A/N: So the next long awaited chapter. Sorry it has been taking so long, this year is kinda been hectic for me. Anyway, at the end of this chapter, I am going to post up three fanfiction plots, and I want anyone who wants to give it a shot at writing them.

Warnings: Yaoi, Yuri, Het, Violence, and etc….

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter Nine

The demon form of the shadow phoenix was beautiful. It was about as big as naruto's demon form and his feathers were a nightmarish purple, so dark it almost looked black. Shikamaru was excreting a black mist around his form, making it seem as if shadows were being created from him. It was the eyes that held Naruto's attention though. They had turned into a startling silver color, with the pupils the same purple as his feathers.

Naruto couldn't believe it, to think that all of the descendants of the great four Demon Knights are within the village. His gasp of shock didn't go unnoticed either, as Shikaku glanced at the blonde. He also to notice of the awe that the young shinobi held and couldn't help but wonder.

"What's so special about being a shadow phoenix? Actually, a better question, what is a shadow phoenix?" Shikaku asked.

Naruto didn't look away as he answered, "A shadow phoenix is what the name implies. It's a phoenix that thrives in the shadows. When people hear the word phoenix, they automatically picture a creature that dies in flames and is reborn in the ashes. But in reality the shadow phoenix is the stronger of the two. Because they are the ones that are born in the shadows, and they can thrive in the darker parts of life rather than go out in flames. Not to mention this proves the fact that he is a descendant of one of the True Demon Knights!" Naruto couldn't help but gush.

"True Demon Knights?" Shikaku repeated, but his hopeful answer never came as Shikamaru changed back into his human form which was thusly covered with a cloak. Shikaku sighed, and resigned himself to getting his answer later, before he took his son home. Along the way home he recalled the conversation with his son that happened years ago.

*Flashback*

Shikaku was sitting in the living room when he heard the front door open. He wasn't surprised to find his son walk in, but he was slightly taken back by the boy's expression. It was one of confusion, which for a Nara was a rare thing. He had decided not to pry in Shikamaru's turmoil. Rather he waited until his son came to him.

"Dad…."the boy started, "...why would someone not give their name?"

Shikaku raised an eyebrow, though his mind started racing, "Depends on who you were talking to."

"It wasn't a shinobi or spy dad, I meant about a kid my age."Shikamaru grumbled.

This had Shikaku really intrigued, as Shikamaru normally didn't involve himself with kids his age unless it was Choji. To him the others were troublesome, "Well what did they look like?"

Shikamaru seemed to hesitate before speaking, "He had blonde hair, but it was more of a golden color compared to the platinum blonde of the Yamanaka's. He was also slightly tan and had whisker marks on his cheeks, but the most noticeable aspect was his eyes. They were so blue, and…."he paused, "...they seemed pained and lonely."

This made Shikaku's eyes widened as he heard the description of the only other blonde he knew in Konohagakure. His son had met the jinchuuriki, but the boy didn't give his son his name. "What did he say when you asked for a name?" he asked.

"He just told me it wasn't a good idea to give me his name because everyone seems to run away once they learn his name." Shikamaru stated.

Shikaku wasn't surprised, because even though he held no animosity towards the child, not everyone thought well of the boy. They were too encased in their fears to see that they were only hurting an innocent child. So Shikaku just sighed before giving his son a very serious look, "Son, listen, as you grow older you will come to find out many flaws the village has, mostly the citizens of this village. One thing that they have forgotten is how to look past what they want to see. In their ignorance they are mistakenly blaming a child for events that he had no control over, and for grief he did not cause." he saw that his response only added more questions in Shikamaru's mind but held up his hand in a halting motion, "I cannot tell you what I know, because it would be considered treason, but I'll tell you this, if you want to befriend the boy, you can. In my opinion he needs more friends."

"Will you at least tell me his name?" Shikamaru huffed out, crossing his arms.

Shikaku thought about it, but smirked a bit, "I don't think so, it's not my place to tell you his name if he doesn't want you to know." Then the older Nara chuckled as his child grumbled about troublesome parents and blonds as he headed off to his room.

* Flashback End *

Shikaku paused as his thoughts began piecing together information of not only that conversation, but many others his son had started that was about the blond. With the last details of his son agreeing to unlock his demonic form and Shikamaru's pleasure from the shock that appeared on the blond's face at his statement. Shikaku came to one conclusion that made him burst out in laughter. Of all the ways to try to impress someone….

" You never could resist an enigma when you saw one, and now you met the biggest yet." Shikaku muttered, then he groaned as another thought popped into his head, "Better not let Yoshino find out about this little crush, or she'd never stop nagging Shikamaru to invite the boy to dinner…" sighing the head of the Nara clan began his way home again. He started to hurry as Shikamaru started to groan slightly. When he reached his house he quickly went and put Shikamaru in bed, despite his wife's panicked questioning as to why their son was groaning in pain. "Remember what he told us yesterday, well he made the decision to unlock the demonic blood. This is just the cost," then he remembered what was to happen, "you may want to grab a couple buckets, he'll need them." he stated simply. Shikamaru's groaning had begun to pick up, so Shikaku was sure the cleansing was about to begin. It was later that night, when his son was as pale as a ghost and was throwing up less blood, that Shikaku had allowed himself to think that life was about to get more interesting.

*With Naruto*

The blond sighed as he looked at his two companions. "So what did you guys find out about the Uchiha?" Naruto questioned.

Kiba grumbled, "So far nothing passed the fact that he is becoming obsessed with revenge, and that he thinks that anyone who is not an Uchiha is not worth his while. He thinks that because he is an Uchiha that he deserves power be handed to him on a silver platter."

Durga also spoke up, "That might be the civilian council's fault, as I went with Anko-nee earlier around the local anbu hangouts and heard them complain how they treat him like he's the only tragic case that Konoha had ever had."

"So not only do we need to take him down a peg, we also need to teach him that revenge isn't the way to go." Naruto stated as he closed his eyes, trying to think.

Kiba sighed, "So how do we need to go about this?"

"He needs to be shown that his reason to get stronger is what is causing him weakness, and the only way to start is to show him up. He'll become pissed that he isn't the strongest and come demanding that we help him become stronger." Naruto said, before opening his eyes again, "When he does we need to get it through his head that it is because we rely on others to help us, to show him our drive to protect is what makes us strong."

"So we start tomorrow, since most of it is outdoors training tomorrow." Kiba stated as he smiled slightly.

Durga sighed though, catching both males' attention, "So unfortunately for us, we'll be more focused on the Nara and Aburame. We will need to talk them into training with us so they will have help controlling their youkai and demonic forms."

Naruto made a sound at this, "That shouldn't really be a problem. They will probably take it easy tomorrow. Remember how Kiba felt after the cleansing?"

Kiba snorted a laugh, "I remember how I had almost passed out because my blood had yet to replenish itself."

Naruto smirked, "So as long as we make sure they know to take it easy, and to eat and drink lots of fluids, then we can focus on our mission." Looking at his companions, Naruto smiled when they eventually agreed. After that, they decided to go ahead and get some rest for the next day would surely be tiresome. Before Naruto went to bed, though, he went into the newly filled library and looked for a certain book. The book was about legends and their prophecies. Making a triumphant sound when he found the correct leather bound book, Naruto quickly turned to a certain page and began reading.

The True Demon Knights are hailed to be the greatest legend in history. Though it is said that their foe was not killed, and the night that they perished a prophecy was made:

"When the Blood of Four return as One,

Darkness will start to come.

Blood will spill and tears will shed,

And war will emerge by one thought dead.

Though hope is not to be lost

For those of descent fight, no matter the cost.

The raging tiger, in all her might,

For those she lost, she will fight.

The bird of shadows, his mind is his strength,

Will fight for his loved ones, even with no breaks.

The last is a very special boy,

One already destined and knows great pain.

One with blood of two and has been fate's toy.

He fights for a home he never thought he'd gain,

And will use all his power to save the family he has gained.

Naruto closed the book and could not help the blinding smile as he thought about the prophecy. Sure he did not really believe in fate, but this prophecy just brought him hope that should any great evils come for his home, with the descendents of the True Demon Knights, they could defeat them all! Done with reading, Naruto put the book up and went to bed. He had an amusing day tomorrow.

*Next Day*

Naruto took his usual seat next to the currently sleeping Nara. The a sigh the blond poke the boy in the face causing Shikamaru to scrunch up his face and open an eye. "Just wanted to let you know to take it easy today and drink a lot of fluids. Since today is a practice day you don't want to be active for too long." The boy just grunted in acknowledgement, before closing his eye and going back to sleep. Naruto looked around and could see Kiba explaining the same to Shino as well.

It was right around that time that Iruka walked in and tried to get everyone's attention. Eye twitching when he was ignored, Iruka activated his giant head jutsu and yelled, "Shut up and sit down!" Once everything was quiet he coughed and started speaking normally, "Okay, so today we will be outside. The first half of the day will be spent with weapons training, then lunch. After that, you'll have to do a routine course, and last but not least one on one sparring. Any questions, okay good. Oh, Shikamaru and Shino, I was given a note today by your parents that due to yesterday's events, you two will not be doing anything to extraneous. So you will only be doing the weapon's training, and after lunch you two will watch the others from the side and make observations on your fellow classmates." Most of the kids were now staring at them in curiosity, they were mostly civilians too. But everyone went outside when Iruka called, and so began the day of the ninjas in training.

Naruto then hand signaled the plan, first Naruto was going to beat Sasuke in the weapons training. Then during the course Kiba was to get first. Durga will win the spar against him. Despite not knowing even if she would be paired up with the Uchiha, but that did not worry them at all since they managed to talk to Iruka the day before sometime about their classes. They learned that the students more or less get to choose their sparring partners unless they were specifically having an all day sparring match. They also found out that because most of the girls try to get the Uchiha as a sparring partner, Iruka has to pick for the boy, and he normally picks any other person who is not looking for a sparring partner.

They, then, followed everyone else to the training grounds. Iruka spoke up, "Okay, when I call your name please come up to this line and throw five shuriken and kunai or senbon at the weapons. Since some of you just got here I'll explain the grading system. For each that actually hit the target you get two point, any that hit any spot that permanently injured or incapacitated gets five points, any kill spots hit gets ten points. If all of your shuriken or kunai hit kill spots an additional fifteen points will be added to your score."

Naruto just grinned at Durga and Kiba who mirrored their expression. However, they did not notice Shikamaru observing them who shivered in trepidation at their looks. Thus the first half of the day was set up. In alphabetical order each child went to test their skills with the basic shinobi tools. The three highly trained students could tell who was civilian or in a clan. Naruto was proud of the fact that Sakura was not only the only civilian to do above par, but the only girl in the class to hit a kill spot. Soon enough it was the Uchiha's turn. As he got into position Naruto paid close attention, noting the boy's stance.

"He's too tense, and too focused. His hand is steady, but his grip is too rough. It's like he is trying too hard. That is good to an extent, and now for him it shall be his downfall." Naruto noted in his thoughts. And that was when Sasuke threw his shuriken, two the body in general, two hitting damaging areas, and one hitting a kill spot. His next throw with his kunai was slightly better in the fact that he got two kill spots and the rest on damaging points. It was the best so far out of the class, which got a lot of squeals from the fangirls, and made the Uchiha smirk smugly.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka called, thus everything became silent. This also happened when Durga and Kiba came up, which wasn't as surprise since everyone was curious about the late comers. Even though he wanted to smirk so badly, Naruto let his face be impassive. He got to the line and to everyone's confusion let his hands hang by his side. Naruto closed his eyes and breathed in….and all the students snapped their heads to the target when they heard the 'thuds' of the shuriken on his exhale. Not even five seconds past when a second set of 'thuds' were heard and everyone saw the evidence. It was his kunai as well. But that was not what left everyone so silent. No what left everyone silent was the fact that out of all his throws, only two of his shuriken didn't manage to hit kill spots.

Iruka managed to shake out of his shock first, "Congratulations, Naruto, so far you have the highest grade." And Naruto took in no small amount of pleasure at the pure rage that showed on the Uchiha's face.

Laughing silently in his head, the wolf-dragon thought, "This is definitely gonna be fun."

A/N: So yeah, next chapter will start at their lunch time. Hope ya'll enjoyed and please review!