I'm so sorry for the delay guys. I really am. I was so focused on how to begin the beginning that I kinda got lost as to how I wanted to do this chapter. I hope you guys can forgive me.

Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me. Please support the official creators.

A New Beginning

((Part 5))

Cold. Icy eyes stared into the endless grey abyss as a motionless body slowly sank more and more. Heavy arms desperately tried to move, but they refused to. The young man wished to scream out for every nerve in his body felt as though it was being stabbed repeatedly. A moment seemed like an eternity as the young man continued to descend; however, the pressure upon his chest proved to be too much for him as the breath he was holding finally escaped him. Eyes widened drastically as he watched his breath leave without him. The young man grimaced as his vision darkened.

Drowsy eyes slowly opened. A soft but inaudible groan emitted from the young man as he held his head. When his eyes finally adjusted, the young man stared disbelievingly at the monochrome world around him. He stared down at his grey hands, at the grey ground, and the grey grass. Looking around himself, he wasn't vaguely surprised to see even more grey.

Staring ahead now, the young man took note of the ancient looking manor in front of him. Before the young man realized he had been walking, he was already face to face with the sliding doors. He raised his hand to knock, but the door quickly slid aside, shocking the young man a bit. Inside dozens of...men were either singing harmoniously, playing instruments or relaxing peacefully as the women danced for them. The young man stared in awe at everyone's elegant dark grey faces, their long raven black hair, and their sharpened claws? The young man stared incredulously at them. And yet, even though everything else was bathed in grey, their piercing crimson eyes were what enticed him the most. The young man pulled at his dark grey hair, feeling out of place all of a sudden. Looking back up, his mouth almost dropped in shock at the gorgeous, pale, young-looking woman in the middle of the room. Time seemed to freeze before the young man as hazel eyes gazed at him.

A warm smile crossed the maiden's face.

"Hurry." A deep voice ranged through the young man's subconscious causing him snapped out of his stupor and gazed at the maiden. He tried to question the mysterious speaker, but soon realized his voice has not yet returned to him. The young man shook his head and and approached the garden, but as soon as his foot touched the outside, gut wrenching screams began to echo throughout the room. The young man quickly looked back and was shocked to see the dozens of men and women slaughtered mercilessly. Standing within the center of the room, however, stood a lone figure covered blood. His short black hair was mattered down by a now bloodied bandaging. An unknown feeling coursed through the young man's body as he stared within a lifeless brown eye.

"Hurry!" The young man dashed into the garden. When he was close enough to the maiden he extended his hand towards her. Her smiling face disappeared from his vision as he fell through the opened trunk. His eyes widened as he spiraled downwards into darkness.

Beaming lights overhead shined through the young man's eyelids, causing him to curse inwardly. He slowly opened them while trying to lift himself from the sticky floor. What? When the young man's eyes finally adjusted, he noticed he was in some sort of experimentation room. Weird looking instruments lined wooden tables against the walls. A sense of dread coursed through his veins now and he could not figure out the reason why.

Crrrreeeak. The young man looked up towards the spiraling staircase and scowled deeply. Footsteps echoed throughout the room and the young man felt a sense of panic. He looked about the room to find a place where he could conceal himself, but the only thing in the room was the chamber. He looked back towards the stairs as the footsteps began to get louder. Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the chamber was quickly draining. He quickly dashed towards it just as it finished draining. Curved, black horns clanked against the glass as the long ebony haired creature tilted his head to the side. Piercing crimson eyes stared within his own. The muscular, grey skinned creature smiled menacingly towards the young man now who was frozen to the spot. The young man had no time to react as glass suddenly shattered and a grey hand had found itself around his throat. The young man gasped as he kicked at the creature, but it did not loosen its tight grip. The creature smiled revealing its sharp fangs. The young man's eyes widened in shock now.

"Welcome home."

The young man gasped as he sprung from bed. Panting harshly, he glanced towards the window. He sighed softly as the sun shone dimly through the night. Looking down at the sleeping blond, he allowed a small smile to grace his lips. Standing, he slowly made his way to the restroom to wash his face. The young man's brow knitted together as he thought about the dream he had. Curious now, he inspected his throat in the mirror and was shocked to find a dark bruising upon it. How is that possible?

A deep chuckle echoed and the young man's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the creature within the mirror. Panic swelled inside him and the young man sprinted to the bedroom to check on the young blond. Seeing him sleeping peacefully still, the young man relaxed. Deciding sleep was no longer an option, he sat down upon the floor and waited until the blond woke up.

Time seemed to drag on forever as the students waited for their sensei to show up. Even the young man could barely keep his eyes open. Although everyone was dead tired, Sakura seemed to be the only one, other than Sasuke, curious enough to question the drastic change.

"Ryuu-kun? What happened to you?" The young man tilted his head to the side.

"What do you mean Ms. Haruno?" Sakura's face flushed slightly at the formality. "W-well, for one your has appearance changed." She walked over to him, causing him to blink at her repeatedly. "And you seem to be hurt. Are you alright?"

At the mention of Ryuu being hurt, Naruto awakened from his resting state and glanced over at the pair. His eyes widened a bit as he stared at the bandaging around the young man's neck. What the hell? How did I not see that?, he thought.

Without even realizing what she was doing, the tween girl absentmindedly caressed his throat. A deep frown broke across Naruto's face as he watched. Sasuke raised a brow, intrigued by the situation at hand. Glancing at the blond, the young man backed away then looked away. "Thank you for the concern, but I'm alright."

"But-"

"Morning everyone." Everyone, except Ryuu, turned towards their sensei as he finally arrived. "Ready for your first day?"

"Hey, you're late!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed in unison at their sensei.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." The young man shook his head disapprovingly while the blond growled non-intimidatingly.

"Well," The jonin paused as he looked at his peeved students. "Let's get started."

After explaining the requirements, the young man quirked a brow for their sensei allowed weapons within this training. He stared at the three bells within the jonin's hand. Looking away, a thought came to mind as to how he could make this work within their favor.

"-I didn't say start yet." The young man blinked in surprise; however, when he turned to see what just happened rage brewed inside of him as the jonin held the kunai to the blond's head. His teeth began to grind slightly. The jonin glanced behind him before letting the blond go. Huh, this will be interesting, he thought.

"And...Start!" While everyone else hid, the young man stared at the jonin once more, before running off between the trees. Kakashi raised a brow at this action, however, peace was short lived as he was faced with the blond knucklehead.

The young man waved his hand through the air. Time paused while the young man looked around for a certain item. He smirked a tad as he held a patch of twigs. Dashing towards the jonin, the young man quickly switched the twigs for the bell. He stared at the blond then looked down upon his hand. Forgive me, he thought as he ran back towards the trees. As soon as he hid himself again, time resumed and the battle between sensei and student began.

"Dammit! He got away!" The blond shouted as he quickly undid his shadow clone jutsu. The young man chuckled softly as he stared at the blond. He then looked up at the jonin above him, who was cautiously watching the blond. He returned his attention to the blond who was staring skeptically at the bell upon the ground. The young man chuckled softly again as he held the bells tightly within his hand. The blond smirked a bit as he dashed towards it, upon reaching it, he jumped over the rope that threatened to snag his ankles. "Ah ha!" He shouted victoriously as he dashed away. The young man smiled as he trailed behind him.

"What?!" Kakashi jumped down from his spot then looked around for the genin. Dammit, how did he know? From what the Hokage said about him, this kid is a blubbering fool. He sighed softly, disappointed within himself.

"Guess I shouldn't have underestimated him."

"Eh?! What do you mean that this is fake?!" The young man gently uncovered his ears. He slowly revealed the set of bells within his palm.

"B-but I could have sworn..." When the blond pulled his hand out of his pocket, he was shocked to find a twig within it. "What the hell?" He stared at the young man, waiting for an explanation.

The young man glanced down at the ground. "It's just an ability I can do. Time is merely an illusion for me; therefore, I can manipulate it as I see fit. Well, so to speak, I haven't figured out what all I can do."

"T-that's amazing. I never knew something like that existed, but what about your chakra? Doesn't it drain to the point of exhaustion?" Now it was the young man who was shocked to hear the blond speak like this. The blond scoffed softly as he crossed his arms. "just because I play and goof around like an idiot doesn't make me one."

The young man shook his head. "I'm not calling you an idiot at all, I'm just happy to know you're so perceptive about this ordeal, but no, I do not exhaust myself using this technique. In fact, I don't believe I can."

"Hm? What do you-" A rustle in a nearby bush shushed the blond. Quickly grabbing a kunai, the blond stood in front of the young man, who just held him back. "It's alright."

The blond quirked a brow at the panting Uchiha. He sheathed his weapon, but kept his defense up. "Sasuke? What's wrong? Where's Sakura?"

"I don't know. I just came here to hide from that crazy teacher. What are you two doing?" He eyed the young man suspiciously.

An idea just popped within the blond's mind. "Sasuke, you want to pass right?"

The raven haired teen quirked a brow. "I'm listening."

"Heh. Heh. Well, my friend here" The young man frowned slightly at that. "has the bells within his hand, we can all pass if we each have one!"

"Hmph. You're forgetting idiot, there are only three bells, so one of us has to go back to the academy." The blond's eyes widened as he looked back at the young man. He looked back at the smirking Uchiha. "T-that's right, so who gets to go back..."

"I'll go." The young man gave the Uchiha two bells and then the last one to the blond.

"Whatever you say." The Uchiha pocketed them, then walked away. A deep frown etched into his face as he glared ahead. How the hell was he able to get the bells?

When the Uchiha was out of range, the blond glared at the young man. "Why do you have to go back?!" The young man remained silent as he turned away.

"God dammit answer me!"

"I don't want you to give up on your dream. You wish to be Hokage yes?" The blond's eyes widened. "Y-yeah."

"Then let nothing stop you. Not even this." The young man walked back to the front after the timer went off. The blond kicked the ground angrily, following after him.

Kakashi stared at his students. "Well, it seems you all have failed getting the bells from me. That's too bad. I was really looking forward to passing this group."

"W-what? But sensei we did as you said!" Sakura screamed out as she looked at Sasuke. "Hm? What are you talking about Sakura?"

The blond glared at the jonin as his fists clenched tightly. "This!" Throwing the bell onto the ground, Kakashi's eye widened as he looked down at it. What? How? Reaching for the bells upon his waist, he was shocked to find mere twigs there. He looked around the group trying see to who was capable of such thing.

"Alright. Who else has a bell?"

Sakura smiled as she held hers out. Sasuke begrudgingly held his out as well as he glared at the young man from the corner of his eye. "Ah, I see."

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events. So it has been decided. All three of you pass, Mr. Himura." When the young man glanced up at him, he was shocked to see him so calm. "I'm sorry. You failed."

"What? Sensei that isn't right!" Sakura yelled as she watched the young man turn away now.

"It's the rules Sakura. He understands this is necessary for the team's sake."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Everyone's eyes widened as the blond finally exploded.

"Naruto, you can't get upset over this. It just the way of the ninja", Kakashi said as he held his hands up defensively.

The blond clenched his hands even tighter. "Then to hell with that! A ninja never abandons his teammates no matter what! So if Ryuu leaves, I'm leaving too!" Kakashi blinked in surprise at the blond who glared up at him.

"Y-yeah, that's right!" Sakura nodded towards Sasuke who merely 'hmph'ed' in response.

"Is that your final decision?" The look within the blond's eyes made him smile softly from underneath his mask. An even bigger one spread across his lips.

"Alright. You all pass."

"W-what?" Shocked, the blond looked back at the young man who stared back in disbelieve.

"Do I really have to repeat myself? You all-" Kakashi gasped as he received a crushing hug from the blond. "Thank you." Letting go of his sensei, the blond ran to the young man then hugged him tightly as well. Ryuu smiled happily as he held the blond close. Sasuke glared at the pair as jealously welled up inside him. What is this? He looked over at Sakura who was glaring at the pair as well.

"Well, now that's all settled. Let's go eat."

"Wahoo!"

UGH. So I realized my mistake after someone pointed out I made the dream too long. Like, wow. I can't believe I revealed so much so soon I'm really sorry about that guys. I literally wrote all that within a day...SO. Forget all that you read and hopefully, enjoy this chapter more :). Unless you guys want the how the chapter was in the first place. I'm fine with either way, I just want y'all to have a good reading experience with this story. Oh! Do you guys want a jealous Sasuke or a jealous Sakura? Let me know in the comments~