Hey folks, welcome back. This time, you're going to see Naruto's first day at the Academy! There'll be this chapter, then another brief time skip, and then - okay, there's going to be a lot of small (a few months) time skips in the next few chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. However, if I did, I would've made an arc about the civil war in the Mist that ended all the fighting. Heck, I would've have Zabuza lead the revolution like he wanted!

Naruto shouldered his backpack as he stood in line for the academy. He nervously looked around him, but no one seemed to be glaring or laughing at him. He relaxed a little bit; maybe Hokage-jiji was right, and the Academy would be good for him. He wondered if there was anyone his age; everyone looked taller. It made sense, since he was joining the Academy two years earlier than most people. Looking around again, he didn't see anyone he knew. Then again, I don't know any other kids, he thought to himself, sighing. He'd once had this friend called Lee, but after he left the orphanage, Lee never wanted to see him again. He sniffled at the thought, but then clenched his fists and shook the thought away. He'd make new friends. They'd hang out every day at lunch, and then afterward he'd take them to Ichiraku Ramen, and then they'd play in a playground and laugh and have fun. His face softened and a smile grew as his imagining continued.

When he reached the front of the line to register, the Chunin, a guy with long blue hair that spilled down his face, scowled at him. Naruto bit his lip and looked down, waiting. The scowl on Mizuki's face turned into a smirk. Children who wanted to register for the Academy needed either the consent of their legal guardian or, for orphans, the orphanage director. Mizuki knew the little brat had been kicked out of the orphanage, so he had neither. "Show me your registration papers, with adult consent," he demanded, and Naruto bent down, still not looking up at him. His imagining was done; here he was, ready to face more sneers from adults.

Naruto took off his backpack and reached inside it, pulling out a paper. Mizuki snatched it from him before he could offer it, making Naruto flinch back. His eyes narrowed as his expectations fell through; he was looking at the Hokage's own signature, something he couldn't defy even if he wanted to. He then glanced at Iruka, standing over at the head of another line; he smirked, knowing that Iruka hated the Nine Tails even more than Mizuki did. He'd put the demon with him, and signed the sheet, making sure to put Iruka's name instead of his own - that would show Iruka. He then dropped the sheet, and Naruto scrambled for it, tripping on his feet. "Next," Mizuki called. The next kid looked a little hesitant to give Mizuki his papers, afraid he'd drop them too.

An hour later, all the incoming students were placed with their assigned teachers, ready to hear the first of many lectures. Naruto had sat down in the back row, hesitant to be further up and risk the teacher seeing him. He knew he was only delaying the inevitable - they'd call attendance and the teacher would know where he was - but his heart was afraid, and so he wanted to delay it as long as possible. His hands fidgeted together, his backpack slung off of the back of the chair he was sitting on. The teacher up in the front began writing what Naruto could only assume was his name: 'Umino Iruka', the man wrote. He turned around and Naruto flinched, sure that Iruka's eyes would land on him. They didn't. A couple of students gasped as they saw the horizontal scar that ran over the bridge of his nose.

"Cheh," Naruto heard from next to him, and glanced at the brown-haired boy next to him. "My dad's got bigger scars than that on his butt!"

Naruto's lips twitched, and he covered his mouth right before he burst out laughing. His giggles muffled, Iruka didn't hear them as he began talking.

"You kids are the first students that have elected to try and become shinobi after peacetime has officially been declared for the village. Ever since the Kyuubi attacked our village, we struggled to refill our ranks, and so pushed our students harder and had them graduate early - but something they all lost in this process was a lot of time in their childhood. Now that we've filled up our ranks, our class sizes are smaller, and our Academy program longer - four years instead of two." He took a breath - judging from how the children were starting to look away or bored, he didn't have much more time. "In the old system, students learned and trained with chakra from week one." At the mention of 'chakra', he got some kids' attention again. "This new, longer program wants us to not even start on chakra exercises until next year!" He got some surprised and angry looks at that. Before the muttering started, he continued. "But I've pushed for my class to be more integrated from the start - you all will be trained in using your chakra starting in a week instead of a year!"

The children seemed more excited again, and he pushed his luck. "The only thing is, in order to make sure we meet all the Academy's new standards, you guys are going to have more homework. You'll have to do more reading and studying on your own - but I'll be here after school a lot in case you ever need individual help with it. The upside is, you will learn the basic Academy jutsu early - we may even have time to learn extra jutsu!"

Excited chatter swept through the room, and even the kid next to Naruto smiled at that. "Maybe I'll learn more than my dad did in the Academy," he commented to Naruto. "Is your dad a ninja?" He asked Naruto, who looked down briefly. He was excited that someone was talking to him - he'd make a friend! - but his parents...

"I don't have a dad," Naruto said, before perking up. "I don't need one! I raise myself," he boasted, pushing away thoughts of Wolf that popped up. The person that was almost his dad... He understood why Wolf left, but it still hurt sometimes.

The kid next to him smiled. "Must be pretty nice, not having a bed-time or anything like that. What's your name?"

Naruto burst into Ichiraku Ramen, a dazzling smile on his face. "Teuchi! Ayame!" He shouted, "I've got a friend, I've got a friend!" Teuchi walked into the front, a small smile on his face at seeing Naruto.

"Slow down, my old brain's not quick enough. What is it?" He asked.

"Wait for me!" Ayame shouted from the back, before emerging with soapy hands. She dried them as Naruto started into his story.

He told them about Kendo, the kid that sat next to him in class. Kendo kept making jokes, and when recess time came, Naruto met a couple of Kendo's friends. They played ball games, got to know each other, and the other boys were impressed by how Naruto was only six, yet lived in his own apartment. "I've got Genin that I order around to do my shopping for me," Naruto bragged, developing an ego for the first time around other people. He was just so excited to be having people not stay away from him, he didn't know what to do with himself. Ayame was grinning, happy for Naruto, and Teuchi was a little more laid back about it.

"Don't get too excited yet, Naruto. Friendship takes time to build," Teuchi advised. Naruto smiled.

"I've got a feelin' these are gunna be good friends. Best friends! When I become Hokage, they'll be my advisors, an' before then they'll be my ninja teammates, we'll go on super secret missions, and..." The Ichirakus' spirits were uplifted by Naruto's own happiness that day. When the Hokage visited Naruto in his apartment later, he was met with the same stories and enthusiasm.

The village was just a little bit happier that day.

Itachi laid against a tree trunk, Shisui sitting on a branch above him, his legs dangling over the edge. "How's Fugaku dealing with how you're distancing yourself?" Shisui asked, and Itachi remained silent for a moment, thoughtful.

"He's started focusing a lot of his attention on Sasuke, so I think he's realized I'm not approving of what he has planned for the clan. But I'm being kept in the loop anyway - he still has hope for me. My turn," Itachi said, straightening himself. "How did you react after the Kyuubi attack?"

"In what respect do you mean?" Shisui asked.

"The malevolence of the Kyuubi spread all throughout Konoha, and especially for children, it brought about great terror in us. It activated my Sharingan when I was five, unnaturally, and it did for you, too; you were seven. It's made us into "geniuses", the combination of how elastic a child's mind is with the memorization ability of the Sharingan. But... it brought me great sorrow, too, because I matured early, and when I learned many things with my Sharingan, I could see how badly people treat each other. I couldn't stand it, and sometimes still cannot. How did you react?"

Shisui sighed, before a small chuckle erupted from him. "You always were a downer. Back then, all I wanted to do was go on dangerous missions and learn lots of jutsu. I saw more after getting the Sharingan, but it made me focus more. Now I've accomplished both, and it isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's still hella cool. What I think about most, with all the memories my Sharingan gives me, is all the good I see people do. From parents comforting their children, to kids playing with each other, big brothers playing with their little siblings.." He gave Itachi a pointed look then. "You're seeing all the bad, but you aren't seeing how much your distance is affecting Sasuke. I don't approve of it, Itachi. If something happens, you want him to have good memories with you. All he's having right now are big expectations from your father."

Itachi looked back up at Shisui. "If something is to happen to me, it will hurt Sasuke worse if he's close to me."

"And it hurts him now, every day, seeing you get farther away. The happy memories drive me, Itachi, because if they ever get far away in my mind, I know I have to create new ones." He smiled. "And then I do."

Itachi broke his gaze with Shisui, unwilling to stare down someone he undoubtedly considered a better man than himself. What drives me, Itachi mused, is my fear. My fear of things going wrong, of this peace breaking... This fear of hurting Sasuke more than I have to...

The leaves swooshed as Shisui slid off the branch and fell back in front of Itachi. He patted Itachi on the shoulder. "Staying in your head too much only muddles your thoughts, Itachi. I've got to go." He offered Itachi another smile, and the boy looked up to return a small one. "You're still my best friend, though, you downer. Nothing can change that."

As Shisui disappeared in a classic Shunshin, the breeze caused swept Itachi's long hair around his face. His sorrowful expression flickered in and out of sight.

As Sasuke was practicing the Great Fireball Technique over a lake in the Uchiha compound, a little girl by the name of Hinata Hyuga went through basic Jyuken katas under the watchful eye of her father. She flowed through them like a dance, making it look more like an art form than a shinobi tool to kill. That would have been fine if it was good enough to actually kill.

"You are not fast enough, nor do you put enough power in your strikes," Hiashi said. Hinata gulped at the sudden input, and stumbled as she lost her focus. Knowing not to say anything, she began again, this time faster than before. Hiashi looked on, for she was doing better than befo-

"Oof," she grunted, stumbling over her own feet at the increased speed. Hiashi closed his eyes and turned away to leave, having seen enough. "Father, don't leave! I will do better!" She pleaded, turning to look at him.

He paused. "Continue your katas; tomorrow, I will send in a branch member to train you in more advanced katas. For now, continue your basic katas until you get them right."

"Father! I'll do better," Hinata insisted, stepping forward. "But please don't stop training me!" She sniffled, desperation filling her voice.

"I have more important clan business that only I can take care of; any trained Hyuga can train you," he said, still not facing his daughter. His feet began to move again, and Hinata spoke up quietly now.

"This is the only time I get with you anymore, father..."

His foot hesitated in its next step, for just a moment. He then continued on his path. Before he was out the door, Hinata heard him speak.

"Do not disappoint me again."

The door shut behind him, so that Hinata could not see the pain in his face. Hinata looked so much like her... He shakingly looked down the hall to his room, where he would be staying - and for a moment, saw her. His wife, beautiful as she had ever been, without the pain of a childbirth that killed her on her face. She was smiling, her eyes the same as Hinata's - soft and kind, seemingly untouched by the shinobi world's cruelty and the complicated clan politics. He couldn't stand to see those eyes from Hinata every single day.

Hinata shuddered, trying to suppress the tears that she just knew were coming. Her own father didn't want to be around his little failure...

A knock came to Hanzo's oak door, the blunt sound drawing the legendary shinobi's attention from the latest security matters he was reading up on. "Come in," he said, the two guards at his sides laying a hand on their weapons. "Who is it?"

A familiar voice came in, that of one of his reconnaissance ninja, Haruko Utameshi. "I've arrived back from our surveillance, sir. I've come with some interesting prisoners."

"Come in, then," Hanzo said, "But first: What did the lizard hide under the rock?" The code phrase's answer was different for each ninja under his command, no two ninja knowing another code phrase. It eased Hanzo's paranoia.

"The stinging bee," Haruko said. Hanzo relaxed.

"Come in," he said, and the doors opened. Haruko and five other members of his team came in, all wearing sunglasses. They were in formation around two individuals in black cloaks with red clouds, being dragged by chains. The man was slouched, had red hair, and seemed to be walking along sluggishly. The woman had purple hair and a paper flower behind her right ear, and was standing straight and tall as she was led in front of Hanzo. The old ninja raised an eyebrow at the duo, recognizing the cloaks as those worn by that radical group from a while back; Akatsuki. Their activities had died down after he had killed Yahiko, but perhaps they were not entirely gone...

Hanzo let out a dark chuckle, seeing how weak the red-haired man - Nagato, if he remembered right - looked. They had been tagged with chakra restraining seals, and evidently it was taking its toll on Nagato. He looked back at Haruko. "Where are the other two from your recon team?"

Haruko bowed, a grimace staining his features. "They died valiantly in order to place the chakra restraining seals on these two. What will you have me do with them?"

Hanzo raised a hand and rose from his seat, walking around his desk to get a better view of his prisoners. "Well, well - you must be two of the last members of Akatsuki. You know, your bodies strung from this tower would make a fine example to the people of what happens to those who want to destroy Amegakure's peace."

Konan spoke up, a fierce expression on her face. "This isn't peace! This is a dictatorship! You are making people suffer and do whatever it takes to keep Amegakure's borders protected! Families lose children that will become ninja and die a year later - children lose their parents to a war you don't even need to be a part of anymore! The Third Great Shinobi War is over. Please, stop; this isn't peace if you treat your people like you are at war with them."

Hanzo narrowed his eyes. "You don't know what it is like to run a village and see its land stripped away by eager nations or destroyed in battle by greedy, warring countries. Amegakure is a central point between some very important nations, in case you have not noticed - and fighting over it will start again if we do not spare every resource of ours to defending our borders."

A chuckle rose out of Nagato at that. "You know, Hanzo... If you were strong enough... If you had the power of a god... You would not need to abuse other people and steal from them to defend Amegakure. It isn't us that is the threat to Amegakure." He cut the connection to the six controlled bodies around him, including Haruko, and they collapsed - the sunglasses on their faces fell off to reveal rapidly fading pairs of Rinnegan. His head rose, and the eyes of the Sage snapped open. Nagato stood straight, and Hanzo tried to reach for a dagger he kept on his person at all times.

Key word: tried.

Nagato stepped forward, and Hanzo's body jerked, shakily taking a step toward Nagato as well. Another step, and Hanzo's body seemed to kneel down, his hands forced behind his back by some sort of invisible force. "Wh-what... are y-"

His mouth snapped shut as his head was forced into the ground, bowing to Nagato. The eyes of the Sage stared down at him. "I will not force the people to suffer in order to protect them. I will be strong enough to protect them without resorting to their abuse. I will be their hero - their god." The eyes of Hanzo's final judgment rested on him for a moment, perceiving his struggled breathing. There was no sign, no movement, no seal - Hanzo simply seized up, and heaved out his last breath, the red vapor of his blood staining the carpet underneath. Nagato - no... Pain's eyes closed. There would be peace - he would ensure it.

Naruto stepped into class on his second day, a huge grin sparking his face. He raced his way up the stairs to his seat and sat in it. Kendo wasn't here yet, he thought disappointedly as he settled into his seat. The seats next to and in front of him were empty. The strange thing was, even as the last students trickled in, they stayed empty. As class started he looked around for Kendo and his pals, wondering if they'd wanted to sit closer to the teacher now that actual class was starting. Naruto finally spotted Kendo and the others - but there was no other seat left for him around them. He frowned, disappointed; he'd just have to wait until recess!

But when it came, the boys didn't immediately come to him. Naruto jogged up to them, a hopeful expression on his face as they began to play ball.

When Kendo's eyes finally turned to look at him, Naruto immediately understood. But the child voiced it anyway, even when Naruto knew it was coming: "My mom said I'd get in trouble if I spent time with you..." Murmurs of agreements echoed in the group, and they turned away, forcing themselves to ignore what their parents, friends, siblings, and even teachers called a demon.

His eyes watered.

That's it! Sorry about not updating. I thought I'd have more free time during the break, but in the end, all that translated to for me was "welp, more time to procrastinate!"

I hope you enjoyed it. Review! Let me know what I did right, or more importantly, what you didn't like/what I could improve. Especially if I have inconsistencies in my story, that way I can fix them. Thanks, people. Take care.