AN: Well, this will be my first Naruto fanfic, I hope you all like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (duh), and if I did you then Kaguya would never have existed.
Chapter 1: Homecoming
Kotetsu sat as he always did, in the guardhouse for the front gate of Konoha. He yawned and looked over to his partner, Izumo. "Hey, how many years have we been on guard duty? Shouldn't some other grunt have replaced us by now?"
Izumo leaned back in his chair and put his feet up. "Why would we want to be replaced? I like this job. Low-stress, pays well, and we hear all the village gossip. It's perfect!"
Kotetsu began to grumble to his partner about "missing out on missions" and "reaching his peak" when a young blonde walked through the gate. "Hey kid!" Kotetsu hollered, catching the boy's attention. The kid ambled over to the guardhouse with a small smile on his face.
"What's a boy like you doing in this village without parents to accompany you?" asked Izumo as the pair of chunins looked him up and down. The blonde wore a dark grey jacket over a black shirt, and had a pair of bright orange shorts above dark grey sandals. He also had a short sword strapped to his back.
"I'm actually a Leaf citizen," replied the blonde as he rummaged through his travel bags. "I know I packed the stupid thing… where is it…" the boy murmured. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a scroll and handed it to the guards.
Kotetsu took the scroll and looked it over. It was a proof of citizenship with the Hokage's seal on it. "Uzumaki Naruto eh? Well kid, don't cause too much trouble in the village, alright? And welcome back."
Naruto nodded with a grin on his face and began to walk once more into the village. Izumo scrunched up his face in thought. "Uzumaki… I've heard that name before…" A look of realization appeared on the man's face.
"Hey! Kotetsu! What other kid do we know in the village named Uzumaki?" Kotetsu hummed and put his chin in his hand.
"Well, the only other one I can think of would be that Kotomi kid…" he mused. "Wait, you don't think that they're related, do you?"
"I don't know, but Uzumaki isn't a very common name now is it?"
The two guards stared at the back of Naruto Uzumaki as he walked into the village, each busy with their own thoughts.
Kotomi Uzumaki ran down the side streets of Konoha. The sun was just setting, causing the shadows to lengthen around her. She had a bright red apple in her left hand, which she had stolen. She had been hungry, and none of the vendors would let her buy food, saying that they were "all out" or "you couldn't afford it". So, she had stolen the apple from some guy's cart, and got caught. That's when people had gathered around shouting at her. She had refused to give the apple back and ran away. They followed her.
Kotomi took a sharp left into another side alley, only to find a dead end awaiting her. She turned around, hoping that she could get out before the villagers came, but her hope died immediately as she saw a large group of people at the entrance of the alleyway.
Kotomi backed up slowly, her eyes darting around in the hopes of finding some way to escape. The villagers had paused in front of her, seeming unsure as to what to do now that they had caught their prey.
Then a man walked forward, waving a brick threateningly at her. "You damn thieving monster! You're a curse on this village! It's about time someone got rid of you like the monster you are!"
The people in the crowd began to murmur, then yell in agreement. "Monster!" "Demon!"
Tears spilled down the young girl's face as she cried out, "I'm not a monster!"
"You little…" The man raised the brick and Kotomi cowered, waiting for the inevitable blow to come, but looked up in surprise at the man's cry of pain. Kotomi looked up to see a young boy holding a bloody sword staring down at the man with cold blue eyes. She shivered as she looked at them.
On the ground the man was holding the backs of his thighs where they had been cut. "If you ever touch her again, I'll kill you." The icy words left the boy's mouth as he stared in anger at the man. He then turned around to face the rest of the crowd. "And that goes for all of you as well."
The crowd was completely silent at this. If this had been any normal kid, they would have scoffed at his words. But looking into his eyes, they knew that he wouldn't hesitate to follow through.
As the crowd dispersed, Naruto Uzumaki picked up his sister, and took her home.
A loud bang announced the entrance of Naruto Uzumaki into the Hokage's office as the door slammed against the wall. Immediately, several ANBU shinobi appeared in front of the Hokage's desk, ready to protect their leader with their lives. Naruto paid them no mind as he looked at the stunned face of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha.
"Hey, Jiji, you have a lot of explaining to do."
"Naruto… how are you…"
A secretary ran in after Naruto, panting with her hands on her knees. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama, I tried to stop him but…" Her voice trailed off as she noticed the host of ANBU in front of her.
Sarutobi merely waved his hand dismissively towards his secretary and guards. "You may all go, except for you Kakashi." The ANBU quickly shunshined out of the office, leaving only the Hokage, Naruto, and an ANBU member with a dog mask.
Naruto glared at the two men in front of him, not caring about how important they were, nor how powerful. Sarutobi began again, "How are you…" But was cut off by Naruto.
"You promised me."
Sarutobi was surprised by the amount of killing intent that was leaking out of the young boy in front of him. Kakashi was also surprised, but removed his mask and also opened his mouth to speak, but once again Naruto's voice cut through the room.
"You told me that you would take care of her. You said that she would be safe while I was gone. But when I come back, I find her being chased by a fucking mob." Naruto snarled.
The Hokage's eyes showed his shame. He remembered when he had sent the blonde, eight years ago, to go train with Kakashi to keep him safe. Naruto hadn't wanted to go, as the last wish of his father was for him to protect his sister, but Sarutobi had told him that he would keep her safe.
"And to make matters worse," Naruto continued, "I take her to her home to discover that she's been living by herself for the past year. What kind of person makes a little girl live by herself? Why didn't you take her in?" Naruto turned to Kakashi. "Or you? Why didn't you look after my sister?"
The two men looked at each other, both with expressions of guilt on their face. "Naruto, the council wouldn't allow anyone to take her in. They believed that whoever took her in would try to influence her." Kakashi explained, but this was too much for Naruto.
"The council!" Naruto roared. "I don't give a shit about the council! You promised," Naruto pointed at the Sandaime, "To take care of her. And you broke that promise!" He took a deep breath.
"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go look after my sister. I'll be taking care of her from now on," He said in a cold voice. Naruto turned and started to walk out of the office, but the Hokage spoke up.
"Wait! Naruto, how are you alive? We thought that you were dead." Naruto looked over his shoulder at the two men.
"I'll tell you later, Old Man. If I stay here any longer, I'll do something stupid."
As Naruto walked down the street towards Kotomi's apartment, Kakashi appeared in a shunshin behind him. "Naruto."
He turned and looked at his silver haired sensei. "What do you want?'
Kakashi paused, seeming to consider his words before speaking. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry. For not taking care of your sister, and for not looking harder for you after you disappeared." The man bowed his head towards the boy. Naruto sighed.
"I don't blame you as much as I blame the Hokage, Nii-sama" Kakashi smiled at the name. Naruto, as a young child, had heard his father refer to Kakashi as "like a son to me", and from then on had referred to Kakashi as his brother.
"I know that you were probably too busy with missions to take proper care of my sister. And I also owe you an apology for not contacting you while I was missing." He smiled sadly at Kakashi. The older ANBU smiled back.
"We definitely have a lot of catching up to do, but I suppose that it can wait. See you later, Naruto." Kakashi disappeared in a Shunshin, leaving the young blonde to continue to walk home by himself.
Naruto opened the door to the apartment slowly, not wishing to startle his younger sister. The apartment was small, comprised of a poorly stocked kitchen, a modest dining/living room with a table and chairs, and one small bedroom that was barely big enough for a bed.
Kotomi sat on one of the chairs in the dining room, her knees pulled up to her chin. Her violet eyes met Naruto's blue ones as he came in.
"Hey Kotomi-chan. What are you still doing up?"
Kotomi mumbled something about "not being tired" into her knees. She lifted her head slightly as Naruto sat down across from her with a sigh.
"Are you really my brother? Jiji said that you were dead." Kotomi stated bluntly.
Her brother just smiled sadly. "Jiji was wrong. He only thought that I was dead because they couldn't find me. I needed to go train by myself to become stronger."
"Why did you leave?" Kotomi asked tearfully. "Why didn't you stay and look after me? Why does everyone abandon me?"
Naruto felt his heart break. Once again he felt the need to go and beat some sense into that old bastard's head. Not that he actually could. As strong as he was for his age, he knew that Sarutobi wasn't called the "God of Shinobi" for nothing. It would take years of rigorous training before he could match the old man as he was now, much less the Sandaime in his prime.
"I had to leave to get strong Kotomi. So that I could protect you. The old man promised me that he'd look after you in my stead, but clearly he hasn't followed through on that promise." Naruto frowned.
"But why do I need protection? Why do I need to be looked after? Why does everyone hate me?" Her voice rose with each question, and the last one came out as a shout. Naruto flinched back at the anger in her voice.
"The villagers only hate you because they're fools. And you need to be protected because you're my sister, and it's my job to protect you." Naruto hated lying to her, but he promised himself that he would tell her eventually. Besides, a young girl like her shouldn't have to deal with that kind of responsibility until it was absolutely necessary.
"But it's okay now, Kotomi, because I'm here and I'll always look out for you."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Naruto picked up his sister for the second time that night and tucked her into bed. As he turned to leave, Kotomi spoke up in a small voice.
"Hey… nii-san…" The word was unfamiliar to her, and she spoke it hesitantly. "It's okay if the village doesn't like me now. One day, I'll be strong and protect the whole village. Then they'll acknowledge me."
The young blonde smiled at his sister's ambition. "I believe in you completely Kotomi. You're already one of the strongest people I know." Naruto turned to leave, but was once again interrupted by his sibling's voice.
"You can sleep here… you know… if you want…" Her voice trailed off into low mumbles, but Naruto smiled and laid down on the floor next to Kotomi's bed. Her hand trailed off the side and Naruto took it in his own. They both fell quickly into dreamless sleep.
Flashback/Four Years Ago
Itachi Uchiha moved quickly across the rooftops of Konoha, intent on leaving as quickly as possible. He knew that Danzo had promised him time to escape, but he wouldn't be surprised if the man decided to have him killed anyways.
As Itachi leapt onto the roof of an apartment complex, he noticed the presence of a young girl near him. Looking over to the corner of the roof, he prepared to Shunshin away quickly before he saw who it was.
Kotomi Uzumaki. The young red haired girl with whiskers on her cheeks sat on the roof, quietly crying into her hands. He knew that he should just keep moving, but his heart still felt compassion even after all he had done. Especially after all he had done.
Itachi approached the girl, who looked up in surprise. "Hello. What's your name?" He asked kindly.
"Um… I'm Kotomi. W-who are you?"
Itachi smiled. "My name is Itachi." He crouched down in front of the young girl and violet eyes met black. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
Kotomi hiccupped as she tried to get the words out. "I-it's just that… p-people are always so m-m-mean to me, and I… I don't know w-why." She sniffled as her tears slowed their descent.
Itachi knew what she was, and had seen the way that the villagers and even other shinobi would treat her. It made him clench his hands in anger. He had never been able to do anything about it before though. The great "Uchiha prodigy" could never be seen helping the Demon of Konoha. It was just another example of the hatred that had begun to spread through Konoha like a disease. He had to kill his own clan to fight against that hatred, but in doing so, had started the cycle again. He hoped that this time, the anger would go towards him instead of the village he so loved.
Still, with this girl, he thought that maybe he had a chance to do some penance for his sins. Maybe God was giving him a chance to leave some good in this world instead of more hatred.
"People can be cruel Kotomi. They will lash out because of the hatred in their hearts, and will take their anger out on the weak, because they themselves are weak. That is why you must become strong. Become strong and protect those who hurt you. Then you'll prove them wrong, and they will acknowledge you." A bright light seemed to glow in Kotomi's eyes as she heard those words, almost like a fire.
'Hmm. Maybe the Will of Fire is more real than I thought.' Itachi tapped Kotomi's forehead with two fingers.
"Remember Kotomi. Never give in to hatred. And please, don't talk about this conversation ever again. It is of the upmost importance that this meeting remains our secret. Okay?" Itachi stood up and gave the girl one last smile as she nodded before leaping off the roof of the apartment and onto another building. Kotomi watched the figure disappear into the night.
As Itachi made his way to the gates, he began to think. 'Maybe there is one more way for me to do penance. To help that girl.' He had to meet Madara soon, but he knew that the stop would be roughly on the way.
He knew where the boy was thanks to his time as an ANBU, where he would occasionally go to guard the boy. He was staying in a small cottage a couple hours away.
As Itachi left the village and leapt into the trees, he heard shouts and sirens in Konoha. He had left just in time.
After travelling for a while, Itachi found what he was looking for. A single ANBU stood facing away from him and scanning his surroundings. Itachi moved quickly and attacked the man with a kunai in his hand while activating his sharingan.
The man was an ANBU, however, and would not be snuck up on so easily. He turned around quickly upon noticing Itachi's presence, but immediately fell into a genjutsu when he saw a pair of crimson eyes.
Itachi moved past him and saw the small cottage where the boy was staying. He knew that Kakashi was with the boy, and that it would not be easy to sneak past him. Just as he was devising a plan, Kakashi stepped out of the cottage and swiftly moved in the direction of Konoha.
'News certainly travels fast.' Itachi thought as he jumped down from his perch in the trees and headed towards the cottage.
He approached the door and pushed it open with a creak, only to be met with a kunai being swung towards his face. Itachi quickly grabbed the wrist holding it, but his opponent immediately jumped and sent a fierce kick towards his head. Itachi grabbed this attack with his other hand and bodily threw his attacker away from him and into the cottage.
His adversary, who revealed himself to be an eight year old boy, turned what should have been a heavy landing into a controlled roll before coming up on one knee. His hand was already in a pouch by his waist, and he quickly threw several shuriken towards Itachi.
However, Itachi disappeared into several crows, only to appear behind the young blonde. "I see Kakashi has taught you well, though you appear to rely more on instinct than actual skill."
Naruto swore as he spun around and leapt away from his opponent before freezing at the sight of two blood red orbs. "You're an Uchiha."
Itachi nodded at the blonde's statement. "Yes, my name is Itachi and we have much to discuss. Now come sit down." The man turned and sat on one of the cushions surrounding the low table in the room.
Naruto began to think rapidly. He was an Uchiha, which meant that he was from Konoha. That didn't necessarily mean that he wasn't his enemy, but he knew that the man had him severely outclassed to a ridiculous extent. The Uchiha could kill him whenever he wanted, and Naruto had already looked in the man's eyes, which meant that he was probably already under genjutsu.
Naruto knew of the prodigy, of course, and decided that if he hadn't been kidnapped, killed, or knocked out by now, then he probably wouldn't be.
Naruto moved forward and sat across from Itachi. "Naruto, you were friends with Sasuke, correct?"
The boy paused for a moment before nodding, surprised at the question. He and Sasuke, though fairly unlike each other in terms of personality, had bonded anyways. Sasuke had been quiet and shy, whereas he had been loud and cheerful. But they had both realized that they were trying to get out of the shadows of those they admired. For Sasuke, he had wanted to escape Itachi's shadow, and Naruto wanted to escape his father's.
Itachi seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking. "I spoke to your sister tonight, Naruto."
The boy paled then immediately panicked. "Kotomi? Is she alright? Is she hurt? I should head ba-"
While beginning to stand up, his ramblings were interrupted by Itachi, who poked his forehead sharply with two fingers causing the blonde to sit back down.
"Hey! What'd yah do that for?" Naruto asked hotly while rubbing his forehead.
"Your sister is fine. We discussed several things and she decided that she would become strong enough to protect others." He looked the young boy in the eye who had begun to grin.
Itachi continued. "If she does this, she will become well known in the shinobi world. I believe that you already know that she is a jinchuuriki?" Naruto nodded.
"Well then you must also become strong to protect her. Listen carefully Naruto, because this is incredibly important." The boy sat up a little straighter as he prepared to hear the man out.
"There is a group forming of S-class shinobi called the Akatsuki. They are incredibly powerful, and very dangerous. They are disguising themselves as mercenaries, but their true goal is to collect the bijuu. To do this, they are going to capture jinchuuriki and rip their bijuu from them, which will kill them. Soon enough they will come after your sister, and you must be strong enough to protect her. You have several years before they come, and you must use that time to train."
A bestial snarl came from Naruto, and his face twisted with anger. "If they touch her, I'll kill them."
Itachi looked him in the eye. "You? As you are right now, you would be killed before throwing a single punch against one of them. You are weak. Become strong."
The man turned and looked out the window towards the East. A light glow on the horizon indicated the coming of dawn.
"Tonight, I murdered every member of my clan, except for my brother." Naruto's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"The Uchiha were planning a coup to take over Konoha. To protect the village, I slaughtered them." Itachi turned to once again face the young boy. "What will you do to protect your sister? Will you be able to kill innocents, to betray those you love to protect her?"
Naruto glared at him. "I won't have to. I'll make sure to protect her without needing to do any of those things."
Itachi smiled sadly. "You're too naïve Naruto." The look on the boy's face was one of pure determination, his lips curled back in a snarl. 'Maybe I can give the boy one more gift. Perhaps he can use it.'
The man took a storage scroll out of one of his pockets and unrolled it on the ground. Biting his finger, he smeared the blood across the end of the scroll, and in a cloud of smoke five more scrolls appeared. These scrolls contained information from the Uchiha clan library that Sasuke wouldn't need, and he didn't want Danzo to get his hands on them.
One of the scrolls contained a special summoning contract. A long time ago, the Uchiha used to be a lot less cold. Like their Senju rivals, they would wear their hearts on their sleeves. Back in those times, the clan had a good relationship with the special summons. However, the clan and the summons had had a falling out, and the Uchiha were forbidden from ever summoning their ex-companions. However, because of the Uchiha's stubbornness and pride, they had hidden the contract so that no one else could ever use it.
Itachi picked up the scroll and handed it to Naruto. "What's this?"
"A summoning contract." Itachi replied as he repacked the storage scroll.
"What does it summon?"
A small smile spread over Itachi's face as he looked at the young blonde.
"Dragons."
Present/Hokage's Office
"Dragons?"
"Yep."
"And they've been training you for four years?"
"Well, I don't know about 'training'. It was more like general guidance on how to not die."
Both Kakashi and the Hokage looked at the young boy with incredulity. "But… a dragon contract doesn't exist. Does it?" Kakashi looked at the Hokage.
"Not that I've heard of." Hiruzen replied. "And contracts generally don't just appear to young kids."
Naruto sighed. It would have been nice for them to just believe him, but he had known that they wouldn't. It was a pretty outlandish story.
"Allow me to demonstrate." Naruto bit his finger to draw blood and slammed his hand on the floor. One cloud of smoke later, and there appeared a small wyvern. It was about a foot tall with two clawed hind legs and wings that stretched out from its shoulders.
"Jiji, Nii-sama, meet Netsu." The small dragon waved one of its wings.
"Hey there. What's up?"
Both men's jaws dropped.
Netsu looked at his master with a grin. "I think I broke them. Not surprising considering how awesome I am though." Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Well Netsu, you're good to go." The grin on the dragon's face was replaced with a pout.
"That was boring. Bye Naruto-sama." The wyvern disappeared once again in a puff of smoke. The two men finally seemed to regain their senses.
"Okay Naruto, I see that you were indeed with the dragons. However, I don't understand why you didn't send us a message or something to let us know that you were okay. Besides that, what kind of training did you undergo?"
Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, I wasn't actually allowed to contact you. I was told that I couldn't contact anyone from my past if I wished to train with them. Something about "preserving secrecy". As for the training… well originally they refused to. But I kept on bothering them, so they told me to survive in some city for six months with nothing but the clothes on my back. I think that they thought that I would die there, 'cause they seemed pretty shocked when I showed up again."
The two men frowned at the training. To make a child survive as a homeless orphan in a city seemed incredibly dangerous.
"After that they took me to the Dragon Sage, who said that I would be trained. The first couple of months were spent making me survive in the wilderness while being hunted. If I got caught, I got beat up pretty bad. Then they'd spend a day or two teaching me exercises to strengthen myself or enhance my chakra control before sending me off again. After six months of that, they started me in kenjutsu, taijutsu, and weapons training. Those dragons are surprisingly good at using swords."
Kakashi was still looking at Naruto like he had grown an extra head, but the Hokage seemed to have decided that nothing else would surprise him about this boy. He simply shook his head.
"What did you do for the next two years?" Hiruzen asked.
"Well, in the third year I started learning history and the ninja code for Konoha. I have no idea how, but some of the dragons got a hold on some of the academy books and gave them to me to read. I continued to work on all the other stuff as well. In the third year, I improved my chakra control, learned some basic jutsu, a couple of elemental ninjutsu, and worked on my elemental affinity."
Kakashi looked even more surprised, if that was possible. "You've already started on elemental affinity?"
Naruto looked embarrassed, and began to rub the back of his head. "Well, I haven't gotten very far with it. I'm still working on cutting the leaf or burning it with chakra. I can usually cut it half way or produce a little bit of smoke, but that's about it. Besides, I only know two elemental jutsu."
The Hokage pulled out his pipe, packed some tobacco in it, and used a seal-less jutsu to light it. He took a few puffs before taking it out of his mouth.
"Well, Naruto, if your abilities are as well developed as you say, which I'm sure they are, then we will have no problem putting you into our graduating class at the academy." Hiruzen stated.
Naruto gaped. "I have to go to school?" He shouted, aghast.
"Well, if you truly want to be a Konoha shinobi, then yes."
The young boy began to panic. "But… um… if I'm at school, then how will I look after Kotomi during the day?"
The Hokage grinned wickedly. "Don't worry about that. She is also attending the academy, though is currently in a younger class. Besides, I have ANBU monitoring her at all times."
The panicked, comical expression disappeared from Naruto's face, and was replaced by a look of doubt and anger. "If you have ANBU watching my sister at all times, then how come she got chased by a mob and almost killed. Shouldn't her guards have intervened?"
Hiruzen sighed. "Unfortunately, there was a false alarm concerning the village's proximity seals. When the ANBU operative felt his seal signal him, he left to go and discover the disturbance." Naruto frowned at this, clearly not impressed with the excuse. "Don't worry though. The ANBU guarding your sister have since been informed that they are not to leave their duties no matter what. Even if I was being attacked, they would continue to watch over your sister."
A head of spiky yellow hair nodded in appreciation. "Thanks Jiji. By the way, I know that it's necessary to hide the truth from Kotomi about our parents and the Kyuubi. However, I will be telling her the truth as soon as she becomes a genin. If she's mature enough to be a ninja, then she's mature enough to be trusted with her heritage."
The Hokage nodded and began to hand Naruto the forms that he would need to fill out to approve his enrollment in the shinobi academy. After the energetic boy left, Hiruzen turned his gaze to Kakashi, who still appeared to be in shock.
The Hokage sighed, and snapped his fingers in Kakashi's face. The man jumped, then proceeded to rub the back of his head in embarrassment. "Eh… sorry Hokage-sama… that was just a lot to take in."
"It's fine. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
Kakashi straightened up, a professional look overtaking his usual demeanor of boredom and laziness. "I wish to resign as an ANBU, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen, though saddened, was not particularly surprised by this statement. Even though the silver-haired ANBU captain was fairly young, he had completed more missions and had a better record than any other ANBU. People often said that the man was worth ten of his peers. They were right.
But a large reason for Kakashi's giant mission count was the absurd amount of suicide missions that he would take when depressed. He had fallen back into this habit after learning of the disappearance of Naruto, who he thought of as a little brother to him. Kakashi now felt incredibly guilty, for in running from his pain, he had completely ignored the strife of young Kotomi. Now the man wished to rectify his mistakes by becoming a jounin, which would give him more time to spend with both the red haired girl and Naruto.
"Very well," the Hokage sighed. "Kakashi Hatake, your resignation as an ANBU operative is accepted, and you will be reinstated as a jounin immediately."
The man known as the Copy-Ninja allowed himself a small smile.
Naruto had always loved to learn. Whether it was sitting down with his father as he talked about the going-ons of Konoha, or watching his mother draw markings on scrolls while explaining what each one meant. He had even enjoyed his torturous training with the dragons to an extent. However, the idea of having to sit still in a classroom and listen to some teacher whom he'd never met rubbed him the wrong way. And so, Naruto walked into his first day at the academy with all the enthusiasm of a man approaching a noose.
The only thing that cheered him up was that he and Kotomi had been able to walk to school together. He had even made both of them sandwiches for lunch. He had wanted to bring ramen, but he hadn't been able to find anything to store it in.
As Naruto walked into his assigned classroom, the first thing he noticed was a gaggle of young girls chatting animatedly. However, his attention was drawn to the person who they had surrounded. Naruto quickly leapt over the group of kunoichi and landed in a crouch on the desk of Sasuke Uchiha. Blue eyes met onyx, and a wide grin stretched over his face.
"Teme."
"Dobe."
The rest of the class was surprised by the interaction, but even more surprising was the small smirk that appeared the Uchiha's face. Normally, this wouldn't have been very noticeable. But because Sasuke almost never showed any expression besides a scowl, the small grin seemed to be a wide smile to those looking on.
The nickname 'dobe' had been granted to Naruto by Sasuke during their childhood, and meant 'dead last'. As shy as Sasuke used to be, he also had a competitive streak a mile wide. As such, he and Naruto were constantly competing against each other, particularly in races. However, the young blonde had terrible luck, and often found himself in troublesome situations such as having pots fall on him from window sills, or getting food poisoning. Due to this, Naruto almost always lost, so Sasuke teasingly called him 'dobe'. In retaliation, Naruto called Sasuke 'teme'.
A pink haired kunoichi with a noticeably large forehead spoke up, interrupting the pair who were staring at each other and seemed to have forgotten about her. "Hey! Who are you and how do you know my Sasuke-kun?"
Naruto looked at her, then back at Sasuke. "'My Sasuke'? Well teme, looks like you've already got yourself a fan club! Lucky bastard." The Uchiha merely rolled his eyes and grunted at the blonde's antics.
Naruto turned back to the girl and smiled brightly while sticking out his hand. "Hi! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?" The young Uchiha raised an eyebrow at his childhood friend's introduction, but said nothing.
The pink girl seemed taken aback at the boy's friendly attitude. "Um… My name is Sakura Haruno." She took his hand cautiously and he shook hers with enthusiasm. Then, their academy instructor entered the room. Seeing the young blonde, he headed towards him, while the rest of the students took their seats.
"So," the instructor started. "You must be the new student who will be joining us. My name is Umino Iruka, and I am a chuunin instructor who teaches this class. I also have an assistant named Mizuki who isn't here today. Why don't you come and introduce yourself to the class." Iruka gestured to the front of the classroom.
Naruto stepped forwards and turned to face his new classmates. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. It's a pleasure to meet you." Naruto, instead of bowing, simply waved at the class with a big goofy grin on his face.
Iruka frowned as the boy. 'So that's Kotomi's brother.' Iruka had taught her class in previous years, but had been moved to this class when their previous instructor had retired. At first, the man had found it hard to overcome his distrust of the young girl due to the Kyuubi killing his parents, but after talking with the Hokage about it, had decided to approach her.
After talking with Kotomi, it was impossible not to like her. She was kind and thoughtful. After taking her out to ramen, Iruka had realized that no girl so nice could possibly be a demon.
The instructor shook his head of his thoughts. He had a class to teach. Naruto groaned as Iruka began to lecture.
Naruto faced off against his opponent, Sasuke Uchiha. It had taken a couple of days, but the two were finally paired off together for spars. The young blonde had learned the most basic katas of 'The Dragon of the West' fighting style, but had been unable to practice the more advanced ones due to his size. He knew that his taijutsu was lacking, as the basic katas were incredibly simple, so he would be at a disadvantage to the Uchiha, who had mastered the academy taijutsu and probably knew some Uchiha taijutsu to complement…
Naruto's thoughts were cut off by a shouted word: "Hajime!"
The two boys ran at each other. Sasuke attacked first, sending a punch with his left hand. Naruto caught it easily and pulled his opponent past him while sticking his foot out, hoping to trip his opponent. Sasuke saw it coming, and instead of tripping, jumped up and kicked off of Naruto's thigh, causing the blonde to stumble and creating space.
Naruto recovered quickly and settled into his stance. His feet were slightly more than shoulder length apart with his left foot forward, and knees slightly bent. His arms mirrored his feet with his left hand forward, and his palms were open, facing his opponent while his fingers were together and pointed straight up.
Sasuke moved in again, testing Naruto's defenses with swift jabs. Naruto batted away the punches and used an opening to strike with an open hand to the chest. He quickly followed up with a low kick, but his opponent blocked it with his own leg before lashing out with his fist, striking Naruto's shoulder. The two separated momentarily, but then rushed in again.
This time, they both began in earnest. Punches and kicks flew in a maelstrom of blows. Naruto's defense was excellent, but his counters weren't strong enough to take advantage of the openings he made. Eventually, Sasuke stepped into Naruto's guard, hoping to end the stalemate with grappling.
The two boy's both tried multiple times to grab each other, but each time one got a hold of a wrist, shoulder, or piece of clothing, they quickly had their grips broken.
Naruto decided to use his footwork instead to get an advantage. He placed his right foot behind Sasuke's left foot and shoved with both hands, causing the dark haired boy to lose his balance. However, Sasuke reacted quickly grabbing Naruto's left wrist and pulled the blonde over his leg which he stuck out in his fall.
Both students fell to the ground and rolled away from each other. They got to their feet and swiftly re-engaged each other once again. Eventually, Naruto saw an opening and threw a haymaker towards Sasuke's face. The Uchiha saw the same opening in Naruto's own defense and also threw a punch towards his opponents face.
Iruka stepped forward as the two boys tumbled away from each other. "That's it. The result of this match is a draw." He declared. "Now make the unison sign."
They did as they were told before going to join their peers, who were impressed by the show of skill.
"Your defense is annoying, dobe."
"Well your punches hurt like a bitch, teme."
The blonde and dark haired boy walked side by side as the class began to move back to the academy doors, bickering with one another. As they approached the academy, a younger class began to come out to take their turn on the training field. From the group of younger students, a red blur charged out and slammed into Naruto.
"Nii-san!"
Naruto looked down at the little girl who had barreled into him. "Hey Kotomi-chan. What's up?"
The rest of the class appeared a little shocked at the revelation of the blonde having a little sister. Kotomi looked up and smiled at her brother, but her gaze was drawn away by a certain Uchiha who was standing next to her brother.
"Who's that?" Kotomi asked her older sibling.
"Sasuke? Well, he's my friend." A wild glint appeared in Naruto's eyes. "Actually, he's like a brother to me, which would make him your older brother as well."
The red haired girl immediately wrapped the moody boy in a hug. "So you're my Nii-san too? Yay!"
Sasuke glared at his 'brother' while the class tried to stifle their laughter at the Uchiha's attempts to awkwardly hug the young Uzumaki while patting her head. Naruto just grinned back at him.
After class, the two boys sat on a pier, overlooking a small lake.
"You've grown a lot more moody since I've been gone, teme."
"Hn."
Naruto turned to look at his friend seriously. "I know what happened to your clan Sasuke, and I know who did it. The question is, what are you going to do in the future?"
A dark look overcame Sasuke's face. "I'm going to kill him."
Naruto just nodded at the statement. He had been expecting it. "Well then, I believe that we can help each other out."
"How?" Sasuke asked curiously.
"Listen up, teme. What I'm about to tell you is a secret. I need you to promise me not to tell anyone. Okay?" The young blonde held out his pinky towards the other boy, who grasped it with his own pinky, a bemused expression on his face.
"Well, as you know, several years ago the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, and was killed by the Yondaime Hokage."
"So?" Sasuke asked, unsure as to where Naruto was going with this story.
"That, my friend, is complete bullshit. Bijuu can't be killed. But they can be sealed away, and are often sealed into human sacrifices in the hopes of the sacrifice being able to control and use their demonic chakra."
The young Uchiha's dark eyes widened in realization. "Your sister."
"Yep. As you know, my dad was the Fourth Hokage. He decided that he couldn't ask someone to do what he could not, so he used his own daughter to seal the damn Kyuubi into her with my mother's help, killing them in the process. His last wish was for me to protect my sister and for her to be viewed as a hero. However, the Sandaime decided to hide the heritage of my sister and I in the hopes of protecting us from our father's enemies. This caused people to only view my sister as the demon she contains, instead of as the heroic daughter of the Hokage."
Sasuke nodded along to all of this. He had known Naruto's parents, and had been curious as to his friend's change of last name. "How is this relevant to my goal?"
"I'm getting there, you impatient bastard." Naruto huffed. "There just so happens to be a dangerous group of S-ranked criminals called Akatsuki, and their main objective is to capture all the bijuu."
Sasuke opened his mouth to once again ask how this concerned him when Naruto put up his hand.
"Itachi Uchiha is a member of this group."
A pair of onyx eyes narrowed at this. "I see."
Naruto continued, "I want you to help me protect my sister from the Akatsuki, and in return I'll help you find your brother so that you can kill him."
The dark haired boy put his hand to his chin and began to consider the offer. If what Naruto said was true, then his brother would eventually come after Kotomi. And if he was near Kotomi, then he would have the perfect opportunity to kill his brother. "Very well, I accept your offer."
Naruto grinned. "Great! Now all we have to do is train our asses off. Come on, I have some things I want to show you."
The two boys walked off the pier together, each prepared to do whatever they must to accomplish their goals.
AN: Hi, it's me again. Just a quick note on Naruto's personality and goals. First off, he's definitely a lot more practical, intelligent, and ruthless due to his training with dragons. He also doesn't give two shits about being Hokage, he just wants to protect his sister. Also, Naruto will be a bit of a prodigy in this fic, but let's face it, Naruto mastered Shadow Clones in a single night and perfected his wind element and combined it with the Rasengan in a ridiculously short amount of time. In my books, he's already a prodigy considering how quickly he learns. Hopefully you all enjoyed this first chapter. Bye!