Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did then...Well

I'm not sure what I'd do! Something to think about...hmm.

"People talking"

"People thinking"

#Ghosts talking#

"Kyuubi talking"

When Naruto woke up, the first thing he saw was Yukia's face, and everything behind it.

"Aahhhhh!" Naruto yelled, falling out of bed.

"Hey, kid, keep it down, I'm trying to sleep," Kyuubi mumbled, sounding sleepy.

"Don't do that!" yelled Naruto, ignoring Kyuubi completely.

#Sorry, I was just wondering if you were alright,# Yukia said humbly. Naruto didn't have a person worrying about him often, so he just scratched the back of his head and mumbled a quick 'sorry.'

#Anyway, we have your lessons,# Yukia replied, her cheerfulness returning in the blink of an eye.

"Lessons?" Naruto asked cautiously, not quite sure what to make of this. He had heard older kids complain about school, but Naruto didn't think it sounded that bad.

#Yeah, you have the Rules of Limbo in your back pocket. It should explain a lot,# Yukia said, falling into lecture mode again.

"Huh?" Naruto pulled out said roll from his pocket, looking at it mystified. "How did this get here?"

#As long as you're King of Purgatory, you will always be able to find it, and no one else will be able to discover it.#

"That's handy!" Naruto unrolled he scroll, looking over it. "Um, I can't really read," he said, embarrassed.

#Oh, really? Don't worry, I'll just summarize it for you, and later I can teach you how to read. Okay?# Naruto nodded in appreciation.

#Alright. Basically, purgatory is where a soul goes to pay off a debt they made in life. A debt could be anything as small as a favor they didn't repay, all the way up to a big sin, like murder.

# A ghost's stay in purgatory is equal to the amount of sins and debts they have, or, if they were murdered, the amount of life they had left over from their life-span. The only way a ghost can hurry up the process is to do a job for the King of Purgatory. The amount of debt they have left over determines the amount of time they can stay on that job. Ninjas that have died have their chakra reduced to half of what it was, but can only use it if the Shinigami commands them to. How's that?#

Naruto was sitting on his bed, looking thoughtful. "So I can command ghosts as long as they still have debts?"

#Yeah, basically,# Yukia said, raising her eyebrows in surprise at how quickly Naruto was grasping his powers. #You caught on rather quickly.#

"I was paying attention," he said, shrugging. "Now, time for breakfast!" He leapt off of his bed, running for the kitchen. Yukia sweatdropped, catching him as he tried to get some ramen out of the cupboard.

#Oh no, you're getting a real breakfast!# she said, and started to drag him out of his apartment.

Fortunately she let go of him before the villagers could get suspicious of him being pulled along by an invisible force. Yukia watched as Naruto went to the grocery store, pointing out all the things he needed, promising him a big meal. Naruto brightened at this, but Yukia noticed the drop in his mood when the cashier royally overcharged him. Frowning, she knew that she would have to find him a steady supply of money, as well as try to find some strong ninjas to teach him. That was the good thing about strong shinobi; you didn't get many dead, but when you got one they stuck around for a long time.

After a incredibly large breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and fruit -which Naruto devoured in less than a minute flat, much to Yukia's surprise- Naruto was ready for a food-induced nap. However, Yukia had other plans for him.

#I'm going to teach you a ninja skill called 'henge',# she told him, and he instantly perked up.

#Okay, you know how to manipulate chakra, right?# When

Naruto just shook his sheepishly, she sighed. This was going to be another long day.

Over the next few months, Naruto learned how to manipulate chakra and do henge, kawarimi, and a few other low level jutsus at an astonishing rate. As soon as he mastered henge he got a job at a local building sight, under the name Kisa. He had completely grown into his powers as a mini-Shinigami, and had found a very practical use for each one, mostly scouting or writing down nin, gen, and tai jutsus for him to practice. Thus, when Naruto joined the Academy, he would most likely be light years ahead of the other students, and probably picked on. Unfortunately for her, the dreaded day had come, and Naruto had dragged her all the way to the academy to see him off.

She didn't really mind, seeing as she was the closest thing to a family that he had. Naruto was jumping around in excitement, waving at all the kids, barely even minding when their parents pulled them away.

Naruto entered the classroom after waving goodbye to Yukia (who said she had other business to attend to), and sat down right next to a pink-haired girl with green eyes that reminded him of Yukia's. Soon after, a tired looking boy with hair pulled into a spiky pony-tail sat down next to him on the other side. Naruto introduced himself to both of them, getting a name from the pink haired girl, 'Sakura', and a polite 'hnn' from the boy. A few ghosts lingering around him told him that the boy was a Nara, a clan famous for their genius, their laziness, and their deer.

Soon a teacher arrived, restoring order to the rowdy classroom. Naruto was grateful. He wasn't used to being around a lot of people, and was starting to get nervous. At least the two people sitting next to him didn't seem to be interested in being loud at all—Sakura looked like she was about to cry and the Nara boy had fallen asleep.

"Okay," the teacher said, smiling at his class. "My name is Iruka, Iruka-sensei to all of you. Since I doubt that any of you know each other, when I point to you, state your name and goal. You first." Iruka-sensei pointed at a purple-haired, white eyed girl.

"Ano, my name is Hyuuga Hinata, and my goal is, ano …making my family proud," the girl stuttered out, barely audible. Next came Aburame Shino, with something about bugs. By this time Naruto wasn't paying any attention to what his classmates were saying. A ghost was informing him more about them then what they probably knew themselves.

Finally, when it came to Naruto, he jumped up, smiling. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My goal is to learn everything about the village." It was a fitting goal, because ever since he had found out about the usefulness of ghosts for spying, no secret was safe. He probably knew more about the village than everyone except the hokage. Still, Naruto knew that a lot of the village was still a mystery, and would not stop until his curiosity was sated.

Meanwhile, Iruka was trying very hard not to scream. How dare they! How dare they put the demon in his class! Struggling against his instinct to strangle the grinning blonde, he just gave a curt nod and moved onto the girl next to him. It wouldn't do to kill one of his own students, after all. Even if the demon had killed his parents.

Naruto soon noticed how Iruka-sensei seemed to purposely ignore him. He understood why he did this. Demons, after all, were humans' natural enemies. Even if Naruto was only a hanyou (A/N Remember, Kyuubi told him he was a half demon, not a jinchuuriki) he hoped that someone still alive would accept him. Sighing, Naruto ignored the rest of the lesson, stuff he had learned from a dead konoha-nin ages ago. Instead, he listened to a kiri-nin explain the basics of an advanced genjutsu, something the rest of his classmates would not learn for a few years.

Coming home from school Naruto talked to Yukia right in the open, ignoring the looks of the villagers as they watched him talking to himself. Yukia noticed, however. Sighing, she realized that he either needed a special kind of hand signals, or always had someone to talk to who was deaf. She knew that this was going to happen.

#Hey Naruto,# Yukia said, leading him toward the forest. #There's something I want to give you.# She walked to the base of a tree. Yukia had been searching for this all day. She knew that eventually Naruto would have to have a median like all human Kings of Purgatory. It would probably be hard to find him a human median with the way the villagers were, so she had found an animal one instead. Finally, just before the Academy day ended, she had found it.

#Here you go,# she said, handing him the cutest little red and gold fox. #This is your median. A median is basically who you talk to when others are watching. They are also your bodyguard, though usually they are deaf. You are the first King to have an animal median,# Yukia explained.

Naruto, however, was getting acquainted with his new pet. Because of the Kyuubi, the little fox's barks and yips were actually a conversation.

"Who are you? You smell like a fox but you look like a human," it asked.

"I'm Naruto, and I'm half kitsune. That why I smell like a fox," Naruto said, introducing himself.

#Are you even listening to me?# yelled Yukia, a vein throbbing on her clenched fist.

"Yeah, I was, sorry Yukia," Naruto said sheepishly, putting the little fox on his shoulder.

#You can understand her?# Yukia asked, surprised.

"Um, yeah." He listened to the fox for a second, and then smiled. "She says her name is Akira. "

#Good, that's very helpful. If you need to talk to a ghost and there are other people around, just talk to Akira.#

"But won't people think that I'm going crazy if I start talking to a fox?" Naruto asked.

#Its better than them thinking that you're talking to yourself, or worse, the Kyuubi. I doubt that anyone, even a villager, would mistake cute little Akira for Kyuubi, but if they do then I doubt they would see her as a threat, tiny as she is.#

"I can't just suddenly start to talk to animals. Its not like I'm related to the Inuzukas."

#Say it's a bloodline,# Yukia shrugged. #The kids will accept it, and the adults will assume that it's a side effect of the Kyuubi. Meanwhile, Akira will be a good friend.#

"Okay," grumbled Naruto, pretending unconvincingly to be upset with the outcome.

"I'm hungry!" Akira suddenly announced. "Where can we eat?"

Naruto laughed, and took off at a sprint to a certain ramen shop.

I sorta rushed this chapter. I didn't really have a clear idea about how to do what I wanted. Hopefully its not too rushed. I have a clearer view of the next few chapters, so they should be better.

A big thanks to my beta, Squirrelbait the Third! Also, questions, suggestions, and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Flames will be used to test fire extinguishers.