Agent's Spiel: Sorry for the second round of delays, nothing serious I'm just not good at multi-tasking. As soon as I can come up with an excuse that doesn't include me tying up my hands by knitting at my computer, I'll give you an excuse (in my defense the socks were totally worth it).

This chapter starts out really talkie...sorry; actually it stays pretty dialogue heavy. I seem to have lost the ability to write good stuff other than dialogue (I'm not even saying my dialogue is that good, it's just better than the other stuff).

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters from said manga. They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and a number of other interested companies.

"You said Mizuki-sensei told you," Sakura stated as soon as they were securely in Naruto's room. She felt a bit bad about leaving Rishito so suddenly, but it was hard enough to get Naruto to talk about himself without someone he didn't really know being present.

"Yeah..."

"I thought that meant when he started teaching you at the Academy when you were like...I don't even know when he started teaching you. Why didn't you find out until after you graduated? No wait don't lie. How did you graduate in the first place? Your records say you failed the exam."

"Do we have to do this now?" Naruto asked edging away from her. "I mean he's kind of already confused and in a new city and we couldn't find his parents anywhere. I don't think we should leave him alone."

"Rishito's nine, he can handle taking a nap on his own. I don't know if you really don't think this is important or if you're just scared or what but I can't figure anything out if you're lying to me to."

Naruto glared at Sakura for a moment before sighing, "What is there to figure out?"

"The council is using you against Tsunade and you're in danger from the Akatsuki. I know we're not strong enough to take on the Akatsuki – even though I wish Tsunade would at least tell me what's being done about them – but maybe we can figure out a way to get the council off your back. When you get promoted we can start doing missions again; you remember those right? Where we actually get to use the skills we're learning right now? I think the council might have been doing the same thing to the Third as they're doing to Tsunade. If you can tell me...anything about the academy, your life, what you actually know not about ramen or how much you like to train or how you want to become Hokage, maybe we can figure it out." Sakura paused in her rant to let out a deep sigh, glancing at Naruto long enough to make sure he was still looking at her. "As long as Tsunade is handling the council, I don't think she can focus on us and that means we're both stuck here as little more than students. How long can you take that?"

"Are you done yelling at me?" Naruto asked pouting at her.

"I'm not yelling and you know it," Sakura sniffed. "What's going on isn't fair! You know it and you just brush it off every time. That was the first time you've even gotten close to being angry about what happened to you. We can do something about this but that means you have to help me."

Naruto remained silent as he considered Sakura's words, but she didn't give him much time before continuing.

"I know I was a bad teammate because I was so focused on Sasuke."

"You weren't-"

Sakura shook her head when Naruto tried to interrupt. "When you promised to bring him back I swore that I would help and when we became a team again I wouldn't repeat my mistakes. I'm scared that if we don't start working together now, that day might not come anyways and it will be partly our fault because we didn't do anything to stop the council from doing whatever it is they're trying to do. It's not like we can take them on entirely but we can at least remove ourselves from the picture. We can either be angry we're being ignored...like I've done for the last week, and probably cause even more problems for her," she admitted, "Or we can make sure she has nothing to worry about when it comes to us."

"What does that have to do with me and my graduation?" Naruto grumbled in embarrassment.

"You're lack of graduation is on record. But here you are a Genin. You should be a Chuunin but you're not. I think it means they tried to do this before but the Third managed to get around it. If you can tell me what happened maybe we can find a way to repeat it the next time you take an exam. Kiba really wanted to work with us and since Shino was promoted you could probably take the next with them or even with Ino and Chouji. But if Tsunade can't find a way to work around them then it could take years and I know you don't want to stay a Genin that long."

"It's pointless," Naruto stated, holding up a hand before Sakura could gather her breath enough to retort. "The graduation thing was a fluke, well not the not graduating part, I just failed the practical. But the other thing...the Third didn't really have anything to do with it and the fact that the council didn't step in probably meant I wasn't high on their list of easy targets or whatever."

"Is this your way of saying you won't tell me?"

"No. I failed the exam for the third time because I couldn't perform bunshin. Still can't actually, that's why I use Kage Bunshin so much even when Kakashi-sensei keeps telling me to cut it out. After the exam I was moping when Mizuki approached me and told me there was another way I could be promoted. He'd...I actually used to like him more than Iruka-sensei. Iruka'd yell at me and embarrass me in front of everyone when I did something wrong; I know he wasn't trying to and it wasn't personal but I'd had some shitty teachers and I didn't believe in the whole tough-love thing. Mizuki tried to get Iruka to let me graduate anyways and Iruka refused. So when Mizuki told me there was a way to be promoted I believed him because if I didn't get promoted that was it; I knew I wasn't going to get a new chance with another class and there weren't any other options so I went along with it. He said I needed to find a secret scroll in the Hokage's quarters and prove that I could learn at least one jutsu from it. If I could do that I would be promoted. I took the scroll and learned Kage Bunshin in the time it took Iruka to find me."

"So you basically proved that you had a higher skill, that makes sense," Sakura reasoned.

"Sakura...I stole a top secret scroll and learned a forbidden jutsu. Mizuki used me to get it out of the village. He planned on killing me and hiding the scroll so that he could sell it later. Iruka found me first and I think he realized what was going on but Mizuki showed up before we could get back to the village. He almost killed Iruka. And then he told me that I was Kyuubi reborn and that the scroll held the techniques used to seal me," Naruto paused uncomfortably, glancing at Sakura once before summing the rest up as quickly as he could, "I used Kage Bunshin and beat him up for that. Iruka promised me I would be promoted and gave me his forehead protector."

"You just skipped stuff," Sakura chided. "Oh well, that helps a bit. If he could blame the incident on Mizuki then it explains how you got off and someone performing Kage Bunshin instead of Bunshin probably would have justified promotion as long as it was the main skill blocking your graduation. Tsunade couldn't have pulled it off because the crap they were bringing up wasn't really anyone's fault at least not someone she could blame publicly to any effect."

"It doesn't matter Sakura. I don't care if I don't get promoted any time soon. I only took the exam because it meant you could and you got promoted which made the hag look good. And Shino got promoted which probably made his family happy so it worked out. You said it yourself; if I remove myself from the picture then they don't have anything to complain about and she can focus on everything else. I don't care that the bastard punched me, I knew the minute that guy said it was Akatsuki that I would get blamed. You're focusing on what happened to me because you don't want to think about your parents and I don't have a clue how to help you with that; it's not exactly something I'll ever deal with. But I don't think I'd be helping you by letting you ignore it for something that will cause trouble-"

The sound of Sakura's slap echoed through Naruto's head drowning out the sound of the door slamming as Sakura stormed out. He couldn't see her exit either since she hadn't held back at all. He shook his head carefully as his vision remained blurry, "At least the hag remembers that no matter how fast it heals it still hurts, a lot."

"Um...are you okay?"

"Did she knock me out?" Naruto asked, staring up at Rishito in confusion.

Rishito shrugged, leaning up against the door frame sleepily. "Dunno, she came in and kicked me out. When I came in here you were looking kind of dazed, but then you talked so I don't think you could have been out long. I can see why you think I need to toughen up a bit; that probably would have crushed my skull."

"Word of advice, when you become a ninja don't piss off your teammates if they can put a dent in a brick wall but haven't learned to hold back yet," Naruto slurred, frowning as his vision refused to clear up all the way.

"I think I'll just avoid pissing them off completely."

"Are you trying to be funny?" Naruto frowned when Rishito's snicker was cut off by a yawn. "You said Sakura kicked you out right? You can nap in here for a few hours," he told the younger boy, pointing to the bed.

"What are you gonna do? You aren't allowed to leave right?"

"I'll just practice chakra control in the hall or something," Naruto sighed. He had been hoping that Kakashi's return would mean things were getting back to normal, but if his day so far had been a clue it was just going to get worse.

"Can I practice too?" Rishito asked eagerly.

"You know chakra control exercises? Did Rin teach you?"

"She kind of had to. Both her and dad are ninja so I have more chakra than most civilians. Kushu had to learn too 'cuz of that, 'cept I think only her dad was a ninja. Mom just taught both of us to avoid trouble," Rishito yawned again. "Never mind I'm taking that nap."

Naruto shook his head and slowly got to his feet as Rishito walked past and climbed into bed. He'd made it halfway through the door before he changed his mind and reentered the room, shutting the door behind him. Rishito watched through heavy lidded eyes as Naruto walked to the window of the room and opened it glancing to both sides and then up and down before turning back to Rishito. "You didn't see me leave; you were already asleep," he said with a smirk before hoisting himself out through the window and onto the wall of the tower.
Inside the room, Rishito shot out of bed. He'd barely made it to the window before Naruto's hand reappeared, latching onto the glass with chakra and pulling the window shut and waving once more. Rishito frowned as the hand disappeared and considered following the older boy, or even going to get Sakura but decided he was too tired to deal with it. "I take it back. They're just like dad said they were," he muttered as he climbed back into the bed and shut his eyes.

X

Naruto managed a full hour to himself on the roof of the Administration building before one of his ANBU shadows decided to make their presence known. He stared back at the cloaked figure for a few minutes, unsure if he would be addressing the younger guy whose name he had never learned or the purple haired woman named Yuugao who was sorta friends with Anko. Once the complete silence from the guard was starting to make him twitchy, Naruto finally asked, "Do I have to go inside?"

A brief shake of the head from his guard had Naruto turning away completely to stare out at the village. He watched the activity of the busy streets below as the Academy's day ended and students poured out of the front gates. A few were greeted by parents, others ran out in groups of friends, and others drifted slowly away on their own. Even from the roof he could spot familiar forms like Konohamaru and Moegi who refused to leave a dark haired girl alone pulling her reluctant figure along towards the Academy's training fields. Iruka was standing near the gates with a woman in a familiar khaki coat laughing at the younger trio. Naruto stiffened when he heard his guard sigh and take a seat next to him on the railing.

"You could go say hello," the young man offered as he pointed towards the pair below.

"I'm supposed to be staying inside until some comes to tell me what happened this afternoon," Naruto said, turning to look at his companion.

"And yet you're up here and I'm not running off to tell Ibiki just yet. As for this afternoon, you were being followed by a Jounin who has very close ties to the Council. If Anko hadn't noticed and brought the three of you here then Yuugao would have."

"I thought you usually worked mornings. You're the one who follows me when I go out to train, right?"

"It's Jiro. And I was supposed to be off until tomorrow morning. But I got woken up by your friend Kiba and that Nara kid this morning and couldn't go back to sleep so I gave Yuugao a break. Morino's running us ragged watching out for you," Jiro replied with tired grin.

"It's stupid. I'm safe here. Why's he wasting two of you on me?"

"They got in, twice. Three times if you count your run in with Kisame. We can't risk those assumptions about safety."

Naruto glared at Jiro for a moment before turning away in a huff. He stared at Anko and Iruka below before turning around completely to stare at the passive mountain behind him. Tsunade's facade, still under construction, stared down at him from next to the Fourth's.

"Hey," he said suddenly turning around to look at Jiro again. "Why's it just the two of you? I thought missions were slow right now 'cuz the old lady wanted you guys to stay in the village."

"Morino trusts us."

"Just you two?"

Jiro gritted his teeth for a moment at the slight snarl on Naruto's face. The kid was quicker than he looked. "Well not just us," he reasoned, "but we were both there the day of the festival and he figured you would be more comfortable with us," he added when Naruto's face remained doubtful.

"Seriously, out of all his people he can only come up with two of you who'll volunteer to watch out for me? I thought you guys were supposed to be professional. Or do the rest of them just agree with me that I don't need to be guarded within the village."

"It's not that simple kid. People are on edge-"

"You said the same thing when that guy punched me. Why is that all anyone will say?" Naruto growled.

"That's because I suck at explaining things when I have no clue how much I'm allowed to say. You should have heard me trying to get Kiba and Nara off my back. It would be easier if a certain someone wasn't hiding from his friends."

"So I'm allowed to go find my friends but not go back to my own apartment? Besides, those guys recognized Sakura as my teammate. Why would I want to give them more targets to go after? So back to ANBU, why just the two of you? Are you just grandstanding?"

"How would this be grandstanding?"

"Making a show of support to scare off anymore people like that jerk that punched me. Course if you haven't realized it by now that's actually gonna make it worse to the people that already hate me. They'll either think I'm getting special treatment or that you're not guarding me, you're guarding them from me. I mean seriously, it sounds like you're just doing the Council's job for them," Naruto said.

Jiro stared back at Naruto for a moment before finally rolling his eyes to make sure that the blond in front of him understood that he was not in the least impressed or intimidated. "I thought you didn't believe any of your teammate's conspiracy theories," he said challengingly.

"No, I said I don't care about them and that I think the only reason she does is so that she doesn't have to think about what happened to her parents. I meant most of it. I think I got away with more under the Third because he wasn't trying to use me. The hag favoring me is the easiest thing for them to challenge her on. If she'd drop it I could go back to training and missions and be fine for a couple of years. By then they'd be dead or too old to really challenge her anyways, she's wasting her time and Sakura's encouraging it by nagging her so much."

"Don't give Haruno that much credit. The Clan heads are encouraging it because they want the Council ousted and you're the easiest issue to push with the Hokage. And stop antagonizing my people for doing the work I assign to them."

Jiro cursed when his boss appeared next to Naruto. His words to the blond showed that he had been listening for some time. "Go catch up on your sleep," Ibiki added towards Jiro as he stared down at Naruto. "The brat's not leaving the tower for the rest of the day. And we'll see whether or not he gets the rest of what he wants tomorrow; you might be able to go back to regular duty."

"Who's bright idea was it to make you the boss?" Naruto grumbled when Jiro took off. The younger man had been easy to provoke; he was smart enough to know that he wouldn't have the same luck with Ibiki.

"The woman you charmed into becoming our Hokage. Not that she had much of a choice. My predecessor was dead and her other options included three Hyuuga's and two people who answered directly to the Council. I was least likely to have an agenda and most likely to be honest with her," Ibiki answered pushing Naruto towards the door to the tower. "I was also the one of the only ones in the entire damn division that wasn't terrified of Uchiha Itachi and didn't think you should be locked up for further observation. To be fair, the Hyuuga just wanted to learn more about the seal and your resistance to their techniques; they couldn't have cared less about you as a threat."

"Who else is crazy enough not to be terrified of Itachi?" Naruto asked turning to look back at Ibiki in amazement.

Ibiki smirked in response. "You really think you're getting any answers out of me? Jiro pities you and it caused him to fumble. I think you deserve at least half of the trouble you get into and the rest of it you deal with better than you let on; that's enough not to pity you and know I don't need to tell you a damn thing."

"Well since Itachi is after me and Jiro and Yuugao agreed to guard me...does that me they don't fear him? Or do they just not realize what he can do? I mean Jiro's probably the same age as Itachi-"

Ibiki paused for a moment, his hold on Naruto's jacket caused him to pull Naruto up short as he tried to descend the stairs. "That was surprisingly quick for a good guess. Incorrect, but quick. Yuugao is scared of him. But she figures that if Kakashi is willing to go up against him for your sake then she's better off defending you and hoping Kakashi shows up to take over the fight. Jiro's an idiot; he thinks Itachi has a conscience and won't attack a former teammate."

"Since you're too smart to fall for my questions and you don't pity me, why are you answering my questions any ways?" Naruto asked, looking genuinely puzzled by Ibiki's willingness to talk.

Ibiki smirked and asked back, "Why are trusting my answers? I could be lying to you."

"Those are stupid lies to tell. They don't get you anywhere unless you want me to bother them for better answers," Naruto pointed out.

Ibiki's smirk widened enough that Naruto was tempted to ask how frequently he smiled. He didn't get the chance when Ibiki pushed him on the back to get him to continue down the stairs. "I answered because Kakashi was right. Haruno is more scheming than we gave her credit for and given your ability to get into trouble when you aren't getting what you want I figure my best bet for keeping you out of trouble is to give you enough to shut the both of you up for a few weeks."

"I could probably keep her out of your way for months if you told me why Kakashi-sensei was in jail or house-arrest or whatever," Naruto offered.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Rishito was trying to explain why he didn't meet him until he was like five."

"Kakashi did something that was incredibly stupid and should have landed him in jail. Instead it got him landed with parole and a load of dangerous ANBU missions because half the people he did it in front of wanted to do the same damn thing. And don't bother letting her look for the incident; it's not on record," Ibiki stated.

"Was he really let out to go after Itachi?"

"No. He refused to hunt down Itachi. He still refuses to do anything other than run interference, which is why the Hokage doesn't know how to deal with him and has been so hesitant to leave him on his own with either you or your teammate. If he hesitates at the wrong moment it could cost you your life."

"He doesn't hesitate around us. He never has," Naruto stated, turning to glare at Ibiki. Judging by Ibiki's reflexive flinch, Naruto figured his eyes were doing the weird pupil thing Kakashi had pointed out to him. "And don't bother lying. You may not pity me, but you are scared. Not of me, but of what I might be. So is the hag, that's why she won't deal with me right now. The Council is just telling her what she already fears and she doesn't want to face that."

"The Council has nothing to do with it, trust me. Her problem right now is the Daimyo. Did Kakashi's kid fail to mention that Fire Country isn't too concerned with secrecy when it comes to you?"

"He may have mentioned that..." Naruto admitted as they exited the stairway. "I can find my way to my room from here," he added, trying to pull away as they entered the public section of the building.

"Just like you can find your way out of the tower. I'll take you all the way there and this time, stay there until this evening. Let Tsunade-sama handle business uninterrupted for a few hours and then maybe she'll be able to speak with you and your teammate."

"She doesn't need to," Naruto insisted, trying to wrench his shoulder out of Ibiki's grasp.

"Yes. She does," Ibiki stated with tone of finality in his voice that Naruto was too tired to fight against. He gave up struggling and instead slouched and slowed his pace, trading glances between his feet and the man behind him.

Ibiki showed a complete lack of concern for the teen in his grasp as he stopped several times without warning to speak with various office staff and deliver orders to any ANBU personnel they passed. Naruto avoided the many curious stares he was gathering in favor of trying to retaliate for the rough treatment by slowing down even more, practically forcing Ibiki to drag him along by the collar of his jacket. When this failed to get any sort of reaction, Naruto upped the ante by using chakra to reinforce his grip on the floor. It took Ibiki ten feet to realize he was struggling to pull a boy less than half his weight and turn on Naruto in surprise. "Are you normally this childish?" Ibiki hissed.

Naruto was about to retort when he spotted one of the elders from the Council walking towards them. He immediately stopped resisting and tried to pull Ibiki away. He swore silently when Ibiki refused to move fast enough to avoid the older woman. "What's he done now?" Koharu asked, glaring down at Naruto.

Ibiki turned to glance over his shoulder at the woman with a frown on his face. Naruto's fidgeting had ceased entirely as he noticed the audience they had. "Done?" Ibiki questioned.

"Well since you're dealing with him, yes. What has he done?" she repeated.

Ibiki's eyes narrowed as he looked first at Naruto and then Koharu. "As far as I know the brat hasn't done anything today but give a few potential Academy students a tour of the village once Jiraiya-sama was finished training him," Ibiki answered, releasing Naruto's arm as nonchalantly as he could. "We were just chatting about his little run in with Hasu last week. Making sure we didn't miss anything," he added, giving Naruto an encouraging shove down the hall as Koharu's eyes narrowed in their direction.

"And did you miss anything?" she asked as Naruto took Ibiki's hint and walked off. Ibiki could see one of his men discreetly following the blond towards his room.

"Of course not. Interrogation is my specialty," Ibiki explained before turning and walking off in the direction opposite Naruto. He paused just long enough at the exit to watch as Koharu re-entered her own office. Apparently Naruto was going to have to put up with his watch dogs for a few more days.

X

Naruto sighed, trying to ignore his new shadow as he paused in the hallway just outside his room. Rishito was sleeping inside. He could either go in and probably wake the younger boy up...or he could try to talk with Sakura and hope she wouldn't try to crush his skull in again. Maybe even use some of what Ibiki and Jiro had told him to distract her for a few days. His new guard snickered as the blond sighed and walked back to his teammate's door and knocked hesitantly. Sakura answered much faster than Naruto had expected and, after a quick glare at the new escort, she pulled Naruto into her room and shut the door.

"Have you been bothering Rishito this whole time? I expected you to let him sleep," Sakura muttered.

Naruto opened his mouth to answer honestly and then thought better of it. "He is sleeping. I just managed to stay really quiet."

Sakura's lack of belief was written all over her face, but she left him alone in favor of turning towards the dresser in the corner of the room. She dug through the bottom drawer for a few moments before straightening up with a few folders in her hand. "I thought about what you said after I walked out," she explained, as she opened the top folder and began spreading it's contents out on the bed. "I don't believe a word of it, but I'm not going to press you for more answers without giving you something to really think about first. When you mentioned that I was trying to ignore my parents' deaths you said...you said it wasn't something you were ever going to deal with."

"I've thought about this before," she continued, pulling Naruto over towards the bed when he refused to show interest in her findings. "When you were in the hospital and talking about what Sasuke had been through because of his brother. That was the first time I really realized that you knew nothing about your family. An orphan in Konoha should know something especially when you have a surname. And then today...I know you tried to cover it up by changing the topic back towards me, but you said Mizuki-sensei told you that you were Kyuubi, not that it was sealed in you. Now I know that's crap; you can't be the Kyuubi. I refuse to believe that a Hokage would do something that stupid. So it's sealed in you which means you had to be born. And not even being born on the day of the attack explains this," she stated pointing to the papers on the bed. "This is your file. And I'm not even talking about the public one, all of our public files are short, this is your official file. The one only the Hokage and really high ranking members of the village can get access to. I can only find it because I'm her apprentice. The worst part is that most of this is from after Tsunade's appointment as Hokage. There's less than ten pages to document your history through our first Chuunin exam."

"What's your point Sakura?" Naruto sighed. He had really been hoping he had shut her down for at least an afternoon.

"I realized that even if you had access to this after Mizuki botched things up for you...that it still could have left you wondering. And I realized that it sounded like no one ever bothered clear it up for you. And as much I hate dealing with the fact that I am never going to see my parents again, I can deal with it. But you don't even have names. You don't know if they were ninja or civilians who just got caught up in things that day. So after getting really annoyed with you today I went up to the archives determined to at least show you where your surname came from."

"So? You really think I haven't looked for it before?" Naruto asked.

"No, I'm sure you have. But you haven't been in these archives, have you?" When Naruto only shrugged in response, Sakura continued. "Here's the thing, the first time I looked for your parents, I was looking at the wrong year. The past few days, I've been looking at really specific files: civilians and ninja who died on the days leading up to, including, and immediately following the Kyuubi's attack. I looked for anything that might have suggested that they had either had an infant with them, or had been pregnant. There were a few, but I could find records that showed what happened to those babies, and most of those could be confirmed as not you. I got so annoyed that I grabbed this. I'd found him before but brushed it off because it didn't make sense. It's still odd, but it makes more sense now that I know about Kyuubi."

"Found who?" Naruto asked hesitantly, unsure whether or not it was worth it to get his hopes up.

Sakura swallowed and she hugged the folder a bit closer as she said, "I can't say for sure. His file is pretty sparse too. His name is Uzumaki Ken." Sakura offered the folder to him and continued, "He came here as a refugee. It doesn't say that he had children, but that doesn't mean that he didn't. He died about thirty years ago, but he wasn't a shinobi...or at least he wasn't once he got here so he wouldn't be on the memorial stone and he wasn't in any of the regular areas. But I kind of doubt that anyone would have gone that far out of their way to find a source for your name. I think he might be your grandfather."

"Sakura this doesn't-"

"Don't tell me it doesn't mean anything. Prove anything. How long ago did you give up figuring this out?" When Naruto didn't answer, Sakura opened the folder and held it in front of his face. "I know it doesn't explain much, if anything. But it's a start. Maybe he had children after coming here – this is just a file about his application and then a note about his death. Or maybe he had siblings who had children and a different name at the time that they came here. Like they were married or something. There's a hundred different ways you could be related to him."

"And there's a hundred different ways I could not be related to him. There's no point Sakura. The answers aren't written down somewhere. If someone knows they aren't talking and I'm sick of finding nothing but maybe's so just cut it out. It isn't worth your time."

"Yes it is. If you won't make it worth your time then I will. You're right. Someone isn't talking. They aren't talking because you aren't pushing for answers. How many people would actually say 'no' to you if asked directly?"

"The Third didn't have a problem saying it and if anyone knew he would have. He's dead now so what's the point?" Naruto asked angrily.

"What makes you think he's the only one? Someone had to deliver you. What if you still have family? What if they just don't know what happened to you? Believe it or not, this might not just be about you. You deserve to find out and there might be someone else out there who deserves it too."

"Or maybe they're happier not knowing. Or they know and they just don't care. Weren't you the one who was just telling me how cruel and heartless the villagers really were? How much they really hated me? What makes you think any family I could have aren't just as bad as the rest of them? I may deserve answers but I don't need them. And I don't know if I'll ever want them so just cut it out."

Without giving Sakura the chance to respond Naruto knocked the file out of Sakura's hands and turned for the door. He was out in the hall - door slammed behind him - before he remembered that Rishito was still sleeping in the room next door. He couldn't wander around the tower without risking another run in with Koharu and he needed to stay put anyways because someone would be coming by eventually to bring them food and he was starving. He glanced back at Sakura's door once before turning to his new guard. "You might as well just go tell your boss what you overheard. I'm not gonna sneak out again," he stated, walking towards his own room.

Naruto could feel the man's eyes on him even after the door was closed and he shivered uncomfortably, "At least the other two weren't creepy." He was actually surprised to find Rishito still sleeping. They had practically been having a shouting match just one room over. Before Naruto had even decided what to do to waste away the rest of the evening, the door creaked open and Naruto stiffened when he noticed the guard leaning against the door frame. "Will you actually stay here this time?" the man asked.

"I don't need a babysitter inside the tower," Naruto told him.

"You snuck out earlier. I heard Jiro trying to laugh it off with his girlfriend, right before she punched him for being irresponsible around you. If I lose you it'll probably be Anko or Kakashi who deals with me, and it won't be a love tap," his guard smirked.

"Whatever, I'm not allowed to go anywhere; I get it," Naruto muttered.

"Good," the man nodded, unsure if he should find Naruto's attitude hilarious or frightening. He'd leave it up to his boss to decide if it was a problem. He moved back outside the room before making the mistake of glancing back towards Naruto.

Naruto had sank to the floor in front of the bed, sighing deeply and secretly hoping it would wake Rishito up so that he would have something to do. He couldn't recall the last time he had been so restricted. His caretakers had been more likely to lock him out than in.

"Look kid..."

Naruto turned on instinct when the guard squatted down next to him – he hadn't even heard the man walk back inside the room.

"Do you have any ideas how many people died during the Kyuubi's attack?" the man asked.

Naruto's eyes widened and he tried to move away from the guard.

"Calm down, it isn't an accusation. Despite what that brat Jiro led you to believe, they aren't the only ones who will work with you; just the only ones who can do so daily. All I'm saying is, your teammate had to search through hundreds of files to learn that your parents probably aren't there. As much as you don't like the results of her search...don't you think you owe her a bit more than a tantrum? Stay here while you think about it. Kakashi and Rin are with the Hokage but I'll have someone track down Anko while I'm handing in my report and then I'll tell her to head here."

Naruto stared at the man in confusion and blurted out the first thing he could think of, "I think she got a date for tonight."

"Seriously? With that teacher?"

Naruto nodded and swallowed thickly.

The man frowned for a moment before shrugging. "She'd kill me if I had that interrupted. If Kakashi can't leave his meeting I'll grab something for you guys to eat and wait here til they're finished. Just...think about hearing her out."

Naruto stared at the door long after it closed, still baffled by the man's behavior. And even more annoyed by the feeling that he was supposed to know the man from somewhere. After a few minutes of impenetrable silence he slowly stood up and walked over to the desk. He opened the bottom drawer slowly, wincing when it squeaked. The bed shifted behind him and stood up assuming Rishito was finally awake. Instead he saw that the younger boy had simply rolled over. He frowned and sighed loudly again, watching as Rishito failed to respond at all. Almost. He could barely see the glint of Rishito's eyes from behind his eyelids.

Rishito's eyes fluttered a bit at the first poke, but he simply rolled over and shut them again in response. "Come on," Naruto whined. "Wake up."

"Go 'way," Rishito replied when Naruto poked again. "'M tired."

Naruto ignored the younger boy's complaint and poked once more. "If you wake up and go distract Sakura for a few hours, I'll sneak you out tomorrow morning and take you to the Academy again," Naruto offered.

Rishito remained still for a moment before rolling over and squinting at Naruto. "Really?"

"I'll even make Konohamaru show you around for the whole day. I'm sure the teachers will be so impressed they'll beg your mom to leave you there as full time student."

Rishito snorted but slipped out of the bed. "Why do I need to distract Sakura? Are you still fighting like earlier?"

"No, now she's just taking things too seriously and I'm not allowed to leave for the rest of the night so I need her distracted," Naruto said, leading Rishito to the door and ignoring the obvious signs of drowsiness as the younger boy stumbled. "Dinner will be here soon anyways. I just don't want her coming in here after me, you know?"

"You mean you don't want her to get the chance to hit you while we aren't supervised," Rishito grumbled, rubbing at his eyes as Naruto pushed him out of the room.

Naruto frowned internally at Rishito's comment but made sure to shrug it off visibly before shutting the door behind behind the younger boy and cursing the lack of locks within the tower. He waited just long enough to hear Sakura let Rishito into her room before going over to the desk and fishing around inside the bottom drawer, pulling out the white and red cloak Lady Ran had given him. He rifled through its folds for a moment before carefully setting it aside and pulling out the picture he had hidden there. "Why was he there?" Naruto muttered, staring at it.

Agent's Spiel: Notes on the blog. Post titled Role of Seven - Chapter ?