Vengeance. Punishment inflicted or retribution for an injury or wrong. A wrong such as killing one's own family or maiming a loved one. Vengeance can lead one to do things outside of their normal characteristic behavior and is often seen as a vile nature.

Vengeance consumed the older woman as she slipped quietly down a hospital hallway toward a guarded room. Judging by their slumped forms and gentle snoring, the drugs she had placed in the guards meals had taken effect. Tiredly, she gazed at their slumped forms before turning towards the door that hid her prey and slipped as quietly into the room as she could.

The sounds of the machines filled the room, the beebs of the heart monitor echoing off of the stark white walls. On the bed in the middle of the room was her prey, attached to an IV drip and looking peaceful in his sleep. The old woman scowled as she looked at the monster in the bed, memories of her children flaring in her mind. Innocent victims to the beast laying in the bed. For eight years she had watched the monster pretend to be an innocent boy. For eight years she watched the boy, waiting for her moment to strike. For eight years her fury and hatred simmered. She was no fool, she knew the Hokage was constantly watching the boy. She knew he almost always had protection from the worst of the hatred aimed at the monster. She knew that the monster could be a powerful weapon for the village. She knew all this, but in her heart all she could feel was the pain of her loss. In her eyes, all she saw was her son and daughter smiling, holding their home, the proof they had graduated from the ninja academy and the image of their broken burnt bodies found in the aftermath of the monster's attack. It had taken a full week to find her twins, broken and burnt, in a destroyed bakery under the fallen roof. They had died holding each other.

She had lost her husband in the third shinobi war and losing her young children so soon after was devastating to her. Then she heard of the boy, the sacrifice the fourth had used to subdue the beast by sealing the force of nature into its infant body. She knew the monster couldn't be contained by a simple seal; it made no sense. Obviously the monster had taken over and was taunting her. Laughing at her pain. Cruelly rubbing her face in the face that her babies had perished while it had survived.

Looking at the innocent face the monster had chosen, the face that looked so similar to the favored hokage, she paused in a brief moment of doubt. She had never before taken a life. Before her husband, she had never been part of the shinobi world. Her parents were civilians, simple merchants that made an honest ryō (AN: fun fact- a ryō, Kishimoto's made up currency for the shinobi world, is the equivalent of 10 yen. As of September 2017, the current exchange rate of ten yen to USD is nine cents. One ryō is literally one cent less than a dime. Wonder what the cost of living is in Konohagakure.) and had put their lives into the store her younger brother now ran with his daughter, Tenten.

She stared at the face, no the mask of the monster that had stolen her babies from her. Throughout her mind, doubt flowed like a river: could she do this? Would she be branded a traitor or would she be a martyr? Could she escape before anyone was the wiser? She shook her head, no the beast had to die. It was the only way her children could finally see peace in the afterlife. She was filled with determination as she slowly climbed onto the bed, gently so as to not awaken to monster too soon. Straddling the small figure and keeping her weight off it, she slowly reached down to grasp the monster's neck and squeezed. She squeezed with all her worth as the monster's confused eyes snapped open. She relished in the look of terror and panic that can over the monster's face as it struggled to breathe. She pressed her knees down onto the figure's hands to prevent it from trying to pry her fingers from her prize, she had to do this.

The monster thrashed beneath her, trying to get loose, but it was weak due to the destruction it had wrought earlier. It had probably thought it was a game killing the innocent people today. Blood pulsed loudly in her ears, her breathing coming hard through clenched teeth, her fingers began to ache from the exertion of holding the monster's neck so tightly, yet still she clung on. She had to do this. For the good of the village, for her dead children, for the unfinished work of the fourth. She would finally have retribution.

The monster's struggles grew weaker and weaker as its eyes began to roll up. It's mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water: trying to draw breath. Still she held on. The heart monitor was beeping with slowing heart beats. Still she held on. The monster's struggles were weak now, barely even twitches of muscles. The rage in her heart was finally be satisfied. She had killed the monster. So why had the world changed? How was she looking up at a headless body that was holding a child by the neck? Whose body was that and how did it get her clothes? Why was her vision growing darker? Why couldn't she breath? She had done what others only dreamed of, she had killed the beas-no the Demon. So why was the man with silver hair staring at her with such loathing in his lone visible eye. She just wanted to rest. Yes sleep sounded so good, if only she could breath.

---

The white haired man stared down at the head he just removed, watching the life fade from her eyes as he pushed the body off the child. He had been alerted by the guard that was stationed outside the window and had rushed to help. He had almost been too late. The boy was still struggling weakly to breath through the strained airways that the old woman almost crushed in her grip. The man helped tilt the boy's body onto his side and gently rubbed his back, so as to prevent choking, as the door opened with some force. In rushed the chosen doctor who, with but a glance, sidestepped the now dead body and began to check the boy over. Medical chakra flowed with a green hue over the boy's throat, healing it enough to make breathing easier. This in turn led to a coughing fit from the boy as well as much retching. The man sighed in relief before looking at the two figures still in the doorway.

"Lord Hokage, Jiraiya."

"Kakashi. Mind telling me why I have a dead villager on the floor?"

Kakashi blew out a sigh and adjusted his mask, "she was in the process of strangling Naruto. So I stopped her." he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hiruzen stepped into the room and gazed down at the decapitated head, "I see. How did she get by my ANBU? I specifically put them here to guard the boy. Hmmmm….Jiraiya, check the two outside the door, I doubt a civilian could have rendered my elites unconscious with force, so I would lean more to a drug. That still leaves the two outside though," The aged veteran said as he stroked his beard. Using the toe of his sandal, he pushed the headless body over to get a better view at her. Quirking an eyebrow, he turned to his student as he re-entered the room.

"It's as you say sensei, they were drugged. Pretty well in fact considering they didn't respond to the ammonia pellets I used. I'd need Anko or Inoichi to determine what was used though. 'Rochi and Princess were better versed in drugs than I am. I would guess it was either diluted aconitum or a variant but I can't be sure. Damn it sensei, I'm a pervert, not a botanist"

The fact that he said that with a serious face made the boy in the bed giggle weakly, which in turn made the large man with white hair grin broadly at the boy. The grin fell at the boys next choked out words:

"Your Jiraiya of the Sannin, yeah? The person who taught my father?"

Hiruzen started, looking at the boy inquisitively before looking at a wide eyed Kakashi. Snapping his fingers, three ANBU appeared kneeling before him,

"Bear, take out the trash and dispose of it properly. Mantis, go to watch tower and find crow, I want him to report immediately to my office. Eagle, find badger and cat. I want to know why nobody tried to stop the murder attempt that happened right under their nose."

Kakashi stepped forward, "Lord Hokage if I may, Cat was the one who alerted me. I don't know the details just that one fact. If it helps any."

"The added intelligence is appreciated but the order remains. I want it done yesterday if not last week."

The ANBU nodded and disperse via shunshin. Naruto watched this happen quietly, the panic and fear still in his mind as well as the pain in his throat. The doctor had helped some but his healing hands didn't take all the pain away. The man be viewed as a grandfatherly figure was serious, so he asked no more questions. The large man made him feel a bit more relaxed with his goofy way of talking and his big brother's presence helped a lot. Kakashi always made him feel safe.

He was about to grow impatient and begin fidgeting when Hiruzen sat down gently at the end of the bed, making Naruto flinch slightly.

With a sigh, the old man pulled out his pipe and began to chew on the end, as he laid his head in his wrinkled fingers.

"Naruto, I need to know, who told you Minato was your father?"

"Fluffy did." the boy choked out, his voice hoarse still.

"...Fluffy?" Hiruzen's eyebrow quirked higher yet.

"Well she said her name was Kurana Ootsuki, but she's so big and fluffy with pretty orange red fur that I wanted to call her on it. It's rude to call a lady big so I call her Fluffy. She's also funny to pick at since she picks back and laughs with me."

"...Naruto please lay back on the bed so Jiraiya can look at your stomach."

"O..K? But why? No I won't ask him that, it's dirty…. I don't care, it's bad to be a pervert like that….no way a powerful ninja would ever write stuff like that let alone….I don't think I'm old enough to know what that is…" Naruto jerked when two gnarled fingers snapped under his nose. Looking up, he took in a very white Kakashi, a serious Hokage, and a very, very confused Jiraiya. Wondering why they were so tense, he laid back and lifted his shirt, showing the red diamond shaped scar.

Jiraiya stepped up to the bed and glanced at the boy before running his hands through a few hand signs and pressing his fingers to the boy's stomach. Naruto watched as an elaborate seal appeared on his skin with the diamond scar directly in the middle. Eight kanji with smaller kanji was written in a circle surrounded a thick stroke spiral that looped around inside itself, the innermost point barely touching the scar.

Jiraiya looked over every detail slowly, poking and prodding the seal in places, making the boy squirm and giggle gravely. The doctor stood to the side with a glass of water and a small cup that held two pills, watching with curiosity. Finally, after half an hour of double checking and second guessing, Jiraiya stood up and cracked his back,

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: Minato was a genius with my knowledge, which thanks to Kushina, Minato surpassed, there is no fault with it. In fact it actually looks like Minato wanted Naruto to speak with the kyuubi, dunno why. Right here?" He pointed at the very edge of the outside spiral between the seal symbols and the swirl, " this part is made to degrade after a number of years. It's actually segmented so it doesn't unravel the rest of the matrix. I can't tell ya how many years was implied as it's too far gone but looking at it, I'm going to guess that sometime by age 13 he'll be able to pull some of the fox's chakra into his own, if not sooner. My guess is what happened earlier in the village today was the barest minimum his body could sustain forcedly pulled through the crack in the seal by his natural self preservation. He forced it. Not the other way around. The scar doesn't look like it will cause an issue, but with age…. I got nothing."

Hiruzen sighed and looked at the boy who was struggling to keep his grinning mask up. If only he had some way to remedy this. He didn't think it would be a good idea to send him out of the village with Jiraiya, especially with all the enemies Minato made in Iwa,the next year at the academy was starting soon too. Yet in the other hand, he had the fact that in one single day, he already had several life threatening attacks from idiotic villagers who saw the convict and not the prison.