The story is changing from this point. This chapter is just the beginning.

Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto

Chapter 4

Naruto had discussed his inheritance with the Sandaime. He would make a public announcement regarding Naruto's parentage. He was given the clearance to stay at his parents' house. The money in their bank accounts would be transferred to Naruto's. Naruto had already deposited all the money Madara had given. All this made him the richest man in Konoha. This, coupled with the Uzumaki and Namikaze estates, coupled with his parents' mansion, made him rival the Hyuugas.

Naruto decided to check the Uzumaki estate first. He soon concluded it was built to replicate Uzu. It was not very large. He had found out that only three Uzumakis had ever lived in this village. But the Shodaime had insisted on having an estate for his wife's clan. In the center was a big pool, which, Naruto assumed, was meant to create whirlpools, which was required to be acknowledged as an Uzumaki in Uzu. The north and east sides were the living quarters. Each room was quite spacious, with its own queen-bed and bathroom. The west side possessed the library and hot springs. The south was where the entry was and it was flanked by walls. Each building possessed the red Uzumaki swirl. After moving out, he soon placed a barrier around the estate, with a blood seal, which would accept only his blood.

The estates and the house were on the outskirts of Konoha, much like the Uchiha, except on the other side. The Namikaze estate was built in the same way, though it was much larger. Sculptures of dragons adorned the place. There was a dragon in the middle, through whose mouth, water was supposed to fall. The east and west had living quarters with adequate facilities. The north side had the library, which was huge. It contained scrolls on all ninja arts – taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, fuinjutsu and kenjutsu. He had yet to pick up the Uzumaki style of kenjutsu. He made it a point to check it later. He noticed a book on summoning contracts. Madara hd taught him the usefulness of summons. A person having summons would have an advantage over the opponent. Madara didn't have a contract since he used to summon the Kyuubi. He said that there were a few summons that could match up to Kyuubi. The ones that could were dragons and snakes. Naruto flipped through the book and noticed that the Namikazes were an almost extinct clan by the time of his father, and he was certainly the last Namikaze living. He could see the usefulness of dragons. They could fly, remain on ground and even shoot fire streams at distant targets. Certainly an impressive summon. He looked around the library to see if he could find the summoning contract. He performed the Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to create hundred clones. They quickly set out to find something out of the ordinary. After an hour, they dispelled with one of the clones having found a scroll with a blood seal. Naruto quickly bit his thumb and applied the blood on the seal. There was a poof and the seal broke. It was indeed the summoning contract for dragons. He noticed that were only half a dozen or so Namikazes who had signed the contract. Wishing not to damage the library, he closed the scroll and went outside. Behind the library were the training grounds. It wasn't much, but it was at least three full training grounds. Naruto went to the middle, and opened the scroll. He again bit his thumb, smeared the blood across the contract and wrote his name in blood. He had learnt from Madara to summon animals. He quickly performed the hand seals and thought 'Kuchiyose-no-Jutsu'. He put in half of his chakra and there was a large poof of smoke. Once it cleared, there stood a dragon as tall as the Hokage mountain. Naruto was thankful that he had placed the barrier before entering the Namikaze compound. It would prevent any sight or sound to be seen or heard outside it. The dragon was crimson in color. It had majestic yellow wings. His eyes were deep blue in color. He was staring at Naruto.

"It's been three hundred years since anyone summoned us. Who are you. human? Why did you summon me? Do you know who I am? " The dragon bellowed.

Naruto just remained calm. After eyeing the dragon, he just asked coolly, "What's up?"

The dragon was infuriated. A kid was asking him what's up? He would show him. "Listen, kid, I'm Doragonanta, the boss of the Dragons. I'll give you a test. Though I don't think you'll pass it."

Naruto was silent for a while before he started speaking, "Name's Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. You might want to tone your voice a little."

The dragon was surprised for a moment. If he was a Namikaze, he didn't need to test. The dragons had a pact to be summons to the Namikazes. He knew there was only one remaining Namikaze in the world. He could sense that Naruto wasn't lying. He sighed. "You are a Namikaze. So, you don't have to take the test. I'll introduce you to your personal summon later. Ja ne!" With that, Doragonanta went away in a poof of smoke. Naruto was dazed. He had two summoning contracts – he knew he had to arrange a meeting between Gamabunta and Doragonanta, the two bosses.

Kurama snickered in his mind, 'Hmmph, even if all the summons were helping you, you couldn't touch me – now that I have both halves of my power.' Madara had instructed Zetsu to steal the body of the Yondaime, from which the other half of Kurama's chakra was added to Naruto's. He hadn't told the Hokage yet. He didn't need more of the glares. He was feeling giddy – he was growing powerful, and he could feel it. He couldn't beat Kakashi or Guy in an all-out fight yet. He may have had more jutsus or better technique, but he lacked experience and he was still growing.

Naruto sighed. 'One day, I'll come and beat you, furball. But we should work together. Aren't we partners?' He said with a smirk. Before Kurama could respond, he cut off the mental link. The only place left to check was the mansion. He was thinking of his goal in life. Sure, he wanted to become the Hokage. But was it all? No, he decided he would revive the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans. He wasn't a fool. Although, he appeared to be quite cheerful, inwardly he had become cold and calculating. It seemed Madara had rubbed off him in more ways that it would have seemed. The first seeds of doubts had begun to form in his mind – were the villagers, who wanted nothing more than him dead, worthy of the protection he would provide them? He wouldn't go as far to kill them – but maybe, a new village, with the clans who agreed, would be a better idea. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He could think of that later. He still had to visit the mansion.

The mansion wasn't overtly spectacular or grand. All sorts of blood seals restricted access to the mansion. He briefly wondered how much of his Uzumaki fuinjutsu was left to learn for him. It was a simple three story house with five bedrooms, a humongous library, a kitchen, and a living room, taking up most of the ground floor. He walked up the stairs, and looked through each of the bedrooms. He soon reached the master bedroom and smiled, thinking about how his parents must have slept there. It was bigger than the other bedrooms. It was simply decorated. There was a dresser, the king-sized bed and a couch. He moved to the last room. As he opened the door, and took in the sight, a lone tear made its way down his cheek. And then, he was silently crying, looking at the crib that his parents had, no doubt, designed for him. What he wouldn't have given to be able to fit in it and sleep in it for the first time. But it was not to be. This room was filled with pictures of his mother, during pregnancy and his father. It was only late at night when he made his way out of the room. He went into the master bedroom and lay on the bed. It was far more comfortable than what he had been used to at the hideout. He wondered if he should take his time to train at the hideout for a month or two. He quickly shook off his thoughts. He needed a sparring partner – someone, who was the best of the best. He couldn't ask anyone of the Konoha shinobi for help – no one was good enough except for the Hokage and a few, and they didn't have the time. His thoughts turned to the Akatsuki, the group of S-ranked ninja. They were the best of the best. But they were also trying to capture him. His thoughts then turned to one Itachi Uchiha. He could get Zetsu to convince Nagato and Obito to pair him up with Zetsu to capture himself. He knew that Itachi Uchiha was suffering from a disease caused by his use of Mangekyo Sharingan. Naruto had tens of spare eyes in the hideout. He could him one set. In return, he could ask him to train him in the remaining fields and offer him a safe haven. Convincing himself of this plan, he called out, "Zetsu!" Madara had given all his belongings to Naruto. That meant Zetsu was now his spy. Zetsu suddenly appeared from a wall.

"You called, master?" Naruto was deep in thought on how to go about the situation. He finally decided on a plan.

"Tell Obito that I'm very weak, and it would be best if you and Itachi were sent to spy on me, and possible capture me. You are the best spy, and Itachi, being a former ANBU captain, knows many things about the village. Anyone else would simply hinder the mission. I'll offer him the chance of joining up with me, give him the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and give him a place to stay. In return, I'll get a sensei who is at his peak and a sparring partner to improve my skills. Do it by a week. Dismissed." Naruto said in a tone of authority.

Black Zetsu was happy with this plan. They could simply tell that Itachi was killed by Naruto – he appeared to be much stronger than expected. "It shall be done." With that, he disappeared. Naruto was content with the way things were going. He would simply leave a clone to do his bidding while he was away training. Finally at peace, he fell asleep.

It was five in the morning, when he felt the golden rays on his face. Thinking he should put in a bit of early-morning training, he woke up to take a shower. Since he would be training, he put on a black mesh shirt, ANBU style muscle shirt and pant. He wrapped bandages around his hands till they reached his elbows. He had two kunai holsters, one on each of his legs. He had got himself a mask made to look like a fox, with six whisker marks. Putting it on, he went to the training grounds behind the Namikaze complex. Ever since his heritage was announced, the civilians started worshipping the ground he walked on. A few were adamant that the 'demon boy' could not be the son of their precious Yondaime. But the majority accepted it. His looks and blood tests just confirmed it. Naruto didn't like such people – they were fickle and cared only for titles. He was thinking hard, and didn't realize when he had reached the training grounds. He started thinking about his training regimen. But first, he did some laps around the grounds, push-ups, sit-ups and various exercises. He could do the Mokuton naturally because of the Shodai's DNA. Due to his Rinnegan and hard work, he had almost perfect chakra control. He wondered if he could use Hyoton? That would be a site to see! So, he created a thousand clones. He told a hundred of them to work on chakra control exercises. He told another hundred to practice his taijutsu. He asked two hundred of the remaining to practice ice manipulation. Three hundred of the remaining to try to use Crystal Release. He divided the last three hundred into two equal groups. One was to practice kenjutsu and the other was to practice fuuinjutsu. He then activated his Rinnegan and spent the rest of the day practicing his various powers. At the end of the day, he had trained for an effective year and a half. He felt much stronger. He hadn't trained with this aggression for a long time. But he still needed a sparring partner to test his skills. Maybe he could join ANBU to gain experience. He would talk to the Hokage the next day. They had 'teamwork' exercises the next day anyway.

The next day he went to see the Hokage before meeting his team. Hiruzen was in hs office, thinking of how Naruto had grown so strong. He remembered the report Kakashi had given in front of the other Jounins.

Flashback no Jutsu

All the Jounins, except Kakashi, were standing in front of the Hokage to report their teams. There were murmurs going around, when Kakashi came in.

"Yo! How is … You called me earlier so I would come on time, didn't you?" Kakashi said lazily, still reading his orange book.

Hiruzen just smirked deviously before continuing, "So, will the Jounins please report which teams passed?" In a matter of minutes, it was known that teams 7, 8 and 10 passed. Everyone was shocked that Kakashi had passed a team. Hiruzen dismissed the other Jounins, leaving him with Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma.

Kurenai started first, "My team shows excellent potential to be a great tracker team. Kiba is loud, brash, but he gets the job done. Shino is the typical Aburame, logical, quiet and introverted. Hinata is … quite different from a typical Hyuga. She is loath to kill, or even hurt. In all her spars, she was holding back. She suffers from a confidence problem. But they did manage to tag me, after all. So, they pass."

Asuma was the next, "I guess there's not much to say, except that they really behave like Ino-Shika-Cho team, well, at least, when Sasuke isn't around."

Kakashi was silent for a moment. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. "Mah, mah! Well, my team is decent, I guess. Sakura is smart, but she doesn't want to train as she won't look good enough for her Sasuke-kun. Sasuke is…. well, he is at least High Genin. He did quite well in the spar. He has great capabilities. Well, I didn't really give them the bell test, because it was Naruto who figured out the true purpose when I started it. So, it was useless. I just measured their skills. Naruto is quite keen and has great Taijutsu skills. He even managed to beat me. I was holding back, but I feel he was too. Well, he didn't show anything else, I guess. Heck, I have to train with Gai, or I might fall behind a Genin." Kakashi nervously chuckled.

The other Jounins gasped on hearing this. The 'dead-last', 'the-one-who-failed-three-times' beat the strongest Jounin in the village. Before they could say anything, the Hokage and Kakashi shared a knowing look and they were dismissed.

Flashback no Jutsu – Kai

Naruto had just came in through the window in the Hokage Tower. "Hey old man! Can I talk to you about something important? Without the ANBU here?" Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, having been startled from his thinking.

"Very well, Naruto-kun." The ANBU left the room, and Hiruzen put up the privacy seals. "Now what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Naruto was beginning to doubt his request. He had just been assigned to a team. Would the Hokage just pull him out of the team, without a single mission done? But then again, he could always leave a blood clone or Zetsu to do the missions. They were merely chores. Even if they were given a C-rank, it wouldn't be anything noteworthy. He steeled himself, before continuing, "Hai, Hokage-sama." This caught Hiruzen's attention. Naruto never called him Hokage or sama. "Well, you see…. I thought my skills could be better developed if … if I could join the ANBU under your direct command. I can always leave a blood clone to take my place in the team."

To say that Hiruzen was surprised would be an understatement. If half of what Naruto had told him about his skills were true, he would have been more suitable to be a Jounin than a Genin. He could see why wanted to join the ANBU. He couldn't fault him. He relented. "Okay, Naruto-kun." Naruto grinned wider than ever. "I'll escort you shortly to the HQ. If you pass the test, you'll have to choose a mask, any weapon and style of your clothes."

Naruto, for the first time in his life, bowed before saying, "Hai, Hokage-sama." Hiruzen sighed, knowing that Naruto was determined to be an ANBU. He sorted his paperwork, before standing up to escort Naruto to the HQ. Before leaving, Naruto pricked his thumb and created a blood clone, and gave him his orders. The HQ was hidden by an A-ranked genjutsu. It made the impressive compound, consisting of a few training grounds and a large building look like a haunted mansion. Hiruzen escorted Naruto to the head of the ANBU division, Tenzo.

"Tenzo, this is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze," Hiruzen said pointing to Naruto. "He wishes to join the ANBU division." He sighed. He knew the life of ANBU. It consisted of assassinations, taking hostages and other such things. He just wished Naruto would remain the cheerful boy he once knew.

"Umm…. Isn't he a bit too young to join the ANBU. I mean, except for Itachi, no one was this young when they joined," Tenzo had heard that the Kyubi jinchiriki was the dead-last in the academy, failing three times, before passing in an unorthodox manner. His training may have been stunted, but could he really have the potential to join the ANBU? He was skeptical, at best.

"Don't worry, Tenzo. I think you'll be surprised. Now, Naruto, this is Tenzo, the head of the ANBU division. The ANBU have their own way of progressing through the ranks. You will be a squad member at first, if you pass. Seeing your performance in the missions, you may be promoted to ANBU captain. Thereupon, if any of the higher-ups retire, you may be promoted through the ranks."

Tenzo huffed. He was thinking of whom to pit against Naruto. He couldn't be too tough, but not too gentle either. He then smirked, she would be a perfect choice. She had always been worried about him, when they were assigned to look after him. So, without much further ado, he called for 'Neko'. She appeared before him in a shunshin. She was dressed in black ANBU clothing. Her purple hair was visible behind the mask. "Neko, I want you to test Naruto for his induction to ANBU."

Neko was surprised at this. He had never expected the blond, blue-eyed knuckled to join ANBU. He seemed … too cheerful, too loud and too different to join ANBU. But seeing the present Naruto, she could not help but shiver. The look in his eyes promised immense pain against anyone who went up against his village. She shrugged, before she led Naruto to an empty training field. Tenzo and Hiruzen were standing at the sidelines. The former was sure that Naruto would fail. The latter wanted to see some of his skills. Tenzo suddenly said, "Begin."

Before Neko could blink, she found herself unable to move, and cold metal pressed against her throat. "Yield." She was surprised. She tried to move her hands, but she was unable to. She looked down to see tree roots wrapped around her legs and hands. Her mouth hung open. Only Hashirama Senju and Tenzo were known to be able to use Mokuton. But Tenzo was never this fast. She had lost even before a second. She sighed. "I yield."

Tenzo couldn't believe his eyes. A natural Mokuton user, much better than himself. She had defeated one of the best ANBU even before a second was over. He was having serious doubts over the kid's academy reports. Schooling his emotions, he said, "I guess, you did quite well, kid. Swift and deadly. Without wasting time and chakra. Nice."

The Hokage was dumbstruck. He was starting to believe what Naruto had said. Was Naruto really that good? He would, in just a few years surpass him. Before long, he congratulated him on his win. "Well, Naruto, I think you are ready to be part of ANBU. Please choose your mask from the one shown here."

While talking, they had entered the building and he was looking at several masks. "Ano, I was thinking… could I get the 'Fox' mask?" The 'Fox' mask had been disbanded as no one chose it.

The Sandaime smiled and said, "I'll get it made right now. Now, why don't you choose what color of clothes you want – black, grey or blue?"

Naruto thought for a moment before replying, "I would like black. And… would be possible to have a Kyubi on my back?" He said. 'Ah, Kit, don't get so emotional. I'm still here, you know.' 'But I'm a prod jinchuriki. I don't think it's a curse.' The Kyubi became quiet. This kit was really different.

The Sandaime was deep in thought. On one hand, it would be distinctive. On the other, it may strike fear in the hearts of enemies. Making a decision, he said, "Okay. I'm asking Tenzo to do it while you get the tattoo on your arm."

Naruto was led into a room to have his ANBU tattoo. A 'Boar' masked ANBU came forward and performed a few hand seals. The upper part of Naruto's arm flew red fpr a bit, showing through the clothing, before it dimmed and vanished. "Welcome to ANBU."

Tenzo soon came in with his clothes and mask. Naruto went to a spare room to change into them. He didn't look much different from the outfit he wore earlier. The only difference was that there was a crimson Kyubi on his back, and his fox mask. When he came back, Tenxo announced, "I welcome you to ANBU. But you must know, this is a hard life, full of death and despair. Now, I shall introduce you to your team. This is 'Boar'. This is 'Hawk'. And this is your team leader, 'Cat'."