"Uhhh… Dammit shut up… Shh! Go to hell!" Shouted Naruto as his fist smashed down, and through, his alarm clock. It was time to get up for another day at the academy, but after all Naruto went through last night he didn't want to go. He grumbled a bit more as he crawled out of bed, knowing that he'd be in trouble if he missed.
After taking a shower and eating his breakfast that consisted of instant ramen cups, he left home en route to another day of boring learning and assholes, there would definitely be assholes.
No sooner than Naruto got out of sight of the Hokage's office, the glares and curses set in.
"Fucking demon… shoulda killed you 9 years ago."
"Monster"
"Devil"
This upset the young Naruto of course, but he was used it, as long as they didn't hit him he could ignore it.
The verbal abuse continued all the way to the academy and even then, most of the instructors hated him as well.
Naruto finally arrived at his class to find he was only the 3rd person here, so he checked his watch "6:40 what the hell I'm 20 minutes early!" this was rather odd for him, considering he normally didn't arrive until right at 7:00 when classes began. Since he had a while to kill he figured he would try to make conversation with the other 2 students; the lavender haired white haired girl, Hinata Hyuga, and the black haired black eyed boy, Sasuke Uchiha.
"Good morning guys."
"Morning." Was Sasuke's only reply. (Hey, better than 'hmph', right)
"G-G-Good M-Morning, Naruto-kun." Replied the shy Hyuga.
"How are you guys?"
"Good. I just wish I didn't have to be here so I could do some real training." Sasuke replied
"I know how you feel. I have better things to learn than 'The History of Shinobi Sandals: Why they are open toed.'" Naruto said, getting a small chuckle from both other students.
Little did the 3 students know, they had just started a bond that would carry them far in life. Sasuke was normally impartial to Naruto, as his parents weren't part of the 'Lynch Naruto Club'; Hinata actually had a crush on him.
"I kind of like that kid, I wonder why everyone else looks at him with such dis-" Sasuke started thinking before he was interrupted by a crash. He looked towards the door, where the noise came from, to see a pink haired girl laying on top of a blonde. "SASUKE-KUN!" shouted the pink haired girl with a voice that would make a banshee pale. "Hah! I was here first I get to sit by him Ino-pig!" The pink haired girl shouted at the blond.
"You wish Sakura-fivehead!" yelled the blond, in a slightly less aweful voice.
"Hey! Move fathead I'M sitting next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura now directed her eardrum splitting noise maker at Naruto.
"Umm… I was here first." Said Naruto calmly.
"I don't give a damn! My mom is on the council and she says you're a worthless bastard so move!"
"Hey I-" Naruto began but was cut off by Sasuke "Hey you pink haired, loud mouthed banshee, I don't care if your mom is the freaking Hokage, you won't talk to him like that anymore."
"Huh… did he just… stick up for me?" Naruto thought.
"S-Sasuke-kun…"
"Don't call me –kun you sorry waste of breath. Naruto has never done anything to you yet you come in here insulting him."
"B-But I…"
"Please shut up and leave me alone." Now the Uchiha weren't known as the nicest of clans around, but still they didn't try to cause trouble and insult people without reason.
Sakura then sulked off away from Sasuke and Naruto with tears in her eyes "Bastard… how could I have ever cared for that ass?" "Because he's freaking HOT! That's why! Inner Sakura replied to her.
"Wow… Thanks Sasuke, no one's ever stood up for me like that before."
"Don't mention it, I kind of like you and she has no reason to speak to you like she did." Said the Uchiha with a smirk.
"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Said a new voice as the class suddenly turned to the front of the room to see Iruka standing there.
"Okay then, now that I have everyone's attention, today we will be discussing the reason why all ninja shoes are open toed."
There was a loud 'thump' heard from one corner of the room where Naruto and Sasuke's heads were now implanted into their table.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
1 week later
Naruto had spent the last week, when he wasn't at school, reading over his parents' scrolls. He saw many things in there he wanted to learn, but like Hiruzen had said, most were too difficult. One in particular though caught his eye, so he proceeded to learn it, and it only took him a few hours to do so. It was one that his father actually recommended that he learn early on, as it would help with learning other things, as well as chakra capacity(as if he needed more) and chakra control slightly. It was called the Kagebunshin, or shadow clone, and it made solid copies of himself, that could fight or train or whatever, and then once dispelled he would gain their memories. This meant that he could now make a clone read a book and it would be as if he read it himself.
While at school, Naruto had continued to talk to Sasuke and Hinata, further solidifying their friendship. Naruto hadn't really noticed yet, but befriending the heirs of the 2 most respected clans in Konoha had actually made some people stop their hated glares and curses, though most still did it.
The other kids had also started seeing him differently, starting to doubt the word of their parents. Naruto seemed like a good, normal kid. He seemed friendly enough with the Hyuga and Uchiha, and most now remembered that he had never been anything but nice to them. His only flaw was that he used to be a little on the loud side, but now he seemed to have calmed down. Well that, and his choice of clothing was plain atrocious.
Sakura still hasn't tried to speak to Sasuke again since his 'talk' with her last week, in fact, most of the girls now only admired him from a distance.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"RING RING RING sigh"
Naruto sighed as he rolled out of bed and started getting ready for another day. He quickly went through his normal routine before heading off to school, ignoring the comments of most of the villagers as normal before arriving at school.
As was usual the last week, he was the third to arrive.
"Hey guys, morning." He said as he walked in and sat in his normal seat between Sasuke and Hinata.
"Morning."/"G-Good morning, N-Naruto-kun."
"So guess what I learned, and I think you'll love it Sasuke."
"What is it?"
"Well, it's called the Kagebunshin no jutsu."
"Clones? What's so special about a clone?"
"Kagebunshin no jutsu." Naruto said with his hands in the cross seal, before a clone appeared and slapped Sasuke in the head before laughing and then dispelling itself.
"What the hell was that- wait… did that clone just physically hit me?"
"Yep."
"Freakin sweet. Teach me?"
"Sure. Hinata-chan, do you wanna learn it to?"
"N-No thank you, I don't think my family wouldn't approve of it."
"Okay then…" Naruto then proceeded to warn Sasuke of the intense chakra drainage, before teaching him the technique.
"Kagebunshin no jutsu." Sasuke said as a clone appeared beside him.
"Now here's the cool part." Naruto said before leading the clone away and whispering something to it, before punching it in the face to dispel it.
"Hey screw you!" Sasuke said as he heard the insult Naruto said to the clone. "Wait… you said that to him, how do I know it?"
"The memories of your clones will be transferred to you when they dispel."
"Really? That's sweet!"
"EVERYONE SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Said Iruka as the class suddenly became quiet.
"Okay. Today, we will be learning about the history of kunai."
2 loud sighs were heard from Naruto and Sasuke as Iruka started the lesson.
Naruto then got an idea and grabbed a piece of paper before writing "Ditch? Shadow clone+substitution?" and sliding it to Sasuke.
Sasuke grabbed the paper and smiled before discretely nodding his head and performing the cross seal under his desk at the same time as Naruto. A clone of each popped up outside the window before the pair did the ram symbol and switched places with the clones.
"So what now?" Said Sasuke as the pair hopped along the roof tops, making sure to stay hidden.
"Well we can't go to my place, Jiji would shit a brick if he knew I was ditching."
"Same for mine, if Dad and Itachi found out they'd kill us both."
"Damn… How about we go to one of the unused training grounds to train a bit?"
"Sure works for me." Said Sasuke before the 2 changed course for training ground 14, one of the non used training grounds out in the woods on the outskirts of town.
"So, since I taught you a sweet jutsu, do you have any you can teach me?" Said Naruto as they arrived.
"Hmm… do you know the Katon: Hosenka no jutsu?" Asked Sasuke.
"Nuh-uh." Replied Naruto.
"Well…" Sasuke then began to explain the technique to Naruto, who grasped the concept pretty quick. He then ran though the required hand seals and said "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." As he inhaled and then exhaled, blowing out several softball sized fireballs.
"Cool that was pretty good, especially for the first try. It took me like a month to get that good." Said Sasuke
Naruto then rubbed the back of his head and chuckled "I have an affinity for Katon, and Jiji says I have low jonin level chakra reserves."
"Oh I see, but all the chakra in the world won't help you, I'll still be the better ninja!" Sasuke challenged.
"Not even in your dreams!" Said Naruto "But anyways, do you have any other affinities?"
"Katon and Raiton. What about you?"
"Katon, Futon, and Raiton. Do you know any Raiton jutsu yet?"
"No, Dad has only taught me the Hosenka so far."
"Hmm… I wonder if I have any on my scroll?" Said Naruto as he pulled a scroll from his pocket and looked it over for a second before frowning. He didn't have any lightning jutsu, but his father had recommended several chakra control exercises to get his control up before learning many jutsu anyways.
"I don't have any lower level jutsu, but how about chakra control training?"
"Sure what did you have in mind?"
"Well my scroll from Jiji says that tree climbing is a good way to practice."
"How does climbing trees help anything?"
"You have to use your chakra to make your feet stick." Said Naruto as he walked towards one of the trees nearby and stuck a foot to it while concentrating. He then stuck the other foot and was now parallel with the ground. He walked up a few more steps before putting in too much chakra and blowing himself off of the tree, landing with a 'thud' as Sasuke laughed his ass off.
"Watch and learn, loser." He said as he walked over to his own tree. He made it up about 3 steps before underpowering it and falling with his own 'thud' as it was Naruto's turn to laugh.
"Bastard." Sasuke said with a chuckle before the 2 started at it again, quickly making it into a competition.
After a few hours, both had the tree climbing technique figured out, with Naruto beating Sasuke by less than 5 minutes.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
At the academy
The idea of leaving the shadow clones in class served a purpose other than not being missed; the pair hoped to actually learn the lessons, since in person they slept through them anyways. This, however, was not the case.
"NARUTO! SASUKE! PAY ATTENTION!" yelled Iruka at the 2 sleeping 'students'.
Both of them shot up in their chair now wide awake as Iruka continued his lesson "And since the average hunting knives were less than efficient for combat, some ninja started trying to design a better weapon. This led to several failed attempts, such as…"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Back at training ground 14
"You just got lucky you know." Sasuke pouted
"Nah this is pure talent." Said Naruto with a large grin.
"Whatever. What do we do next?"
"Well, the scroll says water walking is the next one. It's like tree climbing but the surface constantly changes so you have to vary the chakra output."
"Ugh great." Said Sasuke as he started towards the pond at the edge of the field while taking off his shirt.
"Why are you stripping homo? I'm not that way!" Naruto teased
"Screw you! I know that as much as I fell tree climbing I'll probably get wet at some point so I'm saving my clothes." Sasuke replied as he took off his pants as well, leaving only his boxers.
"Good point I guess." Said Naruto as he too stripped off his clothes.
Now anyone just walking by would probably require extensive therapy, seeing the 2 preteen boys in their underwear trying to walk on water.
Again, after another several hours, both boys had the exercise down, this time with Sasuke winning by a few minutes.
"Hah I won this time, LOSER!" Sasuke teased.
"Well now we're tied, looks like we'll have to have a tie breaker."
"What do we do now then?"
"Stick leaves to our body with chakra. Most leaves in 1 hour wins, and then we'll have to head home?"
"Deal." Replied Sasuke as both boys started frantically grabbing leaves and trying to get them to stick, neither wanting to be the loser at the end of the day.
After the hour was over, much to Sasuke's dismay, Naruto had stuck 11 leaves to the various parts of his body to Sasuke's 10.
"Haha who's the loser now?!" Naruto taunted while doing a victory dance.
"Dammit." Sasuke pouted.