Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Mahou Negima Sensei is owned by Akamatsu Ken.

Broken Faith

Betrayed by Konoha at the end and sealed into oblivion. Given a second chance at a childhood in a different world can Naruto rebuild his faith in humanity.

Chapter 2

Aim for the Stars

One week after the fight with Evangeline, 1 week before Kyoto.

"Guhh….What did I do to make Sakura so angry…..?" A blond man stirred on the hospital bed, lifting one hand to rub his temple. His entire body was sore and in pain.

Instinctively a flash of memory of his last moments, rain, blinding pain and the hatred in Kakashi's eyes came to the blonde and he tried to sit up only to groan as all his muscles protested the movements.

A pained gasp left his lips and alerted the only person in the room with him. A busty woman with sea green hair immediately came to his side and pushed him back down.

"Stop, you must not move! Your body is suffering from extreme muscle atrophy and abuse."

"Wa…water…."

The nurse quickly poured a cup of water from a pitcher on his bedside before tilting it to his lips and Naruto drank greedily, feeling the soothing coolness of water flow in his body until he felt well enough to prop himself up on the wall beside his bed.

Shizuna Minamoto was not a normal teacher, qualified as a doctor from the get go and her awareness of the magical ongoings in Mahora Academy made her the go to person when something inevitably went wrong on a campus filled with hormonal teenagers with access to magic, magical or otherwise. But this was the first time she saw someone recover from extreme muscle atrophy, internal bleeding, torn muscles, cracked and fractured skeletal structure in less time than it took for her favorite women's magazine to reach Mahora. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she'd swear she could see his muscles repairing themselves in front of her very eyes right now, from a gaunt, thin person that dug himself from under the World tree, his muscles literally filled out to what seemed like peak efficiency to her. His fast healing when he was unconscious seemed to have been kick started when he awoke and was now bordering on regeneration; it was frankly baffling and very intriguing.

The best part? None of her sensors and diagnoses showed him to be magical in the very least.

Even now she watched fascinated as the man who was propped on the wall with one hand covering his sensitive eyes from the noon light slowly regained pallor and muscle tone showing him to be a tall young man, about 17 going on 20, about 6 feet tall, light stubble on his chin, high cheekbones that were better than earlier but still looked unhealthy, blonde hair spilled onto the bed.

This was so far out of left field she could barely pull herself to move to the door and signal for a small lavender haired girl named Ako to call for Takahata and the dean and to bring some food and water.

The young blonde man seemed to have orientated himself, and was looking around with interest, his earlier unseen crystal blue eyes were now bright and curious if abit strained from fatigue. All in all, he looked like any normal 18 year guy would if a bit underfed.

She moved forward to sit on a stool by his bed and opened her mouth to start the ball rolling, her movements apparently got his attention because his body tensed and those piercing eyes immediately locked on to hers. Shizuna immediately held her hands up in the universal sign for surrender to calm her patient down, "Do you remember your name?"

The man tensed for a moment, confusion registering in his eyes before he spoke, "Naruto, Naruto Namikaze….. whe..where is…this?", punctuating his question with a wave of his hand to show the whole infirmary.

Shizuna wasn't surprised. His words while straightforward Japanese were also an old, very old dialect of Japanese but enough to be understandable. She gave him a small smile, hoping to calm his down before the inevitable freak out when he found out where or exactly when this was. "My name is Shizuna Minamoto, I'm a doctor here at Mahora Academy."

"Doctor?" it seemed the word didn't translate over properly.

"A healer, that treats your injuries."

"Ah…"

"So…this…Academy," he seemed to grimace, "Thi..this is a school?"

"An all girls school."

Going by the slight nosebleed and the widening of his eyes, she'd bet her bra that definitely got through the language barrier.

Naruto was trying to repress his pervert instincts, an all kunoichi academy, that was new. All kunoichi had something in common, they were hot. Still that wasn't the problem at the moment, his memories were fuzzy, his body still hurt, the lady in front of him spoke weirdly and whoa….those eyebrows were big…..

The eyebrows in question belonged to Konoemon Konoe, Dean, of Mahora Academy and venerable director of the Kantou Magic Association who had just walked into the infirmary with Takahata sensei by his side.

His eyes, although not visible were focused intensely on the man sitting on the bed, propped on the wall. He was a powerful mage, and if there was one thing about magic, it was that anybody that used magic could always sense magic being used nearby, and this man in front of him, he couldn't sense a speck of magic in his body but miraculously managed to heal from his laundry list of wounds naturally. That of course piqued his interest and wariness. No normal person went from skeletal with a sword thicker than his forearm stabbed through the chest to normal if underfed in a week.

Then again, if he was deemed dangerous enough to be buried under the world tree, and survive said burial, there probably wasn't anything remotely normal with the young man in front of them.

"You look troubled, young man."

Naruto just deadpanned at the old man with the big eye brows.

"My body hurts and I'm sore, I'm hungry and thirsty, my head hurts and I can barely remember jack shit and I have people that talk weirdly asking me weird questions, you tell me if I'm NOT supposed to be troubled."

"Ohohoho, does it feel better getting that off your chest, young man?"

Naruto just chuckled, he felt the same old man aura from this guy that he had felt from the Sandaime, that alone left him relaxed enough to banter like that.

"Yeah, so what's the deal? Why are you guys talking weirdly, and where am I? Where is Konoha?"

"Hold on boy, I'm old and nearly deaf, and you talk weirdly to US. I don't know where you come from or where or what Konoha is, but I can tell you that you are in Mahora Academy, a special all girls' school in Japan. We found you digging yourself out from underneath that tree you can see from here"

The blonde went wide eyed before turning to look out the window so fast those present heard his neck creaking, the blonde just gaped at the huge tree .

Takahata just watched amused from the background at the blonde's reaction while Shizuna fidgeted, the man was probably under huge emotional strain at the moment.

Luckily the tense silence was broken by the clattering of plates as Ako brought the food on a tray.

Clearing his throat, the dean continued, "I can see you are still confused, have a meal and gather your thoughts before resting, I'll see you tomorrow and then we decide what to do you eh?"

Silently nodding, Naruto only nodded before eating slowly, while the others left him for now. Unbeknownst to the rest, Naruto's gander at the tree had reminded himself that before everything went black, he was being sealed in a tree by Yamato.

And that, jump started his memories.

Memories he didn't know whether he was better of with or without.

Memories of Konoha, of Akatsuki, of Tsunade dying with a smile on her face, of Kyuubi, of Sasuke, of Kakashi and lastly rain.

He never got to sleep till it was almost dawn.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The blonde sat in front of the dean after having a big breakfast, stoic and subdued but serious, a far cry from the sarcastic banter Konoe had seen yesterday.

"I assume you remembered most if not all of your past?"

The blonde just snorted and slumped into his seat. Looking around, he asked the dean, "I have quite the insane story if what I think is right. You trust the goatie guy and Shizuna san enough to hear this?"

Konoe pondered this for a while, Takahata was his right hand man in all but name, and everyone present was magically aware. Nodding he replied, "I trust them both with my life, but before I continue can I cast a spell on you so that we can understand each other better?"

"Spell? Whats that?"

Whether the word didn't translate properly or the blonde didn't get it for another reason, Konoe would never know, but hey, details, details…. "I can do something to help you understand what we're saying temporarily, will you allow me to do it to you?"

Warily nodding, the blonde tensed as the hairy jiji in front of him waved a stick with a star on the end and muttered some weird words before pointing it at him. he felt tingly all over before the old man nodded with satisfaction.

"That should help you understand us better, there wasn't anything wrong with the way you spoke, but it's an older dialect of our common language and that made it hard to communicate."

The blonde's face cleared and he nodded and grimaced; there wasn't anything to lose and he really didn't care about his past anymore, he didn't want all the angst that people seemed to attribute to his past, before going stoic once again.

"I came from the Elemental countries, the major countries were named according to the main elements, Fire, thunder, water, wind and earth. Each country had its own Shinobi village, a place where shinobi or ninja gathered. I came from Konohagakure, Village Hidden in the leaf, of Fire country." Naruto looked around to see if the three were following.

"As far as I could tell, the population of the Elemental countries were divided into Shinobis, Civillians and Samurais. Shinobi basically worked as the mainstream protection for their own country, doing a variety of jobs, capable of inhuman physical feats, even controlling the elements with what we called Jutsu."

That was the sticking point, he didn't know if they would accept this or if they would call him mad, cause if his theory wasn't wrong then he was in a different time from the one he had known and he needed this people to believe him to help him. Grimacing he looked around again and was surprised to see acceptance in their expressions. Now that was over, he didn't care what else happened and continued speaking in monotone, reminiscing of a bitter past.

Flashback

I was born October the tenth, I forget what year is it now, my birthday has bad connotations for me. The day I was born, the village was attacked by a supernatural being, what we called Bijuus, there are nine of them, and we were attacked by the strongest, safe to say, there was a lot of collateral damage and the village only survived because the village leader used a sacrificial jutsu to seal the being into an infant. That infant was me. The village leader's wife died in the process.

Over the next 12 years, the infant would grow, but be belittled, abused, ignored and even occasionally beaten; and so he desperately sought attention by doing anything. Even going so far as to dress in loud orange clothes and prank those that had harmed him mercilessly. Anything that would give him respect and attention he would do, and thus the ideal to become the village leader was born because no one else got more respect than the village leader and because no one was stronger than the village leader.

But in his naivete, while he loudly proclaimed his dream of being the leader, he never understood the meaning of the title, Hokage, the village leader, as long as he was respected it was enough. But by the time he made that resolution, he was so stuck in his need for attention that he continued his loud and attention seeking ways. To the point where he handicapped himself, forgoing his training and education to prank people, to shout loudly, to be brash and stand out. Not willing to sacrifice and truly make a proper effort to be the Hokage. Although, despite all that it was not entirely his fault, it should be known that his work ethic was truly good, he just didn't know WHICH direction to pour his efforts into and no one actively helped and many more actively hindered. No one showed him how to properly train causing him to lose enthusiasm for the more tedious aspects of training.

At the age of 12, the standard age, the boy was accepted as a ninja due to a fluke even then, too set in his ways, the boy never understood what it meant to be ninja, wanting to standout and gain attention. Suffice to say, reality didn't set in till he was 16.

You see, when ninjas are accepted into the system, they are sorted into a team of 3 with one commander. The boy was sorted into team 7, and there he met his first 'friend' or the first person to acknowledge his existence, Sasuke Uchiha, and his till then lifelong crush. Looking back now, the boy was so desperate for attention, going so far to see acceptance where there was none, and he called team 7 his friends even if it was just acknowledgement.

But that was beside the point, the first person that acknowledged him turned traitor to his village for power and he set out to do anything he could under the delusion that once Sasuke came back, everything would go back to being normal and he would prove himself worthy of his crush's love and so he trained under a powerful shinobi for 3 years. Even then his habits of wanting to stand out had not changed and he achieved less then he was supposed to, stunting his own abilities and generally being brash, ignorant, reckless and stupid on the battlefield.

Along the way, the boy even if he was a less than stellar shinobi, received the grudging respect and a working relationship with the being sealed inside of him, in time, the boy came to know the being as the sole existence that had never lied to him….even if she was a bit manipulative…..

At the same time, he also found out that there was a group of people seeking to harvest the nine great beings for their own purposes, namely world domination cum world peace. Unfortunately should the beings be harvested from their respective containers it would result in inevitable death for their containers, to compound matters his friend after 3 years, betrayed his own teacher and started actively helping that organization for his own purposes.

Ultimately war broke out when the boy turned 15 and returned to his village after 3 years of training, when there was only 2 of the great beings left uncaptured. The Fourth Great Shinobi War lasted approximately one year.

In one particular skirmish, the boy's naivete was broken with the ultimate sacrifice.

While he left everyone else under the impression that he and his prisoner could not work together, mostly due to the stigma of being a jinchuriki, a human sacrifice, the fact that he had been ashamed of that fact caused him even more shame and regret now.

Him and the being were actually great partners and respected each other's strengths, him for his creativity on the battlefield with limited resources and skills, and her for her manipulativeness and long term goals. She left it unsaid that he was like a breath of fresh air in a world that smelt like blood, his determination and innocence, something someone as jaded as her had forgotten long lost in the millennia she had existed.

At the start of the shinobi war, he finally found out 16 years later than he should have who his parents were while training to control the full extent of his prisoner's power. Shortly afterwards he was still kept under house arrest but disgruntled by the lack of action and the need to prove himself had persuaded the great shinobi leaders to allow him to the frontlines with her help and word savvy, even if she didn't agree because she didn't think he had the gall to actually kill someone. He was too innocent.

That ultimately led to her downfall.

When he reached the frontlines and battled long hard, his overwhelming use of her power enabled him to turn the tide of war, pushing the enemy back from the brink of defeat, however the enemy commander, seeing that his forces were being isolated and taken out, one by one, had emerged in front of the boy with a knife at Sasuke's throat.

Sasuke's life in exchange for Konoha. He had told the masked man to go bang a wall then recklessly charged the man despite everyone's protests but before ordering the Shinobi army on his side to stand down and let it do this himself, that he had to save Sasuke with his own hands because of his promise to his former crush and his undying belief that Sasuke was good and that nothing could stop him because he had those precious to him. His pride cost him everything that day.

Sasuke and the enemy commander both turned on him and captured him.

He had seen the sneer on his former comrade's face as pain eveloped his body.

He was pathetic.

Together they wrenched the being from inside his body and the boy died. But as a last ditch effort she gave him her last gift as an act of defiance, every scrap of her power, but as a result, her soul would be forfeit to the statue it was sealed in, never having enough power to break out on her own unless he destroyed it, releasing 8 other beings of unlimited power in the process.

Condemn the world for one soul? Or not?

The boy died, and the man never expected to wake up again under the rain.

His village leader had sacrificed herself to bring him back to life, much like another had done before her for another jinchuriki.

From that day onwards, the man never stopped training and killing in war. His Rinnegan unlocked from death, an unknown requirement was that the user from his mother's clan with the genes had to die before it could be unlocked. He would never allow himself to be put in such a situation again.

A dojutsu with power of life and death, mind and matter, fitting that it could only be unlocked after staring death in the face and giving it the finger.

He never let anyone know though, it was a trump card, one fitting for a shinobi, not some idiot boy that had wanted to stand out like a fool and let the enemy take his head off.

His former crush had turned bitter, bitter because he was the reason her mother figure and her Sasuke was killed. That he was the reason for this damned war in the first place.

His teacher angry because he was the reason 3 Hokages had died, the third, the fourth and the fifth. His stupidity was the reason for so many deaths. If not a demon, then an ill omen to the village.

the cyclops conveniently forgot he as the boy's teacher was the one who was supposed to beat the stupidity out of the boy.

With Tsunade gone, he lost any links that would have held him down in Konoha, the memories were too bitter, especially since he could read minds now and had expected the betrayal from the start. Yet he never just quit and went to live his life as a hermit and tell the rest of the world to go to hell.

Why ?

The being once sealed inside him respected him for one reason, his undying determination to never back down or break his word, not his shinobi power, not his lineage, nothing else. Just his will.

Although in her words, "Never breaking promises is good, what is NOT good is WHO you make promises to and the fact you shoot them off like candy without thinking about the consequences, which usually results in ME needing to pull YOUR ass out of the fire."

And so, even if he was called anything else, he would never break his word or back down.

Before he had been ashamed to admit he and his prisoner got along, now, he wore his title with pride as a tribute, as repayment for being ashamed of her.

Call it pigheadedness or a prayer for forgiveness for everything she didn't deserve but accepted as her lot in life, but ever since then if he promised to bring down heaven then even if Kami forbid him would bring Heaven down crashing.

Nonetheless, from that day on though, he never made a promise again.

And so everything came to a head. Him, his sword and his body against the enemy commander after a grueling war that lasted one year.

He had won, but as expected the betrayal came and he was sealed on that rainy day. His death freeing him from his promises.

The tree had barely covered his near dead body and put him in a state of suspended animation as far as he could tell.

The seal corroded over time while his body continuously generated power equivalent to the being that had been previously sealed within him was absorbed by the tree as it was meant to keep him too weak to break out.

And thus here he was.

Alive.

Alone.

Flash back end.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

the office was quiet as the 3 teachers digested the story that had been laid at their feet.

Even as the blonde man with waist length hair told his story in a monotone with a stoic expression, eyes glazed watching the sky outside, the tears that flowed down his cheeks showed that he wasn't totally unaffected by his mistakes.

That alone told them there wasn't an ounce of lie in his words. Although it was evident much had been skipped over.

Konoe sighed, watching this boy tell his story made him feel eons older then he was, humanity's stupidity regarding what they didn't understand was astounding in its capacity for cruelty. The fact that the magical world was kept isolated from the rest of the world was proof enough.

As much as the blonde's broken faith in humanity was justified it made him feel that as one of the older generations it was his fault for not doing better. Even if he wasnt even born at the time considering the geography had changed drastically from the man's tale, it was evident that the mistakes of the older generation burdened the new no matter how well intentioned.

The need to keep secrets from the man in front of him, and the deliberate antagonism caused him to seek attention of any kind, once given acknowledgement, he hung on to it like a starving dog on a bone, eventually blossoming into the fact that he deluded himself into believing this Sasuke person was redeemable and that event….. eventually brought him here to this place today.

Konoka had no clue whatsoever about her huge magical reserves, plus the fact that she was bound to receive antagonism sooner or later by those that wanted her power made the comparison between the man in front of him and his granddaughter even more eerie, the fact that the Kyoto trip was in one week only made his task heavier.

In fact the parallels between him and his granddaughter was so obvious that he couldn't help but wonder in 50 years would he see the same jaded, dull look in her eyes and he couldn't help but flinch and sigh tiredly.

Was this some sign from Kami telling him that he and his son were going to be made into fools?

No… if Kami was indeed giving him a sign, then the man in front of him had a purpose for being here today, probably to prevent something similar from happening, and he intended on taking full advantage of it. Plus there was one big difference, despite the secrets kept from her; Konoka was essentially a very happy child that lacked for nothing.

As far as he could tell…

Looking up he saw the understanding on Takahata's face and the tears that Shizuna was obviously repressing if her red eyes were any indication.

Konoe steepled his fingers under the shin and pinned the stoic man with a stare who returned who returned it unflinchingly.

"By now….you have already guessed from the size of the tree, your era has ended hundreds of not thousands of years ago. You are essentially adrift. With no support, no knowledge, no currency, you can't speak today's language fluently yet, so the question is….. what do you plan to do now?"

The blonde just shrugged, "As I am at the moment, I only have my shinobi skills, I am only good at fighting and information gathering to a certain extent, even than I'm pretty rusty. I have no purpose. If you threw me out, I'd have to go out on the streets and find job before slowly fitting in."

Konoe was quiet, the blonde lacked any skills or even credentials that would be passable in today's modern society. Despite the blonde's mature looks, Konoe couldn't instate him as a teacher, or even assistant teacher, the idea, was frankly stupid, he'd just be freeloading in class and he couldn't teach what he didn't know. However, the fighting part peaked his interest.

It wouldn't be the first time what he had in mind happened, but it was rare. Not to mention, it would give the blonde time to settle in and learn the basics of living in a modern environment as well as start a curriculum vitae from start here in Mahora.

"Naruto-kun, how old are you?"

"Uh….16 plus 10000 give or take a few thousand?"

Konoe got serious.

"Your body has probably matured at a far slower pace in the tree, so despite you thinking that your 16, you are probably closer to 20. Nonetheless, I can instate you as a student of this Academy. This will give you a chance to experience a childhood you probably should have in the first place, as well as give you time to learn how to adjust and fit into modern society and earn your way through and create your own credentials like a high school certificate. Here, power isn't the answer to everything and you can't just fight what you think is unfair."

Here Konoe took a breath, "considering your age, I would have put you in the high school section immediately, but I'll be completely honest. I have a granddaughter. She has great magical strength,"

"Wait what? Magical? What does that mean? Is that like chakra?"

Konoe took a deep breath and explained the basics of magic, of the separated societies and the underlying implications of mixing the modern population and the magical population and since he wasn't exactly human, he wouldn't be turned into an ermine.

"And so, my granddaughter, Konoka, has extraordinarily great magical reserves, but her parents want her to have a normal childhood so we have kept it a secret from her. I am glad to say that we have at least succeeded where your grandfather figure failed in this part and have at least provided her with a happy childhood, but in return, she is ignorant of the fact that many may try to abuse her powers as her powers bloom.

Aside from her, we also incidentally have many magical students in this academy due to the World Tree, but none as many as 3-A, under a magically powerful but young teacher named Negi Springfield. And here is where you come in, you know the harsh realities of life, so I want to put you in their class, to let you learn but at the same time be a bodyguard to that class, you will be compensated of course.

Despite them being younger than you, especially because many of them are…. accident prone… at the same time, I want you to watch from the shadows while acting like a normal student, to let them fight their own battles and grow on their own terms and so unless it becomes necessary, I would prefer if you do not reveal your skills except to a select few. Don't get me wrong, I have no intentions of chaining you to Mahora, if you decide one day you want to leave to expande your horizons, I'll have no conditions other than for someone like you to keep in touch with an old man."

Naruto just eyed the old man, "Your putting a lot of trust in me… you don't even know if I am a threat to your students or not, so why are you trusting me with this?"

The old man just grinned, "Sharp for a ninja eh? I'll lay it out straight. You and my granddaughter are so similar its almost scary, and I cannot bear the thought of failing her like your elders did to you but my hands are tied because my son wishes for her to stay ignorant of the hardship of the mage world."

"Aside from her, many of the children in that class is destined for something greater, especially Negi, but sometimes… that destiny may be heavy enough break their faith in the world but I don't them to sacrifice their innocence to fulfill that destiny. Your presence here is proof enough of that statement. The same innocence the being that was sealed in you acknowledged and was trampled over. You don't deserve to be so jaded Naruto….. at most I want you to enjoy some relaxation. I can't bring that innocence back but at least…. Let an old man atone for another old man's mistakes."

Konoe watched as the young man in front of him bowed his head in gratitude, his bright blonde bangs covered his eyes but he could see a hint of tears starting to fall, "You don't have to answer today, I can see you are emotional and overwhelmed from everything, so just rest for today, maybe even look around the campus. Then you can tell me of your decision tomorrow. Deal?"

"Yea..yeah, thanks Jiji."

The four sat in a moment of silence allowing their emotions to run their course before setting back into business.

"Neh, Jiji," Takahata snorted at this to lighten the tension, "were there any stuff that you found near me? I had a lot of emergency equipment in some scrolls I carried with me all the time…. And a pretty large sword? I think it was kinda … stuck in me. I wanna gather my stuff then just walk around a bit and look at the area."

Everyone present except Naruto grimaced at the reminder.

"Shizuna-sensei, could you take Naruto-kun to where all his equipment is stored? Tonight you can stay in the infirmary, tomorrow, we'll deal with your long term housing if you agree to my proposal."

Nodding the boy stood up before bowing in thanks.

"Before you go take this, its some currency for you to spend on yourself for today and some basic books on the lifestyle in Mahora. I originally got those for Negi assuming he couldn't fit in."

Slightly overwhelmed at the man's kindness he bowed again before motioning to the nurse which stood at the doorway, "Arigato, Konoe-san. Shizuna-sensei, if you please?"

The two men who were left behind sat quietly in contemplation, before Takahata spoke, "You sure this was the right way, Konoe-sama?"

Konoe breathed deeply, "What would you have done? Left him to fend for himself in a world he knows nothing about? At least this way, he has time to settle in, if he wants to leave in the future, I won't be happy but if it's his wish then I have no right to tie him down to an all girl's school. Someone like him won't accept charity and that's essentially what it would be if I gave him a fake educatorial role or hadn't made that bodyguard excuse up. Right now, what is most important to him who has lost everything, is to find a sense of purpose again, after that…..who knows?"

Takahata just hummed his agreement.

After Takahata left, the dean leaned back into his chair, intent on relaxing by reading about the….female anatomy…

After rummaging around in in his desk for awhile the dean frowned, "Funny…. I left that book right there this morning…where did it go?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As they were walking down the hall to the infirmary Naruto decided to ask some questions.

"What exactly is it you do here Shizuna-sensei?"

The tall busty woman thought for a while before explaining. "On the surface, I am but a simple school nurse that deals with any minor injuries, on the other hand, being in a school with a high concentration of magical students, it was necessary to have a magical healer as well. Now healing spells are extremely rare and magical healers are hard to find but magical accidents are pretty common around here, so I'm mostly needed to calm the non magical students down and heal any injuries as well as erase their memories. Sometimes if there aren't any incidents I sub for any missing teachers as well."

"Erase their memories? Why is it necessary?"

Shizuna hummed for a moment wondering how to phrase it in a suitable way, "We strive to keep the magical and non magical world apart to avoid any conflict because compared to the non magicals, we are outnumbered by 100 to 1. So in extreme cases of exposure but the student cannot guarantee his or her secrecy, we have to erase the memory. I'm sure you know the prejudice humans heap on those that are different."

Naruto just nodded, "In that case, why bother to have normal students here? Why not just magical students, then you wouldn't be so stretched out between magical and physical injuries right?"

"Where would we go? Any tracts of land that suddenly went missing would be noticed immediately and we can't hide such a large population of magicals and maintain the quality of our resources at the same time. So its better just to hide in plain sight as they say. Anyway we're here, everything of yours we put in that cupboard. The sword is wrapped up inside as well, carrying it as it is would be too conspicuous." Shizuna stood by quietly as Naruto arranged all his equipment, grimacing at the condition of his equipment, she asked, "when we found you, your clothes were already half decayed but strangely that paper scroll you were carrying was perfectly fine. Do you have any spares or should I try and find you some?"

"Nah, its alright, the scrolls are imbued with my chakra, so they should have been fine in that state of suspended animation. Here, watch."

Naruto flipped open the scroll and spread it open in one fluid motion while biting his finger and swiping the blood on it across one particular cluster of symbols. Immediately a few sets of similar black clothes with orange accents appeared.

Shizuna frowned at the jumpsuits, he'd never fit in wearing that and so said as much, "After you have met the Headmaster tomorrow, I'll take you out to town. We need to get you a school uniform and some casual clothes, these jumpsuits won't fit in well your hair is very long as well, do you want it cut tomorrow?"

Naruto jumped behind a screen and quickly changed before coming out to reply, "Thanks for everything Shizuna-sensei…. I'll never be able to repay you for your kindness."

"Nonsense, i helped because you needed help not for a reward and considering your past history, would you have done anything less then I did?"

Naruto didn't answer. Mostly because she was right, but he still thanked her.

After dressing up in his jumpsuit he bowed to Shizuna again before jumping out the window, the sword attached diagonally on his back.

"Fufufu, what a polite boy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside, Naruto winced, frowned and looked up at the window he had just left from. It wasn't that high, in fact he should have landed no problem but his muscles had ached pretty badly. This wouldn't do, the dean wanted him as a bodyguard, and a weak bodyguard couldn't do jack shit.

He needed a place to loosen up his body and get back into shape. He decided to ask about that tomorrow.

It was nearly evening and so there wasn't much to do, quietly strolling along the walkways in Mahora, Naruto couldn't help but contemplate if he was doing the right thing by staying here. Was there even a right or wrong in this situation? But if he didn't, where would he go? What would he leave for? He had no reason, he had no purpose.

Nonetheless, the dean gave him a place to stay until he found that purpose, and for that, he would always be grateful to the dean, like he had been with the Sandaime.

The thought of the Sandaime reminded him of Kakashi's words, but he felt that whether the third Hokage had secretly despised him or hindered his growth didn't matter anymore, he chose to remember the old man based on what he knew and what the old man did for him. And now he found someone that was equally as kind, Naruto vowed to do his best to fulfill the dean's expectations of him.

Going off the beaten path, Naruto jumped up into a tree that was on a hill, sitting on the branch, Naruto stilled his body and slipped into meditation. Everything had been going so fast this few days, so much information and he was frankly too much in shock to properly evaluate everything that happened.

He thought about everything he had left behind, and to be honest, he really couldn't find any regret about leaving it behind either. That part surprised him.

He thought about everything the dean had told him about magic and his new role for now, the dean had been right, he couldn't go off half cocked into the world, at best he'd just be another mercenary bringing more pain into the world and so was grateful for the chance to settle down and have a home base where he could always come back to if things didn't go right.

Calming down, Naruto breathed deeply and let his sage mode wash over his weary body, and allowed his senses to spread fully, being one with nature around him. From his perspective, it was like watching the night sky, everybody was an individual star, some big and some small, doing this always calmed him down and instilled a sense of peacefulness within him and allowed him to plan ahead more efficiently.

Breathing in the fresh evening air deeply, he smelt something wonderful from near him, attuning his Sage Mode senses to the direction of the smell he noticed a big cluster of stars and it seemed to be a shop of some sort. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled.

Chuckling to himself the blonde stood up and jumped down from the tree, his waist length hair flowing around him and annoying him. grumbling abit as he tied his hair into a pony tail he walked towards the shop he had sensed and saw a small lighted cart shop. One similar to the ramen shop in Konoha, and that brought many good memories of the Ramen couple that had took care of him for the longest time. Before he had left Konoha for the last battle, he had given them all his Namikaze inheritance and pleaded with them to leave Konoha.

The father and daughter combo had left Konoha in the middle of the night and he only hoped they had prospered somewhere where they were appreciated and taken care of.

Nonetheless, he took out the currency that the dean had given to him, he wasn't entirely sure how much he had but it was probably enough for one meal. The cart was surrounded by wooden tables and there many customers, the atmosphere was merry and satisfied, very much resembling the old ramen stand. Sitting down at the counter in a corner, he waited for the cheerful chubby chef to take his order while he soaked up the cheerful atmosphere.

The chef appeared to be helped by 2 other girls, one had tanned skin with pale blonde hair and was extremely energetic and cheerful. Her other helper was the exact opposite, tall, calm and elegant, light green hair with weird ear adornments. They were both wearing Chinese style clothes and an apron that declared what was obviously the cart's name, Chao Bao Zi.

When the slightly chubby girl came to take his orders he smiled and asked for 5 bowls of Miso ramen. Naïve or not ramen was always going to be his favourite food. The chef looked weirdly at him before asking, "Your new around here aren't you?"

Slightly stunned Naruto only nodded.

"Heh, you got a weird accent, that's why I could tell. Welcome to Chao Bao Zi, since its your first time, the first bowl is on the house."

Naruto smiled at the little chef and uttered his thanks, the chef spoke similar to old man Teuchi, the warmth and familiarity was obvious even with the dialect barrier. Maybe it was a trend among cooks?

He slowly savoured the noodles and broth even as he watched the going ons in his corner with a small smile on his face. It struck him that if he took the offer, this was what he would be protecting, this atmosphere among friends that transcended race, language, age and even gender.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the green haired waitress occasionally glancing at him but paid it no real mind.

Chachamaru was worried if her internal processors could be worried. The person in the corner registered like a searchlight on her radars, but her systems told her it wasn't magic. It also told her the signature matched the flare that she had noticed during the fight between Negi and her Master but significantly stronger than the one at the fight. It didn't help that her Master was on thin ice with the dean and so they were being cautious, a powerful stranger that had showed up from nowhere and watched the fight did not bode well to their future. Vampires were largely feared by the magical community, her Master even more so and it was not uncommon for random hunters to break into Mahora and attempt to kill her to get the bounty on her Master.

That was part of the reason her Master was given a place so far from the dorms and tasked to actively watch the grounds. Most of the intrusions had something to deal with her one way or another.

But the man in the corner didn't seem to be agitated or hiding anything like most hunters did, he just sat there in a corner, a wrapped bundle leaning on the wall beside him, elegant and poised, sipping his sake with a small smile. His blonde hair tied into a knot and pulled over his left shoulder so it pooled on his lap. If her optical sensors hadn't detected the broad shoulders and the toned muscles in a strictly tighter than necessary black top, her processors would've registered the person as some sort of noble lady.

When the clock chimed 6pm, the crowd started to clear, the next time she glanced for the blonde man she noticed him talking to Satsuki-san, passing her some currency and a bag of leftovers to the man. After that she was too busy cleaning up to pay the man anymore mind.

It was nearly 7pm when her customary routine at the shop was finally done, she turned and asked Satsuki for the usual leftovers for her to feed the cats in the alley.

Satsuki just gave a gentle smile at the gynoid and pressed the bag of leftovers into her hand gently. "There isn't much today, someone already asked and paid for some of it but you can have everything else."

Chachamaru was a very reserved person, and Satsuki had personally made it her goal to pull the gynoid out of her shell when she saw the stoic gynoid the first time 2 years ago. Most would call her stupid for acting this way to a roboy but she couldn't help but feel the gynoid could be more. The first time Satsuki saw any sign of humanity was when she saw the green haired gynoid feeding the stray cats in the alleys with a gentle smile on her face about a month ago and it was something that had only started recently after 1 year of efforts and Satsuki would do anything to see the girl blossom.

Her goal was to make everyone happy after all.

Chachamaru bowed and slowly strode out, enjoying the evening air, to the alley where she usually met her furry friends and when she turned the corner she was very surprised to see the blonde from earlier.

Even more surprising was that the blonde was sitting on the dirt, his back propped against the wall, a group of cats eating not far from him, in his lap was 2 kittens playing with his hair. She watched him tease the small kittens with a gentle smile on his face, and as he played with them so gently, her internal processors started to heat up and the motors in her spun faster and faster.

Cocking her head in puzzlement she conducted a diagnosis scan on herself, this anomaly had never happened before…. If she had contracted a virus or a program had gone haywire she would have to tell her creator but there was no sign of anything wrong.

Slowly she stepped forward, not wanting to disturb the man and the cats, she knelt down beside the feeding cats and poured her own portion of leftovers and petted a few of the cats. One of her personal favourites, a small white cat with black socks nuzzled her leg.

Looking at the man opposite her she decided to do the same and sat with her knees folded, taking the white tabby onto her lap and stroked its fur.

They sat in companionable silence, not bothering to acknowledge each other, nothing needed to be said.

She didn't know how long they sat there in silence, playing with the cats, but all too soon it was nearly 9pm and her Master expected her back home. Already she was later than usual. Far later. She wondered what caused this deviation from her programming and what the heat that turned up every once in awhile she watched the man play with the kittens was.

Getting up, she gave a bow of acknowledgement to the man and left, not seeing the small smile and bow of the head that he returned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat on the infirmary bed, pulling out all the books he had sealed into the scroll that the dean had given to him earlier this evening. As he did this menial task he let his mind wander to construct a to-do list. First on the list was the read all the books in front of him so he could find a source of income. He couldn't live on the dean's charity, the amount of currency from earlier was the most he would take and even then he would repay it with interest.

As he looked over the books, he noticed a bright cover sticking from between the covers of a Japanese language textbook. Pulling it out, his jaw dropped. He could run all he liked, but even if he ran to the future like now it was apparent some things never changed. Namely perverts.

He cried anime tears, what was with him and all the perverts always gathering around him? he just wanted a pure and innocent life, was it too hard to ask for? Why Kami? Why?

Still…it provided him with an easy avenue for money….. as much as he loathed to do so….

Flood the modern world with high level smut and get easy money or be poor and live off charity….. right…. World breaking decision.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Konoe looked at the young man in front of him, he looked slightly peaked and tired, worriedly he asked if there was anything wrong.

Naruto just waved him off saying he had come to a world changing decision last night, the dean just assumed he had been debating about the job offer. "So? Have you decided on the offer?"

Naruto looked at him for a moment than nodded but held up a hand to stop Konoe from going any further, "At the moment, my body is pretty weak, barely a quarter of my original capabilities and my chakra has yet to be properly filled, only a third of what was available. Whenever I regenerate any, some always flows out of my body almost by default to the World Tree and strangely enough, my sword. So I wanted to warn you to be sure you are confident I can do this even without my full abilities which are doubtful to return within the month."

"That… is indeed troublesome. While for the long term there shouldn't be too much of a problem, I wanted you to be ready for the Kyoto trip in four days and would feel better if you were up to full strength by then."

'Although, if what I'm feeling now is barely a third of your reserves you are probably one of the most powerful people to ever walk this earth. At the moment, the size is already on par with Takahata. At first I couldn't detect anything, but once I was accustomed to his type of magic it was easy to sense how much he had.'

Naruto quietly awaited the dean's decision, his stoic mission face back in place as he watched the old man rub the bridge of his nose, seeming contemplating something. When the old man spoke again, he snapped back to attention.

"Naruto, mages cast their spells by chanting. Some of these chants take very long and its very easy for their opponents to disrupt the spell, causing to start over again. Many enemies can take advantage of this weakness."

Naruto just looked confused at why the dean was already saying something he knew.

"Fortunately, there is usually a few ways to counter that weakness. Some mages increase their physical capabilities to battle on an even tilt with their opponents, but the more common method is seeking for help. Eastern mages use something called Goki which usually defend the enemy and Zenki whom attack and distract their opponents, giving them time to chant.

Western mages on the other hand, share their magic with their partners. The magic they share bolsters their partner's abilities and provides them with a magical artifact according to an aspect of their personality and natural ability to increase their combat capabilities, so say we have a powerful person, the artifact would also be naturally powerful. Considering you have massive reserves and above par physical stats, it would be safe to say any artifact you might get won't be weak by any stretch of the word. But enough semantics, here is what I am offering you, I'll make a contact with you, offering you a pactio to enhance your combat abilities. With one condition, whatever artifact you get, you must not abuse it."

"Generally a partner's loyalty is to their contractor and their primary duty is to guard his or her contractor, but seeing as I'm just sitting here, I won't really need your help but if I do need it, you'll help wont you?"

Naruto went slack jawed, the dean would go so far for him? When he didn't have to? He could only nod in thanks.

"A pactio, or contract between mage the Magister Magi, and his partner, the Minister Magi is usually sealed with a kiss," here Naruto blanched and scooted backwards, his hands clutching his butt, "but a blood pact and a handshake works just as well."

Konoemon established the magic circle and they both stepped in. Konoemon used an athame to cut his hand while Naruto used a kunai and when they shook hands there was a flash of bright light that blinded Naruto.

When everything settled, Naruto blinked his eyes a few times experimentally and saw Konoemon holding something, no, two cards in his hands. When the dean noticed Naruto was back to normal, he handed one card to Naruto, "That card is proof of the contract, it's a copy of the original I have here and they will allow communications between us as well as let you independently activate your powers without needing me to be there. When you need it, just say Adeat."

"Yes sir!"

"Although I find your card very…. Interesting and unique. Based on the card, you are either primarily a close combat fighter that has no long range skills whatsoever, or someone that prefers long range only am I right? So which are you?"

Naruto was surprised the dean would know so much by just looking at his card. "Close to middle range combat specialist, I completely lack any ranged techniques."

"hmm… I see, you see that metal thing in the picture? I doubt you know what it is but its called a Sniper Rifle, made for high powered penetration single shots from long distances, up to 1 kilometre away. The scope enables you to sight your target easier. I'm not sure if it can stand up to hits in melee combat but it gives you the option of high powered long range combat."

Naruto looked at his card curiously. It depicted the roman numeral for Nine, how fitting, in the top right corner was the word Caerulum. In the middle was a picture of him wearing a black suit and a red trenchcoat with metal buckles, buckled up to his waist with the rest flowing behind him. in the picture, he was holding what looked like a large but slim metal contraption that was as long as he was tall, the butt of the weapon was on the ground with his right hand resting atop the the barrel, his left hand holding a white blank mask to his face. Underneath his picture were the words

Namicaze Naruto,

Astra Petas,

virtue : Audacia,

Directio : Occidens,

At the bottom left of the card were the words Astralitas : Caelum Sideralis.

Konoe let him inspect the card for a bit longer before he spoke, "After this, I'll bring you to Negi since he should know that you will be the acting bodyguard to his class. Then I'll show you the baths before Shizuna can take you out to get some better fitting clothes. After that, you have four days before the trip to familiarize yourself with the card and just recover, remember the command phrase to activate it is Adeat, to deactivate, Abeat."

As he led the man out of his office, he couldn't help but wonder, there was something wrong with the card, not bad or evil, but different. The fact that under the Astralitas category Naruto wasn't tied to any of the standard or predominant planetary guardians was also interesting, perhaps it was something to do with the fact that he wasn't back to full strength yet.

Naruto slowly followed the old man to the dorms, still immersed in looking at the card. Inside him, a little boy that had been buried in cynism ever since the death of his closest confidant started to emerge.

Naruto was excited. He wanted to try this thing out immediately.

A lopsided grin appeared on his face for the first time in months.

Tucking the card in his pocket, he looked out the window, it was a bright sunny day, never had he felt so free.

"Jiji, this is probably the most anyone has ever done for me, if you ever need anything. Just ask."

"Heh, an old man like me doesn't need help from a gaki like you."

Smilling serenely the two men continued down the corridor.

Hands in his pocket he continued to follow the dean to the dorms, not that he knew what it was. When he saw the old man stop at a particular door, he stood behind the jiji, his sight of the door blocked as he leaned against the wall opposite the door, his attention was drawn by the area around him and he looked around like a curious kitten seeing new things. Although Naruto snapped back to attention when he heard the old man knocking on the door and when it was answered by what sounded like a sleepy girl. Wasn't this supposed to be a male teacher's room? Or was Negi a girl?

It was like in slow motion as he swiveled his head to look at the newcomer as the dean moved his body to introduce Naruto to the person at the door.

"Naruto, meet Asuna, she will be in your class with Negi who will be your teacher."

The girl bowed at her introduction but her forehead crinkled and she cocked her head, confused when she noticed the man in front of her was completely oblivious to everything that had been said, his face had gone so pale and his eyes wide open almost like he was panicking.

Everything the dean said went flying out his head as his eyes widened and the blonde paled drastically when he saw the redhead in the doorway with her hair down wearing pyjamas.

Subconsciously he noted from far, the girl's eyes looked the same, but when the light caught her face it was evident she had mismatched eye colors, one a light aquamarine blue, the other a deep blue.

It couldn't be her. Was Kami playing tricks?

She was dead. Her last words haunted his nightmares everyday.

"Akane?"

AN

I'll be completely honest, I know I'll never quit writing, but the thing is, I don't know if I can compete with the awesomeness that is the fights and powers in negima. If I cant match my Naruto up to the canon plotline, I'll feel like I'm insulting something awesome.

Astra petas : he who aims for the stars

Caerulum : sky blue

Occidens : West

Caelum Sideralis : Starry skies.

The Sniper Rifle is a Barret M82A1 (XM107), only longer and bigger. Probably .55 cal. In reality, with dimensions of that size, it probably doesn't qualify as a sniper rifle anymore….more like a god damn canon. His ninja abilities although weakened allows him to wield the overly large rifle like a normal person would handle a normal rifle. Otherwise the recoil would probably take off his arm, as well as the target's head….and chest….and arms….. .

A mini rant. Is it too much to ask for the administrators to add a search criteria that separates YAOI? I don't hate homosexuals, but come on! I read Fanfiction for my enjoyment but its being tainted by the obscene amount of guy buggering guy fics on the site. Everytime I open Naruto or Harry potter category, the first 20 pages or so is ALWAYS predominantly GOD DAMN YAOI. What is it with you people? I give that everyone has their rights….. so just add something like (Only Females) under the character search requirement (A) then pair with any guy we want under Character (B), at least that way we wont see male on male. T^T

P.S Persona 4 anime and Guilty crown is AWESOME! T^T i cant stop listening to Euterpe by EGOIST anymore. i'm addicted.

AN 2

There was a review i felt needed to be replied but it was annonymous.

Hades252 2
2011-10-13 . chapter 2

Hmm, I don't know what say but for someone supposedly Jaded and having his 'faith in humanity' broken he seemed almost the opposite with Konoe and Shizuna. Also, why would Konoe place Naruto(a male) in class 2-A(all girl school class)? What, does his new long hair and recovering features make him androgynous like Haku had been? If so then Asuna must be very observant to deem Naruto male at their first introduction. We even come across information on an obvious OC when Naruto first sees Asuna, so the questions are who was this Akane and what was she to him? Though, the pactio Naruto got was pretty cool.

First, he IS jaded, he was reluctant to trust anyone and even questioned the dean's kindness but he didnt really have a choice did he? better to eat poisoned food rather then to die of starvation. second, did you even read the fic properly? 2-A = trouble magnet = need help = bodyguard. Third Androgynous or not really isnt the point i wanted to make nor did i have any plans to make him fit in as a girl. i left it there for another reason. one your gonna have to wait to find out.