Disclaimer: This is a disclaimer.

Chapter Two:

Easy Pickings

A young boy awoke with a gasp, panting and sweating heavily in the darkness of the room he slept in; the minimal globules of pale light reflecting off of his darting eyes the only indication of light and movement in the room except for one long crack of daylight between the curtains. He shook himself free of the nightmarish vision that recently accosted him in his sleep and arose, stretching lightly in the bleak blackness, shaking the last few shreds of sleep that still clung to his mind like parasites, eager to cause him to fall back asleep, and to that world of wretched torture and damnation that so commonly wrested control of his dreams.

It wasn't his fault he was so tired as of late, it was summer, and during the summer while the days were a bit longer than usual, he was a bit more tired than he would have been otherwise. He walked carefully towards the curtains which seemed to deny the room and its inhabitant all light before quickly wrenching them apart, bathing his form and the dark room in a bright, late-morning light. The boy's yellow irises quickly grew and his pupils shrank greatly when the unexpected brightness assaulted his pale body, causing him to grimace in pain with a faint snarl before quickly shutting his curtains closed, once more shrouding the room in darkness. He realized that he had overslept, he was late for his training this morning judging by the current elevation of the sun, and hopefully his sensei, his teacher, would understand his tardiness due to his… rather exceptionally unique condition.

With no time to spare, he lit a nearby candlestick with a small match from his bedside table and walked out of his room and into the bathroom with the orange, flickering light leading the way, and quickly showered after the night's visions had left him a bit sweaty with fear. He exited, revealing more pale white skin and a pale blond length of quite spikey hair on his head that reached his shoulders easily, almost forming a pale blonde shaggy mane of sorts. He quickly dressed in his clothing of the day, consisting of black and red varieties of appropriate combat-ready ninja wear, before pulling his hood over his head and leaving his quarters and exiting the rather exquisite manor into the lightly forested land that encircled the manor, easily hiding it from view of passerby in the village of Konohagakure. The verdant trees were healthy and in full bloom, and the grass was well-kept and short with no bushes to hide the forest floor. He walked calmly and quietly around the bricked house, leaving little detectable imprints in the dirt, and in fact, only experienced ninja could ever hope to follow his nearly insubstantial tracks. He worriedly paced towards a small clearing just a short distance away from the mansion, hoping that his sensei would not yet be there, otherwise, the boy would be in trouble, for being even later than the tardiness of his personal tutor was a feat to not be easily undertaken. His heartbeat nearly stopped when he saw what he feared: his sensei waiting for him calmly, sitting under one of the many trees on the grounds of the estate in the shade, reading his little orange book he always kept with him for just such occasions. The boy sighed in defeat, knowing he would be rewarded this day with verbal lashings.

"Naruto, would you like to tell me why you are so late this time?" asked the silver-haired sensei of the boy, named Naruto, although the older man's eyes never left his book. The younger boy approached slowly with his head a bit low, but still watching his sensei. The older ninja was perhaps in his older twenties or younger thirties at first glance, he had silver hair that pointed upwards in a spike and his forehead protector was draped over his left eye, leaving only his right revealed. The lower portion of his face was obscured with a mask that was there seemingly perpetually, for Naruto could never recall a point in time where he had seen his sensei's face.

"Well, you see, sensei, I… well, overslept," said the boy sheepishly with a slight chuckle while he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Right, right…" the older man sighed, "well, I cannot be mad at you, Naruto. I know it's hard for you to deal with this during these long summer days, I simply ask that you perhaps get a louder alarm in order to wake up on time, eh?"

Naruto nodded his approval quickly, knowing not to go against his teacher's wishes, he knew that a "suggestion" was a calmly stated "order" instead, and not listening to the "request" would result in rather painful amounts of training. "Kakashi sensei, I'm sorry for being so late. I'll try to make it on time tomorrow, I promise!" Naruto stated fiercely with determination.

The older man nodded before marking his latest page and finally closing his small orange book. "Well, in any case, Naruto, it is fine, because today isn't just a normal day of training for you and me, you see." Naruto perked up, his curiosity clearly piqued. "Hokage-sama will be reviewing your training personally today, to see how much you've improved, and then he has an offer for you I think you will not refuse," explained the older ninja, his single revealed eye smiling at him. "And that means that today will be my last day as your 'sensei', Naruto. You've improved far more quickly than I ever thought you would. I'm proud to call you my student." Naruto smiled back, revealing slightly elongated and sharpened canine teeth.

"Well, well, well, it seems you've finally awakened, Naruto-kun," spoke an elder man who just appeared in the small clearing behind Naruto, who jumped and turned quickly to come face to face with the Hokage, the leader of the entire village and strongest ninja in all of Konohagakure, who also happened to be his grandfather figure. "Kakashi tells me you've been utilizing your time well. What do you say about that?"

Naruto vigorously nodded again, pride evident on his face. "Yeah, old man, I have been training really hard with Kakashi-sensei."

The "old man" responded with a brightened smile, amused by the boy's jovial mood. "Well then, Naruto-kun, would you mind showing me just what you can do?" The boy nodded very quickly and enthusiastically. The Hokage nodded and Kakashi threw a small kunai at the boy whose back was turned, although Kakashi didn't throw it at maximum power, he didn't want to actually harm the lad. To Naruto, the attack was unexpected, but not unable to be deterred, he turned quickly, his reflexes as such a young age still surprising both the older ninja, before he swiped the kunai out of the air with his claws, causing it to tumble into the grass, not even wounding him in the slightest.

"Oh my, Naruto, you are definitely as quick as Kakashi said you were. But why wouldn't you counter the kunai knife with one of your own? You could hurt yourself had you missed."

"It's okay, Jiji, my fingernails are durable enough to deflect kunai. They don't bother me at all, see?" The blonde boy held up his hand to emphasize that the weapon hadn't even scratched him.

The Hokage nodded his approval at the young boy's antics. As long as he was unharmed, the old man considered that all was well. "Well, Kakashi, would you like to continue? I'd be honored to see for myself what else Naruto-kun is capable of." He waved his hand casually to resume the display of Naruto's abilities. Naruto turned back towards Kakashi, slightly crouched and quite ready for any move Kakashi would make. Kakashi smiled with his one revealed eye, thinking, 'I hope you don't mess up this time, Naruto. I want to be sure you really impress the Hokage! Maybe he'll give me that job I've been after… heh.'

Kakashi casually prepared and threw two shuriken at the blonde boy, but not only these two weapons were thrown, but two more sets were thrown from the trees around the clearing from two of Kakashi's shadow clones, or physical illusions of Kakashi, and although their "shadow clone weapons" were illusions, they would still harm the boy if he were to miss.

Naruto turned as the six weapons approached from all directions and quickly swiped the first two sets out of the air away from him using his claws again, and the last set seemed to veer off course and fly into the grass about him. Sarutobi raised his eyebrow questioningly and looked towards Kakashi. "Well, Kakashi, it seems you require training as well, the set you threw didn't even make it to Naruto, or was that only for distraction?"

Kakashi eye-smiled as he ever did only to respond curtly, "Well Hokage-sama, Naruto has been honing his ability to affect light objects about him. He has a minor telekinetic ability, nothing powerful, yet, but certainly useful. Watch this," Kakashi ended abruptly before throwing a marble from his pocket at the boy at slightly faster speeds. Naruto didn't flinch or move, the light-weight marble just stopped in mid-air before the boy! The Hokage, the strongest ninja around, was astonished. Of course he had heard from Kakashi the previous month about Naruto's current abilities, but this was still amazing to behold, being able to cause objects to levitate in midair like that was amazing in any case, but especially for a boy of only twelve. The marble began to spin while Naruto's eyes were focused on it intently before shooting back at Kakashi twice as fast as Kakashi threw it, although the silver-haired ninja still caught it with ease, after having years of practice in real combat.

"My, my, Naruto, you are just full of surprises, eh?" Sarutobi smiled at Naruto genuinely. He was certainly proud of the boy he watched over since he was born years ago.

"Yes, Jiji, but I'm afraid to say I can't do much more than that, it tires me out fast… And brings one massive headache," Naruto panted out. He had barely been awake for thirty minutes and yet his one unique ability had completely tired him out again, just like the evening prior. Truly, defying gravity itself cost much more physical power than the young boy could muster. He would have to fix that little issue.

"Ah, then would you like an escort to the hospital, Naruto? Afterwards, I'd like to bring you to my office along with Kakashi; I've news for the both of you, and an offer for you, my boy." Naruto nodded his approval before Sarutobi put his hand on the shoulder of the panting boy before the two disappeared, and right before their departure, the old Hokage glanced at Kakashi, who knew to wait for the old man in his office at the center of the village for his arrival with Naruto. Kakashi didn't mind, he could catch up on his reading. He pulled his orange book out and giggled a bit before being drawn into his fantasy world and he teleported half-mindedly to the Hokage's office.

The old man and the tired young boy appeared in a hospital lobby, on the third floor, a rather deserted one at that, since most people were pooled on the first and second floors. As Sarutobi and the boy appeared in a small cloud of smoke, the nurse on duty stood quickly and saluted the Hokage and the boy before greeting them. "Hello, Hokage-sama, Naruto-kun! I know what you're here for, Naruto. You look tired. I keep telling you to take your training easy!" she scolded in a sisterly manner. Naruto pouted quietly in a playful fashion.

"Now, now, I'm sure Naruto will learn his lesson… eventually."

The nurse nodded. "Perhaps… or maybe he'll always be a little dense," the nurse giggled at the blushing boy who was only being held up by the Hokage's firm grip on his shoulder.

She left her desk and led them to an empty room down the hallway, a seemingly normal medical room, complete with operation table and first aid kits of various types. She was outside the room for a moment gathering something from the freezer across the hallway before she returned with a couple of blood packs. She handed them off to Naruto and nodded at the Hokage before dismissing herself. "See you later, Naruto."

The boy nodded before quickly glancing fretfully at the Hokage who looked away knowingly to give Naruto his privacy. The boy didn't like people to watch him feed, the act in and of itself rendered him an outcast, but being observed while doing it just outright left him feeling despair. Ripping into the blood packs carefully and not spilling a drop of the crimson fluid before drinking deeply of it, Naruto, or at least his more base instincts, absolutely enjoyed the succulent rosy drink of kings while his pseudo-grandfather watched out the corner of his eye with slight apprehension, Naruto felt his strength return ten-fold, his weakness of the morning being replaced by a rush of energizing power, as if he'd eaten a powerfully nutritious meal and rested for a full night afterward. Although he, too, was apprehensive about his bizarre appetite, he couldn't help but enjoy the nourishment when he needed it, it was an absolutely forbidden fruit that even he resented, but—oh—so enjoyed at the same time!

Naruto finished, licking up the last of the drops of red drink before disposing of the empty plastic sacs that once contained the blood before nodding to the Hokage, who placed his hand upon the young boy's shoulder and they both vanished in an instant, leaving the hospital behind.

Kakashi was reading his book in the Hokage's office casually, lounging in a chair and not feeling a care in the world; at least until the Hokage appeared before him with a popping sound with Naruto in tow, and he shut his book with a snap and pocketed it. "Hokage-sama," Kakashi greeted.

The Hokage nodded and motioned for Naruto to sit as well, before the Hokage himself took the seat behind his oak desk. "Ahem, now I believe we can have our discussion?" started the older man. He looked at Naruto with a twinkle of benevolent optimism. "Naruto, you've progressed far more than I could have ever hoped. You are beyond what many warriors of our time would be at your age. I'm proud of you. And I know your sensei is as well. All that time physically conditioning you, sharpening your reflexes and increasing your abilities have paid off noticeably. So now I offer you a choice. Although I wanted to wait until you were a bit older, I realize now that your powers and maturity more than make up for it. So I will give you the option to graduate from the Academy with other genin-potentials this year, although they would be a bit older than you. You will be put on a team with two of them under a Jounin sensei if you accept. You will work with them and be their team mate for all their missions and they will be your allies everywhere you go. Are you willing to accept this?" Naruto nodded quickly, a determined look in his eye. He'd always wanted to be a ninja and had worked hard for so long, but now it was going to finally pay off, even earlier than expected! "Then Naruto, I will send you to the genin graduation today with a note of acceptance from me, personally. Here," he handed a folded and sealed letter with the Hokage's stamp on it.

"You knew this morning, didn't you, Jiji?" Naruto smiled at the old man and his already-written mischievously.

The old man chuckled, "Yes, I knew you would accept, my boy. For your entire life you've wanted this. I'm proud, Naruto, proud of you. And I know your mother and father would be too." Naruto smiled widely and sincerely, showing off his almost constantly concealed fangs.

The old man turned towards Kakashi with a triumphant look. "Kakashi, that job you've wanted is now available. Do you accept?" Kakashi nodded barely acknowledging the request beyond that simple action. "Well, then Naruto, off you go. The finals for genin graduation are beginning in less than ten minutes. Take this letter to Iruka-sensei. He will be your examiner and determine if you can pass or fail. Good luck!" Naruto nodded and shouted a goodbye of some sort as he leaped out the door and down the stairs and across the town major to get there on time.

The Hokage chuckled. "Well Kakashi? Will you at least be on time for Naruto's sake? He's already fed up with your tardiness, I'm sure."

"…Perhaps he shouldn't have been late for me this morning when I was on time for him." Kakashi pulled out his book to continue reading before disappearing from view while the Hokage shook his head with joviality before going back to his paperwork that he had left earlier this morning.

Iruka was surprised.

He was a teacher, a chunin-level ninja of academic excellence, for a few years he's been top of the shinobi education system, and he gained his abilities having to put up with a wide variety of… events, people, and problems. But this was something, not uncommon, not unwelcome, but unforeseen on Iruka's part. A student came knocking on the door moments after he entered to see his academy students' last day in class, hopefully. It seemed that the Hokage had plans to have one more unheard-of child participate. But that was of little concern to Iruka, he'd test him as per his leader's orders. Besides, another ninja who could gain experience could sooner protect Konoha.

"Alright, Naruto, why don't you take a seat and I'll pass out the first part of the exam, a written test. It will only last for thirty minutes, and I hope you do well."

"Alright, Iruka-san," replied Naruto calmly before taking a seat. He didn't see Iruka's eye twitch in annoyance.

'Doesn't he know how to address his betters? I am an instructor, after all.'

"Time begins as soon as I put down the final paper. You all have thirty minutes. Good luck," said Mizuki, another chunin instructor. He walked through the rows of students sitting at their desks depositing the exams. He watched the new kid curiously as he eagerly accepted his exam, he hadn't seen one other eager student today, and they were all nervous — disregarding standing extraneous circumstances. Iruka and Mizuki shared a look as Mizuki returned to his seat at the front of the room, both watching the quick scratching of Naruto's pencil on the paper, unlike the other's hesitant scribbling and erasure.

As the time came to a stop, Iruka directed them all to stop writing and turn in their tests. They formed a relatively orderly and disgruntled line, although Naruto seemed to hover a few inches higher than the rest, again drawing the two chunins' attention. Iruka and Mizuki then led all of their students outside, to the back of the academy near some training logs jutting out of the ground. "Alright, now it's time to examine your ranged combat abilities. All of you will throw five weapons of your choice at the targets, hit at least four out of five to pass this portion." The students nodded in understanding at the older ninja's directions. Mizuki was inside grading exams for the moment.

Most of the hopefuls hit their scarred wooden targets semi-accurately, although some were more precise than others. Naruto noticed Sasuke Uchiha's well-honed ability; each of his thrown weapons impacted their targets in rather dangerous areas. Iruka then called Naruto for his performance with the thrown weapons, right as Mizuki walked outside from the classroom where he finished grading papers. Mizuki watched, astonished, that a young boy utterly devastated the targets. The five kunai he threw were stabbed into the wooden posts faster than the eye could see, each one buried to the hilt, each one would have killed a human. The other students were rather surprised. Iruka smiled at Naruto and nodded at his passing.

"Finally, it's time for the close combat exam. Each of you will spar for sixty seconds with Mizuki. Your goal is to last at least that long. Lasting longer than sixty seconds against him will net you bonus points should you fall short in the other categories of your genin exams…" Iruka explained while Mizuki stood within a dirt circle amidst the grass, the diameter of the "sparring circle" approximately three meters, just enough to allow maneuverability. Naruto watched along with the other non-combatants as Mizuki sparred with various genin, few making it to sixty seconds, fewer surpassing. Naruto smirked as he saw the Akimichi heir defend so well against Mizuki that his time was called after five minutes of Mizuki attempting to knock him out of the ring. Sasuke Uchiha was another decent combatant, he smirked as he went at Mizuki much faster than the other genin, and dodged much of the older man's attacks. His time was called after five minutes of Mizuki attempting to tag him. Iruka was greatly impressed.

"Wow, it seems you will make graduate hall-of-fame, Sasuke. That was fantastic footwork, there."

"Thank you Iruka-sensei," replied Sasuke in monotone with a bored expression.

"Finally, Uzumaki-san, if you would grace us with your combat, we can finish the combat exams."

Naruto nodded and stepped into the ring to face Mizuki, who immediately charged at him as he'd done with the other genin.

Without stopping to think about it, his instincts coming into play rather immediately, he ducked under Mizuki's grapple and spun with his leg extended to drop the man on the dirt, face first. Before his head even hit the ground, Naruto grabbed one hand and held it behind the man's back, twisting it, slightly causing Mizuki pain. Iruka was dumbfounded that this kid the Hokage sent is a fresh academy student, he just pinned Mizuki who was struggling to move. "Alright, Naruto… er, I'll give you the bonus for incapacitating Mizuki… you can release him."

Naruto smirked and helped Mizuki up. Mizuki smirked back at him. "You're good kid. You can be one hell of a ninja someday, I promise you."

With that, the students were led back inside like sheep to the slaughter, or at least that's what some of their expressions would depict. The nervousness was absolutely palpable while they waited in the class room, even if the nervous students were less than the majority of students. The entire atmosphere was rather tense, to most, anyway. Naruto was rather calm and excited to finish his exam and earn his forehead protector and become a true ninja, he wanted to go back home to his grandfather with pride and show his new status as ninja of the village Konohagakure. Nothing could dampen his spirits.

"Naruto, you may enter," Iruka called. Naruto didn't know what this final portion would consist of but he was sure he could do it well. He was standing before Iruka and Mizuki at a desk in a private room. On the desk were forehead protectors, some with different colored cloths. "Naruto, this is the final part of the exam, and I'm sure you'll do just as well here as you have previously…" started Iruka.

Mizuki continued on, interrupting Iruka. "All you have to do is the transformation jutsu, the clone jutsu, and the body-switch jutsu. Complete these and you'll have your forehead protector, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and focused his chakra while performing hand seals in succession. With a puff of smoke, Naruto stood alongside four other clones. He then dispelled them into four clouds of quickly-dispersing smoke before switching his body with a nearby chair. Nothing overly impressive thus far, the two chunin examiners thought, but he could perform the basic ninjutsu without speaking the name of it, unlike others who need to do so in order to focus their chakra more. That was extra points for this new kid, certainly. Naruto then transformed into the Hokage, and the two were surprised that this kid had apparently been around the Hokage enough to copy his every last detail, something Iruka doubted he could do flawlessly.

"Alright, Naruto! You pass, good job. Grab a forehead protector of your choice and head back to the classroom," congratulated Mizuki.

"Thanks, Mizuki-san, Iruka-san!" Naruto exclaimed as he quickly grabbed a black-cloth forehead protector and left the room.

"So, Iruka, do you think the Hokage lied about him?"

"Of course not, Mizuki, you saw everything he did. It was phenomenal."

"I definitely agree with that. I wasn't lying when I told him he has serious potential."

Iruka nodded and stood, prepared to go congratulate the students who passed.

Naruto re-entered the classroom, not really surprising the students at this point, they had all seen his capabilities on the battlefield and expected his basic three jutsu to be just as successful, and they were correct in their assumptions as the graduates watched Naruto walk back in with his forehead protector tied around his belt. He passed all of his comrades as he made for the spare seat in the back of the class room next to a quiet, red female—wait, red?

Naruto looked again at the pale-eyed girl that sat next to him, raising an eyebrow that nobody could see under his hood.

'Huh. She is really red. Maybe she's sick or something.'

At the front of the room, Iruka emerged with a successful grin on his face. "It seems you all have passed, some better than others, but nonetheless you shall all be assigned to a jounin instructor who will lead you and train you further. It was great being your instructor, and I hope you all become successful ninja in your service to Konoha."

He trailed off into a list of those who were grouped on teams and listing their instructors. It was then that Naruto heard a name he was waiting for eagerly. "Team seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Naruto was pleased. "Your instructor is Kakashi Hatake." Naruto's grin turned upside down and his face hit the weathered oak desk. His face would not leave that location for three more hours, as his new teammates would come to find the reason why for themselves.

"Hey, guys, meet me up on the roof for our team meeting."

Naruto's eye twitched as he rose from his desk and walked to the top of the academy with his two very annoyed teammates. There, they found Kakashi reading his perpetually present orange book casually. His eye never left it as he spoke to them. "Alright, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I like to read, I dislike wasting time, and my dream is to… well, that's a bit private. Why don't you introduce yourselves now?"

Sakura took initiative. "I'm Sakura Haruno, and I like to study medicine, and Sasuke-kun. I dislike… bullies. My dream is to become a strong kunoichi for Sasuke-kun."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, I like training and conditioning myself, I dislike anything else. My dream is to avenge my fallen clan." Naruto glanced at the boy for a moment from under his hood.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like plenty of things. I dislike people who judge others without getting to know them. My dream is to… find my niche in the world."

Kakashi made a thinking sound as he heard the children speak. "Alright, well, here's the deal, guys," started the one-eyed jounin. "You aren't officially genin yet. You have to take my exam before you become true genin. And my exam is tomorrow at seven a.m. sharp, at training ground seven. I dare you guys to forget that. Oh, and don't eat, you'll puke. Later." The lazy jounin disappeared without a trace, leaving three annoyed genin who separated. Naruto watched his two teammates walk away while he returned to his grandfather figure, ready to show his new forehead protector.

'Hm… that guy, Naruto… he seems strong. Perhaps he'll be a decent sparring partner.'

Kakashi watched from a well-hidden position as his squad separated without many other words, disregarding Sakura begging Sasuke for a date. He sighed and shook his head before teleporting away, deciding to catch up on his reading. He hoped that, in the case that they begin acting like a team, that Naruto wouldn't be afraid of them. He knew under Naruto's behavior existed a deep distrust of people, even if he was kind and helpful, he was scared of them. He wouldn't want them to treat him differently because of his… life. Kakashi knew, and he knew that the Hokage knew, that Naruto was scared how his comrades would react to someone new, someone powerful, and someone… inhuman.

AN: Yeah, these chapters are going to be shorter than my other story, relatively speaking of the comparative lengths of chapters... Hopefully because of that, I'll upload them a bit faster. I want to get through the Wave and Chunin Exams arc as fast as possible; none of the really good stuff happens until after that.