Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would get a lot more feedback than I do. Thank goodness I write for my own pleasure (and to get the ideas out of my head) instead of for money. I'd be starving if I was doing this for money. Kishimoto owns Naruto and he won't answer my pleas for negotiations.

Chapter Five

Revelations

Iruka spent the afternoon watching Naruto sleep and playing cards with Kakashi. Both of them had their attention focused more on the boy in the bed than the game they were trying to play. Around one Naruto woke up. He jerked awake and glanced around the room in a small panic. Once his eyes fell on Kakashi he settled and the tension bled out of his frame.

"You're safe Naruto," said Kakashi as Iruka asked if he was hungry since he'd slept through the lunch hour.

Naruto grimaced and shook his head remembering the gas attack earlier and having no wish to suffer it again. His small fingers darted into the waistband of his underpants as his eyes watched for an opportunity to take the pill they found secreted there. Even though Kyuubi had kept him safely asleep until she could take away the memories again he really wanted the freedom he found in his little friends. Besides just because Kyuubi thought he was safe here didn't mean he was. She had thought that before and they'd both learned better. He waited with the small pill clutched in his fingers.

Soon both Kakashi and Iruka were looking away and quick as a flash his hand flew to his mouth. Just as he inserted the pill Kakashi looked at him again. In a blur he was across the room and prying Naruto's jaws apart as the child's throat worked to swallow the pill dry.

"No more Naruto. You don't need those anymore. Open up and spit it out," said Kakashi but Naruto had succeeded in swallowing it and within a few minutes his eyes went overly bright and glassy. Kakashi sank onto the side of his bed and pulled the boy forward. Naruto struggled to get free, suddenly afraid but he couldn't break the grasp and soon settled down as if accepting whatever would happen. His face was buried in Kakashi's chest.

Iruka was stunned at the card table where he and Kakashi had been playing their little game. He hadn't thought to check the boy for more pills after they thought they had found them all at the hospital. The sheer number he had on him then had dismayed them all.

"Ah Naruto. Why?" asked Kakashi.

A mumbled reply came from his chest. He held the boy away some so he could hear what he said and Naruto said, "Why what?"

"How do you get those? Surely no one in their right minds would give or sell them to you."

"If you have the right price everything is for sale, Dog-san." said Naruto seriously.

"But where do you get the money for them?"

"They don't want money. Could you let me go please?"

A harder hug and Kakashi let his arms fall to his sides. He didn't want to think about what payment Naruto gave to get his drugs but he did want to find the bastards that would push their crap onto innocent children. He stood up and walked from the room with barely contained rage as Naruto began climbing from the bed. A few seconds later both Iruak and Naruto could hear a pounding outside in Iruka's small backyard enclosure. Both of them went to the window to see Kakashi beating his fists against an inoffensive tree as if the tree had done the deed. Naruto shook his head before deciding that adults were truly odd creatures.

He went across the hall to the bathroom and after using the toilet looked at the tiny window. He wondered if he would fit through it and then decided he didn't need to find out yet. It wasn't time for his nightly beating yet so he didn't have to leave here just now. Besides maybe the drunks wouldn't show up tonight and he'd be safe in not being there at all. It was a lot warmer here at Iruka-sensei's house than at his.

When he came out of the bathroom he found both Iruka and Kakashi waiting for him. "Ok Naruto," said Iruka. "I am going to go get you some decent clothes. Kakashi is going to stay with you and so help me you had better be here when I get back. I don't want to have to go chasing you around Konoha again today." The teacher shook his finger in Naruto's face as he was speaking.

Naruto grinned and yelled, "Where would I go? You always find me Sensei." He threw his arms around the teacher and after a quick hard squeeze backed off. Both men just looked at the boy. They had almost forgotten how loud he could be in the total transformation they'd been living with for the past two days. That drug he took must have been very powerful. After sharing a grim look with Kakashi, Iruka left the house to run his errands.

While Iruka visited the shops to get decent clothes and supplies for Naruto Kakashi stayed with the boy and tried to keep him entertained. He said nothing about the drugs feeling it wasn't his place since the child did have two different doctors taking care of him and both of them were far more qualified to care for the boy than he was. All he could do was watch over the child and keep him safe.

They spent some time with Naruto fidgeting on the bed while Kakashi pretended to read his little orange book. After about half an hour Naruto was going stir crazy. He wasn't used to just sitting around with nothing to do and it was driving him nuts now. He wandered out to the livingroom and found his textbooks that Iruka kept for those nights when Iruka knew it wasn't safe for him to go home. The teacher never knew he was only making things worse because Naruto never told him.

Pulling out the books he began to go over old material and refresh his mind of lessons he had already learned. He tried to practice the Bushin technique but Kakashi stopped him.

"You shouldn't do that right now Naruto. Your body isn't strong enough. Even though you definitely have the chakra to do it, if you try to use too much of it right now you'll cause more harm to yourself than good and it probably still won't work."

"But...if I don't master this I can't ever graduate," whined Naruto.

That gave Kakashi the opening he was looking for. "Naruto you do know you can't ever be a ninja if you are taking drugs don't you? Even nins who are hurt in the line of duty and on medication have to stop being a ninja until they don't need the meds anymore."

Naruto stared at him. He didn't make any response. Just stared. I can't be a ninja since they know about my little friends, he thought. Then why are they keeping me here? I can't stop taking them. I need them.

"You probably think those pills are helping you cope with your life but they are hurting you also. And drugs are something an enemy can use against you. If an enemy were to find out that you take a certain kind of medicine on a regular basis they can mess with your supply to where what you take isn't what you think it is. Then when you go on a mission you could endanger not only yourself but your whole team. All of you could end up not coming back just because one person was on drugs. That's why we don't allow people to become ninjas who have issues with them. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded but still he said nothing. In his mind he was wondering why Dog-san was still here. It was clear he didn't think Naruto would ever graduate the academy and become a ninja so why stay here with him now? He decided to ask him even though he thought he'd lie.

"If I can't ever become a ninja then why keep me here? Why not go find someone worthy of protecting?"

"Because you are worthy of protecting. Just because you're not doing too well right now doesn't mean we are ready to give up on you. You still have time to get better and kick this habit. I will fight for you because you can not fight for yourself," answered Kakashi looking the child straight in the eye.

"As will I, Naruto-kun," said Sarutobi, from the front door. Naruto looked up and saw there at the door stood Iruka-sensei, Sarutobi-Ojii-san, his doctor and Yamanaka-san. One by one each of them told him the same thing.

Iruka walked over with his arms full of packages and knelt down in front of the child who was quick becoming the center of his world. "We will all fight for you because no one should have to be all alone in this world and you have faced more monsters than any of us even knew existed. Right now you're tired and need to rest so we will fight your monsters for you until you are able to fight on your own again. But this time when you fight you will do so armed with everything we can teach you so they can't ever do this to you again. Together we will make you stronger than they are."

"Not that he isn't already," said Inoichi. "I only wish my daughter had half his strength. If she did I'd never worry about her again. But she doesn't have to go through the same things you have Naruto-kun and for that I am ever so grateful. However I will help you learn better ways of dealing with your battles than those pills you take if you promise not to take them anymore. Will you promise me that Naruto?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he thought about it. Both Kakashi and Iruka noticed he was beginning to sweat and shake again. He'd been too long on his feet and the toll of simply standing was beginning to show. Cautiously they pushed him into a sitting position.

"Ojii-san?" whispered Naruto.

Sarutobi knew what the child was asking and went over to where he was without a word. He picked the boy up and carried him back into his bedroom. Naruto wasn't used to this kind of a crowd and he didn't want to show a weakness they could exploit but he couldn't get away right then under his own steam. So he had called for the one person he truly trusted to get him out of the way. As he started to carry the boy away he motioned for everyone to just stay where they were. As old as Sarutobi was he thought he might have trouble carrying Naruto but he didn't.

Once they reached the spare room Sarutobi set the child on the bed and closed the door. He sat beside the boy and waited knowing that Naruto would talk when he was ready. When he had figured out exactly what he wanted to say. Silence reigned for about ten minutes before Naruto opened his mouth.

"I can't be a ninja anymore can I Ojii-san? Once the council finds out about my pills, they'll take me out of the academy. Won't they? Where will I live then, Ojii-san? I only got my apartment because I'm in the academy. I'm sorry I did something so stupid." Tears rolled down his cheeks and filled the furrows of his whisker marks before dripping off to fall on his t-shirt.

"No Naruto. You won't lose your dream. I won't let them kick you out. If they think you're too weak to be a ninja we'll just arrange a demonstration for them of what you've had to deal with that will change their minds in a hurry. But I had a question for you."

Naruto looked at him, wondering what he had meant about arranging a demonstration.

"You told Iruka that the old lady said you had to be in the apartment every night by the time the sun goes down. Who is the old lady? I want to have a word with her about that."

"I'm not supposed to tell. She said it's for my own safety."

"So she told you to be somewhere the mobs can easily find you for your own safety? I don't think so. If she was looking out for your well-being she wouldn't have told you not to tell me who she is."

Naruto already knew the old woman wasn't looking out for his safety when she told him that and he knew full well why he wasn't supposed to tell anyone. He had long since figured out that she had spread the word as to where he lived and what time of day he could most easily be found there. He also knew that to tell anyone of her would mean an extra visit from the Nightmare Man. He asked Kyuubi what he should do. He trusted Ojii-san but he knew she had Nightmare Man to make him regret what he'd said.

Kyuubi thought it over. She told her Kit to let her talk to the old man. She promised not to hurt him and give back the full control as soon as she made the old man understand. She only wanted to use his mouth and speech center so Naruto retreated after he told Ojii-san, "Kyuubi said to let her talk to you. She won't hurt you at all, I promise. Will you talk with her?"

Sarutobi hid his shock and nodded slowly. He watched as Naruto retreated mentally. The same blue eyes stared out at him but when Naruto opened his mouth a much more feminine version came out.

"Hello, Hokage-sama. Do you know of the one called the Nightmare Man by the children?"

Sarutobi tried to keep cool and maintain an air of nonchalance but it wasn't every day one came face to face with a demon and found out that everything you thought you knew was wrong. When Kyuubi had attacked the village eight years earlier everyone assumed it was a male but this voice clearly showed the Kyuubi thought of itself as female. Trying to downplay his surprise he thought about the question. He had never heard of the Nightmare Man but that wasn't surprising. He rarely got to walk the streets of the village and interact with the people he worked so hard to protect. He shook his head in denial and waited to see what else she would tell him.

"That is disappointing. I am afraid I can not tell you the identity of the woman until you find and get rid of the Nightmare Man. Once you have done this come back and tell me. I will gladly tell you who she is since Kit won't let me destroy her."

"Couldn't you destroy the Nightmare Man and why exactly am I looking for him anyway? What does he have to do with the woman?" Sarutobi was not normally one given to slowness but right this minute shock was forcing him to speak his thoughts outloud and the look he was receiving from what appeared to be an eight year old boy would have had half the adults in the village beating the child up.

"I could easily destroy that piece of filth but Kit won't let me after the last guy I got rid of for him. He made me promise that never again would I kill someone simply because they weren't nice. His words," she growled and gave a disgusted snort. "Otherwise the woman would also be gone already." Sarutobi laughed and as the sound rebounded in the room his eyes opened wide. He was laughing at a demon! And not just any demon either. He was laughing at the meanest, baddest, toughest demon of them all. He shook his head in wonder as Naruto tilted his head and waited.

"You said you did kill someone before and that Naruto-kun saw it. Who and why may I ask?"

"I killed the fool who told him his hero is the one who sealed me into him. Children need heroes but that fool decided Kit didn't since to him Kit was a demon. Before that night Kit had no idea why he kept getting tormented. Nor did he have any idea how he healed so quickly, which by the way, that quick healing is his own ability. All I do is direct his own chakra more efficiently to where it is needed. As he gets older I will have less and less to do with it at all. I aid the process but it would happen nearly as fast without me."

"What? He heals quickly because you live through him. We all know demons have faster healing then mortals do."

"Not true. Well I do but I couldn't use my chakra to heal a mortal, inside of them or not. Demon skills require Demon chakra. That's toxic to all humankind, vessels for demons or not. One of the required things to be a demon vessel is an inate healing factor."

Sarutobi dove into his memories of the Yondaime as a young man. He was trying to remember if the Yondaime had shown any unique recovery abilities. How could they have just assumed it was Kyuubi that gave the boy his healing? What else did they just assume came about because of the Kyuubi being inside the child? Before he could ask he heard a deep throated chuckle and looked up.

"His chakra pool. You've assumed it is so large because of me. Not true. Again if he didn't have it he could not have housed me. The seal would have broken as soon as I was enclosed by it. Kit has a super large chakra pool that does not have a damned thing to do with me. It is all his by birth as is his healing factor. Granted when he was smaller a lot of the pool went to maintaining my seal and his life but now that he is in the academy it has grown beyond that. Tell those fools to teach the Kit something using a lot of chakra."

"What do you mean? He has to learn the basics before we can teach him more advanced things. If he can't do a simple Bushin he'll never be able to fool his opponent. Same for the Henge. He has to be able to do transformation, henge and bushin in order to function as a shinobi."

"They don't require enough chakra for him right now. He can't control the massive amount he has that finely so he can't do them. If that Banshee girl had half as much chakra as Kit does she wouldn't be nearly as sanctimonious and smug as she is. Teach him some techniques that require more chakra rather than less or I will." This caused Sarutobi to blink.

"You can teach him jutsus," he whispered. "And who is the Banshee girl?"

"I could but I haven't. What he is learning at the academy is stuff he needs to know but I am tired of having to rebuild his confidence every time he fails to do the exercises right and the others all laugh at him. They couldn't do them either if they had half the chakra he does. Banshee girl is the one that likes to hit him for every word he says and laughs at him for every mistake. She's a pink-haired girl with dual personality and she's about to learn a painful lesson messing with a demon vessel."

Still blinking and definitely needing a good stiff drink Sarutobi could only beg Kyuubi, "Please don't hurt her. She's just a child. Anything else I should know?"

"Hmm." He watched as Naruto's head tilted again to the other side and his eyes looked off towards the ceiling. After a moment Kyuubi said, "Know this. When my Kit does pass that exam and you are picking him a team I want a say in it. I do not like all those kids in his class and some of them would be a very bad team mate for my Kit. You give me a say and I will protect the whole team. Deny me and I only protect him."

Sarutobi quickly agreed to her terms and asked, "How can I speak to you again to let you know I found this Nightmare Man and dealt with him? I assume you don't want Naruto to know."

"No I don't. Tell the Mindwalker. He can enter the Kit's mind and tell me. Oh, you might have him warn his daughter to stay out of other peoples minds. She is very rude but he wouldn't like the lesson I'll give her if I catch her trying to probe Kit again. Remind him of all those doors and what's behind them."

Sarutobi gulped and nodded quickly. He would definitely warn Inoichi. Not only was it rude of Ino to enter another's mind without permission; it was also very dangerous. "Anyone else treading on dangerous ground that I should know about and don't?"

"A few but my Kit is getting very hungry and sleepy. So listen close and then I must go so he can rest. Banshee Girl. I won't touch her yet but if she hits him one more time I promise the day will come when she will feel every ounce of his pain. Duck Butt Kid that so dark and gloomy. He's headed down a very dark road. Just because the teacher of taijutsu spent extra time teaching him he thinks he can mock Kit when the damn guy didn't show Kit the right way just so he will fail. Oh and Dog Boy needs to lay off trying to figure out what I am. He's not mean to Kit but he's making him nervous because he's always trying to find me. Other than that the rest aren't worth the notice. But those four your village would have a fit if something bad were to happen to them."

Wondering what she meant about Kit having not been taught right in taijutsu class Sarutobi nodded and promised to deal with the children. He said, "One more question before you leave if you please. I promise it's relevant." Kyuubi nodded and he asked, "Where should I begin looking for this Nightmare Man and do you know if he is Ninja trained?"

"He's an assassin. Look for him where the shadows are deepest and there are children no one notices. If there is evil, there he will be. If there is only light he will not be there. If the children cry he has been there but if they laugh they know him not." Naruto's head fell forward and a moment later Sarutobi knew he was looking into the bright eyes of his favorite child.

"Welcome back Naruto. Let's get you settled into bed and then Iruka will bring you some food. Ok?" He helped the child change into his jammies and then pulled the blankets over him. He opened the door to find Iruka had already prepared a meal for the child and was waiting to feed him.

"Come in. Come in. He's hungry and tired." Iruka smiled as he led the way into the room. Following him were the Doctor and Inoichi but Kakashi was trying to make a get-away. Sarutobi called him back. Outside the bedroom door he said, "I need you to spend the night at Naruto's place. Apparently the reason he went back was because he was told he has to be there every single night. No exceptions. Take a team you trust and wait for who ever shows up. Apprehend them and turn them over to Ibiki. One way or another we are going to free this kid." Kakashi nodded and used the Body Flicker jutsu to transport himself to Anbu headquarters where he set about fulfilling Sarutobi's request.

Sarutobi turned to Inoichi and Iruka and said he needed to speak to them in the hallway. He led the way out and passed on what he had learned from Kyuubi. To Inoichi, he just told him about Ino's probing in dangerous areas and reminded him of what could happen if she should succeed in getting through into Naruto's mind. Inoichi lost all his color as he saw his daughter walk unprepared into either of the two rooms he had gone into. He heard again Kyuubi saying those were the two less painful rooms and nearly started hyperventilating as he ran from the small house and all the way back to his own where he scared his poor wife by demanding to know where the girl was. Ino came down the stairs to find her very angry and scared father pacing the floor.

"You stupid, stupid girl. How the hell could you possibly be any stupider," he yelled as soon as he saw her.

Ino and her mother both stood in total shock as Inoichi proceeded to tell his daughter in no uncertain terms exactly how dumb she was and what could have been the outcome of her idiocy. By the time he had made his opinion clear her mother was also staring at her, disappointment clear in her face. To make sure Ino did not try to repeat her fallacy Inoichi blocked her Mind Transfer ability and told her point blank he would not unlock it for her until she could prove to him that she valued other peoples privacy and her own sanity. She ran crying to her room and vowed vengeance on Naruto for ratting her out. But Inoichi followed her and told her that if he heard one word of her taking any action against anyone for this he would make her regret she was his daughter. The girl gulped as her mother stood behind her father and nodded in agreement with his decision. "I have always indulged you but this goes way beyond rude Ino. This is so very dangerous you could have been permanently lost to us. When you prepare to enter another's mind it is always a good idea to know first what you might encounter there. That requires some knowledge of who that person is. You know nothing of this boy or his life to this point. You were misusing your talent and being nosy."

"I only wanted to scare him away from Sasuke-kun and maybe find something that we could use to get him to leave the academy. No one wants him there. He's such a loser," Ino cried.

Inoichi walked forward and slapped her across the face. Her head flew to the side so fast her vision had to catch up to the new position. "Like I said," he growled. "You know nothing of that boy. You will leave him alone unless you can mind your manners and speak to him in a civil tone of voice. Is that clear?"

Holding a hand to her face the eight year old girl cried and nodded compliance. She had never seen her father so angry before but somehow she knew she had scared him and that stirred her curiosity. What was so dangerous about Naruto's mind? What didn't she know?

Her mother looked at her as Inoichi left the room. "I'll bring you your dinner up here. I don't wish to see you downstairs tonight, Ino. As wild as your sister was she never tried to do something this rude to another. I expected better of you."

"I'm sorry, Mother," whispered the girl.

"I am not the one you need to apologize to am I? It was not my mind you tried to force your way into. It was not my secrets you tried to find and exploit. Was it? Do not bother me with meaningless words." She walked away after quietly closing the door between her and Ino.

Across town Kakashi was settling into Naruto's cramped quarters and just waiting for whoever would show up. He had no doubt someone would since the boy had been ordered to be home every single night by sundown. He had chosen to bring along Anko, for her spiteful disregard for anyone's position and her wicked attacks, Gai for his one of a kind taijutsu and their rivalry, Genma for his deadly projectiles. The four of them were all that were needed to bring the miscreants to justice. They didn't talk to each other but all four were ready to seriously mess up anyone stupid enough to mess with a child and call it fun. They were not happy when Kakashi had told them where they were going or why but they all liked Naruto and none of them blamed the child for having the bad luck to be born on the night the Kyuubi decided to give Konoha a new look. Gai was positioned in the bathroom since it was the only room that faced the back of the building while Kakashi had the position nearest Naruto's small crate bed. Anko was in the kitchen staring in dismay at the ratty tablemat spread on the floor while Genma was sitting along the back wall where he could have a clear view of the front door.

At Iruka's house Sarutobi had finished informing Iruka of what Kyuubi had told him about Naruto's training and classmates. Iruka had known there had to be something going on since he knew how bright Naruto really was. Well he did since he had found the scrolls anyway. He showed them to Sarutobi saying, "I don't know why he never turned any of them in but if I can believe the dates he wrote on the scrolls almost all of them were done on time and as you can see he would have received near perfect if not perfect marks on all of them. It just doesn't make sense to me that he wouldn't turn them in. I would have graded them fairly as would all the other teachers he has."

"No. According to Kyuubi not all of them would have. The teacher of taijutsu teaches him incorrectly on purpose and then pares him up with the best taijutsu student he has just to watch the child fail. I'm afraid most of the teachers want the child to fail."

"Mizuki wouldn't do that. He likes Naruto as much as I do." Instinct had Iruka defending Mizuki until he remember the day Naruto had passed out in class and the words Mizuki had used when he found Iruka was going to skip the party. His face fell into worry lines as he contemplated how well he really knew his best friend. He sighed and promised Sarutobi he'd speak with the students when he went back to teaching before heading back to Naruto's room. He planned to spend the night sleeping beside the boy again since the child couldn't be left alone.

The doctor had brought over a supply of vitamins and just to prove his point to Iruka he took one of them with a swallow of apple juice before placing one in Naruto's hand. He suffered through being stared at while Naruto reassured himself the pill wasn't poison before taking it.

"He is to take one of these morning and night. If you don't want to have to swallow one each time I suggest you leave them right here where I place them. The nutrients in these vitamins will help his tenant to repair the damage he has done with the other pills and by feeding him simple foods we will help his system to gradually get used to digesting the solid food again without having to worry that he isn't getting enough nutrients." He turned back to Naruto to find the child fast asleep. He nodded and left the room making his way to the front door with Sarutobi.

Both men left and went their separate ways heading for their individual homes. Sarutobi would only stay home long enough to eat and play with his grandson before heading back to the tower to try and get some more of the blasted paperwork done before he fell asleep at his desk. The doctor would suffer through a diatribe from his wife on the evils of treating the Demon as a real person while he tried to eat the barely edible dinner she had prepared for him before giving it up as a lost cause and going out to drink his dinner. He would not return home until he knew his nagging wife was asleep in her own room. Then he would spend several hours working on a treatment plan for Naruto before falling into an uneasy slumber at his desk.

Author Notes: I know this chapter kind of seems to want to wander all over the place but the good news is this is the last planned chapter of the story. I could continue it but I think the process of curing Naruto's Anexoria would not make good reading. However you could always change my mind about that by sending in your reviews and letting me know what you think. If you want me to continue then send a review. Enough of you saying you do and I will. Only one or two though. . . Well I think you get the picture. The purpose of the story was to show how the bond between Iruka and Naruto was strengthened and grew to the relationship they have in cannon. And I believe I have managed to do this in this story. I hope you all enjoyed it.