After they arrived at the Hokage tower the Anbu, who had practically dragged him there, merely informed him that the Sandaime was waiting in the council meeting room before disappearing. Naruto walked through the empty halls, alone, every step getting more tense, it was as if he was being cornered, with no option or choice. He didn't like that, he didn't like it one bit. And he was scared, afraid of what was waiting for him up ahead. But there was nothing he could do, all the other options seemed even worse. The only way he saw as a possible solution was to get stronger, he needed this to protect himself, and there were not many ways to do this.

To his surprise there was someone outside the room, apparently waiting for him by the door. It was an old man wearing dark robes, and a cane, and he had one eye, and part of his face, covered by bandages, he was no stranger to him, but he didn't remember him. The boy stopped a little way off, waiting for the older man to speak up, to say what he wanted to talk to him about. Besides that, it was a great excuse to roll up enter that room and listen to what would be done.

"Uzumaki-kun." the man spoke in a neutral tone, which piqued the child's curiosity.

"Me," he answered, looking at the taller man's face.

"I suppose you know that there it will be decided who will train you from now on." the stranger spoke, basically stating.

"..." Naruto blinked a few times and analyzed the older man, after all this guy didn't treat him like he expected him to be a complete idiot, as everyone believed he was. "Yes... And...?"

"I believe you have a right to know your options. Hiruzen plans to suggest that you choose Jiraya, a man he trusts and who was his disciple." the stranger told, staring at the boy, who until now had trusted the Hokage almost blindly. "Which is not bad, but this same man was supposed to be your godfather. To take care of you in place of your parents," he revealed and explained, for it was visible on the boy's face that he didn't recognize the title or what it meant.

"What? Why?" the blond boy asked, as soon as he had assimilated the words, wide-eyed.

"This man is a great shinobi, one of the strongest in the village, but no one knows why he didn't come for you when you were born and lost your parents." the gentleman spoke with a tone and expression almost bordering on disappointment, although the boy noticed that there was much more behind it.

"I get it..." Naruto murmured, still looking a little suspicious of the elder's intentions, but not ignoring the information. After all the old man basically said that there was someone who should have taken care of him, to be his family. And now, just now, he would show up, even to train him to become the village's weapon? Was this what a godfather or a family was and would do? If so, he would never be his family, if so he wouldn't need a family. And with each thought, his anger grew and the gentleman looked, without the boy noticing, satisfied.

"Come on. We've been waiting for you," he called, indicating the door with his head before disappearing into the smoke, leaving the boy a bit shocked before taking a deep breath, gathering his courage, to finally open the door and enter the room.

"There you are, Naruto." Hiruzen greets him, waving at him and giving him a brief smile.

"He really had the audacity to ignore the first call and had to be dragged here." an older man with glasses and white hair whispered, but the boy was able to hear, not that they were trying to hide it.

"It's past time to discipline him more strictly," the lady in front of him said back, looking at the boy with a certain contempt and superiority. "You know why you're here, don't you? Let's get on with it." she looked at the Hokage hurrying him, they had already been there for a while, since the Uzumaki had been called almost half an hour ago.

"As I said, besides the activities as a genin you will also receive training appropriate for a jinchuuriki. We have called you here so that you will at least have the chance to choose your tutor." the Sarutobi explained with a serene tone, but where there was also some apprehension. "The first choice is Jiraya, one of my pupils who is one of the legendary Sannin."

"Shimura Danzo has also volunteered to train him. He is in charge of a part of Anbu and a strong shinobi of our generation, also a member of the village council." the counselor spoke indicating another man, sitting opposite the Hokage, who turned out to be the man she had met outside the room.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Uzumaki-kun." Danzo looked at the young man with a brief smile.

"These are your options, kid. Now choose." the counselor who wore glasses spoke seriously and impatiently. Soon, everyone, there was staring at him expectantly, except Shimura who seemed unshakable and, as had been said, strong. Which made the boy at that moment wish to be like him, to feel like him, since he felt scared and afraid. And he looked into the familiar face of the old Sandaime, who had often spoken words of comfort or to calm him. An acquaintance who had made many promises that had not been kept and had secrets that when he found out hurt him, hurt him. And with this pain, he raises his eyes to them, rebelling for the first time against the will of the one he trusted.

"He." is all he says while pointing to the gentleman with one eye covered by bandages.

"Are you sure about this, Naruto?" Hiruzen quickly speaks up in astonishment, shaken that the boy had chosen precisely what he wanted the least.

"He's already made his choice, Hiruzen." the counselors spoke together. "Just as you wanted him to have the possibility to do."

"You must respect his will," Danzo speaks up in support, ending the Kage's protest and standing up to face his newest apprentice. "I will begin planning your training and as soon as you are ready for us to begin, I will send for you to the place where I will teach you everything you will need to be a powerful ninja," he said, signaling to the boy that he was free for the time being, and he nodded silently before leaving.

While with the genins of Konoha...

The group was still in Ichiraku in silence, shocked at the way the blond boy had been taken from there. Especially his team, who were seriously worried about what their friend had done this time and how bad it must have been for an Anbu to come and get him.

"Will you be okay with a rebel like Naruto on your team?" Ino turned to the pair. "You can be disadvantaged because of this."

"But with ninja life, he won't have the time or courage to keep doing these things, right?" the pink girl looked hopeful at her teammate, who shrugged.

"Well, he didn't even stop during the academy, and there were days that were hard," said Choji as he finished eating his last bowl of food, very satisfied.

"It seems that you will have problems to evolve as shinobi, forehead." the blonde teased her friend, who sent her a death glare.

"Hey, you said something about Naruto having taken the test before? Is that true?" Shikamaru asked the restaurant owner since this had intrigued him as soon as they had caught up with the blond after leaving the steakhouse behind the boy. The events from earlier made the Nara thoughtful.

"From what I remember he already commented on doing her a couple of other times," Teuchi replied without much thought, but soon turning back to work and walking away from the boys.

"That doesn't make sense. He's our age, how could he have taken the test a few times before?" the one with the spiky ponytail spoke confused.

"My brother managed to graduate before his class, but he's a genius." Sasuke pondered. "Naruto's performance at the academy was never very bright, he didn't even seem interested in the classes."

"Guys, I wonder if he isn't mistaken? I mean, Naruto might have talked about taking the end-of-the-year exam to see if he could pass the next one." the Yamanaka suggested.

"Maybe." Shikamaru nodded. "But there's still something problematic about it. As I recall, this shop has been here for years, so he must have heard similar things to get confused like that..."

"You're right. It's been here as long as I can remember," comments Choji, stopping to think shortly after they say goodbye to the owner and leaving the establishment, since he probably knew all the places that sold food, on an internal list for all the ones he had to go eat one day. "I think my father has already commented about coming to eat here with his colleagues before we were even born." he complements, which was enough for them to believe that the possibility of it being a mistake was very low.

"I still think that this confusion may well have been caused by the way Naruto spoke. He has always been quite exaggerated and loud." Ino points out again, receiving nods of agreement from her friend.

"And there's no way he would have tried to graduate before, why would the teachers let him do that anyway? He was the worst in our class after all." Sakura speaks with certain certainty.

"That's right! Remember all the pranks and messes he used to get into?" the blonde girl laughs. "I feel sorry for Iruka-sensei to this day. With the amount of punishment and detention he got, it's a surprise he actually get graduated at all."

"Really. I wonder how his test must have been, he always failed the practical exercises." was the pink girl's turn to laugh. They spent some time talking and remembering the pranks of the blond with the spiky hair while the rest of the group remained silent, except for some Akimichi's participation here and there. After a while the Nara stopped, remembering a detail he had never really thought about, which made everyone else stop and look at him.

"I wonder..." his eyes widened." Why didn't I ever notice this before?" he cried aloud, receiving completely lost looks from the others.

"What haven't you noticed before?" his best friend ask curious, after all, there were few moments when the brunette acted like this. Since despite his laziness the one with the ponytail was always lost in thought.

"His name." the boy answered, this time receiving confused looks, but thinking that maybe he had thought so hard that he had burned his neurons, after all, everyone knew the blonde's name. "I'm not sure yet, but we can meet at the library to check it out," he said with a cheerfulness that none of them decided to contradict, and they agreed to meet there in the morning. Trying to put a little faith in the thoughts of the same since he practically passed the theoretical tests.

The next day they were already gathered in the library shortly after it opened. They were all curious about what they might discover, which was no big surprise since this trait was classic for children so they couldn't stop themselves from satisfying their curiosity and looking for answers to their questions. Soon they followed Shikamaru to a specific section and watched him pick up a book, quickly leafing through it until he found a specific piece of information.

"Here." he turned the book over for his colleagues to see, which made their eyes widen and they understood the phrase he had said the day before: there was no sense in them ever noticing and thinking about it.

"Wow!" exclaims Ino, being the first to speak after the initial surprise.

"Could it be? Like Naruto..." Sakura started to say something.

"I what?" they suddenly heard someone ask, causing them to be startled. As they tried to locate the voice they looked up to find the boy they were talking about lying on top of the bookcase looking at them curiously. None of them had the slightest idea when the boy had arrived there, they hadn't even heard anything nor the reason why he was on top of the bookcase. "What are you doing?" the Uzumaki jumps from the bookcase, landing softly on the floor near the other children.

"We were researching you." it was Choji who answered. The blond looked at them as if he was wondering why the hell they were researching about him, in a library included.

"About your last name. Uzumaki." Sasuke explained as he noticed that the other had no idea what they expected to find about him there.

"My last name?" he repeated even more incredulous and confused.

"It's, like, you know? Uzumaki, like the Uzumaki clan." Sakura spoke up, neither of them understanding the other's confusion.

"Clan?" Naruto repeated one more time what they had said before his eyes widened. "I have a clan?" he muttered softly, clearly in shock at the new information, not for the first time in the last few days. Something he wasn't enjoying one bit.

"Didn't you know?" Ino looked at him confused, after all the Uzumaki clan had been mentioned a few times when learning about the history of the village and the previous wars.

"It's Naruto, Ino. Do you really think he paid attention in class to remember something like that?" the pink-haired girl rolled her eyes as if it was obvious. The blond boy looked at her indignantly, which made everyone laugh for his discontentment. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't that simple. But he was sure he would remember if he was hearing something to do with his name, it wasn't as if he had no interest in knowing more about himself.

"The Uzumaki clan came from a country called 'Uzu', the country of the whirlwind. They were Konoha's allies, so much so that when it and the country were decimated our village began to use their symbol, a red whirlpool, on the vests of the chunin and jounin ninja as a demonstration of their friendship." Shikamaru explained patiently, watching the younger boy. Naruto almost laughed upon hearing this but managed not to express it physically, so his facial expression didn't change much. If he really was part of that clan, what the village felt for him was certainly nothing close to friendship.

"They were also known to have red hair, so your name might just be a coincidence or you might be a half-blood or descendant." the Haruno points out.

"Do you know who you inherited that name from? From which of your parents?" Choji asked curiously. The blond frowned, why the hell they were so interested in him now? What about the subject of parents? It was literally the second time either of them had mentioned the topic.

"I don't know." he answered briefly.

"Don't you remember their names?" Sakura questioned incredulously.

"No." this time the boy's voice was almost a grumble.

"No? How could you not? Like, they were your parents!" Ino exclaimed, how could someone not remember their parents like that?

"I never knew them!" the conversation was getting uncomfortable for him. It was the turn of the other Genin to look at him in disbelief, and some even opened their mouths to ask how this was possible. "As far as I know they died the same day I was born." he cut them off before they could verbalize it as his face closed up a little bit more and more, the signs of spontaneity, energy, relaxation, and the usual smile fading away.

"But you don't know who they are..." the boy's eyes flashed a silent warning. They were crossing the line, and this was not a subject he liked to return to. There was no way he could know about it if no one told him, and he had learned long ago that it was no use dwelling on it. No one would tell him anything, not even the Hokage. Silence reigned as everyone stared at each other, but that was interrupted when a figure came up behind the blond and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, which made his body tense instantly at the contact.

"What do you think you are doing here?" the librarian asks in an acid tone, causing the group's attention to turn to her.

"What does it look like?" he replied with a sarcastic smile as he indicated the group holding a book.

"You know you're not welcome here." the woman said looking at him with disgust as if what was in front of her was some kind of curse. Her grip on the young man's shoulder intensified to the point that it began to hurt, and she began to want to drag him away.

"I have a right to be here. I am a ninja from Konoha." Naruto retorts as he feels himself beginning to be pulled away.

"It doesn't matter." her indifference to his statement made him shudder. It didn't matter that he was now a ninja? It didn't make any difference to them? The answer made him so disoriented that he forgot to fight the woman's action, only coming to his senses when he noticed he was being pulled harder, halfway to the exit.

"Let me go!" he protested, his face no longer clearly visible to the other children, who watched in astonishment. But not even the boy himself knew what his face showed at that moment.

"It's not like anyone would want to touch this thing," she replied in a mumbled voice with disgust in her tone without even looking at him - she was focused on getting him out of there, but he knew she was talking about him. "Like I'm going to let you come here as you please, you destroy everything you touch!" she exclaimed, angry when she saw that the young man was still trying to get her to let him go. The young generation of ninjas stared wide-eyed at their colleague being carried away. Did the librarian believe that he was a threat to the books and information contained therein? All because of his famous pranks? Their thoughts were interrupted when the blonde was pushed out the door and had to balance to keep from falling because of the violence used in the act.

"Hey!" he shouted, turning toward the door he had been thrown through. He wasn't really thinking about the amount of attention he was getting from the whole scene. Not when he was still learning to process how the villagers didn't mind treating him like this in front of those who, as far as he knew, knew nothing. But he didn't have the courage to look at their faces now, even if he could see that they were looking in his direction. He felt humiliated enough without this, so he just stared angrily at the person who had thrown him out of the building one last time before turning his gaze to the floor, letting his hair hide part of his face and biting his lip in an attempt to restrain himself.

"Don't you ever dare put your filthy feet in here again!" she screamed before slamming the door in his face, turning back inside, clapping her hands together to wipe them off as the group of children shot toward the door and opened it.

"Naruto!" they called looking around for him, but there was no sign of the blond.

"He's gone..." Sakura realized the obvious, stunned that he had disappeared so quickly since barely a minute had passed.

"Hey, why did you do that?" the Uchiha turned to the woman who had expelled the third member of her team.

"Because his entry here is forbidden." answers as if it were common knowledge.

"Why?" they ask not understanding.

"You wouldn't understand." the older one rolls her eyes. They could see some others nodding their heads in agreement.

"Is it because he's an Uzumaki? Because he is a delinquent?" Shikamaru questions, also trying to get some explanation.

"You could say that," she replied not being very specific about which option, and sighed as if the subject tired her. But she complemented when she saw by the look on their faces that they didn't understand and that they were going to ask even more questions, things she didn't want to talk about and couldn't. Liking it or not, the young Uzumaki was a village secret. "Look, you are too young to know and understand everything he did to the village. If I were you I would get as little involved with him as possible, he will only get you in and bring you trouble" she advised before turning and going back to his work. Leaving behind a group of recent graduates intrigued by her certainty that the blond was a threat to the library books and worried about her advice. After all, they knew that the boy loved to prank the village, but he was a shinobi now, he couldn't continue with this, so they had no reason to worry, right? The advice didn't make any sense to any of them. Frustrated, they gave up thinking about it and went home, they all wanted to enjoy themselves and be prepared because soon the free time would be over and the missions would begin.