Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Naruto characters

Chapter 1: When I'm gone
"It takes a grown man to just sit here and cry!" quote from Naruto.
Today was the day that all of the Rookie 9 would see who did and did not become Jounins.

There was tension in the air as everyone wondered if they would have to spend another year training for a test that they should've completed, or getting to finally become a Jounin and learn their family technique. Families filed into the rows of chairs as they watched their child up on the stage, wondering if they would carry on their legacy. But there was one boy who was not on the stage, and did not have parents with expectations sitting in the rows of chairs, because he had no parents, or at least he had never met them. This boy was Naruto.

Naruto's parents had died before he was born, well, naruto's mom died in labor, and naruto's dad died sealing the demon Kyuubi into his stomach. The seal that the Yodaime (naruto's dad) had to use, is a powerful one, but requires the sacrifice of a life in order to use its power.

So Naruto sat in the swing that he had sat in for the past 13 years of his life, watching graduation after graduation, seeing all of his classmates pass on to more promising futures as he fell behind. As he sat down, he saw the girl whom he had had a childhood crush on for as long as he could remember. She was beautiful, graceful, everything just...fit. but no matter how hard he tried to show her how much he cared for her, it never mattered, she already had her heart set on one boy. One boy named Sasuke Uchiha. She glanced over at Naruto, as he turned away, afraid that she would shoot him a disapproving look.

As the Godaime climbed up the stairs to the platform where she would announce the future protectors, even the future leaders of the village Kohona, she looked over at the boy who daily called her Baa-Chan(sister) even though weren't even distantly related. She assumed it was from the way the treated each other. As she announced the beginning of the promotions everyone became eerily quiet. As the snowflakes fell softly onto the ground Tsunude (the Godaime) called out the following names for the top students: Nara Shikamaru, Aburume Shino, Hyugga Neji, Hyugga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, and finally Haruno Sakura. As Naruto heard that name his ears perked up and looked up to give Sakura a thumbs-up, she saw him this time and smiled back. Naruto had butterflies everywhere in his stomach going crazy. As Tsunude passed out the Jounin vests and handed each of them their new equipment. Each child left with their family to go train on their new techniques as Tsunude told everyone to wait. As everyone turned around and listened

Tsunude announced that a few select ninjas would be going on an S-ranked mission. To bring back Sasuke from Orochimaru. The names she called were Nara Shikamaru, Hyugga Neji, Hyugga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. As Tsunude called his name he came up to claim his special ninja vest including his new forehead protector. he grabbed the new clothes, Tsunude told Naruto would have to go to special training because there were certain techniques that he would HAVE to know because when it all comes down to it, Naruto will probably be the one to fight Sasuke and has a high chance of losing his life. She told him that he would be training 24/7 with 5 hours brakes on Saturday and Sunday from 9 'till 2. And that was the beginning of the rest of Naruto's trials, only the beginning of hundreds of torturing moments and cliffhanging decisions that he would have to make over the course of one year.