I don't own Naruto, just a fan who couldn't sleep and decided to give life to his brain baby

Chapter 2: The Academy and a weird thing called chatra

A new day, a new person to beat up, at least that's how he thinks it went. At least that's what the academy suggested, otherwise, why would they keep pitting him against duck-hair? Seriously, he had already done that weird seal of cowards (he knew it started with a C…), but all duck-hair was doing was watching him and dancing around like those weird blind people that saw everything. Every time he got near him he ran away; it was almost like he didn't want to fight him but that didn't seem like duck-hair from the first year. Duck-hair used to actually fight him but maybe getting punched into tomorr-, you know what, screw it.

"STAY STILL AND THROW A PUNCH YOU WIMP!," he finally screamed in frustration, bull rushing his raven-haired foe in anger. Almost like he had planned it, duck-hair leaped into the air as the blonde berserker charged at him, and crashed into him like a man, child, possessed, heel outstretched, and face full of glee.

"Great Job Sasuke, Naruto, get up and form the seal of Reconciliation," Iruka told the young blonde, surprised at the outcome of the match but pleased that Sasuke had finally learned that openly confronting Naruto would lead only to defeat, and a lot of bruises.

"Hahaha, well I didn't expect that!", Naruto admitted sheepishly to the surprised Sasuke, Shisui had told him that would leave him reeling for hours! Just what was he made of? "Well, when I'm beat, I'm beat, just gotta make sure to punch you extra hard next time huh?", Naruto said with a grin as he formed the stupid seal with duck-hair, really surprised him this time…maybe rushing in wasn't the best idea? Oh well, it was a lot more fun fighting someone who actually thought about fighting him. He gave up on knocking some sense into Dog-breath and Sir Cloud just seemed to love giving up whenever he was paired with him.

"Alright listen up class, we went over the basics of Chakra last year, but this year we'll be going over how to access it and even learn how to use it to allow our kunai to defy what should be possible, and is impossible for civilians, first, what is Chakra?" Iruka asked his class, hoping that someone other than Sakura would answer, she was sweet but this was a class and how would anyone else learn if that little walking diction-, ah why did he even hope?

'This is sooooo boring, why do I even come to the rest of class? The only fun part is whenever we have those Tailow matches, but the new room looks so interesting, no desks, only comfy futons, maybe he should catch some wink eye… wait what is th-,' Naruto's internal monologuing is cut to a short halt when a piece of chalk greets his forehead with a solid thunk.

"Well then Naruto, thank you for volunteering to be the first of the class to show us how to access our Chakra, if you could come to the front of the class?" Iruka asked, his pleasant smile and calm demeanor offset by his hand that inched neared the box full of ammunition. Sensing his impending doom if he refused, the blonde-haired student slowly walked to the front of the class, wondering what the heck was Cakruh and how he was supposed to show his teacher what it was, if he didn't know how was he supposed to?! His eyes were frantically scanning the board and his classmates for any hint, before, head hung in disappointment, looked towards his teacher.

"Uh…Iruka-sensei…what am I supposed to do?", he asked, hoping that he would answer him.

Letting out a small laugh as his stern visage slowly disappeared, Iruka gestured for Naruto to sit before he sat facing him. "Naruto, close your eyes, and look deep inside yourself," he turned to the rest of the class, "This goes for the rest of you, follow along with us, and hopefully before the week is out, all of you will be able to access your Chakra." Turning back to Naruto and the bored face, he knew his young student hadn't quite managed to find, or really even understand, what they were looking for.

"Naruto," his young student opened his eyes and looked at him in confusion, " what we're looking for isn't something everyone understands, but it is something you have, in the center of your stomach, you'll find what Medic-nin refer to as the Solar Plexus Chakra, ninjas refer to it as the View Gate, due to it being the most accessible, through meditation, gate, through it we can access the chakra that flows through our bodies, and harness it to do great things, do you understand?", he asked, hoping his explanation hadn't gone over the young academy student's head.

"Hahahaha…what?", Naruto awkwardly asked, confused, why were they talking about Senseis? Were we talking about blood? How did that do great things? Why did he have to use big words again?

"Okay Naruto," Iruka said, shaking his head a little, trying to think of how he could explain it to the blonde, "Think of it like water and a sink, but there's a catch, not everyone knows where the handle is to turn it on, and not everyone has the same amount of water to use, but with water, we can cook, clean, and help keep our bodies running, understand?" Iruka asked, hoping that his half-baked explanation would get through, whoever taught this class last year needed an evaluation because something was wrong here.

"So…Cautra, can be used to make instant ramen?", Naruto asked, mind slowly connecting the dots, though not in the correct order.

"No, Naruto, CH-AK-RA, can be used to help Ninja, become stronger than civilians, and beyond that, lets us do amazing things that would make your mind explode," Iruka explained patiently, hoping that he would finally understand, seriously he was going to strangle whoever thought that Naruto was a passing student.

"WELL, WHY DIDN'T YA SAY SO!?," Naruto exclaimed in glee, before closing his eyes and reaching deep within himself. "…so…what am I looking for?"

His sensei shook his head slowly before using every breathing technique he knew to stop himself from hunting down the bastard that thought Naruto's education was good enough to pass him, well, hopefully, it wouldn't be that hard to teach him.

A Week Later (After Academy, at Naruto's Apartment)

Naruto huffed in boredom, seriously, why was it his fault that stupid Aki-sensei didn't teach him everything about Chara, why did he have to do homework? Well, at least Ramen Kami-Sama had yet to abandon him.

Two Hours Later

Things were looking rough, the last instant ramen packet had run out, and he was no closer to finding Chotra now, than he was four days ago.

Three Hours Later

Okay so why did he even neeeeed to know what Calkra was? I mean, all those other fakers probably said they found it just so they could give up right? Right?!

An hour after he gave u- decided to take a break (UZUMAKI NARUTO NEVER GIVES UP)

Okay so a Ramen run probably wasn't his best idea, but give him a break, a growing boy needed to eat! Ayame-nee-Chan said that all the time. Hey, that was Dai, right? Wonder what he was doing there, and was that Kane? Wow, he hadn't seen those two since last year when he beat them in a Taiku match. Woah, Seiji was there too…hmmmmmm…he beat him up too right? Okay, two was neat, three was strange, but Hoshi? What was going on here? Deciding to get to the bottom of this mystery he walked up to Hoshi, the rotund brunette cheerfully greeted the young blonde.

"Naruto, what a surprise, didn't expect to see you here!", he said, as he kept walking, the other three boys not far behind.

"So…why are yall hanging out here? I didn't expect to see yall again after yall quit the academy?" Naruto admitted, slowly hiding Gama-Chan away into one of his many pockets as he walked alongside the boy.

"Oh well, we ran into some friends and we thought we'd see if you'd like to talk about something that didn't make sense," Hoshi responded jovially.

"Cool, who did yo…" his question slowed to a halt when he noticed one of the boys from last week towards the end of the road. Eyes scanning his surroundings, he noticed the other two hiding and at least three more boys he distinctly remembered chasing off from Ichiraku Ramen a few months ago. Coming to a snap decision he buried his fist into Hoshi's face, taking a blow to his side from the brunette, and delivering a finishing blow to Hoshi's lung.

"I didn't think I pissed off this many people," he said with a grin, eyes frantically scanning for a weak link that would snap and allow him to break out of this impromptu ambush. Dammit, he knew this kind of thing happened to big shots, but maybe he shouldn't have pushed his luck by approaching Hoshi? Even civilians picked up something after living alongside ninjas for so long.

"It's time to learn your place demon filth."

"You screwed with the wrong person Naruto."

"By the time we're done, Yakushi-Sensei won't ev-," before he could finish his threat, his face whiplashed back, as the enraged visage of the young blonde threw himself into the fray, accepting what his instincts told him to do, and make them regret ever calling him a demon. He wasn't one but if he wanted to repeat what those dumb adults said, then he'd show them one.

Kane was the second to go down, a well-time punched to the throat would do that, but Naruto felt half a dozen blows land in between the time it took him for his arm to return snap back to him. One of the fifth-year students followed swiftly after him when he got Naruto into a chokehold and the hard-headed blonde headbutted him with ruthless vigor, ignoring the punch to his face that made his head ring. Dai, living up to his namesake, came barreling into the blonde, taking him to the ground and giving him a brief respite before the paved road sent him back into reality. Apologizing to the gods that were watching, Naruto kneed the large boy in the crotch and threw him off him before returning to the fight.

Amidst the brawling, the chaotic back and forths that dancing would never come close to replicating, a Naruto with more purple and red than skin, found his equilibrium. Punching, weaving, and punishing the fools that thought he would go down without a fight, he felt something resonating within him, a well of power that he never knew was there. Backing away from the fight, every pound of flesh aching like there was no tomorrow, he only saw two of the ten cowards standing in front of him, the rest crumbled on the ground and groaning in pain. Both were fifth-year students and he knew that win or lose, he would hurt.

Bracing himself for the charge, he was on them before they knew what was happening, and with a roar that would give skilled Gennin a pause, struck. His first punch was blocked, and before the fifth-years could capitalize on it, a swift kick to one shin, and a follow-up punch to his lung, saw him fall. The last fifth-year stared at him with contempt before flashing towards Naruto, a flurry of punches battered the blonde, who after what felt like hours of fighting, couldn't block or weave, but merely accept the blows and hoped he would give as good as he got.

Finally, the barrage stopped, and the young blonde collapsed, tired, and battered beyond belief, he stared at the victor in contempt. Said victor couldn't help but gloat. "Ha, may…may have taken a lot more than what I thought it might to take you down," he stops to collect himself, huffing and breathing, as the young blonde tries to connect back to the power that he felt in that fight,"…but we did it…I D-," a punch to the stomach launches him across the road, into a derelict building, leaving his crumpled form in a heap. The blonde who delivered the final blow stared at his hand in wonder.

"Huh, Iruka-Sensei might have been onto something with this Coltra, maybe I oughta go ask him about it?" He asks himself before bringing himself to stand, and walking away from the fight, never quite noticing the steam that his body gave out, as the malevolent being sealed within himself healed its warden.

"Maybe some victory Ramen before? Ayame-nee-Chan will never believe this one."

Alright, bit of a quick update, but it was a brain nugget that couldn't go away; what do yall think? I wanted this chapter to more or less hint at the kind of person this Naruto was, what with him finding his peace not through meditation but in the heat of battle. Also, I am aware that the whole, ten-on-one odds isn't exactly favorable, but I'd imagine his regeneration factor, would offset it, after all its a brawl.