The Child of Prophecy

Chapter 1

"One more time Naruto-kun." A tall blond-haired man said to a four year old boy that looked very similar to him.

"Okay Tou(Father)-chan" Naruto said before running all the way up the tree with chakra and standing upside-down on it's branches.

This was the 20th time Naruto had done this in a row, which meant that his daily training was finished. Naruto gathered up all his shuriken and kunai, along with his clothes he had taken off to train.

It was a really hot summer day, although in the Land of Fire, where the Leaf Village sits, it is almost always scorching hot. Which is why Naruto and his father were headed into the village to get some ice cream. They always had ice cream at their house, but Naruto's father always wanted to go into town and check on the people he swore to protect when he took up the mantle of the Fourth Hokage. A lot of you might be wondering how Naruto knows about his father at such a young age, and the answer to that was that Naruto's parents got together exactly five years earlier than the anime, which meant that Naruto was four already, where as in the show he was still inside his mother's belly. Naruto's birthday was approaching on October 10, and that was actually a day before he was enrolled in the ninja academy.

Naruto had pleaded with his parents and they had eventually relented and let him enroll. They didn't want to pressure him into becoming a shinobi just because they were, but Naruto seemed to be extremely gifted in the ninja arts. He took to everything like a sponge, including his worst favorite class of History. He understood why it was necessary for him to learn about the history of the ninja world, but his parents weren't that good at it, so they enlisted some special help to teach history, The Third Hokage. The third Hokage was more than happy to teach young Naruto History, after all, he wasn't called the professor for nothing.

As Naruto and Minato walked through their village eating ice cream, they were often waved at or cheered for. Minato's skill and kindness were legendary, and that caused many villagers to look at him with extreme admiration. This look of course was given to his son as well because they knew they could expect great things from the son of the Hokage, even though the list of people who knew who the mother was very small. Only Naruto and top ANBU and personal Jonin knew that Kushina was the mother.

They were going to release the information on the day that Naruto joined the academy, which was in roughly a week. The rest of the walk was accompanied by the squeals of fan-girls, and the greetings from ninja. Kakashi even walked up to them and offered them a small "yo." Kakashi was on his father's team, and was going into the ANBU soon. Kakashi was very powerful, and he was very devoted to his job, probably because it helped repress his bad past. Kakashi was only a few years older than him, but was hailed as a prodigy.

Once they made it back to their house, Naruto took off to the kitchen. Even though that ice cream helped, he had spent most of the day outside training; therefore, he deserved some dinner. Luckily, his mom was already in charge of that, and before Naruto could even ask what they were eating, a plate full of food was shoved in front of his face and he set about vacuuming up his food. Most families eat rather peacefully and polite; however, Naruto's family was not one of them. His mom was just as bad as his, while his dad was only a tad better with his manners.

Soon after they had began eating, they were all done. Naruto took a shower then fell asleep, wondering how his last week before the ninja academy should be spent.

Timeskip 1 Week

This last week was torture for Naruto. He was so excited to join the academy that this last week passed sluggishly. The only upside was that today was his birthday, and tomorrow he would be joining the academy.

His parents had invited a lot of people to come to his birthday party, as they were going to announce their marriage as well. Jiraiya, Kakashi, The Third Hokage, and Mikoto were among the closest people to them that arrived. Some of the other guests were Clan Heads, The Shinobi Council, and important civilians. The only person Naruto was concerned about was the son of Mikoto. While a very pregnant Mikoto talked with his parents, her other son had made his way to Naruto's side, where they both stared of into the evening sky. After what seemed like a very long time, the unknown boy decided to speak.

"Hello. My name is Itachi. Judging by your similarity to the Fourth Hokage, you must be Naruto, and this party is for you. If that is so, then why are you way out here?"

"Well, Itachi. To be honest, I'm rather sick of the way people treat me. Unlike most four year olds, I seem to have a better understanding of the world. I'm sick of the way people treat me just because I'm the son of the Hokage."

"I bet they treat you like me, like a noble."

"How come they treat you like me, Itachi?"

"Well, I have unlocked my Sharingan much earlier than anyone in my clan. They all call me a protégé."

"Yea, that sounds a lot like me. I have all this pressure from the villagers saying that I will be stronger than Tou-san."

"Are you going to be starting the ninja academy tomorrow?"

"Yea, why?"

"Cause my Tou-san in enrolling me as well. Something about proving to the un-Uchiha's our strength." Itachi said while rolling his eyes.

"Well, Itachi I hope that you're in my class. Most of the kids our age are no where near as advanced as us, and I'd like someone to challenge me." Naruto said with a determined smile.

"Of course Naruto, I guess this makes us what you'd call friends."

"And Rivals. From here on out."

"As you wish Naruto. Well Kaa-san is calling me back over, it looks like the party is over. Have fun opening the presents, and I'll see you tomorrow."

The two boys walked back to the group before Mikoto took Itachi back home for the night. The entire way back, Mikoto was smiling at seeing her son finally make a friend his age.

Naruto was extremely happy, unlike normal kids who got toys, everyone knew that Naruto wanted to be a ninja so they all got him things to help.

Kakashi got him a chakra saber, which he clasped on his back. Jiraiya gave him the chance to sign the Toad Summoning Contract, which he signed without hesitation. The Third Hokage gave him a set of premium shuriken and spidersilk woven ninja wire. Naruto's father gave him a book on Advanced Chakra Theory. Naruto's mother on the other hand gave him an instruction manual for her kenjutsu style, which he would use Kakashi's gift for. And finally Mikoto gave him a nice pair of Shinobi sandals to replace his civilian shoes.

Naruto thanked everyone, and afterwards all that was left was Naruto, Minato, and Kushina. Just as they were about to head to bed, the unthinkable happened.

A Masked man suddenly appeared before Kushina and attempted to slash her throat; however, Minato didn't the title of being the fastest Shinobi alive for nothing and planted his foot directly in the assailants chest. At least, that's what should have happened. Instead, Minato's foot phased right through him. The Masked Man suddenly ran through a bunch of jutsus and all three of them were forced to teleport away from the fire that spewed from the assailants mouth.

When the trio appeared in their backyard, they were ready for anything. When the masked man appeared, Minato sped towards him followed closely by Kushina. This unfortunately led to Naruto being completely vulnerable, which cost them dearly. The Masked Man before them was nothing more than a clone. The real one appeared behind Naruto and grabbed him before disappearing into the night.

Naruto suddenly emerged from a ripple in space somewhere dark and dingy. The Masked man not far behind.

The Masked man was furious, he was unable to release the Kyuubi from Kushina by killing her and destroy the Leaf Village.

"Curse the Hokage for being so fast. Well I guess torturing you will help me relieve some stress. But I'm not really a physical tormentor, I'm more of a mental assailant. So if you will, look into my eyes."

Naruto tried to resist looking into the mans eyes, but a strong hand held his face up and pried his eyelid open. All Naruto saw was a spinning red eye before he was in a completely different place.

All around him was fire and the moon was an odd blood color.

"Welcome to Tsukuyomi, Naruto. In this world I control everything, and for the next few days I'll show you your worst nightmares."

Everything went wrong on the first image. It was only him killing Naruto's family, a fairly basic place to start the mind torture. However, something in Naruto awoke when he saw his entire family decimated by a strange man in a mask. Naruto was pulled out of Tsukuyomi in time to feel his eyes in searing pain before everything within a 50 meter radius was obliterated.

"No way!" The masked man said before crashing into a wall on the far side of the underground dungeon.

Naruto collapsed after his attack, but before he hit the ground, he was enveloped by a pair of strong arms.

"Naruto-kun, thank Kami you're okay son." The Fourth Hokage said before looking at the Masked man.

Before Minato could do anything, the masked man uttered a threat before merging into the ground, no doubt miles away by now.

Once he was gone, Minato teleported back to their house with Naruto is his arms, fast asleep. Kushina saw them both and ran to Naruto. Tears were streaking down her face at seeing her baby boy safe from harm. It was a good idea to mark Naruto with a Hirashin Seal (Minato's Teleporting Technique). So that they could teleport to him anywhere at any time. They quickly set Naruto in his bed before making their way to their bedroom, completely unaware of the change in Naruto's eyes.

The next morning was a little odd for Naruto. At first he thought he was dreaming because everything looked different. For the most part every detail just looked immensely defined. Although when Naruto would use Chakra to enhance his vision, like most Shinobi do, his entire vision went black and white. Somethings looked extremely blue, he could see two sources of blue light. One from the Kitchen downstairs, and one from a room down the hall. Naruto took a long time before deciding to ask his parents what was happening.

Naruto walked into the Kitchen like usual, and plopped down on his usual chair. Everything seemed like it was back to normal for Kushina. Although when she turned around to give Naruto his breakfast, she dropped the plate and gasped. When Minato heard the plate crash, he Hirashin'ed to the Kitchen with a kunai in his hand, ready to protect his family with his life. Once he looked around and noticed what Kushina was staring at, he too dropped what was in his hand; the kunai bouncing off the tile floor.

"Is that the-" Kushina stammered

"Yea." Minato barely managed to get out.

"The Rinnegan. Our son has the Rinnegan. I need to see Jiraiya, he once said he trained a boy with the Rinnegan, but he said that his pupils were an off violet, Naruto's are a powerful looking blue."

"Um. Is there something wrong with my eyes?" Naruto said worriedly. His vision was already weird, if his eyes looked different to other people who knows what could happen.

"Yes Naruto, go look in a mirror."

Naruto did just that, and what he saw shocked him. Instead of his normal blue eyes, the blue took up the entire eye, with three circles breaking them up into segments. When Naruto channeled Chakra into his eyes like earlier, his eyes began to glow and radiate power.

Minato could not of been prouder of the fact that his son was the Child of Prophecy that his sensei Jiraiya heard of from the Toad Sage. But he also knew that with this much power, he would need to start learning how to control it immediately.

They used a powerful illusion around Naruto's eyes to cover up the Rinnegan, no use having that kind of information circling around the ninja world. Then they told him about their new training schedule that centered around his Rinnegan, which would take place everyday after school. After they were done, they all three began to walk to the ninja academy.

Even though they were all in their separate worlds thinking about this new development, they made it to the class on time. When Naruto looked inside of the class room, he was happy to see his new friend Itachi with a seat available next to him. Naruto said a quick goodbye before sitting next to his friend.

"Good morning Naruto."

"Morning Itachi."

"It looks like we will be spending a year in this classroom."

"I thought we graduated in four years, Itachi."

"No, that is the maximum time, where most people graduate. You and I are strong enough to graduate early."

"Sweet! You mean I can be a genin in only a year!?"

"Everyone! Settle Down! It's time to begin class!" A Chuunin yelled from the front of the classroom.

"My name is Inuzuka Roshi, and ill be your instructor for the next four years. When you hear your name, say here." And with that brief introduction, He began calling out names. When he reached Namikaze Naruto, he seemed to pause and look around the room. When his eyes caught onto Naruto he smiled at seeing the blessed son of the Fourth, his idol.

Naruto already knew he wouldn't like it here, the instructor already looked like he wanted to pass Naruto that second.

Before kids could start talking, Roshi-sensei had started calling out names again. Once Itachi said here, the roll call was done, and class got underway.

Naruto was extremely annoyed with the way the teacher was instructing them. He was skipping over all the necessary information like abilities or strategies and going into teaching the kids the history of Chakra. Naruto knew that none of these kids were grasping what the instructor was talking about since most of them were staring off into the distance. Naruto already knew all of this stuff so he decided to mess around with his new eyes again.

Itachi was suddenly broken out of his meditation by a subtle release of powerful Chakra from his friend, Naruto. He resolved to ask Naruto about it after class was over because he did not want to incur the wrath of the teacher by talking during his lecture.

While Itachi was having his little inner resolution, Naruto was busy looking at different people and seeing their different Chakras. Some people had more of a solid flowing Chakra while other's ran rampant throughout the body, like fire within the Chakra coils.

Naruto also saw the different amounts of Chakra in the people. All the children minus Itachi and him had extremely low levels. Naruto was surprised to see that not only was his and Itachi's Chakra more potent, but it was also more abundant than the instructor's.

Class seemed to drone on and on that day, Naruto and Itachi were extremely unimpressed with the level of education they were receiving; however, they were very fortunate that they both had families to fall back on to learn the necessary things.

Once they were freed from their torture, the two boys left to go towards their respective homes. Itachi had completely forgotten to ask Naruto about the Chakra he was releasing. But who cares, he had advanced training to get done.

On the other side of the village, Naruto just made home to see that his godfather, Jiraiya was home. After learning why he was home, Naruto grew very excited. He was going to begin learning how to control the Rinnegan at Mount Myoboku, where he would also begin learning how to summon the toads. He was to do this everyday until he graduated from the academy.

Once Naruto got over the weird sensation of being teleported to Mount Myoboku, he was amazed at what he saw. Everything looked so different, all the colors were extremely more vivid to Naruto, but that could just be because everything was overflowing with Chakra. Even the rocks seemed to be carrying a certain amount of Chakra.

Since it was only Jiraiya and Naruto at Mount Myoboku, Naruto was allowed to unveil his eyes. Upon seeing them, Jiraiya was blown away at how much more power raidiated from them as opposed to Nagato, whose Rinnegan was significantly weaker.

Thankfully for Naruto, Jiraiya had already trained a Rinnegan user, so he knew exactly what steps to take.

First he told Naruto about the Paths that the Rinnegan would give to it's user. There was the path that controlled gravity, The Deva Path. There was the path that absorbed Chakra, The Preta Path. There was the path that controlled Summoning Creatures, The Animal Path. There was the path that controlled all things metal, The Asura Path. The path that controlled the human soul, and could read minds, The Human Path. The path that controlled life and death, The Outer Path. And finally the path that control the King of Hell, The Naraka Path. These seven paths made up the skills of a Rinnegan user.

Even though Naruto knew the paths, and what they did. Jiraiya knew the strain that it would put on Naruto's body, so he made a rule to teach Naruto one path every year, starting once he graduated from the ninja academy in four years. Naruto knew that he would graduate early, but he knew that he should wait for his body to get stronger before attempting the paths.

Naruto left Mount Myoboku feeling very tired with all the new information he got from Jiraiya. He spent the rest of the time at Mount Myoboku switching the Rinnegan on and off and dodging thrown weapons and also dodging ninjutsu attacks.

Once Jiraiya knew he had enough control to not hurt someone by accident, he left; leaving Naruto to tell his parents about his first day of school. Even though Naruto dreaded the low level of instruction he was getting at the academy, he was happy that he was making a friend with Itachi. He even got invited to train with Itachi. Naruto loved training with his parents, but they were really busy sometimes and Naruto was forced to train by himself. Now that Naruto had a training buddy, his skills would skyrocket.

And the end of the day, Naruto had only one thing to say to the world outside of his bedroom window, "Lookout world, Namikaze Naruto is coming, and I'm not stopping until the world recognizes me as the strongest Hokage ever!" And with that finally declaration, Naruto fell asleep, ready to spend the next year getting a lot stronger.