A/N: Long time no read.

And what's this? A second update not too long after the last? Woohoo!

With any luck, there will still be interest here.

…

[Konohagakure no Sato, twelve years later]

It was a warm summer's day as Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his office, carefully working through a brush stroke in his calligraphy.

Twelve years had gone by since Golbez had chosen to come to Konoha to raise Naruto. From the moment he'd set foot in the village, the old Hokage had been keeping an eye on the two of them…especially after the man chose to move into a local temple. Not once did he figure the giant to be very religious, but there was a sense that he was looking for redemption for some past misdeed. Perhaps in a way, it showed somewhat in the way he brought up the boy, emphasizing on the need to make good choices in the now so as to avoid having regrets in life.

Outside of raising the boy, the giant had garnered quite a bit of attention in the village. Whenever he was seen in the village, opinions of him differed. The men found themselves intimidated by how tall and muscular the man was, though some were shocked to learn the hard way that he was actually quite agile. The female side was more divided: some women lambasted him for being half-naked, and for being too large and muscular; others simply gawked, staring lustfully whenever he passed by…some of the bolder ones flirted with him. Other than that, he was quite polite, mostly keeping to himself.

All things considered, things went smoothly so far…well, almost smoothly anyway. About as soon as Golbez had come to Konoha with Naruto, there was a sort of wariness as people avoided him…there was only one answer for that: someone leaked his status as a Jinchūriki. Not that it mattered to Naruto, at least he had a support base from his mentor despite the destruction of a normal life these rumors have caused.

Hiruzen had his suspicions as to who was responsible for the leak, but was unwilling to act without hard evidence; thinking back on it, Minato was right to have disbanded Root in the first place. When he reinstated the organization to handle missions that were much too hot for the Hokage to touch, he didn't think of the potential problems that would arise from doing so with Danzo still in charge—in fact, he thought he'd chosen the lesser of two evils. In a way, he should have seen this coming; should have known that his old friend resented him for being chosen as the Sandaime Hokage…should have seen the lust for power in his eyes. And as he thought about it, perhaps he should have dealt with him a long time ago, along with so many mistakes he'd made, but didn't have the spine to correct.

Unsurprisingly, Golbez himself was also a target of the slander, suspecting -and he had every reason to!- that Danzo had somehow put it into people's heads that the giant swordsman was a barbarian scout sent from overseas to destroy Konoha. After evidently deciding enough was enough, he sought out Danzo on his visit to the art gallery for a "polite conversation." Nobody knew what was said between them, but he did notice that Danzo seemed to have lost his stomach for the annihilation of the Uchiha Clan, giving the Hokage ample time to broker for peace before things got out of hand.

With regard to Naruto's development, the boy was doing quite well under Golbez's tutelage. While he'd been taught to use a sword as though it were an extension of his own body, he was taught to use a variety of other weapons as well, including shields from the looks of things; never in his life did he ever think a shield could be used as an offensive weapon. Considering his development, and his master, it would not have been a surprise if the boy learned to use greatswords later on. What was surprising however, was that Naruto had displayed an aptitude for Magic.

Hiruzen sighed as he put down the brush; the discovery of Magic long ago was a devastating blow to everything they knew. The similarities were there as both arts allowed the user to bend the rules of nature to their own ends, were powered by spiritual energy, and needed years of study and practice to truly bring out their full potential. That was where the similarities ended: if the two could be equated to performing arts, many Jutsu were an intricate dance performed with the hands, while Magic was more akin to music or poetry in execution. Just as more powerful Jutsu needed longer chains of hand seals, more powerful Magic "Spells" required the caster to memorize and recite longer chants. Jutsu were arguably faster, but they needed both spiritual energy and physical stamina to make the chakra needed; Spells, on the other hand, were reportedly slower in exchange for more potential power and requiring only spiritual energy.

As a whole, some people could use Magic to a limited extent, but the difference between a layman using magic and a Mage was like comparing a child's artwork to the work of a more experienced artist. Whether they specialized in the healing arts of White Magic or the destructive power of Black Magic, all Mages needed to attend a special school to refine their skill in the art. And while Wutai was largely known to have produced Ninja (and perhaps a few Samurai), Mages could be found all over the country if one knew where to look.

Much of what he learned under Golbez were the basics to be sure, but it still gave Naruto a bit of versatility on the field since he could use Magic. The problem was that it was tough for the boy to unlearn the Spells he was taught so that he could learn how to properly use Jutsu; it's particularly because of this that he was unable to make a working Bunshin. The other part, he suspected, had to do with his tenant—it was difficult to manipulate such a large amount of Chakra regardless of skill level. From that, it was reasonable to believe that the boy's chances of becoming a Ninja were slim to none; that being said, Hiruzen surmised that even if he were to fail the exam again, Naruto would not be a total burden to the village. After all, Golbez's training was quite comprehensive, making him a formidable opponent in the sparring matches, and his basic education in Magic made for a very valuable force-multiplier. Coupled with the fact that Naruto was willing to keep trying despite failing twice already was a sign of his dedication. The boy may not have a place in the village's Shinobi forces, but there were still plenty of uses for his skills he learned under his mentor.

He could only hope for the boy's success in one way or another.

…

[Konohagakure no Sato]

Speeding down the streets of Konohagakure no Sato was a large, long-legged bird resembling a giant chicken covered in yellow feathers. It had a feathered crest behind its proportionally small head that fluttered against the slipstream as it ran down the streets.

Its rider was a twelve-year-old boy with hair the color of its feathers, wearing only a dark vest and cargo shorts with a dark orange sash tied to it on the left side. He was holding onto the reins as the two of them headed towards the Ninja Academy, just under the Hokage Tower. The weapon he carried at the left side of his hip was held in a leather sheath with an antler grip. By all respects, it was too short to rightly be called a sword, yet too long to be a mere dagger, but could be used as either in a pinch; perfect for clearing out thickets of thin vegetation, but it was still viable as a weapon when needed. And after the last time he was attacked, he refused to go anywhere without a blade so as to discourage any potential attackers.

"Woah, girl!" shouted the rider, pulling the reins and the stirrups, commanding the bird to come to a screeching halt before the post that was erected specifically for steeds like the bird.

The boy lowered himself off his steed, took a moment to lower the bird's head to pet her on the beak. "Thatta girl, Sachi!"

Wutai always had chocobos; large birds that could carry a little less baggage than a horse can, but they were much faster. The birds saw enormous popularity as steeds over horses due to the potential for loyalty when paired with a master their entire lives…an attribute that was helpful in the sport of chocobo-racing. Yellow chocobos were fast runners, and were often the steed of choice for couriers and messengers, as well as the rare Chocobo Knight.

And it just so happened that this particular chocobo was raised by the boy as a chick.

After tying his bird to the post, the boy made his way to the classroom. Today was his last chance to become a member of Konoha's armed forces, and he had no intention of screwing it up; it wasn't easy to try and unlearn what his teacher had taught him, but he had the gist of it. Still, he had a test to take…whether or not he'd become a Ninja, and thus earn the respect of the village, was all up to him.

The boy walked up the steps into the Ninja Academy, taking a deep breath as he crossed the threshold.

All eyes were on him as he walked into the classroom. Not all the attention he'd received was welcome, and the few that were sincerely glad to see him were drowned out by the ones that would rather see him fail…yet again. That said, even if he wasn't qualified to join the Shinobi Forces, there were other ways for him to get the respect he wanted; it's just that he wanted to know if he had the capability to even be a Ninja in the first place.

From the look of things, he'd arrived just in time, as two teachers had just walked in, opening the door to the podium at around the same time he did. Both wore the indigo battle-dress uniform and forest-green flak jacket of a Konoha ninja, but that was where the similarities ended. The one at the podium had his hair done up in a ponytail, and a scar across the bridge of his nose, wearing his hitai-ate on his forehead, his skin a healthy sun-tan from a long life on the field. His partner had a pale complexion with white hair, contrasting against iron-gray eyes, with a softer look about him.

They were quickly joined by an attractive, dark-skinned woman with the telltale cream-colored hair and rabbit ears that marked her as a Viera, an elusive race that lived in the forest. This particular Viera named Fran had been around for as long as Naruto could remember, and was a fixture of the Konoha Ninja Academy for so long that it was suspected that she was actually the headmistress. While she was not very skilled in the Ninja arts, Fran had passable skills in Magic and was, by all accounts, a master of all weapons; though Naruto knew from experience that she was deadly accurate with a bow or crossbow in hand.

"Cutting it kinda close, aren't you, Naruto?" asked tan, exasperation on his face.

"Stayed up late to get in some last-minute practice, Iruka-sensei," replied Naruto.

Iruka smirked in amusement. "Is that so? Well then you shouldn't have a problem passing the exam. But before we do, let's check attendance."

As Naruto settled down, Iruka was already going through attendance; most of the names were nobody students…kids that came from civilian families looking to improve their lot in life by serving in the armed forces. Some however, were continuing to serve as a sort of tradition in their family, being from a long line of Ninja—the most notable of whom were from the clans. All were waiting in anticipation for the start of the exams.

Once he was done taking attendance, Iruka promptly began the test. The three important Jutsu were somewhat useless to most veterans, but they were the requirement for graduation mainly due to the foundational skills they taught. Kawarimi and Henge were two of the ones that Naruto found he could do right…it's just that he had trouble with the Bunshin part of the test; and Wutai being a Ninja-dominant land, he was not going to be part of the Shinobi Forces by failing even one. Still, it was as his mentor had said: it never hurt to know if that path was open to him.

Naruto sat and watched with bated breath as everyone performed the three required Jutsu in their own way; most of the civilian-born students could only do one at a time. Most however, simply did as required, no more, no less; that said, some of the more advanced students went a little further so as to combine the Jutsu together. The most creative displays however, came from some of the clan children who used their special Kekkei Genkai and clan-exclusive Jutsu to graduate. One notable example was Inuzuka Kiba working together with his Ninken Akamaru to create Bunshin together. Another was Sasuke and his cousin Himiko playing a sort of cup-and-ball game wherein everyone tried to guess which was real, and which was not.

"Naruto, you're up!" Iruka called out, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts.

Without preamble, Naruto sat up from his seat and started walking toward the podium. Golbez had taught him many things, preparing him for life in a world where war was always around the corner, but he was far from the only teacher he had.

Standing on the podium, Naruto stood and waited for his turn.

"All right, Naruto, do your best," said Iruka, "Kawarimi no Jutsu."

There was no problem there; Naruto flew through hand-seals and instantly cast the Jutsu flawlessly, replacing himself with a pile of books that was stacked up like a balanced rock sculpture. The weight of all the books held the sculpture's form, and were balanced to hold each others' weight; however, even a slight touch was likely to break down the sculpture.

Iruka nodded in approval. "Well, speed and precision—not bad. Now for the Henge no Jutsu."

Grinning mischievously, Naruto flew through hand seals before vanishing in a puff of smoke. As it cleared, a nubile, twin tailed blonde clad in revealing metal armor stood in his place, wielding a spear scissored between her legs. She was posed like a pole dancer about to let momentum take its course before gyrating her hips.

The reactions were varied among the teachers. Fran seemed to admire Naruto's work somewhat, while Mizuki didn't seem to mind; Iruka's reaction, however, was more drastic as blood gushed from his nostrils at the lewd scene taking place before him. Quick to come to his senses, he stood in front of the pole dancer, his voice raised in fury. "Get serious, you dunce!"

The pole dancer vanished in a puff of smoke, and Naruto stood in her place.

Taking a calming breath, Iruka then regarded his student seriously. "All right then, this is the last phase of the exam. If you can make two working Bunshin, you will graduate."

Naruto took a deep breath. He'd been given pointers on how to improve his skill with the Bunshin no Jutsu…he most certainly did not want to show his hidden teacher that it had all been for nothing. He regulated his chakra to the best of his ability, flying through hand seals as he did so, hoping and praying that he would succeed as the smoke clouded the area upon completing the sequence. As the dust settled, he pumped his fist in the air upon seeing two Bunshin flanking him from the sides.

"That's quite an improvement," Iruka noted, "How'd you do it?"

"I met someone who gave me a few pointers," Naruto said simply.

"Who?" Iruka pressed again, "I know your normal sensei can be sneaky when he wants to be, but I doubt he knows how to do Jutsu."

"Just someone that saw I was having trouble," he maintained. It wasn't technically a lie, the only problem was that Iruka was not likely to believe exactly who he got those pointers from.

Iruka shrugged, apparently buying into the reasoning. "Well, one way or another, you passed. Let's hope you're able to keep these pointers, and your training."

The day was shaping up to be good as class had concluded early. Naruto was in such a good mood that he was able to ignore the glares and whispers fired in his direction; all that was needed now was to tell Golbez-sensei the good news.

…

[]

Iruka rushed through the forest, hoping he could intercept Mizuki before things got any more out of hand.

At the time, he'd just finished getting documents ready for the graduates' official dossiers…when he stepped out of his office, he'd been questioned quite thoroughly about what he knew about Mizuki and where he could have gone. Iruka answered very honestly that he hadn't seen his colleague since the finals…and when he asked what was going on, there was a mix of emotions until he settled on a mixture of both anger and disappointment.

Mizuki had tricked Sarutobi Konohamaru into stealing the Scroll of Seals; every forbidden Jutsu ever recorded in the history of the village was written in it, and it was in the hands of the Hokage's grandson. The traitor planned to make his escape into the wilderness of Hi no Kuni as part of his plan to defect…which was made worse when he assaulted a Hyūga bodyguard convoy, and kidnapped Hyūga Hanabi.

It only amplified Iruka's hatred of the man due to the fact that Golbez had reported that Uzumaki Naruto was last seen in the area of the convoy attack. The boy chased him down using what ninja skills he had on hand. This meant that Naruto was probably dead or…

The sounds of clashing metal resounded in the distance, forcing Iruka to pause in order to find the direction of the noise. Once he was confident he knew where the sounds were coming from, he turned towards their direction, hoping he wasn't too late to help Naruto…he may have been mentored by a master swordsman, but even he would've needed help.

Once he arrived at a clearing, Iruka came across a battle between Naruto and Mizuki, the former brandishing his blade at his opponent, who favored a pair of gigantic shuriken. The boy's foundations were good, as demonstrated in a number of sparring matches…particularly with his footwork; there were no flashy moves, just simple and practical moves applied with pinpoint precision. He was also careful to not parry attacks with the edge of the blade lest he lose precious cutting capability in his sword. It was, however, still a losing fight mainly due to Naruto trying to protect both Konohamaru and Hanabi…that said, he was doing fairly well at defending his wards.

A feint was all it took for Naruto to drop his guard, followed by a back kick that sent him flying back into the tree. Not wasting a single movement, Naruto was forced to ditch his sword in favor of taking both Konohamaru and Hanabi and forcing them duck under the gigantic shuriken that Mizuki threw. In response, Naruto grabbed his sword by the grip, and threw it at Mizuki in an attempt to create distance between him and his wards; his attempt missed, but it gave him enough time to draw his knife in anticipation of a close-up fight.

Before Mizuki could reach for another of his massive shuriken, Iruka darted in from the shadows, slugging his former colleague across the face. As he and Mizuki grappled with each other, Naruto stood back up, turning to regard both Konohamaru and Hanabi. "Get going! I can't fight that bastard if I have to protect the two of you too!"

There was no modicum of hesitation in Konohamaru as he grabbed the scroll and led the Hyūga heiress out by the wrist, running as fast as their little legs could take them. As Mizuki made haste to pursue them, Naruto tackled him, jabbing him three times with his knife before he was thrown off, and back into the tree, allowing Naruto a chance to pick his sword back up.

Iruka and Naruto got back in Mizuki's path, preventing him from trying to re-engage his pursuit of both Konohamaru and Hanabi before they could get away. With the two of them working together, there was no way that Mizuki, especially with his fatigue, would have been able to continue his pursuit…the message was sent: they'd formed the immovable force that stopped him.

"Golbez-sensei never really liked you from day one," Naruto growled, reading his sword, "I never understood why until today."

Mizuki scoffed. "As if I care what that meathead thinks. Maybe I'll kill him just to spite you from beyond the grave!"

"Don't let his insults get to you, Naruto-kun," Iruka assured, "He's just trying to get into your head with his lies."

"And you're one to talk about lies!" Mizuki fired back. There was a moment of silence as a wicked smile formed on his face. "Speaking of which, Naruto, do you know why the village hates you so-"

Before Mizuki could say another word, Naruto pointed a free hand at the traitor. "Fire!"

A jet of flame issued forth from the palm of his hand faster than Mizuki could respond, consuming his body before he could finish his train of thought. "I don't know what your truth is, and I don't care!" Naruto replied, his focus still on Mizuki's charred corpse.

"Oh, but it's a real eye-opener," Mizuki taunted from behind, "After all, you're the fox that killed so many people that night on your birthday!"

That little revelation had rocked Naruto for a brief moment; that moment was all the opening Mizuki needed to rush in with a kunai in an attempt to very literally stab Naruto in the back. Iruka rushed in to intercept, managing to arrive just in time to stop Mizuki from getting any closer before slugging him across the face, then kicking him away. It took Iruka a moment to register the pain from his abdomen, and a single look to see the kunai lodged in his side; luckily the flak jacket had taken the worst of it, but it was still pretty deep in there.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto cried, pushing him aside.

In one strike, Naruto's sword had been shattered, forcing him to drop the hilt as he avoided a slash from Mizuki's kunai. He would roll aside to stand in front of Iruka, his hands bare as he stared back at Mizuki, who sneered back at him with no shortage of hatred and sadistic joy.

"Lay a finger on Iruka-sensei, and you'll see exactly what I'm really capable of," Naruto threatened.

"Tough talk for a kid who has no shred of battle experience!" Mizuki fired back, "What can you do now? Show me what you can do all by your lonesome, you mass-murdering fox!"

"I don't care what lies you spout, you're going down no matter what!" Naruto retorted, clenching his fingers, "And for the record, Mizuki-baka, I'm never alone!"

"Whatever!" Mizuki shouted, throwing a massive shuriken at Naruto, who vanished in a puff of smoke.

Where there should have been the squelch of a blade cutting into flesh, was insead the sound of metal cutting effortlessly through metal. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was seen with a different weapon in hand; it was too large to be a proper katana, and too short to be a nōdachi. Its curved blade was four fingers wide, gleaming in the moonlight with an ethereal green sheen that displayed an irregular, fang-like temper line like the gnashing teeth of a demon. The entire length of the blade had a shobu-zukuri polish for both ease of maintenance, and consistent performance in both the thrust and the slash. Its furniture was quite simple, consisting of brass fittings contrasting against inlaid red lacquered wood grip and sheath, with cloud motifs carved into most of the fittings.

"Didn't think I'd earned the right to borrow this," Naruto noted, flipping the blade reflexively before sheathing it, "Mizuki, I'd like for you to meet Onimaru, O-katana of the Warrior."

"Big deal, so you've got yourself a big, fancy-ass sword!" Mizuki challenged.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I'm never alone," Naruto growled, "Golbez-sensei taught me a lot of things while I was growing up; swordsmanship, magic, even how to bond with an Eidolon."

Eidolons. Beings of such enormous power that even the likes of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama would have a hard time fighting them. They were different from summoned creatures such as Chocobos and Moogles, even the wide variety of Ninjū that Wutai was proud of, and were far more powerful—being able to summon even a weak one was a statement of power in itself. Only specialized Mages known as Summoners were known to have the power to commune with, and summon them from other realms.

"Impossible!" Mizuki barked, "Your master must be a fraud!"

"Explain why I've got this then," Naruto contered, readying himself in a low stance with his hand ready to draw, "Besides, Onimaru isn't the only weapon I've got on call, but it's more than enough to take down a scumbag like you."

Iruka watched as Mizuki glared at his student, a pair of kunai in hand; Naruto however, remained calm, sheathing his blade as though he'd done this many times. The only trouble was that this was a katana, and Naruto's mentor favored the greatsword, and transferred the skill to use it onto him; and last he checked, Naruto was no Samurai. It was as though the boy were possessed by the spirit of the sword known as Onimaru, and taught in its use.

What happened next had ended in a flash as Mizuki charged Naruto who waited patiently for his opponent to approach. Within seconds of each other, ducked unto Mizuki's thrusts and drew the large blade, slashing at his opponent before standing back up, flicking the blood off his blade and sheathing it. "Enma."

As the blade of Onimaru clicked shut, Mizuki fell apart. Iruka watched what had happened, and saw that his former colleague had been sliced into four separate pieces with three slashes within the span of a second.

With his opponent downed, Onimaru faded away into nothingness.

"The Ultimate End would've been overkill for scum like you."

If this weapon was an Eidolon, and it was one of a collection, Iruka shivered at the amount of power Naruto had at his fingertips.

…

A/N: Chapter done!

Now for a bit of explanation as far as referring to the Shinobi Nations as Wutai: since the setting of Naruto's adventures takes place in a land of Shinobi and Samurai, I only thought it fitting that in this sort-of custom "Final Fantasy" world, this'd be a good reference.

Though I wonder…which Eidolon did Naruto get into a covenant with?

To those who are disappointed with his starting summoned weapon: yes, he's got a katana, and is effectively a Samurai, but that's only if he's got Onimaru on hand. And as he'd said, he was only allowed to borrow that blade…who from, I won't say just yet, but it's far from the only weapon he's got, and he'll be getting more weapons AND jobs if this story continues.

As to the future of why Naruto's not getting the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, you'll see why further down the road.

In any case, keep it classy.

…

Vocabulary/References/Spells:

Wutai—literally means "Five Plateaus" in Mandarin Chinese (and it is one of the major mountain ranges in China), so if you count each of the five major Hidden Villages as a plateau…you get the idea why it's also fitting.

Shobu-zukuri—a type of polish used on Nihontō (Japanese swords) like the katana. A normal Nihontō blade would have a shinogi-zukuri polish, with a yokote line near the tip of the blade, which is the result of differential polishing so that the tip is much sharper for better performance when stabbing enemies. A shobu-zukuri blade has no yokote line, which means it's the same polish all the way to the tip so that there are no snags when trying to cleave through armor.

Onimaru—literally "demon" (鬼丸); Onimaru itself is not your average katana, it's an ō-katana, which is pretty much a slightly bigger katana for battlefield use without approaching the full length of the man-sized nōdachi.