A/N: Okay so here is chapter four, and I would like to say a couple things;

To jojo061: Sorry that the chapters have been so short I'll try to make them longer.

To thor94: While I'm a small fan of hakunaru, that pairing won't work in this story as Haku plays as an important figure for Naruto in the future. If you would like I could try and make a ficlet about them, but it will not happen in this story, sorry.

Last but not least I would like to thank my first reviewer Lady Arachne as she gave me an opinion on an idea I have for the story. I would also like to say that pairings have been decided as I have already been imagining some scenarios with some of the couples.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form, if I did; well I wouldn't know now would I.

Warning: This story will have a variety of pairings, meaning that there are gay, lesbian, and straight couples don't read if any make you uncomfortable.

Normal speaking

Normal thoughts

Demons speaking

Demons thoughts/instincts

Chapter 4: Journey Ahead

It was the very next day that Sarutobi and Naruto headed to the Namikaze clan compound. It was out near the edge of the village, so there were no neighbors around the house.

When they arrived at the compound Naruto gaped. This was the most beautiful house he ever saw. It was built to look very cottage-like, and was surrounded by nature. The yard looked like it was a mixture of a training ground and a hot spring as there were training post and steam was coming out of the many pounds that littered the plot of land. There were vines and flowers that were crawling up the houses stone walls giving it a natural, but aged look. All in all Naruto seemed to feel the calming aura the whole scene gave.

"This was your father's house; he put up seals that will only allow you me and two others to be able to enter the whole plot. To others, it just looks like the rest of the forest and they pass right by it." Hiruzen explained to the boy quietly. He swiftly ushered Naruto into the house and guided him to a room, before Naruto had the chance to observe the inside of the house. The room he entered was even more impressive. It was a library that was filled to the brim with books, scrolls, notes, and what looked to be family artifacts. By the dust that gathered, though, he could tell that nobody has been in here for a long time, longer than six years.

Naruto looked at the Hokage in confusion," Why is it so dusty? I mean no one's probably been here for six years, but this looks like its gather dust much longer than that."

Sarutobi sighed," After your father's parents died he never, not once, entered to take anything out. He only added to the collection. I assume that if he would have read through some of the family books he would have discovered his heritage." With that he sealed away all the artifacts, books, notes, and scrolls, not leaving even one behind. After he was done the Third turned to Naruto with a sad smile," As much as I would love to let you explore, we are on a tight schedule and don't have the time. I already came last night and sealed all the weapons and armor in the armory in a scrolls as well as priceless family artifacts. When you come back from training you will be allowed to live here. Now we must be off." Sarutobi grabbed the younger boy, who let out a squeak in surprise, and body flickered away.

When they arrived in front of the Inuzuka compound, Tsume and Kiba were already out front. They quickly greeted them before they headed over to the hokage's office. As they entered and settled down, Sarutobi summoned four anbu operatives. The first one was male, had silver gravity defying hair, and a wolf mask. The second was female with spiky purple hair and a snake mask. The one beside her was female with long purple hair and a cat mask. The last one was also female with long, mid-spiky, brown hair and had a jackal mask. Beside her sat two dogs hidden beneath black cloaks.

"These are your senseis for the next three years. While out in the open you can only call them by their respective code name, behind closed doors you are able to call them by their real names. Wolf is known as Kakashi, Snake's name is Anko, Cat's name is Yugao, and Jackal's is an Inuzuka. Her name is Atika. You two will also get anbu masks, not only to hide your faces from any enemies, but also to show you are anbu in training. Naruto do you have the scroll with your mother's anbu mask?" getting a nod Hiruzen smiled," You can use hers then, go ahead and unseal it."

Looking at the hokage in confusion, Naruto took out the scroll and looked at it. He opened the scroll and gasped as there was a poof then the mask appeared in his hands. It was beautiful, a dragon mask that was completely red with purple symbols decorating it. It was so different from the normal white masks with red symbols. "Why is it different from the others?" He asked lightly.

The hokage chuckled," When she came to Konoha, she had that with her, said that it was her fathers. She said that she was from the main branch of the family and each branch had a mask that represented that branch and it would be passed down to the next child. When her father found her, he gave that to her and told her to run. The night before the attack, she knew something was wrong and gave them to me to give to you, whenever you were ready." Sarutobi smiled lightly with tears in his eyes as an awe look overcame Naruto's face. " On that note I decided to pick out Kiba's and have it colored as well, it seems to give them a bit of life don't you say?" He chuckled pulling out a hyena mask that was completely red with orange markings on it. Kiba gasped a little with an excited look and, with surprising gentleness, took the mask from the hokage, and then smiled brightly at his mother. "Now to get the council off my backs I told them that for the next three years I have decided to train some of the children at an earlier age to create a new force in our anbu force. To them I've started up a rank called the B-anbu, or otherwise known as Baby Anbu, also can be called BA. To the council it is a test trial to see if the survival rate of this year's genin will go up if at least two to three were trained to be anbu. That way I can say that the children's name can't be disclosed to anyone else besides the parents or me. Now you two have an hour and a half to do whatever you wish before you are to leave the village. So take this time to say goodbye to any friends, family, or to explore the village one last time. Dismissed!" With that, Sarutobi went back to the hokage's worst enemy, paperwork.

Naruto decided to go take a walk through the park, it was late enough in the evening that it was empty, but early enough that it wasn't dark yet. He was walking aimlessly through when he heard a strange noise. Following the noise, he came to one of the fake, mini, rock climbing walls. Quietly he made his way around the corner and what he saw surprised him. It was a girl around his age, and she was crying. She had pink hair and was probably about three inches taller than him. Slowly he came up behind her and called out," Are you okay?"

The girl gasped and turned quickly, her lush green eyes widening when she saw Naruto, tear still running down her face in cascades. "W-who a-ar-are you?" she asked defensively. Her body tense, like she was ready to run.

Naruto gave her a sad smile," Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I just heard you cry and wanted to know if you were alright, I can't stand to see people sad or hurt." He said, avoiding the question about his name. The girl eyed him wearily before her lip started trembling again and she started to sob. Rushing to the girl's side he hovered over her not sure how to comfort her," H-hey, what's wrong, don't cry!"

The pink headed girl was crying so much she had to gasp for air," Th-the other k-kids don't want t-to play w-with me. Th-they say my hair is weird a-and that I had a-a b-big ugly f-forehead. I-I don't h-have any f-friends."

Naruto looked at the girl sadly before determination shone in his eyes," Hey, don't listen to jerks like that. You are not ugly, and your forehead isn't big. You're actually really pretty, besides, if they don't want to be your friend, well then I will!" Now the girl was staring at him in amazement," Just wondering what do you want to do when you get older?" he asked her suddenly.

Confused she told him," Um, I want to be a kunoichi, though my parents are very much against it. I just want to do something that I want to do and I want to protect my loved ones. Like my aunt, but she died a year ago in battle and ever since my parents are reluctant to let me go." She said with a sad note in her tone.

"Well good for you for following your own way. Take my advice and don't ever let anybody else meld you into something you don't want to be. I'm gunna be a shinobi too! My dream is to be hokage. So I'll see you again in three years." Naruto said enthusiastically.

Her eyes widened," Why in three years, why not tomorrow?" she sounded panicked.

Naruto sighed," I'm not well liked by the village, and if I were to train here then I would probably get into trouble by most of the villagers. So I have to go out of the village to train. Don't worry I'll be back to enter into the academy, and I would love to be your friend," he hurried when the panic in her eyes grew," but if I plan to gain respect, I have to get strong." Then he thought," She probably won't make it if she is a civilian, what to do, what to do?" That was when a light bulb turned on inside his brain," Hey you're from a civilian family, right?" the girl nodded, blushing slightly," I know civilians have a lower chance of graduating than clan shinobi or children with some sort of ninja in the family. So here's what you do, I'm on really good terms with the hokage," He started digging through his pockets pulling out a coupon for a free bowl of ramen," tell him a blond boy asked me to ask you to get you a trainer, one of the jounins or an anbu, to start training you early. If you really want to become a kunoichi, then I'm giving you an opening here to start getting stronger, but you have to want this. You have to put your all into it and want nothing else."

There girl looked at Naruto tears gathering in her eyes, which made him eternally panic, before rushing in and giving him a bear hug. Not knowing how to respond, Naruto just awkwardly rested his hands on her back. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she repeated in a rush.

Naruto smiled at the girl as she calmed down some," Well, I have to go I'm leaving in an hour and I have things I need to do, so see ya, ah…"

The girl giggled," My name is Sakura Haruno."

Naruto smiled again," Bye Sakura-chan!" then he started to walk away.

Sakura started to walk off as well when she thought of something," Hey, I never did get your…" she turned around but he was gone from her sight,"…name." Sighing sadly, she looked down at the coupon that was in her hand. Remembering their conversation, her eyes hardened with determination as she headed towards the hokage's tower. With this course of action Naruto was never going to know for the next three years how much of an inspiration he was going to be for the girl.

After Naruto left the park he headed over to one of the only restaurants that would serve him. Ichiraku Ramen was the only place that served him and didn't overprice the food, as such; Naruto is a loyal customer and would be sad that he won't be able to eat their ramen for three years. Entering the shop, he smiled at Ayame, the daughter of the cook, and sat on one of the stools at the bar. He scrunched up his face in contemplation, and grinned when he was ready to order.

"Okay Ayame-chan, I won't be back for a couple years, I'm going to explore the other nations, so I want three bowls of pork ramen, three bowls of miso ramen, and two bowls of shrimp ramen. Just put it on the tab jiji made for me!" He exclaimed with exuberance.

Ayame looked shocked, but took the order to her dad, and told him the news. She came back and smiled at him before going around and handing him a book," Here Naruto-chan, even if you can't eat ours, you can still make your own. I hope you find whatever you're looking for." She said with misty eyes before she pulled him into a hug. Shocked that he got another hug from someone, he hugged her back before smiling softly at her when she pulled back. She went back and picked up two bowls and carried it over to the blond boy," Also there are a couple pages blank for you to start making recipes, if you decide to. It was going to be a gift for Christmas, but since you're leaving, I guess now is a good time as any."

Naruto, feeling so much happiness, he couldn't contain the tears that started to roll down his cheeks like a waterfall. Sniffling, he wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt and started to dig into his meal. After eating and saying hearty goodbyes, Naruto left and saw that he had about twenty minutes before they had to meet and it took fifteen minutes to walk over to the location from his position. He made his way over to the gate and got lost in his thoughts while staring at the sky. It wasn't even five minutes later that he felt a since of déjà vu as he was suddenly knocked off his feet and landed on his back. Groaning as he looked over to see who he knocked into, he groaned again at seeing the familiar short ponytail and the lazy face.

"We have got to stop meeting like this!" He grumbled a bit, getting more annoyed by the amused look on the other boy's face.

Shikamaru chuckled," Then maybe you should watch where you're going." He stood and helped Naruto to his feet, though the boy reluctantly allowed the help.

Naruto frowned and growled out," Maybe you should watch where you're going, cause I don't see how anyone wants to purposely run into anyone. If you were paying attention, then you would have noticed me and might have moved." Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and pouted at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru just chuckled with a mumbled," Troublesome," and looked up the sky," Touché. Anyway I have to get home, or my mother will nag at me, so see ya later whiskers." He said, walking away, leaving a very confused Naruto behind. Naruto just shrugged and went on his way. When he arrived at the gate, the hokage, Tsume, Kiba, and the anbu were all there. As he walked up they nodded to him.

Sarutobi looked at them and instructed them to put their mask on, and as they did Naruto heard the voice of Kyuubi," Kit, listen, tell the old man that when we find out a way to figure out if any of the other clan children have demon blood, we will inform him and send him instructions to the process of how to unlock their demon blood." Naruto mentally nodded and turned to the hokage.

"Hokage-sama, my roommate has informed me that when we figure out a way to tell if someone has demon blood we will explain how, so you can test any other child, and we will send you instructions on how to unlock it." Naruto told the hokage, before listening to some more information from the fox," Also, he says that for them to survive the process its best if they are in the age range of seven to sixteen, any younger or older would kill them instantly." He finished after a little bit.

Sarutobi blinked and nodded after a moment," Alright then," he turned to Tsume," I suppose you told Kiba the truth about why I chose him to accompany Naruto this journey?" After he got a nod he turned to the boy," Listen Kiba, I don't know if you want to unlock your demon powers, but do not think that if you say no that they will send you back, they said they will only unlock it with your consent, and if you say no then that is fine, you will still be trained with Naruto. So don't be pressured into anything, okay," The old man sighed and turned to the anbu," as for you, train them to the best of your abilities, and raise them well, I'm counting on you to bring them back as strong shinobi."

The anbu bowed and Tsume walked up to her son with her hands behind her back, actually she had them behind her back the whole time." Listen squirt," she said to her son," now you're on your way to become a shinobi, I think it's time for you to be given your very own partner in crime and on the battle field." With that she removed her hands from behind her back and was shown hold a small puppy that was completely white besides two black-grayish patches of fur on his ears.

You could hear the excitement in the boys voice even if you couldn't see his face," Oh yea, thank you mom!" he said while gently taking the pup from his mothers hands. Looking down at the pup he smile softly and spoke aloud," I think that your name will be Akamaru, yea! Together, we'll be the greatest team!"

"Hokage-sama, it is time for us to leave, otherwise we might be unfortunately held up." Wolf exclaimed lightly. Getting a nod from the hokage Wolf picked up Naruto, while Jackal picked up Kiba and Akamaru, and they sped off and out of sight. The two remaining ninjas shared a secret smile, leaving thinking of how this village will reap what they sow, and they were waiting for when the storm will hit. For this is the calm before the storm.

++++Time Skip++++

It has been about two weeks worth of speed traveling before the anbu believed that they were in safe enough, in fact they were in a whole other nation. This one had a forest, but it was more of a jungle, and the children were told that it was a more reclusive nation that didn't have a name.

"Do they have a hidden village, like we do?" Kiba wondered out loud. He looked awed at the colorful flowers, big leaves, and tall trees. He turned his attention back to the anbu when Cat started talking.

"No one really knows, this area is pretty off the grid, but since it doesn't get involved with us or the others, we just leave the place alone. Sure we've had to pass through here a couple of times, but we try not to cause trouble here in case there is a hidden village here." Cat explained. They fell into silence after that. It wasn't a while later before Kakashi told everyone to stop and set up camp.

"To be certain that we are keeping our skills top notch, it would be wise to stop here for a week or two to start your training. Training in different environments helps with becoming adaptable with any battle field. So you're never at the disadvantage of not knowing how to work with your provided landscape." The man explained when questioned. He made sure to look them both in the eyes when he said," I was told to train you to my very best, and I will. Not only because of my duty to the hokage, but as my duty as a shinobi and a promise to a friend."

It wasn't the very next day that they were starting training. It was muscle gaining training, and they were to gain strength, speed, and also learning school related things such as math, reading, and science. Each morning the children would wake up with the sun and fall asleep right after dinner. Four days of this and Kakashi gave them a break on the fifth day.

"Resting is also an important part of training," was all that the silver headed man would say when asked why. Naruto and Kiba smiled and just ran off into the jungle, but not too far, and entered a small clearing with a streaming river nearby and a huge, but smooth, rock that sat directly in the sun light. They decided to sun bathe and just climbed on top of the rock, backing in the warmth of the sun. Naruto pulled out a book that was on fuinjutsu while Kiba just slowly fell asleep with Akamaru.

They were out there for a couple of hours, Naruto was just beginning to get to the chapter about the simplest formulas for fuinjutsu, when he felt a chill go down the back of his neck. Looking around wearily Naruto turned and gently woke up Kiba," Hey, Kiba, wake up."

Kiba groggily sat up," Hmm, what's up?" Little by little he started to wake up and he noticed the tense look.

"I think it's time to head back, I believe that the predators are watching us and are waiting for the dark to try and get a midnight snack." Naruto said in an even tone, though Kiba could tell that there was a hidden meaning. Somebody was watching them, and they didn't have good intention. Nodding his head, Naruto and Kiba calmly got up and started walking towards to the campsite while being on guard.

"So, how long before we make it to camp?" Kiba said looking at the greenery. How far away is help? That was the real message sent.

Naruto grimaced as he noticed the distance" It'll take a little while."Too far! Naruto cursed under his breath and stopped stiff when he heard footsteps and a sardonic chuckle from behind.

The voice came again not a minute later," Looks like we have two little stowaways, Kimuri."

Another voice laughed," Yes, but these little ones aren't from the Babar clan, so they are of no use to us." The one known as Kimuri was suddenly in front of them. He was tall, and stocky, with a shaved head and grey eyes. His most noticeable feature had to be the tattoo of a bleeding tiger on his exposed arm. "What should we do with them then, Tai?" The man asked with a wicked grin.

Another man, who wasn't as tall, but just as stocky, walked into Naruto's view and he knelt down by Naruto roughly grabbing and pulling his head to face the man. Naruto noticed the man had the same tattoo as the other man, but it was on his chest. "This one is a looker; maybe we should put them in the slave ring. They both would go for some pretty good money, or maybe we should keep them as our own. I wouldn't mind some pretty thing like this keeping my bed warm."

The other man contemplated, but neither knew of what Naruto was planning to do. He was just thankful that he always kept a weapon on him. Stealthily, he pulled out a pocket knife and looked at Kiba, who was white as a sheet, trying to give him comfort. Timing it right, Naruto suddenly twisted his body and stabbed the man next to him in the gut, who cried out in pain, and yelled at Kiba to run. He started running right after him, but knew that if he didn't do something quick, they would both be caught. So he told Kiba to head for camp and don't look back, while Naruto thought of a plan. He listened to the heavy footsteps behind him and when the man was about catch him, he made a sharp turn. Taking an unknown path, Naruto started to follow a raving river and just kept running. The criminal on his tail, Naruto sped up a little and notices that with horror that a waterfall was up ahead. When he got to the edge he contemplated the survival rate of jumping off a waterfall. Just when he was about to jump a angry voice shouted," I got you cornered now you little rat!" Tai exclaimed.

Naruto gulped and closed his eyes waiting for pain when he saw the man running at him with a dagger in hand. He waited a couple minutes, but nothing came. Opening his eyes, Naruto gasped at what he saw. In front of him was a tiger, in a protective stance and glaring at the man who was now frozen in place by fear. The tiger slowly stalked the man, and jumped when the person went to stab the tiger. Tai didn't even last a minute, before he was taken down, dead to the world.

The tiger turned looked at Naruto in a calculated fashion, if that was even possible. It started to walk away only to pause and look back at Naruto. "So you want me to follow you!" Naruto thought in awe as he unconsciously started to follow the tiger. Only a few minutes later and Naruto could hear the frantic calls of his companions. He honestly would have ran to them, but it was then that the adrenaline in his system crashed and he stumbled falling over. The tiger saw this and went over to the child, picking him up by the back of his shirt with his fangs, and put him on its back before heading towards the voices of the worried.

When Kakashi saw the tiger he put his guard up, slowly pulling out a kunai, when he noticed who was on its back. The tiger gently picked the boy back up and set him down if front of the older man, before backing up, and disappearing.

In shock Kakashi went to Naruto, checked over him, and sighed in relief as he saw no physical damage on the boy. He picked the boy up bridal style and rushed off to the campsite. Once he got there, the others looked up worriedly when they noticed the unconscious boy. "He is okay, but exhausted, so I advise that we let him rest. Now explained what happened Kiba."

"Well we went down to the clearing we held training and decided to sunbathe for a while. It wasn't until an hour or so later that Naruto woke me up from a nap explaining that we were being watched. So we tried to get over here to warn ya'll, but they got to us first. They said that we weren't from some sort of clan, but that w-we would b-be g-g-good to k-keep their b-b-beds w-warm. The-then N-naruto pulled out a pocket knife stabbing the closest one, and told me to run here. I guess he led the other one away while I went to get help." Kiba whimpered as his lip started to tremble a little. Yugao, without thought, pulled him in a hug.

They had then discussed what they were going to do, and started getting ready to sleep, when the same tiger from earlier calmly walked out. The whole area tensed up, but the tiger paid no attention to it. In fact the tiger did something strange, it just stood there staring for a few minutes, before it turned into a human!

The man was medium height and chocolate dark skin, with blue hair. His eyes were the color of lava. Looking to Kakashi the man only said one word," Follow." Before he turned into a tiger again and started to walk away. Wearily Kakashi led the others following the stranger with a still unconscious Naruto in his arms. As they traveled deeper into the forest, Kakashi started to notice a tall form in the distance. On a closer inspection he found out that it was a temple made out of stone! The man/tiger led them towards the temple and once they were inside they saw an old man sitting in a throne at the back of the temple.

The old man frowned a little seeing them, but said nothing as the man/tiger herded them in front of him. The tiger changed back into a man kneeling in front of the old man. "Chu-sama, the outsiders were attacked by those blasted bounty hunters and fur trappers. I would have not stepped in, but the cubs were in danger, though they were putting up a good fight. The blond one killed one and diverted the others attention onto him so his friend could go get help. Had it not been for them being in unknown territory, they would have saved the boy." The bluette explained.

The one known as Chu grumbled a bit, but nodded then turned his attention at the confused group. "I apologize that our…problems caused you trouble. I did not know that ninja would be staying in my forest and especially with young ones." His graveled voice called out.

Kakashi and the other anbu nodded each with their anbu masks on, even Kiba's was on and Kakashi hid Naruto's face. He spoke up after a minute," We apologizing for trespassing I guess. We are ordered by our hokage to train these two outside the village. We came this way to lead any who wanted to harm them off our trail to where we are actually headed."

The old man hmmed and looked at the children with a confused look. "Why do you all have masks on?" he asked. Kiba giggled a little, thinking about Chu's accent.

This time it was Anko who spoke, "It shows that we are some of the elite in our village. We are anbu, and as such have many enemies. This only ensures that our enemies can't see our face to place us. As for the young ones that is just to make sure they are safer to an extent as well."

Chu nodded and thought for a moment before turning to the other man," Gram, please get one of the guest rooms ready." He then turned back to the others," As a formal apology, I ask that you stay here for the remainders of you visit here. At least for the cubs. We can go and retrieve your things as you rest." Kakashi looked at the others before nodding in agreement. They were all led deeper into the temple staring in awe at the numinous feeling the whole construction gave. Never in any of their lives had they seen such exquisite beauty. It didn't take long for the leading man to stop in front of grand doors and turn around. He spoke calmly," This will be you room; there is a bathroom as well. I'm guessing it would be correct to say that you wouldn't want to be separated, and lastly, meals are served at sunup, midday, and sundown." With that, he just walked away from the group. The snaked masked female walked up and pushed the doors open. They all gasped at the splendor the room held. Bright colors and shiny gold filled the eye and the giant bed look plush and soft and could probably hold twenty people comfortably.

Kakashi sighed and told everyone," Let's get some rest, it has been a long day." And they all crawled into the bed and fell asleep instantly not noticing a curious pair of lava colored eyes.

A/N: Yay, so it was probably a bad way to end a chapter but this has been going on for so long. I hope you all enjoy