The next class, however, Naruto barely grinned once. Things started to go downhill from the second class, today not a single teacher asked a question to his class? What's wrong with them! If not just this today Naruto's sparring partner was Katsuki, a civilian kid, unlike Naruto who tried to rank higher; Katsuki on the other hand took Shinobi career for granted like most others. He wanted to test his strength, even a student who takes his career seriously wouldn't be a problem.

'Kami must be hating me'

As the bell rang, boys cheered, it was now time for practical class; if it was any other day our blonde Jinchuriki would have joined them but right now he wore a deep frown.

Naruto glanced at his side. There was Shikamaru, who had his head down.

"Hey get up, we have to report to the ground." Naruto nudged him.

"I don't want to" came a sheepish reply from Shikamaru. Naruto had heard Iruka complaining about Shikamaru and his Nara traits?

'Are every Nara clan member lazy?'

On clue, their teacher, Iruka Umino, arrived. He has black hair that he keeps in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose.

"Well, what are you two waiting for?" He barked. "Everyone is out on the training ground. Come on, hurry up."

At Two-thirty that afternoon, Naruto and Shikamaru, and the others hurried down the front steps onto the grounds for their Taijutsu lessons. It was a clear, sunny day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat mud ground on the opposite side of the lawn to the Hokage tower.

The others were already there and were standing in a circle around the sparing area on the ground. Naruto had heard few soon to be Kunochi chatting about getting new clothes, while others trying to grab Sasuke's attention. Only a few seemed to have the excitement or any other kind of expression. But Naruto wondered were they looking forward to practical training or happy for the fact that theory and rules classes are over.

Naruto quietly took a place beside Shino. Shino has been a calm, collected, and solitary person, who was quite mysterious. The only time Naruto heard him talk was when he occasionally argued with Kiba. Shino was from the Aburame clan which specialized in insects and its ninja art, so students have come to identify Shino as "creepy", and tend to dislike being in his company.

As Iruka begin to call out students in pairs for the spar, an idea crossed in Naruto's head. If he can't have a good spar now he could set one later and ask a well-trained hire/heiress of a clan to fight him, it would be perfect.

"Hey Shino! can we train in Taijutsu after the academy?", Naruto asked scratching his cheeks, Shino turned his head towards Naruto while adjusting his shades.

"I apologize Uzumaki-san, but I must decline your offer as I have been scheduled with clan training in insect art." He replied with a hint of excitement in his voice than usual.

"Maybe some other day?" Naruto asked, he looked at Naruto with a calculating gaze.

"Sure." Shino Agreed. Naruto was a very impatient boy, he wanted a spar today. He frowned but well he can ask others- Sasuke, Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru- he would get one of them to help him see his progress.

As the Spar began many cheered for their 'Idol' and 'crushes', many already got with their spar. Results were as predictable as they can be, heirs/heiress dominating the civilians and non-clan students. The only non-clan student who won was Sakura Haruno. Naruto used to like her as she was the top Kunochi; even after being clanless just like him. But he hated the fact that Sakura succeeded through studying alone to the point, able to avoid physical trials and thus allowing her to focus on her physical appearance in a bid to appeal to Sasuke.

"Katuski and Naruto come forward for the spar," Iruka called. Once again giving out a tired sigh Naruto walked into the circle.

"Ready to lose dobe?" He snidely says with a pompous look on his face.

"Show him Katsu!"

"Beat his ass"

"You can do it!"

It is fairly obvious by calls that behind him were his little group of friends.

'Wow'

Naruto shook his head, "Last time I checked Katsuki, you and your friends ranked at the bottom in Taijutsu, so why call me a dead last?"

Katsuki's face turned red. He was going to embarrass Naruto making him lose his temper, but he was getting embarrassed himself.

"You bastard. I will show who is a dead last."

'I was going to go easy on you, to give you some face.' Naruto scowled.

"Now you two! No killing blows or use of any type of weapon, let this spar be fair." Iruka ordered, getting nods from both Naruto and Katsuki.

"Let the match begin."

Naruto focused his gaze on Katsuki, as his eyes narrowed. He willed Chakra into his legs and dashed forward with both hands in a combat position.

Katsuki seeing Naruto dash towards him at an abnormal speed, as he threw a closed eye punch towards Naruto

Naruto squatted in time to dodge Katuski's forward swing as he switched stance from a thrust to a spinning swipe and landed a blow on Katsuki's left ankle using all his momentum. Katsuki's ankle gave out at that moment, throwing him off balance

Naruto stood on him with his arm replicating a sword/kunai, looking down on the boy as he tried to shake the pain in his ankle.

"Give up," Naruto asked.

The boy's breaths were laboured. "I give up."

Naruto released him and stood, brushing the dust from the leg of his breeches. The spar ended within a few seconds, Katsuki stood no chance against Naruto.

Iruka recovered first, he shook himself out of the stupor and came next to them and asked if they were okay, as they nodded their heads much to Iruka's relief.

"Spar Ends Naruto is the winner, now make unison sign" Their sensei commanded. Naruto helped Katsuki to get back on his feet as they ended their match with a unison sign.

'Huh?! why is it so quiet?' He looks up, only to see all his classmates' stupefied faces staring at him making him smirk.

"How?" Kiba asked no one in particular.

Iruka came to Naruto and nudged him gently, "Naruto, where did you learn to fight like that?" Naruto didn't have any proper fighting style and fought like a savage seeing him beat his opponent within a few seconds of the spar with proper technique stunned him.

Deciding to feign ignorance, Naruto said, putting on his most innocent face, "I learned by reading books and watching class Sensei." Hearing this Iruka's eyes narrowed on the boy

Naruto didn't think saying, "Hey Sensei, After few Ninjas tried to kill me but failed, a strange man had inserted a machine in me which let me learn anything just by reading it and I got strong just doing that." would get a great reaction from his Sensei though.

Iruka knew the blond Jinchuriki lied to him but it didn't bother him as Naruto was showing skills worthy of a young Shinobi.

"Anything else Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing, you can go back now," Iruka said seemingly hesitant. Shrugging his shoulder Naruto stood next to Kiba so he could ask about training.

"Dobe how did become so skilled in Taijutsu all of sudden." "BARK" Kiba and even Curious Akamaru jumped at him, making Naruto's eye twitch.

'No need to call him bog breath, control, control, you need to ask him for a spar don't mess it up.'

"Well, a good Shinobi hides his secrets." Said with the fakest smile Naruto could muster.

After finishing up the practical class, all the students were dismissed. Filing out of the ground, Naruto's eyes looked for Sasuke but he was nowhere in sight. Apparently, no one agreed to a training spar, either they were too lazy for it or had some type of training arranged.

The students were all excitedly chatting amongst their peers, Walking towards the hallway Naruto could see many students, taking a double look at him and gossiping with their friends.

Naruto performed a simple nod of the head at the students looking at him and walked by. After making sure Naruto was well out of earshot, Students began sniggering while confidently speaking up.

"What was that? Is that Naruto guy really strong?"

"Ahh. Right, of course, you juniors wouldn't know who he is. Every Student and Shinobi here knows who that boy is by now."

"He's that strong? Wait for even Shinobi to know him? Is he someone from a famous clan, then?" Asked another boy. The student sniggered some more before narrowing his eyes.

"You know what that guy's nickname is?"

"How should I know that? C'mon, man, Just tell us already."

"Greatest dead last of the Academy"

"... Dead last? I heard just now that he knocked a boy within a few seconds of the spar?" making the student scoff.

"If I have to say he just got lucky, his opponent was too weak." his pride would never let him say otherwise.

"Stop it, man. He might hear you."

"Shut up. It's not like he could do anything."

The other boy cautiously checked Naruto's reactions as they continued to giggle. Thankfully, the distance was far enough and the youth didn't seem to have heard them. Of course, they were mistaken.

'I can hear everything, you assholes.' A bitter smile formed on Naruto as he tried hard to ignore them. At times like today, he couldn't help but blame his unusually-acute sense of hearing. Suddenly Naruto's eyes shot as he saw someone walking out of the academy, he locked his eyes on the familiar figure to confirm his classmate's identity. After confirming it was Sasuke, Naruto rushed down towards the Academy gates.

Naruto saw him leaving the gates, so he chased him, "Hey Sasuke!!, wait I want to talk to you!"

Sasuke just stopped, and back-glanced over his shoulder, "What do you want?". Naruto quickly regretted his call for Sasuke as he saw that he even attracted some crowd.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" Naruto requested, looking around.

"I don't have time for that, just say what you want so I could leave."

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Well I wanted to ask you if we could have Taijutsu training?" Naruto asked as he felt defensive about it.

"Pfft. Taijutsu training? that's what you call it when you go around the class asking for a spar?" Sasuke mocked our hero with a hollow chuckle, attracting everyone's attention.

"You failed academy for 2 years straight. You seriously thought I'll accept just because you defeated that loser?" Sasuke scoffed, as took a few steps towards Naruto, "you are far from asking me for a spar just yet."Sasuke responded, he had a slight tone of arrogance as if implying that he was a higher level than Naruto. Students from the crowd started to laugh, a few mocked while others felt bad for Naruto.

'He could have just refused. Why Rub salt on the wound?'

Naruto never anticipated Sasuke to mock him in front of a crowd, it was a hard slap to his face. Naruto Uzumaki then realised how the boy saw him. He didn't even consider Naruto as his competition, this made him even more adamant. He was stunned at first before anger overcame him. A boy like him was not a person who could hold back his anger.

He clenched his fist and looked down. He wanted to shout and beat up Sasuke but he didn't react it pained him. As soon as Sasuke left the crowd dissipated.

"... Umm, Nauto?"

He turned around to find a girl standing in the shade of the tree, her light purple hime haircut framing her face. Naruto couldn't move, as he looked at her he instantly recognised her- his classmate.

Hinata Hyūga

She was a less spoken person and sat on the last bench of the middle row. How did he know? well, when you don't understand a class you just keep looking around to pass some time and guess what? doing that for a year make you remember everyone's seats.

"Don't mind, Uchiha, he's just grumpy from all the attention you are getting today." She said.

That made his anger stumble. He swallowed hard, as she looked at her, "So, how can I help you Hinata-chan?"

"Well, I heard that you were asking for a spar from students today?" She asked, Naruto instantly got on his guard.

'Is she here to mock me too?' he eyed her, cautiously nodding his head in response.

She smirked, "How about a spar with me? I might not be as good as the Uchiha but I could give you a fight."

Naruto froze, he didn't understand her? They both barely knew each other, so why help him? He stood there thinking about the possible outcome of the situation. After the life Threatening situation he faced a night earlier he couldn't bring himself to trust anyone.

'Should I agree, she is from a clan after all. And it's not like she could hurt me.'

"So?"

"Y-yes sure."

"Good. Let's meet in the clearing behind training ground 4 at 6 pm sharp, bye." As she walked away, leaving behind a dumbstruck Naruto as he watched her until she disappeared.

'W-what was that?' He shook himself and looked back at the academy. "Nano what time is it?"

[It's about 3:47 pm Master.]

"let's go to the library."

It was Naruto's first visit to the library. He walked in, and he saw entire walls covered with bookshelves full of books. In addition, there were bookshelves all over the place. The many rows made it hard to count how many books there were.

"Whoa." Naruto was astonished. He had never seen so many books in his life. He then quickly went over and took out the first book he saw. The cover of the book said: Chakra Manipulation.

'I'll scan as many as I can.' His goal was to scan as many as he could before anyone find him. The library was shaped like a tower, and each higher floor had less space. There were no windows and the only entrance was from the entrance on the first floor.

'I don't have time!'

The Academy library on the first floor(ground floor) had less important books, but it was better to know more than nothing. Since most Students already left the academy, it was good for Naruto to concentrate alone. And seeing him just flip through pages might even raise suspicion.

'Nano, I'll look through pages. Scan all of them.'

[Yes, Master.]

Naruto then began flipping through the books. It only took him about a minute to go through the entire book.

[Scan complete.]

'Hehe great.'

He then continued looking through any book he could find and went on to read any book he could get his hands on. Nano kept telling him whenever the scan was complete. Once Naruto was able to scan over forty-five books, his pace became faster.

As Naruto was scanning the books, there was one person who was looking at him closely. It was Anbu Bull- his assigned Guard. He had been focusing on the Taijutsu and Jutsu related books, but he couldn't stand watching Naruto who was just skimming through countless books.

'Hmm...'

He didn't look like any of the students, he decided to observe him for now.

[Scan completed.]

[Scan completed.]

[Scan completed.]

When Naruto was almost at his limit, Nano spoke to him.

[156 books scanned.]

While most Students and Shinobi memorized books for weeks and months, Naruto was able to scan a hundred or even thousands of them in the same amount of time.

"This should be enough."

He had scanned too many books. Hiruzen Sarutobi- Third Hokage, who was known for having the most knowledge in the Hidden leaf village would know less than Naruto regarding low-ranking Taijutsu now.

'Nano, analyze all the books I scanned today and save them in the program.

[Yes, Master.]

Naruto scanned these books not to just learn them. It was because of Iruka's advice of having a big knowledge Bank. So he would only Transfer the book which seemed important to him now

'Let's go, I need to deal with the headache which comes after the Knowledge.'