Never Alone Part 5.

Chapter XIV
Confrontation with a Demon


The next day Naruto got up early to go meditate and have a talk with the demon. He was in the forest in the lotus position, and then in the next minute he was standing in front of the cage and saw the eyes and mouth of the demon.
“Is there a new jutsu that I can learn from you, because I need to be stronger?” Naruto felt that he could have done more against the “Demon of the Mist”.
“How dense are you boy? You are one of the strongest ninja and you want to be stronger. Don’t make me laugh.” the demons voice echoed in Naruto’s mind.
“I can show you only moves that would be dangerous to you and to others around you but give you immense power.” the demon found that the boy did want to learn the techniques. He told him that he would teach him but that for now he should pay attention to his surroundings because someone was coming.
Naruto awoke to see a person picking herbs near to where he was, but the person came up to him and asked him what he was doing. He answered by telling the person that he was meditating. The person asked Naruto his name and he told him his name, and when Naruto asked the person for a name. He was answered with a simple “Haku”, and the person left the forest area and when the person was out of ear shot he said something, “That guy was weird, that and the dress thing was creepy.” Naruto got up and left for Tazuna’s house. He met Tazuna’s daughter and she told him that they had left early and she was told to inform Naruto where to catch up with them. He left and on his way to the bridge he found a dead pig with kitana slashes across its body and the trees were marked as well, and the trail headed towards Tazuna’s house. So as fast as he could he went back and found Tazuna’s grandson fending off two henchmen with a stick and just when they were going to cut him and the boy’s mother they were knocked out from behind by Naruto and a swift kick to their heads. They tied them up and Naruto told the kid that it was a brave thing to defend his mother. Naruto left and headed for the bridge, after finding out about Gato’s plan for Zabuza from the henchmen.
Meanwhile at the bridge Sasuke was fighting the masked ninja and Kakashi was waiting for his chance to strike at Zabuza without getting Tazuna killed. Sasuke was using what he was taught to make himself faster and quicker on his feet.
Zabuza was making mist spread across the bridge and hindering Kakashi’s line of sight. Sakura had been ordered to stay with Tazuna and protect him. The last thing both Kakashi and Sakura saw was Sasuke being surrounded by mirrors of ice and the sound of Sasuke being attacked. That was when there was a huge explosion and the mist quickly disappeared and what they saw next was Naruto inside the dome of ice mirrors grabbing hold of the masked ninja’s arm and held him. He pulled the person toward him and punched him into the ground nearly taking the persons head off but only stunning him. He grabbed Sasuke and they were out of the dome as it began to disappear and they stood in front of Zabuza. Naruto told Zabuza what the henchmen had told him and that was when Gato appeared with over thirty men.
“Well speak of the devil.” Zabuza’s anger could be felt in his voice, but instead of attacking Gato he walked over to the masked ninja who now appeared to be the boy Haku Naruto had met and put him on his shoulder. Zabuza told Kakashi that their quarrel was over and asked if he could take out the trash for him. Kakashi gave a simple nod and Zabuza left with the Haku on his shoulder.
Kakashi told team seven that the one who takes out the most henchmen gets a free meal on him but that Gato was his. It was over in a matter of minutes, with Kakashi now holding Gato over the edge of the bridge and telling him that if he ever bothered the Wave Country again he would personally take him out and he wouldn’t even have to try hard. He threw the pudgy man over the small gap of bridge that was left and they saw him running for his life. That was when they turned around and saw the villagers with simple weapons ready to fight. But they were informed that they were a little late to help out, but that Gato would not be bothering them any time soon.
Naruto only made a group of fifty clones and they got to work finishing the bridge with the help of the rest of the village. They were done before 2 o’clock and gathered their belongings so they could leave. They were sent off by a very large crowd and crossed the bridge on foot. They had not seen Tazuna put up the bridges name; it was a decorative piece of wood that read “The Great Naruto Bridge”.

Chapter XV
The Return to Konoha


The trip back had been very uneventful but Naruto had spotted a set of bracelets in a shop window of a small village. When he asked about them he found that they were meant for a couple and were not meant to be split up for it would bring bad fortune to the wearer of either. On one was a fox and was colored red, on the other was a crane and was colored pale white with a dark purple in the feathers. He paid the man and caught up with the team and they were talking about how the chunnin exams in Suna had gone. Naruto had attended many chunnin exams as a spectator and they had all ended with only one or two people actually becoming chunnin at any exam.
They had arrived in almost no time and found that most of their friends had time off after Naruto asked if any other teams were off. They were debriefed and told to go and check in with the hospital to see if they were all right. They were cleared and they had four days of rest before they were to be assigned another mission.
They parted ways with Sakura going to go visit her parents and Lee, and Sasuke saying he needed to go see someone but not specifying who the person was. Kakashi told Naruto that he had to go visit a friend and disappeared, Naruto was happy that it had gone back to normal so fast. Naruto went home to change and take a shower so he could smell nice for Hinata, but when he got home he decided to tell Neji about his unsealing jutsu. He got home and Neji was with Tenten on the couch and he was reading a book. Naruto asked if he could tell Neji something in private and they went to the kitchen. Naruto told Neji that they could release him from the seal and that he could do it in the next hour but he wanted Neji to know that it might be painful and that it might anger the Hyuuga clan. Neji thought it over and decided to do it but before that he had to tell Tenten why he had always covered his forehead and explain it to her that he was going to completely withdraw from the Hyuuga. Naruto waited for Neji to finish his conversation and when Neji told Tenten she told him that she wanted to be there when he became his own man. She told him that she wanted to be there for an important part of his life. Naruto told Neji to lie down on the ground and not to move and that he was not sure how much it would hurt. Naruto took off Neji’s Hitae-ate and handed it to Tenten who was sitting to the left of the Hyuuga
Naruto placed his palm over the boy’s forehead and covered the seal, with his other hand he began a series of hand seals that for some reason or other didn’t seem right or at least that’s what Tenten thought. Naruto’s hand which was over Neji’s head was beginning to glow when Naruto finished it with the seal for fire and the boy suddenly cried out and clenched the carpet under his hands and tried as hard as he could not to scream. Neji felt like his forehead was a blaze and his skin was boiling, but he didn’t move and the pain began to die down. Naruto told Neji that he was done and when he removed his hand he saw that the mark was gone and so was the pain. Tenten was so happy to see that he didn’t have the seal and now he was his own person, but Neji felt that a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Naruto just thought that even if Hinata was placed the mark she could have it removed by him.
He grabbed his coin purse and left for the Hyuuga manor, on his way he met up with Sakura and Lee, he saw that they were eating curry in a nearby restaurant. And just like Lee she had ordered the spiciest curry in the shop. He said his hello’s and after fifteen minutes he left and on his way out he saw Sasuke, but he was with Ino and Naruto didn’t want to interrupt. He was near the Hyuuga manor when he met with some more of his friends, Shikamaru and Choji, and they were headed to the restaurant Naruto had just left. He told them that he might meet up with everyone a little later after he had a talk with Hinata, and maybe be introduced to her teammates.
He got to her house and asked to see her but he was told that she was training with her teammates at the number three training grounds. He decided to go see her and meet her teammates and test them to see if they were strong enough to protect her. Even as he thought that, he knew that Hinata was strong in her own right and decided that he should test her along with her teammates. He got to the training ground in a couple of minutes and saw that they still had more than an hour till their time was up. So he decided to watch them train, he stepped into the training grounds and as he neared the area where he felt chakra being used. He stuck to the trees and saw that they didn’t take it easy when they trained, as he saw Hinata going against both her teammates one seemed to be wearing a parka and fighting with a dog, and the other using a swarm of bugs to attack Hinata. He was pretty sure that the one with the dog was and Inuzuka and the one with the bugs was an Aburame. Guess they teamed up the three strongest clans together and Naruto was happy that Hinata was in good hands. They stopped when the Aburame raised his hand and sent a flurry of bugs towards Naruto but before they attacked Naruto called out that he was there and came out of the trees but not before applauding the Aburame on detecting him.
He stood himself next to Hinata after she hugged him and pecked a kiss on Naruto’s cheek. After a moment of blushing on both their sides Hinata introduced Naruto to her teammates.
“This is Inuzuka Kiba.” she pointed to the one in the parka just then the dog brushed up against Hinata, “Oh yes and this little fuzz ball is Akamaru his companion.” Hinata then introduced her other teammate. “This is Aburame Shino.” Hinata looked at Naruto expecting some critic on her teammates, but found only a fond smile that almost made her melt. Naruto asked them if they didn’t mind him joining in on their training, and was answered with a welcoming answer.
He told them that he wanted to see them work together so he told them that he would be an enemy ninja and that they didn’t have to hold back in any of their moves. They felt that he was put at odds but Hinata agreed and since she had seen what Naruto had done to Neji, she didn’t want to underestimate the blonde.
They were ten feet away from Naruto when they told him that he had a ten second head start, but he stood there until the ten seconds were up. Kiba jumped at Naruto and was quickly put down with a roundhouse kick to the stomach, as he tried to catch his second wind; Shino lifted his arms and out of them flew a large swarm of bugs. Naruto knew what the bugs were and thought better than staying in one place, he pulled a smoke bomb from his sleeve and before he threw it he pumped a large amount of chakra into the bomb. When he threw it he made sure to aim it between them and Shino, so they would get confused as to where Naruto was. He ran around the smoke and came up on Shino, but before he could connect a punch Hinata had intercepted Naruto and hit his arm with her Jyuunken disabling it in the moment when he was going to attack Shino. He did a back flip using his working arm to catch himself on a tree branch and wait them out for a while. He needed to pump some chakra into his arm to fix it but it might give out his location, but he decided to do it anyway, since the dog might sniff him out in a moment. He released the demon chakra but when he did that he did it a little too strong and found that his fangs almost extended and his nails grew a little into claws.
“I can’t let Hinata look at me like the demon fox.” Naruto used a clone to call Hinata out and told her that he had to finish their fight and that he had to talk with her team about something personal. With the little time her team had Naruto told them about himself and saw the reaction in Kiba who said that it must be awesome to have a demon inside you. Shino on the other hand didn’t seem to care or seemed as if he might have known.
Yet it wasn’t the other’s reactions he was worried for, but Hinata’s. He saw in her eyes what she might have been told about the demon, and most likely was thinking if Naruto was the demon in possession of the blondes’ body. Naruto said it straight out “I am me and the demon is only sealed in me, and it’s me who love’s you. But if you don’t want to stay with me I understand.” Naruto was about to turn around when he was caught by a sudden kiss from the raven haired girl. As their lips parted she whispered that she loved him too. Naruto almost cried out of sheer happiness, but held back because he wanted to ask Hinata if she wanted to talk with Neji about something that happened while she was gone. So she said her goodbyes to her team and walked hand-in-hand to Naruto’s apartment to pay a visit to her cousin.
They arrived in a few minutes and when Hinata entered the first thing she saw was that Neji did not have his hitae-ate and that the seal on his forehead was gone. Along with that she saw a rare sight; Neji was smiling and laughing at something Naruto had said. She almost cried out of happiness for her cousins, and she grabbed Naruto’s hand and looked into his eyes and he knew she was thanking him for helping out her cousin.
Neji told Naruto that a message had been sent to him from the Hokage and that it was urgent. Naruto opened the scroll and read that he would be given something the next day and that it pertained to his family. Naruto was intrigued and found that it was going to be a great week because he was going to find out some things about his family. He told Neji if he wanted to join them for an early dinner and told him that it was his treat. Neji and Tenten followed the blonde and raven haired couple back to the restaurant where everyone had gone, even Hinata’s team was there and they had already ordered their meals. Naruto talked with the nearest waiter and asked where the private rooms were and was answered with a condescending smile. Naruto was told by the man that those were for only the most important people of the village. Naruto again pulled out another card and was immediately told to follow the man, Naruto told his party to follow him and they did. They were seated in a very large round table and Naruto was next to Hinata still holding her hand, the other couples sat together and the single ones didn’t really seem to be bothered about not being with anybody. They got their food and finished in a short while, but after dessert they began to have conversations about their days. No one really noticed that most of the time Naruto would sneak kisses with Hinata as they shared their sundaes.
Naruto was telling his story to Hinata about his mission to the Wave Country, but when he got to the part where he mentioned Haku’s name he saw Hinata’s eye’s go wide and Kiba and Shino pay closer attention to his story. After he saw that something was wrong he asked Hinata why she was looking at him the way she was. She answered that she had met a ninja named Haku and described to Naruto the exact person he had also met. They had gone on a mission together with Haku’s team to protect a lord in a country between Konoha and the Village hidden in the Mist. They had fought a small assassination attempt on the lord but put it down in a few minutes. Naruto informed the girl that he had not killed Haku but only knocked him out, so it put her a little at ease.
When they were all ready to leave they said their goodbyes and the boy’s all said that they would walk their date’s home. Naruto told Sakura and Neji that they would probably train after his meeting with the Hokage the next day, but told Lee that he might spar with him before he trained the pink haired girl and the long haired boy. As they walked Naruto had his hand in Hinata’s and when he put his other hand in his pocket he felt the bracelets and pulled them out. He explained to Hinata about the bracelets and gave her the one with the fox and placed it upon her wrist and she placed the crane upon his wrist. And he told her that the bracelets will remind them of each other when they are apart. Hinata hugged him and they continued their walk towards her house and they were there in a few minutes but before they got there Hinata Grabbed Naruto’s hands and pulled him towards her and placed among him another of the kisses that seem to last a lifetime. Naruto could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat.
They got to her house and found that Hiashi had been waiting for Hinata, and when he saw that Hinata was with the blonde Naruto felt the killer intent towards him and it put him on guard. When he got to the front of the manor Hiashi told Naruto that the next day they would fight and it would decide if Naruto ever saw Hinata again. Hinata was shocked at the sudden outburst from her father. He was usually smart and cool headed but his temper must have overpowered his intelligence. Naruto cleared up the details and when an agreement was reached the both of them shook hands on it Hiashi of course squeezed as tightly as he could but ended up with bruised knuckles. Hinata kissed Naruto goodnight and told him that she wanted him to win. When she went inside Naruto was happy that he wouldn’t have to hurt anyone else and that he was one fight away from being able to go out with Hinata as many times as he wants without fighting.


Chapter XVI
Fighting For Love


That night it wasn’t to easy to sleep for the blonde and the night seemed to make him have a cold sweat. He had another dream of the demon fox this time when he met him the fox took the form of the fourth hokage which he had done only a few times before and he hadn’t ever taken the forms of any other humans stating that the only human he resects is the Fourth because he had given his life for his people, along with the fact that he had been the only one to defeat him. When Naruto asked why he had taken the form again he was answered with the demon telling him that he was going to be taught a new move and when Naruto heard this he jumped in the air but it was all still in his mind. The demon told Naruto that he needed to transport the move into his mind so he would know what to do but that it would hurt. The Demon told him that it would give him an hour long headache and might change his physical appearance a little, enough so people would still be able to recognize him but a change none the less.
Naruto accepted the change and stood in front of the Demon, a sudden line of chakra linked the demon to the boy and it made him want to fall to his knees. Naruto took the pain and found that he was beginning to remember moves he had never done and saw that he was getting better at doing them with each passing second. Then everything went black and he was in front of the demon again, this time he was in his Kyuubi form and with his deep voice laughed an evil sounding cackle.
Naruto awoke and his head hurt just like the demon had said it would, but he felt as light as air and could swear that he had floated off the ground for a second and then he felt really sore but the demon chakra got to work and began soothing his muscles. And he inventoried his own chakra and found it had grown by almost a half and that’s when he began wondering what he had learned and he began remembering. He had learned a new fighting style, but what shocked him was that when he checked the mirror he saw himself with red-orange streaks mixed with sky-blue ones in his blonde hair now three different colors. And he saw that his build had defined itself and he had grown a few inches. He was in a daze and didn’t see himself tip over a glass of water placed on the sink but before he even saw the glass it was in his hand and not a drop was spilled. Out of nowhere the mater began to boil and when he freaked out the water suddenly froze and the sudden change broke the glass but his hand came out of it unscathed. He went to his bed and began meditating, he was in front of the cell and the smile was there.
“What did I learn and how do I control it?” Naruto asked the Kyuubi afraid to do anything lest he freeze or burn something. He was answered by a laugh and an explanation, he was then told that he was taught the “Style of Reflex” and was given power over fire and ice. He shown how to control his new powers and found that he could mix them and cause even greater devastation. When the Kyuubi was done explaining the powers he told Naruto that he should try using the Rasengan while using his new powers.
Naruto came out of the meditation and got ready for his meeting with the Hokage and his day of fighting. And with his new powers he was up for anything, except what people might think of his hair, but he thought that it did look kind of cool. Yet when he walked people did stare at him and were amazed at his appearance, and when he got to the Hokage’s office he had to show his identification card so they would believe it was him. The Hokage asked what had happened and why Naruto seemed to give off a stronger chakra signature. Naruto told him that he’s been training hard and as to the hair he told him that he felt he needed a change, and went with changing his hair color.
The Hokage went on with business by telling Naruto that he was considered an adult to the village since he was a ninja and with that he can now claim his right as the last Uzumaki. Naruto didn’t know who the Hokage was talking about, until he was told that it had been his clan. Naruto’s eye’s widened as the Hokage pulled a scroll out of his robe and unsealed it, and then read from it when he unfolded it
“Uzumaki Naruto, as the last heir to the Uzumaki line I grant thee the wealth of the Uzumaki clan and the manor in which you were born. Along with that I pass on a scroll that will teach you our legacy and the reason why you are the last Uzumaki, but you are my son. The son of the Fourth Hokage, and I give you the Uzumaki family weapon ‘Tear Fallen from Heaven’ a kitana that has been used by every member of the Uzumaki clan.” at that time two ANBU captain’s came up next to Naruto and handed him the kitana in it’s sheath and the scroll with more papers. Right as the Hokage continued reading Naruto pulled the sword from the sheath, and the Hokage read “Only the last heir to the Uzumaki line can unsheathe the blade from its protector, the sheath itself.” The Hokage was happy to see that Naruto was indeed the son of his student and proud to know that the Uzumaki line had not died with the Fourth.
The Hokage continued reading the scroll, “I am sorry that I could not be there to see you grow up and I believe your mother is happy to see how you turned out, Kami rest her soul. The scroll will show you your family history and how I and your mother met. I hope that someday you will understand why I placed upon you the burden of carrying the demon and why I gave my life for the village. Remember that your mother and I will always love you, so make us proud and protect the village.” the Hokage rolled the scroll back up and handed it to Naruto who sat in his chair soaking up all he had just been told.
He had family and his parents loved him, he was finally able to get some closure on the subject. Naruto found that he wasn’t crying but smiling at the fact that he had never been alone, and he now knew what his father felt for the village because he now had so many important people to protect as well. And he had been handed down a beautiful weapon and had felt the power when he held it. Naruto was told that he could leave, and after saluting the Hokage he decided on going to fight Hyuuga Hiashi so he could go out with Hinata without having to fight anyone else. He got to the manor in half the time it usually took him and he was not even sweating and he figured that he must now be able to regulate the thin layer of air around him to a comfortable temperature. Mostly because everyone was sweating because the sun was beating down on everyone and it was muggy, but Naruto didn’t feel anything. He knocked on the door and was welcomed by the gate keeper, and he was escorted to the Hyuuga practice grounds but most of them were staring at his hair, increase in height, and build. But most of them could feel the power in the child and they all felt a little relieved that they weren’t the one fighting him.
Hiashi looked at Naruto as he entered the grounds and laughed at the multi-colored hair. Hinata saw Naruto and looked at him with a puzzled look and when he looked back at her she had a blush in her cheeks. Naruto told Hiashi that he was ready and Hiashi added one last part to the bet and it was that if Naruto lost he would arrange Hinata’s wedding and that Naruto would not be allowed to see her ever again. Naruto got a little angry at Hiashi’s presumption, and Hiashi felt the anger and so did most of the onlookers.
Hiashi went into his stance and turned on his Byakugan, and after doing so he lunged at Naruto which was pretty fast, but to Naruto it seemed that the man was taking an eternity. So Naruto jumped at Hiashi mid run and with one swift kick sent him flying into the air but he wasn’t going to do the hidden lotus. He had other plans for the man, he caught Hiashi in mid air and kicked him on the side of the head following with a backhand punch to the ribs and before he hit the ground Naruto drew up a Rasengan and slammed it into the mans stomach.
The man hit the ground and the dirt flew fast and high into the air, no one saw anything for five minutes until the dirt settled and Hiashi’s limbs could be seen in the ground and a large crater where Hiashi was laying. His guards ran to his side but he was knocked out cold and they were all afraid that he would die, but Naruto was there so he did his thing and healed the ungrateful man and was taken inside. Hinata went to Naruto and told him that she was glad he won but that she had to make sure her father was okay.
Naruto just thought, ‘You’re too good of a daughter Hinata and that is one reason I love you.’ after that he waited for them to tell him something, but nothing came. Naruto was called into the manor and told that Hiashi was to speak to him in private and that Hinata would join them in the conversation. Hiashi talked with Naruto that he would be proud if Hinata went out with him and Naruto asked the nurse if he had hit Hiashi’s head to hard and maybe Naruto was out and he was just hallucinating. Hiashi explained to him that the counsel had put him up to it and that he was happy to see his daughter happy and that if he had not done what he did to Neji he would have been killed as a traitor. This angered Naruto but he was glad that he had the blessings of Hinata’s father. When he told Naruto that he was most likely to be dropped as the head of the clan and his family banished from the Hyuuga Manor and placed the branch family seal. Naruto Told Hiashi who he was and told Hiashi that if they did do what he said he would help them and release them from the seal and that they could live with him at the Uzumaki Manor, even though he had never seen how big it was. Hiashi had been wide eyed since Naruto had mentioned that he was an Uzumaki, because he knew that the Fourth had been an Uzumaki, and that Naruto did resemble the Fourth.
Naruto made agreements with Hiashi and talked with Hinata about the plan, but when he talked with her she couldn’t believe him. So he gave her the headband of the Head of the Hyuuga house and she knew that Naruto was not lying. He told her that he would meet her later and take her out to dinner, but that he needed to go and train Neji and Sakura.