Same Container, New Tenant

A/N: Well, I'm back. I'm srry that it took me so long to write the sequel. It was a combination of life and writer's block that kept me from getting this story written. I'm glad that it is here now. I will try to keep it updated frequently. This is the sequel to 'Kidnapped.' I hope that you like it. If you want to get caught up to where we are, go back and give 'Kidnapped' a look. It is only 10 chapters long. It won't take too long to read. This is just my second fanfic so I could really use the reviews. They will help me to become a better author.

Chapter 1: Revealing Part of the Truth

Naruto slowly blinked his eyes open and immediately shut them due to a piercing bright light directly in his eyes. "Why is it so damned bright?"

Kakashi looked up from his 'Rurouni Kenshin' manga. "Because it's noon."

Naruto tried to sit up, but was forced to lie back down. He slowly cracked his eye lids open and shielded his eyes with his arm. "Why did you let me sleep so late, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi gave a dry chuckle. "So late, indeed. Naruto, you've been asleep for three days. Sakura thought it would be a bad idea to move you, what with all of the trauma that has occurred to you over the last several weeks. How do you feel?"

Naruto rolled over and this time was able to lift himself into a seated position. He looked around the empty campsite. "I feel like I shouldn't have slept on that root." Naruto's stomach gave a loud gurgle and he looked at Kakashi with an embarrassed expression. "And I could really use some ramen."

Kakashi laughed at the expected request. "Sakura thought you might say that. There is some broth by the fire. She ordered Sasuke and me not to even think of giving you ramen or any other solid food when you woke up. And I'm not going to risk a concussion so that you can get a ramen fix."

Naruto dropped his head, crestfallen and sighed. "But I'm so hungry. Broth won't be enough."

"Are you going against doctor's orders, baka?" The pink haired kunoichi whispered in a sing-song voice from behind the knuckle headed ninja.

Naruto immediately rolled away and covered his head from the expected pummeling from the best and most sadistic medic-nin in Konoha outside of the Godaime Hokage Tsunade. When it didn't come, he looked back in the direction he had rolled to see Sasuke and Sakura supporting each other as their laughs threatened to topple them over. Exasperated, he looked to his sensei for support but gave that up when he noticed Kakashi had immersed himself back into his book and was paying them no attention.

Naruto brought himself to a knee and then stood muttering about teammates that were worse than Akatsuki. He walked over to the fire and ladled himself a bowl of broth. Sitting down, he started to sip it from the bowl and was surprised at just how good it was. "Wow, who made this? This is almost as good as the soup for the ramen at Ichiraku!" Naruto finished the bowl and poured himself some more.

Sakura giggled and poked Sasuke in the ribs. "Your chef for the day is none other than the famous Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Sharingan user. "Since when can you cook, Teme?"

Sasuke glared back. "Since forever, moron. Not all single guys waste their money on something like ramen everyday. It shouldn't be a surprise that I know how to cook. I'm not too stupid to learn how like you are!"

Naruto and Sasuke stood up and stood nose to nose. "What was that, Teme?"

Sasuke didn't bat an eye. "You heard me, Dobe."

Sakura looked on with a little trepidation. "Sasuke, knock it off. Naruto is still recovering."

Without looking away, Naruto responded. "This is between me and emo-boy over here."

Sasuke immediately backed off with a disgusted look on his face. "Damn, do you even OWN a toothbrush?!"

Naruto steped back, "Well what do you expect, I've been in a coma for a couple of weeks?!"

They both started laughing leaving Sakura flabbergasted. "What the hell did I just miss?"

They looked over at her. "Everything." Sasuke responds.

Suddenly. Naruto started seeing the world spin and his knees buckled. Sasuke immediately helped him to the ground. "Sorry about that, Naruto. We might have over done it."

Naruto weakly pushed him away. "No, I just got a little light headed. I'll be better once I get some more food in me and I can move around a little. I just need a little exercise."

Sakura moved to his side and applied some healing chakra to his temples. Naruto visibly relaxed and leaned into her body. Almost instantly he realized that he was leaning into her and jumped away from her soothing touch. He put his arms up defensively in front of his head and cringed, waiting for the expected beating.

When he dared look back at the pink haired kunoichi, he was surprised to see that her fist wasn't cocked to deliver a chakra-enhanced pummeling, but instead was waiting patiently for him to come back to her. "It's ok, Naruto-kun. Come over here. You're exhausted and need me to treat your wounds."

At the mention of the suffix, 'kun', the other three shinobi stared at her as if she had just grown a second AND a third head. She ignored the stares and took Naruto by the hand to guide him back to the ground. As he sat beside her, she reapplied the healing jutsu and he melted back into her arms.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his mentor and they shared a confused glance. "I guess that was more than just stress being relieved back in the lab…" Sasuke mused.

Kakashi noded at Sasuke and he got the meaning. "Sakura, Sasuke and I are going to scout ahead and make sure that the way is clear. Do you think that it will be safe to travel again, since Naruto has woken up?"

Sakura nodded. "But only at a walk. It will be some time still for him to regain his strength, even with Kyuubi aiding him."

At the mention of Kyuubi's name, Naruto instantly realized the dilemma that was on his hands. Unsure what to do right now, he kept his peace and allowed the medical kunoichi to finish the treatment.

Kakashi nodded at Sakura and the two Sharingan users took off.

After another moment, Naruto felt sleepiness overtaking him. The last thing he felt before sinking into a restful oblivion was two soft lips gently press into his forehead.

Naruto woke up again to find the camp nearly broken. He sat up and felt a million times better. Sasuke glanced over and saw Naruto looking around. "It's about time you woke up, dobe. Drink some more of that broth so that we can start back."

Naruto flipped him the bird but sat the rest of the way up and accepted the bowl of broth that Sasuke offerred him. He took a sip and felt the warmth course down his parched throat and into his empty belly. "That's good. Great soup, Dobe."

After Naruto finished his broth, Kakashi looked to Sakura. "Is he ready to move?"

Sakura nodded. "He is, but I think that we should take it at a walk. I'm not sure how badly he was injured internally." Naruto winced at that word. "So we should take it easy."

Kakashi nodded. "Then we will take it at a walk."

Sasuke chimed in, "Do you think that you and I should cover our rear and have a point man?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, I don't think that we will have too much trouble on the way home. That and I don't think that there is a team with better situational awareness than ours. We should be fine."

They all shouldered their packs and moved out.

After about an hour of walking, Kakashi pulled Naruto aside and they let Sakura and Sasuke walk ahead. Kakashi looked at Naruto and studied his face. "Whenever you are ready to talk about what happened, I will be ready to listen. Even if you don't tell me, you'll have to tell the Hokage. Let me know if I can help."

Naruto frowned and looked at the ground slowly moving past. "It was horrible, Kakashi-sensei. I was violated in every sense of the word. I don't even know where to start."

The Copy Ninja nodded. "Start from the beginning. How did they catch you off guard?"

Naruto blushed. "I'm not sure. I decided to take it slow on the way back from my last mission. I mean, that old hag has had me on all of these idiotic missions without a break. I figured that she owed me a vacation. So, I decided to take it easy and camp out for a night or two. Well, on the second day, I was taking a nap and the next thing I knew, all of the chakra in the camp felt like it was sucked out. And all of my chakra was stamped down. It felt like I was a bottle of soda that had been shook up and is ready to explode."

Kakashi nodded. "Sasuke told us about that jutsu. What happened next?"

Naruto brought his right hand up to his chin. "I'm not really sure. Something made me pass out and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in my mindscape. I was a prisoner in my own mind."

Laudably, Kakashi refrained from making the comment about how torturous that must have been with nothing to do in such an empty space. But then again, he has much more restraint than Sai or Sasuke.

"If it weren't for Kyuubi, I wouldn't have had any idea what was happening outside of my body."

Kakashi's one visible eye widened. "Kyuubi was helping you?"

Naruto nodded sadly. Kakashi took this as Naruto being ashamed that he had to rely on the Lord of Hell.

"Yeah, Kyuubi told me all about this new jutsu that Orochimaru used on me. He called it Chishio Bunshin no Jutsu (Blood Clone Technique). He cut my wrist and formed a ram sign. This caused the collected blood to collect into clones of me. The advantage was that they were more durable. They didn't dispel until he willed them too. The disadvantage was that I felt every bit of pain that they went through. This way, Orochimaru was able to dissect me alive without the risk of killing me. And he was able to use the same technique that we used for me to create Fuuton: Rasenshuriken. Everything that he learned from the Blood Clones was tripled or quadrupled, depending on how many clones he used at a time."

Kakashi winced at the torture that Naruto must have been under. The mental strain must have been incredible. No wonder he seemed withdrawn.

"Kyuubi tried to block as much of the pain as he possibly could, but he couldn't block it all. He was able to partially defeat the technique suppressing his chakra, but not completely. I never knew that anyone could feel that much pain."

Kakashi looked skeptical. "Kyuubi actually blocked the pain for you, even partially? What did he have to gain from it."

Naruto shrugged. "I think that he was worried that if I broke, he would be caught up in the collapse and would perish in my mind. Self-preservation."

Kakashi contemplated this and allowed Naruto to continue. "Kyuubi let me know what Orochimaru's plans were. Orochimaru didn't want to take a chance of taking over my body until he understood everything about my chakra network and how Kyuubi's was connected to it. He didn't want Kyuubi to escape during the assimilation or after he had taken over."

Kakashi took this in. "That makes sense." Kakashi looked at the now orange haired ninja. "I am guessing that the experiments caused all of these changes? Have you gotten a look at yourself yet?"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't need too. I know what I look like." Naruto ran his fingers through his hair. It isn't from the experiments, directly anyway."

Kakashi gave him a puzzled look. "What is it then?"

Naruto shook his head. "You don't want to know. I promise."

Kakashi was more curious than ever. "You don't have to tell me, but you will have to tell Tsunade-sama. I can help you, but I will respect your wishes if you want me to drop it."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know I want to do. This is all so damned confusing. I want to tell you, Kakashi-sensei, I really do! I just don't know how." In a lower voice he added, "And I don't want you to hate me…"

Kakashi didn't miss a word. He stopped Naruto and turned the young man to face him. "Naruto, there is no one in this world that will support you more than I will. I won't hate you. Tell me what is going on. I can help you."

Naruto stared at the ground. "I don't think that you can help me with this, Kakashi-sensei. It is beyond everyone. I'm not sure that Ero-sennin would have been able to help me with this one."

Kakashi realized just how grave it must be for Naruto to not think that the vaunted Toad Sage could even help. "I may not be able to help, but I can try. I have taught me that amazing things can happen when someone just tries."

Kakashi caught a small glimmer of hope in the orange haired shinobi's eyes when he looked back up.

"Ok, Kakashi-sensei. You asked for it... I am no longer the Uzumaki Naruto that you knew. I released Kyuubi."

Kakashi stared in amazement at that statement. His mouth would have been gaping open had his mask not been covering it. Nothing in all of his training had prepared him for this. Naruto flinched at the Kakashi's expression. "See, I told you."

Kakashi snapped out of it. "What happened? What caused you to release him and why isn't he free? Or is he?"

Naruto shook his head. "He isn't free. We weren't sure of how to get out of that jutsu that Orochimaru was using to keep me in a coma. We knew that we didn't have much time left and we decided that the only way to get out was to overflow the technique with chakra. The Yondaime knew what he was doing. He designed that seal to fail over time. As I got older, Kyuubi's chakra slowly leaked into my chakra system and started to change it. Eventually, this would have happened anyway. I just made it happen sooner and at greater risk."

Kakashi was having trouble keeping up but didn't want to interrupt. He just nodded and let Naruto continue.

"Kyuubi warned me of the risks, but I figured that it would be better for me to die or for Kyuubi to be released than to let that madman have his power. I ripped the seal off of his cage and Kyuubi was sucked into me. I changed. My body changed form into a were-fox, but I was able to force it back. Well, almost all the way back. There were some changes that I don't think will ever go away." Naruto ran his fingers through his hair again and averted his feral, fox-like eyes. "I have no idea what effect they will have, but I know that they are more than just for looks."

Kakashi nodded. "Tsunade-sama will have to know all of this and also what you haven't told me."

Naruto looked up to protest, but Kakashi held up a hand. "I understand. Don't worry. I'm not upset."

Naruto looked back down, defeated. "Please don't tell Sakura-chan. I will tell her, but first I need to figure out what is going on myself."

Kakashi gave him a smile. "Your secret is safe, but eventually, you will have to tell her. She cares about you."

Naruto nodded. "I know. I have no idea what is going on there either. But I will figure that out too."

Kakashi decided to bring up another issue. "Do you want me to keep it from Sasuke, too?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I will tell him, but you can talk to him about it after I do."

Kakashi smiled. "Good. I'm glad that you trust him."

Naruto smiled sadly. "More than you know, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi caught the fact that Naruto had a deeper meaning to his words, being that the Copy Ninja's favorite phrase was "look underneath the underneath." He decided to let it go as well. Naruto would reveal his secrets when he was able. He wasn't one to keep a secret too long.

"Kakashi-sensei, can we leave it at that for now. I will explain more soon, but I need to come to grips with it."

Kakashi squeezed Naruto's shoulder. "Take your time. I will help you in any way that I can."

Naruto gave Kakashi a weak smile. "I appreciate it. I think that I will need some help figuring out what I can and can't do."

Kakashi gave Naruto a reassuring look. "I have no doubt that the Godaime will approve that." Kakashi looked ahead and saw that Sasuke and Sakura had stopped about a quarter mile ahead and were looking back at them. "We better catch up or I think that Sakura will have to treat us for the injuries that she caused."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Let's go then. I don't need anymore beatings."

A/N: Well, that's chapter 1. I hope that you liked it. Please review. I could use all the help that you can give me. Thank you for taking the time to review. And just to show that I am not above bribery for reviews, anyone that reviews will get a public thank you in my next chapter. Thank you again for reading my work. I hope that you enjoyed it.