Learning

"Now I've talked a lot about our courageous Yondaime, but I still haven't talked too much about our other hokages. For now I'm simply going to touch upon their legacies, but I expect you all to delve more thoroughly into their lives on your own time. We will discuss them at greater length as we move through the course."

Over half a year in the academy and Naruto still enjoyed the lectures he received from his teacher. He knew others would rather be training but he liked watching his teacher. She was already a shinobi so how better to learn to act like one than to follow the examples set by one?

Not only that, she was far smarter than they were. He was learning not only the history of his great village but he was also learning new words. The more words he knew the better he would be able to act. He learned that what he was doing while he was acting was manipulating people, or tricking them to get something he desired.

"The Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen, fought in many wars and protected our village at the cost of his life in the recent Kyuubi attack. He was a master of every aspect of the shinobi life and was known as both the Professor and the God of Shinobi. He was a firm believer and supporter of the Will of Fire."

Naruto had met the Sandaime a few times before and had greatly enjoyed the man's company. He never did seem like a ninja though, more like a very nice old man. Apparently even hokages liked to put on acts to deceive people.

"The Nidaime, Senju Tobirama, along with his brother, taught the Sandaime. He was well known for his prodigious skill in water manipulation, being able to pull water for his techniques out of thin air. He sacrificed himself during the First Shinobi World War. The Shodaime, Senju Hashirama was a wielder of the mokuton bloodline and used his powers to create the forests of Konoha. He negotiated peace with the Uchiha clan and founded our great village. It is his ideals that created the Will of Fire."

'Peace, it's a goal that every hokage lives for. They are the face of Konoha and represent its deepest wishes. I just don't understand why other villages can't be like our own. Why are we the ones striving for peace?' The other villages were the things standing in the way of peace it seemed. Naruto knew that he had to somehow create peace by convincing them to stop the violence.

"Remember the Will of Fire. It is what drives the shinobi of Konoha forward and allows them to persevere. Don't forget, shinobi are the servants of our village. There are those who would attack us and try to disrupt our peace. It is will be your job as shinobi to defeat these evil people. Remember when you're training that you're doing so to become stronger than these evil people who would see our way of life destroyed. You are carrying on the Will of Fire passed down by every hokage and shinobi before you. Now, that's it for today, but could Itachi please stay after class."

Naruto glanced at his teacher in confusion. Surely Itachi hadn't done anything wrong, if anything Itachi was the wonder child of the entire academy. Everything from his attitude to his ninja skills were above anything expected from an academy student, let alone a first year. From what he had seen, Itachi was basically incapable of failing.

Unfortunately it was none of his business so he continued on, although not before throwing one last curious glance at the two.

'That loser and his perfectness! I can't believe he was able to graduate so early. He's only seven; that's gotta be the youngest outside of war ever!'

Naruto had learned the next day exactly what their sensei had wanted with Itachi. Apparently he was so amazing as a ninja that he was becoming a genin already. They hadn't even completed a full year yet.

'How can the gap between first place and second place be so large? I thought I was close to him but this just shows I'm not. I'll have to try even harder and maybe I'll graduate earlier as well.'

Despite fully understanding why Itachi had been given an early graduation over him, Naruto couldn't help but feel angry about it. Not only was Itachi a genius among geniuses but he was also an incredibly hard worker, a combination that was almost impossible for Naruto to match.

Naruto was marching along in such a huff that he almost ran into a fellow academy student. She, like him, seemed rather distressed and he found himself curious. He recognized her as a girl that had a crush on Itachi.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going and I almost hit you because of it. It's just that… hey, are you ok?" Perhaps getting her to talk about what was bothering her would help distract him.

"I'm sad because Itachi-kun graduated and I can't follow him." So much for it being a distraction. "He's so cute and cool but the only near him is you, so if you haven't graduated yet then I certainly won't anytime soon." Talking to her was only annoying him more.

"Don't worry, I'm sure if you try harder you'll be able to be with Itachi again, but this time as a ninja." She wrapped her arms around Naruto giving him a hug. "Thanks."

"Uh, y-yeah you're welcome." The girl hugged him even tighter at his words. Naruto had been worried she'd notice his hesitance but she was too happy to do so.

'Hmmm, so one the best ways to trick someone is to find out what they want and give it to them.' Despite the neat trick he had just learned, his patience was still wearing thin and he wasn't sure he could keep pretending to be nice.

"Well I think we should head back in to class, we can't be late if we want to be ninjas." He gave her a smile which she returned, before allowing her to rush ahead of him.

Her affection had been unexpected and unwelcome. Naruto wasn't used to dealing with physical contact with those outside his family and it still left him feeling ill at ease. That night still followed him and haunted his dreams. It wasn't at all uncommon for him to wake up in the middle of the night from a bloody nightmare. Shaking his head to rid himself of his morbid thoughts, he set out for the academy, determined to be the next graduate.

Naruto was laying in his family's private training grounds. He barely had the energy to lift his arms let alone continue any form of training. He held no illusions as to the amount of work he'd had to do to reach Itachi's level.

He barely been training for more than an hour and yet he was already tired. Sure, he was just a kid and couldn't be expected to pull of 8 hours of intense training or anything like that, but he had at least hoped he could reach two hours. He had apparently been complacent at the academy, believing that the training he received there was enough.

'Itachi has obviously been training at his house this entire time. That would mean he can train for a lot longer than I can. I need something to help me catch up to him, perhaps that bunshin technique I heard dad mention would help. Gotta remember to look out for a scroll on that in our library.' Naruto would work until he bled and he would surpass Itachi. In doing so he would be one step closer to completing his goal.

A few months of training and learning more about Konoha's illustrious history and Naruto was quite satisfied with his progress. Now that Itachi was gone from the class, Naruto was clearly the best student of his year.

Naruto had just finished packing his things away to leave for home when he heard his teacher calling for him.

"Naruto-san I would like you to stay behind, there are some people who wish to meet you." That was odd, it's not like he's particularly famous. Sure he was the Hokage's son, but most ninja wouldn't go out of their way simply to meet someone's son, even if that someone was the Hokage.

"Naruto-san, meet your new teammates, Yamada Tarō and Yamada Hanako." He turned to see two brown-haired twins that appeared to be a few years older than him. They were both incredibly similar and the only way to tell them apart was the fact that Hanako had shoulder length hair while Tarō kept his very short. Hanako looked like a boy actually, as she was still too young to be developing female attributes. Overall they were rather forgettable, which Naruto supposed was better than standing out with blonde hair like his own.

"You mean I'm graduating early?"

"Of course Naruto-kun, you are more than ready to begin your ninja career. The only reason you didn't graduate earlier is because we simply didn't have a spot for you. It has been an honour to teach you and I expect to see you doing great things." Naruto couldn't help but blush in embarrassment at the praise his teacher was giving him.

"Don't worry Chie-sensei, I won't let you down. I'll become a great ninja and you can count on me doing great things."

He was finally a shinobi. His parents would already know, but he couldn't wait to run home and tell his sister. He couldn't help but feel that his goal was almost within his reach.

In the early years I'm mostly just showing bits and pieces of the things he would encounter every day to show why he thinks in a certain way and why he is motivated to do exactly what it is he's doing. I may have neglected his family in this chapter but that's mostly because nothing special is really happening at home. He lives a regular life with loving parents and his precious sister.

My graduation methods might be a bit unorthodox but I would assume it would be in the interest of the village to graduate someone who's ready as quickly as possible instead of waiting months for some ceremony. They are still in need of competent ninja after the Kyuubi's attack.

I know this is short but I wanted to at least get something out. The next chapter is actually half way done, I just split them up to get something out. I'm sorry about the long wait for an update but my job and real life just seem to conspire against me. I'll try to be faster with updates from now on.