Hiya! I would like to welcome you to my story.

I hope you enjoy it.

So, I would like to point out first that I'm a self-taught writer, so some of the stuff that looks weird might just be stuff that I thought worked in that context. Just obvious stuff that makes no sense is just me being a bad editor, though. You decide which is which.

Well, I won't keep you much longer, just don't forget to leave a review and, most importantly, enjoy!

Ghosts of the Past

Chapter 1: A Foreboding Feeling

— Konohagakure —

The sight of Konoha's gate was always a sight to see—a sight to stop and just look at. It loomed over the treetops like a giant, protectively protecting what laid behind it. The faded green color of it was a sharp contrast to the red kanji for fire painted in the center of the two doors. Today the gates were closed, seeing as how it was raining fat droplets of water from chubby grey clouds. The pale tan of the walls was an impressive site in its own way; with its tall stature and thickness. Several green roofed high towers lined the top of the wall, going all along the semicircle spread half a hundred meters apart. The cobblestone path they followed had a dark, sickly grey color to it from the rain, like it had caught a cold.

His group stood in front of the gate as it slowly slid against the cobble to open, the kanji split down the middle as the door folded. The wooden giant made a long and reluctant grinding groan as it opened. The gate was special in that it had to be opened from the inside by chakra and by several large amounts of chakra too. If you looked close enough on the old wood, then you could find multiple barrier seals that had been put into place by the Shodai Hokage. He had no clue how it worked, but that was just something he had learned when he had actually listened in the academy. "Damn, I never thought I would see this place again." Tsunade Senju remarked from under her hood as she watched the crack between the door as it slowly gave a look into the city behind it.

He looked at her on his left. "Well, get used to it, you're Hokage now," Jiraiya said behind him and to the right a bit. His voice was weary and tired, but there was almost a mocking tone to it. Tsunade sighed, looking at him and giving him a look that said, "Look what you got me into brat!" The best he could manage was a sheepish grin. A sudden stab of pain shocked his system and made him wince. Tsunade frowned, then looked over his shoulder at Jiraiya, who most likely saw his wince too. "Can we please get out of this rain, Tsunade-sama!?" Shizune asked, completely engulfed by a large cloak they had bought on their way home (it was the only size the merchant had.), but shivering like a tree in the wind. "Oink!" Tonton seemed to be pleading as well from underneath the cloak and wrapped in Shizune's arms.

The gate finished its opening with a loud final sigh, locking into place and giving a view of the village it kept behind it. "Jiraiya-sama!" Two shinobi ran out to them and on the way seemed to notice Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, too!" He recognized the voices as the two ever present gate guards — what were their names again? He didn't remember. Oh well, he didn't care right at the moment. Another shock of pain vined through his system and almost made him cry out, but he settled with biting his inner cheek and clamping a hand on his shoulder. "I've brought the next Hokage. Now, where is the closest bar?" He asked like he didn't know the answer, almost pushing Tsunade forward but then remembering who he was going to be pushing.

The question about the bar seemed to hang in the air still, though. It was a perplexing thing to him as to why Jiraiya would want to drink again after the drugs that Tsunade had slipt into his drink not even two weeks ago. The question was pushed underneath the water droplets and sent to the ground with a splat at the looks on the two's faces. "I think that's going to have to wait, Jiraiya. What is it you two?" The two looked at each other, almost telepathically arguing on who would talk. One spoke after but a moment of battle—whether from losing or just giving up, he didn't know. "The Gondaime has been chosen while you two were away." The two legendary Sannin sucked in hard takes of breath, and he was only confused. Wasn't the whole point of bringing Tsunade back was so she could be Hokage?

"Who got chosen?" Jiraiya asked, almost seeming to know the answer himself. A cold deadbeat passed, "Danzo-sama was chosen by the Fire Daimyo only a few days ago." It was almost like the two Sannin had seen a murder right in front of them by the way their skin went pale—well, paler than what the cold rain had turned it to. They didn't even look at each other, but you could see that they knew the other was aware of what the other planned to do. Tsunade marched off into the village not a second later. Shizune followed, passing him and getting on Tsunade's heels, whispering something to Tsunade as her huge cloak flapped in the wind.

Jiraiya placed a hand on his shoulder, which was luckily not his bad one. He looked to his master's face and could not find the goofy perv that he had come to see every time he looked into that face. He looked up at a Sannin now, and he knew that the situation was something grave. "Who's Danzo?" The words left his lips before he even thought of them. He had the habit of that. A deep pool of confusion and anticipation filled him. Jiraiya shook his head and crouched down to his level, reminding him just how short he was and how tall his master was. "Go find Kakashi, Naruto….He can do the same to you as he did with Sasuke after what happened to his shoulder." There was no other option but to nod his head. He felt small and like a child now, he hated it. Soon his master was standing and walking toward the village, too, cloak fluttering and billowing. Purpose was in his step, and nothing looked like it could stop him.

It was only when Naruto crossed the line into the village did his past month fall onto him. All that had happened seemed to be let off of the lift that had held it above his head and come crashing down all at once. His shoulder throbbed, and his heart beat loudly in his eardrums like a war drum. All he wanted was sleep…and ramen. He just couldn't decide what he wanted first. It seemed Ramen won out as he sat on the high seat at the bar of Ichiraku's. Ayame had immediately seen him on his entering through the hanging cloth. Within seconds he was slurping noodles into his mouth with concerned brown eyes watching him. The noodles settled inside his stomach, and the broth warmed his body, which had made him realize that he had been cold. As he was digging in Gama-chan, Ayame told him that it was on the house and asked if he wanted another. He turned it down. It was a strange thing, he knew, but he wanted to sleep, and the warmth of the broth only brought the weight of being cold onto his weary shoulders.

The warmth of the broth was gone when he stood in front of Kakashi's door. He reached up an arm and knocked, making a hollow sound on the other side of the door. A few heartbeats passed, and then a few seconds, then a whole minute. He turned his back and only then did the inside return a sound, the sound of a chain being undone from a catch. The door opened, and he was halfway back to being turned around toward the door again. "Naruto?" Kakashi's single open eye seemed to be even droopier than when he was fully awake. "Hi, sensei...I was told to show you this." It was no use dancing around why he was here. He removed his cloak—it felt like he was removing hundreds of pounds off his shoulder—and pulled his jumpsuit collar over so it showed his shoulder and neck. Kakashi's eye widened, even the other one seemed to open slightly, showing a hint of red, but for only a few moments did Kakashi show his surprise. The wooden door was pulled back, and darkness filled its place. "Come inside," Naruto reached down to get his cloak, "Forget that." Naruto paused command. He did as told and walked inside, leaving the cloak to soak the floor. The darkness of the room lasted but a moment after Kakashi closed the door, muffling the outside rain.

The single apartment light flashed on, flickered like lightning, then remained lit. "You don't like spending money do you?" Naruto asked as he looked around the apartment. There was no way a jonin wouldn't have a nice place. Well, maybe if they spent it on booze and whores and expensive stuff, but as far as vices went, Kakashi just read a smutty little book. "Being orphaned will do that to you," Kakashi said, knowing all too well that Naruto understood. It wasn't the same with him, though; not having a lot of money would've made him want to spend it if he was bloody fuckin' rich. "Stand over there and take off your jacket," Kakashi ordered as two bunshin worked on the floor with a brush and a bottle of ink. Naruto had missed their spawning, but he wasn't the most observant of people, so he didn't care if he missed something so insignificant. It took a few minutes for the circle to be completed, and Naruto felt like it was a never-ending amount of time.

While he was waiting, he looked in the mirror that was mounted on Kakashi's closet door. He looked haggard with his water matted pale-yellow hair, placid and milk-white skin, hollow and faded blue eyes with dark bags beneath them. He looked at his shoulder closely, finding the onyx black of the seal a huge contrast to his usually tan skin. The three tomoe swirled around each other in a spiral, glowing a heated red every once in awhile. The seal pulsed, shocking his body and making him cover the seal. One large hand covered his other bare shoulder, and another covered Naruto's clasped hand. Naruto's eyes shot to Kakashi's single one in the reflection of the mirror. "Kneel," Kakashi commanded, the clones gone in a fine grey cloud that lingered just long enough for you to notice they had popped.

He knelt to the ground, placing both legs flush against the wood and sitting on the balls of his feet. The clones had made a complex circular formula around where he sat. Moments after sitting down he felt the cold touch of liquid on his back and the touch of tips of two fingers. Only when Kakashi came around to do his arm and chest did he see that it was blood that was being used to mark him. The fresh wound on Kakashi's hand looked deep and bothersome, but it seemed it didn't bother the jonin. A stray droplet streaked down his back and made him shiver. Kakashi looked at his face as he looked down at his hands in his lap. He clenched and unclenched them nervously. "This might feel a bit, uh...painful." Kakashi gave him an eye smile and moved behind him again. Naruto looked at the black drying ink closely as he heard Kakashi's fast sign weaving behind him. The seal glowed and shined with a blue light that leapt off the ink and formed high towers of light. The seals moved and converged upward on his body like ink snakes, conjoining at the juncture between neck and shoulder. He could feel the chakra's start fighting and then Kakashi placed his hand over the seal between his shoulder and neck. The seals glowed even stronger and then all Naruto felt was pain. Over the blinding pain, he heard the faint murmur of, "Seal."

Then all was nothingness.

— Several Days Later —

If he had a favorite thing to do, it would be sleep—Oh!—And eat ramen, but right now, sleep was better than eating. He reluctantly returned to consciousness and regretted it the instant he could even think. Shit! His body burned and convulsed with every beat of his heart. The light that violated his eyelids was like an annoying child; insistent and determined to bother him. Even when he opened his eyes did the light persist, almost screaming at him to wake up. Shifting away so that his back was blocking the light from the window, he sighed. The lights streamed long fingers into his room and wrapped around his body and created a shadow of his idle form on his wooden floor, stretched to make him seem larger than he actually was. The thin tendrils moved the darkness away to show him his room.

His mind did not remember what had happened after Kakashi's, but it was pretty easy to guess that he had been brought here after the sealing. He laid like that for a while, watching as the shadow became longer and longer until it reached to shadows on the other side of his room. Another shadow overtook his own, stretching across his floor like a giant monster. Despite wanting to ignore whoever it was, his curiosity got to him. He turned back to his window and shielded his eyes. Squinting, he was able to make out the face of his teacher, whose face was framed by bright spikes of light that made his already spiky bangs even more ridiculous. Despite the brightness around him, Jiraiya did not look happy. In fact, he looked angry, almost to the point of fury. "What?" Naruto asked, pushing off his bed with a forearm, still squinting and trying to find the right angle to put his hand for maximum blockage of those damned rays of light! A cloud seemed to take pity on his plight and luckily this one hadn't pissed all its rain away during the rain. The fat grey cloud created a perfect cover over the sun, giving his eyes a much-needed rest from the light. He finally dropped down his arm and un-squinted his eyes. Adjusting to the little amount of light.

Jiraiya shrugged, "Don't worry about it, brat." Jiraiya stepped from the outside rooftop and onto his bed, making it bounce and creak and squeal from the added weight. Jiraiya stepped over Naruto and onto the hard wooden floor, creating a groaning noise of protest from the floor boards. Naruto grunted and turned to face Jiraiya again, "Well, what about Tsunade? Is she Hokage now?" Jiraiya face turned solemn and withdrawn, making Naruto frown. "No, she isn't," It was a clipped reply and once it was said, Naruto couldn't get the sound of how devastated his master sounded out of his mind. Naruto sat up fully and turned, placing his bare feet against the rough and cold floorboards. "Oh...well, who is Danzo anyway?" Naruto asked, looking his master straight in the eye, his feelings calm. Something had changed in Naruto Uzumaki over the past few weeks. It was small, but for Jiraiya...

It was like looking into the eyes of the Yondaime Hokage himself.

Jiraiya shifted, "What happened to you, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked, a bit uncomfortable about his students sudden draw to intensity and maturity. The swallowing seas were blocked when Naruto blinked, but reappeared moments later, confused. Naruto shrugged, "I don't know, but...I guess I haven't had time to goof off lately." Naruto shrugged his shoulders then placed a hand on his chin, thinking. Jiraiya shook his head, "No...I think you grew up a little." He should've said a lot, but it didn't come out like that for some reason. Naruto hummed, "I think I've realized that I can't be a kid forever when the old man died." Naruto said as he lowered his hand from his chin, saddened by the memory. "Fighting Gaara helped too, and maybe even fighting Neji," Naruto added after he shook his head. Jiraiya nodded slowly, "What about fighting Orochimaru?" Twice. Jiraiya thought in astonishment. Not many shinobi could live up to that feat. Naruto visibly cringed, unconsciously placing a hand over the seal. "I don't know...Do you think this seal had anything to do with me changing?" Naruto queried, ignoring his question and looking at him with big pools of blue.

"No," Yes. Naruto nodded, albeit slowly—almost not believing him. "So, what's happened since i've been out?" He asked, changing the subject. Jiraiya sighed like all the event had come back to him like a flood, "Not much, but I have a feeling that after today a lot will change." Naruto stood then, "My team?" He asked as he walked past Jiraiya and to his closet. Jiraiya turned his body as his eyes watched his student the whole time. "Kakashi has been busy—with what? I don't know." He shrugged, "The Uchiha is in the hospital still, along with the girl, who's barely left his side." Naruto nodded, knowing his team's usual behavior. Jiraiya could see the decision the boy made up in his mind. Just then he remembered something."Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention—" Naruto's very, very loud groan literally stopped his sentence. "Where's my jumpsuit!?" Yes, a singular jumpsuit. Could you imagine wearing the same thing day in day out? Well, Naruto did—had. Jiraiya chuckled and rubbed his nose with his thumb, "Kakashi decided to do you a favor." He had done it in truth, but why not lie and blame it on someone else when it could turn out to be beneficial in the end? You know, just in case it all turned out well and not the complete opposite. Jiraiya definitely didn't blame Kakashi to save his own skin. Definitely.

Naruto was rolling on the floor crying when Jiraiya decided to stop the poor boy's grieving. "Listen, i'll buy you new clothes, so stop being a child." Naruto spring up to his feet, fire in his eyes and a clenched fist raised up in a vow of vengeance. "No! I need my jumpsuit back!" Jiraiya internally chuckled, having already burned the abomination. On the outside, though, he shrugged, "At least for now you can find something else to wear." He hoped this worked. If not, well, he hoped Kakashi gave as little shits as he showed; because Naruto had a reason to actually hate his other teacher now. Naruto relaxed somewhat, frowned, and glared at the floor like it was Kakashi himself, then nodded after he finished. "Fine," He agreed with a pout.

The two were walking around the village next, looking for a place to buy new clothes. Naruto was basically in his pajamas; a way too big black shirt and grey sweatpants. Today Konoha held a sodden and sober mood, but some held expressions of hope for the new Hokage. It seemed the newly elected Kage was either hated or loved, there seemed to be no in between. "When will I get to see the Hokage?" Naruto asked, looking away from a group who chatted enthusiastically about Danzo. Jiraiya frowned, Hopefully not very soon. "At the inauguration ceremony with everyone else." A foreboding and haunting feeling formed in Jiraiya's stomach. A feeling that knew Danzo wasn't going to treat Naruto the same as everyone else. He placed a hand on his student's shoulder, stopping the boy. To Naruto, it was just a touch that told him they had arrived, but to Jiraiya, it was a protective reassurance that Naruto couldn't be taken away from him that easily. He was a Sannin after all. "I'll buy your clothes, pick anything you want—except something orange!" Naruto groaned and walked into the store, his shoulders slumped. Jiraiya watched the sulking Jinchuuriki go, not truly knowing what was going to happen to him, but knowing that with Danzo in power, something would eventually happen.

Naruto scanned the shop with an astonished expression, a little overwhelmed by everything the place had to offer. Ninja weapons and clothing lined every wall and were laid out on shelves and hung up on racks for all to see. There was some expensive shit here, too. Naruto turned and looked at his perverted sensei as he walked in after him, "What's the catch?" He asked with a suspicious glare. Jiraiya looked momentarily surprised, but then remembered he had sort of made himself out as a cheapskate with stealing Naruto's money before. Jiraiya waved his hand in dismissal of the accusation, embarrassed. "Nothing, nothing." He turned suddenly sober, a flustered grin finding its way onto his face. "Listen, I think we got on the wrong foot on the whole money subject. I'm not that greedy." Naruto looked skeptical, turning around and murmuring a mocking, "Riiiiight." Jiraiya chuckled, "I'll make it up to you?" He hinted lamely, embarrassed by Naruto's lazy dismissal of the subject. Naruto didn't answer; instead, he walked farther into the shop and started to go through all the clothes. Jiraiya sighed. Why were kids so annoying?

After some time, Naruto was able to suit himself to some new clothes. He fitted himself with a black long sleeved shirt with a wide collar that showed his collar bones. Over that he wore a light, almost white-grey jacket with short sleeves that only went to the elbow, meaning the black shirt covered his forearms and almost his hands. On the sleeves and shoulders of the jacket were navy blue stripes that ran the length of them and on the back was the red swirl that almost every Konoha ninja wore. For pants, he settled with a deep grey pair of baggy pants that were ended short by white bandages that went from the tops of his black sandals all the way up almost the entirety of his shins. The blue cloth of his headband was replaced with a black one, and the headgear was tied loosely around his neck, covering some of his collar bones.

Jiraiya stood back and had a shit-eating grin on his face, nodding to himself in some sort of satisfaction, "Well, I gotta say, kid; Never thought you had it in you." Naruto gave him a confused expression from the reflection of the mirror he was looking in, "Never have what?" He asked, severely lost. Jiraiya laughed, slapping a hand on his back a little too roughly for his taste, "The potential to be a lady killer." Realization dawned on him, and he blushed like the kid he was, "B-but I didn't do anything but change clothes!?" He was confused. "The clothes make the man, my student." Jiraiya's grin got even bigger, if that was possible, "It helps that you've been growing your hair out." Jiraiya pointed out, giving his back another slap and ruffling the aforementioned head of hair. It was getting long, longer that he usually let it get. "I haven't had time to cut it." Naruto protested, shrinking away from the boisterous pervert. "Well don't, brat. It's a known fact that women like long hair." As if to prove his very questionable point, he shook his head to move his long hair like a tail of an animal. Naruto shivered. He hoped someone told him to stop before he ever got his hair that long; if he ever became a delusional pervert obsessed with boobs and ass.

"Let's get going, kid."

After paying, the two walked the streets again. Jiraiya hadn't even blinked at the amount that would've made a huge dent in Naruto's wallet. High-class gear would do that. "What now?" Naruto asked, looking up at the recovering sky. The large fat grey clouds had withered down into pale grey pieces of cotton. A pale blue was finally able to be seen through the thinner clouds and the sun's light clawed it was through to create long tendrils of light that sprayed itself all over. "Training," Jiraiya said, looking around and grinning at all the looks Naruto was getting. The boy was oblivious as he looked at the sky. He not even watching where he's going, but he's moving as if he is. Was Naruto a sensory-type? Jiraiya filed the information away for later, not busying himself with the thought. Naruto looked down from the sky and looked at him with a grin, "Sweat! What are you going to teach me next!? If it's like the Rasengan, then i'm game!" Jiraiya laughed, glad Naruto was excited to learn. "No, not really, but it's something." His smile faded as he looked his student in those big blue eyes, "On top of that, I want to teach you to control that seal if it ever gets out of control." Naruto nodded at Jiraiya's seriousness, reaching up and covering the place with his hand, which was barely concealed by his headband and shirt.

The two went to the same training ground Naruto became a genin on. Naruto looked around the area with a nostalgic feeling in his stomach. "Now, I wanted to see if we could come up with a way to increase your learning ability, but reduce the time it takes for you to learn new things." The sky was almost clear and the sun was caressing them with warm rays of light. "Any ideas?" Naruto asked as he laid down on the grass to look at the sky, hands behind his head as a pillow. Jiraiya made a humming sound deep in his throat. "The only thing I can think of is if there was some way for us to slow time." Naruto chuckled, "Yeah, right, let's stop time itself." Naruto said sarcastically, he suddenly shouted, "Hey! That cloud looks like a Kage Bunshin!" He pointed at the cloud, and Jiraiya looked up what would have to be a very specific cloud. He looked at it then back at his student, a look on his face. "Yeah, one being dispersed." All clouds nearly looked like that, though. "No, you can see an arm and a bit of the head." He turned his head a bit like the new angle would help his point. Jiraiya decided to let his student look at the clouds more as he racked his brain for a solution to their problem. Kage Bunshin…"Naruto, you beautiful genius!" An ear to ear grin nearly split his face in half.

Naruto was confused but said nothing. Jiraiya laughed out loud like he had just won a date with a hot chick. "Don't you get it, kid!? Kage Bunshin!" Naruto sat up, frowning. "The only thing I see the Kage Bunshin being useful in that regard was to transfer the memories, but I don't see how something so simple could…" It seemed the dots were connected. Naruto shot to his feet, "No way!" Jiraiya nodded enthusiastically. "See?" Naruto laughed, "I guess I didn't realize that something I had known all along could be used like this!" He had first found out about the Kage Bunshin memory transfer in his fight with Mizuki. It was the very first time he had been bombarded with that many memories that he almost passed out from the overload. Now, he had gotten so used to it he didn't even think about it, just letting the memories be filed away. "With your amount of chakra and endurance, this training could times your training by the hundreds." You could see all the ideas turning around in the Old Sannin's mind. Jiraiya nodded to himself, "I can also see to that certain problem you have." Jiraiya said, placing a hand on his chin. Naruto blinked, narrowing his eyes. "And what would that be?" He asked, almost not wanting to know the answer. Jiraiya shook his head, "Just a little bit of that stupidity."

"Hey!"

— Hours Later —

The area around the Hokage tower was filled, literally. There were no spots to get close to the tower. The roads and roofs were flooded by people. The walls held special seats for shinobi who decided to stick out from the buildings horizontally. Naruto looked over the crowd from a spot on a rooftop, his spot was barely suitable for why he was here. He had insisted that he saw Danzo himself. He didn't want to stop training, but he needed to see the man who was going to be his Hokage. The crowd erupted in a sudden flux of noise, and Naruto strained his eyes to look the distance from his spot to the top of the tower. He was disappointed to see only a blur of color, one that gave no real definitive features. "Well?" Jiraiya asked, looking down at him with stony eyes. "I couldn't see him," Naruto said, looking at the shingles underneath his feet. Jiraiya nodded, "It's not every day a new Hokage comes into office." Jiraiya unfolded his arms, placing them at his sides. He bit his lower lip, "I'm sure you will meet him soon enough." Jiraiya reassured, placing a hand on his shoulder. Naruto nodded as he looked on at the place where the new Hokage was being inaugurated. Danzo was saying something, but it was indistinguishable from here. "Come, Naruto. We need to get back to training."

I aim for a more mature Naruto shaped by everything happening to him, not one who stays almost the exact same throughout the story. He will be more mature than in canon because I need something to work with. The whole growing up in the past two weeks is just to show how much all the event during the chunnin exam affected Naruto. Do you think you would remain as immature as Naruto did if you faced Orochimaru? I wouldn't, I'd definitely have changed, albeit maybe a little.

Let's not forget Gaara...*shakes head*

Anyway, don't forget to review!