01: Kyuu Uzumaki.

Naruto has always been glad to receive the mask she was wearing. The ANBU mask had given her a new life. A life where nobody glared at her with cold eyes, a life where she never had to meet anyone else beside the kind old man that was the third Hokage, and her teacher and caretaker: Cat-sensei. She was only twelve, but she already received her codename and mask. She was happy to live and blend in the shadows as an ANBU.

But, it all changed when a certain something happened to her.

It was a fairly calm evening. She was patrolling around Konoha's borders alone. She wanted to finish this quickly because she had resolved to take a long bath in a bathhouse after a long time. And most likely, she'd be alone and everything since nobody would want to see the demon-container naked. They'd think that her body was full of malice anyways, and in some ways, Naruto had to agree with them.

When she reached the last land remark of Konoha, the Valley of End, she grinned when she saw nothing. That means, she can go home and rest easy in the bathhouse. The blond girl narrowed her eyes to take another look at the valley. It was gloomy, and yet beautiful at the same time.

She looked at the statue of someone with a Sharingan and felt her something kicked her stomach.

"What the…" She whispered. Ahh, the Sharingan. She'd know them from Cat-sensei on their bloodline limit lesson. The man himself had them through a genetically enhanced process to have the Wood-release. But, bloodline limit belongs to a clan. The example he gave was the Sharingan of Uchiha clan, one of the three great ocular jutsu.

And somehow, something kicked her stomach again.

"What the hell is this?" She writhed as her knees touched the ground. She encircled her arms around her stomach. And somehow, the pain became more intense and the tattoo-like symbol on her stomach began to feel hot. "Oh gods…" Her mask fell down as she screamed. It was painful. It was like something was trying to break away from her stomach.

And suddenly, the air in front of her distorted. A man with weird orange-colored mask appeared out of nowhere. But, Naruto wasn't playing attention to him. She started to roll around the cliff, not caring whether she fell or not. Her stomach was so painful that she wanted to puke. And eventually, she fell down the cliff.

And strangely, the masked-man also fell with her, holding her wrist. "Hello, child." He said happily as they fell down. "No wonder I can't find you. You're behind that horrendous mask, aren't you? Damn that Konoha council." Naruto opened her blue-eyes to meet with a lone Sharingan. "Who…" She clutched her still-hurting stomach. "Are you…?" She continued.

"Me? I'm someone who owns you." The man said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Naruto closed her eyes, still feeling that unimaginable pain. "I don't want you to lead a lonely life, Naru," The man said lovingly. "After all, I was the one who take away your parents and seal that inside of you. So, you might as well call me your dad." He smiled happily.

Lies…

Naruto's eyes snapped open. She was still falling, but she was sure that she heard a voice that wasn't the masked man's. When she already gave up on trying to stay alive within her pain and suffering, the masked-man disappeared and reappeared on the waterfall, catching the young ANBU on his arms. "Pain will eventually take you for the sake of moon-eye plan. But, I don't want things to go too smoothly." He put Naruto beside the foot of the infamous statue of Madara Uchiha, his statue.

"I will give you a gift, my darling surrogate daughter. You will have someone tied to you. He will serve you like how he served me…" The masked man made a corpse appeared out of nowhere and laid it roughly beside the blond. "He will protect you, regardless of what he thinks of you. The rule is still the same as what Minato- I mean, I placed on you." The masked man touched Naruto's abdomen and the corpse's abdomen.

Red chakras enveloped his hands and transferred to the man's corpse. "If you die, he will die." Madara smiled under his mask. Really, a whim could be his greatest masterpiece.

Naruto coughed loudly. It was as if her life was taken away from her slowly. She coughed and panted and thrashed on the ground. "Shh keep still, love, you'll be happy in no time." Madara cooed his thrashing captive. Slowly, the man's corpse turned into something- someone else. His black hair turned into a dark-orange one, and his body became more tanned. A whisker-like mark appeared on his cheeks.

Naruto coughed blood before finally calming down and lay completely unconscious. But, the former corpse gasped and opened his now crimson-colored eyes abruptly. "You… what did you just do?" The man asked with a feral growl no human could ever produce. "Hello, Kyuubi…" Madara closed his lone eye and scratched his chin.

"You will protect my daughter, won't you?" He said with low-tone as his eye travelled to an unconscious ANBU's body. "What kind of sick game is this? I know that you desire my powers! Why would you want my unworthy host to be protected?" The demon-fox-in-a-corpse shouted. Madara smiled. "Naru is Mito's granddaughter…" He clicked his tongue in displeasure. "I love Mito. If it weren't for that meddlesome Hashirama, I could have been her grandfather. And so, when I take her from Minato, she's mine. Konoha put an ugly mask on her face to hide her away from me…"

The Uchiha looked very angry, but his expression soon turned into love and care when he approached the young ANBU and stroke her face. "But now, I am about to create a world where Naru and I could live together with Mito. She's unlike her mother Kushina. I love her. And Kyuubi, do you know where you fit in all of this?"

The demon-fox couldn't feel his power at all. He tried to move and strangle the bastard who once controlled him, but his body felt limp. "I will need your power to awaken the Juubi later. But now, I want you to protect Naru. To make things more interesting. And of course, to mess with Pain's head. I don't like games that are too easy, you see?"

Madara looked at Naruto for the last time and stroke her face. "She is still the jailor of your half-chakra. Remember that. You only have a quarter of your chakra there inside that body. And you can't disobey her at all. I suggest you make something up if you don't want to explain unnecessary things to her. See you around, Kyuubi."

With that, Madara placed a brief kiss on Naruto's forehead and disappeared.

Kyuubi looked at his host with confused-mixed-with-anger expression. What to do with her? Kyuubi knew that his host is stupid. And she won't understand this whole complicated thing. Even he, the great demon fox himself didn't really understand what just happened. He was sure that what happened was just Madara's sick whim.

"Damn…" He scooted closer to the sleeping girl and placed his hand on her forehead. "I guess I can't use the name 'Kyuubi', it's too obvious and stupid…" The foxy human closed his eyes and a red-chakra began to envelop his host's body. The blond girl's eyes began to open and the fox spoke directly to her subconscious.

"Naruto Uzumaki, my name is Kyuu Uzumaki. And I am your older brother." Kyuubi stopped to see if the blond girl's mind rejected that information, but, she didn't. She kept on staring blankly to him. "You will recognize me immediately. And you will use your authority as an ANBU to pass my citizenship. And also…" The fox smirked. If he was a human, he could always use something he never had before. That something called love. And love is the most pure emotion ever. If his host loved him, she will never question anything he did…

"You loved me. You are very very in love with your older brother." He said with a victorious smirk. The blond girl nodded absently, and Kyuubi let her slip back into the unconsciousness. "Now… to sound like a normal human…" He cleared his throat and tested few noises. After founding the most human-like voice he can achieve, he woke the blond girl up.

"Naru, Naru-to, wake up, baby. You'll catch cold if you sleep here." He sounded normal. He sounded very normal, like he spoke those words all the time. The girl woke up slowly; she owlishly blinked a few times before looking at him with a broad smile on her face.

"Kyuu-niichan!" She tackled him into a great hug. Kyuubi smirked once again.

"Good evening, Kotetsu-san, Izumo-san!" She smiled behind her mask. But both Chuunins smiled back at her. They knew this particular ANBU. Her codename is Fox and she often took the border-patrol missions. What confused them is the man who was carrying her. He was tall, lean, and muscular. He has a very… handsome face with whisker-like marks. His red-eyes were looking at them with cold, and judging stare. His spiky, blazing orange hair was horridly messy.

"Umm, Fox-chan?" Kotetsu began sheepishly. "Yes, Kotetsu-san?" She asked, still clinging to her older brother's neck. "Who is he?" He asked. Naruto tensed, but looked at her brother with confused expression. "They don't know me, Naru. I've been gone from Konoha for a long time, after all." He assured her slowly with his familiar, husky voice.

"Oh yeah…" Naruto's shadowed cerulean eyes warmed instantly. "Kotetsu-san, Izumo-san, this is my older brother, Kyuu Uzumaki!" She exclaimed proudly. "I was wounded in the mission… and he found me by chance! So I asked him to live with me instead of wandering around. As an ANBU, I can pass him his citizenship, right?"

Izumo nodded, but still looking at the newly introduced Kyuu Uzumaki with confused expression. He and Kotetsu knew that Fox-chan is the infamous demon container, Naruto Uzumaki, from the research they've conducted. And they decided that Fox-chan was too kind to ever seriously hurt her comrades. But… they'd never heard of her having a brother.

"Yeah…" They answered, still looking at her with weird stares. They don't understand, but, seeing that Fox-chan was so convinced of her words, they smiled and give the stranger a citizenship card. "Welcome to Konoha, Kyuu Uzumaki-san." Naruto squealed happily and buried her face on her brother's shoulder. Kyuu only smirked and kissed Naruto's neck, making both Izumo and Kotetsu blush.

"Thank you, baby." Both Chuunins waved their goodbyes as the Uzumaki siblings joined the crowd in town.

Kakashi Hatake never liked being summoned.

If he wanted to see someone, he'll see someone. Being summoned was never his thing. He was always scolded for being late. He can't help it though; mourning over Obito took first place over every summoning.

The Hokage was smiling when he lazily opened the door. "Kakashi," He began warmly. "Late as always." He continued. Kakashi only scratched the back of his head sheepishly for his reputation for being unpunctual. "Then, let's get to the point." The old man brought his hands in front of his face. "You know who Naruto's parents are, don't you?" Kakashi tensed.

He always tensed whenever someone brought out about his Sensei. That was why he left the ANBU Black Ops all those years ago when a certain blond-haired kid was made an ANBU. Nevertheless, he nodded. "Yes, I know them, Hokage-sama." His voice wasn't shaking, his hands were.

"Since you know them personally, I want to ask you…"The silver-haired Jounin hated the silence. But, he too, didn't say anything. "Did her mother ever give birth to a son before she gave birth to Naruto?" Kakashi's one visible eye widened. "No, sir. Kushina-san only gave birth to Naruto before her… imminent passing."

"I know so too…" The third Hokage sighed. "But… a report from Kotetsu and Izumo came just now…" He waved a single slip of paper in front of his face. "It said here that the infamous Fox had returned with her older brother, Kyuu Uzumaki."

"An older brother? That's impossible!" Kakashi exclaimed without losing his cool. "Sensei didn't have a son. Naruto is his one and only daughter." The Hokage nodded. "I know. Minato never came to my office bursting before twelve years ago. And I am certain Jiraiya didn't have a character named Kyuu in his books. That man is not Naruto's brother."

Kakashi clenched his fist. There was someone who was toying with Sensei's family. He made Naruto, the little fickle Naru believed that he was a family. Even though Kakashi never associated directly with the blond girl, he always made sure that his junior, Cat, gave the best to take care of her. If anything, the only person with all the rights to claim Naruto as a family would be Kakashi, not some random stranger.

"I was thinking to assign Cat to this mission, but… I came to a conclusion that you would be a better choice…" The third Hokage snapped his attention back to the reality. "I will have Naru removed from her post in ANBU. And she will be an undercover Gennin with a certain team who is to graduate from Academy two days from now. You will be her Jounin-sensei."

"But-"

"You will also train an Uchiha while you're at it. Being her Sensei gives you all the right to be close to her and investigate about this mysterious Kyuu Uzumaki who is not Minato's son." That made Kakashi's heart stung. The third Hokage sure knows how to make him feel like doing something. "What about Cat? I'm sure he wouldn't like me taking his charge from him. The last time I went inside ANBU headquarters, I can see him spoiling Naruto silly."

"I will talk to him and discuss about it later. For now, you're dismissed, Kakashi." Kakashi nodded and sighed heavily. He turned, but, before he closed the door, he looked at the Hokage with bored eyes. "I'm not the teacher type, Hokage-sama." The old man smiled. "Naru won't need any teaching, but, I'll make sure you teach her teammates."

Kakashi then left the building with a heavy sigh. As a Nara would say, this was going to be troublesome.

First time writing in Naruto fandom. And I must say, I'm having fun writing this.

Please review to tell me what you think :)