At the beginning of the year, she's age thirteen. She embarks on a training journey with a man who buries his sorrows beneath bottles of liquor and enjoys the company of women. Toward the end of the year, she's nearing her fourteenth birthday and so much has happened and so much has changed. Things aren't perfect, Pervy Sage still fancies his sake and late nights at the brothels, but it no longer interferes with her training.

Towards the end, she becomes more in tune with her emotions, even though she still has a hard time controlling the more complex feelings. Even in the heat of rage (or slight irritation or angst or anything at all. Damn that fox.) when she feels the burn of red acid as it courses through her chakra, it never manages to form a cloak around her body. It's enough to make her faster and enhance her senses and add more strength to her hits, but never enough to make her eyes go red with corruption.

It feels good to have some control, she tells herself, even when it feels like she's just locking these emotions away. Whenever an angry thought emerges she stops herself from embracing it (it doesn't feel right though) and once she (somewhat) masters the meditation exercises Pervy Sage moves her training along to more exciting things.

Like finding her elemental affinity. Apparently, it's something all ninjas have. And she has the best one! The rarest and the most difficult to master: wind.

When she tries it out on the chakra paper, and it splits in half, it feels right. Like an awakening of sorts. Jiraiya just says she's being an overdramatic teen, but she doesn't miss the fond smile he gives her.

Those chakra exercises come in handy because to master an element as rare and deadly as the wind she needs control.

"Your chakra reserves are so large, if you were to gain control to utilize all of it, there's no limit to what you could do. You could use it in taijutsu during combat, without ever weaving a hand seal. Similar to the Rasengan." Jiraiya explained, and she pictured it. The image was something similar to what she looks like under the influence of the Kyuubi, but instead of being surrounded by toxic chakra, she's surrounded by her own chakra, so dense and powerful that it's visible.

Pervy Sage smiled knowingly at the dreamy look on her face. "That's right, kid. Now imagine using all that chakra with your wind affinity. A wind release chakra mode. In other words, nintaijutsu.

"I'm gonna teach you a fighting style that utilizes this usage of chakra. Wind Style Fighting Technique."

Naruto had beamed with excitement. Finally, something cool! Though she knew how important it all was, she was tired of the chakra exercises and excessive meditation.

"And," Jiraiya started, pausing for effect. "This was your parents' fighting style. Your dad created it, for both your mother and himself. They were both wind affinities, just like you."

At that tidbit of knowledge, Naruto practically vibrated out of her skin with excitement, jumping around with flailing hands and loud squeals. "Finally! Something that's gonna help me kick-ass, 'ttebayo! And I'm gonna kick so much ass with something my parents made!"

"Hey, language kid!" Pervy Sage chastised, but there was no real heat in it. "It won't be easy Naruto...but I know you'll get it down in no time." I learned a long time ago to stop doubting you kid.

"This'll be a piece of cake for the future Hokage!" Jiraiya ruffled her hair with a deep chuckle. She gave him her widest grin yet, and despite all he was doing to make up for his past mistakes he felt he didn't deserve it.

He'd failed her parents and had nearly failed her because of that past failure. But, it was so hard sometimes.

Sometimes she looked so much like Kushina, from the brownness of her skin to the curls in her hair. Then some days she looked like Minato, and those days always hit the hardest.

She had the slight sharpness of Minato's almond-shaped eyes but the overall roundness of Kushina's. She had Kushina's nose and wide-mouthed smile. Her face wasn't as round as Kushina's but not as pointed and angular as Minato's either. Most obviously, she had Minato's unique coloring. The bright sky blue eyes and the sunshine hair commonly found in Kumogakure. But as it grew from the short cut from her preteens it fell to her back in lovely spirals, like Kushina's. She had the best of both of her parents, both in looks and personality.

She had their compassion and determination, charisma, and friendly nature. And most of all she had their heart, big enough to fit the whole world in. All of the best parts, and none of the worst.

Though, he has to admit that sometimes...she simply looked like herself. There was something about her that was immeasurable, intangible, and timeless. Greater than even Minato, who'd shaped up to be a figure forever immortalized and revered. Jiraiya's enhanced senses made it hard to ignore the unique chakra that flowed through her, notwithstanding the Kyuubi's. It was constantly shifting, changing, growing in abundance. She truly was a special child.

"Why do you want to be Hokage?" He questioned out of the blue.

Well, not really. It was a question he'd been saving for a while. The question that'd determine whether or not she was truly worthy of the title. It was every child's dream to become Hokage but not every child did. It was Naruto's dream as well, but a dream rooted in abandonment, and while she'd fought tooth and nail to prove to her foes and naysayers that she was a worthy candidate it didn't mean that she was.

Being Hokage... it was more than power or acknowledgment of that power. It's one of the many reasons why he refused the hat, and one of the many reasons why it was more suited for Tsunade than the likes of him. More suited for Minato than him. Minato, who would have changed everything and for the better.

"Huh?" She became startled, and a bit flustered. Clearly taken off guard.

"I mean, once you take the hat, what happens next?" Jiraiya explained, stern but gentle.

Naruto went unusually silent for a moment, thoughtful and contemplative.

"I want to be Hokage to change the shinobi way." Something dawned in her eyes, an epiphany of sorts. He could practically hear the bells tolling and the cogwheels turning.

"Change the shinobi way huh?" He rubbed his chin.

The blonde-haired child nodded, more confident in her answer. Interesting, very interesting.

"And what's wrong with the shinobi way?" he inquired. They currently sat beneath an apple tree, one of many that filled this orchard.

Naruto pouted in thought before speaking.

"The shinobi way is why I have a demon sealed inside of me, why it was sealed inside me the day I was born. Because I'm meant to be a tool right? If they really wanted to get rid of the Kyuubi, they would just kill me. You said it yourself that if I die then the Kyuubi disappears, which is why it works hard to keep me alive. So if Konoha really wanted it gone for good…" she visibly swallowed, fists clenching. "but they didn't. Because they want to use me, just how Suna used Gaara. Just how the Akatsuki want to use me. Just how Orochimaru wants to use Sasuke." She grew solemn for a moment, before bouncing back just as quickly. "But if it's one thing that I've learned, I'm not a tool. I don't want to be a tool. Or a weapon used to destroy another village. I'm more than that, I'm a person. And I only want to use my power to protect those precious to me. To protect lives, not take them. I want to make it to where people are not used as tools, especially kids."

Her eyes were fierce and determined, burning with the fabled fire all shinobi of the Leaf are said to possess.

"That's not gonna be easy, kid." he challenged.

She scoffed. "Just because it's not easy doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Besides, when has that ever stopped me!" The girl grinned, all white teeth and canines.

Naruto's truly a special child.

"Hm...you just might do it." He decides then that she truly is worthy of the title.

On her fourteenth birthday, he lets her study Kushina and Minato's legendary seals. He thinks she is worthy of that as well. And it is her legacy after all.

Protect the weak and defend the innocent. This had been the motto of his father's police force.

Protect and defend.

At fifteen, Sasuke infiltrates the villages left untouched by Iwagakure, the ones that wish to resist Orochimaru's new rule.

Stubborn, Orochimaru had called them. But Sasuke knows that they're tired of this tug of war between powerful nations, tired of being bargained over like a slave.

He doesn't kill anyone, he refused and made sure his squad knew not to lest they face his wrath. There was no point, it'd only be a useless senseless slaughter. What was a group of fishermen to a platoon of shinobi?

He couldn't stop the other squads, however. Those who were not beneath his command.

It wasn't all of them, but it was most of them, deep-rooted in being young and dumb, and it's never muted, in fact, it's much louder whenever they're set loose upon the world. That doesn't excuse their actions, however.

They did as they pleased. They murdered, they raped, and most importantly, they stole. And now the tiny village is beholden to Oto, along with the resources they have.

All for the benefit of Sound. Eating up and bullying the small towns and villages around it.

It makes him wonder, it really does, that if a nation as new and small as Sound is doing it, what are the older, much larger shinobi nations doing? They say that the ANBU handles the shadier parts of the shinobi world. What shadier parts? This? Are they doing things like this?

Sabotaging, stealing, coercing.

Itachi had been in ANBU at age thirteen. Sabotaging, stealing, coercing, at thirteen. Destroying lives and leaving the survivors to burn in the agony of poverty, at thirteen.

Killing our family must've been a walk in the park for him, he thinks and it makes Sasuke feel dirty. He doesn't want to be anything like That Man.

There was a code his father had always lived by, a code passed down from generation to generation. A code he'd taught Itachi, and Sasuke, a code that the Uchiha Elders preached on and on about to the youth. To honor your name and honor your brethren by protecting the weak, defending the innocent, and upholding the just.

He can't imagine his father would be too proud of his sons now, with how they've broken every single code the man had tried to drill into them.

The next time Orochimaru sends them out, Sasuke does stop it. The other squads protest at first but go silent at the sight of his Sharingan and the threatening crackle of his Chidori. They know who he is, they've seen what he's capable of during training and they know how many bounties he's collected, how many S-Rank missions he's undergone in the span of a year alone, they know that on some level he has their master's favor. The prized vessel. There'd be hell to pay if they tried to harm it. Sasuke uses all of this to his advantage and miraculously, they follow his command. There's a lesson to be learned from this, he doesn't know if he's learning the right one, but he doesn't care.

They take what they need, do what they were told to do (bend the village leader to their will), and nothing else. The villagers are left physically unscathed and Sasuke feels less dirty.

"You stood on the behalf of the villagers." Orochimaru crooned. The bastards were quick to report his actions to the snake sannin. The smile the man gives him is sickly sweet. " I must say, this is a far cry from the boy who murdered and burned the bodies of pitiful prisoners simply because they became a hassle. And to think, I was starting to become more impressed with you,"

Sasuke hates him. Hates him almost as much as he hates Itachi.

"How very brave of you my sweet Sasuke. I sent out the best of the best and you had them running back to me with their tails tucked between their legs," Orochimaru chuckled, a sound akin to a funeral toll, with gaps between the strikes.

"In fact, you've done many brave feats. Enough to land you in the bingo book."

The temperature dropped, the cool air freezing the smile on his pale, gaunt face, his yellow eyes piercing in the dim light of the hall. "Brave men get themselves killed. Would that you were a coward instead, the grief you'd save me, my sweet Sasuke,"

Sasuke clenched his fist. "As long as you involve me in those pathetic raids on minor villages, I will interfere. Only brute cowards make prey of the weak. If that truly was the best of the best, then I feel sorry for you. All of your training on them has gone to waste."

The snake sannin chuckled again. "Is that so?"

One by one, each of the culprits that he confronted and threatened crept from the shadow, equal parts offended, amused, and enraged. "Would you like to test that theory out?"

All at once, they attacked. His Sharingan activated, and before they could so much as lay a hand on him, he made quick work of them with taijutsu alone. That's not to say it was easy. They were strong and fast, and there were several of them and one of him.

He came out on top all the same.

"Well, well, I suppose you were right." The man smiled, as though he already knew Sasuke would triumph. He'd been testing him, Sasuke realized. Testing his prowess, measuring his progress by putting him up against some of the best this hideout had to offer.

Orochimaru tilted his head, visibly confused. "Why are they still alive?"

Sasuke frowned. "I already told you, only brute cowards make prey of the weak. These scum are not worth wetting my blade." Sasuke would not be the one to kill them. It wouldn't benefit him and it wouldn't give him any pleasure. He'd leave them to Orochimaru's tender mercy.

The snake sannin's face was like stone, still, cool and smooth. "Don't let this get to your head. Your body is mine, your soul for me to devour not your pride." He hissed, voice slithering through every nook and cranny. "You're dismissed."

The girl calls the wind to her and it comes. She turns a full circle and sends the winds unhindered across the land. It's so dense, so powerful, that it burns its impression into the ground beneath her, a large whirlpool.

The style suits her. The strikes are swift and deft and instinctively animal, the wind sharp enough to cut through the skin.

More likely than not her opponents will be bigger than her, with physical strength greater than her own. It's not the matter of making up for what she lacks in physical strength with spiritual strength, (because Naruto is strong) but finding an equilibrium between the two. Not everyone has the time or patience to do that, and while she's still working on the latter she has a lot of the former.

She's always had strong hits, could break bones and noses just as easily as anyone else but somehow this is better.

This hadn't been easy. Pervy Sage had pushed her far, breached the line of her limits, and then some. The day would see her rise, clothes still intact and enough energy to spare, but the night would see her limp to bed ragged, clothes torn and soiled.

She'd spent a month mastering wind release and all of the winter and spring trying to master nintaijutsu.

Her efforts are finally bearing fruit.

Much like chakra, there are two types of energies while using fighting techniques. Jin and Li.

Li is brute force, the drawing back of the fists to land brutal blows that can knock someone's teeth out. Jin, however, is the embodiment of speed, made for crafty creatures, masters in the art of trickery. Like a cat or a fox, it requires you to be lax, ever the illusion of ease. The relaxed posture serves as a deception, to lure the opponent in, give them a false sense of security. And when that happens she must evade, with the foot flow patterns designed to avoid kicks, the rollaway that wards off blows, and the soft techniques used to break free of deathly grips.

Should the enemy stay on the defensive, she relies on both Li and Jin, the instinctual need to break something and leave lasting internal damage. Like the Rasengan. Compressed wind chakra wraps around her like a cloak and becomes a blade.

Sometimes Pervy Sage creates a shadow clone-stronger than ten of her own put together- and has it henge into Kakashi to use as a sparring partner. Though sometimes he sparred against her and those spars were truly challenging. He was a force to reckon with on his own without taijutsu but the sight of such a tall and broad man moving as fluidly and agile as a man of Kakashi's age and build is unnerving.

Especially when said man is coming at you full force, because you told him you didn't want to be treated like a sissy.

Sometimes Naruto wishes she'd shut her big mouth.

After she's knocked into the ground and humbled, Pervy Sage moves their training onto something else. One of the many projects she's been working on since her fourteenth birthday.

She's already creating her own storage scrolls, with seals only she has the ability to unlock (well, besides Pervy Sage, but he's a seal master and he says it's only a matter of time before she catches up to him), and she's learning other types of seals. Seals used for combat. The large fuinjutsu scroll he always has her reading is full of them, a scroll that she suspects also belonged to her parents.

Her suspicions are proved correct when she studies the seal for chakra chains, chains that her mother supposedly used, according to Jiraiya. The seal has the tell-tale sign of whirlpools, maelstroms, and typhoons, just like the rest of the seals within the scroll.

The formation of chakra chains is pure instinct, at least that's what Pervy Sage claims. It's not unlike a bloodline. The ability to form these chains is so hardwired into her DNA it becomes second nature once she enables the ability (via seal) to do so. It takes a bit of meditation and a lot of concentration, but slowly, she begins to form links that stretch yards long, streaks of gold that never ends.

In six months she'll be fifteen.

She practically vibrates with anticipation, an intuition that tells her these last three and half years were the calm before the storm, and that her life is about to take a sharp turn.

It'd happened the night before her genin exams, it'd happened the night before the mission to the Wave, and it'd happened the night before the third exam during the Chunin Exams, and she'd even felt it that night at the labor camp, right before her strange collision with Sasuke. This intense energy served as a herald for immense change in her life. And now it is more clear than ever, that with her new abilities and her state of mind, that life is going to test these newly acquired assets at every turn.

"That's just you growing up, kid, " Jiraiya tells her, but he has this wistful look in his eyes. As if he too senses the winds of change.

She feels the gentle pangs of Sasuke's emotions, and wonders if he senses the change too.