The Pathless Sage

A/R: Hey guys! This is my first Naruto fic, and my second fic all together. I will warn you now, I might not be the best of writers in the world (in my humble opinion, though a friend of mine told me I have perfect grammar and that he is jealous [BAH]) so if you don't like my story, please don't read it. I'm asking nicely.

"Kyuubi Speaking"

"Normal Speech"

"Kyuubi Thinking"

"Normal Thinking"

-Flashbacks when specified-

"Jutsu"

On with the story!

The soft, calming ball of flames cast a humming, endearing glow over the small village. Shops were slowly coming out of their overnight slumber and opening up for business, stalls were being set up on the streets, the vendors behind them already attempting to attract customers. Wind blew softly over the village, blowing away the heat waves and tried to calm the midsummer heat. The peaceful faces of the Hokage, looking over their Village completed the picture of perfect serenity.

Whoops of glee, shouts of joy and laughter tore through the perfect serenity. The Villagers looked towards this new sound invasion (lolz?) to find the Village's menace running through the dirt roads at break neck speed, with men/women in billowing cloaks, with coloured masks covering their face, chasing him.

This was one of the five Great Ninja Villages of the world, Konohagakure. The Village Hidden in the Leaves. The current happenings were a regularly occurring phenomenon. Konoha would wake every morning to serenity, only to have it marred by the boisterous cackling of an orange clad ninja wannabe.

-TT-

Naruto was a blonde haired boy with a round, boyish face marred by three whisker like markings on each side of his face. He always wore an orange jumpsuit with white, high necks and orange trousers that reached up to the top of his ankles. He would wrap up the bottom of his trousers in ninja wraps to keep it out of anything he might trip on.

Evidently, the boy's fashion sense was a living abomination on the face of the planet.

Naruto was the boy that was running through the town centre, cackling like a mad scientist, with members of the ANBU Black Ops on his tail. His bright clothing, bright hair and maddening laughter gave the ninja perfect beacons in the crowd to track.

Ducking into an alleyway that he knew led to his apartment, he left some of his ready made traps in his wake as he darted towards his apartment. He was happy with the result of his pranks today, especially so since he had managed to prank the Village leader, the Hokage himself. As he ran towards his house, he thought of the perfect crime he just pulled.

-Flashback-

Naruto was forced through the large oak doors of the Hokage's office, he was originally in a good mood to get to see the Old Man again, but his mood quickly deteriorated upon seeing the glare the Hokage was sending his way and he was sure that the glare was meant for him, not the ANBU behind him.

The Hokage sat behind a large mahogany desk littered with paperwork, quills, pens, pencils and ink bottles. The room itself was quite large, filled with showcases full of trophies and pictures of old ninja that were honoured in the Village.

One particular picture caught Naruto's attention, despite feeling the Hokage's glare drill a hole through the side of his head. He stared at the happy face of the Fourth Hokage, the corners of is lips pulled up in a slight smile, his eyes closed in happiness and his blonde hair billowing softly in the wind. No matter how many times he came into the room, that one picture always managed to catch his attention

Hiruzen Sarutobi cleared his throat to catch Naruto's attention and it had the desired effect, as he turned from the face of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, to the face of the Third Hokage,

Hiruzen Sarutobi. Naruto always thought it was weird, but due to the death of the Fourth a few years ago, the Third had to come out of retirement to take up the position again.

"Alright Naru-bou, [1] what prank did you pull this time? What damages did you cause and to what region?" Sarutobi asked, the ANBU moved to answer his questions, but he held up a hand, "I want Naru-bou to answer, no one else interfere. Actually, just leave me alone with the boy."

The ANBU members that were in the room, standing behind Naruto and hidden in the shadows to guard the Hokage, left the room in complete silence. Naruto walked up to the Old Man's desk.

"Well Jiji [2] I didn't actually do anything this time. The ANBU were trailing me for some reason and they got to me before I started painting the Hokage faces." Naruto replied in all honesty. He didn't do anything this time, so he didn't need to lie to get out of trouble this time.

"Why would you even think of doing such a thing? The Hokage are respected people in our Village, even you respect them Naru-bou. So why would you do such a thing to defile their memory?" Sarutobi asked his surrogate grandson. He was surprised to say the least. Everyone in the Village respected the Hokage, but in the heart of Naruto, the Hokage held a special place.

"Because I want to show everyone I will be better than them. I will show them that I can surpass all the Hokage's and be the best there is." Was Naruto's simple reply. It may not have been logical, but it was a reply nonetheless.

"Naru-bou, I can't ignore this. Your everyday pranks I can overlook, but the defilement of a Village monument is unacceptable." Naruto slowly paled and started to clam up as he heard his surrogate grandfather speak. He started to think of a diabolical plan to get him out of this situation. "I will be asking Iruka to oversee your punishment. Everyday, I want you to -" But he got no further.

"Transformation Jutsu!" Naruto held his hands in a Tiger seal. Immediately, a large amount of smoke poured out of where he stood and out came a voluptuous, blonde teenage girl with lush curvature. The girl was naked, but smoke covered her privates.

As soon as he caught a sight of this, the Hokage shot backwards with his head leading his body. The force of the fountain of blood that was now pouring out of his nose was too much for even the greatest of the Village to handle.

He watched the Old Man fall backwards for a second, but he wasted no time. Quick as lightning, Naruto changed back to his normal self, grabbed a Jutsu scroll that he had been eye-balling on the Hokage's desk for a while and jumped out of the open window.

Recovering quickly from his plight, he summoned the ANBU that were outside his room. "Naru-bou ran off with one of my Jutsu scrolls. I want you to go catch him and bring back the scroll and Naru-bou, unharmed."

Hearing the warning in the Hokage's voice, the ANBU members disappeared from Sarutobi's office, but not before they caught the Old Man heave an exhausted sigh.

As soon as the ANBU left his room, Sarutobi went back to his paperwork.

-Flashback End-

Naruto laughed his happy, carefree laugh as he stepped into his hallway, Jutsu scroll in hand. Even he was exhausted from trying to run away from ANBU Black Ops members, as seasoned as he was in the art of evasion. Well, the ANBU were the Village's Elite and he was a simple Academy Student running away from them. The Dead Last of the Academy.

Putting those sullen thoughts out of his mind, he decided to read the Jutsu Scroll and see if he could make heads or tails of a few complicated Jutsu. As he opened to the contents section, Naruto read the contents of the scroll out loud.

"Fire Style: Eternal Black Flames,

Fire Style: Giant Phoenix Flower,

Fire Style: Meteor Shower,

Lightning Style: Thunderclap,

Illusion Style: Soul Binding,

Sword Style: Crescent Moon Slash."

All of those sounded like awesome and complicated Jutsu, but what caught his attention was the last two Jutsu on the contents page.

"Uzumaki Sealing Style: Chakra Entrapment,

Uzumaki Bloodline: Azure Dragon's Wrath.

Note, only for the usage of those with Uzumaki blood from the Uzumaki clan of Uzushiogakure, The Village Hidden in the Tides"

Naruto ran his finger over the last two Jutsu, thinking of the Village and Clan he never knew, the kinsmen he had never met, the Jutsu he had never learnt. The sense of family and friendship he never had.

Running out of the apartment and making for the training grounds, Naruto decided to go train.

A/N: I originally planned for the chapter to be a lot longer, but this felt like a natural stopping point.

Please review, it helps me to keep going. Even an anonymous review saying "Good job" helps, so please take the 30 seconds needed to leave a review. Thanks.

If you like my writing and would like the read some more of it while you wait for the next chapter, there is another story that I have on my profile, please go read it and review it.

[1] : Bou is a suffix referring affectionately to young boys.

[2] : Jiji means Old Man or Grandfather. Another affectionate name/title/suffix thing.