A/N:

General statement: I don't own Naruto, nor will I ever own Naruto. The rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I only claim ownership to the spin of the story this fan fiction will take and the original characters I might create for this story.

"Hello." - Normal Speech

"Hello" - Spelled-out thoughts

"Hello" - Non-human Speech

"Hello" - Spelled-out non-human thoughts

Chapter 1

Game On

The loud noises of people bustling about could be heard around the whole village of Konoha as the preparations for the 12th annual Fire Fox Festival were underway. Stands were being erected, fireworks prepared and the thirty feet high wooden contraption of the Nine-tailed Fox placed in the middle of the main plaza of the shopping district. All this was witnessed by a small blonde boy who tried his very best to blend into the background of the bustle, to avoid the glares of fury and undiluted hatred he received, on this day of the year especially, on his way to the Ninja Academy.

Easier said than done when wearing an orange jumpsuit-monstrosity that basically screamed "I'm an easy target, please kill me!". But one Naruto Uzumaki managed to do it anyway. Kami knows he had had more than enough experience in doing so. You don't escape punishment for most of your pranks if you don't learn how to hide within a crowd even with the most hideous of clothing. And on most days the twelve-years-old boy would revel over his ability to hide in plain sight. But most days wasn't his birthday. Not that he ever really got to associate anything overly pleasant with his birthday. After all, today was the twelveth anniversary of his parents ditching him in the chaos of the Kyuubi's attack, the seventh anniversary of the caretaker at the orphanage throwing him out on the street, claiming that "five years is old enough for a demon to take care of itself", not that they ever really cared for him. Not if you don't count forbidding him from playing with any of the other children as "caring", anyway.

Therefore one might excuse his less then usual amount of enthusiasm as he hurried down the street. As fast as humanly possible while still seeming inconspicuous he moved towards his destination. It wasn't healthy for him to be out and about on this day. That, he had to learn the hard way on his fifth, seventh, and eighth birthday respectively when he wasn't able to outrun the mob of drunk and angry villagers. An uncharacteristic sigh escapes his mouth as he manages a rueful smile. "Maybe today she'll finally say yes..."

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Would you like to..."

"SHUT UP, NARUTO-BAKA!" The punch she administered to his cheek was strong enough to send Naruto to the ground. Not that anyone besides a silently fuming, blue-haired kunoichi with lavender-colored, pupil-less eyes cared to take notice of the almost daily occurrence. Next, Naruto would just jump to his feet, complain about the pink-haired banshee spending all her time and attention on the black-haired emo and sulk in one of the seats in the back of the classroom for the rest of the day.

"Why?" Interesting, how one single word is able to demand the attention of a whole class, if it doesn't fit into people's preconceptions.

Not that the banshee seemed to either notice or care. She instead stood over the blonde who was lying on the ground with her fist lifted and a tick mark on her forehead. "Why what, baka?!"

Naruto's eyes were closed as he turned to lie flat on his back. "Why do you always hit me? What have I done to you to deserve being hit, every time I try to talk to you?" His voice was rather quiet and subdued, a stark contrast to his usual loud and energetic mannerisms.

The shock over the fact that Naruto, the prankster king, loudmouth, and certified idiot of Konoha, actually asked a sensible question was soon forgotten once Sakura found her voice again. "You actually have to ask that, baka? BECAUSE YOU KEEP ASKING ME OUT ON DATES EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW THAT SASUKE-KUN IS MY ONE TRUE LOVE!"

"I never asked you for a date." The silence following this simple answer was palpable and no one dared to move for risk of missing anything of the show taking place in front of them. Well, no one moved except for Naruto who stood up slowly and gifted Sakura with a look in the eyes she couldn't place neither here nor there. "I only ever asked you if you wanted to go eat something together."

That statement hit Sakura harder than she would ever admit. Not that she liked Naruto, but his constant attention made her feel good, wanted,… desirable. Slowly she looked around and finally noticed that she was the center of attention of the whole class. Well… the whole class minus one brooding pre-teen emo who was preoccupied with thoughts of grandeur and killing off his own brother who was responsible for slaughtering his whole clan except him. A shiver ran down Sakura's back as she could feel the attentive and judging gazes of her classmates on her. "Well, who would want to spend time with someone like you, anyway?!"

While she took in the approving looks of the civilian ninja trainees she allowed herself a mental pat on the back for her fast thinking and even a slight amount of satisfaction for putting the idiot in his place until her gaze fell on Naruto again. What she saw in his eyes left her breathless. There was no mirth, no determination. Instead of the shining sky blue orbs that she admitted were nice to look at, they were a pale imitation showing a depth of sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness there that made her want to throw up and apologize for everything she had ever said and done to him. But she couldn't. If she did that, any respect she had earned up to that point with the other civilians would be lost forever. After all, it was always better to be part of the crowd than to stand against it, wasn't it?

"Yeah… I guess you're right..." His voice was hollow and hoarse and barely more than a whisper. "How could I ever hope to be anyone's friend?" She was just able to see the first signs of tears in his eyes before Naruto turned away and walked down the steps before he avoided walking into Iruka Umino via a quick side-step as the Chunin-sensei just entered the classroom.

Stunned for a second that Naruto just walked by him without even recognizing his presence he stared after the boy he was slowly starting to see as a little brother before his teacher instincts kicked in. "Naruto! Class is about to start! Get back here!"

But it didn't have the effect Iruka anticipated. Instead of returning to the classroom, Naruto turned around and showed him a small, devastated smile, framed by streams of tears. "Sorry, Iruka-nii-san. Not this time."

Iruka was shocked to put it mildly but seeing that expression on a boy who was usually basically vibrating with excess energy would do that to anyone who cared for the boy. But the teacher inside him wouldn't allow him to delay the class for much longer so he promised himself to invite Naruto to some ramen later on. Though when he turned towards his class, he had no choice but to play witness to something he didn't think anyone thought possible: The shy, innocent Hinata Hyuuga was walking down the isle between the seats towards a still stunned Sakura with a truly thunderous expression seemingly etched onto her face.

"Haruno." As she stopped in front of the pink-haired girl and said girl turned around to her, Hinata slapped her so hard in the face that Sakura fell back on her seat. If the class wasn't frozen in shock before, it certainly was now. But no one was more shocked than Sakura who numbly looked up at the furious blue-haired girl while holding her left cheek. "YOU…" Hinata took a deep breath before she stared down at the girl who dared to spout such vile nonsense about her crush, in her anger not even noticing that she activated her Byakugan not only unconsciously but without any hand signs. "… are not just a pitiful fan-girl excuse of a wannabe kunoichi, you are also a disgusting and despicable example for a human being."

Her piece said, Hinata returned to her seat and sat down, only to notice that every pair of eyes in the room except one, belonging to a certain Uchiha, was focused on her. "I… I… m-mean..." And with that the pressure became too much and the shy Hyuga fainted into blissful unconsciousness with a pretty, dark red hue on her face contrasting her hair.

Small feet falling on cobblestone could be heard trudging through the darkness as Naruto walked along the dark alleys of Konoha without destination or purpose. Well… he did have a purpose but he tried to avoid thinking about it. Instead he let the sounds of the festivities wash over him, imagining what it would be like to walk the brightly lit streets hand in hand with his parents, wearing kimonos and laughing from the depth of their hearts. "That would have been nice, wouldn't it?" His whispered question dispersed in the wind and the empty streets. Another image of him playing the many different games with his classmates, having fun and enjoying each others company came to mind but that one quickly changed into him losing at every game and being laughed at again and again. The voice of Sakura still rang in his head over and over again. "Yeah… who would want to spend any of their time with me anyway? I'm just Naruto, the dobe, the idiot, the menace of Konoha, the demon, the Kyuubi-brat… yeah right… people would think if I really was the Kyuubi I would be able to fight back, wouldn't they?" Another sigh with a mumbled "idiots" escapes his throat before he lifts his head to look at the lone figure standing before him in the middle of the street: clad in unusual Anbu garb with the hilt of a katana peeking over the left shoulder an a nondescript ANBU mask covering the face. Silence reigned supreme before Naruto let out a dry laugh that had no business coming from a boy so young. "Hello, Shi-san. Did you finally decide that it's time to come for me?" Nobody could miss the barely hidden hope behind the mirth filling Naruto's voice, but the figure didn't seem to care.

"Danzo-sama says you're almost ready but just not quite there yet.", the man said in a monotonous voice before moving his right hand towards his left shoulder. Naruto was just barely able to see the man flick his wrist before half his vision blacked out and Naruto fell to his knees pressing his hands to his left eye while stifling a scream. While his lungs demanded the release and punished him with pain for barring the same, Naruto, while reveling in the thought of it all finally ending, would never give his tormentors the satisfaction of seeing him break. "HE'S OVER HERE! I FOUND THE DEMON!" If opening his mouth wouldn't have resulted in Naruto crying out his soul, he would have laughed about the fact that even while screaming the man's voice was still completely monotone.

It didn't take long for the thunder of feet hurrying towards him to fill the streets and with his last conscious act before the pain became the only thing he could feel Naruto showed the mob of rage and hatred his best cheeky grin to date despite the blood flowing down and between his fingers.

Iruka was just short of full out panicking. After class came to an early end so the children had time to prepare for the Fire Fox Festival he instantly made his way towards Ichiraku's Ramen, assuming that would be where the blonde prankster would be, stuffing his face with his favorite food in an attempt to lift his spirit, only to hear that Naruto hadn't been there all day.

Next he went to his apartment, if one could still call it that. The building, once a decent and nice one to live in, was run down and sprayed top to bottom with demeaning and spiteful graffiti. The windows were either broken or barred with wooden planks and one wouldn't believe that anybody could ever live here. The state of the building was one of the reasons which had Iruka spurred to try to adopt Naruto over the last few years but every time he tried the civilian council or one of the elders would find some kind of convoluted reason to block said try, with their last one being that Naruto was taken off the list of children up for adoption because "the adopting family would be in danger of unforeseeable repercussions". That those "repercussions" would in 100% of all cases be instigated by hateful civilians and ninjas with civilian background was simply left out of the explanation.

But as Naruto wasn't in his apartment either, Iruka had had to contemplate if he was willing to break his promise to Naruto and go to his secret getaway atop the Hokage Monument, specifically the head of the fourth Hokage. Iruka had been there only once, about a year ago, when he was searching for Naruto because he was skipping class again. He had to promise him to never look for him there, as that was the only place he had ever had any reprieve from the glares of the villagers. In return Naruto had to promise him to only go there when he wasn't skipping classes or hiding from his pursuers after a prank.

But this time it was different. He had never seen such desperation and sadness in the boys eyes before and had a disconcerting feeling nagging in the back of his mind telling him that something bad was going to happen. Therefore he asked Kami for forgiveness and prayed that Naruto would forgive him as well. But as it turned out he needn't have bothered because Naruto wasn't there either and slowly but surely that nagging feeling was surfacing to the forefront of his mind telling him to hurry up, before it was too late. That had been almost three hours ago.

Now Iruka was racing down the dark streets away from the festival in a frenzied search for his little brother figure, even his abilities as a sensor seemed to have forsaken him until Naruto finally appeared on the edge of Iruka's sensory field. But… he had to read the chakra waves wrong because there was no trace of the burning, barely containable energy that was Naruto Uzumaki. This was… not even an outcry for help. It was not even a whisper. It was a whimper, a sigh… the last embers of a once raging fire that was about to die out completely.

Faster than Iruka had ever moved before in his life he raced across streets and over rooftops only to find a small, mangled body in a dark side-street clad in the tattered and blood soaked lumps of what used to be a glaringly orange jumpsuit. There were cuts and bruises all over his body, his right femur had broken through his skin and was visible for all the world to see, but his face was by far the worst: His sun-kissed hair was soaked and crusted over with blood, the right side of his face had swelled to proportions that made it unrecognizable and a sword slash had carved a red line from his left eyebrow down to his cheek, taking his eye out in the progress. "Naruto?"

Had Iruka been able to concentrate on anything besides the boy he would have noticed the chakra signature of a ninja race away from the scene to report to his master that the mission had been accomplished. But he hadn't. He couldn't. "Naruto!"

"Nii-san?"

The weak voice that was barely a painful croak shook Iruka out of his stupor and made him lift up the small body that was way too light for a boy his age. "Naruto." His voice rang with relief as he made his way as fast as he could towards the hospital.

"Am I ready now?"

Iruka almost tripped over when he heard the question. Had someone told Naruto he had to go through this to become a ninja? His mind raced almost as fast as his body but without more information there was nothing he could do. "Ready for what?"

Iruka had to strain his hearing to hear the hoarse whisper that was Naruto's voice. "Danzo said… I'm not ready yet." His mind came to an abrupt halt as a fury spread throughout Iruka with an intensity he had never felt before in his entire life. But those flames were doused just as quickly with Naruto's next words. "Am I finally allowed to die?" The hope in his weak voice was palpable beyond belief and made Iruka almost double his speed in desperation. How could this accursed village treat it's savior in such a way that he was asking for the sweet relief of death?

Hiruzen Sarutobi was enjoying the festival with his family, his grandson Konohamaru riding on his shoulders so his son Irashi and his wife Kira could walk arm in arm next to him. With a pang of sadness his mind wandered to Asuma, his second born, who wasn't in the village due to his assignment as one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Daimyo. Sometimes he regretted to be so demanding of his son that he basically drove him out of the village but then again he was sure that, had he pushed Asuma not as hard as he had, he never would have become a Jonin by the age of twenty-one. After the short bout of sadness he returned his focus back to the moment and smiled a soft smile as he could feel his grandson shift on his shoulders, trying to take in everything all at once. "Are you having fun, Konohamaru?"

"Sure am, Jiji!", was the immediate response of the child that unintentionally sent a massive wave of regret over Hiruzen that put a giant dampener on his mood, as the wording of his grandson sent a picture of the one other person he saw as his grandson before his eyes. Naruto… where should he even begin?

His first mistake was actually honoring the last wish of his successor and tell both councils about Naruto being the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. He knew who the last two Jinchuriki had been and exactly why that information had never been disclosed to the open public. But not granting the dying wish of a man like Minato Namikaze would have forced him to commit Sepukku. Not out of obligation but because he would have betrayed the trust of one of the best men, if not the best man he had ever had the privilege to know.

The second mistake was the decision of not telling Naruto anything about his parents. "With good reason", he had once again told himself. Minato and Kushina had a combined bounty of over two billion ryo. Not just Iwa, but Kiri and Kumo would have done anything to see him dead. And because Naruto was a loudmouth and attention starved to boot he would have proclaimed his heritage across the village in a matter of minutes and he wasn't naive enough to believe that the other villages didn't have spies in his village.

Lastly, his third mistake was that he had included the civilian council into the workings of the village. First a measure to help him with the overwhelming amount of administrative work after the Kyuubi attack, they soon used their new position to integrate themselves into the legal system of the village, and with backing from the elders Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzo Shimura, there was nothing he could have done to counteract in time. Since then, they have used their power over the civilian legislative to basically give everyone who hasn't broken the statute of secrecy in their ploy to hurt Naruto a "Get-out-of-Prison-Card".

Hiruzen sighed deeply. If only he could turn back time and use his own life to seal the Kyuubi away. At least then Minato would have been able to defend his son. "Hokage-sama!"

Hiruzen's head swirled to the left where one of his personal ANBU guards, this one wearing a stylized cat-mask, appeared in a kneeling position to the left in front of him. "What is it, Neko?"

"The Maelstrom resides within the kingdom of the Slug." Within a moment, Hiruzen had placed Konohamaru with his parents and had Shunshin'd to the hospital where he raced by the reception towards the operation room that was reserved solely for Naruto. Well not exactly for Naruto, but there were seals in place that only allowed the very few doctors in of whom he knew that they would treat Naruto and not try anything to worsen his health.

Finally there he saw something that did anything but elevate his fears of the situation. There in one of the chairs next to the closed off operation room sat Iruka with both his head and his hair down, staring at his forehead protector he held with his blood drenched hands. With a second look, it wasn't just his hands that where red with blood, but his arms and vest as well. "Iruka-kun."

But the Chunin didn't seem to notice anything around him, he simply kept staring at the symbol on his forehead protector and let the first of many tears fall on the cold metal. Seeing as he had not been heard, Hiruzen knelt before him and put a hand on Iruka's right shoulder. "Iruka." Finally, Iruka looked at him and the smallest spark of recognition appeared in the younger man's eyes. "What happened?"

Iruka took a shuddering breath and straightened his back as to which Hiruzen rose to his full height again. "I can't say for sure…" Iruka moved his protector in a way so that the ceiling tile right above Hiruzen was visible in the reflection of the shiny metal. With a miniscule widening of his eyes, Hiruzen snapped with his fingers and a moment later the sound of metal slicing through flesh and bone could be heard.

Another moment later, Neko appeared with a cloth in her left hand which she used to clean the blood of her blade. "It is done, Hokage-sama."

With a nod of the Sandaime Hokage the ANBU guard vanished back into the shadows and left the two men to their conversation.

With another steadying breath, Iruka nodded and continued his report. "… but my best guess is that a mob lead by one or more of Danzo's Root operatives got a hold of him…" Another few tears fell on Iruka's lap while Hiruzen tried to keep his stony expression.

"How do you know it was Danzo?" While his exterior was the perfect image of a calm and collected leader, Hiruzen's voice held a rather noticeable angry tremor to it.

"Naruto..." Iruka shuddered again. "He told me that 'Danzo didn't think he was ready yet', before he fainted due to blood loss."

This time an angry growl escaped the aged Hokage's throat. "How did they get past the ANBU guards I stationed outside his apartment?!"

"I..." Hiruzen wouldn't have thought someone could look anymore devastated than Iruka before he had asked his question, but apparently Iruka knew how to trump even that with slumped shoulders, desperation etched into his face, and dark brown eyes that basically screamed that he would never be able to forgive himself. "I don't think they did. There was an altercation before class today that involved Naruto and Sakura Haruno. I had just entered the room when Naruto walked by me with an expression that showed deep hurt and desperation. I wanted to go after him, but I am a teacher not just to Naruto but to the rest of the class as well. And so I told myself that I had time, that I would catch up to him later and invite him to Ichiraku's. So, when class ended I went there, only for Ayame and Teuchi to tell me that they hadn't seen him all day. I thought 'unusual but maybe he just went home to vent his emotions' so I went there, only to find the same: no sign of him. After waiting for a bit I… I..." Iruka coughed a bit and after a few deep, calming breaths he continued. "I broke my promise to him. I went to his secret hiding spot to look for him only to come up empty again. And then… I just searched the whole village for the next few hours."

Hiruzen lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. "He avoided your sensor abilities?"

A low chuckle escaped Iruka's throat at the thought that came to him while he was searching for his younger brother figure. "He might just be a prodigy yet, Hokage-sama. My best guess is: He didn't want to be found. And not just by his pursuers, by anyone. He..." His body shook again with sadness and regret and another bout of tears escaped the young man's eyes. "H… Hiruzen..." And suddenly the gravity of the situation was multiplied by the dozen. The aged Hokage had given Iruka permission to call him by his given name in private years ago but never, not a single time, had Iruka ever used his name. It 'lacked the proper amount of respect he was due' he had said. "He… he asked me if he was finally allowed to die." A soft gasp could be heard in the silence that ensued, but no one seemed to notice it. "I… I think he went out there tonight to commit suicide by proxy…"

Finally the stony exterior of the Hokage broke with a sharp intake of air before tears started rolling down his face. How… how could he have let things come this far? How could someone so bright and happy… And finally it clicked. Naruto had never been as happy as he lead others to believe. How could he have been? His "grandfather" was way too busy to spend much time with him. His "older brother" was a teacher and had seldom any time to his own. The Ichiraku's owned a two man stand and had to run the business almost twenty-four hours a day to keep it afloat because they lost a massive amount of customers because they allowed him to eat there and talked to him. Naruto had created a mask to keep them from worrying about him and they all fell for it.

"And…" Hiruzen didn't want to hear any more. The situation was already bad enough as it was. But he had to and so he let Iruka continue. "… I'm afraid that he might get his wish, Hiruzen… He has broken bones, heavy bruising, stab wounds, and… and… he lost his left eye, Hiruzen!" But Iruka's rage was short lived and only all too soon replaced by self-loathing. "What happened to us, Hokage-sama? We were once Konoha, the first of the Hidden Villages, founded on the principle of camaraderie and collaboration. And this little, innocent boy with a heart of gold saves and protects us every single day, every single moment that he lives and breathes… And how do we repay him? By hurting him, ignoring him, insulting him… We turned him into someone who came to abhor his own life! A life that should have been filled with love, friends, fun and adventure and what did he get? He suffers! He suffers more than anyone in a village that he calls home, not because he wants to, but because he has to! He suffers more than anyone should ever be allowed to suffer and he has to do so alone because he has no one to go to. The few of us who care about him are too busy to spend any meaningful amount of time with him. The clans seemingly don't care about one of their own and the clan heirs ridicule him because he is the dead last in class. The villagers have isolated him from their children and ostracized him. He… Hokage-sama… he is malnourished… extremely so.

"He never told me…" Hiruzen's voice was thick with hurt and sorrow and he felt all his years weighing down on him in this moment.

"Me neither…" Iruka sighed in desperation. "I only know because I carried him here. His puffy jumpsuit hid all the signs way too well. I think… he was afraid, Hiruzen… afraid that if he complained to us we would think of him as a nuisance or some such and stop spending the bit of time we have with him. We should have been better, Hiruzen… No, we need to be better! We reveled in complacency and look where it took us: we forced a child into isolation through no fault of his own to the point he tried to commit suicide just to escape the loneliness! Our ancestors would be ashamed of us." Finally, Iruka's voice failed him. He was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and one could see that with a simple glance.

With a deep breath, Hiruzen rose to his feet and a moment later his tears dried up. None of them had noticed when he had fallen to his knees and neither of them cared. With a nod to the scarred Chunin the last traces of sorrow vanished from the Sandaime's face, replaced by a deep scowl that both deepened the wrinkles on his face and made him look twenty years younger simultaneously. "Neko!"

The named ANBU appeared in the typical kneeling position that was to be assumed when taking orders from a Kage. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want a team of six ANBU guarding Naruto Uzumaki for the foreseeable future. At least four are to be around him at any time of the day. If anyone wants to see him, they are to send them to me. If anyone tries to force their way inside or seems in any way suspicious to them I want them to remove their head and send it to T/I for later examination. If I hear about or see any of them slacking off, they will pull double shifts until his graduation day. Am I understood?" The commanding voice of the Hokage sent shivers through the spine of anyone present.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" And with a swift Shunshin, Neko was gone.

"Tora!" This time, an ANBU with an ANBU-style tiger mask appeared in kneeling position, but this time Hiruzen didn't wait to be acknowledged. "Find Ryu and tell her to meet me in my office. Remind her to bring the 'last gift'. Afterwards you are to inform all council members of an emergency meeting taking place in two hours time!" He had been stagnant for too long. People only seemed to remember him as 'The Professor' anymore. Time to remind them why the Five Elemental Nations used to call him the 'Kami no Shinobi'.

Mebuki Haruno had been working for Konoha General for barely two years before she met her future husband Kizashi when a mission had gone wrong. She was the nurse assigned to his room and almost fell over laughing when she saw his bubblegum pink hair upon entering. Not the best start into a relationship she would admit later on but when you hear that a mission has gone south and you're assigned, one would usually expect something like debilitating wounds, maybe a missing limb or two, not a pouting, bubblegum-haired fifteen-years-old Genin who had pulled a muscle. However, after telling said Genin that the shade of pink of his hair was actually quite cute on a guy, she had a blushing, pouting mess on her hands that made her want to tie the teen up and take him home, telling her mother "Look what I found at work today, can I keep him please?". She was seventeen at the time, sue her. Two years later he proposed after learning of her pregnancy. Not that he had needed any motivation, that just gave him a viable excuse for her father, who never quite managed to become friends with the idea that his grandchildren would possibly walk around with pink hair, a hue he sentenced as vile and unnatural. She accepted his proposal under the condition he would resign from the service and never did she thank Kami more than approximately three months later when he didn't have to join the other Chunin and Jonin in their fight against the Kyuubi. Five months later she gave birth to a healthy baby girl but sadly there were complications which resulted in her no longer being able to have another baby. That had been almost twelve years ago from then and still she sometimes wished she would have been able to have one more child.

Not that any of those thoughts were going through the head of the crying, quivering mess who had sunken to the ground around the corner of the reserved operation room. She wasn't exactly allowed there, but as she had never shown any direct animosity towards the young Jinchu… Naruto, she wasn't exactly banned from going there either and when the Hokage just rushed past everyone her curiosity had taken over. And now she wished it hadn't. She knew Naruto wasn't a weakened Kyuubi or its reincarnation, her husband had made sure of that, but she was wary. She didn't know anything about Fuinjutsu and therefore tried to come to terms with it in her own way. In the end she came to the conclusion that two beings bound together had to have some kind of connection.

She had seen the seven-years-old Naruto save her Sakura from Ami and her little gang, something no one had ever done for her daughter except herself and her husband. But instead of thanking the young boy for his kindness and courage, she had simply pulled her daughter away from him without losing a word and later on telling Sakura that she shouldn't associate herself with him. She had been afraid that the demon fox would influence the boy in some way and harm the only child she would ever have.

And now she would have to live with the knowledge that she had basically helped push a child the same age as her own little treasure to try and take his own life. How would history have turned out if she had instead encouraged her daughter to make a new friend? Kami knew Sakura had needed one as much as he. She might have gotten over her insecurities and would have learned to stand up for herself. And he… Sakura could have been the first of many friends: Ino would have surely followed and practically dragged Shikamaru and Choji with her. After a while, other children would have followed and slowly but surely the adults would have seen that he was a child just as any other. He might have even gotten adopted into a loving family.

Instead here he was, fighting for… no. He wasn't fighting to stay alive. She and every other civilian in this village had made damn sure that he didn't have anything worth fighting or staying alive for. Instead it was the doctors in there fighting for his life with him probably wishing for them to stop simply to escape the hell they all had created for him to live in.

Who would tell an eight-years-old orphan that his parents never loved him and that they basically used the biggest catastrophe in the history of Konoha to get rid of him? Kutsumi Habara, that's who! Her house is two numbers further down from Mebuki's own.

Who would throw a five-years-old child out of the orphanage because she was fed up with him begging her to let him play with the other children? Gerana Tsu. She sees her every Saturday in the supermarket. How many times has she proudly stated that taking care of the children has become so much easier since then, because she didn't have to watch out for 'the blonde menace' trying to mingle with the 'normal' children?

Who would charge a six-year-old child ten times the normal price for an apple, calling it 'demon-tax', while giving her a pound of apples for free not three minutes later so that her 'little angel' would get enough vitamins and stay healthy? Shigure Utatane, the owner of the supermarket she has been buying her groceries from for the last twenty years.

And what kind of heartless monster would associate with all the above without batting an eye while ignoring an obviously hurting child, just because it was easier? That was her, Dr. Mebuki Haruno, Wife of Kizashi Haruno, mother of Sakura Haruno, and one of many reasons why the boy on that operation table wasn't fighting for his life and instead praying for his life to finally be over.

So deep had she fallen into her self-loathing that she hadn't even noticed when the Sandaime Hokage had arrived in front of her. "Councilwoman Haruno." His stern tone managed to pull her out of those thoughts rather quickly, though. Not that it managed to stem the flood of tears still welling out of her eyes. "I would beseech you not to tell anyone what you have heard here. As you have witnessed, it was quite personal."

Slowly, she pushed herself up against the wall and kept leaning against it once she was standing to stay that way. She wouldn't trust her legs with carrying her whole weight with all the trembling they were doing at the moment. "Of course, Hokage-sama." Her voice was trembling just as much as her legs were and with barely a whisper she added "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama." in a way that made it clear that she didn't mean the eavesdropping.

"I'm not the one you should direct these words to, Haruno-san." Slowly Mebuki lifted her head and saw the battle-hardened expression on his face soften almost imperceptibly. "Let's hope you get the chance." With that, he walked past her as she dipped her head in both acknowledgment and shame. But apparently Hiruzen wasn't done with her yet, as he halted once again, this time without looking at her. "And may I suggest you ask your husband to attend the emergency meeting in your stead? It will be very taxing and I am sure you have had more than enough taxing revelations for one day."

Her legs finally stable enough to carry her weight, Mebuki pushed herself off of the wall and bowed down as far as she trusted herself to be able to do right now without planting her face on the floor. "Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Hokage-sama. Would it be too much trouble to beseech you to send one of your ANBU to notify him of my decision along with my thanks and apologies to my daughter? He took her out to see the festival and I don't want her to walk the streets alone at night. Not after… what already happened tonight."

Hiruzen seemed to contemplate her request for a moment before given her a short nod. " Taka." Just like Neko and Tora before them, Taka appeared kneeling before the Hokage. "You heard her request?" A sharp nod was his answer. "Please notify her husband and daughter of our decisions. I think I will survive the next five minutes with one ANBU guard." Another sharp nod and Taka was gone. "Let us hope that the next time we meet will be under more pleasant circumstances, Haruno-san. I wish you a restful night." And with that, he left at a moderate pace. Apparently he had a lot to think about if he didn't immediately Shunshin towards the Hokage Tower.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked on solemnly as he watched the council chamber slowly fill one by one from his seat at the head desk of the chamber. He had to say, he was thankful that none of the ninja clan heads seemed to know what this meeting was about. While not all of them showed it on their faces, their body language spoke volumes. Even Hiashi Hyuuga was no exception. Hiruzen had to fight down an oncoming snort. "All-seeing-eyes. Sure." For the civilian side of the council however, Hiruzen had to school his facial expressions to not immediately snarl and give away his hand. Almost half of the civilian council didn't even bother to hide the glee on their faces. And then there came Danzo Shimura. The rhythmical tapping of his cane just a tad bit faster than usual, his shoulders held that tiny bit higher and the one visible brow on his carefully crafted neutral expression just that iota more relaxed: The bastard was basically grinning from ear to ear. With a heavy sigh, Hiruzen dipped his head low to hide his oncoming scowl and to give himself time to place the mask of the sorrowful grandfather back on his face.

Once all council members including his advisers were seated, the doors of the chamber fell into lock with a heavy thud that resounded from the walls. The privacy and locking seals flashed up shortly, notifying everyone of their activation. Nothing short of a Bijudama would be able to break through those doors until they were opened from the inside of the room.

"Hiruzen, may I inquire why you called for this meeting?" Leave it to Homura Mitokado to sound condescending while trying to undermine the authority of the Hokage and the hierarchy of the Village hidden in the Leaves.

The Sandaime Hokage closed his eyes in an attempt to stem his irritation. "Patience, Hiruzen. It's not much longer." When his eyes opened again he looked all the parts of an elderly leader whose responsibilities were growing too much for him. "About three hours ago, Naruto Uzumaki was attacked by yet unknown assailants and is currently fighting for his life in one of the hospital's operation rooms."

It didn't even take a full minute before pandemonium broke loose on the civilian side of the council with furious shouts ranging from "The Demon is still alive?!" to "Stop wasting medical supplies on that thing!".

It took the Sandaime almost three minutes to instill even a modicum of order back into the council chamber but before he could say anything more, he was interrupted again. "I told you so years ago."

The Hokage's eyes wandered to his right, where the overly bandaged member of the elder council sat, measuring him with an emotionless stare. "Danzo?" A speck of hope popped up in his heart.

"Had you heeded my advice and let me take the Jinchuriki under my command, he wouldn't be in this situation and we would have a weapon ready to rip apart our enemies!" It was interesting to hear how much passion reverberated in the elder's voice without any of it showing on his face.

With a sigh, Hiruzen sank further back into his seat and closed his eyes. "You're right, Danzo. You did tell me so years ago." The slightest sign of a smirk could be seen on the cripple's face. "And thank you, Ryu." A bout of confusion rolled through the room, before all eyes landed on the ANBU commander stepping out of the shadows behind the Sandaime, her stylized dragon mask seemingly grinning in anticipation.

More confused looks were exchanged until the focus shifted to a still but obviously struggling Danzo, whose visible eye was darting around in panic and desperation. "Hiruzen, what have you done!?" was the startled and furious exclamation of one Koharu Utatane.

But when the Sandaime rose from his chair, the caring and peace-loving 'Professor' was gone. There, to the awe of some and the fear of many, stood Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage and Kami no Shinobi, without saying a word. Instead he waited until the tension in the room had risen to an all-time high before he turned towards Ryu who handed him a shining and well-cared-for katana. And with a single flick of his wrist he severed Danzo's head from his shoulders. No one said a word, with some of the civilians sweating out of fear. Danzo had been one of their biggest supporters and without him, many of their shadier dealings would either suffer or soon become known to people who they would have rather kept in blissful ignorance.

With another flick of the Hokage's wrist, not one drop of blood remained on the sword, which he handed back to its owner afterwards and with a satisfied smile on his face he sat down again while two ANBU sealed the corpse and head in two different scrolls. "To explain: I used one of the last Seals created by the late Minato Namikaze to seal off his chakra and body movements."

"That was murder, Hiruzen!" But the screamed protest of Homura was drowned in a wave of killing intent that those who were old enough remembered only all too well from the third Great Ninja War.

"I am the Sandaime Hokage and you will refer to me as such, Mitokado!" With a deep breath, Hiruzen Sarutobi let his KI subside before glaring at him and Koharu. "And it seems that you all needed a reminder of the law I laid down on this very day twelve years ago: 'The information of who the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki is, is an S-Class secret and all matters concerning the status of said individual are not to be discussed in any form. Doing so is punishable by execution.' Danzo served as that reminder and simultaneously paid for a rather steep list of crimes including the instigation of a lynch mob on a twelve-years-old boy and the complete disregard of a direct command of the Hokage. Are you happy with that explanation?"

The Kami no Shinobi let his gaze wander across the chamber and quietly enjoyed the scared and disconcerted expressions on most of the civilian council's faces. "Good. Now, as I am without a doubt the most knowledgeable person concerning Fuinjutsu in this room, let me tell you all a little story: Once upon a time, Konoha faced the greatest threat in all the Elemental Nations, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Our beloved Yondaime Hokage fought against it valiantly, only to realize that he is fighting against a force no one but maybe Hashirama Senju would be able to destroy. And so, with his unfathomable abilities in the Sealing Arts, he chose an innocent child, a baby, born not even an hour before, to seal away the walking catastrophe that was trying to destroy our home, saving us all in the process. Now, I know many a family was torn apart that fateful day twelve years ago…" Hiruzen waited a few moments, taking a deep breath, and then scowled the civilian council into submission. "… BUT WHO THOUGHT KILLING THE ONE PERSON KEEPING THE EQUIVALENT OF A NATURAL DISASTER LOCKED AWAY WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA?!"

Either the Sandaime should have used a bit of KI at the end of his speech, or some people are simply too stupid for their own good, because a rather heavy set member of the civilian council actually rose from his seat with a mixed expression of self-righteousness and indignation. "The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi away so we could finish what he couldn't: Kill the demon! Why else would he have chosen an orphan to house the Kyuubi instead of someone like Uchiha-sama who could have used its power to bring Konoha to new heights of power and wealth?"

In any other situation, the Sandaime would have had a rather gobsmacked expression on his face, but in this case the stupidity of what the fat pig, that called itself human, spouted was so revolting, he was lacking words to describe it. "And whose expertise did you take into account to come to that conclusion?" Hiruzen's voice alone was a promise of pain and retribution. "The reason the Yondaime used Naruto was because he was the only newborn that day with no chakra coils to speak of. Sasuke Uchiha was almost three months old back then, his chakra coils developing already, and sealing the Kyuubi inside him would have resulted in a most cruel and agonizing death." Sarutobi took the horrified expression of the civilian council and his remaining two advisers in with a great deal of satisfaction. "As for killing the Kyuubi: You would be correct in that regard. If Naruto dies, so does the Kyuubi." Another idiot jumped up and started screaming about the righteousness of their cause. With a wave of Hiruzen's hand, both Taka and Tora appeared right behind his chair, standing at attention and awaiting his command. "Take councilmen Akataka and Yurogiri to Ibiki Morino for disregarding the Hokage's orders and reminders over and over again. Tell Ibiki he has free reign."

The fear in the room was palpable but the reigning silence was broken once both men in question were restrained and protesting loudly. "You can't do this! We're members of the civilian council! You have no authority over us!" A chop to the neck later and silence was again prevalent in the room.

"The full title of these councils are Shinobi & Civilian Advisory Councils." The glare Hiruzen directed especially towards the civilian side of the room ensured their silence. "You all live inside the walls of Konoha, a Shinobi village. You don't have any power the Hokage doesn't give you and the last time I checked the title of Hokage still belonged to me."

He waited a moment longer until his ANBU had left the room with the ex-councilmen and the door closed behind them, leaving the rest of the council members at his mercy again. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes. The fact that when Naruto dies, the Kyuubi does as well. Not exactly a wrong motion, only terribly misinformed." A deep sigh escaped his throat as he reveled in the feeling of scolding the people that made his honorary grandson's life a living hell. "Who of you can tell me what happens if a Biju dies?"

Silence.

"No one? I thought so. Now listen here, and listen closely because your lives depend on if I finally manage to get through those unbelievably thick skulls of yours!" The last part, the Sandaime basically growled. "If a Biju dies, their chakra disperses and they vanish, only to appear somewhere in the world a few years later. Now, I cannot say how long it would take for the Kyuubi to re-form again, because it has never, not even once in human records, been defeated other than by sealing away. But you can be sure of one thing: It would be back eventually and this time we wouldn't have a Fuinjutsu-Master to save our sorry hides." Silence prevailed again and for the first time in many years, Hiruzen saw a few of the council members deep in thought. "Pray that Naruto survives this day, because if he doesn't there won't be any fines to pay. I will discover who participated in the attack today, both assailants and instigators, and if the doesn't pull through, I will personally kill everyone involved before the Kyuubi even gets a chance."

With one last glare in the direction of the civilians, Hiruzen moved his gaze towards the Shinobi Council where its weight pushed down upon their shoulders. "The civilians and the elders may leave." That was the first sentence in over half an hour, the civilian councilors were happy to hear and most of them couldn't follow his command fast enough, though both Homura and Koharu looked rather indignant while doing so. "Now… " Hiruzen left his chair and moved down the small flight of stairs to stand in front of the Shinobi Council. "Who of you knows or at least suspects who the boys parents were?" Slowly, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Shibi Aburame rose from their seats, shortly followed by Tsume Inuzuka and Hiashi Hyuuga.

With a nod from Hiruzen the named clan heads sat down again. "Fine. Now tell me what are your excuses for never offering any help to a boy who had to carry a burden that should never have been his in the first place?" There was about to be a storm of words, but the Hokage stopped that in its tracks by simply lifting his hand. "And I am not talking about adoption. As he is listed as a civilian orphan, there was nothing any of us could have done to counteract their hatred in that regard. I am talking about simple things: Buying him sweets now and again, giving him a small gift for his birthday, helping him learn the things he has difficulties with at the academy, spending some of your time with him, talking to him… a heartfelt greeting when meeting him on the streets would have already been something. You could have at least introduced him to your children!" Bit for bit, the rage in his voice died down and made space for some of the sorrow he had locked away prior to the meeting. "I lied, you know. He isn't fighting for his life."

That comment stopped every and all excuses the clan heads had prepared and they were silently watching the Hokage, trying to understand what their leader had just said. Finally, it was Shikaku who asked the question that was prevalent in all their heads. "Are you saying that..."

"No, no. Naruto is in critical condition but still alive and the doctors are doing their damned best to keep him that way. But…" Hiruzen took a deep breath to steady his voice. And while he was standing upright and his face set in a stoic expression, he couldn't keep his tears from flowing once more. "Tell me: How would you react if your child asked you if they were finally allowed to die?"

A shocked and stunned silence was his answer in case of Hiashi Hyuuga, while most of the other clan heads looked at Hiruzen with haunted horror in their eyes. Hiruzen nodded again. "While Naruto was in fact attacked and almost killed by a mob of villagers, Iruka Umino and I came to the conclusion that it was Naruto who sought the mob out in hope of escaping his personal hell we call our home. We starved that young and innocent boy of basically everything that makes us glad to be alive and left him with the worst humanity has to offer: Hatred, contempt, loneliness, isolation. So, no: He most certainly is not fighting for his life."

A sad smile appeared on the old man's face. "If his mother was here in this moment, she would want to slaughter the entirety of Konoha's civilian population and most of the ninja clans. And do you know what the most tragic thing about that would be?" His teary eyes gazed over the clan heads and he was thankful that he saw tears in most of their eyes. Even Hiashi's eyes were slightly misty. "The most tragic thing about that would be that I would have the privilege to see and speak to one of the finest women to ever live for one final time and wouldn't be able to name even one reason why she shouldn't do exactly that. Because we would deserve it. Because we managed to push her son, the son she gave up her own life for, so far that he hates nothing more than to be alive… Now please excuse me… I have certain things to prepare, in case a twelve year old boy does not survive the next few hours." With that, Hiruzen turned on the spot and walked towards the doors which opened and this time stayed that way. The meeting was officially over.

Slowly, Shikaku and the other clan heads rose to their feet to leave and get back to their families. Funny enough, it was Hiashi who halted at that thought. "He never wanted to hear our excuses or justifications. He simply wanted us to know what our inaction has caused."With a frustrated growl, Hiashi clenched his teeth and his Byakugan reacted to his anger. "Damn the clan elders! I will not break my last promise to Hitomi, just because those arrogant fossils think the world should bow to their every whim and desire!" With a determination he hadn't felt in almost eight years, Hiashi left the council chamber: He had elders to deal with and daughters to beg for forgiveness.

Sakura was miffed. The day before had decidedly not been her favorite Day of the Fox of her life. It wasn't just that Naruto, Naruto of all people, managed to make her feel like the worst scum in the world, or that shy and silent Hinata chose that day to grow a spine and publicly humiliate her. No, that was just the start. She was just enjoying the festival when an ANBU appeared out of nowhere and told her father that he had to attend a council meeting because her mother was indisposed. She didn't know exactly what her mother understood under the term 'indisposed' but it couldn't have been anything too aggravating because when she came home she saw her sitting in her favorite recliner with a glass of wine in her hand. There had been an uncomfortable silence until her mother asked her how her day had been. Sakura hadn't been able to shake of the feeling her mother knew, or at least had an inkling of, what happened because when she omitted the part where she basically told Naruto that he would be alone his entire life, there was an expression of equal parts disappointment and regret in her eyes. After that she just took another sip of wine, closed her eyes and leaned back into her recliner. After that: Nothing. She didn't get any explanation of what was going on or why she wasn't allowed to attend the rest of the festival.

Sakura halted for a second when she heard a whispered conversation of how 'they finally got the demon' and 'good riddance' but didn't pay it anymore attention in her agitated state. And then… then there had been her nightmare…

She was happy. She had achieved everything she had ever dreamed of. Once puberty had hit her in full force, she had filled out nicely and while she wasn't as big as her mother in her chest area, she was content with what she had. Sasuke had also proposed to her once he, with her help of course, had managed to overcome his hatred for his brother and his depression over losing his entire clan. She had even managed to rekindle her friendship with Ino once it was obvious that Sasuke was off the market. She was a kick-ass kunoichi, the best of her entire generation in fact, and the best news of all: She was pregnant with the combination of hers and Sasuke's love. Life was good. No, it was better than good. It was perfect. So why was there that small voice in the back of her head that constantly told her, she was forgetting something? No, not something… someone. The creaking of a seesaw reached her ears. When had she arrived at the playground she used to go to as a child? She looked around and was taken aback a bit. Everything seemed so… gray.

There! There was that creaking sound again!

It didn't take her long to find the single speck of color in this gray world. There he was, a boy, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, trying to ride a seesaw… alone. She knew the boy. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember his name. And why did she feel so ashamed of herself for forgetting someone so… bright… kind… inspiring. He had been the reason she was so confident in herself! Without him… she shuddered at the thought. How had she been able to forget someone like him?

She was just a few steps away from him when he finally gave up and turned towards her. "Hey, Sakura-chan."

She was frozen in place. He had never sounded so meek, so vulnerable, so defeated. Naruto wasn't like that! Naruto was… "… Naruto?"

The blonde boy gave her a small smile and a nod in affirmation but something wasn't right! It had been almost fifteen years since the last time she saw him and… fifteen years? Why hadn't she seen him for almost fifteen years? No matter. He… he looked the same. The same way he looked the last time she saw him. He was a boy. Why didn't he grow up? Why… "Are you happy, Sakura-chan?"

This simple question threw her for a loop. Was she happy? Of course she was happy! She had everything she ever wanted in life! She had a career, friends, a loving family. She was going to be a mother! How could she not be happy? But there was this voice again, telling her that something was wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong. "Naruto… why haven't you grown up?"

At first there was a small expression of shock on his face until it made way to sadness and resignation. It was this look in his eyes, the one she had seen in his eyes all those years ago, that made her dread his answer. But he didn't say anything. Instead he pulled his right sleeve up to show her his arm. She fell to her knees upon see the deep cut along his wrist and tears ran down her cheeks. "Naruto… why?"

"I had been alone for all twelve years of my life. The thought of spending twelve more alone was too much..." He looked her in the eyes and the sadness etched into them was suffocating.

It was too much. She grabbed Naruto and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "I'm sorry, Naruto! I'm so, so sorry!"

But Naruto didn't react. He neither pulled away from her embrace, nor did he reciprocate the hug. He just stood there, motionless. "I never wanted an apology. I never even asked for love. All I ever wanted was a friend. One friend who would make all the pain bearable. But you were right, Sakura-chan: Who in their right mind would want to spend their time with me?"

And then he vanished along with the playground and Konoha. She was alone, isolated in complete darkness, and she knew she didn't deserve any better.

Sakura was shocked when she realized that she was sitting in her seat in her classroom. "I must have walked here on autopilot."

She was even more shocked when Ino was looking at her with what looked like genuine concern. "You alright, Sakura? You were spacing out there."

"No '-chan', huh?" When she remembered how she had treated one of the only people who still used that affectionate suffix with her name she felt even worse than before. She sighed and looked Ino straight in the eyes when she answered. "Not really, but there is nothing you can do to help. Still… thanks for asking, Ino." Sakura even managed a small smile to the bafflement of everyone who witnessed their verbal exchange. Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka were conversing without screaming and insulting each other? What would be next? The two of them stop fighting over Sasuke's non-existing affection? Ino, though a bit surprised as well, returned the smile and let the subject lie.

With that unexpected issue out of the way, Sakura started to look around the classroom, scanning for the other blonde of their generation only to come to the conclusion that he wasn't there yet. "Guess he's running late again..." She couldn't deny that even her thoughts sounded desperate. She needed to see him, talk to him. She needed to apologize! She… All her thoughts came to a halt when the door opened and a clearly sleep-deprived Iruka entered the room. "No…"

"Iruka-sensei, what the hell happened to you!?" Kiba Inuzuka was many things: A loudmouth, a braggart, a self-proclaimed alpha male. But subtle, he was not.

"Nothing." The monotone answer and the slight cough preceding said answer did nothing to elevate Sakura's fears.

"A-Ano… I-Iruka-sensei…" The only reason Hinata's stuttering wasn't drowned by the usual background noise of the class was because there was no background noise. The children were still too stunned by the disheveled appearance of their usually impeccable teacher. Iruka's exhausted eyes slowly moved to the blue-haired girl at the back of the room. "W-where is N-Naruto-kun?"

After a shuddering intake of air and a succeeding sigh, Iruka leaned against his desk, seemingly contemplating his answer while staring at his feet. Then his eyes wandered upwards, only stopping for a single moment when they glanced over Sakura, and when they reached Hinata he simply answered: "He's in the hospital."

Before anybody could even wonder what Naruto had done this time to end up there, Sakura had bolted out of her seat, almost unhinged the door when she threw it open, and raced out of the classroom with Hinata hot on her heels.

It was a heavily breathing Sakura and a barely winded Hinata that barreled through the entrance of Konoha General and almost smashed into the receptionist's desk. Not that they seemed to care much about that at the moment. Instead, they bombarded the receptionist, a woman in her late twenties to early thirties with light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, with a mixture of panicked questions and hysteric pleading.

It took the woman quite a few tries before she finally had enough and silenced the two girls with a "YOUNG LADIES!" She took a breath and sat back down on her chair. "Now…" A smile that didn't reach her eyes appeared back on the receptionists face before she continued. "… how can I help you? Has there been an accident?"

A double-voiced "What room is Naruto Uzumaki in?" was the girls' answer.

Her whole friendly facade vanished upon the question and the receptionist looked like she had bitten into something exceedingly sour. "Why would you want to know something like that?"

Both Sakura and Hinata were shocked at that rapid change in demeanor and frowned in confusion. They exchanged a gaze, lavender meeting emerald, and held a silent conversation after which Sakura stepped forward and Hinata took a step back. "He is our classmate. Why do we need a reason to visit him?" The annoyance in her voice was plain to hear and Hinata was, for the first time, glad that Sakura was there with her. She knew she wouldn't have the confidence to talk like that to anyone.

"Trust me, you really don't want to associate with that d… boy." It was creepy how this woman could go from polite to unfriendly to sickly sweet and condescending. "Now please stop bothering me. I have a job to do."

Hinata and Sakura were speechless. Well… more so Hinata. Sakura was about to respond with a few choice words before a familiar voice spoke up. "So why aren't you doing it, Kumazu-san?" The girls and the receptionist turned towards the hall the voice came from to see Mebuki Haruno in her doctor's robe walking towards them. "If I am not mistaken, you are here to process new patients and direct visitors to said patients. So please tell me, why aren't you answering their question?" Her voice was perfectly neutral, but you could see the fire in her eyes.

The girls turned back to the receptionist when they heard her gnashing her teeth. "I am not allowed to tell them the room number of the patient, seeing as they have no relation to the patient."

"Interesting..." This time a bit of contempt found its way into Mebuki's voice. "Tell me: Are Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara related?" Mebuki crossed her arms as she finally reached the receptionist's desk.

"What does that have to do with anything right now?" The irritation was plain to hear for anyone listening.

"Because you had no qualms breaking your so-called 'rule' when Akimichi-san was admitted here last week due to overeating and Nara-san came to visit." During the back-and-forth Hinata and Sakura had shifted their gazes like following the ball in a ping pong game but their trance was broken once Mebuki took each of them by the hand. "Come, I'll take you to him."

That simple statement caused the receptionist to sputter in surprise. "You would let your own daughter interact with the demon?!" Her voice was filled with incredulity and indignation.

But when Mebuki looked her in the eyes again, she retreated back into her seat and leaned back as far as possible. The cold fury in her usually warm, green eyes was frightening. "Kumazu-san, I lack the words to express how disgusted I am, not just with you but with the entirety of this village, me included, but you should really watch your mouth." Mebuki started moving and dragged the girls with her, only to stop a few steps later and turning back towards the other woman. "After all, you wouldn't want Hokage-sama to know that you slipped up in front of two academy students, would you?" The receptionist blanched rapidly and the last Sakura saw of her was her looking around frantically before they took a turn and a wall obstructed her view.

"… Mom?" They had been walking for over two minutes before Sakura was able to find her voice again. "Why did she call Naruto a demon?"

Mebuki slowed her walking pace but she didn't look at either of the girls. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, but I am not allowed to talk about that."

Sakura's eyes went wide before she turned towards Hinata who returned her look of confusion and befuddlement. "What do you mean 'you are not allowed'? Why would you not be allowed to talk about him?" Again, her mother did not look at her and instead led them around another corner, where they saw a door guarded by two ANBU at the end of the hall.

Once there, Mebuki let go of the girls' hands and bowed politely. "Neko-san."

The ANBU with the cat mask gave her a short nod. "Haruno-san."

"My daughter and Hinata Hyuuga wish to see Naruto Uzumaki."

Neko nodded again and moved next to Mebuki to look at the girls. "Hokage-sama has decreed that anyone who wants to visit Naruto has to be approved by him personally." Sakura and Hinata were only able to stare in surprise at the ANBU. What had happened to justify that much security? "Do you wish me to take you to him or do want to walk there by yourselves?"

"H-Hai!" All eyes were on Hinata who had clasped her hands in front of her and bowed as deep as she could. "P-please t-take me to H-hokage-sama!"

It took Sakura a few seconds to reconnect the synapses in her brain over the fact that Hinata had almost screamed her agreement but once she processed the question she bowed as well and surprised everyone with a subdued "Please...".

Neko nodded and stood between the two girls but before they vanished, Mebuki knelt down and hugged her daughter. "Whatever you come to know today, please know that I love you and that I am sorry."

"Mom?" But before she or Mebuki could say anything else, Neko, Hinata and Sakura vanished in the typical fashion of the Shunshin.

A heavy sigh escaped Hiruzen as he regarded the mountains of paperwork on his desk. "Just another one on the endless list of reasons why Naruto had to suffer so much." His gaze wandered and once it reached the windows behind his desk it fell on the white building in the distance where Naruto was lying. He had been absolutely elated once the head surgeon had told him that his not-really-grandson would survive with almost no physical handicaps. Well… almost can make one hell of a difference. Just like Iruka had said, he had lost his left eye. Hiruzen lifted the folder in his hands so that it obstructed his view and the expression of rage and disgust was quickly squashed by a desperate flicker of hope. Maybe there could result something good from this whole ordeal? "I will ask him if he wants one of Danzo's Sharingan as a replacement for his lost one."

At that thought, he faltered. What should he tell him? Should he tell him that the Yondaime Hokage, the one person Naruto idolizes above all else, sealed the Kyuubi inside him to save the same people that tormented Naruto all his life? Should he tell him that the Yondaime was his father? A father he never would get to meet because he had sealed the greatest menace known to the Elemental Nations into his own son? Should he tell him that he housed the very thing that killed his parents?

"How would I even start? 'Hello, Naruto. I know your life has been horrible and most of that is my fault, but please don't try to kill yourself again.'? Or maybe 'Hello, Naruto. I'm sorry that you lost your eye. Would you forgive me faster if I gave you a really useful replacement?'? How about 'Hello, Naruto. Would you like me to personally train you so you can one day risk your life to protect the same people who have hated you all your life due to no fault of your own?'?" Hiruzen sobbed at the thought. Did Naruto even want to be Hokage? Or did he just say that to amuse him or to make him proud of him? Did he actually like ramen or was it just the only thing he got to eat short of salvaging food out of dumpsters? What did he even know about the person he saw as his own grandson?

A knock on the door brought Hiruzen out of his musings and he turned his chair around before straightening his back. "Enter."

The door to his office opened and he saw Neko lead Hinata Hyuuga and, to Hiruzen's surprise, Sakura Haruno in front of his desk. "Hinata Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno wished to visit Naruto Uzumaki." And with a nod of her Kage, Neko vanished again in a small cloud of smoke.

Patiently, Hiruzen studied the two girls in front of him in the silence of his office. One, a nervous clan heiress with self doubts and confidence issues who, despite that, decided to forgo all that to check up on a boy she barely knew. The other, a fan-girl with serious self-worth issues who is susceptible to peer pressure and to some degree responsible… Hiruzen stopped that thought right in its track. "I can't fault her for a situation that has been twelve years in the making. She was just the catalyst..."

"Why do people call Naruto a demon?"

Hiruzen looked at Sakura surprised. And he wasn't the only one: Hinata and surprisingly Sakura herself seemed just as surprised by her question as he was. "How am I supposed to answer that? Another lie, just for them to lose faith in me once they find out about it? Another lie of omission? 'I am sorry, but that is a secret? Or..."

Sakura didn't know why she had asked that. She wanted to know what had happened to Naruto, why no one was allowed to see him, if he tried to… But instead she had asked this. Why?

With a sigh from the Hokage she lifted her eyes off of her feet and looked at the aged man. "Can you tell me when Sasuke-kun's birthday is?"

"Twenty-third of July." The answer had left her mouth before she had any time to think about the question.

With a nod the Hokage continued. "And Ino-chan's?"

Now, Sakura hesitated a bit. That question simply brought way too many happy and conflicting memories to the front of her mind. "Twenty-third of September."

Another nod and another question, this time with a hand gesture towards Hinata. "How about Hinata-chan?"

This time she frowned, both in confusion about these questions and in an effort to remember. "Twenty-seventh of December?" She sounded far less sure now.

With a small smile adorning his face, the Sandaime nodded a third time and leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh. "And how about Naruto-kun?" All traces of the smile were gone with this question. All that showed on the old man's face was regret now.

And Sakura came up short. She didn't know. She prided herself over her knowledge and remembered basically everything she got her eyes on. She didn't have an eidetic memory but her parents liked to joke about her steel trap of a mind. "I… I don't know. I'm… not his… friend."

Another sigh and this time the girls could see a tear run down his face. "Are you friends with Hinata-chan?"

"I…" Sakura looked to her left where Hinata stood, almost forgotten by her and seemingly ignored in their little game of question and answer, but she didn't seem to mind and instead returned the look Sakura gave her with a silent question of her own. "Not really… no."

Hinata didn't seem either hurt or surprised by her answer which, in turn, hurt and surprised Sakura more than she thought it would. "Then how come you know her birthday? Did she tell you? Did she invite you to a celebration?"

"I…" Sakura stopped again. It was both embarrassing and a point of pride of her. "I am rather observant. I try to take in every detail I can come across and on her… birthday… when she opens her bento she always has a bright smile on her face. I thought… maybe someone she cares about put something she really likes in it every year on her birthday."

The Hokage and even Hinata looked impressed at that admission and Sakura allowed herself a small but proud smile. But that vanished just as fast as it had appeared with the next question. "And what do you know about Naruto-kun?"

"He…"

But before she could really start, the Hokage stopped her with a hand gesture of his. "And I am talking about what you know. Not what the villagers say, not what the rumors claim. I want to hear what you know about Naruto Uzumaki."

"He is…" But Sakura stopped. "… an idiot."

"He likes…" She stopped again. "… ramen and pranking?"

"He wants…" This time she faltered. "… to be Hokage? Does he? Really?"

She shuddered at the memory of the empty, defeated look he gave her the day before. "He is… always alone. In class the teachers and we students either ridicule or ignore him. I have seen him get thrown out by teachers for reasons like 'disturbing the class' when he was doing nothing only for us to be told about stuff we need to know for the exams afterwards. He likes..."

Sakura took a deep breath before continuing. "He says his favorite food is ramen but sometimes… he sometimes had a look on his face when he saw us take out our bentos as if having one of those was the greatest wish of his life. He… I haven't seen him during recess for more than three years since the last time I saw that look on his face." Had she looked up at that moment she would have seen the hands of the Hokage trembling. He seemed to restrict himself from lashing out at something but out of anger or sadness, he himself wouldn't have been able to tell. Probably a mixture of the both. But she did not look up and therefore did not notice what kind of effect her words were having on the aged man. Hinata did though.

"Naruto wants…" But this time her voice betrayed her. She was once more reminded of her nightmare and couldn't help but voice his words out loud. "All he ever wanted was a friend. One friend, who would make all the pain bearable… He is lonely… I don't think there is even one person that he can call a friend and…"

Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees as the scene of her nightmare evoked another memory. One much older, a living nightmare that had, for one short moment, turned into a dream come true: He had saved her. He had seen Ami and the others harass her and had stopped them. He had complimented her and helped her up from the ground and his smile had been so radiant. And then her mother had taken her by her hand and pulled her away and told her not to go near that boy.

"He… he saved me. I was being bullied and he saved me." Her tears were now streaming out of her eyes and obstructed her view as she stared at the floor. Her sobbing was too heavy for her to hear the light gasp originating from Hinata at that revelation. "And I…" Sakura coughed. "And I have beaten and ridiculed him again and again because… because it was easier..." Her voice was only a whisper between her soft sobs.

With a heavy sigh, Hiruzen rose out of his chair, walked around his desk and helped Sakura with tender care towards the couch opposite of the portraits of the Hokage and the private collection of books and scrolls of the Hokage.

"A-ano, H-Hokage-sama..." The Sandaime turned around to look at Hinata who was fiddling nervously with her fingers while her eyes were steadily directed at the floor. "W-what does a-all this have to do with H-Haruno-san's question?"

In a moment of forced bravery, Hinata chanced a glance at the village leader, only to see an expression on his face she would never had associated with a man so powerful: Uncertainty. So shocked was she, she even forgot to avert her eyes which resulted in her seeing another emotion, this time resignation, flicker over his face. With a sigh, the old man sat down next to Sakura and patted the couch to his left, motioning Hinata to sit down as well, before he took off his hat and placed it on his lap. "Naruto-kun's birthday is the tenth of October." Another sigh escaped his throat breaking the confused silence. "He turned twelve yesterday." This time, the gasp that came from his right told him that Sakura had at least made some kind of connection. "What are your thoughts about this, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's thoughts were running a mile a minute, coming up with dozens of small remarks she had heard that mixed with what she knew and formed into one scenario that explained all of them. "He is the reincarnation of the Kyuubi no Kitsune…"

Another shocked gasp was heard in the otherwise silent office before the Hokage let out a contemplating hum and stood again, which confused Sakura again. If her conclusion had been right, the Sandaime would have said so, therefore she had to be wrong. But all the information she had said that she was right: Naruto, being born on the day the Kyuubi had been killed, could very well be its reincarnation. But he didn't act like a demon. He was pretty much the furthest away of being a demon she could imagine. "The village calling him a demon is pretty unfair though. He obviously doesn't remember anything! I mean… if he was a demon..." Again she saw before her so many times she belittled him and beat him up which caused a few more tears to fall. "If he was a demon he would never have let me treat him like that."

"H-Hokage-sama?" Sakura was pulled out of her thoughts by the blue-haired girl sitting next to her. "Is Sakura-san right? Is Naruto-kun the reincarnation of the Kyuubi?"

Both girls saw the Hokage halt in his rummaging through his desk and look at them. "Would it really matter even if he was?" That comment stopped all their silent doubts instantly while the man seemingly found what he was looking for and walked around the table back to them where he remained standing in front of the couch this time. "What can you tell me about the Kyuubi no Kitsune, Hinata-chan?"

"N-Nani?" The surprise of suddenly being asked a question was plain for everyone to see in the room. "A-Ano… it a-attacked twelve years ago. The Y-Yondaime fought against it... a-and d-died killing it."

The Hokage looked at the girls before nodding slowly and walking over towards a katana displayed on the wall next to the double door of his office. "Tell me: How do you kill a being of pure chakra and malice that dwarfs the Hokage Monument in a ratio of three-to-one?"

The girls eyes went wide at that revelation and Sakura had to admit that a bit irrational fear had to be accepted in relation to such a monstrosity. She and Hinata tore their gazes off of the Hokage and looked at each other, shivering simultaneously at the mere thought of the Kyuubi. Therefore, the two didn't see how the Sandaime took the sword from its stand and walked back to them. "Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan…" The both of them turned again and looked in surprise at the Hokage who was now sitting on the floor in front of them, a scroll with a complicated pattern spread out in front of him and with the katana from the display lying at his side. He pointed with a hand at the scroll once he had their attention. "Can you tell me what this is?"

Sakura had to begrudgingly shake her head in the negative. She didn't like when she didn't know something. Contrary to that, Hinata nodded slowly and spoke up after an encouraging look from the old man in front of them. "Ano… i-it's a sealing s-scroll."

With a sigh, the Sandaime nodded and took the katana into his hands to present it to the girls. "This sword was the instrument that took my father's life. It's displayed here in my office to remind me of one simple truth: Life is finite. Even more so in our line of profession." Sakura only stared wide-eyed at the sword in front of them while Hinata only nodded slowly. After that the Hokage put the katana onto the sealing scroll and formed the ram-seal with his hands, causing the sword to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Now back to my question: How does one go about killing the Kyuubi no Kitsune?" While he spoke, the Sandaime closed the scroll again and wound a piece of string around it for theatrical purposes. "The answer is simple: You don't. Now tell me, children:" With a resolute scowl on his face, he presented the scroll to the girls in the same manner he did with the sword before. "Was this scroll used to kill my father?"

Beep…

Beep…

Beep…

The sounds of the machinery was the only thing breaking the silence as three pairs of eyes were locked on the few patches of skin visible on the bandaged face of the boy lying there motionless and covered to his chin with a thick blanket on his bed in the hospital.

One pair was filled with regret, one with tears and disbelief, and one with horror.

"Naru… Naruto… kun…"

"On his seventh birthday a mob of villagers got to him and beat him to a pulp before an ANBU patrol could interfere. After that I had to forbid him from leaving his house on his birthday for his own safety." Tears were now rolling down Hiruzen's cheeks, too. "Of course Naruto, being Naruto, ignored me and sneaked out on his eighth birthday. That time they broke both his arms and his left leg before any ANBU could arrive. I knew I had to do something from preventing him to do something like this again so I offered a compromise: He can go to the academy and..."

Hiruzen coughed dryly before he could continue. "… and 'enjoy' school before he has to go back home and not leave until the next day. I even stationed three ANBU nearby to keep him safe…" His voice wavered and before he could lose control of his legs he moved to the right of Naruto's bed were he sat down in the prepared chair and stared at Naruto's closed, remaining eye. "Other children get to spend their birthday with their family, celebrating and having fun, but he… I never even bothered to think about what I would do to him by imprisoning him in his own home on the one day he should have the privilege to feel like any other child. No… he was safe and that was all that mattered..."

Hinata was crying harder with every word that Hiruzen spoke while Sakura wasn't even listening to him. "No… no, no, no… this can't be Naruto! Naruto is loud and brash and… and… and can't sit still for more than two minutes! This… this can't be true… this… this has to be a prank! Yes, a prank! That's it! I bet he is just waiting to jump us once we've turned our backs! I bet he is even wearing that orange monstrosity under there… but I won't give him the satisfaction, Shannarō!"

Neither Sarutobi nor Hinata noticed when Sakura shifted slightly and grabbed onto the corner of the blanket, but they did notice when she pulled the blanket away from the bed with a resounding "HA!". For a moment, she felt the pleasant feeling of a job well done, after all, she had seen through one of Naruto's stupid pranks! But that feeling stumbled and fell down a dark and endless ravine once her eyes conveyed to her brain what they were seeing: Bandages... so many bandages… And why…? "Why is he so thin?" She felt like her soul was breaking apart piece by piece with every inch of his body she took in. "He is too thin! Why is he so thin!?" Slowly her voice rose from the soft whisper she started in and climbed the decibel ladder in ever greater jumps. "We live in Konoha, one of the richest places in the world! Why does he look like he has been starved his whole life!?"

"Because he has been…" Slowly, Sakura's eyes shifted from Naruto's slim arms to the Sandaime's forlorn face both anger and despair burning in her emerald orbs. The old man was furiously kneading his hands, his eyes fixed on everything and nothing at all. "He never said anything and he never showed it." Finally his eyes locked with Sakura's and her angry retort died in her throat upon seeing the heavy guilt and sorrow in his hazel eyes. "Or maybe he did show it, hoping against hope that we finally notice that something is wrong, but we ignored it because, as you said Sakura-chan, it was easier." A shuddered breath left him as he finally let his head sink. "And frankly, I don't know which of the two would be worse."

"He… he never showed it." Sakura almost jumped in surprise before she remembered that Naruto did in fact have three visitors and turned towards Hinata with an unasked question in her eyes. Not that Hinata saw it. She was far too fixed on the sight before her. "He saved me too, you know? I-it was… three years ago? I was being bullied and then he appeared. He s-started shouting at them, tau-taunted them and lead them a-away." Neither of the girls noticed the almost complete absence of Hinata's characteristic stuttering. Only the Sandaime took notice and filed that thought away for further contemplation at a later date. "But I… I wanted too thank h-him. So many times did I follow him after the academy to talk to him, to th-thank him… I wanted to be his f-friend!" A few heavy sobs disrupted her story and shook her body. She was fighting with her insecurities and cowardice to continue but what did they matter compared to what her crush had to go through? "But… he was NARUTO. He was the one disliked by everyone! He was the one who had nobody! And he was the one who laughed in their faces and showed them that he did not care! HE…!" Sakura and the Hokage were slightly awed at the sight of Hinata Hyuuga bursting out of her shell as she continued to scream Naruto's plight to the heavens. And then she collapsed into herself again with tears streaming down her face. "How… how could I ever measure up to that?" Her voice was barely a whisper now. "He was so… so bright! How… why would he ever want to be friends with someone like me?"

Whatever Sakura or the Sandaime would have answered to that was forgotten with the surge of an oppressive aura pressing down on them, suffocating Hinata and Sakura and causing the Hokage to break out into a savage sweat. And while the girls fell down on their knees gasping for air, Hiruzen zeroed in on Naruto. The feeling was so similar. So similar and yet so different to the one from twelve years ago… Gone was the sensation of palpable hatred and venom dripping malice. This… this felt like burning anger and righteous fury amalgamated into one silent, ethereal scream. The thin, orange-red aura surrounding Naruto only confirmed what he came to the conclusion of: The Kyuubi was awake and it was not happy.

And then it was over. The aura was gone. The oppressive feeling was gone. And Naruto looked the same as before. With trembling limbs and labored breath both girls struggled to their feet only to look between Naruto and the Hokage in equal measures of fear and concern. Finally it was Sakura who voiced their question. "What just happened?"

Not that the Sandaime had a satisfying answer to give. "I don't know."

She was… distraught? Was 'distraught' even a fitting description for her situation? Or maybe 'devastated'? Perhaps 'furious'? Or maybe all the above and a whole dictionary worth of adjectives with similar negative connotations more? That would be quite a long list… No, she was distraught.

One moment she was lying in the clearing of her forest, grumbling about low quality seals and trying her hardest not to accidentally kill her only friend and cursing a certain blonde airhead for putting her in this situation, and the next she feels as if someone ripped her out of her own skin. The next thing she knows, she looks down on a patchwork of a myriad of different colors surrounded by a sea of trees. She didn't even have time to work through the fact that she was free and what that meant for her warden before something caught her eye: a person dressed in black, wearing an orange mask with a swirl theme centering around their right eye flashed towards her and then… red. She knew the color, knew the feeling of those accursed eyes wrestling with her for the control of her body. She was shocked, just for a second, because she knew those eyes. Those were Madara's eyes. But the power behind them was almost laughable. No matter who he was he was an amateur with stolen eyes, trying to control her. Her! She snickered. And then she froze. She was free! She was outside!

"Graaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Her scream reverberated through the air, the earth, everything.

Pain.

Loss.

Grief.

Hatred!

She lost herself. For that one precious moment, she lost herself. And then she was gone.

…

She awoke to the uncomfortable feeling of cold water seeping through her belly fur and chilling her sensitive paw pads and almost hit her head against the massive iron bars in front of her. She blinked. Iron bars? Where…

And realization hit her again. She was dead… Her warden… no… her friend was dead. Gone was the lush forest where she could spend hours upon hours running, chasing prey, or talking to her friend, listening to her problems, letting her vent, and giving her advice. Kushina was dead.

And this… was her new prison.

"Kushina is dead."

Her new prison… a sewer…

"Kushina is dead!"

And she was alone. She could feel it. No memory strings, no rampant thoughts, no deep desires. She was alone in this prison and completely cut off from her warden.

"KUSHINA IS DEAD!"

Her whole body slammed into the bars separating her from the outside. Her claws cutting deep scars into the bars only for them to repair themselves as fast as they had been damaged. Her teeth digging into the them, tearing the bars apart, only for them to be replaced by new ones. But she didn't stop. She couldn't stop! Her friend was dead! Murdered by a jackass who did Yami knows what with her body in some hair brained attempt to gain power! He was an Uchiha! That was their thing: Power over everything! Therefore, she would get out of here, hunt that fucking tosser down, and tear him a new one so wide that she, in all her enormous glory, could fist him comfortably!

But she couldn't. The seal was tight. No… 'tight' would still imply that you could move to a certain extent. The seal was suffocating! And a sewer! Whose fucking brilliant idea was it to construct this bloody seal in the image of a gods be damned sewer!?

…

Time was non-existing. There was no day/night cycle in a sewer and without a sensory link to her host or at least access to their memory it was impossible to say for certain how much time had passed since she arrived here. Sometimes it felt like years, sometimes like hours. Her rather impressive age didn't exactly help but if you knew what was good for you, you didn't mention that. EVER! She knew that some time ago the water receded until there was barely a puddle left right in front of her cage but again: could have been hours, could have been years.

But then finally, she heard something and her ears shifted forward, picking up the faint sound of steps echoing from the walls. It was a sedate pace. No nervous dragging of their feet, no hurried run to get to her as fast as possible. No… whoever was walking down that dark tunnel in front of her was moving as if they owned the place.

HOW DARE THEY!

She was the Kyuubi no Kitsune! She was the strongest of the Biju! She would not be treated as if she was a pet living in the doghouse!

With barely contained rage she gathered her youki. "Yami." her whisper seemed a bit louder than she had intended because the steps stopped for a moment before they continued, but the technique did have the intended effect because she felt the shadows of her cage gather around her and obscure her from the vision of others. Just because she wasn't able to affect anything outside of her prison didn't mean she couldn't make her new host crap their pants.

A vicious grin crept onto her muzzle as her guest finally stepped out of the darkness of the tunnel and she could barely suppress a growl. This was her new warden? This kit!? What was he, ten?! And he was wearing orange! Not just a 'hey, look at me I like orange so I got a new black jacket with orange stripes'-orange, but a full blown 'I have no fashion sense whatsoever, bought myself a white jumpsuit and jumped into a barrel of orange paint because I like to second as a practice target when walking through the woods'-orange! "Oh, I'm going to enjoy making you shit yourself, kit."

And she couldn't believe it! He had stopped at the entrance for maybe a few seconds before he continued onward towards her cage. No hesitation, no fear. As if he was taking a walk in the park.

Once he was finally close enough she struck: Her paw sped forward and was stopped by the bars at the point where her claws were barely an inch away from his head. But he didn't stumble back, he didn't freak out, and worst of all: he didn't shit his pants. She would have smelt that. Instead, she heard a silent chuckle that was decidedly mirthless and a whispered "Figures..." before her warden shocked her completely by walking around her outstretched paw and closer to her before he slumped against one of the massive bars and broke down into silent sobs.

She had no idea what had just happened. By the way he had walked and dressed this kit was supposed to be a cocky, idiotic brat that had no idea how the world worked or what he was dealing with. But his reaction… showed someone with a complete disregard for his own life.

"Why are you here kit?"

When Naruto woke up and saw damp brown and gray walls stretching to both sides of his vision into one big corridor he summarized his situation into one sophisticated and quite fitting phrase: "The hell?" Then again, maybe this was hell. Who was he to judge? "Though I wished I wouldn't have exchanged one hell for another..." was his mumbled afterthought.

He sighed and lifted himself off the ground before he noticed something else and carefully lifted his fingers just slightly under his left eye and blinked repeatedly. He could see… "Huh! Well… that's something at least…"

But what was he supposed to do now? Just standing here wouldn't solve anything. "At least I don't think so." So he looked around again to find some markers or anything similar to direct him into a certain direction. On his second and closer inspection of the corridor he had found himself in, he noticed first the thick pipes running along the ceiling, one glowing a weak blue and the other a fierce, ominous orange-red, and then the water marks on the walls roughly on the level of his ankles.

Pipes…

Water…

Damp, drab walls…

A sewer… hell… was a sewer…

He groaned. "Sure! What's next?! Heaven is a candy shop I'm not allowed to enter? Well news-flash: That's my life to a 't'!"

Or maybe that was it? As in life so in death? Another sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head. "Well, nothing to it." He looked first left, then right, "Doesn't really matter anyway, right?" and then started moving to his right further into the dark sewer, illuminated only by a weak light of an omnipresent but indeterminable source.

As he walked, Naruto was surprised by how calm his thoughts were. No questions of what was going to happen now. Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-jisan, Iruka-niisan, and Hokage-jiji would possibly grieve for him for a while but that would pass. They had to move on. They were way too busy to waste their time like this for too long. Who knows? Maybe now that he was gone, the Ichiraku's business would finally boom and they could finally take a breather now and then? He had always pretended otherwise but he could see the bags under Ayame's eyes and the slightly strained smile on Teuchi's face when his back was acting up again. He wasn't dumb and he wasn't deaf either: He knew what his presence did to them. 'The demon's haven' was not a title that brought lots of customers to a business and if their ramen was any less delicious they would have had to have closed their stand a long time ago. A pang of guilt struck Naruto through his heart. There was a reason other than the fact that both the food and the company were better than he could have ever wished for that he spent most of his allowance at their store, even despite the generous discount they gave him.

Iruka-niisan… well, he liked to think that he was always so overbearing because he cared and maybe, just maybe, he could focus his time now on helping some of the children who actually understood what he was telling them. Naruto had no illusions about his intelligence. He was not dumb by any measure… which was probably the reason he understood that, other than Iruka, every teacher at the academy had tried to sabotage his education. His taijutsu had more holes in both its defense and its offense than an old practice dummy for shurikenjutsu and the less said about his theoretical knowledge the better. It wasn't his fault that Iruka's lectures were more sleep-inducing than any narcotic or that he was banned from the library.

And Hokage-jiji… Naruto sighed. "Calm thoughts, huh?" He chuckled a bit and was just short of collapsing in hysterical laughter as…

"Yami."

A whispered voice… deep and powerful like rumbling thunder but with an elegance to it that seemed more akin to the mumbling and shimmering of a small stream flowing over a bed of rocks through a deep forest. "Huh… where did that picture come from?"

He shook his head and continued walking a leisurely gait down the hall. No reason to rush into whatever came next anyway.

Though he had to halt again as the corridor opened up without a warning and he stood in a wide hall, his eyes focused on a massive pair of doors made of equally massive bars with a strip of paper with the kanji for 'seal' in the middle, keeping the doors closed.

Unconsciously, his right hand wandered to his stomach. "I'm not dead…" And wasn't that a depressing thought.

His hand dropped to his side again and he continued onward. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And who knows: maybe a giant fox is better company than my last neighbors." Though he had to admit that would not be difficult.

His thoughts were interrupted rather abruptly when a massive red paw with outstretched claws sped towards him and caused him to stop in his wake. For a rather short moment he thought that maybe now he would finally get to catch a break, only for the claw aimed at his head to stop only inches away from his face. He takes a deep breath. "Nope." That simple admission drew a dry chuckle from him as he rolled his eyes. "Figures…" Even in his own mind… or wherever he was… people wanted to kill him.

He took a step aside and continued towards the bars completely disregarding the massive form of red fur and claws that seemingly materialized behind them. But he didn't care. A realization had finally hit him: The Kyuubi had tried to kill him. Which meant that he was really still alive. He had failed. Naruto slumped with his back against one of the bars and slid down to the ground with tears slowly rolling down his cheeks. "Huh… didn't think I still had any left…" His lips started to tremble and he grit his teeth in a fruitless attempt to stop his tears but he had enough. He was done. He…

"Why are you here kit?"

For a moment he froze in shock and a small silence stretched itself through the chamber before his sobs started again and slowly turned into a chuckle. "Why… why?" Another novelty: He didn't even even think he still had the capacity for so much anger as he felt welling up inside him.

He struggled back on his feet and turned around to give the giant fur ball of a literal home wrecker a piece of his mind but was stopped in his tracks once he wiped the tears out of his eyes. There was no contempt or condescension on the fox's face but only confusion and, dare he say, even a sliver of concern. He didn't even know how he could tell! It was a giant fox! It didn't have the same facial expressions as a human! But he knew… "You don't know… you don't know anything about me… you don't even know my name, do you?"

The Kyuubi shook its head slowly and pointed with one of its nine tails at the seal adorning the cage door. "This seal prevents me completely from interacting with you outside of you coming in here and talking with me. Otherwise I am trapped inside here without any means of knowing what happens to you."

Naruto didn't know which was weirder: Having a conversation with the Kyuubi or that said walking natural catastrophe was acting more civilized than most of the people he ever had contact with. He tried. He really tried, but he couldn't. He started laughing. The kind of hysterical laughter one does when one doesn't know what else to do.

He didn't know how long that lasted but at the end he was crying again. "Are you done?"

"Sorry…" His voice was hoarse and he wasn't even sure if it was loud enough for the Kyuubi to hear. He cleared his throat. "Sorry." he said again, this time a bit more forceful. Then another weak chuckle escaped him which he stopped with a snort. "I just… You've been locked in here for the last twelve years, with no one to talk to, nothing to do, and nowhere to go… and I just… I don't really know who between us has had the worse last twelve years of our life…"

And suddenly, the Kyuubi seemed bewildered. Naruto had no idea why, or how he could tell again, but that was what he got from it. "I usually don't have to repeat myself but: 'Why are you here, kit?'"

Naruto stared into its glowing, blood red eyes as it towered over him like a fox over an ant. "Should I…" He had heard that baring your soul to someone was supposed to help. "Not sure that that saying included giant demon foxes but…" Not that he had anyone else he could do this with. At that thought another few tears pushed themselves through his tear ducts. Therefore he sat back against the bars again and closed his eyes. "I tried to die."

She didn't really know what she was expecting of her warden but this was not it. Her warden… her host… tried to kill himself. "What kind of whiny little shit is he? Kushina had a hard life! She was basically ostracized by everyone and had to fight for every bit of recognition she got, just because she wasn't born in Konoha! She grew up in a bloody war! And what was it she did? She fought! She fought teeth and claws against everyone who made fun of her or stood in her way! So where does he get the right to just give up, huh?" She knew jinchuriki didn't have easy lives but this coward of a host was just sickening.

"You know, you don't have to tell me anything, right? You can just allow me access to your memories and you don't have to relive them again." She had to say, she was proud of herself for putting so much concern into her voice and preventing herself from growling or snarling at the 'woe-is-me'-little piece of refuse. And if he was really dumb enough to allow that? Oh, she was going to rip into his soul with every dark little secret she found.

"Sure." She was taken aback again at his complete nonchalance he faced this situation with. But then he hesitated. "How do I do that?"

This time she really had to fight to stop her eyes from reflexively rolling out of their sockets. "So he's not just dumb, he is an idiot." On the outside she simply tilted her head to the left in a slight bit of confusion. "You just… will it. This is your mind. What you want goes." She closed her eyes and leaned back a bit. "Now show me everything you got!"

A moment later she got her wish. And boy did she wish she hadn't.

"Why do I have to be alone?"

I am staring through the 'window' of my 'room' out into the back yard, watching the other children play. This time she told me that I was showing signs of a virus and that I am not allowed outside for the month until they can be sure that I cannot spread it.

"Wonder what they are going to say next month?"

Her head snapped to the right.

"Now you listen here, you little demon: You are going to tell Hokage-sama that this is your room or there won't be any food for you for the next week! Do you understand?"

I nod as fast as I can. I am already hungry. I won't make it another week without food. I shouldn't have defended myself when those kids came into my room to beat me up… again. At least the window here is not broken.

This time her head snapped to the left.

"Five years is old enough for something like you to live on your own!" I don't like it when she smiles at me like that. "Happy birthday."

The door slams shut. I can hear the bolt snapping into place. The rain is cold. And I am not crying!

"All I asked was if I was allowed to spend some time with the others today…"

A soft whine escapes her throat.

"300 Ryo for one apple?" I try to sound as brave as I can.

She looks at me as if I had strangled her dog. "Pay up and leave or leave it and scram. I don't have to sell you anything!"

I keep myself from wincing and give her the money. That's a fifth of my weekly allowance gone, just like that. I don't cry. I can do that once I'm home.

Her eyes snap open wide.

The door is broken… again. I step through and wonder what they did this time. The chairs and table are smashed, the tap in the small kitchen is bent out of shape. The door to the bathroom does not look much better than the entrance door. Neither does the one to the bedroom. My mattress has been sliced open and the already thin blanket lies now in tatters. And "You should have died years ago!" was painted over the head of my bed.

A chocked laughter escapes my throat and wet chuckles accompany my tears. "Well… at least I can read, am I right?" But there is no one to respond to that. More tears flow.

She lowered her head and her hackles rose as a deep, threatening growl reverberated through her prison.

"Oh, please! Your parents used the Kyuubi attack to ditch you at the orphanage and left you here, and now we have to put up with you!"

"That's not true!"

But she has that smile on her face. I hate that smile! I give her my best glare and turn around. I have to walk. Slowly. Anything else would give her too much satisfaction.

She is wrong! She has to be wrong! She can't be right.

… can she?

Those, worse, and slightly less bad memories bombarded her in a matter of minutes. "He… but… they… he is their SON! HER son! He is a CHILD! How could they… HOW DARE THEY!"

She felt tears… she was the Kyuubi no Kitsune and she felt her tears threatening to fall. And he just sat there, leaning against her cage and trying not to feel anything: Her warden. A chi… a young man who entered hell with his birth and never found a way out, with no one to confide in, no one to bear his tears, no one to share his pain… and no one to help him stand up again after any of the countless beat downs he had to suffer. She couldn't help herself. It wasn't even a conscious decision. She began to shrink.

"Someone interfered."

The full, smooth voice echoed trough a realm in turmoil. Mountains near and far shattered under the pressure of the slightest breeze. The clear waters of rivers and lakes were aflame with deep burgundy fire.

"He is no more than a single step away from breaking completely."

This voice, normally elegant and soothing, quivered slightly in sorrow as the stars stood bright ablaze upon the frozen dusk of the sky and the sun floated around the full moon, wavering this way and that, trying to collide with the offending ball of stone that dared to claim control over it.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

The timeless voice made the two halt and think for a moment before the two averted their eyes from the observation sphere situated in the middle of the madness their agitated emotions were causing.

The one figure, clad in garments made of flowing water, with skin the darkest brown of the earth, hair floating in the ethereal presence of solid wind, and eyes burning in all the colors a flame can take, turned around to eye the shapeless, misty origin of the incorporeal voice. "What do you mean?"

The other figure, their skin glowing in the purest white, ever-changing shades covering their body, and eyes burning with the intensity of stars, whirled around and stared at the elemental entity with a rage that had completely washed away their sadness. "Are you daft? Did you not hear what I said? He!" The figure pointed at the sphere again to show a cowering Naruto now leaning against the bars in the seal. "Is! Breaking! Apart!" They accentuated every exclamation with a sharp finger stab into the other entity's chest. "Our CHAMPION tried to commit SUICIDE!"

The mountains reassembled themselves only to be obliterated by lightning strikes this time. "And what do you want to do?!" Their voice was like the mix between rolling thunder and crumbling boulders. "Sarutobi already killed Danzo! The Haruno and Hyuuga girls will be his friends and he can reclaim his place in the weave of fate! And NOW you want to interfere?!"

The sound of the bitch slap they received after that dwarfed any sound made by entity or elements. "I wanted to interfere the moment fate was altered!" Their trembling hand shook in both fury and pain. " But NO: 'We are not to interfere in mortal business! What is done is done! Their interference was not severe enough to justify our involvement!' Now look at this!" They grabbed the elemental entity at the back of their head and basically shoved them head first into the sphere. "Look at this and tell me you were right! We could have avoided this! A moderate person's opinion here, an encouragement there, and this would never have taken place! Now you tell me you stickler for rules: Can you solve this mess with just a few words?"

Silence.

Utter and complete silence.

Confronted with the rage of the mother of light, darkness, and emotions, the elements decided to better not agitate her any further.

"I rephrase my question." Yami let go of Kami and turned around to the Sands of Time while Kami needed a few more seconds to gather himself. "How do you plan to solve this problem?"

Naruto wasn't sure why he had done this. Why show an evil entity sealed in a seal on his stomach every single second of his life? Would the Kyuubi pity him? Make fun of him? Torture him with a never-ending nightmare of the worst points of his life? "Would it even care?" It WAS nature's wrath incarnate. "Probably not..." Maybe he just wanted someone to know before he was gone. To remember him. To know that he existed at one point, sometime, somewhere.

He was lost so deep in thought that he didn't even notice the bar he was leaning against moving. Or better: shrinking. What shook him out of his musing was a foreign feeling winding around his chest: tentative, almost scared movement wound itself around his chest, pressing him just that tiny amount stronger against the bar...s.

His eyes slowly drifted down and to his surprise saw a pair of delicate, dark caramel colored arms winding around… no… hugging him from behind.

Naruto turned his head and the first thing he noticed was the absence of the giant bars imprisoning the Kyuubi inside his… mind. And he still wasn't sure if he was happy about his mind being a sewer. But where there was a giant cage before was now nothing more but solid stone. Out of the corner of his eye he could see what seemed like regular sized prison bars but that was everything he got before the arms pressed a bit stronger against him and him a bit stronger against the bars. Not to the point that it hurt but neither lax enough for him to turn further around if he wanted to.

"I'm sorry..."

A shock ran through his system as he tried to comprehend what just happened: the voice was soft, sweet, almost a whisper and decidedly female. "… what for?"

"For everything."

Another shock. Her voice was trembling. And he had no idea what to do. "Even for the stuff you didn't do or cause?"

"But I caused everything!"

Naruto continued to stare to the side. It was a kind of instinctual agreement between them: He didn't try to look at her and she didn't have to kill him for seeing her cry. "Did you ask them to treat me like they did?"

"NO!"

He nodded. "Did you ask to be sealed inside me?"

"No."

He nodded again. And suddenly something no longer made sense. Something gnawing at the back of his mind. "Did you attack Konoha because you wanted to?"

"… no."

"Then why do you want to apologize for something that was never your fault?"

This time she didn't answer. Instead, she tightened her hug a bit more.

Slowly, he lifted his arms and laid them on hers, marveling at the warmth that seemed to fill his being by this simple gesture. Again, tears rolled down his cheeks but this time his wide smile was not a mask. "Thank you."

A bit more reassuring pressure was his only answer but it was enough.

But then he stiffened.

Because out of nowhere a dark blue box appeared in front of him.

"Kyuubi?"

There was a pause of hesitance before a rather stunned voice answered with a simple "Yes?"

"Are you doing this?"

Another pause. "No." Then he could feel a wave of chakra flow through him, originating from her arms. "No genjutsu either."

"So…" He lifted his left arm, his pointer stretched out, but stopped right in front of the box. "What do you think?"

"It's not my decision to make." But a reassuring bit more pressure told him everything he needed to know.

[Do you want to play a Game?]

[Yes] [No]

[Yes]