1The Demon Shadow of Konoha

An average morning, sun shining, people opening their shops, the sounds of a working forge. Inside pieces of metal scattered across the floor, swords and various weapons hung on the wall. A boy was working, hammering a piece of metal he just took out of the fire. He had short brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin. He wore a navy blue shirt, black pants and black boots.

"Maiku!"(1) a man shouted from deeper inside the forge.

"Hai tou-san!" He shouted back.

A man walked in, he had short gray hair, black eyes. He had on a white gi. "I just wake up and I find you working on your sword already. Such dedication for an eleven year old." The man chuckled as he noticed the rings around his son's eyes.

"I just want to finish it." Maiku said, a hint of excitement in his voice as the thought of completing his project entered his mind. He was about to strike the metal again when his hand was stopped.

"I'll finish, go and eat." He smiled at his son who ran out of the shop. He picked up an over turned piece of paper, noticing it was his son's designs for the sword. "The kid is good, real good." He set the designs down and went to work.

"There he is, get him!" A crowd of people shouted.

"Not again!" Cried a boy with blond hair, blue eyes and unusual markings on his face. He ran for his life. 'What the hell!' He thought before he tripped. He sat up and looked around. He had fallen outside a weapon shop, and the crowd quickly caught up to him.

One of them, a chunin, lashed out a brandishing a kunai. It quickly closed the distance. Naruto closed his eyes waiting, only to hear a snap.

"Must be your lucky day huh Naruto?" Naruto opened his eyes, only to smile.

"Another couple seconds and I would've been dead. Thanks Maikeru"(2) Said boy was now standing in front of Naruto, swinging a pipe he found earlier like a sword. He looked at the chunin whose wrist he had just broken with a hard hit before bashing him on the head.

"Don't thank me yet. We still gotta deal with these assholes."

The mob started to circle the two. Maiku got into a awkward kenjutsu stance as Naruto picked up the kunai. "This isn't good Maiku." Naruto said, fear in his voice.

"No shit." Maiku sighed. "Well it's been a good two years knowing you." Maiku tightened his grip as the mob moved even closer, only to be stopped by two kunai being thrown in front of them. Maiku glanced to a nearby tree, finding a ninja with blond hair. On his left he noticed a friend of his, his tou-san's business partner. Behind him stood a girl with brown hair in buns.

"All of you leave now!" The blond ninja shouted, pulling out more weapons. It took them a minute and the appearance of ANBU to finally leave.

"Dumb bastards." Naruto muttered.

Maiku nodded dropping his pipe as he walked to the weapons shop. "Hey old man thanks for the help."

"No problem. But what were you doing in the middle of that anyway?"

Maiku narrowed his eyes. "Helping a friend. Got a problem Tenshin?(3)"

Tenshin noticed the stern look and the use of his first name and decided to change his answer. "Tenten was worried about you getting hurt." By now the girl had her arms around him, a mix of yelling at him and asking if he was ok.

By now the Blond ninja was talking to Naruto. "You ok kid?" He asked.

"A little scrape from when I fell, but I'm fine Inoichi-san." Naruto rubbed his shin, clearing the blood.

"Why did you disappear like that tou-san?!" Another blond had appeared.

"I'm sorry Ino but I had business to take care of." Inoichi said moving to his daughter's side.

"What's the dobe doing here?" Ino wondered why someone with no skills would be outside a weapons shop.

"Don't call me that!" Naruto yelled, rage building.

"Ino!" Inoichi scolded his daughter. "Don't say that or I might let what's about to happen occur."

"What's the dobe gonna do? He's not Sasuke. Naruto has no skills." Ino began laughing at Naruto.

Inoichi sweat dropped. "It's not Naruto I'm worried about."

"Where did that pipe go damn it?!" Maiku shouted, mad at Ino. "I just dropped it like thirty seconds ago what the hell?!"

"Maiku-kun calm down." Tenten said trying to stop her enraged friend.

"We'll be leaving now." inoichi said, leaving with Ino following.

"Naruto lets get some ramen. I skipped breakfast anyway." Now calm as the source of his anger had left.

"RAMEN!" Naruto screamed, running off leaving Maiku to catch up.

"Later Ten-chan." He mumbled curses and left.

"Well this was an interesting morning wasn't it?" Maiku eat more of his ramen. "I think almost killing Ino was the best part."

"Would you have really killed her?" Naruto asked downing his fifth bowl.

"Maybe. I don't really know because Ten-chan stopped me." He said finishing and putting money down on the counter and waited for Naruto to finish.

"Then Ino is lucky your girlfriend was there or she would be dead." Naruto laughed to himself as he thought about how it would've happened.

"Yes she is lucky that my...wait a minute!" Maiku smacked Naruto on the back of his head. "She's not my girlfriend, not officially at least. I'm only eleven after all."

"Now's not the time for romance aniki, it's time for ramen." He said ordering a seventh bowl.

"Yeah whatever. I think your blood is more broth than anything." Ayame laughed with the two boys. "Now for serious business Naruto, I want you to drop that act you put on at the academy tomorrow."

"What act?" Naruto asked, earning another hit.

"Don't play dumb! You've been training with me for the two years you've known me. Your better than that." Maiku sighed.

"Alright I'll do it, just stop hitting me." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Glad to hear it, now come on you need a outfit change.

"Hey what's wrong with this?" Naruto asked as he looked over his clothes.

"Dude, orange? I could be blind and still hit you with a kunai because of how much you stand out." Maiku grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him to a clothing store. "Put these on." He demanded. "No friend of mine is going to be a pincushion."

A minute later Naruto came out wearing a white t-shirt. Over that was a navy blue sleeveless hoody. He also had baggy black shorts and black ninja sandals. "Is this better?" Naruto said with a hint of sadness, missing his orange.

"Where's Naruto? I can't see him." Maiku said. "Yeah that's a lot better. Your buying this stuff to." Maiku handed Naruto more gear. "Now go pay for it." Naruto did as he was told, knowing what would happen if Maiku got mad. "Now that this is taken care of I gotta get back to work, I've been out to long anyway and I want to finish my sword. See you at the academy tomorrow."

"Man what a day. Almost get beat, new clothes, and now Maiku wants me to drop my act. Maybe it'll be better that way though." Naruto dropped his bag of clothes onto the ground. 'Hey Kyubi?'

"What do you want brat?" The fox asked, angry.

'Should I do what Maiku said and get serious?' Naruto sat down at the table and began reading a scroll.

"You woke me up for that? Go away and let me sleep ya stupid brat!" And with that Kyubi went back to sleep.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Naruto said then went back to reading. 'Cant believe it's been three years since I met the fox.'

Flashback

A small boy ran down the street. He was followed closely by a group of angry villagers. They shouted at him, "Demon child" or "Fox brat" thus causing more people to join in chasing him.

Finally they caught him, trapped in a dead end alley. The boy huddled in the corner, bruised, bleeding. The villagers finally finished throwing things and began beating him, only to be stopped by puffs of smoke. When cleared several ANBU stood over the boy. They got rid of the mob, but someone managed to hit the boy in the head with a rock, knocking him unconscious.

He awoke in a sewer. "Come here boy!" Boomed voice. The boy did as he was told, fearful about angering whoever said that. Soon he faced a large cage, behind which was a pair of red eyes. "So this is my jailer. What a weak little thing."

"What are you?" The boy asked, trying to control the shaking of his body with little success.

"The Kyubi you dumb brat. Don't they teach you people anything. I attacked Konoha and ended up sealed inside you, much to my displeasure. Now, get out of my sight!" He growled cutting off the link with the boy.

"Hey tou-san I'm back." Maiku said walking into the forge.

"Good! I just finished five minutes ago." A sword was tossed to Maiku. It had a polished black sheath with a hammer striking and anvil emblem at the bottom. Maiku unsheathed the blade and looked it over. The blade was black and polished, reflecting the light, a red blood grove ran down the blade. The handle was red and wrapped in dyed black shark skin. The normal opposite side of the blade was serrated so he had to be carful not to hurt himself.

"It's just like my design." Maiku said, putting it back in the sheath and placing the sword on his back. "I don't have a name for it yet sadly."

"That's fine. Go inside and rest. Your going back to the academy tomorrow." Maiku nodded and went inside up to his room to relax for the rest of the day.

(1) Maiku = Mike

(2) Maikaru = Michael

(3) Made up the name