At the academy the many 12-year-old genin hopefuls sat tense and nervous, waiting on their sensei, Umino Iruka, to arrive. The person who opened the door however was not iruka, but a tiny 7-year-old with shining, golden blond locks and a small smile.
The boy stood at the front of the class, his slightly large dirty white t-shirt practically hanging off his shoulder, and frowned.
"What are you doing here little boy?" a girl with waist length pink hair named Sakura, asked.
"Saying goodbye." he replied simply.
He then continued, "I would like to ask Hinata-chan Kiba-kun and Shino-san to thank their family's for finding the body and to say I'm sorry for wasting their effort."
When they nodded their consent with puzzled expressions he smiled making his face glow. He turned to the next group.
"Chouji-kun please tell Chouza-san thank you for removing the many rocks and weapons and Shikamaru-kun tell Shikaku-san thanks for making me feel alive. I'm sorry their efforts failed in the end."
There were tears dripping onto the smile now.
"Ino-chan, tell Inochi thanks for trying I'm sorry I died."
The children starred but nodded all the same. Sakura, on the other hand, was aggravated.
"What do you mean!? You're standing right there!" she shouted, "who are you anyway and what about Sasuke-kun?!"
"Why Sakura-chan I'm disappointed. Don't you recognize the boy who pestered you for dates the past few years? Anyway its not like he helped in any way." the boy mocked with a foxy grin proven false by the still flowing tears.
"Naruto?" came the awed whisper of a brown-haired chunin-sensei still standing in the open doorway.
Naruto just smiled as a blond haired hokage filtered into view behind him, hand on this shoulder. The children's eyes widened as they recognized the blond as the yondaime.
"It's time to go my son." the yondaime said.
"Hai Outo-san." naruto responded and they trickled away.
Iruka explained before the test that naruto had been beaten near to death last night. Many of the younger adults had tried to save him but were unsuccessful, not even the Kyuubi, which he had explained about, could heal him.
That day after the test a small group of clan children could be seen sitting at the grave of a boy, crying for the chances he would never get.
If you looked closely you would have seen a tiny 7-year-old whispering "Sorry for the Trouble."