AN: Right, so this is the obligatory "What's the same and what's changed" chapter. The thing is… a LOT has changed. Naruto's been acknowledged, had something done to his seal (yes that is why his belly tingled last chapter) and currently has something with a theoretically infinite amount of information inside of it strapped to his wrist.
So then, let's get it on!
Naruto Uzumaki's life had been anything but ideal. He had lived on his own since he was six, due to what the "Old Man" called "security issues", and since then had much in the way of obvious social contact, seeing as how the vast majority of the Village in which our protagonist tended to ignore that he existed, if Naruto was lucky, or hated him with the intensity of a thousand suns, if he was unlucky. Fortunately for our young hero, he found a bastion of kindness, a place where he could seek friendship and approval.
Unfortunately for him, that place was with the ANBU, who are not exactly known for being especially…chatty people. Despite this Naruto took the time to meet and greet all of his cloak and masked guards, disturbing the ANBU greatly with his ability to find them despite their best efforts to the contrary.
Still, it did not take long at all for the ANBU to warm up to their young charge, going so far as to adopt him as a sort of official, un-official mascot of sorts.
As an aside, the first person who had attempted actual physical violence on our plucky young hero had been taken down with such awe inspiring, brutal efficiency that no one had actually worked up the courage to make a second attempt.
Some ANBU went so far as to procure gifts, and leave them here and there around his apartment while young Naruto was out and about.
Of course, ANBU being ANBU, gave him gifts that they would find enjoyable/practical, such as high quality shuriken and kunai, scrolls on control and jutsu theory, and that sort of thing. The aforementioned "Dog" mask shinobi did on occasion deliver more…age appropriate gifts.
Naruto once again shocked and surprised when he, without fail, knew exactly who to thank for each and every gift, and went about doing so by giving each and everyone of them a big hug.
Much to the amusement of the vast majority of the Konoha Ninja Forces it became a somewhat common sight to see one of their mysterious black ops experts being on the receiving end of a Flying Hug/Tackle, courtesy of the 'bane' of Konoha.
One ninja who made a rather rude remark about one such scene was later found tarred, feathered, and left hanging from a flag pole outside of the Hokage's Office.
At the time of the event, Naruto Uzumaki was unavailable for questioning.
Over the years, Naruto may or may not have developed a bit of a 'prankster spirit'.
Though many strange and amusing accidents were blamed on our young blonde charge, very few of those claims stuck.
That isn't to say he didn't commit the 'crime', it's just that there was almost never any concrete evidence that lead to it having been committed by him. The few cases in which Uzumaki was caught were small pranks the likes of which any boy his age would likely commit. Thanks to the COMP and its seemingly infinite well of information Naruto had discovered the wonders of plausible deniability, and that it's important to always keep your enemies guessing.
Speaking of the COMP, Naruto had only just begun to unravel the mystery that the wonderful machine presented. He had discovered that there were several 'applications' inside of the COMP, including a few he could not access. It had a massive library full of all sorts of information that Naruto had never even heard of! Included in its collection were tales of men and women who forged contracts with spirits, elementals, devils, and even gods! They called these people…Devil Summoners.
Naruto's childhood was not all that surprising, when one considered his circumstances. There are really only a few points of interest
The first point, and most amusing, was that Naruto's physical speed, strength, and stamina were quite simply, off the charts. While some may have passed it off as an aftereffect of his 'condition', and others would have thought that it was due to having only ANBU to play tag with, anyone who cared to do some research would find that Naruto's physical abilities had seemingly increased by leaps and bounds starting on his Eighth birthday.
The next important point to discuss would be the relationship between Naruto Uzumaki and one Chunin Instructor, Iruka Umino.
An important thing to note was that Naruto was a student at the Konoha Ninja Academy. Naruto was also currently competing with one Uchiha Sasuke for the highest scores in the practical section, each one of the two being better than the other in certain subjects.
Despite Naruto's prodigious scores in practical tests, his written tests all came back with the lowest scores in the class, each one just barely passing.
Iruka, being a rather kind soul, sought to help Naruto, using the various means any teacher would use to reach out to a troubled student, only to be greatly surprised when it turned out that Naruto KNEW many of the answers.
Iruka supposed that perhaps Naruto simply didn't feel the need to put the effort into the tests because he didn't see how 'book knowledge' could be useful too a ninja. After all, he wouldn't be the first student who thought that!
And so it was that Iruka invited Naruto out to his favorite Ramen stand, and the two engaged in what was the first of many conversations too come.
Sometimes they would talk about practical applications of knowing your history lessons. Other times Iruka would regale Naruto with tales of some of his more interesting missions, or extol the virtues of being able to focus on your job, whether it was boring or not.
Both Iruka and Naruto enjoyed these times greatly, and soon enough the two became quite excellent friends.
And so time passed, Naruto continued to have obscenely high practical scores in comparison to his theoretical scores, and had in fact managed to develop to control necessary to complete the Academy required basic Clone Jutsu.
Well he may not have been able to make one, or two, he WAS able to make a couple dozen without too much trouble.
A rather amused Iruka had pronounced Naruto's deduction of the Academy requirements absolutely within the rules.
So it is that we now come to the day of the Academy final exam.
A twelve year old Naruto quickly made his way through the winding streets of Konoha, focused entirely on his goal.
I wonder if Ichiraku's has a new special yet?
Well…ALMOST entirely on his goal.
Naruto's outfit, put together by a few members of his ANBU watch team, consisted of blue shinobi sandals, sized for maximum snugness while still allowing airflow, black shinobi pants, with numerous pouches and hidden pockets, and a rather colorful zippered orange hoodie, the orange in the hoodie began as an almost sunny gold-orange at the hood, and gradually faded down to a deep sunset red near the bottom of it.
Naruto had decided to keep the outfit and its various relatives in different colors, as his main outfit ever since his previous clothes had suffered an unfortunate fire related accident.
The ANBU had apologized profusely for allowing her Flame Dragon Missile to get out of control, though Naruto had been able to pick up a slight layer of 'smug' in her word choice.
Not that he cared, he happened to like his outfits!
But all of that is beside the point.
The point in this case being that Naruto was going to be graduating from the Academy for SURE!
Naruto had entered the classroom without much fanfare, likely due to the various Genin-Hopefuls being too focused on their own issues to pay any attention to him. He had quickly moved to his usual seat, and brought us to our final and likely most important, point.
"Uzumaki." Sasuke spoke out quietly from his usual seat by the window, which happened to be right next to Naruto's.
"Mornin' Sasuke." Naruto grumbled, stretching out in his seat.
No one was entirely sure how or when it had happened, but at some point or another, Naruto Uzumaki, 'Bane' of Konoha, and Sasuke Uchiha, Scion of the Uchiha clan, had befriended each other.
Naruto swiveled in his seat slightly, striking a thinking pose, "So, my plan for dealing with your…'fans' help at all?"
An almost malevolent smirk appeared behind Sasuke's steepled hands, "I must admit, I had never thought to use them as a practical exercise." He glanced towards Naruto, " So…you managed to actually bring your clone count down from two dozen yet?"
Naruto's disgruntled expression told him everything he needed to know.
An amused Iruka looked out across the room full of Naruto's, "Congratulation's Naruto! You've passed your Genin Test!"
Letting out a joy filled whoop, Naruto took the offered symbol of Konoha with an almost exaggerated amount of care. Naruto tied the Headband tight around his forehead, having moved the goggles to a more comfortable place around his neck some time ago, Naruto grinned to his teachers, "So, how do I look?"
Mizuki let out a good natured chuckle, "You look just fine Naruto. Why don't you go join the others so we can finish up this test?"
As Naruto left and Iruka went to call in the last Genin-hopeful, Mizuki let out a smirk that he had been holding in. All according to plan…
"Naruto!" Mizuki called out to Naruto, who was in a rather empty hallway, "I was just taking a look at your placements in the rankings, and to be honest…they're not as high as they could be…" at the worried expression on Naruto's face Mizuki knew he had hit pay dirt, "But listen, I can give you a field exercise, and if you successfully complete it you should get bumped out to the top third of the class in ranking."
Naruto idly wondered why something as important as a "Forbidden Scroll" would be as lightly guarded as it was
"Shadow Clones, huh…" Naruto mused. He'd heard of the technique before, and it didn't look like it would be too tough to learn inside of the time he had.
The Third Hokage looked down upon Naruto, watching our blonde protagonists movements through his crystal ball. Naruto. The Third thought. Please be careful, whatever it is you're doing…
Iruka leapt through the tree's, hoping beyond hope he would find his young friend before anyone else did.
Mizuki sneered down at Naruto, who stood protectively in front of the wounded Iruka, "You just don't get it do you? Why you've been hated all your life? Why everyone ignores or sneers at you?" Mizuki's face split into a psychotic grin, "Come ON kid! All those signs right there, and you can't see them?"
Mizuki let out a long suffering sigh, "I guess I'll just have to spell it out for you…"
Iruka let out a panicked cry," No Mizuki! Don't!"
Mizuki, "You Naruto, are the Nine Tailed Fox! YOU ARE THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE!"
Naruto blinked in shock," The…the Kyuubi?"
Mizuki's grin just got even wider, "That's right, and I'm here to finish what the Fourth started, and PUT AN END TO YOU!" Mizuki punctuated the end of that sentence by hurling one of his Fuuma Shuriken at Naruto, who was still suffering from shock.
His mind reeling from sudden understanding, Naruto found it difficult to move, even as he watched the Fuuma Shuriken get closer and closer.
Time suddenly seemed to stand still, and Naruto heard a distant voice.
Remember…
Remember..?
Remember those who have supported you…
Supported me…
The Old Man…
Teuchi and Ayame…
Wolf, Python, and all of the other ANBU…
Sasuke…
All of them…they care about ME…
Remember your Ambition…
My…Ambition…
Remember your Dream…
To be…Hokage…that is my dream!
Speak thy name, Changer of Worlds…
I am Naruto Uzumaki…
I Am Naruto Uzumaki.
I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI, THE NEXT HOKAGE!
Naruto Uzumaki…
Break through the Chains of fate…
And make your Dream…
Reality.
A sudden surge of chakra sent Mizuki's Fuuma Shuriken flying away from it's intended target, and off into the woods somewhere instead.
All of the energy, every last ounce of it, poured forth from Naruto.
At least that's what the other Ninja thought.
Naruto knew, on an instinctual level, exactly what to do.
With a flourish Naruto took a stance with his COMP arm forward and spoke two words that would shake the foundations of the world, "Summoning Initiate!"
And here we are now, with a rather sheepish Naruto sitting in one of the spare chairs in the Hokage's office, with a six inch tall Butterfly-winged girl wearing a blue one piece swim suit, with matching elbow length gloves and thigh high boots, on his shoulder.
"So, Naruto…" The Hokage began, " Do you have any idea where your…'friend' here came from?"
The girl huffed and spoke out with a surprisingly clear voice, "I have a NAME, you know…" the girl turned to Naruto, at least turned as much as she could while sitting on his shoulder, "Do we HAVE to be here right now boss?"
Iruka chocked on the level of disrespect that the tiny girl was showing.
Or perhaps that was the blood in his lungs…
"Pixie…" Naruto spoke in quiet, amused voice, " Please don't insult the Hokage."
The now named Pixie sighed dramatically, "All right…"
Sarutobi let out a slow breath, "Naruto, am I too understand that you have no idea as to how Pixie here came to your aid?"
"That right." Naruto said without a flicked of his deception coming to the surface, since he wasn't technically lying.
The Third, having had more than enough of this situation for one night, and having certainly seen STRANGER things than Pixie's made the most obvious choice that one could make when Naruto was involved in a situation.
Just don't worry about it.
Naruto, having been dismissed by the Hokage, though not before being fussed over and somewhat gently scolded by his ANBU, returned to his home and sat idly on his bed, watching Pixie float around the room, seemingly examining everything with a level of glee usually only found in small children.
"So then…" Naruto began, "Seeing as how I summoned you…does that make me a..?"
"Devil Summoner?" Pixie finished with a smile, "That's right! My name is Pixie, of the Fairy clan! Please treat my kindly…"
As a blush began to form on Naruto's face, he knew one thing.
Life was certainly going to be interesting from now on.
AN: Man that took forever to write. Sorry for the delay you guys but I just wasn't sure how to handle this chapter. Anyway, I hope you guy's like this, cause I'm just not sure WHAT to think of it. I'll get to work on the next, chapter soon.
As for what Naruto and Pixie did too Mizuki…
I'll leave that up to your imaginations.
BUT FOR NOW!
OMAKE!
Omake: NEW GAME +
"Summoning Initiate!"
Mizuki screwed his eye's shut as a pillar of light and fire burst down from the heavens.
An infinitely powerful voice spoke, seemingly coming from every direction," I AM METATRON, THE VOICE OF THE ALMIGHTY! TRAITOR, THOU HAST ATTEMPTED TO SNUFF OUT A LIGHT OF THIS WORLD! FOR THY SINS I CONDEMN YOU TO DEATH!"
Naruto was made Hokage the next morning!
END OF OMAKE!