Shinigami. The lord of the dead. A being of incredible and horrific power that could even sever the life force of those with unending life. Despite all that, when he wasn't on the job, he rested in his realm, took off his guise and relaxed. He was really just like a normal person, a plan looking, human-like being, he even work spectacles, nothing really made him stick out, that had an important job. Although, it was a lonely one, which was why he'd allowed the seal contract to come about. It gave him an opportunity. You see, he wasn't able to control the dead, merely harvest them, and move them along. Only souls promised to him were malleable. So it was thus that he had a buddy to relax with. The whole, spend eternity in the Shinigami's belly bit was just to keep the foolhardy from make the deal. He wanted company not a flood of souls that could unbalance things. You see, the Shinigami was a being of law, so such chaos would not only disgust him, but weaken him.

It was this very lawful nature that brought him to the point he had reached. Ten years after Minato had joined him, did the Shinigami really take a look over the paperwork, and recoiled in horror. You see, the seal contract was very specific. It required one soul to be devoured and another sealed away. There was no half way about it! The Shinigami was incredibly bothered by this. It meant that he had broken his own rules! That couldn't be allowed, but neither could he just go about restoring him to life…unless…yes! That was it!

So the lord of death, smiled dangerously as he prepared everything, it would take him only moments to complete what would take the most powerful mortal's years. For his blindness, he had debt to repay. So it would be repaid. No matter what. Thus it was that he donned the mask of his office, and took his most terrifying and powerful form. It would require it to complete the task that he set out for himself.

'This is the way of the world. Law remains. Chaos flows. Life lives, and the dead die. I must fulfill my bargain. I am Shinigami. I am death. Look upon me, ye mighty and despair.'

Naruto: Shinigami's Folly

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

[Three Years Later…]

Naruto frowned as he walked towards the last day of class. It was his last chance at graduating the academy, so he had been practicing like no tomorrow to make sure he was ready. He was dressed in his famous orange jumpsuit, and goggles. He noticed a shopkeeper glaring at him, and several people started walking a bit faster as he passed. But nothing would be able to drown his good spirits today! He had considered pulling off one last prank for old time's sake, but he had woken up late from all the practice he had done and didn't want to miss the very last class.

It was a long walk to the academy from his apartment, but today it felt like only a step or two, to the over excited blond. He calmly walked into the academy and frowned, noticing only a sparse few seats remained; he took one next to the Uchiha. Although they weren't the best of friends, they had a grudging respect, and an agreement. Both of them closed their eyes as the screeching of Sasuke's two biggest fans reached their ears, the primary reason for said agreement. This was one of the deals they had made with each other when they had met in class this past year. To assist Sasuke with his fan girl problem, and Naruto with his…problems…they agreed. Naruto would always save a seat on the end for Sasuke if he arrived first, or if he arrived second, he would take the open seat next to the Uchiha heir, and Sasuke would help him to pass the test.

"Sometimes…I wish you would just tell them you were gay." Naruto grimaced as their volume reached a horrifying level.

"Hn." Sasuke almost agreed but his mother would probably hear, and shivered as he worried about his own fate at that point. "Not worth it." He responded coolly.

"True, I suppose your sister wouldn't like to hear…" Naruto shivered as he stopped however, his vision clouded by a pair of shadows cast from behind him

"Na-ru-to! Move now, or we will make you! This is the last class, and I want to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched loudly from next to the blond, who covered his ears.

"Not for all the Ramen in this room!" he shouted back, knowing there was NO ramen in the room. "Now scram! Before…oh look Sasuke's used chewing gum!"

"WHERE!" the two fan girls screamed before restarting their fight, as Kiba decided to shake his head and take the vacant seat next to Naruto, with Hinata on his left.

"Those two need to seriously chill." Kiba growled, and Naruto and Sasuke nodded once each, and even the timid Hyuga had to agree.

"SAKURA! INO!" the shout of Iruka caught everyone's attention as he and Mizuki walked in. "Sit down!" the pair shot to a pair of vacant seats instantly as Iruka shook his head.

"Alright, now we will start calling names for the final exams…when we call come up take a test and good luck…" Mizuki stated as the dreaded academy final began.

[Two Hours Later…]

Naruto was sitting on the swing just outside of the academy, looking towards the doors, as the other children met with their parents, friends, and others who had managed to pass. Naruto didn't know what had gone wrong…he was so close! But at the last second…it was like a weight had been pressed down on him…he could feel the tears of disappointment welling up. He should have been with them…he should…have…

Then he was running from the academy, he just couldn't stay and watch them. He just couldn't watch his dreams fall into ruins, it was over. He had failed. "Naruto." The calm voice of Mizuki said from his side, easily able to keep pace. "Stop, I have something important to tell you."

Naruto did slow to a stop, looking around a bit. He didn't want people to see him with Mizuki-sensei, they might treat him badly. "Yes? Mizuki-sensei?"

"Naruto. I know how you feel right now…failing like this…it's the end of your ninja career…so Iruka and I talked a bit. We decided on awarding you the special opportunity. It's a secret though…so you can't tell anyone about it! Got that?" Mizuki asked, leaving the blond boy blinking at the words of his sensei.

"S-So if I do this…I can become a genin?"

"That's right Naruto." The older man smiled as he ran a hand through his hair a bit. "So what do you say?"

"Tell me about the test, you can count on me!" if only Naruto knew what Mizuki's devious smirk really meant as he explained the test. After dismissing the boy and watching him run off, he calmly slipped into an alley way and handed off a scroll to another shinobi.

"Give this to your contact, for our mutual master. The delivery will happen tonight." Mizuki stated and the man nodded before disappearing into a puff of smoke. While Mizuki happily whistled and walked away, thinking on the truth. That Root ninja, would tell Danzo exactly what he needed him to know, and thusly Naruto's attempt to get the scroll would be no problem. Too bad for the old geezer he had always been serving a much better master. His eyes gleamed dangerously as he walked into the fading light of the day, and wondered on what the night would bring.

Standing above it all, a solitary shadow watched the Village Hidden in the Leaves from above. Its single eye staring down upon the masses, as if it were a god looking down upon the world. "All according to plan. Mizuki thinks he can betray us. He will learn the sting of betrayal is not so soft." The aging leader of Root stated as he looked down upon the Village that would one day be his. He would use the event tonight to demonize Naruto even to his greatest supporters and then craft him into a true weapon for the tree that is Konoha. "Come, we have much to do." The silent unit of Root merely disappeared following their leader.

[That Night…]

Naruto gasped as he collapsed down with the scroll in hand, and a smile on his face. Now…what did Mizuki sensei say to do with it? He thought about it and smiled. 'Of course! He wants me to learn a jutsu from it!' So without even a moment of consideration he flung the scroll open and smiled, as he quickly looked over it. He read several of the jutsu held within and frowned. 'Seals huh? This scroll holds a lot of them…they are pretty simple looking…' he thought as he copied them down, and wrote their purpose with the ease of anyone who had an in-depth understanding of seals. 'Huh, I wonder why they don't teach us to make these in the academy? They are so simple!' he considered that for a moment, and wondered about the fact that they were so simple, then how could he consider it passing to just use them!

So he rolled up his scrolls and slipped them away for later, and decided to look at those later. He needed a cool jutsu. 'Kage Bushin huh? Well I did fail at the bushin…so…hey look at all these different kinds of Kage Bushin! I have to learn it!'

It took him hours to get it together to learn the Kage Bushin alone and decided he would just copy the instructions for the other Kage Bushin variants to learn later. He smiled as he looked at the notes he'd taken. He would never bitch to Sasuke about teaching him to take notes again! This was awesome, Mizuki-sensei would be so…

"Naruto! What are you doing!" Iruka screamed out as he appeared in the wrecked clearing, looking around with surprise as he did. 'How could Naruto…'

"Ha! So you were the first to find me, eh Iruka-sensei? I was only able to learn one of the jutsu, but I am sure it's enough to pass!" he shouted loudly, as Iruka blinked in confusion.

"I should have known you would find him first, Iruka!" Mizuki said from above them with a smirk. "No matter. Tonight…the Kyuubi brat dies!" He screamed before rearing back, and pulling out an oversized shuriken and using his killing intent to freeze Naruto in place. Iruka was shocked as he moved to try and defend Naruto from the attack.

"K-Kyuubi?" Naruto stuttered as he looked around but he could feel his knees quiver. He watched as Mizuki threw the shuriken and laugh.

"Why so shocked! I am talking to you! You little bastard!" Naruto felt his chest tighten as more and more of Mizuki's killing intent poured over him. He clenched his eyes shut, clinging to the forbidden scroll. He could only shiver as he felt everything slow to stop, Iruka was just too far away. The Shuriken too fast…Naruto could feel it. He was going to…

'Move!'

Naruto's eyes widened and rolled out of the way, and looked to Mizuki and Iruka. He didn't know how he'd suddenly moved, but something had clicked in his head as he looked to Mizuki. "You tricked me! Well…I don't think I can let that slide…Mizuki." As he glared at his former sensei and pulled out a kunai, shifting it in his hand to a reverse grip…It felt so natural. Mizuki's eyes narrowed before he smirked.

"Prepare yourself!" he moved to throw the second shuriken, as he looked down at the blond below his eyes widened as a single kunai slammed into his chest charged with lightning. Although his armor stopped the blade, the electric power slammed into the chuunin's body and flash frying him.

"I won't let you! You just want to hurt people! When I am Hokage…I will make sure that people like you…are punished!" then he charged forwards as Mizuki recovered and growled, pulling out a kunai to meet the blond. All the while Iruka stared on, in fascination. When had Naruto learned elemental manipulation?

"You can't beat me you little punk!" Mizuki shouted before Naruto smirked.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" and a dozen Naruto's followed his lead, as Mizuki shook his head in exasperation and easily overpowered the blond, smashing into the clones, and then kicking the original hard enough to smash him into a tree.

"Is that it?" as he reared his arm back, and threw the kunai. "don't you see! Even your precious Iruka-sensei can only watch as the monster dies!" Naruto let out a breath in pain, unable to move anymore. Then he closed his eyes, he just couldn't…

"Urk…N-Naruto…are you…alright?" Iruka grunted in pain, that kunai had dug in pretty deep. Naruto just stared at his sensei as the scarred chuunin smiled before leaning forward. "I-I want…you to run…please…take the scroll…to the…H-Hokage." Iruka gasped out as Mizuki chuckled, having recovered one of his massive shuriken and happily spun it, giving it enough speed to cut through them both.

"Don't worry, I'll send both of you off!" then he threw it as hard as he could at the pair, closing his eyes, listening for that…

'thunk!'

Mizuki smiled as he opened his eyes to look at the pair, and paled. There was no blood, no bodies, nothing but the kyuubi-brat standing behind the shuriken slammed into the earth before him, an unreadable expression on his face. "Why won't you just-urk" he blinked as he realized that the small blond had closed the distance in a breath, slamming a fist into his exposed throat before whispering the name of his next move.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu." It took only a moment for the chuunin to recover and look around before he gasped. He was surrounded by dozens and dozens of the young blond. He couldn't even hope to count them. "I may not be stronger than you alone…but if you ever…hurt Iruka-sensei again…" then he closed his eyes before turning away as his clones charged. "I'll destroy you." It took only moments for the clones to subdue the rogue and for him to move over to his wounded sensei.

[Hokage's Office]

The legendary Professor, God of Shinobi, the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled a bit as he watched the event, and the young blond's words warmed his heart. Not for the first time in his long life did he think that perhaps the young blond had the makings of a great shinobi, one that could one day reach his lofty dream. The aging Hokage calmly stopped watching the crystal before him, and turned towards the dark windows behind him, the lights of his village at night consumed his sight as he thought about the night's events. He would have to delay the team registration back two weeks now that Naruto had been added into the mix, along with all the chaos Mizuki caused. Not only that, he needed to have a word with Naruto. Something he needed to confirm himself. Not to mention he wanted to throw those bigots in the council through a loop for a bit, arguing.

"Hokage-sama. Not to be rude…but did you know where Naruto was the entire time?" the quiet voice of one of his top jonin broke the aging Hokage from his thoughts. Sarutobi looked back at the Elite Jonin with little more than a smile.

"Perhaps Kakashi-kun, perhaps." The elder smiled as he lit his pipe and turned a bit more so he was half facing the copy ninja. "Maybe you'd like a chance to see for yourself the bright flame that young Naruto has begun to cultivate…" at the strange look the Hokage was giving him, Kakashi could only smile and nod.

"Perhaps, Hokage-sama. Perhaps I will have the chance."

[Naruto's Apartment: Later that night…]

Naruto sighed as he collapsed into his bed, the morning was slowly approaching and he wanted to get as much rest as he could, after all, tomorrow he would be starting his journey as a ninja…but for now he was just exhausted. So he slowly began to drift off until he fell into a deep slumber.

'Naruto…' the quiet whisper filled the room, as a shadowy figure appeared next to his bed. '…you finally heard me…' the quiet whisper slowly faded as the figure followed, the tides of fate had been shifted. The world was blurring together, and far away the Shinigami smirked, as he considered what would happen next, and deep within the soul of the young Uzimaki a massive eye opened for but a moment.

'Not yet…I still desire rest…'and all fell to silence.