AN: Hello again (NOTE, PLEASE READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU CLOSELY WANT TO FOLLOW THIS FIC. IT IS GOING TO BE PRETTY BORING, BUT WILL HAVE INFO THAT EXPLAINS NARUTO'S CHANGES AS HE GETS BACK TO KONOHA AHD HOW HE GETS AS STRONG AS HE DOES). I'd just like to thank everyone for the reviews they've posted. It means a lot to me, and encourages me. For the concerned NaruSaku fans, I'm just asking you to be a little patient. I have to explain a couple more things in the following chapters, but it shouldn't take that long. Then I can get to some dramatic romance lol (maybe some fluff too, its all good lol). This chapter will show you some of the OC characters I created that helped Naruto grow in power (they are only secondary characters, so they won't steal the show). I won't go into too much detail about Iwikagure, only the OC characters he meets and what he does over his one-year absence from Konoha. Most of my OC characters are based off characters from other animes and mangas (they aren't completely the same, but they have noticeable similarities). P.S. I hope everyone likes the way I portray Sasuke, I know he's a prick in the Manga, but he is Naruto's best friend, and I want to make him a character that everyone begins to accept once again.

(End of last chapter)

Sasuke quickly turned around and dove for Naruto, but it was useless, Naruto disintegrated through his arms in a yellow flash. The number one most unpredictable ninja all right. He did it with nothing less then pure genius, he did the impossible. He made it to Iwikagure with three hours to spare before sunrise. He was out of Konoha, and out of their lives.

"NARRUUTTOO!!" screamed Sasuke as he fell on his knees while holding his head (and tearing his hair out) in frustration. Tears falling from his eyes, and then from the sky as it started to rain.

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To say that Naruto grew stronger in Iwikagure would be the understatement of the century. Naruto had become a MUCH more powerful ninja. He had also joined an organization that would counteract Akatsuki. Akatsuki had gotten much more dangerous (in fact, Orochimaru re-joined Akatsuki after his confrontation with Sasuke and Naruto. This was due to the fact that Akatsuki also wanted to destroy Konoha. Akatsuki's original plan was to gain monopoly over all war, and Konoha was the strongest of the 5 great shinobi countries, therefore they would have be taken care of. When Orochimaru learned of this, he gladly returned to Akatsuki). That meant Naruto needed to surround himself with shinobi just as powerful as the Akatsuki. Shinobi that were just like him.

One time, about three months after he arrived in Iwikagure, him and five friends he made traveled to the Akatsuki layer (Naruto had remembered it from the time Kakashi and him had fought Deidara). The layer was empty, except for a giant statue with a shit-load of eyes. Naruto knew what this statue held. He proceeded to destroy it with his five comrades. When the statue fell, the energy of the tailed demons was released once more.

The instant that happened, Gaara felt Shukaku's presence again. He left his desk in Sunakagure. He had to follow that energy and retain it. This was not out of the need for power. Gaara had also changed under the influence of Naruto Uzumaki. He wanted to retain that power so that no other person (especially no child) would have to be responsible to contain that despicable being. He knew it meant giving away his newly acquired sleep, but no one would suffer the way he did. He would make sure of it.

Another interesting thing that happened while Gaara headed towards Shukaku (he could make it from Suna to the layer really quickly cause he could fly through the air on a cloud of sand at very high speeds). Was the Resurrection of Yugito. Her life energy was one with the Nibi's. So when the Nibi was released, her life energy found it's way back to her own body. She too had the same thought as Gaara. She was responsible for that tailed demon.

When Naruto met Gaara and Yugito, he helped them seal the demons back into their bodies (note he learned many things that the Yondaime knew, one you could already tell is the Flying Thunder God technique, this and more will be explained in later chapters by Naruto himself).

After Naruto helped Gaara and Yugito, he met two more Jinchuurikis. Their names were Shujinko Miyabita, and Vasto Roronoah.

Shujinko had successfully sealed the Sanbi within himself, so that he could protect his family. The sanbi had been released in its original form when the Akatsuki statue was destroyed. It had attacked a small village; Shujinko quickly rose to the task of protecting the people he cared for. Shujinko was then outcast by other villagers because they feared what they didn't understand, so he too made his way to Iwikagure. Shujinko had spiky black hard that was a little "poofier" then Naruto's. His hair came down on either side of his face (like the Yondaime's). He had dark brown eyes, which were round (not as round as lee's, but still a little round). He was a funny, and happy guy. He got along very well with others.

Vasto had turquoise hair that was untidy, and spiky (like Ichigo's hair, Ichigo from Bleach). Vasto was the Jinchuuriki of the seven-tailed Ozaru (giant monkey from DB and DBZ, Akatsuki had not captured it yet). Ozaru was black, and created black chakra (Note: The tailed demons in my story will be the same size). Vasto was a sword genius. He was good at all forms of jutsu, but preferred to use blades. He had three. Two were normal, but one was a blade with no handle, just some little ridges one side (where the handle was supposed to be). It was also about one third of the size of the other two swords he carried (which were both katanas). When Naruto asked what it was for, Vasto smiled and put his teeth along the little ridges on the one side of the blade. "ithh thoo I can hol ith in ma mouf", Vasto tried to answer (notice a similarity lol). Vasto was pretty quite, but a nice guy nonetheless.

So far Naruto knew four Jinchuurikis that held a tailed demon, besides himself. What Naruto would learn next would blow his mind away. The five friends he had blown the Akatsuki statue down with, were also Jinchuurikis, but they did not contained a tailed demon inside them. They contained the winged gods (Note: the term god doesn't imply that they are stronger or weaker, or not as evil. I just wanted to make a contrast between the entities. I changed tailed, with winged, so I wanted to exchange demon with something, I chose the term god; the demons and gods are the same size, and practically the same kind of being. You will see why they are called 'winged gods').

His five new friends were all bloodline users, which had been dejected from their families because their parents had married outside of the clan. Two of them were Uchihas, and one was a Hyuuga (to Naruto's huge surprise). The other two were from a clan called the Xhejshu (pronounced Jey-shu), which also had a dojutsu limit. All five of these teenagers (everyone one of the Jinchuurikis I've mentioned is Naruto's age in this fic, even Yugito) were orphans just as Naruto. Their parents dying on their way out of their respective hidden villages, while making the sacrifice for their children to live free of harm and discrimination in other villages.

First was Kai Daitsu. He was one of the two Uchihas (changed last name for security reasons, all of them have changed their last names). He had hair that was dark orange (almost red). It spiked out to the side (like super-saiyan trunks, for those who have seen DBZ, for those who haven't, just look it up on google, or try to imagine if you're not interested). He had lines under his eyes (his eyes were red, even when his Sharingan wasn't active), similar to those of Itachi's. His stare was cold from all of the loss he had experienced in his youth. Kai was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyonga. A fire bird with great powers and chakra (similar to Moltres from pokemon, p.s. I never really liked that anime, I didn't much watch it at all, I love the freaggin game though, so addictive lol). His second chakra was red, which looked almost like Naruto's, except Naruto's second chakra was orange.

Next was Narya Kurosaki. She was one of the Xhejshu. The Xhejshu had an advanced limit called the Kutkogan. It had similar characteristics to the Sharingan. It slowed down movement so that the user could counter in taijutsu. It was similar to Sharingan in all aspects, except two. Instead of copying a move, it allowed the user to identify the move, and use the best possible move the user knew to counter it. For example, say one user is using the giant fireball technique Sasuke knows. The Kutkogan would identify it before it happens (during the hand seals, and orientation of the chakra in the opponent displaces), and get the user to use a water jutsu to counter it (assuming the Kutkogan user knew how to use a water jutsu). The second thing that makes the Kutkogan spectacular is its 'omniscient vision'. When a Kutkogan user kills someone, he learns the techniques and gains the experience the previous fighter had (except for bloodlines or special Justus). It is in this ability, that the Kutkogan users were feared and annihilated. How the original Kutkogan looked, no one knows, since the eyes that the Jinchuurikis had were altered (for the better) by the power of their deity. (Note: in this story, the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Kutkogan all have Mangekyou forms).

Narya Kurosaki had green hair, with beautiful green eyes. She seemed as though she was made of porcelain because her skin was so smooth. She was about 5' 6", which was shorter then all of the boys in her organization (Naruto had grown, and stands at 6' 2" about the same height as the other male Jinchuuriki's, give or take an inch). She was pretty well endowed. Naruto had noticed Vasto glance at her on more then one occasion. She was very sweet, she was nice like Hinata, but had a temper like Tsunade's. She was the Jinchuuriki of the Horaga. A bird that had many colorful feathers on its great wings (similar to Ho-oh from pokemon). Her second chakra's color was a bright, yet deep green.

After her came Kiara, Kiara was half Uchiha and half Hyuuga. Her eyes were like Byakugan eyes, except they were light blue, and had the outline of a pupil in the middle. You would think that a combination of these two great families would be joyous occasion. If you did think so, you would be wrong. The two families tried to kill this child, and her parents sent her away to the village hidden in the steel. That village was attacked by three winged gods and completely destroyed, but not before those three winged gods were sealed into three children. Kiara was fated with the Tesoga, a giant bird of ice (similar to Articuno from pokemon). Kiara was beautiful; she had long blue hair, and unbelievable ivory skin, her body had amazing figure (imagine the princess from the first Naruto movie, as a teenager, which probably isn't hard cause she was like twenty in that movie). Her second charkra's color was a dark indigo blue, which you could clearly contrast from the normal, light-blue colored chakra.

Next was Raiden Madara (his parents changed their last name in honor of the great Madara Uchiha). He was the second Uchiha Jinchuuriki. His family moved to the village hidden in the steel when he was young. They died in the attack of the three winged gods. He was the container of Zaiga, a great bird of thunder and lightning (similar Zapdos from pokemon). Raiden had blond spikey hair that shot up (similar to Vegeta's in DBZ, but Raiden had bangs so his forehead didn't stick out). At the front his hair was blond, but in the back there were black strands (his spiky hair resembles Zapdos's wings). His eyes were black and always looked calm and collected, but when he activated his Sharingan, the iris was yellow instead of red. The color of his second chakra was gold.

Finally there was Vegito (I'm not trying to copy DBZ, it's just really close to my name, only a couple of letters off, and the character is really cool lol). He had no last name. He was the container of the third of the winged gods to strike the village hidden in the steel. He had spiky black hair. It spiked to the side, a little like Kakashi's hair, but it wasn't as long. It managed to give off a red tint (you know when light reflects off a character's hair, there is a color tint, for Sasuke its blue as an example, well for Vegito it's red). His eyes were black. He had lines under his eyes like Itachi, but only about half as long. When he activated his Kutkogan (he is the other Xhejshu member) his eyes have little nike-like check marks around his pupil, and his eyes become dark cobalt/gray. They would shine silver sometimes. He was the son of the Yondaime Dakukage (I tried to translate dark shadow in Japanese, I don't know how accurate it is). The Yondaime Dakukage was as revered as the Yondaime Hokage, and Sandaime Kazekage. He managed to seal three winged gods during one battle, and then died right after. He sealed the Oneiga into Vegito. Oneiga was the great bird of time (imagine Lugia from pokemon), it controlled so much power that only his son could ever hope to contain it. His second chakra was rainbow colored, but all the colors clashed so you just saw silvery-white chakra, with hints of color once in a while.

After Zaiga, Tesoga, and Oneiga were locked away in Raiden, Kiara, and Vegito, the village hidden in steel fell; however, thanks to the sacrifice of the Yondaime Dakukage, the villagers escaped and went to live in Iwikagure. Kai, and Narya moved there a while after. Naturally after meeting them, and realizing that they went through the same pain as him, Naruto became good friends with these people.

Akatsuki was still on the move though. They still wanted to capture all the Jinchuurikis. This was how the organization known as 'Azura' was created. It was created so that the Jinchuurikis could stick together and defend themselves against Akatsuki. Each member brought something different to the team.

Raiden taught Gaara, Miyabita, and Vasto how to unlock their second chakras, making them much stronger.

Yugito taught them how to suppress and completely control their inner demon (Gaara thanked her to death because he could finally sleep again, so did Naruto, because he wouldn't have to talk to Kyuubi as much anymore).

Shujinko taught everyone about the areas outside of the major villages, since he lived in small villages. He knew the wilderness intimately.

Narya taught everyone how to unlock his or her demon dojutsu. Naruto and the rest of the gang (like Gaara, Shujinko, Vast and Yugito) now had special eyes to help them fight (though they weren't as developed right away, they get stronger after a while).

Kiara taught them how to mix elements, since her inner entity was an ice type; she was a natural at mixing elements (ice is water and wind).

Kai taught them how to kill their emotion when it was necessary, and how to bring them back when fighting ceased (however, thanks to Sakura, Naruto had already lost a lot of emotions).

Vasto taught everyone how to use weapons, and to perfect their taijutsu (though Naruto thought Lee was a better hand-to-hand fighter, when it came to swords, no one could hold a light to Vasto. He even used Justu's with his sword, and helped Naruto develop a VERRRY POWERFUL ONE, with a sword of course AN: you'll get to see it later if you still read this story).

Naruto brought something VERY valuable to the team. That was his kage-bunshin training. All of the Azura had HUGE second chakra sources, so they could all use this form of training. These made all of the members get VERY POWERFUL (powerful enough to challenge Akatsuki one on one).

Vegito taught everyone how to release the maximum potential of his or her inner deity. This way the winged gods, and tailed demons stood on equal ground with one another. Everyone in the group was on the same level as everyone else, and their teamwork was unbelievable.

Gaara brought money to the team. He was Kazekgae, but decided to leave it to Kankuro. He was going to join Azura to rid the world of Akatsuki. He brought money and hooked everyone up with his or her gear. He got the cloaks (like the one Naruto wore at the beginning of the first chapter). Each cloak had different color lining, depending on the member's second chakra color. Naruto had orange, Raiden had gold, Yugito had purple, Shujinko had turquoise, Narya had green, Gaara had brownish-bronze, Kiara had indigo, Kai had red, Vasto had black (you could barley see his lining), and finally Vegito had silver.

After one year of training with 1000 clones, with each team member, Azura was EXTREMELY POWERFUL. Everyone would go into battle with each other at the end of the day with all of their clones (in an isolated area). That meant 10,000 participants. So one year, times 1000 clones, plus the climactic battle at the end of everyday, and when the clones were discharged Naruto gained all of that experience (you do the math to see how much stronger Naruto had grown).

Finally Naruto had to take care of one more thing. He had to go to Konoha and remove himself from their history entirely. He had to get rid of his past. He had to get rid of everything about it. His bonds, his dreams, his love for a certain someone who had broken his heart. So he told Azura he would be gone for two months, long enough for him to set everything straight in Konoha. He couldn't stay there; he had new precious people to protect now.

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Present.

So this is where Naruto was now, walking back to Konoha in his Azura cloak. He didn't know why he decided to walk 'maybe its some sentimental reason' he thought. Then something clicked in his mind, 'I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this to Tsunade…" He sighed at the thought as he arrived at the giant gates of Konoha.

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AN: IM SO SORRY this chapter was terrible, but I felt it necessary so that everyone could know what Naruto was up to. I also wanted to explain how he gets stronger in the latter chapters. See I'm not a fan of those fics where Naruto comes back as a god out of the blue. I did this so people can understand how he gets this powerful, and not just be like 'pfft he could never get that strong in one year'. It's also necessary so that you see he has made precious friends somewhere else and it justifies his reasons for not wanting to go back to Konoha to be Hokage there. Don't worry about a story over-run with OC characters. Most of them you will not hear about again. I know some people (such as myself do not like it when a story is over run by OCness it just ruins it sometimes. So you won't see most of these characters again, maybe one or two in the latter chapters but that's it I PROMISE). Please don't let this one bad chapter change your mind about the story, I'll try hard to make good for NaruSaku fans (cause I am one myself). There will be some emotions next chapter. Its going to be Sakura thinking about Naruto and Sasuke, and being conflicted. Sakura's betrayal of Naruto (when she was with Sasuke in the first chapter) will be justified in the next chapter. I'm not going to Sakura bash, cause I like her as a character.