Thanks for the great feedback guys! I'm currently on a row, so here's chapter 2.

A.N. at the end of the chapter, with replies to a few reviews.

LOOKING FOR BETA

I don't own Naruto!


What happened last time

"Inu, you will be responsible for Naruto's groceries and the next time you come across Mikoto please give her my thanks."

"Hai Hokage-sama," Inu replied.

"Very well. If you wish you may help Naruto-kun from time to time. His interest in ANBU is cover enough. It'll be your job to buy his groceries and I'm certain you'll find some old kunai and shuriken in ANBU Headquarters. When you're on missions, I think Itachi-kun has a sweet spot for Naruto, ask him to buy the groceries in your absence."

"Hai Hokage-sama."


Chapter 2

14. April 1297

The next four months were probably the best in Naruto's short life. New year came and went and Naruto kept studying and reading the scrolls he got from his parents' library. His used his time for useful stuff and didn't waste whole days away being bored. Plus, he made many different foods. While ramen was still on top of the ranking, sometimes it was a little much and he came to enjoy having a decent breakfast.

Whenever the weather allowed it, Naruto sat on a tree in one of the rather secluded training grounds working on something. He was breezing through the academy curriculum. Admittedly, he wasn't able to remember everything he read and learned, but he was simply not that interested in geography. History was somewhat interesting, at least reading about the previous Hokage and the shinobi world wars and by now he knew, that math was a big thing with fūinjutsu, so he tried his best.

To his consternation, Naruto realised quite early that fūinjutsu was very time consuming. Before he could even start working on seals, he had to better his own handwriting. The one positive thing he got out of it was, that he definitely became more patient. While he could not work on seals himself, he was still able to read the theory, which was very interesting, although there were some bigger words, he didn't quite grasp. Fortunately for him, he had his ji-san for help and on some occasions even the nice dog-masked ANBU whom he had seen around a few times before and quickly dubbed Inu-nii.

It was also quite interesting to see, how everyday things for shinobi were actually quite complex in fūinjutsu terms. For example, storage scrolls, while widely utilised were quite complex. Creating a 'pocket-dimension' (one of the words his ji-san had helped him with), was not as simple as shinobi made it out to be and actually quite advanced for fūinjutsu work.

The book 'Ninja – A how-to' was one of his most prized possessions. It explained almost everything that was relevant to the training of a shinobi, from workout to nutrition, the better-known ninja-arts and generally what it meant to be a Ninja.

While reading about weight training, Naruto also made the discovery, that he should stay away from it, at least until he his teenager years. Apparently, it was quite dangerous and could harm growth and bone structure if you went overboard with weights. Therefore, he only worked with his own body-weight, meaning push-ups, sit-ups and the like. If he was honest with himself, he didn't really see the results of his training, but was determined to keep at it.

The few things he had trouble with, were his bukijutsu and chakra control. Throwing shuriken and kunai without proper instruction was quite troublesome he soon realised. Instead of asking the Sandaime for help, he decided to just wait until he started at the academy and use his time to learn the other stuff he would need.

He didn't give up on his chakra control however. Unlocking his chakra went without trouble but afterwards, he seemed to be stuck. Being completely unable to keep a leaf anywhere on his body since it just blew away every time he tried it, he looked into other exercises. One month later Naruto was running up and down the trees in his chosen training ground. He realised that his problem with chakra control was the exact opposite to other ninjas. Other ninjas worked from using the smallest amount up to higher amounts, since with exercises their chakra reserves also expanded. Naruto already had quite big reserves, so he had to start on a more chakra consuming exercise and work his way down.

Since learning tree-walking, or more exactly 'sticking to a surface', Naruto tried the leaf exercise with different things. He started out with pebbles, since those should withstand more force than a leaf and not just blow away. To Naruto's delight, his self-invented exercise worked quite well. He was certain that within the next two months, he would be able to do the normal leaf exercise.

It was in the middle of April, when things started to get even better for Naruto. He was sitting on his usual branch on his usual tree in his usual training ground, when he heard something land in front of him. Startled by the sudden sound, Naruto looked up from his scroll and the person in front of him, who seemed eerily familiar. He looked rather young, in his early teenage years maybe, with black hair in a ponytail and standard ANBU-gear.

"Hello Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?"

Recognizing the monotone voice for one of the ANBUs that protected him once, Naruto's face lit up.

"Weasel-chan! Shouldn't you wear your mask?"

"I'm currently off duty and as such, please call me Itachi," the now identified youth said, with a slight ticking mark forehead, being offended by the 'chan' suffix.

"Okay! Well, I'm learning to become a great ninja. Just wait, I'll have a cool mask soon enough!"

"So, you want to become an ANBU Naruto-kun? Quite the ambition, if you need any help, feel free to ask me," Itachi said, in the same monotone voice.

"Really? That would be so awesome. Can you show me how to throw kunai and shuriken, and can you show me some taijutsu? Oh, and you must know some super cool ninjutsu too, pleeease?" Naruto said, masterfully executing a puppy-eyes no jutsu without the use of hand seals. Itachi's eyes widened slightly and he staggered back on the tree branch.

"Okay, I'll help you, but only if you promise never to do that again!" Itachi said, fear creeping into his voice. Naruto jumped up from his previous position, being on his knees, his hands together as if in prayer. He lost his footing however, and dropped from the branch faceplanting into the forest floor. Sighing to himself Itachi thought, 'he can use my help, Sasuke and Izumi have tou-san and kaa-san to help them and anyway, I owe it to Kushina-obaa-san for babysitting me.' He jumped down from the tree, landing right in front of an unresponsive Naruto.

"Alright, listen Naruto-kun. I will help you, however, in exchange you have to follow my orders without complaint." Naruto groaned audibly before lifting his head from the forest floor.

"Okay Itachi-nii, let's start," was the rather unenthusiastic response.

"Alright, first off, I won't teach you any ninjutsu or genjutsu until you start at the academy and even then, only the standard academy jutsu. I will help you with recognising and breaking enemy genjutsu though," Itachi said ticking of his finger.

"But nii-san!" Ignoring Naruto's outburst, he continued,

"Second, I will teach you the academy taijutsu, since it's useful knowledge for every shinobi of the leaf. Although many clan members use their own taijutsu, there are many shinobi relying on the leaf's general style. Knowing the style, means knowing how your future teammates will fight, means you will be anticipate their attacks and help accordingly.

"Third, I don't have much time due to my ANBU responsibilities. If I'm available, I'll meet you here. If you're not here, I won't go looking for you. Do we have an agreement?"

"Hai, hai. So, with what do we start?"

"Joint-training. Evasion and bukijutsu." Itachi answered and threw a blunt kunai and Naruto who dodged the offensive item in the nick of time with an indignant outcry, right before he blanched at the multitude of shuriken and kunai flying at him.

-xXx-

11. March 1297

"I understand, that you enjoy your new assignment Itachi-kun?" Hiruzen asked one of his top ANBU-operators. Despite only being twelve years old, Itachi was on the verge of taking over captain-ship from Inu, also known as Kakashi Hatake.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Was the dutiful response.

"As I understand you have taken to train Naruto-kun in your free time this past month, what do you think of him."

"Well… With all due respect Hokage-sama, we might want to keep this between us." The Sandaime nodded and after a handsign three of the four ANBU watching over the Hokage this afternoon vanished, while the fourth knelt in front of the Hokage.

"With your permission Hokage-sama.", the dog-mask wearing individual said.

"Of course, Kakashi-kun, you may stay," Hiruzen answered the unasked question and activated the privacy seals in his office, "now Itachi-kun, your assessment?"

"He's a weird blend of both his parents to be honest," the Sandaime straightened his back at those words, suddenly looking more like the fabled shinobi he is, than the grandfatherly figure many saw in him.

"I was not aware, that you knew of his lineage."

"My mother was very close with Kushina-obaa-san and I was aware of her pregnancy. She said that not only my mother would give me a sibling." Itachi said with a sad smile, "My mother makes it a point to visit him from time to time even though she doesn't tell anyone else. Plus, he looks like a mini-Yondaime, loves ramen and pranks and then there is his prisoner. The Yondaime would never burden another family, if he didn't chose his own first.

"As I said he is a weird blend of his parents. While he can be irritably goofy when just walking around, he is also very focused on his studies. While he doesn't learn theory extremely easy, aside from fūinjutsu that is, he picks up the practical parts very well. His shuriken and kunai throwing improved greatly, with very little instruction."

"That is very interesting. I expect great things from him."

"And he will achieve them. If he keeps studying like he does right now, I have no doubt, that he won't need more than two years at the academy. Maybe even less."

"I see. In that case, we're fortunate, that Kakashi-kun will be available for a jōnin-sensei position by the time Naruto-kun graduates. He will need an unbiased instructor to pass the genin exam.

-xXx-

5. May 1298

Life for Naruto Uzumaki was quite good, if he might say so himself. Although he attended the academy only irregularly he passed his exams quite easily. The only thing that confused him, was that his exams, more often than not, seemed quite difficult for a first-year student and asked for knowledge that was only taught in the later part of his father's books and notes. His training with Itachi let him skip most taijutsu and bukijutsu classes. While not perfect, he was certain that it would be good enough to pass the graduation exam.

Naruto knew, that he would be able to take the exam early, which drove him even more to further his studies, since he got the distinct feeling that his senseis didn't like him much. Some of them even tried to sabotage him, by worsening his taijutsu stance, which gave him only more reason to skip the class altogether. It was rather difficult to assess his own abilities, but he knew that he was easily the best in his own class. While not necessarily stronger than his classmates, he was a lot faster and his shuriken and kunai throwing was flawless on the shorter distance used for first years.

Thanks to his improved nutrition, Naruto had shot up in height, to be a little above average for his age, he stood at about 4'5". Unfortunately, that meant buying new clothes, which meant dealing with civilians. The only thing he was able to buy was a bright orange jump-suit. While orange was his favourite colour a little more than a year ago, that had changed when he first saw a picture of his mother. He thought that her red hair was super cool, and thus he had a new favourite colour. All that aside, he figured that orange wasn't exactly something a shinobi should run around in, they were supposed to be stealthy after all (or so his favourite book said). All the more reason to become a shinobi as fast as possible, so he could shop in the shinobi-only stores, that sold real shinobi gear, like the so called 'ANBU-style' pants.

The only academy sensei he got along with was Iruka. Although the scar-faced chūnin was quite vexed with him when he missed classes he was very fair and the only person to catch him regularly after a prank – ANBU included. Due to his studies in fūinjutsu his pranks changed quite a bit and just now Naruto was on his way to the Hokage tower for two reasons. First, he needed his ji-san's help for the graduation exam and second, he wanted to experience his newest invention first hand.

This newest invention being a seal made to prank the Hokage. It had taken him hours to create the seals perfectly, since his handwriting still needed a lot of work. Out of the ten level, by which fūinjutsu users were rated, Naruto was only about half through level two. However, the ranking was somewhat useless after level seven. The reason for that is quite simple. Until level six there is a very strict guideline, as to what the user should be able to do and which books are the best to study. After level six, fūinjutsu branches off into subdivisions and there are only very few available scrolls or books for those. Since there are only very few ninjas actually practicing fūinjutsu, there's no one with real authority to rate the fūinjutsu user correctly. The only reason the system was still in place, is for non-combat use, such as weapon-smiths, who use fūinjutsu to improve swords and such.

Dashing past the secretary, Naruto opened the slide-door to the hokage's office, but didn't enter immediately. He stood at the threshold looking into the office. The whole office was completely turned upside down, furniture actually having turned 180 degrees and resting on the ceiling the correct way. That was even better than planned! His seals should only reverse the gravity, he had no idea why the furniture turned themselves!

"Hello jiji, your office looks all wrong," Naruto said while smiling cheekily. One could see the reason as to why Naruto didn't enter the office, sitting behind the hokage's desk. A scowling Hiruzen Sarutobi sat there, upside down working on paperwork. A mad glint suddenly appeared in his eyes, when he saw Naruto in front of his office.

"Narutooooooooo! I knew it was you! If you don't reverse this right now, I'll forbid Teuchi from serving you ramen ever again, I swear to Kami, I'll do it!"

Naruto blanched at the outburst, he might've gone a little overboard with this one. Waving his hand in front of him he said, "I'll do it jiji! Just leave me my ramen, I swear I won't prank you again!" With his last word spoken, Naruto dashed into the adjacent room and ripped a paper seal from the wall that was shared with the hokage's office. Repeating his action with the outside wall and the room across from the first, he arrived in front of the slide-door just in time to see the reversal of his prank. Every item in the office – Hokage included – made half a flip and landed on the floor.

Hiruzen collected himself and took a few deep breaths. If he was quite honest, he was amazed by the pranks the young boy could make. His ANBU spent a good half hour trying to figure out what was wrong, without success. Although, the pranks were much more troublesome, they were also more enjoyable, if they weren't played on him, that is. He still wasn't certain whether he should regret the day he bought Naruto his fūinjutsu equipment or not.

"Naruto-kun, were you only here to see the results of your latest prank or is there another reason. While we're at it, how did you do that?!", the Hokage asked, raising his voice a little at the end.

Naruto grinned cheekily while answering, "Well, it was part of the reason I wanted to come by. I didn't expect the furniture to turn to be quite honest. As to how I did it, I simply reversed the effects of a gravitation seal. As you know, increasing gravity is quite simple and doesn't take much chakra, the opposite however… let's just say it's fortunate that I got so much chakra, the seal's effects would've reversed on its own quite soon I guess.

"As to the other reason, I actually need your help jiji."

"You play a prank on me and then dare to ask for my help? Give me a reason to actually help you."

"Well, I'm certain I can do even more annoying thing with seals," Naruto answered grinning, "plus, I actually didn't expect to need your help. Itachi-nii has almost no time for me anymore. Ever since he was made ANBU captain he had less and less time."

The Sandaime nodded to himself. Although the reason for Itachi's absence was more related to the issues with his clan, rather than his position, Naruto was right. "Alright Naruto-kun, what do you need help with."

"Well you see, I actually want to take the graduation test this year. I mean I have three tries and maybe I'll be able to do it."

"I actually suspected that you might try, but I don't see a problem with that."

"Well, I know I'll pass taijutsu and bukijutsu and the written test should be possible, but I can't get this stupid clone jutsu to work! Henge and kawarimi are super easy, but this stupid clone is always dead!", Naruto said, his voice laced with annoyance.

"Have you tried using more chakra Naruto-kun?"

"Of course, but they get even worse then," Naruto answered grimacing.

'He has too much chakra and not good enough control to make a simple illusion then,' Hiruzen mused, 'I believed Kushina had the same problem, what to do though?'

"Jiji?"

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I was just thinking about the problem and I might have a solution. You see, it's quite possible, that you have too much chakra to make a simple clone. The Uzumaki were quite famous for their large chakra reserves," Hiruzen said.

"Whaddaya mean, the Uzumaki? You telling me I have a clan?" Naruto asked, trying to keep the ruse of his ignorance concerning his heritage up.

"Sadly, no. The Uzumakis were wiped out at the start of the second shinobi world war. It seems that our history classes aren't as good as they should be. You see the Uzumakis lived in Uzushiogakure no Sato and were quite famous for several things. We were closely allied, but unfortunately unable to help them in time, when they were attacked by the combined force of several villages. To this day, we honour them, by wearing their symbol on our chūnin- and jōnin-vests." Hiruzen explained.

That last titbit of information, was actually new for Naruto. He knew that the villages were allied and he had seen the Uzumaki swirl but never made the connection to the vests.

"Well, then my mum or dad must have survived, maybe other survived too! I will find them and bring them back to Konoha." Naruto said with conviction in his voice.

"That is a wonderful goal Naruto. However, back to your problem. I'm going to teach you a different clone technique. Under normal circumstances, I would never teach this to an 8-year-old, but your chakra reserves should allow you to perform the jutsu. I could teach you the elemental version of the clone jutsu, but I think this one will prove itself quite useful in the future."

-xXx-

14. July 1298

The last two and a half month before his first graduation exam went by rather swift for Naruto. He was revising the written part of the exam a lot, slacking off in his fūinjutsu studies in exchange. The young blond usually had a quick workout in the morning, then either went to the academy or studied by himself. In the afternoon, he would work on his tai- and bukijutsu and finish off with his chakra control training. Naruto strictly followed the advice from his books concerning the physical aspects of his training. His body was still too young for heavy workouts and combined with tai- and bukijutsu training, he did easily enough to build some muscle.

Today however, was special. He skipped his morning-routine entirely and went straight to the academy, it was after all the day he had his graduation exam. Naruto thought himself more than a little lucky to have met Itachi over a year ago. The teenager had explained to him how the graduation exam would be marked.

There would be five tests, namely: Tai-, Nin- and Bukijutsu, physical conditioning and academic knowledge. To pass you had to score at least 60 percent on three exams and at least 50 percent over all. Naruto knew he would pass nin- and bukijutsu easily. Due to his young age the physical conditioning and taijutsu exams would be rather difficult and he was not exactly the most diligent student. Luckily Itachi explained that the written exam focused on command structure, the shinobi code of conduct and related topics. While a lot of academic knowledge was important, it could always me supplemented by teammates, behaviour in front of clients and on missions however was paramount, as such the focus lay heavily on those aspects.

Thinking about his impending graduation – after all there was no doubt he would pass – he was a little saddened. While he didn't exactly enjoy the few lectures he witnessed, he actually got along with a few of his year-mates. The Akimichi-, Nara- and Inuzuka-Clainheirs were quite fun to hang out with. They weren't exactly best friends, but maybe he could invite them to a restaurant after he received his first few mission payments. Most of the other kids in his class he didn't even know by name. He was aware of the other heirs of major clans, namely the Aburame, Hyūga, and Yamanaka clan and then of course the younger siblings of Itachi.

When he first started at the academy, Naruto had tried to befriend them, but Sasuke acted like an arrogant prick and glared at anyone who even tried to talk to his sister. Suffice to say it was his first and last interaction with the two Uchihas. Itachi had actually laughed at his brother's behaviour, when Naruto told him about it. Itachi never laughed.

Thinking about the Uchihas also left him pondering about Itachi's behaviour lately. While Itachi didn't have as much time as he used to since the autumn of last year, due to his promotion, it got even worse in the last few months. And when he actually met with Naruto he seemed distracted and extremely stressed. Naruto mused, whether his goal of joining ANBU might be a bad idea after all.

Arriving at the academy he went to his usual classroom, he received some weird looks from his classmates, he was after all not seen too often in the classroom. Chōji quickly roped him into some small talk, since Shikamaru was taking a nap, as usual. When the bell rang, the students started to quieten down and Iruka stood in front of the class.

"As you know, this is the day of graduation. While not recommended, any and all students are allowed to sit the exam. Be aware, that during the allocated five years to pass the exam, you are only allowed three tries. If you're not interested in taking the exam, today various chūnin and jōnin will show off some of their skills to you. For those who want to try for graduation, the written exam will be held in classroom B003. Everyone else follow me outside."

-xXx-

"Ano, Ashiro-sensei?"

"What?!", came rather aggravated reply from his chūnin-examiner.

Naruto was currently tested for the three academy ninjutsu. Having narrowly passed his three weakest exams, he breezed through the kunai and shuriken throwing. He had already performed both the henge and kawarimi flawlessly, his only hurdle to becoming a shinobi, was the clone jutsu.

"Hokage-sama told me that I had too much chakra for a simple bunshin no jutsu and taught me a different version. He told me, that I should inform you about the change, and if there were any problems, you should bring it up with him." Naruto said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. He had already notice the animosity the chūnin held for him and was grateful, that his exam was almost over.

-xXx-

"Jiji! I passed! Look! I told you could do it, dattebayo!"

With a strained smile Hiruzen Sarutobi turned away from the window overlooking Konoha, towards the blond boy, who held a Konoha hitai-ate with a blue strip of cloth towards him.

"Very good Naruto, I'm proud of you. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do, otherwise I would have invited you to some ramen. How about you indulge yourself and tell Teuchi to put it on my tab, I'm sure Ayame wants to see you too and hear all about your exam."

Naruto came to a halt and peered at the hokage. He was sure, that his ji-san would've gone out to celebrate with him. His face lost a little of his happiness, when he said, "Sure jiji, I'll do that, thanks!"

"Oh, and Naruto, one more thing. The Ninpou: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Ninja-Art: Shadow Clone Technique) has a secondary function apart from producing a solid clone. You might have noticed, that you receive your clone's memories, whenever you dispel them. This makes them very good for spying and general intelligence gathering. With your growing chakra reserves you will soon be able to produce rather large numbers of clones.

"Jōnins who can create multiple clones, often use them to train muscle memory or chakra control in their downtime, since both are more mental aspects than physical aspects of training. However, I caution you to not use this ability for a while. Your mind is still very young, and receiving multiple different memories can put a heavy strain on your brain.

"Fortunately, that only happens, when you actually concentrate on the memories you receive and try to process them. Therefore, using multiple clones for mundane tasks shouldn't be a problem, as long as you simply ignore the information you receive, once they are destroyed. Promise me, that you will keep training the usual way, until I tell you that it is safe. You're very young and already genin, there's no need for you to accelerate your training even more."

"Huh, that's awesome jiji. I promise, but when do you think I can do that? Chakra control is super annoying to learn and having clones do it would safe so much time!"

"Not before you are thirteen Naruto, you need to grow both physically and mentally first. Considering that you can use the kage bunshin for recon missions, I give you permission to use one clone to assist with your training. Be aware though, that while you receive the memory of the clone, you don't receive a full hundred percent of his progress. If you have your clone doing ten hours of chakra control, it equals to the same progress as you yourself doing it for three hours. The jutsu was created for intelligence gathering, and it is pure coincidence that it also works for muscle memory, just not as good."

"Hai jiji, I still have a month until team assignments, I got to train lots!", Naruto exclaimed, while turning around, making his way out of the hokage's office.

"And Naruto! Be home early today please, and don't forget to register for your shinobi licence in the coming week."

"Hai, hai jiji, will do!"

-xXx-

Later that night

Naruto was awakened rather rudely, in the darkest hour of the night.

"Naruto-kun, wake up!"

"Huh?" Naruto moaned sleepily before noticing the other person in his bedroom. "Itachi-nii what are you doing here?"

"I don't have much time Naruto-kun, I'm leaving on a long-term mission and wanted to say goodbye first."

"Long-term what? How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know Naruto. Since I won't be able to train you for a while, I have a gift for you," Itachi said, handing Naruto two scrolls. "Open them tomorrow, consider the second a graduation gift."

"Arigatō nii-san, I wish I had a gift for you too,"

"There is one thing I would ask of you Naruto. You're a shinobi of Konoha now, please watch over my siblings while I'm gone."

"I promise!" Naruto said with determination.

"Arigatō Naruto-kun. I'm afraid I'll have to leave now. Until next time," and Itachi vanished into the night.


Ninja – A how-to, Chapter 1 Being a ninja

What does it truly mean to be a shinobi or kunoichi? Different takes on history tell us different stories. It is generally agreed that the Sage of Six Paths made the first steps towards using chakra as it is used today. Over the centuries much change and even more was forgotten.

Too many academy students see the career of a ninja in the wrong light. It isn't some great adventure, neither is it some glorious path to riches. Our forefathers taught us that being a shinobi means to endure. To carry the hardships and burdens of our people, to defend them and to carry on doing so against the worst adversaries whether mental or physical.

I believe there is more to it than simply endure however. I believe it is only in battle that one gets to know himself and those around him. For it is in battle when you have to be honest with yourself to stand against your enemies. To be aware of your strength and your weakness. Being a ninja is path to self-awareness and there is no friendship that compares to those you forge in battle.

While the meaning of being a ninja has not changed much over the years, how to be a ninja has. I have addressed this problem in the introduction already, our shinobi and kunoichi are becoming lax. Being a shinobi is more than breathing fire or shoot lighting from your fingers. It may appear hypocritical to hear such words from the foremost user of Suiton jutsu, however there is a place and a time.

Ninja once were silent killers. The shadows that strike without being seen. We used to laugh at samurai and their flashy, honourable ways only to become like them. Being a ninja is not honourable, it is not fun and there is nothing glorious about it. True ninja are those that are not seen, not heard and most importantly not noticed at all.

When trying to achieve a mission goal, always remember, it is best when no one notices what your goal was. There is always more than one way to complete your mission, chose the most inconspicuous, the one that leaves the least traces, always.


A.N.

Regarding the pairing: It won't be Naru/Hina. Thinking about it, I'm not certain what I'm gonna do about Hinata, she's missing her idol after all :S Meh, gonna look into it later.

I just finished the first draft of chapter 4 and am happy to tell you, that's when the action starts :) I won't be posting the chapters yet however, since it's highly possible, that I got to go back and change things up. I always get new ideas and have to go back to intodruce them. I don't like for stuff to suddenly pop up out of nowhere :)

Two reviews that require an answer:

ethanfigueroa2929:
1. World peace: The idea that there are no ninjas needed, because there is no war is idiotic. Naruto's story starts with all villages at peace. Only because the big five work together, doesnt mean that there aren't nuke-nin or bandits. While there will be somewhat of a 'world-peace', the concept will be closer to Akatsuki's idea, than canon Naruto's.
2. Naruto will at one point be OP, simply because it is necessary for enemies like Kisame or Tobi or edo tensei Kages. He won't be super awesome at age 12. It will take time, dont worry.
3. There will be people Naruto forgives and others he doesn't. Gaara for example, will probably live, simply because he makes an interesting character.
4. Won't happen, all the nicknames make me cringe when overused.
5. There will be people dieing, dont worry ;)

Yorae Rasante: Sauske's twin-sister won't influence him a whole lot, since I'll be making her rather docile, or seemingly docile ;) As for Sasuke, many people claim his character comes from the villager's worship or the massacre itself. Personally, I believe Itachi's words after the massacre have a much bigger impact. Itachi tells him to hate him, to become strong by hating. And meanwhile the seniment for Naruto is to become strong to protect. Had Itachi let his mother live and told Sasuke, to get strong because Itachi would come back to kill his mother too, it would've changed quite a lot, I think. Whatever, that won't happen anyway. Sasuke will be pretty much the same as in canon. I think, Sasuke would become a recluse and 'avenger'-type wheter he had family or not, as long as he was told to hate Itachi and avenge his clan.

/Edit. Just saw some reviews I had to approve, which deserve a reply too :)

CW: Ahh, thanks! That's what happens when you rewrite stuff but don't do it correctly, gonna change that soon :)

Guest: Kina similar to ethanfigueroa, that reply covers most of what you mentioned

Xxxreal-whatever: Don't worry. Some will get away, others wont. It will all be somehwat reasonable...