Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the Characters, except for my OCs.

New Friends, New Enemies – Chapter 1

It was a peaceful morning in Konoha. The golden rays of the rising sun slowly made their way through the streets. One by one, shopkeepers opened their stores and prepared everything for their customers. The rays then reached a run-down apartment building. They fell through a particularly dusty window and onto the sleeping face of the only occupant of the apartment. Two azure-blue eyes opened slowly and a stifled yawn was heard. Ten years old Uzumaki Naruto raised and stretched his arms.

"Damn, morning already?" He muttered. He stood up from his bed and made his way to the window. After opening it, he glanced onto the calendar on the wall and his eyes went wide. It was the tenth of October!

"Damn, it's THIS day…." He grumbled. Quickly, Naruto put his bright orange jumpsuit on; made sure his goggles were on his head and then prepared some ramen for breakfast. After he finished, he left his apartment and quickly made his way to the village gates.

Now, one could ask why Naruto was in such a hurry. Well, the tenth of October was his birthday. For most people, their birthday is a day to be happy and to celebrate. For Naruto, it is the worst day of the year. The tenth of October is also the day of the Kyuubi Festival, also known as the day of the "Blood Moon".

Ten years ago, the village of Konoha was attacked by a terrifying and enormous beast known as the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox demon, the strongest of the bijuu (Tailed Beasts). The shinobi of the village fought bravely, but no one was strong enough to match its power. Then, the Yondaime, the fourth Hokage of the Leaf, sacrificed his soul to seal the Kyuubi inside the body of an infant which was born only minutes into the attack. The infant was Naruto. The Yondaime's last wish before he died was the boy to be seen as a hero by the villagers for keeping the demon at bay. But when his predecessor, the Sandaime, the third Hokage, presented the boy to the villagers, they demanded the boy to be killed. That was the day a law was made. Everyone who knew of the Kyuubi wasn't allowed to speak of it in public or to tell their children about it. The Sandaime wanted to make sure that at least the younger generation treated Naruto as an equal. But the hate of the adults towards Naruto was projected onto the children and thus, Naruto never had anyone that cared about him, except for the Sandaime. There were already several assassination attempts made on him during his ten years of existence. Of course, Naruto knew nothing of the demon inside of him and kept wondering why the village hated him so much. Soon, he started to pull many pranks, so that they at least acknowledged his existence and he always wore a mask of happiness to cover the pain. On every tenth of October, the hate grew into epic proportions. The village would celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi and every time they saw Naruto, they would either throw what they currently held or beat him up, so he decided to spend those days in the forest outside of the village.

Soon, the gate got into view. Naruto sighed in relief; he didn't encounter any villagers on his way here. As he approached the gate, the Chuunin guards turned to him.

"Oi, Naruto," one of the guards, let's call him Katsu, called to him. "Is it this time of the year already?"

Naruto smiled half-heartedly. Katsu and his friend (Naruto couldn't remember his name) belonged to the few people in the village who didn't call him a monster.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed. "Would you open the gate, please? I want to leave before anyone shows up."

"Sure, wait a second." The nameless guard said and pulled a lever. The huge, wooden doors creaked open and Naruto darted through. Suddenly, he bumped into someone. "Gomen," he yelped and looked up to see who he bumped into. Before him stood a boy his age, his brown spiky hair was shining in the morning sun and azure blue eyes like his own looking at Naruto. He wore a white sleeveless shirt with a sky-blue dragon on it, and short black pants.

"It's alright," the boy said, smiling. Naruto jumped a bit when he felt something brush against his leg. He looked down to see two cats, one brown and one black. The brown one was brushing along his leg while the other looked at him with crimson eyes.

"Naruto," Katsu suddenly called. "Better get going, there are villagers on their way here!"

Naruto nodded. "Right!" And with this last word, he ran off.

Ryu watched the unknown boy run into the forest.

"Well, that was interesting," he said to himself, before turning to the guards.

"State your name and purpose in Konoha," one of them said.

"My name is Ryu," replied. The guard raised an eyebrow.

"And your surname?" He asked.

Damn, he completely forgot about that. Without a surname, he'd look too suspicious. As he thought of a name, he looked at the gates. A searing pain went through his head and he dropped onto his knees. The guard rushed to his side.

"Are you okay, boy?" He asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Yes," Ryu replied. "Kuroshi," he said.

"Huh?"

"That's my name, Kuroshi Ryu."

"What do you want in Konoha?" The guard asked him again.

"I want to become a shinobi of this village," Ryu replied, truthfully.

The guard looked at his friend and they nodded to each other. The guard then laid his hand on Ryu's shoulder.

"I'm gonna take you to Hokage-sama's office," he said.

"Wait," Ryu exclaimed. "Ai-chan, Tomo-chan!"

The two cats jumped into his arms and the four of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves. They reappeared in the waiting area in front of the Hokage's office. The guard stepped up to the secretary and talked silently with her. The secretary went into the office. Ryu meanwhile was lost in his thoughts.

'Kuroshi… Why did this name appear in my thoughts all of a sudden? Was it because of the sight of this village…?' He was confused, what happened at the gates?

When the secretary came back, she motioned Ryu to enter the office. Ryu entered and his view immediately fell onto the old man standing before him. He could sense that, despite his age, this man was very powerful.

"You must be Hokage-sama, am I right?"

"Yes," the man replied. "I am Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage. You wanted to talk with me?"

"Yes," Ryu said while nodding. "I want to become a shinobi of Konoha."

The Hokage looked at Ryu and began stroking his beard, closing his eyes in thought. He then looked at Ryu again and motioned to a chair in front of his desk.

"Please, sit down."

Ryu did as he was asked to. Ai and Tomo leaped onto his lap. The Hokage sat down, too.

"Tell me about you, my boy," he said.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Ryu started. "My name is Kuroshi Ryu, I'm ten years old. I and these two here," he pointed at the two cats, "have been wandering through the country for a while, looking for a place I could call home. It was during my stay in a small village when I heard some merchants talking about your village and the strong shinobi that were trained here. I also heard you had an open-door policy towards your allies and potential shinobi. I decided to come here and become a shinobi and to finally have a home."

The Hokage stared at Ryu, his eyes wide.

"Hokage-sama?" Ryu asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Did…did you just say that your surname is Kuroshi!"

"Yes, is there something wrong with the name?"

The Hokage didn't answer but took a scroll form his desk and opened it. With a serious expression, he began searching for something.

"There," he mumbled. "Ryu, what do you know of your family?"

Ryu scratched his head.

"Not much," he answered. "The only thing I know is that my surname is Kuroshi."

"I see," the Hokage said. "Kuroshi… That's the name of one of the three most powerful clans in Konoha. The Uchiha clan, the Hyuuga clan and the Kuroshi clan… The Kuroshi were considered the most respected of the three, not only because of their power, but because they were good-hearted and never looked down on the "common" people. Five years ago, the Kuroshi clan was completely wiped out by a disease. It seems you are the only Kuroshi left."

Ryu just stared at the Hokage in shock, Ai and Tomo had similar expressions. His family…dead? After all these years, he finally found a trace of them and they were dead! The Hokage looked at him sadly. "I know, this must be hard for you, but be assured, your clan made sure to leave everything they owned in your care. It was their last wish."

Ryu looked up. "Really! Could you show me? I want to learn about my clan as much as possible."

"Sure. Come to me later. I'll take you to the Kuroshi compound then."

Ryu jumped from his seat in joy, hugging Ai and Tomo, causing the Hokage to chuckle. After a while, Ryu calmed down and sat down again.

"I'm so grateful, Hokage-sama! I swear, as a shinobi, I will give everything I've got to defend this village, the home of my clan!"

"It's good to hear this, my young friend. We'll see each other later, then. Oh, I almost forgot. Take this."

The Hokage passed Ryu an envelope. Curiously, Ryu took it and opened it. Inside the envelope were several hundred ryo.

"H-Hokage-sama, I can't…" Ryu began to stutter, but the Hokage just waved with his hand.

"It's okay. You and your two friends are probably hungry, and today is a holiday. Enjoy the festival, okay?"

Ryu bowed before him.

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama. C'mon. Ai, Tomo, let's go!"

After the three of them left the office, the Hokage stood up and went to the window of his office.

'First the Uchiha clan, now the Kuroshi clan. Now, this village is home to the two last survivors of two of the most prestigious clans. What does the future hold for the village?'

While the Hokage was lost in thought, Ryu, Ai and Tomo were already walking through the village, looking at all the different games and food stands.

"Okay, first of all, let's grab something to eat, I'm starving!" Ryu exclaimed. Ai and Tomo mewed in approval, they were also hungry. As they were walking towards a booth that sold sea food, they noticed that several people were running towards a single point.

"What the hell is going on over there?"

The friends squeezed their way through the crowd until the cause for the commotion came into view. The boy Ryu met earlier the day was on the ground, a drunken villager towering over him with an insane smile on his face. Ryu's eyes went wide as the villager started beating the boy.

Naruto cursed himself in his mind. He should've known that coming back to the village during the festival was a bad idea, no matter if he was hungry. Now he could do nothing else than let this man beat him up, if he fought back, it would only get worse. He saw the man rear his fist back. Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the pain. But it didn't come. Instead, he heard the man cry out in pain. He opened his eyes and looked up at him. What he saw was something that dumbfounded him. There were two cats latched on to the man's arm, sinking their fangs into his flesh.

'Wait a minute, those cats… I've seen them before…' Naruto was confused, why did they help him? Suddenly, he heard someone whisper into his ear, "Come, let's get out of here while they distract him and the other villagers." Naruto turned around to see the boy he met earlier this day. He stood up and they ran away, but not before the boy yelled, "Ai, Tomo, come on, we're leaving!" The cats let go of the man's arm and darted after the two boys. They ran as fast as they could and were able to escape the mob. By this time, they were panting heavily.

"Thanks," Naruto said to the boy.

"No problem, I couldn't just watch, could I?", he replied, grinning.

Naruto turned to the two cats. "Thank you, too."

The cats only mewed happily. Naruto stared at them and snorted.

"Heh, for a moment I actually thought they understood what I said."

The boy chuckled, "They understood just fine, they're able to, you know. Just why did the villager attack you back there?"

"I have no idea, I wish I knew." (A/N: This is two years before the incident with Mizuki and the Scroll of Forbidden Seals, so Naruto still doesn't know about Kyuubi.)

The boy sighed. "Ah well, you're safe now, that's all that matters, right?"

"Right!" Naruto exclaimed, giving the boy a fox-grin. Just then, his stomach grumbled. He blushed a bit. The boy smiled.

"So you're hungry, too, huh? The girls and me were actually planning to get something to eat before we noticed your predicament. Come on, I'll treat you to something, what do you say?"

"RAMEN!" Naruto shouted.

"Okay, Ramen it is. Do you know a good Ramen stand?"

"Yes, follow me, I'll show you!" Naruto grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him off, Ai and Tomo following closely.

Ten minutes later, the two sat at Ichiraku Ramen. Ryu was eating a bowl of pork ramen and Ai and Tomo were eating some fish the owner, Teuchi, grilled for them while the blonde boy they saved already finished his third bowl of miso ramen. Ryu whistled at the sight.

"Damn, I've never seen someone with such an appetite before."

The boy slurped down the broth and let out a satisfied sigh. "What can I say? I like ramen!"

"I can see that,…err… What was your name? I think I didn't get it." Ryu said, nervous.

"I never told you my name," the chuckled, then held out his hand to Ryu. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of the Leaf! What's your name?"

"…Ryu…Kuroshi Ryu." Ryu reached out, too and they shook hands. "Those two," he motioned to the cats, "are Ai and Tomo. The brown one is Ai, and the black one with the crimson eyes is Tomo." They looked at Naruto and raised a paw in greeting. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the view.

"So," Ryu started, "you want to be Hokage, huh? That's a big dream you have. Why do you want to become Hokage? Is it…because of the villagers?"

Naruto's smile weakened. "Yes, I want them to acknowledge me, to respect me."

Ryu looked at Naruto and felt sad. He could feel the pain radiating from the boy. "I think you'll make it."

"Eh?" Naruto looked at Ryu, dumbfounded at his words.

"You heard right. You'll make it, Naruto. As long as you don't give up, your dream WILL come true."

Naruto smiled a true smile, something he didn't do often. Then, he looked at Ryu questioningly. "And what's your dream, Ryu?" He asked.

"Hmm… Well, first of all, I want to become a shinobi and I want to find out as much as possible about my family. They're all dead, but I still want to know about them. I want to know what they were like. After that… Maybe become your right hand when you're Hokage?" Naruto grinned at this comment and they laughed a good laugh, until they noticed a third voice join into their laughter. They turned around to see the smiling Sandaime.

"Hokage-sama/Ojii-san!" They exclaimed at the same time.

"Ryu, Naruto." The Sandaime nodded at each of them. "Ryu, it is time. Time for you to find out about your family."

"Already!" Ryu looked at the clock hanging on the wall. "I didn't notice how fast the time went by!" He took out the envelope and the money and slammed it onto the counter. "Teuchi-san, give Naruto all the ramen he wants. I think this is enough money."

Teuchi's eyes were wide open. "H-hai," he stammered. Ryu stood up, took Ai and Tomo into his arms and followed the Sandaime outside, but not before Naruto called out to him.

"Hey, Ryu. Will we meet again?"

Ryu turned around, smiling. "Of course. I don't know when or where, but we'll meet again, I promise. After all, we're friends, right?"

Naruto stared at him, shocked, then he nodded with a smile. "Right! Until then, Ryu."

Ryu nodded, too, and then he and the Sandaime left Ichiraku Ramen.

For about an hour, they walked in silence. Just then Ryu asked the Hokage, "Hokage-sama, why do the villagers hate Naruto?"

The Hokage tensed, he didn't expect Ryu to ask him that. "I…can't tell you."

"Why?" Ryu asked. "Hokage-sama, please tell me. No matter what it is, I won't hate him, too. I said that I'm his friend, even if I've just met him. What kind of friend would I be if I would let something like that change my opinion of him? I could never hate him. So please, tell me, I could feel his pain, I want to understand it!"

"Fine," the Sandaime sighed. "I'll tell you once we arrive at the Kuroshi compound." He looked into Ryu's eyes and realized the truth of his words. No matter what, he wouldn't hate Naruto. 'Amazing,' he thought. 'They only met a few hours ago and yet he sees Naruto as a friend, he's even ready to hear his darkest secret without questioning their friendship. Naruto, I'm glad you met someone like him. He'll become the light in your life of darkness.'

A few minutes later, they stood in front of a gate. On it was a symbol. Two dragons, one black, one white, were circling a yin-yang symbol.

"Is this…" Ryu started, before the Hokage interrupted him.

"Yes, the crest of the Kuroshi clan of Konoha. And this," he took out a key and gave it to Ryu, "belongs to you from now on."

Ryu stared at the key, then went to the gate. He put the key into the lock and slowly turned it around. The lock clicked and the gates groaned as they opened, and the compound came into view. The layout was simple. There was a huge building, built to house at least several hundred people. It was surrounded by a garden, filled with many different flowers and a small waterfall in the back. As Ryu took in the sight of it, the Hokage spoke up.

"The members of the Kuroshi clan wanted the compound to be built like that. They didn't like the way the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan built theirs, it was too pompous in their opinion."

"I like it," Ryu said, and made his way to the house. In the entrance hall, he turned to the Sandaime. "Alright, tell me about Naruto."

"Fine, fine. On this same day, ten years ago, this village was attacked by a powerful being, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the strongest demon in existence. The shinobi of this village fought bravely, but they were no match for the Kyuubi. My successor, the Yondaime Hokage, sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi inside of a newborn."

"Inside of Naruto." Ryu finished. "I see, so that's it. He's a reminder of the darkest hour the Leaf had to endure and of all the people that lost their lives in the fight. No wonder that the villagers hate him."

"At least I was able to prevent the same with the younger generation. I made a law that forbids anyone, who knows he truth, to speak of it. I wanted Naruto to lead a normal life."

"But it backfired, right? Even though the children don't know about Kyuubi, because their parents hate him, they hate him, too. At least to a certain extent, not as much as the adults."

"You're right. You're his first friend at his age. Well, what do you say?"

"I say, is that all! THAT'S the reason I'm supposed to hate him? I seriously don't know what the villagers think, but Naruto only harbours the demon, he ISN'T Kyuubi, end of discussion. Don't worry, his secret is safe with me."

"I see. Well, then. I suppose you want to explore your new home. I will take my leave then."

"Hokage-sama?"

"Yes?"

"I suppose I'll find training instructions somewhere in this house. I'm going to train for quite some time. Would you give me permission to become a shinobi once I'm finished?"

"You will start off as a genin, like everyone else, but yes. But I will test you personally, you won't have to take the normal exam, because you aren't an official academy student."

"Arigatou, Hokage-sama."

As soon as the Sandaime left, Ryu turned to the two cats behind him.

"Alright, you two, you can change back now."

As soon as he said that, his two companions changed shape in a flash of white light, and the two Woren were standing before him in their normal forms.

"Finally," Tomo exclaimed. "I like the cat form, but after a few hours, the shape change gets itchy."

"Same here," Ai said.

Ryu chuckled. "I know, but the people of Konoha aren't too fond of things they don't understand, as you just heard."

Tomo's face immediately saddened. "Those bastards… Had I known the reason back at the festival, I would've made sure to bite a chunk of meat out of that villager's arm."

"That would've only made it worse. They only would've blamed Naruto for it," the other Woren said, her fists balling at the thought. Ryu placed his hand on Ai's shoulder to calm her down.

"There's nothing we could do at the moment. Let's look around the house. Maybe we find some information on my clan."

His friends nodded and they made their way through the rooms. In one of the rooms, it looked like the main room, a small box with the clan's crest on it sat on a table in the middle of the room.

Ryu made his way o the box and opened it. Inside were several numbered scrolls. He took the scroll labelled '1' and opened it. His eyes went wide as he read the scroll.

'To our dear son Ryu:

It's a pity we can't see you right now because as you read these lines, we're most likely dead. You are the sole survivor of our clan. Five years ago, clansman after clansman died because of a terrible disease. We knew it was only a matter of time until the disease claimed our life, too. With the help of our most powerful seal masters we prepared a ritual to send you away, to make sure you survived. You must know, the body you are in right now, is your true body. We sent you away when you were ten years old, and made it so that you would be ten years old again once you return, to live your life from the very moment you left. We sealed your memories until that fated day in two portions. The first would be unlocked once you returned to your birthplace. The second portion, the basic knowledge of a shinobi that you had already learned, and your memories of your life, will be unlocked once you smear some of your blood onto the seal at the bottom of the scroll. We're sorry about all this, but we had no other choice. We love you, son, and no matter what choice you make for the rest of your life, remember one thing: We are proud of you.

Your loving parents,

Kuroshi Shiro and Kuroshi Hikari.'

Ryu was in tears by the end of the letter. Ai and Tomo wrapped their arms around him. They too, were silently crying. After a while Ryu calmed down and he read the next part of the scroll.

'If you still see us as your parents and yourself as a part of the clan, the other scrolls contain everything you have to know.

Scroll 2 contains information on the Bloodline Limit of the Kuroshi clan. Make good use of it. And who knows? Maybe you'll accomplish what your old man couldn't.

Your mother originally wasn't a part of the Kuroshi clan but of a different clan. The clan's name was lost over the course of time, even your mother didn't know about it anymore. Scroll 3 holds the information on her Bloodline Limit.

Scroll 4 is about the Kuroshi clan's Taijutsu style. It is not as devastating as the Gentle Fist of the Hyuuga clan, but still one of the strongest Taijutsu styles known.

Elemental jutsu and other scrolls are in the clan library. You are free to grant access to anyone you want.

One last thing: There is the statue of a dragon to the right of you. One of the scales is a secret button. If you push it, the pedestal will rise and reveal our clan's most valuable treasure.

You are now the official head of our clan, Ryu. Make sure that the village is safe and guide it and the friends you'll make on their path.'

Ryu laid the scroll sown and went to the statue he read about. He found the button and pushed it. The pedestal rose and revealed two things: A sheathed sword and another scroll. He took the scroll and opened it.

'This is the Seiryuuken, the Holy Dragon Sword. It has been in the family for generations. Legend says that it was forged by the highest of the dragons. Take the sword and unsheathe it.'

Ryu did as instructed. But once he had unsheathed the sword, he was stunned, stunned by the beauty of the blade and its length. The blade was long, very long, at least six foot, and about five inches wide. (A/N: I suck at descriptions AND the whole system with feet/inches. If you're confused, think of Sephiroth's Masamune from Final Fantasy VII.) The sheathe itself was only half as long. The handle was wrapped in blue leather and the pommel was a blue crystal. The blade shone like silver. On the base of the blade, near the silver hand guard, was the clan's crest. Still wondering about the length, Ryu turned to the scroll again.

'You're most likely wondering about the length of the blade. There's a special jutsu put on the blade that, once the sword is sheathed, the blade shrinks to half the size. Furthermore, the blade is indestructible and never dulls. Our clan never had any Kenjutsu style. Everyone who ever wielded a sword in our clan developed his own Kenjutsu. So make use of your creativity.'

Ryu sheathed Seiryuuken and turned to the girls.

"Well," he said, "seems I have a lot of work to do. Now, let's unlock my memories."

He went back to the first scroll, bit his thumb and smeared his blood over the seal. The seal glowed and in a flash, his memories returned, images flashing inside of his mind. After a while, it stopped.

"So that's my past… Okaa-san, Otou-san, I'll make you proud… Alright then, Ai, Tomo, let's go to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a loooong day for ALL of us." With this, they went into their rooms, Ryu and Ai shared one, and went to sleep.

'Yes," Ryu thought, 'and it's only the first of many days to come. I'm finally…home.'

End Chapter 1

So, this is the first chapter. The end was a bit rushed, but I couldn't think of anything better.

Ryu, Ai and Tomo met Naruto, this will be a turning point for our favourite blonde shinobi.

Ryu may have two Bloodline Limits, but he won't be all-powerful, he will be AS SIMILAR TO NARUTO AS POSSIBLE wink, more intelligent and not as loud, of course.

I hope the next chapter turns out better. Stay tuned.