AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars

43 BBY – Current Year

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Chapter IV: Beginnings

Over one year has passed since the previous chapter

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He missed and couldn't believe it. He actually missed most of the target. That wasn't supposed to happen at least not to him.

A six year old Uchiha Sasuke stood a good distance away from one of the academy trainings posts and was frowning at it. He threw all six of his shuriken at once like he always did, he made the same dramatic pose like he always did, and he expected to see the same results as he always had. However, three shuriken hadn't even hit the post, another two had hit but barely, and the final shuriken hit the post but didn't imbed into it.

He continued to stare and frown but it quickly turned into a glare. He ignored the cries of his fan girls as they tried to console him because he didn't completely hit the target. Despite trying to drown out the noise, he could still hear them shouting that he would get it next time.

'I don't miss.' he thought. 'I'm an Uchiha and we don't miss.' After all that practicing, he had done so poorly. He couldn't believe it. 'Was there something wrong with the shuriken?' he thought. The day was sunny and there was no wind to speak of, so it couldn't have been environmental factors. 'It must have been something wrong with the shuriken.' he convinced himself. When he threw the kunai, he might have to aim more carefully if there was something with them wrong too.

Standing about fifteen feet away was the group of boys in the class. They were all separated from the girls by at least ten feet and standing quietly while they waited for their turn. Among them was Uzumaki Naruto who, if one could see his face, had the biggest shit-eating grin. He could hardly contain his own laughter at what he had done.

It was just a simple manipulation of the Force. Using a very basic application of Force push to change the trajectory of the shuriken. He had to be subtle enough that he didn't move the weapons too much. He had used his right hand and faced it towards where Sasuke was aiming but kept the hand at his side. All he had to do was get the timing right and concentrate on what he wanted to accomplish. The use of his hand was more to focus on the area and objects that he wanted to affect and as a conduit for the force to go through. He had to make sure that no one saw him doing something strange though so he didn't reach out his hand to better use the technique.

Naruto was wearing a dark gray jacket that was unzipped and open which showed that he had on a black high collared shirt that mostly covered his face. The hood of the jacked was also up and it shadow most of his face. He had black pants on, the standard ninja footwear, and black fingerless gloves. He was glad he had the hood and high collar as the other boys might wonder why he was trying so hard not to laugh if they saw him. He actually had to bite his lip to keep breaking out in chuckles.

Naruto regained his composure however. He would like to have said that he was able to overcome the urge to laugh but the real reason was that Sasuke was preparing to throw his kunai. He needed to get ready and focused.

Sasuke placed all six kunai between his fingers and prepared for his throw. Most other students threw one at a time but he like to show off. However, he didn't like to let others know that he liked to show off. He looked at the target and steadied his breathing. A moment later he threw. The kunai flew to the target as he took his famous dramatic pose (its the pose where his head is down and arms back, sticking in air and forming a 'V'). He waited only a moment to hear the results, which were a series of clangs and a dull thud.

He nearly fell over in shock, and standing not too far away, Naruto nearly doubled over while holding his sides and trying not to laugh out loud.

Sasuke looked up a moment later to see a single kunai sticking in the post, the rest were on the ground around the post. 'What happened? It doesn't make any sense.' he thought. A few of the other boys snickered and Naruto desperately tried not to laugh out loud.

Sasuke stared at the target in both anger and confusion. The chunin instructor, a Funeno Daikoku, came up to Sasuke and asked if he was feeling alright, which made Naruto nearly lose it. The chunin then suggested that perhaps Sasuke should have tried throwing them one at a time and not all at once to which Sasuke scowled but reached into his ninja pouch and took out another kunai. He tossed it at the target with a smirk but it hit the ring of the only kunai imbedded in the target and bounced off.

Now thoroughly embarrassed, Sasuke left the throwing area and went back to the boys lineup.

'I didn't do anything on that last one.' thought Naruto as he tried not to laugh out loud again. He managed to get over his laughter, until he saw who was coming up to throw next. It was Inuzuka Kiba.

'And now to add salt to the wound.' Naruto thought with a devious smirk, that also couldn't be seen.

Kiba took his position and started throwing his shuriken one by one. To his astonishment, and everyone else's for that matter, they all hit the target post. It took Kiba a second to realize what he had done before he started shouting in triumph. Many of the girls booed him as they thought it was some type of fluke that he had beaten Sasuke.

The now confident and smirking Kiba took out his kunai and managed to get each of them to hit the target as well. While the girls and Kiba shouted again, Sasuke was grinding his teeth together as he couldn't believe that someone had managed to beat him. He was an Uchiha and they were supposed to be the best. He had always felt inferior to his brother but there was no way he was going to be inferior to anyone in this class.

"Maybe you should take a few pointers from Kiba, eh Sasuke." said a disembodied voice and the other boys laughed. Although none of them had thought of it at the time, they didn't know who had said it and no one would have recognized the voice if they were paying attention.

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A lot had happened since he had found that starship just over one year ago. Plagueis had introduced Naruto to his spirit form and after the boy awoke from screaming and fainting, he had assured Naruto that he wasn't a real ghost and had no intention of haunting him. After that was over, Naruto took Plagueis's holocron in a backpack that Naruto had found in the ship and they went around Konoha to look for a place to set up a base or training area.

Any area that was in the open or near even low traffic was completely out of the question. They investigated the Hokage mountain, as it contained many emergency shelters in case the village was attacked. Most of the shelters were suitable for training but if the village were attacked, then the area would be discovered and the village could be attacked at any moment. There was no room that was secluded from the other areas in the shelters.

Plagueis was looking for an area that was no longer used and not even widely known about. They managed to find only one such area inside of the village, which was the backside of the faces on the monument. Though they didn't know it, when the faces were created, the area where the face would go was hollowed out with earth jutsu to provide the materials for form the face. The faces weren't actually carved but created with earth jutsu. This left hollow areas behind the faces that few were aware of and where no one went or used.

Naruto already possessed a routine of going up to the top of the Hokage monument heads and watching over the village, so few would think twice if they saw him walking up there. There were several buildings on the top of the monument but they were set back from the edge a good distance and tree cover was around. It took a while but they had found the entrance way into the space behind the faces. It was normally locked but a small usage of the Force from Plagueis was all it took to gain access.

Plagueis had found the area to be well suited for what he had in mind. There were many rocks of different sizes strewn on the floor that could be used and the area was very flat. It was also secluded and from examining the area, he could tell that no one had come there for some time. The four faces of the mountain provided four separate rooms to put whatever they wanted in. Seeing that it would be difficult to move everything that Plagueis had wanted taken out of the ship because of the water, they went shopping.

When Plagueis had been speaking to the Kyuubi, he had used a bit of his mind tricks and persuasion on it to have it divulge more information than it normally would have for an 'intruder' in the boy's mindscape. Initially, Plagueis had tried to talk with the creature but the Kyuubi had been very tight lipped about answering his questions. As time went on in the mindscape, and with the application of a few Force abilities, the Kyuubi unknowingly revealed more and more to him.

Information about the boy and his parents, information on the sealing, and a good amount concerning Chakra and ninja in general were all revealed to Plagueis. It may have been a powerful creature and filled with an incredible amount of hate, but its mind wasn't very strong willed, nor were its mental defenses against his subtle use of the Force. Plagueis was very skilled at manipulation and mind control tricks, so it wasn't very hard for him. Once he found out that the large creature was trapped, he could have tried to take more information but was content for that moment. It would be best not to anger the creature and hamper what he had established.

Some of what he had learned during that long talk was the reason that they were headed to one of the many ninja supply stores in Konoha. Naruto had been very apprehensive about entering any of the stores but Plagueis had assured him that everything would be fine. Naruto was still wearing the backpack with the holocron in it, so Plagueis could talk with the boy through telepathy and he had taught Naruto to not verbally reply when other were around. Eventually Naruto would be able to reply to him with his own telepathy and they would find better accommodations than carrying his holocron around in a large backpack.

Naruto had nervously entered the store and the person at the counter had instantly recognized him. The man was about to do something when he stopped and had a dazed look on his face. Naruto had felt something but he wasn't sure what had happened. Plagueis told him to take the opportunity and look through the isles.

The owner just stood behind the counter with a dumb smile on his face while Naruto shopped. Plagueis examined the variety of weapons that ninja used. Really they had been here to purchase several storage scrolls but why waste the opportunity. They picked out several sets of weapons, the storage scrolls they were originally after, and standard ninja pouches. Sets of new clothing were chosen, in colors that did not involve orange, and Plagueis told Naruto to look at the swords.

Eventually, the boy would wield a lightsaber but that was many years off. Plagueis did have an idea which they could try in a couple of years when Naruto became more advanced in the Force, but for now, they looked for something normal. The store had a small selection of blades and of different quality.

While Naruto was amazed at the variety, as he had never been inside of a weapons shop before, Plagueis was systematically narrowing down the choices. The katana was obviously too long for the boy and even in years to come it still would be. The sword which bore the label wakizashi could have been right for him, as well as the ninjato. The tanto's were a little too small and while there were several other blades, they were too unique and couldn't be used with the sword styles that Plagueis was going to teach him. After narrowing down the choices, Plagueis informed Naruto of the options and the blonde chose the straight-bladed ninjato.

They took the merchandise to the counter where the still smiling owner stood. The man totaled up the the amount and before Naruto could ask Plagueis how they would pay for it all with the money he bought, the owner knocked off over seventy percent off the price. As Naruto packed up his new equipment he had asked, "How did you do that?" to Plagueis who responded, "Weak minds can be easily confused or bent to the will others. That which you saw, wasn't very difficult to perform."

"Will you teach me that?" Naruto asked and Plagueis responded, "Yes, in time I will teach you that and more." It was mostly a lie though, as Plagueis wouldn't be teaching Naruto mind control or Force subjugation but just the regular mind tricks. Naruto smiled at the statement as he packed the rest in to the backpack and sealed the sword into one of the scrolls. It wouldn't do for him to walk the streets displaying a weapon.

It took a while for the confusion to wear off and the owner to stop selling things at ridiculously low prices to anyone that walked in.

The next day, Naruto became a student of Plagueis and he was to call him Master from that day forward. Master Plagueis had immediately started teaching Naruto, getting him to first feel his two powers and tell the difference between the two. Naruto practiced basic manipulation of the Force and they experimented with Chakra. This actually lead to several discoveries.

While trying to use his powers, his connection to the Force and Chakra were like oil and water. They always stayed separate and it wasn't possible to combine them into one power. However, when he channeled the Force, he used also channeled some of his Chakra without knowing it and the opposite also happened, when he channeled only Chakra a little of the Force was channeled as well. Naruto was completely oblivious to what was going on but Plagueis could feel it happening and was very intrigued. It proved that Naruto might be able to control them simultaneously, perhaps with very interesting results.

Plagueis wasn't sure exactly how Chakra could help Naruto's Force powers but he had several ideas on how the Force could be used to augment jutsu. He was eager to find out in the coming years. Naruto would first need to acquire and learn jutsu but that wasn't exactly a problem in a village full of ninja. If they couldn't get jutsu through regular means, then they would buy it, steal it, or take it from the minds of others. Plagueis had long ago learned patience from his own master but he was having difficulty reigning in his thoughts and curiosity on the matter of Chakra, jutsu, and their interaction with the Force.

Training had resumed for Naruto after the slight digress from Plagueis's schedule in which he taught Naruto to start feeling for and trying to use both powers at once. It was important to investigate such a discovery but Plagueis knew he would have plenty of time for that later and as much as he was interested, he had to control his emotions and feelings. He still had plans to set in motion and a new student to train. They had a lot of ground to cover, especially when it came to Naruto's mind.

Plagueis had started having Naruto meditate while holding his holocron. Touching the holocron would allow Plagueis to have a better connection with Naruto when they entered his mindscape. With a little experimentation, Plagueis found that the difference between the boy's mind and the outside world was close to a factor of sixty. Sixty seconds on the inside for every one second that passed on the outside. It was almost equivalent to an hour of study for every minute that passed on the outside.

Naruto wasn't anywhere near a genius but Plagueis's thoughts on intelligence were that, unless a person had some kind of illness or mental handicap, they could learn anything. It would just take varying amounts of time from person to person and the willingness of the individual to learn. Therefore, he was sure that Naruto could learn everything that he planned to teach him. While Plagueis would not teach him all the Force Powers that were at his own disposal when he still had his body, he would make sure that Naruto had a powerful mind and enough abilities to get by. He would teach the boy how to protect his mind and how to think more like a Sith and then move on to Force powers.

The problem that the boy currently had wasn't really stupidity. It was that he was so focused on the village and becoming Hokage that he didn't care about anything else. He didn't care about reading or learning or listening. He also got bored rather easily. In truth, he didn't care about anything that wouldn't help him on his way to becoming Hokage. However, Naruto didn't actually know what things would help him be Hokage. No one had ever explained something like that to him. He'd focused on such a far away goal that he couldn't see the steps and path to get there. The effect made it seem like the boy was at a much lower intelligence because he was oblivious to many things that happened around him and even some basic knowledge was not known to him. Not having anyone to properly teach him was another inhibitor. The boy lacked basic interactions with others and was easy to manipulate.

The only focus that the boy had for training was that he had to train his body. Naruto had no plans to ever train his mind or even read a single book. He only knew that he needed to train and become stronger, but he had no idea how to train himself and how to become stronger. No one had ever explained that to him either and if they had, he probably didn't realize that it was important and disregarded it. The strongest person wasn't the most intelligent or the one that was the most physically strong or powerful. It took a blend of intelligence, physical abilities, and power to make a person stronger than others.

On an average day, Plagueis would spend around three hours inside of Naruto's mindscape teaching him basic knowledge. It may not have seemed that much but three hours on the outside was equivalent to nearly eight days on the inside of the boy's mind. Plagueis started teaching Naruto how to read and write in Galactic Basic Standard as well as the basics of mathematics, science, engineering, the history of the galaxy, history of the jedi and sith, information about the Force, and teaching him about the starship.

It was a great deal of information but Plagueis had eight day increments to teach Naruto these things. Plagueis was aware of how much time it would take to teach Naruto everything that a Sith acolyte should know but with the mindscape training, he would have all the time he needed.

The only thing that Plagueis valued more than his research was his own knowledge. His master had even called him Plagueis the Wise because of his vast knowledge on so many subjects. He was a firm believer that knowledge was power and was always trying to learn more about the galaxy and the Force. Therefore he had much more knowledge than most Jedi or Sith on just about any topic and was planning to teach Naruto as much as he thought the boy would need in order to further his plans.

Back in the real world, Plagueis spent the remaining hours of the day working on Naruto's physical training and Force training. Plagueis was teaching him a martial arts style known as Teras Kasi which was Basic for 'Steel Hand' and was an old style that was developed by a group of people to specifically fight the Jedi. What better style for a Sith than one which was specifically created and adapted over thousands of years to fight Jedi? The style was specifically made for speed and anticipation of strikes and included teachings for the user to be able to close off their mind from mind trick or other mental based attacks.

Plagueis started Naruto on an intense training regiment for his body but quickly found himself making revisions. He had assumed what he thought Naruto's physical aptitude and abilities would be but was wrong in his assumption. Plagueis had worked Sidious into the ground while training his student but Naruto had far more stamina and recovery abilities than what he was used to and a regiment that he deemed as hard, barely winded the boy. He also found that he had to keep increasing the regiment as Naruto kept growing accustomed to the current level of training. Despite the problems, Plagueis was very pleased with the discovery. In a few years, he believed that Naruto would easily be able to outlast almost any opponent that he faced in the galaxy.

Using the ninjato, Plagueis had started teaching Naruto the basics of several Sith styles of lightsaber combat. The ninjato was a perfect substitute as it was a straight blade and was the perfect length for Naruto to use. Eventually, Plagueis might also teach Naruto several of the Jedi styles so he could better combat them if they ever encountered a Jedi in the future.

Starting out with just basic manipulation of the Force, Naruto started showing great aptitude for telekinesis. In just a few short months, he was already pushing and pulling objects and he could make several objects float in the air around him while meditating or doing a hand stand. Naruto had very good control over the Force but he lacked that good control over his Chakra. Plagueis had also worked on stealth and trying to hide both of Naruto's signatures. It appeared that ninja weren't able to sense the fact that Naruto had any other power besides his Chakra, or at least they hadn't come across a ninja that could sense it.

Plagueis had decided that he wouldn't teach Naruto in the same way that he taught Sidious. Sidious was taught to hate Plagueis and he had taken away everything that his student enjoyed as well as making him face all his fears while also teaching Sidious to control and harness his emotions. The same training wouldn't be done with Naruto as Plagueis didn't want his acolyte to gain too much power and destroy him like Sidious had tried to do. Therefore, he had settled for gaining the boy's trust and loyalty while still working on controlling and harnessing emotions and removing his fears but to a lesser degree. Plagueis had no real attachment to the boy but he was an interesting subject to study and teach. He wouldn't make the same mistakes that he did with Sidious.

To better travel and keep an eye on his acolyte, Plagueis had Naruto get a storage seal tattooed on the skin on the underside of his right forearm. Plagueis then had Naruto seal his holocron into it when Naruto was going out of their hiding area or out of his apartment. That way, Plageuis could stay with his acolyte and observe everything that happened while still keeping in contact. Unless the skin that the seal was on was destroyed, Plagueis would remain safely inside of the seal and Naruto wouldn't have to carry around a pyramidal shape object wherever he went. Plagueis also had Naruto get a customized bracers to wear over his arms to better protect the seal. They were made for someone who was a few years older than Naruto but neither was planning to get into any fights in the mean time.

While sealed in the storage seal, Plagueis's holocron was technically always in contact with Naruto allowed Plagueis to access the mindscape as Naruto if holding the holocron. Plagueis could also have his spirit move inside and outside of the seal at will. Now Plagueis was far more mobile as he had Naruto to take him wherever he wanted to go. He also had the same influence outside of the seal as he did when someone was near his holocron.

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After a year of learning and training, Naruto found that he was already ahead of the students at the academy. He had learned two of the basic three academy jutsu while the others in his class hadn't even started learning them yet. It seemed however that he was unable to perform the third standard academy jutsu, the bunshin no jutsu.

Plagueis believed that it was a result of Naruto not having enough control over his Chakra and the fact that the amount of Chakra that Naruto had, kept increasing at a much faster rate than anyone else in his class. After much work and meditation, Naruto had been able to create one clone but not anymore than that and he would overload the jutsu creating multiple flimsy clones or ones that looked dead. Plagueis planned on finding something else that the boy could use as they learned from the academy teachings that there were multiple clone jutsus that were more advanced.

Plagueis had been very interested in the substitution jutsu as well as the transformation jutsu. The Force had similar techniques to the Henge but they weren't nearly as easy and simple to use as the Chakra based technique. The substitution jutsu, however, was far more interesting to Plagueis as apparently it could allow someone to change places with a nearby object and escape death or even change places with another person. Such a technique would be incredibly useful to have and he wished something similar could be done with the Force.

That such techniques were considered to be at the lowest level when they could be so useful and easy to use was rather fascinating to Plagueis. The similarities were also interesting as two of the basic academy jutsu had mirroring techniques with Force users. He was now even more interested to further his knowledge of ninjutsu and perhaps discover what other similarities there were. Plagueis still wasn't even sure how Chakra was produced or affected the body as the explanation given during the academy had been rather basic and didn't explain anything that was actually taking place inside of the body.

Besides those findings, the academy had become rather boring unless the chunin teacher was lecturing about new topics that didn't involve history. Naruto had already read through all of the academy materials that the students were provided and on his Master's order, had even broken into the academy to find other information and materials to learn from. He didn't end up finding very much though but learned it all anyway.

A visit to the Konoha library didn't turn up anything of interest as the village apparently separated the civilian and shinobi materials. After some investigation, they had found out where the ninja library was. Interestingly enough it was in the Hokage mountain and not far from their hideout. Naruto ventured up the long staircase to the archives but was stopped by a guard at the entrance. Apparently you needed to have clearance from the Hokage or the required ninja rank to get in. Plagueis hadn't tried to gain access by using any mindtricks on the guard because he could feel if other people were inside and wasn't sure if he could trick all of them before someone noticed and wondered what was going on. It was too risky at the moment. The only other places that he might be able to get jutsu were from the ninja clans or the Hokage but Plagueis wasn't about to have Naruto go trespassing and stealing jutsu from them.

Naruto had already asked as many questions as he could during class time in the academy. The instructor eventually had told him that he couldn't ask anymore questions, especially ones that were so far ahead of the class lessons. Most of the questions were ones that Plagueis wanted answered but the information that the instructor was currently teaching was so far behind what Plagueis really wanted to know that the instructor wouldn't interrupt the lesson to answer the advanced questions.

For the most part, Naruto was completely ignored by the chunin teacher in favor of another student who the teacher was positive were more gifted. That student had yet to really show much potential that would garner such a declaration and Plagueis believed it was just because of the clan that boy was from. In fact, Naruto was actually at the top of the class but was purposely being ignored by the instructor in favor of Uchiha Sasuke. While Plagueis would admit that the Uchiha was talented, the boy had a penchant for showing off and wasn't doing as well as Naruto in all of the academy subjects.

The academy situation was a problem because that meant that they would have to wait for several years in order to gain more knowledge and instruction on Chakra and jutsu. While Plagueis was patient, Naruto had already exhausted all of the knowledge that the academy was willing to provide to someone at his level. In the future, Naruto would be able to either break into the places that had the information they wanted or gain access to them through rank.

Since Naruto was already learning at a very accelerated rate, it wouldn't be long before he completely outstripped his classmates and students ahead of his grade level as well. Plagueis had thought that Naruto would be noticed as an outstanding student and arrangements would be made to have him moved into a higher grade to not hold him back. Apparently he was wrong as the chunin instructor was a rather weak minded fool that held the Uchiha clan in very high regard.

Instead of waiting patiently, Plagueis decided to act.

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Naruto sat in his regular seat at the academy. The room was empty as class had ended several minutes ago. Standing across from Naruto, was his chunin instructor Funeno Daikoku and he wasn't looking very happy. Naruto had purposely gotten into trouble by creating a disruption during class and had insulted Uchiha Sasuke. He knew exactly what buttons to press to antagonize Sasuke, as well as Daikoku, and nearly started a fight between himself and Sasuke. Daikoku broke up the fight and told Naruto that he had to wait after class so he could speak to him about his detention.

Daikoku walked up the the desk that Naruto was sitting behind and before he could go on a tirade about how terrible it was that Naruto had insulted the noble Uchiha clan, Plagueis struck. Plagueis's spirit form came up from the floor behind Daikoku and before the chunin even knew that something was wrong, Plagueis's hand extended forward and grasped the chunin's head.

Any words that the instructor had to say were stopped and his eyes became unfocused. Naruto wasn't exactly sure what his Master was doing to the chunin but he really didn't care. Minutes elapsed until the man's eyes became focused again. Plagueis took the short moment of confusion and disorientation that the chunin experienced to sink back into the floor. Daikoku looked around and noticed Naruto. He smiled and said with a cheery voice, "That will be all and don't let it happen again, young man."

The man then walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the chunin's actions and said in his mind, 'What did you do to him, Master?'

Plagueis's voice came back clearly in Naruto head, "I just made a few arrangements. Now come, let us go back to your house and wait to be summoned."

Naruto was confused and Plagueis sensed his confusion but did not elaborate and Naruto knew not to question his master as all would be revealed in time. He packed up his materials and left for his apartment. Naruto didn't know who would summon him, as the only person that would do something like that was the Hokage. 'Was that were Daikoku went?' he wondered.

x-x

Hokage Tower, twenty minutes later

x-x

Daikoku had headed straight for the Hokage Tower after leaving the academy. He knew exactly what the problem with Naruto was and exactly how to solve it. Stopping at the Hokage's secretary, he managed to get an appointment to see the Hokage and only had to wait ten or so minutes. The secretary informed him that the Hokage was now free and he walked up to the double doors and knocked.

"Enter." came a voice inside and Daikoku stepped inside the office.

He greeted the Hokage and sat down in a chair in front of the old wooden desk. The Sandaime was rather curious about why the teacher had visited him. He hoped it wasn't about Naruto as he was already busy enough and didn't need anymore of the boy's pranks. Although, now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard about Naruto pranking anyone for a while.

"What exactly did you need to see me about, Funeno-san?" asked the Hokage while he smoked his pipe. He didn't mind a break from his paperwork and only hoped it was good news.

"Hokage-sama, I came to here to talk to you about one of my students. Uzumaki Naruto." stated Daikoku seriously.

The Sandaime repressed a frown and a heavy sigh. 'I knew it.' he though and wondered just what Naruto had gotten himself into. "And what exactly has Naruto-kun done this time?" asked the Hokage and blew out some smoke away from the chunin in front of him.

"Lately he has been acting out in class and I believe I know the reason for it." stated Daikoku and the Sandaime raised an eyebrow. He knew exactly why Naruto always acted out but was curious as to why Daikoku would bring it up.

"I believe that Uzumaki-san is not suited for my class..." stated Daikoku and the Hokage had to suppress a groan as he had thought that he picked a teacher that wouldn't be discriminating against Naruto, but before he could say anything, the chunin continued, "...I think he needs to be moved up a grade." finished the chunin.

To say that the Sandaime was surprised was an understatement. His pipe nearly fell out of his mouth. Several thoughts went through his head as he studied the instructor before him, 'Is he trying to get Naruto out of his class by moving him forward in grade because he knows that I won't let Naruto be kicked out the academy? Does he plan on putting Naruto into a grade that he isn't ready for to discourage the boy from being a ninja?'

The Hokage asked, "I suppose you have good reasoning for this change? Its highly unusual to have students graduate early or move up in grade during peacetime."

"Yes, I understand but I believe that the boy is more advanced than the other children in his grade. He really doesn't seem to care much about the lessons. I've also noticed him acting out and distracting the other students, possibly because he's bored." said Daikoku.

The Sandaime just looked at the man in front of him strangely and wondered if it was a good idea to have him teaching at the academy. 'Naruto, more advanced than the other students?' he questioned as it really wasn't something that he had ever considered. Most of the other students came from clans and were actually heirs or heiresses to those clans which meant they had training as well as better education than most. The Sandaime never would have expected a teacher to come and tell him something like that about Naruto.

He had always known Naruto to be rather...slow and having a very short attention span. It made him wonder about the teacher and why he would think such a thing. Naruto had always acted out and tried to get attention and his limited attention span was obviously causing him to get bored in class but to be bored because he was more advanced than the other students?

Before the Sandaime could say anything, Daikoku continued, "He has also started asking very advanced questions during class which are well ahead of what I am currently teaching. I actually had to stop him from asking questions because I just wouldn't be able to stick to my lesson plan if I answered all of them. As of this moment, Uzumaki-san is the top student in the class and his grades speak for themselves." said Daikoku and he handed his grading sheets to the Hokage for him to look over.

The Sandaime sifted through the grading sheets for this year and he noticed that Naruto had scored at the top of the class in nearly every subject. The Sandaime wasn't able to keep the surprise off his face. Naruto's grades weren't perfect but they were close and better than the rest of the class which was saying something as it had so many sons and daughters of clan heads.

'Is he really that much more advanced?' he thought and he remembered that Daikoku had taught Uchiha Itachi while the boy was briefly in the academy, so it was possible that the man knew what he was talking about when it came to a gifted student. Naruto wasn't anywhere near as gifted as Itachi but he was definitely ahead of the class if the chunin before him and the documents were anything to go by. A student that wasn't learning anything because they already knew the information might act out, get bored, and even distract other students, that was certainly true.

The Hokage thought over what had been presented to him. From what he was seeing, it appeared that Naruto was far more gifted than he had originally thought. He thought perhaps that the files had been doctored and that the chunin had it out for Naruto but that didn't seem to be the case as the instructor seemed genuinely interested in Naruto's development. The Sandaime also didn't want to hold Naruto back if he was excelling in his lessons and surpassing all of the children of the ninja clan heads in Konoha.

It was peacetime in the village but that didn't mean that he couldn't skip Naruto ahead a grade. It required the recommendation from the teacher, the Hokage's own approval, and the agreement of the child or guardian of the child. It was unusual but if Naruto was willing to get advanced to the next grade before the other students in his class then he would agree.

Naruto could always be put back in the same class if things didn't work out. The Hokage considered Daikoku's recommendation but he would need to talk with Naruto first, so he sent one of his ANBU to get Naruto.

x-x

It appeared as though his master's plan was in motion as Naruto made his way to the Hokage tower. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on yet, but he was slowly piecing it together from what he knew. This could be some kind of test from his master and he intended to figure out as much of it as possible before everything was revealed.

Plagueis wasn't forthcoming at all with any details concerning what he had done to the chunin instructor and what was currently going to happen. It was a lesson and he was trying to teach Naruto to make conclusions off the details provided and by using the Force. So far Naruto knew the plan involved the academy teacher and the Sandaime. Naruto's first thought was that his master would get the teacher replaced with one who would answer all of his questions. This theory didn't seem correct though as there could have been numerous ways to get the teacher fired and they didn't involve needing to speak to the Hokage.

Naruto hadn't had much interaction with the Hokage since he had met his Master. He had met with the Hokage to discuss his entrance to the academy but only a handful of times after that. Plagueis had instructed Naruto on the best choice of words to talk to the Hokage and Naruto had put up the best mask that he could. It wasn't wise for the Hokage of the village to see a change in Naruto's personality or notice anything strange. The Sandaime also didn't have much time to talk with Naruto as he had been rather busy with village business, especially with the Uchiha clan.

Unknowingly, this had worked in Plagueis's favor as it gave him valuable time to bring Naruto over to his side.

x-x

Naruto entered the office and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. The Sandaime hadn't seen Naruto for a while and was curious about his change in clothing. Daikoku had informed him that Naruto had become more serious during the months that he had been an academy student. It wasn't until he got bored that he started goofing off and distracting the rest of the class.

The clothing certainly made Naruto appear as a ninja and much more professional, despite that he was a first year academy student. The Sandaime was curious as to what brought up this change but perhaps the realization of being a ninja had set in a little early for him. Most academy students don't realize what they were getting into until after they graduate. They still had whimsical notions of what ninja are and think the profession is full of adventure. The reality was that they were child soldiers and the profession would be dangerous and difficult no matter how long they had been doing it.

Few students ever grasped this until after they were put through the chunin exams or went on a mission that was more dangerous than it was ranked. Many never grasped it as they dropped out or failed to graduate and were never really aware of how their belief differed from reality.

The boy sitting before the Sandaime was very different from the boy that he remembered the previous year. 'Something must have changed.' the Sandaime thought as he tried to think of what it could have been. He hadn't seen much of Naruto since before he had joined the academy. The only thing that he knew which happened was when he left the village and nearly drowned in a nearby lake.

It definitely could have been a life-changing experience. The Sandaime originally thought that Naruto was fine as he hadn't developed a fear of water and was even eager to learn to swim and get over that experience. 'Perhaps it did affect him but in a different way. He could be taking his life more seriously now that he has had a near-death experience.' thought the Sandaime. As to why Naruto was wearing darker clothing and mostly covering his face, the Sandaime didn't quite know.

"Well, you've certainly altered your wardrobe." said the Sandaime as he broke the brief silence.

"Isn't this what a ninja is supposed to look like?" responded Naruto and the Sandaime chuckled slightly. He was thinking that Naruto had probably taken the looks that other ninja had and put them all together. The high collar shirt was reminiscent of the Uchiha clan, while the jacket from the Aburame clan. He couldn't peg down the rest to a specific clan or ninja but it was definitely a ninja-look that the boy achieved.

"I had an interesting conversation with you teacher, Funeno-san, just an hour ago or so. Do you know what he wanted to talk about?" asked the Sandaime as he was curious whether Naruto might know something or if Daikoku had told him anything.

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" asked Naruto with a slight bit of curiosity. The Sandaime gave a small smile and replied, "No you aren't in trouble. He came to tell me that you are at the top of your class and excelling at nearly all your subjects. He had nothing but good things to say about you."

"During class he only ever has good things to say about Sasuke." Naruto blurted out and he could feel a mental nudge from his master as that had not been a very good thing to say. Plagueis wasn't going to actually talk to him as that might divert Naruto's attention. The last thing they wanted was for the Hokage to think that Naruto was hearing voices.

The Sandaime nodded at the response from Naruto and thought about why that was. 'It could be that he doesn't want to alienate himself by supporting Naruto. It does seem strange that he would favor one student and not the student that deserved it.' thought the Sandaime and he picked back up the grading sheet.

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't first in the class or even second when considering overall scores. He was actually in third place with Aburame Shino and Yamanaka Ino tied for second place. The coveted rookie of the year title was given to the top student in the class but it was weighted more heavily with practical ninja subjects counting more than the theoretical. Considering the weighting factor, Naruto was still first place with Sasuke and Ino tied for second and Shino in third place. Naruto definitely had a small gap between himself and the other top students in the class.

Looking back to Naruto, he noted that the boy was more patient than he had known him to be but still wasn't able to sit still in the seat. "How are you doing in the academy? What I mean to say is, do you find the subjects and material rather easy?" asked the Sandaime seriously.

Naruto thought about what was said for a second and started figuring out why he was really there. Plagueis stayed silent as he waited for Naruto to put everything together. "Well...its kinda boring. I've already gone over all of the material for the rest of the year and I've tried to ask questions about more advanced stuff but the teacher won't answer them anymore. I tried to find some more information at the library but they didn't have anything and I couldn't get into the ninja library." said Naruto absentmindedly.

The Sandaime thought about this and was surprised that Naruto had tried to find more information about being a ninja. He didn't think that the boy had ever set foot in the library but apparently he was wrong. Thinking it over, the Sandaime concluded from both the teacher and the student that Naruto was more advanced than the other students in the class. It didn't seem right to hold him back if he wasn't learning anything as he didn't want Naruto to get discouraged at a young age.

"I know you've only been in the academy for a couple of months, but how would you feel about skipping ahead a grade. You would be given all the materials but would have to catch up to the rest of the class because they would be ahead of you. What do you think, would you like to skip ahead?" the Sandaime asked.

Naruto just smiled behind his collar. It seemed that this year was going to be more interesting than he had originally thought.

x-x

Plagueis smiled inside of his seal on Naruto's arm. His mind control on the weak minded chunin had worked. He might have to do the same thing in the coming years to get Naruto out of the academy faster but they would work on that when the time came. From the information that they had gathered, the ninja library was only open to ninja chunin rank or higher and even at that rank, a chunin could only look at so much in the library.

Even if Naruto skipped ahead a few grades, they would still have trouble getting what they wanted. Another option could come along, but Plagueis wasn't willing to wait for something that may never happen. The best way to start getting and learning about jutsu was to get Naruto out of the academy. The missions that ninja went on could provide many opportunities to gather more information and techniques, especially since they would be outside of the village and away from the majority of prying eyes.

From what they had found out during lectures at the academy, ninja typically worked in a four man group with one ninja that was the leader and higher in rank than the others. This wasn't always true for other missions but it was the standard for genin squads. This meant that instead of an entire village, they would only have to worry about a few pairs of eyes.

Plagueis was also thinking about other methods for Naruto to gain more knowledge and also fighting experience. He had come across one but it would be several years before he could be sure that Naruto would survive. He also had plans for Naruto to create a personal weapon of his own. The ninjato wasn't a bad weapon but it could only take so much damage and fighting before it wore out. There was also the problem of finding fuel or a new power source for the ship and making sure it wasn't damaged. Not to mention that it was still at the bottom of a lake.

These plans were all in the future though. For now, they wouldn't attract too much attention and learn what they could from the academy while Plagueis continued to train Naruto's mind and body.

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