Chapter 3: Love
Family. That was a deeply desired dream which Naruto and every orphan shared. Yet after the conversation with the Hokage; revealed an unforeseen answer to this question. When the man used his favour for him to forgive the village, it opened his mind to what the title of Hokage truly meant. What the will of fire meant. He was dealt a bad hand at birth, which only got worse as he lived until one day he broke out of the game and begun to play his own. Now, he understood the villagers and was ready to forgive and let go of past aggrievances. Being the son of the late 4th Hokage revealed how big a sacrifice the man-made, as a leader and a father.
Love as it just so happens, was a hard feeling to muster for Naruto. He almost had no one, who had shared it with him, nor anyone who he had felt loves towards. Thankfully he gained a huge blast of Love from the Hokage and it set him upon a direction to raise to the same level. This gave him a goal, a target which most would scoff as impossible but that didn't matter. Naruto would put his all into becoming Hokage and achieving the same amount of Love that the man possessed for someone like him.
As for his living requirements; the answer was deception and proactive action. Naruto was given a crash course of one of the ninja chakra techniques used for disguise. Naruto gave the dog masked ANBU a huge shock when he performed the technique within seconds of being shown how then spending another 4 hours breaking down the technique until perfection not seen by anyone under Jounin level. This was just the tip of the iceberg for Naruto's true potential. After all, when given a single task to focus on; he was nigh-unstoppable. It was a very late hour before Naruto was collapsing in his bed, asleep before his head hit the pillow. The ANBU had aided Naruto in getting home safe and returned to the Hokage to reveal what he had witnessed. Unseen by anyone, the man had broken out of his decade long depression just from the hope Naruto had given him. The kids most amazing power, something the boy wasn't aware of was the effect he had on others. With just one person showing Naruto Love, he has managed to do something that all believed to be impossible.
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6 months had passed since Naruto had learned the transformation technique used for disguise and deception. It turned out, that with his dense and vast chakra stores; Naruto achieved a far superior and chakra expensive technique. A physical transformation which would fool nigh-everyone. The technique was a Godsend to Naruto who was finally able to purchase what he needed without any barriers. Naruto even went a step further, by creating several character profiles which the Hokage and the Dog ANBU was shown. One profile was used for the Academy which after the serious discussion was agreed to ensure Naruto was given a fair shake. Another was a profile of an adult to allow the purchase of typical home purchases. The final benefit of the technique was in the constant resistant training for Naruto's control of chakra. Naruto had to be mindful of the chakra he used, the perfect form of his disguise and work to act like a ninja-in-training without fault.
The academy profile was named Naru, an orphan who was known to be quiet, calm and mature for his age. He made quick friends with Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka. With Shikamaru, he found a calm and quietly sharp friend. The boy loved to laze around, sleep or look at the clouds a familiar trait to all from the Nara clan. Choji was a gentle soul who loved his friends, nature and most of all food. Naruto allowed the boy to guide him in the art of food and was revealed to have a black hole in his stomach as he could consume 10x the amount of a normal adult. Ino, on the other hand, was very different. She was loud, energetic and different. Ino had so many layers to her character and personality that for a while Naruto became dizzy just being in her presence until he adjusts and adapted to her. From then, Naruto found himself enjoying her company a lot and even learned a lot about flowers, plants and fashion.
Ino, Shika and Choji were the only clan members who attended the primary academy. Other clans preferring to home school and train their heirs and children before they were all sent to the Ninja Academy at age 7. That was in two years from now since Naruto was 5. The primary academy taught the basic subjects such as writing, reading and speaking. Throughout the year, it was clear that Naruto and his three friends were beyond the others in many ways. Only Ino used this fact to bolster her self-image. Shikamaru deferred to sleeping in class or staring at the window. Choji would eat a huge supply of barbeque crisps but Naruto would do something far different.
First, he observed the entire class for several weeks. He would make copious notes of each person, the teacher, subject and any other effects which he noted. Then when he had compiled enough information, created model diagrams for each person upon what he had discovered and created to-the-point fact file about them. Only last month had Naruto begun to stealthily send paper notes around to the class when the teacher wasn't looking, each note would provide just the right helping aid that they needed to gain an understanding that could help. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji had noticed their busy friend and were surprised when even they received notes. To Shikamaru it was an aid to utilise his great mind and time for better use, Ino was directed to gain more empathy to girls and Choji was encouraged to be bold and confident, showing a good example for others to follow.
Today, the teacher was given a huge file which had been compiled to show every student, how his teaching style could and should be adjusted and also suggesting certain innovative ideas to increase the output of the class. Iruka Umino was a very new teacher, was still learning the ropes but had shown he cared and took his job seriously. It just so happened to be his lucky day, because the Hokage had overseen everything that Naruto had done and was set to make Iruka the example to show upon the other academy teachers. With Naruto's help, Iruka would become the best teacher in the village's history. Iruka, looked around the class and only saw expecting faces, with no sign of the one responsible. He knew who this did, Naru had a very elegant yet efficient writing style which couldn't be completely disguised. He had also seen several of the students read notes without the stealth of a Chunin ninja-like himself. Whilst he never caught the person delivering the notes, which showed very impressive skill in stealth, the notes were easily noted but ignored. Now, he was sure of what all this was about. Naru, like his three friends, was ahead of the class, picked up things easily but Naru decided to do something to help his entire class. The sheer intellect, maturity and patience this showed were beyond what Iruka had ever witnessed. Naru was also an orphan, someone who he knew personally wanted to do anything to gain a family or friends.
At the end of class, Iruka asked Naru to stay behind for a moment. The boy in question calmly made his way to the front and waited patiently. Iruka took a moment to analyse the boy before asking the boy, whether he would like to go out for some Ramen as a treat for the gift he had given. Naru nodded an agreement and the two made their way through the streets of Konoha. During the trip, Iruka would often take subtle looks at the boy as they chatted. The boy seemed to soak up the entire environment. His eyes seemed to peer into a person's soul and come out with more weight. He knew how it was as an orphan, knew that some mature too quickly but whilst that may be true, the boy seemed to have gained a great perspective because of it.
The two stopped at a Ramen Ichiraku, a stand which had been standing since the village was created. The owner was a middle-aged chef who had a young daughter apprentice helping. The atmosphere was warm, welcoming and the aroma was heavenly. As the two sat, the chef went to them and immediately greeted Iruka in such a way that showed his great memory. When he turned to see Naru, he gave a sad smile before saying;
"kid, take off the disguise. You'll have no problems with me in my store. It doesn't matter who you are, I will serve everyone. If anyone has a problem with you, then they can leave."
Iruka turned his head quickly, confused as to what the chef was talking about. Only for his eyes to widen, when Naru's entire appearance seemed to fade away, revealing a very similar person. Naruto's iconic whisker marks on his cheeks were the first thing he saw, then the blonde hair and then the brightest blue eyes that had only ever been seen on one other person. Iruka didn't even think of how the Chef was able to tell when he couldn't, he was currently undergoing a mental breakdown both from fear and shock. Iruka's parent were killed during the Kyuubi attack and had held a deep hatred for the fox. Naruto, having the fox sealed inside of him became the easier target to focus his hatred and had done so for several years. However somehow, looking at the boy whose eyes were so old and heavy, he just couldn't dive into the well of hatred he once did. Images of Naru, the academy boy who was so kind, bright and willing to help strangers. How he had went out of his way to help him, when he was struggling. No, Iruka told himself Naruto was the same as Naru only with an added burden which he hadn't asked for. Surprisingly, Naruto seemed to relax more and more as Iruka's emotions and thoughts swirled around like this. Naruto visibly relaxed completely when Iruka came to this understanding. Naruto followed this physically with a hug around Iruka's waist with all the love and gratitude he felt. Iruka being taken by surprise took a moment to understand, before embracing the boy too.
The chef had smiled and went away to make two bowls of the same Ramen, Iruka's usual bowl. One bowl was adult size, whilst the other was several times bigger. As the two released themselves from the emotional moment, they came to see the bowls given respectively. Naruto tuck into the huge bowl at a speed that seemed inhuman, whilst Iruka just laughed out loud before enjoying his regular-sized bowl. The chef gave him a nod, no words needed for Iruka to know what it meant. Only now, did the Chunin teacher see the keen senses of the man. A man who now that he thought about it, remembered a story told by the Hokage. Of a strong warrior before Konoha who chose to stop fighting and sell Ramen in order to advocate peace and equality. Iruka looked to Naruto and secretly promised that he would all he could to help Naruto rise to the heights of this village. The boy was going places, that's for sure.
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The Hokage look at the scene from his all-seeing orb. He had a true smile on his face, so happy that those two people managed to create a bond. He had another in mind who could need that kind of bond and would use any trick in the book to make it happen. After all, Naruto wasn't the only one with a burden. A woman in mind, had a very hard life by the hands of his old student. Her personality could be prickly and she was very guarded, but should she bond with these two, then he had hopes that the trio would help transcend the village to the pit it had ended up after the Fox. Time was of the essence, because War was on the horizon. He knew, could feel it in his bones and was thankful for Naruto for giving him the needed reminder, without knowing to get his act in gear. The future of the village, the will-of-fire was at stake. As Hokage it was his duty to take up the burden of protecting all of this. Even if it required manipulating loved ones. He would do it without blinking.
Just as he was about to look away, he was shocked to see Naruto giving a slight glimpse right up to him. The old man knew right then that Naruto needed true bonds. The boy could read emotions, which was a double-edged sword. It explained why he was so calm and quiet, but also told the Hokage that should Naruto ever leave, it would be the end of the village. Because Naruto's potential was now beyond even his imagination.