Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other references I might make.

Chapter 4 – Reunions

Naruto mulled over his options: he could either pretend to be the ghost of the Yondaime once again or he could create another persona for himself; either play it up and gather as much attention as possible or play it down and try to damage control it as much as possible. On one hand he had undeserved attention and praise and on the other, it was back to being as reclusive as possible. Tough call.

Raidou was observing the figure before him with a calculating eye. It was twenty five years since he last saw the Yondaime alive and in the flesh. Twenty five years since the Kyuubi had attacked. Twenty five years since the Fourth had died to protect Konoha. Yet now here the legend stood before him, looking as if he had not aged a single day in all that time.

Aoba was still taking it all in. He had been a chunin awaiting his jounin promotion twenty five years ago. It was he who had burst into the Hokage office with the dreaded news that the Kyuubi was attacking. He had always felt awful that the last thing he had said to the man was "Sir, the beast! The Kyuubi! It's on its way here!" He had seen the Fourth's saddened expression the moment the news was delivered firsthand.

Kiba had heard of the legend of the Fourth and couldn't for the life of him imagine why the man was standing before the pack. He had always been taught that the man died gallantly to defeat the Kyuubi and restore peace to the village. What would a dead man want with them? Deliverance to a safe haven in which to rebuild a new Konoha? Or vengeance for failing to protect the very village that he had sacrificed everything for?

Tenten stared at the blond haired wonder. She was torn about how she should feel. This was the hero of Konoha. With him around everything would probably turn out fine and they would be safe. Especially after the way he stuck fear into the hearts of all the attacking forces with a strange looking kunai. However, why did he choose now to appear? If he was going to show, then it would have been much better for he to emerge during yesterday's battle. Maybe then Konoha could have been saved. Maybe her friends could have been saved. Maybe Lee wouldn't have had to die so that she could live.

Despite being pinned down by his unconscious friend, Izumo managed to twist around enough from the sticky syrup jutsu in order to get a better view of the Yondaime. He had been in the Academy back then and had only seen the man once or twice before during speeches to his class. Seeing the man who defeated the Kyuubi again filled him with reassurance that everything was going to okay now.

Hanabi had heard about the Yondaime's name mentioned a few times from her father. The legend appeared to be the only non-Hyuuga that Hiashi held in high regard. That alone made the name memorable to her. The Hyuuga clan was the elite clan of Konoha. If someone from outside the clan had managed to win the respect of the clan head, then that individual must have been an incredible person. Still, as she judged the blond in front of her, the man had won her father's respect, not hers. She would see for herself what her father had been impressed by.

Naruto sighed to himself. While pretending to be his hero was fun against the rock nin, for some reason it just didn't seem right to do the same with these leaf nin. Instead he straightened his cloak and greeted, "Yo."

That caused the few of the still conscious leaf nin to fault, a fact that pleased Naruto as he enjoyed making people lose their composure. Raidou recovered first. He immediately knelt before the blond. He started to talk, "Yondaime…"

"is dead," finished Naruto abruptly as he was going to dismiss any false notions here and now. Raidou and Aoba both looked taken back and the other leaf nin looked equally stunned. "The Yondaime died twenty five years ago against the Kyuubi. I am not him. Neither am I a specter or a ghost or a phantom. I assure you that I am quite alive. Stand up leaf nin. If you knew who I was, then you would be shocked at the fact that you ever knelt before me."

Raidou stood, rejudging the figure with a wary eye as he lightly fingered a kunai, "Then who are you?"

Naruto shrugged. "Hmm…guess that there's no use in hiding it anymore. With the numbers that Konoha has now, I really don't think that there's anything else that you all can do me. Enforcing my punishment for returning is probably beyond your ability as well."

Raidou didn't like the direction that this situation was starting to take. The enigma that rescued them from the rock nin was starting to sound more like a wolf in sheep's clothing. His right hand gripped a kunai tightly within his weapon pouch. The other leaf nin tensed as well, ready in case this took a turn for the worst. "And what punishment would that be?"

Naruto remained indifferent and calm despite the tensing Konoha nin. He waved off the question. "Ah come on, you know. It's the same punishment everywhere for people like me. People who were banished from their own village."

"Banishment?!" remarked Raidou with a slight surprise. The situation was really starting to go downhill now. If this was a banished leaf shinobi, then it was his job as a Konoha nin to kill the exile on-sight for returning to Fire Country. Though, the way the exile got all those battle-hardened rock nin to flee like fresh genin unnerved him. That reaction proved this shinobi was no pushover.

Add that to the fact that he really couldn't afford to lose shinobi trying to enforce a law for a destroyed village. Taking care of the Konoha refugees took priority over everything. Hopefully this exile wasn't looking for a fight; it had seemed that he looked ready to depart actually. This got Raidou thinking, 'This is a crazy idea, but we need all the help we can get. If this really is a former leaf nin, then maybe I can get him to help us in exchange for repealing his banishment.'

While Raidou was trying to figure out how to offer his proposal, Kiba was also trying to figure this newcomer out. 'Banished, huh? He looks about the same age as me. I wonder if I knew the guy before his exile?' He started going over a mental list of all the blonds that he knew when he caught the figure's scent again. His eyes widened. "You're the same guy that showed up last night!"

Naruto nodded slightly at the comment. "Yeah, that was me." He started to whirl a kunai lazily around his finger.

Still considering a possible attack, Tenten readied a ring of shuriken. "And what did you hope to gain by returning survivors of the attack? I'm not saying that I'm not grateful for the saving of more Konoha lives, but what are you playing at? Trying to win favor back into being a leaf nin?"

Naruto chuckled at that. "Ha…Ha…Ha…you think that I'm trying to win favor? That's rich!" His face returned to its leveled expression. "Why I hell would I do that? If I wanted to rejoin a ninja village then do you really think that I would choose a village that was just destroyed?"

Tenten remained silent. Luckily, Aoba regained his senses enough to steer the discussion back on course. "We both know that death is the punishment for returning from banishment without the Hokage's and the council's combined approval. However we seem to be lacking both at the moment." He paused for a moment before continuing. "For this reason, Raidou is the most senior among us and is our acting-leader. Knowing him as well as I do, I don't believe that he would decide to attempt to enforce your punishment right now as we lack sufficient manpower. It would be an unnecessary use of our resources."

"Unnecessary use," parroted Naruto. "Never thought that I would hear that. If the council was here, then you can bet that they would be calling for my death regardless of the amount of shinobi that they had."

Hanabi narrowed her eyes. "And why would they be doing that? What were you banished for?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" teased Naruto as he sniggered at Hanabi's unamused expression. "Actually, I'm a bit surprised that dog-boy over there hasn't already figured it out. Or have you really forgotten me Inuzuka Kiba?"

Kiba's eyes shot open at the mention of his name. More surprise was apparent on the faces of the other Konoha nin as well. Hanabi, Tenten, and Aoba both looked at Kiba in confusion. Radiou refocused on the blond. Izumo remained stuck to the ground. "Wait," countered Kiba. "How do you know who I am?"

"Ah, did you really forget me Kiba?" Naruto mocked with false sadness. "I thought we were pals at the Academy. I mean we even graduated together." Kiba's went into a slight shock as he realized that there were only four blondes in his graduating class, two males and two females. And of the two males, only one of them actually became a genin. Naruto wasn't finished however, "Though I guess that it has been thirteen years since we last talked. Not to mention one your last memories of me is me kicking your butt at the chunin preliminaries. Yeah, I wouldn't like to remember my defeats either. Ringing any bells here Kiba?" He grinned at the look of shock on the dog-boy's face.

"Naruto," muttered Kiba. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Bingo," approved Naruto.

A couple of seconds pasted as the entire assembly remained stock still. A slight breeze swept across the field. Then, without warning, both Raidou and Aoba were upon Naruto with a kunai to either side of his neck. "The demon brat…" cursed Raidou. "You're right. I do regret kneeing thinking that you were the Yondaime. I can't believe that I was thinking about repealing your banishment."

Kiba, Tenten, Hanabi hadn't moved. They knew what Naruto held inside of him. They had been there when the council had made the announcement. However, they were less quick to act as they had not lived through the attack and their grudge against the jailor was not as deep. Still as Konoha nin, they positioned themselves to provide cover for Raidou and Aoba.

"And to think I thought we could be friends," joked Naruto still acting completely relaxed despite the life and death position he was in.

"Shut it demon," replied Aoba. "First you killed the Fourth and now you have the gall to appear before us like him."

"Looks like we shall be granting you your punishment after all Uzumaki," commented Raidou. Then both he and Aoba pressed their weapons into Naruto's neck. Naruto crumbled to the ground without a sound. "It is done."

Raidou bent down to examine the body when he suddenly heard a "Yeah, right…" and the body burst into smoke. He barely had a second to curse before the feeling of cold, hard steel graced his jugular and his right arm twisted sharply against his back.

Each of the conscious Konoha nin found themselves in the same predicament courtesy of a shadow clone. Naruto walked out from behind a tree. "You all are exhausted from fighting this war for the last few months. I'm not. Did you really think that I would let you kill me?" He dragged Raidou to his feet. "Do you know how easy it would be for me to simply finish you all off, track down the remaining refugees, and put an end to the village that tormented me all throughout my childhood?"

"So the demon will finally finish what it started," jeered Raidou. Naruto socked him in the gut.

"You know, I trying to be reasonable here," continued Naruto. "I merely stated how simple it would be. If I was really the Kyuubi in human form, then do you really think that I would bother talking? If I was really the Kyuubi, then why would I bother to stop those rock nin from killing all of you? If I was the Kyuubi, then you would have been dead a long time ago…" Naruto finished with the last comment more to himself as he recalled his firsthand knowledge of what the Kyuubi was capable of.

"Tsk, like I'd believe that," replied Raidou.

"Hmm…" Naruto looked contemplative. "What color was the Kyuubi's charka?" he asked after a while.

"Red," answered Aoba, not sure about this sudden question.

Naruto turned to Hanabi. "You there, Hyuuga-san, use your eyes and tell everyone what my charka looks like."

Hanabi was about to demand that Naruto not use her ability as a parlor trick, but was interrupted when she noticed Raidou give her a tense nod. She sighed and used her Byakugan to view Naruto's charka. She scoffed. "Is there any reason why you're asking me to do this?"

"The color please Hyuuga-san," pressed Naruto.

"Humph," grunted Hanabi, clearly not pleased at being ordered around like this. "This is stupid. It's blue, just like every other charka I've seen."

"Blue, huh," echoed Naruto. "Do you see any red at all?"

"No," finished Hanabi.

"Interesting," commented Naruto as he turned to Raidou once more. "My charka pathways are the same color as everyone else's, blue. The seal surrounding the Kyuubi contains all its red charka. This different color is completely visible to the Byakugan and any Hyuuga can see it. Yet Hyuuga-san only sees blue charka. You want to know why?"

Raidou was silent. Naruto continued, "It's because the Kyuubi is no longer sealed within me!"

More silence covered the field. Surprising, it was Izumo who broke it. "What do you mean?"

"Akatsuki," responded Naruto solemnly. "They captured me. They ripped the Kyuubi from its seal. The damn fox did something and I lost consciousness. When I came too, it was gone. Akatsuki was gone. I don't know if we've seen the last of them, but the Kyuubi is no longer within my body."

"And how do we know that this isn't all a trick?" questioned Aoba warily.

Naruto snapped his fingers and dismissed all his clones. "Guess you're just going to have to trust me." He was pleasantly surprised when none of the leaf nin made a move to attack again. They seemed to be thinking things over. 'It's a start,' he thought. He walked over to Izumo and using a small water jutsu, negated the stickiness of the syrup. He extended a hand to help pull the nin back to his feet.

Izumo stared at the hand for few moments before hesitantly grabbing it and letting Naruto pull him to his feet. "See, I don't bite," laughed Naruto.

Raidou was staring intently at the ground. The Kyuubi had killed all of his friends, save for Aoba during the attack. It crushed his parent's house with them inside it. For years he let himself direct all the hate he had for the Kyuubi on Naruto because the boy housed the fox in his belly. He justified it because the fox was there. Yet now the Kyuubi was gone from the blond. Could he still direct his hate at someone whose only mistake was being born at the wrong time to bare the demon?

He glanced at the others. Similar thoughts seemed to be going through their heads. He glanced again at the blond. "Uzumaki," he finally stated. Naruto turned to look at him. "It will take time. This new knowledge is a lot to take it. Hatred, as misdirected as it is, is not easily changed. Honestly, I don't know if I will ever be able to bring myself to see you as a person and not as a demon container. Still, you did bring back to us survivors from the lost of Konoha and you saved us again from the rock nin. With Konoha in shambles, we are going to need every nin we can get in order to rebuild. I'm willing to let you become a Konoha nin again."

"Raidou!" countered Aoba. "I realize that he may have saved us a few times and claims to have removed the fox from himself, but do you really think it is wise to let him join us?"

"I'm for it," Kiba spoke up. "The Naruto I knew before his banishment was an amazing guy, despite his tendencies to be a moron, a clueless idiot, and a horrible ninja." He finished with a smirk. Naruto felt himself bristle at the joking insults.

"Thanks for the input Aoba and Kiba, but I've made my offer and I'm sticking to it," Raidou said. "We need strength to keep the last of Konoha safe and as acting-leader of a severely weakened group, I cannot be too picky about potential allies. So how about it Uzumaki?"

"No," refused Naruto flat out. "The Kyuubi may be gone, but there are still things that I must do. Things that only I can do. Besides, there is no reason for me to become a leaf nin again. There is nothing left to tie me to the village. Ero-senin, Baa-chan, Iruka-sensei, and Kakashi-sensei, they're all gone and with them any reason for me to return to the village."

"Alright then," concluded Raidou. "Perhaps that is for the best. Thinking about it, I can't imagine all the remaining shinobi and villagers to be so accepting. Heck, I'm a bit surprised at myself for letting it go so fast after your explanation. Heh, maybe it's got something to do with all the years that have pasted or maybe the grief of losing Konoha is overpowering it. Anyways, what will you do now?"

With a snap of his fingers, Naruto summoned up enough clones to carry all the unconscious shinobi. "First, I'm going to help you all regroup with your civilians. After that, I'm not really sure…"

The Tsuchikage sat alone in his darkened room as he brooded over the morning events. He had expected it to be a simple manner to track down the last of the Konoha vermin and eliminate them. Instead his forces ran into a Yondaime look-alike and became spooked to hell before getting their asses handed to them by a single shinobi. Then they didn't even accomplish the mission that he gave them! The fleeing Konoha populous was still alive.

He grunted in pain as he put a hand on his stomach. That was the other thing; this Uzumaki Naruto. He figured the man had to be a relatively strong shinobi to stand before Iwa and its kage with no fear in his eyes. But he had underestimated the blond. Uzumaki had lasted longer in the battle then he had expected and had winded him quite effectively. Then there was the matter of that final attack. The Odama Rasengan he had called it.

The Yondaime had prided himself on his damn Hiraishin and that blasted Rasengan technique. Uzumaki did not seem to actually know the Hiraishin, but to be able to use the Rasengan efficiently in battle alarmed the Tsuchikage. Also there were the physical similarities between the man and the Konoha Fourth. There had been no record of the Yondaime ever having a child, but there was just too much here for this matter to be overlooked. Apparently his spies in Konoha had failed to find this little factor to the equation.

Another sharp pain caused the Tsuchikage to flinch. Despite his attempts to appear unaffected by the battle, the fight took much out of the kage. He had been going quite near full power from the get-go due to his anger at the blond daring to scare his men with the image of the Yondaime. He had been bluffing about not holding back the next time. Furthermore, the big ball Rasengan packed more punch than the original Rasengan that he faced when he had fought the actual Yondaime on multiple occasions.

Uzumaki had power too be sure, but it was untrained, unfocused. That was probably the result of Konoha banishing the lad so long ago. He had trained himself from the ground up, and was unable to find a proper instructor willing and able to teach the boy how to effectively focus and control his charka. There was only so much one could learn from a scroll. Appropriate and proficient instruction was needed in order to fully master one's abilities. That was a factor that disturbed the Tsuchikage further. Untrained as he was, Uzumaki managed to last and find himself equal in raw power to a kage level ninja. If the boy managed to find proper instruction to better his techniques, then he had the potential to easily surpass the level of the current kages. This matter could not go unattended.

"Kurotsuchi!" he ordered. A short black haired kunoichi was instantly at his side. "I want you and Akatsuchi to perform some research for me."

"Yes, Tsuchikage," replied Kurotsuchi. "Is there anything in particular you wish us to find?"

The wizen old man grinned. "I need you two to search through the old Hokage's archives and find out anything about whether the Yondaime ever had a son."

"A a a son…" stuttered Kurotsuchi with no hidden amount of shock.

"Yes," responded the kage. "An encounter this morning has caused me to believe that our old reports on the matter were incorrect. I believe that the Yondaime has left a successor in this world. Your job is to confirm this suspicion."

"But if Konoha really had another yellow flash growing up within its borders, then wouldn't we have had to face him at some point during this war? I mean, if Konoha had that kind of power, then they should have used it to defend their village," asked Kurotsuchi.

The Tsuchikage shook his head. "Not if they had the boy banished."

Finally fully recovering from her shock, Kurotsuchi laughed at that notion. "Why would Konoha banish a descendant of their loved Yondaime? That doesn't make any sense."

"They would if the boy was a jinchuriki," added the kage.

"Jinchuriki," echoed Kurotsuchi. "That's ever less of a reason! A jinchuriki unleashing its power on the battlefield would have been a terror to our forces and a boon to Konoha!"

The elderly man shook his head yet again. "These damn tree-huggers have always prided themselves on ideas like 'doing the right thing' and 'working together.' A jinchuriki of their own creation brings shame to their beliefs. Also the Kyuubi destroyed much of their village before they sealed it. Would you be able to work with a jinchuriki that housed a demon that killed your family and friends?"

Kurotsuchi bite her lip. "Then you suspect this guy you met in the forest this morning is both the holder of the Kyuubi and the son of the Yondaime?"

"That is what you and Akatsuchi are going to find out," finished the Tsuchikage sagely.

"Yes sir," saluted back Kurotsuchi as she departed to locate her partner and begin work on this assignment.

'I don't know why the lad decided to show up now,' mentally thought the kage. 'However, the fact that we have never heard of a borderline kage-level ninja wandering the world troubles me. The blonde must be quite adapt at hiding his ability and presence. It seems that our intel network has become far too lax over the years as well.' The Tsuchikage was about to get up when he was interrupted by a presence entering his room. "What are you doing here?"

Kabuto walked out from the shadows. "I apologize for my intrusion Tsuchikage; however, I was curious about your encounter with Uzumaki."

"That is none of your concern," snapped back the wizen old man.

"I merely wish to be of assistance in your efforts," replied Kabuto coolly. "The Sound is grateful for your help during the war and wishes to be of assistance in any post-war efforts of its allies."

"Humph," grunted the Tsuchikage. "What you mean to say is that without Orochimaru to lead you lot, you're trying to suck up to another power."

"You cut me to the quick, Tsuchikage," continued Kabuto. "Orochimaru himself was always curious about Uzumaki and I just wish to continue where he left off."

"Leave," demanded the dwarfen kage. "Dealing with snakes and their ilk always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. With the war near completion and your leader dead, I am terminating the alliance between Rock and Sound."

"Now let's not be so hasty here Tsuchikage," Kabuto pleaded. "I'm sure that we can come to some sort of arrangement that remains beneficial to both parties."

"There is nothing within Sound that I want, nor lack the capability of acquiring myself," finished the Tsuchikage. "The alliance between our two villages was shaky at best and I see no reason to continue it. Now leave before I decide to turn my sights on Sound next."

"As you wish," Kabuto muttered in an effort to save face. The new Sound leader turned and left. 'This is not going as I planned,' he thought. 'Without support from the Tsuchikage, Sound is left without a strong power to protect it. Cloud has never really trusted us. Sand still hates us for killing their kage. Mist is too reclusive. And all the other villages are too small to really benefit us. This will require further planning.' Kabuto continued to debate the future of Sound as he walked through the hallway.

The remaining Konoha nin and Naruto found the refugees just a little ways up from the battlefield. A genin walked up to the group gripping two kunai knives in a reverse dagger hold. "Halt," he shaky demanded. He held up three fingers and continued, "Dog."

Kiba grinned at the countersign he came up with for the group for the day. He held back up two fingers and said, "Akamaru." Using both a verbal and a symbol countersign, the teams could better ensure who was friendly and who was not. The genin sighed in relief and led the group back to the refugees.

Naruto set down all the unconscious shinobi and tried to tune out all the whispered comments going through the crowd of civilians. He turned to Raidou. "Well, I wish you luck and I don't know if our paths will meet again, but…" He didn't get to finish as a body tackled him to the ground and wrapped him up in a fierce bear-hug. He hadn't felt any hostile intent at all and his mind had been on the earlier battle instead of focusing on those around him. He looked down at the figure.

"It's you. You came back! I could never forget your face!" exclaimed the figure with what sounded like relief and joy. That puzzled Naruto to no end. Who in Konoha was left that might be glad to see him again? The figure released Naruto from the hug enough to let him see. It was a middle aged, still fairly attractive brunette. She was looking at him with eyes filled with kindness and compassion.

"I'm sorry," replied Naruto. "But do I know you miss?"

The woman was so happy to him, that she forgave his forgetfulness. "It's me! It's Ayame!"

Now it was Naruto's turn for his eyes to go wide as recognition dawned on him. Teuchi and Ayame were probably the only two civilians in Konoha that had loved him despite knowing what he housed as a boy. This time he returned the hug. "Ayame-chan! How could I forget!"

"Well this is interesting," joked Kiba as he knelt down next to the pair. "You're around for just a few minutes and you're already flirting with the civilians Naruto. Guess you really have changed in the past couple of years." Kiba soon found himself buried in the ground due to a Headhunter jutsu courtesy of Naruto.

The pair stood back up and brushed the dirt off themselves. "Is Teuchi here as well Ayame? I wouldn't mind sticking around if I could get the chance to taste the world famous Ichiraku ramen again before I head out."

Ayame's happiness expression dropped and Naruto knew what she was going to say before the words even left her mouth. "Father never made it to the evacuation center. Iruka-kun brought me and our children to the shelter before he left to get father at the ramen bar. He never returned…"

For the second time, Naruto regretted not doing a sweep of the city during the attack and instead waiting until its end. "I'm sorry to hear that." He hugged Ayame again to show his support. "If there's anything I can do to help out, just tell me." Ayame just nodded silently. Then reviewing her words again, Naruto paused. Changing the subject he questioned, "Did you say 'Iruka-sensei' and 'our children' together in the same sentence?"

Wiping the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, Ayame managed another smile. "Yes. Iruka-kun and I married about two years after you were forced from the village. We have two lovely children, Natsu and Wendy. Natsu is eleven and about a year from finishing the Academy while Wendy is six and has been helping me in the Ichiraku kitchens."

"Well, I'd be damned…" whispered Naruto, "Never thought that Iruka-sensei would have the guts to propose. I teased him about it all the time after I found out about his crush on you." Ayame blushed at that.

"Mommy!" cried out a young girl with long, dark brown hair as she rushed to Ayame's side and hugged her leg.

"Wendy-chan, I'd like to introduce you to Naruto-chan." Naruto visibly winced at being referred to with a 'chan'. Kiba's head sniggered from its buried position in the ground. Tenten stomped on it and Kiba cried out in pain. Wendy blinked at the antics. Ayame didn't seem to notice. "He's a friend of the family and one of your father's best friends."

"Nice to meet you uncle Naruto!" greeted Wendy with a smile.

'Uncle huh…' mused Naruto silently with a smile on his face.

"He knew father?" questioned a young boy with reddish-brown hair as he walked next to Ayame.

"Yes Natsu-kun," answered Ayame. "Your father was his instructor during the Academy and they became friends there."

The young boy seemed to be sizing Naruto up with a calculating eye. "Fight me," he suddenly said. Naruto lazily lifted an eyebrow. "My father was a great and strong ninja. If you were his friend then you are probably just as good. Those sound bastards killed him and I need to get stronger to avenge him."

Naruto lightly knocked the boy on the head. Natsu gripped his head in surprise at the sudden strike. "Not if revenge is your goal. Trust me. I've seen firsthand what revenge can do to a person. It burns at their heart and turns them away from people that try to help them. Iruka-sensei would not want that for you. He'd want you to become strong to protect your mother and your sister, not to avenge him." Naruto smiled at the boy. "Leave that to me."

As the boy seemed to think about Naruto's words, Ayame spoke up again. "Iruka and I decided to name you their godfather."

Naruto paused in silence and shock. He wasn't the only one. The Konoha nin looked equally surprised. 'Well didn't see that coming,' noted Aoba.

The blonde remained quiet for a couple of minutes. Suddenly he turned to Raidou and spoke up, "I've changed my mind. I won't turn my back on Iruka-sensei, not again. Make me a Konoha nin again or not, I don't really care. But I'm staying with you all until I can be sure that Ayame-chan and the rest of her family are safe." Raidou nodded in agreement.

Naruto summoned up a small rock stand and addressed the civilian populous. "Well I guess that I better reintroduce myself. I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He paused as the civilians took in that knowledge with a wide array of emotions, albeit mostly fear and shock. "Now before you all start calling for my death, let me say this. The Kyuubi is no longer within my stomach. During a painful process that I rather not talk about, the fox was returned to the demon world. Treat me how you wish, once again I don't really care, but I will be watching over the group. If you have any questions then talk to Raidou then about it. I'm going on patrol." With that Naruto darted off into the trees.

"Well at least that's one more ninja for the defenses," provided Raidou.

Aoba tapped his buddy on the shoulder. "Yeah, but now you've got to deal with smoothing it over with everyone."

"Huh?" questioned Raidou. He turned to meet the hundreds of pairs of questioning eyes of the civilian population. Only one word went through his mind, 'Crap.'

After the unconscious Konoha nin were revived, filled in on the situation, and ultimately convinced to follow the decision by Raidou, the group continued towards the Fire Country capital. They managed to cover a good amount of distance and Raidou reasoned that they should be able to reach the capital by midday tomorrow. They settled in for the night and Naruto generated several kage bunshins to keep an eye out during the night. After that he shared a satisfying dinner with Ayame, Natsu, and Wendy before excusing himself from the group and heading a little ways out into the woods.

He pulled out his Konoha scroll, settled against a tree truck, and began to read about the various clan knowledge he had gathered. Just after learning about how vital the link between the Aburame and their insects was he felt a charka signature approaching his location. He wrapped back up the scroll and resealed it into his bag. He stood up and stretching lightly, he said, "You know, it's not polite to spy on people." Hanabi dropped down from a tree. "Ah Hyuuga-san, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Knock it off," voiced Hanabi sharply. "I can tell you're faking the respectful tone and that's annoying. Besides, the Hyuuga clan dies with me. I'm the last one and the family scrolls are lost to the war." She laughed to herself. "And to make matters worse, now there's no way to leave the damn branch family."

"That's unfortunate," provided Naruto. "Never really cared for the all the clan business myself, but it looks like the Hyuuga and the Inuzuka are the last two remaining noble Konoha clans left. Shame that the Hyuuga are going to die out."

"I'm not looking for your pity," reprimanded Hanabi tensely.

"Alright, whatever," replied Naruto uninterested. "That what you came out here for?"

"No," came the response. "As much as it pains me to feel indebted to another, I came to give you my thanks."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

Hanabi grumbled under her breath. "I just wanted to thank you for saving me from dying like a dog, unconscious in the streets of Konoha surrounded by enemies."

Naruto's eyes softened. "You're welcome then."

Turning to leave, Hanabi spoke up once more, "Hinata-neesan and Neji-kun have both mentioned you before in high regard. That leaves me inquisitive as to what they saw in you."

As he watched her leave, Naruto smiled at the thought that maybe not everyone hated him as much as he thought when he had been banished. After he was sure that Hanabi left, he pulled back out the scroll and flipped over to the high level jutsu theories.

Half an hour later, Naruto put the scroll away again. Hanabi's words about her sister and cousin respecting him where floating around in his head and the happiness he felt was making it hard to concentrate.

His elevated hearing, one of the beneficial side effects from the fox's power, picked up a light tune faintly echoing through the trees. Curious, Naruto crept through the woods towards the source. He came across Hanabi sitting at the end of a pond by herself, singing a saddening, heartfelt melody. Naruto turned to leave, but found that he didn't want to. Instead he just leaned back in the tree and listened. About twenty minutes later, Hanabi returned to the campsite; while Naruto just remained in the tree, thinking to himself.

The group gathered their gear quickly the next morning and continued towards the capital. Naruto had created more shadow clones to accompany each of the Konoha nin for additional manpower. While his clones focused on guard duty, he traveled next to Ayame, Natsu, and Wendy.

Wendy was a cute little girl that enjoyed giving people hugs. It took Naruto a couple of hugs to get used to the physical contact. Usually physical contact meant someone else was trying to kill him again and therefore hugs were completely foreign to him. He had to admit that they were a nice feeling though. It seemed that the girl was also fond of piggy back rides due to Iruka's loving parenting. Naruto didn't see a reason to refuse and therefore the girl was currently on his shoulders laughing and eating an apple he had given her.

Natsu seemed to have a more aggressive attitude than his sister. Naruto could see in the boy's eyes that he wanted to become stronger to protect his family so that he wouldn't lose another one of them. He had challenged Naruto to a sparring match before they departed in the morning and Naruto let him face one of his clones. The clone simply dodged all of the boy's attacks, countering with a light touch whenever the boy dropped his guard. Naruto could see the will of fire burning brightly in Iruka's son and promised to help train him a little.

Ayame was feeling better with Naruto around. After losing both her husband and her father in the same day, she had become extremely worried for her family and what they were going to do when they got to the capital. They had no money, no other family to rely on, nothing. Naruto's arrival was a godsend to her. With him around and stating that he wouldn't leave until they were back on their feet, she could barely contain the relief that she felt. From what she knew of the boy and the high regard that Iruka had carried for him, Ayame knew that she could rely on Naruto. She was also sure that both her husband and her father were smiling up in heaven at the sight that Naruto had come back.

As they approached the capital, one of his scouting clones dispelled itself and Naruto covered his grim expression before Ayame could notice it. "Wendy-chan, I'm going to put you down for a second okay."

"Ah," pouted Wendy. "But I like my piggy back ride."

As he set the girl down, Naruto continued, "I'll be back in a second. I just need to talk some grown up stuff with Raidou okay?"

"Okay!" she smiled at him.

Ayame addressed Naruto as he stood back up, "Did something happen?"

Naruto frowned slightly. "It appears that we are going to need to change our destination. I need to go talk with Raidou."

Ayame's eyes widened at the implications of Naruto's statement. "You don't mean…"

Naruto gave a grim nod before heading towards the front of the group. When he got there he asked Raidou to call for a halt. The leader did so and looked at Naruto awaiting an explanation. "Come with me." He turned towards Kiba and Hanabi. "You two as well."

The team of four hurried up the final stretch of hill that overlooked the capital to find faint black smoke rising from the buildings and a mix of Sound, Rock, Cloud, Rain, and Grass flags littering the towers. "Damnit!" cursed Kiba as he punched a tree. "What do we do now?!"

Hanabi observed the destroyed capital with her Byakugan. "This attack is a few days old. They probably struck both the capital and Konoha at the same time."

"Makes sense," commented Naruto. "Got any other ideas of where to go?"

Raidou shook his head. "No, the capital was it. Our former allies, Sand and Waterfall, have been less than receptive with us lately and I fear that they wouldn't grant us haven. And all the other big countries are banded against us right now. This isn't good."

"Looks like it gets worse. Get back!" shouted Naruto.

The team leapt back as a storm of kunai rained down on their former position. A squad of about five ninja appeared in front of them. Their apparent leader, a purple haired woman, had drawn her sword and had it pointed at them. However, instead of attacking further, she seemed to be studying them. "Raidou?" she suddenly questioned.

It took Raidou a few more seconds before he recognized the kunoichi in front of him. "Yuugao? Is that really you?"

She sighed in relief and sheathed her blade as the rest of her squad relaxed as well. "It's good to see you all well. How flies Konoha?"

"Gone," cursed Kiba again as he stared at the destroyed capital. "Sound and her allies wiped it out two days ago."

Yuugao sighed in depression. She had already suspected this but was hoping to hear otherwise. Naruto spoke up, "What's the status here?"

"Complete destruction," replied Yuugao. "The daimyo is dead and we are all that remain of the Twelve Ninja Guardians. We have failed our mission to protect him. We couldn't even manage to get any civilians out. All that's left of the capital is us and a small garrison of regular soldiers that we helped to retreat into the woods."

"We are the same," commented Raidou. "Konoha is left in ruins and we've only a light squad of ninja and about four hundred civilians left. We were hoping to flee to the capital."

"I guess that brings us to the question of what now, doesn't it?" added Yuugao.

The nine ninja on the hilltop remained silent for a couple of minutes before Naruto spoke up, "I think I might know a place we could go…"