Disclaimer: That smug little bastard Kishimoto that's scrapping ideas from the bottom of a bucket at this point owns Naruto, not me. Meh.

Author's Note: This story is very impulsive. Not only is it impulsive it was made with the idea of the November writing month in mind. I have three weeks of school left until I work on the ore and coal boats on the great lakes for the summer and I've been itching to actually write a story. Well, this is my challenge to myself. I'm giving myself the 3 weeks I have left, one of them being finals week, and ignoring the fact that I have two 500+ page books to read and get tested on so that I can write at least a 33,333 word story by midnight, may 5th, 2008. So it's more about length and actually writing then quality right now. Not that I think it'll suck…just saying the point. I'll most likely continue posting when I get off the boat with crap I wrote, but yea. Till then…lets see what happens for now.

One more thing, this is AU. If the character seems to be acting out of character from Kishimoto's little sharingan happy world there might just be a reason for it. Blame the AU and learn to love it:3

"A story starts with a single word, and with that word ends millions of possibilities and channels for a story to go. The second word cements the story as it cuts off billions more…"

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Lukewarm water bathed the boy as the sky itself wept tepid tears upon his prone form. His chest shuddered before a fit of coughing racked the boy's thin frame; causing that much more blood to mix with the rain as it seeped into the heat-scorched earth below. Telltale signs of a powerful lightning jutsu; a jutsu that put the chidori to shame.

'So it finally happened. Sasuke won…' Naruto didn't want to admit it but the Uchiha bested him. Naruto decided to reason with the teme one last time and what did he get for his trouble? A giant bolt of lightning to the body, that's what. In a battle so anti-climactic Naruto would laugh if he didn't know it'd just aid in a swifter death. He wanted to enjoy what he reaped after all. He deserved this after believing in the teme even after he was so far gone.

"Don't think you'll get off that easy kit." The deep voice of one Kyuubi no Kitsune rumbled from deep within its cage.

'Is it really that hard to just let me die? What have I accomplished? How can I protect an entire village if I can't even protect my best friend?' Naruto had no idea how he'd be able to get up from this. The burns were too bad and he couldn't feel a thing. If he looked in a mirror he was sure he'd find a mass of black, smelling to high hell and looking more like a pile of charred wood then anything. The Kyuubi was the only thing keeping him alive at this point, and even it couldn't heal the damage he'd sustained. It was too much for the allotted amount of chakra that could get through the seal at this point.

"There's two of us in here and I'll be damned if this body gives out before the 50 years I was expecting from it. 19 is cutting it pretty damn short" Kyuubi finished with a snort. Naruto took a moment to ponder if the snort was mental or not even though it was in his own head. After all the kyuubi talked so it wasn't as if his voice was a thought in his own head…right? Random delirious death induced tangent aside Naruto decided to respond. Nothing better to do before dying anyways…

'Well life sucks and then you die. Get over it furball.' At this point Naruto blissfully accepted unconsciousness; unable to withstand the pain as a few of his receptors finally overcame the shock of being burned alive by a lighting bolt.

"I always say live life to the fullest. That, and napalm doesn't kill children…I do." Monologue over the Kyuubi did the only thing it could in this situation. He salvaged it.

--

The aroma of a bustling city: sake, ramen, smoke, entrées from hundreds of restaurants and stands, ramen, expired milk a few feet across the floor, a few flowers and ramen. Sounds of life: Children playing in the streets below, birds chirping, the wind blowing quickly by the window and an alarm…an alarm…Rough fleece…

'Rough Fleece?' Bolting up, eyes bulging from their sockets the reality of his situation hit him. 'I'm alive…kuso kuso kuso Kuso Kuso KUSO! You fucking fox! Why couldn't you just let me die?' He internally screamed to the demon within him only to find that nothing was answering back. 'Kyuubi?...stupid fox won't even talk to me…but how did I survive?' As he swung his feet the inch from his futon to the floor and pushed up with his hands the true reality of his situation finally hit him.

Looking down the length of his shorter legs and feeling the difficulty he was having in even getting into a standing position it was pretty obvious to Naruto that he'd either become a midget, or he was much, much younger. Then again both would involve him being about the size of a midget.

'Of course. The first time wasn't bad enough, was it fox?' Acceptance came quickly though; after all, he decided to skip denial and the other steps since he didn't exactly have much choice in the matter. A quick glance at the calendar told him everything he needed to know; it was the day of the genin exams, and he had a good hour before he needed to be anywhere.

'How'd that old saying go? "You can only live once?" Yea, that was it. I just had to be the most surprising enigma of a ninja with the biggest cockroach of a demon ever, didn't I? Fucker just doesn't know when to lie down and die…' his pity party over for the time being, Naruto stood up -this time compensating for his lack of reach and balance- before heading to the closet to clothe himself as the social norms dictated of him.

As he searched through his jumpsuit littered closet he decided to do something different; after all, even if he didn't act like himself it wouldn't matter any. Everything would still play out the same as before. He was still the two-time failure, and he was still 14 before he even passed his genin exams. Everyone was 2 years younger then him, and Iruka was still the only person that acknowledged him besides the Hokage.

Life was great.

Grabbing the only t-shirt in his closet; he draped the black T with his favorite orange spiral across his head to rest upon his upper torso. A few minutes later found him in similar black workout pants with orange stripes along the sides. He didn't really care to emulate his past appearance. As he grew older he found himself wearing blacker, and less orange clothing; though he'd never quit wearing his favorite color. By this point it was as much a part of him as his dream of being hokage.

The trip was quick enough as Naruto strolled down the streets of Konoha. He ignored the glares; in the past 19 years they hadn't let up so he didn't expect them to now that he was young again. The birds were still chirping, and the smells of the town were still the same. For all that happened in his life it seemed the village would never change. Even after the invasion it took no more then a few months for the village to recover from what he heard. Naruto made it into the academy just fine and grabbed a seat beside Sasuke's seat a good 20 minutes before class started. No one seemed to be in the class just yet seeing how early it still was. Even Iruka sensei wasn't here. Looking out the window he noticed that the weather was different from when he graduated. He remembered quite well considering how many hours he spent in the forest with the forbidden scroll. It was still green out and fall hadn't hit yet, but as he looked outside the windows he could already see quite a few reds and yellows in the leaves.

'Maybe it was just the area I was in that was green?' He felt a little silly that he was spending time thinking about the weather, even if he had nothing better to do as he waited. A noise brought him out of his thoughts, another student he guessed. Probably Sakura since she always insisted on being on time.

"Hey Naruto." The female's voice was calm and aloof. She was greeting him while expecting nothing in return, and Naruto had to spend a few minutes looking at the back of her auburn covered head as the rest of the students filed into the room. One thought prominent in his mind.

'This is the day I failed the genin exam for the second time…'

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A/N- Naruto failed the genin exam TWICE. That means he was 14 when everyone in his class (sasuke, sakura, hinata, etc) was 12. After the timeskip he's 17 when everyone is 15!! I kept that in mind so he's actually 13 right now. Just clearing that up. I'm also assuming there's more then just one class per year so Neji, Ten Ten and Lee aren't in his class. I do promise though, that everyone in the manga will be in this fanfiction, and they'll have their own important places in the storyline as well. After all, you can't just forget the only people you've ever grown close to.

A review to tell me if you like it would be appreciated. If you say you hate it, hell, that's your own opinion. If you give me critiques on my writing i'd like that as well, though keep in mind i'm looking at output right now and this'll be my first story. Hell, tell me how much you like pie. I just want to know besides the dumb clicker that says hits that people ACTUALLY read this and if anyone ACTUALLY enjoys it! If you do i'd love to know. Otherwise i'll be pretty lonely writing this story...XD