Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in anyway; if i did Naruto would be the greatest robot ninja pirate the world would ever see

Now for reviews!

Tatemae: Thanks I'm glad that you enjoy it, I apologize for my slow updates but whenever I try to write something for a chapter I can only seem to get so far in it before getting writer's block and thus working on a different story in the meantime, I'll try to improve my update speed

Cer015: I know how you feel, I absolutely LOVE cold narutos, it would be cool except for the little problem of naruto being a container. Sorry about the grammar but like I've said before, I'm not the best with grammar, perhaps I should study in college this fall...

OBSERVER01: Yes almost, lol thanks I'll try

Nobother: thank you, appreciate your support

Dezzal: Thanks, I'm glad that you like it so much

Wrytha: I know Naruto should of, but then there would be so much paperwork to fill out when they got back. Thanks for your review.

Edj Crow: Thanks, it nice to know that my writing doesn't come of as a bunch of weird ramblings ^.^, I know it a vastly under-written pairing at least compared to some of the other ones.

Chapter 6

The clone moved swiftly through the trees away from the genin, towards the chakra signature that had been following them for a while. Although they had not attempted to attack in anyway, it did not make them any less of a threat. Hopefully, he would be able to catch them off guard, the less of a disturbance that he could make the better. He would not be able to flash in and merely end it with a strike, no he needed to interrogate this shinobi to find the reason behind their stalking, and if there were any others lying in wait. Feeling the signature become stronger, Naruto placed his hand on the handle of his wakizashi(1) in case he would have to act quickly. Sending a small spike of chakra to his legs he burst from the trees straight in to the target with the intent on tackling them to the ground, only to fall through what felt like a pocket of chilled air.

Regaining his footing upon his landing, Naruto found his target standing around 2 meters away from him their hands moving together in preparation for a jutsu that they would never cast. Naruto flashed in front of the ninja bringing his wakizashi towards their neck using his momentum. The nin reacted better than expected, although they did not get away they attempted to move backwards out of the range of his sword. However, Naruto merely hooked his foot around the back of their calf as they moved causing them to lose their footing and fall. The moment they met ground he lunged forward his blade at their neck, hovering over their aorta artery.

Naruto studied the nin, waiting for even the slightest twitch of muscle to indicate an attempt at escape. Large brown eyes framed by long dark lashes stared back at him, their pupils dilated from either fear or merely adrenaline. The shinobi was clearly a female, the curve of the face and size of the eyes told him that much. Although, some male shinobi were feminine looking enough to be mistaken as women, something Naruto had even been prey to. He could tell that this one was truly female, their neck being far too slender and swan-like to be male.

"What is your purpose kunoichi-san?" Said kunoichi stared at him as in what seemed to be recognition as she attempted to move her neck away from his blade, she did not succeed.

"I-I'm traveling to meet someone who I'm to give information to, a person named Danzo, Namikaze-sama," Naruto's eyes narrowed at the statement, while it was true that she could be telling the truth for Danzo did have quite a few foreign ninja who reported to him and was due for a visit quite soon as well as the fact of knowing his name, for she had not followed closely enough to hear it from his traveling company. She could also merely be an impostor who killed the true affiliate and who knew of Naruto's affiliation with him.

"Have you any proof of this?" In response, the young woman brought her hand forward to the neckline of her shirt slowly as not to agitate Naruto into the use of his blade. She tugged it down to below her collar bone to reveal what would appear to most as a small tattoo at the junction of her neck and torso, however Naruto saw it for what it truly was, a seal. Naruto recognized it immediately; it was the seal that he and Danzo had worked together on a year or so back. Most foreign Ninja that that Danzo worked with usually were against having their tongue sealed to insure that no one could torture the information out of them and that it was truly whoever they were. However, with the given fact that it wasn't the hardest thing to kill and then impersonate another ninja given certain skills and circumstances it, they needed an alternative.

They had found themselves with a problem, how to insure that imposter's were not given the chance to infiltrate Root. They decided to design a more overlook-able seal, one that could be easily mistaken for a tattoo. It had been a bit of trial and error in the beginning but it had worked out in the end. Clearly this young woman was no impostor, so he removed his wakizashi from the side of her neck and placed it back into its sheath. He backed away putting an adequate amount of space between them to allow her to regain her bearings.

"I assume by the fact that you recognized me, that you were merely following me back to Konoha. When we arrive there, go to the west entrance the root guards will take you to Danzo."

"Thank you Namikaze-sama, I apologize for making you believe me to be an enemy but I could not let my presence known to you without alerting the others of your company,"

"What's done is done," Naruto paused slightly, "I believe it would be much easier if I knew your name since you already seem to know me,"

"Of course, I'm Haku the former apprentice of Zabuza,"

"Ahh Zabuza, I recall him as one of my personal affiliates,"

"Hai, he was Namikazi-sama, he however was killed by Hatake-san and his team that you are traveling with,"

"Leave it to Kakashi to kill off one of my more useful contacts," Naruto glanced at the darkened expression upon Haku's face "I take it that you dislike them a great deal,"

"I know that it is expected for most Shinobi's lives to end on the battle field, yet still I-" Haku trailed of quietly as though unable to express her feelings on the matter, Naruto's eyes softened fractionally

"I understand," Haku's face shot up as though to reject his statement, however whatever she saw within his face muted her words and forced her acceptance. Perhaps she sensed some sort of comradeship, the distinct knowing of similar experiences.

He felt as though he was floating in nothing, there was no light. There was no earth and sky, left and right up or down, it was simply nothingness. His body felt as though it was on fire that it had somehow became his blood, racing through his veins, burning him from the inside out.

It...hurts

...

It hurts so much...

...

Sensei...

...

...Itachi...

...

..Yakumo...

...

..make it stop...

...

...Please...

He couldn't know how long he writhed in the dark place hours, days, weeks. When a red light flashed before his eyes, he felt himself move towards the source behind large iron bars stood a large red fox, its nine tails waving erratically behind it. It lowered its head down to Naruto's level, staring at him with large red eyes.

"It's time," The fox paused and tilted it's head upward as though listening to something

"to wake up human,"

The dark enclosure of the fox disappeared and Naruto was met with the sight of the white ceiling of an hospital room. He blinked a few times to bring everything into focus, a nurse stood next to him checking his vitals. He clutched the side of his head as everything came back to him, the mission, the fight, his teams' injuries, and his agreement. Disregarding his attendant he pushed himself up into a sitting position, as the said nurse attempted to push him back down.

"Namikaze-san you shouldn't be getting up, you still need to rest,"

"Where is the rest of my team?" Naruto stared at the woman his no-nonsense look

"Uchiha and Kurama-san are both resting in their rooms; all of their wounds have been dealt with,"

"What of Midori-sensei?" The nurse bit down on her lip which only served to annoy Naruto.

"Umm-"

"Where is her room?" his tone gave no other choice than to answer

"Room 406," Naruto removed the covers from his legs, and then began to tear the IVs and monitoring devices from his person, not registering the slight pain that came with removing the needles. Ignoring the nurse, he swung his legs out of the bed easing onto his feet carefully as not to bring on a dizzy spell. Insuring that his robe was sufficiently tied, he made his way out of the door with the nurse following close behind. He paused slightly as he passed a cart of medical equipment but continued on.

"Namikaze-san please get back into bed, you shouldn't be moving around so much after just waking up." He blocked her out as he walked towards 406, his eyes narrowed as he sensed others within his sensei's room. He swung open the door to find the sight of the Kurenai and some other jounin around his sensei; they all glanced towards the door. Naruto's eyes fell upon his sensei who lay sleeping or unconscious, a breathing mask covering her mouth and numerous bandages around various parts of her body. He could hear the rhythmic beat of her heart, he felt strange to know that it was not the monitor next to her bedside that he was hearing.

He brought his attention back to the people around the bed of his recovering sensei, sizing each up quickly. Kurenai stepped forward coming to the opposite side of the bed that he stood near, he gave her a cool look not one movement escaping his sight. She moved her hand close towards his sensei's form, too close. Naruto's arm extended forward, the medical scalpel that he had taken slipping out of his sleeve into his hand which he pointed at the perceived threat's throat.

"Do not touch my sensei," The other shinobi in the room were finally reacting to his actions, though they stood back as they attempted to gauge the situation

"N-naruto you need-"

"The only thing that needs to be done is for you to move away from my sensei, I certainly don't trust you around sensei in her current state." Something flashed over Kurenai's face before she lowered her head and backed away from the patient. Having decided she was no longer a threat, Naruto situated himself into the chair that was next to him at Midori-sensei's bed side.

"Maa maa Naruto-kun, don't you think that was a little much on your part," Naruto sent a glare towards Hatake, and would of said something in return had he not found himself bent over forward in pain. Somewhere down the hall a cart wheel screeched against the hospital's floor, the sound seeming excruciating with his enhanced hearing. A metal instrument was dropped and clattered noisily two floors above him. He brought his unoccupied hand to his ear clutching it in pain as the sounds seemed to increase in pitch making highly annoying and painful sounds. He clenched his teeth; it felt as though his ear drums had burst, he certainly wouldn't be surprised if they were bleeding. The murmur of voices rang throughout his head all bombarding his mind at once from different locations within the hospital.

"Alright then just prep the patient for surgery and-"

"Doctor Kurosaki-san's results are back they-"

"-Okay, now just meet me at the reception desk-"

"Hurry, make sure not to fluctuate-"

"-not possible, I'm sorry Mitra-"

Squeezing his eyes shut, he attempted to clear his mind in an attempt to drown out all of the noises that felt like they were going to destroy his ear drums. Then as though kami its self, took pity on him it all just cut off, his hearing lowered back the range it had been before the mission. Opening his eyes he found the shinobi gathered within the room staring at him with surprise or rather past him. Turning to look behind himself to see the Hokage standing in the doorway of room.

/TS/

It had been three days since he had been released from the hospital; he hadn't left his apartment since. It seemed as though enhanced sense were not everything they were made out to be. For starters sounds that were originally merely slightly annoying became migraine inducing. Luckily however he was starting to get use to the new range of his hearing. He gave a slight sigh as he lay flat on his bed staring at nothing as he waited for the day to start.

As soon as the sun's light began to make its way into his room the minute that it reached him, he let out a string of curses before rolling off the bed where the light had yet to reach. He felt as though he had just looked straight into the sun. His vision blurred from his watering eyes as he furiously rubbed at them to get rid of the pain, although he hadn't expected for his vision to improve so quickly at least the akuma had at least had waited till his hearing leveled out. Turning away from the window, Naruto found himself staring at the leg of his dresser. He blinked in surprise as he stared at the grain of the wood, the greys, blacks; browns and whites that made of the woods color were easy to recognize there were even blues and greens that he hadn't even thought possible to be within the coloring of wood.

It seemed that heightened sight allowed one to observe objects in great detail, as though they were looking through a magnifying glass without the size distortion. It was rather interesting to see the plethora of colors that made up one simple pattern of brown. Naruto stood, careful to avoid the incoming light he made his way towards the front door situated near the kitchen. He cautiously made his way towards the door, letting out a small breath he slowly opened the door letting in a ray of light. He stared at the light that had made his way into his apartment; certainly staring at it from the shadows certainly didn't hurt his eyes. However, it gave no indication on whether he would be able to stand in the sunlight with his eyes open, possibly blinding himself in the process.

It seemed however as though life decided that it was all or nothing, for at the same moment that Naruto took a step towards the illuminated part of the entrance, a child's ball ricocheted into his door slamming the door wide open. Naruto was then met with the sight of the completely uncensored outside and he cursed.

"Son of a motherfucking bitch" Naruto pressed his palms to his closed eyelids feeling as though he had just been blinded; his nails were digging into the skin of his forehead and temples. He stumbled away from the door into the dark haven of his living room. After leaning against his couch for about twenty minutes, he gingerly removed his hands from his eyes and opened said eyes, blinking multiple times as he stared at the ceiling of the room. You know what's it's like when you stare at something bright for too long then after looking away you see small color changing dots, to say Naruto was seeing a few of these dots was quite a large understatement. The color changing shapes were practically all he could see, to the point that he could barely make out what he was even looking at.

Holding onto the couth to bring himself up he slowly made his way towards the bathroom to check his eyes. Nearly running into the door jam he stumbled into the bathroom, grasping onto the counter for support. He looked like hell; the sclera (2) in both of his eyes was bright red from what he assumed burst blood vessels. His pupils were practically nonexistent as they attempted to keep out as much light as possible.

Naruto wasn't aware of how long he stood there staring into the mirror before his pupils began to widen as they returned to normal and the red in his sclera receded. Even the rate at which the Kyuubi healed him had accelerated. Speaking of the Kyuubi, even though they had this "deal" of sorts other than trying to keep him alive longer he wondered what motivated the kyuubi to grace him with enhanced senses. Perhaps it was just his suspicious nature, but-

"Suspicious? Please I've met con artists and schizophrenics that are more trusting than you," Naruto flinched in surprise at the Kyuubi projecting his thoughts inside his mind

"It is not as though I do not have reason for such behavior, though I am curious to how you've actually met such people with your size and appearance"

"I'll give you that, but does the fact that I'm a fucking demon fox mean nothing to you? We're regarded as demons with the best illusions; truthfully I only bring out the big fox form when I wish to instill the fear into the hearts of simple minded humans,"

"No offense, but I truly do not see you as someone to walk among the common man, I'm surprised that your pride would be able to handle it with your superiority complex as large as your fox form,"

"This coming from a 12 year old who speaks like someone far older, I'll take that as a compliment,"

"Is it wrong to enjoy reading and improving one's vocabulary, I think not. Besides I've done and seen things that someone far older than I have done, why shouldn't I talk on the same level as they?"

"Well, at least you're not going to be boring to be stuck inside for until kami knows how long. You're wondering why I offered such abilities that a shinobi would cut off their own hand for, I certainly don't blame you. If I were in the same position I would do no different, I want to live and it's that simple,"

"No, it isn't that simple is it? If you just wanted to live, you would have no need to give me such enhanced abilities all you would have to do is flood my body with your yokai whenever the situation become dire,"

"True, but such a thing without you training to be able to control and channel my yokai would only shorten your life span. I suppose there is another reason as well; I am the Ninth biju which means that I'm the strongest of them all. I want you to be able to beat any other containers into the ground with the minimalist effort possible, I will not have my container be weak and tarnish my well-deserved reputation. Do not become too reliant, the less of my power that you have to use to do, the better. However, that does not mean that you shouldn't control how to use it. The earlier that you start adjusting to my yokai the better your body can handle it."

"I suppose that while being a selfish reason is not the worst,"

"On a different note, I've noticed that you're adjusting to your new found senses quite well, much better than I expected,"

"This is quite well? How is being blinded my fucking sunlight adjusting well, having your ears bleed from sounds that no normal person could ever hear?"

"Truthfully, compared to most people it is. Don't think that you're the first human that a demon has ever bestowed favor upon, most takes months to get a grip on their abilities and some never do. I've heard of humans falling to the despair of insanity because they cannot comprehend what they are feeling, seeing, hearing etc. So when you do in weeks what can take years, I say you're doing quite well."

Naruto blinked at the images and memories that flashed through his mind as his clone dispersed itself. Naruto glanced toward team 7 or rather towards the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing, Sai. One had to truly wonder about the instincts of the newly minted genin, if they didn't even have a shred of suspicion, for paranoia had made some of the best ninja into what they were today. It seemed as though even for the life of him, he still couldn't get the art of smiling down, not to mention his lack of good timing.

He knew that the true reason that he had been placed on team 7 was to watch over the young uchiha. Danzo as of late, had become more concerned about the mental state of said uchiha. It wouldn't do for one of the last sharinguan holders to deflect from konoha in the pursuit of power. Konoha really didn't need to lose another potentially powerful shinobi to a siren's call, so they planted an operative so that even the first hint of deflection would be extinguished immediately.

Naruto couldn't help but wonder what Itachi had said to his younger brother to instill such a avenger like outlook. However, it was truly none of his business that was between them and it didn't need his attention unless it started to affect his own person. Naruto glanced back to team 7 to see Sasuke looking in his general direction, at least the boy was intelligent enough not to stare down his target. It wouldn't be surprising if he actually remembered Naruto, it wasn't as though he hadn't gone to Itachi's house that often. The sasuke from the time idolized his brother, there were quite a few times that he would follow him to their training grounds.

Sensei and Itachi's mother Mikoto had gotten along quite well, though his father was rarely ever there when they visited. Mikoto-san had the habit after getting to know her son's teammates to refer to him as 'naru-chan' because she found his whisker-like marks to be adorable, and Itachi and Yakumo had never let him forget it. She would also load up Itachi with large bentos, for the team declaring that growing children needed their nutrition, and she always found a way to include fish cake into Naruto's. It had felt strange to be treated so kindly or rather motherly compared to how almost everyone else in the village treated him. It was rather sad that she had not survived the massacre. It was 6 months after meeting Mikoto-san, when naruto found out why she acted like a mother towards him.

Mikoto had known his mother, in fact she had been one of the few people who had even knew about her pregnancy. Given his status of orphan, Naruto had soaked up the information about his mother immediately. After hearing stories about her from Mikoto, he would sometimes find himself staring into his mirror passively wishing that he would of looked more like how his mother was described. That instead of blue he could of received her violet hued eyes, or to share her plum-red hair. But most of all he wished he could of met his mother, Kushina Uzumaki. While she had quite the temper in her time, the amount of joy that she had shown through her pregnancy for him had formed a warmth within his chest. He knew, had she survived the Nine-tail's attack she would of been a wonderful mother. A wonderful mother who would of given him a happy and loved childhood.

But his mother didn't survive and he would never get to meet her, so he told himself was no real point dwelling within the 'what ifs' and refused to think any more on it. All he had were stories and for him, they were enough. Naruto glanced towards Yakumo when he had heard her mutter 'finally, glancing forward he saw the faint outline of Konoha's outer wall. They were nearly home, where their true mission would finally truly begin.

1) a traditional short blade between 30 and 60 centimeters ( 11 and 23 inches), it's usually paired with a katana however, I felt a shorter sword that Naruto could draw easily and quickly would suit him well

2) the white part of the eye

Authors note:.

I sincerely apologize for such a long wait on this chapter, I really couldn't seem to write anything in this chapter for the longest time.

Damn that was a long flash back huh, I have to say it came out much longer than I had realized, at first it was just supposed to show Naruto waking up after that disaster of a mission that was mentioned in the last chapter, but it kind of evolved into Naruto adjusting and conversing with Kyuubi, which I love to write.

I must say that when I was reading this over when Kyuubi said that I'm the strongest of them all, it for some odd reason reminded me of the first Pokémon theme song that I'm sure that a good portion of you must know by heart (myself included) . Then this lead to a mental image of Kyuubi singing this, Scary I know

I know that alot of you are going 'where's the romance dammit, I want some Naruyaku, Naya, Naku or whatever the hell it's called (I'm not sure if there is a official pairing name for this couple so just bear with it) and I want it now! I share your sentiments, hell if I was the one reading this and not writing it I'd be thinking the same exact thing, but don't fret your little heads for when I do get to the ship yumminess that is Naruto and Yakumo, it shall rain down upon you ^.^ lol might want to bring an umbrella :D *wink* *wink* if you know what I mean

I understand that some of you might also be annoyed at the pace of the plot at this point and just want Naruto and Yakumo to throw off their clothes and just get with it. I never really liked this sort of plot within a story, sometimes depending on how it is written it can actually make me cringe as I read it (not that I'm saying anything about the authors themselves as much as the idea of the scene within its self), where one person voices their love for one person through a confession and that person automatically loves them as well, that is not how the world works no matter how much we all wish it could. Romance can be one of the hardest things to write in my opinion just because everyone's idea of romance is different.

I myself scoff at Romeo & Juliet-esque romances because the idea of being in love with someone you have yet to have conversed with yet seems ridiculous to me, other people may enjoy these sorts of love stories, a shallow love based on appearances rather than personality. Some dislike where the couple takes a while to form, where they get tired of the two tip-toeing around each other for a good portion of the story. When it takes more than a certain length of time within a story it annoys me a bit as well, so to me a great romance story is a mix of the two, where they have the passion of Romeo and Juliet yet the patience to get to know each other before they truly become a couple.

...I apologize for that semi-rant on romance; it just kind of came out...

Anyway, until next time and go on ahead and tell me what you think ^.^ I truly value your opinions