A/N: So this is the story that I teased in the last chapter of Stuck on Red, I finally put together a decent first chapter that I felt comfortable uploading. If you don't like it, well that's on you. Oh and if you couldn't guess by the type what time of story this will be, you'll learn in about 2 mins.

It was a day like any other in Konoha, the sun was shining, the people of the village were walking around shopping and being happy, and the Third Hokage was in his office doing paperwork. The Third Hokage was a busy man, as he had to run a village, but he was still as sharp as ever. Nothing ever escaped his attention unless he allowed it to do so. So, when for the first time in nearly 3 weeks, he didn't hear the cries of a Baby in his office, he was immediately on guard.

Going over to the corner, he found an empty crib and he summoned his ANBU immediately.

"Where is young Naruto? I left him here in my office during the council meeting, under your care Hawk" questioned Hiruzen

"Sir, you sent a letter with Serpent that you wanted Serpent to transport young Naruto to you. It was signed by you sir; the note even had your Hokage Seal on it" replied Hawk

"Serpent? But that's the code name of Orochimaru, we don't use that one anymore" muttered Hiruzen under his breath before his mind put together some pieces and said, "Gather all of the ANBU, I want Orochimaru and Naruto found and brought to me, unharmed if possible for the snake and any other condition will be unacceptable for Naruto."

Hiruzen and his top agents raced through the village before Hiruzen was summoned by Shark to an underground bunker, one like where they found Tenzo. Unsure of what he would find in the bunker, Hiruzen opened the bunker and travelled to the main chamber. There he found Naruto, alive and well if not a bit dirty and a note.

I think that this experiment will work better than any of the other's, sensei.

-Orochimaru

Hiruzen was careful to watch Naruto closely from that day on, but nothing ever came of it. So Hiruzen, still nervous about a sleeper agent situation from Naruto decided that at the age of 6, Naruto was to enroll into the Academy.

Naruto Age 9:

"Naruto Uzumaki, you are to perform the clone Jutsu, you will need at least 3 clones to pass this portion of the test and to pass in general" said a generic Chunnin.

Naruto shook his head and handed the Chunnin a scroll from the Hokage that basically said "Naruto had an ocean of chakra; a basic clone is like trying to use an eye dropper to remove all of the water from the ocean."

Generic Chunnin number 1 looked at Generic Chunnin number 2 and shrugged. "You passed kid"

Naruto age 10:

"Rio Sensei, I did it" said Naruto from standing on top of a small lake, having been able to master water walking.

"Good Job Naruto, let's see if you can spar with Kari on top of the lake" replied his sensei before Naruto watched the brown-haired girl on his team race towards him, making him block. Naruto used his two-armed block to push to girl backwards, causing her to swing her arms to try and regain her balance.

Naruto used this to his advantage, sliding forward and slamming his elbow into her chest before dropping low and sweeping her legs. Kari fell in her butt and when she looked up, she was greeted to the sight of Naruto's foot sending her downwards through the surface of the water.

Naruto smiled and said, "Did you see that sensei?"

"I did Naruto, but the spar isn't over" said Rio, just in time for hands to grab Naruto's ankles and pull him underwater.

Naruto age 11:

"I know that it sucks that you got bounced in the second round of the Chunnin exams, Naruto. But I have faith in you and know that you will get it next time," Rio told his blonde haired student.

Naruto nodded and said "I'm going to learn something super useful that will make sure that they never gang up on me again."

"Exactly, you just have to put in the work, but to be fair you were the youngest genin in this. Don't worry, Kari and Maro will be sure to finish what you guys started" said Rio as he ruffled Naruto's hair

"So, when can we get started?" asked Naruto

Rio smirked and slapped a seal onto Naruto's back causing his blond haired student to collapse to the ground.

"Right now, that seal will triple your weight, we're going to start with strength and speed training at the same time." Replied Rio

Naruto Age 12:

"Naruto RUN!" screamed Rio as he stood in front of the blond haired Genin and the rest of his squad.

"Listen, we don't want anyone but the blond over there. Step aside and we'll spare you and your two other students" hissed one of the Hidden Rock Ninja

"That isn't the Konoha way, we take care of our own" spat back Rio before the 4 Jonin all started to launch an attack at Rio.

"Rio Sensei NOOO!" screamed Naruto, Kari, and Maro all at once as their sensei wasn't able to overcome the combined attack of the Rock Jonin. Rio's head was sent flying towards his students, it flew a little over their heads before coming to a stop.

Maro being 15 was the next to push Naruto and Kari ahead, but he too would fall not long after. His screams making Naruto sprint even faster than he thought possible. He was trying to drag Kari with him, but she was proving to be nothing but dead weight. And because Kari was frozen with fear when kunai made of rocks rained down on them, she too would perish to the assault of the Rock Jonin.

"Please, why are you doing this" cried Naruto, the young blond was unable to try and process what was happening.

"You can blame your scumbag father for what he did to us" spat one of the Rock Jonin

Naruto hiccupped and said, "I don't know who my father is"

Another one of the Rock Jonin smirked and said, "Well, it sucks to be you kid, because we figured out that that bastard flash was your father from nothing more than a glance in your direction."

Naruto crawled backwards into a tree and the when he failed to move back any further, the 4 Jonin laughed before advancing, thinking that this was almost too easy.

Naruto's heartbeat was thundering inside of his ears, his brain rattling from the force of his heartbeat in his ears.

Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the sharp pain that he assumed would come with being stabbed or death.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH" screamed a male as he was pierced in the chest, straight through and out the back. Blood poured down his back and his life was over within seconds.

"You truly are pathetic, but I will not be allowing you to get us both killed" hissed a dark voice inside of Naruto's mind as Naruto realized that he was alive.

Naruto looked up and saw that the tree that he had been against had suddenly grown a sharp spear that had ended the life of the man who was about to end his life.

Naruto's eyes flashed a forest green and suddenly the trees around him exploded around him, wrapping up the remaining 3 Rock Jonin, not allowing them to escape.

"PLEASE HAVE MERCY" screamed one of the rock Jonin

Naruto's green eyes narrowed and he said "Of course I will show you mercy"

This caused the Jonin to relax until Naruto continued on to say "The same amount of mercy that you showed my team" before the wooden wraps crushed the Rock Jonin into nothing.

2 weeks later

It was a day like any other, the sky was as clear as can be. The stars were shining in the night sky, casting twinkling dots of light onto the streets below. The moon was half way to fullness, but shined brightly anyways. It was a typical night in Konoha; the village was at great peace in the middle of the night.

However that also meant that Naruto was trapped in one of his nightmares, like a typical night.

"AAAAGGGH" screamed Naruto as he woke up, his body covered in a light gleaming coat of sweat. Naruto wiped his forehead and let out a heavy sigh, it was just a dream or rather a nightmare. It had happened almost every time he closed his eyes, he would see his team getting killed right in front of him.

Naruto checked the time and saw that it read 3:15 AM before he groaned as he saw that today was the day. Today was the day that Naruto, a shinobi who had lasted his entire team would join a team who had lost a single shinobi.

Team 7; Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kizo Soto had left to the Land of Wave, and Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura had returned with a scroll that held Kizo. It was strange to see that just 2 weeks ago, both of the teams had been whole. Team 13 had been a team that Naruto had grown very close too. Team 7, it felt wrong to say that he was a part of that team. Nevertheless, Naruto was a shinobi and a shinobi must always perform his duties and being on team 7 was his latest assignment. So, with a heavy sigh, Naruto got up and prepared himself for the meeting with his new team.

Hokage's Office

Kakashi was early to this meeting, and by early, I mean only 45 mins late. Hiruzen looked every single one of his 60 plus years of life at this point. Kakashi looked as unconcerned as ever, but the Hokage could see that Kakashi was basically a nervous wreck. The Silver haired Jonin hadn't turned the page on his book since he entered the room while the book in question was tilted slightly downwards, showing that Kakashi had no interest in reading it at the moment. This was something that all of the other Jonin in the room had noticed as well, but nobody commented on it as this meeting was unscheduled and thus clearly a bit more important than Kakashi's ability to read porn.

"Now, normally we wouldn't be having this meeting without warning, but there has been a development that I felt that you would all need to know." Said Hiruzen to the Jonin in the room, he had paused to gauge the response of the Jonin before continuing. "As you may have heard, Team 13 encountered a squad of Shinobi from the Land of Earth. Blood was spilt from both sides."

The already quiet room became even more silent, the Jonin who had been out on missions were bothered at hearing the loss of one of their own. A team of Iwa Jonin had attacked a Genin team, while was not unheard of, was frowned upon.

"I saw we order their heads on a pike, the blatant attack of our shinobi can be seen as an act of war" hissed Asuma

Asuma had barely whispered in anger, but the room was so quiet that Hiruzen heard his son anyway.

"Normally, I would agree with you, Asuma. If Iwa Shinobi are targeting my Shinobi, there would be no hiding them from me, not on this planet anyway." Said Hiruzen in response to Asuma. "However, we will not be getting the heads of the men responsible"

As these words left, the Third Hokage's mouth, the once quiet room exploded in anger.

"WHAT!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?'

"THIS WILL NOT STAND!"

"I'LL KILL THEM MYSELF IF I HAVE TO'

"THOSE ROCK HEADED SCUM WILL PAY FOR THIS"

"WE CANNOT ALLOW FOR THEM TO SLAUGHTER ENTIRE SQUADS"

*clap*

"Enough, let Lord Hokage speak" said Kakashi with an edge to his voice and suddenly everyone in the room was reminded of just who Kakashi really was. Not an elite, he was THE elite shinobi in the village, he was an ANBU captain with 0 failed mission, he was one of the 2.5 realistic options for the next Hokage, and with Jiraiya and Tsunade traveling and seemingly never in the village for one reason or another, Kakashi was the best option that the village had on hand, and the respect that he commanded in a moment like, showed it.

"Now, I understand your anger and concerns, but you didn't let me explain myself." Said Hiruzen before he pulled out a set of files that was passed around the room. "The entire squad was not killed, one member survived."

"That's great, they can help us identify the people who did this" said Anko, her eyes showing the anger that deep within her.

"That will also be unnecessary as the lone survivor didn't just survive the ordeal, they ripped the attackers a part." Said Hiruzen as he gestured for everyone to open the files and see the pictures of the area and what they had found of the Iwa Squad.

"I didn't know that Rio was capable of something like this" said Kurenai

"Yeah, I got to give it to him, he completely destroyed them" said Anko

"I guess the loss of his team allowed his flames of youth to explode outwards on his enemies." said Gai at a more normal voice level.

"Actually, Rio was lost in this attack along with his students, Maro and Kari. It was the youngest of his students that survived and killed the Iwa Jonin." Stated Hiruzen

"You're telling us that Naruto Uzumaki did this?" asked a Hyuga Jonin

"Correct and if you look at the images in the file, what do you see that is odd?" questioned Hiruzen

"In these pictures, the trees are warped. They were being controlled in some manner, almost like Lord First" said Shikaku after he took a glance at the photos.

"That is correct, Naruto Uzumaki has somehow awoken the Mokuton, the same as Hashirama Senju." Confirmed Hiruzen

The Jonin were shocked to say the least. However, Hiruzen wasn't in the mood to deal with anything less than competent people at the moment, so he spoke again before anyone else did.

"Now, I have to give this exact same speech to the Civilians Council in about an hour, so I will keep this short. We have to ensure that Naruto stays loyal this village by any means necessary. If I find out that you witnessed any type of mistreatment of Naruto, I will personally kill you myself. We cannot afford to lose the potential second coming of Hashirama because you have some personal hatred for the fox sealed into the young Uzumaki."

The calm and passive way that Hiruzen mentioned killing them, caused many of the Jonin to shrink. Hiruzen Sarutobi was not still Hokage because he liked doing the paper work, it is because he was still the God of Shinobi.

"Now get out there and I hope that you take what was said here to heart before I have to put a kunai through yours. Now everyone but Kakashi and Tenzo, get out of my office" said the Legendary shinobi.

Training Ground 7:

Sasuke had arrived early, and not just the standard '1 hour before Kakashi arrived' early, but the 'before the sun even rose' early.

It had been a terrible couple of weeks for the raven haired Uchiha, the trip to the Land of Waves had eaten on his mind. It was like He decided that their clan didn't need to exist anymore. It was like that Genjustu that He had put him in. Every time Sasuke closed his eyes, he could see himself inside that prison of crystal mirrors, the fake hunter ninja, and Kizo throwing himself in front of him.

Sasuke punched the wood post again and again. His hands had long since bruised and were turning a horrible shade of red. Sasuke blinked and Kizo's blank eyes were staring back him.

"Take care of Sakura for me"

Those were the final words that Kizo had spoken before the needles that had pierced through his stomach ended his life.

It was a simple request really, Sasuke didn't magically fall in love with Sakura or anything. He was willing to admit that she had matured since the passing of Kizo, even if it was a slow process. Her once long flowing hair, was not chopped short to her shoulders. Her self-imposed diet was no longer a thing, she was eating like someone who was training 3-4 hours per day/5 days a week.

"If you keep this up, you'll be forced to re-do the tape on that broken hand" called out a voice behind the Uchiha.

Sasuke didn't need to turn around know who the voice belonged to.

"I can always get my hand healed, I need to get stronger"

"But at what cost? Your health?" whispered the voice

Sasuke snarled and his normal onyx eyes turned into a crimson and black pattern, his Sharingan flaring to life with his spike in anger.

"Kizo, shut the hell up" Hissed Sasuke, the whispering voice of his teammate getting on his nerves.

However, when Sasuke whirled around to tell off his teammate, he was met with nothing but an empty training,

'It was all in my head, I am losing myself' thought the Uchiha as he clinched his hands into fists, which was not a good idea.

With a soft 'Tsk', the bone in his right hand broken from the combination of his squeezing of his hand and the beating that it had just taken from his training. Looking up and seeing the sun rising slowly over the tree line, Sasuke knew that he had about 4 hours before Kakashi would show up and their training would start.

With the knowledge of his time limit, Sasuke sucked up the pain and began his march to the hospital, he had to get his hand fixed or Kakashi would target it exclusively in their daily spar.

And it was as Sasuke left the training grounds that he could basically feel Kizo looking at his back, shaking his head as if to say 'I gave my life for you to act like this'

"I will be better Kizo" said Sasuke, mostly to himself, but also with the briefest hope that Kizo could hear it from the other side.

It was hours later when Sakura showed up to the training ground. She saw Sasuke basically glaring a wooden post, his right hand covered in bandages that had red spots on them.

"You overdid it again" stated Sakura, there was no question in what she said, she knew it to be true. Sasuke was a workout warrior, it was something that everyone knew about him since the time that he was 8. Hell, it was how he managed to avoid Itachi during the slaughtering of the Uchiha clan, he had been out late training.

"Nothing that couldn't be healed" replied Sasuke as he refused to meet her eyes, slightly ashamed about hurting himself.

"Well, if you say so, but it wouldn't make me go any easier on you in the spar later today" said the voice of their sensei off to the side of them.

Kakashi looked like he normally did, unimpressed and uninterested. Which meant that he was on high alert and was ready for anything at any moment.

Sending his students and eye smile, Kakashi waved at them and greeted them with his normal "Yo"

"What are you doing here, this early?" asked the pink haired girl of the group.

"Me? I've been here since before doom and gloom over here broke his hand on the middle wooden post before sunrise." Replied Kakashi as he returned his attention to his book.

"Wait, you showed up 3 hours early today?" asked Sasuke

"Sure did" lied Kakashi, he had seen Sasuke on his way to the hospital on the way to the Hokage's debriefing and had a shadow clone follow Sasuke and get the full story when Sasuke told it to the doctor who healed his hand. While lying was wrong, Kakashi also didn't give a shit.

"I like to mix up my schedule every now and then" said Kakashi as he turned the page of his book. "Besides, I wouldn't want to make a bad impression on my new student"

Both Sasuke and Sakura both froze, new student? They knew that eventually they would have to go back onto the active roster and that someone would be assigned to the team, but so soon? It had been only a couple of weeks, wasn't that a bit too soon.

Kakashi as if reading their minds said "We are not going to be taking another mission for another week at the earliest and nothing outside the village for the next month. In fact, if I get it my way, we will not be leaving the village until after the summer Chunnin exams in 10 weeks' time."

Kakashi had apparently said the right thing as that managed to get Sakura to release a breath she didn't know that she was holding and for Sasuke to untense and relax.

"So, when will this new squad member be getting here?" asked Sakura

"Oh, Naruto is already here. Or he's on his way into the training grounds" said Kakashi as he pointed at a figure that entered the training grounds.

Naruto wasn't all that impressive, he was of average height at around 5'6. He wasn't overly thing, he had more of a swimmer's body, lean and firm. His hair was shaggy and unkept, his hand band being the only thing that was holding it back from his eyes being overshadowed by his bangs. Speaking of his hair, it was the brightest shade of blond that either Sasuke or Sakura had ever seen. His burnt orange shirt and black pants combo didn't seem like something that should exist, but he wore it anyway.

"Naruto, this is Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, welcome to Team 7" said Kakashi as he gestured to Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto's face didn't light up with happiness or anything like that, he just frowned and said "I really don't want to be here or on this team."

And then Sasuke and Sakura both growled and Sasuke could hear the same voice that had haunted him for the weeks snarl. And just like that Sasuke's Sharingan blazed into existence and he launched himself at Naruto.

A/N: I am alive, just throwing that out there. Now I could blame a bunch of things for why I haven't been uploading chapter. Is it the 4 weeks of writers block that I just got over, maybe because this is the first time that I was able to put down more than a sentence without erasing a paragraph,

Is the shitty work schedule of 65 hours a week? Maybe, I haven't slept in a place that wasn't a car or a bus in almost 2 months.

Or is it that I am just a shitty uploader? No need to guess, it was this one.

There is already a set pairing for this story, so don't bother demanding which girl you want to end up with Naruto. I am however open for a pairing with Sasuke, so feel free to shoot your shot for whatever girl you want to end up with Sasuke.

The Chunnin exams will start around chapter 10, I need to build up to that. But don't worry, there will be some team vs team interactions for the Konoha 12.

Speaking of interactions, I have an interactive twitter page, the interactive Twitter is up, my handle is HKM_FF, so that is HKM_FF, please follow me there. Now you know the usual, I will tell you that I will update by this date or that date, but we all know that my pants are on fire, because I am a liar. At least when it comes to my update dates and actually updating.

Anyone who has ever messaged me can attest to the fact that I do reply, and I do read you message. I respond to PM's, Reviews, bat signals and everything in between, sometimes.

That's all for now, until next time. Also, if you have any suggestions or complaints, feel free to leave a review or PM me. Unless you're going to be a dick about it, then you can literally kick rocks.