"You were just one lap short." Nina leaned against a tree, watching the boy pant for air.

"Yea... I know... I'll get it next time!" He smiled weakly. Soon after, he was up and running, and soon after that, he was lying on the ground again. She saw that this wasn't going anywhere.

"How would you like a change in scenery?" Nina asked. Barely able to catch his breath, Naruto tried to get his words out.

"Wh... what do... you mean?" He puffed.

"Get up. We're going for a walk." Confused, Naruto pushed himself off the ground and followed the woman out of the field. The two walked in silence for a long while, he noticed that she was avoiding the largely populated areas as well as the commonly used paths. A little odd but he's grown used to it, after all, it's been a while since he's started training indeed her.

Realizing that she's now stopped walking, he stretched his neck out to see what she was looking at. It was... nothing. The only thing he saw was the forest in front of them.

"Why are we here?" He asked, careful as to not sound rude.

"Running laps can get boring, I thought I would give you some encouragement. You will run to the other side of the forest, if you're caught, you must do fifty laps before learning anything."

"WHAT?" Naruto's eyes widened as his jaw hit the ground. "I can't outrun you!" He flailed his arms in desperation.

"You won't be outrunning me, you'll be outrunning the forest." He thought he heard a deep laughter echo from the trees. "You see, this is a special forest; the trees are alive. One must run with all their might in order to pass these trees or else they will catch you." A mysterious glint shone behind her eyes. "There is one mile between us and the other side of this forest, you may replenish your energy beforehand. Go take a break." She instructed. Naruto was still in shock.

"But..." He trailed off, doubting that he could do it. He tried to think rationally: he knew that this would get him closer to becoming a ninja but also knew that it was almost impossible for him to run such a distance without stopping. 'I guess I have no choice...' He thought with a frown. "Alright!" He exclaimed, balling his hands into fists. "I'll be back in an hour!" He turned on his heels and ran towards the village to get some food. Even though he was dreading the task, he knew that Nina would not have given him a break outside the normal time if she didn't think he needed it.

"How are you Naruto?" Teuchi smiled as the said boy ducked into the small store.

"Great!" He said overenthusiastically. "I'm gonna need your biggest bowl of ramen!" He shouted, slamming a fist down on the counter. "I have a big day ahead of me!" The owner blinked at the boy before smiling once again.

"Coming right up!" He called, turning around and began preparing the food.

Not long after, Naruto had finished his meal and was on his way back to the forest he had been lead to. He saw the outline of the treetops and the fear his him like a truck, his stomach began churning and his heart started pounding, still, he pushed himself forwards.

"It won't be that hard, they're just trees, how fast can they be?" A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek.

"You're back, excellent. I presume you're ready?" Nina asked, standing up. The boy gulped and nodded, walking up to the edge of the forest. He stared into the dark canopy.

Green vines were twisted around sickly branches, dull leaves congregated on the lifeless grass as they watched their living counterparts twitch weakly in the wind. The towering trees glared down at the boy and their branches, gleaming with mischief, seemed to beckon him in. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut.

"I'm ready." He stated, voice cracking with nervousness.

"Very well. You will start on three."

He took a deep breath.

"One."

He prepared to run.

"Two."

His eyes focused on the darkness of the forest.

"Three."

He launched himself into the shadows, footsteps echoed as leaves were crushed under him. Nina stared at the place where he had disappeared from. The wind whistled, gently dancing with long strands of white.

Furiously sprinting through the forest, weaving between trunks, and ducking under branches, Naruto made sure that he wouldn't stumble and get caught by the trees. His breath began growing faster and heavier, he didn't know how much further the forest would stretch but hoped that he would be able to make it through.

Alive.

The forest flew past his vision, he was focused on the spot right on front of his eyes. Darkness parted for him as he felt the sting in his lungs grow sharper, more painful. His eyes began watering as wind and dust whirled past him. 'Focus!' He silently yelled at himself, rubbing his eyes and trying to gather his thoughts. 'It must be close now.' He kept his mind on reaching the other side of the forest, he convinced himself that it wouldn't be long until be reached it. Ducking under a particularly low branch, Naruto felt like something was wrong. He didn't dare glace behind him for fear of tripping, but he was sure that someone was chasing him. 'That couldn't be sensei...' He thought, knowing that she would be waiting for him at the other side of the forest, not in here with him.

He was in trouble.

This forest was barely on Konoha's boarder and he had never seen anyone go inside, it could have been a rogue ninja or a dangerous animal chasing him! 'What do I do!?' Naruto began panicking, pushing himself forward, refusing to stop even when his legs began burning from pain. As he continued running, the sting was getting unbearable, he couldn't catch his breath and his legs ached terribly but he needed to get out of this damned forest, out and away from whatever was chasing him. He could have sworn that the thing had just brushed his back when a burst of light made him squeeze his eyes shut. He felt the ground beneath him, he squinted and looked back. A small dog lay on his back, happily barking at him. Relieved but still started, he slumped back on the ground and tried to slow his frantic gasping.

"I'm surprised you made it. And in just twenty minutes, too." Naruto watched as Nina walked over to him, kneeling down, she frowned when she saw his arms and legs. "But perhaps you could have been more careful." He looked down at his arms, red lines were littered all over, same with his legs. The scratches must have been from all the stray branches and thorns he passed. He lay still, unable to force himself to get up.

"Did... did I... make it?" He choked out, throat dry from breathing so heavily.

"You did." She replied simply, her hands began glowing a soft blue color as she held them over his cuts. He tried to stay awake even though his mind begged for sleep. His vision began going in and out of focus until everything went black.

Naruto woke up with a start, as if something had startled him. He looked around, the walls were dark and he could barely make out anything. Sitting up, he noticed that he wasn't sore in the least, also, something swished under him. The ground was covered in what seemed like water, he could head a distant dripping sound as well.

"Who's there?" He asked warily. A growl echoed through the room.

"You don't know me? Of course, your mother never did tell you..." A voice that sounded like the rumbling ground boomed from behind him.

Naruto whipped around, eyes landed on a large metal bar. Following it up, he saw it was part of an enormous cage, at least fifty stories tall.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, almost afraid to speak. "Show yourself!" His voice betrayed his words. A low chuckle was heard.

"Me? I am a monster to be most feared." The unseen creature growled. "We are one and the same." Naruto couldn't find his voice and only stared at the darkness inside the cage. "Do not misunderstand, I am not your ally, I will destroy you one day. Weak, pathetic boy." The voice dripped with the upmost disgust. Suddenly, Naruto felt as if he was being pulled away, next thing he knew, the blue sky was above him.

He looked around and saw Nina sitting next to where he lay, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Sensei?" He was utterly confused. "What happened?" He asked.

"You fell unconscious for a minute there." She stated simply. Unconscious? 'Right, I just finished racing through the forest...' He remembered.

"I did it?" He muttered quietly. "I did it!" He grinned brightly, raising both arms in victory.

"So it seems. Go home and rest now. Save your energy for tomorrow, you will be learning something new." His eyes grew wide as he processed the words.

"Really?!" He exclaimed, jumping onto his feet. "Yes! I won't let you down, sensei! Believe it!" He shouted, turning and running back towards his home.

Once he reached his room, he plopped down on his bed and smiled to himself, unable to stop thinking about what he might learn tomorrow. Even though the sun was still hours away from setting, he quickly drifted into a peaceful sleep. In fact, he fell asleep so quickly that he failed to notice that the scratches on his legs were no longer there.

"I'm ready!" Naruto shouted as he sprinted down the street towards the training field, he was more excited than he had been in a long time.

As the field came into view, he saw that Nina was already there, early like always.

"I assume you had a restful sleep last night. We will start with chakra control, something crucial to each and every shinobi." She stated. Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Good, now you must find your chakra stream, it flows all across your body and is the core of all jutsus. Sit, close your eyes and clear your mind." He did so, shutting his eyes and trying to push away all his thoughts. "Focus on your heartbeat." He heard her say, and so he listened to the steady rhythm of his heart. He felt nothing different than what he usually did, just the regular bu-bum beat in his chest, but he trusted her and knew that there must be something else there. And so he searched and searched, trying to detect something that might resemble chakra.

Nothing.

"I can't feel anything..." He mumbled, slightly annoyed.

"Try again" So he searched for another few minutes.

Still nothing.

Nina saw his face scrunch in frustration.

"Focus. I will unmask a portion of my own chakra, you will be able to detect it." He felt a strange, weightless pressure push down on him, it was similar to the presence around his mother and other shinobi but felt different somehow. He suddenly became aware of a small wisp of the same presence coming from somewhere else. "Our chakra is very similar, do you sense yours?" Nina asked, voice almost at a whisper. He focused harder and tried to pinpoint the wisp.

"Is... is that my chakra?" He asked, the word foreign on his tongue.

"Yes, focus on it, that is the power you will learn to harness and manipulate." He tried to take hold of the chakra wisp, it seemed to grow and suddenly he felt it envelop his entire body. His eyes shot open in surprise, looking up at Nina as if looking for confirmation that what he had just felt was real. She nodded knowingly.

"That's it. You will be very familiar with your chakra soon. Now, I will teach you a few basic jutsus." Naruto's eyes brightened.

"Oh! The shadow clone jutsu, right? That's what the kids at the academy learned first!" He smiled at himself.

"No." Nina stated bluntly, causing Naruto's grin to fade. "The academy has their ways, I have mine. You will first learn to control your chakra." She put a hand on the trunk of a tall tree. "Send small bursts of chakra into this tree, it will look like this." The area around her hand pulsed red and the leaves rattled quietly. Naruto nodded, stepping up to the tree and placing a hand on it. "Now you must find the chakra you felt before and command it to exit through your hand." After a while, he managed to feel his chakra again, he tried to get it to go towards his palm. An odd sensation passed over his arm as a blue glow flickered under his hand, his eyes widened in surprise and he jerked his arm back. There was a moment of silence.

"Was that..." He couldn't find the right words. "Was that chakra?" He asked, unsure of what to think.

"Indeed, that was your chakra. Try again, you should see a larger burst this time." He nodded excitedly, putting his hand firmly on the trunk. Another tingle shot through his arm, faster and more noticeable than before, a ripple of blue spread out from his palm and the leaves rustled at the motion. Naruto looked at his hand, smiling impossibly wide.

"Yea! That was so cool!" He exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"This is only the beginning, you will learn many more abilities, powerful abilities that can be use to help our harm, you must not forget why you chose to become a shinobi." Nina warned.

"I won't!" Naruto assured with a smile. "I'll work super hard!" She seemed to accept his response, nodding approvingly.

"Very well, you are dismissed for the day." He blinked in surprise.

"What? But it's only noon." He said, head tilting in confusion. "Why are we ending so early?" He asked.

"You should be preparing for the festival. It is tonight, correct?" She reminded. His face lit up in excitement.

"Right! It's going to be great! I'll see you tomorrow then, sensei!" He waved goodbye as he ran off towards his home.

The red lanterns cast a warm orange over the village walls, streets were lined with festive red and silver banners, people were crowded in the village center, around the Hokage Tower, waiting for the sun to set. Kushina walked next to her son, both of then wearing silken kimonos, Kushina's was a dark purple, embroidered with vines, while Naruto's was orange and white. They happily explored the stands of food and games, Kushina bought two moon-shaped charms, one glimmered silver and the other was a deep red, Naruto had chosen the silver one and eagerly held onto it the whole time. The loud chatter of the festival-goers suddenly quieted. Naruto looked around and saw that everyone's eyes were turned to the skies, following their gaze, he was mesmerized by the sight.

A blood red coat was spread over the full moon and it seemed to radiate power.

Beautiful.

A blanket of silence enveloped the village, everyone's attention was fixed on the gleaming moon as if they had been put under a spell. Someone began clapping, then another, then another, and soon the festival was roaring with cheering and applause. Music began playing and people returned to enjoying the festivities as the red moon watched over them. A grin spread over Naruto's face as he joined in with everyone else.

Nina sat quietly in the large field, shakujō in hand, staring blankly up at the moon, but it was like she was starting past it, like she was seeing something else. She placed a hand on the wilting grass below her, sending a small portion of her chakra into the ground. There was a long silence, only the songs of the insects could be heard.

"How long has it been?" It came out as a broken whisper. If there had been anyone around, they might have been able to hear her heart break. "How long have you been gone?" She asked, her eyes soft and glazed over. The moon giggled down at her, it watched her, mocking her pain.

In a flash, she disappeared, leaving the field empty.

"May I help you?" She asked the figure hiding in the tree line. It jerked in surprise and quickly melted into the ground. She could feel its movement through the earth and wasted no time in following.

The two were quite deep into the forest when two pillars of dirt shot up from the ground, shoving the figure out with them. It landed in a crouch, its back facing her.

"You're good, just like he said." He spoke in an impossibly happy voice. "Even better, actually." He stood up and turned around, his entire body was the same shade of pale brown which seemed to be made entirely clay. Its face was like a mask, swirling inwards and closing in around the right eye. "And such a pretty face too! I can see why he was always so infatuated with you!" He giggled a high pitched laugh. "You really should have joined us, we could use your power."

"What do you want with me?" Nina ignored his comments.

"What makes you think I want anything from you?" The figure retorted in a playful voice.

"I do believe that spying on a person warrants some suspicion." He giggled childishly at her response.

"I wouldn't mind having you around the base, I don't get much company." He cleared his throat. "But anyways, I'm afraid I cannot tell you much, unless you join us, that is, and from what I've heard that won't be happening anytime soon." He said in a singsong voice.

"Who is 'us'?" Nina asked, narrowing her eyes. He seemed surprised at the question.

"Why, it's me, the boy, and Madara-sama of course!"