Tuesday, January 2nd, 18AKFT (First Timeline)
"There are several doctrines when it comes to playing your cards. Gradual escalation calls for slowly showing off your capabilities. A steady improvement of strength gives off the impression of dependability and promise of future greatness, good for building allies and networks, especially without arousing suspicion behind the true nature of your power, if it's any different from what you're displaying. You want your enemies to underestimate you and think they can predict your moves, and you don't want to upset your supporters, who may think your going to far if you suddenly use force and may even of betraying you if they think you're getting too powerful."
Shikamaru gracefully shifted his frontline pieces to match a foray Naruto had made. It was good, but he was about to be lulled into a fourth trap after thinking he had neutralized the first three. Shikamaru had gradually been building up his piece advantage between all the minor skirmishes, and Naruto's forces were showing it.
"Another doctrine is the decisive strike. Concentrate the greatest amount of force at the key point of conflict. Crush enemy moral and organization and demonstrate your domination by taking as much force you can gather and take out their greatest or most important force. Of course, this one requires that you win, either through brute force and or superior tactics. It's also the one you'd probably like the most, at least given your tactics in the past. Charge in headstrong and destroy everything that stands in your way."
A promoted rook, with the support of a knight and a bishop, headed straight into the main contingent surrounding Naruto's king. Four moves later and, although checkmate hadn't been achieved and Shikamaru had lost the rook, half of Naruto's pieces had either been captured or pinned. A bad fix.
"Of course, using just one of those doctrines isn't enough if you want to be the best. And manipulating the perception of your power is key, deserving a separate lecture from those two doctrines later. In short, faking weakness would be a feint or decoy, while intimidation and puffing yourself up would be a bluff. Constantly shifting between those two psychological manipulations and the two power distribution doctrines I just described are all up to your prerogative. The goal is to stop the enemy from knowing your true motives until it's too late to stop you from destroying them, running away, or whatever your objective is. Checkmate."
Naruto groaned, having lost yet again before dispelling himself. An even louder groan could be heard outside.
"Shikamaruuuuuuuuu, your lectures always give me such a headache!"
One week later, Monday, March 27th, 8AKNT
The real Naruto wandered around the village in the evening backdrop in order to avoid rousing suspicion from his constant ANBU shadows. Transformed shadow clones were scattered around the village, observing the daily activities and gathering intelligence. The mental reports confirmed that the village was on a normal peace footing. Security was lax for the economic interactions that made up the hub-dub of the village. The older generation was still war weary after all these years, tired of conflict and becoming complacent in what peace they could find. A different sight from the state of the world during the Fourth Shinobi World War in the older timeline. Traditions and inefficiencies were swept aside in the name of victory. Central capitals and ninja villages collaborated with farmers, craftsmen and each other. Specialization, up scaling of industries, reduction in consumer goods and the pushing forward of experimental technologies to press every single possible advantage was the modus operandi.
It was reassuring and distressing at the same time. If only the world could be so productive and fruitful in times peace instead of just in times of war. And if Naruto wanted to change that, he would have to find out everything there was to know about the current state of affairs, as well as find the people most capable of creating that change. Leadership of other leaders would be key, and his clone reports would take care of the foundations.
Now, it was time to reforge his connections with the best of Konoha. He had created cherished relationships with all of them in the other timeline, but it had taken time, and now he had to start all over. But he had faith in himself. Hell, he even got to Pein and Sai.
Thus his path to the park where some of the kids would play. The guys were rebellious and pig-headed, and thus didn't listen to their parents instructions to flee on sight. They were the first not to treat him like trash, although respect and close friendship were another matter.
He spotted Shikamaru playing shogi with Shino. He had just recently been introduced to the intricacies of the game by his father Nara Shikaku and was already trouncing anyone who would play him. Except for his father, for now. Shino had just respectfully lost, and sat back in nonchalance.
"Interesting game. Mind if I have a go?"
"Naruto, no offense but this game needs some serious thinking. Maybe we should play some ninja…"
"Nah I got this. Unless you're afraid to lose that is?"
Not one to pass up a new a challenge, he replied, "I warned you."
The game began in earnest. Shikamaru didn't expect much, or really anything. He wasn't even sure if Naruto knew how to move the pieces. And sure enough, he tried to move a pawn diagonally.
"Ugh, Naruto, that's not how that piece moves… it's like that…" moving his piece for him. Naruto continued moving his pieces erratically, with Shikamaru having to correct his moves sometimes. Despite the seemingly irrational patterns, Shikamaru could only build up a small advantage in pieces after several minutes.
And then the unthinkable happened. Naruto slowly took hold of a promoted rook and pinned down a pawn. Not that important, and Shikamaru decided to press his advantage and take out a bishop for free. But then another bishop slid into position and pinned down the offending piece. Now his whole offensive was stalled. His pieces were too disorganized behind his lines, and his dropped pieces were not helping at all. At a loss, Shikamaru would be forced to spend a few moves getting his pieces in position again. But Naruto's next moves kept boxing him in further, until finally a golden general took out a guarding lance and checkmated his king.
Shikamaru blinked for a few seconds before slumping back.
"I lost… and you don't even know how to play!"
Naruto had to resist gloating. It would be fun to hold his over Shikamaru, well at least for a bit. There was no doubt in his mind that Shikamaru would get way better than him soon.
"I won? Wow, I haven't even played this game before." At least, not in this timeline. "What's the game called again?"
Shikamaru palmed his forehead. I'll have to get better, time to hit up the books and challenge Dad again. He had really let himself go, playing against kids his age instead of pushing himself and learning more.
"How troublesome. Are you sure you don't know how to play?"
"Well I definitely know how now."
He stood up and walked to the edges of the crowd of kids who had gathered around the intense battle. Well, an intense battle for kids at least.
"Holy crap, the dead-last beat Shikamaru!"
"He's not dead-last anymore Kiba, he's moved up one to the 20th, he's beat out Hibachi. Shikamaru you better stop slacking in class or he'll pass you too!" Chōji was intrigued that someone actually managed to beat the shogi master.
"Come on guys, enough talk, let's play some lava monster! Last one on the building is the monster!" Naruto took off before anyone processed what he said, and missed out on the stampede. Shikamaru just shook his head, muttering something about troublesome blonds and needing to get better at shogi.
Tuesday, March 28th, 8AKNT
Naruto had snuck out of the boys only physical training and went to the grass fields where the kunoichi class was. He transformed into a cute blond girl complete with ridiculously long twin ponytails, even hiding the whisker marks. It took him ages to get genjutsu good enough to cover up those.
Sakura and Ino were trading flowers. Sakura hadn't gone all pink yet, and was wearing some tight light green slacks under her pink top. Jeez, even at 7 she's ridiculously cute… although I guess since neither of us have gone through puberty she doesn't look sexy in the slightest. He shuddered at that one. Just aesthetically pleasing. He was so not going down that path until he was at least well into puberty.
"Psssstt, Sakura and Ino, it's me Naruto!"
"Naruto? I thought you were a guy…"
"Jeez Ino, don't you pay attention? It's a transformation jutsu." Sakura and Ino were both in awe at this fact. They had just started reviewing that jutsu in class, and it looked like Naruto already had it down pat.
"Sharp as ever Sakura," Sakura blushed at this one. My first compliment from another guy! Well it was from Naruto, but better than nothing. And he was getting better, or at least less hated and a lot smarter. "The boys class was boring, so I snuck in here! What 'cha guys doing!?"
The girls shared a look.
"We're picking flowers, not that a guy like you would know anything about it."
"Hah, wanna bet!? If I can beat you in flower knowledge, you girls have to train with me!"
"Ewww training, why do guys always want to train!? I don't want to get fat and bulky! I need to remain skinny and pretty for Sasuke!" Sakura didn't share Ino's sentiments, as her teachers often told them that physical training was important to being a ninja. But then again, all the girls talked about staying skinny to attract Sasuke. Is that really important? What about yourself?
"But I don't think you'll win that bet, so I'll take you up on that! If we, that's right both of us, beat you, you have to…" Naruto cocked his head as Ino trailed off. Sakura snapped her fingers, remembering how Sasuke actually came up to Naruto last Friday and asked to spar with him again. Naruto trounced him again, this time with a solid punch to the gut. Sasuke had just scowled and stalked off after Naruto helped him recover.
"You've won against Sasuke twice! And he asked you to spar with him! Can you ask him to ask me out?"
"Hey wait, Forehead, what about me! And do you even like Sasuke? I thought you only said that because everyone else liked him!"
"Calm down girls, how about I get him to ask both of you out separately? You can charm him and whoever impresses him more can take him as a boyfriend!" Naruto wasn't totally sure how they leapt to the conclusion that Sasuke would actually listen to him, but he supposed they were surprised when Sasuke asked him to spar. Maybe he'd beat him in a few more times and teach him how to get better to earn his respect. Well he was planning to do so anyways… and it would be pretty hilarious to see Sasuke take out two girls on a date when they're 7. Well Sakura just turned 8 today actually. It would make a good birthday present for Sakura, well not that he would be telling her so.
"Yeah, I'll totally get him!" Ino forgot her irritation at Sakura liking Sasuke too. If Naruto recalled correctly, this was why they broke up as friends. And then proceed to become total Uchiha-tards. If he could get at least one of them to stop liking Sasuke, maybe he could save them years of angst and character stagnation.
"All right then Naruto, prepare to get crushed! Let's start off easy… what's this flower?"
"Daffodil. Represents respect, chivalry."
"Ohhh good, what about these?"
"Purple hyacinths. Sincerity, apology."
And on and on they went, until they ran out of unique flowers around the area to describe.
"Grrr, we're out of flowers. You see any other ones Sakura?"
"Nu-uh…"
"Well all right then, how about I start asking the questions! What does edelweiss stand for?"
"Courage, strength. Bring it!"
"Hydrangeas?"
Ino frowned. This one was tickling the back of her mind…
"Pride."
"Well well Sakura, nice save. Given your name, you should know what cherry blossoms stand for right?"
"Kindness, gentleness."
"On a roll… but it's time to win this. Crocus, delphinium, gladiolus, stephanotis."
Neither of girls knew what any of those flowers meant, having never heard of them. A minute passed before their looks of concentration finally dropped.
"All right you win Naruto…"
"Oh come on Sakura, we can't give up that easily!"
"Forget it Ino, we've already lost. What's this training supposed to be?"
"Glad you asked! After school, 3 to 6. Be prepared to get sweaty and dirty."
Ino groaned. So gross. Naruto began gathering a bouquet of flowers, made up of a beautiful arrangement of red roses, jasmine flowers, lilacs, and pansies.
"A beautiful arrangement for a beautiful girl." He handed them to Sakura, who blushed yet again, before he continued on. "By the way, a crocus represents foresight or cheerfulness. A delphinium is for boldness. Gladiolus, integrity and identity. And finally, the stephanotis for fortune and luck."
He quickly left the two dumbfounded girls. Who would've thought that a guy, let alone Naruto, would have an esthetic sense, and knew so much about flowers? He knew more than me or Sakura…
Tuesday, April 4th, 8AKNT
As expected, the girls didn't have much stamina. At all. 3 hours of light jogging, stretching and sparring later they were close to falling asleep on each other. Naruto took pity on them and put them both over his shoulders with some chakra enhanced strength and carried them to his renovated apartment.
Dumping them on the couch, he began preparing some skim recipe ramen, using the vegetables from the roof garden and base ingredients from the market, all which were bought and prepared for using transformed clones. He could totally get everything he needed if he transformed so nobody overcharged him.
By the time the broth was simmering and the noodles soaked in, the girls had finally stopped dry retching and were wiping themselves off with some fluffy white towels he had deposited earlier on.
"That was awful, let's never do that again…"
Truth be told, while Sakura's entire body was in post workout pain, she'd thought it was a good idea to do all that exercise, despite whatever negative effects it might have on her chances with Sasuke. And Naruto wasn't too bad company either, constantly shouting firm words of encouragement and keeping them going when they were about to collapse from their 12 minute a mile pace. Not at all bad for a lost bet on her birthday, not that she had told anyone. Naruto had to adjust his self-made weight seals to actually work out with them, not that he would ever tell the girls. It helped that his body was constantly exhausted with chakra from the egregious use of shadow clones.
"Dinner's ready, and don't you girls complain to me about being on a diet. Starving yourself is never healthy, especially when you're a ninja! You need to keep yourself energized and ready!" Naruto had to constantly remind them not to under eat. According to a study of past records by Sakura during her tenure under Lady Tsunade, food supply had the biggest impact on average height and chakra statistics. The older Sakura lamented once that if she hadn't starved herself constantly, she might've grown taller and bigger… in certain areas. Not that Naruto was complaining at that time.
Whatever protests they might've had were drowned out by their growling stomachs. Blushing fiercely, they half stumbled half crawled over to the dinner table. Moments later, they were gorging themselves on the remarkable healthy yet fulfilling ramen course Naruto had cooked up, with years of experience. He'd listen to his mother's advice to eat healthy. Using the Rasengan and chakra enhanced strength was totally worth it when preparing those noodles. Mission experience for the win!
Sakura and Ino were having the meal of their lives. After being worked to the bone, they couldn't get enough of the world class ramen. After several bowls, they finally began noticing their surroundings.
"Wow Naruto, slurp, you've got a pretty nice apartment," said Ino. "It looks nothing like the rest of this place. To be honest, I took one look at the paint and graffiti and didn't think your home would be any better." A week of reupholstering furniture, rebuilding and repainting the structure and salvaging the best of the recently thrown out had made Naruto's once trashy abode into a comfortable, practical and homely residence. Naruto swelled in pride at that one.
"Where are your parents at Naruto? Surely they'd be back work by now." Naruto's adoring smile dropped a little at that.
"I… I don't have parents."
"Wow, really? That must be awesome, not having to deal with all the nagging and orders and chores."
"Well, if you don't have parents, you kind of have to do all the chores, not just the ones they would tell you to."
Ino closed her mouth at that one.
"And parents really are a blessing in disguise. They work and make money to feed you, cloth you, and they love you. I wish I had someone to tuck me in at night and hug me whenever I got a good score on a test. It's always so lonely around here." Naruto was picking at his ramen, with a sad smile on his visage to complete the picture. Not that he needed to fake it, the mere thought that kids like him were common brought down his mood instantly.
The rest of the dinner passed by in quiet pensiveness.
Naruto walked them back afterwards, letting them lead him lest he arouse their suspicions for already knowing where they lived. Before Ino stepped through her door, Sakura piped up: "Naruto, if you wa-want, we can keep you company. This week… was okay. Right Ino?" She didn't want to leave Naruto all alone. Not after the time she's spent with him, she couldn't bear to leave him all alone again like she had before. She still felt guilty about it. Why would anyone ignore Naruto?
Ino shot her a look of are-you-kidding-me-that-was-hell but relented after a few moments thought.
"Yeah… it wasn't too bad. But no more training. Or at least can we tone it down?"
"Heh, it wasn't too bad! You girls are already getting used to it!"
"That's what I'm afraid of… I can't get too bulky for Sasuke…" she mumbled as she went inside.
Naruto rolled his eyes and continued on with Sakura to her house. As they approached her door, Sakura had an idea.
"Naruto, do you want to meet my parents? I mean… since you…" Sakura was unsure what to say next. It really was a half-baked idea.
"Eh… maybe some other time. I don't want to intrude." Watching his toes rub against the ground, Naruto tried to remember what she had mentioned of her parents. She didn't talk about them often, or really at all. She had mentioned that they hadn't hated him like the rest of the village early on, but that they didn't really understand her as a ninja, and only knew a glancing pass of her character. She had become independent of them soon, during her apprenticeship with Tsunade.
But then Naruto felt eyes on him. Good thing his ninja instincts and training hadn't dulled in his younger body. Sakura's mother was watching curiously from behind the drapes. Naruto couldn't detect any hostility, so maybe he really could meet them soon rather than later.
"I'll catch you tomorrow." Before she could answer, he had walked off.
Wednesday, April 5th, 8AKNT
"Say Sasuke, wanna spar again?"
As usual, Sasuke was out in the forest, training as hard as possible at the same kunai and shuriken throwing exercise. The boy had no sense of variety, honestly. Just practice the same hardest exercise and use the strongest technique possible. Well not that he was any better at his "age."
Sasuke frowned at hearing this. Everyday after the academy, he would come here to train unless his father Fugaku or his brother Itachi actually bothered to help him. His mother Mikoto was good, but she was busy all the time too, tending to the compound and the social duties as the wife of the Uchiha head.
He didn't stray long at the academy, studying only so long as to ace the test. Even though tests were usually a cakewalk, he thought ninjutsu and taijutsu were more worthwhile to learn. Neither did he have time to waste hanging out with fan girls and jealous boys, as flattering to his ego the attention was on a subconscious level. He couldn't lose to his brother.
But Naruto was something different. He used to be the failure of the class, and now he was receiving top marks and outperforming everyone else in physical training, and it looked like he wasn't even focusing on the class. Not that he would space out or sleep like usual. He was always studying, thinking, or talking. Oh did he talk. With everyone else. It was like everyone forgot he was the dead-last and was hated by the adults. Just the other day, he'd seen Naruto and the guys at the training fields, working shuriken practice. He was giving tips and showing how to hit the bulls-eye, every time.
Even a few of the girls were starting to gravitate towards him, although most of them still listened to their parents and shunned him. He saw Sakura studying with Naruto in the library once when he went in the check out books on ninja tools. She was giving him books to read, while Naruto dived in with gusto, sometimes stealing glances at her out of the corner of his eye with an ever present grin plastered on his face. Sasuke felt ambivalent about that one – he never cared about the attention of them, but it was still nice. And Naruto looked so happy.
"If we spar, will you at least tell me how you beat me? How did you get to be so strong?"
"Let's make a deal. We'll go through a round of five spars. If you win any of them, I'll tell you my secret. If you lose all of them... you have to go on a date with Sakura and Ino. Each one, separately."
Sasuke wasn't too sure about his chances, but he only had to win one. He was sure to spot a weakness in his defenses by then. If only he had his Dōsatsugan so he could see better. But still, wasting time with girls seemed unappealing. Well no pain, no gain. Let's do this.
"All right, you have a deal."
Several minutes later, to Sasuke's dismay, he had been beaten five times in a row. Naruto was so good that Sasuke couldn't make heads or tails of how to even begin emulating Naruto's taijutsu style. His stance and technique looked perfect with no wasted movements, and the movements that he did make we're either too fast or behind him, out of sight. He'd been unable to land a hit that hadn't been blocked or parried. That made him 0 and 7 with Naruto.
"By the way, you'll have to ask them out yourselves. I wouldn't do it in public if I were you."
Sasuke groaned.
"Say, I'll still tell you my secret. But you have to answer a couple of questions for me."
Sasuke looked up at that one. "Ask away."
"Why are you always training?"
"I want to get better, to be the best ninja."
"Why's that?"
Sasuke looked confused at that as they lapsed into silence.
"I, I want to be just like my brother. To be the best ninja of the class, to be number one."
"Why do you want to be like your brother?"
Sasuke couldn't ignore the pain that tore at his chest. He remained in turmoil for a minute, trying to string together sentences that would convey what he felt.
"Ev-everyone always talks about how great a genius he is. Sort of like how you are now. He graduated at 7, and became a chūnin at 10. But no matter what I do, I'm always behind. I'm almost 8 and I'm still in the academy, and everyone keeps comparing me to him. Be a great shinobi like him, I expect great things out of the... hic... brother of Itachi. I'm always the younger brother of Itachi, not Sasuke." Sasuke was sobbing by this time. "My father never tells me good job Sasuke, it's always keep it up and you'll be just like your BROTHER!"
Before Sasuke could drop to his knees, Naruto hugged him. Only my brother ever hugged me...
Once Sasuke had stopped crying, Naruto spoke up.
"You want to know my secret? I stay in school and study hard. That's what your brother told me to do you know. I'm sure he's told you this many times. He's the only one who looks at you and sees you right? So trust in his words, the same ones he told me. Study and train hard, with others. Make friends and ask for help when you need it, and give help when you can. By yourself, you can only go so far. But together with your friends, you can be great."
Thursday, April 6th, 8AKNT
"All right class, today we're going to try out the transformation jutsu. If you'll look on the board, you'll see the hand signs necessary for the jutsu. Dog, boar, and finally ram. We've gone over them in the past, and we'll review them again before trying it out. Don't be ashamed if you don't get it on your first try, and no matter if you succeed today, keep mediating. You'll need to work on molding your chakra if you want to be succeed."
Ino gave a start at this. "Say Naruto, don't you already know how to do this jutsu?"
Naruto almost slapped a hand to his forehead. If he kept this up, he was going to be hailed as a prodigy like Itachi. Then Sasuke would resent him too, and he wouldn't be able to stay with the rest of the Rookie 9.
"Yeah, but don't tell anyone. I want to keep it a secret."
"Why would you want to do that Naruto?" asked Sakura.
Naruto gave a mischievous lopsided grin to the two girls seated next to him.
"It'll be useful for pulling pranks. Don't look surprised when I pretend not to do it. And after school, we'll skip the training and do something fun."
"Ugh, the last time you said something was fun was when we did those pushups."
"Oh come on Ino, those pushups will help you hit other guys when they act out!"
"You mean like you?"
"Exactly!"
Ino gave him a dumbfounded look which shifted to one of annoyance when Naruto gave her a noogie while Sakura giggled on.
"Naruto, not the hair! I'm so gonna get you for that!"
Iruka gave a sigh when Naruto couldn't do the transformation jutsu. He had summoned so much chakra that it was visible, but nothing happened. He supposed it was the nine-tailed fox that threw him off.
But far from looking crestfallen like Iruka expected, Naruto only gave a laugh.
"All right, something hard for a change! I'll work harder than ever to master this jutsu! Nothing's going to stop me from being Hokage, believe it!"
Iruka couldn't help but smile fondly at Naruto for that. He'd changed so much in the past few weeks, and if he kept up his meteoric improvement he'd be at the top of the class. It warmed his heart to see Naruto not go down the path he'd gone down when he was a student, wasting his time on juvenile pranks, messing up on purpose, and then laughing at himself with the rest of the class. No, he was definitely growing up.
"Naruto..."
Iruka could only palm his face at the sight in front of him. When he caught them, the trio had been laughing it up. Now, Naruto had his arms behind his head, with a foxy grin of mischief painted all over it. Sakura looked embarrassed to the right of him, and Ino looked annoyed to his left.
Behind them, there was a man sized diorama of Kakashi and Guy doing one of their village renown challenges. Kakashi was reading his book as usual while doing an ollie with a skateboard, and Guy was hilariously going red in the face trying not to stumble while doing a kickflip. Iruka didn't even want to think about how they got the academy sparring dummies, paint, and the skateboards.
"Sakura, Ino, you two can go. Knowing Naruto, he probably roped you two into this."
They gave Naruto a hesitant look before Naruto motioned them to leave with a smile. "I'll catch up with you guys later."
When they stepped out earshot, Iruka gave a sigh.
"I thought you'd dropped this act Naruto. You're doing so well in class. Did you do this because you couldn't get the transformation technique? I mean, it's only your first—"
"Can you keep a secret? Even if you don't think it's a good idea for me to, please?"
Iruka slowly nodded.
"I can actually do the transformation technique." He formed the appropriate seals and turned into a perfect copy of Iruka before turning back.
Iruka gaped at the sight. "Th-then why did you fail in class? Why hide your abilities? And why the pranks?"
Naruto shrugged. "Shinobi saying number thirteen. Never draw attention to yourself. I don't really want people knowing I can do it? It might make the others jealous, and I don't want to drive away the new friends I have. And I don't want to leave them too. I heard what happened to Itachi. He had to leave all his friends in the academy behind because he graduated so early. I don't want to graduate early and leave them all behind. Plus its useful for pranks, if people know then they'll see it coming."
Iruka thought for a few moments before giving a sigh. "Naruto..."
"Please sensei, I know what I'm doing. Please keep it a secret?"
"All right..."
Naruto gave a sigh of relief before turning away to follow the girls.
"Hey Naruto."
He turned around with a questioning look on his face.
"Good job on the transformation technique. I'm proud."
Naruto smiled right back and ran off to catch up. Iruka turned back when ran out of sight, only to be reminded that the prank was still here. Well, it wouldn't hurt to leave this until tomorrow. It was pretty funny. He couldn't wait to tell Kakashi about it. It seems like his one-sided rivalry with Guy really has been taking off.
Friday, April 7th, 8AKNT
Getting his body physically stronger, mind sharper, and chakra larger wasn't the hard part. At least not conceptually, but if Naruto had one skill mastered, it was putting in work. Even if reading history and logistical records was mind-numbingly boring. No, the part that took the most planning was keeping up appearances. Thus the book and the library. The ANBU had him under constant surveillance, under orders from Sarutobi, the Konoha Council, and Danzō. Mostly the last one. At least they were getting rather lax after years of the detail circulating around the ANBU ranks. Yūgao had told him during the fourth war that the ANBU who watched him often only did so out of the corner of their eyes, often practicing or reading up on skills like it was study hall. If they had actually paid attention, they might have caught the shadow clones and then it would be interrogation time for Naruto, but even if they had been paying attention Naruto doubted they would catch him. He hadn't spent all that time with Jiraiya around those bathhouses for nothing.
Indeed, Naruto's clones had already confirmed the inattentiveness of the ANBU over the past two weeks. They hadn't noticed when he came back on the evening of March 17th, 8AK, and he spent most of that weekend stumbling around in his apartment getting used to his young body. As much as he enjoyed instant ramen as an acquired taste and a comfort food, eating the low quality junk he had was pretty awful. Eating top quality ramen that was actually healthy had really spoiled him.
He'd changed his pantry and kitchen stock when he renovated his apartment's interior. His rooftop garden was a covered greenhouse, not suspicious enough to arouse any reports from the ANBU. It's not like they ever saw the real Naruto enter the thing, so they figured it was probably a neighbor's.
But if anyone was going to notice his shocking changes and actually make a big fuss out of it first, it would be the old man. Sarutobi kept tabs on almost all the notable shinobi and civilians in the village, being the most efficient task master Naruto had ever seen, even after seeing the stressed leadership of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Tsunade really was not happy about the paperwork and delegation explosion.
"Hey Naruto, fancy seeing you here at a library. I guess you've finally taken my advice to take your studies seriously huh? I've staved off the beast of paperwork for a few hours. How about we get some ramen and you tell me about the academy? Iruka tells me you've been making great improvements."
Speak of the devil. Even with all his experience, he still found himself inclined to say yes to the Hokage, all other things being equal. Still, it was a good opportunity to give his cover some street cred.
"Ramen? HECK YEAH OLD MAN LETS GOOOOOOOOOO!" And with that, Naruto dragged the elderly Hokage through the streets to the venerable Ichiraku ramen stand, much to the amusement of the watching ANBU who would know nothing of the clones tending the garden, reading "borrowed" scrolls, or creating chaos at a nearby waterfall.
"I'll have the usual, Teuchi."
"Give me the new usual too!"
"6 large miso ramens with roasted pork fillet, coming right up!"
The Hokage gave a start at that. 5 miso ramens? Naruto always had a hankering for ramen, but this was just...
"Wow Naruto, are you sure you can eat all of that?"
"Hah, you haven't seen anything yet! Those are just the appetizers! I have to eat a lot with my new training regimen!"
"Training you say? I didn't know kids your age had already started working so hard."
"Well it all started after seeing Itachi, Sasuke's older brother. Everyone keep's talking about him being a genius and all, and I want to be Hokage some day! So I asked him what tips he had, and he told me to train and study hard. Now I read and train all the time! And boy does reading books make me hungry! And, there's this really pretty girl in class, Sakura. She has to be the most beautiful girl I've ever met, and she's super smart too! Smartest in the class, and I want to impress her..."
Hiruzen continued taking in Naruto's words. Somehow he was guzzling down all the ramen and spouting out more words than Kakashi said in a year. And he really didn't lie when he said the five bowls were just an opening, Teuchi had already laid down another 10. Good thing being a Hokage paid well, and Naruto could look forward to enjoying all the ramen he wants when he becomes Hokage. Seems like he's finally taking things seriously, I'm proud of you Naruto.
"... And I saw this really cool masked ninja walking down the street one day, and he was reading a book while he was walking. This really weird guy in a green jumpsuit challenged him to something, but the cool ninja was totally cool and said 'I'm sorry, did you say something?' and these two other ninja nearby said that those two ninja were the best jōnin in this village and that must mean I can be better than them both if I'm super cool, read and am excited all the time! So I went go everywhere with a book now and I challenge Sasuke all the time in class and win of course..."
Hiruzen nearly choked on his ramen at that. It's like Kakashi and Guy had a kid, oh the hilarity if either of them ever found out.
The Third Hokage eventually found himself footing the bill, and thanked Naruto for the great stories. It was worth getting a head start on all that paperwork just to talk to him, as usual. If only Minato and Kushina were around to see their son grow up. Oh, if they knew their son was reading forbidden scrolls from his stores, they would be laughing their asses off.
Naruto gave a sigh of relief on his walk back home. He covered his actions well, hopefully buying himself some more leeway for the drastic changes he had yet to show. His new motivation would be the "decisive moment" that made it plausible for him to constantly "improve." It would be a while until the chūnin exams, when he make another pivotal change.
But that was getting ahead from himself. The most pressing conflict in Naruto's mind was the subject of the future Uchiha massacre. Observations of Itachi had been scant, as his clones had been cautious in observing the prodigy who surely would catch them if he made any mistake. But they all confirmed his future knowledge. Itachi was constantly brooding, thinking, become recluse from everyone, including both his brothers – his proclaimed one Shisui and his blood one, Sasuke.
If Danzō's original goal was to destroy the Uchiha clan and keep the Sharingan for himself, Naruto had to admit he was doing a perfect job. The leadership of Konoha already saw the Uchiha clan as a threat, a danger to the village – their extermination would be imminent if nothing changed. In two months' time, Shisui would fail to stop Danzō who would take one of his Mangekyō Sharingan eyes, and Itachi would be forced to destroy his clan from the manipulations of Danzō, with the help of Obito disguised as Madara. Danzō had miscalculated Itachi though, who wouldn't kill his brother Sasuke. That one would bite him in the ass later.
But at this point in time, keeping the Uchiha clan around would be just as bad as letting Itachi kill them all. There was an irreparable rift between them and the Konoha leadership, and the general public didn't like them either. Should they continue to exist, their coup d'etat would certainly take place, and that would send the village into chaos regardless of if they succeeded or not. Either they would take over and the population would rebel, or the village would be left crippled from the conflict, and other villages would be drawn in. Another World War there. Danzō sure was a crafty bastard, creating a controlled threat in order to obtain power and protect the village. There was too much hatred and animosity for an understanding to be easily reached. And Naruto was in no position to siphon off any of those negative feelings. If only someone powerful who had even the smallest chance of listening to him was here, like Jiraiya. Too bad he was too busy spying on Orochimaru.
He was already getting a headache just thinking about it, and the training from his clones certainly was not helping. A nearby advertisement for scratch cards caught his attention. Feeling lucky as usual, he bought when scratched off the tiles to reveal a moderate cash reward. At least he still had Lady Luck on his side, unlike Tsunade who would still be on her losing streak. Dispelling his doubts and second thoughts, he stuffed the wallet back into his pants. I would never forgive myself if I just let this injustice happen. I may not be able to save the clan, but I have to do something. The massacre would bring nothing but pain and destruction, not peace, regardless of the good intentions of Danzō. And killing Obito would be a boon. He couldn't afford to be like Hiruzen, trying to save every last single soul, although Naruto was cutting it close. It would be too difficult to turn him at this point in time, and something told him the man wouldn't mind dying, not after the life he'd lived. Maybe he'd see Rin, wherever anyone goes after death.
Naruto was even having doubts about trying to save Sasuke. The Uchihas had always been quick to conflict and hatred, the so called Curse of Hatred. And Orochimaru's curse mark had made a disposition into a full-blown flaw. At this point, preventing the massacre looked impossible, and Sasuke would be devastated. Orochimaru would try to get the Sharingan no matter what, and keeping a 24/7 guard on Sasuke or any other Uchiha who wasn't strong enough to fight back like Itachi would be impossible. One mistake and the curse mark would placed, and it would probably be all over. In fact, keeping the Uchiha clan alive was be a risk that was starting to look worse and worse, worse than letting the clan be destroyed. There was just too much potential for abuse.
But still, letting it happen, Naruto felt sick just thinking about it. There was no way the entirety of the clan was complicit of treason, and even those who were didn't deserve to die as victims of circumstance. Everything was starting to become overwhelming, and Naruto decided to call in an early night.
"Pathetic. Is this the best the Five Great Shinobi Countries can offer?" Madara stood tall on the statue, and Naruto felt nothing but anguish. Kurama had been extracted out of him already, both the Yin and Yang halves, only adding to his feeling of crushing helplessness.
The Ten-Tails was shortly unleashed afterwards, and Madara sealed it into himself while gloating.
"It's over Naruto," Sasuke sneered, "Looks like you failed yet again. It's all you're ever good for. Did you really think you could distract me from my hatred? How could you even dream of being Hokage, if you couldn't even 'save' me? Not that I needed saving."
The scenery warped as the Eye of the Moon Plan came into effect. Naruto found himself in Sakura's arms, surrounded by his friends who were all chatting away happily at Ichiraku's. Naruto sure felt happy, but something felt off. Wasn't he feeling just the opposite a moment ago?
Sasuke laughed nearby at something Ino said. Sasuke laughed? Wait a moment...
"Hey Sakura, weren't we doing something earlier? We were doing something important..."
"Yeah silly, it was your birthday! Did you already forget opening your presents?"
His birthday. That was strange. No one ever celebrated his birthday. Even after he saved the village after Pein's attack, no one celebrated. There just wasn't any time, and everyone was either worn out or downtrodden. Like they had the life kicked out of them, and they really had, losing their homes and jobs and everything.
Wait. Konoha had been destroyed. And they defeated Pein, who wasn't even the biggest fish in the sea. Madara. They were fighting Madara! Where is he now? Naruto felt his content wash away, his heart beat accelerating, and he stumbled out Sakura's grasp, sweat beading on his—
Naruto gave a roar as he fell off his bed. He immediately began retching onto the floor. He was going to have to clean that one, just as soon as he finished moping in the bathroom. He crawled over his ex-clean floor.
He stayed hunched over the toilet as his heart rate slowly calmed down. Could he do this? The overwhelming feeling was starting to come back. He had the advantage of knowledge, but it was starting to feel inadequate. It was getting harder and harder to stay upright, to keep chugging when he couldn't see the end of the tunnel. And it had only been a few weeks.
"It looks like the Uchiha massacre will make, or break me. Let's see if I can do some good."
Five clones soundlessly popped into existence around him. After they cleaned up the mess, he gave the order.
"It's time I stepped it up. Keep a constant watch on Itachi, record everything he does. Dispel when I'm awake, I don't want to miss a thing. And most of all, don't be seen."
It would be hard to convince any leaders in the Konoha government to change their mind or make a move, and Naruto hadn't even come up with a good solution to the crisis. Yet. But even if it did still happen, he could convince Itachi to go about it better. For his brother. No way would he let Sasuke fall again. But while he was waiting for the right move to make, he might as well have some fun and be a kid, while he still could.
Monday, April 10th, 8AKNT
"Hey I-Ino."
Class was about to begin, and Naruto was already having trouble holding in his laughter at what was about to happen. He had to lean against Itachi's arm, who deadpanned that he came solely to drop Sasuke off.
Ino's heart was beating faster and faster. Sasuke's actually talking to me? Holy cow, what do I say, what do I say? She settled on saying nothing, her brain being too frazzled to come up with anything better.
Sasuke was feeling nervous. He'd never gone on a date, never even thought about it, and thus had to ask his mom and Naruto for help. Naruto just laughed in his face for a few minutes before telling him he was out of luck asking another 8-year-old who knew nothing about dating. Technically, Naruto had never gone on a date in this timeline. Mikoto was a little more helpful, giggling while she told him to just ask her to eat lunch with him. She handed him two bento boxes before going off to her husband to laugh at the absurdity of an 8-year-old actually going on a date. Itachi actually giggled when Naruto told him between fits of laughter, despite Sasuke's incessant begging not to.
"Wanna eat lunch with me? My mom brought enough for the both of us. No-not that I'm actually... er Naruto made me!"
Naruto palmed his forehead. Sasuke was probably too nervous and impatient to ask her out privately. Could Sasuke be any less tactful? Talk about embarrassing. He looked up just in time to see Ino shoot him a surprised look before returning her attention to Sasuke.
"Uhhhh, sure."
Everyone else was too shocked at the proceedings, having actually seen both the prodigy of Konoha in person, and then hearing his brother ask out another girl.
Iruka came in and called the class to attention, surprised that they weren't making any noise. Until he caught sight of Naruto and Itachi. What did you do this time Naruto... I better not have to clean up any bathrooms again.
Watching the two eat lunch was, underwhelming, to say the least. They just sat there in silence the entire time, both unable or unwilling to say anything. The most awkward 30 minute date between kids Naruto had ever seen. He hoped the second kid date he would see in his life would be better. Sakura sat next to Naruto, unable to badger Naruto with any more questions and was instead over thinking about soon-to-be first date with Sasuke Uchiha. Well at least Ino didn't do very well.
After lunch, Naruto once again trounced everyone at shuriken throwing to the decreasing surprise of the rest of the class. As he was returning the shuriken, Hinata came up to him. Naruto saw her coming out of the corner of his eyes, and had been prepared to let the girl down gently. She fell in love with an idea, not him. Or so she said in the other timeline. Naruto was partly glad he was too dense to see her antics before she finally wised up.
"N-N-Naruto..." was all she could get out before she ran away with a red face. Naruto heard Guy's voice in his head sighing about the joys of youth.
"Hey Hinata, want to get some ramen with me?"
And there she faints. Naruto could've sworn she wasn't this bad before they had graduated, but then he reasoned that a date at this age would be shocking to anyone. Sighing, he picked her up on his shoulder and carried her back to the clan compound, where he met a faintly bemused Hiashi Hyūga.
"Hey old man, I'm taking your daughter out on a date later tonight. She fainted when I asked her after she tried to ask me. See ya later!"
And Naruto then walked out before the clan head could react with a sweat drop. Well, if anything, maybe Hinata socializing with Naruto would do her some good. He had heard interesting things about the nine-tails container recently. Something about a genius with a gold heart in the making. Hinata could do a lot worse for a first date.
"So Hinata, what are your dreams?" said Naruto between slurps of some of Teuchi's ramen. Ayame was doting on the couple. They are so cute! Oh Naruto, only you would have the guts to go on a date when you're seven.
Hinata could not believe the turn of recent events. She had always admired Naruto for having something she so desperately lacked, confidence and spirit. And now he had changed so much in the past few weeks, making friends with everyone even when no one but her liked him to begin with. Although why the latter was true Hinata could never figure out. And now she was on a date with him. It was like a dream come true.
"Well... I want to... become stronger. I will one day become the clan head, and I need to be strong for that."
"Oh wow, you're going to be head of the Hyūga clan? I hear you guys are super powerful. And have really cool eyes. The Byakugan right?"
"Uh huh..." Hinata couldn't bring herself to say anything and was slowly reverting back to silent panic.
Naruto took a hold of her hand, trying to make a move. On her confidence.
"Hey Hinata, there's no need to be so nervous and shy all the time. Just relax and enjoy the fight, all right? I'm sure you'll make a great clan head some day. The best of the best, all you have to do is work hard, and believe in yourself! Trust me, I was the dead-last of class. I always wanted someone to respect me, and I wasted my time pulling pranks for attention. But now I know the truth. If you want to be respected, loved, and happy, you have to believe in yourself! Know that you can do well, see that you can always improve, and never give up! I believe in you Hinata, I believe that you can believe in yourself!"
Hinata finally stopped shaking through a valiant effort. It's a start. She'll be great one day. Hinata was able to actually make confidence throughout the rest of the "date."
When they had finished eating, Naruto paid the bill and walked her home.
"Hey Hinata, don't take this wrong way, but uh, I don't like you that way. You know. But this date was still pretty fun. Maybe we can hang out some other, yeah?"
"Yeah... I'd like that too." Hinata watched as Naruto strolled away. She sighed. Well, at least she had his friendship. There were always other guys to meet and chase.
Tuesday, April 11th, 8AKNT
Sakura had lamented over the failure of her date with Naruto on the walk to school. Apparently, Sasuke had asked her once they'd left school, and took her out to a simple dango shop. It wasn't much different from Ino's date, although at least Sakura had tried to make conversation. But really, when you were 8 there wasn't much to talk about. Or do. All they really did was stare at each other. Sakura couldn't take it and excused herself early.
"I had so much more fun pulling pranks with you. Oh jeez, the look on sensei's face when he found the chalk board yesterday."
"Pfff, that's cause we always have fun together."
"Yeah, we do don't we? Sasuke was a total bore, and dating is nothing like what the other girls said. It was totally lame. I think I'm just going to focus on having fun and becoming a ninja."
"Weeeeeelll, I know just the thing to do! Come on, if we hurry we can totally replace all the boys and girls bathroom signs." And with that, they took each others' hands and ran off towards the academy.
Lesson learned boys and girls, don't date when you're eight. Or seven. It just doesn't work. And stay in school.