"Congratulations graduate!" the brown haired man with the scar across his nose said when a blond haired boy with whisker marks on his cheeks had opened his eyes to discover that his sensei wasn't wearing his hitai-ate.
"Explain yourself!" the one-eyed man in the Hokage's robes snapped as he glared down at the orange-clad blond boy who knelt before him.
"Ayame! Go fetch a medic! It seems that another customer has decided that ramen is more important than getting his injuries looked at!" A friendly middle-aged black haired cook yelled to a brown haired teenager when a brown haired man with a scar running across his nose slumped against the counter of Ichiraku Ramen about two seconds after his small blond companion had given his order.
"What made you believe that you could open a scroll that had been sealed by the Shodai Hokage himself?" the one-eyed man in the Hokage's robes asked the blond boy who had started crying by the end of his explanation for his part in the events of the night before.
"Here's the money for Naruto's ramen. It should be enough for at least two bowls." the brown haired man with the scar across his nose said as he set some bloodstained bills down on the counter next to a shocked and worried blond in an orange and blue tracksuit an instant before an Iryo-nin and two medics hauled him off on a stretcher.
"Do you really want to be a shinobi that badly?" the one-eyed man in the Hokage's robes asked, almost softly.
"Yes!" the blond boy in the orange gi exclaimed without hesitation.
"You've had an eventful night, haven't you Naruto?" an elderly grey-bearded man in Hokage's robes asked as he sat down on the stool next to the whisker-marked blond in the orange and blue tracksuit who was worriedly watching the road down which his companion had disappeared. There was warmth in the man's eyes as he set a comforting hand down on the boy's shoulder.
"I don't believe that Iruka would want your ramen to go to waste." the grey-bearded man said with a smile. "Seeing as he bought it for you as a graduation present."
"...Do you swear to sever all previous family ties as you enter into service of Konoha?" the one-eyed man in the Hokage's robes asked, his face as impassive as stone.
"I do so swear." the blond boy who had shed his clothes, symbolically shedding his previous life, said as he knelt before the man.
"Then rise, Konoha Naruto." the one eyed man in the Hokage's robes said as an attendant stepped forward bearing new clothes for the new shinobi.
"You will have to work ten times as hard to prove your worth." the one-eyed man said as the boy started slipping on his new clothes. "But, considering how determined you were to join Konoha's ranks, I do believe you will succeed."
Despite his worry for Iruka, Naruto was elated as he walked home. He'd finally done it! After three tries and three failures, he had become a ninja! He was one major step closer to his goal!
Looking up at the cliff that towered over the village, he gave the four faces carved into it a thumbs up.
Now that he was a ninja, there was no way he wouldn't become a Hokage! He'd become a better Hokage than all of them, and everyone would have to acknowledge him! By the time he was the Old Man's age, people would be saying "Hashirama who?"!
There was a certain lightness in Naruto's heart as he walked through the village, making his way to the Shinobi barracks where he'd be living from then on. Despite his failure, the Hokage had decided to give him a chance to prove himself. To prove that he belonged with his brothers and sisters in the ninja ranks.
Looking up at the cliff that towered over the village, he almost felt sad for the four people whose faces had been carved upon it.
Having fought as hard as he could to join the ninja ranks where every shinobi was family despite where they had come from and who they had been before, he couldn't imagine doing what Old Man Danzo did every day, what Madara had done. Hokage-aniki was the strongest, the best, the most admired, the one who looked after and protected Konoha every day, but...
In a village where the ninja next to you was either your brother or your sister, the Hokage stood alone.