Hey guys, Time Shadow here with another chapter of The Specter Chronicles. Enjoy and review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other characters and attacks in this story except the ones that I created.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Sumnmon, God, and other beings Speech/attacks"

'Summon, God, other beings thought'

Naruto was in his bed after getting debriefed by the old fool, Sarutobi. As he lay there he reflected upon the events of his early childhood.

Flashback within a flashback

A young Naruto could be found in his little box that sat in the alley next to the ramen stand. In his hand was a basic book on seals for beginners that he found whilst scavenging through the trash of various clans. Naruto also found many other books and scrolls like this one in the past. The subjects varied, but centered around ninjutsu, taijutsu, and theory. But alas, they would fall out of his possession, mostly when he would receive beatings from the villagers. As an orphan and an only child on the streets, Naruto had an extremely active imagination. Thus, to keep the knowledge and information he gained from the books he read safe, Naruto built himself a mind palace.

To do so, Naruto pulled up a mental image of what he wanted to remember and place it somewhere in that corner of his mind where he'll remember it. For example, to remember the Fire style: Fire Dragon Jutsu, Naruto would think of a flaming dragon coiling around a tall spire of a castle. Not only would he store knowledge from scrolls and books in his mind palace, but also his thoughts, memories, and observations of the world around him. Being hunted like an animal by a mob of villagers for nearly every day of his life, Naruto had to constantly be aware of his surroundings. Thus, he began to notice little details and made inferences based on them. An example of this would be when he saw a man walking down the street one day. The man had his head to the side a bit meaning he had a crook in his neck and walked with a slight limp in his step with a rigid back suggesting back ache. He also had faint creases in his pants suggesting he slept on the couch. Most likely because his wife made him do so because of an argument or the like and the wedding ring on his finger would attest to that. The man also had two different colors of silky fur on the hem of his pants suggesting that he had at least two cats. His hands were rough and he had lots of muscles that didn't come from a gym meaning he worked some form of manual labor. Naruto couldn't see the outline of any weapons hidden anywhere and this man had the posture of a civilian so he assumed this man wasn't a shinobi, but judging from the missing half of a pinky finger, Naruto deduced that this man was most likely a carpenter or some form of construction worker. This was just one instance among many.

Putting his book away, Naruto began to read another one he picked up whilst he was out, but his favorite pastime was cut short as he heard the telltale signs of a mob forming with his sensitive hearing. Crawling out of his box, Naruto silently slipped out of the alley. Naruto began to run to the nearest corner thinking he could get to one of his nearby hiding spots before the mob could find him, but he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the mob. Before he could get back around the corner without anyone noticing him, a shinobi in the mob pointed to Naruto and shouted, "There he is! Let's get him!"

The subsequent chase lasted a good five and a half hours before the mob finally caught Naruto with a combination of high ranked genjutsu and the Byakugan. Then they dragged Naruto to a nearby forest and gave him one of the worst beatings of his life which ended with Naruto's mutilated body crucified to a tree. The last thing Naruto saw before drifting off into unconsciousness was ANBU jumping down from the tree tops unpinning him. Absentmindedly, Naruto observed that their masks were blank except for the kanji for root on the forehead. Naruto deduced that these weren't ANBU or at least not regular ones which meant that he was probably in more danger than before. Then one of them chopped him on the back of the head and Naruto saw black.

And done! A rather short chapter even for me, but I wanted to end it here because I can. XD Just kidding, mostly it was because I wanted the foreboding suspense to build up. Anyway, time for reviews,

bcsclaymore: Well here you go! :)

God-ShadowEx100: I'm sure at some point, this story will reach 300,000-500,000 words, but for now I'll try to work on longer chapters.

Toaneo07 Ver2.0, Xnekochix, and tyrell2000: Put your votes in the poll on my profile please. :)

kage88: Thx! :)

MKTerra: Sure did! XD I'm working on it.

Guest: Read the above replies and continue to read to find out what will happen. If you dislike the story so much then don't. I won't have Naruto suddenly off Konoha because of three reasons. 1) The Fall of Konoha isn't a major plot point, 2) Konoha isn't that pathetic. If you haven't noticed, it's a village full of ninja and has the Kami no Shinobi as a kage even if he is an old manipulating dumbass. If you missed all this then you've probably also missed the fact that Naruto is still a Genin, 3) This story would suck rushed just like many others do too.

Moving on, the results of the poll so far are,

Kushina: 32

Tsunade: 7

Mikoto: 5

Tsume: 5

Hitome (Hinata's mother): 4

Tayuya: 3

Karin: 3

Anko: 1

Mito: 1

Temari: 1

Ameyuri Ringo: 0

Wow, Kushina is definitely in the lead leaving Tsunade and Co. to eat her dust. I'm surprised that Ameyuri didn't get a vote. Hmm, perhaps that's why there are so few stories with that pairing on this site. Anyway, don't forget to vote and review. Until next time,

Ja Ne