Naruto bit his nails nervously, awaiting the few words that would either brighten or darken his life for the future. Beside him, slumped in an awkward position, was a deformed clone with a passing resemblance to himself. The reason for the clone that was, quite frankly, horrible was that Naruto himself held an immense amount of power within himself. The normal Bushin technique required barely a sliver of ones total chakra, which supposedly made it incredibly easy.

Well, for everyone beside Naruto. He had little to no control over his chakra and always overloaded his jutsu. For that reason he never managed to pull off any of the jutsu successfully. He literally had no techniques under his belt and, in the eyes of the Academy instructors, was better off as a civilian. Better there than dead on the battle field. Naruto's only hope would be that Iruka would give him a break.

'I swear I'll become a better ninja! I'll never eat ramen again, I'll never slack off again, just -'

"You fail!" Iruka bellowed, a vein in his forehead bulging.

Naruto visibly deflated, hanging his head.

Mizuki, Iruka's fellow instructor, smiled wanly and patted his friend shoulder. "Wait a minute Iruka, let's let Naruto pass this time," He gestured toward the deformed clone, "He did manage to at least make a clone this time."

Iruka shook his head, "Sorry, but we can't just let him pass." he said firmly. "Yes, he made a clone, but only one. Not only did his classmates make the required three clones but they all resembled their creator, unlike Naruto's." As if on cue, the single clone vanished in a small burst of smoke.

The scarred Chuunin sighed. He had truly wanted Naruto to pass this time, he wanted the boy to accomplish his dream of becoming Hokage someday. But as fate would have it, the blonde boy was not cut out of this line of work. Iruka would rather Naruto lead a boring normal life than no life at all.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," he said.

"I-It's okay, Iruka-sensei," Naruto muttered, "I guess I'm not really cut out to be a ninja. It's fine, I'll just have to get signed up for civilian school, huh?" Naruto forced himself to smile despite the tears running freely down his face. Iruka looked to say something but couldn't make the words come out. He knew just what this loss was doing to the boy, but had no way of helping.

Mizuki watched the blonde stalk out of the small room, a glint in his eye that Iruka missed completely. The failed boy, the one who couldn't bring himself to look at his former classmates any longer, would be his scapegoat soon enough.

Not that he would know.

Naruto was busy thinking about how his life was going to go from here. He's failed the academy three times now, despite entering early thanks to the Hokage himself. Each time he felt like he was getting better only for his chances to drop once the exams came. It was always the same test, yet he always failed.

The Hokage could no longer provide him with money each month to sustain him and without a job he'd never survive. The only reason he was allowed to live on his own now was due to the fact the Hokage had faith he'd make it as a ninja. The pay would keep him until he became a Chuunin and it would only get better from there. Now he'd have to go back to the orphanage where no one would adopt him until eventually he was kicked out again.

His life was over.

No job meant no money, no money no food, no food...

Naruto left the academy behind, no longer able to bare the look of the place that had crushed his dreams. He needed to find someplace where he could be alone, at least until he was ready to face the music. In such a larger city such as Konoha, that was going to be difficult. He pushed through the traffic of human bodies and found an abandoned playground. Silently he situated himself atop the monkey bars where he could see the sun setting in a mix of orange, yellow, and pink.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Naruto started at the voice, but settled down as Mizuki revealed himself.

The silver-haired Chuunin chuckled lightly at his boy's response, entertained for an entirely different reason than the look on his face. "The sunset, I mean."

Naruto blinked, "Um, yeah, I guess."

"I'm sorry about Iruka," The Chuunin began, watching the boy closely, "You have to understand that he's trying to protect you."

"Hmph, he's doing a bang up job of that," Naruto spat, crossing his arms.

Mizuki chuckled, "You remind him a lot of himself as a kid. You see, he was an orphan too. He lost his parents at a young age and was very lonely as a child. So, like you, he pulled pranks and acted out to get people to notice him." He smirked as Naruto frowned, choosing his words carefully, "He wants you to be strong so that he'll know you will be safe. That's why, when he saw your 'skills', he couldn't bring himself to pass you."

"But I can protect myself! I am strong, I just haven't gotten the chance to prove it!" Naruto argued.

"Well, if you feel that strongly about it... I know of something that can help you pass." said Mizuki.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, wondering where all this was coming from. For the life of him he couldn't remember the last time Mizuki was genuinely nice to him, and now he was offering a way to help him pass after failing? Why hadn't he brought this up earlier when Naruto had failed last year? Or the year before that.

"I don't know, Mizuki-sensei," mumbled Naruto, suddenly calm, "Maybe I'm really not ninja material."

"Huh? But don't you..." The blonde shook his head and hopped down from the monkey bars.

"I've got a lot to think about," said Naruto as he left behind a stunned Mizuki.

Mizuki really thought he had him there, but at the last moment...

"Damn, now how am I supposed to get this scroll to Orochimaru?" he cursed, leaping off. That Naruto kid had no idea what he had just done.

But for the first time, Naruto was actually thinking clearly. He knew he'd just given up a chance to become a ninja like he'd always wanted, and he had no idea how he was going to move on now. He had no idea where he was going from here, but this time he had high hopes for the future.

After all, he didn't need to be a ninja to be strong, right?

x

"Tell the truth," A figure muttered to his partner, "Did you see that coming?"

The partner sighed, watching the slowly vanishing back of a blonde boy, "No..."

"So, that means Plan A is shot, huh?"

"This was actually Plan B," His partner pointed out.

The figure nodded, "Okay, so our second plan has failed. What now?"

"What do you mean 'what now'? You've got to have something, I mean he's -"

"Okay, Okay, calm down," The figure scratched his cheek, summoning up his wilting memory. "Oh, I got it!"

His partner frowned, "And what is 'IT'?"

"I'll call in a favor!"

"Fine, but it better not be someone weird."

"..."

"...I wonder why I bother sometimes."

"Bah, you know you love me."

x

Naruto had almost forgotten what the inside of the orphanage looked like. Now, looking at the moldy walls, his memory of the place was catching up to him. The matron hated him. The cooks tampered with his already disgusting food. The other children beat him up.

It was the same place filled with the same depressing memories. But this time, the matron was different and so were the cooks.

The kids who used to torture him had all been adopted apparently, and left in their wake were a fresh batch of orphans. It was almost a new start for Naruto, his mind reeling from the reactions he got. When he came here, a letter from the Hokage clutched in his hands, he expected to be immediately refused entry. Instead the matron gladly accepted him and gave his a room. No questions asked.

The food still left much to be desired but he couldn't taste anything wrong with it. Years of 'stomach aches' and the Runs allowed him to hone his taste buds pretty well. He could tell if his food was messed with considering he now knew a variety of poisons and laxatives by taste. Still didn't help him until it was too late but...

The kids were even different.

Naruto had done one act of kindness and the children loved him. All he had done was help a little girl find her toy and she declared herself his best friend. Her friends, and friends friends, were a similar story. All it took was the one girl and the entire orphanage looked up to "Naruto-nii-san".

It was almost too much.

Even despite all this good fortune, Naruto didn't get his hopes up.

Days passed.

And then weeks.

Soon months followed.

Of course he didn't always stay in that one place, roaming the city in his free time. Konoha was huge and, as Naruto quickly noticed, was becoming more advanced each day. Buildings were getting larger, more civilian schools popped up, and even the people. Clothing even began changing.

Naruto was soon beginning to wonder how he would be seeing things if he had become a ninja. Chances are he would never have noticed a change in his village at all. He knew that if he had become a shinobi he'd be entirely focused on becoming Hokage. The quick, yet subtle changes in his village would have completely escaped him.

He, himself, was subject to the changes. He had calmed down considerably, taking to the civilian life quite well.

Sure there was the astoundingly low chance of him getting adopted anytime soon, but he could at least enjoy school. It wasn't as bad as he had thought it would have been, and speaking of...

"Onii-saaaan!" A voice whined from his doorway.

"Yeah, Asuka-chan?" He had been busy with homework, something he found to be incredibly easy. He wondered why so many of the civilian kids were always complaining about it.

"We got a couple of live ones." The little girl grinned, clutching here stuffed bunny in her hands. "It's a married couple with some kids of there own. I guess they want more..."

Naruto glanced sideways at the girl and raised a single blonde eyebrow. "Why are you telling me? You know I won't-"

"Don't say that!" Asuka flailed her small arms. "You want a family just as bad as the rest of us! You deserve one!"

"If I get adopted, I want be here all the time," Naruto reminded her.

Asuka frowned but shook her head, "You'll visit."

It wasn't a question.

Naruto chuckled, "Okay, I'll humor you this one time." He got up and followed her into the large room where other children had gathered. It was always like this when a potential family came. The kids would crowd and attempt to get the most attention in hopes of getting adopted.

'I had long since given up being adopted.' Naruto thought to himself. He just needed to wait till he was 16.

A couple of years wouldn't hurt.

"There they are." Asuka pointed to a small family who were trying to get through a thick crowd of children.

The oldest male looked to be in his late twenties with short black hair. Naruto noted, with his scruffy facial hair, he looked older. The woman next to him seemed to be his wife, the wedding ring obvious to those who looked. She was very beautiful with long blonde-orange hair, her smile making the nearby children crowd her even more.

Hidden behind the two were three young children, an orange haired boy, a dark haired girl, and a second girl that looked somewhat like the older woman.

Asuka tried to push Naruto closer. "Go introduce yourself." Her tone indicated she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Um...Hello." Naruto said as he approached the younger boy.

"Hi." The boy replied with a wide smile, glancing toward his mother for a second.

Naruto scratched his head, a bit at odds of what to do. "I'm... uh, Naruto."

"I'm Ichigo. Nice to meet you."

"Ichi-nii..." The blond girl behind him tugged the boys shirt.

Ichigo looked confused for a moment, "Wha- oh! Sorry. This is Karin," He gestured toward the dower-looking dark-haired girl, "And this is Yuzu." He pointed to the young blond girl.

Karin just crossed her arms defiantly as Yuzu offered a sweet 'nice to meet you'.

Naruto nodded, "So, Ichigo, how old are you?"

"Turning 13 in a month." He said, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Really? You look a lot younger."

Ichigo's smile faulted just a bit. "I'm... a little short but I'll grow."

Naruto glanced at the two adults nearby, "Your parents seem nice..."

"Yeah. Mom's great and Dad...is a little weird."

"...I'd take weird over none at all." The blonde mumbled to himself. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you."

Ichigo frowned as the boy left, wondering what he meant by the 'none at all' comment. He decided to talk to his parents about it.

x

"Naruto?" Naruto looked up to see the Matron standing in his doorway.

"Yes?"

She smiled pleasantly, "How would you feel about living with the Kurosaki family?"

x

"That was your plan? Have him adopted by one of your weird friends?" A female voice growled.

"Um... yes?"

They both watched as a confused and cautious Naruto carried a single suitcase from the orphanage, a wailing Asuka clinging to him. The boy smiled sadly and whispered something to her and she finally let him go.

"I didn't expect him to agree..."

"Well... he never thought he would get the chance to have a family... I mean, would you pass up this opportunity?"

"No, but..."

The Kurosaki family seemed to accept the boy, the oldest child helping Naruto with his things. The blonde waved a final time to all the children of the orphanage that had gathered to see him go. He left with his new family with promises of visiting often.

"I guess I'm happy."

"I'm glad. I know he'd want you to be."

"This is safer then becoming a ninja I guess..."

"Yeah. I see only clear skies ahead."

xx

A bit of a test. This is my first time doing something other than reading fanfics. In this story, Konoha is modernized to the point of the Bleach world. Cars, guns, computers, etc. Ninja are the... special ops of Japan, doing the most dangerous missions behind the scenes. So just imagine if Konoha and Karakura were mixed together.

Sadly though, I am not sure if any of the human characters from Bleach will make an appearance. This is more of a Naruto thing. They might, if only just for face value, but I want the Konoha half to have the powers. Though someone will have Orihime's power. It's important to the plot. Hmmm... maybe one of the Rookie 9 will be a secret Quincy?

I'll think on this further. I hope you've enjoyed the story.

Thanks for reading.