Naruto smiled freely for the first time in his life as he ran to the sea. Despite traumatizing his former mentor for life with a Genjutsu and a clone Naruto had never felt happier. He was free, able to choose his own life and not be persecuted for merely existing. All in all, it was a great day for Naruto. Regardless of what was ahead, he would eagerly meet it head on. Of course, the fox inside him always had to ruin the moment by asking pesky questions.

"Why didn't you kill that ningen?" The Kyuubi boomed at him, never quite able to understand his vessels way of doing things.

"It would have been so much simpler to just get rid of him, and don't even bother saying that it was your affection towards him that stopped you. Both you and I know that if it meant your freedom you would have killed even Jiraiya in an instance, especially seeing as that village killed your little Kitsune-chan." The Kyuubi didn't mean anything by it, simply stating a fact, but it brought Naruto's mind back to "his little Kitsune-Chan."

As the name suggested she had been a fox, just a small kit in fact. He found her not long after his long talk with the Shodaime, lying in the blood of her killed parents. He had been attracted to herby the shouts of some group of street thugs, and he helped the little kit out b y cleaning it up and healing her few wounds. The little critter just attached herself to him after that, and it wasn't long before the cute ball of fluff and love wormed her way into even Naruto's icy heart. There were some animals that could just make you love them, such as dogs or in this case foxes. Naruto had spent the better part of the month caring for her, and the fox repaid his care with an outpouring of single-hearted love, as only an animal could, something Naruto had never experienced before.

Kitsune-Chan had gone everywhere with Naruto, not just because he didn't like being separated from her either. Naruto knew quite well what happened to any fox that was found in Konoha. Torture and death.

Predictably that happened to his little kit, just three days before this mission in fact. His little fox had been chasing a butterfly, the sheer cuteness of it actually getting a chuckle from Naruto. That had surprised him more than anything else, and that surprise allowed his little pet to turn a corner. Naruto had walked around the corner to see his little Kitsune-Chan's broken body under the boot of a laughing Inazuka, not even ten seconds later. Naruto didn't remember much of what happened next, but by the time his haziness cleared the biggest piece of the Jonin left was one pinky finger.

That had been the final straw for Naruto. Even though he had already been planning to flee Konoha, he had been willing to wait and plan. When the one of the few things you care about is maliciously destroyed by a laughing member of the same village you are, well, Naruto got more than a little impatient. He shook himself from his memories, answering the Kyuubi.

'I was going to kill him at first, and it was only about the time I realized that there would be other Shinobi coming after Kakashi that I changed my plan. I didn't particularly want to scar him, but I had no choice in the matter. However, if you were to see a well-known reliable Jonin, with an insurance against Genjutsu claiming that a shinobi was dead, who would you believe? This Jonin who is telling you that he killed the boy, and has the memory for the Yamanakas to confirm, or the murmerings of discontent by one or two members?' The Kyuubi nodded to itself, now understanding. He would believe the Jonin over the one or two members, no matter how respected those two were.

Naruto was making good time, but it would be three days until he got to the area he wanted to get to by running. Naruto wanted to get as far away from Konoha as possible, as soon as possible, and as such summoned a hawk, heading straight for Kirigakure. He could get lost in the mist there, changing everything about himself in order to disappear. His golden eyes gleamed , now a near permanent affect, so as to avoid the sight of the all to recognizable cerulean blue. Those who knew about his golden eyes were few, and would no longer be looking for him.

The large hawk he had summoned flew high into sky, high enough that even the sharpest of Shinobi eyes would think it no more than a regular hawk even as he tried to decide upon his disguise. The Kyuubi spoke up again, its vast experience coming in handy.

"I have an idea Naruto, and it involves the story you wished to hear." That caught Naruto's attention, the only story Kyuubi had that he wanted to listen to was the mention from earlier with Kimimaru. 'Even with the hawk flying we still have several hours spare, so go ahead and tell me.' The giant fox yawned, and Naruto got the image of it stretching before getting comfortable.

(This is all the Kyuubi speaking. I am not doing it in bold because I've found that large amounts of bold in a single session gets hard to read.)

"As you know, this happened before the Rikodu Sennin himself. In fact, I only know it because in my early years I had a love for history, and once the man died I devoured every bit of written word of the period before he brought peace with an extreme passion, figuratively of course. Before the Six Paths Sage brought a shallow peace to this land, it was in continuous war between Samurai tribes. There was a different name for the land itself as well, a name which has been lost to all but myself. This land was once called Japan.

Due to the severe war not many records survived, but two that did talked about two men in particular, two gods amongst men who, in my opinion, would be a match for the Sennin himself." Naruto gasped, unable to help himself. The Sage of Six Paths was the only SSS-Rank Shinobi in history, having mastered Every Element, in addition to his own bloodline, the Rinnegan.

"Yukimura Sanada, The Crimson Tide, and Hanzo Hattori, the Demon's Shadow." Clouds boiled above Naruto, black thunderclouds rolling in at the mere names alone, practically roaring with power.

"These two were legends, and while I do not know there entire story, I do know that they were gods amongst men.

Now, according to what I learned, while the Sage was the first to master the use of Chakra, it was first discovered in this time. Many people could use bits and pieces of it, pushing them far above their peers with unique abilities. Of course, they believed that it was those blessed by the gods, but I know of several names and their skills.

Shingen Takeda, The Great Tactician, reknowned throughout the world for his great mind and his perfect accuracy for what the conditions of the battlefield would be. I believe this was a mild chakra sensing, but this man was famous for his mind more than anything else, and was the original lord of Yukimura.

Nobunaga Oda, the very first man to be called a demon. Darkness itself answered his call, and it seemed as if the heavens themselves favored him. He nearly conquered the land with a sword, glowing in a purple aura. The first bloodline, and I believe the man was able to channel chakra into his weapons.

Keji Maeda, the God of War. Wielding a great battle-pike this man obliterated all before him with massive waves of pure energy and his skill.

Kunoichi, the only woman I could find, and the other Ninja. This woman was Hanzo's rival, and she was so skilled and powerful that the Sage, after learning of her, deemed that all female ninja would be named after her. I'm not sure of her powers, but I do know that she fought Hanzo to several draws, which you will soon find made her incredibly strong.

Now for Yukimura. With an armor that was originally brown to show his pride in his lords land, his entire armor, along with a white headband that he was never without, were stained a permanent red in his first real battle. The man shed so much blood during his time that on the land in which he did battle, nothing grows. It has since been named The Land of Demons, and you know it because it is famous for not growing anything, with an odd reddish soil. When Yukimura entered a battlefield it was no longer a battle, it became a massacre.

His abilities were many and varied, and yet only a few of them relied upon chakra at all. He could send out blades of his signature crimson, even summon a pure wave of it, and that along with the sheer force of him in battle earned his title, because when Yukimura was with you, it was as if the Oceans mighty tide was in your favor.

Hanzo Hattori, the head of a legendary clan of ninja. I know far more about him, as most of the scrolls were ones that he wrote, in an attempt to pass on his knowledge to a worthy successor.

He was a master of the kusarigama, wielding it with immense skill and strategy. He could move shadows with his will, and was never seen unless he wished to be seen. He was so fast that most people could only see a black blur, followed by the red spray of blood. He created the shunshin, as it is recorded that he was quite often seen with leaves swirling around him, especially right after he killed. As if this wasn't enough he could jump to immense heights, and always seemed to be everywhere at once.

Hanzo was a dark, serious person, which is why I believe that you could mimic him. He believed that it was a shadows job to protect their master, and he believed that a ninja, or shadow as he called himself, could only fight to their fullest at the behest of their masters, and it was through this that your little Shinobi Village ideal came to exist. I know for a fact that a scroll containing his opinions was in the great Senju library before it was destroyed, and considering Hashirama read everything in there, he undoubtedly knows about it.

Anyways, Hanzo and Yukimura were so feared because they were at the very brink of human limitations. Sure, they had chakra, and could use a bit of it, but what they could use is nothing compared to even a genin. Every genin knows the principle behind expelling waves of chakra or helping shadows cover you. However, Hanzo and Yukimura were gods because they achieved through hard work what shinobi achieve through massive amounts of chakra.

Of course, when there are two incredibly skilled soldiers, and both serve a different man, a clash is inevtible. I know not the full details of the fight, but what I do know makes Kimimaru's little achievement look like nothing.

Hanzo and Yukimura met in combat, the Samurai being severely injured, to the point where he nearly died, and would of soon died of his injuries. However, he spit Hanzo upon his spear like a pig, from throat to right above his rear. He left the spear in the man, stumbling around long enough to grab a new one before turning to strike down Hanzo's lord. He was impaled upon his own spear.

In a final bout of devotion, Hanzo ripped the spear from his nearly dead body and used it to impale his foe, and Yukimura's brains splattered Hanzo's lord."

(For those who recognized my refrences, no, I do not own Samurai Warriors.)

Kyuubi fell silent, and Naruto absorbed all of this, only to turn incredulous. 'I was under the impression you were telling me a story. That was just a history lesson.' The Kyuubi seemed sheepish for a moment, before saying

"Sorry, but it would seem I was wrong. It was never a story, just a little bit of what I know." Naruto smirked mentally at him, before turning thoughtful.

'A ninja can only grow as strong as they can if they have someone to serve hmm? I wonder…' He shrugged to himself, returning to plotting his disguise. 'Hanzo reincarnated is out, I can't weild a Kusarigama. However…I can use his name and personality. It is close enough to mine that I can use it. Now I just need clothing.' Naruto began to change, but the first thing he did was something he should have done some time ago.

He untied the Leaf Hi-Tae-Ate from head, its black band falling from his head as he held the metal, looking at the symbol. He drew a kunai, slashing through the center of it, making the sign of a missing ninja. Then the melted it, the molten metal solidifying on the long way down to the ground.

One of the various Haori he had always worn was sealed away, Naruto thanking the creator of seals for being such a genius, espically as if he hadn't of had fuinjutsu the coat would have been flowing every way in a battle, and quite possibly the wrong way. Thanks to his seals he was able to avoid that happening. The standard black tunic and pants remained however, being common enough in every village for him to easily get away with wearing what he was most comfortable with.

Brown dye, shinobi standard issue, only leaving the wearers hair when a certain handsign was made and chakra was added, and it could only be dispelled by the wearer. That turned his sun-kissed blond hair to a much more common brown now, complimenting his now golden eyes.

A blank ANBU-style mask covered his face, seals painted on the inside allowing for several benefits that normal masks didn't, such as the fact that he was the only one who could remove this mask, something that would be incredibly helpful later on. After he finished, the Kyuubi cut in with another question.

"Why did you choose Kiri?"

'Kiri is currently in a civil war, and that will allow me to gain anonymity. Based on the information from my hawk spies, the rebel side is currently deadlocked with the forces of the Mizukage. Based on what they've seen they are pretty sure that the rebels are going to win, and besides that I wouldn't join the side of the Mizukage anyways. I can easily prove my worth in stealth during this war, and gain a decent position in Kiri's ANBU. That will allow me to build up funds, seeing as a recovering village will by necessity take higher ranked missions in order to bring in money, and higher ranked missions pay off more money. Along with that, ANBU are hidden, nameless and faceless. A small excuse on how I don't like showing off scars will ensure I never need to show my face. If I can gain the trust of the rebel leader I will be able to go without anyone really questioning me. Even still I will have to restrain myself to low S-rank at the best.' The Kyuubi nodded inside the seal, and Naruto focused on fixing the holes in his figurative mask.

~Break~

Kakashi stumbled into a bar, ordering a full bottle of Sake rather than the cup most people did. What friends he had watched helplessly as the broken jonin drank bottle after bottle of Sake, not stopping until he finally came close to dying from alcohol poisoning. When Shizune asked him why he had done something so stupid when he woke up a week later, he looked at her with a shattered eye and told her, self-hatred evident in his every movement and word.

It would be a full year before something happened to pull the legendary Copy-Nin from his depression.