Hey everyone! How you all doing?! Sorry for being slow with updating, but I had a few problems as like my sister messing with my files. she deleted this one which I had to rewrite all over again.

Though I had help this time thanks to KurokamiRyuuzaki100 who offered to be my beta. Gotten Persona 5 and so far it. Is. Lit! Already in the first dungeon and I'm hooked onto this game.

Though now that I'm playing the game I'll have more inspiration to write this story now.

Please enjoy the new chapter.

"Thou art I" Persona speech

"Thou art I" persona thought

[Suiton: suiryudan] jutsu release

"Persona!" normal speak

"What?" thought/mind speak

"Maragi!" demon/Shadow

Chapter 3: The Fool's Awakening! and the heist begins

The feeling of it.

The swelling presence of it.

It surrounded the huge castle. As the feeling was sickening and repulsive, it would drive any man mad and sick. It would even make them question if their own end was drawing to a near.

The sound of flesh being pierced by shurikens and screaming within a castle could be heard from a mile away. As from the outside, the castle's entrance lit up occasionally, having roars of beast's ring throughout the vacant stone streets.

One thing was for certain from these events.

A fool, has awaken his power.

The fake shinobi that fell at the hands of Naruto were dead before they even hit the ground, as their body disintegrated before their pained groans and screams could escape their mouths. Dark red and black energy surrounded and destroyed the monsters, as it covered their body and made them burst into black clouds of smoke.

The rattling of chains echoed throughout all the castle's inside, the sound of the roaring flames filled the insides. the light from within the castle seemed to have had died, as the fiery glow of the flames that were spread all around were the only source of light to be seen. Only one lone dark figure could only stare from above with amusement and mischievousness, witnessing all the brutality that was being displayed in front of him.

Hmm... You seemed to have a very powerful resolve little one… you are certainly entertaining that's for sure, I'll give you that. But is this enough for you to keep on fighting for your pathetic life?

The distorted voice from before taunted Naruto, as he now stood still with his weapons rightfully back in his hands, and with his appearance taking a drastic change from before.

The vulpine shaped mask on his face was a pure white, with a kitsune like orange design around the eyes of it. His torn and ripped clothing were replaced with a long black nine tailed trench coat that had an kyuubi design on the back of it with each of its tails going down the tails of the coat, with a burnt orange tunic shirt underneath, black Anbu pants, and black steel toe shinobi boots. His hands were covered with burnt orange gloves, as he stood with a little slouch, looking up top at were the voice spoke to him. The bright blue flames surrounded him, it spread all throughout his body. It seemed that he paid no mind, as he held his stare at the top.

The chains kept rattling and banging on the ground behind him, as a creature like no other stood behind him.

Inari, the trickster god, His mask was more defined...resembling more of a fox's head.

However, the bottom half of his mask remained uncovered, revealing the Large, razor-sharp teeth that lined his mouth. The ears of his mask were covered in a plate of white bone-like material with orange markings, giving him the usual pointed ears of a fox.

His nine long and deadly tails spread out far and wide behind him with chains wrapped around them, daring any to come near the god. The black sage coat he wore with orange flames lining around the torn bottom of it, he wore it over the blood red bodysuit that cover his body with black lining, His feet were colored in a shade of blood red Greaves, His hands were a pure blood red as well, and were those like demon hands, with black claws as fingers.

"Hahahaha! Man aren't you quite an interesting man. Your heart is filled with so much sin from within it that I can't tell which one is more prominent than the other. You've probably experienced more grief, choices, and temptations, Hell! Even hatred and fear than any other man should have to ever live to face for themselves. But then again, that doesn't mean you must have given into those temptations so easily. It's quite something."

Inari spoke toward the voice from atop, as Naruto's glare only indicated that his attention was not toward the demon or the man's words, but to the balcony hanging over the entrance of the castle.

Someone or something was there, he could faintly feel it but he was sure.

"I see…you can see my flaws and shortcomings so easily, and still keep on fighting these creatures of man with no effort. You seem to be a very wise and powerful being, and your owner is very determined and bright young man, he holds so much promise for the future of man…Well…no matter. The both of you have made this very intriguing for me to watch. For you two to slay my shinobi with so much ease, and for him to unlock that power, it shows me there is more to the Hokage's son just like humanity, for the people to finally know and accept on how this world and it's inhabitants have become and not live on the lies constructed by the countries to try and withhold whatever peace that is still withheld throughout these times…but, you have trespassed my land, and that cannot be forgiven. This is where our paths will end. I wish your death is as meaningless as humanity's futile attempt on it's survival."

After the voice from above stopped talking, all the fake shinobi that still survived started to twitch with a seizure like movement. Their Anbu masks transforming into Angry faced metal masks.

After their odd little transformation, they looked at Naruto and Inari's direction, all of them had their eyes on them and nothing else. One of the more reckless fake shinobi of the bunch charged right at them.

"Heh heh, well 'partner' looks like you get to finally have some fun and go wild!"

Inari disappeared from behind Naruto, as Naruto then jumped over the shinobi that tried to ram into him. While in midair he lifted his right hand, and threw a shuriken straight through the monster's skull from the top of its head. The sound of a crack made it known that he hit his target.

Watching the beasts motion dropped in an instant, leaving it tumbling till it stopped on the ground a couple yards away from where Naruto once stood face first.

Naruto landing softly on the ground and looked back at the presumably dead shinobi.

Quick little jerks from the creature on the ground showed that it's death wasn't the case. As it clumsily and slowly got back on its feet.

It looked back at its thrower, its eyes red glow still brightly shining at Naruto with hunger in them.

"What the bloody fuck?" Naruto muttered staring at the fake shinobi before he heard the sound of more fakes charging at him.

'sigh… alright let's take them all out at once,' shurikens in his hands, enhanced with his wind chakra.

He then jumped once more in the air, higher than any of the fake shinobi could of dream to reach, and started to spin and throwing hail of shurikens.

All his shots went all around the place with incredible speed, and with even more incredible accuracy, as all of the shots connected to a solid piece of flesh, which caused alot of thudding come from the ground below Naruto.

He landed and rolled off of it, as he stood on his two feet to see what damage he has done to the creatures, hoping that they were and stay dead.

To his surprise, with his impressive throwing performance, they all surely started to get up just like the first. Naruto was a little annoyed with this, and his body then had wind whirling around him, as he started to charge at the large group of fake shinobi.

The tearing and ripping of the monster's flesh were constantly heard as Naruto slashed expertly into each one of them along with the slashing winds around his body.

He sped off to one near a group of them and planted his feet on it's head and pushed on it, it's head crushed against the ground, as Naruto jumped at another one that was near the group.

He spun in the air while flying towards it and held his kunai tightly. As he got closer to the monster, he then rammed his knife into the fake's skull, the sickening crack of the bones shattering in its skull rung as the fake shinobi was too slow to react to naruto's incredible speed throughout the whole motion.

Taking another kunai, this one with a tag on it, he lit it and threw it at another group that was getting far too close. The kunai lodging itself in one of the fake's skull before the tag exploded taking the group with it.

He took out the knife and spun on his heel to kick the monster's face, sending it flying far away. He used the momentum of the kick to make him turn around to face a couple of them that were slowly creeping up at him.

' There's no end to them!,' he thought seeing them coming towards him

"Hey partner, what's wrong? Is it too much for you? Then why don't you let me show you how to do it right!?"

"Inari!" Naruto ripped his mask off, which burst into blue flames, and crushed it, summoning Inari behind him. Inari spun around in the with his tails out, and raised his hand to form black and red energy, It surrounded one of them in the middle, and it exploded. The force sent the ones that were near flying off in all kinds of directions.

It seemed that Inari's effort did the trick, but that was soon dismissed as the fakes just started to get up again, seeming to have no injuries from his assault or look of harm, they looked as good as new.

"Tch now that just stings my pride"

"Why aren't they disappearing? Just die already!" Naruto questioned out loud with frustration. Inari chuckled at Naruto's anger, though he would have to agree as well.

"You want them to die?…ha ha ha, well partner if you want them to stay down, then you're going to have to reveal their true self. Take the masks off…and take down their inner demons that come forth!"

"Demons?" Naruto didn't hesitate to take Inari's word of advice, it's not like he hasn't been wrong…. yet. So, when the next fake charged at him, he jumped on up and landed on his shoulders.

"Why don't you show me what's behind that mask?!" Naruto aggressively grabbed its mask, and ripped it off the fake shinobi and kicked him away. The fake shinobi shook its head furiously with black goo dripping out of it's now dark and empty face, it took a few seconds until it stopped and started to twitch.

It's small jolt led to it fully spazzing out of control. The fake shinobi then exploded into the black goo from before, and quickly reformed from it to turn into what appeared to be a woman in robes and holding fans with one over her face.

"Ooookay? I have to ask…what the hell is that?" It seemed to not like Naruto's question, as she then flicked her wrist, shooting a green slash of energy toward Akira. He immediately dodge to the side out of instinct and looked at where the energy flew. Only to see it cut one fake completely in half.

"Okay…not going to take this thing lightly….at all," Naruto stood up and looked at the robed women like creature.

"This is that fake shinobi's inner self, whatever human on this world who has accepted sin and gave into temptation, has made that fake with their inner emotions and their sins. Which when revealed, showed what that human's true self really is inside, in this case, an Alp…Tch it just had to be one too…"

"What, you dated one these things before?"

"God no, but have you ever tried to get one to leave you alone? They're relentless, they just won't take a hint at no."

Inari trailed off, a little annoyed on the true form of whoever has Alp as their true self.

More fake's started to gather and surround Naruto, as after the little explanation from Inari and revealing of that fake's true form, seemed to cause them to be much bolder than ever before. They all flew at Naruto, wanting to kill the boy.

'yeah like that worked the first time'

Naruto [shunshin] out of their path, and proceeded to attack them once more.

He quickly sent some flying away with another one of Inari's Eiha as he was told, and slashed and shot at any grimm that got too close to him with his shurikens and kunai, as he constantly had to dodge the green waves that came from the Alp.

One fake with a katana was ahead of Naruto when he was running. Naruto was about to collide with it, so he acted quickly as he pulled back his kunai and jammed it right under its mask as soon it was within his reach. Naruto then lifted it, ripping the mask off its face, then spun around and with his wind chakra covered fist, he socked it in the face away quickly, getting distance from the fake.

It once again jumped and twitch on the ground, until it exploded and showed a little flying snowman with a black eyes and a smile, a blue hat on top its head, and blue gloves.

"Heho!, you want to fight me?!" The creature laughed in front of Naruto.

He was going to attack him, until the fake that were chasing him started to close in. He turned toward them and threw a couple of shuriken to fend them off.

Naruto jumped back, as he felt the chill of a huge barrage of ice that was shot at his back.

"Don't ignore me!" Angrily said the snowman demon.

Naruto couldn't focus too long on him, as a familiar flash of green was coming behind him. He ducked and watch to see that it hit the snowman thing, and he got knocked down hard.

"Owww! Damn you stupid devil, that hurt!"

The thing still laid on the ground, as the alp then stuck her tongue out mockingly at the fallen snowman.

"You were in the way when I sent it. It's not my fault, and don't call me a devil! I'm an Alp."

Naruto's eye twitched in annoyance as he had enough of these odd creatures bugging him with his fight with the fakes. So, he raised his hand and shot two shurikens at the both of them. It seemed to be very effective, as when the throwing stars hit the snowman, it exploded into a black dust and sent the alp right down to the ground.

Naruto ran to her, as he intended to slice her in half with his kunai blade.

"Whoa! Whoa! Stop!"

Naruto came to a halt, with his kunai pointed at her face.

"Oh yeah? Why should I?" The fallen alp knew she had a chance to get out of her bad situation, but didn't know what to say. She hesitated for a while and looked around. She couldn't think of anything to stop the boy from killing her.

Naruto turned his right arm behind him, and threw another Kunai he had at the incoming fake that were creeping closer, while holding his cold stare on the fallen alp, not one second leaving his gaze from her. After a couple of seconds of his kunai and shuriken thrown, and no response from the alp, Naruto grew impatient.

"Alright no more stalling." He redirects his arm back at the pixie, with his kunai aimed right above her head, and about to stab her through the head.

"Wait! I can…I can, g-give you p-power." Her statement caught his interest, as he stopped right when he was about to stab her through the brain.

"You can give me power? How is that so? And How?" The question was simple, but held alot of weight to it. The alp had to give the answer that Naruto wanted, or he would destroy her on the spot.

"I'll give you my power. You can use it for your persona."Now that just confused Naruto on what she said.

'Her power for my persona? Does she mean Inari? What does she even mean by that?' Before Naruto could question or ponder what she meant, she turned into a small white-blue orb. The orb went to his face, and he slowly absorbed it through his mask.

"Hmmmm, well isn't that interesting…. It seems that you and I have gained some of her power…but not all of it, nor her being also. Interesting…very interesting."

Inari was floating beside Naruto and speaking out loud to no one in particular. He seemed to be able to summon himself on his own accord whenever he wants it seems. Naruto turned toward him and glared at him.

"You and I are gonna have a lot of talking to do when we get out of here." Inari typically chuckled at Naruto's statement/threat.

"Yeah yeah I guess you want some answers. Now, we must escape this realm of reality, even with our amazing power, there is too much demons here to fight, you would tire easily."

Naruto nodded and looked at the fake that he shot down when talking to the alp before. They were back on their feet and were even more pissed than ever before. They seemed to lose any sense of thought on a strategy, as they all charged at him like animals.

"Inari!" Naruto called out his name, and Inari was prepared for the next order that his partner would give him. Naruto once again grabbed the flames on his face.

"Magaru!" Naruto crushed the flames, and Inari waved his hand and let out a huge wave of the same green energy that the alp used before at Naruto. The attack was effective, as it sent the fakes scattering, but it wasn't enough to kill them, it only seemed to just push them back.

"Tsk they're a resilient bunch, aren't they?"

' they just won't stay down! What does it take for them die already?!…'

"Hmmm… partner? Get outside, you might be able to exit this world out there."

Inari interrupted Naruto's thought, and so he then ran over to the doors in which he entered from to the castle, and went outside.

As he got out of the castle, he ran across the drawbridge and stood in the middle of the stone streets that he appeared at the beginning of his little adventure in the castle. He felt his pocket vibrate, so he checked his NinjaTech and looked at the text that it sent him.

"Exit ready, return back?"

The black and red eye icon from before appeared, and so Naruto tapped on it expecting for it to send him back. To his dismay and annoyance, a notification showed on the screen.

"Error. Demons detected around your area. Unable to return."

"Oh, come on!" he complained before he heard footsteps.

Naruto looked back to see that surely, three fake shinobi had followed him, the drawbridge was raised high, and the castle gates were closed.

'At least there won't be any more of them.' Naruto turned his whole body to them, the fakes were growling and raising their weapons at the boy's direction.

Naruto looked at them, giving a cocky grin while at it. He quickly activated his wind chakra as it flew around his body once more and charged at beasts head-on.

Speeding toward them, as he intended on taking them out quickly and swiftly, Naruto went straight toward one and feinted a attack on it, hoping it would fall for it.

They easily did, as the fake stood there and prepared for an attack, while the others charged to the that direction Naruto used his wind chakra to glide just a few inches above the floor to quickly move around all of them, confusing them in the process.

"Magaru!" Inari popped up and sent the sharp slices of air at the fakes. When it made contact, it didn't slice them in half like he expected and hoped it would, but it did make them all disoriented and weak, as the wind hit them with force and accuracy, time to deal some more damage!

Naruto took this time to quickly pull the mask of each one of them, they didn't resist much as they were still trying to recover from his surprise attack.

Like the fake ninja before them, they exploded and showed their true selves. One was revealed to be a pixie, and the other two to be pumpkin headed one that Naruto hasn't seen before.

Two balls of fire were shot immediately at Naruto from the lanterns of the pumpkin heads, as they turned and faced him. Naruto was surprised by it, and wasn't prepared to dodge in time, even with his wind chakra activated.

He crossed his arms in front of him, minimizing as much damage as he could from the blast. It seemed to work even if his wind chakra made it a bit worse, as the damage wasn't too great, but it still stung and managed to send him back a good amount from them.

The pixie sent a small wave of air right after the two fireballs, which Naruto luckily was able to dodges, as a quick side-step was enough for it to be avoided. He wasn't going to be barbeque any time soon thank you very much.

He composed himself quickly and looked at the creatures, trying to think of a plan to take them down quickly. Inari seemed to a step ahead of him, as he suggested a solution.

"Partner, these demons can be reasoned with if you are able to get them weak enough, trust me on that. You already gained the power of that alp, try to see if you could get one of them to join you, you can finish off the pixie though. If my hunch is correct, then this certainly going to be an interesting turn of events…heh hehe"

Naruto disregarded Inari's last couple of words, and quickly sped off to the pixie, he slashed at her diagonally a couple of times on her mid-region and finished her off with a good kunai to the face.

The now named pyro jack shot another round of fireballs at Naruto; he dodge them this time as he saw the light and felt the intense heat coming from one side, there's no way he's letting himself be hit by that anytime soon.

He turned around and threw shuriken at the two; they maneuvered through the air, not letting the throwing stars come anywhere near them. Naruto summoned Inari quickly after he failed to connect a hit with none of them.

"Eiha!" A dark ball of energy was in the middle of the two pyro jacks and engulfed them with the dark energy. One of them disappeared automatically from the blast, as it was right next to attack, while the other one flew to the ground and smashed on the cobble stone street, managing to escape the full blow of the blast.

Naruto ran and pointed his kunai toward him like he did before, trying out on what Inari had told him to do. He is him, right? No point in lying to yourself, though in his case he might do it for some shits and giggles.

"You think you intimidate me? Ha, that's funny." The pyro jack laughed at Naruto. He scoffed at the demon's attitude to the situation that he was in, not liking on how this may turn out.

"So, what do you want?"It asked Naruto, who just stared at him.

"Your strong, I want you to join me. You can become stronger if you come with me." Naruto boldly said, the pyro jack just kept on laughing at the boy.

"Why should I join you? Why should I help you be stronger?' Naruto was annoyed of the demon already, and as much as he wanted to stab it and end this stupid interaction he wouldn't, not if he could get him to join him.

Naruto thought for a moment and, then took on a devilish smirk and slowly spoke to the pumpkin once more.

"Because, if you don't...I'll kill you." Naruto spoke in a voice he thought would be intimidating. The demon didn't think so, as he continued to laugh. Now that hurt Naruto's pride since he got a kick on using that on the villagers that try to beat him up. It was fun to see their scared faces.

"Hahaha, you're a really funny guy. If you tell me a good joke, I'll join you." Naruto was taken by surprise from the demon's request and just looked at him questionably.

'He wants me to tell him… a joke? Huh? I haven't really told a joke before, no one ever wanted to talk to me neverless hear a joke from me.' Naruto was lost in his thoughts at the request from the demon, but Inari interfered with his thoughts.

"Just do it partner."

Inari told Naruto quickly, not wanting him to be lost in his memories and thoughts. Naruto wasn't sure about the idea, but agreed on pursuing it. He mentally sighed to himself, and started to think of the first joke to pop in his head.

"Hmm...let's see...will you remember me in a year?." Naruto tried to think of something better than this kind of knock knock joke, but couldn't think of anything better for something right now, but the demon seemed excited about it.

"hehehe this sounds fun, okay I'll play along"

"Yes."

"Will you remember me in a month?"

"Yes."

"Will you remember me in a week?"

"Yes."

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"see, you forgot me already"

There was a long pause after the 'joke' was told. Naruto looked at the demon with his serious face the whole way, as the expressionless happy face that was permanently on the pumpkins face stayed still. Seconds that felt like minutes passed as the soft sound of wind was only heard between them.

There was a burst of laughter from the pumpkin, as his whole body shook with joy, it couldn't stop moving from what Naruto could see.

"That was amazing! You certainly have a great sense of humor."

Naruto just looked at the pumpkin with surprise. "Y-yeah I guess so…" Naruto awkwardly said, before joining in on the laughter. The pyro jack then rose up in the air for a little, and then started to speak.

"You are me, and I'm you. We're both the same but different at the same time. I'll join you and become stronger, so let's become stronger on this journey, as we are the same but not. Show me what you can do, Fool." Different than the time with the alp, he turned into mask like his own, and was absorbed through Naruto's mask.

Inari spoke up with a smile on his face, as the action seemed to be done.

"Well this just proves my suspicion right. It looks like you can get these demons to join you partner, but not all of them will be easy, since they are manifestations of other people's sins, which makes it you'll have to appeal to their good side to get them. This speaks volumes for what power lays in store for us in the future. It seems that me and you are stuck with each other with others to come along through the whole way."

Naruto didn't know what Inari was talking about, but he didn't dwell too much on it. Naruto thought about Inari's words, as he checks his NinjaTech and looked at the screen. The black eye icon shined bright red on the screen. Naruto pressed it, and found that the world seemed to twist and morph once more. He disappeared from the distorted world, and returned back to reality.

A lone figure was seen on top of the tallest tower throughout all of over the castle, looking down over the land and at the street where Naruto once stood.

"It seems we have a new fool that has been played in the game. I wonder if he will succeed where they failed?." The black silhouette then disappeared, as the castle stood in it's full glory. Shining brightly with it's eerie green glow.

[Back to reality]

Naruto found himself back to the very road he was before he was transported to that strange world.

He never felt so drained in his entire life.

First, he had a fight with his father, second, he had a dream and talked with his shadow again, only to wake up to leave and live with Itachi, then he got sucked into a world with no one else but those…. fake shinobi and a giant castle in it, and third, he can now summon a demon…so far, his days been going just peachy. To say that his day wasn't eventful, would be a blatant lie or insult.

As Naruto regained his vision, he opened his eyes and looked around.

People were talking, birds were singing, the sun is barely out, as it seem like some time has past since he was in that strange world. But aside that, everyone was going on with their usual lives, like the whole time stop never even occurred to the people around him. He's gonna have to ask Inari about that as well.

Looking around, he found that he was still in his torn clothes, and that his bag was laying on the ground. Besides that, everything was relatively normal. And it seems that his different outfit disappeared off his body.

'Was it a dream? Did I fall asleep in the middle of the road? Is that even possible…. I mean this is a ninja village, sure someone would've saw me…then again it might've been a Kyuubi hater…'

[Sooooo, are you going to go to Itachi's home and rest? Or stand here like a mindless zombie. I mean you been standing there for a good ten minutes with a far-off look.]

Yep, that debunks the whole dream theory, He could hear that familiar and slightly annoying voice.

Naruto groggily bend over to pick up his bag, and proceeded to start walking Itachi's apartment was, and then he will have a nice little talk with himself…or his other self to be exact.

'What are you?' It was a question that he asked so much now, and feel as if he was never going to get a clear answer for it.

[Well to be frank and blunt with you, I'm you.]

And answers like that, make it even more confusing and frustrating. He's amazed he hasn't threaten to strangle him yet.

'Okay…you're me, so what are you.' Naruto wasn't sure if he was listening correctly, but it seemed that he heard someone let out a breath of annoyance right beside him.

[I guess I have to be more specific with you then. I'm your inner self, I am what you truly are on the inside, a joker, a fool, a thief. I am Inari, the Trickster God of Luck and Foxes.]

Okay, so on the inside he's a fox god…

Good to know, he guessed.

'How exactly are you with me? And why can you use those weird spell powers? That wasn't Ninjutsu or anything, right?' Inari didn't like my little interrogation on him at the moment, as he spoke in an irritated voice.

[Leave all your questions for later, I've answered what you should know right now. You must rest from the events that have transpired today. I also suggest that you take tomorrow off from your training…we have lots to discuss once you have rested.]

He really couldn't complain about that, by this point he was completely drained.

Going into autopilot, He kept on making his way through the village with the increasing want for a bed. He eventually noticed that he made it to Itachi's home, he ringed the doorbell.

*RING*

He waited as he heard footsteps, the door opened to a surprised and shocked Itachi. "Naruto-kun?"

"Hey Itachi. Is that offer still open?" he asked before fainting. Itachi quickly caught him as he picked him up and his bag as well.

Looking the boy over he wonders how Naruto became covered in this much cuts and bruises, dismissing those thoughts for now he carried the boy inside, closing the door.

[Two months later]

Night had fallen over the village hidden in the leaves; all was quiet under the pale moonlight. Until suddenly, in a swift flash, a figure leapt onto a rooftop near the Hokage's tower. The figure was average height, wearing black and orange. Wearing a long black nine tailed trench coat that had an kyuubi design on the back of it with each of its tails going down the tails of the coat, with a burnt orange tunic shirt underneath, black Anbu pants, and black steel toe shinobi boots. His hands were covered with burnt orange glove.

Taking out a pair of binoculars, he used his binoculars to find a path inside. What he did spot was a couple of Anbu around, probably looking for him. "Hehe oh don't worry, I'll be there shortly."

After putting his Binoculars away, he jumped off the roof. Twisting in midair he landed on a tight rope leading to another building.

Naruto loved the abilities he gained from his persona, as he could sneak pass short corners without anyone noticing, has incredible luck, his transformation jutsu is stronger than ever, he was able to hide in shadows quite well.

He jumped off and landed next to a ledge by an open window.

After that Naruto ran under the gate and into another room. He ignored the door that lead to the shop below and stood before another gate. He created two clones to pushed the gate higher above him and ran through before the gate could shut back down. He made quick work of the second gate and now the three of them were on a rooftop one floor below the Hokage's office but could see clearly what was happening inside. He dispelled the two clones as he came up to the seal in front of him.

"Of course, all it takes is a light touch." Naruto said as he held only his pointing finger, middle finger and thumb.

Each digit gained a small blue flame made of chakra. He placed his hand on one 'ring' of seals. Slowly he turned his hand turning the ring with him. He learned this from one of the demons he negotiated with.

With seals and safes like this all he had to do was focus some chakra into the safe in the right spot and slowly turn it like you were the one unlocking it. He had to feel his charka for, well the only word he could describe it as vibrations. He then turns it the other way still feeling for the vibrations. Then, one final time then the safe is cracked.

Naruto smiled as the safe unlocked when he pulled his hand away. The safe open up and Naruto peered inside. There were several files for the Hokage's eyes and his advisors only as well as several other important secrets to the village. Then, he found the files he was looking for. The files portraying one of the head civilians that own a part of the market places, he took out the files and place them in his coat.

He then pulled out a small black, red and orange card that was shaped and looked like a heart. It was his group's symbol, it was also Naruto's calling card. He always left them when he pulled off a heist.

His victory was short-lived because he barely turned around to see someone he knew body flicker into the room. it was someone he knew before and got the chance to know over the last three months. "Anko, flashing me again I see, don't you ever get cold wearing that?"

The special Jounin smirked at the thief. "Why don't you help me warm up in my interrogation cell?"

"Sorry I'm saving myself for a special girl. If she ever breaks my heart you can help me pick up the pieces. In fact, I think I will go meet her right now, ta-ta."

"You aren't going anywhere Trickster!" shouted Anko, sending several snakes at him. They bit into him…only to rip the log decoy instead. She quickly looked around to see the door open and found him running down the hall.

As she gave chase he heard on the speakers, "Intruder alert, all Anbu report to the third floor, east wing!"

Anko smirked, 'Reinforcements. Got you now Trickster…wait a minute, that's not even close to where we are.' Anko growled and gained speed to try to catch him while throwing kunai at him.

Trickster dodged the kunai as he went down a different hallway as both of his clones he made before ran to him, following him away from the yells from Anko. "Boss was this really part of the plan?!" screamed the clone on his right ducking under the thrown kunai. He dispelled them as he continued running from Anko, taking a different path.

Anko jumped after them and started to follow Trickster. The two jumped across the rooftops in their little game of cat and mouse.

Trickster finally stop and turned towards Anko, twirling a kunai on his finger. Anko stopped in front of him her hand loose to the sides ready to send her snakes out of her sleeves at him. "End of the line Trickster," she said ready for any move he makes.

He just gave her that same cocky smile, "Yeah sorry, our game has to end with the same results as always. Maybe next time we could catch dinner together?"

With that he dropped small pellets down on the roof, creating a smoke screen.

Anko sent to snake into the smoke, but caught nothing. When the smoke cleared, she screams in anger before jumping off trying to find anything that could lead her to him.

Far away, watching the whole thing was Trickster laughing with a smile on his face." Hehehe, she just won't give up." He shook his head at the Jounin.

Taking out the files he stole, he looks through them with a frown, closing them he turns around and then fell off backwards off the monument and disappearing.

[The next morning]

Naruto woke to the lovely smell of bacon drifting from the kitchen. Getting up from bed, he drowsily walked to the kitchen table of the apartment.

Naruto sat down stretching an arm overhead, yawning.

"I smell bacon." Naruto mumbled as he rested his chin onto his arms on the table still slightly sleepy. "Good morning Itachi."

Naruto said with a small pleased smile on his face at the smell of the food. Itachi just rolled his eyes at him, seeing as he knew he didn't need to go wake him up. With a small smile, Itachi put some more bacon on the pan, letting it sizzle to perfection. When Itachi was done, he filled up two plates of food and took it over to Naruto.

It's been two months since Naruto came to live with Itachi. Imagine his surprise when he opens his door and see the young boy covered in cuts and bruises. He had hoped the young boy would take his offer, generally knowing how he was treated by his family and the village. When Itachi asked, Naruto told him that he got jumped by some low rank chunin, instead of being caught inside a Palace as how Inari has called them.

Speaking of Inari….

Besides being a Trickster God of Luck, and…*sigh*… Foxes. He can be a bit overconfident, slightly aggressive, and pretty much a smartass most of the time.

[Aww partner, why the harsh words?] came a familiar voice in his head.

'If the shoe fits,'partner...'' he shot back to the fox god, who just scoffed.

Naruto caught the image of himself in his Trickster ego on the newspaper Itachi was reading, gulping down his food. "Hey Itachi, whatcha reading?" he asked the Uchiha, who was skimming through it.

"Besides the news of the Academy having its family visit exam, there's news about this Trickster. I was away from the village on a mission for the Hokage when he infiltrated the Hokage Tower, having stolen important information and avoided being captured by Anko of the IT&T Department, with little to no effort nonetheless. If he wasn't wanted for theft of information and was a shinobi of the village, I would've liked to offer him a position for Anbu. His skills would be a great asset to the Hokage and village. "He told the blonde who was mentally laughing in his head along with Inari who was chuckling at the irony, an Anbu commander praising a thief who's sitting across from him.

" Really, you would? I thought you have to be an exceptional and very skilled ninja to be part of the Anbu Corp." Naruto asked, finishing his breakfast.

" Well yes, that is the case, but any shinobi ranked chunin and above can request permission to join the corp and they must have to go through a several trials to join if they want to succeed." He explained to the Uzumaki, as he continued on reading the paper.

Naruto picked up his plate as well Itachi's and left them in the sink. Looking back to Itachi, Naruto could only think of what was on his mind. It's not new that Itachi is known as a genius and prodigy of his clan, it's just that no one ever knew of the burden that's been placed on of his shoulders just because of that title of genius. Naruto remembered when he found out himself yesterday during training.

[Yesterday, Training Area - ?]

CLANG!

Two figures clashed in midair, jumping back from each other. One of the figures threw several shuriken before weaving through hand signs, it was Itachi.

"[ Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!]" the figure bellowed before spewing small fireballs, which fly towards the other figure unpredictable while enveloping the shurikens.

"Shit!" the fireballs impacted the other figure.

The smoked cleared to show Naruto inside a sphere of water. The blonde released the jutsu and created two clones. Naruto then began to weave hand signs.

The two clones dashed at Itachi, both engaging in taijutsu with him while the original Naruto finished hand signs.

"[Suiton: Mizurappa!]" Water gushes from Naruto's mouth like a waterfall towards Itachi, who was still fighting the clones. One of the clones managed to get behind him, taking him by surprise and grabbed him, before dispelling the other clone, holding him down.

Naruto thought he had him…but then suddenly Itachi began to glow. That's when Naruto realized that the Itachi that his clone was holding was actually a clone itself. The moment the jutsu hit the Itachi clone, it exploded.

"What!?" Naruto shouted in confusion.

Hands exploded underneath Naruto grabbing his feet. "What the-," was all he could get out.

"[Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!]" Naruto was dragged into the ground, only his head was sticking above the ground as Itachi emerged out of the ground.

"Very good Naruto-kun, but you are still lacking. You need to see the underneath the underneath," Itachi told him.

"Damn it, I thought I had you there!" Naruto whined.

"Better luck next time Naruto-kun," Itachi just smiled, though he noticed Naruto was smirking. He then felt a blade at his back and one against his neck. Two Narutos were behind him and at his side, each having a kunai at him with wind chakra flowing through it.

The Naruto buried neck deep poofed into smoke, showing that he was also a clone. "Still think I'm lacking, Itachi?" he said smirking, Itachi had a frown on his face but he smiled.

Taking away the kunai from Itachi, the clone poofing away. Naruto's smirked fell as he looked at Itachi. "Itachi what's wrong? You're usually not like this, you were more aware and ready for any surprises. What's on your mind?," asked a concern Naruto.

Itachi sighed, he guessed he should've seen this coming. Might as well talk with someone about it. "Naruto-kun... what do you see when you look at me?" he asked him.

Naruto scrunched up his face in thought, not expecting the question. "...You're Itachi Uchiha, my friend and one the people I can say that feels like family to me," he responded, Itachi smiled at that.

"Well that's what you see, but to others I'm Itachi Uchiha, prodigy of the Uchiha Clan; Itachi of the Sharingan, a strong proud shinobi of the Hidden Leaf," he said with a frown.

"Both the village and my clan expect great things of me. The clan wants me to do what's best for the them, but then I also have to do what's best for the village. But…but I can't," he said, his voice becoming cold. Naruto noticed this, looking at the older Uchiha with worry.

"Itachi...?"

"I... I just can't do it… before, it was different because we were in war but now that war has passed. I'm not sure anymore... what's the point of trying...?"

Naruto looked at Itachi, he always thought of him as a strong willed and unbreakable shinobi, but it looks like he was wrong. He then heard the voice of his persona.

[Every human/person has a struggle...including him partner. No one is invincible and no one is beyond the chains of their responsibility and doubt. Itachi is just one who endured until now with his struggles and chains.] Inari had spoke to him as he looked at the emotional and bit unstable Uchiha.

"Itachi," he called out getting his attention. Naruto stared at him, his eyes narrow in a glare.

"What was it that you were fighting for before? In the war?" he asked him, the question taking him by surprised but he answered without a second thought.

"… For the safety of the village and my clan, my family," he said.

"Then what's stopping you now? I mean yeah, I can understand the pressure that's on you from everyone but what's really stopping you? You don't have to do it their way. You're not just a shinobi of the Uchiha Clan or Kohona, you are Itachi Uchiha, nobody else. Nothing more, nothing less. You can do this your way, in your Nindo way. That's the Itachi I know," Naruto said staring at Itachi.

Itachi…. he wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't expecting Naruto to say all of that. Do it his way? He never really thought about it like that. Looking back at Naruto, he hesitated, for he thought he saw Minato in Naruto's place for a moment. Shaking his head, he looked once again at Naruto, who stood there.

He smiled, and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto blinked at that, looking up at Itachi to see the doubt and despair he saw was gone and replaced with hope and relief. "Naruto, thank you for your words. Talking with you has helped me, as if some massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders," He surprised Naruto with what he said.

Naruto felt Itachi's sincerity from his statement of him helping the Uchiha with his position. Just then, a glass shattering noise rung out as did the rattling of chains.

Thou art I... And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond and acquired a new vow...

It shall become thee wings of rebellion that breaketh the chains of captivity...

And bring thee closer to the truth...

With the blessing of this Emperor Persona

Thou shalt be blessed when creating

Personas of the Emperor Arcana

Once Naruto's vision returned to normal. ' What was the hell was that? Was that what Igor meant by Social Links and Vow?' he thought.

"If there's anything you need help with, Naruto, you can always ask me." Itachi said with a smile. Naruto nodded with a smile of his own, happy that he could help Itachi with his problems.

[Back to present]

Helping Itachi with that burden made Naruto feel relieved. He didn't know much about the Uchiha Clan, but he now knew that it wasn't anything relieving nor stress free. Though he was a bit put off by making his first social link and vow with Itachi. That was a thought that lingered in his mind, well that and what he learned from both Igor and his Persona, Inari. The information wasn't what he was expecting either.

[Flashback Starts]

Naruto wasn't sure where he was going to be once he woke up but the moment he opened his eyes, he came to the sight of blue.

Velvet blue of the Velvet Room, to be exact.

' Nice to see you finally awake sleeping beauty. Did you enjoy your rest?' came the taunt of a familiar voice.

Naruto turned to his right to once again see himself only the difference this time was his choice of clothes. They were exactly what the being that was his persona had worn.

"Inari?,"

' In the flesh.'

"Okay… what's with the new look and what the hell happened back there?," he asked/ shouted at his shadow.

'That…was you finally awakening your power. And the reason I look like this is because, thanks to you, I finally broke free from my cage and gained my power and true form."

He gestures to his new look and the mask that rested on his waist. It was the same mask that his persona had.

'Before I answer any questions you have, you should ask Igor about the transformation first; because whatever questions you have for me, I'm going to tell you information that may not bode to well with you, and you have to be ready to accept it. Do you understand?' Naruto wasn't sure. Yeah he wanted to know about all this stuff, but would he want to know everything all at once?

'Yes… yes I do. Besides, if I didn't then I wouldn't be taking the first step,' he thought, turning to Igor who had his eyes closed and hands crossed together.

"It's so nice to see you again, Young Fool." He said, with that familiar smile on his face, staring at him. " I see you realized that you're exhausted, you became that way after awakening to your 'power.' ...It's nothing to worry about though, my dear guest"

Naruto took whatever he said at face value, but he knew the man in front of him was right.

"So, just relax." He said raising his hands with a deck in his left. The top card rising up and floating in front of them both, It had the image of Inari upon it.

"By the way... I see that it was Inari that broke free and awoken alongside you. That power you felt and commanded, is called a Persona... It is a manifestation of your psyche"

"A manifestation ..of...my...psyche?"

" Yes, It may take some time to fully comprehend. A Persona is a facet of your personality that surfaces as you react to external stimuli... You can think of it as a mask that protects you as you brave many hardships. To others, they wear that mask everyday without a care in the world, without knowing the truth of themselves." Igor stated, moving his gaze from Naruto to his shadow and then back to him.

"Each one has a shadow they keep hidden deep within and never once faced nor accepted the dark side of themselves without fear, unlike you." He said smiling and gaining the blonde's attention once more.

"You met with your own darkest emotions and instead of rejecting him, you tried to understand and even accepted him in the end; and because of that he broke free of the very containment you've caged him in. Through this, he matured from your shadow and became the very new source of power that you now wield." Igor explained to Naruto, who himself was surprised by this revelation, he took a glance at Inari who smiled.

"That being said, your power is still weak..." now that brought Naruto's attention. Weak? How was his power weak?

"Wait, whaddya mean 'weak'?" he asked.

"When you use your Persona ability, you must channel your inner strength from within. The ability evolves as you develop your Social Links - your emotional ties with others. You will also acquire vows; these vows will grant you more power as well. Bonds are the source of your power and as such you must create more. The stronger your Social Links and vows are, the more powerful your Persona ability. Please take that into consideration, my dear guest."

"Now, then... Time marches on in your world. I do believe you wanted to talk to your persona, I shouldn't keep you busy any longer." Igor said as Inari stood up and then walked over to another door of the room. this one was orange unlike the rest of the room.

'Follow me if you want your answers partner' Inari said, Naruto got up and bid Igor goodbye as he followed his persona. Inari opened the door to reveal the familiar Bar room only with a view differences, like there was a dance floor and more booths including the fact that it's bigger.

"This place looks a bit different than last time," he commented taking a glance around.

'That's because it was my own cage and was supposed to accommodate me and anyone that came by. This one on the other hand is for me and the others that join us along the way.' He said as he took a seat at a booth, Naruto taking the seat from him. Naruto noticed Pyro Jack at one of the booths, sleeping.

'So partner... ask away.'

"Well firstly, what was that place I was in?"

' That is what I like to call the 'Palace'. It is manifested by those who hold great sin within them, so not all people have a palace of their own. The one we were in before seemed to belong to someone in the Kurama Clan Manor. I do think it would be interesting to see his demons as well. You might be able to steal their heart,'

Naruto turned his head at Inari, and had a questioning look on his face.

"Steal their heart?" Naruto didn't understand what Inari had just said.

'Yes. Steal their heart, you've seen what their Palace looks like and the demons that gathered there. Their heart is corrupted with sin, and as the such you have to do something about it or else the other heart that you saw will be crushed there as well and lost,'

Inari stated to Naruto, who thought about his suggestion, and kept it in mind.

Naruto thought back to the huge castle, seeing at the how dark and unsettling it was.

" That was a 'Palace' of someone in the Kurama Clan…"

' Yes, yes it was…'

"Wait...You said there was another heart?" he said confused, before he remembered seeing someone up higher in the castle.

' Yes there is another heart there, a young pure one. Though I'm not sure for how long,' he said getting an odd look from Naruto, which has Inari rolled his eyes before he continued.

' Think about it partner, you saw that palace, you've seen the demons there. That young heart is there, in a palace filled with sin. How long do you think that heart can stay there for so long without being corrupted or crushed?'

"….."

Naruto wasn't sure on what to say since he had a good point. He wasn't sure what will happened there, but he wasn't about to let someone who wasn't corrupted like the rest of this rotten village become part of it, or worse.

"….you're right. Though what can I do?" Inari smile grew at the question.

'Like I said before, you should steal their heart.'

" Stealing their heart… you never explain about it or what would it do if I did?" Naruto stated

Inari turned to the side so that his body was facing away from Naruto.

' To steal their heart, is to reform them.' Inari stated, surprising Naruto with the information about stealing a heart. 'for you to help the young heart you must take down the corruption of the palace, ergo the one in control, or you could go help the one there first if you want partner. You do understand, right?'

Naruto nodded as he knew what he needs to do now. He needs to help that person in there.

Having a goal now in thought, he should ask another question that was on his mind.

"Inari... I need to ask..."

' Hmm? '

" Uh...Could you explained what happened to my clothes back there? I mean I was wearing my training clothes before summoning you, and then I was wearing that outfit.." He asked, a bit embarrassed about his question.

'... Heh, your 'outfit', that's because of your own will. Your will of rebellion.' He stated to his host, earning him a odd looked from the young blonde.

' Remember what I said before about a palace?' he questions him, getting a nod in response. ' They're created by the sin of a person, but their sin is also distorted. This is a distortion of a person's sinful heart that affects the general area, thus changing the surrounding area into another reality that their sinful heart projects. Everything within the palace will and must obey to the ruler of the it, because of the power of their distortion. With me so far?' he asks, Naruto nods again.

' In long story short, it's a world where one's distorted desires have materialized into a reality. To prevent this distortion you must hold a great will, a will of rebellion. Your outfit's appearance is pretty much the manifestation of your will. It's the image of your rebellion that you hold deep within. In other words, it is the side of you that you held kept away.' He finished, staring at his host.

'Does that answer your question?'

"Yes, yes it does...Thanks..."

' Don't mention it...Anything else?'

But before Naruto could say anything Inari head perked up before he turned to him.

' Tsk, looks like our time's up partner, I can't keep you here any longer. Next time I'll bring you here, or you can try to come here on your own accord. Either way, see ya later Naruto'

[Flashback Ends]

Ever since then, Naruto has been scouting out in the palace to get a feel of the exterior of the castle while he hunts for the person with the sin related to the castle with Inari's help.

It hasn't been good, though he manage to find out some new intel about the clan, apparently the youngest member and heir is shunned and feared by some of their own clan members for her great power held within.

Yakumo did just that, as her potential with Genjutsu was incredible to say the least, but unfortunately there was a small problem; and it was in the form of her body not meeting the physical requirements in being an active Shinobi. The knowing of that devastated her once she found out.

Thus, the reason why her father had begged the late Sandaime to have Kurenai train the girl and overcome this bump in the road in Yakumo's Shinobi career like Gai was doing with Rock Lee with the girl seeing Kurenai as an idol of sorts.

Sadly, Kurenai lacked the same conviction that Gai did and thus told the poor girl to find another teacher. With the way she said it, broke the fragile girl's heart. Still, the female Kurama wasn't going to give up, and stated as such to Kurenai before she kept on trying.

It looked like even all this time the girl's heart, even if a bit broken, stayed strong and pure. And now that very same heart is in danger from someone in her own clan if that palace is any indication to that.

Even finding all that out he still was clueless on who the palace belonged to.

Naruto decided that training right now would do him no good, since he was already exhausted from the training he did earlier to learn the [Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu] and [Futon: Kazeryūdan no Jutsu], besides the fact that Itachi was out of the village on a mission for the next few days; so, he decided to visit his haven for a while before going home for the day.

[Hehe, partner that sounds like a good idea since your gonna need it,] came the voice of Inari, sounding a bit annoyed confusing Naruto.

'Inari? What do you mean by that?' he questioned the fox god in his mind.

[Look ahead,] came the Persona's response, Naruto scrunched up his face in confusion before looking ahead down the street. The sight made him froze. It was his sisters, Kitami and Yuno walking along with their friends.

He decided to continue walking and hoped that they didn't notice them. Walking with their group it seemed to worked until one of the other in training kunoichi accompanying them decided to speak up.

" Hey Yuno isn't that your brother? The one not allowed to enter the academy?" asked a girl with purple hair styled in small ponytail.

That got Yuno and Kitami to stop walking and look where the girl pointed out, Naruto stopping at the same moment as well.

Naruto, not wanting to deal with the girls, try to play it off friendly and coolly, just greet them and then leave quickly without saying anything else.

"Naruto? Is that truly you? Came Yuno's voice, taking in his appearance after not seeing him for two months.

"Why Hello! Yuno, Kitami. you two look lovely today," He said politely, surprising his siblings.

Kitami spoke up, " Of course we do, unlike our ungrateful big brother who thought he was smart to move out of home of our great parents. Dad told us if you didn't know. " she boasted with a calm demeanor.

" I don't know what you were thinking, moving out? You're not smart enough to get their attention, so why try now with moving out? Where do you live now, hmm? I mean it's not like you could've gotten their attention since they have us" she said with a smug smile at him while the other kids laughed, Yuno smirking as well.

Naruto just stared at them while a scoff from his mind could be heard, he then begins to chuckle lightly before it grew into laughter. His laughter throwing them off the smugness they had.

" Hehehahaha! Wow! Is that what you truly think? I'm not smart to get their attention? Oh no, why would I want the attention of two horrible people who couldn't even realize how much of a little brat their daughter is," he said gesturing to Kitami with a smile

" Or how spoiled the other one is, compared to their son, but then again, I guess I'm not that smart am I, sister?" He said to them. The looks on their faces were perfect and priceless. Both of their faces were wide-eyed, with their mouth open and gaping at the blunt insults. If their expression was desert, Naruto would devour it with like it was the greatest in the world.

Yuno looked ready to explode and run up to him to break his bones to teach him a lesson, but Kitami rushed right at him with her fist, chakra coating it to increase the strength of her punch, ready to strike him down. Naruto himself didn't move in the slightest as if he was resigned to what was going to happen next. Kitami's fist made impact with Naruto's face.

Everyone stared. Kitami had just struck at Naruto, that wasn't surprising since he did mock and insulted one of the villages princesses. The thing that had them all staring was the fact of what wasn't happening.

He should be sent flying and in pain from the impact from her fist, but he didn't. In fact...he wasn't budging an inch.

"You know... I have to admit, I'm sadly disappointed. I was expecting a lot more since you were trained by Minato and Kushina, but then again what was I expecting from you?" Naruto said, moving his face back at her and the others. They flinched at his steely gaze, grabbing her fist and removing it.

Kitami tried to withdraw her fist, but she can't, as her brother's grip on her wrist was too strong for her to pull away. Naruto cracked his neck before looked at his siblings. His glare intensifying, the girls' friends backed away from the dark red aura coming off him, it felt menacing and fearful.

"Kitami...Yuno... I'm giving you two a warning because I'm nice and that I'm your brother. Don't fuck with me or piss me off, or the next time you try anything..." he trailed off, staring at them directly. " I'll personally rip off those pitiful masks you use and show everyone who you two really are for the whole village to see.." he said. The two flinched at his eyes...they weren't their normal crystal blue, but yellow/gold.

"Do you hear me?..." No response, he gripped Kitami's wrist even tighter, making her wince, and then repeats the question, but this time in a much colder tone. "Do you hear me?" he got a response this time as they fearfully nodded. Naruto walk pass Kitami, Yuno and the others made way for him as he walks away from them.

Making sure he was out of sight did Yuno ran up to Kitami, who was rubbing her wrist. Her eyes never leaving the direction her older brother just went. She shivered, remembering the tone he used towards her. Her thoughts then turned more hateful at the audacity of how he treated her, like some little child! He should be at her feet and listening to her every whim, like the pathetic sibling he is. She'll make him pay for that his behavior!

Yuno's thoughts were on her sister's condition but they did drifted to her brother as well, she never seen her brother act like that before. Usually he would just stay silent and just take what they told him. He's never acted this confident or had this aura that made you want to submit. Whatever brought on this change in her brother…?

She wanted to see it once more and then destroy it as she punishes her brother for treating her and her sister like that.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

….

….

Deep within a sewer, a sealed gate was there. Behind the bars and the paper seal on the said bars was a great fox creature. Orange fur with nine tails swaying, its red eyes opened once it felt a strange source of power outside and in front of one of its jailors.

What was that menacing aura that his hosts sibling brought out? It felt like nothing the fox has ever felt before, and yet… it was frightening. That's saying much if it frightens it. The real question would be where did its pathetic host's brother gain that sort of power?

If it found the source of the boy's power then maybe, just maybe, with this power, it could be free from these two disgusting, disrespecting brats and be free once again.

All he wanted was to be free and followed in his father's dreams. Sighing it decided to sleep and think about its thoughts another time. The fox closed its eyes once more to sleep.

" Hello," It opened its eyes once it heard a voice that shouldn't be there with it.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Minato looked out the window, looking over the village from his view of the Hokage Tower.

"Sir?"

Turning around to address the person in his office. It was a young man standing in front of his desk. He had messy, chin-length red-brown hair with bangs, he had red eyes as well. He wears a cream long-sleeve trench coat with several buttons, a red shirt underneath and black pants that to go along with the colour of his shirt. He also wears a brown belt and has a small pouch which is strapped to his left side. He wore fingerless black gloves with metal plating on the back of his hand, he had black Sealed shinobi sandals.

"Yes, Arashi-san?" he asked the now named Arashi, who closed his note book in his hands and placed it in his pouch.

"Will that be all Hokage-sama? I would like to continue my search of intel for this Trickster…."

What many knew was that the young man before Minato was Arashi Yamashiro, a well known detective and son of Takeshi Yamashiro, a detective shinobi that died in the Kyuubi Attack twelve years ago and Arakio Yamashiro, a Anbu Captain who died on a mission ten years ago. He now lives with his uncle on his mother's side, Arashu Hikari, who is the warden of the Kohona prison and also part of IT&T.

Arashi has become a great detective after his father that have solved shinobi cases that most couldn't. He's very popular, if you have a case that needs solving then he's your guy.

Though the reason he's with the Hokage is that, for the last two months there's been theft by the thief named Trickster. He's been stealing from quite a few shinobi and civilians, and managed to escape arrest from his shinobi and anbu.

So he's called in Arashi's services to help with finding out who this thief truly is and what his motives are.

"Yes.. that'll be all , Yamashiro-san" he said. Arashi nodded before leaving through the office doors.

"siiigh.." he let out, thinking back two months before, just after his talk with Naruto and his outburst.

[Flashback]

Downstairs in the living room Minato appears out of a yellow flash with his wife walking in just in time to see him.

"Kushina, have you seen Naruto?"

"I don't know I was out back helping Kitami and Yuno hone their skills. Why? Has something happened to him?"

"I removed him from jail again tonight."

"Again?" She said with a sigh following afterwards.

"I swear that boy is becoming nothing but trouble with all those pranks he pulls around the village like how he painted the Hokage Faces and blamed Kitami and Yuno for it."

Who by the way were the real ones behind said event and blamed their older brother.

"Not to mention all of the fights he started with some of the boys from the academy. You should have just left him in that cell, Minato. Teach him a lesson."

"He wanted me to leave him…"

"What…?"

"He wanted to stay. He may have not said it but he didn't have to... The way he looked at me with those cold eyes full of nothing but hatred when I came to release him. He said…"

"He said…?" Kushina asked.

"That I wasn't his father…and that you're not his mother…that he wasn't our son...That we weren't his family." Minato said closing his eyes shut, Kushina gasps.

Kushina knew that Minato was right as most of their attention was on their very own daughters and barely any on Naruto, who they were supposed to be caring for as their very own.

"What do we do?" Kushina asked.

"We start acting as the parents we should have been from the very beginning." Minato said with fire in his eyes.

"I'll start teaching him in Chakra control!" Kushina said with a smile on her face.

"I'll teach him the Rasengan!" Minato said.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I am sure and maybe throw in the Shadow Clone jutsu." He said with new inegor.

Sadly, that very night when they were thinking of bringing their son back into the family and paying attention to him, is the night that Naruto left their home. They wouldn't find this out until the next day.

[Flashback End]

Minato winced remembering that night and how Kushina broke down once they found out he was gone. Ever since that night and the day after, he's been searching for him to bring him back home, He hasn't had any leads except for one from Itachi.

'Your son lives in a apartment, that I do know. Where? I don't know for the life of me,' He said to him.

"sigh…..where are you Naruto?"

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

After that run-in with his siblings, Naruto decided to head down to that weapon store that Itachi's was talking about from one of their talks before heading over to his haven. He might as well, since he needed a new weapon and something else to replace his shurikens since from the times he's entered the palace.

They. Do. Absolute. SHIT! Against the shadows, which he learned were called from Inari, besides that he was running out of them. He needed a sidearm that he could use for long range, if not a better main weapon to use than a kunai.

Walking through the village and ignoring his persona's comments on certain corrupted people they passed by, he made it to the store.

Inside, the main floor of the shop was rack upon rack of swords. Katana, Ninjatō, Nodachi, Tantō, Yoroidōshi, Wakizashi, Chokutō, Kodachi, Tachi and even a handful of Zanbatō were literally filling the room.

A long counter at the back of the room was loaded up with kunai and shuriken, ninja wire and soldier pills of all kinds. A girl who was only a year or so older than Naruto sat behind the counter polishing a Kodachi. She had brown hair done up in a pair of buns on her head, steel grey eyes and wore a pink top. A hitai-ate was tied around her head to signify her status as a shinobi of Konohagakure.

"Ah? Welcome to Higurashi Weapons and Ninja Apparels." the girl placed the blade on the counter when she noticed Naruto looking around.

He looked familiar, wasn't he the Hokage's son? She remembers him, didn't she see him walking behind the Namikazes with that look of dejection and sadness… ' did he really do all that just to get their attention? It does seems to be a good reason for him to do that. Or were those just really rumors? I mean he doesn't looked like he would do that but then again look underneath the underneath….' She thought from what she knew and hearing from the villagers as she did missions.

Feeling a gaze on him, Naruto turned to Tenten staring at him with that same looked that he's seen from others who either heard the rumors or were the ones that blamed him like his sisters.

"Sigh…...from the looks of it, you're probably thinking that I'm just like what the rumors say," He said surprising her. He sighed once again. "I guess I should have known, you're just like everyone else," he said, turning away from her, not seeing her wince with a look of guilt as he began to wander the store to look for a new weapon.

Tenten felt guilty. From what he just said, it shows that those rumors aren't true. The amount of hope gleaming in his eyes, were quickly crushed the moment he caught her thinking if he was just like the rumors made him out to be. That alone made her wince.

She kept thinking over and over of what Naruto said to her, thinking that she was just like the rest of the villagers. It hurts, yet she couldn't blame him since she was thinking the rumors were true.

' I thought I wasn't like everyone else after Lee but I did the same again and thought he was just like what I heard. Siiiigh I need to stop listening to the words of others and guessing on appearances.' She mentally said, feeling guilty.

While Naruto left Tenten to her thoughts, he went over looking for a weapon to use. He wasn't that picky but he was looking for one that could work in close-quarters for him.

Looking through the store's selection of weapons, Naruto searched for a suitable one for himself. Tantos, kodachis, ninjatos, katanas, kusarigamas, short swords, long swords, trench knives, gauntlets, spears, bo-staffs, hell even bats and steel nunchucks.

"Is there anything they don't sell here?," He deadpanned, looking past the kusarigamas. He suddenly stopped, having sensed someone behind him.

Turning around to see Tenten again, she looked at him with nervously and guilt filled eyes.

"What do you want? Are you here to make sure I don't steal anything?" he questions, expecting her to think he would do that.

To his surprise, Tenten shook her head no with a sad smile. " No, that's not it. You're looking for a weapon right?" she asked him, Naruto nodded hesitatingly not trusting her. You can't blame him after so many times of being framed by others.

"Yeah….?" He replied, looking at her suspiciously.

"Allow me to help you then" she said taking a look at him, getting a little close as she looked over his arms and build.

' Getting a bit too close for my freaking sake!,' he mentally shouted in his mind, for a moment he could hear Inari chuckling at his dismay. Hell he could also hearing Pyro Jake laughing as well. ' not funny you guys!,'

Tenten finally backed away from him in thought. ' his body is well built and maintain from training it, he seems to have more strength in his legs meaning he's a sprinter and very fast. He seems to favor speed over power, meaning he'll need a quick weapon. Something light and yet durable, perhaps two of them if he prefers to fight with both hands.' She thought after processing his body built.

Opening her eyes, she called out to him.

"Ok! Please follow me. I think I know what you can use." Naruto nodded and followed her to a display of trench knives, chakra blades and ninjatos.

Seeing a wide variety of ones to choose from, he was curious as to why he was brought here. "Here it is," said Tenten as she brought out a black case, opening it revealed a beautiful ninjato blade.

Crafted in a unique design as the ways of a long-forgotten tribe, the knife features a full-tang blade crafted of hefty black carbon steel sharpened to a fierce point, Naruto hoped it was good against shadows skulls or demons he'll face. The slip-resistant rubberized handle provides the wielder with a mighty grip, the ferocious point of the knife 16-5/8" blade allows for deep penetration. The blade can be carried the on his belt using the included reinforced nylon belt sheath. It measures 24" in overall length.

"Whoa…" Naruto whispered taking the knife into his hands, taking a few swings with it. It felt wonderful in his grip. Turning to Tenten, he had a small smile on his face.

"It's perfect… I'll take it." She nodded happily, both them went back to the counter at the back of the room.

Placing the ninjato in its sheath on the counter. Naruto went back to grab a few more shurikens and kunai as well.

" For the ninjato, it will be fifty thousand ryou and for the two extra sets of kunai and shuriken will one thousand ryou for both, so in all it'll be fifty two thousand ryou," she said. Naruto takes out his wallet and paid her with the money he earned by helping the villagers that didn't believe in the rumors or knew him personally.

After handing the money over to Tenten, he picked up the ninjato and attached it to his belt. He sealed away the kunai and shurikens in a scroll. He was then about to walked out of the store but…

"Wait!" he stopped, hearing the voice call out to him. He turned to looked at Tenten, who looked nervous.

"I… I wanted to say, I'm sorry... for thinking that you were anything like the rumors and believing them as well…" she fidgeted while looking down at her hands, Naruto raised an eyebrow at this.

" I did it before with my teammate, he couldn't do ninjutsu or genjutsu … so I thought he wasn't meant to be a shinobi but he proved me wrong with becoming a shinobi that could only use taijustu…" she revealed to him. Naruto looked at Tenten, said girl looking worried as he stared at her in thought.

"….No need to" he said surprising her, she looked at him in surprise and confusion.

" You already proved to me that you're not like the others when you came to help me find a weapon. I hope to be seeing you when I come back here," he said with a smile, she nodded at him with a matching smile. Naruto then turned to leave.

"Thank you for your purchase and please use Higurashi's for all your Ninja Tool needs." Tenten rattled off on automatic. She then suddenly remembered that she didn't know where he lived so she couldn't deliver the extra sets.

" Wait! Naruto, could you write down your address here so I can deliver the rest of your order." She asked, Naruto once again stopping in his tracks before walking back and wrote down his and Itachi's address, handing it to her. He left with his new ninjato attached to his waist, happy.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"...Where am I?" growled the gigantic fox, staring around the velvet color of the room it found itself in, the room seemed to be just an office of an museum. It wasn't sure how it ended up here, one moment it was in its hosts seal about to sleep but now it's here instead.

"Welcome to my Velvet Room, Kurama Ōtsutsuki, Kyuubi no Yoko," Said a voice down in front of it, looking down to see a youngman wearing a black turtleneck shirt and black pants fastened by a belt, he wore a white blazer over the turtleneck.

He wore a butterfly wing mask is that seemed three-dimensional and has been placed to the left side of his face and has been recolored orange. The bottom right side of his mask exposes his face with his pupils are visible through the mask's eyeholes. His hair is colored a dark burgundy shade and in a short ponytail.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," He said.

The fox stared at the human. No... not human. It could feel its power, the overbearing presence that this being holds.

"What are you? You don't feel anything like a ningen. In fact, the opposite with all that power you exude," It growled at Philemon.

Philemon simply chuckled at the gigantic fox.

"He he he, what am I? That is very shrew question Kurama, but you are correct that I am not human. I am Philemon, a dweller in the rift between consciousness and unconsciousness of all souls and the master of this room," he said, Kurama eyes narrowed at Philemon.

"How do you me and my name? No one knows other than my own siblings, and even they wouldn't tell you," Kurama growled once again at Philemon, watching him.

"That's an answer for another conversation," he said staring at the Biju. "what exactly I'm here for, is to make a deal with you for your freedom, if you accept,"

He offered the kitsune. Kurama looked at Philemon, a bit taken back from what he just said. It wasn't sure what to expect out of this deal, it wasn't even sure what of Philemon.

"What do you get out this?," it questions, wanting to know what this being Philemon wants, having absolutely no trust toward him.

Philemon chuckled, as if he had just heard a rather hilarious joke. " What do I get out of this? All I want to see is humanity's unlimited potential…"

Kurama narrows its eyes at Philemon's proclamation. "Then why come to me? If that's what you truly desire? I have nothing but hatred for them. What's your angle?" it said, once again not believing Philemon's words.

Philemon was quiet, not saying a single syllable. His frozen gaze never leaving from the kitsune before he spoke. " I am not playing any angles. There are greater forces like myself out there Kurama. Some of which that would love to see the destruction of humanity, along with the rest of this world, or even throw it into madness. My 'angle', as you put it, is to give humanity a chance to release their full potential, to stand up to these threats. I come to you because I see the same potential that all of what humanity has as well. Besides...I do believe the sage of six paths wouldn't let humanity or this world he help created be destroyed," He stated.

...

...

Kurama was speechless, it didn't know what to say. Others like him? That want destruction? So many questions swirled in its mind but one did shine through its mind the most. This... Philemon knew the old man. He talked about what he knew and wanted for the humans...

Thinking back to the old man that created it and it's siblings, he was a kind man that wanted the best for this world and it's inhabitants...

Maybe...Maybe Philemon was onto something...

Plus, it wouldn't hurt to be free once again from this damned seal.

Kurama looked back to Philemon, he stood there the same way. Arms behind back staring at it with a sense of aloof and calmness.

" What is your decision Kurama?," He asked the fox.

"What will I have to do if I agree? And if I do this deal with you... You have to promise to get me out of this accursed seal," It said to Philemon.

"All you need to do is help a young new fool on his journey, that's all I ask and in return I'll make it so you won't be sealed ever again," he stated to the Biju.

" You swear?"

"Yes," he said without a second thought, holding out his hand towards the fox.

Kurama held out its finger and they shook on it.

"Now, please hold still. This may be slightly uncomfortable," Philemon said, overwhelming power leaked out like an open faucet.

"Let's begin."

XOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Naruto walked along the walls of the Kurama manor, taking out from his pocket an odd-looking L-shaped weapon.

It was a gun, a handgun from what the blueprints he found by the maps and documents he stole from the hokage tower called it. He found the maps and documents by complete mistake when he was looking for files on a corrupted jounin shinobi.

The information he gained from the documents and the blueprints made these weapons dangerous, he couldn't have them found by anyone like Minato, or god forbid Danzo.

The old war hawk would probably mass produce them and create a fourth shinobi war with them. He made sure to hid the blueprints in his belongings in a scroll.

Naruto managed to create this gun along with a few others but they weren't suitable for him, so he kept the handgun with him for now. He placed it back in his pocket before looking at his waist to check his Ninjatō to see it secured as well.

Pulling up his wrist to see the same app that he now knew was called the metaverse app from Igor on NinjaTech. Looking around to see if anyone was near, he then activated the app as the surrounding area became the familiar sinful distortion of the Kurama palace.

"welp…time to find that heart," he said, back in his thief outfit once again.

[ don't worry partner, your well prepare for this and besides you have me and Jack with you this time] Hearing his persona's voice reassures him that he'll do better this time then the last time he was here.

Seeing the drawbridge, he ran through into the castle once more.

….

….

A figure walked up to the castle entrance.

" Tch… so this is where the brat went off to huh?" the figure stated, checking out the castle.

"better go make sure he doesn't get himself killed for nothing then," with that the figure walked into the castle as well.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Well that's done! Whew! That took for so long to get done, though I'm glad it is. Honestly I was saving this for after updating one of the Phantom Streamer series but thanks to KurokamiRyuuzaki100 I was able to flesh it out a bit more than I thought.

Though after this now I'm gonna update another of my stories and maybe post a new one either this month or the next.

Here's Naruto's persona and acquired one as well.

Inari:

Lvl:10

Spells: Garu, Megaru, Eiha, Cleave (Light Damage

Skills: Regeneration +1 (increases each time after significant amount of training and experience), Blinding Flash (Inflict Med Dizzy), Heat Riser (Increase Attack, Defense, and Agility), (Ma)Sakunda (Decrease Enemies' Agility), Tetraja (Shield against curse and/or bless)

Stats: Strong/Resistant against Wind, Strong/Resistant against Curse/Dark, Weak against Fire, Strong/Resistant against Bless/Light

Pyro Jack:

Lvl:7

Spells: Agi, Meagi, Lunge (Light Damage),

Skills: Charge (Multiply user's physical attack), Concentrate (multiply user's magical attack), Dia (Heal),

Stats: Absorbs Fire, Weak against Ice, Weak against Gun

And here's his links/vows:

Naruto Uzumaki

Magician - ?

Priestess - ?

Empress – ?

Emperor - Itachi Uchiha Lvl/Rank 1

Hierophant - ?

Lover - ? ?

Chariot - ?

Justice - ?

Hermit - ?

Fortune - ?

Strength - ?

Hangman - ?

Death - ?

Temperance - ?

Devil - ?

Tower - ?

Star - ?

Moon - ?

Well I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Farewell for now, I've got hearts to steal. Speedy24 signing off.