I do not own Naruto.

Naruto hummed as he walked up the flight of steps that would lead him to the old man's office. He was in a good mood, and why wouldn't he be? He had just achieved what was his lifelong dream, and the first step to his ambition, becoming Hokage. He opened the door, and shouted in, "Hey Jiji! Whaddya wanna see me for?" The Hokage looked up from his desk, with the hint of a smile on his face. However, it was overshadowed by the guilt in his eyes. Standing at various other points in the office were high ranking members of the civilian and elder councils: the bane of his existence. They opposed him at every turn, along with any attempts the Hokage made to help him or prevent others from hurting him. They hated him with a passion he did not understand, for he didn't remember doing anything to them, including pranking.

"Ah, hello Naruto. How are-" He could not finish his sentence as a member of the elder council interrupted him. "Just tell the demon what we agreed on, Hiruzen." He snapped at the Hokage, while glaring at Naruto. "I don't want to spend any more time around it than I have to."

Naruto looked at the Hokage, questioning, "W-what are they talking about, Jiji?" He asked, beginning to worry about whatever this news could be. Was Ichiraku closing? Was he banned from wearing orange? He couldn't think of anything worse than that!

The Hokage took a deep breath, followed by a long sigh. "I'm sorry Naruto, but due to the situation, we must revoke Iruka Umino's field promotion to Genin."

Naruto stumbled backwards, leaning on the door. "What? W-why? What did I do, I swear I'll make it up!"

The council member began speaking again. "Umino never had the authority to issue a promotion. He is only a chunin, and a teacher at the academy. Only those rank jounin and above have the ability to issue field promotions." He stared at Naruto, triumph in his eyes.

"N-no! Please! I'll do anything! Just please don't take away my dream!" He backed up again, shaking his head as the information sunk in.

"Technically, you had already failed a third time, and therefore were expelled from the academy program." He stated smugly, with a sense of finality.

Another council member stepped forward and ripped the headband from around his head, stepping back to his previous location.

Blindly stumbling out of the Hokage's office, Naruto slowly made his way home. Lying on the bed, he stared emptily at the ceiling. Gone. His dream was gone. He would never be Hokage. Never. Sobbing into his pillow, he eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he was initially elated. He would be a ninja! He reached over to his nightstand, groping for his forehead protector. The events of the previous night came rushing back to him when nothing met his touch. He was not a ninja. He never would be. Yet, he was filled with an unexpected vigor. The desire to prove them wrong. Everyone. He would succeed in life. Maybe not as a ninja, but he would find his way. First though, he needed to find something he could dedicate himself to.

He found himself walking to the library; If anywhere did, they would have a list of possible careers. As he walked to the library, he was met with the hateful and, on some occasions smug, glares. He guessed they were the family of the council members, so they would know of his failure. When he reached the library, he looked at the front desk, only to see a sleeping civilian. Sneaking past the oblivious librarian, he headed to the shelves, looking for his prize.

After around half an hour, he found it. A short book on various careers. Sneaking out of the library, he felt a little bad. He didn't have any intentions of returning the book. Then he remembered all that the village had done to him. The book was a small thing in comparison to their treatment.

Now that he had the book, he had to find a way to change his appearance. No one would take him seriously or help him if he looked the way he did, recognizable as the demon. He headed to a store, using a henge for now. He found the nearest store that looked like it would be promising as a place to find hair dye and such. Before heading in, he henged himself again, this time into a slightly older and female version of himself, but without whisker marks and with brown eyes and hair. He bought something called concealer from the makeup section that looked as if it might help disguise his whisker marks. After that, he headed to the hair product aisle. He looked through the colors available for hair dye, finally settling on a light and ashy pinkish-purple color, both for the fact that it reminded him of Sakura and that the bottle advertised the fact that it permanently changed hair color, down to the roots, which meant that it would never be necessary to apply again. Satisfied with his purchases, he left the store, after paying this time.

After that, he dispelled his henge and returned to the library as an afterthought, finding a simple jutsu to change eye color permanently. The only reason that it was not frequently used for missions was that it was indeed permanent and could only be used once. The color would be able to be switched around for a day, but after that it was set and could not be used again. Apparently it had been popular with ninja and nobles running away from violence or political issues. He also found a technique that allowed him to change his hair length. He settled on it being a little longer, around shoulder length, and slightly neater than it was due to the increased weight.

The final change was his clothes. No longer did he wear the orange jumpsuit, which he later realized probably did not help him with first impressions. He settled on a dark, almost black, violet colored shirt that would compliment the purple of his hair. Long baggy pants with a small skirt like attachment (Think Neji in Shippuden, but the shirt is like the upper half of a kimono and the colors are different) in black, while the skirt portion was the same shade of violet as the shirt. The shoes were standard black ninja sandals. As an afterthought, he decided to get his ear pierced. It hurt, but was just another way to separate him from Naruto Uzumaki. He was no longer the dead last he once was. He would keep his name, but he'd have to come up with a suitable nickname to hide his identity. After pondering for a while, the name that he came up with was Murasakiiro Saisei. Translated, it meant Violet Rebirth. Heading home, he felt proud of what he had accomplished that day.

After arriving at his apartment, he realized how much of a dump it was. The water barely worked, and the walls were moldy and unstable. No one else had lived in the building for years, due to his presence as "the demon". He paid twice as much as anyone else would have for an apartment 5 times its size, and in perfect condition. He would be moving out as soon as possible. Once more collapsing on the bed, he quickly fell asleep, satisfied with his work.

The next day, his task was to find a better place to live. But first, he used the hair dye. It was very messy to do, and he nearly ran out of water. But the end result was worth it. Looking in his cracked mirror, his hair was now neck length and light purple-gray. In some places, a hint of yellow could be seen. But that was so minor it could not be seen unless someone was looking very, very, closely. With a deep breath, he activated the technique to change eye color. It took him around 10 minutes to settle on a color. His eyes were now a dark reddish violet, with tiny flecks of blue. They were there to remind him, every time he looked at himself, that he was still himself deep down, and that not all of Naruto was gone. The sensation of having his hair brush against his shoulders was still new to him, and kept surprising him every time he turned his head. Applying the concealer as directed, he was even more satisfied than he expected. His whisker marks were completely invisible. Putting on his new clothes, he looked like a completely different person. It was then his actions fully sunk in. he was sad that he could not have stayed as himself without being treated unfairly, but at the same time, it was so refreshing to not have to worry about being attacked on the streets, or being refused service by even convenience stores. Taking a moment to compose himself, he stepped out the door of his apartment into the morning village. This was the start of a new life.

Hey! This is my first story that isn't a oneshot. It could be read as one, but it's intended as a longer story. Feel free to ask questions.

The image for the cover is an example of Naruto/Shinsei I designed using the avatar creator mentioned in my profile. I hope you enjoy this. And just warning, the updates will probably be a little erratic, but I sincerely doubt I will abandon this. On the small chance I do, I will post a message stating so and mark it as discontinued in the description. This will also most likely be a short chapter, as it was just a test to see opinions before I fully dedicated myself to this.

Please review, it means more than you think, and Enjoy!

Setsuna Eien