Naruto smiled down at the shop owner from his perch in the rafters. Even in a ninja village it was shocking how seldom somebody looked up. Of course even if the old balding man had looked up he wouldn't have been able to see the blond wanna-be ninja anyway because of the genjutsu he had placed on himself to make that corner of the ceiling darker. Against any self-respecting ninja the difference in shades would've been obvious but, against a civilian he might as well have been invisible.
Several minutes later Naruto watched as the old man put down his cleaver on the hardwood counter and grumbled something about rats before walking back upstairs. Naruto waited a full hour before untangling himself from the rafters, when it dropped the chance of failure even a percent, he had all the patience in the world.
With his matted black jumpsuit and dark maroon scarf wrapped around his face and spiky blond hair, he was a shadow quietly moving through the shop to the freezer in the back. Slowly he went through hand signs and pressed his hands to the hinges letting his chakra flow out and break down the rust that had gathered from years of use. With that done he pulled open the door and grabbed several white paper packages.
Quickly securing them in his knapsack he bent and leapt into the air grabbing hold of the rafters and pulling himself back on top before crawling through a small overhead fan that was stopped using a small piece of wood as the jammer. After on the roof Naruto quickly leaned back over the edge and yanked the chipped piece of wood out, letting the fan resume its leisurely rotation.
A glance of shining blue eyes at the moon confirmed the time and Naruto ran and leapt off the roof catching the window sill of an apartment building on the other side of the rode and pulled himself up before swiftly climbing the side of the building like a spider. Using handholds he was able to quickly reach the top and looked out over the village of Konoha.
Under the light of the moon it looked like a peaceful haven for those thrown around by the world. For most people this was the truth, unfortunately he wasn't most people. For him it was a barren wasteland of hateful glares and harsh whispers, rarely could he walk down the street without feeling the villagers anger and frustration at not being able to attack him. Not that that had stopped all of them, he had a personal room at the hospital on reserve for him.
Even Naruto admitted to the beauty of Konoha, he just felt the general populous needed to be given a firm smack to the face and to be forced to wisen up. Chuckling bitterly his voice muffled through his scarf, "If 99 percent of the population were just to leave I might actually like it here".
Done with being nostalgic Naruto pulled out a small batch of ninja wire and wrapped it over a zip line hanging down from the roof and pushed off. Feeling the wind against his face had always brought a sense of peace to the young blond, for those few seconds he could pretend he could fly and be away from all the glares, the whispers, the beatings and the loneliness.
But as always too soon it came to an end and his feet caught the roof of another much shorter building and he let go of the ninja wire with one hand and went into a front roll going all the way to his feet and running off again. Now in the seedier part of Konoha he slipped down the fire escape and started drifting from shadow to shadow. He waited for cloud cover whenever he needed to cross the street waiting until the cloud blocked out the moonlight before moving with it to the other side of the street.
Eventually he made it to a small apartment complex next to a warehouse. Both were rundown and in need of serious repair if they were ever to be useable. Slowly, Naruto turned and scanned the area behind him and above him to check if he was followed but found no one else in the night.
Turning he grabbed first window sill, making sure to avoid the broken glass, and climbed up the building right beside the fire escape. The fire escape was too loud and shook with every step taken, one of these days it was going to kill someone and it wasn't going to be him.
Once he reached the roof he jogged all the way to the north side before turning around and taking a deep breath. He bent low and took off running the whole length of the building in but five seconds before jumping off the side. He curled into a ball as he flew through the air and sailed through a hollowed out skylight and down into the abandon warehouse landing roughly on a pile of old mattresses.
Laying on his back for a moment Naruto finally relaxed and pulled down his scarf revealing six whisper like marks on his cheeks and a small self-satisfied grin. A loud gurgle roared from his stomach and reminded him why he went on tonight's escapade. Rolling off the mattresses he walked over to a small frying pan set up above an unlit campfire. Naruto grabbed two smaller sticks and rubbed them together like he was taught until they started to smoke then placed them in the dried grass and leaves he had gathered under the larger pieces of wood.
Soon he had a small fire going and pulled out the white paper wrapped packages, and cut them open with a kunai. He pulled out two large steaks and set them on the old cast iron frying pan then started cutting a small onion he had stolen out of some hag's garden into small pieces.
Once they were a sufficient size the blond scooped them into his hand and dropped them into the frying pan before grabbing a water bottle pouring a little into the pan, most disintegrated on contact making a large puff of steam come up but the rest was absorbed into the steaks and mingled with the juice from the onions.
Once more pulling out his trusty kitchen utensil Naruto stabbed the steaks with his kunai and flipped them smiling hungrily. After stirring the onions for a bit the blond went back over to his table and carefully pulled everything off it before pouring some water onto it and cleaning it with a grey rag. Satisfied he walked back to the fire and pulled the skillet off and slid its contents onto the mostly clean table before putting out the fire and cleaning the pan while his food cooled.
Walking back to the table he pulled out another kunai from his pouch and wiped the grease used to keep it sharp on his pant leg before cutting the steak open and quickly devouring his meal. Once finished he walked back and laid down on the mattresses, his hunger sated for the moment.
"If I had actually paid for those steaks I'd have to give that butcher my compliments, those were delicious. Course he did steal my wallet last year and I fixed his freezer so I suppose I did pay for them". He smiled as he chuckled thinking of that arrogant old man who had chased him from his shop with a butcher's knife a year before.
"So the genin exams Hu? I suppose I should pass this time, I did wait two years like I promised after all." Naruto yawned and rolled off the mattresses before making his way to a small corner of the warehouse with ropes hanging up sheets to form a room. Once inside he removed two small bands on his wrists that had the Kanji for "weight" on them and another two from his ankles before climbing into a much cleaner mattress and settling in for the night.
The next day came much too soon and Naruto's groan was muffled in his pillow as he fought off the desire to go back to sleep. After several minutes of internal debate the decision was taken out of his hands as cold water suddenly splashed down onto him from above, shocking him into jumping high into the air while grabbing a tanto from his night table.
After wiping water logged hair from his eyes he lowered his sword and spit some water out, "Sometimes, I really hate you."
Standing there was his chunin teacher Iruka Umino holding an empty bucket, "Well if you would get up when you're supposed to I wouldn't have to come wake you up." Saying this like it were the most obvious thing in the world and as if it should be expected did nothing to cover up the mirth in his eyes just begging to be let out.
The blond merely rolled his eyes and pulled off his, now soaked, black t-shirt and hung it on a rusty nail before walking to a section of floor where there was a large white circle spray painted on the floor. "So what are we doing today, Sensei?"
"Sorry Naruto, no sparring today. Can't have you showing up to your genin exam covered in bruises now can we? The brown haired chunin asked teasingly.
Naruto grinned back, "More like you couldn't give the test if I knocked you out again, right Sensei?"
A bright blush painted Iruka's cheeks as he scratched the back of his head, "Well if you recall I said that technique was banned in our sparring. So the real score is still 65-0, bite me Naruto."
A popping sound was echoed in the building causing Iruka to look up at Naruto, who was now covered in smoke until a silky smooth voice called out, "Where would you like me to bite you Iruka Sensei, I'll do it anywhere you like."
When the smoke started to clear a beautiful naked blond in her early twenties was on her hands and knees. Pig tails long enough to gently brush the ground as she began to slowly crawl towards the stunned chunin. Suddenly he started to glow and then broke down into a stream of electricity that grounded into the floor before disappearing. Seeing this, the naked woman sighed before disappearing in another puff of smoke and there was Naruto sitting on the ground, "Coward!"
Looking out the window Naruto realized that he was almost late for his Genin exam and quickly ran to a trap door on the North side of the warehouse before flinging it open and jumping in. Running quickly, he blurred through the tunnel and then up a ladder before pushing open another trap door under the bed in his apartment.
Turning to his closet he flinched looking at the hideous orange track suit before sighing and putting it on. Just one more day as the class clown, he thought to himself as he put on a fake smile and left the apartment through the front door.
Sprinting through town at a pace that was only slightly above genin level Naruto finally ran into the class room and up to his desk, dodging a piece of chalk thrown at his head from behind by an irritated Iruka.
"Okay, Class. Today is the day of the genin exams, you will be expected to perform the Bunshin, henge and kawarimi no jutsu. We will call you in one at a time by alphabetical order." With that Iruka called the first name and walked into the other room where the class's other teacher Mizuki was waiting.