Chapter one: Returning.

A.N.: thanks for the reviews. Even though there were only three, I'm still happy and I thank you deeply. Anyway… on with the story. (P.S.: Naruto will look OOC in this chapter, but in the next ones, I'll try my best to make him the bumbling kid we all love and hate.)

It was already six years past Naruto's kidnapping. The Hokage was never bothered about stupid villagers who were trying to kill Naruto in his years as an infant. He wondered when would the Kyuubi vessel arrive, after all, when the Shitenoo said six years, they really mean exactly six years: 5x365+1x366, multiply all that with twenty four hours, times three thousand six hundred seconds; making a total of 189302400 seconds.

And they only had ten seconds left. It was almost midnight then too, the old man remembered. I wonder how he is now, he mused. He began thinking of many possibilities, has Hyoujin turned him into a psychopath? Then he began imagining a kid at age six killing people while laughing his heart out. No, that's not possible, he thought, ignoring the illusion. Or maybe Shunrai made him a troublemaker? Again, Sarutobi imagined a blonde haired boy making graffiti on the Uchiha mansion walls while drilling holes there that if one were to look at it an angle, it would read 'The Stuck-up bitches live here!'.

Then, before he continued his thinking, a sound of window opening stopped his musings. "Here's the kid. I promised we'll return him after six years," a woman's voice said, followed with a soft thud.

"Asuka? I thought Hyoujin was the one supposed to return him," he said, pointing to a certain sleeping six years old blonde jinchuuriki.

"He's busy. He got the same situation as me, and right now he's in Kirigakure," the red-clad woman replied.

"Kirigakure? What's he doing?"

"The same, returning a child like Naruto, only this one's a girl," she said as she shrugged her shoulders, then turned to the window and prepared to exit, much like her brother did. "Don't ask me her name. Well, see ya!"

"Wait a moment!" the Sandaime yelled. "What did you four did to him?"

"Everything, yet nothing at all," the brunette said calmly. "We taught him everything he must know, and about half of all we know; but we made him forgot about almost everything."

"I see. That was a smart move. It'll be a problem if the villagers begin thinking that he has merged with the Kyuubi."

"Well, he has," Asuka said calmly. "But not entirely," she continued before the old man could blurt something out in surprise.

"You see, we did 'that' to him. It'll only be a matter of time before he remembers everything he should," she said again. "Now, I'm off."

Sarutobi then sighed and massaged his temples in wonder and irritation as he remembered one thing, but had one trick up his sleeves to take care of his problem 'Tomorrow he'll be enrolled to the ninja academy,' he thought.

As Naruto woke up, he remembered nothing, absolutely nothing. He only remembered his name, Kyuubi, and other vague memories he couldn't understand. And he knew he wasn't familiar with the place he was in.

"Fully awake, I see," an old man's voice said.

"Who are you? And where am I?" the boy asked as he got into a battle position on his bed. The battle stance itself, he didn't remember, yet felt awfully familiar with.

'One leg kneeling position, with one hand on the ground and the other flexed like a wild animal; it seemed Hyoujin taught him real well,' the Hokage thought.

"Calm down, I'm not here to harm you or anything, in fact, I'm here to help," he stated.

"You still haven't answered my question yet, old man. Now tell where in the eighteen hells am I before I shorten your lifeline by a couple of inches!" the blond threatened.

"My name is Sarutobi, and you are Uzumaki Naruto, am I correct?"

The boy didn't respond in acknowledgment. "And what is the answer to my second question?"

"You are in Konohagakure, the hidden village of leaves," the old man said.

Naruto didn't say anything, but sniffed the air from his position, "Ok, I trust you. What do you want, jijii?"

"As I said, I am here to help you. By what I gathered, you don't remember anything of the last six years, correct?"

"How do you know?" the Kyuubi vessel growled as he bared his long canines, to make him seem more intimidating.

"I am the Hokage, I have many connections."

"Fair enough. By the way, you said I was in a ninja village, right?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, yes I did. Why? What's the matter," Sarutobi asked back.

"Although I can't trust you yet, I believe I will in time. I'm interested in being a ninja. Can I join the academy?" the blue eyed boy asked as he lowered his stance and stood up on the floor.

"Of course," Sandaime said as he eyed Naruto, examining him again thoroughly. 'That's odd, I thought both his eyes were blue,' he thought.

"Naruto-kun, can you tell me why your eye colors are different?" he asked.

"No. Even if I wanted to, I can't because I don't remember anything safe for my name and several other vague memories that seemed to be in random order," Naruto replied.

"Very well then, I'll see you tomorrow to take care of the papers necessary for your enrollment," the Hokage said before he left. He put about 2000 ryo in a small pouch.

Naruto didn't find anything amusing, so he decided to take a stroll on the village's streets, trying to see what the place was like. He didn't know if he could like the village, but the old man seemed trustworthy; besides, he believed that no one knew him. And he was immediately proven wrong.

"Look at that kid," a villager said. "He looks so much like the kid missing those six years ago."

"The Kyuubi kid? Hey, yeah, you're right," the other said.

"Hey, kid, come here for a second," the gruff villager yelled.

Naruto who didn't know anything obliged and approached the two men. "Hey, kid, why're you walking alone on the streets? Where are your parents?" they questioned him.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything. Why do you ask?" the boy asked them back.

"No reason, demon kid. No kids walk without their parents here. Even if they don't have parents, they will usually go with their guardian or nowhere at all; staying at the orphanage," they sneered.

"Demon kid? Why did you…"

"Know? It's easy. The old man gets more and more senile as he grows older. He should've killed you when he had the chance, like those six years before, after showing you to the village," the taller of the two said as he took out a switchblade.

"And because you should've died years before, we'll do the favor of eliminating you," the other said as he too took out a switchblade.

'No!' thought the Hokage as he looks to his crystal ball. It was at this moment he regretted his actions, the particular one in which he showed Naruto to the villagers, expecting cheers of joy from the people whom the boy had saved. Through this act, everyone, shinobi and civilian alike knew which boy they had to scorn.

"Iruka," he called.

"Hai!" the chuunin answered.

"Go and make sure the child is safe. Go!"

"Hai," he replied as he dashed to the blond boy's location.

"Do you think that guy alone's enough?" a low, gruff voiced man asked from the window.

"The two were only local thugs. Chuunins are enough to take care of them, Hyoujin."

The two villagers walked closer and closer to Naruto and the boy stepped back until his back met a wall behind him. 'Che, I still don't know who I am. I can't die yet!' he repeated in his mind.

"Die!" the two yelled as they lunged at the boy.

Just as Iruka arrived at the scene, he dashed to the corner where the two brutes tried to kill Naruto. When he decided to jump to the action, both attackers already slumped down to the ground, unconscious.

"Who are you? Are you here to kill me too?" the boy asked as his right golden eye glowed eerily and the ground below him cracked slightly, making several passer-bys scared. One thought passed their mind at that time, 'Kyuubi!'

"No, I'm here to safe you, but I don't think you need any of that," the pony-tail haired ninja stated.

Naruto didn't say anything and approached the man. "Take me to the old man, please," he pleaded. "I need to know something."

Iruka nodded and teleported them to the Hokage tower.

"Jii-chan, tell me something," the blonde boy said. "Why did they attack me? Why did they call me the demon kid?" he asked to the old man standing inside the chamber, looking at the Hokage pictures with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Well, Naruto, I don't think there was any reason for you to know before, but now, I am sure that you should," the old man stated.

"Do you know of the Kyuubi no Kitsune?" he asked.

"No, what's it got to do with me and the treatment I got on my first day in here?" the boy yelled at the 'Professor'.

"It was the great nine tailed demon fox that once ravaged this village. In its attack, we lost many shinobi, and the Yondaime Hokage lost his life in the process of defeating it," he replied solemnly as he lit his pipe.

"So? That still doesn't explain anything!" he roared in anger as his clawed fist struck the wall next to him, busting a rather shallow hole in it.

"The great beast was sealed inside you," the Hokage answered.

The realization hit Naruto hard. He had a demon inside him? Why did the fourth Hokage sealed the demon inside him? Weren't there other kids around? He shook in rage while thinking about it.

"Naruto! Naruto! Are you all right? You zoned out a minute ago," Sarutobi said as he shook the boy's shoulders to snap him out of his daze.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," Naruto said as he held his head with his right hand.

"Ok then. I do hope you'll still be okay for your first day at the academy tomorrow," the Hokage continued.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Now, I have other things to do. See ya around, jii-san," the blond boy said.

Naruto closed the door rather roughly and the door slammed shut, leaving two senior ninjas behind in their musings.

"Hokage-sama, why did you let him enter under such a short notice?" Iruka frantically asked because he didn't really want to have the jinchuuriki in his class and it would add his work.

"He has marvelous talents. It'll be a waste to not use it; besides, my friends made me promise to. Plus, it'll be a test for him in his people skills," the veteran ninja replied.

The next day, Naruto arrived at the ninja academy with a sour face. Somehow, word about the 'demon kid' returning made the adults pissed. They all herded their children away from the blonde boy while giving him cold glares he responded with an angry face.

"So, what do you think?" Iruka asked.

"Don't know yet. Somehow they all looked like they were trying to pick a fight with me. Ne, Iruka-san, which class am I in?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Follow me," the scarred chuunin said.

Iruka led Naruto through the academy's corridor and arrived let him in a class; after the boy entered, Iruka followed suit and closed the door behind him.

Naruto looked slightly confused, but his thoughts were interrupted when Iruka cleared his throat to silence the students inside. "Class, this is Uzumaki Naruto, a new student. Your seat will be next to Kiba. Kiba, raise your hand."

Naruto walked towards the designated seat, ignoring the whispers his new teammates, but he overheard something about 'scary kid'.

"Hey, so you're the new kid, huh? The name's Inuzuka Kiba and this is my dog, Akamaru. Nice t' meet ya'," the energetic boy greeted.

"Yeah. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to know you too," he replied.

"The guy to your right is Nara Shikamaru. He might not look like it, but he's actually really smart," Kiba continued his introduction, to which Naruto nodded and made a mental note about sleeping geniuses with 'stylish' pineapple hair.

"The one next to him, who's taking a snack, is Akamichi Chouji. He's nice, but don't get in his way when it comes to food," the dog user said.

"Hey, Kiba, if you're trying to wake me up, you did it. So, are you the new guy?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah. Just came yesterday," the Kyuubi vessel answered.

"Hmmm, where were you from?" Kiba asked.

"Don't know, I got amnesia and remember only vague memories and my name."

Just then, a snort from his back erupted, showing an arrogant kid with black hair and eyes with his hands crossed in front of his face, covering the bottom half of it.

"Who's the kid in blue?" Naruto asked.

"Uchiha Sasuke, the student of the year," was the answer from two seats to his right.

"Is he strong?" Naruto inquired.

"If you're so curious, why don't you find out for yourself?" Sasuke responded.

"Hey, no talking in class!" Iruka yelled.

"How troublesome. Rules are annoying," the lazy genius muttered.

"Calm down, Iruka-sensei, they're just probably excited to know the new boy better," a silver haired chuunin, the other teacher stated.

"Hmm, no matter. Class, head to the dojo. We will have a sparring class," the scarred chuunin declared.

"The perfect opportunity comes. I'll show you just how strong I am," Sasuke sneered.

Naruto didn't say anything, ignoring the black haired boy's words.

"Hey, new kid, I think Sasuke'll try to fight you in the spar," Chouji warned.

"Don't worry, Chouji-san. I'm not that weak. By the way, we haven't officially introduced ourselves. Uzumaki Naruto," the amnesiac said while sticking his hand out.

"Akamichi Chouji. Just call me Chouji," the plump boy introduced himself as he took Naruto's hand and shook it. "And this is my good buddy,…"

"Nara Shikamaru," the pony tailed boy said as he shook the newbie's hand.

"Hey, guys, tell me what's so special about the Uchiha anyway?" Naruto asked.

"He's from one of Konoha's strongest clan, the Uchiha and also possesses the Sharingan. It's still dormant in him though," Kiba told him.

Hearing about the Sharingan, Naruto inquired more about it.

"A special clan doujutsu that allowed the user to copy techniques and predict attacks, the last stage's strength is unknown, though," the pineapple haired boy said.

"Yes, Sharingan. It'll be interesting to know its strength," Naruto whispered in an excited tone as he walked through the corridor to the dojo.

As they all entered the dojo, everyone saw the two chuunins waiting, with a board with all their names on it. "This board will determine who will fight whom," the silver haired chuunin, Mizuki spoke.

Then, without further ado, he continued, "The first match will be…. Muroga Tetsuya versus Uzumaki Naruto."

A light brown haired boy wearing dark green shirt and black shorts stood up from where he sat and Naruto bid his new friends farewell before following the other. The two academy students advanced to the center of the chamber and got into their own fighting stances.

Tetsuya's was a basic taijutsu stance, while Naruto's was more advanced. His palms were facing each other in front of his chest, his left hand above his right with the fingers forming a set of jaws. His feet were about half a meter apart from one another, his right foot on front and the left foot bent slightly and the body was hunched a little. (Guessed it yet? This is the dragon stance.)

"Begin!" Iruka roared.

Tetsuya advanced towards his opponent, jumped and brought his fist down hard, aiming it to the amnesiac's face. Naruto reversed his hands' position to the left one above the right. The move effectively blocked the fist and left the blond boy a hole in defense which he used very efficiently. He bent his hands inwards, facing his body and slammed the back of his hands to the black haired boy's stomach; knocking the winds out of him.

The Muroga boy skidded back several steps while clutching his stomach. "Some freaking newbie trying to act tough like you can't beat me," he sneered.

"Hear this damn well, you idiot," Naruto yelled, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I won't loose to anyone! Never!"

The arrogant black haired lad charged again with a flying kick aimed to the head. Naruto blocked it by hitting the back of the assailant's leg with both his arms, caught the calf and ankle then threw him towards a nearby wall. Tetsuya was knocked unconscious and the Uzumaki emerged victorious.

Naruto didn't bother watching the other matches as his head was filled with weird pictures, and it was giving him a headache, unbeknownst to him, he missed several fights that way.

"Hey, you Ok?" Chouji asked his new friend.

"Yeah, you look like you had a weird thing going down your head or something," Kiba continued.

"Don't give him more stress than he can handle. His next match's up," Shikamaru told the two after a match was canceled with a 'win by default', "Troublesome matches and stupid tournament making sensei."

"Thanks for caring guys. Wish me luck," the blonde boy said happily.

'The next match will be against another unworthy fool. Let's hope this one provides more entertainment,' he thought.

His next opponent was Amano Jin; a black haired boy around his height, which was 4 feet 6, perhaps good in weapon throwing, not bad in taijutsu, and wore a gray tank top and red knee-long pants.

The two fighters stepped into the ring and waited for the signal given by their instructor. When they heard it being shouted, they both charged towards each other; Jin with a fist and Naruto with a tiger claw.

Jin feinted with the fist as he lashed out a kick to Naruto's stomach. He dodged the attack sideways and hit the brunette's shin with his tiger claw. The fingers hit the bone and broke it and left Amano with a wounded, bruised leg; making him unable to continue, thus considered to loose.

The match continued on and saw that his friends were managing in their own ways. He smiled to the spectacle and thought, 'someday, we're gonna make a lot of chaos.'

The golden-blue eyed boy's third and last match was with Uchiha Sasuke, an opponent he sorely wishes to defeat.

"The opponents you had were weak," the Uchiha began, "but I'm better."

"Losers talk big but don't know what the hell it is they're saying," Naruto replied harshly.

The teachers/judges gave them the 'go ahead' sign and they charged against each other.

Sasuke attempted to punch Naruto's face with his right hand, an attack he blocked with an outer left-hand parry and continued with a palm strike to the jaw. The arrogant Uchiha reeled his head back, and then tried to kick his opponent with a sharp knee kick to the stomach.

The amnesiac dodged backwards and charged again with a roundhouse he aimed to Sasuke's head. He ducked and uppercut the blond boy. The blond boy retaliated with a backward dodge and slammed Sasuke's ribs with his forearm, breaking two in the process.

The Uchiha boy clutched his chest in pain and tried to charge at his opponent again, but the match was stopped immediately. "Why did you stop the match, Iruka-sensei?" he roared, "I can still continue and he is still standing."

"Wrong!" the said Chuunin said, "Just to let you know, two of your ribs are broken. Now get to the hospital! Mizuki-san, take him there, please."

The silver haired chuunin nodded and left with Sasuke. The match continued, but Naruto got several glares from the girls in his class. They all whispered to each other, talking about the 'asshole of a new kid who dared to hurt their precious Sasuke-kun'.

Naruto ignored them all and paid attention to his friends' matches while assessing their power and weaknesses. 'Kiba is more of a brawler type who relies on strength and speed rather than strategy; Shikamaru relies on his quick thinking ability and strategy that makes up for his rather low stamina' Naruto thought.

He then proceeded to watch Chouji's fight. 'He uses brute strength to remedy his slowness, but power can only do so much,' he mused.

"Oy, Naruto, what's up? You spaced out for a while," Shikamaru said.

"Uuh, nothing. I was just thinking. Why are all the girls so attached to that Sasuke guy?"

"'Cause his clan is one of the strongest in Konoha is one of them," Chouji said as he slumped down to the ground and sat there while wiping his sweaty forehead.

"The other is because they all think he's cute, or something," Kiba continued, "Man, I don't get it what is it with these numskulls? Missions're supposed to be more important than romance and learning how to complete one is more important than guys!"

"You just say that because you don't have a date, dog boy," said one of his previous challengers.

"And you're talking like that 'cause the closest thing you ever got for a date was a cow," the canine master retorted.

"Man, they're so troublesome. Can't they just shut up and let a guy sleep in peace," Shikamaru groaned. "By the way, Naruto, what're you gonna do?"

After class ended, Naruto walked to the hospital accompanied by Iruka, who was trying to know him better, but found nothing as he himself knew nothing. The trek wasn't long, but it seemed like hours for the duo as neither seemed to be willing to strike a conversation.

"Ne, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said out of the blue, "Did I really hurt him bad?"

"A broken rib or two isn't fatal, just needs some relaxing and not pushing yourself harder. Besides, as an academy student, it's not rare to get injured," Iruka replied casually.

When they reached the antiseptic scented place, the pair looked for the room of Uchiha Sasuke and got in.

The room was like the other hospital wards. White walls, white sheets, and basically white everything; and smells like antiseptic, alcohol (the 70 alcohol used to clean things, not drinks, mind you!), and medicine.

The bed in the corner of the room was surrounded with many people. Two people who looked like Sasuke stood there. The older one, obviously the father was scolding the onyx haired boy about 'not living up to expectations' and 'disgracing the family name'. The younger one, perhaps the older brother didn't say anything, he just stood there, leaning on the wall with his eyes closed.

Naruto and Iruka quickly exited the room and waited until all of the people inside were out and proceeded to enter when they did. Iruka bowed respectfully to Sasuke's father and brother while Naruto didn't do anything.

Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha clan looked at the pair as if he was underestimating them, looking down at them; which he did. Sasuke's brother, Itachi, however just looked at the blond with one thought going out in his mind, 'is this the kid? If he is, things might get more interesting.'

The Uchiha family went out without a word. That was the cue for the teacher and his student to get in, but what welcomed them wasn't what they expected.

"Why are you here? To humiliate me again?" Sasuke snarled.

"No, to apologize," Naruto told him sincerely.

"Apologize? Apologize for what? For being so strong? For being able to beat me? Leave! I don't need your apology or this kind of treatment!" Sasuke spat out.

"Sasuke, Naruto was…" Iruka said.

"No need, Iruka-sensei. If the idiot refuses to accept it, then suits himself," Naruto said as he walked away and gave Sasuke a loud fart.

Outside the hospital, Naruto felt hungry, so he went to the restaurant nearest to him; Ichiraku Ramen. He sat down and ordered a miso ramen. As he waited his order, he overheard some of the customers inside saying "god-damned demon brat turns out to be alive", continued by "a blonde kid with unmatched eyes".

Naruto felt angry upon hearing the comment, but gave it no heed as his order arrived. He inhaled the wonderful scent and gobbled it gluttonously. In less than a minute, he was finished with his first bowl and ordered for another. This kept going for 40 times until the blonde was so full, he couldn't move. When the bill arrived, he paid about fifty ryo extra for the tip and left with wobbly legs that barely kept him standing.

The amnesiac reached his apartment after 30 minutes and crashed on the floor, making the person inside worried out of his head.

"Naruto, are you okay?" the Sandaime Hokage yelled in panic.

"Ye (burp)… Yeah. I over ate, I think," Naruto said, getting up.

The old man sighed in relief and brought the six year old to the couch. He tried to say something, but Naruto beat him to it.

"So…, jii-chan, why are you here?" he asked.

"It's about the treatment some of the villagers gave you. I know it's been less than a day since you arrived here, yet they started giving you those glares, insult, and death threats," Sarutobi declared.

"What about them?" the boy replied.

"I'm going to make you an offer. Give them a chance, give or take a year. Live here for that period. If they still do it, you are free to go and return if you wish," the Hokage told him.

Naruto didn't say anything for several minutes before he finally agreed to the terms. And regretted the decision for the year he spent his life in Konoha.

A.N.: Hmmm, nothing to say…. Review please, I guess?