Flames

by armin44

A small mistake in hand-seals led to Naruto becoming Shinigami's vessel. But what will it change in Naruto's life? How will others react to it and what effect will it have on the prophecy? Not even Naruto himself knows the answer to it.

3. Chapter 3

Have I mentioned that English isn't my first language? (It's actually my third, so there you go, if you were wondering why my grammar so is bad… maybe one day I will find myself a beta lol)

Also, I'm a sap and I want to cuddle lil' Naruto so much during this chapter it's getting unbearable hngggg I should resist this urge (I wanna cuddle little Armin and Eren just as much, fyi)

xxxx

Chapter Three

Naruto was only allowed to leave the hospital 7 days later. He packed his things with Jiji's help and, stealing a few pillows from a room opposite his own, left without saying a word to nurses who treated him during his stay in the hospital.

As they walked home, he could feel his old man's gaze drilling holes in his back, but he didn't look over his shoulder to ask what's wrong. Somehow, Jiraiya always knew what was wrong, but it was rare for him to start questioning Naruto. In occasions where he did, Naruto became increasingly defensive and kept repeating 'it's fine, it's fine' when it was obvious to anyone that everything wasn't fine.

He realised that he still didn't tell Jiji about the voice in his head, but maybe now wasn't the best time: he would just start saying that it's the result of concussion and won't pay much attention to it afterwards. Well, either that, or he was going to assume that Naruto was going crazy – which he wasn't, dammit!

"So," Jiraiya casually began a few seconds later with his hands tucked safely in his front pockets, "that nurse was hot, wasn't she?"

Naruto resisted the urge to sputter but he couldn't stop himself from stopping in his tracks and looking over at Jiji in disbelieve. Really? That's all he wanted to talk about?

"Stop being a pervert, old man," he said at last and made a face. "If you won't, I'll make sure there's a rumour that you have weird dreams about older women."

Now it was the time for Jiraiya to sputter and he looked at the kid in front of him like he was Satan's son and it wasn't him that raised Naruto for the last four-and-a-half years. Though, one would say that the Legendary Sannin deserved such treatment, for he himself talked about porn way too much. In front of a small kid.

Sigh. What would Tsunade think of him?

"If you do that, I won't give you pocket money for a month."

"Heeeh?"

"You know the rules, kid."

Naruto frowned and turned around, continuing his walk all the while mumbling something under his nose. Jiraiya looked at his messy white hair and defensive stance, and thought that, yeah, it was the right time to bring that topic up. He still didn't know how to propose the idea, though, because Naruto was, most likely, going to be extra hyper and won't listen to any of his words after that. The alternative was the little brat demanding Jiraiya to teach him everything right that moment.

Oh, why, why did Naruto have to inherit his mother's character, instead of having his dad's calm and generous nature?

"I was thinking," he said carefully, because it seemed that he already broke the ice with his previous words, "perhaps… you want to start learning jutsu?"

"Yeah, yeah, as if you would teach me jutsu."

Now Jiraiya was the one to frown – eh? Where was all the excitement, all the happiness on Naruto's face? Did he really seem like such a lazy-ass that he wouldn't teach someone who resembled a son to him? Yeah, he was busy most of the time, as there were rumours of some criminal organisation becoming stronger and gaining more members with each day.

"I was planning to, actually," he amended himself and his next words caused Naruto to shout in surprise. "Especially some of the techniques that your parents used."

"Seriously?!" This time Naruto not only turned around, but also began jumping in joy and even grabbed Jiraiya's hand, looking up at Sannin in sincere gratitude. "That would mean the world to me! I'm sure my parents knew some awesome techniques, right, right?"

"Yeah, a bunch," he said with a smirk because Naruto had no idea how much this bunch was, even if he only took Kushina's techniques into account. It was sad, really, that he couldn't tell Naruto about how truly amazing his mother was – that she had the Nine-Tails sealed off inside her, yet she managed to fall in love and live a relatively normal life until her death. In his opinion, Kushina was even stronger – not technique-wise, mind you – in almost every aspect. But, he knew he couldn't do it just yet – maybe in sever or so years, when he was old enough to understand the implications behind this sort of heritage, and when it was a time to tell him of what resides inside him and makes him so different from the rest. "I know I haven't told you much about your parents-"

"More life nothing at all," Naruto complained with an eye-roll.

"-but do you have any technique in mind? Pick one."

"Hmm." Naruto looked rather concentrated for a minute or so as he scratched his back and thought of some cool technique that he would absolutely love to learn. There weren't many he knew, per se, so he picked the one he heard about from Choji. "Nikudan Sensha! I want to be able to roll my opponent over like he's a steak or something!"

"Human bullet tank? That's the best you could come up with?" Jiraiya gave out with a sigh and raised his eyebrow. To be honest, he expect at least an A-rank technique, but maybe the kid didn't know many techniques because the Legendary Sannin didn't tell him that much about them, and Naruto only learned to read eight or so months ago, and said straight away that he isn't going to read, unless he gets a reward for it. Back then, Jiraiya only shrugged and left the room, saying something along the lines of 'I don't really care if you read or not'. "Besides, this technique can't be used by people outside of Akimichi clan, and there a lot of other techniques that cannot be used by ninjas outside of specific clans."

"Seriously? What's the point of becoming a ninja if I can't learn every technique there is, then?" the blond said with a little whine but he perked up a few seconds later. "Okay, if you can't teach me that, I want you to teach me some other cool technique. Like the one you use to call frogs!"

"It's called the 'Summoning Technique', baka," Jiraiya replied on the second thought. "And those aren't frogs – they are called toads. You should know that by know, Gaki – haven't you hewar how people referred to me as a Toad Sage?"

"Toads, frogs – what's the difference?"

What's the difference, indeed.

"And no one calls you that, except for yourself, Jiji. They just occasionally add honorifics to your name or call you a 'Sannin'. But you know what, old man, one day people in Konoha – and from all over the world will begin referring to me as a kick-ass Sannin, even better than you!"

"Maybe one day they will, Gaki, but people won't know about you if you aren't able to even use some D-ranked techniques," was Jiraiya's response as he picked Naruto up and put him on his shoulders – much to the latter's dismay. Naruto kept shaking his legs and tried to get off Jiraiya's shoulders, but it was to no use: Sannin kept a good hold of his legs and didn't allow to as much as move himself.

"Put me down, old man, I'm not a toddler!"

"Mm-hmm, that's what they all say but in fact, they act and look like real toddlers." Jiraiya gave out a dry laugh as the Konoha's loudest kid began scratching his face and kicking his chest with his legs in order to get out. He walked down the street and only smirked at the glances people were throwing them. Some of them – usually young civilian mothers and women – didn't like it one bit and kept whispering something to each other, but Jiraiya didn't need to hear it to know what they were saying to each other. When Naruto was a mere kid, he heard enough about the so-called 'demon child' from parents who knew nothing about the Kyuubi that was sealed off inside the poor kid. He suspected that being teased because of horns and white hair was much better than if people knew that there was a tailed beast inside him, yet their acid words still made him cringe and turn at the first opportunity that he got, right into a small alleyway with barely any people.

There was a bunch of kids, most of them the same age as Naruto, and they stopped playing football when they saw a tall and 'intimidating' man carrying a kid on his shoulders. They stared at the whole picture in awe and one of them began calling out for his father, asking him to do the same thing for him. Jiraiya patted that kid on the head – it was nice to know that some kids were still innocent and didn't care if Naruto was a bit different from them.

He continued walking until they reached the training grounds – the whole trip took him approximately thirty minutes and would have been much faster if Gaki stopped kicking him and trying to get out for even a second. He hasn't been to Konoha's training grounds before – there was no need in it, really – so he whistled to himself because the place didn't change, dammit. It looked exactly the same back when he was training his group of genins, and it was almost identical when he was a genin himself and Sarutobi Hiruzen was still a jonin.

"Okay, now we can begin our training." Jiraiya allowed Naruto to escape his tight hold and the latter one felt to the ground with a loud 'thumb'. "Now, you are going to enter the Academy quite soon – in about five months, actually – and Academy's teachers will teach you all that you need to know about chakra and the likes. I know that it's boring, and you will be taught about this later on anyway, so our training sessions will only be about practical stuff and a pinch of explanation. How does that sound like?"

"Okay, let's do it, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted and threw his fist into the air, standing in a supposedly kick-ass pose. "So where do we begin? Do I get to create clones and attack you with them? Or do I learn to create genjutsu?"

"Hold your horses, Gaki. Let's begin with…" Jiraiya looked around and snickered at the idea that popped up in his head. "Naruto, let's go near that lake."

"Huh? Will you teach me how to control water? Cooool!" he shouted out at the top of his lungs and ran towards the lake, like he was told. He then stopped a few centimetres away from it and looked down, staring at his reflection in water. If only he looked like the other kids… maybe if his hair was like his dad's – blonde and ruffled. And if he could somehow get rid of those horns…

"Now, the first jutsu that you are going to learn… walk on water!"

Naruto didn't know of hows and whys, but one second he was studying his own reflection and the next he was coughing and floundering about, gasping for air. It didn't take him long to swim up and take a few deep and deliberate breath, all the while throwing evil glances at his old man. Gee, he could have died if he didn't know how to swim! And what if he lost his consciousness and wasn't able to swim up? Would Jiji use his Summoning technique and call up a toad or two?

He shivered at the memory of seeing one of Jiraiya's 'friends' last time: the toad – Gamabunta – almost squished him to death because apparently the damn toad 'didn't see him there'. Gamabunta turned out to be huge – and not huge like a building, he was really, really huge. Naruto couldn't wait to be able to summon someone just as big, though he didn't see it happening any time soon: Jiji specifically told him that no sane summoning creature would want to get involved with some four-years-old.

"Okay, now all you have to do is push chakra into your hands and legs and try to stand on water. Easy-peasy."

Easier said than done! Sure, Jiraiya told him about chakra and chakra control before, but talking was as far as it went! How the heck was he going to figure this one out?! Naruto closed his eyes.

'Right, concentrate,' he thought to himself and put his hands on water's surface, thinking about his inner energy and pushing it into his hands. He didn't feel anything – not a spark or some sort of energy burst – and when he opened his eyes and pushed his palms down, they dived right back in to water without any resistance. He huffed, any tried it again… and again and again, and he was visibly shivering fifteen minutes later, because the water was freezing, never mind the warm weather outside, and he barely moved since he was thrown into this lake.

He looked up at his old man, obviously being confused and not knowing what to do next, but Jiraiya didn't seem to have any answers. On the very contrary, he was deep in thoughts and even began scratching his chin. Naruto was sure that it wasn't a good sign.

"A lot of kids can't do it, even if they try for weeks," Jiraiya said at last and took a few steps forward. Naruto's eyes widened when he just as easily stepped on water and began walking towards him, as if he was still stepping on the ground. "I don't know why, but I thought that this will be something you will be able to perform right away, seeing as you are always sneaking out of your room through the window and somehow get to the first floor without using the stairs. And we live on the sixth floor!"

"Seriously? Weeks?" Naruto asked apprehensively and began swimming towards the training grounds. "Then it should be fine, right? I will have plenty of time to learn it!"

The Legendary Sannin nodded, but he still seemed unsure. Instead of saying anything, he managed to pick up the boy and walk towards the training grounds much quicker. He then let go of Naruto's jacket, which made the latter one fall to the ground, and squatted in front of him, staring right into boy's eyes.

"What, do I have something on my face?" Naruto said jokingly and began touching his face. "Oh, I know – it's because of the whisker marks! Do you want to have them as well? I have a few sharpies, so I can-"

Jiraiya put his thumb, index finger and middle finger together and then touched boy's chest with it, sending a small shot of chakra right through his body to test something. Unless the body that the person was sending chakra into was dead, that small chakra sparkle usually dissolved within person's body within seconds. He frowned even harder when the very chakra that he sent into Naruto's body came right back, entering his body via his fingers once again. The Toad Sage took his hand away and looked down at it.

So, Naruto wasn't dead – that much he could tell by his rapid pulse and erratic breathing, all due to his earlier 'bath time' in the river. The only other option was one of those people who weren't able to use chakra; in fact, it was Kakashi's friend – Gai, wasn't it? – was in a similar situation, only he was able to use chakra whenever he decided to open the Gates inside him. His inability to control chakra meant that, instead of a steady flow, it was racing inside him like a bunch of ping-pong balls being thrown around and constantly hitting each other, thus resuming their bouncing. As a result, Naruto's chakra would be unable to take in his own chakra, and only throw it right back at him.

But why was that? Gai was an exception – he wasn't like the majority, and Jiraiya could honestly admit that he never met someone who had no control over his chakra before meeting him. Therefore, Naruto was something else… was it because of the Nine-Tails and the Shinigami that resided within his body? Did they have full control over boy's whole chakra system? It frightened Jiraiya that it was the potential truth; what if Naruto was never able to use chakra since the day he was born, and was never able to use it again – not if the Death God and the demon fox were sealed off inside him?

"Alright, let's try and do something else," Jiraiya said at last and so they continued with their training.

xxxx

He couldn't stop thinking about how he completely failed his old man during their training.

Instead of being a bad-ass, like he had wanted, and showing perfect chakra control, Naruto completely failed in using any sort of chakra, to his utter disappointment; Jiraiya didn't seem as displeased with him, only confused. But still, not a million years did he think that he wouldn't be able to show even a minimal chakra control! Jiji told him that, although he had some chakra inside him, he seemed to be the type who wasn't able to control it, but he reassured Naruto by saying that it's not the end of the world.

How could he possibly say that – he, the almighty Legendary Sannin who fought in so many battles, killed so many people and all of that to protect what he loved? Did Naruto have to give up on his dream of becoming as strong as him someday? But how can fate be so cruel to him?

He asked Jiraiya to stay behind for a few hours. Jiraiya only shrugged, telling him not to over-work himself, and left without saying another word. He looked worried, that much Naruto could tell, but he had to figure it out on his own.

The boy stopped thinking about that voice inside his head after what happened on the fireworks' night, and he spent the last seven days messing around the hospital and mixing everything; basically, he was the usual him. Now, however, if there was even a slightest possibility that the Shinigami would help him like he did back then…

'Oi, Shiniga- Shinigami-sama, I need your help!'

There was no response, so Naruto huffed and began silently calling out for the supposedly 'Death God' again and again.

Eventually, he could feel something – it was as if someone was tickling his brain with a feather. He began giggling and scratching his head, though it was absolutely pointless: the tickling only stopped when Shinigami made himself known.

'If you want to talk to me, you will have to enter your own mind and explore it,' said the voice loud and clear. "Close your eyes and I will lead you."

Naruto did as he was told, squeezing his eyes shut and laying down just in case he was going to faint while he and that… creature had a talk. A moment later he felt like someone was pulling at his sub consciousness and, after a second thought, he decided to give in, pushing in the same direction, although the term 'pushing' didn't have an impact in your mind – it was more of a… drifting in that direction.

Everything around the boy was black, no matter how many times his inner self blinked and rubbed his eyes. He tried walking and shouting – and maybe he was, but this overpowering darkness made him feel like he wasn't doing anything at all. Like he was just standing there, completely unmoving and emotionless.

Then, everything changed because he felt like his jacket and trousers were soaking wet. Did he regain his consciousness? Well, there is only one way to find out.

He slowly forced his eyelids to lift, and when they did, Naruto realised that he was, indeed, laying down, but not on the mossy training ground; instead, he found himself laying on the dirty floor in some dimly-lit corridor. He pushed himself up, but struggled to stand straight, his whole body still shaking from his sudden 'transportation' here. He coughed a few times and spit, finally looking down; the whole corridor was filled with water that was making the dirt stick to his trousers and shoes.

Naruto tried to wipe the dirt off his cheek, but he could still feel that some of it was there. Whatever, it's not like he was going to see anyone from the real world here, anyway. After taking off his shoes and throwing them away, for they were fully soaked and kept sticking to his feet, Naruto began walking straight, looking around. Just a big corridor with dark-green walls that were obviously chipping. He came up to one of the doors and tried opening it, but to no vain, so he kept going straight and looking around, hoping to see an open door.

Eventually, he felt like something was pulling him forward, so he followed that invisible force and soon found himself entering the only room around that was open. Right away, Naruto saw golden bars with some sort of a seal in the middle – was there something hidden in that cage? However, he didn't have time to dwell on this question, for he heard a series of steps behind him and swiftly turned around, his hands clenching into fists.

He could almost feel his jaw dropping when he saw that 'someone' who was following him. If this creature wasn't a God, then Naruto had no idea how real Gods looked like because, surely, there wasn't anyone more magnificent than this?! Dressed in long robes, with white hair, black eyes, red horns and a devilish smile, Shinigami was good few meters taller than Naruto, and the Death God was looking down at the boy as if he was a mere toddler.

"Wow," Naruto couldn't help but give out which caused Shinigami to smile even wider, revealing his fangs to the boy. "So you are the voice in my head… the God of Death?"

"Hai," the God replied truthfully and to Naruto, this voice was even deeper than the one he heard only a week ago. This voice carried more weight within it – this was the voice that belonged to a God. "Namikaze Naruto, I've been watching you."

"Everyone is calling me Uzumaki, though," the boy amended quietly, still in trance from the God in front of him. If someone told him a month or so ago that he will one day casually talk to the Death God, he would have probably kicked the idiot that sputtered such nonsense. Now, however, all he wanted to do was to jump up and scream 'yoshaa I'm talking to a real God, dattebayo!'

Nevertheless, he still had some doubts about the whole 'the Death God is inside my head and is talking to me' thing, so he had to ask, just to make sure. "You're not the product of my imagination, right?"

Shinigami scoffed, "Even if I say 'no', you will just assume that's what your brain would have told you, too. If I say 'yes', you will probably start hitting yourself against the nearby wall and call out for Jiraiya to release you from thins genjutsu."

Naruto blinked a few times. "How do you know what I was planning to do?"

"I watched you long enough to know your character and I can safely say what you will do next in any given situation at any time," the Death God replied soon and he was no longer smiling. He took a few steps closer and gave Naruto a look that the latter didn't understand one bit; was he angry with Naruto? Was he genuinely interested in what he was doing here? Was he pissed off? Did Gods even get pissed off?

"Why did you decide to show yourself?" Naruto asked in all seriousness. As far as he could recall, the last time they talked Shinigami told him straight away that he didn't want to show himself for the time being.

Instead of giving him a reply, Shinigami picked him up, his hands on both sides of the small human's body, and looked into his eyes. The boy held back the shudder from staring into God's black eyes that were piercing his own; for half a second Naruto thought that these very eyes could consume his soul, but this was stupid, right? Shinigami had to perform a series of seals or something in order to consume a soul.

"I have never had a chance to look at you after you were born," Shinigami said in that husky and deep voice of his. He carefully studied boy's face and paid extra attention to his head. "I'm not surprised that you resemble me, but a human version, although I don't have a single idea why you still have these whisker marks."

"Oh, them? I always had them. I remember seeing an album with my and Jiji's pictures in it, and I had whisker marks even when I was a baby… Dunno why, though, cause my Mum and Dad never had them."

"It's not about your family and their heritage, silly human," Shinigami chucked darkly, his eyes mischievously glistering. "You don't know why you have them because no one bothered to tell you the full truth about your parents and what you really are, Namikaze Naruto – the human child that will one day change shinobi world and will get rid of the vomit and piss that people keep pouring into it. But, everything has a price and you will have to do something for me."

Boy looked eager to find out more, so he vigorously nodded, "If it means that I will find out more about my parents… Jiji refuses to tell me much about them, and I don't know if I should ask Kakashi about his teacher and his teacher's wife."

"Even if you asked, Hatake Kakashi wouldn't tell you, human child – his mind and history are too complicated for you to understand, for you are still a child and you think like one. Now, what I need from you is to do my job for me while I'm trapped inside your body."

"Wait, but you still didn't tell me why you are sealed inside of me, Shinigami!" Naruto exclaimed, dropping the honorifics and frowning – the euphoria and excitement at seeing a real God were gone, and now that he finally met Shinigami, he wasn't going back without receiving answers, dammit! Not after Kakashi suggested that he was going crazy and he himself made up that voice in his head.

"Let me explain myself before you jump to conclusions," Shinigami said in that powerful voice of his, cutting off everything that Naruto was planning to say. "I am a God, and as a God of Death, I have to make sure that souls of those who pray for me are taken care of. This isn't ideal – believe me, I have thought of it for years and I'm still having my doubts about the whole arrangement – but someone on the outside, even if it's just a kid, has to do my job for me."

"So you can't get out of here?"

"At the moment – no, but I'm working on it. Do you want to find out the whole truth about your parents, all the while repaying me with little favours like this, or do you wish to live for the rest of your life without being enlightened on your true heritage?"

Naruto thought, and Naruto thought hard about the whole arrangement. What did he have to lose, really? Sure, it was the Death God that they were talking about, but if he didn't already kill Naruto, then… he wasn't able to do it any time soon, either, right? He knew that if Jiraiya was here with him, he would have probably kicked Naruto and told him to stop agreeing to everything so recklessly. But what if, after seeing his hesitation, Shinigami decided to do everything on his own? And Naruto won't find out anything about his family.

"Fine, I… I agree to this. You have to explain everything that you want me to do, though – if it's something like going around and killing people-"

"Don't worry, it's nothing like that," Shinigami said and put the boy down. "I wouldn't expect some four-years-old to go as far as to kill random people, all for finding out more about his parents. Sounds like something your human's horror books are made of… But here is what I need of you. I want you to be able to travel a lot and collect souls; I don't expect you to do it on your own and I suppose you can tell someone else about this, but there is range of people that can find out about this. If you go as far as to tell Jiraiya, the present Hokage or anyone from the council, I will break off our arrangement and you will never get to find out things about your parents that even their closest friends didn't know about.

"The process of collecting a soul isn't as awful as it sounds like. As you are probably quite aware, things outside of Konoha aren't as peaceful, and other villages constantly enter wars, killing for the sake of killing, but covering their desire for blood with things like 'more territory' and 'more money'. Although it has been almost five years since the Fourth Great Shinobi War, it is still happening all over the world. But the thing is, there are plenty of people who come to the battlefield not because they want to fight for their country, but because they were forced to by their Kages and, in some cases, threatened.

"Whenever things like this happen and the said person dies, their soul is left without peace, wandering between life and death, but never reaching any of them. Thus, it is only generous of me to consume their souls, and I always did so before being sealed off inside you. Now, however, there is little to no chance that I can do it, so the best you can do is get rid of these souls."

"How do I get rid of them?" the boy asked after a few minutes of deep thinking. This stuff was still too confusing to him, but the idea that he was going to put these souls at peace made him happy. "And why are you so… good? Aren't you supposed to be the God of Death, killing everyone who calls you?"

"All souls that go through to the afterlife go through me," said the Death God after a short pause and rolled up his sleeves, showing the black tattoos on his arms. "See those? You can see them as my supporting evidence: if it wasn't for these tattoos, all of the souls that I consumed would have stayed in the same state, flying between life and death without an end."

"Wait, so every single soul goes through your body?" Naruto asked in disbelief – sure, he was a God, but this was a bit too much though – and Shinigami nodded.

"I only appear in human world to consume two souls – the soul of a person that called me and his opponent's person, otherwise I can do everything from the underworld. In this state, as I said earlier, I can't do the same but we can still save some souls, so help me. I'm not saint – I can assure you of this, I have consumed souls that belonged to innocent people too many times – but neither am I the devil as you, humans, seem to think of me. Do we have a deal, then?"

There were still some uncertainties and Naruto was unsure how exactly was he going to travel around the world without Jiraiya because there was no way in hell that his Jiji was going to agree to this, but the whole thing didn't sound as bad as he thought. In fact, if everything that Shinigami said was true, wouldn't that make him the saviour of the world? Just how many souls was he going to save?!

"We can begin with the Fire Country," as if reading his thoughts – perhaps he was, actually – said Shinigami. "We won't travel as much as I would like, but it would suffice until you become a genin and Hokage will start sending you off on different missions outside of the Fire Country."

"But I don't want to become a genin," Naruto said honestly, "and you should know it by now, seeing as you know what I'm thinking about…"

"It's not the matter of you want, Naruto – you have to, otherwise Konoha's council won't allow you to leave Konoha's border."

"Why would they do it?"

Shinigami kept silent.

"Will you tell me when I help you in consuming one soul?"

"Yes, but before doing so, you have to know something. You can't use chakra."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck and looked down, trying not to look too upset, but completely failing. "I know that… and it seems that I can't do anything about it."

"It's partly my fault, actually. When I was sealed off inside you, you lost your ability to use chakra. I didn't consume it, per se, but my mere presence made sure that you can no longer use chakra that naturally produces within your body – instead, my body automatically gets rid of it, leaving only enough for you to survive."

"Can't you fix this?" the boy said hopefully and looked up right into God's black eyes. "Our travelling will be much easier if I can jump from tree to tree…"

Shinigami tilted his head to the left, eyeing Naruto with slight interest. "I am a God and I currently reside within you. I will teach you everything that you need to know, and in a few years people of the same age as you won't be worth anything, when compared to you. You are forgetting where chakra came from, and that it is just a pure imitation of the power that us, Gods, possess. Now go back and concentrate on your taijutsu: that's all you need to know for now."

One – and the walls are nothing but a dark-green stain in his eyes. Two – and the image of Shinigami begins to fade. Three – and he abruptly wakes up in his body, sitting up and coughing due to the sudden teleportation. Or, rather, regaining consciousness.

Well, at least he knew what he had to do now.

He had to ask his old man to take him to the library, learn everything there is to learn for the finals and become the best ninja ever in order to save lives, dattebayo!

xxxx

In reality, becoming 'the best' wasn't that easy in the least.

It has been almost three weeks since Naruto began coming to the library, a few minutes away from his house, that he realised how pointless him sitting here was. Sure, he opened books and began reading them, but every time he faced two struggles and didn't know how to overcome them.

First of all, his reading skills were… rusty. And that was a nice way to put it. So what if he didn't stay in the library for hours and hours, reading fairy tales and whatnot? He enjoying playing in the park much more, so up until today he didn't see his poor reading skills as anything to be ashamed of. Now, however, when he was struggling to read some extremely long names in some of the history books, he simply felt dishearted; well, that, and the fact that he found it almost impossible to link certain paragraphs with each other. Maybe he was one of those people who weren't able to read like an average person did? How were they called, again? Dys- dyslek-

Either way, the other problem that he faced while reading old, dusty books, was his lack of attention. He didn't really mind when people called him hyper – that was the truth, after all – but he did mind it when his interest span was so short. One minute he was squinting his eyes, trying to make sense of what he was reading, and the next he found himself standing next to a shelf with magazines and old newspapers. Seriously, how did this happen?

He thought about asking someone for help, but his only friends – Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji – were probably going to make fun of him and call him a geek for spending so much time in libraries; Kiba and Choji certainly would, anyway – Naruto wasn't so sure about Konoha's laziest kid, Shikamaru.

Talking to Jiji about his 'problems' was just awkward, as he would probably decide to sit in libraries with him and ask him to read everything out loud. No, thanks, he didn't want to embarrass himself for life, not until he became at least a chuunin. Kakashi and others were probably busy with missions – now wasn't the safest time in the ninja world and many ninjas he knew had to undertake solo missions, some of them not coming back.

So, who was he going to ask? Calling Shinigami seemed like an absolutely moronic idea, although he probably knew of his struggles already. No, the Death God wasn't sealed inside him, so he could teach Naruto how to read and get what you're reading, dammit!

But never mind that, he felt too tired and decided to take a break. Stretching out and sighing in relief, he closed the books and left them on his table, along with his jacket: the last couple of days were exceptionally warm, so he took full usage of this nice weather. He waved at the librarian (who only fixed her glasses and gave him an evil look, as if she saw right through his demeanour and knew that he was up to some mischief) and left the library, checking his pockets for any cash and slowly walking down the street, the sun feeling rather nice on his face.

It was then that Naruto heard what he dearly hoped wasn't a bunch of bullies. "So what, no one likes your wide forehead anyway!"

"I-I don't care, I have bangs that cover m-my forehead," he heard some other girl stutter and began looking around; he did not like the direction that conversation was taking, for he knew it all too well.

"You think that this will make your gigantic forehead look smaller? Ha-ha-ha, you are even dumber than I thought, Forehead Girl!"

"S-stop…"

"Oh, that's a good one! Come one, Forehead Girl!"

"Forehead Girl!"

"Forehead Girl!"

Naruto turned around the corner just when a bunch of kids began chanting that awful nickname, and he didn't stop himself from landing a punch on one of them.

In usual situation, his kick, no matter how much force and anger he put into it, didn't leave much damage – he wasn't as physically fit and taijutsu trained as some other kids, even a few months younger than him; and the kid that he hit with such passion looked at least two or three years older than him. So imagine his surprise when his hit not only made the kid stumble, but also made him completely lose his balance and sent him flying to the ground a few meters away from Naruto and the rest of the kids.

Naruto looked at his fist in pure wonder. Did Shinigami… help him just now?

He heard other kids gasp, and when he finally looked up, four pairs of eyes were looking at him. However, not all of them were full of hatred – a girl with pink hair and green eyes looked at him like he was her hero. Without a second thought, he pointed his index finger at her and slightly smiled, "You…"

It was that girl from the Yamanaka Flower – he saw her when he was picking flowers for his parents' graves. The pink-haired girl seemed confused for a second, but then her tear-filled eyes cleared and she began to viciously nod.

They didn't have much time to talk, however; the kid that Naruto hit a few seconds ago was already picking himself up and slowly dusting his trousers off, everything about him screaming that he was absolutely pissed with whoever it was that interrupted him.

"And who are you, scumbag?" he said as he looked up and frowned at Naruto's appearance. "Ah, it's you, Demon Boy. Want to get beaten up, or something?"

For some reason, Naruto wasn't scared or distressed about that kid's words – usually they would have at least some sort of effect on him. Now, however, he was at absolute peace, and even his hyperactive self didn't seem to show itself. Maybe it was because, for the first time, he was going into a fight for someone other than himself? He recalled that he never fought for one of his friends; Choji was the epicenter of calmness and peace, so no one really cared about him and how much meat he liked to eat for dinner. Oh, and there was also a fact that he came from a relatively well-known clan, just as Shikamaru and Kiba did, so not many civilian kids found it in themselves to mess with the off springs of some of village's strongest clans.

Now, however? Now he didn't mind beating the crap out of that arrogant kid for bullying a girl who didn't look older than him and kept nervously fidgeting with her fingers. All he had to do was grasp her hand and run as fast as possible, just until he saw some abandoned shop or house, but something within him said that there was no need. This 'something' spoke loud and clear, like he knew what he was talking about, and it might have just been Shinigami supporting him, though he could be wrong.

If he was able to send on them flying to the ground with a single kick, what would he able to do to the rest? There were two guys and a girl, and the three of them were only a year or so older than Naruto. That, and the fact that the girl was already trembling with fear, and he could almost see her holding back her tears. Wow, he didn't know he was that scary from a side point of view.

Trying to look as intimidating as he could (to do so, Naruto clenched both of his hands into fists, lowered his head and began looking at the rest of the bullies from below his eyebrows), he deliberately took a slow but powerful step forwards. He knew that he wasn't anything to be scared of – and neither was any other four-years-old – but it made the two guys flinch and that girl even chocked, obviously not wanting to whimper in front of them. The guy that Naruto sent flying to the ground, however, only spit and wiped his mouth, standing into a fighting position.

"Come at me, ya lil' Demon Boy."

But Naruto acted smarter than that: he continued standing and staring at them with equal dislike. If that bastard wanted to vent him up, it didn't work; for the first time in months, Naruto didn't feel like attacking his opponent, and instead decided to wait for his attack. Eventually, his silence pissed the other kid off and, with a grunt, he lunged at Naruto with his right fist drawn forward.

Everything after that was happening in slow-motion for Naruto. One second he stood still, his body as stoic as a rock and his mind at peace, and the next he drawled his left hand out, grabbing the kid's fist that was obviously heading in his face's direction. He squeezed guy's fist and pulled him downwards and to himself, thus moving the guy's whole body in the whole direction.

Before his opponent had time to dodge or land another attack on him, Naruto kicked him right into his nose with his right fist, making sure that he put as much force into that kick as he had. Instead of letting go of the guy's fist, which would send him flying backwards from Naruto's previous punch, the latter one kept a tight hold of his fist and kicked the guy in his stomach – once, twice, thrice, again and again, with his knees, his right hand that was currently clenched into a fist and, finally, with his foot. The last kick made the guy bend over and give out a series of violent cough, but Naruto never felt so powerful, so he didn't stop himself from acting upon his true desires.

Opening up his left hand, thus allowing the guy to take a few steps back, Naruto quckly threw his right arm over guy's neck and held it in place with his left hand, just in case that kid was strong enough to get out of his harms. Tightening his hold – not enough to make his opponent choke, mind you, but just enough to make him start grabbing your right arm and begging you to let him go – Naruto put his left foot forward, unbeknown to the guy. Then, he swiftly and efficiently dragged the guy in his leg's direction, and the latter one wasn't able to put his arms forward to prevent himself from falling on the ground once again and landing on his very face (that he probably really valued, but it wasn't like Naruto cared enough about letting this guy go without a few good hits).

Feeling like it still wasn't enough, Naruto pulled that guy up by his collar and head-butted him without holding back – the one thing that he always executed flawlessly. "You call me 'Demon Boy' or something else one more time and I will make sure that you don't get home in one piece!"

It was a minute or two later, when the so-called 'band' already fled, scared for their own lives, that Naruto felt someone touching his shoulder and he almost jumped at the touch. Unfortunately, he wasn't one of those lucky people who knew how to speak or act around girls.

"Thank you for protecting me…"

Rapidly blinking, he tilted his head to the left. Why did she pause?

Oh, she wanted to know his name!

"Uzumaki Naruto, 'ttebayo!"

"Thank you, Naruto," the pinkette said with a gentle smile and, after a bit more fidgeting, quickly stretched her arm out and even bowed. "I'm Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you!"

He nervously laughed but shook her hand nevertheless. Was it how all girls talked to guys? If so, then he had no wonder why Shikamaru constantly referred to the female population as being 'troublesome' – who knew what she was going to do next? Maybe she was going to throw herself at him and almost suffocate him with hugs!

Luckily for him, nothing like that happened when they broke their handshake. On the very contrary, Sakura took a step back and straightened her back, her green eyes shining. Naruto didn't know what to say next, so he decided to voice the first thing that came into his mind.

"Haruno Sakura? Doesn't that mean 'spring blossom' or something?"

Sakura giggled and nodded, "Y-yeah, a lot of people tell me that. I suppose it's only expected, but it's still sort of… annoying, I guess. And you? Why did they call you 'Demon Boy'? That was completely awful of them!"

"Ah, it's because of these," said Naruto, pointing at his horns and then curling one of his white strands on his right hand's index finger. The action caused him to wince and abruptly bow down, holding onto his right hand and whispering 'ittai!' again and again. The euphoria from giving someone such a good beating was gone, and now he had to face the consequences of his rushed (but absolutely right!) actions.

"Are you okay?" Sakura worriedly exclaimed and bowed down, trying to gauge his face expression. When she received a nod from his, Sakura sighed in relief. "But are these real? Like, d-did you have them since birth?"

"Yeah… don't you think it's weird? Most people call me a freak because of them," he said in all honesty and straightened up, looking around. The small alleyway, save for the two of them, was empty and it didn't look like someone was going to come here any sooner.

"Why would I call you a freak? I'm a freak, too," she said honestly and gave out a dry laugh. Naruto didn't think it was a laughing matter, however, and instead of saying 'yeah' or something, he decided to do something his Jiji would frown upon. He raised his left hand and, clenching it into a fist, hit Sakura's head with a loud 'thumb'. She yelped, taken by complete surprise, and took a few steps backwards, eyeing him carefully and looking hurt because she trusted him, dammit!

"What was that for?!"

"Let's make a deal: you are not a freak and I'm not a freak, alright? As long as the other doesn't call you a freak, you aren't one. And don't listen to other people – my old man always said that people like to blabber some gibberish that hurts other people, so… don't listen to them. And your forehead, um," Naruto could feel his cheeks heating up and he shifted his weight from his left leg to his right one. "I-I think your forehead looks nice. So. Don't hide it with bangs. I-I mean if you don't want to."

This was the time when Sakura decided to blush, too, so she averted her gaze, though she was still frowning because he hit her earlier.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"I wasn't!"

Silence.

"F-fine, I will think about growing them out," she said slowly, "but only if you promise not to hide your horns!"

"I never hid my horns!"

"Good! Then… don't do it in the future…"

Pinkette opened her mouth as she wanted to say something else, but no words left her mouth and she abruptly closed it. Naruto took it as her trying to not come put rude by saying that she needs to go, so he helped her, "Umm, I need to go back to the library now, so I will see you aro-"

"Oh!" Sakura perked up and she finally looked him in the eyes. "I-I was going to the library, too."

"Great, then we can go together," Naruto said, beaming at her, all the while trying not to sound too eager – after all, he never had a female friend before! To prevent himself from saying something stupid, thus embarrassing himself in front of her for all it was worth, Naruto carefully looked at her from the corner of his eyes. The first thing that he noticed in her was her hair; having a pink hair was unnatural, but then, who was he to talk, what with white hair and everything? She was slightly shorter than him, carrying a big bag that was filled with-

"Sakura!" he suddenly shouted out which made her jump up and look at him like he was losing his mind. "You have so many books – you like to read, right?"

"Erm, well," she murmured, looking for correct words, "y-yeah, I do and I spend a lot of time reading…"

"Great, I need your help!"

Seeing her confused face, he elaborated, "I'm entering the Academy in a few months-"

"Me too."

"-and I was looking through a bunch of books," that was the understatement of the year, "but I just don't get it… Can you help? In reading, I mean?"

Sakura thought of his proposal for a moment and then carefully nodded, chewing on her lower lip in that nervous habit of hers. It looked like she was seriously considering his proposal – and something else. "I will… but in return, can you teach me how to fight like this? My taijutsu is weak, and my Mum said I shouldn't enter the Academy because I will fall behind in physical combats…"

"Don't worry, I will get you there in no time!" Naruto exclaimed with a thumb up, beaming at her. By the time they reached the library, the two couldn't stop giggling at the face that brat made after Naruto hit him and sent him flying to the ground.

xxxx

Hundreds and hundreds kilometers away from Konoha, man that called himself Pein opened his eyes and sniffed the air. For some unfathomable reason, Konan didn't wake up this morning and, judging by Sun's position, it was nearing 1 in the afternoon. His last fight exhausted him so much that he had to sleep, and now it turned out that he slept for approximately seventeen or so hours.

His opponent was much stronger than Pein expected, but it's not to say that he thought of losing; no, he didn't have a right to even think about a word like this – not when he was finally forming his organization and had to show how strong and dangerous he is. Him and Konan already found a few potential members, but Pein said that he needs to see them for himself – perhaps they were just ordinary missing-nins who killed a bunch of people and the public made them out to be much more dangerous than they actually were.

Pein sat up on his bed, mused his hair and put on an ordinary black cloak. He and the other three members of Akatsuki were currently staying at one of their hideouts in the Wave Country. All of them hated hiding and preferred to make themselves known to their enemies, but not now, when there were only four of them: Pein aimed to gain at least another six members. Ten was a good number. Ten would make them seem like an official organization, never mind that people right across the world already heard of them and knew what sort of threat they are.

It wasn't long before he stood up and left his room, all thought about potential members hiding at the back of his mind: there were things that he had to take care of before leaving the Wave Country once again.

The compound that they were currently occupying once belonged to Wave's daimyo but Kakuzu quickly got rid of the 'problem' and made sure that no one would be coming here, looking for that guy, any time soon. Pein wasn't used to this sort of luxury, but he still took full use of it. He looked out of the window when he heard a soft whistle, and wasn't surprised at all when he saw a familiar figure nearing the compound. Instead of using chakra and transporting himself outside, he slowly approached the stairs and began walking down just as slowly.

A minute or so later, he closed the main door behind himself. "Your whistle was probably what woke me up, then. Did you bring what I need, Orochimaru?"

The said nukenin smirked and licked his lips with that disgustingly long tongue of his, "But of course – you can check it for yourself, I wasn't certain whether I should give it to Konan-san. You know how it is, no one can be trusted."

"Konan is my right hand and she is the most trusted member of Akatsuki," Pein retorted coldly and took the scroll from Orochimaru's hands. He then got rid of the seal and swiftly opened it, his Rinnegan studying its content in great details. Usually, his eyes didn't show any emotions and the remaining members were used to his blank face expression, but now… Pein didn't stop himself from smiling when he finished reading the document. Good gods, it was even better than he expected!

"Then, shall we attack, Leader-sama?" Orochimaru asked in that sly manner of his, his gaze calculating and greedy. "Now would be the perfect timing to capture-"

"Now would be the worst timing to try and capture the Nine-Tails," was his immediate reply. "It doesn't matter that the war has ended roughly five years ago: most countries are still in conflict with each other and take any precautions they need to keep themselves and their people safe. Even though you have an insider person in Konoha, it doesn't change the fact that we will be noticed right away, and my Shinra Tensei technique still isn't complete… Even with our current powers, I doubt Konoha's shinobi will give up without a fight. We have to wait."

"But you saw what's written about that boy, Namikaze Naruto, right? The council suspects that both the Nine-Tails and the God of Death are sealed off inside of him, although they aren't sure. If we are able to capture the boy and extract both, we will have some un-imaginary powers – powers that belong to a God!" The feverish excitement in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by Pein, and he frowned. He knew from the very start that Orochimaru isn't someone who should be trusted; he wanted too much power all at once, and that's not what Akatsuki was aiming for. Their primary goal was to reach perfect peace, even if it would be achieved through pain and fear…

"I am a God," was Pein's final answer, yet he could see how the corners of Orochimaru's mouth began lowering. The snake-man was obviously unhappy, but if he even dared to voice his true opinion, Pein would get rid of him in a fracture of a second. "I possess godly powers and my paths are similar to that of God's. We don't need the Death God at our disposal right now, and will only began considering it after we capture the rest of the present jinchuriki. But even then, we won't be the one who will use his power as we wish – we will use it for a greater cause."

"Of course, Leader-sama, I didn't dare to wish for anything else."

Pein wasn't convinced in the slightest; he was good at reading people and he could see it as clear as day that Orochimaru had his own ideas on the whole thing and perhaps wanted to rebel. As long as these desires stayed desires, Pein truly didn't care. Other members joined Akatsuki for a range of different reasons, and if having godly powers and hundreds upon hundreds of dead – and alive – bodies was what Orochimaru wished for after they reached their peace, well… Pein was going to make sure that it didn't happen.

"Out of interest… how many people did you have to kill, in order to obtain this scroll?" Pein asked without a second thought. If killing off a whole village meant peace in the end, he didn't mind, but he was still a bit apprehensive about Orochimaru. The man loved to kill, but he also liked keeping his victims alive for his future experiments, so… how many were killed this time?

"Oh, only a handful, Leader-sama. You see, I informed Sarutobi that I will drop by to pick that scroll a few weeks before the set date and my favourite sensei made sure that I got inside Konoha without many casualties… Who else is as lucky as me and has a direct connection with the village's Kage, Leader?"

xxxx

A/N: Dun dun dunnnn Yeah I made Sarutobi evil guy who's helping Orochimaru. Why? *snickers* Well, you will have to read on to find out – I can only say that I reeeeally like the whole idea of Hiruzen being an evil guy… Or maybe he isn't evil after all? Who knows (certainly not me cause I'm making this up as I go along lol)