A/N: I decided that because the story was going to hit almost 9K words that the chapter was too long so I split it up. Here is the first part. Second part will be up by the end of the week. *crosses fingers*

Also I'm still looking for a beta if anyone who has decent grammar skills is interested just leave me a message or something.

Chapter 4: Eight Years in Light Part 2

(In Naruto's room)

The ninja's held down his struggling body until it stilled and he slowly bled out.

"We can't leave any evidence of our presence. Azien, use the grand fireball jutsus on the body. Besides, it's fitting for the demon's body to burn." The self appointed Jouin leader dictated.

The Chunin Azien took in a deep breath, did sever quick hand seals and then blew out a huge fireball. The ball struck the bed and engulfed that half of the room burning and sizzling anything it touched. Naruto's body started to burn.

The Ninja smirked in triumph and turned to leave. They were stopped dead in their tracks as they felt a god like presence hover in the room making it impossible to breathe. As soon as it happened it was over. Before they could move power unimaginable erupted from the very dead boy. Power they never wanted to see or feel again. The power of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox Kyubi. It swirled and no matter how hard they tried they couldn't move. The boy's body which had been burned badly from the fire merely seconds before was completely healed and seemed unaffected by it now. The fire spread and caught the ninja's clothes on fire. And then it burnt.

They boy's body lifted up into the air of it's own accord floating on the power that was flowing out of him. His body glowed white and then in a flash of blinding light Naruto fell back onto his rickety burning bed. The fire licked around his body but it no longer harmed him.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

Naruto regained consciousness as the pain subsided slightly and he could think again, if sluggishly. The pain throbbed in time with his heart beat as he tried to get control of his motor functions again. Naruto managed to sit up and open his eyes to see his burnt apartment and the ninjas frozen in place whilst burning alive.

It was time to disappear. The flames licked at his body but the demonic chakra that was leaking out of him stopped it from affecting him. He had to act fast the authorities and other ninja would be here soon.

Naruto got off his bed just before it collapsed and whispered "Demon clone jutsus." He created a replica of his naked self with a corporeal body and stabbed it several times before laying its body in the ashes and flames of his bed. They would find his body.

He gave mercy strikes to the ninja that hadn't died from suffocation already and then disappeared into the shadows of room. He needed to talk to the Hokage.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Hokage looked especially tired. When the call came in that Naruto's apartment was ablaze he had been woken and called into his office. When the demonic chakra spread throughout the village before he could leave his house he redoubled his efforts to get there as fast as he could. He got to his desk and looked into his crystal ball in time to see the burning bodies of the five ninja and Naruto. There was little left of any of them as the flames licked at their bones. He was too late. He had failed.

"Hey old man."

"Naruto?!?!" the Hokage shouted as he jumped. "Is that you?" Naruto did a double take as he glanced at himself in the mirror. He had grown several inches to five foot six and his hair which had started to turn blood red at the tips with the Kyubi's influence was now completely red. His whisker marks were much more defined and as he grimaced at the changes he noticed his canines were elongated almost half a centimeter. He had a large scar over his heart where he had been stabbed first. As he turned a bit he noticed a black tattoo of a tail creeping up his back. He supposed he would find out what it meant later.

"I hadn't noticed until now." Naruto mumbled. The Hokage quickly got a hold of himself. He took off his outer robe with the emblem of the Hokage on it and draped around Naruto's naked body.

"Tell me what happened."

"The ninja attacked me when I was not aware of my surroundings. They killed me. Or rather just as I was to die the Kyubi merged itself with me. I don't really know to what extent or what the effects other than the obvious ones are. They set me and my apartment on fire. The Ninja's died of asphyxiation. Then I came here." Naruto said.

"It seems that even our ninja can't release their grief and move on. I am truly sorry for what has happened. From this point forward everything pertaining to you, your life and situation are an SS class secret. If the villagers were to find out that you had merged if only partly with the Kyubi they would demand your death. The ninja's too. I have been watching you recently Naruto. You have shown skills far beyond your age and supposed abilities that you show to your teachers at the academy."

"Your arrival here through the shadow walking technique only proves this fact. If you believe you are ready I can put you straight to into the ANBU corps where your identity will remain secret. It will not be easy but I believe in you. You will be the second. Only one other was able to do so well so young. His name is Itachi and he is currently a Lieutenant in the ANBU."

-~-~-~-~-~-~

After Naruto had been properly clothed in loose ANBU gear and a blank mask of a trainee he had been escorted to the ANBU headquarters where he was given the Genin exam test. Once he passed it with flying colors he was given the ANBU entrance exam. Passing it qualified you as a Chunin and qualified you for the ANBU corps. The ANBU corps were the secret way to bypass the Chunin exams. The test took most of the day and by the time Naruto finished he was dead tired. Even with high level Chunin abilities the test was tiring. Part of it was that he wasn't used to the different exercises and maneuvers that he was put through but he adapted and learned.

Naruto was now standing in line with twenty five other ANBU candidates. All were wearing blank ANBU masks with the designation of cadet and a number where the rank would usually be. During the three month training period they would wear theses blank masks during training and living. Once completed they would receive their designated code names and corresponding masks. Until then they would be called by their designated number. Even in training ANBU didn't use their true names.

"LISTEN UP CADETS. THESE NEXT THREE MONTHS WILL BE THE HARDEST OF YOUR PITIFUL LIVES. TAKE A GOOD LOOK AROUND YOU. LESS THAN HALF THOSE AROUND YOU WILL MAKE IT TO GRADUATION. HALF THOSE WHO DON'T QUIT OR ARE DISQUALIFIED WILL DIE ON A MISSION WITHING TWO YEARS OF THEIR GRADUATION. IF YOU ARE GOING TO QUIT DO US ALL A FAVOR AND GET OUT NOW!!!" The Three striper ANBU drill sergeant said. Three stripes was the equivalent of a mid to high level Jouin in the enlisted ANBU ranks.

As he had our attention and none of the cadets had decided to leave he quitted down some. "Right. That being said, those around you will be your comrades, companions, and friends for the rest of your lives. Carry them with you; leave no one behind and, most of all: protect them. They are all that stands between you and a bloody end at the hand of the enemy." The mood was solemn as he said these words. Several people fidgeted in response and an uncomfortable silence reigned for a moment.

"Training starts now. First task of the day is to run up the mountain and collect a cup of water from the spring on top of the Hokage monument. Bring it back here. Don't spill a drop or you'll have to start over again." The drill sergeant ordered. "WHAT ARE YOU WITIGN FOR?!? MOVE!!!!!!" With that they were off and the training begun.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

The villagers don't know if he survived or not. It had bee more than a month after the fire in his apartment and everything was going according to his plan. They found a body that was badly burned in the wreckage that they matched with his profile. Most assumed he was dead and that was exactly what he wanted.

F***ing Hell!!! Boot camp sucked. Five weeks with every waking moment filled with tiring exercises. He supposed he was taking it better than the rest of the trainees. He was faster stronger and healed faster. Not to mention he only required a few hours of sleep. Not that they got much: maybe only four hours on a good night.

Over the last five weeks they learned useful skills like how to sleep whilst marching and the best way to piss off your superiors without reprimand among other things. Now they were in torture and interrogation/ basic mind reading and defense class. The only thing missing was their instr-

"Alright maggots," the instructor who was none other than Yamanaka Inoichi said as he slammed the door shut behind him. Morino Ibiki was the face of Konoha's torture and interrogation division for his obvious intimidating appearance and skill in torture for interrogation purposes. Inoichi was his counterpart and equal in skill at interrogation and information gathering if with a different talent. He hid in the shadows and was the mind expert for interrogation. He invaded their minds and took what information he needed. This seemed scarier to Naruto. If both were involved- Ibiki to weaken their resolve and Inoichi to take the information from their mind once it was weak enough- there was probably no person on the planet capable of resisting their techniques.

"Now that I have taught you the basic forms of defenses and given you ample time to implement that knowledge it is time to test those defenses. This is the final test of this two week course. If you fail this test you fail the whole training process and you will be kicked out or sent back to the beginning with another group and try again. Right, number one you're first step forward and prepare yourself."

Without warning the test began and Inoichi assaulted the defenses of the first cadet. For two weeks they had, had this class for three hours a day and been instructed on the basic defense of the mind and the basics of how to look into the mind of another. The latter skill was focused on telling if someone was lying to you so that ANBU and others didn't act of false information. Naruto, having learned all the ways they were being taught to defend their minds and much better ways of defending one's own mind, tuned the instructor out and spent the time fixing his own broken mind. It took the whole two weeks but he had finally got his mind back in order, set up the basic buildings and the wall of the village he had had in his mind, and created three decent Chunin level guards along with twenty or so villagers who were basically just sentries but walked around the village and did things. They even could build buildings and things on their own if he instructed them to.

Naruto broke out of his musings as Inoichi shouted, "Number five, YOU FAIL!!!," and the cadet next to him stepped forward. They had gotten along nicely over the last few weeks and were bunk mates. Six had been struggling with the mind exercises and had a difficult time focusing himself in the beginning. As it happened he had only found his center and his mindscape three days ago and was too far behind to catch up, even at the rapid pace he was progressing. He would only need another week and he would far surpass most of the others in the class. Naruto smirked. A week Naruto was going to give him. He had progressed exponentially far in the intrusion part of the ways of the mind. Well enough that he was confident that he could enter Six's mind and cause enough confusion for Six to pass.

Naruto extended his left elbow until it touched Six's and then with that faint contact he sent out his chakra and slipped into the depths of Six's mind.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

He appeared on the edge of Six's mind with one of his Chunin constructs that he had brought with him. It was the first part of his plan. Naruto couldn't be found in Six's mind or Inoichi would know something was up but that didn't mean he couldn't lay a few traps and put up a few defenses and skip out before anyone was the wiser.

Six's mind was modeled as a forest- the perfect place to set up traps and an ambush. He sent his Chunin off to lay out a number of spring and fire traps around the forest. Naruto went for the heart of the matter and what Inoichi would be checking for proper defenses: Six's cave of memories. It took him less than a minute to get to the center of the Six's mind and find the cave. Six himself was busily trying to build up an earthen wall around it in which he could take cover and fall back to. He wasn't paying close enough attention to his surroundings in his hast so Naruto snuck right past him in a mad dash into the cave, and got busy.

Down the corridor just past the control center for the body Naruto started carving runes for protection and shield into the stone walls of his organized mind. The echoes of his thoughts turning into memories rushed past him but Naruto tried his best to ignore them as he worked as fast as he could. The runes were sloppy but would hold long enough to hold Inoichi off long enough for him to deem the defenses acceptable. Naruto finished the control rune and connected it to the rest of the set. The only thing left to do was attach it to a chakra source only one person could do that and it wasn't him.

"Took you long enough," Naruto told Six who had a kunai held biting into his neck.

"You're not Inoichi. Who are you and what are you doing in my mind." Six said and pulled the kunai tighter spilling a few drops of blood as he did so.

"My name is an SS-class secret. You can call me seven," said Naruto. Six recognized his voice but his grip didn't loosen.

"What are you doing here seven?" Six demanded.

"Helping you. I shouldn't have to tell you that if Inoichi finds me here we're both going to be sent back to the beginning right?"

"What did you do?" Six said as he let go of Naruto and gently pushed him away from himself.

"I put up a defense that will impress even Inoichi. It's only missing one thing." As Naruto said "thing" tackled Six to the ground, pushed his hand against the control rune and spoke, "Connect and activate." Six rolled them over so that he was on top and with lightning speed he pulled out the same kunai and thrust it back into Naruto's neck.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you here and now!" Six shouted.

All Naruto said was this: "Look behind you." Six without letting any pressure off of his kunai glanced over his shoulder to see a shimmering blue shield covering the entire hallway. He sputtered and let go.

An echo of "Six step forward," was heard coming from the body control center.

"If you will deactivate it and allow me to leave before Inoichi enters and finds me here I would appreciate it. A simple active or deactivate from you will turn it on and off. Don't use it unless you have to. I made it to quick and sloppy for it to last for any real time or under too much stress. Nevertheless Inoichi should deem it acceptable for now." Six was still shocked and wasn't moving. "NOW if you please." Naruto emphasized irritated. He couldn't afford to fail. The anger must have shown through in his voice because Six deactivated the shield and went back to his control center to take control of his body again. Naruto likewise left as quickly as possible, jumping from tree to tree. He met with his Chunin, grabbed hold of him and leapt through the chakra path he created back to his mind.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

Naruto came back to his senses just as Inoichi's face twitched as he was startled in surprise at what he found before it went back to the neutral mask he wore whilst working. Then it was his turn.

"Seven step forward."

Naruto took a step forward and with a practiced ease that would have shocked the other trainees he found his mindscape and entered it fully.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

Inoichi expected Seven's mind to be a barren empty place with little or no defenses. The cadet had slept through his instructions and most of the classes every single day. Without having any instruction there was little to no chance of him passing even if he got help from the other trainees. So when he entered his mind to find himself in what appeared to be Konoha's forest with the great wall clearly visible not too far away he was more than surprised.

He sped to the wall and climbed it quickly. As he reached the top he was even more shocked. Below him was a village. It wasn't an exact replica of Konoha but it resembled it. It was only partially built and he could see about 20 or so workers steadily building more structures. In the center was defiantly a Hokage tower which he assumed was where Seven would have the entrance to his mind and consciousness hidden. Some more experienced ninja in the mind arts would take parts of that cave and move them up into structures or split them up into different caves in different locations to further inhibit anyone trying to mess with their mind. Inoichi was confident that Seven hadn't reached this stage yet so he leapt off the wall and headed straight to the tower where he would find the cadet's consciousness and memories and his objective. Whilst the wall and village were an impressive accomplishment, they wouldn't keep out anyone but a Genin.

Inoichi dogged to the left off the skeleton of a half finished building on instinct as a kunai whizzed past were his face was only a moment before. He jumped again to avoid another kunai before landing on top of the roof of a house. Now on level with his attacker Inoichi could see him. He wore ANBU clothing and a white blank mask. Seven had showed up. Took him long enough.

"Quick bastard," was all Seven said. Grabbed a kunai from his pouch and was about to fling it at the cadet before instinct took over again and he turned and deflected a kunai thrown from behind him that resounded with a 'KLING' as it hit his own kunai and flew off to stick with a 'THUD' into the wooded skeleton of one of several unfinished houses nearby.

Behind him on another roof was an identical of the ANBU in front of him. He turned and jumped back at the same time so that he could keep both of them in front of him.

"Lucky too," the second ANBU look alike of Seven said.

"Now I'm impressed. You realized that you can create compelling illusions in your mind to confuse an intruder. This is something that I didn't get to in our few scant weeks together. It, however, isn't enough." The one that attacked him the second time had to be the real one as the other one he hadn't actually seen throw the kunai. Inoichi dashed at the one closest to the tower and slashed at it's neck and kidney in quick succession before leaping over it and racing to the tower. It didn't disappear like he though it would however as it parried his two attacks if barely and then grabbed his ankle out of the air and pulled him back to the earth.

Inoichi struggled to get out of the Cadet's grip but it was useless. As he hit the ground, a second body pushed itself onto him and then a third, holding him down.

"I underestimated you," Inoichi sulked as he lay on the ground barely able to move.

"That you did," said Seven.

"Congratulations you pass. You are the first to ever have created mind constructs before reaching four stripes or captain in the ANBU core. I am more than impressed. However, don't get cocky." Inoichi said with a smirk. "You have a log ways before you could stop me." As he said this he twisted with strength not possible in the real world and broke free of his captors and then knocking Seven, who was standing in front of him, right off his feet. Inoichi left quickly after that not noticing the actual Seven looking out the window of a nearby building with a smirk.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

Inoichi failed two others by the time they had completed testing everyone's defenses and their ability to tell truth from lies from civilians and left them, but not before informing them that there would be bi-yearly tests of their defenses in the ANBU core and that they would not be able to advance in rank or missions if they didn't pass the higher level mind defense tests. It was their rare free hour on Sunday night before bed and everyone was using it wisely and sleeping. Well, almost, Naruto mused as Six got off the top bunk and stared at him for a second before speaking.

"I want you to teach me how you did that."

"Did what exactly?" Naruto retorted slightly amused.

"That shield you put up in my mind. Inoichi interrogated me for half an hour after the test on where I learned how to do that. I told him it was a family secret and refused to say thing more. He tried to break it but it held until just after I left when the runes cracked and broke.".

"And why would I want to spend any of my time teaching you something that the co-head of the interrogation division wanted to acquire?" Naruto asked back.

"I- I'm not sure. I don't have that much money to my name yet and I don't know that many jutsus. I know a few of my family's jutsus but you probably wouldn't be interested as they are low c-level genjtsus."

"I don't really need money and know plenty of jutsus." Naruto smiled. "What I need is a friend and a favor sometime down the line."

Six was elated. "I can do that." Six reached out his hand. "My name is Uru Yuzoki of the Nara Clan."

Naruto shook his hand and replied, "Naruto, of nothing in particular."

With that Naruto entered Six's mind to begin instructing him in the basic runes. He would teach him the basics. If he trusted him enough, one day he might teach him more.

-~-~-~-~-~-~

Graduation was an exciting affair that kept everyone on edge with giddiness. They had spent the two weeks after the test on their mental defenses fighting and training on techniques necessary for a shonibi to learn such as tree climbing and water walking as well as how to wield a katana. The four weeks after that they spent on developing teamwork within squads in mock battles against their fellow cadets and even a full fledged ANBU squad a few times to get some more intense and challenging training.

The last week was special training. Everyone had a specialty or special ability. There were two Uchihas who were trained on how to better utilize them. Many people studied under a genjutsu, taujutsu, or kenjutsu specialist depending on their specialty. Naruto himself spent a week with a rather attractive Inuzuka named Hana who had trained him on techniques and strategies to use with his fox familiar. Shadow had grown and now his head came to just below his knees. Shadow was faster and stronger, and he could speak the human tong much better now- even if he did still have some trouble with any of the more complicated or challenging words.

"Group Atten-hut," their drill sergeant commanded as the ANBU commander of the ANBU forces in all of Konoha took the speakers stand.

"Congratulations Cadets. Of the twenty six of you started down this path in the hops of being the best shinobi in our all of the Fire Nation and the world! Now, thirteen of you remain. You have endured and, as of this day forward, you are ANBU of Konoha! When your designation is called step forward and receive your new mask and name among the ANBU."

"Cadet One. Receive t he mask of the fierce boar and wear it proudly. Your designation is Fierce Boar!"

"Cadet three. Receive the mask of the falcon and wear it proudly. You are now Falcon!"

"Cadet Six. Receive the mask of the swift hawk and wear it proudly. You are now Swift Hawk!"

"Cadet seven," The commander called and Naruto stepped forward. "Receive the mask of the Shadow Fox and wear it proudly. You are now Shadow Fox!"

On and on it went until the ceremony was complete and they had been assigned teams. Naruto himself was assigned to a lieutenant whose designation was Mole. He was a young Uchiha prodigy who was only fourteen. The ceremony went on but none of the cadets really were paying attention. The ceremony was a rush of emotion and pride. It wasn't everyday that you were congratulated by one of such a high rank. To top it off they were now truly ANBU. While the hell of their training was over, they knew there were still many hardships to come. They didn't care. Not yet at least. Their jubilation would have none of it.

A/N: End of part 1 of this segment. The second part will be up by Saturday morning at the latest. Leave me a review please,

Oldman543