Riiiing!

Naruto opened bleary, blue eyes to find that he had, apparently, fallen asleep at his kitchen table last night. Idly, the whiskered almost-seven-year-old realized that his table was a mess: crumpled paper spilled over the sides from where he had thrown away rejected attempts to complete his homework. Looking around, the blond picked out the more neatly stacked pile of completed work that he had set aside before beginning last night's real project: the storage seal that would cement his status as an Uzumaki. Most of the table was covered with the unrolled expanse of the scroll Jiji had given him several months ago. Naruto's practice of the different brush strokes and symbols required to replicate the seal he had been shown months ago had filled nearly every inch of the paper, only sparing the space at the front which Jiji set aside for the finished product. All his efforts had paid off, however, as the last Uzumaki felt confident that today he would be able to show the Sandaime his progress and become an 'official' member of his clan.

Naruto's musings were cut short, however, by a banging on his floorboards from his downstairs neighbor, Shibata-obaasan. "Stop that racket," the scratchy voice cried from below the floorboards. "Cut it out, or I'll complain to the building manager." Rushing to his bedroom, the blond hurriedly quieted the alarm. The screeching stopped, as did the banging, but Naruto could still hear some muffled cursing through the floorboards. "Damn gaki. Sets an alarm for six thirty in the morning, when decent folks are all fast asleep and then …" The commentary died off in volume as the old woman apparently stumped into her kitchen to continue complaining there. Naruto was continually confused by Shibata-obaasan. She always seemed to be awake before he was, but she also complained that his alarm woke her up. She didn't seem to like anything about where she lived (including Naruto, despite his initial attempts to be polite), but didn't move anywhere else. Jiji said it had to do with something called "rent" and "housing prices".

Choosing to ignore the quirks of strange, old women for the moment, Naruto made his way to the bathroom to prepare for the day. There, he realized why Jiji told him that it was important to go to bed before you fell asleep over your work. The blond's whiskers had been joined by an array of smudged kanji and swirls from where he had used his seal work as a pillow. Doing some quick mental math while he scrubbed his face clean and brushed his teeth, the last Uzumaki calculated that he should be able to go show his work to Jiji before school started, but only if he skipped breakfast. After a quick shower, Naruto got dressed in his favorite outfit: a once pristine white shirt decorated with a leaping orange flame that had several holes growing at the seams and a pair of nearly indestructible black shorts. It was going to be a good day, and the outfit was a necessary component of being able to celebrate properly.

As he transitioned back to the main room of his small apartment, the blond grabbed his backpack and began loading it with the things he would need for the day. School supplies and the completed homework assignments were unceremoniously stuffed in the bottom of the bag. Over those, the packages of cup ramen that would be Naruto's lunch were placed with slightly more attention. Then, last of all, the scroll with the Uzumaki boy's seal practice was rolled up and placed carefully at the top of the pile. Zipping his bag shut and rushing out the door, Naruto barely remembered to stop and lock his apartment before he was once again off, racing through the early morning streets of Konoha on his way to stop in at the Hokage's office before class started.

Plowing through the tower, Naruto left a mess of scattered paperwork and shouting administrators behind him before he came to rest at the desk of the Sandaime's secretary. "Ohayō Hiseko-san. *pant* Can I *pant* go in and see Jiji?"

As Hiseko looked over the calendar to confirm that the Hokage had some space in his schedule, Naruto took a second to finish catching his breath. When she looked up to find azure eyes fixed on her in eager anticipation, the woman nodded primly. "He has a meeting with Hyūga-sama in twenty minutes, but I think he can squeeze you in before then."

With a wordless shout of joy, the blond plowed through the heavy door to the Sandaime's office. Throwing his bag down, Naruto pulled out his practice scroll. "Jiji, I got it, 'ttebayo! I'm gonna make my first seal today!"

"You don't say?" The Sandaime chuckled to himself as Naruto waved the rolled parchment in the air. "I had a feeling I'd see you this morning." Sarutobi gestured to the end of his desk where a space was cleared, and an ink tray and brush sat waiting. "Show me what you can do, Gekage-kun."

Nodding in agreement, the blond unrolled his scroll and grabbed the brush. Setting aside the report he'd been perusing, the Hokage rose from his desk and walked over behind the whiskered six-year-old to inspect his work. Naruto's brush work still demonstrated more haste and less precision than the old man would have liked, but the boy didn't make any errors that would render the seal dangerous or unusable. Ten minutes later, Sarutobi watched as Naruto traced the last glyph and set his brush down on the nearly empty tray. Letting out a deep sigh as he massaged his hand, Naruto's blue eyes ran over the completed seal one last time before they turned up to the old man, expectation written plainly on his whiskered face. "How did I do, Jiji?"

The Hokage grinned genially, pride clearly visible on his wrinkled face. Leaning closer, Hiruzen ran a careful eye over Naruto's work. "I'm no master, but this looks very well constructed, Naruto." The blond's chest puffed out in pride, and the Sandaime continued. "There's really only one way to know for sure, though. You'll have to seal something inside the scroll and then unseal it to demonstrate that you've succeeded."

"What should I use, then?" Naruto cast about the room looking for something to seal before his face lit up in a huge grin. Scooting himself off his seat, the whiskered Uzumaki made his way to his backpack.

Sarutobi raised a curious eyebrow but understood when he saw Naruto draw out the picture he had received from Kakashi. So, the boy is trying to take care of his family with the tools of his clan? Despite the approving whole-heartedly of the symbolism, Hiruzen was hesitant about Naruto's choice to use such a special thing in his test. "Naruto, you know that you won't be able to get the picture back if your seal doesn't work, right? Why don't we use a pencil or a piece of paper that you won't miss if it doesn't come back?"

The young Uzumaki shook his head as he walked back to the desk. "I know, Jiji. I just feel like I want to try this." Looking up at the old man, Naruto tried to explain. "I'm not very good in school, even though I work super hard, dattebayo. But this…" The blond gestured to the scroll laying open on the desk. "This is something that I'm supposed to be really good at. My clan was good at making seals, and I want to be good at it, too. I know I did everything just like you showed me, so I'm gonna try it with Kaka-nii's picture. I'll get it back. I just know I will, 'ttebayo"

The blond finished with a small grin and made his way back over to the waiting parchment. Sarutobi noticed that, despite his brave words, Naruto's hands shook as he laid the picture down on the barely dried ink. Reaching gnarled hands over to the blond's shoulder, the old man massaged his back and leaned down to whisper comfortingly in the small boy's ear. "I know you can do it, Gekage-kun."

Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, Naruto placed his hands on either side of the completed seal and began to pull his chakra from the pit of his stomach where it resided. Loudly declaring "Fūin!", the blond closed his eyes and pushed the chakra out through his palms. Instantly, he felt the seal catch ahold of the energy he supplied, and, with a small puff of smoke, the picture disappeared. In its place, the containment circle was filled with the carefully inked kanji for "full". After a second, the last Uzumaki pushed a bit more of his chakra into the scroll and there was another puff of smoke. When it cleared, the picture of Naruto in the Hokage's hat sat atop the crisp parchment, just as crumpled as it was before sealing, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

"Ah!" A wordless cry of joy came tearing out of the blond at the sight of his seal performing precisely as it was supposed to. "Ah ha ha ha ha!" Stumbling off the chair, Naruto began to dance around the room in a giddy circle. "Jiji! It worked, Jiji! I did it, dattebayo! I'm really an Uzumaki."

The last comment was made much more quietly than the others, but Sarutobi heard it anyway. "Did you think that I lied to you, Naruto?" The old man quirked an eyebrow at the suddenly penetant blond.

"Well, no," Naruto admitted as a blush dusted across his face. "I was just scared. Maybe you made a mistake and I wasn't an Uzumaki after all."

"Well, Naruto," the Hokage kneeled down until he and his ward were at eye level, "I may not know everything, but I am very confident that you are a member of the Uzumaki clan." The whiskered boy smiled and clutched his Jiji in a tight hug. As tired fingers stroked soft, blond hair, Hiruzen whispered a small promise. "Naruto, I never want to lie to you. There are things about you that I don't know and things that I can't tell you, but I remember very well the morning that I met you. There has never been any doubt in my mind that you belong to that prestigious clan, and today it is my privilege to make it official. Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto. I'm very proud of you."

The duo hugged again before a knock at the heavy oak door caused them to break apart. The Hokage's secretary leaned in and addressed the old man. "Hokage-sama, Hyūga Hiashi-sama has arrived."

Nodding to show he understood, Sarutobi rose and turned back to his desk. With a flash of chakra, the picture was again sealed into the scroll, which was quickly rolled and handed to the grinning blond. As Naruto placed his hard work in his bag and shrugged it onto his shoulders, the Hokage spoke: "Naruto…" Something in the old man's voice grabbed the blond's attention, and inquisitive blue eyes turned up to see the Sandaime looking quite tired again.

Hiruzen said nothing for several seconds, so Naruto decided to prompt the old man. "Yeah, Jij?"

Shaking his head, the Hokage replaced his hat from where he had laid it on the desk and smiled at the boy. "Why don't you come by after you finish school today, and we can go visit Ichiraku for a snack? I have another story I'd like to tell you about some very special people called jinchuriki."

"Yatta!" Naruto scurried out the door, a huge grin plastered on his face.

As Sarutobi settled down at his desk, he mused on his decision. Naruto had earned the right to call himself an Uzumaki, but was he ready to learn more about who and what he was? Well, regardless of the old man's hesitation, it was too late to change his mind. Deciding to trust the blond's remarkable tenacity, the Sandaime rose from his desk to greet the Hyūga clan head as the stately man strode into his office. "Ah, Hyūga-dono, come in. Thank you for coming to speak with me. I hope your elders were receptive to my thoughts about the Hyūga's role in an expanded Barrier Division…"

"Man, Naruto, what's got you in such a good mood this morning?"

The blond bounced to his seat deposited his backpack at his desk, grinning the entire way. Then, he turned around on the bench to answer Kiba's question. Today's seating arrangement recalled their first day of class, with Shikamaru, Chōji, and Kiba lounging in the top row of desks, while Naruto was relegated to the middle tier after his meeting with Jiji made him arrive just before the start of class. Grinning widely, the blond fished in his backpack for his finished scroll. Rolling it out, the boy proudly displayed the fruits of his labor to his friends. "Check it out! I finished my first seal, 'ttebayo. I'm an official Uzumaki now!" The three made appreciative noises and pretended to listen as Naruto launched into a long-winded explanation of the different parts of his creation. After several months in the classroom together, they had come to understand how important this was to the blond, even if they didn't quite understand why.

Fortunately for Naruto's captive audience, it was less than a minute before Daikoku-sensei made his way into the room and called the class to attention. Reluctantly, the newly recognized Uzumaki turned back to the front and secured the completed scroll in the top of his bag. "Alright class," their teacher greeted them happily, "I hope you had a good weekend. Today we're going to be learning about team formations. First, though, I'd like you all to pass in your homework from this weekend." There was a rustling of papers as the students drew out their work and handed them to their right until all the assignments were collected into a stack at the front. The hefty sensei accepted the papers and brought them to his desk before turning to the chalkboard and starting to draw. "Now, team formations depend on the number of people working together on a mission and the mission objectives. For today, we'll start by learning about the four-man squads you will be working in when you graduate…" As their teacher began to drone on, Naruto felt his eyelids grow heavy from his late night. Before the clock struck nine, the blond had fallen asleep at his seat, a small puddle of drool forming on the cover of his notebook.

Boom!

An explosion rocked the air, shattering the midmorning quiet of the schoolroom and jerking Naruto out of his sleep. The first blast was followed by several more in rapid succession, each of which shook the windows and increased the frantic chatter within the classroom. Picking himself up from where he had fallen to the floor, Naruto's wide, blue eyes cast around for the cause of the disruption. Suddenly, a shrill scream drew everyone's attention to Ino. The platinum blonde pointed out the window, hand shaking in horror. As the class rushed to look, Naruto leapt on a desk to see over his peers' heads. What he saw made the six-year-old's blood run cold. The view outside, which earlier this morning had afforded an unimpeded view of Konoha's ecclectic roofline, was now broken up by over a dozen columns of black smoke that had just begun to rise from flickering orange flames. The class' hushed whispers turned into wailing when Kasumi began to cry in fear.

Daikoku-sensei's voice cut through the din, silencing the group. "Mina-san, you need to stay calm. Remember, if there is an emergency, we need to be calm and quiet. Now, please leave your belongings behind and line up at the door." The class rushed to obey, clinging to the proverbial lifeline of their sensei's directions. Naruto ran toward his seat to grab his bag with the completed scroll, but he was stopped by the burly man's barking order. "Uzumaki! Leave it! We need to go." Slipping his scroll out of the bag and into his pocket, Naruto rushed to the front of the classroom and joined the queue of terrified students waiting at the door. Their teacher looked over the attendance roster clamped in his meaty hand before confirming that everyone was accounted for. "Alright, Hibachi's gone, so we have 26 today. Everyone, please hold the hand of the person next to you." Naruto's small fingers reached out and closed on the closest hand to him. Blue eyes blinked at the intensity of the grip, and Naruto looked around to find that Hinata had made her way to him in the crowd. Smiling in what he hoped was a comforting way, the whiskered six-year-old gave her hand a small squeeze as Daikoku-sensei continued to give instructions. "Okay. You two are now travel partners, and your job is to help each other keep up with the group. Stay with your partner at all times. We are going to leave the building quickly and quietly, and we will make our way to the emergency shelters located in the Hokage monument. Let's go."

Directions given, the stocky teacher turned and opened the doorway to reveal that the hallway was full, as dozens of students were sheperded out of their classrooms under the watchful eyes of their respective instructors. When the other classes had passed by, Daikoku-sensei led his class out of the classroom, turning periodically to make sure that the group stayed together.

"Naruto-kun, I'm scared," the dark-haired girl whispered as the group descended to the building's third floor. "W-what's going on?"

"I don't know," the blond replied absently, equally troubled. When his pale-eyed companion seemed to wilt under the admission, the whiskered boy pulled himself out of his own introspection to shoot Hinata the biggest smile he could muster. "Don't worry, though. If there's anybody trying to do bad things in Konoha, Jiji will stop them." At the girl's confused look, Naruto elaborated. "Jiji's the Hokage. He's a super awesome ninja, and his job is to protect everyone in the village, 'cause they're part of his family, dattebayo."

"He's not the only one." Both Naruto and Hinata jumped as Sasuke inserted himself into their conversation, clutching unhappily to Ami's hand. "My clan runs the police force. They'll help keep everyone safe and find the bad guys."

"My clan has no formal part of the village's defensive organizations," Shino replied, dropping back from his position at the front of the group to join the discussion. "Nevertheless, we will assist in the defense of Konoha against any assailant."

Hinata nodded, comforted by the boys' declaration. "The H-hyūga will protect the Leaf, as well."

The other children within hearing range chimed in with the assurance that their respective families and clans would contribute to the village's defense, and Naruto nodded his agreement with the group's conviction. "It's just like Hokage-jiji said when we started school, 'ttebayo. Everybody has the Will of Fire and wants to protect the village, because our family and friends live here. Right now, they're protecting us, but one day it'll be our turn, and we'll be the ones protecting them."

Seconds later the class spilled from the front doors of the building. Blinking against the smoke in the air and the bright midmorning sun, the class collected around Daikoku-sensei. The sight that met them was one that affirmed their convictions about their home and the strength of its people. Several roofs in the vicinity had caught fire from the drifting embers, and civilians had formed a fire brigade to pull water from the nearby pond. Further in the distance, dozens of ninja were visible, hopping across rooftops and drawing forth earth and water constructs to help put out the fires. After a second, their teacher determined that no one was missing and led the class through Konoha's winding streets toward the base of the Hokage monument.

Despite how close the academy was to the base of the mountain, the group had to turn around twice to avoid a building that caught fire or a street that was blocked with debris. Finally, the class arrived at the last intersection where they could see several Genin gesturing civilians up the stairs and into the shelter. Their sensei seemed ready to send the group across to the refuge when the air within the intersection rippled, and a wall materialized out of thin air, closing the class off from the monument. Daikoku-sensei spun around, palming a kunai knife, but his defense was too late. Over a dozen blades flew from a nearby alleyway and embedded themselves in the burly Chūnin's limbs and torso. With a surprised gurgle, the man fell to his knees before collapsing facedown on the cobblestones.

"Aw, poor baby. Guess he couldn't handle a little poison." The class whirled at the sound of the voice to see a woman lounging in the mouth of the alley. Her mocking voice complemented the disgruntled pursing of her lips and the angry slant of brown eyes that might have been quite pretty, had they belonged to someone who smiled. After a quick inspection, Naruto decided that her outfit must be a type of ninja wear, but not one they had covered in their classes so far. Her gray tunic was split on either side at the hips and worn over simple black leggings. The woman's hand dipped out of sight in the doorway and returned bearing a short sword that glistened menacingly in the morning sun.

"Mi, your part is done," a deep voice boomed from the other side of the street. The man who had spoken stalked from the doorway of a convenience store and stopped in the center of the street to survey the children. Coarse black hair framed a long, square jaw, and his black bettle eyes glittered with malice. He was flanked by two smaller figures: nondescript brown-haired figures, who might have been twins for how similar their faces were, in their late teens. Both brows were furled in concentration, and their hands were pressed together into a seal, cleary channeling chakra to some effect. All three were dressed in the same grey tunic as the scary woman across the street.

"Oh, come on, Reiji-san," the woman's voice had a definite whine this time as she spun her blade in the air and caught it again with barely a glance. "That barely took any effort at all. Just let me have one more, and then I'll be good."

"You'll get more after we deliver the packages," the big man replied, stepping forward. "Now help me find the brats we're supposed to take."

The entire class drew back as the adults approached, retreating as far as they could before their backs met the wall that had suddenly appeared. As the group huddled together, Naruto's eyes were drawn to his sensei, lying still on the pavement with blood seeping from his wounds. These people, the blond realized, were here for his friends. They wanted to hurt the people he cared about, the people he had promised to protect one day! At that thought, a hot rage rushed through the young Uzumaki and, after looking around at his scared classmates, he released Hinata's hand. Pushing his way to the front of the class, the blond addressed the approaching adults, whose expressions had shifted from serious to bemused as they noticed his progress. Blue eyes glared balefully at the towering figures, and Naruto had to fight to keep his voice steady, but he spoke anyway. "W-whoever you are, you'd b-better leave us alone, 'ttebayo. We're –"

The rest of the blond's admonishment was cut off as the woman disappeared from where she was standing, only to reappear within the same moment, kneeling right in front of the blond. As he stumbled back to gain some space, blue eyes were drawn to the sword that she was holding out and the crimson liquid that now coated the blade. Looking down, Naruto's eyes widened in fright at the growing red stain across his once white shirt. Collapsing back into the arms of his shocked classmates, the blond vaguely realized that the big man was arguing with the woman who had stabbed him.

"…disobeying orders…hadn't identified targets…"

"…ratty clothes…no way he's a clan kid…"

"…not the point…"

"…take a while to bleed out …delay pursuit…"

"…unknown factors…hostile territory…"

The man called Reiji looked up from dressing down his subordinate to see a black-haired boy near the front of the group make a break for the dango shop that had been abandoned during the morning's chaos. Sighing, the big man ran through several handseals and reached out with his chakra to touch the minds of all the students. As one, they dropped to the flagstones, unconscious. "Alright, quiet," he commanded the sword-weilding woman, who glared, but fell silent. Turning to address the men holding the hand-sign behind him, the tall man continued. "Eiji, drop your genjutsu. There's no more need for it." One of the twins dropped his hands and nodded. Behind the class, the wall that had appeared faded to nothingness. "Mi, Eiji, and I will find our targets. Isamu keep up the genjutsu to make sure no one else notices what's going on here. We'll drop it when we leave."

At the silent nods, Reiji reached into his pockets and fished out a sheet of paper while the other two dispersed themselves into the mass of sleeping children. "Okay, first on Orochimaru-sama's shopping list is the noble clans, then the other clan kids in the class. The Aburame heir will be wearing glasses and a thick coat. If you find any bugs around one of these brats, that's probably him. The Akimichi's probably that fatty over there." The man shrugged a shoulder at Chōji's prone form before turning back to the page. "Damn, couldn't they tell us more about the Uchiha than that he's got black hair and pale skin? Eiji, I think that might be him there. He's got the crest on his back, right? Good. Now we need the Hyūga heiress. Look for dark hair and white eyes. The Inuzuka's the one with the dog, and the Nara's our other black-haired brat. Blondie and pinky must be our Yamanaka and the defective Uzumaki." Finishing his list, the huge man made his way to the back of the pile, where he hefted Ino and Sakura under his arms and carried them clear of the other students.

Barely conscious, Naruto watched as his friends were picked up and hauled out of the mess of bodies. The pain from his chest was enough to keep the blond from falling prey to the genjutsu, but blood loss was working to lead him to the same destination. He had fallen into Hinata's arms, so when the woman with the sword recognized the Hyūga heiress and removed her from behind him, the blond fell backwards to the pavement. He coughed weakly, a trickle of blood running down his face. Dazed blue eyes barely made out the grinning face of the woman who had stabbed him, but he heard her words. "You're still alive, hm brat? Well, don't worry. You're not long for this world. And we'll take real good care of your friends, too. Some of them might even survive what Orochimaru-sama has planned for them."

With that, the brunette stalked back to her compatriots. Each of the adults hefted two children, and then, in a puff of smoke, they were gone. Naruto closed his eyes against another onslaught of pain as the woman's words rolled through his mind. Some of them might survive. Crystal blue eyes snapped open at the realization. His friends were going to be hurt! As he processed that thought, the blond saw red.

"Alright Gaichūmaru, here's the brats. What's next?"

Reiji's deep voice rumbled through the trees, startling the smaller man from his inspection of the seals etched into the packed earth. Looking up, the ratty face broke into a grin at the sight of his subordinates and the eight children they held in their arms. "That's Gaichūmaru-taichō to you, Reiji. Well, come on. Bring 'em here." The brown-haired man stood from where he had been sitting and raised a dirty hand to wave the quartet over imperiously. "I need to make sure none of you idiots screwed up picking your targets. Then we can move to the last phase." Smirking widely at the angry faces arrayed opposite him, Gaichūmaru gestured to the rotting porch he had previously been sitting on. "Lay them down here."

The kidnappers scowled at the tone, but Orochimaru-sama had specifically appointed this groveling wretch as the leader for this mission, so they reluctantly obeyed and brought their charges over to him. Each set the children they had carried on the rotted porch before stepping back and stretching. Looking around, Reiji took in the dilapidated state of the small compound they had chosen. The main shrine must have lacked a caretaker for several years, as the traditional bright red paint was drastically faded and beginning to chip in places. Additionally, the moss growing all over spoke to the fact that no one had bothered to fight against the humidity of summers in the Land of Fire. Turning to the weasel of a man, Reiji asked a question that had been rolling around in his head since he was told the. "How'd you find this place? Seems doubtful that there'd be an unoccupied compound waiting for us to use inside Konoha."

"You can thank our defective Uzumaki for this place," Gaichūmaru answered without looking up from his inspection of the pinkette. "There were some clansmen and retainers that lived in the village several years ago, but they all got killed when the Kyūbi attacked. Now, there's no adults from the clan and the kid apparently hasn't realized that she owns property that needs to be maintained. Though, the Hokage may not let someone with such weak blood ties claim any kind of inheritance." Beady brown eyes glistened as the man turned the small girl's jaw sideways, judging her value with a glance. "Hair's supposed to be bright red, but with a color like that, I can understand why they say something's wrong with her. Ah well, if she's too damaged to withstand what Orochimaru-sama has prepared, no great loss there."

Suddenly, the air grew heavy with the force of such rage that it stole the small man's breath away and caused everyone present to break out in a cold sweat. Looking back toward the village and the source of the feeling, the band of kidnappers watched as a stream of crimson chakra rose from the base of the Hokage Monument, gradually morphing to form the face of a grinning fox. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the eerie visage vanished. A chill of premonition ran down Gaichūmaru's back and the small man began to scream at his bewildered subordinates. "Run, you idiots! Get the brats to their spots in the circle. Those damn treehuggers had something laying in wait for us and we need to deliver the packages to Orochimaru-sama before it gets here!"

Shaken from their temporary stupor by their captain's shrill cries, the other ninja quickly returned to the temple porch and carried the unconscious children to the center of the seal that Gaichūmaru had painstakingly carved into the hard-packed earth. The small man pointed to five circles at the perimeter of the array and frantically shouted orders. "Reiji take the lightning node. Mi, you go to the wind one. Isamu, Eiji: fire and water. I've got the earth" The kidnappers took their positions and began moulding elemental chakra to power the seal. One by one, the perimeter seals began to glow with a pale, golden light. When all five were lit, the assembled group began to run through handseals, desparate to avoid finding out what Konoha had unleashed that could generate the hateful aura they felt getting closer moment by moment.

"Get out of the way!"

A crimson streak raced through the village streets, given a wide berth by shinobi and civilians alike. Naruto ignored the screams and shouts of those who desperately threw themselves out of his path. He didn't notice the red chakra that had settled around him like a shroud, nor did he realize that he was running on all four limbs. All observation and conscious thought was superceded by the overwhelming certainty that the blond needed to move as quickly as possible. Reaching out with his senses, Naruto locked on to the mental impression of his sleeping classmates. Chakra sensing was a skill that Kaka-nii had practiced with him, though he normally had trouble performing at any meaningful range. Now, though, the young Uzumaki could clearly feel his friends' chakra from across the village, a beacon to his senses, leading him to a forested region within the protective walls. The whiskered blond didn't know why, but something in the back of his head whispered darkly that, if he didn't get to his friends soon, he would lose them forever. Thus, as he passed the last ring of houses, Naruto summoned up another burst of speed, rocketing into the trees.

Very quickly, the blond soared through the tree line and came to a stop in an unexpected clearing. Blinking against the sudden glare, blazing crimson eyes took in the sight of his classmates' unconscious forms in the center of a glowing seal formula. When he recognized the gray-robed ninja on the outside as those who had taken his friends, the whiskered boy jumped on top of the pile of children and snarled menacingly at the shocked adults. "Leave my friends alone!"

All five ninja sat in stunned silence for a moment before the brunette woman began to laugh hysterically. "Oh, this is just rich! Guess you were right, Reiji. I shouldn't have stabbed him earlier. I should have cut off his fucking head. Now we've got to fight some monster that those treehuggers kept in reserve."

Naruto glared at the laughing woman before spinning to growl at the big man on the opposite side of the circle when he rumbled out a reply. "Mi, if he could have consciously stopped you, he would have. More likely, you activated some bloodline defense when you stabbed him."

"Keep going, you morons!" Gaichūmaru's scratchy voice cut across the brunette's likely scathing reply. "We need to go! Now! By now, Yami-sama will to have figured out we didn't just carry the brats out the hole in the barriers like we told him we were going to. We've got less than half a minute before this clearing is swarming with Konoha-nin. Orochimaru-sama can handle the monster." With a scowl, the abductors returned to their hurried signing.

As the adults resumed their casting, Naruto leapt at the small man who seemed to be in charge. From his experience practicing his own seal, the blond knew that seals were very tempermental. If he could disrupt the man's chakra flow, the would-be abductors would have to start over or risk the seal exploding. Then, Jiji's ninja could come and stop the bad guys. The whiskered boy stopped short, however, at the triumphant grin on the man's ratty face. "Too late, brat!" All five adults slammed their palms on the ground.

The seal surged to life, burning a brilliant gold that was visible even in the midday sun. The flash faded, revealing an empty courtyard with the remains of the seal burned into the hard-packed earth, some sigils still lit with residual chakra. The calm lasted for several seconds before the remaining energy was released in a tremendous explosion, obliterating all traces of the seal, along with nearly an acre of the compound and surrounding forest.

When the Hokage arrived on the scene several minutes later, his heart clenched to see the flaming remains of the compound he had planned to show his favorite blond after the school day finished. Waving his hand, Sarutobi addressed the kneeling ANBU that appeared at his side. "I want reports from the Konoha Military Police Force, the Barrier Division, and T&I about what happened today and who was behind it. Someone attacked us, and we need to know who and how they got past our defenses." The masked agent disappeared, and another wave of the wrinkled hand brought a second cloaked figure to attend the Sandaime. "Get me every credible witness who saw Uzumaki Naruto today, both before and after the Kyūbi's seal cracked. Focus on high ranking Hyūga and Academy staff. Something caused our boy to lose control, and it must be related to what happened here."

Hiruzen turned to watch the hunter nin perform their examination of the former Uzumaki compound, only to perk up as an ANBU agent appeared at his side in a swirl of leaves. "Hokage-sama," the man inclined his head and offered a sheet of paper to his leader. "Funeno Daikoku was found unconscious near the entrance to the shelters. He had multiple lacerations from over a dozen kunai, nearly all of which were poisoned. His class was forced to sleep and most have been recovered, but nine students are missing."

Sarutobi's hands did not tremble as dark eyes read the list, but the old man's heart broke with each name. Nine names did not take long to read, but each second was an eternity longer than it had any right to be. Finally, the Hokage folded the paper and addressed the tense messenger who had brought the news. "Assemble the clan council immediately." As the masked figure flickered from sight, a single tear rolled down the old man's haggard face. Naruto, I've failed you again. I'm sorry. Wherever you are, be safe.

A/N: I am still moving slowly through the last stages of school, so chapters will still be delayed, but I have these two finished, so I wanted to share them.