Chapter 02: Of Alliances and Friendship, Recruiting the Pieces

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it is the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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"Hey look, he's waking up." a voice said as Naruto slowly opened his eyes. Two blurs hovered over him, one white and red, the other green and blue.

"It looks like he's alright Iruka." a second voice said, this one elderly sounding, "I just need to talk with him for a while. The other three have given me their reports, and now it's time for Naruto to do the same. Please leave us, this is sensitive information after all."

Naruto blinked the blurriness away as he recognized the Third Hokage's voice. As the curtain closed behind Iruka as he left, the elderly Sarutobi placed a sealing tag on the curtain, causing the curtain and the walls to glow for a brief moment.

"There we are, absolutely no one can eavesdrop on us for the next thirty minutes unless they're a Fuinjutsu master, and our local one is currently on a long term mission." The elderly Hokage voiced cheerfully, before focusing on the young boy. "Naruto, how long have you known about the Kyuubi?" the old man asked, looking beyond even his years.

"The night before the genin exams. Last night I think?" Naruto asked looking up.

"Technically two nights ago. It's about four in the morning, several hours after your fight with Mizuki. Now tell me what happened between you and the fox."

Naruto looked down, wondering if he should tell the old man about his parents, 'No, he said he didn't know for so long, he had to be lying. Dad said he knew.'

"He hid it to protect you." The Kyuubi said offhandedly, focusing on how he was going to enact the next phase of his plan.

'I'm not really awake enough to handle two conversations at once Kyuubi.' Naruto snapped, still tired and confused over everything that had happened

The Kyuubi huffed. Here he was ready to activate the first part of his gift to Naruto, and the boy was getting snippy with him.

'I think I'll place a couple of presets into it for that little bout of rudeness. I'm sure he'll eventually overcome them.' Kurama thought as his lips rose into a gruesome facsimile of a toothy grin. The boy would learn to respect him, he would make sure of it. He already respected his jailor for the strength he had, but to be such a brat when he offered up a simple explanation, the boy would pay. Not with blood, since he couldn't harm the boy thanks to his deal, but Naruto's pride and humility would do just fine.

"He offered me a deal." Naruto stated, ignoring, the Hokage's sudden strangled gasp, taking some small delight in making the man choke on his pipe for hiding information this important about him from him, "He wants to be remembered, and feared. He can't do that with a weak container and gave me a week to decide. I could choose do so his way, which he swore would have less of a risk of me killing myself, or I could go the hard way, with him fighting every step of the way when I'm taught to control his chakra, most likely resulting in my death and him escaping from the Shinigami in a century or so."

"My boy, did you..." Hiruzen trailed off as Naruto's head sunk lower.

"I took his power, to protect them, to stop Mizuki, but in the end I failed, Iruka-sensei ended up having to do so," Naruto shivered remembering the look in Iruka's eyes, and how he had felt with the Kyuubi's power flowing through him, "His chakra did something to Iruka-sensei, it caused him to change like that."

"No, it's something that Iruka has kept hidden for a very long time. It's a powerful ability he didn't want, because it's a sickness that affects the Umino clan. He used it to kill Mizuki, who threatened his students, who threatened you. Just as you used the power of the Bijuu to protect your classmates." the Hokage said, mentally filing away that Naruto didn't need to know that the reemergence of the Kyuubi's chakra had triggered Iruka's buried memories to induce the psychotic episode. Not from him, and not right now.

The two sat in companionable silence as the seal slowly faded away, their time was up. As the elderly Hokage opened the curtain, Naruto saw he was in a large hospital room and three other beds with Shikamaru, Shino and Sasuke occupying them. Iruka was helping Shino lay back down as a nurse walked away, a clean set of bandages wrapped around his torso. Sasuke had his leg and arm elevated as his entire hand was in a temporary cast, and his leg braced, most likely healed already, just allowing the muscles to rest and heal. Shikamaru had a large strip of gauze wrapped around his head, and his shoulders were bandaged as well.

Naruto slowly reached up and felt where Mizuki had taken a bite out of him, surprised to find no wound. In fact, he felt perfectly fine except for the weariness he felt.

"You'll be the first out of here, Naruto. With the boost to your healing factor you received while using your secondary chakra pool, you'll only be here for a couple of days due to chakra exhaustion, five at the most." Hiruzen said, before turning to Iruka, "Let's go Iruka, you still need to be looked over and the boys need to rest."

"Of course Lord Hokage," Iruka said as he started to follow, before stopping, "Sorry, just one thing first."

Iruka walked up to Naruto, who was looking forlornly at his broken goggles on the bed-stand next to him, "Hey Naruto, close your eyes for a minute."

Naruto sat up, confused, but complied with the chuunin's request. He felt something wrap around his head, before being tied at the back, "Alright, open them."

Naruto looked at Iruka, noticing, his headband was missing. Reaching up to his forehead, he felt cool metal with a slight impression in it. Slowly, he traced it with his thumb, realizing it was the Leaf of Konoha.

"Congratulations, Naruto, you've passed the Genin Exams. The Kage Bunshin Jutsu is an extremely advanced technique, and to be able to make six at your age is incredible, and I'm sure you could have made more if you hadn't been so tired." Iruka said with a wide, warm smile on his face. The Third held a soft kind smile while Sasuke and Shikamaru smirked. Shino nodded his head and Naruto grinned. He had passed!

When both Iruka and the Hokage had left, shutting the lights off, Sasuke swung himself off his bed, using a crutch to hobble over to him. Shikamaru had helped Shino up and both boys made their way over to him as well.

"Hey, Naruto," Shikamaru said, keeping his voice low, "Want to talk about it?"

The three knew that they all had something in common with the blond in front of them. Shino was generally ignored because of his clan's techniques, and generally only had Sasuke's companionship in class because his insects scared Sasuke's fangirls away and Sasuke respected the boy for his ability to push him in the Academy, forcing him to stay one step ahead to keep the Rookie of the Year title. Sasuke was all alone. While he was treated well by the villagers, he could compare most to how Naruto was treated. Though Naruto was hated and he was praised, the villagers never bothered to get to know the children under the assumptions they made. Both were truly lonely and wanted to be acknowledged, but not in the way they already were. Shikamaru simply knew he was looked down on for his laziness. Choji, Kiba and himself where the bad kids if Naruto had skipped class that day. Or they would join him in his pranks and hooky days every once in a while themselves.

"What is there to talk about? You all know. Once people start treating you poorly because you're around me, your opinions of me will change and you'll hate me like everyone else. You're better off that way if you want to keep any standing in the village."

Sasuke shook his head, "Idiot, I've always known you were powerful. I thought you never applied yourself and failed on purpose, so I ignored you. But you were sabotaged before Iruka took over the class, weren't you?"

Naruto looked away but Shikamaru snapped his fingers to get his attention again, "Look, out of everyone who graduated, only the civilian children and maybe the girls will ignore you, you troublesome blond. While Kiba, Choji and I haven't hung out with you in a while, but that doesn't mean we're not friends. It's just we really don't know each other that well, and Kiba trains a lot while you do your pranking thing. We never had a lot in common with each other. We started hanging out with you because we knew it would piss everyone off, but we quickly came to see you as a comrade and a friend. I've always known about you and your family, it isn't hard to see the resemblance. I know you know too, so don't try to hide it."

"To put it simply, we overheard you when you were staring at your father's face on the mountain on the Academy roof. We want to help you Naruto. My father always spoke highly of you, despite not telling me why, and always compared you to your mother." Shino said, trying to convince the blond they were truly trying to help him

"Naruto," Sasuke said, the tone of his voice brokered no argument, "Out of everyone in the class, it is you I've always wanted to fight the most. The spars they made us do in the Academy, you never cared enough to put a true effort into, like you expected to fail no matter what. When you get out of here, train hard. You are the only one worthy of test my strength against, as you and I are the same. We are rivals, as were our mothers."

At this, Sasuke removed the slightly damaged photo from his pouch from where it laid on the bedside table. A corner had been ripped in the fight, cutting off part of the bottom, but Naruto immediately recognized the face of his mother. While Naruto traced his mother's face, Sasuke held his good hand outstretched, motioning for Shikamaru and Shino to do the same. The boys placed their hands on top of Sasuke's, similar to what they did for game huddles as children.

"Naruto, we swear that we won't treat you any differently than we do now. We want to be your friends, your comrades. Your secrets are our secrets, and ours can be yours as well. We will not reveal them without you letting us." Shino said, seeming more sincere than Naruto could ever remember. Maybe it was because he could see his entire face, sans the eyes, with his large coat and shirt missing. It made him... more human in Naruto's mind.

"Alright, that goes for me too!" Naruto said, a true smile showing. He placed his hand on top of the stack as the others smiled or smirked. Suddenly though, their hands were surrounded by the Kyuubi's chakra. They couldn't pull them back, and the skin on their palms felt like it was branded.

"Take this little gift as a reminder of what you have sworn to one another. And remember, never forget your oath!" Kyuubi roared, with his chakra connecting the four boys they were all able to hear what the Bijuu roared. As the chakra faded, an ANBU with a scarecrow mask and a hooded white cloak burst into the room, ready to subdue any attackers, or Naruto if he had lost control.

"What's going on in here?" the ANBU demanded. The boys were scared, only captains wore the white cloaks, and the three commanders had specialized masks instead of an animal mask. Slowly they showed their palms to the man to inspect as he snorted. On each of the boy's palms was the kanji for 'Oath' burned into the flesh.

"Idiot children. You attracted the Kyuubi's attention to yourselves. For good or ill, he has taken an interest in all of you. With that beast, he could have easily killed all four of you with that!"

The ANBU scared them with the death threat, but Naruto asked, "Four, Kakashi-san?"

"I'm not blind like the villagers brat. I have always trusted the Fourth's word and work. If he says you're a hero, then you're a damn hero. Get to bed, I have to report this."

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Hiruzen sighed as the rest of the unofficial 'Council' filed into the meeting room. The news his ANBU Commander had just delivered was not reassuring, but there was nothing he could do now. Standing to call the meeting to order, he nodded to Shikaku and Shibi, who had already been informed of what happened.

"Last night, one Naruto Uzumaki was deceived into stealing the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing by his Chuunin Instructor, Mizuki Toji." Murmurs traveled through the room. Most here couldn't believe it when Naruto had taken the scroll, considering how he loved Konoha, despite what a majority of the civilians thought, "Mizuki attacked and injured Genin Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Chuunin Iruka Umino using an experimental drug to activate a forbidden jutsu given to him by Orochimaru. He was soon executed by Iruka Umino who, through the trauma of Naruto accidentally tapping into the Kyuubi's power to heal a near fatal wound, regressed into the psychotic state that has debilitated his clan for so long."

Many people, including his longtime rival Danzo, winced at the mention of the state. It could not be controlled. It could be suppressed, and it could be focused and aimed at specific targets, but if someone else took out the target, the one in the frenzy would continue to kill until his thirst for blood was sated. Iruka was the only one of the small Umino clan that was an active duty shinobi, and that's because he had it suppressed, until now.

"The other subject of discussion is with the injury of these four genin, we will need to postpone the Genin assignments. Are there any concerns that need to be raised about tonight's incident?"

Murmurs spread across the room, wondering of many things until Inoichi Yamanaka, father of Ino Yamanaka, spoke up.

"What about the seal, is it holding? Can the Kyuubi influence the boy?" the blond man asked.

Hiruzen sighed before tapping his pipe in the ash tray, "The seal, for a lack of a better word, has changed."

As pandemonium erupted, the elderly Hokage silenced it by banging his hand on the desk, "As I was saying, the seal has changed, but I believe that it is a reaction to the Kyuubi being awake. Before last night, it was content slumbering within the seal, but now that it's awake, the seal has changed in reaction to it. My best theory is it changed to assist in keeping the fox from actively trying to escape now that it is awake and taking interest in the world around its new container."

After quelling some of more spooked attendees, the Hokage stood, "I must end this meeting for today, I am needed at the Academy to let the new graduates know what has happened. When I have gathered more information about the incident, I will call another meeting for those who wish to attend."

Watching his Shinobi file out of the meeting room, Hiruzen sighed once more. He had no idea what had happened to the seal, only that it was still as strong as it has ever been. Hopefully Jiraiya would respond to the summons he had sent and returns soon.

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Naruto drifted in a haze of darkness, blacks and grays intermingle and flowed around him. He watched, mesmerized by the patterns and shapes they seamlessly formed, though he soon he realized he was not alone as he watched seven shadows appeared around him.

"The time is upon you, child of destiny." The first spoke, before the one to the right continued

"It is the duty of you and yours to bring War to the land."

"Then bring about Peace." When the third one spoke, Naruto thought they sounded familiar, like a distant memory.

"Bring me the Blade of Man who strikes down their foes."

"Bring me the Guardian of Sand who defends his home."

"Bring me the Sibling of Flames who walks in darkness."

"Bring me the Warrior of Discipline who follows true ethic."

"Bring me the Deceiver of All who seeks the truth."

"Bring me the Curse of Melodies who hides at all times."

"And you shall follow the path of your Ancestors to the Afterlife!"

The darkness began to swirl as the figure who spoke last faded into view. Purple skin and black horns filled his vision as black eyes and teeth closed around a tanto. The image faded away and he heard someone calling his name.

Naruto woke with a start, his fist connecting with whatever shook him. Hearing someone curse, Naruto blearily pushed something red from in front of his face to get a better look. Seeing several of his classmates, particularly Kiba who was holding his nose and cussing rather loudly, hovering over him, he yawned while scratching a weird lump on his chest.

"Hey, why is everyone here? Why are you looking at me like that?"

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Several minutes earlier

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"Man, I can't believe Shikamaru of all people threw himself onto a battlefield." Choji said as he crumpled up his latest bag of BBQ chips.

"Yeah, and Naruto, the poor guy, being forced to fail because of a mission to weed out a traitor. What if Mizuki hadn't been a traitor? That would have been really embarrassing." Kiba asked, "And let's face it, it's because the others showed up the mission went down the toilet."

"It's not Sasuke's fault Kiba!" Sakura shot back, adjusting her forehead protector to hold her hair, "He probably noticed something was up and followed to help, I mean, Naruto is the second strongest in class. Only Sasuke ever beats him in Taijutsu."

"Wrong Sakura, Naruto and Choji are physically stronger than Sasuke, and I'm tied with him. It's the Uchiha clan's Interceptor style that gives him the edge. To use mine and Choji's clan's Taijutsu properly, we need to use our Ninjutsu for our moves to be truly effective. So I resort to brawling and Naruto has lived in the slums his entire life. The fact is in a straight up brawl, Naruto wins every time. He's a stamina freak." Kiba shot back as Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Hey guys, wait up!" the three look over to see Ino and Hinata approaching, flowers in hand for each of the boys.

"Hey Ino," Choji said, opening a new bag of chips, "What do you think, can anyone beat Naruto in a straight fight, Academy Taijutsu or street brawling only?"

"Hell no, the one time we did fight, he creamed me!" Ino said, rubbing her shoulder. It wasn't as if he had hit her, but his grip was strong enough to bruise her shoulder as he held her for the count, "I don't think anyone could beat him without their clan Taijutsu."

They argued over the true strengths of Naruto, whom they were told held back his true strength for the mission. Earlier the Hokage himself had explained why their classmates and senseis were absent. The entire class had been shocked when Kiba stood up proclaiming he had sensed something off with Naruto the day of the tests. They had decided to visit the boys as Ino had dragged Hinata off to help he pick some flowers from her family's shop as gifts for them.

"The Lord Hokage said we could visit our classmates, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, and Naruto Uzumaki. What room are they in?" Ino asked the receptionist at the hospital's front desk.

"Room 603. An ANBU is standing outside the room, so don't pressure them for information. Whatever happened last night has most likely been classified." the receptionist said while looking over the room ledger. The Hospital staff tended to treat Naruto as fast as they could before sending him on his way, seeing as any prejudice against him was ill conceived at best. Especially since he knew where every doctor and the entire nursing staff lived after the last pranking spree he subjugated the village to three years ago. Those who hadn't gotten the idea when the Hokage started executing those who attempted to harm him, finally decided to back off after that particularly violent series of pranks he used to get revenge.

The group walked up to the room, nodding to the ANBU on duty. What had happened last night had put three clan heirs and one powerful genin in the hospital, all with grievous injuries.

"Hey guys! Heard you were on the ass end of an ass kicking so we decide to come see how you were doing!" Kiba called out as he threw the door open, causing the bird masked ANBU to chuckle.

"Damn it Kiba, why are you so loud this early in the morning?" Shikamaru groaned as he tried to roll over and go back to sleep.

"But it's two in the afternoon!" Sakura cried out, before turning to Sasuke, "Does it hurt?"

"Hn."

"Something Naruto did accelerated our healing," Shino said as he looked up from his book on Entomology, "I would have been paralyzed for life and Sasuke would have been in a body cast if it wasn't for the chakra infusion he gave us."

"What? He can do that?" Choji asked, looking at the fourth bed surprised, it seemed like Naruto was curled up in a ball under the covers, still asleep.

"The Uzumaki clan had an advanced healing factor and tons of chakra, which Naruto obviously inherited." Shikamaru said, before sighing, "Iruka-sensei watched him regrow muscle and flesh after Mizuki tore out a chunk the size your fist Choji. That would have killed anyone else."

"The idiot is only here because he somehow managed to exhaust his entire chakra supply healing us. He'll get out by the end of the week, the rest of us are stuck here for a while." Sasuke said, his eyes narrowing at the fourth bed, 'Something's not right.'

"Hey, Kiba. Check Naruto's bed, something's off." Sasuke asked, startling everyone, "Naruto sleeps like he fights, everywhere at once, not curled up in a ball."

Kiba and Choji winced remembering the last survival training they had, sharing a tent with Naruto had left both of them pinned by the blond. It took both of them and the genin in charge of them to pull him off.

"You're right, it smells like Naruto, but, the scent is... off somehow. Naruto," Kiba said as he approached the bed, "Hey Naruto, wake up man."

"Five more minutes... sensei..." the bundle under the covers mumbled.

"Definitely doesn't sound right," Kiba said as he yanked the cover back, only to gasp. On the bed laid a red-haired girl wearing an oversized hospital gown and boxers, curled up around the pillow.

"Who's that?" Hinata stuttered out, surprised that this girl was here instead of her crush. Kiba reached over and grabbed the girl's shoulder to shake her awake, only for the girl to sock him in the nose. They did get to see her face as she rolled over, and they saw the whisker marks that Naruto was so infamous for.

"Naruto?" they all cried, not sure how to react. Slowly the girl stirred as she looked blearily at the

As she yawned and brushed her hair out of her face, she asked, "Hey, why is everyone here? Why are you looking at me like that?"

They all stood dumfounded as the girl stretched, brushing a clump of red hair out of her face again "Seriously, why are you all looking at me like that? Ah well, I need to piss."

"Uh, Narut-" Ino started before Kiba clamped one hand over her mouth, his other pinching his nose.

"No, wait. Let's see how long it takes him to figure it out." Kiba said with a slightly sadistic gleam in his eye. Somehow Naruto managed to ignore her now waist length red hair and newly developed breasts, even though she had brushed the hair out of her face and scratched her left breast during her yawn. As Naruto shut the door, they heard her lower the seat on the toilet seat. After a few moments they heard a flush followed by the sink turning on and a shriek, causing everyone to wince. Kiba smirked, this proved to him that Naruto wasn't a girl before, seeing as she probably didn't recognize the face in the mirror.

Suddenly a scream ripped out of the bathroom as the feminized Uzumaki yelled, "WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE TITS!"

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Author's Note: Well, mostly these reposted chapters are expanding on scenes, so here are some more explanations of how I'm writing this.

1) When describing an ANBU I'll use the English word for their mask, such as dog, but when they are called by name it will be the Japanese word with the -san honorific, like Inu-san.

2) I do not enjoy writing Hinata's stutter, so when I can get away with it, I will skip it.

3) I do not like the standard Council, and I imagine each Hokage ran the village differently. The First and Third let the general populace have a choice, the Second probably did everything himself, maybe an adviser or two, and the Fourth had a very select Council that was very small in number. This is how the Council meetings will go, but remember, it is a dictatorship, and it's just up to the 'king' how they run it.

This is Dingo saying goodnight!