Disclaimer: I don't, in anyway, own any part of Naruto or any other thing I get my ideas from. This disclaimer will be for the whole story. Unless some one complains, then I tell them to look at the first chapter.

Drip, drip, drip...he was back. The boy stood from his position at the sewer wall and started toward his only home. His path was well worn; he had come here many times. His pace was slow; no one could bother him here. Once he got to the gate he stopped and sat with his back to the bars.

"Are you awake?" came his timid cry.

"Of course. I always wake when you come to visit me. What kind of father do you take me to be Naruto?" came the curt reply.

"Sorry."

"Quit saying you are sorry."

"Okay." The boy, Naruto, turned to look at the only thing to ever show him any compassion. The giant fox may seem like nothing but a demon to everyone else, but to Naruto, he was just what he needed. A father.

"Go to sleep. Those idiotic, biased fools have gone. Do not fear, you are being taken to the hospital." Seeing the distressed look on his son's face, the fox decided to comfort the boy some more. "Even if no one heals you, they would not dare to kick you out; your Hokage would punish them. And they would not try to poison you, they already know it has no effect on you. Sleep." The great fox tried not to chuckle when he heard Naruto grumble.

"He's not my Hokage, he's never done anything for me. You've cared for me more."

"Yes, I have. Now what did I teach you today? Do not use contractions, you must show patience in every aspect, even your speech. Now, go to sleep."

"Good night...Father."

"Sleep well Naruto."

--Six year time skip--

"Uzumaki, Naruto"

"Here sir." The quiet, polite boy said from his position by the window. No one sat beside, or even around him. Iruka often wondered why the boy sat alone. He had never seen the boy do anything to the other students. The first day Naruto had walked in and sat by the window, surrounded by student at almost all sides. He had walked in to see the boy by himself after he had been called out by Mizuki. Iruka had asked the children why they had moved, they all said they had gotten cold by the open window.

"Good, everyone is here. Today is the day you've been training for, Graduation! After today, I may not see you as often so you must promise me you'll keep up your good work!" Iruka was proud. The man had grown especially close to the group, even the cold Naruto. He expected everyone to pass.

--Skip all other tests--

"Okay Naruto, first we want you to summarize the reason our village has grown so strong, in your own words of course."

'Because the village over runs the enemy with useless gennin before sending in your real fighters.' was his first hate-filled thought. But saying that would get him and his father caught. And he would rather kill himself than foil his father's well-laid plans.

"The key to the Leaf Village's success is its ninjas all share a love for their home that is rarely seen in other hidden villages. Our ninja hold loyalty and the protection of the civilians above all else. All people are treated and cared for as if they are family." 'Except for me. You all either hate or ignore me. That should be good enough to pacify them. One day they will be unable to disregard me.'

"Good job Naruto! That was a very well-calculated answer! Now to finish things, perform the three basic jutsu and the academy Taijutsu."

'Foolish village, allowing yourself to become weak by allowing children to become ninja by performing schoolyard tricks.'

'Pathetic.' his father spoke this time.

"Yes sir." he was agreeing with his father more than answering his teacher.

After perfectly creating three clones, performing Kawarimi with a nearby desk, and using Henge to turn into Iruka, he was given his headband and told to return the next day for teams.

--That night--

Naruto woke from his light sleep to the sound of running. He looked out of his window to see Mizuki running towards the forest with a large scroll on his back. Turning to the Hokage's tower at the heart of the village, he saw the alert lights signaling for jonin assistance at the tower.

'Whatever the problem, I have a feeling that I will be blamed.'

'Run to the forests after Mizuki; that scroll interests me.'

'Yes Father.' he said before running after the traitor. Naruto ran without making any sound. He could have caught up with his "teacher", but decided to wait until they entered the forest to confront him. Mizuki ran until he got to the small cabin in the woods. As he rested, he opened and started going over the contents of the scroll.

"You should not have ran Mizuki, it made me even more interested. Maybe if you had walked by my window, I would not have heard you."

The man jumped up and turned to the voice. On top of one of the many branches stood a person. Because of the shadows, all Mizuki could see was a long sleeved grey shirt, a pair of black pants, and bare feet. He knew those feet anywhere, there was only one person in the village that would run around barefooted, the demon brat Naruto.

"What are you doing here Naruto? Shouldn't you be sleeping, preparing for your team tomorrow?" Mizuki was willing to waste time, if he was caught, he could blame Naruto for taking it and say he caught him, he would be a hero! "What do you want?" He was getting angry now, the boy just stood there, watching him and it was getting unnerving. "I said wh-"

"Calculating how long it will take ANBU to find your body." Naruto calmly said, cutting into what Mizuki was saying.

"What the hell do you mean?" Mizuki screamed at the boy. He was about to say something else when a dagger the size of his forearm entered his throat, rendering speech impossible.

"Such language. It is so unbecoming to see one so old speaking like a child." Mizuki's head shot up to see calm blue eyes just inches from his own. The hilt of the blade was held loosely in his hand. For some reason he was drawn to the hilt of the small shard of metal. A very small diamond shaped piece of glass was right between the hilt and the blade. It seemed as if the purple diamond was emptying. Mizuki got confused as his brain caught up with what he was seeing. 'How can that be?'

"Inside the diamond is my personal poison. When I pull any of my blades out of their sheathes the poison enters a groove on the blade. For the poison to take effect, it needs to enter the victim's bloodstream. With my daggers, I must stab them. My sword has grooves running down the middle of the blade, along with grooves down the actual blade. With these grooves, my poison can enter if they are stabbed or if I slash at them. They are very useful and very potent, do you not think Mizuki?" But by then he was only talking to a corpse.

Naruto picked up the scroll, careful not to get the traitor's blood on it. He quickly opened the scroll and memorized it. He could not recall any specific thing from the scroll but his mind copied the scroll and he could pull the memory and read its secrets in his Liar's Place. At his own leisure of course.

--Hokage's Office--

"So you found the scroll on the forest floor, next to Mizuki's body?" The Hokage was happy to have the scroll back, but found it odd that Naruto had been the one to find it. What also confusing to him what the fact that he could find nothing wrong with Naruto's story. The boy sat in front of the man with none of the emotion on his face that gives up most liars.

"Yes Hokage-sama" answered the composed boy. He had nothing to fear, in his Liar's Place, not even Ibiki's interrogation techniques could force the truth from him. With his Liar's Place, he controlled his words perfectly, saying exactly what was needed to throw off suspicion of his true motives. He practiced with Uchiha-san, practiced until the weasel could throw his eyes around all he wanted, he still would not be able to figure out if he was lying.

"That is all Naruto."

"Good night sir." And with a final bow, Naruto left the office. Outside his face was cold, but inside he was grinning like the fox he was.

--

Back at his apartment, Naruto found that he was unable to go back to sleep after his meeting with the Hokage, so he did the next best thing; learn. He meditated and soon found himself in the confines of his mind. He walked down the dark hallways until he came to the one place he loved more than his Liar's Place; the Chamber of Sealing. The room that held his father captive. He walked up and sat a few feet from the golden bars.

"Are you still awake?" He quietly asked; if his father was asleep, he didn't want to wake him.

"How many times an I going to have to tell you that I wake as soon as you come here?" Naruto bowed to the darkness in front of him. "I am not angry, do not bow. Did you come here for any particular reason?"

"Yes. I could not go back to sleep and I wish to continue our lessons from the last time." The image of a giant fox appeared behind the cage and a red tail wrapped around him and pulled him past the bars. The appendage settled him next to the great belly of the beast and Naruto leaned against the furry body; absorbing heat from it. The fox's head swung around and rested on the ground near him, its piercing eyes looked into his own.

"What was the topic we were discussing?" The Kyuubi's words rumbled from the throat that was just a few feet away from him.

"Fear in general."

"How long has it been since the conversation started?"

"A few years."

"Tell me what you remember from our previous conversations."

"Fear is an emotional response to presumed threats and danger."

"How is it different than anxiety?"

"Fear is different from anxiety in which anxiety typically occurs without any external threat. In addition, fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas the other results from threats that are seen as unavoidable or uncontrollable."

"Good, what is the basis for all fear?"

"Pain."

"Explain yourself."

"Fear is most often subconsciously connected pain. A fear of heights stems from the thought of falling and suffering a severe injury or death."

"What about a fear of change?"

"They fear they cannot handle the change and may be hurt either emotionally or even physically."

"Yes. Why does the body fear?"

"Fear is a survival mechanism and usually occurs in response to a specific negative influence. This negative stimulus cannot often be seen, and fear is often misplaced. Fear can lead to many different emotions ranging from anger to extreme paranoia. This is where the conversation ended."

"We will move to paranoia tonight and cover anger another time. DO you know who are the most susceptible to this emotion?"

"Corrupt business leaders?"

"No."

"Corrupt leaders in general?"

"No. Paranoia is a term used to describe a psychosis of fear, felt as a heightened perception of being persecuted, whether it be false or otherwise; meaning the person does not have to be corrupt. This degree of fear often causes one to change their normal behavior in radical ways, even becoming extremely compulsive. In extreme cases, paranoia leads to a phobia. What kind of people do you know that change that dramatically in short periods of time?"

"Ninja."

"Yes. Most nin are constantly worried over people seeking revenge or glory by killing them. Paranoia often causes them to develop certain 'quarks' to their personalities. Many nin try to suppress their fear in paranoia and are successive to a point…"

--Next Day--

"Okay class, today you get put on your teams! Look lively now, you should be happy!"

'I am happy in the thought that most of them will not survive the first real mission they get.' Naruto was by the always open window. He liked the feeling of the wind on his skin, it reminded him that at any time he could run. There was nothing in this village to hold him down.

'Will you miss anyone when your brother tells you that he does not need a Leaf spy anymore?' ask his father.

'No. They have all wronged me in some way, by either harming or ignoring me.'

'Good. I wanted to be sure that you will not hesitate to follow orders your bother or I give you. Even if they deal with the destruction of the Leaf.'

'Do not worry yourself, I will do your and brother's bidding. I will always follow you both.'

'Good boy.'

"...Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto." At the sound of his name the blond looked up at Iruka, then at the "last" Uchiha. 'How long until he cracks and goes crazy?'

'I think a few months of seeing how strong you are will make him snap like the little ninja I feasted on thirteen years ago.' At that thought Naruto busted out with a short bark of laughter; scaring the shit out of the students.

"Now all teams wait here for your teachers." Iruka stated before laving.

--3 Hours Later--

"Where the hell is our teacher?" Sakura screamed for the hundredth time. Sasuke had been saying the same thing in his head for the past two hours.

'Where the hell is he? Some so called jonin, he can't even tell time!' Out loud he said, "Sakura, you should be more patient. Patience is a great ninja's most used tool."

"Use that oversized head of yours for something; you could at least come up with something new to say." They both turned their heads to see the team's other member; Naruto Uzumaki. The insult has been the only thing the boy had said since he stopped laughing in class. In fact, that was the longest sentence either of them had heard him say. Just as Sakura was about to scream out a comeback, the door opened and their jonin teacher walked in. He took one look around.

"My first impression of you, I ha-" he was cut off by Naruto.

"Your personal opinion of us does not matter; only your professional opinion of our skills as shinobi." "Very perceptive. But personal and professional opinions often go hand-in-hand. But I think I could get to like you."

"Probably not." Sakura and Sasuke had been staring at Naruto the whole time he was talking, they had never seen him talk so much, and Kakashi noticed them.

"Stop staring and meet me on the roof." He turned and walked out.

On the roof, he told them to describe themselves. To explain, he went first, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't like talking about my hobbies or likes or dislikes. My dreams...don't matter to you. Now you, pinky, go." Sakura glared at the nickname, but started talking anyway.

"Well my name is Haruno Sakura, I like ...blushes...someone and all my hobbies and dreams revolve around that someone! I hate...Naru-"

"Finish your sentence and I will make sure to blind you so you can not stalk Sasuke anymore." Naruto said without batting an eye.

"Well that was interesting Sakura, but you shouldn't hate your teammates. Naruto, even though I think Sasuke wouldn't mind a blind Sakura, you shouldn't threaten your teammates. You doom-and-gloom, you go next." Sasuke inwardly seethed, but refused to give the lazy jonin the show of emotion he wanted.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't care for a lot of things and don't feel like naming them all off. Instead of a dream, my ambition is to revive the Uchiha clan and kill someone."

"Itachi, right?" Sasuke's head turned to Naruto so fast that the blonde would bet Sasuke had broken something.

"What do you know about him?!" He somehow made his question into a demand.

"Ask your question nicer, and I might consider answering." Sasuke was about to jump forward and attempt to beat the answers out of Naruto, but Kakashi stopped him.

"Enough! Naruto, stop messing with such a serious matter." Suddenly his glare was gone and the commanding tone he had used was replaced with his usual one. "Now, why don't you go, but please don't get anyone angry."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto., as you already know. My likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, and ambitions are not important to this team."

Sakura leaned over to Sasuke and whispered into his ear, "We only learned Kakashi-sensei's name and nothing new about Naruto. What is up with them?" Sasuke didn't answer her, but he was thinking along the same lines as she was.

'What does he know about Itachi?'

"Well, since we are done here, I'll tell you what we will be doing tomorrow. It will be a survival exercise."

"But, Kakashi-sensei, we alr-"

"No, buts, just meet me at training ground 22 at eight. Dismissed!" With that he was gone.