I don't own Naruto… this is just a story. Have fun.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Academy days

---------Monday---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It started as any normal day in the ninja world. Everything was normal for all except for a certain boy. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze had just woken up from his bed.

"… oh man! I can't believe it is morning. I barely slept a wink last night." Truthfully, he was very nervous about today. 'Today, I'll meet everyone again… things will be like the good old days… I hope…'

As he got up from his bed, he went to the bathroom and washed himself and turned back to the dresser. He pulled out a pair of black pants and a white shirt and dressed. 'I don't really need my ninja gear because first year students don't really need them. But I guess, I'll take my ninja pouch with some kunai and shuriken.' He placed his pouch on and sandals and left for the academy.

'I wonder how everyone will look… Sasuki looked really cute yesterday… NO… NO!... BAD NARUTO!!! BAD, once you get thoughts like that in your head, it's the first step to becoming the number 1 pervert!'

As he reached the academy, he noticed that a lot of kids were with their parents who were kissing them for good luck. The blond ninja got a very sad look on his face, wondering about how it felt to be embraced by parents and loved ones.

Some of the parents turned to leave and saw Naruto. Their kind and gentle expressions turned to scorn and irritation seeing him and passed him by, some of them even cutting his path.

'Oh yeah… how could I forget, most of the village still hates my guts right now…' thought the blond making his way through them, avoiding their looks and challenges.

As he walked to the entrance, he saw a young woman petting a young girl on the head. The woman had long dark purple hair that went to her lower back and was pregnant. Upon closer inspection Naruto noticed that she wore Hyuuga clothes. 'Is she a Hyuuga? ' The blond boy then turned the young girl and noticed that she also had dark purple hair and was cut short and she looked very nervous. She was dressed in a black shirt and a white jacket with long black pants'… that must be Hinata. Then… is that her mother?' He grinned at them and then ran towards them. "Hey Hinata! Good Morning."

The girl turned shaken up by the voice to the blond kid that was running to them. She didn't know him that well, but she remembered his name. "…o-oh h-hello… umm… Naruto."

Naruto came up to her and looked at the other person. She looked very kind and loving. When she saw Naruto she looked at him very curiously.

Hinato saw Naruto's questioning face and decided to answer his unasked question. "This is my mother Hiyori Hyuuga."

The woman looked kindly at Naruto and smiled at him. "Nice to meet you." And bowed her head as she could.

"Nice to meet you to." He grinned at her and returned the bow. He then turned to Hinata "we have to hurry or Iruka sensei will keep us after class."

Hinata looked down and then turned back to Naruto."… Alright. Bye ka-san."

Naruto turned back to her mother "bye, nee-chan, it was nice meating you!!!" He turned and left quickly to the entrance.

Hiyori watched as they went inside and waved to them. "Bye, and do your best!"

The young Uzumaki ran to the entrance and slid the door open with Hinata following him. "Sorry we're late!" He looked at the woman that was standing at the desk, he thought he was in trouble for sure.

Iruka arrived minutes earlier and was just about to start role call when the young knucklehead known as Naruto Uzumaki burst in through the door. She was going to scold him but decided to drop it for now. Having had a discussion with the Third, she was a little worried about the boy. What he seamed to forget was known news; to forget something like that could be bad signs. "Don't worry, Naruto, you're just on time, we were just about to start role call… Take a seat anywhere."

Naruto surveyed the whole classroom, the girls still looked the same but the guys were in short number.

Naruto just picked a seat in the middle and waited for the role call. He didn't recognize everyone so he had to wait and hear their names.

Iruka started with some students, Naruto ignored most of them and waited for any familiar ones.

"Haruno Sakura!"

"Hai!" Answered a girl. Naruto turned to her and indeed it was his former or future teammate and she looked the same as always. Only that she looked rather shy and nervous. 'This is the girl, that is going to surpass Tsunade ba-chan in strength and the one who will strike fear in the hearts of all the Elemental Nations?...' he asked himself "I guess it's true what they say, life is full of surprises."

"Inuzuka Kiba!"

"Hai!" responded the voice of a girl. This voice was very husky yet feminine and demanding.

Naruto looked around and found the owner; it was a girl wearing a long-sleeved grey shirt with a pair of short tight pants that went up to the knees. She had very messy brown hair that was very spiky. He face pretty and had two tattoos on each cheek in the form of two triangles, they looked like fangs. Naruto remembered the Kiba he knew and was trying hard not to laugh.

"Aburame Shino!"

"Hai!" responded the same male voice. Apparently he had not suffered the effects of the virus.

"Hinata Hyuuga!"

"Hai!" responded the Hyuuga heiress.

"Iamanaka Ino!"

"Hai!" responded the same Ino that wore a yellow shirt and bleu short pants.

"Uchiha Sasuki!"

"Hai!" responded the girl Naruto met recently.

"Akamichi Choja!"

"Hai" responded a girl. She had slightly spiky hair that went only past her neck and was wearing short pants and a long-sleeved sweater. She was a little overweight but cute all the same.

"Nara Shika!"

"…" no response.

"Nara Shika!?!!" this time with more force.

A single hand was seen raising up. "… hai." Answered the girl. She was normal size for a kid of 8 sounding bored and looked up slightly. She had long hair that went just over her shoulders and was let loose. Her face was pretty but she looked bored and drowsy.

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

"Hai!!" confirmed Naruto raising up. 'Hm. This is certainly different, I remember how they all were but now, to look at them and compare them. It feels like their worlds apart from the people I knew… but… I learned the hard way to not trust a book by its cover…'

The rest of the day Naruto heard the lessons or at least tried to. It was basic stuff and he didn't really need to fill his time with that.

Finally at the end of the day, the class started to leave while Iruka continued to work on her lessons for the following days.

"Hey Iruka!" Iruka turned around and saw he long time friend Mizuki looking at her from the hall. He was still a guy. "Hey, do you want to get some lunch?"

"Sorry, I still have work to do, and a special assignment from the Hokage." Responded the woman.

"Oh. I see, I'll be going then…. oh hey Naruto!"

"Hi" responded Naruto going past Mizuki dismissing him. 'I have having to put up with this bastard again, but if I do anything right now, with the whole village still under suspicion that I am the fox, it could end very badly for me…'

"Hello Naruto, Sandaime told me that you've been having some trouble with the lessons."

"That's right, Iruka-sensei, I don't seam to get the lessons right… so could you please help me after classes for a while…" asked Naruto with pleading eyes.

"I guess it can't be helped. Naruto will always be Naruto… so what do you want to know?"

"Tell me about Y-virus…" asked Naruto with determined eyes.

"The Y-virus? Well that's pretty common knowledge… but give your circumstances, I can understand why you don't know about it."

"That's right. Why are there so many kunichis? I mean even now in the class, I could only 5 guys with me, out of 30 students…"

"Well Naruto. It all started during the time of the Nidaime Hokage. Back then the ninja world was in chaos and wars were frequent between villages and clans… one such war was againt the Village hidden in the shadows. It was a relatively small village but their medicines and science were unmatched back then. Some villages feared them so much that many ganged up on them. Most of their ninja forces were men and the women stood behind in the village to create new chemical weapons. Are you following me?"

"… hai." Responded Naruto after a pause to take it all in.

"Hmm…" the teacher raised a eyebrow at this and her eyes widened slightly.

"What is it, Iruka-sensei?"

"Nothing is just that… maybe you have grown up a little. The old Naruto would have left or fell asleep by now… it's just funny to see you take so much interest in this…"

"Well… I guess you have to get serious sometimes otherwise it'll be too late tomorrow." Responded Naruto slightly embarrassed by the comment.

"That's right. Now as I was saying. The wars continued for years until one day we took the village, however we discovered plans that said something about the Y-virus. But most of the research was destroyed. However, to our shock, we salvaged enough of the research to determine what the Y-virus is… We found out that a week or so prior to the final assault, they had already sent five kunoichis with a ample amount of the substance deep in the Elemental countries and released the virus. We were too late and the people who created it were either long gone or dead. Not that we would have done anything back then anyway…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Naruto confused at the last statement.

"Like I was saying back then it was war, and people didn't pay attention to the fact that the scale of girls born started to overwhelm the boys. Also the virus itself is very tricky; it has activation periods so we couldn't pinpoint it. It was a confusing time… that is until we started to notice it later, then wars started to slow to a stop… and the rest is history…"

"So, how does it work? And why are there still men, now?"

"The virus works by causing a mutation on the embryo before the child is born. It causes a slight shift in the Y chromosome that just pushes it away leaving two X's. It is also airborne so you could say that the mother is actually the one infected by it but the one effected is the child."

"… I see. But why?"

"We suspect that the ones who made the virus were women who had enough of the war and blamed men for it. They could have had enough of it and left this for us to dwindle away and for out children to feel the loss and loneliness that they felt when their children and husbands didn't return." Responded Iruka with a sad smile looking at the boy, all the while feeling sad for the women.

"That's sad…" responde the blond boy thinking about his own pain that he felt in his world.

"As for the men, well occasionally there is a special period when the virus needs to strike, if it misses it then there is still a good chance that the child could be boy. That just happens rarely, however if the person has a great amount of chakra its possible that the man could grow to have children that could grow an immunity to the virus, but that is only a theory made by Tsunade before she left the village."

"Okay, but then why are there so many kunoichi? the village still seam to have a decent amount of men…"

"Well…" Iruka felt nervous. "Families of ninja travel to do missions so there is a higher chance of them getting infected, that's one reason…"

"One reason?" asked Naruto interested.

"Let's just leave it at that… you'll learn about the other later…" finished Iruka smiling.

"Oh, okay…" finished Naruto.

"Don't worry, it will be alright… let's go get some ramen." asked Iruka.

Naruto's mood changed immediately. "Hai! Let's eat till we get sick!"

"Ahaha! That's better, but you're going to buy half your lot…" finished Iruka getting up.

"EH??"


------------That afternoon--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto was in the training grounds doing some exercise to improve his stamina and put more muscle on. All the while he was thinking about everything that he was told. 'So that's what happened, I guess in my timeline, they must have destroyed the village faster and prevented the virus' creation.'

Naruto continued to do his exercises until he turned to some trees and saw something strange. He pulled out a shuriken and threw it at one of the breaches.

"(KLING!)" It was deflected and fell to the ground.

"Nice trick, but the wind is blowing and those leafs are not moving…" responded the blond looking directly at the branches.

"… you saw through that. You have good senses for a academy student. Kai!" said a voice revealing itself to be Itana.

"It's no big deal. So what are you doing here?" responded the blond a little nervous.

"Training, like you…" she said walking in front of him.

"Oh, that's good, want to spar with me? I could use a partner…" asked the blond.

"… I guess… since I'm on my break…" Responded the brunet taking a stance.

Naruto took his own stance and the two dashed at each other doing kicks and punches and avoiding them.

Itana was impressed tat the boy could hold his own, his moves were rather unpredictable and he moved great.

After an hour of punches and kicks, both were taking a break. Naruto didn't look tired but Itana was having less stamina.

"You're pretty good. Genin level already. " said Itana looking at the clouds.

"Thanks, I don't think I'm that strong though. So I have to keep trying to get better." Naruto responded with determined eyes.

Itana turned to him, a little surprised at his choice of words. "Tell me Naruto, why do you want to be a ninja?" she asked.

"…" Naruto turned to her and was a little taken back by the question. "Well, since I was little I didn't have a family and not many friends, but I do have now, and they live in this world. People can die for no reason in this world sometimes. That is just going to continue until someone makes a stand… I want to be that someone… I want to grow up and protect my special people and break that stupid world and change it..."

Itana looked at Naruto in utter shock. His words were not those of an academy student. She was expecting him to say something goofy like 'it's fun' or 'everyone does that'. But his words were those of someone who saw the horrors of the world, like how she saw it.

He turned to her and grinned like a fox. "And I want to be Hokage, that way, everyone will recognize me!"

Itana couldn't help but smile kindly at him, she was a little shocked by his responses but chose to not get too much into them.

"But… as a ninja… we have to make hard choices… how are you going to fulfill your dream if you are faced with such a choice?" she asked knowing what was happening in her clan.

"Then, if I can't escape that choice, then I'll just find a better way. I'll find a way to choose a better path." Responded the blond.

"(Sign) I thought that you were manlier a while ago but I guess you're still a child…" responded Itana looking down.

"Don't underestimate me! I won't turn back and I won't take back my words!! I am going to protect everyone!!" responded the blond getting up in an instant and raising his fist high.

Itana was shocked again. 'He is unpredictable… I wish that there were more people like him.'

"Naruto come here…" asked Itana making a motion with her had for him to come closer.

"…what?" the blond buy came to her.

As he came to her, Itana moved herself in a sitting position on her knees. As Naruto came in front of her, she put her hands behind his head and placed her lips on his forehead.

Naruto was completely shocked and couldn't move.

She finally pulled back and let go. "For good luck!" she smiled at him. "and never give up on your dreams."

Naruto was pink on the cheeks but he returned to his normal in a second and grinned. "You got it!"

The both laughed until. "Itana!" a voice was heard.

"Itana! There you are…"

"Shisui. What are you doing here?"

A man came forward that had black hair and looked like an Uchiha. "Fugaku-dono sent me to call you. He wanted to speak to us…" he looked at the blond boy.

"Oh! This is Uzumaki Naruto, he is one of Sasuke's academy friends." Introduced Itana. "Naruto, this is Shisui Uchiha, he's my boyfriend."

"Nice to meat you!" offered Naruto his hand.

"Same here. Sorry but we have to get going." returned the man.

"oh… okay…bye." Naruto waved.

"Bye Naruto…" said Itana leaving with Shizui.

As they were getting farther and farther, Shisui decided to ask. "Isn't that the kid that holds the Kyuubi?" asked Shisui.

"Yes."

"Why are you even talking to him?" asked again.

"I just wanted to talk to him… to study him." She finished.

"Oh… I see."

While they were gone, Naruto took a moment to contemplate everything that happened so far. "That was strange. The real Itachi never acted like this, maybe it's because the massacre hasn't happened yet, or because he's a girl now."

Naruto got on his feet. "Okay, that's enough physical work; it's time to start my chakra control exercises." He lifted a leaf of the ground and placed it on his head, all the while sitting in a lotus position. "While I'm at it, I can practice standing still."

While he was doing this, he did not notice a pair of eyes that were following him in the bushes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's it for this chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you think. I'm going to move in time skips in the next chapter because it's too troublesome to continue to write like this…