True Self, New Self

Review Answers!

feisu: Lol, I like when you do that. Here *hands a cookie thray*

XZanayu: Sorry to "dissapoint" you. But that chapter was neccesary, and not all the chapters can be not boring, specially the ones that are for information only.

HellzAngel: Well, that awaited chapter is finally here!

Savin-me: Wow, you hit me with a plot bunnie, never thought of the Chuunin exams before, thanks!

kage ookami: I think that the summary says that the story will be a NaruSasu, or I'm imagining things?

Hello: Yup that's true!

mike: You will have to wait for the chuunin exams for another fight I'm afraid!

Quichi: Technically speaking, he isn't pretending to be a girl, he just failed to tell them he's a guy. The clothes are Tsunade's fault and he isn't faking his voice either, so that doens't count!

Cake: Yup, they will find out in this chapter.

Izzy: Yup, I was laughing at that idea also when I wrote it.

pwnd: Coffee is evil! I can have more than two cups because if I do I will be bouncing against the wall for hours. And the way they find out, well it is a little different! ^^

Andrea: Come on, post it! Don't be worried about flames, they do excelent food heaters.

Sam: Vote recorded!

Zahin: It will be such a bother if I post the fic first and you beta it after that? Sorry! I just can't wait to post a chapter once I finish writing it. *sweat drops*

ann dragera: Vote recorded!

Tara: Glad you're back!

trulywicked: hehehehe, I love you! Thanks for the plot dust bunnies by the way! When I write them I will make a special dedication for you. ^^

cfox: Yup SasUKE! Hehehe. Sasuke will be in more chapters from now on, I promise!

Death Warranty: Thank you so much for your review!


A/N: Gather around everybody! Is time to announce the pairing winners!

Pairing: Votes:
Shino/Kiba 4
Neji/Gaara 5
Shikamaru/Ino 2
Shikamaru/Tenten 1
Kiba/Hinata 3
Shikamaru/Gaara 1
Neji/Hinata 1
Shino/Tenten 2
Kakashi/Iruka 1
Ino/Shika/Cho 1


So the pairing will end this way: NarutoxSasuke, ShinoxKiba, NejixGaara, ShikamaruxIno, KakashixIruka, LeexSakura. That leaves our dear Tenten, Hinata and Choji unpaired. So with whom they should be paired?

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True Self, New Self.

Chapter 14: Breaking the News.

It has been two days since I came to Konoha, and for some reason unknown to me, I keep using the furisode, but using am undetectable genjutsu on it to change it's colors everyday. I'm not pretending to be a girl really, I just failed to inform them of my gender. Besides, it will be funny to see their faces when they find out, like I said, my kitsune nature is getting the best of me.

I have been hanging out with the guys these days too, catching up with them by hearing their conversations. Everyone is still the same in a way... but Sakura really needs some anger management classes, after seeing her beat Kiba to an inch of his life after he made an improper comment about her. Shino is still quite, Shikamaru still lazy, Kiba just can stop being a loudmouth, Ino is still very concerned about her appearance at all times, Neji is still arrogant, but now it's only once in a while. Well, I think that you got the point.

I'm heading to meet the guys at the training grounds, to look at them while they practice. It came to my attention the way they train, each of them pair up with a person that has what they lack, in order to improve their skills even further. I can't think of a better way to improve, having a rival that forces you to get better and better in order to beat him.

[Shikamaru's POV]

We're waiting for Kaji to arrive so we can start with training, somehow, she became an important part of our group, ever since her "spar" with Ino. I never said anything, but I could see that Kaji was holding down on her, her eyes told me so. This is so troublesome, I can tell that she's hiding something from us.

I take out a cigarette from one of my pockets and lite it. Kaji's eyes are something that caught my attention since the first time I saw her. Those almonds shaped red eyes that seem to pierce you when she looks at you, they are filled with something that I never seen in someone her age, a thing that I could find in Sandaime's eyes. Her eyes tell that she knows pain, that she has seen many things, lived through many situations, and that those experiences brought her wisdom.

Tch... this girl is truly troublesome... but not the way other women are. No she's troublesome because she knows too much, even if she doesn't speak more than what's necessary, but when she does, her words are filled with that wisdom I can see in her eyes.

But sometimes, I can see a sliver of something that remembers me of someone... but I really can't point who, because sometimes she let us see her sharpness, and she had outsmarted some of us a couple of times too...

Well... here she comes... now that she's here to witness our training session, we can finally start.

[Jiraiya's POV]

Well, finally, the kit got a hold of the techniques I have been teaching him and we're back at Konoha. Mmmmm... I wonder how the brat broke the news to Tsunade, I hope he softed her up for me and she doesn't beat me for what happened. Anyway, now I will find out, because I'm standing in front of her office's door.

"Ok, here we go kit, don't let the woman scare you."

"Don't worry about me Jiraiya-sama." I smile down at him and knock the door.

"Come in."

"Hi Tsunade! Long time no see!"

"Jiraiya! So you're back already, why didn't you send a message that you were coming back?"

"What, missed me so much? I wanted it to be a surprise."

"You wish, so tell me, who's the kid and where is my Naruto?"

"This is Yuki... wait, what do you mean with where's Naruto? He left Suna two days ago, he was supposed to be here already." I clap a hand over my mouth, I shouldn't have say that! I can feel a killing intent floating around my ex-teammate, kuso, I'm fucked.

"WHAT!" she punchs her desk so hard that it breaks in half.

"Come on my old friend, calm down, I'm sure that he's ok..." I say inching back to the door.

She notices my attempt to flee from the room and grabs me by the collar.

"YOU WILL GO FIND NARUTO NOW AND YOU WILL NOT COME BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE HIM!" She screams at my ear and throws me from the window of her office. I have to use chakra so the fall won't kill me. Seconds after I hit the ground, the kit appears by my side, completely terrified.

"Damn that brat, he's going to hear me for this..." I say dusting my clothes.

"Are you alright Jiraiya-sama?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ok. I had worse from her, don't worry."

"She's scary..."

"That's half the reason why she's Hokage."

"And the other half?"

"That monstruos strength."

"Ohhh..."

"Hey Yuki, can you smell that baka gaki that's your oniichan?"

"Hai! He's somewhere in that direction." He says pointing to where the training grounds are.

"Ok, then lets go and hunt down that brat."

[Naruto's POV]

I sit over a blanket that Ino brought for me under a tree, watching my friends train. Everyone is here... no... wait... where's Akamaru?

As on cue, I can hear barking at the distance followed by a scream, that sounded very familiar to me. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see what was happening.

I turn to look the way the scream came but I'm tackled to the ground by a silver blur. I look down to my chest to see a silver fox kit peaking his head out of my furisode.

"Yuki? What the hell happened?"

Seconds after I ask, Akamaru came barking, following his "prey" but when he sees that it is with me he stops dead in his tracks and runs to hide behind Kiba.

"Ohhhh... that. Don't worry Yuki-chan, he won't hurt you."

"But he's bigger than me!"

"You were in human form when he attacked you, am I right?"

"Hai, why?"

"And who was bigger then?"

"Me...ohhh! Right, I will change right back!"

"Wait! No inside of my furisode!"

"Hehehe, gomene." He says jumping out and turning back.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

That was Kiba, kuso, I forgot that they were here for a second there. I turn to look at them with the most innocent look I could manage, but somehow I know that me eyes aren't helping. They are all looking at me with questioning eyes, some with scared looks too.

"Niichan? Who are these people?" Yuki says before I can stop him.

"Niichan? As in a boy?"

'Kuso.'

"NARUTO YOU FUCKING BRAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU GO REPORT WITH TSUNADE WHEN YOU ARRIVED!" Came the voice of Jiraiya, who is a little banged up.

'Kuso, busted... three, two, one...'

"YOU'RE NARUTO!" Came the collective yells of almost all my friends present, excluding Shino, Shikamaru, Hinata and Neji.

'Ohhhh well!'

I drop the genjutsu that was conceiling my whisker marks and scratch the back of my neck nervously, this won't be pretty.

"Hello guys, long time no see." I say, bracing myself for what I knew was coming.

"YOU CAN'T BE NARUTO, YOU'RE A GIRL!"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US SOONER!"

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOU!" The avalanche of questions threatened to bury me when thankfully Shikamaru stopped them.

"This is so troublesome. He won't be able to answer any of your questions if you do that."

"Thanks Shikamaru."

"No problem, so you really are Naruto?"

"Yes."

"But you're a girl!" screamed Kiba.

"He never told us he was a girl Kiba-san, we just assumed he was because of the way he looks." Hinata pointed out politely.

"That's true."

"But that's a furisode! It is a girl kimono."

"This is Tsunade's way to make a prank I guess..." I say like it was an everyday thing.

"But what happened to your eyes? And your hair?" Sakura asked.

"Well, a lot had happened in these years."

"It has something to do with... him?" Sakura asked in a whisper.

'Now, what did I missed here?'

"Him?"

"She's talking about Kyuubi." Said Neji behind her.

"Wait a second? You know about him?"

"All of us know. You really didn't think that they could keep it hidden from us, did you?"

"But how?"

"After you left the adults of the village made a party to celebrate, needless to say, we weren't happy at all about it and we demanded our parents to know why the people of the village were so happy about it, and at the end they told us."

"Oh."

'I figured out that much.'

"But, Naruto-kun, our parents weren't happy about that party." Said Hinata.

'What? Well, that was unexpected.'

"For some reason our parents like you fox-boy." Kiba said.

"Really?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun. They say that you're the vessel, not Kyuubi himself. They finally understood it during the chuunin exams." Said Hinata.

"And we agree with them." Said Ino.

"Thanks guys I... OUCH! Why did you hit me Sakura!" I say holding my head, even if it really didn't hurt.

"That, is for being a baka and because you didn't tell us you were back, even pretending you were someone else."

"Yes fox-boy, what's with that?"

"Well... it is a loooong story, and personally, I don't want to have to tell it twice. So how about you come with me to Tsunade's office so I can tell all of you what happened in one go."

"Are you sure you want to tell them gaki?"

"Yes old man. So," I said standing up, "Shall we?"

"Are we going to meet the scary woman again Naruto-niichan?"

"You mean Tsunade? What did she do?"

"She threw me out of her window when I didn't show up with you, what reminds me, why in all seven hells you didn't report to her when you arrived?"

"I wanted to spend some time in the village without getting hateful looks from the villagers, if I went to Tsunade, then everybody would knew that I was back."

Everyone felt silent around me.

"Neji, my eternal rival! It is true that you're leaving for Suna on a mission today?" Lee said trying to break the tense atmosphere.

"Yes."

'Suna. Gaara. Shukaku. Byakugan... right! That way it will work!'

I stop dead on my tracks and turn to face Neji.

"What's wrong Naruto?"

"I have a favor to ask you."

"And what could that be?"

"I have been working for the last few months in a sealing jutsu to help Gaara with his problem with Shukaku. I managed to finish it, but unfortunatly the only way it could work was if I was able to see chakra patterns, but only Hyuuga's can do that. And I was wondering if you could do it for me."

"What kind of jutsu are we talking exactly?"

"It has two parts," I say looking for the two things I have being carrying with me since I arrived, "First, he takes this potion, it will make his two chakras separate and Shukaku's one concentrate in one spot, you should be able to see that with Byakugan. Then you just open this scroll that I made for the occasion, it will use my chakra to build a barrier around Shukaku similar to the one I have. Can you do it?"

"No problem."

"Great!"

'I kept my promise Gaara.'

[Tsunade's POV]

'If something happened to Naruto I'm going to skin that frog pervert alive with my own hands.'

I'm pacing around my broken desk, when I feel Jiraiya's chakra outside the door along with several other, followed by a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"I'm back."

"I see that, where's Naruto?," I say scaning the little crowd that had gathered inside my office, all of Naruto's friends are here, along with the Yuki kid and some girl that I don't recognize, but she's wearing the furisode I sent for Naruto,"And why is that girl using the furisode I sent for Naruto?"

"Come on Tsunade-baa-chan, you too?"

"Well fox-boy, you do look like a girl in that."

The girl shoots a glare at the Inuzuka boy. That was when I noticed that she was wearing the necklace I gave to Naruto, and he'll never take it off, so that means...

"You're Naruto!?"

"In the flesh! Long time no see Tsunade-baa-san."

I move to look him closer, he doesn't look at all like the boy that left Konoha five years ago to train.

"What happened to you?"

"Well, that's why I gathered everyone here, so I can tell you all."

"Gaki, are you sure you want to tell them?"

"They're my friends old man, they deserve to know. I'm tired of lying and hiding my true self, you know it."

"Ok."

"You better sit down."

[Naruto's POV]

I wait until everyone is sitting and I begin to tell them everything, from the truth about what really happened in my childhood, to the mask and the merge. By the time I finish, some of the girls are crying, some of the boys sick about the way the villagers treated me, and some just plain serious. The first one to react was Tsunade, she walked slowly to Jiraiya and beat him unconscious, then she walked to me and hugged me hard. That made the girls snap out of it and joined Tsunade in the hug.

"Girls... can't breath..." I whisper, but it was Shikamaru the one that rescued me from them.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I couldn't do anything to protect you."

"Don't worry Tsunade-neechan, you weren't here when I was little, and you weren't there during the attack. There is nothing you could possibly do."

"Naruto... I'm sorry I treated you so bad back at the academy, and when we were at team seven. It's just... that you always looked so cheerful, like you didn't know pain, like you didn't know anything."

"Well Sakura, that was the idea. Now I'm done hiding."

The atmosphere in the room was heavy, I can feel the depression rolling out of my friends on waves. I don't like that, I prefer to see them happy.

"Hey Tsunade-neechan, can I take off the furisode already?"

"Of course Naruto."

"Thanks." I create a clone and send him to fetch the outfit that Yuki brought me when we met.

"Hey fox-boy, so if you really are a fox, shouldn't you look, I dunno, more foxy?"

"Actually," I say, grabing the bags that my clone brought me, one with the clothes, one with the mysterious things in it, and walking to the small room besides Tsunade's office, the one she uses to relax from time to time,"I think that all of you will love this." I say closing the door behind me.

I change my clothes and let my ears and tails out. After checking that everything is in place, I walk out. I hear the collective gasps and a smirk forms in my lips.

"Is this foxy enough for you Kiba?"

"Wow you're hot." Ino stated, and everybody in the room nodded, even if some of them will deny it later.

"Well thank you Ino."

"Yes, if I wasn't dating Shikamaru, I would definetly be after you."

"I totally agree with you there Ino-pig. But I have Lee already." She says hugging her very proud boyfriend.

"Well, even if you did, I'm afraid that I wouldn't be interested girls." I say flashing them a smile that made them squeal.

"And why is that Naruto?" Tsunade asked.

"That's because they are gaki likes boys." Muttered Jiraiya, getting up from his spot on the floor. I shoot him a death glare.

"Up already Jiraiya?" I say, venom dripping from every word.

"Now that I think about it, I'm going to remain unconscious for a little bit more." He say laying back down.

"Is that true fox-boy?"

"Well it is, have a problem with it Kiba?"

"Actually no, I'm Shino's boyfriend ya know?"

"Really, it seems that opposites do attract some times." I say completely amused.

"None of us care if you like boys, Naruto-kun. I think it is cute."

I smile at her, so she got over her crush, I'm glad.

"Ok, this has been very cute and all, many things have been revealed and we are all happy, but I need to speak privately with Naruto, so scatter!" Tsunade said, using her best Hokage tone. Everyone stood up and hurried out the door, the last of them closing the door behind him.

"So, what is that matter that you want to talk with me Tsunade?" I say, rearranging the fur of my tails absently.

"How did this merge truly affect you?"

"Like I said before Tsunade-neechan. My body isn't human any longer, and I have Kyuubi's knowledge, but besides that, there's nothing different, I'm still me. What? Are you afraid that I will go in a killing rampage like he did?"

"Of course not!" Traduction: Maybe.

"Don't worry about it oneechan, Kyuubi's not that bad, he's completely harmless. He has help me a great deal through this years, some kind of weird paternal figure of some sort."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Completely," This was when I remembered the mysterious bag and I move to fetch it, placing it over her lap, since his desk is broke,"Here, Jiraiya told me to give you this. Don't ask me what's inside of it, because I don't know."

She sighs, moves to a smaller desk and unloads it's contents over it. From the bag, a lot of scrolls roll down. I move my chair closer so I can take a better look at them. They have the emblem of every shinobi village I have been in, and all of them are addresed to the Hokage. She looks at me, then at the scrolls, back at me, with the question evident in her eyes.

"Don't look at me, I don't know what they are either."

She sighs again and grabs one, opening it to read it. She looks surprised of what it says, and her reading speed increases exponentially with each one she reads, her eyes growing bigger and bigger each time she finish reading one.

By the time she finish reading the scroll number forty six, I'm worried that her eyes just may pop out of their sockets.

"Tsunade-neechan?"

"Do you know what these scrolls say Naruto?"

"Honestly I have no idea."

"These scrolls are from every sensei you had through all these years," she say pointing at the bigger pile of scrolls,"They have a list of the techniques they had taught you and their opinion about you and about in which rank they think you should be. And these," she say pointing to the smaller, but still big pile of scrolls,"Are the mission reports from every single mission you have done so far, and recommendation letters from every Kage and village leader, except Otogakure."

"Really? I wasn't aware of any of these."

' Well, this is unexpected... I never knew that all of them did that for me. '

' ' Well, what can I say kit, there's something about you that makes people love you. ' '

' I thought my magnetic personality came with the merge. '

' ' No, the merge only made it stronger, but you already had that ability within you. ' '

"Do you know what this means?"

"Actually, I don't have a clue!"

"This means that as soon as you pass the chuunin exams that start in two weeks, you will have ANBU begging you to join them."

"Really Tsunade-neechan, I seriously doubt that they will ask me to join. There aren't many people in ANBU that like me enough for that."

"Nonsense! Most of the people in ANBU don't dislike you, some of your friends are ANBU."

"In that case, many things had changed in this village since I left."

"Well, it has been five years. So, can I sign you up for the exams?"

"Aren't they supposed to be in teams?"

"No, this years there are so few genins taking the exam that it will be individual."

"Really? Well that's odd. In that case sign me in."

"Now that it's settled, where are you going to live?"

"I guess that they sold my old apartment huh?"

"Actually they did, I made your stuff be moved to a house that is rightfully yours." She says with a smirk.

"My father's house, am I right?" I say with a bigger smirk. Tsunade told me who my father was before I left. It was funny I didn't noticed before, since we looked so alike.

"Exactly, here are the keys and a map so you can find it." She says handing be both items after retrieving them from her broken desk.

"Thanks, I will take my things there then."

"Good, now go! I bet your friends are waiting for you so you can go celebrate your return."

"Very well. See ya Tsunade-neechan!"

I say before running out of her office to meet my friends that are waiting for me at the front gate of the Hokage tower.

I'm glad to be home, with my friends.

'Tadaima...'

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Fact!: When a kitsune with only one tail encounters a dog, he will be so frightened that he will turn back to his fox form and flee to a safe place, acording to japanese kitsune myths.

Edited by Zahin