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Naruto: A New Leaf

Chapter 1: Small Changes

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood on the roof of the administrative building, staring at the burned-out wreckage of the building below. No matter how hard he tried to rationalize and justify his past actions, he couldn't help but feel that this was all his fault. For so long, he had taken the easy path instead of confronting the truth that he knew was in front of him, and in the end, as it always was, it was the innocent that paid the price for his failures.

Shaking himself out of his maudlin thoughts, the Sandaime walked down the stairs and entered his office. He waited patiently for several minutes, distracting himself with the mound of paperwork before him until an ANBU operative entered with the investigators bearing the final report on yesterday's incident. He spent a few minutes perusing the document in front of him before setting it once more on his desk. "Are you certain of your conclusions?" he asked the investigators standing at attention before him.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," came the reply.

Sarutobi stood and turned to look out the window. A thousand emotions flittered through him. Joy mixed with pain, sorrow and relief. But in the end, it was fear that won out. Not fear for himself, but rather, for Konoha. As Hokage, he had to focus on the good of the village he was sworn to protect. And look how well that worked out for you, some part of him whispered. He ignored that rebellious part. He had a duty. And with what he now knew, he was it was clear that the village as a whole was at risk.

And yet, one thought kept echoing through his mind, refusing to be silenced. "How did it all come to this?" he whispered to himself. In the end, though, it really didn't matter. Unfortunate events had occurred. Mistakes had been made. But he couldn't change the past. All he could do was move forward.

Though it felt like he was killing a part of himself, he knew that he had to give the order. "Naruto Uzumaki is now officially declared a nukenin. He must be brought in alive." He swallowed deeply, steeling his resolve. "It is not necessary for him to be unharmed, so long as he survives to have the bijū extracted."

8 months earlier

Naruto awoke with a scream. It took several minutes for his heart to stop racing, but as he took stock of his surroundings, he gradually calmed down. Stupid Mizuki-teme! He thought. It was bad enough that his teacher had tried to kill him, but to be having nightmares about it made things even worse. And there were so many nightmares. Every time he closed his eyes, it seemed all he could imagine was how horribly things could have gone. If Iruka had been a little too late, and Mizuki had managed to hit Naruto with that giant shuriken. Or if the shuriken had hit Iruka somewhere else, killing him. Or if… Naruto shook his head to stop that train of thought. He was alive. That's what he would focus on.

The ever-optimistic boy forced a smile on his face. Not only was he alive, but he was a real ninja now. He'd learned a clone technique and beaten a chūnin. Granted, the chūnin was just a school teacher, so he probably didn't really know any jutsu besides the boring stuff they taught at the academy, but still, he was a chūnin. And if Naruto could beat him, that must mean that Naruto was practically a chūnin already! He'd just graduated from the academy and he was already basically a chūnin. At this rate, he'd be wearing that stupid hat in no time!

He hummed quietly to himself as he thought about how awesome it would be when he was finally Hokage. Everyone would have to respect him. Even Sasuke-teme. And maybe Sakura-chan would finally agree to go on a date with him! Yes, life would be good once he finally achieved his goal. With that thought echoing through his mind, Naruto drifted off to sleep, a broad smile on his face.

The next day was an interesting one for the young shinobi. Jiji didn't seem to appreciate the awesome picture that Naruto had provided for his ninja registration, but that was okay. After all, he remembered Iruka-sensei once saying that it was important for ninja to be unpredictable. A predictable shinobi is a dead shinobi, the wise teacher had said. And while Naruto may not be the best at things like taijutsu or shuriken jutsu (or math, or history, or reading, or navigation, or chakra control, or pretty much anything but pranking) he was the best ninja in his class at being unpredictable! With a skill like that, he was pretty much unstoppable.

Memories of how close he had come to death less than 24 hours ago welled up inside him, despite how hard he tried to force them down. In the end he'd won, but it had been a lot closer than he would like to admit. And as awesome as his Sexy Jutsu was, he couldn't always rely on it. Or on the even more powerful version he had used that afternoon to take down the closet pervert, Ebisu.

There was something about his 'fight' against Ebisu that made his brain itch just a little bit. There was a thought there trying to make itself known. He tried to figure it out, but gave up after a few minutes, deciding to make some ramen, instead. After all, ramen makes everything better.

He stood, staring at the small pot of water, waiting for it to heat. The time that it takes to make ramen is the worst thing in the world, dattebayo! he thought. To be so close to such delicious goodness, but to have to wait, was the worst form of torture imaginable. Finally, the intolerable wait was over, and Naruto sat at the table, slurping the heavenly noodles, savoring each and every bite.

As he climbed into bed, he thought back to how satisfying it had been to prank Ebisu with his Harem Jutsu. I wonder what other pranks I could do with my shadow clones, Naruto thought. Visions of his previous pranking masterpiece, painting the Hokage monument, swam through his head, but now, instead of it being just him, he was accompanied by an army of loyal pranking fellows. In fact, the Harem Jutsu proved that his clones could use the Henge as well, meaning that they could disguise themselves as random people to make his pranking even more effective! Naruto sat upright in shock, realizing just what this could mean. That must have been what his brain was trying to make him realize earlier!

A mischievous laugh, almost more like a cackle, echoed through the quiet apartment as Naruto realized the untapped potential of his new clone jutsu. He would need to experiment with it, after all, one of the first lessons he had learned for successful pranking was that it is important to know your limits. It's impossible to plan a good prank if you don't have a good idea of how long something will take, or how much glitter or pepper or paint or whatever else you're going to need.

How far away could the clones go and still carry out orders? What kind of jutsu could they use? How long did they last before the disappeared? A million questions were running through his mind. Sleep was late coming, but Naruto didn't mind. It was hardly the first time that he had lost a little sleep for the noble cause of pranking.

Naruto woke late the next morning, still tired from staying up so late thinking up new prank ideas, as well as experiments to figure out how to use his clones to be the best prankster ever! A glance at the clock showed how late it really was, so with a muffled curse, he quickly dressed and began sprinting to the academy. He dashed down the hallways, hoping he wasn't late, not after Iruka-sensei had made him a ninja. Ahead, he could see Sakura-chan and Ino having one of their little arguments as they entered the classroom at a dead tie. He made it in just after the two girls, trying not to pant too hard from running. As Sakura-chan and Ino argued over who got to sit next to the brooding teme (completely ignoring Tobio, who was already sitting in their desired spot), Naruto looked around the room. Most of the class was already seated, but fortunately there was an empty spot near that weird fainting girl.

Sure enough, the girl turned red and looked like she was struggling not to pass out as Naruto quickly sat down. He glanced over at her with a worried expression. She may be weird, but, still, if she was feeling sick, he should probably help her. Hokage-jiji and Iruka-sensei had both lectured him frequently on the importance of helping his comr-… Naruto frowned. He couldn't remember what word they always used. Something that started with com. He mentally shrugged. It didn't matter what the exact word was. Iruka-sensei had said that it meant the other ninja in Konoha. And since everyone in the room had passed their test, they were all one of those com-thingies. And Naruto, as an incredible shinobi and future Hokage, would help them!

Just as he was about to check to see if the dark-haired girl was sick, Iruka-sensei entered the room, still looking a little worse for the wear after his adventure with Naruto. Naruto was distracted away from his concerns about the girl next to him when his teacher announced that they would be placed into 3-man squads. While his first thought was one of dismay at being forced to work with people less awesome than him, he quickly realized that this would be great! He would be on a team with Sakura-chan, and some other person that of course wouldn't be as good as him, and then Sakura-chan would see how amazing he was, and then she would agree to go out with him! Lost in his fantasies, he didn't notice the pale-eyed girl next to him shooting timid glances his way.

Naruto was startled out of his reverie when he heard his name called. He gave a cheer as Sakura-chan's name was called next, but didn't even bother trying to hide his disappointment when he learned that he would be stuck with Sasuke-teme. Unfortunately, Iruka-sensei wasn't swayed by his well-reasoned argument that someone as awesome as him shouldn't have to put up with someone as pathetic as Sasuke-teme, so now he was in a team with the girl of his dreams and the stuck-up jerk that she for some strange reason liked.

"Just don't get in my way, dobe," the Uchiha said snidely.

Naruto glared at the other boy, but said nothing, choosing instead to concentrate on ideas for his next prank. The Hokage monument prank had been good, but now he needed to follow it up with something even better.

Iruka-sensei talked for a few more minutes before they finally got to go to lunch. Naruto was momentarily disappointed by Sakura-chan's cold refusal of his invitation to have lunch together, but quickly rallied his spirits. It was time to test some things for his most epic prank ever! Granted, he still hadn't come up with any ideas for the prank, but he knew it would be his best yet. With a quick hand-sign, he summoned a dozen clones. Actually, he mistakenly made a few extra, but that wasn't a problem. They quickly used the henge to transform themselves into non-descript civilians, and dispersed out into the rest of the village, each with a different mission to complete. It was a test to see how well the clones could work on their own, even when separated from Naruto.

Soon, lunchtime was over, and the students all gathered in the classroom once more. Naruto was a little disappointed that none of his clones had managed to report back on their assignments, but if the clones lasted until after the team meetings were done, that would still be okay.

Two hours later, Naruto was so bored he wanted to scream. All of the other jōnin had already come and retrieved their teams, so Team 7 was now stuck here alone waiting for what was apparently the laziest ninja in all of Konoha! Even Naruto had never managed to be two hours late to something. Well, not to something important. Most of the time.

Naruto's irritated grumbling stopped as a bunch of memories suddenly flashed through his head. He blinked a few times, as he suddenly remembered things he had never done before. He saw himself standing at the academy, looking at… himself. He used the henge then dashed off to one of the marshy pools near the hot springs, grabbing a discarded cardboard box as he went. It didn't take long to fill the box with nearly two dozen frogs. He rushed back into town, and with a quick glance to ensure nobody was watching, tossed the box of frogs through the open window of one of the stores that always charged him extra. He ran off as screams filled the store. As Naruto reviewed the memories, he realized that he was somehow remembering what one of his clones had done.

So, at least one of the clones had completed his mission. Unfortunately, that was where his luck ran out, for apparently an off-duty ninja had seen him, and gave chase. It hadn't taken long for the clone to evade his pursuer, darting down an alley and using the henge to turn into a cat. After a few more transformations to ensure he wasn't being followed anymore, the clone cautiously made its way back to the academy, but lunch had already ended. Beginning the trip back to the apartment, the clone only made it about halfway before dispersing suddenly.

Naruto frowned as he thought over everything he had seen from the clone's perspective. He knew from what he saw in the fight against Mizuki-teme that the clones weren't particularly strong. It only took one good hit to destroy them. Had somebody attacked the clone? That wasn't a particularly encouraging thought. Or maybe it had just run out of chakra or something? Naruto wasn't sure.

But he could remember things that the clones did! That was so cool! The pranks he would be able to play now… Naruto's smile grew wide, and he put his hands behind his head as he sat back in his chair. So, if I can remember things that my clones did, I can have a coordu… a coorda… a big prank all across the village. Have a clone complete its part then pop itself, and I'll know it's done.

Naruto continued to brainstorm ideas for Operation: Most Epic Prank Ever, ignoring his new teammates until an angry yell from Sakura-chan broke his concentration.

"Three hours! Ino-pig and the others are already out with their teachers, and we're stuck here waiting for our lazy teacher!"

"Maa, that's not very nice," a new voice said from the doorway. All three students turned to see a white-haired man standing there with one eye covered by his hitai-ate. Sakura blushed, but remained silent as their teacher idly glanced at each of them. "My first impression of you… how do I say this?" He shrugged. "You're boring. Meet on the roof in 5 minutes."

"Stupid Sasuke-teme. And stupid sensei-teme." Naruto muttered as he entered his apartment the next night. And although he would never actually say it out loud, there was a part of him that was angry at Sakura-chan as well. After all that talk of teamwork, they left him tied to that stupid post for hours until he could finally figure out a way to get free. If I only had a way that I could contact my clones for something like that, the blonde thought ruefully. But wishing never accomplished anything. If it did, Naruto would live in a loving house with parents that doted on him like all of the other kids. And no matter how much Naruto had wished for that when he was younger, it had never happened. A hard lesson for a little kid, but if there was one thing that Naruto was used to, it was hard lessons. Maybe I could keep some clones near by me at all times just in case I ever need help.

He was far too hungry to wait for ramen to cook, so instead, he poured himself a big bowl of cereal. He walked over to his fridge and pulled out the milk, then groaned when he smelled it. It smelled… off. He glanced at the expiration date, and was disheartened but unsurprised to see that the milk had gone bad two weeks ago. His own fault for not checking the date when he bought it. After all, it wasn't the first time that the shopkeepers had sold him bad food. Completely by accident, of course.

He dumped the milk down the drain, that sat down and began to eat the dry cereal. Sometimes he just wanted to scream about how unfair it all was. Why had he been the one tied to the post? Maybe Sasuke-teme had been a little bit better than him, but Sakura-chan had hardly done anything! And so what if Naruto had tried to eat lunch without getting a bell? Iruka-sensei had taught them that sometimes it was best to go straight for the target rather than getting caught up in the obstacles in the way. And the stupid villagers hating him because of the stupid fox. If I'm protecting them, the least they could do is be grateful, Naruto thought. But no, instead, they loathed and shunned him.

Like so many other nights, Naruto fell asleep forcing himself not to think about just how much he hated his life, instead trying to convince himself that things would be better in the morning. After all, it wasn't like they could get much worse.

A/N - Yes, it's a 'Naruto realizes the learning aspect of Shadow Clones earlier' style story, largely inspired by Angel of Snapdragon's excellent (and sadly, apparently abandoned) A Drop of Poison. The first three chapters will be highlighting the deviations from canon, rather than going into typical storytelling depth on stuff we all know. Once we get to the Chūnin exams, however, I'll switch to regular story mode because everything will be going off the rails very quickly.