Rebirth

of the

Dragon.

Naruto woke up and looked around. He saw he was outside a grand and ancient looking palace. He also looked around behind him and saw he was on some strange disk with the symbol of a yin-yang styled with dragons.

"How did I get here?" He asked as he rubbed his head. Slowly, he remembered. He had been beaten and chased out from the small training ground near the fenced off forest. He'd run into the forest to escape the mob and had to run, once again, for his life as giant bugs and tiger chased him around.

He had just escaped an especially persistent tiger when he tripped on something. He looked at what he'd tripped on and saw that it was a strange disk with the image of two dragons circling each other. He'd walked over to it and stepped on it as he studied it. It was then that a bright, green, glow emitted from the disk and…then he blacked out.

"It must have brought me here." Naruto observed. He decided to head towards the palace to see if anyone could help him get back home. He didn't know if the disk would work two way and didn't want to get anymore lost than he already was.

When Naruto made his way into the palace, he found that it was empty. He also found rooms filled with dusty piles of gold, jewels, artworks, and…NINJA SCROLLS! He rushed to look at them, but was zapped by a strange energy when he touched one of them. Confused, he tried again…only to get zapped back even farther than before.

Deciding to give up on the scrolls for now, he went on with exploring the palace.

He finally found a large throne room. He saw a rather imposing looking throne that seemed to be made to look like it was sitting inside the mouth of a rather large, jade, dragon.

As Naruto approached the throne, he saw a small pedestal next to it. On the pedestal, was a small wooden box that had a seal with the words "dragon blood" on it. Naruto was puzzled by this, but preceded. When he got to the throne, he sat down in it. It was very comfortable, and very well built. It must have been sitting here for ages and was still in good condition.

Just as Naruto was about to get up, a small ball of green fire floated down from high above the throne room and floated just before Naruto.

The fire flared up, causing Naruto to shy back a bit, and reformed into the ghostly image of a young man with black hair, orange-slitted eyes, and pale skin. He was wearing a cool looking forest green armor.

"Hello, little one." The young man said in a calm voice.

"W-Who are you?" Naruto asked. He was scared of the fact this guy looked like a ghost.

"I am the former owner of this castle. Master of darkness, greatest martial artist ever, and keeper of balance, Chase Young." The young man said with a bow.

"Naruto, still only being 9 years old, was wary of a man who was a master of darkness. "So…are you evil?"

Chase smirked. "Yes…and at the same time, no. I am a master of darkness. Darkness is in it self not evil. After all, an evil man can hide in deep darkness just as fully as in blinding light. Think on this young one, if a group of heroes goes off and defeats a villain, then what do they do? They have no one to fight, so they get sloppy and complacent. They also, since people would reward them and give them things for stopping the 'evil one', would grow accustomed to it and think that everyone owes them the same service forever. This thinking causes them to become greedy and eventually turn evil. Without an established focus for hate and darkness to set their sights on, heroes can easily become villains worse than the villains they defeated before."

Naruto was slightly confused, but got the gist of it. "I see…I guess. So, what do you want?"

Chase smiled. "I want you…to take my place."

Narutos' mouth hung open. "W-W-What! Why! I'm not master of darkness and all those other thing!"

Chase silenced Naruto with a finger on his lips. "Not 'YET' you're not. But I'll give you all my knowledge, powers, weapons, and this palace if you agree."

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked.

Chase sighed. "My time in this world ended long ago. Since I cannot play a part in the world of the living, I'm giving my power to someone who can. I sense a good sense of right and wrong in you. As a ninja, you must perform acts of evil for the greater good and that helps keep balance. I have sensed that something is coming that could destroy the world. I'm doing this so that balance will be kept and…you remind me of myself when I was young. I always tried hard and never wanted anything other than recognition that I was there and somebody worth knowing and remembering."

Naruto smiled. "Okay, then I'll do it Chase-sensei!" Naruto said with a smile.

Chase returned the smile. "Very well. Goodbye Naruto, I hope we meet again…in another life. For I know we shall not in this one."

With that, Chase changed back into a ball of green flame and shot at Naruto. It enveloped him and he cried out as his body began to change. His hair began to change into streaks of blonde and black. His eyes became deep-burnt orange. His body became more muscled and most of his baby fat melted away. His fingernails became claw-like, though still short. He also grew an inch or two. His teeth grew small fangs and his ears became pointed.

His clothes changed to look like a smaller version of what Chase wore, armor and all.

When the physical transformation was done, the mental changes occurred. Naruto saw all the knowledge of Case' fighting style and weapons mastery. He also saw that, unlike Chase, he could change into a half-dragon without being dependant on the lao-mang-long soup. He also learned about the demon within him as his memories and new perceptive nature took root. He scowled at the memories of the villagers but smiled as he remembered the Hokage and his kindness towards him.

As Naruto stood, he walked over to the pedestal he'd seen before, bit his lip until blood came out and touched his right thumb to it. He then smeared the blood across the seal on the box and it clicked a few times before opening.

A small mask with a witch-like face came out and slowly, a ghostly body with two arms, a tail, and three tentacle-like pieces of hair floated behind it.

The little mask looked around before setting its eyes on Naruto. "Who are you?" It asked in its witch-like voice.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki Young. Heir of Chase young and new master of darkness and the Haelin side. It is good to meet you, Haelin witch Wuya." Naruto said as he bowed.

The little mask took up a smirking face and bowed in return. A moment later, purplish flames erupted around the mask and in its' floating place was a tall, curvaceous, well-endowed, red haired, tanned skin woman. She took off the witch mask and Naruto was amazed at her green eyes and red lips. Her pointed ears twitched slightly and she smiled at him.

"Greetings master Naruto. I look forward to working with you." Then she stretched, which had Naruto dazed a little as he looked at her. She was wearing a very formfitting black gown in a Chinese style and it ender at her knees, showing off her shapely legs.

She then looked at Naruto, smirked when she saw his reaction to her, and then spoke. "So, what are we going to do now?" She asked.

Naruto thought for a moment. Then he looked at her with calm, yet determined eyes. His gaze made Wuya blush slightly. "I need you to train me in combat and other things as I try and master the skills Chase left for me. We have four years before the gennin exam my age group is supposed to graduate from. By that time, I want t be at least high chunnin to low jounin in strength."

Wuya nodded. "Anything you want to do before we start?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, I want you to go and see the Hokage. Tell him…."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Hokage was working on his accursed paperwork and wondering if Naruto was okay. He hadn't seen or heard anything about the boy for a long while now.

Before he could contemplate this further, a flame of green fire shot up in his office. The Anbu in the room appeared next to the Hokage and took up defensive stance. When the fire died down, a woman with unusual clothes and fire red hair was standing before them.

"Who are you?" One of the Anbu demanded.

"How rude." Wuya said before she flicked he hand in a dismissive gesture and the Anbu was sent crashing into the wall.

The other Anbu stayed by the Hokage.

"Please, whoever you are, why are you here?" The old man asked.

Wuya smiled and clasped her hands behind her back. "I am Wuya. I am a Haelin witch and warrior. I am here to tell you that, due to the villagers of this village, Naruto was nearly killed by them, and the creatures of the forest of death."

The Hokage paled slightly and then his face turned to anger. He looked at Wuya and asked softly. "Is he alright?"

Wuya nodded. "He is, but while running from them, he stumbled upon an ancient training ground used by the ancient Haelin warriors. The spirits of the area have deemed him worthy to learn their ways and return in four years for the gennin exam. Naruto wishes to learn as much as possible and be ready to be a real ninja when he returns." Wuya looked serious for a moment. "He is much smarter than he lets on. That mask of constant happiness keeps people from finding that out. He knows about the fox as well as why you never told him of it." Everyone in the room froze. He knew!

The old man sighed. "Very well, but please tell him I'm sorry and I look forward to seeing him again. I know I should demand for his return, but he'd just get beaten and mistreated when I wasn't looking." He then looked into Wuyas' eyes. "Please, take care of him." The old man requested. Wuya could see the true concern and love the old man had for Naruto. "I will." Then, in another blaze of fire, she vanished.

"Was that wise, Hokage-sama?" The only still standing Anbu asked.

"For Naruto, yes. For the village…maybe not. But we owe Naruto the chance to be happy and strong after all that the village has done to him.

The Anbu nodded. He may not especially like Naruto, but he didn't hate him either.

Time would tell if Naruto came back a proud ninja of the Leaf, or its' destroyer.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As Naruto awakens for his second year of training, he sighs and stretches.

He feels his muscles tighten and then relax.

He reflects on his first year of training with Wuya.

She taught him about various fighting styles and strategy, along with how to properly call on and control his chakra.

Naruto also looked into the vault of ninja scroll, which he could now have access to, and learned leaf balancing, tree walking, water walking, kunai balancing, and various combinations of the three. Wuya had, as his sensei and friend, forbid him from learning jutsu for another year because he needed firm control over it due to the fox messing with his control. He had agreed and worked tirelessly on it. He also began to study seals. He wouldn't practice them, but studied them furiously. He wanted to find a way to either remove the fox, absorb it completely, or a variation of the two.

Naruto was woken from his memories when he heard a knock on his large bedroom door. He had inherited all of Chase's belongings, including his room, as well as all his private notes on his personal fighting style and how he tweaked it with his own self-invented moves.

Naruto called a "come in!" and the door opened to reveal Wuya in her usual style of dress.

"Good morning Naruto. Are you ready for your first day of jutsu and transformation training?" She asked with a smile. Naruto gathered from the info he'd absorbed from Chase's passing that, without the lao-mang-long soup, he couldn't take his half-dragon form until his body had settled into it's changes and his chi/chakra/life energy was up to handling the drastic physical changes.

"You bet Wuya!" Naruto said excitedly. He hopped out of his large bed and walked towards his own private bathroom. He removed his black pajamas and took a relaxing bath and rinse before drying off his body and hair and walking to his closet, it was two way and air tight so it connected with his room and the bathroom without risk of water vapor getting on the clothes and mildewing, and putting on his black shirt, pants, gloves, and socks. He walked out of his bathroom and into his bedroom towards a single group of shelves that held his armor. It was very advanced as far as normal armor was concerned. It would grow and mold to him as he aged, as well as mold to any additional armor or weapons he had at the time. Naruto, after putting on the armor, strapped Chase's extending dual-blade spear to the area on his belt below the small of his back, and pulled back his shoulder-length black and blonde streaked hair into a low ponytail that tied off at the base of his neck.

He also put on a new addition to his armor. It was a metal facemask that tied to his face with cloth wraps around his head, below his ponytail. It was the same forest green with black and red patterns that adorned the rest of his armor.

As Naruto left his room, he walked down the halls of his palace and into the vault that held the vast array of ninja scrolls. He found Wuya there with four large scrolls about three feet in length when rolled up. She smiled at him.

"Well, here you go Naruto, you can practice only these scrolls on basic jutsu. Once you've mastered them I'll select a few more. I don't want you to learn a jutsu and move on. You need to master it and then proceed. A mastered jutsu is much stronger than a learned one."

Naruto nodded. "I understand Wuya-sensei." He then picked up the four scroll and held them in his arms before bowing slightly to Wuya and walking out of the vault and towards the training field in one of the palace's courtyards.

Wuya smiled as she watched Naruto leave. When they weren't training, they were very good friends. But, once training began, Naruto regarded her as sensei and remained professional about their training and her criticism about his current skills.

Naruto found that the four scrolls contained instructions for clone jutsus of various elements, transformation, and replacement. The second scroll contained basic jutsu in fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning. They were around gennin level in skill and would distract or partially stun chunnin and jounin level ninja. The third scroll contained basic elemental chakra manipulation. The final scroll contained various sword styles and weapons tactics.

Naruto decided to start with the clone scroll. He was particularly delighted with the shadow clone jutsu and the information on its' abilities. He experimented and found that he could create around sixty clones in one go. He set them to learning and perfecting the clone jutsus and the other two jutsu. He could perform all of them by the end of the day, but didn't move on since he wanted to master each jutsu like Wuya instructed him to.

He spent the next month practicing, with the aid of shadow clones, until he could perform all of them with either single hand-signs or without any at all.

When that was done to his satisfaction, he moved onto the low level elemental jutsu. Using the clones like before, he had them mastered just like the last set within three months.

It went like this for rest of the year. It took him four months to master the third scroll to a satisfactory extent. A side effect of the Kyuubi being sealed into him and absorbing Chase's power and title gave him access to all elemental chakra affinities. His wind chakra was strongest, but he could use all of them.

He spent three months studying weapons styles and found sword styles were his forte. He spent the last month training fully in his transformed state. It was very hard when he first attempted it, Wuya was standing by if something went wrong, but he'd managed to do it. The results were surprising.

Naruto took the form of a half dragon with blood red scales, a long, spade bladed tail, sharp claws on his hands and feet, a long, strong body with a neck half as long as the body, and two horned that went straight back but had two smaller horns come out from the top middle and curve forward. His eyes were deep red and he had two, long catfish-like whiskers that flowed in the breeze before falling to hang down about half of his neck length. His tongue was forked and he had a row of sharp, black spines going down his back. All his armor reshaped itself into a metal necklace stuck at the base of his neck, and a sort of Egyptian-like kilt that covered his thighs but allowed his tail freedom from an opening in the back.

Naruto was disoriented at first, but then got his thoughts together and observed himself. He was well muscled, he was at least ten feet tall, and he felt…completely natural in this state as if he were in his original body. He reached back and grabbed his dragon fang and found that it too had grown with him and he was able to use it just as he did before.

Wuya was impressed. Even Chase had not looked so impressive as a half dragon.

When the second year had finally gone by, Wuya had Naruto tested with his ability to use what he'd learned.

By the end of the test, Naruto was nearly dead from exhaustion and bruises and Wuya looked like she'd just gotten from the beauty shop. She had attacked him by various means and he'd had to pull every jutsu and skill he'd learned out just to keep from getting anything worse than bruises.

Wuya patted his head and told him he did well. Naruto, too tired to make any angry comebacks, simply nodded and trudged off to his bed.

The start of the third year was when Naruto got into the big stuff. He'd use his shadow clones for learning all the mid to high ranking jutsu the vault had while he himself was learning from Chase's private technique scroll. Wuya decided to allow Naruto to train his own way for this year and went off to entertain herself.

Naruto learned the skill to mark warrior who gave you their service by honor and, when not fighting, could be changed into animals to serve you. Naruto liked this idea. Since he had no one to test it on though, all he did was learn the arts' motions to perfection.

Then Naruto found one of the greatest treasures in the ancient notes Chase kept.

The secret to making Shen-Gong-Wu. Chase had been around when Dashi was alive and had learned the secret. He never used it because it was Chase's belief that a true warrior could overcome anything with skill alone and not the power "crutch" that the mystical objects gave.

Naruto considered this. He agreed, but also decided he needed some of these objects. They were tools. They were only a crutch if you relied solely on them. Naruto wouldn't make that mistake.

He knew from Chase's notes that the original Shen-Gong-Wu had been sealed beyond time and space so that evil would never be able to use them, so creating his own was his only choice.

Naruto read the instructions and went around the castle before he found what he was looking for. One was an old metal gauntlet that was silver in color. The second thing he found was an old sash made of obsidian black material. Naruto took these items back to the throne room, along with the scroll containing Chase's notes, and performed the ritual. He had to draw a specific design on the ground in his own blood, and then place the objects into the center circle of the design. He would then need to place his hands on a specific part of the design and begin channeling his chakra into it while chanting a series of words. The notes also said that he would have to mentally project what he wanted the item to do while the design array was active.

Naruto did as instructed and when the design started to glow, he thought about what he wanted.

With a blinding flash, the design spun around on the ground before being absorbed by the objects as they fused.

When Naruto looked up, he saw a new looking green with black trimmed sash. On one end of the sash was a metal hand with its' fingers and thumb in a flat, held together position. Naruto walked over and picked up the sash and tied it around his waist.

He tied it securely and, with the metal hand swinging slightly as it lay on his right thigh, he stood in a ready stance.

He mentally called out, third arm sash!

With no other prodding, the sash sprang to life and the metal hand separated and moved its' fingers around to Narutos' will. He had it pick up his dual-blade extending spear, which he'd decided to call dragon fang, and it extended in the metal hands' grip. Naruto moved the sash arm around and found he could move it just like one of his own arms.

Happy with his success, Naruto had the sash return his dragon fang back to its' compact state and return it to its' spot on his belt.

Naruto then decided to test some other feature of the sash. Many of the ancient Shen-Gong-Wu were elemental and could only be used with one element, but neutral Wu like the third arm sash, could be fused with multiple elements.

Naruto channeled earth chakra into it and a thick layer of rock formed over the sash. He then released the chakra and the coating fell away. He channeled fire chakra into it and it was the same result. All the elements did likewise. Naruto finally deactivated his new wu and went to read more of Chase's notes. In the notes, Naruto found descriptions of other Shen-Gong-Wu. Some seemed silly, like the monsoon sandals, while others looked amazing, like the sword of the storm, or the wu monster known as Mala Mala Jong.

When Naruto had finished, He decided to make one more wu and then go see Wuya.

He found an old katana and brought it back to the throne room. He repeated the ritual and thought about what he wanted it to look like and do. When it was done, he saw that the sword retained the basic shape of a katana, but that was all. The handle looked like it was made out of bone and had a small skull on the tip opposite the blade. The guard was a skeletal hand with its' palm open. The handle came out of the palm and the blade came out the back of the hand.

The blade looked like bone also, except it had a slightly wider back and there was no blade. Naruto called the swords' name in his head. Zing Zom Blade!

The area where the blade should be on the sword opened up and several blades poked out until the sword nor had a serrated edge. A slightly purple mist seemed to seep from the blades. He'd gotten the idea from reading about the sword of the storm and the Zing Zom Bone Shen-Gong-Wu. Now, he could turn whoever he cut into a living zombie that obeyed him and the mist, which he could control like wind, would cause anyone not holding the sword to feel real, mind locking, terror. Naruto smiled before he deactivated the sword and, with it now harmless and blades retracted, slid it into his sash. He picked up Chase's notes and then went to put it back in its' resting place in his room. After that he went to find Wuya.

He found her reading an old romance novel from centuries ago.

When she heard him coming, she sat up and put the book away. She noticed his new accessories and asked about them.

She was shocked that he was able to make Shen-Gong-Wu. She asked him about it, but he'd promised to Chase never to reveal his secrets unless it was to his successor.

Wuya pouted, which nearly broke Naruto from the need to make her happy it sent him, but he remained firm. He said he would try and make a wu for her sometime. That seemed to make her happy. She hugged him and kissed his cheek. He blushed furiously and fainted.

Feeling Naruto go limp, Wuya looked at him. She giggled at his reaction and carried him off to bed.

The third year passed without much difference. Naruto learned all the jutsu from E to S rank that Chase had and mastered his transformations and wu usage to a near art. His body, due to his merging with Chase, had grown quite well. He was now 5' 1" and his muscles were well defined. He had created a few more wu, but decided against making an obscene amount like Dashi had. He made Wuya a wu that was a replica of the tangle web comb but it also had the powers of the shadow of fear. It made whoever it angled either just tangled up, or tangled and reliving their worst nightmares.

For the final year, Naruto decided to retrain in everything he knew and also complete his new seal that will give him all the Kyuubis' power while transferring the fox into a new wu he'd been making.

The ritual was long and Wuya had to help with it. As Naruto finished drawing the array on the ground around him, the object he wanted to make into a wu, and himself, he channeled chakra and began.

It took four grueling, painful, scream filled hours before it was done. When Naruto had finished, he felt the Kyuubis' chakra merge with his and its' spirit leave him.

He looked over and saw his new wu. It was ring with a red ruby at its' center. In the ruby, an image of a nine-tailed fox in an attack position seemed trapped by the crystal-like structure of the gem. Naruto walked over and put the ring on. He'd modeled it after the sapphire dragon, without the whole turning the world to sapphire bit. This ring allowed him to summon a diamond hard ruby Kyuubi to do his will like Mala Mala Jong under the influence of the emperor scorpion. Also, Naruto could cause the Ruby Kyuubi to split into up to nine foxes. Each copy would have one tail while the original kept the rest until there were nine foxes that each had one tail. Naruto got the idea from the notes on the ring of the nine dragons.

Armed with his new wu and dead tired, Naruto had Wuya carry him back to his bed.

He collapsed and fell into blissful sleep. Wuya smiled as she looked at him.

She remembered when she wouldn't have cared about him in her past life. She was once evil to the core and cared only for herself, but due to a malfunction with the yin-yang yoyo, most of her evil side was destroyed. Sure she still had some of it, but not enough to offset her good side. They were…dare she say it…balanced instead of being one or the other.

She silently crawled into bed alongside Naruto and pulled him into a tight hug as she too drifted off to sleep. She had grown a sort of family bond with the boy. Though she could sometimes feel something more, she didn't pursue it since it was faint.

She fell into a deep sleep. Her last words before unconsciousness took her were, "Naruto-kun…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx