Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
A/N: Since a question about pairings was the first review, I'll address it: I haven't decided pairings yet.
I hope people enjoy how this story goes. It won't be super!Naruto (maybe smart!Naruto), but as I've learned after reading a lot of good and many, many bad stories (and HPMOR, which is awesomeness in a can with a side of whipped awesome all served with/by/on a high-priced hooker): "you can't give Harry Potter a light saber and The Force unless you give Voldemort the Death Star." Mixing metaphors is a crime against literacy and I promise that was the last time I will ever do it. That you know of.
One last thing: it'd be nice to get some feedback. I'm gonna keep writing regardless, but if nobody tells me what's good and what sucks, it'll never get better. Cheers.
Chapter 2
Naruto was the center of attention, right where he always loved to be. His mother was throwing him a birthday party and all of his friends were invited. He was always trying to make more friends, but the adults in the villages seemed to do something to make sure that other kids stayed away. Very few parents would let their kids get close to Naruto for long.
The only kids his own age in attendance were Sasuke Uchiha and Shikamaru Nara. Sasuke was fun to play with, but he was always going on about what an awesome ninja he would be when he grew up. He always talked about how he would be just like his older brother, Itachi. It took Itachi only a year to graduate the Academy and he already joined ANBU.
Shikamaru was quiet, but he liked to play. He was always trying to teach Naruto to play shogi or Go, but Naruto liked running around more than board games. Still, it was nice to play inside when it rained.
Shikamaru was also friends with Choji Akimichi, but Choji's parents weren't as understanding about the kyuubi incident as Shikamaru's parents. Choji liked Naruto and didn't understand why he couldn't go to the party as well, since Kushina was reputed to cook enough food for even an Akimichi.
It took some doing, but Kushina managed to get Jiraiya-sensei and Kakashi-chan to show up as well. Naruto liked Jiraiya. Whenever Jiraiya was in town, he brought Naruto presents and would spend time helping with pranking the villagers. Jiraiya was especially fond of pranks at the hot springs. Naruto loved to play pranks on the villagers. The villagers generally ignored him, but would sometimes get angry and curse him. Naruto hated being ignored more than being cursed. It made him feel so alone. But the villagers paid attention when Naruto pranked them.
Anytime Kakashi caught him, Kakashi would lecture him about taking things more seriously, but Kakashi was always reading something that Naruto wasn't old enough to read. Kakashi wasn't nearly as fun as Jiraiya-sensei. And Kakashi tried to stop his pranks rather than help. But Kakashi taught Naruto taijutsu. Naruto wasn't terribly skilled, but he still loved to practice.
Kushina made plenty of food. She ate a lot and Naruto ate a lot, so keeping the kitchen well stocked was a requirement. She had a homemade grill and cooked barbeque. There were plenty of chips, drinks, and cakes too. Everyone was having a good time. The kids played while the adults drank adult beverages and chit chatted about current events.
Naruto noticed some of those weird ninja with funny animal masks on the rooftop across from the apartment. And then someone new knocked on the door. Naruto didn't really know anyone else, so he was surprised that someone else would come to his party. "Mom? Did you invite anyone else?" he asked.
"I did invite someone else, but I really didn't think that he'd show. He's a busy man, after all," Kushina replied from the grill.
She left Jiraiya at the grill and went to open the door. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, bowed and entered. Everyone had some variation of "Hokage-sama" or "Sarutobi-sensei" in shock as the Sandaime entered.
"Hey Old Man. I've never met you before. Who are you?" Naruto asked innocently.
Everyone in the room was stunned into silence at Naruto's bluntness, but the Hokage only chuckled. "Ho ho! We've met before Naruto. I must be keeping myself even busier than I thought if you don't even remember me. I'm Hiruzen Sarutobi," the old man said. "And you should be able to guess my title from my robes and hat."
Naruto frowned. The old man was wearing Hokage robes. Well, the old man seemed nice enough, so he didn't see what the big deal was. Naruto didn't get why everyone was so reverent.
"Nice of you show, 'Old Man,'" Kushina chided. "You must've misplaced the last two birthday invitations I sent."
'If mom talks to him that way, then I'll talk to him that way,' Naruto decided. He went back to playing with his friends, who were both mortified at how he spoke to the most revered ninja in the village. Shikamaru didn't even utter his trademark, "How troublesome." Naruto made a mental note. Knowing what shocked people was always good fodder for pranks.
Kushina, Jiraiya, and Sarutobi gathered around the makeshift grill. Sarutobi said, "Well, it looks like he's healthy."
"Yes," Kushina replied. "He's grown strong. I've been keeping track and he has even more stamina than a normal Uzumaki. Kakashi says that his chakra network is nearly as developed as a low-level chunin. I really wish that the Hyuuga weren't so uptight because I would like to get someone with a byakugan to look at him. But as far as we can tell, everything is just fine."
"Good. Good," Sarutobi muttered. "So he'll be ready to go to the Academy this year?" he asked clearly.
"The war is over, Hokage-sama. I was hoping to let him be a child for a while," Kushina replied.
"Sasuke and Shikamaru are both entering the Academy this year and Naruto should probably stay with his friends," Sarutobi said.
"I suppose if he's to be a ninja anyway, he might as well stay with his friends," Kushina relented.
"Sarutobi-sensei, I would like to remain in the village for a few months when Naruto enters the Academy," Jiraiya finally spoke.
Sarutobi and Kushina were both shocked. Jiraiya was a famous, or infamous, writer and a tremendous asset to have abroad collecting intelligence. Sarutobi said, "If you insist, I can't really stop you, but some of your fans," he eyed Kakashi, "might object to a long hiatus between installments."
Jiraiya nodded. "They'll live. Some things are more important than 'Make-out Tactics, Volume 4,'" he added with a smirk.
Kakashi had been quietly paying attention. He was devastated to hear that his favorite series would be on hold. He had to do something, so he approached the three older nin to speak. "Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Kushina-sama: if Naruto needs a tutor, I would be happy to assist."
Jiraiya saw through Kakashi immediately. "The part you've left out is, 'if it will help Jiraiya-sama get back to writing,' Kakashi-san."
Kakashi knew that was absolutely the case, but he shrugged. "Well…"
—Naruto's first day at the Ninja Academy—
There were many other children at the Academy that Naruto had seen around town. Many only had one parent. Some had only a father, while others had only a mother. Naruto had never questioned it since it was so common. He quickly found his friends and tried to be as friendly as he could to the other children. He was hoping that the Academy wouldn't be like the playground and that he would have more friends.
He loved Shikamaru and Sasuke like brothers, but Naruto wanted to be friends with everyone. That first day, there were several tests to determine everyone's physical capabilities. But that was only a small part of the day, according to the instructors. There were also textbooks. Reading, writing, math, history, and science were part of the curriculum too.
The instructors for the class were Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei. They both seemed harsh to Naruto, but he was accustomed to new people acting weird around him. They seemed decent, but Naruto devised several pranks that he could play on them both. Just in case they were like some of the villagers.
The physical stuff was Naruto's favorite. He liked being active. Running over obstacles and sparring were the things that he loved the most, even though he wasn't top of the class. Sasuke was the best at sparring and running obstacles. He said that it was because of the genius of the Uchiha, but Naruto was a close second in those two things. With the textbook stuff though, he was dead last.
By the end of the first day, Naruto had discovered that Sasuke was considered a genius by the rest of the class because his family had a long tradition of being awesome ninjas. Itachi was already in ANBU, which was a huge deal in general, but especially because he was so young. The other kids mostly ignored Naruto, but Sasuke and Shikamaru would talk to him, which led to Choji joining.
Choji and Shikamaru both ended up talking to Naruto at lunch, while Sasuke ate quietly beside them all.
"I'm the number one prankster in the village!" Naruto exclaimed proudly. "Nobody can pull pranks like I can!"
"Oh yeah?" Choji replied. "Prove it. Pull a prank now."
"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered, knowing that Naruto couldn't back down from a challenge, even if he lost.
Naruto inhaled the rest of his lunch because he was always hungry and started sneaking around. The easiest targets for a prank were a group of girls. They seemed to be ignoring the world and whispering about Sasuke. Naruto noticed a stray cat skulking in the bushes and immediately got an idea. He grabbed the cat and petted it, quickly calming the feral beast.
The girls didn't suspect a thing while Naruto held the cat. He tied an orange dye bomb to the cat's collar and brought it over to the group of Sasuke crazed girls. "Excuse me. Does anyone know whose cat this is?" he asked politely holding the cat out into the crowd.
"Naruto, right?" asked one of them.
"Yep. That's me," he replied, smiling.
"Why would we know about some stray cat?" she asked acerbically.
"That's what I thought," Naruto said as he triggered the dye bomb. A cloud of orange dye billowed out of the cat and enveloped all four girls, the cat, and Naruto. Naruto was already wearing his favorite color, so he didn't care about the dye, but the girls' clothes all turned bright orange as well as their faces and hair. Naruto just smiled and set the cat down while the girls were still in shock.
The now boy covered head to toe in orange sat down next to Choji who was laughing hysterically. "That was really mean, Naruto-kun. But you got yourself too, so I guess it wasn't that bad."
Naruto beamed. "See? I told you I'm the number one prankster in the village."
Choji looked to Naruto and said, "Yeah, but those girls are about to murder you."
—Naruto's house, after school—
"You did WHAT?!" his mom screamed.
"It's just dye. It'll wash out," Jiraiya tried calming Kushina.
"But it's his FIRST DAY!" she screamed, exasperated.
Jiraiya's arms were crossed and he was leaning against a wall while Kushina paced, fuming. Naruto just smiled. His mother had a temper, but she always calmed down quickly when he smiled and put his hand behind his head.
He struck the pose that he knew would calm her down and said, "Yeah. I had to show them who the number one prankster is. Choji didn't believe me and the girls were all mean." Kushina calmed down quickly.
'He looks just like Minato. But Minato was so serious at this age,' Kushina thought.
"See? They probably deserved it anyway," Jiraiya said. Kushina glared at Jiraiya.
'Damn,' Naruto thought, 'The old perv is gonna screw this up for me if he doesn't shut up already.' Naruto wasn't sure what "perv" even meant, but he was pretty sure that it applied to Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-sensei, why don't we work on my homework?" Naruto asked, deflecting as much as he could.
"That sounds like a great idea, kiddo," Jiraiya said as he quickly grabbed Naruto and bolted at Sanin speed out of there before Kushina could kill him with kitchen utensils.
—One month later—
"Aaarrgg! This is taking forever!" exclaimed Naruto. "It's SO boring!"
Jiraiya had been exceedingly patient with Naruto, but he still thought, 'Damn. What I wouldn't give to be on the road doing research. And I would love to see the next wave of kunoichi they'll send to tempt me into divulging village secrets. That's always a good time.'
"Naruto-chan, we talked about this," Kushina cooed. "Some ninja are good at some things and other ninja are good at others. But everyone has to work at it. You have to become good at hard work even if you have a kekkei genkai or you'll never be great."
Sasuke was there too. He figured that passing up the chance to train with a legendary Sanin would just be stupid. And Itachi was out on a mission anyway.
"Even Sasuke won't be a great ninja if he doesn't put in hard work. And he's already the top of your class. But if he doesn't train, if he doesn't put in the effort, he won't get any better," Kushina said again. She must have repeated the lecture a hundred times since Naruto's first day. But she only added the part about the kekkei genkai when Sasuke was around.
Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "Naruto, you can't just skip this stuff because it's hard. This is why I'm sticking around: to teach you how to learn this stuff even though it's boring."
Kakashi was in the window. "Jiraiya-sama, Kushina-sama: I've had an idea about how to improve Naruto's studying ability."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and Kushina looked at the Copy-nin who'd been away for months on a mission wondering what this revolutionary new idea could possibly be.
"It struck me that you might be teaching Naruto things out of order," Kakashi continued. "Naruto already has a wealth of chakra. He could probably do a certain jutsu with minimal instruction. It doesn't require much skill at all to use and could significantly multiply Naruto's study time, if my guess is correct."
Jiraiya immediately understood, but it took Kushina a few seconds to understand. Minato had been the brilliant one. Kushina had just worked her tail off, night and day, to try to catch him.
"You're suggesting that we teach him a B-rank jutsu to help Naruto study math?" Jiraiya laughed. "You must REALLY want me to get back to writing!"
Kakashi looked at the floor with his hand behind his head and smiled behind his mask. "No. I was suggesting we teach him the forbidden version of a B-rank jutsu to study math."
'Yes!' Sasuke thought. 'I'll learn something really useful!'
"Sasuke-chan, this is something that you'll have to ask your mother about," Kushina explained as if she'd read his mind. "If you were a genin, then you could decide for yourself, but this isn't something that I'd feel comfortable teaching you."
Sasuke was pissed, but he went home to ask his mother and Itachi about the study-aid jutsu.
"We'll have to work on some other things first, but he'll be a first rate student by next year," Jiraiya said.
—Several months later—
"Okay, Naruto. You've got enough chakra control to try this. You're still dead last in your class, but with this, you'll be able to study at lightning speeds!" Jiraiya exclaimed dramatically.
"Show me already, Pervy-sensei!" Naruto asked excitedly.
"It's called 'Shadow Clone Jutsu,'" Jiraiya explained. "Watch." He made the single hand-sign for the jutsu and poofed into two Jiraiyas. "See?" they said in unison.
"Jiraiya-sensei, how does that help?" Naruto was confused.
"First, learn the jutsu. Then we'll explain," the two Jiraiyas s
It didn't take long for Naruto to figure out how to channel his chakra into the jutsu. His first successful shadow clone filled the entire study room with clones. There were legs and arms everywhere, mashing everyone against walls and floor. Naruto couldn't get the exact number of clones right, but he could easily make too many instead of too few.
After several practice runs, Jiraiya took Naruto to the library. Jiraiya checked out as many books on speed-reading as the library had. "Naruto, Make a shadow clone for each of these books. Then, each shadow clone will read a different one of them."
Naruto didn't understand, but did as he was instructed. He was still at the bottom of the class and wanted badly to improve. His mother had said that as long as he passed, his ranking didn't matter, but he wanted to show everyone that he could be good at things too.
After about three hours of reading, most of the clones had finished their books and were practicing the speed reading techniques at the end. Jiraiya announced to the gaggle of Narutos, "Okay. Now, disperse the clones, one at a time."
Naruto tried, but ended up dispersing them all at once. He still didn't quite get the big deal about them. Jiraiya picked up a book at random and asked Naruto about it. Naruto answered the question correctly and Jiraiya picked up another book. And another. Until Naruto figured it out.
"Everything the clones learn, I remember when they disperse!" he said excitedly.
"Now you're getting it, kiddo," Jiraiya responded. "Every day, after school, I'm going to have ten or twenty books ready for you to read, starting with these books on speed reading. You are going to be so good at academics after just a few weeks that they're gonna think you're a genius." And then he muttered, "Or cheating," under his breath and thought, 'Which he kind of is.'
—Taijutsu training with Kushina after school, several weeks later—
"Why is Jiraiya-sensei leaving?" Naruto asked as he threw a wild punch.
Kushina easily blocked it saying, "He has important work to do."
Naruto tried a kick. "Writing his pervy novels?"
"How do you know how pervy his novels are?" Kushina asked, knocking Naruto to the ground.
"That's what EVERYONE says!" Naruto exclaimed as the ground knocked the wind out of him.
Kushina sat down on the ground next to Naruto. "There's something that we need to discuss, Naruto."
"Okay," Naruto was worried. His mother had never discussed anything seriously with him before.
"It's about when you become a genin," she said. "Have you thought about who you'd like to be teamed up with and why?"
Naruto thought for a few moments before answering. "I'd love to be with friends, but I wouldn't mind making new ones."
"Naruto, I've seen how the Hokage works. I can guess what the teams will be. Some of them are already set, but some of them aren't. The ones that aren't are going to depend on Academy grades," she explained.
"So?" Naruto asked.
"Sasuke is first in your class. If Jiraiya and Kakashi hadn't helped you study, you'd be last. Then you and he would end up on the same genin team. But your grades are improving rapidly now, so that probably won't happen."
"So?" Naruto asked again.
"Well, you've always worked extra hard to compete with Sasuke. The competition between you two is good. You are both becoming strong quickly. If you want to be on the same genin team as Sasuke, you're going to have to make sure that your grades are dead last."
"What?!" Naruto was floored. He'd have to do badly on purpose if he wanted to get stronger? What the hell?
"I think you two would both get much stronger if you continued to compete with each other. The only reason I got to be as strong as I am and your father got as strong as he was is because we had someone to compete with," Kushina said with a far off look.
Naruto grumbled. He liked being good at school. Doing badly on purpose was not going to be easy, but if he could get stronger, he supposed that would be worth it. Naruto realized that it was the first time he'd ever heard his mother mention his father.
"Who was my father?" Naruto asked innocently.
"He was the only man I ever loved," Kushina said evasively. 'Naruto will probably figure it out eventually. He looks so much like Minato. I don't want Naruto to get a big head about being the son of a Hokage. The Hyuuga and the Uchiha have big enough heads for the entire village. But it's still an S-ranked village secret and the Hokage would have to approve disclosing it, even to Naruto,' she thought. 'Not that that would stop me.'
—Two years later, the morning after the Uchiha Massacre—
"What are those alarm bells?" Naruto shouted. He had spent at least an hour a day with twelve clones in the library every day since he learned that trick and knew everything publicly available. Some things he'd had to read twice, but he found that knowing the answers to things made life much easier than not knowing. He hated not knowing almost as much as he hated being ignored.
"I don't know. I don't know," his mother said, still shocked. "Naruto, go to school. I have to speak with some people," she said distantly.
So Naruto went to school. Sasuke or Shikamaru might know something. Itachi was in ANBU and he was probably part of whatever it was.
"Shikamaru, do you know what's going on?" he asked as soon as he spotted the pineapple haired boy.
"I heard my father talking about it. Itachi went insane and killed all of the Uchiha except Sasuke. Everyone," Shikamaru informed Naruto.
Naruto couldn't fathom it. Itachi had been such a nice older kid. He didn't seem like a psycho killer at all. He hadn't been around lately, but Naruto figured that was just because he and Sasuke were in the Academy and Itachi was out on missions.
"What's going to happen to Sasuke? Is he okay?" Naruto interrogated.
"I don't know. That's all I heard before I had to go to school," Shikamaru replied.
"That's so terrible," Choji said emptily. He wasn't even eating, he was so sad.
The teachers came in with solemn expressions. "Class, as some of you may have heard, there was an incident last night involving the Uchiha clan. Itachi Uchiha suddenly and without warning went on a rampage, killing everyone except Sasuke Uchiha. His motives and whereabouts are unknown, but the village has labeled him a missing nin. There are reports that he fled the village. There will be no class today while we try to get answers."
The two chunin left the stunned class. Naruto didn't know where to go. His mother wasn't going to be home and she was always there to let him in after school. He didn't like wandering the streets because of all the weird stares and occasional angry mobs from the villagers, but he felt like he had to do something. The only person that he could think of to find was the Hokage.
The other students went home, but Naruto charged straight into the Hokage tower. The staff at the tower was so shocked by the boy that they didn't think to stop him. They all knew that he was the jinchuuriki and some of them were terrified of what might happen. Some of them just wanted to see what the notorious mischief-maker was up to. And a few hoped he'd piss off the Hokage and get himself killed.
Naruto burst into the Hokage's office. Jiraiya was already inside as was his mother. "What the hell is going on, Old Man?" Naruto yelled.
Normally, Sarutobi enjoyed the high-energy antics of the blonde haired youth, but today he had too much to deal with. "I'm having a meeting about a massacre and I don't have time right now, Naruto. Please leave."
Kushina went over to Naruto to shuffle him out of the office, but Naruto wouldn't back down. "Dammit, I only have a few friends and one of them just lost his entire clan. At least tell me where he is!"
"He's in the hospital. He was under a genjutsu for a very long time, Naruto. He needs to recover," his mother explained.
"Well, what's going to happen to him now? Is he going to stay all alone at the clan's estate?" Naruto persisted.
"He'll get an apartment and live with the other orphans until he graduates," Kushina went on.
Naruto was horrified. Orphans lived in a crummy, dilapidated building. He'd seen it before. It was one of those places filled with people ready to chase him and curse him on sight, if his mother or Jiraiya weren't around.
"Why? Why does he have to be alone?" Naruto shouted. And then he uttered a plea that nobody had even considered. "Why doesn't he just live with us?"
Everyone stopped. The Hokage looked at Kushina. Jiraiya looked at Kushina. Naruto looked at Kushina. Kushina blinked at Naruto. She couldn't think of any reason why he couldn't. She'd been friends with his mother for years and he'd been playing with Naruto since before they could walk. Sasuke didn't have any family to object.
She turned from Naruto to look at the Hokage. "Why can't he just live with us?" she asked the old man.
The Hokage blinked. Twice. "It would be better than the apartments," he finally said. "You can talk to him when he wakes up.
