unknown warrior – No, I'm definitely meaning lb. Look up a databook of characters on almost anything Japanese. Even considering different biology, they like to freakishly underweigh their characters. For example, the character databook says a 12-13-year-old Sakura is 35.9kg, which is only about 79lb.

Deidara-Chan – I realize not many people like to use logic, but that's where all the fun comes in. If I can give a legitimate reason for an anti-Sharingan technique, then that's cool. If I can give a legitimate reason to be able to skip multiple handseals, then all the better when I decide somebody needs to godmode. As for grammar, that's understandable; some of the scenes I have to force myself to finish up at times to stay within a decent time parameter.

Arc One: Prelude to Darkness

Chapter Four: Dealings with Foxes and Wolves

One of the imperatives of being a ninja was to always be able to expect the unexpected – failing that, a shinobi must do their best to be able to adapt to the situation to maximize their efficiency over the task at hand. Even with that lesson ingrained in him, it was still a bit of a surprise when Naruto abruptly woke up while rolling over and found himself, not sleeping in a bed with rays from the moonlight poking through his window, but rather sleeping on the hard dirt of a dark, damp cave that reeked heavily of animal. Taking a few seconds to think over what was going on, he remembered the circumstances that had led him to here, sleeping in a fox den.

Finding the foxes had not been so bad, Naruto reflected. Having stretched his senses out a bit and with some instructions from Kyuubi, he easily located the cave that the family had taken over and made into a den. It was when he intruded upon their new home that things had gotten a bit out of the usual for him.

*Flashback*

Having found the entrance to the den in the wall of a small cliff, Naruto easily understood how the place had gone uninhabited until then; humidity from the nearby stream collected up at the bottom of the cliff, and had become trapped in the cave. The year-round heat that was present thanks to Konoha's location near the geographical center of the continent added to the unsufferable heat of the cave, creating hot damp air. The only way residency in the cave could be tolerable was to consistently keep your head less than two feet off the ground, as the moisture tended to congregate near the top of the cave, causing droplets of water sliding down the ceiling towards the wall.

At Kyuubi's insistence, Naruto crawled through the cave, trying to make a decent amount of noise so as to not startle the fox, yet not so much so as to scare them off. After crawling about twenty feet through the tunnel, a little yip followed by a growl interrupted Naruto's mental conversation with the Kyuubi as he saw a red-furred fox standing aggressively before him. The Kyuubi cut into the showdown as he communicated with Naruto, 'Gaki, you will want to use my yokai here – it will allow you to temporarily speak fox.'

Naruto complied, though a bit awed at the jack-of-all-trades use Kyuubi's yokai was beginning to seem to have when properly applied, as well as a bit uneased over how readily the kitsune was giving him some of his yokai (he had made it bitterly clear at the beginning of his mentorship that he would almost never allow him useage of his yokai), and a thin coat of red began to shine around his body, startling the fox that stood before him. What surprised Naruto, however, even with Kyuubi's warning, was his understanding the fox's yips and growls. "Who are you? You smell like fox, yet you are human!" Crude and to-the-point, but effective at getting its desire across for knowledge to satiate its own natural vulpine curiosity.

Before it even crossed his conscious mind that he was speaking to a fox, Naruto responded in a series of grunts and growls, "Kyuubi-sama sent me." He then realized what he had just done, and backed up, thinking over the last few seconds. So caught up in this revelation Naruto was that he missed the tail end of what the sentry fox said to him. Flushing at not paying attention, he spoke up, continuing his guttural speech, "I'm sorry, what was that again?"

The fox was annoyed at having to repeat himself, but having seen Naruto's eyes take on a glazed look for a few seconds, he had an idea of what had been going on – despite foxes being, well, more animalistic in their wanderings, lore still managed to pass down through the ages, and the sealing of demons into human beings was one of them. "As I asked, how do you know Kyuubi-sama?" By now, however, he had an idea of what was going on, particularly given Konoha's hostility to anything fox.

Naruto yipped back, "I am the vessel that he was sealed into seven years ago." Seeing the fox look slightly more hostile than before at the news, he quickly added, "It was not my choice, and he has no chance of escape from the seal that holds him for at least another seven years."

The fox gave off something between a sigh and a snort – Naruto couldn't quite tell given that a fox's face had less flexibility to express emotions – but responded with a bit more cordiality than before. "What does Kyuubi-sama want from us?"

Naruto was slightly bemused at how the fox had easily fallen in line at the mention of the Kyuubi, but quickly sought to explain why he was here, "Kyuubi-sama doesn't want anything. On the contrary; rather, as an unfortunate side of his attack on Konohagakure seven years ago, the local fox population has sharply declined. He has picked up on this; as his vessel, he wishes for me to do offer what aid I can in boosting numbers. As such, ask and I will do what I can to help the family here."

The fox stayed silent for a minute, then responded, "We have three males and five females, all adults, two expecting a litter a little before the full moon."

Naruto tried to remember the state of the moon from the night before, and recalled it as being a little bit more than a sliver. "So in about twenty-four days?" He asked as a rough estimate, going off his knowledge of a full moon being approximately 28 days give or take a negligible fraction.

"Twenty four solar cycles," the fox agreed. "It is too wet in here, so either find us another place to reside or get rid of the dampness. All my packmates refuse to leave the cave right now out of fear of other humans, and I alone cannot provide for all eight of us. If you could, please secure some manner of prey for us."

So, get rid of dampness, get food. Can I do that, Kyuubi-sama? Naruto prompted his inner demon.

'Yes, you certainly can. However, for now, you can only get food. Come into the mindscape tonight and I shall show you a jutsu that shall solve for the problem of dampness.'

"Kyuubi-sama says I should be capable of both. I cannot help with the moisture just yet, but I can get food. However, you need not worry about humans, though; this place is protected by seals that prevent most humans from getting in. To my knowledge, there are only four humans capable of entering the surrounding the area outside in about a four kilometre radius," Naruto said. Thinking the conversation over, he flipped over and turned his body around to crawl out.

"Wait!" The fox yipped out, its slit eyes narrowing in what looked to be wary distrust. Naruto turned his head around. "Is it simply because Kyuubi-sama asked you to help us that you do?"

Naruto just laid there for a minute and thought. "No, it is not. Kyuubi-sama only made a request of me, not an order. Rather," here, he gained a look of frustration on his face, "When he was sealed in me, the village that he was attacked had suffered losses of many sorts, and I simply was the most convenient scapegoat. My goal ever since I found out why I was hated by so many was to prevent others from suffering the same as I did. At first, it was a will only to be extended to my fellow humans, but seeing how Konoha has abused the vulpine population, I cannot stand for that either." Finishing his monologuing, he concluded, "If that is all, then I believe I am done here?" With no response, he crawled back out of the cave, leaving a thoughtful fox behind.

*End Flashback*

After that, he had gone out for the hunt, putting his instincts, senses and shinobi skills to use.

*Flashback*

A low breeze whistled through the trees, but the prey paid no attention, as a brown rabbit nibbled on the grass. After all, it was often windy, and during this time of the year, when the heat began to pick up and the air became heavy with moisture, the pickings were good. Besides, its main natural predator, foxes, had not been seen in years, and over time the rabbit's instincts had dulled. Finally, it was in an out-of-the-way location far from any centre of humans, so it had no need to fear the possibility of being hunted by them either.

Hence when a four-sided shuriken flew through the air silently, the rabbit never had a chance to know it was dead as the metal star pierced its throat, its carotid artery bleeding out as its lifeblood left its body. A young golden-haired boy, who had made sure to stay downwind of the summer breeze to avoid his scent being given away, and put his hand over the bleeding to keep the meat of the rabbit fresh.

It was then that it struck Naruto that this was the first time that he had killed anything bigger than the common fly or a fish. As if a plug had been pulled on his mind, a torrent of emotions flooded through him all at once in a rush. At first, he was horrified. He had just killed a rabbit, a living, breathing mammal, in cold blood - and for what? Food? He could always have just gotten ramen or vegetables from the log cabin.

Just as he was about to break down crying in memory of the poor, innocent creature he had just taken the life of, the more rational part of his brain began to hold back the waves of confusion. That was all very well for him, but what of the foxes? They needed food now, and they were far more carnivorous in their eating habits than humans were. He couldn't very well blame evolution for that, now could he? Additionally, he had long since learned that if he was to ever become a shinobi he needed to be prepared to kill in what was essentially a dog-eat-dog world, particularly if he wished to fulfill his goal of preventing others from living what life had been like for him before that fateful day two years ago.

Still, it was with a heavy heart that Naruto walked away from the clearing, but eventually the adrenaline wore off and his blood vessels eased, as he came to an abrupt realization: he might not like killing, but for every necessary kill he made, it was a kill somebody else did not have to make. If somebody enjoyed killing, then he or she would very likely not maintain a code of morals for very long.

It was with a shrill bark that Naruto began to laugh. Jinchuuriki, was the term that he had been told about two years ago. The power of human sacrifice, they called a person like him. Little did they know that he would live up to the name in more ways than one, right now as he killed the rabbit in preparation for the real deal, as soon as he was born, and hopefully so long as he lived.

*End Flashback*

It was odd, indeed, as when Naruto had come back, rabbit in hand, and after the foxes were done feeding, they had invited him to stay. Partly it was a deterrent against any other enemies, partly because they seemed to find some comfort of the kitsune overlord, no matter whether he was sealed or not. In the back of his head, Naruto was beginning to suspect said kitsune of being up to something with all his actions. Sure, he knew the demon would be a manipulative one with his own motives, but this was the first he had thought about it, and he couldn't help but wonder just what the Kyuubi had in store for him if this was only the beginning of what would happen in the seven years to come still. For now, he left his thoughts aside, as he rolled over onto his back, the heavy smell of fox permeating the cave (which he had promptly used a Fuuton: Daitoppa to clear the mist out of shortly after he had returned and Kyuubi had gotten a chance to give him the handseals to it; even if it was a temporary solution, it still had gotten rid of a build-up of humidity weeks old).

Over the next few months, while his thoughts on Kyuubi's actions only lingered at the back of his mind, he did consort with the foxes some more, sleeping many nights in the fox den, finding himself more at peace with them around than in his own room at the cabin (something which he chalked up to the Kyuubi influenced his own inner nature). While he never learned any names (this family not being one that did names, though the kitsune demon assured him that others did), he did help them survive, occasionally bringing in a bit of raw game, and keeping the cavern in top shape for when the first of the vixens gave birth to her litter of kits.

Overall, Naruto began to thought, while some of his behaviour seemed to be as a result of the Kyuubi being sealed inside of him, he didn't really mind. He had known that he was becoming slightly demonic for awhile now, which would explain the other part of his new attitude (such as the wanton desire to be close to his non-demonic kin) and with nobody around to hurt him physically or psychologically, he had no problem in embracing this newly-emerged side of him.

---

"Oi, gaki!" Kyuubi shouted out, particularly exuberant for once. "Come over here and sit down, I have an idea for you on how to better your chakra control!"

Needless to say, Naruto hurried his way over to in front of the fox, who had by this time in his nightly teachings decreased his avatar's size from hundreds of feet tall to a little under a story to better interact with the blone every night. Even though he had grown a bit over the past two years, his chakra resolves had kept up the point where his growth spurt was mostly negated; instead, it had been getting rid of large quantities before training that had been the most help. That the kitsune had any kind of solution to increase his efficiency over utilizing his chakra was music to his ears. "Ah, ah, what is it, Kyuubi-sama?" He excitedly exclaimed as he plopped his rear on the dirt floor of the fox den.

The Kyuubi tossed his vessel a vulpine grin. "If it were something I would do, I would have smacked myself with my paw for how simple of a solution it was." He waited a few seconds to build up the suspense for the young Uzumaki, before continuing on. "As you know, the Shiki Fūjin is largely based on willpower, as you already have noticed with me being able to redecorate your mindscape and talking to you while on the outside world. However, with your permission again of course, I would also be able to use my yokai to control your physical body." Here, his mouth curled up in what Naruto had long since identified as a giant fox's version of a frown. "Do not worry, I have no desire to take control of a weak ningen body such as yours." Naruto just stayed quiet at the kitsune's words. He might be on the bad side of a somewhat abusive relationship with the nine-tailed bijuu, but so far the fox had been fairly honest in its dealings, and he desired to be able to live after the Shinigami's power ran out.

"Anyways, asides from taking control I could also ideally alter your very genetic structure to give you a bloodline, as bloodlines usually come from a demonic-human relationship and the dilution of the demonic blood over several generations. However, I will not your genetics, as I would have to physically change them for every cell in your body, which is a tad bit more difficult than simple breeding." Naruto restrained a blush at the constant references to mating and breeding. While he was ignorant to the birds and bees, he still had an idea of the reproduction process having been amongst the foxes for a while.

The fox continued on, ignorant of his vessel's thoughts at the moment. "That does not mean I cannot do anything, however. In basic, what my idea revolves around is to increase the number of tenketsu in your body." Seeing Naruto gape at the idea, the fox cut in before Naruto could ask any questions. "That Uchiha gaki said a human being normally has 361 tenketsu on their body, which is true. However, those who use chakra usually develop a few extra tenketsu over their lifetime, usually through the pressure of the chakra causing the chakra coils to forcibly adapt by opening up a few new tenketsu to release more chakra from at the same time. They most often pop up on the hands, feet or around the mouth because those are the most popular areas to channel chakra from. However, new tenketsu can also result from a large overuse of chakra at once, which can cause the skin around the coils to blow up, and the coils would develop upwards into the skin. Lastly, some medic nins skilled with senbons and able to see or feel the exact location of your chakra coils, such as the Hyuuga clan, can forcibly cut through skin and muscle and coax tenketsu to develop." Once more the fox paused, then added, "Of course, doing that is a VERY delicate process and requires extreme concentration on the part of the medic."

"Huh," Naruto replied as he looked down at his feet in a contemplative pose, then gave off a short hmm before coming to a conclusion. So far he saw no lie in the kitsune lord's words, which he needed to be able to detect every time the fox neglected to swear upon his demon's honour that he was telling the truth, but that didn't mean the demon couldn't deceive him: he could still be leaving things out. Once again, he figured that the Kyuubi hadn't tried to do anything already for two years even in his most vulnerable state, so there wasn't any point in distrusting him now. Still, he needed more information. Bringing his head back up to look back at his prisoner's red slit eyes, he probed for more details, "So for you to add more tenketsu to my body on your own, I would have to temporarily hand over complete control to you?" A nod confirmed his suspicions. "What else should I know about this procedure? How exactly will you be creating them, and where will most of the new tenketsu be concentrated?"

For his own part, over the past two years, the Kyuubi had been pleased at how readily his vessel took to instruction. Even in the face of the king of the bijuu, and a Kami-blessed being of near-absolute power, the young boy had been defiant, struggling onwards every day to improve himself; it showed, too, as between his lessons in the mindscape and the effects of the Kage Bunshin the giant kitsune estimated that its vessel had mentally aged seven years in the past two physical years. Truly, it was a shame that Uzumaki Naruto was not born a Kitsune, but the Kyuubi's own yokai had already caused his biological structure to slightly change into that of a kitsune. It was a process that would not be completed, but at least the Kyuubi could take heart in that someone who was already as able to see through deception as his container was had at least some degree of kitsune blood. "I will not lie: when I take over your body, what I do will hurt.

"Hmmm" was Naruto's simple reply, as his face scrunched up in concentration. "That reminds me, I understand the basic anatomy of my chakra coils and everything, but the extra length of my coils shouldn't accommodate for what I'm feeling when I focus in on the eight gates: my reserves give off a feeling of being less tight, I guess, I think that's the only way I can really describe it."

"Ah" the Kyuubi growled back in its guttural tone. "That is somewhat easy to explain. In the past I have told you that the nine clans that the nine bijuu belong to all have humanoid forms adorned with features that their counterpart animal possesses, one of the most usual traits being a tail and ears for the mammals. Yet, we can also transform into our counterparts, but more specifically, mammoth-sized versions. How do you suppose that is?"

Naruto was confused by the question, but decided to think it over. "Well, obviously it isn't a Henge or an illusion because that would never stand up to a trained ninja. If you were to be a regular-sized fox, I imagine you could compress your body, but you'd still weigh the same." The blonde paused. The answer to the kitsune's question was there, lingering at the front of his thoughts, waiting to be grabbed all the while subtly slipping through his fingertips. "On the flip side, your giant fox body can't be all physical mass, so the only way I can see it happening is if it were a yokai...construct..." Naruto leaped up, a wild gleam shining in his eyes. That was it!

"Indeed you are right, young one," said the Kyuubi, offering a rare praise to his container. "A demon's body is able to contain vast amounts of yokai, far more than any human is physiologically capable of. We can let out all that yokai to create out giant bodies. For example, in my earlier rampage, the only mass in my body was in the center, where my real body existed." Here he let out another low growl. "Of course, with the sealing my body lost its soul, so it disintegrated right after. A lesser demon would never be able to live free of its prison after that because they have no body to go to when they escape, but all of us tailed bijuu have enough yokai that we can create an actual physical body to inhabit as soon as we free ourselves, which is why despite many of the lower ranking bijuu and the Shichibi being sealed multiple times, they still live to this day." At this point, the nine-tailed demon realized he was straying from the original topic, and abruptly switched subjects. "Anyways, the point is the demon equivalent of your eight gates is capable of holding far more yokai than the gates is of your chakra. As I have mentioned before, your body will metamorph to a degree into a kitsune, so the Hachimon are capable of holding more chakra without feeling a 'breaking point', if you will. As a result, your chakra does not overflow out into your chakra coils, meaning your chakra flow will be somewhat easier to manage. Within the next year I would say that your chakra control should improve from absolutely miserable to only below average."

Despite listening to and understanding most of the technical details his prisoner was offering him, Naruto's mind was wandering elsewhere. "A demon is that powerful?" He asked. "It seems unfair that the whole entirety of demonkind seems overpowered in comparison to us humans."

The Kyuubi could only bare his fangs in a twisted grin at that, three of his tails at his rear thrashing wildly in excitement at his vessel's indirect recognition of his superiority. "Of course, but why do you think Kami-sama placed so many restrictions on travel between the two realms, Makai and Ningenkai? Except for nine of us most can only come over with a relatively insignificant amount of power, and we are more vulnerable to being sealed into a vessel, inanimate or not. And besides, even though a demon lives forever by natural means, it just means we have few children."

Naruto responded back, being forced to admit that even if humans were downgraded in comparison,the two realms were still separated. There wasn't really much he could do about it. Feeling a bit awkward at the way the conversation had turned, he decided to cut it short. "Uh, Kyuubi-sama, as interesting as this is, could we get on with my tenketsus, please?"

The giant fox gave off something akin to a snort, before saying, "Very well." Rearing his head up and imposing a giant glare at his vessel, he began to state out the conditions of their agreement. "In that case, do you agree to hand over temporary control of your body to me, for the sole purposes of allowing me to manipulate my yokai to pierce holes in your flesh, forcibly create new tenketsus, heal the damage and deal with any unforeseen side-effects?" A nod from Naruto was all that was needed to satisfy the falter in willpower required for the Kyuubi to begin the process.

Shortly after beginning, the Kyuubi split a small portion of his attention span to inside the mindscape while the rest of his focus was dedicated to the task at hand. It was a good thing he was not feeling his vessel's pain, he reflected – impossible as it seemed, even in the mindscape, Naruto seemed to be having a hard time of it, as sweat rolled down his forehead, his teeth grinded against each other, and his fists clenched together until his skin turned white and blood began to drip. Minutes later, as soon as Kyuubi finished the process and stopped circulating his demonic energy throughout Naruto's system, Naruto again accomplished the seemingly impossible, as he collapsed into a dead heap in his mindscape.

---

Today was the day: for the first time in two years, Naruto was to leave the security of Training Ground #46, as a week ago Itachi had told him the Hokage wished to speak to him about his future. That morning, he had particularly made sure to wash his body thoroughly to weaken the strong stench of fox that had begun to attach to the light tickle of vulpine smell he had already possessed as a side-result of being a jinchuuriki to a kitsune demon (between being partially fox demon and a bit of hard work he had already been able to understand most of the foxes on his own by now); Konoha was still high-strung over anything relating to foxes, so it wouldn't do to unduly make those with a sensitive nose skittish. That, and because he had already been identified by that natural waft of fox, he didn't want to alert anyone to his return, fearing the worst-case scenario.

When he finally stepped over the boundary line that marked the end of the protection of the seals, he felt oddly naked in a sense. Despite the heavy brown cloak that disguised most of his body movements, and the foreign, noble-like face that he possessed thanks to a Henge, from tanned skin straight down to a sharp nose, Itachi could still read his feelings, no doubt a testament to the genius he was, as well as how well he had gotten to know the jinchuuriki over the last couple of years.

Naruto took a glance at Itachi, who returned the look. Understanding the unspoken words the Uchiha gave him, the two hopped up into the trees and started running east towards Konoha. As the foliage passed by in his vision and the wind whipped at his skin, Naruto yelled out towards his fellow sprinter, "Where are we headed to first, Itachi-nii-san?"

Itachi took a second to process the question, his focus dedicated to his tunnel vision as he was busy passing the landscape. Once he interpreted the question, he didn't hesitate to shout back, "Hokage-sama wants us to report to him as soon as we get back to Konoha. He has not seen you in two years, you know."

That last statement of the weasel-masked officer shot a small pang of guilt up Naruto's heart. Even though the number of people who would have missed him could literally be counted on only three fingers, he still hadn't paid them a visit in two years. He vowed to make up for lost time, however, and to eat plenty of ramen (though he would also take the opportunity to sample some of Ichiraku's healthier dishes – months of living on the wild and a bit of nagging from the Kyuubi on the side had tempered his eating habits to being relatively healthy).

It didn't take long, distracted as he was between his own personal thoughts and keeping himself from running into any trees, to reach the Hokage Tower. Naruto had only been to the tower a few times in his short life, but those few times had already impressed themselves strongly upon him: the lower levels were made up of pencil-pushers who worked on the paperwork for much of the day-to-day affairs of Konoha's regular business. On the higher up levels were those who worked over the details for missions involving Konoha's ninja force, and diplomatic relations with the daimyo and other countries. On the top levels were some of the brass, including the Hokage's office, as well as the mission briefings office for the lower-ranking missions. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the underground bunker underneath the tower was under lock and key accessible by only the Hokage and a few others, with an ever-increasing number of seals protecting each lower level, which held vast stores of information on Konoha and the world at large.

Naruto and Itachi managed to skip most of the daily hustle and bustle that was a result of the hundreds of administrative workers; although Itachi couldn't take him through the ninja-only entrance that would otherwise guarantee them quick access to the top floors, he was still an ANBU captain, and that counted for something. Finally making their way through the mass of humans, the duo found themselves outside of the Hokage's office. Because Naruto hadn't been seen in two years by anybody other than his two nii-sans, the secretary didn't recognize him, even with his defining golden hair and whisker marks; Itachi kept it this way by omitting his name when mentioning to the secretary that he and his accomplice had a meeting with the Hokage.

Itachi began to scowl as time went on, and the exact time that the Hokage had had their appointment for passed by, his only relief from his slowly growing impatience being the muffled sound of shouting behind the doors leading to the Hokage's office. Whoever it was, he sorely wished that they would hurry up. Just before his mental presence began to degrade into ranting, he recognized the telltale trace of chakra that Sarutobi often flared to indicate to a ninja with an appointment to come in. When the doors didn't open, Itachi took the initiative, muttering a low "We have to go in now", to Naruto, all the while wondering what the third party who hadn't yet left the office had to do with their appointment.

For Naruto's part, when he initially entered the unexpected fourth person only barely registered on his mind. Instead, he took his time to look around the office, reimpressing its look and feel after two years of its image fading away in his memories. The mahogany desk complete with chairs on both side that the Hokage sat at, piles of paperwork adorning opposite ends. The portraits of the four Hokages in chronological order, all sombre in their expressions, ranging from the Lord of the Forest, Senju Hashirama, to the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato. The large open window on the side, which several high-ranking Jonin and ANBU were rumoured to often come through, preferring to forgo the stairs (something which Naruto just chalked up to a personality quirk).

As such, it was a surprise when he turned his attention back to the extra person and immediately identified him as an ANBU captain by his white cloak. Looking up at the mask, he saw black markings make up a curved grin, stout nose, and canine ears, and a few other smaller marks that led him to quickly deduced it as being a wolf mask. To his side, Itachi gave a start: knowing who this man was, he was wondering why he was here. Nevertheless, he didn't allow that to prevent him from fulfilling customs as soon. As the Hokage had reapplied the sound-sealing jutsu that permeated the room during high-security meetings, he spoke, "ANBU Captain Itachi, reporting for appointment on the debriefing on the last two years of the training of one Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage looked up from a report on his desk, and took his reading glasses off. "Ah, Itachi. You may remove your mask for now." Taking a pointed glance at the opposite captain, he added, "I saw it fit that Ookami be here for this debriefing." With that, he cracked his knuckles, clenching his hands together and relaxing his head on them while looking at Itachi, waiting for him to begin.

Itachi, mask removed, began his debriefing. "Yes sir. As you know, I am here to debrief you on the last two years of Uzumaki Naruto's training, and his skill levels." This last comment was added for Ookami's convenience. "I find it fit to begin with Uzumaki's chakra capacity and control. At the beginning of his training, Uzumaki was able to wield his chakra with little difficulty, but refining it was an entirely different thing; due to his status as the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and the nature of the seal that the Yondaime Hokage applied, he has slowly begun to convert and absorb the Kyuubi's yokai. If one were to use me as a base, I would say that he has approximately four times as much chakra as I do." He paused to let that fact sink in, and then continued, "Unfortunately, his body was literally unable to contain it all, and began to leak out."

"Fellow instructor Ebisu and myself first had Uzumaki on a daily basis expend his chakra to temporarily deplete his reserves. Following that, the two of us started him on multiple chakra control exercises to get a hold on his chakra, combining it with use of the Kage no Bunshin's special effects. Over the last two years, the problem of his chakra leaking has since disappeared as a result of two things: the first is his physical growth, which has allowed the size of his coils and the Hachimon to increase. Additionally, due to his status as a jinchuuriki, Uzumaki's body has become slightly demonic over time, estimated at approximately one-sixteenth demonic. A side-effect of this is the Hachimon's reserve capacity increasing, meaning his body is able to store more chakra regardless. Following that, one final maneuver was put into place: after obtaining a demonic oath from the Kyuubi no Kitsune not to do anything else, Uzumaki handed over temporary control to the Kyuubi to forcefully create extra tenketsus in his chakra system. Uzumaki currently possesses an estimated 430 tenketsus, the new ones concentrated mainly in the feet, hands, and around the mouth."

The mention of Naruto even communing with the Kyuubi didn't even seem to faze Ookami, which made Itachi suspicious. Itachi continued on, noting Naruto's inability to use genjutsu due to his chakra flux, and mentioned his moderate skill at kenjutsu with the standard ninja-to.

"However, Ebisu and myself have focused mainly on training Uzumaki mostly by the shinobi code, to be deceptive, stealthy, and observational. Having run him through some trials, we have found that he is a natural when it comes to sneaking around. We supplemented this in his ninjutsu by teaching him minor Doton and Suiton jutsus that have their usage in CIA (capture, infiltration, and/or assassination) missions much like the ANBU are mainly used for. However, Uzumaki's primary nature is Fuuton, surprisingly. We had a difficult task in teaching him Fuuton manipulation due to Konohagakure's lack of resources on Fuuton training and jutsus, but we managed to get some training manuals from Sarutobi Asuma and Nara Shikaku."

The Hokage let out a short 'hmm', before asking, "Is that all you have to say, Itachi?"

Itachi took the initiative here. "I have one more thing to say, Hokage-sama, which you and Ookami should find most interesting. Due to a number of factors, Uzumaki is a true shapeshifter."

That finally got a reaction out of the Ookami-masked ANBU captain, who clearly didn't expect such a piece of knowledge as that, as his until-now calm posture jumped slightly, and the shinobi began to fall into what appeared to be a nervous habit as he began strumming the lips of his mask, clearly digesting the new information and thinking over the ramifications.

Taking a glance at Ookami, the Hokage continued, "In that case, can you please return in an hour? I have Ookami here for a few reasons, who has finally been properly briefed, but I am afraid there are details in the first part of this meeting I cannot allow you to hear, even with your clearance."

Itachi wanted to protest, but seeing the Hokage's hard look, decided against it. He knew that they were here to decide what Naruto's future would be, and disliked the idea of being left out on the dark on anything that would affect that. However, loyalty to Konoha and his Hokage, not to mention the stern look on Sarutobi's face, stopped any form of protest short of leaving his mouth. Instead, he offered a bow with grace, a short, to-the-point, "Hai, Hokage-sama", and left the quick way out the window, intent on going to patronize a certain ramen stand.

With Itachi out of the way, leaving only three people in the room, the Sandaime Hokage turned to face Naruto, who had up until now stayed calm and patient, allowing events to play out until he was required to participate. Sarutobi was at the same time saddened and happy at the sight: saddened because he was of the creed that children at the age of seven or five shouldn't have to be trained to become weapons, wishing for them to maintain their innocence as long as possible, yet happy because Naruto was already showing the discipline he would require to become someone truly great, someone who would be capable of fighting against the group of S-Rank ninjas that Jiraiya had gotten an inkling of only a few days ago.

Slowly, he realized that he was staring at Naruto, and broke his gaze off. He turned his focus to the other occupant of the room, and briskly gave him an order. "Ookami, you may take your mask off now."

The command left Naruto wondering at the Sandaime's intentions; so far, he had already been mystified by this mysterious ANBU captain, and why his jiji in all but name had him here, listening to a circumspect description of his skills and power. As soon as the ANBU was asked to remove his mask, Naruto's suspicions were confirmed: you don't just ask an ANBU to remove his mask, even if you are the Hokage, except for under certain circumstances.

However, it did give him a chance to see the face of the ANBU Ookami, who had, during his short brooding, removed his mask. He had a light chocolate brown complexion, with dark-brown-bordering-on-black short hair, highlighted by a widow's peak. His most noticeable feature, however, was that he seemed to have a permanent squint, dark eyes barely visible in the light of the Hokage's room. His observation was pushed aside for later as he was interrupted out of his reverie when the Hokage spoke up, "Ah, Naruto-kun, I believe it's time I should introduce you. This here is Inuzuka Kazuo, ANBU Captain of a six-man squad."

The introduction prompted the Inuzuka clan member to finally speak up for the first time in the whole conversation, a bright smile allowing his white teeth to contrast with his slightly dark skin, "Ah, hello Naruto. As Hokage-sama just said, I'm Inuzuka Kazuo. There are several things that I was invited here to speak with you about today. However, there are a few facts you should know about me first. For one, I was the teammate of your father, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage."

With Kazuo's statement, hell broke loose in the Hokage's office.

---

And another chapter bites the dust, hurray, and I have more free writing time, double hurray. Sorry about this being a (relatively) short chapter, but I was a bit pressed for motivation, and most of the scenes in the next chapter really HAVE to go altogether in one chapter (and I didn't want to wait much longer to get this out). That, and I didn't want to have the beginning scenes with the foxes and rabbit be all fluffy. I didn't really like how I wrote some of that stuff either, so I'll probably edit it in a bit. Like, a lot of editing. Don't worry, said fox family will (probably) make an appearance in the next chapter. Aside from all that, a minor name change in the title: instead of 'Naruto Uzumaki', I've changed it to 'Uzumaki Naruto'.

It might seem odd that Naruto should have such a reaction over killing a rabbit, but one must remember that at that point in time he IS seven, and although he's done training and all, the reality of the world hasn't quite sunk in at the time. Besides that it gives me a reason not to spend much time dallying over something in the next chapter.

The end of the chapter went through several revisions. I was originally going to bring in Jiraiya at the end of the chapter and not have the whole reveal about Naruto's heritage. However, as time went on, I decided I didn't want Jiraiya to come in for at least another couple of years in story time, yet I still wanted somebody who was close to the Yondaime. Eventually, I decided that if not the Yondaime's sensei, then one of his teammates; particularly, his male teammate. After that, I had to develop an impression of how this OC would act, and so forth, until I hit on another brilliant idea: in a few chapters I was going to introduce an adult male Inuzuka OC, who I have the general timeline of what he'll do in the fic down and a bit of his character. In a fit of genius I decided to take out the middleman and put him in this role as the Yondaime's teammate. It actually cuts down a problem as I was having difficulties as to how I was going to originally introduce Kazuo later. Of course, just being the Yondaime's teammate didn't seem enough, or else Naruto's interaction with him would be a bit awkward, so hence the dramatic reveal. Now I have another small problem, however; that being in developing Kazuo's relationship with Naruto to be a family-like relationship, but he can't quite act as a father, but more of a cross between a godfather and an uncle. Also, before anyone asks about why I keep his appearance the same as in the color shot of Jiraiya's team, I didn't really feel like taking much creative license with Yondaime's teammates, aside from introducing them as OCs.

In any case, for any reviewers, I'd like some reviewer input on a few things.

First, for the reviewers who enjoy all the science and logic and background information that I try to put into jutsus and chakra, I'd like your opinion on a couple of things: the Yondaime's Hiraishin is often described as a thunder-based fuinjutsu that allows the Yondaime to instantly teleport from one location to another, but I would like to hear people's opinions on what the mechanics of such a jutsu could be past saying 'it's a space-time teleportation jutsu'. In my opinion, I see Hiraishin working on the concept of the direct current of electricity, where it has only one path to go, and travels directly to the nearest 'end-point'. This property of electricity is then combined with distorting space so that the user actually teleports instead of moves from one spot to another instantaneously (so that you don't hit a wall if say you teleport between work and home).

Following that, if part of how Hirashin works is based on electricity/Raiton's properties, how precisely would a wind/Fuuton version of Hiraishin work? The theory I'm working on right now is that unlike Hiraishin, in the Narutoverse you can't replicate a wind technique that can teleport you anywhere. Instead, while this wind-version doesn't require seals, it has a drawback in that you can't go through solid surfaces (and fluids beyond a certain density), and isn't technically teleportation per se. Rather, the user of the technique would create a pocket of space similar to a vacuum by drawing out as much air as he can, and then moving in this pocket of space, all within a matter of a tenth to a twentieth of a second ('fast' reflexes in reality is about .20-.23s, but of course much of the Narutoverse suggests action goes a lot faster still), and taking protocols to ensure the enemy can't similarly take advantage of this vacuum bubble.

Putting it all together here, based on the version of Hiraishin I have worked up so far, Naruto won't be able to use Hiraishin in battle, simply because one would need mastery over their lightning element. However, at the same time, that doesn't mean he can't use Hiraishin at all; thanks to my disclaimer about fuuinjutsu hax, Naruto might end up designing a large-scale version of Hiraishin which requires a larger seal (to compensate for lack of lightning mastery), isn't portable, and consumes a crapload of chakra, but can be used to travel between two of these large seals at once, up to several hundred kilometres; so if you laid one of these large-scale seals in Konoha and one in Suna, if you used enough chakra you could teleport from one place to the other instantly. That shouldn't be too broken though considering the three drawbacks to it that I noted earlier.

I realize what I'm trying to describe here is a bit complicated, so if you need further clarification on technical details, send me a pm. If you can understand what I'm trying to say here, please add your own opinion/ideas!

In addition to any Hiraishin ideas/opinions, I'd also like a general poll on population numbers for Konoha and some of its clans (because despite only the Hyuga and Uchiha clans ever having more than five members mentioned, there's definitely more members in most clans than the clan heir and his/her parent(s)).

Here's what I believe the general population range is (do note that the clan numbers don't include just shinobi, but also civilian members):

Konoha – 80,000 people

Ninja – 6,000ish (because there's no way in hell you can graduate 9 students a year)

ANBU - 500

Hunter-Nin – 200

Jonin – 750

Chuunin – 1500

Genin – 2500

Everything else (Torture and Interrogation, Medic-Nins, spies, etc.) – 750

Hyuga Clan – 250

Uchiha Clan – 300

Inuzuka Clan – 150 (smaller than the main two but larger than most others because their dog-like mentalities push them on to have several children each generation)

Nara Clan – 50 (because the males find sex too troublesome)

Akimichi clan – 40 (the amount of food they consume would require a large amount of capita, so the family numbers can't go too high or else the clan could go bankrupt)

Yamanaka clan – 80 (More than the Nara and Akimichi because I imagine most would be in interrogation or reconnaissance/spy work rather than in active fighting roles)

Senju – 15 (It's never canonically mentioned whether there are any living Senju left besides Tsunade, so here I'm going to assume them to have dwindled in status to be insignificant, especially with their strongest and possibly only shinobi out wandering the world gambling away her money)

Sarutobi – 25 (Sarutobi and his wife, at least two known children, the unknown one married and has Konohamaru as a son, plus some other odds and ends)

Finally, I'd like to hear thoughts on whether one would consider the Aburame to have a kekkei genkai or not. It's not having insects in your body that I consider as a kekkei genkai; rather, I think they probably do some form of surgery to allow them to nest. However, I DO consider Shino's ability to actually communicate with his bugs a kekkei genkai, but I'd like to hear other's thoughts on it.