I sighed; I am now eight and am entering the ninja academy. My name is Sakura Haruno and I am slightly disappointed. After the life changing moment I had experienced I became morbid. I realized that we all will die someday, no exception. Throughout our lives we will experience various levels of pain. In our world, as it is now, most lives end in violence. Remembering the small blue-eyed boy covered in his own gore I decided to be a ninja. I decided to choose to be strong so I could avoid being helpless and be able to choose why I get hurt, giving me the comfort of knowing that this is my choice.

Back to why I am disappointed. The thing bugging me is they don't teach us to be shinobi, they don't even teach us to be strong! The academy teaches us the extremely basic stuff and loyalty to Konoha. Most of the stuff we could learn on our own with a small amount of research. The only other reasons the academy is here is to kick out the people who live in a fantasy and to gather information about the possible ninjas.

There is only eight people I see who could be successful field ninja excluding me. They are: Neji Hyuga, Tenten Hiragashi, Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi, Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzaka, and Naruto Uzumaki. All of them need some help with their problems but then again so do I. A couple like Ino and Hinata could be non-field ninja.

Though the first time I saw Naruto I puked. I immediately knew that Naruto and that near dead boy I saw is the same person. I still get a little green every time I see him but I've gotten better. After I had recovered from seeing that event I had lost any respect I had for my parents and looked for why that happened. Finding the truth after that was easy. A little bit of research led to the conclusion that Naruto holds the Kyubbi and it doesn't matter.

I had researched Seals (specifically demon holding seals,) the Yondaime Hokage and the Kyubbi. What I found out was reassuring and changed my opinion about Konoha.

First off seals are capable of holding demons of great power such as the Hachibi that was sealed into a large pot and held there for a few years. It did weaken, but it has been shown that human containers will continue to contain the demons until A. the container's will weakens B. the container dies or C. the seal breaks after some wear because of it being shoddily made.

Second the Yondaime was a seal master of the highest calibre. There are only ten well known ninjas in history that consistently used seals for battle. He is one of two who used A-Grade seals during battle. There is no way he would use less than perfect work for the sealing of the Kyubbi.

Finally the Shodaime's wife sealed the kyubbi into herself after the First Hokage subdued it in the battle with Madara Uchiha. So the Kyubbi has been sealed before therefore it is possible.

I did come upon a couple of strange things one of them is that I keep running into Naruto's last name, Uzumaki. The Shodaime's wife was an Uzumaki, this is also true with the Fourth's Girlfriend. So I decided to research it. The Uzumaki Clan wasn't in Konoha's Clan Registry or any books about other Village Clans. Finally I did find out where the clan was recorded and what I found was amazing.

The Uzumaki Clan was the ruling Clan of Uzugakure (The Village Hidden in the Whirlpool) the village that was renowned for their sealing mastery. The Uzumaki Clan was a clan of red-heads known for their Kekkei-Genkia (Bloodline Limit.) They are naturally born with a Chakra pool that is very potent and large giving them a huge amount of stamina, a long life, and slight regeneration ability. But their true Kekkei-Genkia is their chakra sensing and on a rare occasion the solid chakra manipulation some Uzumaki have.

Uzugakure was actually so powerful that they were on the verge of becoming a great village. Iwa and Kumo felt threatened by their power so they made an alliance and attacked the village. The village was outnumbered heavily 10:1 but the Uzumaki Clan stood and fought for five days straight. They fought, not only to stall for help to arrive but also to let the children and civilians evacuate.

They managed to destroy one third of both Iwa's and Kumo's total force those five days. They finally fell the fifth day and Konoha's forces arrived the next day to drive back the remnants of the army. Konoha wears the red spiral on the back of their flak jacket to remember the legend of the Bloody Whirlpool.

Once you put everything together it's easy to see why Naruto was chosen. Naruto is a guy that is known for his shear stubbornness and he comes from a clan who have had the Kyubbi sealed into its members before. Looking at it impartially he is probably the best guy to stick it with. With the Yondaime doing the sealing it's almost guaranteed to hold.

The civilians are actually doing the worst thing possible by treating him like they do. The only way the sealing would break is if Naruto gets to the point that he really hates Konaha so much so that he would risk suicide. The way he is treated I wouldn't blame him if he did.

Sighing I finally reach my seat and sit down. Before coming here I had scouted out the academy. I had played the part of the studious student and was able to get the notes for the academy curriculum from the graduating Kunoichi of the previous year. I looked over the ones I thought were relevant to being a ninja: Medical charts and info, handsigns and there uses, Chakra Theory and Usage, Tactics, and other various bits of information. I decided I would memorize those and then only look over the other stuff if the subject comes next.

Everyone had filed in and sat down while I had been thinking and our new teacher slid open the classroom door. He walked in and closed it behind him without a sound. He made his way to the front of the desk and began speaking. "Hello everyone my name is Iruka Umino. I will be your primary teacher for the rest of your time here at the academy and I hope to make you all into proud ninja of the Leaf."

I gave another imperceptible sigh as I had a hunch that this was going to be a long couple of years.

(3 Months Later)

I sat under the tree in the academy yard reading a copy of a Chunin's self-made 'Useful Jutsu Scroll.' I snuck into his apartment and copied the scroll after I heard him bragging about it to his friends at a local diner. I have to laugh at him because he had only trapped the door.

"Looky here a little bookworm all by her lonesome!" An annoying voice rang out as I heard footsteps and laughter approach me.

I ignore them keeping only a slight peripheral watch on them. Reading about useful camping jutsus is much more interesting than Ami and her gang of bullies.

"Oh a scroll, did you know that too much reading can cause freakishly large foreheads? Oh sorry to mention your condition. Let me take that so it doesn't get worse!" Ami quickly reached out to grab the scroll. I moved it to the left slightly, looked up and stared at her.

She flinched back but quickly regained her bravado as children are known to do.

"Oh look the freak is angry are you going to say something or are you just going to stare, you creep." Ami said with a sneer. I just continued to stare at her my eyes blank of any emotion.

Ami stood for a minute longer. I didn't blink. She fidgeted and finally left calling over her shoulder. "Come on the creep must be brain dead" Her cronies jogged to catch up.

I feel a swell of satisfaction as she left. I return to my scroll not noticing the slight smile on my face.

The scroll is a gold mine: a small earth jutsu to bury camping leftovers, an earth jutsu to over-turn earth to erase tracks and put out campfires, a water jutsu to gather water from the air to refill canteens, a water jutsu to purify water, a fire jutsu to light candles and start campfires among other things, and it has a bunch of different things that could be useful for more than just camping.

It even has chakra control exercises.

It would only be a matter of time before they start to teach us how to use chakra. Meanwhile before that happens I'll memorize all I can, to use later. It`s probably a good thing that I have an edict memory.

The bell rings and I make my way back to class. I am content by preparing for the future.