Author's Disclaimer:

Naruto is a trademark of Shonen Jump Graphic Novels and Viz Media. The characters and storyline belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

And before I continue with the next installment of Konoha no Yoko, I would like to thank all my readers for their reviews, and I hope that they take renewed interest in my next piece and future Naruto pieces. Please, read and enjoy my version of "Naruto", and remember constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

-Azteka

~Prologue~

It took Team Seven several days to return to their village of Konoha. It was a long journey and a great success for all of them. They had faced enemies and made friends. They shared experiences that no one would understand since they were not there, and they had gained new wisdom from those experiences. And now… they were home.

As cliché as the saying went, it still held much truth for the road-wary travelers… There was no place like home! And the closer the team was to their village gates, the more Naruto and Sakura were found talking about what they would do first when they got home. Sakura confessed that she would hug her parents then take an hour long hot bath, and when asked, Naruto too confessed that he would hug his otousan before sitting down to a giant bowl of ramen.

"Otousan?" Sakura repeated.

"Hai, Iruka-sensei adopted me after graduation." Naruto stated. It was not the whole truth, but it was close enough. Naruto knew that the Council of Elders would never permit Iruka to legally adopt Naruto, but his littermate did not need to know that. Iruka was still his father, with or without some piece of paper telling him so.

"Wow! That's great news, Naruto!" Sakura cheered as she gave her otouto a bear hug, eliciting a happy yip from the petite blonde.

As the two celebrated the good news, they were completely oblivious to two sets of disquieted looks. One held a mildly hidden glower that another had dared to lay claim on his blonde while the other paled at the realization of the true meaning behind the school teacher's threats as that of a protective father. However, before the two troubled shinobi could further bemoan their lot, the great gates of Konoha came into view, which was accompanied by twin cheers of joy as Sakura and Naruto began a friendly race to the village gates.

Kakashi found himself quietly chuckling at himself over his blonde's antics. It was a nice change from all the sober events that had accrued at the Land of Waves, and he was greatly pleased to see that the tragic deaths of Haku and Zabuza had not destroyed the blonde's gentle soul. Instead it made the blonde stronger.

Slowly the silver-haired Jounin approached his two students, who were mock-arguing on who was the winner when Kakashi heard the not-so-subtle slur against his favorite student.

"Fuck the demon lives." One of the gate sentries grumbled as he spat toward Naruto's direction; however, instead of hitting the petite blonde as intended, Kakashi became the victim as he mysteriously appeared in front of the little blonde.

Suddenly the gate sentries became deathly quiet while the young shinobi teens watched with huge eyes in horror at the blatant disrespect toward a senior shinobi.

Instinctively Sakura clutched onto her otouto as she realized that the guards were talking about the blonde with the same malice as her parents had. She could not understand why anyone would want to hate the small blonde, but she was bound and determined to protect her little brother, even from her own family.

Slowly Sasuke's shock was replaced with anger, which reflected dangerously in his Sharingan red orbs. He glared at the offending oaf that dared to stain his property. However, the moron was oblivious to the threat that the Uchiha posed since he was concentrating on the extremely pissed off ex-ANBU shinobi in front of him, but the other sentries were not blind. They saw the tale-tell marks of the Mirror Eye in the last surviving Uchiha and were about to congratulate the raven-haired teen when they were made silent by the icy cold tone of the silver-haired Jounin.

"Don't you have your posts to man." Kakashi coldly stated which effectively scattered the sentries back to their posts without delay.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto's small voice easily melted the older shinobi's hard expression as he turned around to face the petite blonde.

Naruto then gave his sensei a small, shy smile of gratitude. The blonde knew well enough of his village's disdain for him, and he also knew that he might never gain the approval of his people, but it did lift his heart to know that he had the support of Sakura-neechan and Kakashi-sensei. The petite Nin knew that his sensei had purposively stood in the life of fire, sort of speak, and he was truly grateful for it. Naruto stepped out of Sakura's protective embrace as he pulled out a tissue from one of the many cargo pockets and very tentatively cleaned the offending spittle from his sensei's vest. With another shy smile, the young houshi looked up at his sensei, unaware of the slight rogue kissing his own cheeks.

Kakashi, however, was having a more difficult time trying to calm his emotions. When he saw that sweet timid smile of the blonde's, Kakashi felt his heart both skip a beat and sped up. He had never seen such an innocent smile before, and of course, those sparkling seraphim blue gems told the elder Nin that the petite blonde knew the truth. It was such a simple gesture on both their parts, but to Kakashi, it felt as if he had just defeated an evil wyrm and won a fair maiden's hand. The Jounin felt as if he could battle a hundred Zabuzas just to see another one of those sweet smiles. And as if Kami was smiling down upon the silver-haired shinobi, Kakashi found himself thanking his childhood decision to wear the face-mask, which hid his resemblance to his father, for he knew that he was sporting a neon-red blush against his lighter complexion as Naruto quickly cleaned up the spit from the gate guard and gave the Jounin another one of those sweet timid smiles.

Then suddenly Naruto looked past his sensei in worry as he heard a sharp snap coming from Sasuke's Heart Song. The blonde had never heard such a sound before within a Heart Song, and it made him worry as he looked upon his friend, who was glowering dangerously at their sensei with his young Nightshade eyes. A frown marred the teen's face as he crossed his arms. What right did the young brooder have to be angry at their Team Leader? None that the blonde could think of.

"Oi Teme, what's up with that face?"

Sasuke blinked in surprise as Naruto's soft voice snapped him out of his haze.

"Tsch." The raven-haired teen dismissed then started to walk away; not caring if he was officially dismissed.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes when he saw the dangerous glint in the teen's eyes and knew exactly why the Uchiha heir was angry; however, he was not about to worry his petite student nor was he too bothered by Sasuke's blatant disrespect toward him as the teen just left. Instead the Jounin just told his two remaining students to take the next couple days off to rest and recoup, and he would call them for training or missions. This caused the pinkette and the blonde to cheer happily as they ran back home to their loved ones.

/

"'TOUSAN! 'TOUSAN!" Naruto cried as he barged through the front door of his father's apartment.

"NARUTO!" Inari called back as he rushed out of the little kitchen to see his little dirt-covered son standing in the middle of the apartment's foyer with his travel pack discarded by the door.

In an instant, father and son found themselves entangled in each other's arms as they held onto each other, rejoicing in the blonde's safe return home. It may have been years since Iruka last took a mission outside of the village's borders, but he remembered clearly the dangers that the roads possessed. Not only were there threats from rival shinobi villages but also from a number of bandits and thieves. Iruka remembered having to deal with those types of rogues after a mission. It was not uncommon nor unheard of that bandits and thieves would attack returning shinobi because the return trip was when a shinobi was at their most vulnerable, either due to wariness or carelessness.

However, now with Naruto in his arms, Iruka could finally be at ease and can breath again.

"Oh! It's soo good to have you home!" Iruka whispered into Naruto's ear as he squeezed tighter.

"It's good to be home, 'tousan!" Naruto replied as he too squeezed tighter.

"Oh! I have a surprise for you!" Iruka and Naruto said as one.

Father and son blinked owlishly before succumbing to a fit of laughter. With one last bear hug, Iruka shooed his son to the bathroom while he finished up dinner and finished wrapping his son's surprise.

An hour later, Naruto was in the kitchen, helping his father set the table, feeling refreshed and revitalized after the long hot bath. The blonde gave a joyful yip when he scented his favorite dish, Ramen, which his father had prepared for him. Even though Naruto loved the Ramen at Ichiraku's, the small blonde would rather have his father's homemade Ramen. Even though Iruka's Ramen was not world famous or even considered gourmet, there was just something warming about the brunette's dish.

Iruka lightly chuckled as he sensed his son was literally buzzing with excitement, no doubt wanting to tell his father about his first mission outside of the village. And sure enough, once the happy family sat down, Naruto quickly began to regale his father of his mission to the Land of Waves. Naruto told his father everything, from his accidental summons of the forest's tree roots to Ka'a's revelation that he was the son of a miko, a holy priestess.

CRASH!

"'Tousan?" Naruto exclaimed in worry when he saw his father's face go pale and the glass of milk slip from the brunette's hand.

"M-miko -?" Iruka stuttered.

"Hai… Anou, is something wrong?" Naruto whispered then immediately gave a startled yelp when Iruka suddenly gathered his son into his arms and held on tightly, afraid that the petite blonde would be suddenly ripped away from him.

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he felt his father tremble in fear and heard the frightful shrieks within his father's Heart Song. Instinctively Naruto wrapped his tiny arms around his father and began to purr, unaware that a small portion of his calming chakra began to flow into his distraught father, in hopes to soothe the older shinobi. Iruka gasped in surprise as he felt a comforting warmth, much like a mother's embrace, course through his entire being, calming his frantic mind enough to allow him to think clearly.

Iruka gently cupped Naruto's cherub face in his hands and looked deeply into his son's expressive orbs in amazement. Naruto then began to nibble his lower lip in worry. Iruka rested his forehead against his son's cool forehead and loosely wrapped his arms around the petite Kitsune-avatar's lithe frame.

"'Tousan?" Naruto whimpered.

"Why…" Iruka licked his dry lips before continuing, "Why does Ka'a believe that your mother was a miko?"

"Ka'a says because he can feel my powers. It's warm and nice…" Naruto replied, "But if he holds on for too long, it'll burn him… purify him. He said you felt it too… just now… Anou, what does he mean?"

Iruka did not answer but continued to look into his son's oceanic blue gems, trying to find the nine-tailed demon within.

"Mikos and the like can destroy your kind." Iruka stated rather than asked.

Both Ka'a and Naruto stilled, and Iruka accepted that as a 'yes'.

"Is that…" Iruka paused and took a deep breath, "Is that why Naruto was chosen? Because he inherited his mother's powers?"

~Yes.~ Ka'a replied through his kind Jailer, ~Naruto-dono's purifying chakra tames the malevolent influence of my youki. It allows him to siphon some of my youki to use when need be, and…~ Ka'a paused as he thought of the most important aspect of why his beautiful Host was chosen, and with a heavy sigh, ~I am aware that I am not the first nor the last youkai to succumb to imprisonment within mortal flesh… however, Naruto-dono is and will be the only vessel to remain untainted by my youki.~

"Because of his mother?"

~Yes. The other hosts that exists…~ Ka'a explained, ~will either die or succumb to madness… no mortal can withstand the malevolent bloodlust of a youkai for long.~

At this, Iruka sighed in relief. The Chuunin had heard rumors of others like his son. It horrified him to hear that other villages had condemned other children to this cursed existence. It still revolted him to think that the noble Fourth Hokage had done the same to Naruto. Iruka wondered if the Fourth knew of Naruto's heritage, and if the noble Lord did then it was a bittersweet blessing. It gave Naruto a chance to live without fear of the demon's presence killing him or driving him mad. But Naruto's miko heritage came with its own curse.

"Ka'a," Iruka began, his tone absolute and grave, "swear upon your honor and whatever god you pray to that you'll always protect Naruto."

Ka'a bristled at the insinuated insult.

~Of course, I'll protect the kit!~

"Swear you'll do whatever it takes to protect my son!" Iruka demanded, "Even if you have to destroy Konoha to do it!"

"~WHAT?~"

"Swear it, Fox!"

Ka'a was silent before he spoke clearly.

~Upon the Sacred Tails of Inari, I, Kyuubi no Ka'a Wielder of Nataku, swear to protect Naruto-dono at all cost.~

Iruka sighed as tension disappeared from his frame.

"'Tousan, what's going on?" Naruto asked.

"You mustn't let anyone, and I mean anyone, know that you have miko blood, Naruto." Iruka warned.

"But why?"

"Because they will kill you without hesitation."

Ka'a growled deeply.

~They would not dare harm a Childe of Kami!~

"Why, 'tousan?" Naruto asked calmly, despite sensing Ka'a's righteous anger.

"Because of all things a shinobi fears.." Iruka stated, "death, demons, betrayal.. there is one thing that we shinobi fear above all else…"

"What?"

"Kami." Iruka whispered, "We fear Kami."