Background.

Konoha is a ninja village. At a young age a person can choose between going to the Academy, the more popular choice, and the civilian school the least popular. 11 years before the start of our story the Kyuubi No Kitsune attacked Konoha, killing hundreds, and was only stopped when the 3rd Hokage sealed the fox into the Yondaime's youngest child, Naruto Namikaze. Naruto was a prodigy in all-rights, and was worshipped as the hero of Konoha, until there was a "training accident". You see in the Shinobi's world there are monsters and it's a ninja's job to eliminate these monsters. Three years before the start of the story the Yondaime was alerted to the fact that a werewolf had entered the village, and he and an elite force of M.E.S Anbu sent to find the creature. Werewolves we're believed to have been slaughtered, and as such their very rare to find. They we're also considered one of the strongest of the monsters. When Minato came upon the scene he was horrified to realize that the werewolf had attacked Naruto who was training, biting him deeply in the arm, but was killed by the Kyuubi's chakra which had flooded the werewolf and destroyed his organs. Werewolves however look just like a normal wolf so Naruto, who hadn't had to take the class about demons and monsters as of yet, believed it was a normal wolf. Ultimately, Naru became a werewolf as well. The Yondaime was unwilling to kill his son, and being a master at seals, managed to seal away his son's curse, but it also resulted in all his knowledge and power being sealed away. So Naruto became the dead last over the course of two days, and didn't know of his curse. However somebody spilled the news and it was spread through the adults that the Yondaime's son had become a werewolf. The Hokage made a law how Naruto was not allowed to know of his lycanism, and it was not to be spoken of, so the children never found out. But all the villagers and ninjas shunned the previously loved blonde, and the Yondaime simply ignored him. Naruto's older siblings we're disgusted with the blonde so they also shunned him. Naruto then finally graduated when he turned 13, which is where we begin, or at least just before it.

Chapter 1.

Naruto was an unhappy child, more-so than usual. Usually he was just quiet and kept to himself most of the time. But the blonde was most undoubtly unhappy right now.

Naruto Uzumaki was a 5'2, azure blue-eyed, 13 year old boy, with spiky orangey blonde hair, and red tipped bangs. He was lean and wiry, with invisible muscles that were undoubtly there. His clothes we're moderately baggie, the top being a dark grey hoodie with short-sleeves, and underneath a long-sleeved fishnet shirt that covered the rest of his arms. On the back of the hoodie was an orange Konoha symbol and on both shoulders a dark red spiral, the symbol of the Uzumaki. His pants we're like an Anbu's, black and taped to his ankles with white bandages. His shoes we're pure black combat boots that made a dull thunk when they hit the ground. The blonde's hood was pulled up over his head hiding his face from view, as he kicked a pebble on the ground. Naruto was currently heading towards a lone swing hanging from a tree in the large courtyard in front of the Academy. The blonde had sat there countless times before over the last few years, ever since the villagers began to... The blue-eyed whiskered teen wasn't exactly sure of the correct wording for the citizens of Konoha's absent hospitality for him. It was a diverse and large group, meaning that each separate group in the larger one had a different opinion on the Former Hokage's son. Last year, his father had been killed during a large-scale siege on the city. A wave of monsters, varying from things such as the blood-sucking vampire's, to the less-common wrath's, which we're just as annoying to kill. No one had discovored why the mass of creatures had attacked Konoha, but they had come close to winning. Naruto didn't know the specifics himself, as he had been locked up. The rather adorable blonde figured that his temporary prison sentence had been because of his being a jinchurika, container of the Kyuubi. It was well-known knowledge in this city, and Naruto supposed this was the reason for the citizen's whole "bane of our existence" attitude. The blonde shook his head, causing his already unruly hair to become messier. The 13-year old took a seat on the swing, and slowly began a rocking motion. He hadn't had anyone ever push him on the swing, at least not that he could remember. His father had always been busy, and he had no mother. His only other family members were his cousin, Ayane and his two siblings, who basically despised him. They we're both older than him, and he didn't talk with them often. Naruto supposed that deep down, they didn't completely hate him, but until there was proper evidence of that, he would remain his distance.

Azure blue eyes scanned the yard carefully. The Academy's yard was mostly empty, as it was still a bit early. Anyone who had already arrived had entered the building, and any of the late comers hadn't arrived yet. The blonde hummed to himself, pondering the idea of entering the building himself. He wasn't very keen on the idea, but it seemed better than sitting outside. The unruly blonde-haired preteen rolled his shoulders, and stood up. He lifted his leg over the swing and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Casually the whiskered blonde fiddled with one long lock of red hair as he made his way into the Academy. The blonde-and-red haired preteen took a left turn, and continued to navigate his ways through the hallways. Noise slowly filled the air, as he neared his classroom. The excitement was to be suspected, Naruto supposed, as today was the exam. Everyone in his class, and any others in the graduating classes, had the Graduation exam today. If they passed, the ninja-hopefuls would become genin, and start their ninja careers. Naruto himself didn't care all that much about becoming a ninja. He didn't really have any dreams for being a ninja, and there was really only one reason he joined.

The blonde slid open the door, glancing around the classroom through crimson-red bangs. Naruto gave a halfhearted wave to Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi when he entered. There were a grand total of 6 people in the room, including Naruto. Up in front, was the teacher's assistant, Mizuki. Shikamaru and Choji were sitting in the second row, which there we're four of. Behind them, sat Sasuke Uchiha, who was staring out the window in supposed boredom, and two desks over in the same row sat Hinata Hyuuga. It was kind of funny to the blonde that some of the most important clans in Konoha's heirs were all in the same class. Aburama, Akimichi, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Nara, Uchiha, and Yamanaka, in that order. There we're some students from civilian families, Sakura Haruno being one of the notable ones. Students like him, we're also apart of class. He was the son of ninjas, and was following the family business. Ignoring the fact that his father was the Hokage, Naruto was quite alike the other students. Except that he sucked at being a ninja. For some unknown reason, the blonde was at the bottom of his class despite his absolute genius 3 years earlier. Occasionally, the blonde would wonder just what had happened to his intelligence. It wasn't like he was stupid, far-from it actually. Whatever was wrong with him, reminded Naruto of some kind of mental problem he had heard of years before. Something beginning with a 'D'… Dslic? No... Dsylex? That wasn't it either. Anyhow, the blonde just couldn't seem to understand what was being written or shown. The letters became jumbled around, and made no sense to him. Years ago, this hadn't even been a problem. Everything shown to him, the blonde had come up with some way to use, even beyond its original use. But now, the blonde couldn't think of anything. If he was younger, Naruto would have wondered just what had happened to that ability to his. But now, after dealing with it for 3 years, he had let it go.

The blue-eyed boy took a seat in the back, and zoned out. Beautiful azure blue-eyes dulled, as they were shaded by contrasting, brilliant scarlet-red bangs. The quiet preteen remained as such, even as the class slowly filled. The bickering of two students brought him back, slowly. His gaze snapped to the two fighting ninja-hopefuls.

One had long blonde hair, held up by a dark hairpiece that was styled so a thick lock of hair covered one of her baby-blue eyes. She had fair pale skin that was covered by two purple pieces of fabric, the shirt ending at her midriff, while the skirt obscured one side. She had white armbands, much like Sasuke's, on each arm. Her stomach and legs we're covered by pure white bandages and she wore classic ninja styled shoes, in a deep blue color.

The second was the opposite of her rival. She had cherry blossom pink hair, which probably influenced her name, and mint green eyes. The girl's light pink hair ended just below her shoulder blades. Her hair was parted down the center, splitting her bangs to frame her face. Unfortunately, this revealed the girl's slightly oversized forehead. The feature did not distract from the girl's pretty features though. Her skin was just as pale as the other girls, but looked more fragile, like a glass-doll. She was wearing a dress, in a bright red-pink shade, with a white design. Under the dress were short's ending at her knees. The color was a mixture of green and grey, an odd color that would blend in, if it wasn't for the brightness of everything else she wore.

Naruto's beautifully bright eyes, like the brightest pool of water, fluidly turned back to the front of the room, and away from the screaming girls. Mizuki had straightened up the desk it seems, and appeared to be just waiting on the actual teacher, a man named Iruka. The silver-haired teacher looked frustrated with the girls, who were still violently bickering. The whisker-faced preteen sitting in the book had not paid attention to what exactly the two beauties were fighting over, but he could easily guess. Almost every day the two girls, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, argued over who got to sit next to their "precious Sasuke-kun." Earlier on, the red-banged male had wanted to gag at their exclamations of "love" and "adoration". He found the whole experience to be rather faked, as if someone had sentenced the girls to a life of being pathetic fangirls. Naruto wasn't one to talk though, with his meager position as the dead last of this class, and practically the entire school. Ino was rather good at jutsu, having a well-balanced amount of chakra, and control. She was intelligent enough, being somewhere in the middle of the group, but lacked in her Taijutsu and practical use. Sakura was the opposite of the Yamanaka heir though. She had a very low amount of chakra, with exceptional control. Her Taijutsu was plain pathetic to Naruto, considering that was one of the only things in the school where he was in the Top 5, and with such little chakra she wouldn't be able to become a Genjutsu expert. This left her with the choice of being a medic, but even then, it would take years for her stores to grow to a large enough size for her to do so. Most medics started training as soon as they exited the Academy, putting her at another disadvantage. Naruto imagined though, that with her strong learning curve, she would be able to catch up rather quickly. The boy was interrupted from his thoughts when their sensei finally arrived. He was a brunette, with hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail. Iruka-sensei had tanned skin and a rather neat scar over the bridge of his nose. The blonde in the back had figured that this was probably from a training accident, as almost all scars from battle were never that neat and usually had more tearing, which would make the scar more jagged. Since he would have had to be in battle for the wound to occur, the scarring would have been worse, as healing in the field was minimal. However, if Iruka had obtained it while training there would have been a shorter time-span for him to make his way to someone with medical knowledge.

Ignoring the scar, the man was fit and healthy looking, with a charming face. He wore a standard chunin uniform, normal for most ninja at that rank, and there wasn't really anything personal about his appearance. Iruka cleared his throat, taking center stage.

"Well!" He practically yelled, causing everyone to quiet down. Ino and Sakura had eventually taking their seats, the pink-haired girl seemingly winning this battle. "Welcome to the Academy Graduating Exam. You will go through three tests to test your skills. We will split the group in two. Half of you will take the written test, while the other half will go outside and start at the practical proportion, with Mizuki. Finally, we will regroup to take the ninjutsu portion. Everyone's family names beginning with A to M are with Mizuki, and N through Z is in here. Please head to your designated position." Iruka instructed. Naruto watched as almost half the class got up and went through the door. That left him, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Suzuki, Aina, Himeko, and Noemi. The test was passed out, and with a deep breath, Naruto began.

It had taken an hour for the first two tests, and the class was finally at the final stage. Most of the students were antsy, while a few seemed rather cool about it. Naruto wasn't nervous, as he didn't actually really care about becoming a ninja in the first place. The blonde had taken his former seat, as Iruka began talking.

"We will now start the final exam. When your name is called proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on the clone jutsu" The scarred man spoke from the front of the room, arms crossed. Naruto slumped slightly in his seat. The clone jutsu was one of his worse techniques, as he had never gotten the hang of it. His father, before he started ignoring him, had said it was because he simply had far too much chakra to begin with, and adding the Kyuubi into the equation had practically tripled the amount he had. Once upon a time, his father had joked that he practically had the same amount of chakra that the beast had. But once upon a time, was many years ago. Anyways, with so much chakra, the blonde unconsciously overloaded the clones with chakra. With such a dramatic overflow, he dispensed too much into the clones, resulting in their sickly appearance. Naruto had never gotten used to seeing himself so pale and lifeless, even if it was just a clone; it made the blonde uneasy, and often led to sickening day and nightmares. Now that he had to preform said jutsu, the blonde was in for an uncomfortable day. He waited patiently for his turn, not all the willing to go in the first place, fiddling with one dark red bang. Naruto believed he had done moderately well during the last two portions. He hit the target with all 5 Kunai and shuriken, though none hit the bulls eye. One or two came close, being only at the outer ring, but never the center. The written test had been difficult, but he was certain that he had gotten at least half-of the questions correct. Unfortunately, he still might not make the cut. If he didn't get a good grade, and the lowest he could afford to get was an average, Naruto wouldn't make it past this graduation. And wouldn't that just be funny? The youngest son of the youngest Hokage in history, not even passing the Genin exam. Naruto would have laughed himself, if it wasn't such a morbid thought. Still fiddling with part of his bangs, the whiskered preteen didn't hear his name be called, as he was 'deep' in thought. He did, however, hear it when Iruka shouted it, his head grown to an impossibly large size. Cerulean blue eyes jerked up, and Naruto stood up. Quickly and quietly, he went down the steps and sped into the examination room. Iruka had taken his seat again, Mizuki beside him. The blonde-and-red haired Naruto took a deep breath and went to stand in front of them.

"Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei…" Naruto spoke. His tone was bland, and respectful. His voice itself wasn't too loud, and his voice was embarrassingly, not manly. It kind of reminded him of his neighbor's son, Yumei. Yumei was a shy kid, barely spoke, but when he did it was soft, and kind-of girly.

"Alright Naruto, please preform the Bunshin, and create three clones." Iruka smiled at the soft-spoken kid. Naruto wasn't a talker, he was a thinker. He often just talked to himself. In his mind, of course. Talking to yourself out loud was insane. Occasionally, when he was in the mood (which he often wasn't), he'd have short conversations with the Kyuubi. The two had a secretly enjoyed game, of coming up with new insults for eachother every time they saw one another. Moving on now, Naruto brought his hands up in the correct hand signs. The blonde took a deep breathe, and summoned up the warm feeling running through his body. Whenever he connected to it, the blonde felt a fine tingle crawl up his spine. The sensation reminded him of someone gently rubbing his back. Occasionally, he wondered if his chakra had a mind of its own. Pulling on the feeling, like a piece of taffy, it stretched and reached up, the invisible energy spiraling around him. The cerulean-blue eyed boy muttered the name of the jutsu under his breath. His chakra pulled like a rubber band, and when he looked up, he was surprised. Beside him we're two clones, which was a feat in and of itself. The two of them smiled, looking a bit washed out, but it was better than his past attempts. For a second, excitement and hope filled the blonde, until it withered away when he looked to his sensei. Iruka had a sad expression on his face, looking guilty. "I'm sorry Naruto, but we required three clones. You've created two and both cannot pass for you." Naruto frowned in confusion, and turned to his clones. They smiled at him, in sync. The blonde admitted that they did seem a bit to pale to pass for him, but they could still work. Both were standing, at the very least. Mizuki spoke up.

"Iruka, he did manage to create more than one. You have seen some of his past attempts, and these are much better. Couldn't we just pass him?" The silver-haired assistant commented, looking at his friend. Naruto felt his hope lift back up. Iruka shook his head, and any hopeful or excited feelings crashed back down to Naruto's gut. In a moment of morbid humor, the blonde pictured Kyuubi chomping up the positive feelings, and then picking his teeth clean. Naruto deadpanned at his own imagination, and looked to his teachers.

"We can't let him pass unless he manages to make clones that can pass for him. Maybe if there were three of them, but there aren't." The scarred-chunin spoke firmly, shaking his head. Naruto scowled. They probably didn't deserve it, but the blonde snapped at his teacher.

"Who the hell is gonna need this stupid jutsu anyways? You can go through them!" The blonde howled, and as if proving it, he unsnapped his pouch and flung a kunai at his clones. The blade went straight through their heads, and implanted itself in the wooden door on the other side. Iruka had the emotions of guilt, pity, slight-anger, and sadness all rolled into one large ball, that slobbered all over his face. Without another word, Naruto stormed out, crashing the door open. The students had become startled by the tip of the Kunai, that had hit hard enough, that it came out the other side. The blonde didn't look at them for a second, before exiting the room, and then the Academy. Naruto didn't know why exactly he was so annoyed, as he didn't really care about being a ninja in the first place. The blonde supposed it was from all his past attempts and failures, this one being the one to make him snapped. Once he left the Academy courtyard, and had gotten within the rest of the village, Naruto stopped and took deep breaths. Some of the civilians were staring at him in hurried fear, hoping the boy didn't snap. The blonde bottled up the anger, and quickly made his way to the roofs. Fiercely, the red-banged preteen made his way through the village towards the training grounds. He had learnt from past experience, bottling up emotions was a short-term fix, and the sooner you got it out, the better. Landing gently in the wooded area, the blonde wrapped his fists, and proceeded to beat the crap out of as many trees as possible.

A few hours had passed, when Naruto finally stopped. The still academy student had laid out on the dirty, grassy ground, panting in exertion. He stared at the dimming sky, taking deep breaths. His hands were made up of patches of red, tan, and purple bruises, which would fade soon. Naruto sat up, looking around. Most of the trees had patches of bark missing, and several were impaled by kunai and shuriken. The blonde had taxed most of his chakra, feeling that familiar tug. Whenever he was running low, he felt a tug at his chakra. He wasn't sure where it went, but when he was filled up, he couldn't feel a thing. Naruto sighed, and then stilled when something snapped nearby. The 13-year old jumped up, spinning to face where the noise came from. A minute later, a figure stepped out. They were taller than him, and Naruto watched with suspicion, until the dying light hit the blonde. "Mizuki-sensei." Naruto greeted, dropping his arms that he had raised to defend himself. The silver-haired man smiled at the short boy.

"Hi, Naruto-kun." The blonde didn't react. "Mind if I sit?" Mizuki gestured to the ground, and Naruto waved his hand, dropping down himself. "I just wanted to come explain." Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Explain what?"

"Iruka-sensei's tough, but he's not against you. I know you must be upset about him failing you." To be truthful, Naruto had worked out most of his anger, and now loneliness and grief had settled them in to their new home.

"Then why? Why only me?" Naruto questioned. The blonde wanted to understand why it was him, who didn't pass. He knew his score wasn't that great, but he had gotten enough points to pass he thought.

"He wants you to be strong with all his heart, but that will never happen if he goes easy on you. He was alone to when he was a kid." Naruto sadly stared at his feet. While the blonde did have his family, it was more like he was an orphan. They didn't care for him; barely even spoke to him even.

"I just don't understand how every year, I don't pass. It's not like I don't train." He gestured around him to prove his point. "I try, yet I never get to become a genin, while everyone moves on." The blonde had been a part of 4 different classes. He had a few friends from those times, but they always graduated. Eventually, they moved him to this one, making him the new kid again. And now they were going to move on without him as well. Mizuki gave him a pitying look. The silver-haired teacher looked away, sighing, as if he was finding it difficult to say something. "What is it?" The blonde preteen questioned, not use to having something withheld from him.

Mizuki sighed, and turned to Naruto. "This is a secret, but I'm gonna let you in on it." Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. The blonde didn't have friends, and the whole process of having secrets was something he hadn't gotten to participate in.

"A secret?" Naruto breathed, looking at the silver-haired man with eager eyes.

Time had passed, making the sky dark. Night had finally settled on the ninja village, and moonlight gently coated anything open to its touch. Leaves ruffled in a soft breeze, among the trees above, caused by a speeding figure passing by. A blur landed in front of a door, and frantic knocking followed.

"Iruka-sensei! Wake Up!"

Bleary-eyed and tired, Iruka Umino opened the door of his apartment to see his friend and assistant, Mizuki.

"Mizuki? What's going on?" He questioned tiredly.

"It's Naruto! He's stolen the Forbidden Scroll!"