This is my first attempt at creating a successful story on Fanfiction. I don't mean it's my first story, or that it's my first story on Fanfiction, but... yeah, you get it. I'mma keep up with this one. Read and Review, if you would.

Prologue

Traverse

The night was young. That was what he was thinking about. The nights' 'youth'. The very thought took him back years, back to the endless verbal spouting of 'youth' that erupted from the two green clad men. The thought of them brought a cherry-haired girls' face to his mind, and that brought sadness. Sadness caused not only by the lack of her company, but by the thought of their friends' defection. He sighed, his mind overly troubled by the ways of the world. He wished it was simpler, more to his liking, but it wasn't. It could never be. Not until he was finished making it that way. He continued walking, his hands buried firmly in the pockets of his dark-colored shinobi slacks, stopping only to stoop down and scratch at his ankle and shin wrappings, unhappily having to adjust to them after the removal and banishment of his orange clothing. To his right, a taller man kept in stride with him, his gray-ish mane forming a cape of sorts, offsetting the 'christmas colors' of his clothing.

Crimson vest, forest-green kimono shirt, forest green hakama pants. Not unfashionable, simply… boisterous, he thought. Returning his attention to the path in front of him, the blondes' mind wandered once more, giving himself leave to picture a girls' face within his mind. This notion was continuously hampered by thoughts of a blue and white clad Uchiha with a hand cloaked in lightning, eyes spinning like a top. "…teme…" He mused, one of his hands clenching into a fist before relaxing once more. He was oblivious to why he was so on edge. He guessed it was because Jiraiya was as well, the tenseness of his gait subtly unnerving to the blonde. "Ero-sennin…," Naruto started, casually rolling down the sleeves of his orange trench coat, taking an infinitely small amount of joy from the way he was dressed (He enjoyed looking good, and had indeed noticed the glances he had been receiving from women between the ages of fourteen and fifty, but he was nearly unable to cope with the thought of being handsome, so he tucked the idea away and thought about it as infrequently as possible.)," What's wrong?" The sudden noise from the young man startled the older ninja, causing him to look down for a moment.

In that moment, Naruto caught the glint of steel from behind his sensei's hair, off near the edge of the forest, the moon having reflected a bit of light off of it. It was a shuriken, Naruto could make that much out, and it was being accompanied by some friends. Throwing himself backwards, Naruto caught the sages' eye, and nodded, as Jiraiya followed suite, leaping upwards, only to disappear. Naruto quickly back stepped into the foliage, hopping into a tree as soon as he was concealed by the darkness of the leaves. Silence dominated the forest, save for the noise of crickets chirping and even that was far more subtle than usual. Scanning the tree line meticulously, the blonde moved, silently, from tree to tree, waiting for his chance to strike. He reflected, for a split second, on all that he had learned, before returning his mind to the task at hand. They were under attack by two squads of Iwagakure shinobi. This wouldn't be an easy fight. Silently retrieving a kunai from the holster strapped to his thigh, Naruto went to work, placing his hands together in a tiger seal and whispering, 'Henge.'

He was instantly replaced by a small, dark-furred rodent. He didn't know what it was called, but it would serve its' purpose. Creeping along the branches of the tree he was in, Naruto crept up behind a black-clad shinobi. He was wearing a mask that covered the lower part of his face, similar to Kakashi, but the blonde was fairly certain the ninja he was about to ambush was far less talented than his only sensei. Leaping to a higher branch, the squirrel acquired a bird's eye view, using the advantage to drop quickly, and silently, down onto the shinobi's shoulder, digging his claw, the kunai 'henged', into his throat.

A soft 'guh' escaped from his lips before Naruto unhenged and covered his mouth, glancing about warily to see if anyone noticed. Subtly, of course, was not the blondes' style, but he knew his perverted sensei was right when he said it was a necessary shinobi skill. That skill, of course, did not apply to what happened next. A sudden explosion threw Naruto from his hiding place, forcing him to shift his body in the air, so he could land softly on the ground, about ten yards away. Shifting his eyes upward, he saw the tree he had been crouched in utterly destroyed, surrounded by a fire that now illuminated the path. "Shit…" He cursed, before throwing himself back as two shinobi dug their heels into the dirt in front of him. To Naruto, it was quite simple what to do now. He flipped backwards through the air, landing softly, before kicking off towards his assailants, using the momentum from the jump to propel him forward, faster. A fist towards the first shinobis' face, of course, did not connect, but as the ninja took the time to bat away his fist, the blonde had thrown his leg in from the side, connecting firmly with his targets ribcage. Using his other hand, Naruto then grabbed a hold of the mans' shirt, throwing him roughly to the ground, before placing his hands together in his signature 'cross' position.

Two exact copies of the blonde appeared, both facing diagonally away from him, so as to guard all sides. The downed shinobi quickly recovered himself, only to be caught by a fist to the gut, leaving him unconscious on the ground in front of Naruto. His other opponent had disappeared a few moments prior, which had prompted him to created the kage bunshin, knowing he would need extra help. Another explosion rocked the forest as Jiraiya erupted from the trees, escorting a shinobi with his palm held out firmly, a spiraling ball of chakra prominent beyond it. The other man fell weakly to the ground, his chest irreparably torn away. Just as this happened, Naruto's second opponent struck, catching one of his clones in the gut, causing it to stumble backwards and dispel.

Naruto grunted, before spinning and connecting a foot with the shinobi's chest, sending him flying backwards into a tree trunk. A quick bit of man-clone teamwork brought a Rasengan into existence, and the mans' chest was torn up mercilessly. Another skill Naruto had found to be a necessity. Allowing his second clone to dispel, the jinchuuriki dusted off his pants and coat, hoping the blood stain, which had come from the slit throat, would come out of his black under shirt. "We done?" Naruto called out, glancing at his sensei warily, before looking about. "Yeah." Was the large mans' response as a scream was heard from within the forest. "We're finished." Casually, the two resumed their walking, keeping in the direction of their home village.

She worried for him. Despite everything, she worried. She knew he was strong. She wouldn't admit it, but she knew. He'd beaten Haku. He'd fought off Orochimaru. He'd beaten Kiba, Neji and Gaara. He'd even gone toe-to-toe against Uchiha Sasuke. She knew he was strong. It was confusing. How strong he was, that is. Confusing to nearly everyone. Many who knew his 'secret' blamed his strength on it, but that was in no way the source of his power.

She, of course, did not know, so she was even more so confused, and every day, even during the rigorous training, even during the sleepless nights and during the tasteless meals, she wondered; Who is Naruto? The only answer offered by her sensei was, 'He's got the will of fire.' And, despite relentless pestering, no others in the village had any information for her to gleam from them. It was nearly depressing. But, the wonder held firm, so she knew she could wait to find out. And wait she did. She trained harder than ever before, physically, mentally, and even subconsciously

. She kept her hair short, despite her mothers' obsessive pestering. 'You have a perfect pink coloring! Why not wear it long?' A useless answer was customary among shinobi, and kunoichi, so she offered only a 'hn' when this question arose. Her mother eventually gave up, labeling her daughter as hopeless. Despite this, Sakura grew. Her obsession with the boy Uchiha eventually evaporated, leaving her heart and mind open, although she herself would not notice. Her style changed, as she left her dress behind, and adopted a sleeveless shirt, a short skirt and boots.

She was changing as a person, and the only one who truly understood was her master. The blonde was quite proud of her pupil, having watched her go from a near-useless girl to a well rounded kunoichi in a mere two years. Mastering medicinal ninjutsu was one thing, but when coupled with an astounding degree of chakra control and immense chakra induced strength, her new repertoire of skills was something to be proud of. As usual, Sakura did not notice. There was a vague feeling of growth, but it felt empty when there was nothing to compare herself to. Nothing to grow alongside.

There was the other group of graduating shinobi, but they were unable to truly understand her, and her them. The pink-haired girl had friends among them, though, long term friends like the blonde Yamanaka, Ino. She grew closer to Shikamaru, as well, although it was merely their intelligence that allowed them to click socially, and that limitation kept them from becoming true friends. She hoped all her problems were temporary.

At that moment, she was sitting at a desk within the village hospital, reading over a short list of reports, her mind wandering beyond them, despite the desperate effort she put forth to stay on task. 'Un… Naruto, when are you coming back?' That question populated her mind, leaving her silent on and off, although never interrupting her work. She rose from her chair, quickly making her way to the end of the hall and into a room on the left, her most recent patient in need of a check up. "How are you feeling, Nanziako-san?" Sakura inquired, a feeling of annoyance coming from the mans' delay before his answer. "Er-… I'm feeling much better. It was just stomach cramps, like I said." His reply kicked her annoyance, as if it were an angry cat. She sighed, before jotting down a note on her clipboard. "Sadly, there are still a few more formalities to be taken care of before you can leave. I'll come back to release you soon." The man nodded drearily, running a hand over the bald spot in the middle of his head. "Damn!" He whispered. She was unsure whether he was talking about his situation with her, or with his bald spot. It didn't really matter.

A tall, masked figure stood, leaning against a wooden pole jutting out of the ground. In all honesty, he didn't know why he had come there, but he felt calmer, and more collected in that spot, than anywhere else. "Was it me?" He asked himself, allowing the words to slip from his lips, knowing that no one would hear him. His thoughts revolved around a blonde child inhabited by a demon and a raven-haired child, whos' eyes could spark a war. It was never his intention to favor any of them, although a sense of debt welled up inside him when he thought of his late teammate. He guessed that was the reason for him pouring all of his effort into the Uchiha, and ignoring the other two. He was able to feel a bit of satisfaction, though. Naruto was in far better hands than his own, now, under the tutelage of the legendary shinobi, Jiraiya. It was small compensation for the feeling of dread he experienced when thinking of the student that had left him. He tilted his head down, thinking.

A blonde man and a gray-maned man approached the front gates of Konogakure, the shorter of the two, the blonde, easily mistakable as the Yondaime. "Finally back, eh?" He called out, as if questioning the man beside him. "Yeah…" Replied Jiraiya, looking down at his student. "Finally." Ruffling Narutos' hair, he'd motion for him to go, pausing only to admire the golden locks. "You know," He started, pausing as the boy leapt up and over the walls of the village in single swoop, entering without notice of the guards. "Bastard… I was gonna' say… his hair is exactly like his fathers'…"