So this is another story I wrote, here are a few things I am going to detail right now.

The setting is AU, the biggest change is that the population is more and the world is more realistic, which means no more child super soldiers, everyone graduates at the age of 18, everywhere, it allows me to write relationships in the way I want to write this story.

Naruto is hyper intelligent, very, very wise and intelligent. He is also a jerk, it's not apparent this chapter but I wanted to model him on Tony Stark, which is apt given the setting. He won't be paired, but he will be doing a lot of coupling if you know what I mean.

Please try to understand that my definitions of Chakra and everything else are just tailored to suit the way I tell the story, but will remain logical within the premise I set for it, so basically I'll try to stick within the boundaries of the universe I have created.

Also all the cannon arcs will be different, I haven't really planned this out that much, so a lot can change, this is just a concept for now.

So without further ado, here it is.

I DON'T OWN NARUTO.

'We live in a world full of infinite possibilities, there are things that we have yet to discover about Chakra and how it works. Did you know that the Human Chakra could be split into two different components, the physical and the mental, the Yang and the Yin. Yang Chakra would give you the body, it is what makes your body function, it's not just the blood flowing to the vessels and the organs that drives our bodies, there is something deeper at work, something that can be explained by Chakra. And the Yin Chakra is something that cannot be ignored- it's what gives you your spirit, the feeling of being you, of seeing the world from your perspective. The ability to hear yourself think, the unique thing no one can ever take away from you till you die, and is different for every one else.'

'Consider for a second, the amazing possibilities. My experiments have taught me that Chakra does not behave like the usual energy you see, it's different, it has a certain multiplicity to it, the ability to exponentially multiply, because new things need to be created. I don't quite know how this even works, but it's possible theoretically to make a battery that can have Chakra, and use an amplifier seal and produce outputs that are far greater than the input. Nothing like how energy works, it's amazing the amount of things one can achieve, if only they have the mind for it. Imagine for a second, having infinite electricity, never having to worry about getting fuel because your Chakra is fuel enough, is it the spiritual aspect that makes it this way, or is it something else, I can't say, but what I can say is that if Chakra can replenish in your bodies, and not having any will kill you, then you can breathe life into inanimate objects and give them a life of their own.'

'That is the ultimate goal, the aim of my experiments-'

"What a load of crap this is Ryosuke, look" a bearded civilian showed him a book, it was full of outrageous ideas. The writer talked about making chakra converters so that people who did not have the ability to use a particular affinity could use them anyway, no one had ever done this before, and the writer of the book was derided for being a complete lunatic. He had died in obscurity, but his books were still around, not many people put much thought into this.

"Yes Ken" the man called Ryosuke said, looking at the book, flipping through the pages. "Infinite electricity, yeah right. This thing is complete gibberish"

"Check the name of the author" Ken said to him. "I don't seem to remember for some reason"

"Someone called Nikorasu T. Uzumaki"

Upon hearing the last name of the author, Ken raised his eyebrows. "Hey Ryo, doesn't he have the same name as that brat, you know that guy with the thing in his stomach"

Ryo looked like he had been hit with a mallet on his head, at least the shocked expression on his face could have been attributed to that.

"That brat, did you hear the Hokage put him in his own building. I cannot believe this crap, how does the kid get his own building while civilian businessmen like us have to toil for ages just to be able to put food into our families mouths. This favoritism makes me sick" he said throwing the book down.

"So I guess this book is useless then?" Ken asked him, and Ryosuke nodded, he was not going to pay a single coin to Ken just to read Nikorasu T Uzumaki's complete gibberish. Just then his attention was drawn to Naruto Uzumaki, it was amazing how they were just talking about him and he had appeared, what great luck this was, like they were part of a story where things were happening to move the story along.

"Hey, his last name is Uzumaki right? Let's give the book to his 'successor'" Ken said putting the word successor in air quotes. "A useless book for a useless brat"

Naruto looked up at the word 'brat', he had been used to that a lot, and he was surprised to see a fat book being thrown at his face. It hit him in the nose and lay there on the street. The kid looked at the book and picked it up, giving it a once over before tucking it in his jacket pocket and walking along, shrugging off what had just happened.

"Good shot and good riddance" Ryo told Ken, who took the compliment in his stride, before proceeding to look at other trinkets that he would have liked to be removed from his store and could be sold.

Ken and Ryo were people that are often present in history, people who unknowingly start a revolution, the pebble in the lake that starts the rippling of the water, they just didn't know it yet, and they'd die without even realizing it, but they had started something great.

-x-

A while ago

Naruto was three when he realized how smart he was. It was the age when people were taught how to read and write, but while other kids had moved at a snail's pace, painlessly learning each and every letter and kanji, Naruto had just grasped it, just like that. It hadn't made his caretakers happy, they had stared at him with suspicious looks when he had done that. It took him around a week to completely master the writing, and it wasn't just a dirty scrawl other kids used to write in, his hand writing was almost spotless.

It hadn't taken much time for him to want something more challenging than what he was forced to do, he had already picked up the whole thing in a week so it was time to move on to the other projects, except there were none. He just stood there, watching other orphans (like him) play with each other whilst ignoring him, so he resigned to playing in his mind, but then his caretakers scowled at him for just standing and he was sent back to his room. He had no idea what he had done to deserve this kind of treatment, but he also realized that he was better than the way he was being treated, and one day, when he had the ability, he was going to do something about it.

He was almost five when it had happened, they had finally kicked him out. They were just starting out teaching kids at the orphanage basic arithmetic and other things that were something Naruto had already mastered, it was like he was being held back. He had taken to wandering around the street, looking for things to do, and then he had found someone throwing an old, tattered book away. He had picked it up and brushed the dirt off the cover.

'The Basics Of Chakra, for ages 6-12'

He was mildly curious, he did not know what Chakra was, but he did know that he wanted to be a ninja. He had seen other ninjas do things like breathe fire, and it had fascinated him, he had felt like he was entitled to it too, he knew he was smarter than everyone else of his age, and probably people who were even five years older than him. Things came to him easily, he could understand things instantly, like he had always known, and if he didn't, it didn't take long for him to learn and assimilate the knowledge into his brain.

It didn't take much for him to figure out that ninjas used Chakra to do the superhuman things they seemed to do, and so this book was just the thing he needed to become a ninja.

He opened the book, the pages were almost ready to fall apart, but he did not give up hope, he just resolved to be more capable as he began reading them.

'So you have decided you want to be a ninja, very good. The road to be a ninja is tough, and you have to start training at a very early age to get into the academy at the age of 12, and then train even harder till you are 18 and finally ready to take the test and actually become a ninja. But there is no option to fail, if you fail, you're out, read this book and listen to what I have to say and you'll never fail'

'I'll never fail huh?' Naruto thought to himself, a small smile began to form, this book seemed like it was something worth reading, and he was going to do just that.

-x-

He went on to read it, learned that one had to meditate and get in touch with his chakra in order to utilize it to do the superhuman things he did, and so he did everything the book told him. Meditated daily, no longer did he feel like he needed to be around his fellow orphans and hope to get picked to play in a game of ball, he just meditated whenever he could. It took him about three days before he felt a tug, and realized that he had unlocked the access to his chakra pool. The book had told him that when this happened, the right thing to do was pull it out and let it out. The book had also told him not to do it alone, but he hadn't really listened, primarily because there was no one to assist him. He just began expelling the chakra, and the next thing he knew, there was an explosion.

-x-

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to a very sterile looking room. He was on a white bed with white sheets and white drapes, so he was in a hospital. He hadn't been here before and something told him that he was going to get used to this. A lot. He looked around, trying to get comfortable and get up when suddenly a rough voice called out to him.

"I wouldn't move around if I were you"

Naruto whipped his head to the right side, where the sound had come from, only to be met with the face of a very old man wearing a hat. But he recognized the man and his hat, after all, his face was engraved on the mountain. He was the Third Hokage of the City Hidden In The Leaf, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He had seen the Hokage several times, he had come to inspect the orphanage. He never understood why the Hokage would just waste his time, visiting orphans like him. He was sure that there were other things that he could have done, like running the village and making sure that there was no corruption and people were not getting ripped off, because that happened a lot.

"It's you" Naruto said, with a tone that was almost bored.

"I have been greeted in a lot of ways, shock, fear, happiness, but this is a first for me Naruto, and I hope that you know, I feel honored. Not everyday a wide eyed five year old kid decides to greet a grizzled veteran like me with boredom" the Hokage said to him jovially.

"I don't need you to patronize me, I want to leave" Naruto told him, his interest in the conversation had already waned, he didn't even know if it was there in the first place.

"I understand that you want to leave, but you can't leave without knowing why you were here in the first place Naruto" the Hokage told him. Naruto just remained quiet, he had an idea about why he was here, but that could get him in trouble with the Hokage and it was then he realized the deep mess he had gotten himself into.

"You were tugging at your chakra, and for some reason, you have a lot of it, and when you pulled it all out at once, you caused an explosion that almost destroyed the room you were in, it sure did blow a hole in the wall in the side of the orphanage, caused a lot of property damage" the Hokage told him.

'Great' Naruto thought to himself. Things weren't exactly all hunky dory at the orphanage and now he was going to have to deal with this when he got back. They hadn't really punished him, it was usually scowls that he had gotten, however he knew in his heart that this time he was not going to be just scowled at, there were going to be far reaching consequences.

"I just have one question Naruto, if you were good enough to gain access to your Chakra merely three days after you found a book about it, without any help from any one experienced whatsoever, what made you think that you could attempt something as dangerous as tugging your Chakra without any assistance? That is something that people learn at the age of twelve in our academy, after having prepared themselves for it mentally at a very young age, so why did you do something so risky?" the Hokage had a serious tone about him, and that told Naruto that while he did not have to be fond of this authority figure, he sure has heck was going to have to respect it, because it didn't take an experienced Ninja to tell that the Hokage was no joke, even for his old age, he was extremely powerful.

Naruto remained silent, he didn't know if speaking now would just lead to him digging himself in deeper, instead he decided to fire back with a question of his own. "Are you having me followed?"

The Hokage nodded. "Yes Naruto, I am having you followed, and before you ask me if I have every orphan followed, I'll tell you, no, I do not have every orphan followed, I reserve that for important people"

The Hokage wasn't being patronizing this time, so Naruto decided that his interest in having a conversation had been awakened. "So what makes me so important?"

The Hokage just had a wry smile on his face, Naruto did not know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he decided to be optimistic about it, rather than being pessimistic. "Naruto" the Hokage said to him. "You are important to me because of reasons both personal and professional"

Naruto was just angered by that statement, if he held some personal significance to the Hokage, why hadn't the Hokage shown up, offered to help. Surely he would have seen how Naruto needed to do things that were beyond what he was already doing, then why hadn't that happened already. What was it that was keeping the old man from showing up and being there for him, wasn't that what personal relations were about?

"If I was of such personal significance" Naruto said, practically spitting the last two words out "You sure as heck have a nice way of showing it"

Suddenly the old man's face morphed into something that Naruto would classify as regret. Naruto decided to play the abandoned card in all his future interactions with this man for the maximum results.

"Naruto, can you forgive me for not being there, I feel like I have let you down, and I feel like I've let your parents down as well" the Hokage told him, his voice was laced with every bit of regret that could be seen on his face.

"So you know who my parents were?" Naruto perked up instantly, and the Hokage nodded.

"Well, what are you waiting for old man?" the Naruto told him, Sarutobi raised his eyebrow at the way the boy had addressed him but he just shrugged it off before telling Naruto the bad news.

"I wish I could tell you Naruto, but your parents made me promise that you wouldn't be told till you were ready to embrace it fully, and wear their names like a badge of honor"

Naruto grit his teeth in anger, this was yet another thing the old man had decided to keep from him. He wondered why it was that people always decided to keep things to themselves, and away from him. He never had anything given to him before today, and it looked like he was never going to get anything.

The Hokage noticed the downtrodden look on Naruto's face, and smiled again. Naruto had inherited more than just his hair and outward appearance from his father, he had also inherited his brain, and perhaps was already smarter than his father was at this age, he knew that Naruto would be responsible enough to be able to keep this information a secret, now he needed a way to figure out how to tell him.

"Naruto, I did not promise them that I wouldn't let you find out, so you can find out on your own. You are smart enough to do that right? I won't stop you from that, and when you do find out, you can tell me and I can confirm it"

Naruto just smiled when he heard that, he didn't expect it to happen, but the old man seemed like a pretty cool guy in Naruto's book. He did not want to be spoon fed, he was good enough to figure things out on his own, this was all he wanted, to be allowed to find things out.

"Now, we can't have you return to the orphanage, I did pay for the damages caused, I just took them from your father's account, so that has been covered. I'd also recommend coming to me before you find something you want to do that might require supervision, am I clear?" The Hokage asked him, the last few words were stern, but Naruto agreed to it.

"A building owned by someone who wanted it to be given to you has been made available, now it isn't exactly the best location I'd want a kid to grow up in" the Hokage said with some distaste, "I feel like you are smart enough to not be bogged down by it, so you can go ahead and live there, I already have all your possessions moved there, and that includes the book you had found on the street"

Naruto had a grateful expression on his face, he didn't even know what to say anymore and how to express what he was feeling.

"Also, I can tell you want to read, so you have access to a certain amount of books that I think you'd like a lot, so I went ahead and put those in your room too, that's all I can help you with, just remember to not do something stupid and put yourself to bodily harm. Are we clear on that?" the Hokage asked him again, and Naruto nodded.

"So, what the hell are you waiting for?" The Hokage asked him. "Leave, you're free to go, an ANBU will escort you"

Naruto was almost out of the room before he suddenly stopped and turned around to face the Hokage. For the first time in his life, he was feeling warm, this was what it felt like to have somebody help and show some affection, he felt like he had to show some affection right back to the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama? Can I" Naruto said pausing, not quite sure if it was appropriate to ask this stately looking old man the question he was about to ask him. "Can I hug you?"

The Hokage laughed and Naruto ran up to him, before hugging him, he had taken it as an affirmative. They hugged for what seemed like a whole hour before Naruto finally let go, there were tears in his eyes, not those of sadness, which Naruto had already exhausted, these were fresh, tears of joy, and he was going to weep a lot.

"Calm down Naruto, and I'd like to apologize again, you can hug me if you want to, whenever you feel like it. I'll do my best to make sure that you are not alone anymore"

Naruto nodded, wiping his face and sniffling before bowing down and walking out.

"Call me old-man" the Hokage said to him as he left. "I think it's going to keep me grounded in reality"

Sarutobi wasn't sure if Naruto had gotten the message, because the kid had just bounced out of there. He smiled to himself, this kid seemed to have gotten the best of both his parents, and one way or another, he was going to play a big part in shaping the world that was to come, he just hoped that it was in a positive way.

"Wow, what a sappy old fool you have become" a voice suddenly called out, and Sarutobi looked towards the window sill, and there, hanging upside down was his only student that Sarutobi felt even a modicum of pride for, he was tall and white haired, and looked like a hermit.

Jiraiya jumped into the room and began applauding his sensei, perhaps he was mocking him, but Sarutobi had known Jiraiya long enough to know that he wasn't being completely disingenuous right now.

"It's highly characteristic of you to buy a building near a brothel, isn't it?" Sarutobi asked him. Jiraiya had a sheepish grin on his face.

"If I had known that the kid was going to be living there, I'd have taken a more tasteful residence, perhaps the Floral District" Jiraiya told him.

The Floral District was home of the Yamanaka clan, well, not all of it, there were also a lot of civilians, but it got it's name from the Yamanaka clan. It was also home to one of Konoha's biggest hot-spring and a popular spot for Jiraiya to peep.

"So what do you think?" Sarutobi asked him.

"Kid's a genius, ten times the brain of his father at that age I think, just to think he mastered what takes kids around five years in three days, it's amazing what he can do with it. I just hope he's as interested in Fuuinjutsu as his parents were" Jiraiya said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"If he is anything like his parents, he is going to appreciate the books you have left him"

-x-

From that day on, Naruto stopped venturing outside for everything else except making weekly runs to the supply store and buying himself some food. He busied himself by reading the books on hand-seals and the book on Fuuinjutsu. It took him around a day to master the book on hand seals, and he was itching to learn some techniques he could use, but the book on Fuuinjutsu was something that Naruto fell in love with. He had read it once, but then he had read it again, and again, and again and he never got bored of it, it was like he could read things and his mind would start imagining the potential the art had, and he realized what his goal was, to become the greatest practitioner of the art of Fuuinjutsu.

There were books on biology too, and things like politics and history. Naruto found that he couldn't care less about both politics and history. Biology was highly interesting but he felt like history belonged in the dustbin and politics were not for him as he did not aspire to be someone who would require a knowledge of how to be a good politician.

There were also books on the economy, which Naruto found useful if not interesting and various other things like Botany. He read through them like he was eating candy, just gobbling them up, but his love was still reserved for Fuuinjutsu, nothing could take that away from him. Nothing at all.

It was then he realized that while there were several books, there was nothing more than the basics, maybe the old man thought that he needed to have a sound practice of the basics first, but he needed to learn more. And what would be better than advancing in Fuuinjutsu, he decided to get some sealing paper and some ink, and had begun imitating the seals he had seen in the Basic Fuuinjutsu book with varied results. At first it was difficult to make the storage seal, but after doing it for a while he had gotten the hang of it.

Storage seals involved taking themselves and putting them in a suspended dimension that was removed from the current one, he had figured out the exact way of doing this using seals, but he couldn't help but feel that the capacity was limited. He had used Ramen cups (which he had a lot of) to test for the efficiency and found that beyond a 100, he couldn't get much in.

He pored over the formula before deciding to make changes to it, by trail and error.

The first few seals left him with a blow up mess of plastic, but on the third attempt he got it right, he had increased the capacity to a 150 ramen cups, something he could be proud of.

The advantage of deconstructing the seals meant that he could analyze what each stroke did and them modify it, so he came up with absolutely useless seals, like a prank sealing scroll that unsealed all it's components every six minutes and other ridiculous, zany things like that. He wondered if he could seal a building in a storage seal but he realized that a missing building was probably going to piss the old man off.

He had even learned how to make explosive tags, just by noticing how the storage seals exploded, at first they were rather unimpressive explosions, but pretty soon he had gotten better at that too. Now he needed to show his work to The Hokage and ask him for some books on sealing so that he could learn even more.

-x-

And it was with that plan in his mind he had set out, and had a book unceremoniously thrown at his face, he had taken it in his stride though and picked up the book, given it a once over before tucking it in his jacket.

Once he was away from the shops, he looked at the book.

'The experiments are detailed in my book, the aim is to show the world what can be achieved with planning and Fuuinjutsu, I am going to tell you that it's possible to unseal glory and seal death, and achieve everything there is in between'

Naruto glanced at the book, it was grandiose from what he glanced at it, but it was different. It wasn't easy at all, it was really difficult, he realized he was going to have to work to really gobble up this particular book.

He smiled as he decided to cancel the plan of visiting the Hokage and instead went right back home.

And just like that, history had begun to be made.

I hope you liked that, you can suggest what sort of teams you would like to see, keep in mind they'll all be 18 and not be kids, and the next chapter will detail the time between Naruto being 6 and 18.

People who don't find Naruto being that smart realistic, it has happened before in cannon. (Itachi)

Please read and review the story. Tell me if you'd like to see it go somewhere in particular because this one was more off the cuff than anything else.