Disclaimer: I sure you'll be happy to hear that I still don't own Naruto. (Apparently it's a crime to steal car parts to build Giant Robot Worms to take over the Narutoverse. Who knew? But beware of my latest plan………Kung Fu Grannies!!!)

A/N: If you want an explanation, read the a/n at the bottom.

"Hello Rat." Said Fox.

He stepped forward until he was just inside the chamber, no more than six meters away from the stunned ANBU. He quickly took everything in. Snake was advancing on Kurenai, her sword poised to end the Jounin and Kiba and a few clones were fighting another ROOT.

With a quick yank, he tugged the hook and chain from Rat's hands. Grasping it in one hand as he drew back his other he launched the hook at Snake's unguarded back.

Snake's spun at the last moment and deflected the projectile. She scanned for her attacker and her gaze settled on Fox, her eyes going immediately to his collarless neck. She brought her sword quickly across her chest, ready for any attack, but Fox didn't make any further aggressive moves. Instead he looked towards where Kiba and the clones were battling the last ROOT. He didn't move to help, but unleashed his killing intent in their direction.

Kiba, the clones, Akamaru, and Dog fell to their knees, gasping for air. It felt like ice water had been poured into their veins and a shiver tore up their spines, telling them to run, to get away as quickly as possible. Primal fear gripped them as they hesitantly looked towards the source.

Kiba's eyes widened when he saw Naruto. His every instinct was telling him that death was coming up on him fast and that his team mate was going to be the cause, but a small part of his rational mind was saying that Naruto would never hurt them. He very much doubted that now, especially when he looked into Naruto's eyes. They were cold, icy pits that seemed to glow in the dimly lit chamber, completely devoid of any hint of caring or compassion. Kiba shivered and let out a pained whine as he fell onto his side, his eyes never leaving the blonde's. For the first time since he'd met him, he truly believed that his team mate was going to kill him and feel absolutely no regret or remorse about it.

Fox kept up the flow of killing intent for a few more moments before letting it diminish, leaving a group of pale, sweaty, and shaking ninja lying in a heap on the floor. There was a rapid succession of loud pops as he dispelled the clones, not even flinching as the combined experience of their time under the effects of his killing intent hit him. He sorted through the information they had gained as they fought Dog.

'He's an intermediate user of the Falling Willow kenjutsu style. His chakra level and the level of exhaustion from fighting the clones of a low-Chuunin level ninja and one Genin level ninja suggest he is of high-Chuunin level in skill.' His eyes flicked to the other two ANBU. 'High-Jounin level, both of them. They won't be a problem.'

Snake edged towards Rat slowly, as if any sudden movements would cause Fox to attack. She reached Rat and hissed, "What do we do?"

Rat took a breath to compose himself, mentally berating himself for allowing the restraints he had on his emotions to loosen, even for a moment. "We need to retreat and report back to Danzou-sama. We're no match for him."

"I can't allow you to do that, Rat."

Their attention snapped back to Fox, who just stared at them stoically.

Rat reached down and picked his chain off the floor, pulling his hook back to him as he spoke. "I beg your pardon?"

Fox watched as the Dog masked ANBU picked himself off the floor and stumbled over to his comrades as he answered, "You are an enemy of Konoha and a traitor at that. You will return to the village with us to face your punishment, or you will die here."

Though Rat's voice was the same haunting monotone as the rest of Danzou's emotionally stunted warriors, there was a sense of bemusement to it. "I believe you are mistaken Fox. I am not the traitor here."

Fox tilted his head slightly to the side, giving the impression of a raised eyebrow. "If you are not the traitor here, then who is?"

Rat pointed at him. "You are."

Fox's eyes narrowed dangerously, slightly unnerving his former comrades. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"You refused to follow orders that would have seen Konoha into a golden future, with the entire world coming under the rule of the Leaf. By not following those orders, you allowed Konoha to continue under a government that would see the Leaf wither and die."

"What I did," Fox spoke quietly. "Was pledge my life to protecting Konoha and it's citizens, not to a traitor with delusions of grandeur and dreams of war. If Danzou had things his way, Konoha would have drawn the combined hostility of the other nations and have entered into a war that would have led to it's destruction."

The whole time the two groups had been talking, Kiba had managed to shake off most of the residual effects of Fox's killing intent and crawl with Akamaru over to Kurenai, who was trying to heal her wounded legs with the meagre medical knowledge she had. Kiba pulled himself into a sitting position beside her, keeping an eye on the ANBU and the person that used to be his team mate. "Kurenai-sensei, what's going on? What are they talking about, and what's up with Naruto?"

Kurenai grunted in pain as she felt the tendons in her legs slowly heal thanks to the low level medical jutsu she was using. "I'll explain everything later, Kiba. Right now we need to focus. I need a few more minutes before I'm healed. What about you, any injuries?"

Kiba shook his head. "A few bruises, but that's it." He looked around quickly, suddenly realising something. "Where's Ino? Is she okay?"

Kurenai gestured towards one of the tunnels. "She was pretty badly beaten by one of the ANBU. I told her to stay put and heal up before--" She was cut off as she heard something moving through the water in the tunnels and she looked up to see a bloody, but healed, Ino run into the chamber, stopping just inside the archway.

She wasn't the only one to notice. Fox's gaze flicked to her, taking in her haggard appearance and scanning for any sign of further injury. Apparently this was the opening the ROOT ninja were looking for as Dog launched himself towards Fox, his sword poised to decapitate the boy.

"Naruto!"

Ino moaned in pain as she pulled herself off the ground and into a standing position. She had healed most of her wounds and just wrapped the smallest ones in bandages to conserve chakra. One of the first things Kurenai-sensei had done was teach them medical jutsu for just such an occasion, even though Naruto was the one they deferred to for medical treatment because of his small amount of training under a friend of Kurenai's called Rin

Slowly, she staggered forwards, her legs shaky from the adrenalin rush of the fight with the ROOT ninja. She scoffed. It hadn't been a fight, just her dodging until Kurenai-sensei had saved her. She shivered. The difference in skill and power between herself and the other ninja scared her. She had barely been able to avoid her opponent's attacks, any defence she had managed to put up being effortlessly batted aside by the enemy ninja's sword. If she hadn't slipped in the water, she'd have one less head and it had been her shriek of surprise that had alerted Kurenai-sensei to her predicament and allowed the older kunoichi to come to her aid.

She slowly and painfully began to make her way towards the sounds of fighting coming from up ahead. She began to think about what could have happened if Kurenai-sensei had not been there to help her, or had been cut off from her. She shivered. What if it had been one of the boys that was about to be killed and she couldn't go help them because she was no match for the enemy? They would have died and she would have to live with the guilt of knowing that it was her own inexperience as a ninja that led to a team mate's death.

She wavered and held out a hand to steady herself against the wall. Even just the thought of such a thing happening because of her was enough to make her stomach churn uncomfortably.

When she had been in the Academy, she had been considered one of the best kunoichi in the class, just behind Sakura in book smarts and behind Hinata in taijutsu. Her one clan jutsu, Shinshinten no jutsu, had always earned her extra marks on jutsu tests and she had been convinced that because she was from a clan and that her father had been a famous and powerful ninja, she would be a famous and powerful kunoichi.

She sighed. She had been delusional. The only girl in the entire class who was even remotely close to becoming a real kunoichi was Hinata and that was because she had actually taken it seriously. Every other girl had either talked about clothes or chased after Sasuke.

She thought about her sensei. Kurenai-sensei was one of the most powerful and well known ninja in Konoha, she was an authority on genjutsu and, if the rumours were true, had been an ANBU commander, she was considered a prodigy like her team mate Namikaze Minato, and had reached the rank of Jounin at the age of fifteen. No one got that kind of reputation or skill through dumb luck or pure chance, it took hard work and a will to fight. Ino shook her head. She didn't have either. The only thing he ever put any effort into was looking pretty or chasing after Sasuke.

She recalled their first meeting as a team, when Kurenai-sensei came to collect them from the Academy. She had asked them what their dreams where and Ino had said, "To take over for my father as the head of the ANBU Information Division.". How exactly did she plan on doing that? If she was brutally honest with herself she was only a little more powerful than the average bandit. She was average with the Academy taijutsu, only knew the basic Academy jutsu plus a few she learned from her father and Kurenai-sensei, and her chakra levels were as low as Sakura's. At the rate she was going she'd be lucky if she ever made it past Genin never mind ANBU.

"I need help." She muttered as she raced round a corner, the light from the main chamber glowing up ahead. It was true, she needed to get her skills up to whack and she needed the training to become a real kunoichi. She resolved that after this mission she would speak to Kurenai-sensei about some additional training. Although with the disaster that this was becoming, she may be too late.

She finally made it into the chamber where the others were and she rested a hand against the arch to catch her breath as her vision adjusted to the light.

She was not expecting what she saw.

Kurenai-sensei, Kiba and Akamaru were lying off to the side of the chamber, the Jounin healing a wound in her legs with a medical jutsu, while Naruto stared down the last three ANBU. The front of his vest was torn and bloody but he didn't appear to notice as he stood unwavering as a rock in the face of the three enemy ninja.

She saw his gaze pass over her, obviously taking in her less than flattering collection bruises and cuts. Her eyes widened as she saw the Dog masked ANBU shoot towards Naruto, his sword already coming down in an arc that would guarantee an immediate death. Despite the sheer panic rising blocking her throat, she managed to choke out a warning.

"Naruto!"

It happened in the blink of an eye. Just as Dog's sword came down, Fox's hand shot out to wrap around Dog's wrist just as he brought his right knee up to smash into the ANBU's gut, doubling him over and driving the air from his lungs. Without missing a beat, Fox wrapped his other arm around Dog's neck, trapping his head between the blonde's arm and torso.

Ino breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes as she placed a hand to her heart. That was too close. If Naruto could hold off the ANBU until Kurenai-sensei could heal then--

SNAP!

Ino's eyes snapped open as she looked on in disbelief at the limp form of the ANBU held in Naruto's arms and she slowly realised what happened. He snapped his neck. Naruto, kind, sweet Naruto, just broke the neck of the ANBU like it was the most common thing in the world, and the scariest thing was that he didn't look at all disturbed by this. His face was, for all intents and purposes, dead as he gazed at the last two ANBU.

Fox plucked the sword from the ninja's dead fingers as he allowed the body to slide to the grimy floor. He held the weapon loosely as he stepped over the body of Dog as he began to walk towards Rat and Snake.

The two ROOT ninja began to nervously back away from the teen before moving away from each other to split his attention.

But they weren't Fox's target. He walked past the rogue ninja to stand before the bloody form of Kurenai as Kiba quickly moved away from the blonde. Fox didn't seem to notice as he kneeled before his sensei, his hand glowing with healing chakra as he quickly began to heal her wounds.

Rat and Snake were confused by Fox's actions, but decided not to question their good luck and with a glance to make sure Fox's attention was elsewhere, they took off down one of the tunnels, towards one of the exits.

Kurenai also shared the ROOT ninja's confusion. While she was glad that Fox was healing her, they couldn't be allowed to leave. "Fox," she grunted past the pain. Fox's healing was effective but he didn't seem to care much for avoiding the pain. "You can't let them leave. Who knows what they managed to uncover while they where here."

Fox seemed not to hear her as he continued to reconnect the ligaments in Kurenai's legs.

Kurenai was beginning to get frustrated. "Leave the healing for later! We can't let them get away!"

"Don't worry." The glow died from his hands as Fox raised his head to meet Kurenai's eyes with his own. The gleam in his eyes was that of a hunter sensing his prey. "They won't get far."

Before she could say anymore, Fox vanished in a blur of speed. The silence of the after battle was deafening. Kurenai gently lifted herself to her feet, testing her healed legs. Fox was a good healer, she didn't even feel any residual pain.

The silence was broken by Ino's wavering voice. "What…what just happened?" She asked as she took a shaky step forward. She was still stunned over Naruto's actions.

She wasn't the only one shaken by her team mate's odd behaviour. Kiba got to his feet unevenly, clutching a whining Akamaru to his chest. The poor pup was still suffering from the blonde's killing intent. Kiba glanced around for his team mate and was relieved when he didn't see, smell or hear any sign of him. "We need to get out of here."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her dog-like student. "We still have a mission to complete, Kiba, and in case you forgot, your team mate is off fighting two Jounin level ninja."

Kiba looked back at her incuriously. "Didn't you see what he did!? He killed that guy like he was nothing! And when he looked at me…" He shivered. "He not safe!" Kiba backed down under the glare Kurenai sent his way.

Kurenai looked down at the dog partnered boy. Her face and body was calm but Kiba knew she was angry. "Kiba, you would do well to listen carefully to what I am going to say because I won't say it twice. As long as you are a member of my team, you will never abandon your team. Those who abandon the mission are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. So, Kiba, are you really worse than scum? Because if so then you are no longer a part of my team, and I can assure you that no one will ever trust you on a mission again."

Kiba's head was hung in shame. "Sorry, Kurenai-sensei. I don't really want to leave him behind, but it's just that…well, he scared me! That feeling when he looked at me…I just got freaked!"

Kurenai sighed, because she knew exactly what freaked Kiba and Ino out. The difference Naruto showed in personality and skill was glaringly obvious, it would have been a fools dream to hope that they wouldn't have noticed. This would take some explaining, but later, after the mission. Right now they had to get to Fox.

Their steps kicked up water as they sped through the tunnels. Rat and Snake tore around a corner and saw light ahead, indicating their way out. A barred gate at the end of the tunnel, the metal long since rusted, provided them an escape from their pursuer. The sunlight streaming through the hole was nearly blinding after so long in the dark of the tunnels, but their eyes quickly adjusted.

Suddenly Snake heard movement behind her. Her face whipped around just in time to see a glove clad fist before it smashed into her face, rocketing her backwards, smashing into Rat, and sending them crashing through the bars and out of the tunnel, into the daylight.

They were flung out in a cloud of dust and debris, onto a basin of water set low into the ground with high bushes and trees hiding the body of water, and a small stream leading the water away, most likely towards the ocean. The tunnel exit was set into a concrete wall along one end of the basin.

The ANBU managed to channel chakra into their feet before they sunk, and landed on top of the shimmering water, their eyes locked onto the tunnel exit. They couldn't get away now that his attention was on them, so they had one option: fight.

Fox stepped out of the tunnel casually, but stiffly, his dull blue orbs locked onto the two ROOT. Snake's mask, already damaged by Kurenai, began to fall away, and for the first time Fox saw the face of his former comrade.

The porcelain mask gradually fell in pieces, revealing a heart shaped face with pale skin framed by two bangs of luscious black hair that fell on either side of her face, the left bang shorter than the right, held up by a hitai-ate bearing a redesigned leaf symbol. She had high cheek bones and classical features set around eyes of deep violet that looked like two dark jewels. Snake was a beautiful woman, there was no denying. Not sexy, but more graceful and defined, like a high born lady. Hell, for all he knew, she was a high born lady. Danzou didn't care where you came from; if you were useful to him he would use you as he saw fit.

Fox lazily began to twirl his stolen sword in his hand as he stepped onto the water, his gaze continually flicking between the two ninja. With a sharp flick, he pointed the tip of the blade at Snake.

"You die first."

Then everything kicked off. The two ANBU tore across the water towards Fox, sending up trails of water in their wake as they raised their weapons.

Fox didn't move, but blocked Snake's sword with his own stolen one and knocked Rat away with a backhanded fist. He forced Snake's blade away and pushed her back with a swift kick to the gut as he ran through some hand seals.

"Suiton: Suigadan!" Twirling drills of water shot out of the basin and tried to impale the ROOT ninja, but they deftly dodged the attack.

Rat launched his hook at the deadly blonde, which was batted aside as Snake shook her snake sword out to it's full, deadly length. She twirled it around her body before launching a series of attacks, which Fox easily dodged. He leaned back under one of her swings and retaliated with a boot to the solar plexus which caused her to choke and stumble.

Fox took a few steps back as they came at him again and charged his sword with chakra just as Snake's supple sword struck out and Rat swung at him. Fox's hand snapped out and grabbed the kunoichi's sword by the wire between the blades and tugged it into the path of Rat's hook and chain. The two weapons wrapped around each other, tying them into a tangle of metal. He hefted his 'borrowed' sword and brought it down on the entangled blades and shattering them, and his own, effectively disarming the ninja.

Both ANBU dropped their weapons and leapt backwards as they performed hand seals.

"Suiton: Daibakufu!" Rat intoned. A massive tidal wave reared up from the water and advanced on Fox who stood unmoving in the face of the wall of water.

Rat's attack was quickly followed up by one from Snake. "Raiton: Hatsudenki Nagare!" Bolts of electrified energy flew from her hands and struck the tidal wave, supercharging the water before it swept over Fox's position and crashed against the tunnel wall behind him.

Snake landed beside Rat and peered into the foam and mist left by the wave. "Do you think we got him?"

Suddenly a hand burst from the water behind Snake, latching onto her long ponytail. Fox flew up, out of the water, twisting his body and pulling Snake off her feet and slamming her around into Rat's unguarded back. The two rogue Konoha ninja were launched across the water and crashed painfully into the wall beside the tunnel exit with a sickening crunch.

Rat grunted in pain as he pushed Snake off him and shakily stood to retaliate when a sharp jab sent his head snapping back to bounce off the solid wall again. He felt the front of his uniform gathered into someone's fist before a barrage of powerful blows rained down upon his face and gut, the protective armour failing under Fox's strength.

Fox continued to mercilessly bash away at Rat, leaving large dents in his armour and cracks on his reinforced mask. A part of the brown and white porcelain flew off, revealing one brown eye, the ruptured veins in it turning the rest of the eye from white to red. Fox met Rat's gaze unflinchingly as he continued to beat the life out of him. Any camaraderie they once shared was forfeit long ago.

He drew back his arm for a punch that would have turned Rat's head to mush when a long, supple leg lashed out and struck the arm holding Rat at the joint, breaking it.

Abandoning his attack, Fox kick backwards, away from the now conscious Snake and the battered Rat as he glanced down at his mangled limb. With a mental shrug, he grasped his limp wrist in a firm grip and with no hesitation, jerked his arm back into it's natural bend with an loud crack, feeling the chakra of his prisoner healing the bone.

Looking back to his opponents he saw Rat applying healing chakra to his broken body, but no sign of Snake.

Sensing an attack, he leaned his head back just enough to allow the kunoichi's punch to miss his face by millimetres before driving a knee into her gut, doubling her over. He grabbed the base of her ponytail in his hand and brought his knee up into her face.

Snake staggered back, grabbing and re-setting her broken nose, unmindful of the blood marring her beautiful features. Her face still the same cold mask, she came at Fox swinging, the two emotionally deprived ninja a whirlwind of painfully precise and powerful blows and parries.

Snake caught Fox's punch in her hand while driving a kunai into his eye with the other. Fox's remaining eye widened in surprise…before he burst into smoke.

'Kage Bunshin.' Ran through Snake's mind before she felt movement behind her. In one fluid movement, she drew two kunai and spun to block a stab at her neck. The power behind the blow was immense and she was forced to channel more chakra into her feet to avoid being pushed back. She grunted as she pushed back against the deadlock she was in; her two kunai against Fox's one. It seemed almost comical that the tall ANBU was being overpowered by a child using one hand.

At the sidelines Rat had finally managed to heal the internal damage Fox had dealt him and staggered to his feet, his eyes focused on the two deadlocked figures on the water. He narrowed his eyes and slid a kunai from his pouch as he took aim at Fox's unguarded side. He drew his arm back and--

SMACK!

Rat grunted in pain as a kick to the spine launched him out onto the water, his kunai flying out of his hands and sinking to the depths.

Kurenai lowered her leg as she stepped out of the tunnel, Ino and Kiba following. She saw Fox and Snake in a battle of strength on the water, but kept her eyes on Rat as he slowly got to his feet before a scream diverted their attention.

Snake heard the Rat's grunt and her eyes flickered over to him for an instant.

It was all Fox needed.

With one hand keeping the deadlock, he raised his other and struck with imperceptible speed. Snake screamed in pain and dropped her kunai as she staggered back, her hand flying to her face as blood poured from under her fingers.

Fox glanced down at his bloody hand. A single violet eye stared back. With a sickening squelch, he crushed it and decided to finish her.

Spinning forward into Snake's guard, he drove the kunai in his hand through Snake's remaining eye and into her brain. She was dead before her body could register what happened.

Fox watched her fall backwards into the water, a pool of red radiating from her body, before turning his attention to the final remaining ROOT member.

Rat glanced at the Konoha ninja at his front and back. If it was possible for a ROOT member to feel nervous then Rat would have been a wreck by that point. It was bad enough that he was fighting Fox with no backup, but now Yuhi was back in the fight. This was definitely not his day.

He needed to get out of there and report back to Danzou-sama. He couldn't match Fox, but there was a good chance he could beat Yuhi. Before anyone could stop him, he ran through a series of hand seals before dunking his hand into the water. "Suiton: Goshokuzame!"

Fox dived to the side to avoid the large condensed water shark that sprang out of the water, chakra solidified teeth snapping at the space he occupied a moment before. He barely touched the water before he was forced to dodge another shark. Within moments Fox was forced into resorting to jumping around the water like a madman to keep from becoming fish food while Rat leapt towards Kurenai.

The raven haired kunoichi blocked his punch before cracking him across the jaw with her elbow. Rat staggered back, but recovered in time to block a potentially painful kick to the sides. Kurenai tried to slice his throat open with a kunai, but the ANBU caught her wrist and twisted, forcing her to drop it. Kurenai managed to bring up her foot and kick the ANBU out onto the water as she performed some hand seals for her trademark jutsu.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu!" Kurenai disappeared in a gust of wind. Rat recognised the genjutsu and tried to bring his hands up to dispel it. The keyword being 'tried'. He looked down and saw that his legs and wrists were being held by a tree growing out of the water. He struggled, trying to get loose when he sensed movement above him. Looking up, he saw Kurenai seemingly growing out of the tree. Rat frantically tried to redirect the flow of his chakra to break the genjutsu, but it was proving difficult as the genjutsu was messing with his perception more than it should. It seemed Yuhi Kurenai's title as a Genjutsu Mistress wasn't just for show.

"Any last words?" Kurenai smirked down at him as she drew a kunai.

Rat glanced up at her. "None at the moment."

Kurenai just shrugged as she prepared to put Rat down for good when she suddenly felt the genjutsu around them flicker and die. Rat immediately put some distance between them as Kurenai looked on in disbelief. He didn't use and hand seals to dispel the genjutsu or redirect the flow of his chakra so how…

Her eyes widened even more when she saw his hand, and the mangled finger attached to it. The sneaky little bastard broke his own pinky to break the illusion.

'Heh, now I know why they call him Rat.' She thought.

Suddenly a blur shot over Rat's shoulder and landed in front of Kurenai a moment before a thin wall of transparent water shot up, blocking them from Rat, and Rat from them.

Rat cocked an eyebrow. "Do you think a wall this thin will stop me?"

Fox tilted his head to one side and pointed to something behind Rat. "No, this is just here to stop your pets from getting us wet."

Rat's head turned sharply to see a large, tooth filled mouth before the shark's jaws clamped around him, snapping bones like they were twigs. The other four sharks barrelled into them, causing the chakra bodied creatures to explode, sending red, frothy water shooting into the air, and splattering against Fox's shield.

Fox let the shield drop and stepped up to Rat's corpse, Kurenai just a step behind. She looked at the chunk of bloody meat that was Rat appreciatively. "Well…that was unexpected."

Fox inclined his head slightly. "One of the drawbacks of using Suiton: Goshokuzame; the sharks will go through any obstacle to get to their prey, including their creator. Many don't use it as you have to keep an eye on both your enemy and the sharks. They won't attack their creator on purpose, but you should keep out of the way of them."

Kurenai could only nod. "Good to know."

They heard footsteps on the water and turned to see Ino and Kiba making their way towards them unsteadily. Kurenai could understand; water walking got harder when you were walking on deeper water. She was just happy that her Genin caught onto tree climbing so easily so she could teach them water walking. It was the very first thing she taught them.

She was broken from her musings by Fox saying, "I'll collect the bodies." Without waiting for a reply, he walked towards Snake's floating corpse and proceeded to search her.

Kurenai watched him for a moment before walking up to Ino and Kiba, both of whom where shooting glances at Fox. Ino looked up at Kurenai. "Sensei?"

Kurenai nodded wearily. "It's over."

Ino nodded and glanced around her sensei to look at Fox who was busy sealing Rat's wrecked body into a scroll. His work finished, he stood and cracked his back before turning and walking over to his other half's team. "It's done." He told Kurenai.

She nodded to him and turned to see her other two students giving him uneasy looks. Fox didn't even seem to notice. She sighed. How the hell was she going to explain this? She shook her head and motioned for her team to follow as she walked back towards the tunnel. She'd explain after the mission. For now, they had a job to do.

After searching the tunnels, and retrieving all the stolen goods from the bank, they gave a report to the Daimyo and left for Konoha. Neither Ino nor Kiba brought up the subject of Naruto's strange behaviour, but Kurenai knew that the discussion was right around the corner. Both Kurenai and Fox agreed that it would be far safer if Fox was in control of his body until they made it back to Konoha, after which he would create another collar.

Ino and Kiba's confusion was only heightened one night while they travelled home. After collecting wood for the fire, their blonde team mate whispered something to Kurenai. The Jounin looked confused, but nodded nonetheless and they watched Fox walk off into the forest.

Fox walked between the trees, his head swivelling from side to side, seemingly looking for something. After about an hour he came upon a waterfall in a clearing. He hefted himself on top of a rock and sat with his legs cross, Indian-style. He took a few deep breaths and calmed his body. Before long, he began to feel his conscious fall away into the deepest part of his mind.

He awoke in a cavernous, cylindrical room. The walls and floor were made of dull, grey concrete. The ceiling was made of crisscrossing bars, letting sickly yellow light invade the space. Along the walls were massive racks of weapons, diagrams, and maps. There were corridors leading away from the main room, but it was the one in front of him that he was interested in. It was no different from the others, but this was his mind and he knew instinctively that it was the one he was looking for. He walk for a year or a second; time had no meaning here. He finally reached his destination: a reinforced steel door. He grasped the handle and pulled it open with a loud screech. At his feet was a peculiar sight: there was about five inched of murky water that just stopped in midair at the threshold of the door, not a drop going past the boundary. He walked through the door, only to be greeted by something that made gravity defying water appear normal.

He stepped into a large, rectangular chamber. The walls were a deep, almost black, rusty crimson. Torches along the walls provided light, but it was the same as the sickly yellow as the rest of his mind. One of the shorter walls, however, was replaced by a colossal gate, the pillars of which were thicker than most of the trees around Konoha, and stretched far upwards, disappearing into the shadows. None of the light seemed to penetrate the gate, leaving an abyss of endless shadows.

Fox paid no attention to any of this. Instead he kept his eyes locked onto a door directly opposite of the one he just entered from. It was varnished wooden door with a brass handle. He pushed it open and entered an area that was even more out of place than the previous two, if that was even possible.

The floor was covered by a deep red carpet, the walls decorated with light cream wallpaper. Light was provided by lamps along the walls, giving the place a warm feel. The walls were decorated with picture frames, but he didn't glance at them.

He continued along the hallway until he entered what appeared to be a sitting room. Bookcases lined the walls, filled with various tomes of knowledge. Stylish black leather furniture was set beside a wall made of floor to ceiling windows which were pitch black, as if it was night. It was on one of the couches that Fox found what he was looking for.

The boy was his exact double. The same blonde hair, the same whisker-like birthmarks, and, even though he couldn't see it, the same seal on his belly. He was wearing very simple clothes; a baggy white t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. One of his arms was thrown over his eyes, his mouth slightly open as his chest rose and fell slightly in his sleep. All in all he looked rather peaceful. That had to change. Fox grabbed the couch and tilted it, causing his twin to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Naruto groaned in pain from his position on the floor. He'd been having the best dream; involving ramen, a hot tub, and six bikini-clad beauties. Hey, he wasn't a pervert, but he was getting to the age when hormones found it funny to mess with your mind. Grumbling, he blearily looked up to see who to thank for his rude awakening, only for his eyes to bulge comically when he saw…himself.

The…him that wasn't really him was wearing the old Mk. III ANBU armour, complete with full torso, forearm, and shoulder armour, the grey Jounin jacked the exact same shade. His black clothes making his hair seem all the more bright. A plain , black, guard-less katana poked over his right shoulder, and a white Fox mask was clipped at his side, stylish red marking swirling around it's eye slits. When he looked at his alter ego's face, he shivered as he saw one thing that set them apart. His eyes. They were empty, not even dead; they had to have had life in them at one point to be dead. They seemed soulless. Naruto couldn't help but shift backwards slightly.

"Who…who are you?" He asked tentatively. He thought this would be what it felt like to stand in front of a wolf; any sudden movements or loud noises and you go bye-bye in a very savage and bloody manner.

Fox didn't move a muscle, but said, "I'm you."

Naruto's brow scrunched up in confusion. "Uh…no, I'm me."

Fox shook his head slightly and moved to sit on one of the chairs, leaning forward on his knees and resting his chin on his threaded finders. When Naruto didn't move, Fox flicked his eyes towards the couch. Naruto caught on and scrambled into his seat. Neither said a word for a few moments and Naruto started to fidget under Fox's unblinking stare. He jumped when Fox's baritone voice broke the silence.

"What do you know of your life before Konoha?"

Naruto stared at Fox, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean; what do you know about your life in the facility you lived in before you were brought to Konoha by Yuhi Kurenai?"

Naruto shrugged. "Nothing really. I know I had to study and train for something."

Fox nodded ever so slightly, as if confirming something with himself. "And what do you know of a man called Danzou?"

Naruto closed his eyes, trying to remember. "I've heard of him somewhere. I can't remember what it was, but he's supposed to be a big deal right now."

Fox blinked slowly and breathed in deeply through his nose. This was going to take a while. "Danzou was a former Elder of Konoha, and at present, is wanted for numerous charges of treason, murder, extortion, blackmail, kidnapping, and many other minor charges against Konoha and the Land of Fire."

Naruto's eyes were wide. That was quite a rap sheet. "Why did he do all that?"

"Because he is a very manipulative old man who wishes to overthrow the Hokage and conquer the Elemental Nations."

By now most of Naruto's face was taken over by his eyes, his eyebrows vanishing into his hairline. Fox decided it would save them time if he explained it all at once.

"A few years ago, Danzou and his ROOT operatives attempted a coup. During the battle they managed to capture several key structures in Konoha, including the Arena and the Assassination department in the tunnels under Konoha. They were outnumbered but had the element of surprise. No one expected to be attacked by an army of their comrades. It was only after Jiraiya of the Sannin intervened that the battle was turned and Danzou and his ROOT were driven out of Konoha. At the moment Konoha is engaged in a sort of civil war against ROOT."

Naruto silently absorbed this. Now he knew why he hadn't heard of Danzou or the coup; ANBU were the most secretive of all Konoha ninja. It's possible that the entire war between Konoha and Danzou could be fought without the general populace even knowing. Some things still didn't add up though.

"Okay, that's good to know." He said slowly. "But that doesn't explain why your telling me this or even why I'm in a strange place, talking to someone who looks exactly like me."

Fox sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms and crossing his leg so that his right shin was resting on his left knee. He closed his eyes for a few seconds as he thought about how to word this. Keeping his eyes closed he spoke, "Do you know anything about the collar you wear?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting that question. "Just that I've had it all my life, that I can't seem to take it off, and that when it is taken off I black out."

Fox held out his hand and suddenly, to Naruto amazement, a black collar identical to the one he always wore appeared in his palm. He tossed it across to Naruto, who caught it. "Take a look."

Naruto followed his order willingly. He had never really got a good look at the collar before, only catching glances of it in reflections. It was mostly made of plain, but strong, black leather, with metal clasps at both ends of the strap. Noticing something strange, he leaned forward and noticed seals embossed onto the inside of the strap. "Hey, why are there seals on my collar?" He looked up at Fox.

Fox folded his arms again. "Those are Suppression seals. They were used to keep me restrained. There is also a Repulsion seal on the clasp to stop you from removing the collar yourself."

Naruto blinked as a sudden thought occurred to him and he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I haven't even asked your name."

Fox didn't give any indication of being offended, but answered, "I don't have a name, but I go by my codename: Fox."

"Wait a minute, that's my old name!"

Fox resisted the urge to sigh in frustration. For all his academic knowledge, his alter ego seemed a bit thick. "Don't you realise what I'm telling you? I am you. I am another fragment of your mind. The seals on that collar were designed to repress me and allow you full control over our body."

Naruto's jaw hit the ground. "Are you telling me that I have MPD or something?"

"That is exactly what I'm telling you."

Naruto flopped back onto the couch. His day was just full of surprises. He looked back at Fox quizzically. "Wait, if you're my alter ego, then how am I sitting here talking to you? I've heard of people hallucinating about meeting their other identities, but I've never heard of them imagining entire settings." He said, glancing around the strange room.

Fox nodded. "That's true, they've never imagined anything like this in their conscious mind. But how many have ever ventured into their subconscious mind?"

Once again, Naruto's jaw graced the floor as he looked around at the room with new eyes. Without even turning back to Fox, he asked, "Are you saying we're actually inside my…well, our subconscious?"

Fox nodded. "What you see around you is a visual representation of your mind, constructed by your subconscious to house your conscious in the surroundings it would be most comfortable in."

"Wow." Naruto's head continued to swivel, gazing at his surroundings in amazement. After a few minutes he looked back at Fox, who had continued to stare at him unblinkingly. "I'm guessing there's more?"

"Yes. Danzou will come after us. I used to be his top agent and favourite weapon and now that I've defected, I pose too great a risk to him and his plans. A few months ago, before we were brought to Konoha, I was still under Danzou's command. When he unveiled his plans for another coup attempt, I tried to execute him, but I was stopped. From what Rat and Snake said, Danzou will have his agents actively pursuing us."

Naruto blanched. "Are you telling me that we'll have an army of ANBU level ninja running after us?" He'd heard enough rumours about ANBU to know that they were the best Konoha had to offer and his recent memories of fighting Rat reminded his just how gifted they were.

Fox shook his head, dispelling Naruto's fears. "Danzou doesn't have access to the amount of manpower and recourses he used to. Remember the fight between us and the ROOT ninja? Only Rat and Snake were high Jounin level, the others were high Chuunin level at the most. Danzou isn't foolish enough to send someone as weak as that to try to kill me. He needs his most skilled soldiers alive if he wants control of Konoha. If he does send someone to kill me it'll be a big risk on his part because there would be a very high chance of him loosing those agents." He was being matter-of-fact about this. He never boasted; he didn't need to.

Naruto nodded in relief as he rubbed his head where a small headache was beginning to develop. "One more question: Why did Danzou do this to us; turn you into a weapon and keep me locked up?"

Fox thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Danzou will use whomever he wants to further his plans. There is a main point as to why he chose us specifically, but I have a feeling that it will be revealed once we reach Konoha and that it would be better if you waited to find out. Plus there are parts of it that even I don't know about."

Naruto scowled at that. He hated not having all the pieces to a puzzle, but he let it go for now. "Okay."

"Good." Fox sat up a little straighter. "There is one more thing me must discuss. With Danzou seeking to eliminate us, and with you being in primary control of our body, you need training."

Naruto tilted his head to the side, confused. "What do you mean? I have training."

Fox shook his head. "It is true that you have adequate basic training, enough to dispatch someone of mere Chuunin-level skill, but that wont be enough. You are aware of how easy Rat beat you. If it wasn't for your poor avoidance of his attack then the collar wouldn't have been removed, I wouldn't have been released and we would both have died."

"Fine, so I need more training. I'm sure Kurenai-nee-chan could help."

Fox shook his head. "While Kurenai-san would help you, she has obligations to her other students and it would hinder you if you have to slow down so that they can keep up. Also her emotional attachment to you would cause problems. She cares for you too much to push you to your limits. She would train you properly, yes, but would take into account trivial things like your comfort and feelings."

Naruto's eye twitched. 'Wouldn't exactly call those things trivial…'

Fox continued on, unaware of Naruto's annoyance. Or maybe he just didn't care. "For you to receive adequate training, you must have a teacher who strives for one thing: to make you strong. This rules out Anko-san, Rin-san, and your other previous trainers as they have obligations with their own students."

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Well, those are about the only people I know who could train me to the level you're talking about…" He trailed off, looking at Fox. "You?"

He nodded. "I know how strong you need to be, have in depth knowledge about ROOT tactics and I can push you to the level you need to be."

"But how can you teach me? We're inside my mind; none of this is real, and we can't both be in control of our body for you to train properly."

Fox made a 'come here' motion with his index finger, so Naruto got up from the couch and stood a few feet away from Fox.

He motioned him closer.

A little more…

A little more…

SMACK!

Naruto hit the floor, clutching his broken nose as blood poured from between his fingers. Tears of pain dribbled from his eyes as he painfully snapped his nose back into place. Holding his nose to stem the blood flow, he glared up at his other half, who'd gone back to sitting with his arms crossed. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!"

Fox seemed unperturbed by Naruto's anger. Either that or he just didn't care. "It was a demonstration. Your get hit; your expect to feel pain so your mind supplies pain. Coupled with the fact that you can perform jutsu here, create weapons with a thought, train in any condition, never suffer from chakra exhaustion, and can even be killed and brought back to life he over and over again, and this proves to be the best place for your training. This way I can train you enough before the merger."

"What merger?" Naruto grumbled as he ambled back to the couch, throwing a dirty look at Fox. The bastard didn't even seem guilty that he decked his other conscious.

"The merging of our two conscious. We will cease to be Fox and Naruto and become one whole being; the person we truly are. It won't happen for many years, but it is important that you have sufficient knowledge to use these skills your naivety overshadows my training."

Naruto wiped the blood from his face as he asked, "How do I even get here?"

"By meditating. You've never tried it so that's why you're always asleep when I am in control. Since I have the experience, I have been able to venture into your mind and review your memories and by looking out of the windows I can see what you see." He gestured to the large windows that showed nothing but darkness.

A sudden thought occurred to Naruto. "Wait a minute, if you've been able to see my memories then why ask me all those questions to see what I knew? Weren't you already aware of what I know?"

Fox shook his head. "No. I can only see your memories, not read your thoughts. Only memories of what happen in the real world are stored here, not your thoughts. I haven't had a reason to check so I don't know if memories of what happen here in the mindscape are stored. I'll have to check that."

Naruto nodded his agreement, thankful that his private thoughts would be kept secret. "So…what now?"

"I must be getting back to our team, I estimate that I've been gone about an hour and I'd imagine they are starting to worry." Fox said as he stiffly stood from the chair. "I'll be keeping control of our body until we reach Konoha, until I can create another collar."

Naruto scrambled out of his chair too. "Wait! What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Fox pointed to the window. "Watch." He tapped his ear. "Listen." He tapped his temple. "Learn." With that Fox vanished from the mindscape, leaving Naruto alone. With little else to do, he flopped back onto the couch, watching in amazement as the inky blackness of the window cleared, showing him what his real eyes were seeing.

Fox walked back into the clearing, throwing Kurenai a nod, and sat down in front of the fire as he rummaged through his pouch. Finally he extracted a spool of thread and a needle. He paused, at a loss, before turning to his team mates. "Kiba-san."

Kiba jumped from where he was huddled with Ino. They had just been discussing their team mate's strange behaviour. "Y-Yeah Naruto?"

"I need your belt." He said, holding out his hand for the article of clothing.

Kiba was taken aback by the request and opened his mouth to tell Naruto to get his own damn clothes when he remembered what his blonde comrade did to those ANBU. That and the fact that Naruto's eyes were really freaking him out. They seemed to pierce his very soul in their intensity. "S-Sure Naruto. No p-problem." He quickly removed his belt and handed it over. They watched as the blonde looked at the leather before wrapping it around his throat until it was tight, but not so much as to cause suffocation or hinder his movement. He then pinched the leather strap a few inches away from where the buckle and brought his kunai through it, shortening the belt by several inches.

"Hey!" Kiba shouted as he watched his team mate slice his belt apart. He moved to stop him, but was stopped himself when he felt Kurenai's hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her in confusion. "Sensei?"

She shook her head. "Leave him. I'm pretty sure he has a good reason for doing what he's doing and I'll see that you're reimbursed for it."

Having a decent length with which to work with, Fox brought up the spool of thread and bit his finger before smearing the blood over the white fibres until all the white was replaced by red. He then threaded the needle and began to sew designs into the inside of the collar, the tiny drill of wind chakra around the needle piercing the thick leather easily.

His team continued to watch him work for a while before drifting off to sleep, leaving Fox to his work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They were back in Konoha the next day, waiting outside the Hokage's office to be called in. Ino and Kiba were chatting quietly while Kurenai was mentally going over what she would say in her report and Fox was still working on Kiba's belt. He hadn't said a word to anyone since the night before, instead opting to focus on his work.

"Yuhi-san, Hokage-sama will see you now." The receptionist called. Kurenai herded her team into the office until the stood before Sarutobi's desk. Even Fox stopped his work as they stood before their leader, but immediately took it up again when they were told to stand at ease.

Sarutobi smiled at the team. "Well, how was your mission? I take it that you were successful in solving the crimes?"

Kurenai nodded. "Yes sir we did. However we ran into some unexpected trouble."

"What kind of trouble." Sarutobi asked as he furrowed his brow.

"ROOT."

Sarutobi's eyes immediately flicked to the only blonde in the room, saying the distinct lack of collar. His whole demeanour changed from that of the kindly old Hokage to that of a seasoned general. "Report!"

Kurenai filled him in on everything that happened during the mission, from when they left, to their visits to the crime scenes, all the way up to when they entered the tunnels. At some point during all this, Fox finished his work on Kiba's belt and simply stood with his arms folded behind his back. When Kurenai reached the part about getting injured she looked at uneasily at Fox and then at her other two students and sighed. 'Oh well, it had to come out sometime.'

"When I was injured the Rat ANBU used it as a distraction to attack Naruto. He managed to avoid he attack, but not without incurring a flesh wound around his neck and chest." She bit her lip. "At that point…Naruto's collar was severed."

A silence descended upon the room. Sarutobi sat contemplating this while Ino and Kiba shot everyone questioning looks, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Only Kurenai and Fox seemed unaffected as they both stared straight ahead, waiting for the silence to be broken. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Sarutobi looked at Fox and asked, "Do you think we should tell them?"

"Yes." Fox droned in his usual monotone. "It will help them in the long run."

"And how much should we tell them?" Sarutobi's eyes asked the hidden question.

Fox's icy orbs answered that question. "All of it."

Sarutobi sighed and motioned them all to sit down. This would be a long discussion. "Okay then. Do you wish to tell them or shall I?"

"If you could explain Danzou and ROOT, I'll explain the rest, sir."

So he did. For the next half hour, Sarutobi told Ino and Kiba all about Danzou's efforts in toppling the government and controlling Konoha. Since the coup attempt had been remarkably quiet, they weren't aware that they were technically at war.

Finally Sarutobi finished up. "So let me get this straight." Kiba said. "This old guy wants to take over Konoha, turn us all into emotionless weapons, and try to take over the world?"

Sarutobi nodded. "That's basically it in a nutshell. We've been able to thwart their raids in over the last few months, but it has proven difficult to find their bases."

Ino raised her hand shyly. Sarutobi smiled and nodded for her to speak. "This is all interesting, but what has it got to do with Naruto?"

Sarutobi looked at Fox who nodded imperceptibly before he turned to his two team mate's. "It pertains to me, Ino-san, because I was formerly one of Danzou's top agents in ROOT."

This got a very natural and understandable reaction from the two Genin.

"YOU WHAT!?"

Kurenai and Sarutobi mentally winced at Fox's abruptness. 'That's one way to go about it I guess.'

Ino and Kiba both stared bug eyed at the blonde, who sat there as if it was an everyday thing to confess that you used to be a major player in a rogue ninja faction.

Ino was the first to snap out of it. "What do you mean Naruto? How could you have been one of this Danzou guy's soldiers? You said that you were raised outside Konoha by an old family friend."

Fox regarded her with his frosty gaze. "I did fight for Danzou, the past I told you about was a cover story, and I have no friends or family. For that matter, my name isn't even Naruto."

Ino sat stunned as this, until the Hokage interjected. "I'm afraid it's true, Ino. Naruto was taken by Danzou at birth and moulded into a living weapon."

Ino gave a rather impressive imitation of a fish as she tried to formulate a response, but finally Kiba managed to contribute to the conversation. "Wait! Is that what happened in those tunnels when we were fighting? I mean you wiped the floor with those ANBU!"

Fox simply nodded. "Yes, that was a result of my training."

Something didn't add up for Kiba though. "But if you could do that then how did they manage to beat you around so bad when we first started fighting? I mean no offence, but that Rat guy was mauling you. In fact your entire demeanour changed at some point."

Fox gestured to his neck. "Do you remember the collar I wore, Kiba-san?" He waited for the nod. "That was used to restrain me. I am in fact a alternative personality from the one you already know, the one you call Naruto. When the collar was removed I was able to take control of our body and engage the ROOT operatives."

Ino spoke up uncertainly. "So…you're not Naruto?"

"I am, but I am not."

Both Genin looked confused before Kurenai clarified. "Who we are talking to right now is Naruto's other personality. He is a whole other person from the Naruto you know. Naruto is the boy you've been training with all along, this is his alter ego, basically this is the former ROOT ninja."

Ino nodded slightly. "So if you're not Naruto, then who are you?"

"I do not posses a name, but I have been routinely referred to by my codename: Fox."

"I think it would be prudent to give the real story of Naruto's, and Fox's, lives before they came to Konoha?" Sarutobi suggested to Fox, who nodded his consent. Sarutobi then proceeded to tell them about everything they knew about Naruto and Fox's separate lives before they were found. He told them of Fox training and Naruto's imprisonment, of Fox prodigy status and Naruto's private study in solitude, and moved on to tell them of Fox's missions, his discovery of Danzou's treachery and his subsequent capture.

Ino let out a small gasp when she heard that he'd been sentenced to death, and shot Fox a concerned glance out the side of her eye. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. All this time she thought Naruto was just a kind, and smart, guy from out of town, when in actuality he was the former weapon of a bunch of traitors. She couldn't imagine what his life must have been like. She didn't know what was worse; having your humanity, emotions, and self worth stripped away and thrust into killing at far too early an age like Fox had been, or being locked in a small cage with basically no one to talk to for twelve year where your only source of comfort was in reading like Naruto had been. She imagined that this wasn't even scratching the surface of what Naruto's life had been like and the thought nearly caused her to break down in tears.

"Why?" Her voice broke the silence that the office had fallen into after the revelation. "Why did Danzou do that to you. Why did he pick you?"

Sarutobi glanced at Fox who gave the most subtle of nods. Sarutobi nodded back, but said, "If I am going to tell you that then I'd suggest we wait until we can get Naruto out here, unless he already knows?" Sarutobi asked, looking at Fox. The former ROOT shook his head and Sarutobi sighed. "Any idea how long it will be until you are able to create another collar?" He asked, gesturing to Fox's bare neck.

"I already have one, sir." He presented what used to be Kiba's belt. The strap was shortened dramatically and sewn along the inside of the leather were seals made of bloodied thread. "This should provide an adequate temporary collar until I create a more durable one. I have however encountered a problem."

"Oh?" Sarutobi asked.

Fox pointed to the buckle where a small seal was visible. "This is the most important seal on the collar. It is a Chakra Circuit seal, that allows the chakra stored in the collar to continuously loop through the seals, powering the Suppression seals that keep me contained. When the collar is removed, the circuit breaks and the chakra powering the seals stops. However, part of it's design incorporates a Repulsion seal, one which I am unable to separate from the Chakra Circuit seal because of the design. This means that only someone other than the person wearing it can remove it. So in a battle either Kurenai-san, Ino-san, or Kiba-san would have to remove the collar from my neck to allow me to take over in a fight."

He was about to put the collar around his neck when a thought occurred to him. "After we are done here there is something I must show you in private."

Sarutobi and Kurenai both made a mental note of this and nodded for Fox to proceed. Fox placed the collar around his neck and fastened the buckle, then immediately slumped in his chair. Thinking he was about to fall, Ino instinctively reached out to steady him by placing a hand on his shoulder. She helped him sit up straight as he tried to blink the bleariness away.

The change was noticeable to everyone. His features relaxed more, the razor sharp alertness fell away, and life seemed to surge into his eyes, seemingly making them lighten from dark colbat to bright cerulean. He smiled shakily to Ino and sat properly in his chair as Ino drew back, her hand lingering on his shoulder for a moment.

"Naruto?" Sarutobi asked. "Did you hear everything that was said?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, Jiji, Fox already explained it all, except why I was taken. He said that you should tell me because there were parts of it that he didn't know."

Sarutobi refilled his pipe as he prepared himself, before he began. Over the course of the next hour he told them the truth of October 10th twelve years previous. He was extremely careful to explain it in a way that pressed home the fact that Naruto was the Kyuubi's prison, not the Kyuubi itself. To say the three teens were shocked was an understatement.

Naruto couldn't believe it. Not that a demon was sealed in him, but that someone actually managed to seal the Kyuubi. He had seen the seal on his stomach before and had guessed that something was sealed inside him because the basic structure of the seal was roughly similar to a containment seal with a lot of additions thrown in. He'd even asked about it once and was told that he was a Jinchuuriki and to not speak of it again. Having read up on both demonology and sealing, he knew that the process of sealing and containing a demon was extremely difficult and was made even more complicated the stronger the demon. So as the strongest of all demons, the Kyuubi would have been near impossible to imprison. His respect for the Yondaime's skills rose a few notches. He knew that there was more to the story than they were saying. He made a mental note to get to the full truth.

Kiba, understandably, was shocked that his team mate contained a demon. However, contrary to popular belief, Kiba was in fact capable of thinking things through and so he realised that even though he had a demon sealed inside him, Naruto couldn't be dangerous because the Hokage wouldn't let the thing that almost destroyed the village walk around free. His previous idea of leaving Naruto behind in the tunnels after his collar came off also came back to him and he felt shame claw inside his chest. Konoha ninja were famed for their teamwork and Inuzuka's were doubly lauded for their number one rule: 'No matter what, stick by your pack. Protect them, and they shall protect you.'. Kiba would face hell when his family heard of his idea to abandon Naruto and he was not going to make that same mistake twice.

Ino…was pissed. The sheer unfairness of it all left a bad taste in her mouth. It seemed that there was very little good in Naruto's life. His imprisonment, his mind getting messed with which resulted in the birth of Fox, all the terrible things he must have been forced to do at a very young age, the years of solitude, being on death row, and all the other things that Naruto had experienced. And now she could add the Kyuubi to that list. She didn't even want to think what it was like to hold back a demon. She couldn't fathom how Naruto turned out as great as he did considering what his life had been like, but she would be forever thankful for it and she swore that if she ever met Danzou she would trash his mind so bad that he'd be skipping down Konoha's streets with his hair in pigtails thinking he was a four year old girl.

"Why?"

Everyone looked at Ino when she broke the silence. She kept her head bowed so that they wouldn't see the tears threatening to well up in her eyes and she somehow managed to keep a quiver out of her voice. "Why did he seal it into Naruto? If he didn't then Naruto wouldn't have been taken by Danzou. So why did he do it?"

Naruto and Kiba looked at the Hokage. It was a valid question.

Sarutobi closed his eyes. "Sealing demons is very complex work. Usually we can seal minor demons in talismans or statues. However sealing a Bijuu is different. Because of their sheer power they can overwhelm talisman seals easily and, if given enough time, can destroy a statue seal from the inside. Sealing them into humans however negates this. The human body is always changing, always adapting. If you seal a Bijuu into a baby a few hours old then as the baby grows it will be able to keep the demon contained and, depending on the quality of the seal, be able to block and counter any attempts of the demon to escape. The demon has to be careful about it though because if a demon's host dies when the demon is still inside then so does the demon."

They were silent for a moment before Kurenai turned to her students. "Before we finish, I need to know how you feel about what you've learned. I won't lie, if you stay on this team then you will be in danger from ROOT. If you want to transfer then I won't hold it against you and I'm sure Naruto wouldn't either." Naruto shook his head.

Ino and Kiba glanced at each other, talking with their eyes. After a few moments they turned to Kurenai, determination shining in their eyes. "We're staying." Was all they said.

Naruto, Kurenai, and Sarutobi smiled back at them. "Thanks guys." Naruto said, genuinely touched. They smiled back before Sarutobi drew their attention back to him.

"Well now that that's done with, I'd suggest that you go home and get some rest. Oh, and you should know that because you fought off those ROOT members, your mission had been upgraded to S-rank. Congratulations. Naruto please stay behind."

Ino and Kiba rose from their chairs in a daze. Their mission was S-rank? That was a lot of money and the fact that they went on one so soon would help them a lot in their careers.

Naruto watched them stagger out of the office and waited for the door to close before he turned his attention back to Sarutobi. "Okay Jiji. Spill."

"Naruto?" Kurenai asked.

Naruto didn't take his eyes off Sarutobi. "Why did the Fourth use me?"

Sarutobi blinked. "I already told you the reason Naruto, along with your team."

Naruto shook his head. "That was why he sealed the Kyuubi in a human, not why he sealed it in me specifically. So, why did he chose me?"

"What makes you think there was any other reason than to save the village?"

Naruto snorted. "C'mon Jiji. I doubt the Fourth would have just chose the first kid he could find to hold back the strongest of the Bijuu. He would only have chosen someone to hold that kind of power if he knew he could trust them not to abuse it. So, why did he choose me?"

Sarutobi sighed. The damn kid was too smart for his own good. "Do you want the long, looking-out-for-you-feelings answer, or the short, straight to the point answer?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "Just give it to me straight."

Sarutobi glanced at Kurenai before he said, "In short: he was your father."

Naruto's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. That…was a surprise. 'But not really if you think about it. Who would he trust more than his own son?'

Kurenai and Sarutobi watched Naruto in silence as he digested what he heard. It was strange. He didn't seem angry or sad about finding out his father sealed a demon into him, and he didn't seem happy or shocked at finding out who his father was. He just seemed…surprised.

After almost five minutes of silence Kurenai reached out and lay a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Naruto?"

Naruto started out of his trance and blinked sheepishly at the other two. Chuckling, he scratched the back of his head. "Ha, sorry about that."

"That's okay. Are you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess."

Kurenai's brow scrunched in confusion. "What does that mean?"

Naruto shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess that I don't really know how to feel about it yet."

Kurenai nodded her head. It was understandable; he hadn't had any parental figure to understand the level of trust a child would have in their parents so as far as he was concerned, the Yondaime was just a relative that sealed a demon into him.

"Maybe you should think on it when you have more time?" Sarutobi offered, to which Naruto agreed.

"We can talk about this later tonight if you want." Kurenai told him.

"Thanks Kurenai-nee-chan."

"Well, if that's all, I believe Fox had something he wished to tell us."

Naruto nodded, and allowed Kurenai to remove his collar. His body slumped before his head was raised, and the cold eyes of Fox stared back at them. He took a moment to give Naruto's conscious a mental kick to wake him up, then looked at the other two ninja.

"Follow me." He simply said before raising from his chair, and leaving the room, with Sarutobi and Kurenai following.

A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so,soooooooooo sorry! These last few months have been hell on earth what with prom, applying for college, family health issues, looking for work, going on holiday, and a whole host of other problems that have kept me from committing myself to writing. I promise to try and not let it go too long before I update again (this promise extends to those who read my other story 'True Shinobi'). I was actually going to write more for this chapter, but I thought it best to get it out now because it seemed long enough.

The main reason for the delay was the fight scene. No matter what I did, I just couldn't get it right. There may be a time when I rewrite it.

I am also considering sprucing up my other chapters. You know; fixing grammar and the such. I wont be changing the story, just how it is written. I also may go back and change Sasuke's attitude.

Just so you know THIS IS NOT A SASUKE-BASH STORY, HE WILL ACTUALLY PLAY A BIG ROLE IN IT!!!

Jutsu marked with a (*) belong to me:

Suiton: Suigadan - Water Release: Water Fang Projectile

Suiton: Daibakufu - Water Release: Grand Waterfall

Raiton: Hatsudenki Nagare - Lightning Release: Dynamo Current (*)

Suiton: Goshokuzame - Water Release: Five Sharks Eating

Magen: Jubaku Satsu - Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death