Sorry if this is a bit angsty. Future chapters should be much less so. Hopefully the end of the chapter restores a bit of cheer. This is what I get for writing at 1am.

(3 months before Naruto returned to Konoha)

After having worked a particularly grueling shift at the hospital, Sakura was anticipating taking a nice, relaxing, to help soothe the aches and pains accrued throughout the day of work.

Sakura thoroughly enjoyed her work. Despite the long hours and occasional heartbreak that came with some failures, she never regretted her choice in careers. It made her feel part of something larger than herself, crucial to something of importance, a place in which she could make a real difference in the world. And with a teacher like the world-renowned Tsunade Senju being her mentor, she really felt as if she could become something great, greater even than her master.

Sighing, she thought to herself, "That'll be the day. I need to focus on the here and now. I'm nowhere near ready to be thinking about surpassing Lady Tsunade… yet."

Glancing around her room as she stretched her arms, her eyes were (as usual) drawn to the photo on her nightstand. As she picked up her team photo from her younger days as part of Team 7, she naturally thought of the two who were no longer present in the village.

"I wonder what you two are doing right now… Naruto and Sasuke."

She recalled her desperate pleas, the first for Sasuke to take her with him, and the second for Naruto to bring him back. She had been doubly let down. Sasuke thanked her (for what, she didn't know), but he left anyway for gods know what reason. And Naruto swore on everything he was to bring Sasuke back and yet came back with nothing but injuries, which Sakura was never able to learn the extent nor origin of; those particular records had been sealed by Shizune for reasons she refused to go into. He had a number of bandages but he didn't seem to badly of when she saw him in the hospital.

"And to leave Konoha right after you got back… I still wonder what was going on with you Naruto. You'd never give up on a friend, even if it killed you. And who was a closer friend to you than Sasuke?"

As she recalled his strained expressions as he reaffirmed his promise to her, she continued "You just didn't seem like yourself when you left…"

As her thoughts turned to her other teammate, she wondered what Orochimaru - a traitor, wanton murder and psychopath extraordinaire - could offer Sasuke that he'd up and leave the village, leave her, leave their team.

As she tried to shake off this malaise, a strong knock sounded off her apartment door. To her surprise, the source was an ANBU agent whose face was hidden behind the porcelain mask of a bird of some sort.

"You've been summoned by Hokage-sama. You are to report to her office in 1-hour. Tell no one where you are going."

Though surprised, Sakura knew her master wouldn't call for her unless it was of the utmost importance.

"Of course. I'll head over shortly."

Nodding, the masked agent disappeared in a puff of smoke due to the Body Flicker Technique.

After taking a quick shower and switching into her typical ninja attire, Sakura decided to grab a quick bite to eat at Ichiraku's before answering Tsunade's summons. Although she had often berated Naruto for frequenting the establishment in their younger days, she had grown fond of the place in his absence; it helped ease how much she mused him after being gone for 2 years.

Eating her full and briefly chatting with Teuchi and Ayame, Sakura proceeded to the Hokage Tower and up to the Hokage's office.

As she filed into the room, Sakura noticed that several others from her graduating class in the Academy were present as well.

"Hey there Hinata! What are you and your team doing here?"

Hinata seemed a bit distant with Sakura most of the time, for reasons unknown to Sakura. Since it didn't interfere with their work, she didn't question it.

"I'm not sure, Sakura. Lady Hokage sent an ANBU for my team and simply told us to show up."

"Hm, same here." She wondered what Tsunade was up to.

Kiba was quickly losing patience, and the nearby Team Guy wasn't doing much better. As Team Asuma walked into room, Tsunade walked in behind them with Shizune.

"You're all here, good good."

Despite how she masked it, Sakura could tell there was a slight edge to the Hokage's voice. The upcoming conversation couldn't be pleasant.

Coughing into her fist to get everyone focused, Tsunade spoke, "I'm sure you are all wondering why I called you here today. It's not a pleasant conversation, I'm sorry to say. But before that, lemme just ensure our privacy."

Maneuvering her fingers into the standard chakra concentration hand sign, Tsunade activated the privacy seals located around the room. These seals would suppress any outbound sound to foil eavesdroppers and would distort any visual jutsu being used to see into the Hokage's office.

"Lady Tsunade, are these precautions necessary?"

"Some of what we will discuss is crucial in maintaining the peace and so the seals are just a precaution. With that said, I think it's time I cut to the chase. I've received and decoded a message from my fellow Sannin, Jiraiya."

The various chunin and single jonin in the office look surprised at her statement, while several others smiled at the implication.

Sakura spoke quickly. "Does that mean Naruto will be returning soon?!"

Nodding, Tsunade continued, "Yes. He and Jiraiya should be returning in about 3 months, according to the missive. But Naruto's return is the problem I called you all here for."

Sakura was shocked. "How could Naruto be a problem… his usual antics aside. A problem big enough to require all this…?" she thought to herself.

"Tsunade-sama, what do you mean? How could Naruto-kun be a problem" Hinata asked nervously.

Looking as if she'd rather be having any conversation besides this, Tsunade said "You all need to hear why Naruto had to leave for 2 years."

Everyone looked confused, Sakura especially.

"What do you mean, sensei? Naruto was leaving to train with Jiraiya-sama so he could bring Sasuke back right?"

"That was certainly part of the reason but it's more complicated than that, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?"

Sighing, Tsunade brought out a green scroll from her pocket and placed it on her desk.

Before anyone could ask what the scroll was for, Tsunade asked the group a question.

"Are any of you aware of what a Jinchūriki is?"

Glancing around the room, Sakura saw mostly looks of confusion. Neji and Shikamaru seemed to recognize the term. Sakura herself could only recall seeing the term mentioned in passing in old war records. She knew the characters for the term indicated a it had something to do with a power of human sacrifice. However, the meaning of it wasn't known to her.

"I can see most of you are unaware. In short, a Jinchūriki is a human weapon of sorts. A human with the power of a Tailed Beast at their call, having been sealed within them with a powerful Fuinjutsu."

Kiba scratched his head in confusion, and responded "...Tailed Beast?"

Neji spoke up. "Nine beasts bearing the strongest chakra, they're practically forces of nature. Like Kyuubi, the Nine-Tails." He looked at Tsunade pointedly, who nodded in response.

Speaking nervously, Sakura asked "OK, and what's important about these Jinchūriki, and why are they a problem with Naruto? Has he been fighting them?" Sakura didn't like the sound of this human weapon and human sacrifice business. It sounded far too ominous.

Tsunade exhaled deeply. "Honestly, I'm surprised he even agreed to allow me to tell you all this. The issue is that Naruto is a Jinchūriki. Within him is sealed the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox."

"WHAT?!" shouted Sakura. Ino and several others gasped similarly in response. Rock Lee's face looked pale, as did Hinata's.

Tsunade raised her hands to get everyone's attention again.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. The Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto the day he was born. He was used to contain the demon when it attacked Konoha 16 years ago."

Sakura was close to hyperventilating. How could Naruto of all people have to bear something like that. It was horrifying. She wondered why he never told her.

"Would I have even associated with him if he told me?" she asked herself. She didn't know the answer and that upset her.

"Tsunade-sama… is this why the village hated Naruto so much? They all knew about him, didn't they?" Sakura could remember a few times she overheard adults around the village spit words like "demon" at a young Naruto.

"Yes. There were too many witnesses to the sealing, it couldn't be covered up. Although it appears Neji already knew somehow, I'm sorry you all had to find out this way. I'm sure Naruto wanted to tell you himself, but the circumstances just didn't allow it. Jiraiya needed to get him out of Konoha."

"What do you mean, sensei?"

Tapping the scroll on her desk, Tsunade said "The answers are here in this scroll. As you all know, important missions must be properly recorded, analyzed and stored away for future reference. Whether by a genjutsu or by the Yamanaka clan's telepathic abilities, we make a detailed copy of the memories related to the mission and seal them into these recording scrolls. Although a civilian mind wouldn't retain as detailed a memory, shinobi have highly detailed visual and auditory memories due to improving their spiritual energy, which makes up half one's chakra along with the body's physical energy."

Tapping the green scroll again, she continued, "This scroll contains Naruto's memories of that last mission several of you went on. Although he was unconscious, we needed to have Inoichi obtain this recording to figure what the hell happened. The contents were… disturbing."

Everyone noticed Tsunade's prominent frown, so they were afraid to hurry up the explanation.

"Rather than tell you, it'd be better if you just saw for yourselves. We can enter the memory and see the events of that day. But I'm warning you: This will change your perception of those you see in the memory, including Naruto. Naruto agreed to let me show you this before he left 2 years ago, but having viewed it several times myself, I can attest that it's hard to watch."

Several of the younger generation looked at each other nervously. They couldn't imagine what would be worse than what they'd already been told.

Rock Lee was the first to speak up. "Let us see what the Hokage has. Naruto was a friend to many of us. He has already shared his darkest secret with us, the least we can do is honor that trust."

Everyone nodded, though some like Ino did so with more trepidation.

Tsunade opened the scroll on her desk. Indicating the jutsu formula surrounding the character in the center of the scroll, she said "Everyone place a hand on this jutsu formula. It will pull your minds into the memory of the fight in question. Naruto's fight with Sasuke."

Everyone was thrown for a loop. They knew the Sound Four (or rather, Five) had delayed the recovery team, but they didn't know Naruto had fought Sasuke himself.

Ino spoke angrily, "That idiot fought with Sasuke instead of bringing him back? I didn't think even he was that stupid."

Tsunade slammed her right fist upon her desk, nearly cracking it in half; Ino went silent at the display of strength.

"Maybe instead of running your mouth you should watch this memory and see what happened." Despite her quieter voice, Tsunade's tone indicated how pissed she was at what Ino said.

Gulping, Ino and the rest of their group placed a hand on the formula.

Tsunade activated the seal to pull them into the memory of that day. The day the two friends fought at the Valley of the End…

As the group fell into the darkness of the memory, the found themselves landing on the waters of a large lake surrounding by huge cliff faces on all sides.

Tsunade got their attention by clapping. "I've selected this moment as the best place to start. They'd been fighting for maybe 10 minutes, but this will be illuminating."

She pointed over at two figures racing at each other over the surface of the lake at high speeds, their respective jutsu in hand.

Sakura had to catch her breath. It had been 2 years since she had seen them. She knew they were kids no longer, and that they must look different now. All the same, it was them. And yet again, charging at each other with those same techniques she saw them use on the hospital roof 2 years prior.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

The raven-haired boy thrust his lightning covered hand forward, with the blond doing likewise with his spiraling sphere of chakra.

As the boys tried to gain the upper hand in the collision of A-ranked jutsu, the techniques exploded sending them flying.

"Naruto, Sasuke!" Sakura shouted.

"Forehead, it's just a memory," Ino said flatly.

"Uh, yea, right. Sorry…" she said to the group in embarrassment, palming her face.

They watched as Sasuke stood atop the water first and walked over to the floating body of Naruto. Sasuke picked up the blonde by the throat as the black marks of the cursed seal covered his body.

"Don't you see loser, you were never a match for me. The Uchiha were the strongest clan of the Leaf, you no name clown."

Naruto struggled against the boy's grip, and managed to gasp out "Why?! You… were my best friend..."

Laughing maniacally, Sasuke said "For power. I already told you on our first day as Team 7. I aim to kill my brother. Before that goal, all else is just a distraction."

Tsunade broke the group out of the trance the scene had them under, saying bitterly "Here's where it begins."

Smiling as he activated Chidori again, he said softly "And you Naruto, you are just in the way."

Much to everyone's shock, Sasuke directed the attack towards Naruto's heart. There was no mistaking it, Sasuke was aiming to murder Naruto, a fact Naruto knew as well.

The group could hear Naruto's internal thoughts at the sight. "He's… he's really trying to kill me!"

Somehow Naruto managed to deflect the Chidori from his heart. It still went straight through his chest on the other side, surely bursting a lung and numerous bones.

Sakura began to cry. How could Sasuke do something like that. To try and kill Naruto, his best friend. Much less smile about it.

"You may have deflected my attack, but you won't be using anymore jutsu Naruto. This is the end for you."

Suddenly, a familiar red chakra began to spill out of Naruto as a bright red aura. He grabbed Sasuke's wrist in a death grip, forcing the Uchiha to pull back before the bone was broken.

What was most frightening weren't the fangs or frayed hair, it was the malice the chakra gave off, even in Naruto's memory of it. Worse, behind Naruto the chakra showed a phantom of the fox demon itself. Kiba looked about willing to wet his pants at the sight.

Naruto's chest wound began to heal at a rapid rate, causing Sasuke to shout "Just what the hell are you, some kind of demon?"

Naruto, now with red slitted eyes, simply shouted "I was your friend. So that's why I refuse to let a bastard like Orochimaru take you, Sasuke!"

Throwing a punch at Sasuke from 20 feet away, a powerful shockwave projected from the fist, slamming into Sasuke, sending him flying backward across the water before he regained his footing.

Before the group could watch anymore of the heartbreaking scene, Tsunade interrupted again and said "The next important bit is up ahead, so we'll skip ahead." Using the hand sign from before, the scene sped ahead.

They were dropped into another section of the fight. Despite Naruto's superior speed while using the Fox's chakra, it was clear Sasuke had somehow gained the upper hand and was intercepting and dispelling all of Naruto's Shadow Clones.

After Naruto used a brutal Clone combo to slam the 2 into a cliff face, Sasuke retaliated with a powerful Fire Release technique.

"Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!"

The fire incinerated the chain of clones, leaving only a startled original in front of Sasuke on the cliff.

"S-sasu...ke" he muttered.

"Don't you see Naruto! It's useless!"

The Uchiha threw Naruto off the cliff towards the ground below. Shockingly however, the boy jumped after Naruto and put him into a piledriver, slamming Naruto headfirst into the stone below.

Hinata was now the one shouting for Naruto to get up, tears streaming down her face all the while. Sakura wasn't sure how much more she could watch.

As Naruto's now limp body fell into the lake and floated away, the group saw a terrifying sight.

A giant cage suddenly sprang into existence near Naruto's body. Behind the cage was a massive figure, a silhouette framed in the same red chakra they saw earlier.

The demonic presence began to laugh in its deep, commanding voice. "You really are weak, aren't you kid? Even with my power, you let that Uchiha scum best you. Perhaps you need a bit more to kill him?"

Naruto's voice echoed around them, "I don't need your help you bastard. I'm not trying to kill him, I just need to beat him up so I can bring him home like I promised!" Their surroundings took on the look of a massive boiler room of sorts with the huge cage taking of one side of the large room. There were pipes leading away from the massive cage, and in the middle of the room was Naruto kneeling on one knee in fatigue.

"And why would you want to do such a thing? Are you such a fool that you don't realize this is a betrayal?" the beast spat at him.

"It's just the Curse Mark. Sasuke would never do this otherwise!"

"Naruto I've observed the whole fight. He is not currently tapping into that mark's power."

Clearly frustrated, Naruto retorted "Well then then mark messed him up from before! If I can just get him back to-"

"You damned fool! That Uchiha wasn't kidnapped Naruto, he left of his own free will. He even tried to kill you. He has been corrupted all right, but not by that snake's mark. His desire for revenge above all else led him to this; don't make excuses for him!"

"You're wrong, you don't know anything about him!" he declared.

"Oh spare me boy. I've seen everything you've seen throughout your life. Everything. So I can say without a doubt that this is exactly how he'd act at the promise of the power to kill his brother."

Naruto was rendered silent at that declaration, with doubt visibly creeping onto his face.

"Y-you're wrong…"

"Am I Naruto? Are you going to lie and say that this is the first betrayal you've experienced? The first rejection? Amusing." The large fox was grinning evilly at the young Naruto.

"Come now Naruto, even you shouldn't be too surprised by this. They all let you down in the end. Can you name a single person in your life who hasn't majorly let you down, betrayed you, hurt you?"

Naruto was stunned at the beast's observation. Sakura wanted to speak up, to tell Naruto to give that fox a piece of his mind. That his team had never betrayed him before.

"K-kakashi-sensei never…"

"Oh Naruto Naruto Naruto, he has let you down, you just didn't know it. Haven't you always wanted to know who your parents were, why you were left alone in the world? To find anything that would make you feel you had a belonged somewhere?"

Naruto stared up at the fox with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "What?" he said in shock.

"Goodness me, did Kakashi not mention that he knew your parents personally? His jonin-sensei was your old man, after all. And I know for a fact that he was aware your mother was pregnant with you. Hell, the 3rd Hokage knew as well, he secured the venue your mother gave birth at. What was it he told you again? That you had no need to know who your parents were? That stung, I'm sure."

Naruto was breathing harder now, angered at what he was hearing. "Iruka-sensei was always there for m-"

"Sure Naruto, after he proved he saw you as no different than the rest of the village. And when did he seek you out, hm? After you got into trouble and nearly lost the Leaf access to my power. He was obligated as a Leaf-nin to bring you back. Getting close to you simply allowed Konoha to keep you in the village."

Naruto began to cry in earnest now, covering his ears to try and block out the Kyuubi's words.

"Let's see, who else. Mizuki? You already saw his true feelings. Maybe your Academy friends? Pfft, what have they done for you besides give you grief and name call you? Sasuke? HAH, I believe the Uchiha is giving you a masterclass in how to let people down. You thought if anyone would understand you it would be him. I guess that shared understanding didn't mean much to him."

At this point Naruto shouted "Shut-up! I don't want to hear it you bastard!"

Ignoring him, the Fox continued "Who else is there? Sakura? She's bound to give you up to get to the Uchiha at some point. Isn't that why you're fighting him so hard, Naruto? Or maybe Jiraiya? Unreliable at best. He even let his own teacher down, leading to his death. You barely register on his radar; it's only a matter of time just like the others. Perhaps Tsunade? Yes, she might be the one you can count on…"

Naruto almost looked hopeful at the lifeline thrown to him, only for it to be snatched away.

"Of course, she gave you that necklace, so I doubt she has too much faith in you."

Naruto looked down at the First Hokage's necklace he won from Tsunade after mastering Rasengan in a week.

Smiling devilishly, the demon pushed on "Didn't she tell you? The function of that necklace is to help keep me sealed away. If too much of my power escapes, there's a shinobi in the Leaf who can use that necklace as an added seal against me. So while she spoke pretty words about having such faith in you, that didn't extend to your ability to keep me contained. She assumed you were too weak in the end."

Naruto went silent again, not noticing the red chakra now oozing out of the cage towards him.

"But come now Naruto, surely you know the one, the only one, who hasn't let you down once in your life."

Naruto looked into the beast's eyes. "It's me, Naruto. I've always been there for you. I've seen every triumph, I've seen the many failures. The love, the loss, the heartache. The trials and the tribulations. Whenever you were hurt, I healed you. Whenever you required more power, I protected you. Whenever the villagers would gang up to try and hurt you, my presence frightened them away."

Chuckling darkly as it's crimson chakra began to pool around Naruto, the beast said in an almost seductive tone, "It's ironic, isn't it Naruto? For all their claims of you and I being the demons, they were the real monsters all along. You wanted to be loved more than anything in the world, but they spat on you But not I, Naruto. I'm always here, even when the world tells you you don't deserve love. And I'm still here, I can turn this fight around for you…"

The beast stuck a claw between the bars of the cage. "Commune with me, Naruto. Release a tail of my power, not those mere shrouds like before. Strike the Uchiha down; surely this betrayal just cuts too deep."

The group had been silent for some time. Even Tsunade had tears running down her cheek, despite having seen the events before.

The young Naruto stood up and grabbed onto the The Fox's claw, releasing a blinding flash of light.

The group were brought outside the seal again to the sight of Naruto being enveloped by red chakra again, this time far more dense. Once it covered him completely, the boy screamed briefly before falling onto all fours. The chakra had taken the shape of a fox outline around Naruto, complete with a single tail.

As the boy began roaring and prepared to engage Sasuke again, Tsunade called out "I think we've seen enough of this fight, we should move on."

Performing the hand sign again, the recorded memories fast forwarded again.

Shikamaru asked "Why'd you stop it? What happened afterward?!"

Tsunade wiped the tears from her eyes. "I just couldn't bear to see it again, it was too much. Afterward Sasuke would tap into the Curse Mark further so he could match Naruto. The two went for broke, with Sasuke going for the kill again. Naruto couldn't do it though. Despite the Kyuubi's influence, he refuse to go for a fatal blow as the beast's chakra would have poisoned Sasuke."

Hinata gathered herself and asked "So how does this relate to Naruto leaving the village?"

"That will become apparent with the last recorded memory."

As the next scene came into focus, they realized they were at the Konoha hospital, the same one Sakura and Ino now worked at.

Jiraiya was walking toward a bandaged, solemn Naruto as he lay in his hospital bed in an otherwise empty room.

"Naruto. I think you've been silent long enough. Bottling up how you feel won't help things, it will only weaken your resolve."

Naruto looked at the white-haired man with a defeated expression, which turned to anger.

"And what do you want me to say, geezer? That I feel betrayed, humiliated, is that it?"

Jiraiya remained silent to let the boy get it all off his chest.

Grasping at the bed's blanket, he continued bitterly. "If there's one thing I learned out there, it's that I don't have a damn thing in my life going for me. I always thought, yeah sure, maybe I was dealt a shitty hand but I could turn it around if I just worked my ass off to change things, if I didn't give up there had to be a better life waiting for me out there. I tried to give more than I thought I could, but it always blew up in my face anyway."

At this point, he began to fight back tears. "I can't trust anyone. I tried, I really did. Hell, I thought I was turning a corner, making progress. But I was ignoring the past, because I should have known it couldn't last. Of all people, I thought as long as Sasuke and I were friends I could make it. He didn't have it much better than I did, yet he knew exactly what he wanted to do in life. I wanted to be just like him."

"Naruto, the Uchiha boy was clearly hiding quite a lot of hatred in his heart. That run-in with his brother just brought to surface what was always there." Jiraiya said somberly.

"You don't get it. In Team 7's first mission outside the Leaf, he was willing to trade his life to save me. He threw himself in front of an attack that looked fatal, knowing he'd probably die in the process."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at news. Sakura and the others members were even more surprised since they knew how distant Sasuke could be and how poorly he had gotten along with Naruto.

"So you see old man, all I can think now is that he decided I just wasn't worth it. And he's not the first. I know Kakashi-sensei knows who my parents are, yet he never thought to share that information with me."

Jiraiya asked in shock, "How did you know that? Who told you this, Naruto?"

Ignoring him, Naruto continued as he gestured at his necklace. "And then there's this. I thought Tsunade gave it to me as a sign of faith that I could fulfill my dream, that I could do anything I set my mind to. But then I find out this necklace is used to restrict a Tailed Beast's chakra. I may be an idiot, but even I can put 2 and 2 together."

Jiraiya nearly yelled, "Naruto, have you been speaking with the Kyuubi?!"

"But most of all, I just feel so empty. I gave everything I had to prove to Gaara that strength comes from wanting to protect those close to you. And then I suddenly realized, I don't have that. I was deluding myself to think otherwise. I just don't think I can stay here any longer."

"Naruto!"

The boy looked up at the Sannin with his puffy, red eyes. "You're not alone in this world, don't listen to that damn Fox. The Nine-Tails is an incarnation of hatred. It seeks to unravel you so that the seal binding it will be removed. Even if there's no one else, I will be here for you. Just like I was for your father."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "So you knew who my parents were too?"

Nodding his head, the Toad Sage said "I'll tell you who they were, but I think we should leave the village first. It will be good for you."

Naruto seemed surprised at the man's words. "After all, you still plan to go after Sasuke, right?"

"I swore to Sakura I'd bring him back no matter what. Even though it hurts, I don't plan to break that promise anytime soon," he said firmly.

"Well in that case you knucklehead, you better get ready for a few years of grueling training. I'll be teaching you almost everything I know, and then some. And I think getting out and seeing the world can help you find something to believe in again, something to fight for. It's a bit personal, but I went through a similar scenario with Orochimaru decades back. Not to toot my own horn (*toot*), but I eventually I became a well-known author. It became a passion of mine!"

Those viewing smiled as Naruto's gloom was replaced with his snickering. "So you ended up writing those raunchy trash novels after that snake bastard left? Gods I hope I don't lose my mind and decency like you, Pervy Sage."

Jiraiya jumped back in shock and then glared at Naruto. "Raunchy trash novels?! I'll have you know my 'Icha Icha' series is highly regarded all over the continent. You're just too young to understand the intricacies of the plot, the expertise of the of the writing, the subtly of the romance… After you've been around the block a few times, maybe I will consider your opinion worth acknowledging."

Laughing genuinely, Naruto said "Pervy Sage, you're too easy to get worked up."

Sighing, Jiraiya spoke in a more serious tone. "They weren't my first attempt at writing." Pulling a worn out book out from his pocket, he showed Naruto a book titled 'Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. "After we've had a talk about your parents, I'll let you read this. I'm hoping it will give you the direction you're looking for in life."

"What's that?"

"Well, I don't want to spoil anything. I'll just say it was the first book I ever wrote. It did abysmal, hardly anyone bought it. But if I'm being honest, it's the book I'm most proud of," he said with quiet smile at odds with his usual bombastic personality.

"When can we leave, shisho?"

"'Shisho', you say? Who knew you could be respectful. As soon as you're fit to leave the hospital, we'll pack up and leave. We have 3 years before Orochimaru can take over Sasuke's body. You'll have my whole focus for more than 2 of those years. We'll travel the world, see all kinds of cultures. You can find yourself and grow stronger, much stronger. I think you need this more than anything. It'll be better than sitting in bed bitching and moaning about how unfair life is, anyway."

Nodding his head, Naruto declared, "I'll be ready by tomorrow, Jiraiya-sensei!"

At this point, Tsunade ending the memory recording and brought the group back to reality.

"As you saw, he needed some time away from the village to find himself, to discover what he wanted to do with his life. If he decides to return with Jiraiya, I honestly don't know if he's even interested in becoming Hokage anymore. He wanted that position to get people to respect him, but now he's not sure he wants anything to do with the people of Konoha," she responded solemnly.

Sakura was blown away. Never would she have thought Naruto would have such crisis. For as long as she could remember, the blonde had been loudly proclaiming his desire to become the Hokage. And after hearing how he defeated Gaara, she was starting to believe he could do it.

"But that's not the only reason he left…" Tsunade said.

"As you saw, even a small fraction of the Kyuubi's power is enormous. Jiraiya saw this as the perfect opportunity to train Naruto to face a group which seeks to obtain the Tailed Beasts: Akatsuki."

Neji looked on in concern. "What would anyone wish to obtain all of them for?"

Shaking her head, Tsunade responded "Not a clue. Nothing good I'm sure. As this group is filled with S-rank missing-nin, they're extremely dangerous. Not long before Sasuke defected in fact, 2 Akatsuki members snuck into the village trying to capture Naruto. With his confidence beat up and in danger while alone, Jiraiya figured seeing the world for himself might let him find something to hold onto again. "

Shizune cleared her throat. "Milady, don't you think you should wrap this up? It's getting quite late," she said, gesturing at the dying light of the sunset.

"Indeed. Now look, I know this is a lot to take in. But try to really consider what of you saw. Naruto thought you deserved to know, but honestly I could tell he was terrified at what you'd think once you saw. I'm just asking that you don't overreact to it. If he returns, I'm sure you hope as much as I do that our lovable idiot is feeling like himself again. Thanks to Jiraiya, there's a good chance he'll be back to normal by the time he returns."

As Sakura got into bed that night, she couldn't get the images she saw out her mind. Sasuke attempting to kill Naruto repeatedly, Naruto being broken down busy the Kyuubi's words, him being a Jinchūriki… it made her feel sick to her stomach at how awful it was for him.

She desperately hoped Naruto would return with Jiraiya in 3 months, to assure him she was still his friend, that she wouldn't hurt him like that Fox Demon predicted.

"Please Naruto, come back to us, back to me…" she murmured.

(A/N):

Let me know what you think in the reviews. I probably need to work on some things (I might have gone a bit overboard with the Nine-Tails stuff). Give me some feedback, thanks~ Oh and this fic is NaruSaku, no question. Not to get into it here, but the canon pairings were moronic and poorly written; the latter is basically indisputable as far as I'm concerned.

So the other chapters will be a bit different from this, if I continue. If anyone wants to see more of this, the next chapter will start when Naruto (freshly trained by Jiraiya) returns to Konoha 2.5 years after he left. The point of this prologue chapter was to introduce some of the differences I wanted to make from the canon events. It bugged me that Kurama only once in the story used Naruto's history as a weapon against him in order to make him draw on the Kyuubi's chakra. Kurama has seen everything Naruto has in his life, it's in the prime position to draw on his hopes, fears and failures to get him to weaken the seal by breaking down his confidence in himself. Also, in this fic Neji knew Naruto was Kurama's Jinchuriki because he (as in canon) saw an image of the Nine-Tails with his Byakugan during their match in the Chunin Exams.

And if you were annoyed by the summary I gave for the fanfiction, well, chill. I just had a lot of issues with the 'Naruto' manga (don't get me started on the anime). There was just a lot of bad writing, from intentionally deceptive parallels to theme inconsistencies to convenient killings so Naruto didn't have to actually deliver on his proclamations. It just pissed me off, especially the shitty ending. I hate to call him a hack - because he created a genuinely interesting world - but Kishimoto just bungled so many of the positives the 'Naruto' series had and it really disappointed me. From the nonsense involving the Otsutsuki Clan, to the inflation of the story of the Sage of the Six Paths (for no reason) to laziness in resolving the Land of Water's Kekkai Genkai bigotry simply by making Mei the Mizukage, to everything coming down to destiny despite Naruto's argument with Neji, etc. Part 1 of Naruto was actually quite good, Part 2 tanked most of those positives, made lots of negatives and ended up spoiling most of its own positives due to inconsistencies with Part 1 of 'Naruto'. The purpose of this fic is pretty hard to accomplish, but I want to retell the story of Part 2 of Naruto in a way that makes sense based on the themes of Part 1. Hopefully I can do this; we'll see I suppose.

Anyway, sorry for all the bitching and ranting down here, I'm not trying to suggest I'm better than Kishimoto at writing or some shit. Since I'm not sure how well (if at all) this story will be received or if it will continue, I figured I'd go ahead and say my peace while I had your attention. He just made a lot of avoidable mistakes that he easily avoided in Part 1 and it annoys the hell out of me. If you did enjoy this (it will get better, promise), please Favorite, Follow and (especially) REVIEWeven if you are only a guest reader.

Also, read TheLemonSage's Naruto Fanfic "Eroninja". Someone reuploaded the series here on FF, but the TLS updates it over on FicWad. It's really good and probably my favorite Naruto fanfic. It has a bazillion lemons and is a harem fic though, hehe.

-MindForged