Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto for that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

...Then survival:

As the sun rose over Konoha, a lone figure stood outside their window and looked out upon the streets below their apartment. At that current moment there was hardly anyone out and about, and for good reason as well considering how early it was at that moment. Either way, the figure took a breath and went back to their bedroom. If you didn't guess it already this figure is one Uzumaki Naruto, and the reason he was up this early was due to nervousness. The source of this trepidation was the Academy, more specifically, it was the first day of his second year at the Academy. Naturally, this would be a cause of nervousness for many people, but Naruto had another reason to be ever so wary of returning to school, with that reason being he didn't know what would happen to him. However, his promise to himself, as well as the possibility for him to finally start learning ninjutsu outweighed the fear lurking deep within him. It was with that thought he began to get ready for today's day at the Academy.

To Naruto's immense relief, it seemed like he wasn't noticed as he slipped into the classroom. As he looked around he took note of the fact that he was the first one in. Seeing a chance to avoid a lot of potential trouble, he quickly made his way to the back of the classroom and took a seat at the very far back right corner then began to wait for everyone else to arrive. Soon enough, the other students began to arrive as well, taking seats next to their friends and began to chat about anything and everything as children tend to do.

Meanwhile, in the back of the classroom, Naruto put his head down on the desk and continued to wait for the class to begin. A few moments later, Yobi entered and began to look over the class.

"Good morning class, I hope you had a good break."

"Good morning Sensei" the class replied.

"Now then, let's get straight to business, I will take attendance then we will move onto the first new class you will have. Let's get started. Akarui Asa?"

"Hai!"

Once more like the year beforehand, Naruto kept his head down as Yobi called out the names, just as he had done for the past year, and no doubt will continue to do for the rest of his time at the Academy. And just like everyday, Yobi paused, and said with a grimace.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Hai…"

And just like always, he would quickly move on to the next and final name on the list.

"Yudokuna Hana?"

"Hai!"

Yobi nodded once and began to address the class as a whole once again.

"Very good, we have everyone here. Today, we will begin with a class you will have for the next three years, including this one. We will be learning how to perform ninjutsu and it's components. First, as we have learned last year, we must remember that chakra is made up of physical and spiritual energy. We use this combination that is chakra to perform feats that normal people can't. The art of ninjutsu is one of the things that can be performed with chakra. As Academy students you will be learning three different ninjutsu that are commonly known as the basis of being able to be a proper shinobi. These three are the Henge, the Bunshin, and the Kawarimi.

The one we will begin working on today is the Bunshin, often known as the easiest of the three. The seals for this technique go as following. Ram, snake, tiger. After going through the seals, gather your chakra and imagine it creating a copy of yourself. Allow me to demonstrate."

He slowly went through the hand seals so the class could see, and holding the final seal, gathered his chakra, and in a puff of smoke, another Yobi stood next to the original.

"As you can see, this is an exact clone of me. However, there are a few things that limit the capabilities of this clone. One major factor is that these clones are not solid, and thus will simply faze through solid objects. This means that, if one is observant enough, they would notice your clone not affecting the surroundings. Be sure to remember this when using this technique. Now, I will call you up alphabetically to come and attempt to do this technique, and once everyone has gone, I will allow you to practice on your own till it is time for your next class. Now then, first up is Akarui Asa, please step up to the front and attempt the jutsu."

The girl got up and moved to the front of the class, and then went through the hand seals. Moments later a puff chakra-created smoke appeared, yet when it cleared, there was no clone. Seeing this Yobi just smiled at the girl.

"As you can see, you may not get it on your first try. From what I saw Asa, you gathered too little chakra for the clone to properly form. When practicing on your own, try adding more chakra."

Hearing that the girl smiled back at Yobi and went back to her seat as Yobi began to call the next student up. This continued on, with Yobi telling the students how to improve on their technique after they have performed it.

Finally it came time for Naruto to make his attempt. As he closed his eyes and began concentrating on gathering his chakra, and after stopping at what he thought was the right amount, went through the three hand seals and after stopping on the final seal released his chakra in what he saw as an image of himself. As he heard the signature puff of chakra smoke he opened his eyes and looked to the side to see something he internally didn't want to see. A clone of himself, albeit not a perfect one as this clone was slightly transparent and a few details were off such as the length of his hair and some coloration for his clothes.

To say that Yobi was surprised would be a lie. He knew that Naruto of all the students would be the one to produce a solid result of a clone, instead of a dead looking copy or nothing at all. So after having almost everyone go and have nothing significant happen, then the pariah coming up and doing it on his first try would make him all that more ostracized by his classmates. By the looks of it, his plan was working as the students began to whisper to each other while staring at Naruto. Realizing that he has yet to say something, he cleared his throat to get Naruto's attention.

"It seems that all you need is to just practice a bit more and you should be set. Go and sit down. Yudokuna Hana, please step up."

As Naruto scurried back to his seat with his head down, he knew that things were just going to get worse and worse for him.

AN: My actions can only be called scumbag-y at best. At worst, I am a terrible human being that deserves pain in hell for my false promises and lies. Aside from my own self loathing, I do apologize it took this goddamn long for me to write this bloody chapter. I just couldn't seem to get the motivation to write it, and everytime I went to do it I'd just say I'd do it tomorrow and I never would. Along with that, my life got pretty hectic lately as well, so there is always that. Hopefully this won't be a recurring theme. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter(if there is even anyone left). Now, to address some reviews.

Elder Sibling: Thanks you for the review, though I can't tell if you were being sarcastic on the second one or not. I will, however, respond as if you were questioning the logic behind the second, as the same way you brought up a very good point in your first comment.

First off, while it does seem quite impossible for a child to learn how to read and write without any help whatsoever, if you looked closely at one part in chapter 2, I had written that he had gotten some old books to read and look at. Now, thinking a bit deeper, one would assume that, even though the Sandaime believed that his villagers would come around, he is still a shinobi, and thus, it's makes more than enough sense for him to put some books on how to read and write kanji for Naruto. And on the matter of Naruto's growth being stunted, that would also be true, if he didn't have the abundance of Yin chakra within him, which is also, as stated before in chapter 1, the aspect of the mind and soul, thus increasing his mental capabilities. Really, it's just a bunch of behind the scenes assumption and theories that led me to work it out that way. Either way, I may very well go back to those chapters later on and edit them for more clarity. Who knows.

Anyway, to your second point. To me, him getting beat on by strangers is something that probably did happen in canon. If the fact that in a place like New York, or any crowded city, hell even small towns, you can get jumped and mugged, or even killed, just for a bit of money, then imagine living in a city full of people that hate your guts, and would cheer on the person jumping you, even going as far as helping. Humans in general get very irrational when it comes to emotions, and when the thing that slaughtered your family and destroyed your home is trapped in a weak little kid, well, it's just too easy for someone to want to hurt him. Let's not mention the fact that it would be even easier to do so anyway. Also no. Never. I hate the whole idea of someone shouting out at the top of their lungs their desire to take a really shitty position where they have to sit behind a desk all goddamn day.

Anyway, feel free to rebuttal and bounce back your knowledge at me. I don't claim to be all knowing, and as seen before, you do bring up good points.

Salamander-sage: Well you guessed pretty much right on nearly everything. Naruto will be leaving the village, within the next three or four chapters or so. And Haku in this story will be a female because I happen to believe that Haku is in fact a girl. And yes he will meet Zabuza and Haku EVENTUALLY. Travel with them though…? Well. I don't even know what is going to happen to Naruto when he leaves the village, let alone twenty steps after that. This story actually has no definite ending or goal at the end of it. It's really just an extremely open, "what if".

Psychotic Crow: Thanks for the review again, and I'm afraid I may have failed you in the fact that it took me forever to get this out. Hopefully I haven't lost you as a fan. Stick around a bit longer, I'm gonna try chugging out more chapters.

thor94: Well, that's the thing, Sarutobi can't exactly do anything. No matter how hard he tries, the hate will always seep through, and Naruto is already in a fragile situation. Nevermind trying to get a Yamanaka to try and mess with his mind, that would either end up in nothing happening or Naruto turning out worse than before. And that is assuming Sarutobi realizes what is going on. The civilians on the council and the regular ones would no doubt realize(somehow, for I am sure there are a few smart ones that lay there hidden, hating Naruto with a passion) that if the Hokage found out, it would be so much harder to "give the demon what he deserves" so they make sure he is too busy to do anything. And, via assumption(I really should stop with the assumption thing), Naruto was most likely warned not to tell the Hokage "or else…" So that is basically it. And as stated before, yes, Naruto WILL leave the village.

APieceOfPie4Everybody011: Thank you for the review and I'm ecstatic that you like my story so far(cause I sure don't with how slow I'm building it up). While I can't say for sure that Naruto will get a positive side to all this, he won't commit suicide. Thoughts of it, perhaps, but the actual attempting to do so would not occur. Or it may. Really depends on how the next few chapters go. Like I said many times, I have no concrete plan, and no idea what is going to happen next. All I know is Naruto ain't gonna die anytime soon.

Well at this point, I wrote a whole lot in the author's not and maybe not as much in the actual story so possibly my bad? I hope you guys enjoy the chapter anyway, and remember to scream at me to get motivated in your reviews(if you do review that is). Next chapter coming… Sometime very soon hopefully.