A/N:

Sorry this took so long to put out. Variety of factors influenced my delay. One I got fed up with the fillers, Two I'm in college now and the work load keeps me from doing much of anything else. Plus all the papers kills my desire to write anything story or not.

Anyway, this is the first chapter so while things are different, obviously, I'm attempting to not change too much from how the actual show had things happen. Later I'll diverge farther and farther away from the original but I'm trying to start with a similar starting position.

----------------.

Chapter One: The Final Exam of the Academy

It was a lazy day in Konoha. Konoha had plenty of lazy days after the Third Hokage retook the leadership of the Village. Not really thanks to him but more to his predecessor the Fourth. His one major act as the Fourth had allowed the village as a whole to enjoy many lazy days for the next decade. But on this particular lazy day some people were enjoying it that weren't supposed to be enjoying it.

There were four young academy students laying down on the roof of a building in Konoha. They were just laying there staring up at the clouds. One was wearing a fishnet shirt and an open jacket on top of it. His hair was black and tied up in a pony tail. Another had brown hair and was wearing what could be best described as a parka. He also had two red tattoos in the shape of fangs on either side of his face and a puppy sitting on his chest. The third was kind of chubby and had brown hair as well. He was wearing a white t-shirt and a teal over shirt over it. He was also lazy eating some potato chips.

The fourth of them, however, was different from the others. He had blond hair which was parted in a zig zag line slightly off to the side. He had hair clips in his hair keeping his hair down and parted instead of up and everywhere. His eyes were blue and he had whisker marks on either side of his face. He was wearing a tan-orange jacket and pants. However, it was so faded and dirty from being worn for so long that it was almost a brown now.

While the four of them lay there staring at the clouds none of them noticed the four Chunin on the street below looking up at the roof top they were on. Almost instantaneously the four Chunin leaped up and landed on the roof top surrounding the four boys. The four boys leaped up in unison surprised by their unexpected visitors. They backed up so that they were back to back and looked at the Chunin.

"HEY! NARUTO!" Yelled one with a scar across his face. "Why aren't you in class?!"

Shit... Why did it have to be Iruka-sensei The blond one thought to himself. "Because! Class is boring! SCATTER!"

"YEAHAA!" Yelled the one with the dog as he took off in one direction.

"Tch." Said the boy in the fishnet shirt. "Why does it always have to be this troublesome to skip class?" And with that he took off in a second direction.

"Think we can get some food after this?" Said the chubby one as he took off in yet again another direction.

"Catch me if you can Iruka-sensei!" Yelled the blond as he took off in the fourth direction.

The four boys scattered and the Chunin chased after them one for each boy. The chubby one was captured on the roof top he jumped to from the original one they were all laying on. The other three though gave their Chunin counter parts a little more trouble. The one with the puppy zig zagged so much that it actually took the Chunin a bit to grab him but he did.

So now there were only two. The one with the fishnet shirt and the blond. The one with the fishnet kept pulling out crazy maneuvers that seemed to be incredibly risky but kept paying off giving him more and more of a lead on his pursuer. The blond seeing that just straight up running wasn't going to work tried hiding. When his Chunin seemed to chase past his hiding spot he popped out of his hiding area laughing. But then the Chunin appeared behind him and grabbed him. He had been caught.

------------------------------

The four boys were bound with ropes and sitting on the floor in front of a class room. The rest of the class looked on with interest wondering what punishments they were going to get this time. The boys looked at each other and started talking.

"Hey Chouji how long did you last this time?" The blond asked.

"I got grabbed on the second roof top." Chouji, the chubby one, responded a little disheartened.

"Well hey that's an improvement. What about you Kiba?" The blond asked the one with the puppy.

"I lasted about 7 minutes. I zigged and zagged a little too much and he got me." Kiba responded. "How about you Naruto?"

"I lasted 15 minutes. I tried to hide but Iruka-sensei didn't fall for it." The blond responded. "Shikamaru how about you? When did you get caught?"

"I gave up after about 20 minutes." The boy with the fishnets said.

"GAVE UP?! Why did you give up?" Kiba roared.

"It was taking too long to get away and I knew that you were all caught so I didn't see the point in continuing to run away. It was too troublesome." Shikamaru stated.

"That's Shikamaru for you." Chouji said.

"Oh man! I-" Naruto started but was cut off by the door opening and Iruka-sensei walking into the room.

"Why do you four always do this?" he asked. "You are wasting time in school and your classmates' time by doing this again and again."

"If we don't do it who's going to keep you on your toes Iruka-sensei?" Naruto responded.

"Yeah it's not like you're getting any younger," Kiba added.

"Why I oughta-" Iruka started.

"Hey if you're going to blame anyone blame me! It was my idea to skip class. So let them go sit back down in their seats and you can punish me and then get back on with teaching," Naruto said quickly sensing his teacher's anger.

"I know what you're doing Naruto," Iruka said after he had taken a moment to calm himself. "As admirable as it is I don't think I should. But if it was your idea as you said than fine. You can stay for detention after school. By yourself and write an essay on why you shouldn't skip school."

Iruka cut the ropes on the boys and let them go back and sit down in their seats. Some in the class booed that the boys were getting off so lightly. They loved to see some of Iruka's more ingenious punishments especially when it wasn't on them. Some others in the class cheered their classmates on for almost completely getting out of being punished. A couple others kept quiet. Specifically a small girl with blueish black hair and white eyes and a boy.

This boy had black hair and eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt with a high collar and white shorts. His shirt had a red and white fan on the back of it. He seemed completely disinterested in what was happening but really he was thanking whatever deities would listen that he wasn't one of the boys that had been caught or were being punished.

Iruka then began his lesson and a good portion of the class started to zone out. One was almost asleep before Iruka started talking, because it was so troublesome to pay attention. Despite all his previous angst Naruto was one of the ones that still payed attention. So was the shy black haired boy and the girl with white eyes.

Another person that was paying attention was a girl with pink hair. Her hair was parted straight down the center and came down messily on either side. This was a planned messy though she had spent an hour in front of the mirror this morning making sure her hair looked perfectly messy without it actually being out of place. She wore a white button up shirt that left her stomach exposed and red pants with a thick white belt.

------------------------------

Naruto wasn't writing his essay. Instead he just sat there and doodled in the borders of the paper. He had not interest to write it and surely wasn't going to be persuaded to so he'd just sit there and keep doodling. The final exam was tomorrow but he wasn't scared about passing or not. Ever since the old man had taken him under his private tutelage once a week and Naruto had struggled to learn and grow he had risen to the top of the class.

It hadn't been without difficulty but was there anything in life that wasn't difficult? While he sat there doodling his mind flashed back to a couple weeks after he had been named the top of the class. A couple of the know it alls approached him while he was hanging out with Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba.

"Hey Naruto-kun." The first one said.

Naruto looked up slowly from the game him and his friends were playing. "Huh?"

"Come hang out with us Naruto-kun." The second one said. "Those guys will never amount to anything no matter how much they try."

"Yeah they're worthless." The first one added.

At this point a small little girl with bluish-black hair and white eyes stopped the studying she was doing and watched what was happening. In fact she wasn't the only one everyone in the general area was watching.

"You should hang out with people that are of the the same caliber as you Naruto-kun." The second one said.

"Then I think I'm fine right where I am." Naruto responded. "I had to work hard to get to the first in the class. It didn't come easy to me. If I didn't work hard and do what I could to improve myself I'd be the worst one in the class like I was two weeks ago. You didn't give a crap about me then why do you now? Cause I'm some what important? You just wait. I'm going to keep improving until I become the Hokage! And then we'll see who likes me for power and who likes me because of me! Now get out of here!"

The two know it alls walked away a little hurriedly. Possibly because they were afraid what the boy might do to them. Naruto went back to the game with his friends and everyone else pretty much went back to what they were doing except the little girl with white eyes. She stared at Naruto, not that he noticed.

She had heard what he said about becoming the best through hard work. She had also seen how he stood up for those that others considered worthless trash. She felt something in her heart that she hadn't felt before. She looked back at her scroll and tried to keep studying. But she would look up at him every now and then.

"Naruto!" Iruka-sensei yelled snapping him out of his reminiscing. Naruto snapped to attention and looked at his teacher.

"Hai Iruka-sensei?" Naruto quickly replied.

"Now you're awake… You were zoning out when you should have been writing your essay." Iruka said and went back to grading things.

"Not like it matters. I don't have anyone waiting for me back home…" Naruto said and looked at his essay again. He hadn't written a word yet.

"Well… Naruto… If you finish it in time before the shops close maybe I'll treat you to some ramen tonight…" Iruka said and looked up at the boy. The boy was staring at him with wide eyes in a pleasant shocked facial expression.

"All right!" Naruto said and began to write quickly and furiously.

------------------------------

Naruto was on his third bowl of Ramen when Iruka asked the question that he had been wondering about for a while now.

"Naruto… You're the top of the class, you receive personal tutelage from the Hokage himself… why do you keep skipping class?" Iruka asked.

"Because! I'm going to surpass all the Hokages one day and become one myself!" Naruto stated proudly.

"I don't see how that explains away your skipping class… But you're going to graduate tomorrow so I guess skipping class doesn't really matter anymore… Just try not to skip the final exam tomorrow would you?" Iruka responded.

Naruto was a little disheartened his teacher didn't understand. But Iruka didn't put him down or anything. He just cared about what Naruto was doing with his life. Satisfied that everything was fine Naruto finished his bowl and called for seconds, much to the disappointment of Iruka. He had never seen a boy that could eat so much.

------------------------------

It was the day of the exam and everyone was sitting in the classroom nervously. Well Naruto wasn't. He was sitting at his desk with out a care in the world. The girl with the white eyes was nervous but she would look over at Naruto and seem to calm down. Then she would look away blushing slightly and get nervous again until she repeated the process.

Naruto didn't really notice the times she kept looking at him but he saw that she was probably the most nervous person in the room. So he got up and walked over to her. "Hey Hinata." He said when she happened to be looking at a wall so she didn't see him coming.

"Y-Y-Yes… Naruto-kun?" She asked.

"Try not to look so nervous huh? You're making me nervous…" Naruto said. "It'll be ok you're a Hyuuga you'll pass the test."

"I-I-I'm making you nervous N-N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata said flabbergasted.

"Yeah. So just calm down ok?" Naruto said. "You'll be fine."

"Hai. N-N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said.

Naruto smiled and went back to his seat and sat down as Iruka came into the room and explained that they would be called next door one at a time and tested on the Bunshin no Jutsu to see if they were ready to graduate the academy or not. Of course while Iruka was saying all this Hinata had been distracted by staring at Naruto. He had actually chosen to speak to her. Her heart wouldn't stop beating and it wasn't until Iruka shut the door and went next door that she realized she had missed what the test was on.

------------------------------

Everyone had passed! But Naruto didn't know that. When everyone went outside to see their parents and celebrate he went up to the Hokage to share the news as he didn't have anyone else to celebrate with. The Hokage was happy for the boy although he was a bit distracted. There had been a plot to replace the instructors at the last moment, by force if necessary, so that when it was Naruto's turn to take the exam that he would be given an impossible task and fail. The Hokage had uncovered the plot and stopped it. But there were still a couple loose ends to tie up.

The boy that bore the mark of the Uchiha on his back had no one to celebrate with either. His only living relative that wouldn't be arrested on site for walking into Konoha was out on a mission. So as he usually did for the past years that he had been attending the academy he walked home by himself his head hung low.

Everyone else wore his or her hitai-ates. Naruto wasn't sure where to put his on until he saw Hinata put hers on her neck. Thinking about it he decided that was a good place to put it as he could easily move his head to avoid something but the neck was harder to protect. So he put his there as well. The pink haired girl named Sakura was wearing it just above her pants. When she got home that night she was going to replace the buckle of her belt with it and wear it as a belt. The Uchiha boy didn't wear his. He took it and put it in his bag as he walked home.

Naruto didn't see him wearing one and hadn't seen him put it away so he wondered if the boy was all right. He started to follow him but one of the teachers stopped him.

"Sasuke's just a little depressed cause he didn't pass." The teacher said.

"Mizuki-sensei…" Naruto responded sad that not everyone had passed.

"But I know a way we can get him to pass." Mizuki said. "There's a scroll in the Hokage's tower that explains how to use a high level jutsu. If you bring it to me we can both teach him how to use it and then he'll pass."

"Really?" Naruto said earnestly.

:"Yes." Mizuki responded with a smile.

"I'll get it tonight." Naruto said looking over at the Hokage and smiling.

------------------------------

Naruto walked calmly into the Hokage's tower. He had been going there for years for training. Everyone there knew him and knew to let him go. He walked up to the scroll that Mizuki told him about and pulled it off the shelf. Mizuki had told him that it would be really difficult and that he wouldn't be able understand it without help so he should bring it right to Mizuki in the woods but Naruto couldn't help but look at the first technique in it and see if he could figure out why it was so difficult.

Looking at it he couldn't see why it was so difficult at all. Naruto could learn this and then teach it to Sasuke himself. Thinking about it there was no reason to bring it to Mizuki. So he sat down and started reading the scroll about the first technique in the scroll. It was called "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." If Sasuke had trouble with normal Bunshins Naruto doubted he could do Shadow ones. But something about it intrigued him so he kept reading it so that he could learn if only for himself if not to help Sasuke.

------------------------------

A couple of hours later the Hokage decided that he was done for the night and would finish the rest of the paperwork on his desk tomorrow morning. So he began walking to his own personal apartment. On his way he noticed that a light was on in the library. He went in and saw Naruto reading from a forbidden scroll.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!" The Hokage yelled.

Naruto tired and worn out looked up at the Hokage. "Oh man I didn't even get to the second technique yet."

"Why are you reading from that scroll Naruto?" the Hokage demanded.

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He said if I brought him this scroll we could teach Sasuke a jutsu from it and then he could graduate from the academy as well."

"Naruto… no one failed to graduate…" the Hokage told him.

"But… why did he walk away so sadly then? And why did Mizuki tell me that then?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not sure." The Hokage said. "But I want you to go and see him anyway. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Naruto nodded and took off towards the forest. The Hokage called the two ANBU guards that always followed him in the shadows out and gave them the order to follow Naruto and help him if need be.

------------------------------

Naruto had left the scroll back at the tower. If Mizuki wanted it and it wasn't to help Sasuke than it was probably better to keep it as far away from Mizuki as possible. He arrived at the place Mizuki had told him and saw Mizuki pacing back and forth anxiously. Mizuki saw Naruto arrive and smiled. But the smile turned into a frown as soon as Mizuki saw Naruto didn't have the scroll with him.

"Where's the scroll Naruto?" Mizuki asked.

"I left it at the tower. I memorized the first technique in it so we can still teach it to Sasuke but I figured it would be better to just leave it there so no one would miss it." Naruto lied.

"You what?!" Mizuki yelled, infuriated at the turn of events.

"I left it there…" Naruto stated.

"Why I ought to…" Mizuki said as he walked towards Naruto and backhanded him. "I knew I shouldn't have given this assignment to you. Now I'll have to think up some other way to get the scroll."

"But why do you need the scroll. I thought we needed it only to teach Sasuke-" Naruto started.

"I told you that so that you would steal it for me. I want it myself so I can become more powerful than you can imagine!" Mizuki cut him off.

"So you were just using me…" Naruto said.

"More or less. But now I'll have to kill you so that you don't tell anyone and I can try again later." Mizuki said.

"Just try it. I'll hit you back harder 1000 times worse than you can hit me." Naruto said and formed a hand seal.

"Ha! I'd like to see you-"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out and was surrounded by thousands of duplicates of himself.

"How did… There's no… Not a genin" Mizuki managed to get out before Naruto's army began to attack and pummel him to a pulp.

The Anbu arrived shortly after that and once Naruto was done "fighting" with Mizuki they escorted him to the prison. Naruto went and reported to the Hokage who congratulated him on his first successful mission and decided to bring him to a Ramen shop for payment.

A/N:

I know I know. Not what you were expecting I'm sure. I was trying to stay close to the actual first chapter of the Manga. Which I see was a bad idea. Next time I'm going to just start writing the way I want to a bit more. We'll hopefully see more character development and better dialogue, as I wasn't too thrilled with either in this chapter. But hey that's why this is only a first chapter. You get more character development later.