Here's the next chapter!!! I really hope you all enjoy!!!!
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Chapter two; Returning Home!!
Five figures walked on the road towards Konoha, three were human, but the other two were animals. The tallest figure had darkish blue hair that was obviously dyed and obsidian eyes that were, despite his old self, cheery and amused as the two younger were talking excitedly about the village. He wore a pair of black pants and a blue T-shirt with the Uchiha crest on his left shoulder and a kunai holster on the right, he had a kadachi strapped to his waist. He wore a Leaf village headband on his forehead. He appeared to about twenty in age.
The one on his left was a girl around thirteen. She had sparkling blue eyes and hair the color of autumn red leaves. She wore a blue ninja skirt with black along the edges with the Uzumaki symbol on the left shoulder and a wolf on the right shoulder, both were black. She had a kunai pouch on her left thigh and an equipment pouch in the back to the right. She also had an air around her that screamed medic nin and a Rain Hiate with a slash through it around her neck.
The youngest had shining blue eyes filled with life that were the azure color of the sky, he had spiky blond hair that was so blond it rivaled the sun, he had three whisker marks on either side of his face, a very notable feature. He wore a pair of black ninja trousers and an orange long sleeved shirt that had black flames at the bottom and on the sleeve that and a short-sleeved black jacket had a fox on the right shoulder and the Uzumaki symbol on his left. He had a katana strapped to his waist and, just from the sheath, you could tell that it was made with delicate hands. He had a kunai holster strapped to both his legs and an equipment pouch in the back and slightly to the left. He also had a scroll attached to his waist and, if you knew him well enough, you'd know that he had a sealing tattoo on his right wrist that held a kadachi and a couple sealing scrolls attached to his back, underneath his jacket. He had a Lead Hiate around his upper left arm. He was about ten years old.
The two kids were slightly a head of the man and the small animals were on either side of them, running ahead, waiting for them to catch up, and then running ahead a few more feet. The one on the left was a white wolf pup with black paws, she had a blue collar around her neck with a name tag that said 'Konama' on it.
The other was a red fox kit with black paws, she stood proudly with a mischievous air around her. She had a black collar with the name 'Akita' written in silver string. She and Konama raced ahead once more and waited for the other three to catch up before running ahead once more.
The man, Uchiha Itachi, smiled slightly as the kids continued their happy talking. It was strange, he mused, he used to hate everyone and everything, been a cold and heartless murderer for the first thirteen years of his life. But then, on a fateful night, he found a mob surrounding something and chanting 'kill the demon' over and over again. He went to investigate and found that they were beating on a poor three year old kid.
It had made him so mad and he killed at least seven of them and rushed the blond to ANBU HQ for special treatment on his wounds. Ever since, he'd had a soft spot for kids and now, he could hardly help but smile at everyone he knew or didn't know, as long as they were good at heart. He was brought out of his musings when the blond began talking about the Hokage monument, rather loudly, too.
"Trust me Takana! You'll like to watch the stars and things from the Hokage monument. It's so cool! Itachi-Niisan used to take me up there all the time!" The young boy was telling her.
"Okay Naruto-kun, you'll have to show me some time." Takana nodded with a bright smile as he grinned at her. "Hey, Ita-Niisan?" She asked the man behind her.
"Yes Takana?" He replied with a smiled.
"What is it like to be a ninja of Konoha?" She asked curiously.
Naruto let his curiosity show as well, he may be a shinobi of Konoha, but he'd never been there to be a shinobi in his village, the only memories he really had were the ones with Itachi and the Hokage when he got to see them. The others were just beatings that still haunted his sleep every night.
"Well... You do missions like in any other village, you have to be willing to give your life at any moment when going on dangerous missions, it's mostly about being there to protect the village and the people you hold dear." Itachi said thoughtfully. He smiled lightly. "And Naruto still wants to protect it, even after everything it's done to him, he knows their reasons behind it and is just too pure at heart to realize when the logical thing is different." He smirked as Naruto flushed in embarrassment.
"You know, he's right Naru-kun." Takana said, lost in thought. "I remember when we first met, I was just banished from my village because I'm part wolf spirit, like you, and they thought I'd attack since I was getting stronger so much faster than the others in my graduating class." She chuckled and Naruto nodded with a smirk as he remembered meeting his long lost cousin as well, that was a few weeks of his life that he'd never want to replace.
The village gates came into view above the horizon and Naruto frowned. "I still can't believe someone framed you by killing your whole clan except your brother. That's just plain harsh." He sighed in exasperation. "I hate having to call you something other than Itachi-Niisan!" He groaned. Itachi had changed his name and got hair dye and contacts to make his obsidian eyes a really dark color blue. Speaking of which, he took out a case of contacts and placed them in his eyes as they came into sight range.
"Itamaru!" Itachi sighed. "I hate it too, but it's the best I could do, only the Hokage knows that I was framed, if I wanted to, I could leave now without a hitch. But I want to get you two settled into the village before I go and join the Akatsuki to make sure they don't capture you Naruto-kun." He informed as they walked.
"So, what's the plan after this?" Takana asked.
"You guys get an apartment, you, Takana, get assigned a team, and Naruto will be put into a special force and guard my brother undercover in an academy class." Itamaru, Itachi, shrugged with a soft smile. "Maybe I should just stay in the village under my name for you guys." He shook his head. "That's too risky." He sighed as they arrived at the gate.
"Halt, names, business being here, and papers." A guard said, Kotetsu.
"I'm Uchiha Itamaru," He noticed the two guards tense slightly. "And this is Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Takana." He gestured to them before looking at the playful animals. "And this is Konoma and Akita." He gestures to them.
"Papers?" Izumo asked wearily.
"Here!" Naruto said, pulling them from his jacket pocket and Itamaru reached in his and sighed as he found no papers. He was highly regreting going to all those different people to teach the blond.
Izumo nodded and passed them to Kotetsu after looking them over. Kotetsu nodded and handed them back to Naruto, who, in turn, passed in to Itamaru, who pocketed them. "Okay, I'll escort you to the Hokage tower." Kotetsu sighed.
"No need, we know where it is!" Naruto pitched in and Izumo smiled at him.
"So you really are the same as you were six years ago." He mused and Naruto just grinned at him.
"Be careful, he's also more devious." Itamaru sighed as he walked past them, the two kids and thier animals following behind.
--- a few hours later ---
After the greetings they talked of their plans and Takana was set on a team with a new Genin group, since she was still a new Genin herself, pretty much, and they got an apartment with two rooms, and an extra room for their study or something, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. The furniture was already there since the Hokage knew the two of them were coming.
Naruto would start the academy in a week but still be aloud a few missions in the next two years before hand, he was really annoyed, he was known through out the country as the assassin, The Shadow Fox, and he was now being reduced to an academy student for, at least, the next two years, only aloud to go on missions wearing his fox mask that an old smith had made for him with his kadachi and katana. But, in the end, he excepted to go undercover as long as he could get out every now and again.
They got their things gathered up and set to their new apartment, their pets resting on their shoulders and staring on in amazement. "It's this way, in the area reserved for ninja." Naruto said, pulling her along by the hand.
"Okay." She said, falling into step, holding onto his hand in that shy nature of hers. She liked the way her new Hiate felt around her forehead, and saw Naruto kept rolling his left shoulder at the annoyance of not having his Hiate on it. "Don't worry Naru-kun, you'll be able to wear it again afterwords." She said reassuringly as they walked up the stairs to their new apartment.
"I know, but two years!" He groaned. "If I have to, I'll start henging into some random leaf nin in my bingo book just so I can wear it and train to my full extent!" He sighed as he took out the key and unlocked the door.
They opened it and smiled lightly, it was perfect. They went to their rooms to unpack. Takana took the longest to arrange her things and, when she came out of her room, she heard a thud from the study and went to investigate. She opened the door to see Naruto sitting up, holding his head and glaring at one of the scrolls he usually had under his jacket and on his back. "Did it come undone? Making you trip?" She said in confusion.
"Yeah." He sighed as he used the desk he was by to stand. "I think I've been training too hard, I'm already starting to feel tired and it's not even dark yet." He said as he began pulling out a scroll and undoing to blood seal he'd made and pulling out a bunch of scrolls and placing his on the shelf as she put her few scrolls on the shelves of the others side. Most of hers were medic scrolls and were a light shade of blue, while his were red, white, black, and, his favorite ones, orange. He used up all his shelf space with his scrolls on the history of Konoha, jutsu theory, medic ninjutsu and terms, chakra control scrolls, scrolls on sealing, even thought he didn't need them, he still studied them, and a few jutsu scrolls before putting the most important scrolls, ones that held his original jutsu and some of his father and mother's ninjutsu and taijutsu styles, in a compartment under the desk. He sealed it with a seal that only he could open with his chakra, it was made to where only he could open it.
She did the same, but she only put a few things in her compartment and her shelves weren't even half full. She put some scrolls in random drawers of her desk while he pulled out some ink and blank scrolls along with other jutsu theory scrolls that he'd created and placed them into drawers, he sealed them with blood seals so only he and immediate family, like Takana, could open them.
She watched him in amusement as there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Naruto hopped up in one swift movement and disappeared in a blur towards the door. She chuckled softly and followed at a much slower pace.
Naruto opened the door and stood, face to face, with Itamaru. "Ita-Niisan!" He said happily and let him in. He began to turn when there was another knock at the door. He opened in and it revealed a man with a bowl shaped haircut and big, bushy eyebrows. "Yes?" He asked the man. This guys was in his bingo books and he never wanted to meet him thanks to the description. Turns out, fate was being evil to him.
"My name is Maito Gai! The green beast of Konoha!" The man said enthusiastically. "And I welcome you to my Youthful neighborhood!" He said with a smile that pinged.
Naruto blinked. "O...kay... My name is Uzumaki Naruto, this is my cousin Uzumaki Takana, and this is our guardian, Uchiha Itamaru." He introduced.
"Uchiha... Oh that means there's another surviving member of the Uchi-" Naruto suddenly had his in a headlock with his hand over Gai's mouth.
"Shhh... Gai, my guardian is going to be leaving in a few days and is on a secret mission to travel the world, meaning; no one but a select few can know he's alive, and don't you dare tell Sasuke about this, or else." He said in an uncharacteristic grim voice.
Gai nodded, still unnerved that the small blond got past his defenses effortlessly. Naruto released him and offered to let him in. "Oh no, Naruto-kun. I must be going, I've got a mission in a few hours and I still have to pack. Good evening kids, Itamaru." They nodded as he bowed and walked off.
--- a week later ---
Naruto got up groggily as he made his way to the bathroom, Takana was still asleep, but he had to get some meditating before class or he wouldn't be able to handle anything, he was still rather pissed that he was getting sent back to the academy. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and went back to his room to get dressed and meditate for an hour. He got out as Takana stumbled out of her room and across the hall, to the bathroom. He went to make breakfast. He was just putting on the small table as she came out in a green version of her ninja dress from their arrival.
They ate in silence, Takana knew how Naruto got when he was more than angry, it took both her, Itachi, and Haku to keep him from killing Zabuza about a few months ago. He could be really scary when he wanted to be, and being one of the best assassins out there and then being reduced to mere academy student. But he grinned as his eyes glazed over and he was lost in memory.
"Do you remember when you flipped out when you killed that one dude from the new Sound village?" He chuckled as she blanched at the memory.
"Yeah." She frowned in thought. "I remember you laughing at this one guy for attacking you. You got cocky and forgot about his partner, getting slashed in the arm before killing them both with on slash of you blade." She chuckled at the memory.
"Ugh! You're so mean sometime Taka-chan!" He groaned.
"Yeah! Well you're immature sometime Naru-kun!" She retaliated.
He smirked. "You're only just figuring this out?" His smirk turned into a grin as she rolled her eyes. He stood and they did the dishes before he sighed. "Do you have any aspirin left?" He asked.
"Yeah, why?" She asked as she pulled some out from her pocket.
"I have the sinking suspicion that I'll need it." He groaned as he put it into his pocket.
She giggled as she and Naruto left the apartment together. "Maybe, but don't forget, they're the same as you, you can only hide it better." She said pointedly as they walked in the same direction.
"So?" He said with a raise eyebrow.
She groaned as they got to the fork in the road where they'd split up. They reluctantly let go of each others hands before walking in separate directions.
--- ten minutes later ---
Naruto checked his watch and his eyes went wide. He took off in an orange and black blur towards the academy. He saw an open window and immediately evaluated that it's the room he's supposed to be in and went into it. He fell through it as the bell rang and rolled into the desk next to it. "Itai!" He groaned as he clutched his head in annoyance.
He felt eyes on him and looked up to see everyone looking at him in curiosity. He grinned sheepishly as a scarred Chunnin stood up behind the desk. "Are you okay?" Naruto nodded as he stood and brushed himself off. "What are you doing here?" He asked curiously.
"Oji-san said I'm supposed to come. Here." He tossed Iruka the scroll and walked over to him. He felt really naked without anything but his kunai holster, especially without his katana at his waist. Akita poked his head sleepily out of his hood with a sleepy look in her eyes.
Iruka eyed them suspiciously before opening the scroll and sighing. "Class, today we've got a new student with us. His name is Uzumaki Naruto." He said, gesturing to Naruto.
"But Iruka-sensei!" Sakura screeched. Naruto winced and cleaned out his ear with his pinky. "I thought that all of us must have four years of education before taking the Genin exam! And it's half way through the year! He missed our first two years so that means he's supposed to be with the first years! Not with us!" She said angrily. "Why should he get the special treatment?" She and Ino demanded together
Naruto clutched his ears and Akita whimpered in annoyance to her now pained ears. "Why is it that almost everyone I meet try to make me deaf the second I meet them?!" He retorted irritably. "And, if you really need to know, I've already got three years of education. If I wanted to I could easily just skip to next year, but I promise Oji-san that I'd go in with the kids my age! And I'm already regretting that." He grumbled under his breath sarcastically.
"What did you say?!" Ino and Sakrua screeched angrily.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear." He cleared his throat. "I said, I'm already beginning to regret promising Oji-san that I'd go into the academy class with the kids my age because I already had the first three years of education from my sensei!" He said loud and clear.
"Baka!" Sakura and Ino said as one before sitting back down to glare at the blond. A few boys were trying not to laugh, the most annoying girls in the academy, getting talked down by the new kid about their annoying habit of screeching this and screeching that.
"Okay. Naruto, why don't you introduce yourself?" Iruka suggested.
"Okay." Naruto sighed. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and this is my pet fox, Akito." He said as the fox hopped from his hood and onto his shoulder, resting his head and sleeping instantly.
"Okay Naruto, take that seat next to Hinata and we'll begin today's lessons." Iruka sighed and watched as the blond took the chair beside Hinata and smiled at her, she blushed and smiled back shyly.
--- a few hours later ---
Naruto wanted to rip his hair out! This thing was so boring it wasn't funny. He'd taken his time to assess everyone that seemed to have potential. Inuzuka Kiba, he had a great nose and set of ears. Kiba had his dog, and, from what Naruto could tell, he was loud, brash, and wild. He had a great structure for taijutsu and he was fast. With a few months of hard work, he'd be able to hold his all... if only he used his head more.
Naruto looked at Aburame Shino. The one kid that wasn't annoying and was quiet. The kid had his bugs to talk to, and that's all he needed. He could probably get more bugs since he was always thinking logically and had large chakra capacities thanks to the bugs always feeding on it. He'd make a great shinobi if he didn't rely on his bus all the time and worked on other jutsu and, maybe, a taijutsu style. Then there was Chouji, Ino, and Shikamaru.
The second generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Naruto mused. Akimichi Chouji was always eating chips, no mater where he was and had the build to do most of his clan's techniques. Yamanaka Ino was good at psychology and knew alot about the way things work and would make an excellent kunoichi... if only she'd give up that annoying fangirlism. And Nara Shikamaru was a lazy-assed genius that slept most of the day. Just like any other Nara male, he'd make a great strategist in due time.
Then there was Sasuke. Naruto already hated the guy, just one look at him and he knew he hated him. Uchiha Sasuke, pf, yeah right. He'd never make a good Uchiha, Naruto made a better Uchiha than him. Sasuke was arrogant, and stoic. He thought that just because he was an 'Uchiha' he had to get everything he wanted. He was a pampered, spoiled little brat that expects everything to be handed over to him on a silver platter.
His eyes shifted to Haruno Sakura. The pink haired banshee was the worst type of fangirl he'd ever met, and what worse? She kept looking at him wih pure hate and loathing. She didn't like him, and he didn't like her. She had the skill to be a great medic of sorts, but wouldn't amount to anything if she continued on the path she was following. Ever.
His eyes finally rested on Hinata. She was timid and shy, but he could tell that, with the right training, she'd be the best Kunoichi in their class. She just needed the courage to do better and find a purpose. She had the chakra control to be a medic, but she seemed more of a tracker type of person. The kinds where you search and rescue, bring them back alive sort of types. He looked at her eyes and felt his face heat up slightly. They were a really pretty color of lavender.
"Naruto?" A voice snapped him out of his musing and he turned to see Iruka glaring at him. "Can you or can you not answer the question?" He demanded.
"Yes, the great shinobi war ended with the bridge that Konoha's Yellow Flash and his Genin team destroyed." He said absently.
"That's right." Iruka sighed as the bell rang. "Time for lunch." He said, going back to his desk.
"Hey Naruto!" Kiba said, walking up with Shikamaru and Chouji.
"Hey Kiba." He nodded. "Did you need something?" He asked.
"We were wondering if you and Hinata wanted to join us for lunch?" Chouji said, for once not eating his chips.
"Um... sure, I'd like that." He smiled before turning to Hinata. "What do you say Hinata-chan? Want to eat lunch with us?" Hinata blushed before nodding shyly.
"Come on guys!" Kiba said, leading them to the roof. "This is where we eat lunch everyday!" He said happily. "If you want, you can come whenever! We already told this to Hinata, but she only comes when we ask her to. But, it's fun when she's here." He shrugged and they began to talk happily and became quick friends with their new classmate.
When the bell rang again, they all went back inside. Naruto groaned as he sat down in his chair. "This is so boring!"
"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura grumbled, sitting down beside Ino and Sasuke.
"I'm sorry, I'll try to be more quiet!" He whispered loudly.
--- one and a half years later ---
Naruto had just whipped the floor with Sasuke in a one on one spar, it hardly lasted a minute. He walked down the streets when he felt a presence following him and sighed in annoyance. What did that teme want?! He ay be doing this to ake sure no one tried to get to Sasuke while he was in the academy, but he didn't have to watch him while he was out of the academy, and he certainly didn't need watching from the pampered little Uchiha brat!
He got to a training ground and went into a meditative position, keeping Sasuke's position in his focus as he tried to relax to restrain from killing his guardian's younger brother. Sasuke ran at him and Naruto grabbed the other boy by the wrist and flipped him, effortlessly, onto his back. "What do you want teme?!" He demanded.
"Train me!" Sasuke said as he stood up as soon as Naruto released his wrist.
"Why should I?" Naruto growled at him.
"Because I'm an Uchiha and you have to do what I say!" Sasuke said arrogantly with a smirk.
Naruto seriously wanted to kill someone. And really had to refrain from killing the boy in front of him. So he decided to yell at him instead. "Because you're an Uchiha! You're no more an Uchiha than I'm a puppy!" He snarled. "You're not an Uchiha, you're nothing but an arrogant, spoiled, pampered brat that expects everyone to give him what he wants on a silver platter! Tch. You're nothing but a weed in the gardens of life!" He spat and began stomping off, there was so much more, so much more, that he wanted to tell the bratty Uchiha, but refrained from doing so as it would reveal far too much on this 'mission'.
Sasuke scowled as rage over took his senses as he charged forward with a battle cry. His fist was a fraction of an inch from hitting the blond when he was suddenly on the ground with a kunai at his throat. "Don't you dare cross me again, teme! Or I wont hesitate to make you cripple for life!" Naruto snarled, a pure rage threatening to spring out of him.
Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves and appearing at a different training ground, an ANBU training ground, to be precise. He let out a cry of pure rage and began punching trees with enough force to make them shatter into pieces as they were going back. He was still doing this an hour later. He destroyed trees and boulders alike and finally began punching the ground hard enough to make large craters. By the time a team of ANBU showed up to train they gaped at how the training ground no looked like a war-zone.
The team of three went in the direction of the noise and found a blond haired boy punching the ground here, destroying a tree there, shattering a boulder there, and then settling in one place on the ground as a whimper came from the hood of his coat. They gaped, it was only that kid from the academy that always pulls the pranks and he caused this much damage with just his fist?!
Naruto didn't seem to notice them, either that or he didn't care. But they stood there until, finally, the blond slumped to the ground with tears of rage and agony streaming his face as he pulled up a handful of grass and tossed the into the air. He wasn't even breathing heavily as he shook his head furiously.
"Are you okay kid?" A woman with purple hair and brown eyes asked in confusion and concern.
"Yeah." He said absently as he stared at his shattered and tattered fist as he sent medical chakra to it and they knit themselves back together.
"You sure?" Another girl with pink hair and green eyes asked uncertainly.
"Yep." He said, his rage getting more controlled and he used his sleeve to wipe his eyes.
"Want to talk about it?" A man with red hair and dark eyes asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope." Naruto replied, flexing his hands. "Want to spar?" He asked absently. They saw what he'd done, no harm in letting someone know just how strong he realy was at the moment.
"Kid, we're ANBU, you're not even out of the academy yet." The purple haired woman said.
"Anko, you saw what he did to the training ground. Lets go one on one if you're that iffy." The other girl said, looking at Naruto with a soft smile. "I'm Tokina, that's Anko, and he's Toru. What about you?" She asked.
"Naruto." He shrugged.
"Are we going to spar or not?" Anko said.
"We're only going to go one on one. If anyone who's not fighting thinks another needs help, step in. First we'll let Toru." Tokina told them.
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There you have it!!! Please review!!!!!