CHAPTER TWO

"The Academy teachers have arrived Hokage-sama." The old man looked up from his paper-covered desk and thanked Tayona. He finished signing his name on the request for additional funds needed for repairs in the Northern sector of the wall and stood up. As he walked to the conference room he wondered exactly how he should handle this.

The Academy teachers would not be happy with the assignment to watch Naruto while they continued to teach class. It would be difficult, but with Naruto's recent escape the Hokage needed him somewhere more stable. The old man knew how the villagers felt about him, but his recent attempt to run away worried him.

Never before had the Chuunins watching him fail to find the child within a few hours. If Naruto couldn't find a goal to hold on to and keep him anchored here in the village, Sarutobi was afraid Konoha would lose him forever. Besides, he could only pay the Elementary school to teach him and request the teachers to be professional and hope for the best. At the Academy he could order the teachers to do so and if it did not happen, he could replace them.

"Hokage-sama!" A chorus of voices greeted Sandaime as he walked into the room. He gestured to the dozen young men and women to sit back down as he walked to his place at the front of the room. The old man turned back to them, observing each one of them. 'Can I trust them to put aside their own hate and anger?'

"I'm sure you are wondering why you have been gathered on such short notice. I have been very pleased with your progress with the current students of the Academy, but I'm afraid that I must give you one more." He could see the confusion in their eyes, but as well-trained ninja, none asked what they were all wondering.

"I understand that this is an unusual event. Classes are already two months in progress. However, this is also an unusual student. He is younger than most of the new beginners, only eight-years-old, but I also do not expect him to become a Genin until the usual age of 12. I am transferring him for safety measures and expect you to watch over him and teach him what he would have learned in elementary school had he not been forced to transfer." Now their confusion was turning to curiosity as well. The Hokage gave a mental sigh as he gave the teachers the last piece of information.

"You all know of this student in one way or another, but I expect you to be professional ninjas and not give way to the usual emotions that are tied to this young man. I will allow you to confer and decided how you want to deal with the situation on your own as long as no foul play is involved. He is starting his Third Year, meaning he has learned the basics of reading and writing and is starting on division and multiplication tables. I expect you to expand upon that to make sure he is not left behind his peers when they join him in two years. Is this clear?"

There were nods all around and the old man waited for the question to be asked. It didn't take long for one of the young men, Yamato-san, to speak up. "So sorry Hokage-sama, but who is this young man we are to teach?"

"Naruto Uzumaki." Those two words were all it took for hate and outrage to be displayed by most in the room. Sarutobi kept his face clear of emotions while disappointment and frustration raged within him. How could these ninja not see the sacrifice this young child has had to make? To have no family, friends or acknowledgement. To be hated and feared by all who crossed his path and never know the reason why.

"There must be a mistake Hokage-sama. The demon cannot be allowed to learn the ninja arts!" Taimono-san's voice was the loudest of all the murmuring and shocked statements flying about the room. It was probably the most accurate on how they all felt as well.

"Enough!" Even as old as he was, the old man's voice was still able to cut through the rising panic. They all went silent as they looked to the Hokage, pleading with their eyes for this to be a cruel jest or a terrible dream. "Are you truly ninjas, to be acting in such a childish manner?" Those words made more than a few teachers glance away in chagrin.

"As I said before, I expect you to be professional and not give way to the usual emotions tied to this child. Yes, Naruto will be trained as a ninja. He is not the demon-fox, but a young child cursed to live a lonely life, hated by all for no reason he can fathom. Do not forget that he does not know what he carries.

"He will be arriving Monday to start classes. I will have a young Chuunin bring him by. If you cannot treat him with kindness I expect you to treat him fairly and civilly inside and outside the classroom.

"As stated before, you may decided where to place him and how to deal with him, but if there is any hint of mistreatment, you will find yourself in my office with a heavy penalty to be given depending upon the severity of the act." He allowed the frustration and anger he felt to show as he met each pair of eyes in the room. No one could keep eye contact for more than a few moments and the old man felt as though his message had been received loud and clear.

He stood and looked around the room once more. "I leave you to decided your course of action and expect a plan to be laid out on Tayona-san's desk before you leave." They were silent as he left them to vent and bicker among themselves. He knew Naruto would be forced to deal with hate and fear at the Academy just as much as he had done at the Elementary, but here Sandaime could make sure the teachers followed orders. It didn't hurt that Naruto would gain the knowledge of how to defend himself in the future as well. Sarutobi had a feeling the young child would need it.

-Scene Break-

Iruka Umino looked at his colleagues and watched the same shock as he felt running across their faces. They were supposed to teach the demon-fox, the same demon that had killed so many friends and family. How could the Hokage ask them this? Iruka would gladly give his life for Konoha and Sandaime, but this?

"What are we going to do?" Ruito Yamato could always ask the right question. Iruka watched as his colleague sighed loudly and brushed a few loose strands of hair out of his eyes. "We cannot disobey the Hokage. We must take Naruto Uzumaki on as a student."

"But we can't-"

"The demon-fox-"

"I'm sure there's-"

"Stop!" Ruito's voice cut through the noise before it could begin again. "We are taking him in. That is the Hokage's order. What will we do with him is what we need to discuss." He sighed once more. "I do not like the idea anymore than any of you, but we must take responsibility. There will be no more mention of the Ninetails. We all know who he is, but if we are to have any chance of following the Hokage's order of being professional, we must learn not to call him that."

Ruito was always the sensible one of the group. Ever since Iruka had started teaching, four years ago, Ruito has been the unofficial leader of the Chuunin teachers. He wondered if the older man would try for Jounin soon. He was certainly qualified.

"I will not teach him." Goju Taimono's black eyes glittered dangerously, daring any one to disagree.

"Neither will I."

"Nor I."

"Count me out."

More than half the teachers present refused to have anything to do with the demon-child. Iruka may have joined them, but was too shocked to do much of anything at the moment.

"You cannot disobey Hokage-sama's order!" Rage poured off of Ruito as he glared at Goju.

"Hokage ordered the brat to be allowed in the Academy. He said he was to be taught and we could decide how to do it. I believe one of us will have to let the little monster sit in with his class and give him busy work to learn on his own while we teach the real students. I'm only saying that I will not have him in my class." That made sense to Iruka. 'Who WOULD be willing to have the Ninetails in their class?'

"Does everyone else agree with this idea?" There were nods all around along with some more murmurings of 'Not in my class!' and 'I won't do it.' "Very well, I will take Uzumaki in my class." Ruito looked resigned. He was probably wondering just how he would manage teaching the eight-year-old while performing the various exercises necessary for the Ninja Third Year class he had this year.

Ninja First Year was mostly training the students to use their body by running laps, doing push-ups, sit-ups. They learned the basics of taijutsu, kunai and shuriken throwing, as well as basic weapon lessons at the end of the year. History of the ninjas was taught year long to let the trainees rest their bodies as they were getting used to the work. It was all done in the practice yards or in the classroom.

During Ninja Second Year, students were expected to train physically on their own to keep up their strength, flexibility and endurance. More taijutsu lessons were given and the students learned to spar against one another later in the year. History, kunai and shuriken lessons continued yearlong. But there was more classroom time as students were expected to learn the Ninja Sayings that directed a ninja's life, how to disguise themselves in a crowd, trap identification and the uses of chakra. The last two weeks were spent on basic camping skills.

But Ninja Third Year… That was the most difficult year. Classroom work was the majority for the first few months as reviews from previous years began and they were taught the bookwork of stealth, ambush, and information gathering. The students would only leave the classroom for sparing and kunai/shuriken practice.

After the winter holidays the students would be going out in the village and practicing stealth, and information gathering while under supervision. There would also be more survival trips and going out to the woods for trap laying lessons in the fall and spring. The Ninja Third Year class was rarely in the classroom save the last two weeks of school where they would review before taking the Genin exam.

It was had enough to supervise a class of a little more than ten regular students without adding the nine-tails to the mix. Iruka was humbled by Ruito's willing sacrifice to deal with the demon-boy no one else wanted. Realistically the brat should have been placed with one of the teachers in Ninja Second Year as they had the most classroom time. Iruka was teaching a group of Ninja First Years, and even that would be easier to add the nine-tails into than to drag the brat along on class field trips. Before he knew what was happening, Iruka was volunteering to take the fox in his class when Ruito needed it.

His colleague just looked at him in shock for a few moments, as did the rest of the teachers. Everyone knew he had lost his entire family to the Kyuubi, which far outweighed many of their own losses. "Thank you Iruka. I appreciate that." Ruito gave Iruka a smile before standing up, signaling the end of the meeting. "I will plan his curriculum. The rest of you must only keep a civil tongue and make sure your students don't bully Uzumaki-san."

As Iruka stood to go, he wondered what he had just done.

-Scene Break-

Saturday and Sunday were boring. Naruto was too excited with attending the Ninja Academy to sit still after the Hokage left, and he didn't feel like just walking about town or playing pranks. After an hour or two of sheer boredom, he snuck away from his ninja watchers. He noticed there was only one ninja watching him again and wondered why they changed.

Two pranks played later he was in the woods and going through his exercises. He knew it was risky, but he figure he was already in the Ninja Academy so he couldn't get into too much trouble. He kept his senses alert to have plenty of warning when someone came near. He just wanted to practice henge some more and made an oath that he wouldn't faint this time. The first time must have been a fluke or something.

He molded chakra and pushed out, feeling the knives stabbing him all over. He felt a snap inside of him and knew he made the change, but couldn't open his eyes yet to check. The knives had stopped but his skin felt stretched and taunt and every time he tried to move his muscles would freeze up and the knives would return to that section. Everything burned, inside and out. He just stood there and waited for the sensation to pass.

It seemed like forever, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes before the blonde could move again. He looked into the stream and sure enough, the same blonde woman as before looked back at him. But the whisker-like scars were still there. Ignoring that fact, Naruto took a deep breath and tried to change back. Nothing happened.

Keeping his panic down, he tried again. Gathering his chakra he tried to make his thoughts wander like he did before. He started thinking about what flavor of ramen he'd eat when he got back home and what he wanted to learn after he mastered henge. It didn't work.

Nervous didn't begin to describe how he felt by then, but he knew he had changed back before so he tried it again. Gathering his chakra he just let it sit once more while he thought about who he was rather than what he looked like. That got his chakra moving. He put more into it, not thinking about what shape he was, but what made Naruto, Naruto?

Blue-eyes, spiky blonde hair, and a big grin to show the world he didn't care what they thought. An unbreakable will to succeed and a hard core of determination to show every one they were wrong. Those whisker-like scars on his cheeks that didn't seem to want to go away even when he transformed, and the way he couldn't stand still for long and sitting down for class was the hardest thing he had to do before he started sleeping through school. How much he'd rather be running through the streets or woods than to stay cooped up inside.

He felt the chakra pooling into his stomach and the knife-stabbing pain came back, along with the 'my-skin-is-on-fire' feeling. It took only a few heartbeats, but it felt like forever. When the pain died back down and he could move again, the face in the stream was his own.

He tried a few more times, each time the pain was easier to handle. After a few times his muscles started to get stiff and moving became difficult. Naruto ran through his stretches and exercises again to help relieve the built up tension. When night fell he was able to run home instead of staggering. He took a round about route so any ninjas watching his home wouldn't know he came from the woods.

The three minutes for his miso ramen to cook was an eternity, but after eating he went straight to bed. On Sunday, Naruto ditched his ninja watchers again and set up a few pranks that would take a while to be triggered. He trained in a different spot, but there wasn't much improvement.

By the end of his training session, the pain levels were still high, but he could change back into his original form almost as quick as he could change into his female form. He spent the last two hours of the day doing laundry and other chores so he wouldn't get in trouble.

Monday came and he was up bright and early. The blonde showered, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth and combed his hair. He waited outside his apartment for whoever was supposed to take him to the Academy. He knew where it was, but he didn't want to disobey the Hokage, and he had no idea where he was suppose to go once he got there.

So he waited… and waited… and waited some more. Naruto knew he was probably early when he stepped outside at seven, but it was close to nine and no one had come. If no one arrived by nine-thirty, he was going to go on his own. School started at eight. There was no way he was going to miss his first day, ninja escort or no ninja escort.

But the ninja came by a little after nine. Naruto told him off for being late and complained about how could he be a good ninja if he was late for his first day, but the ninja just ignored him. Naruto was used to it by now, but it made him feel better by taking out his frustration on the guy by yelling at him.

The blonde walked behind his escort and it took twenty minutes to get there. Naruto could have made it in five by running on the rooftops, and he knew all the ninjas that watched him knew he could do that. 'He must really want me to be late,' Naruto thought.

By the time they reached the Academy gate Naruto had run out of things to say to the rude ninja. Instead, the blonde was busy mumbling under his breath, staring at his feet and shuffling along slowly. He found that when he was sulking, or pretending to, people didn't think he was paying attention to them. He could look out of the corner of his eyes or listen to conversations without anyone knowing as long as he mumbled incoherently and kept his head down. Useful thing.

As he walked through the yard he noticed a group of kids, probably around nine, running around the edges of the yard in a line. The last one was struggling to keep up, but wasn't falling further behind. Naruto could tell the guy in front wanted to go faster, but he kept glancing at the teacher who was watching all of them carefully. He bet they had to go at the same speed.

The blonde looked at the teacher, who had a faint smile on his lips as he watched the students. Then he glanced in Naruto's direction and the faint smile became a definite frown. Naruto had learned to tell when someone was glaring at him, even when his back was turned. There was a certain feeling to hatred and anger that could always be picked out from other looks. As he followed the ninja in through the front doors, Naruto could tell that there was a killer glare following him. The blonde got a sinking feeling in his stomach that Ninja Academy might not be so different from First's Elementary. He didn't that thought.

The two went down the main hall and up the stairs to the second floor. Two doors down on the right seemed to be his classroom. A deep gentle voice had been talking, but stopped as the door opened. Naruto had stopped grumbling when they had started up the stairs and tried to look past his escort's legs to see what was going on in the class.

"You're student Yamato-sensei." The ninja stepped to the side and pushed Naruto into the class. He stumbled a bit before catching himself and looked around. They were all older than him, around Mendo and his gang's age. He bet this was a Ninja Third Year class.

Everyone looked at him with angry eyes too. The kids at the elementary school didn't like him, but that was because he was a freak that all the adults hated. This was different. They not only disliked him but they were angry with him too. 'Why? I haven't even started class yet. Is it because I'm late? Stupid ninja!'

"Ah. Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" He turned his attention to the man in the front. He was wearing navy blue with a green vest that Naruto knew had tons of pockets. He was like Naruto's ninja watchers then. It was his voice that the blonde had heard before the door had opened. But it wasn't so gentle now. It had a hard edge to it and that sinking feeling in his stomach got worse.

Naruto nodded a bit and didn't dare breathe incase the teacher kicked him out. "Please take a seat over there while I finish with the current lecture. I will then instruct you on what you are to do." The teacher pointed to a seat in the back corner next to a boy with brown hair pulled back into a short ponytail at his neck.

The boy looked upset but didn't seem dangerous so Naruto made his way over to the seat and sat down. Once he was there, Yamato-sensei started talking again. The blonde ignored him for the moment as he studied the room. There were three rows of three desks each. Each desk had three chairs and each row was on a higher level than the next. The bottom level had one desk with one chair and a bunch of books on top of it. That was probably the teacher's desk. There were windows to the outside but they were on the opposite side of the room from Naruto.

Naruto looked at the boy sitting next to him write things down. Next to him was a thin book labeled Ninja Sayings. He took a risk and opened it up and looked at a few pages. Each on had a number and a small saying. "A ninja must look underneath the underneath." "The true ninja art is trickery, to fool the opponent." "A ninja must always hide their emotions and never show their tears." It looked rather boring. When he caught the brunette glaring at him for looking through the book, Naruto closed it and grinned an apology.

He tried to pay attention to the lecture Yamato-sensei was giving. There were a few diagrams listed on the board and he was talking about various ways a ninja could be ambushed. Almost half an hour later, the teacher handed out a few worksheets, each with a different scenario that the students were to use. They had to write how they would set an ambush for any incoming ninjas.

When the students started working on their own, the teacher walked up the stairs towards Naruto and motioned with his hand for the blonde to follow him. He told the class he was stepping outside for a moment but expected the class to behave and work on their assignment while he was gone.

Naruto was a little overwhelmed by everything. The class was still glaring at him and the teacher seemed to act just like his other ones. Why was he in such an older classroom? And what was Ruito-sensei going to do since he was so late today? They didn't speak until he had led Naruto down the hall and through another door that contained several desks in a circle in the middle of the room. They walked down the steps into the room and sat down at one of the chairs.

Yamato-sensei just stared at Naruto for a bit while the blonde stared at his hands and tried not to fidget. He didn't know what that stare was. It had a bit of anger in it, but not all of it seemed directed at Naruto. That was new.

"You've just started your Third Year in Elementary, correct?" Naruto looked up at him and nodded. "We have a bit of a problem then. You see, most new students have completed their Forth Year. They know how to read and write well and know addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division without much thought going into it. They also know the basic history of the Fire Country and only have to be taught the shinobi aspect of it, that which is needed to be a ninja. I'm assuming you were taught the basics of reading and writing and I was told you had started learning multiplication tables and simple division, is this correct?" The blonde nodded again, not sure where Ruito-sensei was going.

"You have been put in my class as there are no classes for those your age. I don't have the ability to teach my class and give you constant attention as well. You will need to learn on your own for the most part and do your own exercises when we are in the practice yard for sparing and shuriken practice. Do you understand?" Naruto nodded again. 'So what am I suppose to do if I'm not going to learn what the class is?'

"I've prepared a set of work for you that you will do each day. When the class goes to the practice yard, you will join us, but instead of the advanced work that we will be doing, you will do laps, push-ups and sit-ups as you would have if you were in a beginning class, is this understood?"

Naruto frowned a bit, but nodded all the same. He wanted to learn how to be a ninja, but he needed to learn multiplication, division and basic history first it seemed. That was okay. He could do that. He was the slowest in his class, but if he worked hard, maybe he could learn faster.

"Now, I've started you out with simple history stories, multiplication and division. It should last you for a few weeks." He handed Naruto a thick folder with a bunch of papers in it. He opened it up and the sheets contained stories a few pages long and some questions at the end. Some were filled with multiplication and division problems like they had been working on in class before the henge incident.

Halfway through the stack the stories got longer with smaller type and the multiplication problems had more numbers in them and the division problems were set up differently as well. The blonde frowned at them while he read the directions and then nodded as they made a sort of sense.

He figured he could finish most of it by the end of the day and surprise Ruito-sensei if he didn't take a nap. He didn't usually care to finish his homework but if he needed to learn this before they taught him how to be a ninja then he wasn't going to waste any time. He nodded once more and looked at Yamato-sensei incase there was anything more.

The teacher looked at him for a little bit before speaking again. "If you had entered the Academy at the usual time you would have had an entire day to learn what being a ninja is about and what is expected of you and how the system works. You'll have that lesson in a few years instead, but let me give you a quick run down.

"Here at the Academy you are a ninja trainee. You will train you body as you would have trained your mind in Elementary. The Ninja First Year is dedicated to getting your body up to speed with your mind as well as giving you the history of the shinobis that isn't given to the general populace. Ninja Second Year teaches you how to use what you have learned with the stamina you have trained your body to have. The Ninja Third Year teaches the necessary skills you need to be a successful ninja such as stealth, survival, information gathering, and how to identify ambushes and set up your own. "

"When your Third Year is completed you are given a test to qualify you for the Genin position. Genins are the lowest ranked ninjas. As a Genin the highest ranked ninja, a Jounin, will teach you while you are placed on a three-man team. In-between those two is the rank of Chuunin, which is where your Academy teachers are ranked."

Yamato-sensei seemed to want to say something else, but just nodded at Naruto and asked if he understood. When Naruto nodded the teacher started up the stairs to the second floor door. The blonde followed him and they returned to the classroom. The child could tell the kids had been talking to each other while the teacher was out, but the other kids did that all the time in elementary so he didn't think it was strange. They were even able to stop talking before the teacher walked in which was more than Naruto's old class was ever able to do.

The blonde went back to his seat and sat the folder down on the desk. He took off his backpack for the first time that day and got out a pencil. Not knowing what he needed, he had packed light: a few pencils and a thin notebook. The work was easy enough and Naruto ignored the teacher when he started speaking again and concentrated on getting as much done as possible. The message in the office was loud and clear. Until he could get done the work Yamato-sensei gave him he wasn't going to be participating in the regular class or learn how to be a ninja.

-Scene Break-

It had been a week since the Nine-tails had started at the Ninja Academy and still, whenever Ruito stepped into the staff room everyone turned to look at him. They all wanted to know how the day went with a demon in the class.

His own classroom was placed in a position that allowed Iruka to see Ruito's class when they practiced in the yard. He had seen the blonde demon running laps as the class practiced kunai throws to each other. There was a certain sense of satisfaction when he realized that the class liked to throw the occasional kunai at the fox brat. They may have been blunted kunai, but Iruka still enjoyed seeing some of them hit home.

Ruito never said much to the other teachers but always reassured them that nothing happened. But today, Ruito walked as if in a daze and sat down at his desk without returning a polite hello to anyone. The only response to those who greeted him was a simple nod of his head.

The older man took a green folder off a stack of lined paper he had brought in and started marking it with a red pencil. The rest of the staff went back to what they were doing before he came in, but Iruka watched his co-worker from his place two seats down from Ruito.

His colleague worked quickly through the first half of worksheets and slowed down on the second. Iruka could see him shaking his head from time to time and he seemed to be muttering something as well, but Iruka couldn't make it out. When the older Chuunin had marked the last page, he just stared at it for a moment before shaking his head again and setting the folder to the side. He then started in on the lined paper, which seemed to be a writing assignment on ambush traps.

Iruka had a Ninja Second Year class, and due to the large amounts of classroom time there were a lot more worksheets and quizzes to correct than the other two years. The other two teachers of his year didn't take as long as Iruka due to the younger Chuunin's continued glances at Ruito. When he had finished grading his own class work he realized that Ruito was the only teacher left in the room.

The man seemed to have finished the lined paper assignments some time ago and was staring at the green folder again with a thoughtful look on his face. After ten minutes without moving, Iruka's curiosity was at it's peak. He quietly moved over to see what had captured his co-workers attention. It was a long division sheet, something he would expect to see in the late Third Year at the elementary. "What's so interesting about simple mathematics that you would stare at it for ten minutes straight?"

Ruito jumped and Iruka realized the older man hadn't noticed he was there. That was a first. Ruito always made sure he knew what was going on around him. "Iruka!" He looked at the younger Chuunin wild-eyed for a moment before taking a long breath. "Sorry about that. I was thinking and lost track of myself."

"I'm sorry for startling you. I just finished grading my class's papers on trap identification and noticed you were still here. I wondered what had you so wrapped up. You're usually the first one to leave."

Ruito was waving Iruka's explanation away before the brunette had even finished it. "I just had a slight puzzle to figure out before I left." He gestured to the papers in front of him. "What do you make of this?"

Iruka wasn't sure where his colleague was going with this, but picked up the stack and looked threw it. There were various pages filled with math problems and some history stories that had questions at the end of it. The handwriting was most likely a child's as the numbers were a bit larger than the rest and slightly crooked. "It looks like worksheets for a Third Year elementary student. What about it?

He ignored Iruka's question and gave him another one. "When do you learn this kind of math?"

Giving him a puzzled look, Iruka answered, "In late Third Year I suppose. Just before they teach you problem solving questions and that's just before you move on to Fourth Year."

"Exactly." Ruito riffled through the packet once more and gave the younger Chuunin a math worksheet of long division that came from near the end. "If you were to have a late Third Year doing these problems, what do you think would be different about this page?"

Iruka was completely confused by now but looked back at the page. He tried to remember how he was taught to start long division at that time. "I guess I would expect the multiplied number to be written down and then the subtracted total instead of only the subtracted total. See here. 52,752 divided by 42. 42 goes into 52 one time and a Third Year student would put the number 42 below the '52' in 52,752 and then subtract. Instead all you see is the '10' that was left over and the '7' brought down to join it. It never shows the subtraction. Is that what you're talking about?"

Ruito nodded. "So what age do you think you'd have to be to do all subtraction without showing your work? And the student doesn't have a calculator." He added as an afterthought.

"Well, nine-years-olds that enter the Academy could do it. I'm pretty sure that they could do it by mid-Fourth Year Elementary. Where are you going with this Ruito?"

"Who was the new student that started class with me this week? And what grade did he just start?"

Iruka looked at him stunned. "You mean the Nin- I mean Naruto Uzumaki?"

"I'm saying exactly that." Iruka just looked at his colleague in disbelief and as he continued. "I got in contact with his old teacher over the weekend. She claims that he has a history of skipping a lot of the classes last year, and for this year he sleeps through most of the day. He has the lowest marks and I expected him to be a bit slow and something of a troublemaker.

"So I put together some busy work I expected to keep him busy for a few weeks and thought up a few punishments that the Hokage couldn't dispute and would teach Naruto that I wouldn't tolerate any nonsense. Instead he hands me this at the end of the week, completely filled out and hasn't fallen asleep once."

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "It doesn't add up. I thought after the first few days he'd get bored and start some trouble when he didn't do anything right out. When he handed me the packet I thought that maybe he had just done a few of the problems and guessed on the rest, but he's correct ninety-five percent of the time. The ones that aren't right are off only by a few numbers and I can see where he went wrong.

"At the end of his first day I gave him the instructions to only work on the packet during class and Naruto promised to do it. When he gave me the completed packet I asked if he had done any of the work at home. The kid glared at me and was rather vocal in his claims that he hadn't. He might have been lying but I didn't get that impression."

Iruka continued to stare at Ruito. What could he say? If it were any other child he'd be asking questions left and right trying to find our just how smart the kid was. He was doing work a little less than a year ahead of himself with no prior training. Was it talent or did he learn from another source? Was it just luck or would it occur again? Did he have talent in just mathematics or in other subjects as well? What about physical activities? Did he have skill with kunai or taijutsu? How high was his endurance, speed, or strength?

Geniuses were rare, but even if the child was a highly talented student, teachers would love him. But this was the Nine-tails they were discussing. Do demon's know mathematics? Was this a sign that the Hokage was wrong and Naruto Uzumaki was truly a demon and not just a carrier like he claimed?

"I'm not sure what I'm suppose to do. If he can pick up long division this quickly I'll have to keep him busy on history and start him off on word problems. Then move on to the ninja word problems we start the Ninja First Years with. I can up his history but I don't want to have him bored when he finally enters First Year.

"I get the feeling that he's been trouble to the elementary teachers because he was bored more than anything else. I mean, during outside practice I gave him the standard first day practice that Ninja First Years have: ten laps, and 25 push-ups and sit-ups. And that was with the back training yard, twice as large as the front one the First Years practice in. He seemed to finish it halfway through kunai drills.

"He claimed I was busy so he did the entire routine again, all on his own. A normal kid would have just sat out and waited till I was done if they could even finish it in time. Heck, I didn't expect him to finish the laps let alone the sit-ups before kunai practice was done. When we went to sparring I had him sit out and watch. Instead of going to sleep of trying to find something to keep him busy, the kid watched the entire hour. He didn't seem to be daydreaming or anything."

Iruka could only look at Ruito. The older Chuunin seemed to have forgotten that this was the Ninetails. The great Demon-Fox that took down three nearby villages and over a hundred ninja before the Hokage stepped in. Even then it wasn't really defeated, just sealed away.

"The kid is nothing like I expected. I'm going to have pace him so he won't outstrip his year too much. I figure we may want to place him in the Academy early to help with that. Maybe next year, if he covers all of Fourth Year Elementary material. I don't want to teach him kunai throwing or taijutsu or he'll be way ahead of his classmates. I'll have to talk to the Hokage about having him enroll regularly next year. I might be able to manage that..."

"Wait, wait! Hold on!" Ruito looked at Iruka as if remembering he was there. "You're suggesting that the Ninetails should be enrolled in the Ninja Academy early. The teachers don't even want him to enroll in the first place and you're going to tell the Hokage that he needs to be placed early?" Just last Saturday Ruito was upset at the rest of the teachers and now he was rambling on about Naruto Uzumaki as if he were an honor student! Did the Demon have hypnotizing powers they didn't know about?

"Iruka." Ruito said his name so seriously that it snapped him out of his thoughts for a moment. "I watched this boy all week. I saw him come in the door on the first day of class. My class was angry that they would have to baby-sit a little kid, let alone the 'troublemaker' of the village. They all glared at him when he walked in that door and I saw the hurt in his eyes before he looked away and grinned at them all.

"I talked to him many times and not once could I feel any anger, hatred, or malice from him. I was there when the Ninetails attacked. I would know that chakra anywhere. It wasn't there. Try it. Try sensing it. You know it as well. Who could forget it?

"All we have at the Academy is a small boy that has no friends or family. All we have is a small boy that has been struggling in school because there was no challenge and the teachers didn't care to look. Think of what he could have been if someone noticed this earlier?"

Ruito paused and placed a hand on his younger companion's arm. "No one else wanted him in their class so I accepted it. Now that he's in my charge I'm going to make sure that I do my job right. Do you understand, Iruka? He isn't the demon-fox. The Hokage is right." He paused to let that sink in for a moment. "All we have here is a little boy without a home. You should know what that feels like."

Iruka didn't think his jaw was hanging open, but if it wasn't, it should have been. Ruito Yamato, his mentor since he began teaching, was telling him that he knew what the demon was feeling? Could demons even feel? He couldn't believe Ruito was saying this. How could Uzumaki not be the Ninetails?

The demon-fox was thousands of years old, the most powerful demon lord in the underworld. How could a newborn child hold such a creature at bay? Maybe the thought of Ruito being hypnotized hadn't been a simple flight of fancy. It was the only answer Iruka could think of that would explain this total turnaround.

"Think about it Iruka. And try getting to know Naruto. You won't find a demon there. Yondaime must have sealed him too deep to be seen. If he didn't have those scars on his cheeks you'd never know him from another child except for his ability to pick things up quickly. And I'll find out just how far that ability can go." Ruito patted his colleague on the back, grabbed the folder off his desk and left Iruka alone in the staff room.

There was no question about it. The Ninetails had done something to Ruito.

And Iruka Umino would have to do something about it.