Seven months later, Konoha

There was a dark veil covering the streets of one Konohagakure no sato. Not many people were out during this time, some were preparing for the event tomorrow, whilst others just didn't feel safe covered in the blackness of the night.

But he was neither. He felt at home in the protective arms of the shadows. It was his territory, one of the places he felt safe. For some time now he was used to running through the village, be it at the break of dawn, or the brink of dusk. Then it was his playtime.

Tonight, though, was a special night. He wasn't just playing, he had a mission. It was life or death...kinda, well, not really, but it still was important, everything had to go perfect. Even a single mistake could ruin everything he had planned for.

The branch he was sitting on slightly cracked under his weight, alerting the guards on duty, that were surveying the academy. 'Well, shit.' He had to think fast, go unnoticed was not an option anymore, so maybe a diversion.

He pulled a shuriken out of his leg pouch and sent it flying some 20 meters away into a tree branch that snapped loud enough for the guards to investigate. He quickly left his position, moving rapidly through the darkness, never letting his feet make any kind of noise.

His eyes, easily adjusted to the night, darted back and forth for on opening. 'There!' an open window on the second floor caught his attention. Putting himself in a crouching position, he jumped, but he almost didn't make it as he grabbed the frame and held tight. 'Okay, now that I'm inside I can manage a few things, before the next faze.'

Half an hour later and no one came to check inside. 'It figures, no one wants to come inside when it's day time.' he thought without a chuckle. He made his way to the rooftop, still lurking in the blackness. From here he could see the Hokage Resistance, there was his true objective. 'Let's see, only one guard, the old man must still be working.' a grin was threatening to split his face. 'It's going to be easier than I thought.'

He managed to go unnoticed when he jumped from the roof and landed on a balcony. From there he made quick work through the building and into a room that had what he wanted. There were shelves full of old scrolls and some books, many containing secrets and forgotten history, but what awaited him was in the middle. A giant scroll, almost as big as him, with the title "Fūin no Sho", the scroll of seals.

He placed it on the floor, and after opening it, he started copying everything he could, as fast as he could on a different scroll. He had to move fast, he only had a couple of hours.

After about 3 hours, he finally closed the scroll and placed it back the way he found it. Exiting the room, he went back the way he came from, and after arriving at the balcony and checking to make sure no one was watching, he jumped to the trees, and back into the darkness.

Naruto's apartment

A figure dressed in all black, with a mask covering his whole head except for a pair of deep blue eyes, that had a slight red shine in the night, landed on the rooftop. The figure sat down and removed his mask showing a mop of blonde hair and whiskered face. "That actually went pretty well."

"It leaves work for improvement." a bored voice rang inside the blonde's hair.

"Oh come on! It was your "great" idea to not use any kind of chakra. I could have gotten caught, you know!"

"It's good training, besides, you weren't caught."

The blonde sighed. "You know, if I didn't knew you better, I would think that you enjoy watching me struggle." the silance that followed just accentuated the point.

"Well, I'd better get some sleep, today is the day the great Naruto Uzumaki makes his first step in his ninja career."

07:30 AM

Naruto's eyes opened wide at the sound of the alarm clock. "Oh no, I'm so gonna be late." He rushed to the bathroom, changed his clothes, grabbed the lunch left to him by Ayame and rushed out of the apartment. Fifteen minutes later he arrived at the academy to start his first day there.

A small crowd was waiting in front of the building. Children were playing, parents were happily chatting with each other, and everyone was in good mood for the new day of school.

He resigned himself some ways away from all the commotion, and stood beside an old swing. "Oh man, I can't wait to see their faces, it's gonna be priceless."

He heard some noise from behind him, and turned around to see two kids walking up to him. His grin only widen when he recognized them, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji, two of the people he could call friends.

"I know that grin of yours, it spells troubles." of course, the Nara boy knew that Naruto had something planned for today, it was obvious if you knew him, but that didn't stop him from winning.

"Hey, Naruto, are you excited for today?" Choji said between bites.

The blonde greeted them with a high-five and took some chips that were offered by Choji before responding. "It's always troublesome with you, Shika, but yeah, I can't wait for those doors to open. It's gonna be a "blast"." And just as he said that, it was on.

One of the teachers, a shinobi wearing a standard chunin protective vest, and a scar on his nose, opened the doors to the academy to let everyone in, when it happened. A wire that was attached to the doors broke triggered a the mechanism that was holding a large bucket of paint above, which came crushing down on the shinobi, covering him full of blue paint. Adding salt to the wound, two bags of feathers blew up from his side and engulfed him. But if that wasn't worse enough, a bunch of small balloons were fired from the windows to the crowd below.

While all that was happening, Naruto and his friends were watching the event from a safe distance away, some with amusement, and another with pride. His well thought plan was a success.

Shikamaru, after recovering from his shock, turned to face the blonde, and asked the million yens questions. "How in the world did you manage that?"

"A good ninja doesn't share his secrets." he said with a laugh, walking away from them. "Come on, or we'll be late."

They saw him go, shrugged, and decided to follow him, but not before uttering a single word. "Troublesome."

He never did bother himself much with going to the academy after that first day. He still showed up from time to time, but even in those days, he mostly just slacked off with Sikamaru and Choji, or find ways to skip school unnoticed alongside Kiba, another student that Naruto quickly befriended. It wasn't the fact that he didn't want to learn anything, it was just that everything seemed so boring. He sweared he would loose it if he had to listen to one more of Iruka-sensei's history lessons.

Everything went on without any other incident, well, besides his usual pranks, until that night. The night when one of Konoha's most faithful hearts broke, and ravage unleashed.

It was an evening as any other, in Naruto's case that is. He was doing his usual walk among the shadows, when he saw one of his classmates, a boy from the Uchiha clan, running toward the Uchiha district, probably going home. A mischievous thought was forming in his head. 'Let's see if we can scare the smugness out of you, eh Sasuke.'

It wasn't that he disliked the boy, he knew that the Uchiha wasn't that bad, he was always trying his best and working very hard, but sometimes he just thought he was above everyone. Naruto was sure to show the raven haired kid just where he stood whenever they were sparing. Not even once was Sasuke ever been able to beat the blonde. Tonight though, he was going to make him remember it for the rest of his life.

He followed him closely from the darkness, never once giving away his location, but suddenly he stopped. 'Something's off.' He felt all the hairs on his body stand up. All his cells told him to run, to hurry up and hide in fear.

"You're right. Someone is watching that human." It was good hearing the voice of the fox, it somewhat calming knowing that he was not alone, but the words the Kyuubi spoke next, horrified him. "There isn't one living soul around here. Only corpses."

Now he could smell it, the stench of decay touching his nostrils. That metallic taste of blood overwhelming his senses. He shouldn't be here, he should be home, but Sasuke is here. 'I have to get the bastard out of here.'

He was too late, as a loud scream could be heard coming from one of the houses. He rushed there just in time to see the boy unconscious on the floor, with streaks of dried tears of his face, next to him were his dead parents and standing above was his older brother. "Farwell, little brother." and then he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

He stood there for a while, not trusting himself after all he had seen. "He's gone, you can go now." Always the helpful fox bringing the good news. Well, he should better go before the ANBU come and find him here. It would look pretty suspicious if he was there beside all the dead bodies.

'I could actually use some of the scrolls, if that guy left anything behind. It could take a while before someone comes and checks out what has happened here.' Not wasting another second, he went in one of the clan's library and took every scroll he could carry, before rushing out of the compound and back at his house to put everything in order.

Next new came and Konoha was in chaos. The event, now called "the Uchiha massacre", took the village by surprise. To think that such a thing could happen, and all done by a single person was unimaginable. The perpetrator, Uchiha Itachi, was branded a traitor and an s-rank criminal.

The lonely survivor, Sasuke, changed a lot. He lost his clan, his family, and his smile, given in exchange were hatred, an ambition, a pair of sharingan eyes for his trouble.

The next years have past slowly the people living under the hidden leaf. For our young hero, it was another story. He had trained a lot during this time, his body never truly reaching its limit. For some that knew him, there was one common word that could describe him. Sneaky.

Ah, the pranks this village has seen. Scratching powder put in the equipment of the ANBU headquarters. Uniforms dyed pink for the jonins. Chilly flakes found in the pipe of the Hokage, the same pipe that Hiruzen always had on him. Pepper spray put in the eye drops of the Hyugas. For the shop owners that refused their services to him, they would find their shop totally exchanged with the one next door. And they never could catch him on the act. Sure, they all knew who was responsible, but finding evidence was a task made impossible.

The most surprising of them all, though, was the painting of the Hokage monument done in broad daylight, with NO ONE noticing, and Naruto was even present in class that day. As punishment, Sarutobi made a squad of ANBU clean it.

But today wasn't about pranks, no. The thing that made Naruto smile was that today was his graduation day, the day he will finally become a ninja.

He woke up earlier than usual, even before Ayame did. After doing his morning routine, a few light exercises, and some laps around the village, he was finally ready to begin his day.

Ayame found herself waking up to the smell of cooked breakfast and a cheerful Naruto sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee. He was dressed with black shinobi boots, dark combo pants, a tough dark gray t-shirt, black fingerless gloves with metal knuckles, and an orange hooded vest, that could be turned inside out and become black. He was also wearing a pair of goggles on his forehead.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun! I see you're awfully early today. Excited for the graduation?" she could see that he has grown. It felt like yesterday when they first met at the orphanage and he was just a small baby. Now he was 13 and already taller then her.

"Morning, onee-san! Of course I'm excited, 'cuz today I'm gonna show them the true awesomeness of Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!" A fire burning in his eyes at this proclamation. "Well, I have to go, I don't wanna be late, at least this time. Bye!" he said as he rushed out of the apartment.

"He may have grown a bit, but he's still the same kid." she said with a smile.

Ninja academy

For the first time in five years, Naruto arrived before anyone else has had the chance. As he sad there waiting for the class to fill, he thought about making a goodbye prank to bring some happiness to his classmates. But alas, he just shrugged, and just waited. He just wasn't in the mood.

After about 10 minutes, people started to show up. Some were shocked seeing him be on time for a change, others were just ignoring him. A couple of minutes later, and his friends finally arrived. Sikamaru and Choji, went to sit beside him while Kiba just waved and sat somewhere in the front rows.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Shika, I assumed that the exam might be too troublesome for you."

Said Nara just sighed and put his head on the table. "My mother forced me to come. I would have preferred to go cloud watching today. Troublesome woman."

Naruto was about to say something else when Iruka, followed by Mizuki entered the classroom. "Good morning, class. Today you will be taking the graduation exam. It consists of three parts. First, you will have to undertake a written test, followed by taijutsu, and finally, a demonstration of your ninjutsu capabilities." He waited for a few moments, to make sure that everyone understood before he continued. "I will now hand you the test papers for the first part of the exam, you have one hour to complete. Begin!"