Ninja wars, they are essentially the same as any 'normal' war and just like any normal war winning can often come down to luck, sometimes making everyone's effort obsolete. Something simple, like even the way a certain event is perceived can change everything.

Take for example Konaha, a village which was attacked during one of the great ninja wars, by the Kyuubi; the most powerful of the nine demons. Its attack left the village left it completely devastated. They lost many of their men as well as their leader; the renowned fourth Hokage. It could be said that it was around that time that the village was most vulnerable but for some strange reason none of its neighbouring villages attacked.

For most ordinary villagers it was seen as a stroke of luck but it was in fact the result of the third Hokage taking up his old position and ordering that messengers be sent around the land to spread rumours of how well the city was doing and how formidable it must be to be able to fend off a monster like the Kyuubi, these false rumours scared the other villages and gave Konaha a chance to recuperate and become the strongest villages the world has ever known.

But what if the third Hokage's messengers had been caught and exposed, what if the other nations had realised just what Konaha really was, not fierce and powerful, what if they had found out that it was; weak.

The 15 year old looked up at his older friend, irritated that yet again he was not allowed to go to the meeting.

"Why won't you ever let me in there Iruka?" he asked his companion, frustrated that he was being left out.

"Look Naruto, if you got caught up in the sort of things we talk about you could get in big trouble" he said before using a transformation jutsu that made him look like an old man "You wait for me here and I'll see you later" Naruto watched as the 'old' man left, almost considering the idea of following him, stopping himself when he remembered what had happened when he'd tried before; his sensei had tricked him with a shadow clone and he had ended up following it blindly for hours.

Bored; he looked around at the dusty streets, the walls covered in graffiti. It was his habit to always study these walls when ever he was told to wait while Iruka went to his meetings. There were all sorts of surprising things you could learn if you just looked at your surroundings.

Unfortunately the themes were very repetitive, his favourite message ,which he saw quite often around this part of town, was 'the fourth Hokage will save us' it was funny because everyone knew that the fourth was long dead. The one in front of him was painted in huge red lettering on the wall across from him but what surprised him a little was that underneath another person had added with orange paint: 'with his son' now that bit of information did intrigue him to some extent since he'd never seen it before.

He'd never heard that the fourth had a son however, so he instantly dismissed the chance of there being any truth within it. Nothing much else was on the wall thanks to the huge writing, the only other things he could see were the usual threats aimed at the sound who governed the village. Besides the clearly stupid things that covered the wall there was another favourite of his that appeared quite often, several squiggly lines that joined together to form the shape of a leaf.

It was to him, as well as many others of the town's inhabitants, a symbol of what little was left of the leaf's pride, something which had been taken away from them when the village had been taken over by the sound village all those years ago.

He wondered what it would have been like back then, being able to go on missions and being allowed to get proper training. He'd learnt a little from Iruka and another man he knew called Kakashi, he'd even been involved in several 'missions' as Iruka liked to call them, he'd done a few things which he guessed were related to the meetings Iruka went to, so he could at least say he also had some combat experience.

But what he was doing was against the law, wasn't it? Since it had been decreed that the people who had once been part of or were descendants of Konaha were 2nd class citizens and could not be trusted with missions or even the knowledge of nin-jutsu.

It was hard for him to even think of going to an ordinary school when he knew that if the sound had never arrived he'd have been able to spend all his time training and going on missions for his country. Of course he had a little hope that things might change one day as he saw the meetings Iruka always went to as his only life line. What ever they were doing, he wanted to be involved, he didn't want to become one of those people who just wrote empty threats on the walls...

"Hey Naruto, what so interesting about that wall that as you staring at it so intently?" asked Iruka as he sat beside Naruto "Is it that you enjoy looking at you own handy work?" he joked, unable to stop himself from laughing at the youngsters frown.

"Seriously Sensei, you know I don't do that anymore" said Naruto, though he was grinning too.

"What do you do in your spare time then?" Iruka asked "Besides you know, the vandalism and following my every step"

"Training I guess and going around looking at walls" he added, smiling softly "though I guess there isn't much point in me training?" he asked, used to being told that he would never be able to use his skills in real life.

"Well there is always school Naruto…though I guess you wouldn't know much about that... I'm worried you know, you'll never get a job as a Shinobi which means its important to focus on your studies" his tone had turned serious now, he would always look out for Naruto but once he was fully grown the boy would probably be too stubborn to accept his help.

"I went in for an hour last week!" he protested laughing, not noticing Iruka put a hand against his face.

"Why can't you just try and be normal Naruto?" his teacher asked with a sigh.

"Well I am normal aren't I, just another one of those rough Konaha kids who can't be bothered co-exist, or what ever they call it and how can I go to a boring constrained school when I know how much fun it could have been?" he asked honestly, by never being allowed to become a ninja he'd always felt he'd lost something; so he always trained even though he knew it was pointless, to try and compensate for that.

"Come on now Naruto, you're now on the border line of being traitorous, if the ninja were here right now you'd get arrested"

"I guess" he said, suddenly picking himself off the pavement and brushing himself off "but that would probably be interesting at least"

"I think what your really looking for is trouble, Naruto" said Iruka as he stood up as well "And if you get into that sort of trouble I won't be able to help you out"

"Maybe you're right, maybe I'm still just some kid who still wants to play some spiteful pranks on all the people who bother me but don't you think that because of this recklessness I could be useful?" he asked, surprising Iruka by stating his views so openly.

"No, I think that sort of person is liable to make some mistakes" he said, now laughing again at Naruto's enthusiasm "Because mabye the prankster will bite off more than he can chew"

"But how will you know if he never gets a chance to show you his tricks?" he asked, this time almost desperately, seeming to be agitated that he wasn't being taken seriously.

"Because even a dog can can do a couple of tricks" he said, still laughing as he waved goodbye "I'll see you later, I have something to talk about with Kakashi""

"While you're there tell him I managed to finally finish the new Futon: rasengan and please blame him for that big hole in the sound houses garden down our street" he added, before quickly running off in the opposite direction. Iruka wondered what the rasengan was that Naruto talked about, quickly coming to the conclusion that it must be another cheap trick taught to him by Kakashi.

A short while later he came across a gray haired man with his coat done up to his eyes, who seemed to be reading an orange book. Iruka looked away with disgust as he saw the man chortle over the books content.

"Hey Kakashi about Naruto, couldn't you introduce him to some of your other students?" the man looked up from his book.

"No" he said, offering no explanation.

"Why not?" Iruka asked as always finding Kakashi eccentricities anything but endearing.

"Mainly because he'd probably show off it front of her and get jealous of the other one" he stated, seeming to feel he had to be as vague as humanely possible.

"Look Naruto needs some friends, maybe if you get them to meet one another he'll be more encouraged to fit in with normal society"

"And what" said Kakashi as he put his book back onto the bench "Would you say if I were against that?" Iruka couldn't help but look at Kakashi in irritation.

"What do you mean by that? You're obviously not the patriotic type; I think I've only ever seen you attend the meeting once or twice in my entire time there!"

"Just because I see those meetings as a waste of time does not mean that I don't care" he said gently.

"Really Kakashi, when have you ever risked yourself since all of this began?"

"Well one thing I never did was lose my pride like all of you did"

"Pride means nothing now Kakashi, I don't want you to lead Naruto down the wrong path"

"And I suppose forcing him to attend school and live by these social restraints is okay? You're too complacent Iruka, why don't you let him go to those silly little meetings of yours? I'm sure it would make him happy" ignoring this Iruka went on to ask Kakashi a question.

"Then tell me, what is the source of your pride?"

"Your questions are getting more and more easy Iruka, look I'll show you" he pulled down his coat from his face, revealing a mask which covered his face, then Iruka saw something glint in the area around Kakashi neck, it was a metal plate tied around his neck with a piece of material, the metal had several squiggly lines upon it that joined together to make the shape of a leaf.

"Well" he siad as as he pulled up his coat again "Its just a keep sake really, nothing special, I'm sure if you wanted one you could find one Iruka" he said, though he was now clearly toying with the other man "I'll see you later Iruka" the man then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Iruka could only stare for a few moments as he realised what he'd seen, true commitment because you see there was another law too, anyone seen wearing a leaf headband was seen as a traitor and sure to suffer the ultimate price.

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Idealistic Naruto is fun, I'd like to think that I managed to stop him from being completely Oc but... Well I think I made him too smart :]

Anyway please review and tell me about how great or sucky it was :]

I edited some stuff so hopefully I made the chapter a little better ^^