Naruto hated Ame no Kuni with a passion, having been the place of death for his sensei, it wasn't easy to stomach but he managed somehow. After the Akatsuki had been dealt with, the reconstruction period within the country brought about a need for assistance.

That and the weather absolutely sucked.

All of the Konoha thirteen had been sent to the country to fend off a guerilla force that had spread throughout the country like a proverbial disease. Nuke-nin and thugs alike banded together in an effort to claim the currently downed nation and the newly formed Republic of Ame (a group of politicians that had hidden from Pain, re-emerging after his downfall.) were not about to have it, calling on the power of the hidden villages; Konoha having answered first.

Shikamaru was in the center of the diamond formation they assumed, running towards a small village that was being raided, Shikamaru pressed his earpiece, it saved him having to yell over the volume of the wind and rain. "Left column, Ino, Chouji, Tenten! Take the eastern border of the village and garrison it off. Naruto, Sasuke, run up the main road from the southern end and eliminate whoever tries to push through!"

The members from the left of Shikamaru broke off and Naruto responded, "Understood! Column captain Uzumaki Naruto, deploying to garrison, out!"

Shikamaru then looked to his right and communicated to them, "Right column, Kiba, Shino, Neji, take the western border and garrison it off. Sakura, Lee! Run down the main road from the north, same protocol as the southern offensive, eliminate all potential threats as you push down!"

The members from the right of Shikamaru broke off and Sakura responded. "Got it! Column Captain, Haruno Sakura, deploying to garrison, out!"

Shikamaru looked above him and spotted Sai's eagle that carried both him and Hinata. They were his best scouts at the moment so he opted them to be recon, "Sai, How's it looking up there?" Sai picked up the signal quickly as he scanned the horizon, "It's clean from up here, a couple house fires and…wait, we have an issue!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened at Sai's rushed tone, "What, what do you see!?" Hinata picked up this time, "I'm looking east, towards a large hill, we have an entire regiment of hostiles coming towards us!" Shikamaru cursed under his breath, heads were going to roll in intelligence for this oversight. The teams had no choice but to regroup for a change in tactic.

"Left column, Right column, operation is a bust, get the hell out of there and regroup on me!" Two simultaneous 'Rogers' were given and the columns were soon back upon Shikamaru's sides, Sai and Hinata having landed for the re-briefing. Shikamaru huffed, "We can't take them, Sai and Hinata spotted an entire Rebel regiment just behind the hill on the eastern side!" Shikamaru stated before Naruto stepped forward, heat weighing his gaze. "If they wanna fucking fight, let me have at them! I'll make every one of 'em fucking suffer!" everyone cringed inwardly at Naruto's animosity against the militants of Ame. Shikamaru huffed and then chided the blond

"As tempting as that sounds, we are forbidden from using the Kyuubi's power, we don't want you to lose sight of yourself and end up tearing down half of the country!" Shikamaru said with concern underlining his voice. Naruto grit his teeth but stood down regardless, Shikamaru was right.

"Oh come now, ningen, don't be so quick to stand down."

'Kurama, no, I'm better than that!'

"But why? Those poor civilians are going to die if you don't do something. let me assume control and I'll take care of it for you, yes?"

'Kurama' "No!"

He had said the last bit out loud and now everyone was looking at him, confusion and concern lacing their faces.

"See? You're causing unwanted attention by trying to suppress me, don't be like that, Naruto. I know you want to save those civilians."

"I won't listen to you!"

"Naruto, last chance of me being the ever reasonable demon that I am, you know you want to see those Ame fuckers squirm under your heel, they took your dearly beloved sensei from you, doesn't that just get under your skin?!"

"I won't let you plague me anymore, I'm not under your fucking command!"

"Enough games, mortal!"

Kurama had found a crack in Naruto's emotional wall at the mention of his sensei and capitalized on it by drilling his chakra through it like a nail, causing Naruto to cower in pain as the ever familiar red aura began to permeate the area. Naruto's voice then mixed with Kurama's

"Give. Me. Control!"

"Naruto-kun!" Shikamaru moved in to try and touch Naruto but was too slow as the now Kyuubi induced Naruto lunged at him with a low growl, swiping at the shadow user with fully extended claws. Shikamaru screamed the claws caught the flesh of his shoulder and continued to pull down, completely tearing the limb from his body, the sickening sound of tendons snapping and flesh ripping permeated the air as Shikamaru's now severed arm hit the ground.

Tenten reached for her bag and attempted to lay a suppressing tag that had been given to her by Yamato on him but she was caught in an explosion of demonic power before she could even get close, boiling her skin and singing hair.

What was now completely the Kyuubi had let out a blood-freezing roar and charged off in the opposite direction towards the forces that were now over the hill at this point. The whole of the squad had moved to a more secure location, as if to avoid any instance of getting held up in the crossfire.

Sakura was doing her best to heal Shikamaru to keep him from bleeding out, keeping a constant steady stream of chakra to the wound. Ino began her work on trying to soothe some of Tenten's damage, having suffered deep tissue burns that would regrettably leave scars including one particularly nasty one running from her chin, up across her nose and through her left eye.

"Kami-sama! What is that?" Shikamaru sputtered, quite obviously in shock. Sakura and the rest of the team looked over their shoulders and couldn't believe what they were beholding. The face of the hill was red with blood, not a single blade of grass was green and the monster responsible for it all stood amongst the chaos with a screaming ninja lodged in its maw. The beast snapped down and the ninja had been sent flying in two directions.

The Kyuubi was in its eight tailed state, its muscle and fat still exposed as the last bits of it's skeleton were being covered with strands of grey, red, and purple flesh. They all prayed that something would happen and Naruto would snap out of it but another nasty roar had broken them of that possibility. "That thing is almost completely out, what the fuck are we going to do!?" Chouji cried out. Out of everyone, Hinata stepped forward, grabbing the suppressing tag that had been unceremoniously dropped into the mud.

Without a word, she mustered all the chakra she could into her legs and made a b-line towards Naruto, the screams of protest now quite a ways behind her. 'the beast isn't completely out yet, there's still time to act.' She thought determinately. Hinata stopped a few hundred feet shy of the beast and shouted to get its attention, it looked down to the Hyuuga heiress and slowly got close to her with his muzzle as if to sniff her, this must have been an instance of Naruto's control. 'Now' she shouted inwardly, and slapped the suppression seal on the nose of the fox. The fox presumably regained control and let out a mighty roar, thrusting its paw towards the Hyuuga heiress. The fox roared as it began to die down, the tails slowly decreasing. Hinata coughed a bout of blood up as she fell from the retracting claw that had lodged its way into her chest.

'Naruto…Kun' she thought as her vision began to give way to darkness. 'Keep living and fight…for me…' she fought back the bile and blood that collected in her throat as she thought her last, 'Naruto-Kun…I love you…so much' and with that, Hinata's body began to lose its warmth quickly as she finally succumbed to the darkness.

Hinata was dead.

The trek back to Konoha was funeral-like. Sakura carried Shikamaru as Neji carried Hinata's body, his and everyone else's tears having yet to be shed. Sai contained Naruto in the body of one his giant lion paintings, the suppressing tag still attached to his forehead, rendering him unconscious.

They arrived in Konoha and Sakura departed from the group with Neji and Tenten to report to the hospital. The rest made straight for the Hokage tower to report the mission, it was a success nonetheless but at a steep price.

Sai had given the full report, from when they arrived in Ame, to when they left and spared no detail. Tsunade rested her chin upon her laced fingers chewing pensively on the inside of her cheek. 'The council is going to have his head for sure.' The thought scared the ever-living shit out of her.

"Sai, release Naruto from the animal."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama."

Sai formed a half ram and the tiger dissipated, the ink evaporating as it hit the ground leaving a bloodied and dirty Naruto, out cold with the seal on his forhead. "All of you are dismissed, leave me with him." The group bowed and left Naruto in Tsunade's office.

She stood and walked over to Naruto, picking him up and placing him in the chair across from hers. She peeled off the suppressant tag and lightly smacked his cheek, bringing a flicker to his eyes as he came to.

"Naruto-Kun, can you hear me clearly?" She asked, performing a quick field vital test. Naruto nodded dumbly before retching forward, expelling all of the nothing in his stomach with a savory dry-heave. Tsunade placed the desk-side trash can under his mouth and rubbed his back.

She decided to hell with it and picked him to take him to the hospital, it would be a few days before he could tell her anything anyway, the seals effects needing to completely wear off. All she could worry about, was how much ammunition this gave the council, and it was enough to put Naruto into a tight spot. A very. Very. Tight spot.

"Ningen."

'Nn'

"Ningen, wake up!"

'fugoff'

"Wake the FUCK up, mortal!"

Naruto's eyes shot open and he found himself within his mindscape, the water that was once crystal clear was now pitch black. He sat up and tilted his head to the cage and his eyes went wide, visibly alarmed at the tear that ran halfway down the seal of the gate.

"You almost freed me! I was so close!"

'What stopped me?'

"That thrice-cursed Hyuuga whore!"

Naruto glared at the fox for the jab against Hinata, he was not about to take it from the beast, who shot him a thoughtful look.

"It's a shame though, how she had to die just to put me back in my cage."

The atmosphere went uncomfortably silent, Naruto's face buried behind his bangs. The water that surrounded his ankles began to heat up, stirring eventually to a rolling boil.

'What. Did. You. Do?'

"I ran that harlot through with one of my claws after she placed the tag on my snout. I left a hole the size of a platter in her chest, it was quite amusing to watch someone you cared so deeply about have to bleed out like that."

Naruto snapped out of his mindscape, he was blinded by the tears that were pooling in his eyes. He stared at the ceiling as if he was waiting for it to give in, waiting for all of it to be an elaborate genjutsu, but with no results. He finally sat up, looking around to notice that he was in the hospital but he didn't care. He could've been in the middle of the street amongst the angry commoners for what it was worth.

Naruto spotted his equipment pouch and clothing tucked away nicely in a chair against the corner, an idea shooting through his brain.

"Mortal, don't you dare!"

Naruto was already digging through his pouch until he produced a single Kunai, staring at the gleam of the blade.

"You better put that down, Ningen, I will incur the highest degree of hell on you!" the fox warned.

Naruto let out an unsettling chuckle and aimed the Kunai for the middle of his seal, his voice now hinting at hysteria. "You want to put me through hell? Alright, I'll play your game, but you're going to play mine too!"

He let out a pained scream and plunged the Kunai into his gut, digging it deeper into his flesh as he began to sever the internal organs that lie within, he twisted, pulled, pushed, and dragged the kunai around his gut but never once withdrew it. The fox was beginning to scream, the cage was tightening around it as Naruto gradually lost more blood

"Mortal, no, stop it!"

Naruto cackled once again, "You want me to stop? I'll stop when I'm dead! That way, no one will ever have to deal with me or you ever again!" He was at this point, done with putting up with the fox, his will to keep fighting had been shattered as he had taken the life of one of his precious people due to lack of control. He wouldn't let it happen again, ever. He would die here and that would be the end of it.

"Naruto!" Tsunade barged in after hearing the screaming from an entire hospital wing away. Sakura and Shizune shortly followed after her and both went wide in the eyes as they took in the grotesque sight of Naruto holding some of what had spilled from his guts as he sat in a pool of his own blood with a Kunai in hand. Tsunade leapt forward and smacked at his wrist, causing him to drop the Kunai. They hoisted him up and set him on the bed to begin running damage control, Sakura and Shizune running to grab Emergency op kits.

"Baa..chan" Naruto sputtered out. Tsunade met his eyes and took in how completely devoid of shine they were. He upchucked a bit of blood and spoke again. "Enough of this..he..hell…Baa-Chan." He mustered enough strength to grab one of her hands. "M..make it s-s-s-stop, please…."

Tsunade had to remain calm under the circumstances, but couldn't help but let a few tears escape. Her baby boy, her sunshine, her grandson, was suffering because of this fox, this demon that had been imparted unto him. The thought that he had lost a team mate due to his emotion was enough to wrought him through with despair, enough to break him like it had just now.

Shizune and Sakura had returned with the kits and had worked hard into the night to stabilize him. Having been able to move him into intensive care recovery.

The Heart monitor was the only source of noise in the room, Tsunade was sitting next to Naruto's bed, studying his sleeping face, her duties as Hokage were given to Shizune for the time being when she decided to take a bit of time with Naruto, he would need her now more than ever.

Sakura came in that night to run vitals and other such follow-ups and saw her master sitting at his bedside. She decided to sit next to Tsunade after she ran the procedures and listened as Tsunade began to speak in a quiet, hoarse tone.

"He's suffered, Sakura." She began, "He's fought so hard and hasn't been thanked once." Sakura lowered her gaze to the floor, unable to find an appropriate response, thinking back to how she never really thanked him for anything. "I just wish. I pray every day to Kami every day that he can be given an ounce of normalcy in his life, that he can be given peace."

They sat in a silence until Sakura got up to complete her rounds, leaving Tsunade to her own thoughts. "Naruto." She started, studying his peaceful countenance. "I hope you're having a good dream right now."

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, cursing under his breath as he found himself in his mindscape once again. He sat up and looked around only to realize…that it wasn't the usual area, in front of the cage of the Kyuubi. In this part of his mind, the water was clear and he felt something he wasn't familiar with, he felt weightless both physically and mentally, he felt at peace. A feeling that he hadn't felt a day in his life, the best the Kyuubi could do was just leave the kid be, but he always felt dread in the slightest form, everywhere he went, whatever he did. This is the first time peace had been felt.

"Naruto." Naruto turned around and saw nothing as he tried to locate the sound of her voice. "H-Hinata-Chan!" he felt something brush his leg and looked down to see a white lotus pass him by, its glow was captivating in such a dark environment and Naruto could swear it was beckoning him to follow. He walked with it and it led him to a space that was unknown to him, was he positive that he was even in his own mindscape? The flower sank into the water and left him in the dark once more, but in the exact place that it dipped into the water, emerged an ethereal figure, who's white and blue hue lit up the entire area.

"I've been waiting, Naruto." The figure said in a gentle and familiar tone. "Hinata-Chan?" he said, recognizing her voice instantly, however, the figure shook its head slowly, "I am not the one who you seek." The figure then took the form of a female wearing a long white robe tied with a silver Obi. Her hair flowed past her feet and splayed onto the ground and her face was delicate, her pupil-less lavender eyes reminding him of Hinata, but alas the figure had just denied that identity.

"Who are you?" he asked as she began to approach him. "Not who." She began, placing a hand on his cheek, which he instantly fell into because of the comforting vibe she gave, like the love of a mother. It was so new to him but he felt like had known it his whole life. "But what." She opened up her free palm and produced a silver lotus. "I am the container of the Silver Sage's essence."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the woman, "The what?" she giggled and gestured for him to walk with her as she began her explanation of their meeting and what it entailed. "Do you know of the legend, regarding the warring states era?"

Naruto gave a sheepish grin and shrugged, it was a moment he truly wished he had paid attention during his academy days, and he cursed himself inwardly for not heeding Iruka during those years. The woman deadpanned, "alright then, let me explain that story first and then we can progress." She then gave a brief synopsis of the warring states era and all of the clans involved, and then began the legend that tied into all of it.

"In the midst of the war, one man stood out, even above the Senju and Uchiha, his name was Uzumaki Keisuke, your ancestor." She stated, bopping Naruto on the head before he could ask questions, "Let me finish, ask your questions afterwards" she chided softly before continuing. "Uzumaki Keisuke was a fine warrior, but he left the clan to walk the road of the sage, marrying me along his journey of life."

Naruto went a little wide eyed that this spirit before him was the wife of his ancestor and let her continue. "I was the priestess of a temple dedicated to the great deity Shiranui, the wolf-god that aided the legendary warrior Susanoo in bringing down the demon Yamata no Orochi. Keisuke met me and fell instantly in love, he was quite the endearing soul. He was one that Shiranui's old emissary, the elder of the temple Issun, had deemed worthy of the contract that we held."

She produced a scroll that was black with gold trim about its edges and opened it. It was a summoning contract with two names, the first being Susanoo, and the second being his Uzumaki predecessor. "This is the contract of wolves, Keisuke signed this contract before he became my betrothed." She smiled at him, gesturing the contract, "you are next in line to sign it, Silver Sage Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto gulped heavily and pointed to his wide eyed face, "M-me?" he sputtered out, "My soul is tainted and my sins are heavy, how can you expect me to become the next Silver Sage?" the woman giggled and put her hand on his shoulder, "Your burden is the taint on your soul Naruto, but it is for that reason that Shiranui overlooks it, because it is not part of you by choice." Naruto knew what she was talking about when she mention his 'burden'.

"It is by the divine grace of Shiranui that I, Uzumaki Moe, impart this gift to you." She grabbed Naruto's face and pulled him in for a kiss, he reddened madly but paused when he felt a warmth come over him. She pulled away and giggled when she noticed how red he was, "You will awake and notice instantly what this gift that has been imparted to is by searching within yourself." She then moved the scroll closer to him and cleared her throat, speaking in a high and mighty tone "You must sign the contract of wolves and assume the roll of the Silver Sage!" He stepped forward and signed the contract in blood, sealing the deal with a handprint under his signature.

The scroll rolled up and snapped shut, sinking into the ground as Moe then re-approached him. "Does this mean I have to marry you too?" Naruto asked jokingly, Moe this time full blown laughed out, "No." she said, stifling stray giggles, "But my spiritual descendant is in this living world, having been born only a year after you. I will not tell you who she is, but once you find her, you will know who she is. She has been bound by fate to you."

The world around them began to break apart in little white flower petals and Moe cupped his cheek again, "I have one final task for you. You must go to the temple of Shiranui, train amongst the monks, and unlock your full potential as the Silver Sage." She spoke one last time in finality. "I have faith in you, Susanoo and Keisuke have faith in you, and the Hyuuga girl has faith in you, we all pray that you fulfill the role successfully."

The world faded to white and Moe's words rang out in his head one last time, "Now go out unto the world, Silver Sage, be the bane of evil and emissary of light!"

Naruto blinked awake and sat up, noticing that the injures imposed on his gut were non-existent. He looked around and noticed that he was in a hospital bed with a myriad of wires attached to him, more than likely there to keep him alive, not that he needed them. "You're awake!" A voice exclaimed, he turned his head and saw Sakura sitting with…Shikamaru. And…Tenten.

His face visibly paled and he looked down, not expecting them to be there, and he really hoped that they weren't there, he wasn't ready to see them after what happened, he wasn't ready to see anyone.

Shikamaru noticed Naruto's deflation and sighed, "Honestly Naruto, don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault. The Kyuubi got the better of you, we both understand that." Naruto looked up and over to them, they both smiled and Tenten, still visibly bandaged, nodded reassuringly, "Kankuro-San managed to outfit Shikamaru with a fully functioning prosthesis and they managed to turn my damage around with minimal scarring, we're both fine."

Naruto nodded and gave them a light grin, "Thank you, you guys, it means a lot, but.." he thought as he recalled Hinata, she was dead and that couldn't be reversed, "Hinata-Chan is…" His eyes went wide when he heard that ever-familiar deep voice, "Do not worry, Naruto-San." He looked up and saw Hiashi standing next to Neji, both of them looking at him with those stony expressions that all Hyuugas had apparently.

Hiashi approached and in a moment of character break, put a hand on the boy's shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod, "While we mourn greatly for her, the Kyuubi clouded your judgement, it struck my daughter down, not you. You are not at fault and we have no reason to be venomous with you."

Sakura came around from behind Hiashi and studied Naruto up and down, Hiashi pardoned himself as he took a step out of the way, letting her run a biopsy over the Jinchuuriki. "Okay, I have three new results for you, Naruto-Kun, and none of them are bad, trust me." She stated matter-of-factly. "The first is that there is no sign whatsoever of your self imposed injuries." She said before slapping him hard across the face, pulling him by the collar of his gown to get him close to her, "Which if you ever do again, I will not hesitate to make your stays in this hospital absolute hell for you so help me Kami." She dropped him and coughed into her fist, continuing with the report.

"Second is that your own chakra reserves have nearly quadrupled while the Kyuubi's have substantially dropped and don't seem to be recharging." She said, causing everyone in the room to gulp inwardly, 'as if he didn't already have enough chakra.' They all thought simultaneously.

"And finally." Sakura began, holding up a hand mirror for Naruto to see his face.

"Your hair is white."

It's been a while, let me say first off that I'm sorry for changing everything up AGAIN but I promise you that this is the last time. I realized that the original Idea for the story I had was just too filled with holes to recover or fix, so I'm scrapping it and starting fresh! this time around is sure to be better, I promise you. After countless sleepless nights, more rockstar than I have water in my body, and many rough accounts of writers block (read: Tears of frustration and notepad chucked against the wall), I introduce to you "The Wolf Who Cried Boy"! please R&R and enjoy!