Naruto Namikaze: Heir Of The Yondaime
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A loud alarm awoke a certain blonde haired boy as he jumped out of bed and shut off his rather obnoxious alarm clock. He took a moment to yawn and stretch before he made his way to the bathroom to shower and get dressed for the academy. His class had just entered the home stretch, as they were barely a week away from graduation. However, Naruto expected for the last week to be the harshest one yet. As such he had been using most of his spare time for studying and preparing for whatever his instructors would throw at him for the graduation test. Though he already figured that the test would be what it always had been for the most part: clone, substitution, and transformation in front of a body of instructors.
They would not only be looking to see if the students could perform the techniques properly, but with how well they could mold their chakra. As such, Naruto had been preparing extensively for the test, and in truth, he always had been. If the Academy didn't require him to attend all four years, he could had most likely graduated earlier.
But from what he understood through the Academy's history lessons, the First Hokage (As well as the Second) and Uchiha Madara made the village in hopes that children of future generations could experience a normal childhood, one without bloodshed. If it wasn't for them, then perhaps Naruto would had graduated earlier, only to have been pushed into a battle that he may not had been ready for.
The son of the Yondaime stepped out of the shower and began to dry himself off. Afterwards he brushed his teeth and took a moment to straighten his hair just a touch. He let the bangs on the side of his head hang slightly past his cheeks but no further. He was quite literally the spitting image of his father and he admired everything about him.
He stepped out of his bathroom and got dressed. His outfit consisted of a white hooded jacket with dark shinobi pants and some sandals. When he had inherited the house of his father, he had also found some of his clothes that he wore when he was in the Academy, and Naruto wanted to wear them as well.
Before he stepped out, he completed his morning ritual by clasping his hands together in a prayer-like fashion while staring at a picture of his father smiling next to his pregnant mother.
"Watch over me." He would say before he made his leave.
The walk to the Academy was always a somewhat interesting experience to say the least. Some villagers would stop and stare at him in awe, and he could also hear some of them whisper about how Naruto was the village's savior, the brave child who kept a deranged beast caged inside of him, the legacy of the greatest shinobi Konoha had ever seen.
He didn't know if he liked it or if he hated it. It was true that he did admire his father immensely, however, Naruto was no hero. He was just born and made a container for the Kyuubi, that was it. The majority of his life had been spent in the Academy. Why was he recieving praise that he didn't earn? It somewhat irked him. He was also stuck in his father's shadow, as everyone expected so much out of him. Naruto worked so hard everyday to live up to the villagers's expectations, but no matter how lofty their expectations for him were, it would never exceed his own expectations for himself.
There was also one other thing about his walks that somewhat bothered him to a lesser degree.
"Hinata, I know you're there," Naruto spoke softly.
He didn't even have to turn to face her to know that the Hyuuga heiress tensed up.
By the time he did turn around to regard her, she had already disappeared. The blonde couldn't help but sigh. She had been shadowing him for what must had been months now. It was especially creepy how she would spy on him training, and Naruto was one to train for hours and hours on end after class before he headed home. He didn't know why she was so fascinated with him, but if he had to guess, it would be because that he was the son of the Yondaime. Everyone treated him special, which made Naruto uncomfortable. He never knew if people truly respected him for who he was, or if it was just because that he had happened to had been born the son of Minato.
Naruto made his way to class and sat near the front like he always did. It allowed him to stay attentive. He also knew that more rambuctious kids and troublemakers like Kiba and Chouji, sat near the back, and he didn't want them to distract him.
"Naruto-kun!" He heard a female shriek.
Speaking of distractions...
Ino made her way to him and took a seat on the desk itself. She posed as if she was a model for a magazine and stretched her legs out. Now, Naruto wasn't a pervert, but he did admire her body, especially her legs.
Okay, maybe he was a bit of a pervert. But he was around the age where he was supposed to notice such things.
"How is my Naruto-kun doing?" She asked seductively with a wink.
Naruto sweat-dropped.
"Ino pig! Stop harassing Naruto! He's the son of the Yondaime he wouldn't want anything to do with you!" A pink-haired girl shouted.
A tick-mark appeared on Ino's head and she turned to Sakura with a murderous look plastered on her visage.
"What did you say forehead girl!? You're just jealous that Sasuke won't give you the time of day! And besides, Naruto is way cooler than him anyways! Isn't that right Naruto-kun?"
Naruto sweat-dropped again.
But, speaking of Sasuke...
Naruto ignored the ramblings of Ino and Sakura (it was all background noise at this point) and his gazed focused on Sasuke who was casually looking out of the window. It was unfortunate what happened to him and his family, as well as his clan. Although he was never one to talk, he did happen to carry with him a somewhat gentle and affable aura about him. But after the massacre, he nearly shut himself off completely. Still, he was a prodigy of sorts, as him and Naruto were battling for the top spot in the class. Sasuke had the slight edge score wise due to the fact that he was a tad more profecient with his shuriken accuracy, but Naruto was right behind him in the number two spot. Naruto planned on practicing his accuracy later on after school was over, but he'd have to go by the weapons shop first and buy more.
"Alright class! Take your seats!" Iruka ordered as all of his students did as they were told. Sometimes Iruka couldn't help but smile to himself at how obedient they could be if they wanted to. Unfortunately, they had moments where he wanted to lash out at every single one of them as a whole.
"Okay class, today I have some good news for some, and bad news for others."
"Give us the bad news first!" Kiba interjected.
"Yea! Save the good news for last!" Chouji chimed in.
Iruka sighed. "No it's not like that. I'm saying that what I'm about to say could be good news for some, or it could be bad news for others."
The class awaited with baited breath.
"Well, it has been decided that we are going to move your graduation exam up a couple of days. So tomorrow we will commence sparring, and the day after that is your official graduation exam. You will be tested on your Transformation, Clone, and Substitution Jutsus."
Some in the class groaned while others were indifferent. Naruto was one of the indifferent ones. He wouldn't had minded if the graduation exam was pushed to today. But there was one thing that did interest him. If he had to guess who he would be pitted against tomorrow in a spar, it would have to be Uchiha Sasuke. The current number one vs the current number two. Who wouldn't want to arrange that? However, it was common knowledge that most Uchiha could perform the Fireball Jutsu, as it was seen as a rite of passage. That meant that Naruto would have to learn a jutsu to counter it. Looks like he had something else to work on.
"Naruto!" Iruka barked at him.
"Y-Yes sensei?" Naruto was caught completely off guard.
"How are you going to zone out while sitting in the front of the class? I expect better from you!" Iruka chasticed.
If looks could kill, Naruto would send Iruka a glare that would make him instantly drop dead. He knew how to read between the lines. Or "see underneath the underneath." 'I expect better from the son of the Yondaime!' It was always 'Yondaime' this and 'Yondaime' that. He was his own person, he wasn't his father, no matter how much people wanted him to be.
"Now Naruto, read the board and answer the question. This should be easy for you."
Naruto stood and examined the board with a frown. The question read: 'Who was the previous container of the Kyuubi?'
Was he now being asked questions due solely to his heritage too?
"Uzumaki Kushina," He replied. He did his best to not only hide his annoyance in his voice, but in his face as well.
"Very good, you may take your seat now."
Naruto did as he was told and took the time to scribble down a couple of notes to remind himself to work on the jutsu to counter Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu, and to get more shuriken from the weapons shop.
The bell rang and class was finally over. Naruto began to pack his belongings in his bag and make his way home when he was suddenly approached by a familiar blonde female.
"Naruto-kun!"
Naruto repressed his sigh as he put his backpack on. "Yes Ino?" He tried not to sound annoyed. He got enough attention from the villagers (and a certain Hyuuga stalker), he didn't want to have to deal with her as well. He just wanted to train.
She seemed to have fidgeted a bit, and looked down with a blush etched on her cheeks. Either she was pretending to be shy, or she genuinely was and her abrasive act was nothing more than a front. Though it was convient that she was acting this way when most of the students had began to file out.
"Would...would you mind coming to eat some ramen with me sometime?"
Naruto sweat-dropped for the third time. Ramen? He hated that stuff. He preferred fruits and vegetables, as well as rice and some fish on occassion. But still, he didn't want to turn her down and look like a jerk. He took a moment to think about where she could fit in his schedule, and realized that now would actually be a good time since he would still have the rest of the day for himself.
"Sure, we can go get some now if you want," Naruto said with a soft smile.
Ino's face lit up like a Christmas tree lights.
The walk to the ramen shop was unremarkable. Ino was so shy that it almost reminded him of a certain other girl who stalked him throughout the day (he was surprised that she wasn't stalking him now too.) When they entered the shop the two were greeted by a rather middle-aged looking man and a pretty young teenaged girl.
"Welcome!" They greeted in unison.
"To what do we owe the pleasure Naruto-sama? You don't come around here often."
Naruto nearly gritted his teeth at being called 'sama.' He did not deserve such a title. He didn't do anything worthy of note, so why was that honorific attached to his name?
"I just usually eat at other places," Naruto said politely. That was the nicest way for him to say that he didn't like eating there.
The middle-aged man looked toward Ino and then gave Naruto a somewhat knowing look.
"I see, so your girlfriend was the one to drag you here then?"
Naruto sweat-dropped for the fourth time that day.
Ino grew bashful.
"H-He's not my boyfriend..." She corrected. 'At least not yet.'
"Oh, so it's a date then?" The middle-aged man pressed.
Naruto turned to gaze at Ino, who appeared to had been so red that she resembled a cherry, and then he gazed at the middle-aged man and smiled warmly. "Yes, it's a date."
Ino glanced at Naruto and did her best to suppress her squeal. She was on an official date with Naruto Namikaze! And his first date too! She felt that she was definitely in good with him.
Naruto saw her reaction and couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. He knew saying that would make her day, heck, it would probably make her year too. Maybe she could use that giddiness as energy to prepare for the exams coming up in just a couple of days.
After they ordered their food and ate in relative silence (aside from random common knowledge conversations) Naruto offered to walk Ino home, who surprisingly refused the offer and said that she was instead going to spend her free time training and that she needed to be alone to concentrate. Well, at least she had her priorities in order.
'Onwards to the weapons shop.' Naruto thought. One of the reasons he accepted Ino's offer was because of the fact that the ramen shop was close to the weapons shop. He entered and was greeted by a girl who was just a year older than himself and wore her hair in twin buns.
"Hello Naruto-sama!" The girl greeted politely with a bow.
"You don't have to add the 'sama' Tenten-san, you know I don't like that," he corrected her with a firm, but fair tone. He had known Tenten for awhile now, mainly because he always bought new shurikens and kunais. Naruto wasn't one to let his weapons grow dull and he practiced throwing them a lot. Tenten even helped him from time to time, but she was known for helping a lot of other academy students as well.
"Oh, sorry Naruto-sama. But my dad doesn't like it when I don't greet those above me with the proper respect," She explained.
"I'm not above you," Naruto shot back instantly. The preferential treatment that he constantly recieved wore on him, but he did his best not to let it show.
"R-Right, sorry Naruto-san." She said.
Naruto then told her that he was there to buy some more shuriken.
"Oh, by the way, that special custom kunai you wanted made is ready for you. I'll go get it for you," She said as she ran to the back and came back with the rather large (for a kunai) three-pronged kunai knife. It was an exact replica of the one Minato used to use while he was alive. It was a shame that Naruto wasn't capable of replicating his Flying Thunder God Technique, but he still liked how the kunai could be used in close quarters combat against those armed with virtually any other type of melee weapon.
"Thank you, Tenten," Naruto said graciously as he took it and went on his way.
Now that he had gotten his new shurikens (as well as his special kunai) his next step was to try to learn a new jutsu to use to counter Sasuke's Fireball jutsu. He decided to visit the library to see if he could stumble upon any useful information. Once he was there, he was able to find a useful book that talked about all the different elemental types. He learned that water was the natural counter to fire as one would expect, however, he realized that there was no way for him to manipulate water in the village since it was so humid and dry. The only other person who could do such a thing was Torbirama Senju, the greatest water user to have ever existed. So the best possibility for him was an Earth release technique, and he stumped upon the perfect one: Mud Wall.
It was a B-rank technique, which meant that learning it would be rather difficult, however, Naruto was confident that he could learn the technique inside of a day if he applied himself. He went outside to the training ground and began to practice the handseals first.
'Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog.' He went over it again and again until he felt that the handseals were second nature to him. In the middle of a fight, he wouldn't have time to think about it. He would be forced to react instantly, as such, the handseal combination should be second nature for him.
Naruto did this for about an hour or so, but while he did it he noticed that his favorite stalker, Hinata, was behind him trying to peak from a nearby tree. He didn't bother to call her out. Maybe his training would inspire her to do well.
'Alright, time to try the jutsu.'
He did the handseals smoothly and slammed both of his hands on the ground.
"Doton: Doryuheki!"
Naruto smiled as a wall of Earth shot up from the ground. It wasn't anything grand however, but he realized that he could had made it bigger if he had poured more chakra into it. However, he figured that Sasuke wouldn't be able to make an exceedingly large fireball, so he figured that he wouldn't have to expend a lot of chakra on the technique. Unfortunately, as soon as the technique was done, Naruto felt himself become light-headed. He stumbled around for a bit before he then regained his balance by using another tree for support. He cursed himself for picking that jutsu to learn since he felt too wiped to do his shuriken training. Hopefully it didn't come back to bite him.