I finished my own Original Story, it is entirely free and on Wattpad. Check it out, Destiny Rebellions- A Queen's Champion... if you love A Mortal's Might you'll love it. It was inspired heavily by that story and this one. Please check it out and tell me if you love it. I will be publishing it one day, so check it out before I pull it off of Wattpad.

An Overheard Word

This story was inspired by the idea that there was no way that everyone hates Naruto. Statistically, it makes no sense. Also, everyone focuses on the failings of the village, Naruto played a part in his failings too... no one calls that out.

Three Months before Graduation

Pranks were supposed to be fun, not life-changing challenges that crush your soul and change your heart. Naruto felt... horrified, terrified, pained and determined all at once. Mostly determined, like his eyes were opened for the first time and the truth was laid bare before his very eyes... or rather his ears... And to think that just an hour ago, he was just naively living his life, planning to perform another obnoxious prank...

"Hehehehehe..." Naruto giggled, rushing through the academy with a bucket of orange paint. "This is genius!" He whispered, excited. "Painting the Sensei's lounge is going to be great!"

It took a few minutes to reach it, but Naruto was just about to reach the room, where he planned to wait nearby until he could paint it... only to hear his name.

"That Naruto..." Naruto leaned in, curious. "He... today he had the audacity to complain, to say that if we just got rid of the clone jutsu he would have passed the first time! It took everything not to throw something at him. Seriously how can anyone be so dense? The kid's record speaks for itself, he's failed everything. His Taijutsu is sloppy and more like a drunken brawler. He doesn't even know what Chakra is, he couldn't even answer a basic history on the Hokage or the Village. His throwing skills are weak. He can only do that stupid sexy jutsu variant and barely do a transformation. I have never seen him do a substitution correctly! He is a joke. He has no business being a Ninja at all. He is skips classes, is unwilling to pay attention to class when he is present, never does homework... it is like he doesn't even want to be a ninja at all!"

Naruto huffed, ready to barge into the room and defend himself... only to be entirely disarmed by the next statement, spoken by a female substitute teacher he barely remembered.

" The worst part is that I want him to do well. We all do, we do not hate Naruto like everyone else in this village. We've tried to help him, we tell him to come to remediation, we suggest extra reading materials to everyone, there is sparring after school that everyone is allowed to attend... he has resources but he chooses to never attend any of it. It is entirely free. I won't pretend that some teachers dislike Naruto, some do, but that number is less than five teachers and Naruto was only put in one of their classes once. We made sure to put him in classes that he could learn in, or at least we tried to. We are training soldiers, why would we screw over a student, any student. We are ninja we are taught to control our emotions, especially those of us that have served in higher ranked missions and the war."

Gaping, Naruto almost dropped the paint. The more that spoke, the more Naruto could not deny their words... it was all true. He skipped class, he did not study, do homework... he failed nearly every test, he slept in class at times or planned and played pranks... he did nothing to better his chances, to even try and graduate...

The world spun, he turned on heel and shot away, as fast and silently as he could, rushing out of the school and towards his apartment...

"Can I do better..." Naruto shivered, sitting on his bed, holding his head in his hands. "They are right, I messed up... I have one more chance to graduate, I wasted two times, I cannot waste this one or I will never graduate... I have all the books and the scrolls from school... I have ... to study, until I graduate. I can, need to practice until I am good enough... but am I good enough, all I am good at is pranking..." His eyes widened as a beautiful idea branded itself on his brain. "I can treat it like a prank! Plan it out, bit by bit, little pieces instead of big chunks! Okay... I need enough to graduate... and I do know some people graduate in one year, it's rare but it happens... so maybe I only need to study enough to reach one year... okay... and I need to get my taijutsu and throwing skill and jutsu up... I guess I can train until it's dark out, read during my breaks and after that... and I can turn the weekends into pure training. That means no pranking... can I do this?

Do I have a choice?"

And the answer, as far as Naruto was aware, was a big fat no... he had no choice. He had to do this and he would... by any means...

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This is an awesome idea, I will defend it till the end. Kakashi graduated after a year, so clearly the Academy like most schools just repeats info year after year until it sinks in... it has to, otherwise there would be no people graduating early...

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.