Holy crap and it is back!

I want to thank everyone who over the years has stuck with this story, like seriously that is some true dedication right there. You guys are absolutely amazing I wish I could meet all of you to give you personal thanks.

For those of you who responded so kindly, so openly and loving to my coming out you are what gives me faith in strangers. To open your hearts to a faceless person who knows how far from you, that write a story you just so happen to like, it's so humbling. And for those who shared their own coming outs with me, you are in my thoughts and I am honored that you felt you could tell me something so personal about yourself.

For those of you who think my coming out as transgender is me isolating and separating myself from everyone else and that think the LGBTQA community is a cult rather than a those who have similar experiences and life styles is cult, well thank you for you opinion. It was very eye opening and I promise if anyone offers me some punch at the NYC Pride parade this year I won't drink it. Your concern has been noted.

So here it is. Finally here, the first chapter.

Hope you enjoy.

The First Encounter

Naruto let out a loud yawn that was followed by a groan as he stretched his arms up and over his head. Joints popped and muscles burned with the stretch in a way that felt good after. He was so tired. The whole ordeal of meeting that team from Suna and finding out about the chunnin exams all of a sudden had really sent his head spinning. Not to mention that mission with those shoplifting brats from earlier, tailing them all day, it was exhausting. If Konohamaru and his friends ever did something like that he wouldn't hold back, mostly because he knew they knew better than that.

He was glad he had tomorrow and the next day off. He needed the break. All their missions might be low rank as of late but they had been doing a lot of them and it was taking it's toll on their team. The missions were both tedious and exhausting. The frustration from their situation was fueling the tension between Naruto and Sasuke, making things even harder.

The fights between Naruto and Sasuke were becoming more heated and it was beginning to upset Sakura. So Kakashi-sensei thought it would be best for them to take a break for a few days before meeting back up for another mission.

Naruto wanted an exciting mission, with real danger like their mission to Wave.

He regretted the thought as he remembered the actual events.

Naruto frowned sorrowfully.

He thought of when he met Haku and Zabuza. That encounter had really changed the way he saw the world and ninja. The things that happened that day on the bridge could not be forgotten. He didn't talk about it or let it show, but the things that had been said about ninja being tools weighed heavy on him. He had always believed being a ninja was cool, glamorous even.

Naruto's mind wandered to memories of the dark cell he had been raised in until he was four. The nightmare men that had experimented on him, tortured him, while whispering in his ear that if he just broke and just gave in he could be the perfect weapon. But he didn't break, as hard as they pushed and bent him backwards but they never got the satisfaction of hearing that resounding snap. Naruto had endured though it all, alone without any hint of anything left to live for. Then one day the bars of his prison was thrown open and the Sandaime lifted him from the floor. He was four when he was finally taken from that place.

Not liking his own train of thought he tried to clear his mind and think about something else. Instead he thought about his meeting with the gennin team from Suna, the village hidden in the Sand. They were in Konoha for the Chunin Exams, they had said. They were a funny group and once again Sasuke had outshine him, and with a rock. Naruto scowled.

'The Chunin Exams,huh? Sure sounds exciting. It would be a perfect chance to show off how strong I've gotten, too.' he tried to think on the positive. So Sasuke had shown him up, but Naruto had been training very hard on his own since they got back from Wave. And now that he knew about the Kyuubi, he was starting to slowly figure out why he healed so quickly, why he never even had a scar.

He knew he was getting stronger too, and it had nothing to do with the Kyuubi. If he just had the chance, he was sure he could kick Sasuke's butt.

But then he thought of something else and frowned.

'I wonder why Kakashi-sensei never mentioned it to us? He must know about the exams, right? And it has to be happening pretty soon if we already ran into genin from another village.' Insecurity ate at him, making Naruto overthink, and when he over thought the darkness at the edges of his heart would creep closer in and he would hear it's voice.

'He doesn't believe in you' the dark,' sinister voice whispered, as if someone was right at his ear and it sent shivers down his spine.

It was the Kyuubi.

'No, that's not true.' he told the fox, eyes closed tight as he tried to push its voice back. His hand subconsciously went to press against the seal on his stomach, gripping the fabric of his jacket.

'Just shut up and leave me alone!' and it did..for now.

Naruto stopped and looked up at the sky, watching a flock of birds fly overhead. He noticed that the once earlier white clouds were colliding and sticking together, turning a frightening shade of grey. It was going to rain, and soon by the looks of it. Naruto looked around to see if anyone else noticed the changing weather and found that they had. Store owners were closing shop and pedestrians rushed home, some opened umbrellas that they already had. He watched as kids hugged their mother's legs and wiggled themselves under their fathers jackets to keep dry. Some were out with siblings, chasing one another. Those with much older siblings were holding hands as they walked while their parents watched them with loving looks of adoration.

Naruto felt a pang in his heart that he proceeded to ignore. It was an old, familiar pain that he had long learned to deal with.

Once all the families and bystanders had left that street Naruto looked around one more time before taking the red tube that hung from the shoulder of his jacket, plucking it free from the chords. He pulled the capsule apart into two and tilted one of the open ends until six blue and pink pills poured out into his hand, three of each color.

Taking one of the pink pills between two fingers, he placed it on his tongue and swallowed. It took only a few seconds after the pill traveled down his throat before he was covered in a plume of smoke that rose from his feet to his head.

When it cleared, Naruto was still Naruto, only he was a she.

Her hair was the same sunshine yellow, but now the blonde tresses were down past her hips, her bangs long and infuriating because they fell across her face. Speaking of her face it had now become fuller, her cheeks pink right under her eyes which were bigger and brighter than before. Her eyebrows were slightly thinner while her eyelashes were longer and thicker. She was an inch shorter, another annoying part of being a girl. She was already small as it was.

The explanation for this change was that Naruto had been born a girl.

Unknown to her, the reason for the disguise was because the Hokage believed in order to protect her, having her live as the opposite gender would better hide her true identity from those outside the village and protect her from those inside as well. After her birth, tensions were high, the tragedy had brought the worst out in many people. Criminals and perverted degenerates thought to use the villages weakened state to commit felonies while the Konoha Police force were assisting in the reconstruction of the village even after years had passed. Orphans and young girls were large targets, and one so hated as Naruto would be have the biggest mark on her back.

Naruto was told the reason she had to grow up as the opposite gender was because it would decrease her chances of assault. That it was too protect her.

She wasn't so sure that it did. Too many bad memories were proof otherwise.

The pills she had taken were originally designed with the purpose to increase the time one could hold a henge for infiltration and spy missions. Using a mix of sealing and innovative science involving chakra, they were able to perfect an appropriate formula that worked with her unique chakra paths and had put her on a dose as soon as it passed trial testing. Afterwards the Sandaime had arranged an apartment for her and she was given strict instructions that she was not to leave her home without taking a blue pill first and that it was very important to keep her true gender a secret.

After she had been rescued from The Place, or what she had named the hell in which she had been raised at until she was four years old, she had stayed with the Sandaime for a whole year before the council stepped in. They all came together against him, believing that he should not be allowed to keep and raise Naruto. They blamed her for the Yondaime's death and because she had been taken so young, and was tortured and experimented on by ninja still unknown, they thought she was too damaged and possibly unpredictable after what she had been through to be kept so close to the Hokage in the case she lost control over the Kyuubi. He had fought hard to keep her but he was out numbered in the decision by the council and was forced to set her up in an apartment all alone, with only the landlord to look after her and a scarecrow that popped up from time to time to frighten away the crows that might think to pick at her and leave her some vegetables.

She never had much money, the council had their fingers in that too, trying to keep her cut off as much as possible. But once in awhile the Old Man managed to get away and see her. He always found little way to cheer her up, and he made her laugh a lot when she was with him. Sometimes he would bring her to a safe spot, guarded by ninja she couldn't see and he would allow her to take the pink pill and give her a dress to where if she wanted. She felt a little weird when she wasn't used to it, but she would put it on because it seemed to make him happy. After he would always find a flower and tuck it into her hair and they would fish with their feet in the river. Sometimes nothing would be said at all, other times it was nonstop chatter between the two. Naruto loved those days.

But there hadn't been many more like them since she graduated the Academy. She got it though. The Hokage was super important and busy, she couldn't always expect the Old Man to be able to make time to come see her. Plus, she was a really busy ninja too.

Naruto looked down at herself and thought of her pills.

She had become exhausted of taking them and of waiting until the Sandaime thought she was ready to face the world as herself. He always told her that she was still not strong enough to handle it, both mentally and physically. But she was a ninja now, she had graduated the academy and gone on missions. Wasn't that proof enough of her strength?

This thing about Naruto was that it wasn't even about being a boy.

She wasn't like Sakura or Ino. She didn't like the things that they did or the things people assumed a girl should like. She didn't get the big deal about putting in the extra effort to look pretty or making sure your hair was brushed if it was just going to get messed up on a mission or in a fight? Maybe sometimes, she might feel a little lnging and jealously for what Ino and Sakura, heck even HInata had but she wasn't sure she wanted to be like them. She was pretty contact in her boyish habits. It suited her better than the makeup and pretty clothes ever would. It just wasn't her.

Naruto liked working up a sweat, she didn't care if her clothes got dirty or hair messed up, she didn't have the same thoughts as some girls had running through their heads. She wasn't constantly worried about what boys thought about her, just worrying about getting Sakura to like her even a little bit was super hard, why did she need the extra worry about how a cute boy looked at her. None of them were as smart, or pretty, or had eyes that shined like polished jade like Sakura's did.

What bothered her about living like a boy was feeling like she had no freedom, she was pretending to be something else and made to think that the reason for it was because being a girl meant being weak and vulnerable. That was just a bunch of crap. Naruto could kick just as much butt the way she was born as when she could after taking the blue pill.

And then there was her team. She didn't like withholding the truth about herself, she had enough secrets locked away as it was that it was. How were they supposed to get along if they found out she had been lying to them all this time. She had nightmares about Sakura punching her, of Sasuke sneering and saying things worse than any insult he's thrown her way so far. She was scared he wouldn't look at her the same. That he would look at her the way he looked at Sakura and every other girl. She wasn't like that, she didn't think about him like that, and she wasn't some squealing girl who barely passed as a kunoichi.

She decided she was done. Tomorrow, she would go and talk to the Sandaime.

Then the rain started. It began as a small drizzle and then in minutes it turned into a full on downpour. It took only seconds for it to soak her to the bone, her clothes heavy and hair curling near the bottom from being wet. Yet for a minute, desire the downpour, Naruto just stood their with her face tilted up, letting the rain shower her. It felt good.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto opened her eyes and gave a big grin before running the rest of the way, whooping when she spotted the shelter of the entrance to her apartment building. Getting inside she shook herself off, shivering before hurrying up the stairs to her floor. She grabbed her keys out of her pocket, getting them ready for when she arrived at the door of her apartment.

When Naruto reached her door she gave a sigh as when she saw the fresh scrub marks and smudges of the hateful words that had been washed away. Naruto remembered the first time she woke to find her door vandalized with words telling her to die and calling her terrible names, written across the door. She had been six, and the elderly landlord had found her scrubbing at the words with an old brush and dish soap. She wanted it gone before anyone saw, afraid of the neighbors looks or getting charged by the landlord for the damage. But when the Landlord had caught her in the act of cleaning he had given her a look of pity before telling her that she could find paint thinner in the shed at the side of the building before leaving her alone without another word.

It had happened again a few times through the years, either while she was sleeping or not at home. After awhile, all the marker and paint had left terrible stains on the wood that would never truly go away.

'I'll have to repaint the door again soon.' she thought. It was really the best way to erase it. She and probably painted the door every color of the rainbow already. That made her smile a little. Shivering again, her hands trembling with the chill she struggled for a second to slide the key into the lock before she got it in, turning it and hearing the soft click as the tumbles turned and the door was unlocked. Opening the door she quickly stepped into her apartment and shut the door behind her, giving out a tired sigh.

She kicked off her sandals in the doorway and tossed her keys on the top of her shoe box by the door. Next she took off her jacket and threw it over the back of her one lone chair at her tiny dinner table. That was when she noticed it was warm. She was sure she had turned off the heater, but their it was, glowing faintly red. She frowned and looked at the rest of her apartment and immediately the difference in her apartment from when she first left it that morning.

It was clean.

Every surface had been scrubbed until it shined. Even the floors had been wiped down. The dishes had been washed and put away in the cupboard, her bed made, the table cleaned off, the trash was taken out and all of her scrolls and weights that had been scattered and lying around the floor that morning from the days before had been picked up and removed from the main room, probably put back in her training room.

The training room was a windowless room, almost the same size as the main room, that was once meant to be a walk in closet to compensate for how small the rest of the apartment was. But since Naruto had no real need for such a large closest she had converted it into a training room, building herself an L shaped desk and bookshelf with some handmade motivational posters on the wall like, Sasuke Sucks, Kick Ass and Work Harder. She could only imagine how organized it must be now. It was usually a disorganized mess of scrolls, weights and weapons.

'Iruka-sensei must have come by.' Naruto thought to herself. It was the only explanation for finding her room in such a clean state.

He had a spare key to her apartment. Since she was an orphan, an academy sensei was given an extra key incase of emergencies. Iruka-sensei was the one who had gotten that responsibility. He was a huge mother hen, always lecturing and fretting over her. It was annoying for the most part, but it also made her feel oddly cherished. Sometimes, she imagined that was what having a dad was like.

Strange though, he usually left her some type of note to let her know he had been by.

Curious about what else had been cleaned, she peeked into her bathroom, finding that too was spotless, even the toilet sparkled.

"Wow!" she said impressed.

She continued to enter the bathroom and turned on the shower before leaving again to get a change of clothes while the water warmed up. It could take a while, especially when the other tenants were running their own water. Since it was raining, she hoped that wouldn't be the case today.

With a shiver, she went over to the heater to huddle close to it's warmth a bit. Than she frowned. Iruka never left the heater on when he came by, he was terrified of starting a fire and always scolded her when he found that she hadn't turned it off before she left the house. It had been warm last night, so she hadn't turned it on then or this morning. If it was on, that meant whoever had cleaned her house wasn't Iruka. That didn't make sense, though, no one else had a key.

Bang! The door of her training room swung open, hitting the wall with a loud thud and four teenage boys squeezed out of the opening dramatically, grins on three of their faces, with their arms up in the air in some type of jazz hand motion.

"SURPRISE!" they shouted.

She was definitely surprised, so much she teetered back, falling on he but and hitting the small kitchen table. She gave a yelp as pain shot up from her tail bone before she stared at them stunned and scared, not recognizing any of them.

"What the hell!" she yelped, her heart jack hammering in her chest as her eyes bulged. "How did you get in my place?!"

Two of the boys, twins were at the forefront of the quartet, came forward. They both had bright red hair, like a tomato. They had an explosion of red hair. The two were identical.

They wore similar outfits of the same colors. One had a yellow shirt under a baby blue hoodie with mint green pants. The same outfit in the same colors but his hoody was yellow and he wore it tied around his waist while his shirt was blue instead. They just kept grinning, looking ready to start vibrating with excitement.

The tallest had the same red hair, but his was buzzed, a crimson shadow across his scalp. He wore a teal forehead protector with a swirl at the center around his head.

Like the twins he was dressed pretty casually in a white shirt that somehow looked big on him under a blue shingled vest. Somehow his outfit made him look younger than one might think he was. He also wore grey pants that made his legs look even longer and were rolled up at the ankles. His arms were bandaged from above his elbows to his knuckles. He was so freaking tall, it hurt Naruto to look up at him.

The last one didn't have red hair like the others. He was blonde, just like her.

His hair wasn't as long as the twins, and stylishly gelled up and had to be the most flamboyantly dressed one of them. He had on a very fitted, mauve colored, collard shirt that had tan darker sleeve that stopped at the elbow and tan colored short pants. They were so skinny Naruto thought only girls could wear them. He stood with his hands clasped in front of him and tears in his eyes while he looked at her. His eyes were big and amazed, like seeing her was the greatest moment

All four of them shared the same expressive violet eyes. and their skin had the same tan complexion Naruto did, thought he blonde on was a bit farer. If she looked a little more intensely, it was easy to tell from their multiple features that they were related. Either cousins or maybe brothers. "Why did you just jump out of my closet!?" she demanded, still on the floor.

"You're not happy to see us?" The twins asked her at the same time, perfectly in sync as they frowned sadly at her. They were about half a head taller than her.

"You scared the crap out of me!" she told them, her voice high

She was considering taking out a shuriken and throwing it into one of their cheeks, but she withheld herself. They didn't seem hostile, but they were definitely not from Konoha which meant they could be enemy ninja. She didn't recognize the symbol on their forehead protectors, sot they might be rouges.

"Brother, I think this was a bad idea." the tallest of the four said, rubbing a hand over his head in a sign of discomfort, his voice was really deep and Naruto wondered exactly how old he really was.

"Nonsense, Taka, the point was to surprise her and we did!" the blonde one said cheerfully. He smiled at Naruto. "We're didn't mean to scare you."

"I don't think she knows who we are, Aki." Taka pointed out softly, looking down at the other teen and then glancing apologetically at Naruto.

Aki frowned and looked at her again, taking in Naruto's wide, startled eyes and skittish shifting. She wasn't just taken by surprise, she was actually scared of them.

Taka was right, she had no clue who they were.

"But, the Sandaime, was supposed to tell her. We even left him a picture so that she would recognize us when we came out and be happy." Aki's face twisted into an angry pinched face, his nose scrunching up and eyebrows diving down, biting his lip and curling his hands into fists at his sides.

"This was going to be a perfect moment. I had it all pictured in my head." he pouted, annoyed and feeling cheated of the moment. "We were gonna jump out, surprise her and than she was going to run into my arms!"

Like she would ever do that. Naruto thought, glaring suspiciously at them. What a weirdo.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Naruto yelled at them, she still hadn't taken off her shuriken pouch and kunai holster.

Her fingers itched to grab a weapon. "Someone better start talking before you get hurt."

Aki gave a frustrated sigh and then said to Naruto, his face smooth as he let go of his momentary anger and frustration. "We're sorry, you were supposed to be told about us before you came home, so you would be excited when we popped out for the surprise."

He waved his arms up and down at his side like a bird, his eyes turning into angry swirls as he mussed up his own hair as he let his aggravation get the better of him. He gave a weird scream with clenched teeth before blowing a raspberry, an array of expressions being used.

Naruto tried to breath while thinking about what she should say or do in this situation. Obviously they seemed to know her somehow, or at least they knew who she was. But how or why was the question that should probably be asked.

"No one told me anything, especially the Old Man that's for sure." she said, trying to keep her eyes on all of them for any sudden movements.

"So why don't you tell me what I should know. Let's start with who are you?" she tried to approach this reasonably, something uncommon for Naruto.

Outnumbered, she was trying not to do anything to rash. Kakashi-sensei's voice in her ear telling her to be calm and not to just jump the gun like her usual self. It was hard to resist not beating the answers out of them like she really wanted to.

Aki smiled, his mouth opening to answer her when the twins moved in front of him and took the spotlight.

"We're your brothers!" the twins gave a joyful cheer, grinning like cheshire cats.

Naruto stared at them with huge eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she were ready to laugh. They were crazy, absolutely crazy!

"Sorry, I think you have the wrong apartment. I think there's another kid who lives in the building, I'm not sure their room number though." she told them and started to get up, ready to show them out the door.

"No, we don't." Aki said softly to her back.

"You're our sister, you were born on October 10th, you're twelve years old and your name is Naruto Uzumaki." he said, and she looked over her shoulder to see him smiling.

"And I'm Nikki!" the one with the hoodie introduced himself.

"I'm Miki. We're fourteen, our birthday is June 20th!" said the other one.

The twins then looked at the other two to introduce themselves to her.

Aki gave a cough, straightening out his clothes before proceeding.

"My name is Aki, I'm Seventeen, my birthday is March 18th." he looked so happy, and Naruto didn't get why. She kept thinking he might break out into tears any moment.

"I am Taka." he looked ready to leave it at that, but the others looked at him urgently to go more. Taka signed. "I'm sixteen, I was born April 23rd."

"Thanks for sharing, but anyone could know my birthday. That doesn't exactly prove your my brothers." something inside her was adamant of rejecting the idea for some reason. She was not falling for this. Maybe it was some type of pre-exam test.

"I don't know who put you up to this, but as a prankster I can tell you this is not funny, not even a little bit!" she glared at them. "Was it Kiba, that dog breath, dirt bag? Is this revenge for that time I got Shino to help me give him an Akamaru flees?"

They shook their heads. "Is Kiba a friend of yours?" Aki asked curiously. "No, he's just some stinking classmate." she slapped hand over her mouth. What was she doing telling him this stuff. "Damn it, if it wasn't him then who?" She turned and kicked the leg of her table. "Was it the villagers? They sure got creative this time!"

Her shoulders shook and her toes hurt from kicking the stupid table. Damn it! She couldn't believe they managed to pull something like this on her.

"I'm so sick of all these villagers making fun of me, and now their getting shinobi from other villages involved, don't they have better things to do?!" she sniffed, and squeezed her eyes closed to keep tears from falling. She wasn't sad, she was just angry, super, super angry.

"Naruto, please just listen to what I have to say." Aki pleaded reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder, but she just jerked away from his touch.

"Just get out of my apartment already before I kick your butts!" she screamed at the four of them before she ran to the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it behind her. The room was already filling with steam now that the door was closed. Then she realized she had forgotten to grab a change of clothes.

Quickly she unlocked the door and ran back out, grabbing a shirt and pajama pants from her dresser, running past the four who were still there in the process. She ignored them and went back to the bathroom. She stopped to shout before slamming the door for a second time. "You better not still be there when I come back out a second time, I mean it!"

Shaking her head, Naruto took a deep breath and sunk her fingers into her hair as she dropped it forward. Her neck began to hurt though, and standing in the steam was starting to make her sweat yet for some reason she was shivering, her hands and legs shaking.

This was just too much, their joke had gone too far. She tried to think happy thoughts, Ramen with Iruka-sensei, the burn and ache after a long day of training, Sakura smiling at her, kicking Sasuke's smug butt. These thoughts helped distract her from what just happened as she stripped out of her damp clothes. She tossed them to the floor and practically jumped under the spray of water.

She let out a sigh as she felt her skin once again become clean. She, pulled her hair over her shoulders and did her best to wash the long, now heavy strands. Afterward, she just stood under the spray, enjoying the steaming water. She almost didn't want to get out and when she did finally decide to step out of the shower, she felt and looked so refreshed. But somehow she felt even more tired than before, the hot shower had relaxed her and now she felt sluggish. She let out a loud yawn.

Drying herself off thoroughly, she changed into the shirt and pajama bottoms she had taken earlier and then wrapped her hair up in the towel.

Leaving the comfort of her bathroom, she expected and hoped for to find her apartment empty so she could go right to her bed and pass the heck out. But no, the four boys were still there, the twins sitting on her bed watching something that was playing on the small t.v she had on top of her dresser. Aki was sitting at her table, looking sad and thoughtful while Taka stood leaning against the wall between her fridge and bedside table, his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

"Did you not hear me?" she asked them, getting their attention and they all looked at the pissed off little girl.

"I told you to, GET OUT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, not caring if the neighbors complained, and pointed to the door. She was so done with this day already. She just wanted to go to bed, pretend none of this ever happened and start over tomorrow.

"We're not going anywhere." Aki glanced up at her, the cold, fierce look in his eyes turning her to stone.

"And why the hell not?" she growled.

"Because we're not playing a prank on you and this isn't some cruel joke someone put us up to. We are really your brothers and we won't leave until you believe that." he told her, and the two took part in a staring contest that had the atmosphere in the room crackling.

Naruto didn't want to give in, she hated caving, she was too stubborn. But inside of her was the hope of an orphan that her family would come for her, and it won out against her stubbornness. This time she was the one who stomped her foot like a little kid.

"Fine." she gave him a chance and hurtled question after question at him. "If you really are my brothers than where have you been for the last twelve years? What about our mom and dad? Who are they? Are they dead? Or did you guys just decide you didn't want me?" She tried to keep the tremble out of her voice. But it was hard, especially when it came to thinking about her parents.

"Of course we wanted you!" Aki stood the, his voice an assuring shoute. There was a bang through the wall from the neighbor's apartment, yelling for them to shut up. They ignored it and Aki added more softly "We thought you were dead."

"Dead?" she gave him a disbelieving look. "What do you mean you thought I was dead?"

"You were taken after you were born. Mom and even your Hokage didn't even realize it. Who ever had taken you, they replaced you with another infant, a dead one under some type of incredibly strong henge to look just like you. When mom woke up in the hospital and asked for you, the nurse gave her the dead baby and we all thought it was you." he he had only been a little boy, Taka and twins were toddlers at the time, but Aki remembered the blank, unbelieving expression his mother had made after she was given the baby to hold for closure.

"We even burned the body." he told him, his eyes looking wet.

Naruto thought about her dream, of that dark cell she had lived in and the one eyed-old-man. Of the tests and abuse she had been at the end of.

"I think someone did take me. But I don't know who." she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I…I lived in a cell until I was four. It's my earliest memory."

"It was dark and cold all the time and they did all these tests on me. I don't remember too much, I was really little. But I know by the time I was four, I was with the Sandaime. He took care of me for a little while before I had to live here." she wrapped her arms around herself.

Aki was told by the Sandaime what happened to Naruto, who took her and how he believed the crime was framed on another to take the fall rather than the real culprit. Without proper proof, the Sandaime could never bring the real criminal who hurt Naruto to justice. Aki would find that person, the man and all his pawns who helped him and he would hurt them all just like they hurt Naruto.

"So after you burned that other kid, you just left?" she wanted to hear more from Aki.

"Yes. We had just lost dad and when mom held that cold little body that she thought was you, she became hysterical with grief. It was the first time we ever saw her break down like that. She couldn't handle the immense loss and made us leave Konoha after." he told her, his eyes a storm of emotions, his sincerity clearly made out in his eyes alone.

"Where did you go, when mo-" Naruto swallowed, she couldn't say it. Saying it would mean she believed them, it would make this real. And she was scared to accept it was real just yet. "Where did you go, when you left?"

"We went to the Land of Grass, mother had a sister there. We stayed with them for awhile. But not even or aunt could console our mother." he told her.

"But Aunt Ayuka had her own daughter. It was too painful for mom to be around them, watching Aunt Ayuka with our cousin. We didn't stay long and we travelled all over after that."

"Eventually our grandmother learned that we had left Konoha and tracked us down. She invited us to stay with her." he told her, taking a seat again.

"Our grandmother had been trying since the Eddy Village had been destroyed to get us all back together ally he while searching for a safe place to make our home again. She did." he smiled, and she could see it in how thin his eyes got, the crinkle in the corner that told her how happy the thought of his home made him.

"By the time we went to live with her she found a new land to make our own and what we call New Eddy was still under construction," he told her, thinking of their travels, of their constantly depressed and distraught mother before they went to Eddy and found themselves surrounded by the love of a long separated family.

"The new Eddy village?" Naruto asked, never hearing of it before.

"Yes, the Eddy Village or Uzushiogakure as some know it."he told her, Like I said, the original was destroyed in the second ninja war and it's nothing more than a small island of ruins now." he shook his head, remembering the stories and visits there. Their grandmother thought it was important to see what it had become first hand, to teach them.

Naruto frowned as she thought of something. "When did you find out I was alive?"

"Only a few months ago." he told her, looking at her apologetically.

"The Old Man didn't try to find you and tell you about me sooner?" she didn't want to believe he would hold out on doing something like that. And if he had, why did he tell them now.

"I'm sure he tried immediately when he discovered you were alive, but our mom didn't want us to be found so I'm sure it was very hard for him to even get a whisper of our whereabouts. Then, once we came to New Eddy, the entire island had been put under a powerful genjutsu, so that no one would have been able to find us anyhow for all these years." he sighed, thinking about the isolation they had lived in after they had went to live with their grandmother. It had been even more lonely as their mother had been struggling fierce depression still at that time.

"Our grandmother wanted to make sure no one would know about us until she wanted them too, until she thought our village was ready. It just so happens, that time finally came a few months ago when we publicly re-entered the shinobi world again. Now that we're out in the open again your Hokage was finally able to get word to us about you, so here we are!"

He grinned and stretched out his arms in exaggeration. He looked ready to cry again, his eyes glistening and it made her feel weird to see this stranger like this.

"Here you are." she said looking at all of them.

"But what about my m-mom, where is she?" she asked, having clearly seen no woman in her apartment with them unless she was still hiding in her training room, but she doubted it.

She noted Aki's frown, and the dark looks that had shadowed the others faces as well.

"What is it? Did she di...die?" she swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat.

"No, she's still alive." he told her with a what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "She's still back home."

Naruto found herself feeling relieved. She had started to think it too much to hope to meet her mom. To be hugged by her parents just once and be able to remember it when she needed it the most.

"You have to understand, after learning she had been deceived in such an emotional way, she's rightfully distrustful to just believe the Hokage. So she sent us with some others to confirm that he wasn't lying, once we met you and we felt confident that you really are our sister, we're to send word to her and she'll come here herself to see you." Naruto could understand that.

"And you really think I'm your sister?" she asked, holding her hands out to her side, even spinning around for them sarcastically. Obviously she was joking with them, closer to mocking really.

"Yes." he gave a nod. "We took special measures of course. We set up special seals around the apartment to dispel any type of henge just in case you were another impostor and we had some of our ninja follow and observe you as well."

Naruto was not exactly thrilled at that bit of information. She really needed to focus on her sensing skills. She had no talent for reading the atmosphere and intent of an opponent. She wondered how close these other people had gotten to her without realizing it?

"And with that attitude, you are definitely a Uzumaki" Nikki spoke up, at least she assumed that one was Nikki, his voice teasing as he wore a huge grin that matched his twins. Miki knocked his shoulder and the two laughed.

Taka and Aki observed her next reaction carefully. Her face transformed with a multitude of emotions, her mind reeling with what she had just learned from them. Could all of it really be true? She wanted to be realistic, level headed, to think clearly and make a good judgment, like Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei had tried to teach her to do.

But that wasn't her, she didn't think with her head like Sakura or even Sasuke. Naruto was all heart, and her heart wanted it to be true, it wanted to believe them so badly because even now, with her own teams he felt so alone.

It was just so crazy, she burst out laughing, bending in half with her arms around her stomach. She continued to laugh louder, and louder until it hurt so much to laugh so hard. Then her laughing transitioned to sobs, dropping to her knees with her face in her hands. Aki was the first to go to her, cutting across the short distance between them in two strides and wrapping his arms around her, holding her tight against him.

He had seen her mother break down so many time after they had left Konoha, and now his little sister was having her own meltdown right in front of them and it terrified all of them. But unlike when they were kids, they knew now what to do to help. Aki whispered words of reassurance to into the towel still wrapped around her head. Promising it was all true, that they wouldn't hurt her and that it would all be ok. He wasn't sure if she even heard him over her own crying, but hoped his hug conveyed the same as his words. The other three joined them at their spot on the floor, each one wrapping themselves around her and each other.

She was so used to being alone now, hoped for so long until she had to grow up, realize her family wasn't coming for her, that she had to stop asking about them and stop waiting and move on. She was angry at not being told about her family for all this time, sad that all these years she had brothers and a mother really out there while she had been all alone. Yet here they were now, twelve years later, so much time lost but so much more ahead.

She would never get that childhood back though, the one she should have shared with her brothers and that fact tore her apart. Yet she was also insanely happy, she would never be alone again, she would have people who loved her and who there to welcome her home everyday, just like she had always dreamed of.

She was no so scared it would all be a lie in the end, and it would break her heart for good if it was.

Authors after notes:

For those who have read the original and are concerned about pairings, I can't really say if this was a spoiler since it really hadn't gone anywhere yet in the original ore revised, ShikaNaru is still a big thing. I love the pairing so much and there are so few stories with them that I enjoy. But realistically when your 12 and growing up you find your affections shifting from person to person. Maybe not all at one time, but you may slowly lose interest in one person and find that you like a new person just the same. Kids are so willy nilly sometimes with love, just go to a playground and see for yourself as one kid gives a weed to another and then takes it back to give it to a more cuter or funny kid.
Actually, that sounds a lot like adult relationships too a bit. Huh?

Either way, fear not my fellow ShikaNaru shippers you will be sated just hold out and be patient, if your reading this than your pretty good at that already.

Thanks for reading.

Your man of the hour,

CK