Darkness.

Everywhere he looked,

There was no buildings,

No stores,

No villagers,

Nothing

But

Darkness.

There were no city walls,

No friends to visit,

No family's to laugh with.

There

Was

Nothing.

Nothing but a single small flicker.

Far in the Distance.

He could not distinguish what the flicker was,

But all he knew,

Is that it was his,

And only his.

The Flicker gave him strength where he was weak,

Gave him vision where he was blind,

Gave him happiness where he was sad,

Gave him friends where he was alone.

And now,

All he had to do,

Was simply,

Return the favor,

And save his flicker of Hope.

He opened his eyes,

Clenched his flame-engulfed fist,

Tensed his fiery chest.

Widened his red-hot stance,

And prepared to protect the flicker of hope behind him.

Phoenix

By 105

Naruto groaned as he stretched. Today is his first day of the Academy, the Konohagakure ninja training. It was more like a giant test to see if you could actually handle being a ninja, which is why you are only taught the basics. Naruto had turned 10 one week ago on the Kyuubi Festival, the same as his sisters. The triplets were now being sent off to the Academy along with the other clan heirs. Naruto wasn't particularly happy, he had been training with Kodachi since he was six, and at this point he was at least a Chunin. He could be higher but Kodachi made sure he understood everything down to the smallest detail and feeling. He said this would help Naruto control the flames. Naruto didn't care. Every second he spent with Kodachi was the best in his day.

Sighing heavily, Naruto got up and casually put on his outfit. He wore black shinobi sandals, black baggy pants, a tight black shirt, with simple black finger-less gloves. He wore full-sets of black because of the stealth needed to be a ninja. Though, when he mastered the powers given to him by his favorite person ever, Kodachi, he won't need stealth unless he's fighting another Phoenix. Hell, according to Kodachi even a Juvenile Phoenix could hold it's own against a Bijuu anywhere from 1 Tail through 4 Tails. Though, Kodachi said that if they encountered the 1 Tails, he'd go berserk on the Bijuu and it's Jinchuriki. You see, Kodachi's mate had just birthed their little Phoenix in their nest, and Shukaku came out of nowhere raging because insanity. It's as simple as that, no super-long rivalry, no nothing. Shukaku just killed Kodachi's mate and his little Phoenix. Of course however, Kodachi fucked him up. Big time. Half of the desert was glass until Shukaku willed it to turn back to sand. Kodachi would make sure he finished the job the next time he saw Shukaku.

Naruto finally decided that he got off track, and left his house through his window. Lately, Naruto took every opportunity he could to avoid his family. Naruto knew that Anko Mitarashi had told Minato, simply due to the fact that he had Anbu following him everywhere he went about two days after the Anko incident. Naruto didn't care. He knew that the Anbu would never find anything related to the fire. Plus, Naruto trained with the fire in his mindscape anyway.

Hokage's Office.

Minato sighed as he read through yet another report on his son. He could be using this time to be with his beloved daughters, but instead he had to read about his boring son. Minato cared about Naruto, but was overall un-interested in Naruto. At this point, after 4 years of finding nothing about the strange white fire Anko told him that Naruto possessed, he felt like Anko was lying to him. Sure they found evidence that there was strong fire in the forest, but that could be a strange mutation of the animals in the forest anyway. Though, he couldn't believe that the pariah girl would lie to him. He and Kushina did remove her curse seal and made her at least likeable around the village. But it all didn't make sense to him. If his son possessed such a powerful asset and power, why wouldn't he talk to Minato and Kushina to see if he could get training to use said power? Wouldn't the boy look up to Minato and wish to be like him? Moreover, wouldn't he like to be powerful like his sisters?

Academy.

Naruto had taken the seat to the far back, near the window. He looked around the room. He found his sisters, Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akamachi. The rest of the seats were filled with civilian children. Their teacher was Iruka Umino, a simple Chunin. He also had an assistant, Mizuki. Naruto could sense evil in the man, and could also sense the hate he held towards his sisters. This was due to Kodachi's experience in battle and reading a person. Naruto made a very small, unnoticeable flame behind Mizuki and using that, he could see the cursed seal on the man shoulder. Naruto could do anything with flame that he could do with his body. Kodachi could do more, but Naruto was only training with his flames for 2 years. The highest thing he could do was make a flame clone. It was weaker than a shadow clone currently, but it was still solid.

Naruto narrowed his eyes dangerously. This could be a test of his skills. Plus, this man was working with Orochimaru, a man Naruto personally vowed to end due to his life.

Later.

Naruto had lost the Anbu with simple genjutsus and flame clones, and now he was dragging an unconscious Mizuki to the outskirts of Konoha's forests. After tying the silver-haired man up, he slapped him like a bitch. "OW! What the fuck!" Mizuki growled, before realizing he couldn't rub his cheek. Looking down in confusion, he realized he was tied up. Looking up in preparation to look at his surroundings and attempt to assess the situation, he saw the Namikaze brat. The boy. Mizuki growled angrily. "What the hell brat! Let me go!" Mizuki yelled defiantly, struggling around and attempting to rip the robes with his teeth. Naruto nearly smacked his forehead in exasperation at the stupidity of the silver-haired man.

Mizuki was about to yell at Naruto again, before he received a slap across the face. "Shut the hell up. God, your giving me a fucking headache." Naruto told Mizuki, caressing his temples to ease the growing pain in his head. "Now, here's how this is gonna work. You give me the information I need, and you feel no pain. You resist and, well, you'll end up with 3rd degree burns." Naruto spoke, eyes growing cold as he stared into the silver-haired man's eyes. "Bull shit you little brat!" Mizuki yelled defiantly. Naruto was worried, surely if Mizuki made more noise the ninja would find him. Naruto growled, gritting his teeth, before a small orange fire enveloped his hand. Naruto drew back his hand, formed a fist, and punched Mizuki in the gut. The flame, while small and still only having the heat of a campfire, burned through Mizuki's chunin jacket and his shirt, singing Mizuki's skin.

Mizuki spit out some blood, coughing a little. "You think that'll get me to talk you little brat? FUCK OFF!" Mizuki yelled loudly at Naruto. Naruto's eye twitched. The fire darkened into a deep red, before becoming a light blue. Naruto punched the same place, harder. It completely burned Mizuki's skin and slightly burned through his flesh. The wound was already cauterized due to the heat of Naruto's flame. Mizuki went to scream, until he noticed that there was now tape across his mouth. "I'll keep doing this until you give me information…" Naruto spoke, before a blue flame encased his other hand. He began punching Mizuki in the stomach multiple times. Bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam bam. Mizuki was screaming loudly underneath the tape. Luckily for Mizuki, fire had caught onto the ropes and began to burn them off.

Naruto stopped, ceased the fire on both his arms and the rope, before ripping the tape off. Mizuki's mid-section was smoking and now had no skin left. His flesh was melted and drooping downwards slightly. Bone was visible and Mizuki barely moved when he breathed. "Now, why the hell do you have a cursed seal?" Mizuki's eyes widened comically after those words left Naruto's mouth. Somebody knew that Orochimaru gave him a cursed seal? Not even his beloved Tsubaki knew that! Mizuki grit his teeth in anger, his rage over-powering the pain in his abdomen. "How do you know I have that?..." Mizuki growled out angrily.

Naruto smirked. He knew that the mention of Mizuki's cursed seal would anger him, but he had used the time in class to use his flame to inspect the seal. Even though he could barely decipher what it did, Koachi could. You see, when you are an infinitely powerful and timeless creature, you just observe and learn to pass the time. And that's exactly how Kodachi became a seal master. One at the top hierarchy of the Uzumaki seal masters. And since all Uzumaki seal masters are dead, and don't count Kushina because she only knows one of the Uzumaki master seals, Kodachi is the best seal master around the world. (I just added a small amount of Kushina bashing in there. I love her as a character and would enjoy reading a Naruto X Kushina,(Though barely any are out there) but for the sake of this story she isn't a top tier Uzumaki Seal Master)

The seal was composed of a storage seal, a crude disguise seal, an entry seal, a conversion seal, and finally a release seal. The storage seal held DNA of an animal of some sort, the disguise seal was meant to make the cursed seal look more complex than it actually was, the entry seal was made to force nature chakra into the seal, and the release seal forced all of that into the bearer. Once Kodachi explained this to Naruto, he understood. This wasn't like the normal cursed seal that forced the bearer to want to go to Orochimaru, it was a simple power booster.

"My flames noticed it. Now, tell me where the hell you got that seal. Otherwise," Naruto held his hand up as the blue fire returned, except this time it grew lighter and brighter before turning a brilliant white. Naruto used his other hand to forcefully move Mizuki's head to look at a tree, only for the tree to begin melting when Naruto's hand neared it. Mizuki's eyes widened in fear. It would only take one punch from that fiery hand to kill him.

"Now you get it. So as long as you answer my questions, you won't be on the other end of this fist. So, first question, where and how did you get that cursed seal?" Naruto demanded. Mizuki stared at the fire, before looking to the melted and drooping tree, before looking back at Naruto. "Orochimaru gave it to me." He said in a clear voice. "And what did he want in return?" Mizuki looked at the cold blue eyes and the boy, and shivered in fear from the KI that resided in the depths of those eyes. "T-The Forb-biden scroll." Mizuki answered, stuttering. "Good boy. Now, here's what's gonna happen. I'm going to turn you in, and you will not tell anyone what happened here. You will tell the investigator and Ibiki exactly what you told me about Orochimaru and the cursed seal, but you will not tell them about me. Do you understand?" Naruto spoke in a deep, slow, menacing voice. Mizuki rapidly nodded his head.

"Good. But, just to make sure you don't say anything, I'm going to give you a taste of what will happen if you do." Naruto spoke in a low tone, eyes hardening as he lit his right hand ablaze with the white flame.

"NO, no, no,no, ngngh! MMMM! MNGHHH! MMMMGGGHHHH!" Mizuki's screams continued even after Naruto covered his mouth. Naruto didn't even feel any flesh or anything on his right hand as it slowly sunk into Mizuki's left calf, traveling up from the toes to the knee. Naruto had nothing on his mind right now. It was his subconscious protecting him. If it didn't Naruto's mind would falter slightly. Even though this was not his first kill, (No he hasn't killed before, but Mizuki will not die.) it still bothered Naruto when he felt the squirming of Mizuki and heard his muffled cries of pain into the quit night.

A certain Inu-masked ANBU thought he heard something, but shook it off as being tired.

Hokage's office. The Next Morning.

Minato walked into his office, surprised to find a tied up and unconscious Mizuki in front of his desk. Said silver-haired chunin was also missing his left calf. There was also an envelope tucked in-between the ropes. Minato rushed over to the silver-haired chunin, extremely worried. First he checked the wound, surprised to find it cauterized, rather cleanly too. He was also surprised to find that there wasn't a drop of blood anywhere. Shaking his head, he grabbed the envelope and opened it. There was only one sentence.

"Check his left shoulder."

Did you like it? Sorry it took so long. Been going through a lot of shit lately. Don't worry I'm fine.

Anyway, the pairing has been decided. Most people sent me a PM to give me their vote. Anyway, the pairing is a harem with the Ice Queens. Now, some people also didn't want Naruto to be with people twice his age, so if anyone has a solution to this problem please PM me.