A/N: Lo-sing momentum...NOOOO! Must...Not...Lose...muse...for...sto...ry... -_-'' Hopefully I won't, since you all have been so great. Love the reviews everyone! You are all amazing, and everyone who reads is loved forever! Quick question, just because I would love to hear/read what you have to say. Is there anything in this story that you are really hoping to see? Other than pairings because that is still up in the air for obvious reasons... please let me know!

Heartless Lotus: *is glomped* ...hmmm, hugs for all you fantastic readers? :D

Key:

"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Demon/Deity
Demon/Deity thoughts
"Sign Language/ANBU coded signing"

Chapter 5: Academy Days: Hajime!

"This is most troubling." Hiruzen Sarutobi breathed out, his face drawn in a deep frown filled with worry. Both Gai and Kakashi had just reported in after their first training session with Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki. The report was concerning, to say the least. To believe in the possibility that Naruto was being influenced by the Kyuubi was more than worrying. As Hokage, it was his duty to deal with potential threats to Konohagakure, but to think that a little boy just turned seven could fit in that category was heart breaking. More so to know that this little boy was the son of his friend, and that the influence something that was out of his control, no doubt due by the pain and suffering he had to go through.

Both Kakashi and Gai couldn't help but agree. Neither held any hatred toward the boy, and only wanted to give him the best they could offer without bringing upon the wrath of Konoha, and many of the council upon themselves, helping neither party in the end. Kakashi had to bite his tongue when remembering that council meeting. It had been no more than an hour after Minato Namikaze, his father-figure, had sealed the Kyuubi in his son and sacrificed himself as payment to the Shinigami. The entire council, at the start, had all demanded for the newborns death, just so that they would be rid of the Kyuubi once and for all. A newborn babe completely innocent! It took nearly half an hour to calm the entire council down so that Sarutobi could explain everything that had happened during the sealing. The fact that even after Sarutobi explained, in great detail, about the sealing techniques, the entire civilian council and two of the advisers still demanded for his death made him want to murder them all on the spot, and he wasn't the only one; the entire Shinobi council, and Hokage all projected their KI toward the civilians.

It had come down to the point where nearly every head of the Shinobi council offered to adopt the boy, even Fugaku Uchiha, which was surprising to nearly the entire council room, save for Kakashi. He had seen and recognized the rival type of friendship that Fugaku had shared with Minato. They never openly admitted into being friends, in fact, they openly denied even remotely liking each other, but he had seen the tell tale signs of friendship, however buried under insults and scowls. Of course, none of that mattered as the advisors, and the entire civilian council proclaimed that the boy should be sent off to the orphanage as was due for all the lives the Kyuubi had taken from the civilian populace, disregarding the fact that the Shinobi side had lost equal to, if not more people, than the civilians.

That, and Naruto would not be allowed to be adopted, as they wholeheartedly feared the Kyuubi would erupt from the seal and kill an innocent family, or some other bullshit they were sputtering. Either way, the Hokage was cowed into their demands and allowed Naruto to be raised without love...without the basic needs for a child. A part of Kakashi still hated the Hokage for being so easily controlled. He was the Sandaime Hokage, the "God of Shinobi" for Kami's sake! How he could have allowed any child, regardless of lineage, to live the life Naruto has without doing anything about it, was beyond him. But at the same time, he could not blame him, for he hadn't done anything either, save for stopping the attacks before they got too far.

That would change.

He swore it.

"We need to watch him closely from now on, and I need you, Kakashi, to see if the seal is still intact. If it's disrupted, I'll have to keep him and bring Jiraiya back so he can do something about it." 'I will not allow Naruto to be taken by that monster.' was left unsaid, but heard all the same.

"Hai. I will take a look at the seal as soon as possible and report back." Kakashi replied purely serious.

"Good, Gai, test his knowledge on taijutsu, the way you describe this it seems he already knows the Academy basics. If he displays more advanced stances, we need to know where he learned them."

"Hai, Hokage-sama, I will do so." Gai answered with a small bow.

"You are dismissed, report back after your next training session, or if you see something suspicious."

"Hai!" they both saluted before shushin'ing off, and leaving the aging Hokage behind.

'I won't let you be taken by the Kyuubi, Naruto. I'll protect you, from now on until my dying day.'

The few weeks before the start of the academy passed in a blur. Every day Minato spent was relatively the same as the others. Wake up, eat, train, eat, study, get glared at or told he was a "demon", play an incredibly inventive prank on the shinobi forces, rest, and repeat. He had come far in the few weeks of training daily with Lee. Both of them kept with the same training regime Gai had them do whenever he wasn't available. Ever so often, if would be just Kakashi who would watch over them, and make sure they didn't do anything that would harm them. He could tell from the intensive stares Kakashi gave him, that he was being watched. The amount of ANBU that were watching him now made it impossible to make any sort of clones, or do anything he would have wanted like elemental training and attempting to finish his Rasengan. So, all he had been able to do in the few weeks, was read very kid friendly books and scrolls, body strength training, the basics of taijutsu, and eating ramen at least two times a week to halt some suspicion, and keep Teuchi and Ayame company.

Minato thought it odd, actually, that he hadn't been called to see the Hokage since Kakashi and Gai began to watch him. Though he wouldn't be surprised if he were called after a while in the Academy; no doubt the old man was going to get every single one of the teachers to observe him and his progress in every class. In which case, he would have to make sure to really dumb himself down, lest he wanted to have a lovely little chat with Ibiki, who he had heard really began to enjoy his job at the I.T Department. How such a kind little boy became the best interrogator Konoha had seen in generations was beyond him.

Either way, he would be called in soon. How he was going to explain his obvious knowledge in a plausible way was still beyond him. He had thought to play the ignorant child, but that would get him a one way ticket to Ibiki. He had thought to tell the truth, but that would get him sent to Inoichi and leave way too many questions he honestly did not want to answer. They would all lead to the bodily harm of the majority of Konoha, including the Hokage, for what they had done to his son. He thought of other possible believable lies, but those were all immediately thrown to the side.

'This is not good.' Minato groaned inwardly as he finally woke up. It was the start of his Academy life, where he would spend the next five antagonizing years relearning everything he'd been practicing for years.

Getting up, Minato took a quick shower, if only to spend a bit of the morning away as the Academy didn't start till 8a.m. and it was, like every morning, only 5a.m. Afterwards, he changed into his shinobi gear, knowing all to well that the first year was meant to push out all those who shouldn't be shinobi. Rather than easing the students in, slowly preparing them for the life of a shinobi, they pushed them harshly. The grading system was tougher, the physical training was harsher, and over all, everything was much more difficult for first year students than in comparison to second year students in hopes of 'weeding out' those who could never become true shinobi.

After the changing, Minato brushed both his hair and teeth, trying and failing to do something about his extremely unmanageable mop of hair. Sighing lightly to himself that his son had inherited his hair rather than the ever so manageable red locks Kushina had, he made his way to the kitchen to make himself a hearty breakfast for what he knew was coming. He couldn't deny that he was partially looking forward to the first day of the Academy. From what he heard, he would be in the same class as many of his friends children, such as Inoichi and Hiashi's little girls Ino and Hinata, Chouza and Shikaku's boys Chouji and Shikamaru.

'I can't have the friends I once had,' he thought to himself, 'but I can make new friends.'

Finishing breakfast, Minato gathered the left overs in their respective cooking pots and pans, and placed them in a bento box, fully intent on having the meal for lunch rather than paying an undoubtedly raised price at the Academy cafeteria. Looking to the clock, he still had a bit till 8a.m. but decided to begin his trek to the building anyways. He didn't want to deal with any stares, glares, or 'demon brat!' being yelled at him so early in the morning, so he took to the side streets, weaving through the back alleys of Konoha with grace. It saddened him to know that this experience, the first day of the Academy, could not be spent with Naruto as father and son. Naruto couldn't have rested on his shoulders, sitting above all the onlookers as the Yondaime dropped his son off for his first day, a look of unmistakeable pride and happiness painted on his face. Naruto couldn't pull on his fathers arm with anticipation, nor hug both his parents as he makes his way into class.

That experience was lost to him the moment both Minato and Kushina died.

Forever a dream since Naruto had died.

In that moment, Minato was glad he had taken the side alleys for another reason.

He didn't want anyone to see or question why he was crying.

Only a few blocks away from the school, Minato stopped to wipe his eyes and place a small henge to make them appear normal rather than red a puffy, and his complexion clear of tear stains and inflamed cheeks. Breathing in deep breaths, Minato continued to the school and watched with an unconcerned face as parents dropped off their children. He immediately saw his friends smiling down on their children, undoubtedly expecting great things from them. One face, however, brought a concerned frown upon his own. It was the ever expressionless face of Hiashi Hyuuga as he stared down his daughter, Hinata. The poor girl looked as though she were about to keel over any second, yet Hiashi looked unperturbed, from his moving lips and her flinches, he was speaking to her about something that continued to break down her confidence levels.

Another face also caught his attention, and that was one known as Fugaku Uchiha. The man still maintained his 'Uchiha scowl,' as though he had been born with such an expression, as he practically glared at what he presumed was his son. The boy, he realized, was the same that had watched him train those few weeks ago.

'So you're Sasuke...' he thought to himself as he diverted his attention elsewhere, while continuing a discrete eye on the pair. He was a little more than surprised that Sasuke was starting the Academy with Naruto, or him, he should say. Itachi, his older brother, had already graduated from the Academy at their age, and mastered the Sharingan not long after. Internally wincing at the thought, he didn't want to imagine the type of pressure Fugaku was putting on his youngest (least to his knowledge) son. He could already imagine his voice lecturing the boy on the fact that his elder brother had already completed that which he had yet to do so.

Fugaku was always a competitive man, one who greatly sought respect and recognition for everything he did. It was one of the main things Minato had planned to address during his time as Hokage. He knew what a great asset the Uchiha were to the village, especially due to their majority in the police department. He knew that they were constantly being put down because of old grievances with the Senju, and the bad blood between them due to the incident with Madara and the Nidaime Hokage. He knew that Sarutobi had done nothing to help them as he was close the their Senju Hokage's, and continued to let the hatred fester.

Minato, as his rival and friend, had planned to fully recognize the Uchiha clan and give them the recognition they had earned time and time again.

'But I died before I could do anything... and now you are trying to get your sons to be your way to what you so dearly desire. Even if it means hurting them gravely in the process.' Minato thought to himself sadly.

He didn't have much of a chance to do much else than look before a man with a vertical scar across his nose and stretching to his cheeks called their names and sorted them into different classrooms. As the names were called, Minato heard that he would be in the classroom with nearly every single child of the clan leaders in his year, as well as some civilian children he could already see most would not make it past the first year. Looking to the man that would be his teacher, the same man who called out the names, Minato couldn't help but think he looked awfully familiar. He would have been no more than a boy when he had died, but even so, there was something that struck his memory softly.

Once the parents had left, and their children sauntered into the building, Minato did the same, and followed quietly behind the mass of young children who were all chatting loudly and excitedly about their future days in the Academy and how they were going to be Rookie of the Year. It was amusing to see how happy everyone was, and thought at how amusing their faces would be when they discovered how truly difficult their life would be the first year.

"Alright, quiet down and find a seat." the teacher, Iruka Umino, as he introduced himself, called out. While the class quickly found seats, Minato himself sitting next to Chouza and Shikaku's sons, the class was a far cry from quiet. Though Shikamaru and Chouji both were quiet, both sleeping and eating chips respectively. It nearly made Minato laugh at how the sons of his friends were repeating the exact things their fathers had on their first day at the Academy.

"QUIET DOWN!" Iruka boomed, using a jutsu to make his voice and head appear louder and bigger than it naturally was, effectively quieting down the students.

"Good, now we will begin your first year into the Shinobi Academy, pay attention, and if you have any questions, raise your hands."

It was funny to count the amount of hands that were raised in those few hours of lecture.

Oh how interesting this year would be.

Once lunch began, Minato walked with both Chouji and Shikamaru who were more than happy, or rather didn't care, to let him sit with them.

"Ne, Naruto, are you going to get lunch from the cafeteria?" Chouji asked as they walked to the cafeteria, opening another bag of chips which seemed to sprout from thin air.

"I've actually brought some from home." Minato answered, "But, I'll wait in line with you guys if you're going to."

"Maa, too troublesome to wait in line. Kaa-san packed me a lunch." Shikamaru said pulling out a small bento box from his bag.

"My kaa-san made me one too." Chouji supplied, also bringing out a bento box, though it was a fair bit larger than both Minato's and Shikamaru's.

"Cool, let's just find a seat then?"

"Sure." Shika replied lazily, his bento back in his bag and hands stuffed in the pockets of his pants.

Once they were inside the massive cafeteria filled with students of varying ages, the trio found an empty table and sat themselves down comfortably, pulling out their lunches and began to eat happily. It was a while after that a boy with red upside-down triangles on his cheeks came to their table, his lips pulled back into a fanged grin, and his eyes alight with childish happiness.

"Hey!" he called out to the eating trio, "Can I sit with you guys?" Rather than waiting for an answer, the boy merely sat himself down next to Minato and brought his lunch tray in front of him, began to eat happily and then continue to introduce himself, food still in the process of being chewed in his mouth. "I'm Kiba Inuzuka, by the way."

Mildly grossed out at the sight, Minato gave a very practiced wide grin and said, "Naruto Uzumaki! Dattebayo!"

"Too troublesome to introduce myself..." Shika mumbled to himself, "Shikamaru Nara." he supplied lazily before returning to pick at his food.

"I'm Chōji Akimichi." the plump boy said between swallows of food.

"Nice to meet ya!" the Inuzuka said with a slightly feral grin, "You know, this place is a lot harder than I thought it would be." he added a bit after a few bites of his food.

"Yeah, they're giving a lot of homework already, and it's only the first day!" Chōji said heatedly.

"Tou-san said it would be hard, but I think it's because they try to get rid of all of the people who can't handle being shinobi, you know like a lot of the civilians and stuff.." Shikamaru drawled logically. Minato wasn't the least bit surprised at the boys intuition, he was a Nara, but more importantly, he was Shikaku's son, and that man was a bloody genius. Put his mother's genes into the mix, who was a prodigy in her own right, the boy was bound to have incredible intelligence levels. Shame it seemed the boy inherited his fathers laziness. The other two, (mainly Kiba), on the other hand, looked at him with awe.

"That makes sense..." Kiba said scratching his head.

"You always were smart Shika." Chōji complimented with a wide grin on his face.

"Heh, a Nara's like born super smart right?" Minato said with a smile.

"...Maa, too troublesome..." Shika muttered, a slight shade of pink speckled across his cheeks.

"Ah!" screamed a very familiar voice, "There you are, Naruto! I have been looking everywhere for you!"

Each boy looked to where the voice had originated from and Minato nearly laughed himself out of his seat at the looks on his new friends faces as they spotted Lee. Lee who had caterpillar like eyebrows, and most importantly of all, wore a green spandex suit much like their teacher.

He wondered for a moment if he had that look when he was first introduced to Gai...

"Hey, Lee!" Minato said, waving happily at his friend and training partner, "Want to sit down and eat with us?"

"Of course! I would love to sit down with you to eat and meet your youthful friends!" the tall boy replied, his white, nearly bleached looking grin practically blinding his friends.

"Lee, these are my classmates and friends(?)" he asked slightly, receiving happy nods from the boys in response before continuing, pointing at each boy respectively as he introduced them. "Guys, this is Rock Lee, my really good friend and training partner. He's a year ahead of us."

"It is wonderful to meet you all! I shall help you first years in every way I can!" he finished, pulling off his own "good guy pose" that left Minato's friends looking at him with something akin to disbelief, before continuing their meal and enjoying the remainder of lunch together.

Once the day was over, Minato said goodbye to his friends, leaving before they had a chance to introduce him to their parents. Inoichi was hard enough, he didn't want to have to be introduced to Shikaku and Chouza together. Besides, Shikaku was way too intuitive for his own good. One look at him and somehow, someway, the man would discover his secret. How? He hadn't a clue, but never once was Minato able to keep anything from that man. He had been the first to discover, outside from the Sandaime Hokage (who was the only one who knew) that he had married Kushina. He had also been the first to discover that he was to be a father before he had even told anyone. It was as if he could look into your very soul and read everything little secret as though it were an open book before him. Though he was proud to say he had beat the man once in shogi. Even though it was only one time in the hundreds of games they undoubtedly played together, he had won nonetheless.

So, he did not want to say hello to either parent, and went off on his merry way to complete the small pile of homework he had collected throughout the day. It seemed the first year at the Academy had gotten tougher in times of peace. Though that was to be expected, he supposed.

While on his way, Minato looked over the short pile of paper and realized the homework was far more advanced than it should be. Some of the questions would have Chūnin hard pressed to answer!

'They're doing this on purpose...' he thought grimly to himself, 'They want Naruto to fail out of the Academy. I can't answer all these questions correctly... I can't answer even ten of them without tipping them off I know more than I should!' He growled in frustration. It wasn't as though he could find the answers easily either, some of the knowledge was stored and sealed only for those of the respective ranks could see them.

'I'll have to ask someone then. I don't want to fail damnit! Naruto won't be dead last. He'll be Rookie of the Year, always!'

Taking one last glance at the papers in his hands, Minato turned himself around and headed straight to the Hokage tower.

'I'll ask the old man about the questions.' he thought, 'Maybe he could even do something about the Teachers not bothering to even think I exist.'

Beginning his way to have a talk with the Old Man, Minato had another thought that he hoped was true, 'Kami I hope this isn't a bad idea...'

AN: You know, I think this story is doing rather well, especially considering it is one of the 300,000+ Naruto stories on this site (not counting crossovers) :D Much thanks everyone! Grr...I'm not liking this! -_- Oh well, I'll come back to it at some point...

edit: Yup, I realize I haven't addressed Minato's anger toward the village for murdering his son, don't worry, that will come in time, he's merely been preoccupied with training and trying to hide his true identity. So, simply put, no, Minato didn't forgive the Village for what they've done, he merely has other priorities to deal with at the moment.