"O KAMI, WHY DOES EVERYTHING HURT!"

Were the first thoughts that entered his head when he came to, that were then swiftly followed by a flurry of memories involving getting stabbed and meeting a very big 9 tailed fox, followed my…nothing.

"Well guess I'm still alive, but why does everything hurt!"

"It was the only thing I could do, stop whining."

"Kub- oh, Kurama?"

He could swear he could hear the smirk in his voice.

"Good save there kid, and it was the pain or death, so take the pain as a price for being too weak to protect yourself and your best friend."

"Fine but, where am I? And is Moshiro safe?"

"WE are at the hospital if I heard everything right, and it sounds like Moshiro is at the foot of the bed resting."

"But I was unconscious, how did you-"

"Just because you can't use your senses doesn't mean I can't. It is exhausting though and after saving your life, AND there's the fact that I'm still healing your injuries-"

"You're healing me! How? And why does everything hurt? And how can you talk to me in my head? And h-"

"ONE AT A TIME!" Kurama yelled out and even if it was all in his head, Naruto could swear his ears were ringing.

"OK first, have you ever wondered how you heal so fast? Small cuts heal completely over night and broken bones in a week? That was all me. You've been unconscious all night and if you rest, LIKE YOU SHOULD you should be fine with me helping the healing."

"Helping me heal?"

"Yes, at safe levels my chakra can help you heal, there's always a little bit flowing through your body, that's why you heal faster than everyone else. But if I direct it, focus it where it's needed, the small cut could heal in hours, maybe even less and a broken bone in a weekend."

"Cool, but why does everything hurt? I saw you give me chakra, but you said your chakra heals me?"

"I said at safe levels, and nothing about the levels I gave you was safe. As you get older you'll build up a resistance and be able to handle more. But as you are now, the amount I forced into you was more of an acid to you than anything else, and your chakra pathways are so small I almost ruptured some of them with the amount I forced into you."

"Then why-"

"Did you forget that your teacher was trying to kill you?"

"Oh… right"

"You need to understand, my chakra is by its nature chaotic, and by overwhelming your system it would drive you berserk, removing a lot of your natural restrictions and driving you into a killing frenzy."

"What, so you're saying I… killed him?"

"Blew his head from his shoulders, and he deserved far worse."

"b-b-but I didn't what to kill him! Just stop him!"

"Don't you dare feel sorry for him! He deserved far worse than just death, he deserved to suffer! He would have killed you and never regretted it, he deserves none of your pity and I will not let you give him any!"

After a few seconds of silence Naruto, thinking through what his…other foxy friend said,

"Ok, I get that this time it was me or him, but I don't want to kill anyone else ever again!"

After a pause Kurama mumbled out,

"Foolish child, you should talk to the old man with the white hat about this."

"You mean the Hokage? And don't call me foolish!"

"I will call you whatever I want! And do you know any other old men with a white hat? I've answered all of your questions, now go to sleep!"

"Wait! How can we talk to each other like this?"

"FOOLISH LITTLE… look, I'm not just sealed in your body. Your chakra, your life essence is what makes the cage, we are connected, so just like when you were in front of the cage we can talk. Now, GO TO SLEEP!"

Naruto could actually feel the contact cut, and with it, a wave of exhaustion hit him, and in seconds his world was swallowed by the darkness of sleep.

Slowly, feeling returned to him. The first thing he felt was how the pain had been replaced with a dull ache, and there was something very wet something nudging his face. Opening his eyes he saw a white fox with blue eyes nuzzling his face.

"Good morning Moshiro," Naruto said as he slowly lifted his hand to rest it on Moshiro.

Looking around he noticed that he was, in fact, in the hospital. He was in a small private room with one bed, chair, door and a window. If he could guess the time by the angle of the sun, he would say early morning.

"Hunh, wonder what day it is buddy?"

He asked as he sat up and Moshiro moved to sit in his lap.

Moments later the one door to his room opened, and a man walked in and said, "It would be Sunday, you slept all of yesterday, but it looks like you're making a speedy recovery, which I am very happy to see."

"Gramps!" Naruto said with a smile as he stepped into the room, sitting in the chair before turning to face Naruto fully, with a smile on this face he said,

"I'm happy to see you two finally up, how do you feel Naruto?"

"Just a bit sore, but besides that I feel fine! But how did Moshiro get in here? I didn't think they would let him in."

Chuckling to himself, Gramps looked at Moshiro and said, "When you were put in the recovery room, he managed to get in through the open window. I think the guard I placed on you has a soft spot for him."

Pointing to two small bowls, one with water and another with barley touched dog food.

"It's great to see you recovering so quickly Naruto."

"Great! That means I can go home now, right?" Naruto said as he pull out the best puppy dog eyes he could, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Moshiro giving him backup.

With a smile and a shake of his head, Gramps said,

"Not yet Naruto, I need to ask you about what you remember about Friday, just start at the beginning, and walk me through what happened."

Deep within him, he heard what was fast becoming a familiar voice.

"Hey kid say what you want to the old man, but don't tell him my name or about Moshiro being able to enter your inner world."

"What? Why?"

"He hasn't earned the right to use my name, and trust me when I say they will take him away if they find out what he did."

Looking down at Moshiro, he realized it didn't matter if he was wrong, he wouldn't take the risk.

"Naruto?"

"Sorry! Let's see…well me and Moshiro where walking through the woods when…"

It felt nice to talk with someone about it, he asked a few questions, mainly just to make sure he got it right, at least until we got to the whole being stabbed part.

"…So I managed to stab him with the piece of stone that was in my leg, but I didn't see where the kunai was so he must have stabbed me in the chest and-"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but did you say that he stabbed you in the chest?"

"Ya, right here"

He said as pulled up his shirt and pointed where he was stabbed two days ago.

"Didn't even feel it, I just got all heavy then fell over."

He turned to Gramps to see a look of shock on his face.

"The medical nin said you were having heart palpitations caused by some injury on the way to the hospital, the doctors were unable to find it or the cause, they were guessing it was caused by chakra poisoning but they had no way to confirm."

He said as he leaned forward to get a better look at where Naruto was pointing, before continuing.

"Not even a scar…but that means." Gramps looked quickly at Naruto's stomach before sitting back to look at Naruto.

"Do you remember anything else? Maybe after you blacked out?"

"Wait, he knows?"

"What do you think? Of course he knows! Always found it weird he never told you, given what you had to go through because of it."

"Go through?"

"You think most people hate on all orphans? No, almost every adult in the village knows from what I can guess. Heck, they must have kicked you out of the orphanage because of me. Cowards. There must be a law in place about not telling you, only thing that makes sense."

"What! HOW COULD HE LIE TO ME?"

"Do you?" Asked Naruto, glaring at Gramps.

"I'm sorry Naruto?" He replied.

"Do you know? I mean I was stabbed in the chest, I should be dead. Maybe Ereca sensei was right, I am a monster!" he said as angry tears started running down his face.

"You're no monster Naruto!"

"You would think I was the Kyuubi incarnate!"

Gramps flinched, visibly flinched, before he looked Naruto in the eye.

"You know," Gramps stated with a tone of resignation. It was not a question.

"The fact that I have a giant 9 tailed demon fox living in my stomach? Ya, I figured it out once I met him! What I don't know is why I've been lied to my entire life!" now barely able to see through the tears running down his face.

"At least then I would know why everyone hates me! Why there always whispering behind my back! Why I was kicked out of the orphanage for breaking a glass! Or when you moved me into an apartment, how everyone in the building moved out! And you never told me! My first friend was a fox! Kami must have had pity on me and gave a fox a fox friend!"

"ENOUGH!" The Hokage said as he stood from his seat.

Talking a deep breath he got on one knee to look Naruto in the eye before he continued.

"You are no fox, you are one of the kindest people I have ever met and if the people of Konoha can't see that then they are bigger fools then I thought. I thought not telling you would protect you, but it looks like I was wrong…"

"But I killed someone, only bad people kill."

"No Naruto, to kill should never been taken lightly, but to take another life to save another and protect yourself from death, there is nothing wrong with that."

After a pause he turned Naruto's head to look him in the eye.

"Through my life I have killed many, too many to count, to protect others, but I have accepted it, do you know why?"

After Naruto shook his head, Gramps continued.

"Because it was always to protect Konoha and the innocents that live in this world, and to be a shield for them, and when I have to, to be a sword for them. Does that make sense?"

After sniffing, he nodded, realizing it did make sense. He didn't like it, but that was ok. At least for now.

After a sad chuckle Gramps continued, resting his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You know this isn't what your dad wanted, he wanted you to be seen as a hero, the one that kept the village safe from the Kyuudi. He would be ashamed of Konoha if he knew what happened."

"Can you tell me about him?" Naruto said as he wiped away the last of his tears.

"Naruto you know I can't-"

"So just another thing I can't know?" Naruto said with a sad sigh.

After tugging on his beard for a couple of seconds, he turned towards Naruto with a cautious smile.

"How about this Naruto, I tell you what I can, but I promise you that when you become a chunin I will tell you everything I know, deal? I'll even tell you what Daikoku's plan was after that and why it's important. "

After thinking it over for a second, Kurama added in his thought.

"Probably the best you're going to get, might as well take it kid."

"Better than nothing I guess." Naruto said with a smirk.

With a sad smile on this face, Gramps said,

"Seeing how you already know about your tenant, it would be for your own benefit to know... now where to begin?"

After thinking it over he looked at Naruto with a smile,

"I knew your father fairly well; he was a quiet man, but kind and always looking out for his friends. From what I remember your mother fell in love with him on a mission. She was actually a lot like you, passionate to a fault at times. She was also one of the kindest people I've ever met, but I pity anyone that got on her bad side. They were thrilled when they found out they were having you, he would have made a great father to you."

He said with a sad smile before continuing, being watched with absolute focus from Naruto,

"He loved Konoha, and I have a hard time thinking of a man that fought harder for the Will of Fire."

"What's the will of fire?" Naruto asked, scratching the side of his head in confusion, "does that mean he used fire jutsu or something?"

The look of shock was almost humorous until it was replaced with anger.

"Looks like the academy is far worse of than I thought, I'll need to take a VERY serious look at their curriculum when we're done here."

Sighing deeply as he rubbed his eyes, he looked at Naruto with a serous expression on his face.

"The Will of Fire is the idea that the entire village is like a large family and every Konoha shinobi with the Will of Fire loves, believes, cherishes, and fights to protect the village, as previous generations had done before them. It is the belief by which every Hokage has led and it is what keeps Konoha together and strong; it gives us the strength to continue fighting against all odds for what we believe in. That, Naruto, is the Will of Fire, and if there's one thing I could ever pass onto you for your father, then it would be that."

"Wow, I've… I've never heard of that before," he said as he rubbed his head deep in thought before turning back with a smile.

"Thanks for telling me, but you said he was on a mission when mom… started liking him. But that means he was a Ninja! What did he do! Did he have a super cool move?"

"That, I am sorry to say Naruto, is not something I can tell you. But I can tell you that he had quite a gift with seals."

"Really?"

"Really, but I think I have told you everything I can now, so how about you finish telling your story? How about you start when you met the Kyuubi?"

"Ok, so I woke up in this weird sewer with this huge gate in it…"

It didn't take long to finish the story with some choice details left out.

"…and then the chakra touched me and the next thing I know I'm in a hospital, and I think that's everything."

"That's quite an eventful Friday you've had."

Gramps said as he was leaning back in the chair, tugging on his beard.

"It's good that the Kyuubi helped you this time, but you must understand, the Kyuubi will do everything in its power to get you to weaken the seal and get out. You must never let that happen, for it will not only kill you, it will release the 9 tails and there is no reason to assume he will not continue his attack on Konoha."

"Pff, I have no reason to attack Konoha, if it wasn't for that damn red eyed man with a white mask I never would have gone there to begin with."

"Red eyed man?"

Realizing he said it out loud he covered his mouth, but by the look on Gramps face, he heard everything.

"Red eyed man? Can you talk with the Kyuubi even when you're not in front of his cage?"

"Maybe?" Naruto said sheepishly, "look, it's just talking and he's giving pretty good advice! Please don't get angry!"

Rubbing his temples again, Gramps let out a sigh before saying,

"I'm not angry Naruto, but you need to tell me these things. Why don't you ask him what he meant while I check your seal. Pull your shirt up, please."

"I can hear you, you old fart!" Kurama yelled out as Naruto lifted his shirt for Gramps.

"Naruto, could you please focus some chakra into the seal"

"Uuuu, Kurama, how do I do that?"

"Fine, I'LL DO IT, but just because you clearly can't!"

"I can! I just don't know how…"

Naruto could literally feel the Kurama's laughter as a warm feeling spread to his stomach and an incredibly intricate seal materialized on his stomach. With a large sphere around his bellybutton as a base, two semi separate seals on the top and bottom that circled the top and bottom of the base seal that extended into four finger extensions away from the center. To put it simply it was by far the most complex seal Naruto had ever seen.

"This must only be the surface of it; it must function mainly for diagnostics and it looks like you can change its strength as a filter. The filter must be referring to the amount of Kurama's chakra that is allowed to flow" Naruto thought to himself as Gramps inspected the seal.

"Well I don't see any problems with it even with what happened this Friday."

Gramps said before he looked up at Naruto with a twinkle in his eye, "It is interesting to note that the Kyuubi can hear me and is willing to help you. Most interesting."

With a start, Kurama's laughter abruptly stopped,

"WHAT!"

"You knew I couldn't channel chakra?" Naruto said as a very angry fox was ranting and raving just below the surface.

"Of course, they teach it at the academy at the end of first year, still a few months away. I just wanted to see what your companion would do, and have to say, I am unexpectedly impressed. Now why don't you tell me what he said about the man with red eyes?"

"He, uh, didn't say much, just that he never would have attacked if it wasn't for the red eyed man with a white mask."

"Red eyed, are you sure he used those words exactly?"

"Ya, why?"

"Nothing for you to worry about Naruto, now I think it's about time I tell you about Daikoku Funeno was planning?"

Naruto knew when someone was trying to change the subject on him, but to be fair, he didn't care that much about the red eyed man with a white mask.

"Sure, I mean I kind of figured out he wanted to kill me, but why didn't he do it earlier?"

"That was only his back up unfortunately, his original plan… are you sure you want to know about this part?"

With a nod of Naruto's head, Gramps continued after taking a deep calming breath.

"You see he was not working alone, he had help from a teacher at the academy, Suzume."

"Suzume! You mean the teacher that focuses on girl ninja stuff?"

"Yes, you see years ago she was taught by my pupil, Jiraiya the Toad Sage the seal master and the one that made the seal book you're working through."

After nervously laughing and rubbing the back of his head Naruto said, "You…know about the book?"

With a twinkle in his eyes, Gramps said, "Naruto, there are very few things of note that I don't know about that happen in Konoha. I am quite alright with you having the book, as long as the next time you see me you bring back the ones you're not using."

Naruto started rubbing the back of his head before sheepishly responding, "Thanks gramps, I just managed to open up the second chapter, got to say, it felt a bit easy."

Eyes widening for a second gramps said, "already on the second chapter? You are your father's son." Before continuing,

"You see she was quit good back in the day, especially at mixing medical techniques into seals, but apparently gave it up after becoming a teacher. But it appears she was still keeping her skills sharp. Do you remember when you mentioned the seal under your chair?"

After Naruto nodded he continued, "I had someone search the bottom of all of the chairs in your class, yours was the only one with a seal on it, now perfectly intact, I was able to discern its purpose and… to put it simply, the early years of a person's life are vital when it comes to the development of chakra pathways, especially when it comes to the brain. What the seal was meant to do was disrupt chakra growth to over time, finally damaging them permanently. Especially when it comes to intelligence and fine chakra control of the victim of the seal."

Growing pale, Naruto said, "So you saying that it was…"

Nodding sadly, Gramps responded, "They where subtly crippling you."

Now panicking, Naruto, almost yelling said, "Is it too late! Can it be treated?"

"If it had been allowed to continue for the rest of the year, no. but with it stopped this early I have been assured you will be fine. I have no idea why the seal exploded, but if I was not made aware there would be no way for anyone to detect what had been done."

"You're welcome kid."

"You did it?"

"Of course, it was easy. I could feel what the seal was doing to you, and after you saved Moshiro's life, I figured a life for a life was a fair trade and all I had to do was shoot a bit of my chakra through the chair into the seal. Don't make a big deal out of it.

"Thank you, I don't even…thank you."

"Don't mention it kid. Or do, I don't care"

"It was the Kyubbi, he was what set it off."

Pausing, gramps looked at Naruto in surprise.

"Really? Well that will give me much to think on." He said as he leaned back in thought.

"But it's ok now, with Daikoku gone, and I'm guessing you have Suzume, so that's everyone right?" Naruto said with a smile.

Leaning forward, gramps shook his head,

"Unfortunately not Naruto, we were unable to complete the interrogation of Suzume, but we believe there is at least one more person who is at the school with contacts outside of Konoha to get the supplies needed for the seal, which would not be easy to obtain and neither of them had those sorts of contacts. That is actually why I have told you all of this. You see we read through Suzume's notes on the seal and she had no way of knowing how long it would take for the seal to work. We can fake them leaving the village together, but we have no way of knowing who the others are, so we must make it look like they succeeded."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Until you become Genin and graduate the academy I need you to fake bad grades in school."

"But, can't you just graduate me now?"

"I would if I could, but there are… outside considerations that would prevent me from doing it."

"But you're the Hokage!" Naruto said, now getting frustrated.

Yes, but trust me when I say several clans and other prominent people would take some form of action if I acted and as they are now, it would not end well."

"Well this sucks! I have to do badly until I graduate!"

"You can consider this a B ranked mission that will be put on your record when you're put on a team, and you'll be able to make more friends at the academy with the people you will be grouped with."

Seeing how this was not helping Naruto, the Hokage decided to try something else.

"How about this Naruto, I will do you one favour that is within my power, and do not worry about Moshiro, I have found a solution to that."

"What is it?" Naruto asked happily.

"What do you know of the Inuzuka Clan Naruto?"

"They fight with ninja dogs and smell like wet dogs."

Gramps laughed before responding, "that might be true, but don't let them hear you say that! But how this becomes important is within the rules of Konoha there is a law put in place for the Inuzuka clan that lets their pets be considered ninjas of Konoha, with all the protections that entails. But the important thing is that the race for this law is not set, so a fox would be well within the power of the law."

"And that will protect Moshiro?"

"Trust me that I will spread the word on Monday and no one would be foolish enough do act against you or him."

Pulling out a small scroll that was hidden in his robe, and a small vial of ink, Gramps unrolled the scroll. On the scroll there were two spaces at the bottom, one for an official signature, already signed by Gramps, and an empty space for a paw print and a name of the beast and the handler.

With a paw print from Moshiro and Naruto filling out both spots, gramps wrapped up the document.

"I will make sure this is filed today, now have you thought at all about the favor?

Happy that the Moshiro problem had been solved, he was thinking it over when Moshiro's words came back to him, 'You couldn't even protect one fox, never mind yourself' and that gave him an idea.

Speaking slowly to make sure he didn't miss mispronounce anything, he asked Gramps,

"Well seeing how I have to basically fail all classes I won't be able to properly push myself, and seeing how I'm still in some danger... If I could get personal training from some ninjas you trust, that's what I would like."

It felt like forever as Gramps thought it over, but eventually, a smile crossed his face.

"You know Naruto; I think that's an excellent idea. It won't be easy but I can definitely make this worth your while."

After shaking his head with a smile he said, "All you have to do is not draw attention to yourself."

Well...let's see how well that goes!

so this is the end of the arc, the next chapter will be skipping ahead to the time line we all know so well. There will be a few flash backs to what happened during that time, and some characters might show up earlier then expected, you'll haft to wait and see.

I hope this filled in any questions people might have had, the shadowy figure a few chapters back was in fact the Hokage, not Danzo.

it might take a while for the next chapter to come out but i'm not a person to leave a project unfinished, so it might take time, but I wont stop working!

any questions or mistakes let me know,

By guys!