Chapter 2

One week later

Naruto had been working hard at getting back her strength. She did a mind boggling amount of push ups, curl ups, and other exercises. She henged into the body of a random faced genin, and ran laps around the village. She also practiced throwing her shurikens and kunais. Naruto also fought against her shadow clone, to get used to her body. Slowly but surely she was making progress, soon she would far surpass anyone her age.

Since the week she arrived in the past, she hadn't run into any of her friends nor the Hokage. It was killing her not to meet them, but she knew that she had to train for now, before she entered the academy in two days. She had to make the most of her free time, and training was in fact one of her biggest hobbies.

Naruto also hated leaving her apartment. Everyone had gone back to glaring at her, and looking at her with those eyes. She could still hear them whispering about her, and calling her all sorts of names, but their favorite was demon. She had somewhat forgotten how hurtful that was, for they hadn't stared at her like that for awhile in her time. Shop keepers refused to sell to her, or raised the prices to high for her to buy. Restaurant owners through her out and refused to serve the 'demon' brat. She had to henge every time she went out to buy something to fool them. It was something she learned to do long ago, for self preservation. The only time she didn't henge when she went out, was when she went to Ichiraku's Ramen, for Teuchi and Ayame still served her happily. Ramen would forever remain her favorite dish of all time.

She looked down at herself. Her cloths were in rags, by all the training she had done. She had to get new cloths, and she dreaded that fact. She had no patience for shopping, all she needed was something durable and comfy to wear and she would be happy. Living alone for so long had taught Naruto how to be fiscal and manage her money better.

Naruto henged into a young gennin girl and went to the shinobi clothing store. Though she looked around she couldn't find the orange jumper that she was so fond of.

"Brat grow up and find something more practical than that jumper. It was to bright and baggy for a true ninja." Kurama berated her past clothing.

"Oh, be quite. I loved that jumper, and even with it I'm still an amazing ninja. Believe it!" Kurama just sighed, knowing that there was no winning with her on this matter. Naruto on the other hand looked even harder for her beloved jumper, but couldn't find it. She sighed and decided to give up on it. She instead found a black sweat shirt and pants. Both had an orange strip running down the side, because she absolutely refused to give up on the orange color. Both were also pretty slim but durable, so she could train in them and they wouldn't effect her movement. She was about to buy a fishnet undershirt like the one that Shikamaru wore, but decided against it for she didn't really need protection with her fast healing and it would hinder her. She payed for the cloths with the money that she got monthly as an orphan. With no ninja jobs to do, she had to be very careful of how she spent her money. As soon as she went home, she decided to train some more until she passed out from exhaustion.

"You have to slow down kit. I know you want to become stronger but your young body can't handle this much stress. You will hurt yourself more than you will help, if you keep this training up." Kurama scolded her.

"Heh! Your really like a mother hen aren't you Kurama. Who would have thought?" Naruto teased her binju. Kurama practically snarled at her. If she were anyone else, she would have gotten killed right there and than. "OK OK don't get so upset about everything furball. I'll listen to you if it'll make you feel better." Naruto reluctantly agreed to lessen her training, but her training was still light years above anything her peers were doing. Naruto gave into her exhaustion and went to sleep.

The day before she had to attend the acadamy, Naruto decided it was time to pay the Hokaga a visit. She didn't bother disguising herself, knowing that if the ANBU caught her sneaking inside the Hokage tower in a Henge she would be in big trouble. She ignored the glares and whispers as she reached the tower. When she reached the door outside Jiji office, she smiled and greeted his secretary.

"Hey Nane, is he free." After seeing Naruto so many times, Nane had gotten used to Naruto and didn't bother glaring. She was still standoffish but she didn't hate the kid.

"Hello Naruto, yes you can see him now." Nane told her and went back to her work. Naruto swallowed nervously. It had been years since she had last seen Jiji and she couldn't help but be nervous. Hiruzen Sarutobi had been a grandfather in every way to her except for blood. He would always make time for her and tried to be their for her as much as he could. But as Hokage, he was often busy. None the less, he advised her, took her out for Ramen, was the only one who gave her gifts on her birthday, and tried to protect her as much as he could. He was the first person Naruto could be certain that cared for her, and thus losing him was one of the hardest things of her life.

'Will he still look at me with fond eyes, will he still care for me?' She thought unable to help herself. Naruto knew that he would, but deep down inside she still feared rejection. Naruto took a deep breath and brought a smile to her face. She was ready to face him.