Welcome back everyone. Sorry for the absence I have had a lot of personal things to deal with, as well as work and going back to school recently. I would like to thank those who have been leaving reviews, they have been helping to motivate me to continue writing when I start to lose motivation. Before I forget I do not own anything from either the Naruto or the Mortal Kombat universe, they all belong to their respective owners... for now.

With that said let us continue the tale.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon / summon talking"

'Demon / summon thinking'

Jutsu/ technique

Nara Clan Meeting Hall

Tsume was sitting with a happy smile on her face. The reason for the smile? The son of one of her closest friends was here alive and well. And he remembers her, even after 10 years, if his response to what she said meant anything. Everyone else in the room however was looking at her with confused expressions. Everyone except for the lone ANBU who was mentally kicking herself. How could she forget, Tsume never forgets a scent, and because of that both Kitsune and herself will most likely be exposed here.

"Tsume-san, would you mind telling me why you just referred to my charge as 'Little Fox'?" inquires Thomas.

At this Tsume simply looks at him "I have no problem with telling you why, however, I would like you and the ANBU over there to come clean about who you are. Do we have a deal?"

Hearing this everyone looks to Tsume, then Thomas, then the ANBU named Vixen, then back to Tsume before Vixen steps forward. "I had hoped to keep our identities hidden for a while longer but that seems to be an impossibility now. However, before we tell you anything one more person should be present." She brings her right hand up and makes a single hand sign before in a plume of smoke a copy of her appears before disappearing in a Shunshin (Body Flicker). "My clone will bring the other person of interest then we can continue this meeting, if that is agreeable to everyone." Nobody had any objections.

It was several minutes before there was a knock on the door followed by a young woman opening it. "Sorry to disturb you Shikaku-sama but there is an ANBU out here with a man saying that they are expected."

"Thank you Sara, please let them in and return to your duties." The woman nods before closing the door and leaving. Shortly after the door opens again, this time Vixen's clone comes in followed by a man wearing a black body suit showing arms with a yellow overlay covering his shoulders and torso, black fingerless gloves, and a yellow headband. He has his dark hair tied back in a high ponytail with a goatee and mustache. The clone looks to Vixen before nodding to her and dispelling itself.

"You asked for my attendance Vixen." He says in a rough voice.

"Yes Hanzo, it looks like my time away from Konoha caused me to forget a few things. One of which was how sharp Tsume's nose is." She looks at Tsume "you asked for us to reveal who we are, the only thing we ask is that what we say doesn't leave this room." She looks around the room, "is this acceptable?"

The clan heads look to each other silently debating before nodding and look to Vixen. Hiruzen is the first to speak, "I already know what it is that you wish to keep hidden and see no threat to the village. But in this room, I am not the Hokage, just another clan head and as such have no authority over things unless they are a threat to the village. Please tell them what they wish to know Vixen."

"Where to begin, I guess I should start with this." As she speaks Vixen removes her mask and as she does her hair color and voice change. "The mask I wear has several seals that are meant to conceal my identity, but the one thing it was never able to hide was my scent. I am Uzumaki Kushina and to all of you here I thank you for trying to help my son, Uzumaki Naruto, during his first five years of life here in Konoha. As for who Kitsune and these two are, the man in yellow is Hasashi Hanzo the current Grandmaster of the Shirai-Ryu clan, but he is also known as Scorpion. The man in grey is Vrbada Thomas the current Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei, but he is also known as Smoke. Kitsune is the heir to both of their clans as well as mine and my husband's name. Kitsune is Uzumaki Naruto and he is my son. I trust that is what you wanted to hear from me Tsume?"

At this everyone in the room save Hiruzen stopped. Shibi's bugs had gone silent, Choza who had been snacking stopped mid chew, Shikaku looked like his brain was trying to reset, Hiashi was staring at the three with wide eyes, Inoichi was trying to find anything to tell if she was lying, Unkai was trying to release a genjutsu, and Tsume was smiling. After a few minutes, the room breaks out in a cacophony of questions ranging from how she was alive, to where she has been for the last 15 years, to where she met Scorpion and Smoke, to how could she leave Naruto alone.

After a minute Kushina raises her hand to try and get every one's attention. "To answer your questions for the last 15 years I have been in a place called the 'Neither Realm', this is where I met Honzo-san and Thomas-san as well as where I met Naruto 10 years ago. As to how I am alive now, I couldn't tell you as I'm not entirely sure myself. And finally, as to leaving Naruto alone for 5 years, DO YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD DO THAT OF MY OWN FREE WILL." She says, yelling the last part.

Everyone takes a few minutes to think over what she said before Shikaku speaks. "You say you were in a place called the Neither Realm yet you also say you were dead, how is that possible?"

"You caught that did you? The 'Neither Realm' is the true name for what we call the 'Underworld', the 'Land of the Dead', or more commonly 'Hell'," says Kushina. "So yes, I was killed during the Kyuubi's rampage, but that was because of some one attacking the hidden location I was in while giving birth to Naruto. This person extracted Kyuubi from its seal and summoned it in the village, and before you ask the former Jinchuuriki of the fox was myself."

The clan heads all sit in silence to let their minds process these revelations. As they were going over everything that had been said there was a knock on the door and the same young woman from before opened it. Looking in she found all clan heads and an ANBU had eyes on her.

"Excuse me Shikaku-sama, but there is an issue at the clan training grounds. Some of our guests are having some problems with each other." says Sara. "Lady Yoshino asked that everyone come to grounds so it could be resolved."

"I understand, tell Yoshino we are on our way. Before you go can you tell us the parties involved?"

"When I left the Hyuuga boy had apparently insulted everyone and the boy named Kitsune started to take on a strange appearance. Please hurry it looked like they were about to come to blows."

"Dammit, I told him not to use that." says Hanzo before he is engulfed in flames. When he steps out of them Scorpion is standing before them. "We have to hurry, if what she says is true everyone there is in danger."

"Very well, follow me I'll take you to the training grounds," says Shikaku.

While the heads were having their meeting

As Yoshino is leading the 1 Genin and 4 shinobi-in-training to the training grounds Skarlet feels a tugging on the back of her kimono, stopping she turns her head and sees Hanabi holding her top with her head lowered.

"Is something wrong Hanabi-san?" she asks.

Hanabi looks up at her "I-I want to thank you for yesterday, and was wondering how your chest is doing after what happened." says Hanabi.

"Don't worry about it and I'm fine, but how did you know about it? Did your sister or father tell you what had happened?"

Hanabi shakes her head, "no, they have been trying to keep me in the dark about it. I saw what happened for myself. I sit at the back of the class so I can practice with my Byakugan without getting caught and I had it active when those kunai were thrown at me, I was just in too much shock to react. When I saw you appear in the path I was happy someone would help me but when I saw you get hurt... I don't want to feel helpless or to freeze up like that again, so I wanted to ask. Could you please help me with training?"

"You do remember what Kitsune said right? We will talk to your father first and then I shall train you. But for now, let's catch up with the others and you can show me what I have to work with."

"Okay," says Hanabi sounding a little depressed before she realized the way Skarlet worded her sentence. "Wait you never said anything about getting my father's approval."

"No, I didn't, why should I need it? We are both in training to be shinobi of Konoha and as such we are comrades in arms even if we aren't in the field yet. In my mind that means we should be working together to increase each other's chances of survival. Am I right?"

"Well said Skarlet, don't think I could have put it better myself." Skarlet turns to the speaker and sees Yoshino and the others. "We were almost at the training field before we noticed we lost you two and came back in time to here that little speech of yours. I just wish that more people in Konoha thought that way."

"Sorry for holding you up like that, I needed to talk privately with Skarlet-san for a moment," says Hanabi.

"No worries, let's go the field is this way."

After a few minutes, the group of 6 get to the training field. Looking around they see several target dummies with kunai and shuriken sticking out of them as well as more kunai and shuriken sticking in the ground within 10 to 15 feet of the targets. Seeing this Yoshino gives a sigh.

"She did it again. I'm really going to have to talk to that girl," she says.

"Excuse me but who are you talking about Yoshino-san?" asks Hanabi.

"My niece. Like you she is in the academy, she had great accuracy with thrown weapons being able to hit the targets with every throw and having at least half hit a vital spot, but for some reason after last year... well I think you can tell just by looking at the targets." Taking a better look, everyone could tell the person who had been here last could only hit the dummies 1 out of every 3 throws, and even then, only half of the hits were in vital areas. "Well let's gather these up so you can use the field."

It only took a few minutes to gather all the weapons scattered throughout the area. "So, what would you like to work on?" asks Yoshino getting her a confused look from everyone. "What, you wanted to train and I figured I would help you. I may be retired but I was a Jonin before I had Shikamaru, and I still train to keep myself from getting too rusty."

Neji walks off to the side before he sits down with his legs crossed. "I'm just going to meditate, thanks."

Miyako and Kiba look at each other before looking to Yoshino, "the two of us are going to work on our taijutsu if that is okay." She nods then makes a single hand-sign, in a puff of smoke an exact copy of Yoshino appears. "My clone will keep watch so neither of you get hurt."

Hanabi looks up at Skarlet but the red clad girl speaks first, "If you want me to help you train I would like for you to show me what you can do first." She looks down at Hanabi, "let's start with target practice using kunai first." Hanabi gives Skarlet an enthusiastic nod and the pair head for the practice targets.

30 minutes later the clan heirs enter the training grounds as well. "Should have known this is where they would be, shall we join them?" Everyone stops what they are doing and looks at the speaker, some with a bit of surprise because of who it was.

"It seems our companion has either decided to take things seriously or had us fooled for quite some time." Says Shino. "So, which is it Ino?"

Ino crosses her arms with a hump "I was only acting like I was a fan-girl. You guys know that Sakura and I were friends in the early years of the academy, I was trying to help her with her confidence at first and later trying to get her to train. After what Sasuke did I think it's time I drop the act and took things a bit more serious myself."

"Good to know," says Yoshino "so who wants to work on what at the moment?"

"Hmp, it doesn't matter what they work on," Neji says as he opens his eyes. "The weak will always be weak." He looks around at everyone there before his gaze falls on Hinata, "a weakling heiress that is close to being replaced by someone 5 years their junior." His gaze moves to Hanabi, "a child who is trying too hard to please their elders." He looks to Yakumo, "yet another weakling heiress but this one can't even control the power she does have." He looks to Miyako, "an unwanted orphan." Look at Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji, "a lazy fool, a bimbo, and a fat coward." He looks at Kiba, "and a runt that just doesn't know his place."

There is a rattling sound and Neji moves his head just before a kunai attached to a chain impacts the tree Neji was sitting against. "Damn, I missed." Kitsune flicks his wrist and pulls his chain back. "Then again Scorpion-sensei would be cross with me if I got my chains dirtied on useless shit."

Neji narrows his eyes, "what do you mean useless shit?"

"If that had connected it would have hit your brain, as I said useless shit since it is obvious that you aren't using it. Think about it, every one of us here is training to be shinobi and as such we will be expected to watch each other's backs out in the field. And you just insulted most of us, that is a sure way to get your throat cut in your sleep. And I don't mean by an enemy."

Miyako takes this moment to speak her mind. "You call us weaklings Neji, but you know next to nothing about any of us. We train to get better and correct the flaws in our abilities. You would know this if you actually tried to make friends or work with other people."

Kiba steps up clenching and unclenching his fists. "Don't waste your breath guys, this guy has his head so far up his ass even his Byakugan is blinded by the shit. Let's get back to training."

"Turning tail like a whipped dog, seems you might know your place after all," taunts Neji.

"No, we just don't want to leave a bloody mess for our hosts to deal with. After all, ain't it said that the ones who talk the most trash are the weakest?" replies Kiba.

Shikamaru face palms, "not doing yourself any favors with that statement Kiba."

"The weak will always be weak, it is their fate. Even if you are clan heirs you should all just give up on getting anywhere as shinobi," Neji says with an arrogant smirk which quickly leaves his face as he is forced to jump away from a softball sized fireball hits the tree, incinerating it.

Looking at where it came from everyone sees Kitsune with his right hand out and flames dancing over his body. His fingers are now clawed and his eyes are glowing crimson. He begins to grow in size and bulk gaining an additional foot in height and 50lbs of compacted muscle. He grows a coat of burnt orange fur, a muzzle and a tail as he slouches over slightly his clothing merging in with his new form.

"EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM HIM," Skarlet yells as she draws her blades. "WE NEED TO GET SCORPION OR SMOKE NOW." Yoshino immediately calls for someone to run to the meeting hall for assistance as Skarlet prepares to engage Kitsune.

Skarlet hears some steps on either side of her, glancing over she sees Miyako, Kiba, Hinata, and Shino on her right and Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji on her left. "I told you all to get back, this isn't going to be a spar. He will be coming with intent to kill."

"We're not leaving this to you alone," says Kiba. "He's right, we won't leave you alone to fight. So, what are we dealing with here?" says Shikamaru. Kitsune lunges forward bringing his claws down in an angled swing. The speed, while impressive, was still something the shinobi in training could avoid as they jump back or to the side while Skarlet uses her tanto to block the strike.

Skarlet sighs, "it is a clan technique called 'Animality'. It allows one to become their totem animal and gives a boost to the user's natural abilities as well as access to abilities based on the animal." She ducks under another swipe from Kitsune before redirecting another with her tanto. "Kitsune however is still learning it," she blocks two more swings before being knocked back by a kick to the chest. "'cough' he tends to 'cough cough' transform when his anger gets out of control, and he loses all rational thought 'cough'." 'This doesn't make any sense, he has multiple targets yet he is only attacking me. Even while training he never went after me, what is different this time?'

Kitsune charges forward again, however Skarlet notices that his line of movement is several feet to her left. Risking a quick glance over her shoulder she realizes Kitsune was never after her. As she turns back Kitsune does a back-handed swing with his left arm knocking Skarlet to the side before she can react and continues towards Yoshino, Hanabi, Yakumo, and Neji.

Neji gets into his juuken stance and activates his Byakugan, upon activating it he lets out a gasp of surprise. Before he can recover Kitsune is on him with his right claw poised to strike, however he stops just inches from ripping into Neji. "Kage Mane no jutsu (Shadow Imitation) success, Neji get out of there I can't hold him for long. Skarlet how do we turn him back to normal?"

Skarlet gets to her feet, "we have to knock him out. Any way will work as anything less than maiming or death will be healed when he returns to normal." 'Damn, two hits and it feels like he may have cracked a few of my ribs. We have to stop him fast, before it wakes up.'

While Kitsune struggles with Shikamaru's jutsu Choji calls out "Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Multi-Size Technique)," enlarging his hands and arms and grabbing Kitsune. Yoshino then grabs Hanabi and Yakumo before using a Shunshin to move them to the other side of the field with Neji making his way around on foot, before he gets too far Skarlet yells to him.

"Stay away from them Neji, you will just put them in harm's way." This causes Neji to turn to her.

"What do you mean it will put them in harm's way? Just being here puts them at risk of that thing attacking them."

"That 'thing' as you call him is still a person and he is only after one thing, the one who pissed him off. If you can't figure out who that is by now then you aren't the genius I've heard people make you out to be."

"ARE YOU TELLING ME I PISSED OFF A BLOODY MONSTER! WHY THE HELL WERE YOU ALLOWED TO BRING SOMETHING LIKE THAT INTO THE VILLAGE?!" he yells.

"Do yourself a favor, shut up and get ready to move I won't be able to hold him for much longer. He feels like he is getting stronger." says Shikamaru through grit teeth. "Choji, Ino get ready everyone else be ready to strike if we fail this."

"What's the plan Shika?" asks Kiba.

"Choji will use his clans jutsu to take hold of Kitsune while Ino uses hers to enter his mind and calm him down."

"That won't work," they look to Skarlet. "The restraint might help but don't enter his mind, there is a very real chance you will die. We aren't dealing with Kitsune but his totem animal, if she enters his mind she will get ripped apart by it. We need a way to put it back to sleep."

"In other words, we have to beat him into unconsciousness, let's go then." says Kiba with a feral grin as he makes a hand sign. "Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four-Legged Technique) lets go Akamaru," Akamaru jumps on Kiba's back. "Juujin Bunshin (Beast-Man Clone)," the dog is covered in smoke which quickly dissipates showing two Kibas who then prepare to rush the transformed Kitsune.

Hinata moves to the right of Kitsune and enters her Juken stance and activates her Byakugan, she immediately sees what caused Neji to freeze earlier. Kitsune's chakra was circulating thru his pathways three times faster meaning that even if the points were closed the force of the chakra moving at that speed would force them back open in seconds. There was also a red chakra that was rushing through his chakra coils. "He has a second chakra moving through his system and they are both moving too fast for the Juken to be effective for long," Hinata says.

Miyako moves to Skarlet's side holding a kunai in each hand, "would a Genjutsu work to stop him?"

"I don't know, we never got a chance to try it as only one of us were proficient in them but where rarely around," says Skarlet.

Shino lets some of his kikaichu out to try and drain Kitsune of his chakra.

"Everyone get ready to move, I can't hold him any longer," says Shikamaru as his shadow begins to recede leaving Choji to hold him on his own. In seconds Choji is visibly struggling to hold Kitsune in place. Suddenly Kitsune pulls himself low to the ground and jumps flipping himself over Choji, the strain on Choji's arms forcing him to release Kitsune who lands in a crouched position his eyes darting between the shinobi-in-training. He then charges forward, heading straight for Shikamaru.

Caught off guard Shikamaru is slow to react to the sudden attack and is barely able to lean out of the way of a claw swipe that could have taken his head off. "Damn this just got more troublesome," grunts as he is forced to dodge two more swipes followed by a kick, the kick connects and throws Shikamaru back several feet.

"Gatsuuga (Dual Piercing Fang)," yells Kiba as he and Akamaru turn into twin twisters of claws heading for Kitsune in a pincer strike. Kitsune tries to avoid one of them when he is hit from behind by the other, when he tries to react to the one that hit him the other hits him from the opposite side. This goes on for several seconds with the pair making five passes before Kitsune manages to grab one of them out of the air by their throat and swings around slamming them into the side of the other as they were making their pass knocking both Kiba's to the ground causing them to roll before a poof of smoke reveled the one he had grabbed was the real Kiba.

Kitsune readies himself to attack the downed duo when a whistling sound causes him to look to his left. He raises his left arm in time to block a pair of kunai from hitting him in the face, lowering his arm he sees the thrower was Ino. Looking at the back of his forearm he straightens his left arm then swipes his right across it, crudely and bloodily removing the kunai from his arm before turning his attention to Ino. However just as he starts to move he feels a sharp pain in his right side, looking over he sees Hinata moving back after delivering a palm strike. When he goes to attack her, he feels pain in his back, whipping around he sees Miyako moving away with a pair of bloody kunai. As he tries to swing at her he feels another stabbing pain, this time in his right shoulder. Turning he sees Ino and Shikamaru 20 feet away, running in opposite directions while circling him and preparing to throw shuriken.

Kitsune starts to look around trying to get a lock on a target when the area around him is covered in shadow, followed by a loud buzzing. Looking up he sees Shino's kikachu swarm quickly descending on him. He tries to swat them away but they soon attach themselves and begin to eat his chakra. Half the swarm then retreats causing everyone, including Shino, to wonder what happened. This is soon followed by a series of small explosions all around Kitsune. This causes Shino to call his swarm back.

"My kikachu are no good, half managed to start eating his chakra but the other half sensed something was wrong so they backed off. The explosions were the kikachu that did eat his chakra, it is laced with elemental chakra and is extremely potent. Consuming his chakra turns my kikachu into living bombs," Explains Shino.

"The tenketsu I hit in his side has already reopened as well," says Hinata. As she and the others continue their pattern of attack.

"The cuts I gave his back have also healed and Ino's shuriken has been pushed out and healed over," says Miyako. "Skarlet, how do we stop him in a situation like this?"

"We need to restrain him long enough for either Scorpion or Smoke to get here," Skarlet responds. "Unless anyone here can get him with a genjutsu."

By this point the two Kibas as well as Choji have returned to the fight following the same hit-and-run pattern as the others with the Kibas alternating with claw swipes and Choji attacking with enlarged fists. This goes on for a minute before Kitsune unleashes a loud roar, sending a shockwave of chakra in all directions and knocking everyone off their feet. He turns his attention back towards his initial target and begins to charge at Neji who gets into a defensive stance readying to fight.

As Kitsune lunges the last 5 feet with his claw stretched out to stab Neji he suddenly stops not even a foot away as to female voices are heard simultaneously, "Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Change)", "Kage Mane".

Kitsune stops moving and seems to go limp as a thud is heard nearby. "INO", Choji calls out as he and Shikamaru go to check on her while the others prepare for Kitsune to break free. While they are doing this Miyako runs in front of Kitsune. 'I hope this works' she thinks as she looks him in the eye as hers change from their normal onyx to red with 2 black comma shaped marks circling her pupil. 'Sharingan'she thinks as she focuses her chakra and locks her eyes on Kitsune's. The next thing she knows everything goes black.

Not even a second later Miyako finds herself standing in what looks like a dimly lit sewer with water reaching half way up her shins. Looking around she sees the walls are made of stone with pipes overhead going in random directions, and she is in the middle of a four-way crossroad. "What the hell? That was supposed to calm him down and turn him back. Where the hell am I?"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH"

Miyako turns to the path on her right hearing what sounded like Ino screaming. Without a second thought, she runs down said path. After running for what felt like 15 minutes she comes across a large room. Against the wall on Miyako's left is Ino, curled up in a ball shaking in fear. 40 feet from her is a figure standing partly in the shadows keeping their upper half hidden. 20 feet behind them is a massive gate which is cutting the entire room in half. Everything behind the gate is shrouded in shadows. Miyako runs over to Ino and stands between her and the figure.

"Ino, are you alright? Did this person hurt you?"

"M-M-Mi-ya-yako? H-h-how a-a-are you here?" She says in a shaky voice. "N-n-never m-m-mind that. We need to get out of here." Her voice becoming a bit bolder now that she has an ally with her.

"That was some quick thinking you did there." Says the figure in front of them, the voice telling them it is definitely a male. He takes a few steps forward and holds his hands to the sides showing them to be empty but stops with his face and part of his chest still hidden. "I won't harm either of you, in fact I think my fun is over now."

"What do you mean," says Miyako. "Who are you? And what is behind that gate?"

"Sorry I forgot that my mask alters my voice. I am Kitsune, and this is my mind. As for the gate, you don't want to know what I have in there."

"What did you do to Ino?"

"He didn't do anything," says a deep voice as the ground shakes and a giant orange fox appears behind the gate. "I did, so what are you going to do about it? I doubt you could actually do anything at all you puny human brat." Says the fox.

"Ino, release you jutsu and get out of here now." Says Miyako with a bit of an edge to her voice and her head down.

"And leave you here with that? Are you cr-" "NOW!"

"Kai," and with that Ino vanishes from the area.

"Miyako, release your jutsu and I will return to normal and explain what I was doing."

"I don't care about that right now," she says. "What I want to know is why. Why you are hiding your face from me? Why you never told me who you were? Why you never told me that you were back?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Cut the crap, I know the truth behind the Kyuubi. How it was never killed by the Yondaime. How it was really sealed into a child that was born that day. How its chakra was so powerful that only a newborn could be used as its container without being destroyed." At this point she raises her head and looks straight at the boy in front of her, showing hurt eyes filled with tears. "So, tell me why Naruto."

He lets out a sigh. "I wanted to. I wanted to tell you who I was when we first met. But there were, are complications. I literally came back from the dead. When we ran into each other that day, I had not been back for more than two hours. At first it was just to keep my return hidden, but the day before classes started something happened. The energies of the neither realm that flow through me are trying to pull me back there. Because of that I have to wait until the energy finishes flushing out of my system. Scorpion-sensei estimates it will be about 3 more months before it finishes."

"Let me see, please."

"It could give you nightmares."

"Can't compare to the ones I have been having every day for the last 10 years."

"What do you mean?"

"Show me your face and I'll tell you, deal?"

"Fine, you win." Naruto steps out of the shadows with his left side facing Miyako. He has spiky blonde hair just like when he was younger, and his face looks less rounded from the baby fat being gone giving him sharper features. His visible eye is a deep blue and he still has the 3 whisker marks on his cheek. Once he fully leaves the shadow he speaks, "last chance. Are you sure you want to see?" She nods. He turns to face her fully and what she sees makes her gasp. The entire right side of his face is missing, all she sees is the bone. Where the skin on his face ends is covered in flickering flames and his right eye socket is empty with flames glowing in the back.

"Once we finish getting the energy of the neither realm out the rest of my face will be restored. Now, what about those nightmares you said you were having?"

"Fair is fair. When you died, my Sharingan awoke. One of the main aspects of it is perfect memorization of anything we see. As I had no idea of how to de-activate it at the time, every moment of your death was burned into my mind. Every night since then when I have gone to sleep, I would relive it again at least once a night. The only ones that know any of this are Sandaime-sama, Hiashi-sama, Hinata, and now you. And besides them and a few others, most of the village treats me similar to how the used to treat you. Refusal of service, glares, name calling, luckily no one has tried anything physically."

"Damn, I'm sorry that - shit, sorry in advance for this"

"What?"

Kitsune unleashes a blast of chakra the next thing Miyako knows she is laying on grass. Looking around she sees that she is now 10 feet from where she used her genjutsu on Kitsune. Speaking of Kitsune, he has his left arm out towards her as if he just through her and his right is across his body blocking a palm strike from Neji.

"Miyako are you alright?" She turns to the voice seeing Ino running up to her while the others get between her and the 2 combatants.

"I'm fine, what happened?" "That jerk Neji tried to strike you in the back," says another voice on her left. Turning she sees Miyu standing there with some sweat on her brow.

"Miyu? What are you doing here?"

"I live here. I forgot to clean up after training earlier and came to do so when I saw that man-fox thing about to attack Neji and used my kage mane to restrain it at the same time as Ino using her Shintenshin. Shortly after she returns to her body, then Neji starts to go for a palm strike and it releases enough chakra to break free. It threw you to the side and put its arm in the way of Neji's attack."

At this Shikamaru speaks up, "the problem is that the attack wasn't aimed at Kitsune. It was aimed for Miyako."

"NEJI TRIED TO KILL ME?" / "THAT IS KITSUNE?" The 2 girls yell simultaneously.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"

Everyone stops looking to the person that yelled seeing the Sandaime and all the clan heads/representatives.

"KITSUNE STAND DOWN YOU KNOW YOU AREN'T TO USE THAT FORM," yells Scorpion.

Kitsune starts to shrink down as he backs away from Neji and returns to normal then falls to one knee facing Scorpion. "Forgive me sensei, we were training and I wanted to see how they would react to an unknown opponent. I let both my temper and my prankster nature get the better of my judgment."

"What happened?" At this Yoshino steps forward.

"After we parted ways some of our guests asked if they could do some training and so I brought them here. After a bit, the clan heirs joined us, but before they could start training Neji-san proceed to insult every one of the heirs. Kitsune then transformed into that form you just saw him in and began attacking Neji. The others besides Yakumo-san, Hanabi-san, Hana-san and myself then went to intercept Kitsune-san and try to stop him. I stayed back to protect both Yakumo-san and Hanabi-san if need be while Hana I assume stayed back due to her not having her ninken with her."

"That and I figured I would be more effective as a medic than a combatant," Hana replies.

"They then fought using various tactics to try and restrain Kitsune-san until the arrival of the ones known as Scorpion and Smoke. However, during this last exchange Kitsune went after Neji-san and was stopped by a combination of Miyu-chan and Ino-chan using the Kage Mane and Shintenshin respectively. Miyako then ran in front and used a genjutsu on him as well. Not long after Ino-chan returned to her body and then Kitsune-san unleashed a chakra pulse breaking free from both Miyu-chan's and Miyako's jutsu. He then pushed Miyako to the side and blocked Neji-san's palm strike with his arm. As mentioned though, the strike was not meant for Kitsune-san it was aimed for Miyako."

"Even under the genjutsu I was aware of my surroundings," says Kitsune. "That strike was aimed to hit Miyako-chan's heart from the back, and with the amount of pain I felt in my arm there is no doubt in my mind it would have killed her." Kitsune stands and glares at Neji. "What I want to know is why you would try and kill a potential comrade during a training session, while they were protecting you."

"I would like to know this as well Neji," says Hiashi. "Why would you dishonor the Hyuuga clan in this way?" Neji just stays silent. "I didn't want to use this," says Hiashi as he raises his hand making a hand sign. "Tell us the reason for your actions Neji."

"I was under orders."

"Whose orders?" asks Hiruzen.

"The hyuuga elders. They say that us housing the demon's slut in the compound is dishonorable to the clan, and if I was to kill her it would restore that lost honor and they would remove this blasted seal from my head."

"The elders never did like me," says Miyako. "They always treated my poorly, heck they treated me worse than they treated the branch members. The reason I never said anything was because they never did anything to me physically, and they made threats towards Hinata and Hanabi-chan if I said anything."

"Neji the elders lied to you, there is no known way to remove the seal without killing the sealed. They made sure of that themselves. As for dishonoring the clan, they have caused more damage to the clan's honor than they may think with this. It looks like I am going to have to have a serious talk with them."

"Neji, even if it was an order by your clan's elders what you have done is a crime." Says Hiruzen. "Therefore, you are suspended from active duty and to be placed under house arrest for the next 4 months. As for the Hyuuga elders," he looks over to Hiashi.

"I will be giving them a punishment that they deserve," says Hiashi.

"With what has been said, it is obvious that it is unsafe for Miyako-chan to stay at the Hyuuga compound any longer, I would like to extend an invitation for her to stay with us at the Shirai Ryu- Lin Kuei compound."

"Kitsune, are you sure about this?" asks Thomas.

"I'm sure, besides," he puts a hand to the right side of his face. "She already knows. Speaking of, Ino-san." he turns to Ino. "I would appreciate it if you keep what you say in my mind to yourself, at least until I tell you otherwise please." Ino gives him a nod.

Thomas nods. "Very well, she may join us if she wishes."

"I believe we all have had a rather eventful day," says Hiruzen. "What say we all return home so we can deal with our own clan issues, I however must return to my office. Goodnight everyone." And with that the Sandaime disappears in a swirl of leaves.

"I thank you for having us Shikaku but now it seems I too must go, I have some unruly elders that need to be dealt with." Says Hiashi. "Come along Hinata, Hanabi, Neji."

The rest of the visiting clans say their goodbyes before departing leaving Scorpion, Thomas, Shikaku, Yoshino, Shikamaru, Miyu, Kitsune, Skarlet, and Miyako.

Thomas looks to the Naras, "I thank you for the hospitality and I also apologize for any trouble we caused."

Shikaku waves him off, "don't worry about it. I hear that Kitsune is thinking of getting a group together to train with. I have no problem with it, having them train together could help with both individual and team based skills. Do you think he would mind if I came by to give them some pointers?"

"I don't think they would mind, after all the ones training them will be either Smoke or myself." says Scorpion. "And we will make sure they are ready for when they go out there."

"That is all I would ask. Goodnight Scorpion-san, Thomas-san."

Meanwhile not far off from the clan heads/representatives. "Were you serious about having me live with you in your compound?" asks Miyako.

"Yes, I was. You were one of the only real friends I had before I left, I think it is the least I could do in this situation." says Kitsune.

Miyako lunges forward wrapping Kitsune in a hug. "Thank you. Thank you for coming back."

"I promise, I won't leave you like that again." says Kitsune as he returns the hug. "Let's go home."

And that is chapter 7. Again I apologize for taking so long to get this out to you all.

As usual please tell me what you think was it good, bad awful. Criticism is always useful but don't be insulting. And flamers can just go burn by themselves.

Until next time.