And so begins the spring break between Academy school years. A small two week reprieve from the grind of classes. Situation normal all fucked up. Now is when the ramp up of conditioning happens. Daily training outside, no matter the weather. Snow, Rain, Heat, Cold. Ninjas don't get to decide that "Oh, it's raining. I won't fight today." God it sucked! And no. We were not allowed to bring a change of clothes. "It builds character they say." It builds resentment.

Sparing with the instructors so that you have experience fighting people who 'should' be more powerful than you. Survival training in the forests of Konoha in teams of three.

But none of that yet. Instead, I woke up to the familiar sound of silence in the house. I walked into the kitchen, no notes whatsoever. Those had stopped about a year ago. As such, I started to miss the family dinners when Dad actually came home for once. Mom wasn't too happy about it and would hassle me about being 'lazy' and that 'a ninja should always be on time', but the situation never changed. Eventually, they stopped preparing a place for me and then stopped preparing extra food. The circle of neglect had completed.

I was now in a shitty situation. Despite still living at home, family dinners being prepared, and everything else...I had to cook my own food. And not only that, I had to be careful of what I cooked. If say, I cooked something and finished the ingredient, I'd get a tongue lashing from mom—no, she's lost that respect from me now, Kushina. If I used something that was going to be saved for an occasion, off to my room I go. Menma and Naruko had picked up on this behavior pleasantly and the abuse never ends.

I need to get out of this toxic environment. The only, only, only, advantage to staying here is I don't pay rent and access to a seal master's notes. I need a plan. I need to get out. I will not stay here!

Fuck it. I am eating this rice ball that was made for others. Time to burn every single bridge with these people.

(Uchiha Training Grounds)

"Come on Naruto, I know you can still continue."

I get up off the ground.

"Easy for you to say. I'm still an academy student."

"I doubt that claim, you've been training as much as your siblings."

Itachi was recently retired from ANBU and promoted to Jonin. He didn't tell me much about his time in ANBU, not like he was allowed to and when I asked him he would get quiet. He was on a guard detail for my family when they went out for training. The twins had both been taught personally by Minato, the rasengan. Supposedly it took them quite a while because of the insane level of chakra control required. That coincided with Shikamaru muttering about a troublesome homelife with his shogi partner, Shikaku, being left in the office handling all the paperwork.

Those brats were monsters. Easily able to take down most of the other clan heirs with ease and even some of the people in the higher academy classes. Of course, they were forbidden to use ninjutsu, but their stamina is insane. Able to outlast everyone and they have the speed and power to make it hurt. It was my personal goal to catch up. Part 1 of that goal is already in motion.

Deception.

Deception is the best thing a ninja can hope for. Since Haruka had left, I've kept to myself in the classroom. I don't answer questions and keep quiet. Well, for the most part. I have taken to pranking people like Ami and her posse as they are still just as annoying as always. I make it my mission to do so. Afterall, what these harmless little pranks are good ways to set up traps in the future. What people look for, and what not. Though, on unsuspecting academy students, and the worst ones at that...not so much. Though when I am able to get one on Naruko, those are the best. Like when I filled her rice ball with tabasco sauce and then covered her water bottle in a thin layer of it as well. Nothing like having a burning mouth and eyes for the afternoon.

This deception has continued as well through training. I was in the middle of class rankings. Winning spares and getting average scores on the tests, both written and physical. But, I just stopped caring. I'd get berated for winning against someone who was weaker. "Naruto, try to ease it up." or "Naruto, it's important that your opponent can get more confidence in their planning." Then when I would lose to Sasuke, Naruko, or Menma they would jeer at me. Well, not Sasuke as much anymore. He was a little irked that Itachi was training with me, but he would be placated by training with us. That is when I wouldn't hold back. He quickly learned how much I was holding back.

(Flashback)

"Oof."

Sasuke was lying on the ground. I swept his feet out from underneath him with a kick. I turned him over, face in the dirt. One of my hands held his in place and the other had a kunai to his exposed neck.

"End. Nice work Naruto and Sasuke. Now make the seal." Itachi said, our referee to make sure we didn't injure ourselves too bad.

We both make our completion seal and ended the spar. Sasuke was perturbed. He had come across Itachi and I training and said I wasn't worth his time. Saying I was easily the worst in the class sparing and I would amount to being a dead-last. That comment got me riled up. Before Itachi could even respond I made the half seal of beginning a spar.

Which led to the current situation.

"Why?"

"Use words Sasuke." I responded.

"Grrrr. You know what I am asking."

"Mmm. I guess I do. What do I gain from telling you?" I smirked. It was too easy to rile him up. Make a comment comparing him to Itachi or about him losing to Menma in that one spar that happened ages ago.

"Oh don't be coy with me you...you...idiot. You can easily be able to keep up with Menma at spars but you always lose. Every. Single. Time. You don't even fight against Kiba. Or even Choji! He doesn't even fight back!"

"I have nothing to prove to them. I don't care what they call me and I would rather just pull a Shikamaru every time and call it troublesome. Unfortunately my clan is not known for having a lack of energy. At the end of the day, it doesn't make a big difference."

"Doesn't make a difference?! Doesn't make a difference?" Sasuke was going ballistic now. "Of course it does! Every time you lose a fight that's all those two will talk about. How their worthless brother doesn't deserve to share their last name. They want you gone!"

"I've known exactly how they all feel for the past five years. Why do you care so much?"

"Because I am sick of hearing it! We can't talk about anything else in our group. We used to talk about how to train better, or what we would do next weekend, or good places to eat. Now its all about 'Did you see Naruto fail the test, I saw a big ZERO with a see me after class note.' or 'Did you see the idiot lose to Hinata? She can't hurt a butterfly!' Then I see you sparing and training with Itachi. I mention it to them and they call me a liar. Menma says you spend your time cloud watching or lazing around."

Of course, it goes back to him. "If it means so much to you, how about this. I've been thinking they need a wake up call. We have spars before our last test, yeah? Just wait."

I don't like fighting against them. But they have gotten cocky and need to be taken down a peg or two.

"Plus, if I beat them, you get that coveted 'Rookie of the Year.'"

Sasuke smirked at that.

(Present)

"That's enough for today Sasuke, Naruto. The sun is going down and mom will be ready with dinner soon. Have a good night and rest well Naruto."

As I walked though a quiet Konoha, I remembered my plan.

Part 1 was going along well. Besides Sasuke, no one was noticing any difference. Iruka-sensei was peeved at my lack of effort and Mizuki-sensei was laying it on hard because I was losing my spars.

Part 2 of my plan was Knowledge.

I hadn't been participating in class. That was for sure. But what I had been, was going to the library on rest days. Itachi and I would train together twice a week. I was left with sores all over. Take the next two day off. The first day would be spent in Kushina's study. She was usually off training the brats or eating ramen. A book in her collection would be conveniently misplaced in my backpack. I'd take it to school, read it. Make notes. Return it. Rinse, repeat. I did buy a copy of the latest magazine, took the cover off and made a sleeve for it. Would fit right over the seal book and there we go. Deception at its finest. Keep loose papers around to put over it when the teacher came by.

I had a vision of what I wanted to do with seals and I would do my darndest to see it through.

That was day one of rest. Day 2 of rest would be going to the library. Researching all relevant information. I would take books on blacksmithing. Would make it easier to have modern day weaponry if I can make it myself. Try explaining exactly what I need to someone else, ehh. I would take books on plants and animals. I paid attention to those classes at the Academy but they only focused on local flora and fauna. It wouldn't hurt to learn about other places now, would it? Take anatomy books that would help should I ever get injured, or learn how to injure others. Pressure points and weak spots to exploit.

Then start over once again. Physical training, sealing jutsu training, and then practical training. With days that Itachi was busy would be spent cooking with Ayame or being with Haruka.

I wouldn't say Ichiraku Ramen would be changing their name to Ichiraku Western Cuisine anytime soon but their secret menu was taking off a bit more. One of the desserts made it onto the menu, Banana bread.

(Flashback)

It was one of those post meal chats I had with Ayame that I remembered something of vital importance from my previous life.

"Hold that thought Ayame! I just remembered something amazing."

A little peeved that I had interrupted her mid-sentence, she had a look of curiosity. I had never done that before. I would always let her finish speaking so she thought I had something very important to say.

"Question, are you doing anything important right now?" I started.

"Umm, yeah, kind of. I need to clean these dishes, put away ingredients back into the refrigerator, clean the kitchen prep area, sweep the floors, start preparing broth ingredients for the dinner rush, tally up the cash drawer, wipe down the counter, and then finally go and get some ingredients." She said as she counted out each and every one on her fingers. I was getting more deflated each time. But she said, get more ingredients. Score!

"Well, numbers one through seven you can skip for now because right this instant, we need to go to the grocery store!"

"Na-uh. You can't change the order Naruto. I need to do all this stuff first."

"Let me help you then, and could I have a piece of paper and pen. I need to write it down before I forget."

Time to quickly jot this down. Bananas, brown sugar, baking soda, flour, eggs... crap...what else? Oh yeah, salt and butter. Only problem with that is I have never seen anything labeled baking soda. It's probably some kanji I don't know about.

"There, all the ingredients. Now how much of each? Well, time to experiment. I'm pretty sure it was only three bananas and two eggs."

I started cleaning the counter and sweeping the floor. That was something simple enough and wasn't anything involving food. No health code violations for me please.

"So, you do this after every lunch rush?"

"Mmhmm. Dad has a checklist right here of everything that needs to be done before I get to go on my afternoon break. I just have to do it all because he had some other business to do in the town over getting some specialty ingredients for a new flavor."

We work for about another twenty minutes before I drag Ayame out to the grocery store to get the ingredients.

We head straight to the produce section and I start looking at the bananas.

"Here we are, yes. Some bananas that are about to go bad. Now onto the ramen section for some flour."

I gave Ayame the list with the other ingredients. My search was for baking soda.

Where is it, where is it...hmmmm.

"What else are we looking for?"

Oh dang it. Ayame got the rest of them. I can't exactly say Baking Soda because she would have no idea what that is and I don't know...

"Something to make the bread soft."

"Oh, like Jūsō?"

"Maybe?" Is that the Japanese name for baking soda, I'll know it when I see it because I kind of remember the kanji for it.

"Its right here." Ayame replied.

"Huzzah! Now we can make banana bread! Back to the secret room!"

Ayame rolled her eyes at my dramatics. At least being a kid means you can get away with things like this. Would be a little out of place for a big, white hair, adult with these theatrics.

(Present)

I now stood in front of our house. Trip down memory lane took about the entire walk. I opened the door and was greeted with a sight I hadn't seen in a while. Kushina was right at the doorway with a stern look on her face.

"And where have you been?! We have been waiting for half an hour for you! Lazy boy."

Her hair was going in all ways and directions. It was reminiscent of the Nine tailed fox and it's tails being agitated. Ah that's right. She was the Red-Hot Habañero for a reason.

I looked beyond her and sitting at the table was Minato, Menma, and Naruko. Minato was sitting at the table? Huh? He should be in his office, desktop high in paperwork right about now. That was always the excuse why he couldn't eat with us. He had his arm up to his face. He was pinching the bridge of his nose as if he was deep in thought. Naruko, she just had the sharpest stare she could muster. It would have been scary if I was afraid of her.

Most worryingly though, was Menma. We hadn't always got along. No, that was a never got along. When we sparred in class he would always try to injure me a lot more than Sasuke or even Naruko. He had the biggest shit-eating grin I could ever imagine. He was enjoying every moment of this.

Apparently, my confused face was not the one to make at the moment.

"I left a note for you this morning saying that you had to make sure to get home at 6:30. Your father took the evening off and we would have a family dinner with all of us. Now it's gone cold."

I was still confused. Those notes stopped a long, long time ago.

"There wasn't a—"

Slap.

"I put one on the table as always. You even took one of the rice balls that we had saved for an afternoon snack."

The shock was still in. She really just slapped me. I was explaining myself and she slapped me.

"But there wasn't a note anywhere!"

"Now you're calling me a liar? No, I will not stand for that. We are going to start eating dinner. You are going to go to your room. I don't want to hear another word from you for the rest of the night. No dinner for you."

I am still frozen. I am at a total lost. What did I ever do. What did I do to deserve this. I don't understand.

"Well at least you show remorse. Go on. Get upstairs. Think about what you've done."

I had started crying. Just a tear from the side of the face she slapped me on. I hadn't done cried since...since I was five. I had an amazing dream of waking up in the old world. Talking with my friends, driving my car to a fast food place. Then I woke up. Remembered my family was shit. I slowly made my way up the stairs. Every step was heavy. My body was sore from training but it wasn't that. I was drained. Physically, emotionally, just everything. I didn't feel like doing anything.

It must have been 30 minutes later when I heard my door open. I was on by bed with my head buried into the pillow when I looked over. For a second I had expected Kushina to be there. Maybe to comfort me and perhaps apologize for slapping me on my cheek. But no, this isn't the normal Kushina. This was some crappy imitation of her. No, standing in my doorway was Menma, with that same shit eating grin.

"The hell do you want."

"Oh me, I am just reveling in this picture. You finally got what was coming to you. You always wake up every morning and get to lounge around. You do nothing all morning while me and Naruko are out there training. You're not even grateful. We hold back the terrible beast and it was time you paid."

I've heard this all before. It was the same bullshit Minato fed the public every October 10th. They're heroes and everything. Whoop-de-fucking-do. Sure, I would love to have something in my stomach that was there against its will. Nobody treated the tailed beasts like they were anything more than mindless objects of chakra. A tool. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Time I paid? Get the fuck out of my room."

"You know, Mom's right. She has been leaving notes."

That got me to hitch my breathing a little bit, something that was noticed.

"Of course she has. She still thinks you two get along just fine. She just didn't realize something. She taught us shadow clones awhile ago to enhance our training. She just never realized that I would create one as soon as we got up. When we leave the house, the note would be thrown away. Here you go." A wicked smile broke out on his face.

In his hand was a binder. A thick binder. In it was every single note. There were hundreds of them. Each with what they were doing and what chore or workout she wanted me to do. She would sometimes ask what I did at dinner and I just gave a non-answer. No wonder she called me lazy. She has been giving me exercises to do. These are things that I did with Itachi almost two years ago, but still.

The door had closed. Menma had left. I saw some seal going across the front door. It looked a little familiar but it was a little hard to make out in the light.

Huh? A silencing seal?

There was a bright light and my hands suddenly became very hot. I dropped the binder and there was a loud noise.

BANG!

I screamed in pain as I was blinded and deafened. My ears were ringing and I was holding my hands over them. I was feeling dizzy and nauseous. Honestly, its like I had the worst case of food poisoning upset stomach, altitude sickness, and light headedness all at once. 0/10 would not recommend. 10/10 for people you hate though.

After a few minutes, my eyes readjusted from the blinding light there was a small outline on the floor.

That son of a bitch! He had a flash-bang seal on the back of the binder. It's gone! It burned all the notes. This means war. I am going to get back at him for this. Screw waiting until the end of the year to beat him. No, I am going to tank his Rookie of the Year status.

I heard a knock on the door. It had just partly opened, but I had a short fuse and angerly shouted out, "What do you want now?!"

It was Minato. "Can I come in?"

I didn't respond to him. There was nothing left to say. I was hungry, tired, and infuriated. I just wanted the day to end.

"Sorry about Kushina, you know how she is. She is an Uzumaki through and through. She was even like that when we were younger. Always acting and being emotional. It's what I love about her. So full of life..."

He trailed off. I really didn't care. I couldn't be bothered to care anymore. Long ago, when I was still a toddler. I was just happy that they were both alive. I had remembered stories from a previous life where I was certain they both had died. Instead, they were both alive and I had two siblings. Everything was so strange back then that I just wrote it off. Kushina was never around. Minato was never around. I was left alone with some child who had long black hair and black eyes. Looking back, it might have been Itachi. I've always been rather close to him and the rest of the Uchiha family.

"Kushina, I almost lost her when you all were born. We almost lost everything. I haven't told you because I thought you were too young to know. But you have to understand some things. Everything.

"A bad man came and took her after giving birth to you three. He used you as bait. I saved you because I'm awesome." He smirked at this as he sat down on the bed. "She had the Nine tailed fox ripped out of her. It was too much for her. She should have died right then and there. But she was as stubborn as always. I fought the bad man and with the help of Sandaime-sama, released the fox. But Kushina...she. Her chakra pathways were severely damaged. Anymore stress and she definitely would have died. We, all three of us, chose to seal the fox into Naruko and Menma.

"Now, Kushina was still in a lot of pain. Her chakra had grown accustomed to having the fox with it, but there was something we noticed. When Naruko and Menma were close to her, it eased her pain. The seals were then loosened a little and it was just enough to keep Kushina's chakra stable."

I had never known anything like this before. To paraphrase Han Solo 'That's not how chakra works.'

"For the next two years, all three of them were in close...physically. She required complete focus of her chakra network and the medical ninjas worked tirelessly to make sure she was slowly getting rid of her dependence of the foxes chakra. We even brought in Tsunade-sama to help.

"It worked. After three long years it finally worked. Kushina was as good as normal civilian. She trained hard for the next year to regain her ninja abilities and her chains. It was during that year that we noticed something as well. Before Tsunade-sama left, we had her check up on all three of you. We noticed something. Menma's and Naruko's chakra networks were very mature. They were at the level you have right now. At three and a half. Years of intense chakra synchronization developed their chakra pathways. We started intense training soon thereafter."

It was a lot for me to take in. All those years of thinking there was something wrong with me. When I think back to my toddler years, I do remember a distinct lack of red hair. Now I finally had an explanation. Being reincarnated might have had something to do with it, but I'm sure I scared the bejesus out of them. All the neglect, all the everything. It was of course still back to our birth and them being jinchuriki. It's always come back to them.

And that's when it all came crashing down.

"You know what it means to be Hokage, don't you Naruto?"

I nodded my head. It all had made sense.

"A Hokage is someone who personifies putting the village in front of everything."

Okay, not expecting that. I was expecting something along the lines of sacrifice and working hard. It makes sense of putting the village in front of everything, but there still has to be some things that are important, like family.

"Shortly after we began training, Jiraiya sent a toad to have me come to Mount Myoboku, the toad's home."

No.

No.

Nonononononononono. I know where this is going. Please. Stop. STOP. You were doing so well Dad. So, so well. Everything had made some sense to me. Don't bring up the damn toads. Not now. PLEASE.

"Jiraiya had me summoned to the toads home. We spoke to the Toad sage. He is the boss of all the toads and a very wise being. He even told me about his time all the way back when chakra was first being used. Jiraiya told me that he was given a prophecy. That he would teach someone who would change the shinobi world. I've tried my best if I saw so myself, the world is at peace. But, it has come close to war too many times.

"We taught both Naruko and Menma because we think they are the chosen. They have mature chakra networks and they are honestly scarily good at training. They could take on any of the academy teachers just a year after training. We've been busy preparing them for their destiny. It's hard, but that's what being the Hokage is. I have to do everything to make sure that the village is safe."

I was about to cry all over again. Everything. All back down to that damn toad and a stupid prophecy?!

"It's okay Naruto. You're strong. You've gotten this far without any help from us. And you can make it further. I know you can. Good night." He walked out the door and closed it behind him.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

"You've gotten this far without any help from us." I am not supposed to be like that. No. Nononononono. That's not how this works. That's not how father's get to be. I'd rather you have been dead. Fuck that. No. I refuse. I refuse everything. No. Fuck Minato. Fuck the Hokage. Fuck Kushina. Fuck Jiraiya. Fuck the Toad Sage. Fuck everything. I am so sick of this shit.

"I will not spend another fucking night in this house."