What's up? I've been on this site for a while, but this is my first post. But none of you care about that. Just a disclaimer, this story will get more AU as it goes on and I've got some crossovers planned for the future. They just won't show up for quite a while. This is just the prologue, so it's about 6,000 words short of what I'll typically aim for.

Oh and the typical I don't own Naruto or any other anime/franchises I use/reference

IMPORTANT UPDATE:
This story is now all considered a prologue (currently unfinished 12/29/18) and will be updated slowly. This is not a necessary read for the most part in order to make sense of the main story I am uploading. For more info, see the final chapter of this story.

Prologue

"People don't ever think from another persons perspective, if they did they might understand someone plight more. Humans are so often blind like that." - Naruto Uzumaki

A lone child ran through a dark, dank sewer. His legs carrying his slightly malnourished body as quickly as they could with a package in his hands. As the child was running, he couldn't help his mind wandering to the bitter, cynical view that had been bred by his circumstances.

He was cursed, he had been soon after he was born. But of course he wasn't supposed to know that, he was supposed to be an innocent boy with no knowledge of why his village held him at arms length at best. How that old Hokage could believe so blindly in his people that they could just let go of their anger, anguish, and hate those eight years ago, the boy couldn't fathom. Maybe he was going senile or the old man subconsciously held some resentment for the small boy as well? It was a logical conclusion, the man had lost his wife in the attack, after all. And no matter how wise, humans could not stop the flow of their subconscious desires.

The boy's thoughts were ended on that depressing subject as a minuscule ray of moonlight pierced the darkness, one that had an unnatural off white coloring - unnoticeable to even many shinobi if not looking for anything out of the ordinary. The ray came down from a manhole cover that had an odd triangular marking on it. This was his stop, where he needed to get out to deliver the package.

The young boy strapped the package to his back and proceeded to climb up the ladder, struggling with the cover at the top, but with incredible strength for a boy his age and stature, he pushed the cover off with some leverage of a small piece of metal sticking into the edge of the manhole. Enough to not bend when being used as leverage and small enough to not be taken note of even in the unlikely event of anyone suitably observant passing over it.

As the boy climbed out of the manhole, his features, while still darkened and vague, became illuminated by the faint light of the moon. Bright blonde, spiky hair with splotches of dirt and grime that flowed down to his shoulders with a hood drawn back behind his head and a mask over his face. If looked at carefully, a spot of red at some tips of his hair might be noticed. He donned a worn, black track suit with a few tears on it that revealed his slightly underweight and, paradoxically, thinly toned body. He had on scuffed sandals being held onto his feet by some straps across the top in the style Jiraiya of the Sannin, only his were decidedly not wooden.

Looking left and right, the boy checked for any movement and then made his way down the alley to his left. At the end of the alley was what appeared to be a dead end with some beaten up bricks. Some not even looking to be held together by the mortar it had been laid with.

'Now lets see,' the boy thought to himself, 'top left pushed in, middle pulled out, and bottom right pushed in, and there, done.' The boy then kicked the wall three times and the wall shuddered and silently opened a path with some stairs leading down. The boy idly noticed the wall closing as he walked down.

As the boy reached the bottom of the steps, he came to a steel door with a slot in it. As he knocked on the door, the slot opened and a deep, rumbling voice echoed into the otherwise empty staircase demanding a suitable answer or consequences would occur, "Password and business."

Though intimidating enough to make most his age tear up in fright or out right cry, this boy was anything but normal. So, mustering the strongest voice he could, he answered "Ewige Schlaf. I'm here to deliver a package to the boss." His attempt at his voice being intimidating, while admirable, predictably couldn't hold a candle to the older man's voice. After all, despite what he could do and had seen, he was still a child.

After a brief wait and the sound of some paper being flipped, the door opened and the intimidating voice was matched to an intimidating body covered in shadows. The man addressed the boy once more, "I assume you know the way?" The boy nodded, after all this was far from the first time he'd been here. This guy had likely been punished with this duty since he had to ask. The man continued, his voice now only a notch under the growl it had been, "Then go, the Boss isn't a patient man."

The young carrier nodded cordially and walked with purpose through the underground compound as the man closed the door behind him. After a few twists, the boy came to a door that was charmingly decorated with teeth - one he recognized as having gained one since he had last been here - and knocked, stating his purpose to those inside. After hearing a call of enter, the boy opened the door and walked in with an impassive look on his face, even as he took the package off his back and handed it to a man standing to the left of the Boss.

The Boss, as he was known, gazed back at the roughed up boy, waiting for the confirmation of the package that he knew would come, after all though young, this runner had only failed a successful retrieval a few times, and those were when he was just starting out. After hearing confirmation of being checked for anything harmful and having it handed over to him, the Boss spoke "As expected Naruto, though you seem a bit ruffled. Had a little trouble did we?"

The boy named Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. He wouldn't get paid until he humored the man, so he did "There were a few complications getting the package. I was ambushed by two Chunin at the checkpoint, but I escaped without being identified. The supplier, however, was caught."

The Boss nodded and motioned for the man on his right to pay the boy. After he was payed, the Boss spoke again "This seems to be happening more often lately, should I assume that you're getting sloppy?" The man knew this wasn't true - he often was the one to tip the Chunin off after all - but it amused him to get on the boys nerves.

The boy, for his part, barely changed his facial expression from what it was, save for a twitch of the eyebrow and a hint of annoyance entering his eyes. He'd learned long ago how his employer liked to poke at him and he needed this job, so he couldn't insult him or his contact. "The one who delivered it was the sloppy one if he was followed like that. It was also probably a result of the more illegal things you're importing if Konoha is willing to spend manpower like that." Well not too much at least. He did still have his pride.

The Boss' lips twitched seeing such a response from the young boy. He hadn't told his runner - or anyone for that matter - what he was importing. Someone could slip up and mention it and that would be no good for him. Though most runners did what they were told without thinking, or kept those thoughts to themselves, this one was intelligent and had some balls to talk back to him, if only a little.

After a while of just staring each other down, the Boss dismissed the blond to do whatever he did in his free time here with a wave of his hand.

Naruto, though not showing it, happily left the room and made his way over to a large room with drinks being served and some light entertainment. The blonde made his way over to a corner where a lone older man sat. The older man didn't look like too much except for being covered head to toe in clothing barring the top half of his face and his flowing silver-gray hair. Even with the top of his face revealed, one could guess his age being anywhere from his early 20's to late 50's. Anyone who had been to the underground club more than a few times could recognize the man that seemed to be drinking his sorrows away, but only Naruto knew who he was.

Or at least he was pretty sure of who it was - the man had never actually given him his name. He knew the man was likely in his late 40's or mid 50's, and from the upper back length and color of his hair, along with his physique, and his more than competent knowledge and application of the shinobi arts, Naruto guessed this man to be Sakumo Hatake, the renowned - and then disgraced White Fang. How no one seemed to notice this but him, the boy couldn't fathom. Perhaps it was because most just put him at the back of their minds after he had been disgraced and thought dead.

Regardless, Naruto walked up to the man and sat down in his booth, addressing the man in a whisper as he had introduced himself months ago when they met, "So Kage-sensei, what will you teach me today?"

The man smiled beneath his mask as he looked at Naruto, fond of the boy from the time they had spent together. Though Naruto may not outwardly show too much emotion due to what he'd unfortunately had to go through, he could see the intelligence and hunger to learn in those eyes. He even thought that Naruto had figured out who he was, but refrained from asking out of respect. This incredible boy would never cease to impress him. His thirst for knowledge and determination to learn anything surpassed anything he'd ever seen. Even things most people would find obsolete, the child still tried his hardest to learn and connect to relevant situations.

And connect whatever he learned, he did, showing insight few could ever have. If he could keep that attitude, he would just grow more the older he got. But those thoughts could be dwelt on later, his apprentice was waiting for his answer. "Well today I think I'll test you in what we've been doing for the past few months. See if I've been wasting my time or not." After he said this, he ordered some water for Naruto, and began quizzing the boy's knowledge on anything he'd taught him and some things he'd not from mathematics to physics to history to chakra theory.

Naruto, with that little flame that sparked in his eyes whenever he wanted to overcome an obstacle proceeded to answer every question correctly. He only needed to take time doing some work for the more complex mathematical aspects, and even that was quite short.

After an hour or so of testing his theoretical knowledge, Sakumo got up and bid Naruto to follow him to the small training fields in the underground compound, typically used for underground fights, to test the practical capabilities of his unofficial apprentice.

Naruto, knowing what was to come, became excited, that sliver of battle lust slipping through his mask. This was his favorite part of training, the combat part. It had taken a while for Sakumo to move on and teach him, but it was well worth it. Before Sakumo, for that was who he was in his mind, he had only learned anything like that through experience and books, and while both were great, books could only do so much and he had tended toward stealth rather than fighting back during the few scuffles he could have gotten into as that would only result in more pain with too little progress. So as they arrived at the improvised training ground, Naruto was excited to get started.

Facing each other, Naruto dropped into the fighting stance he had been taught even as across from him Sakumo only stood there in a casual slouch. This might have annoyed Naruto more if he didn't know Sakumo could crush him in the time it took to blink if he was serious. Maybe even an eighth of a blink of the eye.

Knowing this was to test him, and as such Sakumo would wait for him to make the first move, Naruto moved faster than any eight year old had a right to, crossing the 50 feet that separated them in seconds and lashing out with a fist to the easiest most sensitive spot he could easily reach on the ground, the crotch. Predictably, his hand was caught, but he used his momentum to flip his body and bring down a kick on Sakumo's head.

As expected, this too was caught, so with his free leg he kicked again to distract for a precious second while he drew a hidden kunai from a pouch on the inside of his sleeve and aimed to cut Sakumo's stomach open. He couldn't do any less if he wanted to even scratch the man he was sparring.

Sakumo showed that even though he was getting on in years, he could still move with grace unmatched by nearly anyone on the continent by letting Naruto go and front flipping over his apprentice. Naruto recovered by rolling in the air to land on a knee even as he pulled out shuriken, coating them in chakra as he went, and throwing them at Sakumo's turning form.

This, Naruto knew, wasn't even close to enough to catch the White Fang off guard and ran through a series of hand signs ending on bird as he then pushed his hands out, sub-vocalizing the name of the technique, 'Futon: Great Breakthrough.' Sakumo dodged right, running into the strong wind as he did so, though he was only blown back slightly, the quick application of chakra to his feet keeping him grounded.

Now Sakumo went on a light offensive, throwing a few shuriken at Naruto equivalent to about Chunin level, and Naruto narrowly dodged them as he charged Sakumo while drawing a tanto from his back and running chakra through it. As he reached Sakumo, his horizontal strike was parried, and Naruto turned with it while ducking to dodge a slash at his head and came around with another slash to Sakumo's knees, his strike missing by a narrow margin. A margin that should have dug half way into his knee.

Narrowing his eyes at this development, Naruto retreated a few meters and put his hands into the ram hand sign and proceeded to pulse his chakra, breaking the Genjutsu that had been put on him. Likely as he'd been charging the White Fang.

After doing this, he heard Sakumo clapping, almost mockingly, as he said, "Well Naruto it seems you finally noticed the genjutsu I placed on you. Maybe you could scratch by in the Academy if you really tried and got lucky with a pitying teacher." Sakumo knew this wasn't true - even when Academy standards had been higher students wouldn't be expected to pick up such a subtle Genjutsu - but he did it because it would push Naruto even harder. Plus it would teach him to control his anger. Truthfully, in straight combat Naruto was scraping the level of a Chunin, even better in stealth, and his pure reserves were ridiculous. His reserves were at Jonin level easily, though with those kinds of reserves at such a young age came a lot of work in trying to control them effectively. While much better than when they started, the boy still wasted a lot of chakra.

Of course, with who his parents were and what was inside of him, it wasn't all that surprising. Honestly it was a wonder more people hadn't at least guessed whose kid he was with his looks.

'Ahh,' Sakumo thought as a he absently dodged a barrage of shuriken and dispelled a weak, sloppy genjutsu, 'Well it might have something to do with people's shortsightedness when faced with something they want to ignore.'

The White Fang looked at Naruto as he popped a smoke bomb to hide his movement. A conventional move for any decent shinobi, and while Naruto was many things, conventional he was not. With this knowledge, Sakumo prepared himself for an unconventional maneuver, but what he sensed confused him a bit.

What he was sensing seemed to be two different elements from the same spot, almost like what a bloodliner of a sub element felt like, but not nearly as refined. His eyes widened slightly as he realized what Naruto was about to attempt, then he smirked beneath his mask slightly.

Naruto seemed to have found the loophole use two elements at once, something those without a bloodline tended to find nearly impossible regardless of experience. For Naruto to be able to do this, he must have practiced for months on end and had a ridiculous affinity towards elemental attacks.

Sakumo was proven right as Naruto burst out of the smoke to the left holding two single handed seals and puffed cheeks. The boy released his breath into the raging inferno of Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu as he slammed both hands in front of him, releasing another Great Breakthrough to further fuel the fire, increasing its heat and speed.

However, Sakumo didn't become known throughout the continent by being weak. Placing his hands into the standard hand sign for channeling earth natured chakra, he slammed his hands onto the ground causing a slab of solid earth to shoot up, blocking the fireball, though scorching it and the ground around it for several yards.

Trying to catch his opponent off guard, Naruto had charged in behind his fire ball, despite his aching body, and vaulted over the wall just after the impact. So close was he to his attack that he burst through a few of the flickering walls of flames being dispersed.

Never one to let his guard down even in a match like this, the White Fang easily caught the blade aimed for his head, snapped his hand around his opponent's wrist, and spun in such a way that he ended behind Naruto with the boys own sword poised to slit his throat.

Knowing when he was defeated, Naruto gave the verbal surrender for the spar that he knew Sakumo required. Directly after this and having his arm freed, Naruto stumbled before regaining his balance and turning to face his sensei.

Sakumo observed the spitfire in front of him. The boy's clothes were singed and he had sweat pouring down his body. In addition to this, his body, particularly his arms were shaking, even if slightly. Sakumo may not have hit him even once, but it was clear that last attack Naruto pulled was not anywhere near mastered or even truly combat ready. The shaking in his arms was unnatural, even for an attack like that, so there must be more than meets the eye.

Sakumo proceeded to activate a basic diagnostic medical Justu to see if he could get a better idea of what was wrong. After finishing the diagnostic, The White Fang gave Naruto a measured look and spoke, "That was a very reckless move you pulled. Your chakra system isn't ready for that kind of an influx with your level of control and experience," he paused and gave the child a disapproving look before continuing, "You have some minor internal bleeding in your arms and more strain than is healthy on your chakra cooils, along with some slight burns in your throat. You shouldn't be so reckless."

Naruto merely stared resolutely, before defending his actions, "I know it was risky, but when facing a superior opponent, it is best to try to take them off balance with the element of surprise. To do this I would have to do something you didn't know about that could hold your attention for even a second while I attacked. You taught me that," here he paused before adding in a low mutter, "Besides, I've always healed fast."

The two shinobi stared at each other for an indiscernible amount of time before Sakumo spoke, "I see. Well you did surprise me, but you need to practice more before that is battle ready. Perhaps you'll even be able to recreate the scorch release with enough practice."

Hearing this, Naruto merely tilted his head to acknowledge the point and had a fire in his eyes ready to keep improving. No, he was not beaming at the praise. Naruto did not beam. Instead he asked, "So what will you be teaching me today?"

Sakumo smirked behind his mask, thinking of the tort - err, training that he would be putting Naruto through. "Well…."