Note: While I'm no fan of wasting your time with long notes, I'd like to let you know what you're getting into before you start. So depending on your personal preference, you can either read all the warnings and spoilers, or skip straight to the beginning (marked by the bold chapter title).

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Summary / Initial differences from Canon:

A small but important change — the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan does not allow its user to summon or control the greatest of all bijū, Kyūbi no Yōko. This means Madara can't control the Kyūbi with his eyes and can't summon it either.

Consequences?

Madara couldn't summon the Kyūbi no Yōko in his fight against the First Hokage, so Hashirama's wife Mito Uzumaki never needed to interfere between them to seal the Kyūbi. Hence, she didn't become the first Kyūbi jinchūriki.

Because of this, she never had to pass down her burden of being a demon container to Kushina, so Kushina was not the second container of the Kyūbi. Why she was even there in Konoha will be explained in the first few chapters.

At the age of eighteen Kushina gave birth to twins, a boy named Naruto and a girl named Kasumi. She was temporarily weakened by the ordeal, but she didn't die.

For reasons explained within chapter one, Kyūbi still ended up attacking Konoha and Namikaze Minato sealed its yōki in Kasumi and soul in Naruto using Shiki Fūjin.

Now, with all the love and care a mother can bestow upon her children, Kushina has taught both of them all that true Uzumaki need to know.

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing. Family comes above all, be it village, nation, or the world. And a true Uzumaki will do anything for their family."

What will these teachings of Kushina, and Kasumi's love for her brother change?

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Author's Notes: (To be read only if you want to know more details about the story before moving on. Contains potential spoilers!)

¤ Naruto might seem overpowered, but don't forget that power is relative . With how powerful some of his enemies are going to be, he will need any advantage he can get.

¤ There will be at least four major antagonists (aka "bad guys") including most of the hidden villages allied with Konoha and Uchiha Madara plus his lackeys, etc.

¤ The battles and their outcomes will be based on logical reasoning instead of what might be more exciting. Everything that happens will be based on realistic speculations. I won't make him lose initially to a weaker opponent just to make the battles more 'exciting'.

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Warnings:

This story contains some incestuous content, although the main reason due to which incest is frowned upon does not exist in this fictional universe. The approximate 4.4% higher than normal probability of congenital disorder in offspring is not applicable for bloodline clans in this story. This way the smaller bloodline clans have some chance of survival without extreme dilution through the generations.

Additionally, as long as it is consensual, incest is legal in Japan (not that it matters).

If there are things that are not explained in this chapter, they will be explained in the next ones. However, if you notice something missing, please feel free to point it out.

This story is not for children and will feature mature content (violence, sexual content, mature language, etc.). If you're uncomfortable with such, you've been warned. I don't find gore appealing, so it will be minimal if any.

I won't impose any reading age restriction due to my personal views. However, according to the site policies you should be sixteen or older to know people can hit each other and babies aren't born because of cupid's arrows, so please keep that in mind.

Any kind of criticism and suggestions are welcome. You have the right to express your opinion. However, depending on the quantity and quality of personal insults in your review, I may or may not take it seriously.

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Chapter 1: Legacy

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Hokage Office | Konohagakure no Sato

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If one were to ignore the havoc caused by a rampaging tailed beast a kilometer away, the room seemed somberly peaceful as the Fourth Hokage of Konoha stood facing his predecessor.

From the look on the old man's face, he didn't seem all too happy.

"…So you want to seal Kyūbi's yōki in your female child and its soul in the boy while you sacrifice your life to summon the Shinigami to accomplish this task? Have you gone completely nuts?!"

The thinly veiled disbelief in his voice couldn't have been missed by even an academy student. Not only was his successor robbing the village of its most powerful warrior, he was also making their future weapon weaker by default.

"I assume you're aware of the fact that kunoichi have less than adequate chakra reserves to ever truly become front line combatants?"

"Yes, I know. But…*cough*Kushina*cough*Tsunade*cough*Shodaime's- wife-whatshername?*cough*"

"Mito. And you should see a medic to get those horrible coughs cured."

The blond rolled his eyes and muttered something about how he's going to die in a few minutes anyway so it doesn't matter. "Yes, her. Anyway, contrary to what you seem to think, I'm not stupid."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say you were stupid, a bit slow maybe, but go on."

"Naruto–"

"Named them already? You're not so slow after all."

Whether Minato blushed at the 'praise' or from embarrassment at being caught having planned the names, Sarutobi had no idea.

"Ahem, yes, Naruto already has quite the impressive chakra reserves, and if they grow like they should his control will be horrible at best. To give him the yōki would be like pouring a sea into another one. That's just asking for disaster with no control over where, when and why. Kasumi, on the other hand, has slightly smaller chakra reserves and while I would have preferred someone worse off, she's the only other newborn we have.

There are a couple more kids, but it's been a few hours since their delivery so they're not as fresh and might blow up if their coils fail to expand rapidly. Naruto and Kasumi have their Uzumaki ancestry to help in this regard, they've always been known to live long and heal fast."

There was, of course, another option. Minato could easily take the Kyūbi with him into the Shinigami's stomach, but that would rob Konoha of a weapon potentially more powerful than Minato himself, something he found completely unacceptable, especially in his absence. So it wasn't even mentioned in the discussion.

For people who would find this procedure 'wrong', the excuse of Kyūbi being too powerful to be held for eternity in the Shinigami's stomach was always there. Of course, usually it would be doubtful to consider a newborn child as a better container than a Deity, but their absolute trust in their leading figures would prevent them from looking too critically into the situation. The truth remained that the Shinigami would never swear loyalty to the village like a child.

"Can't we do something else?"

Sarutobi grumbled something under his breath that could have been 'Like oh I don't know, maybe your wife can do the sealing instead!'. He decided not to mention this however, as someone as brilliant as the Yondaime Hokage simply couldn't have not considered an obvious option like that.

Minato shook his head in defeat, making the older man sag into his chair. There was no other way they could deal with the current situation without getting even worse results. The only reason Minato wasn't already dead was because the children needed to be alive for at least a few minutes before stabilizing enough to survive the sealing. After that, the younger the better.

"I have considered all the alternatives very carefully, but we don't have the time to go into such details now. Just trust me on this, my goal was to decide on the choice which led to the most stable seals, and this is it. I won't change it."

Sarutobi grunted in unwilling agreement. "If you're sure, then so be it. However…"

His successor gave a tired nod. "…Consequences, consequences, I know. Surely there will be contempt and more than likely some violence, but I know you will handle the situation properly Sandaime-sama." A small smile formed on his face as he looked upon the older Hokage, praying he would understand exactly what he was trying to say.

The aged Hokage just shook his head, whether in disappointment or defeat was anyone's guess.

"What are you waiting for? Our soldiers die as we speak!"

The blond ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "I know! If I had a single child the Kyūbi would have been sealed already. However, the birth of twins had a little complication, they need a few more minutes to settle down. After that all will be fine and I can do the sealing. I don't like our men dying any more than you do."

The aged Hokage rubbed his forehead to get rid of the budding headache. "If we're going to wait, why can't I try to do the sealing? I'm already old and weakening, while you're…"

Minato just smiled sadly. "Can you? It will take you years to understand the Shiki Fūjin, Sarutobi-san. Nothing will be left of Konoha by then."

Sarutobi grimaced. As far as he knew, the Shiki Fūjin was an ultimate technique that could defeat any foe at the cost of the seal master's life. The containers didn't really matter, they had those available. The only factor that remained to be considered was a seal master capable of using the technique.

"Konoha's position as the strongest doesn't look so favorable without you…"

Minato knew that, and he couldn't help but agree. It pained him to leave the village that he had sworn to protect weaker due to his absence, but there was no other way. "I don't mean to sound arrogant, but we don't have anyone else skilled enough to be able to do this right now in Konoha but me. I'm sorry I have to leave the responsibility of being the leader to you once more."

"What are you saying? Of course there are fūinjutsu masters we can spare in your place! I'm here, there is Jiraiya, and what about Kushina? Surely, she can…"

Minato waved a hand in dismissal before Sarutobi got his point across. "Jiraiya and you don't know this technique. I know Kushina can do it, but the question is – will she seal a demon inside her own children? Having recently given birth I don't think she's in the best state of mind. Jiraiya-sensei and the others are barely holding her down ever since she heard about my plan… I doubt that would've been possible if she wasn't so weakened by her delivery though."

The Sandaime shook his head."Never tell anyone anything until you need to. I thought you must have learned this by now, Minato."

Minato closed his eyes in agreement. He had trusted Kushina too much, and now that he finally saw her true face he could remember things that made him suspicious. Things he had unwittingly ignored.

Kushina was an extremely strong kunoichi, one capable of fighting him on equal grounds and having a chance to win. A simple childbirth shouldn't have weakened her that much. And yet, the proof was absolute. What was it that she had hidden from him? Or maybe he was just being paranoid.

Perhaps it could be the mental trauma. Her horrified expression on hearing what was going to happen was almost priceless, which made him wonder why he didn't do something like this as a prank earlier.

'A bit too cruel for my taste, but can't say she doesn't deserve it for not thinking of Konoha above all else! Any selfish idiot can be like her, but it takes a noble mind to be able to go through with something like what I'm going to do. She will never get it, but I hope Naruto and Kasumi will someday understand this.'

A Hokage's (secret) wife shouldn't be begging on her knees for her children to be spared! She should be right here, standing by his side, supporting him through the sealing. She should be proud that her children were chosen to be the saviors of Konoha.

Sarutobi stroked his goatee, going through similar thoughts in his head. When Kushina was new to Konoha she had been treated quite roughly by the locals as she was a foreign refugee. The situation improved considerably with time, and she even made a few friends like Mikoto. But she was still rather hostile to anyone who tried to get too cozy with her, especially boys. But the Uzumaki bloodline wasn't something that could be allowed to die out because some petty girl was waiting for an Uzumaki boy to come and sweep her off her feet, never mind that they were all dead .

So they arranged for a fake kidnapping when she was ten and in the academy with Minato. The Konoha ANBU squad had disguised themselves as Kumo jōnin and had done a rather decent job too, playing their respective parts perfectly. When Minato had rescued her, she immediately felt like she owed her life to him. She had been so enamored with the boy that she completely ignored the impossibility of an academy student without any excessive special training beating a fully-fledged shinobi squad sent to another village for kidnaping, by himself.

"To think, all these years I spent supporting her would be repaid like this…"

It had been a great sacrifice for the village on Minato's part to marry the redhead. It wasn't that she was undesirable, but he never did have any interest in girls that way. Still, he was the best candidate Konoha had for her, given that he was, and is, obsessively loyal to the village and extremely talented in the shinobi arts. Exactly what she needed. So Minato had sacrificed his own happiness.

After a while, the Sandaime once again broke the brief silence. "Hashirama-sensei's wife Mito was from Kushina's clan as well, and although I was only eight years old then, I remember her being extremely weakened for a few days after having her child. Makes me wonder if these are somehow related events…"

Minato nodded, suspicious once again. "She's always had an amazing regeneration rate and incredible reserves, but we don't know much about her bloodline other than that. This doesn't explain the recent events whatsoever, she should have recovered faster than usual! However this is not the time to discuss such things… I believe another minute is all I have before the twins are ready for the sealing. Is there anything of importance you need to ask?"

Sarutobi smiled sadly. "I've been at this since before you were born. Just make peace with yourself and do Konoha proud."

The blond nodded and looked out of the window, taking one last longing look at his glorious village. Meanwhile, the old man's thoughts once again shifted to Minato's wife. Kushina and her clan had always been extremely secretive… If it weren't for the fact that Minato had saved her from the kidnapping during their academy days, she would never have bedded him later on. Though, ever since then, she considered him the best chance she had at finding love. Not to mention saving one's life forms a trust that cannot be easily broken.

"It's about time."

"Konoha shall mourn your loss."

Minato smiled. "While the village might be weakened with me gone, I have full confidence in my people. They will not fall, Konoha will never fall! I'm sure Kushina will train the twins to be strong. Just make sure they grow up knowing what's right , Sandaime-san, and they will serve as a good replacement for me."

The Namikaze grinned as he said that, being one of the very few people who had seen what Sarutobi Hiruzen was capable of.

So many dreams he had didn't matter anymore. He had been looking forward to watching his children grow and become powerful servants of Konoha, to see his village rise further above all others than it already was. But once again the immediate needs of the village came first. If he had to give up Kushina's or their children's life for it, along with his dreams, he will, without hesitation. It doesn't matter if they agree to it or not, it doesn't matter if his heart tells him not to do it.

The Sandaime sighed in disappointment. It was a lose-lose situation. On one hand Konoha gets destroyed by the Kyūbi, and on the other hand his successor meets an untimely demise.

"Farewell, Minato. The Will of Fire burns dazzlingly bright within you."

No more was said, and with a yellow flash, he was gone.

Only one thought went through the aged Hokage's head after his successor took his leave. "That foolish girl."

It could all have been prevented if that cursed redhead hadn't started feeling all motherly and turned blind to more important issues, things that were much more important than a single family. "Foolish, foolish girl… If you had some sense of responsibility, Minato wouldn't have needed to die today, and your children would have grown up happily under his care. Tch, selfish, despicable, ignorant… I don't even know a proper word for people like you."

It came to him, a few minutes later. "Traitor."

And it was certainly applicable, given Kushina did betray the village by trying to hinder Minato from saving it. They were lucky she was too weak to carry out her will.

The Sandaime closed his eyes. "Someday you will learn that true strength comes not from the countless hours of training, but from the Will of Fire . That's why you couldn't stop Minato today, and will never be able to bring harm to Konoha for as long as the Sun rises from the east. But by the time you realize this, it will be too late. I only hope your children don't follow in your footsteps, they have a lot on their plates."

What was Kushina's problem anyway? All villages except Konoha had always done this, it was nothing new. The power of human sacrifice increased their war potential greatly, creation of jinchūriki was simply too good a deal to pass up on when it could be taken. Not to mention it was an emergency and their only viable option.

He winced at the deafening roar that came from near the village gates. He would have gone to help, but it will make no difference. Not against the Kyūbi. "With Minato gone, the other Kages are prone to feel like they now have an edge over a weakened Konoha. The Raikage especially… people like him would want to descend like wolves on our precious leaf village. Right now the only ones who serve as deterrents to such a war would be myself, Jiraiya and… Kushina."

As far as the Sandaime was concerned, that stupid girl couldn't possibly provide the jinchūriki with the upbringing that they needed. But what choice did he have other than to let her raise them as she pleased? Getting rid of her right now in such a weakened state wouldn't be a problem, but losing such a powerful kunoichi while the village recovers from Kyūbi's attack would be counterproductive.

"Does everyone need to know about the jinchūriki? This would never have been a question if I was sure of Kushina's loyalty, but…"

What choice did he really have? The children would be much more emotionally fragile and easier to influence if they were openly scorned by the majority. If he didn't do this then his words may fall on deaf, rebellious ears already full of Kushina's disgusting lies and treachery. This way, he could easily make them want to prove themselves to the villagers and ensure their loyalty to the leaf.

This was something that wouldn't have been necessary if Kushina's loyalty to Konoha wasn't in question, but after all she had done tonight, Sarutobi found it exceedingly difficult to trust her with anything. Anyone who couldn't love Konohagakure no Sato simply wasn't worth it.

The old man closed his eyes and took a long drag from his pipe before blowing it out. He idly chuckled at the stray thought of how his son had taken inspiration from his smoking habits and created quite a few innovative smoke and ash based ninjutsu, though technically they were Katon.

"I hope you do what is right, Kushina, for it's not just your own future that's going to be decided based on their upbringing."

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Five Years Later | The Hidden Leaf Village

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Pit-pat pit-pat on they walked, from one place, to their lot. On the streets of Konoha, a little red headed girl and a boy with spiky blond hair could be seen walking towards the Uzumaki compound at a relaxed pace. Both of them appeared to be five years old at most. As they moved from place to place, people stopped doing what they were busy with to stare, or glare.

Both of them showed signs of becoming highly alluring given a few years. The girl had long flowing red hair that reached her mid-back, and a cute face with glittering ocean blue eyes. Her skin was fair, and she was wearing a sky blue dress that reached the middle of her thighs.

The boy next to her was of the same age. He had spiky blond hair, a slightly more angular face compared to his sister, but their eyes were identical. His skin was lightly tanned and the boy's expression seemed to indicate thoughtfulness. He wore strangely cut black shinobi pants and a dark blue shirt.

The contrasting red spirals on the back of their dresses marked them as two of the few survivors of the once-feared and almost forgotten Uzumaki clan from the Land of Whirling Tides.

While most people would find both of them very cute, the citizens of Konoha would rather not find them at all. But these people, while not the kindest souls around, refrained from causing the children physical harm. Maybe it was because they feared the mother of those kids, 'Whirlpool's Red Death', or maybe they were just too lazy to actually do anything… no one knew for sure.

One would think the duo would shrink back or be disheartened by this treatment, but the reality was quite the opposite.

The girl giggled. "We do this to spite them, and they're so stupid. Stupids, can't figure it out."

They in fact didn't actually need to go anywhere. Their daily routine to visit the academy gates wasn't because they longed to one day attend it, but because it was funny to watch the villagers frothing all over themselves. Not too amusing, maybe, but it's not like they had many sources of entertainment.

The girl gave her brother a worried look when he failed to respond to her comment.

"Onii-chan… What happened to the 'Stop acting immature, Kasumi.' or 'Let's just go home already' or maybe even 'We are the stupid ones for wasting our time like this.'?"

'What's wrong with him? We never hide anything from each other… But he's clearly doing it! SO not fair!'

She tried giving him the feminine look of imminent doom she had recently learned from her mother, but his shield of ignorance made her efforts futile. The disheartened girl pouted as she looked at her brother again, but he seemed too lost in thought to even notice her looking. 'Something's not right, but why won't he tell me? No matter what I do, he just won't say anything! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! Rawr! What do I do?! If I really have any demonic power like everyone says, I COMMAND YOU, LET ME READ HIS MIND!'

It took the poor girl a few more minutes to realize that making googly eyes at him didn't allow mind-reading, and didn't catch his attention either.

The crimson haired girl heaved a defeated sigh. Having always been the more cheerful of the two, she felt it was her responsibility to keep her brother happy. Naruto was the voice of logic, a person she trusted completely and knew she could depend on. Whenever she couldn't understand why something worked like it did, he explained it, always.

Their mother was mostly away on missions so that they could have as much money as possible saved for any future crisis. Not to mention she always bought their food, clothes and almost everything else from outside Konoha. From within the village the risk of poisoning was too high, not to mention everything was overpriced for them. Kushina could use her skills as a ninja to buy their supplies from within, but why feed people who hate your guts? That's the reason she gave them anyway. Her brother thought there must be some deeper and more conspiring reason.

At first she had been upset when her mother stopped spending time with them after their third birthday, but Naruto had explained that while they were pretty rich by normal standards, Kushina had spent most of her collected wealth to nurture them to the best of her ability for three years. She then had to start taking up missions again, despite her reluctance to leave Naruto and Kasumi alone.

Kasumi had pouted at the fact that her mother shared their financial status with only her brother and not her ('she must think I'm too stupid to get it!'), but stopped grumbling about it too often after a while.

They knew that the village leader, the Sandaime Hokage, would pick the welfare of the village over the three of them anytime. Not the best kind of guy when the aforementioned village is the cause of most of their troubles in the first place.

One would wonder how children so small could think so poorly of a seemingly kind old man, especially considering the fact that even their mother had considered him a well-wisher at first. To answer that one would have to know of a particular eye-opening event about two years ago, but that's for another time.

Kasumi shook her head to clear it of straying thoughts. Her brother didn't like to see her crying.

"Uh, Onii-chan, are you sure you're okay? You've been awfully silent today…"

"I'm fine Kasumi. Thanks for asking, but you don't need to worry. I just have a lot on my mind." He gave her a reassuring smile as he said that, easing some of her worries.

Her response came out habitually. "Like what?"

She never had given much thought what was and was not appropriate to ask others, at least in her brother's case. She just assumed that she could help with her brother's problem. The redhead tilted her head towards the blond, expecting an answer to help the boy in his problem. Unfortunately for her, Naruto seemed to be firm in his decision to not tell her.

"It's not something I can tell you now. Maybe later."

She was a good girl, but not quite mature enough to handle the kind of situation he was dealing with. Even if he did tell her, all it would result in was a worried sister and, if Kasumi told their mother about it, a pissed off mother. A very pissed off mother. He shuddered, muttering something about 'crazy mothers' and 'poor little Naruto'.

Hearing that he didn't want to tell her his problem further disheartened the redhead, causing her to internally cry about the unfairness of it all. So he was keeping something from her. 'Onii-chan doesn't trust me? But he did say that I will be the first to hear about it, so it doesn't matter that much, I guess.' She forgot all about it as she felt her brother ruffling her hair. He was the only one aside from Kaa-chan that she ever allowed to touch her.

Not that anyone would actually want to touch her, or even be anywhere close to her given her reputation of the ticking-time bomb packing the power of the strongest bijū. It wasn't as bad as the demonic image her brother had, but she certainly wasn't held in high regards anywhere.

The blond inwardly heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the girl drop the topic. Naruto smiled at his sister as he ruffled her hair some more, causing Kasumi to giggle softly.

"You're messing it up again…" Even as she huffed and pouted, they both knew she didn't mean it.

Meanwhile the people on the streets were in a mass panic, thinking the demon was acquiring his powers back… What else could the demon be doing, touching the thing that contained its powers?

The twins never noticed the hysterical shouting and the villagers running around like headless chickens. In some rare cases, people were even considering seppuku or some other form of suicide to escape what they assumed would be Kyūbi's revenge.

Or maybe not. The two of them didn't look to check, but it had happened once in the past.

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It had been seven days since that talk with Kasumi, and, even though it was a tough choice, Naruto had finally reached a decision.

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Flashback

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Kushina finally took a day off from her missions to spend it with him and his sister, and to say they were happy about it would be a huge understatement. All three of them had loads of fun the whole day, mutually criticizing the villagers, making conspiracy theories against the Hokage, and planning the set fire to the village being a few of the highlights.

Naruto was especially happy with his gift, as to him getting a kunai set meant his mother acknowledged him as more than a child. Since they came with the usual array of seals Kushina used on all her equipment, including some strengthening seals, Naruto had another reason to be happy. Unfortunately for her, Kasumi got a girly dress, so she was left pouting and asking her brother to let her touch his kunai once. They weren't sharp enough to inflict serious injury on opponents or himself, so he let her, but they were good enough for practice and defending himself if needed. He wasn't exactly going to complain about their lack of edge given his still naïve twin might just decide to chew on them, which will definitely be a disaster with regular kunai.

Kasumi was happy enough with her own gift, easily satisfied and fickle minded as she was, it had automatic repair and cleaning seals and was also highly strengthened with multiple hidden seals. Normal attacks with kunai and shuriken wouldn't put a scratch on it. It was more of an acknowledgement of her ability to get into trouble than her maturity for her to get such a protective gift, but neither Naruto nor Kushina thought it necessary to mention such a thing.

Naruto didn't give anything to Kasumi. The last time he did that two years ago (just a handmade grass bracelet) she had cried about not having a gift for him for hours. Last year she had tried making something for him, but always got too excited and ended up giving it to him before the actual day, ultimately running out of any ideas when the time came, thus repeating the process. The blond considered preventing the whole scenario better than trying to console her afterwards.

Idly chuckling at his sister's plight, Naruto was about to close his eyes and drift off into a peaceful sleep when a sudden voice that seemingly echoed inside his head startled him.

'HELLO~!'

Naruto took a sharp breath in as the feminine voice in his head seemed to chuckle at his shock. He shook his head to clear it, he could have sworn he had just heard a girl speak in his head. Perhaps he'd had too much fun today, and was more tired than he thought. 'I don't have voices in my head, I don't have voices in my head… I'm just tired, need some sleep. Yeah, that's it…'

The voice turned from cheerful to amused. 'Yes you do! And not just any voice, but the voice of the greatest demoness ever !'

Naruto continued chanting as if it was his last link to life. He was sure he could drown the other voice out if he kept chanting. Not that the other voice was even there! 'No! I don't have voices in my head! I don't have voices in my head…'

That was when a sudden realization struck him, but he refused to believe it… 'Greatest demoness? It couldn't be…'

His heartbeat quickened in fear. Kushina had told him and his sister all about their unique 'condition' when they were but three years old, and showered them with enough love to not let it bother them. But he hadn't expected this… Kaa-chan never said about the Kyūbi talking to him! The worst he thought his condition could bring was the isolation his family was experiencing, and perhaps some occasional attacks from haters…

"Don't tell me you're… the Kyūbi?" he fearfully questioned, hoping his assumption was wrong.

The voice seemed to snicker, and he could feel it rolling its eyes. He shuddered. 'Speak in your mind, little human. Or people will know that you're talking to me.' The voice sing-songed mirthfully.

Naruto couldn't help but shudder at the thought of the Kyūbi speaking like that. It was unfathomable!

The voice scoffed. 'How many other souls do you have sealed in you? Of course it's me, you pathetic human!'

Needless to say, Naruto did not like being called pathetic, whether it was by the almighty holy villagers of the greatest undefeatable village of sunshine and rainbows Konohagakure no Sato, or by a monstrously large and supremely powerful demonic entity of doom.

'Fine! What do you want?' Naruto surprised himself by his rather harsh demand, but didn't ponder much on it. Kaa-chan had told him that the Kyūbi was powerless inside him so he knew he was safe. He found it strange that Kyūbi's voice was so girly, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. After all, no one said that Kyūbi was a male.

He felt her smirk, once again shuddering at the weird sensation. How was it that he could feel her facial expressions?

'Straight to the point, eh? Well… I want you to know that since you need to be strong in order to defend yourself and those two females you seem to cherish, how about I give you some help…?'

Naruto could practically feel how much the demoness wanted him to accept her offer, so of course he was a bit suspicious. If he made the wrong decision… who knows what might happen? Even meteors raining out of the sky wasn't out of the equation.

'Whatever made you think I want your help? And, more importantly, why would you want to help me?' He couldn't deny that he wanted to get stronger to protect his mother and twin, and defend himself as well. But he won't accept an offer of power that will later come back to bite him in the rear, and this one seemed like just that. Even Kasumi wouldn't fall for something like this, and she was the most naïve person he knew (given he knew a total of three including himself, that wasn't saying much).

Meanwhile the demoness was inwardly cursing herself. She could already feel a massive headache coming from all kinds of explanations she will need to give. She had just used that seductive voice so that the kid would be more inclined to accept her help.

'Damn, that plan backfired! I should have gone with the motherly style...'

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Three Hours Later in Naruto's Mind-Scape

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Naruto was inside a sewer, sitting in front of what could only be described as a giant cage with golden gates. The word 'weird' only just began to describe the situation.

On the opposite side of him and inside the cage was a woman of unearthly beauty. Fiery red hair framed her beautiful face, three whiskers sprung from each cheek, and her skin had the lightest tan. The redhead wore a silver blouse and a translucent red cloth that covered her right arm and formed into a mini-skirt, which didn't really conceal very much.

Once again this was not what Naruto had expected. Even though his mother had taught him to not assume anything and to not judge others before knowing them, he still thought demons were supposed to look… different.

'She's really pretty… Probably just like that colorful poisonous frog we almost touched before Kaa-chan burned it. Pretty means danger. Pretty means danger. Kaa-chan can kill about anyone without much thought, and Kasumi can do the same because she doesn't think before doing things. The question is, is she a danger to me or my family?'

If not for her dangerously shining red foxy eyes and lack of wings, Naruto would have thought of her as some kind of angel. Of course, given he was a certified demon brat, he wouldn't trust an angel or God any more than a demon. Those eyes, looking at him like he was some inconsequential bug… but unlike the villagers' eyes, there was no hatred in them.

It was far too early to conclude much from what his supposed prisoner had told him. But after convincing Naruto that she could not get out of the seal and was willing to help him get strong to protect her own existence, they had reached upon a somewhat mutual agreement.

The blond gave her a skeptical look. "So… since you can't give me tons of chakra for healing or protection, you're going to train me from now on so you don't die in case I get into trouble?"

He was still a bit suspicious. That was just too good of a deal with almost no downsides.

The smile the demoness gave him was so big that it was impossible for it to be considered natural. "Yes! Genius! You deserve some kind of divine reward or something to have figured that out! I mean, it's not like I told you that clearly right off the bat. And it took you only three hours to get that one fact right, that's gotta be some kind of intellectual record. At this rate, we'll be done in… Let's see, a few centuries? Yeah, I believe that will be enough for a suitable conversation with you."

"…"

"Seriously, is it your personal mission to irritate me, or are you just that retarded?"

Naruto glared at her intensely, just a bit peeved. What did she expect? He wasn't going to make deals without being sure of anything, what kind of person with half a brain would assume otherwise? So the time and extra precautions he took were justified, at least according to him.

"If I had been stupidly trusting enough to take some-pretty-chick-I-never-met-before's words at face value, we would both have been dead long before today. And do I need to mention that you are the root of all of my family's sufferings?"

Kyūbi glared back at the little boy. "Don't call me a chick you midget! I'm a vixen! A smoking hot and drop-dead-gorgeous vixen! One does not simply call me just 'pretty'!"

'What was I expecting anyway? He won't just trust me and forget everything else. I will need to work my way in here…'

She pursed her lips as she thought about the best way to convince the human. A few moments passed in silence, and after going through all the possibilities, she resumed the conversation.

"Look, it's not that I like being quiet for five years in this… sewer. If I had started out any sooner, you probably would've told others about it, not to mention you were not ready."

Naruto huffed. His Kaa-chan always told him that he should never peg someone as a friend or an enemy without knowing them properly. So just because Kyūbi attacked Konoha did not mean she deserves his hate, neither did being a citizen of Konoha give anyone the right to his love. In either cases, it would be their intentions and actions that would decide their fate.

"While that answers my question of 'why now', you're still ignoring explaining why would you want to train me aside from that survival factor. I think we both know my chances of dying by myself aren't that great given Kaa-chan is about ready to start training me, and she's the strongest."

The demoness rolled her eyes. "Oh~ my mother is the strongest, look how cool she was when she didn't let her children being used as glorified jail cells, how awesome she is when her reputation and power prevents anyone from looking at her children with ill intent. WOW! What would a demon have to offer to me compared to her ? Surely even the demon must be aware of her mighty awesomeness!"

Being a demon meant nothing to Naruto. To him, 'demon' was a fancy word villagers like to give to anything they hate. Kaa-chan told him that somehow the villagers think by calling anyone a demon their hatred become justified, and they won't feel guilty after doing anything to a 'demon'.

Naruto didn't properly understand the whole 'demon' concept, but he knew that they were powerful, feared and hated by people. So was his mother. She was powerful and feared as an outstanding ninja, and hated for housing the demons. So Kyūbi was way off mark if she considered Naruto to be influenced by that word.

"Whatever… mock me, mock my mother. I don't care what you think. I do not trust you yet since you seem not to want to give me your real reason, but fine, I'll accept your training."

That of course made Kyūbi furious. How dare a puny little human take her offer as though he deserved it and not even thank her! He should be licking her feet in gratitude! Sure her reasons for the offer were selfish, but still!

"Be grateful you…! I , the mighty Kyūbi no Kitsune, Greatest of ALL Bijū is making you , an insolent, retarded, ungrateful–"

"–I think I get the idea–"

"–human midget , my legacy! Show some respect!"

Naruto's nostrils flared in anger. 'Did she have to insult my height? I will get you back for this, Foxy-chan! Just you wait… One day, I will make you regret this…'

Of course, he knew it wouldn't be wise to voice it out loud. "You don't really look that impressive, and let's not forget you're pretty much powerless and defeated right now, and have been that way for years."

Kyūbi huffed indignantly "Uuu…"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the demon queen. "Yeah, yeah, don't think moping like a little girl will fool me. I've seen the real thing, it looks a bit clumsier. Nice try, though."

"Ah, that stupid sister of yours…"

Kyūbi seemed to be in deep thought for a while before she responded. "Well, whatever… If you don't want to trust me, don't. It will only hurt your training, but I can't make you do it."

"Maybe if you give me a base to build that trust, some background, you know."

She considered his suggestion for a while before nodding. "Alright, but first, I should let you know the basic rules for me being your sensei."

He nodded, apparently satisfied. "Fine, unless it is something extreme, I'll give it a shot. In case someone comes after me or my family, I can't expect any help from Konoha."

"You're assuming that this village won't be helping them? Or it could be Konoha itself coming after you." Kyūbi reminded him with a smirk.

"I assume nothing, but it'll be best to prepare for the worst possible outcome."

"Wow, I hope you're not just saying that, and actually follow through with those high and mighty words of yours." Kyūbi smirked as she saw a muscle in his jaw jump. "Okay little midget…"

Naruto twitched. "I'm a kid. I'm supposed to be short!"

"Whatever. Here are a few things you must remember. First of all, never question my instructions. I'll explain whatever needs explaining. Secondly, I already told you I can't get out of here, and I give my word as a demon queen, which I cannot be break, that if such a possibility presents itself – I'll let you know first."

The blond nodded. That was a good reassurance and slightly put his mind at ease.

"Know that I'm doing this only so that we don't have any complications," she smiled in a way Naruto wasn't sure was meant to be predatory or attractive.

The blond stared long and hard into Kyūbi's eyes. "Okay, I understand. I'll try my best not to judge you based on what others say."

Kyūbi grinned. Finally her efforts for the past few hours pay off! "Now that that's out of the way, I think we should discuss your future. I've gone through some of your memories, being in your mind and all. I can let you know right now that it won't be anything like your current expectations. Those villagers won't suddenly start liking you or your family, and that 'dumb prankster' act you plan on pulling will only make them want to get rid of you more, it will make you more of an annoyance."

Naruto yawned. "It was just a passing thought when I was younger and wondering how to make them stop hating us, I didn't plan on going through with it, ever. And I don't really care what they think now. Clearly, you're not very good at mind reading."

She coughed, pointedly ignoring what he said. "As for your sister, I think her current situation is the best. As long as the villagers are afraid of doing anything to her, she'll be relatively safe. You, on the other hand need some serious work if you want to be even half as strong as her later on". She cringed at the thought of having a weak container. She hated weakness.

"I think you best keep your concerns limited to me, leave worrying about Kasumi to her brother and mother."

The demoness frowned. "You're not being friendly."

Naruto nodded. "I'm not trying. Please get back on topic, I know from experience that trying to make friends is just plain stupid for someone like me."

The redhead shrugged. "Ah, well, okay. Back on topic, as you said. I was looking through your heritage and DNA, and I found out that Uzumaki males have the bloodline of the Sage of Six Paths dominant in their blood. Though only a few ever managed to activate it. I was a bit skeptical at first, as I have already sensed another person activating it a few years ago, and it is such a rare occurrence that it only happens once every few hundred years."

Naruto wasn't so sure. He knew that the female Uzumaki had a bloodline, but from what his Kaa-chan told him, Uzumaki males can't have it as it only appears in girls for some unknown reason.

"I know about the Uzumaki bloodline, but it's not found in males to the best of my mother's knowledge. As a side note, I'm not very interested in history, I care more about now . Unless it is something that actually matters, please don't mention historical events again."

His tenant smirked. "I'll decide how I teach, and you'll listen."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Fine, have it your way then."

"Anyway, it's called the Rinnegan. It enables the user to manipulate all five basic elements as well as gravity, along with some special techniques that the Sage created and embedded in the bloodline so that his descendants can use it to 'shape a better world'. But you don't need to worry about that yet. The first thing you need to do is activate it, which is unlikely to happen."

Naruto nodded, that did seem to explain it. If something happens rarely, it's harder to find out about it. So maybe Kaa-chan didn't know? Or maybe she didn't want to get his hopes too high so that it doesn't hurt if he can't activate it?

"So you are saying that if I try hard enough, I can activate this Rinnegan of mine, and then you will help me learn how to use it?"

She shook her head in negative. "I will only be guiding you a little with it and training you to better use it, but you will have to learn it mostly by yourself. I don't have it myself so there is only so much I can do before you're on your own. However, that's not why you're here though. You are here because I will be training you for a year to be able to activate my masterpiece – the Yogengan! (Eye of the prophecy)"

Now he was confused, again. Sure he understood he will have to work hard to earn his strength, but some things still didn't make sense to him. "What is this Yogengan you just mentioned? I've never heard of it from Kaa-chan."

She grinned as she wagged her finger in front of the little boy. "Of course you didn't, I just made that name up. It's the combination of three kekkei genkai… the Rinnegan, the Sharingan and one more."

The blond raised an eyebrow. "That's like mixing sugar and milk and then claiming the substance to be an invention of yours named Mugar or Silk."

The demoness blushed faintly, but decided to ignore his words. "B-Before I explain that, let me tell you the history of my greatest creation to date… the Sharingan."

Now that certainly managed to surprise him. The only Sharingan he had ever heard about was the Uchiha clan's dōjutsu, and he was very certain he was not an Uchiha. Moreover, he never thought the Kyūbi might actually be related to the Uchiha.

Noticing his confused look, Kyūbi continued. "I created it a few hundred years ago so that I may be able to utilize my fire affinity better and cast my more powerful genjutsu with ease. But I couldn't in my right mind start experimenting with my own sight."

"You made it?!"

After letting him gape for a few minutes in silence, she continued. "So, I decided to make a prototype and give it to a human, an Uchiha woman to be precise, and observe its capabilities and flaws. My plan was to take care of any defects by observing the humans before I used it on myself. The reason I chose the Uchiha woman was, if you didn't know this already, because Uchiha are the Rikudō Sennin's descendants. Even though they didn't inherit much from their ancestor like the Uzumaki, their chakra was much more closely related to mine and the Sennin's energy. Plus they were more readily available to me than the Uzumaki or Senju. Those annoying little pests are harder to come by."

She seemed lost in thought for a few moments before she once again decided to continue. "It was fine for a while. The Uchiha woman was able to cast better genjutsu, and her affinity for fire was greatly amplified. I found out later that the Sharingan was capable of being inherited by her children, whose descendants became famous for using the Sharingan in battle. No one even questioned how they suddenly sprouted a dōjutsu, everyone assumed that's what they inherited from the Sage but had decided to keep the ability hidden until then. But I didn't really care."

Naruto just frowned. His personal experience with the Uchiha was limited to the knowledge that they were supposed to be in-charge of the Police Force, but he'd never had any confrontation with them yet.

The demoness smirked. "I was particularly impressed when the chakra viewing capacity of the Sharingan and the improved memory it granted enabled them to copy the shinobi techniques just by viewing them! That wasn't something I originally intended, but unexpected results were always highly probable in experiments, which is why I didn't directly experiment on my own eyes. However, one of the Uchiha changed everything…"

She sighed and looked away for a moment, before continuing again in a more subdued tone. Even though she didn't like being reminded of this, it was required to make the boy understand everything properly.

"Uchiha Madara and his brother Uchiha Izuna were able to attain the Mangekyō Sharingan, a stage which I did not intend to be unlocked in the prototype. But I let them have it, curious of its effects. Of course, just because I did not intend it to happen didn't mean I was unprepared for it.

Just in case someone activated Mangekyō, a failsafe seal embedded within the very structure of the eye started blinding the user with every use. This rendered it nearly useless in the long run, but gave me enough data to complete assessing its capabilities and effects upon the Uchiha's death. But that damn Madara!"

Kyūbi spat out the man's name like it was poison, startling her newly formed disciple before she managed to regain her composure. "He found a way around my seal… I'll admit I'm no genius in fūinjutsu, but it was supposedly impossible for anyone but me to know how the seal worked and how to remove it, as far as I knew, I thought my plans were perfect…"

"I've seen Kaa-chan practice fūinjutsu at home, but it doesn't seem like anything that would work the way you describe…"

"You won't understand now, it took me thousands of years to get that technique perfected. Simply put, I can use my yōki to modify even extremely minute things, like the building blocks of living beings."

Not wanting to get entwined in something he couldn't understand now, Naruto moved on to something he did. "So how did Madara get around your seal?"

The demoness grimaced. "Madara took his brother's eyes and implanted them in his own eye sockets. Because of the way I designed it, his brother's seal was useless on him, and he gained the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

Now,that I was not prepared for. I mean, not only did both the siblings Madara and Izuna attain Mangekyō, but Madara found a way around the blinding seal which prevented his eyes from getting weaker with time. The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan strengthened his eyes to a level where he was able to obtain some of my powers, including eternal youth.

I could not just let someone use my powers like that, so I decided to end my observation and eliminate the failed experiment."

Even though Naruto was extremely smart for his age, he still didn't understand some of the things the vixen was telling him but he got the basic idea. Madara was already on Naruto's 'worst scum' list, right above Minato Namikaze himself. These were the guys who would kill their brothers, sisters, sons, and lovers for their goals. Madara's goal was to obtain more power, and Minato's goal was the protection and strengthening of the village.

Having his own father (at least by blood) condemn him to such a life was much worse than having some random person do it.

A sigh escaped his lips. "So is that why you attacked Konoha?"

Kyūbi frowned, which Naruto thought was because she was yet again reminded of the supposedly bad incident. He sympathized with her.

"No, I had no idea where he was. I can only get an Uchiha's memories after their death, until I was sealed here, and no one I got the memories from at that time had any idea of Madara's whereabouts. I had no choice but to wait for Madara to show himself. It was on the day of your birth that he killed an Uchiha while sneaking in and out of Konoha.

When I found him running away a few miles away from this village, I told him his history and proceeded to take what was rightfully mine. It's not like he could have struggled much against me . I let my guard down though when he didn't protest at all and willingly let me remove his left eye, and then he cast a powerful genjutsu on me to save his right Sharingan. I was able to break out of it, of course, but that momentary lapse was all he needed to escape. I got a sample of the bloodline back, but I did not like being tricked by a pathetic human.

I was pissed off. So to relieve some frustration, I went on a rampage. I eventually ended up in the nearby village of Konoha. Again, I was not expecting a mere human to be able to summon a being stronger than ME, and it just had to be the Shinigami! He already hates me." She pouted. "And then I ended up here. In your dirty little mind."

It took him a moment to absorb everything she said, and then he finally caught up to her last words. "Ehhh? I don't have a dirty mind!"

"… It's a sewer ."

The blond grumbled but decided not to retort. It wouldn't hurt to be at least on semi-friendly terms with the voice in his head, he had no fetish for headaches.

"So you attacked Konoha because you were pissed off? That was why thousands of humans died by your hands? Er… I mean paws… or tails… something."

She shrugged. "Pretty much, yes."

She didn't understand what was so wrong with killing all those idiots, not like they wouldn't have died in a while anyway. Humans were like that. One moment they were there, and then just a little bit later they're all wrinkly and on the verge of death. For an ancient immortal like her, their lives held no value. Until her own depended on one, anyway.

"The only reason I told you all this is because the Sharingan is now complete—"

Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion. "I already potentially have the Rinnegan, so why do I even need–"

"Did you forget already? I told you, I'll combine them both to make something better."

Naruto smiled nervously. "I-It's sure to work, right?"

Kyūbi had to smirk at the way he seemed just a little excited, underneath it all. "I think I can do it. But since Rinnegan is genetically superior to Sharingan, even if I'm not entirely happy to admit it, first you need to activate your Rinnegan. That will be your first test – to be able to do that.

If I activate the Sharingan before that, Rinnegan will just remove any weaker dōjutsu and take over, while Sharingan won't be able to do the same with Rinnegan and I will be able to force a merger. It might hurt a little , but I'm sure it will work."

Naruto gulped.

The demoness couldn't quite contain the grin upon seeing his apprehension. 'Just you wait till your training begins…'

"You're lucky to have such good genes kiddo. Makes it easier to change them without much risk."

The blond blinked with a clueless expression. "But I'm not wearing jeans. And please don't check my pockets without permission again."

"Oh." The redhead resisted the urge to smack herself.

'Okay so maybe I shouldn't assume that he knows everything I'm talking about.'

"I meant your blood, kind of, get it?"

Naruto didn't, but he nodded anyway. Later he'll have to ask Kaa-chan what his jeans had to do with his blood.

"What's so special about my blood though?"

Kyūbi grinned widely. "Let's just say that you're not exactly normal, even if we ignore my presence here."

He pouted cutely at not being answered properly, causing Kyūbi to giggle in amusement. 'Well, as long as I don't have to face the Shinigami again, he's not that bad…' she shuddered.

"So, what do you think I should aim for?"

The demoness gave him a nonchalant shrug. "Meh, be as strong as possible so you don't die."

"No, I mean, aside from that. I don't want to fight for them , they hate me."

Kyūbi's melodic laughter filled his mindscape. Naruto thought that it resembled his mother and sister's – beautiful. "When you're strong, people will want you to be on their side, and if you're not with them then they'll want you dead . Konoha is no different. You will fight for no one but yourself if I have anything to say about it."

"I see… I suppose you're right in a way. I'll fight for…"

"Now wait just a second."

"What?"

"Don't run before you can crawl. 'I'll fight for this!', 'I won't let anything happen to them!' blah blah, I don't want to hear it! As you are right now, you're useless and pathetic. You're fighting no one and are worth nothing. FIRST, you train and grow strong, THEN you can think about what you want to do with that strength. Got it?"

The blond grumbled. "…Yes. I get it."

Looking at the supposedly demonic entity, he couldn't help but shiver. The resemblance she held to his mother was frightening… Flaming crimson hair, melodic voice and beauty that made any other girl look like a dirty piglet in comparison. He thanked heavens for Kyūbi's whiskers, tails, slightly pointy ears and red slitted eyes, or he would have had trouble not thinking of her as family.

One part of him wondered if she had taken this appearance specifically to make him let his guard down. But he put that aside for now. "This is a lot to take in, do you mind if I think about it alone for a few days?"

"Sure, I'll be waiting…"

Kyūbi leaned back as she relaxed a bit once he disappeared from the mindscape. To be honest the possibility of being dragged into Shinigami's stomach when her vessel died terrified her. She wasn't about to let Naruto die – ever. Or at least until she found a way out.

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End Flashback

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It wasn't much of a debate, really. The decision was obvious, he'd only taken this time off because he just felt the need to come to terms with it completely before making such a commitment.

In the back of his mind, Naruto was unnerved by how easily he was accepting a deal with a demon queen. But he quickly squashed that thought. So what if she was a demon? To the villagers he was a demon too! It meant nothing. Nothing .

'Uh, hi, can you hear me?'

'Yes?'

Naruto hesitated only a moment before he strengthened his resolve. 'I'm… ready.'

He felt Kyūbi nod in acceptance.

'Excellent, excellent. I'll be training you for twelve months so that you can activate your bloodline. It won't be easy, but if you do as I say, I believe my vessel should be more than capable for doing it.'

Naruto grinned despite himself, feeling oddly happier from her praise and confidence in him.

'Let's do this then!'

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Streets of Konoha | A year later

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It was almost eleven at night on October tenth, and the villagers of Konoha were happily celebrating the Kyūbi festival like they did every year. Festivity was in the air as drunken laughter and dancing figures waltz throughout the village.

Meanwhile, a small figure, presumably that of a five-six year old child, could be seen gliding through the rooftops with ease. Naruto's training this past year had vastly increased his flexibility, strength and stamina. Although he had yet to learn any kind of jutsu, whether it be nin or tai, he was quite content with his progress in a year.

Not only had he come to like Kyūbi in the past year, the demoness herself seemed to have taken an unusual interest in him. From the Uzumaki boy's point of view, she had been just like his mother – kind and loving most of the time, strict when needed. While he didn't blindly trust her like he would for his mother and sister, he did hold her words in high regard.

Most of the training Kyūbi provided him with this past year focused not only on increasing his chakra reserves and control, but also to strengthen his body to the point where it would be able to handle the massive boost that Rinnegan might provide. Today he would see if his preparations would pay off as he had hoped. He didn't want to disappoint his mentor, and himself.

Regardless of all that, he wanted to get this situation dealt with as soon as possible. All of it seemed to make him uneasy. The risk was high, and his chances were questionable despite all of Kyūbi's assurances.

His attire didn't particularly appeal to him either. He was running through the streets wearing an orange eyesore of a jumpsuit. He didn't have anything against the orange color – he liked it very much as a matter of fact – but that jumpsuit was just plain hideous and uncomfortable.

Kyūbi had told him that he needs to be placed in a life-and-death situation to be able to activate the Rinnegan. Fortunately or unfortunately, in this village it was a constant life-and-death struggle for Naruto whenever he wasn't accompanied by his mother or sister.

Naruto felt a smile form on his face as he recalled all the hard work he had done this past year. He had been sneaking away from his twin sister and training to improve his physical and spiritual strength as well as control. As a result, not only his physical capabilities, but his chakra capacity and control also improved greatly.

When he had started, his chakra control wasn't something to take pride in, no thanks to his naturally large reserves caused by his Uzumaki heritage. But he had worked harder than any child his age should and eventually overcome his problems. That didn't mean being an Uzumaki was a disadvantage to his training, in fact it was quite the opposite. The godlike stamina helped him greatly when it came to the physical aspects of the training.

Kasumi's hurt look whenever he came back a bit battered and bruised from his training always made him wince. He had the distinct impression that she thought the villagers were physically abusing him, if the disdainful looks she gave them was anything to go by. He had to chuckle when some of them cringed. After all, you don't expect to see that much hatred and disgust in such a young girl's eyes.

He felt bad for letting her cry alone because she thought that he was shielding her from harm and getting hurt because of her, but he just couldn't find the courage to tell them all about Kyū-chan and his bloodline. Despite all that, he promised himself to tell her almost everything once he activated his bloodline. His little sister didn't deserve to suffer like that just because he was a bit afraid.

He wasn't doing it without reason though. He found out from Kyūbi that, today, he would either awaken the Rinnegan or die. That was why he didn't tell Kasumi about his training. She would never let him go risk his life willingly.

That was the reason for all those preparations. There was only one chance, and if it didn't happen today, it would never happen. He had given it his all, now it was time to see if that was enough.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. In fact, he was so close to pissing his pants right now that Kyūbi was considering delaying the test for another year.

'Naruto! Get a hold of yourself! You're ready, trust me. I wouldn't let you do this if you weren't. You know I don't like the idea of dying either!'

That calmed him down a bit. After all, she did have multiple millennia worth of experience, and she didn't want him to die. Or rather, she didn't want to die. But then again, one person popped all those ideas like a water balloon is popped by a needle. Madara did fuck up her plans plenty of times. That name made her blood boil. Not that she had any, it was all yōki and her soul, but that was beside the point.

He was planning on naming his kid Madara, if he had one. That will teach her for all that torture she calls training.

The blond shivered as a chill ran down his spine. 'Why do I feel like I just signed my own doom?'

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Thirty minutes later

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Naruto was pissed. No, scratch that, he was furious!

When he had left the compound, he expected a giant mob ready and waiting for him to help activate his bloodline. But what did he get?

He'd been jumping around in an orange jumpsuit in between a crowd of drunken villagers, and the idiots didn't even notice him in their drunken haze!

What was wrong with them? Can't they see there's a defenseless six year old scapegoat amidst them to take their anger and hatred out on? What were they thinking dancing around like utter morons?!

He gritted his teeth in anger as he realized this might just be much harder than he had thought. But Naruto Uzumaki didn't come unprepared, far from it. Reaching into his thigh pocket, Naruto took out a scroll he had prepared just in case something like this happened.

He wasn't skilled enough to create storage scrolls yet, so he had 'borrowed' one of the empty ones lying around the Uzumaki compound. A small application of chakra and out came a number of banners and costumes.

Grinning, Naruto put the Styrofoam l devil horns on his head, which he had hand crafted himself. He then wrapped a belt around his waist that conveniently had nine orange tails attached, glittered for extra measure.

To top it all off, he held up a huge banner supported by two long sticks. The slogan 'The demon brat's here, let's finish what the Yondaime-baka started!' along with the picture of a childishly drawn nine tailed fox wiggling her ass displayed proudly in bright red color.

One by one, people noticed it and gaped. A particularly stupid villager who seemed more intoxicated than the others felt it appropriate to read the poster out aloud.

"The dwemon brat'ch here, let'ch finiiiiish what de Yondaime-bwaka shtarted! Wviggle wviggle…"

Apparently, he didn't feel the need to not call his beloved Yondaime an idiot.

A roar of anger met his statement, causing Naruto to roll his eyes. 'Finally, good for nothing idiots…'

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"Yeah, let's kill the demon brat! He's alone!"

The villagers couldn't have been more ecstatic! For the first time in six years, the demon brat was alone! It took them a while to believe their luck, but now that they knew it was real and not some drunken illusion, they couldn't be any happier. Their wishes had been granted! There was no demon slut nearby to help him, there was no risk. The brat was weak, they could kill him!

And they will – painfully . Oh yes, the demon had caused them so much pain, they couldn't just let it die easily. They would torture him till he begged to die, and then they would torture him some more.

Maybe if Naruto hadn't been kept under tight security of his mother for most of his life, the villagers might not have been this violent on getting an opportunity to beat him. Mystery did nothing to quell their fears and suspicions.

Maybe if Kasumi was with him, they might have been afraid of doing anything due to the possibility of destabilizing her and causing a (possibly) village-ending explosion or (maybe) making her go berserk.

But right now, they had nothing to fear and no one to stop them. As it was, they were surprised to get their hands on him and more than a little happy to get a chance to extract some sweet revenge.

The chase continued pointlessly for a bit longer with more and more people joining in. But all of them were civilians. The shinobi skillfully ignored the mob if they stumbled upon it. They really didn't care what happened to the brat, they might even be a little happy. It's not like they were under orders to protect him.

Those few who might have actually cared weren't really going around checking random crowds of running people on a festival. Things like this were expected.

Naruto was eventually chased outside of the village gates, into the forest a few miles away from Konoha.

By now he was getting worried, but knew he had to do this. He had prepared for a whole year. After going through countless chakra control exercises, improving and strengthening his body, training in secret, mind-scape training… he wasn't going to back out now.

'I can do this! I have to do this!'

Naruto realized, with determination blazing in his eyes, that the villagers had surrounded him. It was now or never. Either he will get what he wanted, or he'll die a very painful death.

They were coming closer, with weapons of various sizes and shape, and some with just their bare fists. Naruto's heart started working overtime as adrenaline started flooding his system. His chakra flared wildly and his eyes were wide – capturing every single movement around him and calculating the threat.

As they charged – his brain started working overtime as the blond tried to cope up with the possibility of imminent death that he was currently unable to avoid.

Naruto tried to dodge as much as he could, but they were too many and he didn't have a Byakugan to cover his blind spots. Thankfully, he was prepared for the attack and had brought some of the kunai his mother had given him, so he was parrying various blows and keeping the mob at a distance.

He left the ones with panic seals at the compound. He didn't want his Kaa-chan getting tied up in this… It would all be pointless if he was saved without activating his bloodline.

Unfortunately, he was still a six year old despite all his training. His small body couldn't keep up with the assault for too long, and before he knew it, he was taking hits.

It started with nothing serious, just glancing blows, and then a hard object hit him in the back, making him stumble forwards. Then came knife from the right, and a hammer from the left simultaneously, but he was able to block them both at the same time.

He watched in slow motion as another villager used a butcher's knife in an attempt to cleave his torso in half.

'Is this it? I am sorry Kaa-chan, Kasumi-chan, for causing you the pain of losing me if I don't survive this. Please forgive me.'

In his mind-scape, the demoness couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. She was afraid that it may not work, but this opportunity had to be taken. Regardless, the child's behavior was still amusing. 'He should be worried about his survival, not what others would feel if he died. Mortals are just so stupid sometimes…'

Suddenly there was a rush of information in Naruto's brain, and a sharp stinging feeling in his eyes. Acting on instinct, not even realizing what he was doing, he channeled all of his chakra into his eyes and chanted the words that spelled only doom to those who were unfortunate enough to be nearby.

"SHINRA TENSEI!"

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Chapter End

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Not very sophisticated, but it's a start. Let me know your thoughts if you have any.