Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto. I only own my characters.

The backlash of the dubbed "Nine Tails Accident" were heavy, but the heaviest was what happened to my family. I was informed a day after that I was the only member of my family that survived. This crushed me. There was also a rumor that a child name "Naruto" was the reincarnation of the beast since he was born right after the beast was killed. This was quickly dismissed as the Third Hokage declared it a "S Class Secret" which spreading is punished with death.

Konoha was going through hard times, first from the destruction of thousands of buildings and the loss of hundreds of people, even clans like the Uchihas and the Hyugas were affected, but the thing that hit the hardest was the loss of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. Like most people, I never met him, but he was said to be one of the nicest people in the world.

But back to the Naruto thing. In the few clips I saw of Naruto he did use a power similar to the beast from yesterday. Se it was him. He was the one that killed my family. I'll make sure to get revenge on him. I don't think I'll kill him, if I'm even able to, but I want to ruin him. Naruto Uzumaki, my first enemy.

The same day I learned the news was the day I was put into an orphanage along with 20 other kids. There were 2 rooms, one for boys and one for girls, each having 10 beds. Of course it wasn't perfectly split between boys and girl, so some boys had to sleep in the girls room. Luckily I wasn't picked and I was able to stay in the boys room. Not that I would be there most of the time.

The workers in the orphanage only had 2 rules for us: no fighting and listen to the workers. If you followed the rules then they didn't care what you did. I naturally focused on training.

"Whatcha doing?" Another kid asked. He was around my age, with jet black hair that covered his eyes. He wore a red shirt with the writing "Future Hokage" on it. He also wore blue shorts.

"Training." I quickly answered, hoping to bore him like I usually do when the other kids ask me what I'm doing.

"Cool, are you gonna sign up for the academy?"

"Is there really a choice? It's nearly impossible for an orphan like us to live a civilian life." I answered, not even looking towards him.

"I guess your right," he said, his voice kind of deflating. "I know, how about I train with you!"

"Have you ever trained before?" His childish grin quickly dissipated.

"I guess not. I never had too," he said sheepishly.

"Fine, I guess I'll teach you." I said turning towards him.

"Cool! I'm Hikari, Hikari Matsuyo."

"Kotetsu, Kotetsu Razen," I answered. "Alright, before I start training you I'll have to get a grasp of your skills," I readied a taijutsu stance, Hikari horribly imitating me. I rushed to attack him, easily breaking his guard and striking him in the chest. He tried to counterattack, but I easily swatted it away. Instead of staying in the stance, Hikari broke it and began attacking wildly. I blocked his attacks, but it was difficult seeing that there wasn't a certain pattern to his attacks.

"You have trained before," I said before delivering another strike to his chest.

"Nuh-uh! I just know how to defend myself," He rushed towards me and tried to sweep me off of my feet. I jumped over his extended leg only for him to lift it a little. I landed off balance and fell. Instead of attacking he reached down to help me up. I accepted it, but as I was being pulled up I pushed him to the ground.

"Alright, I think I've got a good grasp of your skills," I helped him up and we both brushed ourselves off. "Your pretty good for someone with no experience. I bet if I train you right then you'll make a good rival."

"Cool," he said. "What do we start with first?" A devilish grin formed on my face.

"Well, how about we go on a walk? Or better yet a run."

I went on my usual run. Hikari's challenge was to run as far as he can before I finish my run. Of course I was much faster than him, so he only got a few laps done. Now that there were 2 of us I was able to tweak our training. Instead of practicing the katas we sparred again. He caught on fast, with just the few hours of training he had he was already starting to push me. I guess that having someone else to train with greatly helps.

After 2 weeks of physical training we started chakra training. Hikari was able to quickly unlock his chakra, so we were able to practice chakra control methods together.

"Alright, this is chakra paper. You put some of your chakra into it to see your affinity," I explained. Hikari nodded his head before taking the paper. The paper quickly caught fire.

"Fire, is that good?" Hikari asked.

"Well we are in the Land Of Fire, so a fire affinity is the most common, but it's one of the more useful affinities."

"Cool! What's your affinity, Kotetsu?"

"Earth," I quickly answered. "Which is really hard since there aren't a lot of earth affinities in Konoha, but I'll figure it out. Anyways, come on."

"Where are we going?" Hikari asked, still following behind.

"To the library of course!"

The Konoha library was huge. It had sections for students, genin, chunin, and jounin.

"What are you?" The Chunin Guard asked.

"We're Academy students," I quickly stated.

"But, Kotetsu we're not-"

"Hikari, be quite," the Chunin Guard gave us suspicious eyes, but still let us in. Not without muttering "kids these days" though.

"What are we going to do in the library?" Hikari asked.

"We're going to steal some jutsu scrolls of course," I answered.

"But Kotetsu, stealing is wrong," I let out a small chuckle.

"Where do you think I got the chakra paper from?" Hikari let out a quite "oh" before following behind me. My plan was to sneak into the Genin section from the student section, but if it didn't work i could always use the Henge Jutsu. "Alright Hikari you stay here, I'll be back with the scrolls."

I took out all the books on the bottom shelf, revealing the other area of the library. I quickly crawled through and made my way to the section titles "Jutsus." I was able to grabbed 4 scrolls before making my way back. Luckily nobody caught me. Once I was back on the student side I gave Hikari a thumbs up, signalling that we were good to go and exited the library.

We were now at the orphanage with the scrolls laid out.

"How can I make such a mistake," I had grabbed only water jutsu back at the library, so the whole "mission" was pointless. "Oh well, we'll try again some other day."

Hikari and I were standing in front of the classroom. 1 year had passed and we were now academy students.

"Well, let's get this over with," I said with a sigh as we both entered the classroom. Most of the class was already there, so there weren't many seats left. I took a seat in the middle of the class, with Hikari sitting behind me. After 3 minutes our instructor walked in.

"Hello, I am Daikoku Funeno, and I will be your instructor for your time at the Academy. For the first day we will be grasping your skills in taijutsu, shurikenjutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu," Daikoku looked around. Seeing no complaints he continued. "So, I need everyone to accompany me to the training grounds."

He began assigning taijutsu matches. Hikari went before me and he went against an Akimichi. He did some damage, but their brute strength won them the battle in the end.

"And for the last match I need Kotetsu Razen and Itachi Uchiha." There were murmurs in the crowd.

"What's the big deal about this guy?" I asked Hikari.

"Don't you know? Itachi Uchiha is the "Uchiha Prodigy." If I said I wasn't pumped up then I would be lying. My first fight against a so called "prodigy." I remembered the story my uncle told me, that he too was considered a prodigy before he got beat. I'll make sure to teach the same lesson to this Itachi guy.

At the signal both Itachi and I readied up. I was the first to attack, attempting a punch in his face. Itachi easily pushed it away and punched me in the chest. I was barely able to block and slid back a little. I charged towards the Uchiha and attempted to uppercut him. He blocked it just as expected.

"You should've dodged it." I said as I swept his legs, except I didn't. Itachi jumped over my leg and kneed me in the chin. I stumbled back a bit, rubbing where I was just hit. I was mad, but if I let that get to me then I'd be throwing the match.

This time it was Itachi that rushed me. He sent a quick barrage of punched that I was barely able to block. He wasn't leaving me any time to recover or counterattack. I could tell his title as prodigy wasn't an overstatement. After a couple more blocked attacks Itachi switched it up, backing up and taking defense. I guess since he couldn't crack my defense then he'd have to beat my offence. I was lucky because a few more attacks and I would've been done.

I caught my breath for a few seconds before rushing towards him. I sent a punch to his gut which he blocked as I expected. I attempted a roundhouse kick which he dodged and I retreated before he could attack again. I rushed towards him and attempted another kick, but this time he caught my foot. He sent a headbutt towards my nose, which his and kicked me to the ground.

"The winner is Itachi Uchiha," Daikoku called. Once again there were murmurs, but this time they weren't about Itachi.

"Who is that guy? He lasted so long against Itachi. Is he a prodigy too? Nah, he didn't even get a hit off." Were some things I heard. This Itachi guy, I'll be sure to beat him one day.

Next was shurikenjutsu. I didn't know how I would do at this since I rarely practiced throwing kunai and the such. Instead of going last I was one of the first ones to go this time. I guess my fight with Itachi got eyes on me. We were given 10 kunai. The goal was to get as many kunai in the bulls eye as possible. I flicked my wrist and sent the first kunai, which hit the target but was nowhere near the bulls eye. The next one was a bit closer, and the one after that was a miss.

I ended the training hitting 6/10 with 2 bulls-eyes. There were few people that did better than me. Two were a Hyuga, one was Itachi, and surprisingly one was Hikari.

Next was genjutsu. We were put into a genjutsu and were being tested for how long it took for us to figure out we were in a genjutsu. It seemed easy, but they didn't tell you when you were in a genjutsu, and when you were there were only slight changes. If it took more than 5 minutes to break out then you 'fail.' It took me 3 and a half minutes to get out. I thought that it was a good time, but seeing that most of the Uchihas and the Hyugas got out within a minute. Hikari got out in a slightly longer time in exactly 4 minutes.

Lastly was ninjutsu. This test was different. There wasn't a risk, only a reward. The instructors didn't expect any non-clan kids to know any jutsu, so this test only helped you. I was glad that we were able to sneak the jutsu scrolls out, or we'd be at a disadvantage from the genjutsu test.

"Alright, Hikari Matsuyo is next," Daikoku said. Hikari walked into the open field and began doing hand signs.

"Katon: Flame Bullet Jutsu!" 3 small balls of fire were sent into the air where they would dissipate. Daikoku wrote on a piece of paper before talking.

"Alright next is-" Daikoku was cut off by Hikari once again.

"Katon: Flamethrower Jutsu!" Fire sprouted out of Hikari's mouth. It went on for 3 seconds before stopping in all. There were murmurs in the crowd similar to in the taijutsu test.

"What? A clan less kid knowing multiple jutsus? I've never heard of that before. Is he like the other guy?" Hikari walked past me and flashed me a grin.

"Beat that, Kotetsu," he said as he walked into the crowd.

"Next up is Kotetsu Razen," I walked up with a grin on my face. "Man, 2 jutsus in a year? Is Hikari a prodigy?" I thought to myself before stepping in the field.

I ran through the hand signs before speaking. "Doton: Wall of Rock Jutsu!" A wall of rock appeared from the ground, this time reaching the trees. Before Daikoku could speak again I went through some more hand signs. "Doton: Rock Catapult Jutsu!" A piece of the ground began floating and was thrown into a tree. For my last jutsu I was going to do a c-rank jutsu. "Doton: Devouring Earth Jutsu!" The ground in front of me split into a man sized rift. "Close!" And with those signs the Earth returned to how it was, the only sign that there was a tear was the long crack in the ground.

For a clan less kid 3 jutsu was a big deal, especially at this age, but for the kids in clans this was a cakewalk. They probably learned 3 jutsu 2 years ago. I realized this because of the next student that went. It was an Uchiha. He did 5 fire jutsus easily before doing the substitution jutsu. I guess that the Uchihas were training harder so they didn't lose any members if another incident happened.

After the ninjutsu test we took a written exam to see where we were. After the exam the rankings were posted. There was a huge crowd where it had been posted, even higher class kids were looking at it.

"Of course Itachi Uchiha is the number 1, but who's this Hikari kid in the top 5? Yeah, this Kotetsu kid too, their the only ones in the top 10 without a clan," Hikari and and finally reached the rankings. We took a look at the top 10.

DAY 1 RANKING

1 - Itachi Uchiha

2 - Horu Hyuga

3 - Hone Hyuga

4 - Izumi Uchiha

5 - Hikari Matsuyo

6 - Kotetsu Razen

7 - Shinsato Akimichi

8 - Lynn Uchiha

9 - Ina Inuzuka

10 - Shinsuke Nara

So they think Hikari is stronger than me? We'll have to test that when we get home, but until then I'll have to climb the ranks. I'd have to beat Hikari, 2 Hyugas and 2 Uchihas to get number 1. I'm sure it will be hard, but nothing is impossible.

Both Hikari and I stood facing each other. "And remember, jutsus ARE allowed," I said as we readied up. "3, 2, 1." I rushed towards Hikari, dodging the fireballs the flew towards me. I went through hand signs and summoned a gigantic rock. Hikari dodged the attack and rushed towards me. I blocked his attempts to attack me and retaliated with a kick to the gut which he also blocked. We went back and fourth, neither of us able to get a hit off on the other. It was Hikari that disengaged and went through hand signs, but this time throwing kunai as well to limit my dodging field.

"Doton: Wall of Rock Jutsu!" The kunai bounced off the rock wall until it crumbled from the fireballs. More kunai flew towards me and I deflected them with kunai of my own. I charged towards Hikari, dodging kunai and throwing kunai as I did. Once I reached him I threw another punch aiming towards his nose. He dodged and swung for my head, which I narrowly dodged. I attempted to roundhouse kick him on the side of the head, but he blocked it.

I disengaged once again, throwing the remainder of my kunai as I did. Hikari seeing that I was out of kunai took advantage. He threw kunai and fireballs which I narrowly dodged. He knew that he had more chakra than me so he was taking advantage of it. I'd have to end this quickly.

I ran towards Hikari and he did the same. I readied a punch and he readied an uppercut. Both connected sending us both flying. In the end it was a tie.

"Haha looks like it's a tie again," Hikari said sheepishly. The only time we didn't tie were the first 2 weeks of Hikari's training.

"Yeah, but next time that'll change next time," I said rubbing my injuries. "I know, how about we train with other people then meet up again in a few weeks. It's not fun if we already know each others moves."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Hikari said as he walked towards his room. "I won't lose next time!"

The next day of school was a friend making contest, which naturally put me at a disadvantage since I wasn't the most social person. The first person I talked to was Shinsuke Nara. Yeah he was 5 ranks under Hikari, but Naras are lazy, and I think I could make him try hard. Unfortunately for me he was fast asleep.

My next target was Lynn Uchiha. My reasoning was because she was an Uchiha. No matter how high or low she was ranked an Uchiha will always be a tough opponent. I saw that Hikari was trying to get the big dogs like Itachi and Horu. That was a rookie mistake, those guys won't reveal their hand that easily.

Lynn agreed to fight me, but she said in a few days, so I had to find a training partner for those few days. "Yo, Shinsato! How's it going?" I asked. Shinsato was stuffing his mouth with chips. After a few seconds of munching he looked up to me.

"Good, I'm really hungry," he said as he continued eating.

"Well, about that. How would you like to spar? If you win I'll be willing to buy you some more chips," that immediately caught his attention.

"Sure," he said still munching on his chips.

We met in the training ground. I said to him the same thing I said to Hikari and attacked. I threw a few kunai which he deflected, still while munching on chips. I charged towards him and attempted to punch him in the nose, but a giant arm blocked it. I jumped over it and attempted a kick to his chest. Instead of hitting him there was a crack sound as his chips fell to the ground. That would be my greatest mistake.

I swiftly dodged the first 2 attacks before getting him with the third. His limbs were too big to block so I was stuck dodging, which was still hard to do. He had an amazing defense with amazing offence too. I sent a Rock Catapult towards him which he easily swatted away. He rolled into a ball and charged towards me. He easily shattered my rock wall and I was forced to dodge late. I barely dodged unscathed as he crashed into a tree.

"Doton : Devouring Earth Jutsu!" I yelled as Shinsato fell into the rift. I bombarded the rift with kunai and waited for the results. I slowly crept towards the rift only to be swatted away. I ran towards him, but instead of attacking I jumped towards a tree. I bounced off the tree behind Shinsato and delivered a kick to the back of his head, sending him tumbling forward.

Now that I knew his weakness was his head I attacked again. I threw a few kunai which he blocked with his arm. I jumped off of his arm and delivered another kick to his head. I landed on his other arm and jumped back towards his head, striking him once more and winning the fight.

I wiped away my sweat and helped the now deflated Shinsato up to his feet. Even though I won I still bought him some chips to replace the ones I knocked out of his hand.

"Are you down to fight again tomorrow?" I asked.

"Only if chips are on the table," he replied with a mouthful of chips.

"Then you have yourself a deal." And with that I walked home.