AN: Hey, just trying out things ya'know. All constructive criticism is welcomed. Don't bash me though, it's my first work in this fandom.
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto. It's the property of Kishimoto. If I did, I would have abandoned it for writing Naruto fanfics ;)
Naruto was currently running on ahead with all his speed. Away from the Jonins chasing him and towards the lush green forest. It was rather convenient to do so if you could find one at every corner of the village.
"Kurama switch", Naruto screamed in his mind.
The eternal being woke up from his slumber grogily.
" Tsk",Kurama said before Naruto's ocean blue eyes changed into red slitted ones and jumping high up not possible for any human and sped at what seemed like a blur.
"It hasn't even been an hour and you have gotten yourself in trouble", Kurama grumbled releasing possession of Naruto's body
Naruto panted and plopped down on the ground against a bark of the tree.
" I just painted the Hokage stone faces", Naruto said regaining his breath, "They needed to be coloured anyways"
"What did you do? ", Kurama asked rolling his eyes.
" Flowers on the first hokage, sharingan eyes on the second, a nose bleed on the third ", Naruto completed.
"Nothing for your dear old father? ", Kurama asked.
"I... I don't know what to feel about him", Naruto admitted now looking into the distant skies.
"He sealed you in me... Not that I have any problem with it... Now at least", Naruto said frantically.
" Just get to the point ", Kurama said.
"You say he didn't hate me... but why would he seal you in me then? He isn't like the others. He doesn't hate mom, who was a jinchūriki as well. he loved her and married her", Naruto began, "Then why did he do that to me? He must have known what it's like "
There was silence prevailing between then for an awkward moment before, "NARUTO! "
Naruto was yanked by his collar, "What are you doing here instead of the class? "
"I was lost? ", Naruto tried.
" Lost defacing the Hokages? ",Iruka asked rhetorically, " You are coming to class right now! "
Naruto was then dragged until he was thrashed on his seat in his class, much to the laughter of his class.
Iruka sighed heavily, "All of you come and perform the bunshin jutsu. None of you are allowed to go until everyone in class has made at least one bunshin"
When the whining and cries started, Iruka slammed his hand on the table to shut them up.
"Yamanaka Ino", Iruka called.
" Damn Naruto, we always have to pay for you", Shikamaru said dragging himself slowly to the line.
"Like I care", Naruto said crossing his arms and huffing.
" Uchiha Sasuke", Iruka called and ignored the girly cheers and encouragement.
Sasuke formed 3 perfect bunshins and the volume of the cheers increased.
"Naruto", Iruka called.
Naruto went and stood in his place, " Switch"
Naruto then closed his eyes and made the hand seals and filled the room with hundreds of bunshins.
"Very good", Iruka said, " But that still doesn't mean you are off the hook for the hokage faces "
"I know, I know ", Naruto said pouting.
" Did you one of your pranks again? ", Chouji asked.
" Painted the Hokage faces ", Naruto said happily.
" I gotta see that", Chouji said laughing.
"It's not funny. They are supposed to be the strongest and most honoured shinobi who protect us. They should not be disrespected like that", Sakura said indignantly.
"Aren't you very close to Sandaime sama? ", Sakura commented more than asked, " You of all people should know their sacrifices for us"
Naruto struggled not just lash out about Hokages sacrificing too much...
Naruto did not know what to say on that to the pink haired girl that he secretly used to liked.
"Don't try to copy, Sasuke kun", Sakura roared.
" But I did not say anything ", Naruto defended.
" That's what Sasuke does to his fangirls. Ignore them, that's why she said that", Kiba snorted.
"You guys are just jealous", Sakura said with the support of her fellow competitors.
" Yeah, Naruto is the only one that has a slight chance of beating Sasuke kun, so you all goad off of him", Ino said equally fiery.
"Does not", instantly all the fangirls turned on Ino.
" Yeah, I just meant in nin jutsu", Ino said.
The states and glares intensified, even from Sasuke.
"I mean, just the bunshin", Ino said defensively.
" Sasuke kun isn't showing off like Naruto doesn't mean he is weaker than him in anything ", Sakura said clearly wrong in her assessment.
" Silence! ", Iruka boomed.
" You all have your gennin exams next week. You all should be preparing instead of playing around", Iruka said.
Everyone grew nervous.
"Class is dismissed", Iruka said.
" Not you Naruto, you have things to do", Iruka halted the sneaky Naruto.
"Good luck", Shikamaru said to him walking out.
Naruto woke up the next day after hours of rubbing and scrubbing the Hokage faces.
"I should be training on my bunshin", Naruto said to no one.
Naruto sat water to boil and went to brushed his teeth.
On returning, he pored the steaming water into the ramen and walked out after locking his door.
He was walking slowly, enjoying his ramen along his way to academy.
He felt someone behind him so he turned but too late to do anything about the kunai coming for his neck.
He closed his eyes but the impact didn't come. He opened his eyes to see Sasuke looking at him with unbelieving eyes.
"You would rather protect your breakfast than your life? ", Sasuke uttered.
Naruto then realised that he had taken his hand away and at a safe distance away from the attack rather than use it to defend himself.
" Only if it's ramen", Kurama chuckled.
"What's the big idea of attacking me anyways, dattebayo", Naruto said backing away.
Sasuke pocketed his kunai, " I wanted to measure my strength, if I could assasinate you"
"Is this about yesterday? ", Naruto asked continuing to eat ramen anyways.
" No", Sasuke replied instantly, clearly being caught.
Naruto laughed and continued his journey to the academy, now fully aware of the last Uchiha behind him.
"How do you do it? ", Sasuke asked finally .
" Do what? ", Naruto asked tilting his head to give his acknowledgement of the question without turning back.
" The bunshin jutsu.", Sasuke said halting.
Naruto turned around, "I knew it was about that! "
"Answer me", Sasuke demanded.
" It's just that I have a lot of chakra. And I mean a lot ", Naruto said.
" So, you had it given to you", Sasuke said sarcastically.
"Says the one with inherited eyes that can control bijuu", Naruto said even more sarcastic.
Sasuke immediately was in front of him with his kunai out again.
" How do you know that? ", Sasuke demanded.
" Only Uchiha Madara was able to do that and it's not a very well known fact, even in our clan it wasn't ", Sasuke said.
" I read it somewhere ", Naruto lied continuing to walk past Sasuke nervously.
He clearly could not answer, 'Oh the nine tails you are told who is dead? Yeah I have him in my stomach and he told me about the mysterious sharingan mask eye man who forced him to attack the village'
" You read somewhere? ", Sasuke asked.
" That or heard it from the old man Hokage ", Naruto said crunching the ramen cup and throwing it in a dustbin at the academy's entrance.
Sasuke seemed to believe him at that. It was the professor after all.
Sasuke was then swarmed by his fangirls for attention, so he snuck away thanking kami.
Sasuke didn't bother him later that day so he figured that he was satisfied with the answer.
Naruto sped towards his apartment when class ended and went and did a free fall on his bed.
"Shouldn't you be preparing for your exams", Kurama said.
" I totally forgot about that! ", Naruto jumped back.
" But you are going to help me right? ", Naruto asked in a sing song way.
" Shouldn't you be doing this on your own? It's your exam, not mine", Kurama said smirking.
"No don't do this to me now", Naruto begged, " Aren't you a part of me? Add on to who I am? "
"Tsk, emotional drama again", Kurama grumbled.
" You know that I won't be of any help in tai jutsu and your written exams, except for the history questions ", Kurama warned.
" I know. Why would you know what is shinobi standard number of kunai and at what angles they are thrown ", Naruto rehearsed what he had heard umpteen number of times.
" But you are getting better and better at controlling a human body", Naruto remarked.
"But tai jutsu is different entirely", Kurama said.
" I know. I just gotta get the muscle memory and then you can do them too after a little practice ", Naruto said.
" You should focus on the immediate threat first ", Kurama said.
" Don't worry. I can get just below average in Taijutsu. You can create decent Genjutsu for academy level. Get full score in Ninjutsu and with a few questions from written exams. I can easily pass", Naruto said.
"If you get caught? I cannot use your chakra to jutsus without adding a smidge of mine", Kurama said.
" I don't think there would be high level sensory ninja there", Naruto said rolling his eyes, "Even so I can pass if you only help me in the written exams. I'll just be in the slightly below average category instead of above average"
"You should still prepare. ", Kurama said finally.
" I know. I was going to train my bunshins anyways. Which would actually help me rather than doing math problems ", Naruto said going to the fridge and taking out a few bananas and leaving the house through the window.
Naruto went and trained his bunshin again and again that day until the sun set to no avail.
" Stupid bunshin jutsu", Naruto muttered getting up and patting the dirt from his clothes to return home.
"How do you do it? ", Naruto asked Kurama.
" I have told you this many times. I am chakra. I am made up of godly amounts of chakra. Why would I have troubles with chakra control . I have full control over it while your body is too small for your as well as mine chakra to hold so--"
"Yeah, yeah. The kawarami jutsu and henge are easy though", Naruto commented none the less.
" That's because encompassing your body in chakra and changing appearance and using chakra to displace two masses use more chakra than producing your chakra into air ", Kurama answered.
Naruto just accepted it for that and went about his way.
Naruto the next day did see something unexpected at the academy.
The fangirls club were cornering Hinata so he got up to tell them to cut it out but as he heard what that was about he stopped.
"I saw you following Sasuke kun yesterday. You like him too right? Don't lie to us", one of them said.
" Y.. Yes", Hinata said with her index fingers meeting each other.
"Hinata too? ", Naruto murmured.
" Jealous? ", Kurama asked just to be ignored.
" That makes you our rival ", Ino declared.
" N.. No", Hinata said turning red.
"I.. I won't pe.. Per... Persue it", Hinata said flustered.
" Why? Sasuke kun is perfect! ", Sakura said offended on Sasuke's behalf.
" N.. No, I mean ye.. Yes. I.. I am a clan he.. Heiress ", Hinata managed.
" So? You think you are above him? He is one too", Sakura yelled.
"Forehead. Clan heiress cannot marry just anyone they like. There is a lot of politics involved. Especially when it comes to those with blood limits.", Ino answered.
Hinata nodded.
All of them calmed down at that.
" Well good for us then", Sakura said and then gained a look of pure evil.
"Ino? Aren't you a clan heiress too? ", Sakura asked with a wicked smile.
Realisation and the implications sunk into Ino as her face paled.
Naruto decided to walk away.
The exam day had finally come and Naruto was currently appearing his written test.
" Founding father of Konoha"
"Senju and Uchiha"
"Kekkei Genkai of Shodaime? "
"Mokuton"
"Wait that sounds interesting. Didn't you say he used it to bind you and other tailed beasts as well", Naruto teased.
"If you remember then take the exam on your own", Kurama threatened.
" I'm sorry, sorry, sorry--"
"Get on with it already", Kurama interrupted.
Naruto got back to work...
" Uzumaki Naruto"
Naruto went to the front to finish the last portion of his exams.
Tai jutsu was first. To test them at their best physical state and then the written test and all that was left of Gen and Nin.
"Make a basic gen jutsu", Mizuki asked.
Naruto closed his eyes and switched with Kurama.
" Tell me the hand signs", Kurama asked.
"Boar, ox, tiger, snake", Naruto answered.
And the not only the people in surrounding range but the whole class was caught in it. The illusion was of Naruto sitting on the edge of a giant ramen bowl and then him accidentally dropping and drowning in it but as he was drowning he was wolfing down on as much as ramen he could.
Naruto took back the control, "Hey! Couldn't you have made something normal? Like making trees grow or something"
"Would that have been fun? ", Kurama asked.
Naruto looked at his laughing classmates and he smiled too. Any sort of attention wasn't unwelcomed by him. He had given up actively trying to get attention from people after he made a new friend but human interaction was a still not the same as interaction with Kurama.
" That was very good Naruto. Now perform the three basic academy ninjutsu. ", Iruka asked.
Naruto did the two flawlessly and switched with Kurama for the bunshin.
" Naruto, why do you close your eyes for the bunshin? ", Mizuki asked.
" Erm... It's helps me concentrate better?", Naruto said.
"It does leave you vulnerable for a moment and that as a shinobi can be the deciding moment that you live or die, practice on it but you did the jutsu none the less so you score full in Ninjutsu", Iruka began.
"While yor genjutsu's effective range was larger than all. It was quite easy to detect and to break out of", Mizuki finished.
" Tallying all your scores, you pass with a 57 out of 100", Iruka said.
Naruto smiled and nodded to them and walked back to his seat until he received his hitaite.
Naruto waited giddily until the rest of the students got through with their attempts. After long await, Iruka came to the classroom with Mizuki and handed them the hitaite. Naruto took it from the desk that it was placed on and tied it on his forehead proudly. The results were declared one final time with rankings.
There were 27 who passed in total. He came in 13th. He was happy with it. He didn't do it by himself so he couldn't be boastfully proud about it but he didn't feel guilty about cheating either. Teachers at his academy had always ignored his questions and doubts and upto some level actively ostracised and stunted his growth because he was the host of Kurama so using Kurama was only fair. They didn't know Kurama in the first place. He wasn't the beast everyone thought him to be.
The rookie of the year was Uchiha Sasuke with Aburame Shino coming in second for the place and the kunoichi of the year was Haruno Sakura and Katsui Ame coming as the deadlast and failing the exams.
"This calls for celebration", Naruto told himself.
Naruto skipped his way to Ichiraku after academy. He threw off the the partition screen and plopped down on the seat now holding his headband in his hand showing it to Ayame and Teuchi.
"JiJi, Ayame Nii!,I passed",Naruto sang.
"Congratulations Naruto",Ayame congratulated.
"Ramen on the house then",Teuchi said smiling.
"Mizooo",Naruto ordered his favourite ramen.
Naruto relished the ramen with utmost delight.
"I want some cup-ramen too",Naruto asked on finishing the bowl,standing up and placing money on the table for them.
Ayame went back into the kitchen and brought what was ordered,"Do you want separate chopsticks for all of them or one would do?"
"Different",Naruto answered.
"So you are a full on shinobi, earning his own living then, Naruto",Teuchi asked,"You won't depend on Hokage sama anymore"
"I won't ",Naruto said with satisfaction.
He liked the sense of independence that came with.
He picked up the bag of ramen and made his way out towards his home. On reaching the said place he plopped down on his bead without changing into his night clothes or taking shower.
"Who do you think, my teammates would be?",Naruto asked.
"How am I supposed to know that?",Kurama grumbled.
"You are no fun",Naruto scowled.
"Chouji would be nice",Naruto said to himself," Maybe Shikamaru and Kiba too"
Unknown to Naruto, in a meeting, several jonins and academy teachers and the hokage, the same thoughts were circulating but with far more stressed.
"Hokage sama, this year is filled with clan heirs. I suppose that the clan affairs will be more prevalent than academy performance", Mizuki asked.
" Yes, I believe putting the Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi in a team again would give the same results as the previous generation", Hiruzen said.
"Hokage sama, this year it's a little different... ", Iruka drawed out.
" Different?... Different how? ", Hiruzen asked.
" I believe the exams did not bring out the best of them", Iruka answered.
"You suggest the medium is not upto par with the shinobi of the present time? ", Hiruzen said with a raised brow.
" No, I did not mean that", Iruka corrected quickly.
"It's...If I name names, Naruto is one of them, his performance is very...non uniform? He did great in nin jutsu but tai jutsu and target shooting were terrible and the written tests too, it was like he picked certain parts that would allow him to pass the exam and he skipped the rest", Iruka said.
Hiruzen face was lost for a moment in thought before he recollected himself and sighed, "We cannot force him. If his value is more than the tests estimate then, there is no way we can estimate that if Naruto doesn't want us to"
"Uhmm... It's not just about him. Nara Shikamaru. He is just... Lazy", Iruka said.
" You concluded that Shikaku's son is lazy. No body could have seen that coming ", Kakashi said rolling his one eye.
" I mean, he just surrendered in tai jutsu even before the match started", Iruka said much to the unanimous sigh of the room, "And in questions involving calculations, he did write the process and method to solve it but didn't actually solve them", Iruka finished.
" Yamanaka Ino, she too didn't give her all in tai jutsu because her outfit and hair would have gotten dirty. Akimichi Chouji was paired to fight against Inuzuka Kiba and he did not want to fight his friend", Iruka continued.
"The ones who passed all did have descent scores and the system to put the dead last and rookie of the year, the team is still unbalanced compared to other teams.", Iruka was cut off
Hiruzen held up his hand, " I have heard enough. I believe compatibility as a team should take priority over test scores "
"Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto"
"TRUE LOVE CONQUERS ALL! INO PIG"
Naruto thought about the team he was placed in, "I don't know. I feel like I would have liked to be with one of those three"
"Well if the masked Uchiha is still out there. He will come after you one day. You can use this to know the sharingan on an intimate level through spars and battles", Kurama suggested.
" You are right ", Naruto replied.
Thinking in such direction, he walked upto them, " Want to have lunch together? "
Sasuke walked away ignoring him and Sakura looked towards Naruto but followed Sasuke wanting a date.
"Humans disgust me. I don't know how you can co exist with them", Kurama said.
"They didn't need to be so rude about it ", Naruto said.
Naruto went back to his seat and took out an apple from his bag and started munching it alone...
And alone he was, well alone with his team this time, waiting for his jonin sensei. All of them were bored and irritated to death.
Naruto finally decided enough is enough and got up and placed a duster on top of the door.
" He is a jonin he will never fall for that", Sasuke commented.
"I know", Naruto said continuing to place it perfectly.
" He shouldn't have been late", Naruto said huffing, "I'm bored"
None of them disagreed.
They heard the door open and the duster land on a man's head.
Naruto laughed heartily while the other two stared.
"My first impression.. "
"Meet me at the roof in 2 minutes", Kakashi said before puffing in smoke.
"He gave us an time limit impossible to attain", Sasuke said running out of the room.
Sakura and Naruto followed his lead. On their way Naruto switched with Kurama and gained lead on both of his teammates, jumping and sprinting away.
Naruto reached to find the man who Kurama introduced as his dad's student, Hatake Kakashi staring at him.
"Why did you have your eyes closed? ", Kakashi asked.
" My senses highten when I do and I can do things with more concentration ", Naruto lied.
He couldn't just tell him that between him and Kurama the one who is not in control of the body can see, like how Kurama can see everything from his seal. With Kurama's smelling sense and hearing range and Naruto's eyes, they function completely normal even with his eyes closed.
But to his relief Sakura and Sasuke came panting.
"Okay let's get introduction out of the way first", Kakashi said, " Introduce yourself, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams things like that "
"Can you go first?", Sakura asked.
" I am Hatake kakashi. I like some things and dislike some things. I hobbies... I don't feel like telling. And my dream is none of your business", Kakashi said.
"Is he always like this? ", Naruto asked.
"How am I supposed to know? This is the first time I am seeing him in what...12 years. I only recognized him because of his covered eye", Kurama said.
" I am Haruno Sakura, I like... ", Sakura answered glancing towards Sasuke.
"I dislike Ino pig! My hobbies are reading books and my dream... ",Sakura was a blushing mess by the end of it .
Kakashi moved on ignoring that, "broody"
Sasuke scoffed at the nickname but answered, "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike many things and don't like anything in particular. I don't have many hobbies except training. My dream is to kill a certain someone and revive my clan"
Kakashi lingered slightly after the intense answer and prompted Naruto to continue.
"I am Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen. I dislike...The three minutes you have to wait for ramen. I like to spending time in the forest and swimming in rivers", Naruto answered or more like dubbed his answer that he didn't like spending time in the village and he couldn't stay locked up in his apartment for the entire time so he went deep into the forests towards the outskirts of the village far away from the populace.
"My dream is to become a fuiinjutsu master and establish a safe haven for the Uzumaki remnants"
Okay for some background story.
How Naruto got buddy buddy with Kurama would be revealed in a chapter in far future, during the reveal that he is a perfect Jinchüriki.
Naruto doesn't have the same personality he does in canon. He isn't broody either. It's just that he doesn't trust anyone. He still will be the forgiving soul that he is, but he will be more distant with others, he doesn't hate them but sees them with neutrality.
He is introverted but isn't shy. He still likes to have the approval and acknowledgement but doesn't go out of his way to get that. vh
Because of which he won't too attached with his team and I'm not going to have him chase after Sasuke's dick.
As for skills, Füinjutsu master! Naruto.
KCM mode and other power ups which made the show flashy and un-shinobi like will be removed. He will be the same as other Jinchüriki canon. Power down the Sharingan too? It was done to match with Naruto's powers so no need for it now. I'm sorry if you were looking for those. Specifics will be done later.Pairing undecided. I was thinking KarinxNaruto, but Karin is such a blank character, it feels like a lot of potential wasted with other pairings. I have no qualms with writing M/M either so do tell me if you would like those.