Chapter I

"Hey, Iruka. It's been a while since we sparred, eh?" The academy students had just left and the two academy teachers were preparing to go home.

Iruka was oddly tired today, but he wouldn't decline an offer from his good childhood friend. "Sure, Mizuki. Taijutsu only though; for some reason I'm feeling drained today." Must be the genin exams.

Mizuki only grinned and shunshined to the practice area.

xxx

The practice area was small for two chuunin and was surrounded by targets, as it was used for academy students. It would suffice, however. Both ninja had their reasons for wanting to make the bout short.

The two faced each other and bowed. "Hajime!"

Iruka immediately went on the offensive, going for the quick knockout so that he could go home and take a nap. He threw three shuriken and went in for a chakra-enhanced palm thrust.

Mizuki had eaten his wheaties this morning though and would have none of that. He deflected the shuriken with a kunai and back flipped out of the way.

Iruka tried the same thing but fails again, suddenly becoming dizzy. Mizuki takes advantage of his delirium and appears behind him.

"This is for all the pain you've caused me," Mizuki said as he slit Iruka's throat. Iruka fell limply to the ground, his last sight being one he'd never anticipate.

"I shall avenge your family though, Iruka. By killing the damned demon fox!" Mizuki laughed manically, heading off to find Naruto, whom he told could pass the exams if he stole the Forbidden Scroll.

xxx

In the woods, Naruto had just finished mastering the Shadow Clone Jutsu, even taking the time to fully read the description. Why not, right? Might be extra credit.

He moved down to what he thought was another cool jutsu, something else to do with clones. He'd just finished reading the description with two shadow clones when they suddenly shoved him out of the way, narrowly avoiding being hit by a fuuma shuriken. The shuriken curved and pierced through many of his clones, something he received memories of.

"Naruto! You pass the exam! Go ahead and toss me the scroll now, and you can become an official genin!" Mizuki shouted from the trees above.

"Y-you think I'm an idiot, traitor?" Naruto growled, still off balance from the pain of the shuriken piercing his clones. "It says at the top of the scroll 'all who attempt to steal shall be hung.' You tricked me!"

Mizuki laughed. "Who cares? You're the fucking demon brat, kid. Nobody is gonna give a shit what happens to you. Know why?"

Naruto hung his head, receiving flashbacks of the villagers stares of hatred. "Twelve years ago, you burned the village down, killing thousands. You are a monster; the Kyuubi reincarnate!"

Naruto dropped to his knees in a state of shock as suddenly things made sense. The hostility, the kids avoiding him, the ramen shop owners being kind to him, it all fit. "No.."

Mizuki's laughter filled the forest as he unsealed another Fuuma Shuriken. "Yes! And when I kill you, I'll be seen as a hero!"

Time slowed as Naruto watched the giant shuriken come straight at him, paralyzed by a mixture shock and fear. He registered white-hot, searing pain as the fuuma shuriken hit its mark before lapsing into unconsciousness.

xxx

When he awoke, Naruto found himself inside a sewer. It was dark, wet and felt surreal, like he was dreaming. He looked down sleepily as he saw himself beginning to fade; wonder what that means?

Suddenly he was jolted awake by what appeared to be red chakra dragging him through the sewer. "Human!" a deep voice intoned. "You idiot!"

The stream suddenly stopped as he appeared in front of a huge red fox in a cage sealed by a small piece of paper. The giant fox with the upper body of a male human was trying to look menacing, but the worry on its face was evident. The fox also, and now their surroundings, seemed to be fading.

"Foolish human! You're going to kill us both unless you remove a piece of the seal!" the beast raged against the cage, nine tails going berserk behind it.

"You're the Kyuubi!" Naruto said in a burst of clarity as the red chakra flowing into him suddenly thrust him up to a small piece of paper with the kanji for 'seal.'

"Yes! But intro's later, boy. If you don't remove a piece of the seal now and let more chakra flow into you, we'll both die!" Kyuubi said desperately.

The walls were almost totally faded away now, and this was just a dream, right? So Naruto complied, ripping a small corner piece of the seal off.

The red chakra flowing into him grew immensely, like a dam being let out, and the room became extremely bright.

xxx

Naruto awoke and immediately sat up, heart beating wildly as he remembered what had just transpired. He felt his torso with a sense of dread, but the Fuuma Shuriken was lying at his side in a puddle of blood. So that means..

He was going to live! And as he looked down at the fading scar on his torso, he noticed something else; his senses were sharper. He could hear, see, and smell everything in the forest around him.

He jumped to his feet, feeling reborn as he took in his surroundings. The smell of the night, the Forbidden Scroll gone, the sound of an owl..

"The Forbidden Scroll gone?" Naruto panicked, using his new night vision to look around. It didn't appear to be anywhere, which means-

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He stole. Mizuki had the scroll now. What did that make him? A criminal, a failure.

And since stealing the scroll and worse, losing it were such crimes, it looked like he had just royally fucked up his last Genin exam.

Naruto couldn't tell if it was nerves or not, but he swore he could hear ANBU patrols coming. I better get the hell out of here before I go to prison, he thought frantically.

So it's with the instinct of self preservation that our blond hero ran off towards the unknown, idly noticing he'd become much faster. He spotted a trail and opted to run alongside it.

It would not be an easy road ahead.

xxx

"Hokage-sama, I am sorry to inform you that we were unable to stop Mizuki. He has passed Fire Country and avoided the border patrols.

"However, we have located Naruto Uzumaki, who now seems to be fleeing. What course of action should we take?" The ANBU team gathered kneeled, ready to kill on command.

Sarutobi remained silent, watching Naruto on his crystal ball with mixed emotions. A part of him wanted him back in the village, but would that really make Naruto happy? He felt like he'd messed up Naruto's life enough; the boy had no real friends, was held in contempt by the majority of the village, didn't know who his parents were, and had been on his own his entire life.

If Naruto thought he would be happier elsewhere, why not? It's not like he'd be in huge amounts of danger. He'd just have Jiraiya keep tabs on him, and besides, he'd probably be back within the week.

Though that posed another problem. Naruto did steal the scroll, and then lose it, even though he was innocent enough that he'd not known the severity of such a crime. Still, it would not bode well with the council. Especially Danzo; the power hungry fool was looking for any chance to overthrow him and turn Naruto into another one of his mindless war machines.

It was decided then. Naruto leaving must be meant to be, and it's the least he could do after all this time to excuse his crime and let the boy forge his own path.

Sarutobi cleared his crystal ball, sighing deeply. "Do not pursue Naruto. Arrange instead for a team to track down Mizuki and apprehend him."

The squad of elites nodded and disappeared. Sarutobi leaned back in his chair overlooking the village, looking at the Hokage Monument. Minato, has this old man done the right thing?

If he was younger, he would have swore he saw Minato's stone face smiling.

xxx

Naruto dashed through the forest in the moonlight, suddenly coming to a stop as he saw a chariot carried by two oxen pulling many caravans approaching from the right side of the intersection before him. The two men driving were unrecognizable in dark clothes and masks, but it was apparent to Naruto, growing up in the slums, that these men were drunk as hell.

They were loud, howling and shouting obscenities as they chugged large quantities of sake. I wonder what the celebration is, Naruto thought, slipping behind a nearby tree to avoid being seen. The chariot gave him an idea of what to do about his escape problem.

The men were passing him now, trailed by four caravans draped in dark cloth. "Y-yeah -hick- we'z gon fuck -hick- her rel good, eh?" the man said, waving around an empty sake container while idly whipping the oxen.

The other man guffawed, replying equally as loudly. "Ya know -hick- it. W-wee gon fuck her and -hick- take her to boss Hidan, then we get -hick- to be members." He howled to the moon, turning behind him and laughing.

Naruto didn't know what was going on, but if anything, these evil men gave him extra incentive to follow them. If anything, he'd just hitch a free ride to a new place where he could start over. So he stealthily ran behind the last caravan as it passed by him, lifting up the cloth and going inside. What he saw made him gasp in shock.

The aforementioned girl sat strapped to a chair, hands shackled in strange luminescent handcuffs, blindfolded, and mouth gagged. She was pale, her long silver hair messy, and black robe torn in many places. The sight evoked deep anger within him.

He crawled on his knees across the otherwise clear floor. It would have been impossible to see inside here with his old eyes, but now it seemed the shadows could not hide from him. There was time to ponder that later though. Right now, he had someone to help.

Naruto started by removing the blindfold, which actually was a.. bra? Strange, but his train of thought was immediately halted as he stared into mesmerizing gold slitted eyes. They glowed in a way that made him want to go into a deep trance.

He shook himself out of it, wondering what he was doing. Taking out the gag, which was.. her other piece of underwear. "Ahh!" Naruto cried out, possibly blowing his cover. Shit.

He blushed, throwing the garment to the side. The smell seemed to stir something in him, but, again, now was not the time. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, going now for the handcuffs. "Sorry."

She'd been eyeing him calmly the entire time, but her eyes widened in alarm as he reached for the special handcuffs. "Don't." Her voice had a sharp edge that made Naruto immediately stop.

"What?" he asked quickly. If she wanted to be freed, this and the chair were the last obstacles.

"The handcuffs will shock you unless you have the key," she explained carefully, eyeing him again. The gaze was kind of unnerving.

Since he was a blond, he touched the handcuffs, receiving a large shock in the process. "Owchie!" he yelped.

"So where's the key?" he asked impatiently, wanting to walk off the shock.

She looked ahead as her voice took an icy edge to it. "One of those idiots has it. Why?"

He spoke as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm going to get it."

The girl's eyed widened as he exited the caravan. "Wait - don't!" Did this orange wearing idiot think he could take down two ninja, drunk or not?

Apparently so, as he hurried out of the caravan and went to approach the villains.

xxx

Naruto jumped out in front of the caravan, using his newest jutsu. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Hundreds of clones formed, blocking the chariot from moving forward.

The men just went into a fit of laughter, making no move to stop the chariot. "Is this -hick- orange fuckers serious? We -hick- run 'im ov'r."

That was not Naruto's plan however, as his clones swept off to either side of the men, effectively blocking them off. The Naruto doppelgangers charged from either side, preparing to punch both ninja into submission.

And somehow, it worked. Each clone gave a devastatingly hard punch before expelling, allowing another to take its place. The real Naruto cut the ropes connecting the oxen to the chariot with a kunai. It did not keep advancing, however, as the other third of Naruto clones guided the oxen out of the way and pushed the chariot and the caravans following it to a standstill.

There was a large cloud of smoke as Naruto registered the last of his clones dispelling. As the smoke cleared and the oxen fled, he could make out two bloody figures laying out to the sides of the chariot. They lay in puddles of blood, eyes wide open and tongues hanging out. The strange emerging side of him hungered for more blood, but he repressed this side more as he focused on more important things.

The key. With his new night vision, Naruto could make it out beside one of the men. He went and picked it up, rushing back to the last caravan where the girl awaited.

xxx

"You were lucky," she said as he unlocked the handcuffs, making them fall to the caravan floor with a clang. "If they weren't drunk and could use their peripheral vision, you'd be dead." She flexed her wrists as she simultaneously broke out of the rope tying her to the chair.

Naruto shrugged, moving out of the caravan to explore the others. "Maybe, but every good ninja is lucky."

She followed him, nodding. "I suppose you're right. Thank you. Now we must burn the bodies."

Naruto shuddered, the repressed side still calling for more bloodshed. "What for?"

She sighed, standing straight, looking at the full moon. "Don't be naïve. Hunter-nin could trace this, and I'm sure you don't need a criminal backround haunting you."

Naruto chuckled. "A bit late for that."

Now it was her turn to arch an eyebrow. "You? Orange wearing hero? Explain." She motioned for him to stand back as she did signs for a fire jutsu.

"Naruto Uzumaki, future Hok- never mind. I stole the Forbidden Scroll of Konoha and lost it to a traitor. You?" Something in her voice suggested she too was exiled.

The girl blew a stream of fire, incinerating the bodies and allowing the ashes to blow away in the night breeze. "Yumi. Sold off when Yukagakure (Village Hidden in Hot Water) decided they no longer wanted to be a ninja village. They sold various kuinochi like myself into slavery."

Naruto frowned. "That's wrong. Nobody deserves that."

Yumi nodded, once again looking to the moon. "Yes. And, though it can be hard people like us must look to the future. It is the only way to remain sane."

Naruto hummed in thought, letting a comfortable silence fill the crisp night air. "So, what now?"

She turned to face him, again mesmerizing him with those glowing gold eyes. "I don't know. It seems I owe you a favor, and I dislike owing people favors. No offense."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, grinning. "It was nothing. You don't owe me anything. Though maybe directions would be helpful."

She smiled, but suddenly coughed and shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as the night wind chilled her. "There should be an inn up the road. I heard dumb and dumber talking about it earlier." She shivered again, rubbing her hands together in an attempt to create friction. Her legs were bare and the robe had a major tear in the right side, allowing the cold wind to get through.

Naruto saw this, removing his beloved orange jacket. "Here, take it. I don't get cold anyways."

Yumi took it, putting it on and placing her hands in the deep pockets. It still held some of Naruto's body heat, and was much better than the thin fabric of the robe. "Thank you. Now let's go to the inn ahead. I'm out of chakra and dangerously close to reaching a hypothermic state."

xxx

Reaching the inn did not take long, and soon they found themselves faced with a skinny young man inside. He barely even looked at them, just asking for the money while continuing to read something under the old desk.

Naruto got out his frog wallet, dumping all of its contents on the desk. The man glanced at the money. "This only pays for one room."

Naruto clenched his teeth. "That's all I got. What about yo-"

"One room is fine," Yumi interjected, shooting Naruto a look of acceptance. The man threw them a set of keys with a number and went back to reading his book. He'd learned that with people like this, it was just better for business not to ask questions.

Naruto and Yumi climbed the steps to the top of the seemingly deserted inn, on the third floor. Room 31 their key said, Naruto nervously opening the door.

Inside, it wasn't a whole lot better than a motel; yellow walls, wood floor, ugly wallpaper. But it had a bed, a small closet, and a bathroom, so it would suffice. The room's best feature though was the view of the lake outside from the small window.

Unfortunately though, the window was broken. Yumi shivered as Naruto went to try to cover it up. "It's broken, Naruto-san."

Naruto attempted to cover it, but the wind was too strong and nothing would hold. Naruto sighed. "We should get a new room."

Yumi shook her head. "No. This bed looks warm enough. It's good." She crawled in, pulling the covers up while apparently leaving space for him.

He just made his way to the wood floor, turning off the room's light on the way. "I'll sleep on the floor. I don't get cold for some reason, yeah."

Rustling of clothes was heard. "No, I insist. It would be better to share body heat, anyways. I need your warmth, Naruto-kun." The way she said it again stirred something in him.

Naruto reluctantly got up, still being able to see in the dark. "If you insist." He climbed into the bed, staying far to the side out of courtesy and not hogging the only pillow.

He saw her frown. "Closer. I can't stay warm like this." He moved closer, and was able to feel how cold she was. She was also wearing nothing now.

"Remove your clothes, also."

Naruto jerked back, thinking she was joking. "What?"

"Does removing your clothes bother you so much as to compromise my health?" she asked in a manner that made him feel like he was being childish and inconsiderate. "Clothes inhibit body heat from reaching a person as efficiently."

Naruto blushed, deciding to comply. He took off his clothes, throwing them awkwardly to the floor. Immediately Yumi hugged his body, which felt so deathly cold that it worried him.

"Are you sick?" he asked in concern.

She hugged him tighter, giving Naruto a feel of her rather ample chest. "You're a very warm blanket; this is all I need."

Naruto remained silent, just hugging her closer. She really was deathly cold.

So this is a hug, they both thought as they drifted off to sleep, having never experienced much loving human contact before. I could get used to this.

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