Uzumaki, Kasai Tsukaite

by MrDenim

[AU][Mentorish-Nice-Kurama][Morally gray Naruto][Gaara-ish Naruto (Minus the constant homicidal tendencies)] - Naruto is quite simply the Gaara of Konoha. Emotionless, intimidating, and with a unique control over an element, in his case, fire. Watch as he molds into something that not even a Nara could predict.

1. Chapter 1

Uzumaki, Kasai Tsukaite

By: MrDenim

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Inspired by Kage No Naruto

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Chapter 1

Uzumaki Naruto, pariah of Konoha, Jinchuuriki to the nine-tailed fox, was upset. Not only had he been kicked out of the third weapons store since the day began, he had also 'misplaced' his ash containers that he normally wore against his hips. It's a good thing that they didn't have time to take the large one that was always on his back, or his katana.

He walked the streets trying to find the missing items, completely ignoring the glares being sent his way. A small, dark blue ball, from out of nowhere, bounced against Naruto's calf and rolled in front of him, stopping just a few feet away. The young blonde halted when a child, barely half his age, ran into his path and picked up the ball, not even aware of the Jinchuuriki that was a mere yard away.

"Boy! Get away from him!"

The child jerked in surprise, and turned around, just to stare into the emotionless eyes of the older blonde. The kid recognized him as the boy that he was always told to avoid, for reasons he still didn't know. But still, he wanted to find out why.

"Why are they afraid of you? The adults, I mean." The child innocently asked.

There was an audible intake of air from most of the adults who were now looking worriedly at the older boy. The air was so thick with tension you could cut it with a dull butter knife.

Several of the braver adults moved forward when Naruto started walking towards the child, however, he just made his way past. Without looking back Naruto spoke, with no emotion, the phrase that every minor despised.

"You'll learn when you're older."

After a couple seconds of silence, the same ball from before bounced against the back of the Jinchuuriki's head. The adults all stopped in fear, their muscles tense. Naruto turned his head until his left eye was barely visible behind him. He stared into the eyes of the now angry child. Every instinct the younger boy had now screamed at him to run and never look back.

Naruto's eyes softened slightly as he said, "I suggest you don't do that to any foreign ninja you may come across, brat. You may just end up dead."

He turned back around, his mask back in place, as he continued on his way to locate his stolen items, not even acknowledging the hugs and scolding that the boy was receiving from his worried grandfather.

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Naruto found his ash containers smashed to bits and pieces in a ditch on the outskirts of the market district, their contents flung everywhere. Naruto just stood there as the steel lid of his main container opened itself and fell to the ground. The ashes rose into the air and went into the larger container. When every last piece of ash was inside, the lid rose into the air and shut itself against the top of container, enveloping the large amount of ashes inside in darkness. Naruto lazily looked up into the sky and let out a breath.

Are you alright, kit?

I've been better, Kurama. It's just that this is getting repetitive.

You could always kill the next person that tries to do it.

If they catch me at the wrong time, I may just do that.

Naruto cut off the connection and headed towards one of the few shops that wouldn't throw him out. As he walked the streets, the new generation skirted their attention, while the older generation openly bored their eyes into the Jinchuuriki.

Naruto paid them no mind as he opened the door to the weapons shop and stepped inside, shutting the outside world behind him. A slightly older girl with a blue blouse glanced in his direction and said,

"Morning, Naruto. You need something?"

Naruto stepped up to the counter and said, "I need two ash containers, a whetstone, and a larger set of chakra weights."

Tenten narrowed her eyes slightly. Naruto sighed and muttered, "…please."

The girl's expression brightened and she nodded. She moved around the shop, grabbing objects seemingly at random. She suddenly appeared behind the counter, the stuff he requested in front of them both. Naruto took off his old weights and placed them next to the new ones. Tenten took them and placed them under the counter, then reduced the price of the new set by the price of the older, lighter set.

"That'll be 1500 ryo, Naruto." She said.

Without a word, Naruto took out his flame red wallet and pulled out the needed amount. He handed it to her and waited for her to count it all out. When that was finished, he equipped the new set of weights around his arms and legs; as a result, his movement was slightly hindered. He hitched the new ash containers to his hips and placed the whetstone in the pouch next to his katana.

Speaking of which, he unsheathed the weapon and asked Tenten to give it a look over. She took the sword by the hilt and stared down its onyx edge. She then examined the entire blade for any nicks and scratches. After that, she spun it into the air and caught it by the hilt.

She gave it back to its wielder and said, "It's still in the pristine condition as when you first bought it. It's obvious that you take great care of you weapons."

Naruto sheathed the katana. He turned back to Tenten, but didn't say anything. All that happened was the edges of his mouth twitching upwards. He then suddenly turned and left the shop. When the door shut behind him, Tenten sighed and resumed her bored position.

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Naruto walked into the classroom, still thinking that the Hokage was just trying to get the children killed by letting him attend the academy. He took a seat at the back of the class, his larger container leaning against the side of the desk, slightly blocking the stairs. Uchiha Sasuke, this year's Rookie of the Year, barely glanced in the Jinchuuriki's direction before staring off into space. Shino didn't even acknowledge his presence, yet Naruto knew that the bug-user was keeping tabs on him.

One by one, more and more students filed into the classroom, most not even looking in the vague direction of the young blonde. Kiba sat next to Shino, with Choji on his other side. Shikamaru lazily sat down in the desk behind Kiba and in front of Naruto, and was asleep in less than five seconds.

"Is… Is it o-okay if I si-sit here, N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto glanced at Hyuuga Hinata, who was currently bumping her fingers together in embarrassment, a large blush on her cheeks. After a few seconds of the blonde boy staring at her, he nodded and turned back to face the chalkboard at the front of the class. The shy girl slowly sat in the seat next to him.

"OUT OF MY WAY, BILLBOARD-HEAD!"

"UP YOURS, INO-PIG!"

Just about everyone in the room sighed in unison as the yelling fangirls got closer and closer. They both entered the room and yelled,

"I WIN!"

They glared death and lightning into the other's eyes, and then switched from insults to arguing about who gets to sit next to their 'Sasuke-kun'. Sasuke-kun just mentally groaned at the two's antics.

Iruka-sensei entered the room and sighed when he heard the two. He cleared his throat and screamed, "SHUT UP AND TAKE YOUR SEATS!"

The two practically teleported to a random seat, with Ino sitting next to Sasuke and Sakura sitting next to Hinata, much to one's joy and another's displeasure.

Iruka cleared his throat again and said, "Greetings students, for possibly the last time. Today," He grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote down four words. "Is the day of the Genin Team Placement Examination."

He turned back to his students and saw expressions varying from excitement, worry, boredom, and, in Naruto's case, nothing.

"There are several portions to this test: Written, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu."

He went into a drawer and pulled out a rather thick stack of paper. With a small yell, he threw the entire stack up into the air, where each one fazed out of existence and suddenly appeared in front of a random student, a pencil on top, eliminating any chance of cheating.

With his hand on his hip, he stated, "Begin."

Naruto picked up his pencil and quickly wrote down his name. He was about to answer the first question when the paper seemed to flicker.

"Hmm."

Naruto turned his gaze to Hinata, who was looking at the paper in confusion. Her eyes widened, as if in realization, and placed a hand into a single handsign, and muttered, "Kai."

She tapped Naruto's test with two fingers, and the entire paper flickered for a second before the questions seemingly rearranged themselves into the correct order.

A genjutsu had been dispelled.

The two students glanced at each other. Naruto slightly inclined his head in thanks, causing Hinata to blush again. They turned back to their test and started answering the questions.

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Hokage's office

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The Jounin selected to be team leaders looked through the Hokage's crystal ball at Hinata in surprise.

Kurenai, Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress, said, "Impressive. It took her less than ten seconds to find out that there was a genjutsu on the boy's test."

"All that I care about is why there was a genjutsu on the kid's test in the first place." Asuma Sarutobi grumbled through his cigarette.

The Third Hokage nodded in agreement. The old man said, "I'll look into it after the exam is finished."

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Back with the rookies

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"Alright class. Put your pencils down. The time is up." Iruka called out, much to some of the students' disappointment. When all of the tests were picked up and on his desk, he said, "The next portion of the test is taijutsu. Follow me outside."

When Naruto walked into the area where the next portion of the test was to be held, he saw Mizuki-sensei standing in the middle of a white ring with his arms crossed over his chuunin vest.

Mizuki said, "When I call your name, step into the ring. You will have five minutes to land as many hits as possible. First is Nara Shikamaru."

The lazy genius sighed and muttered, "I'm first. So troublesome."

With his use of tactics, the young Nara heir managed to land over thirty hits on the proctor.

"Next, Inuzuka Kiba."

Twenty hits.

"Yamanaka Ino."

Twenty-eight hits.

"Aburame Shino."

Twelve hits.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

Forty-six hits.

"Haruno Sakura."

Twelve hits.

"Akimichi Choji."

Eight hits.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Fifty hits.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Mizuki basically growled Naruto's name when it came to be his turn. Naruto sighed and stepped into the ring, opposite from Mizuki. The chuunin suddenly disappeared.

Naruto unhitched the bottom half of his main container and spun counter-clockwise, making the bottom half of the container slam into Mizuki's chest, launching him across the ring. Naruto then unhitched the rest of the steel cylinder and threw it into the air, where it stayed perfectly balanced on top of a wire.

The young blonde then got into a basic taijutsu stance, waiting for his opponent to run forward.

Mizuki just disappeared again.

Without warning, the Jinchuuriki leaped into the air just in time to avoid a flying kick that would've smashed his face in, only it formed a small crater in the ground where Mizuki's foot slammed down.

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Hokage's office

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Most of the Jounin were glaring daggers at the aggressive chuunin.

Hatake Kakashi frowned behind his face mask and said, "Even for an exam, Mizuki is going too hard on the kid."

Maito Gai, Konoha's Taijutsu Specialist, frowned as well and said, "You don't think he's going that hard because of Naruto's past?"

The Hokage was now staring intently at the white-haired chuunin as he said, "He better not be. Otherwise I'll be speaking to him personally after the exam is over and done with."

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Back with Naruto

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Naruto caught Mizuki's foot and twisted it, making the chuunin spin in midair. The young blonde then thrusted forward, punching the older man in the gut, knocking him out of the ring right when time was up.

"Time!" Iruka called. He smiled at the academy student and said, "Forty-eight hits. Good job, Naruto!"

Naruto nodded slightly and grabbed the container as it fell back to the ground due to a stiff wind blowing it over. He hitched it back into place as he followed Iruka and Mizuki towards another section of the training grounds with the other students where another proctor, by the name of Sunaichi Akiino, was waiting with an almost bored expression on his face.

"'Bout time you rookies showed up, I was getting worried that you all ran off in fear of my part of the exam."

Mizuki and Iruka sighed at Akiino's antics and stood on the sidelines as the newest proctor said,

"Alright kiddies, listen up, because I'm only gonna say this once. This portion of the test is not like others, where you're tested on your knowledge or speed. Ninjutsu is about destroying your enemies while leaving you allies with as few scars as possible. I've seen a man decimate an entire assassination squad with only a single jutsu, while his allies were in the thick of combat."

Most of the students were shivering by the end of the chuunin's speech.

"This portion is going to be done as so: I'm going to give you a jutsu to perform. It will have a chance of killing your opponent if done correctly, however, one of your allies will be engaging said opponent in close-quarters combat. Your job is to kill the opponent without damaging your ally. If you can do so, you pass. If not, you fail. Got it?!" At some fearful nods, Akiino said, "Great! Nara, you're up first."

Shikamaru sighed and stepped forward. He was surprised to find Ino fighting an enemy nin. He turned to find that Ino was still standing amongst the other students. Akiino threw a kunai at a halfway point between the clan heir and the fake Ino.

"You cannot pass that point. Oh, and use your clan's jutsu to solve this riddle."

Shikamaru nodded and got on one knee, his hands already forming the necessary signs for his family's Shadow Possession Jutsu. His shadow stretched outward, passing the thrown kunai, then separated into a dual-prong shadow, planning on surrounding the enemy nin. The fake Ino saw this and feinted outwards then suddenly smash her foot into her opponent's chin, sending him into the air. Right when he landed on the ground, Shikamaru moved in, his shadow wrapping around the enemy nin, a black hand around his throat.

"Nara Shikamaru, Pass."

Shikamaru dispelled his ninjutsu and stood next to Iruka, a bored expression on his face.

"Next, Inuzuka Kiba."

All of the Rookie Nine members before Naruto pass.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto stepped forward, a slight frown on his face. Akiino looked thoughtful for a second before he suddenly threw a kunai straight at him. The lid of his main container flew open and fire swept outwards in the direction of the incoming kunai. Said kunai hit the wall of flame and was literally turned to ash, which was then absorbed by the moving blaze to add to Naruto's already impressive collection.

Akiino glared at the boy and said, "You own for one kunai, Naruto."

Without any emotion, Naruto said, "You threw the blade, not I."

Akiino shrugged and said, "Surprise me."

A fake Hinata appeared in a puff of smoke, Byakugan already active, much to the embarrassment and joy of the real one. An enemy nin fazed into existence behind her, tanto at the ready. The fake Hinata turned around and jabbed her chakra-laced fingers into the man's chest, knocking him back a few feet.

Naruto suddenly made a single handsign and yelled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Two Narutos, complete clones, appeared on either side of the real one. One shunshinned in front of the fake Hinata to take a blow to the heart by a tanto, while the second broke the man's left arm and leg, then grabbed him by the chin and slammed his head backwards against the clone's shoulder until his neck snapped. All the while, the real Naruto was standing there, his arms crossed and a small frown on his face.

"I thought this was supposed to be difficult." He said as he made his way to stand next to a grimacing Uchiha.

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Hokage's Office

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The Third Hokage frowned as he asked, "Does anyone know of how Naruto learned one of Konoha's forbidden jutsu?"

The Jounin shook their heads, all equally surprised.

Kurenai stood up and said, "Looks like it's my turn. See ya 'round."

She shunshinned to the Genjutsu examination area.

Kakashi sighed and stated, "Whoever is going to have Naruto on their squad will have their hands full to say the least."

The Hokage nodded and thought to himself, I'll ask Naruto about it after I look through Mizuki's files. He's being far too suspicious.

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Genjutsu examination area

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Kurenai smiled at the approaching academy students. She looked at each of them in turn, her eyes lingering on Naruto for the briefest of seconds. When they were all situated she cleared her throat.

"Alright brats. This is the final portion of your Genin Team Placement Examination: Genjutsu. Genjutsu is without a doubt one of the hardest jutsu to master, topped only by Fuinjutsu and Kenjutsu, as both take decades of constant practice to master. Those with larger chakra reserves will find this portion to be what could make or break their team placement or even fail them altogether, as Genjutsu requires precise chakra control to manifest and dispel. But don't worry, I'm sure you lot will do just fine." She clapped her hands and said, "Now then, let's get started."

Same as before with the Rookie Nine before Naruto passing.

"Uzumaki Naruto, step forward."

The fire user did so and stared Kurenai in the eyes, unnerving her slightly thanks to his emotionless expression. She made several handsigns and bore her eyes into Naruto, then activated the Genjutsu.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly when the world around the student and proctor seemed to smash to pieces like old glass.

"What exactly is this Genjutsu supposed to accomplish?" He asked.

"To prove or disprove a theory of mine." She replied.

There was silence between the two as Naruto's mindscape started to form around them. Kurenai started when she saw the cage behind the Jinchuuriki, who started to softly smirk as he said,

"Ah! So this is your theory. So, was it successful?"

Kurenai did nothing but nod, her eyes pouring into the cage, trying to see the demon within. A red haze seemed to envelop an extremely large form. Two large orbs suddenly appeared, a blood red with a black slit at the center. It only took the genjutsu mistress a second to realize that she was looking at the nine-tailed fox's eyes.

Hmm? It seems that you will have to try harder than that to put my Jinchuuriki under a Genjutsu. My ambient chakra automatically dispels one whenever one is applied directly to him. Decent attempt, however.

It took Kurenai a few seconds to realize that the nine-tailed fox had complimented her.

She smiled slightly and said, "Thank you, Nine-Tails. I, honestly, wasn't expecting you to be so civil."

I was controlled that night. The demon said, By a man thought long dead to you mortals.

Kurenai didn't even have to put into words of how much she would fear to face such an opponent that could place the Nine-Tails under his power. She smiled again as she thought, Naruto… you-

"-pass." She said as Naruto dispelled the Genjutsu in under a second.

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Does anyone else hate their imagination sometimes?

Me too.

Would any of you believe me if I said that I typed this up over the span of an hour? Probably not… Anyway, some notes on various aspects of the story:

TAGS

[AU] ~ Alternate Universe. Self-explanatory.

[Mentorish-Nice-Kurama] ~ Nice Kurama alone is badass, but a nice Kurama that helps by teaching Naruto along with his sensei? Even better.

[Morally gray Naruto] ~ This Naruto has control over fire, an element which has no allies or limits. This Naruto will be somewhat similar.

[Gaara-ish Naruto (Minus the constant homicidal tendencies)] ~ Basically this Naruto will act the same way Gaara did during/before the Chuunin exams, only he'll kill those that attack him first. (Kankuro is gonna piss himself once he realizes that there are two Gaaras now.)

PAIRINGS

I MAY try my hand with either NaruHina or NaruIno, depending on the results of the poll and possible reviews and PMs. I'm not the biggest fan of romance in a story, as I feel that it breaks too much of the story's existing atmosphere if the story wasn't already about romance. I'm to the point where I've started excluding the Romance genre when I search for new fics to read.

OCs

You can submit one, but it will more than likely only be used for fleeting roles. On the note of the OC I used as the ninjutsu proctor, here is how to pronounce his name:

Sunaichi Akiino: Suna (as in Sunagakure). Ichi (as in AkimICHI Choji). Ah-Key-no. Sunaichi Akiino. Got it memorized?

Anyway, see ya'll next time!