Naruto didn't know why people always smiled when they saw him on the streets of Konoha.

Oh, he didn't dislike the fact that people smiled at him. After all, he liked seeing people smile. Before he ventured outside the orphanage to attend the Konoha Shinobi Academy, he only saw the cheerful smiles of kids during playtime and the occasional kind smiles of the Konoha Orphanage staff.

But most of the time, they were never directed towards him.

However, the moment he stepped out into the real world, the world outside the orphanage, he was greeted with waves of smiles directed towards him. Him specifically. And people didn't just smile at him either. People stopped to point at him or to wave at him as if he was famous. In the long thirty minute walk to the Konoha Shinobi Academy, Naruto recalled seeing hundreds of different smiling faces, faces that smiled once they saw his face and hair. He couldn't see his own face, but he knew he was smiling too. The smiles of civilians were infectious and being greeted so warmly by strangers made him grin ear to ear.

By the time he reached the gates of the Academy, a huge smile adorned his face and his face was glowing with positivity.

Maybe the civilians knew he was going to start training to be a ninja today. Or maybe they were just friendly. But regardless, he knew he was going to work hard in the Academy, make new friends, and become the great shinobi in the whole world.

Because while he didn't remember the exact details of every smiling face he saw, Naruto wanted to protect those smiling faces. The smiling faces encouraged him, motivated him to defend the village he called home. He didn't know why they smiled at him, but the fact that they were smiling at him made him feel warm inside. The feeling urged him to protect those smiles and to make sure that all the villagers could smile even without him one day.

And seeing so many smiling faces, he wanted to make friends so that he could also make them smile.

When he walked through the entrance of his school, the blond did not know about the future that awaited him at that time. But thanks to the smiles of the villagers, the future was a bright one.

Sarutobi Hiruzen never truly believed that he was a worthy successor to his mentor, the Second Hokage. He knew he was a perfectly capable Hokage, and possibly even a great one. But he wasn't infallible. As a matter of fact, he believed that he was too fallible at times. He made many mistakes during his reign as the Hokage, some of them that still haunted to this day. And today, a byproduct of one of his many mistakes was beginning his first day at the Shinobi Academy.

Sure, the Third Hokage wasn't entirely to blame for his own successor's death. Even so, the death of one Namikaze Minato weighed heavily on Hiruzen's heart. After all, he was the one that appointed Minato as the Fourth Hokage. He was the one that stood on the sidelines as the father of Naruto sacrificed himself for the village. And he was the one that left the boy to grow up by himself as an orphan.

Watching the blond with his Telescope Technique made Hiruzen let out a deep sigh of regret. He smoked his pipe silently as he watched the eager, bright boy make his way through the hallways of the Academy and into his classroom. Seeing Naruto's bright smile, despite his upbringing, made the Third Hokage's heart sink further. The man could almost imagine the boy's parents guiding him to his classroom with happy smiles on their faces, with Minato encouraging his son and Kushina hugging the boy as he began his career as a shinobi. It was a life that could have been.

The only consolation Hiruzen had was that he managed to convince the village that the boy wasn't a demon. It took many rounds of speeches and pleas on his part. He personally went in front of the people of Konoha to declare that Naruto, despite his unawareness and youth, was personally given the role to guard the Kyuubi by the Fourth Hokage himself. He repeatedly stressed that the Kyuubi was trapped inside Naruto, but unable to influence or shape the boy's thoughts. The Third Hokage also made sure to mention that Naruto was also made an orphan due to the Kyuubi and despite this, sacrificed himself in order to ensure that no other children became an orphan again.

It was difficult, and he had to constantly remind the people and even his own council members again and again about Naruto and his sacrifice. But after years of work, his efforts were finally yielding fruits. There were some people wary of the container of the Nine-Tails even now, but that group was slowly shrinking. Instead, most of the villagers accepted his words and saw the boy in a different light. And the changes finally turned into the results he was hoping for: hope and friendliness to a boy that needed it.

Seeing the villagers, his people, taking his words to heart and smiling at the boy moved him. It didn't make up for all the wrongs he had committed, but it was certainly a start and a bright start for Naruto. As he watched Naruto introduced himself, the Third Hokage chuckled and saw that many of the kids were laughing and smiling. It seemed as though that while Naruto had picked up on Minato's looks, his sense of humor was definitely from Kushina.

Hiruzen pulled out a notepad from his desk and jotted down some notes about Naruto based on what he saw. Below those notes, he wrote down suggestions on how to train the blond and potential tutors to look after the boy. Inhaling his pipe deeply, he nodded in approval at the list he had created. He would've been glad to take up the mantle of Naruto's mentor, but regrettably, he was far too busy and was still hesitant to the idea of meeting Naruto. Over the course of the next several weeks, the Third Hokage was going to observe the Uzumaki and pair him with an appropriate tutor to help push him to new heights.

Hiruzen had made the first step in redeeming himself by raising Naruto's status in Konoha. He wasn't going to turn his back now; especially not to the son of his successor, the man he owed much to.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm seven years old! I like playing with my friends, ramen, and making people laugh!" Naruto puffed out his chest confidently in front of the class, "One day, I'm going to be the Hokage and make sure that everyone gets an extra hour for lunchtime!"

The kids all laughed and cheered at his remark, and Naruto beamed brightly at their smiles. His chunin instructor, a gentle-looking chunin named Iruka, smiled at him warmly and playfully shooed him to his seat, "Alright, Mr. Future Hokage, time to take your seat with the others."

Iruka's tone made it clear that the tanned man wasn't mocking Naruto but teasing him. While Naruto thought that being the Hokage meant being the strongest in the village, and rightfully so, Iruka was aware that there were many obstacles facing Naruto's way towards that goal. But seeing the boy's bright attitude and ability to stir up the students made him believe that the boy had the potential to be a great leader.

Naruto pouted, which drew a round of giggles and snorts from the students, and took his seat. His seat was next to a smiling boy with black hair and onyx eyes. Eager to make his first friend at the Academy, Naruto stuck out his hand and grinned at the boy, "Hi! I'm Naruto, future Hokage! What's your name?"

The boy returned his grin and shook his hand vigorously, "I'm Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke! Hokage, huh? That's a pretty ambitious goal!"

"Yep!" Naruto chirped, "One day, I'm going to be the strongest shinobi in the Leaf and since the Hokage is the strongest shinobi, my goal is to become Hokage!"

"Cool! I wish my goal was as awesome as yours, but I just want to be better than my ni-chan."

"Ni-chan?" Naruto tilted his head.

Sasuke turned a bit red but nodded his head, "My older brother, Itachi. He's really talented and smart. People say he's one of the best shinobi the Uchiha clan has ever seen and I want to prove that I'm better than him."

The Uzumaki could relate to his feelings to an extent. While growing up in the orphanage, Naruto always lagged behind the other children when it came to learning, especially reading. He didn't hate reading, but he wasn't good at it. The orphanage staff constantly encouraged and praised him, but he knew he was a bit slow compared to the others. He was never isolated or ostracized for falling behind, but he understood the feeling of feeling inferior and desire to prove that he was better than the others, "Well since we both want to be great shinobi, do you want to become great shinobi together?"

"I would like that!" Sasuke nodded, "Friends?"

"Friends!" Naruto echoed.

Just then, someone loudly cleared their throat in front of them and the two children saw that their instructor was looking their way, "It's great that you two are friends now, but class time has started. If both of you want to become great shinobi one day, the most important step is to pay attention in class and learning everything you can. After all, you can't become a shinobi if you don't study hard."

Both Naruto and Sasuke turned red from embarrassment, but quieted down and paid attention to their chunin instructor's lesson. Occasionally, they stared at each other and gave each other knowing grins.

Naruto thought the Academy lessons were a bit confusing but paid attention during class regardless. He knew it was important to focus when his teacher was speaking and knew he needed to study hard. After all, he wanted to become the strongest shinobi but didn't know anything about being a shinobi. Even though it was only his first day of class, Naruto asked a lot of questions and requested for the chunin to repeat himself a few times until he finally understood it. To his surprise, Iruka was never angry when he raised his hands and did his best to answer all of the blond's questions. Thanks to his teacher's efforts, Naruto knew the basic duties of a shinobi and the history of Konoha's founding. When class ended, Naruto still had a lot of questions, but he felt confident about raising his hands and asking the chunin about anything he was confused about.

As the students left the classroom to return home, Naruto approached Iruka and bowed clumsily, "Thank you, Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka looked surprised but smiled kindly, "No problem, Naruto. You are my student, after all."

"But you helped me a lot today, and I'm definitely going to repay that favor one day!" Naruto declared.

The chunin instructor laughed as he patted the boy's head, "I look forward to it then. Did you find everything ok? Are you still confused about any of the lessons we learned today?"

Naruto frowned a little, but shook his head, "I think I understood everything, Iruka-sensei. But can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Naruto. What do you want to ask?"

The blond hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "I noticed that everyone in Konoha was smiling at me while I was walking to the Academy. I don't know if that was normal, but I saw people pointing and waving at me too! Do you know why they smiled at me sensei?"

Before Iruka spoke up, Naruto waved his hands frantically, "I mean, I don't dislike it! I like it when I see people smiling! But I just want to know why they were smiling at me. Am I famous, or are the villagers always that happy?"

Crouching in front of him, the tanned man placed his right hand firmly on Naruto's shoulder, "Naruto..."

He forgot about it until now, but Iruka remembered that despite the boy's cheerful attitude, he was still an orphan. It was a little awkward since he knew the boy was the vessel of his parents' killer. However, he knew that the boy suffered just as much as he did, as Naruto also lost his parents in the Nine-Tails Attack and was forced to become the container for the Nine-Tails. Under the cheerful and confident attitude of the blond, the chunin saw spots of uncertainty and hesitation.

Just like Iruka himself, after he lost his own parents.

Phrasing his next words carefully, the Academy teacher gently patted his shoulders, "You are famous because you are a hero, Naruto."

"I'm a hero?" Naruto asked puzzledly.

Iruka let out a small laugh as he looked the boy in the eyes, "Yes. I can't tell you the reason why, because it's a village secret. A very important secret. But the villagers smiled at you because they see you as a hero, Naruto. You made a great sacrifice to save our village, and the people remember that."

"But I don't feel like a hero, sensei. I'm just a kid, and not even a shinobi!"

"Anyone can be a hero. You don't need to be as old or as great as the Hokage to become a hero. To the village, you are their hero because you made a sacrifice that no one else dared to make as a baby."

Naruto slowly nodded his head, "I think I get it... So does that mean I have to work harder than before if people think I'm a hero?"

Iruka returned the nod, "Sure, but remember to make your own path. You don't always need to be what the villagers want you to be. You said you wanted to be Hokage, right?"

Seeing the boy eagerly nodding, the scarred man smiled, "Then don't let anyone talk you out of that goal. It's important to remember that while you are a hero, you shouldn't rely on what you did as a baby forever. You might not remember what you did to be considered a hero to the villagers, but you can work hard to become a hero for them from now on while pursuing your goal. And one day, when you're the Hokage, you can help the villagers smile even more and be a hero for things that you remember doing."

"I think I'll like that," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"Remember, what anyone says, I was the first one to support you to become Hokage," Iruka said jokingly.

The blond hugged the man tightly, "Thank you, sensei! I promise I'll always come to your class on time and study hard!"

Chuckling softly, the chunin placed his arms around the boy and smiled.

A month passed since Naruto's first day at the Academy. During that time, Naruto made a lot of new friends and learned a variety of new things from his chunin instructor. His new friends didn't see him as a hero as the older villagers did, but they were friendly and nice to him. He considered Sasuke as his first and closest friend, but all his new friends were interesting and fun to hang out with.

Shikamaru was lazy and laid-back, but seriously smart too. Naruto often invited the Nara to sit next to him so that he could ask him questions about things he didn't understand. During lunchtime, Naruto spent his time eating at his desk with Sasuke and Shikamaru while reading and studying fervently. Surprisingly, Shikamaru was receptive to his questions and only closed his eyes to nap after he answered Naruto's questions.

Choji was chubby and big, but he was also caring and thoughtful. The boy offered Naruto snacks whenever he looked hungry after the Academy ended, as the blond's appetite was huge. He also shared his class notes with Naruto and sat next to him and Sasuke during class. While Choji wasn't as smart as Shikamaru, he was diligent and worked just as hard as Naruto.

Shino was quiet and awkward but intelligent in his own ways. He was one of the few kids in the class that had experience using jutsu and chakra, as he communicated with the bugs that were nested in his body daily. Naruto thought his bugs were wicked and talked to Shino whenever he could. Shino usually answered with one or two-word answers, but that never deterred the blond from speaking with him.

Kiba was annoying and loud, but Naruto thought the boy was funny at times. He was awfully cocky, but Naruto managed to see through his bombastic attitude and saw a loyal friend underneath. The two of them had competitions daily to see who was "better," but it was usually in good spirits. They were also facing each other in a small prank war, and often made the class laugh with their harmless, yet amusing pranks. In just a week, Naruto had pranked the Inuzuka by placing a classic whoopee cushion on his chair and drawing on his dog's face when the two of them fell asleep in class.

There were many other people he met and he worked hard to remember their faces and names whenever he could. After all, if he was going to be Hokage one day, it was good to know the names of all the people in the village.

Usually, Naruto was always laughing and smiling with his friends, but when Iruka was lecturing the class, he turned solemn and hardly joked around with his friends. He was very serious about becoming a great shinobi and memorized what his instructor taught religiously. From chakra theory to shinobi history, he absorbed any useful information that would help him on his path to becoming Hokage. When he returned to the orphanage, the young Uzumaki reviewed what he had learned on his own and studied ahead of the class' curriculum.

All in all, his life was good and he felt like he was becoming closer to his goal already.

After the end of a typical school day, Naruto packed up his stuff and prepared himself to leave when he was stopped by Sasuke, "Hey Naruto, want to come over to my house and practice some cool jutsu with me?"

Naruto was intrigued, as the class hadn't practiced any real jutsu as of yet. He and his classmates were still learning the basics and weren't expected to learn any jutsu until their third year at the Academy. The prospect of learning flashy jutsu and taking one step closer to becoming a "real" shinobi excited him. The Uzumaki nodded his head excitedly, "Sure! Lead the way!"

The two walked side by side all the way to the Uchiha District, which was in the very northernmost part of Konoha. As they walked down the streets of Konoha, Naruto waved at everyone he saw with a smile and called out the names of the people he knew.

"Hi, Taketa-san! I like the shirt you're wearing today! It's really nice!"

"Nakano oba-san! Do you need help with those groceries?"

"Thanks for giving me some free dango yesterday, Makeda-san, I'll make sure to pay you back one day!"

Sasuke looked at him incredulously as he saw the boy call out more than a dozen individuals on the street, "How do you know all of them?"

The Uzumaki shrugged, "Every time I walk back to the orphanage from the Academy, I always greet the people that wave at me and try to learn their names. Some of them are really nice and give me snacks or stationery for school."

"Must be nice having everyone acknowledging you," Sasuke said glumly.

Naruto saw the dark expression on his friend's face and lightly slapped his back, "Come on Sasuke, don't be like that! You're my best friend and I think you're going to be one of the greatest shinobi ever! I'm sure people will acknowledge your awesomeness one day too!"

Even though he still looked a bit down, the Uchiha grinned at his friend's remarks, "Alright! Then let's get going!"

When they arrived at the Uchiha District, the two boys were greeted by the sight of a large gate with imposing walls that isolated the district from the rest of Konoha. The gates, which served as the entrance of the district, were open, but there were several shinobi from the Uchiha clan that guarded the entrance. Naruto felt nervous as he stepped towards the gate and remained behind his friend.

"Welcome back Sasuke," One of the guards said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "How was the Academy?"

"Good, we learned some interesting stuff today," Sasuke replied, "Is ni-san back yet?"

The guard shook his head, "He left earlier this morning on a mission. I have no idea when he'll be back."

The young Uchiha frowned and crossed his arms, "He said he wasn't going on any missions for a few days!"

"He's been busy lately, Sasuke. There has been a lot going on around the village and since he's an experienced chunin, it's not a surprise that he's being assigned more missions."

"But still..."

"Sasuke, are you bothering Kouumoto again?"

A loud, firm voice thundered behind the guards and the guards immediately turned to give a short bow to the source of the voice. The voice belonged to a tall, imposing man with broad shoulders and a square jaw. Naruto could see the resemblance between Sasuke and the man, but the man's eyes were much colder than Sasuke's eyes. He glanced over Sasuke and stared at the blond, who hid behind his friend to avoid the man's imposing stare, "And who is this, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stepped aside to reveal Naruto's hiding figure and smiled weakly, "This is my friend, Naruto! He was the friend I was talking about! You said he was allowed to train with us for today otousan."

The man, who was obviously Sasuke's father, maintained his gaze towards Naruto and finally nodded after several seconds, "So I have. Stop bothering Kouumoto so we can start your training."

"Ok!"

Naruto felt paralyzed by the man's glare, but his feet started moving on his own as Sasuke dragged him into the Uchiha District, "Come on Naruto!"

As they walked towards Sasuke's house, Naruto leaned in and whispered, "I think your otousan is really scary."

The Uchiha laughed out loud, earning him a harsh glare from his father. After he quieted down, the raven-haired boy answered his friend's comment, "He can be scary at times, but he's a great dad. I mean, he offered to teach me today and approved of you coming here."

That made the blond feel a little better, but he was still a bit intimidated by the man's presence.

They reached their destination within a few minutes: a large house with a spacious courtyard and backyard. The group walked through the house and entered the backyard, which contained a training area, a sizeable pond, and several trees.

Sasuke's father looked around the training area before stopping the two boys, "For today, I will teach you the basics of chakra control and the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)."

"But that jutsu is so lame, otousan! I want to learn something cool, like the Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke complained.

The Uchiha head turned his head sharply and stared Sasuke into submission, "The jutsu is not "lame." It is a useful jutsu that can save your life one day. And I never specified which jutsu I would be teaching you today. So stay silent and watch carefully."

He looked at Naruto and gave him a stern nod. Naruto gulped and nodded his head rapidly.

"In order to learn how to use jutsu, you must learn how to control your chakra. The first step is to rotate a single leaf on top of your forehead and be able to rotate the leaf in any direction and any speed at will. Like this." The man demonstrated by placing a single leaf on top of his forehead and rotating it freely. He rotated it clockwise, counterclockwise, and at a wide variety of speeds, "Only after you demonstrate that you can rotate the leaf slowly in a clockwise direction, will we move onto the Kawarimi."

"This is going to be easy!" Sasuke said as he grabbed a leaf from a nearby tree and placed it on his forehead. Naruto also plucked a leaf from the same tree and placed it slowly on his forehead.

After thirty minutes of futile effort, the boys discovered that the exercise was much harder than they had anticipated. Sasuke was clearly ahead of Naruto, but not by much. That was because while Sasuke's leaf was barely moving in a clockwise direction, Naruto's leaf spun around rapidly and flew off the blond's forehead whenever he concentrated for longer than five seconds. Their "teacher" watched intently in the background and frowned at their progress.

"Come on, Sasuke! Your brother mastered the jutsu in just an hour, yet you haven't even reached the first stage!"

Sasuke looked murderous when he heard his father compare him to his brother, but remained silent and gritted his teeth in order to focus on the jutsu. Naruto lightly jabbed him in the shoulder and smiled at the frustrated Uchiha when the boy turned to look at him. Sasuke calmed down a bit afterward but looked visibly frustrated as his progress with the leaf stalled. Naruto fared a bit better than before but was still unable to control the speed of the leaf's rotation. By the time the sun fell, Sasuke managed to complete the first task while the blond barely managed to slow down his leaf's rotation.

"It seems as though we have run out of time for the day," Sasuke's father frowned at both of them, "You two have made decent progress, but I expect both of you to improve faster. This exercise is a simple one and if you can not complete this within a week, then do not expect to become a shinobi."

And with that, the Uchiha head turned around and stepped back into the house.

After throwing his leaf onto the ground, Sasuke stomped on it forcefully. Naruto ran over to his friend to calm him down, "Sasuke, you need to calm down..."

"He always does this," The raven-haired boy fumed, "It's always Itachi this or Itachi that. No matter what I do, he always finds a reason to mention Itachi's name and I hate it!"

Naruto shook the boy and made him look towards him, "Don't listen to him! Itachi is Itachi and you are you. Just keep going at your own pace and ignore them! Don't let your dad or anyone else decide who you want to be."

Sasuke stared at his friend, "Who I want to be?"

"You said you want to be better than your brother, so ignore what anyone else says and keep working hard to achieve that goal! The more you listen to them and the angrier you get, the more you lose sight of your real goal!"

The Uchiha relaxed and halted his outburst, "You're right. I should be working hard to prove that I can be better than my ni-san, instead of throwing a tantrum."

"That's the spirit!" Naruto cried, "Now let's keep on practicing so we can both become great shinobi together!"

"Together," Sasuke echoed with a smile.

Naruto returned to the orphanage after several more hours of practice. After working tirelessly on the exercise, he finally managed to complete the first stage. Sasuke managed to go further and was able to change the direction of the leaf's rotation at will. By the time he returned to the place he called home, Naruto was worn out and tired.

Before he stepped through the entrance of the orphanage, he heard a voice call out to him from nearby, "Naruto."

When the blond turned, he came face to face with an old man with a long beard and robes. The man wore a familiar-looking hat and smoked a long pipe.

Realizing who the man was, Naruto immediately bowed deeply, "Hokage-sama!"

"Please, Naruto. Call me ojichan," The Third Hokage chuckled, "You don't need to be so stiff with me. I knew your parents, after all."

The Uzumaki's mouth gaped like a fish as he stood in the presence of the God of Shinobi. When he attempted to speak, not a single sound came out of his throat.

Sarutobi inspected the boy up close and smiled, "You have grown much, Naruto. The last time I saw you, you were just a baby."

Naruto finally managed to clear his throat and speak, "If you knew my parents and knew me from a young age, why did you never come to visit me, Hoka...ojichan?"

The Hokage's face suddenly fell and he sat down on a nearby tree trunk to gain his composure, "I...I am truly sorry for never visiting you, Naruto. Forgive this old man for neglecting you until now, but I was still coming to terms with the death of your parents. You see, their deaths were my fault."

Seeing the boy was remaining silent, the Third Hokage continued, "Shortly after you were born, a terrible beast called the Nine-Tails rampaged throughout Konoha. It killed thousands of shinobi and civilians alike. Many shinobi died defending the village from the beast, and both of your parents decided to help the other shinobi protect Konoha. I was good friends with both of your parents and I should have stopped them at that time. You were merely a newborn and I was foolish on letting them leave you alone. And in the end, you became an orphan..."

Silence reigned between the two of them as Sarutobi glanced at the night sky, "After their deaths, I was unable to take care of you because I was reinstated as the Hokage and was tasked with rebuilding the village. But even after the village stabilized, I was hesitant to appear before you because I feared your reaction to my story."

"It's not your fault, ojichan."

Naruto strutted up to the old man and gave him a reassuring hug, "Did my parents love me?"

"They loved you dearly, Naruto. They fought the Nine-Tails in order to protect you from being killed."

"Then I understand," Naruto said, looking at the ground with a sad smile, "I do miss them, but they died trying to protect me and the village. And thanks to them, I'm still alive and the people of the village are smiling. I just wish they were remembered as heroes instead of me because I don't even remember what I did to become a hero."

Sarutobi looked at the boy sorrowfully. He vowed to reveal all the hidden secrets to the boy after he became an official shinobi but now was not the time, "They are, Naruto. All those that died on that day are remembered as heroes."

The blond looked far more mature than his actual age as he gazed into the distance, "I've already decided I'm going to be the Hokage one day."

"Trying to steal my hat already?" Sarutobi said light-heartedly.

"The hat looks awesome, but I want to protect the smiles of the villagers," Naruto said, "As my parents did."

Listening to Minato's son's words made Sarutobi's stomach drop. For a second, he could've sworn he saw the figure of Minato standing beside Naruto, "Then I'll be waiting, Naruto."

"Believe it!" The Uzumaki declared confidently.

The Hokage laughed and ruffled the boy's hair, "I didn't come here just to talk to you. In fact, I came here to help you on your path to becoming a Hokage?"

"Really?"

"Yes. I will be giving you an apartment to live in so that you are closer to the Academy. I will personally pay for the apartment's rent, so you can live in there by yourself. I will also give you a monthly allowance so that you can buy things you need to succeed at the Academy and as a shinobi."

Naruto's face glowed as he heard the Hokage's words, "Thank you, ojichan!"

"Additionally, I will be placing an experienced chunin as your official tutor until you graduate. He will teach you everything he can to prepare you for your shinobi career."

Sarutobi lifted two fingers in the air and a figure materialized next to him. Naruto stepped back from the young shinobi's sudden appearance and looked at his new tutor.

The chunin's face was familiar. In fact, he looked similar to Sasuke and Sasuke's father, as he had the same eyes and hair as the two Uchihas. His attire was entirely black, with the exception of his vest, which was grey. The young man's eyes bore into him and the blond found himself unnerved by the man's stare.

Suddenly, it was clear why the person in front of him looked so familiar.

"This chunin will be your tutor from now on," Sarutobi happily stated, "His name is Uchiha Itachi."

"And the Jinchuriki?"

"Harmless... The boy can barely control his natural chakra. But he is a clean slate and can easily be shaped to suit our needs."

"Are you sure this plan will work, Fugaku?"

"Trust me. Itachi has revealed to me that he will be the Jinchuriki's tutor. All we need to do is wait and allow Itachi to carry out our wishes."

"But your eldest son is a potential traitor, is he not?"

"He is loyal to the village more than he is to our clan, but if this plan means averting a civil war, I am sure he will go through with it."

"Then let us wait and see until we decide our next course of action. If this is successful, we will directly have the Hokage's ears. However, the other elders are growing restless and we may have less time than expected..."

AN: I wrote this due to a fic request made by someone on Reddit. The official prompt was, "What if Naruto wasn't mistreated and treated as a hero like Minato requested?"

As you can tell, the beginning will be a bit slow. However, things will start to pick up soon. There will be changes to the Naruto world, so consider this an AU. What seems like a "small" change, will greatly affect Naruto's outlook in life, his friendships, and even the village itself.

As for the usual rundown:

1) Pairings aren't official. I'm open to ideas, but I was thinking of having the pairing with Naruto to be really exotic and rare (like Kurotsuchi or Shikzuka) (I apologize, but I do not write slash). However, romance will be a side plot and will not even be mentioned until Naruto is grown up in this story. And like always. I do not do harems.

2) Will the Uchiha massacre still happen? Yes? No? Maybe? We'll see. I won't spoil anything early on and I am coming up with several different possibilities right now. Maybe the massacre happens like the original canon. Maybe Itachi won't defect. Or maybe an internal Uchiha Civil War will happen. Who knows?

3) Is Naruto going to be OP? No, at least not initially. I don't write MCs that are immediately OP fics (and I don't plan to any time soon). Naruto will grow faster in this world, as he isn't always craving for attention early on, he's actually focusing on studying more seriously, and he has friends to help him along. He also has a goal (to become the Hokage). In canon, he wanted to become Hokage to have the villagers acknowledge him. In this story? He wants to actually protect the village and as he says in the story, "protect their smiles."

4) Why is Sarutobi moving so differently than Canon? Snowball effect. Sarutobi has made a bold and risky move to protect Naruto and declare him a hero, so he decides to continue on and help him grow into becoming a great shinobi. After all, the Third Hokage isn't going to be content with "well, I did this one thing for him so I'm completely forgiven for everything." Additionally, he's much more regretful of his mistakes in this story and is doing his best to improve Naruto's life.

5) How different is Naruto's personality going to be? He's going to be outgoing still, and loud at times. But he's also going to show flashes of his father when studying or learning something. No, he's not a genius in this story. His intelligence is the same. However, he's going to be a bit more serious about his studies and training early on, which will result in massive changes throughout the world. He's still aiming to be Hokage (for different reasons) and he won't be cocky/take things for granted (Because he understands he's a hero for something he doesn't remember and wants to forge his own path). He does also seem mature because he's taking things more seriously from an early age. He'll still act outgoing and happy, but he'll also have more "serious" moments.

6) For plot convenience, Naruto has been placed in the same class as the other main characters of the original series.

7) Team assignments? Up in the air. I usually despise going the traditional route and try to spice it up, so we'll see how that goes.

8) Will I reuse the same plot points and beat the poor horse to death? No. I'll be writing out my own scenarios and missions. There may be correlations between original canon and this story, but I will attempt to be as original as much as possible.

9) What time is it according to the main series? This is about a year before the Uchiha Massacre happened in canon.

10) Will Naruto and Sasuke remain friends? That remains to be seen. Maybe having Itachi as Naruto's private tutor will enrage Sasuke and create a rift in between them. Maybe they cooperate and work together. It's for you to keep reading and find out :)

11) Any bashing? Nope. None. Sasuke does sound a bit whiney in this chapter, but he's only seven years old. I'm not looking to bash characters in order to make a story "good." I'm going to try and make this story "good" based on its merits alone.

And as always, leave a review down below if you have any questions, comments, or criticisms. I apologize that my writing isn't that good. So if you think you have an idea or a suggestion that may improve this story, please review!

A big shoutout to u/LittenInAScarf for giving me this idea on Reddit!

Best regards,

Okmangeez