Naruto ducked under another low branch as he ran away from another group of drunken villagers. He always was fast and agile, and he had no trouble evading them. The problems came, however, when he slammed into someone. He looked up and saw an old man, with half his face bandaged up, as well as his right arm. The old man grinned evilly.

"Hehehe… Got you now, Demon." Well crap. And I was supposed to graduate tomorrow, too. He noticed more ninja were appearing around him, but something told him they weren't there to help. Well, not him, at least. This would be a good time for someone to appear….. Anyone… Hello… Fuck…

The old man lifted a Ninjato and stabbed him in the stomach. What he wasn't expecting was a bright light knock everyone away, and leave Naruto and the rest unconscious.

Mindscape (well, duh)

Naruto appeared in front of a large gate to see a humanoid figure pace back and forth behind the bars, grumbling to himself. He could catch some fragments, spoken in a very gruff, almost growling voice.

"Well, shit… Poor kid…. Stupid villagers….. Gonna die…."

"Um…. Who's gonna die?" Naruto asked the figure. It turned around, surprised and silently cursing that a kid managed to get close without it noticing. It approached the gate, and the light, what little of it was there, revealed the figure. He was male, that much was obvious. A little less than six feet tall, wild brown hare with sideburns on his cheeks. He was dressed in faded jeans with a sleeveless shirt that was ripped off in several places. He frowned.

"You are, bub." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

"Not very subtle, are ya?"

"Never was one for lying. Guess I have to tell you the whole story now?"

"That would be appreciated."

"Well, for starters, my name is James Logan. Also known as the Wolverine." He explained to him his life, and his troubles (wanna know, watch the movie…. too lazy to describe that… 'sides, I highly doubt there's anyone who doesn't know that…) Naruto listened in awe, gaining more respect for the man each minute. "Then one day, I was battling Magneto, and the fucker launched me into another machine of his. The thing shorted, and I got blown through time and space. So, I landed here. Next thing I remember is some freak show with an orange spiral mask does some magic trick to me, and then nothing. Then, I woke up here. I managed to access your memories, and…. I respect you, kid. You got guts. And a lot of 'em, too. So I'm gonna do somethin' for ya. See, that little time trip, and then attacking your village, and then making sure you stayed alive made a toll on me. Looks like I'm mortal, too. I ain't got much left. But I want to have a legacy in the world, who'd do good and kick ass in the name of Wolverine. So, whaddaya say you take all my skills, hm?" Naruto was floored. In the span of two hour he'd gotten to know and respect the man, and just now found out that the same man was dying, and wanted Naruto to inherit his power. He thought about it for a while, until reaching a conclusion.

"Yeah, yeah I'll do it." Logan tore off the dog tags he wore around his neck, and gave them to Naruto. There were two lines, one above the other. The first one was a series of numbers: 458 25 243; and the other had only one word: WOLVERINE.

Logan then concentrated his energy, and shot it into Naruto. He screamed in pain, as his muscles and bones started reforming. Before he blacked out, he heard Logan give his final goodbye.

Outside

No more than fifteen minutes passed in the outside world, and Naruto, along with the ninjas and the old man, had started to wake up. The ninjas all stared at Naruto when he got up and stretched to his full height, popping joints in his back as he did so. He raised his eyebrow at them, and looked himself over.

He was looked exactly like Logan, well, most of him did. While the whisker marks disappeared, his facial structure remained as it ever had. But his hair had changed from his usual spiky look, to the one Logan had. The color had changed, too. He scratched his cheek and found he also had sideburns.

AS the Ninja got out of their stupor, the old man ordered the attack, he himself charging first. Naruto, still stunned from the transformation, didn't dodge in time, and the Ninjato struck him in the middle of the skull. To the massive surprise of his assailants…. Nothing happened. Naruto grinned and used newly acquired muscles he felt in his hands, where the knuckles were. To his joy, and the surprise of the others, Wolverine's claws were there. He grinned again and looked at the old man.

"Hehehe…. Looks like you can't kill me now, bub. But guess what." The man was too stunned to move, as Naruto impaled all six of his claws. "I can kill you." He lifted the body with ease and threw it at the rest of the ninja. As he did so, the Hokage arrived. He had used his portable mini-orb to view the fight as he hurried to help Naruto. He was glad that Naruto was safe, and that one of his major political opponents, his former friend Danzo, had been killed. He ordered his own Anbu forces to kill the Root ninja, as he took Naruto to his office to get an explanation.

Hokage's Office

Sufficed to say, Sarutobi's eyebrows were lost somewhere in his hair, which, seeing as how his forehead was bald, was quite a feat.

"Naruto, are you sure this is not some kind of trap set by the Kyuubi."

"Yeah, old man, I'm sure." Naruto convinced him.

"*Sigh* Here's your hitai-ate, be at the Academy tomorrow to get sorted into a team." The boy nodded and walked away. "Tings are going to get more interesting in the future." Sarutobi mused, smoking his pipe and watching Naruto walk through the street, his hands in his pockets.

Sorry if it was a little rushed, but it's gonna be better after the intro, scouts honor.

As for the muscles, before anyone asks, I find it reasonable, and much easier than constantly channeling chakra into the claws. It's kinda like those glands Spider-Man has in the movies.

And lastly, if you're wondering about the pairing, it's already been chosen. For this story, I'm gonna do something I don't think was ever done before, but I'm not gonna tell you. Not yet, anyway.