"Speaking out loud."
'Thinking.'
Highlighted information, emphasis.
(Translations)
[Titles, books, signs]
Written Knowledge.
Jutsus.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and do not write this story for any financial gain.

Chapter 2 - The Crimson Whirlwind.

Naruto spent the following few days in bed, trying to keep his leg up, taking advantage of his free time to read the journals. His absence was noted, and by the third day he stayed home, there was a knock. He limped his way to the door and opened just a slit, letting the two Anbu look at him.

"What?" He asked harshly.

"The Sandaime sent us to check on you since you... disappeared."

"I thought that would make you all happy."

"We also came to remind you about his instructions on the Academy test in a few weeks, so-"

"Leave me alone." And he slammed the door on their faces, going back to bed, feeling the stinging pain in his leg before he dove into the past again.

Two days later.

Naruto took a shower and got out, leaving his room with a decided look on his face, walking around the village until he found what he was looking for, entering the clothing store, at the moment the owner said with a smile:

"Irasshaimase-" And then he saw it was Naruto. "OUT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN HERE, BOY?!"

Naruto simply ignored his words and stared him in the eyes, seeing the anger giving place to fear. Yes, he was right about this.

"I wanna buy clothes."

"I already told you to get out! There's nothing here for you-"

Naruto's fist descended on the counter, slightly breaking the wood, making the man stumble, hitting the shelves with his back. Naruto looked up slowly, seeing the man's face twisted into one of terror, and that sent a sensation throughout his body. It felt good to have some sort of edge over one of those people.

"I want clothes, and I'm not leaving without them, do you understand me?" He unleashed his suppressed rage, and the man took a step back, afraid of whatever was in his eyes, pointing a shaking hand inside.

Naruto turned and went inside the store, not bothering to try any of the clothes, simply picking anything his size, choosing three black pants and two dark blue ones, five shirts, two black, two dark blue, one grey, and three jackets, two black, one dark blue. He placed the jackets on top of the counter and the man raised his hands as if he was being robbed.

"Just take them and get out."

"You think I'm robbing you?" Naruto spat the words, making the man shiver.

"You-"

"I want you to sew this to the back of all my jackets and shirts, you have a sewing machine, don't you?"

The man saw the many Uzumaki symbols he placed on the table and took them alongside the clothes, disappearing inside the shop, and leaving Naruto alone. He never felt like this before, filled with all this... power. He felt indestructible, he felt like no one could stop him. How easy it was to get what he needed... all he really had to do was not care about any of those assholes who never cared about him. Now he understood that being his old pathetic self was what pushed them to continue abusing him, but now that he wasn't his old non-confrontational self anymore, he could see they were just regular assholes, and none of them could do a thing against him. He understood now and then that he was the one to blame for the things that happened; if he had acted sooner, he could've avoided all that pain and humiliation- well, there was no time like the present to change things.

The man came back and placed the jackets on the counter, and Naruto quickly analyzed them, seeing that the sewing was well done, not to mention that all the clothes were top-notch quality.

"How much?"

"Ah- Ten Thousand Ryo- the sewing is on the house."

Naruto placed twelve thousand on the counter and left with his things.

"Sandaime-sama." An Anbu operative appeared inside the Hokage's office.

"Hmm?"

"You wanted to know any developments in the Naruto situation- well, he left home earlier today."

"Causing trouble?" Sarutobi asked, not even bothering to look away from the documents he was reading.

"In a way- he stormed into three businesses already."

That seemed to get the Sandaime's attention, making him look up.

"What do you mean, stormed into?"

"Well, as you are aware, sir, most of the shops won't sell him anything."

The old man grunted.

"But today, Naruto didn't seem to care... he stormed inside the businesses against the owners' wills and took many things with him, those being clothes, shoes, accessories, food-"

"He stole from them?"

"No, sir, he paid for everything, but the owners weren't happy that he went against their wills. A few of them wanted to file complaints with you, sir."

"Heh, let's see how they like to be ignored- well, good for him."

"Sir?"

"The boy is finally standing up for himself, I can't really blame him, can I?"

"Sir... there's another thing."

"Yes?"

"He died his hair black."

"Really?"

The Anbu nodded and bowed before leaving, and the old man went to the window to stare at the village.

"Now, why would you go and do that?"

Naruto was walking away from the library, a place he had never visited before, well, not counting the days he pulled pranks on the place, but that seemed so silly after everything he learned, that it felt like someone else did it. He was walking decisively when he saw a pink-haired girl walking towards him, looking over her shoulder, but he was in such a defiant state nowadays that he didn't stop, allowing the collision to happen, and she fell. When she turned, he noticed it was Sakura, the girl he liked back in middle school, even though she hated his guts, but again, that seemed so silly, that it felt like it happened in another life of his.

"Ah, sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She apologized, and that seemed to break Naruto's frenzy, making him gasp slightly at his actions. Why was he acting like an asshole? I mean, to the people who deserved it, that was ok, but he would need to pick his targets better; he didn't want to just randomly berate people for no reason, even though this girl had done her fair share to deserve some well-earned punishment.

"I'm sorry." He offered a hand, and the girl blushed a little before taking it, and then, she noticed the whiskers on his face.

"Wha- Naruto-kun?"

She gasped when she saw his clothes and his hair, both black and how he was carrying books under his arm. She thought she'd hit her head and woke up in another dimension when she fell because there was no way this was the same boy who walked around shouting and pranking everyone. There was something different in his eyes, some kind of shadow behind them, and she felt her cheeks flushing.

"Gotta go." And he walked away without another word, leaving her speechless as she just followed him with her eyes. Usually, he would've started a conversation or just asked her a bunch of things, but he just... left. Even his walking changed, or maybe that was because he was limping. She couldn't really tell, but there was something about him, a sense of danger that wasn't there before, and she would never admit it, but the black hair with his blue eyes was a match made in heaven, to the point she momentarily forgot he was that snotty brat she hated a bunch.

"Did you see him?"

"Is that really him?"

"I never noticed... but he's kinda cute when he's serious like that."

Sakura looked up from the book she was reading, noticing two girls chatting, following their gazes to see Naruto again. These past few days, she saw him more times than when they were in elementary school. For some unknown reason, he stopped being the village clown and turned into this... shadow- that was the only way she could explain, because one time he was there, and in the other, he was gone. Whatever happened turned him into someone completely different from his old self. He was even darker than Sasuke, and that was no minor feat.

These past days, Naruto could be seen inside this library as if he had started living here. He was always reading something, and that piqued the pinkette's interest, to the point she was gonna unveil something about that drastic change.

She approached him and saw he had books on Fuinjutsu and others about the village clans.

"Naruto-kun?"

He barely turned, his eyes shifting to hers, making her gulp.

"Hey- I was wondering... why are you here so often nowadays?" She felt nervous, asking herself why was she feeling like that- it was just good old Naruto in front of her.

"Books." He said low, and she detected a hint of sarcasm in his tone but decided not to comment on it.

"Yeah, I figured, but you were never interested in books or reading- and you changed a lot these past few days... I almost didn't recognize you with your new hair."

He turned back to the books and placed a marker in one of them, slowly closing it while whispering.

"Yeah, it was time for a change."

"A change?"

He started piling his books and got up, and Sakura noticed he was a little taller than her- what?! How was that possible?! She also felt a little hurt that he was actually leaving just because she approached him, and she knew this was because of her, because he was very comfortable before she arrived.

"Excuse me." He said low and walked away, making her gasp when she smelled his scent. Even that had changed, and now he was using cologne, the smell of soap mixed with a musky scent washed over her as she followed his form again. The way he walked and looked around before leaving was so... cool, that she caught herself wanting to follow him, just like she felt when she saw Sasuke. What was wrong with her?

She saw the girls from before giggling as he walked by, and felt a small tingle in her core, wanting to punch them. Dear lord, was she developing an interest in the boy? The one she always tried to stay away from?

She needed to find out.

Naruto stopped by a bench to resume reading. He once dreamed of a time Sakura would approach him, but now it was annoying... and he couldn't understand why. Even her voice annoyed him, and he sighed, but before he opened his book, he noticed movement from his peripheral vision, turning a little to see a girl approaching him. He just waited for the young Kunoichi to get close enough, witch was now standing in front of him.

"Na- Naruto-kun... are you really... are you really Naruto-kun?" Her voice was almost a whisper, both her hands closed into fists resting in front of her chest, her eyes down.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm Naruto." Naruto said low, analyzing the girl. "What's wrong, Hyuga-san?"

He saw her eyes bulge.

"Hyuga-san?!" Her voice was a little shocked, and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I was a little too friendly with you girls, sorry about that."

"No- I never really-" She bit her lip, wanting to say she never really cared, but his serious eyes were making her nervous.

"Even though we went to the same elementary school, I... recently learned that I shouldn't just call girls by their first name, it's disrespectful."

"Why-" Her voice came louder, as if she lost control of her emotions for a moment. "Why are you so... different?"

Naruto wanted to groan. He just wanted to read in peace, so he got up and walked until he was side by side with her.

"Because you can't expect things to change if you stay the same."

"Wha-"

But he was already walking away, leaving the young Kunoichi with her heart pounding, her eyes wide open. Did he just-

Three weeks later.

Konohagakure was as peaceful as it could be. With its troublemaker gone, there was a sense of calmness and somewhat boredom all around, but what happened to him? That was the question many Shinobi and villagers asked themselves every morning when they woke up and every night before going to bed. What indeed happened to Uzumaki Naruto?

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Naruto was hitting the wooden dummy at training ground 22, which was the one to the West of the village, filled with nettle and spiders, wich was the motive no one used, but he had been using this place ever since his leg healed, and more importantly, he was using this place because it was the furthest of the training grounds, so he could train everything he wanted without prying eyes all around.

Naruto learned a lot these past weeks. He learned that his mother was the original Nine Tails' Jinchuriki and that the attack against the village where they lost their lives was orchestrated by a masked ninja who took advantage of her being in labor to undo the seal and release the Kyuubi against the village. Naruto also learned that the seal used in his body was called Hakke no Fuin Shiki(Eight Trigrams Seal), the most powerful and famous Uzumaki sealing jutsu, but after further studying it, he noticed there was a difference in his seal from the normal seal displayed in the Uzumaki book. His seal was made a little looser than it should have been, and Naruto deduced that was the reason the fox could enter his mind. If this was his father's doing, then he fumbled a little, because even though the seal was hard, consisting of two Shiso Fuin(Four Symbols Seal), the engraving wasn't that hard. Naruto entertained the idea that his father did this on purpose, but the more he thought about it, the more he dismissed the idea that he'd like a demonic fox whispering in his son's ear.

Naruto also learned how to do basic sealing while reading the materials about his clan. The Uzumaki were very wary about their jutsus, so most of the scrolls he found in the library were sealed by blood so only an Uzumaki could read. That's where he found out about the famous Kongo Fusa(Adamantine Sealing Chains), the secret technique of the Uzumaki. He wanted to learn this more than anything, because the best user of these sealing chains was no other than his mother, Kushina. He thought that this jutsu would be his connection to her, but to his ultimate disappointment, the book with the technique was incomplete. Someone had ripped off the last few pages, and he could only deduce that whoever did that had done it intentionally, but even though he couldn't access the whole technique, that wasn't going to stop him.

"Ninpo: Kongo Fusa(Adamantine Sealing Chains)." Naruto did the hand seal and focused on a small bird flying over the training ground, seeing his chakra gathering around his body before it shifted and became thin golden chains, erupting from his torso, going straight to his target, but when they were about to reach the bird, they stopped and Naruto groaned. The range was laughable, and it wasn't that strong when it caught a target, but it was his mother's strongest jutsu, and he was gonna master it no matter what. He turned his gaze and saw a tiny lizard staring at him, smiling before turning the chains to chase after the creature, following its form as it began running, but even though weak, the chains were fast, and responded very well to his commands, striking and restraining the animal, before Naruto approached and took a scroll from inside his jacket, opening on the ground before undoing the seal with a hand motion.

"Release." He said low, and from it, a frog appeared, croaking before jumping away, and Naruto touched the paper with his hand.

"Shisho Fuin(Four Elements Seal)." And from under his hand, his chakra started becoming words, as he stared at it, feeling the pull while working on his drawing. Even though this was chakra manipulation, drawing the symbol was one of the most important parts of the sealing, and if he'd write a line wrong, or left it crooked, it could weaken the seal, kill the sealed creature, or let it loose. He saw the circle forming and looked at the captured lizard, turning his chakra towards it, and the black words moved on their own, covering the animal, making its image distort before it started being dragged inside the scroll. Naruto waited a few moments, smiling when the symbol burned under his touch, signaling it he did everything right. He closed the scroll and placed it inside his jacket again, also dismissing the chains before going back to his training dummy.

His days consisted of this, training, reading, and learning Fuinjutsu, which became his priority because of his mother, and also because it was his clan specialty. While reading about all this, he found out about his chakra affinity as well, and even though he wasn't thrilled that his affinity was to wind, one of the weaker elements, he couldn't help but feel good about also being of the rarest elements to have an affinity to.

If compared to other kids his age who were also venturing into the Shinobi arts on their own, Naruto's learning curve was completely abnormal, since most of this knowledge was deep and hard to master, and he had learned a lot, but the reason for him to learn so much in just a few weeks, was because of his new discovery.

The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was the strongest jutsu in the world.

Naruto was ready to die on this hill because he knew he wouldn't be where he was right now if not for the jutsu. In the first days he started using the Kage Bunshin, he noticed something extremely weird. He used four of his clones to clean his room, but one of them drifted off and took a magazine as reading material before being punched and thrown back into work. When Naruto dismissed the jutsu, the contents that his clone read came to his mind in this weird manner. It was almost as if everything he learned, came back as a memory, as if it was the real Naruto reading, even though it was one of his clones. It was very weird because he could remember everything the clone saw as if it wasn't the clone but the real him who saw it first, but he knew he didn't, and that's when he understood the clones could share their experience with the main body, and that's also when he also understood this had to count as cheating, because although Taijutsu proficiency couldn't be shared, Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu could, and all the experience from the clones training repeatedly was constantly being poured into his brain, as he kept summoning more and more clones while he trained Taijutsu.

He didn't know if the Nidaime thought about this when developing the jutsu, but this was, without a doubt, the strongest jutsu in the world, not because of its battle applicabilities, but because of the shared experience. Naruto couldn't believe something this powerful was used solely for fighting, running errands, or gathering information. His clones accumulated months- no, years of experience in just a few weeks, and he thought this was some kind of trick the world was pulling on him, because there was no way in hell something this powerful would come without a cost, but here he was, still in one piece.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Multiple Shadow Clone Technique)." He exclaimed, and fifty Naruto clones appeared, instantly starting to gather chakra in their hands to make Rasengans. Naruto also learned he could use the Tajuu Kage Bunshin after some experimenting, and that was also one reason he could break into the archives a second time, way easier than the first, as he made enough clones to cover that whole section of the village, being able to share information with the main body by slowly dismissing one clone at a time, seeing the Anbu positions before moving.

He understood why the Tajuu Kage Bunshin was banned, though. The jutsu demanded an insane amount of chakra every time it was cast, and not only that, but keeping the clones up also demanded some chakra, to the point he'd feel winded and weak, but after just a few minutes, his energy would be restored. Well, even though he had the fox chakra leaking inside his body, and that was the reason he had such stamina, his chakra capacity wasn't great solely because of the beast, but because he was an Uzumaki, and that was something that started giving him a sense of pride he never felt before. He was part of something, something great and respected, and he'd make sure to let everybody know. He saw another clone losing control of the Rasengan and sighed.

Naruto was lucky to find this jutsu in one of the two scrolls he stole from his father's archives. This was an A-rank, highly destructive jutsu, which was a little hard to master since it required the gathering of chakra, and the shaping of it while maintaining control at the same time. At first, Naruto used his clones to help him get the hang of the rotation speed of the jutsu, getting a little stressed by it until he understood what he was doing wrong and managed to finally produce a real Rasengan. He still remembered raising his hand, feeling the rotating chakra spinning out of control, until he put more of his focus on maintaining its form, and the energy settled in his palm, making him run and push it against a tree, feeling the chakra expanding forward, spinning and breaking everything in its path without resistence, taking the tree down with ease, even though its trunk was thirce his size.

With more training, he wouldn't have to concentrate on this, and of course, he was cheating with his clones, so there was no need to sweat about it.

He wanted very much to train the Hiraishin as well, but after the incident where he almost cut his leg off and opened a gash in his arm, he was a little scared to try again, and since the clones were tasked with mastering the Rasengan, and the main body was working on Taijutsu and Fuinjutsu, he wondered if it was a good idea. He even started carrying five kunais with Hiraishin seals on them, just like his father did.

And speaking of the Yondaime.

Naruto learned a lot from his father's journal, but most important of all, he learned that his father was an amazing person on top of being an amazing Shinobi. He had both character and strength, and one thing he learned was that the Hiraishin wasn't exactly a movement jutsu, but a teletransportation jutsu. In his diary, his father explained step by step how the Nidaime created the jutsu as a counter-measure to the movement reading of the Sharingan, as a way to break the enemy line of sight and open the possibility of a counter against an enemy that could predict your every move. Minato also explained the applicability it had, and also how it was not perfect, not because of any mistake, but because it was incomplete. Tobirama believed that a specific amount of chakra had to be put into the jutsu, so the user would move to the marked location through a distorted version of reality, thus protecting the user while they move, but Minato perfected the jutsu by enhancing the amount of chakra put in the seals and also fusing it to the Shunshin no Jutsu(Body Flicker Technique) enhancing the speed of the teleportation to almost triple its original intended speed. Naruto understood that both Hiraishin and the Shunshin were the core of the real thing and that by mixing both, he'd try and reach his father's level, even though he knew that was almost impossible. He wasn't called the Yellow Flash of the Leaf for no reason.

"Screw fear." Naruto hissed after finishing another set of kicks and punches, drinking some water before cracking his neck.

The Hiraishin was formidable, and Naruto felt a little intimidated by it, but decided to start with the basics first, using the seal kunai to mark the place he wanted to go, infusing chakra into his body to activate the Shunshin before activating the Hiraishin seal. It was an amazing feeling, the rush provided by the high speed, but this was not as fast as before, when he used the kunai to escape from the Hokage tower, so after a few hours of training the slower version of the teleportation, he took out another kunai and threw a good fifty yards ahead, doing the seal and feeling the same pull again, but this time, he tried his best not to lose focus, also pushing himself to the object, not only allowing himself to be pulled, and then he was gone, the entire world blurred and he appeared at the location, but again, the speed was too great for him to stop, so he simply fell forward and rolled on the grass, stopping a good twenty feet from his target. How in the world would he be able to stop? But it made no sense if the Hiraishin was a teleport, where the hell was that speed coming from?

"Hold up." Naruto tried thinking of something. He saw the Hiraishin seal in Minato's journal once, which he wrote right in the middle of his Shinobi life, when he was thirteen or fourteen, but now that Naruto thought about it, his drawing was a little different from the one he saw on the Nidaime's archives.

He sat down and pulled the paper seals from the kunais, studying them, trying to remember the minor detail he overlooked before.

'Go see the diary and check the Hiraishin seal.' Naruto thought while looking at nothing, having the clone he left home as a guard responding and moving, and after a few moments, the image of the seal was imprinted in his head.

'Hmmm, he did change the seal, huh? He wiped the wind seal and switched it for lightning?' Naruto thought while taking a piece of paper and doing the drawing with the change, applying it to one of his kunais, throwing it away, and doing the seal.

And he was there, the blurring was even stronger, but there was no subsequent momentum, his hand around the weapon as his feet touched the ground.

It was indeed a teleport, making him simply appear on top of the kunai, a smile spreading across his face before his clones started applauding and he barked at them.

"Go back to work!"