This is Konohagakure. Its twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery. My village. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have...

"Dragon." whispered Naruto to himself as he slammed the door of his house; just in time before a dragon burn him alive.

Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings, we have stubbornness issues.

The village is being attack again,by another raid of the vicious dragons that snatch up their food and sheep.People charging at the dragons, yelling and shouting, as was the Viking way, there also a man pounding the head of a short, fat dragon even as it flew away.

My name's Naruto Namikaze. Great name, I know, but it's not the worst. They believe that a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn't do that.

Naruto jumped out of his house and ran through the village, trying not to be hit by falling Vikings or animals or things. All of a sudden a dragon shot a ball of fire near him, causing him to fell. A Viking jumped on top of him as he yell, "RAAAUGH! ", and say, "Mornin'!" Naruto got up and kept running.

"What're ya doin' outside?"

"Git back inside!"

"Get outta here!"

"Get back inside!"

Wow, some nice, welcoming greetings he received from the townspeople. Ignoring their words, he charged ahead. He was about to turn, when suddenly a strong arm pulled him by the back of his jacket back, right before another dragon blew fire toward him. Cool, it was his dad.

"Naruto! What is he doin' outside agai-" the man changed tact, turning Naruto to face him as he bellowed, "What are you doin' out? Git back inside!" Naruto obeyed him, and he ran off.

That is Minato Namikaze. The hokage of the village. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders. Do I believe this? Yes I do.

Minato lifted a nearby wagon and threw it at a dragon passing over head and it was a bull's eye.

"What have we got?" he asked another Viking.

"Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, and hordes of Monstrous Nightmares." Then an explosion came out of nowhere and pieces of woods flew everywhere. The other Viking covered himself with his shield, while Minato just stood there and asked, "Any Night Furies?"

"None so far." Minato swept a small piece of burning wood off of his shoulder as if it was nothing.

"Good!" he said.

Naruto can saw some Vikings lit huge bowls with fire and lifted into the sky to see the dragons more clearly. Naruto finally reached to his destination, the smithy, and is greeted by a man who was hammering.

"How nice of ya' to join the party. I thought you wouldn't be let out." said the man.

"Who, me? No, c'mon. I'm way too muscular for their taste." Naruto said as he picked up a heavy hammer and set it on the wall behind her. "They wouldn't know what to do with all this."

"Well they need toothpicks don't they?" Naruto started taking the smashed weapons from the Vikings who dropped them off to fix them up.

That man is Jiraya. I've been his apprentice since I was little...well, littler.

Meanwhile, Minato ordered the other Vikings, "We'll move to the wall for defences, we'll counter them with the catapults."He and a few more Vikings took some sheep to a safer place. The dragons set some of the houses next to them on fire.

See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses.

Hiccup looked outside and saw the other teenagers setting putting out the fires.

That's Choji,Kiba, the twins: Lee and Ten-Ten, and...

Then, there was a girl who throws some water, but there was an explosion right behind her, which made her shine with courage and confidence

...Sakura.

Naruto really admire her. The other teenagers joined him as if she was their leader, and they went to put the other fire.

Oh, their job is so much cooler.

Naruto leaned out the window to get a closer look at them, but Jiraya pulled him back in.

"Oh come on," Naruto pleaded. "Let me out I need to make my mark!" As Jiraya placed him on the ground.

"Oh you've made plenty of marks- all in the wrong places." He said.

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon; my life will get infinitely better.I might even get a date,"

"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing and axe, you can't even throw one of these," Jiraya held up a bolas. Just then a Viking snatches it and takes down a Gronkle mid-flight.

"Okay, fine. But this will throw it for me." Naruto answers walking to an automatic weapon thrower he had been working on. He placed a hand on it and the piece suddenly sprung open, launching ropes and weight that knock out a Viking standing outside.

"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about." Jiraya said irritated.

"But it was mild calibration issue-"

"Naruto, if you ever want to get out there you need to stop all- this." The blacksmith said as he gestured to Naruto whole self.

"But you just pointed to all of me."

"Exactly. Stop being all of you!"

"Ohhhh."

"Ohhh yeah!"

"Oh, you, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Vikingness contains? There will be consequences!"

"I'll take my chances. Sword! Sharpen! Now." The smithy said as he handed Naruto a sword. He did what he was told with a scowl.

One day, I'll get out there, because killing a dragon is everything around here.

A Nadder head might get me at least some attention. Gronkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status.

"They've found the sheep!" said a Viking stationed at one of the catapult towers.

"Focus fire over the whole bank" ordered Minato as he turned the catapult over where the dragons were attacking the sheep.

And then there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.

A Monstrous Nightmare attacked the tower where Minato was. It was on fire, which didn't harm it, that was its habit to set itself on fire.

"Reload! I'll take care of this" Minato said as he started to hit the dragon in the head with his hammer. Then, there was a high pitch shrill in the air. Both Vikings and dragons both stopped fighting for a moment. The sound got louder.

But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen before. We call it the…

"Night Fury!" someone shouted. Then another one said "Get Down!" The fire from the mysterious beast was blue, but when it hit the tower, it turned red and the tower crumbled. The inexplicable creature just zoomed by.

"Jump!"ordered Minato as he and the others jumped just in the nick of time. Naruto had stopped working to try to catch a glimpse of this furtive dragon.

This thing never steals food, never reveals itself, and...

Another shot hit the already flaming tower.

...never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury, that's why I'm going to be the first.

Naruto turned when he heard some noise to see Jiraya picking up his axe.

"Man the fort, Naruto. They need me out there." He walked out the door but turned. "Stay. Put. Here. You know what I mean." He let out a battle cry and raced into battle.

Naruto took this moment and pushed his bolas launcher out of the shop as Vikings continued asking what he was doing. He just ignored them as he pushed it through all the chaos to a quiet spot in the village.

Meanwhile, a bunch of dragons surrounded a flock of sheep ready to take them. However, Minato threw a net over them to restrain their movement.

"Mind yourselves, the beasts still have some juice in them" said Minato as a Nadder breathe a stream of inferno into the air. Nevertheless, Minato clamped its snout closed to keep them from using it.

Naruto finally found his perfect spot. He quickly set up his launcher and got ready, waiting for anything to fly by.

"C'mon. Gimme something to shoot at. Gimme something to shoot at." That was when she heard the faint roar of the Night Fury. Suddenly, a dark shape fired a shot of blue fire at the nearby watch-tower. Naruto took aim and fired. He heard a loud screech as the Night Fury fell out of the sky towards the other end of the island.

"I hit it," he said. "Yes! I hit it! Did anybody see that?" He turned to see a Monstrous Nightmare tower over her, his foot standing where his crushed machine now lay. "Except for you."

Minato was busy tying down a Nadder when he saw Naruto running from a Nightmare. He groaned before heading toward them. "Do not let them escape!" He shouted back.

Naruto kept running and screaming along the way, trying to dodge the attack of the Nightmare. He ran through the village and ducked behind a pole just in time as the Nightmare breathed hot fire towards him. Naruto covered his face with his fists. He looked behind the pole to see if it was still after him, but little did he know that its head was right behind him ready to take a bite out of him. Lucky for him, his dad tackled the creature at its side. The dragon tried to breathe fire on the chief, but it was out of fuel for its flames.

"You're all out." Minato said. He then punched it. The dragon's only choice was to retreat.

Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know.

The post fell down, causing the lit torch to roll through the village. Naruto flinched with every sound the torch made when it hit something. He turned to find a disappointed look on Minato's face.

"Sorry, Dad." He said sheepishly. Everyone saw the dragons getting away with more of their livestock. Naruto looked around before saying, "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury."

He was then yanked by his father. "It's not like the last few times, Dad! I mean, I really, actually hit it!" He kept protesting as his father dragged him away from the middle of the crowd.

"You guys were busy. I had a very clear shot. It went down just off Raven's Point. Let's get a search party-"

"Stop!" Minato interrupted. "Just… stop. Every time you step outside, disaster falls. Can't you see I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!"

"Well between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don'tcha think?" Naruto asked.

"This isn't a joke, Naruto!" Minato then sighed. "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just kill it, you know. It's who I am, Dad." Naruto stated.

"You are many things, Naruto. But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house." He lets out a long sigh and turned to Jiraya. "Make sure she gets there. I have his mess to clean up."

Jiraya gives him a shove and they walk past the other teenagers as they laugh at him.

"Quite a performance." commented Lee.

"I never seen anyone messed up that badly. That helped." said Kiba.

"Thank you. Thank you, I was trying." Naruto said as Gobbler push him towards his house and pushing down Kiba.

The two finally reach the house as the sun rises. Naruto and Jiraya starting a conversation. "I really did hit one."

"Sure, Naruto."

"He never listens."

"It runs in the family."

"And when he does, it's with this disappointed scowl like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich. 'Excuse me, barmaid. I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here is a talking fishbone." Naruto finishes, putting his head down.

"Now yer thinkin' about it all wrong," Jiraya explained trying to comfort him. "It's not so much what you look like; it's what's inside that he can't stand."

Naruto gave him a look, "Thank you for summing that up."

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not."

"I just wanna be one of you guys," said Naruto as he closed the door behind him just to escape through the back door to go find the Night Fury.


The Vikings stood gathered in the large main hall of their village, surrounded by tapestries of vicious slayers and killers. From the ceiling dangled a golden dragon in agony as a sword ran through it. Minato Namikaze stood at a large table, map laid out in front of him. He was leading a meeting, discussing to the others what they had to do about the dragons.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us!" he yelled. "It's the only way we'll be rid of them. If we find the nest and destroy it the dragons will leave. They'll find another home. One more search before the ice sets in." He plunged his knife into the map right where the nest was thought to be.

"But those ships never come back," someone answered.

"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard. Now's who's with me?" He observed the room as everyone looked around nervously and uttered weak excuses.

"Those who stay will have to look after Naruto." Everyone quickly raised their hands to join the search. "That's more like it."

The room began to empty and soon only Jiraya remained with him. "Alright, I'll pack my undies," Jiraya said, standing up ready to exit as well.

"No, I need you to stay here and train some new recruits." Jiraya sat down again and Minato joined him.

"Oh, perfect. And while I'm busy, Naruto can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself...What could possibly go wrong?" Jiraya asked.

"What am I going to do with him, Jiraya?" Minato asked.

"Put 'er in training with the others."

"No, I'm serious."

"So am I."

"He'll be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage."

"Oh, ya don't know that."

"I do know that."

"No ya don't."

"Yes, actually I do."

"No ya don't!"

"Listen, you know what he's like. By the time he can crawl, he has been … different." Minato sighed in frustration. "He doesn't listen and has the attention span of a sparrow. I'd take him fishing and he went hunting for trolls."

"Trolls exist! They steal yer socks. But only the left ones. What's with that?" Jiraya interrupts.

"When I was a boy,"began Minato.

"Oh, here we go," muttered Jiraya to himself.

"My father told me to bang my head against a boulder and I did it. I thought he was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache?"Jiraya asked amusedly.

"That rock split in two."Minato corrected. "It taught me what a Viking could do Jiraya; he could crush mountains, level forests, and tame seas." He sat down next to his friend. "Even as a boy, I knew what I was and what I have become…" he hanged his low. "Naruto is not that boy."

"You can't stop him, Minato. You can only prepare him. I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you wouldn't be around to protect him; he's going to get out there again. He's probably out there now." Jiraya didn't know how right he was.


Naruto walked all the way to Raven Point and marked off every spot he checked in his book. It was frustrating that he could find the dragon. Finally, he scribbled the whole page with his charcoal with a scowl.

"Oh, the gods hate me!" he said to himself. "Some people lose their knife or their mug. Not me, no. I manage to lose an entire dragon." Naruto then hit a switch branch out of his way only to cry out on pain when it swung right back and hit his face. He looked up at the tree and tilted his head puzzled. It was snapped right in half. He the realize that he was sitting on a deep trail cut into the ground… As if something had crash landed there.

Naruto decided to follow it. Once at the end, he peeked over and saw the Night Fury tangled in the bolas. Naruto gasped as he hid behind the hill. Taking another peek to make sure he wasn't seeing thing, the boy took out his dagger for protection. Naruto slid down the hill and hid behind a boulder. When he felt safe, he stepped closer.

"Oh-oh wow. I did it. Ohh I did it. This fixes everything!" He walked up to the fallen Night Fury and placed his foot on him.

"I have brought down this mighty beast!" Suddenly, the dragon stirred and he immediately back-pedaled. He held out his dagger and went closer to the Night Fury to examine it further. He noticed it taking deep breaths.

With the way its body moved Naruto would have thought it was beautiful if he wasn't there to kill it. As he looked further up its body, he came to the eyes. They were just staring at him. He heard the dragon rumble in its chest, almost like moaning.

Naruto took a few deep breaths of his own before saying, "I'm gonna kill you, dragon. I'm gonna... I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I am a Viking. I am a Viking!" He held his dagger up, readying the plunge, and closed his eyes.

The dragon looked at her eyes full of fear. Naruto opened one eye and looked at the black monster. It looked so frightened. As he forced his eyes shut again and raised the knife even higher, he heard the dragon loll its head back on the ground as it shut its eyes. Naruto groaned. He relaxed his arms and let them fall to his sides. He looked at the ropes of his bolas tangled over the dragon's body.

"I did this." He sighed. He could only think of one thing to do to make this right. The Night Fury's eyes shot open at the sound that followed. Naruto was on his knees using his dagger to saw through the ropes that contained it.

Once the ropes were no longer holding him back, the Night Fury pounced onto Naruto and held him down with one of its claws. Naruto gasped. He was so afraid of what would happen. As he looked into the green eyes of the Night Fury, his heart raced. As the dragon reared back, Naruto expected to be torched. Instead, the Night Fury roared right into his face. After that, it ran off. As it flew up, Naruto stood to collect himself. He grabbed his dagger and watch the dragon fly off. But the way flew wasn't right. This dragon was known to fast and accurate. Now it was struggling to stay in the air. Naruto started to walk back for the village. He had not made it three steps when his knees went wobbly and his legs gave out underneath him. He let out a moan as he dropped his knife and fainted.


Hours later, once Naruto woke from his ordeal, he snuck up to the house. As he opened the door, he saw his father poking at the fire. He saw the face he wore. The serious face, which meant he wanted to talk to him. He didn't feel like listening to his father complains about his actions again, so he tried to sneak past him upstairs. No such luck. Just as he was half way up, he heard his father call him.

"Naruto."

"Dad, um... I have to talk to you."

"I really to speak to you about something else, too." said Minato.

"I don't want to fight dragons / It's time you learn to fight dragons." Naruto and Minato said at the same time. Both father and son turned to each other and asked, "What?"

"Um, you go first." Minato said.

"No, you go first." Naruto said.

"All right." The hokage sighed. "You get your wish. Dragon training...you starts in the morning."

"Oh, man." Naruto said. "I should've gone first. Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Viking. But I realized we don't have enough bread-making Vikings or small-home-repair Vikings."

"You'll need this." Minato interrupted as he put an axe in Naruto's hands.

"I don't want to fight dragons, Dad."

"Oh, c'mon. Yes, you do."

"Rephrase. Dad, I can't kill dragons."

"But you will kill dragons."

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."

"It's time, Naruto."

"Can you not hear me?"

"This is serious, son. When you carry this axe, you carry all of us. Which means you walk like us, talk like us... You think like more of... This." Minato did the same thing as Jiraya.

"You just gestured to all of me." Naruto stated.

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

"Deal?" Minato pressed.

Sighing in defeat, Naruto looked up to father and said, "Deal."

"Good." Minato stated as he picked up his bag. "Train hard. I'll be back...probably."

"And I'll be here...maybe." Naruto watched as her father left.


"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Jiraya stated as he opened the gate to the training yard.

"No turning back." Sakura said out loud. The teens all walked in excitedly with their weapons. Kiba had his mace, Choji had his hammer, the twins carried their spears and Sakura held her axe.

"I hope I get some serious burns." Lee said.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ten-Ten added.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "It's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" The teenagers turned to unfortunately find Naruto straggling along behind them carrying the axe his father gave him. "Pain. Love it."

"Oh, great. Who let him in?" Lee asked.

"Let's get started!" Jiraya interrupted. "The recruit who does best will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."

"Naruto already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or..." Kiba teased as he walked further into the arena. The other also followed him, laughing.

"Don't worry," said Jiraya reassuringly, putting a hand on his shoulder as they started forward. "You're small and you're weak. The dragons will see your lack of experience and that'll make you less of a target. They'll go after the more Viking-like teens instead." With a gentle push Jiraya sent Naruto in line with the others. He put his axe on his shoulder and stood as confident as he could manage.

Jiraya stood in front of the trainees to continue his lesson. "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. The Deadly Nadder!"

"Speed 8, armour16." Choji muttered.

"The Hideous Zippleback."

"11 stealth, times 2."

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower 15."

"The terrible Terror."

"Attack 8, venom 12."

"Can you stop that?!" Jiraya yelled at the teenager. "And, the Gronckle." He put his hand on the switch that opened the cage.

"Jaw strength 8." Choji whispered to Naruto.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait!" Kiba shouted. "Aren't you gonna teach us first?"

"I believe inlearning on the job." Said Jiraya as he pulls the lever and the Gronkle speeds out and the teens

"Today is all about survival! If you get blasted, you're dead." warned Jiraya as the Gronkle swallowed some rocks and began to fly around angrily. "Quick! What's the first thing you're going to need?"

"A doctor?" Naruto blurted out.

"Plus five speed?" Choji asked.

"A shield." Sakura stated.

"Shields. Go!" Jiraya said as he pointed out the shields. Sakura, Choji, and Kiba grabbed their own shields.

"The most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword or a shield." Jiraya lectured as he helped Naruto lift his shield off the ground, "Take the shield."

Meanwhile, the twins, Lee and Ten-Ten took the same shield and they had a little fight.

"Get your hands off my shield." Lee orders her.

"There's like a million shields." Ten-Ten said.

"Take that one, it has a flower on it, Girls like flowers."

Ten-Ten was able to pull the shield out of her brother's grip and hit him on the head with it. "Oops. Now this one has blood on it."

While the twins were fighting, the Gronckle blasted them, knocking them down. "Lee! Ten-Ten! You're out!" Gobber said. "Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!" The four remaining teenagers banged their weapons against their shields. The Gronckle soon looked as though it were getting dizzy and confused. "All dragons have a limited number of shot. How many does a Gronckle have?"

"Five?" Kiba guessed.

"No, six!" Choji cried out.

"Correct, six! That's one for each of you." Gobber explained. At that the Gronkle destroyed Choji's shield from where he had been lifting it. He let out a scream and took off at a run. "Choji, out!"

Naruto managed to duck behind a pile of wood and let out a deep breath.

"Naruto, get in there!" Jiraya shouted. He let out a sigh and stepped out only to dive back in as she was almost blasted by the Gronkle. The Gronckle turned to find Sakura and Kiba.

"So anyway I'm moving into my parent's basement," said Kiba casually as Sakura dived next to he, clearly not paying any attention.

"You should come by sometime to work out, you look like you work out." Kiba continued as Sakura rolled to the side just as the Gronkle shot in his direction. The Gronckle saw Kiba distracted and took the shot. Got him!

"Kiba! You're done!" Gobber cried out.

Sakura now came up next to Naruto, who ducked behind him on her knees. "So I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Naruto asked, smiling.

"Nope. Just you." She answered as she rolled out of the way as the Gronkle's fire hit Naruto's shield as he hastily raised it and sent it rolling across the arena rather than destroying it.

"One shot left!" Gobber informed. The dragon chose to chase... "Naruto!"

The Gronckle cornered Naruto against the wall until it was merely inches away from him. After taking a few sniffs, the Gronckle opened it's mouth wide to take the final shot. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut. Suddenly, Jiraya snagged the dragon with a hook just in time for the final blast to hit the wall next to the young boy.

"That six. Go back to bed you overgrown sausage! You'll get another chance don't you worry." Jiraya closed the door, locking it back within its cage.

He turned back to the teens, all of whom were out of breath and worse for wear. "Remember a dragon will always," he turned to Naruto, "always go for the kill."

Naruto slowly rose and gazed at the smoldering hole in the stone the dragon had made in shock. That had almost been him. And he realize something. The Night Fury.


"So why didn't you?" Naruto asked himself as he examined what was left of the bolas. He remembered the way the Night Fury flew off and decided to follow it. He scooted between two large rocks, and behind them laid a small canyon complete with trees and a picturesque lake. The sun was shining down on it as birds fluttered about inside it. Naruto took a moment to look down into the canyon.

"Well, this was stupid." He muttered. He turned and saw black scales. As he knelt down and picked one up to examine it more closely. Just then, a large, black figure swept by in front of him sending him shuffling backwards.

It was the Night Fury, trying to climb out of the canyon it seemed, but the rocks were to smooth for its claws to grab on to. It glided down and across the small lake in the center, landing by a tree that was opposite from Naruto.

Naruto worked up his nerve and slowly rose to his feet. He jumped down to a rock ledge and tried to get better look at the dragon as it attempted to fly out again. He pulled out his journal as the dragon failed two more timed to escape. He quickly sketched the basic shape of the dragon: large wings, small fins right behind its wings, and two tail fins.

Once he finished the picture, Naruto muttered, "Why don't you just fly away?" He got his answer when the Night Fury blasted the ground and spread its wings and tail fin. The left tail fin was missing. Naruto corrected his drawing by rubbing off the part of the tail that was missing, leaving only a smudge of coal.

He watched him try to fly once more, only to crash by the lake. A fish leapt out of the water and the dragon curiously walked to the edge and peered in, looking for a meal. Diving in to catch one, the dragon's head came out of the water empty and aggravated.

Naruto felt the guilt creep in. It was his fault the dragon was stuck down here. He had to have been the reason the tail fin was lost. His mind in an endless jumble he set his charcoal pencil down on his journal but it rolled off the rock, landing in the canyon.

The soft sound caught the Night Fury's attention and made him look up and find the same human that did this to him. Naruto could only stare into the green eyes as they seemed to glare back at him. But this thought vanished when the dragon leaned its head to the side, almost in a curious manner. This made Naruto dragons as evil as Vikings thought they were?


By the time Naruto got back to her village, it had started pouring, but he already in front of the great pushed them open and entered as the other trainees were discussing their lesson from earlier.

"All right, where did Sakura go wrong in the ring today?" Jiraya asked.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." Sakura admitted.

"Yeah, we noticed." Ten-Ten commented.

"No, no. you were great. That was so... 'Sakura'." Kiba commented.

"He's have to be tough on yourselves." said Jiraya as Naruto walked up to the table. Naruto grabbed his plate of food and walked to the next table to sit alone. "Where did Naruto go wrong?"

"Uh, he showed up." Ten-Ten said.

"He didn't get eaten." Lee added.

"He's never where he should be." Sakura finished.

"Thank you, Sakura." Gobber said. "You need to live and breathe this stuff." He then brought out a book. "The dragon manual. everything we know about every dragon we know of." That was when he finally heard the thunder outside. "No attacks tonight. Study up."

"Wait, you mean read?" Lee asked.

"While we're still alive?" Ten-Ten added.

"Why read words when you can just kill stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Kiba asked.

"Oh!I've read it like seven times. There's this water dragon the sprays boiling water at your face. And-and there's this other one that buries itself for like a-" Said Choji, excited. But he was cut off by Lee.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Now, there was a chance I was gonna read that…"

"… But now?" Ten-Ten added.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout the Vikings got up to leave, except for Sakura and Naruto.

"So, I guess we'll share?" asked Narutp

"Read it!" said Sakura as she stood up and walked toward the door.

"Oh, oh, fine then, wow. So o-okay, I guess I'll see you-" Naruto said until he notice the Sakura already out of the building.

The great hall finally empty, and Naruto is the only one there. He put a candle on the table, next to the dragon manual. He sat down, opened the book, and read it out loud.

Dragon Classifications. Strike Class. Fear Class. Mystery Class

Naruto opened the first page.

Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.

He skipped some page.

Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.

He opened the next page.

Scauldron. Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous.

Suddenly there was a strike of lightning and followed by a thunder. Naruto jumped and turned the page.

Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight.

He turned the page faster since he longger not interested in that book.

Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering Death.

Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out.

Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight.

He finally reached the last page. Almost half of the page is empty.

Night Fury. Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you.

Naruto took out his journal and opened it to the page she drew the picture of the Night Fury on. He had to asked Jiraya about it, and that's the reason he came the next morning.


The next day in the Dragon Training...

"Hey, you know, I just happened to notice to book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there, like, another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?" Naruto asked as she looked up at the top of the wall of the arena where Jiraya was standing. Suddenly, a blast shot next to had unleashed Nadder that melted his axe right off its handle.

"Focus Naruto! Yer not even tryin'!" yelled Jiraya.

"Whoa!" Naruto yelled in surprise and took off to hide in the maze. The Nadder then charged at him.

"Today it's all about attack! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!" Jiraya said.

The Nadder lifted its spiked tail and launched a battery of quills into Choji's shield.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" he yelled as he ran through the maze.

"Look for its blind spot! Every dragon has one." Jiraya explained as he picked his teeth. "Find it, hide in it and strike."

Ten-Ten and Lee ducked around a corner just to find themselves standing face to face with Nadder. They tried to move past it without allowing it to see them, but were stuck at every turn.

"Yuch! Do you ever bathe?" asked Ten-Ten when she smelt something from his twin brother.

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot." Lee said, rather loudly as he pushed his sister.

"How about I give you one!" Ten-Ten countered as she pushed her brother back. It was right then the Nadder expelled a great deal of piping hot fire. They managed to duck out of the way just in time.

"Blind spot: yes. Deaf spot… not so much," Jiraya commented.

Naruto crept up to the spot in front of Jiraya. "Hey! So how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" he asked.

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. Now GET IN THERE!" Jiraya replied, annoyed at his behavior.

"I know. I know. But… hypothetically-" he continued as he backed up. He saw Sakura and Kiba hiding next to him. Sakura gave him a get down gesture

She peeked around the corner and saw the Nadder sniffing the ground. She quickly and skillfully rolled past the dragon to another wall and Kiba silently followed.

Naruto, tried to copy them but failed. He failed to rool and stop right in front the Nadder. The Nadder charged and he quickly ducked away, getting lost in the maze.

The dragon jumped up on the walls again and located Kiba and Sakura and leaped down right in front of them.

Sakura was about to throw her axe, but Kiba pushed her aside. "Watch out, babe. I'll take care of this." He then threw his his mace... And missed completely. The Nadder seemed to laugh at him. When the girl glared at him, Kiba came up with some stupid excuse. "The sun was in my eyes, Sakura."

The Nadder took another shot, but the teens were able to dodge it. As they ran through the maze. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that but I don't have time!" Kiba continued.

The Nadder tore after Sakura; its angry roars filed the arena. It knocked over anything in its way.

"Has anyone seen one napping?" Naruto asked, once again in front of Jiraya. He suddenly swiveled at the dragon's roar and saw Sakura had climbed up onto one of the falling walls. The Nadder was right behind, having knocked the rest down.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted angrily as she took a flying leap and managed to land right on Naruto, sending him to the ground.

"Ooo, love on the battlefield," Lee teased.

"He could do better," acknowledged his sister.

"Let me- why don't you?" Naruto shouted as Sakura tried to dig her axe out of Naruto's shield which was attached to his arm. Naruto struggled to get up, but Sakura put her foot on him and yanked the shield off his arm. Sakura saw the Nadder charging and took off to get a better position.

Sakura decided to swing her axe, with the shield, at the dragon. She hit the Nadder square in the jaw, shattering the shield into splinters. The Nadder then walked away like a wounded puppy.

"Well done, Sakura!" Gobber called out.

Sakura turned to Naruto. "Is this some kind of joke to you? Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side your on." With that everybody left Naruto there.


Naruto walked back to the canyon, fish in one hand and shield ready at the other. He hid between two rocks and tossed the fish in. Nothing happened. He meant to walk inside when the shield was trapped between the two rocks. Unable to move it he ducked under and grabbed the fish again.

After walking in, he heard something behind him. Naruto turned to find the Night Fury crouched on a small lower ledge. It crept down as it watched him. Once in front of him, Naruto held the fish out for the dragon. He crept forward with its pupils becoming more round and its mouth wide open. But when it noticed his dagger, it hissed and pulled back while his pupils became slits again. Naruto took his dagger and dropped it on the ground. Taking his right foot, he kicked it away.

As soon as the dragon heard the splash it sat down on its haunches and looked at him with big eyes as its ear twitched. He held out the fish again and the dragon inched closer. He walked out to meet it, slowly and carefully. It opened its gums and Naruto now noticed there wasn't a tooth in sight.

"Huh. Toothless. I could've sworn you had-" The teeth suddenly unsheathed and the dragon snatched the fish. While gobbling the small morsel, Naruto finished his sentence with a squeak. "...teeth"

He looked at Narutoand started towards him, making low rumbling noises in his throat. He backed up into a large rock and shrunk to the ground in front of it as the dragon proceeded to get up close in his face.

"No. No. No. I don't have anymore." He said. The Night Fury started to convulse. Hik-hik-hik and out came half of the fish it had just swallowed into his lap. The dragon then sat down and stared at him. He stared at him a long moment before he gestured to him then the fish. Naruto groaned as the realization hit him. It wanted him to eat it.

Naruto slowly lifted the fish to his mouth and took a small, reluctant bite. He had to hold whatever food he still had in his stomach down. The taste was horrible! And the fact tat was formerly in the stomach of a dragon certainly didn't help at all. As he looked up, Naruto saw the dragon nod toward him. He wanted him to swallow it.

Naruto made a face. Doing everything he could do to not vomit, Naruto swallowed the fish in his mouth. He cringed and gagged, but the Night Fury was pleased. Naruto can't help but let out a laugh and smile a very goofy smile. The dragon looked at him and squinted his eyes. The sides of his mouth came up in a weird sort of a toothless smile. Naruto reached forward in an attempt to touch the dragon. But it growled and hurried off to the other side of the glade.

It lit the ground on fire and lay down on the warm flames. He lifted his head to the sound of chirping and saw a bird taking off from his nest on a branch and fly away. When his gaze followed the bird his eyes fell on Naruto, who had moved to the other end of the canyon and was now sitting next to him. He smiled and gave a small wave before the Night Fury laid his head down and moved his body. Once lying don completely, he moved his tail next to his head and used his only tail fin to cover his face. Naruto scooted closer, wanting to touch the scaly skin. When his fingers were just inches away, the dragon pulled back his tail fin to see what he was doing. Naruto jumped back in surprise and walked away with an embarrassed stride. The Night Fury grumbled a little bit before walking away as well.

The dragon was hanging by its tail on a tree root for hours, just trying to sleep. When it finally decided to open its eyes. He saw Naruto sitting on a small rock not facing him. His curiosity brought him to investigate. Naruto, bored, had been mindlessly drawing in the dirt with a stick when he noticed the large black beast watching him from behind. With a few motions the lines took the form of the dragon. He finished with the eyes when the Night Fury decided to walk away. He turned to find it break off a branch from a tree and start to trace lines into the ground. He just seemed to go in uncoordinated lines around him.

Once he finished, he seemed to admire his work. Naruto, in the middle of the drawing, stood up to get a better view of the swirls in the dirt. As he was glancing around, his foot hit one of the lines. The dragon let out a furious growl and he quickly removed his foot, it then purred and its pupils rounded again. Curiously, Naruto hit the line again, the dragon became furious. When, he removed his foot, its expression soften. He did it again and the result was the same.

Naruto finally stepped over the line, hearing more purrs come from the dragon. He kept avoiding the line, making him like he was dancing. He twirled and swirled until he felt a breath behind him. He quickly turned to find the Nigh Fury standing there, gazing him, pure calm and happiness in his eyes. Naruto reached his hand out to try and touch him, but he pulled back and growled slightly. Naruto decided to closed her eyes and extended her hand. The Night Fury's eyes opened wide and looked at the boy's hand for a long moment before slowly, very slowly, closing his eyes and moving his head forward so that it bumped into his hand. Naruto lifted his head and looked at him. The Night Fury then pulled back and opened its eyes, it then ran off. Naruto stood there a minute to get a grip on what had just happened.


To Be Continue...