Summary: The Godaime Hokage's life is not what one would expect from the strongest of all Konohagakure ninja in its history. He was orphaned at a young age, blamed for things outside of his control, and ostracized by his peers and village. The dead last of his class, yet he would overcome all obstacles and make everyone believe. This is the story of Naruto the Great.
Story: Path to Godaime Hokage
Chapter One: Mr. Brightside
Naruto walks right into the spacious but crowded academy grounds. He can see the younger kids hanging out, playing, and talking amongst themselves, waiting for the bell for class to start. Naruto just strolls past them all without giving them too much thought. No need to think about how he never got to experience anything like that. Ever.
His gaze lingers more than he wants it to. Eventually, his eyes lock on to the red Hokage Tower, which is basically the same building as the academy. One day soon, he will take that hat from old man Hiruzen and be sitting up there making the hard decisions. Decisions such as who gets the best missions, who to call out, and most importantly, which ramen type he wants to eat. All those who picked on him or still make his life missable will regret it! No ramen for them on Ramen Tuesdays! A new holiday he will install when he takes the role of Hokage.
Yes, only the noblest and humblest of dreams for Uzumaki Naruto. The blond grins at the thought. Naruto will become the next Hokage, and it is a fact that he will. He will not give up on his dream like most do because they believe their dream is unattainable.
Some would call him a fool, clown even. Some call him stubborn like a donkey. Naruto would just tell them he wouldn't know; he never met either of those things. He can't agree with them if he doesn't know what he's being compared to. He would be dumb to.
He looks back to his little spot when he feels down on his luck. The tree with a single wooden swing hanging from it goes unused, like always. Naruto thinks he is the only one that uses the thing.
And that's probably why he is the only one that uses it. Nobody likes being around him for too long. Not even the other slackers stick around. They always find a reason to ditch him.
It is too early for him to be here. He can already hear whispers from the underclassmen around him. This is just one of the reasons why he never comes to the academy early. 'Forever late' will be his new motto. Today is a bit different, though. Iruka had told him he had better be here early. Usually, Naruto will just disregard the instruction, but he could tell Iruka really did want him here today. For what reason, he doesn't know. Iruka never filled him in on that.
He glances around the open grounds one more time and does not catch a glimpse of any other third-year students. The rest of the third years are most likely already inside, waiting for Iruka-sensei as always. Or they were not here yet, and Kiba is just one of many examples of that.
With a drawn-out sigh, he approaches and climbs up the small six-step staircase and pulls the metal handle on the door towards him. The entrance to the academy is pulled open, and its cold air rushes to greet him good morning. The long hallway is empty. He puts his hands behind his head and slowly walks to the main stairs to go to the third floor where his classroom is.
He reaches the third floor without incident and can see a girl looking through one of the cubby holes all the way down the hallway.
Oh, how he knows this girl. It is without a doubt her, the biggest bully in the whole academy, Ami. Naruto has no idea how she became so notorious with the underclassmen, but he has had a couple of run-ins with her before, most of which is just simple name-calling at best—always telling Sasuke to kick his ass when he sparred with the bastard.
Ami has purple hair styled in an asymmetrical cut, with the left side being the longest. Her brown eyes have this fiendish-looking gleam to them. Her stature is above the rest of the girls, almost matching Shino's height, making her the second tallest student in the class. He really doesn't want to approach her when she's got that scowl on her face. Someone clearly upset her already, and the day hasn't even begun yet. That and why does she have a broom? Is she cleaning the academy again?
Just his luck. He had heard Ami became something of a delinquent, much like himself over the years. However, even though his simple pranks and escapades outnumber her acts vastly, he never had anything close to physical violence or even smoking. Well, allegedly, she was caught smoking a few times. No one knows if that's true or not. Just a rumor, Ino is peddling in the gossip mill. While he has done property damage and hurt pride, Ami, on the other hand…, Her problems caused her to stay after and clean the academy under Iruka-sensei's watch.
She always seems to be in a foul mood as of late.
Naruto slows his pace even more, trying to hide the sounds of his sandals as he gets closer to her. That does nothing to stop her from turning around to face him. Those chocolate brown eyes stare into him. Her widening eyes show him the apparent surprise on her face.
"I don't actually believe this," the girl starts. Her shocked expression quickly turns into a devious smirk. "The class loser and idiot getting to class this early? Let me guess, setting up a prank?" She leans against the cubby hole with her arms crossed. Naruto notices that she actually seems interested in the idea. Odd.
Naruto stops and squints at her, "Why, Iruka-sensei pissed you off already?"
Her frown returns, "Yeah, he caught me taking money from a couple of weak little first years brats. He is making me come in early to clean the classroom or whatever the fuck pops into his head."
Naruto looks around the hallway, her friends nowhere in sight. "What about your little posse that follows around?"
"Who? Fuki and Kasumi?" She grits her teeth after saying their names, "Those cunts ditched me and made me take the fall. I'm gonna make them regret crossing me like that!"
"Good luck with that," Naruto says, trying to end the conversation, and starts walking away. Huh, this might be the longest conversation he has had with the girls so far.
"Hey," She calls out, stopping him again. She waves him closer. Naruto sighs; he steps into her personal space. Being so close, he can smell the scent of Rabenda flowers on her. She looks both ways before leaning in closer, "If you want, I'll let you into the academy early to set up a few pranks if you hit a few targets for me." She whispers with a smirk. "I'll even take the blame if you want." This chance might just be the first time anyone has tried to recruit him to do a prank.
Naruto blinks, that's one big opportunity to prank Sasuke, but that goes against his beliefs of pranking those who deserve it. "Tempting, but Nah," is all he says as he walks past her, giving her a small look in her direction then looking away just as quickly.
Her smirk is quickly replaced with a frown, "Ugh, you're so boring." She puts the broom away with an obnoxious bang—Naruto jerks at the loud noise. "Damn loser." She mutters.
Seeing that she put her improvised weapon away, Naruto's confidence builds back up to normal, "Whatever, go steal an underclassman's lunch ryō. It's all you're good for."
Before he can make it safely past her, he feels a hand grab his shoulder. In one moment, he is walking down the hallway; the next, he is slammed against the wall. His head hit the hard, smooth wall rather roughly. It rattles him up pretty good. "Oww, like what the-"
Two hands forcefully impact the space on the wall around his ears, causing him to look straight up at the enraged face of the taller girl. She gets closer to him, locking him in against the wall with her larger body. Her hot breath hits him, and he realizes just how close they actually were to one another. It is rather embarrassing. "Don't act like you are better than me; you dead last, pipsqueak!" She quietly rages off.
"Okay, sorry-"
"Oh, I'm going to make you feel sorry when I'm done with you. Don't think that I didn't notice you start insulting me the moment I put the broom away." The smuggest grin he has ever seen on her face appears, "Look at the poor, small, future Hokage, pinned in place by a girl and afraid of some wood. Pathetic."
Holy fuck, she just insulted his dream, wealth, strength, bravely, and height in the same damn sentence! She laughs harshly at him. No doubt he has a dumb look on his face after that. "Wow, you're bitch." Naruto realizes the mistake right after it leaves his mouth.
Her laughter stops; she scowls before she acts in violence. She knees him in the balls. Naruto slumps against the wall. He was lucky that she missed, well, not entirely, but just enough that he doesn't fall completely over. He can feel her knee right under them as she slowly puts more pressure there. She strains a grin at him, "There's that twig of a spine." She grabs him by under the chin. Her glare heats up, "I should beat the shit out of you, but Sasuke-kun will do that for me like he always does. Tell me; I really want to know, how does it feel to lose to the same person over and over again?"
Naruto smirks at her, "About the same as you losing to Ino, dattebayo."
That quip got him his head slammed into the wall. She lets out a stark laugh. She then bears her teeth at him, "You really don't know when to keep that big mouth of yours shut, do you?" She lifted her knee higher and more forcefully. "You are indeed an idiot! I mean, what's with these fake whiskers you draw on your face-" She brushes her hand over his cheek. That is when, much to his dread, a low continuous vibratory sound escapes. The girl's mouth drops open, gaped. She steps back just a bit from him and checks her hand before looking back at his face.
The stunned look on Ami's face is the last straw of embarrassment he can take. He takes off, pushing past her in a dash down to the classroom. He skids to a stop at the sliding door to the classroom. He calms himself down and slides the door open. He steps in and closes it right behind him. He ignores the somewhat surprised looks sent his way and climbs up the large stairs to the back of the classroom. He sits in the very back by the window by himself. Two chairs are left open next to him.
The door to the classroom slams open, drawing the attention of the currently gathered class. Ami steps into the classroom, eyes searching for something. Their eyes lock, and he knows she is looking for him. He mutters a curse. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.
She slams the door behind her. Fuki and Kasumi, two girls from her clique, quickly greet her. To the surprise of everyone but him, she grabs the both of them by the collars of their shits, "Get the fuck out of my way!" She pushes them back into the blackboard. They crash and fall to the floor. "Traitors." She spits. The two girls just keep their heads down as Ami storms past them. Ami doesn't even greet Sasuke on her way up the stairs, and this is the first time Sasuke actually seems mildly interested in the girl.
She just keeps on looking at him as she ascends the large steps. He earnestly hopes she will not cause some kind of scene, but he knows her, and she will use this somehow against him.
She pulls the open chair next to him out harshly and plops down into it as ungracefully as possible. Her eyes bore into him. Those chocolate eyes are picking him apart, judging him. To think that Ami, of all the people in the class, knew about his little secret. This whole situation is all Iruka-sensei's fault. Whispers and mutters start; he can see Ami's right eye start twitching. She looks away from him to glare at the rest of the class, "Mind your own business!" She demands.
That alone got the curious looks in their direction to cease. Ami's stare focuses on him again.
He looks away from her intense stare. He hears her snicker at his break of eye contact, and it makes him growl in frustration.
He feels a tap on his left shoulder. Against his better judgment, he turns back to look at the bully. He freezes when she rubs his cheek again, right over the sensitive birthmarks. The action alone causes the sound, that damn purr, to come out. Luckily for him, it wasn't too loud, and nobody else had noticed the sound that left his throat.
"Why growl when you can purr?" Unlucky for him, the worst person who could have heard it did. There is a big twisted grin on her face like one of those yakuza that make a big hit in the casinos. It seems that Ami now has a new target inside the class again. It is him, and now he has to suffer a new torment.
Naruto is starting to believe that maybe actually being seen isn't all it is cracked up to be.
Author's Notes: Alright, before I get blasted with flames about how weak Naruto is, let's just remember how weak Naruto is during the start of the manga and during the flashbacks. So bear with it; for now, I also don't see Naruto hitting girls unless they are the enemy trying to kill him. Naruto swinging back wouldn't make sense with how much he is beaten by the women of this anime/manga.
Chapters will be longer, I hope. This story will be a Naruto x Ami. No harem, do not ask. Naruto will be short, not a damned weak or strong shota; Ami will be the taller one. There is no role reversal, where Naruto will act like a girl or Ami will act like a guy. How original and brave! Joking aside, those manga and stories are tiring for me to read.
I want to write something that hasn't been done. This hasn't been done, so bear with it. Ami is an underused character that can be great if used right. Here's to an old idea finally coming to life! Naruto will get good, just not at the start.
Let's see how this does. If it does well, I'll update again. Sooner than expected.
I have been very busy. I graduated got my bachelor's degree, going for my master's now. I wrote a poetry book that I am in the process of publishing. Some of my poetry has been accepted in a few literary journals, a poetry website, and a magazine. I have been swamped, but I am back for now—time to get in the swing of things.
Merry Christmas to all, and happy New Year!