Enter Naruto: Exit Minato

A twelve year old Minato stood on a water tower looking upon the Hokage Monument. The three faces there eah represented the will of fire perfectly in their own way. The Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He was the co-founder of the entire hidden village system along with his best friend -yet worst enemy- Madara Uchiha. The Nidaime Hokage Tobirama Senju, Hashirama's younger brother. Tobirama was the one who made the rules and founded the chunin exams, while Hashirama founded the village Tobirama is the one who ensured that the village could run day-to-day operations. Then there was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime-sama the current Hokage. He was the one who had the hat the longest, serving since the middle of the Second Shinobi World War and keeping it to this day. Minato smiled, one day his face would be up there, with the greatest shinobi his village had ever known.

Twelve Years Later

Minato Namikaze stood above his wife, a gleaming claw the size of a man touching the woman's back. Under her was a small child with cerulean blue eyes, though there was a strange six ring pattern in them.

The baby looked at his mother and smiled a toothless grin, his whisker marks -three on each cheek- looked like extra smiles. The woman smiled as she felt the claw slowly imbed itself in her back. Tears fell onto the baby's blanket as she smiled at him.

"Naruto, my son, I love you." She said as the claw finally tore through her body, there was a flash of white just as the claw tore into the ground.

A young man with spiky white hair wearing a black uniform and mask that covered his entire body and half his face was holding Naruto a few feet away.

The man turned and saw Minato, his teacher and father figure, standing there with a large claw through his stomach and his wife -Kushina Uzumaki- under him, pinned to the floor by the very same claw.

"Sen… sensei…" Kakashi muttered.

"Kakashi, bring Naruto here." Minato said, a smile on his face as he saw his student holding his son, "Listen, I'm going to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto, it'll cost my life but he'll be the hero of the village." Minato spun a few hand seals and shouted, "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!" A large, spectral entity appeared behind Minato from a complex seal matrix.

"State my duty." The creature said, it's voice carried a deep echo, but each voice was different.

"Reaper, I will give you my soul if you seal the Kyuubi within my son, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." Minato said.

The reaper looked Minato over a few times, "Your soul alone does not suffice."

"T… Take mine too." Kushina said weakly from her spot on the ground. The reaper looked at her once and nodded.

"It will be done. I will place the beast within Naruto, but it is up to you to ensure he stays there." The reaper put a hand on the talon and the entire mountain sized fox became an orange orb the size of a softball. Minato began spinning hand signs at a rapid pace, an insanely complex seal matrix -one that made the reaper's seal seem like a child's doodle- formed in front of him as he did so.

As the reaper brought his hand to touch Naruto Minato winced, hoping it wasn't a bad idea. The orange orb entered Naruto's stomach.

"SEAL!" Minato shouted with everything he had left, placing a hand on his son's stomach and leaving a spiral design with two four pronged sealing matrixes.

"Naruto… don't be picky. Eat lots and grow strong… Make sure that you bathe every day and stay warm… Also… Don't stay up late… You need lot's of sleep… And make friends, you don't need a lot, just a few. Ones you can really, really trust… No alcohol until you're an adult… Too much can ruin your health, so drink in moderation. Remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses… So don't get too depressed if you can't do something well… I'm a woman so I don't know too much about this but… But just don't get hooked on bad woman… Find someone just like me. Be true to yourself, have a dream and have the confidence to make that dream come true." Kushina cried, "There's so much… Oh there's so much more that I want to pass on to you… I wish I could stay longer… I… I love you." The woman said as the reaper began to take her soul away.

"Naruto, I believe in you. You'll be a great man some day." Minato smiled sadly as he felt the reaper suck at his soul as well, "Remember son, I love you." Minato then reached over and ruffled Kakashi's hair, "You too Kakashi, I'm proud of you." Minato smiled as the reaper took the last bit of his soul.

"Naruto, I promise you…" Kakashi looked at the baby he held in his arms, tears forming in his one visible eye as the little guy reached towards his face and giggled, "I'll make sure you become the best man possible."

Twelve Years Later

Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki had just graduated from the shinobi academy of Konoha. He was standing on the very same water tower that Minato had stood on twenty-four years ago. He looked at the Hokage Monument's four faces. Hashirama Senju, the man who made the villages a thing. Tobirama Senju, the man who created a near innumerable amount of jutsu and ensured that the village could run. Then there was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the current Hokage and one of Naruto's precious people. Finally there was Minato Namikaze, his father and the man who sealed the kyuubi inside of him. While Naruto held no ill will towards his father -it was for the sake of the village, he had no familial feelings towards the man, how could you? No in Naruto's eyes his father was Kakashi Hatake, the man who had raised him to be the person he was today.

"Hey Naruto!" He turned and saw his best friend, Ino Yamanaka, standing at the base of the tower, "You coming? We're going to BBQ to celebrate!"

Naruto smirked and jumped down, "Let's go." He smiled as he remembered meeting Ino for the first time.

Flashback start

A six year old Naruto fidgeted nervously as Kakashi walked him to the academy for his first day. He wanted to make a good impression, what if he messed up Kakashi's image as the Leaf's strongest? What if he sullied the Namikaze name? What if he made everyone laugh at him?

"Naruto, don't worry so much." Kakashi said as he walked his charge ever closer towards the looming blue sign that signified the entrance to the academy.

"Hey bro, can I just learn to be a ninja from you?" Naruto asked with the best puppy dog face he could manage.

Kakashi waved him off with a laugh, "Maa maa, don't worry so much. No one's gonna be mean to you and you won't have to fight anybody until next year."

Naruto pouted, "I'm not afraid of fighting, I could beat up everybody all at once." The blond huffed, "I just don't wanna be stuck with a bunch of wimps."

"Overconfidence isn't a good thing Naruto, having friends is always a good thing. Remember your mom's letter?" Kakashi said. Truthfully Kushina hadn't written the letter it had been Kakashi using his Sharingan to memorise her speech and copy her hand writing.

"Ya, I don't need a lot of friends, only a few. But I've gotta trust 'em lots and lots!" Naruto said, his mother's letter always made him smile, it was like he could feel her love around him whenever he heard it's words.

"So go make some friends, I'll see you tonight." Kakashi patted him on the back and he ran forwards.

"YAHOO! Watch out, here comes Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, DATTEBAYO!" He shouted as he ran onto the yard.

Kakashi looked at the sky, "Minato-sensei, you'd be proud."

Naruto ran into the play yard and saw his new class. There was a black haired boy in blue sitting alone in the corner, reading a book. There was a pink haired girl in red playing in the flowers with a blonde girl wearing purple. Then there was a dirty looking kid in a jacket who was playing on the obstacle course they had. There was a girl with short lavender hair standing by herself and fiddling her fingers. Finally he saw a bored looking kid with a pineapple style haircut staring at the sky with a chubby kid sitting next to him eating a bag of chips.

Naruto walked up to the duo of boys first.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki!" He said, holding out his hand.

"Shikamaru Nara." The pineapple headed boy waved lazily with two fingers.

"Choji Akimichi." Choji shook Naruto's hand, "You're the Fourth's son right?"

Naruto scowled a little, "Yea, but I'm not the same as him, he was my dad and I'm me!" Naruto declared, his thumb jutting into his chest.

"Well pleased to meet you Naruto." Choji smiled, he angled his chip bag towards the blond, "Chip?"

Naruto took one, "Thanks." He smiled.

Naruto sat with the two for a while. He liked Choji a little more than Shikamaru, but that was just because he got to know the Akimichi heir, Shikamaru was more quiet and reserved.

At lunch Naruto decided to try and talk to the shy girl, she looked kind of familiar but he couldn't place her.

"Hi, I'm Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki!" Naruto said, holding out his hand.

The girl -Hinata Hyuga- went beat red and fainted. Naruto and looked around.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" He called out. The scarred chunin rushed over and grabbed Hinata.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I said hi and she fell over." Naruto said, tears in his eyes, "Did I hurt her?"

"No she'll be fine Naruto, she's probably just got a cold." Iruka said, "Why don't you go play."

"Okay, as long as she's safe." Naruto said, turning around and walking away.

"Hi!" It was the blonde girl from the flowers this morning, "I'm Ino Yamanaka!"

Naruto waved as he took a step back, she was really close, "Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, nice to meet ya-ttebayo!" He covered his mouth, "Sorry."

Ino giggled, "Don't worry, it's kinda funny." She said with a smile.

"Really?" His eyes lit up.

"Ya, it's like, you can't talk without making a funny noise." Ino said with a laugh.

Naruto laughed too, "You know my brother Kakashi, well he's not my actual brother but he's like my brother but he always tells me to keep it in check because I'd make for a bad ninja. But you like it!" Naruto beamed, "I think you'll be my new best friend." Naruto hugged Ino, she giggled and hugged him back.

Flashback end

The two got to the BBQ place that was owned by Choji's mother. The rest of their group was already waiting there. Shikamaru noticed them first and nodded. Sakura smiled at them and Choji waved. Hinata turned to see them and gave a quick smile and wave while Shino just waited for them to get to the table.

"Ino, Naruto. Nice to see you." The Aburame said.

"You too Shino." Naruto smiled.

"Ya, how've you been?" Ino asked.

"I've been well." He replied.

The group ate and laughed while they could, starting tomorrow they would be genin, and would have little to no time to see each other, unless they ended up on the same team, and even then it would be for work.

"I'm gonna miss this." Sakura said, "I mean, I'm probably gonna be with Kiba since he's dead last, but maybe I'll have Naruto on my team too."

"Nope, Teme's beating me hard in academics and we're tied for physical score, so you'll be with him-ttebayo." Naruto said as he ate a piece of meat, "I'll end up being with Ino and probably Shino, or maybe one of the other kids. Don't know any of their names."

"Well at least I'll have the handsome prodigy on my team." Sakura stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Uhm, Shino's gonna be on my team." Naruto said, causing the shy Aburame to blush a little and move away slightly.

"Hey Naruto, are you sure that Ino isn't going to be with Choji and I?" Shikamaru asked, "I mean reforming the InoShikaCho and all."

"Kakashi said that Jiji is skipping you guys this time, something about strategy being too well known, not good for war." Naruto said, being raised by an elite-jonin and being close to the leader of the village he got a lot of inside information, not that he was supposed to know that is. Kakashi had taught him to be stealthy a little too well.

"Why would we be planning for a war?" Hinata asked, "It's not like there's been an unusual amount of border scouts from other countries lately."

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru asked.

Hinata fidgeted a little, "I, uh, my clan is used as border guards quite often because of the Byakugan and I overheard two chunin talking about how there was no action with that job."

"Even so, it's better to be prepared." Shino said, "Even if we aren't at war currently there is no doubt in my mind that it could happen any day."

"Shino's right." Naruto and Shikamaru said at the same time. Naruto motioned for the Nara to go first and he nodded.

"I mean think of our peace treaties with the other villages as a game of shogi, it'll keep going until someone makes a wrong move."

"Exactly." Naruto said, "For all we know we could be at war tomorrow. Iwa and Kumo recently signed an alliance too, so it may be closer than ever."

"The fact that you of all people knows this much about other villages is kinda scary." Ino said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked.

"Just that you're the kinda guy who can't pass a simple math quiz but can somehow sneak into the Hokage's office and read classified reports like it's the easiest thing in the world." Ino said.

"Nothing's more dangerous than an idiot with knowledge." Shikamaru added lazily.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, the rest of the group laughing.

-DATTEBAYO!-

Naruto ran the academy obstacle course. There was currently two hours until his final class where he would learn who his teacher and teammates were going to be and he was a little nervous.

"I swear if I've gotta be with the damned Teme I'll snap." He said as he rolled under a volley of shuriken -they were dulled but they still hurt like hell when you got hit. He jumped onto a log that swayed side to side and ran across, applying chakra to his feet to keep his grip. When he got to the end he leapt over a large hole in the ground -The fall wasn't deadly but you could easily break something if you hit the bottom.

Naruto landed with a roll before running full speed towards the end of the course. Dulled spikes broke through the ground and nearly impaled Naruto, who landed on the other end of the field of spikes with a roll.

"That's new." He panted.

"No, that jutsu's been around forever." Kakashi said, reading his book.

"HEY!" Naruto shouted, "You tried to kill me!" He threw a kunai at his brother figure, who merely flicked the weapon away.

"Maa maa, Naruto you shouldn't play with sharp toys, you could hurt yourself." Kakashi said, "And besides, if I wanted to kill you I'd just forbid ramen for the rest of your life."

Naruto's eyes widen, "DON'T. YOU. DARE!" He growled.

"Maa, don't worry." Kakashi waved him off, his tone then got more serious as he said, "Run it again."

Naruto groaned but went to the beginning and began to run the course again, this time with Kakashi using a few jutsu to try and trip him up.

Naruto made it passed the first volley of shuriken even though Kakashi doubled the amount. The second volley was laced with fire. The third volley came as Naruto ran over a log. Kakashi used a wind jutsu to increase the speed of the stars and they nearly knocked Naruto off course. The blond continued with a renewed burst of speed, dodging the rest of the shuriken and nearing the final obstacle, the swaying log. He jumped onto it and ran full on towards the end, hoping to finish before Kakashi could attack him again.

Too bad Kakashi already new what he was going to do now.

"Fire Style: Flaming Hounds!" The man shouted, finishing a few hand seals and spewing three flaming wolves from his mouth, each one rushing towards Naruto with a vicious growl.

The blond yelped and ran even faster, turning and beginning the seals for the only water jutsu he knew, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" He shot a large stream of water at the wolves but it was too weak and only managed to douse one.

The two wolves were about to hit Naruto when a stream of water cut through them.

"Kakashi, isn't a B-Rank jutsu a little much ?" Iruka asked.

"Maa, he would've figured it out." Kakashi waved Iruka off, he really wasn't worried about Naruto getting hurt. The boy was crafty and probably would've figured something out.

"Naruto, why don't you come into the classroom, there's only a little bit until the team reveals anyways. And I'm sure Kakashi has something better to do than send flaming dogs after you." Iruka said to his student.

"Not really." Kakashi smirked with his eye, "I've got nothing to do for about three hours."

Iruka was about to say something but a glare from Kakashi shut him up.

"We don't wanna spoil anything." Kakashi whispered as he took off in a shunshin.

"Why didn't I learn that in school Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked, "Seems like a kick-ass jutsu."

"No swearing." Iruka scolded as the two walked into the class.

-DATTEBAYO-

Naruto sat at the back, Ino was beside him and Sakura beside her. Their class, thirty hopeful genin, were seated in the room.

Iruka stood in front of the class, his teacher's aide Mizuki stood beside him. The blue haired chunin sent a spike of killing intent towards Naruto, who retaliated with a glare.

"I just want to say that I'll be proud to serve with you all." Iruka said, "Most of you have done amazingly well these past seven years, others, well I hope that you pick up your socks because the shinobi world isn't as grand as it is in the fairy tales. It's kill or be killed." Iruka turned to his partner, "Mizuki, do you have anything you'd like to say?"

Mizuki stepped forwards with a smile, "As Iruka said the shinobi world isn't pretty. You'll eventually be forced to kill and for those of you who make jonin some of the kills will be innocent people who made a mistake. The kills will hurt, and if they don't I ask that you go and see a therapist, maybe even pay to have a Yamanaka do it." Mizuki said, "But that's a long ways away, for now I wish you all the best."

Iruka smiled and held up two cases, "Here I have the rewards for both Male Rookie of the Year and Female Rookie of the year." He said, "Each box contains twenty top quality shuriken and six top quality kunai."

Mizuki stepped forwards, holding a list of the male students in the class, "Our Male Rookie of the year was a close call between two students, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." Mizuki said, "But ultimately one stood victor, congratulations Sasuke Uchiha, Rookie of the Year." Mizuki brought the box to Sasuke, who didn't even look at it.

"The dobe can have it, the ones I have are better." Sasuke said.

"I don't want your stinking gifts Teme!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto shush!" Ino whispered angrily. Naruto sat down with a huff.

Mizuki walked back down and grabbed a list of the girls in the class, "For our Female Rookie of the Year, also known as Top Kunoichi, it was a close call as well, between Ino Yamanaka, who displayed excellently in genjutsu, shurikenjutsu, and academics and Sakura Haruno, whose academic scores are some of the highest since Minato Namikaze himself and whose genjutsu was top of the class, the award goes to…" Mizuki held off on revealing the winner.

"I'm gonna win Ino." Sakura stuck her tongue out, only for Ino to pinch it.

"Sakura Haruno!" Mizuki said. The pinkette jumped up and ran to get the box.

"Thank you Mizuki-sensei." She said as she ran up to Sasuke, "Hey Sasuke-kun, I got Top Kunoichi, that means that we'll be on a team together! How exciting is that?"

Sasuke glared at her, "Can you leave?"

"Oh, ya, sure." Sakura suddenly became interested in her feet as she walked back to her seat.

"HEY TEME!" Naruto shouted, "That wasn't called for!"

Sasuke turned around and glared daggers at Naruto, "Listen dobe, I don't care about anyone here, least of all someone who's only reason for doing well is impressing me. I have one goal and one goal only, and if you can't help me achieve it then stay out of my way." Sasuke said.

Naruto growled and was about to leap at Sasuke when a kunai hit his desk. Mizuki glared, "Sit down."

"Fine, this isn't over Teme." Naruto said to Sasuke.

Iruka waited a few moments before stepping up, "I have the lists for the teams here. Unlike previous years the teams are not going to be about academy scores but how well the Hokage feels the team could work." Iruka then began listing off names, mostly civilian students whose names Naruto hadn't learnt.

"Team Six, Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka under jonin Kurenai Yuhi." Iruka said.

"Really, I'm with Kiba? At least Shino is easy to get along with. And I heard that Kurenai is really good at Genjutsu." Sakura said.

"Team Seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, Naruto Uzumaki, under jonin Kakashi Hatake." Iruka said with a smirk.

"Isn't that team a little too strong?" Shino asked, "I understand that they would work well together, but the reason that we are placed together by our scores is to even out the teams is it not?"

"Very observant Shino." Iruka said, "That is indeed why we made teams like that in the past, however Hokage-sama feels like this new way to make teams will create stronger teams and a stronger Konoha as a whole."

"WAIT!" Naruto shouted, "Why would Teme and I work well together-ttebayo?"

"Naruto I don't know, you can go ask Hokage-sama on your own time." Iruka sighed, "Moving on, Team Nine is still in circulation so Team Ten is Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Hinata Hyuga under jonin Asuma Sarutobi. Your new teachers should be here shortly, until then you have free time." Iruka said as he and Mizuki left the room.

Asuma and Kurenai arrived five minutes later. Asuma was a tall man with neatly kept black hair and stubble with a smoke in his mouth. He was wearing the standard jonin gear but had a white sash with the kanji for fire on his waist. Kurenai was a woman of average height with long black hair that curled towards the ends, she had red eyes and was wearing an armored red blouse with a bandage dress overtop.

"Team Six, I am Kurenai Yuhi and I will be your sensei from now on." Kurenai said, "If you'd follow me." She led Sakura, Kiba, and Shino out of the room.

"Hey. Asuma Sarutobi. Team Ten I'll be your teacher, c'mon." He waved and walked out of the room, his team stood and followed.

The other jonin came and grabbed their teams.

"We're gonna be here for a while." Naruto said as he began to practice hand seals, "Kakashi is always late."

Ino laid her head down, "Wake me up when he gets here." She said.

Sasuke just sat there, "Dobe."

"What?" Naruto growled as he paced around the room, going through the same seals over and over again.

"Do you want these?" Sasuke asked.

"I already told you, no." Naruto said.

"I'm not going to use them." Sasuke said.

"I still don't want them, mine are high quality too." Naruto replied.

"I'm not talking about quality. These are better than mine." Sasuke said, "I just refuse to use any other than my father's old weapons."

Naruto stopped, was Sasuke being… sentimental? "KAI!" Naruto put his hands in a seal and tried to break the genjutsu he was sure he was in, but nothing happened.

"I'll throw them out if you don't want them." Sasuke said.

"Why don't you give them to Ino?" Naruto asked.

"You're the only person here I respect." Sasuke said, "No one else can actually make me try in a fight."

"Didn't Choji almost beat you that one time" Naruto joked, "But really Sasuke, don't throw them out, keep them. You don't have to use them but keep them. Just in case."

"Hey!" Kakashi opened the door, "Am I late?"

"Just on time." Naruto said with a smile.

"Maa, I'll see you in an hour then." Kakashi turned and walked out of the room, leaving Naruto slack-jawed.

"KAKASHI GET BACK HERE!" He shouted.

I hope you guys liked it. This story is going to be weekly until I start the second part of Legends Will Rise (Which is my Naruto and DBZ crossover story for those of you who don't know) In which case I will be doing both Bi-weekly.

Anyways that was the first chapter, second chapter will probably be out on the 23rd when I get back.

THANKS FOR READING :D