What is Love?

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, why the hell would I be posting my stories on a website?

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The Boy sat up in a tree, terrified by the angry villagers who were trying to find him.

"Why does this always happen? Why does every one hate me? I'm just a kid!" He started crying as he fell off of the branch he was sitting on, one of the Villagers saw him, and called out "Hey! I found the Demon Child!"

In a few minutes people were gathered around throwing rocks at young Naruto Uzumaki, Harder and Harder until someone shouted "LEAVE THAT KID ALONE!!!"

Naruto heard the man's voice, and some of the people ran, some just kept throwing stuff, and others went to fight the man who tried to stop them on their 'Demon Hunt'.

"That's enough!" another voice came, and almost everything went quiet, all the people ran left a bruised and bloody Naruto laying crying on the ground.

8 years later, the day of the final exam at the ninja academy.

Naruto walked to the Academy as he did every morning. He walked past all of the shops, getting angry glares, insults and a variety of curse words muttered as he passed, he just brushed them off, knowing that the people didn't matter. The Only positive thing he heard the entire time, was a cheerful, "Good morning, Naruto-kun" from Ayame at the Ramen shop, he smiled and waved like he did every time, and she waved back.

Naruto arrived at his classroom a good ten minutes before school started; seeing that no one was there he pulled out a scroll and started studying the jutsus he would need for the test that day, the henge, kage bunshin, etc. And was soon absorbed in his studies.

Soon after, Hinata Hyuuga, a raven haired girl from Konoha's "Noble Family" arrived in the classroom, so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that the object of her semi-secret obsession was also in the classroom, not looking where she was going she walked right into the desk where Naruto was sitting and hit her head, hard.

"Owwwwwww…" She whined as she snapped back into reality, looking up, she noticed that he was right in front of her.

"Eeep!" She shot straight up blushed, stepped back, and bowed, "Gomen, Naruto-sempai!"

After seeing this display of unadulterated nervousness, a small smile formed on his lips.

"Oy, are you all right, Hinata-san?"

Hinata noticed that the tone in which he asked was much warmer than she had heard it in quite some time, though his voice was semi-serious as usual, she looked up to see a smile on his face that made her heart skip a beat, she nearly fainted, but was able to keep at least some of her composure.

"H-Hai! Naruto-sempai."

"That's good, you looked like you hit your head pretty hard."

How could someone hate someone so kind in spite of his horrible treatment? Hinata's thoughts drifted, she, as almost all of the academy students did, not know about Naruto's sealed demon, the adults tried pretty hard to avoid the topic of Naruto Uzumaki, even when their children asked repeatedly.

"Um, Naruto-sempai, are you ready, f-for the test I mean?"

"Yeah, I was just reviewing the criteria."

"Oh, u-um, d-do you mind if I sit by you?"

"Not at all." He then fell silent.

Hinata sat, but she could not focus at all, her heart was racing, she knew she wasn't entirely prepared for the upcoming test, she actually hadn't fainted, and was able to hold an entire conversation with Naruto, and she had just embarrassed herself in front of him…

Naruto looked over, and Hinata fainted… finally… Is she really cut out to be a ninja? I mean, she is by far one of the most intelligent girls in the class, if not the smartest, she has the leaf village's famed Byakugan, she is the heir to the wealthiest clan in the village, but she faints whenever I'm around her… Is it just me, or could it be possible that she might actually have a crush on me? Oh hell! There's no way someone like her could even be friends with someone like me. I'm a monster, and maybe even a weapon if the need arises, I'm poor as shit because everyone except the hokage hates me, well, and the ramen shop girl, but that's probably because I'm a regular paying customer…

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Sasuke Uchiha, who looked on the outside near emotionless, but Naruto knew he was trying to resist the urge to cringe, which meant…

Then arrived the two most hyperactive girls in the class, Sakura Haruno, a pink haired girl who was the daughter of a family who owned a bakery; and Ino Yamanaka, the daughter of a family which owned a flower shop. The two girls were rivals after a common goal that only one could have, Sasuke Uchiha.

"I win again, Sakura-chan!" Ino teased.

"YOU DID NOT!!!" Retorted a very pissed Sakura.

"Oh my, are you jealous?"

"You took that stupid shortcut and you tripped me!"

"All is fair in love and war, right?"

"THAT wasn't!!!!"

"What do you think, Naruto-kun?" Ino asked, well aware that he was looking at them in their near daily argument, and hoping to hear him speak.

Naruto simply cast a cold look at her, and looked back down at his scroll.

Though she would never admit it, she blushed at the mere fact that Naruto looked her directly in the eye. She then put on a smile and turned to her friend/rival and asked a stupid question, "Is Naruto always so quiet? He never talks to anyone except Iruka-sensei…"

"I don't know, and I don't really care, and why are we whispering?"

"I don't know, he looks kinda… I don't know… hey, who is that sitting by him? Naruto always sits alone."

"I think that's Hinata-chan… I think she passed out again."

"Wait, she's sitting by him? For her, that's like first base! Isn't she the one who has the major crush on him, but is afraid to say it?"

"Yeah, I think so, she isn't exactly the social butterfly type, so I don't know."

"Oh, well, should I ask her after the test? If she likes Naruto-kun that is?"

"I don't care, Ino, why are you asking so many questions about Naruto anyway?"

Ino blushed, "No reason, just curious…"

"You blushed!"

"I did not!"

"You just did!"

"Shutup, FOREHEAD!"

"PIG!"
And their daily brawl continued. By this time the entire class was seated, and more than half were either just staring, or trying to resist the urge to burst out in laughter, or both.

A period of about five minutes passed before Iruka arrived. And tried to usher the class in to their seats, and into silence, so he could take attendance.

"Oy, Hinata-san, time to wake up…" Naruto said quietly as he lightly shook her shoulder in an attempt to rouse her.

Hinata opened her eyes after a second or two, and realizing where she was, she immediately sat up, nearly hitting Naruto as she did so.

"Hyuuga Hinata?" Called Iruka.

"H-Hai! Present!"

Iruka continued calling out names, and Hinata turned to Naruto and quietly thanked him. Naruto Smiled and nodded, and looked back down at his scroll.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" A chorus of suppressed giggles from various fangirls followed this name.

"Here." Sasuke responded in an uninterested tone.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Here."

Iruka checked his list, ad started speaking. "Okay that's everyone. As you all know, you all have been working very hard, and I hope you have all been practicing, because starting today there are only three days of school left for all of you, hopefully, and that means today we will be testing you on the basic skills you have all been taught. Please line up single file along the front row of desks and we will begin once every one is quiet."

All of the students quickly lined up, and some fought over places in line, Naruto was near the front, behind maybe five or six others, including Sakura, Ino and Sasuke.

They quickly demonstrated their assigned jutsus, and though there were many flaws, all passed. Then came Sakura, who energetically made the hand signs and pulled off a flawless replacement jutsu, 2 near-perfect shadow clones, and a slightly shorter version of Iruka.

"Very Good, Sakura-san, you pass."

"Did you see that? What do you think, Sasuke?"

He simply grunted, shrugged his shoulders and stepped forward, as he was next in line.

Sasuke proceeded to perform all of the same jutsus as Sakura, except flawlessly, and was even able to produce a third Shadow clone.

"Well Done, Sasuke, you pass with flying colors."

He smirked, and headed back to his seat, brushing against Naruto as he passed, and in a low, quiet voice, he said, "Lets see you beat that, loser."

"Naruto, You're next."

Naruto stepped up to the three exam proctors.

"Okay, first, lets see you do the replacement technique."

Naruto made the hand sign, and seemingly disappeared, there was absolutely nothing where he once stood, but a moment later, all the students heard Naruto knock on the window at the side of the classroom, he then slid it open, and walked back to his place.

"Next, a disguise technique. Who will you be mimicking?"

Naruto looked back in line, and turned to Iruka and said, "Inuzuka Kiba."

He then dropped a light smoke bomb and made the hand sign, when the smoke cleared, there stood Kiba in a casual looking pose, with Akamaru sitting on his head inside his hood, Akamaru looked down at the three proctors and barked, "How's this?" Naruto asked in a perfect imitation of Kiba's voice. He waited a moment, and then dispelled the light Genjutsu.

"Finally, I would like you to produce at least two Shadow Clones."

Naruto Closed his eyes, focused his chakra and produced five clones of himself.

"Excellent work, as usual, Naruto-kun, you pass!"

Naruto nodded, and walked back to his seat.

"Good work, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered as he passed.

"Hinata, you're next."

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After the test, all who passed were awarded the Leaf Village Forehead protector, indicating that they were now full-fledged Shinobi.

"Congratulations, all of you, today you pass from being my students to being shinobi! All of you who passed meet back here tomorrow, and you will be assigned your teams, I will explain further tomorrow, incase you don't remember what I taught you about that. Have a great day, all of you! Dismissed."

The students all gathered their belongings and left the classroom, while some remained behind.

"Naruto, can I speak with you, for a moment?" Iruka stopped Naruto before he could leave the classroom.

"Sure."

"Naruto, you did phenomenally! I was almost surprised by how easy you made it look!"

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

"You're welcome, anyway, I was wondering if I could take you out for Ramen to celebrate? My treat. What do you say?"

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, I'd like that."

"No problem, you deserve it. Oh, and by the way, since you're a Genin now, I wouldn't mind if you called me sempai from now on, besides, with your talent, it'll be no time before you surpass me, hahaha!"

"Thank you, Iruka-sempai, but could you pick me up at six? There's something I'd like to do before I celebrate."

"Of course, but don't forget!"

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Author's Note: Whew, that took a lot longer than I had expected, well people, what do you think? This was my first serious Naruto Fanfiction. I thinkI did well, but I couldn't have done it if I hadn't read so many awesome fics before I wrote this one. I'd like to know what you people think, because I might take any suggestions I get into consideration.

Leave a review, tell me what you think.

Dominikku-kun, signing off! See ya, people.