Birth of a Legend

by straros

A new beginning, an earlier meeting, a new team, a new destiny as the leaf begins to burn under the eyes of the snake. A legend will be born wrapped in winds of flame, as he stands beside the shadow and the dove it will be uncovered under the fox's watch.

4. Chapter 4 Graduation of the fox part 1

Chapter 4. Graduation of the fox, the shadow, and the dove. Part 1

Last chapter

Speech

Thought

Kyuubi speak

"Ah man, there goes the bell. We better get back to class guys." Choji said.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru said while yawning.

"Oh boy, we get to go back to listen to Iruka-sensei use a sleep jutsu on the class." Naruto said sarcastically.

Hinata giggled at this. "Well let's get going, we don't want Iruka to tag more time onto you two's detentions." She replied pointing at Shikamaru and Naruto with a bit more confidence in her voice.

Shikamaru simply froze when he heard that. "Oh man, my mom's going to kill me for sleeping in class." Sighing. "It's sad really, she has my dad whipped."

"Alright everyone, take your seats so we can get back to the lesson!" Iruka yelled to the class.

The students all started walking towards there seats until everyone heard Kiba.

"Hey, new kid! What the hell do you think your doing with Hinata? She doesn't like people like you!" He yelled, pointing at Naruto who at the time was checking on Hinata's bruise to see if it was okay.

Shikamaru just groaned. "How troublesome. Naruto you can handle this on your own right?" He said while heading to his seat with Choji.

"Don't hurt him to bad Naruto." Choji said while walking away.

"So you going to explain what the hell you were doing with her punk?" Kiba asked with a snarl.

"Oh no, poor Kiba. This is going to be bad for him." Hinata thought.

"Well, Hinata got hurt when a couple of thugs decided it would be fun to push us around, so I was just making sure she was alright before she got to her seat." Naruto replied calmly, then he arched an eyebrow. "Just what does it matter to you anyway, dog breath?"

"Bastard! How dare he get Hinata-Chan hurt, I'll kill him!" Kiba thought.

Kiba then lunged at Naruto only for him to be tripped and fall forward.

"Down boy." Naruto said calmly without looking at him.

Then Kiba tried to stand up to take another swipe at him only to have Naruto sit down on his back, then prop his leg up on Akamaru who was at the time trying to sneak up on him.

"Play dead." Naruto said calmly once again.

"BASTARD!" Kiba snarled.

He then ruffled Kiba's hair. "Good boy." He said still with a straight face.

Then someone called from across the room. "Yo, Naruto! If the shinobi thing doesn't work out you could always try being a professional dog trainer." He said sarcastically, which brought laughter from the rest of the class.

Suddenly a brown haired boy wearing a trench coat and black glasses walked over to the two.

The boy simply sighed to himself. "Why is it that Kiba, no matter what happens, can't get it through his thick skull that Hinata doesn't like him that way? Oh well, might as well introduce my self." The boy thought

"I'll take him off your hands if you want?" He offered. "Oh, by the way my name is Aburame Shino." He said with a hand out stretched for a hand shake which Naruto returned, which shocked Shino, while still sitting atop of Kiba who is still snarling and foaming at the mouth in rage.

"ALL OF YOU BACK TO YOUR SEATS NOW!" Yelled a pissed off at being ignored Iruka.

So Naruto then just stood up allowing a humiliated Kiba to walk off towards his desk grumbling curses under his breath about damn blonds, this caused a book to be thrown at Kiba's head from a very irritated blond girl who promising very painful things if he didn't shut up.

"Well, thanks anyway Shino but I think Akamaru actually has Kiba trained enough to make it back to his seat on his own. Though thanks for the offer. Perhaps tomorrow you could hang out with me, Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji?"

At this Shino simply raised an eyebrow. "You don't have any problems with me being the icky bug boy?" He said with venom at the last bit.

"Hmm, nope. So you are going to meet with us?" He said cheerfully with a grin plastered on his face

Shino, to the shock of the class, actually smiled at this. "Thank you. And yes, I will be there, though we should probably head back to our seats before Iruka-sensei decides to burst a blood vessel".

At this, everyone's jaw dropped. Shino made a joke, and was talking. The only thing going through everyone's head at the moment was something along the lines of "WHAT THE HELL!"

And so they parted ways towards there respective desks while Kiba simply glared at Naruto from his seat.

"Congratulations Naruto." Shikamaru said sarcastically. "You've officially managed to make a pain of an enemy, and loyal friend in the same day. Now how do you feel?"

He simply raised an eyebrow. "Kiba, I couldn't care less about at the moment, though Shino on the other hand," He paused and shrugged. "I have no idea what's going on inside his head, so I'll just wait and see. Why, anything I should know about the two of them?"

"Not much, Kiba is your typical Inazuka. Loud, rough, and doesn't like anything he can't chew on. Oh, and he has a crush on Hinata who he believes likes him back. Shino you can't say much about because nobody really knows him. Heck, I think in the few moments you talked with him he has said more then what he has said to the entire class combined."

"Great, a loud mouth who's dense as a rock and a quiet, withdrawn kid who uses bugs as a weapon, now all we need is someone who can ride a unicycle and our little circus will be complete. Oh joy, I even have the stoic emo in the front staring at me." Naruto replied sarcastically while pointing out Sasuke.

And so class continued for the rest of the day

RING, RING, RING

When the bell rang, all the students get up and start to leave, though instead of heading for the door he goes over to see Hinata. Said girl was at the time blushing up a storm and as nervous as possible while Naruto approached. She was at the time wondering what he would do to her because she knew about him.

"Is he going to hate me for this? I know I shouldn't have been following him but I was curious why he was up there away from the festival."

"Hey Hinata." He called to her. "You want me to walk you home?" He said with a smile.

And with that Hinata simply started blushing a deeper red while trying her hardest not to faint.

"Umm, sure Naruto-Kun". She replied.

"Well let's get going then. You have a bit of explaining to do on the way there though". He said with the last bit low enough so only she could hear it.

She gulped at this while they were waling out the doors. "Ok, what do you want to talk about?" She asked nervously.

"You know exactly what I want to talk about Hinata. Like what you saw that night on the Hokage monument last year, yesterday". He said seriously.

"What I saw that night, what do you mean Naruto-kun?" She said sounding afraid.

Naruto simply sighed. "I mean, Hinata. What you saw that night that I'm hiding with this Gen-jutsu. And don't play dumb, I saw you when we were on the roof looking at the places where the differences are, so please be honest with me. I promise that no matter what you say I won't get mad at you." He asked kindly.

Hinata simply looked down ashamed at herself for thinking that he would be mad at her.

"Ok Naruto-Kun, I'll tell you." She said shyly.

"Thank you."

"It was the night of the festival and I had seen you heading up through the woods towards the Monument and I was curious, so I followed you. I remember seeing you first simply sitting on top of the head of the Fourth Hokage but I couldn't hear what you were saying. Then suddenly, you zoned out completely, just like today upstairs. When you eventually stood up, it was all quiet but then you started screaming in pain." She shuddered at this. "Then this flame seemed to consume your entire body from head to toe. This is when your screaming eventually stopped. What I saw next was you, yet you seemed stronger, that, and you had the ears, claws, and tails of a fox. Nine tails to be exact." Then she started blushing again while looking down ashamed. "And that was where I happened to faint. When I woke up though, I was in the Hokage tower with the Hokage himself, though I don't know how I got there."

Naruto just sighed. "So you saw pretty much everything then about my change right?"

"Yes, pretty much everything. Though how did you know it was me who was watching you that night." She asked.

At this Naruto smiled at her. "Who do you think it was who carried you to the tower?"

"Umm, thank you Naruto-Kun. I'm going to go now because I understand if you don't want to be with me right now." She said sadly.

Once again, Naruto sighs. "Hinata, I told you before and gave you my promise that I wouldn't be mad at you no matter what you told me." Then he looked at her curiously. "Though I am wondering what I'm going to have to do to make sure you don't tell anyone else my secret."

"How about you just answer me why you hide it, as well as why the villagers are all giving you these stares, I can even feel some killing intent aimed at you."

Then what came next is the very reason Naruto hides his form. Hinata had stars and hearts in her eyes when she looked up at him. "That and I would like to see you without the Gen-jutsu covering it up, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeee?"

"Oh god no, not a fan girl." Was all that he thought.

"HA! Life sucks for you, eh Kit? Blackmailed by a fan girl." The fox laughed.

All Naruto could do was sigh. "Alright, I'll let you see my form once again. But for the reason the villagers hate me, can you wait until I'm ready to tell you that? Because it's really personal and rooted far in my past. But when I'm ready I promise I will tell you."

"Alright, I trust you to keep your promise. Though we may want to head somewhere a bit more private for you to drop the Gen-jutsu." Hinata replied.

"You're probably right. We should disappear if I'm going to do this. Hmmm, well I know I'm definitely not allowed in the Hyuuga compound after the incident a few months ago." He said sheepishly.

"Wait that was you! Why did you do that to Daichi, he's one of the elders!" She asked sounding surprised and worried.

"Well, it looked like he was causing this one boy a lot of pain. The boy was furiously clutching his forehead, he looked to be about a year older then us at the time." He paused to think for a second. "If I remember correctly, I think his name was Neji. Besides, I only snuck into the manor while most of you were meditating, go to that elder's room, take all his clothes and strew them all over the city." Naruto replied with a grin.

"So he only did it to get back at Daichi for using the curse seal on Neji-san. Just one more reason to make sure the seal is banned as soon as possible." She thought.

"Well, we could always just head into the woods near the path to my house." She said changing the subject back.

"Alright, let's go. It's not that far anyway." Naruto replied.

The two of them (Add "had to" here and change "picked" to "pick") picked up their pace if they wanted to have Hinata arrive at her compound on time, it would be suspicious if they were late. Eventually they made it to the woods where they were forced to slow their pace a bit until they came to a clearing in the trees with a pond.

"Alright Naruto, you promised me, remember? So can I see it now?" Hinata asked expectantly.

Naruto sighed. "I'm going to regret this I just know it." He then replied. "Yes Hin, you can see my form. Just give me a moment and stand back a little bit please."

Suddenly flames burst around Naruto, completely consuming him (This is how I intend to have the Gen-jutsu drop each time simply because I don't want them to just pop into existence from nowhere). When the flames died down, he looked completely unharmed showing his true self.

The fox ears had become even more pointed then before with red fur running completely along the backs of them down into his hair. His canines had become longer and sharper, enough to easily cause a puncture wound if he bit something. The last change was his tails had easily become long enough to completely wrap around his body once.

Naruto's first reaction after his change was to look at Hinata who, at the time, was staring at him with hearts in her eyes.

"KAWAII!" She yelled while running at him.

Unfortunately for Naruto, the little yell had hurt his ears to the point where he had a hard time focusing on anything. This left him completely open to Hinata running at him and tackling him to the ground. When they stopped spinning on the ground after her tackle she simply started petting Naruto's tails gently.

"Oh boy Naruto, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" He asked himself.

"Well, it could be a lot worse, Kit. At least she is gentle about it." Kyuubi replied.

Then she started scratching the back of his ears. This sadly made Naruto purr while making Hinata giggle.

"You're purring, you know that right?" She asked

"Oh crap, am I purring? Meh, what the hell. It feels good."

"Well I guess I am. What? It felt good." He said sheepishly which caused Hinata to start giggling again.

They stayed in the clearing for another fifteen minutes with Hinata just poking away at Naruto trying to find the spots that made him purr.

"Alright Hinata-Chan, you've had your fun. Now I think I should get you home before your father sends a whole platoon out looking for you." He said.

"I called her Hinata-Chan? Where did that come from? Oh well, I hope she didn't mind." Was what Naruto thought.

Hinata, on the other hand, was blushing furiously again. "He called me Hinata-CHAN! I can't believe it, maybe he actually will like me back?"

"Hey Kyuubi, you have any idea what's going on in that head of hers right now? She keeps going all red." Naruto asked.

"He is a dense moron, isn't he?" Was all the Kyuubi could think. "You really are an idiot aren't you? She likes you, you dumb ass! From what I can tell she has liked you for a long time you moron." Kyuubi replied.

At this, Naruto almost face planted from shock at what he just heard.

"You're joking right? There is no way she would like me."

"Oblivious baka, I've noticed her following you on multiple occasions and none of them did she seem mad at you. Besides, you have met her before, if I'm right it was when you were five, and some older kids were picking on her so you stepped in and helped her."

Flashback

Naruto had been having a good day. In other words, none of the grown ups had managed to catch him so they could beat on him. Even though a kid had managed to corner him and demand some money, this turned into a fight quickly which Naruto ran from.

He was heading towards the playgrounds and noticed some kids a little bigger then him, picking on a girl. She was a dark blue haired girl, who had on a beige colored jacket, with a yellow circle, and what looked like a small flame in the middle of it. One thing Naruto noticed right away though, her eyes. Her eyes were almost a solid white, with a little color in them that Naruto couldn't tell what it was. She had on black shorts that reached just past her knees. She was crying on the ground and a little dirty after being pushed there.

Naruto had no idea what was going on, but he did know that a girl, his age, was being picked on by a couple of boys older then her. He did the only thing he could think of at the time, he ran over and punched the first boy as hard as he could in his left cheek.

Before the other boy could do anything, Naruto spun around, and punched him as hard as possible right in the nose, causing a sickening crunch sound to be heard, and blood to come out. He followed it up with a right hook into the boy's left cheek, sending him to the ground with his friend.

Both boys, stunned, looked up and saw some blonde haired boy that was younger than them, with a clenched fist standing over them. He had a very pissed off look on his face.

"What the hell do you think you are doing you little brat!" yelled the first boy. The second boy mumbled something, but his hand was covering his mouth and trying to stop his nose from bleeding at the same time.

Naruto didn't even bother responding, instead he raised his hands up, and gave them middle fingers on each hand. Seeing this, the boy who wasn't bleeding jumped up and went to punch Naruto hard on his left cheek. Naruto ducked the punch, and tackled the boy down, and commenced trading lefts and rights to the boy's face.

It wasn't long before there was a crowd of kids watching the fight.

Before Naruto could get off the kid, an adult came forward and pulled Naruto off of him. The boy had a his lips busted open, and several bruises starting to form on his face. It also looked like some time from the start and now, his nose had also been busted open, and the boy had started to cry for his mommy. Naruto spared a quick glance at his handy work, and turned to the girl who was no longer crying.

She just looked at him, surprised someone helped her, let alone a boy that was smaller then the bullies. Naruto, after wiping his hands off on his shirt, extended a hand to her to help her stand back up.

She accepted his hand, and he pulled her off the sandy ground. After standing, she dusted herself off, and looked at her rescuer. Naruto had a few red spots on him, where the one kid, the one who wanted his mommy, had got in some lucky punches. His knuckles were bleeding a little from meeting the boy's teeth. But other then that, he had no real injuries, unlike his two "punching bags".

Thank you for helping me…" was all the dark blue haired girl said before looking down at the ground.

"Hey there. I'm Uzumaki Naruto, are you ok now?"

It was then that one of the boy's mothers started cursing at Naruto. She was a pudgy and out of shape women carrying what looked like a rolling pin. She tried to catch him while shouting something about making him pay for hurting her little angel. Or some other garbage, Naruto wasn't really listening at the time.

"Well, I think I should be going now before the old hag here has a heart attack over. See ya."

And with that he ran for all he was worth from the fat lady just hoping beyond hope she won't sing for him today.

End flashback

"So in other words she sees me as her knight in shining armor?" He asked the fox.

"Yep, oh and for the record, I approve of her as a mate." He replied cheerfully.

"……..I hate you so much right now you ero-teme." Naruto replied darkly while cutting off the contact.

"Alright Hinata-Chan, can you step back a bit so I can put the Gen-jutsu back up?" He then looked at her and grinned. "Unless, of course, you want to try explaining to your family what you are doing with a half fox, half human kid?"

"Alright you win." She said while pouting.

She stood back while Naruto started doing some hand seals. He eventually finished after 10 seals, he called out "Magen: Hitoku no Homakai."

After the flames had died down, Naruto's fox features had disappeared once again.

"Umm, Hinata-Chan, I have to ask, do you like me? I mean it's okay if you don't that way, but ya, I'd like to know."

At this Hinata just starts pushing her fingers together nervously.

"DID HE JUST ASK ME IF I LIKE HIM? YES, YES, YES! I love you Naruto-Kun. Well I can't say that." Was all little Hinata could think.

Just then, a kunoichi landed right near them after jumping off a tree branch. She had brown hair that made its way to the base of her back, and she had pure red eyes. She looked at Hinata.

"Ah, there you are Hinata-Sama, your father sent me to look for you when you were late getting home." She then raised an eyebrow when she saw Naruto. "And who is your friend, Hinata?"

Before Hinata could answer, Naruto decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and just who are you to come barging in on people unannounced?" He replied, then blushed a bit at what that was implying. "Besides, we just stopped for a few minutes and were about to get going. So, I can walk her home on her own."

Suddenly, the lady grinned and looked at Hinata. "Oh, so this is the boy you mentioned, I'm glad you finally decided to talk to him, Hinata." She then turned away from the blushing Hinata and looked at Naruto who was moving to stand beside her. "My name is Yuhi Kurenai but you should call me Kurenai, I'm going to be Hinata's body guard while she is going to the academy.

"Wow Kit, I'm honestly impressed with you. The beautiful ones just keep coming out of the woodworks for you." The Kyuubi said proudly.

"AHH, damn ero-kitsune! I'm too young for those thoughts." He replied.

"I'm sorry, but it's always so fun to corrupt the young and innocent." Kyuubi said, trying to sound innocent.

"Kurenai, please don't tell my father about this." Hinata pleaded.

This simply caused Kurenai to smile. "It's okay Hinata,, I won't say anything to him. Although we may want to get going there's no telling what he will do when I don't bring you back. So say goodbye to your 'friend'. Don't worry, you will see him tomorrow." She said starting to turn away.

"Oh, now is your only chance, Hinata. Come on, you can do it. Hold it together girl, don't faint." Was what Hinata was thinking.

And so Hinata turned towards Naruto and quickly kissed him on the cheek.

"Does THAT answer your questions Kit?"

THUMP, THUMP

Just then, Kurenai had been wondering what was holding Hinata up when she had heard the sound of two heavy objects hit the ground. She turned around and noticed something that would be blackmail on the two for all eternity. On the ground were an unconscious and blushing Hinata and Naruto, both smiling from ear to ear. But the best part was that Hinata had fainted still kissing Naruto on the cheek.

"Ha, oh they are never going to live this down. Lucky me I carry a camera around to get everywhere I go in case Kakashi ever takes his mask off……Crap now I have to carry them both home. Oh well, its worth it to go and brag to Hiashi later on how I know who got Hinata's first kiss." Was what Kurenai was thinking while taking multiple pictures.

On Naruto's end, he was being laughed at by the fox who was gloating something like "I think she just answered your question." Naruto's mind though had pretty much just shut down though.

And Hinata, well Hinata was simply on cloud nine, constantly replaying what just happened. Inner Hinata, on the other hand, was congratulating herself for pulling this off.

"OK, I think that's enough pictures for now, Kurenai-San I want them to be able to look at each other during class without fainting." A voice called that made Kurenai jump.

"Oh, Iruka-San you scared me there. So what are you doing here?"

"Nothing much really, just looking for a student who decided to skip out on a detention to walk a 'friend' home."

Kurenai just laughed at that. "Good luck with that, Naruto is out like a light, I doubt a bucket of ice water could wake him up right now. I guess you will just have to wait to get him to clean up your classroom."

"Na, I just need to get him to air out the erasers." He then looked at Kurenai evilly. "Hey Kurenai, do you mind if I have a couple of copies for future use? I mean, Naruto really needs to be 'motivated' to do anything in class and I could always hold this over his head by threatening to show it to the class."

"Anything to help the next generation success in their gaining of knowledge." She said just as evilly as Iruka while handing him a photo.

"Now, I was also hoping you could tell me what's up with that gen-jutsu he hides in, it makes me nervous considering who he is." He said ominously.

"Oh it's nothing to worry about. I got to see the real Naruto before he put the jutsu back on and honestly, I understand why he does it."

"Oh really, care to enlighten me?" Iruka replied raising an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't you be a bit scared having nine fox tails as well as the ears of a fox in this village, and that's just the village. Can you imagine what would happen to the boy if the girls in his class saw him like that, it would be just as bad maybe even worse then Sasuke's fan girl problem." She said trying to sound serious but eventually broke down laughing as did Iruka.

Suddenly, they stopped when they heard a rustling and a groan towards where they left the two of them. It was an even worse scene then earlier for the two. Naruto was groggily beginning to wake up, while Hinata had moved closer to Naruto and wrapped her arms around him and had her head on his chest, still blushing.

"You know, Kurenai, maybe one more picture is in order, don't you think?" Iruka said evilly.

"Oh I do think you're right, though this one I might just show the two of them one day." Kurenai replied.

"Ow, my head hurts. What the hell happened? I feel like some super humanly strong, angry women bashed my head into the ground. And what was that click sound just now?" He asked to no one in particular

He then tried to get up but felt a weight on him. He looked down and finally noticed the indigo colored mass of hair on his chest that, as far as he could tell, was asleep.

"Well, that was a nice rest, wasn't it Kit?" Kyuubi asked only to at that same time take notice of Hinata. "Ok Kit, start explaining right now. I know human mating is strange and all, but it doesn't make sense. I mean, first of all you're eight, and second of all, she just kissed you a moment ago! I don't think you're doing it right. Then again if you want to jump right under the bed sheets, then more power to you 'cause I'm not complaining." He said curiously.

"I hate you so much for that right now, you know that right?" Naruto replied.

"Yep, and once again, I approve of your choice in a mate. She has a very nice smell to her. I always did like lavender."

"That's it! Your cage is in my mind so if you don't want a torture that even I wouldn't ever wish on someone, stop right now." Naruto said darkly.

"Oh what are you going to do to me? What are you going to go and drop a controlling wife in here for me." Kyuubi replied with mock fear.

"Ok, you asked for it and don't say I didn't give you a chance."

And what happened in that cell is something that should never be spoken of with minors present. Its safe to say though, it involved a very small Kyuubi locked in a room with MANY girls with hearts and stars in their eyes, that and the doing of many vile things to said fox by said kawaii mode girls. Thus is the birth of Kyuubi's fear of furry loving girls in general. In which cases, he would crawl into the deepest darkest corners of his cell to hide mumbling about keeping the bad women away if one is seen by Naruto. Safe to say, Naruto will never let the fox live this down.

Naruto sighed inside. "PEACE AT LAST. YAY, no more ero-kitsune and I now can finally get him to shut up when he starts acting like a pervert. Now back to the matter at hand. WHY THE HELL IS HINATA ASLEEP ON ME?"

And of course, Hinata decides to start waking up at this time looking right into Naruto's eyes. This made her blush a deeper red then she already was while it just made Naruto grin.

"Morning sunshine, sleep well?" He asked.

All Hinata could manage at this point was a simple squeak before getting up rather quickly.

Then the two very embarrassed friends noticed the snickering behind them. This turned out to simply be Kurenai and Iruka who were both trying to stifle their laughter and forming tears in their eyes from trying.

In between laughs, Iruka finally managed to get something out, "Oh boy, that might actually be worth letting Naruto out of detention. Kurenai you need to show them the photo they have to see this." He then started laughing again.

Kurenai didn't even bother trying to respond. Instead, she just reached into one of her pouches and pulls out a photo and showed it to the two of them.

It was a picture of Naruto and Hinata asleep like they were a few moments before. Hinata had her head on Naruto's chest with a smile while she wrapped her arms around the boy. Naruto was smiling just as much and had his arm across Hinata in a protective manner. Both were still blushing furiously in the picture.

To say the photo had the effect wanted would be an understatement. Naruto blanched at the picture then turned red with embarrassment and gave the picture a glare that he hoped would burn it to cinders. Hinata was no less embarrassed but instead squeaked and found the ground very interesting all of a sudden. This of course caused the two chuunin present to burst out with renewed laughter.

"All right Hinata, we have had our fun here and we really need to get going now before Hiashi decides to sent out a hunter-nin squad to look for you. Oh, and if it's any consolation to you both, you can each have a copy of that photo if you want?" Kurenai said mischievously while handing the two a copy causing them to blush again.

"Well then, I'm going to get going as well. I'll see you two tomorrow at class. And Naruto, you had better stay awake tomorrow, try not to let Shikamaru influence you that much." Iruka said before walking off.

"And now you two need to say good bye 'till tomorrow, and Hinata don't kiss him this time. I don't want to have to carry you home, or Naruto for that matter," Kurenai said causing the two to blush again.

"Bye Hinata-chan, see you tomorrow." Naruto said shyly. "And maybe after class tomorrow you want to go with me to get some ramen?"

"IS HE ASKING ME OUT! Calm down Hinata you don't want to faint again. Well he's waiting, come on, answer him." Was what Hinata was thinking.

She smiled back at him. "I'd like that very much, Naruto-kun. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

Suddenly, she sent him a look that meant only one thing, "No matter what we must burn or get our hands on those photos one way or another."

"Alright see you, come on Hinata we need to get going." Kurenai said while walking Hinata away from Naruto who just waved.

"I guess its time for me to head home as well. I've got a little time left before I start the fox's torture program. What to do, what to do, what to do." He thought to himself. "I've got it, Kyuubi said a few months ago my sword should have some abilities I might as well try to find some of them out."

"You know, that's not a bad idea Kit. I would rather know what the effects of chakra forging a weapon will be on the blade. Oh, and you say I'm evil that was just cruel." Kyuubi said still a bit shaken up from what happened earlier.

"Well, then you shouldn't try and corrupt my young and innocent mind, as you call it, not my fault though, that you didn't listen to my warning." Naruto said trying to suppress his laughter.

"I was simply trying to figure out why you were doing things in that order, besides you're too young for me to let you sleep in that kind of way with her. Oh whatever, let's get home so you can grab the sword. I want for you to have it and be at one of the more forested training areas in ten minutes tops or I increase your weights." Kyuubi replied evilly.

"You bastard, you're doing this because of what I put in your cage today aren't you?" Naruto asked.

"Nine minutes and forty seconds remaining Kit, you might want to start moving." Kyuubi said sounding bored.

And with that Naruto stopped complaining and shot off like a bullet.

Exactly nine minutes and thirty-six seconds later

"Made it!" Naruto shouted as he to the training ground panting heavily.

"Good job, now remember what we are here for. Take out the Kyuubi yaiba (Nine-tailed blade) so we can get started." Kyuubi reminded.

"Alright, alright. I'm on it."

Naruto sat down cross legged and drew the blade from the it's ornate sheath and looked at the blade itself. It was incredible. It seemed to burn with its own inner fire and it felt like a light breeze was constantly surrounding the blade. He picked it up at the handle, he realized it felt good in his hands like it was made for him perfectly, well not counting the length but he would get over that eventually. It was then he noticed that the blade almost hummed with the chakra coming from it.

"Oh, now that's interesting. If I'm right, the blade seems to have stored up every bit of chakra the two of us put in it. Better yet, the blade seemed to have adapted to it, hardening it to chakra and normal weapons. Kit, I can almost assure you it won't brake if you take care of it." The fox said sounding slightly amused.

"You're right that is interesting."

"Hold on Kit, I think you might be able to take some chakra out of it at times to replenish yourself if need be, though it will make the blade more damage prone. Though I wonder what would happen if you actually tried putting some chakra into the blade. Just your own, mind you."

"Alright, want me to take a swing at one of the trees as well?"

"Actually, yes." he replied

So Naruto stood up and held the sword in a ready stance while putting more of his chakra into the blade. It absorbed it greedily and it seemed to have an affect on the amount of wind moving about the blade. It increased in speed and it had condensed around the blade making it look even more deadly. So when he felt it was ready he moved forward and ran at the closest tree and made a diagonal slash at it, which went cleanly through it causing it to fall over. But this wasn't what really surprised Naruto, no it was the fact that the next two trees behind the first had all started to fall each with the cut in the same place and style.

"Ok Fox, what the hell happened there?" He asked sounding confused.

"Oh I am liking this blade more and more by the minute. That wind you made when you poured some of your chakra into the blade was actually launched off the blade. I'm sure if you kept up a constant stream of chakra it would continue to launch those wind blades after each swing. Think about it Kit, an enemy who sees you using a sword would think you're simply a close range fighter, only to be cut in half if you wanted by an invisible blade of wind created by your sword. Now I wonder what would happen if you happened to use my chakra?" Kyuubi mused.

"Well, only one way to find out." He thought.

Naruto once again got into a ready stance and pulled back the large amount of his own he put in earlier. He then started pushing in the Kyuubi's chakra. For some reason this calmed the raging winds around the blade and made the inner fire of the blade increase. Suddenly the blade sparked and started to warm; next came the sound of a roaring flame. He opened his eyes and looked at the sword which at the time was covered from hilt to tip in a red-blue fire. Once again, he started running at a tree and slashed at it. Instead of a straight cut like the last one the tree was set on fire and turned to ash in short order due to the intense flames.

"NOW you're not the only one liking this blade more by the minute. So we have a wind based attack when my chakra is flowing through it and a fire based one when yours is. Now what do we want to call these attacks fox?" Naruto asked.

"Makes no difference to me Kit, its all up to you. Just means, though, that as soon as you're at the right height to use that sword, I am going to add some time every night to ken-jutsu practice." Kyuubi replied.

"I've got it for the wind one. We can call it Fuuton: Taka no Mai and the fire one Katon: Ryu no Mai."He said.

"Hmm. Dance of the falcon and dance of the dragon, not bad names Kit. Anyway, put the sword away so we can head home. I want to start the training early tonight so you can sleep enough in class to be awake for your 'date' tomorrow." Kyuubi replied laughing at the way his vessel who started to blush when he heard the word date.

"It's not a date, we're just going to get something to eat after class." He defended.

"Sure, sure Kit. Its okay, I mean, it's also not like she didn't kiss you today."

"Shut up and let's go home." He said giving up.

4 years later

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY SACK OF CRAP! YOU'RE LATE, AGAIN!" Kyuubi yelled.

This caused Naruto to fall out of his bed and onto the wood floor head first. He then looked at the alarm clock he had brought with him to his new home in the mountain.

"Oh crap its 10:00! I was supposed to be at the academy two hours ago, shit, shit." He said while running around his home getting on his clothes when he suddenly stopped. "Wait a moment, when the hell have I ever cared about being late, oh well." He then started walking to an area he had walled off during his stay here. It was a hot spring area where he went to take a bath.

Naruto had moved into his home in the Hokage monument three years ago when his apartment in the town had been burned down due to another angry mob. So instead of simply asking the old man if he could have another apartment, he simply moved in full time. While he was here he had definitely made some improvements to his new home making it, well, more homely. He had first decided to put down an entire wood floor after he one day fell out of his bed face first into solid stone, needless to say, falling into wood is a lot easier on the head. What came next was getting some electricity to the cave, which the old man had happily provided a good supply of it. He had hired an electrical company to install some electrical wiring into the cave with multiple extension slots all over the cave under the pretences that we would need some access to it incase of an emergency. So he now had electricity, what came next was water, which was already there as it seemed the cave had multiple springs both hot and cold which he had enjoyed very much. And finally furniture, what surprised himself though, as well the Hokage during one of his visits, was that Naruto himself had made most of his furniture it wasn't very extravagant by any stretch but it worked. He had made himself a table, four chairs, multiple cabinets that he managed to attach to the stone walls and three dressers for all his clothes. It was safe to say he like his home.

Better yet was the privacy he got. Almost no one knew about these caves and even fewer people knew he lived here. Though even with that, he still aired on the side of caution due to how he was raised so he had gone as far as to booby trap the tunnel entrance to his house area. Not that he was worried or anything because only the Hokage, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Iruka, and Kurenai know he lived here and they wouldn't ever do something stupid like try and betray him and the village in a mad quest for power.

Finishing in the hot spring, Naruto looked at himself in the mirror and applied his gen-jutsu. He himself had changed greatly as well, he was, for one thing, no longer short. In fact, he was the second tallest in the school last year; only shorter then a kid in the who was regarded as the dead last of his year. His whisker marks had become darker and more defined making him look a bit more animalistic. He had also lost most of his baby fat, leaving a more lean and defined face. He had let his blond and red hair grow out a bit as well then tied it in a ponytail, his hair was still unruly to the extreme that even a ponytail wouldn't agree with it and managed to add its own flair to the mix. It was a like he had his hair permanently gelled back and spiked (sort of like sonic's quills but with more of them and shorter coming from the top of his head following the ponytail) leaving the front few spikes untouched and drifting across his forehead. He had filled out a bit becoming more muscular due to his usual training regime with the fox. Hell, he probably would have had his own group of fan girls if Hinata hadn't scared them off.

It had been a rumor the two had started to deal with the fan girls and boys looking for dates from the two of them, they would pretend to be dating each other. Well, Shikamaru would just say that was hiding the truth because in most of their friend's minds they were dating. The two hadn't done anything really, they were just friends at the moment. They were waiting until after the genin exam for their first real date.

After drying off, he went and got a cup of ramen and sat down at his table to enjoy the meal slowly, something Hinata had also gotten him to finally do.

Hinata had changed as well. She was no longer the shy timid girl he had first met who fainted whenever they touched. No, she had grown up to be a beautiful and strong woman, in his mind at least, which seemed to be enough for her. She no longer stuttered when she was around anyone, she was now more willing to speak her mind and voice her opinion, which usually happened to be the voice of reason when Naruto was involved. Although she couldn't get rid of all her shyness, she still blushed a lot around him and she still pushed her fingers together when she got embarrassed. Naruto still though she looked cute whenever she did that though he would never tell anyone but her that. She had also stopped wearing her bulky beige jacket much to Naruto's and almost every other boy in the classrooms, dismay. It had made looking her in the face when she talked to him very difficult and by now, he has more will power than most of the class combined due to it.

Shikamaru still was the lazy bastard he always was. Except now he was a tall lazy bastard, not quite as tall as Naruto but still a respectable height. The best bit in Naruto's case is that after getting Shikamaru to wake up at times he was probably the sharpest and most tactical mind in all of Konoha if he really put his mind to it. Better yet was that he seemed to enjoy helping Naruto with his little pranks on everyone from the classroom to jounin and ANBU level ninja. Yes, if their was anyone he would want to plan for anything on a mission, it would be Shikamaru without question.

Choji had been the one to change the most over the 4 years on a physical level. He had broken away from Akimichi tradition of eating constantly. This was mostly due to Naruto finding out about him liking Ino. Now Naruto could tell right away she was kind of shallow, but Choji saw something different in her so he asked if Naruto would be willing to help him lose some weight. And so Naruto brought Choji along for the beginning bits of his routine only doing the laps and the tai-jutsu portion. The results over the couple of months they did this were astounding to say the least. Choji had lost almost all of the old body fat he had on him and started replacing it with muscle. Now this intimidated almost anyone who happened to pick a fight with Choji now a days, but what really made people run was the war hammer he had picked up. Safe to say, anyone who did pick a fight with him and stuck around was a very stupid person.

And last, but definitely not least of his group of friends, was Shino. When he had first met the quiet boy he had been resisting a bit from talking to anyone. Now normally Naruto was fine with this, but there is a line of tolerance to how much silence there should be in a conversation and Shino kept staying on that line. So Naruto and the group had done the one thing they could, they constantly tried to get him to talk and open up to people. The results after 4 years weren't what they were expecting, Shino had opened up to them, especially Naruto, because they had grown up with similar styles of a lack of friends. So now most people were thinking the end of the world was coming because of one time, ONE TIME, when Shino made a joke in public. The result was instantaneous. Everyone on the street the street had literally stopped, not a sound, not anything, just completely stopped. Then some moron got it into his head to start spouting about how the earth was going to explode, the end of the world and other such garbage. Needless to say, Shino still hadn't lived that moment down.

He had also become very close to Iruka and Kurenai over the past 4 years at the academy. Over time they had become like family, Iruka being like an older brother/father and Kurenai an older sister. The way this happened to start was they had both, at one point, taken Naruto out to get some ramen, and lost a good portion of their paychecks in the process.

To say he was happy about how his life had changed would be an understatement. He had friends who acknowledged who he was. Though he was still killing himself over one very important fact, he had yet to tell them about what he was; fear held him back at every turn, he simply didn't want to lose them, he didn't want to go back to being alone. They were his life line to his sanity, if he didn't have the people he cared for he would have cracked long ago and probably killed himself. Well, that and the fact that if he did kill himself Hinata would probably find someway to bring me back to life then kill him again for leaving her.

"Well, I've waited long enough, might as well finish getting ready to go." He said to himself.

"You know you're going to get an earful from Iruka about this right?" Kyuubi asked.

"Ya I know, but I'm used to it by now. I'm pretty much the only person in the class who is crazy enough to piss him off." He replied.

So Naruto then stood up and started to get dressed again. He decided on a pair of black weighted pants with chain mail woven into the fabric for added durability. Next was a blood red short sleeve shirt over top of a layer of light chain mesh for more protection. Over that was a black jacket, once again with chain mail woven into it. The jacket was a long enough to cover over his arm weights as well. It also had multiple pouches for scrolls that could be released at a moments notice. He wore black shoes now instead of the sandals he used to wear. And the final piece he wore was a blood red fingerless glove on his right hand, on the back of it was a metal plate that bore the symbol of the leaf. (This is what I intend to have him wear for the rest of the story.)

Before he left through the eye/window of his house he turned and looked towards the far end of the cave. There, placed on a bracket, was his sword, the 'Kyuubi'.

"Soon it will be time to show this village what we are capable of, and when we do, we will let nothing stop our goal."

"You're talking to yourself again Kit. That's the first sign of insanity you know?" Kyuubi mentioned innocently.

"Ahh, but you love me anyway." Naruto replied sarcastically.

"Like the brother I never had." Kyuubi replied grinning in his cell.

Naruto decided then was the perfect time to get going towards the academy for his second last day there. For the Graduation exams are tomorrow as well as the next step towards his goal of being hokage.

Alright people chapter 4 is here and I hope you enjoy the story so far. This was another one of those chapters for me where I had to do everything from scratch that made me want to go over and over things many, many times.

Now if anyone has any problems with how I'm making the characters in this then drop dead and go read something else because they won't change for awhile.

Now you still have many more chapters to go before I really need bloodline ideas so keep those coming in. Also with the question I asked you guys last chapter about Haku and Zabuza, It seems that you all want Haku to survive and only a few want Zabuza to live, but really I don't need to know if you want them to come back with them just if you want them to live.

Now I'm sorry for everyone who wanted some Kiba, Sasuke, Sakura bashing in this chapter but I wanted to focus more on starting off Hinata and Naruto's relationship as well as the rest of the gangs.

Also from now on any new jutsu that I myself create during my time doing this will be posted at the bottom of the chapter explaining what they do and what the translations are for them.

Until next time fellow readers.

Jutsu list

Fuuton: Taka no Mai (wind release: dance of the falcon): Naruto charges his sword with his own wind element chakra. This causes the winds around his sword to move at incredibly high speeds, he then can use the winds as a short range projectile that is launched along the path of the blade in a wave style which can be used to cut the enemy.

Katon: Ryu no Mai (fire style: Dance of the Dragon): Naruto charges his sword with Kyuubi's fire element chakra, this causes fire to burn along the blades edge. The fire cannot be used as a projectile like the winds can but coming into contact with the blade in this stage can cause anywhere from severe burns to melting metal.

Magen: Hitoku no Homakai (Demonic illusion: concealment of the hellfire) A gen-jutsu Naruto and the Kyuubi used to cover up Naruto's more prominent fox features. The premise in the illusion itself is that it mimics perfectly the surroundings of where the fox features should be. The secondary ability is that the gen-jutsu literally erases the bodies' memory of the features under the gen-jutsu in the off chance that someone happens to touch one of them, the only exception to the gen-jutsu is if someone already has prior knowledge of the features hidden( as in Hinata's case).