Sasuke Uchiha sighed, and took a deep breath. He could do this. He could do this. There was nothing an Uchiha was scared of. His pride would not allow him to be otherwise. This was a test, he was sure of it. If he could face what lay beyond this door, he was sure he would be able to face anything. He loathed to do it, just as he did every day, but he had to. There was no choice.

He opened the door to the classroom.

"SASUKE-KUN, WE MISSED YOU!"

Sasuke Uchiha closed the door, and heard a very loud thump as the to-be-glompers slammed into it. No. Freakin'. Chance. He was not going to surround himself with imbeciles, when his time could be better spent perfecting what he had learned over the break. Not a single one of them was worth his time.

"Heeey, Teme, what's up?" Sasuke glanced up. It was Naruto, coming for another day at the academy-ironically, the least worthless person he could think of; two and a half months ago, Sasuke would've rather taken his chances with the fangirls than put up with the hyperactive orange dolt.

"Morning, Dobe." Sasuke was very careful to keep the venom out of his voice. It wasn't Naruto he was angry at, after all.

Naruto held his hands out to the side, grinning broadly. "Well?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow inquisitively, the rest of his face remaining static. What was so special about him today?

Naruto gestured to himself. "It's a new jumpsuit!" He sounded proud. Sasuke didn't know why. That was Naruto, always getting overexcited at the meanest of things, for the most idiotic reasons.

For example, the one time Sasuke had accompanied him on a stealth mission that the Kyuubi had assigned (it was more or less just a prank), Naruto was perfectly hidden within a pile of logs; Sasuke wouldn't have known he was there if he wasn't hidden alongside the Uzumaki. Then when the target, a chuunin, had tripped over the ninja wire Sasuke had set up in the training ground and landed face-first in a pile of... gifts from the Inuzuka clan, the idiot had jumped up and proclaimed his victory, which led to an hour-long chase; the chuunin was actually an ok tracker. And Naruto evaded him for the most part, along with Sasuke. Sasuke escaped while Naruto was caught only because Naruto had stopped to declare his victory once again, even though they hadn't shaken the tracker yet. It was... Interesting to see someone who took every small victory as a grand achievement.

Secretly, Sasuke took relief in Naruto's declarations. Sasuke's goal was big: take down THAT man, who was essentially a middle-S rank missing jounin, maybe an upper-S rank, if he had gotten better since that night. And when you never set any small milestones, you forget just how close or far you are from your goal. Naruto provided miniature victories, albeit far too common, that let Sasuke know that he was indeed making progress as opposed to stagnating.

Sasuke shifted his weight and crossed his arms. As if he would ever admit that out loud. "It looks exactly the same as the one you had before," he said in a deadpan.

Naruto huffed. "Well, mister stick-up-my-butt, sorry for trying to give the greatest colour ever its due!"

Naruto reached for the door handle, and Sasuke's eyes widened and he outstretched a hand. "No, Naruto, wait!"

Sasuke was too late; Naruto opened the door. "SASUKE-KUN!"

Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to the side instinctively, allowing the mob of fangirls to latch on to their favourite idol. "I get to touch his hair!" "I'm holding his hand!" "I can smell him!" "Squeeee!"

Sasuke's eyes were the only visible part of his body, and they latched onto Naruto with a mixture of boredom and rage (Sasuke can mix boredom with ANY emotion, simply because he is Sasuke).

Naruto was backing slowly into the classroom, hands held in front of him non-threateningly and a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry, Sasuke, forgot about them."

It was at times like this that Sasuke remembered why he hated everything about Naruto.

Fortunately for Naruto, Sasuke didn't get to act on his emotions, because Sasuke was interrupted by someone else: "Alright everyone, MOVE IT! Sasuke-kun is MINE!" It was the blond banshee.

The pile of fangirl suddenly dispersed, leaving a slightly disheveled Sasuke standing there as if nothing had happened. Sasuke would normally be ticked off at having to put up with -it-, but in three, two, one...

"What are you doing, Ino-pig?!"

Sasuke took the opportunity to slip away into the classroom, shut the door, and sat next to a blond that was whistling inconspicuously. The sounds of the two banshees screeching at each other could be heads clearly, even through the closed door. After a moment of silence, Sasuke said, "I hate your guts."

Naruto grinned. "What, is being popular too tough for the eternal avenger?" Sasuke glared, and Naruto put a finger to his chin, looking up. "Come to think of it, who exactly to do want to get revenge on? I get you need to avenge your family, but by doing what?"

Sasuke tightened his throat. That question was a little too personal. "I need to kill someone."

"The guy who killed your family?" Sasuke shot Naruto a death glare.

"...Yes."

Naruto frowned. The way Sasuke was framing the issue; he was after an S-rank jounin. And he wasn't even out of the academy. Naruto was worried for Sasuke's wellbeing, but... What should he do?

"Burn everyone you meet to the ground, eventually you'll get lucky and kill the right one."

Naruto ignored the demon, which had been increasingly vocal about it's desire for blood. That didn't mean it stopped teaching him anything useful, but it was a little antsy to get out of the academy and start wreaking havoc, as was part of the deal for Naruto's training to begin with. But back to the brooding Uchiha. "Sasuke..." He said. "If you need any help... I don't think this is something you should do alone."

Sasuke flicked his eyes over. At that moment, the rest of the students were filing in. "I appreciate your concern." Although that statement was true, that didn't mean he was going to accept help. Naruto was a tool to get stronger. A useful one, maybe, and one that he didn't think he'd ever discard, but a tool nonetheless. And he was a tool that had no place in a fight between Uchiha.

Naruto opened his mouth to respond, but Iruka cut him off with the beginnings a lecture. Sasuke turned his attention away, and Naruto slid down in his chair. 'Man, this stinks, having to listen to this boring history stuff... Kyu-sensei, you got any more family lessons to teach me?'

The Kyuubi replied, "For once, the human who thinks he knows things is speaking of topics that would behoove you to pay attention to. You're covering the same topic I will be later tonight."

Naruto's attention shot to the front of the room. Iruka was speaking loudly. "...And when Mito-sama and the Shōdaime were married, it marked the beginning of an alliance between the greatest of the fuuinjutsu masters and the greatest ninjutsu masters of all time. Of course, as we already said yesterday, the other ninja clans didn't like that. They banded together, forming similar groups as did the Uchiha, the Senju, and the inhabitants of Uzushiogakure. They formed the ninja hidden villages that we know today; and as they began to fight, so began to First Shinobi Great War, and the end of the Warring States era."

Naruto leaned back in his seat. 'The destruction of Uzushio?' It was the only historical event that he knew happened around that time period that both Iruka and Kyu-sensei would have an interest in talking about in-depth.

The Kyuubi mentally nodded. "Yes. But the reason it's important for you to listen to mister Know-it-all here is to show you just how lucky you are to have a teacher who was there during the events. Here, ask him what Mito's last name was."

Naruto did so.

Iruka's face contorted briefly, so quickly, that no one except Naruto and Sasuke noticed. Then, Mizuki spoke up before Iruka could respond. In a helpful voice, he said.,"It seems that no one here was listening to what we told you at the end of class yesterday, when we told you what we would be covering tomorrow. Thank you, Naruto, for showing the class that they had forgotten. The clan to which Mito-sama belonged had no last name, instead going by the general phrase 'of the whirlpool.' That would make Mito-sama's full name 'Mito no Uzu.'" Mizuki flashed a comforting smile. "Of course, calling someone Uzu-sama is not a proper address, so we all default to saying Mito-sama."

Naruto felt comforted. Mizuki-sensei had really done a 360 after last year ended. he had assumed that it was something that happened over the break, and wasn't going to question the fact that one of the teachers now liked him somewhat. He was pleased with the answer... Until the Kyuubi coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "bullshit."

Sasuke was having similar thoughts. He was the number one student for a reason, and while everyone else had been placing notes in their pockets, and generally packing up for the next class, he was still listening and memorizing-despite the Sharingan he would one day possess, Sasuke was a master at memory skills, since he knew it would be impossible to keep the Sharingan active indefinitely. And what Sasuke had seen yesterday was that there was NOT an end-of-class review. And, the way Mizuki-sensei had worded his answer today made it seem like Naruto's fault that everyone had forgotten, which would increase animosity. And if Sasuke hadn't been friends (not friends, he reminded himself, training partners) with Naruto, he wouldn't have cared about the blatant lie at all. Sasuke had to hand it to the teacher, there actually WAS a reason he was a chuunin after all.

On Naruto's end, the Kyuubi had just related all of Sasuke's observations and more to the boy, and Naruto suddenly became painfully aware of the looks of anger most of the class was giving him-especially his precious Sakura-chan!

Notable exceptions to the glares-notable exceptions meaning ALL exceptions-included Shikamaru, the lazy yet brilliant boy (it seemed to be everyone but the teachers who recognized his true cognitive ability); Chouji, who took all his cues from Shikamaru; and Hinata, who seemed to hate him so much anyways that she always ran from him when he was around.

The Kyuubi snorted at that last thought. "Idiot..."

Naruto bristled in his mind. 'Hey, sorry that I wasn't angry at the only teacher who's been openly nice to me since I started training!'

"That's not what I was talking about..."

Naruto was about to reply, when a sharp rap came on his desk. He jumped slightly, startled to see Iruka-sensei standing over him. "Perhaps if you didn't daydream in class, your grades would consistently be second best, and not just a small percentage of the time. Right, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, grumbling. Iruka's face immediately broke out into a smile as he returned to the front of the classroom. "Excellent! Now, when the people of Uzushiogakure lost their village, so too did they lose their secrets of sealing arts. The survivors all fled to Konoha, their one ally, and set up new lives with new last names to protect themselves."

"That, or they fled to Rain and Rice," the Kyuubi muttered. "Seriously, you humans think you know everything, but all it takes is one wrong stroke of a pen or one missing scroll for history to be mucked up. Honestly, why would they flee to a village that couldn't find the spare troops to protect their allies?"

'You'll be teaching me the right version when we get home, right?'

"Is that really a question, brat?"

It turned out that Mito Uzumaki was Naruto's great-great aunt, the one who had helped her brother-in-law, the Second Hokage, invent the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It also turned out that she was the first one to try and make peace with the Kyuubi, as opposed to overcoming him or demeaning him. As such, the Kyuubi often referred to her as his first REAL Jinchuuriki, as opposed to Old Man Hideyoshi (as Naruto called him).

It was nine o' clock, exactly, and Naruto was in his bed, under the moth-eaten blankets, staring at the ceiling. Naruto was feeling giddy regarding his heritage; even though some of those old dudes were only related to him a long way back, they were still pretty cool. One guy, Oda Uzumaki, developed the fighting style that the Kyuubi was teaching him now. The Demon Style was two hundred years old, according to the co-inventor. But now that Naruto had reached the point in history where Konoha had been founded, he was beginning to feel a connection to those people. The Uzumakis were a part of his family.

'Kyu-sensei, how many Uzumakis left until you tell me about my parents?'

The Kyuubi grunted. "Six. Two grandparents, three cousins, and an uncle. Now, shut your mouth, I was taking a nap."

Naruto persisted. "Can't you skip them? I really want to know who my dad was."

"It wasn't on your dad's side, boy. I'm from your mom's side. Now, shut up and go to sleep."

Naruto rolled in bed, messing up the sheets and bunching them around him. "Then tell me about them. Why does it have to wait?" He was speaking out loud now, instead of internally. It always seemed to help him whenever he spoke to the Kyuubi out loud. Thinking things to say them seemed really weird, and he never fully got used to the concept.

"Because I laugh at your pain."

"Come on, Kyu-sensei, please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"...Brat?"

"Yes? Naruto asked hopefully.

"Let me remind you, your body can sustain less than two tails of power right now, and that's with a gradual increase. Imagine what would happen if I tried to flood you with six, all at once. Your body would be ripped apart from the inside as I killed us both, just because you won't let me SLEEP!" The Kyuubi's voice steadily rose as he talked, and he ended in a shout.

"Alright, alright, fine! I'll stop asking about my parents, for now." The beast was just being unreasonable at this point, really.

"Good."

"...Hey Kyu-sensei?"

"WHAT?"

"Why is it so hard for me to channel your chakra? I got curious when you talked about blasting me with six tails, and I realized that I can only handle not even two tails right now, but it's a lot harder learning to use the second one."

The Kyuubi, for whatever reason, decided to humour the boy. Perhaps he knew that the boy wouldn't shut up at all until he got at least SOMETHING. Perhaps he genuinely wasn't tired, and didn't want to sleep. Or maybe he even wanted to help the boy out of the goodness of his heart... NAH.

"It's because each tail contains twice the power of the last," the fox explained. "It's why I'm hailed as the lord of demons; I'm twice as strong as the eight-tails, he's twice as strong as the seven tails, she's stronger than the six, and so on. Of course, to balance it out, the lower the number of tails a beast has, the more of an elemental affinity it possesses. For example, from the six-tails up, no beast has an overwhelming power over any element, but the one through five are masters at elemental manipulation. Shukaku can control entire deserts, easy, Matatabi is made of fire chakra, and so on."

Naruto nodded. It made sense, really. More tails, more power. Then, he realized something. "You called the seven-tails a 'she,'" he pointed out.

The Kyuubi snorted. "So?"

"I thought you said the tailed beasts didn't have genders."

"They don't."

"But-"

"They don't, but it's respectful to refer to a transcendent being as whichever gender they identify as. The Nanabi might be one fourth as strong as I am, but that's still loads better than you pathetic humans, so she is deserving of my respect. Especially since she can fly." The Kyuubi sounded almost a bit wistful with that last sentence.

Naruto was excited. "What are the rest of the beasts like?"

The Kyuubi gave a mental shrug. "The Nanabi, the Gobi, and the Nibi are all confirmed females. The rest, including myself, are males, but Shukaku still couldn't decide last time I saw him-her. You know what I mean."

"One more thing?"

"WHAT? I want to sleep!"

"You always say the number of tails instead of a beast's name, but you always call the Ichibi 'Shukaku.' Why?"

The Kyuubi yawned. "Names are not as honourable as titles, which is what the name "tailed beast" implies. I, at full strength, am worth well over two hundred of Shukaku, and anyone with less than a hundredtimes as much power as I have is not deserving of a title. Therefore, I don't call him by the name Ichibi, even if that's technically what he is. The same goes for Matatabi, the Nibi, although to a lesser extent."

Naruto digested this new information. "Do you have a name, Kyu-sensei?"

"...Good night, brat."

Naruto frowned. He could have easily continued along his line of thought, pressuring for the Kyuubi's name, but something stopped him from doing so. It didn't seem right, pressuring someone who had complied with his requests. "...Good night, Kyuubi." With that, Naruto pulled the blankets around him just a bit more, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, the ANBU who had been assigned to guard Naruto stood shakily in the tree outside the boy's apartment. This was big. This was something that needed to be reported to Sandaime-sama immediately.

End of Chapter

So, sorry for the wait. I really don't have an excuse, especially given how the entire time I've been shamelessly reading other authors' stories. Regardless, I don't give any promises about the update schedule. The way I've been writing stuff, I'll be putting an entire arc between now and the end of the academy. Which is something I think would actually work very well, even if it is a short arc. But I digress; I'll update whenever I can, hopefully two weeks time but no promises.

Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you in the next chapter!