Ch. 2

Naruto ducked under the punch of his opponent before he sent a palm strike towards shinos stomach. The bug user calmly slapped the blonds strike away with the back of his left hand and using his momentum, spun around and lashed out with a round house kick towards the crouched blond.

Naruto quickly jerked his head back and allowed himself to fall backwards before the palms of his hands came up and touched the ground. He quickly somersaulted backwards and onto his feet before he dashed forward and slammed his right fist into shinos unguarded chin.

Shino let out a pained gasp as his head jerked backwards and his vision swam. Stumbling back a few feet, the teen dropped to one knee and brought his right hand up to cradle his bruising chin.

Suddenly a whistle blew.

"Alright kids, that's enough." Iruka called out as he stepped into the white chalked ring and stood in between the two boys." Shino stumbled out of the circle so Naruto's the winner." He announced and a few students gave the blond a congratulatory clap.

Shino, looking at his feet, saw that he had stepped outside of the ring and therefore, accepted Irukas ruling. Standing up he walked forward and brought his right hand up to form the seal of reconciliation.

"It was a good match uzumaki. You've won, once again." He commented in his ever present monotone voice.

The blond gave him a small smile and formed the seal of reconciliation in return." Nicely fought Shino. You almost had me with that roundhouse." He added in a good-natured tone.

Both boys stepped away from the sparring circle and joined the rest of their classmates. Shino opted to stand a little ways away from the rest of the class while naruto simply took a spot next to ino and crossed his arms.

"Alright class, next up is sasuke and kiba."

***

The bell rang and the students immediately began to pack up their books and papers while Iruka quickly ended his lesson and allowed his class to leave.

Naruto followed his classmates out of the room, not really mingling with any. He would never admit it aloud but he felt like a bit of an outcast amongst his peers. He was the only orphan, besides sasuke, in their class and because of that he found it a bit difficult to communicate with those around him.

Sure, he had no problem with joking around with kiba or choji or even having small discussions with shikamaru, ino, Sakura or even, very rarely, hinata, the girl was just so shy. But having long talks with anyone was always difficult for him.

Most of the girls in his class only talked about shopping, gossip or what they planned on doing with their families after school. The boys on the other hand, only wanted to go out and eat, train or in shikamarus case, sleep. He had no problem with tagging along should they ask but they never had and naruto wasn't really keen on asking to hang.

So, he walked down the hallways, following his peers towards the exit, silently.

Naruto shook his head as he zoned back in and saw their other sensei, mizuki , walking down the hall towards Irukas class. Naruto quickly stepped to the side so he wasn't in the way.

The moment mizuki passed him a cold chill traveled down the blonds spine and suddenly the world around him turned into a dark shade of gray. The other students in front of him began to glow a light blue color and when he turned his head to look at mizukis back, the man was glowing a bright red.

Sucking in a quick breath of surprise, the blond closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes the world had returned to normal and he couldn't help but wonder what that was.

'No more instant ramen before bed.' He thought.' It's making me lose my mind apparently.' He added. Quickly brushing whatever the hell that was off, he chalked it up to his eyes playing tricks on him and carried on his way out of the school.

***

(Location~unknown)

Standing in front of a metal table was a tall man with long black hair that neatly framed his pale white face. Yellow snake like eyes stared down at the contents lying on the table in front of him, both objects illuminated by a small table lamp.

A small book sized stone tablet lied on the cold metal surface, it's front was covered in odd lines, hexagons and circles that seemed to glow a faint orangish-gold color. Next to the odd tablet was an unrolled scroll that depicted the elemental nations in its entirety. The map itself had writing scattered around it along with a few lines pointing at certain areas and a small circle surrounding fire country. Within the small circle was another small dot that seemed to mark a large forested area.

The yellow eyed man sudden smiled as he fiddled with a small glowing ring which he held in his left hand, the soft orangish-gold glow illuminated the pale digits of his right hand.

"Finally after all this time... I found you." The man let out a soft creepy chuckle." Soon I'll have the power of the gods in my own hands, though how fitting is it that you're hidden away in my old home, hmm?" He asked, though it was fairly obvious that the man was speaking to himself.

***

(Location~konoha)

Naruto frowned as he felt pressure began to build up behind his eyes. He soon grimaced as a headache soon followed the odd sensation. He let out a groan as he sat his math book down on the dining room table at which he sat and brought his hand up to his face. He let out a sigh as he used his hand to cover his now closed eyes.

"Gah, what the hell?" He muttered out as his head began to throb in pain.

He'd been getting these odd headaches for the last week. First he'd feel an odd pressure build up behind his eyes and then a killer headache would move in soon after.

At first it only happened whenever he was using his chakra during training and then he started feeling it at least three times a day for the past few days.

When it first happened he ignored it, brushing it off and simply claiming he trained a little to much for a little to long. Then it started happening more frequently and he was beginning to think something was wrong with him. He wasn't throwing up or running a fever so he knew he wasn't sick.

'Maybe I have a cold?' He thought before slightly shaking his head.' No my nose isn't stuffed up and the back of my throat is mucus free- gah!' His brain throbbed once more.

He sat at his dining table with his hands covering his eyes and his jaw clenched for kami knows how long, before the pressure behind his eyes seemed to fade away and the throbbing in his brain began to lessen until it was no more.

He let out a thankful sigh before he let his hands drop away from his face. He opened his blue eyes and he sucked in a startled breath.

The world around him was once again a dark grey color and the math book in front of him glowed gold and the only thing the blond could say was simply-

"What the hell is wrong with me?!?"