The Sandaime first noticed the changes a few months after the child's seventh birthday; a day that had been commemorated by a hastily deflected attempt on Naruto's life by some drunken louts.
Apparently, the boy's minders had begun to lose track of him for hours at a time, for a few days in a row. When the number of days where the boy was more absent than not had reached ten, they had brought it to his attention.
So, the Sandaime settled for watching the blond haired child using his crystal ball, and yet, for the life of him, he suddenly couldn't find the time to check in on Naruto during the day. It was almost as though the universe had learned of his plans and conspired to distract him with convenient influxes of paperwork just as he was about to search for the boy.
More than a little worried, he finally decided that if the boy vanished for another day, he would call him in and sit him down to find out what was happening.
Coincidentally, the day he made his decision was the day that Naruto decided to stop pulling his disappearing act.
Eventually, after a few months where the boy was always in full view of his minders, the Hokage, and the Anbu watching Naruto, finally relaxed.
Then, about two months after the whole incident, and eight months after Naruto had turned seven, he began to get reports that troubled him greatly.
Naruto had taken to studying.
Now, normally this change would be something to be praised in a child, but for someone like Naruto who was almost literally physically pained by academia, it rang a few warning bells in the mind of the Sandaime.
At first, he had called in the team assigned to watch the boy and had prepared to start scolding them for pulling such a prank, when the team leader, Dog, had stepped forward and pre-emptively confirmed the reports.
With that particular Anbu's validation, the Hokage was at a loss about what to do.
Finally settling on just having them watch the small child more closely, he mentally filed the incident away with a promise to keep a better eye on the boy.
Since they had been forewarned by Naruto's sudden interest in books, none of them was particular alarmed when reports began to come in about his improvement in school work.
What did rouse his ire though, was the repeated accusations that the boy was cheating.
It had taken a single visit from the Anbu Dog to dissuade the Academy teachers of that line of thinking.
With that dealt with, they almost fully relaxed once more when Naruto did something, a few weeks after his eighth birthday, that had his hidden watchers quietly panicking.
He dumped the orange outfits...all of them.
The first day he stepped out in plain sight wearing a fitted dark red long sleeve shirt with black ninja pants and steel toed boots, the Anbu watching him at the time – Cat – had stilled where she was hidden from sight for an instant, before flashing to the Hokage's office to report the issue.
Not wanting to rush things by jumping to conclusions, the Hokage had instead set up the crystal ball to watch Naruto for the whole day, calmly informing his secretary that he was not to be disturbed for any reason short of a World War.
Then, with the Anbu members Dog, Cat, Bear, and Mouse gathered with him, he zoomed in with the ball just as Naruto entered his classroom.
Stepping through the door after taking in a deep fortifying breath, Naruto pretended not to notice the sudden silence that his entry had caused.
Walking to his seat with a steady gait that he had only recently begun to use, he quietly slid into his seat, all the while not reacting to the eyes that were still focused on him with confusion.
Finally, the silence was broken by a snort from a purple haired girl called Ami, who sneered contemptuously at Naruto and said for the whole class to hear,
"Tch, better clothes, which you probably stole, aren't going to make you even half the boy Sasuke-kun is, Naruto-baka."
Expectant eyes swung from Ami back to Naruto even as their owners snickered at the blond's expense; they were all waiting for the customary blowup from Naruto that would even make him seem more of a fool than Ami's statement had.
Since Naruto had been gazing outside the window, none of his classmates had been able to see his eyes as Ami spoke.
So, none of them had seen when his eyes had brightened in anger, before they suddenly cooled to arctic levels as his anger went from blazing fury to chilling rage.
With his vision focused on the boy's face, the Sandaime and his companions saw it though.
So, they were the only watchers not surprised when, instead of blowing up like he would have done months before, Naruto merely turned his head just enough for him to fix Ami with a look from the corner of his eye.
With his hands folded before his face, and his head tilted like that, the wintry look on his handsome features caused beads of perspiration to suddenly sprout out of Ami's palms.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Naruto simply turned away from her in an obvious dismissal that left her cheeks stained red with a combination of humiliation and anger.
Before she could continue to antagonize him though, their class teacher pushed the door open and paused as he came upon the rare sight of a quiet class.
Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he moved forward to begin the special lesson; that day, they would be starting taijutsu practice.
Knowing that his actions from earlier had more firmly driven home the point to his classmates that he had changed, Naruto was not surprised to find people glancing at him and whispering as they all filed out onto the training field behind the Academy.
Sidling over to a tree, he leaned against it next to Shikamaru, who merely gave him a lazy look – that failed to hide the intelligent inquisitiveness of his eyes – before returning to his vertical nap.
Clapping to garner their attention, the teacher called out in a voice that easily traveled across the grounds,
"Well then, as you were all told last week, today we begin taijutsu practice. Now, before we start drilling you in katas, we are going to have casual spars to get a gauge of what level each of you is at; we don't want to hold anyone back to basic katas if they can go further with more focused tutoring."
While the students broke up into nervous titters, he began randomly pairing up people.
Nearing the end, he picked Naruto and Sasuke to spar.
Seeing the most talented student going up against the one who used to be the dead last of the class, everyone abruptly focused on the fight – even those not physically present.
Sasuke's cool black eyes scrutinized his opponent as he assumed the beginning stance for the Uchiha Interceptor Style of fighting.
Recalling what he knew about Naruto's character, he waited for him to make the first move, getting progressively more frustrated as Naruto just stood there staring at him.
Finally getting fed up, just as the others began to grumble about time being wasted, he shot forward at a speed that was impressive for an Academy student in second year.
His right hand came up in a powerful jab aimed to wind Naruto.
He hit air.
Eyes widening at the lack of resistance, he spied an incoming knee from the edge of his vision and managed to erect a hasty block with his left hand, deflecting some of the power of the blow to his abdomen, but still leaving him off balance for a moment.
Not to be taken lightly, he struck out in a rising punch as he was recovering, forcing Naruto to reverse his approach.
Bending backwards away from the punch, eyes widened as he kept on bending back until his hands met the floor and his legs sprung up in a backhanded standing kick, smashing into Sasuke's jaw and leaving him stumbling backwards in pain.
Once he was back on his feet, it was then that Naruto entered a stance that had the teacher's brows furrowing in confusion, and the Sandaime's rising in astonishment.
Too intrigued to call a halt to the match, the teacher watched on as Sasuke snarled in challenge before launching himself at Naruto even faster than he had before.
Through the flurry of kicks and punches aimed at him, Naruto seemed to serenely weave through them while all the time keeping himself close to Sasuke.
From the spectators' points of view, it looked as though the two were dancing together as Naruto shifted his feet and body to evade Sasuke's attacks by mere inches while his face never lost the calm and focused look on it.
In fact, one of Sasuke's punches came so close that he was practically ruffling Naruto's hair as the blond ducked and spun to his side.
Finally, Sasuke's frustration got the better of him and he over extended.
It was over in a flash.
Striking out like a snake, Naruto was inside his guard before he could even think of correcting his stance.
An iron grip seized his arm, and then his world became a dizzying swirl of gold, red, and blue, until the impact of his back with the ground cleared it up to leave him panting on the floor with Naruto standing over him.
Before he could fully process the fact that he had just lost without landing a hit on his opponent, the teacher called out Naruto's name to signify his win, and then moved to help Sasuke up.
Suddenly, most of the boys in class – who had always been annoyed with Sasuke's superiority – began to cheer loudly and call out congratulations to Naruto, not because he had won, but because he had beat Sasuke.
In his office, the Sandaime exchanged heavy looks with Dog, before he sighed in weariness.
Naruto pushed aside the curtain at the entrance to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand and moved to take a seat, while smiling brightly at Teuchi, who had only paused for a second at the sight of his new clothes.
Quickly placing an order, he turned his head when the curtain was moved to allow the entrance of a tall silver haired man whose head band was slanted to cover one of his eyes.
The newcomer meandered to a seat away from the counter and sat facing the room, with his back to a corner.
Seconds later, a purple haired woman with a pale guy who was obviously her boyfriend, entered the stand, and walked to a table close to the silver haired man.
They sat side by side and continued their conversation.
A few minutes later, just as his bowl was set on the table before him, the Hokage stepped into the Ramen Stand, waving aside the respectful greetings sent his way with a warm smile on his face.
Greeting Teuchi, who answered in turn, Sarutobi looked at Naruto and suddenly blinked in surprise as he watched the boy eat his food with impeccable manners.
Shaking off his surprise, he smiled and said,
"What's this Naruto-kun, don't I get a greeting as well?"
Turning to him, Naruto beamed and hopped from his stool to hug the old man with a chirped greeting much to the Hokage's visible delight.
Retaking his seat, he said,
"I didn't know that you would be coming here today, old man Hokage."
Smiling at he blond, after ordering his own meal, he simply said,
"Well, I realized that I hadn't seen you in a while, and then I thought to myself, where would Naruto be at this time?"
With his eyes twinkling at the now pouting child, the Hokage chuckled fondly at the boy.
After his food arrived, and the two had eaten peacefully for a few minutes, he turned to Naruto and said,
"So, I hear that you've started paying more attention to your studies."
Glancing at the old man for a moment, Naruto shrugged and replied,
"Well, it's easier now that I know what the different letters and words mean."
Suddenly, the stand descended into a silence that could only come from the deathly stillness of a predator about to pounce as the disguised Anbu and the Hokage understood the meaning behind the boy's words.
Reining in his ire and the Killing Intent that threatened to explode as the meaning of Naruto's words sunk in, the Sandaime spoke in a voice that was only calm on the surface,
"Hmmm...I didn't know that you were having problems with reading. Regardless, it is a good thing, as is the change in your clothes."
Watching the boy carefully, Sarutobi noticed as a reminiscing look entered his blue eyes, before he cast a soft smile at his shirt while rubbing it gently.
In his mind, Naruto was recalling a conversation he had had a few days before:
"Why do you wear those clothes Naruto?"
Freezing in place for a moment, he raised his eyes to focus on the person seating before him, rapidly forming and discarding possible responses; he had long since learnt that his usual cheerful deflections would not work on his companion.
A sigh from the older man had him curling into himself and dropping his head, before he stilled completely when warmth enveloped him as his companion wrapped strong but gentle arms around him.
When his friend spoke, he did it softly but so firmly that there was no room for doubt,
"You don't need to wear them anymore, Naruto. I see you...I know you are here...I acknowledge you."
With his breath hitching in his throat, Naruto melted into the warm embrace with tears slowly flowing down his whiskered cheeks as the lovingly spoken words flowed into his soul and soothed and began to heal wounds caused by years of neglect and callous indifference.
So, as he recalled the event that had led to the change in his clothes, he looked the Sandaime in the eyes and smiled, knowing from the old man's startled look that the smile on his face was one of the rare ones – small and so very true.
He simply said,
"I don't need them anymore."
Momentarily confused at his response, the Sandaime pushed it aside to keep on subtly digging,
"I see. They are nice clothes. Did you buy them yourself?"
As the boy shook his head in denial, Sarutobi felt his muscles tenses once Naruto responded,
"Nope, Nii-san bought them for me."
Sensitive ears picking up a subtle shift from one of the corners in the room, the Sandaime kept from looking at the silver haired book reader.
Making sure his voice was as casual as could be, he asked,
"Oh? And what is this person's name?"
Bestowing on the aged Hokage, a look that questioned his intelligence, Naruto promptly declared,
"His name is Nii-san"
The response surprisingly startled a chuckle out of him before he pressed,
"Okay, but who is he?"
Getting a look of realization, Naruto replied and scared ten years off the Hokage's life,
"Oh. Well, he is my uncle" – and just in case the Hokage was really having a slow day, he added for clarification – "you know, my dad's brother."
Eyes widening in sudden alarm, the Hokage was about to ask for more clarification just as Naruto suddenly perked up and was out of his chair in a blur with a shout that had all four adult ninjas reaching for weapons,
"Nii-san!"
Focusing on the man who had just entered, Sarutobi felt his heart hiccup as his eyes met azure orbs set in the very face carved next to his on the Hokage monument.
He was too shocked to turn at the slight choking sound emanating from somewhere to the side – no doubt from the one eyed man seated there.
Watching as the newcomer gently set Naruto down from where he had caught him in mid air, he observed the man's gentle interactions and obviously loving words to the affection starved kid, and felt something in him relaxing, though he scolded himself for letting his guard down.
Moving forward, after composing himself, he was about to speak up when the man beat him to the punch, speaking in a tone that was smooth and regal,
"Ah...I didn't see you there, Sandaime-sama. I hope this kid hasn't been giving you too much trouble."
Instantly, Naruto launched into a fast paced protest about how he wasn't bothering anyone, leaving those around him almost dizzy from the rush of words spewing from his mouth, before the man suddenly chuckled and plopped a hand on his head, halting him.
Turning back to the clone of the Yondaime – he inquired, with a steely undertone in his voice,
"No, he has been a delight, as always. Though, I cannot say that I have met you before, young man."
If the blond mad heard the warning in his tone, he didn't show it.
With a graceful bow, he inclined his head and replied,
"Where are my manners? I am Kazama, Namikaze Kazama, a pleasure to meet you."
What can I say about this one? First off, the inspiration for this story came from Ghost by cywscross, who is truly an awesome writer, words can't express.
So, here we have a Naruto (probably the Eternal Sage) in a world that already has a young Naruto in it. He will basically be a mentor and older brother figure...I chose the name because this is an Earth Using Naruto.
I have been asked this before, so let me just say this here. I am writing the next chapters of my other stories, but sometimes, I need to switch to something else, and so I write these little snippets. Regardless, rest assured that my entire focus is on Little Things and my Bleach Fic.