Naruto – Bloodlust

If anyone was wondering, one of the reasons my enthusiasm for writing fics died, this fic is probably the biggest source of it. Like most of my stuff, I actually had a whole load of back-story planned out, stuff to be revealed slowly in further chapters, but the complaints and bile directed at me for not telling/showing/revealing everything upfront in the first f*****g paragraph was upsetting.

In hindsight, if I ever were to go back to this I'll have to rearrange it so it follows Naruto growing up instead of jumping back as required. Just so the 'special' people can understand why the characters act the way they were…and to think, the manga uses this a lot. I wonder how they followed that…

The usual – I don't own em.

x-X-x

The air was rent by the ear-splitting roar of the monstrous nine-tailed beast, causing an evil feeling wind to blow over the battlefield. If pure, unrefined hatred had a smell, it would smell like the breath of the Kyuubi.

The ground shook and reverberated from the volume of the beast's mindless bellows, joining in with the slamming of nine powerful tails, that shook the very earth to a destructive beat, almost like that of a thrash metal drummer jacked up on speed.

With each swipe of a tail, huge tracts of land were ripped up and flung away, leaving damp earth exposed to the air, like gaping wounds clawed in flesh. Massive trees were uprooted, ancient and strong, destroyed in seconds, reduced to nothing more than splintered chunks of wood.

The Kyuubi would destroy an area before springing in a leap that covered miles to another spot at random, where it would repeat the devastation before moving on, slowly working its way around the outskirts of Konoha in a tightening spiral, as if it were systematically wiping out every trace of the hidden village.

Konoha's defenders, it's Shinobi were unable to mount a cohesive defense, whenever their numbers grew large enough to annoy the beast it moved away, tiring out the ninja as they were forced to be constantly in pursuit. Even if it stayed still, many had no delusions of taking the monster down. The evil, corrosive chakra that hung around the beast was overpowering, enough that you did not need to be sensitive to it to feel the Kyuubi's presence.

The defenders had suffered massive losses as the first wave had been wiped out in a heartbeat. The strongest of the ninja were attempting every trick they knew to try and slow the beast's approach, to give the villagers chance to get into the shelters deep underground. This was no longer a struggle to defeat the Kyuubi, now it was a matter of keeping as many alive as possible.

As more died assaulting the beast, with as much success as a few ants trying to move an elephant, a sense of despair gathered over the defenders.

Another thud shock the earth causing a change in the atmosphere. A newborn glimmer of hope went through the ninja as they saw the giant boss summon, Gamabunta appeared near the Kyuubi. Those closest could just make out the white cloak of the fourth as he stood on top of the giant toad's head.

"Get ready." Minato told Gamabunta as he stared towards his death.

"You sure this'll work?" the giant toad rumbled and braced himself as the Kyuubi slowly turned around as it noticed their presence.

"No." Minato glanced down at his newborn son he held in the crook of his arm. "There's so much that can go wrong with a seal this complicated."

Naruto mewled pitifully, instinctively fearing the hideous presence nearby.

"Nobody has tried this before. It'll either work or it won't." Minato's face hardened as the Kyuubi turned to fully regard them with empty blood-red eyes. It bared its teeth and began snarling and snapping like a rabid dog, not at all like the malicious and intelligent monster it was supposed to be.

In his mind Minato's suspicions that this was not just a random encounter with the legendary beast were confirmed. The Kyuubi just happened to appear on the outskirts of Konoha? With no earlier sightings? At exactly midnight? Too much of a coincidence. Somehow, someone had caused this.

He hadn't anytime to contemplate the situation further, or for regrets as the giant fox tensed, ready to pounce. Minato began rushing through the required hand seals of the last and most complicated technique he would ever do. Even with the incredible speed he performed the seal, the Kyuubi had almost covered the distance between them. Minato finished the last seal in time to stare the beast in the eye as it's massive jaws opened.

He immediately knew something had gone wrong as he felt an enormous drain on his chakra. His eyes widened in surprise at the wrenching, pulling sensation as his chakra was seemingly torn out of his body.

'Creating the contract isn't suppose to use this much chakra!' Minato clenched his teeth against the feeling of being ripped in two.

"Gamabunta! Get out of here!" Minato managed to shout out, hoping the boss toad would hear him over the Kyuubi's roar as it attacked. With the last of his rapidly vanishing supplies of chakra he initiated the Hiraishin-no-Jutsu and vanished.

He reappeared in the pre-prepared spot in the forests outside Konoha that he had chosen in case it all went terrible wrong, as had happened. Naruto was crying in his arms as Minato glanced into the distance where he could feel and hear the Kyuubi continuing to destroy the area. He hoped Gamabunta had had the sense to de-summon himself.

He could taste blood. Raising his free hand to his mouth he wiped at the dampness and brought his fingers up. They were smeared with his blood, which appeared black under the pale moonlight. He gave a rattling cough as the pain registered. With his vision beginning to fade he used the last of his strength to lean against the nearest tree. He slowly sank down until he sat back against the tree amongst it's roots.

"I'm sorry." Minato told the forest in a hoarse whisper. He knew Sarutobi, if the old man lived through the night, would find his body and take care of Naruto for him. He hoped Konoha would find some way to survive. He was so very tired, even holding his head up was too much and he let it droop and waited for the approaching darkness to claim him.

A twig snapped and the sound of heavy boots crunching against the earthy forest floor made Minato force his head up to see who was there.

"Old man?" he grimaced at fresh agony moving caused.

He saw an unusual style of heavy boot, one without the toes showing. As he looked up his senses began screaming something wasn't natural about the person before him. Minato continued to raise his eyes past the long tight leggings and short skirt, up over the definitely military style top, with the very top two buttons undone, and his labored breath caught in his throat at the twin glowing red orbs, the only things visible where the woman's face was hidden in the darkness.

"Sharingan?" Minato blinked in surprise. 'No!' he realized as they had no tomoe.

The shadows covering the person's face split into a wide inhuman grin, revealing sharp, shark-like teeth.

"I don't know where I am." the woman's voice had an odd accent Minato had never heard before. She knelt down and leaned in close to the dying Hokage. As her face came into the moonlight the shark-teeth and glowing red eyes seemed to melt away leaving her face that of a normal looking person.

"I don't know who you are."

Minato coughed again in surprise and wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him or whether this creature before him was mocking him with its appearance. If he had had a sister he was sure she would look like the woman before him.

'She looks so young.' he thought in surprise as blue eyes regarded him curiously.

"I don't know what's going on." she continued running a finger across Minato's chin, collecting some of his blood on the tip. "I don't know how I know you summoned me." she held her bloodied finger up to study it before licking it clean. "The only thing that I *do* know is…you owe me a soul for whatever reason." Her eyes flared red for a moment, before fading back to blue and she smiled innocently like a child at him.

"Shingami?" Minato croaked out the question.

"I've not been called that before." she continued to smile. Her eyes shifted down towards the whimpering Naruto. "Is he the offering?"

"Stay away from him! My soul was the offering!" Minato growled out with a final burst of strength at the thought of whatever this woman was taking Naruto instead of himself.

Her grin widened.

"Not a coward. Good. I hate eating them." she leaned closer, making Minato shiver from her cold breath on his neck. The last sensation he felt was that of teeth sinking into the flesh of his neck and everything slowly going cold and dark.

x-X-x

Seras pulled away as the last of the blood dried up and the memories of Minato's life settled into place inside her. She stared down at the body with the familiar now to her sensation of looking at herself, even though it wasn't her. She contemplated his life and found herself fascinated by his deeds and skills. Minato had been everything she respected.

Naruto cried in the cooling arm of his father's body drawing her attention to him. She regarded her son. Minato's son she corrected herself as she shook her head. The overlap of memories were always powerful for the first few minutes after feeding as deeply on someone as she had.

Seras gently picked the baby up and studied him. He was so familiar to her now even though she had only seen him for the first time a few minutes ago. A maternal instinct grew inside her as she studied the newborn, something she had never expected to feel as a vampire. She had never had the desire for children in the last thirty years, not that she could have them anyway, so this feeling confused her.

"Sorry about eating your dad." Seras told Naruto. "I'll find you a good family before leaving."

Naruto's cries faded as she held him. His eyes found hers for a moment and captivated her with their innocence.

The moment was broken by a ground shaking roar off in the distance.

Seras turned towards the noise. She could feel the malevolence and rage from the Kyuubi as it continued to destroy Konoha and all the villagers that lived there. The nine tailed fox. The most powerful chakra entity in this world. It's presence was compared to a natural disaster. She knew all this now.

The Kyuubi terrified these people. It excited her.

She glanced back down at Naruto, feeling oddly conflicted at the thought of leaving these people to die. It was Minato's memories causing this she told herself, even as she made her decision.

"Damn it Minato." Seras grumbled. "I'm going to do something stupid for you." In her head she had already used Minato to figure out what he had done wrong with the sealing.

"Come on kid. Looks like we're going to get to know each other very well." Seras smirked as they both vanished into nothingness.

They reappeared and hovered in the air above and behind the raging beast. Seras was impressed at the waves of evil power that rolled off it.

"Good thing you didn't get Master." she smirked imagining the destruction Alucard would have unleashed to have the thrill of fighting something this strong.

"Now, this seal requires a soul. Good thing I got some spares." Seras grinned and let her presence be known. She allowed every fiber of her vampireness to spread out over the area. The effect was immediate. The Kyuubi turned it's attention towards the strange entity in time to witness the real summoning of the Death God.

x-X-x

Everyone of Konoha's active shinobi paused in their attacks and attempts to slow the Kyuubi down as a second unnatural chakra was felt over the battlefield. They watched on in confusion as the Kyuubi turned around to growl and snap at something in the air they couldn't see. As the clouds broke they saw the silhouette of a person with what appeared to be a massive shadowy and never fixed shape wing hovering before the moon.

As quickly as the clouds had parted they reappeared, sending the land back into darkness.

"What is that?" Sarutobi heard someone call out in confusion.

"Concentrate on the nine tails!" the retired Hokage commanded trying to keep everyone focused on the task at hand.

"Where did the fox go?" someone shouted uncertainly.

A curious muttering went over the battlefield as the shinobi suddenly realized the powerful and evil chakra had vanished. Everything had gone silent, aside from the groans of the wounded.

Sarutobi looked around. There was no sign of the beast. No roaring or shaking of the ground. It had just gone. 'Has Minato done it?' he wondered as all eyes turned towards him, asking for what to do.

"Spread out! Search the area! Make sure this isn't a trick!" Sarutobi shouted. He stared towards where the Kyuubi had just been seconds ago and hoped that it was truly gone. After he had seen the Kyuubi send Gamabunta packing he had lost nearly all hope. Had it just taken a long time to seal the beast?

He waited with baited breath, expecting any moment to hear another roar or feel the evil corrosive chakra.

"Third-sama, it's gone." a battered looking ANBU said as he landed before Sarutobi. "We can't find it anywhere."

"Send word it appears to have been defeated." Sarutobi told those nearest to him. "Keep on your guard until I confirm the situation."

"Sir!" multiple voices said before rushing off to spread to news.

Sarutobi jogged towards where the Kyuubi had last been. He would take time to shout for the wounded he saw to be moved and give other orders to anyone that looked ready to break down. He knew sometimes you need to keep people busy in times of stress. He passed bodies of those cut down by the monster, the loss of life had been high.

Soon he stepped into the area the Kyuubi had last been seen. The residue energy of the Kyuubi's evil feeling chakra hovered in the air. Even the ground seem stained with the feeling. As he examined the area he spotted a familiar white cloak.

Sarutobi broke out into a run despite himself.

"Minato!" he called out hoping against hope the Fourth was still alive.

The accented and female voice that replied caused him to draw up short.

"Hey old man. We need to talk." Seras said tickling Naruto's belly where the seal was visible.

x-X-x

12 Years Later

Sarutobi hummed away to himself, pipe firmly between his lips as he idly made his way towards the Hokage office, enjoying the bright sunshine. He exchanged greetings with many of Konoha's residents that he passed in the streets. He felt more relaxed than he had for a long time today, even Danzo himself couldn't have ruined his mood.

He soon entered the Hokage's tower and greeted the receptionist, exchanging daily pleasantries with her as he did most days. He enjoyed his little chats with her. It helped that she was cute too.

All too soon he had to dismiss himself on business reasons and made his way up the tower.

"Good day." Sarutobi nodded to the ANBU guards stationed outside the Hokage's door as they let him past after a quick check over.

Upon entering the Hokage's office, Sarutobi was once again struck by the difference from the hallways. Despite being a warm day, the office remained cool. The air held a strange unnatural chill that tickled at your senses, as if warning you there was something dangerous inside, that you should flee.

Sarutobi looked over to the desk and wondered where the Hokage was, seeing the unfinished paperwork and no one sitting there. He suspected any moment now that an amused voice would whisper in his ear in an attempt to make him flinch. That had long become a game between them. Who could sneak up on the other.

"Hey old man." that carefree and strangely accented voice called from over by the window that looked out over Konoha.

"Not trying to catch me unawares today?" Sarutobi asked with a wiry grin as he puffed on his pipe and turned towards the voice. The Hokage stood staring out the window, blond spiky hair was highlighted by the sunlight that streamed through the window, turning it into a bright, almost white halo, like that of an angel. Although that was as far from the truth as could be he was told.

"Nah!" Bright blue eyes turned towards Sarutobi, sparkling with mischief. "I've had my fun already today."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Caught one of Danzo's guys trying to poison me."

"Really." Sarutobi shook his head in amusement. "And how do you know it was one of his, Minato?"

"You can call me Seras when we're alone you know?"

"Of course Minato." the old man smirked at her eye roll.

"And I know cause I ate him." Seras Victoria replied with a cute grin, one fang popping over her bottom lip. "I shipped the body back to him with a thank you note for the breakfast."

"You know that's disturbing."

"What?" Seras asked pretending to be innocent.

"Acting cute when talking about eating people." Sarutobi blew a ring of smoke and then went serious. "He's getting to be a problem with his suspicions and attempts to undermine you. If the truth comes out it would cause a problem."

"He's not suspicious. He knows I'm not the original Fourth." Seras shrugged unconcerned. "Not that he can prove it. With us actually looking very similar and all the tests I had to sit through to prove I'm the Hokage despite my gender change in inverted commas. Anyway, I like him. Keeps me amused, especially as that eye of his don't work on me and it drives him insane trying to figure out why."

"I still can't believe you passed the blood test."

"That's easy when Minato is a part of me." Seras smirked.

"I suppose so." Sarutobi agreed. With her explanations of what she was and how she could take a person's soul and make it a part of her, he often wondered how her mind worked. What was it like to have sets of memories that were not your own? Did they stay separate and talk to her? Or did they all blend into one being?

"Anything interesting going on that I should know of?" Seras asked. Her tone of voice had switched to what Sarutobi recognized as her 'Minato' state as she turned back to look out the window. She placed her hands behind her back, resting against the inverted colored Hokage cloak. She had had the white and red pattern swapped around, just because she liked the red more.

"Nothing that requires your immediate attention."

"That's good." she said and then chuckled in a bubbly manner. "Today is turning out to be very amusing."

"Hmm? You *are* in a good mood, considering the sun's shining so brightly. Don't you usually complain about it?" Sarutobi approached, curious as to why she was standing happily at the window.

"Yeah, but this is too funny." Seras replied and pointed outside.

"What is?"

"Naruto's actually managed to deface the Hokage monument. I'm waiting for the fireworks to start."

"Oh." Sarutobi stated absently as he stepped up beside the vampire. "Wait what!?" he did a double take as he caught sight of the paint covered faces carved in the mountain.

The door behind them burst open admitting a pair of Chunin.

"Hokage-sama! Naruto is vandalizing the Hokage monument!"

"This time with paint!"

x-X-x

By the time Seras and Sarutobi arrived on the tower roof a large crowd had gathered. Murmurs of disapproval and disgust ran through the crowd and some began shouting up at the blond boy as he continued to brazenly slap paint all over the monument.

"Look at what he's done!"

"Stop doing this!"

"Stop causing trouble!"

"You'll pay for this!"

Naruto finished adding the last touches to the swirly spiral he was doodling and kicked off so he spun to face the crowd.

"Shut up you morons! None of you could do something like this! Not even my mom! But I can cause I'm incredible!"

"Geez. What has that idiot done?" Sarutobi sighed as the crowd parted for him. He glanced to his side and was surprised to find Seras had vanished.

"I'm afraid I must apologize for this, Third." Iruka stood with one foot against the rails and looked very much annoyed.

"Hm?" Sarutobi turned his attention to the scared teacher. Iruka took a deep breath before bellowing up at Naruto.

"What the hell are you doing during class? Get down here you moron!"

"Oh crap! That's Iruka-sensei!" Naruto flinched at hearing the teacher's voice. He quickly spun and went to climb up the rope he was using to hang in place when another voice, one that made him panic more than his teacher's.

"Naruto…" Seras stated calmly as she stood horizontally against the rocky monument and stared down at Naruto, arms folded. She didn't look amused. Internally she was chuckling away, but she had appearances to keep up in front of the villagers.

"Ehheheh…Hi mom." Naruto nervously chuckled and rubbed at the back of his head.

"You do know you're going to be punished for this?" Seras stated coolly.

"I was just showing that I can do stuff even you can't!" Naruto explained. "So you should just give me the Hokage hat now."

"Really?" Seras pulled out a kunai and casually used it the clean under her finger nails.

"Um, yeah…"

"You really think I couldn't paint the monument?"

"…" Naruto paused as he realized he probably should have thought of doing something else than this to prove he could do something no one else could, seeing how his mother was standing against the vertical face as easily as if it were the ground. "Ah…"

"Tell you what. I'll give you the hat…"

"Really!?"

"…if you learn how to fly." Seras finished.

"Huh? Fly?" Naruto pondered for a moment before his eyes widened in terror as Seras casually flicked the kunai at the rope, cutting right through it. "OH…shi-"

He began screaming as he plummeted ground-wards. There was a surprised gasp from the crowd as they watched on in dumb shock as the blond boy shot past them.

"I'm sooorrryy!" Naruto cried out as the ground rapidly approached. His eyes were streaming tears from the rushing wind.

Seras waited till the last moment before vanishing into thin air and reappeared in time to pluck Naruto out of the air by the back of his t-shirt. The pair vanished once more and reappeared on the Hokage tower roof in front of the crowd. Seras casually dropped Naruto, who remained frozen in shock where she left him. She began tying him up with the rope he still had around his waist and whistled happily to herself.

"Here you go." Seras presented Naruto to Iruka, dangling him like a yo-yo. "I think he's learned his lesson. Make sure he cleans that up after school as punishment."

x-X-x

Naruto remained strangely silent for the entire trip back to class, where Iruka dumped the boy in front of everyone else in his class and gave Naruto his most disappointed look.

"Hmph!" Naruto looked away.

"Tomorrow is the Shinobi Academy's graduation exam, which you've failed twice." Iruka growled out pointing his finger down at Naruto. "As the Hokage's son you should be setting an example, not causing trouble! Idiot!"

"Whatever." Naruto muttered, having heard a similar lecture many times before.

Iruka's patience finally snapped. "Time for a Henge-no-jutsu test! Everyone line up!"

"What?!" the class groaned.

"Transform perfectly into me!" Iruka demanded as the class began lining up, many of the students sending Naruto annoyed glares at the surprise test he had gotten them all. Iruka began calling out names and the student performed the technique.

"Namikaze Naruto!" Iruka finally got to Naruto.

"This is all your fault." one student stated as Naruto passed.

"Like I care." Naruto snorted. He walked forward. 'Man this sucks.' he thought taking a good look at Iruka and trying to focus on the teacher's thoughts. He slowly got an amusing idea. 'Well, here we go.'

Naruto gathered his chakra while keeping his thoughts focused on what he could just barely feel from Iruka.

"Henge!"

The smoke of a successful henge covered Naruto for a moment, obscuring him. When it cleared Iruka felt his heart skip a beat. Instead of a copy of himself, Naruto was now a tall leggy brunet in racy underwear. She was exactly Iruka's type, in fact he found himself for a moment stunned as the girl of his dreams appeared before him.

"Hi there big boy." Naruto's transformed voice was smooth as silk and Iruka found naughty thoughts going through his mind. His jaw dropped as he became completely mesmerized by his perfect woman. He lost all anger at Naruto and suddenly found himself completely in Naruto's thrall.

'Wait a minute! Naruto?' Iruka blinked twice. Shook his head to try and clear his mind, before finally punching himself in the head, breaking the spell.

"Hahahaha!" Naruto laughed as he reverted back to normal. "I call this one sexy-no-jutsu!"

There was a stunned silence for a moment.

"You moron! Don't invent stupid skills!" Iruka erupted, bellowing at the top of his lungs. He felt angry, ashamed, frustrated and aroused by Naruto's trick.

x-X-x

Later on, under the watchful eye of Iruka, Naruto slowly cleaned away the paint on Hokage monument. He muttered away to himself as he worked on the hanging platform.

"I'm not letting you go until this is all cleaned up as good as new." Iruka stated, arms folded. He glared down at Naruto. "How many times are you going to keep making such a fool of yourself Naruto? As the son of the Hokage you should be setting an example. Do you have any idea how disappointed she must be?"

"Yeah whatever." Naruto snapped and then quietly. "Son of the Hokage." he mimed. "Just like everyone else. You don't see me, only the son of the Hokage. That all any of you care about. It's the only reason anyone has time for me." He sniffed feeling himself tearing up with a frustration he wasn't able to release.

Iruka paused for a moment as Naruto's shoulder's slumped and thought over the quiet words he had just heard. 'Is this why Naruto always acts the clown?' Iruka wondered.

"Hey, Naruto."

"What?" Naruto turned his watery eyes up towards the teacher.

"Well, um, if you get everything cleaned up I'll buy you some ramen." Iruka rubbed at his nose, feeling embarrassed that he may have missed the reason for Naruto's behavior. He had to blink in surprise as Naruto's face suddenly became filled with an almost desperate hope.

"Ok! I'll work as hard as I can!"

x-X-x

"Naruto…" Iruka began to speak as the two of them sat at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar later that night. He had a need to confirm what he was suspecting about Naruto. "Why were you doing that to the monument? Don't you realize what it represents to Konoha?"

"Of course I do." Naruto replied through a mouthful of noodles. "Basically those who get the title of Hokage are the strongest in the village, right. My mom is the Fourth and saved the village by destroying a fox demon."

Although technically true, it wasn't completely the full truth. Iruka wasn't going to say anything to correct Naruto, there was a law in place forbidding those that were there from speaking about what actually had happened. The Hokage would one day explain it to Naruto, Iruka knew.

"Then why?" he asked instead.

"Well, one day I'm going to get the Hokage title. I will surpass all the previous Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed pointing his chopsticks at the teacher. "And then! I'll make everyone acknowledge my strength is my own and not my mom's!"

Iruka raised his eyebrows at this statement. 'So I was right. He's tired of living in the Fourth's shadow. And it is a large one…' Iruka admitted to himself.

"Um, Iruka-sensei I have a little request." Naruto clapped his hands together and spoke extremely politely.

"What? You want another bowl?" Iruka asked suspiciously as Naruto wasn't one to be polite.

"No…can I borrow your forehead protector?"

"Oh this?" Iruka grinned lifting his forehead protector with his fingers. "No, no. This is what you get after graduating. It's a symbol you've come of age. Maybe you'll get one tomorrow."

"Awww…"

x-X-x

It was late when Naruto cracked open the door to his family home. The house was built in the usual Konoha standard but on a larger scale. It often felt much larger by the fact only the two of them lived there.

No lights were on in the entrance way, but that didn't bother Naruto. He had always had excellent night vision. As quietly as he could he sneaked down the empty hallway, his senses straining for his mother. He was not feeling in the mood to have to explain to her why he did what he did. He had had enough tellings off with Iruka, but at least the teacher seemed to be treating him as a person instead of something special, like an important museum piece that nobody dared to touch in case it broke.

Instead of heading towards his room, Naruto went towards the kitchen. He poked his head around the door frame carefully making sure his mother wasn't there before he stepped in. He made his way over to the fridge and pulled the door open.

The light from the fridge was bright enough to make his eyes water after being in almost complete darkness for so long. Once his eyes adjusted Naruto scanned the inside the large fridge. It was pretty bare. A couple of cartons of milk, a small selection of fruit and vegetables. Another small selection of prepackaged meats. Oh, and his mother's bottles of red wine she made sure he was not allowed to touch on pain of a painful training session.

His mother never cooked and he had pretty much learned the fend for himself when it came to food. Oh, she went shopping for the food for him, but she never attempted to make any since he had gotten good enough to make his own.

He grabbed a carton of milk, sniffed it to make sure it wasn't off and took a few good swigs from it. He shut the door quietly and turned to head towards his bedroom, not that he expected to get much sleep. He often had trouble sleeping at night, finding it much easier to sleep during class instead. That often got him a telling off from Iruka.

"Want to talk?" Seras asked from where she leaned against the kitchen tops by the sink.

It showed how much he was used to her appearing out of nowhere that Naruto didn't bat an eyelid.

"Not really." Naruto faked a yawn. "I'm tired. Got to get some sleep tomorrow for the exam."

"Liar. You take after…me." she stated with a small, bemused but slightly sad smile. "We both know neither of us get much sleep at night."

Naruto remained silent.

"I see…" Seras sighed. "Okay, how about I talk and you listen. You're sick of being treated differently from everyone else. You have lots of 'friends' but feel alone because you somehow know a lot of them think you're strange and a little creepy, and they're being pushed to be friends with you by their parents trying to wrangle their way into my good books. A lot of adults act all nice around you but you can tell they don't really like you. You sometimes sense this from people and it hurts to know they're just speaking to you because of what you are not *who* you are. Right?"

Naruto found his jaw was hanging open as his mother nailed every single one of his thoughts perfectly.

"H…how?"

"I can read your mind. No seriously." Seras grinned at his look of disbelief. "It's a gift. One you've inherited as well, but don't have much control over."

"Y-you mean, I can read minds?" Naruto blinked.

"Nope."

Naruto frowned.

"What you're sensing is just surface feelings. Not thoughts as such. You don't have the control for that. It would take you some training to even begin to get close to reading minds. But you still could use it as it is to gage a person's true intentions towards you."

"But I could learn?"

"Yes." Seras hesitated slightly in answering. "However, you should really concentrate more on normal Jutsu. I don't want to teach you…family…techniques until you're older."

'There is also a slight complication with a certain demon and seal.' Seras added silently to herself.

"We have our own techniques? Cool! So when can I learn them?"

"When you're older."

"Mooooooooom!"

"Okay, let's make a deal." Seras relented.

"Sure!"

'Did I ever jump into deals so quickly when I was younger?' Seras wondered before going slightly embarrassed remembering how quickly she had agreed to become a vampire without even know that was what she was going to become.

"What do I have to do?" Naruto looked up at her excitedly.

"I'll teach you to how to never miss with a kunai."

"That's lame. We already get shown how to throw them well at school." Naruto looked unimpressed.

"I'll teach you a better method." Seras grinned. Naruto still looked unsure. "Fine, I'll also give you the basics of how to control when you pick up surface thoughts so it won't be so random for you any longer. How's that sound?"

"Teach me Hiraishin-no-Jutsu as well." Naruto gave her the puppy-dog eyes.

"I can't teach you that until you learn to throw a kunai my way." She made an excuse up.

"Awww c'mon!"

"Hiraishin-no-Jutsu relies upon using specially sealed kunai. So you need to one, learn how to make them, and two learn how to throw them my way."

"Anyway…" She continued before Naruto could begin begging. "Don't you want your own techniques?"

"I guess…"

"Great! Graduate tomorrow and then we'll work on never missing a target ever again."

"Can't you show me now?" Naruto bounced excitedly. "Cause I'm gonna ace it anyway!"

"Not tonight." Seras stepped up and rustled his hair. "I've got stuff I need to finish up."

"Fine." Naruto's face fell and he sighed in resigned acceptance. He turned to leave. "You're never around when I need you."

"I know its hard on you, but there's more to being a Hokage than just being the strongest. You'll have to learn that if you want the job." Seras explained to his back. "Naruto, no matter how alone you feel or where you are, remember, I'm always with you."

Naruto paused mid-step as his mom's words made a warm, happy feeling swell up in his chest. He spun around to give her a hug only to find the kitchen empty.

"Gah! Don't say sappy stuff like that and vanish!!" Naruto bellowed to the empty house.

x-X-x

The next day dawned bright and early and for once Naruto rushed to class excitedly. Once he passed he would begin some real training with his mom! He sat in class and fidgeted excitedly as the tests went by quickly, until the last one came up.

"The last technique you need to be able to do to graduate…" Iruka stood before the class and read out from the clipboard he held. "Is the Bunshin-no-Jutsu."

The class went deathly silent aside from the sound of Naruto slamming his head against the desk. Many eyes turned to fearfully regard Naruto as he mumbled something unpleasant into the wooden surface.

"Urg…very troublesome." Shikamaru muttered trying to resist the urge to eye Naruto out the corner of his eyes.

"I've lost my appetite." Choji stated beside him and threw away his half eaten packet of chips.

"Um, Iruka?" Mizuki leaned over to whisper in the other teacher's ear. "Are you certain that's such a good idea…" he glanced at Naruto. "…After the last time…"

"Don't worry." Iruka whispered back. "That had to be a fluke."

"And the time before?"

"Look, it's the curriculum. They have to be able to do this simple technique to pass."

"Still…maybe we should just say they passed."

"Naruto can do this." Iruka continued to whisper. "I know he can."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Mizuki looked unconvinced.

Iruka sighed and looked around the class at all the disturbed and some green around gills expressions. He remembered some of the previous attempts by Naruto and repressed a shudder himself. Thinking back to the boy's words the night before he suspected if he just let Naruto (and by extension the rest of class) pass without doing the last test after announcing it, Naruto would once again feel he was only passing because of who he was.

"Naruto, you'll go first." Iruka called out confidently, his mind made up.

Like a condemned man, Naruto climbed out his seat and walked towards the front of the class. He stood before the desk as Iruka and Mizuki sat down behind it. Hearing a shuffling and scraping of chairs, Naruto turned around to see the front row of the class had vacated their seats and were making their way further back. The only one still in the front row was that annoying bastard Sasuke. He remained there with his hands in-front of his mouth and staring quietly forward, deep in his own thoughts.

"Oi!" Naruto growled at the class.

"Naruto. Begin!" Iruka called out, bringing his attention back to the task at hand.

'I can do this!' Naruto told himself as he began to gather all his power. The shadows in the room seemed to draw in as Naruto began the technique. The class went completely silent in anticipation.

"Bunshin-"

Naruto's shadow shifted underneath him and grew.

"-No-"

The black pool expanded to the side and the room seemed to grow cold.

"-Jutsu!"

Naruto put everything thing he had into the technique. The shadow pool that had swelled out to the side bulged upwards, stretching like a thick oily blackness. It wobbled around like jelly, went taunt then popped like a lanced boil. There was a sudden stench of decay and a sickly gurgling, bloated noise was heard.

Naruto glanced to the side and had to step away in disgust. There was a gasp and more sounds of disgust from the classroom.

The clone, if it could be called that, was a massive, bloated and misshapen lump of stretched tight gray flesh in the basic shape of a person. It looked like the corpse of an extremely overweight man that had been left out in the sun for too long. Massive pustules of disgusting smelling fluids covered the clone's entire body. It massive triple chin was rippling like a water bed. It groaned and belched sending more foul smells into the air.

"W-what is that…?" Mizuki asked in disgust as the 'clone' hiccuped as if it were trying to not be sick.

"Urg…" Iruka looked ill. He had seen some unpleasant sights and this was ranking right up there with the worst. "Naruto…what did you…do?"

"It's a Bunshin…err…I think?" Naruto continued to back away from the so-called clone with his palms raised to ward the thing off.

"That's no Bunshin." Iruka muttered. "Dispel it."

Naruto looked at the teacher in confusion. "Dispel it? How do I do that?"

Iruka slapped a hand to his forehead. 'Of course, we banned him from using this technique after the other times. He's doesn't know how to get rid of…it.'

"I'll do it." Iruka pulled out a kunai and aimed it at the…thing. He threw it.

The kunai pierced the disgusting gray skin and the reaction was immediate. The clone popped like an over ripe melon spraying the entire classroom in a thick, yellowy puss-like substance. The only thing louder than the sudden noise of retching were the screams of disgust.

x-X-x

"I can still taste it." Mizuki complained after Iruka and himself had finished cleaning the disgusting ooze off themselves and getting a change of clothes. "I'll never feel clean again…"

"At least you didn't get the full brunt of it." Iruka grumbled as he tried to repress the memories of the wave of grossness spraying at him.

"I *did* warn you."

Iruka replied with a lidded stare at the other teacher. They continued to head back towards the classroom where they had left Naruto to clean up the mess he had made. The exam was canceled until tomorrow after the incident.

"What do you think? Should he pass?" Mizuki asked as they turned into the right corridor.

"Well…I don't know…"

"Technically he did create…something…"

"It wasn't a Bunshin though." Iruka argued. "He technically shouldn't pass."

"Maybe, but it would have been quite a distraction. The whole point of Bunshin. Could you imagine the chaos something like that could cause on the battlefield?"

Iruka could. Something like that popping up in the middle of a battle and exploding all over? If your opponents weren't overpowered with disgust, trying to hide when you were covered in that foul smelling ooze would be next to impossible.

"I…guess you're right. It wasn't Bunshin but it is a useful, if disgusting, technique." Iruka relented and reached into one of his pockets to retrieve a Konoha forehead protector. He stared at the forehead protector deep in thought as he turned it over a few times.

"Here we are." Mizuki wrinkled his nose and waved a hand under it as he once again smelt that stench, faded but still hanging around. The classroom door was open. The two teachers paused just outside and stared in. Iruka did his best to breathe through his mouth, though that didn't help much.

Inside the classroom, Naruto was still mopping up the mess. All the windows were wide open to let the smell escape and Naruto was wearing a cloth mask over his face. He also had his goggles down as he mopped at the floor. He had gotten most of the floor cleared of the ooze, but the front desks and ceiling still were splattered.

Luckily for most of the students, they had moved to the rear of the class the moment they heard that Naruto was to do a Bunshin, having learned to stand back when Naruto attempted that technique. There was a slightly clear spot on one of the front desks where Sasuke had been sitting. The Uchiha had been the only student to get covered with a lot of the ooze when the thing had exploded, being the only one to stay in the front row. Whether that had been brave or stupid was left up for debate.

"Naruto. Come here." Iruka called out.

"Uh ho." Naruto mumbled behind his mask and put the mop into the bucket to stand. He suspected he was in trouble. He moped over to the teachers and pulled the mask down and raised his goggles once he stood before them.

"Naruto, we've been discussing your…performance." Iruka began as Naruto looked on nervously. "Despite you not performing Bunshin-no-Jutsu correctly, what you did do is a…good enough substitute. You pass."

Iruka held out the forehead protector.

Naruto's face went through a couple of emotions. Shock. Happiness. A frown of deep thought, before his eyes narrowed in anger.

"Keep it!"

"What?" Iruka was taken aback by Naruto's sudden outburst.

"I'll take the test again tomorrow with everyone else!"

"Naruto…" Iruka trailed off at seeing the look of betrayal and anger in Naruto's eyes. He then realized why Naruto was upset. "Ah, I see. If that's your decision-"

"I'll prove I can do it! Can I finish cleaning this now?" Naruto snapped.

"We'll leave you to finish up then," Iruka nodded, turning to leave.

Naruto grunted something as he went back to work.

x-X-x

"Phew. Finally." Naruto sighed in relief as the last of the ooze was finally wiped away. It was getting close to sunset. The light streaming in through the open windows was turning orange.

Naruto dropped the foul smelling mop back in the bucket and stretched his back out. He took a glance into the bucket and pulled a disgusted face at the rancid water.

"Aw man, I've got to get rid of this now." he moaned not wanting to pick it up.

"What am I doing wrong?" Naruto frowned, trying to figure out why he kept messing a supposed simple technique up. "Every time I try Bunshin-no-jutsu something gross like that happens."

"Maybe you're trying too hard."

Naruto turned in surprise at hearing Mizuki-sensei's voice behind him.

"Mizuki-sensei?"

"Hey. Nice job cleaning it up." Mizuki inspected the classroom.

"Trying too hard?" Naruto pondered that for a moment. "I don't know…I do it exactly how you guys told me to. But every time I get Zombie-no-Jutsu not Bunshin-no-Jutsu."

"I have an idea that might help you. It would mean a bit of work on your part. Want to hear it?" Mizuki said slyly.

"Really?" Naruto perked up.

"Bunshin-no-Jutsu is very basic right? There are actually a few different ways to perform it. If you have trouble with the normal version, learning a different version would let you pass."

"Different version?"

"Yeah. You see the Third has a scroll he keeps in his house with the special version of many techniques on it. If you get that scroll and learned the other version it would still count."

"Really?"

"As long as you can create a clone of yourself with it, it doesn't matter which technique you use."

x-X-x

It was close to midnight by the time the last light went out in the Third's house. Naruto grinned finally getting to his feet and leaping across the street. He carefully got one of the windows opened and dropped inside as silent as a thief. A ninja thief.

Naruto tip-toed silently down the hallway until the lights suddenly came on. He froze.

"What do you think you're doing in my house at this hour?" Sarutobi's calm but firm voice spoke behind the blond boy.

Naruto did the first thing that came into his head.

"Sexy-no-Jutsu!"

Sarutobi didn't know what hit him. When he finally pulled himself together Naruto was long gone, along with the scroll of forbidden techniques.

"This is bad…" Sarutobi breathed in worry over what Naruto may do with the scroll. He quickly raced out his home and headed to the Hokage tower, hoping Seras was still there.

He burst into the Hokage's office and let out a relieved breath at seeing Seras working at the desk.

"You're supposed to knock first." Seras didn't look up as she spoke.

"There's a situation. Naruto's gone and stolen the scroll of the forbidden techniques from my home."

"I see."

Sarutobi paused at Seras' calm and unconcerned reply.

"Then, I take it you have already dealt with the situation?"

"Give me a minute old man. Even I can only do one thing at a time." Seras chuckled.

"This is serious! The chances of Naruto undoing the seal are one in a million, but the possibility exists."

"Anyway, how'd he get the scroll away from you? Did he catch you napping?"

The retired Hokage felt his face warm in embarrassment as he recalled that technique that had left him unable to think of anything but that blond, curvy…Sarutobi had to slap himself to keep his mind from wandering.

Seras blinked and grew really curious.

"It was…"

"Go on."

"He called it…Sexy-no-Jutsu." Sarutobi muttered out.

"Sexy…no…Jutsu…?" Seras looked puzzled before her expression slowly changed to somewhere between surprise, pride and amusement. "Did he sort of hypnotize you?"

"I…suppose you could say that." the embarrassed old man admitted.

"I never thought he'd figure that out by himself!" Seras guffawed. She glanced at Sarutobi before snickering.

"Glad someone finds this amusing." he muttered reaching into his robes for his pipe. He needed something to calm his nerves.

"Don't worry about it old man. It's a natural ability…" She paused as if listening to something only she could hear. "Excuse me a moment." Seras gave him a smirk before she vanished.

x-X-x

Naruto sat back breathing heavily from the exertion of constantly molding chakra for the clone technique he had been learning. He had finally gotten it down and this time he wasn't making zombie-like clones.

A shadow suddenly fell over him and he looked up.

"Found you." Seras folded her arms calmly.

"Ah…Mom?"

"You better have a good reason for breaking into the Third's house and stealing a dangerous scroll." Seras leaned a little closer.

"Err...well, you know ho I'm terrible at Bunshin?"

Seras nodded.

"Well Mizuki-sensei said if I learned the other version on this scroll I'd pass." Naruto rubbed the back of head. "I was going to put it back!"

'Mizuki eh?' Seras thought sensing the incoming barrage of kunai. With beyond human speed she shoved Naruto out the way of the attack and stepped into it. She was slammed back against the little wooden shack as the throwing knives smashed into her, piercing her flesh.

"What? What?" Naruto looked around complete shock. "Mom!"

"I don't believe it! The Fourth taken down with such a simple attack!" Mizuki's voice laughed out from above them in the tree branches. He stood and shook his head at the scene below.

"So that's what's going on." Seras hissed through clenched teeth.

"Naruto! Give me that scroll!" Mizuki beckoned for Naruto to give him it.

"What's going on?" Naruto looked between his mother and Mizuki in confusion.

"Don't give him it Naruto." Seras commanded from where she was pinned to the shack. "He used you. He wants that scroll with forbidden Jutsu on it."

"Naruto, there's no point in you having that scroll. I'll tell you why." Mizuki smirked. He was already thinking of how his reputation would grow by killing the Fourth. He still couldn't believe it, but he supposed anyone could be taken by surprise. "Twelve years ago…you know about the demon fix being sealed, right?"

Seras remained silent much to Mizuki's surprise. He continued anyway.

"Since that day a special law was passed by the Fourth. But this law was to be never mentioned to you."

"Law? What law? Mom?"

Seras lowered her head, as if the pain was too much.

"What is this law?" Naruto shouted.

Mizuki chuckled drawing Naruto's attention.

"The law is that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox!"

"What!" Naruto felt his legs buckle underneath him. He fell back to the ground and stared in shock at Mizuki.

"You are the nine tails that almost destroyed this village and left our Hokage a weakened wreck! Look at him! Taken down so easily! That is no Hokage!"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh." Seras' shoulders shook as if she were repressing the urge to howl in laughter. Her chuckles were devoid of any emotion, sounding completely alien, evil.

Mizuki frowned at the unexpected reaction.

"Mizuki…you might have gotten away with just being thrown out the village or jail time for this plot. But now…now you've gone and broken a law I made." Seras raised her head up and sent the teacher the vilest smirk he had ever seen. Seras flexed her body causing the kunai embedded in her flesh to pop out and clatter to the ground. "A law punishable by death!"

She stepped forward and grinned a toothy grin. "I could do with a snack."

Mizuki felt a terror he hadn't known before as the feeling of unnatural chakra covered the area. It was coming from the Hokage he realized. He began reaching for the large shuriken strapped to his back.

"Interesting take on what happened twelve years ago." Seras continued to slowly approach.

Naruto stared at his mother intently hanging off her words. He had never felt or seen her like this. It was strange and scary, but somehow he found no malevolence towards himself and knew he was safe no matter what happened.

"But things didn't happen quite that way."

Mizuki's instincts began screaming that he should run. He threw the shuriken as hard as he could at Seras who just stood still and allowed the weapon to slam into her head. Her head slammed back, but she didn't fall.

"Mom!" Naruto cried out.

"You see the demon fox was indeed sealed in Naruto." Seras stunned the two watchers by continuing to speak with a large shuriken stuck in her forehead. She reached up and yanked it free and tossed the weapon aside. A trickle of blood dribbled from the wound. She glanced proudly at Naruto. "He isn't the demon fox. He's my childe."

Seras turned her eyes back to Mizuki and bared her fangs.

"What are you?" Mizuki gasped at the glowing red eyes that stared at him. He felt as if they were piercing his very soul with that unnatural gaze.

Mizuki blinked and she was gone. His eyes went wide as her voice responded by his ear.

"Me? If Naruto's the jail, I'm the fox's sadistic warden."

Mizuki had no time to react as a powerful hand wrapped around his throat and he was slammed back against the tree trunk hard enough to shake it. Stars flashed before his eyes even as he yelped in shock and pain. His feet slapped against the rough bark, unable to gain any purchase. His fingers tried to prise the grip away from his throat with as much success as he would have trying to bend diamond.

"I really didn't want to expose Naruto to this side of me until he was older…but you've forced my hand. Too bad for you eh?" Seras reared back before sinking her shark-like teeth into the trapped Mizuki's shoulder. He shrieked in agony as she crunched through the bones like brittle toothpicks and fed. His struggles slowly faded and as he grew weaker, Seras released her grip on his throat and left him hanging from her jaws as she finished him off. Once done she snapped her jaws open and the body fell to the ground with sickening crack.

Naruto swallowed his fear as Mizuki's corpse hit the ground. He watched somewhere between horror and wonder as his mother calmly wiped her jaw clean of blood. She turned to regard him, completely looking normal again. She dropped to the ground and approached Naruto slowly.

"Naruto…we need to talk."

x-X-x

"Here you go." Sarutobi handed Naruto a steaming cup of tea. "This will help you relax." He offered Naruto a comforting smile before taking his place in the couch opposite, next to Seras.

Naruto stared into the hot liquid for a moment before glancing at his mother. "Am I?"

"The demon fox? No. You're not." Seras stated firmly. "I sealed it in you."

Naruto's face went into a frown.

"Why?" he asked quietly. "Why would you do that?"

"It was the only way to save the village." She answered. "Only a newborn's chakra coils are capable of adapting to such an amount of power. And I chose you as I couldn't trust anyone else with this power and responsibility. You're a hero."

"But why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried to give you a normal life. And partly as a reason to keep what I am a secret. I banned people from taking about that night." Seras admitted.

"What are…we?" Naruto asked after a short pause to contemplate.

"Naruto…are you sure you want to know the truth?" Seras leaned forward. "You might decide to hate me."

Naruto stared into her eyes. He couldn't read what she was thinking, he had no idea what she was going to say, but he knew he had to know the truth. He nodded firmly.

Seras nodded in reply.

"To begin with…I'm neither one of your biological parents." Seras said and gaged Naruto's reaction. He remained subdued, but she could see the thoughts racing behind his eyes. "Your father, the real Fourth tried to seal the demon fox. He made a mistake in the seal and instead of getting the Shingami…he got me."

"To summon the Shingami it costs you your soul. Even though he didn't get the Shingami, he had to give me his soul."

Seras waited till that had sunk in.

"W-where is he?" Naruto asked nervously. He had always wondered who his father was. His mother, no Seras had never replied when he had asked while he grew up. Now he knew why.

"He is a part of me now. Everything he was, everything that made him great is mine." Seras rested back against the couch and looked thoughtful. "It was because of his dedication to Konoha, his love for you and his iron will to face his death to defeat a monster that made me finish his work. Together we sealed the Kyuubi and saved this village."

"He's not dead?" Naruto scratched his head, looking puzzled.

"He lives on inside me and continues to color my actions." Seras smiled gently.

"You're my dad?" Naruto tried to work that out.

"In a way." Seras admitted. "It's partly why I made the law. No one is supposed to refer to me as Minato was. It would confuse you growing up calling a woman Dad right?"

"I guess."

"Also, you must know…only the three of us in this room know the whole truth. Everyone else thinks I *am* Minato. We used the excuse of having to make a large sacrifice to be able to seal the Kyuubi, for my obvious changes. It was troublesome to convince everyone not to elect a new Hokage. But thanks to the old man here we managed it."

"Don't thank me. I had no intention of coming of retirement." Sarutobi smiled when Seras indicated him. "Especially with the paperwork."

"Lazy old fart." Seras joked sticking her tongue out at him. "Anyway, Naruto you have to promise me you wont tell anyone else this."

Naruto contemplated everything Seras had just explained. "Okay…Mom."

Seras was taken aback for a moment, then she smiled a pleased smile. "Thank you."

"Will you teach me how to take a shuriken to the head too?" Naruto asked, suddenly switching tracks. "That was a way too cool Jutsu!"

"That's not a jutsu." Seras scratched her temple nervously as Sarutobi stared at her in surprise.

"You took a shuriken to the head?" the former Hokage questioned.

"I told you I'm hard to kill."

"It was awesome She got like a hundred kunai stuck in her and she just makes them pop out." Naruto gushed. "You'll teach me that too?"

"So it seems." Sarutobi agreed as this was the first time he had heard Seras was capable of something like that. He eyed her and wondered exactly what else she had never revealed about herself. "I take it you can't teach these techniques to anyone?"

"Actually…it is possible. But anyone apart from Naruto would have to die first. Want to learn?" Seras smirked showing her fangs.

"I think I'll pass."

"So I can learn them?" Naruto pondered what would be possible if he could do those techniques. He had images of all the training accident pranks he could pull off. He began chuckling evilly.

Seras and Sarutobi exchanged a concerned glance.

"Most of it comes down to just what we are and willpower." Seras turned to Naruto.

"So, what are we?" Naruto repeated his earlier question.

"I'm a vampire." Seras stated proudly.

"Am I one?" Naruto pointed at himself.

"No." Seras replied. "You're unusual. You're neither a vampire or the child of one and a human. It comes back to how I tried sealing the demon fox. I first tried to spare you and seal it inside myself. That didn't work out as well as I expected. The fox is damned powerful and almost broke free from me. I've never faced anything like it, it was fun."

Seras stared hard at Naruto, who was hanging onto everyone of her words.

"So in the end, we modified the seal, costing another of the souls I have and sealed the fox and part of myself inside you. That is why you are a unique being. You're human but have the power of a vampire. The closest thing to you is a dhampir, but still that's not what you are. Not only that, but eventually, you'll be able to use the fox's chakra for your own uses."

"What does that mean?" Naruto blinked.

"Potentially…you may be the strongest person in this world." Seras grinned and patted Naruto on the head.

"Holy shit!" Naruto swore.

"Well, it is getting too late for this old man. I must get to bed before the sun comes up." Sarutobi excused himself.

"See you later old man." Seras smiled. She was pleased things had gone so well.

Sarutobi made his way to the door. He turned back just before leaving and smiled at the sight of Naruto sitting in the spot he had vacated and chatting excitedly with Seras. She smiled back at him and laughed at something he had said.

'She may not be his original parent, but anyone watching won't know.' he thought finally leaving them alone.

x-X-x

"Okay Naruto. Are you ready?" Iruka asked. The teacher was unsure who was more nervous about the exam. Him or…actually Naruto stood smirking confidently before him.

"I'm ready!" Naruto claimed.

"Okay..." Iruka glanced to his side. The Fourth sat next to him. She had offered to mark the exams after they were a teacher short with Mizuki's betray. Iruka was still stunned that Mizuki had done what he had to Naruto.

"He'll do it." Seras nodded seriously with her arms folded.

"Very well. Create two Bunshin!" Iruka called out and hid his head behind his clipboard.

"Pfft! Only two?" Naruto snorted. "Watch this! Kage-Bunshin-no-Jutsu!"

"Kage?" Iruka glanced over the clipboard at the sound Bunshin's popping into existence.

"Is this good enough?" the classroom echoed with the sound of over thirty Narutos.

Iruka felt his jaw drop.

"I'd say he passes. Don't you?" Seras turned to Iruka.

x-X-x

Just a couple of notes.

I've wanted to do this fic ever since I saw and heard Kyuubi behind those bars, but never had a decent way of making it work. It's been kicking around for years. I believe this is the fourth version after three aborted attempts.

Originally I had Seras absorb Kyuubi and it was her who Naruto drew his power on and nobody would know any different until he began to accidentally create his own family of vampires calling him master. That died fast after two attempts.

Then I thought maybe Seras could replace Minato and raise Naruto. But then Naruto would be pretty much just as he is in the series, no extra perks aside from having a 'dad'.

And the final version is what you see here, pretty much a combination I think can work.

Anyone who's played L4D should recognize Naruto's failed Bunshin.

Sexy-No-Jutsu now creates the appearance of the perfect girl/guy for whoever Naruto directs the technique at, as he can sometime pick up their thoughts.

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Naruto – Bloodlust

The usual – I don't own em.

x-X-x

Seras raced along the narrow wall at hellish speed. The buildings to either side where little more than a blur in her peripheral vision as she ran past. At the end of the wall she leaped across the street, bounced off the building opposite and back across the street to land on the roof higher up. She continued on not missing a beat. Right behind her, Naruto followed, although he had to leap in large bounds to keep up with her running speed.

They made their way towards the outskirts of Konoha, towards the training grounds. Running and leaping under the pale moonlight of a waxing moon.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination, Training Ground Fourteen.

"Here we are." Seras said after landing just inside the gate. Naruto landed beside her in a crouch. He took a moment to collect his breathing before slowly standing up. He glanced around the training ground.

Naruto had been here before but never at night so it looked a little different in the darkness. Training Ground Fourteen was used mainly for teaching the youngest how to handle and throw various weapons. It was setup with lots of targets; simple dummies in the various shapes. Some human shaped, others just a standard round target with different sized and colored rings.

"I don't see how you showing me to throw is any better." Naruto muttered. "Can't we move straight to the good stuff?"

"This is the good stuff." Seras smiled patiently at Naruto. "Come here. I'll show you."

Naruto didn't look convinced but he stepped up to Seras anyway. She removed a kunai from the pouch she had strapped to her leg, like most of Konoha's ninja. She casually spun it around her finger as she started to speak.

"Up to now you've been taught to throw a weapon like a human ninja. All well and good. But you can do better."

"I don't see how." Naruto pouted with his arms crossed in the way he did whenever he was confused by something and decided it wasn't worth his effort to understand.

"Bah, it's wasteful." Seras snorted. "I've seen how they teach you kids. You're shown how to throw as many as you can in as little time possible."

"So? The faster and more the better right? Makes it harder for your opponent to dodge. That's what Iruka-sensei taught us."

"Yeah, yeah. Forget all that." Seras waved in annoyance. "Throwing hundreds of kunai and hoping your opponent can't dodge that many, or take them. Relying on luck may be fine for ninja and Catholics, but you've got blood descended from the No-Life King himself. You are better than that!"

"No-Life…King?" Naruto eyed Seras with curiosity. "Who's that?"

"My Master." Seras said matter-of-factly.

"Erm…does that means he owns you?" Naruto pondered innocently.

"N…" Seras paused in her denial. She supposed technically he still did until she drank his blood freely. "Err…well…really its more like he's my Dad, I suppose."

"So he's like old?"

"You could definitely say that." Seras smiled.

"Older than the old man?"

"Much older."

"No way! That's impossible!" Naruto stared in disbelief.

"Believe it." Seras grinned back.

"So, would I call him Gramps?"

"Only if you wanted him to rip your spine out and to be strangled with it." Seras remarked casually. Naruto was unsure if she was joking.

"Anyway, enough about family. Lets get on with the learning." Seras stopped spinning the kunai and threw it to hit the bulls-eye with a thunk, on one of the round targets fifty meters away.

"That's not impressive." Naruto scoffed and copied the throw. He hit the bulls-eye, slightly further out.

"You think so?" the vampire took out another kunai. "Copy this." She casually flicked the weapon. Down the range there was a metallic ting and a bright orange spark from metal hitting metal.

"Okay…so you hit the same spot." Naruto frowned taking aim. He threw the kunai and it thudded into the target beside his last throw.

"You think I got lucky don't you." Seras grinned taking two more kunai out. She threw them quickly in succession. There were two rapid tings and sparks in the distance.

Naruto blinked and stared between Seras and the target. Seras turned her back to the target and flicked another kunai over her shoulder, showing off now. Another ting and spark went off. Naruto's jaw dropped.

"No way!"

"Heh. One last example." Seras turned back around and appeared to casually throw another kunai with no effort. This time there was a much louder noise, almost like a crack and sparks flew into the air.

"You…hit it again?"

"Go and take a closer look."

Naruto eyed her curiously before jogging down to the target. When he got there he examined the it and found his two kunai still as they were, but where Seras' first one had been, there was a hole in the target. He stepped up amazed that she had smashed the target with such a weak looking throw.

"Huh?" Naruto paused as he felt something underneath his foot when he put it down. Lifting his foot off what he was standing on he had to draw in a surprised breath. It was half a kunai. He picked it up and stared in amazement at the perfectly sliced down the middle weapon. His eyes went back to the ground and saw the other half.

"No way!" he gaped picking the second half up and placing them together. His eyes widened in surprise as the two halves fit together perfectly.

"Impressed yet?" Seras asked stepping up beside him with a smug grin on her face.

"Yeah…" Naruto dropped the two halves. "But what about moving as well?"

"Pfft! No problem." Seras snorted. She drew out four kunai in each hand, held between her fingers. "I'll even make it harder by using both hands."

Seras took off at a sprint across the target range, throwing a kunai from her right hand as she passed the targets. Each weapon hit the bulls-eye. She skidded, spun around and raced back down and repeated each throw with her left hand. Naruto watched in growing excitement as four tings and sparks went off in rapid succession.

"Good enough for you?" Seras slid to a halt beside Naruto.

"Awesome!"

"Yep. It's even cooler when you attach explosive tags to them. Makes a right bloody mess." Seras grinned. "I still miss my Harkonnen though. He makes a better mess." she sighed forlornly.

"Anyway!" Seras clapped her hands together and shaking off her longing. "Enough of that. Lets get started."

"Right!" Naruto quickly pulled out a kunai and went to throw it at the nearest target. His attempt was halted as Seras wrapped her hand over his, preventing him from throwing the weapon.

"Not that target." she shook her head.

"Then which one?"

"See the one right at the far end?" Seras leaned in close to point.

Naruto glanced up at her before trailing his eyes down the length of her arm and looking into the distance at where she pointed. He squinted, trying hard to see what she was pointing at. Even with his better than average night-vision, he couldn't see anything in the darkness.

"I don't see it."

"That's because you're looking at it like a normal human." Seras explained.

Naruto gave her a confused stare and then turned to squint down the target range. He still couldn't see anything but darkness. Deciding to just throw and hope for the best, Naruto raised his arm again.

"Oh, by the way. To make this interesting…" Seras said suddenly, startling him. "If you miss I'm sending you back to the Academy for another year."

"What?!" Naruto stumbled. He quickly whipped around to stare at his mother in shock. "You can't do that!" He pointed an accusing finger.

"Really?" Seras suddenly leaned in close, her voice little more than a deep a growl. The shadows around her face darkened and her eye color changed to a deep red as they grew cold and hard. She sent Naruto a humorless parody of a grin, over-sized canines showing. "As your parent and the Hokage *I* can do whatever I wish. Are. We. Clear?"

Naruto nodded rapidly in reply at the terrifying visage his mother was showing him.

"Excellent." Seras smiled cheerfully as she straightened up, returning back to normal. She walked over to the closest target and hopped up onto it, to sit with her heels lightly tapping against it. "Begin when ready." she cheerfully said.

It took Naruto a few moments to gather his wits. He licked his lips nervously and stared into the darkness. He readied his aim and squinted. He still couldn't see it. He continued straining to see anything in the darkness in distance.

After straining for nearly five minutes Naruto had to blink his dry eyes. He glanced over at his mom.

"Trouble?"

"Ah…no!" Naruto lied turning away and beginning to strain his eyes again. The darkness stubbornly refused to clear. Annoyingly, Seras began humming tunelessly to herself. It was very distracting. Naruto felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck from the pressure. His arm was beginning to get that tired ache from holding something up for a long time.

"Mom? There's no way I can even see it!" Naruto sagged.

"Giving up?"

"No! Give me a hint."

"Okay, stop trying to see it and see it."

"Eh?" Naruto's eyebrows went into an on it's side 's' shape, showing his confusion.

"Aim as if you have a third eye. Throw it with the knowledge that you *will* hit the target." Seras explained cryptically.

"Third eye?" Naruto scratched his head as he turned to look back down into the darkness. He wondered how that was supposed to help. He only had two eyes.

"Reach into yourself and pull out your true power. Don't use chakra. There is no molding involved. This comes naturally to you." Seras calmly continued. "You can feel it in every cell, every fiber of your being. It is you."

Naruto stared ahead, finding Seras' voice soothing as she talked him through it. Something stirred. It wasn't a feeling like molding chakra, there was no flow, no gathering; it just existed. A deep well of otherness that felt eager to be used. All his senses seemed to slowly, like a person rising from a deep slumber, awaken.

He could feel the minute breeze on his face in every detail. Feel his own heart beating, the rush of oxygen being drawn into his lungs and picked up by his blood and carried to be used to release energy.

"You can see the target. It cannot hide from you. You know exactly where it is." Seras told him and felt a jolt of excitement flow through her as Naruto's eyes changed. From the pupil out over his eyes flushed red, in darkening rings.

The darkness before him seemed to flow away, parting like stage curtains, or as if it were afraid of him. His vision seemed to zoom in on the fleeing darkness until it revealed the target at the far end of the range; just over a thousand yards away but as if right before him.

With a growing excitement, Naruto raised his weapon. The hunt was over, he had his prey! He grinned.

Seras leaned forward, her excitement growing as well, her eyes matching Naruto's.

Naruto flicked the kunai forward with a supernatural grace and strength. The throwing knife flew straight and true. It slammed into the target and continued on through, only stopping as it embedded itself into the sand bags stacked up against the far wall.

Naruto blinked, his eyes returning to normal the inverse of their transformation, the red sucked away, like water down a plughole and his pupil was the plughole, as he realized he had done it.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered, leaping into the air and pumping his fist. "I did it! Did you see that?"

"Yes I did." Seras pushed off the target and walked over. Naruto met her half way in a tackling hug. "Hahaha! That was amazing!"

"Yep. I'm proud of you." Seras returned the hug.

'Damn relived to.' she mentally admitted as a part of her that had been on edge relaxed.

'The seal held.' Minato's voice stated in her head. 'I wasn't sure how it would react to your sort of power.'

'I know. I really wish we hadn't had to test this so soon.' Seras replied. 'I wanted him to stay innocent for a little while longer.'

'It had to be done eventually.' Minato spoke sagely.

'Yeah.' Seras agreed thinking on her own abruptly ended childhood. 'I blame you for making me feel this way.' she grumbled.

'Keep telling yourself that.' Seras could feel him smirking away.

"Okay Naruto. Practice for a while hitting the targets furthest away. Then do some moving attacks." Seras spoke out loud.

"Right!" Naruto stepped back and saluted, before rushing off to practice.

She watched Naruto practice for the next few hours. He raced up and down the range hitting targets. He soon began experimenting with leaps and rolls, even silly contortions just to see how far he could push his new abilities.

All too soon, the horizon began the lighten, the first sign that dawn was approaching. Seras watched on curiously as the first calls of nearby cockerels were picked up by her sensitive ears. As the sun peeked over the horizon she called a halt to the exercise.

"Naruto! Collect your weapons and come over here!" Seras called out.

"Okay!" a fairly out of breath Naruto replied. By the time he had retrieved his kunai the sun was starting to climb. The day was promising to be bright and sunny. Seras grimaced at the thought and ignored the growing brightness of the morning.

"So what now?" Naruto asked putting the weapons back into the pouch and hidden pockets carefully.

"Draw on your power now and tell me how you feel."

Naruto looked up curiously at her before doing as she asked. He frowned as the power didn't want to come, it seemed to resist him. He struggled with it for a while until finally he regained that state.

"It's…way…harder." Naruto continued frowning, struggling to hold the power.

"I expected as much." Seras nodded, her thoughts confirmed.

"What's wrong with it?" Naruto lost his concentration and it slipped away, fleeing away deep inside him.

"It must be the sun." Seras indicated the rising ball of light. "Only powerful or old vampires can stand to be out in it. Seems it even affects you. I thought the unusual sealing might do that. Your power will be weakened during daylight hours."

"Aww man." Naruto sighed.

"I wouldn't worry." Seras patted his shoulder. "The fact you could use it at all just now shows eventually it won't matter. But for now it'll be hard to use during the day. You'll just have to work on it."

"Let's head home and get you some breakfast." Seras decided turning to leave.

"Can we go get ramen at Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked jumping to land beside his mom as they began walking away.

"You…want ramen for breakfast…" Seras frowned at the disgusting thought.

"Heh, heh, heh. Yeah!"

"Fine. Just this once *you* can have it." Seras sighed.

"Awesome!"

"There's something else I need to say. It's both good and bad." Seras stated as the walked along. Naruto quickly looked up at her.

"What?"

"The good thing is when you use your power you don't use chakra."

"So…I don't need to use chakra?" Naruto pondered.

"That's right."

"What's the bad?"

"When you use your power you don't use chakra." Seras repeated.

"Eh?!"

"As I understand it, chakra is your spiritual energy mixed with your physical energy. It's very definition is life." Seras explained. "A vampire's power is the complete opposite. It's an utter absence of life. Don't ask how that works as I've no idea." Seras held her hand up to stop Naruto asking the question she could see on his lips. "I've never bothered to think too deeply on it. It just does for whatever reason."

"Oh…"

"Unlike me, you're capable of using one or the other freely, but I seriously doubt at the same time. They just aren't compatible." Seras crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "You'll have to careful to use the right one for the situation. I suppose we'll have to work on getting you capable of switching between them quickly."

"What do you mean unlike you?"

"I can't actually do ninjutsu." Seras replied.

"What?!" Naruto froze in surprise. Seras kept walking along as if nothing had happened.

"Wait! What do you mean you can't do ninjutsu? You're the Hokage!" Naruto raced to catch her up.

"Exactly what I said. I have no chakra to use."

"But…but I've seen you do stuff, and you can do the Hiraishin-no-Jutsu!"

"You mean rapid teleporting? Natural ability." Seras grinned. "Not my fault everyone thinks it's the same thing."

"But…you can stick to walls and leap far!"

"All natural. Or supernatural whichever way you look at it." Seras laughed.

"But…" Naruto scrunched his face in concentration. "What about the sealing?"

"Ah, trying to catch me out?" Seras smirked. "I had help. Your Dad did that for me."

"So you can!" Naruto pointed.

"It's not that I can't use chakra. I know a lot of techniques from your Dad and…others. It's the fact that I don't have any of my own. If I want to use ninjutsu I need to take chakra from feeding. Okay, remember don't say anything about this around other people." She indicated the fact the streets were beginning to fill with the morning traffic.

"Okay."

They took their time heading towards Ichiraku's. Seras was often stopped to have a quick chat with the people on the street. She greeted them, listened to what they had to say and made mental notes about anything that needed to checked up on later. As Sarutobi said, a good Hokage would have time to listen to even the lowest of villagers.

"Naruto." Seras leaned down to whisper in the boy's ear during a quiet moment. "Try practicing to feel what people are feeling around you. Try to draw a tiny amount of power to help you."

Naruto spent the rest of the journey trying to access and hold onto a small amount of the power from inside himself. He wasn't having much success, as nearly every few feet something would distract his attention and the power would flee and hide from the light. By the time they reached Ichiraku's, Naruto was getting frustrated.

"Argh! I can't hold on to it long enough!" Naruto exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air.

"Don't worry about it." Seras patted his head and lifted one of the banners out the way.

"Heya Teuchi-san! Gimme the ramen special!" Naruto forgot his lack of success in a flash and as quickly was up and sitting on a stool. He grinned up excitedly at the owner.

"If it isn't my favorite customer!" Teuchi replied sending a friendly smile in greeting. "I'll get…" he trailed off as he realized who had just sat down next to Naruto. "Oh…oh my!" he quickly smoothed down his apron. "Good morning Hokage-sama. Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen Bar." Teuchi finished with a polite bow.

"Good morning." Seras greeted Teuchi and studied him as she got comfortable. He had one of those open and friendly faces, slightly overweight. She immediately classed him as the friendly uncle type. "Naruto is certainly enthusiastic about this place."

"He's one of my best customers." Teuchi smiled.

"Yeah! And I'm hungry too!" Naruto hinted cheerfully.

Teuchi laughed and called out. "Ayame! Two house specials! No skimping! Naruto's brought a guest!"

"Naruto!" Ayame poked her head out from the back and waved at the blond boy. "Who's your…Hokage-sama!" she quickly bowed in surprise.

"Hey." Seras waved in greeting. "Teuchi-san, just a one for Naruto, thanks."

"Oh no! I can't let someone as important as yourself leave on an empty stomach."

"Sorry, I'll have to pass. A lot of food makes me ill." Seras excused herself.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Teuchi's face went thoughtful. Serving the ninja of Konoha, he had often heard all the rumors about the Hokage. From the outlandish that she was an otherworldly impostor, or that she should be dead with the damage to her chakra system from the demon fox. To the more mundane, that the poisonous chakra had weakened her immune system and she had to have regular medical checkups and sometimes even blood transfusions.

"Is there anything we could make you that won't?" he asked politely.

'*This* is why I hate taking Naruto out to eat. Everyone tries to get me to eat something.' Seras grumbled keeping her face pleasant. Sometimes keeping up appearances was a chore.

"Fresh, weak and unseasoned tomato soup." Seras pulled out the old reliable, if disgusting choice. "Failing that just a glass of water."

"I'll knock you some right up!" Ayame stated cheerfully setting off on her task.

"Thanks." Seras replied, struggling to not reply through clenched teeth. She could feel a certain Frenchman laughing at her.

"Oi! Oi! Enough about my mom. Look at me!" Naruto loudly said with his fingers holding onto the top and bottom of his new Konoha forehead protector. He wriggled it to emphasize it even further.

"So you did pass!" Teuchi smiled studying Naruto's forehead protector as worked.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun." Ayame smiled over at him as she continued preparing Seras' order.

"With flying colors!" Naruto stated smugly.

"Actually, you finished dead last." Seras corrected him.

"What?" Naruto spun on his seat to stare. "No way! After acing the Bunshin test!"

"Yes way. You had the worst scores in chakra control, taijutsu and genjutsu. Your ninjutsu, aside from Kage-Bunshin is only average." Seras ticked off her points.

"I…"

"Slept through classes. Goofed off and tried to grab everyone's attention through pranking. I do read your report card you know."

Naruto pouted. "Well, if you had trained me-"

"I have a Hidden Village to run, that takes up a lot of my time. If you had accepted that and paid attention in class like everyone else, until I had the time, you wouldn't have ended up dead last. I was waiting till you got older for family techniques due to the dangers involved."

"You weren't busy all the time…" Naruto grumbled staring at the bar top.

"I'll admit I wasn't always there, but there are certain needs I have to take care of. And I didn't have a…great example set as I grew up." Seras sighed. "And remember the tutor that was arranged that you blew off?"

"He was scary…" Naruto shuddered. "Creepy glasses guy…"

"Ebisu would have taught you well. He was highly recommended."

"He hated me." Naruto eyed Seras out the corner of his eyes. "I could tell."

"He still would have trained you for me."

"Yeah, for you." Naruto mumbled quietly.

Seras sighed.

"You know what? Let's agree to disagree." she squeezed his shoulder lightly.

"Here you are Naruto. One ramen special!" Teuchi slid a larger than normal bowl to Naruto who immediately perked right up.

"Oh wow!" he exclaimed in awe before diving in with gusto.

Seras watched him start to devour the food with growing interest. She rested her elbow on the bar top and placed her chin against that. A bittersweet smile grew on her lips.

Naruto paused mid slurp, noodles hanging from his lips as he felt her eyes watching him. He turned to face her and quickly sucked the noodles up.

"What?"

"Oh, I'm just a little jealous of you, you know."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes went wide.

"Yeah. You get all my advantages and can still eat whatever you want."

"Oh yeah, the whole vampire thing." Naruto casually remarked.

*Thud*

Seras' chin slipped off her hand in surprise and she ended up slamming her head against the bar top.

The blond boy suddenly realized he hadn't been meant to mention that at the silence that had descended on the bar.

"Na…ru…to…" Seras hissed.

"Naruto! That isn't a very nice thing to call your mother!" Ayame scolded.

"I meant she's like a vampire…err…cause she sucks." Naruto tried to recover and made the situation worse as Ayame went pink in the face. Teuchi nervously tried to look busy.

Seras was glad she didn't blush anymore, which made keeping a straight face easier. She lightly slapped him across the back of his head, knowing he didn't know how that had sounded.

"Moron."

"Eh, heh, heh." Naruto rubbed the spot nervously.

"Here's your soup." Ayame slipped the bowl of soup in front of Seras without making eye contact.

"Thanks…" Seras gave as pleasant a forced smile as she could. She stared at the soup as if it were a venomous snake. Actually, she would have preferred the snake, at least it would have had blood. Deciding that getting it over with quickly would be best she picked the hot bowl up with her hands and gulped it down in one, suppressing the urge to gag at the taste of the soulless liquid. It sloshed around and laid heavily her stomach making her feel queasy.

Ayame and her father exchanged a look that said 'now I know where Naruto gets it from.'

"Oh my, you must be hungry." Ayame began spooning more into Seras' empty bowl. "A good thing I made plenty more."

"Gee, thanks." This time Seras did reply through clenched teeth, watching the bowl get refilled with a twitching eye. The peanut gallery in her head was snickering away at her misfortune. With a sigh she picked up the spoon and began slowly stirring the soup. She would have to make it last until Naruto was done so no more was put in.

Luckily for her, Naruto began to weave a tale of how cool his Mom's training was, somehow managing to remember not to mention vampires at all. This kept Teuchi and his daughter's attention away from herself.

As she stirred the soup, Seras' senses picked up a familiar person approaching and she almost groaned, but caught herself. The closest banner was lifted aside.

"Good morning Hiashi." Seras stated without turning to look.

"Greetings of the day, Minato." Hiashi Hyuga responded as all eyes turned to stare. "Your ability to tell who is there without looking is…uncanny. One would *almost* think you had eyes in the back of your head."

"It's a gift." Seras turned on the stool to face him, glad for the distraction, but also wishing it had been anyone else. The Hyuga clan head was dressed in his usual robes. He regarded her with pale eyes. The first time Seras had actually seen a Hyuga's eyes she had thought them blind, but Minato's memories and her following experiences showed her they actually saw far better than anyone else. They saw enough to know certain things about her weren't right.

Hiashi gave the faintest of nods before his eyes turned towards Naruto.

"Hiya Hinata! Hiya Hinata's dad!" Naruto greeted through a mouthful of noodles. Seras almost burst out in laughter at the stern and disapproving frown Hiashi sent towards Naruto, but somehow managed to keep her face neutral.

"Ahem." Seras cleared her throat.

Naruto glanced over at her and saw the disapproving look she was giving him. He glanced at Hiashi's stern expression and realized he'd messed up again.

"Umm, good morning Hiashi-sama. Good morning Hinata-chan." Naruto tried again.

"Better." Hiashi stated. "Good morning Naruto-kun." He gently prodded Hinata by his side when she didn't speak.

"G-good m-morning N-Naruto-kun." the timid girl spoke in barely more than a whisper. After speaking she went silent again, eyes down towards the ground. Hiashi prodded her once more after a moment.

"I-I made this f-for you." Hinata held her hands out and head down as she presented a little bento for Naruto.

"Cool!" Naruto took the offered food. "Thanks Hinata. I'll have this for dinner!"

Hinata averted her eyes, finding the ground very interesting as she stepped back beside her father. She wrung her hands.

'Oh Naruto. You really need to start paying attention to things.' Seras thought watching the byplay. 'Hiashi you're far too transparent.'

"Hey! Do you guys want breakfast too?" Naruto had an idea. "Teuchi does the best ramen ever!"

"We have already partaken in breakfast." Hiashi responded smoothly.

"Oh? Too bad." Naruto said sadly.

"So, what brings you out so early, Hiashi?" Seras asked, already knowing the real answer.

"I was taking Hinata to get her registration photograph taken. Seeing you here I thought it polite to say hello."

"Really? The pair of you are awfully far out of your way if you're heading there." Seras pointed out.

"I thought it prudent for Hinata to have all new equipment for this next stage of her life." Hiashi responded without hesitation. "Our order was ready to be picked up. Wasn't it Hinata?"

"Y-yes Father." Hinata made a nervous fumble at showing off a brand new pouch that rattled with weapons. It even had the price tag still on it.

'One thing with Hiashi, his schemes are lame, but he does plan them out well.' Seras thought.

"What a coincidence." Seras exclaimed. "I need to take Naruto there today as well."

"Really?" Hiashi tried to sound as if he wasn't expecting that. "Then I would be honored to escort your son and yourself there."

'Suck up.' a French accented voice stated in Seras' head.

'Shush Pip.' Seras sent back as she slid off the stool.

"If it's no trouble." Seras replied aloud.

"No trouble at all." Hiashi nodded.

"Thank you for the food." Seras turned to Teuchi and Ayame. She laid a handful of ryo, enough to pay for twice as much food on the bar. "Keep the change."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Teuchi bowed. "It was an honor to have you visit this humble restaurant."

Seras smiled and gave him a nod. "Come along Naruto."

"Sure!" Naruto quickly gulped down the remains of his ramen.

The group of four left the ramen bar behind as they headed towards the Hokage tower where the registration of the latest batch of genin would take place. Seras and Hiashi walked at the back with Naruto in front of Seras and Hinata in front of her father.

"I heard of your incident with Mizuki." Hiashi said soon after they set off.

"I think most people have by now." Seras replied. Naruto glanced back at Hiashi curiously. "I was actually surprised at him turning traitor." Seras continued. "But, then again, we never did have much contact."

"Yes, sometimes it is the least likely ones." Hiashi turned to Seras. "You apparently did quite a number on him."

"He did break the law I made, threatened Naruto, and most of all attacked me. I had to make an example."

"I trust you didn't strain your injuries." Hiashi almost allowed a hint of concern to enter his voice.

"My 'injuries' don't bother me. You know I've learned to work around the…chakra problem." Seras responded.

"That unique power of yours." Hiashi nodded. He felt a phantom itch in his eyes at the thought of the Hokage's way around her injuries. Trying to watch her chakra flow when she did use it was a strain, not in seeing it, but the way it happened. The way her burnt out and undernourished chakra coils would twist and deform as she performed techniques that should be impossible for her now, made his eyes ache. All made worse by the fact she physically appeared dead on the inside. No one knew why she still lived and her only explanation as to how, was the seal on Naruto.

"Speaking of which," Seras smiled slyly. It was time to put the cat among the pigeons. "I've begun Naruto's training in it. It's looking very promising."

"Really?"

"Yes. Isn't that right Naruto?" Seras smiled at him.

"Yeah! It's awesome! Mom showed me how to see a target miles away perfectly in the dark!" Naruto cheered. Hinata stumbled in surprise for a moment before sending a surprised look Naruto's way.

"R-really?" Hiashi turned to stare. Seras could see exactly what he was thinking by the minute tightening of his eyes.

"Not quite, the distance was only about point six of a mile." Seras remarked casually.

"I…see." Hiashi sounded calm, but Seras' hearing could pick up the minor wobble in his voice. He was perturbed, though hiding it well. "What was it like Naruto?"

"Hmm?" Naruto looked thoughtful. "It was, like I just knew where to look to see the targets. No matter where they where."

Hiashi appeared thoughtful for a moment before he spoke again.

"Naruto. Hinata. Would you two go ahead and get the registration photographs sorted." It wasn't a request.

"Y-yes F-Father." Hinata responded meekly. She glanced over at Naruto. Naruto looked to Seras.

"Go on. I'll be there soon." she told him. "I have to be there all day to complete the registrations anyway."

"Right! Come on Hinata, lets go!" Naruto raced off. With her eyes down, Hinata followed.

"How long have you had this…ability?" Hiashi asked once the fresh genin had gotten out of earshot. He sounded displeased.

"As long as I've been this way." Seras replied, technically without lying. She just left off what this way meant.

"And you conveniently forgot to mention it to us?"

"I don't believe I have to let the Hyuga know *everything* about myself." Seras replied.

"I suppose not." Hiashi still sounded annoyed. "It would have been…polite…to mention this to us, your largest supporters. Must I mention the various parties who would have you replaced because of your perceived illness? An emerging bloodline such as this would go a long way to stilling those lips."

"Feel free to mention it now." Seras smirked. "Mizuki's betrayal has forced my plans for Naruto forward by at least three years." She admitted with a sigh. "I had hoped to have my replacement trained by then so I could dedicate my time fully to his training."

"Will this cause you trouble?"

"I'll deal with it if it does." the Hokage stated firmly.

"This ability…" Hiashi began after they had walked in silence for a few minutes.

"It's not like yours." Seras smirked up at the Hyuga clean head knowingly.

"I'll need more than that to…calm nerves." Hiashi looked at her.

"Basically, you want to know everything about it and whether it's a threat to your position of greatest eye technique eh?"

"…" Hiashi didn't reply.

"Okay, okay." Seras laughed. "I'll tell you. I can see as clear as day even in total darkness. If I need to, I can 'see' anything within a range of myself. I can't see chakra or people's inside unless I rip them open. I can't copy techniques. I don't have three hundred and sixty degrees of vision. It's more like I have a third eye that can be moved around, but needs to be focused towards what I wish to see. Clairvoyance."

"Interesting." Hiashi mused. "And Naruto has this ability?"

"As I said. It's looking promising." Seras nodded.

"What range do you have?"

"I've reached five miles out. No further."

"Hmm." Hiashi thoughtfully studied the current Hokage. Gears were turning in his head. Five miles out wasn't an impressive distance for a fully trained Hyuga, but if this was only the beginning. "I would be interested in seeing a demonstration."

'Of course you are.' Seras thought amusedly.

"Someday."

"It would be interesting to have a blood test done on Naruto."

"Hoping to find a similar set of genetic markers so you can claim we're an offshoot?" Seras asked with a sly smile.

"Did you think upon my recent proposal?" Hiashi asked, ignoring Seras' insinuations. The Hokage tower came into view as they turned into the street it was at the end of,

"Yes." Seras resisted the urge to sigh.

"And?"

"The teams have been chosen."

"And?" Hiashi repeated.

"Geez, you don't give up." Seras grumbled. "Fine, Team seven will consist of Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke. It is actually an interesting combination of skills and potential."

Hiashi nodded. Aside from having his daughter on the same team as the Uchiha, he was pleased.

"And what about the other?"

"Look, Hiashi." Seras halted and glared. "You're really pushing it. I don't like the idea. Hinata's on his team and that's as good as you'll get. If anything comes from it, so be it, but I will not force two people to be together against their wills."

"I accept that." Hiashi said calmly, unmoved by the glare. "Might I ask who you picked for their Jounin teacher?"

"He's my student and the only one capable of giving Sasuke the training he'll require."

"I…see." Hiashi frowned openly, not liking that one bit. "I hope he won't play favorites."

"I promised him if he did, he'd suffer a fate worse than death." Seras stated evilly.

"Good enough." Hiashi replied after a brief moment of feeling a strangeness from the Hokage. "Hinata will be in good hands then. I'll be able to concentrate on her sister's training."

'Translation; I'm shipping off the disappointment onto someone else and hoping she'll catch Naruto's attention to gain even more status in the village.' Pip's voice snorted.

'I'd shush you but you're right.' Seras mentally sighed.

They covered the final distance to the Hokage tower in silence. Once inside Seras made her way to the assignments office, where the registrations would take place. Hinata and Naruto were the first there and had already gotten their photographs taken. Seras quickly examined Hinata's first and signed the registration card off.

"Congratulations on passing Hinata." Seras handed the shy girl her card.

"T-thank you." she took the card and walked back towards her father, who stood sternly by the door.

Seras then picked up Naruto's and paused as she studied the photograph. Her eyes went wide before narrowing as she lowered the photograph and stared at Naruto in annoyance.

"Heh, heh. What do you think? It took me ages to get the expression right." Naruto grinned like an idiot.

"Naru…to…" Seras sighed. "You look like you're constipated." She flipped the photograph around to show him. On the photograph, Naruto was shown trying to grin evilly with his lips pulled as far up in a twisted smile as he could. He failed miserably.

"No way! I copied you!"

"Take it again…" Seras groaned tossing the photograph away and rubbing her forehead. 'Typical!'

"But!"

"Now!" Seras shouted slapping the desk loudly, standing and pointing angrily. With a yelp Naruto raced out to retake his picture.

x-X-x

"Stupid Mom! Why'd she get all upset with my cool face?" Naruto complained though mouthfuls of food from the bento Hinata had made for him. "Do you know Hinata?"

"N-no N-naruto-kun." Hinata replied quietly looking anywhere but at him as they sat on the little stone bench in one of the small parks. She nervously fidgeted, pushing her fingers together.

"I don't get it." Naruto muttered finishing off the last of the food. "That was nice! Slight aftertaste but still great!" he gushed. "Not as good as ramen but right up there! Like second place."

"T-thank you." Hinata avoided his eyes.

"Yeah, you make a great-" Naruto cut off, sensing someone approaching from behind him.

Naruto turned to looked around. Hinata also looked over her shoulder. They both pulled 'you got to be kidding' looks at seeing the cardboard box painted to resemble a rock with two eye-holes cut into it.

"…" Naruto stared before getting up. "Who do you think you're fooling Konohamaru?" he shouted, pointing at the box.

"As I would expect from my rival!" Konohamaru lifted the box off himself. The youngest Sarutobi kicked it away after standing. He posed as if getting ready to spring forward in an attack. "Face me and die!"

"C'mon man…" Naruto palmed his face. As much as he liked Konohamaru like a little brother, the boy did go over the top. He didn't realize how ironic it was for him to be thinking that.

"I must first defeat you to prove my strength before I face the old man and take the Hokage title from him!" Konohamaru informed Naruto.

"You do know my mom is Hokage right?" Naruto pointed out.

"Your mom's scary!" Konohamaru shuddered before pulling out two foam shuriken. "Take this!" He leapt towards Naruto. Unfortunately for him, he tripped over his overlong scarf and ended up planting his face in the grass.

Naruto sighed.

"As expected from my rival." Konohamaru spat out grass and pushed himself back up.

"Why're you after me now?" Naruto walked over and helped him up.

"The old man said you defeated him and I'd have to beat you first, bro." Konohamaru stated wiping his knees.

"Oh! Did he now…"

"So spill! Teach me how to defeat him!"

"Hmm, you really want to learn?" Naruto looked thoughtful.

"There you are young master!" Ebisu landed lightly behind them, startling them both.

"Creepy glasses guy!" Naruto pointed.

"Naruto…kun." Ebisu pushed his glasses up, a sign he was annoyed. Ebisu turned away from Naruto. "Young master, come along. You'll never beat your Grandfather unless you listen to my advice and undertake my training."

"Heh, heh, heh." Naruto chuckled, trying to mimic his mother's soulless laugh from when she faced down Mizuki.

Ebisu turned curiously back to Naruto.

"Konohamaru. I'll show you how I defeated the old man!" Naruto exclaimed pointing at Ebisu. "By defeating creepy glasses guy!"

"Oh really?" Ebisu smirked and assumed a ready stance. 'A chance to show the demon brat how much he's missed by not taking my training.'

Naruto began gathering his chakra.

"Sexy-" he broke off as a very loud gurgle was heard, emanating from his stomach. His eyes went wide in shock and clutched at his midsection. 'Oh god! Diarrhea!' Naruto thought in terror. He turned and fled towards the nearest toilet.

Ebisu blinked behind his glasses and wondered what Naruto was doing as the boy vanishing into the distance, running like he was squeezing his buttocks tightly together.

"Very odd." The Special Jounin scratched his chin. "Oh well." he shrugged and placed a hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and led the boy away. "Come along young master."

Hinata watched Naruto flee into the distance before slowly bending down to pick up the discarded bento box. She replaced the lid carefully and was about leave when a shadow fell over her.

"Hinata. Hi."

The Hyuga girl went rigid as she recognized that voice.

"H-h-hokage-s-sama." Hinata turned and tried to control her breathing. Seras smiled humorlessly down at her.

"I know you resent how much pressure your father is putting on you to…seduce Naruto; but this is the very *last* time you'll try putting laxatives into his food. Are. We. Clear?" Seras growled.

"Eeep!" Hinata folded in on her self in terror. She tried to nod, but remained frozen.

"Naruto is too forgiving and doesn't pay enough attention to notice what you're doing. He isn't the one to be taking your anger out on. Okay?"

"…" Hinata managed to give a tiny nod.

"Glad we understand each other." Seras patted her on the back. It wasn't comforting to the terrified girl. The Hokage then vanished, fading away and leaving Hinata alone with her thoughts.

x-X-x

The next day dawned bright and early. Naruto happily made his way to the academy, thankful his sudden bout of diarrhea had cleared up. He decided he must have eaten something dodgy, but couldn't figure out what it had been.

Naruto entered the classroom proudly and took a seat. He grinned away to himself until hearing the voice of the girl he liked.

"Hey Naruto."

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto turned happily to face the pink haired girl.

"Could you move?" she asked politely.

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. Looking at Sakura he could see her eyes were focused past him. Turning around to look why he saw she was staring at the Sasuke guy.

'Him again? Why is he so popular?' Naruto wondered before having to yelp in surprise as Sakura barged past him.

"Sasuke-kun! Can I sit next to you!" Sakura planted herself on the bench and shifted closer to Sasuke.

Naruto frowned and pulled his head up. He stared at Sakura making a fool out of herself as Sasuke completely ignored her. He really would like to know why everyone liked the Uchiha. A grin suddenly spread across his lips.

'Surface thoughts eh?' Naruto thought. He glanced sneakily around the class before focusing his attention on Sakura. He reached for the power he had spent the night previous practicing with. It took some coaxing to bring it out with the sun being in sky, but eventually Naruto succeeded. His eyes changed.

'Come on, feel what she's thinking?' Naruto frowned in concentration. It was doubly hard to focus his power while he had to fight to keep it from fleeing the light.

Sasuke kept his eyes forward and elbows rested on the desk, lost in thought. Sakura inched closer and he spared her a glance from the corner of his eyes, judging whether she would gather the courage up to annoy him further. He spotted Naruto squinting at the girl with blood-red eyes.

'Wonder what the moron is think-' Sasuke quickly spun to look at the blond boy in shock. 'The Sharingan! Impossible!'

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gushed and acted embarrassed when she thought the Uchiha was looking at her. She got in Sasuke's way, preventing him from seeing Naruto's red eyes.

Naruto suddenly heard something. It sounded like Sakura's voice echoing in his head. Before he could think he bellowed out what he heard.

"Today I'm going to get Sasuke-kun! And I'm going to steal his first kiss!"

The whole class turned in surprise and stared at Naruto who stood with one fist raised in the air. Naruto blinked his eyes blue and stared around as people began whispering about him. He didn't need to read their thoughts to realize how he had just sounded.

"Naruto's being creepy again."

"Oh god! He's gay!"

"How dare he try going after Sasuke-kun."

Naruto dropped into his seat and tried to hide in utter embarrassment as the class whispered in disgust about him. He buried his head under his arms.

"Okay everyone settle down!" Iruka's voice called out as the teacher stepped into the classroom. The fresh Genin all quietened down. "Starting today, you are all Shinobi…but you are still Genin. The hard journey that lies ahead has just begun."

"Now, you will soon begin missions for the village." Iruka stated proudly. "So today, we will be creating your three man teams. Each team will be assigned a Jounin sensei. You will have to follow your sensei's instructions to successfully complete your missions."

"Now, we tried to balance each team's strength. I will call out the teams." Iruka explained before starting to call out the teams. Naruto paid little attention, still too embarrassed to look up until he heard his name called out.

"Team Seven, Hinata Hyuga! Namikaze Naruto!"

Hinata groaned and hung her head. She knew her father had arranged this.

'Hinata eh?' Naruto glanced over at the Hyuga. She avoided his eyes. 'She's always so shy.'

"And Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka finished.

All the other girl's eyes turned to glare at Hinata in jealousy. Hinata tried to hide in her jacket.

"Iruka-sensei! Why do I have to be on his team?" Naruto exclaimed.

"I thought you wanted to steal his first kiss?" somebody nearby mocked in a fake girly voice and the class began laughing at Naruto. Before Naruto could shout in response Iruka explained loudly.

"Sasuke's grades were the best of all twenty-seven graduates. Yours were the worst. We *do* have to balance the teams remember."

There was more laughter.

"Okay! Enough!" Iruka quietened them all down. "This afternoon we'll introduce your Jounin-sensei. Until them take a break."

x-X-x

"Stupid. Stupid." Naruto grumbled as he stood in the hallway. "Why does stuff always backfire on me?" He had had to flee the class in embarrassment. Instead of finding out why girl's liked Sasuke so much, he had made a complete fool of himself.

So deep in thought he never sensed Sasuke's approach until the Uchiha roughly spun him around to face him.

"What?" Naruto blinked.

"You!" Sasuke growled, twisting Naruto's orange sleeve in his grip. "How do you have those eyes!?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. "What eyes?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, tightening dangerously. He pushed Naruto back until the other boy was pinned against the hallway wall.

"Don't play dumb with me!" Sasuke growled getting Naruto's face. "I saw it!"

"Saw what?"

"The Sharingan!" Sasuke let go of his sleeve and slammed both palms to either side of Naruto's head. "How do you have my family's eyes!"

"I don't know what you're on about!" Naruto growled back his eyes flickered red for a moment, long enough for Sasuke to notice.

"Those eyes!"

"Nooooooooooo!" two female shrieks of complete and utter hopelessness came from down the hallway causing both boys to turn and look. It was Sakura and that Yamanaka girl. Both had gone pale and dropped to their knees. They looked ready to cry at the sight of Sasuke staring deeply into Naruto's eyes. "Why is it always the cute ones!?"

Sasuke glared at the girls in annoyance. He couldn't care less about what they thought. "Naruto-" Sasuke turned back to find Naruto gone. He whipped around to see the blond boy racing off down the hallway.

"Get back here dead last! I'm not through with you!" Sasuke gave chase.

x-X-x

Much later the newly dubbed Team Seven sat alone in the classroom. Naruto and Sasuke both looked worse for wear, both scuffed and dirtied from their altercation. Hinata sat slightly away from them and kept her head down.

Every other team had been collected by their Jounin-sensei aside from themselves, and all three were getting annoyed at waiting.

Naruto suddenly stood up and walked over to the door. He slid them apart and stuck his head out looking up and down the hallway for their mysteriously late sensei.

"Why is out sensei so damned late?" Naruto growled. He stepped back and folded his arms. "All the other teams have gone. Even Iruka-sensei has left." He pondered the situation. Time for a little Prank-no-Jutsu he decided looking at the blackboard eraser.

"Heh, heh, heh." Naruto chuckled placing the eraser in between the door so it would fall on the next person's head who walked through.

Sasuke kept his head down, staring at his hands. He hadn't gotten anything out of Naruto, but he would.

Hinata sat and stared at the desk, depressed at her father's obsession at getting her married to Naruto for the 'benefit of the clan'. She sighed.

"That'll teach them for being late." Naruto stated.

"No Jounin would fall for that Naruto-kun." a polite male voice stated beside him.

"Wanna a bet?" Naruto replied before he realized he didn't recognize that voice.

"What!" Sasuke sprang to his feet in shock as he did recognize the voice.

Hinata looked up and flinched in surprise, having not realizing someone had snuck up on them all.

"Who?" Naruto cranked his head around and up to stare at an almost spitting image of Sasuke. An older Sasuke with funny red eyes and slightly sunken cheeks.

"Itachi!?" Sasuke gasped. "What the hell? What are you doing here?"

"Foolish little brother." Itachi turned smoothly to regard Sasuke. "I'm your Jounin-sensei by the Hokage's appointment."

"You're our sensei?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes." Itachi turned back to Naruto, fixing him with his thousand yard stare.

"You're late!" Naruto bellowed pointing at the elder Uchiha.

"Foolish little Naruto." Itachi intoned. "I was here all the time. None of you noticed my presence. My first impression of you all is…you're weak."

End Chapter