Naruto 1. Before It All Began

Please remember that this is my first fan-fiction, I'm not use having my thoughts confined in the box of the Naruto universe so this is definitely not going to be my best work, but i hope this will be good practice for future writing. I'll be updating this story chapter by chapter whenever i finish a chapter I'll post it first thing, but i can't promise several chapters in a row. I'm open to all criticism you can through at me, anything you think can make this story better is open to my ears.

(edit: ok im slowly getting use to the document system on here, its a pain in the butt)

also i do not own Naruto, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, may his genius inspire us all.

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Chapter 1: Before it all began

The moonlight shines down through the parted clouds on the hidden village. This was the whirlpool country in its final days. Four figures stand at the edge of the village, hidden in the shadows of the trees. One is a man with spiky blond hair and pure blue eyes, he wears a white overcoat with red flames across the bottom and a headband with a metal plate imbued with a symbol of a leaf wrapped around his head. Beside him is a woman, her deep red hair flowing down her back and her eyes a piercing blue like the man she stood next to, she wore a loose shirt that fit comfortably over her enlarged midsection and was adorned with a spiral symbol, it was easy to see that the woman was pregnant and due very soon.

Across from them was another man and woman, the other woman also had the same red hair but shorter, and her eyes were a violet hue, she also wore a shirt fitting around an enlarged midsection and the same spiral symbol, she looked to be due around the same time as the other woman. The man that stood beside her had white hair and wore a loose black suit with the kanji for dragon on the back. Their expressions were of happiness but there was a serious undertone in their faces. The man in black spoke cutting through the silence with a tone of joy, "Well Minato it's been an interesting turn of events these past few years, or should I be calling you Hokage now?" Minato put his hand on the man's shoulder as he spoke, "Matsu, we've known each other far too long for formalities." Matsu placed his hand on Minato's shoulder, "Yeah I never would have guessed we'd be brother in laws."

Minato let out a laugh and smiled, "I never though our wives would be sisters." He turned over to look at the woman beside him, "Right Kushina?" Kushina looked at him with a smile as she rested her hand on her midsection, "Yeah, or that Keiko and I would get pregnant at the same time." The other woman laughed as she placed her hand on her midsection, "Well our husbands always did do everything together, and I guess that means they'll go through parenthood together as well." Both men sighed at their wives words. Minato looked up at the radiating moon, "I've been through far worse than parenthood and yet it scares me the most." Matsu laughed as he gave Minato a look of sarcasm, "Oh but the great Minato being scared?" He sighed as he relaxed, "You've always been the best at everything Minato, the best at the academy, the best at the chunin exams, and even now the best ninja in your village."

Minato pointed a finger at Matsu, "Oh, but who was it that was always going toe to toe with my grades at the academy, and who was it that had me in the hospital after our fight at the chunin exam, and whose next in line for the title of Ryukage back at their home village?" Matsu gave a look of defeat; he knew he wasn't wining that one. "It's me." He said calmly. Minato made his hand into a fist still held out towards Matsu, "Bonds that never break." Matsu pressed his fist up against Minato's, "And friendship that never ends." The two women looked at their husbands as they spoke in stereo, "You two never change." Both men looked at them and shrugged, "And?" Kushina and Keiko embraced one last time before returning to their husbands' sides. Kushina wrapped her arm around Minato's, "Now that Whirlpool country is being dissolved you two can't live here safely." Keiko placed her arm around Matsu, "We know, we've decided to go to Matsu's homeland to start fresh."

Minato looked at his friend's melancholy face, "You ok with going back there now?" Matsu gave a half smile, "I was sent to Konoha as a child because the other clans hated mine, but I am still the Successor to the title of Ryukage and it's about time I return to my homeland, I am in the favor of the dragon lord that protects the Sky country so the other clans would fear his wrath should they hurt us." Keiko quickly interjected a question to change the mood, "What are you going to name the baby?" Kushina and Minato looked at each other; they had decided what to name the baby some time before. Kushina beat Minato to the words, "Were naming him Naruto." Matsu arched his eye brow, "As in the main character of that perverted hermit's book, Naruto?" Minato smiled, "Sensei was always good to us back in the day, remember when he got us out of all that trouble?"

Matsu began to laugh as he recalled some of the fun memories, "Like the time you painted Sarutobi's house pink." Minato began laughing along at the memory, "I do believe you helped me with that one Matsu" Matsu continued on, "Remember the time we followed sensei on one of his 'research' missions?" Minato's face grew cold at the feeling of Kushina's eyes staring at him. Matsu continued on oblivious to what was about to conspire, "Yeah, it was at this hot spring in a neighboring town and we we're…" he was cut off by Minato's hand covering his mouth. Matsu realized what was going on as he saw Kushina and Keiko's eyes staring at them with curiosity and anger. Kushina began talking in a polite innocent voice, "You we're doing what?" Minato quickly jumped in, "We we're just genin at the time and when we got caught outside the village without permission that old pervert saved our hides by covering for us, nothing else. We didn't even make it to the hot springs before we were caught."

Kushina looked into his eyes, "If you say so, id like to hear the story in-depth later." Minato quickly changed the subject as he looked at Keiko, "so what are you naming your son?" Matsu and Keiko looked at each other for a moment before speaking, "We haven't thought of a name yet" Keiko's expression went somber, "We wont get to see much of each other for a long while." Minato looked to the sky as he mused, "You know, our sons are going to be born about the same time. We could always celebrate their birthdays at the same time." Minato's voice trailed off, "Every year." Matsu smiled, "That sounds like a good excuse to come over to Konoha every year." They all smiled together at that moment even in the face of whirlpool country's demise they could smile. Minato's smile lessened, "It's time to go."

Kushina and Keiko looked at each other for a moment as they spoke in stereo again, "Goodbye Sis." Minato and Matsu nodded in recognition of each other. Matsu spoke first, "Goodbye my friend." Minato took Kushina in his arms and looked over at Matsu, "Goodbye Matsu." Minato smiled, "For now at least." And with that and the yellow flash of the Hiraishin no Jutsu they were gone. Matsu took Keiko in his arms, "Ryukaze no Jutsu." In a flash of black light and the rush of wind they were also gone. That night was the end of the Whirlpool country.


	2. Sealing the beasts

I like this chapter better than the first, please enjoy. and remember im open to all critizism. (please bare with me as i get use to the system of getting things on here.)

naruto doesnt belong to me, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

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Chapter 2: Sealing the Beasts

It was dark, not just the sky's hue or tone but the very feeling in the air was dark and cold at the feeling of its chakra. The Kyubi had come to Konoha and was leaving a trail of utter death and desolation in its wake. The ninja squads went out to fight and were defeated again and again. With one swipe of his tail the demon lord leveled miles of forest and the shriek of his howl sent shivers down the spine of all who heard. The brave ninjas of Konoha fought on striving with one thought in their minds, "_We just have to hold on until the Fourth arrives._" Miles away in a cave was an ailing Kushina in the midst of child birth. She screamed out in pain, "Why now of all times? Why is it attacking us now?" Minato stood by his wife, his face was an expression of pain at what he was about to do, "He is the demon lord of the tailed beasts, he has no gain from this, there are other forces at work here." Kushina found time in between her breathing to speak out in gasps, "How do you know?"

Minato showed her a letter, "One of Matsu's dragons just brought this, His village is also being attacked by beasts, although I must admit I envy his situation, he's got the great Kyuhane fighting on his side." Kushina spoke out in gasps again, "But the only other thing besides the First's wood techniques that can control a Biju is…" Minato looked out of the cave at the havoc being wrought about the battle field as he spoke barely above a whisper, "The Sharingan, Madara's Sharingan." He held his wife's hand as she breathed in and out. "We cannot kill the Kyubi; we've no choice but to seal it." Kushina looked into her husband's eyes knowing what the answer to her question would be, "You can't use the Shiki Fuujin on him, he's a demon lord, and he'd tear straight out of the Shinigami's stomach!"

Minato placed his hand on his wives midsection. "He would be a hero; to have it sealed in himself would make him the village's savior." Kushina looked into her husband's eyes, as she placed her hands on his face, "It'll take two people to perform that sealing, and the Shinigami requires two souls." Minato leaned in and kissed her, "Then will you go with me to the end?" Kushina leaned forward until she was an inch from his face, "An eternity with you would be a great substitute for heaven." She kissed him once more, "We have to hurry, this kids not waiting any longer."

Countless miles north in the country of Sky similar events were unfolding as large beasts defended down upon the hidden village of Dragon, but in their path stood a beast of great size, this beast was not marked by tails like the Biju, eight pairs of wings extend from its back and stretch out through the air. Its skin is black as coal and its eyes a piercing crimson surrounding the slit shaped pupils, on its head stood a man in a black kage suit. It was Matsu, now the Ryukage of the village and the head in this onslaught. He spoke with a tone of great respect to the dragon on whose head he was standing, any other man would have been tossed off and eaten in mere seconds, "Thank you for coming to our aid Kyuhane." The dragon's voice pierced the night air, "Your father was an honorable man who made peace with the dragons of this land, I held a great deal of respect for him, and I see that part of him in you Matsu, ever since you were a child I could feel how much like him you would become." Matsu continued speaking in a tone of respect, "Your words flatter me Kyuhane, but I wish the circumstances were different."

Over the hills and flying in the air all manner of beasts could be seen approaching. And on the head of a great red dragon stood a man in a black overcoat adorned with red clouds. Matsu knew who it was and that was why his blood seemed to turn to ice in his veins as he spoke, "…Madara." Kyuhane shifted into a more alert position, the ground rumbling beneath his massive form, "Hey Matsu, get a good fire Jutsu ready." Matsu smiled, "It would be an honor." He began running through the seals for a good fire technique, the ring of the chakra rang out at the last seal, and the Jutsu was ready. The army of beasts approached quickly now, Kyuhane spoke quietly in a tone of respect, "I'm sorry, my Brethren." Kyuhane breathed in deep as his chakra mixed with the air in his lungs; quickly he released it spewing out a thick gaseous fog towards the approaching army.

Matsu quickly put his hands to his mouth, "Ryukanan no Jutsu." A black flame shot out from his mouth colliding with the fog, instantly it lit up and spread out following the dense fog and consuming all the army within its path. The attack ceased as Matsu and Kyuhane looked on into the raging flames now consuming all the area before them. The fire would burn for days as in incinerates all it touches. Matsu was the first to speak out, "Did we get them all?" Kyuhane's eyes narrowed, "No, one still remains." Out of the scorching flames walks the mastermind of all that was taking place, Madara unscathed by the flames.

Kyuhane growled out in a low tone, "Go to your wife Matsu, your son will be born soon." With a quick "Hai" Matsu was gone. He could still see everything from where he was now. His wife lay in a bed screaming from the pain of labor. Kyuhane wasted no time in preparing his next attack, his wings extended out to full length as he lifted into the air; his chakra began to pour out into the air around him. His wings folded around, the tips pointed towards the center of his body, his tail flipped up underneath him to reveal a ninth wing on the end of it, all of the chakra began to collect and focus into the center forming a dense ball. He moved his head slowly forward taking the ball in his mouth and swallowing it. His eyes began to glow fully red as his wings flapped out again and he unleashed the furious beam of chakra towards Madara.

He barely moved, he was clam as he saw the oncoming attack, he knew a direct hit would kill him instantly yet he was clam. His eyes were in their Mangekyou Sharingan form, he stared at the center if the attack. Right as the attack was about to hit Madara it stopped and seemed to disappear into nothingness before him. Kyuhane landed on the ground to find his eyes meeting Madara's, Madara uttered only enough to make out the words, "Tsukuyomi." Within mere moments of the words utterance Kyuhane found his world twist and turn, all things faded and a crimson sky covered the pitch black earth he now stood on. In the sky hung a crimson full moon, Kyuhane found himself bound in chains unable to move, he had been caught in Madara's powerful Genjutsu.

Madara stood in front of him, towering up as tall as him; he held a black katana in one hand. Kyuhane gritted his teeth at what was to come, he had to endure. The words came from Madara's mouth like needles piercing the flesh, "Seventy hours of torture start now." Kyuhane fell to the ground shaking the earth beneath his weight. It had only been a second in reality but seventy hours of continuous mental torture was enough to put even him in a pitiful state. Madara approached Kyuhane's motionless body and formed a few seals as the words escaped his mouth, "Amaterasu." In less than a second raging black flame engulfed Kyuhane's body burning endlessly. Kyuhane roared out in pain as he stared at Madara. Kyuhane smiled a devious smile of success as the ground which Madara stood on lit up with a seal surrounding him, Kyuhane roared out quickly, "Ryubanritabi no Jutsu."

In an instant Madara was enveloped in light and disappeared. Matsu came carrying Keiko and stood before Kyuhane's flaming body. Matsu spoke with haste knowing that even the great dragon would not survive the flames much longer, "I won't let you die. You can't die!" Kyuhane looked to them, his body still laying on the ground, "This body is too far gone for such a thing." Matsu looked into the eyes of the dragon, "Then we will give you a new body to inhabit." Kyuhane's eyes narrowed, "you know that would require two seals and three bodies, one to be the Jinchuuriki and two for the Shinigami to take in payment, who would you have be the container?" Matsu held his head down as he spoke, "My unborn son will not live through child birth, not without your strength." Kyuhane looked to Keiko. She spoke few words, "I will give my life so my child may live, please give him your strength." Kyuhane closed his eyes and breathed slowly, the flames were taking their toll on his body, and he finally spoke with a tone of respect and honor, "I will give him my strength and I swear to you I shall protect him so long as we both share life, now let it be done quickly!"

Back in Konoha it was time to put their plan into action. Minato stood on Gamabunta's head, lying behind him was Kushina deep in labor. Tsunade was there with them to help with the birth, she knew that after this was done the child would be an orphan and she would have to take care of him until a home was found. Gamabunta approached the Kyubi slowly, the fourth focusing intently on it. The Kyubi noticed the approaching toad and turned to face it, it let out a growl that shook the earth, Minato hung his head low, "To be here against your will, and be punished for it. It truly is a sad fate." Minato raised his head, "Let us do this quickly my friend."

Gamabunta drew his dagger from its sheath as he spoke in his Yakuza accent, "Then hold on tight!" with that Gamabunta jumped high into the air, the Kyubi looked up at the giant toad falling down at him and shot out a blast of wind, Gamabunta sneered as he shot balls of water to counter, the water splashed against the wind forming a mist of water in the sky, Gamabunta descended through the water and landed right in front of the Kyubi, quickly throwing himself into the Kyubi and stabbing him with the dagger, "I cant hold him for long." Minato saw the kyubi's eyes as its head was forced over Gamabunta's shoulder and right in front of Minato. He walked over to the kyubi's face being held in place by Gamabunta's hold and began forming seals as he looked up at the sky, "Sorry Matsu, I guess this is goodbye."

A group of ninjas had now gathered around Kyuhane's flaming body. Matsu approached and formed the seals as he looked to the sky, "Sorry Minato, this is goodbye." A village elder stood near, she was there to deliver the baby when it came. There were protests from the other ninja at the sealing of their guardian dragon in a human but a swift look from Kyuhane's authoritive eyes silenced them.

The scene in Konoha and The hidden dragon village were now in complete sync as Minato placed his hands on the Kyubi and Matsu placed his hands on the flaming body of Kyuhane, they both spoke out the words, "Shiki Fuujin." The Shinigami's appeared behind them as the world around them grew dark and eerie. Kushina stood up still in pain and stood behind her husband wrapping her arms around him, hundreds of miles away the same scene unfolded as Keiko stood behind Matsu. Their spectral forms appeared behind their husbands in the Shinigami's hold. The Shinigami's placed their hands through the women's spectral forms and them through Minato's and Matsu's and grabbing hold of the beast's souls and chakra. Slowly they pulled the souls through until they were in the women's form.

It was at that moment they sprung into action, both women forming the seals and yelling out with their final labor pains, "Hakke no Fuuin Shiki." With that the sealing commenced within the women's wombs. Both women fall to the ground as they began to give birth, the babies were born; Matsu and Keiko held their child for a mere moment before the Shinigami took their souls, their lasts words, "His name is… Ryuji..." In that moment the village elder took the baby in her arms as the Shinigami took their souls and vanished. In Konoha Minato and Kushina also held their son for a moment, Kushina spoke first, "Be strong my little Naruto."

Minato smiled, "Never take back your words, and find your way of the ninja. You will surpass me Naruto, one day you will be the best Hokage this village has ever seen." With that Tsunade took Naruto in her arms as the Shinigami took Minato and Kushina's souls. The battles were over and a great price was paid. The two Babies now lay in their cribs, the one with his fathers same blonde hair and blue eyes with whisker shaped birthmarks on his cheeks. The other had his fathers black hair and his mothers violet eyes. And both had spiraling out from their navels into the symbols the same seal containing the great beasts within them.


	3. Beasts within

Fox of nine tails, Dragon of nine wings

ok, i hate the way you have to submit stuff on here. every time i try to format anything it all ends up reverting back anyways so this is how its staying.

i know the OC may seem uber powerful now but trust me its not what you think, all shall be explained in later chapters.

also, this is my first fanfiction, please keep this in mind if you feel like flaming me, im open to all critizism , but i perfer constructed critizism the best.

also, my japanese is well...lets just say im horrible so please dont kill me over any mistakes.

enjoy!

Disclamer: I do not own naruto (although i wish i did, lol)

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Chapter 3: Beasts within

Naruto's fate through the years took a turn for the worst. His years as a baby may have given him a blissful ignorance of the violent stairs and assassination attempts but this wouldn't last as his toddlerhood bliss passed away and he was faced with the hatred of the villagers his sacrifice had saved. Naruto was never told about the beast that dwelled within him. The village elder deemed it too dangerous to tell the container of the power he possessed. It was that very power that the villagers came to fear. The fourth Hokage in his dying wishes wanted Naruto to be remembered as a hero for saving the village from the kyuubi's rage but that wish would be left un-granted as the villages hate towards the demon was transferred to the host. In their eyes Naruto was the kyuubi, but they couldn't say that out loud. The law passed after Naruto's birth forbids any talk of the demons existence within the child.

And so Naruto grew up being beaten and tormented by the villagers. Though the hate was not passed down to the children of the village who were unaware of why they could not go near the boy. Naruto grew up lonely in a small run-down apartment until he was old enough to go to the ninja academy at least there he made a few friends as the years passed. It was at the age of thirteen that the youth became aware of the beast within him when an incident involving a chunin and a scroll spilled the beans to the terrified boy. But Naruto pressed on becoming a genin and joining a team with Sauske his rival and Sakura his crush. Many things happened in the time that passed after that: Sauske joining Orochimaru, Sakura's heartbreak, Naruto promising her he would bring Sauske back, Naruto leaving with Jiraya to train for two and a half years, then returning back to the village more mature and stronger, saving the host of the Ichibi Garra, and then finding Orochimaru and going berserk with the kyuubi's power bring Sakura to tears at the pain of her teammate, and finding Sauske again just to loose him.

Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato walked into the village of Konoha dejected and faded, they had finally found their friend after all that time and he had slipped through their fingers. But they had decided they were not giving up and they were going to get stronger. After reading Yamato's report Tsunade decided that a bit of rest and relaxation was just what the team needed. She knew Naruto was probably hurting and she didn't want the boy she saw as family getting any tenser then he already was. Out of the entire group Naruto was the only one not present for the order to get some rest. "Sakura!", Tsunade yelled, getting her pupils attention immediately with a "Hai". "I want you to go give that idiot Naruto his orders since he decided not to show up for his teams report." Sakura was quick to reply, "Hai Tsunade-sama" before running off to find Naruto, she didn't know where he was but she figured his apartment was the best place to start. She began to get lost in though as she approached the apartment, bringing up the memory of when she was healing Naruto after he went berserk with the Kyuubi.

She remembered talking with Yamato about how helpless she was, "the only things I can do for Naruto are small and insignificant." She remembered Yamato's reply, "Sakura, it doesn't matter how great the things you do for him are but your feelings for him, I can tell just by looking at you, you really lo…" that was all Yamato had said at the time but she knew what the rest of his sentence was going to be, the thought of it made her blush slightly. Did she love Naruto? She knew she liked him more then she would ever let on, she couldn't quite remember when she started feeling this way for him but she knew that she had spent the years of training with Tsunade sorting out her feelings and when she had untangled the mess she found her heart skipping a beat when she heard Naruto's name. She knew he liked her; he had made it very apparent many many many times before. How was she suppose to tell him after all this time that she liked him back, especially after everything she had done to him.

She made it to his apartment and heard a rustling sound coming from the inside. When she knocked the sound stopped as Naruto's voice came from the other side, "whoever it is could you come back later, I'm in the middle of something right now." Sakura spoke up, "it's me Naruto". "Sakura-chan? Well can you come back later?" by now the trademark vein had popped up on her forehead. She pulled back as she charged her fist with Chakra and plowed it into the door, "NA-RU-TO!" The door came crashing down as Sakura walked into the room. There was Naruto holding a paintbrush over by a wall. She was confused as to why he would be painting now of all times, until she looked at the wall. It was covered in graffiti ranging from "Die demon" to "You should have died at birth." She could barely grasp the horror that filled the wall, she found herself fighting back tears until Naruto spoke up, "I'm sorry, I didn't want you to see this."

He had already begun covering up the wall with paint. The images raced through Sakura's head, the images of Naruto going berserk with the Kyuubi. She had to get her mind off of it, "Tsunade said our teams on R'n'R for a week", Naruto had just finished covering the wall in paint when he turned to face her with his trademark foxy grin, "that's great, wanna go on a date." Sakura felt her heart skip a beat at his words. She wasn't ready to confess, she needed more time, "sorry Naruto I can't, I've got patients at the hospital." Naruto sighed as he put his hand behind his head and gave his foxy grin, "that's ok, I understand." Sakura began to make her way out of the apartment when she heard Naruto's voice behind her, "You don't have to worry about me annoying you anymore, I give up."

Sakura immediately turned around to see Naruto looking out the window with his back turned to her. She was confused by what he meant. He continued his train of thought without waiting for a reply, "I know you're not interested so I'll just back off." Sakura found herself in a wave of emotions; did he just say he gave up? Sakura was torn; she knew if she didn't say something now she might never get the chance. She began to step towards him. She reached out a hand to touch his shoulder but just before she reached him a loud boom echoed throughout Konoha, followed by the smoke rising from the main gate.

It only took a split second for both Naruto and Sakura to begin their mad-dash towards the main gate. They could both feel the chakra coming from the explosion and they knew it was the work of a skilled shinobi. Within a minute they had made it to the main gate along with the rest of the remaining rookie nine and their team captains. They all formed a defensive line around the smoking area getting ready for what lied within. They expected a small group of ninjas or some small elite task force of some kind but as the smoke cleared what they found standing in the center of the explosion was a single boy that looked about the same age as the rookie nine. His medium length black hair blew in the wind and his violet eyes pierced through the small bits of smoke that remained. Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons and solidified their stances. The boy looked on at the group of ninjas that had formed around him and uttered only three words, "Where's Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto's muscles tightened at the words of the intruder. Quickly taking a step forward and matching the gaze of the boy, "I am." The boy gave a slight smirk before lifting his arm to his chest and activating a one handed seal. Immediately after the seal black chains sprouted from the ground around all of their feet ensnaring everyone except for Naruto. The rookie nine struggled heavily against the chains but couldn't move a muscle, even the Jounin and team leaders couldn't budge. The techniques name slipped through the boys mouth completing the jutsu, "Ryuton: Ryubaku" (dragon element: dragon bind) Naruto quickly looked over to his friends now bound in black chains and then back to the boy, "what the hell did you do to them!" the boy simply reached his hand down to the sword buckled at his waist, "Keeping the humans out of a fight between monsters." As he spoke a black chakra began to emanate from his body surrounding him completely, the boys violet eyes turned to slits as he drew his katana from its sheath.

Naruto took up a defensive stance quickly as Kakashi quickly began to speak, "don't fight him Naruto! We don't know what he's capable of!" the boy began to walk towards Naruto, "you look just like your father, but you have your mothers personality" Naruto's face fell as he looked at the ground, "what did you say!" a hint of anger in his voice. The boy continued to advance, "they never told you who your parents were did they?" at this Naruto's face came up staring at the boy with the silted red eyes of the Kyuubi, "what do you know about my parents!" he yelled as the red chakra began to form around his body. Sakura could only look on in horror as Naruto's anger brought out the demon within. Naruto rushed forward, kunai in hand, and sliced towards the advancing enemy clashing with the boy's sword. They stood there at a standstill pushing back and forth their chakra pushing against each other. "So anger is your trigger, by the end of this battle you will hate me."

Naruto seethed, "I think I already do!" the chakra forming the kyuubi's cloak around him and sprouting a single tail. Naruto quickly pushed back his opponent with a burst of chakra sending him flying back and skidding to a halt. The boy took a moment to look up and the Hokage Mountain, he fixed his gaze on the fourth as he spoke, "forgive me, uncle." The black chakra around the boy began to take the form of a dragon as a single wing of pure chakra sprouted from the back, "it's too dangerous here." The boy began sifting through hand signs before thrusting his palm to the ground, "Ryuton: Ryushouden!" (Dragon element: dragon sanctum) the black chakra poured through the boys hand into the ground expanding into a circle surrounding himself Naruto and all of the bound ninjas before raising up to the sky.

They all found themselves inside what seemed like an infinite space stretching out for as far as they could see. "The only way out of here is by defeating me!" Naruto's anger could be felt all around as the chakra began to mould a second tail from the cloak. All the other ninja could feel their fear growing, the older ninjas and Naruto's team knew what would come if he kept getting angrier. Yamato began struggling fruitlessly against the chains, "I have to restrain him!" Kakashi looked over to Yamato, "Stop fighting it, this is a dragon jutsu, he caught us off guard, there's no way out of these chains unless the enemy is beaten or a teammate gets you out. He had this all planed from the second the explosion went off."

Naruto lunged at the dragon-boy slashing wildly with his chakra claws. Each slash was met with the same end and it was deflected by a chakra covered sword. Naruto's anger was growing as he slashed again and again. But the dragon-boy was only blocking as he slowly retreated back as if to get them farther away from the chained ninjas. As soon as he was a hundred feet or so away the second chakra wing burst forth from the dragon-cloak enveloping the boy the immediate boost in strength showed as he came to a stand still, "with only this you'll never be able to protect them." The boys goading words showed as Naruto's anger reached another level and the third tail formed.

Just as it came a third wing sprung from the dragon-boys back. The chakra violently began to swirl off and around each other screeching through the air like the sound of a thousand wailing souls echoing throughout the space. For all the chained ninjas a hundred feet away it was a new meaning of fear. Those who had never felt chakra like this before were terrified by the sheer power, but for Kakashi, Yamato, Sai, and Sakura it was the last sign before a mass of destruction. The chakra began to calm as the cloaks began to stabilize. The dragon-boy looked into Naruto's eyes, "what final push do you need? Who do you love most?" Naruto's heart betrayed him as he quickly looked over to Sakura in fear of her safety.

The dragon-boy quickly lunged forward knocking Naruto several feet away before slinging his sword around to a throwing stance aimed directly at the pink haired kunoichi. The look on Naruto's face was one of pure horror as he realized what was about to transpire. The dragon-boy's eyes met Sakura's for a second closing the gap between them, she could hear his voice, "I hate doing this but it's the only way, everything will be fine." He threw the sword with amazing force sending its blade straight for Sakura. Naruto began to charge as fast as he could to intercept the projectile, "No! Sakura!" Naruto almost reached the sword but fell short as it eluded his grasp as he fell to the floor and watched as everyone there gave a look of pure horror at the bade stabbed straight through Sakura's chest, her head hanging down lifeless…

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haha clifhanger cowers in fear "please dont kill me!"


	4. Beast's secrets

Fox of nine tails, Dragon of nine wings

ok this chapter was very very very annoying for me, i tried to keep everyone in character but in the end who knows? ive tried to keep the suspence up for later chapters. all in all this chapter is either awsome, or it sucks completly.

Please review!! it really gives me motivation to write.

enjoy

disclaimer: i dont own naruto.

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Chapter 4: Beasts secrets

The village of Konohagure was in total panic as ninja and civilians had begun to encircle and investigate the black cylinder rising up at the main gate. Tsunade herself had made it her mission to find out what the hell was going on. But when she arrived she new exactly what the cylinder was and that nothing could be done about it. Her only words as she looked sternly at the black space before her echoed out, "Dragon Jutsu's" the ninjas and villagers surrounding it could not imaging the events transpiring within.

Sakura opened her eyes inside the darkness. Standing off the ground she rubbed her temples as she spoke, "the last thing I remember there was a sword and a scream…" it was then that she opened her eyes and looked straight at her own body bound in chains, a sword shoved through her chest, her head hung down lifeless and cold. The near shock of the sight sent her stumbling backwards finding her footing as she heard the screams of her friends and mentors. She shot glances all around; everything was as it had been before that boy had thrown the sword through her, it was as if she had just been thrown out of her own body. She glanced around as her fellow ninja yelled out in horror, "Sakura! Sakura!" they were all yelling helplessly bound in their chains.

Could they not see her? Was she a… ghost? No, there was more to this than such a crude explanation, she remembered the words she heard the boy whisper when he had locked eyes with her, "_everything is going to be alright…" _she suddenly felt a cold brush of air against her face. She could feel? Her body was real, so what was the lifeless corpse run through with a blade? She only contemplated for a moment, "nobody can see me, and they all think I'm dead… a Genjutsu!" the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, nothing at all had happened to her, on the contrary it was everyone who was being affected. That dragon-boy had placed everyone under a Genjutsu to make her seem dead, but why?

Sakura quickly turned at the hate-filled Kakashi who was seething words at the dragon-boy who had 'run her through with a blade", "what did you just do you heartless bastard!" Kakashi was the only one yelling, everyone else was either still in shock or flooding with tears. None of them even had a clue they were in a Genjutsu, but what was the point of the dragon-boys ruse? She turned quick at a hissing sound to find her answer. Naruto was crouched on the ground not ten feet from the corpse everyone thought was her. She felt the tears coming when she saw Naruto reach out a hand towards the body tied in chains; the tears began to flow from her eyes when she saw his face.

His expression was filled with sorrow, tears welling up in his eyes but none of them lasted long as they were swept up in the kyuubi's chakra. His eyes were empty, like he had lost all reason for living, but deep in his eyes were the two emotions that could be seen clearly, unbearable sadness… and pure hatred. Sakura had to cover her mouth to stop from breaking out in sobs, the tears flowing even more at Naruto's actions as he held his hand out towards the bound corpse as if reaching for something that stayed right out of his reach uttering a sad audible "Sakura… chan" from his lips. The sight of him tore her apart. Did she really mean that much to him? Did he really care about her this much? Did he truly feel that way about her? And she had never given him the time of day, she remembered how badly she treated him, and how she had never told him her feelings that she had come to realize she held for him.

Everyone was torn from their grieving when Naruto's hand hit the floor with a thud and his head hung low hiding his face. They all turned to face his direction as they felt the demons chakra grow and pulse out like an erratic heartbeat. What they all saw next replaced their feelings of grief and sorrow with pure fear and a sickening feeling in their stomachs as Naruto lifted his head to reveal eyes brimming with pure hatred and loathing his skin beginning to peal from his body in strips under the red chakra that seemed to boil around his body. His terrifying scream echoed throughout all of the space sending shivers down the spines of those who watched on.

The very next moment Naruto bolted in the direction of the dragon-boy who had seemingly taken the most important thing in his life and ended it. The spectators of the event were even more terrified at what they saw next as Naruto leaped into the air, the blood from his body leaking out into the kyuubi's cloak rapidly clouding it until it was nothing that a black sphere hurling towards the dragon-boy. Yamato, Kakashi, Sai, and Sakura cringed at what they new was coming… an engine of pure destruction.

Within moments of the orb forming around Naruto it shattered violently unleashing the Kyuubi's cloaks fourth form, it was frightening to look at as it came shattering out of its orb of chakra. Naruto could no longer be seen in the cloak, now he looked just like a miniature Kyuubi set free to rampage. But it already new its first target as it went flying towards the boy surrounded by black chakra barreling into him with a mighty crash that sent waves of chakra flying in all directions. The bound ninjas braced for the impact of the shockwave right before it hit taking it full force. There was no damage done to the ninjas, at the most it knocked the breath out of them for a moment, although that was probably due to the chains that bound them taking the brunt of the wave, within moments of the wave hitting the chains that bound them shattered as if the caster of the jutsu could no longer afford to keep it up.

The realization of being free hit fast and immediately they all swarmed around the corpse they thought was Sakura. The tears that had halted before began to make their way back to the surface. Kurenai was the first Jounin there, Kakashi following close behind. Kurenai reluctantly took a pulse but shook her head sadly when she found none. Just as all hope had seemed gone Kurenai began to examine the corpse. Something just didn't quite seem right to her, being a Genjutsu expert was what probably helped her along in her deduction, the words began to leave her mouth, "this is…" before the realization hit her, "Kakashi use your Sharingan! It's a Genjutsu!"

everyone that had been paralyzed with shock or sorrow suddenly came to a slightly better attitude about the situation with her words. Kakashi was quick to comply with Kurenai's request as he lifted his forehead protector and activated his Sharingan eye removing the Genjutsu immediately. The fake Sakura corpse disappeared instantly and the unseen real Sakura became visible to all, who quickly surrounded her and thanking 'Kami' she was alright, but even with their affection and happiness around her Sakura was not turned from her line of sight, staring at the thick smoke that emanated from where Naruto's fourth tail had formed.

The crowded group of ninjas quickly organized at the leadership of the Jounin after they had all come back to the reality of their situation. They were all now intently focused on the area of heavy smoke that seemed to cloud any trace of what was inside, but they all new perfectly well what lied in wait for them when the smoke cleared. They had seen the four tailed form for only a brief moment before the impact and shockwave had brought up the dense wall that kept them in suspense. The Jounin had all formed a defensive line with the rest of the ninja falling into position behind them. They had no intention of trying to fight what was in that cloud, they only hoped to keep casualties to a minimal if the worst should happen… a Kyuubi rampage.

They could all feel the fear welling up in their guts as the smoke began to clear. In the moments that followed many emotions were thrown about the group as they came to see what their friend had become, they had only caught a glimpse before but now they were taking in what seemed like an eternity of moments as they saw the scene before them. Naruto in the four tailed state, to them he looked almost exactly like a miniature Kyuubi, and that alone sent shivers down their spines, but the waves of chakra emanating from the monster gave them a true reason to be fearful.

But even in all their fear other emotions swelled within them, this was Naruto, their friend and seeing him in this state, this pain and the burden he has carried with him, it wasn't pity or sympathy but genuine heartache at what laid before them, they grew up knowing him as Naruto the number one unpredictable ninja, they never knew about the Kyuubi, they didn't share the hatred that most of their parents and other villagers had towards not only the demon but the container as well. They saw their friend in pain and agony and it tore them all up inside. For Sakura it was even worse, this was the second time she had seen him like this and was helpless to save him, she could only watch on as the boy she loved raged in pain and agony over her, only uttering a single sobbing word…"Naruto…"

With the pillar of smoke faded the image of the ensuing battle was clear to all. Naruto was fully enveloped in the Kyuubi's cloak, four tails waving through the air, he was face to face with the dragon-boy who had 'killed' Sakura, but in his current state he knew nothing of why he was fighting this boy enveloped in black chakra, the beast only knew one thing… rage. The Kyuubi was in control now, willing the actions of Naruto's body, it could be said Naruto was no longer even their. The Kyuubi had its hands lashed out as if to strike at the dragon-boy who was but a foot or two from its face. But even in the Kyuubi's power-rush the boy had still defended the otherwise deadly blow.

The boys hands were held out also grasping onto the kyuubi's hands and pushing them back, it seemed that all of the boys concentration was poured into this moment of holding off his foe, it was this reason that he had to release the binding jutsu he had placed on all the other ninja. The others stared on in amazement and horror at the two locked in a standstill, but what scared the Jounin even more was that the Kyuubi was pulling back slightly as if lying in wait for something to occur. It was in this brief moment that everyone was caught off-guard as many black chains rose up around the Kyuubi and bound the beast. Its expression became less violent at its capture as it did the one thing no one was expecting, "**What do you want with me Kyuhane**?" was the growling voice of the Kyuubi echoing throughout the space.

All of the ninja, even the Jounin were at a loss for words when they heard the Kyuubi's voice come echoing out of that beast, it could speak? Was the nine tailed fox speaking through the form of the four tailed cloak? The look of satisfaction on the dragon-boys face showed that he had clearly gotten the outcome he had desired. The boy went to speak but was stopped by the Kyuubi's words, "**I don't want to speak with a vessel, come out Kyuhane!" **the boy stopped his attempts to speak and stood straight as the black chakra began to bubble and darken with a fourth wing extending out from the back of the cloak, the boy was obviously in pain but seemed to bear through it as the cloak enveloped him completely leaving behind the form of a miniature four winged black dragon with glowing white eyes and teeth, "**Its been far too long since we last saw each other, Kyuubi." **

Kyuhane looked over to the group of ninja who had been watching all of these unbelievable events unfold. He noticed their uneasiness at his gaze and spoke out to them, "**You may come closer if you desire, there are many things you would all like to know, and the Kyuubi will do you no harm in my presence." **the dragons voice was more soothing and comforting than the kyuubi's it seemed to hold and authority to it, and authority that Kakashi remembered from his days under the fourth Hokage, "Kyuhane?" Kakashi had already begun to walk towards the dragon, followed by the rest of the ninja gaining confidence from Kakashi's trust in the dragon. Kakashi spoke up again with a hint of shock, "If you're really here, then your host is…" he was interrupted by the dragons hand motioning him to stop, "**All in good time, right now I have a few questions to ask the fox, the war is coming, Madara is starting to move."** At the mere mention of Madara the Kyuubi let out a rather hateful sounding growl. The other ninja had made there way to the dragon; they were all standing behind Kakashi but leaned more away form the Kyuubi's bound form.

The Kyuubi snickered at the sight of their fear as he exclaimed, "**BOO!**"starling the ninja farther back. Kyuhane responded with the comment "**You don't seem to like them very much.**" The Kyuubi was quick to retort, "**Well they hated me first**","**That might have to do with you attacking their village**", "**Its not my fault Madara's Sharingan controlled me!**" at the last comment all the ninja let out a resounding "What!" Kyuubi sneered and turned his head away as Kyuhane spoke, "**Kyuubi didn't attack your village of his own free will, he was forced to by the power of the Sharingan. That's why the fourth didn't kill him, but sealed him in a baby instead." **

Sakura was still erratic inside, she couldn't make since of it, "Why Naruto! Why did the fourth choose Naruto!" she exclaimed. **"That is something my host will tell Naruto later when he wakes up." **Kyuubi sneered at Kyuhane , **"that was a dirty trick you pulled using this girl to make the kid call my power out, he still thinks she's dead! This kid has already been through hell since birth, heck do you know how many times I had to heal this kid after an angry mob beat the tar out of him? Too many to count and then you go and emotionally scar him!" **

Kyuhane adapted what appeared to be a grin, **"geez kyuu-san I didn't know you cared about the boy so much, I thought you hated this village."** Kyuubi turned its head away, **"I don't hate the village, just the bastards that blame this kid for what I did, heck I hate to admit it but this boys sacrifice saved me from death, I owe him that much."** The group of ninjas we're trying hard to understand what was transpiring, the Kyuubi wasn't a bad guy? He's cares about Naruto? It wasn't just a blood thirsty monster? These revelations were just too much to take in at once.

Kyuhane spoke up, **"are you willing to cooperate with your host to defeat Madara?", "What's in it for me besides revenge?", "How about partial freedom from the seal?"** the Kyuubi seemed to give off a grin, **"that might be worth it", "then give the boy control back", "Hai, Hai I'll work with you, I was tired of acting all evil anyways," **the glow of the kyuubi's chakra began to lessen more and more until it started to dissipate and recede from Naruto. Sakura knew what to expect, the demon cloak did massive damage to the body. The chains that bound the Kyuubi broke away as Naruto returned to normal, his body severally injured. The black cloak around the dragon-boy began to fade as well until both he and Naruto were both normal again and both in the same critical condition.

Naruto lost consciousness but the boy remained focused for a moment as he dispelled the special jutsu they were all trapped in, bringing them all back to the main gate of Konohagure. The boy looked over to Kakashi, "well what are you waiting for? Get that kid some help!" Sakura had already rushed over to Naruto and had started her healing jutsu but its effect was dimming. It took Tsunade only a moment to come rushing onto the scene, the medical squad was trying to give both the boy and Naruto treatment but the boy kept yelling at them while pointing at Naruto, "go help him, I'll be fine!" they all agreed even though he looked just as bad as Naruto did.

The medic team that joined Sakura had already finished their first aid for Naruto and rushed him off to the hospital Sakura leading the way. Tsunade walked over to the boy with a look of anger, "what the hell were you thinking! Ryukage or not I'm definitely kicking your ass for this one!" the boy adopted a look of hurt, "come on Tsunade-hime, it was all Kyuhane's plan, I'm just the host, don't blame me, I don't know the old dragon was thinking."

Tsunade wasn't buying, "first your coming to the hospital for treatment, then your going to explain everything to me, now come on!" Tsunade turned and began to walk towards the hospital, the boy started following behind her, "you don't have to worry about m…" the boy went limp as his heart skipped a beat, Hinata had been the closest ninja in the group to him, so she caught him out of reflex, he laid limp in her arms, Tsunade didn't even turn around, "You need treatment, bring him to the hospital please." Hinata let out a "Hai" before looking down at the boy, she had a blush to her cheeks but she would make it somehow, "ano…what's your name?" the boy let off a slight smile, "Ryuji…Uzumaki Ryuji."

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two big chapters in two days is tiresome, i need to get some sleep. lol


	5. The Dragon and the Fox

alright this chapter took me a while cause i had other stuff i was doing, its 4:00 in the morning and ive been writing for 5 hours, i need a little break.

please review. its what drives me to keep writing this thing!

Disclaimer: i dont own naruto.

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Chapter 5: The Dragon and the Fox

Hinata didn't know how she had gotten into her predicament. She was sitting in a chair at the hospital watching over an unconscious stranger she didn't know. She began to fidget with her fingers as she whined, "How'd I get stuck here when Naruto-kun's just down the hall." She began to blush at the sound of Naruto's name, "maybe I'll… just go take a… peek." She stood from her chair before remembering Tsunade's words.

_Tsunade had just finished healing the mysterious black haired ninja when she turned to Hinata letting out a sigh, "he'll be alright, Geez this is the most reckless thing this idiots ever done!" Hinata responded sheepishly, "Hokage-sama, who is he?" Tsunade let out a big sigh, "Contrary to what you might think he's a friend, and a very important guest. Although I must admit his timing is rather horrible." Hinata began fidgeting poking her fingers together, "he said… his name was… Uzumaki Ryuji. Is he related to … um...Naruto-kun?"_

_Tsunade tensed at the question, it was a sketchy subject. "Hinata, I need to ask you a favor, he may seem stable but there's still a chance something might happen, could you watch him till he wakes up, it shouldn't be too much longer. If you see anything wrong on the monitors alert me immediately." Hinata quickly let out a high pitched "Hai" as Tsunade began to exit the room, "oh, and Hinata, when he wakes up tell him I need to speak with him." _

Hinata glanced over at the machine monitoring the boy, she figured going out for a moment would hurt; Naruto's room was just down the hall after all. She quickly glanced over at the unconscious figure, "ano… I'll be right back Ryuji-san." She quickly blurted out before heading out of the room and straight down the hall.

Hinata slowed her walk as she neared Naruto's room; quietly she peeked around the door frame into the room. Naruto was unconscious as well on his hospital bed, Sakura was the only other occupant, she had her head resting on her folded arms laid down on the bed, and she had been there ever since they had gotten Naruto to the hospital. She had used up most of her chakra healing Naruto's badly damaged body after the incident.

Sakura was stirred awake by the sound of Naruto rustling on the bed, she quickly sat up as Naruto slowly started to open his eyes, he winced at the glare of the lights over head before slowly turning to the side facing Sakura, she had tears in her eyes, "Naruto…" he heard her say before opening his eyes to see her sitting in a chair next to his bed, he groaned out, "Sakura-chan…" it only took a moment for the reality to hit him, "Sakura-chan!" he yelled out as he sprung upright in the bed wrapping his arms around her tightly, franticly forming his sentences, "ne, ne, its Sakura-chan right? I though you had d…" he began to choke on the words as he sobbed.

Sakura was suppressed by Naruto's sudden death grip around her, if it had been any other circumstances she would have knocked him all the way to Suna. But she could understand this time, he had seen her "die" after all, how was he supposed to act after finding her alive? Calm? Composed? She quickly tried to alleviate his concern, "yes Naruto it's me." At her words he slowly let go of his death grip on her and sat back with a look of relief mixed with utter confusion, "but how? I saw it with my own eyes, everyone did." She gave him a reassuring smile, "it was a Genjutsu, and everyone was trapped in it." Naruto's expression became serious, "where is he?"

"He's unconscious in a room down the hall; his condition was just like yours… after the chakra disappeared. Naruto immediately tried to jump out of the bed, "I'll kill him!" but Sakura quickly pushed him back down into the bed, "calm down, Tsunade told me to tell you she wanted to speak with us when you woke up. We have orders to leave the guy alone." Naruto seethed, "after what he did, how can she say that?" Sakura gave off an unsure aura, "I don't know, I mean he could have actually killed me at the time but he used a Genjutsu instead, there might be something going on we don't know about… especially after the conversation he had with the Kyuubi."

Naruto's eyes were filled with confusion and disbelief as Sakura recounted her point of view of the experience that had landed him comatose. He had instinctively grasped his abdomen during Sakura's recollection of the events that came after the fourth tail. The Kyuubi was a good guy? He didn't think it was possible, he couldn't think it was possible! He had met the fox in his mindscape too many times to his liking and each time he had come face to face with what he thought was a monster. All of it was too much to just let sink in, he was too busy having his soul jump for joy at the fact that Sakura wasn't dead, she was right there in front of him.

Sakura had noticed Naruto's uneasiness during the conversation, Sakura slowly reached over to the hand he had been using to grasp at his abdomen, the place where the seal was, his fears and doubts had melted away at that moment, she could see it in his eyes when she took his hand in hers, "It's all going to be ok Naruto, We'll figure out what's going on."

Naruto felt the uneasiness melt away at her touch, her hand was warm and comforting; he mentally chuckled when he remembered just how hard those hands could punch as well. But his trip down memory lane didn't last long as it halted him at the moments before the fight, his room, and the things he had said to Sakura. He could feel the pain start to well up within him, he had finally given up. He couldn't keep on chasing her affection when he knew it belonged to someone else… to Sasuke."

Sakura could see the change in his eyes as he pulled his hand from hers and stood up from the hospital bed, his eyes had looked sad, a strained sadness as him he was trying to conceal it from the world. She was going to ask him what was wrong but couldn't get the words out as he spoke while putting his shirt and jumpsuit top back on, "I'm going to find Tsunade-obaachan, she might know what's going on." No sooner had he said the words, he was opening the window and climbing out. Sakura only got out a quick "Naruto!" before he had taken off jumping on the rooftops to the Hokage tower.

Hinata had only seen up to where Naruto had excitedly embraced Sakura, at this point she had decided to take her leave. She still had a patient to look after and she felt that secretly watching any more would only cause her heartache. She had quickly made her way back to Ryuji's room when she noticed the monitoring machine making a beeping noise, when she turned to look at it she immediately panicked at the alarmingly high heart rate beeping away on the machine.

It was no later than that when Ryuji's body began to twist and turn in pain, he was still badly injured, and parts of his skin were still burned away from the chakra. Tsunade had healed him ad best she could but his chakra pathways weren't flowing correctly and his body just wouldn't heal, it had taken her a long time just to stabilize his organs let alone repair the damage, with a majority of his skin burned away and major rips and tares in his muscles he was hardly recognizable, you'd have no clue what he had looked like before the incident.

Hinata was in a panic, she knew what her orders were but watching his body writhe in agony she couldn't just leave him. She quickly activated her Byakugan and scanned his body's chakra channels to see what the cause of the problem was. Her quick yet thorough scan brought her attention to the area around his heart, it was an erratic mess, the chakra was being bunched up around the heart causing it not to circulate properly through the body, she could see the backup had begun to choke out the channel leading to the heart, without any chakra to the heart it was no wonder it was erratic, it was like it was suffocating.

Hinata knew he didn't have long, if his heart was kept void of chakra for much longer his heart would come to a grinding halt. She was still panicking but in the heat of the moment Hinata found herself doing something she thought she never would… being impulsive. She had quickly positioned her body by the side of the bed and began focusing her chakra into her fingertips. Her Byakugan focused on the area of his heart she began to precisely hit his chakra points, quickly opening and closing them to straighten out the flow.

Each second seemed like an eternity to her as she instinctively hit each spot. Slowly the mess in his chakra channels began to straighten out and flow was returning. She had come to the last point of the blockage and rapidly struck it, opening the flow completely the chakra flowed freely and rapidly throughout his body. His twisting and shaking had stopped as the flow to his heart returned.

Hinata fell back into the chair sitting beside the hospital bed, it had been a tiring and nerve-wrecking thing to do and she wasn't even sure how she had been able to do it. She had been quickly brought out of her self-questioning as she noticed the chakra flowing through Ryuji's body flow into the spiral channel around his navel; it was the instant the chakra reached the center that a rush of black chakra burst through his chakra channels like wild fire.

The black chakra spread throughout his body in a mere instant and directly after she noticed the tares in his exposed muscles closed up instantly at the presence of the chakra. His skin began to heal at a rate Hinata had never seen before, she could see the newly formed skin as it seemed to spread like a wall across his body, slowly the walls of skin began to collide and bind together seamlessly.

She watched in awe as the skin of his face fully grew back meeting with another patch of skin at the base of his neck. He had been completely healed in a matter of seconds. But what shocked her most was his face; now that she was this close to him she could see… his face looked frighteningly similar to Naruto! Hinata began to blush as she imaged him with blond hair and whisker marks, there were differences but for the most part he resembled Naruto, and that made Hinata's heart start beating wildly.

Hinata began fidgeting with her hands; she didn't think the situation couldn't get any worse… she didn't think he'd wake up. Hinata was brought out of her fidgeting stupor by Ryuji's rustling on the hospital bed; she began to panic as he opened his eyes and looked over at her. His slow waking movement eventually brought his now fully opened eyes directly in line with hers.

Hinata's fidgeting slowly lessen as she found her gaze staring into the dark violet orbs that were his eyes, she realized slowly that his resemblance to Naruto had faded as he had opened his eyes, as if those dark violet orbs changed his entire look when exposed for all to see. His resemblance faded even more as he began to lean up in the bed, his medium length hair returning to its normal position from where it had been pulled back.

Although she had stopped fidgeting with her hands her heat still raced at the sight of him, his violet gaze drawing her in, she felt as if she would get lost in his eyes. instinctively she averted her gaze from his eyes and found it now directed at his exposed chest, his muscles were toned and masculine, and yet not so much as to be bulging out. As Ino would say 'he was hot'.

Hinata's blush returned to her cheeks at the sight of him. But she was quickly brought out of her inner thoughts by his words, "Hello." Hinata brought her gaze back up to his face, he was grinning, and it wasn't quite 'foxy' like Naruto's but it held the same feeling to it, sincerity. "You're the one who caught me when I collapsed. I believe I haven't gotten your name, I'm Ryuji, Uzumaki Ryuji."

Hinata was fidgeting again, he seemed so nice to her, yet he did all those things at the main gate. "Nice to… meet you…I'm… Hinata … Hyuga Hinata" was her reply. Ryuji reached up placing his hand on his chest, he seemed to breathe in and out deeply a few times, the motion of his chest nearly made Hinata faint. He was quick to the point but his words still held their kindness, "Did you do something to my body?" Hinata's face immediately began to blush bright red.

She began to stammer at her words, "Ano… you were… twisting and turning… and your chakra channels… were being blocked… so I used Juken to… get the flow… going again… and… I have to go!" Hinata quickly rose from her seat and began a dash for the door when she felt a tug on her arm; she quickly turned to find Ryuji holding on to her wrist, his face still held that same smile as he spoke, "Thank you Hinata-san." Hinata had been stopped in her tracks.

She had to say something, anything to get that feeling out of her gut, "ano, Tsunade-sama said… she wanted to… see you when you woke up." Ryuji got out of the hospital bed still holding her hand, "just wait here a second, we can walk together." He let go of her hand and began putting the close Tsunade had taken off back on.

Naruto had finally made it to the Hokage tower, and he was going to be asking a lot of questions. Tsunade could hear him all the way from her office as he ran up the stairs and slammed open the door. He was about to start ranting about what was going on when he noticed the room was rather packed, nearly all the ninja from that morning were there, the only ones missing were Hinata and Sakura. The later of which came running up right behind him as she had followed him from the hospital, upon entering the room Sakura swiftly gave Naruto a punch to the top of his head sending him to the ground, "Idiot Naruto!"

Naruto was quick to recover, he was about to complain about her hitting him but decided not to when he noticed her angry glare. Tsunade placed her elbows on her desk and laid her head on the propped up arms, "You seem to be doing better. It seems everyone's here except Hinata and that Dragon-baka." Naruto was quick to retort, "Who the hell was that guy? What's going on here Tsunade-obaachan?"

Tsunade leisurely sat back in her seat, "you'll find out soon enough, all of you in this room have seen something that cannot be unseen, you all deserve to know the truth." Tsunade perked her head up, "speak of the devil, it seems their here." With that the door to the office opened up slowly as Ryuji walked in first, only to be quickly met with Naruto's clawed hand.

Ryuji's body was immediately thrown backwards out the door, flying past Hinata and slamming rather violently into the wall. Naruto's eyes were in the Kyuubi state with their red hue and slit pupils. His clawed hand had torn four gashes down the front of Ryuji's face. Sakura's first reaction was shock before punching Naruto in the face again sending him to the floor before being caught in the wooden Prison Yamato had erected around him.

Sakura's attention was drawn away from Naruto by Hinata's attempt at yelling, "Ryuji-san! Are you… ok?" by this time everyone's attention had been drawn to the figure now implanted in the wall. Sakura's med-nin nature kicked in as she ran over to him about to heal any injury he might have sustained, she was quickly waved off as Ryuji pulled himself out of the wall slowly, and a slight cracking sound sent chills down all the ninjas spins as he seemed to be snapping vertebrae back into place.

Sakura attempted to at least heal the four claw marks on his face but he quickly dismissed the notion as he walked past her into the office, "It's ok, I'll be fine. I deserved it anyways." He had made his way to Tsunade's desk when he bowed slightly, "Good evening Tsunade-hime." Her retort was a slight grunt noise he took as a hello before moving around the desk and sitting on the windowsill beside her.

Hinata had quietly entered the room when she noticed her father was also there. It sent a slight chill down her spine. Naruto was still held in Yamato's jutsu but his anger had subsided to a dull discontent. Ryuji had remained silent for a moment to take in the sight of all the ninja, "man this place is cramped, if you were going to have them all here you should have used a bigger room."

Tsunade was about to make a comment when Hiashi Hyuga beat her too it, "Just who are you?" his tone was superior but is still contained respect enough for high ranking ninja. Ryuji leaned back against the glass as he spoke rather casually but still held a tone of respect, "I am the Godaime Ryukage of Ryugakure, thought Konoha may be about the only village to ever recognize our existence, but in light of recent events my title means very little. My name is Ryuji, Uzumaki Ryuji."

Everyone in the room seemed a bit stunned as they looked from Naruto to Ryuji, though Naruto's expression was even more confused then theirs. The first thought that had hit all their minds, did he just say Uzumaki? While the other ninja were in their confused stupor Hiashi had looked to Tsunade for a verification of Ryuji's claim, her answer came with a nod, "the leaders of Konoha have recognized the Ryukage for the past three generations.

Sakura had been staring at the claw marks on his face; she didn't know why he wouldn't let her heal them. She spoke up as she walked towards him, "let me heal those gashes." She had a rather commanding tone but Ryuji waved her off, "no I deserved it after what I did, I won't let them heal until Naruto-san forgives me." Sakura gave Naruto a powerful glare that shook his core, "I forgave him, so should you!"

Naruto hung his head down, "fine I'll hear out what you have to say, I'll forgive you for now." Ryuji leaned forward as he smiled, "close enough" right after his words the wounds began to heal themselves rapidly, the skin quickly melded back together as the wounds disappeared in seconds. All the ninja were stunned at the rapid healing; they'd never seen anything like it. Sakura had though and she had only one word to describe it in her mind…Jinchuriki.

By this time Yamato had released Naruto from his Jutsu. Ryuji noticed the looks on the ninja's faces, "I guess I should start with how I heal so fast, and the power I was using at the gate." He glanced over to Naruto as he hoped off the windowsill and began removing his black overcoat, "could you remove your jacket and shirt please?" Naruto's response was a quick, "Nani! What do you want me to do that for?" Ryuji's explanation was simple as he pulled his shirt off, "to show them something important."

The younger female ninjas in the room blushed slightly as they noticed both Ryuji and Naruto's tones bodies. Naruto was rather quick to pick up on what Ryuji was going for, he made a simple hand seal revealing the sealing symbol on his abdomen, "yeah it's the Kyuubi's seal, so what next?" Ryuji let out a smile as he made a hand seal; everyone in the room fell silent as the same exact seal appeared on Ryuji, "I'm a Jinchuriki as well."

Naruto's expression was serious, "which Biju do you have?" everyone in the room was still silent trying to take in everything they were hearing; "none" was Ryuji's simple reply. Naruto's confused expression returned, "Then how…" he was cut off by Ryuji's explanation, "it's a Haneju, imagine the Biju but with wings instead of tails. They are the Biju's balancing force, mine is Kyuhane…Kyuubi's counterpart."

Naruto had adopted his serious expression once more, "why have you come here?" Ryuji's eyes seemed to be full of a hidden sadness, "Akatsuki came to Ryugakure… and cleared it off the map. I escaped but they'll still chase me, there coming after you too." Ryuji grabbed his abdomen at the seal, "it's about time they fight beside each other once more… the dragon and the fox."

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and now im off to get some sleep. i need it badly.


	6. Uzumaki Ryuji

i dont quite liek this chapter. i found it kinda boring, its basicly a chapter for Ryuji's character development.

a big thank you to all those who have reviewed, its because of you that i find the motivation to continue writing.

so please keep on Reviewing.

disclaimer: i do not own naruto.

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Chapter 6: Uzumaki Ryuji

The air was tense in the Hokage's office; Naruto's expression was as serious as anyone had ever seen in him, "sorry but after what you pulled I don't think I'll be working with you." His tone had been that of held back anger. Ryuji walked back over to where he had placed his shirt and over coat and proceeded to put them back on, much to the dismay of the young female ninja in the room.

He proceeded to walk over to the windowsill and took his seat by Tsunade once more, "I guess I should have expected that answer, I don't think anyone would trust me after what happened at the gate." His expression turned to a grin, "but in my defense it was all that Baka dragon's idea."

Naruto was quick to snap, "Why would you let something evil like the Kyuubi control you!" Ryuji's face fell, "Evil? Kyuu-san really hasn't told you anything has he, no doubt every time you've seen him he seemed like a big evil fox. Kyuu-san always did play to his fox nature, always tricking and fooling everyone."

Naruto was clenching his fists, "that's a lie! Just look at what the fourth tail does, he takes over and leaves nothing but destruction." Ryuji lifted an eyebrow in good quizzical fashion, "you think the Kyuubi's in control in that form?" everyone in the room had grown deathly silent.

Sakura was the first to speak up, "if the kyuubi's not in control what is?" Ryuji's answer came simple, "Emotion." Tsunade spoke up in an interested tone, "what do you mean emotion?" Ryuji breathed in deep, "it seems all the difficult questions start now." Everyone in the room began listening intently, half of the ninja in the room weren't getting anything these people were talking about and felt it best to keep silent.

Ryuji place his hands behind his head as he lay back against the glass window, "it has to do with the chakra trigger, and every Jinchuriki has an emotion or state of mind that triggers the release of the inhabitant's chakra. When you're born there is a certain arrangement of points throughout your chakra channels that deal with your emotions, which point holds which emotion is completely random at conception."

"For a Jinchuriki the emotion point closest to the sealed inhabitant is the trigger, since most are sealed in the chakra storage at the navel the emotion point there is usually the trigger. Whenever the Jinchuriki feels that emotion the chakra flared at that point forces out the Inhabitants chakra. In Naruto's case anger is the trigger; it's the emotion that draws out the Kyuubi's chakra unconsciously."

Ryuji took a second to take in a breath, "and that's what leads us to the fourth tailed form, when you reach that point the amount of chakra coursing through your system causes you to black out and the chakra begins to control the body using the trigger emotion as its drive, anger begets destruction."

Naruto remained silent for a moment, "this doesn't mean I'm just going to trust that damn fox." Hiashi had decided he had remained silent long enough and he should ask a few questions, "Ryukage-sama, what is your trigger?" now that he knew of the boys high ranking status he was sure to be polite. Ryuji simply hung his head down for a moment, he seemed to emit an aura of sadness as he spoke; "I guess if you had to explain it in one word… love."

Hiashi was a bit taken back at the statement, "could you explain more vividly please?" Ryuji nodded in compliance, "it's not general love that triggers it, its only romantic love and even then it's only the longing feeling that triggers it. I can still love like friends and family but romantically I'm out of luck. Basically I can't fall in love cause if I do and its unrequited the longing feeling triggers, longing leads to sorrow, sorrow also leads to destruction."

Naruto couldn't help but feel a certain amount of sympathy, he had lived with an unrequited love for years now, and he couldn't imagine what it was like not being able to love at all without going on a monstrous rampage. Only a few kind words slipped through his lips, "that's harsh man." Sakura was thinking the same thing, as were nearly all the other female ninja in the room.

Ryuji lifted his head with a smile, "thanks, I've learned to live with it. It's not a big problem. I just have to find someone who loves me first." He still held that smile as he talked, but everyone could tell he was just hiding the pain, it nearly brought a tear to the most emotional of the group.

Ryuji noticed the emotional responses in the room and decided to change the subject, "ok, next question!" Hiashi began with a question that had been bugging him, "why is your last name the same as Naruto-san's?" Ryuji's smirk reminded everyone of Naruto's trademark grin, "that's cause were related!" Naruto found himself shouting in unison with everyone else in the room besides Tsunade, and the Jounin, "What!"

Ryuji found himself chuckling at the question blurted out in stereo, "what? Did you think Naruto didn't have any family at all?" the crowd of ninja were in silence once more, everyone had noticed but it especially pained Sakura when Naruto hung his head low at Ryuji's words. His voice nearly choking out the words, "I had family? I was an orphan left alone, why didn't they… take me in?"

Ryuji laid his head back against the glass window with the expression of someone looking into the past, his words were slow and calm yet they carried with them a heavy sadness, "Because, I was the only one left." Naruto looked up to the boy sitting on the windowsill; he could see it in Ryuji's eyes, the same pain that plagued him for all those years… loneliness.

Naruto found himself calmed by the though of someone understanding him. He looked straight on at Ryuji and clutched his stomach as he spoke, wanting the answers to all of his questions, "I was hated, bruised, beaten, and left all alone, for the longest time I never knew why, what I had done to deserve it. It was all this damn fox's fault. I never knew I had any family, I was just alone. How close are we?"

The room had gone silent, the older Jounin and males knew not to interrupt the moment but the girls were all still holding back their tears at Naruto's words, Especially Sakura. Ryuji looked straight into Naruto's eyes before speaking, "I get my last lame from my mother, her name was Uzumaki Keiko, my fathers name was Matsu. I wasn't allowed to take my fathers name, nobody even knew what it was to begin with, and they all just called him Yondaime Ryukage. So I was given my mothers name instead."

"My mother had a sister, your mother… Uzumaki Kushina. We're cousins by blood. For a long time I never even new who my parents were. My father and Kyuhane were fighting off Madara on the night of my birth, I guess he had taken control of Kyuubi and sent him to attack Konoha. Kyuhane was badly injured in the battle, he was dying, and so was I. according to Kyuhane I wasn't going to live through birth, my heart had problems and would have stopped the second I saw the light of day."

"So my father made a deal, he would seal Kyuhane inside me, he would escape death by residing in me, and I would get to live thanks to his power. The village didn't exactly like the idea; Kyuhane was their guardian, their protector. They opposed having him sealed in me, but Kyuhane agreed to the plan and my parents gave their lives to let us live. I grew up an orphan as well… never knowing who my parents were."

"I wasn't hated; I was despised for taking Kyuhane away from them, I wasn't beaten; I was isolated and subjected to painful attempts to unseal my inhabitant never even knowing it was there, but I was able to live, all because of this Baka dragon." The emotional of the group crammed in the office were starting to cry but Ryuji kept talking, "three years ago I was let lose in my village, they had decided that they could never unseal Kyuhane from me."

Ryuji let out a snicker, "that's when I met my first crush; I wasn't allowed to go to the ninja academy or even learn ninjutsu but I'd drop by the place every day and see her. But of course that longing feeling kicked in and for the first time triggered Kyuhane's chakra, that was when I first met him in my mindscape, it seamed like an eternity but he told me everything, about my parents, what had really been going on my whole life, and that he was angry at my villages stupidity."

"The emotion of longing is hard to break; it kept going until Kyuhane's chakra cloak had formed with four wings. Luckily I was able to give my body over to him and he kept it in control. After giving the villagers a thorough berating about the way they had treated me the cloak dissipated and I went to the hospital. After getting out I was immediately sent on a trip… to see the dragons."

"It was in the mountains, the land of the dragons that I was trained in the ninja arts by Kyuhane and his brethren. After two years of extreme training I returned to my village and they made me the Ryukage. Though I think they really only considered me the host, they wanted Kyuhane in command, and the best way was through me. It's been a year since then. I was only a Kage for a year before Akatsuki came and wiped my village off the face of the map. Even with Kyuhane's and my power we couldn't win, we had to run so here we are."

Naruto had been listing intently but still had one question he wanted answered, "Who is my father?" Tsunade had been silent for most of the meeting, letting the ninja sort things out by themselves, but this question was a bit of a personal matter, she let out a slight grunt and Ryuji picked up on it, "we're not allowed to tell you, it was in his will that you only be told after completing a certain task."

Naruto clenched his fists, "What task?" his voice was agitated. Ryuji shrugged, "we're not allowed to tell you that either. It's very aggravating. One thing for sure, you need to get more powerful. Kyuubi can help you." Naruto responded to the notion with a smirk and a laugh, "Hah, I'll get stronger on my own, without that damn foxes help?" Ryuji seamed unmoved as he spoke, "Suit yourself." He turned to Tsunade, "Tsunade-hime, I think that's all there is to say at the moment."

Tsunade nodded at Ryuji, "you have permission to stay in Konoha as the Ryukage." Hyuga Hiashi had yet another question that had been bugging him, "Hokage-sama, how do you know Ryukage-sama?" Tsunade simply sat back in her chair, "three years ago before I became Hokage I was still traveling around, I made my way up to Ryugakure to do some 'business' and met Ryuji shortly before he left for his training, I had known his father so I took some time to get to know him."

Ryuji seamed to blush a little, "yeah you were the nicest person I'd met in a long time, you were very pretty as well, I've been calling you Tsunade-hime ever since." He looked over to Hiashi, "by the way, I never got your name." Hiashi spoke up in his official tone, "I am Hyuga Hiashi, Head of the Hyuga clan." Ryuji let out a smile, "oh, you must be Hinata-san's father."

Hinata felt her face light up bright red. Hiashi's tone became more inquisitive, "You know my daughter?" Ryuji kept his heartfelt smile, "yes, we got acquainted at the hospital; I am greatly indebted to your daughter." All eyes were on Hinata except for Hiashi who was still asking questions, "How so?" Ryuji rubbed the back of his head with one hand, "well, while in my coma my body kind of started freaking out cause of my Chakra channels and she used your clans Juken to help me, she saved my life."

Hiashi looked over to Hinata who was now feeling like she would pass out at any moment, "is this true Hinata?" She simply nodded her head, "Hai, father." The rookie nine in the room had immediately flooded around Hinata and were exclaiming "wow, way to go, that's amazing. How did you do it?" Hinata was busy answering questions and trying not to faint but she caught a glimpse of her fathers face, it seamed stoic but she could see it, he was proud of her and that made her happy.

Tsunade interrupted the groups yammering with a loud grunt before looking to Ryuji, "Where will you be staying in the village?" Ryuji simply shrugged, "I'll probably just camp out in the woods or somewhere quiet, Kyuhane hates commotions so a nice quiet place in the woods would be good." Hiashi was quick to interject, "Please, Ryukage-sama you can stay at the Hyuga house, we have a special guest room and our compound is very quiet."

Ryuji bowed to Hiashi, "thank you for your offer but I wouldn't want to impose." Hiashi was quick to reply, "not at all, I insist that you stay with us." Everyone else had been listening very intently and Hinata was as red as a beat, Ino quietly leaned into Hinata's ear, "you're lucky, a hot guy like that staying with you." Hinata blushed even darker at the thought. Ryuji had adopted his grin again, "if you truly insist… then I would be glad to accept your offer."

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and now im off to bed...


	7. Family with Demons

Fox of nine tails, Dragon of nine wings

i was planning on having more for this chapter but it was gettin long so i'll stop it here.

please review, it gives me motivation to keep writing.

thank you to all the people that have reveiwed and added this to their favorites so far , i'm writing this for you all.

edit: after reading the most recent review to my story i realized by stopping this chapter where i did i left a lot of things out in the open (which is why the OC seemes more important than naruto...well hes not, trust me everything will begin to make sense in the next chapter i promise)

disclaimer: i dont own naruto.

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Chapter 7: Family with Demons

Hiashi Hyuga held a hint of a smile behind his stoic expression, not only had his daughter given him and the Hyuga clan something to be proud of but he had also managed to get a Kage level guest to take up a residence at his clans main house. Hiashi knew that the more time he had with the Ryukage the more support he could get from the young man. And in Hiashi's eyes there was no such thing as too much support when it came to his clans standing in Konoha.

His stoic nature didn't let his thought slip through as he spoke, "I am honored to have you as our guest Ryukage-sama, if our business here is finished I shall go have your room prepared for you." Tsunade nodded in agreement, there was really nothing more to say at the moment, she would have to sit down and have a one-on-one with Ryuji to get all the details but for now everyone present had enough explanations for the current events. Even though half of them couldn't wrap their brains around what was being explained.

Taking Tsunade's nod as his permission to take his leave Hiashi began to leave the office before being stopped by Ryuji, "Hiashi-san, I have a few things to take care of before I join you at the Hyuga compound." Ryuji turned to face Hinata, "Hinata-san, could you come with me, I don't know my way around yet so I could use your help getting to your home." Hinata had been stunned by the request; she quickly turned to her father to see his nod of approval as he walked out of the office before turning back to Ryuji, "H-Hai Ryuji-san."

Ryuji had adopted that genuine smile, "Thanks' Hinata-san." Tsunade interrupted the moment with an attention grabbing grunt, "Ryuji-san, how long will you be here?" Ryuji's face still held that same smile but a hint of sadness showed through, "my home has been wiped out and Akatsuki is after me, I don't have any other places to go so I'll be staying until I either fulfill my destiny, get found by Akatsuki and I'm forced to flee, or… die."

The room had grown a bit chilly at the words; things were getting more dangerous than ever before. Tsunade broke the eerie silence, "would you like to join team Kakashi for their missions?" Kakashi knew why she was asking, Ryuji and Naruto were cousins and both Jinchuriki, he would be a valuable asset on missions for both his skills and his ability to fight on par with the Kyuubi's chakra cloak. Naruto and Sakura were speechless; Naruto didn't even know if he could trust this guy after what he pulled.

Ryuji shrugged, "I don't think it's a good idea for me to leave the village, especially with Naruto. Akatsuki's waiting to capture Naruto but they want me at all costs. If I'm with Naruto they may decide to capture us both; they'd go all out to get me and currently we aren't prepared for that." His expression was relaxed yet his voice held an air of seriousness. Tsunade let out a small sigh, "I'll trust your judgment on this." She turned her attention to the rest of the Shinobi in the room, "you are all dismissed."

The various ninja began to file out of the office at Tsunade's command; some of the girls were reluctant to leave as they hadn't stopped ogling at Ryuji yet but they still left. After the ninja had left only Tsunade, Ryuji, Hinata, Naruto, and Sakura were in the room. Ryuji bowed to Tsunade, "I'll give you all the details later Tsunade-hime." She just nodded in recognition as he turned and began walking to the door before stopping suddenly, "hey Naruto, where's your favorite place to eat around here?"

Both Tsunade and Sakura mentally sighed at what they knew was coming; Naruto had already adopted his foxy grin and spoke with an exited tone, "the best ramen you'll ever taste, Ichiraku's." Ryuji began walking again, "come on you three, I'm buying." Naruto was about to jump out of his skin in joy, Sakura liked the idea of being treated to dinner, and Hinata was busy trying not to faint from all the blood that had rushed to her head. They all began to walk behind Ryuji before Naruto suddenly stopped, "Hey! Why do you use honorifics for everyone's name but mine?" Ryuji tilted his head and looked over at him, "because we're family."

The walk to Ichiraku's had been rather silent and uneventful, Naruto had lead the way and Ryuji walked close behind him, Hinata was walking beside Ryuji and yet slightly farther away from Naruto and Sakura had been walking at the back of the group. The whole way there she was watching Naruto, even thought he was about to get treated to his favorite meal he still seamed tense to her.

Ayame was happy to see Naruto enter, He was her favorite customer. Sakura had taken the first seat and Naruto had sat in the seat beside her, Ryuji took the seat beside him and Hinata ended up sitting beside Ryuji on the end. Naruto was quick to order and Sakura and Hinata ordered soon after, Ryuji ordered last before propping his elbows on the counter and placing his head on his interlaced hands.

The orders arrived shortly and Naruto had begun digging in, Ryuji slowly ate his ramen, he seamed to be brooding over something. Naruto had already finished his first bowl and was already ordering his second. As it arrived he began to slurp it down as well. Ryuji broke the silence that had come over then since they had ordered, "I guess saying I'm sorry doesn't cut it in this situation."

Both Sakura and Hinata immediately noticed the abrupt stop of the slurping sound from Naruto. They turned to see him sitting still with a string of noodles still hanging from his mouth to the bowl. Sakura wasn't sure if he was going to snap or start choking on noodle. After a moment of painful apprehension Naruto quickly slurped up the rest of the noodles, his expression was serious and yet pained as he spoke, "Don't ever do anything like that again."

Ryuji replied with a troubled tone, "I wish I hadn't done it in the first place…" Naruto tone became more questioning, "then why'd you do it?" Ryuji took a sip of the ramen broth before answering, "It was the only way Kyuhane and I could speak with Kyuu-san." Naruto seamed to be agitated at the name, "why do you give that demon such a friendly name?" Ryuji finished off the rest of his bowl, "Because Kyuhane knows Kyuu-san's true nature, not the malicious façade his fox nature leads him to show."

Naruto ordered up another bowl, "I don't trust that damn fox and I'm not sure I trust you either. I'm not going to rely on Kyuubi's power; I'm going to win with my own power." Ryuji let out a sigh, "you don't get the true relationship between a Jinchuriki and its inhabitant." Naruto seamed to scoff at the notion, "what don't I get?" Ryuji looked at his now empty bowl, "you'll figure it out in time, why does a Jinchuriki die when the inhabitant is removed?"

The silence seamed to last forever, except for the constant slurping sound of Naruto working on his sixth bowl of ramen. Naruto let out a sigh as he finished and slumped into a relaxed position, "Ryuji, Sakura-san thinks you might be a nice guy so I'm not going to deck you in the face every time I see you, but this doesn't mean I trust you." Sakura felt a pang hit her heart, he had used 'san' instead of the usual chan for her name, was he really going to distance himself?

Ryuji seamed to relax, "I need to get some rest, bill please." Ayame brought out the bill and Ryuji pulled a scroll from his pocket, it was black with a gold cloth tying it shut. It sparked Naruto's interest, "what's that?" Ryuji untied the gold cloth, "I keep all my possessions in scrolls, it keeps my load light and less cumbersome, and this scroll carries all my money and… personal items." He unrolled a bit of the scroll revealing a seal with the kanji for money in the center; he waved his hand over the seal as the right amount of cash appeared from it. He handed Ayame the money and put away the scroll as they all got up and left the booth.

As the exited Ichiraku's they were met with a pillar of white smoke that quickly blew away to reveal Kakashi standing there with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his Icha-Icha book. He started with his usual greeting for Naruto, "yo." Naruto got over the initial shock of Kakashi appearing from nowhere pretty fast. He was use to it by now. Sakura however was the first to return the greeting, "Do you need something Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi turned to face Naruto, "actually I need to talk to Naruto." Naruto raised an eyebrow, "what do you need to talk about?" Kakashi talked rather nonchalantly, "well during my stay at the hospital I was thinking about a new kind of training… a kind that only you can do." Naruto's face lit up at the words; "you're going to train me!" he was practically jumping out of his skin. Kakashi showed somewhat of a smile behind his mask, "come to the old training field tomorrow and we'll start."

After Kakashi left Naruto and Sakura went a different way than Ryuji and Hinata, the Hyuga compound was in a whole other district than Naruto's apartment and Sakura's house. Naruto had left on an upbeat note but Sakura seemed to have a nagging thought as she walked off with Naruto, leaving Ryuji and Hinata at Ichiraku's.

Naruto noticed Sakura's expression as they walked, "what's wrong Sakura-san?" she felt the same pang in her heart as the last time he said her name with a 'san', "it's nothing Naruto." Naruto wasn't convinced, "you barely said a word the whole time we were at Ichiraku's." Sakura let out a small sigh to mask the feeling she was having, "I didn't want to interrupt your 'family bonding'." Naruto's face fell, "I'm not sure I'd call him family."

Naruto's voice seemed to quiver for a moment, "not after what he did." Sakura looked to the ground for a moment, can't you give him a chance, and I mean he bought you ramen for goodness sake, normally you'd be raising him to the heavens." Naruto looked up to the starry sky, "it's hard to raise someone to heaven when they put you through hell." Sakura stopped as they reached her house, "just remember, he could of killed any of us anytime during that fight but he didn't, he might not be as bad as you think, especially if he's related to you."

Naruto seemed to perk up at the compliment before giving out a defeated sigh, "all right, I'll give him a chance but just one." Sakura let out a smile before punching him lightly on the arm, "go get some sleep baka, you'll need it for tomorrow." Naruto let out his trademark foxy grin; "goodnight" was his last word before he sprung off out of sight. Sakura smiled at the grin, seeing it made her feel that everything would be all right.

Hinata and Ryuji had been walking towards the Hyuga compound for a few minutes; Hinata was rather nervous that a stranger would be living in the same house as her, the guest bedroom was rather close to hers and she was bound to run into him around the house. She had remained silent for most of the walk; Ryuji had noticed she felt a little uncomfortable around him.

Hinata felt her heart jump when he heard Ryuji's voice, "the stars are out tonight." Hinata had stopped dead in her tracks before quickly turning around, "Ano…" she was about to speak but noticed her was looking up. His hand was in a "look up" gesture. She slowly lifted her head, as she did the star lit sky came into her view, she had been keeping her gaze at the ground the whole time she never noticed the starry sky.

She was captivated by the sight of all the stars sparkling in the darkness. She noticed Ryuji breathing deeply, "Ano…" before she could finish he was already giving an explanation, "I trained up in the mountains of dragon country. Every night there was a clear sky filled with stars, its rather nostalgic…" he seemed to snap himself out of his gaze and brought his eyes back down to meet Hinata's, "it's getting late, we should hurry"

Hinata had barely heard him; she was too busy being absorbed into the gaze of dark violet that was his eyes. She felt that she was becoming lost in the endlessness of their stare. She was only able to let out a soft, "H-Hai…" the single moment seemed as if an eternity in his gaze. She was freed from their hold as he closed his eyes for a moment.

She had regained her thoughts in that moment and when he opened his eyes again her gaze was set on his whole face, as long as she didn't look straight into those eyes she'd be fine. He spoke softly, "lead the way, Hinata-san." She let out a quick, "Hai" before turning back around and continuing to the Hyuga compound with Ryuji walking closely behind.

They arrived at the Hyuga main house shortly after. There they were met by Hiashi and an entourage of Hyuga nobles who greeted him with the upmost respect as the Ryukage. He wasn't taken back by the scene as he must have been use to this sort of treatment. Ryuji bowed politely to all of the Hyuga nobles, thanking them for their hospitality.

After an exchanging of customary pleasantries Hiashi showed Ryuji to the guest room he would be staying in. Hinata was following close behind as her room was in the same direction. She noticed they had begun to slow down as they approached where her room was; the question on her mind was answered quickly as the guest room they had come to was right next to her room.

Hinata wasn't sure what her father was thinking giving him the guest room next to her room, true it was reserved for extremely important guests and was the most accommodating guest room in the main house but it was right next to her room! She felt like she would faint at the thought of him being right across the hall.

Hinata was brought from her embarrassment induced trance by Hiashi and Ryuji talking. Ryuji was thanking him for his hospitality and he was asking if there was anything else he would need. Ryuji simply shook his head, "no, I wont be needing anything else now, I would like to retire for the night." Hiashi nodded, "very well, would you like for us to wake you for breakfast?"

Ryuji bowed, "thank you but that won't be necessary, I'll be waking up very early tomorrow. There are some things I need to attend to." Hiashi bowed before turning and walking past Hinata and disappearing down the hall. Ryuji looked over at Hinata; "goodnight Hinata-san" Hinata replied sheepishly, "g-goodnight Ryuji-sama" Ryuji let out a smirk. "Just call me Ryuji" was the only thing he said before closing the guest room door.

The next morning Hinata had woken up extremely early compared to when she normally did. The fact that she had been waking up every hour or so since she went to bed probably had something to do with it. Knowing she wouldn't be getting back to sleep, she quietly got out of bed and put on a robe for walking about the house. She opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hall.

As she stepped out she found her gaze directed to the guest room across from hers, the one Ryuji was staying in. she remembered that he had said he would be getting up early, she wondered if he was up yet. For how shy Hinata was she was surprised that curiosity got the better of her. She wanted to know what he was going to do so early in the morning.

She looked around the halls to make sure everyone was asleep, of course they were the sun hadn't even broken over the horizon. Only the faint light in the distance slightly illuminated the sky. After making sure one last time she settled sitting down facing the guest room, "Byakugan!" she whispered activating her bloodline limit and allowing her gaze to peer into the room.

Ryuji was sleeping rather comfortably on a black Futon he had brought in a scroll. He seemed to shuffle for a moment in his sleep before beginning to toss around for a moment, he was breathing heavy as his eyes opened and he flung himself into an upright position on his futon. He was still breathing heavily as he put his hand up to his head, "get a hold of yourself Ryuji, it was just a nightmare." was the words he comforted himself with.

After a minute of sitting there he slowly crawled out of his futon and stood. This almost made Hinata faint as she watched. He wasn't wearing a shirt so his toned muscles were out for her to see through the door. His bottom half wasn't much better as all her wore was a pair of boxers. Hinata felt that she would defiantly faint but was knocked out of her thoughts by the sight of Ryuji walking to the door.

Hinata defiantly felt nervous and scared. She had no idea what would happen if she was caught peeking into the guest room. All she could do was watch as he slowly walked up to the door. She felt her heart drop as he reached up towards the door as if to open it. But all of her fear was met with relief when she saw him pull a seal note from a nearby scroll and place it on the door.

As soon as the seal hit the door every surface of the inside of the guest room was covered in a barrier of strong chakra. Hinata was more that curious now, she needed to know what he was doing. She continued to watch through the door as Ryuji pulled a few scrolls from a bag and began to unravel them and summon their contents. When he was done he had set up a several layered barrier not for keeping things out but for keeping things in.

Hinata was watching intently as Ryuji sat down in a meditative position at the center of the seals. He made a single hand seal and held it. She saw as his chakra began to flow through his body and gather in the spiral around his navel. The next moment there was a burst of chakra from the center and like a dam being released a flood of black chakra streamed through his body.

He held his meditative pose not budging; the waves of chakra flooding his body were erratic. She noticed certain glowing points of chakra through his channels. Were those the emotion points he had talked about? The chakra began to increase as one of the points burst in a pulse of chakra and the flow became slightly less erratic.

Hinata was frozen still, absorbed by the sight she was watching. The chakra had begun to exit his body and form around him in a cloak. And then the first wing spread from the back. She watched on as one by one the points in his chakra pulsed out and another wing formed until the fourth wing came and the chakra pouring out began to push against the seals around him.

The cloak had begun to engulf him but it was different this time, the chakra seemed to flow steadier and more controlled as each point pulsed out. Then the chakra began to solidify into what looked like a suit of ninja armor like what the Anbu wore with a dragon mask. But before it could completely form it began to fall apart.

She noticed the chakra coils around his heart begin to twist and bend and the black chakra quickly retreated back into the seal. Little bits of it quickly flowing out and healing the little wounds he had received from the process. When it was over Ryuji was gasping for breath and clenching his chest. Hinata could make out a few words reading his lips, "damn, it's still not stable…"

Hinata wasn't sure if she should just watch or try to help him. He seemed ok; at least he wasn't in any danger. Her heart skipped a beat as he stood up and began to put on his clothes. He was about to exit the room and she was right there. She quickly made her way back into her room and rushed to put on some training clothes, she had to have a good reason for being up so early and training would do.

* * *

alright thats it for this chapter, the next ones goign to cove a lot of ground between this and where the manga is curently, im using the manga as a base to keep things somwhat cannon and beleivable, lol. so i'll be re-reading it as i write to keep things straight in my head, (this may or may not affect the ammount of time before the next chapter gets out.)


	8. The Little Details

Man i've been away for a while, college sucks, well at least my writings improved..... i think. a lot more people like this story than i thought would so this is for all you who've been waiting for the next chapter, enjoy

Ps. I dont own Naruto...... please dont sue me i'm a poor college kid.

Chapter 8: The Little Details

Hinata had very hastily robed herself in training garb and made her way to the closest training ground, which happened to be on the way out of the Hyuga compound. She had begun a set of basic Juken strikes and movements as Ryuji came from the compound, noticing Hinata training in the progress. He turned to face her and watched her move through complex jabs and strikes as she preformed one of the Juken sets. She could feel his eyes trained on her as she moved, the thought bringing a crimson hue to her complexion. With a few more jabs and sweeps she brought the set to an end, returning to the Juken stance before relaxing. Ryuji, seeing she was done, decided to speak, "good morning Hinata-san. You're up quite early."

Hinata had quickly sprung to face him, her heart was beating rapidly now, she wondered if she'd been caught. Calming down she quickly tried to rely to his greeting, "h-hai , Ryuji-sama, I… cou-couldn't sleep w-well last night." She still couldn't believe she was this shy, mentally cursing herself for her stuttering. Ryuji just smiled at her reply before continuing, "Was that your clans Juken style?" Hinata replied in a quick "hai". Ryuji began to step towards her, her heart rate jumping at the action, his words were sincere as he spoke, "if it weren't for you and your clan style I might be dead". Now he was right in front of her, he bowed respectfully, "I'm deeply indebted to you, thank you." Hinata was now very crimson and very much stuttering.

She had also dropped into a respectful bow, "it-it was no-nothing Ryuji-sama." Ryuji seemed to frown playfully, "I thought I said to just call me Ryuji." Hinata's stuttering continued, "I-I'm sorry Ryu-Ryuji…" she brought her head up to find a single finger pressed against her lips in a "shushing" fashion, as Ryuji let out a slight chuckle, "you stutter a lot , you don't have to be so nervous just because I'm a kage." By the time she knew what was going on it was too late, she was already looking in his eyes. Paralyzing her whole being, though that didn't stop her face from lighting up even redder than before. Ryuji removed his finger from hr lips, "I have to go talk to Tsunade-hime about some important details, will you tell your father I'll be back before supper?" Hinata barely made out what he was saying and managed a slight "hai" before Ryuji turned and raised his hand in a "see you later" motion, "thanks Hinata."

As he left the Hyuga compound Ryuji was greeted by the voice of his tenant, "**that was rather unlike you, getting friendly are we." **Ryuji's inner voice replied in a serious tone, "I'm not getting attached Ryu-sama… I never get attached." Kyuhane's response came with a low grunt noise, "**if you don't let the past go you'll never move forward**" Ryuji replied lowly, "if I take a step there might be nothing to go forward to." Kyuhane merely sighed, shortly after Ryuji arrived at the Hokage's office, knocking softly at the door. "Come in Ryuji" was the reply from the door.

Ryuji opened the door to see Tsunade and Jiraya both in the office, "hello Jiraya, Tsunade-hime". Jiraya's face fell comically, "why don't I get an honorific?" a pout formed on his face. Ryuji sighed before pulling a scroll out of one of his pockets and tossing it to Jiraya who gained the look of a perverted monkey, "did you read them all?" Ryuji let out a sigh, "Kyuhane said he enjoyed them, but I thought it best not to read them, I have enough trouble controlling that emotion without your books 'stimulating' it." Jiraya tilted his head to the right in thought, "oh that's right your trigger is…is…" Ryuji interrupted his musing, "I believe the emotion you're looking for is longing."

Ryuji took a seat, Jiraya chiming in, "so I heard they made you Ryukage up there, moving up in the world." Ryuji gave him a look of mock annoyance, "we both know I'm not the one they made Kage…besides the village is gone now." Ryuji turned to face Tsunade, "which brings me to the details. Akatsuki's on the move now, they must have captured all of the other Haneju since they came after me, there were two of them, a guy with a scythe, and a masked one. They came in fast and they didn't stop until it was all over. They caught me when I was meditating; by the time I had returned to normal they had already gone on a massacre. I fought with them for what seemed like an eternity, neither of them seemed human they just kept coming no matter what I threw at them, even my four winged form couldn't stop them, then again I was only in it for a few seconds before my chakra coils twisted up, I had to flee quickly or they would have gotten me too."

Tsunade sat back in her chair taking in the information before uttering a simple "damn". She refocused her attention to Ryuji, "why are they after the Haneju? I thought they only went after Biju." Ryuji visibly sighed, "I think Kyuhane-sama should tell this part." He slowly closed his eyes before opening them again, revealing the newly formed silted crimson. "**It's because of our connection to the Biju.**" Tsunade nodded him on, "which is?" "**We are an existence which has been since far before human's time, we the Haneju were made to be one thing… balancers.**" This time Jiraya spoke out, "balancers for what?" "**The Biju; without us their power would easily exceed all comprehension, the world itself could be torn apart by their sheer presence. That is why we exist, our existence siphons their power." **Tsunade began rubbing her temples, this was becoming even more complicated, "does this work both ways?" "**No, we siphon their chakra dimensionally, a large portion is lost in translation, if we die our matching Biju would no longer have their chakra drained, they would have access to all of it. However if they die we no longer receive chakra from them and we perish soon after.**"

Tsunade sat back in her chair as her features became serious, "So Akatsuki is capturing and killing the Haneju in order to un-limit their sealed Biju?" "**Yes, if I were to die Kyuubi, being the strongest, would gain unimaginable power.**" Jiraya chimes in, "how much more powerful, he could already destroy entire mountains with a single tail?" "**If he were to gain all the power he could wipe an entire country off the map in a single swipe.**" The weight of the words seemed to chill the air of the room before Kyuhane continued, "**Even Kyuubi would not be able to control that much chakra, that is why I exist… to keep order and control.**" Tsunade nodded in understanding, "thank you Kyuhane-san, may I speak with Ryuji now?" "**Certainly Tsunade-hime**" Tsunade closed her eyes for a moment, "you don't have to call me 'hime' great dragon." "**That mans blood runs in your veins, if not for etiquette then out of respect for the man that tamed even our hearts, you are our princess.**" Jiraya eagerly pointed to himself in mock expectance, "what about me?" Kyuhane let out a brief chuckle before closing his eyes with a humored smile, "**Ero-sennin**." Jiraya's face fell.

The eyes opened again to reveal their normal violet hue, "You can see why it's risky for me to be with Naruto outside the village, they need Kyuhane dead to release Kyuubi's full power, even with all the Biju they already possess they haven't used any of their power, my guess is that their technique will only activate with all nine un-limited Biju. We must be careful in how we move for now on." Tsunade rests her head on her propped up hands, "Yes I suppose so, I only have one other question for you Ryuji." Ryuji gave a knowing smile, "you want to know how I pulled off the stunt at the gate against most of your high grade ninjas." Tsunade nodded, "I never recalled you being able to perform that many high level techniques in a row." Ryuji sat back in his chair, "That's because I can't, Kyuhane and I set up the trap techniques the night before so we could spring them in succession. It was our surprise advantage that let us do it; if I had to go against them with no preparation it would have been impossible to do it. My actual level of skill is actually rather low; it's only with Kyuhane's help that I can pull off mastery in combat." Tsunade replied in understanding, "Is that so, I was beginning to think you'd been training like mad." Ryuji let out a chuckle, "I'm afraid my body wouldn't be able to handle that kind of thing, it's a miracle my heart is still going… a miracle named Hinata."

At the last words Jiraya perked up, "ah, I think someone's got eyes for the Hyuga girl." Ryuji's sharp glare made him regret his joke, "You know I don't get attached Jiraya. I won't let what happened last time repeat itself, never again." An awkward silence fell on the room, one that Tsunade broke quickly, "speaking of the Hyuga's; how is your stay with them?" Ryuji shrugged, "it's clear that Hiashi has other motives for housing me, however I can't blame a clan head for wanting to strengthen his clan's position. Overall it has been enjoyable thus far." Tsunade smirked, "I'm surprised he hasn't already tried to make you family." Ryuji sighed audibly, "That would be most troublesome; after all I can no longer feel an attachment of that sort." Jiraya was quick to reply, "That's rather depressing to hear from someone so young." Ryuji replied in turn, "I don't have the same liberties as others my age" he placed a hand on his abdomen "I have a responsibility to bare."

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, "Speaking of which, what do you think of Naruto?" Ryuji placed his hand on his chin as he thought, "I take it that childhood was not so nice to him, no-one knows the truth behind Kyuubi's attack and so he is hated and in turn his host is hated but it would seem that even with all that hatred thrown at him he's managed to thrive in this world, he loves the village despite their treatment of him, I could say that is the Kyuubi's doing." Jiraya spoke up "How so?" Ryuji closed his eyes, "by pretending to be the monster the village describes him as, in doing so he brought all of Naruto's hatred on himself, Naruto can only think of Kyuubi as a monster because that is how Kyuubi has presented himself to Naruto so that he could protect him from his own hatred." Jiraya replied "so the reason the Kyubi's cloak goes out of control is…" Ryuji finishes his sentence for him "because it is unleashing Naruto's anger and hatred, anger is an emotion easily drawn upon for power, and this will make Naruto's training far easier."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow, "Training?" Ryuji gave a comforting smile, "I'm going to teach him how to work together with Kyu-san." Silence descended upon the room for a brief moment before Tsunade broke it "You remember what nearly happened when you trained for the same thing…" Ryuji closed his eyes, "I nearly died, however, Naruto's body is in perfect health, and I will be waiting for him to learn the necessary skills first." Jiraya chimed in "Necessary skills?" Ryuji breathed in slowly, "First he must learn nature manipulation then the training can begin in the first stage." Tsunade spoke up, "I believe Kakashi was going to start training him for that today." Ryuji smiled, "I know, the timing is quite convenient. However, when I do train him I will need two people with me, one medic to heal his wounds, and a Hyuga to fix my chakra coils." Tsunade placed her head on her hands, "Who did you have in mind?" Ryuji looked in her eyes, "that girl Sakura is your apprentice no doubt a healing skill near yours at the time of my training is preferable." Tsunade prompted, "And the other?" Ryuji lay back in the chair, "It will have to be Hinata." Jiraya spoke up as he nudged Ryuji's shoulder, "heh maybe you are getting attached." Ryuji quickly replied, "she's already proven she can do it once, her ability to untangle my chakra coils requires both speed and a nack for guessing where the coils will move when she strikes, when she fixed them the first time she had to guess where they would move and in turn hit spots to move them intricately, I could feel it as she worked it was rhythmic like a song."

Tsunade interrupted,"What makes you think she can pull it off again? You could seriously die this time if you go overboard!" Ryuji replied calmly, "while Naruto is training with Kakashi I will train Hinata." Jiraya quirked an eyebrow, "How do you train someone to do something that relies totally on instinct?" Ryuji simply smiled, "With practice of course!" Tsunade immediately stood up from her seat "No way, you are not going to exert yourself to strain your coils just so she can practice fixing them!" Ryuji motioned for her to calm down, "It's alright Tsunade-hime; I'll be using shadow clones for the practicing." Tsunade replied in turn "when the clone dissipates you'll feel everything it felt!" Ryuji stood and placed his hands on Tsunade's shoulders "With the danger that's coming our way it is well worth it." Tsunade sat back down, "and what does Kyuhane have to say about this?" Ryuji scratched his head, "He said 'do whatever you want idiot'. If we're gong to do this we need to start now, there's no time to waste." Tsunade sighed heavily, "Then you better get going idiot." Ryuji stood up, "hai" he quickly moved over to the window and opened it, "I'll be using the window, thank you Tsunade-hime, Ero-sennin." And with that he jumped out the window and began running across the roof tops to the training grounds where Naruto should be.

Upon reaching the training grounds Ryuji could see Naruto and Kakashi in the clearing Naruto had summoned thousands of clones and each one was holding a leaf and they were running their chakra through it. "I see, Kakashi is a smart man, this way he'll learn it in no time at all. Guess I should start as well." Ryuji turned around and bolted through the woods back to the Hyuga compound. Looking at the sky he could see it was getting late, "opps, at this rate I'll be late for dinner." Quickly making a few hand-seals Ryuji muttered a technique under his breath and vanished leaving a burst of wind in his wake.

Walking through the halls toward the dinning hall Ryuji bowed to the Hyuga guards as he passed them, they in turn bowed deeply to him. Being bowed to so reverently never settled well with him, he didn't like being treated like royally or someone of great importance, even though he was still Ryukage in name his village was destroyed and it's people massacred, the only traces of the village now was the few who escaped the onslaught and those who lived out in the mountain ranges, needles to say that was not many, and each death weighed heavily on his mind. After a few more moments of walking he reached the dinning hall and the two guards keeping watch over it opened the door for him as he walked through. The Hyugas had already been seated as Ryuji was a few minutes late. He deeply bowed to the high ranking Hyugas that sat at the table, "I'm very sorry for my lateness, I was in a meeting with the Hokage and it seemed to last longer than expected." Hiashi was quick to dismiss the notion, "Its no problem at all, a person in a position such as yours has many duties to fulfill, come now and join us." At this Hiashi motioned towards the seat next to him, which also happened to be next to Hinata, Ryuji could see what he was trying to do and held back the smirk at the thought, "Thank you for your understanding." Ryuji then took the seat offered to him and picked up the chopsticks on his plate and began to eat.

Hiashi attempted to start a conversation, "My daughter tells me you left quite early this morning, it must have been very important for it to have taken all day." Ryuji smiled and humored him, "Indeed, the events that have begun to unfold are very unfortunate, we must plan ahead to avoid the same tragedy that befell my village. You have very talented ninja here in the hidden leaf and the state of peace is refreshing." Hiashi continued, "thank you very much for your praise, the Hyuga take pride in being some of the most powerful ninja the hidden leaf has." Ryuji noticed Hinata's look of detachedness from the other Hyuga, "Yes indeed, I was very impressed with the abilities of your Juken style, and I was very impressed with Hinata's abilities. At this all eyes turned to Hinata and she flushed the color of a ripened tomato before speaking, "R-Ryukage-sam-ma you h-honer me with s-such words." Ryuji was quick to notice the Hyuga elders surprise at his words and realized just how Hinata was viewed by the clan, "Nonsense, you're ability is quite amazing, and as a matter of fact I would like to ask for your assistance in my current endeavor." At this point the Elders were shocked, Hiashi was both in awe and overjoyed at the thought of his daughter spending time with the Ryukage, and Hinata, well Hinata was about to pass out. Hiashi spoke up first, "what is it you would like her help with?" Ryuji finished eating his piece of sushi, "I am going to be training a certain individual, and in the process I will most likely need the Juken's ability to manipulate chakra coils… to keep me from dying." The words weighed heavily on the room. Hiashi was quick to speak, "who will you be training that you would risk your life for?" Ryuji finished his drink, "Naruto Uzumaki." At the words Hinata immediately perked up, her thoughts were everywhere but the thought of helping Naruto filled her with joy, but the thought of holding Ryuji's life in her hands was nerve-wracking

Hiashi was happy that the Ryukage asked her his daughters help but he was equally nervous about placing his life and the clan's reputation in her hands. Hiashi was about to speak when Hinata spoke up, "Ryukage-sama, I am unsure of whether or not I am capable of performing such a task again, are you certain you wish for me to do it?" Hiashi was about to scold his daughter for questioning the Ryukage when Ryuji looked Hinata straight in the eyes and said, "I trust you." Those three words quieted Hiashi's thoughts of scolding his daughter all together. And Hinata was once more lost in those eyes, those violet orbs that made her feel that everything would be alright. With a quick bow to Ryuji Hinata quickly replied , "Hai"

After dinner the Hyuga's parted from the table and made their way to their respective rooms, Ryuji and Hinata walking side by side until they reached their rooms, Ryuji turned to Hinata, "thank you for helping me out, you're the only one I know that can do this." Hinata became her shy self again, "I w-will try my b-best to help you Ryuji-sa…" she could feel his finger on her lips again, and she turned bright red. Ryuji chuckled, "remember what I said about the honorifics, it's just Ryuji. Goodnight Hinata" as he began to enter his room Hinata regained her composure and quickly stammered out, "good night Ryuji-sa….Ryuji."

Morning arrived soon after and with it Ryuji and Hinata were in the training grounds, Ryuji explained what he was going to try and teach her, "I'm going to summon a shadow clone and have it use too much chakra and twist the chakra coils, after that I want you to try and use Juken to fix the coils to their proper place, if you don't do it right or in time the shadow clone will disperse. Don't worry if you don't get it right the first few times, I can make plenty of clones so just take your time and do your best ok." Hinata nervously let out a "Hai" and with that Ryuji summoned a shadow clone, the clone then began to mold chakra, with her Byakugan Hinata could see the coils begin to twist under the strain of the chakra until the chakra flow became erratic and the heart began to beat wildly as the clone dropped to the floor. Hinata quickly rushed over to the clone and began using Juken; however the clone's heart stopped and it disappeared. Hinata let her head drop, but Ryuji just put his hand on her shoulder and said, "lets go again." And well from morning into the afternoon Hinata practiced.

Sometime into the afternoon Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame arrived at the Hyuga compound to pick up Hinata to hang out, when they got there they found her and Ryuji at the training grounds, Hinata was covered in sweat and Ryuji was sitting on a nearby rock, they saw as Ryuji summoned a clone and it began to mold chakra and as the clone collapsed Hinata began using Juken however the clone only lasted three seconds before disappearing. Hinata sat back on the ground and saw her teammates as she looked up, "Shino-kun, Kiba-kun, what are you doing here?" Kiba replied in a annoyed tone, mostly directed at Ryuji, "we came to pick ya up to hang out but it looks like you're busy." Hinata quickly explained to her teammates what she was doing and Shino suggested hanging around for moral support. Kiba made a face at Ryuji, "your working her to death while you sit on that rock there nice and cozy." Ryuji sighed and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah I suppose it's a little unfair." Kiba was about to protest Ryuji's attitude when Shino skipped in, "how many Shadow clones have you gone through so far?" Ryuji answered, "We've been at it since early this morning so about six-thousand five hundred or so." Shino gave Ryuji a knowing look before telling Kiba to sit down with him away from the training. Hinata stood back up, "I'm ready to start again." Ryuji replied by summoning another shadow clone. As they watched Hinata perform Juken Shino watched Ryuji closely. And at the point when the clone dispersed he noticed a slight cringe in Ryuji's demeanor. Kiba was quick to badmouth Ryuji, "Man just look how he sits there doing nothing, I can't stand it." Shino quietly spoke, "Kiba, do you know what happens to the original when a shadow clone disperses?" Kiba replied, "nah, what happens?" Shino continued, "The clones memories and experiences are transferred back to the original." Kiba snorted, "Yeah so?" Shino kept looking at Ryuji, "those clones are dying of heart failure, and he's been doing this since morning; imagine feeling yourself die painfully thousands of times over and over." Kiba couldn't speak, he just stared at Ryuji and then turned back to Shino,"does…." Shino interrupted, "No, Hinata doesn't know what happens every time she fails. He knows its better that way; she'd only feel guilty if she knew." Kiba just stared at the two training, "he's something else." Shino spoke unemotionally , "He trusts her…"


End file.
