A/N: You asked…now I shall deliver.

I will not OP Naruto in this story quickly, but I will see to it that he will learn to control his powers gradually.

As usual, your reviews will determine if this is a story worth pursuing; so do read and review, would you kindly? Other than that, keep it classy.

…

[Konohagakure no Sato]

It was a very cold night in Konohagakure, and it just so happened that all the restaurants were closed. Naruto knew that there was a lot of bullshit fired his way, because a lot of those restaurants clearly had people dining in them…the problem was with him for some strange reason. It would have been a good idea to go visit the Ichiraku family for more of that heavenly ramen, but the problem with that idea would be that he'd used up his last free meal ticket with them for the month and his monthly stipend was for all the utilities in his apartment. He could go to the Akimichi clan restaurant, but he didn't want to risk it tonight if that asshole waiter was on shift…only other problem was that it was too far away, and he was too hungry to go that far.

What a great time for the apartment to have problems! he thought to himself, Seriously! First there's the explosion in the gas line, then the power to the building got wrecked and the water main just so happened to be in the same area…I mean, can it get any worse?!

That left foraging the wilderness and perhaps supermarkets for fresh fruits and veggies. The latter tended to overcharge him for rotten produce, so that left him no other choice but to search the wilderness for real food.

Now, he was searching a wild apple tree to pick as many of the tiny fruit as possible. A survival guide he once gotten for his birthday had been helpful in finding berries and fruits that he could safely eat…and as much as hated eating vegetables, he was able to tell the difference between a wild carrot and a poison hemlock. He also managed to find oak trees that had plenty of acorns for him to pick up. This ensured that his diet was varied; the problem was that he could not hunt, unless he wanted risk being thrown in jail for poaching—this meant that he was forced to have a vegan meal every time he did this.

The good thing about it was that it was free, which meant that nobody could overcharge him on the food. Supply for this lifestyle could sustain him for as long the plants themselves could, which meant that he could to collect as much as he needed before coming home. That, and it always felt good whenever he found the freshest of wild ingredients for his survival…the idea that he worked this hard to pick out the food he needed with his own two hands, instead of needing to steal for it was always very satisfying.

The bad news was that he had to be careful not to let anybody find him taking this; lest they stake a claim on the plants he was foraging on, and have an excuse to call him a thief. That, and as much as he wanted to keep a storage of food for days like this, he needed to eat them soon before they went bad. Not to mention that even if he managed to keep things like the wild nuts for the long-term, there was a chance that some asshole could sneak into his apartment and steal or destroy the stash of food he'd saved up; he'd learned that the hard way when he found that he had cash left over from his utilities bills, and the landlady pretty much sold the looters the key to his apartment to do as they pleased…they stole every bit of the ryō he'd been saving up so that he could go eat somewhere nice for once. And she told me it was an accident too…yeah right!

Fortunately, he always kept a woven shopping bag and some extra sealing scrolls for emergencies like this. The former was for collecting the things he foraged for; the latter was to take with him so that nobody could destroy his food stores. And for that, Naruto had Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji to thank for making sure that he at least had an emergency food supply to keep himself well-fed—as well as how to use the storage scrolls. He also kept his store of dried ramen bowls for these emergencies to supplement his emergency food supply. After what happened with that looting incident, he was not willing to take any chances.

As he managed to pick the last of the wild apples for the night by the light of his flashlight, Naruto nodded to himself. "Great. Now I'll have enough of these mini-apples for tonight!" he said to himself. It was indeed a time for celebration, because in tonight's foraging run, he'd also managed to pick up acorns, wild rice, a good batch of walnuts, a large mix of berries he knew were safe to eat, and good number of wild potatoes. "Now let's see if I can't find anything else out here."

There was no problem with getting just one more thing today. However, Naruto's attention was turned immediately to a single nearby fruit hanging on a branch. It was a strange-looking thing; snowy-white with a rough texture, and growing among a branch full of ripe-red pomegranates. A quick glance to the left and right had confirmed that nobody was around to see him; and that this was good for the taking. There just so happened to also be some really tasty-looking pomegranates hanging close by as well. Naruto shrugged. Might as well. I hear pomegranates are good for you too.

Naruto unfurled the scroll, and carefully poured the wild apples into a pile. A few quick hand seals later, and he had a bag ready to pick some more fruit. With the bag dangling around his wrist, he climbed the tree; his first priority was for the white fruit. At least it's on a pretty strong branch.

A closer look at the fruit revealed that it had the look of a world upon its surface; some parts of the texture were raised enough to resemble mountains, while the depressions looked like valleys. It also had cracks that went into the surface. It looks kinda like that ball that Iruka-sensei keeps on his desk…I think he called it a 'globe'. Either way, I'm gonna get that thing!

He reached out, hoping to grab the fruit from its branch. Naruto knew he had to be careful; he could very well land on his head, and break his neck. Assuming of course, his head was not going to crack open first. He reached out carefully, trying his hardest not to fall over. With a slight effort, and he grabbed the fruit. Satisfied with his prize, Naruto bagged his catch, and picked a few of the surrounding pomegranates. I really don't want to push my luck.

After climbing down, Naruto bolted out of the wilderness. He had a long ways to go before he got home to celebrate his find.

…

[Sunny Maiden Apartments]

Naruto returned to find his apartment complex, literally still in the dark. Thankfully, the gas main was now repaired, if the fact that there was no longer any smoke in the area were any indication…at least he didn't have to worry about getting cooked or poisoned in his sleep. The only problem with that was the power to the building still being knocked out; and perhaps the water main also still flooding the basement. The sight of water-draining equipment nearby confirmed that train of thought. If I'm right, that old hag is going to charge me extra for this; whether I did anything or not. Better not let her see me then.

He had to tiptoe around the lawn. The landlady had the highest tier in the four-story apartment complex, and thus, the best view with which to snoop or spy in all directions. And if she felt particularly sadistic, she would 'accidentally' sell the spare keys to some low-lives, and turn a blind eye to them trashing his apartment while he was away. In exchange, any cash they found lying around was to be handed to her.

Thankfully, the light to her entire floor was off; and he could not see any sign that she was watching out of any window. Still, he had to be careful; he'd learned the hard way that she had her ways of figuring out how long he'd been out. One of these days, the old hag will get hers, he swore. Because of that…that…geh! Because of that devil-woman, I've spent as much money changing locks and doors as I do fixing the place up! One of these days, when I become a shinobi, the first thing I'm going to do is to get my own place so that she can't do this to me anymore.

To this end, Naruto always kept his sealing scrolls on his person; with the intent of saving enough money to get out of the apartment he lived in, and getting his own place. If he had to move out to the outskirts of town, then so be it. At least he would not have to deal with the old hag anymore. Hell, even a cabin in the wilderness sounded like a better place to live in. I'm almost there; just have to save a little more cash and I can move out.

The steps through the pavement were careful and quiet. This was bar none, the best stealth training he had to go through…the landlady could tell who you are by the way you walked through her apartment complex. Over the years, he had learned to walk like a cat if he wanted to avoid being forced to pay her yet another 'protection' fee on top of the already high utility fees; paying this fee meant that there was a high chance that she would not let the apartment get trashed…but even that was no guarantee.

Once he made it to the wall, Naruto decided not to take any chances that she could be listening. So he decided to scale the walls using the power in his legs and the balconies. It was a good thing then that he were forced to take up freerunning to avoid being caught by shinobi after a prank. Taijutsu practice and obstacle courses also made him gain muscle, in spite of being forced to ration his fresh food; not to mention being forced to go vegan, as dried fruits and veggies tended to last longer than meat. He had to take it slowly, lest the landlady heard him make heavy-handed motions.

One jump up, and he was able to climb up to the second floor balcony, doing his best not to let out even a grunt. Once he got to the top rung of the balcony, Naruto knew he had to be extra careful; his apartment was just above on the third floor. This meant that the landlady was likely within hearing distance. The next jump had him grabbing into the floor of the balcony before he clambered up quietly. After landing into the balcony of his apartment as lightly as he could, he hazarded a glance upward…she was not there; she must really have been very tired tonight.

Still not wanting to be caught dead with her breathing down his neck, Naruto took light steps towards his sliding glass door, only to find that it was broken from the inside. No, no, no, no! I paid your damn protection fee this week! Why'd you have to let this happen today?!

Naruto sighed in frustration as he looked at the damage: it appeared that they bashed down the doors this time…likely with fire axes if the marks were any indication. Apart from that, the floorboards were smashed to pieces; his used and old TV set had a table leg inside the screen; the TV antenna was now antenna-less; his couch bed for guests was pulled out and cut up; his cooktop was bashed up along with the stove; even the microwave was smashed to pieces on the floor. The night just couldn't get any worse for him, but he still had other priorities; he checked every graffiti-lined wall of every room for anyone that was still in the apartment. This time a sigh of relief, when it was confirmed that there was nobody in there. Doesn't change the fact that I now have no bed to sleep on.

He couldn't be mad at the Hokage; he was just too busy to help him with anything, much less find the time to come check up on him. From the mountain of paperwork he once saw when he walked into his office, he felt a bit of guilt that he contributed to that pile somewhat. Naruto didn't want to add to the old man's troubles any more after that…which was why he made his pranks easy to clean up afterwards.

He just couldn't be mad at the shinobi that came to visit him from time to time; it wasn't their responsibility that his apartment was trashed…again. They had their daily lives to worry about, and they were probably out on missions anyway. Plus, it made him feel bad to have to ask them for help.

Crazy-Snake Lady next door was actually one of the nicer people to him, but she'd just moved in a few days ago; he couldn't just talk to her about his problems, it just didn't seem fair. Especially when it looked like she had her own problems to deal with. Not to mention that she's been out since this afternoon by the looks of it, so her friends would probably be bringing her home late tonight.

Heaving a very cathartic sigh, Naruto settled down on the remains of his table. Even though he had to work for it, he had to celebrate something; if only to take his mind off the fact that his apartment was trashed yet again. He searched through his storage seals, and found his prize: the strange white fruit. Looks like tonight, he's having pomegranate with this thing for dinner. He raised the white fruit dramatically as though in toast, his voice low so that the landlady couldn't hear him. "I dedicate this first bite to silver linings. May my days be better after tomorrow."

A bite into the white fruit felt the bitter juices going into his mouth. Naruto had to force himself to swallow it; after all, the Ichiraku family would have killed him if they learned he wasted food. He then looked into the fruit, and saw that the colors inside were like the reverse of a pomegranate: white skin and seeds, and a deep red flesh. He simply shrugged. "Tastes like crap, but I guess that is how it tastes like to be a loser. Just gotta remember not to taste this in my mouth again."

He forced himself to finish the foul-tasting fruit, accepting its unbearably bitter flavor as a fact of life. After today, Naruto refused to taste the flavor of bad food ever again. Besides, he had some fresh pomegranates on hand to was that terrible taste out of his mouth, so at least he had that problem taken care of. When he was done, he then bit down on a fresh pomegranate, allowing the fresh juices to assault his tongue with a rush of tart flavor. He had several more to go through.

"I hope you enjoyed that," came a voice from the doorway. Naruto froze as he recognized that cracked voice from anywhere. He turned to the ruined remains of his door, and found the silhouette of someone he most definitely didn't want to see tonight. Her legs and belly were pretty chubby, but her arms and upper body were scrawny. The wrinkles of age had made it hard for Naruto to tell if the landlady looked more like a hairless rat or a fat monkey with a bad shave. A rat…definitely a rat. And every bit as ugly inside as she is outside.

The wicked smirk on her face made it more than obvious what she'd done. "You owe me extra money for what they did to my apartment," she began, "And for bringing in food from the outside."

"Oh come on now!" Naruto snapped, "First you get me to pay your protection fee, then you get me to pay for just trying to eat something good? What more could you want from me?"

"Every bit of that money I know you keep stashed away." she says with a sneer. "All that money you've got. I could care less about you; you could go to hell for all I care, but I want every bit of that money you've been collecting."

Naruto recoiled, his half-eaten pomegranate dropping from his hands. How did she know that?

"You're going to pay for every bit of the damages you've done to the building, you little monster," she growled, "And you're going to pay with that money you have tucked away."

"You and I both know the old man will pay for it," Naruto yelled. "In fact, I'm pretty sure he's already going to do that, SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BUGGING ME ABOUT IT?!"

The landlady closed the gap pretty quickly, and landed a very savage slap that slammed Naruto's head on the ground. "SHUT UP BRAT! Demons like you don't deserve anything. Now, I expect you to compensate me with every bit of YOUR money! And not even your precious Hokage will pay for the damages for you when I tell him that you sabotaged the gas main!"

As Naruto got back up on all fours to nurse his swelling cheek, the landlady smirked. "Oh poor thing…did that hurt? GOOD! That's what I counted on! And if you don't want me to do that to you again, you will give me all that money! Including whatever money the Hokage is going to give me!"

Naruto watched as the old hag left the apartment. This was the last straw; now his temper ruled. He began punching the ground in rage. The first punch had caused a bit of the detritus in the area to bounce. The second had dug a few splinters into his fist. The final punch however, had the strange effect of feeling like he was hitting a weak glass instead of wood; cracks spider-webbed from the point of impact around Naruto's hand. What the hell was that? he asked himself, wide-eyed in curiosity.

Before long, Naruto felt something trembling underfoot. The next tremor that came hit him extremely hard, shaking the world up and down. It hit so hard that the floor finally gave way, causing Naruto to fall through screaming as the apartment complex was destroyed around him…

…

[The next morning]

Hiruzen was overseeing the disaster at the "Sunny Maiden" apartment complex. Whatever he was seeing was possibly a best-case scenario…seismologists had reported that a mild earthquake had hit the village, but the apartment complex was totally destroyed. There was no surprise there; the landlady of that building was known to be a money-grubbing harlot, Nezumi who did little in the way of maintaining her stake. The woman was known for such things, even when she was an orphanage matron that forced her children to drone out "We love you Nezumi-sama…" in very dead voices.

Recovery efforts to search through the rubble of the apartment complex was underway after the large quake. At the moment, shinobi sapper teams were at work trying to rescue as many people as they could from the wreckage. So far, the evil woman was found dead in the rubble; along with a few unfortunate tenants that were in the building at the time. Though a good number of other tenants either survived, or had the sense to move out to a nearby motel. Well, that's one bit of good news. he thought to himself. Problem is that Naruto-kun was last seen heading back to this place. I knew I should've at least moved him out of this place!

He hazarded a glance to the left, and saw that Anko was very busy digging through the rubble. It just so happened that she was out drinking with her friends as usual; when she got back to the apartment, she'd seen that it was totally destroyed. Even worse was that she and Naruto become very fast friends within the few days she'd moved in, and she was doing her best to help dig him out. It made Hiruzen even sadder to know that this could've been avoided if he'd assigned her to go to that place sooner to make sure it was still safe to live in.

Hiruzen sighed as he walked towards Anko, searching through the remains. "How are you holding up?"

"How do you think?!" snapped Anko, before reining herself back in upon realizing who she was talking to. "Sorry about that, Hokage-sama; it's just…it's only been a few days since I moved in. Then he comes into my life and we get along really fine y'know?"

"I'm sure he's…" Hiruzen was cut off when he heard something faint. Anko was about to ask what was going on when he raised a hand for silence. He tuned his ears to pick up the faintest of sounds, and heard something like 'HELP!' being shouted in the area. It was muffled, but he could hear the voice.

There was no question about it; Hiruzen needed to act now. "I need some excavators here now!"

On command, the shinobi in the area went to work, digging up the rubble. Large pieces of concrete were pulled out, with Anko joining in. When a large enough hole was created, she reached in and found the very person she was looking for; coughing out some concrete dust and looking bedraggled. "Naruto-kun! Hang in there!"

What Hiruzen saw upon being pulled out was a sorry sight. Naruto was obviously cut up by the rocks along the way down, and lord knows how many broken bones that were being repaired by his tenant. Either way, this mistreatment ended today; no more being weak, and no more catering to civilian politics. Which was why Hiruzen was making plans in his mind at lightning speed…

…

A/N:

Kuro: How're you ladies and gents doing? I'd like to thank Soleneus and UnitedOsprey1991 for help in this work. While you're at it, would you kindly check out their works too, and give them a review or two?

Sol: Yo. Glad to have been of some help. Looks like things in Naruto are going to be changing, eh? Makes you excited, right?

Kuro: And he still gets to be empowered by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Again, he's not going to be OP'd that quickly; I'll have him work his way up so that he at least has a bit of knowledge. Though I wonder…how will Hiruzen take to learning that Naruto now has power over quakes?

Sol: Considering he's a smart man, he'd be cautious but excited. I'd be. I'd only laugh maniacally for one, two hours tops.

Kuro: Anyway, please leave a review, and keep it classy people.