AN: I'm surprised this story got so 'popular' within the span of a week! Nearly 1,000 views, 33 followers and 24 favourites! Thank you guys so much, really really appreciate all of this! If any of you want to drop some reviews I would love that too, whether it is constructive criticism, your suggestion or anything of the sort please feel free to say something! Then again, beggars can't be choosers.

Also, should Naruto have the abilities of Nara essentially? Won't be identical but will be similar, let me know what you think.

Anyways, on we go:

"Where am I?" the groggy voice of Naruto spoke out, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling and feeling the soft couch underneath him, 'euuggh my body is also still sore, why? I remember going home from the grocery shop and then bumping into the tw-' he abruptly stopped his thoughts as he realised where he might be. Jumping up, whilst ignoring the pain going through his body, Naruto landed on his feet ready to defend himself from what he assumed was somewhere in the Uchiha compound.

"Naruto-kun, relax. You're safe right now, you're with us," the soft and gentle voice of Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke from behind Naruto, leaning against his desk. Although it was a very grave situation on what had just occurred, he can't help but be slightly assumed by Naruto's 'ninja stance' as he's seen the boy perform before. During one of their walks, Hiruzen explained to Naruto he would enrol him into the academy to become a ninja, which lead to Naruto instantly jumping in front of him with this his right leg straight and left leg bent at the knee with both arms raised high above him. This was the stance Naruto was currently holding before relaxing himself a little and turning around to see the Third Hokage looking at him with a gentle smile.

"What happened jiji? I was in the alley! There were two Uchihas! Where are they? Is there anything broken, I am very sore? And what do you mean by us?" Naruto asked the Hokage very quickly and without taking a breath.

Using the moment where Naruto was regaining his breath, the Third Hokage chose to step in and explain everything to him. "Naruto, listen carefully and focus. I don't quite know what was going on in the alley or about the second Uchiha, however you were found outside the Uchiha compound after fighting one of the Uchiha members. He was taken care of and you were brought in by one of our shinobi, he's the us I was talking about and standing behind you. In terms of your body, you had a bruised bones and a black eye, however I did my best patching you up, we will make sure to get you checked up after this", the Third Hokage said seriously but chose to amend some of the facts of the night, not wanting to scar the young boy.

Looking behind him once the Hokage finished speaking, he saw a tall human staring down on him with a bird mask on his face. However, what he did not expect was for the red eyes of the sharingan to be staring right at him causing to scream out and grasp his head as the booming voice from earlier made its presence known again, 'remember what YOU did! This was all you' as an influx of memories from a few hours ago bombarded Naruto.

To say Hiruzen was confused would be an understatement, one second Naruto was looking at Shisui, and the next second he was on knees holding his head and screaming out in pain whilst begging something to stop. Rushing to his side, Sarutobi tried to comfort Naruto and ran a quick diagnostic to see if anything was amiss. Replaying the events that happened, he figured it had to do with Shisui, or more importantly his sharingan based on the events of the night. Ordering Shisui to deactivate his eyes, the Sandaime paid attention again to the little boy in his arms who had now stopped screaming but was shaking uncontrollably and crying. "Naruto, speak to me, what is going on? I am here for you. Bird is one of my most loyal and best ANBU, he is to be trusted. You're safe," Hiruzen tried to reassure Naruto.

"I remember it all! I am a monster! I killed them, this was my fault! Maybe I am just a weapon like those Uchihas said," Naruto wept uncontrollably after emptying his stomach's contents upon the initial realisation. The Third Hokage realised that his initial amending of the truth was irrelevant now if Naruto knew what happened. Instead he waited for Naruto to finish crying and calm himself down a little bit where he was only hiccupping a little and sniffling.

"Naruto, listen to me carefully, this will be the most important piece of information I will ever tell you. You are NOT a monster! It was those two Uchihas which were the monsters. You defended yourself that is all. Please, once you're ready, talk me through what happened and we will go from there, okay my boy?" the Third Hokage softly said whilst giving Naruto a big hug. Shisui in the meantime chose to stay out of Naruto's eye view to prevent any sort of backlash of memories again. He waited as long as needed and once Naruto calmed down enough to speak, he began explaining what had happened and what 'he' did.

'I see, so its making its presence known,' the Third Hokage thought grimly. Whilst he had upmost faith in Minato's sealing ability, he knew that sooner or later the Kyuubi would make some sort of move, he just didn't expect it to be so soon. From what he knew about previous jinchuriki, he had to play this very delicately in order to protect Naruto. "Naruto, my boy, please listen to me. Again, you are not a monster. From what you have said, you were not in control but rather something else was. What I am about to tell you, only a handful of people should know about. You need to make sure this piece of information isn't shared with anyone, do you understand?" The Third Hokage sternly and slowly said to make sure Naruto understood every word he said. Once Naruto had calmed down enough and was listening intently, understanding the how serious the situation, he nodded meekly gesturing for the Hokage to continue. "Roughly 6 years ago, on the night you were born, a massive chakra beast known as the Kyuubi attacked the village. The Fourth Hokage, Minato, fought the beast and defeated it. Now, what I told the village is that Minato killed the beast at the cost of his life. However, the truth, that only the clan heads, the elders and a few ANBU know is that Minato had to seal the Kyuubi into a human vessel, which happens to be you. Unfortunately, it had to be new-born baby due to their undeveloped chakra coils, which is why you were picked Naruto, your parents had died in the accident right after your birth so this way he didn't have to place this burden on anyone else. I am so sorry for keeping this from you Naruto, I was trying to-" Hiruzen was interrupted by a blonde blur hugging him as tight as his 6 year old physique allowed him and thanking him for everything he had done. Although being only 6, Naruto was more mature than most kids his age or even older, mainly due to the walks and talks he had with the Third Hokage as well as his own natural curiosity. It was for that reason he was able to understand the situation without holding any contempt for the Third Hokage, he knew it was for his own protection anyways.

"Thank you" Naruto's meek voice was heard from the robes of the Sandaime with tears falling freely from his face. This simple action also caused a few tears to form in the aged eyes of Hiruzen, being thankful for this reaction. As he was worried for how Naruto would react should he find out. "So," Naruto started quietly once he separated from the Sandaime, "the voice I heard tonight, that was the Kyuubi? And after the whole shadowy thing, that was all it? Until I woke up again anyways?" Naruto asked, trying to make sure he understood this situation as clearly as possible.

"Yes Naruto-kun, that is exactly it. I don't quite know about this shadow experience you had though. It sounds similar to the Nara family, however I can say with absolute certainty you are not a Nara. In terms of the Uchiha, there are some behind the scene problems going on within the village that I will start taking care of. For now there are only two Uchihas you don't need to be scared of which are Raven and Bird, the ANBU you met earlier. It would be best that, other than them two, you try to stay clear from the compound and any other Uchiha you might come across. The weapon they were talking about is the Kyuubi sealed inside you, and under no circumstances can we let that happen, you understand why, right?" Hiruzen asked carefully and slowly, to which Naruto once again nodded understanding the severity of the situation.

"Hokage-sama, if I may?" the voice of Shisui began, wanting to make sure he announces himself this time so Naruto doesn't get startled. Once the Hokage motioned for him to continue, Shisui began slowly taking his mask off whilst continuing with, "from what we understood, the Uchiha might try to go for Naruto again. We can't afford to leave him in the orphanage or on his own, we should consider beginning to teach him the shinobi arts. Also, Naruto-kun, I am very sorry for what has happened to you, I want you to remember my mask and my face to understand I will always have the best intention for you and the village and not all Uchihas are bad, okay?" Shisui said and offered his hand to Naruto, who after a bit of thinking, cautiously shook the hand with a small smile on his face. Whilst the two boys were talking among themselves, Hiruzen was thinking about what Shisui said and the implications. He knew he was right, there could be more attempts to capture Naruto or worse by the Uchiha and he needed to be able to protect himself. He couldn't risk entailing shinobi to follow and protect Naruto because if there is an attempt, it would only raise suspicions and potentially accelerate the Uchihas' plans.

"Okay, Shisui you are right. However this needs to be played very delicately and discreetly. Naruto, I am going to send you to the Nara clan to reside with them, I want to make it clear though that this won't be permanent as no clan is allowed to adopt you, due to the power residing within you, to prevent a power struggle between the clans. Instead, the Nara clan is going to assess your shadow capabilities and see if they can help. Now, under no circumstances are they obliged to teach you their techniques or explain them to you, those belong to them, and it will be their choice. The plan is for you to learn as much as you can in the next two years so you can join the academy in time for the third year with the other clan heirs. I hope this is all okay for you? I understand you might have wanted to do this at your own pace, however our circumstances have changed and we need to prepare you for everything". The Sandaime carefully explained, he can't force the Naras to even take Naruto in, however once he explains the situation to Shikaku, he is sure he would understand. Naruto meanwhile was deep in thought over how in the last few hours his whole life has turned upside down, one second he was being attacked by two shinobi and now he is going to be living with the Nara clan he read about in the books the Hokage gave him, it is certainly a crazy development but one he can't complain about too much.

"Shisui, I want you to take Naruto to the Nara compound. Ask for Shikaku and give him a breakdown of the situation, ask Shikaku to come here as soon as you drop Naruto off whilst you stay there to keep an eye on him until he gets back. Naruto, I will check up on you soon, that's a promise" the Hokage ordered and with a quick nod of his head, Shisui grabbed Naruto and disappeared.

(At The Nara Compound)

"So the bishop moves diagonally but the rook in a straight line in a perpendicular manner?" Naruto asked slowly, trying to remember all the rules about Shogi whilst examining the cool looking pieces. Since walking into the clan compound, he has seen most of the residents in the compound playing this game. From his initial impressions, the clan were pretty laid back, people were either relaxing or playing Shogi, the compound itself was fairly modest and simplistic, the main thing was the massive forest surrounding the compound where mile high trees and deer resided. After Shisui dropped him off and spoke to the clan leader, Shikaku, who promptly disappeared to speak to the Hokage, he was introduced to Shikamaru and Yoshino the son and wife of Shikaku. Yoshino went off to make some food for their guests and encouraged Shikamaru to find something to do with Naruto, since it was late at night so cloud watching was difficult, Shogi was the next logical choice to Shikamaru.

"Yeah something like that, let's have a game or two, it's easier to understand it through trial and error" Shikamaru practically yawned out as he sat down and set the game up, as he made the first move. As the game was going on, Shikamaru couldn't help but think something was up, although fairly lazy his mind was already as sharp as teenagers and some adults, so he knew something was going. Afterall it isn't everyday an outsider joins the clan, "checkmate", he absentmindedly told Naruto who was preoccupied trying to figure out what just happened. After a few huffs and puffs, Naruto set up the board again wanting for a second chance to prove himself. 'Troublesome' the young Nara heir thought, if there is one thing he was almost certain on is that his life was going to change due to the blonde enigma in front him.

(6 Months Later)

'I knew I would be right, troublesome blonde' Shikamaru thought trying to analyse the situation in front of him. Compared to his usual laid back and relaxed stance, Shikamaru was sat upright and was practically burning a hole into the Shogi board with how intensely he was trying to decipher the situation. On the other side of the board was the reason for his exasperation, the small form of Naruto Uzumaki was sat across from him however it was his expression that really frustrated the Nara heir, because he clearly had no idea what was going on! 'This makes no sense at all! He shouldn't be making moves like that, they are completely illogical' Shikamaru thought whilst making a move after five minutes of intense thinking. He was left speechless by the next move Naruto made.

"Check Shika! And since you can't move anywhere else, that's checkmate right?!" the grinning face of Naruto exclaimed happily as he got up to do a victory dance. The reason why he was so happy? Well after 6 months, Naruto had finally beaten Shikamaru for the first time after losing every other time. Before he could celebrate any further and gloat a little, the boys heard the voice of Yoshino Nara calling for Shikamaru to help set the table as Shikaku was coming back from a meeting with the Hokage and Yoshino wanted the family to eat all together. As Shikamaru left and Naruto decided to pack up the board and the area they sat in, he couldn't help but reflect on his last 6 months and how much yet how little actually changed.

(Flashback - 6 Months Ago)

As soon as Shikaku had returned 6 months ago, Shisui had left after giving him a thankful nod, he set up a guest bedroom next to Shikamaru and explained to Naruto the living arrangements and what was to be expected. There were really only two main rules in the Nara compound and more specifically under the head family; first, do not ever disobey Yoshino, unless you're willing to face her wrath, and secondly do not enter the Deer Forest without supervision of one of the Nara elders or Shikaku himself. Naruto, at the time, quickly obliged not willing to find out any of the consequences associated with breaking the rules.

The following morning, Naruto did not know what to expect, but he was not ready for his life to seemingly continue like normal. No one at the clan asked any questions or acted any different, they all just accepted he was there and let him go about his day, just how they do with any other member of the clan. Everyone was smart enough to figure out that if an outsider was in the clan, the clan head knew about it and agreed to it, so no need to act suspicious or different. For the whole day Naruto had wandered about and just explored whilst avoiding the forest and listening to Yoshino. His biggest highlight per day was playing Shogi with Shikamaru. This continued for three days before he grew bored and asked Shikamaru to take him to his father, thinking it would be troublesome otherwise, Shikamaru agreed and simply pointed Naruto to where the office is before going back to cloud watching.

"Come in. Ah, Naruto, you're actually later than I thought you would be." Shikaku said simply as Naruto entered his office. Seeing the confused look on his face, he chose to continue, "from how Hokage-sama described you, I was expecting you yesterday actually," he smiled gently as realisation was visible on Naruto's face. "I'm assuming you're here to ask about our and by extension your shadow abilities, and help in controlling those abilities?" Shikaku said as he got up and picked out a few books from his shelves and handing them to Naruto. "Here's what we're going to do. You are first going to learn about a little something called 'yin-release' which is what essentially our shadow abilities fall under. You're also going to work on basic chakra exercises with Shikamaru as well as general academy preparation. Both of you, as pre-academy students, are only allowed access to a limited section of the clan library. It will only be the material that would be given to you in the first two years of the academy anyways". Once he gave Naruto all the books and scrolls he needed, it ended in a small mountain the size of Naruto, which he was trying to balance without falling over. "Now once you have learnt everything from these scrolls, we will work on advancing your technique, is this clear?" Shikaku said and once he heard a small 'yes' from behind the books, he dismissed Naruto and got back to his own work.

(Flashback end)

What no one expected was for how eager Naruto was to learn. Shikaku had given him enough material to last 6 months, however he had memorised all of the books and scrolls within the first 2 months, completely understanding them took another month though. Although not a Nara, Naruto's IQ was pretty high and definitely more advanced than most kids their age. From what Naruto understood, his abilities were given to him from being the jinchuriki of the nine tailed beast, the Kyuubi, which was a being of immense chakra which was compromised of yin and yang. Speaking of the Kyuubi, he hasn't heard its voice again since that night 6 months ago, he's been trying to contact it and ask questions but to no success so far.

Following the initial discovery about his abilities and understanding the theory behind it, Naruto began learning about what he can actually do with his shadows. That has been gruelling and difficult work. After trying to replicate the results of the night he got attacked, he learnt that it wouldn't be as easy as when the Kyuubi took over his body. To be able to fully submerge himself into the shadows, he would need excellent chakra control. This is something he and the Nara family could relate to. To be able to control the shadows, they would need to be able to spread their chakra through their own shadows and mould it to move it how they would imagine it. This was the beauty of yin-release, similar to how hand signs moulded chakra for you and the jutsu would be released how you envision it, the same principle would be applied to the shadows. The Nara family would use the rat sign to focus their chakra onto their shadow and then control and wield it, although requiring excellent control, they have it a bit easier since their reserves are much smaller. The main consequence of this would be they could get overwhelmed by someone with much more chakra than them. Naruto has the opposite problem, being a jinchuriki and an Uzumaki he had enough chakra not to worry about being overwhelmed unless he's way out of his depths (he is only six years old for now after all) but the control is much more difficult.

Instead, for the last 3 months, Naruto has worked tirelessly on his chakra control. He had mastered the initial leaf balancing to the point where he could balance multiple leaves all over his body and he was working on currently adding spins to each leaf, Shikamaru had it easier and was able to hold less leaves on his body but was able to add spin to all of them, the next stage would be increasing the number of leaves and working on adding different spins to each leaf. On top of that, he has continued to learn, read and understand the various books and scrolls available to him – these included world and village history, chakra natures and affinities as well as general pieces of information which would be needed down the line. Outside of his studies, Naruto was what he would classify as 'playstudying' with Shikamaru when playing Shogi. Although he was only doing it for fun and because he enjoyed it, he was able to appreciate that his strategic thinking would improve every time he played against the young genius, although always losing, up until today anyways. Hearing the voice of Shikaku enter the compound and Yoshino calling him for dinner, Naruto wrapped up the tidying and joined the family for food.

"But yeah, Hokage-sama said we are free to handle the situation how we want, we just need to be careful not to encroach into any of the other clan compounds," Shikaku said as he made himself a plate as the boys sat down and Yoshino sat down too, "we need to figure out what is going on in our forest, the deer are in distress over someone or something hunting the newly born fawns. They keep being hunted at night, so we have to approach this delicately to prevent ourselves from being harmed." Shikaku finished off, as Yoshino encouraged him to change the topic seeing how interested Naruto was in the discussion and not wanting him to do anything reckless. Naruto in the meantime was thinking about the situation, this situation presented itself a couple of days ago when a deer came towards the compound and practically dragged a Nara member to the location of one the dead fawns, the shocking situation was how mutilated the body seemed. This led to panic among the clan members over the situation and how to deal with it. Naruto was thinking he could take this opportunity to thank the Nara family for everything they had done for him, by finding out what was going on.

After finishing their dinner, Naruto excused himself and went back into his room to carefully think about how he would go about his plan. He was going tonight once everyone else had gone to sleep, so he didn't have to worry anyone. Re-reading some of the scrolls and books he had on hunting and stealth, Naruto wanted to make sure he would be prepared. Going into his wardrobe, he picked out what was becoming his favourite outfit since figuring out his shadow abilities. Wearing maroon colours bottoms, which were loose enough to be classified as comfortable but not baggy, a plain black t shirt and black shinobi boots. Overall it was pretty basic but fit into his newfound skillset, however, his next article of clothing was his definite favourite as it was a gift from the Hokage, the week after he settled into the Nara compound. It was a trench coat like design which reached to his waist with long wide sleeves and the word of 'Shadow' written going down the middle of the coat at the back, on the inside of the coat and along the sleeves were a couple of seals which the Sandaime promised to teach Naruto once he was a bit older. He loved every bit of his outfit for how it made him look as well as the future implications with it. Grabbing a rope, and wrapping it around his right hand and arm, Naruto sat down again and thought about his plan whilst testing his capabilities with the shadows. He was able to submerge pieces of his body into the shadows, but he hasn't tried submerging his head yet. Part of the reason was due to the PTSD he still suffered a little from 6 months ago, every time he gets close to sinking his head into the shadows, he remembers the night clearly and what 'he' did, he knew that if it came down to it, he would be able to submerge his whole body albeit for a short period of time as his control wasn't the best yet, but he knew that for tonight he would have to rely on his other skills and abilities. He was quick, smart and agile and if this thing was only hunting baby fawns, it couldn't be that much of a threat, whether he was confident or arrogant, time will tell.

Having waited for everyone to fall asleep, Naruto went into one of the clan's training grounds and found some of the discarded kunai, whether they were chipped or dull, they would do for now as he didn't have his own set yet. He doesn't know if he will need to kill or if he will be able to but he didn't want to take chances in case it came down to it. Continuing his walk to the edge of the training ground and to the surrounding forest, he followed the direction which he knew the deer would be, a clearing in the middle with a small lake where most of the animals would sleep and usually drink water and relax.

Getting to the edge of the clearing, Naruto keenly observed the beautiful sight around him. A couple of metres in front of him, the large lake reflected the glistening image of the full moon high above the starry night and surrounding this lake a herd of deer were gathered and what he guess, asleep. Looking carefully, he was able to identify that the baby fawns were in the middle of the group with some of the older and muscular looking deer, some with antlers, were around the edge of the herd, the protectors if anything goes wrong. Continuing along the edge of the clearing, Naruto tried to find anything interesting that could give a clue as to what has been going on. Coming across a few broken twigs and branches, Naruto decided to follow the trail until he saw some blood leading into the depth of the forest and away from the clearing with the other deer. Quickening his pace, Naruto found the source of the blood, a small fawn, who can't have been more alive than a week, was laying on the floor, with claw marks all over its body and a chunk of its neck missing. Realising he was too late, Naruto offered a small prayer before trying to find any more details on what happened. His thoughts were interrupted by a small twig breaking to his left, quickly turning around towards the sound Naruto came face to face with nothing but his heartbeat was going crazy.

'Stupid paranoia, it's a forest with deer, I shouldn't be that scared! These are only ba-' Naruto started before the voice of the Kyuubi screamed "BEHIND YOU!" jumping away and turning around, Naruto barely avoided a swipe for the back of his neck. Once he landed, Naruto's eyes widened as he came across two very bright yellow eyes.

AN: Okay, so I have no idea how Shogi actually works so I will just substitute shogi with chess but keep the name the same (sounds cooler).

Another thing, in terms of Naruto's intelligence, since he wasn't hated and dismissed, he was able to focus on things which mattered without trying to gain people's attention etc. He isn't some genius level prodigy but definitely smarter than average.

Also, should I give Naruto basically the abilities of a Nara? It wasn't my initial intention but someone brought it up that it is possible with the yin-release. Let me know what you think please.