Prologue
Though he had not been very old at the time, he remembered the incident well. This may have been due to the excitement it raised in the village – mothers huddling around their children and fathers toting kunai and shuriken everywhere led to an atmosphere that would stick out in anybody's mind for a long time. That probably wasn't the case though, he decided while strolling leisurely down the street towards his school. The real cause of the clarity in his memory when it came to that incident was most likely his father's doing.
Ever since he was old enough to listen and understand, and probably before, his father had told him that the two most important things in life were to understand what you didn't care for and to learn all there was to know about what caught your interest. It was good advice, thought Naruto as he fell into step next to Uchiha Sasuke.
The Uchihas were the subject of his thoughts. They were a powerful clan with a bloodline ability – the Sharingan. Their oldest son, Itachi, had been the one to master it, although Sasuke would probably never give up trying to achieve that same goal. Itachi was the cause of the incident, and Sasuke was the reason Naruto had caught interest in it. Itachi was such a powerful person. . . . At the age of ten he became a chuunin, though most were only genins at twelve. Because of this inhuman strength, no one could stop him when he decided to murder the rest of his clan, leaving only his younger brother alive to tell the tale. Naruto glanced at the boy. Sasuke refused to talk about the incident to anyone else, and was reluctant to tall Naruto much either. Finally though, he had admitted that the reason Itachi gave for leaving Sasuke alive was because the boy, no more than a little boy at the time, was too weak. Because of that insult, along with Naruto's own, similarly personel reasons, the two of them trained together every day after school, hoping to exceed everyone else in strength. Today was different though – today was the day their class would take the test to become genins. Naruto had already failed it three times, and hoped to avoid that humiliation this year. Sasuke would never let him live it down otherwise – the Uchiha would probably make some sort of nickname up for him like 'dead last'.
It wasn't like he was even a bad student, Naruto mused as he took his seat in the back of the classroom. He just wasn't good at the jutsus the school wanted him to know. When it came down to creating his own jutsus he was fine – he'd recently perfected the Sexy no Jutsu. He shook his head as he teacher, a young woman who was most decidedly not amused by his 'creativeness' when it came to jutsus, called him to the testing room. He would make it this year.
"Uzumaki Naruto," she started, sighing. She would give anything to pass the kid. He was the Hokage's son for heaven's sake! "I'd like you to perform the Bushin no Jutsu."
Naruto bit his lip. This was it – he had to perform his worst jutsu to pass. Carefully, he made the hand seal, focusing his charka into it. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and said it: "Bushin no Jutsu!"
Peals of laughter forced his eyes open. Nothing had happened. Head bowed, he silently slunk out of the room and school, running only when he'd reached the streets.
***
Nighttime seemed it would never come, but when it finally did, Naruto was prepared. No one had seen him yet since he'd . . . failed. He frowned, sneaking past rows of scrolls, searching for a certain one. The scroll he was searching for was one he knew would help him. His father had almost forbidden it to ever be used – the jutsu it contained were that dangerous. Somewhere in it had to be something that he could learn and show to Iaka- sensei. If he did that, she'd have to pass him.
Finally he found it. Predictably, his father had hidden it to make sure that no one could use it, although it wasn't yet forbidden. However, Naruto knew the mind of the Fourth Hokage as well as his own. There was no place Yondaime could hide this scroll that Naruto wouldn't find it.
Just as carefully, Naruto crept to the Uchiha manor. Sasuke might call him an idiot, but he'd help – especially if it meant learning high level jutsu as well. Besides, there was no other place he could practive with out his father's guards watching him.
After a quick knock at the door, Naruto leapt through the side window that had mysteriously opened. Inside stood Sasuke, ready to slam the window shut in case either of their fan girls followed.
"What are you going to do now, Naruto?"
Naruto growled and threw the scroll at the dark-haired boy. Of course Sasuke would have figured out the cause for his disappearance after the exam. "I suppose you passed."
"No."
Naruto's sharp retort was cut shot as he choked and stared. "What?"
Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't take it. There's nothing they could teach me that we couldn't figure out ourselves." He smirked, tossing the scroll back to the blonde boy, who was still staring in shock. "It looks like I was right. That's the scroll the Hokage almost forbade . . . "
". . . but didn't. I'm going to learn these and pass with special jutsu."
Sasue just raised an eyebrow. "You think you can do that?" Getting no reply, he shook his head. "What are you going to do first?"
"I'll go in order. The hardest ones are probably at the end." Naruto plopped himself down, pulling the scroll open, glancing at it, and grinned. "You want to try, or should I just learn these by myself?"
Rolling his eyes, Sasuke sat down behind Naruto and peered at the markings on the paper. He frowned. Naruto was trying this? "Dobe, you couldn't do Bushin no Jutsu. You really think you can do this?" Neither boy said anything in answer. They knew Naruto would learn the jutsu or at least try until his body gave out, simply because that was the way he was. 'Still,' thought Sasuke, 'to do Kage Bushin no Jutsu. . . .' The Kage Bushin no Jutsu was far more advanced than the Bushin no Jutsu. In the Bushin no Jutsu, one had to use their charka to create clones of themselves, just like in the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. However, Bishin no Jutsu was easier because the clones were insubstantial. The Kage Bushin no Jutsu, however, required that the ninja distribute his charka throughout the clones to make each one solid. Of course, even the most well done clones would disappear in fatally wounded, the least powerful turning into nothing but smoke from a simple nudge. It was still a desirable ability because it made determining the location of the real ninja difficult for the enemy.
"Sasuke, I can do this."
The right at the end of the sentence was left unspoken, but Sasuke could hear it perfectly clearly. "Hai." He smirked. Although Naruto was horrible at school taught jutsu, almost no one was better at controlling their charka, and very few had more of it. One of the jutsu in the scroll would have to have something that would call upon those traits.
Naruto beamed back at him. "Right then! Let's get to work!"
Author's Note: The idea behind this story is that the Kyuubi never attacked the village. Naruto naturally has a lot of charka, I decided after looking through the series, and the fox demon sealed inside him was all that made him so bad at controlling his charka. That he could control it at all means that his control must unnaturally good. About his family, they are never mentioned exactly, so I have to ad lib that. *grins* Luckily, the way I'm setting it up, no matter what the manga or anime say, I'll be fine. His relationship with Sasuke would be much different – since he wouldn't be hated by the villagers, he's most likely have a fan club as well, and the two boys would probably seek each other out. Finally, the scroll of seals wouldn't be forbidden since it wouldn't have the seal to release the fox demon since it was never sealed. By the way, I don't figure that Iruka would be a teacher since his parents wouldn't have died and so he would have had a totally different personality as a child. Well, R&R! Bye!
Akki
Though he had not been very old at the time, he remembered the incident well. This may have been due to the excitement it raised in the village – mothers huddling around their children and fathers toting kunai and shuriken everywhere led to an atmosphere that would stick out in anybody's mind for a long time. That probably wasn't the case though, he decided while strolling leisurely down the street towards his school. The real cause of the clarity in his memory when it came to that incident was most likely his father's doing.
Ever since he was old enough to listen and understand, and probably before, his father had told him that the two most important things in life were to understand what you didn't care for and to learn all there was to know about what caught your interest. It was good advice, thought Naruto as he fell into step next to Uchiha Sasuke.
The Uchihas were the subject of his thoughts. They were a powerful clan with a bloodline ability – the Sharingan. Their oldest son, Itachi, had been the one to master it, although Sasuke would probably never give up trying to achieve that same goal. Itachi was the cause of the incident, and Sasuke was the reason Naruto had caught interest in it. Itachi was such a powerful person. . . . At the age of ten he became a chuunin, though most were only genins at twelve. Because of this inhuman strength, no one could stop him when he decided to murder the rest of his clan, leaving only his younger brother alive to tell the tale. Naruto glanced at the boy. Sasuke refused to talk about the incident to anyone else, and was reluctant to tall Naruto much either. Finally though, he had admitted that the reason Itachi gave for leaving Sasuke alive was because the boy, no more than a little boy at the time, was too weak. Because of that insult, along with Naruto's own, similarly personel reasons, the two of them trained together every day after school, hoping to exceed everyone else in strength. Today was different though – today was the day their class would take the test to become genins. Naruto had already failed it three times, and hoped to avoid that humiliation this year. Sasuke would never let him live it down otherwise – the Uchiha would probably make some sort of nickname up for him like 'dead last'.
It wasn't like he was even a bad student, Naruto mused as he took his seat in the back of the classroom. He just wasn't good at the jutsus the school wanted him to know. When it came down to creating his own jutsus he was fine – he'd recently perfected the Sexy no Jutsu. He shook his head as he teacher, a young woman who was most decidedly not amused by his 'creativeness' when it came to jutsus, called him to the testing room. He would make it this year.
"Uzumaki Naruto," she started, sighing. She would give anything to pass the kid. He was the Hokage's son for heaven's sake! "I'd like you to perform the Bushin no Jutsu."
Naruto bit his lip. This was it – he had to perform his worst jutsu to pass. Carefully, he made the hand seal, focusing his charka into it. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and said it: "Bushin no Jutsu!"
Peals of laughter forced his eyes open. Nothing had happened. Head bowed, he silently slunk out of the room and school, running only when he'd reached the streets.
***
Nighttime seemed it would never come, but when it finally did, Naruto was prepared. No one had seen him yet since he'd . . . failed. He frowned, sneaking past rows of scrolls, searching for a certain one. The scroll he was searching for was one he knew would help him. His father had almost forbidden it to ever be used – the jutsu it contained were that dangerous. Somewhere in it had to be something that he could learn and show to Iaka- sensei. If he did that, she'd have to pass him.
Finally he found it. Predictably, his father had hidden it to make sure that no one could use it, although it wasn't yet forbidden. However, Naruto knew the mind of the Fourth Hokage as well as his own. There was no place Yondaime could hide this scroll that Naruto wouldn't find it.
Just as carefully, Naruto crept to the Uchiha manor. Sasuke might call him an idiot, but he'd help – especially if it meant learning high level jutsu as well. Besides, there was no other place he could practive with out his father's guards watching him.
After a quick knock at the door, Naruto leapt through the side window that had mysteriously opened. Inside stood Sasuke, ready to slam the window shut in case either of their fan girls followed.
"What are you going to do now, Naruto?"
Naruto growled and threw the scroll at the dark-haired boy. Of course Sasuke would have figured out the cause for his disappearance after the exam. "I suppose you passed."
"No."
Naruto's sharp retort was cut shot as he choked and stared. "What?"
Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't take it. There's nothing they could teach me that we couldn't figure out ourselves." He smirked, tossing the scroll back to the blonde boy, who was still staring in shock. "It looks like I was right. That's the scroll the Hokage almost forbade . . . "
". . . but didn't. I'm going to learn these and pass with special jutsu."
Sasue just raised an eyebrow. "You think you can do that?" Getting no reply, he shook his head. "What are you going to do first?"
"I'll go in order. The hardest ones are probably at the end." Naruto plopped himself down, pulling the scroll open, glancing at it, and grinned. "You want to try, or should I just learn these by myself?"
Rolling his eyes, Sasuke sat down behind Naruto and peered at the markings on the paper. He frowned. Naruto was trying this? "Dobe, you couldn't do Bushin no Jutsu. You really think you can do this?" Neither boy said anything in answer. They knew Naruto would learn the jutsu or at least try until his body gave out, simply because that was the way he was. 'Still,' thought Sasuke, 'to do Kage Bushin no Jutsu. . . .' The Kage Bushin no Jutsu was far more advanced than the Bushin no Jutsu. In the Bushin no Jutsu, one had to use their charka to create clones of themselves, just like in the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. However, Bishin no Jutsu was easier because the clones were insubstantial. The Kage Bushin no Jutsu, however, required that the ninja distribute his charka throughout the clones to make each one solid. Of course, even the most well done clones would disappear in fatally wounded, the least powerful turning into nothing but smoke from a simple nudge. It was still a desirable ability because it made determining the location of the real ninja difficult for the enemy.
"Sasuke, I can do this."
The right at the end of the sentence was left unspoken, but Sasuke could hear it perfectly clearly. "Hai." He smirked. Although Naruto was horrible at school taught jutsu, almost no one was better at controlling their charka, and very few had more of it. One of the jutsu in the scroll would have to have something that would call upon those traits.
Naruto beamed back at him. "Right then! Let's get to work!"
Author's Note: The idea behind this story is that the Kyuubi never attacked the village. Naruto naturally has a lot of charka, I decided after looking through the series, and the fox demon sealed inside him was all that made him so bad at controlling his charka. That he could control it at all means that his control must unnaturally good. About his family, they are never mentioned exactly, so I have to ad lib that. *grins* Luckily, the way I'm setting it up, no matter what the manga or anime say, I'll be fine. His relationship with Sasuke would be much different – since he wouldn't be hated by the villagers, he's most likely have a fan club as well, and the two boys would probably seek each other out. Finally, the scroll of seals wouldn't be forbidden since it wouldn't have the seal to release the fox demon since it was never sealed. By the way, I don't figure that Iruka would be a teacher since his parents wouldn't have died and so he would have had a totally different personality as a child. Well, R&R! Bye!
Akki