A/N: Hey everyone at last the third chapter is updated sorry for the long wait, but I had to write in between classes and work, but you know the feeling, as well as new story ideas going through my mind. The good thing is that this is long and some may find it boring but this has Naruto finally meeting his Pokémon and even its name.

Just to clear up some things from reviews in the second chapter, I thank who ever commented about some flows on some spelling, but for the comment about how to read about vowels in Naruto's tutoring, I was meaning the sound of the vowel 'I' not that they really turn into 'e's. So excuse me if I was implying it differently. Any way I hope some noticed that I changed the second chapter just a bit to some things, but I hope you like this chapter and again sorry for the long wait. The next one will take some time but I appreciate your patience.

Legend: "Talking"

'Thinking'

*Inner Sakura*

:: Pokemon Talking. ::

**Sounds from other room**

*"Intercom"*

~*Flashbacks*~

XX*Dream*XX

Chapter 3

The Chestnut

He trudged his way through the door, turned to lock it, and dropped his pack to the floor beside his night dresser; placing his book on its top. His apartment was normal as others were: 20ft by 10ft size, a small kitchen with a refrigerator and small heater, at the far end was an enclosed toilet and washing basin, a sink with a mirror, and his bed laid beside the dresser and a window above it. From the window he had a great view of the Hokage Tower and Monument in the distance. Sighing, turning his light on he walked to his cupboard and took out a ramen cup. Starting his heater he placed a filled tin kettle on it to boil some water. Honestly, he hated waiting to make his ramen at home, going over to Ichiraku was faster but today he wanted to think over things that happened on the particularly long day. Naruto looked out his window seeing the lights of the village softly light up the night sky, shadowing the monument as the stars twinkled from afar.

'What a day,' he thought. So much had happened today and he and his team had to retell it to the old man.

~*4 hours ago, Hokage Tower mission office*~

Team 7, having returned when the sun was closing in on the horizon, stood behind their sensei as Kakashi gave the Hokage a brief report of their wave mission. Sakura stood between the stoic Sasuke and a 'bouncing on his feet' Naruto; she was trying not to punch him in front of her leader and their old chunin sensei, who sat next to the Hokage, Iruka Umino. He still looked the same as he did from their class years with him: Tall tan skinned and lean muscled body, his brunette hair tied in a high spiked ponytail, he wore similar attire as Kakashi only without the gloves, his face still held the kind features they loved about him from his smile and brown eyes above the long scar across his nose. However Iruka had a concerned frown as he listened to their encounter with Zabuza Momochi of the Mist and the fake hunter-nin chunin, Haku. Naruto stopped bouncing at this then looked down with a solemn look on his face, Sasuke and Sakura noticed this but kept quiet.

Kakashi continued on of the aftermath and the finishing of the bridge and their journey back.

"Upon our way, around mid-morning, we realized we hadn't enough water and rations and split into two teams, Sasuke and Sakura had gone to a close by stream to refill our canteens while Naruto and I foraged for food. We did find chestnuts but then we found something more."

The Saidaime rose a gray eyebrow. "More Kakashi?"

The masked jonin then took out a small bag from his pouch and opened it up to pour out the hard blue berry and the red spiked tomato-like one on the desk before his leader and continued.

"Naruto and I discovered small groves of these berries in the same area together. I asked him to collect more samples while I waited for the others. Suddenly Naruto had an extreme encounter," he turned to the blonde boy, taking note of his still hidden sad mood. "He'll tell you."

As if on cue, Naruto's mood went from solemn to excited and practically ran to the desk like a cheetah toward where Iruka sat. The Hokage and teacher expected an excited babble but what the blonde said stunned them greatly.

"Iruka-sensei! I saw a Pokémon!"

For a moment the brunette just stared at him trying to understand the word; it rang a bell in his memory.

"What Naruto?"

"You remember that book you tutored me with about them?"

"…Yes, now I do. What of it?"

"I saw one! A real Pokémon and it was Suicune!"

Iruka just stared then turned to the Hokage, but the older man had a thoughtful look on his face as he himself stared at the blonde. The scarred brunette turned back to Naruto's bright smile. He did remember the book of strange animals well, but all he thought of it was just a fictional dictionary for kids. Naruto couldn't have seen something that didn't exist, despite knowing Naruto never lied greatly. He looked skeptically at the blonde.

"Naruto, please don't lie about something like this."

"But it's true! We all saw it!" Naruto was convinced as he turned to his teammates. "They saw it too."

Iruka watched wide-eyed as Sakura nodded to confirm Naruto's words and was surprised that Sasuke gave a curt nod in agreement.

"It's true sensei, we all saw it with our own eyes," explained the pinkette. "You see, unfortunately it was caught in a wire trap…"

The whistling of the kettle disrupted Naruto's thoughts and he quickly shut off the heater. Using a hand towel he removed the kettle and poured the hot water in his ramen cup. Putting the kettle away he covered the cup to heat the noodles; he always hated to wait 3 minutes for that. Yet, this time he had something to pass that. Walking to his night drawer he pickup the book and walked back to his table and flipped open the pages until he found the one he was looking for. He was amazed that same animal he saw this morning was the same as in this picture. It was hard to imagine; the same could be said with the old man Hokage and Iruka-sensei.

Naruto and Sakura spoke of the encounter to almost the full detail, since Sakura didn't want to embarrass Sasuke with the rope incident. They talked about its main shape, the condition it was in, its powerful attack on the boys, Naruto's sudden intervention when it was going to attack again (Iruka scolded him for that), Kakashi healing its leg, and its power of purifying the stream. All throughout this, the Hokage never dropped his firm thoughtful look as he listened; at least Naruto hoped he listened. When the two were finished Iruka had a slight disbelieved look on his face.

"How can you be sure it's the same?"

Naruto smiled at him. "I'm getting the book right now."

"Wha-"

They all turned to the oaken door of the office when voices and sounds came from it.

"* 'xcuse me please!*"

"*Didn't I already see you go in?*"

The door opened to another Naruto coming in with a yellow and blue dictionary-like book in his arms and the surprised secretary, Mikazu, who, upon looking at the already Naruto in the office, thought she was seeing double.

'Shadow clone, of course,' thought the Hokage and Iruka.

When the team had returned Naruto must have made a clone to go to his apartment to find the hidden nearly forgotten book as the original when to report in with his team.

The clone just walked up to the original and handed the book and a set of keys to him as Kakashi lead the still dizzied secretary out the door.

"Here it is Boss," said the clone. "It was in a box under the bed."

"Did you lock the door?" asked Naruto, taking the book and keys, then smirked at Sasuke. 'Told ya it wasn't under a table leg teme.' Sasuke caught the look and just 'hned'.

"Yeah," replied the cone then it scowled. "And Landlord-teme was demanding the rent."

"What! I paid that jerk 2 months' rent already!"

The occupants in the room watched the conversation between Naruto and the clone with amusement, embarrassment and a firm attention to make a mental note to speck with said Landlord-teme.

"Take it up with him," the clone shrugged, then waved 'goodbye' and dispelled itself with a 'poof!'. Leaving Naruto to grumble then take the book over to his teammates and showed the cover. Kakashi came from behind and looked over their heads to see it.

He 'hmmed' at the picture. 'A yellow mouse?'

Sakura cooed at the yellow mouse. 'Awe! How Cute!'

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Pikapedia? How Lame."

"Hey, I didn't write it," Naruto looked to him irritably then back to the book to flip the pages through.

The rest of Team 7 were amazed of how many of the creatures were listed and drawn with great detail. Each page had shown some that looked prehistoric, adorable, strong, and some looked down right bizarre. Iruka had come up to the group to look behind Sakura's shoulder, while the Saidaime just watched them from his desk, looking more directly at the book, his mind at work.

'Could this be just a coincidence?' Hiruzen Sarutobi thought. 'Such a meeting shouldn't even be possible.' He stared intently on the worn book. 'And that book…is it apart of something in all this.' He remembered the feeling of an outside force suggesting him to give the book to Naruto so long ago, but he had thought that his mind was playing tricks. Yet, now with this encounter with a supposedly non-existent 'Pokémon', around the boy's first time outside the village, he thought more that it's not coincidental.

"Here!" Naruto's shout brought the old Hokage from his thoughts to the huddled group looking at the page the blonde pointed to. "It was Suicune!"

"It's an exact match," voiced Kakashi.

"What does it say?" ordered Sasuke.

'A simple 'please' would do, Teme,' Naruto inwardly complained then read out the description. " 'Suicune', the aurora Pokémon. According to legend it is also known as a reincarnation of the north wind spirit. Its power was revered by its fellow legendary beasts Entei and Raikou. Yet, its greatest ability was to turn contaminated bodies of water pure again!"

"Like it did at that stream!" gasped Sakura.

Iruka had the shake his head in disbelief at how their description of the creature and the picture matched. "Unbelievable!"

"Believe it Iruka-sensei!" exclaimed Naruto, turning to the brunette. "Do you think that the others are real too and out in the world somewhere?"

"Now hold on Naruto," Iruka raised his hands to the blonde. "This may have been a genjutsu."

"I was there Iruka and I never sensed any genjutsu in the area," Kakashi interrupted. "And from what I saw, the creature used no chakra based attacks of any kind since it didn't produce chakra."

"But that's impossible."

"Iruka," softly called the Hokage, the chunin stood to attention. "I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it yet right now it's late and maybe freshened minds in the next morning will help the matter."

"…Hai, Hokage-sama."

The old tired leader then turned to Team 7. "As for your mission, I believe it will be labeled as an A-rank because of the circumstance so you'll be paid the A-rank pay, and you may have the week off."

Slurp. Munch, Munch… Gulp. Slurp. Munch, Munch… Gulp.

As he ate his ramen Naruto recalled how excited he and his team were, when they were paid and was credited the A-rank, of course Sasuke-teme just smirked like it was nothing.

'That guy,' Naruto inwardly grumbled, then took a solemn look and put lowered his cup down. He really wanted to go to Ichiraku with Iruka-sensei to talk more about that morning after the Hokage had talked with him and Kakashi-sensei, but then Sasuke threw him for a loop that lead him to this current mood.

The rookie genins exited the office door while the adults stayed in to discuss final details on the mission. Naruto had sat on a chair next to the door and opened his book to wait for Iruka as Sasuke and Sakura stood to leave. Sakura smiled at the boys.

"Well, I'll see you guys later then. Bye"

Naruto waved and smiled at her as she turned to leave then went back to his book. He looked more into about the yellow mouse on the cover and found out its name 'Pikachu', a mouse that makes and attacks with lightning from its body. How cool would it be to have that around, think of all the pranks they could pull? He cackled inwardly as his prankster mind came up with a prank to set up Sasuke-teme with the ultimate 'door knob shock' of his life. Ha, ha.

Lighting…

Crackling…

Like thousands of birds chirping at once...

Warm eyes of accepting friendship, then changed to accept death…

Naruto flinched and lowered his head to stare at a part of the book. Despite the excitement of seeing Suicune, the battle of the bridge was something he couldn't forget, nor what he learned about life as a real shinobi.

'Haku.'

"You will become strong Naruto, when you find the one most precious to you."

"OI! Naruto!"

Naruto inhaled sharply to look up at Sasuke, who stood in front of him. The book looked like it was slipping from his hands, and he noticed Sakura had turned from her spot down the hall when she heard Sasuke call to him. He took a breath, had a firm hold of the book again, and looked back up to his rival.

"Yeah Sasuke?"

"You just looked like you were about to drool on it, dobe."

Surprisingly to Sasuke, his teammate didn't shout at him, instead Naruto replied with a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head.

"Hee, hee thanks Sasuke. Iruka-sensei would have been mad if I did that."

'There he goes again,' thought the Uchiha. Whenever he or Sakura notice Naruto act differently than normal, like now when he was about to leave he noticed Naruto looking down into his book. He saw the blonde was looking at a particular page with, a first, a mischievous smirk then he flinched and Sasuke saw the orange and blue shoulders sag and the whiskered face fall into a sad distant stare. Then after a few moments, the book was being held more loosely and about to fall so Sasuke had to call the blonde out of his stupor. Naruto's behavior suddenly did a 180 from that sad look to the normal goofy, happy smile he always had seen. What goes through that mind of Naruto? The raven-haired boy shook his head. 'No matter, it's just my imagination.' He looked back at the blonde's still goofy look. 'There's still one thing left to do.' He took a deep breath then looked to Naruto in his impassive demeanor.

"Naruto."

The orange clad boy blinked up at Sasuke and tilted his head curiously, his voice asking hesitantly. "Yeah?"

The Uchiha looked away for a moment. "About before…at the clearing," he looked back at him, his hands fisted in his pockets. 'Why is it so hard?' "…Thanks."

Naruto didn't respond for a moment but when he thought more he looked more embarrassed about it and rubbed the back his head and smiled up to his rival/teammate.

"Heh, no prob Sasuke. We are teammates."

"Good…Now we're even," His voice just sounding of an Uchiha and he started walking down the hall ignoring a surprised Sakura.

He sighed as he flopped onto his bed, his nightcap adorning his head and his light blue nightshirt and pants covering his body. He just stared at the minor cracked ceiling of his apartment and thought and thought and thought about what had happened. He and Sakura were both surprised that Sasuke Uchiha, rookie of their class year and year round bastard (Not to Sakura of course) had thanked Naruto for saving his life but it wasn't that, that got him in this mood.

Even.

'The way Sasuke said that…,' Naruto thought. 'Feels like we're keeping score with each other.' But he shouldn't really be surprised at that.

Ever since they acknowledged each other on that day long ago, when he was aimlessly walking around and saw Sasuke on that little dock, Naruto declared themselves rivals, making a real true bond. Arguing, fighting in class spars, and any and everything Naruto did to best Sasuke Uchiha to rid of the loneliness they both had in their hearts and prove to others that they are more than what was said in their past, their actions, and what future others think they'll have. And so thus went their interactions until they became a team. At the time he thought they would really develop a friendship together, especially after Wave…

Senbon jetting towards them…

A mass of blue and black covering him…

Fading light in the black eyes staring up at him…

"I swore I wouldn't die…Until I killed him…My older brother…The oath would… save me but… Don't you dare die…"

Naruto sighed again and turned on his side to face the window by his bed. He looked out to the night skyline of the distant buildings, the monument cliff to the starry sky. Thinking back, after Sasuke's 'thank you' and on what they nearly lost more than their gain on that mission, his mood had saddened more and just left the tower before Iruka walked out of the office. Instead he went to read on top of the Yondaime's head of the monument for some hours, trying to distract himself from all that happened to learn more of these 'Pokémon'. When the fading sunlight was vanishing on the horizon did he decide to head for his apartment to stare at the stars at this moment; brooding like an Uchiha.

What a pathetic mood of him.

'I guess, since we both saved each other, it is even,' he thought as he took a deep breath and blew out a soft raspberry then shut his eyes and snuggled in his bed. 'But should we really be keeping score?'

This last thought echoed in his mind as he drifted off into his dreams until he was fast asleep. Naruto was so deep asleep he never noticed a blue glow opening his window and a breeze blowing in.

XXX*Dream*XXX

He stood at a distance from them, they had their backs to him, ignorant of his presence and he looked onto him, hoping they would turn to him and notice him there. Yet, behind him in his shadow, chaotically flailing around were nine black tendrils of fox tails, the reason of their distance, the reason of their hate of him, and the reason of his loneliness that's shown on his flowing tears.

The small six year old image of the spiky haired blonde softly cried and tried to wipe his tears away with his arm. He knew no one could see them, one would care anyway…

"Eeee…"

He blinked at the sound, stopping his tears then looked up to a figure standing before him. He looked closer to see the smile of the scarred kind face of Iruka, his arms opening to him. He blinked rapidly in confusion at the brunette image then he noticed more figures behind Iruka. One was his new sensei, Kakashi, just standing there lazily with one hand in his pocket and the other greeting him like his normal greeting, but he looked like he was waiting for something. Beside him, in all his regalia stood Old Man Hokage with his arms folded behind him and smiling that grandfatherly smile. Then the small blonde noticed the Hokage's robe moving slightly until a crown of pink hair peeked out from behind the elder and looked at the blonde curiously. The small girl of his age had a red scarf tie keeping her hair up, and she wore a light pale green shirt and blue shorts and sandals on her feet. She walked from behind the Hokage to stand next to him with a shy curious look at the blonde; fiddling her shirt hem. Then another figure walked up beside her, this time it was a boy, also his age, wearing a long sleeve black shirt and shorts. His arms were folded in front of him, and his spiked raven hair spiked above his head and is black eyes looked at the blonde with an impatient frowned mouth, as if telling him, "You coming or what dobe."

Why are they here? Why were they looking at him with those inviting eyes? The others don't have those eyes; their backs are still to him. Should he walk forward toward the people inviting him? What should he do? He trembled with uncertainty and fear; should he really trust them? He looked down when his tears started again in his eyes.

"Eee!"

He raised his head at the sound again, but it was coming from behind the figures before him and the backs facing him. Then a light, a small golden light was weaving through and around the forest of legs towards him. Hopping like a rabbit in a meadow, it left the leg forest, passed the friendly figures and surprisingly leapt into his arms.

The first thing he noticed was that the light was solid, and then he felt its warmth. A soothing warm feeling then flowed into his body, and calming him. He inhaled in surprise as the light seemed to raise its head mass and brush under his eyes, as if it was licking his falling tears away, and call to him softly.

"Veee…"

The light snuggled deeper into his arms, his eyes in a dazed and stunned stare at it for a moment. Then he looked up again to see Iruka, Kakashi, Old Man Hokage, Sakura, and Sasuke were still standing before him, but now were in the forms of he knew of them today, their soft smiles, or smirk from Sasuke, still inviting him. The ignorant backs of the others were replaced by a beautiful sunrise on the horizon. He looked back up to Iruka, smiled, then closed his eyes, tighten his embrace on the light, and stepped forward as he listened to the heartbeat matching his own.

XXX*End*XXX

Naruto squinted when a bright light landed on his eyes. Groggily, he peeked one eye open to see his window shining sunlight through. Groaning, not wanting to really leave the warmth in his arms, he sat up, stretched and yawned loud. After a moment of just half spacing out he got out of the bed and walked/stretched his legs to his enclosed toilet.

Sighing he took off his nightcap, washed his hands, took up his toothbrush, squeezed out some toothpaste and started brushing his teeth. While brushing he went through on what he should do today. Old Man gave him and his team the week off so he can't go on missions, he could just train himself, but he'd get bored with just himself and his clones, or maybe he could go to Ichiraku and tell Ayame-nee-chan and old man Ichiraku about the Wave mission, or he could shop and then clean his apartment. He shuddered at that, he hated cleaning. Maybe he should fix and sharpen his tools, they maybe hand me downs from Iruka, but he had to keep them functional since they were the only ones he had. Or He could show Iruka-sensei the cool looking egg on his bed or better yet show it to Sakura; it looks pretty and girls did like pretty stuff, right? He probably should wrap it up to keep it warm so it doesn't…catch…

Naruto blinked at his reflection in the mirror.

'Wait a minute…What egg?'

Wide eyed and still holding his toothbrush bristle head in his mouth, he slowly turned back to his bed, and there he stilled at what he saw. An egg the size of a soccer ball, its shell was a color of a light dark brown with a beige-ish zigzag color around the middle.

After a moment his fluoride foam filled mouth popped open and his toothbrush fell to the floor.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

YAWN!

Sakura covered her mouth to save from being embarrassed from yawning open mouthed, as she walked toward the Hokage Tower.

"Sigh, I thought we had the rest of the week off," she grumbled sleepily focusing ahead as venders were opening their stalls along the street.

After reaching home and taking a much needed shower, Sakura just landed on her bed, intent on sleeping in then repair her gear and reorganize her weapons stock when she goes back to training; She even thought of hunting down Ino-pig and rub in her face of her first successful mission with Sasuke-kun. Ino would be so jealous, though of course she would skip the 'Sasuke-kun nearly getting killed' part.

Twice, including their encounter with that creature.

'What did Naruto call it, 'Suicune'? Yes, that's it.'

The mission and encounter had flowed within her dreams of the fear and sadness on the bridge to the feeling of awe and curiosity of the creature throughout the night. Yet, the next morning her mother had come in her room saying that an ANBU came to the door and she was summoned back to the Hokage Tower immediately. At first she was grumpy for not sleeping more, but she thought better of it, for it might be important. So she was dressed and fixed herself up and headed back to the tower. She had wondered what happened to have her come: Was there a threat to the village (Unlikely since the team were still inexperienced genin), Naruto may have done something stupid and/or dangerous (It was probable but she hoped not), or Sasuke-kun could be in serious trouble (She really hoped not).

Down the hall toward the main office she spotted both Sasuke and Iruka by the door. Iruka looked up and greeted her.

"Good morning Sakura."

"Good morning Sensei, are you here to see the Hokage too?"

He nodded his head. "Yes, I got called in by an ANBU this morning."

Sakura's eyes widened. "You too?" She looked to her raven haired teammate. 'Did Sasuke-kun get call here as well?'

Sasuke nodded his head to her. "Have any idea why we're here?"

"No and so early."

Iruka stepped up to the oaken office door. "It must be important to the Hokage."

"Should we wait for Naruto?"

"He might be here already, waiting for us."

"Or 'he' is the cause," muttered Sasuke, but it was so soft only Sakura heard it. She had a sinking feeling that he might be right but with the Hokage it could be anything.

Just before Iruka could knock, the door opened and a familiar gray gravity defying hair and mask leaned out; startling Iruka and Sakura a bit.

"Good, you're here. You best come in," said Kakashi.

Sakura blinked a bit and Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, that was odd, that wasn't Kakashi's usual lazy tone, the tone of his voice sounded more serious as if he was on a mission. They looked at each other then followed a confused Iruka into the office to a sight that made Sakura almost do a double take.

The blinds of the windows were closed but the lights were on, on the desk the Hokage's hat rested on the table top, while the Hokage himself stood next to a chair, looking worriedly at its occupant. The blonde hair and orange jumpsuit they recognized him as Naruto sat in the chair in a way that made Sakura more worried. The blonde sat in a slight curl around an object covered in a blanket in his arms he wrapped tightly to him, his face had a nervous worried look, like was going into shock.

What was going on?

The old leader looked up and gave the new arrivals a slight smile. "Good morning, I apologize for summoning you all so early on your day off, but it appears Naruto here…" he patted Naruto's shoulder. "Has something very important, he says, to tell us and apparently show us."

'So even Hokage-sama and Kakashi-sensei don't know,' thought Sakura.

Naruto looked up at them and gave them that smile of his but this one was more forced. "Hi guys, sorry about getting you called in like this."

Iruka walked up to him and looked at him worriedly. "Naruto what do you have to show us?"

Taking a breath the orange clad boy unwrapped the blanket and revealed the colored egg. At first the audience present blinked at it, noticing its size and color. It didn't look like it was radioactive or something but why was Naruto showing them this. Sasuke, with a grumpy annoyed scowl, looked unimpressed and expressed it dryly.

"It's an egg, dobe."

Naruto scowled back. "I know it's an egg, teme, but look at it!" He held it out toward them. "It's huge and colored, does this look like any normal egg to you?"

Iruka gently took the egg from him and looked at it carefully at it while Kakashi questioned Naruto.

"Where did you come across it?"

Looking at the masked Jonin, Naruto explained, "After I woke up from this strange dream, I did my morning routine, thinking about what I could do when I saw it on my bed. It came out of nowhere!"

Laughter could be seen in Kakashi's eye-smile. "Well Naruto, you must have laid an egg apparently."

Turning red with embarrassment and anger Naruto sputtered at him, "I ain't a chicken in any form, mentally and/or physically!"

Sasuke smirked, "You sure about that?"

"This ain't about that, you jerk! This is serious!"

Sakura stepped in between them, "Hey you two stop it!"

Sarutobi raised his hand to them as he sat into his desk chair, "Naruto calm down. Now think for a moment, did anything in your apartment look different than from before you went to bed?"

Naruto looked thoughtful with his familiar thinking pose. "Not really only…" he opened his eyes. "Only my window was open when it was closed when I got home."

"So maybe someone must be playing a prank on you? You know to get back at you?" There was laughter in the old man's eyes. Naruto sputtered indignantly, as if insulted.

"What? Prank the king the pranks, not likely! Besides I don't use live props for my pranks," he crossed his arms and jetted out his chin comically. "It goes against the 'Prankster Code' and I quote, 'The use of live delicate props of any prank will be considered inhumane, immoral, and shall dishonor your status as prankster', unquote."

'There's a code for pranksters?' All in the room looked at the blonde with a sweatdrop.

"…You know what 'quote' means, dobe?" That Sasuke, the seeker of trivial knowledge.

"Will you quit making fun of my intelligence, you asshole!"

"Naruto! Mind your language in front of the Hokage!" Is that Iruka or Sakura or both?

"You know 'intelligence' too?"

Sakura and Kakashi struggled to keep Naruto in his chair from letting him throttle the smirking Uchiha. Silently enjoying the active scene than his quiet paper signing Saurtobi took out his smoking pipe and leaned into his chair and looked to the strange egg in Iruka's hands. He had a hard look at it, almost expecting it to move, but… no, the scenario was too convenient. First, an encounter with a 'Suicune' yesterday by team 7, and now today an egg in Naruto's bed. Why now? Why here outside the village and with Naruto's team or is it just Naruto? Was there a purpose for all of it? 'Or maybe I'm getting ahead of myself; this egg may not be real or connected to yesterday.'

Iruka calmed Naruto so he could get a say to the blonde, "Now, I don't understand Naruto." He held up the egg to his chest. "Are you sure this is a live egg? It could be just be a wooden one with a hollow opening to make you think it's real."

Surprisingly Naruto just sat back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and looked to his old sensei with a serious look.

"Listen," he said.

Iruka looked at him confused, wasn't he already listening? Naruto shook his head, "No, I mean listen there." He pointed to the egg. Iruka looked to the Hokage, who just gestured him to listen. He took up the egg to his ear, then closed his eyes and pressed it to his ear as the others watched curiously. Iruka had thought he would expect nothing when…

Tha-thump…

Tha-thump…

Tha—

His eyes widen and he stood still for a moment. Shocked he looked to Naruto with his mouth slightly open. Naruto just looked at him with an 'I told you so' look at him.

"Kakashi," Iruka called to the gray haired jonin beside the desk. When the masked jonin came up to Iruka he held the egg to him, never taking his eyes off Naruto. "Tell me what you hear; your ears are better than mine."

The other two genins and Hokage watch curiously as Kakashi took the egg and pressed it to his ear. As Iruka praised, the jonin's ears tuned out all outside sounds and even his own heartbeat and listened to the surprising warm egg to hear…

Tha-thump…

Tha-thump…

Scritch, scritch.

"Well, there's defiantly something in here," Kakashi replied coolly to keep his own surprise down. Sakura inhaled sharply, Sasuke narrowed his eyes and Naruto nodded his head in confident agreement as Sarutobi sat up straighter in his chair.

"Could it be dangerous to the village?"

Kakashi gave the egg back to Naruto. "Well, that I don't know what animal it came from." He eye-smiled at Naruto. "We can certainly rule chicken out."

The blonde growled and stuck his tongue out at him.

"We probably should get an expert. It could be an endangered or extinct species," voiced Sakura.

Sarutobi looked back at the egg once more, thinking hard and remembering a time he may have seen something similar to it but he had to listen to all options at what it could be and what it may be. He then reached to his intercom on his desk.

"That would be best," he pressed the button. "Mikazu-san."

*"Yes, Hokage-sama?"*

"Could you summon Hana Inuzuka to my office please?"

*"Right away, sir."*

He released the button then looked back to the others. "For now we'll just keep watch of it…" he paused then smiled at the only blonde in the room. "No, Naruto will keep watch of it."

Blue eyes widen at the old man. "Wait a minute, ME!" He jumped up out of the chair, still holding the egg in a careful grip, and faced the wizened leader. "But I can't jiji. I'll busy with team missions and training and-"

"You have a week off from all that and I'm sure by the time you do go back on duty we'll have worked something out."

"What about Sakura or Sasuke? Can't they take care of it?"

"You found it dobe, you take care of it," said Sasuke.

"Lazy," mumbled Naruto as he scowled at his rival.

"He's not lazy, Naruto," chided Sakura, and then offered with a smile. "But if you need help and/or advice you can ask me."

Stars shined in Naruto's eyes. "Thank you Sakura-chan!"

"Think of this as another challenge for you," suggested the Hokage, the blonde blinked at him. "Remember how the last one worked out for you?"

Naruto looked down at the egg a moment, letting it all sink in. Then a warm hand landed on his shoulder to make to make him look up, as Iruka whispered in his ear so that only Naruto could hear him; despite the other highly trained ears in the room.

"Naruto, haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to take care of another life besides your own?"

He blinked and stared at the kind smile of his old teacher. He never thought of that before. All his life he had been alone, sure he had Hokage-jiji provide things for him and visited him from time to time and he had Iruka-sensei to eat with after classes. Sometimes he would hang out with some of his classmates to play pranks, skip class, sleep through class or eat hidden food from the teacher. Yet, after all of it in the end of the day he would always find himself walking to his apartment alone, he would open the door and greet an "I'm home!" into the room but he never had a reply back to him, just silence. That was the main routine for him since he could remember, and at the time or two it became unbearable, but he pulled through even after finding out the real reason for being alone. Everything he did was all done by himself, yet…He always finds himself looking at others who have someone dear to them, laugh with them, and can greet them home; animal and/or human.

Now thinking of what the old man and Iruka-sensei implied, he started to smile, small but truly genuine, and embraced the egg slightly. No matter what came out of it, a bird or freaky lizard, they had each other now. His thoughts and actions took only a few moments in real time, before he faced the Hokage and gave a face of pure determination and excitement.

"Don't worry Hokage-jiji, I promise I'll take care for whatever this comes out as," he exclaims with his trademark grin, but Sarutobi saw this as more heartfelt. "I won't break my promises, that's my nindo. Believe it!"

Sharp amethyst eyes open slowly and look forward from its position. It's voice resonating in the air.

:: At long last, it begins. :: A blue glow surrounds it. :: Awaken. ::

Tha-thump…

A heartbeat beats into his body…

He stills and inhales sharply at the sudden vibration…

'What was that…suddenly my heart…' His eyes widen. 'The seal… it acting weird again…Just like when Suicune and I did that stare off back then…What's-'

"That's good to hear Naruto," said that Hokage as if he didn't notice Naruto's sudden change of behavior. Naruto blinked, maybe it was just him. "Now we'll see if we can get someone-"

Crack!

All eyes went to the egg in Naruto's hands…

A crack had appeared on the top of the shell…

Silence…

Then…

"Idiot," sighed Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Sakura groaned. "Not even a minute into this and already you break it!"

The blonde was frantic. "But! But! I didn't! AH!" He exclaimed when the egg shook in his hands.

Kakashi's hand stopped Sakura's advance to make her look at him and noticed he had an intent stare on the egg, so did Sasuke, Iruka, and the Hokage.

"Sakura I don't think Naruto did anything," his eye narrowed when another crack appeared, surprising his blonde student. "I believe it's…"

"…hatching," finished Sasuke.

Then to the shock of all the egg glowed a bright white light, lightening around the office. Sasuke moved in front of Sakura, she would've swooned at this but she was focusing on the light. Kakashi had moved in front of the Hokage in case of anything, while Iruka stood close to Naruto as they both watched in awe as the light shifted from its egg shape to a new form. The light formed a mass with four legs, a bushy tail in the back, a mane of sorts around its neck, then on its head two long ears shot up. Feeling its warmth, Naruto then felt a familiar feeling like he had the night before.

'Just like in my dream,' he thought. 'It's the same.'

Then the light started to fade and everyone looked closely at the details of the newly hatched creature. It was no bigger than a cat. Its main color was a light brown that covered its body, head, legs, and tail, with a cream colored tip at the end. Its mane was a collar of cream colored fur, its rounded face had a small muzzle with a tiny black nose, and its eyes still closed. Naruto watched as the newly 'hatched' creature slowly blink its eyes open to his azure ones. He stared back at the big glossy dark brown and they stared back at him for some time, not acknowledging on anything but themselves. The creature then smiled, shocking the blonde, and then cried a greeting to him.

"Vee!"

The moment was ruined by a girl's great weakness.

"SO CUTE!" exclaimed Sakura, with hearts in her eyes.

Her shout surprised everyone in the room, but the creature's reaction was the worst. Its body froze for a second, its eyes wide and tail rigid, then it cried out with an "Eee!" and jumped into the closest safe it saw, Naruto's open collared jacket. It jumped from the blonde's hands and through the loose opening of his neck hem and into the torso area. Startled, Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms and legs around and giggled as the creature burrowed deeper into his jacket.

"Hey! AHH! Hee, hee! Get out! HAHA! Get it out! Hee, Hee! Help!"

Iruka tried to get to Naruto when the blonde fell off balance onto the floor, groaned from the pain, then sighed in relief when the burrowing stopped, but he could feel it shaking a bit.

At first the audience looked on in shock, amusement, and some embarrassment through the whole incident, then Kakashi stepped up to an embarrassed Sakura and whispered in her ear.

"I think we'll need to work on your impulse control, Sakura."

She blushed and looked to Naruto. "Sorry, Naruto." *Oh now Sasuke will think I'm a total loser.* She looked to the raven but he was focusing on the lump in the jacket as the blonde weakly smiled.

"I'm fine." He looked down to the shivering bulge on his belly as it moved to hide under his arm. At first he didn't know how to approach this, with his past experience with an unknown animal. Then he opened up his jacket a bit, just enough for him to see the creatures head. He spoke softly, "Hey, it okay… Sakura-chan didn't mean to scare you." It didn't move. "Come on, it's alright, no one is going to hurt you." It peeked out a dark brown eye up at him as he smiled. "There you are, see we're not really scary… except maybe Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke."

"Oi," Kakashi whined lazily.

"Hn."

It fully looked up and Naruto lowered the zipper to reveal the creature to the rest of the audience. It looked out to see Iruka close by as he looked at it with an awed smile, Sakura smiled at it with a blush and her folded hands cradled her head, Sasuke and Kakashi did look scary but not that much, then it looked to the man behind the desk and at first he would look scary but his aura wasn't threatening; he looked like he was thinking deeply in his stare. No longer feeling threatened it climbed out of the jacket into Naruto's arms, as the blonde stood up, and greeted them with a smile.

"Eee!"

"Remarkable," breathed Iruka as he stood close to get a good look. It looked to him as Naruto patted its head to reassure it, then its head reached for Iruka's hand to let him pet it, it cooed as he scratched its ear.

"Aww," voiced Sakura as she walked over with Sasuke and Kakashi following up behind her. "So adorable, where did it come from?"

"From the egg apparently," said Kakashi, watching her scratch its chin. "But correct me if I'm wrong, while it is cute… It's not a bird or reptile and last time I checked warm blooded animals don't hatch from eggs."

"They don't," answered Sasuke.

"Then what about this one?"

The intercom buzzed, making everyone flinch, were they all really that shocked to not notice things around them? The creature tilled its head toward where the sound came from, as the Hokage pressed the receiving button.

"Yes, Mikazu?"

*"Hokage-sama, Hana Inuzuka is here."*

"Thank you, send her in," he replied then addressed the rest. "We'll just let our 'expert' help us find out."

"So…this cutie really came from an egg?"

Hana Iunzuka was considered a talented young woman and ninja from her clan and she exceeded more into the veterinary care for the village since she became a genin. The tall, slender, and fierce looking brunette showed that she was a proud Inuzuka with her red fang marks on her cheeks, but when with her furry, feathery, and scaly patients she showed a more caring side to encourage their health rate. Her skills were highly recognized in the shinobi community as she treated nin-dogs, messenger hawks, and even toads with 'toothaches', but when the Hokage's summons her to give an opinion on a new animal species a genin team found she never expected anything like this.

An exam table was brought for Hana in the office so she could examine this creature closely and check for any physical deformities and its health. The three genin were close by with Naruto just across the table to help Hana hold the creature the way she told him to. Iruka stood by the door so no one would enter unexpectently, while Kakashi had taken up his little orange book and leaned against the Hokage's desk, but he wasn't truly reading it. Due to pressure from his secretary the Hokage had to file and stamp his paperwork while they all waited for the exam to finish. Sarutobi was classifying this event as an A-class secret due to connecting circumstances until further events decide otherwise. So only for now everyone present in the office knew of this new 'arrival', so Hana was honored with being the official vet. She checked the creature's legs and paws, and when she felt the underbelly, the little brown muzzle gave cries that sounded like giggles; Naruto spoke over them trying to keep hold of it.

"Eeee! Vee…ee…eee!"

"Yeah, first the egg cracked, then this," he motioned his head to the giggling mass. "Came out in a ray of light. Is that normal?"

"Of course it isn't," commented Hana as she looked into the creature's mouth, noticing it already had a set of teeth. "But this isn't exactly a normal animal." She closed its mouth, looked into its eyes and smiled. "But you are cute!"

"Eee!" cooed the creature with a smile.

'Guess it sticks with age,' thought Naruto with a sweatdrop remembering Sakura's outburst earlier.

"So this is probably a new species?" asked Iruka.

"Maybe, I haven't gone through all the scrolls and books about every known animal in the nations. I'm still learning."

"Take all your time Hana-san," voiced the Hokage as he finished a paper stack then went up to his file cabinet. "I'm sure we'll find an answer."

"Right," she sighed then straightened up and patted the small head. "Well, I'm finished. There are no signs of any physical abnormalities on the body and no parasites or diseases external or internal, so all in all she's in perfect health."

"Vee!" it cried happily as it was released from the table, then proceeded to hop around the floor. Naruto looked up at Hana with an eyebrow raised.

"'She'?"

Hana nodded "Yep, it's a girl."

"How can you tell?" STOMP! GRIND! "OW!"

Sakura continued to grind her heel into his foot. "Honestly Naruto! You have no tact what so ever!"

"What? What'd I say? OW! It was a simple question! OW!"

The rest just shook their heads and sighed at the scene, the creature just looked around at everything curiously, while the Hokage had returned to his desk with a form in his hand.

"Well now that we know its gender, that should make things easier," he looked to Naruto, who was crying tears of pain. "Naruto, could you come here please?" He smiled as the blonde limped over, but it wasn't because of that, he smiled as the little brown creature tailed behind the orange-clad boy, then he reached over to give Naruto the form. "Just fill this out."

Curiously Naruto looked over the form in his hands, while felt the creature rubbed against his leg like a cat. He blushed in embarrassment when he heard the girls giggle and the two men and rival snicker, however he felt warm at its attention toward him, but he just looked up back at the old man.

"What's this?"

"It's a form that will recognize that you, Naruto Uzumaki, are the sole provider and caretaker to this little creature and to register her as a part of your team. So Kakashi, you'll have to sign it too."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"So…" Naruto looked down at the creature as it leaned on his leg. "I'll be its-her owner?" For some reason that didn't sound right to him.

"More like a guardian and caretaker, like taking in an Inuzuka puppy, while we still will keep this event an A-class secret you are the one it saw first and coincidently," he paused to look down at the creature by the orange clad legs like an obediently puppy. "'She' now has imprinted on you and believes you are her parent."

"That means you're a 'Momma', Naruto," Kakashi eye-smiled and padded the boy's shoulder. Everyone either giggled or chuckled as the red faced blonde sputtered and turned to the Cyclops jonin with a raised fist.

"You'll cry for yours in a second you—mft!" a gloved hand covered his mouth.

"Careful Naruto," the mask had the gull to smirk as he wiggled a finger back and forth, then pointed down. "There's a 'baby' in the room."

Muffed words, a twitching eyebrow, and angry eyes were his answer.

Then Naruto felt a tug on his pant leg, he swatted the eye-smiling man's hand away to look down and blink. The brown creature was tugging at the fabric with her teeth to gain his attention, then when he looked at her she started rubbing against his leg and stood on her hind legs to look at him. Her ears were folded against her head as she looked pitifully at him with her glossy eyes and give a pleading cry that caused a flinch in his heart.

"Eeee…"

'So cute!' thought the girls in the room.

Naruto looked confused as he kneeled down, "Hey, what's wrong? You hurt?"

"Veee…" Her eyes just stared back, when a soft rumble was heard.

"Hmm," Hana looked thoughtful for a moment. "Has she been fed since she…'hatched'?"

"Gasp, No she hasn't," answered Sakura.

"So she must be hungry," voiced Iruka.

"Oh," Naruto looked back to the pleading creature and rubbed the back of his neck. "What does she eat?"

"That we don't know," explained Hana. "Remember this is a new animal even to me. Normally warm blooded animal newborns feed on milk but this one already has a full set of teeth that's like an omnivore."

"'Omni'-what?"

"'Omnivores' are the animals that can eat both plants and animals," explained Sakura. "We humans are omnivores too."

Naruto thought for moment then sighted his pack by his chair. "Oh! I still have some of those chestnuts left," he looked to Hana. "Are those okay?"

"I suppose. I'll see if I have any milk formula, just in case."

Sasuke, throughout it all, watched closely in his own musings of the event. He was still not over realizing he still had a lack of power to beat that hunter-nin in wave, then against that creature in the clearing and its power, and now…this really threw him for a loop. Why would someone send an egg of unknown origin to his blonde teammate? It was confusing and was starting to give him a headache. He was brought out of his thoughts when Naruto opened his pack; Sasuke was leaning against a file cabinet next Naruto's chair. The blonde dug into the pack and brought out a bag of his chestnuts, but then Naruto pulled out something that caught Sasuke's attention…

A familiar yellow and blue book.

He narrowed his eyes at the sight of it. 'Could it be…?'

Naruto just placed the book back, without much notice, and proceeded to crack some of the nuts then gave them to the little brown creature. She sniffed at the nut at first then cried happily and started to munch on it.

"Hey! She likes them."

"Good, now Naruto," called the Hokage. "Let's get this form filled out, so you could start adjusting with your new…friend." He liked the sound of that.

Naruto wrote the information needed as the others gathered around the creature eating happily, minus Kakashi, who took up his book again, and Sasuke, who no one noticed going for Naruto's pack. Soon Naruto paused at a section and frowned.

'Name of charge? _?'

Well, the creature was a girl so that narrowed name choices dawn but not enough since he, being a boy, couldn't think of a good one. He turned to Sakura, who placed a bowl of formula milk Hana made beside the eating furball. "Hey, Sakura do you have any idea's for names? I can't think of one."

Sakura looked thoughtful for a second. "Well how about…'Cutie'," she smiled at the creature. "Since she is a cutie."

"I agree," smiled Hana.

Naruto frowned. "No way that's too girly."

"You asked."

The orange book lowered for Kakashi to give his suggestion. "I have good one." They didn't like that particular eye-smile. Sakura's eye twitched.

"It better not be from that book," she growled.

The book covered his face again. "It was just an idea."

'Ero-baka!', thought his team.

"Maybe something from her features could give a name," said Iruka as pet the small brown head and smiled when those glossy dark brown eyes looked up at him. "She has beautiful eyes, so how about 'Hitomi'? It means 'lovely eyes'?"

Then the creature looked like she made a sour face and shook her head.

"Eee!"

"I don't think she likes it," grinned Naruto.

"How can you know that?" said Sakura then gave the creature another nut. "You can't understand her."

That caused Naruto to pause. She was right, the creature just came into this world and already it was looking like it aged in months rather than an hour. Yet, somehow he could feel something from the little brown furball, though no words were exchanged he just felt that whenever she cried out or moved a curtain way he knew what she was saying in her own way. 'That's a bit creepy.' Why was this all happening now? It was a bit overwhelming. He looked back at the scene of Hana and Sakura feeding the brown mouth, his two sensei's watching them, and Sasuke opening his pack…wait…

Naruto jumped and pointed angrily at his raven haired rival. "Hey! Sasuke! Hand's off the pack, you thief!"

The others looked to the high collared prodigy as he took out a familiar book, to all but Hana and the creature, from the pack.

"Don't freak dobe. I just have a hunch."

"What hunch Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura.

Pitch black eyes glanced at them as Sasuke flipped through the pages. "Don't you think this is all too convenient to what happened yesterday? That blue creature then and this one now?"

"What crea-" asked Hana curiously, then her eyes widen a bit. "There was another?"

The Hokage raised his hand to silence her. "All will be explained later Hana-san, but please listen for now."

When she reluctantly nodded, Kakashi put his book back in his pouch to look at Sasuke. "This creature is nothing like the one from then, Sasuke. There's no possible way that they could be relevant and/or related."

Sasuke just continued flipping the pages of the book as Kakashi talked, his gifted eyes skimmed at the various creatures of every size, color, and some look ferocious while some would make anyone smile. Then he saw the page he was searching for. He narrowed his eyes, then sighed and turned to the curious group. He opened the book to them from them to see the page. The widened eyes and gasps came as he expected.

"Then how do you explained this?"

It was like looking at a mirror of oil and brush paint.

"No way!" gasped Sakura. "It's the same."

Naruto looked at the opened page of the book to the exact image in disbelief. It couldn't be just a coincidence, but there it was, the identity of this…'Pokémon'.

Hana strode forward to the Uchiha. "Let me see that?"

"This is starting to be overwhelming," sighed Iruka, who pinched the bridge of his nose. Kakashi looked more seriously at the creature as it finished the milk in the bowl, not noticing the sudden tension. Satisfied with the meal she turned around to find her master sitting on a chair not too far away and happily hopped up to his lap, startling him, and contently laid there. Naruto looked surprisingly at the crea-…no…he looked to the book Hana was now reading…the…

"'Eevee', the evolution Pokémon. This playful, cheerful Pokémon is said to be the only one of its kind to evolve into numerous advanced forms depending on items used, environments, and/or situations of extreme emotions…example Eevee can use a water evolution stone to evolve into Vaporeon? 'Pokémon', 'evolution stone'?" She looked over to the Hokage, who looked like he was having a migraine. "Just what is all this?"

The Saidaime just sighed, taking this all in as his aging mind worked the situation over. 'This confirms it.' "All will be explained. Now Naruto," he addressed the blonde, but he was surprised to find that the blonde was staring at the 'Eevee' quietly, just staring at the happy features like she was the most precious thing in the world. The old man didn't want to ruin their moment but… "Naruto," he called again, the blonde flinched his head up. "We have all day to think things through but let's start with a name." He pushed the form to him.

"Oh, right," Naruto took up the pen again and thought. So this…Eevee…was a girl, its name itself was just the name of her species so he can't use it, he didn't know any good girl names, and she likes nuts. He paused… 'No, she likes chestnuts.' He looked down at the brown mass on his lap, then to his pack and saw one chestnut left and noticed the similarities to them for they had the same color, even the collar around the head. Then it came to him.

"'Kuri'."

Everyone looked to him in surprised silence. He had serene smile on his face, he spoke softly, and his eyes never left the little Eevee's, who looked back at him with a curious tilted head.

"Her name should be 'Kuri'," he grinned big. "She looks like what she eats."

For a moment silence, as if she was registering the name, then she gave a happy smile and cry at him.

"Vee!"

"You like that huh? Hi Kuri great to meet ya. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage!"

He watched them from his window; his hands behind his back. It was after noon when the sound of Naruto's stomach had given them the break they needed from learning more from Naruto's Pikapedia book. So it was decided that Naruto and Sakura would go with Hana to get the supplies needed to take care of little Kuri, he like the sound of that, while Kakashi peeled off to write the report about the event. Sasuke on the other hand had left to his family compound, saying he would make his own research. Iruka would meet up with later for his shift of mission dispatches, after he treated his headache; the situation got a bit overwhelming for him, but he'll catch up with Naruto about it later. As for Naruto himself… The old leader was surprised at how quickly the boy took to having the little creature in his life so suddenly, but he knew deep inside that the boy was thinking the same thoughts he was: why now, why here, and why the blonde specifically? Yet, for now Naruto look truly happy and Sarutobi would leave it at that. Now, with Kuri registered and the report being made, he'll have to tell the council.

Hiruzen groaned, he really didn't want to involve them, they'll surely try everything to either have Kuri taken away to be killed, dissected, or, his face darkened, Danzo could use her for whatever he had in his methods. And there's no telling how it will affect Naruto, the boy would be devastated and what if the… He shook his head, 'No, the seal and the boy's will are strong, they'll hold out.' Still he had read the Wave report and it concerned him. 'I'll see if I can get Jiraiya to look at it.'

He looked back down and chuckled at the sight of Naruto's group, Naruto trying to look inconspicuous was funny. You see, before they left he reminded them that Kuri was supposed to be top secret, so they couldn't go walking around the village with an unknown creature in the open. Naruto's pack would have been ideal, however Kuri didn't like the dark space, yet she found the perfect place to hide right by her master; she'd hid behind his neck and under his jacket neck lining. Now the blonde was trying to walk like he didn't look like a hunchback, he had a dark red blush as he and the girls left.

Sarutobi flopped back in his comfy swivel chair and sighed, knowing this event was just the beginning of something more than he could comprehend. His headache would double with that and his increased paperwork.

But first he must deal with his present company.

"I must say again that 'that boy is going to wear me out' for he keeps bringing more and more surprising trouble good and bad," he sighed again, keeping his visual on his beloved village a little longer before turning in his chair to face his hooded visitor.

"But all going according to your plan, right?"

A/N: And there you have it. Next time: Naruto is starting to have second thoughts? How will he and little Kuri adjust to each other and their team? Who is the Hokage's visitor an enemy or an unlikly ally? Find out in: "Welcome Home"

"Kuri" really means chestnut, and "Hitomi" was the only name I could find in relation to her eyes, so any fluents of the language please bare with me. Thank you.