Disclaimer: Not mine.

Heya folks, FrancoGamerxz here, coming at you with something different. While my ideas on Uzumaki Chronicles buffer and the pieces start falling into place, I decided to try to do something a bit different than that.

I got the inspiration for it all of a sudden, so I'm going to write about it. If I end up enjoyiyng it, I may continue to write it, and do so parallel to Uzumaki Chronicles, If I don't, I'll probably leave it up for adoption.

Anyways, with that out of the way, Let's go!

~Story start~

-Naruto's apartment, bedroom, night-

Lying down on his bed, Naruto couldn't help but think back on the day's events. From failing the academy test, to learning that he was the vessel of the Nine-tailed fox, to beating the crap out of Mizuki with his new jutsu and getting Iruka's headband, it was a rollercoaster of emotions.

He looked to his bedstand, seeing the somewhat beat up, nicked , and scratched forehead protector that was Iruka's, a warmth blossoming in his chest.

'Iruka-sensei believes in me. That means I can't let him down! I'll become the most awesome ninja around, and then they'll have no choice but to elect me as Hokage!'

With those thoughts in mind, Naruto slowly fell asleep, thinking about the genin team selection that was about to happen in two weeks.

-?-

His eyes snapping wide open, Naruto found himself lying down on running water. Sitting up in shock, he looked around to try to ascertain what happened.

"What? Is this a sewer? How the hell did I get in here?"

Standing up, the blonde gave the grimy, filthy walls a cursory look, before looking down at the water that reached his ankles. Looking up, Naruto saw two sets of pipes, a cluster of arm-thick pipes, with a glowing blue... something... shining from them, and a single, thicker pipe, leaking some red water from a few points.

His focus was pulled by what sounded like a massive gust of warm air coming from the end of a tunnel. Walking towards it out of curiosity, Naruto found himself crossing through various different pathways, the red pipe always in sight of him, as the gust became warmer, and more regular. Soon enough, it even sounded like...

'Breathing? What the hell is big enough for it's breath to do this?'

A gigantic cage came into sight for Naruto, two huge, grated doors, taller than the Hokage mountain, with only a piece of paper in the middle with the Kanji for "seal" on them.

A sense of trepidation started creeping through Naruto's veins as he thought about the possible things that would be: A) Big enough for it's breaths to create a gust of wind; and B) Big enough to require these doors to keep it locked away.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the possible suspect list started shrinking the more he thought about it...

Until a single, massive red eye opened right in front of him.

Naruto's blood froze. His suspicions were confirmed by that. He was in terrible amounts of danger, and there was nothing he could do to save himself.

"Come closer, brat..."

Against his better judgement, and his mind shouting negatives and expeletives freely, Naruto found his legs obeying the command, making him get closer and closer to the cage.

Closer.

Closer even.

When he was nose-to-cage, he was surprise by a massive, wicked grin, gleaming, white, sharp teeth spread wide open, a pair of slit, burning red eyes, and a snout that kept blowing hot air at him.

The massive face lowered, the snout almost poking his chest, the eyes forcibly keeping Naruto's horrified attention...

"Boo!"

"GAH!"

The blonde threw himself backwards, landing on his ass, before trying his best to crawl away from the cage, while a massive 9-tailed fox was revealed by a massive light shining upon the cage, a pair of oddly anthropomorphic arms wrapped around it's sides as it laughed uproariously.

"HAHAHAHAHA! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE, BRAT! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Knowing a prank when he saw one, and hearing the sound of laughter, Naruto's fear changed to irritation, and then anger.

"YOU! YOU ATTACKED THE VILLAGE 12 YEARS AGO! YOU'RE THE REASON THE FOURTH DIED! YOU'RE THE REASON EVERYONE HATES ME!"

It's laughter dying off, the fox lowered it's head towards the blonde, raising an eyebrow before speaking.

"Am I, really? Are you sure?"

"Of course I am! Everyone knows this!"

The foxe's eyebrow rose further as it kept speaking.

"Just like everyone 'knows you're the Kyuubi'?"

That one shut Naruto up, but the nine-tailed fox kept speaking.

"Always keep this in mind, kid: If you weren't there, then don't make hasty decisions. There are two sides to every story, learn from both before making a choice. And yes, I was one of the factors involved in the fourth's death, but there's a bigger story there that you're not even remotely prepared to listen to, so I won't tell it to you.

And last, but not least, I didn't make anyone hate you. Remember, I've been locked in here ever since you were a baby, I had no way of leaving this place. If I couldn't even leave this place, then I had no chance to go into people's homes at night and whisper in their ears 'Hate Uzumaki Naruto'.

No. People hated you because they wanted to. They chose to hate you, despite the fact that you were the only thing standing between them and their possible destruction. They claimed to love the fourth so much, yet they couldn't even trust his most masterful piece of work that cost him even his life to make. So don't try to attribute someone else's guilt to me. You, more than anyone else, should know how bad that is."

Naruto's head hung in shame, the thoughts and memories moving through his head, before a question sprung to his mind.

"Where... are we?"

"This, brat" the fox said with a smirk "Is your mind. Well, not your mind exactly. More like, a physical representation of your mind. It's called a mindscape."

"So, this is my mind, huh... Looks like a dump."

"Hey, you said it, not me."

Sweatdropping lightly, Naruto turned back towards the fox.

"Now what?"

"...Now what, what?"

Shrugging, Naruto spoke in a questioning tone.

"Isn't now the time where you start spouting out death threats, slamming into the bars of the cage in an attempt to get out of here, try to make a deal for my soul, anything of the sort?"

"...You really have an overactive imagination, kid. Why would I spout death threats and slam into the bars when I know that the best result possible would be me getting a massive migraine? And who the hell said anything about me making deals for souls? That's the Shinigami's turf, not mine."

"...But don't you want to get out? I mean, a cage in a sewer can't be the most comfortable place."

"It isn't, really, but I'm just trying to enjoy the fact that I'm no longer chained to a flaming rock floating in an empty clearing, incapable of even scratching an itch at the tip of my nose. And inside this cage, I don't have to worry about any assholes with a mutated pink-eye showing up in my home, calling me a thoughtless beast and trying to make me a slave to fight against his woody buddy, all because he got traded off for a redheaded vixen."

At Naruto's questioning look, the fox could only sigh and wave one of it's hands.

"Long story, maybe you'll hear it someday, but that's not what's important now. What is important is the fact that you have to get stronger."

"What."

"Are you deaf? I said you have to get stronger."

"I know you said that, but... why?"

"Because this is as comfortable as I've been in about 80 years, or more. When I'm outside, I have to constantly deal with groups of humans showing up at my dens, trying to subjugate me, treat me like an animal, and a weapon, and so on and so forth.

As long as I'm in here, I don't have to worry about any of this. And seen as you Uzumaki people are long-lived as all hell, added to the circumstances of your birth... Well, you'll be around for a long time. Long enough to possibly dissuade people from trying to mess with me once you do kick the bucket."

"The circumstances of my birth? YOU KNEW MY PARENTS?"

"No, I didn't KNOW your parents. I know of your parents..."

Naruto shot the Kyuubi a hopeful look, unknowingly activating the puppy-dog eye no jutsu + pouting, tembling lip of doom no jutsu combo, causing the fox to actually have to avert it's eyes from the child.

'Must. Resist.'

"N-No, I can't tell you about them..."

Seeing Naruto's dejected look, the fox cursed itself internally for it's soft heart, before ammending.

"Yet. It'd be dangerous for you to know right now. But, if you prove to me that you're ready, both by becoming strong in body, mind, and maturity, then I'll tell you everything I know about them."

Naruto's eyes actually light up with flames, something that somewhat disturbed the fox, yet it chalked up to the excentricities of it's host's mind, before Naruto spoke with conviction.

"Then I'll become as awesome, strong, smart and mature as fast as I can! I won't disappoint you, Kyuubi-sensei!"

'Kyuubi-sensei?'

Sweatdropping at that, the fox could only say one thing.

"The name ain't Kyuubi, kid. It's Kurama."

Naruto responded by nodding resolutely at the fox.

"Kurama-sensei!"

-The following day morning, training field 16-

'Okay Brat, the first step to become a proper shinobi is to learn the basics. You should've been taught those in your academy, but you didn't, due to a combination of sabotage, negligence, and your lack of focus and attention. We're going to correct this.'

'Okay, I can understand that, but how am I going to learn 4 years of academy work in 2 weeks?'

'Kid, I'm glad you asked. You may not have noticed, but you've pretty much got the solution to all your training-related problems almost literally at the tip of your fingers.'

'I do? I mean... Yeah, of course I do!... Er, and what does that happen to be, Kurama-sensei?'

The chakra beast could only facepalm at his container's idiocy, before answering.

'You know that technique that you learnt last night, that allowed you to make hundreds of clones of you and become a shinobi?'

'You mean the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?'

'Yes, that same one. Well, it doesn't just create an ocean of orange-clad eyesores-'

'HEY!'

'-no, there's also a secondary feature that you might not have noticed. Whatever a clone learns, you learn as well, meaning-'

'That I can make a clone of myself, and the two of us train at the same time, and when It dispells, I learn twice as much in the same time!'

'Wow, color me impressed brat, you caught on quick. But no, that's not exactly it. You see, you're a special case, both because you're an Uzumaki, and because you're my container. The shadow clone jutsu is a B-rank forbidden jutsu for two reasons. One, it's chakra cost can lead experienced jounin to their knees due to chakra exhaustion after a single use, and two, the backlash of dispelling too many at once can liquify a person's brain.'

Naruto paled instantly, the thought of a liquified brain not at all attractive to him. Before he could swear to limit his use of Shadow Clones, however, Kurama spoke up.

'As I previously said, being both an Uzumaki, and my container specifically makes you a special case. Your chakra capacity allows you to toss shadow clones around like candy without feeling it, and my chakra allows you to recover from the backlash even as it occurs, which means that that isn't a problem either.

Something else that I theorized about after our talk, and that we should check out, is the fact that you can use my chakra when making clones. If you load my chakra into a clone, and have that clone make further clones, then those clones can dispell to spread the information to the first clone, he can sort it out, deal with the backlash, improve upon his own training before spawning more. By the time he's out of chakra, the improvements should be tremendous, and they'll return to you already organized.

What that means is that we can increase your growth rate not arithmetically, as would be the case usually, but exponentially!'

'...Huh?'

Kurama could only sigh in exasperation and shake his head, having to simplify everything for the child.

'You use red chakra in clone, clone be strong. Strong clone make clone, strong clone's clone learn much, disappear, strong clone learn, make more clone, repeat. When strong clone not so strong, he disappear, you learn much. If you make 5 strong clone, each do this, you learn much very fast.'

Naruto's eyes widened in realization at that.

'Oh wow, If I have all of these clones running around the village-'

'Not so fast, kiddo. The one true limitation that the clones pose for you is that the can't help you increase in physical strength. They can work in muscle memory, chakra control, learning, a lot of things, but they don't transfer over physical increases. You'll have to work on those on your on.

While we're in this subject, you need to eat less ramen. The reason you're a shrimp is because all you eat is ramen, day in, day out. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Were you anyone else, right now you'd either be suffering from scurvvy, hypertension, obesity, diabetes and/or all sorts of related diseases.

If you want to grow stronger, and taller, then you need to get variety in your diet. Fruits, vegetables, grain, various types of meat, all that jazz.'

'...But I can't even buy food properly. The prices are way too high.'

'Kid, the shopkeepers have been pricegouging you. And you, being an idiot, never even thought of trying to shop under a Transformation, did you?'

Naruto's gaping wide mouth was enough response for Kurama, who could only rub his forehead, his thoughts less than flattering.

'Of course he didn't... Why did I have to get stuck with the Idiotic container again? I doubt any of my siblings have to deal with this kind of thing.'

'Anyways, now that you know how to get into places where you couldn't, and to not get fucked over by scumbags, you should start with the library. Make normal clones, send them to the library under transformation at unever periods, have them the unnedited version of your various academy books, and a few books on interpersonal relations, chakra, bodybuilding and weapons.'

Naruto obeyed by making a cross with his fingers, a cloud of smoke depositing 50 copies of him, before each of them transformed into a different, non-descript individual with different characteristics, and went around the village, some of them heading straight towards the academy, others heading for various shops to get his groceries, and one group heading back home to tidy up his room.

'Okay, now that that's done, we go to step two:

LOSE THE ORANGE!'

Glaring at nothing, since he was incapable of glaring at the fox inside his gut, Naruto opened his mouth to respond instantly, only to be interrupted.

'Naruto, think instead of reacting. One of your strong suits is stealth. You managed to paint the Hokage monument in broad daylight, and you were only noticed when you wanted to. You took down the Hokage, stole the scroll of seals,and then evaded detection or capture from basically all village-bound shinobi!'

'And I did it perfectly well in these threads!'

'I know, and I acknowledge that, Naruto, but just imagine. If you can get away with doing those things as an orange beacon, imagine just how better you'll be when wearing stealth-adequate clothing!'

Noticing that Naruto was about to crack, Kurama went for the kill.

'We can even keep some orange in your outfit through trims, and edges.'

Sighing out loud, the blonde spoke in a downtrodded tone.

'Okay, Kurama-sensei.'

'Good. Now step three, make 5 clones powered by my chakra, have each of them make 5 clones, and have those train in things that you can use. One series of clones will work only on your projectile handling and accuracy, one will work on your Replacement mastery, the other one on your transformation mastery, and the last two will work on chakra control.'

Crossing his hands together, Naruto felt a burst of energy that felt foreign, yet at the same time familiar, flowing into him. With a cry of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", the clearing now had 10 extra Narutos.

Scratching the back of his head while laughing sheepishly, Naruto thought to Kurama.

'Guess my chakra control was worse than we thought, no?'

'Indeed. I guess we get to double the numbers in training, then.'

'And what about the original me?'

'The original you is going down and doing pushups.'

Mentally saluting the fox, knowing that he usually completed all the sets in the academy, Naruto 'spoke' up confidently.

'This is gonna be easy, Kurama-sensei. How many do you want me to do? 20? 50?'

'Do pushups until I say stop.'

The blonde blanched at that, while the fox continued speaking.

'I'll take a small nap here, but that doesn't mean you should cheat. I'll know if you do, and I'll force you to start all over again!'

And so, Naruto's torture began.

~Chapter End~

Okay, parallel project. Tell me what you think.