Here is the updated chapter 1! Chapter 2 should follow along shortly (in a day or two). Basically, this chappy didn't change much at all, except for some minor structure changes (ie. Getting rid of some of those pesky lines!).

**Huge Note!** I will be changing my username, penname, authortitle, whatever you wanna call it, to DaDrivebyNinja! This is just a heads up!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. That should be obvious. If I did, it wouldn't be about a blonde, orange wearing ninja who failed the academy three times. It would be about a blonde, orange wearing ninja who failed the academy three times AND gets all the ladies. Hehehe...

"Speech"

'Thought'

'Kyuubi's speech'

'Kyuubi's thought'

"Summon's speech"

'Summon's thought'

Ripples of Change

"Where is he!"

The demand of the Yondaime Hokage was met with silence. The ninja, an odd assortment of Chuunin, Jounin, and Anbu, shifted uncomfortably under the hokage's stern, angry stare. His wife, the fiery willed kunoichi Uzumaki Kushina was standing beside him, her face possibly even scarier than the hokage's.

After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"Well!"

This caused another ripple of unease to shift through the group. The tension was so thick, it could have been cut with a kunai.

Minato's gaze swept through the crowd, seemingly making eye contact with every shinobi, all in a matter of seconds. If looks could kill, every shinobi in the room would have been dead, in a very horrible, painful, and bloody manner.

A lone Anbu stepped forward, attempting to hide his quivering, and failing miserably. The candles flickered, causing ominous shadows to slink along the walls.

"Well sir, there's a problem."

Minato's gaze snapped to the Anbu.

"What is the problem, Bear?" His tone was flat, even, without a single fluctuation of emotion. The voice of a perfect shinobi.

The Anbu cringed, his fingers twitching in nervousness.

"Well you see sir, umm, we don't know where he is, Hokage-sama." The Anbu dipped his head, much like a child being scolded by his mother. Nobody said anything, leaving the room deafeningly silent.

"You don't know where my baby is?" The voice was a low whisper, filled with more malice than even the Kyuubi had presented, four years prior. The shinobi in the room chanced a glance at Kushina, and they froze in terror at what they saw. She stood completely motionless, her eyes shadowed by her hair. Nobody made a move for fear of angering her even further, lest her wrath be focused solely upon them.

Wrong move.

"THEN WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU BASTARDS LOOKING FOR HIM!"

The shriek prompted every ninja to blur into action, immediately vanishing without a trace, leaving only two occupants, and a bunch of floating leaves, remaining in the meeting room.

Outside, the most vicious storm to ever hit Konoha raged on.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto.

The name brought fear to some, anger to others, neutrality to few, and a deep loathing to many. The boy was a Jinchuuriki; a demon container. Within him resided the Kyuubi no Youko, the very beast that had assaulted their precious village just four years ago. They had lost many to the foul creature, ninja and civilians alike, and the damage done left a streak of hatred deeper than even when Orochimaru had betrayed the village.

The boy was treated terribly no matter where he went. He was allowed in very few shops, and when he was, he was sold poor quality merchandise at inflated prices. He was largely ignored by the fellow populace, and if he listened closely, he could hear the whispers of the people as he walked past.

"Demon scum."

"Look at him, walking around as if he's one of us, as if he's a human. Disgusting."

Other similar comments were commonplace for Naruto. He never payed them, or their words, any mind. He realized that they would never pay attention to any attempts at dissuading them, after a few weeks of trying. They would just ignore him. No matter where he looked, or how fast he moved, nobody ever made eye contact with him. He was ignored, so he decided to ignore them in return, and it made things easier. He was no longer upset whenever someone said something mean about him; he just blocked it out, and went on his way.

However, that was neither here nor there. Everything was about to change tonight, within the storm that ravaged the village.

It was dark. Dark enough to create a suppressive atmosphere that spread like miasma, one which left everyone short of breath, and that was without the weather.

The rain poured from the heavens, flooding the streets, and raging against the buildings in a manner eerily similar to the Kyuubi's chakra. The wind howled throughout the village, tearing apart trees and buildings as if they were but paper constructs. Lightning and thunder exploded around the village, burning up the wildlife as if it was mere collateral damage from a battle between gods. Everywhere you looked, had you been outside, ninja ran to and fro, putting out fires, and repairing buildings as best as possible, in an attempt to keep the village from falling apart.

Upon a building that had yet to be damaged in any way, hidden amongst the shadow of an adjacent, taller building, sat Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. He simply sat and let the rain beat over his body, and the wind howl around him, staring out at the village, his face completely emotionless. His left arm was propped up on his left knee, and his right leg was left dangling off the edge of the apartment complex.

His face did not change as he heard the screams of those unlucky villagers who had been caught outside by the storm.

'I suppose that leaves a few less humans among this hovel' was the morbid thought that accompanied the deaths.

Naruto continued to stare, mesmerized by the falling rain. It allowed him to think clearer than he ever had before.

He was always alone, no matter where he went. The villagers spared him no time, but that didn't bother him. No, what bothered him were his so called 'parents'. Parents were supposed to shower their children with love, and affection, weren't they? He had seen it often enough with the other families in Konoha, so why did his not do the same? He understood that they were busy people, what with his father being the Hokage and his mother his wife, but he hardly ever saw them, let alone be given enough time for them to show their love. Was he not allowed to be the same as others? Why did he have to be different?

He supposed it was the fact that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of him. Yeah, he knew. Despite his 'parents'' best effort to keep him from finding out, he had. He had managed to piece together the puzzle through the comments made by the villagers, and the date of his birth. That was another thing that bothered him. Why had his parents tried to hide something so important from him? Shouldn't he know about something so dangerous, so powerful? In a petty act of revenge, he refrained from telling them about his knowledge of his Jinchuuriki status.

He also wondered why they thought he didn't know. He was very smart for someone his age, and he knew it. He constantly expressed it, and yet nobody noticed. Not even his father, or his mother. He understood things that no one his age should be able to, hell, nobody ten years his senior should be able to understand. There was one thing he understood above all else though, and that was something only war hardened veterans understood. Something he learned through his four years of life in this village.

In this world, there is no God.

Many people believed in a great, almighty deity that would answer their prayers in times of need, one that would save them when things turn bad. There were few, himself included, that knew otherwise. There was no God, no such being that would come down and save you, or your people, and bring down the golden hammer of justice. And only those who had seen the darker side of the world knew this truth. He had witnessed it in this very village, the village of 'Peaceful Tree huggers'. He had seen people beaten up because they were different, had done or said something that went against another's beliefs. And they had cried, screamed, and begged for a god to save them, but no one had answered. They had been left to rot by their so called 'God'. The only one who could make a difference, the only one you could rely on, was yourself. He knew that to be true. It had been a few months prior when he fully realized what that meant.

/- Flashback -\

There had been a man and a woman in an alley, they very same alley in between the building he was on now and the one to his left. He had been sitting in the same position he was now when he first heard a muffled scream. The man had the woman pressed against the wall, and was grabbing her breasts. He had noticed something, a leather strap perhaps, had been wound around the woman's mouth to muffle her screams. The man started to pull off the woman's shirt, and after a few moments of struggle, had succeeded after ripping through the side with a knife. It was at this point that he realized what had been happening. She was being raped. Righteous fury had erupted inside of him, and he had wanted to rip the man to pieces. He knew though that he couldn't because he was only four, and he couldn't possibly win against a fully grown man. So he had thought for a few moments about what he could possibly do when he looked out to the street, in the hopes that someone would notice, and call for help. He watched for a few seconds as people passed by, no one having noticed what was happening.

And that was when he saw it. The final straw that broke the camel's back. The very last piece required to truly hammer home the fact that one could only rely on themselves.

It was a random person who had walked too close to the alley, and had heard the muffled cries. He had stopped and looked into the alley. The man had made eye contact with the woman, had seen her silent plea for help, closed his eyes with a slight grimace, and then continued on his way. Naruto had frozen in disbelief. The guy had made eye contact! He should have done something! Sure he wasn't as big as the guy in the alley, and probably nowhere near as strong as hi-.

And then he paused.

Not as big, or as strong? He glanced down at himself, and remembered that he didn't do anything because he wasn't big enough or strong enough. Naruto looked down in the alley, and saw that the man had taken the woman's pants off, leaving the clothes strewn about the alley. She had managed to escape for the moment, and was pressed against the wall, completely naked, tears streaming down her face. The man slowly stalked towards her, a truly sick grin upon his face. Naruto's eyes hardened, having made his decision.

He jumped. It had to have been at least a 20 foot drop. He landed with a sickening crunch, right on top of his intended target. He laid there for a few seconds, trying to catch his breath after the exhilarating free-fall. As he got up and off the man, he dusted off his pants. He backed up a few feet, and then stopped to admire his handiwork. The man's neck was sticking out at an odd angle, and Naruto could see his femur poking through the flesh. Blood was pooling rapidly around the body.

'Good, he's dead.'

The thought surprised Naruto. He briefly acknowledged that it was a terrible thing to think, but he countered it with the fact that the man had deserved to die. There was a sound to his left, and he turned to see the woman crawling towards him. He didn't move, barely noticing that the strap across her mouth was gone. When she finally reached him, she pulled him into a crushing hug, and broke down into sobs, thanking him over and over again. He slowly wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug, mind momentarily numb, a feeling of disbelief overcoming him. Nobody had ever touched him like this before.

Then, a different feeling came to the surface. Joy. Never before had someone thanked him, or hugged him, or done any such thing! This was truly a good thing!

"It's what I do." was his simple response. He had no idea why he said it, but he paid it no mind.

It was this scene that the Anbu and the Hokage saw when they arrived moments later.

\- Flashback End -/

There was no God, and he knew it to be true. No matter what others deigned to believe, it was not so.

At this point, a particularly loud clap of thunder made itself known. It was not so much the thunder that shocked him, but rather the preceding lightning bolt that struck the very building he was perched upon. There was only one thing that happened when lightning met with wood; fire.

It roared to life, fed by the aged wood of the buildings. Its heat was intense, and he felt as if he was engulfed within the sun, the red-orange flames licking at his body.

And yet, he did not move, didn't even flinch. He merely gazed at the spectacle, completely calm. Naruto watched the fire flare up in a shower of sparks as it connected to the power lines, which only fed the flames further. It was beautiful.

As he watched the hypnotic pattern, he noticed an oddity, one that completely baffled him. The flames devoured anything and everything it came into contact with, everything except him. There was a perfect circle completely surrounding him, one where the fire did not dare to enter.

He frowned. As far as he knew, fire didn't act like that. Fire was supposed to consume everything, and leave absolutely nothing but ash in its wake. He continued to stare at the flames, watching as they leapt towards the heavens, trying to understand why the fire was acting in such a manner. He paid no mind to the resounding crash when the building next to him collapsed in on itself.

Naruto slowly lifted his right hand up, a half-formed idea flitting into his head. When his hand was aimed straight in-front of him, palm sticking out, he pushed.

He didn't physically push, no, rather he pushed with his chakra, and watched with wide eyes as the fire reacted. The section of the blazing inferno directly in front of his hand was forced back, recoiling almost as if he had hit it with something real, something physical. Unbidden, a grin rose to his face, his cerulean eyes filled with euphoria at discovering such a thing! He lifted his left hand and repeated the process, watching with child-like glee as the fire was forced away, giving an angry hiss. He continued for a few more minutes, experimenting different methods. He tried his feet, his chest, his butt, and all of it worked, everything pushing away the red-orange flames. Hell, they moved even when he just looked at them!

Another building near him collapsed, and he heard more screams as people were crushed under the rubble, their lives forced out of their bodies much like the flames were from him. He briefly wondered why the building he was on hadn't fallen like the others, as it was the first building to be struck. His thoughts were cut short, however, as exhaustion took its hold on his young body. His larger than average chakra reserves had been greatly taxed by his playing.

Naruto fell backwards, landing with a small thump, his blonde, spiky hair matted down with ash and rain.

As he laid there, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage drifted into unconsciousness, his eyelids closing over beautiful cerulean eyes...

...Cerulean eyes that had been rocked by the ripples of change.

The storm raged on, and the flames continued to dance around his body, almost as if worshipping a fallen god.

Or perhaps, the rise of one...

To be Continued

A.N. – Well, there you go, the first chapter [redone!] of Naruto: The God Sage. Hope you enjoyed, and again, review and tell me what I need to improve on to make this story better. The chapters

will get longer from this point on, at least that's the plan anyway.

Naruto will be paired in a few relationships throughout the story. There will be one final pairing, consisting of Naruto and Karui. There may or may not be side pairings, depending on how I feel when I come to those points.

~ OrigamiTurtle signing out ~