I do not own Naruto or anything related to its universe.

A young boy, with a head full of spiky, red hair ran, in the low lying districts of Konohagakure no Sato. His t-shirt was torn at multiple places and his normally mischievous green eyes were leaking tears.

Eight-year-old Naruto ran across the village as some of the villagers ran behind him. It was the second time this was happening. Ever since he had walked out of the village orphanage, his birthday was celebrated in this manner. With villagers running behind him, baying for his blood. It was the 10th of October, his birthday, the day the Yondaime Hokage had died, and the Kyūbi had been unleashed on the village, killing a lot of its shinobi. Keeping these thoughts at the furthest reaches of his mind he ran, something he was good at, as he was naturally very fast and had a lot of stamina.

Naruto looked behind to see a faint outline of the villagers, holding various weapons. Pitchforks, axes, clubs, all kinds of weapons had been taken out to kill the demon, though his young mind could not understand why he was called so. The glares, the murmurs, the hate-filled expression, especially from the pink-haired banshee named Mebuki, had told him that he did not belong here.

Naruto looked forward to see that he had arrived at a dead-end. The wall was too big to jump across and so were the walls on the other sides. The only way left was back, and he was not going back no matter what. He prayed for some guardian angel to come and internally scoffed at himself for his own weakness. If he was like Sasuke Uchiha, then he might have known some cool jutsu to scare off the villagers, but he didn't.

"So you thought you could run away from us, boy." The leader spoke.

Naruto remembered his face very clearly. A fat man with a bald head and side-burns, he looked ugly but held a lot of power in the lower levels of the villages. He was the one person who organized these huntings and he had been waiting to hit him for 2 years and this was the first time he had been cornered.

The man raised his pitchfork, "Now die your demon." The man shouted, spittle from his mouth landing on Naruto's face.

Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the Shinigami to accept him into his realms, so he could meet his parents. He waited for one second, then for another, then again for another and then he finally opened his eyes. He saw an ANBU member, yes he knew what ANBU was, after all, he was a shinobi-in-training, with spiky silver hair. His hand was in the leader's chest and the leader regurgitated blood. He smelled the distinct smell of urine as the men peed on their spots and ran away, dropping their weapons on the ground. The ANBU member slid his hand, dropped the lifeless body of the man on the ground and turned towards his. He could not see his face, it was after all covered by a mask, but the paint was that of a dog. Their eyes met and he found a warm feeling in those eyes, it was as if he had seen them before.

Inu knelt beside the boy and his hand got coated in green chakra. He passed his hand over Naruto's body, which slowly mended all the little cuts and scrapes, but for the bigger ones, he would have to go to the hospital.

"Thank you, Inu-san," Naruto said.

"No problem, kid," Inu said, ruffling Naruto's hair. His other hand went towards his pouch and he took out a scroll. He opened the scroll, placed his dominant hand over it and made the seal of confrontation with his non-dominant hand. After a poof and some smoke later he handed the young boy new clothes and told him that they were from the Hokage.

Naruto stared at the scroll in amazement and couldn't help but ask. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, this. It's called sealing and is a ninja art. This was one of the basic sealings, all Chūnin level and higher know how to do." Inu explained. A bright shine took on those green eyes as Naruto stared at the scroll.

"That is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Unfortunately I have to leave but do get those wounds checked at the hospital and I look forward to seeing you in those new clothes tomorrow Naruto," Inu said.

"You got it Inu-san!" Naruto said vigorously.

Inu smiled and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"That is so cool!" Naruto said again. He walked towards his apartment, not going to the hospital as Inu had told him too because even the hospital guys didn't like him and anyways he healed extremely fast.

Inu stepped into the Hokage's office. The office was oval in shape with a desk on the far side, near the windows. The Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, surveyed the village through the window, smoking his pipe.

"Inu come here," Hiruzen said.

"Everyone leave," Inu spoke. His rank as the ANBU captain ensured that nobody was there, plus he could sense the chakra's leave.

"Was the really necessary Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked.

Kakashi didn't answer.

Hiruzen sighed and got straight to the point, "I want you to become a Joūnin."

Kakashi remained mute.

Hiruzen sighed again. "Why are you so tough Kakashi. I want to hear your views on this matter?" Hiruzen asked.

"It is an excellent choice Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, after all, he had no post to question the Hokage.

"I wonder what Rin will think. To have you become such an emotionless person, though you were already quite reserved from the beginning." Hiruzen said. "Do you want to do something else, Kakashi. You have full permission to speak and question."

"There has been news of an uprising in Kirigakure no Sato. A resistance has been developed to question the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. Let me go there and get a feel of the situation, Hokage-sama." Kakashi asked him.

"Fine. But you are not going alone. Another shinobi will be going with you." Hiruzen said.

Kakashi only hoped it was not a green, spandex-clad Jōunin who would be going with him.

"Come tomorrow at 12," Hiruzen said. "By the way, did Naruto like his new clothes?"

"I guess we both will find out tomorrow for sure," Kakashi said.

The next day, Naruto got out of his apartment in his new dress. The packet contained a green shirt, one which went well with his eyes, white calf-length pants and a black jacket with orange sides and collars. With it were two black shinobi sandals and two orange armbands. All-in-all he very much liked the gift. He ran to the academy, so he could reach on time, and on the way even bumped into two or more people. He reached calls to see that Iruka-sensei had not arrived, but every seat in the class had been full, except for the one with the girl he had saved on the first day of class, two years ago. Hinata Hyūga.

The girl belonged to the prestigious Hyūga clan and was sometimes also known as the 'Princess of Konohagakure'. She wore her usual pink dress with a white shirt underneath it and black shinobi sandals with calf-length stockings. Her navy hair had been neatly arranged and her white pupil less eyes seemed to pierce through everything. Even then she had a very sweet and shy disposition, but it would not fool anyone, after all, she had proved herself, when she and approached the boys who had hurt her and had made quick work of them. It was scary seeing her like that, with her eyes hardened and her veins bulging.

Naruto quickly walked towards her and sat down beside her. "Hey, Hinata-chan." He greeted her. To his horror, Hinata had grown red. Immediately thinking that she had gotten a bit ill, he asked, "Are you ill Hinata-chan?"

"N..No, Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly.

"Oh! Okay." He exclaimed, scratching the back of his head. "You were all red so I thought you had gotten ill." He explained. Then he heard the door slide. Naruto looked towards the door to see a new teacher coming in. He had blue hair and blue eyes and wore the normal Chūnin uniform.

"Hey, where is Iruka-sensei?" Kiba asked.

"Iruka-sensei has taken leave. For this week, I'll be your teacher." The teacher said. "Now, my name is Sabiru, and this week, we will be studying about the Nidaime Hokage, but before that, I'll have to take your attendance."

As soon as he said attendance the door slid open once again, but this time came in Sasuke Uchiha or Sasuke-teme, as he liked to call him. The boy wore his trademark high-collar shirt and black pants with blue shinobi sandals.

"Ah, Sasuke-san, please come in," Sabiru said.

"Why does the teacher even have suck to the teme," Naruto grumbled, but the teacher must have heard him when he told him to leave the class. Naruto grumbled again and left the class. After standing in front of the class for thirty minutes he got bored, so he went to Hokage-Jiji to take a book on sealing.

Naruto stood behind the gate to Jiji's office when a voice called out from inside. "Come in Naruto." It never amazed him how Jiji could tell that he was there but it was always great and even he wanted to learn it.

Naruto walked inside to see the Hokage smoking his pipe, a stack of papers on his desk. "Why aren't you in class Naruto?" Hiruzen asked.

"It was that new baka-sensei. Sarubi or something is his name. He threw me out of the class." Naruto said indignantly.

"And why did he do it?" Hiruzen asked. Naruto mumbled something. "I didn't hear you correctly."

"BecauseItoldhimthathewassuckinguptoSasuke-teme." Naruto rushed.

"So the teacher didn't kick you out for no reason," Hiruzen said.

"Ah-anyways Jiji," Naruto said trying to change the topic, "I wanted a book on sealing," Naruto said.

Hiruzen feared the worst, thinking that Naruto somehow knew about the Kyūbi. "And why is that?"

"You used sealing to send me these clothes yesterday and it was very interesting, so I meant to ask if I could get a book on it," Naruto said softly.

"I don't discourage people from learning new arts, but Fūinjutsu is difficult my boy," Hiruzen said.

"Fūinjutsu?" Naruto said.

Hiruzen allowed a small smile to grace his lips. "The technical name of the sealing arts."

"Oh," Naruto said, giving an all-knowledgeable nod. "Ok. I'll learn it and then you'll see. I will be the next Fūinjutsu master of Konoha." He said. "Along with being Hokage of course."

Hiruzen laughed. "Okay, my boy. He walked up and took out a book from his personal library and handed it to him. "This is a book for beginners. I want you to carefully understand it and follow the precautions. The materials will be delivered on your bed by the time classes end. I hope you find it interesting." He said. "Also, Bear," An ANBU with a bear mask and brown hair dropped from above, "get Naruto inside and make sure the teacher knows my displeasure."

"Thank you Hokage-Jiji," Naruto said as he went out, the ANBU member tailing him.

An hour later, Kakashi walked in the room and Hiruzen gave the order for every ANBU to leave the room. "You can take off your mask, Kakashi," Hiruzen said.

Kakashi took off the porcelain mask and stared at the Hokage. Just then someone else entered the Hokage's office. He looked back to see Yūsei Hyūga enter the office.

"Yūsei will be going with you Kakashi," Hiruzen said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said.

"Kakashi and Yūsei Hyūga, both of you will be going on a reconnaissance mission to Kirigakure no Sato. You are to find out about the rebellion brewing over there and why it is happening and are to send weekly reports." Hiruzen said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Both of them said together.

"Good you may leave," Hiruzen said. The two shinobi left the room quickly to gather their belongings for their trip to Kirigakure.

Naruto sat on Yondaime's Hokage's head on the great stone faces.

As promised by Jiji he had received his material on top of his bed. A stylus, half-a-dozen pot of ink and numerous empty practice scrolls.

He had his beginners Fūinjutsu book open on his lap as he soaked in the knowledge. At first, it was the basics such as how to hold the stylus and stuff. Next were the precautions and the theory went on and on. Then came the seals.

To his surprise, he found it easy to study the seals. It seemed as though he had been doing it since birth. "Awww man. And Jiji said it was tough." Naruto said aloud. He stood up and packed his stuff in his bag. "Now that I am here let's have some fun." He looked at the forest behind him. Now that is a good place to start, he thought. He got up and walked towards the forest, but tripped on his shoelaces and scratched his knee. "Aww, man. Why does this have to happen to me." Naruto said aloud. It'll heal soon, he thought. He wiped some of the blood from his knee on his hand when he bumped into something and fell down.

"This is getting damn annoying," Naruto shouted. He looked up to see…. nothing. "Huh. What is this." He moved his hand forward and touched the air in front of him, only to feel an invisible barrier, which dissolved in front of him. A major part of the forest vanished revealing an old shrine.

It was made entirely of wood with a faded sign that all Chūnin and Jōnin wore on their flak jacket. In fact, even all of his clothes had it. The red spiral. He walked atop the stairs and entered the shrine. At the centre of the shrine was a podium of sorts. Beneath three connected red spirals hung several masks and underneath it was painted with black flames.

He had the urge to walk near the podium, but instead, he got up and ran away from the shrine. Tomorrow he would ask the teacher about the red spiral and he hoped to get an answer tomorrow.

AN: I had a previous Naruto story, but due to not being happy with it I removed it from the website. It was in ints early stages so it was nothing major.

This story is different and is being written with a different plan in mind. Just to inform you, that there will be some changes to Kishimoto's Naruto. This is AU. I hope you get ready for a different Naruto here.

Just so the readers get a better understanding of how the characters look, I'll be posting character renders on Deviantart, under the same name.

Be sure to check it out.

Signing Off- Airewind.