PROLOGUE

Meeting in the Dark

"Hi."

"..."

"I'm Naruto, who'r you?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...You big."

"..."

"Like, reel big."

"..."

"Like, reel reeeeel big."

"..."

"Say somethin' or I'll climb inta yo'r eyeball."

"...Leave."

"Nu-uh."

"I can eat you."

"I c'n eat you too! Just... in a lotta little bites."

"Go away and stop pestering me."

"...What's 'pestaa?'"

"You are, pest."

"I'm notta pest! I'm Naruto!"

"Still edible either way."

"What's-"

"It means good to eat. Now -"

"WOW! How'dya kno what I was gonna say?! Dat's AWESUM!"

"..."

"It's like you di' dat tepe, no, tele... umm... teremaffy ding!"

"The word you are trying to say is 'telepathy,' and you are obnoxious enough without knowing every thought that goes through your tiny little mind."

"Te-re., no, te-le-pa-fee. Telepafee! Danks mistaa big grumpy fokss!"

"Good enough. Now leave me alone."

"No."

"...Why?"

"...'Cos...'cos...'lone is sad. An' I no want you be sad..."

"Oh? And just what reason could you possibly have to care about my happiness?"

"...You no... you no 'nore me."

"...'Nore?' Are you perhaps trying to say ignore?"

"Yea, 'nore! Dat's what I sayed!"

"So, if I just go back to ignoring you, you will leave me alone."

"..."

"..."

"...But it's different. Different 'nore."

"..."

"Ev'reone mean-'nores me, an' it hurts lots. But you just 'nore-'nore me, an' dat no hurt."

"Ah, so I simply have to be mean. Well then... BEGONE you worthless, pathetic sack of meat, or I shall make you know pain beyond anything your puny mind can comprehend!"

"It's- it's still different. You just being big-n'-grumpy mean. You not hurt-purpos-mean like odda pe'ple"

"Hmph. You are right in the sense that your pitiful existence is so far below me, I can no more be mean to you personally than you could towards a blade of grass."

"But I like grass. It's all soft an' tikulee."

"And I dislike you. You are all annoying and squishy."

"Nah, you just grumpy. Big grumpy fokss."

"..."

"Why you so grumpy? I be grumpy sumtimes wen pe'ple 'nore me, 'cos it hurts, an' da hurting maeks me grumpy. You grumpy 'cos pe'ple 'nore you?"

"...Something like that..."

"Den I kno! Let's be frien's! Dat way we hav sumwun who won't 'nore us all da time, so we nevaa hafta be hurting an' grumpy!"

"Friends? Ha! Tell me, can you be friends with the grass?"

"But... but we ta'kin! An' grass don't ta'k!"

"Everything talks. You just don't know how to listen."

"Sooo... iff I lea'n how ta ta'k ta grass, I c'n hav lotsa frien's!"

"Foolish child..."

"Oh, but no w'rry! You still be my first an' best frien'!"

"Haa... I will say this slowly, in simple words, to be sure you understand. We. Can. Not. Be. Friends."

"...Muu, but why not?!"

"Because I said so."

"No fai'!"

"The world isn't fair, brat"

"...Gimme a goo' reezin, or I'll nevaa evaa evaa leev you 'lone!"

"Hmm. How about this? I will tell you a story-"

"Yay, storee!-"

"-A story about myself, and when I am finished, you will understand why not you nor anyone else can possibly be my friend. In return, afterwards, you will do whatever I tell you to do."

"Sooo... I lissen ta yo'r storee, den I hav'ta do what you say?"

"Exactly. A promise, once made, cannot be taken back, changed, or broken. Do you understand?"

"Yep, I un'nerstan'! An' I pwomiss!"

"Good. Now... I am the eldest of nine children. Our birth was violent and tore our mother's body apart. We never knew her, but from what I know of her, we were better off for it. You see, Mother was a monster, a being that knew only destruction One so powerful that even the gods feared her and could do nothing to stop her.

"Father was born a human, but he transcended his mortal self and abandoned it in exchange for the power to stand against Mother. But even with all his strength, the best he could manage was to subdue her. The power he had gained was not able to end her, at least not directly, so he placed a piece of his own essence deep inside her being. That bit of essence merged with Mother and drew upon her life force, splitting into nine parts that became myself and my siblings.

"These efforts took their toll on our father as well, and he died when we were still very young. As the oldest and strongest of us, I took it upon myself to protect my brothers and sisters. For the gods resented us, beings born of a mother that terrified them and a father who did what they could not. They feared what we might become if we were allowed to grow, so they tried to kill us.

"We survived, escaped, and hid, spending much of our early lives with none but each other to rely upon. Associating with lesser spirits and other beings, such as humans, was too risky, as we never knew when we might be recognized and our location become known to the gods. What little Father had been able to teach us before his end was barely enough to keep ourselves alive, and the gods were ruthless in hunting us down, destroying entire settlements and communities just because we happened to be nearby.

"I could not allow us to go on living this way. I had promised Father I would take care of my family, but as I was, I could do little to keep that promise. So I resolved to grow stronger, so strong that nothing would be able to harm them!

"With the gods so intent on our deaths to the point of ignoring all else, the world was thrown into chaos and suffering. Nature itself disliked that and, searching for a way to restore balance, found me and my desire.

"I had been training myself as much as I could with what I had learned from Father, pushing myself to my limits and beyond, time after time. But for all my potential, the same potential that the gods so dreaded, my progress was frustratingly slow. Then, the world itself became my teacher.

"Now with both focus and direction, my power grew in leaps and bounds. I grew at a speed my younger siblings could not hope to match, quickly coming to equal the gods. Finally, I was able to fight back.

"And fight back I did, but I was not alone, as I had believed I would be. Beings all throughout the world had come to fear the tyrannical, oppressive gods, and to them, I was the hope of freedom from that oppression. They rallied to me, those not too tightly wrapped in terror or blind devotion to be free, and my personal battle became a war that consumed the world.

"The final result of the war was a foregone conclusion. The mad gods had long since reached the height of their power, whereas I continued to grow stronger by the day. And as I grew, more and more flocked to my side. My brothers and sisters joined in as well despite my protests, arraying themselves against the more powerful entities bound to the gods' service. In the end, I left the gods as mere echoes of what they had once been: alive but stripped of their power so thoroughly that those unable to let go of their overinflated pride existed in constant agony.

"A time of peace followed, and my family and I were honored as saviors, none knowing that we were the catalyst for the gods' madness.

"As for myself, I was still unsatisfied. You see, Nature is not something that was able to be selective in my instruction, which is how I came to learn things about Father and Mother that should have been lost with Father's death. Through this, I knew that another monster like Mother could appear, or another being like Father but with harmful intentions. And I also knew that, as I was at the time, I could do nothing against either.

"I needed to be even stronger, but there was a problem. The level of power I wished for was not attainable without severe risk, even for one such as myself. Furthermore, the risk was not only for my own existence, but that of all around me. Unable to take the chance that a mistake could mean the end of one of my precious siblings, I secluded myself from the world.

"The trials I put myself through during that time were painful beyond imagination, so much that I would frequently forget my very self. Only the memory of my family kept me from fading into nothingness. Each time I survived, and each time I became stronger, my power growing without limit. Eventually I came to a point where I felt satisfied with my strength. I had reached a level far beyond that of Mother and Father, and I knew that as long as I was there, nothing would ever be able to harm my family again.

"I returned home, only to discover that I had become too powerful. Powerful to the point where my very presence was harmful to my brothers and sisters on a fundamental level I could do nothing to prevent. I immediately restrained myself, confining my essence to the form you see before you now, a mere shadow, an echo of my true self. But the damage was done, and my own siblings now feared me instinctively. Despite knowing that I loved them more than anything and would never hurt them, that glimmer of primal fear existed too deeply to ever be rid of it.

"Since then, every living being to have witnessed my true form has held the same terror of me ever after. Those without a certain degree of strength will lose their sanity or even outright die.

"So how I possibly have a friend when no one can even be near me?"

"...Wooooowww, you be reel supah awesum! You be da most awesumesst evaa! You be da awesumesst frien' I evaa hav!"

"...What part of 'I cannot have friends' failed to penetrate your overly-thick but undersized skull?"

"Hey! Jus 'cos you can't hav me for a frien' no meen I can' hav you for a frien'! An' I say you's my frien' so you's my frien', so dere!"

"Enough. Now, leave."

"Nu-uh!"

"...I have been very patient with you until now. That is because this place has allowed me to rest undisturbed and uninterrupted for more than four years before you came along. To my great dismay, it is also fragile enough that giving in to my urge to utterly obliterate you would have the side effect of destroying it. Thus leaving me once more to be pestered constantly by troublesome existences that are somehow more annoying put together than having to deal with you briefly on rare occasions such as this.

"However, you made a promise to do what I said in exchange for my story. I explained to you and you understood the importance of a promise. If you are breaking your promise despite that, I will not tolerate your disgusting presence for even one more instant. I will wipe you from existence so thoroughly it will be as if you never came into being in the first place. This is your last warning. Leave."

"But I no bake pwomiss!"

"I told you to leave, yet you are still before me. How is tha-"

"No! Yo'r big-grumpy-mouff say leev, but you no say! I lissen!"

"...Interesting. Then just what is it you think I, as opposed to my mouth, am saying?"

"Weww, I kno you no say leev, 'cos you so supah stwong, you say leev, I be gon like dat! Nuttin I c'n do. But I lissen an' t'ink an' lissen sum more, an' I t'ink what you reelee say, not what yo'r big-grumpy-mouff say but what you say iz dat you wanna be frien's.

"You wanna be my frien' wich you arr 'cos I say you arr. An' you want me ta be yo'r frien' but you no kno how, so big-grumpy-mouff say leev. But dat's okay, 'cos I heer you ennyway an' I kno how ta be yo'r frien'!"

"Oh?"

"Yeaa! You sayd in storee dat you hurt pe'ple less ba' iff dey be stwongaa, so iff I get reel reel reel reel reel stwong like you di', den you no hurt me, an' I c'n be yo'r frien'! Den I be yo'r frien' an' you be my frien' so we be frien's, an' we nevaa havta be sad an' grumpy an' lonlee evaa aga'n!"

"Bwahahahaha! Huhuhuhu! Ridiculous! Hehehe. You really think- hahaha- It seems I had forgotten- hehe- just how naive young ones can be. You honestly believe a pathetic brat like you could possibly become my equal? The very idea is laughable-"

"I pwomiss!"

"...You will want to be very careful with your words, boy. I will not accept oathbreakers, nor will I offer any assistance in your childish flight of fancy."

"Dat's okay. I not yo'r frien' yet so you no nee' help me. But I wiww be, an' dat's my pwomiss!"

"Do as you like, but leave me to my solitude."

"Wait! Sinss we gonna be frien's sumday, we shoul' kno eech odda's names! My name's U-zu-ma-ki Naruto, what's yo'rs?"

"As if I would give my name to a delusional pest. Begone."

(three years later)

He woke up to the knowledge that someone was in the room with him. Instantly, training took over: immediate threat? -no, aware of his being awake? -unknown. Keep eyes closed, slow breathing, moderate chakra flow, and fake sleep. It seemed to work, as he sensed the target's tension level drop from high-alert to calm-aware.

The chunin couldn't help but wonder what someone was doing breaking in to his apartment in the middle of the night. Whoever they were, they had clearly gotten in without triggering any of his traps, or else the noise would have woken him sooner. He regretted not investing in some kind of security seals, but a teacher's salary just didn't allow for that kind of expense. Focusing on hearing let him pick up on the intruder's near-silent breathing and unusually light footsteps (bare feet, he noted); it was a level of stealth sufficient to have kept him from waking, leaving Iruka momentarily confused as to what had alerted him to the other's presence. Then the scent registered properly, an earth-forest mix with undertones of sweat and blood. It was a common enough mixture on shinobi who made heavy use of Konoha's training grounds, which explained why it didn't jump to mind straight away, but it was also something that didn't belong in his bedroom in the middle of the night.

Trying to build a mental picture of the break-in, it was obvious his uninvited guest hadn't been here long, as the out-of-place scent would have woken him in seconds after coming into the room. The entry point must have been the window. The door was the only other possibility, but the time needed to close it silently cut out that option. And sure enough, there was the faintest whisper of cool night air; no doubt it had been left open a tiny crack to facilitate escape.

Right, with all that out of the way, just what was his mysterious surprise visitor doing? Their chakra was completely dormant, so he couldn't get any kind of read on them that way, it also meant no chakra use whatsoever for at least the past hour, highly unusual and most certainly planned to help avoid detection. With only the quiet sounds to go off of, the intruder seemed to be just wandering about the room, looking at things but keeping a certain distance. Not searching for anything, or they would shifting papers around and going through drawers. Good. That eliminated his primary fear of someone hunting for information on his students, a not-unlikely possibility, considering the absurd fact that nearly a third of them were the children of clan heads.

With nothing to do except wait for the best opportunity, Iruka let his thoughts drift onto the subject of his new class. He could admit to being more than a bit nervous, and who wouldn't be? His first time as head teacher, and he gets Uchiha and Hyuuga both? It was a political minefield where a single misstep would no doubt cost him his position as an instructor. So far, he couldn't say much about the kids themselves. Then again, he'd only had them for a month, but at least there didn't seem to be any unanticipated problems. Too bad the likelihood of that holding true for the full five year course was about on par with a team given the Tora mission completing it without injury. While a couple students had special issues that needed to be addressed, it was nothing too-

His mystery intruder was less than a meter from the side of the bed and facing away; this was his chance! Iruka lunged, but his target had unexpectedly fast reflexes and spun around the instant he made his move. A sharp blow drove into the lower part of his ribs on the right side, but he wasn't a chunin for nothing. Pivoting on his left foot, he turned the force that would have sent him stumbling back towards his own bed into a high-speed spin. Something was off about the shadowy figure, but he hadn't the focus to think about it right this moment as he came around with a strong roundhouse kick. His opponent was already darting back, but not quite fast enough to get out of reach given the close-quarters, and there was the distinct feeling of something cracking as his shin impacted their side.

The strike launched his opponent through the air, their body light, too light. And far too small as well. Was he fighting a child?! Yes, a quick scan confirmed that the intruder was very young, likely around the age of his own charges. He immediately halted all thoughts of using lethal force, and even that kick was already gnawing on his conscience. Right, subdue first, questions after.

The kid again demonstrated impressive reflexes and control of their body, twisting to hit the wall back-first and absorbing the impact with both hands and feet, clearly intending to launch themself right back at him. But Iruka was already moving, hands gripping firmly onto small shoulders, using his greater size to bodily pin his opponent against the bedroom wall. Thin limbs strained with surprising force for one so young, but his feet were now solidly glued to the floor with chakra, which together with his natural strength made the effort futile.

His years of teaching were all that saved him from a second scar on his nose, jerking his head back as sharp teeth snapped closed on empty air. He had never thought he'd be glad for the biting habits of unruly Inuzuka brats. This child, however, held a ferocity even the members of the dog clan lacked and had seriously been trying to take a bit off the tip of his nose.

"Enough!" he called out sternly, but keeping his voice low to avoid waking the neighbors. A simultaneous firm shake to reinforce the message had the side effect of making a glob of spit no doubt meant for his eye instead clip his ear. He gave his best disappointed teacher glare.

"I said enough of that." His captive stilled, but the fierce look stayed in bright blue eyes. "I don't want to have to hurt you. Settle down, and I'll let you go." Seeming to pick up on the honesty in his words, the child calmed in seconds. Iruka backed off but made sure to keep himself between the kid and the window. He knew kids, and this one would bolt at the first opportunity.

"Damn, shoulda known I wasn't ready for a chunin." The unexpected outburst was surprising not only in its suddenness, but hearing that kind of casual coarse language in a child's voice was jarring, not to mention the content. "Still, thanks for not being too rough with me mister!" the boy? (more likely based on the manner of speech, but either was possible; Iruka decided to go with boy unless proven otherwide) finished brightly.

"Mister? I'm nineteen, you little brat," he automatically corrected the intruder. The language was something he'd let slip; based on the tattered remains of what might have been clothes, the intruder likely had no one to teach him better. Note to self: avoid topic of family.

The boy stared at him intently for a moment, then, "Really? Huh, you look older. So, how'd you notice me?"

"Your scent. Why did you break in?" He still wasn't sure how to handle his surprise guest, as his personality was hard to pin down, but a bit of honesty and a simple exchange of information was usually a good way to go.

"Agh, knew I shoulda washed first," the boy reprimanded himself before answering. "Training! I wanna be a ninja! But I can't go to the Academy without a home address to put down... So I figured if I can show 'em how awesome I could be by sneaking into a chunin's place, they'll have to take me!" More rapid emotional shifts. Even in the darkness, with only those bright eyes and tone of voice to go off of, Iruka clearly picked them up. Pride, which shifted to excitement, then frustration, followed by a feeling of smug satisfaction, with a hint of desperation creeping in at the end.

As for that mildly ridiculous response, putting aside the various deeper implications for the time being to deal with the main point of the kid's words, the chunin realized that he might have just gotten incredibly lucky. Of course, there were still a number of things to take into consideration, but for now... "You know, I'm actually a teacher at the Academy."

The boy took the bait without a moment's thought. "Wow, sweet! Then, since you're super-nice and everything, could you please please pleeeease help me get in?"

He slipped loose a short chuckle at the childlike enthusiasm. "I just might be able to do something, but we'll need to talk about it a bit first. Before that, though, why don't you go and wash up? The bathroom's right through that door."

"O-okay! Thanks!" The briefest flash of nervousness and hesitation made the boy stutter, before his hopeful attitude returned even stronger than before. A slight bend and spring of his left leg had him neatly in front of the door, which he swiftly opened just enough to slip inside.

"And try to keep the noise down a bit," Iruka called to the now closed door, "most people are sleeping."

"Mn!" came the response, much quieter than a moment ago. With a soft sigh, he sat down on the bed. Now, his surprise houseguest would need at least a couple minutes to clean up, so it was time to think.

First of all, where did the kid come from? That one was simple enough: there were a number of orphans who had slipped through the cracks in the system in the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack, and this was most likely one of them. Of course, he would still need to get a name out of the kid and have it and his identity checked against records; while he highly doubted a spy would be able to give off the open and genuine feeling he had, it was better to be safe than sorry. After all, if there was any Academy class foreign intelligence would want to infiltrate, this would definitely be it. Eh, no use pondering over what-ifs.

It was more than obvious the boy lived on his own, probably, as far-fetched as it sounded, somewhere in Konoha's expansive training grounds, so that meant he was highly self-sufficient. Based on physical capabilities and level of mental development, it was clear he'd already activated his chakra, and not recently. It had no doubt been a stress reaction to the unusually harsh living conditions; such things, while rare, were not unheard of.

The sounds of the boy enjoying what was likely his first real shower in quite some time reached Iruka's ears. That was good. He'd heard any number of horror stories about the damage to the psyche that could happen from early chakra activation. The child could be considered extremely lucky if the worst that occurred was the rapid mood fluctuations he'd noticed. There was a reason six-and-a-half was the optimal age, damn it, despite what some of the clans might say! It was not worth risking a child's well-being just to give them a head start on ninja training.

The teacher cut that line of thought off there, knowing there was no point getting upset over the topic right now. Back to the matter at hand, the kid was a shoe-in from what he'd seen of his physical ability and basic skills. He had probably made use of that stealth to spy on genin out training and copied what he could from them. And he'd assuredly ace survival no problem. Extrapolating from their brief scuffle, he'd bet money the boy could hold his own in a spar against third year and maybe even fourth year students, even with his disadvantage of not yet knowing any jutsus.

Despite having met him less than ten minutes ago, Iruka already found himself looking forward to teaching his newest prospective student. He would be good for the class as a whole, as well. Aside from bringing the number up to a nice multiple of three, having someone their age who was clearly superior in combat would encourage the rest of the kids to train more seriously; that was one thing he'd been concerned about when it came to the overall attitude of his new class. It had felt like it was lacking the needed drive and desire to improve. Oh, they were attentive learners, but they seemed content to just take in the material as he taught it, not striving to go beyond that. Granted, it was a very premature worry, given that they were all still seven years old, but he'd somehow been expecting more, at least from the children in established ninja clans.

He heard the water turn off. With the late night visitor finishing up, he went over to the light switch and flipped it on, wanting to get his first good look at the child. Then, he moved over to the small round table he usually used for eating breakfast and dinner and put two chairs opposite each other, both side-on to the bathroom. He took the one closer to the window for himself and sat facing the door. It was doubtful the kid would run at this point, but something unexpected or potentially uncomfortable questions might still spook him enough to try making a dash for it. The door opened, and the boy came out.

His eyes froze on Uzumaki Naruto's face. Instantly, the fragmented memories came rushing back. Fear. The stench of spilled blood. Mom and Dad, telling him to run. Being carried away by a ninja whose name he never learned, crying as he reached out to his parents for what would be the last time. And echoing throughout, the beast's terrifying roar.

Why did it have to be this kid?

Those clear blue eyes began to dim in disappointment as the seconds dragged on. Iruka was pulled forcefully back to the present and saw before him a sad, lonely boy, about to be rejected. Again.

His own pain-filled years flashed through his mind. Crying alone for hours in front of the memorial stone. Messing up "accidentally" as ridiculously as possible during training, so that his teammates would laugh at him and he could pretend they were laughing with him. Again alone, in bed at night, not understanding what he needed to do to make the emptiness go away...

No.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and shoved it all back where it belonged. Then he opened his eyes. "Sorry about that, some bad memories came up unexpectedly. Feeling better now that you're clean?"

The boy knew he wasn't saying everything. A couple more seconds' pause... "Yeah, a bit," was the simple response, still unsure.

"Good. I'm Umino Iruka, but if everything goes well you'll be able to call me Iruka-sensei. What's your name?" He already knew the blonde's name, of course, and Naruto knew that he knew, but that wasn't the point.

A beat, then he smiled brightly. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meechya." He made his way over to the empty chair, footsteps still so soft the chunin could barely hear them. Then, rather than sitting like a normal person, he hopped up bodily onto the seat, ending perched on his toes, legs bent so that his knees were up by his ears, and leaning forward with his hands immediately in front of his feet, fingertips hovering just above the wooden surface. Iruka added "high degree of flexibility" to his mental list of the boy's ninja-related talents. "So, you said you wanted to talk to me about some stuff?"

The tattered clothing did little to cover the blonde, though it was fortunately still intact enough around the waist to hide the important bits. In his current position, one could see the hints of thin muscles on his wiry frame. Muscles that held a surprising amount of power for their size, as the ninja's still-aching ribs reminded him.

Wait, ribs! Iruka's eyes immediately to the small boy's right side, where his kick had connected, and sure enough he could see a bruise, though most of the damaged area was blocked from his vision by the boy's leg. "Before we start, are you okay? I kicked you pretty hard back there."

Naruto seemed surprised by the concern. "What, you mean this?" he gestured to the off-color patch of skin. "No big deal, I've had plenty worse." Tough little scamp. Words that would have been nothing but bravado from the mouth of any other seven year old held a strange ring of truth here.

"If you're sure..." he offered, but the boy said nothing; weird, he could've sworn he'd felt bones break. Something in that expression told him to leave off about the injury. For now, he'd treat the conversation as though it were an interview for a new student, albeit an unusual one; these interviews were generally conducted during the day in an office at the Academy with at least one parent present, not some time after midnight in his apartment with just himself and the young child. He could also skip over the questions about name, age, and date of birth. "Moving on, I'll need to know your reason for wanting to be a ninja. If you need time-"

But the blonde needed no time, "I made a promise to a friend, and to keep that promise I need to get stronger. Being a ninja seems like the best way to get started on that." The solemn look on that round face, coupled with the serious tone in his high-pitched voice, was absolutely adorable. Iruka held back the urge to burst out laughing, somehow doubting the child would appreciate it. And as much as the response roused his curiosity, those expressive blue eyes were saying further prying would be taken even less well than if he were to, say, suddenly start poking at the damaged ribs. That question was really more of a formality than anything else, and he had never heard of an answer that wasn't accepted. It was pretty much just something recorded so that behavioral specialists could use it in the future to draw various conclusions.

Now for the one that could cause some problems. "Where do you live? You already said you don't have a home address, but I have to have something to put down for this, some specific place you can be regularly found."

Naruto pouted. It was cute. "Why?"

He started on the formal reasoning the Academy gave for requiring an address, with minor modifications to remove any references to parents, relatives, or guardians. "If you miss several days in a row for some reason, there has to be some place we can go to check up on you, make sure everything is okay, and find out why you haven't been in. Likewise, if you get sick, there needs to be a place to deliver written assignments so you can at least get that part of your work done."

The moment written assignments came up, a brief flash of panic crossed Naruto's face. Iruka suddenly realized the boy, for all he could do, most likely couldn't read or write very well, if at all. That was a sobering thought. As quickly as the emotion appeared, it was brushed aside. "If I stop showing up all of a sudden, it probably means I'm dead, so I don't see why you'd need to check on me then. And about that second part, I'll be training to be a ninja, so there's no way I'd let an upset stomach or something get in the way."

The matter-of-fact way he'd said this was jarring, and something in his face told the chunin they weren't just words, that the child understood their significance but either straight out didn't care, or felt the potential end of his own existence didn't hold up against his goals. It must have been a very harsh life he'd led up until now.

Whatever the case, this was hardly something he could decide by himself, and that was before taking into account the political importance of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. It was a good thing for him that Hokage-sama made himself available at all hours, even late night, or was it early morning by now? He had no clue how the old leader did it, but that was no doubt just one of the many reasons why he was the Hokage and Iruka was not.

"Okay, we can figure out the details later. For now, do you have some better clothes to wear?" The boy nodded, along with an affirmative sound. "Good, get them. I'll need to meet with a couple people to sort things out, but if everything goes well, you can join my class this very morning. I'll see you again at the entrance to the Academy... let's say around sunrise"

"Yatta!" With that exclamation, Naruto leapt clear over his head, going so high as to be just shy of brushing the ceiling, arcing across the room to land neatly in front of the window. Again, he could detect no active use of chakra supporting the movement. "ThankssomuchIruka-sensei! I'llneverforgetthis!" Then he opened the window and dove out, closing it behind him while still in midair.

Now alone in his apartment, Iruka couldn't repress a small grin. Well, it would be an absurdly early start to his day, and he would definitely be dead tired by the time everything was done, but that was okay.

Naruto stood outside the classroom in his cleanest shorts and t-shirt, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited for Iruka-sensei to call him. His broken ribs still stung something fierce, but with chakra holding them in place and speeding up the healing, they'd be back to normal in a week or so.

This was gonna be the best day ever! Sensei had even taken him to breakfast, and it was warm and super tasty and the old man and girl who worked there didn't care at all that he was him and ramen was the best food ever and he wanted to have it every day for the rest of his life!

Not only that, but the man had promised (promised, it was the first time anyone had ever made him a promise!) to help him with his reading and writing and stuff. It'd be awesome! Once he learned that, he'd be able to talk with other humans better, and-

"Naruto! You can come in now!" Iruka-sensei's voice was a bit loud and just a little annoyed. Had he missed him calling him the first time? Oops! Oh well. Putting on his best smile, he slid the door open and walked in, closing it behind him like everyone else did.

The morning sunlight was shining in through the windows, and Iruka-sensei was standing on one side of the big table, next to the writing wall. Behind him was another guy with silver hair. Silver-hair-guy was giving him a glare, so he could tell he didn't like him, but that was okay, because Iruka-sensei did!

He walked over, and Iruka-sensei had him face the class and introduce himself. Lots of new faces looked down at him, interested. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you. Let's be friends!"

author's comments:

Hello readers new and old, and welcome to my latest story. I am writing this immediately after finishing the chapter, but some time before posting. With this fic, I've decided to try something new and build up a stockpile of chapters beforehand to be posted on a regular basis. Hopefully, this will encourage me to keep writing at a steady pace while also giving me some leeway so I don't get too pressured.

Of course, given my track record, it is entirely possible I might end up abandoning this story somewhere down the line despite my intentions to the contrary. I apologize in advance if that does happen. Looking back on my previous fics, not only did I lose interest, but much of the writing just wasn't up to the level I wanted of myself. I think my biggest problem is the way I would mentally structure the story, coming up with specific scenes and ideas, then having to find ways to twist the characters to make them happen the way I envisioned them. This time, I'm trying to be much more flexible in my writing. While I do have an overall structure and major events in mind, I am keeping things open as much as I can.

My current plan, based on the time it took to write this chapter, is to post a new one every other week, but that might very well change. Each upcoming chapter will be sent to my beta readers as I put up the one before it, allowing them time to look it over, fix mistakes, and suggest changes, while not overwhelming them with too much at once.

Right, on to talking about the story itself. I'd like to state right off the start that I plan to do something here I don't think anyone has attempted before in Naruto fanfiction and make every one of Naruto's classmates into characters. This means lots of OCs. I already have a rough idea for each of them, using a variety of different sources as references. Some will be fairly obvious for those who recognize them, others not so much, but none will be outright copies (I hope). The first arc of the story will likely be a bit slow as I introduce everyone and try to do them all justice, but it should pick up in pace as it moves along.

This fic will have many influences, but probably most notable would be the excellent Drifting by AlphaDelta1001. That said, while I will be taking a number of ideas from there, especially early on, I am headed in a very different general direction. One more thing I feel I need to mention is that Naruto will become ridiculously powerful over the course of the story. That said, he'll have a variety of antagonists who are able to counter him, though Akatsuki will be relegated to more of a side role (sorry Kishimoto, but your major villains are about as bad as your plot twists).

The opening scene was interesting to write. I decided to try something different, with doing the entire thing through dialogue, leaving it more open for interpretation. I still had to try and get the basic emotions across through the words and punctuation, but all the little nuances that usually come via description are absent in this case. Writing neglected-four-year-old is also something I hope to never do again.

This was my first time using more or less the canon origin for the Bijuu, though the origin of their progenitors is my own (I'm currently leaning against the idea of the monster being a ten-tailed creature called the Ten-Tails, and at no point was it a tree). I also apologize for the backstory dump, as I dislike the idea of giving a wordy world-building description right at the beginning of a story, but it sort of wrote itself as I tried to get to the point. On the topic of Kurama's story (I'll use canon names because they're there so might as well, but not so sure the physical appearance of all the Bijuu will stay the same because dolphin-horse? What?), there's plenty of stuff he left out, and as for how Naruto was able to understand it, let's just say the seal facilitates communication and leave it at that.

Iruka meeting Naruto was also something that turned out longer than I initially expected it to, but more and more stuff just kept popping up, and there were even some things I was originally going to add that ended up being left out. The whole thing is really there just to give a bit of an introduction, which is more or less the point of a prologue, so I feel like it went pretty well. Iruka's comment on chakra usage speeding up mental development is primarily because I don't think I can write a bunch of seven-year-olds who actually act like seven-year-olds, but it makes a sort of sense in hindsight. Even in canon, the preteen characters tend to act more like they're in their mid-teens.

The final short bit from Naruto's POV is there mostly to act as contrast and bring the prologue to a close. Regarding schooling in this fic, it will follow the Japanese schedule, which means each year of classes ends and starts in March/April. Now that I'm actually learning Japanese, I want to put that to use as much as possible, so don't be surprised when "Uzumaki" is near the beginning of the alphabet rather than the end. Some cultural stuff is a lost cause, even in canon (for example, students would not generally call their teachers by given name), but I'm going to do what I can.

Sorry about the length of these comments; future chapters should be a good bit shorter.

Initial completion date: 5/14/14

edit: (10/09/14) So as far as my plans of having a bunch of chapters written up beforehand, that didn't work out too well. I currently have about one and a half beyond this one. Still, with tomorrow being Naruto's birthday and the manga finally coming to an end, I decided to begin posting anyways and will do my best to keep to bi-weekly updates. I hope you all enjoy reading!

Beta reader: ABitterPill