Naruto and its characters were created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is fan fiction.

Author's Note: This story is more of an action story than either of my previous stories (The Missing Bijuu and A Pleasant Sort of Hell). My intention is to take this from about the start of the Canon story through the fallout of the Chuunin Exams. After that we'll see.

Added to the Glossary on 2016-01-09.

Japanese versus English

I'm going to be using mainly English for technique (jutsu) names unless I think they're unwieldy or silly sounding in English such as Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) and Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God). I'm taking the creative license of calling Henge no Jutsu Disguise Technique, instead of the literal and more commonly used Transformation, because I think it describes the skill better. I'll be mainly using Japanese for titles and place names, and bloodline abilities. I'll be using the Asian style of family names before given names.

Standard Romanji (Latin alphabet transcription of Japanese) calls for the use of a macron (a bar over a letter) to denote a long vowel. For ease of typing, I'm using the alternate style of doubling a vowel to denote its long (except for long o which I'm writing ou). The Japanese learned the Latin alphabet from the Portuguese, so vowels are pronounced as in Portuguese, Spanish, or Italian: a is like a in father, e is like e in they, i is like i in machine, o is like oa in boat, and u is like ue in blue. Long vowels in Japanese are longer or more stressed rather than "saying their name" as in English.

Honorifics

I'm going to try and use honorifics in the Japanese style as best I can, but it might be a little bit off. In general using too high or too low an honorific is insulting. If too high an honorific is used it is assumed to be sarcastic or patronizing. Honorifics can be applied to family or given names for more or less formality.

No honorific: Denotes intimacy or contempt. Used only with those very close or those you wish to deliberately insult.

-chan: More a diminutive than an honorific. Very roughly equivalent to calling someone baby or honey in English. Used to talk to children. Often used for teenage girls, especially among themselves. Considered cutesy. Is insulting when used for an adult or teenage boy. Naruto overuses this due to not being taught correctly.

-kun: Very roughly equivalent to calling someone a pal, dude, or friend. Used for peers that are friendly. Often used for teenage boys.

-san: The standard honorific for strangers or formality. Roughly equivalent to calling someone Mr., Mrs., or Ms.

-sama: The honorific to someone above you. Shows great respect. Roughly equivalent to calling someone Lord or Lady.

Relatives

Japanese has many ways to refer to relatives. These are the ones I'll be using.

O-: Adds respect.

Honorifics: The following are used with honorifics most often (e.g., Baachan).

Baa: Grandmother

Ba: Aunt

Jii: Grandfather

Ji: Uncle

Kaa: Mother

Mago: Grandchild

Nee: Older sister

Nii: Older brother

Otou: Father

Japanese Glossary (I'll try and keep this updated.)

Akatsuki: Dawn

Akasuna: Red sand. Sasori's title

Ame: Rain. Short for Amekagure no Satu: Village Hidden by the Rain.

ANBU: Short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai which means Special Assassination and Tactical Squad

Bijuu: Tailed Beast. In Naruto, this denotes the nine sentient, powerful chakra constructs

Byakugan: White eye. A bloodline ability that allows the holder to see through solid objects and to see chakra when activated.

Chakra: In Naruto, this is a combination of spiritual and physical energy used to enhance and power techniques making them super human

Chuunin: Middle ninja. Second shinobi rank

Doujutsu: Eye technique. A class of bloodline abilities

Ero-sennin: Pervert sage/hermit

Fuuinjutsu: Sealing technique. A technique a user to create a seal using pictures, characters, and chakra. Some allow later activation using more chakra. Most frequently used to store things or to make explosions, but many other effects are possible.

Genin: Low ninja. First and lowest shinobi rank

Genjutsu: Illusionary technique. Using chakra to make an illusion

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire

Hime: Princess

Hiraishin: Flying Thunder God. A technique that allows teleportation to premade seals.

Hokage: Fire Shadow. The leader of Konoha

Ichibi: One Tail. One of the bijuu

Jinchuuriki: Power of human sacrifice. Indicates a human with a bijuu sealed inside them

Jounin: High Ninja. Third and highest ninja rank

Kashiwa no Sato: Oak Village

Kawa no Kuni: Land of Rivers

Kitsune: Fox. In English this denotes a supernatural fox, but in Japanese it means any fox

Konoha: Tree Leaves. Short for Konohagakure no Sato. Village Hidden by the Tree Leaves

Kusa: Grass. Short for Kusagakure no Sato. Village Hidden by the Grass.

Kyuubi: Nine Tails. One of the bijuu

Mokuton: Wood release. A bloodline ability that allows the user to create objects out of living wood and to influence the growth of trees and plants.

Nami no Kuni: Land of Waves

Nin: Short for ninja (shinobi)

Ninjutsu: Ninja Techniques. Expressing chakra outside the body for a physical result

No: A Japanese preposition indicating possession or to connect two nouns, e.g., Hi no Kuni or Kyuubi no Kitsune

Rasengan: Spiralling Sphere. An offensive technique that makes a ball of chakra that has multiple rotational axes inside of it. Drills and grinds when pushed into an object

Rikudou Sennin: Sage of Six Paths

Sannin: Three Ninja. Short for Densetsu no Sannin: Legendary Three Ninja

Sato: Village

Sharingan: Copy wheel eye. A bloodline ability that allows its holder to predict movement and to understand how chakra is used when activated. It allows the user to copy many types of techniques and to remember them.

Shinobi: Ninja. Shinobi and ninja are two different readings (pronunciation) of the same kanji (Chinese style word character). Ninja is the reading emulating the original Chinese pronunciation (onyomi) and shinobi is the native Japanese reading (kunyomi). Note that Chinese has changed since the Japanese adopted Kanji, so those characters would no longer be pronounced that way in Mandarin

Suna: Sand. Short for Sunagakure no Sato: Village Hidden by the Sand

Taijutsu: Body technique. Martial Arts. Includes some chakra techniques that are used in conjunction with martial arts

Tenketsu: Pressure point(s). In Naruto, they are the points through which chakra can be released from the body

Uzu no Kuni: Land of Whirlpools

Uzushio: Whirling Tides. Short for Uzushiogakure no Sato: Village Hidden by the Whirling Tides

"You can open your eyes now, Naruto-kun," Umino Iruka said.

Uzumaki Naruto opened her eyes. She was a short girl with a slender figure, straight blond hair that went to the middle of her back and bright blue eyes. Her face was narrow with delicate, aristocratic features. She would be called gorgeous if it weren't for three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek which made her look either fierce or cute, depending on her expression. Either look was completely ruined, however, by her bright orange jumpsuit. She reached up and felt where Iruka had placed the headband with the Leaf Badge on it.

"Congratulations, you're a genin shinobi."

She had failed the Genin Exam for the third time thanks to being unable to perform the Clone Technique and, if she was honest with herself, her horrible written test score and her mediocre scores in the other subjects. Mizuki-sensei had offered a "makeup test" as a second chance, but that had turned out to be a ploy to get the Forbidden Scroll so he could blame it on her. Mizuki had told her that the reason everyone hated her was that she had the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside her, but Iruka had shown he was a true friend and had passed her because she had defeated Mizuki using the Shadow Clone Technique she had just learned from the Scroll.

She was brought out of her reminiscing by the sound of clapping. She turned to see a young boy with red hair and an androgynous blond—both in black cloaks with red clouds.

"That was beautiful, hn," said the blond in a tenor voice—marking him tentatively as male.

"It seems that suborning Orochimaru's stooge has paid dividends," said the redhead. "The Kyuubi is here all alone with just a barely standing chuunin."

"I'm not the Kyuubi!" Naruto shouted.

"I don't care," said the boy. "You're coming with us. Deidara-san, a demonstration."

"Of course, I'd be happy to share my art, hn. Art is a blast!" The blond threw a small clay bird into the air which exploded. He then threw a bunch of little birds which landed on and around Naruto and Iruka.

Naruto started to swat at the birds, but the redhead said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"If I come with you will you leave Iruka alone?" she asked tentatively.

"Yes, we'll let him live, but only if you come," said the redhead.

"Naruto-kun, you can't. . ." started Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei, nobody will miss me if I'm gone, but I can't let someone who has acknowledged me die."

"I'll miss you," her teacher whispered.

She dropped the Forbidden Scroll and said, "I'm just moving him to safety."

She formed two Shadow Clones. One picked up the scroll and the other pulled Iruka onto her shoulder and dragged him away.

"How do we know you're the real one?" asked the redhead.

She took a kunai out of her pouch and slashed her forearm which proceeded to bleed. "A Shadow Clone would have dispersed. I'll come quietly if you let him go, but if you don't, I'll swamp this forest with hundreds of Shadow Clones and you'll have to hunt me down."

"Very well," said the redhead. "We don't care about him anyway."

He approached her and jabbed her with a knife with a suspicious-looking residue. A few seconds later she blacked out.

Naruto woke up after an indeterminate time. She was alone in a room with a washbasin, a chamber pot, a tray with a bowl and cup, and a cot. There weren't any windows, and only one door.

Oddly, she had memories of dragging Iruka until they were met by the Hokage and some ANBU. She and Iruka had told them what had happened and she had picked out the blond and the redhead from a book with pictures that the Hokage had said was called a Bingo Book: Deidara and Akasuna no Sasori-missing nin from Iwa and Suna, respectively. The Hokage had told her that they would come for her, but that if she happened to escape, she should make a clone and have it think about what had happened so that her clone here would know. Then he told one of her to disperse. She realized that she must be remembering what the clone experienced. She figured that the other one must still be in Konoha because she did not have any other weird memories like that. She hoped that meant she had not been gone too long.

She examined herself. She was still dressed as she had been, but she also had a metal cuff on her right wrist that had lettering on it that must be a seal. The only other thing she noticed is that all her shinobi tools were missing.

She tried to make a Shadow Clone, but her chakra wouldn't mold. All she felt was the cuff heat up a little.

She went to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. The bowl had miso soup in it and the cup had water. She ate and drank. She felt a little better, but was still hungry. She wanted some ramen badly. She went back to the cot and lay down to try and figure out what to do.

Naruto was startled out of a ramen daydream by the door opening. An odd looking man-shaped thing entered the room. He was half black and half white and shaped like a poorly-made doll. He had leafy green hair and a sparse leaf skirt around his waist on the black side.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am called Zetsu," he said with a deep voice.

Zetsu approached her. "You feel like Kaasan. Why does your chakra feel like my mother's?" he asked.

"Who is your mother?" Naruto asked.

"Outsutsuki Kaguya-hime, the Rabbit Goddess."

Naruto had never heard of such a person or goddess, but she thought she might be able to use this to her advantage.

"If you take off this cuff, you'll be able to look at my chakra better," she said. It was a long shot, she knew. Gambits like this only work in novels and manga.

He nodded and moved forward.

"She's trying to trick us," Zetsu said in a higher voice.

"I know," the doll man said in its deeper voice, "but I need to figure this out. Besides, she's a new genin and barely found out she's a jinchuuriki. What's she going to do?"

Zetsu grabbed the cuff and channeled chakra into it. The cuff opened and she could feel her chakra better.

Deep-voice Zetsu said, "Behave or it goes back on."

The man thing held onto her wrist and started channeling chakra into her. She felt her chakra respond.

"Her chakra isn't Kaasan's," said the deeper voice, "but there's an aspect of it that feels like Kaasan's. This aspect has attracted some of the residual chakra Kaasan left in the world."

Experimentally, Naruto tugged on the creature's chakra with her own. Zetsu's chakra was similar to her own, but it had a dark taint to it. She wondered if she could remove the taint, so she concentrated on how her chakra felt without it.

"What are you doing?" asked the high-voiced Zetsu. "Stop that," added the deep-voiced one.

She ignored them and tried to absorb and purify Zetsu's chakra more rapidly. She started to feel warmer, but kept at it. Zetsu tried to pull away. When that failed, Zetsu's black half started to ooze over her hand. She felt that she had to keep going. Zetsu started to hit her with his white fist. That hurt at first, but she kept draining him and the blows got weaker. She was feeling quite hot, but Zetsu was shrinking in on himself and starting to look like a dried out husk.

When she finished draining Zetsu, he turned to dust and she was feeling feverish and bloated. She tried to keep hold of her chakra, but after a few minutes it slipped and her chakra exploded out of her.