Before you read this, let me make one thing clear. This story is an abandoned story. This account is being used to archive my abandoned stories.

Furthermore, my active account is "Advent of Shadows."

Chapter 1

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked as he followed his teacher, Iruka Umino, away from the Academy.

It was the day of the Graduation Test, and the chunin had told the blond to follow him when his turn came. At first, Naruto had thought that he was being led to the testing room, but they had just left the Academy. It simply did not make any sense to him.

Iruka glanced back at Naruto and smiled. The young blond reminded him of himself when he was younger. Unlike Iruka, Naruto had never known his parents though. In fact, Naruto did not even know who his parents were. Supposedly, his mother was a member of the Uzumaki clan though.

"Lord Hokage asked me to take you to him when it came time to take your test. I will be returning to the Academy as soon as we get there so that I can finish the testing." Iruka said.

Inwardly, he sighed. It would have been better if he could have let his assistant give the tests while he was gone, but his last assistant was Mizuki Touji, who was in prison for murdering a comrade on a mission a few years earlier. His crimes had only recently been proven.

"But why can't I take the test so I can become an awesome shinobi?" Naruto said annoyed, causing his teacher to chuckle.

"You still can't make clones. Do you really want to take a test that you know you'll fail?" Iruka asked as he shook his head. "We already went through this. You have too much chakra to use the Clone Jutsu. If I had to guess, I'd say that Lord Hokage is going to give you an alternative test."

"Alter-what?" Naruto asked, dumbstruck.

"I said alternative. It means 'different' or 'another.'" Iruka explained with a frustrated sigh. He had explained what it meant to Naruto a few times since the boy joined his class, but everything went in one ear and out the other.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled a little nervously. "I'll do awesome and make you proud, Iruka-sensei."

"I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will." Iruka said, the last being lower in tone and volume than the first. "Well, here we are."

As Iruka said that, they arrived at the Administration Building.

Looking up at the faded red building with the kanji for fire set at its highest level, Naruto smiled. He always liked visiting the building since that was where the Hokage's office was, despite the fact that he usually only went there when he was in trouble.

That, of course, meant that he had been there the day before because of his decision to paint Hokage Monument when he was supposed to be in class.

"Let's go." Iruka said as he walked through the doors of the building and headed to the Hokage's Office. By the quick sound of footsteps, he could tell that Naruto was following him.

As they walked, Iruka began to think about the thing that had been on his mind more and more recently. That thing was Naruto's peculiar situation. He had suspicions that the boy was more than he looked more and more each day. While he had the worst grades among the passing students in Iruka's class, the chunin did not think that it would be a stretch to say that Naruto possessed at least as much chakra as the entire class did together.

The worst part about the puzzle, Iruka thought, was that he could not figure out anything more about Naruto that would explain it. The boy did not understand it himself, and the Third Hokage had told him not to concern himself.

Reaching the Hokage's door, Iruka knocked on the door.

"Come in." Hiruzen Sarutobi said immediately after Iruka's fist left the door, prompting the chunin to open the door and allow Naruto to enter.

"Hey Old Man." Naruto said cheerfully.

"Hello to you too, Naruto." Sarutobi said before looking at Iruka. "You may return to the Academy now, Iruka. I can handle things here."

"As you command, Lord Hokage." Iruka said before he shut the door and left.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked over Naruto and motioned for him to have a seat directly across the desk from him. When Naruto did so, he said, "Naruto, Iruka sent your written test over earlier. The good news is that you passed, even if only barely."

"Awesome! I still don't see why we have to do written tests since we're ninja. When I'm Hokage, I'll change that. Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sarutobi shook his head with a sigh. Naruto reminded him of a young Kushina Uzumaki. That was for certain.

"You should probably listen so you don't miss me explain your alternative test. I'm not going to repeat the instructions, and you can't become Hokage unless you become a Leaf ninja." Sarutobi said slowly and carefully.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Naruto said.

"Very well then… all you have to do is learn a single clone jutsu." Sarutobi said, surprising Naruto.

For all his bluster, Naruto felt confused when the Hokage said that he had to learn a jutsu to pass his test. That made it sound as though he was not supposed to pass. Iruka had told him that few people could learn a jutsu in a single day after all.

"I will give you two scrolls. Each one holds a different clone jutsu. If you can learn one, then you will receive your forehead protector. If you can learn both, on other hand, then I will give you a third scroll containing a powerful ninjutsu technique." Sarutobi said as he withdrew two scrolls from his desk and placed them between Naruto and him. "You have twenty-four hours. I will find you at the end at that period of time, and you will show me what you've learned."

The Third Hokage knew that he had Naruto's attention and determination when he mentioned the promise of a powerful ninjutsu technique. It was only fair that he reward the blond for working hard though.

Taking both scrolls, Naruto grinned and said, "I'll show you that I can do them tomorrow."

And with that, Naruto left the room, running in excitement.

Sarutobi smiled as he watched Naruto running with a smile on his face. Seeing him happy always made the old Hokage feel pleased about the very decision that he still felt guilty over.

Looking at the picture of the Fourth Hokage on the wall, Sarutobi took a deep breath. He still could not help but believe that he had done the best that he could by hiding the truth about Naruto. It had been necessary, even if it forced him to ignore Minato Namikaze's last wish.

As a human being, he wished that he could have told the villagers the truth of what happened and that Naruto had saved them all.

As the Hokage, on other hand, he saw that he could not tell the villagers what happened. The Professor saw that it would have turned Naruto into a scapegoat for many. It would have also given the enemies of the village an easier chance to discover the existence of a jinchuriki in the Hidden Leaf Village and identify who the vessel was.

Regardless of how he felt towards his successor and predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been forced to act as a Hokage first and foremost. As a result, his actions had given Naruto a fairly normal childhood, though he had still been an orphan with no knowledge of his parents and few friends.

"It looks like I'll have to speak with Kakashi tomorrow after Naruto gets his headband." Sarutobi said thoughtfully. He was certain that Naruto would pass his test and get put on Kakashi's squad, which meant that Kakashi needed to learn a few truths. If Kakashi only discovered Naruto's jinchuriki status in the middle of a mission, then bad things were bound to happen after all.

"Come in." Sarutobi suddenly said as he looked at the half-shut door. He was a little surprised when it opened and he saw Ibiki Morino standing there.

"Sir, we have a situation." Ibiki said as he stepped through and shut the door. "Mizuki Touji has escaped."

"It looks like we better track him down then." Sarutobi said with a deep sigh. The last thing that they needed was a rogue ninja to deal with, even if it was only one of Mizuki's skills.

~Scene Break~

Twenty-four hours after being given his test, Naruto and the Third Hokage were at one of the many training grounds in the village. That particular training ground was designated Third Training Ground and it was composed of a clearing divided by a river with forest surrounding it. For some reason unknown to Naruto, there were three stumps in the center of the training grounds, and they were all about as tall as he was.

Walking to the river with the Third Hokage, Naruto took a deep breath and focused his chakra. Forming the tiger hand sign, he said, "Water Clone Jutsu" In an instant, four clones of Naruto emerged from the river before him and did front flips, landing at both sides of him.

Examining the clones, Sarutobi nodded in approval. They were not perfect, but they had high enough quality that, if they had been regular clones, Naruto would have passed the Graduation Exams with everyone else.

"Congratulations, you have done well. Would you like to try the other jutsu?" Sarutobi asked.

Before the words were even out of the Hokage's mouth, clones had already risen out of the ground.

"Mud Clone Jutsu" Naruto said as he looked at the four mud clones and the four water clones surrounding him.

'Impressive. He is sustaining eight clones at the same time, and they are all of acceptable quality.' Sarutobi thought.

"Release your clones." Sarutobi said as he withdrew a scroll and a blue banded forehead protector from his robes. "You've done something few genin can do. You've learned to sufficiently use two clone techniques in a single day."

The look in Naruto's eyes told the old man that he was very excited but did not know what to say, which seemed to be a first.

"Congratulations." Sarutobi said as he handed the scroll and the headband to Naruto, who immediately tied the latter around his forehead.

"How does it look?" Naruto asked.

"It looks very good, almost as if it were made for you." Sarutobi said with a sincere smile. "Now, I need to go back to my office. Also, you need to go and get your picture taken at the Academy for your file. You then need to bring it to the Administration Building so that you can actually be entered into the system as a genin. Once you get that taken care of, you are free until Monday. Make sure you are at the Academy at eight o'clock Monday morning for your Orientation."

Nodding, Naruto tucked the ninjutsu scroll into his jacket and began to run towards the Academy with a grin plastered to his face.

With that, Sarutobi formed a hand sign and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. He reappeared in his office almost instantaneously.

As soon as Sarutobi appeared, he sensed that he was not alone, which was confirmed when he saw Kakashi leaning up against the wall.

"You summoned me, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi said as he shut his book and placed it into his ninja pack.

"Yes, I did." Sarutobi said. He had done so four hours earlier, in order to make sure that Kakashi would be there sooner rather than later. "As you may know, you are getting Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki as prospective students soon. We need to talk about them."

"Both of them?" Kakashi asked, clearly confused. "I can understand Sasuke, but Naruto…?"

"Naruto is the main matter of this discussion. As I'm sure you have guessed, he is descended from the Uzumaki clan. To be more specific, his mother was a member of the clan." Sarutobi said. "There have only been two Uzumaki clan members to serve as members of our Shinobi Corps, Mito Uzumaki and Kushina Uzumaki, though the former was a member of the Senju clan through marriage."

"Are you implying that Naruto is the son of Kushina Uzumaki?" Kakashi asked, straightening up. He knew that if Kushina was the boy's mother, then his father would have to be his late sensei.

"Yes, and he shares her burden." Sarutobi said with a sad nod.

Kakashi had no idea how to respond to such a statement. The Hokage's words would not have meant much to the average person, but Kakashi was not average. Kakashi knew that Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze were legally married. He knew that Kushina was the second jinchuriki, or vessel, of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He even knew that the fox had somehow broken free twelve years earlier and attacked the village until the Fourth Hokage had somehow defeated it with a powerful jutsu.

All of the sudden, everything clicked in Kakashi's head. Naruto Uzumaki was born the night of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack, and the only way to defeat a chakra monster without controlling it like the First Hokage or Madara Uchiha did was by sealing it.

'I think I understand now.' Kakashi thought as he glanced at the framed picture of Minato Namikaze on the wall. 'Sensei said that only a handful of people ever knew that Mito and Kushina were jinchuriki.'

"How many people know?" Kakashi suddenly asked.

"You are the fifth one that I've told. Outside of us, only the elders and Jiraiya are aware." Sarutobi said with a careful look in his eye. "He is not to be told until he becomes a chunin."

"What if his power emerges before then?" Kakashi asked.

"If there is absolutely no choice, then we will have to tell him. I just hope that it does not come to that." Sarutobi said with a sigh. "He deserves to have happy days before he realizes that he has such a heavy burden laid upon his shoulders."

Kakashi found that he could not disagree with the Hokage on that.

"Perhaps we should speak about Sasuke Uchiha now." Kakashi suggested, hoping to change the subject. It seemed that he had a great deal to think about. The fact that the Hidden Leaf Village still had a jinchuriki was quite a big announcement to the Copy Ninja. Of course, few people were even aware that there was ever a jinchuriki in the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Yes, let's do that." Sarutobi said.