I don't own Naruto or Thundercats... That is all.

AN: Thank you for joining us here today. I have a silent beta who would like to remain hidden, but I would like to thank her for her contributions to the story's flow, and lack of completely and utterly massive amounts of grammatical errors. That said, this first chapter is a monster. So if we missed a bit... I forgive us. Haha. Now onto the part that annoys writers. We work hard on these stories for you. Not only us, but for you the reader. The success of this story IS based on Reviews, first and foremost. I am trying to make it to over one thousand reviews. I know that is a lot to ask, but in exchange, I will do my very best to make this the best Naruto/ThunderCats crossover it possibly can be, and I will push to get chapters out faster. I will not beg for reviews chapter by chapter, but if I do get a decent amount, I will push forward to get a new chapter out before the scheduled release date. So show some love. It would be appreciated.

ALSO: This is the first time I have EVER written18 pages... 10,107 words of story. Holy mother of Manhattan, Batman! Most future chapters will be closer to 3000 words, unless I am just hyper inspired like I was for this chapter.

ThunderCats Ho! Prologue, and Chapter 1.

It had been a long and violent war. Trees burned, the ground littered with the bodies of many comrades... friends. There was originally Jaga, me, Lion-O: Lord of the ThunderCats. Cheetara, Panthro, Wiley Kit and Cat. Oh yeah. And can't forget Tigra. A man who was like a brother to me... except when we were competing for Cheetara's affections. He won out most of the time.

We didn't know additional Thundarians, our brothers and sisters survived. They were taken as slaves. They were forced to work as servants to the mutants of planet Plundarr, and those situated on Third Earth. But soon we were able to free Bengali, Lynxo and Pulmira. And our family finally felt complete. Little by little we found more and more Thundarians. And more and more who had the heart of Thundara deep in their souls. The heart of a ThunderCat. We managed to up our ranks and we eventually had enough cats to fill all of the rooms of the new Cats Lair on Third Earth.

But that didn't last long as an evil we thought long gone once again reared it's evil head. Mumra.

Mumra was an ancient evil. A mummy brought to life by spirits old as time. Dark. But together with the Eye of Thundara, with a united front we were able to push Mumra back for the final time. But what good did that do when there were only two of us left. Myself, and Cheetara. We returned to New Thundara to try to find peace, and managed to console each other and in time we started a family, but that too was not meant to be As our two young ones named after Kit and Cat died young from an unknown illness. That was enough to break Cheetara. She died shortly after from heartbreak. I myself was now alone. I finally decided to go leave my home on New Thundara, and go back to third earth as New Thundara was barely hospitable. But as I arrived, I found the world I remembered in nearly the same state as New Thundara.

Third Earth too was nearly decimated thanks to Mumra's greed for power and control. But thankfully there were still a few who survived. A few Burbills left. A few of the noble amazon warrior women tribe. Even a few mutants. We didn't come to blows as I expected. They were as tired of fighting as I was. I eventually tossed the sword of omens into a ravine as I no longer felt worthy of it. I just hope one day someone, somewhere, somehow could revive the name ThunderCats. And bring honor, truth, loyalty, and justice to the world at large. This is my final journal entry. Lion-o. Former lord of the ThunderCats out.

Lion-o had tossed the device off to the side, wondering why he even made a recording he doubted anyone would ever hear. He allowed for one last smile before he sat on the edge of the ravine... He sat, and sat until one day he didn't have the energy to sit up. His body fell backwards and the last thing Lion-o saw was the sad face of Jaga turn away from him from the reflection on the moon.

One Thousand Years Later

In a village surrounded by lush green forest, teeming with life, filled with the hustle and bustle of kids playing, parents shopping and normal everyday activities.

But not everything was as happy as it might seem... at least not from a keen observer's point of view. There was a young boy who had just been granted a field commission to the ninja corps as a genin. The lowest rank of ninja. But because of his heart and courage, he was able to stop a traitor from escaping with classified secrets of his home. That allowed the village leader an excuse to let Naruto bypass the one portion of the jutsu/technique requirement to pass as Naruto had entirely too much chakra in his system to pull an ordinary clone. But the hokage could not give Naruto a stronger clone technique as he was not ninja yet. He could not be seen as showing favoritism, even if Naruto deserved it. But Naruto's courage and cunning allowed Iruka Umino, Naruto's academy instructor to do what the hokage couldn't. Pass Naruto, by giving him a hitai-ite. His official ninja headband.

Upon completing that unsanctioned mission his now former academy sensei took off his personal headband and placed it on Naruto's forehead, signifying that Naruto was officially a shinobi of the leaf. A ninja.

Naruto had never felt such warmth in his life. Naruto felt his eyes water. He couldn't believe he finally managed the first step to becoming the newest Hokage of Konoha. He hugged his sensei who was like an older brother to him. One of the only people in the village who didn't look down on him.

A few days later, Academy Classroom

Umino Iruka greeted his former class to explain what would happen next in their next now that they graduated.

"Listen Up!" Iruka called using his signature super secret hidden technique, 'Big Head no Jutsu.' "Sit down and shut up. I don't have time to hear about how amazing the Uchiha wonder child is by his legion of fan girls. I could hear it from the front of the building. I mean seriously?"

They guys in the class snickered slightly at Iruka's blunt statement while most of the girls reddened in embarrassment at being called out.

"Here are your team setups, so listen closely as I won't be repeating them." their academy instructor warned. "Team one will be..." he droned on. Naruto ignored him until he heard his team called. Naruto had become hyper focused on his teacher at that point, "...and team seven will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura."

As expected, Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance at the Uchiha being on the same team as him as Sakura screamed, "Why do I have to be on a team with Naruto-baka?!"

"Knock it off Sakura!" Iruka warned sternly.

"Hai Iruka-sensei," Sakura said abashed.

Sasuke was the best of the best. He was top of the class. He was the fastest most skilled, and ever girl swooned over him, including the girl Naruto liked. But Naruto was not going to let that keep him down.

"Hey Naruto," a pineapple hair styled kid asked, "this place is only for graduating shinobi. You didn't pass. You shouldn't wear that headband. Wearing that headband could get you arrested for treason bro." he whispered.

Naruto leaned back in his chair with a grin and said in no uncertain terms. "No worries Shika, I got this. Even though this headband is a bit older, it's assuredly real. It's mine."

"How?" Shikamaru asked shocked. Naruto didn't miss a beat as he pointed to his hitai-ite and said, "I'm not allowed to say how, as it's classified, but I earned this baby. I'm a genin too. And best believe, like I've been saying since day one... the hat will be mine. Believe it!"

Shikamaru shook his head but gave his buddy a high five with a 'good job Naruto!' "It's only Natural that Ino-Shika-Cho constituted again. They are going to force us together hoping lightning strikes twice like it did with our fathers. Troublesome. But who am I to argue with the hokage."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He felt sorry for Shikamaru as Ino was known to be almost as loud as Sakura, and twice as bossy.

After a few hours the teams were picked up by their jonin captains. Team seven's sensei arrived even later. Naruto, having gotten bored set a trap for his sensei in the form of a prank. With his mask covered face, Kakashi, their jonin instructor stated, "I hate you, quite possibly all of you. Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

Five minutes later.

"Why don't you guys tell me about yourselves." Kakashi suggested...in the form of an order."

Naruto started first, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm awesome. I want to be hokage. Likes are um... Don't really feel like saying. Same for dislikes. Why? Because I don't like Sasuke and Sakura has treated me like dirt for the last couple years... and since I get the feeling, like a sledgehammer banging against my head, your going to try to shove teamwork lectures down our throats anyway, I'll just wait and get it on iTunes. Besides, Sasuke being the arrogant emo bastard that he is won't want to work with me as he believes he's Kami's gift to the world, and that I will just slow him down as I graduated dead last. The class dobe. And Sakura is stuck so far up Sasuke's arse, there's no way she will work with me. She'll act like she hates me just to get on the teme's good side."

'Okay,' Kakashi thought. 'This is not going the way I was expecting. I was hoping we could work something out to get their teamwork on point, but they already have a general idea each other and they really don't seem like a potentially cohesive group. I'll have to work hard to make them a team, or i'll have no choice but to send him back to the academy... accept for Naruto... The bastard got a battlefield commission to genin on an unsanctioned retrieval b-rank mission... but a successful unexpected boon to the village by catching the traitor Mizuki. Now that I think about it... I can't send the little turd back if I wanted to. He earned the rank already. He doesn't even technically have to do the genin field test. Okay... let's take a look at the pros and cons of this team. Sasuke was number one in the academy all around. Sakura has great chakra control, but has low reserves. And Naruto looks like he already has a plan in action for some reason. I don't like it. Although he does seem like he could be the most able to be molded.'

Sasuke and Sakura introduced themselves and Kakashi nodded as if he was listening, but pretty much ignored what was said after Naruto finished as it was pretty obvious how the team felt about each other.

'Hm... Kakashi wondered. Maybe I could fail them after all. The brooding Uchiha, and the screaming banshee, he decided to name her in his head after seeing her and Naruto interact for few moments. Fuck the civilian council. Fuck the sharingan. They can get Danzo's bitch ass to take care of that. I was root for a minute, and managed to find out all about his stolen sharingan... and put things in place to make his life much harder should he try to... tie up loose ends.' Kakashi smiled under his mask. Kakashi's visible eye widened in joy and he said, "Okay, meet me tomorrow. Um... let's go with I don't know. Seven thirty a.m. Oh. And don't eat, or you will make yourselves sick."

Naruto walked over as their sensei was about to leave and said, "You said seven thirty, so I will get their at ten thirty and I'd better not fail because of it either. I've saw you got here hours late today and gave us no explanation to why you were nearly four hours late. So I don't know what your game is, but I am not playing it. And if you say your going to fail me for not showing up, then, hey? Fail me. I'll just go back to the academy for a year, but I've already got a field promotion so they might just put me on another team anyway. So it's up to you."

Kakashi hadn't expected Naruto to be this smart. From all of the reports, he had found them incredibly lacking. Naruto did not seem like the dumb ass he was made out to be. But apparently Naruto's a lot more conniving than anyone gave him credit for.

The next day came much sooner than anyone expected. Kakashi arrived after two hours rather than three as expected. And much to his surprise, Naruto showed up literally within thirty seconds of Kakashi. Kakashi looked at Naruto and said, "I thought you wouldn't show up for three hours."

Naruto replied coyly, "I decided to hang around the general area and got some grub, and wait for you in case you decided to show early just to be an ass. And from that weird little eye smirk, I assume I got it right. But, let's get this over with. I assume this is some sort of test to say 'yeah, we need to prove we're really worthy of being genin. And you said before that you could send us back to the academy. So lets get this over with."

Four very long hours later, Naruto convinced Sasuke and Sakura to join forces with him even though it really hurt Sasuke's pride, and Sakura being the fan girl that she was at that point in time ( ;-) ) didn't help the situation. But Naruto could see potential in Sakura. He didn't know why, but he knew somewhere deep inside of her laid the strength and a power of a real kunoichi.

After convincing Sakura and Sasuke to work side by side with him as a team, they eventually managed to trick Kakashi out of the bells. They decided to use a gamble as they saw Kakashi's orange book and managed to catch the title. Naruto, being a prankster at heart realized he had seen that book before and knew names of the series and decided to attempt to 'spoil' the next book in the series as it had not came out yet. But Naruto managed to convince Kakashi with his team's help that the newest installment of Ichi Ichi was released early and that Naruto, through various sources managed to find out the plot and details. There was only one of two ways this would end. Go big or go home the three agreed silently. Thankfully Kakashi was so overwhelmed by the power of a 'potential' spoiler, he surrendered peacefully. After a little bit of convincing, Kakashi surrendered the bells in exchange for not having his books spoiled. They were now a team.

The newly formed team seven went on some some d-rank missions. Essentially chores civilians were too lazy to take care of and paid ninja to do it as they could complete it much faster due to strength, speed and special abilities to get things done faster with their internal energies.

After successfully completing ten d-ranked missions, a.k.a. Chores, Naruto and Sasuke were starting to get agitated. Upon finishing their tenth chore, they arrived at the hokage's office soon after where Naruto glared at the old man, a.k.a. The hokage and was about to go off ranting before his sensei placed a calming hand on his shoulder. His former instructor as Iruka, who also worked part time as aide to the Hokage when he wasn't working as a teacher or on the occasional mission to keep his certification as a chunin saw Naruto's anger, and realized what was coming next, the volcano that was Uzumaki Naruto was about to explode. And the only way to protect the village from Naruto declaring a prank war was to get him out of the leaf and quickly. Iruka looked to the wizened old hokage and was instructed to stand down. He knew how to handle this situation. But if he wasn't careful, the hokage faces being painted would be a drop in the water for whatever Naruto came up with next. And while the hokage could technically order Naruto to behave... Naruto would do it anyway and leave no trace, and no proof it was him. The hokage took it upon himself to find the quickest c-rank mission he could. He saw it was one in Nami-no-Kuni. No real threats, especially with Kakashi with them.

The hokage then smoothly said, "After much consideration, I believe you all are ready for your first c-rank mission. Come on in Tazuna-san.

"Who're these brats. I paid for ninja, not a pink haired light bulb, a brooding Mr. McGuffin (Thank you Linkara, for that word) who's probably not hit puberty yet, and this little short stack in a bright ass orange jumpsuit?"

Naruto and Sasuke didn't get along on much, but Naruto glanced at Sasuke who nodded. They moved almost quicker than the human eye could see and knocked the man through the hokage's door into his secretary's desk.

"Ninja enough for you?" Sasuke asked with a snarl.

"What he said," Naruto tilted his head in Sasuke's direction.

"You know what. I will pay for his medical bills. This is the first time they willingly worked with each other without trying to kill each other first. And for the record hokage-sama... he did have that coming."

The hokage simply shook his head and pulled out a bottle of Excedrin: Migraine and said, "Be at the main gate by seven a.m. with a month's worth of provisions each."

"Yokai!" (Roger That) they replied in unison and left at the clear dismissal.

Omake-

One Month Later

Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura returned to the Leaf Village. Naruto shivered ever few moments as he couldn't shake one memory from his mind. That he was more confused than he had ever been in his life. He knew that he liked girls as he once had a crush on Sakura. But he met this boy named Haku who looked so much like a girl and was pretty he couldn't shake the feeling that he might just like boys. But then he looked at Sasuke and realized 'NOPE,' it was just a faze. I'm all about the ladies. Then looked back at Sakura. 'But then again, maybe, just maybe boys might not be so bad.'

"I'm so confused!" Naruto whined out loud slightly. But no one paid him much attention the rest of the trip. They just chalked it up to the kami messing with him.

Konoha Gates

Naruto looked at his home with a small smile. Some sense of normalcy being back home despite the ashhole legions of people who ignore or outright glare at him. He saw three figures at the pool to his right. One of which he recognized as Hinata in her one piece swimsuit. He nearly tripped over his feet seeing what she hid so well under her coat. She was walking back into the changing room with a black haired woman and a purple haired woman with bodies that made Naruto wish he was ten years older.

Naruto shook his head a few times and even slapped his face a few times. Sakura was about to punch him and call him out as a pervert before she heard his own, "I'm not a pervert," chant as he slapped. She smiled slightly as she didn't realize Naruto was actually a gentleman.

'Maybe there's more to this knucklehead than meets the eye," Sakura mentally noted.

Naruto on the other hand decided that 'I am officially straight. Okay. No more confusion for me. As long as I don't meet any more guys that look that pretty. Ugh...' he shivered. 'Smelled so good too,' but then Naruto saw the three young ladies exit the pool and his doubts were again gone.'

End Omake

After walking for a few moments into the center of the city, Kakashi offered, "Go on, and meet up with me at the usual spot for training. I've got the report to the hokage, and you all can collect your pay when we meet up tomorrow."

Naruto said, "No thanks. I'm going to see the old man anyway. That way I can see how much I am getting and what this mission was actually rated. B-rank, a-rank or s-rank. I know good and damn well that was not kept as a c-rank mission. I want to know how much bank I'm getting."

'Damn,' Kakashi swore mentally. 'I was hoping to get a little extra cheddar. But this kid's pretty smart.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, and Sakura looked at Sasuke and then Naruto and she said, "We think we'll join Naruto."

'Them too... my poor special Icha Icha special editions will have to wait a few more months I guess.' Kakashi lamented sadly behind the mask of nonchalance.

Hokage tower, ten minutes later

Once the report was given, the hokage was impressed to say the least that they managed to defeat Zabuza and Haku, not to mention freeing the small island nation of Nami no Kuni; freeing the country from the multi billionaire tyrant Gato of the Gato corporation.

"Well done," The grizzled voice of the hokage congratulated, "Your pay will be deposited into your accounts for a successful...b-rank mission."

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura AND Kakashi tilted their heads to the side slightly. The hokage could tell he made a mistake in trying to fill the village's coffers with a little extra change with this time. "Oh... Did I say B. I meant A-rank. This old mind of mine has a mind of it's own sometimes." he found his joke fell flat.

"Whoa on the depositing for a moment jiji. Nah. Can't have my money deposited anywhere. I don't trust this village with my money. I just now forced the civilians to show me my bank statements before we left and I dropped them off to you for review with a note on the discrepancies. Over forty percent of my dollars are missing and tended to go missing monthly. I was too stupid to ask for help when I was younger, but that's why I am so short. I love my ramen, but I didn't have money to eat anything better. I guess that's why I developed such an healthy/ or unhealthy depending on how you look at it, love for Ramen.

"It was what?" the hokage raged slightly.

"You heard me old man.. Stolen, pillaged etc. However you want to look at it. I was this village's bitch, but now that I am ninja, I started realizing just how screwed up my youth was. Payback is going to be very painful if I find out who orchestrated how I was treated." Naruto countered.

"Naruto," Iruka screamed from beside the hokage. "Watch your mouth. Be respectful to hokage-sama!"

Naruto rolled his eyes at Iruka, but then sighed as he said, "Look sensei. You are one of the few people in this village I respect. But I won't even let you come between me and my Benjamins.'' and after a second Naruto asked, '' And what are you doing here anyway sensei, as we're all aware classes started back up a few days ago.''

''Benjamins?'' Iruka inquired to try to trip up the oddly observant Naruto.

''It's a term from the north I learned recently. But I'll explain more on that after you Iruka sensei, as it would be rude to do otherwise.'' Naruto crafted wisely.

''We let class out early today,'' the hokage answered simply, already holding his rising ire in from what Naruto already told him about the missing funds and treatment.

''Okay, you all wait until after I graduate to have early days. That's cute. And I will remember that,'' Naruto warned to which everyone in the room sighed as they knew a potential prank was brewing.

It means I am going to pay attention to every cent I get from now on, and will personally calculate the taxes to make sure I'm not cheated out of my money. See... I figured something out on the way back from wave. And seeing as Kakashi uses them... and didn't tell me about this I'll chalk it up to ineptitude of a sensei rather than straight up sabotage of a shinobi under the same banner,'' Naruto warned dangerously, much to everyone's shock. ''I get a memory kick back from the kage bunshin. I am pretty sure I read something like that while learning it. With that known, I should be able to bring my chakra control to Sakura's level within days if I am not interrupted. And I am requesting access to Konoha's c-rank repository of non restricted jutsu. If I can manage to master some, with my special chakra properties, they could be focused to the point of being a-rank, and no 'sensei,' '' Naruto sneered as he knew what Kakashi was about to try, ''I should not be held back so you can train up your precious Uchiha,'' to which Sasuke scowled slightly, but said nothing as he realized he would likely be receiving some sort of special training from Naruto's anger which was fine by him.

"I'll get it worked out my boy." the hokage promised, barely containing his growing anger about the multiple situations concerning Naruto that he was kept in the dark about.

''Hokage-sama," Kakashi started.

"Zip it Kakashi. You will not interfere with Naruto's training. You will help him to improve should he ask, as a good jonin sensei should." Hiruzen could see Kakashi was boiling inside, but sealed the coffin anyway. " Obito is dead Kakashi. He has been for many years. You cannot use Sasuke as your replacement Uchiha best friend. You cannot make up the mistakes of your youth by hyper focusing on one student and forgetting your other students. Am I clear?"

"Yes sir," Kakashi gritted out.

"Naruto, here. Take this pendant. It will give you unlimited access to the ninja archives. I am placing a great deal of trust in you that you will not look at anything above C-rank without my express permission when and if I feel you are ready?"

Naruto's whole demeanor switched. He stood at full attention and nodded with a crisp, "Yes sir!"

"And Haruno Sakura," the hokage drew the pink haired girl's full attention to which she immediately came to full attention to the hokage's approval, "Yes sir?"

"I don't know if your mother told you this, but she was once one of our proud ninja. And has a fearsome fire in her as a kunoichi of the highest caliber alongside Sasuke's mom." to which Sasuke's laid back demeanor switched, and he was at full attention. The mention of his mother, and the fact that his teammate's mother was a great kunoichi impressed him.

'Maybe some of that will rub off on Sakura,' Sasuke pondered.

The Hokage continued, "More of a ninja than that lazy chunin of a father you've got." To which Sakura's mouth dropped.

"Kaa-sama was a ninja?" she asked, almost too softly to hear.

"Yes. It is one of the reasons I wanted to bring something to your attention. I double check my ninja's medical evaluations twice a year. You barely passed because you are underweight. I normally would not bring this up in front of teammates, especially since they are male, but I can't have one of my shinobi being near anemic. And I am charging them in helping to ensure you eat regularly, and don't diet excessively. I need you to gain twenty pounds within the next two months, or I will have no choice but to remove you from the shinobi corps until a time I feel you can safely keep the weight on. Do not think I am being cruel. I understand a young lady's desire to stay thin," He said as he glanced at Sasuke who just looked bored, but Sakura blushed hotly and nodded. "But," the hokage said as he made a few hand signals behind his desk, asking if it was okay if he used one of his Anbu as an example. Said ANBU gave her thanks for being asked permission, even though, he being hokage didn't have to. "This," he said as a female ANBU appeared, "Is Neko. Neko, please explain the importance of keeping the requisite weight minimums."

"Of course Hokage-sama."

"Oh," Naruto yelped excitedly. "Long time no see Neko-chan! I never got to thank you for beating up those bullies for me all those years ago. When I tried to help... what was her name... the girl with those weird, but kinda pretty eyes."

Neko laughed slightly and ruffled Naruto's hair at the memory of saving Naruto after he stood up for the young Hyuuga Heiress. "Hyuuga Hinata Naruto-kun."

Neko then looked to Sakura and said, "I was once like you. Too afraid that I would not be able to impress a bo... certain someone. But I was given the same ultimatum you were by hokage-sama. I got my weight up to fighting class, but found I gained more than I loss. For example. I had a 'washboard chest, and non existent tooshe,' "she leaned in and whispered that part in a conspiratorial manner which made Sakura stifle her own insecurities as she noticed the woman was anything but, and let out a small giggle at the possibilities. "But seriously; it is imperative that you have energy for a mission. Your body uses energy as you train and fight. Sugars are broken down and used by your body. Proteins etc. You need to have a balanced diet, or you could put yourself, AND your teammates, not to mention your client in danger.

Sakura had a thought and asked, "Neko-sama, if you don't mind... and if it's okay with Hokage-sama, will you help me as well, in addition to extra training... when Kakashi-sensei is otherwise occupied," she worded carefully as she too was a bit peeved at the truth of Naruto's words and the hokage's words concerning the cyclops.

Kakashi caught onto this, but decided to use this moment to play his now very angry hand. Kakashi loved his sensei like a father, but he would not be embarrassed by some uppity brat wearing a bright ass orange jumpsuit, or a pink haired harpee... Ever. "Hokage-sama. I know this might sound strange, but I like the idea honestly. For Naruto as well. I would like to see who improves the most in a two month period, and using which methods. Sasuke, under me," but was interrupted by Sasuke.

"And let Sakura get trained by an ANBU, and the dobe train using his equivalent to a fully developed sharingan," he spat the last part."

"Calm your ego Uchiha-sama," Kakashi mocked. "I was an ANBU captain shortly after I made Jonin. Within six months... and guess what little Uchiha," Kakashi said in a much more menacing tone. "I was jonin at age thirteen. So if you want to bitch, I can let you train solo except for team building exercises and focus on your teammates."

Sasuke seethed, but zipped his lips. He was arrogant, but he was by no means stupid.

The hokage thought for a moment and then said, "I like it. We have been in need of something to shake up the standard lately." He then took out three forms and handed them to Neko who was closest to him. She looked back to him as to confirm if he was sure. He nodded and she handed a piece to each of the three young ninja.

"Naruto looked at the exam and laughed. He laughed hard. "We're freshly minted genin. Barely out of the academy, and have just barely begun to learn to work as a team... and you believe we are ready for this?" He asked his hokage incredulously, but still retaining the most respect he could muster.

The Hokage simply smirked at that and warned, "You've got the two months Kakashi gave you, and I am adding an addional month for team specific time to prepare. Let's see if you all can get up to the level of true chunin candidates in time for the exam."

Two weeks later, shortly after teaching the Hokage's grandson a great lesson in humility. That and his sensei that there is more than meets the eye.

Flashback

Konohamaru, grandson to sandaime hokage learned a very valuable lesson a week ago. He tried multiple times to get in sneak attacks on his now so called rival Uzumaki Naruto, but Naruto only found him annoying until Konohamaru explained his predicament of being seen only as the Honorable Grandson, rather than as Sarutobi Konohamaru. Naruto knew that feeling all to well as he was seen 'as' the kyuubi no yoko rather than Uzumaki Naruto. Konohamaru's Jonin tutor Ebisu didn't initially like the 'tailed beast brat,' so he showed obvious disdain, but was careful how much he showed as he knew the boy was close to the hokage, but would be damned if Konohamaru would be corrupted by such a dark presence.

Ebisu's mind however was changed forever the day he saw Konohamaru tick off Naruto's female teammate and Naruto caught her fist in his hand and gave a warning glare as he said, "I had a massive crush on you for years, but know this. Crush or no... raise a hand to the old man's grandson again and I will crush you beneath my feet. No questions. No second chances. No mercy. I will only see an enemy to our Hokage and his family. Am I clear?"

Sakura's eyes widened in true and unbridled fear toward Naruto for the first time and stuttered, "I...I'm sorry," nearly in tears.

"To him. Sarutobi Konohamaru. My future rival for the hat, and my... new little brother," Naruto said a little less hostile.

Sakura turned to Konohamaru who was hyperventilating as he hid behind Naruto's leg. She bowed deeply and apologized, "Please accept my most sincere apologies Sarutobi Konohamaru-sama."

Konohamaru nearly fell back in shock, but walked out from behind Naruto's leg and returned the bow as he replied, "I thank you for your apology and accept it."

Naruto gave a crisp nod to Sakura, all but dismissing her. She felt slightly peeved, but didn't want to chance pissing off this much more dangerous feeling Naruto. So she left without a word.

Ebisu appeared in a Shunshin much to Naruto's annoyance as no one would teach it to him, no matter how much he pestered them. "Uzumaki Naruto," Ebisu said seriously. In an official, commanding way instead of his usual belittling tone.

"Yes Ebisu-san?" Naruto asked, respectful of the special jonin rank, if not the man himself.

Ebisu sighed and stated, "I was in the area and was told by... a little bird what you just did for the Honorable Grandson. I... I am in your debt Uzumaki-san. What may I do to repay your loyalty to the young master?"

Naruto was stunned at the humility the man was showing. Naruto smiled brightly and said, "I am Ninja. I am owed nothing for protecting a member of my village."

Naruto's stock rose exponentially in Ebisu's book and Ebisu planned to reward him accordingly. "I hear you are in need of training for the upcoming Chunin exams. I was made aware of the fact that you were training on your own by the sandaime. I offer my services to you while I train Konohamaru, I can train you as well. I will give you more than chakra control exercises and teamwork exercises," Ebisu scoffed at the last part as he also heard how Kakashi was training his team.

Naruto decided to test the waters to see if Ebisu was serious as he inquired, "Will you teach me the Shunshin no Jutsu?"

Ebisu considered this for a moment and then informed Naruto, "I don't really feel safe teaching you a high c-rank jutsu with you being a freshly minted genin. It's just too dangerous."

Naruto smirked slightly as he looked around the park. Once confirmed empty, he placed his hands in a half ram formation and whispered, "Ninpou: Tajuu...Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Ebisu tried to reach Naruto before he killed himself trying to perform a Jonin level technique. Even the holder of the Kyuubi no yoko wouldn't likely be able to sustain more than ten or so. But Ebisu was knocked back by the backlash of power. Naruto's chakra was bright blue and then there was an explosion. Once he opened his eyes, he noticed Konohamaru was on one of multiple clone's neck.

"The...multi...shadow...clone technique... AMAZING!" Ebisu exclaimed, truly stunned.

Naruto stepped forward in front of the two hundred clones he created, slightly winded, and said, "I learn fast."

Ebisu performed the same hand seal and another appeared before him. Naruto's mouth dropped at Ebisu's lack of speaking to help activate the technique. Ebisu took note of this and laughed a bit and said, "I'm an elite for a reason son." Then to his kage bunshin he ordered, "Find me Maruboshi Kousuke ASAP.

"Roger that," the Ebisu-Bunshin said before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

End Flashback

Training ground thirty-eight

"Okay Naruto, do it again."

"Hai Ebisu-sensei!"

Naruto did the required hand seals and vanished in a swirl of leaves, and appeared again on the other side of the lake, just past the water where he aimed. Naruto did a victory flip. He then returned via running across the surface of the lake via Ebisu's instructions.

"It looks like you have finally got the basics of the first level of Shunshin down, and Kousuke has been teaching you sword forms, the crippling power of the Toraryuu style taijutsu and muscle building techniques. Not to mention the muscle memory you get back from your bunshin training. I can't believe it's me who's saying this... but you will likely dominate the third part of the Chunin exams if you manage to make it to the one on one rounds."

Naruto's eyes perked up at that, and Ebisu realized his mistake. "I'd keep that on the down low if I were you Naruto. I could get in a lot of trouble if it gets out that I let that slip, and you might get disqualified for having prior knowledge to any part of the test."

Naruto tensed, but tightened his lips together in determination, essentially saying, 'not even torture would break him. Ebisu nodded at the ridiculous behavior, but accepted Naruto's silent promise.

Kousuke appeared in a Shunshin and stated with a smirk, "There's a pervert with white hair, and a unique hitai-ite near the eastern women's hot spring."

Having Naruto as a student helped to get Ebisu to loosen up, so having the eternal genin Kousuke as a friend came in handy as teaching Naruto the joys of being on the receiving end of pranks. Ebisu saw the discreet hand signal. 'Jiraiya's home.'

Knowing Naruto's feelings on perverts, it was time for a bit of fun, so Ebisu asked, "You think you're up to dealing with a pervert Naruto?"

Naruto's inner prankster fired up like a star going supernova. "No worries Ebisu-sensei. Kousuke-sensei. I've got this."

"I told you not to call me sensei. That is a title reserved for..." Kousuke was cut off by Naruto as he rolled his eyes and countered, "...Chunin and Jonin. Bull sensei," he annoyed Kousuke. "It's a title given by the student when a teacher has earned the requisite title via his student (s) respect. And you have shown me nothing but respect, and helped to make me a somewhat competent shinobi. So you are now and forever, like Ebisu-sensei, and Iruka-sensei. You are my sensei. Deal with it."

Kousuke's mouth dropped, but he fought back a small tear. He denied promotion multiple times. He was even offered a position of Jonin by the current hokage less than a month past for the 'umteenth' time. Maybe it was time to accept a promotion... Maybe.

Ebisu dispelled, revealing it's identity as a clone. The real Ebisu emerged with Konohamaru from the woods with a beaten up looking Konohamaru with a smirk on his face, and an annoyed look on Ebisu's.

"I wonder what has him looking so happy?" Naruto thought out loud.

Kousuke gave a small chuckle. "Last time I saw that scene, Kono-kun managed to surprise Ebisu with a small fire jutsu he came across watching his uncle Asuma training, but Asuma was too focused to notice him. His uncle then proceeded to teach Kono-kun to use the technique safely after catching him nearly burning down the Sarutobi personal training area since he knew the boy would not stop no matter if the hokage himself ordered it. So a week ago, Kono-kun told Ebisu to stop calling him 'Honorable Grandson,' and let's just say... Ebisu still calls him that, but he tries to occasionally call him by his name out of respect for what he accomplished."

Naruto shook his head slowly in understanding. He felt sorry for Ebisu... a little.

Ebisu and Konohamaru joined Naruto and Kousuke and they walked for a while until they came upon the fairly hidden man who obviously had some ninja training from the way he hid.

"Pervert!" Konohamaru screamed out, much to everyone's surprise, but women started glancing over from the outdoor hot spring. The man in red jumped up with a notebook, scowl and looked at the gathered group who were fighting back laughter as Konohamaru aimed his practice kunai at the man pointedly.

Jiraiya was not in the mood for this as his publisher was riding him to get the next installment of his Icha Icha book series published, or chance losing his contract with them. So this man was livid and not his usual jovial self. He stood and prepared to go express his annoyance on Konohamaru's hind parts. Naruto, Ebisu, and Kousuke stepped forward. Each with dangerous looks on their faces.

"You all know who I am?" Jiraiya asked in all seriousness.

"We do Master Jiraiya. But this child will not be disciplined by you. Not while we breathe." Naruto stated as he entered into the Toraryuu style secondary stance, having recognized the man after Ebisu made him start studying up on shinobi history when he didn't even know who created his most used technique. The Kage Bunshin.

Jiraiya was in the mood to release some stress. The women who saw him opted to leave him be after feeling a bit of killing intent radiating from him. He rushed forward only to be stopped by the older man Kousuke catching his fist and thrusting him back. Jiraiya was surprised. Not many could do that to him. Especially not in the Leaf. Naruto joined Kousuke while Ebisu guarded his charge. Naruto released a group of four Kage Bunshin and raced forward at the back of the group, with Kousuke in front. Kousuke pulled out a... frying pan which almost made Naruto and his clones trip, but continued on and constantly struck one blow after the other, but Jiraiya was built like a brick wall. Muscle upon muscle, although his frame hid the fact he was so sturdy. Eventually Ebisu joined the battle after handing Konohamaru off to an ANBU who wasn't stupid enough to intervene, even in a small scuffle where one of the Legendary three sanin was concerned.

Five minutes Later Naruto, Kousuke, and Ebisu were barely standing. Jiraiya's anger subsided slightly now that he managed to release some of that pent up frustration. He then looked around and took note that Konohamaru was with an ANBU who was making her way toward 'the' tower. Jiraiya looked at Kousuke and Ebisu and blinked twice and started laughing.

"You've gotten rusty Kousuke-san."

"Asshole," Kousuke replied goodhearted now that he saw Jiraiya's rage semi vanishing. But Ebisu wasn't done yet. Konohamaru was placed in danger and said, "I'm sorry Master Jiraiya, but not even you can go unpunished for even considering laying a hand on the Honorable Grandson of the sandaime, your sensei."

"Well... bullocks," Jiraiya cried.

"Naruto... do it. You have my okay this time," Ebisu said with a smirk.

What happened next would go down in the history books. "Kousuke!" Ebisu warned. Kousuke laughed as he jumped back as he knew what was coming.

Naruto created twenty five clones and then performed a few seals and called out, "Harem Style: Oiroke no Jutsu!"

Naruto improved his signature 'pervert buster' jutsu to get rid of his whisker marks and to give the different women different hair colors, if not styles for the time being. Jiraiya's mouth dropped, but instead of blasting off into space due to blood loss, he ran back over and picked up his notebook and started jotting down notes. He stopped mid note and said, "Hey kid, your skill's about mid-chunin. How about letting me take you under my wing, and making you a real ninja."

All jaws fell to the ground at that. Kousuke offered, "You don't even know the kids name. And like me, he's a gennin that Ebisu and I have been training when he is not training with his own team."

"By him having that jutsu, and the word prankster written all over his once again male expression... I'd say he's Uzumaki Naruto." Upon seeing the reactions, Jiraiya threw back a hearty chuckle and stated, "I'll even throw in a lesson or three to sensei's grand gaki. PS. Sensei already warned me about the 'Kage Killer.' But I give you credit Ebisu. You got that stick from up your..."

"...NOSE," Kousuke interrupted. Jiraiya glanced at his old friend and sighed before asking. "So what do you say gaki? Want to learn from the guy that trained the Fourth Hokage?"

"Normally I would beat down a few hundred people to get a chance like that, 'Ero-senin', but why would I now? I am being trained by someone jiji trust to train his grandson, barely anything by the fourth's student Kakashi," he gritted. "And I am learning from Kousuke Maruboshi. THE eternal genin. The man who's been trained by the first, second, and third hokage."

Jiraiya allowed a smirk of his own as he said, "Because I just beat all three of you without using my ultimate techniques."

"To be fair Jiraiya, neither did we. Too many civilians around that we needed to look out for. I'll be happy to remind you of our last spar in a training field," Kousuke taunted. Jiraiya remembered a time when he caught Jiraiya glancing at his nineteen year old niece eight years past. He shivered at the whooping Kousuke nearly gave him. He barely won that fight.

"No need to flare your peacock feathers old friend. But to be fair, I won that fight too... if barely. How about I add a little little incentive to the mix. You're competing in this semester's chunin exam?" Naruto gave a nonverbal affirmative. "If you let me train you... I will allow you to sign the Toad Summoning Contract. The only thing I ask in exchange is you have your Oiroke no jutsu was it? Yeah, that was it. Use it to help me create scenes for my book series. If you agree I will make you a monster on the battlefield. I'll even still allow these two to help you out from time to time."

Naruto was about to decline again as he was loyal, if nothing else. He was stopped before he could even consider doing it by Ebisu and Kousuke. "Do not turn this offer down. And don't go pouting about us wanting to get rid of you or something ridiculous like that," Ebisu warned. "This is a chance to learn a few techniques of the fourth himself. Jiraiya has not taken on a student in a great many years. It would be completely and utterly foolish to turn down an opportunity like this. And a chance to gain the power of Gamabunta-sama. The Toad chief who stands as tall as the hokage monument!"

Naruto shook off his surprise at their insistence and instead gave a small bow and said, "I accept your terms Gama-Ero-sennin."

Jiraiya couldn't decide if he liked the new nickname or not.

Over the next two weeks, Jiraiya tried to break Naruto of the habit of using clones to train, but that was one of the two things he refused to do. The other was to train in the fox's chakra. He was determined to become strong without endangering the inhabitants of 'his' village.

After two weeks of intense training, Jiraiya decided it was time to stop playing nice as Naruto could only summon the mid sized Gamaken, so he did the only 'sensible thing' and he threw Naruto over the side of a deep ravine as he was sure Naruto's baser instincts would force him to pull on the fox's power like the last jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox did.

"Bastard!" Naruto called before he passed out due to the lack of oxygen the pressure of the throw evoked. Naruto's next sight was that of a dark room and what appeared to be a massive fox behind what looked to be golden pillars in the form of bars holding the beast within.

"So, my jailer has finally..." the massive beast started.

"No time for that. You're sitting in here, likely bored, so how about you do me a favor and hook a ninja up? Maybe with a massive chakra boost to summon a giant Toad to save me from the fall that perverted jack ass engineered." Naruto asked.

"No," the fox said simply as he waved his nine tails around. "You are a rude little fuck. I give about... zero fucks if you die. And no, I do not come back after three years or so. This isn't like one of your fanfictions of the Super Orange Ninja. Yes I see that too. But I'd rather die than be trapped in a little bitch like you."

The great beast swung a tail back and knocked Naruto back to consciousness. Much to his surprise, he was still falling. It seemed time worked slightly different where the fox was concerned, but he would worry about that later. He didn't see anything to try to grab onto, so he went to his staple, his specialty.

"Tajuu Bushin," he cried, forgetting to say Kage, or no jutsu, but his chakra and hand signs got the drift as hundreds of clones appeared behind him and started forcing chakra toward their hands, hoping against hope that he had some sort of wind affinity and could pull off the low level c-rank jutsu in time.

"Wind Style: Cross Backlash!" To Naruto's surprise, the jutsu activated after a few seconds, and cross shaped burst of wind blasted from each clone before they burst out of existence. Enough clones returned to Naruto that he knew how to perform the jutsu better, and the wind had enough of an uplift to slow his descent dramatically.

"Kage Bunshin, Tajuu variety!" Naruto said as he summoned more clones which performed another Backlash which started destroying the jagged edges at the bottom of the fall. Naruto finally landed with a semi painful thud, but thankfully it was a massive improvement over the alternative. He landed on a few clones where he received the memories of their pain too which he winced multiple times.

After a few moments, he heard Jiraiya calling down, "Hey kid! Kid. You alright? Naruto!" he roared, genuine concern in his voice, much to Naruto's surprise. "Oh no. I can't have let my godson die!" Jiraiya roared in anguish.

"Godson!" Naruto roared. "You're my what?!"

"Crap! Sensei is going to kill me twice now. Once for you falling, and now for you finding that out. I wonder if I can join Tsunade on her life outside of the village." he pondered loudly.

"Oi, get me the **** out of here you no good **** ***** **** of a godfather! You're lucky these are made of slick rock or I'd climb up there myself and beat you like your former teammate Tsunade did."

"Keep your shoes on. I never should have told you that story. I'll have you out of there in no time. But we keep this between the two of us?" Jiraiya asked in a darkly jovial tone.

Naruto raged, went back into his mindscape, placed his hand forward and yanked from in front of the fox. Red Chakra poured out of the fox. The fox considered trying to stop the boy, but this was the most interesting thing he'd seen in years.

Naruto's consciousness returned to the real world and he screamed, "You wanted me to use the foxes chakra so damn bad? Well here! "Wind Style: Super Cross Backlash!" he christened in his anger.

Naruto sent a massive wave of wind which destroyed more of the ravine, and even widened it slightly within that area, but the rocks did not fall down. They were blasted upward. Naruto fell backward after the attack, and the red chakra that started surrounding him dissipated. After a few seconds, Naruto's strength started to return as did Jiraiya who looked down at the boy. Jiraiya was about to speak when he took note that Naruto's eye caught hold of something shining. Jiraiya's instincts would normally have thought to warn Naruto to check for traps first, but he was a bit distracted by this whole situation.

The next thing he knew was Naruto screamed out. Not a normal scream of pain, but one of unending, primal and dark. But Naruto wasn't the only one screaming. There was another scream. It was much more violent. Like a force of nature.

Jiraiya jumped down without a second thought. He bit his finger and went through the required hand signs for a summon, and slammed his hands on the air and 'commanded' the Toad Boss Gamabunta to appear.

Gamabunta landed first with Jiraiya landing on his head. Gamabunta looked around and his eyes Narrowed as he called out, "Jiraiya! Where are you? I told you the next time I saw you I would," but he stopped. His anger blocked out the screams of the boy in front of him but for those few seconds. Jiraiya jumped down from Atop Bunta's head and started to race toward Naruto, but stopped as a glowing figure appeared before him in an old looking battle armor, a helmet and a red insignia on his chest. Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock. He only knew of the legends of who stood before him. A warrior once known as Lord of the ThunderCats. Jaga the Wise.

"Stop noble warrior. Should you go any further, you will be destroyed by the magic energies warring within this young boy. Upon gripping the hilt of that sword, he woke me from a thousand year slumber. Should his heart have been truly evil, the sword would have destroyed him instantly, but this boy seems to be filled with good, but an evil as well. The sword is trying to purify that evil, and to free the boy from his grasp. And before you mention it... I can sense the boy is linked to the evil. If the sword succeeds, the boy will still be alive. And in many ways, stronger than he could have ever hoped to be as Lord of the next generation of ThunderCats!"

Jiraiya was no fool. He raced to where Jaga was and attempted to punch him. He then tried dispelling a genjutsu. Jiraiya then jumped back and asked, "What do you want with my godson, and who are you?" Jiraiya prompted, but was pretty sure he knew the answer to both.

The old man sighed as he waved his hand and the scene changed. "Do not worry, the time we spend in this display of my past will only be no more than five seconds in the real world, and he began his tale. By the end Jiraiya was still trembling in anticipation as his godson's screaming died down. Jiraiya also took note that this so called spirit of the former ThunderCats Lord was making it harder to ignore his claims of being the legendary Jaga. Jaga nodded toward Naruto who had stopped screaming. Naruto's clothes changed to a top similar to Lion-O's but in black, with a red circle in the middle with a catlike insignia. His pants were the same as before except black, with a claw like shield and sheaf attached to them. His Kunai pack remained where they were but there were more than just minor cosmetic changes. Naruto grew nearly an inch, and his hair follicles where now red, indicating a change in hair color. His muscles were a bit more defined as well. But the most drastic change was Naruto's face. The whiskers which marked him as the holder of the kyuubi were gone.

Naruto looked over to Jiraiya, eyes now completely focused and said as he pointed the now miniaturized sword at Jiraiya, "Meet me at the old man's place... and Bring ANBU because I might be going to jail after I beat the shit out of him for hiding who my parents were. And I still haven't decided on you yet. But meeting the shinigami tends to change your perspective on life a bit. Now stand back. And to you old man Jaga. Lion-O is well. You can rest easy. Now that a new Lord has been chosen..."

Jaga smiled a warmly at the boy and asked, "You are rather young to be a lord... But then, so was Lion-O. Good luck young master, and may truth, loyalty, justice and honor guide you."

Jaga wrapped his cloak around him and vanished into the now darkening evening sky.

Before Jiraiya could start on the questions, or ordering of Naruto to surrender the sword, Naruto leaped back onto a flate slab of stone, and using his right hand he swung the sword left, then right, then placed it diagonally, and then straight into the sky as he called out authoritatively, "Thunder. Thunder. Thunder. ThunderCats, Ho!"

The tiny, rusted sword glowed, and started to grow with each call of 'Thunder.' By the time ThunderCats was called, the sword looked as if it was just forged, and quite deadly. Upon the word, 'Ho!' a red beam blasted out from the sword's eye and formed into the same symbol on Naruto's shirt. Upon the symbol reaching the sky, Gamabunta had his hands covering his eyes and nearly lost his footing.

"Jiraiya, I can't stand against this power for much longer. You need Ma and Pa in sage mode to be in the same area with this power."

"I understand Bunta. Warn them to engage sage mode in case I need them please." Jiraiya asked warmly.

Again, Naruto yelled "Ho!" and the sword radiated lightning, but did not fire it. It lifted Naruto quickly into the air, and Naruto vanished quickly. Jiraiya then remembered what Naruto said.

"Sensei! Got to warn him. 'Space-time Summoning Style: Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" not standing on ceremony, "Kichi, sorry, but I don't have snacks right now. This is an emergency. Get to sandaime-sensei and let him know that Naruto found out about his heritage somehow, got powerful fast and is pissed. He is on his way, and by the speed he took off, should be there in less than ten minutes if not before then."

Kichi nodded and vanished.

Ten minutes later, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at his desk in his battle attire as his side wall was blown in. Naruto obviously wanted to scare the old man, but the sandaime was called the Kami no Shinobi for a reason and it would take much more than that to make the old man raise an eyebrow.

"I take it you needed to see me Naruto?" he asked calmly, despite having his hand on his Enma Transformed staff.

"Let's start with this old man... I don't appreciate being lied to about my heritage," voiced in a dangerous tone. One that told Hiruzen that a battle would happen one way or another. "And before you go thinking some evil did this to me, it wasn't. I am the new lord of the ThunderCats, and it's been witnessed by the shinigami Yamamoto Genryusai himself. And he warns that your decisions where I am concerned will reflect whether you are allowed to keep his contract or not."

Not even Jiraiya knew the Shinigami's name as it is a staple of the contract holder. He was now a bit scared, and with good reason.

For those of you who skipped it earlier:

We as writers work hard on these stories for you. Not only us, but for you the reader. The success of this story IS based on Reviews, first and foremost. I am trying to make it to over one thousand reviews. I know that is a lot to ask, but in exchange, I will do my very best to make this the best Naruto/ThunderCats crossover it possibly can be, and I will push to get chapters out faster. I will not beg for reviews chapter by chapter, but if I do get a decent amount, I will push forward to get a new chapter out before the scheduled release date. So show some love. It would be appreciated.

To be continued... In ThunderCats Ho! Chapter 2 in December 20, 2016... if I don't get it posted sooner.

PS. Questions left unanswered this chapter will be cleared up in the next one... maybe. Depends on how much I want to reveal just yet. ;)