Sealed

Summary: The requirements for fuuinjutsu are calmness and intelligence, both of which are evident qualities of Namikaze Naruto. After the Sandaime adopts him, he will carry on the legacy of his parents, even with them no longer alive to teach him. Strong, fuuinjutsu, innovative, smarter, and good Naruto. Veers from cannon early on. Good Sasuke, though progressively so. Pairing undecided.

Disclaimer: I own my laptop, but almost none of the content on it... so sad.

A/N: I'm testing out this idea, bear with me the first chapter.

I plan to have no bashing, but if a character winds up being a total dick, they may get a reality check. Also, I plan to have completely different genin teams. There will be a poll on my profile for the pairing.

Cannon will be mostly irrelevant, but the big plot elements remain similar.

Here's a good length chapter to get this party started! It may be a bit slower than the rest, but I want to give you guys an intimate understanding of my depiction of Naruto.

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Jutsu (capitalized)

Flashback

"Bijuu talking"

'Bijuu thinking'

~ Ch1: Art ~

It was an innocent hobby, drawing. A passion that arose from the stress of life that a pressured boy faced. It was both relieving and infuriating at times, but it sufficed to occupy the hours of this young blond child. Formerly Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Naruto was drawn to this habit by the unrelenting expectations of both his peers and role models. It was the closest thing to fuuinjutsu, the legacy of his parents, that he knew, and he hopelessly spent years trying to perfect his art. Beautiful pictures of the village, his father, or his classmates, steady his hand and broadening his imagination. The Sandaime promised that when Naruto was ten, the old Kage would find him a temporary teacher and get him a book on basic fuuinjutsu. All in order to surpass his parents and carry on protecting Konoha.

Naruto had known about his parentage ever since he was four, and he felt the weight of their greatness bear down on him like an overhanging anvil. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, had told the whole village the truth of Naruto, worried of the harsh life the boy was already living. At first, no one believed the cruel joke, that there was no way the 'demon child' could be related to the worldly famous Yondaime, Namikaze Minato. Then they began to notice the similarities. The long blond hair spiked randomly on the boys head, his former last name, Uzumaki, that Minato's wife held. Soon enough, they began to accept him as a true Namikaze. Some revered him while some found this to be a simple conspiracy, using their free time to glare at the boy. Others didn't mind it and continued their daily routines without a thought.

It was hardly normal for someone not of the Hokage's family to reside within the Hokage Mansion, but Sarutobi had insisted that Naruto move in with him. He didn't trust people like Danzo and some of the more volatile citizens to leave the blond alone. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to be indoctrinated into Root (he knew it still lurked in the bowels of the village) or to be attacked by a drunken idiot. The council had opposed his decision, but it was ultimately his choice, they couldn't enforce their declaration. Thus, Naruto became Hiruzen's adopted grandson.

In retrospect, Hiruzen knew that his fear the other villages would abduct Naruto was absurd, as was his inclination to believe that they would set out for revenge against Konoha. It was this former fear that originally kept the boy's identity hidden under miles of paperwork, slipped somewhere inside an envelope in a drawer. A note was intended to be given to the orphan when he could protect himself as a chuunin, but Hiruzen knew that would be far too long of a wait. The pain that entailed was unimaginable, for one to not know their parents and live alone, while being hated and cast out for events and circumstances out of their control.

It wasn't a hard decision for the Hokage to tell Naruto this one small truth, provided he remind the boy not to flaunt his heritage. It was best if the boy represented his clans properly, but not act presumptuous about it. He tended to live up to this by wearing blue or black to the academy, not the obnoxious orange he normally would prefer.

Before Naruto joined the academy, he would always tell his adoptive grandfather how he aspired to be just like his parents. The Kage would give a short chuckle, pull the ever present pipe out of his mouth, and pat the boy on the head.

"No my boy," he would smile. "You can be even better." At that encouragement, Naruto would grin widely.

One time, when he was six, he plucked up the curiosity to ask what made his parents so powerful after hearing tales of Uzumaki Kushina.

Flashback

When Naruto proposed this question, he was visiting his grandfather at his Hokage office. The latter was busy doing paperwork, stacks of it scattered around the desk. He looked up from the work as Naruto asked his question.

"Well," Sarutobi began, "they were both masters in fuuinjutsu, well versed in ninjutsu, and Kushina was spectacular with kenjutsu. What really made your father feared was his signature technique, Hiraishin, a space-time ninjutsu that reverse summoned him directly to anywhere he placed the formula. If that doesn't make sense, just think of it as complex fuuinjutsu," he added, realizing he may have overcomplicated it to the six year old.

Oddly, Naruto felt that he understood the concept fairly well. Though he was only beginning the academy, he took his guardian's advice to heart and paid attention. It was amazingly helpful, as he already learnt about the summoning jutsu and comprehended the concept of chakra. After he heard his father graduated top of his class, he tried to work as hard as possible to keep up. He was working his way up the ranks, but he silently promised his father that he will surpass both he and Kushina.

He furrowed his brow at the mention of fuuinjutsu, Iruka-sensei hadn't mentioned it once. "What is fuuinjutsu?" It was this one simple question that completely changed the course of events forever.

"Seals," Hiruzen answered after lighting his pipe. "Explosive tags, the formula for Kuchiyose no jutsu, barrier techniques, and the Hiraishin formula are all examples of fuuinjutsu. Shapes and various structures are drawn in a particular way so that they can accomplish a task. If I were to draw this," he pulled out a small piece of parchment and took a brush from his desk. Then he began a series of circles and lines around the kanji for fire. "I can channel chakra and make a small fireball." Sure enough, when the Kage placed a hand on the corner of the paper and pushed his chakra into it, a ball of fire floated up from the center. It hovered for a couple seconds before disappearing in an instant.

The boy was in complete awe. After it passed, he shook himself and realized his grandfather was expecting a response. "Sooooo... if I wrote it right, I could time travel, or teleport to the moon, or kill the Kyuubi just like tou-san!" Hiruzen chuckled at first, then fixed his eyes downwards at the last comment.

He wasn't proud of not telling Naruto about the true fate of the Kyuubi. 'When he graduates,' the Hokage decided, thinking about the mental burden of such knowledge. Surely it was better for a child's mind to be free of such knowledge? Quickly, he brought his mind back to his energetic grandson, knowing that he should always try to maintain his happiness in front of the blond.

"Time travel?" He chuckled. "You've got an imaginative mind, Naruto-kun. I'd say that you have the potential, of course with no small amount of hard work, to become a formidable seal master, perhaps skilled enough to recreate the Hiraishin. But no, sadly, the first two of those are impossible feats that not even the most genius master can perform. Should you work hard enough, though, there is always a way to do the impossible," he encouraged.

"Really!" The blond exclaimed. "Then I'll become the awesomest master of fuuinjutsu ever!" He pumped a fist in the air.

"Oi, Jiji. Can you teach me? Please?" He tried his signature puppy dog eyes on the Hokage, who replied by raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not the best at fuuinjutsu, and I won't interfere with your education. There's a reason kids go to the academy before being placed under a formal sensei. Maybe when you're mature enough, and if you do well at the academy, I'll get you a tutor when you're ten." 'If he isn't too busy travelling,' Sarutobi added to himself.

His reasoning behind holding the kid back was to give Naruto a childhood, keep him occupied with less consuming and dangerous matters. Fuuinjutsu was unstable, volatile, and he needed to boy to mature enough to realize that before he would teach him anything. Besides, it was better to let kids be kids, and let the adults worry about intense missions and developing jutsu. Even then, Naruto still aspired to be the top of his class, which practically tossed an overly fun-loving childhood out the window. At least he could retain some of that innocence.

"Aww," Naruto sighed. He truly was engrossed in the concept yet saddened to have to wait. 'Maybe they'll go over it at the academy,' he hoped.

"In the meantime, drawing is a good exercise for patience and a steady hand. If you can master that, fuuinjutsu would be much easier."

"Yosh!" Replied Naruto enthusiastically. Sarutobi handed him a piece of paper from his desk and fished in the drawer for a pencil.

He didn't know the monstrous obsession that the simple sentence created.

End Flashback

After that occurence, Naruto had calmed down much more, his newfound patience being displayed constantly. He went from one of the better in the class to second in his year, only behind one Uchiha Sasuke. By then, he was seven, and he had become engrossed in drawing so much that he began to ignore some of the lectures. Right now, he was working on a veritable masterpiece on his test.

The questions were easy enough, it was the academy after all, so what was more interesting was what he depicted in graphite on the test for the topic, Konoha's recent history. The most important recent event? The Kyuubi attack.

He smirked as he sketched a menacing Kyuubi eating the title with nine long tails swaying behind. On the other side of the title was Namikaze Minato, spiked hair and all, holding a three pronged kunai at the Kyuubi. He frowned, knowing there was no way to draw it to scale. He scribbled his name above the line, which now was part of Kyuubi's tail. Then, he began drawing his father's Hiraishin formula, though it was practically useless to anyone now. His deep blue eyes peaked up from his desk when he heard the clicking of sandals on the floor. Iruka was walking around to collect the tests.

"Naruto? Are you done?"

"Yeah, yeah," the boy sighed, handing over his test. Iruka eyed it, then Naruto, then shook his head. Why couldn't his favorite blond student be more like Sasuke. Alright, not that he wanted the Namikaze to be brooding all the time, as Sasuke had recently become accustomed to, but at least he could pay attention. Or not fool around and draw every class. Unless... Yes, that would work, he smirked. A way to get Naruto interested in his discussion. He knew the boy's weak spots, ramen, seals, and his father.

He set the stack of tests down on his desk with a loud thunk then stepped in front of class. In a booming voice, intending to interrupt the hushed conversations, he asked, "who knows what the Yondaime was famous for?"

Naruto raised his head from a new page in his sketchbook. Ino, Sakura, Kiba, and some of the other random students all looked at him expectantly. "What?!" He wondered aloud. "You guys know him about as well as I do," he added with a depressed undertone. He still wished he could have met his father in some way.

Iruka pinched his nose. He needed a way to get the boy interested. "Naruto! What was he famous for?"

"The Hiraishin and the Rasengan," he replied, almost angry that he was being forced into giving his knowledge. Everyone knew this, and the academy was the most redundant place he'd ever seen. He wanted everyone to talk about Naruto as his own person, not Minato's son. He took a deep breath. Calm. No outburst. 'Tou-san didn't have outbursts,' he reminded himself, though he wasn't sure if it was true or not.

"Can you describe those jutsu for us?"

"The Hiraishin is a space-time ninjutsu and the Rasengan is a chakra shape manipulation technique."

Ino turned to Shikamaru, who was sleeping next to her. "Naruto-kun is soooo smart. One day, I'm going to make him like me," she squealed as quietly as possible. Shikamaru raised his head, noticing his friend was talking to him, then turned away towards the window and fell back asleep. Rule one in any Nara's book: ignore the troublesome women.

"In depth, please," Iruka elaborated.

Naruto focused his deep blue eyes on his sensei, annoyance chiseled into his face.

"There are multiple versions of the Hiraishin, but the most common, which I think you're talking about, is the one invented by the Nidaime and perfected by Tou-san. With it, the user can use chakra to etch a formula with ink into practically any surface. The jutsu-shiki is comprised of elements for summoning, but is ordered backwards to allow for reverse summoning. This allows the user to instantaneously teleport with very little chakra. They can also teleport with any object. What I don't get is why they can't order it normally and summon things to them with use of Kuchiyose no jutsu. If I were able to use that technique, I could mark my comrades to help them if they ever got in a pinch.

"Do I need to explain the Rasengan too?" After the spiel, which he kept concise as possible (even though he worshipped its topic), he placed his head back into his sketchbook.

"No, no, it's fine. That is... genius Naruto," Iruka muttered. The boy had actually come up with an improvement to the Hiraishin. Granted, he probably researched it endlessly and constantly bothered the jounin about it, but his knowledge was utterly fantastic for a seven year old.

Ino jumped up. "Naruto-kun is amazing!"

"Sasuke-kun is better!" Another girl shouted.

Before the bickering could commence, Iruka slammed a fist loudly into the desk. "If anyone starts this, you'll all get double homework," he threatened. "Naruto, at the end of the day, please see me in my office."

~ Later ~

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, sitting down in a seat in front of the man's desk.

"You know, you're starting to look more like your father every day," his sensei pointed out, off topic.

"Err... Thanks? Why am I here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about fuuinjutsu." This peaked Naruto's interest. The Hokage had told him that he wouldn't learn the art of sealing for another three years. A head start should help him become a master as fast as he could. That is only if Iruka actually knew fuuinjutsu.

"What about?"

"You are quite knowledgeable about the Hiraishin. Granted, it is your father and your well known favorite topic, but nonetheless impressive."

"This is great and all, but Jiji promised to treat me to ramen soon, so can you get to the point."

Iruka gave his student a warm smile. At first, he thought Naruto reminded him of the Kyuubi, knowing what was sealed inside of him. Then, due to Naruto's random blabs about seals (he could be quite the geek at times), he realized that a scroll was not the kunai sealed within it. It helped him see Naruto as a reminder of the Yondaime's heroism instead of Kyuubi's desolation. By now, after one or two times of treating the boy to ramen, he could say that in different circumstances, he would have adopted Naruto. Or at least acted as an older brother.

"I only want what's best for you. I spent some time looking, but I found you an early birthday present. A few months early, I know, but I'm sure that you'll like it."

"Hmm, sounds great sensei," grinned Naruto. He only really opened up when alone with his close friends. At most other times, he was calm and collected. Quiet and cool, yet hardly internalizing his feelings likes Sasuke. He had an outlet for anything that irked him.

Iruka pointed to a red book on his desk, which Naruto picked up. "Fuuinjutsu for Dummies," he read aloud, a tick mark forming on his forehead. "You're an evil sensei!"

"No, no, no!" He replied quickly, waving his hands in an exaggerated motion. "That's just the title! It's supposed to get you to a level 4 out of 10 in seals, but I can't make heads or tails of some of the pictures since it appears to not be my specialty. I'm not that creative, and this stuff seems to go right past me," he rubbed his head sheepishly. "I thought you might like it."

"Jiji said I shouldn't start learning until I'm 10," Naruto said pointedly. He trusted the Hokage, more so than anyone else in Konoha.

"What's a head start going to do, eh?" Iruka winked, clasping a reassuring hand on his student's shoulder.

Naruto replied with an overexaggerated frown. "I don't know. Jiji is the Hokage, he always knows best."

"Trust me on this one, okay?" the academy sensei patted the blond on the shoulder. "It can't do any harm to know more, right?" Naruto contemplated the fact. 'I guess Jiji never really told me that I can't learn on my own...'

"Well, thanks Iruka-sensei! I'll be a level 4 master before the end of this year, -ttebayo!" Naruto declared in his now rarer bursts of emotion. "Oh man, Jiji's going to be so mad. I've gotta go!"

With that, Naruto grabbed the red seal book and ran, leaving a sheepish-looking Iruka in his wake. 'Wait. Didn't he already have lunch?' the academy sensei wondered, then realized that Naruto ate like two pigs in one. Understanding the boy was a hopeless endevor, as he never ceased to surprise the world with his secrets.

It was the next day when Hiruzen discovered that Iruka had defied him, though not directly, by giving Naruto the beginner's fuuinjutsu book. Late at night, nearly 11:30pm, Hiruzen was returning to the Hokage Mansion after an exhausting overtime filled with paperwork. Tired as he was, he hung his robe up and dragged himself across their residence. He rubbed his eyes since the house was devoid of light, cursing the elders for giving him mountains of extra work.

That was when he saw a yellow glow coming from under Naruto's door. At first, his urge to sleep nearly convinced him to ignore it, but he was concerned as to why a seven year old would be awake at this ungodly hour.

"Naruto-kun?" He called, opening the door to a blinding light.

"Jiji?" The boy yawned. As the Hokage's eyesight focused, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sprawled on the boy's bed were many looseleaf pieces of paper covered in notes and scribbles. A red book lie open in front of Naruto's face, while he sat on the covers. The Namikaze was clearly exhausted.

'Why does he have to do this in the middle of the night?' The Kage wondered, jaded annoyance creeping in. Oh yes, Naruto sometimes did stupid things such as this.

"What on earth are you doing now?" Hiruzen sighed, accustomed to Naruto's impulsive tendencies.

"Recreating the Hiraishin," Naruto replied, completely serious.

Hiruzen seemed to think of it as a misplaced joke, tired as he was. There was no way he could remain observant forever. "That's great. You know that you have the academy tomorrow, right."

"I won't need to go if I can finish this!" Naruto exclaimed, suppressing a yawn.

'He's serious, isn't he?' The Kage realized, groaning internally at the whole rediculousness of childhood. "Naruto-kun, you need to master fuuinjutsu first," he deadpanned.

"I've got this book here to help! I've been looking at Tou-san's jutsu, and now I need to test out a bunch of ideas!" He protested, trying not to slump over and fall asleep.

"Naruto!" The Sandaime exclaimed, suddenly noticing what was going on. "Fuuinjutsu is extremely dangerous. A mere book cannot teach you how the Hiraishin works on its most intricate level. You need years of experience before you even try to use a storage scroll. You could end up sealing yourself in a space-time pocket dimension with no possible escape, or you could blow up the house!"

"B-but..."

"But nothing!" The Kage interrupted. His features softened and he brushed aside a few papers to sit by Naruto. "Look, Naruto-kun, I don't know who gave you that book, but there-"

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto put in.

Used to this, Hiruzen continued almost as if he wasn't interrupted. "There are reasons that all of the jounin in the village don't read books to learn, they train under a sensei. Sure, you can learn basic fuuinjutsu - yes, that means I'm letting you - but you can't learn the complex formulas without practice and experience. Much less create your own. I'm sure that one day, after you learn under someone, maybe you'll be able to recreate the Hiraishin. Maybe not. The important thing, and what you should take away from this, is do things one step at a time. Start trying to make a simple chakra storage seal, then explosive tags, then a storage seal, and you can work your way all the way up to Minato-kun's jutsu if you want."

"Sorry Jiji," said a sad Naruto, sweeping a pile of messed up Hiraishin formulas off the bed.

The Hokage walked up to them and picked them up. He looked at thim with a fatigued smile. "For someone who just started learning, these aren't too bad. Still utterly ridiculous and impossible, but not nearly what someone would expect given the circumstances. You have a truly innovative mind, Naruto-kun. I suggest you keep these somewhere safe, don't throw them away."

"Alright Jiji," Naruto replied, leaning back without bothering to move the rest of his notes. Within minutes, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was asleep.

"Good night, my prodigal grandson," Hiruzen said warmly as he too decided it was time to go to bed.

The next day of the academy was odd all around. For some reason, Naruto was even more attentive, becoming competitive for that top of the class spot. Now more than ever, he was putting effort into his work and in his spare time drawing seal designs, not enormous foxes. The designs were simple, tutorial seals that were detailed in the book. Unfortunately, the book only held the basics and grazed over the importance of each element of the seal. Either way, Iruka was glad that Naruto chose to come out of his hole and apply himself, showing his more charismatic side.

The initiation of the change, Naruto becoming more involved in his education - outside of what he liked -, was an epiphany he had at the academy when Uchiha Sasuke demolished him in a taijutsu spar. Though the Namikaze might look good on paper, he severely lacked in his taijutsu and shurikenjutsu, at least with his standards. Also, he remembered that his Jiji told him about Minato being well versed in many of the shinobi arts. Still, his love for art did not diminish. A day of studying seals and mostly useless academy facts equated to some much needed alone time. A time to just relax a bit from his intentionally intense life and take in the beauty of the world around him, so to speak. Naruto liked to observe what made this village a place his father died to protect.

Since he didn't really have anyone to talk to since he didn't bother Hiruzen at work, he decided that a scenic walk around the village would be nice. He also though that he could try and depict everything from a new angle, a better way to see the magnificence of Konoha.

Walking down the streets was a hassle. It always was. People left and right would turn and wave and say some of the stupidest suck-up things he had ever heard.

"Naruto-sama, buy some of my apples!"

"No, buy mine!"

"Namikaze-sama, we love you!"

"You're just like your father Naruto-san!"

There was even this one time when some woman ran up to him, begging him to marry her daughter. Naruto had no idea what to do, so he ended up trying to run around the woman. But she wouldn't let him go! He still shuddered at the memory of that level of insanity (it turned out that the daughter was four years older). Some people had lost it, he figured.

Then there were those who'd still glare, or ignore him altogether. They were a quiet minority, but their existence both confused and frightened him sometimes. He had yet to discover what he or his father did to elicit such a response, especially when the more drunken of that group called him a demon. 'Demon, really?' he'd sigh with absolutely no idea where they got the insults from.

Today, there were fewer of these people out, considering most had begun warming up to him. He was talking a stroll down the street, when he saw the Hokage Monument. With a smirk, he noticed that he'd never seen the village from that point of view. It was only a small hike to the top, since he used the route around it. Unfortunately, he didn't have the skills to walk up the faces yet, that would come with time.

When he got there, to his surprise there was already a boy there with a small sketchbook. From behind, his company looked like a kid. With medium length straight black hair, ghostly pale skin, and a backpack on the ground next to him, Naruto wondered who he was. In terms of clothes, he wore a long sleeved black shirt and ankle-length black shorts, extremely boring choices. Naruto didn't remember ever seeing him before, in the academy or on the streets.

"Hello?" Naruto greeted quietly.

The boy turned around, fixing his black eyes on Naruto. He placed his pencil on the ground next to his book and sat facing the blond. The first thing the Namikaze noticed was the complete lack of expression on the pale boy's face.

"Namikaze-san," the boy said politely.

"You know me, what a surprise." 'And people wonder why I try so hard to surpass my family.'

The boy gave him an oddly creepy, almost fake, smile. "It is true that you are the son of a reputable Hokage." It seemed that this pale kid had no understanding of sarcasm.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the reply. "Since you know me so well, I guess I have to ask for your name."

For some reason, the pale kid seemed taken aback by the question. Little did Naruto know, the person he was talking to was an orphan inducted into the Root organization, headed by Danzo, a few years ago. At a young age, they were forced to abandon their emotions and worldly ties. Even their former name wasn't safe.

Still, the Root kid had been given a name by his leader to use in occasions like this, though it wasn't his true name. "Sai," he said.

"No last name?" The now-named Sai tilted his head in a polite nod.

"Why are you asking, Namikaze-san?" The ghostly kid did not enjoy questions, it seemed.

The blond shrugged. "I guess I'm a curious person, and I saw someone my age drawing from a cool spot in the village. How could I not want to know about you?"

"I apologize," the Root recruit said honestly, trying another fake smile, "I'm not used to questions or social encounters."

"Social encounters?" Naruto replied, stifling a laugh. This Sai character was absolutely ridiculous, in his opinion, not to mention insanely awkward. Not many walked around with this kind of formality and propperness at this age. Whoever raised him surely had issues. Frankly, that wasn't too far from the truth, though Danzo had his justifications.

"I haven't really met anyone apart from Danzo-sama and my brother."

Naruto chose not to pursue that route, deciding it will only end up in weirder answers. No, he felt he had been issued a challenge. If he could be friends with Sai, maybe he could get the pale kid to open up and become less socially incompetent. Step one: Find some common ground.

"So, you like to draw?" He began.

"Yes, my brother, Shin, helped me learn."

"Well, I love to draw!"

"..." That didn't work.

"Jiji said it would help me with fuuinjutsu."

"..."

The unresponsiveness of Sai was unnerving and kind of boring. Still, Naruto couldn't help but feel bad for the kid. The blond realized that he too didn't seem to have a family to take care of him, but others stepped up to the job. Though their personalities were different, he felt as if his new 'friend' was more like him than anyone else in the village.

Silently, the blond sat down beside Sai and looked at the sun descend towards the village. It was truly a beautiful sight, red roofs covering many circular buildings. A few tall apartments towered over the others, places where Naruto may have had to live if the Sandaime didn't adopt him. For maybe ten minutes, the two sat, saying nothing and enjoying the sight of the village. 'This is why I want to carry on my tou-san's will. This village, Konoha, it's amazing,' Naruto thought, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head. It was a peaceful sight.

Breaking the silence with random action, Sai took out his notebook and started scribbling stuff down. From the corner of his eyes, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki saw a black and white sketch of an older kid with long light colored hair, a light colored flack jacket, and a giant shuriken on his back. He was on the left page with a large grin on his face.

A thought stuck the Namikaze at seeing the picture. "Why aren't you in the academy, Sai?"

"I am a member of Root," he answered, closing his book.

"Root?"

"A division of Konoha's ANBU. I'm afraid I cannot say more."

"Whoa, so you must be an awesome shinobi!" Naruto exclaimed, exited that his new 'friend' was so bad ass.

"I am only a recruit. We must pass a test when we are skilled enough for the organization."

"That's cool. What's this test?"

Sai flinched; it seemed Naruto had hit a sensitive spot again. Tentatively, the pale kid opened the book up and flipped through the pages. What was weird was that the middle pages were empty, though Naruto saw Sai's portrait appear when he flipped towards the right side. For the first time since meeting the kid, Naruto saw a flicker of emotion, sadness, in his eyes.

The true test was to kill the one you were closest to. For Sai, he had to kill the only person who showed him care and affection, his brother Shin.

"I prefer not to say," he replied darkly.

"Oh," Naruto wasn't an idiot; he knew not to stick his head where it didn't belong.

"I have to leave soon, before I'm missed. It was great to meet you, Namikaze Naruto. I'm sure under different circumstances that we would have become friends."

"Sai!" Naruto called as the other kid got up to leave. "We should meet again sometime. I'm sure you'll need a friend at some point. I kinda feel like we're alike, you and me. We both never knew our families, and we both like art."

That thought made Sai pause. 'I've always felt so isolated. Maybe Naruto-san is correct, maybe he is under a false interpretation of me. He cannot know what it is like, lurking in Konoha's underground, living a confined life under the hands of Danzo-sama. Then again, he too is an orphan, who was raised by an acquaintance of Danzo-sama.' A second look revealed to him the few parallels of their lives. Without a word, Sai continued walking untill he reached the edge of the Hokage Monument. Naruto watched on in amazement as his new friend jumped down onto the Yondaime's head, then a building, then running across rooftops.

'I will see you again one day, Naruto-san,' Sai decided, a real smile spreading across his face for the first time in months.

Naruto had asked Hiruzen what Root was when he returned home. The Kage told him it wasn't worth worrying about, and so Naruto forgot about it. Though curiosity remained, it lacked anyone to fan it with their information. It was almost as if Root didn't even exist in the first place. What he didn't forget about was the kid he met atop that monument. Long since, he had tried to search the village in his free time for a sight of Sai, but to no avail. He too had disappeared.

Instead, after too much worrying, he turned his thoughts towards his education. He finished the book on fuuinjutsu, beginning to practice the seals without using the guides in the book to help him. It was no walk in the park, but Naruto's unrelenting tenacity kept him from giving up. After staying up to try and perfect a storage scroll, such a thing became a common occurence in the Hokage Mansion, Hiruzen remarked that the determination was from his mother. Now, his father wasn't known to give up easily, but it was Uzumaki Kushina that could fight when any normal shinobi would retreat and lick their wounds. She never, never, gave up.

Naruto wished he had as much interest or innate skill in taijutsu or shurikenjutsu. While he was able to perform the 'academy three,' Bunshin, Kawarami, and Henge, to the academy's standards, his taijutsu and shuriken jutsu weren't where he wanted them to be. He wanted to be top of the class, the next Hokage to carry on his father's legacy, but Sasuke was infinitely better at throwing shuriken or kunai. The Uchiha also was the only was to best him in a head to head taijutsu spar.

After Hiruzen denied him lessons, he was far too busy, Naruto went to Iruka for tutoring. His sensei didn't have that much free time either, and he said that he wasn't near a taijutsu master. Not enough of one to instruct anyone at least. Once again, the Kyuubi jonchuuriki's determination was revealed when he scoured the village for anyone to teach an eight year old taijutsu. It was no easy matter to find anyone with the time or patience, and he would never flaunt his heritage to get favors.

It was one day when he was passing by the training grounds when he saw two shinobi sparring. The first had silver hair and a mask covering his face and one eye. He wore simple jounin attire, a black undershirt, black pants, gloves, and a flack jacket, while the second was a little more extravigant. He wore a scary green jumpsuit, almost neon orange leg warmers, and an unzipped chuunin flack jacket. After seeing the bowl cut and huge eyebrows on the man's head, Naruto swore that he was cursed to meet some of the oddest people in the village. Yes, that describe Maito Gai quite accurately.

The green-clad man spoke to his sparing partner after striking the nice guy pose. "Let the flames of youth bloom! A rematch, Kakashi?"

Kakashi grumbled something about his 'eternal rival', seemingly weary from the fight. Then, he noticed the boy standing on the road. "Looks like we've got someone watching," he pointed out.

"Ah! How youthful!" The green beast exclaimed, turning towards Naruto with a thumbs up.

"What are you doing alone by these training grounds?" Kakashi interrupted, just as Gai was about to spew more crap about youth.

Taken aback slightly by their forceful presence, Naruto answered quieter than he normally would."You wouldn't happen to know someone who can teach me taijutsu would you?"

"HOW YOUTHFUL!" Gai shouted, comical tears flowing from his eyes. "You are surely in the springtime of youth!"

"Uhh... thanks?" The blond replied.

"You're in luck," Kakashi sighed. "Maito Gai is one of the best at taijutsu in the whole of Konoha, despite how he may... act."

The man with the giant brows gave him another thumbs up. "I am indeed Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey! Why do you need to learn taijutsu?"

"Well..." Naruto faltered for a second. He felt slightly selfish, trying to live up to expectations, but then he remembered that he also had an obligation to the village. "I'm going to surpass my parents, -ttebayo!"

"And who might they be?" The former ANBU, Kakashi, stood arms crossed with no emotion on his face. Of course, should he actually have shown emotion, Naruto still wouldn't have been able to see through that mask.

"Uhh... Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina," the blond replied, rubbing the back of his head nervously. He could have sworn that Kakashi's eye went wide at this.

The Hatake was, needless to say, surprised by this knowledge. 'This is Sensei's kid? Naruto? He looks so different from all those years ago when I watched over him. At least he had a good childhood... I don't think I could have forgiven myself if I let down Minato-sensei again. Obito, Rin, Minato... Thankfully, you're alright Naruto.'

Gai was unfazed by the truth. He wasn't dumb, far from it, considering that he graduated the academy at seven. He had suspected who the boy was from the long, spiky blond hair, and the blue long sleeve shirts that Minato used to wear when he wasn't on duty, but his suspicions hadn't been confirmed until now. It was fairly honorable, in his opinion, that the Namikaze wanted to make his own name for himself and not rely on the fame of his parents. Or maybe that was just his bias towards taijutsu talking, knowing that he could teach Naruto in that art.

"So, you're looking for a teacher?!"

"Yeah... I'm Naruto by the way. Namikaze Naruto." Kakashi watched the two quietly, debating whether he should leave or not. He knew he shouldn't, not until he saw what happened to Naruto. Still, every time he looked at the blond, he felt as if he needed to escape, and the guilt gripped him again.

"Well, my eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi, is one of the best around!"

That started the white haired jounin. Why was it that Gai promoted him instead of himself? Everyone knew how much Konoha's Green Beast wanted a successor, so why couldn't that be Naruto?

Naruto was no less puzzled. "But Kakashi-san said you were great at taijutsu."

"True as that may be, I already have a student! Kakashi here does not. There is no way for our students to carry on our rivalry if he's too lazy to train one!"

"Mou, mou..." Kakashi eye smiled, waving his hands. "I don't like kids." Naruto didn't register that he meant kids in general, not him in particular.

"Curse your hip and cool attitude!"

"Oi!" Naruto interrupted, "I'm right here!"

"Kakashi. You should teach him, he's your sensei's son," Gai whispered, before adding loudly, "I will leave you two alone to revel in youth!"

Just like that, Konoha's most scarrily dressed shinobi left in a blur of speed, though it wasn't even a Shunshin. He was simply that fast. This left Kakashi and Naruto in a bored stare off, both waiting for the other to break the awkwardness and say something.

After a few very long minutes, the former ANBU sat down on the trodden grass and pulled out an orange book. Icha Icha Paridise. Under that mask of his, a smile crept across his face as he read the very naughty book.

"You're a pervert!"

"And you don't appreciate classic literature."

Naruto groaned. "You're a boring sensei."

"Who said I was your sensei?"

"I did!"

"Well then!" Kakashi looked up from his book and gave him a fake eye smile. "My first act as your sensei is to follow Gai and ask him to train you."

"Hey! I'm not stupid you know!"

"You're what, six?"

"I'm eight! And I really need a taijutsu teacher!"

"Why?"

"Well Iruka sensei says that he can't teach me much more since he's no good at taijutsu, Jiji is always busy, and... those are really my only friends..." Naruto looked down, realizing how awful that was.

Despite his talkative and charismatic personality, he had very few true friends. Sai might have counted, and some of the people in his class, but none of them would really be able to teach him taijutsu. None of them stuck around when he needed them as more than a wall for him to throw fuuinjutsu ideas at. He didn't really know many other people, since he avoided those who worshipped him and steered clear from those who hated him. And those two actions covered mostly everyone.

Kakashi saw that look in Naruto's eyes, and how could he not feel sympathetic in some way for his dear sensei's son? It was a guilt trip, he knew, even if it wasn't intended.

"Hmm... It looks like I landed myself a temporary student." He probably wouldn't be teaching Naruto much anyway, just enough to satisfy his guilt. Though, his plain laziness also had something to say in the whole ordeal.

"Thank you!"

~ Weeks later ~

Iruka's voice resonated throughout the small academy training grounds. Naruto, on the other hand, was thinking about his training with the lazy Hatake Kakashi and his toils in the art of fuuinjutsu. Both were improving, but neither made him satisfied. Once his figured out how to create a simple seal, he would crave the knowledge needed to implement any one of his ideas into it. For example, he stared at a small stack of hastily made storage scrolls, they could only store one thing each, and wondered if he could make them suck objects in from across the room. How useful that would be, to clean up or anything. Yet he had no idea to go about doing something like that, assuming it involved the use of fuuton and wind jutsu in some way. For maybe an hour, he looked at the 'incomplete' seal and wondered.

With Kakashi, he had worked hard to achieve what he considered very little. The man was by no means overly involved in his training, nor did he seem to care about much other than his book. The ex-ANBU always arrived two hours late, Naruto made sure to arrive at that time too, and then he'd go about reading the book. When the blond asked the Hokage about it, Hiruzen told his adopted grandson that Kakashi had suffered a loss and was stricken with grief. It was then that Naruto learned that his new sensei was taught by none other than Namikaze Minato.

Still, despite Kakashi's laziness, Naruto couldn't deny that he had improved in taijutsu. The jounin occasionaly gave him tips in passing that were actually quite genius. One time, Naruto was in the middle of one of their scarce spars when Kakashi suggested that work on using his momentum to counter. This involved a great deal of dodging practice and taking hits, but Naruto was eventually able to direct most of the force away from himself. Sadly, he could only keep this method up with opponents slower than the average genin, but he vowed to work on it more in the academy spars.

"Naruto! Are you even listening!?"

"Huh?" Iruka facepalmed. Naruto was normally attentive, but it was likely that he had another late night trying to do something weird to a seal. Whatever it was, Iruka didn't care, the kid was being impolite.

"I said that we have a new assistant instructor, Mizuki."

Naruto turned towards the white haired man standing outside with them. "Hi, Mizuki-sensei!" He greeted. Next to him, Sasuke gave a hushed grunt of annoyance, anticipating the spar Iruka promised.

The bored-looking new sensei gave Naruto an impassive.

Iruka continued, "to get him familiar with all of you guys, I've taken you guys outside for a series of spars. The winner gets extra credit on the next test about the various types of ninjutsu." This stirred a bunch of excitement within the students, minus Shikamaru (who was almost asleep), Shino, and Sasuke.

'So that's why we're outside...' Naruto commented to himself. He didn't really need the extra credit, he was ahead of Sasuke in the race for Rookie of the Year in all but taijutsu and ninjutsu. Unfortunately for the blond, those two elements each made up a thrid of their grade. They were about even on the tests portion, since they were beyond easy. Naruto also needed approval from his grandfather if he wanted to take the genin exam early, or even if he could have a fuuinjutsu tutor. Everyone knew how much he wanted to know more about seals, and that boy couldn't make himself give up.

"The first match will be Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura."

The two girls both ran into the circle, glaring at each other. Everyone knew of their odd rivalry and overbearing fangirlism.

"I will win for you Naruto-kun!" Ino shouted as loudly as possible.

"And I'll beat Ino-pig for Sasuke-kun!" Sakura declared equally as loud.

The fight in itself was a disappointment. Neither of them actually showed remotely any skill in taijutsu, not enough to even develop or use a coherent style. It didn't surprise Naruto one bit when the two both missed a punch and accidentally stumbled out of the chalk circle.

"Draw," Iruka sighed, not even knowing how that was possible. "The next match will be Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." This started a great deal of chatter amongst the fangirls of the class. Everyone knew that Sasuke was far more adored than Naruto (Thank God) because he was top of the class and was more mysterious.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke themselves were eager for the fight. For Naruto, this was his chance to prove the fruits of his training. Oh how badly he wanted Sasuke's spot as the first step to supporting the Namikaze's and Uzumaki's legacies. How could he surpass his father if he couldn't even beat a bunch of academy students?

For Sasuke, he loved to prove that he was on the right track to killing Itachi. The name of his brother, who annihilated their entire clan, was taboo in itself. Not one person had head the name of who he would surpass and kill or why. He told no one of the fate of his clan, though many knew anyways. Naruto knew too, and it made him feel terrible for Sasuke. The Uchiha rejected any friendship from the blond, however, preferring to be left alone.

"Naruto," the Uchiha acknowledged.

"Sasuke," Naruto replied in an equal tone.

"Start!" Iruka declared.

Sasuke didn't move, since the style of his clan relied mostly on counterattack and defense. Naruto took it as a challenge, rushing at the Uchiha with determination in his movements. He threw a series of punches and low kicks that Sasuke barely managed to avoid. Then, Naruto noticed his balance stumble when Sasuke knocked one of his punches away, opening an area to hit the blonde's chest.

In a burst of speed, the Uchiha took the opportunity and launched a punch at Naruto's chest. Twisting his body enough to make Sasuke let go of his arm, he let the Uchiha's full momentum push him forwards.

With a final shove, Naruto knocked his unbalanced opponent out of the circle.

Fangirls cheered and booed, though some of Sasuke's had a passing thought to switch sides.

"Winner: Naruto!" Iruka declared.

Mizuki watched the proceedings with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't suspected anyone to beat the supposedly 'genius' Uchiha who he had heard so much about. It was because the Namikaze was actually a demon, or so he believed. Regrettably, it was true some people just couldn't wake up and see that the kunai was not the scroll.

Iruka was ecstatic for his favorite student... not that he had favoritism. But if he did, Naruto would hands down be the one that he'd route for later in life. The boy showed so much promise, and Iruka had beleived in him from the start. It was relieving to see that his views were right; Naruto could really be the world's next Uzumaki Kushina or Jiraiya of the Sannin. Maybe even some day, Naruto could take his father's station of Hokage.

In the blond's mind, he was ecstatic. He knew that this made him the rookie of the year, and he wanted to go home to his Jiji and have the man give him a warm smile and a pat on the back. Hiruzen knew how much this meant to Naruto, which likely authorized a trip to Ichiraku's for celebratory ramen. That was the best kind.

"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted his thoughts as a new spar between Kiba and Shino was taking place. "You may have won today, but I will not rest until I surpass him." The blond felt something similar in that statement, not that anyone he knew was a psychopathic killer as he assumed Itachi to be. It was more of the concept that there was some expectation out there, be it spoken from Itachi or silently willed by Minato, that they needed to live up to.

"Catch me if you can, Sasuke! From now on, we're going to be rivals!" Naruto declared, giving the other boy a thumbs up. Sasuke grunted and turned back to the match.

~ 2 Years Later ~

Naruto was ten, and not much had changed. He was taller, about four foot eight, since he cut down slightly on his ramen. Hiruzen prefered him to eat healthier foods, and Naruto knew that Hokage was a smart cookie, so he listened. The vegetables actually paid off.

Aside from his height, his hair grew even longer along the front. He had made it his personal mission to grow it exactly like his father's, since the Yondaime was his greatest idol. In fact, he looked like a mini-Minato. With that spiky blond hair that framed his face and soft blue eyes, his face reminded the older shinobi of a young Minato. The only difference was Naruto's whisker marks, and he still didn't know where they came from. He stuck with a long sleeved blue shirt with Namikaze written on the back in white. He rotated that with a short sleeve shirt that looked the same, wearing black pants with both outfits.

Kakashi had taken a genin team a month after his first student took the Rookie of the Year position, so he could no longer teach Naruto. In fact, it was like the jounin avoided him completely, silently forgetting about all the great times they had together. While Naruto was happy that he no longer had to deal with that lazy perv, he was saddened that his sensei had to leave. The man taught him well, for a lazy ass, and it was a huge boost to Naruto's taijutsu ability. Not only that, he was sure he made another friend, even if it was a boring adult.

His fuuinjutsu had regrettably improved only a little. The late nights increased, and the amount of time he spend with that book practically doubled. Without Kakashi to wait for, he had much more free time to practice katas and draw seals. The problem was, he was stuck at about a level three master in seals out of ten. The early ranks were basically learning to draw the simpler seals and making modifications to fit in different areas. An explosive tag's formula could potentially be put a sword to make it explode on command, without using a tag. He could write the storage, explosive, and small barrier seals with great ease and speed. But Naruto didn't want to know how to write them; he wanted to know how to create them. His Jiji promised him a tutor during the summer off at the academy.

The academy itself was where nothing really happened. Naruto had fangirls, sure, and it was hilarious for the other boys when the blond and Sasuke were chased around during lunch, the fiends hot on their tails. Being the last Namikaze and son of the Yondaime had its perks, he decided, and that was not one of them.

On their education, it was saddening how little the kids learned in the later academy years, academics converting to only sparing and talking. There weren't many more of those long, lame tests that Naruto forced himself to endure in the past. Instead, the two senseis watched as the kids chucked kunai and shuriken at logs, each student only getting a few throws. Most of the learning now had to occur outside the academy, but Naruto and Sasuke didn't have the means to do that.

They needed a jounin-sensei.

On the topic of the two 'rivals,' they had little interaction. Occasionally, Sasuke glared at Naruto when the latter beat him on a test. Or in a spar. Or answered a question well. Basically, there was a lot of glaring, but little of it was the malice that it used to be. Now, it evolved into more self-hate and emoness that Uchihas excelled in. Sasuke wasn't a bad person, he even congratulated Naruto after one spar.

It was almost impossible for anyone to witness the complete and utter massacre of their extended family for 72 hours in a genjutsu. That kind of torture had lasting effects. Surprisingly, some of those effects were slowly wearing off. Sasuke became slightly more open, though he had yet to mention the massacre, and Naruto could nearly classify the two as friends.

Sasuke wouldn't admit to having friends, even if Naruto declared him as cuddly as a bunny on the inside.

It was one day that Naruto decided he had his own plans for life.

Iruka was talking in front of class about their schedule for the day.

"Today, the class two years ahead of you will be taking the genin exams to graduate the academy and get put on a team. Does anyone remember the number of people in a team?"

A hand shot up. "Saukra?"

The pinkette gave a grin in response as she quickly answered. "Three genin and a jounin-sensei."

Iruka nodded. "Correct. Anyways, to pass the teachers look at their grades over the year; that is the first requirement. The second is the flawless excecution of three jutsu. Does anyone remember them?"

"The Bunshin, Henge, and Kawarami," Ino replied, glaring at Sakura. Their rivalry had even leaked into answering questions for the class, which helped Iruka immensely, but it also let the kids get more sleep.

"Right you are, Ino. After that, the new genin get their hitai-ates and wait for a week until they can return to meet their teams and sensei. Now, I don't like to, but since you guys are now graduating age at ten, I'm obligated to ask if any of you want to take the test to graduate."

"I do, Iruka-sensei!" A voice shouted from the back.

"N-Naruto?" Iruka stuttered. The boy had high enough grades and enough skill to become a genin early, no matter how much Iruka disliked it. He wished Naruto could have been his student for a little longer. "Okay then, anyone else?"

Sasuke glared at the blond. Under any other circumstance, he'd be fine kicking the butts of the other kids in the class. The problem was that his 'rival' was going to be a genin before him. In the hunt for Itachi, he didn't consider a promotion to genin important. No, it didn't change his skills, and what could someone who wasn't an Uchiha teach him anyways? No matter the deranged way of thinking, Sasuke needed to beat Naruto.

"I'll take that test too."

A/N: Thanks for reading!

My inspiration: the boundless possibilities of fuuinjutsu. Seriously, it's like the magic of the shinobi world! I have so many sealing ideas, and I can guarantee Naruto will 'discover' some within this story.

The team is going to be a surprise, and it will be an original, interesting grouping. But I won't spoil it for you guys.

That 2 year skip is going to be the only one of that magnitude

Please, don't forget to leave a review!

Until next time,

Jiraiya out...