A/N: It occurred to me that I failed to mention something in the first chapter. In this series, Kurama had all of his chakra sealed into Naruto and not just half of it. So Naruto absorbing half of it wouldn't be any different than him absorbing everything that Kurama has in canon, while still leaving Kurama the same amount as well. I thank all of you for your support and appreciate all of the follows and favorites this story has received in such a short time. Also, I still haven't decided on the pairing for the next series and would really appreciate more suggestions.

sabery- To answer your questions, Naruto will most likely remain dark, except for when he is around a select few characters. I have some more twists to add further down the road to really bring out some more heavily dark moments for you guys to look forward to. And to answer your other question, yes the pairing will be NaruXShizune, Also, I do intend to do a story with Kurenai at some point. Whether it will be the next series or not, I haven't decided yet.

One last thing and then I'll leave you to the story. I shall be using minimal Japanese in this story. I will use honorifics and other minor phrases that are commonplace. It's not that I don't understand Japanese; it's actually quite the contrary. I understand it quite well, which is why I'm doing this. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people who obviously don't understand a language use it unnecessarily and improperly in their stories that are in English. Since I have decided to write this in English and not Japanese, that's what I intend to do. Sorry if this offends anybody, but it's the truth. Oh, and I will probably throw in some original jutsus here and there.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 2

It has been 6 months since Naruto left with Jiraiya. The old man had his quirks, but after a while, Naruto grew quite attached to him. The first few weeks had left him feeling skeptical as all the man had done was go to the various hot springs throughout the area for his so-called "research". The lifelessness in his eyes had slowly faded as a look of constant annoyance took its place. Finally, he had had enough.

One day, as the old pervert had been peeking through a hole in the dividing wall at the hot springs in the town they were currently staying in, Naruto decided to have some fun of his own. As Jiraiya stood there giggling as he wrote in his little notepad, Naruto yelled out "Pervert!" in as feminine of a voice as he could muster. The response was instantaneous. Jiraiya jumped back and looked around frantically as the sounds of women screaming and rushing about could be heard over the divider. Naruto walked out of the men's bath and stood by the door as a horde of women ran into the men's bath and the sounds of righteous fury rang through the area. When Jiraiya finally limped his way out, Naruto couldn't help but laugh. Jiraiya was mad at first, but hearing the blond laugh for the first time brought a smile to his face. After that, Jiraiya dedicated his time to his apprentice.

In those 6 months, excluding those first few weeks, Naruto had improved substantially and seemed to brighten up some when he was around the old pervert. He may not have been a prodigy like the village's precious Uchiha, but his effort more than made up the difference. His taijutsu was now at a sufficient level to at least pass for a genin which, that may not seem like anything special, but it was impressive for someone with no prior training. He was absolutely hopeless when it came to genjutsu, but he seemed to show an inherent proficiency in both ninjutsu and kenjutsu. He could perform the academy transformation and replacement techniques as well as, to Jiraiya's surprise, the shadow clone jutsu. When Jiraiya asked, the boy told him that the fox had taught him when he was having trouble performing the standard academy level clone technique. Jiraiya wasn't sure if he should be more surprised by an 8-year-old learning a forbidden jutsu, or the fact that he had learned it from his tenant. As far as kenjutsu went, the boy was a natural. Jiraiya's knowledge on the subject was limited, but what he did know, Naruto picked up on almost instantly. After teaching everything he could on the subject, Jiraiya bought his apprentice several books on advanced kenjutsu. Naruto used all the spare time between training to read his books and advance his kenjutsu.

"So when can I learn a new jutsu, Jiraiya?" The sannin was mildly disappointed by the way he was addressed, but he knew not to expect anything more than that. The only time his apprentice would call him "Jiraiya-sensei" was when he was teaching him something new. They had a rather close relationship though and he was happy enough knowing that the boy he saw like a son could open up to him.

"I told you before, I'll teach you once you master those chakra control exercises I taught you," he said with a small sigh as the duo walked through a small town in water country.

"C'mon Jiraiya, I already mastered tree-climbing and I almost have the water-walking down, too. Just 1 jutsu and I'll let you do research for a week!" Naruto bargained with a smug grin knowing the pervert couldn't turn down the opportunity. His grin grew wider as he saw the look on his master's face as he giggled. Jiraiya cleared his throat as he took on a more serious expression.

"Okay, kid. Follow me and we'll get this over with," Jiraiya said as he walked towards the outskirts of the town. Once they were out of sight, Jiraiya handed Naruto a small sheet of paper. "What's that for?" Naruto asked as he took the offered paper and looked it over. "That is going to tell us what your chakra affinity is. Go ahead and channel some chakra into the paper and see what happens." Naruto gave a small nod then did as instructed and channeled chakra into the paper. The paper immediately crumpled up bringing a smile to Jiraiya's face. 'He's his father's son alright'.

"It seems you have a pretty strong lightning affinity. I won't be able to teach you much, but I know a few lightning jutsus. Before that though, you're gonna have to practice your nature manipulation." Naruto was somewhat disappointed, but didn't show it. He knew this was a necessary exercise for him to complete. "What do I need to do, Jiraiya-sensei?" Jiraiya smirked as he prepared to instruct his apprentice on his next task.

True to his word, Naruto left Jiraiya alone for a week to do his "research". The sight that greeted Jiraiya when he returned made him smile. H arrived just in time to see Naruto dispel a group of shadow clones as he collapsed onto his hands and knees. He remained in that position for a few moments panting before he sat up and looked towards the setting sun. Jiraiya could see the chakra burns covering the boy's hands as he approached.

"Not bad, kid. I'm honestly amazed you've come this far already. One more push and you should have it down." Jiraiya said with a proud smile as he helped the boy stand up and lead him towards the town where their hotel was. Naruto gave a soft smile as he continued to walk wanting nothing more than to sleep at that moment. As they approached their room, Jiraiya spoke up again. "Get some sleep, kid. We head out again first thing in the morning." Naruto gave a simple nod before heading into the room and falling asleep shortly after his head hit the pillow.

Several days later, Naruto and Jiraiya were traveling across a large island outside of Kirigakure. Naruto had figured out his lightning manipulation, but was still working on getting better control. The 2 of them were passing through a large canyon heading towards the nearest village, which was still several hours away by foot, but they didn't want to run the risk of drawing the attention of any Kiri nins that may be in the area. Jiraiya was discussing the latest volume of his literary masterpiece, the Make-out Paradise series, when Naruto noticed a strange formation of rocks in front of the canyon wall. Something about it seemed to draw on his curiosity as he approached it. He gave a quick glance to Jiraiya before he began to move the rocks out of the way. Jiraiya let out a sigh as he decided to help the blond clear the rocks.

Once enough of the rocks were moved, an opening in the canyon wall could be seen. Naruto paid no attention to the requests for him to wait from his teacher as he entered the cavern and followed the path into the darkness. After several minutes, he found himself in a larger that felt strange to him. He could swear there was some sort of electrical charge in the air as he looked around. He had somewhat noticed it before, but Kurama was right about him gradually noticing changes in his body. The cavern was pitch-black, yet he could see everything clearly. This is how he noticed the large stone altar with a body lying atop it. There was a name carved into the stone above the altar that read "Raiga Kurosuki", but Naruto didn't seem to notice. His eyes were glued on the pair of swords at the body's side. each with slim and straight double-edged blades. Both blades also have an upward-curved bladed prong near the tip of one side of blade and another one near the base of the blade's other side. Each blade had slim, straight double-edged blades. Both blades also had an upward-curved bladed prong near the tip of one side of the blade and another one near the base of the blade's other side.

Naruto picked the twin blades up and immediately knew why he felt the current in the air. The second he picked them up, he felt a rush of lightning course through his body. At first he thought he was being electrocuted, but it didn't hurt. It actually felt…good. Really good. He examined the blades more carefully as he walked towards the exit of the cave and noticed that the bases of the hilts seemed to fit together. He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he strapped the twin blades to his back in a crossing pattern with the hilts coming past his shoulders. He exited the cave to see a wide-eyed Jiraiya.

"Naruto...where in the hell did you get those?" Jiraiya asked as he examined the blades on the young blond's back. Naruto just pointed over his shoulder at the cave. "Naruto, that is kiba, one of the seven swords of the mist...and you're telling me you found it in some random cave?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders as he spoke. "I guess so. They were sitting next to some dead guy and I seriously doubt he needs them, so I figured I'd put em to use. Ne, it's amazing Jiraiya, these things actually generate their own lightning somehow!" Naruto replied with a smile at the end at his discovery of the special trait of the twin blades. Jiraiya facepalmed as he motioned for Naruto to start walking again and he explained the secrets of the swords known as kiba, as well as the details of the legendary seven swordsmen of the mist.

"Wow. They were mentioned a few times in some of those kenjutsu books, but I thought they were exaggerating." They were approaching their destination as Jiraiya finished his tale. "Each one is without question a master of kenjutsu, and if they saw you with those swords, they would immediately challenge you to a duel. Some of them are nothing more than thugs for hire now, but one thing they will never abandon, is their pride as swordsmen." Naruto nodded as he made a mental note to devote more attention to mastering his kenjutsu.

"So when are you gonna teach me that jutsu you owe me?" Naruto asked as they sat at the local bar. Jiraiya set his sake down as he turned to his pupil. "You're so impatient. For now, keep working on what you've been doing. After I get some information here, we're heading for lightning country."

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, but what are you looking for? Ever since we left Konoha, you've been gathering information about something. What is it?"

"You're asking the wrong question my boy. It's not "what" I'm looking for, but who," Jiraiya replied plainly as he motioned for the waitress to bring him another bottle of sake. Naruto looked confused. Who could this person be that his master had spent so long searching for? In every town the stopped in, Jiraiya would go from place to place, usually bars, asking people about something. That was one of the reasons they were in water country in the first place. He had received a tip that whatever, or rather, "whoever" he was looking for, had been heading in this direction. Naruto wasn't too thrilled about the idea of meeting these people. He was fine around Jiraiya, sure, but anyone else was a totally different story. There was a particularly bad incident a couple months ago that proved Jiraiya's fears about leaving Naruto alone for too long were justified.

2 months ago

Naruto and Jiraiya were in a rundown bar full of rather questionable people, when Jiraiya told Naruto to wait while he went to get something he forgot in their hotel room. When he came back, he swore he would keep Naruto in sight at all times until he felt sure that he was more…stable.

Shortly after Jiraiya left, a rather loud, obviously drunk man approached Naruto as he sat on a bar stool in the corner. He asked him "what's a snot-nosed little brat like you doing here? This is a bar for mercenaries kid, not some local hangout for runaways." Naruto did his best to simply ignore the drunkard as he felt his anger rising. He figured if he just ignored him he would get bored and leave, but things seldom go so easily. After rambling mindless insults for a few minutes, the man said something that finally pushed the boy over the edge.

"What's the matter? Mommy didn't love you enough? Did she run off with some rich asshole and leave you with your deadbeat daddy? Or maybe…your daddy replaced that stick up your ass with one of his own!" The man laughed loudly as he looked over towards his group of companions who obviously found it just as hilarious as he did.

Their laughs immediately stopped and were replaced by looks of terror at what they saw. A dense, visible chakra seemed to ooze out of the boy and fill the bar with its ominous aura. It completely covered the boy in a cloak of red that seemed to radiate pure hatred. The drunken man from before saw the looks on his companions' faces and slowly turned around. The last thing he saw was a single tail sprout from the cloak before a clawed hand separated his head from his body. Everyone else in the room seemed to break out of their trance when his head hit the floor.

There were screams of "Monster!" and "Demon!" as everyone drew their weapons. Before anybody had seen him move, 2 men fell to the ground with holes in their chests. Everyone shivered at the sight of the child before them licking the blood from his hands with a smile on his face. This was no human.

"Sorry it took so long, Naruto. I forget I left my wallet on the-" Jiraiya stopped midsentence as he entered the bar. The memories of that night months ago replaying in his mind as he gazed at the carnage before him. The room was once again littered with flesh and blood as every single patron from before he had left had been seemingly ripped to shreds. Naruto looked up with a smile on his face to see Jiraiya standing there as he licked the last of the blood from his claws.

"Damn Jiraiya, what took you so long? You missed out on all the fun." Naruto said as if he had done something perfectly normal. The aura surrounding him receded into him as he approached Jiraiya.

"So…where to next?"

End Flashback

"Okay, so "who" is it that we're searching for?" Naruto asked as he helped lead an intoxicated Jiraiya back to their inn. "My former teammate. Hehe, I can't wait to see HER again." Jiraiya said with a perverted grin on his face. Naruto let out a sigh as he could only imagine what would happen when they found their target.