This is a story taking place in a world quite different from the canon Naruto universe. The biggest difference lies in the history of the Uchiha family. Itachi Uchiha never went down the path he followed in the canon, meaning neither he nor Sasuke had much of an eventful life. The Akatsuki also never turned evil, but instead developed into an anti-affiliation rescue group. After many adventures which belong in another story Naruto and his companions learned of the dangers of the Tailed Beasts and sealed them away, leading to Naruto's reputation as the hero of the Hidden Leaf Village and, one day, Hokage. I won't go into too much detail as that all really belongs in another story. Perhaps some day I will chronicle those tales as well. But today we travel almost a hundred and fifty years past Naruto taking up his position, to a time when a great danger threatened the safety of all those dwelling in the Land of the Shinobi. Contrary to what you might think, sages are far more common than once believed. Indeed, they live in a land of their own…

"One more time." The elderly man pointed towards a burnt tree rising into the sky. He stepped back, giving his student space.

Junichiro raised his hands and deftly manipulated them into several positions, ending with the familiar four-fingered tiger seal. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" A small sphere of fire spewed from the young boy's lips, curling into a ball but dissipating after travelling only a few feet. Junichiro stamped his foot in frustration, glaring at the charred grass at his feet. "I'll never get it, Masahiro-Sensei!"

Masahiro, the old man, patted his young student on the shoulder. "You have the skill, and you have the chakra. You just need to learn the technique. Which takes practice. Don't worry, you just got here a few months ago." Indeed, Masahiro the Snake Sage had taken this six-year-old to be his student only a few months ago. The old man had recognized young orphan Junichiro's large chakra reserves and had decided to risk training the boy, for a little while at least.

His new charge had been happy to find someone interested in him after almost a year being looked-over at the orphanage. Unlike most of the other children Junichiro sported a generally thoughtful and serious face, and because of this potential adopters usually passed Junichiro over in favor of more cheerful and happy-looking children.

Masahiro had watched for several weeks as the boy had eagerly helped with the chores associated with running a blood bank, almost never complaining or showing signs of laziness. When the old man had finally decided Junichiro showed the signs of hard work necessary to become a ninja. "Watch this," he said, and rolled back his right sleeve. Six separate circular seals lay on his arm spiraling from the biceps outwards, each consisting of a hexagon with a kanji inside. Junichiro looked on in awe as the old man bit his left thumb and swiped it in a spiral around his right arm, activating all six of the seals with a streak of blood.

A puff of smoke suddenly appeared and when it cleared six large snakes of different colors stood around the snake sage. "Issssss thissssss the one, Masahiro?" the black snake hissed sibilantly as it stared fixedly at the fearless Junichiro. The rest of the serpents hissed slightly but remained deferentially silent.

"Yes," Masahiro responded. He knelt down to meet the boy's eyes. "You may know that some of the people who come to the clinic call me a ninja, but the truth is I am something more. I am a Sage, someone who has studied long and hard under these wise creatures to learn their secrets. I chose you because I think you have what it takes to become a Sage as well. What do you say? Even if you refuse, you've been such a help that I'll still keep you, but I don't want you accepting this offer unless you truly desire to follow the path of the Snake Sage."

Junichiro did not answer right away. "Can I have a few days to think about it?" The young boy asked. Masahiro nodded his approval and sent Junichiro back to his chores.

But three days later Junichiro had made his decision. "Yes, I want to become a Snake Sage. Please teach me." He had confronted Masahiro after the blood bank had closed, standing straight and serious as he uttered the words.

The old man smiled and ruffled his hair. "Thought you would. Call me Masahiro-Sensei from now on, all right?"

"Yes, Sensei." The little boy's face relaxed into a rare grin. "When can I get the snakes, Sensei?"

"Not for a while, Junichiro. Not for a long while."

Junichiro made the seal of the tiger again. "Fireball Jutsu!" This time the flame was just a bit brighter and traveled just a bit further. The young boy smiled. Once he mastered this technique to the satisfaction of Kaji, the Serpent Sage of Fire, Junichiro would be granted the first of the six seals Masahiro-Sensei already sported. That would take many long hours of practice, but the day would eventually come when Junichiro, son of nobody and overlooked by everyone, would take his first step onto the path of the Snake Sage.

"Fireball Jutsu!"

Hello. I'm Cyberkyd. I wish to tell you first off, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. You may wonder why the story is so disconnected from the canon events, but I have a couple good reasons for doing so. First, by blatantly separating myself from canon by putting the story in an alternate universe, I am free from having to watch every episode of the original show and Shippuden. This way I can cut it off early and create an entirely new adventure in the same world we have all come to know and love. Secondly, I can avoid using any canon characters which means no more raging fans saying Sasuke wasn't emo enough/was too emo, etc. Thirdly, I can add tons of crazy new Jutsu and Kekkei Genkai and even how the Sages work without worrying about being too far-fetched... If this was put in the Naruto canon universe, say, halfway through the original series, I would need to explain why Orochimaru didn't use the Kuraigan to learn everyone's Jutsu. This way the Snake Sages are simply different. Anyway, please don't take too much offense. Even if I'm butchering your favorite parts of the story there are plenty of other Naruto fanfictions out there by so many talented authors! I simply appreciate the time you've taken to read this brief introductory chapter. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll come back for more!

~Cyber