Chapter 1-Her Return

A six year old Naruto quickly crawled through a hole in the chain link fence surrounding what many ninja of his village of Konoha called Training Ground 44 A.K.A. The Forest of Death. The blonde haired, blue eyed, and whisker faced boy was running for his life from a mob of people. Some were drunk and angry. Some were sober, yet angry all the same. They had done this on several different occasions. Mostly on his birthday when the Kyuubi Festival was happening and the people were celebrating the death of the Biju who attacked them six years ago on October 10th.

While tonight wasn't his birthday, it didn't stop the different people within Konoha from banding together to lash out at him. This particular day was when the mean old Matron of the Orphanage decided Naruto had lived there long enough. She kicked him out with only the clothing on his back and told Naruto that "Demons like him didn't have any business living here with all of the good, descent, and pure children worthy of being adopted by other families." before slamming the door in his face.

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to that, but his mind seemed to think it would be words a kid his age shouldn't say to a grown up, or out loud for a grown up to hear.

If Naruto did know such a word, chances are it would start with a "b", and rhyme with the word witch.

Within mere minutes of his departure from the Orphanage, a mob seemed to converge his way, intent on crushing the boy before he had a chance to locate a safe place to crawl to, and hide from those seeking his head on a pike. Naruto being no stranger to mobs by that point, had run as fast as his little feet could carry him, and it was only thanks to his secret tenant along with his Uzumaki genetics in having a lot of stamina did he out run them.

With the chase ultimately leading Naruto here to this location.

Running into the Forest of Death, Naruto hid behind the nearest massive tree he could find once the view of the fence behind him was far out of sight. Falling onto the ground, Naruto let out a sigh of relief, his heart slowly returning to normal, and waited to see if anyone had dared to follow him into this supposedly scary place. He had heard whispers about it in passing by ninja. How no one except the really skilled and strong could enter with permission from old man Hokage due to the equally whispered dangers lurking here.

Still...how bad could it be? Surely the creatures living here weren't as bad or as worse as the people trying to hurt him? Right?!

Deciding to explore the area a little bit, (in the off chance he would need to come back here again) Naruto walked through the Forest of Death, and finding it to be...quite nice. The Forest of Death seemed to radiate life in a way he felt was just awesome and felt at home in this place though for reasons the boy did not know. As Naruto walked through the area, the ground gave way around a small cliff of sorts, and he stumbled downward to the lower grassy section that was once below him.

Shaking his head a bit once he sat fully upright, the blonde saw an old darkened sword piercing the ground, and the ground itself where the sword was had a dark ink like splat of sorts there. Curious, as only a boy like Naruto could be at his age, the blonde haired Uzumaki grabbed the hilt of the sword, and struggled to pull it out of the ground.

It was a very heavy sword from the weight of it, but Naruto was determined to get it out of the ground, and take it to the old man to show him what he found. After a few minutes of almost pointless struggle, the blonde finally got the darkened sword out of the ground, but no sooner did that happen, the sword crumbled into nothing, and almost made the boy cry at the loss. He had worked so hard to get that sword out of the ground! It wasn't fair!

His thoughts on the matter were ruined when dark ink stain on the ground suddenly came alive, spewing green fire, and dread to all things around it. Animals, insects, and anything else in the general area of this dark thing ran for their lives. None of them wanted to face this dark creature that had been awakened and clearly very angry.

"I LIVE AGAIN!" yelled an angry and female voice that made the heavens tremble and the ground quake with her power echoing throughout the entire area.

All Naruto could do was stare in awe and fear.

'Wow!' thought Naruto, as he stared at this person radiating power before him, and saw it was a woman wearing all black with a pair of horns on her head to match while wielding a long staff in her left hand.

"To think that sword made by those wretched fairies would be able to do that to me. They were clearly more skilled and smarter then I gave them credit for," remarked the woman to herself before she turned her head to look at her surroundings, seeing she was in a very strange forest of sorts, and finally noticed the strange blonde haired boy a few feet away.

"H-Hello," whispered Naruto while waving weakly at her.

In an instant, the woman's eyes narrowed dangerously, and she was upon the boy like a shadowy wraith. She grabbed the boy and looked him dead in the eyes, piercing them with her gaze to stare into his soul. The woman didn't know why she reacted the way she was right now, but the blonde haired boy reminded the dark witch of a young Princess put under a spell of eternal sleep. Not only that, but the energy radiating from him was massive, and there seemed to be an even greater one behind it.

"What are you? Who are you? How are you here? SPEAK!" commanded the dark witch with the boy now looking horrified at making this powerful person angry just by being here.

It was the villagers all over again!

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm a boy! I live in Konoha! We are in forest located around it!" answered Naruto quickly while she held his shirt and he dangled there while moving his feet a little.

Frowning at the boy's words and language being different, the witch sent some of her power she still had, and launched a small spell at Naruto's face. The spell hit him hard and he sputtered from the spell turning into a smoke of sorts he was forced to inhale. Before he could ask her what he did, the witch commanded him to repeat his answer to the previous questions she demanded of him.

And he did. Which caused the witch to sigh in frustration.

"I know that you are boy you twit! I mean what are you in terms of a species. No human should have this much energy running through their body. I can feel and even see it with my own two eyes. You are overflowing with power! And what do you mean by you are from Konoha? Where is this Konoha?" questioned the witch with Naruto explaining to her as best he could about the village nearby and what the people there did.

"That's all I know. I swear!" exclaimed Naruto in the hopes it would pacify the woman's anger.

As for the witch herself, she narrowed her eyes further, curiosity over what had happened since the Prince had thrown in sword at her draconic. It seemed the sword had not killed her like the fairies had hoped. Rather, it had weakened her enough to be sent into a long, and distant slumber while time moved with cultures changing. That damned naive Prince Phillip had thrown his magical sword at her at the instance of those damned idiot fairies. They along with King Stefan had convinced the Prince that she was evil due to what had happened with Princess Aurora being cursed on her first birthday.

Okay. Maybe that was her fault. But it wasn't like she didn't try to correct it later in the future after interacting with the child as she grew. Out of all the powers that be, it was her own ironically enough that helped the Princess live to become a 16 year old Princess. Those idiot fairies did a horrible job of watching the girl from the start. Twits and idiots who didn't know the first thing about raising children.

As for the Princess herself, she had wormed herself into the witch's heart as she grew, and the dark entity that had placed the curse itself on her had even tried to remove it in secret. Sadly and ironically enough, the dark witch's spell itself used to create the curse prevented said dark witch from taking it away. When the curse was cast, the dark witch had declared that no power in the world could remove the curse, and by that decree alone prevented even the dark witch herself from releasing it from Princess Aurora.

And things spiraled out of control from there.

Soon came the Prince, followed by the fairies interfering as they usually did in the most stupidest of ways, and then King Stefan trying to play her off as the villain. Her! As if she was always the big bad villain. No. There was a time when the dark witch had been a kind creature of nature and loved everything around her.

Before a human came into her territory. Before a certain man who would become a King had betrayed her in order to gain access to the throne of his greedy predecessor. A throne he gained through stabbing her in the back, in the heart, and ripping off her wings in the process. At the time the curse was placed on the Princess, the dark witch had felt justified in her actions since he had betrayed her for the seat of power when one ruled a kingdom. The dark witch, who was once the most powerful of fairies had been betrayed by this man, and he was having a celebration over the birth of his daughter. Normally, she would not have come to such an event, even if they had invited her, but the sad truth was...they didn't even make the attempt.

That was rude.

"Umm...could you please put me down Miss," pleaded Naruto with the dark witch now refocusing her mind back to the boy in her hand.

"My name child is Maleficent. And I am not someone to be crossed. Understand?" said Maleficent with Naruto nodding.

"I do Maleficent-sama," replied Naruto with Maleficent raising an eyebrow at the suffix, but from what her spell translated in her mind was that such an addition to her name was one of respect.

And she honestly liked it. Maleficent-sama had a certain...ring to it.

"Good. Now, from what I have sensed, your body is quite unique in terms of generating a lot of energy. More then you should have and I sense an additional power locked away. As it stands, my power is not what it once was due to being locked away as I was by that magic sword, and I need time to regain my lost strength. Fortunately, you have the energy I want, and need to regain what I lost. It might even make me stronger," replied Maleficent with Naruto frowning at her.

"You mean my char-ka?" asked Naruto since he only heard the name of the energy she was referring to, but only in passing, and never heard the proper term for it due to the whispery way it was spoken around him.

"Yes child. Whatever you call the energy, it is my means of becoming strong again. I need your help," said Maleficent with the boy looking surprisingly happy at the news.

"You need my help? But...no one has ever wanted my help. Most people do is call me names and try to hurt me," replied Naruto with hope, yet sadness in his voice.

"Really? The adults hurt a child like yourself? Just for existing? Now why would they do that? Do you know why?" asked Maleficent curiously before putting the boy down.

"No. They sometimes call me 'demon', 'monster', or 'Kyuubi brat' with this hateful look in their eyes. They tried to hurt me on my birthday a few times too," said Naruto with the dark witch in front of him frowning further.

"And you let them? You do not use this power I sense against them?" asked Maleficent with Naruto shaking his head.

"I have to run away. I don't know how to use this power you say I have. No one has ever taught me about such things. I'm an orphan. I just got kicked out of the orphanage earlier today before I ran here and removed that sword you mentioned," explained Naruto with Maleficent looking surprised by this and decided to probe this matter further after she sat down on a giant rock not that far away.

"Most curious. Come here child. Let me have a proper look at you," replied Maleficent sweetly now before patting her lap and motioned for the boy to obey.

Not seeing a reason to ignore the request, Naruto did just that.

With a help of Maleficent's magic, she elevated Naruto off the ground, and onto her lap with ease before putting him to sleep while using that same magic to examine the boy in her own way. It would also help explain why she suddenly felt such incredible power residing within this blonde haired child.

What she sensed from him astounded and horrified Maleficent.

First, the boy's body was anything but healthy right now. Clearly malnourished from the lack of eating. Or the possibility of the child eating unhealthy things. She believed him now when he said people had tried to hurt him in the past. The boy had quite the list of physical injuries on his body despite them healing and not showing up by normal means of detection. However, her magic running over the boy easily told her about every past injury Naruto had sustained, what time it happened, and practically down to the most likely object capable of doing it. The boy had been hit with hammers, clubs, stabbed by swords, and other pointy stabbing weapons. The images were all appearing on the orb at the top of her staff, showing what hit where on Naruto's body, and found the long list to be surprisingly disturbing.

Thankfully, that was the horrifying part she discovered about Naruto.

As for the astounding part...

Someone had actually sealed a living entity into him. A powerful one. A creature of such incredible power that it far surpassed her of all people. Even at her best, Maleficent could not hope to match this power at its weakest, and felt the creature stirring with an intense rage filled malice deep within Naruto. And while imprisoned in the boy, Maleficent could see it was having its power being sent through the strange network that ran through the child's system. It was impressive to say the least that the boy had his own vast power deep within his body and even more impressive he didn't explode from having a much larger secondary power locked inside of him.

This child was something special in his own way.

Just like Aurora.

If Maleficent knew one thing, it was seeing just how special certain people were, and this boy was indeed special. Aurora had softened her heart as the years went by and truly did regret putting the curse on the poor girl. Even worse at being forced to confess it to the girl when Aurora had asked if what those three stupid twits for fairies told the Princess about what had happened on the day of her first birthday celebration.

The only real joy she gained from the tragedy that followed was the fact she killed the stupid King in the end in her dragon form. She had intended to bring the Prince to Aurora to break her curse on the girl, but the Prince had listened to the fairies in using that damn magical sword. "Throw it!" one of them said. "End her!" they said.

She had nothing against Prince Phillip. He truly did love Aurora. That much was clear during all the fighting and confusion of who was the enemy during the chaos of it all. With any luck, Aurora was able to see the truth, and forgive her much...darker Fairy Godmother after she woke up from that brief slumber caused by the curse.

Maleficent hoped Aurora was happy in life with Prince Phillip.

"Hmmm...Kaa-san," whispered Naruto, as he snuggled deeper into the woman's black form, and surprised Maleficent in being called Mother in his native tongue.

"Me? A Mother. The closet I came to that was with Princess Aurora. Do I event want to try again with this one?" asked Maleficent to herself while she gently stroked the boy's blonde hair while Naruto tried his hardest to snuggle deep into Maleficent's form.

"Don't leave me Kaa-san. I'm not a monster. I'm not a demon. Please don't abandon me!" whimpered Naruto while he grabbed onto her dress and made the woman's eyes soften slightly.

This child was clearly denied love by the very village he lived in. If she had to guess, it was in connection to the creature inside of him. Possibly by someone within the village itself. It made Maleficent question just how powerful humans have truly become in her absence from the world? And how did they get such power? Were there more like Naruto here with such beasts sealed within them? If so, then how many? Were they treated the same? Or differently?

Either way, Maleficent realized that had to decide what to do next now that her person was free to roam the world.

'Still, I'm not strong enough. Years of being pinned by that damn sword have done their work well. But this boy. This boy's power and the beast within him can restore it. It will take a little while, but nothing I can't handle given the right location where no one would seek me out. No! Seek us out,' thought Maleficent while smiling gently down at the poor boy sleeping soundly with his head on her lap.

She would take the child with her. Maleficent would adopt this boy and call him her own.

But first...she had to remove the two masked ninja spying on her.

Maleficent slammed her staff down once on the ground and her power spread out around the woman with the trees coming alive. The two ninja in question watching the woman were shocked when the trees around them suddenly came alive, bound the two of them in their limbs, and approached the dark witch currently smiling a cruel smile at them.

"So these are ninja. I'll admit, you are impressive in your own right. While your energies are not up to the level Naruto here possesses, they are more...refined. I imagine you train to control your energies to be used in moderation. To last longer to be more precise," said Maleficent calmly while she continued to run her fingers through the sleeping boy's hair unafraid of the two caught in her extended magical grasp.

"You are in the domain of Konoha in Fire Country and holding one of its citizens in your grasp. Identify yourself or face the consequences!" commanded the female of the two ninja currently wearing a snake ANBU mask along with the black pants, shirt, vest, and guards to match her standard ANBU uniform.

With the addition of a tan trench coat on due to the kunoichi wanting to look more badass when people saw her.

"Fire Country? Oh my! Time certainly has gone by since my time in this world. Though I do question why you are here? Clearly not for me. This boy perhaps?! This poor, abused, malnourished, and ultimately misguided boy? Or rather...for what he holds inside of his body?" questioned Maleficent with both ANBU stiffening in the limbs of the trees that held them.

"She knows," remarked the male wearing a weasel mask in a stoic tone.

"Of course I know. After the boy told me how he was treated, it was only fair I use my power to satisfy my curiosity regarding the reason behind such hatred. Imagine my own surprise when I learned someone had sealed a powerful entity of incredible power within this child. Either they were doing something very noble or very cruel when they selected little Naruto here for the task. I can only imagine it was the latter given how your village has treated this child like filth one would have underneath their shoes. Or whatever you have for footwear these days," replied Maleficent while seeing the two ANBU looking at each other and then back at her.

"What do you want with Naruto? Do you want him for the Kyuubi?" asked the female ANBU with Maleficent letting out an amused chuckle.

"Kyuubi? Oh! So that is the creature's name? Or maybe its a title? It sounds more like a title to me. But regardless, I have no real interest in the creature locked inside of the boy. Removing it will only kill the child I imagine. All that power ripped out of him would just destroy his body in a way no one would dare imagine. It would be like being set on fire from the inside out only one thousand times worse and would feel three times more painful. No. That is the last thing Naruto needs right now while traveling throughout the lands. Especially...from his newly declared Mother," replied Maleficent with the ANBU looking at her in shock at this news and tried to get free.

"You cannot adopt him! Or take him with you!" declared the male of the two ANBU with the weasel mask while Maleficent let out a chuckle of amusement.

"Oh dear. You seem to be under the impression that either of you two could stop me if you tried. You can't," remarked Maleficent while her amusement left and her tone of voice was now ice cold.

The two ANBU could actually see their breath coming out of their masks.

"He is an important part of Konoha. The Kyuubi aside, Uzumaki Naruto is part of an important legacy, and heritage beyond your comprehension," said the weasel masked ANBU while trying to analyze what he was seeing with his Dojutsu behind the facial covering.

All he saw was dark chakra. Dark greenish chakra. In fact, he noticed that some of boy's chakra was seeping from his body into her in small doses. And not just Naruto's either.

But the Kyuubi's too.

He was unknowingly feeding her chakra.

"I have no doubt he does have an important legacy. I have seen it in his eyes. The boy will walk a path of greatness. He has a great destiny in front of him. Greater then any I have ever known. But this village will never allow him to reach his full potential. Or even give him a chance to fulfill it since they will see him as a threat to their positions of so called power. Am I wrong?" surmised Maleficent with both ANBU in front of her being silent for a moment.

Though their silence told her enough.

"Even still, we cannot allow you to take him from Konoha. His surrogate Mother or not," stated the male ANBU while trying to figure out how to get free from his bindings.

"As if you had the power to stop me," countered Maleficent while she still watched them with an air of calmness in her eyes.

"You underestimate us and our abilities. It will be your undoing here," said the ANBU with the weasel mask calmly before he turned into a flock of crows.

'Interesting. Someone who has a connection to the crows. It reminds me of my poor pet and servant. Such a competent subordinate. So loyal. It is a shame one of those accursed fairies turned him into stone. Still, this gives me an idea on how to survive longer in this world. Not to mention I will need to ensure my new son is strong enough to stand on his own two feet when he is older,' thought Maleficent while sensing the male ANBU behind her lurking in the shadows with a sword in hand.

'How can this strange woman be so calm? Weasel is moving in right behind her with his sword at the ready to strike her down and she acts like nothing is amiss,' thought the snake ANBU, as she saw the woman just smile with amusement at the whole situation, and not a trace of fear in her eyes.

"Your stealth and mastery of moving in the shadows is impressive young ninja. But when it comes to all things of the dark, I am its true Master," remarked Maleficent, as she hit the ground with the butt of her staff, and froze the male ANBU in mid-air before she had him floating a few feet in front of her.

"How can you do this? How can you use chakra in such a way?" asked the ANBU while Maleficent raised an eyebrow at him.

"Chakra? So that is what you call this energy running through your bodies. Interesting. Naruto pronounced it differently though given his age, I imagine he was not told how to say it properly. I would be impressed if he even knew how to read and write. Given how people hate the boy so much in your village...I highly doubt it. And that my dear ninjas is most...upsetting to me" remarked Maleficent while she eyed the male ANBU with a cold smile that made the man nervous.

This was a smile that promised pain to those she deemed worthy of such an act.

"So what are you going to do with us? If we don't return soon, our leader the Sandaime Hokage will send more, and I highly doubt someone as powerful as you can handle an entire army of ninja," said the snake ANBU with Maleficent's smile lessening a bit at the idea of facing so many of these ninja and their leader.

Maleficent was not arrogant enough to believe her power could take on this entire nearby village of ninja since there was quite a lot of them from what she could easily sense. Not to mention the leader of the village, if what the level of this chakra she could sense was to go by, was up there with Naruto's current level if not a little bit higher. Not to mention this Sandaime Hokage as these two referred the leader of the Konoha, was more then likely the most skilled ninja of them all, and would push Maleficent to the brink with her given level of strength. Still, she couldn't let these two leave here to report back, and the former Queen of the Fairies had no doubt the little army of ninja in Konoha would be coming here anyway after they failed to do so in the first place.

Maleficent needed a plan and it just so happened one had come to her mind the moment she saw weasel turn into a flock of crows to escape her temporary tree minion's branch.

"What am I going to do with you? Excellent question my dear. I could just kill you. A simple flick of my wrist and neither of you would exist further in this world. But why do that? Not when I am in need of some subordinates. Not to mention instructors for my new son in the ways of the ninja," replied Maleficent with both ANBU looking shocked by this.

"As if we would ever willingly serve you and betray Konoha!" exclaimed the snake ANBU angrily with Maleficent smirking at her.

"Willingly? Silly girl, I never said you would be serving me willingly. No. I have a far better idea in mind," remarked Maleficent before she aimed her staff at the male ANBU first and shot a blast of her magic at him.

And to horror of the snake ANBU...her partner in this mission to retrieve Naruto had been turned into a crow with the ANBU mask falling to the ground. The now former Konoha ANBU ninja was struggling to fly before hitting the ground. What was even more interesting and horrifying to the snake ANBU was she saw the man now turned crow flying onto Maleficent's shoulder.

The crow's eyes were crimson with three tomoes.

"What did you do to him?" demanded the snake ANBU in horror at what she just saw.

"I thought it was obvious dear. I turned him into my new crow. My old one was turned to stone a long time ago. I didn't have time to reverse the effects of the spell used following that and given how long I have been away...he is more then likely lost to me. Given your fellow ninja's connection to the crows, I thought it fitting he should become one, and use his new power to serve me. Just as you will my dear," replied Maleficent before covering the snake ANBU in her magic and saw the mask fall from the woman's face.

"I won't let you. I won't be used by another again. Not after last time!" exclaimed the now terrified woman with tears in her eyes and struggling harder to break free.

Hearing this, Maleficent frowned at what the woman meant, and sensed there was more to this woman then she first thought. Putting the woman to sleep, the dark witch gently put Naruto on a pillow she conjured up, and the former fairy looked for the irregularity she sensed in the woman in front of her now on the ground. After placing a single finger on the woman's back, Maleficent was able to identify the source to be some kind of foul energy or chakra as it were located along the neck area. Who or whatever created this was using a nature in a crude manner, barbaric even from what she could sense, and had even had the nerve to leave a piece of its soul in the woman's body.

How perverse.

Frowning further, Maleficent touched the seal on the woman's neck, and instantly felt the dark foul thing behind the seal trying to take some of her power. It was like a leech in its attempts if there ever was one. Fortunately, the thing was unsuccessful due to being too damn weak to take what did not belong to it, and the simple fact Maleficent was also too powerful for this thing to drain from the start.

"So you are the little beasty making this woman's life miserable. I can only imagine she wears this snake mask to hide her identity in order to live a moderate life in her village. Though that can only last for so long. Having you here if I make her my new pet like this one may hurt me in the future. I can't have that. Still...how to get rid of you?" whispered Maleficent curiously before she had an idea and attacked the seal on the woman with her magic in a way that removed the foul soul within it.

And ultimately reformatted the seal itself. Transforming it so the woman was bound to Maleficent herself instead of the create who gave this poor woman this mark.

Once complete, Maleficent spun her right index finger in a circle, and turned the woman into a long python like snake. It seemed rather appropriate in a sense due to the ANBU mask this woman had worn and the connection the dark witch sensed was to the snakes in a way similar to how the other had a connection to the crows. Waking his new pet up, the snake looked around, then at Maleficent before its eyes glazed over for a second with the snake eyes glowing with green magical fire. When it past, the snake gave the dark witch a nod of understanding, and slithered up her free arm.

"Kaa-san?" asked Naruto in a whispered tone while rubbing his eyes in a sleepy manner and wondered if it was just a dream that the woman he just met had adopted her like she did in his dreams.

Until he looked over to see Maleficent looking over and smiling at him.

"Yes my son?" asked Maleficent sweetly while watching the boy's eyes light up at being called her son.

"Um...what are you going to do now? I mean...now that you're my Kaa-san? Do you want to go into the village and speak to the Hokage?" asked Naruto curiously while Maleficent smile gently at the boy, who seemed to be oblivious to the new addition of the crow on her shoulder, and snake on her right arm.

"As tempting as it would be to speak to the leader of the village, something tells me the idea of being your Mother would be most unpleasant for him my son. I decided while you were sleeping that the best choice for us at the moment is to travel through the world and see what I have missed since my time away," replied Maleficent while Naruto frowned, not in anger at not going back to Konoha, but rather over the simple fact she didn't trust the Hokage.

But why? The old man was nice! He protected him from some of the meaner mobs in the past and was sure to set things right if told what happened earlier with the current mob.

Still, the idea of making his new Mother angry, and have her leave him simply for even questioning her decision on the matter kept the boy from speaking out. His new Mother seemed to know something he did not and wasn't about to question the clearly wiser person between the two of them.

"Okay. Still, do you think we could visit Konoha sometime in the future? Or maybe leave some kind of note to explain everything? That way he doesn't have to worry about me and send some of his ninja after us!" offered Naruto since his idea wasn't questioning his Mother's decision and it would keep the Hokage from being mad.

Everyone wins!

Maleficent smiled at her naive son, but inwardly she was angry at the idea of this leader of Konoha having such an influence on her new son. The boy wasn't questioning her per se in terms of what she wanted to do. He was just offering some new that would appease all parties with minimal conflict. It was the makings of a good ruler and kind man who cared for his people, which was a much different way of ruling then King Stefan when he ruled over his kingdom. The man had played himself off as a kind King, but many had known otherwise, and only tolerated him out of fear as well as the hope the man's newly born daughter would inherit her Mother's gentle nature when it came to ruling.

It was a shame for Maleficent since she never got to see if that happened or not.

"Tell you what Naruto, I will have my pet crow here leave the Hokage a small message for him once we settle down somewhere safe. Someplace where both of us can settle down and I can regain our strength. Remember, I just woke up from a long nap, and my strength has declined during my slumber. The people in your village, who do not like you will try to take it there anger out on me, and I cannot guarantee your safety if they try," explained Maleficent with Naruto's eyes going wide in horror.

"T-They...They would really do that?" asked Naruto fearfully with Maleficent nodding at her son.

"In a heartbeat my child. There is more then one way to hurt someone as you well know and not all of them are through hurting someone directly. There are other indirect ways to hurt someone," replied Maleficent while thinking of how she targeted Aurora in order to get to King Stefan for betraying her years prior to becoming King.

"But...I don't want them to hurt you!" exclaimed Naruto fearfully while running up to the woman and holding onto her tightly as if she would suddenly vanish from his sight.

"Nor do I my child. Which is why I need to go somewhere else. Somewhere with you where the two of us can grow stronger in order to repel such threats to our person," said Maleficent while putting a gentle hand on the blonde haired boy.

"Okay. But...where can we go that will allow us to be safe?" asked Naruto curiously since he didn't know anything about the outside world and was pretty sure his Mother didn't know either given how she had been pinned down by that sword for so long.

"That's what traveling is for my son. We will know the right place when we find it. In the meantime, I will see to it that you are properly taught the way of the ninja and what you will need to know in order to survive in this world," answered Maleficent with Naruto looking exceedingly happy at this news.

"Really? But...how will you train me?" asked Naruto with joy and slight confusion.

"I will not be training you personally my boy. That will be left to your instructors here," said Maleficent, as she used her magic to turn the crow, and the snake into their human forms again.

"That was insane!" exclaimed the woman with short purple spiky hair.

"Indeed. Turning into an animal like that and back is...unreal," remarked the stoic male, but it was clear he was unnerved by it just as his female ninja was too.

It made the ability to henge look like a joke!

"Wow! That was so awesome!" exclaimed Naruto while ignoring the discomfort the two ninja were in over the fact they had been turned into animals and back into humans.

Maleficent just let out an amused chuckle.

"Indeed. Now I believe introductions are in order. You first dear boy," replied Maleficent with the young adult male with black hair looked at her for a second of defiance before his eyes were washed over with a greenish black energy for a moment.

"Uchiha Itachi. Eldest son of the Uchiha Clan Head," replied Itachi before bowing his head slightly with the spell to comply obedience in him kicking in.

"And you?" asked Maleficent while pointing to the young woman roughly the same age as the Uchiha.

"Mitarashi Anko. Former student to the now infamous Missing Nin Orochimaru of the Sannin," answered Anko while she felt her Mistress's power in the new seal and felt the overwhelming presence compelling the woman to obey any command given by the dark robed woman.

"Good. From here on out, the two of you will obey me from now on. My word is final and absolute. Disobedience will not be tolerated. You two will be my eyes, ears, and an extension of my strength. You will also be training Naruto in the ninja arts. Everything you know that he can learn will be taught. Should a time come when I am not around to command either of you for something important, my son will have secondary authority, and you will obey him in my absence," commanded Maleficent with both ninja nodding and bowing to the woman.

"We understand Maleficent-sama," said Itachi and Anko at the same time.

"Excellent. Now we should take our leave before more ninja come and I have to exert more of my power. Not something I need right now. Tell me Itachi-san, are there any kingdoms without ninja villages such as Konoha in them?" questioned Maleficent with Itachi nodding.

"Yes, but they are but a small handful, and even then some have minor Shinobi villages that are formed there from several clans coming together to form them. Konoha is one of the five major Shinobi villages in all of the Elemental Countries.. When country does hire ninja or a group, it is generally from a village like Konoha, or one of the other remaining major four villages due to their unique strength. It all really depends on the location and the client," explained Itachi with Maleficent nodding in understanding.

"I see. Very interesting. And are there any current 'countries' without a ninja village all together near Konoha?" questioned Maleficent with Itachi thinking for a moment in thought before nodding.

"Just one. It is Wave Country. It is a group of islands closely knit together with natural resources on everyone of the different islands in the area. It relies heavily on ships for transport and trade," said Itachi since he had traveled on missions and heard different things about places from people in passing.

"I see. I take it the natives there keep to themselves?" questioned Maleficent with Itachi nodding.

"As long as those coming into the country do not cause them any trouble, the citizens of Wave Country tend to ignore what goes on around them. More of a live let live way of doing things," answered Itachi with Maleficent nodding with a smile on her face.

"Excellent! We shall go there at once," replied Maleficent before turning Itachi back into a crow and Anko into a snake with the two taking up residence on her body.

"Kaa-san, would you turn me into an animal like you did Itachi-san, or like Anko-san?" asked Naruto curiously with Maleficent smiling at the boy.

"Maybe in the future Naruto, but not right now," replied Maleficent with Naruto pouting a little at being denied the opportunity of changing into an animal.

For some reason he saw himself being turned into a fox.

"Okay," replied Naruto in a depressing tone before he felt his new Mother's hand on his shoulder.

"None of that my son. We have a lot of traveling to do and are running short on time," scolded Maleficent with Naruto nodding since his Mother clearly knew what she was talking about.

"Okay. Let's go to Wave Country!" exclaimed Naruto happily with the woman in front of him that was his new Mother smiling gently and Maleficent offered the boy her hand to which the child had taken without question.

The path these two would walk would shift things considerably throughout the Elemental Countries.

(A/N: YAY! A new fic for you guys. For those of you wondering, this Maleficent will be a combo of the classic, and the new version of her. Sometimes she will be cruel. Others will be nice. The back story for her is a combo of both stories we all know and equally love. Remember, in the classic version, you see the sword that kills Maleficent turns dark, and after Prince Phillips looks at her corpse. You also see Maleficent's body goes from a dragon to a shadowy ink stain so who is to say that Maleficent wasn't sealed by the sword rather then killed. Hope that makes sense. Until next time...PEACE!)