A/N: I started writing this after reading the first few chapters of Tossing Away the Masks by SliceNDicer8 it's good stuff, and wanted to put my own take on it. This should be aimed at a larger audience than my other fic so maybe I will get more feedback? Version note below will change as I find errors.

Rated M for safety

Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me.

V 1.1

Key:

"Human speech"

'Human thought'

'Telepathic communication between human/Hanyou'

"Powerful entity speech"

'Powerful entity thought'

Konoha Ninja Academy - Graduation Day

Laughter and cheer filled the grounds of the academy as parents congratulated their children on passing the first stages of their journeys into the world of ninjas, but amongst the smiles, scowls aimed at 1 of the 2 people sitting near the tree, the only two who failed the exam, the orange 'kill me now' jump-suited Uzumaki Naruto village prankster and Pariah and the shy Hyuga Hinata.

"You sure about this Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked quietly a blush on her face.

"Trust me we wait here for a while and then find a quiet place where he can find us." Naruto flashed her his trademark foxy grin.

An hour later the two sat on the roof of the academy looking dejected at their failure, it was at this time their target made his entrance.

"I thought I might find you here, you know I must say both of you were so close to passing the exam its quite a shame, I guess I will be teaching you two again next year." The white haired chunin named Mizuki drawled a cold smirk hidden on his face.

Naruto's smirk was hidden from Mizuki's view before he schooled it, turning to face the instructor he pulled his trademark saying.

"Oh yeah? Well it doesn't matter if I'm stuck as student, someday I'm going to be Hokage and then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important. Believe it." Naruto pointed directly at Mizuki.

"And you?" Mizuki looked at the shy girl.

"Y-yes, I w-will be a g-great Kunoichi too and m-maybe father will finally see I c-can be an asset to the clan." Hinata's voice trailed off, but she kept eye contact.

Mizuki sighed like he was defeated the smirk hidden, "Ok, I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but there is a way for you both to graduate, you just need to show some stealth skill by retrieving the scroll of seals and each learning 1 technique from it, but you can't tell anyone this or they will increase the guards and make it impossible. When you get the scroll you need to go to the old cabin outside the village walls, do you think you're up for this"

The two students nodded their assent and rushed off to get the scroll both themselves and Mizuki grinning coldly.

Night-time had quickly descended on the hidden village, but it was anything but quite, the village's ninja forces were out en mass, Chunin, Jonin and ANBU were rushing around the village looking for the orange clad boy who had stolen the scroll of sealing from under the Hokage's nose.

Only two ninja's knew where to find the person in question the white haired Chunin Mizuki and Iruka the pineapple haired Chunin and friend of the boy, both ninja's had separately headed for the shack in the forest just outside Konoha's walls.

"Hey fuzzy was right the first technique was the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, I guess we can learn something else and if we are caught early we can still pass." Naruto chuckled

'I know your mother calls me that kit but I really don't like be called fuzzy.' a deadpan voice permeated both Naruto and Hinata's minds.

'Well you said we can't call you furry as that was more us Kurama-Sensei, though it's not much for us either' Hinata laughed at the entity.

'I think I picked the wrong students.' The entity sighed. 'Don't worry too much about learning from this you will have it soon enough.'

The two students decided to start learning the Bunshin Daibakuha while waiting for their target to appear, after two hours of trying to blow up clones the two sat together, their clothes ragged and dirty but otherwise they were happy.

Their rest was broken by the arrival of a Chunin with an oversized head.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?" Iruka's head returned to his original size. "You two are in so much trouble."

"Damn, caught early but I guess we can pass, I mean we learned a new technique like Mizuki-sensei told us too." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Mizuki? Naruto what did he tell you?" Iruka calmed down hearing about his friend.

"He told us that if we got the scroll and learned something from it we could graduate, kind of like a secret way a test of stealth and information gathering."

Before anymore could be said the offender himself arrived standing on a tree branch looking down on the trio with disdain.

"Well, I thank you for delivering me the scroll brats, now hand it over and I will make your death quick, sorry Iruka you will die too, I can then bring the scroll to Orochimaru-sama and sell the girl to Kumo." Mizuki laughed.

Naruto and Hinata sweat dropped, 'Damn what happened to the days when villains just did what they were planning and didn't ham it up, I guess he isn't that bright. I mean it's like a ninja explaining their Jutsu to the enemy when using it.' Kurama sighed.

"Mizuki, why are you doing this?" Iruka pleaded to his friend.

"Come on Iruka, why are you defending him?" Mizuki's face twisted into an insane grin, "After all he's Kyuubi no Yoko, hahaha."

A brief moment of silence around the forest as the four faced off, Iruka looking horrified more at Mizuki's breaking the Hokage's law, and Mizuki with the insane slasher smile plastered on his face, Naruto merely looking at his nails.

"Yeah I knew that, it was kind of obvious really." Naruto smirked stunning both the Chunin. "I mean I was born on the day of the attack and it explained why I am shunned, but honestly do all you people have marbles for eyes."

"What, what do you mean demon?" Mizuki spat.

"It was a sealing not a reincarnation you teme, I got the fox inside me you really think the Yondame was that unskilled?" Naruto flashed a wicked grin mirrored by Hinata. "Still you broke the Hokage's law which is death but I will leave you alive for the interrogation department."

Naruto handed the scroll to Iruka before both Naruto and Hinata made the clone seal hand sign a brief flare of chakra and the woods were filled with clones of both Hinata and Naruto.

The Naruto clones looked at the Hinata ones, "You stop his chakra, and I'll break his legs."

Mizuki's screams filled the woods while Iruka looked on in awe.

The three returned to Konoha Iruka carrying Mizuki, the Hokage one Sarutobi Hiruzen greeting them flanked by three ANBU a small scowl on his face though the tissues up his nose diminished that.

"Iruka what is the meaning of this?" The Hokage had tried to see what had happened on his crystal ball but some outside force had blocked it.

"Lord Hokage, instructor Mizuki had informed both Naruto and Hinata that they would pass should they steal the scroll and learn a Jutsu from it." Iruka placed Mizuki on the ground. "He was attempting to steal it himself killing Naruto and selling Hinata to Kumo in the process."

The Hokage nodded "And how do we know this is correct."

"Because the insane baka told us comic book villain style, before he got his ass kicked by mine and Hinata-chan's Kage Bunshin." Naruto struck a victory sign.

The Hokage put his pipe in his mouth nodding thoughtfully, "I see, Lion-san take Mizuki down to Ibiki get him to find out what he knows." The Hokage looked at the 3 others, "You three in my office."

The three stood in front of the Hokage as he sat behind his desk, power radiating off the grizzled old man once known as the Professor and God of Shinobi.

"Ok, Naruto I want a full explanation on what happened and how you two managed to learn a B-rank Jutsu but not its most basic form?"

Naruto and Hinata sighed together, they knew they would have to tell him someday, "Ok Jiji, but lose the ANBU and seal the room it's an S rank secret though Iruka should stay I trust him."

The Hokage nodded and the hidden ANBU left the office in a blur of motion, the door was closed by Iruka as the Hokage placed a privacy seal on the room.

"First off how did you know Mizuki was an enemy?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto grinned hands behind his head, "Easy he smelled of snake, only one other person smells like that and she told me it was because of some guy named Orochimaru who was a very bad man."

"Hai, when Naruto-kun told me he smelled it on Mizuki and seeing how Anko-nee-san didn't know anyone else that was a defector we kept tabs on him, he gave Naruto-kun a Chunin level exam when we found out we knew he was up to something." Hinata interjected her usual shy nature vanished.

Naruto nodded, "I could have finished the exam easily and passed but catching the teme made more sense if this Orochimaru is as bad as Anko-chan says."

The Hokage nodded while Iruka looked stunned, both the students clearly had been hiding their talents but then again a good ninja did. The question about how they knew Anko could be addressed later.

"Ok explain how you know about the Kyuubi secret."

"She speaks to us when we meditate." Hinata shrugged.

"What how? Why?" Iruka spluttered.

The two nodded back and made the hand seals "Kai" a brief plume of smoke covered the two before clearing. The two people in front of the Hokage looked different.

Naruto's hair had taken on an orange colour, a pair of fox ears twitching in his hair, his blue eyes now had slits, his canine teeth had elongated a little and his whisker marked had grown more pronounced.

His orange jacket had also changed into a tight black t-shirt showing off his toned physique with two orange nine tail foxes emblazoned on the shoulders with grey flak style vest the Uzumaki crest on its back, a pair of black ninja trousers with holsters and reinforced hiking trainers, a single fox tail swinging lazily behind him.

Hinata's hair had gained orange tints and was down to her mid back with fox ears peaking from the top of her head, her pale pupil less eyes now had slits and slightly elongated canines peeking out of her mouth.

A mesh top was covered by a black v neck t-shirt with the same fox emblem on the shoulders and grey flak type vest without a crest, the same trousers and trainers as Naruto and tail that was strangely rubbing against Naruto's.

Both the Hokage and Iruka couldn't hide their surprise at this, the powerful Henge had fooled everyone, but no malice could be felt even with the grins plastered on both the Hanyou's faces.

"Well this has been our form for about 7 years now, though we do age somewhat, but even that will slow or stop when we hit our late teens." Naruto flashed his now more aptly fox like grin.

Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe, his mind turning had the fox somehow controlled Naruto and for how long? How had the Hyuga girl wound up like it too, he knew they had been friends for a few years but none of the ANBU or even the Hyuga had raised an alarm but with them it was usually a 'clan matter'.

The fact the village was still intact raised a few questions, especially considering how the villagers treated him. Both Naruto and Hinata returned to their human forms.

"Ok I guess we need to get this from the start." The Hokage asked earning a nod from the two.

Flashback – 7 years ago

A 5 year old Naruto sped through the dark winding streets of Konoha ignoring the glares from those residents still out late, a grin on his face as his latest prank had been a success, he had once again outrun the angry shop keepers and his ANBU guards including the weird ANBU guards.

Dodging down another alley he found himself outside a large enclosed area of the town a fan shaped symbol adorning the walls, the compound belonging to the Uchiha. Running parallel to the holdings of the police force he noticed a familiar mop of dark hair being cornered by a drunken member of the clan.

"Damn Hoogah, sthink yoush so high and mytee." The man drawled as he staggered causing the small girl to back against a wall.

Naruto had met the shy girl a few months ago when he tried to stop her being bullied he had been beaten up for his trouble. But that didn't matter someone had not looked at him with cold eyes or disdain and she was cute.

"Hey leave the girl along." Naruto rushed in tackling the guy to the floor.

Naruto stood in front of the scared girl, the drunk got up eyeing the new arrival.

"Damn ish the demon brat, outta the way you little teme I gosh business with sha girl." The man slurred.

Naruto held his ground keeping himself between the girl and man. He wasn't sure about this 'demon' comment but chalked it up to the drunken state the man was in.

Before he could make a move of his own, the man had pulled out a kunai his eyes turning red and he charged wildly at Naruto, the shock of the tactic had rendered him immobile and he felt the cold metal enter his stomach before a warm wet sensation spread around the wound as he fell to the ground, darkness assailed him the last thing he saw were tears in the big white eyes of the girl.

Mindscape

Naruto woke up looking around the dark dank corridor, a brief look at his stomach showed the wound had gone. A shallow layer of water covered the ground and pipes running along the drab brown walls. Looking around he could hear a noise coming from his left with no clue as to where he was he headed towards what he hoped would be an exit.

Following the twisting maze of corridors he arrived at a barred section a single lock with a piece of paper over it the word 'seal' written on it, the sound was coming from the other side of the gate it was the sound of breathing.

"Well, well, well look what the fox dragged in, so I finally get to meet my new jail."

The creature on the other side of the gate moved closer a giant orange fox with many tails flicking around, strangely the fox had more human abate furry looking front arms rather than normal fox like claws complete with opposable thumbs.

"Who are you and why am I here?" Naruto yelled back, "And where am I you teme?" Naruto wasn't sure what a teme was but taken with the context the drunk had used it, it was most likely an insult.

"Hahaha, the kit has spunk I like that, but calling a lady a teme is wrong, I am the Kyuubi no Yoko as you humans call me, but my name is Kurama, I am sealed within you and since you're dying we get to meet."

"Wait you're inside me? Is that why everyone's always chasing me around and hates me it's because of you being sealed inside me?"

"No kit, they hate you because they think you are me, your father sealed me inside you when you were born but the timing also made people think he merely reincarnated me as you." Kurama flashed a toothy smile "To think those foolish humans can't tell the difference between a jail cell and its occupant."

"Wait you said I was dying, is this it? I don't want to die wouldn't that set you free? Isn't that bad?" Naruto panicked.

"No if you die I will die too, but I can give you some of my chakra, it will heal you and you can save that cute girl, maybe this time you won't end up face down in the dirt, well for too long anyway."

"There must be a catch, what's to stop you from taking over my body and wrecking the village again?"

"For this brief power there is no catch, I need you alive to live myself, but for more power, well I will tell you if you agree, but for now get up and protect that girl, I want to see if you have the potential."

Konoha

For anyone who fought against the Kyuubi 5 years ago, they would recognise the surge of chakra, thankfully it was small scale and the ninja was too drunk to notice, smoke coming off the floored Naruto as his wound healed.

The boy stood up his eyes red and slit like a demon, his canine teeth long and hands claw like, a feral roar escaped his mouth as he charged the Uchiha, the man heard the commotion and turned just in time to get a demon powered uppercut his head snapping back as he sailed through the air landing in a crumpled heap unconscious, the move was neither flashy or skilled.

'Well Taijutsu is something we're going to have to work on' Kurama stated inside Naruto's head. 'Now grab the girl and run, more will be coming and it will be painful for you.'

"Let's go, quickly." Naruto grabbed the small girls' hand.

The two children ran through the streets until they found themselves on the Hokage monument looking out over the village, Naruto had returned to his normal look during the run he looked over at the girl as she tried to catch her breath.

"Seems you have a talent for getting in trouble." Naruto chuckled. "Guess this time I got off better, you OK?"

The young Hyuga nodded, looking at the blonde this was the second time he had saved her from someone, she didn't like being weak and today it had almost killed her saviour.

"I-I'm sorry, I c-can't do anything o-on my own, a-and that man didn't like my c-clan we don't get a-along s-since our clans are cousins a-at least that's w-what I was told."

Naruto nodded, he didn't really know much about interclan politics or the clans themselves but knew that both clans had similar Kekkei Genkai at least in terms of it being eye based.

'Ok fox, I'll accept your offer of power but only after you tell me what the price is."

Naruto had to admit the feeling of power that coursed through him during his short fight was exhilarating, with more of that power maybe the villagers would stop attacking him and he could protect people like her.

'Simple your form will change, but we will need two new seals to work a fusion seal and a reverse version of my current one.'

'What will they do?' Naruto almost spoke out but managed to think it instead.

Kurama sighed. 'The fusion seal will result in changing your form, you will be a half demon or Hanyou, it will be a temporary seal to help with the new chakra type, the reverse seal will do the opposite of your current one, rather than blend my chakra with yours it will blend small amounts of your chakra with mine. You can remove all three seals in about 8 years, when your coils are more matured.'

'What will that accomplish?'

'You can hide your new nature from the village by continuing to use your father's seal, that is unless the idea of pitchfork wielding villagers is your idea of training, though that does sound fun.'

Naruto sighed outwardly causing Hinata to flinch,

"A-ano." Hinata squeaked

'Ask her if she wants to get stronger, she's timid but maybe she has an ember we can stoke, your village is always going on about the will of fire but it's mostly smouldered out here.'

"Hey Hinata, you want to get stronger? I want to protect those precious to me but I need to get stronger, if so we can train together."

Hinata nodded nervously her father was getting annoyed with her nature and lack of skill and with a sibling on the way the elders might push her into the branch clan only compounded her quite personality, wouldn't this boy become angry at her too someday?

"Y-yes I want to get stronger." Hinata tried to show some spirit but the blush, pupiless eyes and downcast expression didn't show much of it.

'Hehe, the will is there, she will be a wonderful mate in the future, and we can start soon'

"Mate?" Naruto asked out loud causing Hinata to cock her head in confusion.

'Will she want to train with me though? If she finds out I'm the container?'

'Just repeat everything I tell you to say.'

With Kurama's prompting Naruto relayed everything to the young Hyuga, several emotions washed over her face learning he had the feared demon inside him but fear and hatred weren't amongst them, Naruto was starting to like the girl more and more, someone who didn't judge him on something out of his control, but soon he would be in control of himself.

"So that's the idea, Kurama says that she can transfer some chakra into you and you would become stronger too, and would be able to hear her." Naruto animatedly finished.

Hokage's Office - Present day

"Anyway after working out the details, I bit Hinata-chan on the wrist and Kurama pours half her chakra into her turning Hinata-chan into a Hanyou too, Kurama was able to show us the Demon Henge to hide our new appearances."

Sarutobi sat back in his chair what he had just been told had certainly shocked him, a small part of him wanted the Uchiha member brought up on charges of drunken assault but after the massacre it was obviously pointless.

"But how could the Kyuubi split her chakra? Didn't Minato seal the Yin half inside himself?" Sarutobi enquired.

Naruto's smile faded slightly when hearing about his father but his smile returned brightly, "Well the thing about Yin and Yang is they have small amounts of their opposites in them, the reverse seal I made increased the amount of Yin in the Yang chakra until she had an even amount of both before she mixed a little of each back into the other."

The Hokage puffed his pipe the idea had made sense and melding some Yin and Yang back into its opposite would allow the same thing to happen again if anything went wrong or they wanted to make more Hanyou later, both ideas chilled the Hokage slightly.

"So what sort of training did you two undergo?" Iruka spoke for the first time in a while.

"We trained mostly in physical aspects first, strength training, stamina and endurance along with Taijutsu training, we did some chakra control exercises too just to help strengthen our coils but most of this was done in the forest of death over the years we began more complex training." Hinata answered.

Forest of Death – 6 years ago

Naruto and Hinata washed themselves up in the stream after another hard Taijutsu practice in the forest of death, the Hyuga heiress had improved her confidence in the last year but still wouldn't wash with Naruto something he didn't understand, Kurama didn't help any telling him it was a 'girl thing'.

The current gravity seals on both were off, giving the muscles a rest, even with only a year's training Naruto had noticed a good amount of muscle through the Henge, he smiled with his new form he now had a type of ocular Jutsu named 'Demon eye' he could see through low level Henge at the moment without effort and also through Demon Henge, as he got stronger he would see through higher levels.

'Well kits I think we can start on your Jutsu's in earnest next week, I think Kage Bunshin no Jutsu would work with both your chakra levels' Kurama had announced.

Several strange things had happened during the last year aside from the new appearance and training under a so called Demon, both Naruto and Hinata found they could speak to each other through their minds, it had happened after a medative session 3 months in, that both had wound up inside Naruto's seal allowing Hinata to meet Kurama.

The meeting had gone better than planned partly because Hinata had gotten used to hearing Kurama's voice inside her head, so she had only fainted once, these sessions had also resulted in changing the mindscape to a lush meadow as the basement look was depressing the 3 of them, the lock seal had for now be changed into a collar much to the dismay of Kurama who didn't like the idea of being a 'pet'.

After this both Naruto and Hinata found they could speak to each other by thinking of the other first and visualising them.

Another surprise had come from finding out about Naruto's heritage, being the son of the forth Hokage Namikaze Minato, Naruto had a small estate one that was blood sealed, over the last 9 months the pair had frequently entered the home, many scrolls had been found hidden behind seals and had been where the gravity seal had been learned.

The Kage Bunshin scroll had also been found along with information on something called 'The scroll of seals' something Kurama had told them they would get in the future.

Forest of Death – 5 years ago

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Both Hinata and Naruto yelled.

Next to each of them six clones appeared, both had used less clones but had reinforced them so they could take a few hard hits each.

'Ok time to see how you handle multiple opponents, swap your clones of each other's and fight them, when they are taken down you need to keep yourself from being distracted.' Kurama had been teaching them about being outnumbered over the last few months.

Both students nodded as their respective clones surrounded the other, Naruto had noticed he had started becoming distracted more by Hinata herself than clones dispelling but Kurama had once again told him to work it out himself.

One of the best things they had learned during their second year of training was dispelling the shadow clones allowed them to learn what their clone had learned up until that point, a few clones were sent each day into the shinobi library.

The first time this had happened Hinata had almost Juken'ed the smug looking librarian who had refused Naruto entry, a quick retreat and Henge later had gotten both inside Naruto looking like a late teen twin tail blonde girl, Hinata looking like a long haired version of herself, something Naruto had told her looked good on her.

Dispelling the clones came via several methods one of the more popular ones for both was the 'Jumped by ANBU for being suspicious' way, usually leaving a red faced if not for the mask ninja sprawled on the ground, it seemed Hinata had picked up on Naruto's mischievousness.

Hokage Monument – 4 years ago

Both Hanyou sat on the nose of the forth Hokage laughing, an impromptu mission assigned by Kurama was to infiltrate the ANBU headquarters, the building itself was most likely the worst kept secret in Konoha, a large unsigned building guarded by ANBU currently on full alert due to their successful mission.

Naruto and Hinata had two days to plan the infiltration and had gathered a large haul storage scroll for their latest prank, upon entering the building via the hidden exit for off duty members, the pair had gone around replacing the ANBU masks with Henohenomoheji faced masked.

The discovery of this grand prank by a clocking in member resulted in the alarms being raised, the entire building going into lock down and finding out every mask had been replaced causing an uproar.

Naruto's pocketed scroll containing the entire inventory of ANBU masks outside of the ones worn by on duty members at the time, in total several hundred masks. Naruto had been brought before the Hokage later for questioning, Sarutobi however found the funny side when listening to the head ANBU who grudgingly wearing one of these masked related what had happened, the Hokage's had ordered all ANBU to wear the silly masks for the next week as punishment for letting an 'untrained civilian' into their headquarters.

Naruto would later find out that several ANBU watchers had snuck into his apartment replacing his normal wardrobe with orange tracksuits as revenge, Naruto had taken to wearing a Henge version of his newly acquired clothing both as an act of defiance against the counter prank and for an extra stealth training challenge.

Hinata had said nothing about the clothing upon meeting in the morning but their arrival in the forest she had dropped the stoic nature and laughed at his new look, Naruto had vowed to keep wearing the orange Henged clothing until their graduation from the academy.

Forest of Death – 3 years ago

The training had continued unabated, even if the pranks had slowed down, the Uchiha clan massacre over 6 months ago had caused problems for all so laying low was the order of training, along with finding out their nature affinities.

As was obvious with the two Hanyou both had gained fire as one of them, Hinata had water as her second while Naruto had both wind and earth giving him three.

Two important meeting had happened in this year, the first and most important had been the meeting with both Naruto's mother and father, Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze and Minato Namikaze their spirits had been placed inside the seal as a fail safe, after opening up more of the seal the two had tried to intervene believing Kurama was trying to get out.

After a brief conversation and some pleading with the pair, mostly Minato they had relented to allowing the seal to be weakened to increase Naruto's power, Hinata had been there as usual and the couple had instantly taken a liking to the girl.

The reunion wasn't to last however as the spirits sealed had used the last of their chakra, both were happy however to see that both Kurama and Hinata were looking out for their son content to fade knowing this until Kurama pointed out she could give them some of her chakra and allow them to reside in the mindscape.

Future visits to the meadow had found either Minato riding on the head of Kurama or being beaten up by Kushina for some issue. Only once had Naruto walked in on seeing his parents doing something else he had spent the rest of the day pleading with Kurama to erase that memory, but to no avail.

The second meeting had been with a Tokubetsu Jonin one Mitarashi Anko who seemed to be spending more time in the forest as of late, after a confrontation on untrained children in the forest a short fight had ensured, while both Hanyou had high power Anko had more experience in real fighting and won but not without injury.

Both had managed to convince her to keep their training a secret stating misinformation was key to victory, being a member of the T & I department she could relate to this and had popped up to watch them train occasionally.

Shinobi Academy – 2 years ago

A year had passed at the academy with the expected results, several of the instructors had covertly tried to sabotage Naruto's training, most methods were easy to spot for him including giving his the wrong exam and belittling him for asking a question even though he knew the answer not everyone there did.

It was a week into his first term that Minato and Kushina had found out how bad their son was being treated by the villagers, Kushina had taken out her anger on Minato for a few days, and Kurama couldn't be found anywhere as she had been hiding in a cave from Kushina's wrath.

One of the early tests Naruto had been given was a Chunin level exam, without thinking Naruto had aced it and been accused of cheating, Hinata had aced her exam too but only the basic Genin one, after this incident both had lowered their scores to near the bottom much to the frustration of Hinata's father.

During the start of their first term aside from meeting with his friends again Naruto had tried befriending Sasuke the 'last loyal Uchiha', Naruto knew about loneliness and loss from before meeting Hinata and considering what Sasuke had witnessed a friend would be what he needed most he had tried to meet him a few times before but had been barred by some of the weirder ANBU types.

Sasuke was having none of his attempts at being friends, spending his time brooding and being fawned over by his fan club which he also ignored, one of the girls being his friend Ino-chan though what she saw in the guy had confused him.

This had started a new type of war between Naruto and the newly labelled 'emo duck' after Sasuke had insulted his hairstyle as being a 'kill me' beacon matched only by his apparent fashion sense, Naruto had countered with a stab at his 'duck ass' hair style and slouch, earning a laugh from the guys and red hot anger from all the girls bar Hinata-chan and to a lesser extent Ino.

Naruto had also noticed a problem with the telepathic link between him and Hinata starting this year, on several occasions Hinata had mentally sent weird messages to him at night, mostly these involved the words 'Naruto-kun' usually in a sensual voice.

Forest of Death – 1 year ago

It had been all but confirmed that Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister would be the next clan heir sadly after Hanabi's birth and the death of their mother, Hinata's father had almost completely given up on Hinata, compounded by her lack of skill in the academy.

Anko had become something of an impromptu trainer of the pair over the last 2 years, teaching them both some interrogation techniques and sparring when she was bored, it had been during one of these spars that Naruto had discovered her curse mark, after checking it over he had vowed to help her remove it.

It was in this year that during a mindscape spar with his father that Naruto had first been introduced to one of his signature attacks the 'Rasengen' Minato had promised to teach him to ability or at least direct him to someone who could when he graduated.

Naruto being as unpredictable as usual had tried to emulate the ability from sight, he had failed to make an exact version but had instead created a variation he named the Hikui Rasenmaru.

During this year they had been introduced to two new instructors, one Umino Iruka and one Tora Mizuki, Iruka had like most instructors started distant but unlike others had not tried to sabotage his learning, Mizuki however was strange his glares were even colder than most others and he smelled similar to Anko.

Naruto had asked Anko if she had a boyfriend during their next meeting as her scent was the same as a guy they knew, Naruto had woken up a few hours later sore all over. After recovering from this they had spoken about the instructor, Anko had told them to keep an eye on him citing a B-rank mission upon completion.

The next few months had resulted in periodic tailing of the instructor and his meetings with a regular medic and some hooded man in the forest, Iruka had also opened up to Naruto much to his delight another person that didn't treat him like the fox incarnate.

Hokage's Office - Present day

"Well that's pretty much the short version of things, outside of Hinata's clan training and hanging out with the Ino-Shika-Cho group."

The Hokage nodded again a huge part of him was happy that his surrogate grandson had worked hard and even managed to fool him, he would be an asset to the village, he was even happy to know a part of Minato and Kushina still lived inside of him quite literally.

"Hmm, well I'm going to have to talk with Anko on both her reckless judgement and assigning a 'B-rank mission' I guess funds will be allocated to both of you maybe out of her wages." The Hokage grinned behind his pipe. "Well Iruka, I think in regards to everything we have been told do you think we should pass them both?"

Iruka stepped forward, "Yes Hokage-sama, both students have shown not only a strong desire to learn and improve but their skill at hiding this under a mask shows they would make excellent ninja's of the leaf, the will of fire is strong in them." Iruka smiled at both the Hanyou.

"Very well as of today you have both graduated from the Konoha academy as Genin, I know you will both serve with pride and honour." Sarutobi opened his desk pulling out a pair of headbands, only to find Iruka giving his to Naruto.

"I guess that means you're a Genin again Iruka." Sarutobi chuckled handing him a new headband, Naruto and Hinata both fixing theirs to their right arm.

"You will be assigned to teams with Jonin-sensei in a few days." The Hokage smiled.

"Well here's to hoping you don't end up with Kibaka as a team mate Hinata-chan." Naruto stated.

"Don't say that Naruto-kun, Kiba is nice to me." Hinata flashed a warm smile.

"Yeah, that's only because he wants to get into your pants and mark his territory." Naruto's eyes narrowed a frown on his face, earning a giggle from Hinata.

"Only one person is allowed in there Naruto-kun." Hinata giggled again, before her face went coquettish. "Though if the mission requires it."

Naruto's face looked like he had eaten something sour, deciding not to try fighting against Hinata he turned to Iruka.

"Let's get ramen Iruka-sensei." Naruto stated excitedly.

The three spent the night at Ichiraku ramen much to the dismay of Iruka's wallet, Naruto and Hinata had slept that night knowing that everything was to change in the next few years and they looked forward to those challenges.

A/N: Well that's my first chapter, nothing really new here but after losing my 3rd chapter of my other fic I wanted to write something else until I can get the will of fire for that story back (sorry orz), I took a few liberties here and there and I apologise for Mizuki's last name (orz), but couldn't pass up the chance.

Hikui Rasenmaru: - Lesser Rasengen: A chakra based attack, this one is closer to stage 2 Rasengen in power (Rubber ball training) but only spins one direction, it spins opponents and sends them flying.

Please R & R and let me know what you think.