Legion of a ghost child

3 Months before Naruto runs away

It's been nearly a full two years since Naruto had come back to his family, within that time Naruto has done everything for them: cook, clean, watch his younger siblings. He now basically holds the whole house together, he's done everything aside from sleep with the husband and bears the children himself. He's done so much for them that they started to take it for granted and took advantage of his willingness to even do these things at all. On his sixth birthday, he was the one to make the cake, food, and drinks for the party, he was so busy making all the food for the party that he didn't even notice that didn't get a present from anyone else, although his parents did give him some cookbooks and cooking wear (aprons and chef hats, things like that). It was nice of them to get him these things, however, what he was hoping for were some ninja tools so he could use them when he goes to the academy once he turns eight.

"Kurama, be honest with me, did I make a mistake by doing all the housework?" Naruto asked Kurama after everyone had left the party that night, while he was stuck cleaning up after a party he didn't even get to enjoy.

"Maybe, kit, maybe," said Kurama from inside the seal, he had his doubts about this whole thing ever since Kushina had asked the young blond to take over making breakfast as well as the other meals. "maybe Hidi taught you how to cook too well."

"Hidi didn't teach me how to cook, I taught myself, you were just asleep when I started practicing how to cook on my own," Naruto thought.

"Really? Well, I don't blame you, besides, you're good at it too," praised Kurama making Naruto smile.

"Yeah, you're a super good cook brother, I can't get enough of your food," these were the thoughts of Kibo since Hidi placed the seal on Naruto, she thought it would be nice to include the little fox in the mind link between Naruto and Kurama.

"Thanks a lot, Kibo, but I still wish that I could have eaten some of the food I made at the party. It would have been nice to have gotten out of the kitchen for a change, plus I'm always at home too, which is kinda sad for a kid don't you think?" Naruto thought sadly as he finished cleaning up the mess that was leftover from the party, he gathered the trash up in one spot, took out a sealing scroll, sealed everything in it and then burned the scroll, destroying the trash inside. "Well, now that that's done, what now?"

Kurama thought for a moment before snapping his fingers, "kit, you still remember the revers summoning I taught you?"

"Yeah, I remember everything you've taught me so far," Naruto thought.

Kurama nodded, "good, why don't you pick up your baby brother and Kibo, then we can head over to Trickster Ally."

"Huh? Neko? Is it even safe for him to go to a summoner's land so young?"Naruto thought as he looked over to the curly red-headed little boy who was playing with Kibo, it seemed that Kushina and Minato were so wrapped up in the party that they had forgotten two of the quieter members of the family, "I mean he's only just turned one."

Kurama nodded, "don't worry kit, I'm sure that it's perfectly safe to bring the little gaki with us...now hurry up before someone remembers they forgot you. I've got a present of my own to give you three."

Naruto wasn't sure, but he did like the sound of getting presents, knowing Kurama, it wouldn't be some shitty last-minute present from the store. He walked over to Neko and Kibo, he let Kibo climb onto his head while he picked up Neko from the ground, the little redhead squealed at the action since he craved the attention from another human being. Their parents, even though they now had eight kids running around, that's no excuse to just forget the youngest child in the house (I mean seriously, it's only been a year since the kid's been born and they already forgot about him, who does that?), Naruto sighed at the neglect of their parents. Holding his little brother on his hip with his arms close together, he quickly did the hand signs and they poofed away before anyone could notice they were gone.

Trickster Ally

The trio appeared in front of the gates to Kurama's palace, "very good kit, now let me out," said the fox excitedly, Naruto put Neko down, much to the young boy's disappointment, and summoned Kurama out of the seal. Kurama came out in a swirl of wind mixed with fire, he looked down at his human form then back to the three in front of him, he smiled proudly at his container and student, "I'm so glad that your my container and not you spoiled twin sister," he said in his human voice. Yes, that's right, ever since Narumi had come back from the Toad Mountain, she had started to show signs of being very spoiled, not that her parents helped the situations much, or at all, by giving her what she wanted when she wanted it. Kurama's eyes then met the mismatching eyes of Neko, he was always intrigued by the small child, not only had he been born with the whisker marks already on him, there was one time that the small child actually entered the mindscape with Naruto, it only caught the Foxman's attention because the young be wasn't a jinturiki like his brother. 

Kurama picked up the small child and chuckled as the little boy's hand reached out to touch his furry fox ears in wonderment, he let the boy play with his ears and looked back to Naruto and Kibo, "come, let us go tell them that we're here."

Naruto nodded, Kibo, who was now on the ground, followed them all into through the gates, up the steps to a large double where soft music could be heard. Kurama put his hands on the door, "Naruto, I just want to say," he then opened the door and a bunch of foxes of all sizes and people with fox ear jumped out yelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIT!!"

It was a shock at first, but then Naruto's mouth broke into a great smile, the type of smile that threatens to spit your face from pure joy. He walked into the room and looked around at all the smiling people that were smiling back at him, tears rolled down his cheeks, "thank you, thank you all," he ran back to Kurama and hugged him. He sniffled, "thank you so much, I didn't think that I would cry from being happy, but I can't help it," he said hugging the fox-man tighter.

Kurama shifted Neko from his shoulders to his arms, he leaned down a bit and placed a hand on the blond's head, "your welcome it, anytime," Naruto lifted his head to smile up at the fox-man, "now go enjoy the party, we've got all night."

Naruto nodded and ran back to the party, he spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, laughing, playing with the other kids that were there, and the best part was that he got a cake with just his name on it. The cake was huge, even with the number of people and foxes in the room, there would still be some leftover, but that was fine because Naruto just loved so much. Kibo was mixing and mingling with the others too, he hadn't played with other children other than Neko before, just like Neko had never seen so many foxes before so they were having a time and a half at the party. The music was upbeat and no one was sitting down for long, the adults drank wine while the kids ran around, and then there were the lights. The lights, when they first came, was a bright thing of yellow and soft orange that lite the room well, giving off a welcoming feel, but then they started to change colors while still keeping the room well lite. Blues, greens, reds, pinks, purples, every color that you could imagine being out there were in the room lighting it up, it wasn't until Naruto looked up at the changing lights to see why. There in on the ceiling and floating all around the room were jellyfish, the see-through ones that look almost like aliens (well to me anyway) were swimming all around the room changing to different colors now and then. The jellyfish swam around as if they were still underwater, but not only that, some carried around trays of food or drink to the party-goers who just continued parting as if this were normal, it fascinated Naruto to no end and he was entranced by these floating, colorful beings of light around the room.

"They're not just for show you know, they can fight pretty well too, if given the chance," Naruto turned around to Kiden, an old fox with mismatching eyes, like him, that he meets after Kurama started training him. However, this fox's eyes were brown and gold, he had a beard, even in his fox form, that was growing gray while he wore wire-rimmed glasses with a chain around his neck. In the past year, this old fox had taught Naruto a lot about the fox clan's history and his human history as well, Naruto respected this fox greatly.

Naruto bowed in respect once the older fox came close, "what do you mean, sensei?"

"Now, now, there's no need for all the formality today, it's your birthday, rise up child and let me read your face," said Kiden as he sat on his hind legs in front of the young blond, he was only a foot taller than the boy so he still had to look down a bit to see him.

Naruto rose from the ground and looked into the brown and gold eyes of the aged fox, after a few seconds Kiden smiled, "you're future is bright, young ones go with kinds and love, memories of wealth and fortune unseen by the material eyes will take you farther than the limits of others of pride and arrogance. However, beware the flaming eyes of hate that takes power instead of earning it, they shall try to trap you, but the light from the innocent will always kid you back to your true home. Even on the darkest night when both sights are lost," Kiden smiled at the boy then and looked up to the floating jellyfish in the room, "I see it clearly in your eyes, a bright light that shines even now when things seem dim."

Naruto heard a few mummers in the crowd, he looked around to see that everyone had gathered around once the aged fox had asked to read his face. He didn't understand it at the time, but he knew it had to be importation after Kiden had finished talking, he wished Naruto a happy birthday, saying that he would talk to the boy later. Even one went back to the party soon after the old fox walked away, Naruto wondered what his sensei meant but his thoughts were cut when Kibo and Neko came up to him to open presents. From Hidi, he got a book on advanced genjutsu and another on advanced sealing techniques. Hati gave him some scrolls on some of the best pranks he had ever down, making him promise never to show it to anyone, ever, and a special side bag with a seal on it so that it acted more like a storage scroll but in the form of a bag to carry even more stuff. He also got a special made Zonpakto (think Ichigo's sword in banki form, but the blade is red), finger-less gloves, A-B rank jutsu scrolls to practice with when he got older, some ninja clothes, a book on how to make your own disguise in twenty-minute to an hour or less, kunai knives, shurikens, some animal plushies from the kids (he had a lot of plushies by the end of the night), and more books on different subjects. When all the presents were given, they had some more cake and did some more dancing until all the kids in the room fell asleep seeing as it was well-passed everyone's bedtime, so much so that by the time the party actually ended, it was already dawn (man those foxes sure know how to throw a party). 

Naruto was way too tired to help clean up, since he was already asleep under a pile of kids and little foxes, Neko had fallen asleep very happy that night because it was the first time he made so many friends at once. The way the kids fell asleep, none of the parents knew how to get their child out of the pile without waking them, plus it was just too cute move them, so the parents took a few pictures to savor the moment before leaving all the children in the hands of their clan head, Kurama (they were also too drunk to tell which one was which). 

The next day, all the kids woke up in the same pile looking for their parents, Kurama an assured them that their parents will come to pick them all up around lunchtime and that they could continue to play with Naruto, Neko, and Kibo. All the kids cheered as they ran off to do just that, Naruto had no complaints about it what so ever and they played for hours, after eating breakfast of course. There was still some cake leftover from the party so Hidi gave  all the kids a peace to go home with, seeing as there was still enough to go around, Naruto wondered how that could be until Hidi told him that she had made two cakes for the party that night, just in case there wasn't enough of the first one, the guest only ate the first cake and she cut up the second one to give to the kids, "can't wast good cake," was his response. When all the kids were gone and it was just about time to shove off back to his own home, Naruto wanted to find Kiden to ask some questions. He found the aged fox in the back garden staring up at the clouds laying on his back, giggling at something, Naruto never stopped wondering about the old fox, he was so wise, yet he always found him doing like this. Then again the fox was also quite old so it would be understandable if this was the start of the Kiden losing his mind to old age.

"Come here kit, let me tell you a few things about these clouds," Kiden said through fits of giggles.

"Yes Sensei," Naruto sat down next to Kiden and waited for the fox to speak.

Kiden closed his eyes as breeze blow by, "you will go mad in that village, you must leave it behind," he said with a serious tone.

Naruto looked at the wise fox in wonder, he hardly ever went out into the village, even then he makes sure to cover his face when he's there, "what do you mean 'I will go mad in that village', what do you mean?"

The wind blew harder as soon as Naruto said that, Kiden grunted and rolled over, he turned to face the garden once more, he had a worried look on his face as he looked down to the grass. "I don't want to tell him that," he seemed to be talking to himself, the wind stopped for a second before the sky started to get dark and thunder could be heard, "he's still so young and yet he must go through such a thing," the fox closed his eyes then.

Naruto looked around them trying to find the person who was making his sensei sad, but found only them, he looked up to the fox, "tell who what? Who's so young? What are you saying, sensei?"

Kiden shook his head before lifting it to the darkening sky, "okay," he said and the sky got brighter again, he took in a deep breath before opening his eye to look up at the clouds. "Naruto, these clouds, they have a voice in them that is hard to ignore, you must listen to what they say or feel their wrath.... do you understand?" He turned his head to the said boy who looked into his chocolate brown and soft golden eyes, the boy saw sadness there that spoke of years of pain, heartache, and too many struggles to count, they were also overflowing with knowledge.

Naruto nodded his head because those eyes were stronger still, stronger than him, "what do they say?"

Kiden kept his eyes on the blond, reading his face, searching it, when he found what he was looking for, he turned back to the clouds. "They say to run, they to hid... they don't want you to fall, for it will be a long way down, to place they can't reach.... they also say you're strong, stronger than anyone before, your strength... your strength will save you, if not the world. They say to be brave, they say don't cry, they say to run and run far and fast when you do." The fox closed his eyes and continue to talk as if e was reading a script for the first time and he's trying to understand each word, or as if someone was telling him what to say and he just wanted to get it all right. Like a message that will save a life. Kiden's eyes twitched every so often as the wind whistled around them, the leaves picked up and flowed around them, encircling them. "They say you bring... fear? People fear you, for they are wrong and you are right, but they mustn't for you are their savior..."

"Why do they fear me?"Asked Naruto.

"They fear not you, but your power, the power not of a fox, but something greater..." Kiden said with his eyes still closed, a drizzle started to fall on them.

"My power, but what did I do to them for them to fear me?" 

"....Nothing..." Kiden opened his eyes, a tear rolled down from his eyes.

"What's wrong, sensei?" Naruto asked worried about the old fox.

"They say you must leave the village... I say you must run, run far, and..." Kiden looked over the fields of flowers before them that was surrounded by tall grass, "you must find my kin before you leave."

"...Your...kin?" Naruto looked at Kiden for a moment in thought, "who?"

"He's not a fox, but he's born my kin, it was a short line of my kind in the clan... he lives in your village and stares at the clouds, just as me..." Kiden smiled as he remembered. "He looks up not knowing that I can see him, he hides his mind but is still so bright, he's like the wind in a way... back and forth, slightly swaying."

"How will I know who you're talking about?" Naruto asked.

Kiden looked at the boy, "he will find you at your darkest hour, you will go into the village and you find demons in flesh... they will find you first." He frowns, "don't let them catch you, they will give you nightmare," he turned back to the sky for the last time, "on October 1st, get ready to run," then he walked away from the boy. Naruto stayed there for a while before going back into the house to find Kurama.

When the for of them got back to the Namikaze house, it was mid-day and nobody had noticed that Naruto and Neko were missing, they did, however, notice that Kibo wasn't around. When Naruto notices all this, he wasn't sure if he should be that they only noticed missing golden fox or two missing human children that are related to them by blood. He decided to not let it affect him, times like these just make him want to move on, find his bath, even if he is alone now it won't be that forever, right? Two weeks later, Naruto was stuck home doing all the work (again), when he noticed that there wasn't enough food for dinner that night, he really didn't feel like going to town himself because he had used up too much chakra making shadow clones to train with Kurama in the woods where no one would notice, not to mention he had a few more running around the house cleaning and watching the triples (again). The whole house was being cleaned for some dinner party that Kushina was throwing later that evening, the house itself was in no way small or just a regular big house, before his 'family' left him in the house to find Narumi, the house could have been thought to be just a really big house. But now it wasn't, it was almost bigger than the Hyuuga compound, and Naruto was tasked with the job of cleaning the whole place by himself, was it too much to ask that at least M.J. or Ryu, maybe even Shio or one of their parents help him now and then? No, they all seemed to be too busy right now to lift a finger to help, those bastards.

"Nii-san, so you talking to?" Neko asked in his sweet one-year-old voice that brought Naruto out of his ranting, not knowing that most of the stuff he was thinking was as being said out loud.

Naruto turned a sweet smile on the youngest of the triples, "oh no one, I was just thinking out loud that's all," he said.

"Oh... okay, can I have something to eat, I'm hungry," Neko said rubbing his tummy.

Naruto nodded, "sure thing," he turned to one of the clones who were closer to him, "can you take Neko into the kitchen to get something to eat?"

"Sure thing Boss, come on Neko, let's eat," said the clone.

Naruto sighed and walked over to the front door, "well, we need something for dinner tonight as well, and then there's that damn dinner party that 'mom' wants me to cook for, ugh, why can't I be a normal six years old?" Naruto mentally grumbled as he grabbed his usual disguise and put on his shoes, "I'm heading to the store, don't burn the place down while I'm gone!" He yelled into the house as he grabbed his sealing bag he got from the party, the money his mom left to buy the food, then he walked out of the house after getting confirmation from his clones that the house would still stand when he gets back.

Naruto walked into the village, his hood up, heading for the market place. He learned how to henge his looks from one of the scrolls that he had gotten for his birthday, however, he could only henge a few things, like his hair and eyes, nothing too big, for right now but he was getting better. Right now he had henged himself to look just enough like an old lady that it only came down to his acting, it was a low-level henge that any high ranking ninja could dispel from a mile away, luckily he only took the back allies to go shopping for food. From experience with clones he's learned a few thins:

1. Don't go to the village at night or dusk
2. Back allies are your friend when you don't want to be seen
3. Civilians are dumb and annoying 
4. Shinobis coming from a bar tend to want to get frisky with just about anyone or thing
5. The fangirls are very active when school is over and if you don't get your major shopping done before then, there will be an ever-longer line to get food
6. Don't say the name Naruto while in town because it usually meant Demon 
7. Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday are the best days to get better deals on food in the market

Thanking every deity out there that it was Wednesday, with four houses before school gets out, and most of the shinobi faction was off on long missions so there was a very little ninja in the market today. Now if he could only finish shopping, get home, cook the food, and start working on his favorite hobby (baking cakes and other sweets) without any interruptions, the day would be perfect. Naruto walked around the market place collecting all the lings he would need, putting them all into his sealing bag to free up his hands, he had finished all the required shopping, and thanks to all the deals, he still had some money left over. Happily keeping up his act to of a frail old woman, he made his way into his favorite baking goods store, it was an hour before he came out again with bags upon bags of baking stuff, he checked to make sure that no one was looking before going into an ally way to seal up all his findings. After he was done, he was starting to feel exhausted from all his chakra use, he needed to take a seat somewhere to rest and eat. He pasted by Ichiraku's for a few bowls or the heavily ramen, he only had 30 bowls when he thought about Menma, Kohau, and Neko, the first two had been eating ramen since they grew teeth, but somehow Neko had never had the stuff before.

"Hay pops, mind if I get one bowl to go?" Naruto asked the owner (he didn't like calling people he respected old or anything like that)

Tauchi turned to his number one customer, by this point Naruto had already dropped the henge, he smiled and nodded, "sure thing, Naruto, I could throw in two more for your other brothers, free of charge." 

Naruto thought about it for a second, he shrugged, "sure thing pops, why not."

Tauchi nodded and went to work prepping the order when he was done he presented it to Naruto, who then paid the bill, a full price even though Tauchi said he didn't have to. "Thanks a lot pops, well I better get going before someone starts missing me, see you later," the blond jinturiki hopped off the stool and began walking out of the shop as he slid the ramen into his sealing bag.

"See you again soon Naruto," Tauchi said waving, "man, there should be more kids like him, hard-working and smart too," he turned back to his work, "I wonder if he would mind coming to work for me for a little extra money in his pocket?"

Meanwhile, Naruto was walking down the street minding his own business when suddenly a drunk man bumped into him and knocked him to the ground. Naruto scrabbled to his feet and bowed his head, "I'm sorry I wasn't looking where-" he was cut off though when he noticed that not only the man was heavily drunk, he was also a shinobi too. "why's he drinking during the day? Schools not even over yet, he should at least wait until sunset to start."

The drunk man looked down at Naruto, "hhhuuhh?" He slurred, he was about to apologize too but then got a good look of who he was talking to, "hhhayy yyoouuur tth-that demonnn arrren't yya?" Slurred the drunk shinobi as he, somehow, quickly grabbed onto the boy in front of him, he pulled Naruto closer to him and looked, the now frightened child, over before smirking. "Wwellll hhooow aaboout youuuu paayy yyoourr doooesss, eeh?" Naruto shook his head 'no' at the thought of what this man could do to him, even while drunk, he really wasn't in the mood for a beating today, but the man didn't see the boy shake his head as he led them to back ally far away from the slowly forming crowds. 

(One drunken rape scene later, because I don't really like writing those kinds of things)

The shinobi walked out of the ally a little after sunset, he fixes his clothes, brushed off some of the dirt on his pants, and left without so much of a backward glance at the boy who's innocence he just stole without a care in the world. Naruto lay on the ground feeling broken and dirty, his bruises were already starting to heal thank's to Kurama's chakra, even though they were healing quickly, Naruto knew it would be at least an hour or so before he could even stand straight up again without being in pain. Tears ran down his face like no tomorrow, he tried to get to a more comfortable position on the ground but a bolt of white-hot pain shot through his whole body making him stop in his tracks. He didn't want to feel this way, he never wanted to feel this way, he felt weak, weaker than he'd ever felt before.

"Are you alright?" Asked a voice, Naruto looked up from his spot from the dirty floor, his eyes met the eyes of a little about his age with a pineapple style ponytail. The boy walked up to Naruto slowly as not to scare the blond more, the boy's eyes trailed over the blond's bruises, "what happened to you?"

Naruto wiped away some of his tears before talking in a hoarse voice, "nothing, I was just born at the wrong time," he said.

The boy looked Naruto over with sad eyes, he rubbed the back of his neck because he didn't know what else to say, "um, I can help, I mean if you want."

Naruto looked up to the boy, he had never had anyone offer to help him like this before now, "you don't want to help me," he said pushing himself off the ground, ignoring the pain.

The boy looked a little confused, "sure I do, why wouldn't I want to help someone that been hurt?"

The tears ran down his face again as Naruto looked away from the boy, "because I'm a monster." 

The boy widened his eyes as he looked at the blond in front of him, he took a few steps closer to the blond, causing a said boy to back into the wall he was now leaning on. The pineapple head boy bent down look the blond in the eyes, smiled, "I don't think you look like a monster," he said.

Naruto looked at the boy in surprise, had he heard what he thought he just heard? Was there a person that didn't think that he was a monster? "Yo-you don't think I-I'm a monster?" He asked shakily.

The boy shook his head, "nope," he grinned a wide grin, "a girl as pretty as you couldn't be a monster."

Naruto was stunned, not so much that the boy in front of him called him a girl, well maybe he was a little annoyed by it, but he was more focused on the fact that he got a compliment from someone else. Suddenly a burst of roaring laughter was heard, it started the two kids as they looked all around for the source, the pineapple head boy stood straight up in a battle stance just in case he needed to fight. "Oh man, and here I was worrying my ass off about you, kit, but when I finally find you, you're getting hit on by another boy!" Suddenly a person jumped down from the roof and landed between the two kids, he was Kurama, said the man looked between the two boys in front of him and chuckled, "well at least you found a friend, eh kit, and what's more, he thinks your a girl."

Naruto blushed, "hay, be quiet, Kurama, it's not my fault that my hair is so long and curly," he said puffing up his cheeks.

Kurama was still giggling, "yeah, but even so, I think you would make a great girl," he said as he knelt down and gently picked the blond up. He looked at the healing bruises, it would most likely take all night to heal most if not all of them, he could feel himself burning with rage on the inside, but on the outside, he smiled at the blond boy as he continued to tease him. "Maybe at your next birthday I'll tell everyone to get you girly stuff, a couple of ribbons and bows aught to do the trick," he said standing straight up as he held the blond, he turned to the other boy in the ally, "don't you think?" He smirked as he stared down at the other boy.

The pineapple head shook himself from his shock from the sight of the man, he slowly nodded, "y-y-yeah."

Kurama giggled, "See, even your little friend agrees."

Naruto folded his arm over his chest, "yeah whatever," he turned away from the fox man as said man let out a heartfelt laugh, "alright, alright, enough, can we just get home?"

"Sure kit, we'll-" Kurama was cut off when he felt something clap onto his leg, or rather somebody, he looked down at his leg to see pineapple head holding onto his leg for dear life, "uh."

"I-I-I know this is going to sound weird but," the looked up at Kurama and the blond, "can I please come with you, I don't want to go home."

Naruto looked down at the boy holding Kurama's leg hostage, he looked into those dark pools to only find pleading desperation. He wasn't sure, for a second it felt drawn to the boy like they were meant to find each other or something, it was an odd feeling to have, "why don't you want to go home?" He asked the boy still holding the fox man's leg.

"Because it doesn't feel like home," was the boy's answer with tears in his eyes.

Naruto and Kurama shared a look before Kurama nodded, "alright," he shifted Naruto so that he was leaning more on his shoulder as he picked the other boy up off the ground with his free arm. He held said boy under his arm like a sack of flour before taking one step back and jumping up onto the nearest roof, "here we go." He began running in a seemingly random direction at lightning speed, the boy with the pineapple hair just watched the world go blur by him as they ran until finally, they stopped at a house. "Here we are, home sweet home."

"Wait, isn't this the 4th Hokage's home?" Asked the yet to be named boy.

Naruto nodded, "yeah, it is," he said as they walked up to the door.

Kurama put the pineapple down so he could open the door, "what are we doing here?"

"This is where we live," Naruto said as they all walked into the house, "before you ask, yes, I am one of the 4th's kids." The boy stared at the bond in awe, "by the way my names Naruto, this is Kurama, what's your name?" 

"S-S-Shikamaru Nara," said the stunned Nara.

Naruto smiled, "it's very nice to meet you," suddenly three lit boys ran into the room asking were their brother had been, a shadow clone came in behind them, "okay everyone hang on, I'll like you guys to meet Shikamaru Nara, he's going to be our guessed for a while, okay?"

"Okay!" They all said in unison. 

"Nii-san, mom came home looking for you to see if you finished making the food for the party, she said all the clan head would be there," Neko said.

By now it the sky was just turning different shades of pink, purple and orange, Naruto sighed as Kurama held onto him, "what are you going to do a kit, you can't move around like this, you need to rest."

Naruto looked to his clones, "how much chakra do you guys have left?"

"I think we've got enough to make a few dishes each, but not enough to make the main course, Boss," said one of the clones while the rest nodded.

"Hmm," Naruto thought.

"I could help, I've never cooked before or anything, but I can still do something," Shikamaru said.

"Alright, this is what I've come up with, since you say you don't know how to cook, you'll help with the directions and measurements," Naruto said to the Nara.

Shikamaru nodded at Naruto, "got it."

"Kurama, I would like you to make some shadow clones too, five is enough, then summon Hidi, she'll know what to do from there," Naruto said then changed his mind, "no wait make that at least ten clones and tell Hidi to do the same."

"Ten, huh? I could make more than that, you know, plus I overheard Kushina talking about decorations and all that junk," said Kurama.

"Decorations will be handled if you also summon Hinata along with Hati, they'll work the room while everyone else cooks the food and cleans," Naruto said coolly and Kurama nodded.

"What can we do Nii-san?" Menma asked as he bounced on his toes.

Naruto looked down at the triplets, he smiled, "Menma, Kuhaku, you two will be the taste testers, make sure everything taste good to understand?"

The two children cheered, "what about me, Nii-san?" Neko asked feeling left out.

"You and I will keep an eye out for mom and dad to make sure they don't come home too soon, we'll also entertain the guest if they arrive a little early." Neko nodded, "alright, everyone knows what to do, let's get to it!"

After a few hours, Kushina and Minato walked through the door, Kushina was worrying about how the stuff for her party wasn't set up yet, she was also worried that Naruto wasn't home when she came to check on the food. After all, she did tell her friends that they would get the best food in all of Konoha tonight, she would be embarrassed things didn't go the way she planed, while Minato, still filled with hormones, was deathly worried about his missing child. They were so distracted by their thoughts that they failed to realize that the house had been decorated and there was a heavenly smell coming from all over the house, it wasn't until Naruto appeared with Shikamaru did they notice.

"Hey mom, dad, you guys better hurry up and get dressed before the guessed start coming over," Naruto said with a smile, his wounds healed enough that he could stand and ignore the rest of the pain he was still in.

"Sochi, when did you get home?" Kushina asked.

"A little after you guys left the house," he lied, "ah, by the way, do you mind if Shikamaru stays with us for a while?"

Shikamaru stepped forward, he was not used to staying over at other peoples houses, "h-hello, Lord 4th, Lady Kushina, I hope it's not too much trouble for me to stay over, I-"

"None sense, you can stay for as long as you like," Kushina said patting the Nara on his head lightly, she turned to her husband, "come on Minato, let's get ready."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Minato said and he flashed away, Kushina sighed heavily mumbling something like 'here we go again', before walking over to their room where soft crying could be heard.

"What was that about?" Shikamaru asked.

"He's on his man period," Naruto said.

2 months before Naruto runs away

A month came and went in a flash (no puns please) and Naruto thought it was about time he asked the Nara why he still didn't want to go home even after a month. While Shikamaru was at the Namikaze house he had learned how to cook fairly well, he became fast friends with Neko, he was good friends with the other member's of the Namikaze family but got along with Neko the best. When he asked why Shikamaru didn't want to go home, he found out that the young Nara was being abused by his mother, it was unbelievable, from that day on, Naruto and Shikamaru were stuck together like glue, there was never one without the other. They spend all their time together and because of this, Kurama took on another student, Shikamaru.

Yes, Kurama knew of the lazy nature of the Nara men, Shikamaru was still young so he wasn't as corrupted as the older boys in the clan. It was once said that a Nara shows their true lazy nature by the time they turn eight, Shikamaru was six, so there was still time to un-corrupt the 'Nara in training' as Kurama put it. They started with the same schedule that Naruto started with, thankfully Hidi was there to make sure that Kurama didn't overwork the little kiddies. Speaking of foxes, after spending 2 whole months getting to know Shikamaru and finding out all that he went through was, Naruto, Kurama, and Hidi didn't like the little Nara's parents all that much. It turns out that Shikamaru's mom and dad had been fighting over something for a while now, his father was distant and his mother was just a bit violent, she's so violent that she had 'accidentally' sent Shikamaru's father to the ER on a few occasions. But it was her most recent act that had made Shikamaru not want to go home since she had sent her husband to the hospital so many times in this past year alone, Shikaku didn't want to go anywhere near her. Yoshino, Shikamaru's mother, wants another kid and seeing as her husband won't touch her and she was defiantly not going to go to someone else to get what she wanted... I think you get a bit of what I'm saying, right? Anyways after finding that, Naruto told Shikamaru that there was no way he was going back to his house, Shikamaru nearly cried out in joy and hugged Naruto, thanking him endlessly. However, just because Naruto says he could stay, didn't mean that his mother was going to lose her 'spear baby maker' to anyone.

It was the end of the month, Yoshino thought that this would be enough time for her son to get over his fears of becoming a man, she had made sure to explain the finer details of sex and how a baby was made. Seeing it perfectly alright to tell all this to her six-year-old son, she thought, like other boys, he would have been grossed out about it for a while and then get curious as to how it all worked, but to her major dismay, he wasn't curious about it at all. The first time she uh did... IT... with her son, he looked like a deer in headlights, when she was done, got cleaned up to make dinner, then went up to his room to call him down, she found him shaking like a leaf in the back corner of his closet. She had rolled her eyes at him and told him that it wasn't half bad she complimented him on being so big at a young age, she then dragged him downstairs to have dinner with them since Shikaku had come home from the hospital earlier that day. She knew that her husband wasn't a fool, he could smell the scent just rolling off of his son like white on rice, that was why she sat Shikamaru right next to him with a smug smirk thinking that her husband would be a man and, well, man up. But sadly he left the house after dinner, Shikamaru ran away the next morning before she came to wake him up, so she just gave them both some time to 'cool off', Shikaku hadn't returned home yet, she heard that he had been taking long missions since he left the house, most likely trying to avoid her.

Yoshino sighed, "oh well, at least I know where Shikamaru is, maybe by the time that lazy ass gets home, I'll be pregnant,"  she thought with a smirk on her face as she walked up to the Namikaze compound because it was as big as a compound. "With all the kids that Kushina has, I won't be surprised if she has a little army of her own by the time Shikamaru graduates the academy, she's so lucky,"  she knocked on the door and put on a bright smile. 

Kushina opened the door, she looked a little tired, of course, she does, she just came back from a month-long mission," Yoshi, what's up?" Said the tomato head.

"Oh nothing much, I was just here to see if Shikamaru was here," said Yoshino sweetly.

Kushina looked confused, "Shikamaru? I thought he already went home?"

Yoshino also looked confused, though on the inside she was a little made "no, I saw him here just last week, I even spoke to him, where could he have gone?"  She thought she said, "no, I haven't seen him in a month."

Flashback

Yoshino was going to the Namikaze house to give her report, why? Because Kushina had convinced Minato to have another baby even though he told her that this child won't be an Uzumaki, Kushina didn't like that and poor Minato had to make a seal that would include some of his wife DNA into their next child. This made it a little complicated to move around like he did when he was having the triplets because the seal needed time toweled the three (yes I said three) DNA's together, this was oddly painful, so much so that he couldn't leave his bed for a while. Because he couldn't move, his ninja had the pleasure of coming into his home to give their report, and maybe play with the younger kids of the Namikaze household, Minato didn't mind this because it meant that he could get some more sleep without Minima bursting in and asking to play every two minutes.  

But enough about that, Yoshino was already at the door, "here goes..." she knocked on the door and Ryu answered, "I'm here to give my report to the Hokage," she said while the red-headed boy nodded and let her in. She gave her report to the now three months pregnant Minato, as she was leaving she heard her son's voice coming from the living room she just past, she went back to take a look just as three kids ran out of the room playing some game.

Shikamaru came out a little while after them with a smile on his face, a smile that Yoshino hadn't seen since the child was at least two or three years of age. He stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of her, "wha-wha-what are you d-doing here?" He asked shakily, Yoshino was a bit hurt by this but it wasn't for too long, she took a step closer to him but he jumped back, landing almost halfway down the hallway they were in, Yoshino frowned, "stay back."

"Shikamaru, I understand that you're upset and all, but just think, you'll have a little brother or sister soon, wouldn't that be nice?" She smiled sweetly at him, "don't you want to be a big brother like your friend?"

Shikamaru looked down for a few minutes, Yoshino saw this and mentally smirked, she thought she had him, "I do, I would like to be a big brother." Yoshino's mental smirk grows into a grin as she went to take a step closer to her son, but his next words stopped her halfway, "but I don't want it to happen this way," Shikamaru balled up his fist and looked to his mother down the hall from him. "I want to be a big brother, I don't know if I'll be good at it or not, but I do know that when that time comes, I don't want to look at my little sibling and think that they're also my son or daughter," he screwed up his face in anger, "that gross, no that's just just plain nasty, and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking that I would want to do that with you ever again."

Yoshino mentally growled, but she outwardly smirked, "fine, you're not ready now, but you will be soon, I'll come back for you then." She turned back towards the door and started walking away, "see you when you get home honey," then she left the house without looking back to see her shaking son.

Flashback end

Yoshino looked at her friend, "do you know where my son went?" 

Kushina thought for a moment, "Hmm, the last time I saw them, they said they were just heading out to play in the park for a while and then Naruto was going to drop him off when he was done." The tomato nodded her head, "yeah, but that was since this morning, have you checked the park?"

Yoshino shook her head, "no, but I will do that now, thank so much Kushina, you've been a great help," she said as she started walking away.

"Any time, Yoshi," Kushina said and closed the door to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Yoshino checked all the parks in the village since Kushina didn't say which park they went to, she also checked all around town and the training grounds, but she didn't know that Shikamaru and Naruto weren't even in the village anymore. Right now, Shikamaru, Neko, Naruto, and Kurama were all in Trickster Ally training and hiding away from the evil claws of Yoshino.

1 day before Naruto runs away

A full month had passed by for the Namikaze family, Yoshino had taken a break from looking for her son, It was the day before Kyuubi attack anniversary plus the birthday of Narumi and Naruto, although the latter didn't even cross everyone's mind. It was on this day, the day before his birth, that Naruto, Shikamaru, Neko, and Kurama all came back to the village via reverse summoning. With them was Kibo, he had been living in Trickster Ally an until now, Hati had come to Naruto and Kibo a week after returning from the surprise birthday party for said blond, Hati wanted to have the chance to rain Kibo as his student while Kurama trained Shikamaru and Naruto, and Hidi taught Neko how to do other little things and told him stories while his big brother trained. It was also during this time that Shikamaru met a little fox-like with dark green eyes, the same age and size as Kibo, this new green-eyed fox got along great with Shikamaru until one day after training extra hard, Shikamaru fell from exhaustion and was asleep for nearly two days. The green-eyed fox stayed with Shikamaru throughout that time, when the boy woke up due to a really bad nightmare about his mom, which he had been having frequently since he last saw her, and started to cry his eyes out not knowing that he was being watched.

The little green-eyed fox was worried about his little friend, much like what Kibo did with Naruto, the little fox put his tail to the crying boy's forehead and started to glow. His fur glowed a bright red, but this time the fox's fur turned an orangey-yellow, and it was Shikamaru's eyes that changed color this time, not only that but his hair got a bit longer and it lost it spikiness, sort of. Kurama, when he saw this happen (because he was also in the room at the time), explained what this meant, he told him about the bonding and everything, then Shikamaru signed the fox contract. Also, Shikamaru's birthday was a little before Naruto's (I don't remember when Shikamaru's birthday is, but this is my story so deal with it if it's wrong), this meant another all-night birthday party the same as Naruto's party. They even slept in a grate big old fox pail again and had twice the amount of cake leftover, Shikamaru quickly shared in Naruto's love for the cake, along with Neko, and also joined in on Naruto's baking hobby, they made the best cakes together. Shikamaru got pretty much the same gifts that Naruto got, but the sealing bag and clothes he got were all different shades of orange and yellow, while Shikamaru's bag and clothes were different shades of green and some blues. Neko turned two around this time to they had two parties in one month almost back to back, getting the same presents as his brothers, but without the jutsu books and scrolls, twice as many toys, and everything was in different shades of orange, green, and red since everyone could tell how much he wanted to be like his brothers, Naruto and Shikamaru. Neko wanted to know when he was going to get his little fox, Kurama, seeing a quick pattern developing, just told the whiskered two years old he would get one when he got older. The young boy cheered, happy that he was going to be like his Nii-san's because he saw Shikamaru as his second big brother, he didn't realize the other siblings of the Namikaze Uzumaki name were also his brothers and sisters because they didn't spend any real time with him.

Now Naruto was standing next Shikamaru, they both had their respective fox familiars on their heads, Kibo on Naruto's head and the now orange green-eyed fox, being name Jin by Shikamaru. Kurama stood behind his two students with a proud smile on his face as he looked at them as he held Neko on his shoulders, the two boys had gotten stronger from when they left and it made Kurama very happy that he was the one to get them to this point. "Okay Neko, down you go buddy, I've got to get back into the seal," said the fox-man as he put Neko down between Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Aww, how come you always gotta be in that stupid seal thing anyways Papa?" Neko asked because Kurama was more of a father to the boy than his father, whenever Kurama wasn't training the other two, he would play with Neko with and without Hidi there.

"Because, Neko, if Papa's chakra was sensed by the other villagers while he's outside, they'll do bad things to him," Naruto said to his little brother.

"Why, what kinda bad things would they do?" Asked the two-year-old.

"Well, they'll hurt him bad, or send him away to a real dark place that super scary, okay?" Shikamaru chimed in because he saw Neko as the little brother that he never had, "so that's why he has to get into the seal, but don't worry, he'll only need to be in there for a little while."

"How little?" Neko asked with a shin in his eyes.

"Just until tomorrow," Kurama said as he did the required hand signs to go back into the seal, "after tomorrow, we can kiss this place goodbye for a long time, okay Neko?"

"Okay, Papa," Neko said then yawned, "can we go back to that house now, I'm tired," Naruto nodded and left Neko onto his back as they headed for the Namikaze compound.

Back in Trickster Ally, Hidi, Kurama, and Shikamaru came up with a way for everyone to be apart of the mind link and Naruto, Kibo, and the fox-man shared. Naruto was the one to figure out a way to make the seal work, while Hidi, with some help from Hati, applied the new seal onto Naruto, Kibo, Shikamaru, Jin, and Neko, they also redid the seal that contained Kurama within Naruto, very carefully, so that if the others wanted, they could enter the mindscape with Naruto. The five, Kurama being inside Naruto again, made it to and inside of the Namikaze home and they all went to Naruto's room, it was still early morning so the whole house was still asleep at this point, which made it easy to slip in and out without a sound. 

"Hey, it's your birthday tomorrow, how are we going to do this?" Shikamaru asked Naruto as he set Neko down to sit on his bed, Naruto sat next to the tired boy while Shikamaru took up the other side. Jin and Kibo jumped down from their head to sit on their lap, the for of them looking towards Naruto, knowing that he had been planning this day out since they left for Trickster Ally, and since Trickster Ally was on a slower-ish time, Naruto had plenty of time.

"Well before I left, I made a few shadow clones of myself to watch the guards shift change since we've been gone. When we came back just now, they dispelled and I got the info, we've got about a thirty-minute window to get throw the gate or over the wall. There may be a chance we'll run into ANBU once we're outside, knowing Donzo, I wouldn't put it past him to send a team of his ROOT soldiers to try to catch me, forcing me to become his weapon. It would take a lesser man up to an hour to get caught up in one of their traps, an untrained man would be taken within minutes of leaving," Naruto said, Shikamaru blushed, he loved it when Naruto showed how smart he was.

"Nii-san, why does that meanie want you to be a weapon? Is it cuz' of Papa?" Neko asked.

Naruto nodded, "that's right otouto, he thinks Papa is just a wild animal without a brain that needs to be controlled by him." 

Neko gasped then puffed up his cheeks making the others chuckle at his cuteness, "that meanie, when I get older, I'm going to get strong so I can beat his butt! Believe it!"(sorry I had to, it was just so cute I couldn't resist) Neko said and punched the air.

No one could keep a straight face after that outburst, not even Kurama could keep himself from rolling around on the floor of his cell, laughing his ass off. "Alright, Neko, settle down, you don't want to wake the Hokage and his wife, right?" Neko realized that he was being too loud and clamped his hands over this mouth with a muffled 'sorry' to his brother. "It's okay, just keep it down," he got a muffed 'okay' before he continued with a serious face.

"I've been thinking, when a kid runs away, they don't know jack about the world outside their village unless it's the small stuff you learn in class or you read in books. Teachers in the village you live in don't tell you anything detailed about another village unless it was a village they either invaded or attacked (huh, kinda like American schools). But, if we did run away, where would we run to?"

Shikamaru thought for a moment, "well since we're not in the academy, no one would expect us to know all much about the other villages since kids our age don't think about actually running away and then plan how to do it." Naruto nodded and motioned for him to continue, though, he had an idea of where this was going, "they also wouldn't expect us to have been very well trained in stealth and covering our tracks to the extent that Kurama sensei and Hati sensei taught us." He then snapped his fingers as a light went off in his head, "they also wouldn't expect us to know how to do a successful shadow clone jutsu... Naruto you're a genius!"

Naruto chuckled at that, he was happy that he put the silence seal on his room before he left, "exactly, now since they didn't expect us to know all these things, we'll have an easier time getting away and avoiding traps. Once we make it past the guards and the traps, we just need to keep out of sight of the ROOT ANBU who would want to come after me."

"Whoa, nice thinking Naruto, but where will we go after we leave?" Shikamaru asked, "Kiri is in a civil war, from what I gathered, it's a bloodline purge or something. Then Iwa hates the 4th Hokage, if anyone was to check your blood or something, they'll know who you both are and would want to take revenge on Konoha through you or Neko, or both. Suna's allied with Konoha, so they could just hand us over once they find out we're there. Kumo had tried to steal that Hyuuga girl once, Hinata I think her name was, and then tried to come back for her sister last year, not to mention they almost too your mom too. If they had successes in their plans, we wouldn't even be talking right now."

"The Nara's right, kit, we've got some shitty options to pick from," they heard Kurama speak through their minds.

Neko raised his hand as if he was in class, "what's a bloodline purge?"

"It's when people with special abilities get killed," Shikamaru said.

"Oh...why?" Neko looked up to Shikamaru.

Said boy could only shrug his shoulders, "sometimes the people there don't like people with bloodlines, so they kill them."

"Neko, don't worry, we won't be going there unless we need to, okay?" Naruto said, Neko nodded his head but was still confused about the purge thing, "alright, as Shikamaru had said, Kiri is at war with itself and we don't have a whole lot of options, so..." Naruto hopped off the bed, went over to his desk drawer and took out a map of the elemental nations. "I say we go to Suna first."

"What?! Naruto, didn't you hear me? They're all-"

"I know Shika, but I've asked some of the battle-ready foxes to go scout out the villages to see what they were like on the inside. They came back yesterday with some news that might surprise you," Naruto said walking back to his seat on the bed.

"What news would that be? Is it that they're not allied with the presumably strong leaf village after all?" Shikamaru said sarcastically.

Naruto shook his head, "no, actually, from what I hear, they've got a boy with red hair there who can control sand and seems to be an outcast in his village. They think that he might have Kurama's younger brother inside him."

"What, Shukakua got sealed away too? Well with the way he acted most of the time, I knew it would happen eventually," Kurama said.

Shikamaru sighed, "I get it now," he looked at Naruto, "You want to save him don't you?" He got a nodded, "alright, well I guess I'll go along with it, but how will we get in and would the kid want to leave the village, even though he's an outcast?"

Naruto deadpanned, "well duh, from the reports I got, he's going to want to come with us without us even having to ask."

Shikamaru put up his hands in defense before both of them sighed, "then where will we go?"

Naruto debated with himself for a moment before looking at Shikamaru in the eyes, "Kumo," Shika opened his mouth to protest, "ah, ah, ah, hear me out first, okay?" Shika closed his mouth and folded his arms, motioning the bond to talk on, "so I know that Kumo had tried to take my mom, and two Hyuuga's in the past, but did you notice that all the once they tried to take were women?" Shika thought about it then nodded with a 'so', "think, a woman with a kekki genki would have no problem passing on strong bloodlines to their kids, right?"

Shika nodded, "yeah but so could a man, what's the point?"

"Oh boy, I think Kurama's un-corrupting method has slowed down your brain some," Naruto sighed dramatically, "It looks like I'll have to give you my training once we hit the road. Shika paled, he knew Naruto was starting to take after Kurama in training, the problem was he didn't know how much, Kurama just laughed at Nara's misfortune. "Listen, what I'm saying is that if they were to get Hinata or Hanabi to the village and make them pregnant in the future, all they would need to do is brainwash them at a young age so they would think that they always lived in Kumo. Or, lock them up with guards to watch them until they gave birth, then kill them after if they don't still don't want to serve Kumo, after that they could rais the child to be a Kumo ninja in the future, the second option would work in their favor because all they would have to do is tell the child that their mother was a Kumo ninja that died at the hands of a Konoha ninja. I hate to admit it but that would have been a good plan, even if it is disgusting."

Shikamaru nodded, getting the mental image and shuddered, that would have been an effective plan, "but why Kumo? You, the last time I checked, don't have a bloodline and you made it very clear that you're not a girl in any other way than looks"

Naruto threw up his hands, "why does everyone think I'm a girl?"

"I think it has something to do with your father's genes mixing with your mother's" yawn Kurama.

"My father's genes, you mean the ability to have a baby even though he's a man, that gene?" Asked Naruto.

"Uh-huh, yeah, but I'll tell you about that next chapter."

"Wait, chapter? What are y-" but Shika was cut off.

"Never mind, just continue with the plan and go to bed, the suns coming up and you both need to rest."

"Uuuuh okay," Naruto then shook himself from the suspicion of Kurama, "anyways, we're leaving for Suna tomorrow, we'll stop at one of the border villages for any more supplies we'll need to get in and out of Suna with the boy, uh, I forgot his name, but we'll know him when we see him. We'll pass through Rain (I forgot what they called it in the sub version) Country to get to Wind from Wind we'll need to be careful passing between the boarders of Earth and Fire Country," he said as they looked at the map.

"Hm, we should make it a point to avoid passing trough Oto because I haven't heard anything good come from that place at all," said Shikamaru.

Naruto nodded, "you're right, I've asked Hinata (not Hyuuga, one of the fox summonses is named Hinata but she hasn't come up yet) to go scout the place and she nearly escaped that snake pedo in one peace. So Rice Country is a red flag, although once we reach here *points to a spot my Rice on the map* we'll need a boat to get here *slides a finger across map and points to Kumo* then we'll need to somehow see the Linkage. But I'm going to guess that we'll need to be very careful with what we say if they could steal kids for their bloodline limit, who knows what they could do with you with your shadow technique, or me being related to the 4th Hokage and a jinuriki."

Shikamaru leaned back, "your forgetting, once we get the kid from Suna, we'll have sand ninja on our ass from there to Kumo if what you've said about him is true and the research I put in on Kumo. Well, I don't think that we'll need to do much convincing when we show up with a shadow bloodline user, the Hokage's youngest son, and two jinuriki, the rikage would have to be a blind bat not to let us join." Far away a musical-ed man with dark green eyes sneezed, "however, its when we get there that we'll need to start thinking about our careers as ninjas, since you're turning seven tomorrow, we've got about a whole 'nother until we can join the academy here. I don't know what it the age is to join in Kumo, but we should also see if we can't at least learn the basics before we get to where we're going."

"Now that's the Shika I know, smart and reliable," Naruto gave the other boy a fox grin, which caused said boy to blush shade of red from the compliment, he never got complements like this before. "Alright it's bedtime...looks like Neko already beat us to it," he chuckled. He slipped the sleeping two-year old's shoes off his feet before going to change into his pajamas, Shikamaru followed suit, soon they were both in one peace, zip-up, footless pajamas (like footy pajamas, but without the foot) that they got from Hidi on each of their birthdays. Shikamaru's pj's were a navy blue with light green stars all over it, Naruto's was orange with yellow suns all over it, Hidi even added hoods to their pj's saying it just looked too cute not to, then they all went to bed.

The day Naruto ran away

It was finally the day that Naruto turned seven years old, you would think that this sweet little boy would get happy birthday wishes from his sisters, brothers, and parents, but nope. Not even a simple good morning was said to him, or Shikamaru, or Neko, but Kibo and Jin got scratched behind the ear and petted by nearly... oh who am I kidding, they got love from everyone! "Dude that's so wrong on so many levels, I just can't even," Naruto said as he shuffled into the kitchen to make himself, Shikamaru, and Neko something to eat.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru yawned as he held a still sleeping Neko and followed the blond into the kitchen.

They had stayed up late last night going over the plan again, this time Neko stayed awake for the whole thing, from start to finish. He was so excited to be going with his Nii-san's to another place outside the village that he just couldn't get to sleep, now he was so tired from being up all night that he couldn't keep his eyes open. Naruto and Shikamaru made him swear not to tell a soul about their plans, not that he would, he loved his nii-sans too much to hurt them in that way. Now that they were in the kitchen, Naruto made a few shadow clones to make his family's breakfast, because they had burst into his room almost at the crack of dawn with food request for the birthday party that night, although Naruto took note that they only called it Narumi's party  he didn't let it bother him. Speaking of Narumi, here she comes now.

"NARUTO!!" Narumi yelled running up and down the halls before smashing the poor door into the poor wall and left a slight crack there.

Naruto gave a heavy sigh at this twin, "what is it, Narumi?" He said with a monotone voice as Shikamaru rolled him as and shifted the now started awake Neko on his hip, "haven't even bee in the kitchen for more than a minute but she comes in here to demand shit?"

Narumi bounced into the room happily, "Naruto, it's my birthday today, aren't ya gonna wish me a happy birthday?" She sang as she bounced around her brothers and their friend, "we've got to have the absolute best food, and the cake just has- *dramatic gasp* where'd you get those super cute pj's!" She all but yelled at the end after she stopped in front of the trio and gestured to their sleepwear, Shikamaru was wearing an identical version of the footless pajamas he wore the day before, but this one was given to him by Hati, while Hidi sewed a hood with cat ears and a tail on the bottom, and it was in the color of a light green. Naruto had on the same thing, but his was bright yellow with fox ears and a tail, and Neko mirrored his brothers outfits but his pj's was in the style of a red and orange cow, on their feet were fluffy slip-on slippers (the ones with the back) in the style of their respective PJ animals. Narumi was jelly because her pj's were plain pink without a hood, ears, or tail, "where'd you get those, I want one," she pouted.

Naruto didn't even look down at his clothes, "oh these, they were a gift from a friend, why?"

Narumi held out her hands, "give me."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto before stepping up, "uh, maybe you didn't hear him, he said we got these as a gift, you know, for our birthday."

Narumi shook her head, "so, it's my birthday and I want it, so give it."

Naruto blinked at his twin for a moment, "Shika, put Neko down and help me make breakfast please," he said before turning away from his sister, Shikamaru did as told and let Neko stand on his own two feet.

They were getting the stuff out to make their breakfast while the clones were just almost done making the food for the rest of the family "man I love shadow clones,"  thought the blond as he started setting everything down on the counter. Meanwhile, Narumi was seething because she didn't get what she wanted, she ran up to her brother, getting ready to rip the thing off his body, when a pare of shadow hands came out from no where and held her in place (yeah that's right, Shika know's that jutsu, what do you think he's been studying since he'd been gone?).

"Shadow Hands Jutsu, complete," Shikamaru, or should I say Shadow clone Shikamaru, said (he made it when she wasn't looking).

"What, hay, let go of me!" Narumi said.

"Just let her go, Shika, she's not worth the trouble," Naruto said in a monotone voice as he made them breakfast, by now all the Naruto clones were done make breakfast for the family and was just getting them on serving plates, because they're fast like that.

Shikamaru let go of the spoiled brat and went to help Naruto make the food, along with his Shika clone, not paying any mind to Narumi. Narumi was angry because she didn't get her way and started yelling orders to give her the pj's or else. Already knowing what 'or else' meant from Narumi, they kept ignoring her as they started to finish making their food and the clones (the Naruto ones) delivered breakfast to the Namikaze family. They were nearly done when Narumi started crying, Neko tugged on Shika's pants leg, who got the message and picked the boy up while Naruto and the Shika clone packed away the food in under a second and they all shunned outta their without Narumi noticing and before Minato and the others rushed in asking what was wrong. "Naruto hit me and wouldn't be nice to me," she lied and continued to cry, whether it was fake or not, no one could tell, well Naruto, Shika, and Neko could, but no one would believe them.

Kushina got angry that someone would dare hurt her child to the point that she would start crying, Minato was disappointed his son would 'hurt' his baby girl, and the others just got mad at their brother and tried to comfort her. However, there were two that didn't go to comfort their beloved sibling, those two were Menma and Kohaku, they were the other two that could tell when Narumi's tears were fake or not, and they both knew that she was lying on their big brother. They never understood why their parents couldn't see it, even when she lied to their face after watching her push down Naruto because he didn't make the cake she wanted for her stupid to party two months ago before he left. Yes, they knew he was gone because they knew the difference between their mom's cooking, even if she got cooking lessons from Naruto and Naruto's cooking.

When Narumi pushed down Naruto for not making her favorite cake, Minato and Kushina were watching the whole time. That was the time that Naruto had realized he had become their servant, he couldn't take it anymore and decided to bush back, so he walked away telling her to make her damn cake next time. Kushina ran up to him and slapped him across the face for cursing in front of his 'dear sister', Naruto was shocked, to say the least, that was the day that Narumi learned that she had to get her brother in trouble by their parents so she could get whatever she wanted. That was also the day that Menma and Kohaku lost all respect for their older sister and played with Naruto, Shika, and Neko more even found out and went to Trickster Ally with them once. Now they were watching their sister get what she wanted again... or is she?"

Minato was looking around the room with Kushina to see where their son was hiding, they were planning on giving him a spanking for what he did, and if they found out that Shikamaru had a hand in it too, the same went for him. Yet they didn't find him in the kitchen, so they went up to his room, he wasn't there. Not in the living room, dining room, attic, basement, bathroom, M.J.'s room, Shio's room, Ryu's room, the triplets room, the gets rooms, back OR front yard, Minato was furious because all this moving around wasn't sitting right him being pregnant again, with twins this time. "Where the hell is he!" Roared the pregnant Namikaze male, "he should be here to take his punishment like a man!"

"Does this mean we have to cancel the party because Naruto isn't here to make the food and cake?" Asked Narumi, seemingly over the whole thing already and was more worried about her party now.

Kushina bent down to put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, "don't worry sweetheart, we'll find him and he'll make you the best birthday cake of all time, okay?" Narumi cheered 'yay' and started jumping around the place like never before, Kushina and Minato smiled, until a thought entered their mind, "has anyone seen Menma and Kohaku?"

Unbeknownst to the Namikaze family, during their comforting of Narumi and the later search for Naruto, the two said children had been led away to the forest by an orange and a gold fox. The four entered the forest and found their way over to a seal on a rock when they all touched the seal, they disappeared in a bright flash of orange lightning. Halfway across the village, a similar flash of lightning appeared a minute later, Menma, Kibo, Kohaku, and Jin stood there looking around before they started walking over to a house in the distance. This house was the old Namikaze compound was before all the previous Namikaze's were whipped out, except for Minato he was at a friend's house that night. They went inside the house and were greeted by Naruto and Neko, "hay, you guys ready to eat?" Naruto asked the newcomers who nodded, they went to eat and stayed at the compound until nightfall and it was a few houses before the party, and their escape. Before leaving to go back 'home' Naruto, Shika, and Kurama decided that they wanted to take Menma and Kohaku with them because Kurama said that he saw potential in them that he didn't think Minato or Kushina could un-lock in them. Shika wasn't sure if the plan would work with all of the triplets coming along, but then another idea popped into his head, he told Naruto and Kurama what he was thinking and they agreed, the plan would work now with the new changes. Now they just had to get back to the party and find that missing element in their new escape plan. 

All seven boys, including the foxes, made it back to the party before it even started. They got to the kitchen and unseal all the food they had spent all day making, with some help from the triplets, thanks to the scroll the food was still nice and piping hot, Naruto and Shikamaru made a few dozen clones each, they all transformed themselves to look like they were wearing butlers uniforms. The clones took the food and started prepping for the party while the real Naruto and Shika went upstairs to help the triplets get ready for the party and then dress, the party was in full swing by the time they all came down again. All the clan heads were there to celebrate Narumi's birthday and the defeat of the Kyuubi, no one thought it strange to see a bunch of seven-year-olds wearing butler garbs serving food to the guest, no they were all to busy wishing Narumi a happy birthday. This made it perfect for the plan to work, Naruto and Shika watched from the second floor as the clan head and other guest walked in with their families.

Inoichi Yamanaka with his wife and daughter, Ino Yamanaka, nope.

Choza Akamichi with his wife and son, Choji Akamichi, nope.

Fugaku Uchiha with his wife, Mikoto Uchiha, and their sons, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, definitely not.

Shibi Abarami with his wife and son, Shino Abarami, no but nice shades.

Shikaku Nara with his evil wife, Yoshino Nara, minus their son, Shikamaru Nara, still no.

Tsumi Inuzuka with her daughter and son, Hana and Kiba Inuzuka, nope.

Mito Gui with his adoptive son and daughter, Rock Lee and TenTen, no but are you sure that boy is adopted?

Kurenai Yuhi with Asuma Sarutobi and 3rd hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, no.

Hiashi Hyuuga with his wife, Himoto Hyuuga, with their nephew, Neji Hyuuga and their two daughters, Hanabi and Hinata Hyuuga. BINGO!

Naruto and Shikamaru smirked  as they left the balcony with their foxes and the triplets following close behind, "does everyone know the plan?" the triplets nodded, they knew what they were about to do was risky and they would get into a lot of trouble for if it failed, but Kohaku and Menma was tired of living with their in the compound. Don't get them wrong, they had fun with their family, tons of fun. But up until they started questioning their parents on why Narumi always got her way even when they knew she was wrong, that was when their parents started treating them like they were the ones doing something wrong. They would yell at them for no reason, they would him them for the littlest thing, or nothing at all, Narumi wasn't making it any better either. Narumi liked to play pranks, eve though Kohaku and Menma liked pranking too, she would always make a big mess doing pranks that a two-year-old couldn't do, then blame it all on them, even when they weren't even in the house and their parents would eat up the lie like they ate up Naruto's good food. It made them all sick thinking that Narumi had her parents bent around her finger like she was the queen, it made Naruto so made, all the bad things she would and never got in trouble for it. But enough about that, they had a plan to complete.

The plan was simple, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kohaku, Menma, Neko, Jin, and Kibo went around the party making sure that they were seen there. They stayed away from the rest of the Namikaze's, especially the birthday girl, and worked the room. They gathered information on the party-goers were, making sure they had fun, they interacted with the kids a little and made sure they stayed out of the way of the adults, mostly Kushina and Yoshino who were like a head hunter after Shikamaru and Naruto. But for different reasons and didn't know that the others were doing the same thing, Shikaku stayed far away from his wife throughout the whole party. It was finally time for the birthday girl to open her presents, they took this chance to sneak Hinata away from the crowd to talk to the Hyuuga.

Hinata, they had found her being bullied by a bunch of boys one day after Shikamaru had started living with the Namikaze's, they saved her life because some of those boys had brought knives for 'fun'. "Hinata, we're busting out of here tonight, you won't come?" Naruto asked the shy girl.

The Hyuuga was a little confused, "you mean you're leaving the village?" She asked already knowing that they had wanted to leave before they went away to train, Shika nodded, "but if I go with you, wouldn't I be a burden?"

The shook their head, "no, we want you to come, we know what your father does to you at night when no one is looking," Shika said with a bit of anger in his voice remember the bruises they saw on her body each time it happened. Sometime she couldn't even walk to the park to meet them after those... incidents, each time it seemed to get worse.

Hinata had tears in her eyes, "h-h-hhow-w d-did yo-ou know?" She asked in fear, every time her father hit her, she wondered why, but it was when he started to touch her was when it all sunk in, she was nothing to her father, not even a person with her name. A name he gave her.

"We know because we saw the bruises," said Naruto taking her arm and pushing up her sleeves to reveal large red circles that differed in size and color all along her arm. "Tell me what you don't want to get away from this."

The tears fell, it was just the three of them in an empty hallway away from the noise of the party, they were on the second floor but they could still hear the music playing under their feet, so she let her tears run free. They held her as she cried, she managed to calm herself down a bit to talk clearly, "I-I want to go, I want to run far, far away from this place and never come back," she said between he sobs.

"We know, that's why we need you to come with us," Shikamaru said rubbing her back soothingly.

Hinata nodded her head, "I will go with you," she said.

They both nodded, "good, we don't have time to go get your things packed, so you can borrow some of our clothes until we can get you your own, but for now, we need to get my brothers and head out. Naruto looked out, "we'll be reaching the thirty-minute window in an hour so we need to hurry, do you know how to jump from trees and control basic chakra yet?"

Hinata chuckled, "I wouldn't be a Hyuuga if I didn't," she said with a soft smile.

"Good, we'll get the trio and head out in two," Naruto said as they started to head back down to the party, "Shika, you've got Neko, Hinata, you can carry Kohaku, and I'll carry Menma."

"Right, let's make sure not to let anyone catch us on the way out the door, it would be such a drag to be caught so soon," said Shika.

The plan worked pretty well, they went down to the party and scooped up the child they were going to carry out the gate. No one noticed them because they were all too busy watching Narumi open up presents from a large pile on the gift table, said the table was full that the fits were stacked up on the ground as well. They were only caught once as they were leaving the house, it was by Shikaku, but he wasn't about to turn them in, he did have a few words with his son, "dad?" Shika asked his father as they watched him come from the shadows that covered the outside of the house as it was night now.

"Son, I know that your mother hurt you badly and I wasn't there to stop it, for that I am truly sorry," Shikaku said lowering his head in shame. 

"It's not your fault dad, she's just crazy, I don't blame you for it," Shika said with a smile.

"But you should, I wasn't there for you when I should have been," Shikaku raised his head, the saw the shine of tears in his eyes.

Shika went up to his father and placed a hand on his arm, "don't worry dad, no matter what you do, I could never blame... I grew up watching you back and wanted to follow you, that's how I learned how to walk (wonder where I got that from)." Shikaku fell to his knees and hugged his son.

"Thank you," Shikaku said before letting his son go, "before you guys go, I must at least give you all this," he handed his son a scroll. "This is all the money that I've been saving up to give to you one day, Shikamaru, I never thought that I would give it now, but you need it if you and your friends are going out on your own. I've been saving it since you were born, take it, please, it's the least I can do to repent for my actions," Shikamaru knew he couldn't get into an argument about taking money that they would need while on the run, so he took the scroll and thanked his father. "One more thing, if you're going out the south gate, there some ANBU there, they looked like they're waiting for someone. I also saw a few more hanging around the shadows by the other gates, but, if you head to this spot *hands Shika a map* there should be a hole big and hidden enough so you can get out without being spotted."

"Whoa, thanks to Mr. Nara," Naruto said with a great smile.

"Yea dad, this helps," Shika said picking up Neko after putting away the items, "I'll never forget this moment, ever."

Shikaku had tears in his eyes again, he shook his head, "just try not to get caught on the way out, live a full life, and maybe make me a couple of grand-kids I can spoil one day and then we'll be even, okay?"

Shikamaru chuckled, "I can do the first two, not too sure about the third."

Shikaku chuckled at that, "well I tried..." a tear rolled down his cheek and whipped it away, "goodbye son."

Shika nodded with a small smile, "bye, dad." 

After that, Naruto, Hinata, and Shika all ran to the spot on the map they got from Shikaku with one triplet each on their backs. They got to the spot, looking around it first looked like a regular clearing, but once you pull back the bushes by the wall, there was a hole big enough to fit a large dog. Or a small child. One by one they crawled through the hole, Naruto went first to make sure it was safe is was safe for the others, when that was confirmed, they all went through the hole to the other side. It was clear out, the clouds blocked out the light of the moon as all six children climb out of the hole, they made a run for it once out and jumped from branch to branch once they hit the tree line. They went at full speed, not stopping until they hit the border of Fire Country, they were a little tired when they got there but decided to push forward to meet the border. It was a few hours past midnight when they stumbled onto a town on the border Fire and Wind Country, they took a few hours to rest up, the triplets were sleepy but they refused to sleep until they made it into Wind Country. Naruto sent a few clones into the town they found transformed as ninjas and civilians to by a few things for the rest of their trip Wind while the rest were on the lookout as they Hinata, Shika, and Naruto rested. About an hour later, the clones came back with food, weapons, some clothes for Hinata, water, and soldier pills, Naruto put it all into his sealing bag he and Shika brought, but did take one soldier pill each to get back on their feet. They picked up their passengers and left the area after covering their tracks as Kurama showed them how to, they were halfway to Suna by the time the broke the horizon.