Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It is owned by Masashi Kishimoto (hope the spelling is correct and I don't know his last name)

Answers to Reviews:

fco ala: Taken into consideration. Thanks

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cntcenut5: It's not like Naruto can use six path sage power all the time. It is just like tailed beast mode and sage mode. If it gets harder, he will use it. And, the sage of six paths never said that he gave Sasuke the yin half of his power because of his obsession with power. In fact, even he tried to change him, but failed. He didn't want to make the same mistake as he did with his sons, so he gave him the yin half.

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KagomeGirl021: Taken into consideration. Thank you. As for the storm release, he only gets the releases that the tailed beasts' chakra gives. So, storm release is a no. I am sorry.

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"Blah" – Normal speech

'Blah' – Thoughts

"Blah"- Kurama and other tailed beasts talking

'Blah' – Kurama and other tailed beasts' thoughts

Shadow Clone Jutsu- Jutsus

Okay guys, without further delay, here is the story

FLASHBACK:

All three boys nodded and Sasuke asked, "So, they doubt themselves, huh? Should we do something about this?"

Shikamaru thought for a while, "At the moment, not much. We will see what happens and then move from there".

All of them nodded and after finishing lunch, all of them headed back to the academy. It was going to be long three years.

A Year Later:

Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji and Sasuke had established themselves in the academy. Sasuke as the rookie of the year while Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji as the dead lasts. Sasuke knew that none of them were weak, yet they had become dead lasts. Chouji, thanks to his clan's specialization, had the strongest punches and smashes. Shikamaru was already at low to mid jonin level from what he had seen from the training regimes and there was Naruto.

Naruto was definitely the strongest among them. Sasuke had never been able to beat Naruto in a spar during their training time. He was easily, according to Sasuke, high jonin level. Yet, they had all become dead lasts. Shikamaru was way too lazy to get the marks to become the rookie of the year while Chouji had chosen to stay with his best friend.

As for Naruto, it seemed as if he was deliberately holding back his massive skill and power. He had won every single spar he was paired against Naruto in the academy. At first, he had started to think that Naruto was losing concentration mid fight or that he was catching up thanks to the training with the three boys and Shisui. But even though he had gown strong through the training, he had come to realize that it was neither. Instead, it had become absolutely clear that Naruto had been holding back a lot.

He remembered the time he had confronted Naruto over the thing and the answer he had got from him made him feel both surprised and happy. Surprised that Naruto had such insights and happy that he had a friend who was ready to lose the top title to be in the same team as he.

Flashback:

It was the third week in a row in which Sasuke had managed to beat Naruto in a spar at the academy. He had already started to doubt that Naruto had been holding back and he had confirmed it that day. He had intentionally let his guard down so that Naruto could exploit it. Any dead last could've had seen it and exploited it. But, Naruto, even though had seen it, did not exploit it. This confirmed his doubts.

So, at lunch, he had decided to confront Naruto over it and now, it was lunch time. He had let the others go ahead and had stayed back. Finally, after some time, he left to meet the group of friends.

The three boys were confused as to why Sasuke had asked them to go ahead. But, they had let the thoughts slide thinking that he might have had something to do. But, they didn't expect him to come towards them glaring. So, they all got up to ask him what the matter was.

Sasuke, with an angry glare, came towards the group and went straight towards Naruto and punched him on the face, knocking him back. This took all three of them by surprise. Naruto, rubbing his face, got up and asked, "Ow, Sasuke, what was that for?"

Sasuke answered angrily, "Why do you hold back in our spars?"

Naruto, confused, asked, "What do you mean Sasuke? I don't hold back".

Sasuke continued angrily, "Don't lie to me. You are always holding back against me. I let my guard down deliberately to confirm my doubts and your actions confirmed it. Now, answer me, why do you hold back?"

Throughout this conversation, Shikamaru had chosen to be silent, letting the two solve their differences themselves. He had also stopped Chouji from intervening.

Naruto just smiled and answered, "You really do want the real reason, don't you Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded his head and said, "Yes I do. Now, don't lie to me".

Naruto smiled and said, "Do you know how genin teams are formed? Let me tell you the most common ones. Now, Shikamaru and Chouji will be in the same team with Ino because it's the Ino-Shika-Cho combination that has been there for generations. Next, there will be a tracker team, to which neither of us will be selected. So, the last traditional team will be the one in which the dead last will be put in the same team as the prodigy of the year. Since you are the prodigy, I have to be the dead last to be in the same team as you".

This answer completely surprised and shocked Sasuke. It had completely humbled him. Here was a true friend who was ready to give up on his grades so that they could be on the same team. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Naruto".

Naruto just gave his foxy grin and rubbed the back of his head.

Both Shikamaru and Chouji smiled at this. Shikamaru then spoke up, "Well, there is one other reason too".

Sasuke, not understanding, asked, "One other reason? What's that?"

Shikamaru answered, "If he didn't hold back, we would all be dead by now".

At this, all of them started laughing.

So, Sasuke had accepted the fact that Naruto was dead last and had made sure to become prodigy of the year so that they could be on the same time. For the rest of the class, it seemed as if Naruto was a nuisance trying to show off by fighting Sasuke and failing at it. Even though it infuriated Sasuke, he kept his emotions at check remembering his talk with Naruto.

Naruto and Iruka had gotten close once again, rekindling their brother like relation. Iruka had started to look at Naruto as a younger brother, who happened to have no family, just like him.

At the moment, they were having lunch at their usual spot at the academy. Shikamaru was the first to speak, "Naruto, don't you think it's about time we start to change the thoughts of our classmates?"

Naruto nodded and said, "Yeah, I know. If we don't start now, it will become a big problem later on. You have to hear their emotions. It's been getting worse and worse".

The three of the boys nodded and Shikamaru asked, "So, whom do we start with?"

Naruto answered, "Shino. He has the worst emotions as he hardly has any friends thanks to his clan techniques".

The three boys nodded and Shikamaru said, "Well, its Shino then to start with".

With Shino:

Shino was standing all alone under a tree. Not many talked to him and he had no friends either. It was mostly because of his clan's specialty. His clan, the Aburame clan, specialized in bugs. But, bugs were not the most popular things around and so, it creeped everyone out seeing bugs around him. So, he did not have any friends. This fact made him doubt himself whether he would ever be able to make any friends.

Both his father, Shibi Aburame and his closest friend and both his brother figure, Torune Aburame, had told him that making friends for his clan members was hard but if he ever made friendship with someone, he would have to protect it and cherish it. Now, he was wondering whether he would ever be able to have good friendship with anyone let alone cherish it.

At that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder, which startled him. But, maintaining his cool, he turned around to see who it was. There, standing were the three dead lasts and the prodigy of the year, with the blonde dead last's hand resting on his shoulder. And, he was giving him a smile. This confused Shino because no one usually came near him let alone hold his shoulder.

He asked monotonously, "Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi, how can I help you?"

Naruto smiled and answered, "You don't have to be so stiff Shino. Neither do you have to doubt yourself".

Shino was confused by this. So, he asked, "What do you mean Naruto?"

Naruto, still smiling, answered, "You don't have to doubt yourself on whether you would be able to be friend with anyone just because you are from the Aburame clan. After all, the Aburame clan is a respected clan in Konoha".

Shino, understanding, replied, "You know about my clan? Then you must know about us".

Naruto nodded and continued, "Even though the bugs creep me, I still find it awesome that you can control them and talk to them. You don't need to worry about not having friends anymore Shino. After all, we are all friends, dattebayo".

With that, the four boys left.

Shino watched them go away as he thought, 'Guess what the people say about Naruto is wrong. He is a nice person after all. I wonder why most people hate him'. His doubts were slowly going away as he knew that he had found friends, his first friends. Maybe, all was not lost. Now all he had to do was to protect it and cherish it.

Throughout all this, he never understood why his Kikaichu were making so much fuss over a huge amount of chakra presence. After all, how could academy students have massive chakra? he thought.

Five Months Later:

It had been five months since the talk with Shino. He had become rather good friends with the four boys, even as far as joining the group. Neither Naruto nor the others had any qualms about it. He had even joined their group trainings and had seen the actual strength and skills of Shikamaru and Naruto, which had totally surprised him. Yet, he was unable to figure out the mystery of the massive chakra presence.

As for Naruto and Shikamaru, their pace of progress had slowed down, but had not stopped. Shikamaru, after completing the nature transformation exercises, had begun to work on his clan jutsus and elemental jutsus. Naruto had started to work on mastering the different modes of his Kyuubi chakra cloak.

Shibi Aburame, Shino's father, had not been vocally supporting towards his son's and Naruto's friendship. But, neither was he against it. In fact, he had advised Shino to not to listen to others and to follow his own thoughts instead. He had also told him that if the friendship was worth it, he should preserve it.

But, after seeing Naruto and his group of friends and also Shino's growth as a potential Shinobi, had changed his mind and also of his clan, making them yet another supporters of Naruto. Slowly, but steadily, the base of hatred towards Naruto had started to die away.

The group were at the academy at the moment. Shikamaru and Naruto had opted to sleep through the class. Chouji was eating his pack of barbecue flavored chips while Sasuke and Shino were paying attention to what Iruka sensei, as usual. Iruka, having had tried in futile to motivate Naruto and Shikamaru to listen to his lecture, had just ignored the two sleeping dead lasts. Luckily, lunch time came as a respite for all of them.

The group of five boys sat under a rather large tree which they had made their usual spot.

Shikamaru spoke up, "Who's next?"

The others, except Shino, understood what he meant, and Naruto answered, "Kiba, I guess. Got a lot of confidence problems".

The three boys nodded and Shino asked, "What do you mean?"

Sasuke answered him, "We are trying to get our friends to lose their negative emotions or something like that".

Shikamaru and Naruto sweat dropped at Sasuke's effort at cracking a joke. Chouji chose to answer Shino's question, "We are trying to do what we did to you. Erase everyone's doubts about themselves, so that we could all be friends".

Shino nodded as he understood Chouji's answer better than Sasuke's.

So, the group of five boys made their way towards the Inuzuka clan heir.

With Kiba:

Kiba had doubts over whether he could live up to his mom's expectations. So, he had beaten almost everyone in his class in the academy spars. The only people he had lost to were Shino and Sasuke while he had not yet fought against Shikamaru, Naruto or Chouji. The fact that he had lost to Sasuke and Shino infuriated him. Also, he had got into trouble because of his low grades in tests, putting him with the dead lasts of his class.

When he saw that Shino and Sasuke were coming towards him, along with the other three dead-lasts, he was infuriated. To hide it, he put upon the mask of making fun at the group.

"So, you have come to accept that I am much better than all of you, have you? Is it because you want me in your group? It must be true because I am awesome after all. Maybe the Uchiha is not up to his mark in the group, I suppose. So, you needed a better leader to lead your pathetic group, is it? Is that why you came to me?" he asked the five boys.

At this, Sasuke's blood boiled and was about to retort when both Shikamaru and Naruto started laughing. Soon, Chouji also joined them with laughing and Shino was soundlessly chuckling. This completely infuriated Kiba.

So, he spoke up, "You come to me for help and now you laugh at me? What, you want a fight, huh? Well then, get ready to fight".

With that, all of them stopped laughing and Naruto replied, "Kiba, we came here neither to ask for your help nor to laugh at you".

Kiba, not accepting the answer, asked, "Then why did you come to me?"

Shikamaru answered, "To clear your doubts about yourself".

Kiba got confused by this answer. So, he asked, "What do you mean by clearing my doubts? I have no doubts".

Naruto shook his head and answered, "Kiba, it is no good to hide your doubts from us. We are your friends, after all. We know about your predicament whether you will be able to live up to your mother's expectations. You should not hide your problems and doubts from friends".

Kiba's face fell at this as he said, "So what? You can't do anything about it".

Shikamaru answered, "Who said so? We didn't. Look Kiba, never try to hide anything that troubles you from friends because they are the ones who can actually help you".

Naruto spoke next, "Yes Kiba. Your mother may have high expectations for you, but that doesn't mean that you have to beat everyone around to live up to that. Instead, you should become someone who is strong and good enough to lead one of the most important clans of Konoha. For that, you need friends along the way. But, what you have doing is hiding behind a mask of arrogance and haughtiness. That just pushes friends away from you. Remember, you need friends to get better and stronger. That's why we are here, Kiba".

Kiba thought about it for a while and then a smile lit up his face as he said, "Guess you are right. Maybe I will listen to what you say. Then, I will not only become a clan leader but also the hokage. I will leave you all in dusts guys. I will be the best among us friends".

With that, he started running with his pet dog Akamaru on his head. He knew that now on, he didn't have to doubt himself. He would become strong. He would become strong with his friends.

Naruto and group smiled at their new friend's antics and they started walking towards their class for yet another one of Iruka sensei's boring lecture.

Six Months Later:

Kiba had become an unofficial member of the group. At times, he hung out with them and at times, he didn't. He now didn't hate either Sasuke or Shino. Instead, there was a rivalry going on between them, though a one-sided rivalry only. He was still not able to beat them. So, he still mocked them, though less frequently. He had taken up a new habit of proclaiming that he would become hokage and that he had a better chance at that than Naruto, as rivalry with him.

With the group, Naruto's pranks had gotten pretty large-scale and famous yet irritating. Even Shikamaru helped him many times. The rest of the group didn't because they didn't want to invite trouble. But, they enjoyed his pranks wholeheartedly.

Even ANBUs were not spared from his pranks. The ANBUs had to work in bright orange for a whole day because of one of his pranks. There was also a rumor that the ANBU headquarters had been inaccessible for a whole week because of his prank. The Hokage monument was defaced almost every other week. Even the clan compounds were not safe from him. Surprisingly, every time he and Shikamaru were caught, they were let free with a mild warning and a hearty chuckle from the hokage. And every time they were caught, it was by the same person – Iruka. Somehow, he used to find them no matter what even when the ANBUs failed.

At the moment, once again, they were in another one of Iruka-sensei's boring class, sleeping while the other boys paid attention.

As soon as lunch time arrived, as if a miracle had struck, the two boys got up and sprinted out of the classroom rising up a dust cloud. Everyone, including Iruka-sensei, sweat-dropped at this. Soon, the three other boys joined the two at their usual spot.

Shino spoke first, surprising everyone in the process, "So, who is next?"

Naruto smirked and answered, "All those who are left are girls".

At this, all the boys turned towards Sasuke who audibly gulped and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Shikamaru answered with a grin, "Well, two of them are your fan-girls and you have a crush on one of them".

Sasuke blushed a bit and asked, "Since when is she on the list?"

Naruto answered with his foxy grin and hands behind his head, "Well, since you seemed to have a crush on her, we thought we would add her to the list too".

Sasuke blushed a bit more and replied, "What about Hinata? You seem to have a massive crush on her. And she seems to have a crush on you too".

This time it was Naruto's turn to blush as he stuttered, "Oye... Don't say anything about me… It's just…"

The other three boys started laughing at this. Seeing them laugh, even Sasuke joined them with his laugh. This completely got on the nerves of Naruto.

So, he said to Shikamaru, "Don't laugh at me Shikamaru. Because, we will see when we meet Temari".

Shikamaru blushed a bit but suddenly stopped laughing. Realizing his slip-up, even Naruto stopped talking and bit his tongue. Sasuke, Shino and Chouji's ears perked up at hearing this new name.

So, Chouji asked, as he grinned, "So, Shikamaru, who is this Temari?"

Shikamaru scrambled for a believable reply and answered, "Well, you see… Ah… It doesn't matter. Let's get back to work, shall we? So, who is next?"

Seeing that Chouji was not about to give up, Naruto replied, "It's up to Sasuke to decide. I would rather leave Hinata for the last".

Sasuke hurriedly said, "Why should I decide? I am not going to do anything".

Shikamaru sighed and said, "This girly business is leading us nowhere. None of us, who have to do what we have to do, are ready. So, we better leave it out for now and focus on the last year of our academy for now. I suppose that their emotions might have had gone up by now, Naruto?"

Naruto answered, "Yeah, I suppose so. There isn't as much as it was then".

He left out the 'negative emotions' part out deliberately since Shino still didn't know about Naruto housing the Kyuubi. Chouji and Sasuke understood this and nodded.

Shino nodded and spoke, "Even I agree with Shikamaru. This is the last year of the shinobi academy for us. So, we would better focus on it, so that all of us might pass".

With 'all of us', he had meant Shikamaru and Naruto, since they had the lowest grade among them all.

At this, Naruto whispered to Shikamaru, as all of them made their way back to the class, "Well, not all of us are passing".

Shikamaru whispered back, "Right, we still have to deal with Mizuki. You won't be alone this time. I will be with you, just in case. To make sure that you leave him alive".

Naruto grinned as he whispered, "That's good to hear".

Shikamaru then punched him in the gut as he whispered, "That is for the slip-up".

Naruto held his gut as he apologized, "I am sorry".

That's it folks. Sorry for the lateness. Had my mid-term exams to concentrate on. So, I am extremely sorry. Well, that is a brief show as to what happened during the academy days. Not much, but just as much as most requested. With this chapter, the pre-graduation arc ends. From next chapter, graduation to wave arc begins. So, wait for it.

See ya guys. And, don't forget to review.