So, I have some amazing news. I remembered, or more like hoped I had put the original chapters from 2007 on a hard drive. All 30 something chapters. I transferred them to my mac for safe keeping for the future and printed out the original chapters so I can read through for pointers on how to proceed.

There was definitely room for improvement for the original chapters as I read through them, grammar and action wise. Hopefully, my writing is better from back then to some degree and you can tell a positive difference.

Please enjoy this new chapter.

The Seventeenth Encounter

"Yes?" Aki answered.

"I'm sorry to intrude. I'm Iruka Umino" Iruka bowed slightly. "I am-ah, was, Naruto's academy teacher. I was hoping that I might have a word with you about your sister.

Aki blinked. The man was fidgety and clearly nervous so at least it didn't appear he was there to make a complaint or start a fight.

Aki nodded and smiled politely. "Please come in. I am Aki Namikaze."

His grandmother had ingrained proper manners into him and Aki stepped aside, allowing the older man into his home.

"Thank you," Iruka bowed his head before toeing off his shoes and putting them in an empty shoe box. "It's a pleasure to meet you Namikaze-san."

"Likewise, Umino-Sama. This way." Aki smiled politely as he leads the way. "I'll make us some tea and we can sit down and talk."

Aki motioned for Iruka to take a seat on the couch while he went and started the kettle. Iruka looked around the room. It was a lovely home and he could tell it was just cleaned recently. So unlike Naruto whose apartment was nearly always a mess unless he paid her a visit. He couldn't help but pick up after her. The cleaning must be her brothers doing he thought with some good humor.

"Do you have any preference for what type of tea you drink, Umino-Sama?" Aki called from the kitchen.

"Uh, no," Iruka replied, hands on his knees looking towards the direction of the voice. "And please, you don't have to be so formal with me. Iruka-Sensei or Umino-San is fine with me."

"Alright then, Iruka-san. It'll be just a minute, please make yourself comfortable." Aki said with polite cheer in his voice.

Iruka noticed that there were some photographs on the walls already. He wondered if this had really been the Fourth Hokage's home? It has been a shock when the Sandaime told him who Naruto's parents were. He had just thought she was a random child, unfortunately, picked to carry a great burden.

He leaned forward in his seat, looking at them. They were photos of the family, a number of the Fourth Hokage and his wife before their marriage, after it and then with their son's before Naruto was born. There was one particular picture that caught Iruka's attention. It appeared to be in a shiny, new frame without a smudge on the protective glass.

He stood and walked over to it. His eyes went soft and a smile spread across his face. It was a new photo of Naruto with her brothers. They stand in the same room he was in now. Naruto didn't have her usual grin but instead had an almost shy smile as her brothers grinned as they stood behind her, posing her in front of them at the center of their sibling group.

"It was not easy getting her to take that picture with us," Aki spoke from behind Iruka as he put down the tea on the coffee table, having noticed where his guest was looking.

"But she just looked so cute in that dress and we had guests over to take the photo for us, so no one was left out. I didn't want to lose the chance."

"She always was hard to photograph." Iruka chuckled. "She wore kabuki makeup for her Shinobi profile photo."

Iruka returned to his spot on the couch and Aki poured him his tea before taking the seat opposite him. "Somehow that doesn't seem too hard to believe."

"She can be very dramatic," Iruka said with great fondness to the younger man.

Aki smiled. "Yes, I think she gets that from our mom. People say I'm the same way, but in a different sense."

"Pardon me, but you are the eldest brother?" Iruka asked, not completely sure.

"I am." Aki nodded.

"Then it's your responsibility to take care of your siblings, correct?" there was a deep, emotional seriousness that Iruka has even as he was trying to keep professional.

"It is," Aki said with just as much seriousness.

"I hope you don't think I'm too forward, but I would like to tell you some thing's about Naruto from my personal time with her and watching her grow up as her Academy teacher." Iruka offered him advice and Aki's smile became softer, more comfortable.

"I would very much like that," he told the academy teacher, still feeling at a loss when it came to Naruto.

"First, I think it would be best to be completely honest with you and let you know my relationship with your sister was not always as it is now," Iruka said a little mournfully and swallowed nervously. This was Naruto's brother after all he was confessing to. "My parents were killed by the Nine-tailed Fox and for many years I resented Naruto for being its vessel."

Aki's went stiff and Iruka was quick to try and explain that things got better, that he was sorry for how he had looked down on Naruto.

"With a little push from someone, I was able to begin seeing her for who she really was." Iruka thought back to when he had met with Kakashi after he had a run in with Naruto as a kid. He had just scolded her for scaring some other children with a prank, children who had excluded her when she had tried so hard to make friends. She had wanted to get back at them for snubbing her and calling her names. When had gotten upset with her Naruto had become more so. She was always being looked down on and had enough of it. She had said she wouldn't go back to the Academy anymore after that, of course, things had turned out for the better in the end after some unpleasantness.

"I'm ashamed I didn't reach a hand out to her sooner and tried harder to understand her. I will always regret my reluctance to stand up for her and shelter her from the cruelty of others." Iruka said as he recalled what happened with Mizuki, how he might have been able to keep it from happening if he was just a little more honest with Naruto.

"For a long time, she's been all alone and doing anything she could for a little attention, even if it was negative. Like getting scolded by me or the Sandaime for playing pranks. At least that was better than nothing, better than being ignored." he said, looking deep into his tea.

Aki stayed silent, letting him go on and hearing all he had to say.

"Naruto is a show off because she's desperate to prove herself, even if trying sometimes gets her into trouble. But she's a good kid." Iruka told him looking up at Aki, searching his eyes to see that he agreed and understood.

"She's been easily taken in by people in the past who tried to take advantage of her need for affection and approval," he explained sadly. "But she's been tricked one too many times. She's more guarded now."

"I think, she might have some difficulty coming to terms and finding her place in a family unit," Iruka told him honestly. "She still struggles just getting along with her own teammates and others her age. But with patience and given the chance she'll get comfortable with you."

"I hope so," Aki said softly. "All we want is to give her everything she missed out on and to shower her with love."

"I'm glad to hear that." Iruka smiled. He had been wary of these new people in Naruto's life. Worried about their intentions.

"As a teacher, I really shouldn't say I have a favorite amongst students." Iruka chuckled. "But Naruto does have a special place in my heart. I understand her loneliness, the pain she's felt up until now growing up without parents or siblings to look out for us."

Aki could tell that this man before him was a sincerely good man and he found himself grateful that Naruto had someone like him, to guide her at least part way and look out for her. They may have had a rocky start but the fact that Iruka could see and grow above his darker feelings towards Naruto gave Aki some faith.

"She might act tough and confident, but she's more insecure than she'll ever let anyone know," Iruka said with some sadness. "If you notice it and she realizes that you do, don't let her distract you from it or get you to change the subject. She'll definitely try but she needs to face these things."

"Mostly she'll try to avoid things by trying to get you to treat her to Ichiraku's ramen." They both shared a laughed at that.

Iruka went somber, almost shy again.

"I don't mean to tell you how to be her brother, I wouldn't dare, I just want to warn you of how she can be so that you can better scale the walls she might put up."

"I really appreciate that, Iruka-san." Aki put down his tea and looked to Iruka with a great deal of gratitude and some relief. He had been worried at first this conversation would be unpleasant.

"I'm glad my sister has had someone like you to look out for her,' he smiled understandingly. "As best as you could at least."

"I was very worried about her taking the chunnin exams and had spoken vehemently against it." Iruka sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. "I was so worried she and the other students that graduated with her weren't ready yet. That it was too soon."

"And do you still think that way?" Aki asked. Curious and concerned himself. He needed someone who knew Naruto and her abilities better than he did to tell him it was going to be alright.

Iruka seemed to think about that before he shook his head and a smile spread slowly across his face.

"No, I think they'll be fine." he then chuckled. "I did my own little test with them. And though they are still rough around the edges, they've come along way."

"I told her she couldn't take the exam, even though she had been so excited about it." Aki frowned. "We only just got her back and I was so worried we would lose her again."

The panic he had felt, the cold chill that had come over him when Naruto had told them all with so much excitement how she would be competing. She had been so proud of herself, and he couldn't even enjoy it because he was so terrified of everything that could go wrong.

"I'm supposed to protect her while we wait for our mother, if something happened to her before she could get here I wouldn't know how to live with myself." Aki's posture drooped, his shoulders hunched, his brow knit it worry.

"If you ever doubt her, even for a moment, I've learned that Naruto will always manage to find a way and prove she can handle anything thrown at her. Even if sometimes it by the skin of her teeth." Iruka said to try and ease some of Aki's worries, but he wasn't sure how well it actually helped.

"I know you're the oldest, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. Your still a young man, make sure you put aside time for yourself to be a teenager." the teacher said. Naruto could take a lot of energy out of a person, no matter how much she might be able to make you smile or laugh.

"Thank you, Iruka-san." Aki lifted his head and smiled.

"Naruto might struggle to get along with her teammates, but I know that together they will make it." in truth, this might be the best thing for their teamwork. Without the supervision or guidance of a sensei, they would be forced to rely on each other, look to each other for an answer and what to do next then all three of them turning to their sensei.

But all three were proud, stubborn children. There was also a chance they could turn on each other, get too worked up and cause themselves to fail by failing to trust and believe in each other. But he had faith that would not be the case.

"You've looked after my sister for quite some time, I can't express how grateful my family is for that," said Aki. "The Third Hokage told us how you risked your life to protect her against an academy teacher her who had tried to trick her into giving him your villages scroll of sealing."

Iruka blushed and scratched his nose, embarrassed. "I would have done the same for any of my students."

"But it wasn't just any student, it was my sister. You protected her, you were kind to her, you saw her for her and stopped seeing it inside her." there was a glimmer of tears in Aki's eyes as she looked at the man across from him.

He was so thankful Naruto had someone like Iruka keeping an eye on her and spending time with her and doing things with her like taking her out to eat and talking with her about her problems.

"Please, I would love for you to tell me more stories about my sister if you have the time," Aki asked, wanting a deeper understanding and history of his sister that the Third Hokage couldn't tell him about.

"It would be my honor."

-N-

They had only stopped for a few minutes to take a break when a huge gust of wind, just like the great breath technique she had been practicing with her brothers, came from Naruto's back. It was sudden and powerful, leaving them unable to brace for it. When the first wave came it came with a boom, the tree's rattling and taking Team Seven by surprise.

The second wave came a second later. The ferocity and sheer force of it were far more powerful than anything Naruto had managed to produce in her brief training with the jutsu.

With a yelp, Naruto went flying away from her teammates, once again separated from them a second time in one day while in this cursed forest. When the wind died it was just as sudden and she went crashing down to land on her back, the air rushing out of her lungs and leaving her gasping in pain. She sucked in air with a horrible wheezing sound, her eyes watering as she struggled to recover from having the breath being knocked out of her. When she could breathe again. Her back gave sharp pangs of pain as she barely managed to get out a groan. She tried for another wheezing inhale before she started to get to her knees.

'Where'd Sakura and Sasuke go?' Naruto didn't see them and she hadn't enough breath back to try and yell out for them yet.

"Why am I always the one to get separated, why couldn't it be that jerk Sasuke who gets lost in the forest?" Naruto puffed her cheeks, annoyed as she pushed up onto her knees and rubbed the spot above her butt that was sore.

Maybe they got blown away somewhere too. It wasn't good if they were all separated from each other and she hoped that at least Sakura was safe.

The forest around Naruto suddenly went quiet. There was not a twitter of a bird or a chirp of crickets that could be heard. It was a sign of a predator, prey going quiet and hiding. Her instincts screamed at her to run or hide as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She tried to figure out the direction it was coming from so that she could run the opposite way but it was already too late. A large, dark shadow fell over her and when Naruto looked up she saw the largest snake she had ever seen. It was giant, probably longer than some of the tree's in the forest if it laid out in a straight line and twice as thick.

Its tongue darted out, making a little flicking sound as it tasted the air. A hiss followed as it caught sight of Naruto who stood very still, paralyzed by sudden fear. She had thought Anko had just been exaggerating about the size of the animals in the forest.

Her chest heaved and her body trembled with fear. She trying to think of an escape, of how to fight back and trying and to will herself to move.

The snakes head lowered and it began to slither closer to her.

Their eyes met and something animalistic in Naruto took over for a second as a growl rumbled in her throat. She was warning it to back off.

As quick as lighting the enormous reptile struck towards her.

'Jump!' A woman's voice shouted and it brought Naruto out of her daze, she jumped just in time out of the way. While mid air she saw something came from behind her, it was the snakes tail and by the time she realized what it was, it was too late. She was caught by the snake, the end of its body tightly constricting around hers, crushing her more every time she struggled against it.

The hellish serpent opened its mouth, showing off it's terrible fangs. Naruto knew right away what was about to happen but when it did it didn't make it any less worse. With a terrible gulp, the snake took her in its mouth and swallowed her whole, it's fang catching on a flailing leg and she hissed as it dragged a cut from the back of her calf down to her ankle before she entered its throat.

The inner muscles of the snake pushed her down further towards it's belly and she beat against it's inner walls, screaming curses at the bastard, trying to think of how to get out when she heard a 'shick' sound and the next time the walls pushed it was like being reborn, head first and covered in blood and other nasty slime.

Naruto gasped and coughed, wiping the goop from her as she crawled the rest of the way out, the earth squishing beneath her as it turned muddy from the blood. She turned around to look at the corpse of the snake and she paled as she realized the snake had been cut just less than a few feet below where her head had been. Her head could have been sliced right in two like a melon if that had been timed wrong.

"Are you alright, Princess?" Naruto blinked at the hand being offered to her, squinting at the cut across the knuckles and followed it up to the rest of the person attached to it.

"You again!" Naruto shouted pointedly as she came to a stand on her own, without his help, and slapped his hand away.

"You have a strange way of saying thank you," Ryou said teasingly with a charming smirk, yet didn't look too offended as he retracted his hand.

"Yeah, well you could have cut off my head!" Naruto said pointing at the sliced up snake.

Ryou just smiled, eyes patient and unwaveringly calm.

"There no chance that would have happened. I knew exactly your position and cut accordingly at the right time between contractions of the snakes muscles pushing you to it's stomach," he said, his voice sure and smile confident.

She blinked at his detailed defense before her eyes narrowed and her nose scrunches up. She didn't like this guy, even if he had saved her from becoming a snake turd.

"I would have been fine on my own, I didn't need your help." she growled before she started marching in the direction she thought she had come flying from.

Ryou smirked, standing still and watching her with a hidden humor.

"Your teammates are the other way." Ryou was nice enough to tell her.

Naruto stiffened and spun on her heal, marching the other way that he was now pointing towards for her. She grumbled angrily under her breath about obnoxious, over confident, pretty boys and how she didn't need them butting into her problems that she had completely under control.

Somehow, for Ryou, her stubbornness and pride only made her more endearing to him. This was the girl he had practically been born to protect. His mark tingled on his chest just being near her. And he was filled with a strange sense of joy and feeling of playfulness.

Truth be told, none of them had really been sure what to expect. They all had a different image of her, even after being showed her picture. They imagined her personality a number of different ways, the thought of her ever changing in their minds. When they had officially met her, they were all a bit shocked. She was so...well, none of them had a word for it really. All that mattered was that the flickering image of her that they had froze to a single, steady picture of her now. They could see her face clearly, they could touch it even.

Naruto, their princess became a solid, attainable thing at last. And all of it, to her, to their meeting, somehow felt right even though there were a number of ways it could have gone better.

"Argh, I can feel you watching me. It makes my skin crawl. And why are you following me?!" Naruto did a wiggle and glared at Ryou over her shoulder who was indeed walking after her.

"Because you are my precious princess." The smile he gave her was a sweet, heart stopping thing that had her sucking in a breath. She put her hand over her chest as it that would calm the racing of her heart that seemed to beat frantically at the look he was giving her.

"I don't know what your talking about." she swallowed, coming back to her normal self and scoffing. "I'm no ones princess."

"Oh, but you are." he said eyes growing focused as he looked around their surroundings.

She couldn't wrap her head around this being called a princess stuff, and she had bigger things to worry about. But there was something that was bothering her.

"Why did I cry when I first saw you, back at the academy during the first exam?" Naruto gathered her patience and asked. She wasn't even sure he had the answer.

"Because we are tied by destiny. The great summoner, the celestial maiden herself, chose me and my comrades to be your guardians. In your heart, you knew and you recognized our eyes though you've never seen them before and your spirit was so glad we were with you so much you cried." he spoke with such understanding of what happened and such serenity that it floored Naruto's continued confusion.

"What the hell does that even mean!?" Naruto grabbed at her own head, eyes spinning as she tried to right her brain from all this craziness.

"You're crazy, that it!" She finally decided. "You're nuts, bonkers, crazy as they come with some weird obsession with me."

Naruto through her arms in the air, as if in triumph over realizing all of this.

Ryou sighed. "I really wish Taka-Sensei would have explained all of this to you before we met."

"Explained what?" Naruto frowned. More frustrated than ever now that this guy was involving her brother in the conversation.

"Everything between my team and you. Who we are and what you mean to us." he said looking at the sky suddenly.

"I would go into it more details but we're running out of time. I don't know who separated you from your team, but we have to get you back to them." he said.

"That I can agree with." Naruto nodded. "Can you help me get back to them?"

Ryou nodded. "Of course."

I want to give a big thanks to all of my readers, your support means the world to me. Every follow, favorite and review makes me so happy and encourages me.