OK I know it has been a long time but i had a major case of writers block, and other strories in my head. but i am back to this one and am in the process of writing the next chapter to 'Last Dragon' and 'Beginning of the End' hope to have those up soon. now enjoy the next chapter to The Shadow Fox and i promise not to make you wait another couple of months. ENJOY

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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY ANIME I MAY OR MAY NOT USE

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CHAPTER 3

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It was early morning and Ino was slowly making her way to the academy, her mind was running on overdrive thinking about Naruto and how she can tell him her feelings for him. As she walked she ran across Sakura who had a rough morning, first she overslept so she could not fix her hair for the day to try and impress Sasuke. Then she nearly crippled herself as she ran down her stairs trying to leave early so she can see him as he entered the school. After which she didn't have breakfast, so her day wasn't a good one. Now she sees her long time friend/rival making her way towards the academy. In her mind she thought that she was trying to get Sasuke away from her so she began to run, she of course didn't see the pot hole in front of her which lead her to trip and fall into the mud ruining her dress. Ino of course didn't see any of this as her mind was still thinking about her little problem and just kept on walking.

Naruto was standing on top of the Hokage monument thinking about the mission when a fox came out of the woods that surrounded the area. "Whats the report Toko?" Naruto asked as the small fox bowed before him.

"Naruto-sama it would appear that the target is being targeted by the snake. Also Itachi and his organization are gaining power and influence, we have yet to find what their main goal is but what we do know is that it involves the nine great demons." the little fox named Toko reported.

"Very well, inform me if anything comes up, also keep a close eye on Orochimaru I want to know how many spies he has, his movements. I have a feeling that he will make his move any day now, and I want to be ready when that happens." Naruto turned towards the village before he muttered "Itachi my friend what are you planning, what ever it is you have already failed and I promise that before everything is said and done I will kill you" Naruto then looked into the sky "my brother" before he turned around and walked into the forest.

Ino had finally made to the academy only to find out that Naruto had sent a shadow clone, she began to bang her head because she didn't think to do that and now she had to be stuck in the room with the rest of the graduates including her once crush Sasuke. It only took her three months to see what the so-called genius Uchiha really was. An overgrown baby who would have a tantrum because he couldn't have a cookie. "Why did I ever see in him," she thought "Naruto-kun is much better than him in so many ways oh well at least he show the error of my ways before I got into serious trouble because of my weakness."

Ino knew that Naruto had sent in a clone but she knew the secret of the clones so she left him a message to it. "Hey tell your boss that I need to talk to him at the same place after our teams are assigned got it." Ino said as she sat next to the clone.

"Right I'll tell the boss Ino-chan" the clone said.

After waiting for ten minutes Iruka came into the room with a slip of paper. "Good Morning everyone. I have here in my hand your genin team placement but first let me tell you that I am proud....." and he went on for about an hour which Ino started to drift further into her thoughts until she was brought out when he began with the placements. (A/N same as the canon so I won't bother with the rest).

Iruka had sent the fresh genins to lunch and to return in an hour. Ino had rushed to the training grounds where she and Naruto trained. As soon as she got there she saw Naruto waiting for her. "Hey Ino-chan, what do you need from me?" he asked as she walked up to him. Ino looked at him with a blush. "Um I was wondering if you wanted to come have dinner with my family to celebrate us becoming genins?" she asked with a slight blush.

Naruto looked at her and smiled "Sure Ino-chan I would love to come to dinner with you and your family."

Ino smiled at the response "Ok now lets go get some lunch, I'm starving." Naruto smiled at the girl and offered her an arm which she happily took and both of them went to get some lunch.

Meanwhile at the classroom the clone was sitting at its desk when Sasuke walked in. Sasuke looked at it and smirked at him. "Well dobe managed to passed the exams, I don't know how but don't get in my way. Or I will kill you myself. You hear me?" The clone just just looked at Sasuke with indifference, this of course pissed off Sasuke as nobody ignored him. "Damn it answer me." he yelled as he went to punch the clone only for the clone to poof out of existence.

Naruto walked in with Ino "Now, now Sasuke-teme that wasn't nice, what did my clone ever do to you?" Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing a clone was with them the whole day. Naruto and Ino went to sit down in the back of the room as the others came back from their lunch break. Half an hour later the Jounin sensei began coming in to pick up their students. "Team ten come with me." a man came in he had a beard and was smoking a cigarette behind him was woman who had red eyes and was wearing a dress that looked like it was made with bandages. "Team eight follow me." Soon after only Team 7 was the only left. Sakura was with Sasuke trying to get a date from him. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto as Naruto seemed to be sleeping.

After two hours Sakura was getting pissed and Sasuke was also mad as well. Naruto on the other hand was just acting like he was asleep but internally was laughing his ass off at the response that his "teammates" were having. About another hour Kakashi finally showed up and told them to meet him on the roof in five minutes. Once on the roof they introduced themselves. (same as canon so I won't type it). After every one left Kakashi looked up at Naruto and asked "So was it worth it?"

Naruto just smiled "Hell yea but come on lets get out of here, I got to get ready to meet Ino-chan parents for dinner.

"Oh so you are finally going to meet your girlfriend's parents, thats a big step in a relationship you know." Kakashi said with a sly tone as he made fun of Naruto.

Naruto glared at Kakashi, "Kakashi your walking on thin ice."

"Speaking of ice."

"Stop it right there or you will regret it, and I promise you it will not be pretty." Naruto warned which shut him right up. Naruto made his way back to his apartment and began to get ready to meet Ino's parents, but he had another reason to go. It was getting late and the sun was know giving its final rays of light when Naruto knocked on a door. He waited for about three minutes before the door opened revealing a slightly older version of Ino which he deduced was her mother.

"Good evening Mrs. Yamanaka I hope am not to late for dinner." he said as he gave her a slight bow to which she blushed.

"Damn this is the boy no man that little Ino has a crush, no wonder he is handsome and just radiates power if he was a little older or if I was younger and not married I would....no bad Yumi he is way to young and Ino's." She thought. "No not at all dinner is almost ready. Come in do you want anything to drink while we wait?" Naruto stated that he would like some tea. "Ok, well make yourself at home and I will bring your drink shortly."

Naruto sat down on the couch and began to look around the living room. He noticed the pictures on the wall over the fireplace. He walked up to one of them and began to look at it. In it was a younger Ino about five or six years old sitting a field of flowers, she had a ring of flowers on her head, she had a wide smile on her face. "That was taken when we went to the land of flowers on a business/vacation trip couple of years back, she really liked the fields of flowers, one day I plan to buy land and retire out there." a voice said to which made Naruto turn around. It turned out to be Inoich, Ino's father, with two cups in his hand. He offered one to Naruto which he grabbed and drank from.

"Well, Inoich you have a nice home here, flower business been good to you then." Naruto stated as he gulped more of his tea.

"Well it helps calm the nerves I mean everyone has to have something or else they could go nuts."

"I know what you mean, I was planing to take up fishing but I need to find someone to teach me, you that saying 'give a man a fish he eats for a day." Naruto said as he drank more of the tea while looking back at the man.

"Yeah, 'but teach a man to fish and he eats for a life-time." after finishing the code Naruto gave him a nod stating that after dinner they needed to talk. They sat in silence until Ino came walking down the stairs. She looked around the living room and found her dad and Naruto sitting on the couch.

"Hey daddy, and Naruto-kun how long have you been here?" she asked as she sat down next to Naruto.

"Not long, just having a nice little chat with you father." after he finished they heard Ino's mom yelling from the dining room that dinner was ready. As they made their way to the dining room Inoich noticed the slight blush on his wife face.

"Damn you Naruto first my daughter now my wife, I am surprised you don't have a fan-club somewhere." he thought as imaginary anime tears ran down his face.

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MEANWHILE IN A DEEP SECULDED PART IN THE ANBU BASE!!!!!

"Ok everyone settle down so we can finally begin our meeting. We are here because I have discovered of horrible news our man Naruto aka Fox has been seen going into the residence of one Ino Yamanaka. This injustice can not go unpunished as she is taking away our chances of winning over Naruto-sama." cried for blood were called from a room of at least twenty female Anbu ninjas. Just then Ibiki walked into the room but quickly left as he saw the banner with "We love Fox!!!!!!"

"I did not see anything, there wasn't a room filled with a Naruto loving fan club, and they were not beating a doll that look like Inoich's daughter." he said as he walked away.

AT THE SAME TIME IN A SECLUDED PART OF TOWN

"Order, order I have called this meeting because I have received word from a reliable source the Naruto is having dinner with a certain pig girl." a girl said to a group of at least forty women.

"Sakura, can be sure you can confirm this." a random girl said "and aren't you with those sluts from the Utchia camp what are you doing here anyways."

"Yes this is true I was with the Utchia but I have seen the light and it open my eyes." she said as she raised her hands to the heavens.

"Praise Kami another of our sisters has seen the light and its name is Naruto Uzumaki." everyone said as cheered.

"but now we have a new enemy, and that enemy is named Ino, we must not let her take our light away." Sakura yelled as she pounded her fist onto the podium "come we have to take him away from her."

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BACK WITH NARUTO

A slight shiver went down the back of Naruto's spine. "Something tells me that I am in great danger." The dinner was pleasant for Naruto, "Thanks for dinner Mrs. Yamanakais was very delicious, the best I ever had." he complimented which gave her a slight blush which Ino caught and sent a glare. Inoich also saw this and secretly cursed Naruto and was planning his downfall. Soon after Ino was helping her mother clear the table and Inoich moved Naruto into his study and set up sound barrier.

"Alright Fox what do you got for me."

"Well, I have confirmed that Sasuke is being targeted by Orochimaru, for what purpose I have yet to find out. But I have theory which I hope I am wrong." Naruto said.

"What is this theory then." he said.

"Well if Orochimaru is going after Sasuke then he finally manage to complete his body transfer justus and he is after the sharingan. With those eyes he can finally complete his goal to learn all the jutus in the world. Then after which he will go after Itachi and take his eyes to unlock the final form of the Sharingan which would make him a living god which in turn can take over the world. Of course this is just a theory, one of which I hope I am wrong and I am looking to much into it. But that doesn't mean we can let him have those blasted eyes. I will destroy them before I let them have last Utchia or not." Naruto said as he took a sip of sake which Inoich gave him as he gave his theory. "Well also it seems I have found some information about Itachi and the organization he joined." he took another drink of sake. "The organization is called Akatsuki, it is comprised of ten members all S-ranked and extremely dangerous, as of yet we only know of Itachi. Their goal is also unknown but what I have found out is it has to do with the nine tailed demons so that means they will be after me. They have already failed in whatever mission. This I can assure you."

"Oh and tell how do you know that they already failed." Inoich asked as he looked at Naruto with a look that told Naruto that he didn't believe him.

"Because my dear friend as of two days ago the seal has run its course and killed the Kyuubi and gave me all its power." Naruto lied, knowing that the Kyuubi was very much alive and part of him but he needed this lie to run its course to secure him more favor with the clans. Naruto looked out the window and saw that it was getting late.

"Well Inoich it seems its getting late and I still have to do the exam with my so called team tomorrow. I will have this report in writing and on the Hokage's desk by the end of the week, but for right now have the other captains step up the security in the village. If Orochimaru is targeting Sasuke then most likely he has some spies looking after him, I want them found and captured. Inform me as soon as you capture and of them as I would like a little 'chat' with them." Naruto then got up from his seat and started to walk out of the office but was stopped by Ino who was about to knock on the door. Naruto turned to Inoich and winked at him. Inoich quickly caught on.

"Remember Naruto hurt my little hime and I will do those things we talked about." He said.

Naruto pretended to pale and answered "Yyyes ssir, I wwould nnever hhurt her I ppromise." and with that he left the Yamanaka residence and started to walk home. On the way he couldn't keep shaking the feeling that he was in danger but put it aside and quickly walked to his apartment. He arrived to his apartment building and proceeded to climb the stairs to the top floor where his penthouse apartment was. As he neared the door he realized that it was slightly opened. He slowly walked up to the door and pulled a kunai knife out and pushed on the door. He reached over to the light switch and tried to turn on the lights but soon realized that they were not working. "So they cut the power huh well doesn't matter." Naruto then slowly stepped into his apartment. As soon he was fully inside he sensed a blade flying towards him he quickly blocked it.

"Well, well if it isn't Shadow Fox, you are very hard to find you know. As luck would have it I was walking by the academy just as you were fighting that chunnin. I didn't think much of it until I saw you go into your stance. Those three seconds was all I needed to find out who you really are." a shadow formed on the far side of the room.

Naruto looked at the shadow as it got closer to him. As it walked in front of the window the moon gave him enough light to show that it was female and a missing nin from Mist. "What business do you have with me as I haven't set foot in Mist country in over three years."

"Don't act like you don't know what you did, it was because of you that I lost my husband. It was because of you I was named a traitor in the eyes of my village. It was because of you I lost everything, but know that I have finally found you I am going to kill you and reclaim my honor, and the honor of the Yosho clan." the missing nin said.

"Ah the Yosho clan now I remember, but correct me if I am wrong didn't the Yosho clan massacred the Ying clan because the daughter of the clan head refused to bed the son of your clans head not before he raped then killed her. Also the Ying family was a family friend to my family, so what I did was aid their family for the transgression." Naruto said as he pulled his short sword out form the sheath hidden at the base of his back. "Your clan was clearly in the wrong and you blame me, now you say your going to kill me. Thats laughable but if you think you can, you can come and try before I send you to meet your filthy scum family you call your clan."

The woman then charged at Naruto with a kitana raised over her head. She ran closer and started to drop the blade ready to take the head of the man she was trailing for over three year, the man that caused her nothing but pain. When everything came to the attention to the Daimyo, he had the Yosho clan publicly executed for the genocide of the Ying clan, mostly because of the pressure of the Uzumaki family, Naruto, was putting on him also had all the funds of the clan transferred to the remaining families of the ancient alliance. She managed to escape thanks to her husband, but he was caught and was killed. The woman was six months pregnant at the time but being branded a traitor in the eyes of Mist doctors refused to help her with the pregnancy which caused her to lose the child due to complications. This of course only made her rage towards Fox even greater, and promise to one day find and kill him, for all the pain he caused her.

When the blade seemed to connect with base of Naruto's neck the sound of metal hitting metal was heard. Naruto then pushed the blade back and made the woman stumble but not letting her recover he went and stuck the blade of his short sword into the neck of the woman.

Naruto being trained to be quick and not drag out a battle when an opening is found. The woman made a fatal mistake and left her neck open so he took it. The woman fell to the ground drowning in her own blood, but started to laugh which made Naruto a little uneasy. "Ha I knew I wouldn't be able to kill you but no matter" coughs up some blood "I just needed to distract you enough for the timer to go off." she said "See you in Hell you bastard" and the life was drained out of her.

Naruto quickly noticed that his whole apartment was rigged to exploded as he noticed the paper bombs started to fizzle meaning he had ten seconds before they went off. Naruto ran to the door and noticed that a barrier was up preventing him from escaping. He had to think of something or he was going to die so he looked around and noticed his window. It was a suicidal move but he knew of he didn't do anything he was going to die any way so he started to run just as one of the bombs went off. The explosion set off a chain reaction as the rest of the bombs went off. Just as the blast was going to reach him he jumped out of his apartment window and fell ten stories, but as he did a piece of debris hit him on the side and dug into his flesh. Naruto then started to fall bleeding profusely on his side. Just as he was about to hit the ground he flipped over and landed on his feet. Having only a small amount of chakra left as the rest was used to prevent him from bleeding to death, the result was him breaking one of his legs as he landed.

MOMENTS BEFORE THE EXPLOSION

Sakura was walking down the street hoping to catch a glimpse of her new crush. Over the last couple of months she was torn between the two. She soon realized that her new crush was way better than Sasuke he was more sociable and fun to be around than the brooder. Granted Sasuke had the bad boy look working for him and that seemed to attract a lot of attention but her new crush has an aura of power and security, which drawn her to him. Her new crush was also always in the company of her rival Ino which enticed her even more as she loved the challenge. His name was one Naruto Uzumaki. Just as she was making plans to seduce Naruto away from Ino which would be a whole lot easier being on the same team and everything, she was brought out of her musings as an explosion was seen on one of the more upscale apartment buildings in Konoha. She ran over to see what was going on. Just as she reached the area she saw a man land on the ground a sicking crack was heard which she deduced that the man broke a leg because of the fall. She winced when she heard it but quickly recovered as she saw the man fall unconscious. She ran over to help the man when she realized that it was none other than Naruto. She began to check on him when she noticed a tattoo on his arm, she gasped as she recognized the symbol. It was the insignia of the ANBU black ops, under it was a number. It was a 12, not knowing what it meant she filed it aside for later research she began to do a diagnostic scan on him, which she learned from her aunt as she was a med nin.

She confirmed her suspicion as one of his legs was indeed broken and had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his side. Having basic medical knowledge she pulled the metal shard from his side, as she did the blood began to pour out of the wound. She quickly ripped a piece of her dress and applied pressure to the wound stopping the blood flow. She noticed that Naruto's breathing was become very shallow and irregular. He didn't have long, he needed medical assistance and quick. Luckily for her a team of ANBU showed up to investigate the explosion. After they noticed that Naruto was unconscious on the ground and bleeding to death they quickly grabbed him and took him to the hospital. Sakura had tears in her eyes as she saw her new crush being carried to the hospital, she was about to go to the hospital when she noticed a mask on the floor. She walked up to it and picked it up. It was an official ANBU mask, it had the markings of a fox. "What is a ANBU mask doing here and why does Naruto have the ANBU tattoo on his arm, something is up, something big and I am going to find out but first I need to know if Naruto-kun is going to be ok. And with that she left holding the fox mask tightly in her hands.

In the shadows a pair of eyes was looking at the whole scene but quickly vanished.

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I Hope you enjoyed this chapter. if you have any question please pm me and ask me. if you have any ideas you think will go great with this story or any of the others don hesitate to ask. Please Review as it shows me if you like or hate my story.