Naruto has just turned five. His Jiji showed up that previous evening and told him all of a sudden that he would be moving to the ANBU base where he will train with the most skilled operatives within ANBU. He had been cornered and attacked again when he was four, however, the orphanage matron did not send him out late again these years for some reason he could not fathom.

Naruto had spent his days either doing physical training in a remote area where he had left a Hiraishin seal to get to quickly or in his mindscape learning his parents' techniques. Under their advice, Naruto mastered tree-walking and water-walking and cultivated his chakra reserves to reach easily high chūnin level chakra capacity. Even Kurama had pitched in to train him in some aspects, teaching Naruto how to control the basic chakra cloak without losing control. Naruto did benefit from this but, as of yet, had only managed up to two tails.

Hiruzen had taught him the basics of fūinjutsu and left behind fūinjutsu equipment and books of levels ranging from beginner to advanced. He comfortably mastered the art under the guidance the two seal masters sealed within him and also reached a level that the rest of the world would deem as a seal master within the past year. As his final project, Naruto developed a unique seal. It led to a personal pocket dimension of his own. While it functioned in much the same way as a storage seal, his version was closer to a space-time technique. He kept two separate dimensions, one of which had time completely halted in and another where time passed normally. They were built within the same space and had interlinked structures, a weakness that could not be easily removed. If one dimension was destroyed, the other would collapse alongside it. Thus, it was -- unfortunately enough -- not something that could casually be brought out during a fight. Naruto had used the time-halting dimension for the plain purpose of preserving his food.

Naruto had also improved and perfected the Hiraishin to a state where he could teleport to any location he desired as long as he knew the geographical coordinates of the location -- or the distance and direction from the starting point. It was one of his father's dreams and something he only worked on for his father's sake as he himself actually found it unnecessary. This was not to say that he worked on it alone. Minato was of great assistance and an invaluable mentor in Naruto's process of exploring space-time techniques, his knowledge an invaluable treasure trove enabling his son's efforts to reap fruits for his effort within such a short timeframe.

Naruto sighed as he sealed all of his items into his pocket dimension, placing the whole refrigerator into the time-halting dimension. Naruto was still working on a seal that would enable him to phase in and out of reality and enter his personal pocket dimension much like the Sharingan ability his father had described to him called Kamui. It was still highly unsuccessful and he had resorted to leaving several shadow clones in his mindscape to try and crack the code for the series of kanji required for the sealing formula.

Naruto was knocked out of his musings by a knock on his door. He opened it to see an ANBU wearing a dog mask standing stiffly. Naruto nodded to the man in greeting as he left the now-empty room.

"Your room is empty apart from those hooks in the wall," the curious silver-haired male commented.

"I sealed my items away," Naruto said curtly without elaborating further.

"Oh? I do not happen to see any storage scrolls on your person," the man failed to stop himself from stating.

Naruto ignored the comment, continuing to walk towards the exit of the orphanage.

"Stay safe, Naruto!" he heard the orphanage matron say as he walked past the reception.

He gaped at the woman. It seems he had rubbed off on her at some point? It was a childish and perhaps blind hope -- he never truly despised this orphanage matron who cared so deeply about her other wards and genuinely seemed to think he was a bad influence on the young orphans. If it was possible for them to part on better terms... He inclined his head to her, somewhat relieved deep down. He knew the matron did not hate him, but she had always been indifferent to him. It was not as though he would ever return, regardless of the bettered relationship between himself and the woman who ran this place.

It was almost home for him -- the only shelter he has ever known, but he knew he never became attached to this place.

How could he, when the jeers of other children followed him and he was practically under house arrest during his stay there? He never found companionship in that cold and hollow place. It did seem to be a warm and welcoming place to other homeless children, but the care the orphanage matron showered upon them did not extend to the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi that lurked just at the edge of that little haven. He was shooed away by the caretakers whenever found too close to the places frequented by the other children, and the other caretakers hated him just the same as the rest of the village.

Naruto and the ANBU agent walked in the direction of the Hokage Tower. As they approached the unmistakable building that could be seen across Konohagakure, the dog masked ANBU frowned behind his mask. He was hoping for some answers.

The two arrived at the entrance into the Hokage's study and the adult between them was about to knock when he heard their word of permission, "Enter."

The ANBU operative opened the door and knelt before the Hokage. Naruto, with full courtesy, bowed at the waist to about ninety degrees before straightening up. He proceeded to voice the question that has been on his mind since the Hokage's visit the night before.

"Jiji, what is with this extremely sudden notice? Why would you decide this so suddenly?"

To the shock of the ANBU agents present, the aged Hokage did not admonish the boy for addressing him in such a casual and almost disrespectful manner and instead answered his question, "My decision was not sudden, although I do apologise for the sudden notice."

Naruto pursed his lips. The silver-haired man, albeit unaffected by Naruto's familiarity with the Sandaime, was stunned to be informed of this detail -- the boy had seemed so calm about the matter and was already packed when he entered the spotless room. For this boy to have been as caught off-guard and unprepared as he claimed was unimaginable.

His thoughts were interrupted when Naruto asked Hiruzen, "Was there any reason for you to have kept this decision of yours from me until yesterday? It appears that your ANBU had been aware of this for quite a while, I dare say."

"Of course not. It just happened to slip my mind," Hiruzen replied placidly, unflustered by the accusation barely hidden in Naruto's words.

"If you say so," Naruto sighed, relenting without pursuing the matter, nodding his head to signal the Hokage to continue.

Hiruzen waved his hand, making several ANBU agents jump down from their positions in the Hokage's study into kneeling positions beside the dog-masked one. The ANBU in question were impressed when they saw that Naruto was completely unfazed by this sight, as though he knew they were there since the beginning. This was a feat in itself.

The cat-masked ANBU asked the Hokage on behalf of the rest of the team, "Hokage-sama, if I may be allowed to ask, is this child a natural sensor?"

Hiruzen blinked twice before replying, "Possibly. The child is an Uzumaki, after all. They were known for their incredible sensory, massive chakra reserves, natural affinities for fūinjutsu and unusual kekkei genkai that are not the same even between the parents and children."

'Is that true, kaa-san? All the books and scrolls pertaining to the Uzumaki clan were burned, after all,' Naruto asked Kushina.

"Hai, Sochi," was Kushina's reply.

Naruto hummed softly to himself in response, noting that the ANBU had nodded as they silently accepted the explanation provided by their Hokage.

"Unmask," Hiruzen ordered.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," they said in unison as they pulled off their masks.

"I'm Inu (Dog), Kakashi Hatake," said the silver-haired ANBU with only one black eye open. Oddly enough, this young man wore a half-mask beneath the ANBU-issued one.

"Neko (Cat), Uzuki Yūgao," said a violet-haired woman with brown eyes.

"I'm Hebi (Snake), the name's Mitarashi Anko," drawled a woman with dark purple hair and pupil-less light brown eyes.

"I'm Iruka (Dolphin), my name's Umino Iruka," a tanned male with dark eyes and dark brown hair along with a prominent scar on the bridge of his nose.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Hiruzen, muttering, "Word puns. Really, Jiji? Word puns? It's so obvious. I thought that ANBUs were supposed to have hidden identities?"

This made the said old man scratch his head sheepishly as he stared at the ground like it was the most interesting thing on in the Elemental Nations.

Naruto sighed before saying, "My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I probably know too many things that I should not. I am told I will be your student for the next few years. Thank you for guarding me so far, even though you weren't doing much."

The last sentence made the ANBU either scratch their cheek or the back of their neck or scuff their shoe against the floor.

"You noticed?" Hiruzen asked while wincing.

"Of course I did. They were playing poker, shogi and several other games, leading to them not noticing I was gone until I was already beaten to an inch of my life. They proceeded to scream at the medical staff to treat me and killed a grand total of three doctors and seven nurses for various reasons including but not limited to refusing to provide competent medical treatment, trying to poison me or attempting to stab me while they presumed I was comatose," Naruto said nonchalantly as the said ANBU agents winced, preparing themselves for their punishment as they noticed a sadistic glint in the Hokage's eyes.

"Alright then, Naruto is dismissed. Please go find Fukurō (Owl), he will take you to your new room. The rest of you are to stay," Hiruzen commanded.

The ANBU in question shivered as they looked in Naruto's direction pleadingly, only to see that he had already left the room.

Naruto left the study and went towards the ANBU base by sensing for the chakra of the ANBU and going to where they were all gathered, chancing upon the ANBU he was told to look for along the way. Fukurō is a man with dark hair and of average build.

"I believe that you are Fukurō? Hokage-sama told me to find you and tell you to take me to my new room in the ANBU headquarters," Naruto told the ANBU.

"Why would Hokage-sama want a child in ANBU headquarters? Oh, it's you! I'm sorry!" Fukurō asked with a sneer before noticing who it was and apologising with a deep bow.

"It's okay. I am indeed but a child," Naruto said dismissively as he forgave the ANBU easily.

"I'm really very sorry!" Fukurō apologised again as he led Naruto to the ANBU headquarter via the rooftops.

The entrance to ANBU headquarters is a small-looking shed in a remote area of Konoha, looking inconspicuous due to its rundown appearance. Fukurō led Naruto down into the living area where he took him down a corridor and left him in front of a door.

"The door has a chakra and fingerprint locking system that Hokage-sama had probably already calibrated for you," Fukurō said before leaving in a shunshin.

Naruto placed his hand on the doorknob, channelling a small amount of chakra into it. He was satisfied when he heard a small click and saw the doorknob turn and open up to an area with a coat rack and shoe rack that had indoor slippers already placed there courtesy of the Hokage.

Naruto shrugged off his coat, hanging it on the rack and replacing his sandals with a pair of perfectly-fitted indoor slippers. He slid the paper sliding door in front of him open and was surprised by the luxury of his room.

The room directly connected to the entrance was a western-style living area with a comfortable couch in the middle of a rug and a flat-screen television in front.

A lilac door on the right leads to the kitchen that was already furnished with electric stoves and all sorts of kitchenware. It was large and spacious. There was also a light orange door that leads to the laundry room where there was a washing machine and clothes drying racks. Next to that door was a yellow door to another toilet that had a shower instead of a bathtub.

A sliding door beside the couch opened to reveal an armoury with all sorts of weaponry and various shinobi armour and training gear. In the armoury was a metal door that leads to a gym with state-of-the-art gym equipment.

A baby blue door on the right led to the master bedroom that had a large king-sized bed and a multitude of fluffy pillows. The room had a large walk-in closet that already had clothes bought by his Jiji. There was also an adjoining toilet that had a large bathtub.

An off-white door beside the master bedroom lead to a smaller guest room that was simple yet elegant. Four fluffy pillows were propped on a queen-sized bed and a bedside table sat beside it with a small lamp on it. A large empty closet sat at the other end.

A lime green door on the right led to a large study with bookshelves lining the walls, already half-filled with various books on all sorts of topics that Naruto would be interested in. A large mahogany study desk with many drawers sat in the middle of the room with a comfortable swivelling​ chair.

All the rooms and furniture were in a pastel setting and looked really nice.

Of course, he only knew what everything he saw was called because of the convenient narration from his parents who kindly explained how each item worked.

(Author's Note: If you cannot imagine it based on the description, there's a map up at the top.)

Naruto sighed as he removed his clothes from his pocket dimension, placing them into the walk-in wardrobe before going back to the kitchen where he retrieved his refrigerator and arranged his food in the new one. He then returned the fridge to his pocket dimension and went back to his room.

Naruto filled the bathtub, sitting inside as he marvelled at the hot water rushing out of the tap and into the large tub. This is his first time taking a bath. Such extravagance was not available to the "demon brat" -- the shared bath in the orphanage could only be used by the other children. The few times he was allowed in the bathroom, he was only permitted to use the shower -- to be fair he would not want to use to communal bath either. Just as the matron feared the idea of the water being dirtied by him, he was disgusted by the hygiene habits of the other children and did not fancy the idea of taking a dip in that used water either.

He found that he rather liked it.

He soaked in it until it went cold and proceeded to put on the sleeping robes given to him by the Hokage. 'Goodnight, kaa-san. Goodnight, tou-san,' he thought blearily, drifting into the realm of slumber before he could hear them wishing him a night of sweet dreams as well.

Naruto automatically woke up at five in the morning -- one of the benefits of having excellent sleeping habits that did not disrupt his Circardian rhythm -- and took a quick shower. He liked the feeling of cleanliness after washing himself, though he did not have the luxury of doing so back when his bathing times were restricted to after the other children's curfew time. He carefully equipped his training gear, eating a simple breakfast of buttered toast and heated milk. He finished his food just in time to hear a chiming sound.

"That's the doorbell, kit," Kurama told him when he did not react and was merely frowning in confusion.

"Ah, I see..." Naruto mumbled to himself as he thanked the fox silently.

Naruto jogged to the door and opened it to see Kakashi in his ANBU gear, complete with his dog mask.

"It seems like you are ready to go. We would expect you to meet us in the training ground I will be taking you to for today at six every morning, no excuses. If you are sick, send one of us a message. You can expect training to end at seven o'clock in the evening," Kakashi informed him.

Naruto nodded curtly in response as he followed the man down the corridor after shutting his door behind him and changing into standard shinobi sandals. He was taken down several flights of stairs before entering a steel door labelled "ANBU Training Ground #9".

Naruto was shocked by the appearance of the place. He had first found himself in a cave behind a waterfall that only after passing could he actually see the place. It looked like a forest with artificial sunlight, the waterfall being in a large clearing. Even looking around, there was no end in sight.

Naruto looked down on the rock he was standing on, only to see intricate fūinjutsu. He found himself reading the lines of the sealing matrix, shocked by the ingenuity of the seals used to create this place. "ANBU Training Ground 9, the place I developed with the help of your father. We finished it before Minato became the Hokage. I thought that this place would have been abandoned. To think that Sandaime-sama had bothered to maintain it..." Naruto heard his mother inform him from his mindscape.

"A training ground created with fūinjutsu that is completely cut off from the rest of the world. Created by Uzumaki Kushina, the Red Death and Namikaze Minato, the Yellow Flash, it is the only one of its kind," Naruto found himself saying softly.

Anko, who was unmasked, gaped at the young boy.

"How did you know? This place is one of Konoha's most well-kept secrets! Even Danzo the old war hawk doesn't know of it!" Anko exclaimed in surprise.

Naruto maintained his slightly guarded look and shrugged.

"I told you that I knew many things that I was probably not supposed to know," he replied cryptically.

"That does not answer the question! The question is: How did you find out about it? If you know, there is a possibility that Danzo found out too!" Anko retorted.

"Thankfully, he does not have access to my source of information. No one does," Naruto rebuked calmly, making the rest of the ANBU frown.

"Why are you so sure?" Iruka asked suspiciously.

"I know that no one else can access it. That's all there is to it," Naruto said in mild annoyance.

"Relax, relax. There's no need to get your panties in a twist!" Kakashi cut in before the situation could further escalate, making Iruka flush red and fume silently.

"Am I right to assume that Hatake-san is squad leader?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"What made you guess?" Yūgao asked.

Naruto tilted his head to the side as he replied, "It is actually rather obvious from your body language and interactions with one another."

All four were surprised by his answer. He had deduced that Kakashi was their leader with no evidence other than their body language and interactions. They did not expect the young blond they were training to be so observant or this intelligent.

"Alright, now start warming up by running fifty laps around the clearing," Anko commanded while strapping on a kilogram of weight on his wrists and ankles.

Naruto obeyed, quickly running around the clearing fifty times within ten minutes. When he stopped, he still had yet to break a sweat.

"Okay, that means that the weights are not enough-" Anko said before Naruto cut her off.

"If you don't mind, I would rather use gravity seals," Naruto requested politely.

"It is dangerous to use gravity seals on a person who does not know how to use them!" Iruka admonished as Kakashi nodded in agreement.

This made Naruto frown, asking, "What makes you think that I do not know how to use as simple of a seal as a gravity seal?"

The fact that his tone was slightly hurt only shocked them further.

"How much fūinjutsu do you know? What seals can you make other than gravity seals and storage seals?" Kakashi asked after getting over his shock as gravity seals were actually quite complex unlike Naruto had described.

"I can be considered an Uzumaki Seal Master. What do you think?" Naruto asked dryly.

This made their eyes almost fall from their sockets at how wide they were opened, mouths wide as the ANBU gaped at the young child.

"Close your mouths unless you are trying to catch flies with them," Naruto muttered -- it was one of his mother's favourite lines, though she only used it with her husband and child.

They closed their mouths with a collective "snap" sound as they continued to stare at him in shock.

"Was that sarcasm I sensed?" Yūgao asked shakily upon getting over her shock.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.

"It isn't?" Anko mumbled.

"Of course not. Why would I joke about something like that?" Naruto said with a sigh.

"Alright, so please do apply gravity seals to yourself before running another two hundred laps," Kakashi ordered after getting over his shock.

"Hai, Kaka-sensei," Naruto said as gravity seals glowed on his body, courtesy of the Uzumaki kekkei genkai that enabled the user to make seals wherever they wanted with just a thought (and a bit of chakra too, of course).

Naruto immediately turned them to level 2, knowing from previous training that level 1 was something he no longer felt strained to run with. He took off at a dead sprint that despite being slower than his normal, was still easily high-genin, which surprised his trainers.

This time he took longer to complete his laps and had started to sweat and pant slightly by the time he was done. Naruto then did what Kakashi told him to do, which was two hundred sit-ups and a hundred one-armed push-ups per arm.

He then repeated the process, running laps before doing the exercises again.

Next was taijutsu. He was told to demonstrate the stances he had learnt from the books that to their surprise, were all perfect despite not seeming to suit him. Naruto informed them that he was trying to develop his own taijutsu style that suited him better and showed them what he had made of it so far, receiving some suggestions for improvement from both the ANBU and his parents.

They then broke off for lunch.

Naruto sensed it when his clones dispelled in his mindscape, giving him their experience and the method to enter his pocket dimension.

"That was so obvious, why didn't I think of it sooner," Naruto mumbled to himself under his breath, careful to not let the ANBU hear him.

His trainers then threw him a large crate of jutsu scrolls that they ordered him to read and master. He sighed and set off to work, summoning forty clones. There were enough for two for each scroll. Naruto let them do their work, knowing that his photographic memory would prevent him from missing anything and also make a copy of it to place in the library he had collected in his mindscape.

Naruto himself sat down in a lotus position, beginning to meditate.

Naruto felt the chakra flow through his chakra pathways, deciding to toy with it by making it flow faster. Upon succeeding, he made it slow down to a crawl and practically stop.

Satisfied by his success, Naruto proceeded to try to force it to flow in the opposite direction. This required much more effort on his part and also forced more chakra to pass through at once as he had stopped the flow for too long, causing a build-up at the chakra core. He felt his chakra pathways painfully being expanded forcibly as the chakra rushed through his body in the opposite direction of his natural chakra flow. He made it speed up to the point where some started leaking out of his body before slowing it down and eventually stopping the flow once more. He allowed the chakra to flow naturally and felt that it moved slightly faster than before due to the widening of his chakra pathways.

Naruto, satisfied by his successes, opened his eyes to see that the clones were done with reading the scrolls and were already trying them out with varying levels of success. He decided to work on the jutsu in his mindscape, where he had managed to temporarily dilate his perception of time by as much as shortening twenty-four hours into a mere one second.

Naruto went to look for his trainers to find them in another part of the training grounds practising their jutsu. He did not know if he should be impressed that the lazy bunch was not slacking off again. Perhaps Hiruzen might have been a bit too harsh in his rebuke? He decided to alert them to his presence -- their woes were none of his concern, and they likely deserved the penalty that his Jiji saw fit to impose upon them for their careless neglect of duty.

"It is already seven, Kaka-sensei, Yū-sensei, Ruka-sensei, Anko-sensei. I believe Kaka-sensei had informed me that this is the time we are supposed to end?" Naruto spoke up, making Iruka and Anko jump in surprise and Kakashi and Yūgao widen their eyes in shock.

'This kid can sneak up on a group of four trained ANBU without being detected!' was their shared thought.

"You know that it is dangerous to sneak up on a group of trained ANBU, right?" Anko asked him creepily.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, replying simply, "Then do not let me sneak up on you. What would Jiji think if he found out that a little kid is able to sneak up on his elite ANBU?"

"The kid's got a point," Iruka muttered under his breath.

"Yes, you are dismissed," Kakashi told him, ignoring his incompetent teammates.

Naruto nodded and walked towards the exit, concealing a Hiraishin seal under a rock in the stream made by the man-made waterfall. He then exited the room and flashed back into his room without bothering with the door.

This process was repeated daily for the rest of the year.

>•<

"Kaka-sensei is an A-rank shinobi, right?" Naruto asked one day after training.

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?" Kakashi replied curiously.

"No, it's just that the Sharingan is very taxing on your reserves. Moreover, your chakra reserves are only just average for a tokubetsu jōnin," Naruto stated.

"Well, that's true," Kakashi admitted.

"Does that mean that if your eyes could be turned on and off like that of an Uchiha born with the Sharingan, you would be stronger and thus given a higher rank?" Naruto continued.

"Yes, it would. Do you have an idea?" Kakashi asked, intrigued.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I can place a seal on your eye to allow you to channel chakra into your eye at will or stop the flow if you want," Naruto told him.

Kakashi's lone visible eye widened as he proceeded to grab Naruto's shoulders.

"In that case, please do it! I want to be able to see through my left eye outside of battle for once!" Kakashi almost shouted in his ears.

"Alright, alright! Calm down. I can do it now if you'd like?" Naruto said to calm his trainer down.

Kakashi nodded his head vigorously, making Naruto nod once as Kakashi removed his headband from where it covered his eye.

"I am sorry, but you would have to remove your face mask for this," Naruto told him.

Kakashi sighed as he pulled off his face mask, allowing Naruto to be the only person alive to have seen Kakashi's face.

"No wonder you keep it hidden. The fangirls you could have gotten if you had left it uncovered would be numerous," Naruto commented with a snicker.

Kakashi rolled his eyes before waving for Naruto to continue. Naruto stared at Kakashi's closed left eye as he squinted slightly in concentration.

A glowing blue sealing matrix started to appear, going under the eyelid and covering the eyeball. It glowed brighter, until it was white from the brightness, before dying down into black lines that seemed to fade away, no longer visible to the naked eye.

"All done. Just stop the chakra flowing towards your eye and open it," Naruto commanded.

Kakashi did as he was told and opened his eyes -- he had shut his normal eye instinctively due to the blinding blue light. He found himself in front of a mirror.

"See?" Naruto said as Kakashi marvelled at the good job Naruto had done.

Obito's eye looked just like his own, as though it was his from the beginning.

"I could heal the scar if you want," Naruto remarked as Kakashi continued to stare at his reflection.

He shook his head dazedly, saying softly, "It is a memory of how I failed to save him. I wish to keep it."

Naruto nodded his head in understanding as he bid Kakashi goodnight and retired to his room.

>•<

Naruto had just celebrated his sixth birthday and had received all sorts of gifts from his ANBU trainers as well as the Hokage.

"Kit, come into your mindscape," Kurama told Naruto when he had finally managed to retreat to his rooms.

Naruto sat down on the sofa as he easily entered his mindscape to see his parents and Kurama wearing party hats.

"We're sorry that we do not have any presents for you, Sochi," Kushina apologised.

"But I do!" Kurama boasted.

"You did not bother to give me anything before. Why the sudden change of heart?" Naruto remarked.

"I did give you presents on your birthdays! You just never noticed..." Kurama said dejectedly.

"Ah... I'm sorry. What were they?" Naruto apologised quickly.

"On the day you were born, I helped you by doing some altering of your mind to give you a much better memory and make you smarter. On your first birthday, I made your senses much stronger. On your second birthday, I unlocked your accelerated healing from the Uzumaki vitality. On your third birthday, I removed all forms of barriers on any and all of the kekkei genkai you have the ability to unlock. On your fourth birthday, I unlocked your sensory that you already had due to being an Uzumaki as well as the emotion-sensing that usually only comes with using my refined chakra. On your fifth birthday I altered your brain again to give you much faster reaction time and allowed your brain to process at rapid speeds without sensory overload," Kurama said.

"Oh..." was all Naruto could say.

"So that's how..." Minato murmured under his breath.

"What?" Naruto, Kushina and Kurama asked at once, Naruto and Kurama having heard due to having good hearing and Kushina due to being right beside him.

"Nothing! Nothing at all! It's just that I just found out that the unlocking of kekkei genkai is why Naruto's birthmarks disappeared! That's all!" Minato said a bit too quickly.

Kushina sighed, saying, "If you say so."

Despite her words, her eyes said all. 'I expect you to tell us soon.'

Kurama continued, "This time, I'll give you the fox summoning contract! You are going to be the first holder of this contract!"

A large scroll appeared with a puff of smoke in front of Naruto.

Naruto opened it to see that although there were many columns, they were completely blank. He frowned and looked up at Kurama in confusion.

"You are supposed to cut your finger and write your name in blood, leaving your handprint below," Minato told him.

Naruto nodded, biting his finger and doing as he was told.

"You know the hand signs for the summoning jutsu," Minato hinted.

Naruto did the necessary hand signs, pouring chakra into his hands before slamming them down.

There was a puff of smoke as a rather large five tailed fox appeared beneath Naruto, causing him to crouch on the fox.

"You must be my summoner. I'm Sōsuke," the blue fox with forest green eyes told him.

"Nice to meet you, Sōsuke. I'm Naruto," Naruto said with a small smile.

"And I, you, Naruto-sama," the fox replied.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Kurama-sama," Sousuke finally turned to the boss of his summoning contract.

"I can say the same, Sōsuke," Kurama said with a nod.

"Good job! You summoned such a big one on your first try. My first summoning was a small toad that had absolutely no battle prowess!" Minato praised his son.

"Thank you, tou-san," Naruto replied.

"So may I leave to tell the others of this brilliant news?" Sousuke asked politely.

"Of course! I hope to see you soon, Sōsuke," Naruto said with a small smile.

The fox grinned, "I feel the same, Naruto-sama."

Sōsuke vanished in a puff of smoke into the summoning realm.

Naruto left his mindscape and decided that he did not wish to go to bed so soon. He took a quick shower before donning a kimono. He made sure that his katana, a gift from Yūgao, was strapped to his back. He had already learnt kenjutsu under his parents' guidance, although his trainers did not know that.

Naruto went to the Hokage monument, seating himself on the stone carving of his father and relishing in the peace and quiet. He had almost fallen asleep on his perch when he felt a familiar chakra signature approach his location. Even so, it did not disrupt the tranquil atmosphere that permeated the place.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and his shoulders tensed slightly although his general body language still seemed calm and collected. He stared in the direction he felt the familiar chakra from as he waited for the person to show up.

And show up he did, cloaked in a black cloak, a mere black silhouette against the inky night sky dotted with numerous stars. The figure's footsteps were silent, the dust of the road and the grass seeming untouched even as he threaded across. The person sat down beside Naruto silently, looking down upon Konoha.

An awkward silence ensued until the cloaked figure spoke, tone clearly masculine and aged, "Isn't it a beautiful night?"

Naruto let his posture relax slightly, still keeping his guard up, "Indeed. The view is spectacular."

"You are Minato's son, are you not?" the man asked, making Naruto hesitate in his reply.

In Naruto's mindscape, Minato was surprised by how his name rolled off the cloaked man's lips and the familiarity of his chakra.

"Tou-sama?" Minato breathed.

To say Naruto was shocked was an understatement.

Naruto decided to reply, "Hai, ojiji-sama."

"Oh? How did you tell?" Naruto's grandfather asked in mild amusement.

"Your chakra is very similar to that of my father's and mine," Naruto replied, realising why his chakra felt so familiar.

"So you're a sensor. Anything else you can gather?" the man concluded before asking kindly.

"Uchiha Madara..." Naruto heard Kurama hiss as he growled at the man despite knowing that he could not hear him.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock. The famed co-founder of Konoha, known as Konoha's biggest traitor despite having not committed any sins in particular, who is the strongest Uchiha to ever live and one of the two most powerful shinobi of all time is his grandfather.

"You are Uchiha Madara," Naruto breathed out, barely audible even in the relatively silent night.

"Indeed. It seems that the mighty Kyūbi no Kitsune remembered my name. I'm honoured," Madara confirmed while pulling down the hood of his cloak.

"Considering how you know Minato's chakra, I'm assuming that he sealed his own chakra in you before he kicked the bucket?" Madara guessed.

"No. It was kaa-san who did so," Naruto told him, not even sure why he was telling this man all this information when Naruto did not know of his motives.

"I see," was all he said.

"Why are you here?" Naruto asked the man despite knowing that asking for his purpose would have been pointless as he would probably not answer the question.

"Can I not come to Konoha to see my only grandson?" Madara asked him in mock-hurt.

"That is not the only reason why you are here," Naruto said simply, observing the man.

"You did not notice that your Sharingan had activated when you found out who I am, did you?" Madara asked abruptly.

"What?" Naruto asked in confusion, still not understanding what he meant.

"Your Sharingan is active," he stated simply, "It is rather impressive that you have fully matured it at such a young age."

"What?! Why would I? Since when did I have the Sharingan?" Naruto almost shouted in surprise.

"I thought you knew. After all, you had hidden it with a genjutsu when you unlocked it on your third birthday and again when you matured it to two tomoe on your fourth. I do not know when or where you gained the third and last one, though," Madara said incredulously.

"I'm sorry, Sochi! I meant to tell you sooner! I hid it with a genjutsu every time you accidentally activated it! You matured it during training when you subconsciously copied Kakashi's hand signs! Neither of you noticed anything unusual as it was a jutsu that you had read about. You did not try it out before then but Kakashi did not know that," Minato explained as he tried to fend off Kushina who was screaming at him for not trusting her enough to tell her of his parentage.

"I think that Kura-kun hid it for me without telling me," Naruto lied.

"Kura? Who's that?" Madara asked although he had his suspicions.

"Kurama, the kyūbi," Naruto told him.

"I see. He never did reveal his name before..." Madara said while nodding.

"Apparently no one else bothered to ask," Naruto informed him.

"Oh."

"I left the jutsu scrolls for all my jutsu, my gunbai, my armour and a few other things in your father's compound. You can take them. He never used them but I guess that they just aren't his style," Madara told Naruto.

"He told me to keep his existence a secret! How was I supposed to do that while using his signature weapon or his signature jutsu?" Minato shouted back incredulously.

'Tou-san, relax. He's an old man. He probably forgot,' Naruto said mentally, trying to placate his father.

"I am going to begin my plans for peace in a few years," Madara told Naruto.

"Peace?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, peace. However, humans are incapable of achieving it on their own accord," Madara stated.

Naruto was not sure why, but he felt a connection with this old man. This grandfather of his at the same time seemed both weary of the world and hopeful for the future. While the years wore away at his body and the unbearable suffering of life's challenges tore at his psyche, the youthful spark of faith in his dream of a better future made his eyes bright. This was a respectable figure, Naruto understood, even if his mind did not seem quite sound. Konohagakure's history of how its other founder betrayed the village aside, the man before him -- vulnerable in the frailness of his aged mortal body yet strong in his conviction to achieve his dream.

As such, absurd as the proclamation seemed to him, Naruto humoured this seemingly senile old grandfather of his.

"And so?"

"I will become an enemy so great, the elemental nations will be forced to unite to defeat me," Madara said regretfully.

Naruto looked at him, wide-eyed.

"I'll gladly become the villain if it means that the shinobi world can finally find peace. However, I would need someone on the inside to push for the alliance," Madara explained, serenely.

"Why would you place that role on me? Why would you trust me to take on such a big role? You barely know me..." Naruto questioned, baffled.

"You're my grandson. Although I do not know you all that well and have not been there for you in your earlier years, I still care for you. I want you to be able to show everyone what you are capable of, to become the hero to save the world from me. The light against my darkness," Madara said softly.

"That's very heroic of you, ojiji-sama," Naruto said, stunned, very shocked by the sincerity in Madara's voice.

Even Kurama who had been ranting about how Madara deserved to die was stunned into silence.

"No. It is might very well just be wishful thinking. A person I had manipulated into working for me, who has the bright idea that the scheme that I had engineered for him is going to bring peace, will commence the plan in ten years. He is going to attempt to collect the nine bijū to summon the Jūbi. After this is accomplished, he is to bring me back to life as I am currently about to die and may kick the bucket at any given second. Then we are to use the moon to cast True Tsukuyomi on the inhabitants of the world to make them think that they are in utopia. That was what I have told him, at least. I wish for you to stop us before we manage to cast the genjutsu."

Naruto could only nod, wanting to allow his grandfather's final wishes to be heard, at the very least, even they could not come true.

He did not know this grandfather of his for long, but he could understand the old man's will. He should not feel sorry for this person, who he could barely recognise as kin to begin with. However, the heaviness in his chest showed otherwise.

"I shall do my best, ojiji-sama," Naruto promised, eyes tearing up slightly.

This exchange... really felt like a final will.

He knew, somehow, that Uchiha Madara's end was swiftly approaching.

He would not grieve for this grandfather that he never knew, but he would grant whatever wish this man had.

There must have been a reason why this great man whose aspirations went beyond the capacity of a single person came to him. He would not accept as shabby an excuse as sentimentality for a family that the elderly man had let go of so many years ago. From what he knew, his father must have been left to his own devices in Konohagakure since his Academy years. Uchiha Madara was never tied down by the bond of family to begin with.

"Thank you. Now I would like you to kill me. Please put me out of my suffering," Madara begged, though the light of undiminishing yearning in his eyes made it seem not at all like the suicidal request that it should have been.

His voice was strong, not weak or feeble like his appearance might suggest, and his plea almost seemed like a command.

"But that's-" Naruto tried to protest as Minato gasped loudly in his mindscape.

"Tou-sama!" Minato cried out.

"I seem to hear Minato's voice. I am dying, child. My body is already failing me. Please kill me. I would rather my death be a useful one, at the hands of my only living relative. I do not have long anyway," Madara pleaded once more, his voice starting to falter.

Naruto felt his heart sink into his stomach.

He was uncertain -- why did he feel that way? He did not know this man. He never believed in the magical blood ties that fairytales lauded as the truest connection between people. That was not to say he had doubted his parents' love for him. He simply never thought about accepting all of his possible extended family from the survivors of the Uzumaki clan. This unknown paternal grandfather of his should have been no different. Just yesterday, the name Uchiha Madara did not mean anything to him. It was the name of the Uchiha clan patriarch at the time of Konoha's founding, the co-founder of the village who betrayed his best friend Senju Hashirama and whose actions caused the Uchiha clan to lose their credibility after the historical events that transpired in the Valley of the End. It was a name without a face to it, a long list of feats and sins that he had never felt anything about. Now, he knew that this man was his grandfather.

He certainly did not feel any connection with this old man when Madara first intruded his personal space and ruined his peaceful moment.

He also did not care when Minato and Kurama's reactions revealed the identity of the stranger.

Indeed, Uchiha Madara or not, this man was a stranger to him.

He knew little about this grandfather or his.

They have only just met.

Naruto's eyes hardened as he gained a look of determination. He unsheathed his katana.

"Gomenasai, ojiji-sama!" Naruto cried out as he brought the sword to chest level where it could easily pierce him in the chest.

"Thank you, Naruto. You can take my eyes, too," Madara said as Naruto plunged the sharp blade into his heart.

Madara died with a gentle smile on his face.

Naruto was left confused about what he meant.

There was a dull ache in his chest, but he knew there was nothing wrong with his body. He felt breathless, but he just could not seem to inhale as deeply as he wanted to. Nauseousness pooled in his gut as he watched his grandfather's still corpse slide off his blade.

Did Uchiha Madara know that he would feel this way? Was this his way of preparing his grandson for the responsibilities ahead of him? How was he so sure that Naruto would believe him, that he would do as Madara asked?

He did not notice the stinging in his eyes as tears began to form.

"Kit..." Kurama called out, failing to stir the child from his reverie.

Minato's head was bowed in mourning, and Kushina gritted her teeth. She cursed the deceased Uchiha, that maniac of a father-in-law that she never had a chance to meet in life. How dare he cause pain to her precious Sochi?

Naruto did not blink as he stared unseeingly at the bloodied katana held too-tightly in his grip.

He did not react to his mother's fretting as she cried and consoled him for having to kill at such a young age.

He did not hear his father tell him that it was alright, that his grandfather would have died soon enough and he did not commit murder.

When the hot tears finally overflowed and made their mark on his cheeks, Naruto dropped to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut. The katana clattered loudly to the ground beside him. He touched his damp face in puzzlement. He did not know why he was crying.

He reached out, one small hand hovering over the newly deceased Uchiha's face as if to close those unseeing eyes and grant him rest in death.

Minato closed his own eyes, not wanting to watch this ritual of finality.

Kushina and Kurama were stunned by what they witnessed instead.

Naruto shrouded his hand in a greenish chakra, gingerly running his fingertips along the corpse's cheekbones...

That was not right.

He retracted his hand slightly and curled his fingers.

"Don't do it!" Kushina shrieked, her face whitening in horror as realisation dawned upon her.

For the first time, Naruto ignored his mother's words. It would not be the last time he would go against Kushina's guidance, either.

Naruto dug the eyes out carefully, a surprisingly simple process, and placed them in a vial filled with isotonic solution.

"You've entrusted me with your eyes and your hopes, ojiji-sama."

He ignored how the sting in his eyes sharpened into a stabbing pain as he chose to shoulder the burden of the responsibility that Uchiha Madara had left to him.

He straightened up, and his body swayed with the effort.

Naruto blinked away the dizziness and looked down at the corpse.

"And I will accept it."

At this moment, the shape of his mature Sharingan changed and morphed into something else.

Naruto pushed past his discomfort and stowed the body and vessel into his pocket dimension, ensuring that they would not decay overnight. He proceeded to use the Hiraishin to return to his room, stained katana in hand. He carelessly wiped off the blood on the blade and tossed it aside. He knew he would regret his neglect of his main weapon, but he could not bring himself to care at the moment.

"Don't worry, kaa-san. I won't lose sight of myself."

Kushina did not speak, but Naruto knew that she was listening all the same.

"I'll bury ojiji-sama next to the two of you in the Namikaze compound," he then told his father.

Naruto changed into his sleeping robes and collapsed on his bed, unaware of the changes his body began to undergo as soon as his consciousness had slipped away.