Disclaimer: I don't own a reason for not updating for a while, or Naruto.

Tuesday 30th­ October 4:00pm Outside Kage Private School.

After Dosu had landed yet another kick to his left side, just as Zaku rammed a fist into his left rib cage, Naruto was beginning to realise the seriousness of his situation.

It had began to occur to him that taking on two people when he was alone wasn't too smart, if only he had a friend with him, where were Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kiba or even Gaara when you needed them?

A fist slammed into his nose at a high speed with such impact that his legs just gave up and he fell over. Everything seemed to slow down, was he losing consciousness?

The calls of the ground silence for a few seconds as he lay on the ground, barely keeping his eyes open.

'Hey' he thought 'there are a bunch of people at the windows…'

It was true; there were a good number of people watching from above. He could hardly make them out due to the water in his eyes; it was the punch to the nose causing it, not like he was crying or anything.

He could make out one figure out among the majority of them. She had long blue hair and looked familiar from what Naruto could tell. She had (he thought) white eyes, she was looking right at him and looked worried sick.

He had only just remembered her name, Hinata… a friend of his from when he was younger, but it made no difference, for all the damage he had managed to cause to his attackers (a couple of punches, a few kicks and a headbutt) he had lost and the crowd had got what they wanted, someone beaten up.

His eyes slowly began to close just as Zaku planet a taunting kick into his side. As his eyes closed Naruto cursed himself, he should have been more careful…

"OUCH!" the young blond shouted at his assailant as he pouted "that stings!"

His 'assailant' looked him in the eye and smiled "Sorry Kiddo, but it just disinfectant, it stops the wound from getting worse."

The man, who had been kneeling, stood up and spoke once more "Come on, let's go get some Ramen"

"Ok!" Naruto cheered as he leapt to his own feet and began to run to the door "I want to get 3 bowls… or maybe 4!"

Minato laughed inwardly as he followed his son to the door 'if only he was as fond of ramen as he was of vegetables…'

Naruto had just polished off his second bowl of noodles before he looked at his dad.

"So…" Minato started, he was trying to approach the subject casually… but how casually do you have to be when dealing with you're 11 year old son? "Are you going to tell me how you got into such a mess?"

"There were these guys, they were picking on Hinata because she's shy… they wouldn't stop and no one else was around! I had to stop them! She's my friend!" Naruto yelled, wasting no time in telling his father.

Minato smiled "Well, good job, I'd say you deserve a third bowl for that"

"Wait, you're not mad? I was fighting at school" Naruto asked, confused at what just happened.

Minato, who had just stood up to go and get more ramen, sat back down.

"Listen son" he told him "Fighting solely to hurt people is wrong; hurting others for fun in any way is the worst thing anyone can do. What you did, fighting to protect someone precious to you, is, on the other hand, the bravest thing anyone could ever do. The ability to perform Self sacrifice without question in order to help others, Naruto, is the best quality anyone could ever have… and I'm proud you have it, I'm very proud of you… that's why I'm not mad… In fact I couldn't be happier. And don't you worry, I'm sure if your mother was here she'd feel the same."

Naruto fought back the tears he felt forming, His dad... was proud of him? And his mom would be too?

"Anyway" Minato said, sliding money towards his son "Go and get yourself some ramen, make sure and ask for an extra big bowl, with extra noodles!"

Naruto beamed at him and took the money as he ran off.

'Well Kushina' Minato thought as he looked upwards with a hint of sadness 'It looks like I raised him right, just like you always wanted, you'd be very proud...'

Naruto was busy bringing his ramen back to the table when he slipped, banging his head off of a table and landed on the floor, spilling the contents over himself causing his bruises and cuts from his fight to burn and ache… he had hit his head pretty hard and he began to lose consciousness…

Murmurs spread amongst the crowd, was it all over?

Naruto lay on the ground, pretty much unconscious.

'Get up.' Said a voice inside his head the voice was a slightly deeper and more twisted version of his own voice.

'What?' he responded, expecting himself to come up with a reply to satisfy his curiosity.

'Get up' said the new voice

'What's the point? Everyone here wanted me to get my ass kicked anyway…' He asked, face and body still throbbing in pain.

'Wrong' the voice said with a quite, low, gruff laugh. "They want you to win… listen, what can you hear?"

Aside from the ringing in his ears the young blond couldn't hear anything at all, other than Zaku and Dosu's voices, but they were too quiet for him to hear exact words.

'…Nothing...' he answered 'I can't hear anything… so what?'

'Figure it out, yourself… and get up, that guy with the bandages is looking through your bag… oh and the kid with the black hair is about to leave. If he gets away you won't get another shot at him…" The voice told him. '...but none of this will matter if you don't get up...'

blissfully unaware of his victims current status, Dosu was indeed looking through Naruto's bag, apparently unimpressed with his finds.

"Hey Zaku" he said "The kid doesn't have anything worthwhile in here… just schoolwork and some pencils…"

"Ah well" Said Zaku "At least he put up a little struggle… still he was as pathetic as everyone else at this scho--"

"Something wrong Zaku?" Dosu asked, confused by his friend's sudden silence.

It wasn't long however until he too noticed what was up. Naruto Uzumaki had stood up once more, and he did not look happy. His hair was more wild than it had previously been, his clenched his fists forced his fingernails into his pals, drawing dabs of blood. His eyes were now a deep shade of red and burned with something that was far from compassion.

Naruto slowly turned his gaze to Zaku and Dosu. "Which one of you punched me in the face just now?"

Dosu continued to watch, trying desperatley to figure out just what could have gone on in the blonde's head during the time he had been lying on the ground. He was far to concerned to answer the question.

"That'd be me" Zaku answered, sneered in Naruto's direction.

His glare intensified, something was wrong… this kid looked far stronger than before… his wounds were hardly a bother to him.

"Dosu!" Zaku yelled, snapping his friend out of his thoughts "what's wrong? You're not getting' cold feet are ya?!

"No, Zaku, you don't understand!!" Dosu called out, still afraid of Naruto's new demeanour.

"Watch this; I'll take care of him in one swoop!" Zaku yelled as he lunged, pulling back his fist to land another punch.

Zaku's fist met Naruto's hand, Naruto's grip tightened around the fist, crushing it.

Zaku let out a howl of pain, the crowd gasped, Dosu was stunned and Naruto was grinning a toothy, fox like, grin.

"This is the last time you two will pick on anyone…" he growled "I'll put a stop to you once and for all, got it?!"

'Yeah right… you're fighting for your own pride... don't worry, I promise you'll enjoy it…' the voice in his head laughed once more 'this'll be interesting…'

Zaku snapped out of his stunned state and attempted another punch with his free hand, but before the black haired boy had even clenched his fist, Naruto landed a kick low in the other boy's stomach.

"Don't worry" growled Naruto "this won't take long…"

A/N: Cliff hanger, yay!

Anyway, next chapter will deal with Neji, Shikamaru and Sasuke and what they're getting up to, then I'll spend about 3 chapters (maybe 2) dealing with Naruto and Hinata's meeting, the end of the fight and Gaara coming to help Naruto. Sorry this wasn't an especially long chapter... it just seemed fitting to end it where I did.

I'd say part 1 should be over by around chapter 30…. But don't quote me on that!

As usual, reviews are appreciated and please excuse any rogue spelling mistakes.