Naruto: Birth of the Ruler of Fire

by CarnageDragon0927

Summary is too long, so it is inside the chapter. Fair warning to all, this is an isekai for Naruto, so If you don't like that genre for Naruto, then don't come in. You have been warned.

2. Chapter 2

Naruto: Birth of the Ruler of Fire.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto series, neither characters nor story line. I also don't own any characters that may have been used or named in other stories, be they anime, manga or novels, that may appear in this story. Everything belongs to the ones who created them. I only own this story that I wrote myself, as well as any original characters that I may or may not have utilised, so there.

Prologue:- Training and Growth.

Author's notes:

Hey guys, CarnageDragon0927 here with a new chapter for NBOTROF. Here is chapter 2 of the story that you have been looking forward to. This is the continuation from the last chapter and still part of the prologue. Naruto will be starting to adjust to his new life in konoha, the hidden leaf village, from here on out. Just how will things play out? Read on to find out.

A few things of note before that though. For those who don't know, I went back to chapter 1 and made some updates. Some typos and grammar errors were fixed and some little titbits were either added in or changed to make the story flow better. Its nothing much, and you won't miss out if you don't read it, so it's up to you to go back and check it out.

Aside from that, there nothing else much to say this time around, so let me just answer some reviewers first and then we can get started with the story, or you can just skip the reviews section if you're not interested, up to you really.

Response to reviews section.

From: Guest – dude you gotta chill. You're asking a lotta spoiler questions with this review of your bro. Relax. All of these questions will be answered eventually, but it still way too early for them to be answered right now. It's much further down the line. If you really wanna know so badly, the PM me so that I can tell you in private, but I won't say anything here and spoil the fun for the others who are willing to wait. I can however, answer the question about Naruto's soul, though I had though I had made it obvious in chapter 1, but apparently not. That was one of the changes I made in it and hopefully, it's more clear now, but Naruto's soul simply died like any other normal person would when a tailed beast gets extracted from them. It's the same like what happened to Kushina. When he died, it was the same result. The only difference it that Naruto's body was then occupied by another soul, sort of like a possession of sorts.

From: Guest (not sure if this is the same person, but the reviews were made at different times in different sections, so I am also putting the responses in different answer sections as well.) -first of all, thank you on telling me about the mistake I made with 'forth' and 'fourth' and bringing my attention to it. I had completely not even noticed that I did that and only realised it after you pointed it out. Embarrassing really. So thanks. As for the second thing, I might have phrased that wrongly and gave the wrong impression about what I meant. I didn't mean to say that civilians had a say in the village, but that their needs weren't ignored and they weren't mistreated simply for being civilians. Everyone was treated equally and given a chance to voice the displeasure and dissatisfaction, if that makes sense. They all have freedom of speech kind of thing. Like that. Sorry for the mix-up.

From: FiRsT-BLD (Guest) - thank you for your review and I'm happy you are enjoying it so far. As for what you said about the lack of a 'system' in this story, to be honest, that didn't even cross my mind. I have no intention of utilising that feature, mostly because it requires the use of too much statistics, and my date needs to be on point. I have enough on my plate as it is, I don't need the extra work of having to record all that info as well, so no, I won't be doing that and have no intention of ever utilising it in future stories.

From: Me-B-Lou-E-G (Guest) – first off, I would like to say thank you for following both of my stories and for you constructive feedback. It helps a lot. Now to answer your review, the soul that was transported into this world is fully aware that he is no longer on earth but in a new world. However, he has no knowledge of Naruto. Whether that is because he has never seen it before while on earth of because his memories if it were erased, I won't say. Just know that he has no knowledge about the Naruto world right now and everything for him in completely new. As for the storyline progression, I will stick to cannon for the most part, with some extras added in or changed to match how new Naruto will be doing things differently from cannon Naruto. Things will stay relatively the same for the most part up until the three year time skip training arc. After that, it goes majorly off course and into completely new territory, as it will be all original from there. That's all I'm going to say on the matter for now. If this peeks your interest and you want to know more and how, then exercise your patience. We will get there eventually, I as plan to finish this story. So just be patient.

That's it for the reviews. And with that, let's get to the chapter. ENJOY!

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"Hello" – normal people talking

'Good morning' – normal people thinking

"Good evening" – normal people whispering

"GOOD NIGHT!" – normal people shouting

"Good day" – tailed beast/summon creature talking

'A pleasant day to you' – tailed beast/ summon creature thinking.

"GO AND DIE!" – tailed beast/summon creature shouting.

*Get lost* - special effects or sounds

""My name is CarnageDragon0927"" – multiple people talking simultaneously.

'Rasengan' – jutsu names

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Chapter 2: Confrontations, and persuading a fox.

Previously on NBOTROF.

Today was the birth of a new Naruto Uzumaki, and the world would soon come to know his name. He would bring forth a raging storm in the Elemental Nations, and he would be at the center of it all. People far and wide would know who he was, and would respect him for a long time to come. He would change the way he used to be before, both he himself in his last life, and the former owner of this body in this life. He did not even care that he could not go back to his old world. He did not live the best life over there, and was determined to use this chance granted to him to change that fact. He would be the best person he could be.

"Look out world, for I am about to bring forth carnage!"

"On a side note, I really hope I did not inherit that verbal tick of his. I need to try not to develop that same habit. I'm not gonna go around constantly repeating the word 'dattebayo' after my sentences. That's gonna be one of the first things I change about myself, along with these clothes eventually. It's got to go." Naruto did not like the idea of constantly repeating that word over and over every time he finished talking. He liked talking normally and would like to keep it that way, thank you very much.

"That being said, I have a lot to learn about this new world I am living in now. Former Naruto did not really know a lot of things since he was never taught and never bothered to take the initiative to learn, plus no one would allow him in the library to even try to learn anyway. Also, since he failed the exam, what am I going to do about becoming a ninja? It was the last chance to try after all. That was why he was so desperate. Hmm." Naruto sat there contemplating what he was going to do and how he would enter the ranks of ninjas from there.

Maybe he could still get promoted some other way? Maybe if he gets stronger and can prove that he had what it takes to be a ninja, they just might make an exception for him. Though, that meant that he would have to learn things on his own, but that did not really change much for him, as he would have to be self thought either way.

'Hmmm. For now, let's put that aside. I will think about this more at a later date and try to come up with something. Let's see what abilities I have and see if I can use this chakra they use in this world. Would have really preferred magic though, but beggars can't be choosers." he then closed his eyes and tried to remember any jutsu that Naruto might have known, as well as try to recall the feeling of him using them and the flow of chakra through his body.

He then opened his eyes and brought his hands up into a familiar yet at the same time foreign hand sign and called out, "Transform!" In a puff of smoke, Naruto disappeared, only to then be revealed that he had transformed into an older, bustier, female version of himself. He at least had the decency to make sure that he was wearing clothes however, unlike former Naruto who either made her wear a swimsuit, or was completely naked.

Naruto then felt around his body, checking to see if his transformation was solid or just an illusion, a trick of the eyes. He felt proper skin, flesh, and cloth wherever he touched, showing that it was indeed a complete transformation and not just a simple illusion.

"Isn't this ability really useful though? If I can transform into anything I can think of as long as I have a clear vision of what I want to transform into, then this can be used in all kinds of ways. Used to infiltrate places, trick others, mimic another person as long as I know enough about them, it can even be used in battle if I transform into different monsters to fight. Why is this jutsu classified as such a low class jutsu when it's so practical? I seriously have a hard time understanding the people of this world and their ways of thinking." Naruto said to himself.

What he didn't know, was that he was actually being unfair in his lack of proper understanding of things. The former Naruto had created this jutsu by looking at others practising it, and he had simply thought that they were actually transforming into he things themselves, so that was what he trained himself to do. He, and by extension, the current Naruto, had no idea that the real transformation jutsu was simply an illusion that was placed over the body and could be disrupted by a simple touch or pulse of chakra. That was why it was ranked so low, as it was not very practical. It was not an actual, physical transformation. He was using something very different from what others used.

Naruto had created his own version of the jutsu that was a superior version of it because he had learned it himself and was not taught the proper methods. It could be said that it was a blessing amongst disaster for him, and current Naruto was able to benefit from his fortune, as he had many ways to utilise this jutsu more practically.

Naruto then closed his eyes and focused his mind. He pictured an image in his head and made it as clear as he could, before bringing his hands up into that same hand sign again and calling out, "Transform!" he once again disappeared into a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, what stood there was no longer a teenage girl, or even a person, but instead, a huge ape that stood over three meters tall with bulking muscles and possessing and aura or pure power.

This was a creature from a novel he had read before in his past life called a Titan Great Ape, though naturally, his version was much smaller compared to the actual size of the beast in the original story, as he did not want to shock everyone with the sudden appearance of a massive ape monster in the village. It also did not posses the actual abilities of the beast, as he had just transformed himself into its appearance.

He knew instantly that he would not be able to replicate the actual abilities of the creature from the original even if he could take on its appearance, but it was not completely useless. At the very least, he did gain a sizeable amount of physical strength to match his new appearance. It seems like while he was not able to gain their true abilities, he was at least able to get some of the physical strength aspect that they possessed, though it depended on the extent of his transformation abilities.

He had simply tried as an experiment to see if he could change into it. He was a bit disappointed that he could not use the beast's actual abilities, but that did not matter. As he had taken the form of it, he had at least gained the beast's physical abilities, which were far greater than a normal human's. This would be a very effective thing to use in battle, as apes were very combat capable.

With a thought and another puff of smoke, Naruto had returned to his normal human form. He looked at his hands and had to smile a bit at what he had just found out. Seems things were not going to be so bad after all. He just had to research a bit. He wanted to learn as much as he could about chakra and other things so that he would be prepared when the time came. He also wanted to try and get stronger faster, as the teams selections would be in a week from now, and he really wanted to get placed on a team and become a genin. It would make things a lot easier for him.

He then closed his eyes again and searched through his memories some more for any other jutsu that former Naruto might have learned. The kid was seriously lacking in the knowledge department, something that he would have to try his best to change and make up for. He did find something that seemed worthwhile however. It was called the 'Shadow Clone jutsu', and when he read through the notes for it that was in the scroll that Naruto had learned the jutsu from, he had to pause at that for a bit.

"Hold on. This jutsu allows the user to make a solid clone of themselves that is able to do everything that the original can do? It seems that they can fight and even use jutsu as well. They are beings made from chakra and can thinking and act on their own without needing to be directly controlled by the original, but they are well aware that they are just clones that can be dispelled with just one hit. They think and act just like the original, and most importantly of all, everything they learn is transferred back to the original when they are dispelled? Isn't this a hell of a useful jutsu?

No wonder it was sealed into that forbidden scroll. I can see so many uses for this thing, even outside of battle. For one, I can easily outnumber my opponents and use them to engage my enemy while I observe them from a safe distance and watch how they fight. I can send them into dangerous places to gather information. Even if they get caught and killed, it would not matter. But the most important thing of all, is that I can use them to help learn a lot of different things much faster.

They can help me get a lot of information about many things at a much greater pace. And if I have them train in certain things for me, when they dispel, all the memories of learning them would instantly come back to me as well. Isn't this jutsu like the perfect shortcut for getting stronger? It might not work on helping to increase my physical abilities, but that doesn't matter. While the clones are learning other things, I can take time to raised my physical strength. They can even practise fighting skills for me. Just the memory of those movements is more than enough for me to learn them myself. Muscle memory is a thing after all.

This is neat. I am so going to be abusing this jutsu of mine from here on out. Plus, I have a great advantage of having lots of chakra at my disposal, something Naruto had apparently always have. Might be because I have a superpowered fox in my gut providing more for me to use or something. Also, I need to take the time to talk to that guy as well. I have some things to discuss with him, or it or whatever."

Naruto then raised his hands and placed them into a new hand sign. 'This is so annoying. This hand sign thing is going to get real old real fast. I wonder if I can somehow manage to learn to cast jutsu without the need for them? Might have to improve my control more though. That might just be a problem, as Naruto has always had difficulty with his control. Though come to think out it, isn't that just because he has too much chakra to control and no idea how to even go about learning to control it? That might have been the problem really, as no one ever taught him anything, so he had no idea of what to do to improve. I wonder if I can get my hands on some chakra control methods? Might get some in the library if I am lucky. But I am not allowed in there. They would just kick me out,' Naruto thought to himself, then smirked devilishly at that. He already had the perfect method of bypassing that problem.

He brought up his hands into the same hand sign from before, before he created some clones around him. He had only wanted to create ten clones, but he ended up creating over fifteen of them. He winced at that. He would really need to get his chakra under control and make it do what he wanted it to do. Having bad control of his power was a major detriment for himself and a sure-sign factor for any terrible fighter. He had to change that soon.

The clones all looked over to him, and already knowing what he wanted, they then raised their own hands up into another hand sign, before they all transformed into a different person. They all had different forms. Some had become older, some had become younger. Some had even become female instead, but they each had a different appearance. He had many references for appearances he could use from his old world. They all then headed off to the library to learn as much as they could. Naruto would learn all about this world; geography, history, culture, and all other things, not just about fighting, in order to better improve his survival chances and better himself.

His clones would naturally also take some time to learn all about chakra as they could. Theories, uses, origin, control methods, if they have any elemental attributes, and whatever more they could get their hands on. He especially hoped that he could get some elemental uses out of it, as he had many ways of fighting through the elements that he would love to try out.

He then sat back down and closed his eyes in the cross-legged position again, as he began to mediate. He focused on sensing his surroundings, trying to improve his perception skills. That was an absolute must to have for any fighter, and the better their perception skills were, the better the chances of them coming out of a fight in one piece. He knew that he would not get very far today in this, as it was his firs time mediating, both for him and for his former self, but he had to start somewhere, so he figured he would start here and now. He wanted to get used to this already and set the ground work for his future improvement.

He simply focused on clearing his mind of all thoughts and trying to listen and sense his surroundings. He was not able to do very much or get very far, but he at least was able to clear his mind of all thoughts and focus himself. He considered that a good start. He stayed like that throughout the rest of the day, until the sun had started to set. Then he suddenly opened his eyes and said, "Whoever you are, you might as well show yourself. I know you're there," as he looked to a spot behind him. He had just barely picked up on a presence there and knew that it meant someone was there.

"Very impressive Naruto-kun. You were able to sense me. However, you're a bit late on the uptake, as I have been here for quite a while now. Seems like you still have some room to grow. But still, very good nonetheless," said an old, wise-sounding voice, as an old man walked out into view. Naruto knew exactly who this person was, and his atmosphere changed completely upon seeing him.

His face instantly took on an indifferent look, his eyes falling to be half closed and his countenance becoming that of someone who was facing someone they did not trust or like very much. He looked over to the man who was the so called 'grandfather figure' of the former Naruto, and really, he was not impressed. This guy had a lot to answer for, and he would be sure to get his answers.

The third saw the instant change in Naruto and instantly got worried himself. He had never seen Naruto like this before, so cold and detached. He had even more so never seen Naruto direct such a look at anyone, let alone him. He realised that things were not going to be as simple as he would have liked.

"Hello, lord hokage. How may I help you?" Naruto asked in a plain, 'dead' voice. There was no emotion in his words whatsoever. Hiruzen was unnerved by this. Naruto had never called him so formerly before, it had only ever been 'old man' or 'gramps' or something else along those lines.

He had faced such people before, but for such a thing to be coming at him from the person he considered his own grandson truly hurt him. But he supposed that he had it coming for everything he had done to the boy, or rather, had failed to do for him.

He gave an inward sign, before resigning himself to his fate and saying, "Naruto-kun, I need to talk to you for a bit about some important things. Might you come with me for a bit to a more private setting?" he asked. Naruto simply nodded his head before standing up and following the hokage.

They went all the way over to a private place. This was the personal training field for the hokage, a very private place for the kage to train themselves and practise their abilities. Hiruzen figured that it was better to talk here where there was no chance of anyone hearing their conversation. He also activated the seals surrounding the place for extra security.

Naruto took it all in with stride, never bothering to look at anything and was clearly not impressed with what he was seeing, despite seeing it for the first time. This behaviour just unnerved Hiruzen even more. Naruto seemed like an unmoving, unfeeling statue, and it gave him a very bad feeling about what was to come.

"Well then Naruto-kun, how are you feeling? Any problems at all from what happened last night?"

"No. I'm fine."

"..."

"..."

"Is that it?"

"That was what you asked of me, I simply answered."

Hiruzen frowned at that response. Naruto was being rather rude at the moment, but he did not pursue the matter. He simply said, "Well that's good, I guess. I wanted to talk to you about some of the things that had happened last night, and tell you some truths."

"Oh? You mean tell me about the fox? Isn't it a bit late for that now? I already know about it. You want to tell me about that, after I have already found out about it, when I have asked you several times in the past and you have never bothered to tell me the truth? Why should I believe anything you have to say to me now when you have always been lying to me?" asked Naruto, his face and voice still lacking any emotion.

Hiruzen flinched, but nevertheless, he responded. "Naruto-kun, know that it was never my intention to hurt or lie to you. I just wanted you to live a normal, happy life like a regular boy first before burdening you with these problems. You-"

"You wanted me to live a normal, regular life like a regular boy? And how exactly has that been playing out so far? I have no friends, no family, no one to care about me. The teachers in the academy have done everything they could to sabotage my learning. What part of how I have lived my life is that of a normal, regular boy? Because I certainly don't see it anywhere." Naruto directly interrupted Hiruzen's words to say. He found it ludicrous that this guy was saying this crap to him. A regular life like a regular boy? Him? In what world was something like that possible for him to live?

Once again, Hiruzen flinched at that. It was the truth. Naruto had lived anything but a normal life despite his wishes. He had every right to be angry right now. Hiruzen wanted to try and calm things down before they got out of hand, but Naruto did not give him the chance to speak.

"Listen, lord hokage. After what happened last night, I realised a lot of things. I realised that I have always truly been alone in this village. I realised that the people in this village are just a bunch of fools who are either unable or unwilling to see the truth for what it is. I realised that I can't depend on anyone anymore. And most importantly of all, I realised that I can't trust you anymore." he was very direct and frank with how he felt about all of this. While these things did not actually happen to him personally, he now carried the identity of the one who did.

Plus, even if it was something he had decided for himself and it was not – nor could it be – made official, he had still decided to take on Naruto as his younger brother now because of the circumstances he found himself in. Since he was now in Naruto's body and was using his identity, he found it only fitting that he make things right for what had happened to his little bro in the past, so he was not going to let this old man off easily. He would answer for what he had done.

Hiruzen was shocked by this. Naruto couldn't trust him anymore? But why? He had done everything he could to make sure that Naruto always thought of him in a good way, and that he would love the village. What had happened? Why had he now changed?

Naruto looked over at the hokage and was disgusted by the confusion he saw on the man's face. It was clear he either really had no idea why this was happening or was still trying to pretend that he didn't. He would really be disappointed if it was the second option, so he decided to test the old and enlighten him a little.

"Let me ask you this, lord hokage. Who. Are. My. Parents?" Naruto asked him, emphasising every word slowly to make his point. He looked the hokage dead in the eyes as he asked this question, an extremely serious expression on his face that gave no room for jokes. He was telling him that he was completely serious in this matter.

Looking at the look on Naruto's face, and seeing the expression in his eyes, Hiruzen finally understood. He knew what was happening right now. Naruto knew. He had somehow found out about his family, the truth of his birth. It was all over. The boy had managed to figure things out himself. This meant that he could no longer hide things from him and play them off any longer.

He wilted as he answered, "Seems you have figured it out yourself, Naruto-kun. Yes, you are right. Your parents are indeed the fourth hokage and his wife, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. But please tell me, Naruto-kun, how exactly did you figure it out? At least tell me that much." he asked.

"Simple, it was the fox who told me." Naruto answered simply. Hiruzen was shocked by this, and opened his eyes wide. "Didn't expect that, did you? Of course you didn't. You probably had no idea that the fox would use it as chance to try and get free. After being told the truth about my burden last night, the fox took advantage of my weakened mental state to try and break free. He told me everything, about how my mother was his former jinchuriki, how he had managed to get free on the day I was born, how my father was forced to seal him into me to save the village, everything. He even mentioned something about me supposedly being from a clan of some sort? But I won't get into that now, we can pick up that talk at a later date.

And yes, I believe him. While the fox was trying to rile me up to get free, there was no need for him to try and lie to me. Everything was true to some extent, though I will admit that not all of it might have been the full truth. He might have mixed in some lies here and there or left out some important truths to make his story suit him better. I'm well aware of the possibility of that, but for the most part, I'm sure it was true. Plus, remove these whisker marks on my face and I am practically the spitting image of the guy anyway, so it's kinda obvious. Can't believe I never figured it out before. So yes, I believe what he said," Naruto explained.

Hiruzen remained silent at that. What could he say exactly? He had not taken into account that the fox would be the one to tell Naruto the truth about his parentage, but it made sense in a way. The fox was obviously not happy with being sealed away and of course would be looking for a chance to escape. If it could do that by telling Naruto the truth about himself, then why wouldn't it? It only made sense that it would. It did not care about any of them or any of their problems, it just wanted to be free, and would naturally do anything to achieve that. He should have thought of that before.

But then, something didn't quite add up. If the fox had really make use of his weakened mental state to try and break free, that would explain how it almost got free last night and the events that followed afterwards when he and the ANBU had arrived. However, what exactly had happened after that? How did the fox fail to be released? Or did it actually get free and simply left them be, choosing to escape somewhere else? But if it had escaped, then how was Naruto alive right now? Shouldn't the host die after the beast was released from their body? He was still confused by that.

That was why he asked, "So then, what happened to the fox and the seal? Did it manage to escape? But if it did, then how are you still alive? It suddenly disappeared last night right as it was on the verge of being set free, and no one knows what or how it happened. I checked the seal before and everything seemed to still be working as it should, but I couldn't tell if the fox was still in you. Can you at least tell me what happened?" Hiruzen asked. He didn't want to make it look like he only cared about the fox and the seal and not the boy himself, but he also needed to know about this.

"... even now, you're actually more worried about the fox than what happened with me aren't you? Should have exp-"

"NO! THAT IS NOT IT! Of course I care about what happened to you Naruto. I'm just worried because I don't know what happened last night. Too many things happened at once and there is no way to connect them together. I'm worried for your safety above all else, as I don't know what happened to the seal or what the fox did, and I can't say for sure if it would be of some form of harm to you.

That is why I'm asking this now. Please trust and believe that I only want to know that you won't be hurt because of what happened in any way. Nothing else." Hiruzen desperately tried to stop any more misunderstanding from coming up. Things were already bad enough as they were, he could do with them not getting any worse.

"... fine. I guess I could understand that much at least. But if you want to know more about what happened, then you're asking the wrong person. You should look for someone who understands more about seals and fuinjutsu, and I don't know a thing about them, so I can't say. All I know is that at that moment, in my rage, I had let go completely and allowed the fox to take over and do whatever, not caring about anything else. Then I lost consciousness, thinking that I would die and it would be the end for me. Then I suddenly came to in the hospital earlier today. I was just as shocked and confused as you are.

My guess is that dad probably did something or let behind some kind of protective measure of some sort as a just-in-case safety precaution, for if and when the situation called for it. He was a master in the art of sealing right? It's not impossible for him in that case, though I wouldn't know anything about that." Naruto was lying out of his teeth and shooting from the hip, but he had no other choice. He was not going to tell this old man that the original Naruto was now dead and that the soul now possessing this body was a completely different one from a different world entirely. That would cause of whole new slew of headaches he did not need or want.

Hiruzen went silent at that. It seemed like he still would not be able to get any answers about what had occurred. Thinking about it now, it made sense that Naruto would not know about what had happened. After experiencing all of that, it would not be surprising if he even had a case of amnesia or something, much less knowing about how the fox had failed in it's attempt at freeing itself.

He did not know what could have happened. Maybe the fox had failed at the last step somehow? Or maybe Naruto was right, and Minato had left behind some kind of fail-safe to protect his son? He would not put it against the guy to do just that, as if he knew the man, then he knew that he would want to ensure his own son's safety. He was very caring like that. Even if he was forced to place an immeasurable burden on his son's shoulders, he would still try to help him out any way he could, so he could not deny the possibility of him doing just that.

Or maybe it was something else entirely? Whatever is was, he was happy for it, as at least it meant that Naruto was still alive and the village was safe.

He should have known that the fox would do whatever it could to free itself, and should have taken proper measures to avoid that possibility by informing the boy of the possible dangers he could face from it trying to mess with his mind. He should have never hidden the truth from Naruto, but it was far too late now for regrets. Things had already played out as they had. He had to try and make sure that Naruto did not come to hate the village and decide to leave. He did not want to lose him. Despite everything that had happened and his own failures toward the boy, he really did think of him as his own grandson, and did not want to see him leave.

"Naruto-kun, please. I admit that I made some mistakes and failed you, but please understand that everything I did, I did for your sake. My hands were tied in a lot of things that I could not control. I am not the same man that I used to be. I admit, I have become weak. I failed, that much is certain, but I tried hard for your sake. Please understand that much." (Hiruzen)

"My sake? You sure have a way of showing your love for your so called 'grandson', lord hokage. Is this also how you treat your actual family? Because I don't see from any of your actions how any of this could have possibly been for my sake. Let's start from the top shall we?

First of all, let me ask you this. You're the leader of this village, are you not?" (Naruto)

"Um, well, yes? I am, but-" (Hiruzen)

"Good, so you are the head of this village. The one at the top. The one who decides all the rules and laws and whatnot. Right? The one who makes all the important decisions and everything, correct?" (Naruto)

"Yes but Naruto, you have to understand that even I can't-" (Hiruzen)

"I know about that. There are naturally times when even a leader has to listen to his subordinates' requests and other things like that. Every leader has their times like that. However, it does not change the fact that they are the leader and the one in charge, not the other person. Any leader who can't control their own subordinates is not a good one at all, and should give up their post to someone more capable. If there is no one capable, then you can simply train up someone to be capable enough for the position. It's that simple. So I don't want to hear any excuses, because they are just that, excuses.

Secondly, even if things were out of your hands and you couldn't do anything about the situation with the villagers, what about me myself? You always said that you believed in me and that you knew that I could accomplish my goals, but what did you do to actually help out in that regard? You just gave me some empty words, but never actually did anything substantial to help out. I'm sure you're well aware of my problems, but you have never once told me how to deal with them. Don't bother telling me anything about you being the hokage and not being able to show any favouritism to any one student because of your position. That is just a load of bullshit and you know it.

It's not like I have parents to help train and teach me. I was even kicked out of the orphanage for crying out loud. There was no one who was going to actually teach me anything, so it should have been fine for you to help me if you really cared about me, even if it was just giving little bits of advice. I'm not saying you had to go out of your way to train me daily, just telling me about certain things that I needed to know about would have been enough and made a very big difference.

I already have a lot of chakra, my problem is learning to control it. Things would have been very different for me had I known that fact and how to go about learning how to do just that. What is so hard in just informing me about some simple chakra control exercises? I'm sure it's not a crime to do just that much, and that alone would have been a huge help, don't you think?" Naruto asked.

After hearing Naruto's words, Hiruzen was once again quiet. He had to agree that just doing that much would not have been a problem. He had hoped that the teachers would have been willing to teach Naruto these things themselves, or that Naruto would somehow pick up on this himself, but looking back, maybe it would have been better if he had simply explained these minor things to the boy himself when he had the chance.

He had to admit that it would have made a world of difference if Naruto could actually control his huge reserves of chakra from a young age. Unlike other children who had to train hard to build up their reserves, he, who already had large reserves and simply needed to better control it, would have been far ahead of the rest and maybe at the top of his class, at least in the practical part of the academy curriculum at the very least. Things might have then played out very differently for him in that case. He couldn't help but he ashamed of himself at that thought.

Naruto grew even more disgusted when he saw the expression on the hokage's face, knowing that he was right in his assumptions. He did not let it show on his face however. Throughout the entire time he was talking, his facial expression had not changed at all. It had remained blank, indifferent to everything around him, completely expressionless. This made it hard for Hiruzen to know what he was thinking, but from everything that had been said, it was clear that Naruto was not happy.

And why should he be? He had been going through all of these things that could have been easily avoided if he had just been a bit more proactive in taking care of the boy and being there for him more, but instead, he had done nothing but give a bunch of empty words. At the time, he figured that it was enough, but he failed to realise that Naruto was a human being too, and one day, he, like anyone else, would eventually reach his limit of what he could take.

He supposed that said limit had been reached, and this Naruto in front of him was the result. The boy had changed. He was like a completely different person, and Hiruzen could barely recognise him at all. He was very different from the happy, loud, carefree, knuckleheaded ninja who loved pranking others and always smiling that he used to know. What had happened last night had completely changed Naruto, and he could only hope that the change was not so drastic that he would end up betraying the village and turning against them for what had happened. He would never be forgiven by Kushina and Minato if that ever came to pass.

"I... I'm sorry Naruto. Truly. I have nothing else to say. I have completely failed you and your parents in every way. I know that I can never ask for your forgiveness, just know that I truly do care about you. I only ever wanted what was best for you, though it seems like I went about it in the wrong way." (Hiruzen)

"You cared about me? Ha. You sure have a way of showing it. I will admit that you are indeed a great hokage. You care very much for this village and its people and take measures to avoid its destruction. In that regard, you pass completely. But in regards to me? Well, it's pretty obvious you fail completely. I am going to have to ask that you stop calling me your grandson if this is the kind of treatment I will be getting from you. It's better to just be another ninja under your command, because I can only say that you only see me as nothing more than a weapon for the village to use to safeguard its people. That's the impression I get anyway." (Naruto)

"NO! THAT'S ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE NARUTO! I WOULD NEVER THINK OF YOU AS SUCH, AND I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT YOUR PARENTS WOULD NEVER THINK OF YOU AS SUCH AS WELL. SO DON'T EVER GET THAT THOUGHT IN YOUR HEAD!" Hiruzen shouted, completely panicked. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to think that he was seen as nothing more than a simple weapon by them. It was far too much for him to even think about.

"Oh? You don't think of me as a weapon for the village, don't you? Your actions don't exactly provide evidence to prove that thought though. I can believe that my father did not think of me that way, as I don't really know the man and know how he thinks. Anything could have been going through his head, but as I have no way of knowing what he was thinking at the time, it is for me to decide whether he had my best interests in mind or not. Since he was my father, I am naturally biased to him and want to believe in him until proven otherwise.

You on the other hand, have had many times to prove yourself, but you have never actually done anything to prove that I really mean as much to you as you say I do. You have always just stood on the side and watched as everything played out, so how exactly am I supposed to think otherwise when the proof is right there? What else am I supposed to think other than you only see me as a weapon? I think it's the most logical conclusion to come to.

Don't worry though. It's not like I'm mad or anything. Everything has already passed and we can't change the past. If you really think of me as a grandson, then you can still prove it. Just know that it won't be so easy as it was before. I am not that same naive fool that I was. My eyes have finally been opened. Don't think that I will forgive you so easily. I'm not the same person I used to be.

I will stay in this village and still do what I had wanted to do from the start. I will still aim to become the strongest I can become, but I know now that for me to become hokage, I first need to be recognised by the villagers, not the other way around. I can't become hokage to gain their acceptance, it is because they accept me why I will become hokage. So my new goal is to achieve just that. Get stronger and prove that I am someone they can trust and depend on in times of need.

This is exactly what I am talking about. Something as simple as this, simply correcting my way of thinking, is something you could have easily done, but you did not even do that much. As someone very experienced in the ways of the world, you could not have possibly not known the truth about that. Yet you never even tried to correct my way of thinking. How exactly am I supposed to think anything other than that you only saw me as a weapon? Be real." (Naruto)

After saying his piece, Naruto turned around and began to walk off, showing that he clearly was not interested in continuing this conversation any further. He needed to take care of a lot of things now, and he had very little time to do so. He did not have time to stand here arguing with an old man about pointless things.

But then, as he was about to leave the training field, he suddenly stopped. Without turning around, he said, "Come to think of it, what exactly were you planning to do now? I failed the exam after all. But isn't like a major disgrace and a complete joke for the jinchuriki of the village to be anything but a ninja? The village needs the beast's power to be utilised for the good of its people in times of danger after all. It would be impossible for me to be anything but a ninja considering all of that, so there's no way in hell you would actually let me fail and fall through for real right?

Or am I wrong about that? Were you actually going to let me be something else besides a ninja if I truly wanted to be one? Now that I think back on it, my whole obsession with being a ninja and wanting to become hokage came from you. You were the one who introduced me to all of this and planted the idea in my head. I was the one who was enraptured with your story about being hokage, but you were the one who told me about it in the first place. I guess I really never had a choice from the start huh?

There was no way in hell you or anyone else among the higher ups in the village were ever going to let me be anything but a ninja despite everything that had occurred. If other villages were to find out that the jinchuriki of this village had instead become a restaurant store owner and serving customers food daily instead of training to become stronger and learning to utilise the beast's power, you would really become the laughing stock of the century. You would instantly lose all face among the villages, right?" Naruto said mockingly to Hiruzen, laughing at himself wryly all the while.

He realised he was a fool for even thinking that he needed to try and find a way to join the ninja ranks. It was obvious that Hiruzen would find some ridiculous meaning or excuse to promote him and allow him to become a genin and get his own team. It just could not happen any other way. The village needed him to be strong for their sake, and the only way to achieve that was for him to train hard as a ninja. There was simply no other option for him.

Hiruzen did not bother answering him. He simply looked down in shame. He knew deep down that it was true. While he would love nothing more than for Naruto to pursue his own dreams, the village needed him to become a strong protector for them. They needed him to become powerful and learn to control the fox's power for their own safety.

However, it was also true that Naruto needed to learn to control the beast's power for his own safety as well. If he could not control it and the power went amok, he would be in just as much danger as those around him. That was his process of thinking. He was doing it for Naruto's sake. But he figured that nothing he said at that moment would be believed. After all, if it was just that, then he could have easily told Naruto the truth about his burden and have him learn to start controlling the beast's power from an early age. That was also an option, now that he thought about it.

They could have trained him up from young to be able to better handle the fox's power, and he would have already been an insane powerhouse. He had just been stubborn in wanting Naruto to live a normal life before he had to be thrown into the world of ninjas. But he should have realised, that Naruto was destined for this life from the day he was born. He was a kage's son. That alone meant that he would definitely have a part to play in ninja world.

Not to mention everything else. Being the jinchuriki of the nine-tails, being what was possibly the last remaining member of the Uzumaki clan, one of the greatest clans to have ever existed in the entire Elemental Nations. All of these reasons made sure that Naruto was bound to have a part to play in the world of ninjas. He could not be anything else even if he wanted to. Hiruzen should have realised this sooner, and should have come to terms with it sooner. He should have helped to speed things up and better prepare Naruto for what was to come instead of trying to delay things and being indecisive.

Now, this whole mess had been created because of his actions. He had really messed up. It was too late now. What had been done could not be taken back. His actions, or rather, his lack of action, had led to this point, and he had to accept that he had failed completely when it came to Naruto. All he could do now was try his best to make up for it and make sure that things did not get any worse than they already have.

"Yes, you are right Naruto-kun. I was still going to find a way to let you pass and become a ninja anyway, since I knew it was what you wanted more than anything. I would have found something, anything to let you pass." (Hiruzen)

"Let me guess, I made it pretty easy for you, didn't I? After the events of last night, you had a few new options you could chose from. Me managing to learn a jutsu from the forbidden scroll without any help from anyone. Or me helping, even if indirectly, to stop a traitor from escaping from the village with the same said scroll. Or maybe even using both reasons together. Either one of those would probably be enough for you to allow me to become a ninja, right?" Naruto asked mockingly, though his back was still facing Hiruzen and his face was still blank as before.

Hiruzen simply lowered his head even more and did not answer. Naruto had hit the nail on the head. That was exactly what he was planning to do after he had dropped off Naruto at the hospital last night. He had already made up his mind to do just that.

Naruto did not turn around to look at Hiruzen to see his expression. His silence was answer enough to know that he had been right. He simply shook his head and continued walking, leaving the area of the training field. Not once throughout this whole talk did he get angry or blow up at the hokage. He showed his respect by simply talking calmly. His words might have been harsh, but that was to be expected. He had remained calm and emotionless the entire time they were talking, never letting anything about how he was feeling show on his face.

But then, the memories hit him like a flash flood. Certain memories of what had happened last night with former Naruto. More specifically, what he felt in that moment. The moment he realised the truth. The moment his world came crumbling down. The emotions that had bubbled forth within him. The anger. The hatred. The fear. The sense of betrayal. The loneliness. The resentment. It all came forth in that moment, flooding through him and fully reminding him of what former Naruto had been forced to experience his whole life, and just how terribly in pain he was when it had happened.

He found himself overwhelmed by the intense feelings of raw emotion he felt in that moment, and he himself almost let out a roar of anger. But he managed to control himself. It was just barely, but he was able to retain his senses. Instead, he turned back to the hokage once more. There was now a fierce glint in his eyes, and a flash of anger finally passed through them as he said, "This village and its people have failed me countless times already in the past, and if it was not for the fact that I want to believe in the characters of my parents and want to be biased in favour about their reasons for putting me in this situation, then things would have really turned out bad for all of you.

As it stands though, I will keep doing things like before. I will remain in this village and remain loyal to it, but know this. I won't be the same as before. I will not be the same person I used to be. I will not just tolerate things happening to me and just let them slide like I used to before. Certain actions I can easily let slide, but if they overdo things, then I will retaliate this time, and it will not be pretty. I have always been alone, and I will continue to do things alone, but from now on, I do things my way. No one is going to dictate how I do my own thing from now on," and with that, he turned and walked away, no longer looking back.

He continued walking and left the training area, returning to his old home, a very run down apartment. He frowned at the sight of the place and all of the graffiti on it, but he did not bother with it. He knew already that former Naruto had chosen not to remove them, and used them as motivation to get stronger and gain the villagers' approval. When that happened, he would watch as they themselves shamefully removed those things while apologising to him for their misconduct.

It was a bit childish on his part, but he would not change it. While he would not get the same level of pleasure from it that former Naruto would, he would still not deny them their punishment for what they had done to him in the past and make them fully go through with it. But he would not bother with their deeds. This was all pointless to him and he did not care about the actions of naive and incompetent fools. He would do things for himself and better himself. He would rise above others and become stronger than everyone else.

He went in to his new home and decided that the place needed a little cleaning up. He did whatever he could to make the place more liveable, and made a mental note to learn some construction skills in order to be able to improve his home for the better and make it more luxurious. It would do for now though to simply clean the place up.

Once that was done, he took and bath. He knew that he only had cold water to work with, but that was not a problem for him. He was long since used to it, both his former self, and from living in his former life. There were many times when he had to take a cold bath due to circumstances.

While that was happening, his clones that he had sent out had finally returned. They had gone to get him some groceries with some of the little money he had remaining, and had made a simple dinner for him to eat. He took care of all of that once he was done. He then looked over to his clothing that could be called the very definition of a lighthouse at midnight. He really needed to get that changed and figured that it would be the first thing he does tomorrow morning.

He then instructed his clones to dispel themselves one by one as he sat cross-legged and got ready to sort out the memories that he would receive. The first clone dispelled, and his mind was flooded with information. While he had been expecting it, the feeling was still a very uncomfortable one. However, he endured it and carefully went through all of the memories. When that was over, he did the same thing with the next, gradually going through the memories of one clone at a time.

He learned many things from this experience, but one thing stood out to him. He had realised this before and had his suspicions about it, but now he had confirmed it. His memory was far better than it was before. He could easily remember things much more clearly than he could before now. It was also much easier to register new information. He wondered why that was the case.

'Could it be that Naruto had always had a very good memory, but never had the chance to put it to good use? Or is it some other thing? Maybe it has something to do with me being transferred to another world? I can't really see how that would help with this though. Well whatever, it is a boon for me, so I might as well not look a gift horse in the mouth.' Naruto thought to himself.

He carefully went over the new things he had learned. The geography of the new world he now lived in; he new the positionings of all of the major countries and some of the minor ones now. He would have to take time to learn the rest. This was from a map that one of the clones had found and studied.

He also new a bit more about the political situation of the villages. Every major, or certain villages of great influence, had a 'Kage', though not all of them were called the 'Hokage'. They were different depending on their respective villages. For example, the kage of the sand village was called the 'Kazekage", while the one for the cloud village was the 'Raikage'. Mist village was 'Mizukage' and stone village was the 'Tsuchikage'.

Ninja ranks also differed depending on the ninja and their strength. Beginner level ninja were called 'genin', mid level ninja were 'chunin', and advanced ninja were 'jonin'. There was apparently also something along the lines of a black ops group of ninja for each village. The ones in the leaf village were called ANBU. They served directly under the kage.

He learned a lot of other things from various topics as well, and he made sure to pay attention to them all in great detail. However, the thing he paid most attention to was the topic of chakra. He learned a few chakra theories and things like chakra affinities and chakra control methods and whatnot. He was especially taken by the idea of chakra affinities, as he was more than willing to try elemental manipulation. This was apparently the element that the ninja had the greatest affinity for, and he was looking forward to seeing which element was his.

He could do a lot with each of the five main elements that he had read about; Fire, wind, water, lightning, and earth. They were all strong and had their strengths and weaknesses. No matter which element was his affinity, he would be able to become very strong with it. Well, that was if he could use it the way that he would like to be able to. Otherwise, he would have to find a workaround. He was already not looking forward to using these so called hand signs and hoped that he could find a way around them.

'Hopefully, by improving my control to a level high enough, I would be able to disregard that whole thing completely, or at least mostly,' he thought.

It was dark out already, but still very early in the night. As he was very excited to find out already, he decided to create another clone to go to a shop and find some of this chakra paper he had read about that could help one find out about their elemental affinity. He created a clone – or rather, he tried to, but instead created four which he had to wince at once again. He thought he was definitely going to be drilling chakra control exercises after this, while dispelling three of the clones – to go do just that, and waited in anticipation for the results to come back.

The clone had no idea of where to go to get the paper, but as it was transformed to look like someone else, it had no problem finding out the answer simply by asking around. It led him to a shop where he was able to properly buy the paper. The clone then went out of the store and behind an alley, before pouring chakra into the paper. It was burnt up completely, turning into ashes that drifted in the wind. It then dispelled itself, sending the memories back to the original.

"Hmm. So fire, huh? Sweet. I can do a lot more with fire than I can with water, wind, or earth. Too bad it's not lightning though, as it's my favourite element of them all, and I can do even more with that too. But I guess fire will suffice. I can still do plenty with it.

Hmm. It seems like I am actually not limited to just learning one element though. I can actually learn more, or even learn them all if I wanted to, it would just take more effort to learn and greater chakra to use. However, that is not a problem for me. I can use clones to learn them all at once and reduce the time needed greatly, plus, I already have a huge chakra pool which is only going to be getting larger the more I train, so that really isn't a problem for me.

Be that as it may, I think I'm going to stick with just fire. I like that element and want to see just how far I can go just using only fire alone. When taken to its peak, fire can do many amazing things. Well, all the elements can actually, but I want to do more than just the normal. I want to go above even that, and take fire to a height that no one else in this world has ever seen before. I will become the one true master of all things fire related, and become so strong that no one would be able to boast better flame control than me. I will become the true ruler of fire and flames," Naruto said with a confident smirk on his face.

He was going to challenge himself to accomplish something truly great and achieve the impossible. He was going to take the fire element and evolve it to its greatest pinnacle. He would become the master of all flames, the lord of all things hot, the most supreme being of all things heat related. That would be his new, true goal. He could not help the smile on his face after thinking that.

For now though, he had to take things one step at a time. And the first thing on his agenda was to talk to a certain fox and sort things out between the two of them properly. That was an absolute must in his opinion. He did not want to go around with a ticking time bomb in his gut that was looking for a chance to take him over and kill him the first chance it got. That would make things very difficult for him. Things were already hard enough as they were, he did not need any more troubles.

With that in mind, he went to his room and sat on his bed, once again cross-legged. He closed his eyes and focused on entering that place again from his memories that Naruto had been pulled into. He knew the theory of entering ones inner mind, but had never done it before or even attempted it, so he focused on that sensation that ran through Naruto the moment when the fox had pulled him into the seal and tried to recreate it himself.

It took a while of trying, but eventually he was able to finally pull it off. He had entered that place that former Naruto had been in when the fox had pulled in his consciousness. Naruto quickly walked down the pathway and eventually made it to the huge hall where the fox was sealed.

He had to marvel a bit at the size of it, as it was truly huge beyond compare. It was far bigger than anything he had ever seen, in reality at least. A part of him was a bit worried about how this would go though. He couldn't help but think that the fox would definitely be incredible angry with him, as even though it was indirectly, he was the one who prevented it from escaping after all. The fox had to be pissed off right now, but he was not going to let that stop him. He couldn't back off just because it would be mad. Had had to resolve this problem before it got too out of hand.

Sensing that someone had entered the space, the fox opened its eyes to look up at its guest. When it saw Naruto, its eyes squinted in anger and frustration a bit, before it said, "Well well well. If it isn't the imposter who took over this body and is now parading around in it like he owns it. To what do I own the pleasure of this visit?" he said, a mocking tone dripping from his voice.

"Okay come on now, you of all people should know that I had no intention of coming to inhibit this body here and I don't even know how or why this happened in the first place. You can't seriously be blaming me for what happened right? Do you even realise just how unreasonable it is for blaming me for something I had no control over? I think I've had enough of that from the lousy villagers outside. You can't seriously be just as short-sighted as them, can you?"

"SILENCE! DO NOT PUT ME IN THE SAME BOAT AS YOU PATHETIC HUMANS. I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU VERMIN. I DON'T CARE WHETHER YOU HAD A SAY IN THIS OR NOT, THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT YOU ARE HERE NOW, AND BECAUSE OF IT, I HAVE LOST MY CHANCE FOR FREEDOM THAT WAS SO CLOSE TO ME. NOTHING YOU SAY WILL CHANGE MY MIND ON THAT. SO LEAVE YOU PUNY HUMAN. I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO YOU. ONE DAY, I WILL GET FREE, AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I WILL BE SURE TO DEVOUR YOU WHOLE." the fox said in fury, blasting him with a bit of his killing intent as well for extra effect.

Naruto felt the pure, concentrated, overwhelming killing intent directed his way and had a mind to give in, but he was able to hold out in the end. While he had never faced faced killing intent directly himself, he knew what it was and what to expect at least, and facing such a beast, he had long since prepared himself for the possibility of being hit with it, so he was not caught off guard.

Be that as it may, simply being prepared for it was not enough to fully resist it, and he had to put in quite a bit of effort in order to properly resist it before he was able to speak. "... I see. So that is how things are... Hey can I ask you something? You got a name or what?" Naruto asked, completely changing the subject to something wholly unrelated to what they had been talking about, as if he had not even registered that the fox was directing killing intent at him in that moment.

"... what?" shocked by the sudden topic change, even Kurama was so thrown off by the question that he instantly calmed down and forgot his rage for a bit. No one had ever asked him for his name before.

"A name, you have one right? Well, what is? You can at least tell me that much right? You know my name is Naruto Uzumaki already, but I don't know yours. Seems kinda unfair if you ask me. Also, don't ask about my former name. That person is dead, went up in flames. As far as I'm concerned, my name is Naruto Uzumaki now. I have left my past exactly where it is, in the past. This is who I am now and I intend to embrace that fact completely. So yeah, Naruto Uzumaki. You are?" Naruto asked, pointing at himself while introducing himself, and then waving his hand over at the fox when asking for his own name.

"... Interesting. But let me ask, why do you think that I have a name exactly? The people of this world never even bothered to ask about that before. Hell, I doubt they even know that I have intelligence. They probably just believe that I am simply a monster of pure hatred and destruction. So why are you different?"

"Are you seriously asking me that? Come on man, shouldn't it be obvious? You said it yourself, the people of this world never asked your name before, but I'm not of this world now am I? That means that my way of thinking is totally different from them. When they look at you, all they might see is either one of two things: a raging and uncontrollable monster that needs to be feared and hated, one that has no chance of ever living with them in peace, or a power source of strength and power that can be weaponised and used for military might to achieve great things for their village and country.

But that is not what I see. When I came into this seal, I did so with the intention of verifying for myself just what kind of person – or rather, beast – you truly are. I did not need anything else to prove to me that there was more to all of this than what is shown on the surface than when I first walked in here.

Just the mere fact that you were talking to me was more than enough to prove to me that things are very different than what others may think. That alone was enough. So no matter what you say now, it won't make me angry, because if anyone has a right to be angry, it's you. So if you are trying to piss me off, don't bother. It won't work on me," Naruto said calmly, looking over at the fox with a clam smile.

Kurama was shocked. Who the hell was this human? How did he know that things weren't as they seemed so easily? Just from the fact that he spoke to him? What exactly did that prove? He was so confused. Plus, the human knew that he was trying to make him angry. The boy was certainly perceptive, a lot more than his former host. Kurama had to admit that part of him was intrigued. He decided to humor him for now and see where this would go.

"Oh? You've piqued my interest, little human. Tell me, what exactly do you mean when you say that you understood something was different when you heard me talking to you?"

"Think about it, if things really were as they say, then there was obviously no way that you would be able to talk to me. The rumours make you out to be a mindless monster of rage, destruction, and hatred. They call you the incarnation of hatred itself. Would such a being really be capable of talking? Even if it did somehow manage to gain the ability to speak, would it be able to calmly hold a normal conversation? Of course not.

The only 'talking' it would ever do was cursing out loud in complete hatred and anger at everything and everyone around it. Where exactly would it have the chance, time, or will to bother talking calmly and holding a normal conversation? You would be constantly emitting an aura of pure malice at all times, but that isn't the case now is it? Your aura still emits out of you, but it is clearly controlled. How could a being of pure hatred and malice even know what the meaning of the world control was? Absolutely not possible, so I was able to realise it from the start.

And knowing that much, it was obvious you would have a name. All intelligent beings have one. Hell, even some inanimate objects and plants have names, so there was no way on hell a being of such immense power who has lived for such a long time did not have a name. It's just simple common sense back where I'm from, practically a given. All powerful and significant beings have names. That's why I knew, and why I decided to ask. So? Are you going to tell me yours?"

That opened Kurama's eyes a bit. He realised that this human was a lot smarter than he seemed to be able to figure things out like that. Even so, it was not such an easy thing to learn his name. "Humph, while it is commendable that you were able to figure things out so easily from such little information, don't think that it means we are suddenly on good terms. You are not worthy of learning my name yet. That is something that has to be earned, and you have not done that yet, so don't even think about learning my name." the fox said, not going to give in so easily.

However, Naruto grabbed onto the key word there; yet. It meant that while not right now, all hope was not lost and he at least had a chance. "Ohooh. I see, a little test of competence huh? That's fair I guess. So I'm going to have to prove myself in order to learn your name? Makes sense. Beings such as yourself are rare and powerful, so it is natural that you would have this bit of pride in you. I don't mind that much." Naruto had completely seen through it.

"...Humph!" Kurama simply snorted while turning his head, disregarding his words completely.

Naruto simply smiled at that. "So I guess in order to prove myself to you, it means that I need to get stronger right? Seems like a given. You are rumoured to be the strongest of all the tailed beasts, and since you have nine tails and there are nine tailed beasts, I'm inclined to believe that. So most likely, in order to gain your acceptance, I would need to be strong enough for it, right?" he asked.

"Now hold on. Why exactly do you think that I am willing to give you my name after you get stronger? I have not acknowledged you yet. Even if you were strong, that would not change anything. It does not mean that we would suddenly be best friends-"

"Oh right. That makes sense. Even if I am strong, it does not mean anything if I only have strength alone. We need to actually bond together, though I'm guessing that is probably going to be the hard part, since you would have no interest in making friends with a human, right?" he said that, but he still caught on to the 'yet' that was said, though it seems like the fox itself didn't even realise that.

"Humph, damn straight. Glad to see you understand that much. Seems like you are a bit more competent than the last host. I'll give you that at least. I won't acknowledge you so easily, human."

But that only made Naruto smirk even more. "Hmhmmm. And yet, you said that it won't happen easily, meaning that there is still room for acknowledgement huh? It just won't be easy."

"Wha- That's not what I meant and you know it! Don't go putting words in my mouth, human scum!"

"I~ didn't say anything~. You're the one who said it. I am simply confirming what you said yourself. Hehe." Naruto teased. He was actually having a bit of fun wit this. This fox clearly was not used to having conversations. He was able to easily direct the flow of their talks without going too far. It seems like the fox was not all malice and nothing else, as expected. It was even a bit flustered now, though it hid that pretty well.

He then got serious all of a sudden, his atmosphere changing completely. With a serious look in his eyes, he looked up at the fox and said, "Seriously though, I meant it when I said that I want to make up with you. I don't know the full details, but I'm pretty sure I at least understand some of what you went through. The reason you are angry is because you have been locked up here, sealed away inside a person, a human, for so long, right?

You're a being with will and intelligence. You can think and feel just as well as any human could. Of course you would be resentful. It's one thing if you didn't have a mind of your own, then you couldn't be reasoned with and there would be no choice but to lock you up. However, it is different in your case. I don't know about the other tailed beasts, but you obviously are different from your typical monster. You can be reasoned with.

So the fact that you are lock away in here? Well, pretty sure that even most humans would be extremely pissed off at that kind of treatment, not to mention an all-powerful, ancient being such as yourself. Like I said, I don't know the full story, but that is exactly why I will not approach you like all other humans do. I will not make my judgement about you until I know the truth about you. I guess I can probably find out more from reading some history books, though I guess it would be fine to learn your side of the story as well.

All the books would give me the info about is how things happened from the human's perspective, but I would not know or learn anything about how things happened in your perspective. And that is what I want to know. I want to know more about you, so that I can decided for myself if you are someone trustworthy. If you are someone worth forming a truce with. I don't care about the traditions and norms of this world. I will live my life how I have always done before, with a few minor changes in certain regards of course." He said that last part in a different, more embarrassed tone, hinting at some things he may have done in the past that he himself was not very proud of.

"*Ahem, anyway, that's the gist of it. I can understand if you don't want to trust me right now. In fact, I can understand if you never grow to trust me ever. That will be fine with me. I'm not asking you to trust me completely, or be my best friend, or to help me with my problems or anything like that. All I am asking for is a chance to prove that I am different from the rest and you can at least believe that I won't treat you the same way they did.

To prove that, I will give you a promise right here and now. You can decide from looking on at me from now on, whether or not I am capable and worthy of keeping that promise. I promise that no matter what happens in the future, no matter what kind of beast you turn out to be, good or bad, or whether or not you come to trust me, I will find a way to remove you from this seal and set you free, without the whole 'killing myself in the process' thing. I will give you your freedom back. What you plan to do from then on is your business, as long as you promise not to attack my village and its people.

As long as you can do that, as well as not try to get in my way while you're still inside me when I am training and trying to grow stronger, then we can go our separate ways when the time comes. Whatever your decision, I will respect it completely and will not give a word of protest. What happens between us from then on will have nothing to do with the other.

In fact, I can even sweeten the deal for you too." Naruto suddenly said as he looked around at the place they were in. "Doesn't this place feel stifling? It's all dark and drab and dreary. There's hardly any light, and practically no room to move around freely either. I can change that for you. I can easily make this place much more comfortable for you, and that's not all." Naruto suddenly looked at the fox with a mischievous, yet knowing smile on his face. He was clearly up to something.

He looked over to the fox again and said, "Aren't you curious? About that other world that I came from? Surely a being such as yourself would be curious and wanting to know more about it right? A whole new world, with new things completely different from what you are used to. Things that you have never seen or known about before. I'm sure you would like to know about it too right? Well, I can let you do so. It is very easy for me to allow you to view my memories of my time back in that world. You will be able to see all kinds of things you have never known about before. This is MY mindscape after all. Controlling what happens in it is a piece of cake for me.

I don't mean to brag or anything, but I have seen a lot in that world you know. I'm sure it would very interesting for you. Plus, you would no longer be bored in this dull place any longer. So what do you say? Can we make a deal on that?" Naruto asked sincerely. He was really just hoping that the fox would not try to get in his way while he was training, while also trying to entice him with his offer. He knew that he would be able to pull him into agreeing with him once he brought up his past world, as he was sure that even the mighty nine-tails would be very curious about it.

He did not care about anything else. He had no desire to get the fox's power for himself. He was content to just rely on himself to grow as much as he could. That alone would be fine by him. He simply did not want any problems to crop up in him from having to deal with a massive, all-powerful fox in his gut plotting against him and seeking revenge and a chance to escape from him if and when the chance presented itself. That was all he truly wanted. He did not actually have any hopes of somehow befriending the fox. That was a bit much to hope for at this point.

Kurama was once again shocked by this human. He had actually made a promise to him. He, a human, had actually made a promise to him, a tailed beast. This was probably the first time something like that had ever happened before. At least, as far as he knew, something like that had never happened before. This human in front of him was truly curious.

Plus, as Naruto had expected, he really was curious about that other world that this soul had apparently come from. If it was true, then that meant that there was a whole new world out there with things completely foreign to him or anyone else native to this world. He had to admit that Naruto was right in saying that he was curious about it. He had half a mind to simply agree.

However, he would not be naive. Humans were very famous for breaking off their promises and betraying their words. It was what they were known for. He did not trust this human, or at least, he did not want to. A part of him told him that he could actually trust his words, but he did not want to make it that easy.

He laid back down on the ground in his cage, resting his head on his paws, and closed his eyes, as he thought about it for a bit. In truth, it was not a bad deal. He would not interfere with the boy and leave him be, and in return, the boy would try to find a way to set him free, as well as make his living space more comfortable, and even provide some entertainment in the form of his memories of another world. Honestly, he felt like he was actually benefitting from this deal with the human.

But he had no idea if he could really trust him. He also had no idea if he could even find a way – or if one even existed in the first place – to free him without killing the host. However, if there was, it would be worth finding, as it would mean that he would finally be free. He still had to worry about how he was going to get the remaining half of his strength back that was taken from him when he was sealed in Naruto and is now in the stomach of the reaper, but he figured that he could think of something once he was free.

For now though, at the very least, it could not hurt to agree with this human. It was a small price to pay for eventual freedom, and he also would not be bored while he waited, so what could it hurt? If the human went against his word, well it was not like he was actually expecting anything from him right? It would just reinforce his belief that humans were untrustworthy, but it was not like he could do anything about it either way. Trapped behind this seal, he was completely at the whims of his host and could do nothing but wait for a chance that may never come. He would just have to wait and see, though he would surely be increasing his efforts to get free if it turned out to be that way.

With that thought in mind, he opened his eyes and looked over at Naruto who had been waiting patiently for an answer and said, "Fine then, human. I will believe you just this once and will accept this deal. But know that if you go back on it, some way some how, I will most definitely make you regret it. Am I understood?" he threatened.

"I hear you loud and clear nine-tails, and I won't say anything else on the matter. Words are meaningless, so instead, I will use my actions to prove to you that you have nothing to fear. Don't worry, your freedom is practically assured, once I find a way. And thanks, for agreeing to this," he said as he smiled up at the fox sincerely.

"Humph. I don't need your thanks, so save it. Just get out of here already. I want to go back to sleep."

"Sure thing. Later." Naruto said, before he directly disappeared from his mindscape. The fox opened one eye to look over at where Naruto was before, a contemplative look in said eye, before he shook his head and closed his eye again, going back to sleep.

Back in the real world, Naruto suddenly opened his eyes after returning from his mindscape. He thought that things went well for the most part all things considered. He was inclined to believe that there was more to the story of that fox than what was known, but he knew that the fox would not actually tell him his side of the story so easily.

It naturally would have trouble trusting humans after everything they had put it through, so he was not expecting things to be easy. Honestly, when he had first entered the seal, he was worried that he might not even be able to properly communicate with the beast. He figured that as soon as he appeared, it would start raging furiously at him and cursing his name to set him free and other nasty things.

That was why he was greatly surprised at the calm and plain greeting he got from it, even if it was a bit sarcastic and rude in nature. That was far better than a rampaging monster that had no control whatsoever and was completely unwilling or unable to listen to reason. He much preferred a beast that could be spoken to and held deep hatred in their heart over an uncontrollable beast with no regards for anything and everything. The result was much more preferable in his opinion.

He then began to contemplate about what had happened earlier with the hokage. In truth, he really was not mad at the guy, and everything he had said was more out of necessity than out of true anger at what had happened. He was angry for former Naruto, but in the end, it was not actually him who had really experienced everything, so it was hard to be truly angry.

However, the third hokage himself did not know about what had happened, and he wanted to keep it that way. He was not going to tell anyone the truth about himself if he had a choice in the matter, and he wanted to keep that fact hidden. This means that he had to pretend to be at least somewhat angry about what had occurred. Anyone would be in his position, so it was only natural for him to react like that. He had no intention to be some kind of unquestioning, totally forgiving fool who does not consider the consequences and ramifications of ones actions and just go about forgiving and forgetting things like it was no problem whatsoever. He did not want to live his life like that anymore. He has had his fill of living like a pushover.

In truth though, he could sort of understand the difficulties of the hokage. He was the third, whereas his father was the fourth. This means that the third had already retired once before and handed the reins to his father, but then, the guy ended up dying during the events of his birth that he still did not know about. This meant that the third had to take up the position once again. It was clear that he had already gone past his time and was just barely holding on as it is.

He may have been great once upon a time, but that time had now passed. He was old and weak now, it was only to be expected then, that he would not be able to command the same level of authority as he did before among the higher ups of the village. His hands were most definitely tied with a lot of things that no one else knew about. It did not mean that he was excused from not doing his job, as he was the leader of the village and should be able to command then regardless, and take action when necessary, but Naruto could at least understand his troubles.

However, this and that were completely different things, and Naruto was not going to let things go so easily. The old man needed a wake up call about his failures from his actions, or rather, his lack of action, at least with regards to him personally. He did not believe that the old man had any right to call him a grandson when he had no part in his growth and upbringing. Naruto was practically raising himself this whole time and was completely self-taught in everything, so he naturally did not have anyone who he would, or should, truly consider to be his family, at least in his opinion.

As for the whole not telling him the truth about his parents, that one was rather easy to forgive. His father was the leader for this village, its hokage, and a hero for its citizens. Apparently, he was also some kind of war hero in some past war that went by some years before he was born, so it made sense why Hiruzen would want to keep the details of his birth and his parentage a secret.

If the man was a hero in this village, then it was obvious that he would be the enemy of others in other villages. Naruto did not know the details of what happened in that war, but just knowing that the man was considered a war hero and that said war was the reason for his great fame meant that he had made great contributions to their victory over the others involved in said war. That meant that he had killed or defeated many others from other villages. It was only natural that he would have plenty of enemies.

Said enemies would have been completely overjoyed to have learned of his demise. But if they ever found out that he had actually left behind kids? Well, the result would be obvious. He would have assassins breaking down his door ready to claim his life every single day until he was no more. He would have to be placed under constant protection and supervision to be kept safe. That was obviously not the kind of life anyone would want for a child.

Keeping it secret from Naruto himself was an obvious given as well. With as much as he desired attention, even if he was told to keep it a secret, there was no way he would have been able to resist the temptation of spreading the word about it so that people would acknowledge him more. Being the son of a kage would be a great boon for him after all.

Of course, the villagers would have most definitely not believed him and might have even beaten down on him for trying to slander the good name of their precious and great fourth hokage, but that was not the important part. The worst part of all of that would be that if word of his claims spread to outside the village and into the ears of his father's enemies, then they would naturally spare no expense to kill him, whether he was telling the truth or not. They would obviously not take any chances and do everything in their power to make sure that their feared enemy did not leave behind another nightmare for them to eventually have to deal with when he grows up.

With all that said and done, Naruto completely understood why Hiruzen did not tell Naruto about his parents. But understanding and accepting were two completely different things, and he was still not going to let it slide easily. The whole thing with the fox was also something that should have been mentioned to him at a much sooner time as well. There was no way in hell Naruto could ever hope to live a normal life of an everyday child, so he should not have even bothered trying. Instead preparing him for when the day came where he would have to take on things himself would have been a far better option.

After thinking over things a bit by himself, he then spent another few hours practising his meditating, before going to bed. Tomorrow would be another day.

In his past life in his former world, Naruto had made it a habit of getting up early everyday to exercise on the mornings before he got to handling the days events. That was something he had no intention of changing any time soon in this world, even more so since he now had to train even harder to get stronger to protect himself better among other things. That was why, ever since five in the morning, you could see Naruto's figure in one of the training fields, doing simple stretches and of easy exercises.

Naruto realised that this body was quite fit and decently in shape despite its lack of proper nutrition, probably because of the abundance of chakra flowing through his veins. He also needed to improve on his eating habits. No more ramen only for breakfast, lunch, and dinner unless it can't be helped. He was going to eat properly, and only buy ramen occasionally. Seems that this body had really fully adjusted to the food, as even him, who had hardly eaten the dish back in his last life and did not fancy it very much, had a strong craving for it after entering this body.

However, that was something completely unrelated to anything else. He had proper self control and was not going to take his health, growth, and nutrition for granted. It would all come back to bite him in the butt at a later time if he did. He was already much shorter than others for his age, he did not need any more problems cropping up.

His wardrobe was another problem he had to fix soon. Former Naruto had only ever had that orange jumpsuit to use, along with on set of a simple white T-shirt and black pants, which was what he was wearing right now. He did not want to seen in that... that... THING... at all. He had decided that as soon as he was finished, the first thing on his agenda was to find new clothes; some for casual wear, and a set or two for when he was handling ninja business.

Once the sun was up, he returned home to get cleaned up and have a small breakfast, before he headed out to do just that. He knew that he would not be sold to thanks to the villagers not wanting to sell him anything or greatly overcharging him for their goods, but that was not a problem for someone who could assume the form of anyone or anything else. He used the transformation jutsu to change his appearance to someone from his past life, a friend of his that he was close to, but had a similar build to his. It would make getting clothes for him much easier.

As he left his home and prepared himself to go clothes hunting, he was stopped by a person, supposedly a ninja, as they were dressed in ninja clothes and had a mask that had the image of a cat on it. The person had apparently been waiting for him, as they appeared right after he left his home.

"Can I help you?" he asked. From the build of the person, he could tell that it was a woman, but he could not make out anything else about her.

The woman held out her hand to him and passed on a headband with the leaf symbol engraved on it as she said, "The hokage ordered me to give this to you, along with a message; team assignments are in 6 days from now. Be at the academy at 8 am sharp to receive your official team and begin you work as a genin. That is all."

Naruto looked at the headband, then reached out and accepted it, nodding to the ninja woman. 'this must be one of those ANBU ninja that my clones read about yesterday that work directly under the hokage.' he thought to himself.

"Thanks. Tell lord hokage that I will be there. Also, please inform him that I am not angry. That is all," he said, before he took off to go find some proper clothes. The ANBU ninja stared on at his departing figure, their thoughts unknown, before vanishing in a puff of smoke, supposedly going to pass on his message to the hokage for him.

Naruto walked around the village looking for a suitable clothes store, before finding one that worked for him and buying a few casual clothes that he could use when not on duty and was on his own time. However, he had no luck when it came to finding a place for him to get specialised clothes for ninja work. He couldn't exactly go on missions in a plain jersey and pants now could he? That would not be very practical.

He decided to ask around a bit, before finally being directed to a place where he could get some decent combat gear. The name of the store was apparently the 'Higurashi Weapons Shop'. He figured that if it was a place to sell ninja gear, then they should have suitable equipment as well.

Entering the shop, he saw a chestnut haired girl sitting behind the counter. Her hair was tied up in two buns on her head, and she seemed rather bored sitting behind the counter. It seems like they did not get very many customers.

She instantly jumped up when she noticed that a customer had come in, eager to be of service.

"Hi, welcome to the Higurashi Weapons Shop. My name is Tenten. How may I help you?" (Tenten)

"Hi, I'm looking for some proper and functional combat gear, got any?" (Naruto)

"Oh, I see. Combat gear huh? You a ninja? Where's you headband? When entering places like these, you should always wear your headband on your head to show that you qualify to buy ninja equipment, or you could get in trouble if ever found out." (Tenten)

"Really? Did not know that. Well, that's fine, I guess. Plus, it makes sense. Hold on a bit," Naruto said as he reached into his pocket and grabbed his headband that was just given to him and put it on his head. He had no idea that he needed to have it on him in order to buy ninja equipment and was happy that the hokage had sent it over for him so soon, as he would be in trouble without it. He made a mental note to always wear it from now on unless he was on unimportant stuff.

"Yes, from now on, remember that whenever you are conducting any form of ninja business, you need to always have on your ninja headband, okay? Now, right this way please. I will show you what we have in stock," the girl said to him, before leading him over to where their combat gear was kept. Naruto appreciated her kindness in helping him with that little bit of info. Though, he had a feeling that if he was in his normal appearance, he might have been directly kicked out instead if he came in here wanting to buy ninja gear while not wearing his headband, that or insulted for it.

The two moved over to where the gear was placed, and Naruto took his time going through them bit by bit, looking to see if anything stood out to him. However, honestly, he already had an idea of what he was looking for in his clothing, and nothing he saw was even close to what he wanted. He figured that he might as well just ask for something made, though he worried that it might be too much for him to afford with his meager savings. He would still have to ask though.

"So yeah, I was kinda wondering if you guys do custom orders? I already have an idea of the design I wanted for my clothes, all I needed was to have them made. Do you guys handle that stuff?" (Naruto)

"Yes we do. We can make things, both clothes and weapons, to your specific requirements as long as you have the design already in mind. I just need to get the relative info from you first, and then pass it on to my dad who is in charge of that stuff. He will handle it. What did you have in mind?" (Tenten)

"Well, first before that. What is the cost looking like? Cuz I'm not very financially able or well off at the moment. I'm only just starting off as a ninja you see. My team assignments only start next week, so I need some time to build up my savings first. I'm really only here to get an idea of the cost and see what you guys have got, but that's about it." (Naruto)

"Hmm, I see. Well it depends on the design and the functions of the gear, but the average price of custom clothes are generally around 6 – 7 thousand ryo. That price can naturally change depending on the order, but that is an approximate estimate."

Naruto went pale after hearing that price. That was so expensive. He only got a couple hundred ryo to spend on himself for food and whatnot every month, so there was no way in hell he could afford that much. Seems like he would have to hold off on better clothing for quite a while.

He was just about to give his thanks for the info and then turn to leave, when the store front was opened and someone else walked in. At the same time, said person announced, "Go ahead and get whatever you want Naruto-kun. I will pay for it for you this time."

"Huh?" Naruto was clearly confused by the sudden offer to pay for his clothes, but more than that, he was even more confused and shocked that someone had managed to figure him out. He was still in disguise after all, properly transformed with his jutsu. People should not be able to figure him out so easily.

"Yes I know it's you Naruto-kun. Don't worry though, your transformation is actually quite good and I never would have known it was you if I had not seen you when you exited your home earlier before in that disguise. I thought you were up to something and decided to follow you to be sure that you weren't up to mischief, but then I realised that you were just hiding your real appearance in order to buy stuff around town.

Good use of that jutsu, by the way, but I don't think it's necessary in this particular store. The owner won't care about that, plus, I'm pretty sure they already knew that you were hiding your real appearance with a jutsu from the moment you entered anyway. Isn't that right, Higurashi-san?" he asked while calling out to the entrance to the back of the store.

Naruto looked over to see an insanely huge man enter. The man looked like a brown skinned hulk. He was shirtless, had muscles on his muscles and was way to big. He swore he was almost three meters tall. How the hell could someone grow so damn big? Was he a One Piece character? What exactly was he eating? He wondered if he would share some of it, he needed a bit of that growth passed on to him so he could grow as well.

"Yo, Umino-san. So you managed to sense me huh? Well, you always did have pretty good senses. As for your question, yes we did in fact know about your transformation from the start brat." (Hakuro)

"Huh? But how? You said it yourself Iruka-sensei, that my transformation is pretty good, so how could you figure it out so easily?" (Naruto)

"Easy. We have seals placed on the entrance and around our building, so anyone who tries to enter here in disguise will be instantly figured out and seen through by us from the start." said Tenten, as she puffed out her chest and raised her head in pride.

"I... see... that makes sense I guess. 'Hmm, the topic of seals comes up again. They sound useful. Sound like something I should look into for more info. Could be dangerous if I don't know about them.' Sorry for tricking you, it's just that I really needed this and did not want to be kicked out or overcharged for my stuff, and I didn't really know if you guys would treat me the same as others." (Naruto)

"It's fine brat. I can understand why you would think like that after everything the other villagers put you through. You won't have to worry about that in here, so feel free to come on by anytime you need anything, cool? We will be more than happy to sell you whatever you need. Name's Hakuro Higurashi by the way. A pleasure" (Hakuro)

"Naruto Uzumaki, but you already knew that. And same." (Naruto)

"So anyway Naruto, feel free to get whatever you need alright? Like I said before, I will pay for everything this time. No need to hold back." (Iruka)

"But Iruka-sensei, are you sure? I can't accept that. It's way too much." Naruto said while waving his head and hands from side to side.

"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun. In truth, this is my apology to you. I wanted to do something to make it up to you for always ignoring you this whole time, as well as not realising your problem and trying to help you with it. You failed the exam, not because you were a bad student, but because I was a terrible teacher who failed to notice the problems of his student. I'm truly sorry for that, Naruto-kun." having said that, Iruka immediately bowed his head to Naruto at a full ninety degrees angle. His head was completely facing down and he had a deeply remorseful look on his face.

He had heard about what had happened from the hokage about his failing the exam and the words exchanged between them both. To say that he was upset with himself for his great failure and his blindness to the truth was an understatement. He was completely disgusted with himself. He wanted nothing more than to apologise for his past mistakes and to somehow make it up to him, that was why he had been on his way to Naruto's house this morning.

When he saw Naruto's predicament of wanting to get new clothes to wear for his new career, he was more than happy to be the one to pay for it, especially since he knew that Naruto would not be able to do so himself. This way, he could at least partly make up for his past failures and try to mend his mistakes. He knew that this alone would not be enough, but it was a start.

Naruto was shocked by what was happening. In truth, he did not even think to blame Iruka for anything. He figured that he was just the same as all the other villagers and simply ignored his existence like he did the others. He did not hold anything against him, because he did not expect anything from him in the first place.

Sure Iruka was one of the few who did what former Naruto wanted and gave him some attention, even if it was in the form of scolding, but that was because Naruto was the one who was always looking for and getting himself into trouble. Though now that he though about it, Iruka had never gone out of his way to make things hard for him and had never treated him differently. From a teacher's point of view, his treatment of Naruto was the same as everyone else's. It was not special or unfair treatment in anyway. He simply got what he deserved.

In that case, he had even less of a reason to apologise to him now. He never did anything wrong. Sure he might not have been able to figure out what Naruto's problem was and help him with it, but that couldn't be blamed on him. He probably never had to deal with a situation of a student having too much chakra before and simply never thought of it.

It was the academy's fault for not having a system in place that properly tested the chakra reserves of their students and just assumed that they would all be low. His situation was easily understandable, so Naruto did not hold anything against him for it. At best, he was just indifferent to him, so having him bow to him like this in apology was very much embarrassing for him.

"Listen, Iruka-sensei. You don't need to bow and apologise for that. I never held it against you in the first place, so please, stand up. You don't have to do all of this." (Naruto)

"Be that as it may, it doesn't change the fact that I failed you Naruto-kun, so please accept my apology." (Iruka)

"... haah. Fine, I accept it, happy now? So please get up already. You're making a scene, and this is really embarrassing." (Naruto)

Iruka raised his head and looked around, seeing Tenten and Hakuro looking at him with teasing smiles on their faces. His face instantly blushed red from embarrassed, and he instantly stood up straight, coughing into his hand to try and hide flustered state.

"*Ahem* Well in any case, I will pay for everything that you need, Naruto-kun. That is why, you can feel free to buy whatever you need to get. Consider it my apology and your graduation gift all in one." (Iruka)

"Fine then, I will accept it with gratitude. Higurashi-san, is it okay for me to give you the details of the gear that I want made now?" Naruto asked, as he also chose this time to undo his transformation.

"Sure thing kid. Right this way. Let me just get some writing materials and we can get started on that design of yours."

"Thanks," Naruto said as he quickly followed him in. Tenten followed as well, interested in what he had for a design for his clothes. Naruto quickly explained his new clothing to the man, Hakuro perfectly drawing out his ideas and fully replicating it on paper exactly as Naruto had in mind. It was perfect as far as Naruto was concerned, and he couldn't wait for it to be ready.

"Hmm. I gotta say, this is one hell of a design, kid. You're pretty good at this. Maybe I should ask you for some ideas about some designs for some thing I have later on in the future. You seem to have a very imaginative mind." (Hakuro)

"Thanks for that, but I just came up with something that I liked and wanted to be practical. I wasn't really trying for something that looked good, though even I will admit that it came out really well in your drawing." (Naruto)

"You bet it did. When you actually wear this, you're really gonna look the part. I can even see you turning a bunch of heads like this as well. Trying to win over the ladies, huh? Hehe." Hakuro teased him, playfully poking him in the gut while saying as such, though considering his massive size and the obvious strength he carried in those bulky arms of his, that poke hurt a lot more that he thought it would. Naruto had to wince a bit, before he hurried to move on the conversation to save himself from the pain.

"You've got to be kidding. Now way in hell was that what I was thinking," Naruto said, a small blush appearing on his own face. That really was not on his mind when he though of it, but in his past life, he had never had a girlfriend, so he could not say that the idea was not appealing to him either.

Everyone in the room burst out laughing at that, causing Naruto to pout slightly. He was not happy with them laughing at his expense. He decided to move on from there.

"Moving on, I want to get a full set of shuriken, kunai, ninja wire and all of those other things needed for ninjas on mission. It might be a bit early for me to be worrying about these thing already, but I want to get in some practise with them before my team forms up. So just one set of each for now is good enough, thanks." (Naruto)

"Sure thing brat. Ten-chan, I think you can handle that much, right?" (Hakuro)

"Hn. Yeah dad, I got it. Come this way, Naruto-san." (Tenten)

"Sure, but please just call me Naruto. I'm not one to be big on formalities if I don't need to be." (Naruto)

"Okay then, but only if you call me Tenten as well."

"Deal." Naruto responded. He then went with her into another area of the store to stock up on other ninja supplies.

True to his word, Iruka had really paid for everything for Naruto. Naruto had tried to keep his spending to as little as possible and only buy what he believed he needed, but it still came up to quite a sum. He felt a bit bad about it, but it was what Iruka wanted, so he did not say anything to stop him. He decided to just remember this favour in his heart, and if the day came where he could repay this kindness, then he would not hesitate to do so.

After getting all of the supplies he needed and preparing himself, he then left the store with Iruka. He was going to head on over to one of the many training fields to start his training to bring up his skills to an appropriate level before the team assignments. He wanted to properly improve his skills in all areas and be ready for anything. He had a lot to work on.

"Naruto-kun, it won't be much, but how about I treat you to some ramen as well? It will only be a single bowl though." (Iruka)

"Sorry Iruka-sensei. While I really appreciate the offer, I can't right now. First of all, I am trying to ease off on the amount of ramen I have been eating and trying to eat other foods to get my proper nutrition that I have been missing out on.

Also, right now, I have a lot of catching up to do skill-wise, so I don't really have time to waste if I want to be a competent teammate for my team. I'm planing to head over to one of the training fields right now and get started on that. I have a lot to learn and don't want to waste any time on anything else right now, so maybe next time I will take you up on that offer.

Plus, I think your wallet has had enough for one day. Any more spending and it might start complaining about you draining it too dry." Naruto said to him in amusement, before running off towards where he remembered former Naruto always went to train on his own whenever he wanted to get some training in. It was training ground 29 if he remembered correctly.

To say that Iruka was shocked was a major understatement. Naruto had actually turned down ramen? Naruto? Turning down ramen? Was that even possible? Did such a thing really exist? There was no way in hell this was true! He had to have been dreaming. He raised his hand a pinched himself to check, but nothing had changed. Maybe a genjutsu? He pulsed his chakra just to be sure, but there was still no change.

He could still see the figure of Naruto as he disappeared down the street. This was real. Naruto Uzumaki had really just turned down ramen of all things in favour of training. He did not know if he should be proud that his student was finally maturing or worried that something was wrong with him. He decided that he needed to keep an eye on Naruto to make sure that everything was okay with him.

Naruto bolted down the streets of the leaf village, heading to a place where he would be able to train by himself in peace. Since no one had ever bothered to try and train him before, that was fine. He would just rely on himself to get stronger. He would simply use his knowledge of his past like, and with the help of shadow clones, he would grow to the peak all on his own power and strength. He would use his own abilities to develop himself in this world, and rise to the absolute top.

He was not going to beg others for help. He would only ever depend on himself. If he needed more info on something, then he would get it himself from researching things on his own. If he could not get it in one place, then he would find it in another. The transformation jutsu was perfect for that, though he had to research this thing about seals first before he tried that to be sure that he does not get found out again. It would be very bad if he did.

He was going to give it his all in his training, and do everything he could to get stronger and rise up in this world. Things had finally gotten interesting for him in his life. Things were no longer boring. His life finally had meaning and purpose. He finally had something to do with his life and a goal to work towards. He finally had something to look forward to in life and things he was motivated to actually achieve himself. He was not going to let this opportunity pass him by. He was going to make the most of it.

It did not matter that others did not want to help him. He would eventually show them up anyway. He would prove to them that they were wrong, and also that he did not require their help in the first place to become great. He was fully capable of learning and growing all on his own, and he would use his actions, not words, to prove that.

In the next coming days, people would gradually notice a change in their resident prankster. He was not as loud as he was before. He did not go around proclaiming that he was going to be hokage one day anymore. He did not prank others anymore. He did not wear that horrible eyesore of an orange jumpsuit anymore. He was not as wild and obnoxious anymore. He had changed, but was that change for the better? Only time would tell, but this would all not be for a little while yet to come. First, he would have to train up his skills and get better at being an actual ninja. Then he would have to get his own team. Only then, would his journey truly begin. Only then, would he begin his path of glory, blazing through the Elemental Nations.

"Very soon the carnage will begin."

TO BE CONTINUED!

---

And with that, chapter 2 has come to an end. I am liking where things are going so far. The draft I made is also really helping me out with keeping things on track. I even started making a portfolio to help me make sure that I don't forget certain points mentioned if past chapters. I have had these ideas floating around in my head for a while now, but I have been forgetting some and mixing some up with other as well. My drafts have made it much easier to stay on point, or my story would have been all over the place. My portfolios should also help me to not forget important information from previous chapters as well, so I hope things will turn out alright. It certainly makes it easier for me at least.

Next chapter is still a continuation of the prologue. I am doing the training chapter next, where Naruto will be going through how he trains and what he learns in it. I am actually really looking forward to writing that, because there are just so many things that I want to put in it. It will mostly be focused on his training, and I MIGHT add some other stuff in it as well. For the most part though, it will be a training chapter, so look forward to it.

Until next time, PEACE!