A/N: Hey everyone! unknownphilosopher here. Just a little blurb before the story. I have been reading fanfiction for a while now and I thought that I would try my hand at writing a story. Now I don't pride myself on my writing ability or the expanse of my vocabulary( that took me a while to come up with).
This is My first ever Fanfic so please let me know what you think of my story. Feel free to say whatevre you want to. I have no problems with flames and would greatly appreciate constructive critisism. If you like the story and how I'm writing it then please let me know too!
Alright on with the show!
Fighting the Current - Chapter One
Looking out at the horizon you could see the pink sky of dawn as the sun slowly rose from its slumber brining its warmth and light to the world. As the sun began to peak over the horizon it began to awaken all the life within the forest. Animals of all shapes and sizes began to wake and make noise. The suns presence seeming to bring the forest to life. It caught a color that seemed out of the ordinary in the lush green and brown of the forest. What it caught was a shock of yellow and orange moving rapidly through the forest surrounding a large village. Looking closer we see that the colors detected by the suns light belong to a boy. This boy had spiky blonde hair held in place with a pair of blue goggles, sapphire blue eyes containing nothing but loneliness, and a very sun like orange jumpsuit that screamed "hey look at me!"
Naruto had started his morning training as he always had. Wake up, which was stay awake all night due to fear, at 4:30am, and meditate for one hour. He would then move out of his small, should be unlivable, apartment and move into the surrounding forest where he would work on his chakra control with 1000 Kage Bunshin. He would work on any exercise he knew that would maintain and better his chakra control including leaf balancing, tree climbing, water walking, and kunai balancing. He would do this with his clones for one hour before he left them and did his physical training for the morning by running as many laps around the village as he could before the academy started at 9:00.
This is where we catch up with our blonde who is walking through the streets of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. This was the worst part of his day. On his way to the academy to start his new year he would be treated absolutely atrociously by the villagers of his own village. His treatment ranged from stares of anger, contempt, rage, and hate to being spit on and having things thrown at him. His mistreatment did not stop there, however. He was not allowed in any stores or restaurants and when he was he was sold the worst or rejected things for five times the price! That is why he was stuck wearing his hideous orange jumpsuit and why he only had the single set.
A deeply broken sigh exited him as he entered the academy building fifteen minutes late. He could only wonder if this year was going to be the same as the last five years. He could only bite back the anger he had for those years especially the last two.
Flashback
As Naruto stood in front of his sensei for the final portion of his graduation exam, testing his ninjutsu, he already knew he was going to fail. The year before he was taught nothing the entire year and was given a zero on his written test just because of who he was.
This year was so much of the same that he hated it. He was at the bottom of his class never even getting a mark on his written tests even though he knew he should have at least passed them. He also never learned any jutsu because the teacher always made sure he was not in class. He had been kicked out of every class where he would have learned anything about jutsu be it gen or nin. He hated it!
All he could do now was sigh and hang his head as his sensei asked him to perform the ninjutsu required for passing.
"Ok Naruto Henge into the Hokage for us please."
"I can't." Replied Naruto, already feeling the satisfied smirk on his senseis face.
"Alright. How about you kawarimi with that chair in the corner then?"
Naruto could hear the mirth in the man's voice now.
"I can't do that either." He wished he was already out of there knowing what was coming but he had to make it seem like it did not bother him.
"Fine Naruto, can you make at least two bunshin for me then?"
Naruto really wanted to make two solid Kage Bunshin and kick his senseis ass but he had to keep that in his head and not let it happen because , well, he didn't want to think about what would happen if he did that.
"Sensei I can't do that one either." Naruto said finally looking up into the maniacal face of his sensei.
"Well, Naruto you fail again." His sensei said with nothing but satisfaction in his voice. He was keeping the demon away from the public. He was doing the right thing.
Naruto walked out of the room and left the academy sitting on a swing outside watching as children were praised by their parents for them passing or comforted by their parents if they failed.
He could only sit there alone as people stared and laughed at him for his repeat failure and loneliness.
Flashback End
Oh, how he wished he could do what he wanted, but it would have to wait until he graduated. He could only hope his sensei would be at least indifferent towards him and not outwardly hate him. He also idly wondered how his class this year would be being as he had never really paid attention around the academy to see the class below him, but now that he was going to be in the class he couldn't help but wonder.
Finding the room he would be in for the year he took a deep breath to bring him out of his musings and knocked.
Iruka was irritated. It had been twenty minutes since class 'began' and he had yet to get control of his class! Worse yet was that he was getting the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune in his class today and he wasn't sure how he should feel about that. But not only was his new student who he was but he was also late and that irked him more then anything. As he was about to explode at his class to get them to calm down he heard a knock at the door. Looking towards his class it seems that he was the only one who heard the door so he got up and headed to the door to see who it was.
Naruto heard muffled footsteps approach the door before it opened revealing a man with brown hair, brown eyes, friendly face with a scar across the nose, which could change very fast, and a chunin vest on. Naruto decided to let the man speak first so he stood there waiting for his sensei to speak.
Iruka had opened the door to an eye sore. Neon orange assaulted his eyes along with the blondest hair he had ever seen. Seeing that this boy at his door was not going to speak first he opted to introduce himself and find out who this boy was and why he was knocking at his classroom door.
"Hello, I am Umino Iruka the sensei of this class what do you need?" He asked politely.
Naruto, watching his face the whole time said in return "I am your new student Uzumaki Naruto, sorry I'm late." He said the last part while scratching the back of his embarrassed. Naruto was at least content with what he saw from his new teacher. All he saw by way of face change was a friendly face to a calculating face. He could tell that the man did not outright hate him which was a good thing, at least for him.
"That's fine." Iruka answered before continuing. "Would you like to come in and introduce yourself to the class before you take a seat?"
Stepping aside to let the boy in Iruka looked behind him to see that his class had fallen silent for the moment. Sighing with relief, he closed the door and walked back to the desk at the front of the room.
Naruto stood calmly in front of his new peers looking all over the class waiting for Iruka to welcome him to the class. As he looked over the thirty some odd students of the class very few actually stood out to him. As he was about to think about them Iruka halted his thoughts before they could begin.
"Class, this year we will be getting a new student who" but before he could finish a boy with a dog on his head did it for him.
"… Is an idiot who can't even pass the genin exam not once but twice. What a dobe!" The boy finished to raucous laughter from the class. Naruto was not really insulted by this as he had heard so much worse in his life this one did not faze him what-so-ever. He decided to take the time to study who he could at least tolerate the presence of in the class while Iruka tried to restore order to his class.
Naruto was surprised to find two students not laughing at him. But, as he looked closer he could see why. The first boy he looked at was, by the style of his hair, a Nara. The reason for his lack of laughter was his unconsciousness on his desk. While the rest of the class was laughing he was sleeping. Lazy ass thought Naruto as he turned to the second boy who was not laughing at him. He, who was instantly identified as an Aburame, was not laughing either but that could have been because of the stoic nature of his clan. Naruto could tell however, that the Aburame was amused which made him think. I guess I could tolerate a silent guy for the year. At least he won't annoy me like some of the other ones would certainly do.
Iruka, getting a hold of his class once again gave Naruto the floor. Naruto decided to stick with his tried and true introduction, which although very dumb he enjoyed. Slipping a goofy grin on his face and placing his right hand behind his head he told the class about himself.
"Hey everyone! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and it's great to be a part of this class! I like ramen a lot and the Sandaime. I hate the three minutes it takes to wait for ramen along with people who judge others before they get to know them. One day I'm going to be Hokage!" He wrapped up to more laughter from the class and another snide remark from the boy Iruka had identified as Kiba.
"A dobe like you Hokage? HA! You can't be serious. You can't even become a genin!"
Iruka had had enough of this so he unleashed some killing intent silencing them instantly.
"Now that you have introduced yourself why don't you grab a seat anywhere you like Naruto."
"Thanks Iruka-sensei." Naruto said already half way to his chosen seat next to the Aburame.
As Naruto sat down at the back of the class next to his new classmate he looked over and offered his hand in greeting. The sunglasses wearing boy looked over at it for a second before offering his own.
"Naruto" "Shino"
It was quick but it was more then the blonde had expected and it would probably be the only greeting for a long time so he was happy. He removed his hand from the other after they shook and turned to face forward followed closely by his new acquaintance.
Standing at the front of the room, Iruka began to take roll and then commence class. Naruto heard a 'here' from next to him and looked over to see the boy staring forward uninterested in his surroundings. Naruto decided to try to strike up a conversation with Shino to see how this class was.
"So Shino, what do you think of this class?" Naruto asked trying to make it seem that he was just interested in learning about his fellow peers, which he was, but for a slightly different reason then the implied reason of finding out about a new environment. Naruto needed to see which of his students would hate him because of their parents' influence or which children were just arrogant jerks.
"Some have talent while others do not. It is like any other academy class. Few will pass and many will fail that is all I need to think of this class." Shino said very clipped but also in a stoic manner. It was really only the Aburame clan that could pull that kind of oration off not sounding arrogant or angry.
"Oh, well thanks. I was wondering about their personalities and abilities though. I don't really know anybody from your class and I just wanted to know a little about them."
"Uchiha Sasuke is the rookie of the year and Haruno Sakura is the best kunoichi. That is all I know I don't pay attention to anything else as it is unimportant."
After replying Shino looked over to the blonde next to see him looking upset that he didn't get more information. His mood did a 180 when his name was called in roll and then there was no trace of his bad mood anywhere.
"Thanks anyway Shino. I'll beat Sasuke and be rookie of the year for sure. Hahaha." He said giving Shino a thumbs up as he did.
Iruka stood in front of his now quiet class looking out at all the ninja hopefuls. He knew that not all of them were going to pass, like Naruto had already done. He couldn't help but think that he should do more to help them. He had thought about taking out some of the history and focusing more on practical knowledge, skill, and experience. And this year he planned to put some of these ideas into practice.
"This year we will be trying something a little different. We will be doing a little less book work and more hands on training. I plan to get you more acclimatized to the life of a shinobi through many exercises through this year.
We will have a lot of survival training sessions where I will take you all to places in the woods and you will have to survive there for a few days. I will also try to see if I can talk to the Hokage about getting some supervisors and having you all work on teamwork while doing D-rank missions. I hope the Hokage lets me do this one. And if I am so lucky as to convince the Hokage, I will teach, those of you who prove themselves worthy, other jutsu besides the three necessary ones you are taught."
At this last one the whole class began to drool and began to jump in their seats. All of them wanted higher level jutsu at their disposal. The only problem being that they had to prove themselves to Iruka and show him that they were ready. No sweat! Were the thoughts going through everybody's mind in the class.
"But before any of that happens we will be doing strength and endurance training to get your body more ready for the life of a shinobi. I will also be taking you all out into the forest for a full week to teach you how to survive outside of villages for extended periods of time."
Iruka decided to stop there seeing the looks of unbridled glee on his students' faces. Time to bring them down to earth. I wonder who will have the funniest reaction. Thought Iruka as he began to speak again.
"All this considered we will not stop our other lessons. I am still responsible for your education in history, geography, and math. The classes will probably be more intense too due to the amount of time we will be spending outside the classroom."
A groan spread throughout the class as he announced this. Iruka looked around and was sad that a lot of his students did not look too appalled, however he did get some satisfaction as a few students, including an orange wearing blonde, smashed their heads on the table a couple of times.
Naruto was so excited for this year the more his sensei talked about it. The main reason he was so excited though was because there was little mention of class work he hated above all else. It was not that he was bad at it; he just found it so boring and a waste of his time. All he could think of doing when Iruka mentioned that they would have to do intense class work to make up for the lack of class time was to bash his head on his desk a few times.
"Being as today is the first class of the year though I will give you all a reprieve. I will let you all go after you show me what you have learned over the last few years. This means I want you all show me you Henge into me as best you can and then make two Bunshin again, as best you can."
Naruto sat there in thought as Iruka announced this. He really didn't want this class knowing that he couldn't do the techniques at all! Ok I'm out of here. I am not going to make these guys laugh at me because I was never taught. With that thought, Naruto left the class with as much stealth as he possessed. He hoped that no one noticed him leave. That was what he really prided himself on; his stealth.
As Iruka was going through his class he was very disappointed with the class. As he came to Uchiha Sasuke, the third last name in the class, only four of his students managed to do the jutsu he asked for perfectly.
"Sasuke come and perform the jutsu I asked for in any order you like."
With an arrogant smirk on his face Sasuke stood from his desk and walked to the front of the class. As he got to the front he could only twitch his eyebrow as he heard his fan girls swooning over him. Fucking fan girls leave me alone! Can't you tell that I'm not interested. God I hate fan girls almost as much as Itachi. Itachi...
Quickly performing the two techniques Sasuke headed back to his seat where he sat down to brood.
"Alright, well done Sasuke. Naruto you are next."
Iruka took a look around his room and found his new student nowhere in sight. He was confused, he never felt the boy leave and on the inside was a little disturbed by that.
"Did anyone see Naruto leave?"
A round of 'No' met his ears and he frowned. He would have to ask the boy tomorrow why he had left and discipline him as well.
"Fine. You can all leave after Ino"
He was interrupted by said Yamanaka yelling.
"I can't do them!"
Iruka could not believe the speed in which his class left after she had said that. He slumped down in his chair wondering about his new blonde student.
Said blonde was making his way to the Hokage tower to see the only person to see him for who he was; Uzumaki Naruto. He could not think what his life would have been like without the kind and helpful old man who cared for him like a grandchild. Naruto, at this moment just needed a friendly face and an environment where he knew he would not be glared at or potentially attacked.
As Naruto entered the tower, he was greeted by the secretary. He knew that she hated him, but she had been 'told' by the Hokage to treat him normally and let him through whenever he came whether he had a meeting or not.
"He's not in a meeting so you can go right in." The secretary said with a blank expression.
Even though he knew it was forced he still smiled brightly at her. It was a rare occurrence for him not to get death glares so he relished every little piece of indifference or kindness he could get. With a 'Thanks' he was on his way to the Hokages office.
Knocking on the door he heard a muffled 'Enter' and entered the office. Pushing the big oak doors he looked upon the only person to show him kindness and a place of refuge. Yes, the Ichiraku's helped him out with food from time to time, but they could not protect him from a mob or some shinobi; the Hokage could.
"Hello Naruto. I'm glad you decided to drop by." Spoke the wizened leader behind his desk full of paperwork piled higher then he would have liked.
"It's no trouble for me Ji-san. I love to come and visit you to give you time off from that paperwork of yous."
If he didn't know he was behind all the paper, Naruto would have wondered where the chuckle came from after his comment. Walking to a small couch he decided to have a seat and wait for the old man to come and join him.
"So Naruto, how do you find your new classmates?" Sarutobi said as he got up and strolled over to join the young blonde.
"Same as always Ji-san. Sigh. Hey I've always wondered if there was a technique that could help you do that paperwork of yours. Like a Bunshin or something." Spoke the blonde knowing full well what that technique would be.
Sarutobi sat there for a moment tossing Narutos words around his head. It took a moment before a look of understanding dawned on his face and he smiled.
"Why yes Naruto, there is a technique that I can use to help me. Thank you very much that will help me out a lot. Oh and can I ask why you decided to leave class early today?"
Naruto looked sheepish with his hand scratching the back of his head.
"I should have known you would have been watching me with that ball of yours." Thinking on his feet Naruto thought of something to say. With his fox like grin in place he said "I was to worried I would blind the rest of the class with my amazing skills. It's not everyday you see a Hokage in the making."
The Hokage chuckled at the excuse. He knew it was just that, an excuse but he didn't want to press it.
"Hey Ji-san. Do you think that I could stay here for a while, while you work?" Asked Naruto not feeling like going out into the village just yet. He really just felt like resting without worrying about being attacked. He almost never felt safe. He was probably the lightest sleeper ever because he could not risk getting caught off guard. He felt so safe right now he could already feel the lack of sleep catching up to him.
"Sure Naruto. Stay as long as you like." Said the Hokage, seeing the boy begin to nod off.
The boy did this every time he was here. The Hokage just wished he knew why. Sighing he got up and headed back towards his desk before remembering what Naruto had suggested. He smiled for the boys ability to think outside the box. He could now do his paperwork and sit by the fire enjoying his pipe at the same time.
Getting to his desk he made a few Kage Bunshin to do the paperwork then retrieved his pipe from its drawer. He also grabbed a little orange book just in case he felt like reading a bit of his students work. Sitting down in front of the fire he lit his pipe and began to enjoy his relaxation.