Author's note: I'm extremely happy at how well-received this story has been so far. I love you guys, so I've got a little present for everyone. An omake! I'll probably do one at the beginning of each chapter, though reading them may result in a sudden loss of soul. I'll also reply to reviews below, since, while I replied to some people, I think everyone deserves recognition for taking the time to review. Also, it lets me reply to anonymous reviewers, and answer questions that have been asked, but others might be wondering about.

Link Gryffindor and lindon2: thanks for the thumbs-ups.

Chibi-Kyuubi-Chan: you get a special kyuubi sticker (well, shout out, but it's the thought that counts) for such an enthusiastic review.

Litewarrior4: I suppose I should have made a yaoi warning. You know, I seriously forgot that that bothered some people... Not that I can blame you, with the crapflood that gets spilled into most yaoi pairings. Damn you people, making the search for a good ItaNaru story (IE, one that actually has a story) so difficult!!! However, Kyuubi and Shukaku won't be getting any sex scenes, smexy as they might be. Naruto would still be about genin rank, he just uses more strategy than Kishimoto's standard non-tactical (and therefore, un-ninja) ninja. Love the guy, makes a great story, but "ninja" in the Naruto universe rarely know what stealth means.

Anon. dude: Tangents are fun, but I figured that I should wait until a few chapters in to "RAAAAGE" in my author's notes.

CW: Ah, but I do have something planned for that empty eye-socket. I could give him another eye, but I have something else planned...

Kazua: Karin's personality isn't touched upon that much in the canon. She's shown to be smart and very perverted. Actually, I think a friend of mine said it best when he said "she's such a lovable slut". The tattoo is actually important later, and Naruto will get a weapon update at some point. When we get to them, I hope you like them.

Disclaimer: Naruto does not the characters own me or delicious children. Wait, what?

Important Note: I'd like to take a moment and say a heartfelt "thank you" to my readers. You've helped keep me sane in a trying time, even if you didn't know it.

Oh, and sorry for the delay. I got lost on the road of life. In other words, Final Fantasy Seven. And reading lots and lots of fanfiction, and lots of books. Too much H.P. Lovecraft, in fact. I saw a shoggoth in my dreams, which any fans of Lovecraftian horror can tell you is a very, very bad thing.

Warning: this story does contain some shounen-ai or yaoi content. Naruto himself is paired with a girl (Karin, as I said) as the eventual pairing of the story, but he might have a boyfriend or two along the line, and Kyuubi is paired with a male himself. There will be no yaoi lemons (actually, no lemons at all, yaoi or otherwise), but I understand that this bothers some people, so I'm giving you all a warning. Sorry, coming from someone who personally doesn't understand how people can care about what gender their partner is, I really forgot that that bothered some people.

"Aeris" - normal speech

"is actually" - thoughts, mental communication, jutsu, etc.

kind of - written words

"annoying" - demon/summon speech


Omake: Everything's better with dramatic standoffs.

In the ruins of a destroyed sound base, Orochimaru, Sasuke, and Kabuto along with Suigetsu, Karin and Juugo faced off against a Konoha brigade consisting of Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Neji, Lee, Tenten and Gai.

"So, this is the final showdown... Kukukuku." The snake sannin cackled at the leaf shinobi.

"Give up, dobe, you know you can't win." A tumbleweed dramatically rolled across the ground between the two sides. In an instant, Naruto was holding a kunai to Sasuke's neck. Orochimaru promply pointed a kunai at Naruto, only to have Kakashi point a kunai at him, and Sasuke pointed his katana at Sakura, who pointed a kunai at Kabuto.

Kabuto pointed a kunai at Gai, who promptly held one of his sharpened pinwheels to the throat of Juugo, who morphed his hand with the cursed seal and pointed it at Tenten. Tenten responded by pointing twelve kunai, three katana, and five sickles at Karin, who gulped and pointed a senbon at Lee, who was busy menacing Suigetsu with his own kunai.

The tension in the air could be cut by a knife. Beads of sweat began to gather on the brows of the various ninja, and a dramatic wind blew through the nearby treetops. It was a terse, dangerous atmosphere, until...

"Neji-san, could you please youthfully remove your kunai from my youthful back?" Every head in the crowd turned to look at the Hyuuga.

"What? I can't be the only one who was thinking of it! Come on, give me a goddamn break! It's Lee! Lee!"

After the dramatic battle, Neji was awarded the medal of fire for his concern for humanity and excellence in the line of duty. Both green beasts had been destroyed, and the ninja world was finally free. Sasuke was buried in green spandex, because fuck him.

End Omake...


Before Sarutobi Hiruzen, sandaime hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, one of the most powerful ninja villages in the world, stood a boy he'd awaited the arrival of for three years. Naruto was currently wearing a gray cloak with a mask shielding his face, and a hood pulled up covering the rest of his head, so the aged shinobi wasn't able to identify much about how Naruto had changed. He could tell, however, that the blond was taller, and he seemed to carry with him an aura of confidence, though not over-confidence.

"Well, Naruto, I've missed you, but I'm afraid that, as Hokage, I've got to get the official protocol out of the way first. I'm sure that you've kept up to date with the public news of Konoha, which, as an academy student, is all you're allowed even in Konoha. So we can skip that step. Although, that changes now. For the display of qualities befitting a genin in the apprehension of Mizuki, I'm as of now promoting you to genin. You have a week until genin team placement." Tossing Naruto a forehead protector, he smiled softly as he could feel the smile behind that mask.

"Well, Naruto, I'll wait until later to ask for a report of your training, though I'll understand if your teacher put an oath of silence on part of it. Minato's friends were usually similar to him in their secrecy. Take off your cloak and mask, I want to see the boy I consider another grandson." Naruto hesitated, and Sarutobi could tell that he had some reason to be uncomfortable about taking off either the cloak or the mask. However, he complied. The cloak was tossed aside, and the mask was pulled off slowly.

Sarutobi growled. Damn those villagers! That eye was most likely part of the reason why Naruto left. He calmed down for a minute, and gave the boy a once-over. He obviously had been well-fed, and, judging by the tight lean muscle on his frame, well-trained. The eye-patch drew attention from the rest of his face, but the remaining left eye was as bright blue as ever, though more piercing and analytical than it had been before. Small scars were strewn across parts of his face and visible body, obviously the result of the same attack, which scared Sarutobi when he thought that this boy had been on the receiving end of what looked like such a powerful jutsu.

Naruto was dressed in a tight black sleeveless shirt made of some kind of semi-shiny fiber, no doubt breathable and durable, over which was a modified flak vest, cut down so as to leave little other than the shoulder pads and pockets that were on a belt-like strap across his chest (Imagine the fuhrer from Fullmetal Alchemist's shirt and pockets when he fights Greed, but with shoulder pads). His loose-fitting dark blue shinobi pants were tucked into black leather boots with wicked looking spikes on the toes, and he was wearing emerald green arm guards. Last but not least, his hair had, for some reason, white streaks through the blond, and reached down to his shoulder blades, with a few spikes sticking out messily in random directions.

The boy certainly struck an imposing figure. Sarutobi, having finished his examination, stood and hugged Naruto. After catching up, then Naruto giving a much-censored (his master had indeed put an oath of silence on him), the now-semi-genin (since he hadn't passed the genin team test) was dismissed. Before he could walk out the door, Sarutobi asked him one last question.

"Naruto, how did you get all those scars? They look like they all came from the same attack; What kind of jutsu were you hit with?" Turning, Naruto lifted up his shirt, and the hokage's mouth dropped open. What in the name of Kami had Naruto been through?

"It wasn't exactly a jutsu. Well, it was, just not a ninja one. It was Bukepou. Samurai arts. I believe the name was juujikazou hissatsu, and it nearly killed me, though sensei managed to save my life." Sarutobi's jaw was now in the vicinity of "the room below his office", having dropped through the floor. That attack was famous as the one that played the primary part in destroying the first incarnation of the seven swordsmen of the mist. Looking at Naruto with new respect, he nodded signifying that Naruto could leave. As Naruto walked out the door, he smacked his head. In his shock, he'd forgotten to tell Naruto something else. Taking the excuse to get away from this blasted paperwork, he got up and walked with a speed belying his age after the boy. Catching up to him just out the doors of the hokage tower, he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh, Naruto, I forgot. Your old apartment building was demolished, but I'm authorizing you to inherit your clan home, the Namikaze clan home." Naruto started to look down, thinking he was now homeless, until he heard the last part. Grinning from ear to ear, he nodded vigorously in thanks to the old man. Sarutobi motioned for Naruto to follow.

The two walked side by side through the peaceful night streets. Making small talk about the beauty of the stars, and discussing the constellations and their astrological meanings, the old man was amazed at how well-versed in astronomy Naruto was. After making a comment to that effect, Naruto chuckled in reply and said that one of his sensei's first tasks was to give Naruto an education, not just an average one, but a scholarly tutoring of math, astronomy, linguistics, ceremony, the sciences and arts, and history, along with other things. The blond left out some of the... other subjects he'd been taught about.

Sarutobi guided Naruto into the clan district, passing the Uchiha and Hyuuga grounds, and then the district proper entirely. Guiding him down a forest path guarded by seals, which he explained would automatically block anyone emitting any kind of harmful intent towards the contents of the grounds, they finally came upon the complex.

This wasn't a house or possibly manse, like Naruto had been thinking when he heard "Namikaze clan home". This was a full building complex. It was the size of the Uchiha clan complex! He wondered for a moment how such a large complex could be hidden in a forest with several nearby training grounds, until he remembered something Kyuubi had taught him, which was that over half of the advanced seal users and Seal Masters that came out of Konoha were Namikaze.

After giving Naruto a key, he left, knowing Naruto would want time alone to explore the home that had belonged to his father's clan. Walking around it, he noticed one thing. The Namikaze clan wasn't overly extravagant, but neither was it spartan or even average. It was refined and well-decorated while remaining functional, and while it wasn't by any means utilitarian, neither was it resplendent. However, a thief would have been able to make a fortune selling the antiques and artwork decorating the walls. The central building contained what looked like a dinner and dance hall, with ceremonial chambers and offices in a square around the hall.

Standing in the midst of the dance floor, almost entranced by the connection, however faint, to his family, he stared up at the Namikaze crest. Dark blue-green waves sat below an orange sunset, with the purple kanji for "knowledge" emblazoned on the image. It was... beautiful. Kyuubi had long ago broken his addiction to the color orange, but he had to admit, the deep, almost burnt orange was still done quite tastefully. Purple, which Naruto knew from his studies to be associated with knowledge and learning, fit his tastes and obviously the tastes of his clan perfectly, and the calm, deep blue-green hinted at self-contemplation and meditation, another thing Kyuubi had drilled into him.

Finding a small set of stairs in the junction of the dinner/dance hall and two hallways leading off to offices and business chambers, he walked, almost running in his excitement, to the upper floor. Yes, he loved his family.

The entire second floor of the huge central building was a library, and even then it was obviously expanded by seals, to fit all of the books and scrolls contained within it. Walking between the rows and rows of recorded knowledge, sniffing at the air and enjoying the slightly dusty smell that accompanied such large repositories of learning, he came to a large fireplace that obviously provided heat for whoever was currently sitting in the plush chairs in front of it, and for whomever was sleeping in the simple, but soft cots that were set up beside the fireplace. They were obviously intended for people who would rather sleep in the library than return to their bedroom before finishing whatever they were doing.

It was at this point that he wondered where the light came from, since he'd seen neither torch and sconce nor electric light bulbs. The light was just... there. It was ambient, and after a half an hour of searching, a simple check for chakra identified seals on the walls and sealing that released a diffused light that was neither too bright nor too dim, so as to avoid glare and lack of reading light both. He shuddered at the master seal-work that must have gone into this house.

Before he could stop it, a yawn escaped his lips. Well, it had been a long day. Lying down on a soft cot, the boy snuggled into the sheets and feel asleep. He'd do some exploring tomorrow.

The next day, the boy did indeed explore, finding the laundry room, kitchen, several training rooms, secondary libraries, gardens stocking unusual herbs, collections of old and foreign items and artifacts, and various other places he'd explore later. Putting his dirty clothing in the laundry, to be done later in the day, he changed into a pair of forest-green hakama and went to do a little bit of training.

As the sword's blade sliced into the training dummy, cutting it from collarbone to sternum, Naruto reflected on what he needed to do in his weapon training. The cane-sword, as a tertiary weapon, and a concealed one at that, was meant to provide what his other weapons didn't. The war scythe, while incredibly deadly, left the user disadvantaged if the enemy got in too close for the long weapon to be used effectively. The ono, while it could chop through wooden logs, bones, and such easily, seriously lacked in speed and reach. The sword, while it had no glaring strengths had no such glaring weaknesses, balancing out his repertoire.

Using his hand to channel chakra into a seal placed on the ground, Naruto reformed the dummy into an undamaged one. Another genius invention of his family's. He didn't intend to focus on seals, but he wanted to have knowledge of the art that his family would have been proud of. For that was Naruto, a fuuinjutsu user (though not master), a jutsu collector and master (the two most notable recent jutsu collectors had been his mother and Orochimaru, though he shuddered at the thought of the last one), and a user of weapons in tandem with traps and other shinobi tools.

He'd rarely use all in combination in combat, preferring to keep at least some of his ability secret from the enemy, in the case that he needed an ace in the hole. Against Mizuki, he'd simply used some basic chakra-enhanced taijutsu, a C-rank jutsu that had been toned down to D-rank to simply provide a knock-back rather than wide-scale damage, and placed himself where he could land a strategic blow on the target to end the match quickly. Naruto was still probably about high-genin level in power, but he was easily jounin level in strategy and tactics.

Switching from Jigen-ryu to a stance that Kyuubi had taught him to balance out the weakness of Jigen-ryu, which was a lack of a follow-up, he began pumping chakra back and forth in his sword arm, much like a piston, and used the build-up to deliver a series of quick thrusts that left a number of small wounds in the dummy which would have individually done little, but together would seriously hamper a living combatant stricken by the barrage. Reforming the dummy again, he walked away, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow.

He'd lost track of time while he was thinking, and now it was the afternoon. Taking a quick shower in one of the central building's bathrooms, he changed into a pair of white, black, and gray camouflage cargo pants (the cow-camo color scheme of the sound ninja), his boots, and a black turtleneck sweater and went out to get something to eat, and then supplies for the home. Before slipping out the door, he tied his blond-and-white hair in a quick ponytail.

Walking down the street to Ichiraku, which he'd definitely missed during his time away, he saw two girls, one blond and one pink-haired, fighting over an obviously agitated raven-haired boy. He laughed to himself. Ino, Sakura, and Sasuke hadn't changed a bit.

The two kunoichi stopped pulling at Sasuke for a moment as Naruto passed by. He seemed familiar, somehow, but that presence was... needless to say, Sasuke flared up his chakra, like one male peacock would flare out its feathers at another, but the strange blond-ish boy simply pushed the Uchiha's chakra flare back like it was nothing and continued on his way, not sparing the trio a glance.

Naruto turned down a dark alley, because he sensed someone following him. They were obviously a civilian, judging by their severely lacking sneaking skills. Abruptly he stopped, crushing a dead leaf under his foot. Whoever it was jumped at the crackling sound. He didn't have long to wait, as he turned to see a grizzled middle aged man walking towards him with a cheap, low-grade katana.

"Well, aintcha got a lotta nerve comin' back 'ere, demon? Didn'tcha learn yer lesson last time? Do ya need to learn another lesson about how us concerned citizens feel about a demon in our midst?" The man pointed his katana at Naruto's eye and the genin recognized one of the people that held him down while his eye was gouged out with a kunai. His eyes narrowed; he wasn't planning on actively seeking revenge, but if anyone was foolish enough to try to attack him again, they were going to pay.

"I'm warning you this one time, you greasy old bastard. Stay the hell away from me and you won't get hurt." The man scowled for a second before charging Naruto. Fluidly the boy unsealed his cane-sword, blocking the strike with his half-drawn blade. The former demon container swirled backwards like a maelstrom, deflecting each and every wild swing directed at him.

A final spark of metal meeting metal flashed right next to the eyepatch, momentarily illuminating Naruto's face, and the man, even in his rage, hadn't failed to notice that the blond's teeth had sharpened and his eye was a deeper blue than normal. Twirling around, the cane-sword slashed through the air, sending the other man's katana flying through the air, and leaving a deep gash on the man's arm.

The man started to scream, but Naruto smacked him with the hilt of the cane-sword on his temple, stunning him. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt collar, Naruto pulled him in closer to his face.

Demons are, as a rule of thumb, sadistic. It is ingrained in them, even the nicest of demons, much like greed is ingrained in humans. This didn't mean that they would just torture someone for the fun of it, but some of the oldest proverbs of demonkind stated that enemies and attackers are fair game for any fun. Holding the man's face but an inch from his remaining eye, the blond part-demon whispered one simple phrase.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu..." The man's vision suddenly changed, showing a demonic, Kyuubi-possessed Naruto slaughtering the village, along with his friends and loved ones. He began to shake in horror, but the voice came again, whispered in his ear, as soft as silk and as deadly as nightshade.

"I know what you fear, you bastard. I also know this. Does filling a glass with water make the glass water? No, it obviously doesn't. I was used as a prison for the Kyuubi, I wasn't him in human form. Do you even realize that? Here's another question. If I was the Kyuubi, why did I never pull out sudden horrific powers and slaughter you people while you beat me like a dog? Hmm... although calling me a demon brat might actually be true now, you remember that I am my own demon, and not the Kyuubi. Remember this."

Finally dispelling the illusion, Naruto picked up the now passed-out man, preparing to take him to the hospital. Maybe he went a bit far, but the man deserved it. He still wasn't going to kill him. Who knew, maybe the man would see what an idiot he had been, slim a chance as it was. After, of course, he got out of the hospital.

Taking the man to the hospital, he filed the papers, including that what he'd done was in self-defense, and waited for the police to get there. The Uchiha had previously taken care of the police force, but the Sandaime had recruited willing shinobi from the reserve, along with retired ninja, to reform it.

The old policeman who took Naruto's claim was rather portly, but Naruto could sense that he could still do damage to other ninja if the situation called for it. The man was surprisingly nice to Naruto and even mentioned afterwards that the man who was now having his arm reattached probably had deserved it. Apparently some people these days had common sense about Naruto.

Cheerful at the discovery that he wasn't universally hated anymore, Naruto went on to Ichiraku, whistling as he went.


The assembled genin-hopefuls sat in the academy classroom with varying emotions. Hinata was scared, obviously. The poor girl would do very well if she could get over her horrible self-esteem.

Shino was stoic, as usual. He was exemplary of a ninja, though his coldness could be quite off-putting to others.

Kiba was rowdy, once again as usual. The boy was a good combatant and tracker, but his mental faculties were duller than they should have been, and that would most likely prove to be his downfall.

Ino was... well, Ino. She was arguing with Sakura, and almost completely ignoring her considerable potential as a ninja. If anyone ever broke her of her fangirl tendencies, she could end up as a fine shinobi.

Shikamaru was dozing. The lazy boy was a tactical genius, even with the aforementioned laziness, and he would probably do best as a squad leader or military strategist.

Chouji was eating, of course. Despite his speed problems and pacifistic tendencies, the boy was a powerhouse, and his weight was necessary for his clan jutsu. He would do best assigned to his lazy friend's command and paired with a speed fighter or genjutsu specialist, or Shikamaru himself, since his kagemane no jutsu would work as well.

Sakura was... well, once again, Sakura. The girl was currently arguing with Ino, and her incredible book smarts and chakra control didn't quite offset her lack of training, jutsu knowledge, and general physical and other mental prowess.

Sasuke was brooding, needless to say. While fairly skilled, the boy's arrogance, bullheadedness, and overt reliance on his status as an Uchiha held him back. Enemies would capitalize on it, and he'd probably improve slightly upon gaining his sharingan, however that would present a greater superiority complex and further reliance on his blood.

Despite Iruka's best efforts, the class seriously had problems. Problems like "an angry schizophrenic midget on crack waving a torch at exploding tags" problems. They were drawn from their individual thoughts by the scarred teacher informing them that another student would be joining them, having been away for years.

"What? That's bullshit! We had to do that damn exam, so why does some idiot get to come in and just join the class this late?!" Kiba was an angry dog-boy, and Akamaru was secretly ashamed at his human, because Kiba was an idiot even by dog standards, and that's coming from the species that humps tables. It was, however, enough to get the class riled up into one of those question-asking and complaint-yelling frenzies that is the number one cause of teachers going postal. Iruka used his famous "big head no jutsu" and shut the class up, before clearing his throat to speak.

"Well class, we have twenty-six graduates, meaning that there's one less person than needed for full teams. Secondly, this person has been away training, and has been approved by the hokage himself for acceptance as a genin. In fact, he should be here in just a minute, after he's done with the requisite paperwork. Class, please welcome back Uzumaki Naruto!"

At that, most of the passing genin-hopefuls groaned. That idiot? He'd probably only been accepted because the hokage favored him. Several people complained out loud, including several no-name classmates and one pink-haired noise generator.

"That idiot?"

"He couldn't have passed fairly!"

"That baka?"

"I bet he dies on his first time out of the village!"

"Troublesome... he's been out of the village already, remember?"

"Shut up, Shikamaru!"

"Yeah, stop trying to bring common sense into an idiot's argument."

"Yeah, well Akamaru and me think- wait, who the hell said that?!"

(A/N: I'm not sure if it's obvious enough, but I know that it would be "Akamaru and I". Kiba's just an idiot.)

Iruka's mouth twitched several times as he held in his laughter. Apparently Naruto knew a good ventriloquism jutsu. The class was prevented from descending into further chaos by the opening of the door. Everyone was expecting some loud outburst and the familiar orange-wearing blond idiot to rush in. Instead they got an almost unrecognizable young man wearing the same combat shirt and dark blue pants as he wore when visiting the sandaime.

Jaws dropped open. Fingers were pointed. Inarticulate questions were asked. Brooding was done, though the last could only be attributed to the little lump of emo called Sasuke. This wasn't what the class was expecting.

As usual, one of the most noticeable things was the eye-patch. Some people grimaced. Some people thought it was hot (Hinata and Ino, though neither would admit it). Some people smirked to themselves and wrote it off as the "dobe" doing something stupid.

As Naruto made a strangely winding and roundabout path to a seat in the back, which most people wrote off to themselves as some kind of stupidity or maybe brain damage, Shikamaru privately snickered. Recognition flashed on Sakura's face as Naruto sat down.

Someone with more common sense would have said something later, but Sakura decided to stand up and shout now.

"Hey, Naruto-baka! You're the one that ignored Sasuke-kun the other day!"

The reply was calmer and sarcastic than anything anyone was expecting out of the blond.

"Well, well, Haruno-hime, I wasn't expecting that I had to stop to worship the great last member of the emo brigade- I mean Uchiha clan."

Mouths dropped open. Here Naruto was, calmly insulting his old crush and the Uchiha in the same sentence! Sasuke glared at the Uzumaki, whilst Sakura decided to do another idiotic thing. Namely, shout and rush at Naruto with her fist raised.

"What was that, baka?! How dare you- argh!"

As Shikamaru descended into full-blown laughter, Sakura abruptly tripped and fell on her face with a rather loud "thud".

"Troublesome, Sakura-san. Didn't you see the ninja wire Naruto put there? He drew you into a trap."

Sakura's face, though it was currently being intimate with the floor, had turned a rather angry red, and the rest of the class was torn between laughing and being shocked at Naruto's trap-laying skills. After a second, the pinkette pulled herself up and began to rush Naruto again.

"I'll kill you, Naruto-bak- argh!"

Thud.

"Ne, Haruno-san, I think Sasuke might be getting jealous of all the attention you're giving the floor."

"I'm going to kill you, Uzumak- argh!"

Thud.

Iruka slammed his head into his desk. Repeatedly. While he was proud of Naruto's trap-making skills, did he have to booby trap the classroom?

While Iruka tried to read off the team assignments, the class fell into further chaos as Sakura finally gave up and walked back to her seat, only to detonate a smoke bomb that left a yellow, foul-smelling odor. Kiba desperately tried to get away from the smell, his eyes watering and his sensitive nose going crazy, only to trip over another wire, this one apparently trapped, and set to start a chain reaction. Water balloons were launched, wooden kunai hit people in the ass, and several people were doused with what smelled suspiciously like lighter fluid.

Damn, the spark traps hadn't gone off. Naruto still leaned back and sighed happily. If anything, his pranking skills had gotten much better, and now showed a bit of the sadism that was somewhat ingrained in him by now. After rattling off the members of team six, Iruka finally got to team seven.

"Team seven consists of... Uchiha Sasuke..."

The chaos calmed down and rapt eyes stared down at the tanned teacher. Bated breaths waited for the rest of the listing. Time drew out, a second seemingly lasting an hour...

"Haruno Sakura..."

Sakura jumped up in the air and cheered, with mysterious confetti falling around her, and the rest of the room darkened as a spotlight focused on her. No one except Shikamaru had noticed it, but this was also the doing of the Uzumaki. This was obviously the work of...

"and Uzumaki Naruto, led by Hatake Kakashi. Now, team eight consists of..."

Eventually the teams were listed and the various jounin team leaders came and went, although Yuuhi Kurenai did pause to ask Kiba why his eyes were puffed up and his coat was singed. Iruka left the room after ten minutes, sighing in pity for team seven.

He knew Kakashi would be late... and he dearly hoped that Sakura didn't get killed by any traps before he got there. Fortunately, she seemed to give up going after Naruto and proceeded to fawn over Sasuke.

Three hours passed, with the various genin doing various things to pass the time. Sasuke brooded, Sakura fawned over him and complained about being bored, and Naruto had taken a book out of a sealing scroll and was reading. Finally the cyclops jounin opened the classroom door.

Nothing happened. At least, Sakura and Sasuke thought nothing happened. Kakashi felt a piece of ninja wire pull a note into his pocket. Pulling it out, he discreetly read it.

Dear Kakashi-sensei,

Two of the members of this team are idiots. Oh, and take a step to the left.

Kakashi smiled to himself and took a step to the right, smirking to himself and thinking he'd avoided an obvious prank. Naruto was apparently one of the idiots. He felt something sticky splat on to his head, honey if his nose was correct. Then he heard an angry buzzing sound. Okay, maybe Naruto wasn't such an idiot.

"My first impression... I hate all of you. Meet me on the roof in ten minutes."

Kakashi then shunshined away just in time to avoid a swarm of bees that rushed in from the window. Pausing for a second, the bees flew back outside, as two members of the team stared. Naruto used their momentary distraction to do a shunshin of his own, because he didn't want to reveal that he knew the jutsu already. He left the other two to recompose themselves and walk to their destination.

Naruto arrived on the roof just as Kakashi himself got there, having quickly washed out his hair beforehand. Ignoring the questioning glances of the older ninja, he sat down and continued reading his book.

After ten minutes, the other two had arrived, and Kakashi began the first team meeting of team seven...

"Alright, let's introduce ourselves. State your name, age, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, and any useful or interesting tidbits, like specializations, favorite colors, and why you want to be a ninja. You first, pinky."

Sakura turned red and almost growled at the nickname, but was interrupted from her feminine rage by confusion.

"I'm not sure I get it. Why don't you start as an example, Kakashi-sensei?"

"... Alright. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I'm... well, suffice to say I'm in my prime. I like some things (Icha Icha), I have a few dislikes (anti-perverts, Gai, hard work), my hobbies are my own (Icha Icha), I don't think you need to know my dreams (train Sasuke for Obito's sake... and get a signed copy of Icha Icha), and I don't feel like listing any extra information."

'Of course he wasn't going to actually state anything.' Naruto chuckled at the frustration on Sakura's face.

"Well... alright, then. I'm Haruno Sakura, age thirteen, and my likes are Sasuke-kun, my dislikes are Naruto-baka and Ino-pig. My hobbies (insert look at Sasuke), and my dreams (insert shifty rape-eyes at Sasuke and a squeal), and I have good chakra control. My favorite color is pink, and I want to be a ninja because... well..."

Sakura trailed off at that, but it was obvious to Kakashi and Naruto both why. She only wanted to be a ninja because of Sasuke, which even she knew was a horrible reason. Sasuke discreetly did the only thing he had done all day that Naruto agreed with, which was trying to put as much distance between himself and the pinkette as possible.

"Well, alright. You next, Sasuke."

A dramatic wind blew through the air, dramatically ruffling Sasuke's dramatic hair as he looked up dramatically from his dramatic pose and stared dramatically at Kakashi. Oh, hell. This boy was a fucking head case. And his hair looked like the ass end of a duck... an emo duck.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I'm thirteen, I have few likes, many dislikes, my hobby is training, and my dream... no (insert another dramatic wind here) my ambition... is to kill a certain man... I specialize in katon jutsu, kunai throwing, and anything I wish to do. I am the best... I am an Uchiha..."

"Damn, I think little red lines just appeared on my wrist from the amount of emo in the air..."

Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura all glared at Naruto, who simply shrugged and began his introduction.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, well, that's not my full name, but it'll do for now. I'm thirteen, I like ramen, collecting jutsu, and a few other things I don't feel like telling you. I dislike bigots, fangirls, carrots, and the sharingan."

At this, he was cut off by all three of his new "team members".

"Now, Naruto. Be respectful, the sharingan is a valuable doujutsu."

"Shut up, dobe. You need to recognize the superiority of the Uchiha."

"Yeah, you're just jealous of Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto glared at all of them, and only Kakashi managed to stay perfectly calm under his gaze, and it was barely even for him. Sasuke and Sakura both visibly flinched and paled. Being the apprentice of a greater demon did wonders for your killing intent.

"It's used to steal jutsu and those who have it rely on it too much. It's prized among stupid jutsu collectors, when the real jutsu collectors work for their jutsu. Yes, Kakashi-sensei, that means you, too."

The silver-haired jounin's eye widened at that.

"What, you think I haven't read the bingo book? Any good shinobi keeps themselves well-informed, copy cat ninja 'Sharingan no Kakashi'."

Visibly recoiling at that, Kakashi glared at his student. He probably would have gotten along better with the old Naruto, but this one... Sasuke stared at Kakashi and wondered about the sharingan. Sakura simply hugged Sasuke.

"Anyway, back to my introduction, which was so rudely interrupted, my hobbies are various, some examples being gardening and calligraphy, and my dreams... well, I might shoot for the top spot, for Hokage, but my main dream isn't something I share with people. I specialize in... well, you'll all find out, since I'm sure there's some kind of team exercise soon... anything else, you'll discover if I wish you to."

Damn, the kid had taken a page out of Kakashi's book. He'd revealed a couple of things and used a long-winded explanation to make it seem like he'd told more than he really had. What had happened to the naive idiot that Kakashi was expecting?

The silver-haired jounin sighed, and stood up, immediately getting the attention of the three genin.

"Well, that's enough for today, everyone. Meet me at training ground ten tomorrow at seven AM sharp. Oh, and don't eat breakfast or you might throw up."

With that, Kakashi pulled out his favorite orange book, giggled, and disappeared in a shunshin. Naruto just sat there while Sasuke and Sakura left, the two grumbling about their new sensei. After they were gone, he got up and darted off.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto had some work to do.


Coming back to his house later that night, Naruto felt quite satisfied. He'd done some wonderful preparations for tomorrow. Sliding open the door, he kicked off his boots and noticed that there was yet another pair of boots in the foyer. A pair of boots that could only belong to his sensei.

Sighing, he walked down the hall as his mood took a slightly darker turn. Yeah, he'd had some fun today. But what was the point of it all? This village would never accept him, not fully. He might gain a bit of respect from some of the village, but he'd never truly gain their trust. To top it all off, he had a strange feeling, one that could turn out to be either catastrophic or wonderful, but it was too shadowed to tell. His socked feet padded noiselessly across the blue-green carpet, and his right hand trailed down the red cherry wood walls.

He grabbed a simple cup of instant ramen, and after pouring the hot water into it, he walked into the dining hall to find his aniki. Kyuubi was wearing a simple red t-shirt and black jeans, with his feet propped up on the table, smoking his old long-pipe. The elder demon looked over at him and grinned.

"Hey, little bro! I heard about your team. A lazy pervert, a fan girl, and an emo-duck. Sounds fun."

Naruto gave him a quick glare, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Fun?"

"Well, okay, maybe slightly less fun that getting stabbed in the balls with a pitchfork, but still."

Sighing, Naruto gulped down his ramen, got up, and gave the Kyuubi a brotherly hug, before sitting back down. Despite the fact that they tended to argue, they'd missed each other, and the past three years had led to a close bond between the two. Naruto snorted and put his feet up on the table as well.

"By the way, where do you get off? Don't answer that, it was a figure of speech."

Kyuubi shut his mouth. He had indeed been about to tell his little brother, just to mess with him.

"What I meant is, you yourself are a lazy pervert. Kind of the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it?"

His reply was a grunt.

"Yeah, but am I ever three hours late? And I don't read smut in public."

"You were four hours late that one time you drank an entire barrel of sake and barfed on that head monk who was in town. You would have been later if I didn't come to bail you out of jail."

"Well, he shouldn't have been lecturing me on the 'evils of hedonism'."

"You shoved a sake bottle up his... never mind..."

The two sat there, talking amicably, and occasionally bickering back and forth. It had been a long time since they'd had a chance to just sit and talk like brothers. Several hours went by, and the two retired to the library, where both of them would be sleeping, Naruto because he had gotten used to sleeping there, and Kyuubi because he had research to do.

As Naruto flopped down on his soft cot, Kyuubi took a chair and gave Naruto a serious look. There were a few things that he needed to tell Naruto, some of them good... and some not...

"Little bro..."

A blue eye was upon him in an instant. This was obviously something serious. Kyuubi smiled slightly, then his face fell into a deadly calm look.

"I have good news, and I have bad news. The bad news isn't quite solid, but it's something I'm not willing to discount."

Naruto sat up, and nodded.

"What's the good news?"

"The good news is that I've completed the seal to free the other bijuu from some of the other jinchuuriki. So far, I have Shukaku's and Nibi's done. I've also made some progress on isolating the affects of the sharingan on myself. Beforehand, a sharingan with three tomoe in both eyes could suppress my chakra. Now, only a mangekyo can do it."

The blond smiled slightly at that, but the look on his older brother's face wiped it off very quickly.

"Then, I have several pieces of bad news. One, the villagers have noticed your... demonic influence. It's not publicly visible yet, but I have heard whispering in the shadows... whispers that bode ill for you. I hate to say it brat, but your goal to reach the office of the Hokage may be something you have to let go of. Second, Akatsuki seems to be taking a different direction than we originally thought. Rather than just using their primary members, they are beginning to employ agents."

"Agents, aniki?"

"Yes, they're scattering people to the four corners of the earth, gathering information and attacking allies of the jinchuuriki, along with accomplishing some of Akatsuki's other, smaller goals. These people are like puppets, they aren't like the sleeper agent we found in Mizu no Kuni. These ones know what their objective is, but they lack some of the base instincts, such as fear. They'd happily charge to their death, and there's some kind of mental block on any secret information they might know. Attempts at interrogation have always ended with the subject abruptly dying. So we can't glean any secrets from them."

Naruto was shell-shocked. This could be, scratch that, was really, really bad for them and anyone else involved. The information about the villagers he'd been expecting, it didn't overly surprise him. However, these new Akatsuki agents... and the more Kyuubi talked about it, the more they seemed to blend in with normal people, before suddenly banding together into small or large groups and hitting their objective with all they had. This was a new danger to demon vessels all of it's own.

"And... the third piece of bad news..."

Naruto looked up. Third piece? Kyuubi usually listed things by magnitude, with the biggest thing last. What the hell was this that was bigger than the new akatsuki splinter organization?

"I'm not sure why, Naruto... but I can sense something big on the horizon. It's ominous... dangerous. It could be a help or a hindrance, but whatever it is, if it isn't going to be a help, it's dangerous. More so than the akatsuki splinter group. I can feel the clouds of change on the horizon. There's a wave approaching, one that gives no guarantee that we'll be left standing afterwards."

He didn't know how to respond to that. Kyuubi didn't say it, but it was clear on his face.

Whatever this was, it was enough to actually scare the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The strongest demon of all sensed something that made him afraid.


Naruto's dreams that night were troubled. Through his vision flashed scenes that couldn't have come from his memory. He saw an ancient stone temple in a faraway jungle. The foliage was lush, the stones old but strong. Moss was underneath his feet, and the blue sky seemed nothing but peaceful.

People lived their lives in peace, living in harmony with the world, and through their bond called upon wondrous powers that put anything done with chakra to shame. These people took care of the land, and were somehow connected to the very life of the planet itself. Sadness, hate, envy, all of the petty negative emotions were nonexistent.

This was a utopia.

(A/N: for the architecture, if anyone's curious, go to youtube and search "megan fi". It's an area from the Dot Hack series, and I modeled the architecture after it.)

Then it all went wrong. In a flash, the sky was blood red, and a gray rain fell from the sky, though there wasn't a cloud in sight. Everything was tinged red, as far as the eye could see, all throughout the forest, and even the ancient, steadfast temple itself.

That might have been due to the flames that blazed everywhere. The plants popped and crackled as the fluids inside them vaporized, trees fell with crashes, and animals ran for their lives, only to die from heat or smoke inhalation. The temple, the timeless structure that stood taller than the hokage mountain was crumbling, shaking.

The people from that time gone by ran to and fro, most of them trying to save themselves and others, or the plants and animals they could. However, they all died, some from the fire, and some from an unseen force. In a matter of hours, this great era had been torn asunder.

The very earth beneath Naruto's feet shook, and it seemed as if the world was screaming. A tear fell down the blond's cheek, though he knew not why. What he was playing witness to had happened untold millenia ago. He didn't know how he knew it, but he did.

A sound echoed out, one that no mortal could truly comprehend, somewhere between the crossroads of a scream, a crack, and silence, and the sky above shattered. The very seams of space-time and reality began to break, and cracks appeared in the wind, the sky itself splintering.

The ground blasted open, and the planet died.

The ancient, peaceful world was devastated. Nothing but ashes remained, but after several eons, life sprung anew. The sky returned, and the winds were born anew. The planet slowly came back together, and energy began to flow across the world once more. This life lacked the magic of the old world, but the people still tried to live in harmony with the planet.

This life was much more painful. Women died in childbirth, men and women both died in wars that had inexplicably become necessary.

However, through it all, the people remained, for the most part, happy. They fought for, both physically and mentally, their happiness, and strove towards understanding. Small villages popped up, and trade, along with the introduction of methods to carve out a living in the harsh areas that had come into existence, drew the world into an era, once again, of peace.

The peace was this time much weaker than it had been in the old world, but it was peace all the same, and wars ended, while medicine and the sciences improved life for all. Once again, happiness had been found.

Yet the wave came again. Plagues, incurable sickness, swept the earth, and people died by the millions. Fire rained from the skies, tsunamis larger than should be possible ravaged the shores, and the land was swept with destruction once more.

Naruto watched as the world was once again wiped clean and left a blank, dead slate. Once again, the world was reborn.

This one was strange, different. It had far greater pain than ever before, yet this was now due to the humans. Technology and learning progressed far beyond what they ever had before, and all natural deaths, save old age, were a thing of the past. Old age itself was nearly defeated.

The world once again grew to small tribes, villages, and fiefdoms at first, but it soon shot far past that, turning into large-scale governments. Swords, knives, and other melee weapons fell to the wayside, as strange pole-like weapons appeared, ones that with the press of a button unleashed some sort of explosion, killing easily from a distance.

Strange metal shells moved people from place to place, and weapons development pushed farther and farther forward. At times, it seemed that people would just war for the stupidest reasons, religion, cultural differences, grudges between rulers, and sometimes there was no reason at all.

Though the natural pains had been wiped out by the humans themselves, they foolishly wasted this, and caused themselves once again untold pain.

Then it happened. An explosion wiped an entire city from the face of the earth. Eventually, people began to regulate these weapons, or tried to. All it took was a stupid disagreement between several of the world powers, and the weapons that the people used 'with responsibility' were suddenly being thrown around like kunai.

This time, it was the humans themselves. They destroyed themselves, and cracked open the very earth beneath them. A small number of survivors tried to survive, but where the people themselves had done most of the work, the wave came back to finish what the humans themselves had done this time.

The next era was not as technologically advanced, and was in fact closer to the second era than the third. However, the wave came again. And again, and again, and again. Naruto watched as era after era passed, civilizations within an era of humanity changed, rose and fell, all to be destroyed in the end of the era by the mysterious wave.

Some eras were more advanced or more primitive than others, or specialized in certain things, but they all fell beneath the wave. A pit of dread opened up in Naruto's stomach. Could this never be stopped? What was the wave, anyway? Was everything, in the end, destined to burn?

Also, where were the bijuu? He knew that the bijuu had been around since the beginning of the earth, but... ah, there they were. The presences that he now identified as the bijuu, because the greatest was familiar to him, were returning from slumber. They had indeed been there from the beginning, but for some reason they fell asleep with the advent of the wave, each time the world ended.

Then he saw something familiar. Indeed, he saw something of legend in the shinobi world. The legendary sage of six paths, wielding the supreme doujutsu, the harbinger of change, the rinnegan. He traveled the Elemental Countries, even making a few trips beyond the mists that separated the Elemental Countries from the rest of the world, which was a wild, nearly untouched and uninhabited place.

Teaching chakra usage and birthing ninjutsu, the sage preached peace, hoping to create a Utopian world once more. He saw the sage near the end of his life, and the man brought his two potential successors before him. The younger half-brother of the two would go on to found the Senju clan, whilst the older, who possessed one of the earliest bloodlines, the byakugan, would go on to found the Uchiha, and create a different doujutsu entirely.

The old legend stated that the sage chose the younger, who's message was love, and specialized in life force and physical energies inherited from the sage. The older half-brother, who's creed was rule through fear and hate, and specialized in the strong chakras and mental energies inherited from the sage, was said to have not accepted this, and started the never ending hatred between the two bloodlines.

That was, however, far from the truth. The sage regretfully told both brothers that they were unsuitable, as the Senju was too trusting and lacked a powerful mental energy, while the Uchiha lacked love and did not carry the requisite life force. The brothers had held the folly of focusing only on their specialties, and did not attempt to improve where they were lacking. The rikudou sennin expressed that maybe one of the two, or a descendant of theirs might eventually show the prowess for change.

Then, with these last words of disappointment, but hope, the sage passed away.

Angered, the two brothers blamed each other like small children, and birthed the hatred between what would grow to be the two clans. Naruto could feel, to his horror, the wave itself in the bond of hatred, thrumming in contentment.

Time passed, and two men, each a member of one of the two clans bonded together, and founded what would come to be Konoha. These men were the best of friends, and the wave shivered in anger. They possessed, together, the qualities the sage had entailed to be the hope of the future.

Something broke, and the member of the Uchiha, Madara, gave in to the wave, and to hatred. The two men, once as brothers holding a bond of love, now battled like the bitterest of enemies. Madara was struck down at the valley of the end, and his presence began to fade.

However, something unexpected happened. Senju Hashirama, the shodaime hokage, let a tear fall, pained at the loss of the man who was more brother to him than his blood brother. This tear mixed into the essence of Madara, and Madara began to come back, now sadly twisted by the wave.

Hashirama, weakened by the battle, died not long after, and Madara had vanished, hidden somewhere in the world. The wave had manipulated the power of the hope that the two possessed to further it's own intentions.

As time began to flit by again, Naruto wondered. He could feel the approach of the wave, but the bijuu were awake. It seemed that the new interactions between the bijuu and the humans, that had not happened since the first time, the time when humans were attuned to the world, had changed something. The hand of the rikudou sennin could be felt in this change.

Then, Naruto saw before him, a boy close to his age. This boy had red hair, and a soft look on his face, like he wouldn't hurt a fly. The boy possessed the rinnegan, and Naruto could feel in him the hope that the first sage had wished for, the hope that had once existed between Madara and Hashirama.

The wave, however had different plans. It manipulated things once again, and pain, coupled with hatred, replaced the hope in the boy. He became a man, but he was now a shadow of his previous self.

Overwhelmed, Naruto looked away. Twice he had seen hope, and twice that hope was shattered. At this rate the world would... everything around him faded to a gray, the equivalent of nothingness.

Besides himself, there was one thing left. In front of him stood the boy from before, the boy with the rinnegan. He had been pushed away by the pain that turned his older self into a shadow, but he was still there, hidden beneath the surface. And his hope remained, but it was not strong enough anymore, not by itself.

He possessed all the qualities that the sage had wished for, yet they were not strong enough, not by themselves.

The boy turned, and did something no one in the vision had yet. He looked straight at Naruto, and when he turned to look at him, two eyes appeared behind the boy. They were the rinnegan, floating there in the air, full of hope, and the promise of change. They looked solid, strangely enough for a vision, and even left a shadow of inverted colors of themselves on the ground. Naruto felt like touching the eyes, but shook that childish though away, and looked back to the boy.

The boy's eyes asked a question, though Naruto knew not what it was, and he held out a hand. Naruto stretched his own hand forth, and the world flickered for a moment.

Naruto then woke up sweating. He looked to his right and saw the Kyuubi snoring in a chair. Falling back onto his pillow, he knew one thing.

That was no normal dream. It had some relevance to the future, but only time would tell.


A/N: I was going to go on and have the bell test in this chapter, but it ended up getting too long, and I'll do it next chapter.

Well, anyway, whew... the dream, by the way, is the first hint at the main, final plot of the story. A few things will progress towards that in the near future, but the beginning of that final arc itself is far away from now.

Eventual pairings:

Naruto/Karin

Kyuubi/Shukaku

Once again, if anyone wants any other pairings, ask me and I'll try to include, so long as I don't have a reason for not doing it, or that person is slated to be in a different pairing that I'm not revealing until it happens.

Jutsu list:

Magen: Narakumi no jutsu- Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing- Genjutsu, D-rank- this jutsu forces the target to see a horrifying vision.

I'm tired as fuck right now, and so I'll probably mention anything I forgot to mention in the author's notes of next chapter.

Please read and review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.