(A/O: I worked on this chapter with a fellow fanfic writer known as MadnessMaker1337, who used his own character Paragon in this story. If you are curious as to the exact character, his profile goes into detail about his OC. Hope you enjoy this story as much as I did writing it)

Chakra…

This is the power that drives the world that we find ourselves in now today. All people who reside in it have said energy within them, for without it would mean death to any living thing. Yet in life, there is always that one anomaly that goes against the natural order of things, and this is the story of one of them…

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze was born alongside his brother Menma as the son of infamous Shinobi Kushina Uzumaki, who was one of if not the last of the once great Uzumaki clan as well as Minato Namikaze, the man who single handedly ended a war with his most infamous of jutsu in the Third Shinobi War. The two of them were so very happy to see their son's breathe new life which they feared for since there were complications with the carriage itself and it was only with the aid of Tsunade Senju, one of the best medical minds around that they both were born without complications.

But soon their happiness turned to worry as Tsunade sensed something off about Naruto and took him away to run a few tests to ensure everything was alright with him. His parents held onto Menma as they waited withheld breath to hear what was wrong. Soon enough Tsunade came back with a look of shock and worry on her face. She told them that Naruto was born without Chakra, not a single bit of the energy resided within him. This shocked the two of them to hear this since the boy was alive and yet the very energy needed to live was not in him. How was this even possible?

Yet even with his abnormality, they loved him all the same since he was their son. So they took him along with his brother home and began their life as a family…

But the happiness did not last for long…

As time went by, five years of it to be exact, Naruto became more of a nuisance for the family that they began to resent and loathe. When people got hurt, the chakra within them helped to heal them, yet he could not so it took longer. Menma was trained to be a great shinobi, and Naruto wanted to join in as well, yet he could not. He heard the insults sent his way by others in the village of Konoha, who all saw him as some sort of abomination and should just die since he lacked the energy that kept people alive and went against nature as he was.

He was bullied by many, and yet his own parents cared less and less about him daily and told him to handle his own problems since with his handicap they would not always be there to aid him so he would have to fend for himself. Hell, in time his own brother began to bully him as well and looked down upon him. His parents helped him dress his wounds at first, but over time they started to ignore them to the point that they just refused to help him altogether. What Naruto was unaware of was that his parents heard all the horrible things that had been said about Naruto, and while at first they were pissed to hear such things like any parent should be, they began to agree with them in time since in their own minds Naruto was becoming more and more of a nuisance to them as well as a smirch on their clan's infamous status. How can they claim to be powerful as well as infamous if one of their few members was quite literally the weakest that one could possibly be without the means to become stronger and overcome that weakness?

What made the situation even worse was that Jiraiya, known as the Toad Sage, had come to the both of them and spoke of a prophecy that involved Menma. He had heard it from the Toad Elder himself, and it went like this:

A battle will be waged, one for the ages

Demons sealed, locked in cages,

One void of color, black as the night,

The other while colorful, is not of the light,

One will be trained by the best to fight off any danger

The other will not, gifted only so little by a stranger,

A stranger who has more power than deemed fair,

Yet the fate of our world, for it he does not care,

They will fight, and one shall fall,

The winner will either save us… or doom us all…

This bit of news became unsettling to Minato and Kushina, who came to the conclusion that Menma will be the one to save them, yet from what was the major question since the prophecy was odd to say the least. According to it, there was a stranger who had more power than they could honestly imagine, and the only saving grace to the whole thing was that this 'stranger' would only gift a small bit to the one that Menma would have to face in the future. They had no idea or even the means to figure out how strong of an opponent Menma would be facing. So it was then that they prepared to fully train Menma to be the best shinobi there was, since according to the prophecy he was the catalyst of their survival. So since they put all their time and effort into training Menma, Naruto was at this point fully ignored since by this point of time they had come to see he was worthless in their eyes.

Menma was no better for Naruto than their parents, his arrogance only intensified at the age of six, when Kushina and Minato sealed the Nine Tailed Biju Kyubi within him, making him the newest Jinchuriki of the beast. Naruto trained hard day after day in hopes of getting stronger so that his parents would notice him, but he was left alone most of the time, and the emotional strain was getting to be too much for Naruto to bear. At times it seemed like he didn't have a family, and that his parents were doing this in preparation to get rid of him in some way. That was what he feared…

And on his and Menma's seventh birthday, his fears became a reality…

The party was big, with all the other Clan Heads showing up with all their children. There were gifts galore, all for Menma of course, and plenty of food and sweets. Naruto was ignored by all of them, as was the usual as he sat in the corner with a sad face. It was near the end of the party that Menma was named the sole heir of the Uzumaki as well as the Namikaze name, which while all those in attendance cheered; Naruto felt the pit in his stomach grow.

It was then that Menma was tasked with one of the duties of his future role and walked over and grabbed Naruto by the arm. He essentially pulled him out of the house as the other kids laughed at him and threw him out onto the streets. Naruto tried to get back inside, but the seal had been changed and he was not able to open the door anymore. Naruto thought that this was a cruel joke of some kind and asked to be let in, but they didn't open the gate and went back inside to enjoy the rest of the party.

Naruto cried as he waited for them to be done and let him back inside, hoping that he would be allowed back in. But when the others left to go home and he walked through the gate, Minato was the one to throw him out this time. He said not a word and simply handed Naruto a pack filled with some clothes, food and a letter before he closed the gate once more, barring Naruto from ever entering again…

Naruto's tears only intensified as he fell to his knees and read the letter given to him. It went on to state that both his parents as well as Menma saw him just as everyone else did…

An abomination…

A stain on the legacy of two great clans…

Not worth the time and effort…

Yet while they thought this, they would not kill him and threw him out to let nature take its course. For nature made Naruto the way he was, it could fix it as well. With the letter was the legal documentation to disown him, so now he was no longer an Uzumaki nor a Namikaze.

So with a heavy heart, Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes, picked up his pack, and began his journey with no set destination in mind outside of the village. He knew that he couldn't stay anymore here since pretty much everyone saw him as a freak, so he would set out to find somewhere new where no one knew him and he could get a fresh start. But as he walked, he was unaware of the dark entity that began to awaken inside him, and would not know about such things for quite some time…

Naruto may not have had chakra like most people, but in the absence of his parents due to their blatant neglect towards him, he learned to do as they said and fend for himself. He knew how to hunt as well as survive which was perfect since those skills came into play right now. Two months he survived like this, two months of waking up in the woods with the hopes that this is some sick dream of his, yet that was not the case and every day that passed by he only got angrier that they had literally thrown him out of the house for no reason other than public opinion. But he could do nothing about it and would simply survive, that was his long term goal since he had nothing else he could do as he was.

But it was as he hunted that he found the body of a shinobi, the village insignia was not of Konoha so he had no idea as to where they were from since he had never attended shinobi school. But on the body were some kunai and a sword. He took both since they were of more use to him than a dead man, and as he did he saw that the man had a Bingo book on his person. He looked through it out of childish curiosity and saw the name of a man who was not a shinobi, but a samurai…

Mifune…

The leader of the village of Iron Country, a place where shinobi were not allowed. To Naruto, this sounded perfect since he could not become a shinobi with his lack of chakra, so why not become something else? He needed a purpose in life, and this one provided it to him so he decided to head that way to become one.

He was on day three of his journey towards Iron Country, technically the first since he was walking the wrong direction for the past two before a kind old man pointed him in the right direction, and found himself alone on an empty road whistling to himself.

"Well well," said a rough voice as a muscular man with an eye patch appeared in front of him along with at least four others. They all had hiate on their arms, but it was strange for Naruto to see them have the insignia of their villages crossed out. "What do we have here?"

"It would seem like we have someone walking through our territory men," said a taller, yet slimmer man than the first.

"I guess he doesn't know the rules around these parts."

"Rules," asked Naruto with a gulp since he saw the men were giving off the same aura that those who wished to bully and hurt him gave when he was still in the village.

"Yes," said the leader with the eye patch, "and the rules go that you must pay a toll to walk these roads boy. And all must pay it no matter the age. No exceptions, so hand over all the money you have as well as anything of value."

"I don't have money," said Naruto as he began to lose the color in his face since now he was afraid of what would happen since he couldn't pay these men.

"Well that's too bad brat," said the man as he kicked Naruto hard in the chest to the point that Naruto vomited up his dinner from last night, "because now we have to kill you."

"You don't have to kill me," said Naruto as the tears began to flow from his eyes. He was truly afraid that he had reached the end of his story and that his life would end here and now.

"You're right," said the man as he and the rest of his group laughed as the boy cried, "we don't have to kill you. We want to kill you. And i am going to enjoy this. You look too much like that fucking Namikaze who killed my older brother in the Third Shinobi War and so I'm going to think of him as i carve you into pieces."

"No please don't!" screamed Naruto as he tried to run, but before he could move, he was held by one of the men who ripped his pack off and held his arms behind his back.

Suddenly a loud whistle was heard behind the group to which they all turned around to see who whistled and what they saw is a tall figure in black garb with an aura of a shinobi yet at the same time he doesn't look like one.

"And just who the fuck is this guy," shouted the man who was holding Naruto as he struggled to break free. Naruto's struggles ceased though as their attention was no longer on him, but the stranger that had just suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"I don't know nor do i even care," said the leader as he gestured with his head for the other three men to deal with this newcomer, "just deal with him so we can get back to carving this little boy up. His face disgusts me immensely"

"My my, you have a temper," said the stranger in a tone of voice that pissed off the men who were threatening Naruto's life, "Then again I doubt you have any balls to take me on. Instead you pick on little kids to inflate them; I'll bet the size of them is like the pebbles we are currently standing on." He mocks as he brings up said pebble.

The leader told his men to stop as he turned around fully to deal with this stranger personally. He pulled out his twin tonfa that he used in a fight and began to twirl them as he got into an offensive stance.

"You want to say that again," he asked in a tone of voice that basically was daring the man to do just that and give him a reason to kill him for his insolence, "because I don't think i quite heard you correctly a second ago."

"I'm sorry but I didn't know you had hearing problems. Perhaps I need to put a giant funnel into your ears or maybe your brain has rotted from your lack of education due to being a missing-nin. It's a surprise you became a shinobi at all, let alone a Chunin." He said casually.

"Oh," said the leader through strained teeth, his vision going full on red with murderous intent at this point. Not that they weren't already since he was already going to murder a child on the grounds of having nothing of value along with looking like someone else, but still. "You are going to pay for that insult." It was then that he charged forward to beat this fucker black and blue with his tonfa since he was too pissed to think straight and use any of the numerous jutsu he had learned in the past.

When the leader got close to him and swung one of the tonfa, the stranger dodged at the very last second bending expertly backwards before he flipped slamming a foot into the leader's jaw, dislodging a tooth and making him bite his cheek in the process.

"What's wrong?" The stranger asked, "I thought I was going to pay for that insult? But it looks like you paid for your own lack of education in the end." He said as he held the leader's tooth in his hand.

"What the fuck are you assholes waiting for!?" shouted the leader in rage, "Get him!"

The rest of the group did as ordered with their own weapons held in their hands, even the one holding Naruto let him go to strike as this stranger since he was a bigger threat than a scared kid, and even if the kid ran they could track him down again if the boss really wanted to. But Naruto wasn't able to move for some reason. He was freed from the man's grasp, but his mind was not sending the proper signals to his legs to control them into moving the hell away from this fight. The men had seen that this stranger had skills, so a simple beat down was not viable and had to use the shinobi skills that they themselves had been taught. Three of them threw shuriken at the man while the last one did the proper hand signs and blew out a compressed air ball at him.

The stranger merely shakes his head at their actions and mutters one word.

"Idiots"

At that he waited for the shuriken to get close before, faster than even they can see, he snatches the shuriken out from the air and shockingly he caught the ball of compressed air before he twirled it around and fired it back at the shinobi who spit it out. But this time, the attack had been mixed with the shuriken inside of it.

The attack hit the man with full on blunt force, knocking the wind out of him along with cracking some ribs, but that meant little since the shuriken that had been inside the ball pierced several of his vital organs and he fell onto his back and began to bleed out. The other men saw this and realized they had to step it up since they were fighting someone stronger than they expected him to be. So they worked together to make the hand signs and summoned up a massive dragon made of earth that roared towards the stranger with its jaws wide open as if to swallow him whole.

He merely looked at it boredly before with swift movement he slid to the left as it slammed into the ground before with a kick he shattered the dragon like glass and punched the rubble made from it directly towards the men.

The men had no idea that this was going to happen, so they were hit and crushed by the flying debris. All except the leader, who was sweating heavily over the fact that his men had just been killed so easily by this strange man. So using his brain for once, he turned around to retreat so as to live another day.

However the stranger anticipated this, and rolling his eyes as he did so, he violently slammed his foot onto the ground. This action sends an underground projectile towards him, one of which the leader isn't aware of before it erupts from behind him and pierces straight through his chest. But the one thing that sticks out from the projectile was it's a chain with a spear like tip which would make him realize one thing.

"An Uzumaki," coughed out the leader as his life began to fade away from the spear through the chest, "but ho…." He couldn't finish the sentence since he died before he could. The blood began to pour out the wound as the spear tipped chain was removed from his body.

The Stranger sighs as the chain vanishes from where he summoned it from and he walks towards the shaken boy as he was frozen, either from that fight or from the thugs who know but he can't morally leave a kid here. Naruto was understandably afraid for his life right now and fell onto his back in fear. He had just been threatened by four missing nin, not that he knew that term since he was never trained in the shinobi arts nor was he taught the terminology of it either, but to see them die like that from a man, and then have said man walk towards you only instilled fear into the heart of any sane child.

"Please don't hurt me," said Naruto with an apparent stuttering of his words, but fear does do such a thing to many people when they talk, "I don't have any money."

"Easy there kid, I'm not going to hurt you." He said as he raised his hands in the universal sign of 'I got nothing in my hands' as he stopped a few feet away from him.

"Then what do you want," asked Naruto, who was still afraid, even if the man was trying to not be threatening at the moment. His life had been threatened worse than it had ever been so his body was still shaking in fear.

"Nothing. I merely came to dispatch the last of the Road Bandits. I don't want to take or hurt you kid." He says as he picks up the now destroyed pack of supplies the bandits took off and frowns, apparently it got caught in that tussle he had with them.

"Ah man," said Naruto as he saw his destroyed pack. He didn't have a spare on him nor did he know where to get a new one since he had neither the knowledge of the surrounding area nor the money to get one. "That was my only pack. This just isn't my day."

"Where are you going if you don't mind me asking?" He asks, fully knowing that without supplies the kid wouldn't survive to reach wherever he was going or wants to go for that matter.

"I am heading to a place I read about called Iron Country," said Naruto as he began to pick up the few things that had been in his pack that were still salvageable. Luckily for him at least one pair of spare clothes was along with his sword and kunai, which meant he could still hunt for food at least. He wrapped up the clothes and held them under his armpit for transport since he had nowhere else to put them.

"Iron Country? Why do you wish to go to the Land of the Samurai? There aren't any shinobi villages there as that's neutral territory." He asks. It's strange seeing a kid like him want to go to a different country.

"That's why i want to go there," said Naruto with a sigh, "i am not a shinobi, nor will i ever be one in my life so i want to become a samurai so that at least i have something to call myself."

"Hmm, you want to share a camp with me? It sounds like you got a hell of a story to tell," he says as he looks up. It looked like it was going to become dark soon and he was unsure if there were any more bandits on this road.

"Sure," said Naruto simply. True he was not as trusting of people ever since he was little due to all the sheer amount of hatred he received back in the village, but he saw that it was getting dark as well and knew he had to settle down for the night. It wouldn't have been so bad, but his sleeping bag had been destroyed so he was kind of at a loss here. "Not like I have much of a choice."

"You don't." He says as he gestures for him to follow.

He was not sure why, but that statement put him on edge quite a bit. While his first instinct was to run like hell and get as far away from this stranger as he could, he felt as though he should trust him. He was not sure why that was, but he just knew he was not going to be hurt, killed, or even sold.

They arrived at a small clearing which was big enough for a small campsite. "Before I do something, I need you to not freak out, do you understand?" He asked with a serious look on his face.

"Okay," said Naruto in a tone of voice that showed that he was scared and would probably freak out anyway.

He nodded before he lifted his arm and with a flick of his wrist he conjured something that would make him question so much: He conjured up a glass ball with a blue flame inside of it emitting a light source and illuminating the clearing along with generating heat.

"What is that," asked Naruto as he was afraid to come any closer than he already was. He was not sure as to what the thing could do. Sure he had heard and seen plenty of shinobi manipulate the elements with jutsu and the likes, but the power that was emanating from the glass ball was unlike anything he had ever seen or felt in his life.

"This is the Flame of Purification, "said the Stranger as he gestured to the glass ball, "unlike a regular fire, these flames are said to be divine in nature, used to purify the wicked from a dead soul. They don't harm or burn anyone with a good heart making them useful as campfires as well as a defense of sorts. It's a bit of a taxing ability, but I can conjure them up without feeling heavy drain. Go ahead touch it; you may feel a sense of tranquility from it." He said as he gestures to him to touch the orb.

Naruto was hesitant at first since this seemed odd to be told to do out of the blue like that. But after an internal struggle with himself for what seemed like hours, which was only about a minute in reality, he finally stepped forward and placed his hands on the floating glass orb. As he did, a sudden sense of tranquility washed over him, one that he could not describe with words, yet it was one that he had never felt before since his life in its entirety had been one of hatred from others as well as pain from the bullying and neglect he faced on a daily basis. As the feeling washed through his very soul, he could not stop the tears that began to flow from his eyes to feel so calm after so much.

"Let it all out." The stranger said as he placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder. "The Flame of Purification helps release the burdens or horrors one has had in their life, especially those with horrible childhoods such as I am guessing you had." He said.

"But why was i born to be like i am," asked Naruto in no more than a whisper, more to himself than to the stranger.

"You must have a story to tell, have a seat and tell me what has happened to make you break down." The stranger says as he gestures to two rocks that are next to the Flame. Naruto took his hands off of the Flame so as to take a seat himself, and as he calmed himself to speak the truth of his life, he took a few deep breaths and wiped the tears from his eyes. So for the next hour or two, Naruto spoke about the story that was his life.

He told the stranger about the simple fact that he was born without Chakra in his body, which was viewed by everyone else as some sort of abomination since it should not have been possible to survive like he did without it. He went on to explain how his own family had grown to resent and hate him since they saw him as worthless since he was born this way and then when he turned seven alongside his brother, twins in all but the hair color since he had blonde while Menma had orange, his brother had made the sole heir to both of the families names. He began to cry again as he remembered the people laughing at him as he was dragged out of the house by his own brother and thrown onto the streets without so much as a care about his wellbeing. Then the icing on this cake of misery was that his own father had been the one to shove him back out when he tried to get back inside with nothing more than a pack filled with a few essentials and a letter expressing their hatred of him as well as the papers disowning him.

"I see, that's quite a life you've had. I am surprised you were able to take it all and still walk with your head high." He said.

"I don't know why," said Naruto as he wiped the tears from his face yet again, "I'm not important to anyone."

The stranger thinks before he does a deep sigh and runs his hand through his hair as if he is annoyed at something.

"Fucking toads…." He mutters loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"Toads?" asked Naruto, who was genuinely confused about that random response since it was quite literally that.

"On a scale of 1 - 10 how knowledgeable are you of the Ninja world and the Animal Clans that they summon to aid them?" The Stranger asks all of a sudden.

Naruto just looked at him with an even more confused look on his face since he had not been trained. Sure he picked up a term or two here and there but when people saw him they would stop their conversations to spout out insults at him and put him down emotionally.

Seeing his confused expression plastered on his face, the stranger decided he would have to educate Naruto on such things when he decided to escort the boy to Iron Country, no reason not to since an educated kid would probably make it easier for him to survive there, especially when it comes to the samurais who have high honor values.

"Right well, I might as well get to the heart of the matter. A while ago the Toad Clan who are toads that are capable of speaking made a prophecy. Now most of the Animal clans ignore them as they are very vague in a riddle like way and just ignore them, but keep an eye on them until signs of the prophecy kick in. The Toad Clan had told their Summoner named Jiraiya the prophecy. Now I know you don't know anything about the Animal Clans but there's a hidden law regarding them and it states that "no summoner should know about any prophecies", the reason being is due to the fact it can get misinterpreted which can lead to unimaginable chaos and help bring it to fruition. However I believe the prophecy the old toad elder made is connected to your current predicament. I shall recite it." He says as he recites the prophecy.

Naruto heard the prophecy and thought hard about it. He had no idea how or even if the thing was about him in any way. It mentioned that two demons would fight, and while Menma had one sealed within him as was well known in the village, he did not. Yet it did mention that a stranger would train the other one. The whole thing made his brain hurt since he was so confused about it all.

"So they threw me out to train Menma for the fight it told about in the future," said Naruto with an angry growl. "Just great! As if they needed more of a reason to throw me out like they did."

"That is why the law for the Animal Clans are in place, to prevent things like that from happening. People do stupid things and misinterpret, if you want to be mad at someone be mad at the Toad Clan, your parents and probably Jiraiya, they are the ones who did this to you and possibly Konoha." He says as he puts slightly more energy into the flame making it a bit brighter and helps to calm the boy down.

"I get it," said Naruto calmly as he took a deep breath, "I'll calm down."

"So reiterating my original question, why are you going to Iron Country?" He asked and his tone was of one looking for a different answer.

"Because i have no chakra. Without it I can't be a shinobi, so I thought that I could at least learn to become a samurai since they don't let shinobi in their country."

"I see…" The stranger said as he ponders while two sword pommels stick out from his clothing.

"Wait," asked Naruto as he saw the swords sticking out, "are you a samurai too?"

He gave a small chuckle to which he took out both swords and stabbed them into the ground. They were both beautifully crafted weapons, one of them was had a shiny blue emitting an aura of intense peace with some strange sigils on them while the other one was a bright red emitting a very dark aura that would make him feel as if he is being choked to death with the same strange sigils on them.

"These, these are my swords: Light and Dark, both of them represent Balance of sorts. Light and Dark are said to not work in unison but these two, they work in unison due to me. A normal samurai cannot wield them. The blue one would give anyone who isn't me a shock while the red one would drain them of their very life force leaving them a husk." He said as they both shine in the moonlight.

"Can you teach me?" asked Naruto with stars in his eyes at the sight of the finely crafted weapons this stranger had on his person.

He gives a smile. "I'm afraid you wouldn't last day one, I'm a hard teacher and expect the one i train to last against me, i am not the perfect teacher for you, i may look soft but i can be a cruel teacher." He says as he pats his head like a puppy. Naruto only growled as this stranger thought so little of him.

"I can take your training if you give me a chance!" shouted Naruto with conviction in his voice as the determination within him swelled to its very limit.

"Hmmm, well I can train you as we go to Iron Country and if you manage to last those training seasons I may train you." He says.

"Yes!" Shouted Naruto as he held up a fist in the air. Finally someone was willing to actually help him, even with the truth of his abnormality, instead of putting him down like everyone else.

"Along the way I might educate you on what you missed from school due to your neglect, you can't take on the world if you're not as smart as a Ninja now can you?" He asked.

Naruto made to say something at this point, but it was then that he fell onto his back, fully exhausted from the day's events. It appeared that the adrenaline of being in a life or death situation was finally wearing off and the fatigue had kicked in.

The Stranger merely shakes his head; kids are always so full of energy….

The next few weeks, the two of them traveled towards Iron Country, with surprisingly no other run-ins with people trying to attack them in some way. Sure there were a few merchants here and there, but nothing else. In that time, the Stranger explained the way of the shinobi world, which Naruto absorbed said knowledge like a sponge. Yet after a week, Naruto wanted to train. The stranger simply laughed as he saw the young boy so eager to learn, and yet did nothing other than show him the basics on how to wield a blade properly. As they neared their destination of Iron Country, with the main village being within view of the both of them on the horizon, that was when Naruto made a bit of a scene.

"I have traveled with you for the last two weeks and you haven't trained me at all," said Naruto in anger.

He merely sighs, he's been ignoring him for the training part and was hoping he would get the point but he might as well go with a direct approach since the kid wouldn't learn otherwise.

"Here, this is why you wouldn't be able to handle my training." He simply says before he puts his hand on his chest to which a glow surrounds Naruto before his body slams onto the floor roughly. Naruto tried to move his body in any way, yet he was not able to do so in any manner. It felt like he had something heavy, yet liquid like all over him in a manner that was pushing him down with enough force to the point that he wasn't able to move yet not utterly crush everything that was in his body.

"Kami," said Naruto, yet with a great strain to himself since it was hard to even speak with this force on him like this. "Please help me!"

"This is why you wouldn't be able to handle my training." He said as he snaps his fingers and disables the Gravity Modifier from him. "When it comes to training under me I ensure you get hard training. You start at ten times the normal gravity for the entire training and I improve it without you knowing up to as many times as I wish. If you aren't able to handle ten times the normal gravity you wouldn't be able to survive, the Gravity Modifier I have on me is very heavy and I can raise it,"he said as he crossed his arms. He's hoping that lesson got through to him so he wouldn't have to teach an even harsher one if he didn't.

"Okay," said Naruto as he got up off the ground and dusted himself off of all the dust that he had on him. "I get it. I'm not strong enough to learn your method."

"But you do have the drive to get stronger, which is what makes a strong warrior; long as you keep that drive you can pretty much do anything." He says.

"I don't really believe you," said Naruto with a bit of a pout.

"Kid, tell me this, what do you think makes a strong warrior?" He asks as he kneels down to his level.

"Honestly," said Naruto in thought of that question. He had never thought about it, and his mind was blank on the subject, "I have no idea. I never thought about it."

"The drive, what I said is true. Everyone has a drive to become something, to protect loved ones, to vanquish evil, getting stronger is always supported by the drive. Although some don't believe it, that drive is what fuels the person. My drive is to always be the strongest and to protect who I love and to defeat any evil I see. So tell me kid, what do you want your drive to be? The strongest to prove to everyone you aren't weak or to protect the ones you hold dear to you?" He asked.

Naruto thought long and hard on what he was asked, not sure what the answer was to it. But eventually a grin appeared on his face as it became clear to him.

"Both," was the answer Naruto gave him.

"Good answer." He says as he ruffles his hair

"Well," said Naruto as he began to walk towards the village, "I thank you for escorting me here. I hope to see you again in the future."

"Hey kid!" The stranger yelled to catch his attention. Naruto stopped mid step and turned around to see what the man had to say.

"Catch!" He yells as he throws over a wrapped object.

"Thanks," said Naruto as he caught it. From the shape of the object he guessed it was a book of some kind. Hopefully full of samurai stances and techniques, but he was unsure of that or another very important thing that he felt like such an idiot for not asking two weeks ago when they met. "Who are you? I never asked for your name."

"Heh, me too but you may call me: Paragon." He said, right before Naruto's very eyes he vanished into thin air leaving a cloud of dust as if he was never there in the first place. This caused Naruto to freak out quite a bit since just who the hell had he been traveling with? Sure he knew that shinobi had such abilities when there were things close by, but they were on a hill overlooking the massively wide open field so there was no way to use such a thing. Naruto calmed down, though it took a bit. Once he was calm enough to actually get his mind of the apparently magical companion he had traveled with since in all honesty he had no other way to explain what the hell just happened, he tore the wrapping off the object he had been given.

He had been right when he assumed it was a book of some kind, since it really couldn't be anything else. Taped to the front was a letter with his name on it, which he opened to see what it was, and read it:

Happy late birthday Naruto. You are stronger than you possibly think.

Paragon

That was all that was written, but to Naruto it meant the world to see someone think he was worth the effort. So he pocketed the letter and looked at the book gifted to him. It was black in color with what appeared to be a three leaf clover in the center of it. There were some squiggly lines that outlined the borders of the book as well as some clouds, all the graphics being silver in color while the book itself was jet black. Naruto opened up the book in glee, but that glee faded quite quickly as he saw that the pages were all blank. He went through all of them and yet not one of them had anything on them, or at least so he thought at first.

He thumbed through it again, and it was the second time he saw a number in black ink appear out of nowhere. It was simply the number thirteen. Naruto was unsure as to why that number was there, for in his mind he always thought the number as unlucky. But he highly doubted that the book was cursed in some way. So he was going to go off the second thought he had of not fully understanding this thing until he was thirteen years old and not his last one of Paragon being an asshole and playing some sort of sick prank on him.

So with his newly acquired book in mind, he set out towards the village once more, and onwards towards his destiny…

(9 years later)

The past nine years had been hard for Naruto, but in a good sort of manner since he was happy. He had an apartment of his own, the proper means of getting money to acquire the things he needed by being a courier in his spare time since many a person paid for a strong young man to carry the heavy things they did not want or were not able to carry themselves. In six years, he had put himself through hell in his training regimen so as to gain the muscular body he had acquired. He was for lack of a better word, ripped to all hell. He had abs, muscles in all the right places, and the body that many a woman desired. And the fact that he was only thirteen only made it better since he was still growing.

He had come to this village to train under the samurai, and at first they were not willing to teach him since apparently they used chakra as well for their techniques. When Naruto had first heard this, he was greatly saddened to think that he had come all this way for nothing, but in his moment of anger the sheer will he had to learn soared. He demanded to be taught, and went so far as to demand that Mifune himself teach him, the action of which got the shock of all the samurai who heard him. They warned the boy to cease such demands if he valued his life, yet day after day Naruto returned to the main building where Mifune resided in and called out to him for hours to train him. Mifune heard him of course, since the boy was literally shouting it, but he basically ignored him time and time again.

After two straight months of this boy yelling at him, Mifune finally went down to deal with him personally. While he had expected Naruto to continue to demand an apprenticeship to the man, he was as shocked as everyone else when he saw the boy drop to his knees and literally beg to be taught by what he claimed was the strongest of the samurai. This piqued Mifune's interest a bit since the boy did understand to ask instead of demand, so he invited the boy to a quick meeting with some tea between the two of them. Mifune asked about the boy, mainly the basics about himself and where his parents were. Naruto told him everything about himself, and just as he expected, the fact that Naruto had no chakra shocked him as it had the other samurai he told since coming to this place.

But to hear that the infamous Minato Namikaze had literally disowned his own child for something like this only angered the man who had at one point respected the shinobi. That respect was now gone since a father should care for their child, no matter the situation. Naruto expected Mifune to send Naruto away like the others had before, but instead he told Naruto to follow him. He took Naruto to the vault that lay beneath the building, which was massive in size with many doors sealing off so many different things. Mifune led him to one in particular that had multiple warning signs on it that expressed that the contents of the vault could kill.

Mifune pulled out the key to the vault, the only one for this place since the other doors were closed with seals, and used it to open the door. He walked in with Naruto, and he saw that there was only one object in it. On a single pedestal in the center of the room was a mounted sword that was sheathed in a blood red scabbard. Mifune looked at the boy and told him if he truly thought that he was worthy of being taught by him, then he would have to prove it and pick up the blade.

Naruto was skeptical about this since it was odd, even more so than the glass orb with the blue flames he touched a few months ago. Yet he had not come this far to give up now of all times, so if failing meant his death then he would accept it since he had nothing else. So he cautiously picked the blade up with both hands. He saw that the blade was kept in place by two straps that had to be removed to unsheathe the blade from its scabbard. So he did that and pulled the blade out to see the blade itself.

What he saw amazed him, since the blade was a unique blade. It was a katana that had been masterfully crafted with silver tipped edges. But the thing that made the blade unique was the red line that zigzagged along the entire blade all the way to a few inches short of the tip. The lines seemed like they were alive somehow as they appeared to be pulsing somehow. Naruto held the blade in his hands and swung it a few times before he sheathed it once more back into its scabbard.

Once he did so, he then looked at Mifune, who was standing there with an open mouth shocked look. Naruto was confused as to why he was looking at him like this, but Mifune composed himself and explained why he was.

The blade he had picked up was called Gashi, which meant Starving to Death. The blade had been forged by several blacksmiths who literally died making it since the metal they used was essentially chakra leeching. They had found the metal in the remnants of a meteorite that crashed near their home and wanted to make a blade like no other with it. One by one they worked themselves to literal death as the blade drained them dry off all the chakra in their system, yet their desire to complete the blade spurred them onwards until it was done.

Many had tried to wield the blade in the tears since it had been forged, Mifune included, but no one was able to use it since the more people it sucked dry, the more the blade's hunger grew and that was when the red pulsing line began to appear and grow as it did. Mifune had been the one to seal it away from the world so that no one else died trying to wield it, but then Naruto came and told him that he was born without chakra at all in his system, which should have not been possible. So he thought that the boy could wield the blade, and he had been correct since the blade did not react to his touch in the slightest. Since the boy had passed his impromptu test he agreed to train the boy personally.

The word spread fast amongst the samurai of the village that the boy wielded the infamous Gashi, and his popularity skyrocketed from that moment onwards. Even the samurai who refused to train him came and apologized sincerely since they had been blind to his true potential.

So Mifune got him an apartment to live in as well as the part time job as a courier since it was a perfect way to train his muscles in time. He trained Naruto four out of the seven days, quite literally into the ground. The other three he was expected to relax, doing no more than his courier job. Naruto took to his training regimen quite well, with his body becoming stronger over the course of six years.

It was in his training that he learned that his lack of chakra gave him an advantage to many situations. Like one of the main ones was the fact that sensors could not sense him. Then there was the fact that he was immune to genjutsu since it was chakra based and his body became immune to it. Naruto laughed when he learned that since the two proud clans of the Uchiha as well as the Hyuga would be so pissed to hear such things. The Uchiha prided themselves on their Sharingan, and to be immune to their abilities made it hilarious to him. Plus without chakra he had no chakra lines to cut off so the Hyuga and their damned Byakugan were useless.

But the most useful thing he learned was the ability to sense Ki. This allowed him to see his opponent's moves before they used them and dodge or counter accordingly. It took quite some time to master reading it, but in time Naruto could take on large groups of samurai in a spar, with a wooden practice blade of course since he was not trying to kill people while training, and easily dodge their attacks before he countered with his own.

Mifune had become proud of his student, one who he saw as a sort of surrogate grandson since he was an elderly man. Naruto returned this relationship and started to call him 'Gramps' which at first he was pissed about since he didn't like it, but eventually it grew on him.

At the age of thirteen, Naruto had shown that he had become the samurai prodigy that Mifune expected him to be when he had first lifted up Gashi in the vault. But it was that day that he became stronger than he thought possible. Naruto had never forgotten about the book given to him by Paragon, and that the number thirteen was most likely about his age. And he had been right to think that since in the middle of the spar he had with several samurai veterans, he fell over in pain as a new power began to emerge from his body. The samurai tried to aid him in some way, but they were blasted backwards from a huge pulse of power as Naruto screamed to the heavens in pain. Mifune heard his surrogate grandson in pain and appeared with multiple others to help in any way they could.

What they saw was Naruto on his knees, punching the ground in a vain attempt to somehow lessen the pain, yet it did not. His body was covered in what could only be labeled as liquid blackness that was still transparent enough to the point they could see him, yet they could not help him. Naruto then held up his hand, which confused those surrounding him since they wondered why he did that. Their confusion only amplified when they saw a book, a literal book, of all things fly through the air and into his hand. The moment he touched it, the darkness began to seep into it and off his body. As the last of it left his body, he breathed heavily as the pain was starting to fade, yet he still passed out.

Mifune ordered his men to take Naruto to the hospital, and he picked up the book to see what it was, yet he could not since it would then fly into Naruto's hands whenever he or anyone else tried to take it. Naruto was put under constant watch, but his body was fine. He just slept for the next three days straight before he woke up. He woke up and checked himself out of the hospital before he went to a training ground to be alone. In the three days of his coma-like state, he had seen visions of a man who once wielded this book, which he learned was called a Grimoure, by the name of Yami Sukehiro. He saw the magical power he had now inherited, and while he was curious as to how the fuck he had gotten literal magical power in a world of chakra, he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth here and use it.

So he used the power in his Grimoire to strengthen his body and mind as he trained himself in its use. While Yami was capable of much more than he was able to do himself, that was mainly due to the fact that the man was older and born with magical power unlike him. His Grimoire only had a few pages written, but Naruto understood in time that more would be revealed as he grew stronger, or 'pushed past his limits' as Yami had said in his own time/world. For the next three years he trained in his magical abilities, which shocked many that he had such abilities in the first place, yet were happy for the young man since he had found his own way in the world.

On his sixteenth birthday, Naruto had bid the village farewell for the first time in years as he wanted to travel the world to seek adventure. Mifune had laughed when Naruto had said that since he had been the exact same way at Naruto's age. He told Naruto that he always had a home here if he wanted to ever return. So he wished Naruto good luck as well as the many samurai who he had come to see as family over the years.

It wasn't like he had no idea of the world itself though. He had learned that while Iron Country was mainly hostile to shinobi since they were forbidden, there were some cases where a few were allowed inside since it was a diplomatic or financial thing. Hell he could still remember the time the Kazekage had arrived with all three of his children.

His oldest son Kankuro had bumped into him as he had walked down the road with his hands in his pockets, which was clearly Kankuro's fault. He had demanded an apology, yet Naruto had simply told him to fuck off. This pissed off Kankuro immensely, and he whipped out one of his puppets to attack him. Naruto punched through the thing with one hand before he grabbed Kankuro by the head and lifted him up by it. He then frowned as he began to squeeze his skull hard to the point that Kankuro was crying out in pain. Gaara had simply stood there and smirked at his brother in pain, while Temari laughed since Kankuro had always tried to act tougher than he was. Naruto let him go, but with the warning to not piss him off anymore or else he would kill him with his bare hands. Naruto cracked his knuckles to get his point across as he said it, which made Kankuro lose the color in his face as he simply nodded his head in agreement.

They had been there for a few days and in that time Naruto had gotten to know them a bit. Gaara reminded him of himself a bit since people saw him as some sort of freak, being a Jinchuriki and all, but Naruto had extended the hand of friendship, which to Temari's and Kankuro's shock he accepted. Neither of them was aware that the demon inside him was whispering to Gaara to befriend the man so as to never fight him. He sensed a dark power that dwarfed his own within the boy, and while at first he assumed it was another one of his kind, the energy he felt was not a Biju but something else entirely.

So as he stood there and saw the massive clearing he would have to cross to get anywhere, he at least had a first stop to go to in the form of Suna. So as he began to walk with his new pack in hand for the moment since he took it off to get the pack of cigarettes he had inside it, one could see his attire on full. He was wearing a jet black muscle t-shirt that showed off his abs, since what was the point of such a body if he couldn't show it off from time to time. He had simple sandals on his feet since he enjoyed the breeze that he felt in his toes, and to top it off he had a jacket that had a hood that was both black and gold in color, with the picture of a Black bull head on the back. He saw this symbol in his visions, and he thought to honor the man whose magic he now wielded by wearing it himself.

So with a grin, he pulled out a cigarette, he had started smoking last year since it helped to relax him so much, put it in his mouth and pulled out a lighter to light the thing. He took a quick drag before he started to set off towards a new adventure...

(A/O: I hope you like this chapter, and yes I know I have so many other stories that I have yet to finish up that people want me to, and I will eventually. But this one was stuck in my mind, and since I am stuck in my house for the next few weeks with not much to do instead of video games and Netflix/Hulu, I am writing at least a bit every day to help with the boredom that comes with doing that for too long. But just a side note, while Naruto will gain the power that Yami gained in the Black Clover series since he has the man's Grimoire of all things, I am going to give him a few extra abilities that Yami does not. In the series itself, Yami learns new techniques from time to time like when they were fighting against the Eye of the Midnight Sun in the Water Temple and Yami was trapped in his room by a guy who bent dimensions. So what does Yami do? He learned to cut through literal Dimensions to beat the guy and escape. It seems like the magic of the series reveals itself to fit the situation one way or another in a life or death situation, so I want to implement that sort of thing into this story. And while the title might say otherwise, Naruto is not a shinobi in this story, he is a samurai. The name just sounds better with Shinobi in it since there are plenty of magical samurai in manga/anime series. So until next time!)