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- [Disclaimer!] -

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Okay, so IstillDO NOTown Naruto... Guess what? It's not going to change, either... I'm such an insignificant soul, I know. But, what can you do, eh?

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[A/N]

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For all those perverts like me... Enjoy the sexiness of the beast! :D haha I'm really not sure where this is going... *shrugs*

Oh, I will be using years as something of a guideline as towhenyou are reading about. Naruto is based in its own time line, so to speak. It has things like computers and walkie-talkies, which place it in the late 1980s (or so I read... .), but nothing else, really... Anyhow, the year has nothing to do with what's in the thing. I mean, personally, I think Kishimoto originally based it in like ancient times, then decided that they wanted them to have technology to build houses, so made them have modern houses, then says 'oh, a walkie-talkie would be useful here', so throws that in, too... Yeah, enough rambling from me... .

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Unleash the Beast

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Chapter – 1 – The Beasts Within'

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Naruto is not who people once knew... His soul is darker than that of the darkest depths of hell. There is no turning back for him now; he knows no light. Any shimmer of light that so much as gets within proximity of him is instantly snuffed out by him all too willingly. You see, he likes being bad; why would he want to be good? So that the townspeople could stomp on him for being what he was? He saw no point in it. He'd rather just kill them all and be done with it.

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Naruto-verse, Year 1987

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Naruto, a happy little twelve year old, rolled out of bed in only his bright red boxers and stretched before getting dressed. Well, saying he was a 'little' twelve year old was somewhat wrong. In fact, it was outright humorous. The boy was about 5' 10" and towered over everyone his age; his weight was about 160 pounds, but he had not one ounce of fat. He was covered in pure ripped, lean muscle no twelve-year-old should even be able to have. Hell, he was average height of most adult men and had more muscle packed on him than the majority.

Naruto finished getting dressed in his usual outfit for an average day at the academy. He wore his black shinobi pants and sandals, his tight, black muscle shirt that showed each and every bulging muscle, his favorite sleeveless cloak which was so long that the torn bottom even dragged on the ground. The cloak was red. A crimson red, like the color of freshly spilled blood. The material was so thick and heavy that it could even be classified as armor due to being woven so thickly, for no slashing attack would be able to cut through it in one go. Naruto topped it all off with a black headband, tied tightly around his forehead, the cloth so long it hung down to about to boy's butt. However, since he was not yet classified a ninja, he had no forehead protector on the cloth. His messy blonde hair was so long that it draped over his headband and shielded his eyes, the sapphire blue only visible through small cracks.

Naruto checked his weapons pouch to make sure he had his shuriken and kunai knives before turning and running out the front door of his apartment, the heavy cape waving in the wind behind him, clapping much like a flying flag. The boy's apartment was on the second floor, so once out the door, he leapt right over the staircase railing and to the ground, his cape and headband tail trailing behind him, continuing to clap all the while. On the ground he landed on all fours, his legs crouched down and his muscular arms flexed, stretching one arm out in front to balance himself, the other to his side. He looked much like a beast about to pounce on its prey.

Soon, he vanish in a flash, leaving nothing but indentations in the earth where his feet were. You see, he has trained himself in the sacred art his family passed down, since he was old enough to walk. The Uzumaki were renowned for their bestial transformations. They were shape-shifters, if you would. Though most times they only transform single parts of their body in combat, they were said to be able to transform completely into an animal. Each Uzumaki was born with their own animal they could call forth the strength of, be it the speed of a cheetah, or the ferocity of a bear.

Naruto could call forth the power of two animals, though, the second one he would never let anyone know about... He was sure they'd hate him even more than they already did if they knew. People blamed his hard-earned physical strength and his freakish height on the power of the Kyuubi, the demon which was sealed inside him as a child. People didn't seem to care about the fact that because it was in him, it didn't kill them. He should be honored as a hero, but instead he is feared and hated as the town menace.

…

At the academy, Naruto was the first to arrive, as always. At least the students of the class and the teacher treated him as an equal, blind to the adults reasons for fearing him. Hell, they even respected him as the class prodigy. He seemed to already know any jutsu or fighting style the teacher introduced, and if he didn't, which was rare, he was always the first one to fully master it.

Naruto took his seat on the far left of the front row, by the window, and gazed out at the blue sky as students slowly began to fill in the empty seats and the teacher eventually making an appearance. The girls of the class fought daily over sitting next to Naruto, he was the best after all. In fact, sometimes a guy would get there early and steal the seat, talking his ear off the whole class. He was well-respected and had lots of admirers in school. Only one student in his class seemed to never care: Sasuke Uchiha. He sat directly behind Naruto, one row up, and was always the second one to arrive. He spent every class zoning out, gazing out the window, much like Naruto. Perhaps he had something in common with this boy. Only time would tell.

Today, Ino had the seat next to Naruto and she wasn't giving it up. She enjoyed hanging on Naruto's muscular arm. And, truth be told, Naruto didn't really mind when a beautiful girl wanted to show some affection towards him. He especially liked it when it was Sakura, but oh well... Ino is close to being just as attractive, just lacking a little of Sakura's personality. Sadly, Sakura lost the mad dash for the seat next to him and settled for the one next to Sasuke. It didn't really bother Naruto, though. He knew fan-girl crushes never lasted and figured they'd outgrow their infatuations eventually.

"Ah-hem", Iruka, the teacher, cleared his throat at the front of the class to get their attention, "Today we will be working on a specific type of tai-jutsu." His eyes glanced around the room, appearing as if he was talking to all of the students. "It's called 'Tiger Claw' and uses quick, yet powerful movements to maximize speed and damage. Now, anybody care to join me in a demonstration."

As always, Naruto's hand was the only one that went up. He most likely already knew it.

Iruka's eyes finally landed over on Naruto after a while of getting no other volunteers, "Fine, Naruto. Come on." He sighed, "But do be gentle, I don't want a repeat of last time."

The whole class laughed at that, recalling how Naruto had knocked Iruka unconscious the last tai-jutsu demonstration. Naruto felt really bad about it and carried him to the hospital, the class was automatically dismissed and most of his fellow classmates even thanked him. Naruto waited in the hospital for him to wake up and personally offered him a sincere apology, for he just couldn't shake the bad feeling.

"R-Right." Naruto blushed slightly, remembering it as he shook Ino off his arm and got up, walking to the front of the room. "Sorry again about that... I really didn't mean to hit you so hard."

"I told you, accidents happen, don't worry about it." Iruka smiled as they both crouched, assuming the same stance.

They had their right hand's fingertips barely touching the floor, their fingers spread and stiff as if they were an actual claw, the other arm was just in front of their chest, their fingers in the same claw-like manner.

"Begin," Iruka spoke quickly and the two launched at each other.

Naruto went for a straight lunge with his left hand which Iruka defected. Next, Naruto gripped the bicep of the arm Iruka used to deflect his previous attack and squeezed so hard it looked like it had to hurt. This was the concept of this style; it attacked muscles and pressure points, making the attacked rapidly lose stamina. Iruka wasn't a pushover, though, he was quick to knock Naruto's hand away and counter with a five-fingered jab to Naruto's chest, making him stumble backwards. Naruto simply grinned and jumped right back into the fray where he sent such rapid strikes, Iruka was doing all he could to defend. Naruto's final strike was a grab to Iruka's right forearm. Naruto then slid to Iruka's side, stretching out the man's arm and bending it slightly behind him as he gripped his throat with his other hand, his fingertips ready to dig in and end it.

"Good job, Naruto." Iruka chuckled as Naruto let go.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Naruto grinned widely at his complement before standing next to the man.

Iruka was actually genuinely happy his student was so skilled, even if he has surpassed him in just about everything, it made him proud as an instructor.

"Okay, class. This style, as you can see, can be rather deadly in a tricky situation." Iruka looked out across the amazed faces staring at him and his student which happened to be his height and visibly more muscular. "Any questions?"

Sakura's hand went up and Iruka nodded his head to her.

"Umm... This question is actually for that hott guy up there..." she spoke shyly, glancing quickly to Sasuke who was in a daze, staring out the window, before returning her gaze to Naruto. "I hear that steroids can do funny things to... the male anatomy... Is that true, Naruto?"

The whole class bust up laughing, even Sakura had to smile with a bit of a blush spreading on her face at her own question. Naruto and Iruka were even laughing at that.

Naruto was the first to recover, his voice silencing the rest of the class, who were kind of interested in hearing his response. "Sakura, I'm sorry, but I wouldn't know." He chuckled slightly as the question re-entered his mind, "I have never taken steroids."

"Well, how'd you get so big, then?" Sakura looked confused, sure the rest of the class had to of pondered the same thing at one time or another.

"If you mean my muscles," Naruto flexed his left bicep, which was easily visible with his muscle shirt and sleeveless cape on. "Then it's because of my strict training schedule. But, if you mean my freakish height... I really don't know; guess I'm destined to be a giant when I'm fully grown or something." He laughed before shooting her a grin, "If you want, I could let you train with me sometime, Beautiful."

Sakura blushed at the name he had given her as she began to imagine him hugging her from behind, guiding her arm to show her the proper technique for some jutsu, "T-That'd be nice."

The rest of the class, excluding Sasuke, didn't want to be left out on this golden opportunity to see into the prodigy's lifestyle and began arguing amongst themselves for the opportunity, shouting things like, "Why just her!", other students replying with things like, "Cause she's hott, moron!". However, most shouts were so chaotic and merged together that not much could be made out.

"Quiet down, everyone!" Iruka, who had finally recovered from laughing due to Sakura's innocent question, silenced the class. "Is there any questions regarding the Tiger Claw?" Nobody said anything so he looked to Naruto who was still standing beside him, "Okay, then. Naruto, would you please demonstrate the basic stance once more for the class?"

Naruto complied and was Iruka's live action-figure to demonstrate everything Iruka talked about for the rest of the class.

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Naruto-verse, Year 1988

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Being an academy student over the past year had done next to nothing for Naruto's progress since he trained himself far too hard. However, he did have a little fun attending and being something of a teaching assistant. Besides, he enjoyed the human contact and even needed to attend in order to take the graduation exam, which just happened to be today. Sakura sometimes came to his house in the mornings and went out training with him for as long as she could endure without collapsing, she just had no idea how he could do stuff like that on a daily basis. By now, she, and most of the girls in their class, had already moved on from the fan-girl crushes and started viewing him and Sasuke as a friend. Also, because of his extraordinary power, he was one of their best teachers.

Because of him, Sakura no longer only excelled at tests, but the practical exams as well. He had taught Sasuke how to master some pretty powerful tai-jutsu styles, Ino how to be all-around stronger... You name them, he has helped them in one way or another. He even helped Shikamaru improve his speed and effectiveness of his jutsu. Half of the class thought of the Genin exam as a walk in the park because of him. All you had to do was effectively use an E-rank nin-jutsu in the Leaf. The other half of the class that was still struggling had just never gotten up the courage to seek guidance in him. Naruto was finally making real friends, and he was liking it.

Naruto, as always, was the first one to arrive at the academy and had taken his seat, awaiting the class and instructor's arrival. He was excited about today because he knew he would be a Genin no matter what they threw at the students this year. Sure, some may fail, but he was certain there was no way he would. He was thirteen now and had mastered even more advanced jutsus and fighting styles. He even had been training in weapons, though he doesn't carry one other than his ninja tools pouch. He could create an elegant dance with just about any weapon out there, though he found he had a thing for swords.

After the class had arrived, Naruto was listening impatiently to see what kind of simple task the exam would be.

"Okay class." Iruka took a mental note that all the students had arrived, "I'm sure you're all wondering what the exam will be." He grinned out at them, receiving a lot of nods and some fearful looks. "Well, this year we're just going to play a little hide and seek." He chuckled, receiving a lot of questioning looks and raising a lot of confused chatter amongst the students. "Hey, hey. Quiet, now class." Iruka drew their attention back. "I'm going to leave the room for two minutes, when I return, I'll expect everyone to be out of sight using the Cloak of Invisibility Jutsu, I'm sure everyone has learned by now. Just find an item, be it a desk or a cloak, if you're wearing one," He beamed at Naruto, "And conceal yourself. If I can easily spot you, sorry, but you will not pass this year."

"Oh, that's all." Naruto chuckled to himself as Iruka began out of the room.

Once he was gone, everyone began moving about, trying to find something that they could camouflage as the wall and hide behind. Well, everyone except Naruto, who remained calmly seated, nobody even noticing because of the sudden task of trying to hide. As people began to settle in their hiding spots, Naruto glanced around and saw some that were painfully obvious, but none of his friends were within them, so he passed it off, formed a few hand signs, and vanish completely from sight, never moving.

When Iruka came in, he quickly weeded out the weakest links before shouting that everyone else could come out and that they passed. But, he didn't see Naruto anywhere...

"Did he leave the building?" Iruka began out of the room when he heard somebody laughing, he turned around to see the usually bland Neji cracking up, his Byakugan activated, making the veins around his eyes stick out. "What is it?"

Neji soon controlled himself, looking to Iruka, and drawing confused looks of everyone in the class. Probably because they'd never seen Neji crack up laughing like that before... "Well," he started, "I decided I'd check the building out with my Byakugan, I mean, I know his chakra signature from seeing it many times in training. He contains so much chakra, a Byakugan user would have to be blind not to notice the chakra flare." Neji chuckled slightly once more, "But, he wasn't in any of the other rooms, so I was just about to give up when I caught his bright chakra system out of the corner of my eye... He's right at his desk."

Sasuke's confusion enhanced and he activated his Sharingan, two black commas appearing in his eyes as he gazed at the desk, seeing the hazy, ghost-like outline of Naruto, his head on his desk, "He's right... It's hard to detect, but he's there... He's sleeping..." He chuckled slightly at the situation.

Iruka approached the desk and squinted, not seeing anything, but when he went to put his hand on it, he felt Naruto's hair, "You're right... But, I can't see anything."

Iruka thought for a moment, "Wait, he can't possibly be using the A-rank Camouflage Jutsu, can he? And maintaining it in his sleep?" Iruka closed his eyes and sighed, "It's the only explanation; completely invisible to normal eyes, but detectable with eye techniques like Byakugan and Sharingan... The kid always has to go above and beyond, huh?"

Iruka slapped Naruto's head and screamed for the boy to wake up, who soon did just that and reappeared, earning wide-eyes from the whole class.

"Sorry," Naruto wiped a little drool from his lip, "Must've dozed off while I was waiting. I haven't really been sleeping much lately, this exam had me sorta nervous, you know?"

It soon escalated from a shocked class, to a big ordeal that included Sarutobi (The 3rd Hokage), Kakashi, and all of the council members. An academy student using an A-rank jutsu was unheard of. Of course, Naruto has been doing a lot of things that were unheard of, so he didn't really understand this one.

After class was over, they brought him to the conference room of the Hokage tower where all the council members sat around the large, round table, Sarutobi standing closely by the Hyuga clan leader and Kakashi, former ANBU and the renowned White Fang, the copy ninja, was there to verify that it was real. After verifying with Kakashi's Sharingan, Naruto proceeded to show Kakashi some other A-rank jutsus that even Kakashi hadn't known. Naruto was kind of liking the attention, and figured that if everyone knew his true power, they would just bump him up to Jounin or something.

Kakashi informed the council of the jutsus Naruto had showed him, earning an awe-struck crowd, for he had exceeded farther than most of their abilities at the age of thirteen. The council began their discussion about what needs to be done about it when Kakashi stepped back from them and stood next to Naruto, who was looking at them curiously, wondering about what they were talking about on the other side of the room in their secretive manner.

"Hey, kid." Kakashi whispered over to Naruto, "What's your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto replied, grinning at the white-haired Jounin. "How come?"

"Ah, nothing. I was just going to push for you to be on my Genin squad," He giggled perversely, "With you there, missions will be a breeze, which will give me plenty of time to read my newest novel." Kakashi continued to giggle in his strange manner, obviously grinning through his partial face mask.

"We've come to a decision." Sarutobi waved over the boy who he had thought of as a son, Kakashi inching closer as well to hear it.

When he arrived, Sarutobi wrapped a confused Naruto in a tight hug, almost as if holding back tears while doing so. "Sorry, Naruto, but..." he let out a depressed sigh, deciding to just get it over with, "The council feels the Kyuubi has too much influence on you to be safe... No thirteen year old has ever been near the level you are... I'm afraid we'll have to remove you from the academy."

"So, you'll make me a ninja?" Naruto pulled out of the hug and gave the aged man a concerned look.

"No, I'm sorry..." Sarutobi continued, the boy's crushed look smashing his very own heart, "You will not be allowed to become a ninja or attend the academy... Furthermore, you will be treated as a missing-nin and an ANBU squad is to watch over you at all times... This is the council's rule and must be until the majority of the clan heads decide you are safe."

"You've got to be kidding!" Kakashi walked over, "Ability-wise, he could be one of the best ANBU you've ever had... Hell, he probably could wipe the floor with me, and I used to be one!"

This simply gave the council members even more concern; it suddenly became apparent that fear was the only thing driving their actions.

"Sorry, Kakashi, but it has been decided..." The Hyuga leader spoke up from his chair, "If it were just me, I would say the boy seems trust-worthy... I mean, he has been raised by the Hokage and treated as his son... But, it doesn't change the fact that within him sleeps a demon..."

Naruto couldn't understand... He had never done anything to make anyone fear him, he has only ever helped people, yet for some reason, most people did fear him... Because this beast 'sleeps' within him. Did they not know what kind of torturous things the bitch did to him! The number of times he couldn't sleep due to feeling like his flesh was being eaten away by acid, the number of times the fox invaded his consciousness and tried to convince him to do something horrible? He had resisted all those times, forced himself to be stronger for the safety of everyone, for what? So he would be treated as a criminal in his own fucking village!

"Come on, Brat... Just kill them all and be done with it. Betray them as they've betrayed you. Just remove the seal and I'll even do it for you."The Kyuubi's demonic laughter echoed within Naruto's head.

"Shut up!" Naruto suddenly shouted, shocking everyone around him. "Like hell I would release your ass when I can already fucking harness your power!"

Looks of shock filled the room as they all looked to him. He was outraged and just wanted to get out of this god-forsaken village. They would surely stop even his personal training out of pure fear. He would soon grow weak without any training and his friends would all slowly surpass him as the damn village heads were finally able to sleep in their cozy little beds, finally breaking the heroic child.

"I've been thinking..." Naruto spoke up, demanding the attention of everyone, "All this time, I've forsaken the Kyuubi as my greatest weakness... But, maybe he was my greatest strength." Naruto grinned, looking to the Hiashi, the Hyuga clan head, fear filling the man's eyes. "And for your information," Naruto's voice began to change as did his eyes turn black with bright, red pupils, "The Kyuubi has never slept! Not once has he let me be at ease, constantly hounding at my fucking conscience, just waiting for me to break... Well, congratulations, everyone!"Naruto's voice was now howling with a demonic presence as he raised one hand up by his face, which soon morphed into the demonic claw of the Kyuubi, "I broke!"He grinned, the demon fox's fangs protruding from his mouth.

In a flash, he was gone, not even the renowned White Fang caught his movement. "He's gone." Kakashi gasped.

"No, Naruto... What have you done? They'll never trust you now..." The old man, Sarutobi mumbled to himself, his old eyes carrying sadness. For he knew, even now, that Naruto was still in control. He was simply trying to make it look like he gave into the Kyuubi to give the council a reason to be afraid... And, man did it work. The entire council sat there unblinking, speechless... None of them knew what to do to get out of this mess, but one rose up.

"Send all Jounin and ANBU after the demon! He must not live or he'll try and get revenge on us when he's even stronger than he is now!" Danzo, a bandaged old man, shouted at the Hokage, soon getting a positive reaction from the rest of the fear-instilled council.

Sarutobi had no choice but to obey... He looked to Kakashi and nodded his head, Kakashi soon after vanishing to inform the squads.

…

Naruto was currently running through the town, away from the Hokage tower and towards the closest gates: the East gate. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get away. He morphed his hand and eyes back how they were originally, which was no big feat for him... He could command the Kyuubi just as easily as he could his beast spirit. He guessed it was due to his innate clan ability, since the Kyuubi has always sworn the damned Uzumaki and their 'gay abilities'... Naruto felt rather powerful chakra presences and turned to look over his shoulder, viewing an ANBU team, and most of the Jounin Konoha had to offer chasing him.

He wasn't moving fast enough, he knew that. So, he leapt into the air, doing a complete front flip while shape-shifting into a beautiful white tiger with black stripes, his fur so soft and fluffy. In his tiger form, outrunning a few ninja wasn't even enough to get him winded. Naruto, as the white Tiger, leapt down the street with incredible speed, the Jounin and ANBU pursuers quickly losing sight of their furry mark.

...

Sasuke was currently laying on his roof, watching the clouds when he heard a tiger's growl and looked down to see a flash of white and black fly by, the ninja chasing him slowly coming up, completely lost as to which way he went, but they had a pretty good idea he had fled from the village.

"Naruto?" Sasuke glanced over the wall, into the massive forest beyond the East gate. "Did something happen?" He stood up and leapt down from the roof, into the large, yet completely empty Uchiha compound.

…

Naruto ran for a few hours before losing himself to confusion, where he stopped in the forest at a random place near a stream and began to think things over... What was he doing? Where was he heading? He had no clue. In conclusion, he decided to rest there the night, and decide whether he should go back or not in the morning. He was pretty sure none of those ninja would be able to follow his trail, and wasn't really afraid of them if they managed to...

Naruto took to his tiger form and went fishing in the nearby stream, hooking fish via his lightning-fast cat reflexes and razor sharp claws. Once he had a large pile of dead fish on the bank, he decided he had more than enough and turned back to his normal form, the tiger's deep roar turning into Naruto's groan of pain as his body slowly shifted back to its original shape.

Naruto set up camp near the stream, making a decent-sized fire and a make-shift bed consisting of leaves. Naruto pulled out a kunai knife and began cleaning the fish on a flat rock... He was used to watching after himself... He always went on epic training adventures by himself every weekend, when he wasn't expected to be back at the academy the next day. He now had about fifteen slabs of raw fish meat that he would jam a stick through and roast over the fire, one-by-one, until he was full.

After eating his fill, he lay down next to the warm fire on his bed of leaves, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

…

His eyes shot open as sticks crunched. Somebody was coming... Naruto slowly, and silently got to his feet, noting that the fire was still raging, so it couldn't have been long at all... Plus, the sun hadn't even set yet.

"Somebody wants to play..." Naruto whispered to himself as if amused. He shape-shifted into his tiger form before slowly creeping towards the sound, sticking to the shadows and bushes as only a skillful predator could.

Spotting a shadowy figure walking up, Naruto leapt at them, tacking the person to the ground and pinning their arms with his clawed paws, only shallowly puncturing the person's skin... That is, unless they tried to free themselves, in which case, they would rip their own arms apart. Baring his large fangs and glaring down at the person, Naruto realized it was none other than Sasuke.

Naruto didn't move, only shape-shifted back into his human form, still pinning Sasuke down with his hands, his head right above Sasuke's, "What are you doing here, Sasuke?"

Sasuke grunted in pain as he tried to free his wrists, Naruto let him, "I saw you leave the village, so I followed you... What happened?"

Naruto chuckled at his friend's question, getting up from the ground and starting back towards his little camping spot, Sasuke following. "The village wants me dead... They think the Kyuubi has dominance over my mind..."

"What!" Sasuke was in shock, "Why!"

"Well, I kind of was a part of them actually believing it... Before they were just going to pull me from the ninja program and have me watched 24/7 as if I were a missing-nin..." Naruto shrugged it off while laying down in his bed. "I stopped here cause I don't really know what I want to do... What do you think? Should I go back and face the wrath, or keep on trucking?" Naruto laughed.

"B-But..." Sasuke gasped, he seemed kind of speechless at first, which was strange, to say the least... Sasuke actually wanting to say something, but unable to find the words... It had to be the first. "If you go back, you'll never be able to be a ninja... Despite the fact that you're such a great one. That's if they don't just put you to death, anyways..."

"So, 'keep running' is your suggestion?" Naruto let out a sigh, looking up at the darkening sky before glancing over at the pile of fish he hadn't eaten. "If you're hungry, I got fish over there that's just going to rot."

Sasuke thanked him before going over and helping himself to roasting one of the fish filets. "Where are you even headed?"

"I don't know..." Naruto laughed at his confused state... None of this seemed real to him. He had no idea why he would abandon the very village he loved... Course, they didn't love him, so... I guess they were bound to go their separate ways sooner or later... "Any ideas what I'd find if I keep going east? Doesn't it just lead to the ocean or something?"

"Pretty much, but..." Sasuke had taken a bite of his slightly burnt fish, keeping it on the stick, "We're actually not far off the road, and well, the road leads directly to Port City, just inside Wave Country. It's just a small town where different tradesmen gather... I guess if you're shopping, they got all your needs... Port City doesn't even have its own ninja, though... The only ninja you see around there are those who travel there by boat from the surrounding islands... I would say mostly just ninja from the Hidden Cloud and Mist villages..."

"Well, somebody wasn't sleeping through geography." Naruto chuckled. Laughing seemed to be the only thing he could do in his delirious state... It seemed he just up and dropped everything he owned... and well, that was about the size of it. "Well, you can leave whenever you want. I'm going back to bed. I think I'll go and check out this 'Port City' tomorrow... Thanks for the advise, Sasuke."

"Naruto..." Sasuke looked at him thoughtfully, the strongest ninja he had ever known was fleeing from the village to be a missing-nin... What's more, it was his best friend... What was there to think about?

"You can go ahead and tell them where I am... Otherwise they'll think you're in on it with me." Naruto laughed another short-lived laugh, "And trust me, that would royally suck for you."

"I am in on it with you." Sasuke spoke calmly, regaining his cool as he took another bite of his crispy fish.

"What?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at his dark-haired friend, "In on what with me? Running away?"

"I'm going with you, Naruto." Sasuke grinned, "My goal in life is to attain the power to avenge my clan... I figure sticking with you is the fastest way to do that, seeing as you're so strong."

"Hmph." Naruto stifled his inner happiness, "Do what you want, buddy." He laid back down and closed his eyelids, giving into the rest he told himself he needed, even though he wasn't the least bit tired. He had a feeling tomorrow would be an eventful day, and wanted to be well prepared for it... His plans were to get to Port City and take a boat to the Hidden Mist; who knows, he may even run into Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist and a wanted missing-nin, famous world-wide for killing his whole graduation class in cold blood.

…

[A/N]

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Chapter 1 = Complete! Yay! Hehe And yes, I know the real Naruto would NEVER give into the fox or lose his good nature in rage. The real Naruto would obey the village's orders like a good little boy and try to ignore the fact that everyone despises him. Haha, think of this as an alternate Naruto who still has some character traits as the original...

Also, YES, Sasuke is also OOC! I'm sorry, but I had to make him nicer than he usually was... Mostly because I figure, if Naruto became his friend earlier on like this and was strong enough to actually teach him stuff and what-not, Sasuke wouldn't look down on Naruto as the idiot, but look up to him as the one who holds the power he seeks, right? Kind of like how he obeyed Orochimaru due to his lust for power. (Yes, I know he ended up killing him, but Orochimarudidplan on taking his body, so who knows...) Also, he knows Naruto could kick his ass now, so I might have him a little more rebellious later. :P

Last thing: Ididn'tadd the Japanese suffixes onto the end of their names, though I was tempted to. As an American adaptation of the story, I just feel it doesn't belong. However, due to the fact that I couldn't add "-chan" to Sakura's name, as he does in the anime, to show he finds her endearing, I replaced her name with "Beautiful", because it is used in the same situations that Japanese use "-chan". I kind of employed the same idea when I have Sakura refer to Naruto as "that hott guy up there". I know it's kinda strange compared to what you're used to(it is to me, too), but I just felt it better that way...

Anyhow, thoughts/suggestions/criticism/complements... It's all welcome (Especially the complements part. =P). Let me know what's on your mind, ppl! :D

- Updated -

Okay, I am now uploading this chapter, but I actually already finished writing the rather short story (Well, short compared to a chapter-story, like it turned into. Rather long compared to the one-shot I intended it to be...). *bonks self on head for not uploading the first chapter days ago*