Disclaimer: Honestly, I skimmed rules and guidelines of writing, but do I really have to add a disclaimer to every chapter? I feel that since the website is called "fanfiction" it should be obvious I own nothing of the Naruto franchise, but deep admiration for it.

Greetings to all of you out there who love Naruto, and love fan fiction based on Naruto. This has been a story I've been wanting to write for a few years now, but never got around to doing so. I first got hooked onto Naruto when I was a young boy and have loved the series since. I'm beyond depressed that Naruto has ended. This is why I have turned to fan fiction yet again! I first found four years ago as a twelve-year-old boy wanting something more out of life. This is my first attempt at a story. I apologize if the story sounds generic or ambiguous, especially in the first few chapters, but I have some major ideas I want to incorporate later down the road. Please enjoy! I'd really love the support, comments, and feedback.

AN: Just for clarification.

"Normal speech"

'Thoughts'

"Anger/Demon"

'Demon thought'

*action*

Chapter one: Familiar Beginnings

'I feel so cold. I feel empty. I'm in pain! I can't…go on much longer. It's been so long. I'm losing my mind! I'm…all alone. Why? Why did it have to turn out like this? Why did I have to be the one to suffer like this? Why! Kami-sama, Why! When was the last time I felt the soothing warmth? That rich fulfillment? My soul longs for it. How have I been able to survive this long without it?'

Staggering one foot at a time, the young figure weakly made his way down the streets. Bracing the walls of buildings as he walked, he kept his balance. Edging closer and closer to his destination. His body was beaten and sore, threatening to give way to his weight. As he neared the last corner he was reinvigorated when he finally saw his destination come into view. Willing his body forward he began to walk faster. As he approached his target, he was finally filled with hope as he summoned all his strength to finish his journey. He suddenly lost his strength as he fell towards one of the walls of the small building. Relieved to have finally made it, he looked up and his voiced welled up inside of him until he cried out, [P1]

"Yo! Teuchi-jiji! One bowl of miso pork ramen, please!"

"Coming right up, Naruto-san!" the man replied.

"Oh man! I can't wait! I'm starving!"

"Heh! Well you don't have to wait much longer." Teuchi chuckled as he began dipping a ladle of noodles into the seasoned pot of boiling broth.

"Say, where have you been recently, Naruto-san?" Teuchi continued, "It's been a while since you dropped by. I was beginning to think you were getting tired of my ramen."

"Oh! Sorry about that, Teuchi-jiji. I've been really busy lately." Naruto replied sheepishly as he continued, "Tomorrow is the big academy exam! I've been trying really hard to improve my skills! I'm finally going to be a ninja soon!"

"Ah! I see! Well, since that's the case, I'll give you this bowl on the house! When you pass the exam, come to me and we'll celebrate!"

"You got it old man!" Naruto beamed as he gave a thumbs up.

"Well, here you go!" Teuchi smiled as he handed Naruto a warm bowl of ramen.

As Naruto began gulping down his meal, he began to think about the day ahead of him. In just a few short hours he would become a fully-fledged ninja! One step closer to his dream of becoming Hokagé. If everything went well. He had been training very hard recently. Surely he would be able to pass. For as long as he could remember, he had always been the village pariah. People always looked down on him and ignored him. No one acknowledged his existence, and those that did had hate in their eyes. Some even made it a point to hurt him. He never traveled in alleyways at night anymore. He had to be constantly aware of those around him, not ever really sure if they wanted to hurt him or not. He resolved to become a ninja since he was young. He not only wanted to be able to become strong enough to defend himself, but also that others would finally notice him and see him a person, not a…monster.

'No! I have to pass tomorrow! There's no way I'm going to be weak forever! I will become stronger and prove to everyone that I…that I…exist.' Naruto suddenly realized that he had been sitting still for some time now, after he had already finished his meal.

"You alright, Naruto?" Teuchi asked as he collected Naruto's empty bowl.

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and hastily responded, "Uh… Yeah! I'm just nervous about tomorrow, I guess. Heh…"

"Don't worry too much about it, Naruto. I'm sure you'll pass. After all, you're going to become Hokagé one day, right? Or at least someone successful so you can repay tab that you owe me!"

*chuckles* Then with determination in his eyes Naruto replied, "Don't you worry, old man. I'm going to become Hokagé one day! Believe it!"

Naruto gave a quick wave as he left the ramen stand. As he headed for home, Naruto began to become excited for the day to come. Taking a detour, he rushed to one of his favorite spots in the village. Stopping on top of the carved head the Yondaime [Fourth Hokagé], Naruto looked out over Konoha. With a rush of determination, he extended his fist in front of him and smirked.

'Konoha, I will become strong! Strong enough to become the fifth Hokagé! Just you wait. People will acknowledge me, and I will fight for this village."

Satisfied, Naruto rushed back down the cliff towards his apartment for a much needed rest. A he entered through the door, he locked it once more from the inside. A few midnight guests were enough to arouse his caution. Quickly undressing, he put on his pajamas and night cap and collapsed in his futon. Darkness quickly enveloped his senses as he drifted into sleep.

An ominous, dark red figured loomed over the boy. He could sense the intense evil intent. He could feel killing intent on his weighing down on him, crushing the breath from his lungs. Suddenly a feral, bloodshot opened and locked on to him. The enormous pupils dilated as they focused on Naruto's presence, threatening to crush his soul with hate.

"You are weak, boy." A deep, evil voice resonated, "You will always be weak on your own. When I see prey alone, I easily pounce and destroy." "I will come for you, boy. You cannot hide from me. I am always waiting."

Suddenly jerking up, Naruto shot up out of his sheets. Breathing quickly, he tried to calm his breaths and lower his heart rate.

'Just another nightmare.' Naruto thought in reassurance as he wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.

Glancing over at his alarm clock, his eyes widened.

'Crap! It's 8:30! I'm going to be late!'

Naruto sprung out of his futon, onto his feat as he quickly grabbed his favorite bright orange jacket and rushed out the door, stuffing some old rice down for a quick breakfast. Normally Naruto wouldn't be so concerned with being late to class, mostly because he didn't show up half the time. But today was different. Today was the day that he would finally become a ninja. However, if he was going to do that, he would need to pass first. Running down the streets, he weaved around people as he passed by, earning a few glares of disgust. Crashing into the classroom, Naruto found that he was indeed late testing had already begun. Iruka turned and stared at Naruto with annoyance.

"Naruto-san! You're nearly a full hour late! Of all the days, this is your final exam! You're lucky I don't just expel you right now, but this will affect your score! Now sit down as we continue the testing procedure."

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei! I overslept. Hehe..." Naruto weakly replied, embarrassed as he turned and grabbed a seat.

"I don't want to hear it. Etiquette is an important quality for a shinobi. However, we haven't gotten to your name on the list yet, so you can count yourself very lucky that I'm letting take the exam at all." Iruka chided.

Naruto sat and looked up, he noticed that this part of the exam was a display of skill as those being tested were told to perform a bunshin no jutsu.

'Okay, that doesn't look too hard. I've been practicing that a lot in the last week. I can definitely do a perfect bunshin.'

Naruto observed as Haruno Sakura performed a perfect bunshin in front of the class. Iruka looked impressed and recorded the performance in his grading sheet with a very satisfied grin. Next up was Uchiha Sasuke. He, too, performed a flawless bunshin and this time everyone was impressed, especially the girls in the class.

'Pff…I could do better. I just don't get why everyone gawks at him like that over everything he does. It's just so annoying!"

"Excellent performance, Sasuke-san." Iruka congratulated as he began writing some more on his papers.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Step up for the examination." Mizuki called out.

Naruto quickly got up and walked down the aisle towards the front of the classroom. As he passed by Hyūga Hinata, he could have sworn he heard a feint whisper, "Good luck, Naruto-san…"

He decided not to think too much of it as he continued down.

'Alright, I can do this. This is it. I'm going to pass the exam and become a ninja. Then I'm going to become so strong, they just have to make me Hokagé.'

"Okay, Naruto-san. I want you to make two bunshins for me today." Mizuki said addressing the boy.

"You got it, Sensei!" Naruto replied as he wove the seals: ram, snake, and tiger and released chakra. Instantly he felt something was off, but it was too late. In front of him was not two, but only one pathetically weak clone that simply collapsed to the floor and dissipated.

'What the…! What happened!? What's wrong with my chakra? I know I can create a stupid bunshin!'

"Is that all, Naruto-san? I'm sorry, but if that's all you can manage, then I'm sorry but I can't give you a passing grade on this." Mizuki said as sympathetically as possible, trying to hide a smirk.

A resounding laughter went up around the classroom. Whipping around, Naruto glared at the class. His fists tightened, as he looked at those around him. He quickly turned and bolted out as the class continued to laugh and jeer at him for his pathetic display. Bursting out of the main doors of the building, he ran blindly until he had to stop to catch his breath. Finding himself at the edge of meadow in the forest near the academy, his pace eased. Trembling from sadness and frustration, he unsteadily walked. Suddenly losing his balance, he fell into a tree. Catching himself on the base of the tree he punched it in frustration.

'I failed. How could I have failed? I gave it my all, yet I couldn't even do a simple bunshin! How am I ever going to become Hokagé if I can't even do a simple bunshin!? Is this really it? I am really not capable of any more than this? After all those years, will people look down on me forever? I can't… there's no way I can go on like this.'

Feeling tears welling up in his eyes, the boy sank to his knees with his head leaning against the trunk of the tree. And right there, for a few rare moments, the boy wept bitter tears of despondence. Tears that he had suppressed for years.

After nearly twenty minutes of weakness had passed, Naruto got up. Still leaning against the tree, he wiped off his eyes and nose. Slowly his eyes unclouded themselves. He blinked twice, regaining his senses. Looking up at the darkening mid-morning sky, his expression changed back to one of determination. However, this was a different kind of determination. This was no longer the same childish fantasy determination he had donned just hours ago. This was a deeper determination, the kind that could only felt after a crushing defeat. This was a desperate determination, one that fully familiar with defeat, yet refuses to give in.

'There's no way I'm going to stay like this! Dang it all! I will become stronger, even if I have to break every bone in my body to get there!'

With new-found energy, Naruto pushed himself off the base of the tree and made his way into the middle of the clearing. Forming the ram, snake, and tiger hand signs for the second time that day, Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated with all his might as he focused his chakra on the jutsu. Reopening his eyes, he found in front of him the same deflated, lifeless bunshin. The same one that had failed him earlier that day.

"Argh! Stupid!"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto wove the signs again and tried to perform the jutsu only to have it fail just as bad as the one before had. Naruto's frustration continued to build as he tried and tried again, over and over for the next two hours.

Letting out an exasperated grunt, Naruto finally collapsed backwards, fighting off his now mildly severe chakra exhaustion. Breathing deeply, he looked to the now darkened afternoon sky as a light shower began to descend. Suddenly, Naruto heard someone approaching from the corner of the clearing. He quickly sat up and turned to face whoever was approaching.

"Naruto-san!"

"Huh? Mizuki-sensei!?"

"There you are, Naruto-san! I've been looking everywhere for you since the tests ended!"

"You were?"

"Of course. You ran off quite suddenly today. I know how you must feel, but there are still obligations you have as a student at the ninja academy."

"I know, Mizuki-sensei."

"Aww... Don't be so down Naruto. Not everyone becomes a ninja at the same time. Some people take longer than others." Mizuki said as he held out his hand to hoist Naruto off the ground. Patting Naruto's head, he continued, "Actually, that's why I came to find you."

"What do you mean?"

"Sometimes, there are cases when academy students fail and we have to give them a makeup exam."

"Does this mean...!"

"Yes, Naruto-san. I'm offering you a second chance at becoming a ninja."

"Really!? Are you serious, Mizuki-sensei!?"

Naruto's eyes widened with excitement at the fact that he would be given a second chance to redeem himself.

"I've been working on my bunshin while I was here! Let me show you! I'm sure I can do better than I did this morning!"

"Oh no, Naruto-san. I'm afraid that the makeup exam won't be the same as the tests we did this morning. No, this is going to be different.

*Okay, that's it for the first chapter. So far, not much different than canon, but that's to be expected of fanfictions in the beginning. The next chapter will be more exciting, hopefully. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve the story so far. Thanks!