A/N; So I'm thinking everything is going great so far. Let me know either way. Thank you to those who've added this story to your favorites or follow list, I hope I don't disappoint. And a huge thank you to netesy1 for posting my first ever review. You Rock! A bit short but it came pretty quick right?

I don't own Naruto

Day two

The Sun beamed through the window rousing Naruto from sleep. He laid a bit longer focusing on the day ahead, feeling heavy in his bed. Slowly, rolling off of his bed to sit on the edge, Naruto opened his eyes, crossed his fingers and five shadows walked out of the room. A flex of his chakra and another clone appeared in mid stride. Clothes were thrown to him and he yawned before putting them on. He walked over to the kitchen, sat down at the table and rested his head. Soon, food was placed out and he began to eat while the shadow took out the journal he'd been given by the Hokage.

"A shadow's personality is determined by the thoughts of the creator. If there is no focus when they are made, they can take on any aspect of the creator at random." The shadow spoke aloud as he wrote.

"One who masters the Kage Bushin should never be the one to fight and the kawarimi should be seal-less and at will so that the original can be replaced with a shadow at all times."

"While Kage Bushins can train almost anything, it is up to the creator to train his body."

"Anything else I forgot?" The shadow asked glancing up from his paper.

Naruto dropped the last piece of bacon in his mouth and mumbled "Henge."

"Ah yes. Because the shadow is a chakra construct its Henge is a true transformation."

Moments later Naruto was kneeling on the ground with his eyes closed. The shadow clone came around from cleaning breakfast, and jumped into the air henging into a headband, which Naruto caught and tied around his head. He closed his eyes again feeling for his Shadows around the village. After a moment he opened his eyes to a tall blonde girl holding out a bag.

"What's this?" He asked to which the blonde only smiled and flooded their connection with her chakra before vanishing leaving a small wisp of smoke like a candle being put out.

Naruto had moved to stop her once the smile had appeared, "No wa-."

Shadow

He was walking out of the apartment on a mission to train his chakra control, eyes focused. 'I'm going to get powerful. I hope the original doesn't slack off. We need him to do his part if we're going to become the next Hokage.' A smile spread across his face as he thought about it and he took off at a run down the street, pumping a fist into the air "Yosh!"

"Yosh!" Came from behind him as a boy in green spandex came running past him. He smiled and put on some speed to pass him and pumped a fist into the air, "Yosh!" he screamed. To his surprise the black bowl cut came bobbing past him slowly. The sweat was coming off the boy dripping passed his clenched teeth, held in an agonizingly wide smile. The boy looked to him and his smile somehow got wider, Naruto couldn't help but smile even wider. "Yosh!" they both screamed as they cut through the street at full speed.

Over a cart lumbering through the street, a bit of chakra to grip the ground while he side stepped a little girl eating a doughnut, only to crash into Lee. Lee was like a wall barely moving from the force, grunting slightly with the impact, then pulling away. He regained his footing licking at Lee's heels. Lee cut a deep left into an ally, springing over a fence and swung off a clothes line to avoid the trays of fish displayed for sale. This put the line out of reach of Naruto and, in panic, he kawarimi'd with an old man, that'd he'd remembered being particularly mean to him. This put him just ahead of lee, who roared as he started taking back ground, screams of the old man and an angry fish sales man filling the air.

Lee suddenly screamed, "Right!" Naruto complied without thought and was shocked to see the ally way open up a few meters down, on one side, into another part of the open air market packed with people crowded around some street performers. Naruto grit his teeth and focused chakra to his feet as he jumped awkwardly to grip the wall. He struggled to keep his body lined up correctly to run, but maintained his focus on his chakra.

A scream of "Youth!" and a shadow flashing across his face brought Naruto's attention to Lee, one leg stretched out, flying over everyone. 'Wow' Naruto thought and his foot suddenly blasted him off the wall. He hit the ground rolling just outside of the crowd, popping up into a run. He caught up to Lee, whom darted into the forest. They sped around trees and over bushes until they burst into a training ground and skidding to a stop. Naruto eyes widened, 'eye brows' and couldn't help but look back at Lee who was gripping his knees breathing heavily.

A great booming voice startled Naruto, "Yosh, another genin comes along to fan Lee's flames of youth. You can call me Guy Sensei, what's your name son?" Naruto gulped and replied, "Uzumaki Naruto", belatedly remembering to bow to his obvious superior.

"You must have pushed Lee to make him winded after only 10 Laps around the village. Nothing like a good sprint at the end of a run to tighten your muscles back to life. Maybe you'd like to partake in a friendly spar?" Guy spoke with a volume much too loud for normal conversation.

"I'm sorry Guy sensei, I'm only a clone." And realizing a race against a clone might not be strictly fair added, "I saw Lee, uh… fanning his flames of youth and I couldn't help but join him. I'm supposed to be.. uh… getting some training equipment."

'Stupid, you're not supposed to be telling people about your jutsu or training. I hope he buys the training equipment line.' Naruto thought angrily

"Marvelous! No need to be sorry, for getting caught up in the flames of youth. What equipment were you seeking?" Guy replied with a huge smile.

"Uh, I wasn't quite sure. Something to help increase strength and speed?"

"Perfect, Lee was just breaking in his new weights, so you can take his old set, as long as I see you again some time to share your passionate youth."

Guy took some heavy looking weights out of a bag and handed the bag to Naruto. "This should do nicely. Take this and come see me when they become light again. There is also a book on weight training inside." Guy finished striking his famous nice guy pose, teeth gleaming.

Naruto took the bag and struck his own pose, with his thumb extended. 'Wow, no one but Jiji, and Old man Teuchi has ever been this nice to me.' Naruto smiled wide as possible trying to hold back to tears of joy, punching the air screaming, "Youth!", before sluggishly running back to his apartment, half dragging the bag of weights.

"Thanks Guy Sensei!"

Original - Hours later

The sun was beginning to set and Naruto was running, his wet shirt thrown to the side long ago. The pace more like a trudge. He was struggling, breathing heavy, 'never give up, never give up, never give up.' He started feeling lighter, like his feet were barely touching the ground and then the world began to tilt. He flexed his arms to raise them but they remained motionless by his sides as he met the ground. Grains of dirt ground into his face, 'I can't move'. His head band turned into a clone and made to pick him up before thinking better of it and making another shadow clone to help. Naruto closed his eyes and let the sweet embrace of sleep take him.

He dreamed about a cute brunette and her laughter when he showed up to the library with a wheel barrel. A couple hours later he was the one the one who got to laugh at her shocked face when he returned the books. The old man seemed almost pleased to see him, though didn't appreciate his trying to stuff one hundred clones into his shop. He awoke to searing pain in his brain as hot, burning chakra filled his skull. Sweat felt like it was boiling off his forehead.

Shadow

Then he was walking out of his apartment again, and to a field. He made a hundred clones and practiced running up a tree.

Original

He did this over and over, until he stopped, tears in his eyes, head throbbing with the same burning sensation. There was no playful conversation to break up the training and the sheer amount of memories was more than ever.

"No more!" He screamed rolling off of his bed in horror. Trapped living the same few hours of tree climbing hundreds of times. When the original shadow had reached out for more chakra while he was running he was happy that he was able to send another clone to transfer it, thinking of how much work would get done. Now he was regretting it with each pulse of pain that surged into his mind between lives. Some part of him was aware of the many lives he lived, the silent watcher agonizingly watching the same movie, like some sick torture.

Shadow

It was mid –morning and he was sitting atop a house in the Uchiha complex, waiting for Sasuke to exit his house, in his green haired persona. He made 50 clones and hid them around the area. Sasuke came out his house locking the door before he was kicked into street. He tumbled a few feet before pulling up to his knees, grabbing his side.

"What the fuck was that?" He spat staring at the green haired ninja.

"A ninja must always be prepared for battle and aware of his situation. A saying from the Shodai in the first great ninja war. Enemy Ninja had been attacking bases with guerrilla tactics, and it was then ingrained in the minds of our forces that ninja were never safe." Naruto said sagely, arms crossed, a few meters away from Sasuke's immediate reach.

Sasuke shoot forward flinging a kunai ahead of him and ducking under a kick from another shadow. Naruto barely dodged the kunai, leaned back away from the rising uppercut from Sasuke, and took a back heel kick to the chest. After delivering the kick Sasuke moved forward under a wide right hook from the second shadow, letting his foot whip over his back to land a scorpion kick to the shadow's face. His foot was then swept under him and he rolled away from a dropping axe kick. He popped up and began back peddling away from three shadows attempting to coordinate an assault on him. He suddenly stopped and lunged a knee into the face of the center shadow and threw a hand full of shuriken from each hand at the two aside it. Both were struck and a smirk spread across Sasuke's face before another shadow came through the smoke to punch him in the face. A round house kick was the follow up, though Sasuke had recovered enough to catch the kick and break the supporting leg of the shadow, with a front kick into its knee cap. Sasuke jumped back away from the cloud to see two legs kick out through it.

Sasuke threw a shuriken out at the right one that dodged into the other. Sasuke pulled back on the wire still attached and it whipped around the shadows necks and continued round their bodies, too shocked to react before they were tied together. Sasuke charged forward and rewarded them each with knees to the face. He jumped back away from the smoke and his back met the foot of another shadow. He hit the ground and rolled away to get kicked in the face by a second attacker. He twisted around and kicked the feet out from under the shadow and back - fisted it in the face. 'At least he's holding back on the strength of his hits today, but he's still an asshole, always hiding behind that jutsu.' Sasuke thought, as he blocked another kick before he could get to his feet. Spotting two more shadows running in from around a building, he lobbed a handful of dirt into the eyes of the shadow still attempting to kick him.

"Nice! Now you're thinking like a ninja Uchiha!" came from the green haired boy sitting on a tree a few yards away.

'That must be him' Sasuke thought as he sprinted toward the tree. A few steps away a wire tripped and he was sent into the air by a rope around his ankle.

He saw the Ninja just out of reach scowling at him, "that was too easy Sasuke." Said the boy, before throwing a kunai to cut him free and vanishing in a puff of smoke. Sasuke righted himself to land on his feet, eyes darting around to find nothing. He walked cautiously for few minutes before visibly relaxing to head to the training ground. 'Kind of disappointed' he thought as he made his way to the training grounds. Walking past a tree he was suddenly punched in the stomach and thrown to the ground. Sasuke rolled and popped up to feet to see three shadows closing on him.

Naruto peppered Sasuke with traps and sets of three shadows all the way until Sasuke finally made it to his front door. A shadow appeared and bowed, "thanks for-"and was cut off with another shuriken. "Fuck you asshole! I don't even know your name!" Sasuke shouted into the cooling evening air.

Shadow

Naruto sat in a field peppered with mirror images of himself all floating leaves. He could see all of them and hear their individual thoughts, like speech so slow it was just a low rumbling. He couldn't feel his body and didn't know what was going on. "Where am I?" seemed to come from all of the shadows. And that is what they were. Shadows of himself cast from somewhere, but every time he looked for himself, reach out with a hand, some of them would reach out a hand not occupied by their focus or look about in confusion.

He sat, or stood, was somehow there for time he couldn't determine. All he had was his thoughts and time seemed to be standing still, not for the first time a bird had come by swimming sluggishly through the sky. When he'd attempted to look more closely at the bird, he felt the mind of his shadows shifting to the bird and the details started to emerge and the bird seemed to enlarge and take up his mind with crisp focus. Belatedly he felt his shadows focus wean, their tasks falter and a wave of anger welled up inside him. He reached out for the bird to destroy it for disturbing his shadows and soon a shadow was lunging into the air at the bird. He couldn't smile, but he felt the satisfaction as the shadows hand closed around the bird's body and began to squeeze. Everything was happening so slowly. The feathers ruffling under his hand. The hot furry burning inside him as the life was about to be squeezed out of the bird. The rage – full – glee knowing its death would soon come. It worthless life snuffed out like an infidel candle piercing his calm darkness. And he stopped, the clone slowly floating towards the ground, the grip reversing its judgement to free the bird. 'I don't kill', he thought. A rolling wave of something stirring within him.

"Weapons kill" rumbled in his mind.

"True, the enemy, and I see none." He replied, watching the bird furiously flap it's wings to escape the loose hand of the shadow.

Days and weeks seemed to pass as he sat in silence, contemplating his role, his purpose.

"What am I?"

"A weapon." Would rumble at his question.

"A weapon or shield to protect those I love?"

"Destroy." Would thunder.

"Everyone? They didn't know what they were doing. They were afraid."

"Revenge." Would shake the ground.

"Maybe" –