A/N: This is my first try as author so please forgive me for my silly mistakes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Talking-"Naruto don't!"
Thinking-'What should I do.'
Biju/Summon talking- "You brat!"
Biju/Summon thinking- 'He's good.'
Jutsu- fire style: fire ball jutsu
Previous chapter:
After getting inside Naruto washes his face and hands and ate dinner which was already prepared by the ANBU. After that Naruto brushes his teeth and finally falls down on his bed exaggeratedly and sighs, 'It was a long day wasn't it, now I know I belong to a clan and I had a family and it really makes me happy. I will work hard to become as strong as them as then surpass them. From tomorrow I will begin my training. Till now I only understood what a shinobi is but from now on, I will start experiencing it as well. I will do my best'.
With that thought Naruto finally fell asleep.
Chapter 4: Test of Will Power:
Next day Naruto woke up when Sun peaked through his window, and its rays falling into the eyes. Now one thing Naruto hated with passion was Sun. People who knew Naruto also knew that he was heavy sleeper; he just loved his sleep a bit too much.
"Ahhh... This Sun why it has to rise so early" said Naruto.
Then suddenly his mind starts booting up... 'Shit! I have to start my training from today. How did I forget that I had to wake up early today? ...shit-shit-shit!' thought Naruto.
He hastily got up from his bed and got himself completely out of heavy sleeping after-effects by brushing his teeth and having a quick shower.
"Ohhh man I am so late, that too on first day of my training" said Naruto.
After Naruto got ready, he locked the apartment and started running towards the Hokage tower.
When Naruto reached in front of the Hokage's office door, he knocked it a bit tiredly.
"Come in Naruto-kun" said Sandaime.
"Haah...haah...haah (heavy breathing)... Hi Jiji, I am sorry, I over-slept a bit" replied Naruto looking a bit sheepish.
"It's alright I didn't specify any particular time for you to train. You can train yourself as you want it, whenever you want it" replied Sandaime.
"Ahh... But I read in your journal that you always trained early in the morning, so I assumed that you would expect me to begin my training early in the morning as well" said Naruto.
"Look at your age Naruto-kun, this is the age when I expect you to go play in the park, make friends, and have fun roaming around the village or study general books. Not to train you to become a shinobi." Sandaime sighed with an anxious look in his eyes.
"You have set your mind to train yourself from such a young age, this in itself is a big thing which brings me both a great amount of pride, but even greater amount of grief as well" Sandaime continued.
After hearing this Naruto kept quiet for some time.
"Jiji its alright I know that you still somewhat doubt yourself about allowing me to begin shinobi training because you and your senseis worked so hard to make a village where youth can be kept safe from outside harsh world" said Naruto as he sighed as well.
"But you know with Kyuubi sealed in me, the possibility of me having a normal childhood was thrown out of the window. I had to become mature enough to understand why people hated me... In the end, I think it's for the better as civilians fear me, then I will just show them that there is nothing they have to fear about me, I will do this by becoming their strongest protector and for that, I need all the training possible. I will definitely prove them wrong, believe it!" replied Naruto with a flame burning in his eyes.
Overwhelmed by such a display of passion and the flicker of will of fire that he saw in Naruto's eyes, a tear slipped down his eye.
"Then go prove them wrong Naruto-kun, you may begin with your training" said Sandaime quickly wiping the tear away from his eyes.
Naruto just gave a joyful salute and was out of the office in seconds, he was on his way towards the Hokage monuments. From the window of the office Sandaime saw Naruto's small frame running towards the Hokage monument.
"I hope you prove me wrong as well Naruto-kun", said Sandaime to no one in particular.
"Crow!" said Sandaime in a commanding voice.
"Hai, Hokage-sama" replied ANBU Crow.
"You know what to do, test him and if he fails then bring him to me. Is that understood?" asked Sandaime.
"Understood Hokage-sama" replied Crow.
After bowing in front of the Hokage Crow took his leave and got on with his mission.
After some time Naruto arrived at the foothill of the Hokage monument. He was breathing a bit heavy because he ran all the way to the foothill from the Hokage monument.
"Haah...haah...haah... Finally I have reached, now I just have to climb the monument and then locate the training area entrance. As far as I can remember it's a cave hidden in the forest area at the top of the monument" said Naruto heavily breathing for a bit.
While Naruto was catching up his breath he looked up the Hokage monument and was in awe of the magnificent structure.
'Woahh... I knew this monument was big, but now when I see it up close, it looks huge' Naruto thought.
After catching up his breath Naruto started heading towards the stairs to climb the Hokage monument.
"Alright... Let's do this!" Naruto exclaimed.
And started climb the stairs at a pace which is a bit faster than the normal walking pace. He started with a light jog but after some time started sweating a bit a profusely.
"Haah-haah... Why I am sweating this much, I know I woke up late and the Sun is already high up but it's not summer yet, nor the weather is hot..." said Naruto to himself breathing a bit heavily.
"Haah-haah... Am I getting exhausted?" asked Naruto to himself.
Naruto was getting confused. He sat down on the stairs for a bit, he relaxed and composed himself and caught his breath as well, and then he again got up to continue climbing the monument.
'I can do this... maybe this is the after-effect of climbing as I am doing it for the first time' thought Naruto reassuringly.
And thus Naruto continued his trek this time not even stopping even if he was sweating profusely and was breathing heavily as well. He continued like this for half-an-hour and finally decided to take rest as he was finally feeling the drain in his energy reserves now.
"Haah...haah... I never thought climbing the monument would be such a difficult task" said Naruto.
'Wait a minute; something is not right here I am sure I crossed this stair before. I have been looking at the stone face of the Yondaime Hokage for quite some time and its elevation has not changed at all. I still have to look up with same elevation as I had to some time ago' thought Naruto while catching up his breath.
He sat down on the stair to again compose himself.
'This is not possible, if I am assuming right I should have reached his level by now...What is going on? Hmmm...' Naruto continued thinking.
Suddenly he realized, 'Genjutsu! I have been caught in a genjutsu. It has to be a genjutsu there is no doubt about it' thought Naruto.
'Who must have caught me? Wait this is not the first thing that should come to my mind rather... How should I get out of this genjutsu? Shinobi rule #23: Shinobi must have survival instincts... Think Naruto-think...' Naruto continued this monologue in his mind while getting a bit hyper and losing his cool demeanour.
Naruto had to take some deep breaths to regain his composure.
'Okay... I am calm again. So I am in a genjutsu, according to what I have read from Jiji's journal there are three ways to disrupt a genjutsu... First, a person must disrupt his chakra flow and push it outwards so that the foreign chakra that has entered the user can be ejected... Second, if a person is not able to disrupt the chakra flow by himself then he need someone else's assistance to disrupt his chakra flow...Third, if all options don't work than a person can purposely hurt himself as genjutsu affect the mind of the person through his senses and casts illusion to confuse the mind, the pain can overwhelm other senses and thus releasing the hold of genjutsu from victim's senses' thought Naruto.
'I guess... I have to go with third option as I don't have access to my chakra right now' concluded Naruto.
Naruto got up and moved a bit sideways towards the wall built along the stairs and touched it gently... After taking in the feel of the wall for a bit he grabbed it firmly and smashed his head in it. He smashed it so hard that a bit of blood came out of the newly self-made wound.
"Ahhh...It hurts!" Naruto exclaimed.
He shakes of the dizziness and open his eyes and was surprised, as the Sun which was at the peak until a moment ago was now about to set. He looks at the stone faces and is surprised again that they are below his eye level, and then he looks at the stairs and sees his footmarks on it and then he realized...
'So I had really been caught in a genjutsu that made me climb this same set of stairs several times and then I will trek down these stairs without even realizing, thinking that I am only climbing up the stairs... A really neat genjutsu, caught me in a loop' concluded Naruto.
Naruto continued his trek with renewed vigour, even though his head was bleeding though it already started to heal as he had accelerated healing factor of Uzumaki blood and Kyuubi as well.
"Finally I made it!" exclaimed Naruto as he reached the top of the Hokage monument.
"That was exceptional Naruto-kun" said a mysterious monotonous voice.
"Huh!" replied Naruto a bit startled by sudden appearance of someone behind. As he turned around to see who he was, he only saw red eyes with spinning tomoe, and then he found himself in blissful sleep.
"Sleep Naruto-kun, you have performed beyond expectation" said the ANBU Crow.
Hokage's Office:
Sandaime was busy doing his paper work, but suddenly he felt arrival of one of his ANBU.
"Report Crow" ordered Sandaime.
Crow just arrived in the office via shunshin-no-jutsu.
"Sir Naruto passed, and not only he passed he even discovered that he was in genjutsu" replied Crow.
"That's unbelievable... He saw through the genjutsu!" exclaimed Sandaime as he was really shocked. Who would expect a mere 5-6 year old child to recognize the genjutsu much less break it.
"Just gently lay him down on the sofa Itachi-kun and you can go now, you are relived from the duty for today, thank you for your excellent service" said Sandaime with a touch of personal tone.
"It's was pleasure watching him trek the Hokage monument Sandaime-sama. You asked me to test him for his will power to check if he would give up or not, but not only he continued even when he faced severe obstructions due to effects of the genjutsu I casted on him, but even found a way to break my genjutsu, that's just astounding" replied ANBU Crow now revealed as Itachi Uchiha.
After listing to Itachi Sandaime lit his tobacco pipe and stood up from his chair and sighed and turned his back towards and started looking outside the windows of the office towards the Konoha walls.
"I never wanted him to start on shinobi training this early...Outside these walls is a harsh world, filled with killers, assassins, and many more dangerous beings, I wanted him to make some bonds with some people and maybe children of his age, but sadly that cannot happen" said Hokage in a sad tone.
"Sir, permission to speak freely?" asked Itachi.
Sandaime just nodded his head slightly.
"I think it is better that he is starting his training early as he has nothing to do at the moment. No one talks to him; he doesn't have any parents to look after him as well. All this must make him feel left out and lonely. I can only imagine what he must have been feeling, staying in that apartment alone doing nothing... Now at least he has something to look forward to, he really wants to become strong, and he has the iron will that I have seen in no child of his age... Maybe the harsh life he lived until now has made him stronger, challenges either break you or make you, I guess he overcame them and came out as someone stronger than before" replied Itachi.
After listening to Itachi Sandaime closed his eyes and recollected his thought while also thinking about what Itachi said. After a while, a small smile broke on Sandaime's face.
"Hmmm... You are being awfully talkative today Itachi" said Sandaime with a hint of mirth in his voice.
Itachi did not know how to reply to Sandaime.
"Though thank you for clearing my doubts Itachi-kun, I had made many mistakes in my life and I will not lie, that ever since I have allowed Naruto to train, one thought has been constantly poking in my mind that is, 'Am I making a mistake by allowing him to train to become a shinobi this early or not?'... I guess he should be okay, I am just worrying too much, as I see him as my own grandson" replied Sandaime.
Sandaime then composed himself and again spoke in a commanding voice, "ANBU Crow I have a mission for you... You have to tail Naruto-kun whenever he goes to train in the secret training ground and mask his presence from the surrounding world as no one should ever come to know that the secret training ground is being accessed by Naruto Uzumaki... Do you accept?"
"Hai...Hokage-sama!" replied Crow.
"Good...You are dismissed" said Sandaime.
And thus Itachi bowed one last time and then took his leave.
'Let's see what future has in store for us' thought Sandaime as a saw the Sun slowly disappear behind the village walls.
Author's note:
Hey guys it has been long... I am really sorry for such a late update. I have started my college since last year and just finished my first year at college. It took me some time to adjust to my college life and I am really sorry that I didn't update for such a long time. From now on I will try to update as often as possible (at least once per month).
Thank you for reading.