Naruto 1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: NARUTO ISN'T MINE. ALL RIGHTS TO KISHIMOTO.**

The citizens of Konoha were greeted by a bizarre sight in the morning. A 12 year old spiky blonde haired boy with a bucket of paint was running away from a bunch of chunin, cackling madly while taunting them. "Give it rest! You guys can never catch me, HAHAH!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID BRAT!" one of the chunin yelled after him while panting slightly. This scene wasn't really that unfamiliar as everyone knew about Naruto Uzumaki, the annoying pranking delinquent who would always be up to some or the other mischief. Those who knew about the secret about that boy were fuming. 'That demon dares to defile the Hokage monument after what it did to our village! The Hokage can't possibly overlook this outrage!'

The blonde boy was still cackling madly as the 4 chunin continued to chase him. 'Well these losers are not even close to catching me, this is getting boring. Time to lose 'em then' thought Naruto. He turned a corner and just before they came around, he used the transformation technique to change the appearance of the bucket he was carrying into his image and threw it hard to make it look it he jumped to the rooftops and used the cloaking technique to hide. The chunin fell for his misdirection completely and jumped to the roof tops to search for him. Naruto came out of his hiding grinning widely. 'Wow that was way too easy!' he thought with glee.

"You think you can get away with what you did you Naruto!?". The said blonde snapped his neck behind in shock at being caught. Behind him was a tanned tall man with a scar across his nose wearing the standard hidden leaf chunin flak vest. "GAH! How did you find me Iruka Sensei!? What are you even doing here!?" yelled Naruto even though he knew exactly why he was there. "Why aren't you in class Naruto and why the hell did you do that to the Hokage monument you idiot!" Iruka yelled back. "Eh, I'll be a better Hokage than all of them and I just thought everyone should know that." answered the blonde boy with a petulant expression. Iruka just sighed at this. 'I get it no one pays any attention to him and many even hate him but a prank this big will not go unpunished by the Hokage. He has so much skill and yet he never bothers to learn at the academy. Four damn chunin and they couldn't touch him, and how the hell did he paint so much area without being noticed anyway?' Iruka wondered silently.

Evening that day Naruto was fuming slightly while washing down all the paint on the Hokage monument. Iruka noticed this and decided to talk to him so he might calm down and do it faster. "Calm down Naruto, you painted all over the mountain so it's only right you should be cleaning it up. By the way the graduation exam is next week and you should start preparing for it soon. I know you can graduate easily if you put your mind to it so I want you to focus on the exam okay?" Iruka said in a kind voice. Naruto looked up with an annoyed expression. "I know about the graduation exam sensei! I took it three times before remember? I don't know why people bother with it, it's a waste of time. Besides who even uses the Clone technique anyway? It's so lame an amateur can see through that." Iruka sighed at this, because the three jutsus taught at the academy were not taught to be used on the field at all.

The substitution jutsu was taught so all the genin would know how to project their chakra and apply chakra to any object outside of their and then manipulate it from a distance. The transformation jutsu was the most basic chakra shape manipulation exercise and also a great base for genjutsu as the jutsu required a high degree visualization and projecting this onto their own chakra. The clone jutsu was basically to exercise all of their tenketsu at once as the jutsu required the user to project their chakra simultaneously from all of their tenketsu and use shape manipulation and visualization technique to create the doppelganger. This was devised by the Nidaime Hokage to have a very strong base for all the ninja that would graduate. Iruka had explained this to Naruto many times and every single time, the boy didn't bother listening.

Iruka saw the sun starting to dip low over the horizon and decided to speed things up. "Tell you what Naruto, I'll buy you ramen tonight from Ichiraku's if you finish faster. How would you like that?" Naruto suddenly stopped and looked up to Iruka with an expression that made Iruka's heart clench a little. He knew how much that meant to Naruto. Naruto would do whatever someone told him to do as long as they acknowledged his presence and listened to him. Iruka often found himself relating himself to the blonde as he was very much the same once before. "Really Iruka sensei? You mean it?" Naruto almost shouted. Iruka nodded with a small smile at the excited blone. "YES! Thats so awesome Iruka sensei! You're the best!" The blonde boy shouted again.

Teuchi was greeted by the familiar sight of the blonde boy coming into his shop with a hungry expression and a huge grin. He smiled slightly at his favourite customer. The old ramen chef never understood why many people would hate such a innocent and kind child. He had seen the boy since he was six years old when the Hokage first brought him to his stall. He was a little wary of the Kyuubi's vessel at first but after seeing the boy for himself he decided that there was no way this was the dreaded fox. The third Hokage had explained that the fox was imprisoned within the boy with a sealing jutsu by the late Fourth Hokage. He had seen the boy defending small children against bullies twice his size. He had seen him give his money to poor people out on the street even though he was an orphan on stipend himself.

"Well Naruto what will be this tim... oh Iruka! You've come here to treat the boy to ramen is it?" the chef asked good naturedly. The scarred chunin nodded with a smile and sat down next to the blonde boy. They waited for the ramen to be made while Iruka listened to the boy talking about anything and everything, nodding and smiling kindly. The ramen arrived and Naruto stopped, with a slightly worshipful expression he stared at his ramen for a few seconds before digging in with gusto. Iruka finished his own bowl while Naruto ordered another. Instead of doing the same, Iruka decided to give Naruto another talking to so that he would take his graduation test seriously this time. "Naruto, you gotta study properly for this test so that you can become a great ninja okay? I know it may be boring to you now but all this are the basics and you need to know this if you ever want to become a ninja. I know you have a lot of potential so try harder okay?" Naruto frowned at this. He was trying his best to master what was taught in the academy but he always got them all wrong in the written test. His taijutsu was better and he could hold his own against everyone save a few. Only Kiba and the broody kid Sasuke were faster than him while Chouji was stronger. His ninjutsu wasn't anything great. The transformation jutsu was his favourite and his own Sexy jutsu was something he was extremely proud of. The substitution jutsu was also not that bad in his opinion. He could replace himself five times out of ten. The clone jutsu was his worst and he could never figure out why exactly he couldn't get it to work. Always his clones were sickly and dead looking and sometimes they would just disappear after a few seconds without warning. He wanted Iruka sensei to be proud of him and that's why he would never admit it to him that he failed in the graduation tests before even though he tried his best in all of them. 'If Iruka sensei finds out that I don't have the talent, he will be disappointed in me and he might start ignoring me like before again' Naruto thought and hence as usual he laughed it off in an effort to change the topic. "Meh, I'll do just fine sensei you worry too much. After all I'm gonna be Hokage someday and the future Hokage can't be stuck in the academy all the time right?" the blonde said with his usual bright smile. Iruka sighed at this waited for him to finish. He paid for the ramen and turned to the boy. "All right then Naruto, promise me you will study hard now. I don't want you slacking off okay?" Iruka said sternly. Naruto nodded before saying "Yes sensei, I promise!"

"Naruto Uzumaki please step forward." The white haired assistant called out. Naruto gulped and hoped that they wouldn't ask him to demonstrate the clone jutsu. "Now then Naruto, please demonstrate the clone jutsu and you pass" Iruka instructed him. Naruto felt his stomach drop at that. He felt he was gonna fail again but he tried to ignore his dread and proceeded to do the jutsu. 'No way a stupid jutsu is gonna stand in my way of becoming Hokage!' he thought. He held up the ram started to overflow from its natural pathways and flowed to his tenketsu. Unfortunately for the blonde, in his tense state he drew too much chakra and wisps started to become visible outside his body as he struggled to maintain the same amount of chakra output from all of his tenketsu. Both the examiners saw this with widened eyes. After a few seconds of struggle, he thought he had the same amount of chakra all over his body and thus he expelled it and tried to manipulate it's shape by visualizing himself. However, the jutsu was badly overloaded and hence as usual the clone was sickly and pale. Iruka wondered why Naruto used only the ram seal for the jutsu. The hand sign sequence was actually tiger-boar-ox-dog. He was wondering how in the world Naruto even managed to do the shape manipulation with only a ram sign. What he didn't know was that his assistant Mizuki taught him separately during the ninjutsu classes and thus Naruto didn't use the original seal sequence because Mizuki had told him that the ram worked better. The innocent Naruto would follow Mizuki's advice simply because he would say all of this with a kind smile and tell him he was doing great.

He looked at the clone and sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto but you fail" the scar faced man said with a frown. Naruto felt his world shattering around him as he couldn't pass the graduation exam again. "Come on Iruka, he did make a clone. Granted it's not in the best condition but it's better than some who couldn't do it at all right?" Mizuki said kindly. Naruto looked up with hope but Iruka just shook his head saying that it wasn't good enough. Naruto started to walk out of the class dejectedly. On his way outside he heard some of the adults talking about him.

"Ah, so the boy didn't graduate huh? Thank goodness!"

"Whew, the demon isn't going to be a ninja after all. What a relief!"

"Bah, as if someone so talentless could ever hope to become a ninja"

He always wondered how people would talk about him so cruelly while he could hear them so easily. The blonde didn't know that his long exposure to the potent chakra of the Kyuubi had given him enhanced senses and the adults had no idea that he could hear them. He held his head low as more thoughts started to intrude his head.

How people always kicked him out of shops, how no one would even look at him and those who did had those terrible, cruel eyes. This downward spiral was all too familiar to the blonde and he usually managed to stave off this line of thought by pranking someone or visiting the old man Hokage. But today there was no such relief and his thoughts started to take on a more hateful form.

Why did the villagers hate him anyway? What the hell had he done to them? He had always tried to smile and laugh so that they would stop staring at him with those cruel stares. He had unknowingly started to prank people so they would at least acknowledge him. He wasn't a piece of rock or a wall that everyone would ignore, he always argued. He had asked the Hokage why people would do this and the Hokage would just shake his head and change the topic. The Hokage had told him to ignore it and believe in himself. When he felt ignored or invisible he would repeat the same mantra again and again. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'll be Hokage. Then people would finally acknowledge me and respect me." The old man Hokage had told him to show kindness and compassion to others because that was what a Hokage would do. So Naruto started to do just that even though he hated the villagers and their treatment. It was hard at first. He wanted to punch the shop keeper for throwing him out. He wanted to kick the adult who sneered at him in disgust. He wanted to spoil the vegetables of the vendor who screamed at him to get out. But he held up the act of kindness because he was told to by the one person who was always nice to him and who had helped him so much. He wore the mask of the laughing, kind boy for so long, he didn't know how else to be


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: NARUTO ISN'T MINE. ALL RIGHTS TO KISHIMOTO.**

After the exam, Mizuki felt it was finally time to execute his plan. He had seen Naruto on the swing by the Academy and knew the boy was the perfect pawn. The boy was close to the Hokage and none of the staff at the tower suspected the boy as he was a familiar sight there. After all, while the civilians thought it was odd that the demon was there all the time, every shinobi who was chunin or higher knew that the Jinchuuriki was always kept under close scrutiny by the Hokage and was encouraged to be within the tower as much as he pleased. Thus he went over to the boy with a kind smile.

"Hey there Naruto, what's up?"

"...Nothing."

"Hey don't be so down kiddo, there's always next time right?"

"What's the point of wasting another year anyway? I should just quit."

"Hey don't say that. Now listen carefully okay? Since you actually managed to create a clone this time, I think it's only right if you were allowed to take the secret graduation test." The white haired chunin had an amused smile on his face as Naruto almost slipped from the swing.

"Secret test? Seriously!? Are you sure I can take it?"

"Yes of course Naruto. Now listen carefully coz I'm only gonna tell you this once..." And thus Mizuki told the gullible blonde to steal the Forbidden Scroll of the first Hokage from the tower's private library without being detected by anyone. Naruto listened with rapt attention at this. His chance of salvation was right there and all he had to do was steal some stupid scroll.

Naruto ran to the Hokage tower in earnest. No one paid him any attention as usual within the tower. Now Mizuki had said that nobody was allowed to go into the private library of the Hokage. So he had to just sneak past the guards. That part was pretty easy. All he needed was a diversion to lure them out so he decided to use his pranking skills to the fullest and cause a scene in the tower. But first he needed to know their routine and positions around it. So he went to the Hokage's office and knocked loudly. The old man was there as always with a pipe in one hand and a scroll in the other. The Hokage greeted him with a kind smile, interested to see what his favourite blonde troublemaker wanted this time.

"Hey there old man, how are ya doing?"

"Quite well Naruto, thank you."

"Uh listen, I was wondering if you could tell me more about chakra and stuff because I can't understand what the text books or the teachers at the academy tell me."

"Ah, so that's why you came here this time. I'm surprised Naruto. Usually you either come here for ramen or for the punishment for your pranks. I'm glad you're finally taking things as a ninja seriously."

Naruto frowned at this but kept his cool as the Hokage chuckled. All he had to do was just get the old man talking long enough for him to sense out the hidden guards within the room and note their positions when he would come here later that night. He knew that the old man was a sucker for long lectures and he just gave him his favourite topic to talk about.

"Okay then Naruto, we'll start with the basics then. As you know chakra is the innate life energy that flows through our body to keep us alive and our organs running. Our chakra itself is composed of two components, the spiritual and the physical. All jutsus used by shinobi are fuelled by chakra in one or the other form. By combining spiritual and physical chakra in different proportions, we achieve various effects upon the chakra such as change in chakra nature and form. To use chakra properly, shinobi train for years to draw out the chakra from its natural pathways, towards certain regions that they then manipulate to create the jutsus they want. To do so one must first find the source of the chakra within their bodies. This is located at the base of the spinal cord, in a special region in the body in the form of a serpent coiled three and a half times moving slowly and keeping the flow of chakra within the body and keeping us alive. Now we must first draw out the chakra from this source by forcing it to move faster and faster until it gives out more chakra than usual to the body and then we siphon away this extra chakra to fuel our jutsus. We then use various hand signs to regulate the flow of chakra to various parts of the body and control the chakra composition and create different types of jutsus. Following me so far?"

He nodded to the old man. As the Hokage then continued to list out the various laws of chakra he realized he hadn't tried to locate the guards yet. So he kept his eyes on the Hokage while focusing on the curious sensation he always got between his eyes at the centre of his forehead when channelling some chakra there. Naruto asked the old man about it once and he had explained that this was actually an ability dubbed as the 'Mind's eye of Kagura'. The old man had explained that Naruto had a rare ability to sense other chakra signatures and that Naruto was a 'Type 1 sensor'. The Hokage had then told him to keep working on it and Naruto did just that.

After a few seconds of the usual dizziness, he started to feel the chakra of the room slightly. There was the usual chakra of the old man. It felt like sitting in front of a blazing fire with the heat hitting his face. He squinted and tried to sense the other chakra signatures. Slowly as he began to get used to the presence of the old Hokage, he started to feel the signatures of the other guards too. There were four of them in the four corners of the room. He randomly looked to see if he could see them but the walls and corners looked completely ordinary. 'How the hell are they- hey wait I think it must be the cloaking technique. Besides why would the old geezer need guards anyway, he's the strongest ninja in the village, he could beat anyone who tried to attack him.' Naruto thought. Naruto decided to ask him that later when he became a ninja. Now he had to focus on passing. 'Since they are in all four corners, there are no blind spots in their sight. I gotta make them move out from there. To do that I need something to make them move out of there.' His standard stink bombs wouldn't cut it, he realized that he had used them too many times and people would know. Fortunately he had been saving up a special batch of smoke bombs that spewed extra thick smoke. All he had to was throw them in the records room next to the office and the diversion would be good enough. He hoped it was good enough to make the guards in the office go there to put it out as nobody else actually stayed in the tower after nine. These weren't guards actually but the chunin attendants of the Hokage and later that night, Naruto would come to know of this.

The Hokage noticed the young boy's thoughtful expression and his discrete and brief glances around his office and the occasional twitch or jump in his shoulder indicating his nervousness. He knew the boy was upto something. He knew that the moment he heard the boy ask about chakra. But he also knew that the boy was smart enough to restrain himself from pranking the Hokage tower as ANBU were guarding it closely. He wondered what the boy was planning and so he decided to wait and see for himself.

Naruto walked out of the Hokage tower, closely observing everything he could. He then returned at 9:30 carrying his standard pranking kit minus the paint. He also decided to wear dark colours as hiding and blending in were very important if were to pull this off. The tower was still open but most of the staff was leaving. He waited for the crowd to thin out and then quietly slipped in. He avoided the crowd and used his sensing ability to determine the best possible timing and route to the Hokage office.

The ANBU in the tower were reasonably impressed. The boy had managed to evade all chunin patrols and not a single person except the ANBU had known he was in the building. They saw him enter the records room. They were about to follow him when he came out only moments later. A few minutes later, smoke started to billow out of the records room. The ANBU were now livid. The records room contained important mission records that were vital to the village economy. If the boy had set fire to them, thousands of missions would be cancelled temporarily as the duplicate documents had to be fetched from the information and records department. They were about to apprehend him for the offence but the four attendants came rushing out of the office in a hurry to put the fire out and in the chaos, Naruto slipped inside and opened the secret door to the Hokage library as Mizuki told him to. He scanned the room for a few seconds before finding the required scroll. He made his way out again avoiding all the patrols. The ANBU were now on high alert. The Kyuubi's jinchuuriki was closely observed from the day of his birth. All of his activities were recorded and none of it suggested this sort of behaviour where he would betray the village like this. There was more to this than what met the eye.

Hiruzen Sarutobi saw all of this through his telescope technique and his brilliant mind started to race. 'Naruto would never intentionally do something like this at all. Even he knows stealing a scroll full of village secrets is a capital offence. Does he actually know what he is doing or is it someone who's using the boy as a pawn? Who can it be?. Let's see how this plays out then.' Sarutobi thought before relaying his orders to the ANBU to shadow him and determine the one behind all of this before taking action on the boy.

Naruto was panting slightly as he reached the spot Mizuki told him to go to. It was training ground 20, the one at the very border of the village with a small weapon cache. The blonde was grinning slightly while opening the scroll to learn a jutsu from it so he could pass. 'Oh man, that was way too easy! Why the hell does the old man pay them to guard the office? A dog can probably do a better job!' He was taken aback when he saw the first jutsu of the scroll. 'Multi Shadow clone jutsu... Damn it another clone technique!? I must have the worst luck in the world! But I have to pass this exam or I'll never be Hokage. A stupid clone jutsu is not gonna make me fail here!' Naruto thought with a scowl before reading the contents of the jutsu description.

Technique: Shadow clone

Description:

This clone technique is utilized by first expelling chakra from all the tenketsu of the user's body simultaneously. Then the chakra is manipulated by visualizing the user's body. The key to this technique is to make sure the user splits the chakra between himself and the clone equally. Otherwise the jutsu fails. Shaping the chakra expelled is again done by close visualization of the user's own body as stated before. The visualization exercise is explained in the footnote.

**HALF-CROSSED TIGER SEAL DIAGRAM**

The above hand sign is used to form the shape manipulated chakra into a fully independent solid clone that is capable of thought and has the ability to use chakra separately from the user.

Footnotes:

1. Since the user's chakra is split in half, this jutsu is extremely chakra intensive and the user must take great care to limit the number of clones. Thus the unique hand sign for this jutsu was created that allows almost 50% of the clone's chakra to return to the user when a clone dispels due to injury and up to 90% when dispelled by the user himself depending on the mastery of the jutsu. This also introduced an interesting side effect as the independent thoughts and memories of the clone returned to the user as well.

2. Expanding upon the above point, a user that receives the memory feedback of the clones must be wary of the overload if one happens to create too much clones or if the clones have too much unique information.

3. The visualization technique to be used is based on the chakra awakening exercise. First one must feel the flow of chakra throughout the body. Every chakra pathway must be covered or the created clones will not be perfect. In order to do this, any sort of meditation technique can be used. Once the complete chakra layout of the body is covered, all of it is superimposed upon the expelled chakra.

Naruto read through the jutsu description twice before stopping to think. So it was basically the same as the bushin jutsu only now he had to split his chakra evenly. That wasn't so hard for Naruto actually. So the blonde's only hurdle was to get the visualization technique down and then impose it onto his chakra like he did with the bushin jutsu. 'Okay then, the scroll says that it's based on the awakening exercise we did so long ago. Huh who knew that would come in handy again' the blonde thought as he began the breathing exercise to put his body in the state where his chakra network would be felt by him. Two hours, several hundred sickly looking and a few explosive clones later, Naruto again put his hands up in the crossed tiger sign and started to draw out chakra and attempted to split his chakra evenly into 4 parts. He grunted from the effort as the strain from so many clone attempts finally started to set in. He was a little desperate at this point. 'Damn it I can't tell exactly how much chakra I'm drawing out! What should I do!? I need a way to find out exactly how much chakra is there outside my body and how much is inside. The inside part is simple enough but the outside one is driving me nuts. I can't make out how much I should give to each one when I can't exactly sense how much is there outs- hey thats it!' Naruto almost stumbled over when he realized something. 'AARGH! I had the answer the whole time and I was too stupid to realize it. GAH!' the blonde thought with anger. He held up the hand sign again while channelling some chakra to his forehead. When he expelled his chakra, he now knew exactly how much chakra each clone needed as he his felt his own chakra surrounding him in three separate places. After the visualization step, three clones of Naruto poofed into existence in front of him. Naruto was giddy with joy. "YEEEAAHHH! I DID IT! I FINALLY PASSED" the blonde yelled with joy.

One of the clones in front of him said "Oh yeah! I'm awesome! I gotta tell Iruka sensei this!"

The clone next to it scowled immediately and said "Hold it there blondie, if anyone's telling Iruka sensei, it would be me!"

The third was angry now as well. "Helllooo! Both of you losers better get lost before I kick your asses. I'm telling Iruka sensei and you guys should just can it!"

"Who are you calling blondie you asshole! You're blond too if you didn't notice!"

"You think you can take me on tough guy!? I'll make your ass get acquainted with my boot real soon!"

Naruto saw this with a sweat-drop. 'Did I do the jutsu wrong or something? There's no way I'm that lame!' He decided to intervene before things got ugly. "Alright listen up you three. I'm the one who's actually gonna tell Iruka sensei as I'm the real Naruto here got it?" he yelled over the commotion. The three clones turned their heads towards him and yelled back "OH YEAH!? WHO MADE YOU THE KING HERE!?" Naruto sighed before saying "Okay guys, enough fighting. I finally managed to get the kage bushin down properly and I can graduate now!"

"Eh aren't you supposed to say we graduated coz you know, we are all Naruto as well."

Naruto was now a little confused. 'He has a... I mean I have a point. We are all Naruto so we... no I shoul... Gah this is confusing!'

"Okay, I'm the original and I'm the boss got it? There's no 'we' here, there's only me!" he told firmly.

All three clones shouted "Yes boss!" simultaneously.

Naruto dispelled the clones and tried the jutsu again only splitting his chakra into 11 parts. 10 clones poofed into existence. Naruto felt ecstatic. He dispelled and tried to split it into 16 parts, 15 clones came into existence. Naruto finally thought he was getting a hang of the jutsu. He was still channelling some chakra into his forehead when he sensed a chakra signature at 9 o clock. He turned to see Iruka glaring down at him. "Hey Iruka sensei! I finally did it!" he yelled. "Oh yeah Naruto, you did it alright! What the hell were you thinking?" the chunin nearly screamed.

Naruto blinked once before saying "But it's okay now right? I mastered a jutsu in this scroll and now I can graduate now right?" Iruka looked at Naruto in mute shock. He finally managed to say "Graduation? Who gave you that idea Naruto?" The said blonde was now feeling nervous. "Mizuki sensei said so. Uh he said if I steal this scroll undetected and learn a jutsu from it, I can graduate." Naruto replied slowly. Iruka's mind was now racing, 'Mizuki said that? There's no way... is he planning to betray the village and stealing the scroll and framing Naruto?' the chunin thought. Suddenly he heard the familiar whistle of kunai flying.

"Get down Naruto!" Iruka said as he pushed the blonde away from the kunai's trajectory. The chunin himself couldn't get away completely and a kunai pierced him on the shoulder while another pierced his knee. Naruto was shocked and rooted to his spot. He couldn't figure what was happening. There was no graduation test? Did Mizuki lie to him? Then he looked at the injured Iruka and he felt a hot fire coursing through his veins. Meanwhile Mizuki was amused at the sight in front of him. Iruka was protecting the demon brat? He had to kill witnesses anyway but now he would get to enjoy while doing it now...

"So Iruka, I see you're protecting the demon spawn. I thought you hated him. After all, he did-"

"Mizuki! You traitor! What the hell are you doing!?"

The white haired chunin just laughed and launched several shuriken at the injured Iruka. Iruka dodged and decided to retaliate but before he could do so, an orange blur crashed into his opponent. Mizuki recovered quickly and responded with a hard kick at the annoyance. Naruto felt the kick rattle his bones and landed with a thud at Iruka's feet. He got up quickly with his teeth bared. "If you touch my sensei, I'll kill you!" Naruto said in a hateful voice.

Mizuki simply laughed "You think you can kill me demon boy? Well maybe you can. After all you are th-"

"Don't say it Mizuki! You know its forbidden!"

Mizuki snarled and threw another round of shuriken at the pair which Iruka and Naruto dodged."Ha! As if a stupid law can stop me now. Anyway listen here you brat, you are the Kyuubi. The damned fox spirit that attacked our village 12 years ago." Mizuki was interrupted again by another volley of kunai. When he recovered, he saw the blond was gone with the scroll. Mizuki was forced to dodge a pair of shuriken by Iruka again. "Damn it Iruka why the hell are you defending the Kyuubi? He killed his parents you fool! You should be thanking me for doing this!" he snarled out. Iruka rolled out of a kunai's path and glared at the white haired traitor. "Naruto is not the Kyuubi you bastard! He is a hard working citizen of Konoha and I'm proud to be his teacher. He's nothing like the Kyuubi!" Iruka yelled back.

Naruto who was behind a tree hiding, was listening to this. He was numb with shock when he listened to Mizuki's revelation. 'I'm the one who killed Iruka sensei's parents? Is that why everyone looks at me like that? Am I actually the fox that killed so many people?' Such thoughts were cut short when he listened to Iruka's reply. 'Sensei is proud of me? He thinks of me like that? I'm not the Kyuubi then?' His head was spinning lightly and he had trouble standing up. Iruka had told him to run back to the village with the scroll but he couldn't leave his sensei behind. His resolve hardened and he came out of hiding to help his sensei.

"Naruto! I told you to go to the village damn it!" Iruka yelled in frustration

"HAHAHA! Oh so the dead-last wants to protect his precious sensei huh?" Mizuki said with amusement. He charged directly at the blond to end his life but he felt another kunai coming at him. After being forced to duck, he saw the blond running off into the forest. Cursing profusely, he chased after him thinking Iruka was in no condition to fight. He finally caught up to the blond and was about to launch his fuma shuriken when the said blond abruptly turned back and punched him in the gut. Mizuki was shocked for a moment before it all suddenly clicked. "Oh Iruka, I always thought you were a smart guy but this is just plain stupid. You can't hope to beat me and you threw away your life for a stupid kid." The blond figure glared at him and a poof later, a smirking Iruka stood in his place. 'Damn, I'm out of shuriken and I have a single kunai left. I have to hold on till Naruto gets some back up. And my good hand is injured as well, talk about a bad situation.' The white haired chunin came at him with his large shuriken swinging it high. Iruka ducked but Mizuki was right on top of him with swift swings. Iruka knew parrying a fuma shuriken was stupid. They were made of better material, thus damaging and even possibly breaking his single kunai and the heavy blunt force might even dislocate his wrist as he was using his weaker left hand. He was on the defensive and he was much slower due to injured knee. Just when he thought he was being overwhelmed, he felt a large pressure enveloping the small clearing around him. Both Mizuki and Iruka looked at Naruto in shock as he was moulding and gathering chakra at a frightening level. "NO NO NO! I WILL NOT LET YOU HARM IRUKA SENSEI NO MATTER WHAT!" Naruto yelled in a crazed scream of anger before holding up his hands in the crossed tiger seal. "MULTI-SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" he called out and there were innumerable pops. The clearing was filled with a sea of orange clad 12 year old blondes.

"I'm gonna beat you up you traitor!"

"What's wrong? I thought you said you wanted to kill me!?"

"Looks like its time for some ass kicking huh Mizuki sensei?"

Mizuki suddenly felt overwhelmed and in his shock, he couldn't even defend himself against the horde of oncoming clones. A few minutes and some serious ass-kicking later, chunin instructor Mizuki Touji was an unconscious and broken mess on the forest floor. "He he, um I guess I went a little overboard huh sensei?" Naruto asked while rubbing the back of his head with a huge grin. Iruka had a matching grin of his own and beckoned the blond closer. "Hey Naruto, close your eyes now okay? I have a surprise for you." The chunin said and when the boy did just that, he tied his forehead protector around his forehead and said, "Okay you can open them now." Naruto touched his forehead and his fingers brushed around something metallic. Naruto suddenly felt a twinge of excitement go through him. "Does this mean what I think it means Iruka sensei?" he asked feeling his heart beating wildly and his head soaring high above. "Yep, you are now a shinobi of Konohagakure so yeah, congratulations Naruto you graduate" said a smiling Iruka. "THANK YOU IRUKA SENSEI, YOU ARE THE BEST!" yelled a teary Naruto and hugged the scarred instructor tightly. Iruka hugged back before saying "I'm really proud of you Naruto. You are my best student and I want you to work even harder now that you're a genin okay? There will be no more training wheels from now and things will get much harder. I know you can do it though. No matter what the obstacle you always come through it by never giving up and being the absolute best you can be and nothing less got it? Do this and I have no doubt you'll be the best Hokage this village has ever seen." Naruto listened to this with a very serious and attentive expression. "I promise Iruka sensei. I won't give up no matter what!" Naruto said seriously. Little did Iruka know, Naruto would live by these words for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile the third Hokage was observing all this through his crystal ball while having a thoughtful expression. Next to him was a brown haired old man wearing a white shirt with a dark grey robe over it, covering his right arm. He had bandages covering his right eye. 'Naruto managed to learn the jutsu in two hours? Even I took a week to learn it, and Tobirama sensei was teaching me. It's like he suddenly became Minato for the two hours before becoming Naruto again.' Hiruzen thought with intrigue. Meanwhile his companion had a little different line of thought. 'Ah so the jinchuuriki has finally managed to bloom. Anymore delay and we would've had to search for a more talented host. He still hasn't shown any ability with the biju's chakra but if he is skilled enough to learn the shadow clone jutsu that fast, there is hope for the village yet...'


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: NARUTO ISN'T MINE. ALL RIGHTS TO KISHIMOTO.**

"Iruka-sensei, am I in trouble now because I stole the scroll?" asked Naruto with a small frown. Iruka looked at him with a smile. "Nah, it's cool... As a student, you're supposed to trust the teacher. You did just that. So no Naruto, you're gonna be okay" the chunin assured him. They finally reached the Hokage's office and Iruka knocked politely. The Hokage allowed them to enter and settled his gaze on Naruto. "So then Naruto-kun, looks like you had a rough night eh?" The said blond looked at the Hokage for a few seconds before answering. "You can say that again old man, but now I'm a shinobi and one stop closer to taking that hat from you!" he said a little too loudly. Hiruzen chuckled slightly before asking the chunin instructor to give his report. When Iruka got to the part where the traitor Mizuki revealed to Naruto about the Kyuubi, the said blond stiffened involuntarily. Finally after the scarred instructor finished his verbal report, the Hokage asked Naruto to stay back while dismissing the other.

"You've been awfully quiet Naruto-kun. It's not like you to be so silent. Tell me about how you feel and don't hold anything back. I know I deserve it." The old Sarutobi said with a small sigh. Naruto looked conflicted for a moment. He wanted to yell at the old man so badly for keeping a secret like that from him but at the same time, this was also a man who was like his grandfather, who never let him down. "Why did you keep it from me old man?" he managed to say looking down. "I kept it a secret because if you had known earlier, I thought you would've gone thinking about how you were the demon who destroyed the village. Otherwise you would've tried to yell to anyone and everyone that you're not the Kyuubi. I kept it from you knowing this because I hoped that you would've had a normal childhood without this terrible burden. But you had anything but a normal childhood. You were shunned and hated by the villagers even when you were the one protecting them from the Kyuubi. Ignorant as they are, they never acknowledged you as the hero you should've been known as." The Hokage said, the sadness evident in his voice. Naruto looked up to see the Hokage suddenly looking very old. He couldn't take seeing his smiling grandfather looking so sad, so he smiled and tried to make him feel better even when he was feeling hollow and numb inside. "It's okay old man. I can take it. Besides if I whine and cry about it, its not gonna make the problem go away right? I'm gonna be Hokage someday and I will make the villagers acknowledge me. This is not gonna stop me from doing that at all so don't worry about it!" he said loudly, making the Hokage stare at him strangely. 'He's saying all of this to try and make me feel better! Ah Naruto... you truly are a rare child. I wish I could make things better for him Minato but it seems I'm helpless as usual. I hope you forgive me in the afterlife.' Hiruzen thought sadly before deciding to close the conversation and at least give the boy something to be happy about.

"This is why I'm always proud of you Naruto. Now I want you to promise me couple of things. One is that you'll not tell anyone about the Kyuubi before asking either me or your jonin sensei understood?"

Naruto nodded. "The second is that you'll never teach anyone the shadow clone jutsu. No matter who it is. No matter what the situation is got it?" Naruto nodded again before asking "Why is that old man?"

Hiruzen took a moment to take a puff from his pipe. "The shadow clone jutsu was invented by the second Hokage. It's a jutsu whose secrets are known only to Konoha and if any other village gets a hold of it, we lose a big edge over them. You can't teach the shadow clone jutsu to any of your classmates because it's a very chakra intensive jutsu that can kill even some jonin if done poorly. That is why it's classified as a kinjutsu and very few are made to learn this jutsu." The old man explained patiently. Naruto blinked once. "So how come I'm fine then old man?" he asked curiously. "Ah that's because you're a very special case Naruto. You have more chakra than most of the shinobi in the village right now. You might even surpass me in reserves in a year." Hiruzen said with a small smile. "Wow really? I'm so awesome old man and I didn't even know it till now!" Naruto exclaimed. The Hokage chuckled at the blonde's antics before dismissing him. "Off you go then Naruto-kun, you have a week before you're assigned to your teams. Don't slack off and try to get some training in there." The blonde nodded firmly before saying "You got it old man!" and running off.

(The next day)

The chunin assisting the Hokage with the genin registrations was witnessing a strange scene. The village's pranking delinquent and the esteemed sandaime Hokage were having a staring contest and both were stubbornly refusing to give up. There was a picture of a spiky blonde haired boy covered in white paint and red swirls frozen in a strange pose on the desk in front of him.

"Take it again."

"No way"

"I said take it again"

"Not a chance old man, my picture is artistic and has character, why should I change that?"

" You're covered in face paint and it looks stupid. I can't recognize you in this picture so take it again."

"Hmph! Take this! Transform!" Naruto called out as he used his personal jutsu. When the smoke cleared, the Hokage was greeted by the sight of a curvy beautiful blonde woman, completely naked with wisps of smoke covering strategic places. She was blowing out kisses provocatively. The shock of nudity forced the Hokage to the floor as his body struggled to cope with the sudden spike of arousal directed towards the pouting young lady. Another poof later a laughing Naruto stood in the nude woman's place. "Hahaha! I gotcha old man! That was my very own Sexy Jutsu" Naruto said in between his snickers. The old Hokage recovered from the jutsu and got back up. "So that's the Sexy jutsu I've heard about huh? Quite a nasty trick, but never do it again!" the Hokage replied before taking his seat again.

"Bah! You're always cramping my style gramp- huh?" Naruto paused in his tirade as he felt someone sneaking up on them in the room. He looked towards the door which was slightly open now. Suddenly a small boy with spiky brown hair wearing a yellow shirt, grey shorts and a long blue scarf rushed inside with a shuriken in his hand poised to throw. He wore a grey helmet with a hole at the top which was bushy with his brown hair. "Get ready to gimme the hat old ma- OW!" the small kid couldn't finish his sentence as he tripped over his scarf and fell hard on his face. The Hokage just sighed. 'Oh boy. When did Konahamaru grow up to be like this? At least he is determined... that's his 20th sneak attack today.' The old Sarutobi thought with ire. Meanwhile Naruto was looking at this with a slack expression. 'Uh... who's this stupid kid? And he wanted to take on the Hokage with a single shuriken?'

The brown haired boy Konahamaru was busy rubbing his face in pain. "Alright! Who's the jerk who did this to me?" the small boy yelled before setting his eyes on Naruto. "Hey you, why did you trip me!?" he shouted, moving closer to the blonde. A vein pulsed visibly on Naruto's forehead. "You tripped on your own feet you stupid brat!" yelled back Naruto. "Yeah right! Stop lying blondie!" the brown haired boy retorted. Naruto felt a blood vessel pop in his head. He grabbed the offending kid by his scarf while cocking his fist back to put him in his place, but at that instant a tall man wearing shades walked in with an angry expression which quickly turned to shock at seeing the situation. He was wearing a standard Konoha shinobi outfit with a black full sleeved shirt and black pants and his forehead protector as a bandanna. "Oh no! Honourable grandson are you alright? You! Unhand him you delinquent! Do you know who that is? That's the Honourable grandson of the Honourable third Hokage!" he spat at Naruto. "Yeah that's right, what are you gonna do now tough guy? Scared because the Hokage is my grandfather?" Konahamaru added snidely. Naruto lost his temper at this. "I don't care if he's your grandmother!" he yelled before punching the annoying boy right on his head. Konahamaru couldn't believe the blonde guy had actually punched him. He hadn't cared about the fact that he was the 'Honourable grandson' and he had seen him catch his grandfather with a weird nude jutsu before. 'This guy's different...' thought Konohamaru.

The man wearing shades looked absolutely horrified when he saw Konahamaru being punched. "HONOURABLE GRANDSON! Honourable grandson are you alright? How dare you!" he roared, moving towards Naruto. The Hokage decided to intervene before things got messier. "That's enough Ebisu. Come back later for your registration Naruto... and no more fooling around." he said sternly. Naruto complied, noticing the annoyed expression on the old man's face. He had better things to do anyway.

"Honourable grandson, please refrain yourself from associating with insolent, untalented people like that boy from now on. He's far beneath you. Now come along, I will show you a technique that will definitely help you become the next Hoka- HONOURABLE GRANDSON!" Ebisu screeched out when he noticed that the brown haired boy was nowhere to be seen yet again.

Naruto was walking towards the market district slowly with a thoughtful expression. He had enough ramen definitely, but he needed fresh milk and some juice. The old Hokage had told him to take his career as a ninja seriously now and Iruka had warned him that it would get much tougher now that he graduated. 'I gotta train hard from now but I don't even know what I should do. The orientation is in six days. I should come up with something cool to show the jonin teacher. Maybe I- huh?' Naruto paused in his thought as he felt his chakra sense tingling. Channelling his chakra to his forehead, a new world of curious senses opened up to Naruto as he began to feel various chakra signatures around him. He concentrated on determining the one behind him and it felt vaguely familiar. 'Wait is that- oh boy, its that kid again, what is his problem now?' Naruto thought as he looked behind him. He saw Konahamaru trying to use the cloaking technique and failing miserably.

"I can see you're there you know! That disguise is so poor it's disgraceful. What do you want?"

"Heh, so the rumours about you are true. You are good!"

"Uh okay and?"

"From here on out, I'll be your apprentice and you're my master. Train me boss!"

"Eh... boss?"

"Yeah! You're the boss, boss!"

Naruto felt a little flustered. He never experienced something like this before. Rubbing the back of his head slowly he tried to calm the excited kid first. "Uh yeah sure... I'll train you kid, no problem now come with me, I gotta pick up some stuff at the market and we'll start."

(Three hours later)

Naruto and Konohamaru were sitting in a clearing of one of the many parks in the village."I was named Konohamaru after the village. But whenever someone looks at me, they never see me. All they see is the 'Honourable grandson'. Nobody ever sees me for who I am. I'm sick of it. That's why I want to defeat gramps and become Hokage so people don't ignore me and my existence"

Naruto listened to Konohamaru and knew exactly how he felt. He had the same problem although, the reason everyone ignored him was much worse. But there was one problem in the whole conversation that Naruto felt he had to clear up. "I know exactly what you mean Konohamaru but there's just one thing though. To become Hokage, you'll have to beat me in combat first." He said with a toothy smirk. Konohamaru looked at his new boss with a determined expression. "You're on! Then you're not my boss anymore. No you're my rival from now on! We'll see who'll become Hokage first!" he said seriously. Naruto smiled at that and was about to make a comeback when he sensed another presence approaching them. A second later, the man wearing shades from before came into the clearing.

"There you are! I'm disappointed in you for not following my advice. Come with me, we must get going." Ebisu said patiently although he was fuming inside. 'That boy will spoil the Hokage's grandson. I must make sure Konohamaru doesn't associate himself with him again' he thought while moving to take the said boy away. "No! I don't wanna. Naruto here has taught me more than you ever have!" Konohamaru replied sharply while jerking away from his grasp. "Ha! As if a talentless ruffian like him can teach you anything worthwhile. I am an elite ninja of the village and I can teach you all that you need to put you on the fast track of being Hokage." the tall man told him in a superior tone while adjusting his glasses. Konohamaru scowled at this before putting his hands up in the ram sign. "Transform!" he called out and there was a poof of smoke. When it cleared, Ebisu was subjected to the full wrath of the jutsu and to his credit, he didn't pass out. "NOO! What a dishonourable technique! Honourable grandson, this is most disgraceful!" he squealed in a high-pitched voice while trying to get over the effects of the jutsu. He then proceeded to gracefully take the boy away by yanking at his long scarf and screaming at him to behave. Naruto decided that this guy needed to be put in his place. Although he now knew exactly why everyone ignored and belittled him, he felt irked by the man's smug and superior tone. "shadow clone jutsu!" he called out and a moment later, the small clearing was filled with 30 orange wearing, identical blondes.

"Hmph! Do you really think you can defeat me with that? Mizuki might have been beaten with this but he was a light weight chunin. I'm a jonin, an elite. There's no way you can defeat me with this jutsu boy!" he boasted while walking towards the clones with a smirk. Naruto wasn't listening though. "transform!" he called out immediately and his clones did the same. When the smoke cleared out, 30 extremely beautiful, naked blondes were pouting and blushing while making provocative gestures at Ebisu. This time, the advanced jutsu made the honourable jonin pass out from extreme blood loss. "Gotcha! That was my harem jutsu, HAHAHA!" Naruto cackled after dropping the transformation.

"Whoa! That was awesome!" cheered Konohamaru from behind. "Man, I wish I knew some killer shortcuts so I can become Hokage faster though" he said looking down." When he looked up, he saw Naruto looking at him with a serious expression. "There are no shortcuts to become the Hokage you know. You have to believe in yourself. I had it really rough as a kid actually. After so much trouble, I finally made someone acknowledge me. I'm not gonna stop now or any other time. I'll make everyone acknowledge me someday. You have to be ready to work hard, to give your blood, sweat and tears to it. You have to put your life on the line. Only then can you possibly become Hokage." Naruto said while looking directly at the brown haired boy. The said boy nodded. "Well then, I'm looking forward to contesting you for the title of Hokage then... Konohamaru" Naruto said with a small grin and Konohamaru matched it with his own.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: NARUTO ISN'T MINE. ALL RIGHTS TO KISHIMOTO.**

(The day of the orientation)

A young girl was trying adjust her forehead protector on her bright pink hair properly. She finished it and looked at her reflection in the mirror. A girl wearing a short sleeved red qipao dress with white circular design and green shorts looked back at her. Satisfied with what she saw, she struck a pose and decided to give herself a final brush-up. "Saakuraa! Your orientation is in an hour. Come eat some breakfast." a voice called out. "I knooww mom, I'll be right there." She called back, trying to control her temper. "**CHA! I'm not a kid anymore! I'm a ninja now!**" Inner Sakura shouted.

Sakura was walking towards the ninja academy when a blonde girl with a ponytail came out from the Yamanaka flower shop. She had bangs covering the right side of her face, and was wearing a purple vest like blouse, a purple apron skirt with a Konoha forehead protector around her waist. She looked towards the pink haired girl with a sarcastic smile. "Good morning Sakura" the blonde girl said in mock politeness. "Good morning Ino" Sakura replied in the same manner. They continued to walk till they were shoulders apart. "So forehead, its the orientation now. Its not for little kids you know" Ino said snidely. Sakura refused to rise to that. "We're not in the academy anymore Ino-pig. I'm taking my ninja career seriously unlike some people" she shot back while walking ahead of the blonde. The young Yamanaka felt her ire growing and walked faster to move ahead of her rival. Sakura responded by pushing past Ino to stay ahead. This escalated quickly and everyone nearby saw two young girls pushing and shoving each other while running towards the academy shouting.

Naruto was bored. He was really bored. He came early to the academy to make a good impression but Iruka still hadn't showed up. He put his head on the desk in exasperation. Suddenly he heard a loud noise and looked up to see his two classmates Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno struggling to fit through the door while trying to enter at the same time. Finally they both crashed in and started arguing about the victor, but Naruto wasn't paying attention to any of that. He felt butterflies in his stomach as he stared at Sakura. To his utter surprise, she looked at him at the same instant with an expression mirroring his own. He felt his stomach quiver even more. 'Oh wow she's looking at me! Does she finally like me? Sweet she's walking towards me!" But the young blonde's hopes crashed down violently, just like him when he was wordlessly shoved away from his seat by Sakura. He felt the familiar pang of hurt and looked up to see his crush looking at a dark haired boy wearing a blue shirt and white shorts. He had a Konoha forehead protector around his forehead and he had clasped his hands together with a blank expression on his face. "Good morning Sasuke.. Uh.. mind if I like.. sit next to you?" Sakura said with a shy smile. The dark haired boy Sasuke didn't even look up. At that instant, Ino came towards Sakura with an annoyed expression. "Get lost forehead! I was here first! Besides Sasuke here likes classy girls. Right Sasuke?" she said trying to get a reaction out of him.

'Bah! It's always Sasuke this and Sasuke that! What does Sakura see in him anyway? I'm a much better ninja than him. Guess I'll have to show everyone that.' Thought Naruto while nursing his hurt pride. So he decided to go show how beneath him Sasuke was, and saw his chance as both girls went away dejected. He jumped onto the boy's desk and moved his head closer to his in an effort to intimidate him. Sasuke just stared back blankly. After a second, a boy behind Naruto was talking animatedly and in the process pushed Naruto forward when leaning back. Naruto couldn't control his momentum and fell forward into Sasuke. Thus in the presence of 28 other 12 year olds, both the boys' lips met. Naruto jerked back immediately, as did Sasuke, both boys gagging while clutching their throats. While it was clear to the boys this was a complete accident that would haunt the two victims for the reminder of their lives, the female crowd was a little less merciful in their assessment. Naruto was contemplating pouring bleach inside his head when his danger sense went bonkers and he looked behind. Twelve girls were standing there with fire in their eyes and deceptive smiles on their faces. "Na-ru-to" said Sakura in a calm tone. Naruto tried to explain that it was an accident but before he was even given a chance, all of them proceeded to show him how much they appreciated his actions.

"Looks like the boy is in some trouble again as usual" Hiruzen Sarutobi said while looking through his crystal ball at the graduating batch. 10 jonin were assembled before him and they were looking at all of this with amused expressions. They were called to the Hokage's office to collect the registration forms and related documents of the genin-to-be's. Closest to the Hokage among the jonin was a short, spiky white haired man in the standard Konoha flak vest, a black full sleeved shirt, black cargo pants. His hitai-ate covered his left eye while a black face mask covered his mouth and nose. He stepped forward to receive his set of documents. Following his lead, all the other jonin proceeded to so the same. They were given some general pointers and instructions on handling their genin squad by the Hokage. Soon they were dismissed but the Hokage nodded towards Kakashi, signalling him to stay behind. "Ah Kakashi, I have a few things to discuss about young Naruto here so please sit down. Naruto here was part of last week's theft incident as you know. He managed to learn the shadow clone jutsu under two hours." Kakashi's visible eye widened at hearing this. "...I see. So he's not exactly the dim student his reports suggest him to be then." He replied with a small frown under his mask. 'Ah, he is sensei's son after all, there was no way he was as poor as his academy records suggested. So what exactly is the extent of his talent then?' Kakashi wondered curiously. "He is also a gifted type 1 sensor going by what he's told me about himself before. He tells me about experiencing weird sensations when he channels chakra to his forehead, specifically to his third eye area. I don't know the full extent of his sensing ability as I haven't been able to test that, but I suspect he has the second Hokage's 'Mind's eye of the Kagura'." Kakashi looked at the Hokage in shock again at hearing this. Type 1 sensors were rare enough as it was. If the Hokage's hypothesis was true, then Naruto's potential was immense. All shinobi knew of the legends of the late second Hokage's exploits. It was said that he could determine even a person's elemental affinity by his extraordinary ability and many suspected this ability was the cornerstone to many of his brilliant jutsus. Nobody actually knew exactly how it worked as no one else in history showed this ability again. His students just knew that their sensei channelled chakra to his in-between his eyes when he wanted to use it.

"So I want you to determine his sensing capabilities. It will be immensely helpful to our village if we have a gifted sensor like that again. Ah and need I remind you that Naruto and Sasuke are two of the most promising genin in this generation. Your team will be under a lot of scrutiny from the council but I'm asking you to let things be for a few months before giving them any jutsu. I want to confirm something about both of them. You can start giving them advanced chakra exercises though. Actually anything that doesn't affect their style of combat or elemental affinities." Kakashi knew all of this ofcourse; he had been to all three of their houses and had observed their behaviour a week ago. But he waited for the Hokage to finish. "Also I need you to keep a close watch on Sasuke and his personality. The poor boy has seen some truly horrible things and I fear that he may one day get killed if he goes on like this. I've seen many shinobi lose their lives in their quest for revenge and we cannot lose the last remaining Sharingan user. That will be all." Kakashi nodded before walking out.

Iruka was running late for the orientation. He hurried over to the classroom and was perturbed to see the room's atmosphere. A thoroughly pulverised Naruto was slumped in his seat while a bunch of girls were glaring daggers at him. Deciding to let it slide for the moment, he began his prepared speech about life as a shinobi and the Will of Fire. He finished and looked to see most of the kids in the room giving him sleepy stares. "Okay then, I will now list the names of all the genin squads. Team one will be..." as Iruka listed the squad members, Naruto recovered from the beating and waited for his name to be called out. 'I don't know who I want in my team. I mean, I sure would love Sakura to be there. As for the other, well anyone but broody over there!" he thought.

"Team 7 will be, Naruto Uzumaki." The blonde looked up;

"Sakura Haruno" Naruto felt his heart soar while Sakura muttered "I'm doomed" under her breath.

"Sasuke Uchiha" Naruto's feeling of elation crashed right back while Sakura was ecstatic. Meanwhile a purple haired girl wearing a beige pull over looked sad sitting in the top row. She had pupil-less white eyes and had tied her forehead protector around her neck. 'I won't be with Naruto then' she lamented. Sakura looked towards her rival with a smug smile. Flashing a victory sign, "Ha, take that piggy. Sasuke is mine!" she gloated. "**KA CHING! True love conquers all!**" Inner Sakura screamed. Ino felt a vein pop in her forehead. Before she could retort however, her name was called out. "Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi." Ino was now really annoyed. 'Forehead gets Sasuke while I'm stuck with the slacker and food boy!' she fumed. "What do you see in a guy like that? He ignores you all the time" asked the boy next to her in a lazy tone. He wore a black shirt under his light grey jacket, dark grey pants and his forehead protector around his left bicep. His hair was in the shape of a pineapple and he had a look of utter boredom. Ino felt a twinge of embarrassment hearing the truth in the boy's words. "You're so beyond clueless Shikamaru. You don't get it do you?" Ino said in an attempt to justify her affections. "I don't get it. Why don't you explain it then Ino" Shikamaru asked in a lazy tone. He was truthfully annoyed he had to deal with Ino although he knew it was inevitable. Ino just gave him an angry glare before sitting down in a huff. Meanwhile, the scar faced chunin instructor finished his parting speech by wishing them all good luck.

(Three hours and numerous screams of outrage later)

"AARGH! Where is he damn it!?" yelled Naruto to no one in particular. Everyone else had gone with their jonin sensei but them, and they had been waiting for almost three hours. Naruto decided that whoever this guy was, he needed to be pranked, consequences be damned. So he went to get the duster and fixed it above the classroom door."Our teacher's a jonin. He won't fall for such a stupid thing" Sasuke said from his spot. Sakura went over to him to stop him. "Ugh. Calm down Naruto, he'll be here! And stop doing that, we'll get in trouble for it." Sakura told him but Inner Sakura begged to differ. "**I love it! Oh yeah!**" Naruto finished his prank set-up and waited for his teacher to show.

Kakashi Hatake was usually a very alert shinobi. He had mastered numerous subtle chakra techniques that enhanced his natural senses and he had over a decade of experience out on the field. But coming into the classroom, as he heard the conversation inside, he suddenly remembered his own teammates. Naruto and Obito were so alike, it was uncanny. Then there was the silent one Sasuke who reminded him of his younger self. There was the girl who had a crush on the Sasuke but was pursued by Naruto. Just like Rin. He was lost in his memories and didn't notice the duster on top of the door until it hit him on his head. He stared at it for a few seconds before looking at the trio. "I'm sorry Naruto did that sensei, I would never do something like that." apologized a nervous Sakura while Naruto was on the floor laughing with satisfaction. Sasuke was sitting in his spot with a blank expression on his face. "How should I put this...hmm... my first impression of you guys is... you're a bunch of idioits." Kakashi said in a lazy tone. All three hung their heads at that. "Meet me on the roof-top in 5 minutes." he said before turning around and slouching away.

"Well, now that we're all here, why don't you all introduce yourselves." drawled the white haired jonin in a bored tone. "Introduce ourselves?" Naruto asked. "Yes, tell me your names... uh your likes, dislikes...hobbies... dreams for the future. You know, things like that." replied the masked jonin in the same bored tone. "Uh why don't you go first sensei. We'll know how to do it then." Replied Naruto. Kakashi was a little impressed by that. "Okay, I'm Kakashi Hatake. My likes and dislikes, well you don't need to know them. Hobbies, hmm I have lot's of hobbies. Dreams for the future, well never really thought about that." he replied in a monotone. 'All he really told us was his name' was the thought all three had running through their minds. "Now then, you on the right, why don't you go first then." he asked while pointing towards Naruto. "Right, my name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen and I really like the ramen from Ichiraku's. I hate the three minutes waiting for the instant ramen to be cooked. My hobby is eating different flavours of ramen and comparing them. My dream is to be the greatest Hokage!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "Okay, you next." Kakashi said while pointing towards Sakura. "I'm Sakura Haruno. My likes... I mean the person I like is... he he... um and my hobby is... hehehe and my dreams for the future are-" at this Sakura squealed and tried to control herself. "...You didn't tell me your dislikes" reminded Kakashi with a sweat drop at the girl's introduction. "Naruto!" the said girl yelled almost instantly. Naruto felt shattered at this. 'This girl is more interested in boys than in ninja training. She better keep up' Kakashi thought while holding in a sigh at the bluntness of the pink haired girl. "Um, last one. Go on then" he said while motioning towards Sasuke. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot things and I don't particularly like anything. I don't have any hobbies and my I don't have a dream because I will make it a reality. I want to find and kill a 'certain someone'" Sasuke said in a low deep voice. This generated very different reactions from the rest.

'Oh boy, there goes mister emo trying to act all cool again.'

'Hmm, just as I thought though I didn't expect him to reveal that'

'Wow! Sasuke is looking so hot'

"Well you all have different and unique dreams and personalities." Kakashi said in his usual bored voice hiding his thoughts behind it. 'Both boys definitely didn't give much away but the girl needs some work. Well the important bit is tomorrow.' Kakashi then proceeded to give his usual speech on the 'survival exercise' to the trio and added his usual suggestion of skipping breakfast.

"Survival exercise? Sixty six percent of failure? Oh man! I better go find Iruka-sensei for this!" Naruto thought nervously. He activated his third eye and started to scour the village to search for the scar faced chunin. An hour of searching later, he found his favourite person grading some test papers in his office at the academy. "Uh Iruka-sensei, I was wondering if you knew about the survival exercise conducted by the jonin leaders. See we have this guy named Kakashi Hatake as our joinin leader and he told us how sixty six percent of the graduates are eliminated from the program if they fail in that. So can you give me a few pointers on how to pass?" he rambled while Iruka processed the information and looked at Naruto with concern. Everyone knew about Kakashi's bell test and his record in genin squads. He wasn't supposed to say anything as the jonin test was crucial. So he decided to give him some pointers and help him some other way. "Each jonin conducts a different test each year Naruto so I don't know much about what happens in there. But I want you to be prepared for anything. Most jonin always try to see if you fall for their tricks. Expect them to try and mislead you. Now don't take anything he says for granted and always look for hidden meaning. Also here, this is a storage scroll I carry with me all the time now. It contains lots of kunai, shuriken and ninja wire. Make sure you eat healthy in the morning and get a good night's sleep." Iruka told him while handing over the scroll. "Uh but Iruka sensei, Kakashi-sensei told me not to eat breakfast because he said I'll just throw up during the exercise." Naruto asked in a confused tone. Iruka chuckled at this. "What did I just say now Naruto? Don't take anything he says for granted. If you're in a survival exercise, you need to eat properly before starting right?" he asked and laughed when it clicked in Naruto's head and the blonde face-palmed. "Man! If I didn't ask you that, I would've been doomed tomorrow sensei! This Kakashi guy is really smooth. I didn't stop to think that!" he said replied gratefully. He shouldn't get himself caught like that again. 'I gotta watch out. I'll never be a ninja if I'm that stupid again' Naruto thought nervously. "You should always think carefully before acting Naruto, that's essential if you want to become a ninja. Now other than that, all I can say he remember all that I taught you and give it your best okay?" Iruka told him seriously. Naruto nodded at that. He bade Iruka goodbye and went home.


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: NARUTO ISN'T MINE. ALL RIGHTS TO KISHIMOTO.**

(The next day-4 am)

Naruto woke up after a good night's sleep just like Iruka told him to. He got ready and started cooking the ramen. While this was happening, he checked his inventory.

Kunai. Check.

Shuriken. Check.

Ninja wire. Check.

Iruka-sensei's scroll. Check.

Explosive tags. Check.

Smoke bombs. Check.

The ramen was finished and he ate it a second and third helping just for precaution. He started walking towards training ground 7 with a happy smile and a full belly. He got there just in time see his two new teammates arrive as well. "Hey guys, what's up?" he asked merrily. 'What's he so happy about?' thought an annoyed Sakura. "So, what do you think will come for our test?" she asked to both in an attempt to stave off sleep. "No idea Sakura-chan" and "Hm" were the two responses she got.

(Three hours and numerous curses at late senseis later)

Kakashi came to the training ground with an air of expectancy. All his friends were now used to his tardiness and it was getting rather boring. But now, he had three cute little genin to torment and they had absolutely no idea. It was positively delightful! The shouts of "YOU'RE LATE!" was joyful music to his ears. And now for the excuse. "Well, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long route." he said with a polite eye-smile. All three looked at him with murderous expressions but then Kakashi noticed the thoughtful expression crossing the blonde's face. 'Did he come late on purpose or something? Iruka sensei did say not take anything for granted. Hey wait, maybe he came late so that we would be super hungry during the exercise. Man what a tricky bastard! I wonder if Sakura-chan and Sasuke ate anything?' the said blonde wondered. The two in question had done no such thing and were feeling pretty hungry. Meanwhile the jonin took out an alarm clock from his pack and set it down, and then took out two bells with a slight jingle. "Well, the clock is set for noon. Your mission is to take these two bells from me. Whoever doesn't have a bell by noon gets eliminated. You can use anything you want. Kunai, shuriken, spikes... anything. Just get these bells. Oh and you can't hope to get them from me if you don't come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi explained. Sakura felt something wrong in the explanation and voiced it immediately. "But sensei, there are three of us and only two bells!" she pointed out. "That's right Sakura-chan, this way, one of you is sure to get eliminated." Kakashi replied patiently. "But that's so unfair sensei!" Naruto burst out. "Well, if you're expecting fair, this isn't the line of work for you" Kakashi retorted.

Naruto kept quiet at this.

"Okay, when I give the signal, you can attack me whenever." The white haired jonin spoke in a lazy voice. "Bah, we can get the bells easily. You couldn't even dodge the duster in the classroom!" remarked Naruto with a careless smile. "Class clowns are usually the weak-links in a team. The dead-lasts. Losers." Kakashi replied coolly. Hearing this, the blonde Uzumaki charged at the jonin with a kunai and a battle cry. The next instant, he had the same kunai pointed to the back of his head with the said jonin holding out his kunai arm backwards with one hand while the other had a firm grip on his head. "Don't be so hasty. I didn't say start yet" he admonished in a calm tone. Both Sasuke and Sakura took a few steps back. 'Holy crap! I didn't even see him move' Sakura thought nervously. 'So this is how fast a jonin is huh?' Sasuke observed while trying to glean anything useful while he was still close to him. Naruto realized what had happened and his stomach gave a nervous lurch. 'Whoa! I didn't even realize it happened. I gotta pay more attention to this guy!' he thought, taking note to be extra careful from now on. Kakashi took a few steps back. "Okay guys, in 3...2...1 and start!" he called out and all three took off in a blur.

'Hmm, looks like they can hide pretty well, I can't see them at all. Now where coul- huh?' Kakashi paused as he saw Naruto walking straight towards him. 'Oh boy, did the boy even learn anything at the academy?' he thought. "Okay, let's do this head to head, fair and square. I'll get the bells and kick your ass! Believe it!" Naruto challenged the jonin confidently. He then rushed towards Kakashi again. 'Is he actually that stupid? And I'm stuck with him too' Sasuke thought with a scowl. 'What the hell is Naruto thinking? He's gonna get dismantled!' Sakura thought as well. Kakashi just sighed before reaching into his pocket. Naruto stopped charging looking at the jonin carefully. The said jonin pulled out an orange book with the label of 'Icha Icha' and opened it. "Shinobi battle skills part 1: Taijutsu" Kakashi spoke in a bored voice and started to read. "Hey if you're fight me, why are you reading that book?" Naruto asked angrily. "Huh? Oh to find out what happens in the story of course" Kakashi replied politely. "Your pathetic attacks can't defeat me and it makes no difference if I'm using one hand or two" he continued in the same tone.

The blonde was now thoroughly annoyed. He charged and lashed out with his leg at the jonin's side. It was simply blocked with a lazy hand. He attempted an overhead kick but the white haired man ducked at the last moment, eyes still on the book. He threw in two more punches but both were parried away with the same lazy expression. Frustrated, he lashed out wildly another kick but couldn't see his opponent anymore. "Don't let your enemies get behind you" said a lazy voice behind him. 'Naruto couldn't even touch him. Hey wait, is that the tiger seal? He's not just toying with him, he's gonna destroy him. That's normally used for fire jutsus' thought Sasuke as he watched Kakashi crouched behind Naruto holding his hands together with the index and middle fingers pointed upwards in each. But what followed was something none of them would forget. " Konohagakure's most secret and sacred technique: A thousand years of death!" exclaimed Kakashi as he proceeded to shove his pointed fingers directly into Naruto's exposed butt and launched him all the way into the river.

'What the hell! I was caught by a technique like that! Argh! I'll crush that guy!' fumed Naruto while trying to swim back to shore but suddenly stopped halfway. 'Iruka sensei told me not to lose my cool. A direct attack is not gonna help me here. Okay, let's make this count' he thought as he reeled in his anger and calmed down.

Meanwhile in the branches of a tall tree, Sasuke was conflicted whether to make a move or observe the jonin some more. He tensed and was about to make a move but stopped as he saw two shuriken fly out of the water at the white haired jonin. The said jonin caught them between his fingers without looking up from his book. Suddenly Naruto came out of the water running while holding up a crossed half tiger sign. "Shadow clone jutsu" he called out and next to him 7 other Narutos emerged. "Oh so you can do shadow clone jutsu then? But a direct attack won't work on me. You can't beat me lik-wha!?" Another clone somehow had sneaked up behind him. Using the shock as a distraction, the other seven clones came and held him down quickly. The original Naruto had a smirk on his face as he cocked his fist back and was about to punch him when at the last moment, there was a burst smoke and his fist met the cheek of another clone.

"Oi! What the hell was that for!?"

"You idiot, why are you in the way!?"

"You blind idiot! Why are you yelling at me now? You hit me first!"

This escalated quickly and an all out brawl between the clones ensued and the blonde's teammates were witnessing this with a sweat drop. The brawl ended with the original panting and cursing. 'Damn it! How did he... Wait! That must've been a Kawarimi. Where is he now?' thought the blonde Uzumaki as he struggled to keep his temper in check. Deciding to use his other sense, he activated his mind's eye and he found his opponent to his right, on a tree. He unleashed another volley of shuriken towards Kakashi. 'Shit, I forgot he can sense me. That will be a problem' Kakashi thought with a frown.

Naruto was now smirking. 'Heh, thought you could hide from me huh? He thought glee. He was about to pull another batch of shuriken when he noticed a small metallic glint under a nearby tree. 'Wait is that... Hey it is! I bet he dropped a bell when pulling off the substitution!' the blonde thought happily and went to grab it before the others could. He reached forwards. Suddenly his whole world became upside down. He was caught in a simple snare and that made him even angrier. "Whaa! Oh man! Don't tell me it was his doing. I fell for it so easily!" he yelled in frustration. "A ninja must see through deception" his masked opponent lectured serenely, as if they were back in the academy.

Sasuke was observing this scene from his hiding spot on a tree. He smirked when he saw his blonde teammate getting caught in the trap. He noted that Kakashi was standing out in the open, susceptible to a blind spot attack. Deciding to capitalize on the opening, he pulled out a few kunai and threw them hard. He was momentarily elated to see the masked jonin struck by his attack but it turned out to be another substitution; the log making a loud thump as it hit the ground. Sasuke cursed his own stupidity and started moving quickly within the trees, desperate to find another hiding spot before the jonin could find him. 'He stood there on purpose to make us give our position away, this guy's good... really good' the Uchiha thought as he weaved his way between branches.

Sakura was wandering amid bushes and trees, trying to find her remaining teammate after she saw Naruto getting caught. She was about to leap off a branch when suddenly, she felt someone behind her. Startled, she turned around to face her adversary but before she could do anything, she saw the masked jonin holding up the rat sign. Suddenly, all the leaves in the clearing started circling her and she felt a little light-headed and closed her eyes briefly to clear the feeling. When she opened them, she found herself in a forest clearing. 'Where am I? Did I get lost? Where is Sas-' her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a weak voice calling her name. She darted to the bushes and walked towards the voice cautiously, not sure if this was a trap or not. She peeked through a bush and her heart leapt to her throat at the scene. Her beloved Sasuke looked grievously wounded, and was on his knees; his face twisted in clear agony. He was covered in a lot of blood and many wounds were still bleeding profusely. "SASUKE! NOOO!" she screamed in despair and promptly lost consciousness, her young mind not being able to cope with the injury of her crush.

Kakashi felt a little bad at using the demonic illusion technique on the young girl. "Shinobi battle skills part two; genjutsu. Well, she has to learn to see through these things someday" he said mostly to himself while observing the surroundings for signs of the last Uchiha.

Kakashi was about to dart back into the trees once again but suddenly his sensitive ears picked up the characteristic sound of kunai behind him. He leapt away from them and parried away a punch from Sasuke, who had attacked the moment he landed. The raven haired boy didn't waste a single moment and followed the punch by a swift kick to the jonin's side. Kakashi caught the kick in his hand easily but Sasuke had expected this. Pushing off from his remaining leg immediately, he ducked his head down and raised his leg, lashing it overhead at the jonin, his body becoming upside down. The kick was caught too, but Sasuke smirked, his intent to prevent the jonin from using his hands for neither ninjutsu nor taijutsu. He seemingly tried another punch, this time, using his position to direct it at Kakashi's face, trying to prevent the jonin from seeing his follow up. Kakashi quickly leaned away but the momentum from the punch carried Sasuke forward and his right hand shot quickly towards the jonin's waist, trying to grab the bells. This was futile however, as the said jonin's reflexes were much faster and he immediately let go of his legs and pushed him away. 'Impressive... he almost got the bells. The Uchiha clan's reputation is certainly well deserved' Kakashi thought.

Sasuke didn't lament his failure for more than a moment. This was an elite jonin he was dealing with after all. He threw a kunai at the rope trigger of the make-shift trap he had made, which launched a volley of kunai at the masked jonin from a spot in the trees. He leapt away easily, thanks to his lightning reflexes. But Sasuke was moving immediately after he launching his trap, aiming to strike the jonin at his landing, but Kakashi twisted in mid air, parried the thrown kunai with his own, blocked a kick with his hand and responded with a hard kick to the boy abdomen. Sasuke was thrown back several feet from the kick. Keeping his cool, he started kneading chakra in his upper stomach, and swiftly made the signs of boar-horse-tiger. 'What!? He has enough chakra for that jutsu?' Kakashi thought in astonishment. First Naruto's shadow clones and now this, the team was full of surprises for Kakashi.

"Fire release: Great fire ball jutsu!" Sasuke called out, taking a deep breath and exhaling a gout of orange flames that quickly started to take the shape of a sphere as it moved forward. Sasuke kept up the jutsu for about two seconds before realizing his mistake. The great fireball jutsu was definitely a lethal technique and it's speed was pretty good as well, but it temporarily impaired the user's vision with the bright flames and the proximity.

Sasuke blinked a few times to get rid of the spots in his vision and started to search for his opponent. However, to his growing panic, he couldn't find the jonin and he started whipping his head around at any unusual noises. Suddenly, he felt a hand gripping his ankle. Sasuke looked down in fear, and saw a hand sticking out of the ground near his feet. The Uchiha was yanked inside the ground quickly and he screamed in both frustration and panic. He was left buried in the ground with only his head above the surface. "Earth release: Head hunter jutsu. That's shinobi battle skill part three; taijutsu" said a lazy voice from above. Sasuke looked up to see the jonin looking down at him with a crinkled eye curving upwards, smiling.

Meanwhile, Naruto had managed to cut himself free and landed back down. He had calmed down completely and was contemplating his next move. 'Now that he's not here, it's like I can think properly again. Just seeing that guy's face makes me mad argh! ...wait I shouldn't be thinking like this. He's probably doing that on purpose, just like Iruka-sensei said. How should I do this now?' Naruto started thinking, determined to pass the test. While thinking, he went back into the forest where he felt his teammate's chakra signatures. He saw Sasuke getting thrashed by Kakashi, making him smirk. 'Well, at least I wasn't the only one getting an ass-kicking' he thought vindictively. He made his way towards his pink haired teammate, whom he had sensed nearby. He saw her lying unconscious and felt a stab of anger jolting his body. He made his way over and carried her away to a safer place. He gently prodded, trying to wake her up silently. "Sakura! Wake up!" he whispered silently. Sakura woke up after a few more prods and looked up to find Naruto looking down at her with a small blush but a rather serious face. "Uh Naruto? Wait, where is Sas-" she started but was silenced with a shushing gesture by Naruto as he motioned her to peak into the clearing. She saw Sasuke's head sticking up from the ground and her mind suddenly went back into panic mode. She was about to scream but Naruto held his hand over her mouth to silence her. "Sasuke is fine Sakura. He was buried like that by Kakashi. Listen, we need to really work together if we want to stand a chance at getting those bells. You saw how good he is" he told her quietly. Sakura was about to retort in anger at that but after a moment of contemplation, she acknowledge the wisdom behind her teammate's words. 'Naruto is right. This guy's is way above our league. Even Sasuke couldn't beat him. But there are only two bells. What kind of test is that!? I really have to pass! Ino-pig has her family connection so she'll definitely become a genin. Sasuke would never look at me again if I fail now... What should I do? Maybe I can work with Naruto and if we get the bells, I'll steal Naruto's and give it to Sasuke. That's a little evil... but I can be with Sasuke then! Right, I guess I have to do this for love's sake!' she schemed silently.

Naruto watched his pretty teammate, her face showing a myriad of expressions. Naruto might not have learned a lot from the academy but life as an orphan and his horrible childhood had taught him many things. From a young age, he had to survive alone in a ninja village, where shifty deals and cruel people where everywhere. He was treated cruelly, almost everywhere he went, yet he survived. He could read expressions better than most people, he had learned to trust his instincts and most importantly he knew how most people's minds worked. Everyone looks to fulfil their goals without pausing to consider the ill-effects of their actions on other people. When one's interest was in danger, even the polite and civil would become cruel and cold. He had learned these lessons the hard way. He didn't need to be a Yamanaka to know what Sakura was thinking. He already knew what she would do, and it made his heart ache. She would try and steal his bell for Sasuke. The worst part was that he would allow her to. Because saying no to Sakura was just not possible for him. 'I can't help myself if it's Sakura can I?' he thought sadly. It wasn't the end of the road though. There was the remedial course. He would be added in as a genin if he passed the course but he wouldn't have the benefit of having a jonin sensei. They were coached by chunins. But he would grow strong, regardless of who taught him. He was going to become Hokage. Failure in one little test wasn't going to stop him at all.

"Sakura, listen I know I can't pass this test. I'm clearly not ready to be a ninja and I know it. If we get the bells, give one to the emo over there" he told the pink haired girl with a straight face. Sakura blinked twice at hearing this. This wasn't like Naruto at all. He was the guy who once wrote 'I'll become Hokage' on the village monument. What changed so suddenly that he would suddenly say something like this. Her thoughts were cut-off as Naruto started explaining his plan. "We have to prevent him from using his hands. If he starts using jutsu, we're screwed. So I'll distract him with my clones while you try to nail him with kunai and shuriken. But we gotta be careful though. If we back him into a corner, he'll start using high-level moves and jutsu and that's the end" he whispered quietly. The blonde then took out a storage scroll and unsealed it, revealing a large batch of shuriken, kunai, smoke bombs, few explosive notes along with two swords and a first aid pack with soldier pills. Sakura's eyes widened at this. Naruto had come prepared for a full-scale battle. She had not even considered carrying more than five kunai and fifteen shuriken. "So listen, I want you to use the cloaking technique and get near him" he said giving her his cloaking cloth-piece. "I'll transform a clone into you. He won't know you're gone and I'll direct him towards you. I'll hold him down for you. Get the bells and run away fast. He won't expect you and maybe we can surprise him enough for you to get away" he explained. "What about Sasuke?" the pinkette asked worriedly. "He'll be fine. There's no time to get him out and Kakashi-sensei will probably have some sort of trap for us if we go there" he answered while taking some weapons from the small heap. "Shadow clone jutsu" he called out quietly and two clones came into existence around them.

Sakura was now befuddled. Naruto was saying he was not ready to be a ninja and yet his plan was... admittedly brilliant. He knew an A-rank clone jutsu. He was not even fazed by using the said A-rank jutsu. Yet he was saying he would give up his bell. The pink haired girl was starting to feel something stirring within her and she realized it was shame. She would betray Naruto for Sasuke, but at least if the blonde was as dumb as he seemed back in the academy, she would at least justify her actions by saying that the idiot didn't have a chance anyway. She was the top kunoichi and Sasuke, the rookie of the year while Naruto was the dead-last of the class. But now, she saw him displaying astonishing intellect and high-level jutsu that many genin and some chunin failed to have. She was not given time to think more though, Naruto had already left, leaving behind the bulk majority of the weapons. It was go time.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: NARUTO ISN'T MINE. ALL RIGHTS TO KISHIMOTO.**

Kakashi was reading his favourite book in a clearing, content to let the kiddies come to him. He saw Naruto entering the clearing with a determined look. "Ah, so you managed to break out of the snare I see. Say, did you need help with the cutting? Small kids shouldn't play with sharp objects" he remarked snidely but was surprised when the blonde didn't react at all. As the blonde charged, he noted his expression falling apart into one of hurt once before it settled back. He parried the first kick and blocked the following punch. Suddenly, 'Naruto' exploded into smoke and in that moment when his visibility was impaired, two more Narutos came at him from both sides. He grabbed the first by his hand and attempted to redirect the attack on to the second. But just as he grabbed him, a barrage of kunai came at him from his side. He deftly placed the clone in his grasp in the path of the kunai and kicked the other clone hard enough to dispel it in the same motion. He glimpsed a bit of pink from where the kunai came from. 'Well well, looks like they are finally getting the test' he thought with approval. A smoke bomb exploded in front of him and at the same time five shuriken came flying at him from his left while simultaneously three clones pounced on him. He leapt backwards while throwing three shuriken into the smoke screen. He heard the three pops signifying perfect hits.

He saw two more clones coming at him with swords while Sakura moved in closer. He was about to use the 'Earth release: Slick Mud jutsu ' and lifted his hands for the hand signs but suddenly thirty clones descended from the tree-line he had been standing nearby. They held on tightly to his hands and at the same time, he saw a pink blur below him reaching desperately for his waist. His surprise was evident as his eyes widened in realization. It had worked perfectly and the said girl grabbed the bells and attempted to run away. But the test wasn't over. He made a quick substitution with a clone just like earlier and blitzed towards the pink haired girl. She hadn't kept the bells in her pocket yet, and he capitalized by snatching them back almost immediately. Sakura felt the bells being taken from her and screamed out in frustration at her opponent's nimble move.

Meanwhile, Sasuke freed himself from the ground and started searching for his teammates. He had thought he could get the bells himself, but Kakashi had thwarted all his attempts, his best ninjutsu was rendered useless, his reflexes and speed were a joke in comparison and he was outsmarted at every turn. Sasuke was a prideful person, extremely vain about his skills and heritage but even he realized the situation he was in. He knew how powerful some shinobi could be. Training with his brother, he had been defeated, outsmarted and humiliated countless times and he knew that going up against a shinobi of such high-calibre was futile. Their team would have to work together, even if there were two bells because otherwise, no one would pass at all. He didn't have to search long, as he heard the sounds of combat coming from another clearing. He hid in a tree nearby and watched the scene. Naruto was attacking Kakashi with his clones again, but this time he was smarter at using them. A clone would charge in every time Kakashi was off-balance. A smoke bomb went off near the jonin and Sasuke saw him leap out, landing near the tree-line. He felt absolute panic when Sakura made off with the bells. That would mean his elimination! But Kakashi had snatched them back a few moments later and he breathed a sigh of relief. He saw both his teammates retreating and made his way towards them, taking care to conceal his presence.

"Damn it. We had him!" Naruto whispered to no one in particular. Sakura could only agree. If only she had pocketed the bells, it would've been over. She cursed her stupidity once more. Suddenly, Naruto felt Sasuke's chakra coming near them and he conveyed the same to Sakura. 'How does he know?' Sakura wondered but the raven haired Uchiha had finally come and she felt the familiar tingle in her stomach at seeing him. "Sasuke! Are you alright?" she asked with concern but he just shrugged, motioning her to listen. "It seems Sakura had the same idea as me. That was an excellent move Sakura. Anyway we need to work together or we won't stand a chance" Sasuke said silently. Sakura felt her heart soar at hearing her crush praising her. But a small voice reminded her that she hadn't done a single thing. It was Naruto's plan and Naruto's work throughout. Naruto was about to burst out, telling the high-strung emo that it was actually his plan, but an alarm went off nearby. The three of them were confused for a moment, was there an alarm? But it hit them suddenly. Time was up. It was noon and no one had succeeded in getting a bell.

"Come out, come out wherever you are! It's lunch time kids!" Kakashi called out with a light, cheerful voice from his place. He was standing near three small wooden posts. Slowly, the three members of team 7 made their way over to the jonin. "Well, it's noon. All those with a bell, please step forward" he continued in the same cheerful voice. He saw all three clenching their fists instinctively and looking down, their mouths twisting bitterly. Ah, the joys of being a teacher. "No one? Really? That's a shame. Well then, how shall I put it delicately for you guys... hmm... all three of you fail!" Naruto was the first one to react. "Please sensei, give us another chance. We will definitely get the bells. Don't fail us so soon!" he pleaded in desperation. Sakura followed almost immediately. "Another chance sensei, please!" Sasuke had reached desperation as well. "Y..yes, all we need is another chance" he pleaded shakily, bending his pride painfully. Kakashi decided to give them a hint. They did work together a little in the end after all. "Another chance? Why would I do that? You guys never understood the point of this test at all" he stated flatly. Sasuke was now angry. This guy was just like his murderous brother. He still remembered those times when he would train with his brother. There was always a "You never got the point of this exercise at all Sasuke" at the end. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" he burst out in anger. Suddenly, he felt his right arm being twisted back onto his head and his left held to his back. The next moment he was forced to the ground and a foot was placed on his back. "I. Said. You. Didn't. Get. The. Point" Kakashi repeated slowly. "Uh... what do you mean sensei?" Sakura asked timidly. Kakashi gave a disappointed sigh at this.

"Teamwork. This exercise is all about teamwork and it didn't cross your minds till the last moment, did it?" he asked while looking at the three of them. "But there are only two bells! How the hell are we supposed to work together when only two of us get to pass!" Naruto asked heatedly. "Exactly, I pitched you against each other on purpose, and you fell for it" Kakashi replied calmly. "Shinobi of our village are always sent in squads. Our village is the strongest because all of our shinobi work together. This is the greatest strength of Konoha, not any bloodline or jutsu... See that stone there" Kakashi continued solemnly, pointing towards a large, triangular piece of dark granite nearby. "That is the memorial stone, where the names of all the shinobi who gave their lives for the village are etched. Your comrades are the source of your strength, and you must be ready to defend them with your lives. As a shinobi, you'll be faced with grim choices all the time. For example" Kakashi threw a kunai towards the female member of the team. "Sakura, kill Naruto now or Sasuke dies" he said in a dangerous voice. Sakura suddenly felt overwhelmed. She believed she loved Sasuke more than anyone. But would she kill her own teammate for him? She was ready to betray the same teammate, but to kill him? Fortunately she was saved from her predicament as Kakashi broke the momentary grim atmosphere. "These are the situations you'll be facing as a ninja. In these times, if you don't trust and work with your comrades, you'll put everyone at risk. The team is what matters, and your comrades' lives are precious. Betraying your comrades is utterly unacceptable. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash. Sure. But those who betray their comrades are worse than trash. Never forget that"

Kakashi freed Sasuke and took out a long rope from his knapsack. He proceeded to tie Naruto to the centre post. Naruto was confused and angry. "Why the hell am I tied up?" he asked with ire. "It's simple. You performed the worst out of the three. Oh... and did I mention you don't get lunch?" Kakashi stated in his characteristic lazy voice but his actual reason was entirely different. Had he tied up Sasuke, no doubt Sakura would immediately share her lunch and Naruto would follow suit. If it was Sakura, Naruto would do the same. Naruto was actually the weak point of the team in many ways. Sakura didn't acknowledge his abilities and Sasuke viewed him as a poor shinobi. Naruto had antagonized Sasuke many times in the past, had pestered Sakura too many times and made her apathetic towards him. He was hot-headed and that irked them to no end. So he tied him up to sow seeds of discord within them yet again.

"What!? No lunch!? What the hell! And it was my plan that got you damn it! How can you say I was the worst!" Naruto yelled in pure rage. Sasuke was taken by surprise at this. 'What!? It was the idiot's plan? Is he bluffing or something?' he wondered and looked towards Sakura for her reaction. He was shocked to see her looking down in absolute shame and that confirmed Naruto's claim for him. 'So it was the dobe's plan after all. Why the hell was so stupid in the academy then? So that actually means Sakura didn't do anything and Kakashi would know this now too' he thought while looking at Kakashi for his reaction. "I make the rules and you follow them. Got it?" he asked in a dangerous voice. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "If anyone gives Naruto food, they will be eliminated from the ninja program. You have half an hour" he told and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura felt shame and disappointment prickling at her. 'Sasuke knows it wasn't me now. What will he think of me...' she thought in mild panic. She didn't dare to look at Naruto or Sasuke. The blonde had not said a single word since Kakashi had disappeared and Sasuke was silent too. She felt useless. Naruto had virtually given her the bells she realized. If Naruto could make so many shadow clones, it would've been simple to transform another clone into her visage. She wasn't needed in his plan at all. Naruto could've gotten both the bells himself, yet he had included her in his plan. Her mind flashed back to all the times he had asked her out for dates. 'He gave me both bells after working so hard and I would've betrayed him without hesitating' she thought as self-loathing continued to burn her heart. She finally looked up Naruto was still looking livid while Sasuke was opening his lunch box with hesitation. She made up her mind. She opened her box and lifted a small amount of rice towards Naruto. "Huh? What are you doing Sakura?" the whiskered boy asked her in a surprised tone. Before she could respond, Sasuke did the same. "Eat fast before he catches us! We all need to be at full strength or we won't stand a chance" he said urgently, not knowing how much that meant to the blonde.

Naruto felt all his anger being drained away. They were actually giving him their food. His heart felt lighter at seeing Sakura trying to feed him. He couldn't respond with words. Just as he was about to take a bite, team 7 felt an irrational fear clutching their heart. They felt a dangerous presence nearby and looked up to see Kakashi standing there with a murderous glint in his eye. "I thought I told you not to give him food" he barked harshly. "I thought we were supposed to be a team! If he doesn't eat, we won't stand a chance!" Sakura responded meekly without looking up. "Team? That's your excuse?" Kakashi asked angrily as he riled up his chakra even more. The pressure of the intense chakra increased and the three 12 year olds saw storm clouds gathering above them thundering ominously. "Well in that case, all three of you...pass" he finished with an approving eye-smile. Suddenly the illusion was lifted and the horrible pressure was gone. The surprise was evident on all three newly promoted genin's faces. "W-we pass?" Naruto asked with a quake in his voice. "Yes, all of you pass. You decided to help your comrade, even if your career as a ninja might've been jeopardized. That is how a shinobi of Konohagakure must think. From this day on, team 7 is in active service" Kakashi replied, his smile still in place. Sasuke breathed a huge sigh of relief while Sakura looked like the weight of the sky was lifted from her. Naruto on the other-hand was more exuberant in his reaction. "YES! ONE STEP CLOSER TO HOKAGE!" he shouted in pure joy. He then realized that his new sensei and teammates were leaving and he felt absolutely betrayed. "Guys! Damn it! You forgot to untie me!" he yelled at them. Sakura turned back with a happy smile on her face. "Oh don't be such a baby Naruto. You have to learn to do these things on your own you know" she told him with a laugh. Naruto just scoffed. What could he do? He realized the answer was simple; shadow clones. But how was he supposed to make them without hand-signs. He was pondering about it for a few seconds when a stroke of inspiration hit him. He had kept his sixth sense active many times while doing the jutsu. He had used shadow clones so many times in that one week's time he had lost count. Clones for chores, clones for shopping, clones for cooking... he had used his clones for almost every menial work. He was using his sixth sense almost without thought as well. He didn't even need to concentrate on it either and it would get activated many times he used chakra. So he had a rough idea about the chakra movement and chakra manipulation that needed to be done for the jutsu. What if he just tried to mimic it without any hand-sign? He had used the jutsu so much that his body remembered the behaviour. 'Well here goes nothing' he thought while drawing out his chakra without hand-signs. He tried to remember and apply the chakra movement he sensed with his mind's eye while mimicking the chakra manipulation his body told him to apply.

Kakashi was about to pull out his book when he suddenly heard Sakura gasp. He looked behind and saw something astonishing. Numerous wisps of visible blue chakra were circling Naruto rapidly. There was a puff of smoke and three Naruto clones were found standing beside the original when it cleared. His visible eye widened in shock. 'Holy crap! He just made shadow clones without using any hand-sign. This kid is unreal!' he exclaimed inside. The three clones proceeded to untie the blonde. When their task was done, he dispelled them and went ahead to join his teammates and sensei. When he reached them, he saw them giving him strange looks. "Uh... is something wrong?" he asked confusedly. "You didn't use any hand signs for the jutsu" Sakura stated faintly. "How did you do that Naruto?" Kakashi asked in a clearer voice. "Um... well I sort of remember how it feels to make a shadow clone, you know? Like how your body feels and everything? I just tried to do that without the hand-sign. Like I have this weird sensing ability, the old man told me I can sort of feel how chakra moves and all. So I just tried to... you know... make my chakra move like it's supposed to? It worked too" he finished while rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Sensing ability? Like a bloodline or something?" Sasuke asked curiously. "I dunno honestly. I'm an orphan... and nobody knew my parents properly so I can't say" he replied causing Sakura to flinch. 'He's an orphan? But he's always smiling like a goof. Is that some act?' she wondered sadly. Sasuke on the other hand had a different line of thought. 'Even he doesn't have any parents huh? Guess I'm not the only one... He used that shadow clone jutsu of his without using hand-signs. That's insane... and he pulled of that manoeuvre on Kakashi so smoothly. Was he putting up an act in the academy all this time? Was he laughing inside, whenever I beat him?' he pondered, fists clenching in anger at feeling mocked. "Whoa! Using jutsu without hand-signs... that's amazing Naruto! Who taught you all this?" Sakura asked in abject wonder. "I don't have anyone to teach me... um, no family remember?" Naruto replied while fidgeting. Kakashi noticed his discomfort at the probing. "That's enough questioning Naruto for now. He's clearly tired, all of you are. I'll see you all tomorrow at seven at the mission counter" he dismissed them.

Sasuke went home that day with a lot of things on his mind. He realized just how far he still had to go to reach his goal. The jonin sensei Kakashi was definitely a elite. To catch up to his brother, he would have to work much harder. Then there was his team. He had fully expected Naruto to be a dead-weight. However, the blonde proved to be a revelation, displaying extraordinary techniques and skills. He hated admitting it, his pride objected indignantly at the idea... but Naruto had done better than him. He was clearly the best among them. Naruto was the first to realize the fact that they had to work together. He had managed to snatch the bells from Kakashi, even if it was only for a short while. Then there was the girl, Sakura. She was the top kunoichi in class but he knew that her marks meant nothing. He had hoped that she would be as smart as her marks showed her to be. Her taijutsu wasn't good at all but he hoped that she would make up for it somehow. Sasuke grit his teeth in anger and punched the wall in his bedroom. He kept seeing that moment when Naruto had made three clones without hand-signs. He vowed to grow stronger, to work harder... to surpass the blonde idiot. His boiling blood refused to cool down, not letting him sleep. He got up and made his way into the training yard. He decided to train until he felt tired enough to sleep.

Sakura showed up home that day caked in dirt and leaves. "Oh dear! Sakura honey! Are you alright?" her mother asked in concern. "I'm fine mom, it's just a bit of mud" she said dismissively, quickly heading for the shower. She didn't want to hear her parents doting on her about passing. She turned on the water and stood there thinking back on the day. She hadn't done much during the test. Back in the academy, her high test scores and the praise of her teachers had given her the false confidence that she would make it as a successful ninja. All of it had come crashing down today. Sasuke had done pretty well, and had managed to go up against their sensei for a few minutes at least. Naruto on the other hand had blown all her previous impressions of him. He had showed some stunning skills. She had dismissed him immediately after he was caught in the snare but he had bounced back, and managed to take the bells. She had messed up, holding them in her hand while running away. She realized, had she gotten away, all of them would've failed. Her slip-up had saved them all. She chuckled in bitterness. Worst was that Sasuke had seen how useless she was. Tears started falling freely at that. She wanted to fix that moment so badly. If only Naruto hadn't said anything...

Meanwhile, Naruto walked with a spring in his step. He had passed after all! He was finally a ninja and one step closer to his goal of becoming Hokage. He decided to celebrate by binge-eating at Ichiraku's ramen. He started whistling a happy tune. He went inside the shop, and was happy to see his favourite sensei eating there as well. "Guess what Iruka sensei? I passed the test!" he burst out with a huge grin. Iruka looked at him with widened eyes for a second before matching the boy's grin with his own. "That's awesome Naruto! I'm really proud of you!" he said while ruffling the blonde's spiky hair. "Well, congratulations my boy!" came a booming voice from the kitchen. Teuchi came out with an appreciative smile at his favourite customer. "This is a big occasion indeed! It's on the house tonight Naruto" he offered the grinning blonde. "Oh yeah! This is the best day of my life!" Naruto yelled happily and sat down next to his foster-brother/teacher. He proceeded to tell Iruka everything about his test, but left the part about Sakura's intentions. No need to get into depressing stuff on a happy moment after all. No harm was done and they all had passed. That was all that mattered for him. "That's very impressive Naruto. You actually managed to catch a jonin like Kakashi by surprise. I told you that you'd be a great ninja if you use your head" Iruka told the blonde with an approving smile. 'Amazing... to have gotten the bells, even for a short time from Kakashi of all people! Naruto, you'll be a great shinobi indeed' he thought appraisingly. Naruto just soaked in his sensei's praise, happy for the ramen, happy at his passing, happy at everything that had happened on that day.

Out of the three members of team 7, only one was happy that day, despite passing the bell test.


End file.

Naruto