Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and I am not him.

If not knowledge…?:

Today was the first day of the Academy for many people. One such person was a six year old Naruto Uzumaki who just so happened to be in a class with people two years older than him. Not that this discouraged him, not at all. In fact, he would much rather have people older than him, then his age. Much less room for error when trying to decide how to deal with them. All he he had to do was keep his head down and stay quiet, something that he was quite good at, in his modest opinion.

Now was such an example of that specific talent. At that moment, Naruto just so happened to be surrounded by a group of children that had decided from the get go to follow in their parent's footsteps and torment the 'demon child' in anyway they could.

"You know that nobody wants you here right?" jeered one of the kids.

"Yeah! My mom said that you were nothing but trouble! She said you could do everyone a favor just by disappearing!" taunted another of the kids.

"Look at him, with his head down. Hey! Are you even listening to us?" a third one pitched in.

"I don't like being ignored! Oi! I just said I don't like being ignored! Stop ignoring me you little brat!" the final member growled before shoving Naruto into one of his friends.

That little push started a game of monkey in the middle except there was no monkey, and Naruto just so happened to be the thing they were tossing around. This went on for another minute or so until the boys eventually got bored from the blond's unresponsiveness and went to head inside before the class started, leaving the boy to pick himself up off of the ground.

After staring at the sky blankly for a few seconds, Naruto slowly pushed himself off of the ground and began to head towards his class. Looking at the door he took a deep breath, and went in, suddenly coming face to face with his sensei, a man of average height with shaggy brown hair and light brown eyes that had his headband tied around his forehead and the standard Konoha Chunin attire, a man he would soon learn to be named Karada Yobi, or as he said to be called, Karaba-sensei. The teacher scowled at him and pointed at a desk in the back far corner of the classroom.

"Looks like you were just on time. Go sit in the back."

Nodding once with his head kept down Naruto trudged to the back and took his seat. Nodding to himself once the boy was seated, Yobi cleared his throat and began to address the class.

"Good morning class. My name is Karaba Yobi, but you will address me as Karaba-sensei. For the next four years I shall be the one to teach you the way of the shinobi. Now then, I will now take attendance. Akarui Asa?"

"Hai!"

"Antantaru Yoru?"

"Hai."

This went on for a bit more till Yobi came to one particular name.

"Uzumaki… Naruto…?" he asked with a hint of venom in his voice.

"Hai…" came the quiet response of the small boy.

Shaking his head with a small frown on his face he called the next name on the list. "Yudokuna Hana?"

"Hai!"

With everyone accounted for Yobi cleared his throat and once again began addressing the students once more. "I will now tell you what we shall be learning for the next year. Today will be a crash course in all the classes you shall be taking for the next four years. Tomorrow and the week onward we shall be focusing on some physical conditioning to help you access your chakra. For the month after that we will be focusing on tapping into your chakra reserves, and how to properly control your chakra using some basic techniques. After that we will begin having regular classes where everyday you will have a period of theoretical work, be that math, science, history, geography, or any other such topic. Afterwards will be shuriken and kunai practice, followed by taijutsu lessons. That will be your schedule for the rest of this year. You will learn more of ninjutsu and genjutsu next year and onwards. Any questions?"

No one said anything, so Yobi took that as a sign to continue. "Very well, first off, this classroom is where we shall be spending our time learning of the theoretical aspect of your education. By that I mean that you will be learning more about math and science, and how to apply it to missions and strategies. To supplement that you will be taught history and geography to expand your knowledge and allow you to properly react in any scenario you may find yourself in. In your third and fourth years you will be properly taught tactics and strategy. During this four year period the shinobi code shall be engraved within your mind as a guideline for how shinobi's should act. Along with that you will also be learning ninjutsu and genjutsu in this classroom. In the ninjutsu portion of class we will build upon your knowledge of chakra and it's workings, hand seals and their properties as well as your speed at forming them, how to manipulate and control your chakra, as well as learning some basic jutsus that are needed for any shinobi to be able to properly function in the field. You will not be taught how to cast any genjutsu, but you will be taught their properties and their inner workings, as well as how to spot when you are caught in one and how to properly break out of it. Now then, follow me."

He turned and began to head out the door, the students quickly filing after him. He lead them to the Academy training ground where there was already a group of students practicing their shuriken and kunai throwing techniques. Yobi turned towards his students once more.

"And this is where you be taught how to properly wield shuriken and kunais, as well as your taijutsu class. The first part is fairly self explanatory, you will be taught how to properly handle shuriken and kunais, as well as taught various techniques on how to throw them. We will be attempting to implement some of the theoretical knowledge into this class. In your taijutsu class you will learn the Academy taijutsu style, however that will not be all. You will be put through physical conditioning with exercises such as running laps or doing push ups to increase your overall stamina, strength, and speed among other things."

After that Yobi had the class spend the day watching the older Academy students during their classes as a way to help show what they would be learning and what to expect in the upcoming years in school. Throughout all this Naruto couldn't believe his luck, not only did he get to learn the art of being a shinobi, but he got to learn math and science and history and so much more. While true that he could learn it from reading books at the library, and he would do so anyway since he couldn't bother with waiting, learning from an instructor could potentially make things so much easier for him.

It was on that note that Naruto left the Academy at the end of the day a little more satisfied than before, and a bit more eager to return to school. On his way home he decided to stop by the library to see if he could find something to give him an edge, perhaps some books on chakra or something of that effect. It was on his way to the library, with him being preoccupied by his thoughts of what he could get to further himself in his studies that got him into a situation that would scar him mentally for the rest of his life.

As he was passing by one of the various alleyways a pair of hands appeared from the darkness of it and pulled him in then roughly tossed him to the ground further in the alley. Startled, Naruto shook his head and looked towards his attacker to find an average looking middle-aged man standing there and glaring down at him. From what Naruto could tell the man was a simple civilian, but he seemed more fit than the average civilian. What shook Naruto to his very core, however, was the look of pure unadulterated hatred that the man was sending him. Now he was used to getting glared at with hate, but this was on a whole new level, and he just didn't understand why the man would be glaring at him with such an intensity. So lost in his thoughts that Naruto almost missed what the man said.

"So it looks like the little demon boy decided to join the Shinobi Academy. Who do you think you are, endangering our future generation with your taint!" the man snarled at him.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned as he pushed himself up.

"What am I talking about? How dare you speak as if you don't know what you did to everyone in this village all those years ago!" the man roared as he kicked Naruto in the chest, sending him back to the ground.

Rapidly blinking his eyes to stop the tears from coming out Naruto looked back up at the man and questioned him once more, knowing that he may very well be hit once again, but the boy just had to know what he did to cause people to hate him so. "Why? Why are you so angry?"

This response did exactly what Naruto secretly feared it would do. It enraged the man to a point beyond words, a point in which rationality was no longer part of the equation that dictated your actions. It was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused the man to lunge at Naruto viciously, descending upon him with a barrage of punches and kicks to the child's small frame. Fortunately for the child, the moment of rage passed just as quickly as it came, but the damage was already done. As the man looked down at the bloodied and bruised form of the child who curled up into a ball, tears leaking out his eyes as he mumbled to himself, a single stray thought flew through his mind that maybe, just maybe, the boy wasn't the fox that they all thought him to be. The man quickly purged that thought from his mind and scurried out of the alley, having done more than he came to do, leaving Naruto to cry quietly in the alleyway. All they went through Naruto's mind for the rest of the night was a single word.

'Why?'

For the week after that Naruto tried his best to forget that day with little success in that endeavor. It was only when Yobi-sensei told the class that today would be the day they worked towards unlocking their chakra that Naruto started to cheer up a little.

They were taken outside for the extra space and told to sit down in a meditative position and hold their hands in the ram seal to help channel their chakra. They were then instructed to focus on the main tenketsu that resided in their stomach, and slowly feed the chakra throughout the other tenketsus of their body. Of course, little to none of the children were able to feel their tenketsu, let alone channel their chakra through their bodies. That isn't to say there were no exceptions, for there was. In the form of one Uzumaki Naruto. On his very first try, not only was he able to successfully feel his tenketsu, but he was able to channel it through at least 20 of his other tenketsu. Granted, this was simply due to the presence of the Kyuubi within his body giving him easier access to his chakra reserves, but it was impressive none the less. However, instead of being celebrated like any other child would be, Naruto was quickly insulted and accused of cheating by his classmates, even though such a thing would be near impossible to fake, and while the sensei didn't say anything to defend Naruto, he also didn't stop the children from tearing into him with insults, only looking on with an approving eye as Naruto was belittled for a feat that would make one be called a prodigy.

The second day was worse than the first, since when the students went home they did something all children do with their parents. They shared how their day was with their families, and to say that the various parents of the Academy students were upset would a severe understatement equal to the likes of someone saying that the Kyuubi is just a bit big. Thus, when Naruto went to the Academy the next day he was greeted with stares crueler and filled with more hatred than before, and this seemed to have been passed onto their children as during the rest of the day he was constantly harassed, insulted, and belittled by his peers as he worked on the chakra flowing exercises that their sensei grudgingly told him in hopes of directing more anger towards the young child, which, of course, was an immense success.

This continued for the next month, with the parents hearing more and more of how Naruto was ahead of their children, and then them passing on a portion of their hatred to their children, which in turn made the children harass Naruto to the point of pulling him off to the side during their lunch break and shoving him around like a ragdoll, and then their sensei just showing Naruto another technique to strengthen his control over his chakra to continue the cycle over and over.

Eventually, the time of them working solely on their chakra had passed, and Naruto began to hope that he could finally not be insulted and berated for doing what he was told. That time didn't come, as for the following months, whenever he did better than many of the students in a subject such as math, or science, or even the physical training, he was insulted and accused of cheating, with of course their sensei doing nothing to stop such accusations. But during the few times he did slightly worse than others, he was jeered at for being dumb, and that everything he had done so far was just a fluke, which only caused them to come at him with even more heat when he did better than them once again. This made things even worse when they were in their taijutsu lessons, as he was always called up for their sensei to demonstrate new katas on, as well as usually being paired with the kids that did much better at taijutsu than him, just so he would be beaten, and he always had the feeling that the kids weren't pulling any punches.

It was a never ending cycle of despair, and Naruto began to pray for the year to end. And soon enough, it did. It was finally the last day of this year at the Academy for Naruto, and he couldn't be more excited. Not because there was a huge dinner coming for him, or that he had someone waiting for him, no it has been clear that he would never have such luxuries that other children have. No, he was excited because he could finally be alone with himself most of the day, most likely at the library, without everyone staring at him hatefully, mockingly, and always with just a hint of superiority added into it.

To Naruto, the bell couldn't ring fast enough, and as he raced out of the Academy, trying not to look at the parents and other family members waiting for their children, and trying to ignore the ache in heart as he did so, and began heading towards the library to be alone with the knowledge recorded within the building. However, just as he passed by an alleyway, he was suddenly pulled in and thrown to the back wall of the alley.

As he held a hand to his head and blinked away the dizziness, he couldn't help but feel a terrible sense of deja vu as he looked upon three burly men that looked like they did a lot of manual labor every day, though if Naruto had paid more attention, he would have noticed that they seemed to have bloodshot eyes, and that they were swaying ever so slightly, an indication that they were drunk. However, he didn't and as he looked at them, he could tell they weren't here to talk, though unable to form a coherent sentence would be a closer assessment, and that he shouldn't expect any answers of why they were doing this, and if he was honest with himself, he didn't want to ask in the first place, considering what happened the first time. Instead, he did the sensible thing in his mind. He closed his eyes and curled into a ball, and just in time too, as the first blow came at that moment. And then another, and another, and then they just kept coming and coming for what felt like hours to the young child.

Finally, the men stopped beating on the young blond, and stumbled out of the alley, laughing and somehow managing to joke with each other about their accomplishment of beating a young child to a bloody pulp. Meanwhile, said young child slowly uncurled himself and wiped away the tears on his face as he used the wall to support himself. This was only the second time this happened, but it always made him feel worthless when it did. He was just so powerless each time, and he still didn't understand why they did that to him.

As he slowly limped out the alleyway, still determined to get to the library and be alone, he wondered if this would happen in the upcoming years, and if it did, how he would manage. Either way, he made a promise to himself, a promise that he wouldn't give up till he saw the four years through. Then, and only then, would he decide to do anything else. He went into the program to get the knowledge that only shinobi had, and he would be damned before he left without what he came for. Yet, even with all that talk, he couldn't get rid of that small hesitance within him, that small part that just wanted him to hid himself from the world and not deal with the pain it brought. The small part that whispered to him his life wasn't worth living.

AN: Well I must apologize for such a long wait for this chapter, I just have been traveling a lot, and this chapter was hard to write to be honest. I feel like I am forcing it out, and I honestly can't say anything interesting is going to happen in the upcoming chapters. Really, this is put as a way of build up, and as a method where I don't have to constantly have flashbacks to his time as a child, Hopefully in a few chapters I should be able to get to the part of the story where the story begins to write itself. Of course, hearing some suggestions from you would always go a long way, especially considering I am not completely sure where I want to go after Naruto quits the Academy.

Either way, I don't have much in the manner of theory of the Naruto world to talk about, so I suppose I'll go straight to the reviews then.

Star Bus:Thanks for the compliment, and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story. And I will be sure to hit you up if I feel the need that a beta will do my work some good. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Psychotic Crow: Thanks for the review, and yes I do realize that this has been done many times before, and I too hope this turns out to be another good one, but with chapters like these, I hesitate to say it will reach that level soon. Either way I hope you stay tuned and continue to enjoy the story.

thor94: Thanks for the review, and I don't think that is necessarily the question he would have in mind. Especially since this is fanfiction, and the possibilities are endless for what he can do, even if he leaves the shinobi force. Honestly, like I said before, I'm not SURE what he is going to do, but I hope it is something interesting. Hope you stay tuned and enjoy the chapter.

Well now that is done, feel free to review, ask questions about the story, ask my thoughts on theories of the Naruto world, or anything really. I hope you all enjoy the second chapter of A Life Not Worth Living, and I hope I can get the third chapter up soon as well.