Destiny is a Hazy Thing Chapter 7:This time it's the right class, a naruto fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and likely never will.

Chapter 7: This time it's the right class

"You can't talk to anyone, and I mean anyone, about what I'm about to tell you, do you understand?"

Yakumo and Choji nodded earnestly. When Yakumo had finally approached him Naruto had decided to bring Choji into the loop too. The boy hadn't even needed time for consideration; Naruto was his best friend and he trusted him completely. The three children were currently sitting in a small park that provided optimal protection against eavesdroppers.

Naruto took a deep breath. "You remember the history lessons about how the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi? It's a lie. He didn't kill the fox, he sealed it into me. I'm what usually is called a demon container, or a jinchuuriki. A jinchuuriki is usually considered one of a village's ultimate weapons. The adults know and don't like me because of that, and I think the Sandaime decreed that nobody is allowed to speak about it on pain of death."

Both of his friends stared slack-jawed at him for a few moments. Choji was the first one to recover. "You have the great demon fox sealed inside of you? Really? That is why almost everybody treats you so badly?"

"Apparently a few idiots think I'm the Kyuubi reincarnated or some such crap. Some transferred their hate of the fox to me. Most want simply nothing to do with me and are probably wishing I would simply disappear. Oh, and I can show you the seal." He pulled up his shirt and channeled some chakra. Promptly an intricate seal appeared on his belly. When Yakumo began poking it he hurriedly covered himself. "Hey, that tickles!"

"You said there is a law against telling anybody. Does that mean nobody told you about it?" Choji asked while Yakumo pouted.

Naruto laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I didn't know myself why everybody treated me like shit until I was meditating some day. Suddenly I stood before that giant cage with a comatose fox-like thing with nine tails imprisoned behind the bars and a seal holding it closed. It didn't take much figuring out from that point. I even found an old history book in an abandoned cellar explaining things a bit more. Apparently there are nine tailed beasts, eight of them were captured by the Shodaime Hokage with his powers and distributed between the villages as a sign of good faith or some such. Instead all villages began sealing the demons into humans to access their power almost immediately. There were quite a few occasions when they were used in the shinobi wars." To prove his words he pulled an old history book from his pockets and showed it to his friends.

"Why haven't we heard anything about that at the academy?" Choji wondered.

"Apparently all knowledge about the demons has been purged from the easily available books, probably in an attempt to prevent anyone of the young generation figuring things out. I think that is dangerous, now an entire generation will be completely unprepared should they meet one of my fellow containers on the battlefield. And from what I know they can become exceedingly dangerous. The information in the book is severely out of date, I believe it was written between the second and third shinobi war. According to my information the Ichibi should be in Suna, Nibi in Kumo, Sanbi in Kiri, Yonbi in Iwa, Gobi likewise in Iwa, Rokubi in Kiri again, the Nanabi is the only one that belongs to a minor village, in this case Taki, the Hachibi is in Kumo and yours truly is the container of the Kyuubi associated with Konoha. The containers are often treated rather badly, which is pretty stupid considering that the others and I probably could release the beasts if we wanted to."

Yakumo had been silent until now, thinking hard. "Are you really the first container of the Kyuubi? I remember my uncle telling me about the battle between the first Hokage Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha that created the Valley of the End. The Kyuubi was involved, and that was the last time anyone saw it. It would be logical that the Shodaime imprisoned it like the others and kept it in Konoha. That would explain how it suddenly appeared inside of the village with no warning."

Naruto blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected Yakumo to guess so much of the truth. "Actually, you're right."

Now it was Yakumo's turn to be suprised. "How do you know that?"

"The night after I discovered the cage I had a strange dream, it was more like a memory, but not my own. I think I saw the time immediately before the sealing from Kyuubi's perspective. There were two people present, the Yondaime Hokage and a dying woman. I could hear their conversation." Naruto sighed. "The woman was Kushina Uzumaki… my mother and second container of the Kyuubi. It's really strange that I had to get the name and image of my mother from the memory of a genocidal monster."

Choji and Yakumo stared at him in shock. With an even deeper sigh Naruto continued. "That's not all. During the entire time I could hear my mother begging the Yondaime to let her seal the Kyuubi back into herself. She was already dying, but in that way she would have taken out the Kyuubi for a while. It probably would have reformed after a few years, but the crisis would have been averted. The Yondaime would have none of that, he insisted on using a sealing technique that would kill him." His expression hardened. "I learned another fact. The Yondaime was my father."

"Are you sure about that?" Choji asked disbelievingly.

"Well, obviously I have no formal proof. But look at this." Naruto pulled out a second book. From the looks of it, it was an old academy yearbook. He leafed through it until he arrived at the desired page. Choji took it in his hands while Yakumo looked over his shoulder. The opened page belonged to Minato Namikaze and displayed a photo. The depicted child bore a striking resemblance to Naruto. "I stole it from an old storage room under the academy. My mother is also in there."

"I believe you. But why did your father do that, and why didn't anybody tell you about your parents?"

"I don't know; his arguments I overheard in the dream didn't make much sense. My mother was probably already too far gone to put up much of a resistance. Still, even if he did it to give the village a weapon, there's really no reason to keep that a secret from me. The Sandaime treats me nicely, but I only get to see him one or two times per month. In the meantime almost everyone ignores me or treats me badly."

"He could try to form you into a tool loyal to him, your treatment sounds a lot like it was deliberately set up to create a psychological dependency." Yakumo speculated.

"The Sandaime wouldn't do that, he's a great leader!" Choji objected.

Yakumo arched an eyebrow. "What has his being a leader to do with that? The man has been Hokage for almost half a century; you don't stay that if you aren't capable of making hard decisions. He is a politician and quite capable of doing such things if he believes it for the best of the village. It would certainly be advantageous for him if the resident jinchuuriki is emotionally dependent on him; that's much more secure than simple loyalty to the village. He could easily assign a tutor or caretaker to Naruto if he wanted; they can't all hate him."

"But the will of fire…"

"Is a nice fig leaf. My uncle occasionally rants about how the Sandaime tricked him into mortgaging our council vote to a civilian who unquestioningly supports him. And he wasn't exactly supportive when my clan still existed. I say it again: The man is a politician; he is not above employing dirty measures if they further his goals. You just don't notice it so much because you Akimichi are allied with the Sarutobi."

It was a familiar point of contention between the two. Choji was idealistic while Yakumo had adopted a much more cynical view of the village in general. Probably because her uncle had been tutoring her in politics while Choji was still largely shielded from that stuff by his father. Naruto had to interrupt them before it descended into one of their usual hour-long arguments. The two had decidedly too much fun arguing with each other in a firendly way.

"I don't know what the Old Man wants; I simply plan on getting on with my life. Get a few more friends, become a good shinobi, found a family. The crap that has been done to me is largely in the past, and my parents are dead. As long as I'm treated fairly I'll stay loyal to the village." That wasn't exactly the truth, but he doubted his friends would like to hear that his loyalty was more a matter of necessity than affection for the village. Naruto knew that there were people out to get him, and the village provided a handy shield and source for training. "Still, just in case the treatment is deliberate, I prefer to play slightly stupid and harmless. Now that you know, what do you think of me?"

Choji immediately responded. "You're my best friend, that doesn't change because you are the jailor of the Kyuubi."

"My clan is only too familiar with a power that has great dangers. It doesn't make a difference to me if you're in a similar situation." Yakumo added.

"Thanks you two, you don't know how much that means to me."

Yakumo broke the following silence. "Say Naruto, do you get any cool powers from the fox in your gut? I mean, there have to be some benefits." she asked playfully.

"Well, a tiny amount of the fox's chakra is always mixing with my own, causing my chakra capacity to skyrocket. I think I'm slowly approaching Kage level in that regard. The whisker marks are an obvious sign, but they don't seem to do anything. I heal injuries extremely fast and have boatloads of stamina, but I'm unsure how much that is because of the fox or my Uzumaki heritage. My sense of hearing is simply phenomenal, both in sensitivity and audible range, and my sense of smell is good enough for me to able to track someone by scent, even if I'm not as good as an Inuzuka. Additionally I have pretty good low light vision. According to the book I should be able to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, but I don't think it a good idea to try it while inside the village."

"Wow, that's as good as a major bloodline. Do you know if some of that is inheritable?"

'Huh, that's a good question. I have to ask mom or dad about that.'

"How should I know? From what I've been able to find out it may be possible, but jinchuuriki in general don't have officially known children. I've been exposed to some amount of the Kyuubi's chakra even before I was born, which could have changed me on a genetic level. I guess we find out as soon as I father children." A somewhat evil idea came to Naruto and he asked in an earnest tone "Why Yakumo-chan, are you volunteering?"

After a moment of shocked silence Choji began to laugh loudly and Yakumo's face became as red as a tomato while she spluttered denials. Naruto's facade cracked and he too burst into laughter, Yakumo's expression was simply too funny.

"Stop laughing you idiots!"

"Mom, can you tell me more about my special abilities like the increased senses? It came up in a conversation with Yakumo a while ago, and I was wondering if they are inheritable."

"They should be. I certainly took great care to make them so."

"So I wasn't born with them?" Naruto asked curiously.

"No, originally you only had the increased health and lifespan of the Uzumaki and slightly increased senses. When I had to heal your body after the attack on you I used the opportunity to make a few modifications. It was quite easy thanks to your lifelong exposure to my chakra, and because of your father I knew how to circumvent the restrictions of the seal in that instance. I made your senses as good as I could without requiring obvious physical changes." Youko explained.

"Your eyesight was already good enough so I added as much low light vision as possible. Any more would require slitted pupils, specific activation with chakra or some such, and I don't think the villagers would appreciate that. I also ramped up your hearing and sense of smell, but they aren't as good as they could be because I added security functions that prevent the overloading of a sense. You should be able to regulate them down further mentally, like when someone is blowing one of these awful dog whistles and you don't want to hear it you can deactivate that part of your audible range."

"Great senses, but no accompanying weakness, got it."

"All jinchuuriki get some increased healing, but yours would have been especially good because of the combination with your Uzumaki heritage. Normally intensive use of bijuu chakra would cause premature aging, but your increased lifespan would have made that bearable. I did better. Using the Uzumaki genes as basis I created a genuine regeneration bloodline combined with making you highly resistant to the corrosive effect of my demonic chakra. It will still do some limited cellular damage, but you can regenerate that over time easily. Normally the regeneration is quite slow, but you can speed it up with chakra even if it is hideously expensive, and it becomes supercharged while you use my chakra. If you don't draw my chakra you can still regenerate limbs, but that extent of damage would take about a month to repair. You should be able to shorten that time by some amount if you invest more of your own chakra."

Naruto was silent with awe. Crippling injuries were some of the most feared things for an active ninja, and neither he nor his descendants would have to worry unduly about them. It was still better to not get hurt in the first place, but when it happened it was nice to have a safety net. His expression changed to a slight scowl as a thought struck him. There was probably no chance that his abilities would be recognized as a bloodline, everyone would attribute them solely to the Kyuubi.

"Anything else?"

"It's connected to the regeneration in some way, but you have a high resistance against poisons and diseases. Not an immunity, mind you, so don't grow overconfident. Your iron stomach is a combination of physical changes and your upbringing, while your massive stamina is part of the regeneration package. It's still possible for you to die of old age, but you will probably outlive even the most long-living Uzumaki. The exact time span is a bit uncertain, but you can look forward to around two or three centuries years of life, most of it with hardly any signs of aging after you reach your twenties."

"Are there any downsides?"

Youko seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Well, because I used the Uzumaki genes as a basis you no longer have the normal Uzumaki package, like the potential for the Uzumaki special chakra or any other possible benefits. Blood tests or seals should still recognize you as an Uzumaki, so if you ever come across some of their leftover things secured by blood seals you should be able to use them. There might be some other side effects; it is a new bloodline after all."

"Thanks mom, that's much better than I thought. I don't care much about the Uzumaki abilities, after all there is no one left who could teach me using them. Did dad anything I should know about?"

"From what he told me he mainly repaired the damage the seal had done to your mind in your first three years of life. He gave you a few boosts in raw brainpower, memory retention and mental flexibility, but they mostly compensated for your less than stellar early childhood and laid the groundwork for your later training. You are a bit more intelligent than you would have turned out with an ideal upbringing and without the seal, but nothing major as far as I know. All the other mental improvements have been caused by your own training, not by anything we did without your knowledge."

"That's all I wanted to know, thanks again."

"You're welcome, kit."

Naruto contemplated all he had learned while his mother began to play around with some chakra constructs. It wasn't really unexpected, but it was nice to have confirmation. The start of a new bloodline was nothing to sneeze at. "Where do bloodlines come from anyway?" he wondered out loud.

Apparently his mother had heard him. "The origins are manifold in the extreme. It varies from divine or demonic interbreeding in the age of gods, deliberate creation by higher powers, accidental contamination, medical experiments or rituals, cross-breeding of older lines, deliberate selective breeding to essentially random mutations. It wouldn't surprise me if a large percentage of all the humans in the world have inactive vestiges of one bloodline or another. There is a reason why most bloodline-carrying clans practice inbreeding to a degree. It's a fine line between losing the powers and damaging one's heritage by marrying too close a relation. Your descendants won't have to worry about that for at least two dozen generations; I made quite sure of that."

A specific part of his mother's words attracted Naruto's attention. "The age of gods? What's that?"

Youko stopped what she was doing and turned back to Naruto. "The age of gods refers to an era long gone when gods and other beings freely walked this world. I only have some vague memories of the time. It was then that my predecessor was created, the Juubi. Eons later the Sage of Six Paths split it into the nine bijuu, thereby creating me as an individual demon of hate and rage. I spent more than a millennium in that form, until the day your father came." She smiled a bright smile while continuing her work. "And what a glorious day it was."

Telling his friends about Kyuubi had been a gamble, but their reaction took a load of Naruto's mind. Sooner or later it would have happened anyway, and it was better for them to hear it from him under controlled circumstances. He had been confident in the strength of their friendship, but if they had broken up it would have been better to happen now instead of later when it would be only more painful. As an added bonus he was able to sow some seeds of doubt regarding the village leadership. Things would be much easier if his friends didn't completely trust the Sandaime when he needed political support or if the time ever came for him to cut ties with the village.

All in all, things went as well as he could hope for. He had two loyal friends; he was slowly learning how to become a competent shinobi; his skills as a ranger were far ahead of everyone his apparent age and his magical studies made some progress. Naruto had finally been able to visit the sanctuary after his father had completed the shortcut, enabling him to get more practice with magic.

The entrance was a small densely overgrown copse of trees wedged between several abandoned buildings at the edge of Konoha. For everyone else it was simply a short winding path through the trees, but if he concentrated he somehow entered a path that was not part of the normal world. The transition was seamless, but once he was on the special path he had to follow it to its end because it disappeared behind him. After a short walk the path would deposit him in the outskirts of the sanctuary inside the unfinished inner defensive zone, bypassing the outer wards. The first time he had visited he had only encountered a few drifting banks of fog, but each time he returned the fog grew denser and the forest more dark and foreboding as his father added to the defenses. Apparently the path and the woods were based on several different haunted forests his father had encountered and some complex space-time manipulation that was far above Naruto's level both in skill and power.

If the defensive area was the haunted forest, the sanctuary proper could only be described as an enchanted forest. Colors were brighter and the woods felt more alive than anything he had seen in the waking world, not to speak of the abundance of magic. Naruto still had a limited ability to channel magic, but in contrast to the normal state of things he could draw in magic and continue casting almost indefinitely. The center of the sanctuary and location of the invisible spring was a large field with some rocky outcroppings, and it undeniably bore the impression of both his parents. By day the sun felt warm and comforting while by night a spectacular starry sky became visible, and a touch of their presence simply permeated everything.

Naruto visited as often as he found time to get away from the cold stares of the villagers, and especially each time before his father took possession of his body. Apparently it was far less stressful for him when he did that inside of the sanctuary. His main problem was a lack of time to learn everything he needed or wanted to learn. With the academy taking up a good chunk of every day his free time was severely limited, especially because he wanted to spend time with his friends and needed to do household chores like buying food and cooking.

Unfortunately this good time came to an end two months before the end of the summer semester. Yakumo had missed the academy, and Naruto came to her house to check on her. When he knocked, a tired looking Yakumo with puffy eyes opened the door.

"Yakumo-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked in genuine concern.

"Not here, come inside."

Mere moments after the door had closed behind him Yakumo flung her arms around his neck and began to sob uncontrollably. Naruto was completely taken by surprise and almost fell backwards, but managed to regain his balance at the last moment.

'What the hell? I've never seen Yakumo-chan like this.'

The girl held on for dear life; he wouldn't be able to pry her loose in a gentle way. Looking around, he searched for something that was large enough for both of them to sit on. Naruto didn't want to support her weight indefinitely in this position, and the hard wooden floor looked too uncomfortable for his taste.

'I think they had some large furniture in the living room if I remember right.'

Luckily he was far stronger than he seemed and carried his friend to the nearby sofa in the living room. It took a long time and a lot of soothing words for Yakumo to calm down. She was still sniffling occasionally, but finally managed to tell Naruto what the problem was.

"It's… it's my uncle. This morning he had a seizure, and he already had lost consciousness when I managed to get help. He's in the hospital now, and they say… they say he is dying. It could be over tomorrow, or he could last a few more months."

Naruto didn't know what to say. It had been clear to him that Yakumo's uncle was slowly dying with his steadily declining health for a long time. He offered what comfort he could, but it seemed to him that Yakumo had still something weighing on her mind.

The girl took a deep breath. "Naruto, I will leave the academy for a while. I want to be with my uncle as long as possible. I'm sorry I have to leave you alone in the class, I doubt I will be able to rejoin you."

"Don't be, I understand. I would do the same if I was in the same situation. If you need help with anything just ask."

Yakumo offered him a small smile. "Thank you, Naruto, you are a true friend."

"Attention, students! We have a new pupil this year. Uzumaki-san, please introduce yourself."

After Yakumo had paused her education indefinitely to be with her dying uncle fulltime, Naruto had seen no reason to remain in his former class and had promptly failed the progression tests again. His results were still good enough that he was placed in the academic cycle directly after his instead of having to repeat a whole year. As expected, there were a whole lot of clan heirs in this one. The teacher wore a mask of neutrality, but Naruto was experienced enough in reading people to pick up the underlying disgust.

'Alright, time to make an impression.'

"Hello everyone. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I will one day found my own clan!" he said while giving the last part as much conviction as he could.

"Thank you for that… inspired introduction, though I doubt someone like you will ever be able to found a clan."

"Sure I will. I will work hard and won't give up!"

"We have seen what your work is worth in the last years, haven't we, Uzumaki. If you had the abilities you wouldn't have to repeat a class for the second time. Admit it, you're a failure."

"I don't care what you say; I will succeed in my goal."

"You worthless…" The teacher was about to explode when he noticed the rest of the class staring at him. "Ahem… enough of this nonsense. Take a seat and don't disrupt the class any further."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto made his way to the seat his friend Choji had kept free for him in the second to last row. They had already known beforehand that he would be added to Choji's class and planned accordingly. On Choji's other side a boy with dark hair in a pineapple-like style was apparently sleeping peacefully. Naruto had met him a few times and knew him as Shikamaru, heir to the Nara clan and possibly the laziest person in the entire village. Slowly his classmates shifted their attention back to the teacher, but Naruto still felt someone watching him. Turning quickly, he managed to see the enraptured expression on the pale face of a girl with bluish-black hair and strange lavender-white eyes before she noticed him looking and turned immediately away.

'Huh, that was the Hyuuga heiress. I wonder what I did for her to stare at me like that.'

Soon the lecture started and everyone's attention was focused forward, enabling Naruto and Choji to have a whispered conversation.

"Sorry about what the teacher said. That was very unkind."

Naruto shrugged. "It was pretty much like I expected, I've come to accept the fact that most people don't like me long ago."

"Still, that was pretty unprofessional behavior. Our normal homeroom teacher Iruka-sensei wouldn't have done such a thing." Choji answered. "He's currently on sick leave but should be back soon."

Naruto had hardly time to blink before a flurry of blows came at him. He managed to block the first few strikes, but a kick broke through his guard, rattling his teeth. A right hook drove the air from Naruto's lungs as he was stumbling back, and a following leg sweep had him falling to the ground outside of the circle that marked the boundary of the fighting area.

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hn, you're just another loser." Sasuke said in a bored voice before leaving the ring while the rest of the class cheered for the winner.

Naruto picked himself up from the ground and trudged back to his place besides Choji, keeping his head down the entire time. His fight had looked like all the others the Uchiha had fought before and just served to reinforce Sasuke's feelings of superiority. He would probably forget about him in a short time. Just as planned.

"Why did you let yourself to be beaten so easily? I know you're stronger than that." his friend asked curiously.

The blond boy spit out a small amount of spittle laced with blood before answering. "Because I don't want to draw his attention, or that of the teachers for that matter. How do you think they would react if it was me beating their precious last Uchiha up?" After letting that sink in, he continued. "If I had given him a hard fight, beaten him or spouted some crap after I had lost, some sort of rivalry might have formed. I don't want that, I've nothing to prove to some schoolboy. My goal is to learn as much as possible so I can become a good shinobi. Grades and the opinions of most people only count insofar that I don't want to fail."

He sighed heavily. "I know it's hypocritical for me to say that, but I don't want to become Sasuke's friend or have anything to do with him. Sasuke has a ton of admirers that would like nothing better than befriending him. Many are probably only in for his inheritance or bloodline, but he could search until he found some genuine friends. He can practically pick from our entire generation, but he doesn't want to. The only things he does are brooding and training. I won't waste my time on someone who doesn't want to be friends, and his superiority complex grates on my nerves. I confess he is a very good student, but have you ever seen him offer help to someone?"

Choji had to think a moment, but nothing like that came to mind. Sasuke had been in his class from the beginning scoring top marks, but he had never truly connected to others. He was an Uchiha, and therefore he belonged to the elite which put an invisible wall between him and everyone else. After the tragic loss of his family things had become worse. He seemed to view other people just as obstacles holding him back. Oh, aside from some snide remarks he didn't do anything especially mean, but when Choji offered his condolences and friendship, he was brushed aside quite rudely.

"I saw it in his eyes; he is so full of hate for something that no other thought or emotion has room. Someday that hate will erupt and destroy everyone in the vicinity. When that happens I don't want me or any of my friends getting hurt by it."

The big-boned boy had nothing to say to that, and the continued watching the fights. Choji's turn was already over, but he hadn't gotten to fight. His opponent had been Shikamaru, and the lazy boy had given up without leaving his resting place. Naruto would fight Choji later in their regular after-academy training. Currently Kiba Inuzuka was trashing some hapless civilian boy.

"May I sit with you?"

Naruto and Choji turned around to see Shino standing behind them. The boy was always clad in heavy clothing and wore sunglasses. Combined with his general lack of facial expressions, the fact that he rarely spoke and the occasional faint buzzing noise it made for a rather creepy appearance. Normally he preferred to simply observe things silently, but obviously something had caused him to approach them voluntarily.

"No problem, you can sit with us. Didn't you sit on the other side before?"

"Some of the female members of our class that were sitting near me were disturbed by the presence of my allies and… encouraged me to find a new place."

Choji winced while Naruto shook his head. "Idiots. If they hope to become kunoichi they shouldn't be so squeamish because of some insects, especially if said insects are the allies of an Aburame. Say, could you show me one of your bugs?"

Shino's only sign of surprise at that request was the raising of one of his eyebrows. A single insect crawled out from somewhere under his hood and took flight, landing on Naruto's outstretched hand. Naruto brought his hand closely to his face to get a better look.

"Interesting, your kikaichu shares features with a lot of different species of bugs. Are all your bugs the same, and have your clansman different sorts of bugs?" Naruto asked while still closely observing the bug on his hand.

Now both of Shino's eyebrows had risen above his glasses. "My own allies are largely the same, with occasional mutations showing up that I can choose to keep or reject. This process differentiates the allies of each member of my clan after a time. The more advanced members of my family have more than one hive. Why do you ask? To give them more flexibility in combat by developing the hives in different directions." Shino tilted his head questioningly. "Are you interested in insects?"

Naruto gently removed his hand and let the kikaichu return to its master. "I'm not really an entomologist, my interests in plants and animals are more general and more on the practical side of things, but I do know a lot."

That was all it took to start an in-depth conversation about different kinds of insects and their effect on the environment. They continued talking through the rest of the sparring session and the following lunch break. Naruto made an effort to include Choji in the conversation whenever possible, which the big boy seemed to appreciate. When Shino agreed to join them in their usual after-academy training session Naruto was sure: He had found another person he might be able to call friend.

Once again, Naruto was bored. They were currently revisiting some history lessons for the upcoming tests at the end of the semester which Naruto knew perfectly well. In his opinion too much time was spent on hammering home the lessons into the heads of children that didn't really want to learn instead of using the time productively. Naruto had allowed himself to show a bit more of his skills and was no longer in the danger of failing any tests. His grades were still in the lower third of the class, about the same level as Choji's, but he cultivated a reputation as a hard worker. He supposed the Hokage would attribute his improvement to the teaching skills of their homeroom instructor, Iruka Umino.

Even if the man was rather uncomfortable around Naruto he was fair in his grading and teaching practice, so he didn't begrudge the man the credit. His assistant Mizuki was another matter, the man treated him rather friendly, but Naruto recognized the friendliness as a mask. Still, he had refrained from sabotaging his education up to this point, more than could be said of many of his earlier teachers. Naruto got the impression that Mizuki secretly hated teaching but didn't see another career path he could pursue. In contrast, Iruka seemed to love teaching above all else. Unfortunately, his lessons were rather dull in Naruto's opinion.

'Well, I can see it as training my patience. I wonder what Yakumo is doing at this moment?'

His only female friend besides the nice ramen lady Ayame had spent the last seven months scooped up with her uncle. Naruto visited regularly and did most of the necessary shopping for his friend as well as helping her continue her education as best as he could. In spite of all the medics' expectations the old man still clung to his life, but it seemed the end was finally in sight. If things went according to Naruto's expectations Yakumo would join his class in a little more than half a year. He could hardly wait being reunited with his oldest friend.

In his current class he was close friends with Choji and Shino while Kiba Inuzuka had more the status of a friendly acquaintance. The younger brother of the Inuzuka clan heiress was simply too rash for more than a casual friendship. Naruto couldn't risk the boy noticing some of the more unusual things about him. If he became his close friend he might be able to trust him with his life, but not with his secrets. Kiba was simply too immature at this point in time. Shino understood such things, and the time would come soon to reveal his status as a jinchuuriki to him if their friendship continued to develop.

Shikamaru Nara was an enigma. The boy clearly possessed a genius-level intellect, but he only used it to minimize the work he had to do. He was so incredibly lazy that Naruto sometimes feared he would stop breathing because it was too troublesome. Several attempts at befriending him had been in vain, and Naruto was at his wits' end. There simply seemed to be nothing that could motivate Shikamaru to do anything besides sleeping and cloud-watching. According to Choji he hadn't been that bad in the past, but changed sometime before Naruto met Choji.

Then there was Sasuke Uchiha, best pupil in the class and owner of quite a lot of mental problems. While it wasn't uncommon for a shinobi to develop some quirks after some years on the job, starting one's career with these problems wasn't a good sign. Watching his family getting slaughtered could have such effects, but there seemed to be something more. Perhaps his brother had done something to him, he knew that some Uchiha had developed some quite nasty genjutsu related to their eyes, and Itachi had always excelled at genjutsu from what he gathered. Naruto had a bad feeling about Sasuke, but that might have been his mother's aversion against all things Uchiha influencing his opinion. He had made some half-hearted attempts at talking with the boy, but to no avail.

Naruto didn't plan on investing more work into that matter. It might be possible to pierce Sasuke's shell with a lot of effort and time, but Naruto had better things to do. The last Uchiha was alone by choice, and Naruto was content to let him be. His superiority complex was bad enough to suffer even if he wasn't in continued close contact. Not to say that some of that wasn't warranted. Sasuke was very good compared to most of his peers due to a combination of a strong heritage, previous education by his clan and a single-minded focus on getting stronger. Still, he was no genius even if he was hailed as such.

Unfortunately, his cold attitude was seen as 'cool' by most of his peers; and combined with his prowess in class, bloodline, wealth and future political influence it had created a veritable horde of admirers. Many were further encouraged in this behavior by their families hoping for a valuable marriage or friendship.

It had a devastating effect on the average skill level of the future kunoichi in particular, who spent almost all their time pursuing a boy that would probably never acknowledge any of them. Naruto found it almost physically painful to watch them squander all their potential, but he didn't have any idea what he could do to change that. The worst thing was that Sasuke seemed to completely ignore them, neither acknowledging nor rebuffing them. If Naruto had been in his shoes he would have chosen the girls he liked best and used them to control the rest of the horde while encouraging them to concentrate on their training. Then again, mabye it wouldn't have worked. Maybe he would have resorted to ignoring the unwanted attention as well.

Only one girl in their class wasn't enamored with the Uchiha, and she was a strange case. Hinata Hyuuga was terminally shy and always seemed as if she wanted to hide inside her own clothes. Naruto hadn't been able to talk with her normally a single time. On each attempt she had started to stutter incoherently and either fled as soon as she could or one on particular occasion fainted outright. It hadn't been fun to explain that to the teacher who had discovered them at that moment. The unnerving thing was that he could feel her eyes on him every time he wasn't looking in her direction. It slowly began to creep him out, but he didn't know what he could do about it.

The male side of the class wasn't much better, only he, Choji and Shino took their training seriously enough, mainly due to his influence. Contrary to appearances, they weren't normal schoolchildren. Sure, some time to play was normal and important, but in around four years they could expect to be thrown into battles where their life was at stake. Additionally, what he knew of the school curriculum just didn't seem adequate to prepare them for that reality.

'I have to somehow get my hands on older versions of the school curriculum just to see if something has changed over the years. Most of the stuff is either superfluous or could be covered in just two or three years, not five.'

A piece of chalk colliding with his head interrupted his musings. He had seen it coming from the corner of his eye, but didn't want to give his reflexes away. Watching the outside through the window while simultaneously listening to the lecture and thinking unconnected thoughts was excellent training for splitting his attention successfully.

"Naruto! Pay attention to the lecture."

"Sorry Iruka-sensei."

Naruto woke with a start. After a moment of confusion he felt something sticky covering his nether regions. A look under the sheets confirmed his suspicions.

"Great. Puberty."

He hadn't expected that for at least a year, possibly longer, but it seemed he had an abnormally early start. At least if he counted only his biological age. His mental age was rather difficult to determine. The time spent with his parents just didn't flow right. When he examined his memories of the last months he noticed an increased interest in attractive females on his part. Nothing serious, but it was noticeable.

Naruto hadn't been consciously aware of his changing behavior at the time, but it was clear in hindsight. At least he knew what was happening and why because of his parents. He didn't want to think about what could have happened had he been forced to find out about things on his own, the academy lesson on that part was utter crap and the important stuff was planned for third year anyway. The basic kunoichi lessons on that topic had already taken place in early second year, but he gathered from his stolen materials that they were wholly inadequate, especially concerning the mental and emotional aspects.

'Well, there's nothing I can do about that.'

Naruto felt a headache approaching while he tried to make sense of the information he had collected about Konoha's political structure. Surprisingly the academy hardly covered the generalities, apparently it was expected that parents taught their children or that they learned it on their own somehow. He had pumped Choji, Shino and Yakumo for information, secretly visited the village library and generally used his enhanced hearing to gather more information. Now he tried to make a coherent whole out of all the individual pieces of information.

Most importantly, the Hokage wasn't the absolute ruler some people believed him to be. While he had a lot of power in the day-to-day running of the village as well as in the setting of policy he couldn't simply do what he wanted. He had to answer for his actions to the great village council of Konoha. Said great council was politically divided into a shinobi and a civilian side, with the shinobi subdivided into three groups.

On the shinobi side the majority of political power was held by the nine great founding clans of Konoha: Aburame, Akimichi , Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Kurama, Nara, Senju, Uchiha and Yamanaka. Each clan held a voting seat on the council and had additional special privileges granted by the Shodaime Hokage according to the terms of the individual agreements made upon their joining of Konoha. For example, the command and staffing of the military police was the prerogative of the Uchiha clan. Even the Hokage couldn't interfere directly, at least legally. Of course, political horse trading and backroom deals were frequently exercised options.

The second group consisted of the numerous minor shinobi clans like the Sarutobi, Morino or Hatake. They were represented by two elders who were chosen from among the heads of the minor clans. The appointments usually lasted for life or voluntary retirement because of the difficulty of assembling the necessary two-thirds majority of the clan heads to remove an elder. Only a simple majority of the votes was required to be appointed in case of a vacant position. Danzo Shimura and Koharu Utatane were the current holders of the positions.

The third and last group encompassed invidual shinobi, shinobi families and family groups that didn't qualify for clan status for one reason or another. Although more numerous than the minor or great clans they were only entitled to a single elder representing their interests, one Homura Mitokado.

Procedures for each civilian council seat were different, mostly because their number had grown over time from the original five to currently nine since the time of Konoha's founding. The original five seats were connected to specific important professions, namely blacksmiths, builders, foresters, local merchants/crafters and long-distance traders, while the newer seats were open to any civilian who could gather enough votes.

In addition to this there were countless committees, special councils, precedents, exemptions, customary laws and rights, the advisors appointed by the Hokage himself (Koharu and Homura held these positions as well), promotion and audition boards and positions like the jonin commander or the heads of the different shinobi divisions, often with the same people holding several positions. At least the influence of the Fire daimyo had stopped with the latest version of the treaty, and Konoha was now in effect a quasi-independent city state. Meaning the laws of the Land of Fire generally didn't apply to Konoha's territory or shinobi on a mission, at least in theory.

If he tried to draw an organizational chart it would look like something a crazy spider on an acid trip would weave. The entire thing had grown rampant over the decades of Konoha's existence, and like any human organization old enough it was rife with corruption, selective applying of laws, favoritism and all these other interesting things while presenting a wholly different image on the surface.

"Isn't the whole system horrible slanted in favor of the great clans?" Naruto asked Yakumo. He was currently visiting her, and they used the time of her uncle's afternoon nap to go over everything Naruto had learned. The old man had been discharged from the hospital because there was literally nothing that could be done for him there.

"You are right of course, but that is because the first Hokage had to offer something of value to the great clans to convince them of his idea of a shinobi village. They had to give up their independence to partake in an experiment with unknown outcome. Would you gamble the fate of your family and people for mere words?"

Naruto considered that. "No, I wouldn't. Still, the unaligned shinobi outnumber the great clans as well as the minor clans, why do they have only a single vote?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think mainly because they aren't a coherent force. Most of them aren't politically active and simply let their superiors handle things. The rest plays the political game inside of the organizational structure. There simply isn't enough pressure to grant them more votes. Additionally, this large number of unaligned shinobi is a relative recent development. At the time of Konoha's founding there were only the great clans, some minor clans and a very few independent shinobi and small shinobi families. From what I know the votes are a pretty accurate representation of the situation at the time. At first the minor clans grew greatly in power and number, but that development didn't last. Since then the minor clans have taken the brunt of the damage from the wars and steadily lost influence while the number of unaligned shinobi skyrocketed. There have been no new minor clans formally recognized for over twenty years."

"Okay, I understand that. But why did the number of civilian seats almost double?"

Yakumo looked thoughtful. "That is a good question. The non-shinobi members of any clan fall under the umbrella of the individual clan's representation. From what my uncle told me the number and influence of the civilians has been rising as long as he can remember. Furthermore, the Hokage's powerbase mainly consists of the civilians and the longstanding alliance of the Sarutobi clan with the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka. It follows that he is the one that has pressed for more civilian seats."

She sighed. "Unfortunately, my uncle was never in the thick of our clan's political endeavors, these things were handled by my father and another uncle. He can't tell me much about the details of the political situation aside from the generalities and the laws. In reality there are countless backroom deals and verbal agreements involved that can make a situation entirely different from what you would expect from a purely theoretical standpoint. The great council is important, but the people you know and the posts they occupy play a huge role. That's perhaps even more important. Look at my situation. We had a council vote but few other assets. Currently my only politically valuable connections are Choji and Shino in their role as clan heirs. Heck, my uncle sometimes doesn't believe we will ever get our seat back. He doesn't trust the Hokage as far as he could throw him."

"How do you become Hokage anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Theoretically the great council chooses the Hokage even if the acting one can recommend a successor, but that right was really only ever exercised with the Shodaime and the Yondaime. In the first case it was either Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha, and Hashirama was much more popular. The Nidaime Tobirama Senju simply took over from his brother while we were at war and it seemed like a natural choice. In the case of the Sandaime Hiruzen Sarutobi it was a bit different; he was the chosen successor of the Nidaime and likewise took over while we were at war. Nobody else had the backing to successfully challenge him at the time, and when the war was over things simply continued. My uncle mentioned that Danzo Shimura was his main rival, but he could never rally enough votes. The choosing of the Yondaime was a bit more complicated, because the Fire daimyo had a lot of influence on that one. When the Sandaime retired he recommended Minato Namikaze, with Orochimaru as his main rival. The great clans each tried to elect one of their own, but each time the rest united against that, finally leading to Namikaze's election as a compromise canditate because he didn't belong to a clan. After his death around a year later the Sandaime took over again without an election, and has held on to power ever since. He has held power for longer than a large percentage of the village population has been alive, and it just seems natural to most people."

A loud cough from another room interrupted their session, and Naruto knew it was time for him to leave. Yakumo would need to attend her uncle, and the old man couldn't bear when other people saw him in his weakened state.

"Thanks for your help, Yakumo-chan. Choji and I will bring you the supplies you need tomorrow."

Yakumo only answered with a nod, she was already busy brewing a tea that would hopefully ease her uncle's cough somewhat.

One afternoon a few weeks later, Naruto was still training his kunai throwing skills after Choji and Shino had gone home when he suddenly felt being watched. He continued throwing his kunai at the practice dummy as normal, but began to inconspicuously search for scents and noises out of the ordinary. A shift of the wind brought a familiar scent to his nose.

'Hinata'

It didn't take long for him to pinpoint her location from the small noises she made. The girl was hiding behind a tree some distance away and watching him train while occasionally making a soft sigh. Without his increased senses he would never have noticed her.

'What is the matter with her? If she wants to spend time with me she just has to approach me.'

Hinata had begun to secretly follow Naruto several weeks ago, and it was freaking him out. He knew he was somewhat prone to paranoia, especially because he knew there were people out there to get him. The Hyuuga's stalking was feeding that feeling, and he wanted it to stop. He had tried talking with her again, several times in fact, but she just stammered something and fled. If he approached her during her stalking she did the same, and because of her byakugan he couldn't get close enough to surprise her.

Sometimes his instincts were a liability, it was very difficult for him to ignore being followed or watched. The Hokage's crystal ball had been dealt with years ago, but now Hinata caused another problem in the same vein. Naruto didn't know how far she could see with her eyes, and it made pursuing his secret activities impossible. Unfortunately, he had to visit his hidden workshop today. Several hides he had stored in different tanning liquids had to be processed further if he didn't want to lose the batch.

Silently he contemplated his options. It was possible for him to give Hinata the slip without making it look suspicious, but it always took time. For a city-dweller the girl was surprisingly good at pursuing him. That garnered her no small amount of professional respect in Naruto's book, but he would have preferred if he wasn't her chosen prey. Anyway, he didn't have enough time today for his usual modus operandi. Luckily he had another way.

After finishing with his exercises he packed his belongings and left the training field. He could hear Hinata following him, but as soon as he entered the streets of the village the normal noise drowned the sounds she caused. There was some traffic, but not enough for his purpose. When he reached one of the main roads of the village he was ready. With a few seconds of concentration he activated the newest spell of his repertoire. The effects became noticeable immediately. All the people who had sent him glares suddenly hesitated and assumed their normal expressions after a few moments of confusion. People who had made a point of deliberately ignoring him now looked in his direction without hesitation. Only they didn't really see him anymore.

For everyone he had just become a random face in the crowd that looked completely harmless, the proverbial random citizen that no one paid any attention to. Savoring his precious moments of anonymity, Naruto entered a corner behind a market stall, made a few hand signs and whispered "Henge" to transform into a middle aged man. He returned to the main street and quickly made his way to his destination, passing a confused Hinata in the process. The spell faded soon enough, and he felt the emptiness indicating he had spent all his available magic power.

His new spell had proven unexpectedly useful despite its limitations. Originally they had intended it only as a test if anyone could detect the subconscious compulsion like many experienced shinobi could with genjutsu. The answer was no, apparently they couldn't once the spell took hold. Unfortunately it worked only in dense crowds, if there were too few humans around to blend in the spell had no noticeable effect. If he tried to take any action that went specifically against someone's interests, like for example entering a building he wasn't allowed to or stealing something, the spell broke immediately. Apparently it relied somehow on him really taking only harmless actions. Additionally, one use lasted for perhaps three minutes and sucked his reserves dry for more than a day.

As a tool to evade his little stalker it proved priceless, the minutes were more than enough to use a henge to change into a different form and make his escape. Unless Hinata looked closely and specifically at his new form she wouldn't be able to notice his special version of the henge. Whistling merrily, Naruto approached the abandoned building that held his secret workshop. Perhaps he could get her to stop following him if he escaped often enough?

"Mom! Dad! We have to do something about Hinata, her stalking drives me crazy."

"Have you tried talking with her?"

Naruto looked at his mother and rolled his eyes. "Of course, with the emphasis on the 'tried'. She doesn't seem to be able to talk to me normally, and doesn't take a hint. I want her to stop stalking me, it's creepy. As things are, it's only a matter of time until she sees something she shouldn't. I already had to blow my entire daily magic several times just to escape her notice, and it's putting several things I want to do on hold." His shoulder's sagged. "I don't want to hurt her physically or emotionally if I can help it, that would veer too much into 'kicking a puppy'-territory, but things can't continue as they are."

His parents looked at each other and an entire silent conversation seemed to take place. After a short time his parents turned back towards him.

"Would you object to her presence if she stopped stalking you?" Daiki asked.

Naruto shrugged. "If we were able to have a normal conversation I see no reason not to spend time with her. She seems nice and gentle, and from what I can see she does at least some extra training, unlike the fan girl horde. Why do you ask?"

"Because we are contemplating extraordinary measures. You are right that the stalking can't continue, but we had hoped that you would be able to form a friendship the normal way." his mother answered.

"Is this another part of your future knowledge?" Naruto asked warily.

Daiki nodded. "In most possible futures she was friends with you, and she would be a great asset. I believe that with the right kind of encouragement she would be loyal to you above all else."

After thinking about it for a moment Naruto agreed. "Yeah, her byakugan would be really useful for our plans. I hear a lot, but I still can't get into the really interesting places. Hinata could simply look through the walls and dig up all sorts of information. Still, can't you give me more information how I was supposed to get her to talk to me?"

"Unfortunatey I can't, my prophetic abilities don't really work like this. There is no guarantee that what you did in one possible future would work now. The future isn't set in stone, there are endless possible variations. Imagine time as a river, with smaller streams splitting from the main flow all the time, with some of them rejoining it later while others lead to entirely different results. When I first mapped out the future I did it from a high vantage point, like a bird's perspective. Now that I'm mostly stuck here my perspective is more akin to that of a fish who is swimming in the water. I can still see, but only the immediate surroundings before everything blurs into unrecognizability aside from vague visions. It's still better than being blind, but not really suited to solely base long-term decisions on it. Furthermore, I originally only explored your mother's futures, not yours. I have only indirect knowledge of some of your actions and experiences because the alternate Kyuubi I looked at knew of them. Additionally, my original predictions aren't accurate anymore because everything shifted. Although they are still valuable from a what could have been point of view even if they are full of holes."

"Can you show me? I want to know how my life could have turned out." Naruto asked.

"One day, sure. I will have to bring them into a format you can understand first. One the matter of your little stalker, if you aren't able to get close to her in the normal way, we have to use extreme measures. This is what we will do…"

Author's notes: As always I want to thank my reviewers before everything else. Next chapter Hinata will learn that stalking can have quite unexpected results.

I gave Naruto a bloodline, but his regeneration is not really better than in canon. The effects are more long-term than actually usable in battle outside of Kyuubi-mode. Of course, should he one day lose access to the Kyuubi's chakra he will retain his regeneration abilities…

I always answer my reviewers and additional questions via PM, but some points I feel like addressing here because they come up relatively often.

Aren't you very harsh on Kushina?

Yes, I am. I feel she should have used her own plan to seal Kyuubi back into her instead of going along with Minato, but there attenuating circumstances (her dying from the seal breaking, completely trusting her husband). Naturally, my Kuubi and OC have no interest in Naruto developing any friendly feelings towards his biological parents. While they won't lie or conceal facts, they will subtly make sure that he sees Kushina's and Minato's actions in the most unfavorable light possible.

Why doesn't Naruto leave the village?

My Naruto doesn't love the village or is especially loyal to the village as a whole, but he doesn't really hate it either. Intense dislike, yes, but he can live with that. At the current time he would probably defend Konoha out of loyalty for his friends and to keep up appearances even at risk to his life, as long as it isn't clearly suicidal.

There are several good reasons for Naruto to stay in Konoha and learn to be a shinobi:

a) The Sandaime and the other leaders would never let him leave and become highly suspicious if his attempts at encouraging Naruto to follow a shinobi career proved fruitless.

b) Kyuubi and the OC have some knowledge of the possible futures and know of Akatsuki and that they will come after Naruto sooner or later. A village is a handy meat shield to discourage or delay attacks.

c) After studying for years, Naruto has no magic that is useful in combat, and it might not be possible for a human to effectively wield it in a fight as sole weapon.

d) Therefore, he needs to be a shinobi to be able to defend himself, and neither Kyuubi nor the OC can teach him.

e) Other villages would probably attempt to transfer the Kyuubi into another host with proven loyalty should Naruto defect successfully.

f) To ultimately dismantle the seal without killing Naruto advanced knowledge of the sealing arts is required, which is hard to come by even for most normal shinobi, but the village can provide the resources for him to learn it as long as he is seen as loyal enough.

Is the Sandaime evil? Is he good? Misguided? Senile? In on the Yondaime's plan?

All these impressions of Sarutobi are certainly possible, but remember that so far I have only shown external opinions like Naruto's perspective (who only sees the Sandaime's actions, or lack thereof, and whose view is strongly influenced by his adoptive parents) or that of Unkai Kurama (who has mainly second-hand knowledge from his son-in-law and is an ill and bitter old man). Even genuine acts of kindness might be perceived as manipulations by Naruto. Hiruzen Sarutobi is a politician who is responsible for the whole village, and he might have very good reasons or hardly a choice for what he is doing. Or he could be an evil schemer. Or anything in between. Not telling at this point in the story.^^