"Now you should hurry or you'll be late for class."

Naruto's horns then sunk back into his head and his tail changed back into its normal monkey-tail form as he slowly got up to get ready.

Mayhem, Domination, or… Peace

On his way to the academy, Naruto was unsure if he should really go or not. He should skip instead, he thought, but then he remembered that he had promised Iruka that he would try harder. He decided to pretend like nothing had changed and if anyone brought it up then he would just ignore it.

As Naruto walked he began to drift into his own world. Just then this huge guy came barreling around the corner after dining and dashing. Panicked about being chased, he didn't even notice that he and Naruto were on a collision course. Caught up in his own thoughts, Naruto wasn't paying much attention as well and…

The guy turned around in time to see Naruto and tried to stop but began to topple over. Naruto was still in his own world and had not noticed this. Would this be the end of our hero? Will he notice in time? Can he possibly…Ohhh!... too late!

The man has already fallen to the ground with a thunderous thud. Many of the surrounding people could've sworn that they were in the middle of an earthquake. A few of the on-lookers gasped in horror as they remembered that a small boy had been standing in the very spot the man laid. They worked diligently to move the man's bulbous frame in order to save this poor child, but when they finally rolled him over… Naruto was nowhere to be found.

The gluttonous giant slowly sat up and to his surprise, and relief, there was no little kid beneath him. As he was arrested he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the kid that he thought he crushed…

Walking along the rooftops, Naruto was still unaware of what had happened or how he ended up on the roof…

A/N: What happened was that Naruto sensed the man and unknowingly reacted, jumping out of harm's way.

Upon finally realizing where he was, Naruto jumped down from the roof and continued on his way to the academy. He could only hope that no one would make a big deal about his situation because he barely understood it himself.

Naruto walked in to his first class only to draw everyone's attention. He made his way to his seat and sat down, ignoring the occasional on-lookers and even some girls that seemed to take a particular interest in the now white-haired kid. Seeing Naruto with white hair and gold eyes, the sensei of the class just ignored it figuring that it was just one of his goofy antics for attention. As long as it didn't get any worse there was no point in making it a big issue.

Naruto had made it through most of the day, but the sensei in his next class would definitely give him some unwanted attention. A feeling of dread soon overcame him, but he sucked it up and entered the room…

"… NARUTO! WH-WHAT'S WITH THAT LOOK?! If that's something you're doing to get some attention or distract the class then you should go and change back!"

Iruka sensei, the idiot…

"Believe me, if I could then I would," Naruto mumbled while taking his seat.

"Th-That's not some kind of disguise…? Whatever then, just sit in your seat and pay attention," Iruka said not knowing what to make of the situation.

Naruto complied and actually paid attention during most of the class, but once again he couldn't help but notice something about his classmates. For some reason he felt that he had a bigger "presence" than all of them, including Iruka sensei. He didn't know what to make of it so he tried to ignore it.

When class was over Iruka told Naruto to hang back and give him an explanation for his appearance. Once again Naruto complied and after telling everything, he was released.

"One more class… One more class and I can go home and hide until this thing goes away, hopefully," he thought to himself.

His final class was one that focused primarily on the subject of taijutsu. All he had to do was lay low and wait for the day to be over with.

Since the Graduation Exam was drawing closer, the sensei wanted to see how some of his students had progressed, so he asked for volunteers…

This was great. Since Naruto didn't want to volunteer, he wouldn't be called on. He would also be treated to a free show and see some of the others' skills. As he raised his head a little to get a better view, the sensei noticed this and called on him…

"B-B-B-But wait… I-I wasn't volunteering," he said in shock.

"I'm volunteering you, now get down here," the sensei retorted before picking another guy to be his opponent.

Naruto slumped his way down to the front of the class while trying to protest his involuntary volunteer to the sensei but before he could get to the point the match had begun…

(WHAAM!!)

Naruto was punched in the face hard, very hard. He stumbled back and felt an instance of pain, but it didn't really faze him. Naruto moved his hand up to his face and the guy backed away in shock. Naruto closed his eyes, trying to think of why this was happening and what it all meant…

His opponent then tried to take advantage of this moment and attacked again. Even though Naruto had his eyes closed he could see the boy's attack coming somehow. Naruto quickly jumped out of the way and opened his eyes. To his surprise the boy was in the very place and position Naruto had visioned.

Curious as to what had just happened Naruto closed his eyes again hoping that the boy would try and take advantage. He did but he decided to change it up. He ran towards Naruto and feigned a straight right hook but attacked instead with a low sweep…

Naruto could see the punch coming as clear as day and was going to block it, but he then noticed the boy pull back and attempt to sweep him off his feet. Naruto jumped just high enough to avoid the sweep and changed to dropkick the boy as he came down.

He made contact and his opponent rolled across the floor. The entire class, especially Naruto's opponent, was surprised. He got up and rushed Naruto with a flurry of punches and kicks doing all he could to land one good hit on Naruto, but to no avail…

As his opponent grew tired and stopped, Naruto took the opportunity to switch from defense to offense. Naruto charged with a flurry of attacks of his own. As every one of them found their mark, Naruto successfully avoided, broke, and disabled his opponents counters with what seemed like ease.

When Naruto was done his opponent was laid out on the ground. Naruto opened his eyes and saw everyone in a state of surprise, shock, and awe.

As Naruto sheepishly chuckled to himself he quickly dashed towards his seat wondering himself how he could have pulled that off. Unknown to him this was the least of his worries. Something was stirring inside of him urging to be let loose.

On his way home, once again Naruto couldn't help but notice that he seemed to stand out from everyone else. His "presence" just seemed to be a lot vaster than everyone he came across, including…

Naruto finally made it home and was surprisingly met by the Hokage and a few of his attendants. Naruto looked at them and questioned why…

"WHY DOES EVERYONE ELSE SEEM SO… INFERIOR TO ME?!" he asked as tears started to well up in his eyes. He then ran off through the village and into one of its many heavily forested areas. Wishing to be alone, he took out his anger on a tree for what seemed like hours. When it seemed like he couldn't go on anymore it was already dark…

"Should I go home, or should I just leave the village for good? The old man would probably miss having me around, and I know that Konohamaru would… But it would probably be the best for everyone."

"Is that really what you think or are you just being a wimp?" came a voice from what seemed like nowhere.

Out of the shadows stepped a very large man in standard ninja wear, a red vest, a giant scroll on his back, and he had hair almost as white as Naruto's was now.

This surprised Naruto as the old man wore ninja clothing but didn't seem to give off much of a sign of being one. He seemed more like one of the villagers than a ninja. Naruto was going to question this but didn't really care at this point.

"How long have you been there?"

"Who me…? I just made it in time to hear the end of it... Want to talk about your troubles?" the old man asked with a smile on his face.

"This is Naruto right? He's gotten so big since the last time I got a really good look at him. What am I saying? Of course he's bigger, it just makes sense."

He then smiled even more as he noticed what Naruto was wearing. "He's even wearing the clothes that I sent him. I'm glad he liked them."

Naruto was wearing an orange hoodie with the hood, shoulders, and sleeves being blue. The design on his left shoulder was a white swirl with a second red scroll on his back outlined by white. His pants were simply blue…

Naruto lifted up his head to get a better look at the man to discern whether he wanted to really know or if it was all fun at Naruto's expense. At this the old man noticed that one of his eyes was a different color than the other.

"Hey kid, did you always have two different colored eyes?"

"No, who the hell has two different colored eyes, why do you ask?"

"N-No reason at all just forget I ever said anything."

Naruto looked at the man once again trying to figure out if he should confide in him or not. As he continued to look at the man with a sad face the old man's smiley expression slowly changed to one of concern…

Naruto decided to give in and tell him all his troubles. What could it hurt? As Naruto spilled his guts, the man listened genuinely to his story, and when he finished the old man decided to tell him a little bit about what was happening.

"You're from the clan of "beast warriors", right?" he questioned as Naruto just nodded.

He continued… "I'm guessing that you haven't done a beast transformation either, right? I'm also guessing that because you haven't, you're not used to your beast which is trying to dominate you. The solution to this is simple... just give it a couple of days and you'll be back to your normal self. "

Proud at his explanation the man smiled from ear to ear. Naruto took it all in but still had a question…

"But why do I feel like… like… LIKE A BEAR AMONG ANTS?!" he asked with tears welling up in his eyes.

"Why? Well it's because when your dragon awoke certain new abilities were unlocked along with it. One of them being the capability to sense, feel, and measure chakra. The reason why you feel like a 'bear among ants' is because you have such a vast amount of chakra at your disposal." The man explained.

"Hopefully that's the only ability he's gained access to… I'd hate to have to tell him a lie, or worse… the truth…" the man thought.

"Really! Wow, thanks old man!" Naruto said with a smile returning to his face.

"How do you know so much about me and my clan?" he then asked suspiciously.

"U-Uh…ya see…… I'm a wandering hermit and I've seen a lot of things in my time (yeah that's it)." he shakily responded, hoping that the boy was gullible enough to believe what he said. It wasn't a lie; it just wasn't the entire truth.

Seeing that Naruto didn't show any sign of rejecting what he said the old man continued on to say, "You know… you're a very dangerous individual. It isn't enough that you're from the blood lusted, battle hungry clan of "beast warriors"… you're a dragon to boost, one of, if not the, most dangerous of all. If you wanted to, you could probably plunge this entire village into chaos. It's a scary thing… a mere child with such destructive power... So… what do you plan on doing?"

"I-I… I understand it now. The reason why the villagers hate me, the reason why they attack me… It's-It's because they're afraid of me. All the times they shunned me and abused me… Maybe I should take revenge on them for it."

"NOOOOO! DON'T DO IT NARUTOOO!!" came the screams of a now crying Hinata. She ran up to Naruto with tears streaming down her face looking as if there had just seen a horrible tragedy.

"What are you doing here Hinata? Why are you being so nosey?" Naruto sternly asked.

Hinata didn't know what to say. Even if she did, there was no way anyone would understand her while she blubbered it out. No reply came from her as she sniffled and looked Naruto in his now crimson red eyes. She also noticed that horns began to grow from his head right in front of her…

"Oh, so you did notice that she had been hanging around… Not bad kid, I guess you're coming into your abilities nicely."

"Naruto, please!... Please, don't listen to him, don't do this," Hinata pleaded.

"Why shouldn't I? They deserve exactly what's coming to them. What goes around comes around!"

"Bu-but, you're not like what he says. Y-You-You're a nice and kind person th-that wouldn't hurt anyone!" She managed to stutter out.

"There's no way that's true, you barely even know me, and you definitely don't know what I've been through!... So why would you say something like that?" he asked as he started feel more and more primal by the second.

"Wh-Why?!" she said as she began to blush, "Because I like you! Now, tell HIM!" she thought to herself.

"B-Be-Because… Be-Because I… I… because you've been so nice to me since we met. A-And I… I… I like having you as a friend, and… And I like you," she said the last part as gentle as a breeze hoping that he would hear it.

Unfortunately he didn't and seemed to be mesmerized by the fact that she acknowledged him as her friend. He continued to repeat the words over and over again...

While he was doing this, one of his eyes returned to being a golden color and his horns retracted into his skull.

Both the old man and Hinata noticed this and couldn't help but smile.

"Good on ya kid," the man said as he went on, "This is definitely what's best for everyone because I'm sure that she isn't the only one that hopes you stick around. Also, I'm sure you know, harming others for no real reason is wrong… even when they've wronged you first. It isn't the way to go about things."

"Besides…I think the girl wants you to stick around for a bit," he thought.

"You two hatchlings should get on home, I'm sure someone is worried sick about you," he suggested trying to get them to leave so that he could get to what he came to the village for…

"Oh… and kid, remember what was said here and take care of yourself, at least until I come back…"

"What…? Until you come back…? What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked.

"What I mean is... we'll cross paths again someday… I'm sure of it. You just focus on taking care of yourself, this village, and the little lady… because I'm sure she'll do all she can to take care of you…"

Hinata blushed as the man began to walk off leaving her and Naruto alone in the dark forest…

"That's great… The hatchling is just like him. I wonder how much longer it'll be before we find out if he can handle his burdens?... With someone like her by his side, it may not even matter." the old man pondered to himself.

The two youngsters left the old man to his business as they made their way back side by side. As they approached Hinata's home, Naruto decided that it was best that he thank Hinata for being there to bring him back from the brink of… wherever he was. In doing so Hinata began to blush slightly as she sheepishly bid him goodnight.

As Naruto turned to leave for home he noticed that there was a chakra signature standing behind him. He slowly turned back to see an upset Hiashi scowling at him…

"I was just bringing her home," he said nervously while trying to slowly back away.

"Very well, but next time, have her home before dark. As a matter of fact, she shouldn't even be getting home so late, much less being escorted by you!" Hiashi stated sternly with a scowl still on his face.

"I-I got it… Oh… one more thing… I finally understand why you're so protective of Hinata and why you don't want me around her. But know this... I won't be the monster you think I am… BELIEVE IT!" Naruto stated with confidence brimming from his words as he finally left for home.

Whoo! Got a bit wordy there, but oh well. There's still more to come and I'm just getting started.

Naruto believes that he now understands his situation...

What does the future spell out for him?

Next chapter: Graduation