This is my first time every publishing something online, and I would love criticism! Please let me know how I can make this better for everyone! I hope you all enjoy it! I know this first chapter feels a little rushed, but I'm really trying to get the first plot out sweet and fast so bare with me! Hope you enjoy!

And this is updated, not much change in this one, but read through! ^.^

Naruto sat in his own secluded part of the playground, sadly observing the other children as they played. No one would play with him, no one would even spare him the time of the day, even if it was his birthday. This was simply how things had been as long as the little blond could remember, even if he was only five.

With a sigh Naruto stood up from the shade of his favorite tree and walked back inside of the orphanage with his head hung low. Why did everyone ignore him and stare at him with those cold cruel eyes? Why did they- "Oomph! Oh sorry mister!"

Naruto apologized frantically as he looked up at the adult he had bumped into, hoping that they wouldn't yell at him or strike him for bumping into them. The image he took in wasn't all too reassuring in itself.

The man stood around six foot tall and wore mostly black clothing. Black combat boots, black cargo pants tucked into the boots, black long sleeve shirt covered with a grey and white swirled vest, and a even a long black coat that hung down to the mans ankles. He has shaggy silver hair and an intimidatingly built face. Nothing too extraordinary but not at all inviting either.

However what truly entrapped Naruto's gaze was the mans eyes. They were a hard grey with untold depth in them that spoke volumes. They spoke out two things in particular to Naruto. One which he couldn't really relate to being as energetic as he was, was a look of exhaustion. Something that said the man was simply tired, to his very core, and no amount of sleep could ever remove it from his eyes. The other look was one Naruto knew all too well, for he saw it every time he looked in the mirror. It was one of loneliness, a look of someone who had no one and nothing to call his own. But barely pulled over top of all of that was a glaze of warmth and comfort, barely there, as if it was strained, and barely holding on.

Then the man did something that Naruto had not expected him to do at all, in fact he gave young Naruto quite the surprise indeed. Kneeling down to one knee the man put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and gave him a warm and genuine smile, like the one of that who had just found something special. "Don't worry about it, It was probably my fault anyway, I'm always lost in the clouds. Whats your name little man?" Asked the man smiling at the Naruto.

For a moment Naruto was indeed shocked at the mans demeanor. It was very rare that he got a smile from anyone, and even more so that it wasn't because he hurt himself or had a painful accident. Breaking out of his shock Naruto replied, "Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage!"

The man dressed in black laughed a little at that and replied to the energetic blond. "I bet you are little guy. And now that I know your name its only fair that you know mine. I am Ryuunosuke Kuroi-Tsume. A weird name I know, but my mother was quite the oddball herself."

Naruto took in the mans name and etched it into his mind as one of the very few people who seemed to treat him alright. Overtly happy that the man was paying him positive attention Naruto called out to the man, "So what are you doing here Ryu-san? You obviously don't work here. Are you a ninja? I mean you look really cool with those clothes and-"

Even though Ryu had a huge grin on his face at the blondes energy he cut him off. "Whoa whoa whoa little guy, too many questions at once!" he said with a chuckle ruffling the blondes hair. "I'm here to meet some kids and hopefully find someone to adopt." Naruto's eyes got wide and a faint hope dared to foster itself some were inside of himself and before he knew it, that little bit of hope consumed him.

But before he could saying the voice of the woman Naruto had failed to notice that was escorting Ryu spoke up with a bit of venom in her tone, staring at Naruto while she talked, even though she was addressing Ryu. "Excuse me Ryu-san but the rest of the children are outside, I'll take you to meet them."

Ryu looked back up at the young woman and gave her a critical stare. "Ahh but I'm quite enjoying the company of young Uzumaki-san here, in fact you could say that I'm quite taken with him." Both Naruto's and the assistants eyeballs looked like they would explode right out of their skulls. Ryu grinned in amusement.

The assistant was about to object to Ryu with something along the lines of how he didn't want that child, when she was intercepted by the Head Caretaker of the orphanage. "Oh is that so Ryuunosuke-san?" She asked. Ryu nodded with a large grin on his face at the women's antics. "If you'd like we could set you both up with a room for a bit so you could get to know each other a bit better?"

Ryu kept up his smile and looked back down to Naruto before speaking, "Well that would be great, if Naruto is ok with it that it?" His hopes skyrocketing every second Naruto couldn't really do anything but smile and vigorously nod at the two. The woman who was escorting Ryu looked rather confused for a long moment before she quickly hid it away and played along.

The care taker grinned. With any luck the fool would adopt the demon boy and he would be out of her hair forever. With that she led the two down the hall to the room where potential parents would meet with the children.

-Hokage tower-

Sarutobi looked into his crystal ball with a mix of happiness and concern at the scene playing out before him. On one hand he was very happy that someone had taken an interest in Naruto as a potential adopt. On the other hand that man was certainly a ninja, it was in the way he carried himself, in the very way he walked. However, he had no forehead protector, and Sarutobi was positive he had never seen that man before in his life.

"Bear!" Sarutobi shouted out to the hidden Anbu in his office. A black clad shinobi with a bear mask on instantly and silently appeared before the Hokages desk kneeling. "Yes Milord." He asked humbly. Looking over at his subordinate Sarutobi gave him his orders. "Find out who this Ryuunosuke Kuroi-Tsume is. Check the citizen registries, bingo books, personal files, everything. I want a full report as soon as humanly possible." "Hai." Was bears only response before suddenly disappearing without a sound so that he could carry out his Hokages orders. Sarutobi returned to the crystal ball and watched it with singular interest, hoping to learn more about this man.

-Orphanage-

Naruto and Ryu had been talking for quite some time now and Ryu had to admit, he was quite taken by the blondes hyperactive and eccentric personality. It quite reminded him of himself in his younger years.

Turning serious Ryu looked over at the boy who was practically loosing his mind at having someone interested in him and giving much needed attention and asked him a question that would change Naruto's life forever. "I really think your a cool kid little guy, how would you like to come live with me?" If the demon inside of Naruto reacted to positive emotions Naruto would've leveled half the village with the explosion from the sudden release of chakra as he tackled Ryo and yelled "YEAH!"

Naruto wasn't the only one who was ecstatic at the mans question as the Head Caretaker who was listening in from the other side of the door quite uncharacteristically did a fist pump into the air and let out a silent 'yeah!' of her own. Almost immediately she walked into the room with a stack of paperwork for Naruto's potential new father, more than ready to get that damned demon the hell out of her orphanage and away from the other children.

Ryu grinned as she handed him the paperwork for the adoption forms. "So eager to be rid of him. If they weren't so blinded by their hatred for him they might give me some trouble for being a new resident here..." He thought to himself as he filled out the forms.

-Hokage tower-

Sarutobi was beginning to get concerned at the pace with which things were progressing and called for his subordinate. "Bear! Report!" Bear appeared in front of the Hokage with a plain folder which he handed over to Sarutobi.

With that Bear began his report. "Ryuunosuke Kuroi-Tsume, Age 21, Height 6ft 2in, Weight 194lbs, Hair color, Silver, Eye color, silver. Born in the outskirts of Fire country as a farmers son, he changed his name 5 years ago when his parents died in a stampeed caused by the panic of the animals sensing the Kyuubi's chakra. Feeling that things would've been different if he was stronger he began to self train using scrolls he got from a passing ninja. He was said to have just shut himself off from the rest of the village, dedicating himself to his training regimen and undergoing quite the change as an individual. Three months ago he moved here to the Hidden leaf village and shortly after he applied for his shinobi status and has an appointment scheduled with Jonin Commander Shikaku Nara in one weeks time to display his worth and have his status and rank determined. Early readings of his chakra have put him around high genin, perhaps low chunin. Much of the information gathered here was a result of the mandatory investigation of all new Konoha residents who wish to become a shinobi."

Sarutobi read along as Bear talked, confirming everything the man was saying and in all honesty felt slightly better about the situation, but was not entirely convinced by the mans story. The man loosing his family to the Kyuubi was particularly suspicious as he was now looking to adopt Naruto. However there was not enough to prove ill intent, after all he was by all legal rights, a natural born citizen of the Fire Nation, and at this point a legal citizen of Konoha.

With a sigh Sarutobi handed the folder back to Bear and ordered him to have an Anbu watch and assess the developing relationship between Naruto and his soon to be father figure. With a nod Bear disappeared silently. "Let us hope for all of our sake's that your intent is pure of heart Ryuunosuke..." Thought Sarutobi as he leaned back into his chair, taking a long puff off of his pipe.

-Orphanage front door-

Ryu looked over his shoulder at the orphanage with a bit of disdain as he and an extremely excited and bouncy Naruto walked away from the building and into the street. "To think they wouldn't even come and check on my housing condition or put me on a probation period before letting me take the child home? Just how bad did that troublesome fox wreck this joint?" He thought shaking his head.

Naruto shook him from his thoughts as he grabbed his wrist with a grumbling stomach and puppy eyes. "Uhm... Ryu-san... Could we get something to eat?" He asked a bit timidly. Ryu grinned at the little blond clinging to his side as if his life depended on it. Ryu gave the young boy a big smile and ruffled his hair. "Of course, anything you want little guy. And after that we can go to the toy store and get you a few things. After all it is your birthday isn't it? Which reminds me, Happy birthday Naruto." He told the little blonde without ever loosing that overly large grin. Naruto whooped and began running all over the place cheering while Ryu simply chuckled at his antics.

-Flash Forward-

Over the next year life was good for Naruto under the care of Ryu and Sarutobi lost much of his suspicion over the man that had adopted the Fourth Hokages son. To Sarutobi it seemed that more than anything the man was horribly alone and simply wanted someone to fil that void. He had passed his test with Shikaku rather well and was enstated as a chunin of the village. He protected Naruto from any who would give him harm, gave him everything he could afford on his moderate pay, taught him to be modest and kind in life (although that was Naruto anyway), and much to the dismay of the villagers and the amusement of the Hokage, had highly encouraged his mischievous nature. He even went so far as to help him out on several occasions.

Ryu himself was considered an oddball by many for his habits. He did, odd things. He would rearrange random items, would say nonsensical tidbits to random people, and more often than not, left very confused people in his wake. He took mostly B and C rank missions that were short term as not to leave Naruto alone for long periods of time.

Other than that the two kept to themselves for the most part. This was because now that Naruto had the attention and love of someone who he had recently settled into calling dad, he didn't need anyone else. None of the other children would play with Naruto, but he would survive.

But for Ryu, all of his spare time was consumed with the riddle of how to do what he needed to do to that infernally complex seal upon Naruto's stomach. It was nightmarishly worse than he had imagined it to be, and honestly in his opinion was total overkill for the task it was assigned. A seal that strong could have properly and easily held the ten tails, much less the nine tails.

Ryu had told Naruto the truth quietly over dinner one night several months ago about his tennant. The hyper active blonde took it quite well, all things considered. And even more surprising to Ryu he had a rather easy time keeping quiet about it.

-Flashback-

It was another enthusiastic dinner at Ryu and Naruto's home as the two barely resisted the urge to toss food at one another or make some snarky goofball comments as they joked and played around. Ryu had just returned from a weeklong mission, and honestly he had been worried about leaving Naruto alone for that long. In the beggining, while he had no intent of harming an innocent child, Naruto truly hadn't been much more than a means to an end.

However, Naruto being Naruto, had quickly wormed his way into Ryu's heart with a surprising quickness. Ryu found himself more and more attached to the young blonde as the days and weeks went by. Then one day Ryu had surprised Naruto one day with his own room he had made especially for the boy, customized to fit Naruto's tastes, the boy in a fit of joy had shouted out "YOUR THE BEST DAD EVER!" as he practically tackled Ryu. After that show of emotion, Ryu had been irreversibly snared in Naruto heart, and vice versa.

For the past few days Ryu had been considering the merits of telling Naruto the truth, and now, he figured was as good a time as any. Getting serious, Ryu said, "Naruto, I have something rather important to tell you." Naruto perked up, and seeing Ryu with his serious face on, something Naruto had only seen once before, straightened instantly and nodded, his full attention given.

"I want you to know the reason why everyone gives you so much trouble. But before I begin, know that none of this is your fault alright?" Naruto didn't really speak, as nervous as he was for a young child, but mumbled a small affirmative. Ryu went through the speech reguarding the events of that night five years ago, also explaining that the Kyuubi was not at fault.

Naurto looked confused at that last bit and asked, "But if Kyuubi attacked the village, how is it not his fault?" Ryu sighed and looked at Naurto with a sad face. "I knew her, quite well Naruto. She was never one to kill without a very good reason. It was more than likely that someone was controlling her." He replied simply, but as the mind of a six year old goes, that was good enough for him, his dad said so, so why wouldn't it be true?

Seeing his dad with a sad look on his face Naruto went up to Ryu and gave him a big hug. Ryu smiled a little at that and gave him a hug back. "Just remember Naruto, all of this is very important to be kept secret ok?" Naruto grinned and shook his head in affirmation, "You can count on me!"

-Flashback End-

It seemed, if nothing else, the little guy was superb at keeping his word, and Ryu also suspected that he didn't want anyone who didn't already know to have more of a reason to dislike him, or just outright fear him. But tonight was going to be stressful for both Naruto and Ryu, for tonight Ryu was going to alter the seal upon Naruto's stomach, and if all went well then no one would be the wiser and the two would continue to live in peace brought on by ambiguity.

Ryu had cleared out the entire living room for the transfer array he had concocted and was checking it over for the umpteenth time. Ryu had told Naruto he needed to do some work on his seal, so that he could talk with the Kyuubi, which was, mostly true. Finally deciding everything was in order, Ryu decided to get on with it.

Calling Naruto into the living room Ryu informed him that the sealing processes they had talked about earlier to the blond was ready to get started. Upon hearing this Naruto got as serious as a young boy could get and sat down in a meditation pose that Ryu had shown him. "Well Naruto. lets get started..." Said Ryu, just a hint of concern in his voice. He wasn't putting one, but both of his precious people on the line with this, he couldn't afford to screw it up.

-Hokage Tower-

Sarutobi was doing more of his troublesome paperwork and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice of his student behind him. "Been a long time sensei." Said Jiraiya from his perch on the window sill as he settled down, getting as comfortable as he could in his stone perch. Taking a breath to calm his nerves Sarutobi replied. "Well now, Its been a long time Jiraiya, too what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well I heard that Naruto got adopted, so I felt I should stop by to see how that was playing out." Said Jiraiya to his sensei. Sarutobi smiled at his students inquisition. "It's going quite well actually. I had my suspicions about the man, but even after I told the man that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of the boy he simply told me that it wasn't Naruto's fault, and no child should ever be forced to be alone. The two are practically inseparable."

The two spoke of the situation for quite some time before Jiraiya gave his sensei a grunt and looked out over the village. After a moment he said "Well be that as it may I think I'll swing by and see how things are at home for myself." And with that Jiraiya disappeared from his perch on the window sill and headed out towards were Sarutobi told him the two were living. Sarutobi shook his head, even though Jiraiya couldn't be there for Naruto like he wanted, he was very protective of the boy. He just hoped that he didn't scare Ryu too much with threats of 'if anything happens to him' and what not.

-Naruto and Ryu's Apartment-

Naruto was unconscious in his meditation position and Ryu was panting a bit from the concentration he was exerting as he was running through the final phases of his modification to the seal. Around his neck hung a platinum chain holding a pendant of dragon holding a large egg shaped diamond with all four of its legs, its wings curled protectively around its prescious cargo and its tail dangled below in a lazy S shape. But what was intriguing about it was that it was glowing with a bright reddish glow.

"Almost... done..." Ryu though as he was finishing that last stages of the procedure. While it was true that the Nine Tails could not be removed without killing Naruto, with a slight modification a piece of the Nine Tails could be removed without much damage thanks to the alteration he had made. This was all that really needed to be done, even if it did cost him quite a few more years in his plans. Then at that moment Ryu's heart dropped as he heard a knock at the door, accompanied by a rather potent chakra signature. "No! Not now!" Ryu though frantically as he hurried to finish. He must finish.

Jiraiya stared at his hand blankly for a moment, feeling the Ninetails chakra arcing through his fingers from when his knuckles happened to rap against the containment seal on the door, meant to mask its presence through absorption. Realizing something was terribly wrong with that, he busted straight through the door and came upon a sight that filled him with rage. The man Sarutobi had described as a loving caretaker to Naruto was standing over the unconscious boy his hands together in a seal, eyes wide and calculating at Jiraiya's sudden presence.

Quickly glancing over the seals seeing that it was a modification and transfer array written across the floor, walls and even the ceiling, Jiraiya looked at Ryu staring him down, not with fear, but annoyance. His anger building Jiraiya began building chakra, he knew he couldn't interrupt the sealing, that could kill Naruto, and this array more than likely wouldn't really cause much harm, but he would be ready to decimate this man the second it was over.

Jiraiya didn't have to wait long, Ryu dropped his hand seals and panted for a second as the seals lost their faint red glow, signaling the procedure complete. Jiraiya's only words were, "You're dead." The resulting explosion certainly alerted the entire village to presence of trouble as half of Naruto's Ryu's apartment was neatly decimated as Jiraiya tried to Rasengan him into oblivion. Anbu swarmed to the scene to find Jiraiya holding Naruto in his arms and Ryu standing on a nearby roof, having barely dodged the attack, still panting slightly from the exhaustion of the transfer seal, clutching his pendant with an iron grip.

Jiraiya looked over to see Kakashi next to him. "Kakashi, take Naruto to the hospital. His seal has been tampered with and I don't know how it will affect him, I will handle this scum." Kakashi merely Nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves after scooping up a sleeping Naruto from Jiraiya's arms. "The rest of you stand back. I'll handle this traitor." The Anbu, fully confident in the Sannin stepped back. Ryu finally got control of his breathing, and spoke, a stupid grin upon his face, "Now now... Lets not be hasty..." But Jiraiya was seeing red, and simply charged the man, how dare he lay his hands on his students son!

Ryu wasn't happy either and surprised Jiraiya by managing to sidestep the Sannins punch and flipping back creating hand signs. Finishing his seals and seeing a rapidly approaching Jiraiya Ryu yelled, "Molecular Realignment Jutsu!" Slamming his left palm into the slate roof he pulled a six foot long cross spear from the roof that had a dark cherry pole and gleaming white blade, leaving a crater of missing material. Bringing the weapon up between him and Jiraiya, he blocked the Sannin's punch with the pole of the spear and pushed Jiraiya back before rapidly twirling it around himself and bringing the blade back down over his head even as Jiraiya launched himself backward to dodge the blow making more hand signs.

The spear impacted the roof heavily blowing it halfway apart as Jiraiya launched his next attack "Water Bullet Justu!" And began shooting water bullet after water bullet at Ryu who began to back flip at high speed with his spear, either dodging or deflecting the shots with his spear. Realizing too late his mistake in creating distance Jiraiya shot after Ryu who had taken the opportunity to flee as fast as possible towards the outside of the village. "COME BACK HERE COWARD!" Shouted Jiraiya, flying after Ryu.

-Hospital-

Saurtobi rushed into the room holding Naruto to find Kakashi standing gaurd over Naruto's sleeping form. "What happened." Sarutobi demanded. Kakashi looked over his book at the Hokage, "It appears Naruto's care taker and adoptive parent, built a sealing array, and took a part of the Kyuubi out of Naruto. Jiraiya is handling him now." Sarutobi was furious. Looking at the sleeping Naruto he continued, "Is Naruto alright?" "Yea. It appears that Ryu when through extremes to make sure the procedure didn't harm Naruto. That's my opinion at least from what I saw what was left of the array after Jiraiya blew the apartment halfway to hell, and judging from the fact that Naruto seems perfectly fine except for some exhaustion. I can still sense all of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed inside of him, so that leaves me with the question, what did he take? Did he fail?" Sarutobi was about to reply when a flash of white light from the outskirts of the village followed by a shock wave blowing the window out interrupted them.

-Just Outside of Konohoa, Several Minutes Prior-

Jiraiya had Ryu against a tree holding a kunai to his neck, steel in his eyes. Ryu looked just as pissed as he held his hands together in a hand sign staring the Sannin down. They stayed that way for a long moment, neither willing to back down from the staring contest. Then finally the silence was broken. "Why. He trusted you! WHY!?" Shouted Jiraiya. Ryu gave him a rather unexpected answer with a soft smile, "For love." before Jiraiya could speak again Ryu shouted "PARTIAL RELEASE!" White light condensed around Ryu and blew the Sannin back, leaving a huge crater.

Feeling like he had been sucker punched Jiraiya scrambled to his feet and squinted into the dying light, trying to see if Ryu was still alive or not. Finally making out his combatant he gasped at what he saw. "No... Thats not possible, Fukasaku said that they were no longer apart of this plane of existance!" Slowly standing up with great effort, was indeed Ryu, but not the Ryu we all know, he was no longer human, a long thick tail hung from the base of his spine, swaying and twitching too and fro, his entire body was covered in tiny white scales, his hands had claws, his feet had turned into long dragon like paws complete with talons, and his head was entirely draconian, long muzzle and black horns. The scales on the tip of his tail, hands, and feet were black which faded into smoke like tendrils before fading into white, he still wore the same pants and vest. "No wings... this must only be a partial transformation, between human and dragon... I'll have to go to sage mode to play it safe..." As he tried to remember everything Fukasaku had told him about dragons so many years ago when he was a wide eyed Genin.

As Ryu slowly staggered to his feet and panted he knew he was in trouble, he had used far to much of his chakra reserves during the seal transfer and he wouldn't be able to out brawl Jiraiya, hell he didn't really think he could out brawl him on a good day, especially if he was in sage mode. He would have to build chakra and put out his strongest attack right off the bat if he was to have a chance at escaping. "But I will come back for you Naruto... Don't worry..." He though as he began building his energy, But suddenly Anbu swarmed him at Jiraiya's signal to buy the Sannin time to summon Fukasaku and Shima.

Ryu cursed as he built chakra with one hand and fended off various Anbu with his tail, feet, and spear in his other hand. Down, left, up, roll, swing, flip... It was all reaction, one by one he took down the Anbu that swarmed him, doing his best not to kill them as he did so, although some ended up with some rather grisly wounds from his spear. He had reach with his spear, and he still had enough speed to stay one step ahead. He was almost there, he almost had enough chakra gathered in the orb in front of his chest. But suddenly, "SHIT!" he though as the Anbu dispersed and Jiraiya rushed in at almost supersonic speeds and delivered a hay maker to Ryu's right cheek, Ryu lost his concentration and dropped his orb of gathered chakra. It was a good thing Jiraiya's speed propelled them a good distance from the epicenter. The blast was insane, as Jiraiya himself would later say, and it instantly incinerated the closest area and the shockwave leveled everything else. It was like a Biju bomb went off.

After the dust and dirt settled Jiraiya, Fukasaku, and Shima pulled themselves up off the ground to find a barely conscious Ryu leaning up against a tree, panting heavily. "You can't... you can't have her..." Ryu muttered clutching his pendant. Jiraiya stood over the defeated dragon and looked him in the face hard and long before he asked the same thing he had asked earlier. "Why?" Ryu looked in the sage's eyes, and knew he had lost, all that was left was to try and appeal to his better nature. "Because I love her... and it wasn't her fault for what she did to this village..." He said clutching his pendant tightly. Jiraiya shook his head, confused. "Who on earth are you talking about?" Ryu grinned a lot like a fox, which was odd seeing as he was a dragon. "Kyuubi..." Was Ryu's only response.