Pre-word: Hello, hello!

As I kind of thought, some of the choices I made in the last chapter received somewhat mixed reception, haha. I won't defend myself too much in these Author's notes, but if you end up sticking with this, hopefully the content of the story will bring you around. If not, nothing much I can do about such things. I'm just gonna keep trying to make the best content I can, which isn't going to please everyone and is going to be far from perfect.

So to everyone willing to continue giving me the benefit of the doubt, I do hope I don't let you down.


Heart Under Shadow

Strength and Weakness


Naruto felt like he was at full power now.

After sleeping through all of the last class, he was finally well rested enough to face whatever challenges the rest of the day might bring. Just in time too, as the next class was going to be individual sparring matches.

The whole class had been guided out from the building and into a wide courtyard in the back. The entire way, however, it felt like something was different. Naruto couldn't say exactly what it was but… it was like everyone was looking at him.

The truth be told, for a long time now he usually felt some kind of gaze was on him here in the academy. However, that gaze was always gentle, almost nervous even. This wasn't like that. It was strong, emitting some kind of challenging pressure. Which was fine by him, if someone wanted to go, he would take them on anytime.

"Alright everyone, line up." Mizuki commanded, the class doing as he said and falling into place at the edge of the courtyard. Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru ended up at the far end, the three of them slightly separated from the rest of the class by a small gap in the line. As with most things concerning those three, but Mizuki didn't pay it much mind. He held up a clipboard, the list of matches for the day already decided and written on it.

"Haruno Sakura and Hyuga Hinata, come forward." He read aloud the first match. Sakura clicked her teeth, stalking forward with hard steps and her pink hair waving violently behind her. Naruto didn't know what happened while he was asleep, but something had put her in a bad mood it would seem. Not that they talked much anyways, but he was going to be extra careful around her the rest of the day he decided.

As the other girl came forward from further down the line, Naruto was suddenly reminded about why he felt Kaguya's eyes were so familiar to him. "Oh yeah… Hinata has the Byakugan, huh?" He asked aloud, not speaking to anyone in particular.

In general, he actually forgot about Hinata's existence whenever she wasn't in line of sight. He didn't feel like anyone could blame him as the girl literally had no presence. Despite the fact that she was actually kind of like himself, Shikamaru and Sakura. In that she was another one that didn't seem to have any friends in class, that is. However, unlike the unsociables it was more because of her status as the heiress to Konoha's strongest clan, The Hyuga. So even if the end result was the same, the conditions were different. Which is why she wasn't categorized as one of them.

Naruto supposed he didn't hate Hinata, even if she was kind of dark, gloomy, and weird. She was another one that never really bullied him, but instead actually seemed terrified by his presence. Although now he kind of had an idea for why that might be. So getting along with her was out of the question.

"Huh?" Despite having not been talking to anyone earlier, Shikamaru responded to his rhetorical question. "Of course she has the Byakugan. She's been in our class for years now, you should know that. Seriously, are you smart now or are you still stupid? Make up your mind, it's annoying."

"The Hell? You wanna fight?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes as he glared at Shikamaru. In the first place, Naruto didn't understand what he was mad about, but that was the most he had ever heard him speak in a single breath before now.

"Just forget it." There was the Shikamaru he usually knew. Although Naruto still didn't get it, he was kind of relieved to see he was still the same as always. With whatever it seemed like temporarily resolved, he turned his attention forward and back to the two girls standing on the field.

"Ready?" Mizuki asked as the girls took their places only several meters apart while facing one another. Without words they both nodded, lifting their hands and holding two fingers in front of them as a sign of the Seal of Confrontation. "Shinobi Kumite: Start!" The two girls were off like a flash, their forearms collided as they closed the distance between one another.

As their match began, Naruto felt a tiny hand pulling at the bottom of his pant leg for attention. "Thou shall listen to us without speaking." Kaguya spoke from within his shadow for only him to hear. "We desire information from the young man to thy right. He is from the Nara clan if we recall?"

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, catching himself at only the last second and nodding instead. No one else appeared to be paying attention to him right now, their eyes all glued to the match. He also didn't feel any of those gazes from earlier. Not the timid one or the challenging stare either.

"We have heard rumors about the Nara clan and their ability to manipulate shadows." Kaguya started to explain, but even with just that, Naruto had a pretty good idea where this was going. "If thou could get him to explain their technique, or even just demonstrate it, we would be in thy favor." So it came to that after all.

He shrugged, hoping that was somehow enough to convey his intention. Kaguya didn't know Shikamaru like Naruto did, but there was almost no way he was going to tell just him about his clan's secrets. Asking him to perform the Jutsu was even more impossible. Not because he would be afraid of Naruto somehow stealing the Jutsu. They both knew that was impossible, after all. It was just that it would be too troublesome and Shikamaru wasn't about to do anything that required effort. So he had no idea how she wanted him to get Shikamaru's cooperation.

"Do not fret." Kaguya seemed to already have something in mind for that too. "Thou might not realize it, but if it comes to a trade of information, then thou already possesses something he too desires."

Naruto had no idea what she meant by that, but he was starting to get used to it by this point. The important thing was, all he had to do was just ask, right? From there everything was supposed to somehow work itself out.

"Hey, Shikamaru…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, not sure how to go about asking someone for a favor. Normally he would fall back to his typical false bravado, just shouting his way through it all but, he got the feeling that wasn't going to work.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, turning away from the fight. Unlike the rest of the class, he really had no interest in who was better than who. It wasn't like he would ever win any of his sparring bouts either, making him kind of like Naruto in that regard.

"I was just wondering if you would show me that shadow thing you do during your match?" Naruto asked, catching Shikamaru off guard. His mouth gaped open as he became unsure how to answer. In the first place, he had never used the Jutsu while at the Academy. That's because it was a clan secret technique, he wasn't just supposed to show it off.

What's more, it was a pain in the ass. He would have to actually put in effort during his fight to use the Jutsu, let along catch someone in it. Naruto surely knew that… but in the first place, how did he even know about the Jutsu? Certainly it wasn't unusual for a fellow Ninja clan of Konoha to know about the infamous Nara clan and their Kageshibari. For Naruto to know about it, however, was something he would have thought impossible.

No, in the past that might have been true. After that little stunt in front of the Hokage, however, it was certainly possible that this current Naruto would know about that. Even if he knew about it though, why would he suddenly have an interest in seeing it? Even thinking about the why and the how was a pain in the ass, so Shikamaru made up his mind to at least prioritize the how for now.

"Tell you what." He said slipping his hands in his pockets, eyes studying Naruto for some kind of reaction, no matter how small. "I'll show you the Kagemane no Jutsu, if you can tell me when you suddenly became so knowledgeable about Konoha history."

From within Naruto's shadow, Kaguya gave a victorious smirk. It was exactly as she had planned. Naruto up until this point knew nothing about history. No, he still didn't really know anything. During his little speech earlier, he had just been reciting the words as she fed them to him. As predicted, but this caused quite the stir among his classmates who couldn't comprehend what had happened.

Even the normally nihilistic Nara Shikamaru couldn't ignore this incredible gap in supposed intelligence. Naturally, he would want to know what the cause of it was. So much so, he would have no choice but to agree to a simple exchange of information. With this, Kaguya's primary objective was almost complete. If she was lucky, her secondary objective might also be achievable.

"Tell him about that man that gave thou those gloves." Kaguya instructed from the shadow. "Just giving the name shall be fine." In response to this, Naruto turned slightly around, glancing down at his shadow as he gave her a dissatisfied look. She wished he wouldn't be so obvious about how he communicated with her, but it probably wasn't enough to risk exposing them. After all, her existence was outside the realm of normal considerability.

"Have you ever heard of some guy called Kakashi?" Naruto asked, turning away from his shadow and back to Shikamaru. As Kaguya had hoped, a small light of recognition dawned in the Nara boy's eyes.

"Oi, Oi! You can't possibly mean that Hatake Kakashi?" Shikamaru responded to Naruto's question with one of his own, eyes darting to the gloves too big for Naruto's hands. "As in, the famous Copy Ninja that stole over a thousand Jutsu? My dad talks about the guy like he's a modern legend. Is that what's going on? He's been the one teaching you all this stuff?"

With that, Kaguya's second objective was complete. Shikamaru didn't even know it, but he just gave her the information she needed. Instead of a proper give and take, she had Naruto tell a simple lie and Shikamaru incorrectly filled in the blanks all by himself. In doing so, he inadvertently told Kaguya about the identity of the mysterious man that had helped them out the night before.

Kaguya's knowledge was vast, but it wasn't all encompassing. In particular, her shadow had spent the large majority of its time manipulating the reincarnations of Indra and Asura. So while she had a vast knowledge of the Senju and Uchiha clans, along with much of what they influenced, she lacked much of any real information outside of that. In particular, the less important individuals of more modern history were especially difficult for her to get information on.

Once her shadow had lost its sense of existence and merged with Naruto, she too lost her primary way to gather information on the outside world. The only path left for her was to pay attention in Naruto's place as he usually slept through history classes. Even that didn't give her much. For example, she learned of the Nara clan and their abilities through this method, but it lacked any of the real details she needed to make use of it.

Now that might finally change as she had a way to ask a member of the Nara clan directly. This kid was going to be surprisingly beneficial for her. Giving both information about his own clan and the individual known as Hatake Kakashi, all the while thinking he had discovered some great mystery himself. This was why she liked the smart ones, as they were the easiest to deceive.

"Winner: Hyuga Hinata!" Mizuki called out, signaling the end of the match and turning all their attention back to the two girls that had just been fighting. Like with Naruto, Sakura rarely won any of her sparring matches. She may have been the best in academics, but she was near the bottom when it came to actual physical ability.

Of course, it was only natural she would lose against someone with the same Byakugan eyes that Kaguya herself had. Although if she was being honest, she was disappointed if this was all the current heiress to the Hyuga clan was capable of. Even against a weaker opponent like Sakura, she had struggled to bring the match to a swift and easy conclusion.

Instead, she gasped for breath as she reached over to her downed opponent, offering the Seal of Reconciliation. Sakura accepted it, the two wrapping their index and middle fingers around one another and drawing the match to an official close. As the two began to step off the courtyard, Mizuki looked down once more at his clipboard.

"The next match is Nara Shikamaru and Uchiha Sasuke." He looked back purposefully at the former. "Double time it, Nara. I don't want to wait all day for you. We got other matches to get through."

"You better uphold your end now." Naruto said at the same time, glancing at Shikamaru as he started to stalk forward.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled tiredly, although it was unsure which one of them he was actually responding to. Kaguya had no worry he would protect his promise, however. Honor was still an important trait, even in the modern era.

For most anyways, although the same might not be able to be said about the Uchiha clan. Uchiha Sasuke was the last surviving member of the clan in the village. The clan of Madara, who helped create Konohagakure, was reduced to just him after his brother slaughtered all the rest of them. Ironically, it would have been the same night that Kaguya's imperfect resurrection had been completed.

Yet the coincidences didn't end there. No, Kaguya suspected something on this scale couldn't be contributed to mere coincidence. The same night that Indra's most recent reincarnation lost everything, Asura's reincarnation became Kaguya's vessel. It was as if something much larger was at work, manipulating those two beyond even the shadows.

Kaguya didn't like it. As Uchiha Sasuke, Indra's reincarnation, took the field opposite Nara Shikamaru, she studied him with her Byakugan. Even now she could clearly see that ugly chakra clinging to him. As Uchiha Sasuke's hate grew, desire for the revenge of his clan pushed him further and further into that dark chakra, making them practically one and the same. As he was, he would only become more of a danger to her existence. Sooner rather than later, she would also have to deal with him.

For now, however, she was far more interested in studying the shadow manipulation techniques of the Nara clan. Perhaps in that, she could find some kind of hint towards her freedom. If not, at the very least a way to make things easier for herself and Naruto. Although she was starting to wonder if Shikamaru was really going to even try.

"What a pain…" Shikamaru groaned, looking up at the clouds. Why did it have to be Sasuke of everyone that he had to fight? The top fighter, even above Kiba and his animalistic fighting style, Sasuke had never once lost in a fight. Ordinarily that wasn't a big deal. Since Shikamaru would just let the match end in the first couple moves. It wasn't like he even had to try as he wasn't expected to win anyways.

Except now he had to show his jutsu to Naruto, dammit. Why did he agree to this in the first place? The information hadn't even been worth it. The truth was far more boring than what he or anyone else had been imagining.

When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

So while it certainly seemed crazy that the famous Hatake Kakashi had started mentoring Naruto, it was far more believable than anything else that could possibly explain it. If anything, it was more incredible Naruto had managed to cram all that information in his head in such a short period of time. Shikamaru felt stupid for having been surprised by it now. What's more that he had to keep his word because of that blunder.

"Ready?" Mizuki asked of them. Sasuke had already held his fingers up in the Seal of Confrontation, eyes bearing into Shikamaru with the intent to kill. It would have been unnerving but Shikamaru could tell it wasn't really him that he was looking at. Sasuke was seeing some ghost of his past. That was what he really wanted to kill. Not seeing much choice, Shikamaru also held his fingers up, indicating he was ready to begin at any moment.

"Shinobi Kumite: Start!" The match began with Sasuke taking off at Shikamaru in a dead sprint. It wasn't ideal for Shikamaru, but he had at least predicted it would start off this way.

Sasuke always won because he was brutal and effective, looking to settle every match in as few moves as possible. Shikamaru was also known for having his matches settled quickly, but in reverse. For him, it was how many moves did he have to put forward before he could convincingly throw the fight. Everyone knew this.

So it was that common knowledge he was going to take advantage of. He had already molded the necessary chakra, all he needed to do was drop into stance and form the hand signs. He had only two seconds to do this before Sasuke reached him. It wasn't a lot by any means, but it was enough.

Sasuke stopped short of Shikamaru, fist centimeters from having drilled into his face. "You bastard…" He hadn't stopped short of his own will, of course. It would be more accurate to say he had been forced to stop. The moment he had entered the range of Shikamaru's shadow.

"Kagemane no Jutsu: Complete!" Shikamaru grinned, rising from the crouch he had dropped into while casting the Jutsu. Exactly as he planned, but Sasuke hadn't even been worried about dodging it. Even if he knew what he was running into it, he wouldn't have tried, because it was obviously a bluff; or so he believed. After all, Shikamaru wasn't about to try in a fight. It was that belief that allowed him to be caught.

"What are you playing at?" Sasuke sneered, the venomous look in his eyes growing deeper and more resentful with every passing second. Shikamaru just ignored him with a click of the teeth, turning to face the line of other students.

Not without struggle, because as he did, Sasuke was involuntarily forced into doing the same along with him, mimicking each and every one of Shikamaru's movements. Of course, Sasuke was going to resist being forced to move against his will and so was fighting with every ounce of strength he had. This made Shikamaru's own movements stilted and awkward. It was also draining his chakra fast. He had probably another minute before he would be forced into cancelling it.

"Hey, Naruto! This is enough, right?" Shikamaru called, he and Sasuke raising a hand over their head and waving in the blond's direction. Once again, every single eye of the class was turned to look at him. Naruto didn't seem to mind though, ignoring them all as he answered Shikamaru with a huge grin and a thumbs up.

"What are you doing, Shikamaru, you jerk!" One of the girl's yelled out. It was immediately followed by a chorus of agreements and booing from the majority of the other women in the class. To them, seeing their beloved Sasuke humiliated like this was too much, mistaking Shikamaru and Naruto's interaction for some planned prank on the most popular boy among the girls.

"I knew this was going to be a pain." Shikamaru sighed as he undid the Jutsu. His shadow hadn't even completely retreated back to its normal form yet before Sasuke was on him. "Oi!" Shikamaru shouted too late, his cheek smashed into the dirt. Sasuke pressed his foot down on Shikamaru's back, holding both his wrists behind him in either hand.

"Apologize." Sasuke whispered darkly, pushing down on Shikamaru's back and pulling at his wrists to emphasize what would happen if he didn't. "I won't ask twice." The terrible look in his eye told Shikamaru he was serious too. All that hatred that had been aimed somewhere else before was coming to bear, right down on him.

"Hehe, my bad. Sorry." Shikamaru couldn't bring himself to sound sincere anyways, finding the angrier Sasuke became, the more nihilistic about it he actually felt. "Also, I'd like to give up now if that's alright." He glanced over at their teacher who had frozen in place, staring at the two of them with no idea what to do.

"Uh… right." Mizuki said lamely, his voice lacking any authority at all. "The winner of the match is Uchiha Sasuke." A chorus of cheers from the majority of the girls immediately followed the announcement. Sasuke didn't even look like he heard them.

Despite claiming the victory, the Uchiha survivor seemed far from pleased with the results. Regardless, he dropped Shikamaru's wrists and pulled his foot from his back as he turned to walk away. "Finally, that's over." Shikamaru grumbled, picking himself up to turn around and offer the Seal of Reconciliation. Only Sasuke apparently had no plans to return the gesture, stalking back over to his place in line as the girls continued to shower him in praises.

If it had been anyone else, Mizuki would have been yelling at them to properly protect the village's tradition. As with always, but the Uchiha heir was given a free pass. Not that Shikamaru cared, as he didn't want to reconcile with that jerk anyways. Picking himself up, he returned to his spot in the line.

Sakura was one of the only two girls that hadn't cheered for Sasuke, but she looked far from approving of what Shikamaru had done during the match. Not that he cared what some goody-two-shoes thought about him, far more interested in what Naruto had to say as he took his place between the two. "Well?" He asked the blond, who nodded at him in gratitude.

"Yep, it seems like that was enough. Thanks!" Naruto giggled, holding both hands behind his head. But Shikamaru wasn't nearly as happy about the results as Naruto seemed to be. What the heck did he mean by that? He was the one who asked, dammit. So why was he answering like it was none of his concern? Shikamaru wanted to ask, but he had gotten far too involved already and look where that got him. From here on it was just in his best interest to drop it, he decided.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba!" There was no more time to talk anyways, Naruto's turn having come. Of course, it didn't seem to be a coincidence that all three of the unsociables were called to fight first and against the top combatants in the class no less.

Naruto didn't care about such things, of course. All there was to do was what he always did: Give it his all and hope for the best. It didn't matter who his opponent was. In fact, for him the stronger the better. That way when he finally came out on top he would be able to show them all. It was their mistake to underestimate him.

"We do not desire to remind thou, but do not use thy Rinnegan. No matter what." Kaguya called out to him from within his moving shadow.

"I got it already." Naruto mumbled under his breath, having gotten far enough away from everyone to be able to talk back at least a little. He stopped in the middle of the courtyard just as Inuzuka Kiba stopped opposite of him. His opponent gave a feral grin, no doubt predicting an easy match.

"You're not going to be able to fake your way out of this one, loser." Kiba said, raising a hand to form the Seal of Confrontation. Although his words were already confrontational enough. "I don't know what kind of trick you used to sound so smart during history, but don't get cocky. I'll remind you of your place in just a second."

"Bring it on!" Naruto retorted, returning the Seal of Confrontation.

Mizuki raised his hand to start the fight. Just before he could do that, Kaguya once again spoke, "Listen to us. Relax thy muscles and no matter what happens, do not move." She said. Naruto didn't get a chance to ask what she meant, having time to do not much more than decide in that instant to trust her.

"Shinobi Kumite: Start!" Mizuki dropped his hand and the fight began.

Kiba dropped to all fours and dashed forward, his movements more like a beast than any man. It was this fighting style that made him the top in the class, only Sasuke able to overcome this unique and vicious style of combat. It went without saying, but Naruto had never been able to overcome it himself.

Until now that is.

Kiba lunged at Naruto like a leaping canine, both hands swiping at him not as fists, but sharp claws. With such an aggressive assault, it was no wonder no one could stand up to him. Even veteran Genin might feel pressured under such an attack.

Yet Naruto did not retreat, nor did he attempt to retaliate. He did as Kaguya said and remained completely still in the face of this pressure, trusting the word of the girl in his shadow. And she did not let him down, because despite not having any will to move, his body began to on its own.

Naruto's arms came up, catching Kiba's twin slashing strikes by the wrist. "Wha-!?" Kiba didn't have time to question what happened, Naruto taking advantage of his surprise to swing his head forward. The top of his forehead smashed into Kiba's nose, sending the beastly boy stumbling back.

It didn't end there, Naruto dropping low and swinging his leg around in a sweeping kick that caught Kiba in the side of the legs, knocking his balance out from under him. Kiba was sent sprawling to the ground on his back, letting out a cough as the wind was knocked from him.

A second later Naruto was on top, one hand gripping him by the throat, the other coming down on top of him, the fist stopping just short of smashing his face in. All movement stopped there, and Naruto felt some control return to his body.

"As we believe the Nara brat said earlier, Kagemane no Jutsu: Complete." Kaguya's voice was smug, filled with satisfaction at having finally regained some control of her freedom. "Well, it is only natural that we would be able to use this Jutsu. It would appear it is a type of Yin chakra manipulation and we are the progenitor of all chakra, after all. Still, be glad thy opponent was some barely trained brat. This type of imperfect control would not cut it against a superior foe. However, this Jutsu will have other uses that we desire. Having confirmed we can use it will benefit us both."

Kaguya was able to slowly explain this at her leisure, because for the second time that day everyone was completely silent. Once again caught off guard by Naruto's unnatural display of talent. No one could say anything in the face of what happened, even Naruto himself was still surprised.

The one thing he did understand was that Kaguya didn't appear capable of just taking control of his body whenever she wanted. In the first place, she had needed him to relax his muscles so she could manipulate him as freely as she just had. If he attempted to supersede control back from her, he would probably win that battle. It was the same way Shikamaru's movements had been dull earlier, Sasuke struggling against having his shadow moved against his will. In other words, control over his body was safely in his hands still.

As the reality of that settled in, his lips parted in a victorious grin. He could feel Kiba's labored breathing between the fingers that held his throat. Blood oozed out of a broken nose and silent tears ran down his eyes, making him unable to even see the dominant position Naruto looked down at him from.

He slowly looked up, taking in the shocked gazes of every student. He met their wide-eyed stares with a fierce glare of his own as if to tell them all that from now on things were different. He wasn't the dead-last anymore. No longer was he just some worthless existence that they could all look down on. He had real power now. Even without using the Rinnegan, he could learn to fight like this. Kaguya could control his shadow if he let her, so she could teach him.

"This is good enough, ain't it Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked, looking last at his teacher. The Chunin that was supposed to be the one helping him all this time. Everyone else had their families to help them, but before now the only one Naruto could rely on was Mizuki. Yet he had never been there for him when he needed it. He preferred to just watch him as he failed and laugh about it afterwards.

Well, Naruto was the one laughing now. He finally had someone he could rely on. Someone that would help make him powerful, more powerful than everyone else in class. Even stronger than Sasuke. Naruto had finally found his path.

Mizuki blinked at Naruto as if finally aware of what had just happened. His eyes trailed down, looking at Kiba who was still trapped and bleeding beneath Naruto's grip. Then they trailed back up to the smiling blond.

There wasn't just shock anymore, but fear. As if he just realized he had awoken the sleeping fox. With no other choice, he held out a hand and said the words Naruto had been waiting all these years to finally hear.

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"


Chapter End


Post-word: Alright, so this was a another fast update.

I just want to offer my thanks again to everyone that favorites/follows/reviews. All the support for this idea has really been what enabled me to continue pumping out such quick content. Also, all the free time I've had lately, haha. In particular to the reviews, I'm very grateful to everyone that leaves them, no matter how critical. I like to think of this idea in particular as a communal experience, as I'm able to respond to your compliments, ideas, and criticisms while I plot the course ahead. Of course, I ultimately have to do what is best for the characters and themes laid out already, but just know I'm listening to and considering every review.

See you next time!