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The Blacksmith Saga: Book One

Dragon Trainer Naruto

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Chapter One

He'd had a dream about creating the perfect sword for him to wield for himself before waking. The blade glinting from the firelight of the oven used for melting metals turning into the rising sunlight peeking through his window curtains, shining on his sleepy face.

The boy looking about the age of ten, with hair as golden yellow as the sun, rubbed his eyes tiredly, eyes of a blue color that could rival the oceans. Yawning and stretching, the whisker-like birthmarks on his face making him look even more like a woken cat, he sat up scratching the back of his head before looking at the clock on his dresser. He'd woken an hour earlier than he'd wanted to, but he knew he wasn't about to fall asleep again any time soon.

After stretching a bit, he went into doing doing a series of push-ups, crunches, sit-ups, kicks, and punches for an hour. His morning routine exercise. Pulling off his white t-shirt and boxers and putting them in the corner so he'd know to wash them when he got back home, he went to the bathroom to shower. Ten minutes later, feeling a bit more awake, he dressed into some washed out jeans, a black t-shirt, and a brown hoodie before going to the kitchen. Frying up some eggs, bacon, and sliced tomatoes, cooking some rice, and making toast, Naruto set down his plates and bowls with a glass of orange juice and and glass of milk to start his day.

The only sounds to be heard was the bubbling and sizzling of his breakfast in the kitchen and the muffled morning hustle and bustle outside.

He was used to the quiet, growing up alone.

Don't get him wrong, being the only person living in a large vacant apartment complex came in handy most of the time. Especially since the old man Hokage let him turn the roof into his own private garden and greenhouse so he didn't have to pay for the overly priced food that was, most of the time, rotten from the only places, aside from Ichirakku's Ramen Stand and Akimichi's Restaurant, to sell him food. Hunting and fishing he could do just fine for meat. The only things he really had to buy were things he couldn't really get in the wild and/or make himself. So he bought or traded for such things from the Akimichi's restaurant/grocer at a much more reasonable price than what the grocer's or other food stands would charge him.

When he can't get things from the Akimichi's or Ichiraku's, on rare occasions, he steals from the food stands since grocers won't even let him in through the doors. Old man Hokage even gave him permission to do so and told him to think of it as stealth training.

After a couple of villagers tried and failed to convince the blonde that "All the cool ninjas wear orange!" when he was younger, the clothes on Naruto's back and in his closet and dresser were given to him from old man Hokage, a small number of ANBU he only knew by mask, and Daisuke Yakedo the village Blacksmith, whom Naruto's apprenticed under for money. Well, while being a blacksmith was the young blonde's job, it was more like a hobby for him. A proud hobby with a hint of "life's work".

After finishing breakfast and cleaning his dishes, Naruto slipped on a pair of thick brown gloves that went up to his elbows, his green goggles on his forehead that still looked a bit big for his face but the resizing strap took care of that, thick brown leather boots that came up to his knees, and the strap of a cloth satchel[A/N:Like from I am Legend] carrying all his tools, journal, and sketchbooks over his shoulder before heading out.

Sure, it was an Academy day, but that never stopped Naruto before.

He learned more outside school under the blacksmith's tutelage as well as some ANBU in one day than what the teachers, aside from Iruka, would be willing to teach him within two weeks. Most of the time people who either weren't ninjas or weren't one of the older, higher ranked, or more experienced ninjas ignored his existence. He had never found out why. After he started working for old man Daisuke when he was about six, nearly seven, he stopped caring.

He was too busy taking care of himself and learning to do things by himself to care.

Naruto would ask for help from those he knew would actually help when he needed it, but most of the time he liked doing things on his own.

Being a blacksmith to a village of both civilian and shinobi standards, Naruto had to learn the more difficult chakra control exercises, especially with the massive amount of chakra he has, for the times he had to focus chakra into the weapon(s) he's making for ninjas. Kids start going to Ninja Academy around the ages of eight and nine and even at the academy, the only chakra control they teach is leaf balancing on the forehead to stick and advanced leaf balancing to make the leaf float or hover above your head. You've completed the advanced leaf balancing when your leaf is a foot above your head.

Naruto was several chakra control exercises ahead of even the top graduates when he started at the academy.

Naruto's chakra reserves, he'd learned about a week after he stopped asking teachers to help him and started asking Daisuke for advice, were too large to focus into even doing the simplest of ninja techniques. The only ones he couldn't do now were jutsu's that were of the simple illusions, including clone jutsu, because they needed the smallest amount of chakra. The smallest amount of chakra Naruto could focus into a jutsu could provide enough chakra for the average civilian turned shinobi, children that come from civilian families, with the ability to do a Chūnin level body-flicker technique. That example is only because while chakra reserves can grow, the average civilian child turned shinobi starts with about one-half or one-third the chakra reserves an average shinobi child starts with. Both type of children having very little control on the amount of chakra they have in the beginning.

Naruto started at the academy with Elite Jounin level amount of chakra. And that was just with what he could control.

Another thing he had to learn earlier than most kids in the academy were seals and how to use them. Like the chakra control needed for making some ninja weapons, seals were needed for such weapons as well. Sealing scrolls were more than useful when Naruto needed to hunt and gather things and sometimes when stealing things too. He got quickly interested in seals and has all the books on them as the Hokage could provide for him. Seals came as easy as breathing for Naruto. When Naruto first asked for a book on seals from the village leader, the old man couldn't help smiling and handed him a beginner's guide to sealing with a spiral on the spine like the spiral in the middle of the Leaf Village symbol.

"That book is your birthright." The old fire shadow had said with a smile. "That, as well as nearly all the books I have on Fuinjutsu: Art of Sealing, was from your mother and her home village of Whirlpool. The other books are in a scroll I have ready to give you when you've finished that book and have learned all you need to of the basics. Just remember, Naruto, you can learn a lot from just the basics by themselves."

He was right of course, but that didn't stop Naruto from taking the scroll a month and a half later when he'd memorized the beginner's manual and had successfully used the basic seals the book provided him with.

Now, back to where the old man mentioned Naruto's mother, Naruto knew all there was to know about his mother including how she was one of the sole survivors of Whirlpool Village and how close ties Whirlpool had with the Leaf due to the Uzumaki Clan and Senju Clan being distant relatives.

Naruto's father, on the other hand, was another story entirely.

Sure, Naruto wasn't told anything about his father but when he was five, he had confirmed privately with the old fire shadow he knew by pointing at the Fourth Hokage's picture in the Hokage's office stating, "How can no one know who my father is, I look just like him for Kami's sake!"

But he knew he had to keep it a secret for the very reasons he was not told directly in the first place.

Protection.

Naruto wants to be strong enough to protect himself. He likes being a blacksmith. Sure, he'd always dreamed of being Hokage and he still does from time to time, but becoming Hokage isn't his only goal anymore, it was just one of the things at the top of the ladder he needed to climb to reach the top. He was going to to become a Seal Master, an elite through hard work and determination, he was going to prove he was not someone the villagers or kids in the academy could push around and ignore any longer, he was an artist with metal, he was an inventor, he was creative and he was going to put his creativity to good use... He was going to be a ninja and graduate as Rookie of the Year no matter what the teachers, aside from Iruka, were going to do to try and stop him. He'd be a great ninja... but he was first and foremost a blacksmith.

He'd walked through the village to the blacksmith workshop looking through his seal sketchbook over a seal he'd made himself but hadn't tested. This seal was to work like the ones made for sealing scrolls only the thing sealed is a jutsu. It would work well for traps. He'd already created a miner and less effective seal similar only instead of a jutsu, it was a sealed paint bomb, with all the paint explosion but no traceable evidence of the paint bomb ever being in place seeing as the seal disappears as soon as it is released.

Sure, he hadn't cared what the villagers thought about him in years, but that didn't mean he'd truly quit with the pranks. They were great for trap setting practice. Best part, no one could prove it was him. The last outrageous prank he pulled, before he went to only pranking those who deserved it, was the time he graffitied the Hokage Monument in broad daylight soon after his fifth birthday.

Naruto stopped his musing when he noticed he was already in front of the workshop when he saw the sign to Yakedo's Weapons Shop.

Putting away his sketchbook to study again later, he walked into the workshop, "Hey, Daisuke, you in here?" He called.

"Naruto? You're nearly an hour early." A strong elderly but slightly rough sounding voice answered.

"I woke up an hour early and figure, what the hell, I'll come into work early. It's better than the academy, that's for sure. Where are you?" Naruto asked making his way through the shop.

"I'm out back testing some of the weapons!" Daisuke called back.

Naruto smiled with a nod and gave a halfhearted roll of his eyes, "Shoulda known." He mutters to himself.

Naruto hurried through the workshop just in time to see the blade of a black sickle with chain hit one of the five targets standing grounded across the yard under five other smaller targets hanging on a wire. The thrower holding the other end of the chain being an elderly man with half-inch short white hair and an equally short white beard with circular glasses, in a long sleeved tea green haori and faded brown trousers, a left brown boot, and a slightly squeaky springed and hinged metal replacement foot for the right one he'd lost.

Decades ago, people would say Daisuke Yakedo was one of the top ninja with samurai sword skill out there. What most people didn't get was that, that hadn't changed in the least when he'd lost his foot. He fought with the best of them, against the best of them, and he'd lost his leg when he, like several of the more noble shinobi around, fought for the life of a friend rather than the sake of succeeding a mission. While the wiser and more experience half of the shinobi council knew that even without his foot he was still in his prime, the less experienced and "logic beats hope and possibilities" minded shinobi half along with the civilian half of the council voted that it was time Daisuke retire his shinobi status at the age of thirty-two. He'd even built himself a new foot to show them it didn't matter, but those on the council who'd voted against him wouldn't budge.

So Daisuke made a career in his skill of weapon making and became a blacksmith.

Naruto whistled appreciatively as Daisuke gave a yank on the chain to release the sickle from the target and reeled it back towards him with the chain. "That sickle with chain ordered or pleasure project?"

"Pleasure!" Daisuke said with a big and proud smile as he made his way over the the targets to retrieve the other end of his work. "Speaking of pleasure projects, what was it you wanted to show me when you were working with the that extra long roped six weight bola weapon?"

"I put it in the shed." Naruto said making his way to the far right side of the yard to a large gray barn Daisuke used as a weapons material shed.

In the what-used-to-be-a-barn, was where Daisuke and Naruto kept all the materials for weapon making whether it be metal, special materials to make metal, wood, or really as much of anything that could be made into a weapon in store. Unless offered an idea or asked if it could be provided, no one aside from Daisuke and Naruto knew what kind of materials were in the shed. Not even Daisuke's granddaughter Tenten.

Unlocking and unsealing the shed doors of the traps and such set up to keep any unwanted guests out and more, Naruto lead Daisuke to a corner with something kept covered by a large cloth and uncovered it, revealing a wooden canon type looking thing with two wheels and two wooden legs also to be used as handles, but there was no flare to light or hole to shoot a canon ball.

"Now keep in mind, I only made this because I was bored." Naruto said honestly. "Though the mechanisms for this could be used for other things."

"What is it?" Daisuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A bola launcher. Here, I'll show you." Naruto said picking up the legs and rolling it out to the yard to face the far left side of the yard and the line of ten human-shaped dummy targets. "I mostly came up with this for those hunting a bigger catch. The launcher works a little like a large crossbow tipped on it's side only there are two working together to launch one big arrow or, in this case, bola. See, with a bola you have to spin it so you can throw it to capture the target. The faster you spin and the harder you throw it, the quicker the catch and more of a tangle the catch will be in. With the launcher I built, all you have to do is aim and fire and you got it. I haven't really tested it though."

"Well, test it on the dummies, and later after work today, you can test it hunting." Daisuke encouraged.

Naruto gave a nod before opening up the launcher and pulling up and back and folded out into place a slightly long cylinder with a ring to look through on top between two halves of a large crossbow pointing up and aimed the launcher at one of the two middle dummies staked deeply in the ground. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Naruto pulled the trigger and the bola flew fast and hard at the dummy, wrapping around it several times, and having hit it so hard, the dummy was tipped a few inches backwards.

Giving a loud bark of a laugh and a congratulatory clap on Naruto's shoulder. "Good job. Now put it to the side and let's get to work. We got another order of shurikan and kunai for the academy."

"Starters or graduates?" Naruto questioned as he folded the launcher back up.

"Starters. The bronze is already in the shop."

Heading into the shop and putting on their welding aprons then setting up their tools, the two got to work. Bronze was a more breakable and heavier metal so it was made for the younger students in the academy for training, iron for older as it was lighter and more durable. That wasn't to say that Daisuke and Naruto did this because they believed the material of the weapon defined the skill or class of the weapon's wielder, it was just how the academy ordered it. They figured it was better though seeing as having the younger students train with heavier shurikan and kunai would be improving their strength and aim without the students even realizing it.

Melting down the bronze, putting it into the shurikan and kunai shaped molds, cooling their creations off, and sharpening the edges was an easy task for them. Daisuke told Naruto not to worry about the delivery since he'd do it himself when they were done for the day and the classes would be long over. After finishing with the Academy's order and setting them aside in their box sets, Daisuke went to open the weapons shop and Naruto went to fixing a couple weapons sent to the shop to be fixed.

This one blade- iron, thin, simple: a jian sword with a black leather bound handle and four-sided pyramid shaped tang, used for slicing and by one with more of a speed advantage rather than strength- would've cried if it had a consciousness. The owner of this blade did not take care of it very well and Naruto wasn't judging this just by how the once straight blade was bent nearly into a bow, like a ribbon bow, lengthwise and folded in several places widthwise, but by how the blade was dull, dinged, dented, and the shine had long since faded.

Naruto felt the urge to cuss out the wielder rising, he mentally stomped it down so he could be clear headed enough to fix the blade. If not for the customer, then to at least make himself feel better. Slipping his goggles down over his eyes, he heightened the heat of the flames and got to work. He would fix this sword anew, then he would cuss out the customer when they came back to pay for the work before kindly advising they try a different weapon, one used by those with a strength advantage rather than the speed advantage required for such a blade.

The other weapon Naruto was to fix was a mechanized bo staff that when twisted in two places became a three sectioned staff. This weapon was well taken care of. The bronze colored steel outside was well shined and polished, the gold molding of a mythical fire bird, the phoenix, in flight and in flames on either end of the staff shimmered in the fire's light. The only thing that needed to be fixed was the broken chain between the top and middle of the bo staff turned three section staff. That was an easy enough fix.

Both the sword and the staff were outside works, meaning the wielders were not from Konoha.

Naruto knew the staff was for a slightly wealthy traveler staying in a village a day's cart travel, half day's ninja travel, outside Konoha. The sword, however must've come in yesterday after Daisuke already sent Naruto home. While Daisuke could've fixed the sword himself during the night, he'd probably put it off and gave it to Naruto to fix just so he could watch the young blonde cuss out the customer.

It always seemed to amuse him.

Finished with the staff, he wrapped it up and encased it within a long box only an inch or two bigger than the staff in width and length for delivery. Daisuke would either bring it to the Hokage's office for a genin team to deliver or would have a genin team pick it up right from the shop to deliver. Probably the later. Either way, a genin team would be paid for delivery and Naruto would be paid for the work.

The sword however was simply slipped back into the sheath it came separately with. The sheath itself was also made of iron cased with black leather with the pointed end and mouth of the sheath having this extra metal plating molded with the print of a Chinese dragon for decoration. The head and wings of said dragon being the handguard of the jian while the dragons serpentine body and tail curled around the mouth of the sheath. It must've been brought in person and would be picked up personally, hence the pleasure Daisuke would take in watching a customer get cussed out by his ten year old apprentice.

It was the early afternoon pushing late now, Naruto noticed as he slipped his goggles back up to his forehead before bringing the packaged staff and sheathed sword to the weapons shop. There Daisuke was waiting with a big boulder of a man in a pale gray haori with the sleeves ripped off revealing his largely muscled and hairy arms, thick black leather straps wrapped three times around each wrist acting as mediocre wrist guards, dark gray sweat pants, faded black and slightly worn boots, he had long slick black hair tied in a pony tail at the base of his neck, sharp looking beady black eyes, a long mustache, and a short pointed beard on his chin.

"This brat is your apprentice?" The man sneered. "I'm paying you good money to fix my sword and you're telling me you had this runt do it?"

"I assure you, sir, you should not let his age lead you to think he's not capable of fixing your sword and, if my assumptions are correct, he's carrying it within it's sheath right now." Daisuke said with a light smile.

The man blinked a couple times before looking at Naruto and looking towards the sword the blonde was carrying.

Huffing a disbelieving scoff, the man looked Naruto in the eye with a challenge and said, "Fine, show me your work brat."

Holding back the strongest urge to roll his eyes, deciding to save it for later, Naruto walked past the large man and handed Daisuke the packaged staff before turning to the customer and unsheathed the sword. The sword Naruto held looked even better than what one would think was brand new. The blade was straightened, the dents, dings, and all other damage was gone like in never occurred, it was sharp enough to split a hair, and it shined so well, the man could see his reflection clear as day in the blade.

Blinking in disbelief before scoffing, "You obviously replaced the one I brought in with a new one."

"And what would be the point of that?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. "Doing the job would require you to pay more than you would buying a new sword, sure, but that would be wasting our inventory. You requested the sword be fixed instead of buying a new one. Had you not known a kid was the one to fix your sword, you would've paid, taken it, and been on your way by now."

The man didn't know what to really say to that and found he could no longer meet Naruto's eye.

"Though, I'm curious." Naruto said placing the sword on the counter. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you three question. Maybe four, depending on your answers."

With his own eyebrow raised, the man shrugged and gave a sharp nod.

"What's your profession?" Naruto asked.

Whatever the man was expecting to be asked, it wasn't that. "I'm a bounty hunter. I usually go after bandits, sometimes rogue samurai, and even a few rogue ninja." The man said, his tone going from simply answering to slightly smug rather quickly.

"Do you know any specific sword fighting style?" Naruto asked keeping a curious tone and crossing his arms.

"Why would I need that?" The man asked back before smiling proudly and sounding a bit more smug. "I'm a good enough fighter without the sword, I just thought I'd get one to give myself more of an edge. Especially one used for speed."

"Where did you get this sword?"

"I won it from some sucker betting one of the swords he was selling against me winning in a battle royal of a brawl a few villages back." He said chest puffed out, smiling all smug, and hands on his hips.

"Okay. Here's my last question. What did you use this sword for? A replacement HAMMER?!" Naruto shouted in the man face, making the man jump in surprise. "You are a person who uses your strength for your advantage. This type of sword is meant for a person with an advantage in speed. Using a sword meant for speed doesn't give you the speed! You need to earn that speed through hard work and determination! A person with a strength advantage using a sword meant for a speed advantage is like mixing fire and gunpowder, it'll all just blow up in your face! Do I need to repeat this and explain a bit clearer? You have a strength advantage and while you don't have the speed you want, it doesn't mean you can't get that speed." Naruto picked up the better-than-new sword and held it up for the customer to see. "Using a sword meant for those with the speed to use it, does not give you the advantage, it actually puts you even more at a disadvantage and this time it's against anyone your fighting, including against those where you would normally have the advantage. Your weapon is not a simple tool that makes you better fighter, your weapon is a part of you, an extension of you. It's supposed to be a reflection of you if you yourself were a weapon. Any questions?"

The man blinked. Then blinked again. "Then... what should I use?"

From the corner of Naruto's eye, Daisuke looking to be coughing in his hand to keep from laughing.

"Well, for one thing, you need a fighting style." Naruto said sheathing the sword and placing it down on the counter. "Whether it's one you want to learn or develop yourself doesn't matter, what matters is the type of weapon or weapons that suit you and the style that suits you as well. Something that could possibly suit you much better would be a giant battle ax or, from what I saw just by the damage of the sword, a giant battle hammer."

"You have a giant battle hammer?" The man asked instantly interested.

"It was actually one of the first things I made myself after becoming an apprentice blacksmith." Naruto said, hand hold his chin in thought. "I remember Daisuke had to hire three Chūnin just to lift it and take it from the workshop to the back here. Come on." Naruto said leading the man to the back of the weapons shop with the inventory.

The man stopped in his tracks when Naruto had lead him through the isles of weapons on shelves all the way to the back to find on the floor, face down was a giant hammer with a round flat face, a pickaxe-like back, a foot and a half from front to back, the face a foot wide, and the neck and handle together was five and a half feet long, three inches in width, and around the middle was a foot long metal band bolted to the wood with a third dimensional two inch wide spiral molded onto the metal. [A/N: Imagine Link's hammer from Zelda only with a longer more detailed handle.]

"I'll take it! How much?" The man asked.

"Hmm..." Naruto thought about it. "Tell you what, 25% extra from the payment of the original job, throw in the sword that's useless to you and it's yours."

"Deal!" The man said quickly shaking Naruto's hand and picking up his new weapon of choice easily.

The man left happy with a weapon better suiting him and Naruto was happy the sack of money and perfectly good sword left on the counter by the register.

"Alright Naruto, you're done for today." Daisuke said. "You go test your bola launcher for hunting while I close up shop and bring the staff to the Hokage's office for delivery."

Giving a nod, Naruto packed up his tools, sealed the sword away into a scroll, then sealed his money into the storage he dubbed his "earnings scroll", and went to the shed to seal the bola launcher into one of his smaller storage scrolls before heading heading out. Thinking it might be best to hunt near the outskirts of the village but still outside the village, he started walking towards the Hokage Monument. As he walked, he took out one of the sealing journals his mother wrote to read. The books on seals the Hokage said were Naruto's birthright weren't just manuals on seals but also a few dozen and more journals on seals personally created by members of the Uzumaki clan, journals written by his mother, grandfather, who was the last leader of Uzushiogakure before the village was destroyed, a great uncle, and more Uzumaki's that had died long before Naruto could meet them. One of the journals written by a great uncle contained the image and info on several different types of weight and gravity seals. He'd read that journal a couple days after he started going to the academy and started using those seals about a week later.

This particular journal, written by his mother, had the seal for Chakra Chains. His mother created chakra chains in a way that even if a Seal Master painted or drew the seals, they still wouldn't be able to use chakra chains because chakra chains will only work for those of Uzumaki blood, like a bloodline.

It was brilliant.

Reading everything there was to know about his mother's chakra chains and then re-reading it, Naruto didn't have that hard a time ignoring the sneers and scowls he was getting from several villagers just for walking by. He was too used to it to care and, as mentioned, he hadn't cared what they thought or how they saw him for a long time. All that mattered was how he saw himself and he liked himself.

Case closed.

Both feeling and hearing his stomach beginning to rumble having skipped lunch through work, even with all the times Daisuke tried to make him take a break to eat, he figured it was a good thing he was going hunting anyway. But he stopped by his house to get his fishing net anyway because whether or not he caught something filling, and he was sure he would, he'd probably still be hungry.

He put his book away as he made his way up into the mountains of the Hokage Monument, focusing his chakra to his hands and feet for the climb. Soon he made it far enough into the forest covered part of the mountains to go hunting without there being any chance of him running into another human being. Wandering a little further in where the trees thickened and there were bushes for cover, Naruto unsealed his bola launcher and quietly started rolling it along. Finding a good enough place to hide for hunting, he unfolds the launcher and scans the area for something good he could catch. It wasn't long until he found a couple of large boars snacking on some wild cabbage several yards in front of him.

"Alright, two for one." Naruto said to himself quietly with a smile as he took aim.

Just when he was about to pull the trigger, some big black blur flew in at his targets.

"What the-!"

Naruto jolted in surprise and accidentally pulled the trigger of his bola launcher, aim only slightly thrown off. The long roped six weight bola flew and hit whatever tried to catch the same boars he was trying to catch. Try being the key word seeing as the same two boars ran for the hills squealing. Naruto sighed at the loss before raising an eyebrow in the direction he heard the roaring and hiss-like screeches he'd heard when whatever he'd actually caught was hit with the bola. He could also hear the heavy sound of struggling and wood breaking, the creature was trying to free itself from the bola and, by the sound of it, it wasn't succeeding.

Naruto left his bola launcher behind and followed the noises along with a trail of yanked up bushes and some broken trees. Blinking and raising an eyebrow confusedly, Naruto continued on his trek through the forest and when he found what he was looking for...

He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it himself.

There, thrashing around in it's struggle to free itself from the long-roped bola was an ebony and onyx with a dark bluish tint scaled, bat-like winged with two other lower wings, long tailed, short spiked spine, four legged, five taloned, yellow green grass eyed, with what looked to be four- no six- no eight ears, honest-to-god... dragon.

Naruto let out a surprised huff, mouth open, and eyes wide.

The dragon stilled it's thrashing before turning it's eyes on the blonde before taking a few deep breaths and slouching on it's side, staring Naruto in the eye, seeming to be waiting for the blonde to make the first move.

"A... A dragon?" Naruto whispered to himself in disbelief. "But... But dragons are extinct! Or they're supposed to be..."

There were many tales about dragons, of both fact and falsified fictional stories for entertainment. But all the factual stories about dragons were decades, if not centuries, old.

Dragons were once real: FACT.

Dragons are now extinct: was once thought to be fact but now proven to be FALSE by one Naruto Uzumaki.

Said dragon started to hiss and growl, revealing all it's pointed pearly-white teeth, at the blonde when hearing the word "extinct".

"Hey, don't give me that." Naruto scolded with a frown. "You and I were hunting the same boars. Catching you was an accident. I wouldn't have caught you if you hadn't flown in right when I was about to pull the trigger. Now quit your grumbling so I can get you out and we can both be on our way."

Reluctantly, the dragon let out a huff of a sigh and let Naruto get on with helping it get loose.

"Oh man." Naruto sighed rubbing his face tiredly. "I go out hunting to practice with my bola launcher and end up accidentally catching a supposedly extinct creature... Somehow, this just typical."

The dragon let out it's own huff in agreement.

When Naruto pulled out a kunai though, the hissing started up again.

"Oh quit your complaining." Naruto said with a tired roll of his eyes. "I'm sure you want to be out of this as quick as possible and the quickest way would be to cut the ropes. You don't hurt me and I won't hurt you."

The dragon stopped hissing and raised it's own eyebrow in interest as Naruto began cutting away the ropes. As soon as enough rope was cut for it to get loose, the dragon leaped up and and began to soar away... only to fall and crash off the cliff just a few feet ahead.

Naruto blinked in surprise before sighing with his shoulders slouching forwards before following the dragon, and a trail of black scales, each almost half the size of his hand. Naruto couldn't resist picking up most of the fallen scales and sealing them away in a scroll to study later. The cliff turned out to be the edge of a canyon. A grassy canyon with boulders here and there, a small lake surrounded by walls of rock, and a waterfall. The dragon seemed to be trying and failing to fly up out of the canyon. Raising an eyebrow before taking out his blacksmith sketchbook and made a quick outline of the dragon from his higher viewpoint. Finding the dragon didn't have the left tail wing he'd drawn, he erased it before putting his sketchbook away and focused some chakra to his feet and walked down the rock wall into the canyon.

His stomach started rumbling when he was standing on the grass, alerting the dragon of his presence. The dragon curled into a crouch seeming be ready for anything, rolling his shoulders and looking very much like a cat doing so just before it pounces. Giving the dragon a glance but otherwise ignoring him, Naruto walked out to the water before walking on top of it, much to the dragon's surprise, before taking out his fishing net. Putting his fishing net in the water and grabbing onto the two different ends and holding the net behind him, he ran back and fourth across the water a few times before taking his small haul to land. There weren't many fish in this body of water and the size of the fish there weren't all that filling either, but it was better than nothing. Naruto figured he'd go hunting and fishing tomorrow and bring a bigger haul for the dragon then.

Seeing the dragon licking it's lips, Naruto picked up one of the larger fish by the gills and held it out for the dragon.

"Come on, I didn't get all this just for me." Naruto said.

Slowly making it's way over, the dragon was close enough and opened it's mouth to take the fish, revealing it's bare gums to Naruto.

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh. Toothless... I could've sworn earlier you had-"

Just then, the top and bottom rows of big white pointed teeth came out of the dragons gums like a cat's extended claws and chomped on the fish and chewing it a couple of times before swallowing it whole.

"... teeth." Naruto finished. "Well eat up and I'll bring some bigger catches tomorrow." Naruto said putting his net away and gathered some wood within the valley to make a small fire to cook a couple fish he was going to eat.

When he knelt down to stack the wood for a fire, the dragon came over in front of him and spat up the fish Naruto had handed him... without it's head... right on Naruto's lap before sitting back and up straight, looking a bit like a kangaroo... A big kangaroo with a longer tail... and scales... and wings.

Naruto looked down at the headless fish, up at the dragon, then back down at the headless fish before slowly picking up the headless fish and barely held back a "blech!" in disgust at the clear regurgitated slime coating it. He looked back up at the dragon and raised an eyebrow in question until it looked down at the fish then back at the blonde.

'So I gave it food... and now it wants to return the favor... Great.' Naruto thought with a sigh as he braced himself, closed his eyes, and took a bite but didn't swallow, fully intending to spit it out as soon as the dragon wasn't looking. "Mmmm..." Naruto said holding up the fish, trying to look convincing.

Apparently the dragon wasn't satisfied until Naruto swallowed the bite he'd taken, hence the dragon motioning and imitating him doing so. Shoulders falling in disbelief and after giving a half-roll of his eyes, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed. By some miracle able to hold back his gag reflex but unable to hold back the shudder that went up his spine before shaking it off and doing his best to grin at the dragon and bear it. When it looked like the dragon was trying to give it's own toothless smile, Naruto slowly stood with a hand reached out to try and pet the dragon. Seeing this, the dragon hissed before turning, leaping, and soaring a few yards away to a small hill and burning the ground in a circling motion with it's blue-white lightning looking breath to make itself a bed before curling up like a cat.

As Naruto made his way over and sat down, he noticed the dragon lifting it's head, looking closely at a mother bird looking after the eggs in her nest before flying away. Watching the bird fly away and turning it's head to follow the bird with it's eyes, it noticed that Naruto had come over and sat down a couple feet away. Looking at Naruto through half-lidded eyes for a moment before turning it's head away letting it's perked up ears fall in slight irritation, putting it's chin to the ground, and moving it's body so it could hide it's face from Naruto with it's tail. Curious, Naruto scooted over to get a closer look at the tail, close to touching it, when the dragon lifted the tail eyeing him as he stood and slowly but awkwardly walked away in a fluid motion. The dragon got up and walked away for another spot to nap.

A couple hours later with the sun starting to set, the dragon woke from where it hung upside down like a bat on one of the larger thicker roots protruding from the canyon walls, it's tail over the root and hanging in front of it's face. It's eyes looked around then passed it's tail to find Naruto still there, sitting on a boulder a few yards away, hunched over. Curious, the dragon hopped down and trotted over to see what the blonde was doing. There it found Naruto with a stick in hand, drawing in the dirt.

Naruto noticed but didn't stop drawing the shape of the dragon's head, eyes, and wings, said dragon following his movements with it's eyes and head it stop watching and walked off the the side on it's hind legs. Naruto watched the dragon break the branch off one of the few trees actually in the canyon rather then above them and brought it over before planting the broken part of the branch in the dirt and moving it's entire body to draw. It almost looked like it was dancing as it drew. Naruto had to duck slightly so he wouldn't get hit in the head by twigs and leaves when the dragon had circled a third time before dragging the line, circling again, and dropping the branch after dragging it through the dirt a little further.

Naruto stood looking at the "art", that had no real shape, completely surrounding him and tried to walk out of it. The dragon's eyes slit as it growled and Naruto found he'd stepped on one of the lines. He lifted his foot off the line getting normal dragon eyes and a purr in response.

Step on the line again.

Groowwl.

Step off the line again.

Purrrr.

Step on the line.

Growl.

Step off the line.

Purr.

Step over the line.

Continues to purr.

Naruto gave the dragon a light smile before doing his own sort of awkward but funny dance stepping over the lines and before he new it, there was a warm breath ruffling the hair on the back of his head. Turning to find he was standing only about an arm-length's distance away, he tried once again to reach out and touch it's head like he had a couple hours previous. Getting a growl and small glare with some teeth showing, Naruto retracted his hand a bit, and the dragon stopped growling but kept it's eyes narrowed on him. Pausing in thought for a moment, Naruto took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let out the breath as he stretched his arm out fully. He figured, sure, he might lose a hand but it'd be worth it.

'If it won't let me come to it, I'll have it come to me.' He mentally mused.

The dragon looked at the palm of the blonde's outstretched hand thoughtfully, eyes softening before slowly, slightly hesitantly, bowed it's head a bit and easing it's muzzle against Naruto's palm with it's own eyes closed.

Feeling the smooth, cool, but warm touch of the dragon's skin, Naruto opened his eyes and watch in both disbelief and amazement. He didn't know exactly what the feeling he had through their contact, but he now felt a sort of... connection... A bond with the dragon. The dragon's eyes opened as well, nose twitching and wiggling a bit as it moved away, and shook it's head with a bit of a scowl before leaping and soaring away from the blonde. It was just a glimpse, but Naruto had seen the look in it's eye. It- no, he...

He had felt the connection as well.

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