And thus another chapter in my little pet project starts. I did my best on this one, but I don't think it's all that great. It needs some fine polish, but it will do. Personally, I think that by jumping to the Chuunin exams, where everything starts, is exactly what I should have done in the first place.

I remember there being some dispute about Naruto's age. I made him older for a reason. Someone said that he entered the academy early. In this story, he entered with the rest of his age group. As I see it, if he had entered early, it would have made the villagers uneasy which is something the higher-ups would not allow.

This chapter is also shorter than what I usually write. I'm going to be trying to do shorter chapters seeing as how I'm in school at the moment and all. Maybe I'll get more done over Spring Break.

In any case, I hope that you enjoy the chapter and please leave a review when you're done. The previous one had over 200 hits, but only 4 reviews.

Speaking of, thank you to those few who did leave a review. Oh, peppymint, you have such great ideas!

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It Starts

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Disbelief coursed through his mind. How could things have gotten so messed up? First his mother's jewel, and now another of their own had been awakened, undergone some sort of personality change, and sealed into another unfortunate boy. He didn't want to say it, especially without having any actual wood to knock on, but things couldn't be worse at the moment. He didn't want his container to kill his fellow jinchuriki, let alone the tanuki within him.

If only the blasted monk were here.

"What am I supposed to do?" a desperate and tired voice sounded throughout the cavern he was standing in. The water around his feet seemed to ripple as the voice bounced against the walls and between the bars of his cage.

"His abilities lay with illusions and deception first and foremost, sand second, so stay on your toes," he answered with half a mind as he continued to think.

"I know that already," the voice answered, laced with aggravation. "I don't want to kill Garra or the Ichibi. What was his name again?"

"Hachimon, though we usually call him Hachi. Tell me what Garra told you about his seal again."

"He said that he can not sleep or else Hachi takes…over," the voice wavered before a rumble could be heard from deep within the cavern.

"Are you alright?" he asked urgently.

"Ya, no need to get your tails in a knot. This guy packs a punch! You know I can't multitask very well. Why is he called the Ichibi anyway when his name is Hachi?"

"This isn't the time, Naruto!"

"I know, I know! So, any ideas?"

"Have you tried waking the kid up?"

"Thought of it, but I can't get in close enough. Unless…"

The devious tone made him pause, wondering what his container had in mind. "Just don't get your fool ass killed," he finally muttered.

"Don't worry, Kyuubi. You know me."

"That's exactly why I'm worried. And don't call me that. It's Shippo, you little runt!"

The battle raging outside of the cavern was over in a matter of minutes, much to Shippo's annoyance. Once again, he had been forced into the role of spectator while his container had to deal with yet another mess the fools of his village left him to clean up. Though, this ordeal made him wonder about his fellow demon. How had Hachi been sealed into the Sand boy? And what was up with the personality makeover? He should be asleep, sealed away and in a location further away from the Sand Village if Naruto's geography maps indicated correctly. Of course, the topography of the lands had changed from his time three hundred years ago. However, these were things to ponder at a later time. There was no use thinking these kinds of things over when you couldn't even investigate it without causing suspicion. He had to keep his container alive after all.

Yes, he had to keep the kit alive, just as he had the past thirteen years. He couldn't remember too many details about the day he was sealed into the brat, but what he could was the stench of snake, a frog, a blond man, and the shinigami itself. Shippo had been in a daze when he had left the shrine. So set on his pursuit of the thief of his mother's jewel, was he, that he didn't notice when his prey led him to a village.

The attacks of the village's shinobi, the modern-day ninja as he later learned, had felt like mosquito bites, and, just like the bugs, Shippo had swatted them, not knowing they were human. He remembered his own confusion of coming face to face with a toad, a toad of all things, followed by shock as the blond man standing on the toad's head started chanting. His confusion soon turned to horror at the sight of the shinigami. Did the human have a death wish? Why was he summoning it? What power this human must have to be able to summon such a creature.

Shippo's horror doubled once he learned why the specter had been summoned. What had he done? He prided himself with having as little human blood on his claws as possible, and what blood was his to bear was never spilled in cold blood. His mother would be so ashamed. And his father…what would his father say when he found out? He deserved the fate the death god had been summoned to deal him, but he still had to protect the jewel. It was only by good fortune was he able to convince the specter to guard the jewel in his steed. Shippo could only smile as he was suddenly sealed into, at a glance, a wailing baby boy, knowing that the blond man's sacrifice would not be in vain.

It had been a long thirteen years since then. Apparently, humans, despite their advances, had not changed in their core. The people of the village went out of their way to make young Naruto's life as difficult as possible on a day to day basis. How the young kit survived the first five years of his life still remained a mystery. Those assigned to look after the orphaned baby frequently neglected and often beat the young one. He thanked what ever god was watching for those few Anbu and the village leader, the Hokage, who seemed to care about what happened to their village's jinchuriki.

Things got better once the kit was able to walk. Or worse depending on who you asked. Once Naruto's caretakers noticed that the toddler could stand on his own two feet, they frequently sent him out of the small apartment, only for the unsuspecting child to walk right into the unforgiving hands of the villagers and more vindictive shinobi. It was during one such outing that left Naruto unconscious and bleeding in the back of an alley when Shippo and the jinchuriki met for the first time. As injured and isolated as Naruto was, Shippo did not think the child would survive the night, let alone the next hour. Desperately, the demon fox pulled the child's subconscious into his chamber where he began to heal him as best as the seal placed on him would allow. From there, it was history.

Once the connection between demon and jinchuriki had been made, Shippo took the orphaned toddler under his tutelage, quickly teaching him how to run and hide. From there, Naruto learned the cruder arts of survival, and as he matured, so did his teachings. From reading and writing to hunting and foraging, Naruto learned and thrived.

It was from Shippo's teachings that Naruto lived long enough to enter the ninja academy at the age of six. The young boy's trials became tougher as the academy instructors sabotaged the jinchuriki's progress at every turn. Erasing answers on tests or asking him questions not of his age range were common. It came as no surprise to neither demon nor jinchuriki that there was no help to be found on the playground either as Naruto's classmates began emulating their parents.

Things changed again once Naruto hit ten. His instructor for the year went by the name Umino Iruka who seemed to take a liking to the young orphan. Unfortunately for Iruka, it took more than kind words for the fox boy to trust strangers, let alone an adult of the village. In the end, however, despite Shippo's warnings, Naruto befriended the enthusiastic instructor to a degree. If the demon did not like the man, then the jinchuriki would not trust him completely. It wasn't until the night of Naruto's third failed attempt for graduation did Iruka gain Shippo's respect.

At previous graduations, the wary fox boy deliberately failed on purpose. Knowing why the villagers hated him made him more conscious of what exactly was going on hidden under the happy surface the village portrayed. If Naruto had graduated on time, the village would have begun to fear that he was growing in power. By deliberately holding himself back, it gave the village a false sense of security while the boy did not receive escalated violence in return. That changed dramatically once the third graduation came around.

Despite his distrustfulness towards the village, Naruto did not want to see it go to ruin. When Iruka's teaching assistant, Mizuki, tried to trick Naruto into stealing a forbidden scroll, the jinchuriki could do nothing else but go along with the trick and play the fool. The whole night did not go completely to ruin, according to Shippo. His container obtained a useful jutsu, a friend had been secured, and a threat nullified. The only down side was that Naruto was now a Gennin.

Which leads the pair to today's situation. If Shippo could ever get his claws on that Hatake guy, he would teach him to allow brats to not participate in competitions they were not ready for. His container, sure, but not little kids like that stuck up Uchiha or that fangirl Haruno. It was thanks to such teammates and instructor which had put the kit into their current situation! Then again, Shippo would not have learned of Hachi's fate if not for fighting the Sand boy.

He was still going to murder the one-eyed freak when he got the chance.

"Will they be alright?" Naruto's voice echoed in the cavern. Shippo gave a sigh.

"Ya. The brat and the raccoon-dog will be just fine. Hachi is made of stronger stuff than one might think. You're good, Kit, but not that good. We should head back into the village. Some more of those Sand ninja may still be lurking about."

"What about Garra?"

"Let his siblings handle him," the demon answered flippantly as two figures dropped from the trees above Naruto's head.

Leaning on the trunk of a tree, the jinchuriki watched as the two elder Sand siblings checked over their younger brother. Naruto nodded to himself. Garra would be just fine. "Hey," he called out. "Take care of Garra for me. Tell him that when he wakes up, we'll have a rematch. No demons involved," he added as he stood from his slumped position, ready to head back to the village.

"Ya, sure," the guy in makeup muttered hoarsely, surprise clearly heard.

"Why would you allow us to go so easily?" the girl of the trio asked in desperate disbelief. "We just ransacked your village, and yet you're willing to let us go unheeded?" The blond container shrugged.

"The village can take care of itself. As for letting you guys go, I like Garra. The two of us have more in common than one can see at first glance. As for you two, Garra needs you. If we're going to fight again, the raccoon should have what he needs, right?" he asked rhetorically with a large grin.

A small chuckle made its way from the girl of the strange group which soon turned into a laugh as she clutched onto her baby brother. A grin broke its way out of the middle sibling in response as Naruto's own grin widened. This was great. Everything was going to turn out alright.

At least, that is what the jinchuriki and demon fox thought.

A large wave of energy washed over the group, causing all to stop, smiles wiped from their faces, bodies stiffening in shock. "W-wh-what is that?" the girl asked timidly, her voice quaking as she tightened her grip on the unconscious raccoon boy.

Whirling around, the resident jinchuriki stared in the general direction of where the wave had come from. "It can't be," the demon fox muttered in his head. "Someone is…summoning the…shinigami…" Naruto's eyes widened in fear.

"But that was…if that's true then…but it was coming from the village." Realization gripped him, sending ice slicing into his veins. "Jijii-san!"

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