Hello to all my readers, this is a new project I just started; I hope that it is enjoyable to all of you. My other story, Tree City Chronicles has NOT been discontinued, I am just lacking inspiration, although it would be a great help if you left some reviews prompting me to resume working on it as possible, because as all of you should know, in fanfiction, reviews are an author's life.

Feel free to leave any sort of feedback, comments, suggestions, requests; I will even take flames if you give me a valid argument.

Disclaimer: As all of you probably know, I don't own Naruto, it belongs To Mamashi Kishimoto. I hate putting this stuff, but it's always better to avoid trouble if possible.

"Talking"

"Thoughts"

Echoes of a Lost Spirit

The sun was setting over the village; all the houses and buildings became dim with the arrival of night. Atop the monuments of the Hokage Mountain stood a boy, watching how the whole town began to succumb to darkness. He observed how many people were on their way home after a hard day of labor. After the sun was gone, and the stars illuminated the endless sky, he stood up from his place. An orange jumpsuit covered his body, he really did not mind the color too much, well, he could not complain, even if things could be better, there was something certain, they could always get worse. A pair of shinobi blue sandals guarded his feet, light and comfortable, the perfect footwear for anybody who aspired to become a full-fleshed ninja. His head was covered with a spiky bunch of blonde hair, he really never did anything to it, but it always stayed the same. On his forehead was a pair of goggles, they were a nice piece of headgear, but what this boy truly desired was to be able to stop using it, and in its place, to have a shinobi headband, the symbol that showed proof of how someone was truly a part of the village, a part of the military force that protected the land and its people.

This young man aspired to become one of those soldiers, he dreamed of becoming a man that everyone would turn to look at with a smile when he walked on a street, because at the moment he had nothing akin to it. When he passed through the streets of the village, most of the people did not even look at him, like he did not even exist; they acted as if he was not even there. The ones that did bother to look at him either gave him icy stares or angry glares. Why was he treated like that? What did he ever do to receive such treatment? And more importantly, what could he do to change it? Such were the questions that tormented his mind. He already attended the ninja academy, and although he always tried his best, for some reason, he could not obtain the same results as his peers. Ok, maybe he did not stick around as much as he should have in the lectures, because he did not believe that it held that much importance, after all, how could so much theory fit in a ninja's life? Although he knew very well, that a man has to be aware of his past in order to live the present, and to have a chance at a good future. Either way, after failing for the third time, he knew that he had the necessary knowledge in theory, perhaps not the best, but adequate knowledge, he was sure he possessed the needed quantity in order to pass, that was not it, it was the stupid bunshin-jutsu, he just could not do it, he tried to gather his chakra, but it was really hard for him, even though it was relatively easy for his classmate.

"Tomorrow is the day of the exam", he thought.

And yet he felt that the result would be the same. He had already grown tired of failure, why must someone who works harder than anyone else obtain worst results? It just was not fair. Perhaps he was not the problem, it was not his fault, maybe the environment was not suited for him, perhaps he could flourish somewhere else, and then he could come back and aid his village, yeah, since he was not an official ninja of the village, they could not keep him from leaving, but he knew better, everything concerning him was treated differently, somehow it seemed that no matter how cold everyone was to him, they did not push it over the edge. They wanted him here, he, for some reason unknown to him, was a needed part of the village, but probably a part that was not essential, since they did nothing to encourage him to stay. He would have to make an escape plan, leave before anyone notices you are gone, and then it would be too late to put halt to him. He should leave before the exam, but that would seem too suspicious, after all, if anyone wanted to pass it, it was him; he was going to take the exam, and then depending on the result he would think it further, the outcome will be decided tomorrow, the future of the one know as Uzumaki Naruto.

The examination room was a very spartan looking; only a table covered with headbands stood in the middle, behind it sat Iruka-Sensei and Mizuki Sensei, ready to witness his performance and to decide whether or not he was ready to become a genin.

Naruto went ahead and performed his kawarimi and henge jutsus successfully, now came the moment of truth, to perform the bunshin jutsu. He made the hand sign, gathered his chakra, yelled out the name of the jutsu, and hoped for the best, but the result was heart-shattering. Only one clone came out, and to make it worse, it was pale and sickly looking, he already knew the outcome.

Iruka saw the clone that Naruto had made, it saddened him to see the horrible result, with such an incompetent skill in the technique, there was no way that he could graduate. "Naruto, you have failed, all your classmates created at least three healthy looking clones, you do not meet the standards."

The devastating look in Naruto's eyes was an awful thing to see but it could not be helped, just then, Mizuki-Sensei spoke.

"Iruka, why not give the boy a chance, after all he did manage to make a clone, and this is his third attempt." Said Mizuki-Sensei with a compassionate look toward Naruto.

"I'm sorry Mizuki, but with just that he would not last even a week in the shinobi world, I do not wish to see him get killed because of a lack of skill." Was the serious reply of Iruka.

"Thanks Mizuki-Sensei, I appreciate your thoughts." And with that, Naruto exited the room.

He just sat in the swing, alone, dejected, wishing he could have someone to celebrate with, or at least with someone who would comfort him. Just then he heard Mizuki-Sensei's voice behind him.

"Hey Naruto, do not think badly of Iruka, he just wants what's best for you, he knows that if you go out there without the proper skills, you will be killed, and he does not want to see that. He is an orphan just like you, he knows what it is like to grow up without parents, if someone can sympathize with you that would be him."

"I know that, it's just that this time I really wanted to pass, I had worked so hard." "Oh well, I think that plan B comes into action now." Thought Naruto.

"Well, you know something Naruto, there is another way of becoming a genin, but Iruka did not tell you about it because it was quite risky, would you like to try it?" Said the Chuunin.

"Of course!" Was the blonde's reply.

The breeze of the night rustled his hair as he leaped from branch to branch, the moon and the stars gave him a little light as he travelled full speed through the forest. Naruto headed directly to the spot he had been told, his face radiant with happiness. The moment Mizuki-Sensei had told him of the second examination process, he had been so happy that his feelings betrayed him.

"Perhaps I do not need to leave, I just had to wait until my chance came around, yes! My time to shine is finally here!"

Arriving at the designated place he decided to get right to work, after all, once he took the sacred scroll, all he had to do was learn one jutsu from there that was all he needed to become a genin. Opening the scroll the first jutsu that popped up was the Kage-Bunshin jutsu, Naruto grimaced looking at it, the first jutsu was obviously the easiest, and it was related to his worst jutsu, although the description did say that it was very different in comparison of chakra consumption, but he did not think it was a problem, because after all, he trained much more than all the other kids he was pretty sure that he had enough chakra to attempt it. Well, he could always write it down and then come back to it, getting out a scroll he opened it and wrote down the instructions for the jutsu, and he kept scanning the scroll for other jutsus that called his attention. Having written down all the techniques that caught his interest he decided to start working on the Kage-Bunshin, after all, if he mastered that one, he could move on to another one, and if mastering one was the requirement, if he managed to master two, it would get him higher marks.

The village was in a total uproar, at least the ninja ranks, the civilians did not even know what was going on. Many ninjas were rushing around the rooftops, in their way to the Hokage Tower.

"Hokage-Sama, we have to find Naruto as soon as possible!" Yelled one of the ninjas.

"The scroll contains important secrets from our village, it has things written by the previous Hokages, the results could be disastrous if they were to fall unto wrong hands." Commented another shinobi.

The Hokage contemplated all his options, he absolutely had to recover the missing scroll, it was way too important to leave it alone, but he did not wish for any harm to befall Naruto, after all he was only a confused child with a lot of regret over not being able to pass his genin exam, after all, if he had the skill to steal the scroll, maybe he was not that far off his goal, but he had to resolve this matter first, the other shinobi would not be as understanding if time kept passing and Naruto was still missing.

"Go and find Naruto immediately, bring him to me the moment you find him, and try to remember that he is just a boy, regardless of who he is, he is probably just confused." The Hokage saw all the shinobi in front of him disappear in search of Naruto, he just needed to head to his office and try to locate him with his crystal ball.

Meanwhile Iruka was resting in his apartment when a sudden knock in the door put him on alert, opening the door he saw Mizuki standing there with an agitated look in his face. He could tell that something was going on in the village as he saw many shinobi running through the rooftops.

"Iruka, you have to come quickly! Naruto has taken the Scroll of Sealing as a joke, the whole village is looking for him!" Said the agitated gray-haired Chuunin.

"He did what?" Yelled Iruka, "I will go find him this instant!" And so getting dressed and heading out Iruka thought, "What the hell were you thinking Naruto? This is a very serious matter, you won't get off the hook so easily. I better head for the woods, he is most likely to be there."

Naruto sat panting in the ground, it had been a lot of work, but he had finally mastered the first jutsu in the scroll, he had thought that it was going to be a lot harder, but it had been really simple, there was only one hand sign, and all it seemed to require was a good amount of chakra, and apparently he did have enough chakra, because he was able to pull it off. Just then the person he was expecting to see appeared in front of him, and so he received him with a smile.

"Iruka-Sensei, you caught me, and it was really fast as usual, I only had time to learn the first jutsu in the scroll. This means that I passed right?" Said Naruto happily.

Iruka gave Naruto a puzzled look, he thought it was a test? And looking around he noticed that he was telling the truth, the grounds around him were all battered, it was obvious that someone had been practicing really hard. "Naruto what do you mean, who told you about this test, who told you to steal the scroll from the Hokage Tower?" Questioned Iruka with a serious tone.

"Well, Mizuki-Sensei of course, he said that you did not want to tell me about this way of taking the exam because you thought it was dangerous, but I did it." Was Naruto's cheerful reply.

And then Iruka understood everything, it all made sense now, Mizuki was the culprit behind all this mess, he had been the one who told Naruto where the scroll was, he told him to steal so that the blame would fall on Naruto, Mizuki was a traitor, and he had tricked Naruto into doing his dirty work, he was about to tell Naruto what was going on when he heard a hail of kunai and shuriken heading toward Naruto, and he knew what he had to do. "Naruto, get out of the way!" Iruka yelled desperately, but since he was too overjoyed there was no way that he was going to react on time, so he jumped right in front of him and pushed him away from the danger, kunai and shuriken impacting the flesh.

Naruto was at a loss of words, he had been happily talking with Iruka-Sensei, and the next minute he had been shoved out of the way, and now there was Iruka-Sensei sitting against the little shack that was in the clearing, bleeding from several wounds in his body.

Iruka was looking toward the direction the projectiles had come from, and there he stood, Mizuki with two fuma shuriken in his back. A maniacal smile adorning his face, the look of satisfaction in his face was truly perturbing.

"So it was you all along, you pretended to help him, but you were only tricking him into doing your dirty work, why did you do this Mizuki? You traitor!" Yelled Iruka with a sorrowful tone.

"Ahahaha, that's right Iruka, I was the one who told Naruto where the scroll was, and at what time he had to head there in order to take it, because I have decided to leave the village, but not before getting rid of the demon." Replied Mizuki with a smug tone.

Naruto was beyond confused by now; Mizuki-Sensei was a traitor? Taking the scroll seemed to have been something serious, but why had Mizuki-Sensei called him a demon? Mizuki-Sensei, what to do you mean, why did you call me a demon?" Asked a perplexed Naruto.

Mizuki turned his attention to Naruto and told him, "Naruto, do you know why everyone in the village treats you the way they do, why they see you as the dirt of their shoes, when apparently you have done nothing to deserve it?" Inquired Mizuki.

"NO! You cannot tell him Mizuki, it is against the law! Screamed Iruka in anguish.

"Naruto, you are the nine-tailed fox that attacked the village twelve years ago, you are responsible for the deaths of countless shinobi and civilians, that's why everyone hates you, because you killed their families, even Iruka hates you, he is an orphan because of you." Was Mizuki's cruel statement, and seen Naruto frozen from the shock, he started spinning the fuma shuriken, and threw at full speed toward the unsuspecting Naruto, but right before hitting him Iruka got in front of Naruto once again, getting the shuriken incrusted in his back.

Iruka looked at Naruto with tears in his eyes, "Naruto, I know you must have been lonely, you had to be hurting all this time, if only I had done a better job, perhaps this would have never happened."

Naruto took off running with all his might, Iruka's cries for him did not reach him; he was shocked to say the least, so that was the reason he was treated that way, the resentment of the villagers was because he was a demon, a demon who had killed their family, all the hate, all the indifference, he finally understood the reasons behind them. They had kept it a secret from him for twelve long years, nobody ever had the decency to even tell him what was going on, he had heard that it was against the law to tell him, but even the Hokage had not mentioned anything, the higher authority in the village, one of the only people who he considered his friends, had not told him anything. Perhaps it had been for his own good, but it did not change the fact that he felt hurt and betrayed.

As Naruto leapt from branch to branch at top-speed, Iruka caught up to him from the side. "Naruto, give the scroll, before Mizuki catches up to us, it will be safer for you if you give me the scroll." But the response he got was a knee to the gut, and just as they collapsed to the floor the truth was revealed.

"Naruto, how did you know I was not the real Iruka?" The henge disappeared, and in place of Iruka was Mizuki, holding his stomach.

"Because I am the real Iruka." And with that Naruto puffed with smoke and in his place stood Iruka.

The real Naruto stood hidden behind a tree, not knowing what to believe anymore, he decided to stay where he was, and to just wait to see what happened next.

"Why do you protect him Iruka? Can't you see what he really is? He is the reason why your parents are dead. He is just like me, he probably ran off with the scroll to use it for his own purposes, because that is what demons are like."

"Yeah, you are right, that's what demons are like" Replied Iruka.

Naruto felt that his heart split in two, so even Iruka-Sensei thought that way, deep down even him does not acknowledge me, even his mentor, the person he looked up as a child would look up to his father, if even he thought like that, perhaps he should leave the village, disappear from their sight, never to be seen again. Just then he heard the rest of Iruka's reply.

"You're right, that's how demons are, that's what the demon fox would do… But Naruto is different. I acknowledge him, he is one of my excellent students, he may not be the hardest worker, and he isn't liked by others, and he knows what it is like to feel pain inside your heart. He is a proud citizen of Konoha, a kind hearted young man like who is nothing like you, he is Uzumaki Naruto. I am very proud of him, and I trust him, he would never do anything like that, I know it." Iruka finished speaking, but he was breathing hard already, he had taken a lot of damage.

"Well, whatever, I will kill you first, and then I will get rid of the demon fox." Mizuki then started spinning the remaining fuma shuriken in his hands, ready to end Iruka's life. Just when he was about to throw it he received a brutal knee to his chin, and he was sent flying.

There stood Uzumaki Naruto, holding the scroll behind his back, "Don't you dare touch Iruka-Sensei, or I WILL KILL YOU!"

"Naruto! You fool, run away!" Yelled a desperate Iruka.

"Hahahaha, I will kill you with one shot!" Screamed Mizuki.

"Try it trash, I will return the pain a thousand times over!" Replied Naruto.

"Do it then! Show me demon fox!"

Naruto readied his hands into a cross-shaped hand-sign, and yelled out, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Instantly, thousands of Naruto's popped into existence, surrounding Mizuki from all directions. The reaction of Mizuki showed shock, and perhaps even fear.

"What happened? Weren't you going to finish me in one shot? Well, then, if you do not want to start, I will." Naruto then proceeded to pummel Mizuki from all directions until he was lying in the floor unconscious.

"Naruto you have done it, each of those clones was a real body, not an illusion, perhaps you can do it, surpass all the previous Hokages and become the greatest ninja this village has ever known." Iruka was really proud of his pupil.

"Hehehe, maybe I went a little too far." Said Naruto sheepishly.

"Naruto come over here, I want to give you something." Said a happy Iruka.

"What is it Iruka-Sensei, can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes Naruto, you can open your eyes Naruto."

Naruto looked at the face of his mentor and noticed his bare forehead, "Congratulations Naruto, you passed, you are hereby an official ninja of Konoha, how about I treat you to some ramen to celebrate?" Naruto happily jumped to hug his sensei, momentarily forgetting in bliss that he was hurt. "I was going to give you a lecture about the hard life of a ninja, but I guess that can wait for the ramen."

The next day a photographer stood confused in front of a young ninja about to take his registration photo. He was not too sure about what the blond kid was trying to do, but hell, it was not his job to tell the kids how to take the pictures, oh well, he might as well ask this one.

"Hey kid, are you sure you want to take your picture like that?"

"Yeah mister, take it like that."

"Oh well, as you wish." And with that the camera flashed and the picture was taken.

The Hokage sat in front of Naruto examining his registration form, to say it was strange could not begin to describe him; this had to be the strangest form anyone had ever turned in. Naruto was striking a strange pose with his face covered in kabuki makeup. "Take it again." Was the Hokage's flat statement. Naruto was perplexed beyond anything.

"No way! It took me three hours to find a good pose, and putting on all that makeup was not easy you know!" Naruto retorted.

The Hokage was very amused by the photo, but he could not tell Naruto that, after all this was a serious procedure, "Naruto, this form will contain all your information, it will serve as your record for the village. It has to be accurate, in this picture we cannot even tell who you are, so please retake it."

The Hokage was still talking when the door burst open and a kid came charging into the room. He was wearing a scarf around his neck, had a helmet on his head, and was carrying a shuriken at hand.

"Fight me old man!" Said the charging infant as he attempted to attack, sadly, he tripped over his own scarf and ended up face first against the floor.

"Not again, this is the 10th attack this week." Thought the Hokage sadly.

Right behind the kid came a man dressed in all black wearing a black bandana and sunglasses, "honorable grandson!" And then noticing Naruto in the room he gave him a displeased look, "It's that Naruto kid, the child with the demon fox in him."

Naruto returned the look back at him, "he's looking at me just like the others, but I will show him too." He was about to retort verbally when the kid noticed him and suddenly yelled at him.

"It was you! You were the one who tripped me."

Naruto angrily got up and grabbed the kid by the collar, "I never tripped you, you little twerp, you tripped over your own scarf!"

The man got agitated immediately, "Let go of that child, he is the honorable grandson of the Hokage!"

The kid turned to look at him with a smug look, "That's right, when he hears that I'm the Hokage's Grandson, he will get scared just like the others."

Surprisingly enough, Naruto did just the opposite, he got even angrier, "Like I care! He could be your grandma for all I care!" And finishing his statement he proceeded to smack the kid in the head.

And with that Naruto exited the premises.

The alarm clock rung throughout the room, since his room was not that big to begin with, the sound echoed through the little apartment. Getting up and heading for the restroom, he noticed that the day seemed cloudier than usual; perhaps it was a harbinger of the things to come later on, only time could tell. Brushing his teeth and washing his face he headed to the kitchen. The only thing in his kitchen was a couple of cups of instant ramen, he did not have that much money to use for his expenses, and so he worked with whatever he had available. Finishing his cup of noodles, he headed for the shower, and after a quick shower, he got dressed, and headed for the academy.

The village was the same as usual, this time he decided to travel through the roofs, it was faster, and he avoided all the unnecessary troubles of walking in the streets. Upon arriving at the premises of the school he noticed how many students had actually attended the academy, there had been numerous kids, but only a few made it through the exam, he knew it for certain, he had been in the short end of the stick for quite a long time. Entering the school he saw many of the classmates he had spent a year working with, many kids had passed, the Haruno girl was a brainiac who memorized everything by heart, the Uchiha survivor had superior genetics, being the last of a renowned shinobi clan, the Inuzuka, the Nara, the Akimichi, the Yamanaka, the Hyuga girl, they all came from ninja clans, so it was no surprise that they passed as well. Perhaps faith did not seem him worthy enough to become a shinobi, maybe that was the reason it had been so hard for him, but the matter meant little to nothing for him; he would prove that even those hated by the gods could accomplish anything that they set their minds into, he would show everyone that even he could become an accomplished ninja, he just needed someone who could aid him on his quest, someone able to understand his ideals. Naruto headed for the classroom heavy in thought, so immersed in his own thoughts that he barely noticed his surroundings.

"Well, it is show time, let's get this over with" And with that he entered the classroom.

The classroom was swarming with students; he tried to make his way to his sit without calling too much attention to himself, which, in itself was weird, since he was always catching everyone's attention with his pranks and jokes, although later he was the one who paid the consequences. The whole classroom went about their business, nobody really noticing Naruto on his way to his seat, the only one who paid him a glimpse was Shikamaru Nara, and the boy was the only one who wondered about the blonde's strange behavior.

Sitting down Naruto noticed something; he was sitting next to Uchiha Sasuke, which he really did not mind, except for the fact that he was really popular, and that meant that his space would most likely be invaded by one of his many fans. And he was right, not five seconds after he sat down did the door burst open and in came Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, apparently discussing who was going to sit next to Sasuke.

"Fuck, just what I needed" Naruto thought grimly.

Naruto saw them approaching his seat and knew exactly what was coming next. He could hear the girl's gibberish.

"Get out of the way Ino-pig!" Yelled the pink haired girl.

"You move aside billboard forehead!" retorted back the blond.

Naruto knew precisely what was about to happen, he was right, the moment they noticed he was sitting in the spot they were fervently fighting over, both girls focused on him.

"Get out of the seat Naruto! Can't you see I want to sit next to Sasuke?" Yelled both females in unison.

Naruto sighed exasperated, "Why must I move? Can you not see that there is another seat right next to him?"

Noticing the empty seat both girls rushed over to the other side. Meanwhile Sasuke gave Naruto a "Thanks, dough bag" look.

Naruto really could not care less, besides it was his fault for being popular, hell, he did not even know why he disliked it so much… hell, he would appreciate some of the attention that he rejects.

As Sakura won the contest over the precious sitting spot and sat down next to Sasuke, Iruka sensei entered the room.

Iruka cleared his throat and looking at his students he said, "OK guys, first of all allow me to congratulate you all for passing, this is the beginning of a long road, so I hope you guys are ready to work very hard. I will tell you the names of your teams, and the people you will be working with for a most of your career as a shinobi." Iruka then proceeded to read names.

"Oh shit, life-time teammates, I hope I don't get shitty ones, that would really suck." Thought Naruto.

Iruka read the names out loud, and many teams had already been decided. The Hyuga girl, the Inuzuka and the Aburame were grouped together, that was a very good deal he thought, all of them belonged to powerful clans. Then he saw that Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji were on the same team, that sure was something, it seemed all their fathers had been on the same team when they were genin, that's what you call innate chemistry.

Suddenly Naruto snapped back to reality from his thoughts, he had heard his name. He waited anxiously, to see who his teammates were, when realization hit him, there were only two people left besides him.

" Hingeku Sai, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke, you will form team 7 and your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto stood there in shock, then his mind started racing, "What the fuck? What about me? I passed the exam as well!"

Iruka turned to Naruto before he said anything, "Naruto, since we hadn't contemplated the fact of you passing, some special arrangements had to be made in order to get you a team. We're heading to the Hokage Tower to see what these arrangements will be."

Naruto's mind was racing, many thoughts assaulted his head, he tried to remain calm but it was tough. With his head cooled down a bit, he started to wonder, "Who is this Sai guy? I've never seen him before…. This seems fishy." The doubt started to bother him, so he decided to ask his sensei, "Oi, Iruka Sensei, do you know who this guy Sai you mentioned is?"

"I really don't know, I wondered about that as well, since I had never heard of him, I actually thought that you were going to be put in team 7", replied his sensei.

Upon arriving at the Hokage Tower Naruto started to get real nervous, this was really unusual, and with him, unusual usually meant trouble. They headed upstairs to where the Hokage awaited them sitting on his usual self. Naruto looked at the Hokage steeling himself, whatever was coming was going to be important, and he had to be ready for it.

The Hokage looked at Naruto and started to talk, "Naruto, first of all, I wish to congratulate you on your passing of the exam, I also want to compliment the fact that you were able to take the scroll, the fact that you actually did it is the reason as to why you did not get into trouble. Unfortunately, preparations were not made in order to accommodate you, so something special will have to be done. I have several prospects that could teach you, but I have to make sure that you can step up to the challenge, so we are going to do the following in order to make sure…"

Naruto was so happy that he was about to explode, they were willing to give him a chance, a chance to prove he was a worthy, he was so happy that he interrupted the Hokage. "Really! Oh man, this is awesome so who is it? Who's going to train me? Is he powerful? Or maybe it's a woman? What is it? Huh? Huh?"

The Hokage signaled Naruto to be quiet and continued talking. "As I was saying, in order to see the level you posses at the moment, you will do a test tomorrow, I have arranged that you take part in the test Hatake Kakashi will put to his students, I don't know if you're aware of this, but in order to fully become a genin, you have to pass the test your jounin sensei gives you. Meet him and his team in training field 7, the test will be at 6:00 o'clock, so make sure to be there on time." With this Naruto and Iruka were dismissed.

Naruto and Iruka came out of the Hokage building and as they were going to part Iruka looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto, do your best in tomorrow's test, I know you will do a great job, you are a great shinobi, the only thing left is to prove to the world. Also, Hatake Kakashi has a really bad habit of being extremely late, so he probably won't show up until 8 or 9, do not get exasperated, and wait for him with a cool head." With that Iruka started to leave but not before tossing Naruto a little bag, "I know it isn't much, but it should be enough".

Naruto waved good bye to his dear sensei, being truly thankful for his patience and understanding all the time he had been under his guidance. Naruto opened the little bag and saw the contents inside. There was some money and a little note. 'Naruto, it might not be much, but it should suffice, please get a change of clothes.' Naruto laughed, but maybe he was right it was time for a little change. His future was going to be decided the next day, perhaps it was a good idea to start off with the right foot.

"All right! It's time to go do a little shopping, and then I shall go check out training the training field for the test tomorrow." And with that Naruto walked off smirking to himself.

OK guys, that's it for the first chapter. As always, please review, favorite, like (Hahaha, this isn't facebook), but you know what I mean, I read every single review I get. If you have any suggestions, comments, etc. feel free to leave a review or send me a PM. Thanks for reading and I'll try to upload the next chapter soon.

Aztek Lord