I do not own Naruto.

Thanks for the reviews, as always.

Summer Haze and School Daze.

Two weeks had come and gone. The most important thing of note happened the night of the first official day, after the Hokage's little spar with the kids.

Yes that evening would always stick in the minds of a few.

Flashback.

"God that old man can throw a punch." Said Naruto as he was nursing his jaw.

"He is the freaking HOKAGE dumb-ass..." Scowled Sasuke.

The kids at this point had taken to walking out of the Hokage's torture... training field. He needed an accurate lead on what they were capable of. It wasn't exactly like the would be secret agents, he would just be using them as a gauge. They were very advanced and if allowed to use their full talents in the academy, they would all three be regarded as genius's. Three genius's in one class, along with five clan heirs would garner a lot of unwanted attention. No, using them to gauge their peers would only be listed as their first C rank mission, on his personal book anyway.

"You know Nii-chan, if you open your mouth to taunt the Hokage again, I'll ram a super powered fist so far up your ass I'll use your head as a puppet to entertain a street crowd."

"Sakura... why do you go to such dark places...?" Asked a particularly annoying blond.

Sakura took a deep breath, she just got her ass handed to her, by way of multi-collaborated, multi-elemental dragon jutsu. It was cool and all, but still. The only thing on her mind at the moment was, Shower and Bed.

Sasuke, However had promised his mother that he would be home as soon as he was done with the Hokage. With Naruto limping, and well, his own inability to walk in a straight line, he decided that the would work as a team to stumble through the streets.

They walked in relative silence, through the district, Sakura made her way to the Hotel she was staying at, and the boys had turned their sights on Sasuke's home.

Sasuke was only slightly put off when he mentioned his friends name to his mother. She had a far off look, a scared look. Like She lost something or remembered something that...well he just didn't know.

So when he finally made it to his house, opened the door and saw his mother, from the kitchen, bound over the table, and in a shunshin, landed kneeling in front of Naruto. How the hell was he supposed to know.

Needless to say Naruto was also stunned to all hell.

"Um, hi." said the confused blonde.

"Forgive me... we have cause so much trouble, your mother... must be spinning in her grave."

"Uh, not really, what to say here. Forgive you for what? Wait...did you say my mother... you knew her." Naruto, now kneeling in front of the prostrated form of Uchiha Mikoto.

"For all the trouble we cause to the village, please forgive us."

Naruto, just knelt there as she bent lower placing her forehead on the floor. What was he to say he didn't know. Of course Sasuke told him about what happened, eventually, but this was a grown woman.

"Um, Uchiha-san, I don't really know what to say honestly, I'm sure they would have been mad, but I'm sure things would have been different if they were still around. How about you tell me all the stories you have about my parents and we can call it history." He said with a beaming smile.

Mikoto looked up at him wide eyed and genuinely surprised, she was looking for a little boy, but saw the Yondaime for a split second. The resemblance was unmistakeable.

She did the only thing she could do, snatched the unsuspecting boy into a hug, and began to drown him in tears, she would never know how to truly forgive herself for all the trouble that was caused. She knew this from what Itachi had told her the night they arrived.

"Be glad I was not the blade that night or I would have slain you all to prove you were not what you thought you were."

Those words stung her heart, she knew that Shisui's eyes needed a condition to work, the idea had to be in your head in order for the thought control to take effect. The fact was, what Itachi had said to her was plain, if it was him he would have killed every single Uchiha, in order to protect the village.

End Flashback.

Those word echoed in her mind. But now, now she smiled, the three hung out in the living room most days, and Itachi had taken to training and teaching them when he felt they were getting lazy. Shisui;s little sister was attached to his hip on a regular basis, in her eyes, Itachi was the closest thing, her last connection to her brother.

Naruto basically moved in for the first week and spent much of his time with Mikoto, much to Sasuke's ire, but either way the boys battled for her attention, not that it mattered much to her. Sasuke mainly wanted to know how his mother was doing, but all Naruto wanted to hear were stories about how her and his mother would get into trouble.

Then Jiraiya showed up. It was time to get back to work. Being the apprentice of the Sannin had its perks, but also had its downfalls. The perks, well, Jiraiya being who he was bought them a house. Having such an influence in the village, he acquired a relatively big home for them, nothing fancy nothing truly of note. A four bedroom, four bathroom, with decent yardage, a garden area and a pond. Curiously enough he even added, some kind of well.

The downfalls, were, well downfalls. Training under Sannin was Naruto's job, his life, his everything. Jiraiya was a relentless teacher. The standard practice was as always, fifty clones for multipurpose training regimens. Five for each of the three standard chakra practices, five for each of Jiraiyas' own 3 chakra practices.

One was the old hermits own idea, the pulse, was in essence flaring ones chakra to the highest possible level, then repressing it to the lowest. This helped a person understand what the minimum chakra output was for themselves. The second exercise was simply molding chakra, the premise was, starting out a jutsu, going though the hand signs until you could use the absolute minimum of chakra to activate the technique, then just before the technique completed, repressing the chakra. The old pervert insisted that he practice this, in case he ever needed to cancel a jutsu but could not afford to waste the energy.

The third chakra technique was, in Naruto's mind, a complete and utter waste of his time. Honestly what type of control could he expect to have just sitting there doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. No chakra, no anything, he wasn't even allowed to move. For this one, the old man just smirked "...trust me brat this one, when your ready, will be the coolest most baddest ass thing you can ever do.'

He shrugged at the thought. 'Meh the old man knows what he's doing... most of the time.'

The rest were allocated as such, ten were to go through the taijutsu, and pretty much shadow box, no contact just go through the motions as fast as possible, muscle memory was an amazing thing. The last ten were left at home to study his families sealing techniques.

One would think, that, giving a child such a complicated art would be dangerous. The Uzumaki clan knew different. The Uzumaki sealing language was just that. A language. And ancient one that made Uzu such a feared state. And a language, like any other, was learned much faster at a young age. Starting at the age of six, and add a few hours a day with ten clones, and you have a rapidly increasing amount of knowledge.

It wasn't to say that the boy wasn't overloaded either, he was good, not God.

Today was one of his, On days, as he liked to call it which meant work and training. This being one of those said days, he was going to get the most he could out of it. So it should come as no surprise that, this young, loud mouthed, training freak, had become friends with another young, loud mouthed, training freak.

"Lee!" Said Naruto.

"Naruto-kun!" Said Lee

"Lee!" Said Gai.

"Gai-sensei." Said Lee.

"Naruto-kun!" Said Gai

"Lee!" Said Lee.

"Gai-sensei." Said Gai

"Naruto-kun!" Said Naruto.

Needless to say, that the most powerful of genjutsu's was augmented by a third member, and Mondays in the village were never the same again.

It stopped for a brief second as realization hit.

Lee broke the silence as he noticed his folly. "The genjutsu is much harder to execute with a third person Gai-sensei. It is most unyouthfully confusing."

"The mistake was most unyouthful. To correct it you must run five laps around this field backwards."

"Yes Gai-sensei." Lee took off like a bolt.

"So Gai-sensei, can you help me with my taijutsu today, I really want to perfect it before the academy."

"Naruto-kun, your taijutsu is more than ready for the academy, But more importantly, your youthful training regiment may be too much for you to handle... Fifty clones is a bit much don't you think?"

"Nah, I've been doin it for a while Gai-sensei. It was how I could keep up with the sharingan, you know how that goes." Naruto said with a shrug. Normally he could be identified as 'The orange clad boy.' but to day was Monday which meant, a spandex suit. Not orange, but black. With orange leg warmers. To train with Gai and Lee, he felt it would be proper respect to wear the house uniform. He also removed his chakra limiters and actually wore weights as was the training they received from Gai. The weight was different, and helped in its own way.

"Yosh, your own rival has use of those eyes, as well. Then we shall train in taijutsu today my friend." insert trade mark Nice guy pose."

Coast of Fire Country, Land of waves.

It was raining, heavily. So much so that many of the dam's and levy's were at capacity. Being a small border town, and a seaport it was subject to flooding in the rainy season. The problem was exacerbated by the involvement of a new entity. Gatou, a wealthy business man, had pretty much taken over the land, and while there were still a few that resisted, it wouldn't be long until he had full control over this seaport. Today though, would be a monkey wrench in his plans, for today in the land of waves a hero was made.

This man was no ninja, he was no samurai, he was an ordinary man who just refused to give up.

The man, named Kaiza, dove into the flood waters as a dam burst. He swam against the current in order to save the small dieing town.

'With your own two arms...' His motto rang clear in his step sons ears, as he saw it with his won two eyes. This man stopped the flood waters, and proved that heroes did exist.

The man called Gatou, who had seen this glorious act of heroism, was not pleased at all. This single act would prove to be a headache. This would rally the townsfolk, this would cause problems, he needed control of this port, his Kiri supporters, needed this port. So it was of no surprise that after the town had been saved that he felt the presence of three very dangerous people. Two of the Seven Swordsmen of the mist, and a Rain swordsman.

"This actually works in our favor." Said the man in the purple and lilac body suit and a Rain head band.

"Agreed, this way we can have them rally behind that bridge builder. They can complete construction, and the Mist will have a new door way into the mainland." Said a man completely bandaged up to the neck.

"Raiga, Aoi, leave the poor bastard alone, he pissed himself already," said the man with the half bandaged face. He wore a Mist head band. "the plan will continue as planned, The Company expects the bridge built within the next year."

"Kurosuki Raiga" Said the fat little man.

He then pointed at the other Mist ninja. "Momochi Zabuza." he began sweating "Forgive me but I do not know you Mr...?"

"Rokusho Aoi, wielder of the Raijin Blade." Said the rain jonin.

Gatou officially in over his head could only ask the obvious question. "Why is it that such man power was sent for such a mundane task."

"When worms like you have a right to ask questions of us, then you can ask those questions, for now... do your job." Was the response he got. It didn't really matter who said it as they were all thinking the same thing.

The fat man scampered out of the office as the Killer Intent rose to staggering levels. The three men merely chuckled, it was fun to toy with insects. They too left, only in way much more befitting a shinobi.

One appeared shortly after, a fair distance away, at his own hideout. Momochi Zabuza walked in to see, the demon brothers arguing over a piece of stake, while the only female member of Team Demon, shook a frying pan at them.

Everyone else in the known world would see any of these people and flee in terror, behind closed doors however, they were family... albeit a murderous, fugitive, psychotic family.

Zabuza slammed the door shut, if only to get the attention of his squad.

"Yo Zabuza-taicho, whats with all the racket." asked Gozu.

Haku quickly appeared before Zabuza and bowed to one knee "Zabuza-sama, what is the word from the meeting."

"The company wants the town and the bridge builder to complete the bridge, but under the premise they are sticking it to Gatou."

"So what will we do Boss?" asked Meizu

"Proceed as planned, stay under the radar as much as possible." Just then a pigeon, flew in the window a small note attached to its talon. Haku quickly snatched the note handed it to Zabuza, who read it, then quickly wrote his own and sent it on its way.

On its way to Konoha.

The sun was setting on Konoha, a pigeon flew overhead, nothing was thought of it as there were numerous messenger pigeons.

The wind blew through the training ground, as it did with the rest of the village.

Absolutely nothing remarkable.

Eighty percent of ninja battles are won before the fight even begins, but when there are two evenly matched fighters it could be the complete opposite of nothing remarkable.

It was noticed when a leaf blew between the combatants. It shred upon contact with an invisible barrier, said barrier was the focused Killer Intent aimed at the other.

"It is unbearable Gai-sensei."

"Don't loose focus Lee!" Shouted Gai. "Your opponent was trained by the Sannin, this is your rival."

"Are you ready my friend?" Asked an all to serious Naruto. This was his on the job face. "Gai-sensei please correct my mistakes."

"Yosh, let the flames of your youth shine brightly!"

The tick of a stop watch, the bat of an eye, a heart beat, a humming birds wing flap, a hares breath, all took longer to happen, than the movement they made to close the distance.

A fist rocketed towards Lee, who dodged underneath and attempted a sweep, the Mischievous Fox Style however would not allow it as Naruto used the momentum of his punch to propel forward and flip over a crouched Lee.

Lee undeterred, used his momentum from the sweep, planted the out stretched foot, flexed his legs and stood as he raised an uppercut into Naruto's stomach, it was caught with both of Naruto's hands, using his falling weight, twisted Lee's arm and slammed the Green beast with a sick crack. Not one to stay down Lee noticed the vulnerable position Naruto was in and landed a left hook to the Jaw of his comrade. Knocked loose, Naruto wiped the blood from his lip and reset his jaw.

"Nice one Lee."

"First point was yours Naruto-kun." Lee said with a grunt, stretching out his back.

"Tie Round?" The blonde questioned.

"Yosh.." Lee motioned for another round.

This time there was no hesitation, before the onslaught. Thunderous punched operating at lightning fast paces. It all looked as a blur from the outside, but on the inside it happened at slow motion.

Both landed right crosses, and held for a moment. They were friends, but how better to test yourself than to choose a person such as this. Naruto would not quit, Lee would never give up.

Lee launched himself high into the air, Naruto right on his heals when he noticed his mistake, Lee was priming him for a Lotus.

'Dammit stupid, you followed LEE in to the air are you dense...' Naruto berated himself, this mistake was lethal.

Before he could even make a move he was being wrapped up. He lost this round he knew it.

"Naruto-kun I would not like to complete this move, Withdraw?" Lee said over the wind of their decent.

"Yea Lee I give!" Naruto shouted... after all slamming head first into the ground was not a good way to make it in your career. "Your round."

"Your strikes are much harder Naruto-kun."

"One more round my youthful students, Naruto you are too eager to move in on your target, Lee does not have the sharingan, speed against a faster opponent is not actually speed. Lee, Naruto is adapting to your movements, you are still telegraphing your strikes. Your attacks must be as the crack of a whip."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" They said in unison.

A short ways off, a young woman stood in hiding watching from a distance, lets face it the byakugan could see everything. She watched in amazement, the object of her hate, the icon of her malice was a brilliant fighter. He was too fast for a juken user. She could see it even if his taijutsu partner, and sensei could not. Yes, he wore weights just like the green clad boy, and yes he deactivated his seals. But those eyes did not lie he was holding back. With one more seal still activated.

Again, she was surprised. Again, she was angry, she would not receive a reprieve from her thoughts of him and now, seeing him in action, in movement, in that tight form fitting... what am I thinking, such thoughts are unbecoming of a lady... Just then she realized something she was not alone, not by any means.

"Amazing isn't it Hyuga. The speed at which he moves. With all that holding him back, he is still pulling his punches. He doesn't want to hurt Lee."

"Too true, the boy is holding pace with Lee. Lee has been studying the art of power through speed, since, well, since Gai-san took him under his wing."

She looked up to see five sharingan eyes watching the bout.

She tried to say something, her arrogance overshadowed by the fact that, she didn't See them.

"What..."

"Please, don't think of this as a failure on your part, think of this as a win on our part. Why are you stalking my brother." Hissed Sasuke, "i don't take kindly to people trying to steal my friends and families secrets."

"I-I was j-just..."

"Sasuke enough..." Itachi paused "You were right he did drop his seals, your getting better at sensing chakra little brother."

"Well at least the knucklehead isn't in trouble."

"Too true Kakashi-san, it seams like its my little brother that will be having some trouble."

Sasuke had stopped his Killer Intent from the girl. His anger redirected towards his training brother.

"This sucks man, if he finishes his style he's gonna be more annoying."

"Naruto, be more annoying?" Itachi though for a second. "Not possible..." he disappeared with a leaf shunshin, as well as Kakashi on his heals.

After a few short moments Sasuke looked down at the raven haired girl. She was blushing no doubt about it.

"You know, he can be a huge pain in the ass, and he may have done some stupid crap when he came in the village, but he's a good kid and a better friend."

"Why should I care about that?" She said indignantly.

"Why... heh, just helping you sort out your feelings princess."

"Do not call me princess!"

"I don't... But he does." and with that he was gone too.

Shell shocked to say the least the young girl felt her heart flutter. If only for a second. In her mind though she was of two thoughts, get even with the pervert, or get with the pervert. She hardened her heart, she would get even.

Fate, from her seat in the heavens smiled.

The field near by was enshrouded with dust and plumes of debris. Naruto was currently dodging a rapid fire left right combo from the green clad beast. He was watching and waiting for a hiccup in Lee's movements, when he saw it, a momentary flash. Lee lost concentration again trying to keep up with the unpredictable way the blond was moving.

Naruto lashed out with a spinning heel kick, Lee, having both his arms in a downward motion kept his momentum so he could block. It never happened with the same spinning motion Naruto retracted his outstretched leg, using the force of the retraction to increase his spin and connected a left haymaker into the chin of his friend. Lee being just as fast, knowing he could not block, brought up his knee and hit the blond in the solar plexus.

"Tie."

Was the last thing either boy said as they hit the ground next to each other.

"Yosh good job my youthful students." Gai, who had clearly missed the point of the kids having knocked each other out, began giving his critique on the fight.

Sarutobi watched from his viewing glass, he saw the potential in the new generation.

He had asked the three to get inside information on the academy but in all honesty he knew what was necessary. He could feel it. Jiraiya could feel it. And all the seasoned shinobi could feel it... War. War was coming, and the Pigeon that flew in the window and landed on his desk was proof.

Hokage,

My name is Momochi Zabuza, declared missing-nin by Kiri's current regime. I have information, that would be beneficial for the land of fire, and the organization that I represent...

Hiruzen, continued to read. Near the bottom were coordinates to a location.

'Mizu no kuni. What could they want. The have been in civil war for years. Perhaps a faction? But who to help? Should I even get involved?'

"Raven." He stated simply. Just then an ANBU arrived a raven mask hiding his features.

"Hokage-sama."

"A mission, go to this location, someone will be waiting. And be careful. I will trust your judgment. If something is off end the threat."

"Understood." The raven ANBU accepted the mission and in a black feather shunshin he was gone.

"Things are going to get complicated again." The Third muttered to no one.

He turned to his desk, sake and pipe in hand.

And turned to page 162. "Shinobi-sama, your sword is soo big, may I, polish the blade for you."

And wiped a trickle of blood from his nose.

Summer in the Village passed, some quiet times, others, well others were spend with the villagers chasing Naruto through the streets with brooms, and some ninja even used projectiles. Honesty he was an insufferable prankster.

The good days, where when he either volunteered to work at the tailors shop or tried to annoy Ayame and Teuchi into teaching him how to make ramen.

They all made friends.

Sakura, while not volunteering at the hospital, wandered the village on most days. She had also at one point wandered into a flower shop, and wandered right into a blond girl named Ino.

That day another rivalry was born.

Sasuke, usually could be found training with Naruto, so it should come as no surprise that he too became Lee's rival. And Neji's rival, and Tenten's rival. He just couldn't understand how a person could hit, 100% every time she picked up a weapon, Any, weapon. For the Uchiha, it was frustrating, For Sasuke of the Leaf, it was a challenge to get better, without the use of his sharingan. Neji's relative pomposity, mixed in with the underlying Uchiha pride, and well, that was that.

Naruto, while not working, or training, or pranking everyone within eyesight, could be found making life a living hell for his other friends.

See Naruto, one day had pulled a prank on in the general vicinity of the Inuzuka clan residence. Said clan sent members to track down said prankster, said prankster, had sprinted, jumped in the river and swam upstream. It was the first time anyone had ever given the slip to the clan of tracking ninja's.

He then noticed a young man laying in a clearing looking at the clouds, and in his tired state decided to lay down and cloud burst as well. Needless to say, Shikamaru could appreciate a fellow cloud watcher, and they too became friends, which by proxy made him friends with the chubby Choji.

Which he quickly found, you shouldn't call Choji anything but by his name.

Ever.

Today however, was a special day, one that many of the regular citizens dreaded, which meant that Naruto was utterly looking forward to.

The Academy was returning to session.

There were about 30 kids in this particular class, many no named villagers kids trying to see if they had the stuff. This particular group however were the villagers kids that did have the stuff. They were in fact in the advanced class.

This class had all the major clans children in them, this particular one had pretty much all of the clan heirs.

Needless to say there was talent oozing from this room.

Sasuke had decided he would not represent his old clan, and would be known as Konoha no Sasuke, simply because he didn't want to be affiliated with those people, specifically his father. Their were other Uchiha in this class, he would take them down a notch.

Sakura decided to go by Haruno Sakura, and to keep her Senju heritage a secret from the general population, so she wouldn't get hassled with the clan thing. She was smart too smart, she would get notoriety on her own terms.

Naruto, would use his mothers name. It wouldn't be a good idea to use his dads name, not yet anyway.

Naruto was extremely excited to go to the academy, he was even more excited when walked into the room and spotted his friends.

When his friends all looked up and the brash voice of their blond associate, they all had a comment.

"Haha oh man Naruto is in our class now. Sweet Naruto wazzup bro." Yelled out Kiba from behind a couple girls he was macking to.

"Yo Naruto, I got an extra bag of chips..."

"Choji, did I just hear you say..." He looked up "troublesome."

Shino having met the group already gave an impassive sigh. Underneath though, 'Interesting, how do I know this?.. it is Naruto after all...' He trailed off in thought.

"Yo... hehe." Naruto said with a shrug and slightly embarrassed, but only slightly.

Behind the three however, hid a new girl, seemingly shy and very pretty, she could have been a carbon copy of Naruto minus his whisker marks. She had two very long pigtails, and wore a more updated shrine maiden outfit, red loose training pants, black shinobi sandles, and a white long sleeve shirt.

Just then the Chunin instructor for the class walked in, A you man with a scar across his nose.

"Alright everyone take your seats." He turned to write his name on the board. He noticed that in the shuffle to find a seat, the children were still talking. He smiled. He'd been dieing to use this. He made two hand signs, whipped around, head almost as big as the room they were in "ALRIGHT, I SAID SIT THE HELL DOWN AND SHUT UP!"

They, were now scrambling. After a few seconds and the screech of moving chairs. Iruka turned to the class, "Alright, I need an active roster, from my left to right please state your name."

"Aburame Shino"

"Yamanaka Ino"

"Haruno Sakura"

"Konoha no Sasuke"

"Kazenami Haruko"

Soon, the whole class had given their name, 33 in total. Iruka had his work cut out for him. After check in and an active roster was created, Iruka began his lectures. This was a class centered around the ninja arts, and as such began where they needed history.

Naruto on the other hand, had quickly learned that this was the most boring thing he had ever encountered in his natural/unnatural life. Not even learning the sealic language of his forefathers was this bad. Almost in unison, Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto, began drooling on their desks.

History, to Chakra Theory, to Practical Application. Then came a reprieve, lunch time.

Much of the day took this pace, the break for lunch found friends among friends. Most sharing stories of their summer, others telling stories of their origins.

Many even asked if Kazenami-san and Naruto were related, of which the pretty young girl denied but stated that they may be from the same country.

Shikamaru already getting to work on a theory, but hey he was the genius.

Lunch came to an end and everyone slowly trickled in to the class room. Naruto, at this point, was sitting on a desk talking to Kiba.

Hinata's desk to be precise.

As she walked back in to the classroom.

"Move." She said sternly.

"No." He said defiantly.

Sparks flew. Even with her closet emotions yelling in the background, Hinatas superiority complex, just didn't mix with his stubborn personality.

"Listen I already apologized, for that time. Just cut me some slack."

"I said move."

Naruto jumped off her desk but quickly whirled around and crouched on top of it, standing on the balls of his feet. "Alright, listen princess, everyone might be scarred of you but your attitude stinks..."

He was cut off.

Kiba apparently thought it the perfect moment to get Naruto back for the prank he pulled near the kennels that one day and with the slightest most gentle nudge he could ever manage. He pushed Naruto who was off balance and less than three inches from Hinatas face.

It was neither graceful, nor poetic, but at that moment, the lips of one Uzumaki Naruto once again met the lips of one Hyuga Hinata.

He pulled away and said the only thing he could at that moment.

"That was almost worth the punishment, Hime... Be gentle."

Needless to say, Naruto's first day in the Academy was spent in the hospital.

A/N:

Hey Guys if this felt rushed at the end its cause it was, I wanna start getting to the thick of the story so I just kinda laid a base line for character interaction.

Thanks for the reviews, i'll be posting a challenge on my profile one of these days maybe tomorrow. Check it out its an idea that I haven't seen yet.

Anyways please reviews or give advice its always appreciated.