Disclaimer: I don´t own Naruto, so please do not take down this story. It took me awfully long to write it...

Prologue - Part 1

One could not describe how unbearably bored one Uzumaki Naruto was feeling. He was supposed to be trained in order to become a Shinobi at the academy not to have what little patience he had wasted away during long and boring lectures. His Teacher, a scar-faced brunet by the name of Umino Iruka, was beyond monotonous on his classes. Naruto could barely register what he was speaking of, something about the raise on taxes during the reign of the Nidaime Hokage. How…incredibly…horrifyingly…frustratingly…BORING!

"Now I understand why Shikamaru likes to sleep during class. This is torture!" Cried mentally the 7 year old as he attempted to remain conscious, letting his eyes wander through the classroom until they finally rested on the window. Naruto stared at his own reflection, he had wild spiky red hair, cerulean blue eyes and a healthy tanned skin along with the whisker marks on his face. He wore a black T-shirt with a red spiral on the back and orange shorts. It was while aimlessly staring at the glass that the young Uzumaki noticed that 80% of the class was already asleep while the others attempted stay awake.

"Oh the irony…the only instructor that doesn't seem to hate me actually puts the class to sleep instead of teaching something useful..." Thought Naruto with a sigh. Having nothing else to do, the young redhead looked over his shoulder to check if his friends had not gone to Dreamland yet. One of them was Iburi Yukimi, a young girl with fair skin and wavy brown hair, who was currently using her books as a makeshift pillow. Besides her was an amber-eyed, charcoal haired boy with fair skin. His name was Fennikusu Haiko, the sole heir of the Fennikusu Clan, whose face currently rested against the palm of his hand on a feeble attempt to make it appear he was paying attention.

"Mmm…dango…" mumbled Yukimi cutely while lightly drooling over her arms, causing Naruto and Haiko to nearly burst out in laughter. The 3 of them had become fast friends last year when Naruto stood up for Yukimi when a group of students started teasing her because of her manner of dressing. Granted that Naruto got beat up by the group until Haiko´s timely interference, but in the end he managed to finally make friends at the academy.

"Due to the unusual raise in taxes Konoha was forced to negotiate new trading agreements with the Land of Vegetables and the Land of Sea, who had turned to the Land of Lightning in search of better prices for their goods, such as spices, nuts, seafood and tropical fruits. The fallout resulted in the Nidaime Hokage making a journey to the Hidden Cloud Village for a meeting between the village leaders, which was when tragedy stroke when a duo of Kumo Nukenins known as Kinkaku and Ginkaku attempted a coup, nearly killing the 2 Kages…Any questions thus far?"

Iruka turned to the class, expecting his students to start eagerly asking questions and partake on the quest for knowledge, only to be met with silence and muffled noises that sounded awfully similar to snores. It was with great speed that the instructor's face became red while a vein pulsed dangerously in his forehead. Taking a deep breath, the scar-faced teacher used his patented "Big Head" Jutsu, while bellowing at the group of children.

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY BRATS!" The scream was powerful enough to create a gust of wind that barrelled open the windows of the class room while the deafening sound cracked the class made the 40 students of the classroom jump out of their skins, even the most emotionless of the clan heirs flinched at the angry roaring of their instructor.

"I can't believe it! Here I am, providing you with most useful information of the relations between Konoha and Kumo, and you don't even pay attention to it. I should…" Iruka's rant was cut short by the signal of the break, much to the relief of his students who were still disoriented from the sudden wakeup call and made their way out of the class room.

"Finally! I couldn't wait to go outside and stretch my legs." Commented Naruto as he followed his friends to the back of the academy, where the students usually hung out during break time. Besides him were his friends, each of them showing signs of LIS (Lecture Induced Sleep) and looking forward to sometime under the sun.

"I hate Iruka-sensei's lectures. They are always so boring and long. I can't help but fall asleep." Whined the freckled girl while stretching her sore limbs, caused by the lack of movement. Next to her was Haiko, the Fennikusu Heir let out a most undignified yawn while scratching the back of his head.

"Good thing it´s finally over, now we only have Taijutsu Class before we call the day." Commented the black haired boy while the trio positioned itself bellow the shadow of a tree and brought out their lunches. That is, Naruto was about to get a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen when Yukimi took it from his hands. Much to his horror.

"No you don't, mister. I have told you many times that just eating salty noodles will ruin your nutrition. Here, I got an extra bento for you." Scolded the brunette while handing Naruto the lunch box. The spiky-haired Ramen Addict protested weakly, or attempted to, before wilting under Yukimi's gaze and accepting the food. The contents were simple enough, a portion of rice, beef and a fresh salad. The group of friends then dug in while casually talking with each other.

Yukimi was a rather cheerful and energetic girl, almost as much as Naruto. As the first of her family to get the chance to become a Shinobi of Konoha and leave her clan´s home she was quite curious and shy back at the start of the academy, only to break out of her shell after the young Uzumaki stood up for her.

As for Haiko, he was passionate to say the least. And much like his clan's namesake, had a fiery personality that often contradicted with his cool visage. His greatest desire was to one day bring glory to his vastly overlooked family, which was to this day addressed to as a minor clan despite their massive affinity to Fire Ninjutsu and their Enton, a Kekkei Genkai that allowed them to create and shape dark blazes.

"This weekend I will be starting my clan's basic exercises for Katon Ninjutsu. Kaa-san told me that if I got good results she would up my training." Explained the Fennikusu heir, quite excited with the prospect of getting deeper into family tradition.

"You think that's cool? My parents sent me a scroll with some guidelines for awakening our Bloodline." It was quite common for the two to compare their training methods and how far ahead they were of each other, causing hilarious arguments to happen occasionally.

"If I didn't know them, I would think they were siblings." Thought Naruto as he chuckled at his friend´s antics and continued to eat his lunch. This time taking his attention to the other groups of students.

"I'm telling you Shikamaru, this time I will definitely kick come Uchiha Ass. I can't wait for the spars to begin!" Sounded the boisterous voice of one Inuzuka Kiba, heir to the famous clan of ninken-using Shinobi. He was one of the insufferable jerks who always teased and taunted Naruto over his dead last status, much to the annoyance of the red-head.

"Pipe down will you, Kiba. I'm trying to sleep here…" Answered the Lazy Genius, who was currently laid down on the grassy floor with his eyes closed, it seemed the nap during class was not enough for him, then again, sleep was never enough for Nara Shikamaru.

"Munch…Munch…Munch" Sitting across Shikamaru was his oldest and best friend, Akimichi Chouji. He was kind and placid kind of boy who spent most of his time either eating or talking with Shikamaru. Naruto had not spent much time with Chouji but knew that the plump boy had a good heart.

"Hey dobe!"Naruto could feel the arrogance oozing off the voice calling out to him. Turning around he was face to face with one of the youngest of the Uchiha Twins, Sasuke. The Duck-haired boy wore his usual sneer of superiority, which infuriated Naruto to no end.

"What do you want, teme?" Questioned the young Uzumaki, hoping to get this conversation over with. Naruto plainly didn't like Sasuke, every time they were remotely close in class he could feel an aura of pride and arrogance that disgusted him.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to see how my favourite punching bag was doing." Sneered the onyx-eyed boy, making Naruto bristle in anger. This got the attention of his friends, who immediately stood up for him.

"Back off, Uchiha." Cut in Yukimi with a glare.

"We are not in the mood for your blabber." Continued Haiko in his trademark fiery-icy tone. Hoping that telling off the obnoxious boy would make him leave. Obviously it didn't work because Sasuke just puffed his chest.

"I was not talking to you. But it is obvious to me that the dead last can't fight his own battles and so you two have to protect him all the time." Now the young Uchiha sounded even more arrogant, if that was even possible.

"Just leave us alone, teme. Or else I will kick your ass." Threatened the redhead while cracking his knuckles. While it was true that Naruto was academically inferior to the Uchiha, if the stuck up duck-haired boy started insulting his friends he would not pull any punches and knock him out silly.

"That's rich coming from you, dobe. After all, last time we sparred I floored you without breaking a sweat…" Sasuke was about to continue his verbal assault on the cerulean-eyed boy when a staff hit him on the back of the head and a bored voice called out.

"Now now…Sasuke…didn't you know it is rude to interrupt someone's lunch…" Said boy turned around to glare full force at who had interrupted him. Standing before him was a boy with spiky brown hair and light green eyes with a red staff in hand. This was none other than Sarutobi Gohan, the eldest grandson of the Sandaime Hokage and one of Naruto's classmates.

"This is none of your business, Sarutobi. Go hang out with the rest of the losers." Bit out Sasuke, attempting to rile up the Bojutsu prodigy, only to get a bored glance from him. It was no secret that Gohan hung out with clan less children such as Rock Lee and Morino Idate. He valued hardwork, despite his natural talent. That mind-set usually collided with the more self-centred clan heirs. The students kept on glaring at each other, waiting to see who would throw the first punch, until a cold voice broke the silence.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" It was none other than Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older twin brother and last year's Top Student. Sasuke, who was known for his great ego, actually deflated a bit on the presence of the mature twin.

"N-Nothing, Nii-san. I was just talking with them about the next class." The younger twin answered while sweating nervously, much to the amusement of Naruto and his friends. Itachi may be uncaringly cold, but it was always good to see the Uchiha Prodigy taking his brother down a peg.

"Come, Sasuke. Break is about to end." Itachi called whilst walking away, causing Sasuke to flinch lightly.

"This is not over, dead last. I will see you at Taijutsu Class." Hissed the raven-haired boy before quickly falling into step behind his brother. Even Sasuke knew better than disobeying the older twin.

"What a jerk." Huffed Yukimi, both her best friends nodding in agreement.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Commented Gohan when the bell rang, signalling the end of Break Time. The Sarutobi prodigy walked back to the academy building, waving friendly to Naruto and company. The trio of friends soon followed the students back into their classroom where Iruka and another instructor were conversing. The other teacher was none other than Mizuki, a white haired Shinobi who had been recently instated as Iruka's assistant. As the students finally managed to settle down, Iruka took it as his cue.

"Class, as you know today we were to have a simple Taijutsu class…" Many whispers followed that statement, the students wondering if they would indeed have the class or if it had been postponed. Their conversation was interrupted by a rather theatrical coughing fit, courtesy of Iruka.

"Today we will be doing something different. Instead of normal Taijutsu, we will be having a small tournament to see how each of you fair in a controlled combat scenario..." Okay the explanation was starting to get boring and the students sleepy, so Mizuki took his cue.

"Let's move along, I am sure all of you are eager to show off." Prompted Mizuki whilst opening the door and watching the students pour out of the class yet again, very determined to avoid another boring Lecture. The instructors moved the class to a small adjacent training ground not too far from the playground, once there Mizuki took out a clipboard.

"Okay, girls to one side and boys to the other." Called out the white-haired man, watching as the students went off to the opposite sides of the field. Naruto stood besides Haiko, beyond excited for the incoming spars, while Mizuki did the roll call. Yukimi stood rather awkwardly without her friends around. To her right were Higurashi Tenten and Uzuki Ami, Tenten was an avid weapons collector while Ami came from a small family of Kenjutsu practitioners, her aunt, Uzuki Yugao, was in ANBU and becoming well known.

"Hyuuga Hanabi!" Called out Mizuki while jolting down notes.

"Here." Called out a bored voice. Both Hanabi and her older twin sister, Hinata, stood to the left of Yukimi. Both had the spotless fair skin and the blank eyes often associated with the Hyuuga Clan. Hanabi wore a sleeveless V-neck black shirt with mesh armour underneath and black shorts, she wore her black hair shoulder-length and straight. Hinata differently from her sister had dark blue hair, that she wore Hime-Style, and a light tint of lavender to her eyes instead of Hanabi´s plain white ones.

Naruto felt a small shiver run down his spine when he noticed the elder Hyuuga sister staring blankly at him. He had tried to chat with the Hyuuga Twins once and let´s just say he didn't like to talk about it. They also had a cousin that studied in the same year, Hyuuga Neji, who often argued with Gohan.

"Hatake Kouken!" Iruka exclaimed, doing the same roll call for the boys. This time a masked young boy with gravity-defying white hair raised his hand while letting out a soft grunt. Haiko had told him that Kouken was cousin to a famous Shinobi of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi, also known as 'Sharingan no Kakashi'.

After that Naruto zoned out, thinking about his encounter with Sasuke and how it took all of his self-control to not jump the jerk and start a fight. If he was lucky he would get to fight the teme and show his strength to him. Before he noticed, both Mizuki and Iruka were already done with their roll calls.

"Alright, the matches will be Taijutsu-only, no weapons. You can win by either knock out, pushing your opponent off the ring or intervention of the judges." Explained Iruka with a warning glance, knowing how his student could be volatile and sometimes went overboard.

"When I call your names, each competitor will stand on the center of the arena. Understood?" Mizuki received nods, he smirked darkly, prepared to put his plan into motion.

"The first match will be: Uzumaki Naruto vs Uchiha Sasuke!" There were some groans to that announcement. The whole class knew how those two disliked each other, they were complete opposites after all, the skilled Uchiha and the talentless dead-last. The two students moved into the center of the training ground and assumed battle stances. Sasuke was using the basic Sekken (Interceptor Fist) of his clan while Naruto adopted a stance which looked like a modified version of Academy Taijutsu, much to the surprise of those watching, with the exception of Yukimi and Haiko.

"Hajime!" The fight was on.

Naruto immediately dashed at his duck-haired opponent and shot a haymaker, only for the Uchiha to block the move and grab the redhead's arm. The raven haired boy sneered at his opponent.

"Is that it? All that talk about beating me and you are still this weak?" Taunted Sasuke before pushing back the dead-last and delivering a sharp kick to his torso, that although partially blocked by Naruto's other arm, sent him skidding away.

"Less talk, more fight!" Growled the young Uzumaki as he recovered from the counter and rapidly approached his opponent, going for another punch.

"You never learn, do you dobe?" The Uchiha merely smirked at the predictable move and moved to block it. That is, until Naruto span on his heels and moved to smash his elbow against the face of the academy jerk, who managed to block it but was sent back a few steps by the momentum of the attack.

"Hehehe…What's the matter Sasuke, can't handle the dobe?" The red-haired boy did not lose the opportunity to tease his opponent. If there was something that Naruto prided himself of it was his unpredictability. Since the teachers refused to teach him the correct Academy Taijutsu, he would just create his own with what he learnt. And judging by the angered visage of his opponent, he had made good progress on it.

"I guess even you can get a lucky shot, dead-last. Let me show you the difference between an Uchiha like me and a useless orphan like you." Proclaimed Sasuke, getting winces and glares from the students due to this particular low blow. Naruto growled in anger, fuming at how callously Sasuke had mentioned his orphan status.

"That's it! I will kick his ass!" Mentally roared the Uzumaki as he dashed towards his opponent and went for a kick, which the Uchiha ducked under before throwing a quick jab that hit Naruto's unprotected torso, stunning him momentarily and allowing the Uchiha to fire another kick, this time blocked by Naruto's knee who then went for a left elbow strike to Sasuke's shoulder. The duck-haired boy narrowly avoided it by stepping to the side before hitting Naruto on the ribs yet again, making the younger student stumble back in pain. Deciding to go in for another hit, Sasuke ran at Naruto and went for a kick to the torso, hoping to keep the pressure. Only for the redhead to regain his bearings and grab the leg, effectively blocking the attack and locking Sasuke in close combat position.

"I am faster and more skilled, but the damn dobe just doesn't fall. He is physically stronger and doesn't seen even winded…" Thought Sasuke as he accessed the situation, he had not taken the dead-last seriously and got caught unprepared. His trail of thought was interrupted by an incoming punch, which he ducked under, only to come face-to-face with the red-head's knee. In a moment of desperation, Sasuke managed to grab the incoming attack use the momentum to throw the dobe off him with a Judo Throw, making him land on the floor with a hard thud.

Naruto, on the other hand, was quite frustrated. After spending so much time trying to learn these moves and get better in Taijutsu he was still eating the dust. He grunted lightly and stood up again. That was when he noticed Sasuke had gotten up as well and currently glared at him.

"Bit more than you could chew huh, Sasuke?" Taunted Naruto, feeling quite happy with dishing some verbal barbs to the arrogant boy.

"This is nothing, dobe. Stop overestimating yourself, you orphaned trash." There was it again, another low blow.

"Shut up." Hissed Naruto with a furious undertone, feeling the familiar warmth of anger within his body.

"Touchy subject, dead-last? I don't care, you are probably just an illegitimate kid whose parents dropped him off first chance they got." Enough was enough. After all the barbs and ruthless remarks about his unknown family, Naruto finally snapped in boiling fury and dashed at the Uchiha, prepared to throw his fist while feeling the warmth within his body become hotter and hotter until it felt like his body was on fire. That was when it happened. Golden

"I. SAID. SHUT. UP!" Bellowed Naruto as his fist flew towards the shocked Sasuke. That was when the golden flames of energy focused over his hand, shining as brightly as the sun and the stars. The moment the punch landed, Sasuke was sent flying through the training field and into a tree, knocked out for good.

"What just happened?" Was the thought shared by all who watched. Only silence came after that, broken by Naruto's ragged breathing on attempt to calm himself. The shock felt by the teachers, however, did not last and both Instructors went to the downed Uchiha to check for any wounds.

The young Uzumaki was shocked, he didn't what had just happened. He was just so angry that Sasuke kept insulting him that he saw red. His body shook, feeling the warmth that overflowed in the form of golden energy vanishing.

"What have I done? What happened?" He looked around frantically, seeing the Instructors checking over the Uchiha and how the other students were staring at him with expressions of surprise and fear. Naruto did what any scared child would, he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Naruto!" Exclaimed Yukimi trying to run after her friend, who looked lost and hurt after Sasuke brought up the worst subject possible to insult him about, his family.

"Stay right where you are Yukimi. Mizuki will pick up Naruto." Declared Iruka, who was carrying the unconscious Uchiha to the infirmary. Mizuki had already vanished, giving the Iburi Heiress a bad feeling.

[With Naruto]

The Young boy did not know how far or for how long he had ran, at the moment all he wanted was to be alone to think things through and try to understand what happened. One moment he and the Teme were fighting, then Sasuke started throwing some nasty insults and made him snap.

The next thing he knew, Sasuke was out cold with the teachers carrying him to the infirmary and everyone was looking at him like he was some kind of monster. Even now, Sasuke's words echoed inside his head, making the whiskered boy furious yet again. Unbeknown to him, the strange golden fire had now resurfaced.

"He had no right to talk about me! That damn teme doesn´t know anything!" Exclaimed the boy mentally as the trees blurred around him and dark clouds gathered over Konoha. All Naruto wanted was to find somewhere to hide. That was when something caught his eye, a temple in the middle of the forest. The redhead had never heard about anything like it and he could see the same red spiral of the Konoha Flak Jackets positioned on the entrance. When the rain started Naruto ran into the temple, hoping to avoid getting drenched.

"That was…a close call…" Panted Naruto whilst on his knees, taking deep breaths because of the marathon he had just passed through. When his heart finally calmed down, the academy student looked around the ruined temple. It was pretty conserved on the inside despite the decrepit outward appearance, what interested Naruto was the large wall with multiple demon masks. All of them looked menacing and a bit too real for the redhead's tastes.

"Wow…these are so cool…" Mumbled the young boy as he approached the masks only to comically stumble and fall face first on the floor. On that single moment, only one word could describe how the Uzumaki was feeling.

"Ouch…" Okay, so maybe it was not the most descriptive of words, but it did fit the bill. Naruto pushed himself off the floor feeling a burning sensation on his hand, he had gotten cut with a stray piece of wood when he fell, great. When he looked for what had tripped him, the boy found a scroll, huge in comparison to the ones he had seen before.

"Stupid scroll…" Growled Naruto as he placed his bleeding hand on it. Whatever it was to move the scroll or clean the cut, it was interrupted when the scroll started glowing bright blue, stunning the boy. The shine then turned red, and the straps that kept the scroll closed came loose.

"What is this?" Naruto opened the scroll, or rather attempted to, for it only opened partially to reveal the kanji for "clan". After that it would not budge. The young Uzumaki tilted his head in confusion and touched the kanji with his unwounded hand but nothing happened, making the boy grit his teeth in frustration. It was when the pain of his cut hand assaulted him again that Naruto remembered that certain scrolls needed blood to open.

"One of the few things I remember from Iruka-sensei´s classes…" Chuckled the boy, before he placed his lightly bleeding hand on the opened part of the scroll, from which a small book poofed into existence. Naruto picked it up and read over the cover, his heart freezing in shock while his mind felt numb.

The Uzumaki Clan: Rise and fall.

For the first time in Naruto's life. He was rendered speechless. He was part of a clan, he had a family. Naruto cradled the book tightly while lightning tore through the clouded skies, as if heaven itself proclaiming change had come.