Updated twice in one day :D I'm determined to get this fic moving along, as I really really love it. I'm trying to take my time, and not ruining the chapters, but it's really hard to not just have a brain puke onto my keyboard and send out some terrible work...lol

Thanks to anyone and everyone who reviewed last chapter, and I hope you all review again...I really do love reviews. So yeah, sporks, cockadoodledoo, cockatrices, snowdrops, cake, basketball, Hidan, Jashin, religion, inverted triangles, inverted pentagrams, pentagrams, star, star of david, jewish people, no pork, pork, pig, and more random things of such a description.

This chapter is just getting him back into Konoha, getting his disguise, and showing how his training works. It's not very plotty, but it is necessary. The next chapter will have a timeskip to him becoming a chuunin in the exams with everyone else, a month and three weeks after this...with his training schedule with the bunshins and Gai every...single...fucking...day.

Also, for any yaoi haters who are reading this story...it will be yaoi. When it gets to that, I will mark it so you can skip it, and it won't affect the plot if you do. If there is a problem with that, please stop reading now. I'm gay myself, and I'm writing a hetero fic alongside his one, so...yeah.

Anyway guys, hope you enjoy this chapter, and for the love of all that is Jashin...review.

Chapter Three: Explanations and Integrations.

''N...Naruto! What happened? How did you get a Sharingan? Where did you get a Sharingan? How are you still alive?'' Sarutobi questioned, he paused not once and said everything with a single breath.

''C-calm down old man,'' Naruto said. His voice was no longer innocent, it sounded worn and rough. His throat was still torn open and his vocal chords were exposed- you could see them move with every word he spoke. ''I'll explain everything...and before you ask, no, no one else can have a shiny new Sharingan eye.'' the Hokage was stunned- Naruto thought he only wanted to know where he got the eye so he could give it to new ninja? Nonsense!

''Naruto, I didn't mean that. I only wanted to know where you got it, incase you had seen anyone you shouldn't have.''

''Oh Hokage-sama, I have seen plenty of things I should not have seen. I have experienced plenty of things I should never have had to experience, and I have been hurt more in the past 24 hours than most ninja in their life. I should really have left...but I haven't- because I have faith now. I have been given something to believe in.'' the croaky voice kept coming in stops and starts- the Hokage was surprised when blood began tricking down his chest from his throat, and he coughed up more blood as he spoke, but Naruto shook his hand to discourage taking action.

''Naruto, it is fantastic that you have something to believe in! Maybe it's something we have in common, like a nindo, or possibly thoughts on the village. Explain to me your new beliefs.'' The Hokage realised what he had just said was foolish as he caught a glipse of black flash across Naruto's singular blue eye. The black returned at the edge and began working it's way in, eventually covering his entire eye, leaving a black pupil, iris, and sclera mixed as if they had never been seperate. If he hadn't been surprised enough, it was all he could do not to cry out as a fire- a geniune burning flame- appeared in the freshly-made genin's eyes.

''Hokage-sama, I have found no new nindo. I have found no new ideas for the village, and it is impossible that you, or anyone else in the village follows my belief. I have discovered the glory of Jashin. The Lord Jashin, Lord of the Slaughter spoke to me, whilst I was dead. Do not regret burying me- I truly was deceased.'' Sarutobi was shocked, Naruto never spoke like that, not to him and not to anyone else. He had changed from the happy-go-lucky 7 year old he was into something completely different. ''Lord Jashin explained to me everything. He told me of his beliefs, of his religion on Earth which has few followers- but those who follow are devoted to him completely. He decided I had potential that was being wasted. He gave me some new abilities, which I would rather not disclose, and told me that I was to be his prophet. I must spread the word of Jashin. As for the Sharingan Eye, Lord Jashin gifted it to me so I could have advantages over the non-believers who would want to stop me from spreading Jashin's truths.''

The Hokage was sure human eyes were not supposed to be as wide as his were now. Jaws were also not meant to be as low as they were. ''Naruto, you found and spoke to Kami-sama whilst you were dead?''

''No. No. Lord Jashin and Kami are two different beings, with two very different ways of doing things, from what I was told. Kami is God. There is no leader of hell, but there are demons. One demon had a child with an angel, and the resulting offspring was the Divine Lord Jashin. Unlike Kami, who relishes in peace and calm, the Lord of Slaughter revells in hatred, pain, anger and death. He saved me not because he hated to a see a child die- do not think that for one moment. But the religion of Jashin is all about pain. One who does not understand pain does not, and can not have the right to inflict pain on others. He saved me, because he knew I understand pain. He knew I was the best choice to be his prophet.''

''You...You are alive because of a deal you made with the bastard son of a demon? You must renounce it Naruto! If you renounce and accept Kami-sama again, you will be spared from torment! Truly, these gifts he gave you are only to sway you over to his side, I know this for sure. We must take you to be purified of this, Lord Jashin's taint.''

''If Kami is so powerful and benevolent, if Kami is so kind and helpful, then where was he when I was dying. Where was he, when two adult ANBU forces were ripping their way through my flesh like meat. Surely up in heaven, in the land of peace, watching down on us all as we are taught. So if he saw, and did not help, then I do not want to worship such a being. Jashin saw. My Lord saw, and he saved me. He gave me salvation, and now it is my task to do the same. He gave me immortality, Hokage-sama. Why else do you think I am in such a state and not dead?'' the Hokage knew Naruto was correct in that. He had every right not to be all too chummy with something that had left him to torture.

Naruto stood, and made his way toward the door, hand on the wall. ''I am going to return to my apartment, get some new clothes, heal my major wounds, and return to the academy on schedule tomorow. I shall give a false name, and they shall not be told who I am. Believe it.'' he said, the ending phrase a mockery of his previous childish innocence which believed he could do anything. This sounded full of hatred, sorrow, and defeat...Sarutobi shed another tear.

Back in Naruto's Apartment.

Naruto had started a bath running the moment he had got back to his apartment, and flicked on the kettle he would use to make some instant ramen. No way near the taste sensation he received from eating at Ichirakus, but unfortunately the ramen-shop owner was asleep at 11:43pm. Naruto knew he should be as well- but there was no time for sleep. He had to get to work if he didn't want people to recognise him as Naruto tomorow. Falling into his bath once it was finished, he knew what he had to do. A mask. And a completely different change of clothes...and no acting like a dobe. No more dead last. Jashin wanted him to become strong, and had gifted him with the means to do so- there was no way he was going to waste that. He decided that the next day, he would send some Kage Bunshin's down to the library in his new outfit (once he decided what it would be) and get them to take out as many scrolls as possible on ninjutsu's, genjutsu's, taijutsu's, and other general topics such as mathematics, science, anatomy, history and books on geography- he may be defeated at some point, but he knew there was no way he would let ignorance be the cause.

Eventually stumbling out of his bath, and clearing the huge chunks of mud and grass he just knew would clump up the drain, he gathered all the small insects which he could find still alive in his wounds, and put them in a small box. He would gift them to Shino tomorrow at the academy- what better way to get into his good graces as a new character? After they were all in a clear plastic box, he started looking for some new clothes. After eventually throwing out three quarters or more of clothes he owned, which were just multiple pairs of orange jackets, orange trousers, orange socks, orange boxer shorts, orange sneakers and a few orange shirts, he found what he was looking for. Tugging out a pair of black jeans and a really tight dark blue shirt, he laid them out on the bed. It was then, that completely naked, he begun his healing. He started on his leg. It took him forever, due to his poor chakra control and knowledge of healing (something he resolved to fix with his library clones) and some of the larger wounds simply had to be bound and made done with. After all, it didn't matter if it hurt. Jashin's gift would repair everything in time, and the pain was now understand and therefore disregarded.

He eventually gave up on the wounds, and just allowed them to stay. He didn't care, they could no longer truly hurt him. Picking up his jeans and shirt, he slipped them on quickly wasting no time. His boxers were now non-existant, so he resolved to buy more of them after academy time tomorrow. He also discarded his ninja sandals. Who's idea was it for murderous killers to wear...beach footwear? Naruto thought it was nonsense in the first place, but just did as he was told- but no more. Slipping on some steel-toe-cap work boots, which he decided were for true ninja and no one else, he padded the bottom with a thin layer of black soft rubber so his footfalls wouldn't make noise- something which could get a ninja killed easily.

Now for the most important part of his new being. His mask. Pulling out a metal gas mask he had bought after the villagers had tries to poison him, he set to work. It would be his new face, which everyone would know him by. Naruto was proud of his survival, so he left his scars on his hands on show, and he cut a hole in his shirt on both sides to show where the thick branch had completely penetrated his body. He would use these as a testament to Jashin. If Jashin could heal that, and allow him to live, then he could heal anything for anyone and allow them to live a happy life- if only they were to believe. Naruto wasn't stupid anymore. He knew it was unlikely that people would suddenly take the word of Jashin as gospel, and dump their fantastic ideals of Kami-sama just because some 'newcomer' to the village told them too. If Naruto was that foolish, he doubted Jashin would have chosen him as the prophet.

He worked into the early hours of the morning, and then right through them. He was mildly tired, but fascinated to find that it was not as if he exhausted as he knew he should be. Strapping on his finished mask, he looked in the mirror. He did not look like Naruto Uzumaki. His entire face was covered over with a thick layer of bandages, leaving only his eyes and nose-holes exposed, as the style of the tape which was stuck on his face by the ANBU he so completely loathed. He had left a small slit in the mouth area, but it was not enough to see through. He then put on his adapted gas mask. Its dual air filters had been crushed back into the mask, making them still completely usable, but not as extruding. The straps had been added to, and now there was a network of chaines and leather criss-crossing around his head, gripping his entire skull nearly tight enough to burst- but Naruto knew it wouldn't. For some reason, his skull was a lot harder than it had been- something else he attributed to his new bloodlines. Only small tufts of his blonde hair stood out of the mask, and his eyes seemed to glow from the black and white contrasts of leather and bandage. His Sharingan was covered up with a piece of bandage slightly lower than its companions, and his other eye, completely black with the fire within, was uncovered. On his forehead, the inverted triangle within the circle stood proudly in metal, sewn into his bandages.

He left his apartment as the sun became brighter, at around 8am. He was attracting lots of stares from the villagers- who was this completely odd fellow with a messed up mask and dressed almost completely in black. He had taken the time in the night to construct a basic leg which he controlled with chakra, and was therefore always slightly disadvantaged due to having to concentrate on it- but as his new concentrated self said, anything can become subconcious with time. He knew that before long, he wouldn't have to think about controlling his leg, it would just do it- and he had already made plans to simply burst his leg open and grow a new one once his Dead Bone Pulse bloodline skills were up to scratch.

At the Academy

''Okay kids, settle down, Choji stop eating in class, Shikamaru wake up, and Sakure please remove yourself from Sasuke, I'm sure he would feel better being able to breathe.'' Iruka said wearily. His bright demeanour was diminished greatly, and it was hard enough trying to keep a convincing fake when Hinata and Shino were sat together in the corner of the room barely holding back tears at the loss of Naruto. Iruka was working his way through the names, making sure everyone was there as he chided them for their inappropriate behaviour (truly inappropriate in the case of Ino attempting to grope Sasuke in an area he was quite clearly trying to keep away from her) until he reached a name he wasn't sure of.

''Okay, does anyone know who ''Hofuku-Tekina Yogen-Sha (Vengeful Prophet)'' is? I assume he's a new student, but I can't see anyone new here.'' Iruka said, craning his neck to see if the ''Vengeful Prophet'' was hidden in the back somewhere.

''Iruka-sensei, over here.'' Iruka spun around to see a boy stood in the doorway. He was wearing heavy black boots, which confused Iruka because as a chuunin, his skills should have detected such heavy footwear. The figure was wearing a pair of black jeans, and his hands had gaping holes in them which bled profusedly. There was a hole in his shirt at the front, showing a large scar which had healed over quite obviously rather recently, due to the small bloodstains and still rough scraps of skin around it. He was also wearing a large haori which was plain black and had no sleeves. It was his face that set Iruka's mind on fire. It was bandaged heavily, leaving only a few tufts of blond hair out of the top, and over it was a network of leather straps which met at the back, and they connected at the front in a gasmask with the filters crushed into the face. One eye was covered with a bandage, and the other was pure black with a fire inside it.

''Oh...Okay, Hofuka-san, please take a seat, and we will begin assigning teams for everyone. Before anyone says it's unfair that Hofuku-san did not take the genin exam, I have word from the Hokage himself he is of the right level.'' he said.

Walking up the steps, Naruto walked directly toward Shino and Hinata. Taking a seat to Shino's left, he thrust his hand deep into his haori and gripped a box. The entire room froze up as he withdrew the clear box from his haori, and held it out toward Shino. The Aburame tentatively took the box and peeled off the lid, to be granted the scent of dirt and insects. He looked in at the various centipedes and beetles which ran around within the dirt. He redirected his glances to Naruto and gave a slow nod, tucking the box inside of his jacket. Iruka assigned the Jonin senseis. Iruka said they would turn up to the Academy at regular time tomorrow to meet said senseis. Naruto was less than pleased to hear he would be stuck with the Emo-boy wonder and the Fan-girlish banshee who did nothing but fawn over said Emo the end he was less than pleased, but when his clones all disappeared from inside his apartment one at a time, the flood of information was a little much- but once he adjusted, he grasped the information and ran through the entire set of articles his clones had absorbed. He knew if he truly wanted to progress, he needed to read faster.

His flood of information contained a large amount of information on each different element. Aware that his chakra control was too lax at the moment to actually learn them, he continually forced himself through handsigns and methods of meditation until both his head and his hands hurt. And then he left his apartment and went to a training field. There, he worked through taijutsu styles at a painfully slow pace, forcing himself to restart his forms every single time he made a mistake. It took fifty tries before he had made his entire way through his forms without a single mess up. But he wasn't tired- his incredible stamina allowed him to keep going, progressively faster and faster until he had gone through each one full speed over 20 times. He was pouring with sweat and his muscles ached with the buildup of lactic acid.

From the corner of his vision, he spotted a man with a shiny bowl cut and a green spandex suit and what looked like an adolescent clone of him doing laps, running towards him. Straightening his back and forcing himself to slow his breathing, he waited until the men stopped.

''Gai-san! Gai-san!'' Naruto recognised him from seeing him around Konoha. He was famous for his incredible taijutsu skills and amazing physical conditioning- who better to train Naruto in taijutsu than Konoha's best?

''YES, MY MASKED FRIEND? YOU HAVE CALLED UPON ME WHILST I'M FANNING THE FLAMES OF THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH, PLEASE CONTINUE SO I DO NOT HAVE TO CEASE MY FIRE-STOKING FOR LONG!'' the green beast yelled, as his clone yelled ''YOSH'' at every possible opportunity.

''Gai-san, I would like to inquire as to whether or not you will teach me the art of taijutsu. I believe it is equally as important as ninjutsu, and only recently have I realised I am woefully lacking in skill. In your free time, would you mind helping me train myself physically, and perfect my taijutsu.'' he asked.

''YOSH! GAI-SENSEI AND I CAN TRAIN YOU TO USE THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH IN IT'S MOST POWERFUL FORMS! ALLOW US TO TRAIN YOU!''

''LEE!''

''GAI-SENSEI!''

''LEE!''

''GAI-SENSEI!''

The two continued whilst Naruto heavily sweatdropped...taking it as a yes, he began to run with them. The three of them run several times around Konoha itself. They eventually stopped running, and Naruto was ready to drop. He wanted to simply fall over and die right there- although he knew his immortality would prevent him from doing just that. He did a double-take, when he saw Gai and Lee high five, hug, and then begin various hundreds of pushups, pullups, crunches, and stress excercises on their limbs. Naruto- not one to be outclassed- immediately jumped up from his spot on the floor, and began to do the motions himself. 3 hours and over 4000 calories burned later, he dropped himself uselessly in his bed and fell to sleep completely clothed and masked. The Kage Bunshins he had made freshly popped out of existance, and knowledge jammed itself into his tired brain.

If there was one thing Naruto knew, it was that at this rate, it would not take him long to become the most powerful ninja in the word...he was not cocky, merely confident.

Highly confident.