Author's Notes: This story is my own remake of Rise From the Darkness by vsizzel. I got permission from him to use parts from his story. Once again, I GOT PERMISSION. So enjoy!

Genres: Action, Adventure, Romance

Warnings: Violence, Strong Language, Sexual Content

Tags: Badass/Intelligent/uber-Godlike Naruto, minor crossovers, Uzumakicest, Minato Bashing, Sasuke Bashing, (minor) Sakura Bashing, minor Kiba Bashing

Pairing: Naruto/Harem

Universe: Animeverse/Mangaverse

Series: Uzumaki's Payback

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto, or any other crossover that'll appear.

[Huge thanks to ncpfan for beta-reading this chapter!]

Now presenting: Bonds of an Uzumaki

ACT 01: Rising from the Shadows

ARC 01: Leaving Konohagakure

CHAPTER 01: Life of the Neglected

(Uzumaki-Namikaze Estate)

"Tou-san! Kaa-san! Tsubaki! I did it! Did you see that?" cheered an eight-year-old girl with bright, long red hair with yellow ribbons around the end of her hair, bright, neon violet eyes, and a round face. She wore a red t-shirt, combat pants, and blue ninja sandals. She looked an exact copy of her mother with the exception of the yellow strands that outlined her hair and the fact that she is younger.

"That was amazing onee-chan!" squealed a seven-year old girl with dark, long blood red hair; bright blue eyes, and wearing a red t-shirt, a black shirt, and blue shoes. She looks similar to her mother and her sister with the exception of her dark red hair.

"That's great, Narumi-chan!" applauded a handsome man with spiky blond hair with two long bangs down the side of his face. He had ocean blue eyes and an angular face. He wore a dark blue, long sleeve shirt, black sweatpants and stood about a height of five foot eight.

At the moment, the man, Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage of Konohagakure and the 'Yellow Flash' of Konoha, was watching his daughter train.

This girl, now known as Narumi, is the daughter of both Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina.

Narumi smiled and continued her training on sensing her chakra and calling it out. She just started training with chakra and her dad was teaching her how to control it.

"Great job Narumi-chan. You and Tsubaki-chan will be great kunoichi in no time." said a redhead who just came in when she saw her daughter call out her chakra. She stood at a height of five foot four, had bright, red hair; and a heart-shaped angelic face. She wore a hairclip on her hair, wore a red t-shirt and sweatpants. She had a body of a Goddess that would make any male or female die of a nosebleed. With long slender arms and legs, and an impressive bust ranging from C cups to D cups, this woman is Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero and Konoha's Red Death.

"Thanks kaa-san! I can't wait until me and Tsubaki become great kunoichi like you!" Narumi replied with a cheesy grin, making both Minato and Kushina smile at their child's energy and attitude.

In the distance leaning against a tree, was a little boy who's the same age as Narumi and also a year older than Tsubaki. He has wild, spiky blond hair, icy, electric blue eyes, and a round face. He stood about the height of four foot eight, and was wearing a gray t-shirt and sweatpants. He looked like any normal healthy kid, but one thing different about him was the three whisker marks on each side of his face. His name is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, older twin brother of Narumi and the second oldest child of Minato and Kushina, and Jinchuuriki to the Soul of Kyuubi and the Imperial Queen Dragon Empress, Arwen.

On top of the family's house, was a young, 12-year-old girl, the eldest child of the Uzumaki-Namikaze family. She had long, blonde hair with red tips tied in a ponytail, dark, violet-blue eyes; a heart-shaped face, and wearing an orange, pointed hoodie over a red t-shirt, black combat pants, and black boots. Equipped on her are two bracers with hidden blades, a sword, a dagger, and a tomahawk strapped to her hip, and a bow with a quiver full of arrows on her back. She is Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruhi, a prodigy of a kunoichi who graduated from the academy at the age of seven and became chunin at nine.

She is also an Assassin.

At the moment, Naruto was frowning at the lovely family scene that was happening at the family's private training area. At the same time, Naruhi heard the cry of an eagle and looked up to find one. Realizing that it was a signal for a new mission with her team, she took off, glancing at Naruto forlornly as she left while paying the rest of her family no mind.

Meanwhile, Naruto just shook his head at the family scene and walked away back into the house and into his room where he did some training of his own under the supervision of Kurama Kyuu aka the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Yes, Naruto knows about Kyuubi's soul sealed inside of him while Narumi, as well as Tsubaki, has the chakra.

He entered his room and sealed it by making made the ram sign and shouting "FUIN!"

He then laid down on his bed, remembering what happened a long time ago that made him what he is now.

(Flashback no Jutsu, 3 years ago)

"Ne ne tou-san! Can you teach me how to do some cool ninja stuff?" asked a young, blond, bouncing around 5-year-old Naruto, hoping his dad would say yes. Nearby, Naruhi flinched as a feeling of déjà vu crossed over her when she heard Naruto's question.

"Sorry Naruto, I can't. I have to teach Narumi and Tsubaki," Minato said, making Naruto frown in confusion, the answer he got making him stop bouncing around.

"Huh? Why can't you teach all of us at the same time?" asked a baffled Naruto while ignoring the smug look his twin sister was giving him, and noticing the frown on his older sister's face and the look of confusion on Tsubaki's face.

"Sorry Naruto, I don't have time to do that."

Naruto was going to respond with his father until his mother came in, "Naruto, go to your room and don't bother your father. He will teach you when he feels that you are ready," Kushina said in a demanding voice.

Naruto, not wanting to argue with his mother, looked at the ground and walked to his room.

"Why can't I learn how to be a shinobi but Narumi and Tsubaki can? How comes they get everything?" Naruto wondered out loud to himself.

"There's a reason why," Naruhi said, coming from behind him, "But for now, just train by yourself. That's what I'm doing right now."

Naruto turned to his sister, "You mean you asked tou-san and kaa-san to train you before?" he asked.

"Yep," Naruhi nodded, "I was the same age as you, and I've gotten the same answer numerous times. Trust me, you'll get the same answer every time as well."

"How did you manage to graduate from the academy without kaa-san and tou-san teaching you cool ninja stuff?"

"Because I trained in a little something that got me to where I am now. You can join me if you want, little brother."

Naruto thought about it and nodded, "Ok, nee-san."

Naruhi smiled, "All right then. We'll start after I return from the Chunin Exams in Kumo." she promised.

After watching Naruhi go into her room, Naruto went into his room and closed and locked the door so no one could enter.

Naruto was as much of a genius and a prodigy as Naruhi, if not more, thanks to his eidetic memory and photographic reflexes. He's smart beyond measure, and has the skills to learn anything really fast, so it didn't take him long enough to figure out that his family favored his younger sisters more than him or Naruhi, especially seeing how they got mostly everything they wanted. He also noticed the villagers treating his younger sisters like royalty.

Naruto on the other hand barely got anything he wanted. Even on his birthday he would get one or two gifts while Narumi would have tons. The villagers also hated him. Sometimes when he would walk around the village alone he could see some of the villagers giving him cold glares. His sisters Narumi and Tsubaki also had a lot of friends; every kid would try to get to know her.

Naruto knew that his sisters had the Kyuubi's power in them, and that they were seen as heroines, but he didn't understand why he was so hated by the villagers while Naruhi was mostly ignored. He laid on his bed and close his eyes so that he could some rest.

(Unknown Location)

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in an open field with one side of it having a cloudy blue sky and beautiful flowers while the other side having a clear violet sky and grass.

"Sugoi! Where am I?"

"In the plane between dimensions." said a heavenly voice from behind Naruto. The blonde jumped and turned to find three women with equally enchanting beauty.

The one in the middle has golden-blonde hair with shining blue eyes. She has a perfect hourglass figure with D-cup breast. Her outfit consists of a shoulder-less white dress with long sleeves, a long skirt, and white ninja sandals. She is Kami, Goddess of Light and Order.

The one to her right has jet-pitch black hair with red eyes. She also has a perfect hourglass figure with C-cup breast. Her outfit consists of a black tanktop with black pants and black ninja sandals. She is Yami, Goddess of Darkness and Chaos.

The final one has silvery-white hair and green eyes. Like the other two, she has a perfect hourglass, and E-cup breast. Her outfit consists of an upper kimono with a light grey hakuma and black ninja sandals. She is Shinigami, Goddess of Life and Death.

"Who are you three, and how did I get here?" Naruto asked, while getting the feeling making these three mad at him would spell the end for him as the three ladies kneeled in front of him to get to his level.

"I am Kami, Goddess of Light and Order." the golden-blonde female said, making Naruto's eyes widen, "And these are my sisters, Yami, Goddess of Darkness and Chaos; and Shinigami, Goddess of Life and Death."

"Hi!" Yami greeted, flashing a dark smile at Naruto, making him shiver.

"Nice to meet you!" Shinigami said, ruffling Naruto's hair.

"Um, nice to meet you all too. It's an honor to meet three beautiful goddesses such as yourselves." Naruto said while flashing a foxy smile at them, making Yami and Shinigami blush, "But I have to wonder, why you all want to meet me of all people?"

"Because we have an offer for you Naruto-kun, since you're the only soul who fits our requirements." Kami said, getting straight to business.

"But before that…" Yami now smiled a mischievous smile.

"…There are a couple people we want you to meet." Shinigami said as a swirl of light and darkness encircled the three and they disappeared from the plane between dimensions.

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Naruto's vision returned to see that he was in a sewer and in front of him was a giant gate with a seal on it. He didn't know where he is now. He looked around to find that Kami, Yami, and Shinigami were not there with him.

"Oi! Anyone there?" Naruto called out.

What he got was a giant roar from the other side of the gate, which scared the crap out of him.

"Who's there?" roared a giant beast, which Naruto could make out was a fox with orange-red fur and nine tails. Next to the fox is a dark-silver dragon a few feet from the cage. It has a big body the size of the fox with a large head with massive teeth, glowing golden eyes, strong legs, massive wings, and a long spiked tail.

Naruto just stood there too shocked and scared to say anything. The fox and dragon looked down, saw Naruto and both started to chuckle.

"So our jailer finally graces us with his presence." the fox said grinning, showing off two rows of pointy teeth.

Naruto got out of his shock and look at the fox, confusion written over his face.

"Jailer? And who are you two and where am I now?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, you are our jailer. And to answer your question I am the great and awesome Bijuu, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. This one right next to me is Arwen, the Imperial Queen Dragon Empress, and we are in your poor excuse of a mindscape." the fox replied now known as Kyuubi.

Naruto eyes widened in shocked, the Kyuubi sealed inside him, along with a dragon? He heard stories of different dragons and the Kyuubi, but didn't really pay attention because he was too small and didn't go to school yet.

"I can see the dragon, but you're the Kyuubi? I thought you were dead." Naruto stuttered, who shakily pointing at the giant fox, "And how did you end up sealed inside me?" he added, pointing at Arwen now.

Arwen shook her head, "Like my kind, no mortal can kill a Bijuu, child. As for me, I was flying around and well, curiosity got the better of me and got caught up in the sealing."

Naruto paled, "Are you going to kill me?" he asked fearfully.

Kyuubi and Arwen shook their heads and looked at Naruto, chuckling.

"Of course we won't kit. We saw your memories and I must say that your father, my former jailer, and the villagers are complete idiots." Kyuubi said, making Naruto was confused, slightly turned his head it show it.

Kyuubi saw it and continued. "Your father, who did the sealing, sealed my yang chakra in your twin sister and a year later, my yin chakra in your younger sister, believing that they could control my powers, while he sealed my soul into you. Because of this, he is still alive for using the Shinigami to seal me, but seeing that Shinigami-sama didn't seal all of me into one person, your father's personal touch to my soul split me up and sealed me into three babies. But in return he probably lost about one-third his lifetime, making him die early than he's supposed to."

Naruto nodded, showing that he understood and taking the information in slowly.

"Your father and mother, the latter being Kyuubi's former container, are training your sisters early so that they can control Kyuubi's powers, which is next to impossible without the soul being Kyuubi because of the pure destruction that it contains." Arwen said.

Naruto eyes widened a bit, shocked to learn that his mother once heard Kyuubi within, and then shook his head at how his father made such a stupid mistake.

Arwen continued, "Many people died during Kyuubi's brainwashed attack. Many people lost family members, friends, brothers, and sisters. Somehow, it was leaked out to the villagers that you have Kyuubi's soul sealed into you, and hate you for it seeing as it reminds them of the people they lost. They think that you are Kyuubi incarnate and that is why they hate you, thus making your life a living hell."

Naruto nodded, understanding what Kyuubi and Arwen were saying; why his mother and father favored Narumi and Tsubaki the most. He looked at the ground sadly, thinking that the villagers were right about him being Kyuubi.

Kyuubi sensed this and snarled, "Hey! Naruto! Don't you dare think that you are me, because you aren't. You are you and I can't, and WILL NOT, influence you in anyway, so remember that. And FYI, I am not some bloodthirsty demon who just kill randomly for fun, because truthfully, it's boring picking on the weak. Besides, I have image of a Demon Lord to maintain, thank you very much."

"Then why did you attack Konoha, and how did you get out of my mom?" Naruto demanded, making Kyuubi flinched a little and lowered its head in sadness.

"I was being controlled by a masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara, the founder of the Uchiha clan."

Naruto nodded as he recalled hearing in passing about the man from Naruhi, making him frown, "Wouldn't that make him more than a hundred years old?"

Arwen nodded as Kyuubi continued, "Yes. Either it's because of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan that he's immortal, or he's not Madara at all. While your mother is in labor, the man came and held you and your twin hostage. Your father saved you two, but managed to separate him from your mother, and ripped me from her seal. He then used his blasted Sharingan to trap me in a genjutsu to control me."

"What she doesn't know yet is that that man's Sharingan has the same energy signature as Namikaze Minato's scarecrow of a student…" Arwen thought to herself.

Naruto only nodded since this was a lot to take in for a kid his age. At the same time he was thinking. He suddenly came to a conclusion and looked at Kyuubi with determination in his eyes.

"If that's the case, I'll beat this masked guy for you!" Naruto declared, shocking Kyuubi and Arwen.

"You seriously think you can beat him?" Kyuubi asked, reeling from the shock.

"Yeah!" Naruto thumps his chest proudly, "You can count on me!"

"Only if you train him." chided a familiar, heavenly voice.

Naruto turned to find Kami, Yami, and Shinigami.

Kyuubi and Arwen suddenly paled, "Kami-sama! Yami-sama! Shinigami-sama!" they squeaked, bowing low.

"Rise Kyuu and Arwen, and revert to your human forms." Kami ordered.

Kyuubi, now called Kyuu, and Arwen nodded as a bright light filled the area. When it died down, two goddess-made looking humans appeared before them. Kyuu has orange-red hair, blood red-slit eyes; a perfectly heart-shaped, cute face; and two crimson fox ears, making her even more adorable, and sexy. Her body was that of a goddess, with a perfect hourglass figure, long slender arms and legs, and an impressive bust ranging from D-cup to DD-cups. She stood about a height of 5'4", and has a slightly tan skin. Above her butt were nine ghostly crimson tails.

Arwen has dark silver hair; dark white-slit eyes, and a young, slightly regal face. Her body is also like a goddess with a perfect hourglass figure, slender arms and legs, and E-cup breasts. She stood at a height of 5'7" and has pale skin. Above her butt is a solid, scaly dragon tail.

Thankfully they're both wearing kimonos, sparing Naruto of his innocence.

"Arwen-san I already knew, but Kyuubi, you're a girl?!" Naruto stammered as he pointed at Kyuu, who nodded, amused at her container.

"Is that problem?" she teased, making Naruto shake his head furiously.

"So Kyuu, Arwen, you will train him then?" Yami asked them.

Kyuu nodded, "I- No, we will. But I won't make it easy of course. I want Naruto-kun to be beyond the level of a Kage shinobi so that he can pay that bastard Minato back for using him as a scapegoat just so the villagers can relive their pain."

Arwen simply said, "Same here."

Yami smirked, "I'll take that as a yes."

"What I don't understand is why Kushina won't train Naruto-kun and Naruhi." Shinigami said, "Last I checked, an Uzumaki always look after their own no matter what. Being the former jailer of Kyuu, it's completely out of character, even for her."

"You have a point. Despite her being my former container, even I'm stumped." Kyuu said, sweatdropping.

"Obviously she follows and listens to Minato like a lost puppy, never doubting him on anything." Yami piped up.

Kyuu suddenly remembered something, "Now that you mention it, it started after when Minato saved Kushina from some Kumo-nin when they kidnapped her."

"Resulting in hero worship. All in all, she became the very thing she hates, a loyal fangirl." Arwen concluded, making Kami, Yami and Shinigami scowl at the word, "Disgusting."

A moment of silence later, Naruto spoke up, "I don't much about fangirls, but what about this offer you mention?"

"Oh, right."

Kami turned to him, looking straight at the blond, "Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, as our Child of Prophecy, you are destined for great things here in this plane. Because of that you'll be able to being peace not only to the Elemental Countries, but to the world, and other worlds as well."

"Due to your blood, you have a perfect soul with the right amount of light and darkness within it," Shinigami added.

"With that said, will you become our Avatar?" Yami offered, "You are the Child of Prophecy me and my sisters foretold after all."

Naruto was floored. He was given an offer by the three most powerful goddesses to become their Avatar, their harbinger if you will. He thought about it and realized that not only will he have the power to protect his precious people, but stick it to that self-righteous blond prick of a Hokage. The decision was pretty obvious at this point.

"I accept," he said, "Under one condition."

"Name it," the goddesses, the vixen, and the dragon lady said at once.

Naruto stood for a moment before bowing low to the ground, "Please don't betray me."

Kami, Yami, Shinigami, Kyuu, and Arwen all blinked before walking over to Naruto and pulled him into a hug.

"Of course not. We would never do that Naruto-kun. Don't ever doubt us," Kami said, smiling.

Naruto hugged back, "Thank you, Kami-chan, Yami-chan, Shini-chan, Kyuu-chan. Arwen-chan."

The goddesses, chakra demon, and dragon lady blushed at the new nicknames their soon to be Avatar gave them as they broke apart.

"Then Naruto of the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans, become our Avatar!" the three goddesses spoke in one voice.

The area became flooded with power as the three goddesses poured part of their power into Naruto. Tattoo's started to form on Naruto, with the kanji for Angel appearing on his left shoulder, the kanji for Devil appearing on his right shoulder, and the kanji for Reaper appearing on his upper back.

"We will be seeing a lot more of each other. Make us proud, Naruto-kun." Kami said as she and her sisters faded from his mindscape, which started to grow faint.

"What happening?" Naruto asked, confused.

"You're waking up from your nap." Arwen said, "We'll open a link where we can talk without you always going into your mindscape."

Naruto nodded, relived to know he didn't have to be asleep or knocked out to talk to his new senseis.

"Oh, before I forget, can you change your mindscape to something more comfortable? The sewers can get boring real quick," Kyuu added.

"Sure thing Kyuubi-chan. I'll make you a fox den. And for you Arwen-chan, a dragon cave!"

"Arigato, Naruto-kun." they said, smiling.

With that Naruto faded out of his mindscape and woke up still in the same position on the bed.

(FLASHBACK KAI)

(Present Day)

Throughout the years Naruto has been training very hard. Every day, he would train himself until he was exhausted and couldn't move. He would usually train in his room or in a secret training area where his so-called parents wouldn't catch him. On occasion he would train with Naruhi, who recently became a newly minted Chunin, and would take the time to teach Naruto what she learned in the field whenever she could.

Since he was a kid he couldn't lift weights yet or else he would damage his muscles, so Kyuu gave him a routine he would have to do every day, proving herself to be a psychotic teacher. He mostly worked on his endurance and stamina, but would also build his muscular strength with body weight exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, body squats and crunches. Arwen would also have him work on his chakra control since he had an extremely large chakra reserve, currently unlocked at high genin to low chunin at the moment.

His routine every day would be one hundred push-ups, followed by one hundred crunches. He would perform this in several sets, usually taking about an hour or so to complete. Then he would take a short break and do one hundred pull-ups and one hundred squats in several more sets, which he kept at for about another hour. After this, he would run around the village three times, which took about two hours, and spend three hours doing chakra control. He would do this every day and wouldn't cheat or take any shortcuts.

When he first began his training, he started doing one set of twenty of each, then as time passed by and he became stronger, he started to do more and more. Eventually he came to where he is now, doing several sets of one hundred repetitions of each exercise.

Eventually, Naruhi got him interested in seals and started him off on fuinjutsu. Naruto guessed that it ran in the family since his father and mother were Seal Masters themselves. He read how to do simple seals like a storage seal. He figured out how to make a simple storage seal from scratch, but during his study he came across several seals that caught his attention. It was the gravity seal and resistance seal, seals which applies extra gravity and resistance on the user making it harder for them to move, but when released they would become faster and stronger. Naruto knew the seals would help him greatly with his training. So with the help of a hesitant Naruhi, he figured out how it worked and applied it to himself.

Also during his training Arwen told him to go to the library to read some books and scrolls on jutsu he may find. He did as he was told, using Arwen's residual chakra to copy the whole library, but didn't find much. So Kyuu told him to sneak into the Hokage's library and find the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. Naruto did what he was told and surprisingly, he actually got in. Kyuu then instructed him to find a jutsu called Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) and for him to know the handseals and how to do it. It didn't take him long to find it since it was the first thing on the list. After several minutes of reading and rereading, he learned the ins and outs of the jutsu, and put the scroll back where he found it after copying it too and went back to practice what he learned.

When he mastered the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Kyuu reminded him of the secret of the technique: that when a clone dispels after it learns or does something, it sends all its information and experience to the real person. Naruto was ecstatic, as he realized could even do a year worth of training in little more in a day, making him even stronger. Afterwards, Kyuu and Arwen proceeded to start teaching Naruto their taijutsu styles.

With many good things, there are also bad situations.

As time passed by, the villagers at first started with cold glares, but they progressed from glaring and muttering at him into physically assaulting him and beating him up. Once every two weeks or so there would be a crowd that would corner Naruto and beat him senseless. They didn't do anything crazy since he was the son of their beloved Yondaime, but they would "show him his place", as they liked to call it. Naruto would fight back of course, but sometimes the numbers game would be too much for him.

Some of the children around Naruto's age wouldn't hang out or talk to him. Instead they would all flaunt over Narumi and Tsubaki and give him cold glares, and his own younger sister wouldn't do anything to stop it. Some of the people who tried to be his friend only did it so that they could get close to Narumi and Tsubaki. During the academy he would be ignored, but Naruto didn't really mind since he was pretty much alone from the start with the exception of Kyuu and Arwen.

Though there were several people that befriended him: the Hyuuga twins, Hinata and Hisana, and their little sister Hanabi, the Yamanaka twins, Ino and Kyoko, the Haruno twins, Sakura and Sakuya, Inugami Akira, and Higarashi Tenten. Also among his true friends were two of Kushina's former students, Yuhi Kurenai and Mitarashi Anko, Inuzuka Hana, Akira's older sister and also Kushina's former student, Kato Shizune, student of the Slug Sannin, Naruhi's teammates Uzuki Yugao and Itachi Uchiha, Uchiha Satsuki, Uchiha Mikoto, Shiranui Gemna, Gekko Hayate, Morino Ibiki, and the Ichiraku family from the ramen stand.

(A/N: Hisana and Kyoko are the alternate Hinata and Ino from Road to Ninja, personality-wise)

Kurenai, Anko, Yugao, Hana, Shizune, Gemna, and Hayate helped Naruto one time when the villagers beat him, while Ibiki went on to teach those villagers a lesson during a torture session. After that they became friends, but at times he would stay a safe distance away from them so that the villagers wouldn't try to target them, too. But the others would have none of it and proceeded to hang around Naruto whenever possible.

Itachi had found him during one of his training exercises and watched in silence. He was impressed by Naruto's determination and hard work and eventually talked to Naruto. He asked why Naruto was training by himself and where his family was.

Naruto's answer was, "I am nothing to them, only extra baggage. But that'll change soon..."

Itachi was shocked, but understood what he meant. He often saw Naruto along with Naruhi walking behind their parents with bored, expressionless faces, just talking to each other and acting as though they weren't with their family. After that, Itachi often visited Naruto as much as he could and helped Naruhi with Naruto's training, as he saw much of himself in Naruto, particularly with regards to his intellect and talent. The rest of Naruto's friends, who were Naruhi's age or older eventually caught wind of it, and would contribute to Naruto's training.

Uchiha Mikoto, the Matriarch of the Uchiha clan, the mother of Itachi and Satsuki, and the jonin sensei of Naruhi, Itachi, and Yugao, found Naruto walking alone around Konoha one day, banged up and bruised. She asked why he wasn't with his parents and why was he looking roughed up. He gave them the same answer as Itachi while keeping silent about the recent beatdown he fended off.

Mikoto was furious- no, pissed the hell off and decided to march over to the Namikaze estate and give her two friends a piece of her mind. Naruto tried to stop her saying it wouldn't matter, but she didn't listen to him and instead dragged him with her to the Namikaze estate.

He still remembered what happen that time.

(Flashback no Jutsu, 1 ½ years ago)

Uchiha Mikoto barged through the gates of the Namikaze estate, dragging a blond hair boy with her.

"Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina! Get your ass out here, right NOW!" roared an enraged Mikoto.

Moments later, Kushina and Minato came into the front of the door to find Mikoto holding their son. Naruhi trailed far behind them, her widening at the state her brother in.

"Mikoto, why are you here? And why is my son with you?" Kushina asked confused, since she thought that Naruto was in his room.

"What? I can't visit my best friend or something? I'm here because I found your son walking around Konoha alone, not to mention looking like he just got out of the Third Great Shinobi War!" Mikoto replied loudly.

"Really! Oh! Thanks Mikoto-chan for finding my son. We'll take it from here," Minato said while telling Naruto to go to his room, which he did, but stayed back behind Naruhi so he can hear the rest of the conversation.

"Did you even know that your son was outside and hurt?" Mikoto asked, trying to figure out her friends.

"No, but I thank you again for finding him," Kushina replied.

Mikoto narrowed her eyes and in the corner of her eyes, she noticed two redheads that were training in the family training ground. This got a question that she wanted to ask them.

"Why are Narumi and Tsubaki training to be kunoichi early while Naruto is sent to his room?"

"We decided to train them early," Kushina explained, "They both have the Kyuubi's power sealed into them and they have to know how to control it."

"Are you serious? What about Naruto and Naruhi?"

Mikoto's tone getting colder and colder by the second, which was starting to scare Kushina and Minato.

"I'm sorry, but those two are none of your business," Minato said, "But we'll train Naruto and Naruhi in our arts when they're ready."

"What?! Don't they even know that Naruhi's a Chunin?"

Mikoto stood there, glaring bloody cold kunais at the two, "I understand. Sorry for asking a stupid question, Namikaze-san."

Minato and Kushina flinched at the sudden change in their friend, but just toss it aside thinking it wasn't anything serious, as Mikoto whipped around and walked away, too pissed off to say goodbye.

"What the hell is going on with her?" she wondered, "Kushina is now what she hates, a fangirl. It can't be his doing… can it?"

(FLASHBACK KAI)

(Present Day)

After the incident, Mikoto helped Naruto and Naruhi the best as she could: she would do anything from cooking them lunch to giving Naruto advice on his training since she herself is a jonin. She also allowed Naruto join in on her squad's training. She also tried befriending him with her youngest twin son and daughter, Sasuke and Satsuki. Satsuki was all for getting to know Naruto, and quickly became friends with him, but to Mikoto's disappointment, Sasuke adopted his father personality at a very early age, which was being arrogant with a stick up his ass.

Sasuke would say things like, "That kid isn't worth my time," or, "The Uchiha are the best", to Naruto and Satsuki's annoyance. But at least Itachi befriended him, which made Mikoto happy though she wished he had a friend his age, though Naruto didn't mind.

His relations with his family however, became much worse. As his parents trained Narumi and Tsubaki in their family styles and jutsu, and spoiled them rotten on top of it, Naruto could only watch in the background, always hoping for attention. He would suggest the family go the movie, while Narumi would suggest they go and eat ramen, and to Naruto's disappointment they always chose whatever Narumi would suggest. After a while of watching and hoping, he completely gave up like Naruhi did and trained even harder to show them that he didn't need them. He stayed in his room, not bothering to go out and talk with his family. Only time he saw them during the day would be dinner but even then he would stay silent, only sitting next to Naruhi at the opposite end of the dinner table and talking quietly with her. The two of them would just finish their food as fast as they could, wash their own dishes and go back to their rooms and train or just spend time talking with each other in either his room or hers.

When the family went on walks around the village, they would stay even farther back from the rest of the family than before, while Narumi would usually lead the family to their destination. He avoided attention as much as possible by being quiet or staying in corners where no one would see him. During parties he would only be there for an hour or so until he got tired and left. Sometimes Narumi and Tsubaki would ask him and Naruhi to play with them, but they would turn them down, saying that they were busy.

In his free time, Naruto would usually read books of various kinds: fiction, jutsu, seals or anything ninja-related, even some history and philosophy. He would also write, draw, and tend to his own garden on the balcony connected to his room. When his parents weren't around, he would work on improving his fuinjutsu, aiming to surpass his parents since they were Seal Masters.

Naruto got up and started to do his daily workout. He took a short break, walked to his desk and took out a very detailed layout of the village, complete with patrol routes and times, entry and exit points, and some routes of his own that he had scribbled on for his own purposes, 'Do you think this escape plan will work Kyuu-chan?'

"Don't know until we try, but I'm pretty sure it will," Kyuu replied as she yawned, "If all goes well, it'll show everyone the type of man your father truly is."

"Too bad my mother doesn't see it that way," Naruto muttered, remembering the falling out Kurenai, Anko, Hana, and Yugao had with Kushina the day after she and Mikoto had their falling out.

Since his first meeting with Kyuu and Arwen, he would talk to them as often as he could. To him, the vixen was his mother, while Arwen was like an aunt. He would tell them about the goings-on in his life, and how he thought and felt about things. In return, Kyuu and Arwen would teach him anything from jutsu to reading and writing. They both also contributed to his training.

"I guess it's back to training," Naruto told himself, putting the paper back into his desk and resuming his training routine. After Naruto finished, he took a quick shower and changed into his nightgown before going into his bathroom to brush his teeth. After he was done, he climbed into his bed, and took out a calendar book.

"Soon, it will be me and Narumi's birthday," Naruto muttered, looking at the date that said October 10 on his calendar, "And the day that I'll- no, WE will leave Konoha," he resolved, looking over to his bed to see a medium-sized yellow-blonde furred fox sleeping there.

"Yukki-chan…"

(Hokage's Office, the next day)

Namikaze Minato was doing paperwork, something he hated to do as Hokage. He was currently looking at a petition to release the civilians that were in jail for hurting his son Naruto.

He sighed, remembering the time after the Kyuubi attack and when he announced that Narumi had the Kyuubi power and Naruto had the soul. Some of the villagers ask that Naruto be watched, hurt, or even killed before the Kyuubi could control Naruto.

As a father, he knew that he shouldn't let them go, but he was the Hokage first. He was not just any Hokage, but the best Hokage ever to lead Konoha so far. As Hokage, he knew that the village came first, and family came much, much later.

He knew the pain of the village after the Kyuubi attack, and with Naruto having the soul of the Kyuubi, he knew that the village would target him. He knew it was bad, but the village needed a scapegoat and despite how young Naruto was, he was the only person to fit the bill. The best he felt that he could do was to reduce what they did to him. He signed the paper that released the villagers from their prison.

He just hoped that Naruto would forgive him, and that his wife and daughters wouldn't ever find out about what he allowed the village to do to Naruto.

It was for the sake of Project K after all.

He was about to go through more paperwork until he felt a presence behind him.

"Jiraiya-sensei, what are you doing here?" Minato asked while he quickly approved the request to release the prisoners.

"It seems like I could never hide from you, my former student," Jiraiya said as he jumped through the window.

"I ask you again, why are you here? I assumed you were peeping on women like you always do."

"Actually the toads summoned me and told me about a prophecy."

"Prophecy from the toads?" Minato asked, shocked.

Jiraiya nodded in confirmation.

"What was it about?"

"It said that the chosen one is the child born from two great shinobi, and holds many great powers along with the marks of Kami, Yami, and Shinigami. I expect that the chosen one would be Narumi since she is your and Kushina's child and has the power of the Kyuubi within herself."

Minato nodded slowly then realization came him and he smiled, "So my daughter is the chosen one?" a hopeful Minato asked, "With this news, Project K will be…"

"I think so, since she seems to fit all the requirements," Jiraiya replied, seeing how happy his student is, "Since its Narumi's birthday tomorrow, I was wondering if you would let me let her sign the Toad Contract?" he asked Minato, his smile growing wider as Minato nodded.

"Since that's done, I guess I'll continue my research. See you later Minato!" Jiraiya exclaimed before disappearing using shunshin.

Minato sighed and looked at his loads of paperwork with a frown. He still couldn't figure out a way to beat every Kage's enemy.

After working for a while, Minato stopped and started to think about his family and how far they have grown as a family. How happy they were he, Kushina, Narumi, Tsubaki, Naruto, and Naruhi.

Naruto…Naruhi.

He frowned when he thought about the two of them. After refusing to teach Naruhi and Naruto, they pretty much excluded themselves from the family, doing their own things.

Minato still remembered the times Naruto and Naruhi would ask to go somewhere as a family, but he refused their ideas for Narumi and Tsubaki's, picking wherever they wanted to go. As time went by their requests became less frequent until eventually they stopped asking for anything. They even showed their faces less around the house, always staying in their rooms and during dinnertime they would be sit off at the opposite end of the table, silently just talking to each other while they ate and acting as if the rest of them weren't there. The only time he really saw Naruto was during dinnertime and while Naruto and Narumi where walking to the academy. He saw Naruhi even less frequently than that.

'Where does Naruhi go and what does she do with her time? I can't remember really anything about her since the time I registered her for the Academy,' Minato thought to himself with no small amount of shame.

Minato shook his head, thinking about what he did to Naruto and Naruhi. Thinking of this had brought him to a decision: he was going to make it up to them somehow in order to appease them. Starting tomorrow after Naruto and Narumi's birthday, he was going to start Naruto and Naruhi's training in their family's styles. He was going to bring them back into the family, and hopefully make them see things his way.

Unfortunately, he didn't know his son and daughter as well as he thought he did, and he would learn that the hard way very, very shortly.

END OF CHAPTER 01

Release date: Sunday, September 16, 2012

Word Edited and Revised: Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Beta-read by ncpfan: January 2013