't have her pet dying on her, she said. After a while, he said that should my body reject it, it would weaken me; something about my cells fighting and killing off the anomaly in his blood; but there was no chance of me dying, but if successful, I'd become something of a leech. You see while Jugo's body adapted to his "anomaly" by absorbing nature chakra, I wouldn't have that, but Kabuto suspected I'd be able to drink blood to fortify myself, resulting in rapid healing and, if I drink someone dry, their elemental chakra.

- And so Kabuto injected me. Boy did it hurt. I could feel my body reacting to Jugo's blood…if I'm being honest here; I think I did die that day, for ten seconds, my heart stopped. When I came back, I heard Orochi berating Kabuto for his failed analysis of the situation. I probably shouldn't have, but I remember saying "Aw…so you do care" and Jugo snickering beside me. –Naruto giggled – She rounded on me, coming to stand beside the bed where I was laying and examining me with a medical jutsu. She was so happy her little pet was alive, and stronger than before, since the procedure had been successful, she kissed me then. It had no emotion, it was probably a way to try and make me become infatuated with her; and before you ask, yes it did work, a little; and as soon as that was over she came to me with a vial. It read "Uzumaki" so I knew that she had been to Konoha's hospital at least once more before that. She told me that now I had the potential for power, now I needed the chakra reserves.

- I was skeptical, the Uzumaki blood was known for unnatural amounts of chakra, longevity and their skill in Fuinjutsu; you see my clan was also known for their Fuinjutsu but they were annihilated long before we could create something too "dangerous", so the only creations we have are around the compound somewhere; and that led to the other villages fearing them, Fuinjutsu is not exactly an area where one would concentrate their efforts, and so when the Uzumaki became too great a threat, the other nations – besides Konoha, I think. – joined their military prowess and killed them off…but I digress…she injected that in me, and I was sure it would have no effect, but I forgot to take Jugo into account.

- Somehow his **condition **made it so the Uzumaki blood combined with the anomaly in his own, and thus – here he concentrated his chakra into his hand, showing off the dark aura it became, his eyes changing slowly to red – it changed me. I became something else, not even Orochi was ready for that, I could see the widening of her eyes as my chakra exploded, the darkness present in Jugo's blood condition seeped into my tenketsu, and it became a black color. My eyes changed to blood red and my personality became twisted, I wanted to kill everything; torture first of course, I wanted to have some fun before they were allowed to die; and for a moment that scared her, and I relished in that feeling.

- But I soon learned that while stronger, that made my chakra control go back to Academy Student levels, and I could barely concentrate enough of it to create a jutsu. It did serve to awaken a dormant part of my bloodline though, the _Yōton_. I made quite a mess of some of the equipment that day. Orochi, being the bitch she is, wanted to test the new power of her pet, and sent me to travel, she told me that I was to assimilate as many elements as I could, before coming back to her; and so I left, heading east, past Konoha. I was somewhere between Hi no Kuni and Kaminari no Kuni when I came upon a strange Island. There were many strong chakra signatures there, and so I went there. It was for Anko-chan's protection, I told myself.

- I came upon a group of scientists; and I'll admit I grew to hate that job and what it entailed; and looked for the strongest one. I am no sensor, so I simply went with the one strong enough for me to be able to feel even without that ability. I went underground; a huge chakra signature was located there. There was this giant…**thing **and it was going berserk, it had killed a few of the men trying to contain it, and my blood seemed to pump faster through my body. A challenge, I thought. My chakra poured out of me, my eyes bled to a red color and I rushed to the fight, I was idle for long enough.

- It becomes something of a haze after a while, I was become more and more sadistic as time went by, and the beast seemed to sense this, as I started laughing and trying to cut it open instead of just suppressing it like I was asked to. You see, summon beasts can be killed, if you either do so before they can disappear back to their own homes, or if you are already there and the beast has nowhere to run to; and that thing had been created in that island…and I wanted blood, I was thirsty, my body demanded it, screamed at me to take everything, to not let them have a drop of the delicious meal presented to me; well that is what I remember from the fight, those thoughts repeating over and over.

- I remember coming back to reality inside a containment seal, my body was completely healed up but I could see that there were places where my own blood had stained my body; I can't absorb my own blood after all, that would be redundant; and a girl in front of me, her face torn between utter fear of me, and concern **_for_** me. I looked around and saw that whatever I had done, there were husks all over. I fell to my knees then, I started calling myself a monster, and I wanted to die. I never wanted to kill any of those men, I was going to kill only the beast that had attacked them and leave to find another deserving prey…I cried, and I was so distracted by my own loathing that I didn't feel the seal being lifted, and I nearly missed the fact that someone had hugged me.

- She thanked me…**_thanked me _**for saving her life and allowing her to live. She told me that during my fight with their "Ultimate Summon Beast" I had become quite injured and had devoured some of the doctors to restore myself. It was then that I vowed never to use that ability again…of course, I didn't know then, but my body quickly became addicted to the consuming of someone else's life force… She asked me to take me with her, and I of course, denied, saying that the person I worked for didn't deserve someone, like her…she seemed too kind for me to allow something so cruel to happen to her. I told her I could take her to Konoha instead, and I would make sure she was protected and looked out for while there.

- At this point Satoru stopped for a moment, just like he did several other times that day and took a sip from a glass of…wine…he had beside him. He waited a moment longer this time; he was getting to the part where he met the kid's parents after all. He had told Naruto he was not allowed to speak about them before, and now he could only pray that the boy had picked up on that.

- During the travel back, she and I started talking. I learned that her name was Honoka and that she was something of a seals enthusiast, much like I was. She said that she could teach me some of what she knew if I promised to take her out someday – which I never did…she'll probably kill me when she sees me next time – and I agreed, of course, she had enough knowledge to be hired to seal off that abomination in the island, so I had faith she'd be able to teach me quite a bit.

- We got to Konoha about a week later; two months after I initially set out; and at the gates I asked for the Hokage, saying it was about a possible Uzumaki – I didn't know if she was one or not, but she did share some traits with Kushina-sama – and almost instantly the man appeared before me, Namikaze Minato. I knew I had to act fast since he had this scowl in his face and he seemed to be ready to tear me a new one; so I introduced him to Honoka, told him of her ability with Fuinjutsu and asked him to compare her traits to that of Kushina, because beside her eyes, they looked like they could be sisters, if the few times I saw the woman were any indication.

- He stopped for a moment and analyzed her. She seemed to shrink, and it was like she tried to hide herself from him. I remember telling her that I'd never let anyone hurt her, and saying something about her hair, which made the Hokage laugh, and the tension seemed to dissipate as his demeanor made a complete turn for the better. He told us that he had a way of know her ancestry with a comparison between her DNA and his wife's; at this point I saw his gaze linger on my forehead, I never took my Konoha protector off, but he simply told us to follow him and started for the hospital, asking one Anbu to call for his wife as we walked.

- It took a total of an hour to reach a conclusion, but Honoka's blood was similar to Kushina's own, if a little less "potent" because of the generations between her and a real, full blooded, Uzumaki's blood. They started speculating on possibilities of her blood inheritance focusing on their easy sealing mastery, and I honestly lost interest in the conversation, so I let my mind wander back to Orochi, if she had done anything to my Anko because of the delay of my return – yes kid I said my Anko, it was how I thought back then, and it's how I still do – I wondered if she had any intention of keeping her end of the bargain from the start but by this point my worries became fear for Anko's life. I had to go back, to make sure she was fine.

- I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder and looked up. Kushina must have tuned the scientific conversation out herself as she was looking at me with some concern – I must have let my worry show on my expressions – and asked if she could help me with anything. The look she gave me then seemed quite like the one on Honoka's face when she embraced me, and I couldn't help but blush as I answered, in a hushed voice; I thought that if I spoke too loudly **_she_** would hear me and then she would really hurt Anko; that no one could help me, and that I needed to leave soon, someone I cared for could be in danger if I didn't leave soon.

- She frowned at me but nodded and quietly sent me away, she said that even though she didn't know if she could trust me, she was a good judge of character, and I seemed to be an honest person to her; and so I left, leaping out the window and using all the speed I had then to run away from the village I was sworn to protect. I do remember seeing her whisper something to Minato-sama as I turned away though; probably asking him to let me leave.

- And so I went back, another week and I was inside that snake's grasp again, and she told me Anko had willingly left her care to go back to Konoha, and to honor our deal, she simply let her. I had no real choice but to believe the woman, I couldn't exactly go to Konoha and search for Anko, she'd notice my absence. I reluctantly said I'd remain with her as long as she kept her end of the deal. If Anko was safe that was all I cared about. She laughed, of course, and told me that such dedication had to be rewarded, and took me to the lab where she proceeded to implant in me the eyes of an Uchiha that had the unfortunate mission of tracking her down. The operation was successful, but she was unaware of that fact, because somehow my body adapted to it, and I am able to activate and deactivate the doujutsu at will. I dismissed it as Jugo's blood working its magic in my favor. Time passed as she trained me, she saw that I seemed to prefer Taijutsu and we stuck to that, she asked me to show her my style, and helped me master it, and implement a few twists and turns here and there; she made me learn her own style, saying that being a one trick pony was not something I wanted if I was to be her bodyguard.

- Five months later she told me that she was going to infiltrate an organization and ordered me to keep Otogakure under control while she was away; I was the strongest shinobi under her thumb by then. After she left; she made sure, during our months training together, to flirt and sometimes kiss me…and by then I was quite in love with the woman; keep it under control I did. I would punish anyone for failure in their assignments, I would reward acts of loyalty and I made sure everyone was happy – as much as one could be, living in an underground facility like we did – I wanted her to see I was dependable, to start cherishing me as more than just a valuable pet to keep on the leash…

- I had started talking with the people in the village, there were the funny ones…Tayuya, she had quite the mouth on her, she'd call me Orochi's fuck toy; and to be honest we never did anything like that; and I'd let her because mine was the better of all the nicknames. Jirobo was the useless fatass, Sakon and Ukon became the parasite fuckers, and Kimimaro was the asthmatic bitch. There were more but her name calling is not the story here.

- I had come across Jugo's cell; Orochi told him that she had yet to understand how his blood worked, and therefore she couldn't reverse his "problem". We talked for a while, and it was then I learned that she had done something with him; she had said that his blood would help her create the perfect army at first, but then something happened, something about field testing and only Anko surviving. I lost the rest of his explanation as I shot back to the labs, Kabuto would know something about that, if anything happened to my Anko he'd be the first on the list to die…if something had indeed happened and he let it…if he helped…

- My body once more became the "victim" of my new blood. My black chakra shot out of me as I tore a new opening to the medical bay, and Kabuto looked at me in surprise. I had yelled **_"What did you do to my Anko!" _**and it was also the first time that I heard my own voice when I was changed; it was quite distorted, it was like I was trying to speak and roar at the same time, and the result was a guttural shout. He denied answering me at first, but I showed him my patience was very low, and he didn't want to mess with me as I was.

- He hesitated; it was obviously a secret Orochi never wanted divulged; and slowly he said that Orochi had been studying the cells in Jugo's blood, the transformation, to be precise, and she was trying to come with a way to use that. He said that she had somehow learned of a way to place a seal on people, a seal that had said cells as part of the equation. They had tested it on ten people, Anko being one of them, and that she was the sole survivor of that ordeal. I told him that for being honest, and being the son of my dear Nonō-chan, he'd stay alive; but anyone that tried to stop me from going back to Konoha, and by extension, to Anko, would die…slowly.

- Resuming it, I left Otogakure that day, and thinned its population by a few dozens. It was also then that I discovered that unless the person whom I drained has the same affinity I do, all my life consuming would do was regenerate me. I ran back to Konoha, desperate to find Anko, to make sure she was safe, and to keep anyone from ever coming close to harming her again.

- I tore through the gates, only yelling my name and stating that the Hokage expected me back and went to the training ground Orochi and Anko would practice at; to no avail, she was not there, nor was she anywhere I looked at first. And it was then I remembered that she knew where I lived, and so I ran to the compound, inside the Forest. She had been sleeping in my bed when I finally found her, she was whimpering with a hand on her shoulder. The pillow was a little wet which made obvious the fact she had been crying; and I vowed to one day be able to rid her of everything that hurt her one day – I was in love with her even back then, but I was too afraid to tell her about it, since I never told her why I chose to serve, or that I had, for all intents and purposes become a monster – and went to the Hokage Tower. It was about one or two years before you were born, I reported everything that was done to me, to the blood transfusions to the implant, to all the missions I did under her tutelage, to the deal I did to protect Anko, and finally I told them about the Cursed Seal she invented.

- The council convened on that day, and while it was agreed that my newfound abilities were kekkei genkai and that I would pass it to my children – which was their nice way of commanding me to breed weapons – I was put on probation for the next ten years as punishment for serving a traitor willingly and for possibly assisting on creating an army of possible weapons to be used against Konoha. It was light punishment, but I remembered they wanted their breeder to be alive in the end. I was to report once a year for psychological evaluation and I was to head toward the hospital to run blood tests to see if I'd really pass my kekkei genkai onto my children or not.

- I thankfully learned that I couldn't pass on the Sharingan, although my body assimilated with it, the Uchiha blood had been crushed under the power of Jugo's and my own. I will however pass on the Uzumaki and Cursed – the council took to naming it that way – blood to my kids. Yondaime-sama had been with me during the testing and I asked…begged even that he not allow them to force my cursed genes into children. I knew what it was able to do, and no kid should become what I am because they were **_born_**. He said it was out of his hands, and while I knew it was a lie; A Kage's word is final, the council gives just that, council, not orders; I had to abide by that decision. It did a number on my respect for the man, not that I had any before that.

Satoru had to stop an outburst from Naruto at this point. He knew he'd react like this, but he promised never to lie or keep secrets from the kid again, so honest he'd be, even if his words hurt.

- "Hey! He was a great Hokage!" Or something to that effect, right? Yeah, he might have been, but being a great Hokage and being a great person are two different things. I can respect placing the need of the village above the need of a father – he looked towards Naruto's stomach at this point – but remember, a Hokage needs to be able to understand the long term damage his decision will bring ever before doing them. I detailed to them what my Cursed Blood did, that I became a monster the longer it went one, that I became addicted to consuming other people's lives. Now tell me, how long till my children lose control because of the loss of a comrade, or for being angered by trivial matters inside the village? I know I'll never put Konoha above my family, this is why I have issues with what was done to you…anyway back to the story…

- For the next years, Honoka and Kushina helped me with my Fuinjutsu, and I'll be honest kid, I developed a crush on her, she was kind and fun loving, but also headstrong and decided, something I value – look at the women I started falling for; Anko, Nonō, Ayame, Kushina, Honoka, and although I hate myself for it, Orochi – and I kept them near, I only visited the city for Anko, and I knew she was the least likely to turn me down after learning the truth. Nonō was too kind, but she also had her beliefs that demons shouldn't be allowed in our plane of existence; and I feared she'd call me one once I told her; Honoka was the same, I remembered the unrestrained fear that I saw in her eyes the day I killed the "Ultimate Summon" – here he actually raised both arms to create air quotations, which made Naruto giggle. – And I couldn't face her. Kushina, well she was married, and she loved her husband very dearly, you could **_feel_** their love when near them.

- And so I pushed the others away, keeping the one I considered to be closest to my heart near me. I did know her for a while. We frequented the Academy Together, I was in her team during the Chunin Exams, and although she was the only one who passed; I was considered too brutal and reckless, which were not qualities they want in their Chunin. During the time that Kushina-sama and Honoka helped me with my Fuinjutsu training, I was contacted by one of Orochi's spies in Konoha. They said that she was not done "tempering" with her "toy" and if I ever resisted, Anko would suffer double the pain I ever did. So I let them, at first I didn't know what else she could force into me, but she ended up surprising me when she injected me so much poisons my body either developed immunity or shut down completely. I thank my Cursed Blood every day for living past that, even if I am not sure if it is the only factor that kept me breathing.

- You know, even though I hate my kekkei genkai, it is one of the main reasons I live to this day, now that I think about it…talk about irony…anyway…

- She'd do a few more experiments, she tried giving me a cursed seal, but since I already had Jugo's blood it was rendered useless, and the fragment of her conscience in me, though learning a few well kept secrets, was forced away, back to the original, I presume…I was them implanted with the blood of a Jashinist, with did nothing for me, since it is not a kekkei genkai. Though I confess that it tastes delicious…

- And the Kyuubi attack happened, I helped Honoka in evacuating a few civilian buildings, and together we ended up saving a few people who would most likely be dead if we hadn't. I saved Iruka's parents, and she ended up saving the Yuhi clan head. And that save cost her life…I went to her, and I spent her last moment by her side, I couldn't…I wouldn't leave her. I remember she asked me to kiss her before she died, saying that she had learned to love the real me, even with my sadistic fighting side.

- And I think the rest is history, gaki. I gained the Mangekyo that day…death of someone close to your heart indeed.

Satoru finished his tale, his eyes never left Naruto's own, and he offered a small smile to the blond.

- I don't want to lie to you anymore, nor will I keep information from you ever again...so I told you some of my past, I promise to tell more at a later date, but for one night this is enough, no?

Naruto nodded dumbly, both he and Kurama had been shocked to hear some of the things that happened to his sensei. To think that he'd offer himself as a willing test subject to keep someone else safe! Naruto didn't know if he'd have the same guts to willingly do some of the things he did for someone else. He had his jiji and Ayame and Teuchi but Jiji was Hokage for a reason, Ayame had Satoru and that by extension meant Teuchi did as well. Kurama was the strongest of the demon siblings in the continents, and she probably wouldn't need his help either. Naruto looked to the wind as he thought it over. His sensei had proven himself becoming stronger and stronger, even if by machinations of Orochi, but it was for someone else. He might have his own ambitions, but it was the drive to protect Anko from danger that kept him moving forward, never giving up. He went against the Hokage's orders to return to her side, even if not knowing she was already on her way back.

Maybe…when you have someone you want to protect, no matter what, is when you become powerful? Truly…powerful. But…who do I have? Kurama…well, she is trapped in me and she said that if I die…so would she…so I have to become strong enough that I can stay alive, and protect her! Right?

For the first time in a while, there was no answer, as he had to work out his resolve on his own, and even though dying was not on her to do list, Kurama liked him enough not to sway him into creating a faux resolve he didn't really believe in. She wanted him to have his own way, his own life goals. His boasting of being Hokage one day had ended a while ago, during their initial talks. She had been able to put in his head that even though the Hokage was acknowledged by the people, he had to first have enough experience that the world knew who he was, not just one village. And as such he should create first a lesser goal, like becoming an accomplished master of a fighting style, or of Fuinjutsu, like his parents were.

Naruto kept thinking about the story Satoru had been telling for the last two hours. He didn't see as the man got up from his seat, and excusing himself, saying that he was going to bed early for the day, the story had taken a mental toll on him, walked away.

**† End Flashback †**

* * *

After that day Naruto had grown to respect the man he had called sensei. It didn't take much longer from that to start calling him nii-chan. Satoru did tell him that he'd always be there for him, and that he would never place the need of other above the needs of his own family. And that was something the kid needed someone who would not abandon them on orders from their superiors, no matter what.

Both he and Satoru discovered that Ayame and Anko had eavesdropped on the story, and while initially mad at him for thinking they'd turn him away because of what was done to him, they soon forgave him, Anko saying that since she was his girlfriend – they had been going out during this last year – she had dibs on him as first wife; was he shocked on that, his deadline was drawing dangerously close, and he had not taken even one of the five they demanded.

Satoru did warn him that the Uzumaki and Namikaze had bloodlines as well and he would likely be in the kekkei genkai continuation law. That shut him up pretty fast. At first he doubted anyone would want to be with him, but Satoru had pointed to himself and told him that **_"If a true demon can find someone, a demon container surely will too."_**

He had been to the Hokage at the end of his first year with Satoru and heard as his surrogate older brother told the Hokage that his skill in Taijutsu could rival that of an accomplished Jonin, like Genma, Yondaime's personal guard. But his other ones, as were not part of the deal were still only on par with Academy kids. Naruto was supposed to attend to the academy after all, having everything under the belt would be unfair to the other children – _I call bullshit, most clans will train their brats to the best till then_ – and it would make sense that he had good hand to hand; living the way he did.

- Requesting permission to train the brat in Kenjutsu, sir.

- Why?

- It would prove to be good balance with the style he's chosen for himself, and who knows, we might have our own version of _Kirigakure no Kijin. _Konohagakure no Kijin…it does roll easy doesn't it?

- Hmm…I might allow it…if he shows proficiency with a sword by the age of thirteen. That gives you…less than four years.

Satoru grinned and saluted at the Hokage, before placing a hand at the boy's shoulder and using his Yōton Shunshin to appear back at the entrance to his Forest.

- You heard the old man, brat…I have four years to beat a Kenjutsu style into you…so…DODGE!

He cackled as Naruto scrambled away, kunai and shuriken following closely behind him. _Ahh…the joys of life._ Satoru laughed to himself as he chased his surrogate brother back to the compound, making him dodge thrown weapons the whole journey. He did it mostly for the fun of it, having accepted his sadistic side as part of him, since it wouldn't leave even if he wanted it to; but this hobby of his also helped prepare the kid, his opponents would never even yell dodge, so he needed to be quick and think on his feet, react to the minimal change in the other's body language. He didn't use his Sharingan much, but he did learn how to read a few sign from using it.

As they entered their shared home, Satoru took Naruto to the armory and told him to take the weapon that felt best in his hands, it didn't matter which type of weapon it was, he could train him in it.

- Don't touch the axe though…that one's mine!

He yelled back as he went to the library, to find a few scrolls on swords and sword fighting types. He took one about wakizashi, one about katana and a last one about nodachi. He went back to Naruto in time to see the kid pick a wakizashi from one of the stands and turn to him, nodding to himself in satisfaction.

- Okay kid…let's start on that one then…

He had spoken in a light tone, with an actually happy smile at that. It confused Naruto for a moment, he had started believing Satoru would jump at the chance to cause him pain. It dawned upon him a moment later why his older brother was happy, he had said the axe was his, and what was in the center of the room was no axe, that one an abomination!

It seemed like a giant weapon, it was easily nearly as tall of Naruto was, and the head of the axe kinda scared him too. It had blades on both sides, and at the middle there was a metal skull that seemed to be screaming in agony. Its handle was wrapped on white bandages, but it was so covered in blood red, he couldn't help but feel someone might have made a mistake when painting it. He didn't want to believe the alternative, not yet anyway. At the end of the handle was a small chain with a fire pendant attached to it. He didn't know what that meant, but if it was attached to that axe, he didn't want to know. He wanted to stay away.

Satoru saw the look of understanding on Naruto's face and laughed to himself. **_Oh yeah, this is going to be so much fun! _**He chuckled darkly as he approached his preferred weapon and drew it from its resting place for the last time. He would not let go of it anymore. In fact, he thought to himself as he unsealed a brush and ink from the red bandage on his left forearm, I'm going to keep in sealed with me from now on; and with that he proceeded to draw the necessary seal on his right forearm bandages. He made sure to make it so the seal would only appear upon activation; this way he'd have an advantage when facing his enemies unarmed.

As he finished up, he connected his axe to the seal array and it *poof'd* away before he concentrated chakra to the seal, smearing some of his blood onto it and the massive weapon appeared on his grasp once more. He grinned satisfied with the results and turned to his apprentice slash victim.

- So…shall we?

* * *

AN: 1: Showing some of the past of the OC. Sorry if it seems like I'm focusing too much on him, but I'm taking advantage that I'm still quite early in the story's timeline and I'm getting some things about him out in the open. There's still more, as I haven't finished messing with the original timeline yet *grins* So, how'd ya like I saved Suiren (dunno if anyone knows her) Nono and Honoka? =3 Well I did kill Honoka off anyway…but it was for a good cause, I swears . I didn't want to ;-;

2: Naruto won't be with Hinata. And to make sure no one bothers me about this I'll put her with the OC. (It's his job after all, take the pairings I don't want to make with Naruto but like the characters too much to just dump 'em on support character that won't appear as much =P) Well, that's half a joke, I had both their pairings pretty much planned out, but I really like Hinata as she turned out in Road to Ninja, so I'll try to make her a liiittle more like that.

3: Naruto's weapon. I know I have it announced since first chapter, but I came to realize the only fighting style I think matches Naruto's style (somewhat) is Aoshi's from Rurouni Kenshin…I'm thinking about either having Naruto learn that or give him another weapon and keep the Wakizashi as a secondary…opinions and ideas on this will be appreciated '-'

Thanks for reading this far…review if you liked it, the feedback is immensely appreciated.

See ya o/


	5. Chapter 4 - Into the Fray

Don't own Naruto, Final Fantasy or any other anime/games referenced in the fic '-'

* * *

It had been another year of hard training; in which Satoru had gotten his and Naruto's clothes filled with weight increasing seals. For Naruto he started light, with about one hundred and ten lb of weight in each limb – his own was five times that weight, which wasn't much, if Orochi's torture – also known as training… - was anything to go by. After sealing their clothes, they spent a week doing basic workout to grow accustomed with the new weight on their bodies; things like running laps in the Forest of Death while dodging and running away from the beasts in there to push ups, sit ups and practice spars. Then there was the start of his weapons training.

At the beginning of the kid's training with his weapon, they concentrated on defensive stances; since there would be no way he'd be able to properly assume an offensive one. Naruto was sure he'd lose his arms as Satoru had him use one arm to block his onslaught. He was obviously holding back his strength and speed since the hanyou could keep up with his speeds and although he was pushed back when blocking, his arms trembled a little but never caved under the pressure of his massive axe. They'd keep sparring like that for an hour, with Satoru pointing out whenever something was wrong with his stance and they'd read back on the scroll to understand how it was supposed to work – Toru-niichan said that he only troubled himself with learning to fight with an axe, so it was both of us learning at that point. – And then go back to sparring. After the first hour Satoru had Naruto change hands; something about being able to change tactics if one arm became disabled; and they were back to sparring defensive stance.

During the first month of that, Naruto could safely say he hated his nii-chan. After every session he felt like his arms were falling off. And whenever he saw that Naruto was getting used to the force of his attacks he added some more to his hits and sped up his movement. It was like that for the next month as well and after that they changed positions; with Naruto learning and charging with his attacking stance, while Satoru would just block and/or dodge his attacks, and would smack him whenever he made a wrong move with the blade or his body – and to be able to tell how it worked, as they spared he had the scroll with the offensive stance in hands and kept reading it. Kurama, between spars, would point a few things he should try out, like changing speed while moving around his target, to try and confuse their senses, and make his attacks less predictable.

And so time went by, another two months had come and gone as Naruto, with the help of Satoru, tried applying Kurama's advice into his fighting style, and they noticed it could work, but the Sharingan made it completely useless; he'd need another pattern to be able to fool the Uchiha's prided eyes. They had then started sparring daily, and at first Satoru had to manually increase the weight added by their seals, but as he kept studying Fuinjutsu he discovered and added to his existing array a combination of seals that would make it so every three months the weight added would increase by extra fifty pounds for Naruto and one hundred for himself. It gave their bodies time to get used to it, and their muscles to be able to fortify; both their accelerated regeneration making sure no damage was done to their muscle tissue; and they would step up their game, trying for more speed, more power. During these months, Satoru had made his relationship with Ayame official, and had asked Anko to marry him, it had been a few years since they had started their relationship and he told her that in their lifestyle any day could be their last one, so he was going to live to the fullest. And after a the ceremony, conducted by the Hokage, since they knew to trust him with its secrecy, Anko had moved from her less than adequate apartment and moved into the clan compound to live with Satoru and her Naru-chan. She had taken a month from her job as an infiltration and assassination specialist to spend time with her husband.

What not even the Hokage knew was that instead of a honeymoon, their idea of a good time was their torture – "Training! It's training!" They'd both yell whenever Naruto pointed it out as torture. He was to exercise his control, which was horrific at the moment; of course Satoru would be the first to realize his own control was still way worse than that, but Anko would just say that he had no choice while the "lazy ass fox tailed bitch" had enough time to work on it during his sparring sessions. And so he and his nii-chan trained to put their control up to par, tree climbing until they could walk up and down the trunk five times without any incidents, and then it was time for their water walking training. At first Naruto thought it would be easy since he was able to do the tree walking with such ease. But because the water is never still, the chakra flow would have to keep up with the movements of the water's surface, focusing more on the spots where the body would still be touching the water rather than just the whole foot.

Anko said that until they could have full sparring matches on top of water without losing focus they would put their other trainings on hold. It was important to have some control over their monstrous reserves. It took both of them five months to be able to master the control exercises that Anko put them through. And at the end of that time, she had asked to be included in their training regime. For that though, Satoru took her to Konoha for a change in attire, claiming that while he loved the current one, she should probably get a few pieces differently in her wardrobe. When they came back, she wore a black trench coat in place of her old beige one, and knee high boots; she had convinced Satoru to let her keep most of her outfit the way it was, somehow. And her movements seemed somewhat stiff, which meant that the first activation of the weight seals had taken place.

Satoru then stated that he wouldn't leave his Ayame out of it and left while Naruto helped Anko get used to her weights – for her, who did not possess their inhuman abilities, he had developed the seal to weight up on command, since he didn't want to hurt her, and this way she could develop at her own pace. Satoru took Ayame to the shopping and helped her decide on a new style of outfit, and as she modeled for him in a more provocative type of clothing – she did that on purpose I tell you! – He nearly fainted on the spot from the mental images he produced. After a good laugh at his expense, she went back inside and came out of the dressing stool with her actual choice, which made him drool just as much as the last one. And in this case she had blushed since she thought he wouldn't think much of her choice in clothing. After assuring her that she looked like a warrior from his clan, but with a much better body, he asked her to take off her attire and give it to him so he could pay up and arrange the seals for her as well. She had started low, with only thirty lb. per limb and he smiled proudly when he saw her adjusting to the weight a little faster than Anko had.

He then took her home, after a quick stop to buy her some dango as a thank you for going out with him. He then went home after giving her a peck on the lips.

Six months had passed since they started training, and one month since Anko had come to live in the Yajuu compound, when an Anbu left a note in front of the compound's gates – he had, together with Kushina and Honoka, come up with the defensive array that surrounded the compound, no who wasn't bound to the array by use of the blood of the clan head could enter. It also made it so that it couldn't be spied upon, in any way shape or form "much like the Namikaze Compound" Kushina had told him – to a summons by the Hokage. Anko had expressed her concern, saying that his time limit had expired but he just sighed and said that he was going to have to deal with it his own way.

* * *

As he entered the old man's office, Satoru saw the councilors at his back and sighed, so it was an official meeting after all. He bowed to the Hokage and stood in front of his desk.

- I am here as requested Hokage-sama, may I inquire as to why I've been called?

- Satoru, it's been pointed that the time set for you to find your wives – as was requested after your induction into the kekkei genkai restoration – and the council, together with a few shinobi clan heads has decided upon at least two of your future wives.

Controlling the urge to tell them to go fuck a gorilla – he didn't want the gorillas to feel offended by such a suggestion – the clan head simply sighed and nodded at the Hokage, asking him to go ahead.

- The Hyuuga clan head, Hiashi, has come forth with the wish to marry his oldest, Hinata into your clan. He states that the combination of you unique blood and the unnatural amount of chakra you possess coupled with the Byakugan's gentle fist and their own usage of said chakra could benefit them. My councilors brought this suggestion to my attention and after some pondering I have come to the conclusion his reasoning was sound in his request, and I have accepted this marriage.

At this point Satoru nearly lost it. He would allow the Hokage to finish; he still needed to tell him of the second person they were marrying off into the Yajuu just so they could sink their claws in his family secrets. As well as keep him loyal to the village through said bonds.

- The second one came from the Inuzuka. Hana, the oldest of the matriarch, has been requested to marry into your clan. The reasoning behind this was that your animalistic traits would strengthen the bond the Inuzuka share with their ninken, and your cursed blood would complement their fighting style, since they become feral once they enter combat, the strengthening of this quality would be to their benefit. I have pondered upon this once the council brought it to my attention and accepted this request. You are to marry both girls once they become Genin, and therefore adults. Any questions?

Satoru wanted to cry, wanted to beat the demented old Hokage to a bloody pulp, he wanted – **_Aw fuck it! – _**His eyes bled as he glared at the aged Hokage.

**_- Are you out of you mother fucking mind!? You are marrying children…CHILDREN off into my clan!? For what, you senile bastard!? More power for the Byakugan!? Strengthening the animalistic side of an Inuzuka!? Do you know what you are condemning these kids to you moronic old goat!? I'm already the "demon's father," the "pet of the traitor", thanks for letting her live, by the way…nice going on that one. _**

**_- And you want them with me? ME!? You know what…lemme show you what my animalistic side is capable of, eh? Okay old man...put me against someone…a one on one against your best Taijutsu user. Nothing else, only hand to hand. And then I'll show you why this is not something you throw a kid into you fucking bastard!_**

- You will obey an order from your Hokage, Jonin, unless you want to be stripped of rank and have your chakra sealed!

**_- HA! Like you would lose such a weapon! The Uchiha went bye-bye this year, didn't they? You must wonder how a whole clan could be wiped off the map by one person…makes you think doesn't it? The fact that no Anbu patrols were nearby the "mighty" Uchiha Clan's compound…You already lost one of the strongest…you don't want to lose another clan with such potential, your council already wants their claws sinking in my home._**

- …You forced my hand Satoru...Well then, what about this little file here? It has come to my attention that one Ayame has been behaving strangely in her missions with her Genin team, "lacks focus", "disobeyed a direct order from a superior", "won't cooperate with teammates outside of missions". While you are correct and I cannot do anything about you, I must think about what's best for my village, and this girl seems like a potential deserter, don't you think? Maybe I should have **her** chakra sealed then, and her memories of ever being a ninja **removed**…unless you want to change your decision?

Satoru's mind went blank for a moment. He saw the Hokage's eyes harden as he proclaimed his actions should he not marry the women they decided for him. His shoulders slumped – he would never put his Ayame in danger – and he just nodded his head to the Hokage. He knew they would want his signature on the papers, and so strode forward, his eyes never leaving the old man's; he didn't see regret in them, which told him that whatever else he had done he really thought, was for the best.

**_- You made yo_**ur choice Hokage-sama. From this point forward, don't expect me to take things lying down, ever again. They even glare at Naruto, they die. And you know I have the right, since he is not the heir of any clan, and is adopted into mine. They touch my girls, be it Ayame, Anko, Hinata or this Hana, they die. They badmouth my family, they die – it is all within my rights as clan head after all, I must preserve the Yajuu honor – and I'll want my seat as clan head in your meetings from now on, sir.

He finished signing the papers and walked backward to the door.

- Do let me know what other child you wish to condemn, okay? According to the old laws, there is no limit, just like greed.

* * *

With that he left, heading back to his compound, his face a blank mask. No emotions were shown as he passed by Anko and Naruto who were still training at the courtyard. No emotions were shown when they looked at him in concern over what had happened. It wasn't until he was sure he was alone in his room with no one to bother him, that Yajuu Satoru cried. He didn't cry for himself, no he had come to terms with his status. He cried for the two kids whose lives were thrown out the window for a chance at power. He cried for Hinata, the little girl he had saved many years ago from that Kumo fucker. He still remembered her vow to become stronger so that one day she could repay him. He cried for Hana, a girl he never even met, and had her future set in stone for her. He cried for his Ayame, who would always be the leverage by which the Hokage leashed him. He cried for Anko, to whom he had married, and doomed to same leash. He cried for Naruto, who was so bright, so full of life. He knew that the Uzumaki and Namikaze bloodline would awaken sooner or later. He knew the council would sink their fangs as deep as they could into him then. He cried for his little brothers future; and that night, Satoru had felt powerless to help his loved ones; powerless to stop the machinations of a greedy village, too drunk in power to realize it was tearing itself apart. He couldn't sleep that night; nightmares of his Ayame being made to forget him plagued his mind whenever his eyes closed.

The next morning, Satoru had told Naruto - and by extension Anko - of the meeting; he still remembered the promise of not keeping secrets from him; and told him about the threat that made him accept the "offer". Both of them had a fire in their eyes when they heard him, but he made them promise to keep that to themselves, he would arrange a meeting with the Hokage once more, to at least be able to properly know the children they had decided for him.

Training after that became a much more subdued affair, Satoru lacked the usual high spirits; there was no teasing, no Naru-chan, no playing around; he dived into training head first. He would never feel as powerless to defend what was his, be it his wives, his land or his otouto. No one would take advantage of him again.

* * *

The next six months passed by much slower for all of them. Ayame would visit every now and then, to ask that Satoru take her out somewhere, or to just spend time with Naruto. Satoru drove himself to the ground in his research of Fuinjutsu, learning quite a few techniques he believed would help him keep his family safe; well saf**_er_**; he had planted a test seal into Naruto's training Wakizashi and told the boy to stand off to the other side of the compound and channel some of his chakra through the seal on the blade.

The effect had been nearly instantaneous, as soon as the seal activated, Satoru felt his body being pulled through a rift toward the signal beacon. His trademark shunshin being used to mark the ability as functional, a second later he was in front of his little brother, who had a bewildered expression on his face.

- Well, it works…now to place it somewhere no one would suspect…

As he spoke he began playing with his wedding ring – a habit he had acquired whenever he was deep in thought – and paused abruptly**_. _**_Of Course! Who would believe that a ring could be used to activate the seal! I have to talk to Anko-hime…but what about Naruto-kun? He doesn't have a ring, and that Wakizashi will definitely be destroyed now that the test is over. I'll compensate him for it someday._

He simply nodded a thanks to his little brother, took the Wakizashi; melting the metal with his Yōton chakra, and headed back into the house. He found Anko relaxing on the couch at the library, a scroll on fire jutsu on her hand and an appreciative, yet sadistic expression on her face. He had allowed her the use of his library to improve her repertoire of fire elemental techniques, and asked only that no beast from his forest be used as test subject; to which she just smiled and said that she had taken a job in the Torture and Interrogation department, and she had enough subjects there; his response of course, was to laugh, remind her that he loved her and kiss her passionately, which only ended minutes later, with a flustered Anko and an equally extremely satisfied Satoru.

The next thing Satoru had learned was a way to prevent the thieving kekkei genkai to steal any jutsu used by his clan. A seal applied to the back of each hand that was always active, made it so the movements of the hands, while in the process of doing the seals for jutsu, would become blurry; as though the Sharingan was defective. He thanked Kami for his own implants as he was able to test the seals he had applied on himself, and he was surprised to see it had worked to perfection. It was quite astounding that no one thought of it before; all the seals did was use part of the chakra used on the technique to disrupt the flow of chakra on the opponent's head, the target was obvious, since the malfunction of the Sharingan was the desired effect here. He planted this seal to the back of all members of his family – Ayame was a given, since he already considered her as his mate – and had told them that even if they came to use armor on top of it, as long as the seal itself was intact there was no way a Sharingan user would be able to read their seal sequence.

He didn't slack off in his physical training or his chakra training though, as he was constantly around Naruto or Anko to keep them company during their morning run, or being a spar partner to either of them whenever asked. The problem was he was ahead of them by such a margin that training with them wasn't improving anything. So he started training seriously on his own, against the **other **members of his family – the beasts of the Forest of Death. He would only go against the highest ranking ones, which rivaled the Sannin in strength. He lost more than just a few times, but he knew that this way he would improve better than if he was to keep sparring with his Anko or his little brother. They were becoming stronger as time went on, but so was he, and he needed a challenge to test himself against every now and then.

He had gone on another, calmer visit to the Hokage Tower, where he and the Sarutobi clan head discussed his position in meetings regarding the village, and he was told that Inuzuka Hana had become Genin, and they were to marry one year from that day, the third of November. He sighed but saluted, flipping the monkey off mentally before asking if he was allowed to at least get to know the girl before then, like a normal couple would.

- Yes, but the responsibility of informing her of your marriage lies with her clan head, if she does not know, you are not to tell her, are we clear?

He became much colder to the old man, who in turn had kept with his choice to place the good of the village as a whole above the good of one clan. Satoru nodded his consent and turned away, before the Hokage told him that his demonstration would be against Maito Gai, his strongest Taijutsu specialist. It was set to happen on the coming week, in the Academy Arena. _It will be a good demonstration of shinobi prowess to the children, the old man says. Cheh, it will be a good way to keep me in check you mean, you imbecile. I can control my battle instincts as much as this council can control the dead!_

He simply gave acknowledgement of his lord's statement and left, he needed to see his Ayame.

* * *

Naruto was happy, he was could feel himself becoming stronger by the day, the help of his older brother and Anko had him doing leaps in terms of progress. Plus the help he'd get from Kurama, explaining to him concepts he was not completely aware of. Like the fact that the old man had used Ayame as a leash to control his nii-chan. It enraged him that the old man would do something like that, but he had sworn to keep it to himself, and so he would. He remembered that after that day Satoru had dived into training in such a way that he barely had time to go to Ichiraku's anymore, they just ate whatever they had at home and when the food was close to ending, either Anko or Naruto himself was sent to the village to buy more.

Satoru then had come up with a way to be summoned to the side of any one of them whenever they were in danger; he had made it clear that they were only to use it if their lives were on the line. The first test of his final version had been quite a shocker too. Satoru came to him and without a word applied an array of seals to the Wakizashi he had been using for training and told him to go far away and channel chakra through the seal.

In a shower of lava, his brother appeared before him, looking quite pleased; and then went ahead and melted his weapon – which, Kurama explained was due to the fact that with that seal there, any mistaken channeling of chakra could summon him – and walked away, again without a word. It worried both him and Anko the fact that he was so serious. He would usually joke around; boast at his successes, mock growl at them at the failures. But at that time there was just the briefest of expressions to tell them that he was satisfied with something, or the quickest frowns to tell he had failed something.

It wasn't until weeks later, when he came to them with the concept of a seal that would keep the "clan of thieves" from stealing their jutsu; for which they had worked so hard; that they saw some of his usual attitude back. He had the faintest of smiles, a smug one at that as he explained to them how the seal would work, and that the first test had been successful – he had experimented it on himself, he told them, and the results were a headache and not being able to see the chakra being channeled into the seals – and asked them if they wanted the seal applied to them as well.

Naruto was the first to jump at that. Of course he'd need it, he would probably have to deal with an Uchiha during his Genin career so if he ever wanted to keep his jutsu for himself he would need to have that!

And then, later that week, his brother had left, saying he was going to meet with Hokage-sama; the fact that he used the honorific showed how much his respect for both the position and the man had deteriorated after that event; and told him that he was to train his speed and hand to hand power. He had been too focused on his armed stances.

And that's exactly what he did, he asked Anko to help him, being his spar partner while his nii-chan was away. He used his Ryusui no Ugoki – _hey, the technique needed a name, and it fit!_ – That he had developed for his armed fighting stance with his unarmed one to see if he could fit it with his style. He started running around his opponent, speeding up at times, and other he would slow down, and then he would just run again, he would never repeat the same sequence; the point was just to keep them guessing after all. As he did so he started his approach, she was looking around, which probably meant it was working so far. He needed to act soon or she would probably be able to start understanding what he was doing.

His right hand shot forward, hitting her on the face, and as she stumbled back, he started a sequence of strikes. His left leg came up for a kick to her stomach, her initial surprise preventing her from acting in time to stop it. He went with the motion, spinning his body as his leg kept the same rhythm even after hitting its intended target; and as it touched the floor his right leg shot forward, aimed for her face this time. But she was ready for it, her initial shock forgotten and discarded; she raised her arms, and blocked the kick. She then had pushed him away and as she shot forward, she used her Sen'eijashu to keep him on the defensive. She came closer and as he finally was able to dodge away from the snakes, he had fallen into her hands. She shot a punch to his face, that made him skid backwards and he grinned…this was going to be so much fun.

* * *

He had met with this Hana girl they were marrying into his clan. She was a nice kid, and dreamt of becoming a good veterinarian. He had smiled at that and told her that he had a Forest full of patients whenever she wanted to practice treating anything other than the Inuzuka ninken. She smiled back and told she would strongly consider it. She had a love for all forms of animals, nor only dogs. She told him that her mother had spoken to het about the arranged marriage, and that she was happy that she was at least going to be with someone with a good personality, she would hate to end up being married off to the last Uchiha. He was a nutcase and anyone with half a brain knew it – she laughed when he said that they could rule the council and the Hokage off that list then – and they continued making small talk after that, he told her a little about himself, like the fact that even though he represented the lions, the personality of one only came when it concerned his fierceness in battle, his loyalty to all that was his, and his courage.

After leaving her back at the Inuzuka compound, he started back to his own home, when he was approached by an Anbu with an Inu mask. The problem was that he was not in conventional Anbu attire, and that when he spoke there was nothing, it was like there was no soul. _A true puppet for its master._

- Danzo-sama requires your services on a mission.

Satoru sighed loudly. He had promised the man he'd go on whatever assignments he wanted him to, as long as Nonō-chan was left alone by Root. Forever.

- Very well, and what is this task I am required to perform?

He was handed a scroll, the man disappearing soon after, leaving him to read the contents by himself. His willingness was a given, he would do anything to protect Nonō. Even if she was not aware of this agreement. She was happy caring for her children, and that was good enough for him.

_Let's see here…"It has come to my attention that a shinobi of Sunagakure, with a potentially powerful bloodline has been sent on a suicide mission to Iwagakure." Okay…oh they have a profile on her, how professional…let's see here…"Name: Pakura Age: 22" Wow…helloooo nurse! "Known accomplices: Maki – apprentice" Okay…that makes her at least Jonin level. Interesting…"Target is said to possess the Shakuton kekkei genkai. Mission: Persuade target into joining Konoha's forces. As a side note, target will be given as spouse to one Yajuu Satoru as it is my understanding his cursed blood can strengthen the chakra potency of his children." Fuck me…_

Great, now he had both the old geezer and Danzo scheming for his children. He was honor bound to serve, and he would complete this mission. But he would leave the woman so terrified of him she would never consider even living in the same village as him. _It's a plan. I promised him I'd serve, but some missions are bound to fail…especially if I'm bent of failing it._

He went quickly to Ayame, letting her know about his "special assignment" and asked her to notify Anko and Naruto. After that he took off, he had a Jonin level kunoichi to frighten.

* * *

Anko sighed as Ayame left to rest with her father. She had been appointed to the next Chunin exams, to be taken in Takigakure. Her sensei had given the team the three months before their departure off; two of his students were clan member after all, they would train with their clans; but that was not what had Anko worried, it was Satoru and the deals he made to keep people he considered precious safe. She knew from experience that this Nonō woman had no idea what he did to save her life and vowed to have a nice, long chat with the woman. She had finished another sparring session with Naruto, and the kid had been amazingly quick on his feet. Even using her Sen'eijashu against her at one point. He was probably aiming to be as strong as his big brother, she could see it in his eyes, and the determination to help him through all the crap people seemed to throw their way.

She told the kid that they would have their next spar on the lake that was in the middle of the Forest. She wanted to make sure he did not slack off in his chakra control training either. After that she made her way out of the compound and toward the orphanage. She needed to speak to that nun.

They had never actually met before, but the fact that Danzo had her husband wrapped around his finger over the fact he wanted to protect that woman was equally astounding and infuriating. She looked over to where there was a show of Kaachan and saw the woman for the first time. She had her figure hidden under the clothing of a nun but even then there was no denying she was beautiful. She had kind emerald green eyes, which were nearly hidden behind small framed, rectangular glasses. She had light brown hair that fell down to her shoulders. She must have noticed her staring, because she looked up from the small girl he had been tending to and smiled in her direction.

- May I help you, miss?

- I am Yajuu Anko, and I'm here to speak about your relationship with my husband, Satoru.

She observed as the woman gasped at hearing her complete name, before her eyes became downcast. She seemed to be saddened over the fact that he was married; maybe she did love him after all.

- I am Yakushi Nonō, and your husband and I are good friends. That is all…

She chuckled and shook her head; she needed to set that straight, but first…

- Well he must be a really good friend then, since he has been taking missions from Danzo meant for you.

Nonō gasped then, and recoiled as if hit in the face. She seemed panicked for a moment before ushering the kid inside and saying she needed to speak alone with the "kind woman" that came to visit. Both of them watched as the kid strutted to the wooden house and as soon as she was out of sight, the nun rounded on Anko and glared.

- Explain. I didn't exactly plan on ever needing to hear or speak that name again.

- Well…Satoru-kun apparently has a deal with the war hawk. He leaves you alone for good. No scratch on you, no more missions and no spying. And in exchange he'd accept any and every mission meant for you. So far there had been only two times where he had to do that, but now they are sending him off to Iwa of all places. He hates that country with a passion.

- I never knew…he shouldn't have…I mean I **am** grateful but why would he?

- Oh I don't know…Maybe because he loves you?

Both stopped talking then, the orphanage caretaker torn between her kids and pursuing a relationship with the only man she had considered marrying. She looked back at her home and sighed.

- I…I can't, the children here need me…I couldn't leave them alone…

She had started trembling then, she wanted to run away, find Satoru and stay with him, but there were so many kids in the orphanage, and they all looked up to her as their mother, they'd normally only stay long enough until they could join the Academy but they always came back to her, they always sought her for advice on how to be shinobi, or about love…

- If that's it then when he returns you will seek him and tell him there is no chance of anything ever happening. I can't have him hung over the fact that something "could" have existed between you two if you can't even give him the proper attention. Well! That was all…goodbye!

She turned around and left, leaving a sobbing caretaker as she left for the Yajuu compound. Satoru would hate her for this but it was for him that she even made the trip. She saw that the woman seemed to at least desire to be with him, but lacked the courage, and created an excuse; her children. They could very well relocate the orphanage had she but asked them to, but she had rather hid behind it and stayed away.

She sighed, the woman had seemed like a good candidate, but had proven herself a coward…it was disappointing really. Were they really fated to have the council decide what women her Satoru would be with?

* * *

He hated the desert. Why did always have to start with a trip to the desert. Ugh. He stopped as his guards were drinking some more of the water they had brought, and inspected his boots. His beautiful red leather boots were absolutely filthy! There was sand all over! Someone had to do something about it…

- Ahem! There is **SAND** on my boots!

At this the men stopped whatever they were doing and looked at him, some of them chuckled, while one laughed loudly at his predicament. Now that wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at **all**…

- And what do you want us to do about it, clown?

He grinned then. Unnerving some of the men as he got closer to the one who had spoken. Great! An **example**! He wouldn't have his troops disobeying him like that. Not when he was that much stronger than they could ever hope to be…he simply raised an arm in the direction of the man, his hand glowing a blueish color before a sphere of ice started to appear around the insurgent. Whatever protests he might have had were frozen – he laughed here, and didn't stop for a while – in the man's lips as the sphere closed and exploded, making it rain bits and pieces of the man.

- Let's try again…there is **SAND** on my boots!

The remaining men ran to him and threw themselves to the sandy ground of Suna, intent on cleaning the laughing man's feet.

* * *

- Well, that went well…So, Pakura, you said that this should prevent war between your country and Iwa?

He eyed the woman. She was quite tall, only slightly shorter than him, being 6'0" to his 6'2". She had her hair arranged in a bun on top of her head, with a steel needle going through it. Two bangs framed her face, the left side being longer than the right. She had pupiless, brown eyes. Her attire consisted of a sleeveless, backless black top and shirt tight pants, which ended on her knees. Her top had two lapels that fell on the front and back of her legs and purple arm warmers that went from her elbow to her hands. She wore the standard ninja tabi with bandages around her ankles and thighs and an obi around her waist. When he had met her he took a moment to check her out, which drew a laugh from her. He smiled at the memory since it had done wonders as a conversation starter.

- Yes, Satoru-san. My country is currently experiencing some problems with Iwa, but the actions we took here today might have prevented full scale war. But if you don't mind me asking, why would Konoha have an interest in aiding us? The negotiations for a peace treaty are still ongoing, I hear.

- Ah, yes. But the council has come up with an offer. Konoha will aid Suna in this supposed skirmish of yours and in exchange you are to marry a clan head of their choosing.

He stopped a moment and evaluated her. Discovering that they were in the brink of war did wonders to his mood. He had gotten to her as she had been ambushed by a squad of Iwa Jonin and offered his help. Well, in truth he just jumped right in and slaughtered them. He hated Iwa with a passion – he liked peace talks as much as the next man, but there were things that would always have a dark place in his heart. And one such thing was every single shinobi from Iwa – He smiled at the woman as she seemed to have gotten to a conclusion.

- Well, as I witnessed, I am sure this help would be beneficial, but who would I marry? Some fat, rich wannabe shinobi?

- No no no no…I am very much fit, thank you!

He mock growled at her. He didn't know what her reaction to his decimating the Iwa team was. So this was a real gamble. But he let himself hope as her eyes widened and she gasped. He saw the look she sent him and smiled at her. She was on the right path, now all she needed was to tell him that there was no way and—

- I…I see…well it indeed is a good offer your council makes. But it is not my choice to make; we must convene with the Kazekage on this matter.

- Well…your mission is done, so let us go back then, Shakuton no Hime…

He laughed as she blushed. He loved doing these things.

* * *

It had been two months now since his older brother had been away on that stupid mission given him by Danzo. The more he learned about the shinobi way of dealing with things, the more he agreed with Satoru. Family came first. That way you always knew someone had your back; you couldn't trust your teammates, they could be ordered to leave you to die in the middle of a mission.

He had taken to spending more time inside his seal with Kurama. And they had kind of started a relationship of their own. He had said that for him she meant what Anko was meant his nii-chan and she had responded with a kiss to his lips. He had smiled after that, a blush on his face and asked the ancient demoness if she would be his girlfriend.

Of course, the fact that he was with the demon sealed in his gut was like the best joke Anko would ever hear, because the woman laughed and said something about that was not exactly what they meant when they said he was going to have to tame her.

He would train with Anko during the days; they would vary between spars and the next level of chakra control exercises; and at night he would enter his seal to spend time with his Kura-chan. They spoke about his heritage sometimes, and once she had let slip that he had a bloodline from each parent.

It made him fear the council would put him in the same situation his niichan was. He couldn't let that happen, but how would be buy time? The moment they heard about who he was they would demand he be part of the restoration; if only to preserve the blood of their beloved Yondaime. He had wanted to speak about it with his brother but he hadn't come back from his current mission; and that had everyone in the household afraid. What if something happened to his older brother?

He had unconsciously started focusing his chakra to the seal Satoru placed on him to call whenever he was in trouble…

* * *

He had just placed an array of seals on her shoulder, telling her that whenever she was in danger all she had to do was channel chakra to it, and no matter where he was he'd come to her side in a flash, when he felt a pull. _Shit! Fuck! No, Kami not now!_

He had found it weird that her council had immediately shot the idea of cooperation through marriage down…but then seemed to ponder on the idea, and ordered Pakura off on another mission, this time as an envoy to Kirigakure. They told the two shinobi that if they made it back alive from this one, the deal would be accepted, and Konoha would have its ally. He smelled trap all over this assignment and had voiced his concern to her, which had led to his current position, placing the seal on her only to be pulled away

- Satoru-niichan? What are you doing here?

By his little brother. This could not be happening. He was so close to convincing Pakura to leave Suna with him and go to Konoha. He couldn't leave now…she had to call him back, he needed her to call him back.

He had started pacing back and forth in the room. He cursed his luck that Naruto would miss him enough to bring him back without even thinking about it! He was going to speak to him, tell him he was fine. And probably say he wasn't mad either, but he felt the pull again, and hoped he'd be whiskered to Pakura.

He had gotten to her, he was behind her as a hail of kunai and shuriken came upon her. But to her luck all it had hit was him. He took every single one of them. She didn't want that to happen, but she was sure she was going to die, and she wanted to say goodbye to him, at least. And so she had summoned him to her, but she didn't count with the fact that he would appear in front of the tattoo not in front of the person. And her tattoo just happened to be on the back of her right shoulder.

She turned around slowly, her eyes widening as she moved and saw him, smiling down at her before he fell to a knee.

- Well…at least if I do die, I died protecting one of my Himes.

He felt his eyes turning red as he fell forward into her and took in her scent, his breathing becoming shallow as he bled away. It hurt quite a bit, but he needed to endure a while longer. Hopefully she wouldn't mind…he needed to recharge after all.

He bit down on her thigh, his face, which had been placed on her lap had turned a little so he could have access to her juicy, hot blood. He heard a gasp from her but didn't look up. He didn't want to see the possible disgust on her face as he used her to heal himself enough to deal with the ambushers. They had been quite surprised, if their inaction for so long was any indication.

The weapons that had imbedded themselves in his skin fell to the ground, his wounds seemed to be stitched close by an unseen force and he felt some energy returning to him. He stopped feeding then; if he took more he'd take from the enemies. He grunted in pain as he got up and took a defensive stance in front of Pakura, his instincts taking over slowly.

**_- Mine…you can't have what's mine…_**

His voice came in a ragged breath as he was still quite tired. Nearly bleeding to death seemed to do that to a person. If he heard the gasp that came from Pakura he didn't acknowledge it and instead went through a series of seals.

His cheeks puffed, his lungs becoming full with the jutsu he was about to unleash. He started blowing away, but instead of air, a red liquid poured from his mouth and into the air. He had tilted his head upward slightly as he sent his technique toward the enemies. The lava jumped from him to the Kiri and Suna shinobi in an arc in the air. They couldn't dodge by jumping and turning around and running seemed to take too long.

The amount of molten rock that crashed down upon them was enough to fill a small pond, and as a tidal wave, it crashed down to the ground and started advancing to its remaining targets, the ones it hit once falling had died nearly instantly, their head melting upon contact with the high temperature of the molten tide.

Black smoke ascended to the air and Satoru took this opportunity, he needed to kill some men himself and dry them of their life force. He wasn't completely healed yet, not even half way there. So he dashed forward, and though his speed was reduced due to tiredness and injuries, he was able to get one of them men off guard and cut him. The cut was nothing spectacular, but it was enough for his blood to do its wonders. He placed his own hand on top of the wound and felt his strength returning; little by little more of his injuries closed away and left his skin as spotless as it had been before. The man fell to the ground, a husk that disintegrated upon contact with the floor, before turning to the other shinobi.

Only to see them dead as well, but by no technique of his. Apparently Pakura had felt left out, and decided to join in on the fun. She killed the remaining men and now just looked at him, he didn't see the disgust he thought he would, but instead saw respect and acceptance. Her own kekkei genkai left her enemies nothing but dried husks, so she was not going to judge a bloodline that healed the used in exchange for the enemies' blood.

- Well…this was fun…

He remarked dryly, kicking the Suna forehead protector that was at his feet in her direction.

- They wanted you dead, it seems…so how about it, come to Konoha with me. I'll keep you safe. They didn't expect you to live through this anyway.

He smiled at her and extended one of his hands. She hesitated for only an instant before nodding to herself. She had told her apprentice that if she didn't return it was because the council had tried something. She would be in Konoha, and she expected to see her in the future. And so she walked to Satoru and placed her hand on his, smiling at the man as they disappeared, their bodies seemingly melting away as they appeared again in Konoha. Satoru looked around confused for a moment before he looked down. Anko was bleeding on the floor and crying. Someone hurt her while he was away. Someone touched his Anko…someone was going to die. His eyes bled, and he told Pakura to take Anko to the hospital as he looked at the men who had assaulted her. He didn't recognize any of them – _then again, I see no need to recognize food…_

**_RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH_**

He shot forward. They were going to curse the day they ever touched his Anko. He absently released the weight seals on his body. And when he moved again he was a blur of motion even to the trained eyes he was going against. He punched through the head of the first one, not stopping as he then proceeded to take hold of the second one by his shoulders, his grip tightening by the second before he tore the man open, his arms opening wide on top of himself as the blood poured down his skin to be absorbed. The third one watched impassively as he stalked forward **_Root_** he thought. Only that organization would be able to take away every emotion from a person.

**_If this is Danzo's doing I'll kill him…sloooowly_**

He then took the man's head in his hands and pressed, trying to have his hand touch each other through the man's skull. A fact that a few seconds after he started pressing, happened and he almost laughed as he heard the sound of a clap through the wet, cracking sound his head made when being crushed.

He then rushed to the hospital. He had a wife to tend to. No one was going to keep him away from her ever again.

* * *

AN: 1: To PoeticFire - I plan on keeping it "semi" cannon till the Exams. I do have some things planned about Naruto's hanyou form, though it won't be anything major till a certain point. There will be some buzz from the council, but the Sandaime will shut them off for a while by showing them their place as councilors and his own as Hokage. Naruto will not try and keep his tail hidden (the fox ears and whatnot I decided to keep off, but his ears are a little different, they are just hidden from view by his hair) because at first, though the council suspect somethings, it will be played off as Satoru having adopted him into his clan.

I hope you (every reader actually.) enjoy the twists and secrets Naruto will learn over the course of the first arc (Training, and meeting some of the major support characters.) About Ayame yeah I actually like her but she just seems to be under appreciated in most stories I read. Like with Naruto whose personality I changed somewhat I decided to make her a major character in my story =P About the Harem, while I do have the numbers played out in my head, I'm open to suggestions, since I know some people like having their input heard, which is why I put only five already with Naruto and left the rest open. If someone convinces me it''ll be good for the development of the story I might change it up a little.

I have a completely different villain planned for the story and I hope that catches everyone off guard =3 right now my biggest fear is people not really liking the OC, since he's not really going anywhere and I have plans for both him and Naruto as continuation for this saga. =P

Thanks for the giant review. As I say, the feedback is greatly appreciated. I'll be sure to post this answer on the story as well so whoever else has the same questions as you get some answers '-'

2: Hope you guys enjoy the little bit on the trip to Suna xD an Imaginary cookie to whoever guesses who that is.

3: One more chapter on the training and some background and then we'll be back to the "present" and the story will start moving forward! Yippe-ki-yay xD

Hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review, the feedback is greatly appreciated =3

See ya o/


	6. Chapter 5 - The Exams

Chapter 5

Don't own Naruto, Final Fantasy or any other Anime/Game referenced in this fic '-'

_Thinking_

**Shouting**

**_Demonic Speech_**

**_Demonic Thought_**

* * *

He still couldn't believe how easy it was to fool these people. Ever since he discovered this dimension, he would appear at times to get his plans started. At first he was going to "side" with the people of Uzushiogakure, but not one of those bastards had fallen for his clown act. That and they had these things they could do with their skills that had him quite frightened. They had been able to hurt him. Him! With a combination of seals and some techniques he hadn't seen since.

So he had to destroy them. He couldn't let people that could put it all to waste live, could he? It had been so easy, a whisper here, a few rumors there and soon all other nations had stopped their own fighting to join forces against the people of Uzushio. He still remembered the sweet chaos it had been. The deaths from both sides, the betrayal Uzushio felt from their longtime allies, Konoha. He laughed, his shrill, maniacal laughter echoing through the smoke of Uzushiogakure's remains. The only ones that could even come close to stopping him were dead.

After that he had taken to start a base of operations in Kusa, whose leader had been easy to fool. He came with his act of court jester, giving "sound" advice here and there, and no one was the wiser. As they started their own machinations, they left him to his plans. He couldn't directly absorb this planet's energy like he did on his own. Even though he was a god, apparently being in a new universe meant new rules. He needed to create something that would help him channel the mana he felt in the air into his body.

He had gone back to his own kingdom; the heroes there had failed quite horribly to stop him. All it took was a carefully laid trap and they all fell. It was too easy. He had been so angry then, he wanted them to succeed, to come in front of him so he could crush them, watching as all hope vanished from their hearts, and their eyes darkened with despair, but no, they had to die to a fucking trap! He wanted more; he wanted a realm that could challenge him. He took one of his head scientists and went back to the shinobi world. He demanded the man start on a project that would allow him to take the energy he could feel gathering around them into his body.

* * *

As the years passed he had started on other projects. He wanted to see this world torn apart just like he had done to his home. But now he knew not to expect much from his opposition, so he was going to take it slow, he was going to relish every single delicious moment of despair he could bring them. Yes, he was going to tear them down one nation at a time. And in the end of it all, he'd suck all the energy from this place. He was already a god, but he wanted more, he craved more. He had the leader or Kusagakure intensify the training regime of every shinobi of the village. They wouldn't be flashy and loud, no although he liked that, he reserved that right for himself. They would be his agents and as such they would need to be like that Shadow guy from his home world, now that was an ideal assassin…

He had just come back from his little trip to the desert. He had secured the help of that country by empowering the mad boy with a mommy complex. At first they were all skeptical of his abilities, but as a god he could give power, he could make anyone he deemed worthy strong enough to serve him. And as the child became stronger, he could feel the rest of them cowering under his glare. If only he had taken the tiara then, he could control the kid as he had **her.** _Wait. What the hell am I thinking, if only? Am I or am I not a damned God? I don't need to carry things around; I can make 'em appear!_ He laughed mentally as the mentioned tiara appeared in his grasp moments later and he placed it on the red head. His eyes became duller as his mind was now not his own – or even the beasts inside –but he served the "clown". And what a weapon he acquired. After that negotiations had been smooth, as no one would dare oppose their Kage's son and his new found control over the sand they lived in. _Hmm…maybe he can do something about all this __**sand **__on my boots! It feels horrible!_

* * *

Satoru had dealt with the men who had attacked his Anko, and was now going to the hospital where he was going to learn what happened. And then he'd take to killing the man responsible for that. In his mind, Satoru started placing together what he knew so far. He knew that the assignment he'd been on was a trap to have Pakura killed in action, and the fact that he was sent to be her guard and escort for said missions could mean someone wanted him dead as well. It wouldn't be Hiruzen, he knew his kekkei genkai meant power to the village and the old man would always put the village above personal quarrels. It could have been Danzo, he didn't appreciate the fact that Satoru had kept Nonō from him. So the attack on Anko could be narrowed down to Danzo wanting to have more leverage over his actions in and outside the council room.

He sighed and looked up. He had been on auto-pilot since he finished the men who attacked Anko off. He was now in front of her hospital room, and for a moment he wondered where the hell Naruto had been during this attempt on her; the brat should be strong enough to help her by this point.

He shook those thoughts off his head; Anko wouldn't want to put Naruto in danger like that. Even if he was strong enough, she would send him away to keep him safe. He entered her room and she turned to him, tears still falling down her face.

- I'm s-s-orry, I fo-followed one of his men…an-and I ended up in-in a wa-warehouse…they are keeping her there!

She was frantic, and as she exclaimed, though he didn't know what she was talking about, Satoru froze. _She? Ayame-hime? Was it Hana? They wouldn't dare take the heiress of the Hyuuga clan; they faced a riot of the strongest clan in Konoha's history._ He looked at her again, trying to calm his raging emotions but his voice still came shaky as he spoke.

- She? Who exactly are you talking about?

He watched as Anko sobbed more, her whole body shaking through her cries. She really was desperate, whoever this was meant a lot to her. He reached with a hand, caressing her cheek as her head straightened in surprise before she leaned her face into his hand, needing the calm it brought her.

- It's okay. I'm here, now. And whoever you are talking about is going to be dead soon. I promise. Now, tell me who this woman is and I can go get her. It's obvious she means a lot to you.

She nodded and took a deep breath. She'd need to explain herself later anyway. Anko just hoped that her news would shock him enough that he would just forget about her little visit to Nonō.

- You see, I had spoken to Nonō about a month ago; I needed to know if she was willing to be with you. We both know the Hokage and the council will get bolder in their arranged marriages now that they have you on a leash of sorts. She said that she couldn't just leave her children in the orphanage and I told her to leave you alone then. You were distracted enough with keeping her safe. After that, and especially after seeing her reaction when I mentioned Danzo, I started keeping track of some of his Anbu whenever I could. They would run patrols around the borders of Konoha, or just go into this warehouse, in the district where Naruto-kun used to live, for a while. I finally let my curiosity get to me and I went in to investigate…and then I saw her body…Kushina-sama was held in some kind of cage, chained by her wrists, neck and legs in chakra absorbing cuffs. S-she was na-naked, and she had this blank expression on her face when I looked at her…the-they'd **use** her, saying that she was to spawn more Uzumaki so they could be the next Jinchuuriki once they rid Konoha of Naruto…I-I ran away, not really bothering to be silent about it, and they must had heard me, because they came…a-and they surrounded me and said that I had seen too much, and that I was to join with the bitch…and I didn't remember your seal until after the fight…th-they were going to-to…

- Don't worry…Root has been active too long I'd say…they attacked you, and you are my wife, and mother to my future children, as head of the clan – and only member of said clan – I can take justice into my hands. I have to see the Hokage…now.

She nodded; her tears had come back full force during her speech. She must have either been remembering what happened or imagined herself in Kushina's place. Satoru on the other hand was equally shocked and enraged. How did Kushina live through the extraction of the Kyuubi? And to think that bastard Danzo would have the gall to do something like **that**. His hands tightened into fists with enough force that blood could be seen leaking from his hands. People were going to die…slowly.

He didn't even bother walking, he just shunshined away from the hospital, and moments later, Satoru was in front of the Hokage, his eyes red.

**_- Yo, fossil. I'm here to declare that the Yajuu clan demands to be compensated in blood for the assault on the first wife of the head._**

- Oh? And why do I need to know that? I am very much aware of that little clan law, Satoru.

**_- Oh, I don't know, just that the ones I'm killing are the operatives of Root and one Shimura Danzo for attempting to rape my wife…and for kidnapping and keeping Uzumaki Kushina imprisoned for the last ten years. We both know the Yajuu have an alliance with the Uzumaki. I have the heir under my care, and was "friends" with the last clan head._**

The Hokage's expression betrayed nothing as he looked into the Jonin's eyes. _How could he know that? I told Danzo that keeping her in the village was a mistake…dammit. Hmm, no one can trace this to me…Naruto-kun can't learn of my involvement…even if I did the best for Konoha, I couldn't bear to lose his trust. _Outwardly the wizened Hokage sighed and nodded at the head of the beast clan. He gave no sign of recognition upon hearing Kushina's name; he had to play it out right.

- I see…well, I am warned. Although that bit about Uzumaki Kushina is false, I have seen her dead body myself when I went to retrieve young Naruto-kun after the sealing. Dismissed.

With that, Satoru just gave him the most sadistic smile he had ever seen and disappeared. It wasn't a good day to be Danzo, it seemed.

Satoru had gotten to the district where his adopted brother lived before taken to the Yajuu Compound. He had been given little information on where exactly Kushina was, but he went with what he knew. There was one of the buildings from where there was…nothing. He couldn't even hear the faintest heartbeat, he couldn't feel the chakra flow from that area and instantly he knew it was sealed to secrecy, but it no one in Konoha really knew anything better than secrecy sealing, so it was no surprise Anko was able to enter it as she did. He rolled his neck, and he could feel the tension in his muscles as he did so. If she was there like Anko said she was…he was going to have a field day on Root.

He barged in, his chakra signature disappearing to the outside world as he did so and stopped. There, just like Anko said she would be was Kushina, bound and as bruised. Anko must have missed that…think they are still trying to break her. He strode forward as his smile grew larger until it threatened to split his face. There were three Root Anbu there, working on her restraints. They were going to move her somewhere else…were being the operative word here.

- Hey, mind if I take her off your hands?

He saw one of the men look back toward him and almost laughed. He had his Mangekyo activated for this occasion. He hated the bloodline but he had to admit their Tsukuyomi was genius.

- Tsukuyomi.

The man was pulled to the world where he was god. And a world where Satoru was god, at the mental state he was in and not somewhere anyone wanted to be.

I won't bother you with the details…but know that for the next three days my friends here will take turns crushing your limbs with their war hammers and of course, raping you. After that you'll be healed and the process repeated. Enjoy!

He left the man and as he regained control over his body, even though he could feel his eye aching, he looked at the other male and grinned evilly. This one was going to be the lucky one. He stomped on the ground, the force of the blow making the ground shake slightly and rifts be seen in the stone floor of the warehouse. He then disappeared in motion to attack the two remaining Root members. The body of the first man falling to the ground with a thud was left unnoticed as he smeared the blood on his hand onto the seal containing his battle axe, which appeared in his grasp a moment later.

The two remaining men shot into motion as well, the first one unsheathed his katana while the second simply took a Taijutsu stance and dashed at the enraged Jonin. They were hoping to wait until he made a mistake; people tend to make foolish mistakes when enraged; and then they'd use it to their advantage. But Satoru was not most people, and although his animalistic side was careless and would take damage just to heighten the rush of a kill, when enraged both sides of the coin joined forces, and thus he could make better decisions; sure he became twice as careless, but he also was twice as unpredictable and ruthless; and besides, he had the Sharingan activated, he saw the men move and he could see what they intended to do as the muscles in their body tensed. He laughed maniacally as the one with a katana was just move circles around him, while the hand to hand combatant came at him, and he could tell by the way his body tensed that he specialized in fighting with his upper body, much like Satoru himself preferred. The first attack, a jab that went flying to his face was dodged with the leaning of his head, after which he used the small opening to send his axe toward his opponent, hoping to cleave the man in half. The Root member jumped away, being grazed by the tip of the blade as he did so, which made Satoru smile. His reaction time is not the best…

The second man had seen an opening and charged forward, the tip of his blade pointed at the ground as he ran. He came to a stop just behind the exposed back of his target and made a slash upwards, the motion stopping as his arms pointed upward, the sound of flesh being torn was heard and the person in front of him dropped down, but something was wrong. If his enemy was in front of him, why did his laugh come from behind him, next to the cage of the Uzumaki?

**_- You know, for an Anbu level shinobi you're really dumb. Are you that confident that you'd look a Sharingan user in the eye in the midst of battle?_**

He realized then their mistake. He was quite correct, they had overlooked the fact that his eyes were red; they always became red when he was fighting; and it had been their undoing. He had them trapped in some form of Genjutsu, and while they were indeed Anbu level shinobi, their specialty had been Ninjutsu and Tai/Kenjutsu. The finer art of Genjutsu had been far too elusive. He sighed and lowered his weapon, he didn't have much choice, from experience – Danzo would sometimes train the power of his eyes against some of his men – that if he had wanted, Yajuu Satoru could have them kill each other; and though he knew he had wounded his comrade he also knew it wasn't fatal; just by implanting the suggestion to each of their minds that the other was their intended enemy.

**_- Now, I have what I came for. I'll be going for your leader soon…but don't worry, I don't need any message boy. He'll hear from me soon enough. You die…now._**

The voice became closer and closer as the creature spoke. And as he uttered the last word, his tone barely above a whisper, the sound was coming right to his ear, and he could feel the breathing of the demon on his body, an involuntary shiver running down his spine as it chuckled.

- **_So the prey knows to fear the predator after all…_**

And with that he felt a slight sting on his neck, something had pierced his skin so he bled, his strength waned as his breathing became slower and slower until he simply felt his body too heavy to hold on its own strength and he caved, his eyes closing as he slipped to the ground.

**_- That felt good…hadn't had an earth elemental in a while…now for our other friends…_**

And so Satoru went to the man twitching on the ground, his back still bled profusely so all he needed to do was lean down and hold out his hand, touching the cut skin with one of his hands. The man didn't have enough blood for him to benefit, but he could taste the fire chakra element as it poured into his body, and licked his lips in delight. After leaving another husk, he turned to the last survivor, the man whose mind he had decided to mess with. He seemed to be quite out of it as he whimpered on the ground and curled into a ball. **_I forgot to mention they'd rape you with katanas! Silly me! _**He chuckled darkly as he knelt down next to the man and pulled him towards his mouth, he had a firm grip on both sides of the man's head and tilted it slightly to the side as he sank his teeth into his skin. For some reason, actually tasting the blood made the taste of the chakra so much sweeter. **_A wind elemental._** He moaned to himself, this element tasted divine. It was like his favorite food, dango – he had Anko to thank for that addiction – but so much sweeter.

He let the man go as he finished, wiping his lips of some imaginary stray drops and turned to Kushina, who seemed to be coming out of some trance.

- What the fuck is going on, ttebane!? You another one of these pricks!? I told you, you can't break an Uzumaki, ttebane!

He nearly laughed at that. He didn't know her well, he wouldn't presume to as he just saw her for his lessons and when she came to help him ward his home; but he knew some of her personality and what she just said, coupled with the fact that her eyes held that fire in them, the usual Uzumaki determination. **_She was waiting_** _for a chance, I suppose… _As he walked to her cage, his eyes turned back from the Sharingan to their out of control red, and moments later, to their usual odd colors. He crouched in front of her and smiled.

- I am here to free you, Kushina-sama. Don't worry, I'd never hurt you, and I won't allow anyone to do so from this moment till the day I die.

He said as his hands went to the chakra consuming binds that kept her in place. He snapped those and stood, looking down at her as she grew accustomed with freedom once again, and with the ability to use chakra. He was relieved to see she was still the same as always, and had to wonder how in the circles of hell was she able to endure ten years of that treatment.

His thoughts were stopped as a few moments later red chakra chains shot out of her body and pinned him, the corrosive quality of a bijuu's chakra burning his skin as he tried his best not to scream in frustration and pain as the woman glared at him.

- Who are you and why did you free me?

She seemed as calm as she was moments ago, but he could see in her eyes – her now red colored eyes glared at him – that she was angry – understatement of the year – and she was afraid. They shone with unshed tears as she kept her chains tightly pressed against his body, and he could feel his skin burning and healing nearly at the same time – the blood he just saturated himself with was working wonders on his healing.

- I'm Satoru. My wife, Yajuu Anko discovered your situation and I came as soon as I could to get you out of here.

He saw the confused looked she threw at him before he saw recognition in her eyes. She made no move to release him though, and he could understand her distrust in others quite well. He stayed silent as he waited for more questions, or for her to just tighten the chains on him. Whichever she was going for, he hoped she'd do it soon, he just hated waiting.

- How many years has it been? Where is Naru-chan?

He looked at her with a blank expression for a moment before he burst out in laughter. He felt the chains tighten around him and his laughing died down as he started coughing blood, the corrosive chakra had started making way into his inner organs this time. It hurt like a fucking bitch.

- Na-Naru-ch-chan! Hahaha I ca-call him that! He-he hates it though…Ugh…fine. It's been ten years since the day the Kyuubi attacked Konoha and the, oh so noble Yondaime sealed it into his kid. I have him under my clan's protection for the last three years and I've been training him. Happy now?

He glared back at her then, his rational side telling him not to aggravate the woman more than he already had, but his stubbornness told him that she was being a fucking bitch and he hated when people demanded things from him; understandable with the last times he had to "deal" with people.

- Not even close. Why are you with my son? Wasn't his godfather, Jiraiya supposed to look after him?

She looked at him with skeptical eyes. He had seemed happy at first when he freed her, but now he just resorted to glaring at her, even with the blood coming out of his mouth; which indicated to her she needed to loosen up her hold a little, she wanted information from him, and couldn't die while being interrogated…that would be just terrible.

- I'm with your fucking son because the brat was being beaten on during his fucking birthday and no one was doing shit about it! I took him in and started training him in Taijutsu. He developed quite nicely, thank you for asking. I haven't even seen that fucker of a Toad Sennin in the village since after the god damned rampage!

He was becoming angrier by the second. He could understand the uneasiness, hell he could understand the fact he was in chains. But did she have to speak like that? Fuck it reminded him so much of Orochi when she was training him that he wanted to break free, kick her fucking ass and kiss her at the same time! _That Sannin did a number on your sanity man… _a little voice came from the back of his mind and it made him sigh. _Fuck you! She knew exactly how to act to get me attracted to her…fucking bitch… - Doesn't change the fact you're screwed in the head…you're in love with the Sannin that made you what you are now! _ He heard laughing and decided then and there that he hated the voices in his head.

- Wait…attacked?

- Ugh…- a few coughs and some more blood came out of his mouth – yeah, every year. On the tenth of October, some villagers gathered for the famous "fox hunt" where whoever caught the kid first had dibs on what to do. Then the rest would just take what was left and toy around, before leaving him to heal, and prepare for the next year.

He was sure that now the fucking chains were killing him. He couldn't feel his blood working to save his life anymore. His sight started becoming hazy, his head dropped and the sound of her breathing became distant.

- My baby…attacked, on his birthday…

The surprise made her retract the chakra chains, and Satoru fell to the side, heaving a sigh of blissful relief, he felt what was left of his ability healing the essential so he could live through the day. He looked toward Kushina once again then, his glare didn't have nearly as much heat to it since he could see dark spots all over, but he held it once more and asked through heaved breathing.

- Told…you…all you…wanted to know….now…if you'd…be so kind…and give me…blood…

He spoke in whispers as she looked at him, as though only just realizing he was even there at all. She tilted her head cutely to the side in curiosity and then nodded to herself, shrugging. She extended her hand to the weak man in front of her, and felt the sensation of something sharp piercing her skin. He drank enough that he could breathe properly again, but refused to take more, stating that he could always just kill some whore of the district or some thug.

- Take the clothes off one of them. I'm taking you out of here, and you'll be living in the Yajuu compound, with your kid.

He got up as she nodded, turning to the on nearest to her. The man's body had become dust, but his clothing remained intact, the standard Anbu attire was a little tight around her chest – yes he was checking her out…_she's fucking hot! Don't blame me! _– But it had fit quite nicely. He nodded to her and both of them made their way out of the warehouse, the woman walking a little ways behind him; mostly to make sure he wouldn't try anything against her; and made two stops. The first time Satoru had spied a man looming over a much smaller girl on the side of a pub. He knew that type of situation, and knew what was going to happen. He growled at the man as he sank his fangs into his neck and sucked him until he had no more blood in his body; he had of course offered to take the girl back to her home, but she shook her head, thanked him and ran off somewhere.

The second time was on Kushina's request. She had wanted to know more about her son and so Satoru obliged, saying that until his eighth birthday the kid had resided on this district, on an apartment that server as a prostitution hotspot. The only floor unused by hookers was the one Naruto slept on. Kushina had been angry at that, and wanted nothing more than to tear a new hole on the monkey, but she had to see her baby first of all, and so she took deep, calming breathes and continued to follow him through the village.

- I need to make a stop at the village's Hospital…Anko-hime's there since she was attacked after finding you.

He didn't look back to see if she had nodded or not. She had to follow him if she wanted to see her son. Naruto was going to go crazy! Then he'd go on a rampage, but he would absolutely love seeing his mother alive again! He laughed out loud as he imagined the face the kid was going to make then.

* * *

Unaware of all the things happening in the village, Naruto was training on his control of the Yōki his body was producing. He knew he wasn't supposed to have as much as he did when Kurama gasped as he started channeling his demonic energy through his body. But her shock soon turned into a contemplative silence, but he could still hear her mumbling possible reasons for him to have that much energy. _I think it's because you're in there, Kura-chan. I mean, the seal is meant to turn your chakra into something I can use. Well, I can use it as Yōki now, so all the seal needs to do is turn it from your Yōki into mine. _Training in his demonic energies had been a lot different than training to master his chakra. He tried using the shinobi methods to train his demon energy, but he would just be pushed away from the tree and fall on his back a few feet away. So he had taken to meditating and actively using it. He was able to concentrate enough to make some smaller scale genjutsu – a demonic version of said technique would appear on the victim's mind – and he was able to use one of Kurama's personal healing techniques; it had surprised him at first how something called demon energy could be used to heal, but he was quickly reminded that anything could as easily be used for evil as well as for good.

Once he had been satisfied with his progress with Yōki, Naruto had taken to train with a wooden wakizashi he had made out of a tree somewhere in the forest. The wood from that tree was quite sturdy and difficult to break, so it had been the perfect dummy training weapon. He had given up on trying mastering a style that used his speed. The fact that Anko could decipher pretty much every action he took after the first hit told him it wasn't effective enough. So he had taken to using his wakizashi on a more offensive stance, his grip on the blade was loose, so he could adjust it in his hand as the motions of his attacks carried on. He already had his unarmed combat as a sort of defensive style, since he would "dance" around his enemies while they tired themselves out. With his weapon he wanted a style that relied on his speed and that was deadly too. He wanted to be out there with his big brother soon, he hated having to wait on the compound while Satoru risked himself all the time, it was irritating!

Ever since the last time Satoru told him about how one of his meetings with the old man went, Naruto had started wondering if being a Hokage was really what he wanted. He knew now that no matter his feelings on a matter, if he were to become one of the future Kages he would have to put the safety of the whole village over the safety of his own family, and as he learned from the time he spent with Satoru, family was more important than anything. But if he stopped striving for the Hokage position, what would be aim for? It had been a while since this question plagued his mind, and his nii-chan wasn't always there to talk to him and help him find an answer. He knew whenever Satoru was away, it was because he was doing something to keep both his current family – me, Anko, Ayame – and his future family – Hana, Hinata and whoever else they force on him – safe, and as that crossed his mind, Naruto knew his answer. He wanted to become strong enough that he could protect everyone he considered precious, even Satoru. The man still struggled with himself whenever one of them was in trouble, and if Naruto was strong enough, he wouldn't have to worry so much, he could protect them too!

_That's a very good goal Naru-kun. We both know there'll never be a limit on how strong you'll need to be now. Even as strong as I am I can't keep everyone safe, and your goal is to do just that. You'll need to surpass me in strength for that, love. And that is not going to be easy! _He smiled at Kurama as he heard her proclamation. And he knew she had a point, but he also knew that while that was true, he couldn't keep everyone safe all the time, no matter how strong he or Satoru became, he just had to train his precious people so that they could handle anything. He nodded to himself that means I'll need to study twice as hard, if I'm going to teach everyone… he sighed to himself. He'd have to start asking his brother to take him to the library; he had to learn other styles of combat and how to counter them.

He had been pacing around the house as he thought of ways he could get Ayame to join his training sessions, he didn't see Anko walking – more like limping, really – into the house with Satoru and another woman giving her support. They went toward the couch, where Anko as made to lie down, before he felt someone tugging on his hair.

- You got a visit, Naru-chan!

He turned around, a growl escaping him as he saw the amused eyes of Satoru before he heard a gasp from somewhere inside his head. Kushina-chan! He knew Kurama of all people wouldn't play with him about that, and he froze. His eyes widening, his expression a perfect copy of the one on the red haired woman. He faintly heard Satoru laugh somewhere around him, and he took a tentative step forward.

- Naru-chan!

Only to be thrown backward as his mother tackled him, her arms wrapping tightly around his torso and she sobbed on his chest. The next moment he was on his back on the floor, his mother still holding onto him as Satoru laughed even harder and fell backward, unable to hold himself up. He probably knew something like this was going to happen. He then felt his mother's face turning as she glared at his older brother.

- Shut up! I can still kill your ass, remember?

She had thought that it would actually do the trick, but Naruto knew that was not the case. It saddened him really, but the man he held as an older brother did not concern himself with his own health.

- Sure I do. I just don't care. You'd be doing me and a lot of people a favor, after all…

He just smiled at her, his laughter dead as soon as the words left her lips. He got up and went to Anko, taking her in his arms and heading toward the stairs. He stopped for a moment and called someone, a Pakura, if Naruto had heard right. And then a woman nearly as tall of his brother came into the house and they headed upstairs.

- I have to get Pakura here up to date on the shit that's going on…and I'm guessing you have a lot of catching up to do with your mom, otouto…so I'll leave you two alone for a few days. Since it's near the weekend, we'll start training again on Monday…just so you know. We'll be **upgrading** your training. I think I'll need your help from here on out. Today proved I can't be everywhere, no matter how much I want to.

And talk they did. His mother asked started, asking him a lot of things about Satoru.

- Did he really save you from a mob when you were younger? How much did he train you? Is he the reason you have a tail? Did he ever hurt you? Did he really adopt you?

It felt like that one time he asked Satoru to fight at full strength to see how far he needed to go. He was left dizzy just by the sheer amount of questions she shot at him, but he answered them all honestly; he believed that a son should always tell the truth to his parents, and appreciate their concern whenever present. Growing up without them made him more accepting of this overbearing.

- Yes he really did. He says I'm strong enough to take on most Jonin, but that was the last time he tested me. No he isn't, Kura-chan is the reason I have a tail. If you mean like the "hunters" did then no, never. He did train me though so I was hurting quite a bit. Well not officially but since I grew a tail everyone just accepted it as a fact.

And so they talked, he asked her why she wasn't there, and she told him she had been in a coma. Not the truth, but he didn't need to know what really happened though. A moment later and Satoru came through the room; his seemed to have turned for the worse as he just passed by them, ignoring the duo on the couch. A moment later and Anko appeared, saying that she had just told him that Ayame's sensei had given his team three months off of missions and training, since two members were clan heirs and one was the demon loving whore. Of course, they all knew no one would be courageous enough to say that out loud with Satoru always hanging around the woman like she was his, but no one could control what they thought.

- He does seem very protective of her…

- He tries to keep us from harm whenever he can. He sometimes goes and makes deals so that he would suffer in our stead…I wouldn't be surprised if he were ready to make another one, regarding you this time.

Anko and Kushina just looked at each other for a moment before the former sighed and walked back to her room, it was going to take some getting used to, knowing her idol was still alive.

As Anko walked upstairs Naruto turned to his mother, now knowing something was wrong. Why would Satoru need to make a deal regarding his mother? If she was in a coma for the last ten years, she could just present herself to the Hokage once again and that would be it. But the way Anko had said about his nii-chan making a deal for her safety…

- Mom…why would Toru-niichan have to deal for your safety?

_Of course he'd pick up on that…_ She sighed to herself and looked at her son for a moment, debating whether he should know everything or if she should just give him the sugar coated version of her time with Root. _That's a no-brainer, sugar coat it is._

- Well Naru-chan, fact is I have been imprisoned by Danzo and his Root…and only today did your "nii-chan" come to break me out. Not surprising, since Danzo would have me hidden very well due to who I am.

She gave her son a small smile then, and even though he knew there was something she wasn't telling him; which made him angry at Danzo and his platoon of baboons – Heh, that sound's funny – he nodded and smiled back at her. He could always just ask Satoru later, at least **he** never lied.

They spent the rest of their time making small talk; Naruto would say something about his training with Satoru and Kushina would just nod her head and smile at him. She knew that the kid was close to the guy that pulled her out of Danzo's clutches, but she had to wonder if he did it to have leverage over the Hokage and the village. He then spoke about the times where Satoru had been made to marry two girls that were not even Genin. Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Hana; he kept on babbling about how his nii-chan seemed to just lose his usual good mood for a while after that, and it drove them all nearly crazy at how hard he'd push them then. And after that he mentioned the time when Satoru told him about his life before taking him in, and how he would never allow Naruto to leave the compound on his own, even if he was strong enough to defend himself.

- He always came to town with me, and said that if he had to leave I should stay inside the house; he didn't want anyone to try something with me. I think it was after that first time we came to the festival and he made the "hunters" back away just by hitting them with his KI that I started trusting him enough to open up. Before then he was just teaching me, but after that he promised to keep me safe from everyone…

Naruto had a smile on his face as he spoke, the memory of someone finally standing up for him being one of the first really good ones he had. After that day he promised himself that he would never leave Satoru's side, something he noticed Satoru did for him as well. He only left whenever he had to do something to stand to his side of the bargains he made to keep his precious people safe. He remembered his own vow and looked at his mom, a determined fire shining in his eyes that shocked her.

- I need you to train me, mom. I have to become stronger…strong enough that Toru-niichan can depend on me!

* * *

And for the next year they had trained. Naruto learned that his mother had kept some of Kurama's yōki, which allowed her to live through the stress of that day. And while she could still channel it like she did when they were together, it was not her own power, and as such it still did some damage to her body whenever she tried using it for extended periods of time. She had taken to evaluate her son's skills at first, not trusting the judgment of Satoru. After a full all out spar with Naruto, she knew Satoru was wrong; the kid was not Jonin level. It felt like he was somewhat higher than that, but not exaggeratedly so, she still won out in the end, but only because she her chakra chains to contain him. She then explained that her chakra was special even among Uzumaki, and she could contain people with demonic blood rather easily with this technique, and use it as a weapon in battle against other humans. After that she asked what his training regime was.

Well…I wake up, run some laps around the Forest, finishing back here at the compound's entrance, after that we start some light exercises, for me it's five hundred push-ups, sit ups and punches and kicks with each arm and leg. And then I spar with either Anko-neechan or Toru-niichan. The morning routine is always the same, but everyday my afternoon differs, some days me and Kura-chan will just spend time together in the seal, some days she'll train me in the use of yōki, some days I'll practice with my dummy wakizashi, and some days I'll focus on chakra control training. Toru-niichan said that he can't really help me with anything other than Taijutsu since it was a promise, so Anko helps me with that…

He trailed off there. They hadn't taken to training his elemental chakra yet because according to Satoru it would require that he start training control over his elemental chakra manipulation, and until his chakra control was at least on par with Anko's; who had near perfect control over her reserves, even as they grew through training; they'd put that on hold. He looked at his mother when he finished and saw her gaping at him for a moment. He then mentioned that he also had weight seals applied to certain pieces of his clothing, that gained weigh every three months so he was gradually growing faster and stronger just with the normal workout he did with his older brother.

After that day he saw that his mother had been talking to Satoru as she now walked quite stiffly around their training grounds. He knew she had asked for a lot of weight to start with, since he would have done the same if he was in her shoes, and she'd told him that most of his personality came from her. They were joined by Ayame a few days later, which Satoru said he was going to train for the coming Chunin Exams. He took her with him to his morning run, sparred with her and helped her with her chakra control whenever he could. They kept this routine until the day came that she had to go to Kusa for the Exams, and so Satoru and Anko went to the Hokage Tower as she went to meet with her team.

- Hokage-sama.

He bowed to the old man as he was led into his office after announcing his presence to the secretary.

- I would like permission for me and Anko to accompany Ayame toward Kusagakure.

The old man raised an eyebrow then, looking from one to the other. He sighed and looked back to his papers.

- Unless you have a good reason…denied.

- I was hoping you'd say that…

Here he took a deep breath, he was going to be talking quite a bit.

- My main reason is concern for the safety of my betrothed, being that her own sensei had abandoned her training once he learned that she was going to marry the "demon" – he pointed at himself- I fear that, once away from this place – the Hokage frowned at the way he mentioned Konoha, but refrained from speaking, for now. – either he or one of her idiotic teammates are going to try and hurt her, which in turn will result in me destroying their pathetic excuses for clans, and you know I can, so don't bother interrupting. Also, is it not for the best interest of the village that our Genin teams get escort from the best the village had to offer, in case one of the other teams get too frisky.

The old Hokage just looked up at Satoru and frowned mentally, his reasoning did seem good enough. Especially the part about the two clan heirs attacking Ayame.

- Granted…but-

- Don't bother. I know what you are going to say, and he's coming with me along with Pakura. You denied her request to join the village's forces because it was a request from Danzo, and he isn't a Genin yet and therefore decisions regarding him fall to his guardian – here he took a thoughtful pose, before mockingly gasping and touching an open palm to his chest. – Me!

Anko laughed as they left the office, the old man's face was hilarious at the end of their meeting, and she knew that Satoru had done everything on purpose. He had taken to sharpening his mental capabilities after all. He still felt a sour taste at the time the Hokage played him into accepting those marriages. She felt Satoru stop for a moment.

- Oh…and please do note that upon our return Ayame shall already be Yajuu Ayame. She will be Chunin, and she wants to have patrol duty within the village. I'm hoping you will consider that, Hokage-sama, in exchange for the services I did for you on a personal level a few years ago…

They both knew he was talking about him taking Naruto in, and training him. He was grateful enough back then to say that if he ever needed something, as long as it didn't hinder Konoha, he would see it happen. And even though he knew that Ayame would become quite strong, as she was she wouldn't be missed in the frontlines, and as such the request that befell him was much better than any other he could have thought the man would come up with. As such he nodded, the smallest of smiles forming on his face, relieved that he had used his one chance to make sure Ayame was relatively safe.

They had left together with the teams from Konoha, Satoru, Naruto, Anko, Pakura and Kushina who was under a mask that she had made for herself for the moment; it was a blank mask with a red swirl in its middle. The women made small talk during the trip while the men settled on keeping their distance from the two "demons" and glaring at their backs. They made camp two times during their travel, the boys and their Jonin needing their beauty sleep, as Anko called it.

Upon reaching Kusa, a village located in the country that separated Hi no Kuni from Tsuchi no Kuni, a few things caught the attention of every single member of their little entourage. The guards of the village along with every single patrol they could see around it was composed by two shinobi and one person inside a metallic armor, it was bit enough to fit someone inside it comfortably, but it still functioned with a precision that frightened some of the people that came for the exams. They were perplexed with the metal giants that Kusa seemed to master, but pushed that aside for a later date; right now they had an exam to attend to. As they entered the academy of Kusagakure they passed by a few teams from Iwa, two teams from Kumo and another one from Taki. Naruto, feeling the need to make new friends all around, started bouncing around the place with a happy smile on his face that made Satoru chuckle, though he went with the gaki, even imitating him as he practically bounced from team to team. The first one had been a team from Kumo, and Naruto paused a moment watching a blond haired girl who stared back at him.

- Hey! I'm Yajuu-Uzumaki Naruto! The big guy is Satoru-niichan! Who are you guys?

He smiled wide at the team, his right hand stretching out as he introduced himself and Satoru, who just nodded at them and kept watching the exchange.

- I'm Nii Yugito; these are my teammates, Mabui and Darui.

After shaking hands with enthusiastic blond boy in front of her, the blond girl then smiled and pulled a kid to her, who had been trying to hide behind her legs.

- And this is Tamaki, I was asked to bring her with me by a friend.

Naruto and Tamaki, after a few moments of awkwardness took to excitedly talk to each other about things they did for fun. She gave a few good laughs when he told her about his pranking abilities, and he'd be amazed to know that she lived surrounded by cats and her grandmother was something of a cat expert, and that both of them collected paw prints. She said that there were few left to take and that her grandmother thought that sending her along with Yugito would help getting a few of those left. After that they went to the rest of the group, where Naruto introduced her to Anko and the others, while Satoru looked back at Yugito and for a moment he could swear her eyes became slits and she winked at him but he chose to ignore that, knowing that going without blood for as long as he had been his animal side was screaming to mate her; he had been feeling the smell of a female in heat that came from her; and he just smiled, turned around and went to join Naruto once again, the kid had gone with Tamaki toward the team from Taki.

He was talking excitedly with a green haired girl as she replied with the same amount of excitement in her voice. She seemed to be somewhat like Naruto in regards of being a carefree kid with too much energy to burn, and they seemed to have hit off to a good start of forming a friendship. Satoru did notice, though, that the girl received disgusted looks from her male teammates and lust filled looks from her sensei, which made him growl loud enough to be heard throughout the room and said Jonin looked toward him before averting his gaze, not feeling very confident in looking to the slowly turning red eyes.

- Say, Naru-chan, why don't ya ask your new friends to come with us to eat something?

He snickered at the blond kid's indignant yell and turned around, taking Anko's and Ayame's hands as they left the academy, Naruto coming to walk beside his mom with the two kids he had met that day and smiling to himself, he had made two new friends today, so all was right.

They had gone to a dango shop – Naruto refused to eat ramen that was not Ayame's or Teuchi's – and the rest of their group took the time to get to know both kids that were with them. Satoru saw Fu looking nervously toward a building up ahead and his eyes narrowed. He excused himself, saying he had to book hotel rooms for them and went toward the building he had seen Fu look at. He had barely stepped into the place when he was confronted by the Jonin from Taki.

- What do you think you are doing, you fucking idiot? That slut there is the Jinchuuriki of the Nanabi, she's just a tool for my country to use as we see fit! And I want some, she'll give me some, wanting or not!

Satoru just smiled sadistically at the man and used his fingernails to cut open his hand before placing his hand on top of said wound.

- **_You know, your main mistake was trying to get her in an abandoned building. I despise your kind…I'm still working on dealing with a little group full of rapists back home for doing this to someone dear to me, and I've been needing to get some blood…you know, to control my other urges…and I have to thank you for offering yourself._**

He said as the man froze up, feeling the wound in his hand bleeding more than it should, the liquid didn't stop oozing from it, but what shocked him to inaction was the fact that not one drop fell to the ground, and instead he could see the pleasurable look on the man's face.

- **_Hmm…water elemental…not one of mine…too bad. Oh, before you say anything about it, there's no worries about this starting a conflict between our countries, after all...there's never anything left when I'm done._**

He almost laughed at the man's panicked face. Sure, he was gonna have to get rid of the clothes, but that was of no consequence, he had his trusty Yōton for that. He did however chuckle quietly as the man twitched a few times and went still, his body shriveling as nothing was left. Satoru swatted at the man's face, much like one does a fly, and his body crumpled to dust before he took the man's clothing in his hands and channeled his Yōton element to his hands, the clothes becoming enveloped in the liquid fire, and then stopped the chakra flow, letting the now solid rock fall to the ground before turning to leave.

- What's this I hear about you dealing with Root over someone dear to you?

He came face to face _– face to mask really, but who's telling?_ – With Kushina as he made his way out of the building. He blushed bright red and looked anywhere but at her.

- …Hey isn't that Naru-chan calling?

He tried to get past her, but a forceful pull threw him back to the building. Their little exchange was conveniently muffled by the festivity the village was in because of the Chunin Exam. He hit the wall on the other side of the building; having forcefully reentered the premises; and slid to the ground where he just sat and sighed. Kushina was coming toward him, a victorious smirk on her face.

- I'm still waiting for an answer.

- …Fine…during the two years you had helped me learn Fuinjutsu and we practiced the seals I had learned, I started developing something of a crush on you. I don't really understand how that happened…maybe it has to do with the fact you are so determined to get what you want – Hell, just look at the length you went to get this answer outta me! – and had this loving side you showed whenever you were around that idiotic Yondaime – sorry! But it's the truth! He practically forced me into the Kekkei Genkai restoration on the council's whim! – I don't know…but you became someone dear to me during that time, and that is why when I told you I'd never hurt you back in the warehouse. Happy **now?**

He growled the last word as he got up from the ground and started slapping himself on the back of his legs, to rid himself of the dust. He didn't look at her then; he didn't have the courage to, and kept walking to the stand where Naruto was surely waiting with Anko and the others. He stopped after passing by her and sighed again.

- You know, back then I'd ask myself why someone like you could ever be with such a bitch like that Yondaime. But I knew you loved him quite dearly, and you probably still do, so don't worry. I wasn't going to act on these feelings. I already feel I'm unworthy of Anko and Ayame's love, and now the honorable council and their bitch Sandaime have forced two girls onto marrying me…I hate what I became, and at times I just want to die; I think you remember me saying that you'd be doing me a favor if you ever did kill me; but then I remember Naruto …Ugh…I can't believe I'm spilling my heart out like this…Just-Just know that even if I do love you I wouldn't do anything, because I know you deserve better, much better…

He stopped and just started walking away again. His previous smile back in place; if a little forced; and he stopped next to a blushing trio. Naruto, Fu and Tamaki were bright red and Anko was laughing her ass off. He actually smiled at that and turned to tease his little brother.

- Oh? What happened here…? Don't tell me…-he gasped and faked a shocked look, pointing at the kids – you asked these young ladies to be your girlfriends already? Oh my! You certainly do move fast!

Both girls blushed harder at that and Naruto, though blushing, turned to Satoru with a glare as he just laughed it off. Turning to Anko, Pakura and Ayame with a smile, he moved closer to them and caressed Anko's cheek for a moment before turning to Ayame and kissing her lightly on the lips. Pakura pouted, feeling left out, but she knew from a conversation with Satoru back in their home that he wouldn't do anything if she wasn't sure that's what she wanted, and she knew she wasn't completely sure…yet.

- I was thinking we could get married here. It is quite a good setting for a marriage, this village. Besides, the other member of our little group has the authority to marry us.

He looked at Ayame as he spoke, having told her he was going to get those perverts she had to call teammates off her back. And since he couldn't outright kill them – _no matter how much I want to, it would be too suspicious_ – He came up with their marriage. It was a little sooner than he planned, but he knew her Jonin-sensei and those two would try something if it didn't happen soon enough. This whole Chunin exam entry was a fiasco; they were Genin for barely a year for Kami's sake!

He watched as she just nodded numbly at his words and his smile became wider. They kept talking and teasing the kids; Naruto seemed to be quite taken with the two vibrant girls; and they went to the hotel where Konoha had booked rooms for their representatives in the exams. On the way there Naruto noticed a redhead girl; she seemed to be the same age he was, who kept stealing glances at both him and Satoru with wide eyes before looking away, with a blush on her face. He grinned at that, thinking she had developed something of a crush on his older brother because of the way he looked.

As they parted ways with the brown haired girl – Yugito had been waiting on Tamaki for a while – they noticed that Fu's room was beside their own and Satoru smirked.

- You know, since you have your own room, maybe you could share with Naru-chan over here. He won't be much trouble; kid doesn't seem to need sleep anyway…

He leaned in and whispered in her ear.

- Besides this way he can protect you should something happen.

That had her nodding, albeit reluctantly, as she was afraid of what her sensei would end up doing. She was able to keep him away using the bugs she could control thanks to Chomei, but now that she was in a city, with not enough of them to effectively keep him away…she shivered at the thought and looked at Naruto. Chomei kept telling her she could sense Kurama's yōki inside the blonde, which made her happy that there was someone like her out there. She was confused though when she saw that the people with him seemed so happy and friendly with him and her; though she knew that only Naruto had a chance of knowing what she was at that point. She allowed herself a smile as both her and Naruto started toward her room, she felt a little tired since she hadn't slept for days, needing to be alert to keep everyone on her team from trying something. She yawned as she pulled Naruto with her and told him to be a good guard while she got some much needed shut eye.

* * *

And so time went by, the group, with its new additions; Yugito and her team included, since she had to be near Tamaki, or else her friend would eat her liver; toured around the town and stopped to buy souvenirs whenever they came across a store that sold something that caught their eye – Satoru had made Naruto buy Fu and Tamaki something to remember him by when they went back to their country – and in the end Satoru had spent quite a bit, having bought a silver necklace for Anko, Ayame, Kushina, Pakura and Yugito; though for the last two Naruto said it was only fair, but he knew the brat was just trying to get his revenge on embarrassing him in front of his little "girlfriends" like that.

The first part of the exam, instead of the usual written test, to know how well they could get information from others without getting caught in the act, was just a power test, used to determine if they were worthy of becoming strong shinobi. They had to perform their strongest jutsu against a chakra enforced wall, and if their attack didn't at least leave a mark, it was an automatic fail for the team; you can't proceed without a full group after all. Ayame passed her trial, and so did her teammates, a few teams were unable to even get the wall scorched from their attacks, while others just seemed to make the wall stronger when it sucked the pathetic amount of power they put on the attack. Almost immediately after that the proctor for the second test had arrived, informing them that the second test, a survival test, would have them locking in one of the training grounds prepared for this test, placed in the exact middle of the labyrinth-like forest and they had to make it back out, with a five day time limit, and bringing the medallion each team leader was given. During the test the teams were allowed to attack and kill each other, without repercussions from other countries. It was during this test that shit went south for Ayame.

* * *

They had been found by an Iwa team, during the fight, after they had taken a few hits and she was cut on her legs, making it a little difficult for her to run, her teammates abandoned her and tried to run away, though they didn't get very far. The Iwagakure team was bent on destroying any Konoha ninja they came across; they were sons of the men who still held tightly onto the grudge against all things Konoha, since their humiliating defeat against the Yondaime. The two male kids were easy to dispose of, and after that they went back to the female, who seemed to be more than just a little afraid. She must have known she had little chance against three of Iwa's finest Genin. It didn't stop her from trying, though. She pulled a kunai from the holster attached to her left thigh and stood on a defensive stance, and when the first one came at her, trying to punch her stomach, she spun around his attack, his arm missing her as the movement made her sidestep the attack and had her close to him as the kunai came quickly toward his face, slashing his face from one cheek to the other, opening his mouth in one large permanent smile.

He stumbled backwards, one of his hands going to his face as he glared at her, who was again in her defensive stance, waiting for any other attacks that might come her way. Then she saw something amiss, there were two in front of her, so where was the last member?

- Feisty…maybe we'll have a use for you in Iwa after all…

It was but a whisper to her ear, and it made her freeze in fear. One of them had taken the time she was distracted and prepared to get her off guard. She felt the touch of sharp, cold steel touching her neck and for a moment considered doing herself the favor of committing suicide before they could do that to her. She had promised herself that only Satoru could touch her like that…wait, _Satoru! I'm already disqualified, and we are allowed to use every advantage we may have…and I do have this seal! _She concentrated as chakra travelled to her wedding ring; Kushina had made their union official, and after an eccentric visit to the leader of Kusa, they had the papers to prove it. Moments later he appeared looking toward the two in front of him and growling. _Shit…I forgot he hates Iwa! Oh well, too bad for them I don't really like rapists._

Satoru hadn't even bothered asking what was wrong. These were Iwa shinobi, and as such he knew they were up to no good. But he was much stronger than last time, and they were no Jonins. He had made quick work of each of the kids and at the end he kissed Ayame passionately, making use of her surprised gasp and pushing his tongue into her mouth, his hands wandering her body as he did so, stopping when his hands came down to her ass and he squeezed firmly, which made her moan and lean into him as they kissed. All too soon for her tastes he pulled back and smiled at her pout.

- You still need to get back to safety, hime. If anything at all bothers you, call me.

He kissed her again, this time just a chaste, quick kiss before he went away, not by shunshin, but by walking back to the corpses and absorbing their blood, biting into their necks. He wanted to be able to control his kekkei genkai enough that he would only be able to take other people's blood by drinking, since doing it at a mere touch terrified him, what if he touched a wound on one of his Himes? He'd rather die than be the one causing them any pain. He thought to himself the best way to get to that level of control would be by practice, and so he took to drinking his victim's blood every time.

As he finished the last one, he heard a familiar voice screaming not too far away and ran toward her. If he could get to her and play his cards right, maybe; just maybe; he'd be able to take her with him when they went back to Konoha. He didn't want her to go back to her own village after he saw how her own sensei wanted to treat her, and he was sure her team was of like-mind. As he approached, he saw the two genin that were her team actually helping the team from Kiri in beating her up. He supposed in exchange they'd give those guys their medallion and leave after she was dead.

He showed his predator's grin and casually walked into the clearing they were at. He knew Fu should channel Nanabi's chakra but apparently something was keeping her from doing so. Maybe her seal was purposely messed with so that she could not access too much chakra without consent from a superior? He tapped the shoulder of the one nearest to the place he came from, one of the Taki brats who turned around so fast he swore he hears his neck snap.

- Yo!

He said too cheerily for their tastes before he brought his face down to the kid's neck and bit. Hard. Instead of just sucking the boy's blood, he tore the skin out of the junction between neck and shoulder, and then he started drinking happily; successfully creeping the other kids out. He let the first one drop, his lifeless body dissipating as it was now empty. He didn't say this out loud, but he got that effect by using his fire chakra manipulation. He'd just suck all the blood from his victim and then, using his powered up fire control – He'd killed quite a lot of fire users, after all – He sent the incendiary element through the person's body, replacing the stolen blood, and he made sure it was hot enough that the body scorched from the inside.

- Who wants to be next?

He laughed as the remaining assailants scrambled, though he didn't let any of them get away. He threw four shuriken, hitting the remaining shitheads in the back of their heads, the blade of the little star shaped weapon imbedded into their skull, killing them. After that was done he turned to Fu, smiled jovially and winked at the kid, taking her orange hair clip from her and burning it a little, then taking her protector and doing the same with the metal, the cloth in it destroying itself.

- Now you're dead…who would'a guessed?

He laughed as she just stared at him gob smacked.

- How about you come be with your little guard-dog? Oh…oh….do call him that way, okay? For me? Pretty please…with cherries on top?

He hadn't given her a chance to reply, though he did see her blush. He took her hand and disappeared through shunshin to the entrance of the arena. Getting there he saw that Ayame had been found by one of the proctors. They kept their watch on them from time to time, and even if her team did die, she had made it quite a ways back without many wounds, and according to their leader, it was respectable; the man seemed quite obsessed with strength; and as a show of respect to that strength he escorted her back to the gates of the arena, where the rest of her little entourage were waiting.

Satoru appeared next to her, and as soon as they did, Fu let go of his hand and ran to Naruto, hugging the daylights out of him, crying in relief. He looked around, every one of his group's members seemed to be there, and so they could just head home, but he thought that it would be disrespectful to Yugito to just leave like that. So they stayed, seeing her and her team leave the arena's gates and smiled at her, giving both her and Mabui a wink.

- Knew you'd breeze through…you guys barely look winded! You must be quite strong.

Satoru smiled and looked around, Naruto was still holding a now sniffling Fu, Tamaki was looking worriedly to her new friend and the older women were all looking at him funny. He growled at them.

- I just **know** you aren't thinking **that**! You know how I feel about that!

They shook their heads and looked at the ground guiltily for a moment before just looking toward Naruto and Fu again. Satoru sighed and looked back toward Yugito, Mabui and Darui.

- Ahh…are you two brothers or something? You kinda look alike?

Mabui smiled pleasantly and shook her head. She told him that was just an incredible coincidence; they had no relation to each other. He laughed at that and nodded, who knew? Even their names suggested some relation. He turned to Yugito, who had her head tilted to the side in curiosity.

- How did Ayame-san go?

- Eh, the other two idiots got their asses killed, so she's disqualified. I was thinking of taking them home since this exam is practically over for us.

He heard a sigh coming from behind him and smirked. Looking at the source, he saw a downtrodden Naruto staring at the ground.

- What's this sigh I hear? Don't wanna leave your little girlfriend behind, eh? If no one's opposed, I think we can stay a little longer, I did ask to stay here until the exams were over anyway…

Naruto blushed but looked at the others with a hopeful look, waiting impatiently for an answer. Some of them glared at Satoru, who shrugged, grinning right back at them.

- Kid's waiting ladies…

He turned back to Yugito with a wink at the women who were with him and laughed. He then placed a hand on the young blonde's head and led him away, toward a restaurant he'd seen and was curious about. The restaurant had food that would rival the best Akimichi chef's and it seemed to be quite the humble place, while the Akimichi restaurant back in Konoha was yelling superiority with the way it looked and some of the staff acted. He was munching a dango stick while Anko looked at her own generous portion in her place.

- The kid wants to stay I say let him…not like we'll be doing much back home either.

The masked redhead spoke, making Naruto grin at her and Satoru smile, looking at the kid. He knew it must have meant a lot hearing his mom siding with him on a whim of his. Naruto then looked at Satoru, again expectantly, since no one had spoken against the idea, he assumed everyone was fine with it.

- It's a deal then we're staying…now why don't you go stay with your girlfriend, hmm?

Naruto didn't even fight it this time; he just happily took Fu's hand and led her toward Tamaki. After they were gone, he looked to Yugito and her group.

- So…did they announce how long you'll have to wait for the finals?

- Yeah…they are to be held next month. We are going to be fighting to the death; something about no country is gonna miss weaklings and cowards; so we need to take this hiatus to train to be at top shape when the next stage commences.

- To the death? I already like it here…

He gave a feral grin and looked around again, seeing that most of the clientele was Kusa shinobi, and there was the redhead kid again, looking from him to Naruto with a blush on her face. He shook his head, an amused smirk on his face as he beckoned the kid to him.

- Okay kid, not the first time you check me and Naruto over there out…what's going on?

He watched as she fumbled with the bottom of her red shirt and looked at the ground, blush still in place.

W-well…yo-you and th-the blo-blond have the-the largest cha-chakra re-reserves I've-I've ever see-seen…

That was interesting. A sensor type? And old enough to be at the academy too. Something wasn't right here, why would a village dismiss such potential?

- Ohoho? So you're a sensor shinobi hmm? You don't look like you're attending to the academy kid.

He saw as the red on her cheeks spread to her whole face and she seemed to become even more nervous.

- I-I did try si-sir…but-but they sa-said a weak one like me was never going to live pass the graduation, so they just threw me out…

She trailed off and sniffled a bit. Okay, I can see why her self-esteem is kinda low right now. He sighed and looked up, intending to look at the sky, but since they were indoors, ended up just looking at the ceiling with an aggravated expression. _Why did he always end up picking up the misfits from other places?_ He sighed deeply and got up from his seat, leaning forward so he was face to face with the girl and, as he gently pulled her face up, he smiled at the kid.

- Say, you don't look like you got a family. Am I right?

She nodded, which made his smile bigger.

- Okay, so how about this. Where I'm from they will let you go through the academy with everyone else…but before that I'll help you become stronger, okay? Being a sensor is good, but you need to be able to defend yourself if you ever get caught without your team. How's about that?

He held back the laughter as she stopped fidgeting, stopped trying to avoid his eyes and just looked at him with an expression that made it obvious she was skeptical. Her own village didn't want her, why would a foreigner want to train her? Satoru looked at Kushina, an idea forming in his head as he took a moment to stare at her red hair.

- Say…see the masked woman with the pretty red hair? That's the same color as your own, maybe you are distant relatives hmm? If nothing else, discovering you have family out there would make it better, don't you think?

He followed her eyes as the girl turned to Kushina, his hand had left her face the moment he started speaking his proposal, as he had her undivided attention by then. The kid's eyes lingered at the older redhead for a moment before she looked at the blond kid who was eating and chatting away happily with the two girls near him. She blushed again and looked at the ground.

- Uhmm…where will I live though?

- Oh you'll live with me of course, can't have my adoptive daughter just bunking anywhere, can I?

Her head snapped back up toward him fast enough that he wondered if she was okay for a moment. She had a teary smile on her face as she nodded slowly. _Trying to make sense of what I said, I'd think. _She took a step forward, to him before stopping and reaching out tentatively, half expecting him to hit and laugh at her, but Satoru just laughed and pulled the kid to him, enveloping her in a tight hug and kissing the top of her head.

Welcome to the family, kiddo. I'm Yajuu Satoru, behind me are Yajuu Ayame and Anko – Before you ask, I'm the last of my clan, which makes it so I have to revive my clan – The masked woman is just Uzumaki since that's the only thing on her mask. The blond brat is Uzumaki Naruto and the green haired hyperactive kid is Fu. The other one is Tamaki, she's with Yugito there; that's the older blond; and with Yugito are Mabui and Darui. And no, even though they look alike, have similar names and all that they are not related, I asked.

- The girl giggled at the end of his introduction.

- I'm Karin…Yajuu Karin?

She asked and looked up at him, who nodded with a smile before asking her to go and introduce herself to Naruto and his little friends. As the ran toward the young blond he got up and sat back with the rest of the group, taking a sip of his green tea.

- I don't think Sandaime-sama is gonna be very pleased with what you are doing.

He looked to the redhead who spoke and shrugged. Like he gave a rat's ass what the old bastard thought.

- Not his problem. I adopted a civilian child. It is my right, you know? Karin and Fu are both civilians now, and it's my understanding that you can adopt a kid from wherever as long as you are an adult. Which I just so happen to be. Got a problem please go to the ones who created the rules, I just play by them.

He stared at her for a moment before getting up and walking to the nearest waitress. He gave her a generous amount of ryou, which he hoped would pay for Naruto's gigantic appetite. After doing so he simply left the restaurant toward the hotel they were staying at, he needed to be alone for a moment, he needed to think a few things over.

* * *

The month passed without them seeing much of Satoru, which had the three who knew him the best worried. He had most likely ended up going to the forest that seemed to surround the village and killed a few animals to satiate his thirst for a while. It was nowhere near like drinking human blood and he hated having to rely on killing animals; he was after all the King of Beasts, and he hated hurting any animal without a good reason; and after that he was likely reading from the sealing scrolls that he always carried on his person. Like the time he had been forced to marry those two kids, he dived into training to make sure he could protect his new adopted daughters, and he'd need to work extra hard in these cases since he knew the old man was gonna try and use them as "leashes" to assert his command over the clan head.

Naruto had spent the month getting to know his new friends and spending time with his mother, who seemed to be a little distant at times, but he just passed it off as it being her thinking about the past. They would go with Yugito and her team to their training ground to watch as their training progressed, and sometimes Ayame was given the chance to participate in their sparring time. When it was time to go to the arena, Satoru finally reappeared and walked silently beside Anko, who stole worried glances at her husband.

They watched the fights progress with barely suppressed boredom, even though they fought to the death, there was no one in there who really caught the attention of the spectators. The matches were usually either decided by a lucky hit from one side or because of overconfidence by the soon to be corpse. Yugito fought a boy from Kusa, and her match ended seconds after it started, the boy was a complete weakling, and as such had barely registered her movements when the blond girl from Kumo impaled him with her extended nails. Actually even Darui, who said he was the least skilled of the Kumo group dominated his opponent quite easily. In the end, from the booth where the leader of Kusa stood with his advisor; some blond dude dressed like a jester; said advisor was booing the whole exam, and yelling "Boooring" from time to time. Satoru nearly laughed a few times, but he yawned instead, to show he actually was bored.

* * *

It was a month later and the group was back in Konoha, and once called by the old man to explain the situation with both girls Satoru had dealt with the Hokage, just saying that they were orphans and he adopted them because he saw potential in them to become good shinobi in the future. He said that both would live with him and his family in the Yajuu compound and he'd take responsibility if they ever became traitors to Konoha.

They were back to their usual routine, get up early in the morning, run laps around the grounds of the Forest of Death, push-ups, sit-ups, punches and kicks with both arms and legs and then sparring; there were additions to the training group, which was now composed of Kushina, Naruto, Fu, Karin, Anko, Ayame and Satoru; they continued like that for a while, until one day Nonō appeared at the gates of the compound and asked to speak with Satoru in private; which put Anko on alert, since she had all but forgotten her interaction with the woman.

After nearly an hour of speaking with the nun, Satoru came back into the compound, making a bee line towards Anko, his eyes clearly clouded with something the kids couldn't recognize, but had all females living with the Yajuu blushing bright red; he took Anko by her hand and walked toward his room with her, from where neither left for the rest of the day. The following morning, an extremely happy Anko; who Naruto was positive glowing; walked into the kitchen to get something to eat, while Satoru, who had a contented grin on his face went out for his usual morning jog.

And so time passed them by, their training went on, and another year had passed before they were completely aware of it. Naruto was usually seen with Karin and Fu wherever he went, and Satoru was back to learning about seals from Kushina; and as the lessons passed by, they would go out to eat something and speak about some of the things Satoru had spoken to her and about her; Anko and Ayame, who were at the same level of skill in their Taijutsu and chakra control, were usually training together, and their personality had blended with the other's perfectly, and rubbed off on the other's as well, which made Ayame become more sadistic and appreciate the finer art of torture, while Anko became even kinder to those she loved and hid her sadism better while in public.

Satoru did leave the compound every now and then to speak with his soon to be wife, Hana. They spoke about things they had in common, like their shared love for animals; well, he loved all animals, Hana concentrated more on dogs since she was an Inuzuka; and their shared preference for Taijutsu combat – though Satoru wouldn't say it out loud he actually loved using his battle axe to destroy things, but Taijutsu was a very close second place. She did ask what had made him agree with the marriage, but he insisted that he would only be able to tell the whole truth after they were married. They went on dates every other week, and he made sure to take the young Inuzuka to her favorite places in Konoha, and sometimes just go to an open area where she could sit next to her three ninken and enjoy herself; Ayame and Anko had made it clear that he was to treat her as if she was one of them, since that way they were sure he was going to do his best to make her happy.

And so they were married, as Satoru had promised the Hokage, as their first kiss had ended he took that time to pronounce to her that he had fallen in love with her during their time together. She smiled and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

- Love you too. Can't believe that, even though I'm part of a dog clan, I fell for a cat-man.

He laughed then and then took her to her home first, so she could get her personal belongings and tell her mother and brother where she would be living from then on, and after that he took her to the Yajuu clan compound, where he announced that her room was the same as his, Anko's and Ayame's. After giving her a moment to get acquainted with the house, he entered trainer mode and smiled his usual "sadistic sensei" smile and told her she was going to take part on his training from then on, and the first thing she'd need for that was a change in wardrobe – he did like how she dressed, especially since her clothes seemed to hug her body perfectly, but he knew that she would need better protection if the things he saw in Kusa ever took part in a war.

She now wore a styled, form fitting flak jacket; much like Konoha's usual Jonin jacket, but hers had no pockets on it, and was black in color; the front of which she kept unzipped, showing some cleavage. Under that she wore a long sleeved chain mail that hugged her body perfectly and that, thanks to a seal that Satoru placed on it; making it so the mail would absorb some of her own chakra to make it more durable, and harder to curt through; the metal itself being red in color, but once it started draining chakra, it became purplish, seeing that the natural blue color of chakra blended with the red of the mail. Satoru was sure that in time, given that she fed the seal constantly, it would become nearly impossible to pass through it with normal weapons, but jutsu and chakra enhanced weapons would most likely be a weakness, and as such she was not to become overconfident on its protection. She wore form fitting black pants, which would disappear under a pair of black, ankle high boots that had steel covering the ankles and the toes. Over her mail one could see a necklace with a silver wolf head that was a gift from her husband the day after they married. It was in that visit that Satoru had arranged to learn how to smith his own weapons/armor, and in exchange he would place seals on the old man's pieces so that he could sell better than he had for the last years.

As they walked back to the compound, Satoru noted that while they were staring at the Inuzuka girl that went with him to the blacksmith, they now stared with lust filled eyes as she walked beside the Yajuu heir. He growled at the stares and unleashed some of his KI directed at the men at the area, which had its desired effect, since they shook on their legs a little and averted their gaze to the ground while both of them passed by. Satoru then possessively passed an arm around the brunette's waist and pulled her to him, which made the girl giggle.

- I like your possessiveness…very Alpha of you. Don't worry Satoru-koi, I'm yours, remember?

She gave him a kiss to the cheek which made him smile and forget the men that were staring at her for a moment. He looked at her and saw her long hair, which even though she tied to a ponytail, went past her waistline, and the two locks that framed her face. He looked back to the way they were walking and noticed that they were close to the entrance to the training ground forty-four, their home and the Forest of Death.

* * *

After that their training went along without problems, until a year later, when Naruto received his inheritance from his father's side of the family. He had been sparring with Satoru and once he was nearly out of Yōki to use – his body had started converting the generous amount of chakra he had to yōki, completing his transformation to a true hanyou – and Satoru was about to land the spar ending blow, he had made a blade out of the shadow and impaled his older brother with it. He panicked and asked for forgiveness the whole time while Satoru just smiled at him and started toward the house, as though it hadn't even happened, and while he was perplexed by it at first, the voice of reason; Kurama; had reminded him that Satoru could heal himself by drinking blood, which he kept a little reserve of at his fridge.

Naruto stopped a moment to think about his relationship with Kurama, and while both of them enjoyed the time they spent together immensely, they were sure that unless they could somehow find a way to make a deal with the Shinigami for him to release the seal, there was no way to break something that the Shinigami in person made. But they were sure there was a way to work around it, a way to release her body and soul but keep the power sealed perhaps? Kurama had told him that yōki was much like chakra in that aspect, it replenished automatically when depleted, it just took a while longer because it was stronger and was based on the demon's emotions. That had launched an explanation about how a demon's yōki was colored to match their personality, her own and her brothers' and sisters' was red because of the bloodlust they acquired over the years thanks to being always used in wars, Naruto's was orange, since it mixed the bloodlust he acquired from being around Satoru too long and his own peaceful mindset before then, Satoru's, if he were a demon, would mean destruction, total and utter destruction, and so on.

Naruto saw as over the last two years his mom and Satoru seemed to become closer, and as they talked, he could see the results in his demeanor nearly instantly; if they fought, Satoru would become much more aggressive during their sparring matches, but that's just one example. He could see they were starting to like each other, but he was holding himself back since he still didn't come to terms with what he was. It was quite a surprise when one day he came to the table with his hair nearly double the size it usually was, and much more wild. He explained that after a talk with Kushina he'd decided to confront his inner self, his instincts and put an end to the problems he was having. At first he wanted to suppress his instincts once and for all, but as he spoke to it, he knew that he needed his other side to live normally – He then explained that while he was always one with his instincts, ever since he was injected with Jugo's blood, they became more difficult to deal with, his bloodlust increase a hundredfold, his libido was the same, every instinct he already had because of his animalistic side, became a hundred times stronger, and it had frightened him.

It wasn't until after many times speaking to Kushina about it that he had decided to be "complete" again, and he decided that if he was going to live – she made him promise that if not for himself, he'd live for his wives and the women that loved him – he accepted the gift he had been given wholly, and it changed him a little. While before he had something of a tan, his skin became pale white, and while his hair, although long, was easy to maintain under a style, now became too wild, not allowing for anything to be done, only accepting being put in a ponytail since it didn't do anything to tame the mane of hair he now had. His fangs had become larger, his fingernails enlarged into claws and he felt now more in control of his life absorbing powers, and also, the pupils of his eyes became slits, but that, he told them, was because his body had assimilated the Uchiha's doujutsu completely, and it was now always active, but draining pathetic amounts of his strengthened demonic energy. All in all he felt happier than he had ever been since the start of his new life as Orochi's "pet". They had also discovered then that Satoru was indeed a demon, or as luck would have it, a hanyou, descendent of the beastmen from Makai, which was one of the lower classes of demonic entities. His yōki had also changed, instead of pure black like his chakra; it became a black aura with a reddish tint to it, which made it clear he had bloodlust and total destruction as part of his personality.

It was only months after he accepted what he was that Kushina accepted his invite for a date, from which Naruto swore she came back looking happier than he'd seen her since they started talking about the past, and about a month after that he came to Naruto and actually spoke to the kid about dating his mother. He explained that while he knew she had started to love him throughout their sharing of memories, she would always love her son more than anything, and he was sure that the kid's opinion about their relationship was something she would want to know if they were to continue seeing each other.

- Satoru-niichan, mom is happier than I've seen her, and I've been around her nonstop for the last two years. Saying anything other than go ahead would hurt you, her and by extension, me. Just promise you'll never hurt her.

- Kid, I'll die before that happens.

They parted ways after that, and although both knew she was hearing, pretended to have had the entire conversation in private. Things were running smoothly around the Yajuu compound, but as usual, the village's agenda were never on par with what was best for one person or even a group of people. Its best interests were on what made it the strongest village in all elemental countries. Satoru had an idea what was going on with the bitches in the council and their marionette, but decided to wait until they had said everything to speak up again.

- Yajuu Satoru, we of the council have decided on your next bride. I believe you still have not found wives on your own?

- As a matter of fact, honorable council, I have. I'm currently married to Yajuu Anko, Yajuu Ayame, Yajuu Hana and Yajuu Pakura, two of whom this council has agreed and decided on for me. I am to marry Hyuuga Hinata after her graduation from the academy and as such it completes the requirement of five wives this council knows is the amount that being in the Restoration Act demands.

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at that and looked down at the papers on his desk. He needed something to hold over the man's head, the junction of these clans would be far too good an asset for the village to lose. Suddenly, the old man grinned and looked to the Yajuu clan head.

- Hohoho, indeed Satoru-kun, it is…you see, I have received some information from reliable sources that one of your adopted daughters is a Jinchuuriki. And I am sure you know as well as I that Jinchuurikis work best when under the thumb of their superiors. As such, would it not be in the best interest of Konoha to have both Naruto-kun and Fu-chan removed from your care and put with the best clan in the village, the Hyuuga? That of course, would result in them receiving the seal of the branch house…we don't want our weapons to go rogue now, do we? Besides, is Karin not an Uzumaki? We both know how desired her bloodline is, I can put her under the Restoration since you are so reluctant in accepting your role inside this village.

Satoru's eyes narrowed dangerously as the usual phenomenon happened once more. His irises slowly bled a vivid red and he scanned the faces of all those present in the room. After a moment he smirked, as he had not seen the presence of the Hyuuga clan head in the room. He knew the man personally, and knew that he'd never agree to this, Minato and Hiashi, along with his twin, Hizashi were in a team, after all. Besides the Hyuuga still owed the Yajuu a favor over saving the heiress and in the same night keeping the clan head from making a "whimsical" decision that would end up badly for the clan as a whole. Besides, he saved his wife from attempted assassination when he drank away the poison from her blood.

- I see…well Hokage-sama, I'll tell you this now, juuust so we're clear. **_Never. Threaten. My. Family. AGAIN! _**– Instead of the usual guttural growl his voice became as soon as the changes occurred; now it only became darker when he delivered his message to the Hokage, his smirk replaced with a snarl – **_I will not tolerate the use of my children just so you can sate your ever growing greed for power, you senile old fool! I have half a mind to obliterate you and your council right now you bastard. But no, I still have people precious to me that need the protection of their Hokage…so I'll go with it one last time, but from this day forward, I'll accept you suggestion on who I should marry, nothing more. I am not you puppet, sir – _**the word came out with the disdain he had held for the man over the years. He didn't even seem the same man from years ago, when he had asked Satoru to care for young Naruto – **_I won't be dancing to your tune any longer…also, an advice to the wise among you, I have allies in Kumo, Oto and Kiri, I'm sure they would welcome a clan such as mine with open arms. Now, let's hear this proposal the council dug the ground for._**

The Hokage and the gathered clan heads, along with his personal advisors Homura and Koharu, openly gaped the clan head for a moment, before the Hokage went back to his falsely warming smile.

- Very well, the council has brought up, and I agreed, to the case of Uchiha Satsuki, younger sister of one Uchiha Itachi, and currently the only Uchiha alive. At first I was reluctant, as I wanted to use her to revive the Uchiha bloodline, but after some consideration I have agreed with the reasoning that, while we lose the Uchiha, we'll gain a much stronger bloodline combining it with your own. It will give the next generation of Uchiha the chakra prowess of the Uzumaki and the regenerative ability your cursed blood gave you. Plus, your own bloodline will allow for the next Sharingan users to have heightened battle awareness, speed and strength.

Satoru was impressed with the sound advantages the village came up with for him to marry another one. So impressed he was, in fact, that he actually clapped at the Hokage and his butt puppets. His voice had lost its darkness and in its place came amusement, and some awe as he spoke to the old man.

- Good! Good! You still think, it seems! So…the last Uchiha becomes a Yajuu…ironic ain't it? They hated us for what we were back then, and now I'll finish off their line and strengthen mine with the last loyal Uchiha! – He laughed for a moment, which unnerved the united councilmen – Oh, the irony of it all…very well, I accept. Don't forget old man, I and one of my mates are actual seal masters - not these amateurs like Jiraiya that the village let call themselves seal masters because it makes Konoha look good – and we'll search the girl for any seals this council may have put upon her, and should I find any – He finished signing the betrothal contract – as the betrothed of Satsuki Uchiha and clan head of the Yajuu; and soon, the Uchiha; I'll make sure you and everyone here pays.

With that he left, jumping out by the window and dashing home, well aware of the read headed Uzumaki Anbu following him at a distance. He'd made sure she could hear the proposition made by the Hokage and his little cirque of idiots. He briefly looked toward the woman and saw a red aura surrounding her. He sighed out loud and tackled her, falling down with her on top of him – he had made sure he changed their position so the he was the one below her, as not to hurt her when they landed on the ground - the surprise enough that the red yōki encasing her receded.

- So…now you know what the position of Hokage became. You now also know that what your husband did had far greater meaning to them than just creating a new, powerful clan.

He got up, not bothered by the weight of the woman on top of him, and went toward the forest of death, but not into the compound; and after taking a moment to make sure they had their privacy – a couple of seals made sure of that – he turned to her and took off her mask, smiling softly at her as he caressed her face, wiping the tears of anger that slid down her face.

- I won't let anything happen to you or Naruto. I consider him my own son, and you already know I love you, so no matter what I'll always be by your side. I stick to my words; I won't force you into anything, and add that I won't let anyone force you to do something you don't want to. Just know that I won't let anyone take my son from me, no matter what. If I have to destroy Konoha to keep him and you safe I'll do it in a heartbeat…

He was going to continue, but as he finished that last sentence, Kushina pulled him to her and smashed her lips to his own, his eyes widening in surprise for a moment before he sighed in contentment, closing his eyes and placing his hands on her waist; though they didn't stay there, instead roaming her body wherever he could reach, light caresses that made her moan in pleasure trailing through her. She deepened the kiss, but moments later had to pull away, the need to breathe reminding her that she had yet to do so for at least five minutes.

- Why is it that no matter what, I already knew that in the end I'd end up falling for you? I knew I loved you after you kept checking on me, helping me through the process of eliminating **those** memories…But I could see you holding yourself back, and as an Uzumaki I don't want anything that is done halfhearted, and your love then was not completely true, as part of you was missing, but I didn't know how much of yourself you held back, so I helped you understand your gifts better. I wanted you to be completely yourself before I'd let myself be with you, Satoru…and…after today, the way you defended my baby and how angry you became for him…I have no doubts, if there were ever any…I love you, Satoru.

He gave the biggest smile then, and he was the one initiating the kiss this time, pulling her small frame into his own, her feet no longer touched the ground as he had picked her up as they were kissing.

* * *

Naruto looked up from the scroll he was studying – he had taken to reading a scroll on elemental manipulation since he now had power of Darkness, and he had no idea how to manipulate **that** – to see his mother entering the house with a satisfied look on her face and he could tell she had the same glow Anko did a few days ago. He gave her a small smile and went back to reading his scroll, missing Satoru coming into the house, his broad smile enough to lighten the mood in the entire house, but one could still see the lust in his eyes as he looked for one of his other mates.

Naruto kept sparring with his older brother, he tried to better control the new element he had acquired – which Kurama explained that, since he was a half demon, the extent that his control over Darkness could go was limitless – and over the course of a few months he was able to freely summon minions made of pure darkness, and although they were frighteningly strong, their looks seemed a little childish. They were small; pitch black things with long pointed ears and pure white eyes. He could call forth a little army of three hundred before he even started feeling winded. His body now only produced yōki, and Kurama said that his reserves had outgrown even her own, but he lacked the fine control over it that she possessed, as well as the repertoire that he'd need if he was to ever be able to make the ritual that would bind her to him as a personal summon. That little reminder had him diving head first into learning about seals as well from both his mother and Satoru. Satoru would instruct him at first, since his mastery was still nowhere near the same that Kushina had, and after both were satisfied with his progress, they'd allow him to learn more from his mother.

Another year came and went, and Satoru would have Naruto always go all out on his sparring matches. They both knew that the kid was a lifetime away from being able to catch up to the clan head's physical prowess, but he was pretty sure the kid had no match inside Konoha, or anywhere really. Everyone in the clan's household were much stronger than they had been when it all began years ago, but Naruto and Kushina were the ones that came the closest to ever comparing with the clan head in Taijutsu. The kid's Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were on par with his older brother's and his Fuinjutsu was still not close enough to be able to learn under his mom; that was not his fault though, Satoru and his mother would still train together from time to time, which made it near impossible for his skill level to just rust away, never growing. Satoru would sometimes leave the compound, to be with the two girls he had been made to betrothal contracts to. He'd spend time with Hinata on a dango shop – she was as addicted to the stuff as he was – and with Satsuki he'd go to the Akimichi restaurant, where she got her fill of curry; her favorite spice; and he would eat it with her, since she seemed happy when he did – though he did become as addicted to that as he seemed to be to dango – he would also go to the blacksmith to learn more about crafting weapons and armor, while going over a seal he was creating to place on his mates and another to place on his adopted children. The general idea was to inject some of his blood into the person, making it so they could get the Yajuu bloodline, strengthening their chakra reserves, their instincts and their strength, speed and reflexes. He was still working on a way out of passing the other kekkei genkai though, he wanted them to be Yajuu from before Orochi got her hands on him, not after that; he still prided himself on having been strong enough to spar with Gai without his outrageous amounts of weights and win.

And so, Naruto now being thirteen years old, preparing himself to enter the Academy with his girlfriends, Karin and Fu, who were only doing so because they wanted to be with him – Satoru-tousan had told everyone of the Yajuu clan about what the council had tried to pull over his head – and Satoru had finally married Kushina, who decided that she wanted to go by her maiden name, combined with his own; which would make her Uzumaki-Yajuu Kushina, and Satoru became Mitarashi-Uzumaki-Yajuu, as he had given the same choice to Anko, saying that she didn't need to leave her own family name behind, even if she was not from a known clan, he would be happy to share her name, he just used Yajuu most of the time because it held the most power of all of them, but whenever he was on unofficial business, he introduced himself by his complete surname. Satoru had discussed with Kushina about his "mate mark" as he took to calling it, and although she approved of the idea, she said that he was not allowed to mark anyone before he had marked her, and he was only to mark her after they had been married, which made him have to wait.

After that event, on their wedding night, after their first round of love making, he had bit into her neck; having sliced his own tongue with his fang to draw blood; and marked the redhead as his first official mate. The seal had worked as intended, making her become a half lioness; she would complain about the pain of having a tail grow out of her back for the rest of his life, he just knew it; but it had the side effect of making it so that her feelings were also multiplied, much like his own were before the whole ordeal with Orochi; back then whatever he felt for someone he'd feel with higher intensity than a normal being would, he always took it as part of being a half beast, but now he wasn't so sure, maybe it was because he was half demon?

After that night Kushina would start making public shows of affection; not that she didn't before, but now it was obvious she was very much in love and happy with her mate; and she also said that he needed to mark the others, she now knew that it wasn't going to hurt any of them. But he had to train Naruto for the day, so he promised that it would be done after the boy had started his days in the academy, since then they'd probably have more time together; Anko's time in the T&I department was a little low for now, since not many spies were brought to her, and she had refused to take missions outside the village; she just knew the council would be waiting to try something; and Ayame was still waiting for a new Genin team, since the years following the demise of her previous one the Academy had produced the exact number it needed to have the twelve Genin teams the village wanted. Pakura was usually around the compound, so marking her might have been easier to do, but after Kushina, Satoru wanted to start with Anko, since he just knew he'd always love her more than the others, because she knew him the longest, and he had been in love with her the longest as well. He went out of the house to their training grounds to see Naruto, Fu, Karin and Pakura all having a little sparring match, pitching the ladies against the young Uzumaki, and in the end he had won by using his mastery over darkness to just travel around, jumping into the shadows the house made and coming out on the shadows of the girls to lightly tap them with his wooden wakizashi, making them "dead" and out of the spar.

After watching him dispatch the girls, Satoru stepped forward and smirked at the kid. He knew that because of the amount of yōki Naruto had, combined with being Kurama's jinchuuriki, plus being an Uzumaki would make sure that the brat had way more stamina than even he did, and his own yōki reserves were astounding as it was.

- So, brat. Last spar before you're off to start your shinobi training. You go all out, hold nothing back. I'll match my speed to yours; sorry kid, you know by now I don't pull my punches; I wanna see how well your training paid off, okay?

- Okay, Toru-niichan!

And so both of them took ready stances and waited, with Naruto eventually losing patience and rushing at his older brother. He would make him proud, he would show him that all the time he had been training made him strong enough to win against the best Taijutsu user ever! He had released his weight seals, which now totaled to around five tons, but he saw that his older brother had not done the same, even though his own totaled to twenty five tons, five times his own training weight.

* * *

AN: Aaaand done! Next episode starts where the prologue left off, at Ichiraku's having lunch.

1: This will be the last update for a while. Like I said before, in a week, two at most, I'll be back with a new chapter o/ Hope you guys enjoy the extra pages this went through because of that =3

2: Hope you guys liked the background on the characters. I focused a lot on their training, because I wanted to make sure people knew that it was not overnight that Naruto became powerful, many years were spent with heavy training under his older brother to do that. I'll make both him and Satoru Godlike – I'm really sorry about that, but the fight scenes so far made it clear to me that I suck at writing fights, so they'll only have trouble with Kefka (people know who he is by now, methinks) his magic armors(at first anyway) and the people he empowers (Gaara, anyone?).

3: I know these chapters focused heavily on Satoru and his interactions with everyone, but I wanted to make sure I had his character somewhat developed, since from now on I'll follow Naruto with the story…although I'm still debating with myself if I should make Satoru his sensei, he does know the kid better than anyone after all….aaanyway…just know that the focus from now on will be the blond brat and his little girlfriends – since I touched on that, just wanna let you know I might make a few changes to the Harem settings =3

Hope you guys enjoyed…be sure to leave a review since the feedback will be surely appreciated, the bad ones too '-' I'll read 'em all actually lol.

See ya o/


	7. Chapter 6 - Academy, Changed!

Chapter 6

**Shouting**

_**Demonic Speech**_

_**Demonic Thoughts**_

_Thinking_

I Still Don't Own Naruto, Final Fantasy, and any other Anime/Video Game referenced in this fic ;-;

* * *

He had just dismissed an emissary coming from Otogakure to ask for his country's alliance in an invasion that would likely destroy Konoha, the supposedly strongest village in all elemental nations. Of course, he knew better, but he decided to indulge himself on a little mayhem and accepted the vassal's request, saying that his own country would contribute to Konoha's downfall, sending a few hundred men and armored units for them to command. He looked to the working scientists, who kept saying that, being so different from the energy back in his own dimension, the machine he was to create to suck the energy right out of the planet would take years to complete, so he had to distract himself, right? Right.

This time he had wasted little time in overthrowing the king. The man was rather pathetic really, and some of the man's latest decisions were starting to hurt a few of his future plans for this realm – as he had taken to calling the different dimensions he could step into – so he glorified puppet had to be taken care of. The blond jester looked at the sky from the balcony of his castle and sighed, he hoped someone in this realm offered a challenge, if not he might just decide to move to another one before coming back to finish his plans. It was no fun if **all** they did was cower and scream in despair, after all…

* * *

The goddess of harmony cried silently; how had that lunatic been able to change the course of the world's history so? Her dear warriors lay dead on the tower in which he ruled their world, while the newly created god acquired the ability to leave his own dimension and enter others. She looked over every one of this world's heroes, who had been denied their fate by the hands of the new running amok god of destruction, her eyes lingering on the form of a green haired girl who had been one of her favored children; before she wiped the tears away and looked to herself.

He needed to be stopped, she was the goddess of harmony after all, and such harmony; and the balance that always existed between her and Chaos; had been tore apart by the defiance of Kefka Palazzo, the man turned god who believed himself above their rules, and set to change his own destiny; and consequentially that of all universes – after all, once the balance was broken, it was but a matter of time before a chain reaction started, the heroes of discord would gain strength while her own would lose theirs…

She closed her eyes and focused on finding Kefka, her first priority being to assess the damage he had done to the new dimension he went to, before she could interfere accordingly. She concentrated for a few minutes, since the man had not used his total power yet, and was able to mask himself quite well, even if his ascension was still very recent. She eventually found him within a dimension that was not originally one of her protected realms, but seeing as the clown was her problem to begin with, she was forced to interfere; and so she first used her powers to assess the world's original history. She discovered then that many things were not supposed to have happened, the whole Yajuu clan should have been exterminated, the woman, Kushina, should have died with her husband on the day their son was made a sacrifice, that Nonō woman, along with many others, should have died in the world's timeline and finally the your hero of that dimension should not be…well…so happy, or so strong. And some of the people who were supposed to be men became women, their personality changed almost completely…was that all just to counter the fact that Kefka went into that realm? Their guardian must have been more attentive than she was, if he was able to counter his influence as such, but she knew better than to believe that would be enough. She could tell that this world would fall, like one of hers had, if something wasn't done, soon.

She gave a sideways glance to the motionless body of Terra, and an idea struck her. She had to pay a visit to the realm of the dead, worlds depended on her being able to bring back at the very least one of her heroes.

* * *

**- Sit Down and shut the fuck up!**

And at that, Naruto, along with his two female companions woke up to their first day at Konoha's Shinobi Academy. It had been quite interesting, the fact that most of the year's hopefuls were clan heirs and heiresses. He remembered meeting Shikamaru Nara, the black haired, lazy ass who either complained about not being able to sleep, or just rested his head on his the table in front of him, trying to. Then there was Inuzuka Kiba, the male offspring of the matriarch of the dog clan. They knew that by birthright Hana should be the next in line for clan head, but with her marriage to Satoru and the fact that the Inuzuka's head needed to be a male Alpha, Kiba had been raised and trained to be one such male; and much to his mother's dismay, he turned out not only not being Alpha material, but a pervert – and not the funny type who just liked to say innuendos and read porn books – he was the dangerous type, he had nearly forced himself on several females of the Inuzuka clan. Naruto just silently prayed the kid never met Satoru-niichan.

Then there was Akimichi Chouji, the heir of the Akimichi clan, and the kindest hearted person Naruto had ever met. He never opted for violence; he never took offense when others just dismissed him for being fat – _Big Boned…_ Naruto shuddered when he remembered Chouji's reaction for being called fat for the thousandth time in his life, and decided enough was enough. He still remembered the kid saying that it wasn't because it was an insult to him, but because that insulted his whole family, since the Akimichi bloodline involved having a lot of calories, which are then converted into chakra for their Hijutsu – they even became friends during one such event, being that Naruto was out playing with some of the other kids – Socializing my ass…Toru-nii wants me to be a kid. – They had been playing Ninja, the favorite game between the boys and during team selection, everyone avoided Chouji like the kid was the Kyuubi reborn – Ironic as that is, I'm always the first pick – and when his team ended having the kid and they simply discarded him like a rusted kunai, both Naruto and Shikamaru approached him and told him to follow, saying that he had better qualities than most other boys playing, and that was the start of their friendship.

After that was Hyuuga Hinata. She was very confident in herself, but not quite to the point of arrogance. Her outfit was quite provocative, with a sleeveless chainmail vest that hugged her torso firmly; which showed that Hinata started developing earlier than some of the other girls in class; and under it one could see she only wore a black strapless bra. Her legs were mostly exposed, since she wore a short legging, which only reached mid-thigh, under a dark blue skirt that covered down to the same spot. Her dark blue hair was long, reaching down to her waistline, and had shoulder length strands framing her face in a princess styled hair. She wore a fishnet style stocking that covered up to her lower thighs and black high-heeled boots over it, reaching to mid-ankle.

She didn't mind the looks much, but she made sure to make an example out of Kiba when he tried groping her once. He needed a few weeks in the hospital after that and the doctors said it was unlikely that he'd ever sire any child. She also didn't take lightly to people talking badly about her betrothed; it still amazed Naruto the loyalty she seemed to have toward his nii-chan, they only met once that he knew of; but never belittled anyone who did not deserve or tried hard to accomplish a goal. She was a nice girl, all in all, if a bit possessive and jealous.

Next was Uchiha Satsuki, last of the Sharingan users and the daughter of the last clan head, Uchiha Fugaku. She was kinda weird. Sure, anyone would be incredibly broody for a while after their family was assassinated, but she seemed to be more so than one might believe possible. She didn't speak to anyone, belittled every male in class who approached her and tried not calling any attention from people with her clothing. Like her ancestor, Uchiha Madara, Satsuki opted to wear samurai stylized armor rather than the usual attire ninja wore. The armor itself was red in color, and the clothing underneath it was dark blue. However, unlike Madara, she wore a full set of armor, as opposed to him only wearing the Dou, the Kusazuri and Sode. And on the back of her Dou there was the infamous Uchiwa, the symbol of the Uchiha clan. Only her face remained uncovered, and that was just because at the beginning of the Academy year Iruka had explained to her he'd need to be able to see their faces, to memorize each one of them and to help with socialization. Her navy blue hair was long, reaching her lower back and tied up on a low ponytail. She spoke to no one; once or twice Naruto had seen that she got to class with red puffy eyes, most likely meaning she had been crying. After thinking on it a little, he had assumed she had yet to be told she was being married into his clan, and thought the village was going to use her as a breeder for a new Uchiha clan.

Naruto had growled lowly, startling both Fu and Karin out of their sleep. He then approached Satsuki, despite her verbal abuse and promise of physical attacks, and started a conversation with the girl about why was she crying.

**† Flashback †**

She watched as the blond, who was too tall to be just thirteen, approached her place in class, in the back of the room. She'd noticed him watching her at the start of term and for the first time noticed a lack of lust in the eyes of a male, which caught her curiosity, but as he came closer, Satsuki had tried doing what she usually did, and started insulting him and using the fact that he had been orphaned at birth; something all adults had made sure everyone knew, for a whatever reason; and threatened to attack him if he even dared come close to her, but still he sat next to her and as though they were old pals, started talking to her.

- Having a bad day?

At that, one of her eyebrows moved on its own and instead of remaining stoic, as she always did; her expression betrayed her, showing the curiosity at the question.

- You know, noticed your eyes were red…you hide it well enough with the Henge and all, but illusions don't work on me. Wanna talk about it?

She frowned at his words. Could his kekkei genkai really be that powerful as to make him immune to Genjutsu? She weighed in her head the pros and cons of spilling her feelings out at the strange, tailed teen that wanted to speak about her problems, and in the end, she had decided that if she kept it bottled up, she might as well explode with all the grief and anger she'd been feeling.

- I'm the last Uchiha in Konoha, and as such they want to restore the Kekkei Genkai – Forget restore the clan, they don't want to lose their precious Sharingan – and…well…I'm a girl, so you might be able to guess what's gonna happen.

Naruto just nodded at the end of her words but smirked all the same. _So she really didn't know _Well, she wasn't going to remain unaware for much longer then. Problem was, she saw his smirk and scowled at him, thinking he might be like the others, just wanting a piece of her since it was "his duty" to restore the Uchiha Clan.

- I know for a fact that is not gonna happen, Satsuki. My older brother – his voice then lowered to a whisper – and if I'm honest, my step-father is the head of the Yajuu clan, and you see, the council has him on the same "duty" as they have you, and the Hokage has arranged a marriage between you and Satoru, to which he said that if anyone touches you or if there is any type of loyalty seals placed on you…

He drifted off, and hoped she had taken it as the threat that his older brother had done to the council, but instead it had Naruto thinking. His jiji was never a bad guy, but as the years went by he became more and more like that Danzo guy, and that is what worried him. Now that he thought about it, what if Danzo had placed a Loyalty Seal on the Hokage to rule the village without actually becoming Hokage. He would have to speak to his mom and Satoru about that, he had to know if that knowledge was something anyone could have or if only an actual seal master could hope to accomplish something like that. _Or you could talk to the ancient demoness in your head, which was sealed inside two seal masters and knows a thing or two about seals Naru-kun _He was sure Kurama was pouting then, as her voice was whiny and she actually sounded sad he forgot to ask her about it. _You know, it's been a while since you came to visit…it's like you forgot about little ol' me after those two hussies became your girlfriends!_ Yup, let it be known that the strongest of the tailed demons is possessive and awfully jealous of her Naruto. Sure, he really had stopped going into his mindscape after a while, but he had to spend time with Karin and Fu as well, since he already knew Kurama pretty well, and he also knew that sooner or later, his bloodline would become known so he'd have to marry more women, and he'd be damned before he let Danzo mess with his love life. _You know it's not like that Kura-chan. I love you and you know that. Now, back to the seal thing; we can talk about your jealousy later; you think it's possible someone not of master level to create such a seal? _As he spoke with Kurama in his head, he watched as Satsuki's face went from curious to understanding and then to fury. He hoped it was not against him of his old brother, they had little control over that. Though Satoru had started planning on abandoning Konoha when the opportunity presented itself, he said they would need to wait for now since he didn't want the council to dish out against whoever they left behind, like the families of Hana, Ayame, Hinata, and whoever else ended up deciding to go with them. Naruto was sad that he'd have to leave his home behind, he had started making friends here, and now that he could defend himself the villagers opted to just call him bad names; _Oh well, shit happens. _Satsuki then turned to him, her face still a mask of fury.

- I wanna meet this brother of yours. If that's true then I wanna know where was he when some of the "acquaintances" of the councilors came to me to do their "civic duty to Konoha"!

Naruto's eyes widened and even Kurama stopped talking about how the seal was not a hard one to master and a mid-level sealer would be able to place anyone under it, with the necessary amount of chakra behind it to last for years. Both were actually afraid of Satoru's reaction on this one.

- Fuck me sideways…You know what, I'll take you to him after class…just don't talk to him about that yet, please. We need to keep a low profile and "honored citizens" being slaughtered because of their stupidity is not exactly a perfect example of that…

Fury was then replaced with curiosity again. What'd he mean 'we' need to keep a low profile? It appeared as though she was part of a plan she didn't know of, and that was not okay with her, at all. She was kept in the dark by too many people, her father refused to tell why he had been on so many meetings with the elders for years before the massacre happened. Her older brother refused to say why he was so down days before the massacre. The only one who seemed willing to share everything with her was her mother, who told her about a riot that her father and the elders had been planning, which she came to know about one night when Fugaku had been drunk and babbled off about it in a celebration they'd attended. Why he thought the Uchiha were fit to rule Konoha was beyond her, and she swore to clean the name of the clan someday. Of course, she didn't count on the massacre happening before she could do anything about it.

- What you mean "we"?

- Ahh…it's like this – Naruto looked around, and saw that some of their classmates were staring at the duo, amazed that someone could get close enough to the Warrior Princess for a conversation and sighed – you know what, that is not a conversation to be had here, when you meet Satoru-niichan he'll explain, promise.

He saw her hesitate, look around them and nod to him, a look of understanding crossing her face. If it had to be said away from curious ears, it must be really important.

**† Flashback End †**

It was funny as hell seeing his older brother get beaten by Satsuki, and then the talk they had after that made her more sociable, well to Naruto and the girls anyway.

After that there was Aburame Shino, and that one was a story for the ages.

**† Flashback †**

Naruto had been scanning the classroom to see if anyone was recognizable, and to assess who was most likely to fall into a team with him. He had already recognized Kiba, since he knew his sister. Hinata since her and Satoru were in an arranged marriage, Shikamaru and Chouji because both of them played ninja with the other kids. Satsuki was hard to miss, with that full armor of hers. Naruto could not take his eyes away from the kid that smelled like insects though. There was nothing else, just the strong stench of bugs coming from that one, and he couldn't distinguish if the kid was male or female by scent. Looks didn't help either, the kid wore a baggy coat that was kept closed up and had high collar, hidir the lower half of the user's face. The pants were baggy too, and he couldn't tell if there were any feminine curves on the Aburame; that much was obvious, only one clan reeked of bugs; and then there were black boots covering the feet. The hair was black and shoulder length, but that didn't tell much, his own hair was past his waist so that wouldn't tell much anyway, and the eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.

A week passed by while Naruto kept trying to make heads or tails of that Aburame kid, and letting his frustration and curiosity get the better of him, he waited until everyone left the classroom; he had told Karin and Fu that he needed to speak with the Aburame kid so they could go ahead; and as the kid tried to go past him, Naruto went to put a hand on his shoulder to make him stop…

- Aww shit…

Only to end up groping her chest as the Aburame heiress stared at him. He couldn't discern if she was furious or not, but he removed the hand from her breast – How the fuck does she hide that! – And take a few steps back from her, eyes wide and his face bright red in embarrassment.

- Sorry, Shino-chan. I was actually going to try and talk to you about this. How come you wear this type of clothing?

He could see the pink hue on her upper cheeks, but she just shook her head and took his hand, leading him away from the Academy and toward her clan compound, inside a forest to the other side of his own home.

As they trekked towards her home, Shino and Naruto spoke about why the girl hid her form inside those baggy clothes and also why she had yet to speak in class. Naruto discovered that the girl's voice was almost as melodic as Kurama's, and as she lowered her sunglasses so he could see her eyes, he learned that the Aburame clan had kaleidoscope-like brown eyes, which had the blond mesmerized for a moment, before she pushed the glasses back up so that they covered her eyes once again. She had told him that even though nearly no one knew, the Aburame clan actually had insect blood, and they not only hosted the kikaichu bugs, they had similar abilities to them. She hid her form from others because she was not only trying to keep from being used for seduction assignments, but also because the Aburame only let their mates look under their clothes.

After telling her that, being the last Namikaze, and having awakened a dormant kekkei genkai that apparently had skipped a few generations, he was likely to be put under the same law that his older brother was, Shino explained that fortunately there was never an Aburame who needed to worry about such a thing, because of her bloodline involved being willing host to a hive of sorts. Naruto nodded, understanding the reasoning, but said that it really didn't matter all that much to him, because all that mattered was that she seemed to be nice enough, and that was enough for him.

They stopped in front of her household and he looked at her with a large smile, showing that he appreciated the talk they had during their walk.

- You know, I really enjoyed the walk here. Maybe we could make this a frequent thing? Every other week I'll walk you home.

She looked at him, surprised; not that he could see it; but nodded anyway. People usually avoided the Aburame as though they'd be devoured if they approached, but Naruto seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with her, and that thought made her smile as she started walking into her home.

- Maybe we could go out to lunch together, one of these days?

He didn't get an answer then, because the Aburame heiress blushed and darted into her home, leaving a slightly confused Naruto; and an extremely amused Kurama behind.

**† Flashback End †**

They had become good friends over the course of the Academy year. It was interesting to note that the chores they had been assigned to do, so that they could "learn to work as teams" had been D-Rank missions before then, and there had been no war scenario simulation class either. Both classes he enjoyed, because they served to show to all teachers and possibly the Hokage and the council that he worked best with Karin and Fu, since the three knew each other very well.

It was weird to see how well Shino, Hinata and Satsuki worked with each other, as well as Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru. There was another team that was surpassing the hanyou's expectations, and that was the one composed by Haruno Sakura, member of a minor clan of shinobi, Yamanaka Ino, heiress of the Yamanaka clan, and as of late a decent kunoichi, and Sai, a pale, happy girl that Danzo himself brought to class, saying that though she had potential, he had been unable to suppress her emotions; _Kinda like Nonō_.

The chores they were sent on were fun to do. At first some civilians had given his team trouble, but once the houses of said clients started either smoking, reeking of sewers, or simply became painted in the most amusing color combinations; and even though everyone knew who did it, no one could prove it had been Naruto; the problems had stopped, and his team had been able to focus of completing their tasks. Of course, Iruka always knew, and he ended up in detention after class.

Then there was war simulation. They were separated in squadrons then, and taken to a different section of the village each time. They had been to Satoru's Forest once, and that was where all the fun was.

**† Flashback †**

Naruto, Karin, Fu, Hinata, Sai, Sakura and Ino, who composed squad one, were all huddled in an opening with low vegetation; one of the few places in the Forest of Death with nearly no trees or grass; and just waited. Each squad had been given a possession to protect and the mission for all of them was to capture the enemy's "data" while making sure their own was safe. This was the scenario Naruto loved the most, being that he could just fool their enemies with some demonic illusions while to make them think they got their scroll while focusing on more important tasks, like taking someone else's.

Kiba's squad approached from their left, as Hinata had warned, and the hanyou just grinned at the pervert. Satsuki had told Satoru in one of her visits that the Inuzuka heir had tried groping her more than a few times, and the head of the Yajuu told her that he'd get what was coming to him eventually.

As the Inuzuka approached the team, a wooden kunai – it was a simulation, and as such Iruka insisted that the weapons used be non-lethal – and smirked at the "unprepared squad".

- You're surrounded; my teammates have your companions on their sights, so why don't you just give me your data scroll, hmm?

Naruto's grin widened and he simply pointed somewhere behind Kiba, who refused to turn at first, but as fearful screams were heard around them, and the roar of a few animals followed, the Inuzuka and his companion, Akamaru; who usually stayed inside his owner's jacket because it was comfy; gulped and turned around slowly, fearing what they might see.

- Now!

Naruto barely registered the shriek of terror that escaped the Inuzuka's lips; he and his team had busied themselves with attacking the remaining members of the boy's squad. Two of them had fallen rather easily, one being a girl by the name of Ami; it was as though the girl barely trained, if at all, and was only trying to be a kunoichi for her parents. The other one, taken down relatively easy had been the child of a civilian family, who was said to have aptitude for ninjutsu, but the kid was still getting over the fear of placing himself on the frontlines of battles.

That left the last member of said team, Shino. The others opted to stay away from the Aburame, as they knew what the insects could do to them if they engaged in battle. Naruto however pointed out that his chakra was different than others', because he had been inducted into Satoru's clan via a ritual they did; Oh imagination, how I love thee; and as the first experimental kikaichu latched onto him, trying to drain him of his yōki, it simply fell off, dead. Kurama theorized that it was probably because demonic energy was too potent for those insects to hold.

Once the first bug had died, Shino had surrendered, saying that since her fighting style depended heavily on the usage of the kikaichu, and Naruto was unaffected by the bugs, it made little sense to continue smiled at her and just tied her up with the rest of the team. The only one remaining was Kiba now, who was still trembling in fear of the illusion Naruto had placed on him as a distraction while they took down his teammates.

- Maybe I should get him out?

He looked around at the other members of his team, who seemed to be enjoying the little show the Inuzuka was giving them. He whimpered every now and then, trembling on the spot he had been, and there was a large wet spot on the front of his pants. Naruto sighed, knowing that if it depended on the female population of his team; well, most of the Academy, really; the poor boy would be in that Genjutsu till the "watchers" came to retrieve them. With a quick but powerful burst of his yōki, Naruto dispelled his illusion, which made the Inuzuka finally – Thankfully – faint.

**† Flashback End †**

It was so much fun placing others under illusions that he sometimes forgot to actually fight during the tests. Naruto had been training with Kurama on his Genjutsu skills, and with the potential to become the best illusion master; being a Kitsune and all that; he had taken some time from his Kenjutsu training, which meant he wasn't improving on that, he was simply training so his already gathered skill with a sword didn't become rusty.

The year of Academy was nearing its end, since the Hokage had decreed that three years of learning theory would never be enough to prepare them for the actual world of shinobi. This was one of the few times that Naruto agreed with the decisions of the old man after he started changing. He shook his head from the thought and looked at the front of class, where Iruka was now telling his students who'd passed and in which teams they'd be for the next years, until they qualified for Chunin examination.

- …and the last one who passed is Haruno Sakura, the rest of you are welcome to give it one more try next year. Now for the team placement…Team One will have Uchiha Satsuki, Hyuuga Hinata and Sai. Team Two will be Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru. Team Three will be Akimichi Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba and Jinpachi. Team Four is Yajuu Karin, Fu and Aburame Shino. Since the amount of students that passed does not permit for another team, Uzumaki-Yajuu Naruto will be transitioning between teams until one is found for him. Starting with team Three…you are dismissed, come back tomorrow to meet your respective senseis.

Naruto looked at the other graduates, slightly surprised that only nine out of the whole class had actually graduated along with Karin, Fu and him from their time training on the Academy. He watched as everyone but Fu and Karin left the building getting to his feet, each girl hugging an arm close to their body, and left to the compound. He wondered if his nii-chan would really take on a team like he said he'd try.

* * *

Satoru grinned at the leader or the rebellion. His eyes hidden behind the Anbu mask he'd been assigned for this mission. It had been an accord with the old man, he did this one mission classified as a triple S type, and the Hokage would grant him his wish of teaching a team of little genin. He hadn't counted on the fossil sending him on his own to Kiri, which probably meant that the one pulling the strings wanted him dead.

What no one knew, though, was that he was never really alone. Kushina, who was not on the active roster of shinobi, had taken it upon herself to keep him out of trouble_; I don't go out trying to find it, but I think I have a homing beacon attached to my chest, since it always finds me!_; and was with him when he departed from Konoha to his mission.

The trip itself was uneventful, but once they arrived, Satoru had already killed many loyalists and helped keep a village of bloodline users from being wiped out completely. For a moment he wondered if he should use the Summoning Contract that the leader of the Yajuu inherited, but thought against it, since so far the numbers weren't enough to overwhelm him, and even Kushina, who worried about him all the time when he was fighting, knew it.

He had then met the leader of the rebellious faction. Terumi Mei, and had to admit that the woman was almost as hot as Kushina. They had fought on her side at a few battles, and now she was asking that he cause a distraction while they worked on rescuing the men who had been taken on one of the losses they'd suffered before his arrival. That piece of news made his eyes shine with madness and glee as he simply nodded to the woman, shouldered his battle axe and walked out of the rebel camp.

The loyalists' sentries were talking amicably among themselves, since it had been weeks since the rebels last tried anything against their defenses. They were discussing the possibility of taking the rebel leader as a slave after the Mizukage crushed their little movement. The one to the right was about to make an argument that the Yagura-sama would never allow any kekkei genkai user to live, when both men froze, the very air around them darkening as a lone figured slowly, almost casually walked to the front gates of Kiri's main fortress. They could feel the air leaving their lungs as the man's eyes bled into the red color they became when fighting, and on his back, a giant lion's head had started forming, the lion itself being black, with red shiny eyes and from its mouth, molten fire fell to the ground instead of saliva as it drooled over his next meal. As the mas started laughing while one of the sentries ran away to sign the alarm, the lion opened its mouth, showing its razor sharp teeth, and roared lava onto the gates.

* * *

AN: 1 - Sorry for the hiatus…I've had an idea for a Fire Emblem story running circles in my mind for a while now, and couldn't concentrate properly on this one. But now that I was able to start on that one, the part of my mind that is in charge of this story has been liberated and now operates normally. '-'

2 – I will be, for now, posting one chapter to each story per week (The moving was postponed, so NOW I'm actually moving.)

3 – Initially I wasn't going to do it. But I argued it over with myself (I do that a lot) and since it's beneficial to the story, expect character death. Lots.

Hope you guys enjoy this one…as usual, leave a review as the feedback helps me improve and I'll be sure to read and answer them all from now on.

See ya o/


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