You and Your Demon

Chapter 5 – Rebuilt This City

Over the last two or three months in Konohagakure the dominating sounds that could be heard was the
clanging of metal on metal, the low drones of power tools and the lively chatter of leaf civilians
and leaf ninja alike as they all worked together in rebuilding the hidden village.

After Pain's attack on the village a couple of months or so ago, Konoha had turned into a battlefield
and much of the parish had suffered enormous damage due to each of the Pains' ridiculously powerful
abilities. Most of the fighting took place in the middle of the village so the Hokage tower as well
some of the clan compounds on the edges of the community such as the Hyuuga, Nara, Inuzuka and Aburame
estates had suffered only minor damage.

However Naruto lost his apartment and both he and Choji were mortified to find their beloved ramen and
BBQ restaurants destroyed.
Naruto, in a fit of rage once he had returned from Myobokuzan just in time to save Tsunade as well as
the rest of the village, was throwing all his newly acquired jutsu's at the Pain's (A/N: Haha. Pun much?),
until each of them were finally brought down.

Although worn out he refused to rest until all the injured were brought to the hospital and of course
Ichiraku Ramen was rebuilt. Shortly after he started the quest of restoring the village he was accompanied
by many of the other survivors and it soon became a communal reach as everyone put in their fair share of
help.
After witnessing the blonde ninjas sacrifice and determination in protecting and restoring the village and
its people, many of the citizens had began to respect the Kyuubi vessel and some had even offered him a
place to stay as they learned that he was without a home, though he had to turn them down as they did not
have much left for themselves and he had insisted that they should worry about themselves rather than him.
Since then, he and other homeless citizens had been staying in shelters set up in secure areas such as the
stadium and memorial grounds.

The village had one focus: Rebuild...

Due to the situation the Fifth Hokage was having trouble with keeping a balance with the steady
reconstruction of the village and assisting other villages that required their aid. Though she could
not turn down all calls for help as they need some form of income to cover their funds, but she needed
as much help as possible in rebuilding the village and so she had to keep most of the leaf shinobi nearby,
occasionally sending some on small errands.

The village, now, stood with a regained sense of peace as many neighbouring villages offered supplies
and had helped return it to almost its original state.
Currently the Godaime Hokage lay over her desk face down onto the thick oak wood, there was a pile of
paper work beside her, thankfully there wasn't many casualties during the attack due to the overwhelming
protection from the Hokage and Katsuya but many injuries that ranged from minor to not too serious were
sustained.
The room was quiet apart from an occasionally hiccup that came from the blonde Sannin, the third and last
remaining Sannin. She rolled her head on the desk from her forehead to her cheek to reveal puffy red eyes
and take yet another swig from a rather large bottle of sake. She rolled back to rest her forehead down on
the desk and slowly gulped down a mouthful of sake.

A tear cascaded down her nose where the bead clung to the tip until finally falling to the floor.
"W-why?" she sobbed while sucking in a difficult breath, "Why did you tell me to make that bet?"

-----------------------------------o FLASHBACK o-------------------------------

Tsunade sat on a seat by the footpath with one leg over the other, her powerful figure unmatched by any
other kunouchi. To her left stood her fellow Sannin whose silvery white hair hung down to his waist.
"Don't Die..." the blonde whispered," If I lose you too...I..."
"Are you gonna cry for me?" the Sage interrupted, "Haha"
"Baka" She hissed,
"Look," he began, "put everything you've got on me dying, you always pick the losing bet. And in return
I'll come back alive and well."
(A/N: Manga Ch: 367)

--------------------------------o END FLASHBACK o---------------------------

"I know you were joking, but you put the idea in my head...and I...-" Tsunade was interrupted by a furiously
loud pounding on her office door... or was that just because of her hangover?
"Hokage-Sama!" one of the Tower's guards called out.
"What!" She accidentally growled in return before recomposing herself.
"Its Shizune-san," Tsunade rapidly stood up and bolted to the door, "She's awake!" The guard finished at a
lower volume and tone, as he no longer had to yell through the door. With that Tsunade was off to the E.R.

-----------------------------------------------o----------------------------------------

Konoha Entrance

Just outside the Village Gates a group of four steadily grew closer to the entrance, a boy who sat on top of
a large nin' dog was leading the pack. The blonde behind him let out a sigh, "Well, looks like there's still
plenty of work to do here," he half moaned, "hmm, I thought that they would've finished up in the few weeks
that we were away."

He turned to the Hyuuga beside him, "maybe we should've stayed back there for the rest of the time we were
given and..." The shy girls face grew redder and redder as he continued to whisper into her ear.

"Most likely," Shino interrupted, "everyone lost their motivation when you left, Naruto."

Naruto raised an arm behind his head to scratch his neck as he chuckled, "Hai, this village is pretty much
nothing with out me, haha."

Hinata silently agreed as she remained at his side when they walked through the gates.
A tall shinobi walked towards them, hands in pockets and a cigarette poking out of his mouth.

"Shikamaru-san," Hinata greeted him, "hows your leg coming along?"
"Eh," he replied in his usual monotone, "its come along well i guess, the fifth is making me 'take a stroll'
to stretch it out, troublesome woman, anyway how was your mission?"
"Full of action you might say," Naruto laughed, "So you would've hated it, haha."
Kiba and Shino had remained quiet for the whole conversation due to their shame of being captured.

"I don't know what you're laughing at," the Nara chounin fired back, "what the hell happened to you?!" he
finished with his gaze catching on the tail that flicked around from behind the blonde.

"Uh, I felt like a change," the genin replied as he straightened out his jacket.

"No I wasn't talking about your clothes," Shikamaru mentally slapped himself in the forehead, "Why do you
have a tail?"

"Oh," Naruto laughed sheepishly, "That's just from this new jutsu that I developed."

The lazy shinobi merely raised an eyebrow, He only just learnt how to use Sage techniques and yet he's
already developed new skills? he thought before shaking it off and saying good-bye.

--------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------

Konoha Hospital

The hospital doors were barged open.

"Sakura, Status Report!"

"Hai, Tatsujin," The pink haired kunouchi rushed to her side and accompanied her up the corridor,
"Stabilisation commenced due Shizune's body not being able to hold out on its own, Research suggests that
when Pain attacked her, her minds connection with her body had been completely severed. Therefore the
recruitment of Inoichi Yamanaka and the Yamanaka clans mind techniques was necessary in order for the
correlation to be restored."

Tsunade let out a breath of air that she believed she must've been holding in for a long time while Sakura
tried to catch her breath due to lack thereof.

"Where is she now?" she asked the Medic Nin'.

"I transferred her from the E.R to the private wards up ahead." Sakura finished by pointing up the hallway.

"Any other reports?" the blonde urged

"Hai," Sakura began, "Shikamaru, Chouza-san and Ebisu-san were released a few days ago."

"Mhmm, I spoke to Shikamaru this morning," The fifth answered, "you did an excellent job on his leg to make
it heal so well."
The compliment that her master had given her had made her blush slightly.

"And Kakashi?" She continued
At this Sakura bowed her head and shook it slightly.
"I see..." She trailed off, "you can have the next few days off alright? I don't want you to overuse your
chakra, it's a shame that Naruto is too stubborn to perfect his chakra control, a limitless chakra like his
would be an ace up your sleeve for a medic nin. Still, if he had those skills he would have already kicked
me off the Hokage block and replaced me."

--------------------------------------------o-------------------------------------------

Ichiraku Ramen

"Next," Naruto raised his arm in excitement before another bowl of ramen was placed before him.
"There's no way you could eat more than me Naruto!" Kiba rivalled as yet another bowl was placed before
him.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Kiba-kun," Hinata defended.
"Yeah, Naruto eats ramen as though he was just taking in a breath of air," Teuchi assured.

Just as Kiba was throwing in the towel a pair of girls parted the over hangings signs at the entrance and
sat down at the bench beside them.
"Well I think that I might have space for one more bowl, gomennasai," he whispered to Naruto and Hinata
before sliding closer to the new comers, "Hello ladies, next one's on me." The girls exchanged looks and
giggled to each other, "Arigato Gozaimasu."

Hinata started to giggle to herself before she caught Naruto staring at her and they both looked away and
blushed.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned back to find Naruto's face extremely close to hers, their noses
almost touching and she could see her reflection in his cerulean eyes, "Im going to report into Baa-chan,"
he whispered in an unlike-Naruto soft voice, "would you like me to walk you home or do you want to come
with me?"

"I...I..." She tried to regain her strength and control of her body, but she so desperately wanted to lean
a little closer. Feel his breath on her skin. Taste his mouth. But before she could make contact he placed
a finger on her lips, which kept her inches away from him. She kissed his finger lightly before straightening
herself up, "I think Im going to go home, see my Otosan, you don't have to walk me home Naruto-kun."

Naruto froze at the mention of Hiashi, "very well, but will I see you tonight Hina-chan?"

"Of course," She replied as she waved him off and turned to walk home.

Naruto sighed as he watched her stray off into the distance before turning and going his own way.

As he was walking up the main road he felt people staring and whispering things about him so he purposely
swished his tail about an twitched his ears to receive gasps and awe's until he ran into a long time friend
from team seven.
"Sakura-chan!"
"Hai, Naruto" she yawned back
"Are you feeling ok? You look exhausted."
"Probably because I've been working at the hospital non-stop for the last few days."
"Really? Hows Kakashi sensei?!"
At that she bowed her head and shook it like when Tsunade had asked.
"Oh," he paused for a while, "where's Tsunade Baa-chan?"
"You know she'll kill you if you keep calling her that!"
"No, she loves it."
"What ever. Anyway she's taken over for me at the hospital and – ah!."
Naruto jumped, "what is it? He said as he slipped a kunai knife out of one of his jacket holsters.
"W-what happened to you?" She gasped
"It's a long story, but thanks anyway Sakura-chan. I'll see you later." He finished before heading off in
the direction of the hospital.

-----------------------------------------o----------------------------------------------

Private Ward

The blonde Sannin sat beside a bed in the third ward, slightly snoring with her head on the bed sheets.
She had a firm grip on the patient's hand.
"Wake up, Tsunade-sama," Shizune weakly spoke while nudging her.
At that the Hokage's eyes opened and immediately watered up on the sight of her assistant.

Naruto waited out side the door as he heard the commotion happening within the room. After a while he had
gotten over waiting and ventured down the hallway. Since he had been here many times before he knew his
way around. Every now and again he peeped into the rooms to see who was in them. The building seemed to
grow darker as he moved from room to room. He stopped at a door marked as 'eye surgery'.

"What are you doing?" A softly echoing voice whispered from behind his left ear.
He spun around to find no one behind him.
"Who said that?" he called out
"Who didn't?" the voice whispered from behind him again.

Officially creeped out Naruto began to walk back as casually as he could until he was finally back out
side the room that Tsunade was in.
When he stepped through the door he saw the fifth was now standing reading through a medical report on
the end of Shizune's bed.
"Naruto-kun!" Shizune gasped which made Tsunade look up as well.
"What happened to you?" the blonde demanded.
Naruto waved it off by explaining his new jutsu but Tsunade still wasn't very convinced and believed that
the Kyuubi was trying to transform his body.

"Have you found a place to stay yet Naruto?" The blonde then questioned
"Huh? Oh, hai Baa-chan. Just as small apartment close to the memorial grounds."
"Oh good, I hated the fact that you had been staying in camps lately. Any way speaking of the memorial
grounds you had better be attending the service tomorrow morning."
"Service?" Naruto raised his eyebrow
"Hai, service in memory of Konoha's lost including Jiriya-san."
"Of course I'll be there."
"Good I have something that I want to announce."
With that she pushed Naruto away and out the door before closing it on him.

Naruto turned back at the closed door and yell, "Fine then, I'll see you tomorrow Baa-ch-"
A fist broke through the closed door and buried itself in the pit of Naruto's stomach.
"Stop calling me that Baka!"
Naruto quickly stood back up and hurried off using his hands to protect his head from any projectiles that
may target him.

As he walked around the village Naruto examined the new streets. Most of them had been rebuilt to almost
the exact same state that they had been.
He decided to walk down one of the outskirt streets that joined up with the street that supported the
Hyuuga mansion. Most of the buildings he walked past were still slightly damaged from Pain's attack, which
meant that they survived without being completely destroyed.

In the yards were more Konoha citizens who were on a mission of cleaning, repairing and rebuilding these
heritage houses, all except one rather large estate that was unrecognisable due to the heavy damage it
had suffered. There was still debris strung all over the courtyard and some of the walls had even collapsed
yet there seemed to be no-one trying to restore it. Maybe the people who lived here didn't survive,
Naruto thought sadly. He brushed off the dirt and dust from the correlated iron fence which revealed the
clan name: Namikaze.
"..." Naruto tried to think, "Why is that so familiar?" he said to himself.
After a while, when nothing in mind had sprung out to mind he decided to swing round and meet up with Hinata.

---------------------------------------------o------------------------------------------

Hyuuga Manor

After a not so 'welcome home' greeting from the Hyuuga's apart from Neji and Hanabi, Hinata sat on the bed
behind her younger sister in their dormitory. She hummed softly to herself while she brushed Hanabi's long
black hair that flowed to her lower back.

"Hinata-oneesan?" Hanabi began,
"Hmm?" came her reply,
"Why do I have to be the Hyuuga heir?"
Hinata's rhythm slowed a bit as she thought.
"Well, you'd be better than me." She paused before adding, "but that's ok because I didn't really want to
be the head of the Hyuuga's anyway."
"Really? Why not?"
"I... I um..." She felt her face redden, she didn't want to tell her little sister about Naruto incase
word got around to her father.
Hanabi turned to face her and noticed the intense change in skin colour, "Oh, its Naruto-kun isn't it,"
she sighed.

Hinata was about to question her reaction when she was interrupted by a knock on the bedroom door.
"Hinata-san," one of the maids called softly,
"Hai?"
"There is a blonde shinobi downstairs in the hall waiting for you."
The seventeen year old Hyuuga froze.
"A-Arigato," her almost-fifteen year old sister replied for her.
"P-please don't say anything to Otosan, Hana-Imoutosan." Hinata pleaded to her younger sister.
"Ofcourse not, never!" Hanabi was slightly taken aback due to her Oneesan's lack of trust in her.
"Arigato," She relaxed before sliding off the bed. Before she had opened the door she turned back to her
sister, "Have you been formerly introduced to N-Naruto-kun?"
A nervous shake of the head came as a reply.
"So come down with me then," Hinata finished as she reached her hand out towards Hanabi.

In a few minutes they were walking down the great hall in search for their blonde friend.
Not too far from the front entrance the usually loud shinobi was sitting quietly on one of the many large
cream sofas until two Hyuuga women slowly entered the room.
Naruto jumped in a flash to greet his girlfriend with a peck on her cheek, which allowed him to see over
her shoulder and notice another person standing behind her.
As his face flushed bright red he started, "Oh-...Um...I-uh..."
The young girl began to giggle as a red shade flashed across her own face, "Hi Naruto-kun," she smiled.
He straightened back up and scratched the back of his head nervously, "H-hi um, Hanabi right?"
The girl nodded shyly, her eyes averting his gaze.
Now where have I seen that before, he joked with himself.
Hinata curled a soft hand around one of his fox ears and gave it a scratch will automatically drew out a
low purr from the blonde.
The elder Hyuuga turned her head to her sister, "Naruto-kun and I were just going to go for a walk if you
would like to join us Hanabi."
The shortest of the three slowly shook her head as she declined, "No, it's alright maybe another time."
"Are you sure?" Naruto second chanced before sweeping his tail under her chin, which caused her to gasp.
She smiled, "Sorry, Otosan is supposed to be here to train me in a few minutes."
Naruto head immediately rang, BAIL!BAIL!BAIL! , but he tried to keep his voice at a calm level, "Oh well
in that case we'd better leave you to it," as they both jolted out the door and took off towards the street.

As the couple slowly made their way down the road they passed by many of their fellow shinobi, a couple
being from the rookie nine such as Ino, who was watering the plants at her family's flower shop and Choji
who was waiting for her to finish up so that he could take her out for lunch, though it seemed like he
was about to eat the flowers if he had to wait any longer.

Tenten was sitting under a tree by her favourite ninja armoury with Neji lying with his head in her lap.
She was playing with his hair before she looked up and caught sight of Hinata and Naruto walking down the
road hand in hand. She caught Hinata's gaze and winked at her causing her to blush. Before Neji could
tilt his head in her direction to see what Tenten was looking at, the weapons nin' had captured him in a
long kiss to keeping him from looking.

Further down Hinata spotted her sensei on her balcony, one hand holding a watering can over her balcony
flowers while the other rubbed a circling pattern around the rounding of her belly.

"K-Kureni sensei!" Hinata waved to her.
"Hinata, haven't seen you in a while dear," she smiled to her former student.
"Hey Kureni sensei, I have something for you!" Naruto yelled out before running into the building with
Hinata in tow.
After jumping up a flight of stairs they waited until Kureni to open her apartment door.
Inside the apartment was spotless, there were many plants and flowers on shelves and corners of the
rooms; she always liked to base her genjutsu on plant related attacks.
Naruto moved to the table in the middle of the room before fumbling inside the pack on his back.
"Ah, here it is." He stated while pulling out a white scroll with a blue tie. He unravelled the scroll
and spread it along the bench top before using his hand to release the seal.
A cloud of smoke surrounded the scroll and slowly disappeared to reveal a bunch white and silver petalled
flowers with white stems and bright blue auras surrounding them.
"These are-" Naruto began
"Aoi Ryuudou," Kureni gasped.
"y-yeh..."
"Where did you get these?"
"Well, I um..." Naruto tried to explain.
"They were our previous mission's objective." Hinata helped him out. "And we had to find them in the
forest of chakra, still I didn't know you brought some home with us."
'home with us'. That sounds cute. Kureni thought as she looked at the two, I wonder whats
going on between them.
"Well actually I really liked them and I would've loved to keep them myself but I don't really have a
garden any more." Naruto sadly pointed out.
A hand rested on his shoulder, "They are lovely Naruto, arigato. I'll tell you what, I'll take care of
them now and when they start to multiply and you get your garden back together you can have some."
Naruto's face lit up, "Arigato Kureni sensei."
"Don't thank me Naruto-kun, you're the one who brought them."
*Knock
*Knock
"Hang on I'll get it," Naruto spun around to the door just as someone was walking in.
"Well look who we have here" a familiar voice rang out
Naruto almost made a dash to hide behind Hinata but she had already spotted him.
"Oh hi Anko," Kureni welcomed before turning back to Naruto and Hinata, "Sorry guys I forgot that I
invited Anko around for lunch and-"
"That's alright, they can join us," Anko invited while reaching for Naruto to ruffle with his hair,
"I've got a lot to catch up on with this one."

The four sat around the apartment for a few hours where they had lunch and talked about the village and
its restoration, also Naruto's new appearance became a subject due to Anko's continuous questioning and
then finally the relationship between him and Hinata had managed to be snaked out of them as well.
It seemed that nothing could be kept secret from the snake mistress. Hinata wanted to leave before they
dug deeper into the mission they had just returned from. She tugged at Naruto's shirt and he seemed to
get the idea.
"Well it's getting a bit late so I guess we'll see you tomorrow in the memorial grounds," Naruto bided,
"Arigato Kureni sensei, Anko san." Hinata finished
"Hai see you tomorrow." Both Kureni and Anko replied.

Out on the street Hinata and Naruto continued to walk aimlessly. "So what now Hina-chan?" the blonde
asked with a sly smile on his face.
The Hyuuga also smiled back before saying rather than asking; "lets go to your apartment."
"Alright lets go."

------------------------------------------o---------------------------------------------

East Konoha

After kicking off their footwear the pair found themselves madly scrambling to get inside the door
while their faces were locked together at the lips. The sun was now setting so Naruto blindly reached
out to flick on the light switch but quickly gave up and his arm returned to its previous position,
wrapped around the slender body of the girl before him. The temporary apartment wasn't much but it
didn't matter as Naruto gently pulled Hinata closer before leading her out to the side yard, where he
lifted her up into the hammock that swung between two tree's before launching himself up beside her.
After a few minutes of general make-out the two slowed to catch their breaths, soft pants coming from
each of them. They clung to each other as their warmth enveloped them; their combined weight in the
fold of the hammock squeezed them even closer together so that when they broke apart their noses were
still almost touching. When the blondes tongue lashed out to lick the tip of her nose she let out a
giggle that made him believe that he'd died and gone to heaven.

"Shouldn't you be going home soon?" Naruto wondered,
"U-um no," Hinata answered, "Otosan, thinks that I'm staying at Tenten's, b-but I-"
She was interrupted by Naruto crashing his lips into hers,
"Really?" he smiled after they broke apart,
"I don't remember changing my name to Tenten though," he laughed jokingly.
"N-Naruto-kun" Hinata giggled while playfully pushing his shoulder.

---------------------------------------------o------------------------------------------

Memorial Grounds

The following morning arrived with a few overhanging clouds that failed to block out the sunlight, a
fine layer of dew covered most of the training grounds and a huge mood of depression that flooded
through the village.
The entire village was dressed in black and were slowly making their way to the memorial grounds.

The rookie nine and team Guy were amongst the shinobi in the front row. Everyone was watching and
listening to the eulogies that were being presented. The village elders started with their own
speeches and contribution. Until Tsunade, the Hokage herself was ready to take to the stand.
The third and last remaining Sannin stood tall before her friends. Comrades. Family. She had slightly
red eyes that were only just noticeable by people in the front row.

"Today we are gathered here to grip terms with our past and release our emotions that have been
stirred by those we have lost...." She announced.
Naruto stood behind the third Hokage's grandson with a hand on each shoulder; it helped both in
comforting the younger genin as well as supporting himself. Beside him was his idol and father-like sensei,
Iruka. He looked over to find his fellow comrades also standing close by. Choji, Ino, Shikamaru, Temari,
Shino, Kiba, Hinata, Lee, Sakura, Sai, Neji and Tenten. These people were more than just his friends,
they were family but there were still some holes that could never again be filled. He turned his focus
back to the blonde sannin who was just finishing up.
"There are two more things that I must cover before I leave you. Firstly, I have some words of advice
that I would like to share with you."
All sounds and sobs that could be heard were immediately held back.
"Don't hide your feelings and hold back. Tell those who you admire before you lose them."
Naruto felt an arm wrap around his and looked to his side to find Hinata resting her head on his shoulder.
There were a few gasps and awes that were shortly interrupted by Tsunade's continued speech.
"Secondly, Naruto Uzumaki," The blonde shinobi looked up, "can you please come up here?"
Everyone watched as the confused blonde slowly made his way up to the stand. Once he was beside the Hokage
she turned to look at him before continuing, "I know that he was the one who wanted to tell you this."
Naruto raised his eyebrow, "Who? Tell me what?"
"Your God father, Jiraiya-san. About your parents."
Naruto heart skipped a beat and his stomach got caught in his throat, "W-what?" he asked wide eyed.
"Your mother was from Whirlpool's hidden village, Uzumaki Kushina."
A few of the older people in the crowd gasped and made cries of amazement, but they were nothing compared
to their reactions on what they all discovered next.
"Your father, died saving the village from the Kyuubi attack 17 years ago, the fourth Hokage, Namikaze
Minato."
Naruto could feel the pressure of a lot of blood rushing to his head, his eyesight grew a bit hazy but
he tried to remain in control. He could only manage to mouth the word 'what'.
"I'm sorry that I kept this from you, but it was Jiraiya-san who wanted to be the one to tell you.

When Naruto finally found his voice he asked, "So that building just off the main road."
"Yes, that was the Namikaze estate which is also what you have inherited."
She turned to the audience before them, "Naruto is now under the Clan Restoration Act and it is up to
him to chose which name he will take, wether it be Namikaze or Uzumaki he is the son of the Fourth Hokage."

Cheers
Till Next Time > Leaf > Out