- Two years later -

Naruto ran. Not really knowing why, not really understanding where he was. He just ran, as fast as his legs would carry him. He ran for kami knows how long, never looking behind him. Finally, he stopped to catch his breath and looked around for the first time. He found himself in a sewer. A dark, dank , but surprisingly fresh smelling sewer. A small amount of water lapped at his feet. He took in his surroundings with look confusion on his face. What the hell was he doing in a sewer? How'd he even get here? Before he could even think about what to do next, he felt a presence. Or rather, he smelt it. It smelt like ... snakes ... and ... blood? He reeled at the overwhelming blood smell that was slowly entering his senses. In the darkness behind him, a terrifying chuckle rang out .

" Oh, little Naruto. Iv'e been watching you for quite some time. Watching your progress, you strengths and weaknesses. Your failures and you triumphs. Why, I could say I know everything about you." Naruto took a few steps back, a chilling fear ran down his spine. " Who's there? Sh- show yourself!" Why was he stuttering? He had never stuttered once in his life. This made him even more uneasy. The chuckle rang out again, closer this time. " Oh no, is someone scared? I thought grown up shinobi were supposed to be ... fearless."

This last word was whispered in his ear, hot breath on his neck. Naruto spun around in absolute terror. What he saw before him was beyond what word's could describe as horrifying. In front of him, lay the Ino he had grown up with and something was terribly, terribly wrong. She was on the floor, desperately trying to tear away something on her neck. Agonising screams of pain rang out of her as she writhed on the ground. Naruto quickly ran over and kneeled down, holding her head as he frantically tried to find out what was wrong." Ino what's wrong? Did someone do something to you? Tell me!"

She continued to writhe in his arms, screaming the same thing over and over as tears of agony poured from her eyes. " Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop Naruto! Make the pain-"Ino stopped screaming as she started to convulse violently in front of him. She gurgled on blood as it started to run out of her mouth and eyes. The blonde girl looked desperately at Naruto, tears of blood running down her face before she stopped suddenly. It had been over in less than fifteen seconds.

He looked in horror at her body, still in his arms. Ino didn't move. Her aquamarine eyes he had grown to love over the years, faded as the life left her body. Naruto shook as tears of his own dropped onto her dead face. " Ino... Ino... who did this to you? No... NO... INOOOOOOOOO!" The last thing he saw before blacking out, was a strange seal on the nape of her neck.

* gasp * " AHH! " Naruto jarred awake in his bed, sweat covering his body. He fell out of bed and rolled around on the floor with his eyes shut tight, wanting the terror to go away. He stopped after a few minutes, slowly opening his eyes.

Naruto felt the plush carpet under him as he shakily got up, looking around. Recognizing the kitchen and layout of his apartment, he slumped onto his bed. Damn. It had all been a dream. This alone unnerved him almost more than the dream itself had. Never once, in his entire life, had he dreamed. About anything. Now this could be only one of two things. Something completely irrelevant, or something that has some sort of meaning in the future. Naruto thought as the sun slowly began to rise behind him. He came to a decision. Ino would never hear of this, and it was probably some sort of weird dream that happened to everyone in some way. With this in mind, the day suddenly became much brighter.

Still... He couldn't get the image of Ino, dead in his arms, out of his brain. He shook his head, trying to push it away. Today was the day that his class graduated from academy. That meant squads of three were to be picked today. That also meant that Ino and his training with Inoichi would be over. Naruto grimaced at this thought. Inoichi had grown to become almost like a father to boy, teaching him the difference between right and wrong. Ah well, he hoped at the very least that Ino would be on his team. The Ino - Chika - Cho combination had been destroyed last year when Choji had fallen deathly ill. Completely out of the blue.

Naruto briefly remembered the long days of the group waiting outside of the hospital room, pacing and praying for his recovery. In the end, it was not to be. Choji had died from some sort of rare chakra eating virus. The virus had some how entered his body and began eating his chakra. It multiplied within days and very quickly, the virus had eaten dry Choji chakra veins. This of course meant death. Now one can live without chakra. One of the first lesson's he had ever gotten from Inoichi was that fact.

It was sickly ironic in a way. Choji loved eating and was eventually eaten himself. The image of Choji's parents at his bedside, crying in grief at their lost son flashed through his mind. Why was he thinking such morbid thought's on such a beautiful day? Naruto chuckled to himself, guess he just couldn't help it. Walking into the bathroom, Naruto looked at himself in the mirror. Staring back at him was a slightly taller, more lean and muscular self than he remembered. His hair hadn't grown to much. Whenever it did, Ino had insisted on cutting it so the hair wouldn't get in his eyes. On this matter she was contradicting herself to the extreme. Ino had grown her hair out to a longer ponytail. One half of her head had grown out so that it almost completely covered one eye with the platinum blonde hair. He always enjoyed teasing her about this fact , before getting a fist to his face of course. Quickly putting on his clothes that Ino had made him almost two years ago, ( that somehow still fit him ) he jumped out of the his window.

Naruto smiled as he saw Ino and Shikamaru already waiting for him. They had both grown a few inches, other than that not much had changed. He jumped down and approached the two, a lopsided grin on his face. " Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting." He gave Shika a complex handshake that they had worked out a few years back to Ino's dismay , not being included. After this, Naruto then remembered the dream he had just experienced, and much to Ino's chagrin, approached her and gave her a tight hug. Not letting go for a few seconds. Almost unconsciously, she returned the hug. Not really knowing why he was hugging her in the first place but definitely not complaining.

He let go and looked her in the eyes, dead seriousness in his voice. " I hope you know that I will never let anything happen to you. I promise. " Having never seen Naruto so serious about something before, all she could do was nod. He broke out into his signature smile at that. " First one to school is a soggy noodle!" Naruto said as he ran ahead of the two. " Hey! No fair blockhead, I should be the one getting the head start!"

Shikamaru sighed as he watched the pair run off in the direction of academy. Life for him lately had been even more of a drag than normal. The sudden death of his best friend had hit him harder than anyone else, besides Choji's parents of course. His chubby friend had always been with him, munching away at some kind of snack or making jokes. Not having choji with him had seemed alien for quite some time. However, being the extremely cool and rational thinker that he was, he didn't mull on the subject. People died. Simple as that. It was a dog eat dog world, everyone trying to get that little extra bit of power to triumph over the next hurdle. He smiled slightly, Naruto and Ino were a handful enough. Not wanting to get left behind, he hurried after the them.

Naruto just barley beat Ino in the race to the academy. While he might have been stronger, she was lighter and considerably more graceful. He had tripped a few times. She catched up to him, not even out of breath. " Damn it Naruto, I would have won if you hadn't cheated!" He grinned. " Yeah. Guess that wasn't completely fair. Sorry Ino." She couldn't stay mad at him for long. She forgave him in her own way. Walking over to the outer academy wall and leaning against it, in a slight huff. They waited for Shikamaru, who took about ten minutes to catch up with them. The pair were used to this. Where ever they went, Shika lagged behind because he couldn't be bothered. The three of them entered the building, located their class, and sat together in the back. This was their usual spot. None of them really enjoyed being in the center of mayhem.

Naruto watched as kids filled into the room, most of them he didn't really care for. There was that pink haired girl that was always loud and swooning over that prick Sasuke, Sasuke , a boy that smelled and carried a little dog with him all the time, a white eyed boy who deemed himself better than everyone else , a white eyed girl that always seemed to be staring at him, and a quiet bug smelling guy. No one else was really that interesting. The crowd quieted down as their teacher walked in. Iruka was just about average as a teacher. He didn't really have any defining qualities about him that would stand out. " O.k class, you will now take a test to make sure you are ready for the title of genin. Each one of you will perform your best jutsu in front of the teacher's and they will decide whether or not you are ready. The class walked outside, into the fresh air. The teachers were lined up in a row waiting for each student to show there best.

First up, Sakura Haruno! The pink haired girl stepped out onto the stage. She looked around for a little before turning to the outer walls of the complex. Getting a running start, she approached the walls and punched it. Naruto was more than surprised to see a large crater. several feet deep in the wall. The teachers took notes. " Next up, Sasuke Uchiha!" The raven haired boy smirked at Naruto as he walked into the middle of the area. Making quick hand signs, he breathed in deeply, " Fire Style Fire Ball Jutsu " he shouted as he blew out a steady stream of red fire, burning a nearby see-saw. The teachers muttered to themselves excitedly, apparently impressed by the jutsu. Naruto just smiled to himself, he had something planned for that. A few people went by, Ino mind switched one of the teacher and Shikamaru trapped a student with a shadow capture technique. " Next up, Naruto Uzumaki!"

He walked confidently into the area, sticking his tongue out at the Uchiha. " I can do you one better for that pitiful fire ball jutsu. Naruto watched in amusement as several fan girls held him back as he tried to get a Naruto. He looked at the jungle-gym at the center of the playground. Making several many hand signs, he jumped into the air and took in a deep breath while saying saying, " Scorch Style Gentle Flame Stream! " Out from his mouth came a white flame that flowed over the piece of equipment, incinerating it almost instantly. The rest of the class, teachers including, had to turn away from the intense heat that could be felt nearly twenty yards away. Making well known to everyone the insanely dangerous potential of the jutsu. Naruto landed, a smug grin on his face. " And that class, is how you burn something." He Turned to the place were the jungle-gym used to be, a pile of ash in its place. " Um... sorry about that " The teacher's and the rest of the class were at a lose for words. Never before had any of them seen such a jutsu.

One of the proctors looked at the blonde kid. " What the hell was that?" Naruto smiled as he explained. " I was born with two elements. Fire and wind. Over the past few years, I experimented with using these two elements together in various ways. It's common knowledge that fire needs oxygen to burn. Wind is essentially oxygen. If I combine the two, the fire attack will be greatly increased to the point that its bigger and much hotter. Simply put, I breathed out fire and wind at the same time. I call it, scorch style." The teacher's looked at him, jaws to the ground. They immediately started to whisper and write down notes at a pace that was simply incredible. Naruto walked over to a Sasuke in denial and gave him a wink. " Maybe someday you'll be at my level." He and his friends walked back into the building as they listened to the Uchiha spout of a mixture of unpleasantries and swear words, all directed towards him.

As the class came into the room, Ino could hear the student's talk about Naruto. " Did you see that? Oh man that was so cool. He destroyed that jungle-gym like it was nothing. I thought he was just a goofball!" Everyone quieted down again as Iruka walked into the class, results in hand. " Ok guys, from here on you will be put under a jonin sensei with two other class mates. Make sure to respect your teacher and your teammates. * ahem * O.k. Team Eight will be Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka. Team Ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Naruto Uzumaki , and Shikamaru Nara. Naruto cheered as he high fived his friends. Ino was equally pleased with the decision, relieved to be on the same team with people she actually knew. Shikamaru was also glad in his own, disinterested way.

" And finally, Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura cheered at hearing this, incredibly happy at being on a team, one on one with her major crush. Sasuke sighed, he'd just have to deal with this until he could get enough power to kill a certain someone." I know that your team only has two people, so just do your best! O.k class, you will now go to your meeting points and get to know your group leader. Dismissed! Oh, don't forget to take your headbands, they will stay with you for your entire shinobi career. Take good care of them.

Team ten got each of their head bands. Naruto wrapping it around his head, Ino had put it around her waists, and Shikamaru wrapped it around his left arm. Each team found out where they were supposed to meet and proceeded to head there. Team ten found themselves heading for the roof, talking excitedly about all the things they were going to do. They reached the rooftop and looked around to spot of tall guy leaning against one of the chain fences, a cigarette in his mouth. He heard them approaching and gave them a glance. " So your the squirts i'm stuck with for the next few years huh? Guess I might as well get to know you. Get over here and sit down." Naruto and Ino smiled, they liked him already. " So, what are your dreams and ambitions. Any goals for the future? Oi' blonde guy, you start."

Naruto sat up, a look of determination on his face." My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I want to grow up to become the hokage someday and show everyone my power!" Ino was next. " I'm Ino Yamanaka and I want to become the first female hokage in history!" Naruto grinned at Ino, he was rubbing off on her. Shikamaru was last. * sigh * " What a drag, I haven't really thought about what i've wanted to do with my life yet. Guess i'll just wing it. " The smoking jounin just looked at his students with some amazement. He had two student's that were striving to become the next hokage, and a student that couldn't care less. This was going to be fun. " I might as well introduce myself. I'm Asuma Sarutobi, my goal is to whip you punks into the best ninja Konoha has ever seen. That is, if you really want it." His comment got a instantaneous reaction. Both Naruto and Ino jumped up and raised their fists." Hell yeah we do!" Shikamaru just sat there and grumbled a little.

" Well alright then. Meet me at training ground six tomorrow, seven o'clock sharp. I will then test you to see if you really are worth my time and effort. Dismissed!" Asuma watched as the group of friends walked down the building and out of his sight, chatting excitedly. The jounin leaned against the wall, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. His mind wandered to previous conversation he had held with his old man.

F.B

" What did you want to tell me pops? I assume it's fairly important, considering you wanted me in your office immediately " Asuma said as he leaned against the wall of the hokage's office, a cigarette in hand. The old man sighed," You really do have to quit smoking, its very bad for your health." The younger Sarutobi just smiled." You smoke to you know." The hokage nodded slightly." Not nearly to the extent that you do though. Just make sure not to do it around the kids that often. * ahem * Pleasantries aside, I need to tell you something about the team that your going to receive soon. On your team, I have put Naruto." Asuma's eyebrows raised. " The nine tails kid"? The hokage nodded. " I have put him on your team because I know your going to treat him just like any other student, and because I want you to report to me if anything happens. He has massive potential, enough so that be might even surpass Minato some day." Asuma almost drooped his cigarette, his father never handed out compliments lightly. Let alone saying that this kid could someday overpass the fourth hokage. " I know I can trust you Asuma." He nodded quickly. " No problem, I can handle him. Just leave it to me pops."

F.B End

Asuma threw his cigar down and crunched it out with his foot. Now, I just have to think of a test hard enough for these damn kids. Several scenarios ran through his mind as he walked off, the cigarette gently burning out on the smooth pavement.