Hey guys.

I'm right back in this with my new story, as you can see. This is inspired partially from a suggestion by a certain person (you know who you are), and I give them credit for the idea.

I hope that this is to your liking, because I certainly enjoyed writing this first chapter.

Konohagakure. The Village Hidden in the Leaves, in Hi no Kuni, Land of Fire. The most prominent of the five Shinobi Villages, known all around for its shinobi, its raw military force, and the two bloodlines that take residence within it. Throughout the lands, whether it be in awe or hate, word of Konoha can be heard daily. From Kirigakure, a land who's history was soaked with blood, to Iwagakure, a land once decimated by the strength of the village.

Years ago, the legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha, the Yondaime Hokage, had destroyed their forces with his legendary technique, Hiraishin. Ever since that day, they have despised Konoha, and have vowed to do whatever it takes to destroy them, and bring them the shame and humilation the Hokage had brought upon them so many years ago.

In this day and age, after the dreaded attack of the hellbeast Kyuubi, the Nine-tailed fox and near god of the Bijuu, Iwagakure may have found such a way to do so. In the Village Hidden in the Stone, word has reached the village council's ears of a young boy inhabiting Konoha, one who bore suspicious resemblance to the man that had ruined their forces single-handedly. Upon investigation, they found, aside from three whisker-like marks, that the boy looked EXACTLY like the Hokage in question...unquestionable evidence that they had found their target.

However, it would take years before they could have their opportunity to get inside the village and take the child...the Chuunin Exams, set to be held within Konohagakure. The perfect chance to do what they wished, without making themselves too suspicious. So, bide their time they would...

But their plans would meet a small hitch, as this boy, Uzumaki Naruto...well, you'll see.

Konohagakure - Forest Shrine - 8:53 PM.

"YOU ARE THE KYUUBI NO YOUKOU, and THAT'S why everyone hates you, brat! Even Iruka, even the man that you LOOK UP TO! Now DIE, DEMON FOX!" the insane schoolteacher, Mizuki, shouted, as he readied a massive shuriken, hurling it at his target, a small boy wearing a bright orange jumpsuit hinted with tinges of blue, and a baggy hood lifted up over his head. Said person recoiled in fear at the sight of the deadly weapon spiraling towards him, a high pitched shriek echoing from his mouth.

However, before the fatal implement could find its way into his chest, he heard a wet, slurping noise, and opened his eyes to see his beloved teacher hovering over him on all fours, smiling weakly. Feeling a drop of something warm fall onto his cheek, the boy wiped it off, smearing it across three of the whisker marks on his cheeks. Looking at it, he saw the crimson color, and looked up with dilated pupils at the man who had saved him, one Umino Iruka.

"Naru...to...d-don't believe a word he says...there are people that love you dearly...p-people that..." he started, pausing in the middle of his sentence and coughing blood, before falling to his side. Gravely injured, he was unable to finish, staring at Naruto with that same weak smile.

Still staring at him in fear, Naruto was barely able to grasp the concept of what had happened...until it all just hit him. Mizuki, the bastard that had chosen to fail him and stop his graduation, the man that wanted him dead, had just killed the only person he ever saw as anything like a father...and now there would be hell to pay.

Bringing his fingers up in a cross, the blonde loudmouth shouted out the name of the technique he had just spent hours practicing, under Mizuki's advice...all a trap, now that he saw it. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" erupted from his petite body. And in an enormous puff of smoke, dozens, no, hundreds of dopplegangers of the boy appeared, all glaring cruelly at the man in question. Mizuki shuddered for a moment, upon seeing what had happened, frozen in place at the sight before him. A genin, one that couldn't even make a simple Bunshin, who could barely make a competent Henge...had just performed an A-Rank technique, one even Jounin were advised against using...and to this extent. As he began to turn, the clones all rushed him, pounding upon him mercilessly. Blood splattered onto the ground, no doubt from the injuries that the evil man was slowly sustaining.

As the clones continued to beat into him, each started to vanish, in singular puffs of smoke. After a few minutes of this, only the real one remained, straddling Mizuki and continuing to lay fist after fist into his already bruised and battered face. That is, before Iruka, who had been regaining his strength the entire time, grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and began to pull him away...before he slipped out of his grip. Iruka made another grab, this time nabbing the back of the blonde's hood, only to have it slip out of his grip and fall off of Naruto's head. As the boy went back to beating Mizuki senseless, Iruka was startled at what he saw. From Naruto's hood, a cascade of the boy's blonde hair fell out, much smoother than what he remembered. For the longest time, he wondered why Naruto had taken to wearing that hood, since he was young...and now that he looked, he saw why. The boy had always had a very smooth jawline...he was always shorter than others, and always so much thinner...his voice, so very high pitched...and he understood. The boy...was actually a girl.

Konoha Forest Shrine - 9:22 PM

After a solid twenty minutes of facial devastation via a twelve-year-old's fists, Iruka had finally managed to drag Naruto, albeit kicking and screaming, away from the bloody man. Of course, the blonde knucklehead was determined to get at least one last strike in, and at the last second, managed to land a heel directly onto the poor man's genitals, eliciting a hearty groan and making the man curl up, in an extremely painful and slow movement, to protect himself from further harm. Grunting as he leaned up against a tree, his wound stinging as pressure was applied to it, Iruka looked at his favorite student, a smile on his face once more, but his eyes showing strong curiousity. Seeing the look, Naruto went to scratch his...er, her, head, only to find the hood missing. Her eyes widened with realization, and she began to panic.

"N-Naruto, hold on! It's alright, relax...just...what happened to you...?" the injured Chuunin asked, his voice full of worry as he tilted his head, the action alone enough to stop the girl from freaking out any further. She looked at him, her eyes watering slightly.

"Iruka-sensei...I'm so sorry I didn't tell you...I j-just thought...you wouldn't want to be around me..." she said, her voice having lost the hard edge it had normally, being replaced with a much lighter, feminine tone. But her sensei wanted to know, so she had to explain...especially after all this... "W-well, you see...it happened about...like, four years ago..."

Flashback - Konohagakure, October 10th, 12:26 PM.

This was it. The day everyone couldn't wait to celebrate. An entire festival, all dedicated to the one event that took place that day, the one that everyone was so grateful for. Except for Naruto, the pariah of the village. Only eight years old, as of this day...the very same day the Kyuubi was slain by the Yondaime Hokage. Today was the most miserable day for him, every year. Today was the day that everyone could really show their hate...call him Demon, Monster, Abomination...this was the day that he was almost always killed. Every year, he always woke up in the hospital, completely injury free, but hooked up to various machines that he had learned were called "Life Support." He still had nightmares about what happened during these days, and he knew he would for the rest of his life.

But today was different. For weeks, he had been plotting out how to get revenge on a lot of the guys that always beat him up. He had managed to create his own technique, based off of the Henge...his own, personal, Oiroke no Jutsu. He had gotten it to work before, and it was about time to test it out. Sliding his miniscule hands into the standard position for a Henge, he focused his chakra, and prepared to let the technique out. However, something was off. Naruto could feel something interfering, something big inside him...and then it went haywire. In a much larger burst of smoke than he was used to, he could feel his body changing...and he screamed, the pain of feeling bones move, even if only slightly, too much for him to bear at such a young age. He could feel organs moving about, some fading away entirely, making room for new ones, those that he would need...this was not what he had planned. This isn't what he wanted!

When the smoke finally cleared, Naruto knew what had happened, somewhat instinctively...he had become a she. Thankfully, he had chosen to do the transformation within his...her, apartment, as run down as it was, so no one could see. Rushing to his broken and cracked mirror, he looked in it, seeing the changes to her face. As if to be certain, she pulled on the waistband of her pants, which now rode a little lower, before letting them snap back into place, a blush on her face. "O-oh kami, this isn't g- OH MY GOD MY VOICE!" she shrieked out, slapping her hands over her mouth with wide eyes. Before, Naruto's voice, while slightly feminine, could still be determined as male. Now it was distinctly female, and had the boy-turned-girl panicking. Looking back in the mirror, she noted that the only other visible change to gender had been her hair; formerly spiky and short, it had smoothed out considerably (with some spiky tufts still remaining towards the front), as well as lengthening down to her shoulders. Naruto assumed that she hadn't felt it simply because of the fact that she had been in so much pain. But this wouldn't do at all. So, Naruto found a pair of scissors, and one of her...more damaged jumpsuits from festivals prior, and started to cut out a chunk of it, very big for future years. Living alone for this long, even as a child, helped to produce certain skills, and sewing was one of them, as proven by her quickness at fashioning a hood and attaching it to her current jumpsuit. She found that her hands were now more nimble...more dextrous.

Curious about this change, the now-girl attempted some stretches taught in the Shinobi Academy, the ones that the guys all had difficulties with, but the girls did with ease. Bending easily into the sharp curves that the girls were able to do, Naruto was shocked at this new flexibility. "I...guess this isn't all bad..." she said to no one in particular. But that wasn't the point. She knew that it wouldn't do to only have one hood...but she was going to need supplies...which would be incredibly difficult to get. For now, though, she was really tired...the change had probably drained a lot of energy. So, she went to her ragged, torn up mattress and lied down, almost immediately drifting off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Flashback - October 10th, 7:47 PM.

After her long, several hour nap, Naruto awoke with a loud yawn. However, the high pitch of her voice confused her...until, after walking out of her room, she saw the reflection of her mirror, and everything immediately came back to her. She began to panick again, before remember that she had already gone through it, and the blonde girl took a deep breath, sighed, and regained what little composure she had. Nodding to herself, she put on her sandals and flipped up her new hood, obscuring her hair and shadowing her face slightly, her cerulean eyes shining out in the darkness. Inwardly, Naruto noted that she needed to get to her Jiji, the Hokage, to let him know about this...problem...and all the stuff she would need. She knew how dangerous the festival was for her, ESPECIALLY at this time, but it was reeeeeally important...and she knew the streets of Konoha really well, so she would be fine...hopefully.

After setting out, it had taken her a few minutes to get close to the Hokage Tower...but things had gotten a bit sour. While the crowds were heavily separated out farther, thus making it easy to sneak past them, they were far denser and far, FAR drunker the closer she got. Now, in the large, circular street that surrounded said tower, it was packed, people celebrating and drinking and making it basically impossible to get close...she had tried every alleyway she knew, tried the sewerlines, even tried the roofs, and there were people legitimately everywhere. Now, she had wandered into an alley she didn't know about, only to find a dead end. Cursing to herself, something an eight-year-old had no business doing, she started to turn, only to see three, much larger shadows cast over her. Looking up, she found herself staring directly in the faces of three grotesque looking, yakuza-esque men, each holding a half-empty bottle of booze with a sneer on their faces.

"Ehhhh, look Kizaki...we got ourselves a little - HIC- demon boy here...kyeheh..." the one on the left said, stepping forward, or more accurately stumbling forward, to stand at Naruto's side.

"I see that, Mato...maybe we oughta rough 'im up a bit...yaget wha' Imma sayin'?" the one on the right said with a slur, ungracefully sliding forward to block the other side.

The one in the middle, though, was clearly not as drunk as the others, as notable by the fact that he was standing without so much as a single sway, and the much more focused glare he held. "Mato, Kizaki. Shut yer traps before someone hears. We've gotta really lay into him this year...maybe get the little fuck to get the hell out of our village."

Backing up slightly, Naruto's legs trembled, her fear evident as she brought an arm up to protect herself, as if it would help. "P-P-P-please..." she stammered, her entire body now shaking as she saw what was about to happen, "P-please...d-d-don't hurt me...I didn't d-do anything!"

"Didn't do anything, huh? Tell that to my father, you little demon SHITSTAIN!" the leader shouted, thrusting a hand forward to grab Naruto. The girl turned to flee, though, and the man managed to catch her collar and jerk her back...the motion causing her hood to flop backwards. Catching sight of the girl's hair, an arrogant smirk popped onto his face.

"Well, well...look what we have 'ere...boys, it looks like we had the kid pegged ALLLL wrong. HE isn't a demon pest...SHE is a demon whore! And you know what we do with whores, eh?" he asked rhetorically, a lecherous grin plastered on his ugly mug.

Mato, the one on the left, giggled drunkely, clapping his hands together. "We f-f-forni...fornica...we fuck 'em, right bawse?!" he exclaimed, settling for use of the simpler, if far more foul, word.

"Of course we do, ya drunk asshole! Baya, we get to REALLY rough up the demon brat, don't we?" Kizaki asked, slurring his words a bit. He was clearly not as drunk as Mato, but not as sober as the leader, now known as Baya.

Nodding cruely, the man roughly grabbed Naruto's jacket, pulling at it and ripping it away, revealing the clean, white shirt that she wore underneath her jumpsuit. Despite the child's pleas for help and her struggling, no one heard, or maybe didn't care, as her fate was soon drawing near. Her baggy pants were next, the scraps being tossed aside like trash. Naruto was giving up hope, soon, her eyes shut as she braced for whatever was to follow, sobs coming from her body. The brutes merely laughed, though, clearly amused by her suffering. As Baya reached for the boxers she wore, though, a loud buzzing sound could be heard echoing in the alleyway. Confused, Baya and his men looked around, trying to find the source, before they saw...well, more like felt it.

Each of them soon felt a crawling sensation on their legs...looking down, they were shocked to see a black mass slowly covering their lower bodies, the buzzing now identified as the insects slowly engulfing them. Even as they tried to struggle, though, they realized it was fruitless. They felt their strength waning, and as the bugs covered their forms whole, causing Baya to drop Naruto, they knew they were screwed. But not dead. After they did their job, the insects retreated, leaving the yakuza-wannabees unconscious. The cloud of bugs returned to their host, a man wearing a large trenchcoat and sunglasses. Naruto attempted to crawl away, but found herself blocked by the wall again, and instead chose to cower, shielding herself with her arms again. The man walked forward and leaned down to pick her up, only to be met with Naruto's flailing and kicking body, her attempt to defend herself.

"Relax...I will not hurt you...I want to help..." the man said, picking her up even through her struggles. It didn't stop though, and the man continued to speak, though his tone suggested he did not want to talk so much. "I am Aburame Shibi...I am here to help...I saved you, young one..." whispered the man, attempting to be as calming as possible. It started to work, as Naruto stopped her struggles, though she still held herself defensively.

"H-How do I know you're n-not just g-g-g-gonna do bad things to me, l-l-like all the other villagers...?" asked the blonde, her hair disheveled and her remaining clothing dirtied by the filthy alleyway.

Shibi sighed gently, before pulling away his trademark sunglasses, revealing dark brown eyes. "I am close to the Hokage...and I know his fondness for you. You can trust me, child. I only wish to help."

Naruto looked into those eyes, and could feel that he was telling the truth, simply from the passion displayed in them. Even an intimidating man, such as himself, was very kind, apparently...enough so to calm down the frightened Naruto to the point where she actively clung to him.

With that, the man took off, away from the Hokage Tower, though Naruto didn't care. If she was going to be safe, it didn't matter. As long as the man could be trusted...

Flashback End.

"...and after that, I started visiting the Aburame compound all the time. Thing is, those bugs really like my chakra for some reason. So, I let them eat it up, since I have so much. It's actually really ticklish, so I enjoy it," the blonde girl said, a happy smile on her face.

Ever since that day, she had started showing up at the Aburame Clan Compound whenever she had free time, getting to know the various Aburame to the point where she was good friends with all of them. In fact, whenever she did show up, she was practically swarmed with both people and bugs, as they tried to be the first to get their insects fed. Iruka, though, was just amazed at the ordeal that Naruto had gone through.

"N-Naruto...that's...that's incredible...but...you've gone this long, hiding your real gender from everyone?" he asked, incredulous.

"Yup! I didn't want a repeat of that, so...I've been a lot more cautious. The only one who even knows is Shino-kun, but that's only 'cause I hang out at his place so often. He doesn't even talk much, so I know he wouldn't blab."

Iruka stared, slightly wordless, at this. The fact that she had gotten so close to that secretive family...it was too much for him to handle. So, a quick subject change was in order. "Naruto...if you could, close your eyes for me."

Tilting her head, Naruto showed her confusion. That was a really random thing to ask her to do all of a sudden, but she decided to do it. Even if she had issues trusting a lot of guys after...that...she knew Iruka was a good man. So, she closed her eyes tight, and held them that way, even as she felt something touching her forehead.

"Okay...open them."

And open she did, her vision immediately being filled of her sensei, smiling with tightly shut eyes...and his forehead protector, his hitai-ate, missing. Looking up, she found her vision now slightly clouded by something...when she reached up to check, she felt metal and cloth...Iruka's hitai-ate.

"Congratulations, Naruto-kun...you're officially a Genin. After all you've been through, and after showing me how well you mastered that technique...you deserve it."

Naruto froze for a moment, mouth slightly agape as her mind worked to register what had just happened. She was...a...Genin?

"Y-y-y-y-you mean..."

"Yes, Naruto. You've graduated."

And with that, the now-elated girl practically launched herself at Iruka, slamming into him with a life-crushing hug, rapid and high-pitched shouts of "THANKYOU" repeating themselves over and over and over again. With a pained grunt, Iruka managed to push her off, before laughing. Realizing what was so funny, Naruto started to laugh nervously along with him, her father-figure and herself enjoying the moment.

In the trees, however, a shadowed figure watched, only his outline visible to any onlookers. A glint of some reflective surface shone through the darkness for a brief moment, before he took off, a shadowed cloud of some substance following after him not a second later, the cloud flowing into his body.

This was not caught, however, by the other onlooker of the events, as his crystal ball only showed him the Chuunin and Genin pair that were bonding so very tightly at the moment.

"Naruto-kun...or, should I say, Naru-chan...? I'm glad that you've finally become a shinobi...but Mizuki...he almost ruined it all...ANBU, after Naruto and Iruka have left the shrine, go and collect Mizuki. I want him locked in the interrogation room...and get the Aburame Interrogation Specialist, please. I'm sure they'll enjoy this most," the Sandaime Hokage said, leaning back in his chair and taking a long drag on his pipe.

Naru-chan...why hide this for so long, even from myself? This changes a lot in the village...when they find out, terrible things may happen...

Aaaaaand end. There it is. Hope you guys liked it.

As always, read and review! I can NOT stress this enough!

Also, unlike last time, there won't be any delays in the writings of new chapters so that people can catch up. I'll update whenever I have a new chapter ready.

And another thing, no pairing votings will be chosen. I know what pairings I want, and they will be revealed when the time comes.

So for now, Silver is out. Kthxbai.