Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or settings. I am not making any money off of this

Author's note: Thanks for reading this. I will try to get out a chapter every week, depending on my schedule. Feel free to leave a comment if you have a suggestion for the story. Also, I feel it's important to forewarn you, the beginning of this story will be slow. So far I've written the first three chapters, coming out to about 10,000 words and the first mission has yet to start. But I promise it will speed up eventually, I just want to set up character in the beginning so that they can properly develop later and have meaningful, impactful conflict.

An old man sat alone in his office, wearing a white and red hat. The kanji symbol for fire was prominent at its front. He watched through a glistening crystal ball as one of his young charges left the academy with a new hop in his step. It seemed Naruto Uzumaki had finally found his first friend. A wistful grin on his face, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched as the two conversed. Naruto's grin threatened to split his face. The girl, a short civilian born child with pink hair and green eyes, seemed nice enough. Hiruzen didn't know how the two had met, but he supposed that the first day of the academy often had a way of forging friendships. He remembered back to his days as a child; he'd sat next to Danzo Shimura on the first day. Even now they were steadfast allies, even if sometimes the decisions they had to make were rather difficult.

The two young children were playing a game of ninja, created as a training exercise for those too young to actually spar. The children would take turns "attacking" each other's hands with their own and if one was hit it would be "cut off", outside the player's use for the rest of the game. In shinobi villages, even at a young age, it was important to drive home the importance of decisions in battle. Each action had a consequence. Each mistake had a punishment.

"Perhaps there is still some hope that the younger generation will help Naruto have a happy childhood," Hiruzen thought to himself. Watching Naruto struggle by himself had been one of the most trying parts of his second reign as Hokage. The burden he felt knowing that he could do nothing for the boy due to political machinations out of his control weighed him down every time he saw someone treat the child poorly. If only they saw Naruto as the hero his father intended him to be, he wouldn't have to suffer so much. The seemingly happy-go-lucky boy always had shallow grins that did not belong on a child's face. The sadness behind them was something no one should be subjected to. If children were the kings on the shogi board of Konoha, Hiruzen sometimes felt that he was constantly in check. At least his decision to keep the young blonde's status a secret from the children of that generation seemed to be a good one.

"Sakura! What do you think you're doing!" Screamed an older voice.

"Dad, I'm playing with my new friend, do you want me to introduce you to him?" The girl asked her father. Honestly, Hiruzen found himself wondering where that color of pink hair came from.

"That, that thing?!" He shouted enraged, "Sakura Haruno, you are NOT to befriend gutter rats like him, do you understand me? I thought I raised you better than this!" He then proceeded to grab his child by her wrist and drag her away from the playground. In the distance, Hiruzen heard, "Your mother is going to hear about this! You'll be grounded until the end of the week!" As the voice slowly trailed away.

Not for the first time, Hiruzen watched through his crystal ball as cerulean eyes shed tears. "Then again, perhaps Naruto won't have as easy a time as I'd hoped…" Hokage he might be, but he was also a tired old man who didn't know what he could do to help the boy he cared for so much.

Later that night

Naruto Uzumaki hated Konoha.

"Well okay, maybe not hate," he thought, "Jiji's nice an' I love the ramen Ayame-nee chan and Teuchi-Ojii make for me. But the rest of them all suck, dattebayo!"

"What's wrong with me?" Naruto screamed with a pout on his face, "Her dad should want her to be my friend, I'm gonna be the Hokage!" Not for the first time that night, he punched the wall. Fortunately, no one lived in the apartment next to his, so he wasn't going to get into too much trouble for it. No one visited Except for Jiji anyways. So whatever, if he wanted to punch the wall he'd just do it! He just got so mad sometimes!

Konoha was mostly quiet by now. Other than the soft sound of stepping on the roofs, which could only be heard by the best-trained ninja, and the crickets outside, there was not a sound to be heard. This was a rather isolated part of town. It hadn't been when Naruto moved in, but over the past couple of years, his neighbors had slowly moved away or died. No one had moved in to replace them. If he'd been astute, Naruto may have noticed the ANBU posted in a tree across the street from his apartment watching him, but he was only six and such things were far beyond his grasp.

Though not truly alone, he felt as if he was. Rather than wallow in that loneliness, he decided to just go to sleep. After all, with no one else to talk to, what else was there to do?

"I wish I was someone else," he muttered to himself before he nodded off.

The next morning

ANBU Hound had been posted outside Naruto Uzumaki's window for the last ten hours. Two more and his shift would be over. Not that it truly mattered; Outside of watching Naruto, visiting the memorial stone, missions, and training, he did not do much. Sometimes he thought about interacting with Naruto, alleviating the kid's loneliness and his own boredom at the same time, but people close to him dropped like flies. Better lonely and alive than happy and then dead, he figured.

Despite having spent so much time on the task, Kakashi didn't particularly enjoy watching Naruto. Not that he disliked the child, but children could be so boring… it was basically a D-ranked mission. However, that morning something was a little different. The child that woke up was not the one that had gone to sleep in the bed. Instantly, years of training drilled into him kicked in. Kakashi frantically searched around for any clue as to what had happened...

Oh. Henge. Neat. Back to boredom, he supposed.

"Then again, how did this kid learn the henge after his first day at the academy…" Kakashi thought to himself. He dismissed it. He'd been a genin by that age, surely Naruto could have picked up one of the academy three from a passing ninja when he was younger. Then again, it'd probably be best if he just put this in his report later.

Bleary-eyed, Naruto Uzumaki got out of bed and started getting ready for school. Put water in pot. Put noodles in pot. Put spices in pot. Turn on stove. Honestly, at this point, he didn't even need to open his eyes. He'd been doing this every morning for a year now, ever since he discovered instant ramen. Given, it was nothing like Ichiraku, but it was passable. Waiting for the water to boil, he headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He rubbed at his eyes and yawned. He needed to see his teeth to brush them, brushing teeth wasn't as second nature as cooking ramen. Young orphan boys didn't always have the best hygiene, but food… everyone loves food.

Staring back at him was a pale face with brown eyes. The child in the mirror was about his height but had a thinner face and hair that sagged downwards instead of sticking up. He was wearing one of Naruto's shirts, a white T-shirt with the Uzumaki swirl on it in orange.

Naruto rubbed his eyes again. It was still there…

"Who do you think you are! Get outta' my house!" He screamed, pointing at the trespasser. The trespasser pointed back at him with the same posture.

Wait, that was his mirror. Why was this strange boy in his mirror? Was this some sort of jutsu the kid had used? Staring around, Naruto noticed his hands were the same milky white color as the face in the mirror.

"Woah, I'm awesome, I didn't know I could transform into other people!" He hollered. Thinking back on his wish the night before, he got a mischievous grin on his face. Now he'd be able to make tons of friends! Maybe he could hang out with Sakura-chan again!

"If I wanna get away with this, I'm gonna need to change into clothes they've never seen me wear before," the sneaky mastermind thought to himself. "Well, I'll figure it out after ramen!" he exclaimed. First, he needed to brush his teeth.

Later, he rifled through his clothes, finding a plain black t-shirt. Leaving the rest of his clothes strewn across the floor, Naruto put it on. "Perfect, now they'll never know it's me!"

Mind you, he completely forgot to change his pants, but no one would know it was Naruto if he was wearing a different shirt! Obviously. Foolproof. No one had ever accused six-year-olds of being particularly smart.

Having rushed to the academy to make it on time, Naruto arrived in the classroom a couple of minutes before the day began and said, "Hello!". Shikamaru Nara, the only child in the class perceptive enough to notice what was going on, quirked his eyebrows up. Sure, this kid looked different, but he had the same voice as that blonde from yesterday. Having grown up in a ninja household, Shikamaru knew what a henge was.

"Troublesome" he sighed, crossing his arms in front of his body and laying his head on top of them. This class already seemed troublesome enough, might as well take a nap.

"Who're you?" asked Kiba with a growl, "You weren't here yesterday!"

Panicked, Naruto randomly came up with, "Um… Yuto Tanaka, sorry I was sick yesterday, but I'm excited to meet you all today, dateb... Yeah, excited to meet you!"

"Just know I'm the boss 'round here ok!" Kiba exclaimed, "I let everyone else know yesterday, gotta make sure you don't miss the message."

Naruto remembered something yesterday about alphas and dogs. He didn't really get it, so he just ignored it. A smile on his face, he just said, "Well I'd love to be your friend! What's your name?"

Kiba grinned, showing his sharp incisors, "Kiba Inuzuka, future rookie of the year, nice to meet you!" He held out his hand for a handshake.

Inwardly, Naruto cackled. Everything was going precisely to plan. Yesterday, Kiba had ignored him, saying something about how he was dangerous. But now that he was someone else, they were going to be friends!

The academy teacher, an elderly chunin named Watanabe-sensei with a grey beard and cane walked into the room. Immediately noticing Naruto's henge and deducing who he was from his similar posture and clothing, the man smirked. He couldn't discriminate against the child too much without getting in trouble, but who could begrudge an old man fooled by a transformation?

"Excuse me, young man, who are you? You weren't here yesterday," he asked.

"I'm Yuto Tanaka," Naruto exclaimed, "I was sick yesterday, but I'm gonna be a part of your class from now on!"

Looking down at his clipboard to make a show of checking the roster, Watanabe-sensei put on his sweetest smile, "I'm sorry kid, your name's not on here. I can't teach you, so could you get out of the classroom? If you enroll, I'd be happy to help, goodness knows we need more ninjas!"

Pouting, Naruto left the room. Drat. His plan had been so perfect! Well, at least he'd gotten away from the hateful eyes that followed him everywhere. He left the building and started on his way home, kicking a pebble along the way as he went. What to do, what to do? He needed to get his new name on that paper… Maybe Jiji could help him! He was in charge of the whole village! He could do anything he wanted! That's what Hokage means!

"So, Naruto, how did you end up looking like this?" the Hokage asked.

"I dunno, I just sorta woke up this way. Can I keep it?" Naruto asked, hope glimmering in his eyes.

Hiruzen sighed. Why did things always have to be so complicated?

"You can't just give up your identity, Naruto."

"Why not? It was a great plan! I even fooled the Watanabe sensei!"

Hiruzen didn't have the heart to tell Naruto that no, he most definitely had not fooled the teacher. That was something he'd have to follow up on, no chunin level shinobi could possible be that dumb, right?

"Naruto, why do you even want to be someone else? You can't lie forever," Well. You could. Hiruzen had secrets, just like any high ranking ninja. Naruto just wasn't good enough yet. But it wouldn't do to encourage him.

"I just wanted them to like me!" the child whined. He didn't know how deeply those words cut. He didn't have the experience to read the expressions across the elderly shinobi's face. If he had, he may have noticed a flash of anger followed by a long moment of guilt. "This is my fault," Hiruzen thought, "If only I had done my job better and stopped the secret from getting out."

"But Naruto, even if they liked you when you wore the henge, it wouldn't really be you. Then when they find out that you've been lying to them the whole time, they'll hate you." Hiruzen stated, always a fountain of wisdom for the younger generation.

"They already hate me," Naruto responded petulantly with his arms crossed and a pout on his face.

"They don't, I promise you. But if you lie to them, they'll have a reason to."

"Fine… Jiji why does everyone hate me?"

"I wish I could tell you, Naruto. I wish I could tell you." Misdirection was important for shinobi. Double meanings could be very useful. Naruto thought Hiruzen meant he didn't know. In truth, the Sandaime Hokage did wish he could tell him, but in a completely different way. Just another lie in an ocean filled with them. Sometimes, he hated this job.

"It is rather impressive that you were able to complete a henge at six years old," he continued, "Maybe you are a budding genjutsu master, eh?"

"Yeah sure, that sounds cool! I wanna be a super cool ninja and shoot out fireballs and lightning bolts and then they'll have to make me Hokage and then everyone will respect me, dattebayo!"

"Ninjutsu are great , but don't underestimate genjutsu, Naruto. In all my time as Hokage, I have only been bested twice. Both times, it was because I was distracted by a genjutsu. Perhaps they are not the flashiest of jutsus, but in the hands of a skillful user they can bring even the strongest ninja to their knees."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever old man! Just teach me to do something cool! Don't you know, like, a bazillion jutsu?" Naruto asked excitedly.

The Hokage chuckled and told his charge, "Maybe it's a little too early for that. You've still got to learn how to control your chakra. You're sure you did this by accident, right? Nobody taught you how to do the henge no jutsu, did they? Do you even know how to end it?"

A hand behind his head, Naruto just responded with a loud, "Ummmmmm…"

Two years later

A week into his training at the academy, Naruto had learned a fundamental truth that had plagued students for generations. School was Boring! With a capital B. He didn't want to learn math and reading, he wanted to be a ninja! Why did ninjas even need to read? Their job was fighting! Well, at least taijutsu class was fun. Really it was basically just conditioning at this point, with a couple of katas thrown in. Hey, it was something.

Finally, after two years of getting through the boring stuff, they were at what he was here for! This year, he thought that they would start to learn jutsus! Nope. They were going to learn about jutsus. Lame. The new sensei was some new chunin with a scar on his nose… Izuka? Naruto hadn't paid much attention since classes started a week ago. He'd been so excited, but his hopes were dashed.

Well, nothing better to do. Naruto tuned back into the lecture.

"... difficult to use properly. The two vital parts are a connection to the enemy's chakra and an illusion to trick them with. That's just the basics though. There are multiple types of illusions. You can fully immerse the enemy in a different world, trick one of their senses for a long time, or even for just a couple of seconds. As it gets longer and more different from the situation in which it was cast, the risk that the enemy will realize he or she is being fooled increases. The two major ways this can be mitigated is by casting a jutsu so strong that the enemy can't break it or casting one so subtle that the enemy doesn't notice it. Unlike other forms of jutsu, this is as much about ingenuity and cleverness as it is about chakra control and strength. True masters of genjutsu are reported to be able to control an enemy's actions for years at a time."

Was he just reading from the textbook or was he naturally that way? G. Naruto decided he shouldn't be so tough on him. He was nicer than the other teachers at least. What was he talking about again?

"Sorry sensei," Naruto exclaimed, interrupting the teacher in the middle of a lecture, "I sort of forgot what you were talking about… what was it again?"

Iruka sighed, "Genjutsu, Naruto. Genjutsu. You really need to shape up if you want to be a serious ninja," he stated with a serious look on his face.

"Genjutsu, huh? That's the thing Jiji said I'm good at," he thought to himself. Naruto wasn't good at much. He was in the last place in the class actually, though he did alright at taijutsu. Even if he still couldn't keep up with that teme Sasuke. But yeah, Naruto wasn't good at much, so he figured he might as well give what he was good at a shot, right?

Three years later

"Alright, Naruto, just two more jutsu and you can be a genin," Iruka-sensei told him, "If you can do a henge and a clone jutsu then you can get a headband."

Naruto smirked, he might not be the best in the class, but both of those jutsus were based on genjutsu, his specialty. He could do this. He thought to himself, "I'm going to be a genin! Sure, I failed last time because of the written test, but I'm still graduating a year early and that's pretty awesome. First stop genin, next stop Hokage! Dattebayo!"

Iruka was fairly surprised that Naruto had passed his exam. He was passing a year earlier than the other kids his age too. Sure, he knew that the kid wasn't as dumb as he sometimes seemed, but graduating early was no easy feat. He suspected that luck had played a large factor in the student's passing grade. Since the jutsu test was indoors, rarely were students asked to perform the substitution jutsu. Personally, Iruka had never once seen Naruto successfully complete that particular jutsu, but be that as it may, Naruto had earned the hitai-ate just like every other genin.

Why then, did it seem so empty? Even though he should be celebrating, Naruto was once again alone on the swing. Iruka had tried time and time again to help Naruto make friends and had even become very close to the blonde himself, but at times like this, times that Naruto should be celebrating, it was apparent that none of that mattered. Naruto didn't have anyone to celebrate with. Iruka resolved to rectify the situation. Before, Naruto and he had had a student and teacher relationship. As Iruka saw the newly minted ninja sitting there, a hitai-ate in his hand and an empty smile on his face, he couldn't help but think back to his own youth. Before they had been student and teacher, but from now on he would try to be more than that.

Waving his hands side to side and running towards his student, he shouted "Hey Naruto, congratulations on passing! Let me get you some ramen to celebrate!"