This is my first story that I am penning under this new account. It is a story that explores the times of Uzumaki Naruto as he endeavors to use the powers of the dark to bring the world into the light. To learn any more you will simply have to read the story.
Uzumaki Naruto walked into class on the day of genin team assignment feeling much different than usual. Normally loud and energetic, the boy kept his head down and moved to the back of the classroom, talking to no one, before sitting down at an open desk next to Aburame Shino and laying his head on his arms on his desk. This caused Shino to raise an eyebrow at the unusual behavior, but he didn't say anything as it wasn't his business and he didn't really know Naruto all that well outside of class and so it wasn't his place to say anything.
Those that bothered to pay any attention to the young blond (few of them that they were) would notice a few of those differences. Aside from the obvious lack of his normal enthusiasm, the genin to be was wearing dark wrap-around sunglasses today along with his usual orange jumpsuit. On top of that, his mannerisms had been much more controlled and fluid than before when he made his way to his desk and the way he carried himself spoke of a mental tiredness more than anything else.
The few that cared to notice these things dismissed them as the blonde just being tired for once or some other nonsense, probably do to committing some ridiculous prank such as the painting of the Hokage Mountain he had done a couple of weeks ago just before the graduation exam.
Shortly after Naruto sat down there was a commotion as two kunoichi entered the classroom and loudly argued over who got to sit next to the class heartthrob and rookie of the year, Uchiha Sasuke.
Previously, Naruto would have taken great interest in the proceedings as he had been infatuated with one of the girls, a pink haired bookworm named Haruno Sakura. Today though, the blonde had other things on his mind that were much more important and interesting.
A few minutes later the class settled down the chunin teacher of the newly graduated class, one Umino Iruka, began reading off the list of genin team assignments. Naruto kept an ear out for the assignments, but was only vaguely interested in who was on his team.
'Sasuke and Sakura is it?' the blonde considered somewhat apathetically. 'Both of them will probably ignore me. That will come in handy, I'm not yet strong enough to guarantee my own safety should it be discovered exactly how I have changed since that night.'
As the new teams slowly filtered out of the classroom with their jounin senseis, it became apparent that team 7, as they were designated, would be waiting awhile for their own sensei to arrive.
Naruto decided to use this time to practice manipulating his internal energies, and to continue experimenting with some of his newfound abilities.
Sakura was too busy bothering her crush, and Sasuke was too busy being bothered, to notice the strange way that the shadows on the floor were shifting around slightly.
After several hours of waiting, during which the blonde's teammates were somewhat unnerved by how quiet and still he had been, the door finally opened and a grey haired man with his forehead protector pulled down over one eye walked in. He introduced himself as Hatake Kakashi, their jounin sensei, and he told them to meet him on the roof.
He then vanished in a puff of smoke, causing Naruto's eyes to widen slightly as he stood up from his chair. 'I need to learn how to do something like that.'
He shook his head in an attempt to clear those thoughts and silently followed his new teammates to the roof to meet their sensei.
'I just hope that our new sensei isn't very interested in our lives outside of missions. That would make my life much easier.'
"So…" Kakashi began when all three of his new students had arrived and sat down on the roof in front of him. "Why don't you three tell me all about yourselves? You know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, etc."
'Of course', thought the blonde, resisting the urge to scoff, 'Of course it wouldn't be so easy. When has my life ever been easy?'
"You first Pinky" the elite jounin said as he motioned towards Sakura with his head.
She was slightly annoyed at being called out for her colorful hair which was one of her greatest prides in life, but resisted the urge to make a scene in front of her new teacher.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like… well my hobby is… err, my dream…" she trailed off again, staring at the last Uchiha with a blush and a little bit of drool.
"Anything you don't like?"
"Naruto"
Naruto frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. He had been reconsidering his affections toward his new pink haired teammate for the past two weeks, and had grown disenchanted by her because of her rude behavior and violent lack of respect towards him.
'It is just as well that she dislikes me' he thought, 'hopefully that will translate into a lack of interest in me which will help keep me safe for that much longer. Even if it's just for a few days, I will have that much more control if I need to defend myself…'
Kakashi was not surprised at the pink head's answer; he could have guessed the entire statement verbatim just from reading her file.
"You're next Mr. brood" the jounin said as he moved on to Sasuke.
The last Uchiha moved his disinterested stare to focus on Kakashi and said, "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have no time for likes or hobbies outside of training. My goal in life is to kill one man and then restore my clan to its former glory."
Also a textbook Sasuke answer.
Kakashi turned to look at Naruto and waited for him to make his own statement.
Naruto decided that it would be less suspicious to just answer the question truthfully with answers that are unexpected than it would be to try and lie in the hopes of keeping as much as he could a secret.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like training and quiet nights relaxing out under the full moon. My hobby up till now has been to practice my stealth by performing pranks and running from the ANBU, but I have to find a new one now since as a registered shinobi it is a crime to flee from the ANBU for any reason. I dislike people who jump to conclusions, and those in positions of authority who decide to choose what is easy over what is right. I dream to see the day when all the lands can be at peace, and I wish to become Hokage in order to further that goal along."
Kakashi was intrigued by the blonde's answer. Technically nothing that had been said contradicted the file he had received, but he was caught off guard by how mature and deep the jinkurichi's views seemed to be. 'This one could be more interesting than I first thought.'
"What about you Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, "You can't just ask us all that and then not tell us about yourself."
Kakashi favored her with an eye smile as he responded, "Yes I can." to which all three replied with sweatdrops.
"Any way, I'm somewhat amused by you guys so I hope you three can pass the final genin test tomorrow morning."
The three were taken aback and Sakura tried to argue that they had already completed the genin graduation exam.
'I always love this part' Kakashi thought as he prepared to break it to them not at all gently. "That was just a theoretical test to see if you could learn to manipulate chakra and had at least a modest talent for ninja techniques. It was only to weed out those who were completely unfit to become a shinobi."
"Well what does the test tomorrow screen for then?" Sasuke asked. 'I can't allow myself to be tripped up from even becoming a ninja by some silly last minute test.'
"Nice try Sasuke, but that would be telling! Besides, as shinobi you are supposed to be able to adapt to changing mission conditions and react accordingly. I will tell you this though; it will be an early morning practical so I wouldn't eat breakfast if I was you unless you want to throw it up. Meet at training ground 7 tomorrow for the test!" Kakashi waved and vanished in a puff of smoke as he finished his instructions, leaving the three still-not-quite-genin alone together on the roof.
"Hey wait! He didn't specify what time the test was!" Sakura complained.
Sasuke turned away and began walking off as he said, "Then just show up at sunrise and wait it out."
Sakura jogged after him to beg for a date and was shot down repeatedly.
'Typical.' Thought Naruto, 'They don't even consider me at all. Oh well, I suppose that will work out better for me in the end anyways.'
He leaned back into the shade of a well and then sunk right into it, vanishing completely.
Naruto emerged out of a shadow inside his room, having traveled for 10 minutes by moving from shadow to shadow to get there. 'That's a fun trick, but I need much more practice to increase the distance I can move in a single jump.'
As he prepared himself a cup of ramen, he thought over how much things had changed for him since the day of the graduation exam. That forbidden scroll of seals had changed his life and he wasn't sure whether it was in a good way or not. He was sure though that he would need to be extra careful about keeping his secrets from now on since they could cost him his life if they were found out.
'Hmm… I know Shikamaru's clan specializes in manipulating shadows, maybe I can ask him for help sometime. The shadow teleport is cool and all but I can't really think of what else to do with a shadow. Maybe I just need some inspiration.'
He spent the rest of the day much the same as he had all the others since graduation: going out to the forest of death and practicing with his newfound abilities and techniques until he could barely stand before coming back home for sleep.
Naruto didn't really need to sleep as much anymore as he used to, but it passed the time and it allowed him to heal up faster so he kept to the same kind of sleep schedule as before. He awoke on the day of the 'True Final Exam' feeling refreshed and fully healed, just as always.
'Alright, I wore the orange jumpsuit up until today just for nostalgias sake, but since this is a new chapter in my life I should start off with some new clothes.'
Naruto was enjoying his newfound vocabulary that better allowed him to describe his thoughts. It was just one of the many interesting ways his talents had been developing ever since that night. One could even go so far as to say that developing his talents had become one of the largest parts of his life.
His shadow then rose up off the ground and engulfed his entire body, and then seemed to harden into the form of clothes before it retreated to its normal position on the floor, leaving behind a traditional fully black shinobi outfit including a lower face mask. Over the top of that was a black cloak that included a hood that cast sufficient shadow over his eyes to keep them from being seen.
"Ah, that should do nicely." 'My practice in hardening shadows and chakra into temporary objects is paying off a bit already. These clothes won't provide me any more protection than a thin cotton shirt would but they are immune to the elements and cannot be easily damaged since they aren't made of any real material.'
"I wish I could make something other than black though…. Oh well, maybe with more practice."
With those final remarks, he packed up his equipment (a benefit of having cloths made of chakra is that you can make pockets wherever you want and however deep you want) and sunk down into his shadow.
When Naruto arrived at the training ground, there was no one there. He decided to get some last minute experimentation in and so he went a little ways into the forest in order to be able to train without being easily spotted while still being able to keep an eye out for his teammates and sensei.
Sasuke and Sakura showed up an hour or so later and didn't notice him so he didn't bother to advertise his presence. About 5 hours after that (sometime around noon), Kakashi showed up in a puff of smoke.
"Yo!" he said, waiting to see how they would react to his lateness. 'It's always so fun to rile kids up.'
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled while pointing accusatorily at her sensei, "you said the test was in the morning and it's the middle of the afternoon!"
Sasuke grunted. He was not amused that he had wasted many hours that he could have spent training waiting for his sensei to show up. The only reason he hadn't just trained anyway was because he didn't want to tire himself out right before a practical test.
Naruto casually walked out of the forest where he had been making some decent progress with trying to harden the air under his feet in order to walk in the air. It was a difficult task that was made all the more challenging by the fact that the hardened air turned back into normal air at the slightest disturbance which kept him from being able to get a decent jump off of it yet.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the completely different outfit that Naruto had decided to wear today, but he didn't say anything since he didn't want to give the blonde the idea that he wanted him to go back to wearing the orange jumpsuit.
Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to see him there, but also didn't say anything. Mostly it was because they didn't want to admit that they hadn't sensed the class dobe until he decided to reveal himself.
"I'm sorry I'm late. A black cat crossed my path and I had to go all the way around the village to avoid it!" Kakashi said with a cheerful eye smile.
Sakura mumbled about lame excuses for a bit and Kakashi decided that he had messed with them enough for now. Time to start the test. He pulled an alarm clock out of his bag and set it down on a rock next to three training poles.
"Ok, here is how this is going to work. I have two bells and you three have one hour to try and get them from me. Whoever has a bell at the end of the time limit passes and gets to eat one of these lunches I brought with me. Anyone who doesn't have a bell at the end gets tied to a pole, gets no lunch, and gets sent back to the academy. Any questions?"
"But sensei there are only two bells and three of us!" Sakura pointed out.
"Yes, one of you will fail for certain. It is a moot point of course since I doubt any of the three of you will pass. Oh, and the clock already started ticking."
The three were startled by that announcement that one of them would surely fail, but all three immediately fled to take up positions in hiding when they realized that they were already wasting time.
'I can still sense two of them but I have no idea where Naruto is. I suppose those comments I keep hearing about evading ANBU in broad daylight after massive pranks have some merit to them.'
Naruto knew that he had no chance against a jounin in a straight up fight, however he had a great deal of experience tricking them and sneaking around even before he gained his new abilities that made his stealth even better. He decided to stick to the insides of the shadows where there were no traces of his presence and to sneak a bell while Kakashi was distracted by one or both of his teammates.
He noticed Kakashi heading off in Sakura's direction at high speed, and proceeded to shadow hop his way over there.
He arrived in the area just as Sakura was falling victim to a genjutsu.
As Kakashi was standing over Sakura, a large fireball came crashing down in his direction and Naruto saw his chance.
The direction that the fireball came from caused a new shadow to appear right behind Kakashi, who was distracted by both the fireball and by moving to pick up Sakura to get her out of the way. Naruto quickly moved to Kakashi's shadow and reached out of it to grab the bells just as Kakashi was kneeling down to pick Sakura up.
He managed to grab the bells, but he also got a hard kick to the face when Kakashi immediately felt the bells go missing.
He had caught the elite jounin completely off guard with his maneuver and so was nailed with full strength. He sailed through the air and bounced off of a tree hard but he was unconscious almost immediately after the kick so he didn't feel it.
"Well look who's awake now."
Naruto woke up and the first thing he heard was the voice of his eccentric teacher.
He felt around for the bells but couldn't find them.
"Never mind about the bells Naruto, you managed to get them and you did it with the help of your teammates which was the point of the test. I am not exactly pleased with the way Sasuke gambled with his teammate's life that I would move to defend her." The jounin's eye narrowed slightly at the last Uchiha, who looked away and kicked at the dirt a bit. He felt a little guilty but it had seemed like a reasonable gambit at the time. It worked didn't it?
Sakura was already awake and had been told about what happened already. She didn't seem very upset about being used as bait. She probably was just too happy to have passed the test to care.
Naruto stayed silent and Kakashi narrowed his eye at him as he went over the whole short encounter in his head once more. 'He must have snuck up on me just as the fireball came down, but I didn't sense him at all until I felt the bells get tugged loose. I probably should have been more careful not to kick him so hard but he caught me totally unaware which is a very difficult thing to do. Oh well, he seems to be ok anyway. Advanced stealth skills can only come in handy later I suppose.'
"Ah well, were officially team 7 now. Please meet here every day from now on at 8am to train and take missions. Later!" he pulled out a little orange book and waved as he walked off.
Sasuke turned and walked off in another direction and was followed by Sakura who once again began pestering him for a date.
Naruto was left alone in the training field with a mongering headache and his thoughts. 'Well, I certainly impressed him with that shadow grab back there, but I was instantly put out of commission with one kick. I had no hope of blocking that. I need to work on some way to handle opponents who outclass me in speed and power.'
He ventured into the forest of death as usual and experimented with all manner of theories and techniques. He had decided that he would be much better off creating his own versions of any techniques he would need because a predictable ninja is a dead ninja and it's hard to be predictable when none of your moves have ever been seen before.
Since it was a full moon that night, he didn't bother to sleep, knowing that he would be too invigorated by the moonlight to even try. He trained all through the night, but made only marginal progress on his air stepping technique. He resolved to do some more research to see if he was missing something in his theory.
AN: There you have it. I am looking forward to reviews and critiques. I'll probably continue with this for a while regardless, but the level of interest will definitely be a factor in how much time I put into this story. Let me know what you think!