"Naruto." Sasuke grunted as I flopped into the chair next to the Uchiha. I felt my eyebrows shoot up at the acknowledgment but sighed as I felt a pair of arms and a chest wrap themselves around my right arm.

"Sasuke, 'Nata. Mornin'." I drawled as I tried (and failed) to relax into the horribly uncomfortable wooden chair. How the Hell did Shikamaru sleep sitting on one of these?

"G-good mo-morning, Naruto-kun…" Hinata all but breathed into my black jacket. It had been three weeks since the fall term at the Academy began, and not only was I making progress with the Uchiha's wall of emo. Thank God I was starting to crack Hinata's shyness… At least a little bit. If she didn't faint every time she looked at me like she did in canon, then that was progress in my mind. But the fact she was actually talking to me now? That was even better.

Though I had noticed a pattern in the class: most people had no idea what to think of me.

Really.

Most people grew up with the loud, brash, annoying Uzumaki Naruto, who ran around the village screaming he was going to be the next Hokage and pranking any idiot who displeased him.

They had no idea how to react to the quiet, bookish Naruto, that stayed at the back of the class with the heirs of two of Konoha's foremost, most prominent clans.

Gone were the days of pranks, now was the time for scrolls and books. Everyone who used to know Uzumaki Naruto was dumbstruck by the change. Even Sakura came up to me demanding, and I quote, 'Who are you and what did you do to Naruto-baka! Naruto couldn't read! Everyone knows that!' I didn't respond other than looking at her like she had three heads before putting my nose back to my book (a rather interesting intro to Fuinjutsu).

Considering that was just yesterday, I may have scored some points with Sasuke for it.

That and if he didn't have to sit beside the cherry pink banshee, then (in his mind) that was all the better. Actually, I think Sasuke thought that if he didn't have to say a word in general then that was just perfect.

Sasuke gave me a vibe that said he was just here because he had to be here. I could roll with that. Currently, Konoha was in a time of peace, it wasn't cranking out soldiers like kunai because it didn't need half-trained, so green they were pissing grass, Genin on the battlefield. The Hokage could put a bit more time into the kids. If the Academy could teach them longer, then they could be pounded with a few more book smarts, wartime skills, and field craft. They could be turned into warrior-diplomats who could survive being dropped into the middle of nowhere by the time they were done in the Academy.

After all, what was more important when trying to stop a war? Being able to blow someone up or realizing that the border of an allied country was a half-mile ahead of you while enemy ninjas were on your ass? Or was being able to toss a Kunai through a rat's eyeball at a hundred paces better than knowing the faces and names of enemy ninja before they were your problem?

The Academy could teach all of that, and it did.

Hundreds of kids passed through these halls on a daily basis while learning to be effective shinobi… But only about a third of them would take those lessons seriously.

In wartime, I'd reckon ninety to a hundred percent of academy students would pass the graduation exam. If passing meant that the students were just bodies to throw into the grinder so a better shinobi could do their job more effectively while the shit one got in the way of the enemy even for a second? Well, their sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. But if it was... Well, that team was screwed anyway.

It was a grim reality, but this was a grim world.

With that thought running through my head was when I felt Hinata let go of her stranglehold on my arm. That's how I knew that Iruka-sensei had finally shown up. Honestly, I think the man thought the way Hinata held onto me was hilarious in the privacy of his own mind but couldn't condone it during class.

"Good morning, class!" Iruka called as he stood at the front of the room. "Today is your first quiz, I hope you're ready." The ponytail-wearing man looked gleeful as most of the class squirmed in their chairs. I smirked as the man took his own little bit of revenge against the rambunctious children while Mizuki got to work handing out the parchments. Though when he got to me, Hinata looked at the page strangely.

"A-ano, Mizuki-sensei… I think you gave Naruto-kun the wrong paper?" Hinata said quietly. I frowned and looked down at the parchment. It didn't look that much different to- My thoughts came to a screeching halt as I glared up at the silver-haired sensei.

"Oh, thank you, Hyuuga-san." Mizuki said it casually, but I could see he was ready to snap. "My mistake."

'Genjutsu…' I thought as I glared at the bastard masquerading as a sensei balefully but he slid a new parchment, one with the actual test on it, in front of me. 'Kyubi, can you break visual genjutsus?'

"What kind of question is that, boy?"

'Well, Watson, I was hoping it was an obvious one. Can you break them constantly? I'd rather not have to rely on Hinata to save my ass again.' I felt the Kyubi thinking (and how weird was that?) as I looked down at the quiz on yesterday's lecture about the power five villages. It was only five questions that read: "There are five major Shinobi villages in the Elemental Countries. The village of _ is ruled by the _. In which country does village reside?"

I snorted as the Kyubi mulled over my question.

Leaves/Hokage - Fire. I wrote as I felt the Kyubi rumble in my head. Mist/Mizukage - Water.

"I can do that. But it may be unsettling to some."

'Do you really think I care about unsettling now?' I thought, jotting down Cloud/Raikage - Lightning and Sand/Kazekage - Wind.

"Of course not but your Sato Minato disguise would be rendered almost useless."

'Damn it…' I hissed mentally, my brush pausing over my parchment. I blinked and scratched out Stone/Tsuchikage - Earth. 'It's never that easy, is it?'

"No. I will think on this. Back to class, boy." The Kitsune chuckled as warmth settled in my stomach. I rolled my eyes and rolled my parchment after writing out my name at the top.

"Is everyone finished? Good! Bring them to the front and place them in the basket. We're going to the training field. We'll reconvene there." Iruka said. I was half expecting everyone not to know what to do. Instead, the class exploded into motion as kids leaped out of their seats like they were on fire. The three of us at my table, on the other hand, barely even twitched except to lift an eyebrow each at the barely organized chaos as our classmates pushed and shoved past each other to try and make it to the door. "Uzumaki-san, Uchiha-san, Hyuuga-san? Are you coming?" Iruka asked once everyone was out the door. Sasuke grunted, and Hinata turned to look at me. I sighed and dragged myself to my feet.

"Hai, Iruka-sensei, we were just waiting for everyone else to go ahead."

"Why?" Iruka asked with a frown on his face.

"Where do you think the rest of the class thinks we are?" I smirked as a barely formed smirk ghosted onto Iruka's face.

"With them, where else would you be?"

"Waiting for a good opportunity." I shrugged. "But I really just didn't want to be in the mob."

"Hm. Alright, Uzumaki-san, but you three still need to join the class. Understood?"

"Hai, Sensei!" The three of us said in unison. I blinked at the two flanking me before we placed our scrolls in the basket. As we walked out of the class, Sasuke turned to me with a lifted eyebrow.

"Naruto, how did you survive that Kunai?" He asked softly. I blinked as a shiver ran down my neck as I tried to figure out why Sasuke asked that out of nowhere. Well… This was going to be awkward.

"I didn't, Sasuke, not really." I sighed, looking down at the floor as my mind raced. How did you tell an eight-year-old you died, but you're still standing in front of them? "I heal quickly, really quickly. So when they stabbed me, I was able to heal everything the Kunai hurt. But Hokage-jiji said that the place that held my memories was destroyed except for a little bit. The part of the brain grew back but it was brand new except for a little bit. I woke up and knew the old man was Hokage, that we lived in Konoha, and my name was Uzumaki Naruto but other than that?" I shrugged, shaking my head as we walked. Instantly, I felt the Koala wrap around my arm like an anaconda.

"Naruto-kun…" The Hyuuga heiress whimpered. "I'm so, so, so sorry…"

"It's okay, Hinata-chan." I smiled wanly and patted her head. That may haven't been exactly the right thing to do but the way she blushed said enough. That and the almost angelic smile. "I may not be the Naruto you used to know but I'm still alive."

"I like it." Sasuke shrugged. "You were an idiot before. Now you're not." He fell silent as we made our way through the school and out to the training grounds, much to the surprise of our classmates.

"Where've you three been!?" Inuzuka Kiba barked as he charged up to the three of us with Haruno and Yamanaka hot on his heels.

"Yeah, Naruto-baka! Why'd you hold back Sasuke-kun!?" Sakura yelled with her fists clenched at her sides while she leaned forward. For a civilian, she certainly did have a Shinobi's fire… If not a Shinobi's composure, but that could be learned. Eventually. This was Sakura we were talking about.

"I didn't." I shrugged. "We just didn't want to jump into the crowd."

"Let Sasuke-kun answer, baka!" Sakura shrieked, throwing her fist up. For a brief second, the image of Sakura with a mallet in her hand while looming over a Whack-a-Naruto machine popped into my head. The mallet hadn't even come down in my head while my arm was already in motion to block her hit. Her forearm slammed against mine. It didn't hurt as bad as I expected since my arm was angled in a way that the only way for her fist to go once it was redirected was straight into the dirt. Though I couldn't help but think that she put way too much of her upper body into her hammer blows if she fell face first to the ground after one hit.

"Haruno-san…" I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose as she shot back to her feet with fire burning in her eyes. "There's no need to hit me."

"Yes there is!" Sakura screeched. Hinata winced as Sasuke rolled his eyes. I just gave the girl a flat look even if I really wanted to flinch with Hinata. Seriously, they probably heard the girl screech in Suna with lungs like that.

"No, there isn't." I grunted, rubbing my ear with my free hand. "And there's certainly no reason to scream. Yamanaka-san? Please help your friend." Ino looked at me curiously before her pupil-less eyes widened in realization.

"Come on, forehead." Ino said, taking Sakura's arm. "This isn't the same Naruto-baka we used to know." I felt my eyebrows shoot up as I cocked my head to the side.

"I'm sorry, we knew each other before the Academy?" Ino, Sakura, and a few other people I didn't recognize all gaped at me like I had three heads.

"Uh… Yeah, Naruto…" Ino looked at me like she'd never seen me before. "We went to the same grammar school."

"Oh…" I scrunched my eyebrows and nodded. "Is that why Haruno-san always calls me Naruto-baka?"

"You… You really don't remember?" Ino asked quietly. "Three years and you don't remember any of it?"

"Yamanaka-san, I only remember bits and pieces of my life now. I was hurt pretty bad. The doctors said I'll never get my memories back and it's a miracle I remember as much as I do." Ino turned sheet white as Sakura gaped at me. "I'm Naruto but not the Naruto you knew."

"Y-You don't have a crush on me?" Sakura whispered the question, but I still heard it. I shrugged, tilting my head down and to the side. It was an obvious and resounding no. "Oh… Okay…" Sakura said, looking a bit lost before she turned to her friend for some semblance of stability.

"So… You really don't know anything?" Kiba, blunt as a hammer, asked while completely ignoring the mood. Though he may have realized he fucked up when Hinata and Sasuke glared him down. I patted Hinata's hand and shook my head as I clapped my hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"It's okay guys." The Hyuuga and Uchiha looked at me as one. I nodded and turned to the Inuzuka. "I know somethings, Inuzuka-san. When I woke up I knew my name, that we lived in Konoha, and I knew how to read and write still. Other than that? No. Not a thing." Kiba tapped his chin and shrugged.

"Well, that sucks." The Inuzuka shrugged and turned around, something else catching his goldfish-esque attention span for the moment.

"I…" Hinata said, trailing off as she followed the Inuzuka with her eyes.

"Don't." Sasuke shook his head. "You'll just confuse yourself more."

"He's right." I shrugged as the two Chunin finally strolled onto the training ground.


"Your total is eight thousand ryo, sir. Is there anything else I can get you today?" I sighed as the teller rang me up for an anvil and a set of three hammers.

"That will be all, thank you." I smiled tightly as I sealed the fifty-pound anvil and the hammers in a scroll and exited the store. Thankfully coal was much cheaper than metal here but that was still over half of my monthly stipend from the Hokage… But, you know what they say: you have to spend money to make money. If I wanted to be the best blacksmith in Konoha, I needed to get started as soon as possible. Sure katanas, naginatas, wakizashis, and tantos were great and all, but they weren't the only things I knew how to make.

The only real problem I had would be harvesting good, solid steel to make into decent weapons.

I had quickly figured out why people here abandoned their Kunai, and if I were anyone else I'd give up to try and find a better way of making money but no! I just had to go and get it in my head that fixing up Kunai would be my get-rich-quick ploy.

But, to be fair, it had made me a pretty penny already.

No, the real problem with Kunai is that they may as well have been made out of scrap metal. The edges, like Kakashi said, were mostly better to use as saws than as actual knives. It wasn't until I started taking a closer look at the Kunai that were in my worse-off pile that I realized what he meant.

The metal on those kunai had snapped off in some places while others were bent at almost comical proportions.

This meant one of two things: A, the metal wasn't heat treatable so it couldn't be hardened properly or B, that the Kunai had some good, hard steel in them, but they just weren't properly heat treated. The problem with A was the fact that some had more cracks than glass and some others were bent like bananas. That usually pointed to a heat treatment issue. And with how many Konoha seemed to crank out, that made quality control a massive problem.

The only thing left for me to do was to take the ruined Kunai, smelt them down, break them up into slag/scrap, soft, medium, and hard steel, and then forge them into proper weapons. All I knew was that I was not going to have a good time. I sighed as I jumped from roof to roof.

'Not a good time at all but first…' I thought as the Hokage's tower came into view, 'first I need to get a place to work where I won't be interrupted.' I shook my head as I jumped off the roof I was on. Tucking in, I roll to my shoulder after my feet hit the ground to deaden the shock of impact before I was off again at a trot. I'd decided that it was probably best to be in my natural state for this conversation with the Hokage, so for the first time in weeks, Konoha saw its Jinchuriki jogging easily toward the town's center of government. Some scowled, others glared, and some cursed the blonde jogging down the middle of the street after walking into his path.

All in all? It was just another day in Konoha.

"Yo, jiji!" I called as I stepped into the Hokage's office. Sarutobi looked over the stacks on stacks of paperwork towering over his desk and grinned at me.

"Naruto-kun! What brings you here today?"

"I just finished reading on smithing. I want to try to smelt down the really bad off Kunai I found but I need somewhere quiet to do that."

"Why not use your shop, Naruto-kun?" The Hokage asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"I'm going to put a forge there soon, jiji, but a foundry will have to be a lot bigger. I don't think Teuchi-jiji will want me to put a foundry by his bar either… And a forge will be even louder. It's probably better for me to find an out of the way place so I don't disturb his customers."

"Hm… There are a few abandoned training grounds no one uses." The Hokage stroked his short beard. "Try training ground sixty-six. It's a bit rocky but it may suit you well."

"Well, I need some trees, jiji. Especially if I'm going to make charcoal."

"You know how to make charcoal?" The old man blinked.

"You just have to burn wood in a low oxygen environment. The trick is to light some smaller pieces in a pot, put the pot over heat, and cover the wood scraps while they're on fire. I could make some in my apartment if I had a big enough pot."

"I didn't know that." The Hokage smiled. "You taught this professor a new trick, Naruto-kun. If you want somewhere quiet then training ground seven will be your best option. Just keep away from it at graduation time, it's Hatake Kakashi's chosen ground for his genin teams."

"Er… Is there another?" I scratched the back of my head. The Hokage chuckled as he shook his head.

"Are you afraid of Kakashi, Naruto-kun?"

"Yes." I nodded emphatically as the Hokage chuckled. "I read, jiji, Hatake Kakashi is called Sharingan no Kakashi, he who knows one thousand jutsu. He's a Jounin, the last student of the fourth Hokage." I shuddered and looked at the now serious Hokage. "He terrifies me even though I know he's a loyal ninja of the leaf."

"You are right to be wary, Naruto-kun." The Hokage nodded, staring through me intently. "But you are right, he is Shinobi of the Leaf and he is loyal to me. You don't need to be afraid of him, in fact there is much you could learn from the man." I nodded slowly.

"I know there is. He saw through my disguise a few weeks ago without his Sharingan, jiji. Can every Jounin do that?"

"It shames me to say that no, they could not. Kakashi is one of Konoha's most elite Jounin. He, the Hyuuga, most of the clan leaders, and a few genjutsu specialists could do so. The rest could not. Most Chunin certainly could not." The Hokage sighed, hanging his head before he looked back at me. "I trust my Jounin absolutely, Naruto-kun. They will not reveal you to the village." I sighed in relief as the Hokage's eyes shone. "But what's this I hear about you opening an account in the Shinobi bank?"

"I found where I kept my money before… Before I lost my memories. I had soooo much, jiji! I had like over a million ryo!" I grinned like Naruto probably would, but that grin slipped off my face as fast as it came. "I don't know why I had so much though… But now it's in the bank!"

"Good Naruto-kun, very good." The Hokage smiled. "Try training ground… thirty-four. It's a rock field like training ground sixty-six but it's ringed with some dense oaks. It may suit your needs well enough."

"Thanks jiji!" I grinned as I stood up and darted for the door while the Hokage shook his head behind me.


'One-TWO-three-FOUR…' I thought as I swung the hammer, tapping the anvil on one and three while bringing it down on the glowing metal with full force on two and four. I grinned as the dagger I was beating out started taking shape, the metal ringing on the anvil over and over again.

The steel foundry was a resounding success. A little lime, an ass-ton of charcoal, and a few hours to let the metal cook later and I had a massive ingot of steel ready to be broken apart and separated into high, medium, and low carbon segments to be forged and welded together.

San mai or go mai weren't my go-to choices, hell I didn't even like sandwiching metal together, but I didn't exactly have another choice if I wanted a decent, hardenable blade with the materials I had available.

I created the foundry a few days ago and, since it was a Saturday and I didn't have class, I was able to work the metal for a few days. I wanted to dive headfirst into a sword but quickly found that forge welding metals of unknown quality or origin was a bitch and a half... Especially if you wanted to do it well. And using a charcoal forge? That just made even more of a headache. So as much as I wanted to dive in head first with a sword, it wasn't really feasible yet. Thus, I was making a dagger.

Strangely, I figured out that if I poured my chakra into the metal while I worked it a flame-like pattern would appear on the metal as I worked it but if I used Kyubi's then it was something much different. The metal didn't just take silvery waves like a silver Damascus but the steel turned jet black.

Beautiful but terrible… That was the only way I could describe it.

I already had twenty Kyubi imbued Kunai with a few stowed in my utility pouch that I kept strapped to my waist like most other ninjas in the village. And mine were so much better than the mass-produced crap the village constantly churned out. Better balanced, better treated, better sharpened. All in all, they were just better.

And the word was starting to get out already.

Not that it was that surprising considering I sold them for three-thousand ryo a piece at 'Sato Minato's,' little ninja tools stand. I sold five of them and people were already raving over how great they were. Heh, if only they knew that they were made with the Kyubi's power.

I grinned as I brought the hammer down once again before I replaced the dagger in the charcoal forge once again and worked the bellows.

It was a bit hard to get an electric blower out here and the crank forges were just ridiculously expensive so I decided to go old school and use a bellows to aspirate the forge properly. The fire roared as I let my chakra flow down my arm and into the metal, allowing the Kyubi's chakra to mingle with mine as I worked.

I figured if I worked on releasing the Kyubi's chakra into my system a little at a time, then it would be second nature to call on it if I needed it in battle. The fact that the Kyubi agreed with this and allowed me to use an ever-increasing trickle of his power at all times? Well, that just made both our lives easier.

Or it would have if the Kyubi wasn't a damned Chakra demon that could be felt at ridiculous range if it was freed.

So I focused on never letting it get free. The Kyubi had a freaking ocean's worth of energy to contain; spillage was inevitable at some point, but it could be contained. I figured that if I really focused on trying to circulate the Kyubi's chakra through me instead of flaring it like a bloody idiot (like most Shinobi seemed so fond of doing in their eternal dick-measuring contests against each other) then I could hopefully focus that almost inexhaustible chakra like a power station while most people only had batteries.

The problem? Using only the bare minimum chakra to perform a Jutsu was bloody hard. Then again, wasn't that a big thing in Naruto? Chakra control? I could have sighed… That or screamed.

But I didn't scream and just focused on using the bare minimum Chakra I could. Though that leads me back to the problem of the power station. If the Kyubi was the plant, Naruto's personal Chakra reserves were like… Well, they were like a generator. They were huge, reliable, and (as long as you were feeding it) seemingly inexhaustible - but it still didn't have the ludicrous, terrible potential of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station sitting in my stomach. Just like that Ukrainian power plant that went terribly wrong on so many levels, the Kyubi was able to generate enough chakra to power an entire country. If that power ever got free (like the reactor of that damned plant) it would be like exposing a nuclear reactor to the open air and letting it tap dance over a continent…

Could you see why I was a bit hesitant to use it?

But could you also see why I needed to make sure I absolutely mastered it?

Though no one could ever master a Bijuu (or the power of the atom), the best solution was to take as many precautions as I could, tread lightly, and treat it with a healthy amount of respect. If I didn't, I risked leaving a swath of Hi no Kuni uninhabitable for a hundred years or more.

Thank you, oh Demon of Nine Tails.

A bolt of white-hot warmth shot up my spine at the thought, and I got a distinct impression that the Bijuu had just rolled his eyes.

He may have thought my world was a dump, but even he could respect the power of a nuclear weapon.

Shaking my head, I pulled the dagger out of the fire and tapped my hammer on the anvil before I brought it crashing down on the burning metal. That was enough of those kinds of thoughts, now was the time to finish this dagger.

"Naruto?" Or I would have if I hadn't been interrupted. I swung the hammer down one last time as I looked up at the intruder.

"Sasuke? What are you doing out here?" The Uchiha shuffled from foot to foot as he looked at the glowing metal on my anvil.

"I uh… I heard the ringing. I didn't know what it was and wanted to see." The Uchiha admitted as he looked at me with his onyx eyes. "What are you doing?" I smiled lightly and waved for him to come closer.

"I'm making a knife. Do you want to watch?" Sasuke smiled shyly but nodded excitedly as he moved to stand beside me.

"Woah… That's not a Kunai." Sasuke whispered as I smirked.

"No, it's not. This is a dagger."

"A tanto?" Sasuke asked with lifted eyebrows. I shook my head with a small smile.

"No, it's a dagger. Most tantos are only single edged, this is called a kama. It's a bit western but I like the kunai-like shape." I shrugged as Sasuke looked at the nearly finished blade with interest.

"I've never seen anything western before." He said. "Can I hold it?" I shook my head.

"No, not yet. I'm almost done with it though… Tell you what, if you still want it when I'm finished, then you can have it."

"Really?" Sasuke asked with scrunched eyebrows. "Why?"

"You're famous, Sasuke. If you're using one of my blades then you tell everyone where you got it - that would be from Sato Minato, mind you." I grinned as Sasuke looked at me in confusion. "People don't really like Uzumaki Naruto, it's just easier to use a disguise." Sasuke nodded slowly.

"That makes sense." He said, rubbing his chin. "How long will it take to finish?"

"A few hours, it should be done by dinner. Your treat." I grinned as Sasuke blinked in confusion.

"My treat? What?"

"You're getting one of my blades; you're paying for dinner." I couldn't help but laugh at Sasuke's dumbstruck face. "Now come over here and make yourself useful. You see the bellows? Pump those for me, would you? I need both hands for this next bit…" Sasuke blinked at me but walked over and began pumping anyway.