Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. But if I do happen to somehow own it someday, it would be one of the happiest days of my ordinary life.


Chapter 3:The Arrival.


It was dead night in Konoha, the time when little kids along with their parents are sleeping to rest after a hard day at work or at the academy.

Some of the Shinobies of Konoha, mostly Chuunin, are still patrolling the village of course, as it is their duty to serve their village, and therefore, sacrificing their sleep for their patrol shifts.

That's why, due to some of them who are tired and causing their lack of attention, they never noticed something up in the sky that flew past them, and landed on one of the less-frequently patrolled area of the village.

The flying thing that landed was a seemingly normal human, a young man with short spiky blonde hair, a pair of blue eyes, and three pairs of thin-lined whiskers on each cheek, Uzumaki Naruto is his name, the one with the infamous moniker of 'The Blonde Troublemaker', and more recently, 'Superman'.

...Though he would rather be called by his own name, thank you very much. That moniker was a bit too much, even for him.

The area that he landed on is the district that he is rather familiar with, thanks to several years of living in the apartment that is located in there.

And it is the very same apartment that is currently in front of his position.

Calmly, he walks towards the stairs leading to his apartment, while he could just jump up from below, he likes to take his time to do something mundane, it makes him feel... human, for a lack of a better word.

But when he was right in front of his door, he just realized something important.

'Damn it, I lost my key.' he thought.

When he took the Forbidden Scroll, he didn't forget to lock his apartment and brought the key with him so that he could return afterwards. But with the event regarding the Crystal and his torn clothes... 'Not to mention that it might've fallen down when you were flying Kurama...'

"Hm... Yeah, I think I remembered something fell down from one of your pocket when I flew towards the Crystal deposit near Shirohane, didn't think it was important though." Kurama, the Kyuubi no Youko that was sealed within him answered back.

Naruto sighed, as he muttered; "I'll just ask the landlady to give me a copy of hers in the morning, right now though..." he stretched one of his hands towards the handle, and when he touched it, he used his telekinesis to manually lock the door.

When he heard the clicking sound that tells him that the door has been unlocked, he completed his muttering with a faint smirk; "I'll just use that..."

He entered the dark room and closed the door, locking it back with his telekinesis.

Seeing that he need some light, he tried to find the switch near the door, which he found with little trouble.

And when the room was illuminated from the light bulb that he had turned on, he saw that his apartment was rather messy... or, to be more precise, it was downright atrocious.

'...Oh yeah... I did create some mess around here before I go...' he muttered out loud.

"Goddamn this place is a wreck, I am surprised at how you're always okay with living like this, I mean, I'm not the one to talk to about neatness, but even I find this incredibly mortifying." Kurama remarked.

"Yeah, I'm surprised at myself as well..." Naruto replied.

Deciding that the room would have to be cleaned first, Naruto uses his near-perfect control of his telekinesis to move all the junks from its unintended place, moving the unaligned furnitures so that it would be at the right angle, removing some stains... All of this with an impressive precision on what to use and how.

Within ten minutes, the apartment looks far better compared to the horrible state that it has before.

And thanks to his extensive training, Naruto is far from tired, compared to summoning a tornado, cleaning the apartment is anything but hard.

He smiled to himself, somewhat satisfied with his work, he closed the drapes that is on the window, then, feeling rather famished, he went to the cupboard where he kept all of his instant ramen and took one for himself.

Then he goes into the kitchen, pour some water into a kettle, turned on the stove, and finally, placed the kettle to boil the water.

Naruto then used his telekinesis to prep his meal, something that he finds... fascinating.

"Really? Kit, you gotta use your limbs sometimes, this power is very handy, but if you use it for every mundane thing you'll become a lazy-ass like some men from the clan of Nara." Kurama advised.

"Relax, I won't be like them, besides, if you think about it, this power can be a substitute for my limbs as well, a more versatile and useful limbs. So it would be a waste for me not to use it." Naruto rebutted.

"I see your reasoning Kit, but my point still stands, while you still have your corporeal form, you use it to its full potential."

Naruto chuckled and said; "Alright, alright. Whatever you say you big worrisome furball."

He heard the giant fox growled a bit in slight indignation, but without any reply for his quip from earlier. Naruto chuckled some more and resume what he's doing.

...


...

A pair of brown eyes hidden beneath the cat mask of an ANBU Kunoichi with purple hair watched the light coming from the window of the apartment that she had been observing for the past few days in slight fascination.

After spending some days of being ordered to observe Naruto Uzumaki's apartment in case he returned, Yuugao Uzuki were slowly losing hope, she was beginning to believe that the boy's strange disappearance that allowed him to fly away was permanent, and that he would never return.

Iruka Umino, his Academy teacher who saved him from being killed by the traitor Mizuki, was also worried about his well-being, but no matter how much he is willing to go to find him, the Hokage wouldn't let him due to his duties in the Academy that cannot be skipped.

All that they could do is wait, if he returns, it's good. But if he doesn't, then the Hokage would try to at least find him using any resources available to him.

And now, her observation bears fruit, she knew it the moment the lights were turned on by someone that walks through the front door.

She saw the one who entered through the window of the apartment, a blonde young man with a pair of blue eyes wearing blue shirt with a white colored five-point star symbol on the middle of his chest, it was really Uzumaki Naruto.

But, she also saw that he 'moved' the things inside, or to be more precise, levitated the things inside the apartment to fix the apartment's atrocious mess before the drapes were closed due to an invisible force, disabling her ability to observe further.

Putting the strange things aside, Yuugao Uzuki decided that the Hokage must be informed immediately.

Using a standard Shunshin, the Kunoichi disappeared, leaving only swirling leaves on where she once stood.

...


...

After some minutes, Naruto finished the miso-flavored instant ramen that he had prepared and filled his previously empty stomach.

Feeling full after the meal and finished cleaning it up, he now wondered what he should do.

Because despite still being awake in dead of night, he is not very sleepy, in fact, he still feels as if it is still in the afternoon, his eyelids doesn't feel heavy at all.

Sighing more to himself, Naruto stood up and began to levitate things at random while he's thinking about what he should do next.

One minute he twirled several object above one of his opened palm, the next he levitates himself and twirling himself around the room like an astronaut navigating himself inside a zero gravity spaceship, and on the last phase of his boredom, he decided to close his eyes in mid-air while humming notes that he made up within his mind.

He knows that he could be spending time with training or visiting some of Yondaime's memories, but he decided to try to relax per Kurama's suggestion.

And he's trying hard to succeed.

After a few hours of dawdling around his apartment without doing anything of importance, including summoning one of his clones and talking to him... (which was somewhat enlightening, considering that he discovered how the clones seems to mimic most of his personality but not the things that the original would do in certain situation), Naruto decided that he would rather take a walk outside.

'Perhaps closed spaces aren't really my thing...' he thought when he got outside of his apartment's door and locked it using his telekinesis.

And he find that little thought to be somewhat true, he felt more peaceful at open spaces, 'But maybe it's because I'm not tired, that would be the logical conclusion, seeing that I never had any trouble dealing with closed spaces before...'

He placed his hands on the pockets of his pants as he walks towards no particular direction or purposes, finding the cold breeze of night and the reigning silence that comes with the current time as soothing.

When he entered the park area, he sat on one of the nearby bench, his back leans forward as he uses his knees to rest his arms.

Naruto let the cold breeze of the night to soothe his mind and closes his eyes to truly feel it...

...


...

Cold winds breezes through his body, the night forest that he is traversing towards his destination.

He was alone, and determined to rescue the person he loved the most, and to kill the bastard who did this to his wife and his newborn baby.

He gritted his teeth, the masked man will pay for this, he threatened to kill the life of his baby right after he was out of her womb, and he escaped just when he's about to hand his ass to him in a fair fight.

'He must be planning this for sometime... this is the moment where the seal was weakened after all... damn it, I should've seen it coming.' he thought with desperation.

When he escaped with her, he went into one of his hiding places using his technique and bring his battle gears to prepare to fight.

After all, when a Jinchuuriki, especially the one that he held dear to him is involved in a situation where she is put in a mortal danger, he must be prepared for anything.

He increased his speed, and the thoughts echoed on his mind, 'Just hang in there Kushina... Na..."

...


...

"...Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto!"

...The next time he opened his eyes, it was because someone had called his name rather loudly to shook him out of his memories/dream.

Instead of throwing a fit due to being woken up so abruptly, Naruto was calm, despite the dream, he felt his saliva trailing down from his lip and wipe it using the back of his hand and looked at the one calling his name.

"About time you woke up." Spoke the ANBU woman with purple hair and cat mask.

"...Neko-san." Naruto replied, he knows this woman, though not her name, she's one of the few ANBU that he frequently saw around when they think they're hiding when he was a little kid, he always thought that they were there watching someone near him.

Something that he now knows to be untrue.

"How long was I asleep?" He questioned.

"Four hours at most, it's seven a.m. now." She succinctly replied.

Despite sleeping for only a short time, Naruto still feel good, not better, just the same as he was before he fell asleep. Turning to the ANBU, he asked; "Do you wake me up for some reason Neko-san?" 'And just when I would get to the point of the dream as well...'

The ANBU nodded, "Yes, I have been ordered by Hokage-sama to call you into his office, he really wants to meet you after your disappearance."

Naruto smiled, "I'm sure he is..." he said before he halts and look towards the ANBU once again, "By the way, do you know what happened? I remembered waiting for Mizuki when the Crystal was..." he trailed off.

The ANBU answered with; "I believe that it is the privilege of the Hokage to give the full answer, but I can tell you that your teacher Mizuki was setting you up."

Hearing the answer, Naruto instantly remembered how... fishy it was for the Chuunin to give the so-called 'test' to him, so he scoffed and said; "Should've known..." he stood up from the bench and ended the conversation with; "Thank you for telling me and waking me up Neko-san, I shall go there immediately."

And with that, he took off.

And by that, it means he took off from the ground and flew towards the Hokage's office, creating a slight change of air pressure that caused the place where he lifted off to expel the nearby dusts everywhere.

Along with leaving a shell-shocked ANBU behind him.

After she stuttered some words that would've made some sense if she weren't so befuddled and caused her to mess up every word that comes out of her mouth, she breathed out; "What... the... hell just happened?"

And just when she was about to tell him that she would Shunshined them there too...

...But from the looks of things, it doesn't seem like he needs one.

...


...

When he arrived at the front of the Hokage's tower, he stopped mid-flight and slowly floats down afterwards.

"That was a bit too much wasn't it Kit?" Kurama asked as the blonde walks towards the tower and ignoring the few amount of bewildered onlookers that saw his landing.

Naruto merely smirked and said; 'What is a bit too much, Kurama?' with his mind instead of his mouth.

"That impromptu flight, that was to scare that ANBU woman wasn't it?"

The blonde young man chuckled, 'Not scare, I just thought that it was fun to incite some reaction to someone who never see such a thing.' he answered, 'What? I thought you, out of everyone would approve.'

His response was an echoing chuckle on the back of his head, "I didn't say that I didn't approve, I like what you did, I just thought that you have standards that wouldn't allow you to do such things... and it seems that I was wrong, one of the few occasions where I am pleased that I was."

'Glad you feel that way then Kurama.' Naruto replied succinctly with a smirk. 'Though... she did interrupt my dream, or memory viewing... what was that all about though?'

"I saw it as well." Kurama replied, "It was a... special memory, one where in involves a man that... made all of this happen."

After hearing the fox's answer, Naruto goes to say; '...Then you do understand that we will talk about this, right?'

"I do. But for now, let's meet the old coot first."

Naruto silently agrees, though he's a bit miffed when he used the words 'old coot', granted, the man is old enough for the nickname to be appropriate, but that doesn't mean that he likes it.

When he arrived at the door leading to the old man's office, he was greeted with the secretary who turned towards him and looked at him with an inqusitive gaze.

Knowing why she looked at him that way, he said to her; "You're looking at me because you feel that you recognize me from somewhere, am I correct?" he asked.

The young secretary was flustered because of his question and said; "Y-you noticed... forgive me for staring, but yes, I do feel as if I know you from somewhere... but I just can't place it..."

Naruto shrugged, "I get that a lot." he lied before he points towards the door and said; "Can I go inside, I was called by the Neko ANBU that he is expecting me."

The secretary nodded and said; "Yes, he did say that Neko would send someone, where is she though?"

Naruto smirked and says; "Let's just say that she is a bit preoccupied right now."

...


...

Hiruzen patiently awaits the arrival of the boy that had disappeared ever since his abrupt exit after the Mizuki Incident as he sat on his chair.

When he heard that Yuugao saw Naruto Uzumaki returned, he was elated, at the very least he now know that the boy is safe. Though she also mentioned that Naruto exhibits strange powers.

"He was able to move things... without touching them, at least, that's what I saw... him tidying his apartment but without actually physically moving them." Those were her words.

Hiruzen was confused, Naruto's powers are unheard of, to be able to move things without physical contact, if it were true, and considering that Yuugao Uzuki had no reason to lie about something like that, someone, or something, must've given that power to Naruto. Because despite the fact the boy's real talent had never been discovered before, no Shinobi in history has that kind of power.

And when his secretary informed him of the arrival, he immediately ordered her to let him in.

And thus, entered Uzumaki Naruto, slightly taller, and also better built, wearing short-sleeved blue shirt with a star symbol on the center that seems to fit his torso, a black jeans, and a pair of black strapped shoes.

Due to Hiruzen's surprise at the boy's overnight growth, he didn't notice that Yuugao Uzuki, the Neko ANBU who were supposed to be with him, wasn't there.

The boy gave a lopsided smile before he said; "Hello old man, been a while." and closed the door behind him.

Hiruzen replied with; "Well... yes, it has. Though... what exactly happened... to you?"

Naruto walked towards the office desk and sat on the opposing chair from Hiruzen, "I've changed, to say the very least, I think that's why you wanted to bring me here. To have some answers."

'...He's a lot calmer than he was before... not to mention the way he talks reminds me of...' Hiruzen's thoughts trailed off as he starts to see the image of a certain blonde Hokage overlapping with the blonde boy in front of him...

Shaking off the thought, he answered, "Yes, that's the reason why. When you touched with the Crystal... your nose bled, and the first thing that you did when you woke up was to fly. But, you were... different, possessed, some might say, your eyes were red and your voice was deep, demonic. What exactly happened?"

Naruto smirked and said; "Kurama happened."

Raising his eyebrows in obvious confusion, Hiruzen proceeds to ask; "Kurama?"

In response, Naruto pointed towards his belly and said; "Kurama."

Hiruzen doesn't get the hint and asked this; "...You... named your stomach... Kurama?"

Naruto blinked twice before he sighed and pull the bottom part of the shirt just enough to show his belly.

Which prompted Hiruzen's eyes to widen, due to the fact that the seal that was supposed to be present were gone, or, if one were to squint their eyes hard enough, faded into a slightly darker skin tone than Naruto's natural tan.

"Y-Your seal... what happened?"

"As I said, Kurama happened." Naruto repeated.

"Who is Kurama?" Hiruzen asked with a slight desperate tone.

Naruto, decided to be blunt, said; "Kyuubi."

...

There was... a moment of awkward, tense silence, that was made solely due to Hiruzen's mind going into a state of panic and shock.

"Y-you knew?" Hiruzen finally said.

"He told me, Kurama that is." Naruto answered, "I know that he was sealed by Yondaime within me, and I know that it was the reason why most of the villagers sees me as if I'm a plaguebearer, and I know that you have been keeping this secret from me for a very long time."

Before Hiruzen could say anything to apologize, or to defend Yondaime's actions, Naruto continues; "Rest assured, I don't blame you, nor Minato Namikaze, it was not something you, or he had control upon, not to mention Kurama as well, whatever his reason was, I can't stuck my head in the past that cannot be changed."

...Now the better question would be what in the name of all that is good and pure in the world happened to him. Hiruzen thought.

When Naruto walked in, he didn't expect that he would grow so fast, both physically and mentally, and it's somewhat unnerving to him, due to the fact that it was only three days since his disappearance, too short of a time for him to mature that much.

"What... exactly happened to you Naruto?" Hiruzen asked, "You've... matured, very quickly I might add, it's only been three days since then."

Naruto smiled wryly and said; "Let's just say that several things that are responsible for my changes happened concurrently during my disappearance, they were somewhat painful, but it's nothing much considering what I got in return."

"What is it that you get?"

In response, Naruto 'pulled' the ashtray on Hiruzen's desk to his hand using his telekinesis power.

It happened so quickly that it took a moment for Hiruzen to realize what had happened.

Naruto threw the ashtray upward and back to his hand repeatedly as he sees the bewildered face of his grandfather figure, said; "Power of an unknown origin and limit."

Still reeling from the show of ability, Hiruzen can only say... "..."

"In case you're wondering where I got this ability..." Naruto continues as if he didn't notice the old man's state, "It came from the blue Crystal that I found from the Forbidden Scroll, -I apologize for taking that without your consent by the way-, it changed me in ways that you could imagine, but not actually realize possible. It change how my chakra is being circulated and in turn, it enables my mental connection with Kurama, or Kyuubi."

...

"...I see..." said Hiruzen after a long moment of silence, "When I saw how you were bleeding from your nose when you touched the Crystal, I was expecting the worst, but it seems that it gave you something better..."

"That it did." Naruto confirmed, "Though I have to ask you this, what exactly is the Crystal? Even Kurama doesn't really know about its existence or how it could give such ability, but I suspect that the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, must've known, since he's the one that wrote the letter that accompanied that section of the scroll."

"To whoever it may concern, never open this seal and what's inside of it, for if you do, severe consequences will befall you." Hiruzen repeated the words, "I know that writing, Hashirama-sensei wrote that when he decided to seal that Crystal, despite the fact that unless the stealer passed a certain requirement that only few people has."

"And that few includes me." Naruto said, "But what is the requirement?"

"The Chakra pattern of an Uzumaki." Hiruzen answered, "The seal was made by Hashirama-sensei's wife, Mito Uzumaki, and she designed it so that the seal could only be opened by a relative of hers... and you're one of the last of the Uzumaki clan..."

Naruto's smile faded as his expression turned rather serious, and then he says; "Kurama mentioned her once, Mito Uzumaki, he said that she was my great aunt."

Pausing for a moment to fully digest the 'Kurama=Kyuubi' part, Hiruzen replied with; "Yes, I think she was. Anyway, the story of how the Crystal was found is when one of the mine deposits that contained the Crystal was found by a miner in a small settlement, some of the workers who was informed chipped some of the Crystals and kept it, believing it to be some sort of valuable mineral, like a gold or an amethyst."

"But after a couple of days, the workers who didn't get their share of Crystals, reported the founding directly to the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni due to its unnatural origin and how some people that has been exposed with the Crystal for a prolonged amount of time began to exhibit initial symptoms of neurosis and/or psychosis."

"Their mental state was slowly degrading?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen nodded, "Yes, Hashirama-sensei believed that it was due to their prolonged exposure to the Crystal along with their small amount of Chakra. But when he touched it, sensei felt a great power coming from the Crystal, in his own words, he said that it was as if he is interacting with a living object made of pure energy, to the point that even touching the physical form, which is the Crystal, felt... wrong somehow."

"When sensei was asked by the Daimyo whether or not the Crystal is valuable, he said that it would be better for it to be sealed away. The Daimyo referred to his judgment and tasked him, along with several others, including me, to seal the mine."

"But afterwards, sensei was afraid that the Crystal deposit was not the only one, and he was proven right when he followed a rumor that was spread throughout the Land of Fire about a Crystal deposit miles away from the first one and discovered it before any of the miners could be exposed to its energy."

"For several months, we scour the Land of Fire and our neighboring lands for the Crystal deposits and destroy it, some of the local Kage even offered their aid when they saw firsthand of what the Crystal could do to weaker men."

"What exactly happened to the men from the first Crystal deposit?" asked the blonde young man.

"Some recovered after daily amount of therapy sessions, but most of them were beyond saving." Hiruzen answered with a sad tone, "In the end, all of the Crystal deposits were destroyed, leaving nothing but destroyed mines and caves."

"But sensei kept that small Crystal that you found," Hiruzen said, "He believed it to be the last one left on the world, he had the full intention to destroy it, but his wife, Uzumaki Mito, said that she would like it to be kept someplace else instead, because despite the dangerous nature that the Crystal has, she thought it would be wise to keep at least the last one someplace where it could not be taken instead of destroying it."

"...And a couple of decades later, one of her relatives went and steal the scroll where she placed the Crystal and unlocked it." said Naruto with a lopsided smile.

Hiruzen chuckled faintly and said; "True, it's something that I can say as 'freakish coincidence', there is no possible way that she knew the Crystal that she sealed would be used by her relative that could use the Crystal to empower him instead of destroying him, and to the point that you are similar to her in that she is also a Jinchuuriki of the same Bijuu."

"Somethings are just that freaky I guess." Naruto remarked, earning another laugh from Hiruzen.

"Sometimes it is..." Hiruzen agreed before his expression shifted into a serious visage, dubbed as 'The Kage Mode' among his subordinates.

A look that Naruto have only seen a few times...

...But is more than familiar enough thanks to a certain person's memories...

"Though what I've been wanting to ask is how the Crystal's effect to you is different to others, how do you mature so quickly, and how does the Kyuubi get involved in all of this? What is it planning?"

Naruto's frowned in an expression akin to disappointment, "I assume by it, you mean Kurama? Let me warn you first Jiji, he doesn't like to be called like he is something, instead of a living being, I know that you don't mean the former, but he doesn't take it that way..."

"And I prefer that he calls me without that noun, a noun for a human male is acceptable." Kurama said.

"And he said that he preferred to be called a he." Naruto relayed Kurama's message.

"...Naruto... are you sure about this...? Bijuus aren't known to be-"

"-someone, or in most people's cases, something, that can be trusted?" Naruto half-guessed, "The lesser you know, the more you assume the negative, my great aunt Mito Uzumaki treated Kurama to the best of her abilities when she was tasked as a Jinchuuriki, not to mention that the second Jinchuuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, treated him the same way, if they found him to be trustworthy, I don't see why I couldn't."

Naruto saw the old man flinched at the mention of the second Jinchuuriki's name, but it soon fades as Hiruzen asked; "...I assume that... he, Kurama I mean, told you?"

"Only their names and their clan which they belonged to, that shows that they were my family," Naruto said, to which, he saw Hiruzen's expression's to calmed, if only a little.

But Naruto continues, "But let me return to how I ended up different, the answer is: I don't know. And what Kurama is able to get from here, is that the way my body reacted to the energy that it exuded is different."

"As to how I matured this fast... to put it in a nutshell, it's because of a slight mental problem. Which, is not in the very least related to the mental sickness caused by the Crystal to the miners." Naruto added quickly.

"And what's Kurama's 'catch' in all of this? He wanted to help." Naruto finished with a smirk.

Hiruzen stuttered, "H-help?"

"Help, he saw my mistreatment from most of the villagers here as something that I don't deserve, so he helped me by directing my body to a Crystal deposit and absorbed all of it's latent energy to me, enhancing the ability that I already had from the small Crystal in the Forbidden Scroll to several fold." Naruto said.

'So that's what happened that time...' Hiruzen realized."It was... him, that controlled your body, that made you flew..."

Naruto confirmed with a simple nod, "Because of what that little Crystal did, he detected a large Crystal deposit near... a small settlement," Naruto said, without disclosing the settlement's name, "As I said before, he let me absorbed all the Crystal's latent energy, and trained me for three days afterwards, and now... here I am."

"But where did you stay for those three days?"

The blonde boy smiled as he answered; "A pair of siblings housed me for those times, they treated me well."

Hiruzen's expression softens when he saw how Naruto smiles, it was an honest and grateful smile that shows how they treated him, with respect and compassion...

...Which is nothing like how most villagers treats him...

The weary old man sighed in resignation, "Very well, as much as I want to say that it is still dangerous to give your trust to a Bijuu... You look like you can bear the responsibilities for yourself..."

Naruto response is just a simple nod, acknowledging the responsibility that is given to him, though begrudgingly, by his grandfather figure.

"Though, considering that you now know why you were... ostracized in this village... let me just say, that as a leader of Konoha, and not as the old man you knew, that I am truly sorry for you to be treated as such." Hiruzen said with regret as he cast his head down.

He heard Naruto sighed, "Though it's unnecessary, I thank you for your apology." he answered. "Is there anything else, Jiji?"

"As a matter of fact yes," He said, "During the past two days, we were busy handling Mizuki's treason, mainly figuring out how far his reach have gotten, as it turns out, he works solo, foolishly believes that by stealing the Forbidden Scroll that he could become powerful, which is downright stupid, as any experienced Shinobi could tell you, it doesn't take a simple scroll, or one measly Jutsu, no matter how powerful it is, to make someone powerful."

"Let me guess," Naruto said, "It takes experience, the desire to always learn and overcome any obstacles, along with the humility to realize that we are always lacking in something."

"Correct." Hiruzen nodded sagely, "Though talent could get you far as well."

Naruto nodded in agreement, while hard work can get you strong, talent determines how much you're going to get.

"You were saying?" Naruto said to continue the previous topic.

"Ah yes, in short, due to their teacher's deed, the Academy was put on hold for sometime, and the time for the team announcement is to be held in a couple of hours. You will be there,"

Naruto raised his eyebrows, 'I thought I didn't qualify because of the test...?'

Reading his expression as a sign of his confusion, Hiruzen elaborated, "You failed the test due to your inability to do Bunshin, the rest of them, such as Henge, was pretty well done, according to Iruka, he had asked that when you return, you'd be given the title of Genin, but not because of the formal test, but because of how you did pretty well at sneaking to my house and steal that Scroll."

"...Huh." was Naruto's response after a few seconds, "It's about how I showed my ability in a more practical sense of the word, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically.

Hiruzen merely smiled and said; "Let's just say... it is one of the many loopholes available to a Kage like me." he then unsealed something from his desk, and in a loud poof, there lies a dark blue variant of the forehead protector wore by Konoha Shinobies, "You are a Genin now, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto took the forehead protector and strapped it to his left bicep, he turned to Hiruzen and said; "Thank you Jiji."

Hiruzen nodded and said; "That will be all, Naruto."

The blonde boy stood up, but before he left the room, Hiruzen delivered his last words; "And Naruto, I would like you to show me this power sometime... get to know it better."

Naruto smirked and said; "If you want to see it then the circumstances must be appropriate old man. We'll just see what happens next, shall we?"

...


...

A couple of hours afterwards...

Naruto stared at the crimson door leading to the all too familiar classroom of his as if it was something to be feared.

He knows that he arrived rather late for the Genin Team Placement day, he was supposed to arrive ten minutes ago. But he chose to go to his apartment first, take what little money that he has, and search for food.

It was rather surprising really, when he goes to one of the markets to buy some apples to eat for breakfast -something that he had taken a liking to for a certain reason-, most of the villagers treated him normally, no loathing stares, no overly-rude manners, it's as if he is a new -yet somewhat attractively alluring- person.

But returning to his current apparent conundrum, he gazed upon the crimson door as he speculates that, from the class' loud volume, it seems that neither Iruka, or anyone that is tasked to announce the students' teams has arrived just yet.

More time for him to take a breather and calm himself.

"Why are you acting like this, Kit?" Kurama asked from inside his psyche, "Are you scared to enter or something?"

Naruto mentally replied with; 'It's like this; despite the fact that I've been gone for three days and experienced quite a lot, the same doesn't hold true for these guys, the mindset of the guys inside is not that different from when they saw me last, meaning, to them, I am still that loud, brash boy that goes around pranking people and yelling at the top of his lungs that he is going to be the best Hokage ever.'

'There will be a lot of judgmental staring, a lot of whispering, and a lot of questions from those that dares to ask. Once I open this door, all their attention will turn to me, something that I just need to prepare first, that's all.'

"...That's very overly-analytical of you..." Kurama began drowsily, "Take my advice Kit. Get the hell in there... and don't overthink stuff that is not important! C'mon! Just relax yourself for a change!" Kurama suddenly yelled through the link, making the blonde boy winced in the process.

"Alright, alright, Jeez! No need to yell at me like that!" Naruto said out loud.

Deciding to get his act together, Naruto opened the door without hesitation and closed it when he entered.

As he suspected before, he was instantly met with a lot of stares from kids his age, from their expression, Naruto can hear the questions swirling in their mind.

Who is he?

How old is he?

Is he here to be placed into a team as well?

Wow, he's big!

Is he one of our teachers? I never met him before...

Why does he look familiar?

He looks kinda cute.

...

'...Now where did that come from? Was I just speculating, or am I really hearing their mental voices in my head? ...Interesting...' Naruto thought.

Deciding to ignore the staring, he walked towards one of the empty spots in the room, he doesn't care where he's sitting, and who's beside him, he just wanted some place to place his butt into and stopped being the center of attention, perhaps when he sits down, they would resume whatever their activities were before he came in.

So when he took a seat on one of the chairs, he didn't notice the one sitting on his right.

And he doesn't really care.

But the onyx-haired kid with equally black eyes whose face is marred by a seemingly ever-present scowl does care, even if it's just a little annoyance, along with a bit of curiosity.

Naruto, despite trying to ignore everyone's stares that doesn't seem to stop, couldn't help but ask; "Why are you looking at me like that?" towards the onyx-haired boy.

"...Nothing..." The boy grunted out and turned away.

'Well that doesn't sound like nothing, Sasuke...' Naruto thought sarcastically as he raised his eyebrows, but he chose not to pry further.

Looking around discreetly without turning his head around so much, he could see that the class' attention is devoted solely to him, most boys are scrunching their eyebrows together, trying to figure out who he is, while most girls began to swoon over his good-looking face, while also realizing that he is somewhat familiar.

He looked towards one of his friends, Shikamaru Nara, who is apparently sleeping, and as such, he doesn't even notice him arriving...

Kiba Inuzuka and Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru's friends, who is also Naruto's acquaintances by proxy, also looked at him with mild curiosity and wonderment.

'...This is kind of amusing, actually...'

Suddenly...

The door was opened, and there were two girls who had apparently fought to get here first, and even though he, along with some kids that saw what happened knew that the pink-haired one lost to the pale blonde one by a miniscule margin, he decided to keep silent.

He saw as the pale blonde relented after losing at a Jankenpon, and prompted the pink one to cheer, Naruto shook his head, knowing what would come next.

She comes over to him, who is sitting besides Sasuke Uchiha, who he knows to be her crush. She stopped and faintly gawked when she looked at him, but quickly composed herself as she smiles and politely asks him; "Excuse me, but do you mind giving this chair to me? I want to sit here."

Naruto turned his head towards the girl whose hair is colored like a certain tree that blossoms in the spring, "For what reason do you want to sit here?" Naruto asked with mock confused tone.

Sakura, not realizing the mock tone, continues with; "I want to sit besides Sasuke-kun, after all, I won my fight against Ino-Buta(Pig), so it is only right that I take this place."

Naruto's mouth twitched upward, he used to have a crush for this girl... but somehow, after his changes, he found that the feelings he had for her was gone for some reason and what he used to consider as annoying -such as her devotion to Sasuke Uchiha-, he now finds it as amusing.

Not saying that he didn't appreciate or dislike it though...

Calmly, Naruto turned to Sasuke, "Hey," he called, prompting the onyx-haired boy to look at him, and Naruto continues; "Do you want me to let her sits beside you?"

Sasuke's eyebrows rises faintly in response to the question, and after a few seconds of silence, he answered with a simple; "No."

Sakura's eyes widened as Naruto turned to her with a badly-repressed smile that shows his amusement, "I would like to give this chair to you... but... I believe I have no power over this matter, he's the boss you see, whatever he says, goes." said Naruto as he points his finger towards Sasuke.

The onyx haired boy looked at the blonde young man in small confusion, but eventually, he procured an amused smirk.

As the class began to snicker, one of the most prolific of them being Ino Yamanaka, the blonde girl that she 'fought' before, Sakura stuttered out; "B-but, Sasuke-kun, I..."

Whatever she was about to say was stopped when a man with a horizontal-shaped scar trailing from his cheek to the other cheek and passing the bridge of his nose went inside.

Naruto and him saw each other for a few seconds, Iruka's eyes widened a fraction due to the boy's changes, but he shook his head to quickly get rid of the surprise, opting to talk to him about it later, either with him, or the Hokage himself, for not telling him that the boy had changed so much over the past few days.

Though it was not needed to say that Iruka is relieved that he returned just in time, and in one piece.

"Alright class, everybody take a seat, I will announce your teams. And anybody who wants to protest about the roster can take this up with the Hokage, because he's the one that made it." said Iruka with quite a loud volume.

Sakura begrudgingly took the seat on Naruto's right side, two chairs away from Sasuke, her expression is between anger to the blonde young man, and sadness because of what the raven-haired boy had said so coldly.

Iruka quickly and efficiently said the names of the teams, and as Naruto observes, there were some happy and hopeful faces, and some disappointed and dejected faces from being in the same team with one or two of their friends, or separated from the kids that he had associated for the past years respectively.

"Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke..."

"YES!" exclaimed the pink-haired girl.

"...And... Uzumaki Naruto. Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi." Iruka said. Prompting the other kids to become confused, particularly Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru, who had woken up thanks to Iruka's arrival.

"A-ano..." said a certain meek girl with bluish violet hair and a set of pale eyes as she lifts her hand, "But... I thought that... Na-, Uzumaki-kun..." she corrected herself, "...didn't pass the test...?"

Iruka smiled and said; "He did pass a test, though not the formal test that you participated in, let's just say that it was a test that showed his ability as a Ninja, Hokage-sama even acknowledged it himself."

"What is this test?" Asked Shikamaru.

"It is a secret test, it was something that he had taken for himself, and he got the acknowledgement of Hiruzen-sama because of it." said Iruka.

"But where is he now?" asked Inuzuka Kiba.

"He... Is right here." revealed Naruto.

It took the whole class a whole two seconds before they go...

"WHAT?" As the sudden realization hit them like a ton of bricks.

And it took them another second to mob him and began asking questions.

But before it could get to the point where he is overwhelmed, Iruka yelled; "Everybody, Sit Down!"

Which they did, begrudgingly as well.

"Now, I know that he has changed a lot, but that's not a reason to just attack him like you were doing. Show some restraint!" Iruka ordered, and after taking a few moments of silence, he continues with; "I'm going to read the rest of the roster, if you want to ask questions about him, ask him directly and politely."

As Iruka read the last of the rosters, Sasuke turned to Naruto and asked; "What happened to you dobe?" with an interested tone of voice.

Naruto merely smiled and said; "You'll have plenty of time to ask me, we're teammates after all, right?"

Sasuke grunted "...Hn." and turned, getting the hint of what Naruto said.

Naruto just shook his head as he smiled, it's somewhat funny that he now finds Sasuke's behavior that got to his nerves before as amusing. 'Though he gets the hint to ask at a later time, at least he's not as stupid as I once thought he was.' he thought.

"Team 10, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino. Your sensei is Sarutobi Asuma." Iruka said, "And that's all the teams, and here are your teachers."

When they entered, Naruto noticed two person that stands out the most, a woman with black hair and crimson eyes, and a bearded man with a burning cigarette on his mouth.

Slowly but surely, all of the kids left with their teams and their sensei, leaving Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, along with Iruka who went to Naruto and asked; "Now that's over with, mind telling me what exactly happened? When I last saw you, you were... bleeding, before you..." he trailed off.

Naruto smiled and said; "Lots of things happened, but let's just say that it's..." Naruto trailed off and with his telekinesis power focused on his right index finger, he carved a word on the wooden table he occupies, and the words were...

'A Secret.'

His smile seems to widen at Iruka's befuddled look, but it slowly turned to chuckles before it turned into a full-blown laugh, "Naruto, you have got to tell me the story over ramen."

"I think Jiji owes you that one, after all, judging from your face, he didn't tell the whole story now did he?" Naruto replied. "But I'll take the offer when I'm free."

Iruka patted his shoulder and said; "Well, best of luck to you Naruto, I'm glad you're alright."

"Thanks." Naruto replied with a smile.

And with that, Iruka left the room to the three teammates waiting for their teacher.

Sasuke turned his chair towards Naruto and said; "So, do you mind me asking what exactly happened to you now?"

Naruto responded with; "Patience is not one of your virtues isn't it?" he asked rhetorically, "I thought with dealing with Sakura and Ino and the rest of your fangirls pestering you all the time would give you some kind of patience."

"Hey! I resent that remark!" Sakura yelled, "Besides, you're one to talk Naruto, you always annoy me all the time. Who gives you the right to say that I'm annoying to Sasuke-kun? He doesn't mind, right Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura with a deadpan expression before he turned to Naruto "...I think you may have a point..."

"See? He doesn't-"

"What I meant was..." Sasuke emphasized to Sakura to correct her misunderstanding, "That I may have developed a shred of patience after dealing with you and Ino, considering that now I don't have the desire to pull all my hair until I'm bald."

Sakura was rendered speechless, however, whatever she's about to say was cut off when Naruto replied; "Then I thought you would've waited a little longer before you asked."

"We are sitting in an empty room, waiting for our sensei who appeared to be late, this is as good of a time as any." Sasuke rebutted.

Naruto gave him a lopsided smile and said; "Point taken..." then he continues with... "Let me start with..."

But before Naruto could say anything, they were interrupted when a man with silver hair that seems to defy gravity and a mask that hides nearly his whole face except for his right eye entered the room.

The man carried a book on his pocket, and judging by how his right eye seems to frown, he is not really in a good mood.

After he observed Naruto and the others for a couple of seconds, he says; "My first impression of you... are as follows..." he pointed at Sakura, "Bubblegum Cheerleader." then at Sasuke, "Scowly McConstipating." ignoring Sasuke's eye twitch, he pointed to Naruto and said; "...Mr. Hidden Depths."

Ignoring the fuming Sakura, the angry Sasuke and a confused Naruto, he continues with; "My name is Kakashi Hatake, and I'm in a bad mood. Meet me at the rooftop." he said before he shunshined out of the room.

"What's his problem?" Asked the irritated Sakura.

Sasuke's response is to stood up and goes towards the door, Sakura followed him shortly after.

In his anger, he forgot to check upon Naruto and only realized it when he was at the door, but when he turned around, he was gone.

And the large window near his previous position was opened...

...


...

"Well, now that's new." was Kakashi's remark about Naruto's fast flight to get the rooftop that he saw.

"...You're not surprised that I can fly?" Naruto asked Kakashi.

In response he said; "I've been briefed by Hokage-sama about you, he didn't mention that you could fly of course, but I wouldn't put it past you if you're able to move things with your mind, and it was he that ordered me to not be late, or, at least too late, lest... something bad... would happen."

"Oh, so that's why you were rude to us. You were coerced." said Naruto.

"Yes," Kakashi answered succinctly, "Though it doesn't change my first impression of you and your teammates."

Naruto smirked, "Well, it was a bit blunt in my opinion. Most people don't like that."

Kakashi merely shrugged, "Well I'm not here to make nice all the time now am I?"

The blonde young man chuckled. "True..."

The scarecrow look-a-like man looked at Naruto, 'Hm... last I saw him, he's not this tall, not to mention as calm as this... I guess what Hokage-sama said is true...'

'Though...' he continues his line of thought, 'He does look a lot like him now that he's transformed... hm, it's only a matter of time before they realize who you really are Naruto...'

A couple of seconds later, the other two team members came, and Sasuke was surprised when he saw Naruto arrived first.

"How did you do that?" asked the onyx-haired boy.

"Do what?" Naruto innocently asked.

"Getting here before us, I didn't even see you went past us."

Naruto merely answered; "Well, then that means I didn't use the way you were using, now did I?"

"...What?"

In order to prevent another question, Kakashi clapped his hand once, "Alright, you can socialize later on, but for now, I want you three to sit down."

The three of them complied as they sat in front of Kakashi, who is still standing.

"I'll go first. My name is Hatake Kakashi, what I like to do is to read books, particularly those which are made by Jiraiya-sama. What I dislike is... someone who abandoned their friends, especially if they try to rationalize it by saying 'It's for the mission's sake' or something akin to that effect. And my dreams are my own concern and not yours. Your turn." Kakashi finished as he points at Naruto.

Naruto smirked and cleared his throat before he answered; "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like a lot of things, such as ramen. And there are things that I hate, like those who view themselves above others because of his ego and not his skills. My dream is to become as strong as I could be to achieve great things, and to help those in need."

Kakashi smiled under his mask as he nods, while besides Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked surprised with Naruto's calm demeanor.

Then the silver-haired jounin turned to Sakura, "Next is you, cheerleader."

Sakura looked rather offended when he called her that, but she goes to say; "My name is Haruno Sakura... what I like is..." she looked at Sasuke and giggled, "My dream is to..." at this, she giggled again, "And... I hate Naruto baka." she finished as she turned to Naruto, expecting him to look dejected.

To her annoyance, she found Naruto shrugging, showing that he doesn't really care.

Kakashi sighed audibly, but he turned to Sasuke and said; "Finally, you."

Sasuke grunted with the familiar 'Hn.', and responded with; "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't have any particular thing that I like and I have my share of things that I do hate. And my dream is... well, my purpose... is to revive my clan's past glory... and to kill a certain man..."

The reactions were varied, Sakura looks somewhat aghast, Kakashi looked at him with an expression akin to pity, and Naruto looks... curious.

Kakashi coughed to get their attention to him again, "Well, now that the introduction is over, let me tell you what we're going to do."

"At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, meet me at Training Ground number 7, and we will begin our test."

"Test?" asked Sakura, "But... I thought we're already took the test?"

"It was an initiation to see if you have the potential, the test that we're going to do will determine whether or not you are actually capable of using your potential in a situation akin to what a real Shinobi would experience in the outside world."

"So, prepare yourself accordingly in the meantime, I'll be at our rendezvous point a couple of hours from now." Kakashi said before he did a handseal and shunshined away from the proximity.

When their teacher is gone, Sasuke is the first one to stood, Sakura followed suit, and began to ask him to go to a date with her.

Which he... unsurprisingly, rejected.

But then Naruto called to Sasuke, "Hey Sasuke!" to which he turned, "Still interested in knowing what happened to me?"

Sasuke was silent for a couple of seconds before he asked back; "Are you going to tell me?"

Naruto smirked, "If you're interested in ramen. Meet me at a place called Ichiraku Ramen, we'll talk there." he said before he jumped to the ground.

Sasuke's eyes widened along with Sakura's, they ran towards where Naruto jumped, and when they saw him, he looked no worse for wear and walking away without even a limp.

He frowned, 'Hn... what exactly happened to the dobe?' wondered Sasuke.

...


...

True to what he said, Sasuke found Naruto at Ichiraku Ramen, already eating his bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen.

The blonde boy gulped before he greeted him, "So you came Sasuke, ...along with Sakura as well, I might add.."

When Sasuke opted to go to the Ichiraku Ramen, Sakura followed him as well, half out of interest in the blonde boy's ability, and half out of wanting to follow 'her Sasuke-kun'.

"Well she followed me, am I supposed to say no?" Sasuke asked as he sat down.

Naruto shrugged, "I see no harm in it, sit wherever you like Sakura, though I assume that it would be right besides him." he said as he points to Sasuke.

Sakura doesn't need to say anything to confirm it as she instantly sits down on the stool right besides Sasuke. Though she does look a little sheepish.

Naruto just chuckled, 'So predictable...' "What do you guys want here? I'll pay."

Sasuke responded, "I came here because you said you want to tell me what happened, not to eat. Besides, I'm not hungry."

"(Grooooowl...)"

...It was the sound of Sasuke's stomach, which prompted Naruto to chuckle again, Sasuke to blush in embarrassment, and Sakura to stifle her oncoming giggle.

"Well your body's honest at the very least, now I'll ask you again, what do you want to eat?"

"...Just give me what you're having..." Sasuke grumbled out in his embarrassment.

Naruto nods, "And you, Sakura?"

Sakura cleared her throat before she said, "A bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen like what you have would be good."

"Teuchi-san, Ayame-san. two more Tonkotsu Ramen for my friends please."

Teuchi nodded as he grinned, "Right away Naruto!"

As Teuchi and his daughter Ayame goes to prepare Sasuke and Sakura's orders, Naruto turned to the onyx-haired boy and said; "Well, since you came here and all, I guess I do owe you a story to tell..."

...


...

"And... that's my story." Naruto finished the story of what happened to him over their meal, his story took quite a while as Naruto was just finished and their meals were already finished long before, he told the story with leaving out the part of Kyuubi of course, again. To which the fox agreed for the second time, it's just not something to tell to those his age that don't know a thing about the truth of the matter.

And the fox also mentioned that he doesn't like the Uchiha, he could feel hatred and anger seeping through his aura.

Also, Naruto could feel another emotion coming from within himself, the mysterious source are still unknown, but it pities Sasuke, and laments that he had become a person full of hatred.

He told the story as vague as he could be, he didn't specify what his power is, how powerful he is currently or will be, or how could the Crystal changed his body so much and turned his personality to a near 180 degrees from his previous one.

All he told them was that he was involved in a case with Mizuki that set a chain reaction due to a Crystal, and was forced to leave and recuperate outside of Konoha for a few days, along with training his newfound ability.

"...So, you mean to tell us that right now, you are... what? A special case of a Shinobi?" asked Sasuke.

"You could say that, though if you want me to show you, wait until Kakashi gave the test, trust me on that." said Naruto.

"But why should we believe what you say about your... new ability? I mean, I can see the difference in your body and personality now, but... it does seems a bit far-fetched." responded Sakura.

Naruto answered with; "I changed from a scrawny little boy who is a bit shorter than you within three days time, it's not that far off to believe me being empowered by some kind of a special rock." 'Though I didn't tell you guys the whole story, so it's understandable why you don't fully believe it.'

"By the way, what time is it right now Teuchi-san?" asked Naruto to Teuchi.

"It's fifty-five minutes past twelve, Naruto." answered Teuchi.

Naruto stood up and paid the amount of Ryou needed for the meal for three, though it was a bit more than was necessary, "Keep the change old man." Naruto said, to which Teuchi are grateful.

He then turned to Sasuke and Sakura and said, "I'll meet you at the Training Ground 7 Sasuke, Sakura."

"See you soon Naruto!" Ayame called from the back of the kitchen.

"Will do Ayame." Naruto said with a smile.

...And Sakura noticed that when he smiled at her, the ramen chef's daughter blushed, '...Wait...don't tell me she's...'

But it seems that the blonde boy didn't notice that. So, Naruto walked out of the Ramen stand, but Sasuke wanted to know more, and so, he walked out as well, "Wait, Naruto!"

...But he was already gone.

'What the...?' Sasuke thought as he looked to his sides, and not finding the enigmatic blonde anywhere.

However, he never looked up, if he did, he would be seeing the amused face of Uzumaki Naruto that looked down to him before he flew away.

'Damn it! How does he do that? Is that his ability?' the onyx-haired boy thought.

...


...

Sasuke and Sakura arrived on the Training Ground 7 shortly after Naruto's abrupt departure.

To their surprise, they found the blonde boy already sitting beneath a tree, waving to them as they arrived.

"Alright, how the hell did you do this?" Sasuke asked with an irritated tone.

"Do what?" Naruto still asked back with an innocent tone.

"Grr! You-!"

But before Sasuke could do anything to the boy whose collar he just grabbed out of irritation, the figure of Kakashi appeared at the training ground, exactly at the appointed time.

"Yo." He greeted nonchalantly.

"Hey." Naruto greeted back jovially, despite the slight discomfort of being hold on his collar, "You arrived on time now."

In response, Kakashi sighed, "Of course I arrived on time, do you expect me not to?"

Naruto chuckled, "I guess considering the fact that you're being coerced with something bad will give you some incentive I guess."

The scarecrow-looking man merely ignore the jab and says; "Well, now that you're here, why don't we start the test." Kakashi said, prompting Sasuke to lose his grip on Naruto's shirt.

After that, Kakashi walked farther away from his three students before he turned to them again...

...And waited...

A tense awkward feeling enveloped the training ground before Sakura asked, "Um... what is the test, Kakashi-sensei?"

"...Hm? Oh yes, forgot to mention that." Kakashi said, prompting the other three to sweatdrop.

"Really? You didn't remember that you never told us what exactly the test is?" Sasuke asked.

"Well forgive me ne? It slipped my mind, but here... is your objective for the test."

Kakashi brought out three bells from his flak jacket and said; "Kill me, and retrieve these bells from my corpse."

...

End.

...


...

Alright, Naruto's adventure continues, this time, as a Konoha Genin, though he and his team still needs to pass Kakashi's test...

And no, the three bells and Kakashi's orders are not mistaken, I wrote it as I intended it.

See you at the next chapter!