Chapter 2

Kosuke ran home, shoving the door open and there was Raiden, grinning at him. "Dad!" he shouted in excitement, "What if I used just a point of chakra instead of a layer. Is that the answer?"

Raiden's grin widened and he scooped Kosuke up, spinning him around, "That's my boy," he said cheerily, leaning in to kiss Kosuke on the cheek, "You're so smart."

Kosuke beamed happily, "Now head on to bed." Kosuke trudged up the stairs and opened his room door. He went inside and quickly got ready for bed before tucking himself in and falling asleep.

Time Skip

"Happy Sixth Birthday Kosuke!" Raiden shouted, bursting out of a shadowed corner. Kosuke jumped, a shuriken whipping passed Raiden as he leaned deftly out of the way. He hated when his dad popped up at of nowhere. And his dad knew it.

Kosuke's black eyes honed in on the scroll Raiden was holding, "What's that?" he asked, pointing.

"Oh this?" Raiden asked, grinning, "It's just your birthday present, the dragon summoning scroll."

Kosuke's eyes widened, "No way," he breathed out in awe. Summoning scrolls were the rarest of the rare and extremely useful. All legendary shinobi had an animal partner.

"Give it a go," his dad said, tossing the scroll to him. Kosuke caught it in his hand, rolling it open in one smooth move. On it were multiple names written in blood with sets of fingerprints as well. Kosuke bit his thumb and smeared it onto the scroll, following the example his predecessors set for him. He signed his name and put his fingerprints on it.

When he was done, Kosuke grinned and ran out of the house, Raiden following behind dutifully. "So, these are the handsigns," Raiden said, showing them slowly. Kosuke practiced them over and over again before finally channeling his chakra into it and biting down on his finger, slamming his palm into the ground.

There was a large explosion of smoke and a loud roar echoed around them. "That's your new partner," Raiden said as the smoke cleared. Standing there was a silver dragon, its scales were metallic and shiny, reflecting the light. His teeth and claws looked vicious and his wiry and compact body looked to be good for speed.

The dragon leaned down to inspect Kosuke, "Greetings human," he boomed out, "I am Vyronax, draconic for mighty heir, son of the King of dragons, Rastikar."

Kosuke bowed at the waist, "I'm Kosuke Uzumaki," it was the name he always used. Raiden was his father, "son of Raiden Uzumaki."

The silver dragon nodded, "You are powerful young Uzumaki, I will aid you in the battles to come."

Kosuke bowed once again, "Thank you, Vyronax."

Vyronax nodded and poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

Time Skip

"Dad! Dad! Look at this!" Kosuke raced down the stairs, bingo book clutched in his hand as he came to a stop in front of Raiden, who was drinking a cup of coffee.

Raiden raised an eyebrow at Kosuke who was literally shaking with excitement, "What's up kiddo?"

"Look!" Kosuke shoved the bingo book under his dad's nose and Raiden went cross-eyed trying to read it. When he scanned the page, his expression darkened, "Isn't it awesome dad!" On the page was a listing for the Silver Dragon, C rank, bounty of 50,000 ryo. It wasn't much, certainly not enough to bring about the attention of a a strong bounty hunter, but it was something. On the positive side, there was almost no information on Kosuke himself and the book didn't know his identity under the mask, they only knew Vyronax.

Raiden grabbed Kosuke's hand tightly, "Kosuke listen to me," he waited until he had the 7-year old's full attention, "You have to promise me to be very careful from now on."

Kosuke was confused, his dad was acting strangely but he was being insistent so he nodded, "Ok, I promise."

Raiden relaxed and let go of his hand, staring off into the distance. Kosuke was getting strong. He would stir up a storm later on, especially with his Hatake heritage, but he was still too weak right now, by no fault of his own. It was just impossible to overcome the threshold of age.

Raiden wanted to see Kosuke grow up, see the man he would become and the power he would one day wield. But he knew that was impossible. He let out a racking cough, blood splattering on the floor in front of him and he glanced back to see Kosuke had run off to play elsewhere. Good. He didn't want the boy to worry.

Raiden knew he was dying and his only regret was not being able to see the little boy he considered his son, grow into his power.