Three years, three years before Sasuke would be taken over by Orochimaru and become nothing more than a husk. He would no longer be the brother-rival that Naruto had come to know; merely imaging Orochimaru's twisted grin warping the Uchiha's face caused Naruto to retch.

This had all happened because he wasn't strong enough, he had tried his best to bring his brother back, even tapping into the Kyuubi's chakra and using his strongest jutsu, the Raseangan. It had all been for naught as even in brute strength the curse-enhanced Uchiha had outdone him and shoved his lightning covered fist through Naruto's chest.

The blond was lying in the hospital covered in bandages, if it hadn't been for Kyuubi's regenerative powers he was sure even Tsunade wouldn't have been able to fix him in time. He had just finished having a drag out fight with his god-father Jiraiya, the white haired man had been animate that he abandon trying to save Sasuke for a few years and focus solely upon using the Kyuubi's chakra.

That was another source of the blonde's anguish, when he had told the old pervert that he didn't need the Kyuubi to be a great ninja Jiraiya, growing more and more frustrated, had told the blond that he was wrong. He had come out and told Naruto that with the exception of his fight with Kiba, Naruto hadn't won a single fight without having to rely upon the Kyuubi.

Flashback

"God damn it Naruto, listen to yourself! Every fight you've ever won has been because of using the Kyuubi's powers; you beat that girl named Haku because you used the Kyuubi. Against Orochimaru you used the Kyuubi's chakra to defeat his snake summon. Kiba you only won because of a lucky fart, for god's sake! Without Kyuubi you wouldn't have been able to open your chakra points after that Neji closed them in the chunin exams. You're fight with Kabuto was a draw and that was only because he played with you so long that you surprised him! Then even with the Kyuubi you couldn't defeat Sasuke and force him to go back to the village, he trounced you because you couldn't draw on enough of its power."

Naruto's eyes had flashed red, he had flinched as every point of his own incompetence was laid out in front of him by his own godfather. "Why don't you just come out and tell me that I'm worthless as a shinobi, you don't want me, and you just want to use me for the Kyuubi's power!"

"Well face it Naruto you don't have anywhere near the skill to face Orochimaru, don't even start thinking about Akatsuki."

Tears had started streaming down the blonds face, "Then teach me Ero-sennin, teach me like the Third taught you, you don't have a fuzz-ball sealed in you and yet you were able to send Itachi and Kisame running!"

The tall white haired sage had crossed his arms with a determined look on his face, "I'll only train you if you promise to give up on Sasuke and to let me teach you how to use the Kyuubi's chakra."

The blond had merely sat there for several long minutes, his blond hair hung like a curtain, hiding his blues eyes from a world that he seemingly didn't want to see.

"No."

"What did you say?"

The sea of blond hair raised as the young ninja rose to face his godfather," No, I will not give up on Sasuke and I will not use the Kyuubi's chakra. If you aren't willing to help me, I'll learn on my own. I will use every resource in this village and become a shinobi that the world has never seen."

His eyes remained light blue but colored by a spark of determination that showed the world that nothing would deter the blond from this path.

Jiraiya had left after that, telling the blond to have Tsunade contact him when he was willing to become a real shinobi and stop being a foolish child. Jiraiya had then left the village to manage his spy network but left a toad behind with the Hokage, if she needed to recall him.

Several Days Later

Despite his argent protests Naruto had been forced to stay in the hospital and strapped down by Tsunade after the blonde's third escape attempt. The blond, having wanted to get out as soon as possible, walked out of the hospital at dawn, pink just starting to surge across the sky, banishing the darkness of the previous night.

Naruto had thought along and hard while in the hospital about the things he needed to learn and how he would acquire it without Ero-sennin. The sage would've been a font of knowledge but he had sworn an oath that he would not keep relying upon Kyuubi to do all his fighting for him, that he wouldn't cripple himself by having to use the beast's chakra. From now on the fox's chakra was off limits and he would grow strong without the old perverts help.

Walking through the village was strangely comforting at this time of day, the average citizen was still asleep, unable to glare at him or whisper behind his back, the village was empty of the living, leaving the quietness a blanket fallen upon the sleeping populous. He was able to walk through parts of the village he usually avoided, the venders shops worn by age and time, boarded up for the night, the market place was quiet and the silence welcomed him far more than the hustle and bustle ever had.

Not many had ever seen behind his mask enough to know but the blond had always preferred the silence to noise, not to say he didn't enjoy people, what type of attention starved orphan wouldn't like people. He merely liked a quiet conversation over tea, the problem with that being a calm and collected Naruto, hell any type of Naruto that wasn't stupid and perpetually happy would anger the villagers, so he had simply adopted the facade that seemed to anger them the least.

The glares and heated whispers had nothing on the weekly beatings he had gotten before adopting his mask. The healing the Kyuubi gave him was the only reason that he wasn't permanently disfigured by his 8th birthday.

The blond ninja looked up and found himself staring at tall support columns made of granite, beyond them stood a red wall with a single pair of double doors and a plague, the plague read simply Konoha Public/Shinobi Library. He had been here once before as a young kid seeking shelter from a thunder storm. The old bat in there had chased him off with her cane, forcing him back into a storm that was later coined storm of the century. Naruto smirked wryly as he considered that day; I suppose life wasn't interesting enough for me without having to dodge lightning. He glanced down at the first sized hole in his orange jumpsuit, I guess I'm out of practice.

The whiskered shinobi walked forward and passed the columns, when he passed the column he was a small malnourished blond, when he walked out the other side he was a stocky brown haired chunin with hazel eyes. Entering the Library he took the time to look around, there were thousands of books, shelves upon shelves, the colors blending together into patterns that defied order and reason.

The now brown haired man walked up to the help desk, "excuse me miss, could you possibly direct me to the shinobi training section?"

The young blond who had been at the desk stood up smoothing out her plaid skirt as she blushed slightly, "Of course Shinobi-san, I'll show you personally."

A few minutes later, the young blond woman was scurrying out of the shinobi section with a smile and deep blush. The genin turned chunin nodded content with himself after he dropped his fake smile when the blond was out of sight, cultivating a good standing relationship with her might serve to allow him to gather information or bend some of the rules to better suit his needs.

He knew his weaknesses, he had purposefully not tried too hard to improve, it wasn't that he didn't try, it was merely a lack of focused intent. A strong 'demon' would bring on more anger by the villagers, so his work was lack luster. He had actually taken to writing as plots development was something he could think about while pretending to be working hard in front of the numerous sensei.

When Kakashi had come around he had been willing to work hard but the man wasn't interested in training them in anything but teamwork. Next had been Jiraiya and for once the blond was taught a technique and didn't let himself get distracted, he had learned the Raseangan in a record breaking month as where it had taken the old pervert a year.

Now however, he had a reason to get stronger. Jiraiya's message had indeed pounded home, holding himself back and pretending to be stupid wasn't helping him to win battles, without the Kyuubi he would be dead from any one of the opponents he had faced so far.

The disguised blond slowly walked through the training section, first should be Taijutsu as I don't actually have a style yet.

Several hours were spent looking through the various Taijutsu styles, after reading each one he would create a single disguised shadow clone with that style in mind and send it to a training ground to experiment with the style before dispelling to inform the original of the 'feel' of the style. Goken, the style Lee and Gai used, was a hard hitting style relying upon great feats of strength and speed but he merely wasn't comfortable using such a straight forward style.

There were numerous other clan styles that were kept in public record, Naruto soon figured out exactly why the generic versions of clan Taijutsu weren't kept secret, the blond couldn't use them at all. They weren't a matter of strength or speed, his body just wasn't built for the movements the styles required, it was like asking a lumber jack to do a ballerina's dance. The attempt could be made with practice but no true progress could be made on that path.

Dozens of Taijutsu styles but none of them felt right, the blond was beginning to feel pressured to try to find another teacher, but as is he didn't want to go to a teacher with his paltry skills. In frustration the genin slapped his hand down on a Taijutsu style, subconsciously channeling a small amount of chakra through his hand he watched in amazement as the letters of the style rearranged themselves forming new words, "Whirlpool Style."

The more Naruto read the more entranced he got by this style, it seemed to call to him and address all of his skills with the perfect fit. He grabbed the scroll, letting the chakra flow from his hands stop and watched the Whirlpool style once more hide behind a generic Taijutsu style.

As much as the blond wanted to run out the door and use chakra enhanced leaps to a training field to try this style he restrained himself. The mask of impulsiveness and idiotic happiness was fake but after acting for so long it became hard to not act by instinct. Naruto spent the rest of the day looking over Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, Health books and several scrolls on the preparing of herbs as both medicine and poison. Naruto knew that if he was going to take on a sannin, quite literally one of the strongest shinobi in the world alive, that he couldn't afford to over specialize. Being a specialist allows you to become predictable and easy to counter.

The sky was beginning to darken when Naruto finally stepped out of the library, stars beginning to poke through the dark blue of the sky. Hanging from the blonde's shoulders was a satchel stuffed to overflowing with scrolls and books. Upon his face was a look few ever saw on him inside the village, gone was the hyperactive knucklehead and in its place was a calm, determined and intelligent shinobi with a cause.

He didn't know it but others would notice this change and years later look back upon it as the day Naruto Uzumaki became Konoha's Dark Whirlpool.