Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: This is my first fanfic, but I plan on it being very long. It is rated M for Language, violence, and some future content. Couples other than Naru/Hina are likely, and there will be limes. There will be no harem, and no, I repeat, NO lemons. It's not that I don't like them, it's just- Ya know what, just go to my profile, you can find my reasons there.

For those that have read this story before, you may find some things changed. Most of those things are little details that I had left out before, or details that I only just decided would make the story better. The biggest change though is that I redistributed some of the text. I just cut off some parts from the beginnings of chapters two and three, and put them at the ends of chapters one and two respectively. This is because chapters one and two were a lot shorter than three and four, so I did this to make them have a more equal length. So, without further ado, Chapter One of The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki.

Chapter One: The Riddle

He just couldn't believe how easy it had been to take the scroll. He knew that it was usually guarded by at least four ANBU, but nobody was there when he got there. He just assumed that Mizuki had told them that he could use it and that it would be in good hands, and that they could take the night off. He was already at one of the training grounds, so it was too late to turn back now anyway. He unraveled the scroll and started to go through the multitude of jutsu. After several minutes, he came to the end of the writing on the scroll. There he found what seemed like a riddle that seemed to be directions to a vault. Figuring that there may be something useful in the vault, he started copying it down in a spare scroll. When he finished, he rolled it up and and put it into his pants pocket. Once that was settled, he took a look back through The Forbidden Scroll and picked out some of the cooler sounding ones. He realized though that he would probably only have time to learn one before somebody came to the training grounds to train. He started practicing the first jutsu in the scroll.

Several hours passed before he heard the sound of labored breathing behind him. It startled him because it had appeared so suddenly and it was even louder than his. He turned around with a grin and sweat pouring down his face. There stood Iruka, panting and looking at him with a look of confusion. "Oh, Hey Iruka-sensei, how's it going. I just finished up learning one of the jutsu in the scroll, so if you want you can train with it yourself. There are some really awesome ju-".

"JUST WHAT IN KAMI'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!", Iruka blasted into Naruto's face, using the head expansion jutsu that he had learned just to keep unruly students in line. "Why the hell did you steal the Forbidden Scroll? Do you realize that every ninja in the village is after you because of what you've done?", Iruka was flustered to say the least.

"B-But, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei said that if I was able to take the scroll and learn a jutsu from it that I would be a genin. So that's what I did, I've already got one jutsu down, so that means that I'm a genin now right? When do I get my hitai-ate sensei, can we go get it now?", Naruto asked a little nervously.

"Oh, they'll give you your hitai-ate alright, but only right before they put you in the ground!" They heard a voice say from behind them.

Iruka turned around to see Mizuki standing on a branch of a tree, spinning a large shuriken in his hand, "Mizuki, what is the meaning of this? Do you really plan on betraying us? What would you have to gain from this?", Iruka was stunned by the malice that was in Mizuki's voice.

"You have no idea Iruka, I have everything to gain from this!", He threw the spinning shuriken right towards Iruka. Naruto looked on in horror at what was happening in front of him. Iruka was leaning over him with a look of anguish on his face. It was hard to see, but he could tell that the shuriken was imbedded in his back. "Iruka-sensei, why didn't you dodge, why didn't you get out of the way?"

"Because Naruto, If I had, you would have been hit yourself. As your teacher and as someone that cares for you, I didn't want you to get hurt.", Iruka coughed up blood, which splattered over Naruto's terrified face.

"Ha, that's the biggest load of bullshit that I've ever heard. Iruka doesn't care about you, nobody cares about you, they all hate you. The village hates you, even the Hokage hates you", Mizuki was laughing maniacally now, not caring if anybody heard.

"No that's not true Naruto, I care about you as if you were the little brother I've never had, I could never hate you."

"Keep spouting out that crap, Iruka, and you might actually convince him of that someday, if you live that long that is!" Mizuki couldn't help it, it was all just so funny to him, "I'll tell you why everybody hates you Naruto. They're afraid of you, of what's inside of you."

"No, Mizuki, don't tell him, It is forbidden!", Iruka was desperately trying to get up and dislodge the shuriken.

"Wait, what's inside me, why aren't I supposed to know? Tell me!", Naruto said, desperately trying to figure out what they meant.

Just as Mizuki was about to speak, Iruka threw the shuriken back at Mizuki, who easily dodged it with a sidestep and caught it. "I'll tell you why. It's because all of those years ago, the Kyuubi wasn't killed. It was sealed away inside of a newborn infant. That baby was you Naruto! You are the Kyuubi!", Naruto had started to back away, by now he was almost to the other side of the clearing, shaking his head with tears flowing down his face. "Now die, demon!", Mizuki threw the shuriken that he had just caught back towards Naruto, who had started running away. After Naruto dodged behind a tree, he took off.

Naruto flew through the trees trying to sort things out. It was all starting to make sense, the villagers abuse and neglect was all because he was the demon in human form. After what seemed like hours of him bounding from branch to branch, he heard the sound of branches crashing behind him. He jumped to the forest floor and sat down on the outward side of a tree on the edge of a clearing, trying to stifle his heavy panting. He heard two people land in the clearing. The familiar voices spoke, "Just give it up Iruka, he's gone and he's taken the scroll with him. The demon will use the scroll to destroy the village, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it."

"No, you're wrong, I believe in him, he would never do anything like that.", Naruto heard Iruka defending him, saying that he wasn't the demon that everyone seemed to think he was. He was just a kid who was lonely and in pain. Naruto sat behind the tree, listening to Iruka defending him, tears streaming down his face. He heard a slight rustling in front of him, and looked up to see a familiar pair of red eyes staring at him. They blinked once, turned, and he could see the bushy white tail poke out of the bush slightly as it left without making a single sound.

"Oh please, he's nothing but the monster inside of him. And for protecting him, you will die first", Mizuki threw his last shuriken at Iruka. Out of nowhere, Naruto appeared and caught the giant shuriken on one of the blades without even flinching. "If you ever try to hurt one of my precious people again, I'll rip your fucking head off!", he said, raising his head. It was hard to tell in the darkness, but if one were to look closely, they would see a pair of red eyes staring at Mizuki.

"Like you could do anything to me, I'm a chunin and you're just an academy student, you don't even know how to catch a shuriken without getting hurt." He had raised his right hand to point at Naruto and started laughing at him.

Multiple things happened at once. Naruto suddenly disappeared from in front of them, Mizuki felt a blast of pain from his raised hand, and a tree fell down to the left of Mizuki. He screamed out in pain and fell to his knees. He looked down to where he was cradling his arm to see nothing but a bloody stump. "What did you do, you bastard?! Where are you?!"

"Right here teme", both Iruka and Mizuki turned there heads to see Naruto standing on a branch of a tree above the clearing. "You cut off my hand! I'll kill you!", Mizuki screamed.

"Just try it, I'll send anything you do back a thousandfold!", he raised his hands in what would soon become his signature cross, "Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", There were suddenly hundreds of clones of Naruto on the ground and in the trees surrounding the clearing. Echoing all around them, "Get ready, 'cause here I come!"

"No, get away, AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" *THUD* *SMACK* *CRACK* *SNAP*

After dropping off Mizuki at T & I, and Iruka at the hospital, Naruto headed off to the Hokage's Tower with an escort of ANBU. They were ordered by the Sandaime to allow him to hold onto the scroll until it was handed of directly to him. He couldn't see it through the masks, but he could tell just by the look in their eyes that they were sneering at him the whole way there. 'Why does this brat get special treatment? If it had been anybody else that had taken the scroll, they would have been locked up in T & I with that traitor Mizuki', were the general thoughts of the ANBU when they heard that not only was he getting off the hook, but also that he was going to actually be promoted for what he had done.

As they entered the Hokage's office, Naruto thought he saw the glimmer of a glass object disappear underneath the desk. Thinking nothing of it, he proceeded, "Hey there Jījī-san, I brought your scroll back for ya.", he placed the Forbidden Scroll on the desk.

"Watch your mouth boy, show proper respect t-", started one of the ANBU.

Raising a hand to silence him, Hiruzen calmly ordered, "That will be enough, ANBU-san. I can take it from here, you may leave."

"Hai, Hokage-sama.", with a last glance at Naruto, the ANBU shunshinned away.

Hiruzen, ignoring Naruto for the moment, inspected the scroll, checking for any damage before laying it beneath his desk. He turned his eyes to Naruto finally, who flinched under his stern gaze, "Now, Naruto-kun, why did you go along with Mizuki without even asking another teacher if what he had told you was true? You surely aren't naive enough to just believe whatever anybody says, a ninja must see through deception."

"I'm sorry J- , Hokage-sama. I just wanted to be a genin so bad that I was willing to believe him. Trust me, I'll look before I leap next time, believe it!", He started out nervous, but by the end was back to his regular self, and had a big smile on his face.

*sigh*, "Okay Naruto, just be more careful from now on. Remember, you and the rest of your class will be gathering at the Academy to be split into teams. It starts at 2:00, so you better get some rest and change before then. You are dismissed.", he said, a smile on his face.

"Thanks for reminding me, have a good day Jījī-san!", Naruto barely contained his happiness as he was leaving the office, trying to stop himself from cheering and hugging everyone he saw. As soon as he exited the building, he jumped in the air and cheered, gaining the attention of everyone outside and glares from most of them. Not caring at all, He kept cheering and started sprinting home, earning a few shouts from people telling him to be quiet or they'd have him arrested. Nothing could get him down today though. 'I'm a genin, I'm finally a genin! That means I'm just one step closer to becoming Hokage.'

Hiruzen stood at the window and watched him as he left. 'Nothing can keep you down for long, can it Naruto-kun.' "Shoki-san, could you call the hospital and ask what room Iruka Umino is in?", Hiruzen called to his secretary. 'I just hope that whatever it was that you got out of that scroll, it wasn't dangerous, Naruto. If some of the secrets inside got into the wrong hands, it could mean disaster for Konoha.'

As Naruto got back to his apartment, he found some rather crude words along with the word 'demon' spray-painted onto and around his door. Sighing, he made a mental note to repaint it tomorrow. He unlocked the door and relocked it, remembering the last time it had been left unlocked. Some drunk had broken in and had relieved himself on Naruto as he slept, and then passed out on top of Naruto, waking him up. Needless to say, he had remembered to lock the door every night since. Eating a quick meal of Insta-Ramen and taking a shower, he got changed and decided to take a nap considering that he had been up practicing all night. He threw his old clothes on the floor and fell into bed.

After being assigned to team 7 and being told about the test tomorrow, he went home to see if he could catch up on some of the sleep he had missed last night. After locking the door behind him and taking off his sandals at the door, he started to search for the light switch, but slipped and and fell after stepping on an empty bowl. He had stepped on it too hard and had broken it, causing a shard of it to go into his foot. He sat there for awhile in the darkness nursing a bump on his head and trying to stop his foot from bleeding. He realized that he should probably take out the shard, and he couldn't do it with the light off.

After finding the light switch and a pair of tweezers, he pulled it out with a grimace, reminding himself that this pain was nothing and that he had felt far worse before. He looked around his apartment, 'Man, I really gotta clean up around here, I definitely don't want that to happen again.' Getting to work, he was careful to not put much pressure on his foot, but by the time that he got to his bedroom it didn't even hurt anymore when he put weight on it. He was putting his clothes in the washer when he noticed a bulge in one of the pockets of a pair of pants. He took the forgotten scroll out of the pocket and instantly remembered what it was. The laundry forgotten, he headed back to his room and sat down at the small desk and turned on the small reading light. Opening it up he reread the message left in the Forbidden Scroll.

To any reading this, know that I am most likely dead, and that if you can solve the riddle and enter the vault, then my inheritance is yours.

Yondaime

He couldn't believe it, he had found a secret message left behind by the Fourth Hokage. 'What could he possibly mean by the vault?', he read on.

When the world is painted red
And your friends are thinking of bed
Look into the soul
Of the Flash's head

'Well, the first two lines are kinda easy. When the world is red and people are thinking of bed would be sunset right?', "Kami, what do the other lines mean though?! What kind of flash has a head or a soul?"

At the end of the light
You must share your might
Watch out for the paper and ink
Or you'll never see another fight

'None of that made any sense at all, except for end of the light. But that's just reenforcing sunset, and why should I be afraid of paper?'

From the union of yellow and red
Orange blood need be bled
Inside you will find
The tools to take our stead

'Yeah, red and yellow make orange, but I've never heard of orange blood before, maybe it comes from some kind of special jutsu.' After reading what seemed to be a bunch of nonsense, he was tempted to throw it away, but stopped himself when he remembered where it had come from and who had written it. With his head now swimming from trying to decipher the riddle, Naruto put the scroll away and went to bed, trying to figure out just what it all meant.

Waking up and eating breakfast, he was changing from his pajamas to his jumpsuit when he remembered where he was supposed to be. 'Crap, I'm late, if Sakura doesn't kill me, then Kakashi-sensei definitely will. Gotta run, gotta run.' Naruto bolted out of his apartment putting on his coat and holding his hitai-ate between his teeth. As he was tying it onto his forehead, he started to remember when he got it yesterday.

...

"I'm proud of you Naruto, you've finally proven that your ready to be a ninja. Now close your eyes, I've got a gift for you.", Iruka said. Naruto did, soon feeling a soon to be familiar and comfortable feeling on his forehead. "You can open your eyes now."

...

He was brought out of his memories when he bodily and literally ran into someone. 'Great, I don't have time to waste with any bigots right now, I really need to get going', "Sorry pal, I don't have time for a fight right now, I'm in a bit of a hurry. So if you don't mind, stay the hell out of my way", He was saying as he was getting up and starting to head off.

"N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked back too see that the person that he had run into was in fact, one Hyuga heiress. "Oh, sorry Hinata, didn't see ya there.", He held out his hand offering to help her back up. This action only served to cause her face too turn a bright shade of red and her bringing her fingers together. "Well, are you gonna get up or do you plan on sitting down there all day?", she was brought out of her nervous thoughts when he spoke to her again.

"Oh r-right, I'm s-sorry for making you wait N-Naruto-kun.", she quickly got up with his help and stood there, feeling very happy for some reason.

"Hinata, can I have my hand back now? As I said I'm in a bit of a hurry.", She looked down to discover the source of her happiness was because she was still holding onto his hand. She let go with an *eep* and backed up a couple feet, twiddling her index fingers together in front of her, and if it was even possible, her face was even redder. "Okay then, see ya later Hinata.", Naruto said with a wave as he ran off. 'Jeez, what's with her, she was acting like Sakura does whenever Sasuke actually talks to her. Whatever, it's probably just a girl thing.'

As he got close to the place where they were supposed to meet, he was relieved to see that Kakashi hadn't arrived yet. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, but I kind of woke up late. Ya see, I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before last and I guess my body was trying to catch up. Anyway, I was up for about two hours trying to figure out this really c- OW! Hey, Sakura what was that for?", He was nursing the second bump on his head that he had gotten in the last dozen hours.

"I don't care why you're late, baka, just get here on time next time! Now Sasuke, what were you saying before Naruto interrupted?" Sakura swooned over Sasuke.

"Oh sorry. Anyway, what were you talking about?" Naruto apologized, knowing that if he didn't, he would earn another hit to the head.

"Huh, forget it, dobe, It doesn't concern you anyway." Sasuke turned away and put his hands in his pockets.

"Cha, now look what you've done, you've put him in a bad mood!", Sakura was ready to let loose on the blonde.

"What, were you two planning your future together or something.", he said, puckering his lips up like he was kissing, just taunting them.

"Not at all, dobe, we were just saying how if we get sent back to the academy, it will definitely be your fault.", Sasuke had a smirk on his face as he turned to look at Naruto.

"Oh yeah teme, you wanna say that again? I don't speak emo.", Naruto was glaring at Sasuke, rolling up his sleeves.

Sakura, meanwhile, was stuck fantasizing over how Sasuke would look in a tuxedo, and how she'd look standing next to him in a wedding dress.

They were brought out of their actions though, when they heard someone speak. "Yo! Sorry I'm late guys, but a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way here.", seeing the looks they were all giving each other, he sighed, 'This isn't gonna be fun', "Alright, alright, settle down everybody."

"But Kakashi-sensei, Naruto started it. He was almost as late as you were.", Sakura whined, hoping that she would be able to get Naruto kicked out of the team early on, and that it would just be her and Sasuke.

"I see.", Kakashi said, raising an eyebrow in surprise, "Well then, he's already started out better than you two.", All three of them looked at him in surprise.

"But Sensei, shouldn't he be punished for being late.", Sakura was just confused now.

"Normally, yes, but a ninja must see through deception, and I was deceiving you when I told you to come that early.", Sakura just put on a look of pouting, Sasuke quickly fixed his expression and looked away with a frown. Naruto just put on his telltale goofy grin. "It was just to make you weaker and make this test more difficult."

"By the way sensei, what is the test anyway?", her look of disappointment replaced by one of curiosity.

Kakashi took out an alarm clock and set it down on a nearby stump, "Oh that, the test is to see if you can get these bells from me before this clock reaches noon.", He held up two small bells on strings, "Whichever one of you doesn't get a bell, will be sent back to the academy, and will be tied to one of those posts, and not allowed to eat lunch."

"Ha, so that's why you told us not to eat breakfast, too bad for you guys, I already ate.", Naruto started to laugh at them. They glared back at him, then turned a pained look down to their stomachs that had just growled.

Kakashi, rolling his eye, said, "Okay, we'll start when I say.", Kakashi took them in, they had all gotten serious, ready to jump off as soon as he said so. "Begin!"

They all three shot off into the trees, all in different directions. 'Already off to a bad start.'

A few minutes later, he looked up to see Naruto on a small hill on the edge of the clearing. "Alright, just you and me."

"You know, ninja are supposed to be stealthy, not openly declare themselves to their enemy and challenge them.", Kakashi hadn't really expected any better from him. He pulled out his 'Icha Icha' and started reading, seemingly ignoring the blonde genin.

"Whatever, like that matters, I'm gonna kick your ass and take one of those bells from you anyway. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", Suddenly there were ten Narutos, all charging Kakashi. Just as they were about to reach him, Kakashi jumped into the air and landed several feet away. They got up from the pile they had gotten into when they collided. They charged him again. This time, just as he was about to jump away, he was grabbed from behind. "You're mine now!", yelled the Naruto that had grabbed him. The other clones came from the side and grabbed his arms and legs. "I'll knock you out and take that bell from you!."

'When did Naruto learn to make shadow clones, I thought that it was a jonin level technique.', Sakura hid under a bush, watching the whole exchange.

Just as Naruto was about to land the punch though, he brought his arm back and jumped off the head of 'Kakashi', causing it to poof back into Naruto for an instant before disappearing. He disappeared into the branches of a nearby tree. Sakura and Sasuke were looking on, confused, wondering what had just happened. They didn't have to wait long though, because as soon as Naruto disappeared into the branches, he was sent flying right back out. Then, an unscathed Kakashi jumped down from one of the branches, his eye smiling at Naruto. "Very good Naruto, not only were you successful in creating multiple shadow clones, but you were able to use them as a distraction. Then, you were able think quick on your feet, and adapt to the circumstances. Too bad though, you'll need to be even quicker if you want one of these bells." 'I should have switched with a log instead, then he wouldn't have been able to jump off of it like that.'

Naruto's body hit the ground, causing all of the clones to be dispelled. As he skidded to a stop, he just lay there, apparently unconscious. Kakashi, now slightly worried after a few minutes, started walking over to him. "Hey, Naruto, are you okay.", 'Oh Kami, I must have hit him harder than I thought.', "Okay guys, time out, looks like I hit him a little too hard. I'm gonna have to take him to the hospital."

The other two were thinking pretty much the same thing, 'Well, he may act tough, but he can't take a punch at all.'. Sakura, unconcerned for Naruto, saw this as the perfect chance to be with Sasuke. She jumped off in search of him, making sure to stay hidden. She soon found him, seeing as he wasn't trying to hide from her. "Hey, Sasuke-kun. Now that Naruto is out, we should work together to get those bells. Two bells, two of us.", She crouched on to the branch next to him, inching closer to him as she spoke.

"No thanks, you'll only get in my way.", he said, jumping away to a new hiding spot.

Kakashi had walked up to Naruto and was picking him up. He had him in his arms and had walked a few steps when suddenly, Naruto opened his eyes and grabbed one of the bells that were dangling from Kakashi's belt, a few inches from his hand. "Ha, I knew it would work!", he yelled as he jumped away from a stunned Kakashi.

"But, I could have sworn that you were out cold when I picked you up. I read all of your vital signs, and they all pointed to you being unconscious.", Kakashi stared at him, completely confused.

"Yeah, over the years I've perfected the art that is 'Playing Opossum'.", in an almost inaudible whisper that only Kakashi noticed, he added, "I've had to if I wanted to survive.", He quickly put on the big smile again and looked at Kakashi "And man, did you fall for it." Naruto just started laughing, with no sign of his earlier gloominess. After about a minute, he stopped and looked at Kakashi, "So sensei, what do I do now? There are still a few more hours until noon." He said, a big grin on his face.

A few hours later had Sakura and Sasuke tied up to posts while Naruto sat on the ground eating, a still shocked Kakashi just staring at him without touching his food. 'Nobody has been able to take one of the bells before, let alone on his own. I better keep an eye on this one, if I train him right, he may just fulfill his dream someday. Lets just hope that he can pass this next test too.', "Alright guys, I gotta go do something really quick, I'll be back in about fifteen minutes. Naruto, don't let them go and don't let them have any food. I'll be right back.", He shunshinned away in a puff of smoke.

About five minutes later of nonstop stomach growling, Naruto had had enough. "*sigh* I'm not that hungry anyway, you guys can have some of my food, as long as you guys promise not to tell Sensei about it."

"Really, thanks Naruto, maybe you're not so bad after all.", relief evident on Sakura's face.

Naruto got up and had started feeding Sakura, "Does that mean that you'll finally go out with me Sakura-chan?"

"Cha, not in your life Naruto-baka!", Sakura exclaimed.

"Aww, your just cold Sakura-chan.", He turned away from Sakura and was about feed Sasuke when he heard a thud behind him and a look of fear cross Sakura's face. He turned around to see a very angry Kakashi glaring at him. "Ah, Kakashi-sensei, I was just uh-um-"

"You were just breaking the rules, just to help your teammates! Do you know what that means!?", Kakashi had bent down and looked Naruto straight in the face, "Well!?"

"*gulp* N-no,w-w-what?", Naruto had backed up against the middle pillar.

"It means... You've passed.", The angry look turned to one of happiness, while everybody else just looked confused.

A short speech later had them all filled in with the importance of teamwork. Sasuke and Sakura were untied. "Okay then, that about wraps it up for today, You two can head on home now, I need to speak with Naruto for a few minutes.", Sasuke looked back towards Naruto and Kakashi, wondering if he would be getting special training because he had actually gotten a bell. 'Just when did you stop being the dead last Naruto?', he was brought out of his thoughts when Sakura glomped him and pulled him away, trying to get him to go on a date with her.

"Neh, Kakashi-sensei, what did you want to talk about?", Naruto said, with a look of curiosity on his face.

"Naruto, what did you mean when you said that you had to learn to fake unconsciousness?", A look of concern crossed his face when he saw a small frown appear on Naruto's face, and his eyes turn cold.

"I-I don't want to talk about it right now.", He looked down, trying to escape the eyes full of pity."And I don't want your pity."

Kakashi walked over to Naruto, "You know, it's not always good to bottle up emotion like that, despite the fact that you're a ninja.", Naruto turned away, his fists starting to shake. "Follow me, I have something I want to show you.", He walked over to the memorial stone, "On this stone are carved the names of heroes, heroes who fought and died for this village. The names of my closest friends are engraved here."

At the mention of His friends, Naruto raised his head and looked at Kakashi, who now had a look of deep sadness in his eyes. "My father, my friends Obito and Rin, even my sensei, Minato.", Naruto's eyes widened at the last name. "He died saving the village, died sealing the nine-tails inside of you, as you were told recently. I know some people may blame you for his death, but I see you as a hero."

"Sensei?", Naruto had tears forming in his eyes.

"I realize now, that instead of all the time that I have spent staring at this stone, trying to keep my emotions from spilling out, wishing that I would have had more time with everyone, especially Rin." , He started to choke up. "I realize now that it should have been spent trying to make sure that a hero was happy. I know you're hurting inside, Naruto. You may try to hide it with grins, but I can see it in your eyes. Your soul is scarred, and it's all my fault. I should have been there for you, that's what Minato-sensei would have wanted and it's what I should have done from the start. Can you ever forgive me Naruto, for not being there when you needed me?", As he looked back towards Naruto, something that he hadn't expected happened, Naruto embraced him and started crying. Tears welling up in his eye as well, Kakashi hugged him back, "Thank you, Naruto."

The next day, after successfully completing their first mission, delivering a bunch of letters and packages around the village because the post office was short handed, they decided, or rather Naruto decided, and the others were almost forced, that they would go to Ichiraku with Kakashi paying for it. "Yeah, Ichiraku has the best ramen in the world, can't be beat.", as they arrived, Naruto called out to Teuchi, "Hey old man, got some customers for ya."

"Oh hey there, Naruto, I see you brought some new faces. What're your names.", He came out of the back of the shop wiping his hands with a cloth.

"Sakura Haruno, pleased to meet you sir.", she said with a bow.

"Pleased to met you too, now who are you?", he turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha.", he just sat there staring at the wall.

"Okay then, moving right along. Wait, I know you, is that.. no, it can't be. Kakashi Hatake? It is! My you've grown up.", the way the raven haired boy acted had put him on edge, but seeing Kakashi put him in a better mood. "Haven't seen you in years, what ya been doing?"

"Oh, nothing much, just being a ninja. By the way, how's that daughter of yours doing? The last time I saw her, her head didn't even reach the counter."

"I'm doing fine, thank you very much,", Ayame had just come out of the back as well when she heard her father talk as with an old friend. "Who are you anyway, you look familiar but I can't quite place it."

"I'm Kakashi Hatake, I used to come here a lot with Minato. You always used to try to get me to take off my mask and sneak peaks at me when I was eating. My, you have grown up to be quite the beauty, Ayame-chan.", Kakashi had taken her hand and kissed it through his mask, causing Ayame to blush, before Teuchi broke in, "Alright, that's enough Kakashi, none of that chan stuff, I know how you are with the ladies, I don't want you getting her hopes up."

During this whole exchange, Team 7 just stared at Kakashi, each thinking of different things. Naruto wondering why Teuchi and his sensei seemed to be such good friends, Sasuke wondering why Kakashi was talking about the Yondaime like he knew him, and Sakura now curious about what was under Kakashi's mask. They were each brought out of there musings when Teuchi asked them their orders. Sasuke was the first to ask after placing his order, "Kakashi-sensei, I have a question,", he waited for Kakashi to nod to continue speaking, "How exactly did you know the Yondaime?"

"Oh, that. He was my sensei.", he said, ignoring the surprised looks he got from Sasuke and Sakura.

Next was Naruto, "Kakashi-sensei, how do you know old man Teuchi?"

"One of my fellow teammates, Obito Uchiha, loved ramen almost as much as you do Naruto. After he... um... died, Minato and I kept coming here with a good friend of Minato's, who also loved ramen."

"That's so cool Sensei. Could you tell us more about him, please?", Sakura, the mask forgotten, was eager to learn more about the Yondaime's personal life, as there wasn't much written about it in the library.

"Who? Minato, or Teuchi?", Kakashi asked.

"Minato of course. Not to offend Teuchi, but it's not that exciting that you know him.", she said.

"I suppose,", Kakashi said, scratching his cheek, "Well, as you all have probably heard before, The Yondaime, Minato Namikaze, started out as a only slightly above average ninja, graduating from the academy at the age of ten, whereas I graduated at the age of five."

"Um, You don't really expect us to believe that you were a genin at five, do you?", Sakura asked.

"Yes, I do expect you to believe the truth. Not only that but I was a chunin by age 6, and a jonin by age 13.", this earned surprised looks from all of them, for it to quickly be replaced by a smug look on Sasuke's face, 'If he's really as good as he says he is, then he's the perfect person to help me get strong.'

"It's all true. I was the one he went to for the celebration of each achievement. I still can't forget how silly and cute you looked with your miniature chunin vest on.", Teuchi said, laughing.

Kakashi, ignoring Teuchi's input, continued, "His sensei was the famed Sannin, Jiraiya The Toad Sage. If it wasn't for Jiraiya seeing the potential in him, he probably would have never made it past the rank of chunin. From him, h-"

"Yeah, yeah, Sensei, we know that already, tell us something else.", Sakura was starting to get board.

"Fine,", he said, mumbling something about Haruno women who don't know when to shut up. He continued before she could ask what he had said, "After becoming a Jonin, he took Obito, Rin, and I on as apprentices. He really showed his skill during the Third Shinobi World War, where using his own technique, the Hiraishin no Jutsu, he became known as the Yellow Flash, because of his speed and that the last thing someone saw before he took them down was a flash of his yellow hair. He tried to teach it to me, but I just never got the hang of it, and now, without knowing where any of his special kunai are, there's no way to copy the seal to actually attempt it.", He finished, hoping that it was enough to satisfy them.

Sadly, it wasn't, "Kakashi-sensei, you're just saying more things that any ninja worth there salt knows. Tell us more about his personal life.", Sakura said, a look of annoyance appearing on her face.

"Meh, Sakura-chan, I didn't know any of that stuff.", Naruto interjected.

"Shut up, nobody asked you baka!", Sakura yelled, hitting him over the head before realizing that everyone but Sasuke and Naruto, including some people passing by, had stopped what they were doing and looking at her questioningly. Crossing her arms, she looked around and said, loud enough for them all to hear, "What, the baka annoyed me.", she turned back to Kakashi, "As you were saying?"

"Right, well, I don't think that I should really be talking about his personal life wi- oh look, ramen's ready!", Kakashi was glad he was saved from being interrogated by Sakura by Teuchi, who, knowing why he didn't want to talk about Minato's personal life, had rushed the orders.

Sakura, seeing that he wasn't going to divulge any more information, turned her inquiring gaze on Teuchi. "So, you said he visited this place often, what can you tell me about him?"

Teuchi, much calmer than Kakashi, told her with a straight face and not even looking at her, "Sorry little lady, I don't know much about him. Besides, even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Customer-Patron confidentiality, ya see?"

With a huff, Sakura gave up, "Fine then, keep your little secrets ya bunch of geezers, they're probably boring anyway.", Turning to Kakashi, she noticed that Ayame was gazing at him with a look of longing, her gaze then moved over to Kakashi himself to see that he had just finished putting his mask back on after eating. "If you won't tell me about the Yondaime, then tell me Sensei, what are you hiding behind that mask?", This of course got the rest of team 7's attention, as they had all been wondering.

"Sorry, Sakura, I don't think that Sasuke would appreciate me stealing one of his fan girls away from him. Besides, you're too young to start chasing after me. Now maybe in a few years...", He started to look over Sakura, trying to imagine what she would look like in 6 years.

"Fine then, I can see why you don't have many friends Sensei,", she noticed that he was looking her up and down, "And stop staring at me you pervert!" she snapped at him.

After finishing their meals, Kakashi told them to go ahead to the training grounds while he paid the bill. They said their goodbyes, then headed off to the training grounds. Kakashi stayed back a bit to have a word with Teuchi while he was getting out his money, "I trust you haven't told him yet about his parents."

"No, no, I'll wait until he's told by someone else, or figures it out on his own. He doesn't need to know that until he's old enough. I just hope that when I finally die, The Red Hot Habanero doesn't beat me too hard for not taking better care of him.", He said, shaking his head and chuckling.

A few hours later, after training, which included multiple close calls from Sakura trying to cut open Kakashi's mask with a kunai, they all headed to their respective homes. Naruto, however, turned in a different direction, towards the Hokage Monument. 'Kami, I really hope that I'm right.' As soon as he heard Kakashi call Minato by his nickname, something had clicked in Naruto's head. Just as the sun was about to disappear behind the trees, he got to a place where he could see it clearly. The last rays of light were shining on the faces of the Hokages, the light was slowly shrinking, advancing down the face of the cliff. As soon as it was about to leave the Yondaime's eyes, It hit at just the right angle, and it was just dark enough, that for about 5 seconds, a beam of light reflected off of the eyes, leading to a location that he couldn't see, except that it was on the south-east edge of the village.

'Yes, I knew it. That light probably leads to the entrance to the vault he mentioned, or maybe it points towards a map that has the location of the vault marked on it. Maybe I can lead a mission to go to the vault. That would be so cool!', Naruto had started dancing a little jig, not caring if anybody saw him.

"Hey, blondey, why are you dancing like that, you got ants in your pants or something?", a voice said from behind him. He turned to it to see a little kid standing there staring at him. He had brown hair kept in a strange fashion by an odd cap, and wore a scarf around his neck that was almost twice as long as he was tall.

"Meh, what does it matter to you kid?", Brought out of his good mood by the look of contempt in the kid's eyes, 'Great, and I thought I wouldn't get this sort of treatment from kids. Parents must've told him.', "Just stay out of my way, I gotta get home and rest. I could get called away on special ninja business at any time.", He made to walk away to his house, reminding himself to search the area that the light had pointed to tomorrow after training.

"Hey, don't act like your better than me!", The kid had jumped in front of him, looking flustered.

'Oh great, I was hoping that he wouldn't press it.', "Look kid, I really don't want to be bothered by you right now, so unless you want to fight, get out of my way.", he started to walk around him.

Just as he was passing by, the kid turned and tried to take a swing at him. It seemingly connected, sending Naruto sprawling to the ground, "Don't just walk away, I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi, grandson of the Sandaime. You're not that tough if you couldn't even dodge my punch.", after a few seconds, and not seeing Naruto move at all, he started to get a little worried, "Hey, are you okay? I didn't hit you that hard, did I?"

All of the sudden, he felt his hands grabbed roughly and pulled behind him, and he got pushed into the ground, "First rule of the shinobi, move through the shadow, conceal your movements from your opponents until the time to strike.", Naruto said, while pushing Konohamaru's head into the dirt.

"B-But how did you- when did you get behind me?", he looked back to where Naruto had just been laying just in time to see the shadow clone poof into smoke.

"Rule number two, never underestimate an opponent, nor overestimate yourself.", He had let go of Konohamaru and stepped away from him, his gaze never wavering from the kid's eyes. "But if you really must know, I used a substitution jutsu to switch with a shadow clone I had made when I was walking past you."

Konohamaru was now shaking with anger, "Well I'm not going to fall for that a second time!", he yelled as he ran towards Naruto, fist cocked back to punch him.

"You're right, you won't.", right as Konohamaru was about to hit him, Naruto grabbed his arm, spinning him around, pulling his arm in a painful position behind his back. "Rule three, never give your opponent an advantage over yourself. In other words, don't be predictable, and don't create a hostage situation.", Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai, bringing it close to Konohamaru's neck, "Do you know the punishment to those ninja that break those rules during a mission?", Konohamaru shook his head, being careful not to let his neck touch the blade, "I'll tell you then.", leaning in close, he whispered into his ear, "The punishment, is death."

Konohamaru, seeing the glint of metal getting closer, started to sweat, "P-please, don't hurt me. I p-promise, I'll never do it again, I-I swear.", he had started to snivel, tears forming in his eyes.

He was suddenly pushed a away, "Haha I was just kidding kid, you're alright for a brat!", Konohamaru, confused, turned around to see Naruto storing his kunai back in his pouch, grinning down at the boy.

A voice grabbed both of there attentions though, causing Naruto to lose the grin, "Honorable Grandson, where are you?", they saw Ebisu come around a bend in the road. "Ah, there you are Konohamaru-sama.", he said, relief evident on his face. Noticing Naruto standing there, he narrowed his eyes. He looked back to Konohamaru to see the dirt and scrapes covering him and the drying tear streams down his face. "He didn't hurt you, did he, Honorable Grandson? If he did..", he looked back to Naruto, who was frowning now. He then returned his gaze back to Konohamaru to see him shaking his head. "Well, we should get back anyway to get those scrapes patched up. Hurry, before the d- boy infects you with his stupidity.", Glancing towards Naruto he said, "Stay, away from the honorable grandson, I don't want you infecting him with any of your bad habits.", he grabbed Konohamaru's hand and started walking him away. Konohamaru looked back right before he turned the corner to see Naruto looking down to the ground, stock still except for his fists, which wouldn't stop shaking.

A/N: I know there wasn't much action or romance this chapter, just a bunch of talking, but I promise you that it will get better. And by the way, since I couldn't find anything indicating what Obito's favorite food is, I felt that I could say that it was ramen. Oh and before anybody asks, Naruto was only able to get the bell this time because he had gotten more rest and he also wasn't hungry. His mind was thinking more clearly, and even in canon he was smart enough to use his clones as distractions.

I got a message from someone, and realized I may not have been very clear. Naruto jumped over to a tree to the right of Mizuki and threw the shuriken back at him, which cut off his hand and hit a tree on the other side of the clearing, causing it to fall down, which caused the crash.