A/N: GUESS WHO'S BACK FROM THE DEAD?! Definitely not me, that is. Before you begin with reading the chapter, I would like to apologize for being on hiatus for God knows how long. It's just I've been focusing on my studies and I haven't been able to update my stories. But now I'm back and hopefully nothing will stop me from updating them. I'm still not sure on when I will update the future chapters as it depends on whether I have free time or not. Now enough of that, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

PS: I've decided to get rid of the pairings that I had in mind before this as throughout the 2 years I've been missing, I thought about who should be with Naruto. Right now I'm leaning more towards a single pairing or maybe two. But that's probably it. So if you have any suggestions, do PM me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.

The Crimson Flash

Chapter 4: Hell's Academy

At the age of 10, it was time for Naruto to attend the Academy. Now he's on his way there, dragging his feet along the way. No matter how much he protested in attending, he can't help but agree with what the old man told him before arriving at the Academy.

*An hour before at the Hokage's office*

Now we have the Sandaime Hokage at his desk, doing the thing he absolutely love the most. PAPERWORK YAYY! At that, Hiruzen paused as he lifted his head up to stare at the ceiling for no apparent reason (A/N: Umm…heheh, I was just kidding?) Hiruzen sighed as he resumed with attending to the workload that seemed to just increase every minute.

But before he could resume, someone came barging in, causing the door to his office to slam against the wall. This, in turn, scared the hell out of the Hokage as he messed up his signature. Sighing for the second time, he looked up to confront the troublemaker (for disturbing him) and savior (for distracting him).

Turns out it was his surrogate grandson with his all-too-innocent smile plastered on his face, which caused the God of Shinobi to raise his guard and be cautious of the boy.

"Hello there Naruto-kun, what brings you to my office? Shouldn't you be at the Academy by now?" asked the Sandaime as he watched closely at the blonde's behavior. As he expected, Naruto stiffened as he tried to form the words for his response in his head.

"Umm ne jiji, that's why I came here. I was wondering if, instead of going to the Academy, I can just train with Ero-sennin until before the graduation exam," replied Naruto as he fiddled with his fingers shyly.

Hiruzen raised his eyebrows at this, wondering what was wrong with going to the Academy. But nonetheless, he answered back, "I'm sorry Naruto, but he's busy with something at the moment. Though I do wonder why you don't want to go to the Academy," as he gave Naruto the look that showed he wanted the truth.

"You and I both know that I can easily pass the graduation exam. So instead of wasting my time learning something that I already know, I was wondering if I can spend the time training with that pervert," reasoned Naruto as he tried his best to persuade the old man.

Again, the Third sighed, he knows that what the boy said was true. He could even pass the graduation exam without even trying. Judging from the amounts of training he did with Kakashi and Jiraiya, it's not surprising. They are both elites. One who is a former Anbu captain and another is one of the Legendary Sannins. Though he doesn't know of Naruto's training with Kurama, yet.

"Naruto, I understand that you don't want to waste your time. But please, just attend the Academy to mingle around with those your age. Who knows, they might be your teammates in the future," said Hiruzen as he gave the boy a smile. A smile that caused the blonde to smile back in return. Knowing the blonde, he would jump at the chance of making friends. The thought itself saddened him greatly.

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess I'll attend it then," said Naruto as he grinned. After saying goodbye, he was on his way to the Academy. Though he was already late.

*Present Time*

At the Academy, the class was well underway with their lessons when a knock came from the door. The instructor in-charge of the class, who had his hair tied in a short ponytail with a scar stretched across his face, paused in his lecture in favor of the person waiting outside. He went to the door and opened it.

The person on the other side of the door turns out to be Naruto, with his usual attire and all.

"Ah you must be Uzumaki Naruto. Say why were you late? On your first day, no less," asked the instructor with a scrutinizing gaze. All the blond did was hand a slip of paper to the instructor as he waited. The instructor took the paper as he read its content. It was a permission slip from the Hokage himself, about seeing the blond.

Nodding his head in approval, he introduced himself, "Alright then. I'm Umino Iruka, your Chūnin instructor. Please head inside and introduce yourself to the class."

The blonde didn't give so much as a response then entered the classroom. He went to the front and faced the class, observing the looks given to him by the others present.

He sighed, "Hello, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Please take care of me from now on." He then gave a small nod of the head as he waited to be seated.

Iruka sweatdropped as he asked, "Anything else?" Naruto only raised his left eyebrow as he questioned what else he should tell everyone.

The Chūnin only sighed as he directed him to his seat, which was at the back closest to the wall in the middle column. Naruto complied as he went to the specified seat.

"Now Naruto, need I remind you that when it comes to me, I will not show any sort of favoritism towards any of you in this class. So I want everyone to pay attention and give it their all for the next two years. Is that understood?" stated Iruka. Everyone nodded as he continued with the lesson.

*Lunch Break*

Once the lunch bell rang, the current instructor stopped his lesson as he reminded the class to have a read on what they had learned at home. Right before the instructor left the room, he gave a quick glare to Naruto who didn't respond to it whatsoever.

The blonde packed up his things as he took out his lunch and was about to leave when his way was blocked by a group of boys. The one in front gave him a grin that showed his canines that were longer than normal. He took out his hand as he introduced himself, "Hey new guy, nice to meet ya! The name's Inuzuka Kiba and I'm the alpha of this class."

Naruto stared at his face then his hand then back to his face. He nodded before shaking said hand. He was then introduced to the other boys behind him and everyone in class.

Nara Shikamaru. A lazy one since birth. Didn't give much of a response, saying it was too "troublesome". Though he might look like it, he's actually pretty smart. Also has a thing for watching the clouds.

Akimichi Chouji. Seems friendly even though he was shy at first. Really likes to eat A LOT. One thing to remember, NEVER call him fat. He doesn't really like that.

Aburame Shino. A quiet type, everyone could tell from the cricket sounds whenever it was his turn to introduce himself. Smart and is always logical of things. Though everyone is creeped out since he's associated with bugs. Maybe the cricket sounds came from him, who knows. Always wear glasses. The only mystery is how he looks like.

Hyuuga Hinata. Is she always shy or is it just me? Seems to always blush when everyone talks to her, or is it just me? I don't know what to say about her but utter confusion.

Uchiha Sasuke. The last of the Uchiha. Broods a lot, that's for sure. Looks like he has a superiority complex, thinks he's above everyone. Girls are crazy about him but he doesn't give a damn. He's probably gay.

Haruno Sakura. One of the two self-proclaimed "No.1 Fan of Sasuke". Known for her book smarts. Distinct pink hair. Very noisy. Seems like everything she does is for "her Sasuke-kun".

Yamanaka Ino. The other self-proclaimed "No.1 Fan of Sasuke". Looks like Sakura and her are rivals. Also noisy. And also does everything for "her Sasuke-kun".

Naruto made mental notes of everyone in the class, including the unimportant ones. After making sure that he didn't miss anything, he joined the group of boys outside for lunch since he was invited.

*After school*

Now we have our main protagonist on his way to a training ground since he agreed to meet up with Kakashi there as promised. He wasn't really all that focused on where he was going as his thoughts were on his first day at the Academy.

Lesson wise, he found them pretty boring. All the things that were taught in the Academy were already quite familiar to him. So it's really annoying to learn the same thing twice. But social wise, that was different. He had expected that it would be hard to make friends or if anyone wanted to even associate themselves with him. So it was such a relief when Kiba went up and introduced himself and the others. Kudos to you Kiba. All in all, it was a great first day.

Reaching the training ground, he noticed that it was empty. Shrugging, he went to the middle of the field and sat down to meditate as he waited. Not long after, Kakashi arrived without a sound. Thinking that he had the blonde this time, he tiptoed as he made his way towards him. However, that was not to be when said blonde spoke up, "You know I'm a sensor, right?"

Kakashi slumped his shoulders as he sat in front of Naruto. He waited until Naruto was done with his meditation.

*Inside mindscape*

Meanwhile, our fellow blonde found himself inside the sewer-like mindscape that he's so familiar with. As if on cue, a pair of eyes appeared behind the metal bars that revealed red irises with black slits in the middle.

Naruto yawned as he waited for Kurama to speak. The ground shook as the tailed beast stood on his hind legs as he stared at Naruto. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Naruto?" the Kyuubi stared down at the blonde with one of his eyebrows raised.

Naruto deadpanned as he replied, "Uhh…you're the one who told me to come here?" which caused the tailed beast to widen his eyes as he put a hand under his chin, trying to remember if he ever did such a thing. This made the blonde sweatdrop as he waited patiently.

"Hmm I must've forgotten what I wanted to say. Oh well, I'll inform you once I remember what it was," said the Kyuubi as he nods and gave a sheepish smile. This caused Naruto to face-fault as he grumbled something incoherent and left.

*Outside mindscape*

Naruto opened his eyes as he saw Kakashi in front of him, reading his smut as per usual. "So what happened?" asked the cyclops as he closed his book to focus on the blonde.

He deadpanned as he told of what had transpired with the fox. Kakashi chuckled as he stood up and motioned for Naruto to follow.

"So how are you coming along with the Sharingan?" asked Kakashi as he stood a few feet in front of Naruto. Ever since finding out about the Sharingan, Kakashi had decided to hone the blonde's skills in using the famed eyes of the Uchiha to help him get accustomed to them. So far he's able to fight and be able to react fast enough to intercept any hits coming his way, though the J nin was holding back throughout all their spars.

Thankfully Naruto was able to cast Genjutsus but only with his Sharingan active, with him being a Jinchuuriki it's basically impossible for him to cast any Genjutsu due to his huge chakra reserves no matter how good his chakra control is. Though with his huge reserves he would be able to get out of any Genjutsu if he were to flare up his chakra.

However, when it comes to making use of the copying ability that comes with the Sharingan, they had yet to make use of it. Only using it to copy a couple of D-ranked and a few C-ranked jutsus from each of his affinity as Kakashi saw it as a must. With him having copied about 1000 jutsus, it really helped in training Naruto. He better be grateful!

Naruto activated his newly acquired dojutsu and immediately Kakashi felt sleepy. Realizing that he's under a Genjutsu, the cyclops raised his right hand in the Ram seal and muttered a small 'Kai', only to notice that Naruto disappeared from his previous spot. With his danger senses tingling, Kakashi turned to his left to see the blonde in midair with both hands on the Tiger seal.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" shouted Naruto as he unleashed small fireballs that scattered in every direction towards their intended target, Kakashi. The veteran ninja backpedaled as he dodged every fireball that came his way and deflected those that he couldn't with a kunai that he took out from his ninja pouch, already knowing of the shuriken inside each fireball.

After the last of the assault, Kakashi glanced to Naruto to see him smirking back. Thanks to his battle experience and instinct, the cyclops managed to roll to his right to avoid the dropkick that came from above him, courtesy of a second Naruto. The moment he stood up, both blondes were charging towards him with the speed of a high Genin-level shinobi. As one of the blondes got close to him, Kakashi got himself ready for whatever they had prepared for him. Swatting away the straight punch towards his chest, he blocked a second strike from the second blonde and immediately ducked under a roundhouse kick from the previous blonde. Kakashi pushed the blonde away after the kick, but had to bend backwards when the other one flew past him. Not even a second after that, someone had kicked his back causing him to lurch forward, just in time to receive an axe kick from the blonde in front of him. Right before his face hit the dirt, the veteran kept himself stable with both hands and decided to flip forwards, getting the intended result with hitting the blonde in front of him causing it to dispel.

After a few flips, he landed gracefully and turned to see that there were two Narutos left. Deciding to be on the offensive, he threw a couple shurikens toward them and dashed after the hail of metal. After noticing what the Jōnin was planning on doing, the blondes dodged and deflected the shurikens with ease, all thanks to their Sharingan. Already choosing a target, Kakashi dashed straight for one of them and intended to deliver a punch to the gut but that was for naught as the other blonde tackled him to the floor. Getting on top of him, Naruto delivered a punch to the face. Right as the punch was about to connect, the cyclops had switched places with a surprised Naruto who got punched instead.

Deciding that it was enough, Kakashi called out, "Alright that's enough, Naruto. You have improved rather well. Your coordination and combo with your clones are very good, being able to cover each other at a moment's notice. You would make a great team-player once you're placed into a team. If you pass the Genin exam that is…" ending it with a smirk towards the blonde. Don't get him wrong, he had high confidence that Naruto will pass the exam with flying colors but there's nothing wrong with ensuring that even though the exam was quite easy to score, he still needed him to take It seriously nonetheless.

After reviewing their spar and giving Naruto tips on how he can improve himself, the blonde was left to train by himself as Kakashi monitored his progress on the sidelines and only intervening when he saw anything that requires his attention. Other than that, he would be reading his smut.

Already had a training schedule in mind, the blonde went right into it. Creating a few hundred clones, he had them divide into groups and gave them instructions on what to do. With the clones doing their task, Naruto decided on improving the Interceptor Fist that belonged to the Uchiha since the fighting style was meant to correspond with the Sharingan.

*A few hours later*

Seeing that the sun was about to set, Kakashi called Naruto over. Judging by what he had seen, the kid would make a fine shinobi in the future. He could probably surpass him in a few years with enough training. "Okay that should be enough training for today. Remember that you have school tomorrow" stated the Jōnin and at the mention of school, the blonde visibly deflated. Chuckling at his reaction, the shinobi bid his farewell as he left the training ground with a Shunshin. Sighing at the reminder of school the next day, Naruto made his way home, wishing he had asked Kakashi to teach him the Shunshin to make his life a little easier.

End of Chapter

Omake Start:

As Naruto reached his classroom, he could hear the ruckus and the sound of people panicking and running around inside. This made him wonder what was happening. Upon entering the classroom, he was greeted to the side of a kitchen with everyone moving vigorously to their stations as they were doing whatever task they were given. Suddenly someone stood in front of him with their figure overshadowing the blonde.

Naruto looked up only to be met with a blond-haired man that had a stern glare directed towards him. "And who the fuck are you?" asked the man.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, sir! I'm supposed to be in this class if I'm not mistaken," saluted Naruto as he felt the need to respect the person before him as he was giving off a powerful aura.

"Ah so you're Naruto. Well you're late! What gave you the excuse to be late to class?!" shouted the man as he narrowed his eyes as if he was stalking a prey, with his arms crossed. At the question asked, the blonde gave him the letter from the Hokage that was given to him beforehand. Without even taking a look inside, the man tore the letter into pieces as his glare seemed to have intensified. "That was a rhetorical question, you donkey. Now go to your station and prepare me the dish that has been written on the board," ordered the man as he pointed towards an empty station which Naruto quickly assumed was his. With confusion, Naruto did his best to conjure up the dish he was tasked to make. He wondered whether this was even needed for a shinobi to survive. Maybe the system finally changed? Who knows.

After being able to finish making the dish, he took it to the front to have it tasted by the man from before. With an indifferent look plastered on his face, the man grabbed a fork and knife, and began cutting into the scallop and took a bite. Not long after, the man spits it out as he glared towards Naruto. "Are you fucking kidding me?! This is not even close to being cooked. THIS. IS. FUCKING. RAW!" yelled the man, causing the blonde to shrink in fear.

"Just what the hell did I get myself into?" thought Naruto as he had a fearful look in his eyes towards the man in front of him.

Omake End

A/N: That's the end for this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. I decided to change my writing style a little bit, just to make it easier for me. Also, do give a review to this story as it helps me improve myself as a writer. If you have any idea suggestions for future chapters, do PM me and I'll see what I can do with them. Who knows, they might help in making this story even more interesting! Okay that's it. Peace y'all.