The Past

"Konoha, we're back!" Naruto exclaimed, looking excitedly at the familiar village gates.

Unlike the excitement they'd felt when leaving the village, everyone felt a long-missed sense of comfort now that they were back in Konoha. That was what being home felt like.

Perhaps for that reason, Kakashi didn't reprimand Naruto for shouting. He merely watched his rather energetic student with a slight headache.

Still, they'd all done well on this mission, and had even made considerable progress. That was something their teacher was happy to see.

"You're all off for three days. I'll use that time to report on this mission. Meet at the training ground in three days, and we'll discuss our next mission plans." Kakashi stretched, then said with a pained expression.

This was their first mission of this difficulty, so naturally, the mission report fell to him, the team leader.

But this would be the only time. Given Kakashi's lazy-dog personality, he'd be dumping the mission reports on Nanfeng and the others from now on. No way!

Who was he? Konoha's most famous Copy Ninja and the king of tardiness. He barely had time to read Icha Icha Paradise, and now he was supposed to put together a mission report? Once was enough. A second time would be a dream.

"Thanks for all your hard work, Kakashi-sensei!" Nanfeng said politely. Kakashi nodded in satisfaction. Now that was a good kid—well-mannered.

Then there were Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke had also thanked him respectfully, but what was with that evasive look? It was as if Kakashi had something disgusting on him.

"Sasuke-kun!" Two girls' voices called from behind Kakashi. Only then did he realize Sasuke's troubles had arrived. As long as they had nothing to do with him, all was well.

"Well, you're dismissed." After saying that, Kakashi vanished in a flash, leaving Sasuke to face the two girls—and his considerable headache.

"Hey, Sakura and Ino! It's been over half a month. How's your training going?" Naruto asked with a grin when he saw them approach.

Because Nanfeng had gotten involved, Naruto didn't have much of a thing for Sakura. His behavior at the very beginning had made her uncomfortable, but now they were just ordinary friends.

"Hey, Naruto. Did your mission go well? We've been doing missions in the village the whole time, so we haven't had many chances to go outside. As for training... it's been so-so," Sakura Haruno said helplessly.

Her two teammates were complete closed books, and because of their lack of strength, they could only take on simple missions in the village. But they were nearly done with enough missions to qualify for C-rank assignments. She wondered if they'd get a chance to leave the village and see what it was like outside.

"I'll leave you to it. Nanfeng, want to get ramen?" Naruto asked, scratching his head and ignoring Sasuke's murderous glare as he turned to Nanfeng.

It wasn't that Naruto hadn't noticed Sasuke's pleading look. But Naruto held a grudge, too.

Sasuke had kicked him when he'd unleashed the Nine-Tails' power, and that was what brought him back to his senses. But that kick had really hurt. How could Naruto pass up the chance to get revenge?

Thinking that, Naruto even shot Sasuke a spiteful look. But in Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka's eyes, he'd just provided the perfect assist. In that moment, their opinion of Naruto shot up.

What a great friend! They'd definitely have to get on Naruto's good side. Whether they could take things further with Sasuke depended entirely on Naruto being their wingman!

As for Nanfeng, he'd been focused entirely on Hinata just now. But her team had gone out on a mission. They were still near Konoha, but the mission would take a few days. Looks like he'd have to put off taking Hinata out to eat after his return.

"Okay, we still have a mission report to put together. If you want to see Sasuke, you can look for him tonight. Sorry about that!" Nanfeng said to the two girls, sounding a little apologetic.

Sakura and Ino weren't thrilled, but they were ninjas, and missions came first. They understood the importance of the report, so they didn't say anything. Besides, Nanfeng had been very polite, and even if they were annoyed, they couldn't very well take it out on him.

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief, then glared at Naruto as if to say that if he ever got the chance, he'd make Naruto pay!

"Come on. You wanted to know some things, didn't you? Let's go to my place, get something to eat, and talk it all through." Nanfeng spoke in a low voice.

After hearing Nanfeng, Sasuke and Naruto stopped their staring contest and followed him silently away from the village gates. Only after they'd returned home did Nanfeng finally relax.

"Don't say anything. Old Man Third is watching us. We have to pretend we're playing cards." Using a Secret Technique, Nanfeng spoke quickly as he brought out a deck of playing cards. Behind them, a hot pot was simmering—the prop they'd prepared earlier to throw off any suspicion.

Seeing the three of them playing cards while waiting for the hot pot, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt reassured. Only after he'd withdrawn his Scrying Jutsu did Nanfeng finally breathe easy.

"So, Nanfeng, why do they call me the Demon Fox...? And what exactly happened to me in the Land of Waves?" Naruto's voice was a little low. A child had carried that kind of stigma since birth, growing up surrounded by everyone's coldness. He just wanted to know why.

"The Nine-Tails." Nanfeng said just those two words, and Sasuke's expression turned grim.

As the second son of the Uchiha Clan, he knew what the Nine-Tails was. He just hadn't expected that the beast was sealed inside Naruto... Didn't that mean...?

"Naruto is the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?" The emotions in Sasuke's transmitted voice wavered slightly. He'd suspected as much before, but he'd never seriously considered the possibility that Naruto was a Jinchuriki.

"That's right. During the Nine-Tails' Rampage twelve years ago, Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage, sealed half of the Nine-Tails' chakra inside Naruto to protect Konoha. The Fourth Hokage and his wife—Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki—died on the spot..."

"After all, Naruto's mother was the previous Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki. This could be called the final keepsake your parents left you. I just never expected that someone who should have been Konoha's hero would go through something like this as he grew up." Nanfeng continued explaining what had happened back then.