I'm back! Sorry for taking so long to update, life life tends to get in the way of the things we enjoy but it's summer and I am determined to finish this thing before August so I hope you're all ready for a long haul!

Without further adieu I bring you, Chapter 4!

Pride of the Prince

Naruto sat on his bed, his back leaning against the wall and his knees drawn up to his chest, thin arms hugging them tightly to himself. Brilliant, cerulean eyes gazed downward into nothing, covered by a veil of messy blond hair, the gentle patter of spring rain could be heard easily in the absolute silence that was the orphanage, all the other children were asleep in the much larger, group room which most of the foster-children within called home.

Naruto however, was given his own separate and much smaller room to himself, which might seem like a good deal at first glance but was actually a cunning scheme by the management to further isolate the young boy from any sort of connection with his peers.

Not only did he miss out on all the late-night whispering and suppressed giggles but it put a social barrier up as well, the children felt envious and annoyed at the blond getting his own room which caused them to outcast him from their various groups even during the daytime, this arrangement had always made Naruto feel so very lonely.

Now though, it felt so different, as he sat on his bed in his quiet, empty room with the steady sound of rainfall hitting the nearby window filling the empty space, still trying to digest all that had occured over the past four days, Naruto decided that having his own room was not lonely but lofty.

Suddenly overcome with energy, he leaped off of his bed and began to pace around his rather cramped living quarters. Flicking on the light switch he began to inspect his room with a look of assured disapproval. He was a prince after all, he thought to himself as his eyes roamed the cracked walls and old, squeaky floor boards.

As he walked he began to pay attention to himself, deciding that his posture did not fit one with blood as noble as his own, Naruto shifted himelf in order to make his back and shoulders straight and as regal as he could manage, he further decided that princes do not walk with their hands in their pockets nor do they allow said appendages to simply flail about as they walked.

After several shifts in position, the boy decided on holding his hands together, palm outwards behind his back, nodding in self-satisfaction, he continued to survey his living quarters with a growing expression of disapproval.

This was no place for a prince to sleep! The curtains were old, worn and pacthed with unmatching fabrics, the walls had cobwebs in their upper corners and the pain was peeling off in more places than he could count. His floors were old and winy, the wood was old and worn, knotted by time and long-dried water damage.

Granted there were certainly worse places to live but such living arrangements could not be aboded by the heir to the Uzamaki blood line, even in hiding as he was, the young boy decided that this was entirely unacceptable.

But what could he do about it?

After all, it wasn't as though he had any money, well none that he had access to at any rate, his father had told him that he had left a sizable inheritance for Naruto in the care of the Third Hokage.

That was it!

The boy decided that he would simply march up to the Hokage's office and demand more suitable living quarters, preferably on his own, and a servant or two certainly wouldn't hurt, it was his money after all.

With that decided, the young blond found that his energy seemed to have all rushed out of him as quickly as it had come, covering his mouth with one hand to stifle his yawn, he flicked off his light switch and climbed into bed.

Just before he laid down his head , Naruto gave his room one last disapproving eye before finally succumbing to sleep.

That morning found the young blond waking up bright and early in order to be the first one into the bathroom which he still shared with the rest of the children, a fact which used to delight him but now caused him mild annoyance. After taking a quick shower, despite it not being his scheduled shower time until that night, Naruto spent another ten minutes thoroughly brushing his teeth and tongue and then fifteen minutes trying to figure out what he could do with his hair.

He found that he rather liked the look of having his hair slicked straight back and settled for that. Taking a few extra minutes, the boy inspecting himself with a smirk of satisfaction in the cracked mirror and ignored the bangs on the old wooden door and demands that he hurry up so that his foster-siblings could also have a turn.

Fixing a stern, regal and cool expression onto his face, and checking the mirror to assure himself that he did in fact, look rather impressive, the boy briskly opened the door to the bathroom and glared disapprovingly at the shocked faces of the four girls and three boys who had gathered around the door.

"Making such a noise in the morning is expected of you low classes," he began evenly "but you should still learn to respect your betters." The children all stared at Naruto in absolute awe and seemed completely lost for words.

Suppressing a smile, he brushed past the boy in the front of the line and was just about to be on his way to his room when ho noticed that the children around him were gazing with rather shocked expressions, not at his face or his unusually tame hair, but quite a bit further South.

It was then that Naruto realised that he was still quite naked.

Of course, his first instinct was to blush furiously and run, mortified into his room before smalling his door and hiding from the inevitable uproar of laughter which would follow him. However, the young prince decided that such a thing would be undignified and simply carried on his walk after only missing half a beat.

Just as he was about to enter his room, the boy turned around to glare defiantly at his peers.

"What's wrong? Have you never saw a naked human before? But I'll admit my naked body's pretty nice so I can't blame you all for staring."

With that, Naruto entered his room and quickly shut the door before covering his face with both palms in complete mortification at what had just transpired. He could only hope that his response would result in awe and admiration rather than mock and ridicule, he was not optimistic though.

One hour and thirty-minutes later found Naruto, now entirely dressed in his best outfit, a only slightly worn black long-sleeve shirt and matching pants and sandals, entering the door to Hokage Tower and strolling in with what he sincerely hoped was complete confidence.

Another thirty minutes, several verbal altercations with various staff and shinobi within the tower, the boy's near arrest and a well timed arrival of one Sarutoi Hizuren later found Naruto sitting with a carefully blank face, looking into the eyes of his savior.

Several moments passed before the Third Hokage finally broke the silence with a pleasant smile and a puff of his pipe.

"Naruto, my boy, what brings you here today that was so urgent you felt the need to refer to a member of my staff as a..."snot-filled, douche rag, commoner"? I didn't think that our appointment was until Friday."

Holding back a snort of laughter at the sound of the old man quoting his, admittedly vulgar insult, Naruto decided to get right to the point. "Hokage-sama, I want my own apartment. On the good side of town, a servant or two wouldn't be bad either."

"Hmmm,just as blunt as his mother, and from the look on that face, probably just as stubborn. But why in the world would he suddenly be asking for a change in living arrangements? On top of that, this is just after he disappeared for nearly a whole week before being found in the forest by an ANBU operative and claimed to have just been "camping". Something is not right."

Sarutobi measured his next words as carefully before speaking, already feeling the first signs of anger and indignation creeping into his blood.

"Naruto, this sudden behavior, has anyone at the orphanage been...mistreating you in anyway? You need not be afraid of them punishing you for telling, just say the word and I'll have some-"

"Please don't misunderstand Hokage-sama!" Naruto cut in the moment he realised what the man was getting at."It's nothing like child-abuse or anything. I just decided that.." Here, the young boy raised himself from his chair and walked around the desk to where he was only a foot away from where the Hokage was sitting before continuing.

"I just decided that the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchikuri of the Nine Tailed Demon Fox should have his own apartment at least. Especially since I'm rich."

Blinking several times in order to gather his thoughts, Sarutobi Hizuren could think of only one thing to respond with. "I think you mean "Jinchuuriki", not Jinchuriki."

"Yes, that."

After Naruto revealed his knowledge of that portion of his past, he was forced to give an edited version of what actually happened during his mysterious four-day disappearance to the old man. After which the Hokage agreed to spend a portion of his inheritance on a moderately up-scale apartment only a few blocks away from the Tower.

He also agreed to an increased monthly stipend to afford the boy all of his newly-found expensive tastes, to ensure that the boy did not spend all of his money on ridiculous things and to act as his guardian, Sarutobi commissioned a retired ex-chuunin to be the boys assistant until he was twelve years old.

And that is how Uzamaki Naruto the orphan became Uzamaki Naruto, the brat prince...who was also an orphan.

TIME SKIP NO JUITSU!

3 years later...

It was a pleasant, sunny afternoon at Konoha ninja academy and all the little ninja-in-training were lined up in front of the target practice area for kunai and shuriken training. Most of the children were chatting animatedly amongst themselves, boasting and wagering the way that only 8 year olds can, only two children remained silent and stoic.

The first was the class #1, prodigy and sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre, Sasuke Uchiha who leaned stoically against a tree his hands in his pockets and his face brooding.

Second was eight year Uzamaki Naruto, ranked #15 in the class, village pariah, spoiled, entitled, brat, son of the Fourth Hokage and sole heir to the Uzamaki blood line. He stood a ways apart from the rest of the children, spinning a practice shuriken around his index finger, his face held a carefully blank expression.

Finally, the call came for everyone to line up and take their positions to begin the ranking test for kunai and shuriken skill. A list which Sasuke was number one in and Naruto was number three, the young blond was determined to change that.

Umino Iruka, the classes home room teacher stepped out to the side of the practice field and called out the first ten participants, the list was called from the lowest ranked students up so the first 10 were the number seventy through the number sixty.

Most people only half paid attention to the lower ranking students, in the ninja academy, ones ranking was roughly equivalent to ones popularity, in most cases so ranking tests were always minded by the student body but the bottom ten usually didn't change by anything significant so it was not considered particularly worth while.

After nearly thirty minutes, the top ten were finally called, everyone, with the exception of Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji was paying close attention.

Iruka-sensei called the names in descending order:

"Takezo Bin

Aburame Shino

Hyuuga Hinata

Hezo Kazuma

Harumi Tenshi

Ryo Hagase

Inuzaka Kiba

Uzamaki Naruto

Yamanaka Ino

Uchiha Sasuke

Approach the throwing line!"

All the participant's faces held competitive determination, besides Hinata's which held more of a terrified trepidation at the thought of being watched by so many of her peers, Shino'a face was unreadable. But he pushed his glasses up in a way that his parents would have known meant his was slightly nervous.

There were various thoughts going through each participant's mind.

"Awww shit, this is the only thing that I'm good at, I can't afford to lose my place on the top ten!" (Bin)

"There is a slight eastward blowing wind, I'll have to adjust my throws accordingly." (Shino)

"So...many...people...what if I fail?..What if father finds out that I failed!" (Hinata)

"Heh, I'm gonna kick Kiba's ass this time and he'll have to pay me 20 ryos!" (Kazuma)

"There's no way I can beat Sasuke or Ino but if I can take Naruto's third place then I'll move up to #9 over-all!" (Tenshi)

"This is boring, why does eveyone make a big deal out of this shit, it's easy as hell." (Hagase)

"There's no way im losing to that lazy-ass Hagase, I'm takin' Naruto's ranking and that's all there is to it!" (Kiba)

"Damn it! I'm the fucking prince, why the hell do I keep losing to these damn peons! I'll definetly beat you this time, Sasuke!" (Naruto)

"Hmmm, I haven't been training my weapon throwing lately so I probably won't be able to beat Sasuke, wow! His hair looks really nice today..." (Ino)

"..." (Sasuke)

The whistle blew and each student started off with their kunai, aiming first twenty, then thirty, then fifty metres away. Five kunai for each distance, Sasuke led with a perfect 340, Ino trailed with 322, Hagase was in third with 320 and Naruto and Kiba were tied for fouth with both having scored 306.

Exclamations were heard at Sasuke beating his own record arguments broke out amongst the on-lookers over weather or not he would be able to throw a perfect all around set. That would put him at the required level of an academy graduate.

The finally everyone had finished their throws and were preparing to begin the shuriken throw, much more difficult to throw longer distances due to their tendency to change with the wind, proper understanding of how to change with the wind yourself was needed for accuracy.

(Naruto's POV)

Goddamnit! Shit! Fuck! Motherfucking shit storm bastards! Why? Why do I keep fucking losing to these worthless peons! Aren't I a prince? Aren't I the son of the Fourth Hokage? Aren't I the hero of Konohagakure! I'm strong! I'm great! All these fucking people who glare at me like or pretend I don't exist, they all do it 'cause they don't understand! They don't know how great I am! So...why...why am I always losing? Why am I so weak! No! I'm not weak! I'll win, I'll teach all of these bastards to know their place!"

As Iruka sensei readied himself to blow the whistle, Naruto picked up his shuriken and readied himself, going over everything he knew about throwing in his head.

"Definetly" he thought to himself "this time...I definitely won't lose this time!"

The whistle blew, the ninja-in-training threw.

"Concentrate"

Naruto narrowed his mind so that his entire world only existed of the shuriken, the wind and the target.

"Relax"

He let all of the tension out of his shoulders and neck, loosening his entire body so that each throw could have the snap of a whip.

"Win!"

The final shuriken struk its target and the whistle was blown, Iruka-sensei stepped out to announce the scores.

"First place, Uchiha Sasuke, score: 678

Second place, Ryo Hagase, score: 665

Third place, Yamanaka Ino, score: 664

Fourth place, Uzamaki Naruto, score: 662

Fifth place, Inuzaka Kiba, score: 652

Sixth place, Aburame Shino, score: 650

Seventh place, Haruno Sakura, score: 632

Eighth place, Takezo Bin, score: 629

Ninth place, Nara Shikamaru, score: 615

Tenth place, Harumi Tenshi, score: 612

..."

The list continued on for seventy more participants but many people stopped paying attention after the top ten were called except to hear their own scores, Naruto had left long before that.

It was two weeks after that event and Uchiha Sasuke was taking his usual route to his apartment from the academy. The sun was hovering just over the horizon, bathing the entire sky in brilliant hues of orange, gold, red and pink, there was a gentle wind blowing through and the crisp Autumn air brought with it the colors of the golden forest.

As he walked, Sasuke noted that he found Konoha to be rather beautiful in the Autumn, surprising himself with the fact that he still noticed such things and he felt his mood take on a very unusual lightness.

Happiness was an emotion which the young Uchiha was quite sure he would never truly feel again but one might have described his mood at this particular moment in time to be nearly content. However such things are fleeting as Sasuke discovered once again when he noticed a figure with a patch of painfully blond hair and brilliant blue eyes standing in his path, clearly looking for a fight.

Sasuke, not particularly feeling like a fight at that moment, decided he would simply make to walk past his class mate, to his surprise, Naruto did nothing to prevent him from doing so. He had gotten nearly five paces away when the other boy finally spoke.

"Fight me, Sasuke-san"

Said Uchiha stopped his progress and turned his head to see that the blond hadnt even moved, but there was no question as to what he said. Suddenly Sasuke felt like he wanted to teach this arrogant ass-hole a lesson, no one else dared to challenge the last surviving Uchiha so directly and he decided that he would teach the blond headed nuisance exactly why that was.

"I don't mind, as long as you don't mind having your ass handed to you...15th place."

That seemed to be the proverbial straw which breaks the proverbial camel's back because at that statement, Naruto snapped into action with eyes that promised every single layer of hell.

Spinning on a dime, he struck with a left hook aimed for Sasuke's temple, the Uchiha easily dodged the punch and countered with his own right straight, directly to the blonds temple, before said blond could be knocked back by the solid blow, the Uchiha grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a very painful knee the the gut.

The jinchuuriki's eyes widened in shock and pain before being interupted by a well placed upward palm-strike, courtesy of Uchiha Sasuke. With that, Naruto was allowed to finally fall to the ground, head reeling from pain and shock.

"Is that it?" The Uchiha asked. "That was embarrassingly easy, I thought you were a little stronger than that with how youre always walking around like you're hot shit. Guess you're really all talk after all." Turning to leave, he managed four steps towards his destination when he suddenly discovered what if felt like to be hit in the back by ninety-two pound of very pissed off blond.

Quick to capitalise on his advantage, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hair and proceeded to lift if off of the ground only to slam it rather viciously back into the gravel. He prepared to do so again until he suddenly noticed that a pair of feet had somehow gotten around his neck, he was allowed just enough time to be puzzled before his head was brought backwards quite painfully into the ground by said feet.

Rolling to his feet, Naruto sprang on the rising Uchiha without taking even a second to appreciate the exquisite pain which pulsed through his entire body at this point. However just when he was within punching distance he noticed that his adversary was holding his hand in an extremely ominous way in front of his mouth.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

Suddenly the most intense pain which he had ever felt spread throughout Naruto's body, he was enshrouded in heat and pain, his entire universe became about only pain and heat, on some level of consciousness that still remained, the boy was distantly aware of his body hitting the ground.

"Rule number six for a shinobi: never charge at an opponent when you cant see their hands. Especially if you have no idea of what he can do, you lose, idiot."

Somehow the word "idiot" was enough to catch the blonde's attention in order to bring him back to the world of the conscious. Opening his yes, he saw the Uchiha beginning to walk away, as quickly as he could, he climbed painfully and very shakily to his feet.

"Wait." he called to an unresponsive back. "I SAID FUCKING WAIT!" This seemed to have gotten the other boys attention as the back finally stopped, though it did not turn around.

"Please...tell me..." Narutp struggled with his body to stay both on his feet and conscious enough to speak. It would have been so much easier if he simply allowed himself to sink to his knees but his pride would not allow him to do such a thing.

He stood, panting, what was left of his shirt still smoking and the smell of burnt fabric and skin wafting through the air, it was unbelievably difficult just to draw breath, speech seems impossible, he spoke anyways.

"Tell me...why...how...how are you so strong? Why...someone like you...why is their such a huge difference between us!" Already Naruto was feeling stronger, breathing was becoming easier, his legs were ever so slightly more supportive."I train, my bloodline is a good one, so what makes you so fucking strong!"

He glared at the young Uchiha's back, for several moments, the dusky wind blew golden and red leaves through the air, finally, the other boy spoke.

"The difference between us? Why am I strong? You should instead ask yourself, why are you so weak?"

The blond's eyes widened in shock at these words, that he had asked himself that same question for years only made the blow that much harder to take.

"What do you mean?" He asked, "it isn't like I don't train just as much as everyone else! More probably, I stay after school for two hours everyday just to train!"

Then the back became the front and Naruto found himself suddenly looking directly into the obsidian eyes of one Sasuke Uchiha, and they were getting closer, fast.

"Two hours hours throwing kunai and you call that training? I've seen your half-assed way of training. The way you carry around the stupid fucking hankercheif in your sleeve so that no one sees you sweat. How you never over exert yourself so that no one sees you struggling. That's all you do too, I hear people talk about how you go around the shopping district actin all high and mighty just because the Hokage-sama happens to like you.

You walk around with your nose in the air just so you can look down at others like your some kind of hot shit and then everyday people see how you're nothing but talk. What do you know about struggle? What do you know about pain? You're weak 'cause you don't have any resolve, I can see it in your eyes, your someone who thinks they're entitled to something and has never had to work for anything.

I whiny ass pussy like you, with no resolve and no goal, who the fuck would lose to someone like you? You lack strength because, you are too prideful to really go after it. You wanna be strong? You gotta crawl through dirt and shit, bring yourself to the lowest depths you can possibly reach, live an existence where all you think of is that ambition and what you must do to achieve it.

Not that a spoiled, rich boy, bitch like you could ever do something like that."

And with that, Sasuke Uchiha walked off and Naruto finally allowed his knees to fall to the ground.

And that's chapter 4! I'll definitely be updating soon, sooner if I get a lot of comments *hint hint*