Naruto stepped into the classroom and smiled, his eyes scanning the room. To his surprise he felt a rush of joy as he glanced around the room. He'd thought he'd be at least a little bit resentful at the fact that he had to come back to this place. His thoughts were interrupted as his blue eyes rested on the black haired boy sitting in one of the middle rows, almost a mirror image of the man he'd killed not twelve hours before. He felt the rage bubbling forth once more, hot as the fires of hell. He fought to keep the growl that was bubbling up from escaping. He balled his hands into fists at his sides and tried to fight the red that was bleeding into his sight.

Kit, calm down or Iruka is going to get suspicious. He's watching you right now and if he notices something off he'll report it to the Hokage. You know what will happen then, don't you?

He fought the urge to roll his eyes at the fox's lecturing tone of voice but went with it anyway. If he got caught and dragged into the interrogation room then he'd be screwed royally. He did not want his first meeting with Ibiki in this life to be with him getting interrogated. He forced himself to took a deep breath, holding back the shudder that wanted to make it's way down his spine, and sat down in the place he remembered sitting the first time. He kept his eyes away from Sasuke carefully, as to not seem like something was up to the man in the front of the room. From the front of the room Iruka waved to Naruto and Naruto grinned and did the same; as he did he was forced to remember how the man had died. He took another deep breath and calmed his nerves. It was just one more thing that he had to stop from happening. As his blue eyes swept across the room he saw many familiar faces. As per usual Shikamaru had already slipped off to sleep while Choji sat next to him munching happily. At the back of the classroom he spotted Kiba and Akamaru, both looking slightly bored. He couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. It was nice to see all of his friends this relaxed and carefree, unaware that their lives were going to be thrown into chaos because of their choice to become Shinobi.

Naruto's attention was directed to the back of the classroom by two girls bursting in yelling and fighting. He smiled inwardly at the pink haired girls antics. As much as he'd loved her when they were younger he could only think of her as a sister now, even though he was going to have to act like he was in love with her for a bit. He almost winced at that, he didn't want to do it because he had a feeling that it would hurt Hinata but it was the only way! If he suddenly lost interest in Sakura and switched to Hinata it would be a little suspicious. A little voice in the back of his head asked him what he was going to do when the Chunin exams rolled around and it was time for her to fight Neji? He pushed all those thoughts away as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He sighed and turning around in his seat to smile at the girl. This was going to be a long day.

"Hey Sakura, there's a seat by me," he called happily, following a mental script in his mind. He braced himself mentally for the blow that was going to come his way. If he remembered correctly it had hurt like hell.

Sakura stormed over and knocked Naruto out of the way and sat next to Sasuke with a smile. Naruto hit the ground with a grunt, but otherwise fine. He forced himself back onto his feet, his legs shaking a bit. He frowned and held onto the edge of the desk before slipping into his desk. He'd have to talk to the Kyuubi about it later, he didn't feel completely right. He felt a bit...weaker than normal.

He glanced over at Sasuke and remembered another detail of that day that he'd tried to repress for the longest time. No way in hell was he doing that again! He'd had nightmares for a month because of it the first time. To have it happen on accident was one thing but he wasn't walking willingly into it. He didn't care if it changed the course of history forever. He was not going there. No, just no.

Oh quit being such a pansy! I thought it was hilarious the first time!

NO! And who asked you anyway. The course of history will not change just because I didn't have an accidental kiss with him!

Pansy!

Naruto moved his eyes back to the front of the room and ignored the fox. He had his reasons and this was just another decision he was going to stick to.

An hour later Naruto sat in a desk on the other side of the room from Sakura and Sasuke. He was leaning back in his chair and his eyes were closed, thinking about everything he'd gone through today. He never, ever, wanted to think of the events of this day ever again. At least he knew that he could get a nap in before Kakashi showed up. He was feeling more drained then he'd ever been before. He'd also noticed that the wound he'd received when Sakura had beat the crap out of him had yet to heal.

Don't worry about it, it's just the side effects of the jutsu. I don't have enough chakra to heal you at the rate I normally do.

You know it would have been nice if you mentioned this little fact EARLIER!

Oh hush up, it won't last long. Though I can't remember if there are any other effects of the jutsu...oh well. We'll find out one way or the other.

Naruto had to fight not to twitch violently. There were times when he was reminded how insane the fox was. In recent years he'd gotten a bit more sane but not by much. Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts by Sakura throwing a piece of balled up piece of paper at him.

"Naruto, wake up. Our sensei will be here any moment," she yelled, shaking a fist at him.

Naruto waved a lazy hand at her and yawned. He was going to take a nap and she couldn't do anything to stop him. Sasuke glared at the boy, whom was ignoring him. He knew what the boy was thinking, it was still obvious to him now as it been back then. The first thing he'd have to work on with the boy would be his personality. Though it had gotten better in the few weeks before he left. He let his eyes slide closed once more and slipped into a light sleep.

An hour later Naruto blinked his eyes sleepily, sitting up once more he glanced around the room as if confused. In his head he actually thanked Kakashi for being late. He needed that nap, he could think more clearly and he felt a little bit stronger. He glanced at Sakura and raised a brow.

"Where the hell is our Sensei?" He asked, thinking of what his original reaction had been. He may have to act like a blundering idiot but he wasn't going to over do it.

"Where do you think dummy, he's not here." she growled obviously annoyed. Sasuke didn't look all that happy either but that was just his set expression.

"Oh come on! Why do we have to be the only cell whose teacher hasn't shown up yet?" Naruto yelled, twitching in his seat. After a moment he stopped and a wicked smile tugged at his lips. Slipping out of his seat he made his way toward the blackboard.

"Hey! What are you up to Naruto?" Sakura asked him, her voice caught between curiousness and scolding.

Naruto ignored her as he jumped up on a table to wedge the eraser into the top of the door before jumping down cackling madly. Inside his head the Kyuubi chuckled, the noise similar to the one coming out of the containers lips.

Becoming more and more like me ever day!

All for effect Kyuubi, I know he's only going to let it hit him. I'll do a good prank later, once I'm able to use the rest of my techniques.

"It's what he gets for making us wait!" Naruto crackled, a grin stretching his lips.

"Grow up! I want no part of this!" Sakura scolded but Naruto didn't listen. He could almost see Inner-Sakura yelling about how much she loved stuff like this. If anything it made his grin grow wider. Behind him Sasuke snorted.

"No way could a superior Shinobi get caught by such a simple booby trap!" Sasuke said, contempt for the boy evident in his voice.

Naruto was listening to him though, he was vaguely aware that Kakashi was approaching the room at long last. Naruto had to concentrate hard for a moment to be sure that it was the copy Ninja. His twelve year old body wasn't as used to this type of thing. He was going to have to do a lot of training to get his body back up to the way it had been when he was Hokage, though it most likely wasn't going to take that long since remembered learning the techniques in the first place. It would just be the matter of getting his body ready to be able to do the moves. His eyes moved to the door just as Kakashi poked his head into the room and got hit with the eraser. Naruto didn't have to force the grin onto his face at the sight of the older man. He'd missed him the most out of all the people that died in the future.

"Gotcha! Good one," Naruto laughed, the smile growing brighter. He could see the horrified look on Sakura's face and couldn't help but continue to laugh.

"I'm sorry Sensei! I tried to stop him but Naruto..." she said, trailing off at the end as her Inner-self laughed happily and a bit manically.

"My first impression is...I hate you." Kakashi grinned. "Meet me on the roof," he said then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Ten minutes later they all sat on the roof and Kakashi had just finished with his own introduction. Naruto almost felt the need to roll his eyes at the man. How could he have forgotten how annoyingly mysterious the Jonin had been in the beginning. He couldn't hold onto the annoyance though, he was still too happy to see the man. It had taken years to find out more than that about the copy cat ninja. Over time, and many many missions were the three of them almost died, Kakashi had told them about how he'd gotten the Sharingan. After that Naruto respected the man even more. He'd even pestered the poor man for help the first year he became Hokage, needing help with everything from paper work to mission assignments.

"You first blondie," Kakashi said in a lazy drawl, pulling the container from his thoughts of the future and back into the present.

Naruto smiled and adjusted his headband as he franticly tried to think of what the hell he'd said the first time. All he remembered was blathering on and on about Ramen. Aw hell, I'll just wing it this time, it can't hurt anything.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like Ramen, Iruka-sensei, and my friends. I hate people who can't let the past go, people who judge people without getting to know them, and lies. My hobbies are training, eating ramen and some other things. My dream is to protect the village and one day become the greatest Hokage ever!" said Naruto, his voice light and happy but his eyes glinted dangerously.

Kakashi stared at the boy with a blank stare, no emotion what so ever. But on the inside he was shocked, he sounded so mature that it wasn't possible that he was only twelve. The man couldn't help the image of the Fourth Hokage that appeared in his mind's eye. Why did this kid reminded him so much of his Sensei? He shook the thoughts away and motioned for the Uchiha to speak.

As Naruto listened to Sasuke he couldn't help the feeling of sadness as it swept over him. Why did everything have to end up the way it did? Why was Sasuke unable to let anything go? Why did he still cling to the Avenger life style? Surely he knew that this wasn't what his brother had wanted for him. He noticed the look on Kakashi's face and he knew that Kakashi was seeing what he had expected. A thought passed through the blonds mind, what did Kakashi know about him at this point? He knew that Kakashi knew about him being the son of the fourth Hokage but he didn't know when the man figured it out.

He was once again pulled out of his thoughts by the noise that was coming out of Sakura's mouth. It sounded for a moment like a mixture between a dieing cat and a bird that was being crushed. He couldn't help but wonder why the hell it hadn't bothered him this much the first time around.

"I hate Naruto."

Oh well, that might have been it. He was too preoccupied with the fact that she stated the fact so bluntly. He sighed and tried to listen to what the others were saying but his head was buzzing too loudly with plans that were forming for tomorrow.

"Our first mission is a survival exercise," Kakashi said, pushing away from the railing.

Naruto sat up and put on a mask of interest at what the man was saying. Inside of his head he was already going through what he'd have to do tomorrow. This is going to be tedious, to get Sakura and Sasuke to work with him was going to be a task in itself, but then they also had to get the bells from Kakashi. His mind then shot even farther into the future. He'd have to figure out a way to fight Haku and Zabuza without revealing too much about his development. A half cooked thought slipped in: Maybe they didn't have to die. He squashed the thought and turned his attention back to the present. One thing at the time.

"But sensei, we did survival training in the academy," Sakura said uncertainly.

Naruto had to fight the urge to sigh; repetition was boring which meant that his life was going to be pretty boring for the next few years. He glanced over at Kakashi as he let out a short laugh at Sakura's words. Naruto fought the urge to wince, Kakashi was having a bit more fun with this than was necessary.

"Out of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will become Genins; the other eighteen will be sent back to the academy. In other words, the test has a sixty-six percent failure rate," he said with dry amusement. Kakashi watched as both Sakura and Sasuke's faces were pulled into looks of shock while Naruto just stared blankly at him, as if he didn't understand what the man was saying.

"You are to bring your ninja equipment and meet at me at five on the training grounds tomorrow morning. Oh, and not to eat breakfast or you will throw up," he added then disappeared in his customary puff of smoke.

Naruto fell onto his back and began to wriggle around twitching. "THIS SUCKS!" He wailed, acting for the benefit of Sakura and Sasuke, who were rooted to their spots. Sakura snapped out of it first to punch Naruto on the head.

"Shut up stupid!" She growled, looming over him. Inwardly he grinned, happy to have distracted them. It would do no good to have them scared out of their minds before they even got to the training grounds tomorrow. He glanced over at Sasuke, who was pushing himself off of the ground, and grinned.

"Do you guys want to go get some ramen with me?" He asked, his voice becoming hopeful against his will.

He winced as two fists came out of no where to punch him in the head. He watched as the two of them walked toward the stairs with a small smile on his face. He'd had a feeling that they'd react that way but he'd just wanted to test it. He forced himself onto his feet with a sigh, time to go home and figure out how to get to other two to work with him.

You could always tell them that you figured out the meaning of the exercise.

Good idea except one thing, they won't believe me. In this time I'm just another idiot remember?

There was still a few hours before he actually had to be at the training grounds but he decided to come early. He had to lay some traps and such, as well as get a lay of the land. It had been a while since he'd been in this particular training grounds and besides, it changed over the years.

He leaned against the tree and yawned, rubbing his eyes for a moment. His eyes swept over the clearing and rested on the three posts. A soft smile tugged at his lips as he remembered the first time he went through this. He pushed off of the tree and walked toward the spot where he knew the memorial was. He paused for a moment to peak through the hedges to see if Kakashi was there or not. He let out a sigh of relief and walked forward. Not that it would have mattered if Kakashi was there or not, Naruto would have just came back that night.

He crouched down and touched the surface of the stone gently. The faces of everyone he was unable to save flashed through his mind. His eyes grew soft and he had to close them to stop the tears from falling. He had to keep himself together if he wanted to get this done, if he wanted to stop all of the unnecessary deaths.

It's okay to grieve Kit, bottling it up does no good. What good will it do them?

Naruto silently agreed with the fox, pushing himself back into a standing position. He brushed off his pants and made his way back toward the posts. He'd get a few hours of sleep before Sakura and Sasuke showed up and a couple more before Kakashi actually showed up, though those hours would be used trying to convince the other two to work with him. As he walked away he was too immersed in his own thoughts to notice the masked figure crouched in the tree watching.


Okay, this is the only other chapter I have written. I'm going to be working on the third chapter but I can't guarantee that it'll be done any time soon. I hope you liked it ^.^