A/N: Well here's where it all starts. Enjoy! Also I would have a disclaimer but if you really thought I owned Naruto then you really should read more books instead of fanfiction. Go on, skeedadle!

"NARUTOOO!!!!"

"Yah-ha-haaa!!!"

They said it couldn't be done. They said that it would never happen, but it did. Naruto finally graduated and his elation couldn't be any greater. He was on top of the world and no one could knock him down. He liked to think that that little prank he pulled on Iruka-sensei would be a nice story kids would tell their parents about their graduation.

Naruto was now fifteen years-old and had been living in the southern village of Konoha, Tane for three years now. It's name meant "seed," because supposedly this was the place the Yondaime Hokage was born and therefore all the promising seedlings of Konoha lived here before they became legendary Shinobi.

Boy was Naruto looking forward to when his day finally came around.

The village was a warm and sunny place that barely ever saw rain. It would sometimes get gusty in the Fall but was a generally peaceful place. The animals and the people were generally nice and Naruto really did enjoy living there. Then again in comparison to some of the other places he had lived, that wasn't saying much.

For a long time he remembered being completely alone bouncing from foster-home to foster-home, no one really wanting him. He would have liked to say that that was the worst part of his life but it really wasn't. His foster-families may have been negligent but at least they provided food and shelter. Before that, he lived in the town orphanage and even though some of the people were nice, the kids were pretty nasty. Not as nasty as the meals of course or the mold that ate at the walls, but still pretty damn bad.

His life went along like that until he was finally adopted by someone and it stuck, and he thanked Iruka-sensei everyday. Today though, he knew he had an easy target, Iruka-sensei being his class's teacher and all that footage from living with him, the prankster in him couldn't pass up the opportunity to impress his peers.

Naruto didn't have the greatest grades in his class but he thought he went by decently and his graduation proved it. Part of the problem was he couldn't sit still long enough in class to actually absorb anything ,but the other part was he just thought it was boring most of the time.

You see, Naruto was training to be a ninja, in case you hadn't guessed, and he was decent, but he knew not to lie and say his skills were more profound or amazing then they really were.

"WAHOO!!! I'm the greatest!!!" he shouted as hopped over a family picnicking and onto a sewer cap which he used as a spring-board onto the roof of a bakery.

He sat down for a minute to catch his breath and look up at the sky. He knew he could probably get Iruka-sensei to forgive him later as long as he got to yell for a while and Naruto pretended to listen, everything would be fine.

Naruto sat there though for a while thinking of what the future might hold for him. At this point, he knew what he was gonna do, but what was further for him? He wondered if he could really make it sometimes, if he was cut out for this kind of work. These doubts filled his head from time to time, but usually he didn't let them bother him. Suddenly Naruto sat back up and stopped thinking.

"I'm gonna be Hokage." he whispered to himself.

Steeling his resolve for a moment longer he knew that if anyone had to have faith in him, it had to be himself. With that thought on his mind he hopped off of the roof and into an alley. He looked around for the minute, but then remembering where he had to go, dashed off.

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"That Naruto, where did that little brat go..." Iruka whispered to himself as he wandered through the streets of Tane.

He knew Naruto could be a handful and a bit of a prankster when he wanted to be ,but Iruka really had to draw the line. Not only was he embarrassed in front of all of his graduating students, but also their parents, the faculty, the town elders, and every other possible person he could think of, that was at the graduation. He was just lucky the school board didn't decide to televise it.

Iruka was sure to find Naruto if he kept looking around the same spots that he usually hung out at. He turned a corner and was in the right district. Colored ribbons streamed between buildings and stands filled with games and candy of every kind. He knew Naruto liked to come to the gaming district whenever he had some free time or a full wallet. The people running around for all of the different games and activities. Some were kids about Naruto's age, others were younger and with parents, and some were kids a little older with dates. Guys trying to win prizes for their girlfriends and the girlfriends cheering them on from the sidelines.

Iruka missed the springtime of his youth sometimes. He wasn't that old really and he still had many good years. That's why some questioned why he wanted to adopt Naruto and he never really did have a full answer. On the one hand he did think Naruto needed the help of course, but it was more than that. He could see a little of himself in the boy. Iruka wasn't sure if that was the whole reason, but Iruka knew he would have wanted someone to take him in when he was all alone, and even though they only knew each other for a few years in school, he truly did like the boy.

Although if someone had asked him right at that moment, his answer might be a little different.

Now Iruka was running through the streets, careful not to bump into any people playing games or calmly trying to enjoy their day, unlike him. No, Iruka was on a man-hunt. He would find Naruto sooner or later and Iruka kept an optimistic attitude. Especially with that laughter he was hearing, and he was pretty sure he knew who it belonged to. He started to pick up the pace as he entered into a shop that sold fried squid. He headed towards the back where he heard some more laughter, but it wasn't just Naruto's laughter, there were multiple voices.

Had Naruto made some friends?

Iruka went to the back door of the shop, it was right next to the kitchen and you could smell the squid aroma permeating from the room. It was a bit nauseating, and Iruka was never a fan of fried squid. Nevertheless, Iruka got as close as possible to the kitchen so he practically had his ear against the back door.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha, that was pretty good Naruto." one boy said.

"Yeah, I gotta give you your props on that one." another commented.

"Thanks guys, it was really nothing. But it was cool right?" Naruto chimed in, and Iruka couldn't help but notice a small shaking in his voice.

"Yeah, it was nice, I guess." a third boy said.

"So, we can hang out this summer right?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Whoa, whoa, man, easy. It was good but it wasn't that good." the first boy said chuckling to himself.

"Come on, you just said it was good!" Naruto exclaimed now sounding sort of desperate.

For a moment there was silence and Iruka found himself holding his breath the entire time. He knew Naruto had problems making friends and wasn't very popular, but he hadn't realized how desperate Naruto had gotten for acceptance. Had he really been so blind?

"Yeah, but not good enough for us to hang out with a loser like you, Naruto." the third boy chuckled loudly, then Iruka could hear their footsteps as they walked away.

"Wait a minute!'" Naruto growled angrily and Iruka could hear him taking a few steps, but then a loud gut-wrenching noise stopped him, and he knew that one of those brats must have sucker-punched Naruto in the stomach because the next few seconds were filled with Naruto's coughs and gasps as he fell to the ground, with a loud splash, into a puddle.

"Back off man! Face it, you are, and always will be, the biggest loser in the universe." the third punk said as he and his friends walked away.

For a long grueling moment there was absolutely no sound heard through the alley and Iruka figured that Naruto was still sitting on the ground in a daze from his punch to the stomach. Iruka had known that Naruto had some troubles fitting in, but to go as far as using pranks to win recognition?

That was a pain Iruka was hoping he wouldn't have to hear about again

After a while he heard Naruto stand up and brush himself off as he slowly walked out of the alley. Even though Iruka couldn't see him, he could probably guess what Naruto looked like. He would cover his face with his arm like the sun was in his eyes, then start walk out of the alley through the shadows, not wanting to be noticed by anyone. It was at this point that Iruka left the fried squid shop and walked around to the alley where, sure enough, he spotted Naruto slinking along.

Iruka came up behind him calmly trying to make sure that his footsteps were slow and nonthreatening. Why, he wasn't sure but he just felt like he didn't want his footsteps to sound like he was going to attack. What Naruto needed right now was a calm ear, not a loud voice.

Iruka approached slowly and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto jumped and spun around to look at who had grabbed his shoulder, but when he saw Iruka he calmed for a moment. Then suddenly his worry spiked again when Naruto realized that he was still chasing him, but at the moment Iruka wasn't thinking about punishing Naruto at all. All he wanted to do was help this boy get through this tough time, the best way he knew how.

"Come on, let's get some ramen."

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The bar was small and dank with the scent of dried-up blood circulating through the air. The shadiest of characters were sitting at the bar and she knew that even though they weren't acting like it, her presence there was having an effect on the patrons. The bartender looked just as dark and shady as any of his customers. The bar was a dark and foreboding place that a person with any sense of caution wouldn't have entered.

"My kind of place." she whispered to herself.

She walked over to the bar and ordered up a couple of bottles of sake for herself and sat quietly reflecting. This was the best time of year for her. There was no work to worry about, no assistants telling her to do her paperwork and best of all, no bratty kids to deal with. She could just cut back and do some quality drinking.

Some would say that the reason she enjoyed drinking so much was because it helped numb the pain in her life, and there was no doubt in her mind that that was true, but there was more to it than that. She drink because it was something you could do by yourself when you had no one else. Because that's what she was: alone. So drinking was an activity to pass the time for her. Not to mention that she was practically an addict to the stuff at this point.

She had gotten better at dealing with the pain and sense of abandonment she felt over the years, but it still brought up bitter memories. The amount of death and blood she saw in her life was more than anyone wanted to see. She was fifty years old with no one to share memories with. Everyone she cared about was either long gone and unreachable, or dead.

"And so with this bitter taste in my mouth I take another swig!" Tsunade announced to herself as she took another shot of sake.

Unbeknown to her, Tsunade wasn't alone on this night, for she had someone not so far away, watching her every move, carefully counting the number of drinks she took, waiting for when she would drink his special little treat he left in one of her bottles. Also, it really didn't take much to bribe the bartender.

Sadly, this wasn't some creepy guy in the back admiring Tsunade's beauty like some guys (and girls) did, no this man was different. This was someone who had great plans in his mind for Tsunade and what she could get him. He wasn't a pervert or anything,oh, no. He was just a good business-man who knew exactly how much one of the Legendary Sannin would cost.

"Yeah, drink up you crazy, drunk, bitch." the man whispered to himself as he stepped out of the bar.

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"Itadakimasu!" Naruto and Iruka-sensei exclaimed together.

Iruka-sensei had bought Naruto the last couple bowls of ramen and Naruto wasn't sure why but he wasn't one to pass up a good opportunity. He made sure to order as much ramen as possible, as fast as possible. Beef, pork, barbecue pork, miso, whatever he could think of, Iruka-sensei was buying.

"Wow, nine bowls! Still want some more Naruto?" the waitress asked passing there table again.

"You know it!" Naruto declared handing her his bowl eagerly.

"You're actually trying to make me go broke, aren't you?" Iruka joked checking his wallet again and calculating the damage it was currently receiving in his head.

Naruto ignored the joke as his tenth bowl arrived at the table. He had to admit, the service was great at this place. Although, on the other hand there was the fact that the more, he ate the larger her tip would be, but whatever it was, he didn't care.

Iruka and Naruto liked to come to this restaurant over the weekends or whenever they just wanted some ramen. You see in Tane there were no actual ramen bars or anything, so if you wanted ramen, you would have to either buy the cheap instant kind, which was okay too, or you would have to come here. So that's what they did. All the time. ALL THE TIME...

"So, Naruto, what are your plans for the summer?" Iruka-sensei asked in between bites.

"This, coming here for ramen. Then going home and sleeping for 18 hours and then coming back here for ramen, and starting the whole process over again." Naruto declared proudly with a large mouthful of noodles.

"Well, that sounds... productive." Iruka-sensei said slowly, "Then what are your plans for next year? There's a good finisher school just a couple of block from your old one. I teach there too, so we could hang out together during the school day." Iruka-sensei added after finishing his third bowl of ramen.

"Well, that does sound nice, but I've already applied somewhere else." Naruto said calmly now slurping the soup out of his bowl.

"Oh, really? Where?" Iruka-sensei asked curiously, almost done with his bowl.

"Konoha Boarding school." Naruto said calmly putting his now empty bowl down.

At that moment, there was a loud clank that rang out through the entire restaurant, and for a moment everyone went completely still. Naruto stopped and looked up to see that Iruka-sensei had dropped his bowl on the table, spilling the last scant drops of his soup onto the table. The more alarming part though, was the look that Naruto was getting from Iruka-sensei at that moment. It was as if he had seen a ghost take a crap on Naruto's head. Maybe something worst.

"Where?" Iruka questioned all of a sudden.

"K-Konoha Boarding school." Naruto repeated quietly.

"Naruto, that's, that's- really?!! Look Naruto, I really don't want to put you down here, but Konoha Boarding school is one of the most prestigious ninja schools in the Fire Country! Hell it is the most prestigious! I've seen some of my best students, with the best grades, and the best skills, get turned down flat!" Iruka exclaimed animatedly.

"I don't think you realize what an important time you're in Naruto! The first eight years of schooling for ninjas is all basic stuff, but the last three are extremely important. That's when you learn real skills, and get ranked, and start accepting missions! You need to put your pride aside and start thinking about-"

"I know!" Naruto interrupted before Iruka-sensei could finish.

For a moment they both just sat there in complete silence and stared at each other. The tension was building in the room and every single second seemed to drag along. The sink in the kitchen was dripping little by little, and the frying pans sizzled quietly into the night, and all of the other patrons in the restaurant were talking amongst themselves in a calm manner, not even noticing these two people staring each other down. After a while Naruto slumped back into a sitting position, not even remembering when he had stood up.

"I know." Naruto whispered quietly, "But I know that that's my best chance to achieve my dream! There's no other school that will take me to the top!"

"Dream?" Iruka-sensei asked quietly.

"To become the greatest Hokage! Everyone knows the story of how the Yondaime came from this village, and I think that gives me a bit of an edge. I know that's a weak excuse, but when I think about where the best place for me is, I can't think of anywhere else! Konoha Boarding School has the reputation for being the best school in the entire Fire Country, and that's what I'm aiming for! The best! Even if they don't want to take me, I'll make them! I'll show them I've got the skills to do it and finally prove myself to village, and to anyone else who questions my greatness!" Naruto declared loudly standing up on the table for emphasis.

Iruka could only stare for a moment at this boy standing in front of him. At first he was thinking that it was sad that Naruto needed to feel confirmation in his existence, by doing such an impossible feat, but on the other hand he admired him. Naruto was at the very least doing something proud, and aiming for the sky and beyond. He just hoped that Naruto didn't end up hurt in the end.

"I hope you put that speech in the essay portion of the application." Iruka-sensei said with a smile.

"Essay portion?"

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Tsunade was stumbling along the dirt path that headed home, trying not to fall face first into anything. That would have just ruined her day entirely, or what was left of it anyway. She was pretty sure she must have spent a good couple of hours into the night, swigging away the sake.

"Whoa, nelly." she stated silently to herself as she sat down on a tree stump she spotted.

Tsunade was a regular drinker, that was true, but she just couldn't understand it though. She thought she had developed an immunity at this point, or at the very least, could stomach more of the stronger stuff now that she was older. Why was she suddenly so out of it?

She looked down the path ahead of her. It was a long dirt path that seemed to go on forever with trees all around the sides. It was obvious that the path cut through the forest of this smaller south village and lead back to main Konoha, but it was still pretty far from where she lived. Why did she have to go so far away? Now all she could think about was how tough it was going to be to go through the forest without running into a tree.

"Dammit, why is my vision so blurry?" Tsunade asked herself as she stood up, but then had to sit right back down as the nausea got to her.

"Am I really this drunk? Or maybe..."

"It sounds like you've pretty much realized it, haven't you?" a voice said out of the shadows of one of the trees down the path.

Tsunade quickly turned to the source of the voice and was faced by nothing but darkness, but after a moment of staring she could tell that a person was there. Just like that, as if in response to her realization, the person lifted his stealth jutsu and was standing there in jet-black clothes, but oddly enough, not ninja clothes. He looked like he was wearing a regular suit and tie and was about to stop by the office, except that his clothes were completely black, head-to-toe, and it was nighttime.

"Good Evening." the man said giving Tsunade good look at his face finally.

He had dark brown eyes and silver-colored hair, on his head was a bandanna that had a Konoha Ninja leaf hitae-ite. Plastered to his face was the craziest and sickest smile she had ever seen and if it wasn't for her years as a ninja, she would have been slightly frightened.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked in a slur.

"Of course. You're the Legendary Tsunade. The greatest medical ninjutsu expert known to man. You almost singlehandedly ended the Great Ninja Wars with your innovative breakthroughs in medical upkeep, and battle skills. I wouldn't dive into the lion's den without knowing what I was getting into." he stated very nonchalantly, "I also know you're no threat to me right now."

"Is that so?" she asked confidently, even though on the inside she knew she was about to hurl.

"Maybe normally I wouldn't stand a chance but, right now, an infant could handle you." he stated bluntly.

"Heh, yeah... so how did you slip me the poison?" she asked calmly.

"I waited for it to be put in your sixth bottle, so you would be too hammered to notice. You know, drinking is a bad vice." he stated now approaching her even closer.

"Dammit." Tsunade said to herself.

Normally this kind of thing would be no problem but the truth was, not only had she been poisoned, but she was extremely hammered. She normally might have even been able to remove the poison, but she was so drunk, it could take several seconds. Seconds that she didn't have. This guy may have been dodgy, but he was smart. He was ready to take her out quickly and efficiently and she wouldn't be able to stop him.

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Naruto was walking home from the restaurant having had his fill. He told Iruka-sensei that he would be home soon, but wanted to make a stop first. He wandered through the forest to his favorite spot, which during the day got enough sunlight that it had a nice warm atmosphere, and at the same time enough shade from the trees to keep cool. At night though, it wasn't quite as much to look at, but it was still a good place to hide some stuff.

Naruto sat down on a rock that he had marked a few weeks ago with a kunai knife and looked straight up, like he knew that he was supposed to. Then he quickly threw a shuriken straight up as it hit a beehive. Usually that would have been a very stupid thing to do but instead of bees coming out, there came only a small key. It dropped down into Naruto's hand which he then quickly stashed away in his pocket.

Then Naruto stood up and lifted the rock he had been previously sitting on, and underneath it was a covered hole about a foot deep. Naruto reached in and pulled out a small box about the size of a shoebox. He proceeded to open the box with the key and reached inside for his greatest possession.

His secret gumbo ramen recipe.

It was a feat never tested before! A recipe for ramen made with so many ingredients with such a thick broth, that it could be considered a gumbo, but still be a ramen! It had never been tried before and Naruto knew that it would take a huge amount of effort on his part. But the end result would be absolutely worth it.

"Alright, now let's get this home and-"

"Move it brat!" someone interrupted as he pushed Naruto out of his way.

"Whoa-oh!" Naruto exclaimed as he lost his balance and started rolling along from the momentum of the man's shove, but even worse was when he started to slow down, that's when he met a hill that kept him going down with no stop in sight, at this point, only praying that the landing would be a soft one.

Right into a ravine.

"Phbbthh!! Yuck!" Naruto exclaimed as he tried to get the moss-water taste out of his mouth.

Then at that moment the most unforeseen and possibly heart breaking thing had happened. Naruto looked down at his recipe, only to find that the ink on the parchment had begun to run and was now completely illegible. Naruto stared at it for a long time with a look of total despair. But then after a while her got up, shooting up like he sat on a nail.

Naruto was pissed.

"I'm gonna kill that guy!" Naruto said standing up and rushing in the direction that that rude man who had pushed him had gone.

For a while Naruto kept on running as fast as he could, letting his anger fuel him. What he wasn't aware of was as he kept running farther and farther, he soon ran onto a dirt path that was a part of the forest he had never been in before.

Then all of a sudden he heard voices.

"...but, right now, an infant could handle you." the same voice that had pushed him over said.

Naruto got closer and closer until he could finally see what was going on. He stood up on a tree and looked through the branches and saw the strangest and yet foreboding sight. There standing was the man who had pushed him who, strangely enough, was wearing some sort of fancy suit or something. Some people were weird. He was standing in front of blond woman sitting on a stump looking very dizzy but the first thing Naruto noticed was her huge rack!

"Yowza." Naruto said silently to himself.

Then at that moment, black-suit guy started to walk up to the woman very slowly at first as if he was going to embrace her. Then in a single second the tenseness in the air changed as the guy pulled out a kunai knife that was so sharp it seemed to reflect the moon in it's blade. At that moment Naruto knew that he had to react and didn't care about the consequences. Naruto jumped up into the air with a burst and rocketed up the tree grabbed onto the branch and swung for a moment building momentum until finally he flung himself head first right into black-suit guy's back.

"Ahh!" the guy shrieked as he dropped the kunai to the ground, Naruto flipping through the air and landing back on the ground behind the black-suit guy in a fighting stance.

"Take that you bastard!" Naruto exclaimed proudly standing up in triumph pointing at the man's back.

"Who the hell are you?" the guy said turning around to face his assailant.

"Uzumaki Naruto, hero, at your service!" Naruto stated loudly with a fierce grin on his face like he had seen superheroes do in the comics.

"Oh, just some brat." the guy said calmly.

"Hey!" Naruto stated indignantly, "I'll have you know I just graduated from ninja starter school you jerk! That means I can do cool ninja stuff that will blow your mind!" Naruto stated proudly looking at the thug with a smug grin.

"Oh, really?" the black-suit guy had started to chuckle to himself and it made Naruto start to worry a little bit, "Well, my name is Mizuki, or my nickname: Mizu-flash. I got that nickname-"

At that moment he disappeared from Naruto's vision and for a second Naruto was thoroughly confused on what had happened but it all became clear in a harsh bone-crunching second. Naruto felt his reappearance before he saw it. Mizuki, as he now knew him, smashed his fist into Naruto's face sending him flying a few feet into the tree that Naruto had previously swung from.

"-well, because of that. In case you didn't figure it out, I'm a ninja too." he stated cooly.

Naruto tried getting up but his back was sore from the bark and the wind was still knocked out of him. He finally was able to stand up, but only after some grunting and encouraging words on his own part.

"So, Mr. Hero, back off, alright?" Mizuki asked as he started to walk back toward the blond woman.

Naruto then desperately threw a few shurikens at Mizuki but he casually dodged them and then disappeared again out of Naruto's sight. He then reappeared behind Naruto slashing at his neck, this time with a kunai knife. Only this time around, Naruto was prepared, he tucked his legs in and rolled onto the ground and quickly threw two shurikens mid-roll behind him trying to hit Mizuki in the legs. Unfortunately Mizuki disappeared again and caught Naruto in mid-roll by the belt of his pants so Naruto was pretty much sitting on his head as Mizuki tossed him into a tree.

'That was a pretty awkward move.' Tsunade thought to herself watching this ninja-boy get beaten.

This kid popped out of nowhere and she was grateful to the him because he was providing her the necessary distraction she needed, but this was still a sad fight to watch. Mizuki was using a simple flash-jutsu that all ninja with some degree of experience knew, and this Naruto kid was being beaten. Bad. She just hoped the kid didn't get too roughed up trying to play hero.

"This is sad kid, you wanna give up and call it a day? If you do I might let you live..." Mizuki mocked in a sort of sing-song voice.

Two more shurikens flew out of the bushes and Mizuki caught both of them inches from his face.

"Guess not." Mizuki said to himself.

"Take this!" Naruto declared flying over Mizuki head going down for an axe-kick.

That Mizuki caught.

"Kid, you suck." Mizuki said calmly as he pulled Naruto down to eye-level, kneed him in the stomach, and then dropped him softly to the ground like a bag of marbles, only the bag was coughing and hacking up blood at this point.

"You know what I've decided?" Mizuki asked looking down at Naruto's crumpled form, "I'm not feeling so merciful anymore so I've decided to kill you. How's that sound brat? At least that'll mean you'll look heroic right? I mean, I think I'm being pretty nice here." Mizuki taunted as he started to calmly kick Naruto's crumpled form.

'God, I'm such a loser.' Naruto thought to himself.

This was like it was all the time. Naruto would sit around and take crap from punks and they would beat on him. When he stood up for himself, people would just beat him down and Naruto would just take it like a frightened little victim. His life had always gone like this. Why did it always have to be this way? If Naruto didn't do something soon, he was gonna die!

'This is a bunch of crap! That's it, I'm doing that jutsu!' Naruto declared to himself, as another kick came to him, he caught Mizuki's foot in his hand and pushed himself off of it and slid away from Mizuki and towards the blond woman.

"Hey, lady, " Naruto said as he started to get up, "I don't know who you are or what's going on. But I promise this guy isn't gonna touch you." Naruto said horsely as he put his hands together to form the ram seal.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!!" Naruto screamed as hard as he could.

All of a sudden the forest was filled with tens of twenties of Narutos all standing defiantly and looking with smug grins at Mizuki. Some were hanging from the trees while others were simply crouching on the ground and some were even standing on other clones shoulders. It was a real party.

"SO WHAT DO YOU SAY NOW?" the crowd of Narutos asked in unison.

Mizuki was stunned by the number of Shadow Clones this little brat was able to make. Even accomplished Jonins could only make six maybe seven Shadow clones before they started going into chakra depletion. This kid though had made over twenty and looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat. It was pretty impressive and surprising.

But so was he.

Suddenly Mizuki disappeared again and then all of a sudden a cloud of clones disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto realized what was going on and tried to organize the clones to make a counter-attack but it was to no avail. Anytime some of them tried to move they would just get hit by the moving flash that was Mizuki until the only one standing in the forest was a lone Naruto. Mizuki had reappeared once more, and stomped on Naruto's back sending Naruto careening to the ground.

'Crap' Tsunade thought to herself.

So far the kid was pretty pathetic to watch and Tsunade had begun to worry he was gonna get killed, but then he pulled out those shadow clones and she was truly impressed. Now though, it was obvious that even though he had mastered the jutsu itself he hadn't learned to control it very well, as Mizuki had taken all the clones out in less than a minute. All the kid did really was waste a bunch of chakra. Still, that much chakra in one kid was impressive. Too impressive. Who was this kid? Uzumaki? Where had she heard that name before?

Then it hit her!

"Eat some dirt kid. I hear it's good for dregs." Mizuki said smugly as Naruto was now lying face first in the ground.

Mizuki was now done playing with the kid. He pulled out his kunai knife and started twirl it around on his finger by the loop on the end. He soon caught it and held it over Naruto's head for a second until he finally had it crash down at lightning-quick speed. The knife smashed into Naruto's skull with a sickening scrape as it went against bone.

And then disappeared.

"WHAT?!" Mizuki exclaimed in surprise.

At that moment two hands broke out of the ground and reached up to grab onto Mizuki's legs before he could run away. Then flying out of the trees like bullets were two Narutos with there fists flying and headed straight for Mizuki. Their fists crashed into Mizuki's face, then in a feat of pure athleticism finished with a kick to his gut before his head caught any momentum from the punch. As they pushed off his stomach and flew away with a back-flip and landed onto the ground with a slide and Mizuki with a flying crash into a rock.

"Who's the punk now?" Naruto said as his clone dispersed, "You're only advantage was speed, once I caught you with my clone I hid under ground, you were pretty weak man." Naruto declared loudly with a pant as his other clone dug itself out of the hole and then dispersed.

"Not bad kid." Tsunade said now having removed the poison from her system.

"You okay lady?" Naruto asked with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks to you kid." Tsunade said giving Naruto a pat on the head and started to walk away.

"Wait, that's it? Just a 'thanks kid'?" Naruto asked indignantly but she had already disappeared from his view.

'Man, what a weird night.' Naruto thought looking at Mizuki's unconscious form.

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"Alright, next on the list, Uchiha Sasuke. Exemplary marks and good teacher recommendations. Not only that but since he's of that legendary clan, it would be unconscionable to think otherwise. All Agreed?"

"Aye."

"All opposed?"

"..."

"Alright then, Uchiha Sasuke, welcome to Konoha Boarding School." and with that said the man pulled out his eight-inch "accepted" stamp over the application form.

Tsunade hated this part of the year. After a long and relaxing summer of binge-drinking and sleeping in until noon she had to go back to work. She was calmly sipping tea in her room when Shizune came in and demanded that she get to work on the application forms that the school board members had already begun to work on weeks ago. When she got there they had already started and frankly she didn't care. Just more brats for her school.

"Last application here." Tool Number Four as Tsunade liked to call him said.

"Oh, was that an application? I thought it was a joke." Tool Number Six said chuckling at her own joke.

The Eight Board members were some of the most well-known ninjas in the Fire Country having either been noted for amazing feats in their careers or being recommended by one of those Legendary Ninjas. They were really just a bunch of old farts and their apprentices who were so pretentious and pompous Tsunade rarely opened her eyes to look at them. Despite that, they did at least recognize talents and that's why they were in charge of admissions. Of course, sometimes "talent" got confused with fame. That tended to tick her off a little.

"Yes, well, it's only fair that we at least glance at it," said Tool Four again, "Alright, Uzumaki Naruto: 2.0 grade average, 477 detentions, from six different schools, no teacher recommendations but definitely a few complaints, and lastly no essay portion to his application. Oh, and only extra-curricular activity: Ramen sampling Club, which consisted of three members, two of which dropped out after the first week. Wow, not only should this boy not be accepted but I think he could find a better career as a doorstop than a ninja." the Tool joked and of course everyone laughed like it was the most hilarious thing they had ever heard.

Tsunade did have to agree on this one though. What was this kid thinking? Everyone knew that Konoha Boarding School only accepted the best of the best and this kid didn't even sound like he was the bottom of the barrel. Was he really the kid she met in the forest? He sounded like he was even lower than that. If the kid could got any compliment from reading his record though it was bravery. Anyone who could send in an application that crappy had to be brave as hell. That or pretty dumb.

Tsunade glanced at the picture opening her eyes during the meeting for the first time in years and saw the grinning, boisterous, and and blond face she had seen months ago. So that kid had applied to her school, huh? Interesting.

"All right, all those who think we should just toss this application say 'Aye.'"

"Aye."

"All opposed?""

"Nay."

With that all of the heads in the room turned to look at Tsunade. For a moment some of them had even forgotten that Tsunade attended these meetings, seeing as she never said anything in them ever. This was practically historic that she took an opinion about one of the students.

"Excuse me? Tsunade-sama?" Tool Four asked.

"I say, we give this kid a shot." Tsuande said smugly, she didn't know why she felt so smug but she did.

"Tsunade-sama, I implore you, this boy has not done the work or have the standing to even look at our Academy's legendary doors. Why would you possibly want to-"

"This kid looks promising to me. His record may not be the best but-"

"His record is terrible!" Tool Number Six interrupted.

"BUT," Tsunade started again stiffly, "sometimes the things that make a good ninja aren't things you can find on a record. Besides, I like ramen too. He may be fun to have here." Tsunade stated simply, knowing that the real reason she was nominating this kid was because he was the Yondaime's legacy and because of how, when seeing him in the forest and looking at his picture now, he sort of reminded her of-

"Tsunade-sama, I implore you, you can't-"

"Are you questioning my judgment? Ebisu?" she asked in her most threatening voice possible.

"... of course not Tsunade-sama." he stated calmly bowing his head, which was actually something to watch because he was sitting down and almost slammed his head down on the table as if he was trying to express his frustration at this admission.

Maybe he was.

"Alright, then, if no one objects. Uzumaki Naruto, welcome to Konoha Boarding School." Tsuande said, and without waiting for any other opinions quickly snatched Ebisu's ungodly stamp and slammed it down on the record.

'Let's see what you've got kid. Show me whether what you did in the forest that night was skill or just luck.' Tsunade said thinking to herself looking at Naruto's grinning picture as he made the "victory" sign in his kabuki paint, almost as if in the picture he was celebrating his acceptance.

Naruto got out of bed that morning as he usually did: by falling out when his alarm went off. He quickly threw the alarm against the wall to shut it up and when it beeped it's last beep of life he walked out of his room. He headed down stairs where Iruka-sensei was asleep on the couch, because he came in so late last night from reading applications. Naruto smiled for a second and then went outside to pick up the mail. He grabbed the newspaper and the his issue of "Ramen Flavor Monthly" and a few bills for the house and-

"WHOA!!!! IRUKA-SENSEI!!!!!!!!!!"

A/N: Read and review please! Also suggestions are nice.