This fanfiction is something I've worked on the most and I previously had writers-block with.

The chapters I've already written already just need to be typed up so for the first twelve chapters will probably only have a few days between updates.

Maybe.

This is a NarutoxHarem fic and in later chapters I will have a voting poll on if there should be more than the four girls I've already picked and, if so, who those girls should be.

What is a definite is that the girls WILL NOT be Ino or Sakura.

I'm okay with some NaruIno fics but if I find a NaruSaku fic, most of the time I won't even bother reading it. That isn't saying I've never read a decent NaruSaku fic before though.

Anyway, sadly, I DO NOT own Naruto or any other animes/manga mentioned in this fic.

Note that the only mentions of different anime or mangas are usually weapon-wise or past-history-wise but will most likely have no mention of the actual characters from different anime/manga.

Well anyway, on with the story.

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Chapter One

Onset of Adolescence

It was dark...

and cold...

and damp...

It was so dark, I shouldn't have even been able to see my hand if I held it an inch in front my face. Yet, I could see everything as if it were as bright as day. I heard the rushing of an underground river from the walls around me along with thousands of whispers. All whispers directed at me. All saying similar things...

'The heir...' They said.

'The heir is rising...' They said.

'He who is of our blood, our heir...' They said.

'Our child... Our heir is rising...' They said.

I walked through the underground tunnel of soil and stone, the pads of my feet cool and dirtied. Along with the sounds of rushing water, the occasional as well as constant dripping water echoed throughout the tunnel. I reached a hill of rocks piled atop each other as a poorly made staircase. I climbed up, seeing light not far ahead. The rocks were smooth as well as rough and jagged but held no dangerous path. I neared the light...

It was warm and welcoming. The whispers never stopped. In fact, they grew in volume and in number. Just as I put my hand out into the light-

I woke up.

I blinked blankly at my arm currently reached up at the ceiling of my bedroom before letting it fall back to my sheets. My room was bright with streaks of sunlight coming through the blinds over my windows.

I sighed and sat up with a yawn.

I've been having that very same dream every night for two months now and still had no clue what to make of it... Well, actually, the dreams weren't completely the same. But I'm always in the same dark tunnel or a cavern with the tunnel attached. Sometimes there are different pathways in the tunnel but I always end up going straight on in the same direction... At least I think I do. And sometimes I sense... things... in the shadows around me, moving, fallowing me... Sometimes I even feel something... scaly... brush against my skin in the dark...

But I pay no mind to it. They're nothing scary.

But this was the first time I'd reached the end of the ongoing tunnel.

What's that about?

Anyway, though these dreams should've annoyed me to no end, they didn't.

I stretched out the kinks I'd gotten in my sleep and started my morning exercise. Starting with 25 crunches, 30 push-ups on each hand, 20 punches each hand, 20 kicks each leg, and 10 flips front then back. After my morning workout I got out of my t-shirt and sweat pants and went to take a shower, taking my orange jumpsuit with me.

I'm happy to say I'm getting clothes of my choice next week. Old Man Hokage had me measured and let me personalize my style of choice last month. Seems I wasn't the only one getting sick and tired of the villagers selling me nothing but that one orange jumpsuit and kicking me out of the shops whenever I tried to buy something different. And since I wasn't a graduate ninja yet, I wasn't allowed to go to the official ninja shops and get the right ninja supplies and clothes. But now that I am since Mister Taisho holds nothing against me and actually praises my pranks.

Just for that, he's never been one of my many victims.

Today was orientation. I'm a real full-fledged ninja now.

Finally.

Normally, I'd brag and say it was because of my "awesome ninja skills", but really, I was lucky.

I was lucky that bastard traitor Mizuki targeted me to steal the Scroll of Sealing last week. I was lucky that this year, Iruka was my teacher and final exam instructor instead of yet another teacher that failed me for what Mizuki revealed to me. There are only a handful of people in the entire village, that aren't ANBU, who truly know how smart I am.

The four who knew first though were Old Man Hokage, Taisho Daisuke, Nara Shikamaru, and Hayate-nii-sensei.

The Old Man practically raised me in his office. Taisho for his observation of my pranks and being one of the few grown-ups that spoke to me like a human being. Shikamaru because he has a 200 IQ point and after my first week in ninja academy I asked him to switch papers with me for a test. Shikamaru being one to want to avoid anything truly "troublesome" did so without arguing and after seeing the corrections done Shikamaru's paper that I'd written was 100% accurate while my paper that he'd done was 100% failure. Our answers were exactly the same though different when in came to some specifics on "answer in your own words" questions. We often started playing shogi and conversed afterwards. And last but not least, Hayate-nii-sensei for being the one to teach me kenjutsu since I asked him to when I was four. Iruka didn't know becuase it was usually Mizuki or another teacher correcting papers and such. Iruka still doesn't know because, like the villagers, he knew me as a hyperactive knucklehead and liked me that way... I'm afraid he'll change his mind once he finds out what I'm really like and it's not like I can keep it secret forever with all the dangerous and life-threatening missions ninjas have on a regular basis.

Everything I show in public is a mask.

Look underneath the underneath, ya morons!

A ninja is nothing without deceit.

And the Sacred Scroll of Sealing?

Shadow cloning wasn't the only jutsu in there I mastered... but there are a few I still need to work on.

Anyway, back to the dreams.

Ever since the dreams started up my senses have been off and on crazy good without the use of chakra. It's weird, but strangely it feels like it's supposed to happen.

Like puberty... sort of.

I'm dressed and toweling my hair dry when I go into my kitchen and my first "good morning" greeting is a foul smell bombarding my nose. I pinch my nostrils together wincing at the stench and went over to the fridge. My fridge was pretty empty aside from some butter, a half empty bag of celery sticks, and a carton of milk. I picked up the milk and found it was almost a week past it's expiration date.

See what I mean by the "crazy senses" going of an on?

If they were always on, I would've noticed much sooner. As soon as I poured the milk down the drain and threw out the carton, I made some toast with butter and took out a celery stick and left.

It would've been easy to get a better breakfast but I didn't want to be late.

A couple minutes walking down the street, I found Konohamaru in his usual obvious ways of hiding.

Man, he needs to work on that.

"Naruto, fight me!" Konohamaru shouted... only to trip over his fence camouflage and faceplant into the dirt.

"... What are you doing Konohamaru?" I asked plainly.

"That was a slick move." He said getting up off the ground and looking up at me. "That's why I consider you my rival."

"... But I didn't really do anything..." I said.

"Enough talk!" He said jumping to his feet. "Fight me!"

"Sorry Konohamaru, but I need to go to orientation today. Maybe next time."

"Huh? Orientation?" Konohamaru questioned.

"Yep." I said pointing to me headband.

I couldn't help but smile at his big eyes shining in awe. He smiled brightly at me and gave me a salute shouting "Right Boss!" before running back home. I shook my head with a chuckle and continued my way to the academy.

When I got there, I sat down and couldn't stop grinning.

Shikamaru was just walking up the stairs when he saw me.

"What the...? Naruto? What are you doing here?" He asked. "I thought you didn't graduate."

"I got lucky." I said with a shrug and a smile.

"Huh? Troublesome. Whatever, tell me the details later, mom wants you over for dinner."

"Sure."

"GOAL!"

I look to the second door at the back of the room while Shikamaru rolls his eyes and goes to his seat when we see Sakura and Ino bickering about who got there first. Though the two of them are a little annoying, it's pretty entertaining when they argue.

Huh? Why's Sakura coming over here?

"Uh, hi Saku-"

"Move it!" Sakura said shoving me out of my seat without even looking at me. "Um, Sasuke, can I sit next to you?"

Oh, right.

I roll my eyes shaking my head as the girls gathered around arguing about who gets to sit next to Sasuke.

Jeez. These kunoichi are nothing but simple, stupid, hopeless fangirls. Simple and stupid because I bet that not one of these girls had any real reasons to like Sasuke other than him being top-of-the-class. Hopeless because it was obvious Sasuke had no interest in anything other than being the strongest ninja.

I then found myself looking at Hinata. She was the only girl I could see that wasn't a fangirl.

Sure, I knew she had a crush on me, I'm not clueless, but she actually tries to be a ninja and works her hardest to do so while the other kunoichi in my class only try to get Sasuke's attention.

At least one girl showed promise.

I wince when my ears started ringing because my crazy good hearing decided to turn on just when the screeching fangirls bickering got louder and higher in pitch. Unable to bear it any longer, I stood up and pushed a random girl from the group in front of me... who happened to be, by pure honest coincidence, Sakura.

"H-Hey, Naruto!" Sakura started to protest as I pushed her through the crowd.

She stopped when I sat her down next to Sasuke and then sat next to her myself.

"There, problem solved." I said placing my chin in hand with my elbow on the desk.

Just when the girls were about to harp at me, Iruka-sensei walked in ordering silence and for the girls to sit.

"Thanks Naruto." Sakura whispered smiling.

I only shrug.

I didn't do it for her, my ears were starting to ring and it was giving me a headache.

Iruka announced the teams and it was of funny Team 7 was announced the way we were seated.

x

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(NORMAL P.O.V.)

"Why would I want to have lunch with you?" Sakura said frowning at Naruto.

"Well we're teammates, so I thought-"

"Naruto, you're annoying." Sakura said before turning around and hurrying off, "Sasuke! Sasuke where'd you go?"

Naruto sighed, 'That's what I get for trying to be nice to a fangirl.'

Naruto just shrugs and heads off to Ichiraku's. Ayame usually makes him a bento since food stores kick him out all the time and she slightly disapproves of his alternative way of getting food even though he's a ninja. Naruto forgot to pick up his bento this morning.

Ayame and her father are two others who knew Naruto's true self.

"Naruto, there you are." Ayame's father, Teuchi, said. "Ayame was worried when you didn't pick up your bento this morning."

"Sorry." Naruto said scratching the back of his head embarrassed. "It slipped my mind with graduation and all."

"I heard." Teuchi said smiling. "Good for you."

"Thanks. Where's Ayame?"

"She's out on delivery. I got your bento right here." Teuchi said lifting a three bento box tower wrapped in a dark blue and light blue checkered cloth onto the counter top. "Hayate also came by to remind you of practice. I guess he knew your head would be up in the clouds today."

"Oh, thanks, I completely forgot." Naruto grabbed his bento, thanking Teuchi again, and hurried to Training Grounds 13.

Iruka had said their new senseis would be picking up their teams three hours after lunch, and while these sessions with Hayate went from three and a half hours to five and a half hours, he wasn't too worried about showing up late.

Naruto had booked it to training grounds 13 and found Gekko Hayate waiting.

Naruto put his bento down and bowed to Hayate.

"Good morning Naruto." The sickly looking jounin said with a cough.

"Good morning Nii-sensei." Naruto said straightening up.

"Eat half *cough* of your bento for *cough* now." Hayate said. "We'll take a break and *cough* you can finish it *cough cough* then."

"Hai Sensei."

[FLASHBACK]

Four-year-old Naruto had been wandering around after all the parents at the playground took their kids home when he showed up. He found himself closing in on Training Grounds 13 when he heard shouts, clanging, swishes, and some cursing. He hid himself and peeked through the bushes to see a group of ANBU without their masks and two of them practicing kenjutsu. One was a really tall guy with long black hair and white eyes.

A Hyuuga.

The other was shorter had short brown hair and dark circles under his eyes. The shorter guy was obviously winning. A second later, the Hyuuga was unarmed, back to the ground, and the tip of the shorter guy's blade to his neck.

Hyuuga didn't look to happy as the other ANBU clapped and two came over to help him up. As soon as he was on his feet, he shoved the two away from him and stormed off.

"Well I guess that's enough for today." Another ANBU said. "Let's get a drink, on me."

The others seemed to like the sound of that and started to leave. One of the female ANBU with long purple hair turned to the shorter guy that one and asked, "You coming Hayate?"

"No. I think *cough* I'm going to practice a bit more and go home. Maybe next time Yugao."

Yugao shrugged and fallowed the others.

Just as he said, Hayate practiced a bit more. After practicing a kata for about ten minutes he paused and faced the bushes Naruto was still hiding in.

"You can come out now." Hayate said.

Thinking the young Anbu would get mad to find it was him hiding, Naruto debated running before hesitantly coming out of the bushes, looking down at the ground.

"You're Naruto right?" Hayate asked.

Carefully, Naruto nodded without looking up.

"Why are you here? *cough* You should be more careful."

Naruto carefully nodded again.

"... How long have you been hiding there?" Hayate asked curiously.

"... A l-little befowe you beat that Hyuuga guy." Naruto said looking up at Hayate with his eyes without movie his head from facing down.

'And no one sensed him?' Hayate thought curiously. 'The only thing that gave him away a minute ago was a very light flicker of his chakra...'"Do you know anything about chakra Naruto?"

Naruto seemed to think for a moment before asking, "It's enewgy wight? Ninjas use it."

Hayate nodded. "Anything else?"

Naruto shook his head.

Hayate nodded again. 'That's to be expected but it's impressive he even knows what chakra is at his age. Hokage-sama probably told him but for him to actually understand it and hide his chakra signature without realizing it... I wonder...'"Why were you hiding?"

"... I... I thought you wouldn't let me watch... if..."

"If I knew it was you?" Hayate guessed.

Naruto nodded sadly.

"Do you like kenjutsu Naruto?"

Naruto nodded happily. "My favowite books and stowies Hokage-Jiji tells me have kenjutsu mastews in them... But I nevew seen kenjutsu befowe."

"If you got a teacher, you *cough* wouldn't have to just watch but participate."

Naruto bit his lip before hesitantly asking with big hope-filled eyes, "... W... Would you teach me?"

Hayate blinked in surprise before smiling and nodded. "Sure."

[FLASHBACK END]

Clang!

Naruto gritted his teeth at the strength of Hayate's vertical swing he just blocked before jumping back and taking a defensive stance.

Hayate nodded, ending their session for the day as the student and teacher bowed to one another.

"Very good *cough* Naruto." Hayate praised. "A couple more lessons and you will have *cough cough* mastered everything I have to teach you in kenjutsu."

Naruto smiled out of breath and nodded in thanks handing over the spare sword Hayate had brought.

"I'll see you to-*cough*-morrow at *cough* three." Hayate said before shunshining away.

Naruto went over to where the empty bento boxes, his shirt, and a jacket lay and redressed before heading off to Training Grounds 7 and the memorial stone.

x

(NARUTO P.O.V.)

I paused in step when I reach the memorial stone after I see this masked gray-haired jounin standing in front of it already. He gave me a glance before going back to staring at the stone. I didn't say anything to him. For all I knew, he could've been one of the many that saw me as the fox.

I put the bento boxes down and put my hands together in prayer.

'I'm a genin now Dad. Wish me luck!' I prayed with a smile before bowing to the stone and heading back to Ichiraku's to drop off the bento boxes.

I wasn't stupid.

I knew who my father was.

Hell, how can I not?

I look just like him for Kami's sake!

After I dropped off the bento boxes, I found out I was late meeting my new sensei and ran to the academy as fast as I could with my weights still on.

I've been wearing weights since I was six... Well... weight seals. I found a book on basic seals in Hokage-jiji's office and a few others from beginners to experts and one really old one for Seal Masters. I'm nowhere near being a Seal Master... yet. At least, I don't think so... Anyway, I have a weight seal on each elbow, knee, wrist, ankle, and one on my torso. I don't know how much I'm carrying anymore.

Let me think... I know it's a lot.

Last time I checked... I had 800 on my torso... and 400 on each elbow, wrist, knee, and ankle seal...

4000 LBS.

...

I think I'll add another hundred or two to my seals sometime tomorrow.

I rocket passed Training Grounds 4 and a strange shiver runs up and down my spine a couple times just after I hear a shout of "Gai-sensei" and "By the springtime of youth"...

I don't know what the Hell that was about and I'm not too sure I want to.

-Train Grounds 4-

"Today my students, we are going to-"

Maitou Gai was cut off when someone clad in orange jet by, causing the dirt and wind to pick up behind him and blow into Team Gai, almost knocking them over a second or two later.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed in surprise as he stared after the orange blur of a boy that seemed to have disappeared.

"By the Springtime of Youth!" Gai exclaimed in his own surprise. "Lee! I have never seen someone other than you to be so fast! LIKE A ROCKET OF YOUTH!"

"YOSH!" Lee shouted punching a fist in the air. "I, under oath of my youth, do hereby swear that I will make the Orange Rocket my rival! MY ETERNAL RIVAL OF YOUTH!"

Gai shed tears of pride. "Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!" Lee cheers crying his own happy tears before they hug.

And thus, a rivalry(?) was born.

-Back to Naruto-

I skid to a stop in the hall outside my old classroom door and go passed it by about a foot before getting back to the door and opening it in a rush.

"Sorry I'm late Sensei, I-"

I cut myself off when I see Iruka, Sasuke, and Sakura were the only people in the room.

"Ah, there you are Naruto. I was just about to leave." Iruka said. "Where have you been? You're nearly an hour and a half late."

"Oh! Uh... Just Ichiraku's! I got to talking to old man Teuchi and Ayame and I guess I loss track of time." I lied before asking, "Where's our new sensei?"

Iruka sighed. "He's even later. I have to get going. I'll see you guys around."

With that Iruka left and the classroom went into an awkward silence... For me at least.

Shrugging to myself, I go over and sit on top of a desk and take out one of the storage scrolls in my weapons pouch. The scroll I took out was a mahogany red color and it was my entire library consisting of 283 books. Over the years, my house has been broken into and more when I wasn't there more times than I would like to think. Since the villagers couldn't really do anything to me physically thanks to the old man's law, they always take the damage they wanted to do to me out on my things, if you haven't noticed that already. Hence why I've had to wear orange most of my life growing up, why Ichiraku's is the only place I can go to eat without "stealing" among other things. After the third or fourth time my apartment was broken into, I kept my most favored items in Jiji's office before I learned basic sealing and some a bit more difficult. And I made sure all my scrolls were "locked" with a blood seal.

For example, my "library" scroll.

A scroll this size should normally only be able to fit, at most, 15 to 20 books. However, with the combination of a storage seal, a couple layer seals, a division seal, and a quantity seal, I can put up to 500 to 550 books in one average sized scroll.

I bit my thumb to bleed and opened my library scroll, not even noticing or really caring about my teammates' eyes on me as I unrolled the scroll. There was a small list of categories. Bingo for my collection of Bingo Books old and new, Sealing for any and all books Jiji provided for me on seals, Bio for what I have on anatomy and herbs, Fiction for anything that's simply entertainment, and Other for anything that doesn't fall into the other four categories. I placed my hand over "sealing" and focused my chakra into it. There was a puff of smoke and a long list of the books I had under "sealing" in my library appeared. This time I focused my chakra into my index finger and placed it over Strengthening Seals Vol. 3. I'd already read it of course, it is my library, but there's nothing wrong with reading it a seventh or eighth time. There was another puff of smoke and the foot long, eight inch wide, three inch thick book appeared on the open scroll.

Just when I picked it up and was about to read it, Sakura asked, "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" I asked confused.

"That, with the scroll!" Sakura said getting easily irritated.

"It's just a storage scroll." I said before starting to read.

I felt and ignored Sakura's glare before she turned to Sasuke with a huff. Sasuke just snorted and and went back to frowning at the chalkboard. He'd never admit that he was curious about something the "dead-last" just did.

Whatever, not my problem.

After another hour of waiting, I put away my book and decided to put a chalkboard eraser between the door and doorway and went back to the desk I'd been sitting on, ignoring Sasuke's "A jounin isn't going to fall for that" and Sakura's "Yeah, you're such an idiot" and watched as our new sensei walked in causing the eraser to fall on his head.

"You two were saying?" I mutter as Sakura gets all defensive saying how she told me not to and I wouldn't listen while Sasuke was probably thinking the guy couldn't possibly be a jounin... Then I found I recognized the guy.

"Hey, you're the guy I saw at the memorial stone earlier!" I exclaimed pointing at the jounin.

"Hmm... Meet me on the roof." The masked jounin said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

x

(NORMAL P.O.V.)

The three genin sat in front of the jounin, who just suggested telling each other about themselves.

"Why don't you go first?" Sakura said. "You know, to give us an example."

"Me? Well, I'm Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes... I don't feel like telling you. Dreams for the future? ... I never really thought about it... As for hobbies? ... I have many."

Sakura's eye twitched in irritation as she thought, 'That was pointless, all he told us was his name.'

"Your turn." Kakashi said.

"I'm Haruno Sakura and what I like is... I mean who I like is..." Glances at Sasuke and blushes. "Hobbies... Dreams for the future..." Glances at Sasuke and squeals happily.

Sasuke ignores all this resisting the strong urge to roll his eyes.

Naruto rolled his eyes and shook his head thinking, 'Good grief.'

Kakashi sighed thinking, 'Girls her age are more interested in boys than the ninja arts.'"Okay. Next."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like to read, train, learning more jutsu... and a few other things. I dislike judgemental and arrogant pricks who just assume things and don't even bother to get their facts straight... and a couple of other things. My hobbies fall under my likes and pulling pranks... and another thing or two. And my dream is more of a life-long goal really. I want to... surpass my father and those before him."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this in confusion.

Sakura frowned thinking, 'What is the idiot saying now? He doesn't have a father. I bet he doesn't even know who his father is and he's just saying that to sound cool.'

Kakashi couldn't help smiling under his mask. 'Oh yeah. He's definitely their son.'"And lastly..."

"My name... is Uchiha Sasuke... I have many dislikes and don't particularly like anything."

Sakura, who'd sat up in hopes of hearing what he likes in a girl and such, forwned dejectedly at Sasuke's answer.

"I don't have a dream because I will make it a reality... My ambition is to avenge my clan... and kill a certain man."

'Sasuke... so cool.' Sakura mentally gushed.

'His brother... as expected.' Naruto thought.

'I knew it.' Kakashi thought. "Okay... Now then, tomorrw you'll be taking your final test..."

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Naruto was currently on his way to Shikamaru's after Kakashi had just scared the team with the 66% failure rate before announcing where to meet the next day for the all-or-nothing pass/fail test. Naruto could only sigh on his way to the Nara's.

'"Don't eat or you'll puke", he says... Whether that's true or not, I won't be able to do much of anything while I'm hungry and at a loss of energy for not eating... Still, being worked so hard that I puke is even less healthy... *sigh*... In the words of a certain lazy genius that's my age-'"This is so troublesome."

Naruto heard a faint sneeze and looked up to see he was already at the Nara's and knocked.

"Oh Naruto! Good, you're here!" Said a woman with her long dark brown hair hanging over her shoulder. "Shikaku and Shika-chan are out back playing shogi. You go join them out back and I'll get dinner started."

"Yes Yoshino-san."

After slipping off his sandals, Naruto headed to the back porch to find Shikamaru cursing under his breath after a somewhat cruel defeat in shogi by his father.

Naruto looked over the board and chuckled, "You forgot about one piece and it cost you the game. Something like that can cost you more than a tally on a losing streak on the field Shikamaru."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Naruto couldn't help chuckling at his lazy but brilliant friend's reaction... And the blonde couldn't be anymore grateful for having such a friend like him and the others.

[FLASHBACK]

Naruto waited nervously in a random training ground for his three closest if not only friends his age who, besides Shikamaru, found out who Naruto really was along the years in the academy. It wasn't long until Shikamaru, Choji, and Shino came upon the training grounds. Unlike them, Naruto wanted to wait to wear his headband until orientation.

He wanted to keep his graduation secret for now.

"Hey Naruto *munch munch*, what's up?" Choji asked munching on a bag of chips like usual.

"Yeah, why'd you call us here?" Shikamaru asked confused.

"I'm rather curious myself." Shino said monotonely.

Naruto bit his lip nervously unable to bring himself to look any of his friends in the eye.

"Naruto?" Shino questioned.

The three of them grew confused. Silence was not exactly new once you really got to know Naruto but... They'd never seen him so... scared? Was that it? Noting the slight trembling of the blonde's body they realized, yes, he was scared about something. They'd never even seen the blonde look nervous before.

"You guys are my friends right?" Naruto asked hesitantly. "I... I can tell you anything and... You won't hate me like everyone else... Right?"

"Of course not." Choji said throwing away his empty chip bag. "What's this about Naruto?"

"I... I found out why the villagers and some shinobi... I found out why they treat me like some kind of plague..." Naruto said with his eyes still on the ground and shadowed from their view.

"You did?" Shikamaru asked now curious. "Why then?"

"... You guys heard about Mizuki-sensei turning out to be a traitor the other night right?" Naruto asked first. "Everyone was told he tried to steal the Sacred Scroll right?"

"Yeah." Choji said confused.

"And you guys remember a while ago how we were all sure my dad's the Yondaime with how much I look like him?" Naruto asked. "And it'd be kept secret to keep me safe?"

"Yes." Shino said though he and the other two didn't know where Naruto was going with this.

"Mizuki became a traitor doing two things the other night." Naruto said. "One was that... he tricked me into stealing the Sacred Scroll for him... saying it was a test that could get enough points to graduate and it was a test only given to specially chosen students and bunch of other junk that got me hook, line, and sinker..." Naruto clenched his fists.

"Well at least he was caught." Choji said. "He was a teacher. Even with all the jackasses in the school who fail you purposely, how were you supposed to know."

"I should've, he was one of the teachers who graded me most of the time." Naruto argued. "But... that's not the real reason I called you guys out here today. You see, there's this law that no one our age knows about. A decree that was made after the Kyuubi's defeat. A decree to keep this big secret and to keep people from acting on it. Mizuki told me what it was and it proves why everyone hates me and at the same time kind of confirms my dad's the Yondaime."

"If it proves your dad's the Yondaime, why would everyone hate you?" Choji asked confused.

"Because... Dad couldn't kill the Kyuubi." Naruto said. "It was just as impossible as everyone was lead to believe. So he did the next best thing... He sealed it. But he couldn't seal it just anywhere... He had to seal it into something that would be able to contain all that demon chakra no matter how big... or small of a container... Something... he knew he could trust to be strong enough to hold it back." Naruto seemed to be choking on his breath now and his trembling slightly increased. "And... And knowing that he couldn't even bring himself to make such a sacrifice, how could he expect someone else to sacrifice their only child to keep the Kyuubi at bay..."

"Wait, y-you're saying he..." Choji gasped.

"Oh shit..." Shikamaru sighed in disbelief.

"I see... And everyone sees you as the monster that attacked the village and took away their loved ones..." Shino said in understanding.

"Yeah..." Naruto said finally lifting his head to look at them. "Jiji was against me telling you at first but he understood that you guys are my friends and I wanted to be honest with you... At least I hope we're still friends..."

"What are you talking about, of course we're still friends!" Shikamaru said like Naruto's idiot-mask suddenly became real. "You're you, kyuubi's kyuubi."

"I can understand how you might feel." Shino said. "All of you are aware how many view the Aburame clan as freaks for containing a hive inside our bodies. The difference is that you were not aware of what you are containing and you don't think like it does or any other such nonsense these people seem to believe."

"Yeah, you're like a pork bun!" Choji declaired getting confused and surprised looks from the other three. "Kyuubi's the pork and you're the dough containing it! A pork bun can't be a pork bun without the pork or dough! Wait... No, that's probably a bad example. What about a rice ball? Yeah, Kyuubi's the leeks or salmon or something and you're the rice keeping it inside. A rice ball doesn't have to have something inside it to taste good right?"

There was silence... for a moment.

"Pfft!"

Naruto and Shikamaru burst out laughing and Choji soon fallowed while Shino couldn't help chuckling with a smile slightly visible behind the high collar of his jacket.

"While I like being called a rice ball rather than a demon brat, Jiji says I'm what people call a Jinchuuriki." Naruto said still laughing a bit at Choji's declaration ten minutes later.

[FLASHBACK END]

Naruto and Shikamaru had started their own game of shogi and an hour and a half later they weren't even halfway through the game when Shikamaru's mother called them for dinner.

As they ate, Naruto told them how he graduated for learning and master a jounin level technique. Shikamaru said his sensei was Asuma and that he didn't even give them a final test. Just said they passed and Naruto showed him the Bingo book he had with Asuma's file and said Asuma's fair with decisions and dislikes favoritism. Afterwards Naruto told the Nara's that his sensei was Sharingan Kakashi the Copy-nin. Shikaku said "good luck" and that he was going to need it because Kakashi had never passed a single team among the dozens he'd tested thus far. Naruto then got them laughing when he told them he got the masked jounin to fall for a really childish prank with the chalkboard eraser.

"Well that just shows that no matter what skills you have, you could fall for even the simplest of tricks when you're not paying full attention." Shikaku said.

"So Naruto when are you finally getting rid of that orange suicide suit." Yoshino asked.

"When my personalized order gets here in a few days." Naruto said happily.

"Good." Yoshino said with a smile.

After dinner, Naruto and Shikamaru went back to their shogi game and it was long after sundown when their game was nearly halfway through. It was nearing midnight when it was two-thirds over. Needless to say, their game was quite hurried when they called in a tie at midnight seeing as Naruto still had to take the final exam with his team in a few hours.

Naruto was walking tiredly down the street heading for his apartment. He was so tired, he was practically sleep walking. He didn't notice nor did he hear the two ninjas clad in matching green jumpsuits walking towards him on their index fingers.

"There's nothing like a good midnight exercise, is there Lee?" Gai-sensei said to his student.

"There is not, Gai-sensei!" Lee agreed wholeheartedly.

Naruto yawned loudly as he walked between them catching their undivided attention. They stopped on their index fingers and watched as Naruto just kept on walking, oblivious to their presence.

"It seems we are not the only ones who think so Lee!" Gai said happily.

Lee however had his eyes on the orange set of clothes Naruto was wearing before coming to a conclusion. "Gai-sensei, he is the Orange Rocket I swore on my youth to make my eternal rival!" He loudly announced as he flipped onto his feet.

Gai, also flipping to his feet, then said, "Then we must introduce ourselves and confirm your rivalry Lee!"

The two green jumpsuit wearing ninjas then hurried to either side of Naruto, who was half asleep by now.

Noticing this, Gai smiled brightly saying, "Such determination! Sleeping while on a walk at night for a youthful time of exercise! Tell us, what is your name my youthful orange-clad friend?"

"Yes! I must know the name of my sworn eternal rival!" Lee said.

Naruto blinked tiredly and the two of them before yawning loudly, their voices woke him up a bit. "Uzumaki... *YAWN*... Naruto... and *yawn* I won't be orange-clad for much longer."

"Oh? Why's that?" Gai questioned.

"The clothes that I want to wear won't be in for a *yawn* couple more days." Naruto said before tiredly pinching the front of his orange jacket and held it up. "These are the only type of clothing the villagers would sell me."

Gai nodded seeing as he knew who this boy was. But he was surprised that this year's dead-last was so fast that Lee would want to be his eternal rival of youth!

'Perhaps there's much more to him than most thought from the academy... Much like Lee...' Gai thought. 'I wonder...'"Naruto-kun, do you wear weights?"

Naruto yawned again before tiredly nodding.

"How often do you wear them?" Lee asked curiously seeing as it didn't seem like the blonde was wearing any.

"I'm... *yawn*... always wearing my weight seals..." Naruto answered.

"Weight seals?" Lee questioned.

'I see. Incredible.'"How much are you wearing right now?" Gai asked.

"Four...*yawn*... thousand in all but I'm planning to add another hundred or two in a few hours... *yawn* or maybe after my genin team's final exam..."

'FOUR THOUSAND?' The two green jumpsuit wearing ninjas mentally exclaimed. 'That's 1600 more than mine/Lee's!'

'I'm sleepy...' Naruto thought going back to his half-asleep-while-standing state.

"Yosh! Uzumaki Naruto, I wish to start a rivalry with you!" Lee announced loudly. "We shall provide one another with challenges in our youth to the ends of time!"

Gai's eyes were starting to water with pride while Naruto unknowingly sealed his fate with his next set of words.

"*Yawn*... Huh? Sorry, you say something?" Naruto asked tiredly.

There was silence until Lee shouted, "YOSH! My rival has a hip attitude just as my sensei's eternal rival Kakashi!"

"Kakashi-sensei? *Yawn*... He's not my sensei yet. *Yawn*... I have to pass my exam first."

"Did you hear that Lee?" Gai exclaimed cheerfully. "Your eternal rival is the student of my eternal rival!"

"YOSH!"

'Eternal rival?... Huh?... Those are some bushy eyebrows...' Naruto yawned again continuing his way home, oblivious to the green-clad student and teacher behind him crying and hugging in the street.

After reaching his apartment, Naruto was out the moment he dropped himself like dead-weight onto his bed, not knowing he'd forget all about his new found rivalry he was only half conscious to discover when he wakes up the next morning.

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BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEE-

Click!

Naruto sighed tiredly after hitting the SNOOZE button on his alarm clock. Funny how he got an alarm clock months ago but with masquerading himself as an idiot while in the academy, he never used it till now. He blinked tiredly before sitting up confused.

He didn't dream about the tunnel last night...

He didn't have a dream at all.

'What's that about?' Naruto thought. Then he just shrugs. 'Whatever. It's just a dream anyway... Right?'

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Naruto undressed out of the white tee shirt and blue sweats he didn't remember changing into last night and headed for his bathroom for a quick shower. The cold water from the shower head that hit him first before warming up woke him instantly. A few minutes later, he came out with one towel wrapped around his waist and drying his hair with another when he heard a light tapping on his window. Naruto went over and pulled up the blinds and smiled brightly when on the other side of the glass he found a striped and speckled sparrow with feathers of light and dark shades of brown(1) carrying a message from the Hokage's office around his neck. Letting the towel he was using to dry his hair hang over his shoulders, Naruto unlocked and opened his window to get the message and greet his busy little feathery friend. Ibbit was a strong little guy to carry what most falcons or messenger hawks are able to carry.

(NARUTO P.O.V.)

I found Ibbit around the time my "cavern dreams" started. His egg was cracked on the ground but not completely broken. I picked his egg up and the crack in his shell went back together as if it had never been there. Before I could question how it had happened, he hatched. I took care of him and made him a nest in the garden tree I have in the corner of my bedroom until it gets too big to stay indoors. I can talk to Ibbit like I can usually talk to Iruka-sensei only without hiding anything and he talks to me... sort of. It's not like I can really understand what Ibbit says, but I know what he's saying... I can feel it. That's the best way I can describe it.

And after being only two weeks old, Ibbit "said" he wanted to be the first ever ninja sparrow. So I took him to Hokage tower and intorduced him to the old man. The old man said sparrows only lived for maybe a little over half a year. When all seemed lost, I finally said, "If I can be Hokage, Ibbit can be a ninja bird." With that, the old man couldn't help smiling and finally caved saying Ibbit had to go through a test and if he passed, he would train as a messenger bird until I became genin. Ibbit, needless to say, passed with flying colors.

No pun intended.

So if all goes well, today will be Ibbit's last day as a messenger bird.

I read the message out loud with a sigh, "Naruto, I regret to inform you that your clothes will not be in for another month due to Gato Shipping Company's delay. Great, so I'm stuck wearing clothes that scream 'Here I am, kill me!' for not only another month but during the month I start doing missions if we pass this test." I look at Ibbit with a smile as he puffs up and ruffles his feathers in irritation for me. "Well, on the bright side, if I pass this last test today, you'll be a ninja bird tommorrow officially."

At that, Ibbit starts bouncing on his feet excitedly before jumping up and doing loop-d-loops in the air before jetstreaming back to Hokage tower. I shake my head with a laugh before putting on my "suicide suit". Getting my ninja gear together, I thought more about what out test could be. I shake my head. There was no point in wondering when I was going to find out.

I was already a half an hour late...

DAMNIT!

I book it as soon as I grabbed my full bag of ninja gear. Clouds of dirt were right behind me, I stop right when I'm halfway there. I forgot to add weight to my seals. I think the coolest thing about my weight seals is that they don't show up on my skin unless I'm applying chakra or releasing the seals. I added 150 to each ankle, elbow, knee, and wrist weight seal and 300 to my torso.

That makes 5500 LBS.

I nod to myself when I feel the weight. I hurry to the training grounds only to find Kakashi-sensei was later than me again.

I go over to the memorial stone and pray, 'I'm going to be a genin today Dad. Wish me luck.' I smile and bow to the stone before joining my teammates.

Sakura frowned at me sadly before seeming to look like she was forcing herself to smile before she finally somewhat accomplished it.

What was that about?

"Hey Naruto, why are you so late?" She asked still smiling somewhat awkwardly.

I raised an eyebrow.

Why does she care?

"I was up late last night." I said plainly before lying down in the grass and using my bag as a pillow with my eyes closed.

I hear Sasuke say, "Hn. It's stupid things like that, that make you the dead-last."

I couldn't help myself. I was tired and what he'd said in that stupid arrogant I'm-all-superior tone irritated me to no end. "What makes me dead-last was all the teachers aside from Iruka-sensei failing me without even looking at my papers, brushing me off whenever I actually asked for help, and kicking me out of class for no reason whenever we were learning things together." I open and look at them saying, "But you two wouldn't know that would you? Not with your precious Sasuke-kuuun around or you an your nobodies-better-than-me attitude that will sooner get the both of you killed. I'm gonna sleep off the ours I missed last night until Kakashi-sensei gets here." With that, I turn on my side with my back to them and fall asleep.

I woke up with a yawn, blinking my eyes open and look over to see my left hand up holding a shurikan spinning around my index finger half a foot away from my face. I sit up and sniff it before throwing it at Sasuke. It clipped a bit of his hair and made a paper cut thin slice on his right cheek before hitting the tree three yards behind him with a thunk.

"There's your shurikan back." I say tonelessly, ignoring his and Sakura's shocked expressions.

"I'm surprised you slept through Sakura screaming I was late and woke up only after catching a shurkican in your sleep." Kakashi-sensei said.

"I must've been really sleepy and I can't exactly control reflexes you know." I say standing up.

Kakashi chuckles.

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(1) Imagine a brown striped and speckled sparrow in the anime form of Hi-bird.

So anyway, that's chapter one and as I said at the beginning, you guys probably won't have to wait long for updates on this story since my writer's block here came at around chapter twelve or thirteen and I've already gotten back to writing the next chapter.

I apologize for the delays on my other updates but those ones really can't be helped. I HAVE started writing the next chapters for them but they're mostly in bits and pieces and with my head wrapped around Dragon Traits right now, it could be a while before I update my other stories.

I'M SORRY!

But there you have it.

The only reason I didn't put this story up first because it had more chapters and stuff is because the notebooks, yes that's plural because there is more than one, I kept the story in were all together in one bag and I found that bag only recently having lost it a while ago.

Hope you liked the first chapter, LATER!

:p (^-^) XD