Wow, wow, wow, I hope everyone is excited because this is the chapter! I selected a few songs for the fight scenes, but they're more to show what Naruto is hearing in the background during this fight.

Enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Game was Rigged From the Start

Edwards-North Academy shared similarities with Konoha's shinobi Academy. Both institutions posed dangers, yet Naruto observed how deceptive his urban London school was. The exterior appeared immaculate with clear windows and intact brick, while the interior was a whirlwind of chaos. Students frequently cursed and yelled between classes. It wasn't uncommon to find cigarette butts in the hallways or graffiti scrawled on desks. Fights popped off left and right, usually in the square stairwells like what he was witnessing in front of him right now.

Naruto evaded the crashing, cursing, group of girls clawing at each other's faces as they tumbled down the stairs like an avalanche.

He shrugged and ran to his first-period class on the fifth floor. The bells rang, and Mr. Goldfinch, his history teacher, was taking names.

"Nice of you for joining us, Uzumaki." Naruto shuffled to his seat as he heard his teacher slapping the blackboard with his ruler. "Because you all did well on your finals last week, we will continue watching All Quiet On the Western Front!"

Sadly, he couldn't take a nap while listening to people being burned alive by flamethrowers and torn apart by artillery fire—just another day at the worst school in London. To complicate things, he had to navigate each class while attempting to soothe his noisy magical grass dinosaur, which had taken the form of an elegant green bracelet.

The creature was a Strelitzia, a gift from Tom Riddle. He feared Tom much more than all the gangsters in Lambeth and Brixton combined. Nonetheless, the gangsters at school were still dangerous, particularly Dion, who ruled the school much like Wools.

XxX XxX

After Naruto's first period, he was walking down the hallways when he witnessed something terrible.

"Outta my way freak bitch!" Dion shoved a ninth-year girl with glasses who collapsed on the floor crying, her textbooks sprawled around her. "Serves you right, for getting in my way!"

Naruto helped the girl to her feet while handing her fallen textbooks. Rudi and Niko were laughing nearby, but they started to back off when he shot them a furious glare. They quickly shuffled away to their next class.

"Bastards" she scoffed. "Someone needs to get rid of them," she said quickly. She pushed her thick-rimmed glasses to her nose and gave him a good look. Her cheeks were bright red while running off. "Th-thanks."

Naruto was confused throughout his second-period algebra class. His teachers must have given up, because all his classes played movies. All the seventh-year students took their exams the week before school ended, so he settled his head on his graffiti-covered desk and snoozed. His third period was Physical Education and he played football until a large white-fist tussle started between four Seventh grade boys. Football ended with the coaches yelling for them to go to lunch. Despite the abrupt end to his football match, he was happy to enjoy lunch with Wesley, because the cafeteria served fish pies, pizzas, chips, oranges, and raisins.

He kept his new pet inside his backpack and stealthily handed it orange slices while laughing at Wesley's jokes about the Welsh. While everyone was throwing their trash away, he rescued nine packets of raisins from the rubbish bins.

During study hall, he secretly fed his magical pet raisins. The more time he spent caring for the creature, the more he loved his Strelitzia. It was indeed the perfect pet. It transformed into an emerald bracelet or became invisible whenever people were present. When it was safe to give it food, it transformed into a cooing viney-green reptile. After his fifth-period reading class, he needed a break from the never-ending monotony of old-fashioned educational films from twenty years ago.

So he went to the nearest boys' restroom on the second floor and made a shadow clone.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to figure out that trick. You should use shadow clones to not only fill in for school, but also you can send them off to the public library to learn more about this world."

"Way ahead of you!"

"What mischief are you up to this time?"

XxX XxX

Naruto was thinking about Konoha and all the cool missions he was missing out on. Here he was in a new world, pissing inside a graffiti covered bathroom stall. To top it off, he was living in an orphanage.

He exited his stall right when he heard the main restroom door lock. Loud huffing and strained footsteps made him prepare his new Taijutsu stance, boxing. Slowly walking out of the corridor and out of the shadows was Niko. Unlike the other members of the Albanian Mafia, Niko was intelligent but very reserved when it came to bullying. Naruto couldn't recall seeing Niko bully anyone, but there were rumors that he was the one to stab Callum.

Niko edged forward into the bright white lights, his black eyes glazed and maniacal. The gangster started laughing and gargling gibberish, which caused Naruto to flinch.

"Niko?" He looked up and noticed the six-foot-tall, black-haired, square-jawed maniac standing before the locked door. "O-okay, uh, could you move?"

Niko rushed at him across the bathroom, holding a black handled switchblade in his right hand. As he slashed across the air, the iron blade whistled. Naruto dodged the strikes, smacking back at Niko with quick jabs. He then ducked and swiped the floor quickly before smacking him across the face. Blood splattered from Niko's nose as he roared, his switchblade turning his tanned right hand white.

Naruto grabbed his right hand with his left. He started pumping chakra throughout his body, unsure why Niko was stronger than anticipated. The switchblade rattled against the wall, skyblue paint chipping like rain as they huffed into each other's faces.

He was releasing so much chakra that some was being sent into Niko's body. The gangster's black eyes transformed into the bright scarlet hue of Tom Riddle's. Naruto blocked dozens of right hooked punches from the mafioso. He groaned and cried in pain, feeling the switchblade cutting into his knuckle.

He screamed and banged the bully's head against the wall once, twice, and finished him off by kneeing him in the stomach. The switchblade clattered to the blue tiled floor, where Niko soon followed by collapsing pathetically.

Naruto heard light clapping. He spun around on his heel, and saw Tom Riddle smiling in the bathroom mirrors. His eyes were scarlet, and his grin was broad.

"BASTARD!" he roared at the Tom. "You were controlling Niko the entire time!"

"I respect bloodlust, even if it comes from a Muggle. I'm impressed with your abilities. You were releasing something that isn't magic… chakra you called it when we first met." Tom smirked sadistically.

Naruto approached the mirror and looked up at Tom Riddle's scarlet eyes. "Why are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm not trying to kill you, my dear friend. I wanted to test your magical abilities, but it appears I've stumbled across something far more fascinating than I expected." Tom smiled wide and laughed.

Before he could shatter the mirror into a million pieces, Tom disappeared. That was when he heard Niko groaning and moaning loudly. He got up and looked startled as if he was witnessing a nightmare coming to life. Naruto's eyes widened when a silver-barreled .357 revolver fell from Niko's waist.

He had seen enough movies and frontpage headlines to know how deadly guns were. Niko crawled backwards away from the loaded revolver. Tears fell from Niko's eyes as he ran out of the restroom without glancing at his fallen weapons.

Naruto picked up the switchblade and threw it in the rubbish bin. He stared at the revolver for half a minute, unsure what to do with it. He thought about throwing it in the rubbish bin but was curious about the weapon. Voices were growing louder outside the bathroom, causing him to run over to his backpack with the gun in his hand.

"Stuff it in your backpack!" Kurama roared. "I'm curious about guns myself. When we get back to Wool's, go to the library so I can teach you how to create a simple storage seal so you won't get caught."

Naruto smiled as he stored the revolver in his backpack. It didn't weigh more than a few pounds. He slipped past two sixth year boys who looked at him oddly. He decided to hide until school ended.

XxX XxX

School ended to the tune of intercom bells signalling that school ended. Naruto was venturing down hallways where half the lockers were covered in graffiti. The gun rattled in his backpack and he flinched whenever someone bumped up against him. How the hell did he get himself in this situation?

"I can't believe I have a gun!"

"Pretty cool isn't it? Just remember! That weapon isn't a toy, and it is very deadly. It looks like it won't fire until you pull back the hammer. So don't play with it until you find a safe location to practice."

"I'm no fool. I've seen enough movies and pictures to know what a firearm is capable of. If it's so dangerous, how come you wanted me to pick it up?"

"Because for one, the janitors will find that switchblade when they empty the rubbish bins. I'm sure they find fifty switchblades in the rubbish weekly, but a gun would spark a serious investigation. I know you like to think you know everything but some cameras picked you both up."

"I didn't kill Niko. And come on, whose word are they gonna trust, me or the guy who possibly murdered someone under Tom Riddle's control."

"That's a tough call." Kurama chuckled and roared in laughter inside his head. "I don't want to see you locked up in a prison. I can tell you from experience it's not a nice place."

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as he walked past the cafeteria and the gymnasium. "Come on. I know saving my ass isn't the real reason why you made me pick up that gun."

"Fine! I'm curious about this world's bloody killing machines. While you are napping in history class, I've been learning about this world's wide variety of weapons like machine guns, M1 Abrams, Hind Ds, and thermonuclear bombs. Not even Orochimaru could survive a thermonuclear bomb and I would know, because I can easily create them."

"Kurama, how powerful are you?" Naruto felt his heart quicken in the crowd of kids boarding the buses.

"Powerful enough that if I really wanted to I could flatten all of Europe and North Africa!"

Naruto leaned against a locker and looked around at the fleeing crowd of schoolkids. "Let's not have that happen."

"So long as you listen to me. I can guide you to victory against the Albanian Mafia and maybe you can do your monkey ritual of trying to impress that Kavya girl."

Naruto's shadow clone was dispelled in the same bathroom where he had encountered Niko. Memories of him snoring through English class made him shrug. Even his shadow clones were napping on the last day of school.

He shook his head, got on the bus, and sat up front instead of near the back, where Wesley and his pals usually sat.

When the bus arrived back at Wool's, almost all the orphans were stripping out of their school sweaters like they had finally been released from prison. Kurama's prison talk made him rush to the third-floor library. On the way up the stairwells, he heard many older kids complaining about the tough exams they had to complete today.

The third-floor library was located in the webbing maze of dormitories belonging to the older girls. As he walked through, many people stared at him suspiciously. He was used to this treatment and preferred it to walking past the Riddle Room. At the end of the third-floor hallways, the library's green doors came into view. The only room close to the library was 301.

He knew Trisha lived in that room because she was obsessed with The Cure, a British band. Their new hit "Friday I'm In Love" was blasting from her room, while a chorus of teenage girls were mumbling along to the lyrics. Naruto shook his head and continued to the library.

The green doors squeaked open, and Naruto rushed to a far corner with his backpack. He listened to Kurama explain the fundamentals of creating seals. The demonic fox started giving him an in-depth lesson on sealing bases, channels, conduit materials, and how he could die a horrible death if anything goes wrong.

Knowing there was little time to waste before people started filling the room.

"Kurama, exactly what do I do?"

"Alright grab a blank sheet of paper from your backpack. Bite your thumb and draw a square at the center. You will draw eight arms from the corners and the center while completing it with a circle. This is called a Box Seal and can store up to fifty stones (700 pounds) of weight, before malfunctioning, which is another topic we will get into when we begin learning Fuinjutsu!"

Naruto followed Kurama's command and created the square inside a circle connected by eight arms with his blood. When his bloody masterpiece was completed, he took a huge sigh of relief. Kurama flooded his fingers with his chakra and he felt his thumb heal instantly. The clock read 4:40 and he knew dinner would start in less than an hour.

He took out Niko's revolver and placed it on the sheet of paper. "Now what?"

"Simple. Because blood is the best conduit for Fuinjutsu, just flood the sheet of paper with your chakra and-"

A loud poof and a small white cloud of smoke caused people to turn over towards where he was. When they arrived at the scene, they saw no trace of him or his first handmade seal. The librarian was an old lady who worked at Wool's. She was likely hired during the Victorian era, because she was always dressed in heavy black dresses. She shook her head and slowly went back to her desk.

Naruto took a huge sigh of relief atop the ceiling. Luckily his catlike reflexes and the tree walking exercise saved the day.

XxX XxX

Dinner wasn't that exciting. The lunch ladies were serving spud potatoes with beans and garlic chili. Naruto was one of the few orphans to finish all his food. Most people were tossing their food in the rubbish bins. Dion walked into the cafeteria flanked by Rudi and Edmund. Naruto smirked realizing that for once the odds were much more in his favor. His hopes were slashed when nine Albanian Mafia gangsters began cheering upon their arrival.

The room quickly cleared until Caroline and Alan walked in. The twelve gangsters lined up to go through the lunch line. When they disappeared, he decided he had had enough. On his way out, Alan gave him a small brown waxpaper package with a small note.

Dearest Naruto,

Thank you for making Mason Construction look good to the common folk. Interestingly, we may one day meet again. Until then, here is a cool memento to remember the game that changed your life. I found it at Charing Cross, near my main office. If you ever want a job at one of my construction sites, give me a visit and tell the secretary your name.

Naruto's eyes squinted after reading the note, but he decided now was a good time to prepare for tonight's battle.

He was wearing the same pair of blue jeans and Converse shoes Dr. Granger gave him. The only thing new he had was Mr. Mason's gift, a brand new Manchester United Football Jersey. Even though it felt good against his skin, many orphans gave him jealous looks. He pocketed his headband in his right jean pocket only to bump into Wesley, Abhi, and Leon. Naruto loved hanging out with Leon, who was thirteen and fun company.

"Wagwan, ma yute!" Leon shouted excitedly. "What's the shiny thing you puttin' in your pocket?"

Naruto shook Leon's hand and smirked. "Nothing special just an heirloom."

"Bruv, you've gone off the deep end!" Abhi shouted while fiddling with a Sony Walkman that fell out of his peacoat. "We planned to sneak into the Battersea Power Station before the movie started. Wesley didn't eat dinner, so he wants us to grab fish and chips on the way there."

"The power station? That place is abandoned and the movie is in an hour and a half." Naruto looked away from them knowing his answer was disappointing.

"Fine, stay here and run around. Just don't run into dat fassy Dion. His mandem are snooping by the chapel," Leon warned before leading Wesley and Abhi out of the dormitory.

After getting dressed, Naruto escaped out of the orphanage through the gymnasium. He kept his first seal in his left pocket just for safe keeping. His white trainers skidded across wet dewy grass until he arrived at the same garden he was gifted his Strelitzia. That creature coiled tighter to his right wrist as he molded chakra and formed the shadow clone handsign.

Six shadow clones appeared in a straight line. They all quickly transformed into various jocks he had seen walking the halls of Edwards-North Academy. He created the clones with the sole purpose of protecting Edon. Three shadow clones went to the library. Two were wandering the boys' dormitory in case Dion decided to attack Edon there. At the same time, one shadow clone was created to tail Edon the entire night.

"I'm impressed. You finally learn the secret to the shadow clone jutsu and are putting it to excellent use, devising strategies. Wait use Demonic Pulse. I sense Dion talking with eleven other people behind St. John's Chapel."

Naruto believed Kurama, but he still followed his order. Gathering the necessary chakra in his gut, he released his Demonic Pulse and saw Dion and eleven other gangsters congregating at the cemetery. He rushed to the side of the granite-slabbed chapel, feeling them approaching closer to his spot. When the marching footsteps and grunts stopped, he turned around and saw what was happening.

Dion glared at the other nine members of the Albanian Mafia, who looked like they didn't want to be there. Most had their hands inside their black jeans, and none were smiling.

"Arion, I need you and the entire crew tonight," Dion said with gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, but we are going to speak to the boss. Now isn't the time to act stupid! Something isn't right! Sully lost all his teeth this morning. On top of that, Niko has disappeared. The last I saw him, he ran out of school crying," Arion recounted hesitantly. "Our boss needs to know what is going on!"

"No! You are going to do as I say!" Dion roared, raising his right hand towards his heart. "I saved you from Quirrel. I saved all of you!"

"We are leaving and there is nothing you can do about it. Quirrel is dead." Arion smirked and shook his head.

"How do you know that?" Dion grabbed Arion's collar and stared him down. "I'm still the Top Boy of Wool's!"

"You are still the Top Boy of Wool's. But tonight you, Rudi, and Edmund are on your own," Arion admitted.

Naruto watched Dion punch Arion across the jaw. The giant gangster crawled on top of him and smacked him twice before he was pulled off him. Blood covered Dion's knuckles as he pushed Edmund off. Six barrels were pointing at Dion and his crew. The sounds of their pistol slides clicking and their hammers cocking send shivers down Naruto's back. Dion growled and shook his head while saying, "Traitors. All of you!"

Both groups separated and Naruto couldn't believe what had happened.

Within several minutes of conversation and a few fists flying. The Albanian Mafia had abandoned Dion. Rudi and Edmund were still backing up Dion. He could live with that, because an even bigger crisis had been averted. He could easily take down three gangsters even without using his chakra.

To say he was relieved was an understatement.

Naruto ran back through the gymnasium doors and saw that the bleachers had been brought out and a giant projector set up for the movie. Alan was operating a popcorn maker, which was popping aggressively. Many of the older girls were helping with setting up movie night. The gymnasium floors had been cleaned and waxed, and chairs were set up in front of the bleachers.

He tried to sneak around the commotion by going behind the bleachers, except he was startled when he remembered the spot where Sully vomited blood and drool this morning. That was when Caroline ambushed him by twisting him around. Her hazel eyes were gleaming mischievously like she was planning something terrible.

He gulped. "Is something wrong?"

Caroline quickly ran her fingers through his hair, brushing his spiky gravity-defying sun-kissed locks like a mother. Naruto was blushing the whole time. He felt uncomfortable by all the touching and grooming he was receiving.

"Caroline, what are you doing?" He looked up and crossed his arms.

"Getting you ready for a fantastic night. Come on, not only are you going to watch an R-rated movie, but I've been speaking to Kavya," Caroline said even more mischievously. "There are only two assigned seats for movie night tonight." She smiled warmly and patted his head. "She really likes you!"

"No-no-no…" Naruto's face turned bright crimson. "You can't be serious?"

XxX XxX

To say he was embarrassed was an understatement. Caroline ordered him to sit next to Kavya during movie night. While My Cousin Vinny was playing on the projector, he had to try not to pass out from how warm Kavya's hand felt. She held his right hand and leaned against his right shoulder when the movie started. Even worse, she wasn't letting him go with her iron tight vice grip. Kavya's caramel colored hand kept rubbing over his veins, while her warm breath caressed his whisker-marked cheeks.

Many of the boys in his dormitory were chuckling occasionally whenever Kavya whispered in his ear.

"Naruto…" Her eyes reflected Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei arguing. "After the movie. I was thinking maybe we could-"

"Could what?" Naruto looked at her darkening cheeks intensely.

"You know," Kavya said with a hopeful smile. "Maybe we could go to the Tower."

The Tower was code for the makeout room. Because the Victorian Tower was being renovated, orphans often used it for snogging sessions or even sex. Naruto blushed at her suggestion, but he knew that Caroline and Alan regularly caught orphans snogging inside the tower at night. That was the primary reason he avoided it.

"Uhhh…" He blushed and he heard some girls snickering beside him. "Could we finish the movie… before jumping to conclusions?"

Kavya gave him an annoyed look and leaned against his shoulder. A chorus of light chuckles emanated from the bleachers behind him, but he didn't want to make things more awkward by looking back.

Despite her reputation as a dedicated guidance counselor, Caroline was enchanted by romance novels. A significant part of why he got along so well with Caroline was his awareness of her deep passion for these books, particularly the works of Jane Austen! He stumbled upon her collection tucked away in her office cupboard, and since then, he always mentioned the cutest girls in Wool's. Caroline loved hearing this, often taking notes inside a notebook titled Future Romance Novel.

When their sessions ended, she consistently rewarded him with vital information.

But he felt conflicted. On one hand, he thought Kavya was incredibly beautiful. He was lucky to have a girl two years older interested in him. On the other hand, he was worried about Edon. None of his clones had been dispelled since he sent them out, and he was getting anxious. So, he relented and held Kavya's hand tighter while trying to focus on the movie.

Near the end of My Cousin Vinny, Naruto was already tired of Caroline's swooning whenever Kavya excitedly grabbed his right hand. What made the whole movie experience even more uncomfortable was Marisa Tomei, the leading actress, was making him heat up. The actress was so attractive she made Tsunade look like a nun. At least the movie was enjoyable. He laughed at all the jokes and humor.

As Vinny closed the final argument at trial, he was bombarded by the memories of a clone popping on the third floor.

He broke out of Kavya's ironclad grip and got up. People stared, but their attention quickly returned to the movie after he had rushed out of the room. The memories he received were of Dion, Rudi, and Edmund walking past the Riddle Room. His feet were being pumped with chakra and he was on the third floor within fifteen seconds.

He nearly slid on the sixth landing and saw he was standing in front of the Riddle Room. Taking out his headband, Naruto tied the fabric behind his head. Gathering Kurama's chakra against his stomach, he released Demonic Pulse and saw the location of Dion's gang. Within seconds he was in the hallway between the third floor Library and Room 301.

(Them Bones - Alice In Chains)

The song was playing from Trisha's room. Naruto saw the library door half open. Two Edward-North Varsity Football players tackled Dion, only for them to be dispelled by heavy jabs from Dion. White smoke started covering the hallway, and Naruto quickly ran down the hallway as two more clones from the Library emerged. They rushed past Dion and grappled onto Edmund and Rudi.

Rudi brought his Beretta M1951 black steel pistol from his waist but it was smacked out of his hand from a swiping right heeled kick. Naruto landed and swiped the floor with his left leg and aggressively punched Rudi to the floor. The much bigger teenage thug coughed out blood as his punches turned Rudi's face purple. Blood pockets popped and his eyes swelled within seconds of Naruto's beating. He kept punching him until Rudi rolled against the wall with his hands on his head.

Dion grasped his 9x19 parabellum Sig P229 pistol in his right hand. He pulled the trigger, causing a bright white flash to burst in the hallway. The sound was deafening!

Everyone on the floor was screaming as chaos unfolded.

The shadow clone in front of him caught the bullet and it wizzed overhead within a second, causing white smoke to explode around him. Dion fired more bullets from his gun sporadically. The remaining shadow clone in the hall was tackling and losing a knife fight against Edmund. Naruto kicked Edmunds stomach right as the last shadow clone in the hallway was shot in the head.

The white smoke smokescreen his shadow clones emitted made him invisible to the iron sights of Dion's pistol. Naruto took advantage of this by jumping at Edmund who growled. They were tackled and clawed each other's faces. He wasn't taller nor bigger than Edmund, but the much bigger boy screamed as he scratched his face. Edmund growled and threw a flurry of punches that he tried blocking to the best of his ability.

A fist slammed across his left cheek. Another fist came from his right, he ducked low. Grabbing Edmund's shoulders with some of Kurama's chakra, he smashed Edmund to the ground and started jabbing his chest until he passed out in a heap. Dion fired another shot causing the orphanage to explode in louder screams!

The maniac was laughing between white and orange flashes of lead bursting from his semi-automatic German pistol. The smell of burnt lead and the misty vapor of gunpowder hung heavy in the air. Naruto's last shadow clone tackled Diom from behind, causing him to drop his gun. Dion grabbed his last shadow clone by the shoulders and tore off its nose with his mouth, causing it to explode in white smoke.

Watching the sadistic display, Naruto was positive that Dion was under some influence, whether Tom Riddle or worse it was apparent. Kurama's chakra was pouring through his veins, and he bolted across the floor right as Dion picked up the pistol.

As Naruto appeared before Dion, grasping the giant's black T-shirt with his left hand, they teleported.

Falling seven feet above the orphanage.

Naruto and Dion screamed. He saw blue flashes of light dashing in the sky over Wool's Orphanage as they crashed onto the rooftop. Dion's massive body cushioned most of the fall, but they still rolled. When he came to a stop, he back flipped away from four jabs from Dion, and sidestepped avoiding three more punches.

Dion screamed and roared with every miss of his fists. Naruto's injuries from earlier were healing quickly from Kurama's crimson chakra flowing through his veins. However, despite how good his taijutsu and his reflexes were, Dion somehow kept up with most of his moves. Sweat dripped from his forehead and poured down his clothes.

His head swayed left and right, barely dodging winding swipes from Dion who roared louder. He backflipped towards the Victorian Tower in a near blur. Dion was already a few meters ahead of him when he stopped. The goliath's livid black eyes grew wider as he pulled back his arm.

Dion's arm sprang forward like a guillotine.

Naruto felt dizzy as he blocked Dion's punch with his headband. The metal wasn't damaged but his skull rattled. However, the last thing he expected was for them to teleport yet again.

(Dam That River - Alice In Chains)

They fell through the ceiling and landed hard in the middle of the girls' fourth-floor dormitory. He rolled to a stop against an orange trunk. Blood was pouring from his hair and he heard the frightened shriek of girls running to their dormitories' restroom. His head was ringing and he knew he had a severe concussion. Dion was roaring angrily while getting back to his feet. Naruto swiped his blood off his eyesockets and rolled onto his feet. Dion promptly shoved bunk beds over to get to Naruto.

The crashing of bunk beds coincided with the heavy guitar riffs of the latest Alice in Chains song to hit the radio. The girls inside the dormitory screamed louder as Naruto ducked below a quick jab from Dion.

Knowing this wasn't the best place to finish their fight, he chose to run.

Dion was right behind his tail. He couldn't fathom how fast, strong, and well-adept Dion was. The giant hulking Goliath followed him from the fourth floor to the third. Dion was behind him no matter how much chakra he pumped into his bones. The song followed them down on this floor because Trisha was blasting it from her room close to the library.

"Naruto! Stop right now!" Dion blocked the third floor exits, forcing Naruto to return to the Library. "Why are you running away?"

He slid down the hallway, avoiding a dropping heeled kick from Dion. The hardwood floor cracked under the giants feet causing Naruto's eyes to widen. His balance was thrown off and Dion was on top of him. All his tenketsu points excreted chakra causing Dion's black eyes to flash scarlet. Naruto kicked Dion off him and rolled his way onto his feet. Dion screamed behind him, "You ugly fucking bastard! Fight me like a man! You little shit! FIGHT ME!"

Naruto stopped in front of Edmund's passed-out body. He saw Rudi staggering up. The gangster was leaning against the wall further down the corridor. Sweat was dripping from Naruto's brow. Looking back, he saw Dion strolling slowly up to him with a long switchblade in his right hand.

Rudi huffed and growled, "What the fuck are you?"

"Naruto," Dion called out from behind him. "You are special. How about we make a deal. You join my crew, and I'll spare your life. How about that?"

"I'm not afraid of you." Naruto looked at Dion then at Rudi.

Rudi charged forward trying to retrieve his fallen pistol, only for him to collapse to the floor face first. Rudi futility screamed as his skull cracked. He squirmed on the floor like a worm, revealing that his shoelaces were tied.

Naruto had to suppress a laugh as he ducked below Dion's swiping switchblade. The knife whistled and slashed the air, while Dion pressed his attack.

Dion shouldn't be able to move this quickly or fight with even a fraction of this power. He's perfectly matching your prowess!"

Naruto couldn't think or respond to Kurama's comment as he saw the switchblade slash his left hand. He backflipped behind Rudi and kicked him unconscious.

He ran at the giant and grabbed Dion's right arm, which was swinging frantically at him. He bit Dion's right hand, causing the bully to scream and drop his switchblade. Naruto growled as they rolled onto the floor, exchanging punches, kicks, and bloody spit. His face was smacked several times, but Kurama's chakra quickly healed the blows.

Dion heaved and rushed to his fallen Sig P229 pistol on the ground. He grabbed the gun while shoving Naruto back.

"Get off me and die you whisker-marked ARSEWIPE!" Dion roared as Naruto grabbed his bleeding right arm.

"NO! I'm not letting you harm anyone else," Naruto screamed back.

Dion laughed as he shoved Naruto underneath him. "You've been reading too many comic books. You aren't Superman nor Batman! You're an ugly, orphaned bastard, just like me and you forgot this is the real world!"

The gun's barrel swiveled in the air. Naruto struggled to push the barrel away from his face. He tried kicking at Dion but he shoved the barrel up as the trigger was pulled. Another deafening, ringing gunshot burst from the pistol. The bullet went through the corridor walls.

The entire orphanage was alive, and a flurry of footsteps came from the stairwells.

Dion pressed Naruto's hands against the wall above him. No matter how much chakra he put into his body, the bully seemed only to grow stronger. He gulped and his sapphire eyes widened.

Dion pressed the hot black-steel barrel of his gun below Naruto's bloody headband and laughed. "Farewell, Naruto."

When he pulled the trigger, confetti exploded from the barrel of the gun. A giant white flag with the words BANG flapped from his semi-automatic pistol. Dion took his hands off Naruto's body and stared at his pistol in confusion, but before he could react Naruto's Strelitzia transformed from a green bracelet into a grassy viper.

His new pet spat murky yellow goop into Dion's black eyes, causing him to scream hysterically. The Strelitzia then transformed into an emerald bracelet, releasing a content chirp. Naruto took that as cue to crawl on top of Dion's torso. His knuckles collided with Dion's head, making the corridor resonate with the sounds of his punches.

"Scared? Are you fucking scared? Because a twelve year old is kicking your ass!" Naruto roared as he continued his assault. "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!"

Dion's head twisted left and right from each impact, causing the bully to gargle out blood. Naruto growled his face red with anger.

Blood dripped from his knuckles as he continued viciously attacking Dion and giving the bully a much needed beating. His hands were warm, wet, sticky and covered in Dion's blood. Naruto used Demonic Pulse and saw all the power receding from Dion, yet he continued punching Dion.

"I've had it with you bullying us! You won't ever lay a finger on us again!" He threw one last punch from his right hand causing Dion to fall unconscious. "I hope you don't wake up."

"NARUTO!" Alan screamed in horror.

He looked up and saw Alan, Caroline, and twenty orphans behind them trying to squirm for a better look.

Before Naruto knew it, he found himself being pulled away from Dion's bloody body and escorted by Alan. Three kitchen staff members also had hold of him, guiding him down the third floor hallway as he noticed police officers heading up the stairs. Naruto sighed and glanced up at Alan, but instead of being pushed toward the officers, he was half-dragged forward.

"What's going on?" Naruto looked up and saw Alan looking down at him worriedly.

"Naruto, whatever happened back there, I know the police aren't going to understand," Alan said briskly while pulling out a rattling keychain with dozens of keys.

"What do you mean?"

"I like you, and I'm not letting you spend the night in juvie," Alan said, pushing Naruto forward.

He fell to the floor on uneasy feet. Looking up, he saw they were in front of Room 327. Alan's keychain jingled as he searched for the Riddle Room key and opened the door. "NO! PLEASE! NOT THERE!"

"Calm down! You're just going to spend the night until this blows over," Alan said reassuringly.

"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! TAKE ME TO JAIL! PLEASE, NOT THERE!" Naruto begged with tears welling in his eyes.

He saw the shadow of Tom Riddle inside the room in the far corner. Alan and the kitchen orderlies were showing him no mercy.

He tried to claw his way out of the grip of the three kitchen orderlies. He was succeeding, but was thrown into the Riddle Room. The door slammed in front of Naruto's horrified sapphire eyes as he was bathed in eternal darkness.

His nails clawed at the door, and he fell to his knees, hopelessly trying to escape. He banged his fists against it, but the door felt harder than steel. Footsteps echoed behind him, and he crawled backwards, his back against the door.

"Naruto, my dear friend. Welcome to my home!" Tom's scarlet eyes glowed joyfully. "I can't believe you matched Dion's power under my Imperius Curse. Powerful wasn't he? I made sure to charm him up to match your prowess. Yet here you are breathing before me."

Naruto had no time to respond before he started screaming.

XxX Outside Wool's Orphanage XxX

Kingsley Shacklebolt was huffing across the street on top of Duke's Gym. He just finished cleaning up Naruto Uzumaki's mess inside the orphanage. He had to obliviate numerous orphans on the third and fourth floors that observed Naruto's unpredictable magical abilities. Part of him wished he had a front row seat to most of the mayhem and fighting inside Wool's. But he'd be lying if he didn't find the whole situation creepy.

He quickly reported that Naruto was fighting the three Muggle boys and sent it to Rufus for review. Thankfully, Naruto didn't use much magic, and the boy was secure inside the orphanage, facing no repercussion except for timeout. The Muggle headmaster fully cooperated with thinking he was a detective, although today was one of those rare occasions he put an authority charm on himself.

"That Naruto fought three armed Muggles hand to hand, without using much magic," Gawain Robard said under his breath. "Maybe we should move in and take the boy tonight. That would make Cornelius Fudge happy."

Kingsley shook his head. "No. We are here to protect the boy from going to prison or revealing the Wizarding World. If we move in now, we will overwhelm Naruto, and he might take us rescuing him the wrong way. And we'd have to explain why we didn't retrieve him on day one."

"Yes, but don't you feel the darkness in the air. Something horribly foul is going on in that Orphanage. I know you can feel it too," Gawain remarked before shivering.

Kingsley wasn't going to argue with Gawain on that point. He felt his bones chill and gooseprickles burning like needles when he went to smooth everything over with the Muggle police.

"Rufus told me three days ago that a Hogwart's professor is retrieving him tomorrow," Kingsley explained while watching the paramedics haul Dion, Rudi, and Edmund on gurneys into the ambulances. "Those three muggles tried killing our target. We need to be better prepared in the future, because I keep thinking about what would have happened if we didn't intervene."

Yellow-blue police vans screeched and rumbled as they escorted the ambulances away.

Gawain huffed and pulled his hood over his brown hair. "I will follow them and ensure those gangsters' memories were scrubbed."

Kingsley bit his bottom lip and looked at the Orphanage. He heard Gawain apparate, but his eyes didn't leave Wool's.

XxX The Riddle Room XxX

Naruto was feeling Tom worming inside his mind. He screamed and writhed on the floor below Tom's feet, feeling memories from his past coming to the forefront. This happened for half an hour until the police and paramedics left Wool's. Each second under this influence he felt naked, afraid, and completely open.

Memories of him starving in the street came to the forefront. Rain, tears, and his rumbling stomach resurfaced. All the nights he cried himself to sleep hungry, bruised, and battered under the orphanage's care were there for Tom to see. But it got worse as Tom analyzed his time under Team Seven. Tom laughed as he watched him confessing his love for Sakura and all the hard rejections he faced from every girl he was interested in.

Tom's laughter grew louder and more maniacal as Naruto's life story slowly unraveled with each memory. Tom absorbed his fears and dreams, but something dark and pure red engulfed Naruto's mind. The mightiest roar Naruto heard reverberated within him, causing Tom to disrupt his technique and step back.

Kurama's chakra was funneling throughout his body. His fingernails turned into claws and his sapphire eyes turned crimson with black slit pupils. Both red eyed boys stared at each other across the pitch black room. His head was still ringing and throbbing in pain, but even that was starting to subside.

"You keep impressing me, my dear friend," Tom said with a bright smile.

"You aren't my friend!" Naruto growled.

"I'm not?" Tom asked, puzzled.

"You tried tricking me into coming in here this morning. Don't even get me started on what you did to Niko. You sent him to stab me at school today, and you were controlling Dion too. What kind of friend does that? Were you controlling Dion's gang the entire time?" Naruto felt his wounds healing faster, but his anger rose just as fast from Kurama's chakra. "WHY?"

"Oh, that dreadful affair. I'll have you know that I rarely ever controlled those ruthless thugs. They did most everything willingly. Selling drugs, beating the brats, and murdering their rivals were their own doing. Controlling them never crossed my mind… until I discovered you. I needed them these past few days," Tom confessed, causing Naruto's mouth to open in disbelief. "Naruto, did you really think Edon was that important?"

"What are you talking about? You set this up the whole time?" Naruto's questions only made Tom smile wider.

Tom gave him a quick nod. "Edon was never the true target."

Naruto's eyes widened yet again at the revelation. "Me? I was your target!"

"Yes." Tom stopped smiling and crossed his arms. "I've been observing you since you walked into Wool's. I knew you were powerful. The power you give off is more than just magic and chakra. I can taste the darkness inside of you." Tom licked his lips and brushed his black hair to the side. "That being that threw me out must be your demon!"

"What the hell are you?" Naruto asked furiously. "How do you know about that?"

"Few individuals can block my legilimency," Tom answered with a broader smile.

"Legilimency?" Naruto repeated

"I saw the demon trying to destroy my spirit. I appreciate the effort, but the Nine-Tailed Fox can't kill me. For such a big and stupid beast, I love its perseverance!"

"Tom, you are a legitimate asshole! Did you know that?" Naruto smirked while rubbing his bloody headband for comfort. "Don't you dare disrespect my friend! Because once he gets angry there's no holding him back!"

Tom's smile disappeared. His scarlet eyes stopped glowing and he took a few steps back. "Friend?" He pointed at Naruto. "What friends does a demon like you have?"

"A Nine Tailed Motherfucking Fox! So throw me your worst, because I've had it with your games!"

"Damn RIGHT!" Kurama agreed. The demonic fox started growling inside his head. "I have first dibs on tormenting you. If he wants to knock your noggin around, he must get through me first!"

"Thanks Kurama!"

"I'm not abandoning you to this monster. Tom Riddle thinks he's hot shit because he hasn't been spanked."

Naruto laughed at Kurama's joke. Tom turned around and crossed his arms, surprising Naruto.

"That's fine. I'll give you four hours to rest, and then we can begin," Tom assured him. "Don't say you didn't ask for it."

Wow, this chapter was exciting to write. I had planned it from the beginning, and it turned out much better than I thought. If anyone is wondering how Tom made Dion and Niko stronger and faster. He did it by combining the Imperius Curse and several charms to make them match Naruto's strength. There are many downsides to doing this to people, such as their muscles straining and popping, but that was Tom's method.

In the next chapter, I'll delve into Tom Riddle's motivation.

Question from Void Prince: If Dumbledore wanted to improve relations between the Wizarding schools while keeping Naruto, why doesn't he hold a school exchange event between Durmstrang and Ilvermony?

Answer: Dumbledore honestly wouldn't oppose a school exchange program. The books and some Harry Potter video games mention that this does indeed occur, usually for students in higher years. Part of Dumbledore's issue is that Naruto was accepted into Hogwarts through a binding magical contract, similar to the Goblet of Fire, so he has no option but to enroll Naruto in Hogwarts. One thing I wanted to convey with the binding magical contract is Naomi's hope and love for a nephew she never knew. She was dying, and her only wish was for him to become heir to the Uzumaki Estates in Britain and receive a good education. One of the main reasons I'm incorporating Ilvermorny and possibly other wizarding schools is that the Dueling Club in Chamber of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince could have evolved into something bigger and more exciting, similar to the tournament in Goblet of Fire. I don't want this crossover to strictly follow the canon of Harry Potter without anything changing.

This was Chapter 4 and I'm honestly happy with how this turned out. The next few chapters I'll be introducing Naruto/Snape/Daphne Greengrass. Reviews are always appreciated, so don't forget to tell me your thoughts on this chapter! Until next time I hope everyone has a good weekend.