Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I am of mixed feelings on Boruto, but I still do not own it, and the opinion of a broke college student like me won't stop them from making it and earning millions.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind drew blanks.

Nothingness, a dark abyss was his thoughts and it was as though his brain had been replaced with the untarnished canvas of a great artisan waiting for the muses to grant him a revelation. His mind was like a large scab of stone, big, useful, but otherwise unattractive until the hammer and the chisel had been used to caress its form and therefore give it life. To turn the stone and carve it into something worth being considered a masterpiece that would be viewed upon by all who gazed it. The masterpiece which would be capable of inciting awe, beauty and wonder, as men would cast aside their garments in lieu of the sights that lay before them, and then genuflect down, their foreheads becoming intimate with the ground as they displayed their reverence.

The reason for this sudden blank state of mind, was none other than the resident, blond haired boy that was known to the Konohan populace as Uzumaki Naruto.

"Come again Naruto-kun, you invented a new jutsu, and you want to test it out on me, because you think I'm the only one who could handle it?"

When he had set out that morning, after his brief meeting with Yamanaka Inoichi, he had been expecting to find Uzumaki Naruto at the usual ramen stand or at his apartment, but rather, he had been directed instead to training ground nine. It was an odd sight, watching Naruto stand barefooted on the nearby stream, and performing different from of kinesthetic exercises on it, from jumping jacks to sit-ups, to vertical push-ups, clearly indicating that he had finally mastered the art of Water Walking and that he had done it to a tee.

Of course, what had made the sight odd and comical was how he had been muttering about women and girls throughout the process, and then practically debating with himself as to whether or whether not he should do something about… something.

Still, the Sandaime Hokage would not deny that he had not been expecting Naruto to have advanced so far in his training, and grasped the art of tree-walking and water-walking… before he had even yet to graduate the academy. Of course, the Professor indirectly had a hand in this, as it seemed that Naruto had put the scroll he was given to good use, especially the chakra control training information that was embroiled amongst the mess.

Still, to have mastered both tree-walking and water-walking in merely a month? That was heavily impressive, considering the vast pools of chakra Naruto had at his disposal.

That same vast pool of chakra, was what had made the boy believe that he had supposedly invented an entirely new ninjutsu technique.

"That's right jiji!"

The blonde boy was practically springing and bouncing on his heels, a wide, over the top grin on his face.

Hiruzen merely let a resigned smile come unto his face. "You know Naruto-kun, most people wait until they've graduated from the academy and started their shinobi careers before they start inventing jutsu."

Naruto's lips moved into an annoyed pout. "But the academy's boring jiji! It's just talk about a bunch of stuff no one really cares about!"

His eyes crinkled in mirth. "Really now Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's expression didn't change. "Iruka-sensei once had us write a thirty page essay on the uh, major exports and stuff of the Land of Tea."

Naruto looked mortified. "He made us write about tea jiji! Tea! I don't even drink tea dattebayo! Come on jiji, when will I ever need to know that the Land of Wind is dirt broke from importing fish and veggies, or the Land of Rain has got this weird leader that plays with lizards and poison, or the Land of Water has people fighting over who has the shiniest blood?"

Hiruzen didn't know whether to be impressed or baffled by the manner in which Naruto had just dismissed Hanzo the Salamander and diminished the importance of the Kiri Bloodline Purges.

"You'll need to know all of it Naruto-kun, if you want to be a good Hokage."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, before he frowned and begrudgingly let out a grumble. However, his eyes then immediately lit up once more.

"But jiji, I can learn all about that stuff from the library dattebayo! It'll be easier than sitting in class for hours listening to it!"

Hiruzen's eyebrow rose, just a smidgen, as if to say 'really? You in a library?'

"Oi! I'm not that bad-ttebayo! And – and I was able to use the scrolls you gave me, I learned Tree Walking and Water Walking from it all on my own too!"

That was true, and Hiruzen would not deny the boy that accomplishment. Was it that Naruto was someone who learned things quicker and faster if he was left to his own devices? There was indeed the saying that a watched bot never boiled, and it could be that somehow, being in an environment with his peers who did not expect anything of him was somehow shunting his own learning capacity.

"So what you're saying Naruto-kun, is that you think you can learn things better if it was just you and the material alone?"

He rubbed his chin with his index finger. "Well kinda… I mean, when I'm learning on my own I don't have to hear everyone fawning over Sasuke-teme or hear people laughing at me whenever I don't get something right."

Hiruzen slowly stroked his beard. People these days had actually forgotten that failing was supposed to be allowed. When you succeeded at something, you learnt nothing knew except how to repeat the results to gain the same success. When you failed at something however, you learned what you did wrong, and discovered a new way of doing things as you pushed past the failure. Hiruzen knew that his successor, Namikaze Minato, for all the man's genius, he had failed over four hundred times to successfully replicate and improve on Tobirama-sensei's Hiraishin, but of course, such things never entered the history books.

Unfortunately, people had become afraid of failing, at failing even the most trivial of tasks like asking questions, not realizing that a fear of failure was hindering their own progress.

He knew that Naruto skipped the academy a lot, quite so much in fact that it was considered a miracle he was even considered a student, but he needed to learn, and learning was a priority.

Could he do what he had in mind? Well of course he could, he was the Hokage, and he had the power and will to do so. Should he do it? There the question became slightly muddled, but he supposed that the long term benefits would outweigh any possible disadvantages.

"Jiji?"

"Alright Naruto-kun, how about we make a little wager?"

The boy perked up. "Wager?"

"I'll give you one week and the library – my library. It is yours to peruse however you so wish. By the end of the week, I'll give you the complete graduation exam to take. If you can score a perfect hundred on every paper, in every category, from World History to shurikenjutsu and ninjutsu, I'll allow you to skip the academy as much as you want, and still be eligible to graduate when the time comes."

He was already leaping into the air.

"But –" Hiruzen said, cutting off his celebration "On this exam, you have to make it a perfect score. There have only been six shinobi in Konoha's history to get a perfect score on every single category of the graduation exam, meaning this is not an easy task. Anything less than a perfect score is not acceptable. If you cannot do this, then you'll never skip a single class in the academy again… or else."

He did not need to specify what exactly counted as the 'or else'. Still, Naruto seemed to be contemplating the offer heavily, and Hiruzen let out a small smile. Regardless of whether Naruto succeeded or failed the wager, it would still be the best outcome, as he would still end up learning the essential aspects of a shinobi.

Hiruzen wasn't actually expecting Naruto to complete the task, but he would certainly try, and it would still work out in his favor. Of the six shinobi who had attained perfect scores, the likes of Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru and Namikaze Minato came to mind, all of them considered the brightest geniuses of their generation. Naruto might have been rather observant when it came to certain things, but he sorely doubted he'd be able to cram the entire six-year shinobi syllabus in just seven days, whilst at the same time working on his shurikenjutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu and other supplementary skills expected of a Genin. Well, not unless he knew a certain forbidden technique, but there was no way an academy student had access to the Shadow Clone jutsu.

"You've got yourself a deal jiji!"

Part of him felt bad for the trickery, because he viewed it as simply a cunning way to make Naruto read more and train harder. Still, he supposed it would be a good learning experience for the boy.

"Alright Naruto-kun. I'll inform the gatekeepers at the Sarutobi Clan to let you in and use my library. Now, what was this powerful new jutsu you wanted to show me?"

Naruto beamed. "Hehehe… I've got a better idea jiji – I'm going to use this jutsu to take your hat!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi allowed himself a smile to grace his features, before promptly placing his hand on the legendary Hokage's cap. "Oh? Is that a challenge Naruto-kun?"

The boy cracked his fingers in front of him. "Hell yeah!"

Amusing as it was, Hiruzen supposed he would entertain the boy. After all, it wasn't everyday someone actually tried to steal an object from the most powerful shinobi in the entire village.

At the same time, it wasn't like anybody tried.

"Alright Naruto-kun," Hiruzen gestured his pipe out "If you can somehow take my hat in one minute, I'll grant you one favor."

Hiruzen knew either his ninjutsu repertoire or wallet would suffer it, as Naruto would most likely drag them to the nearest ramen stand and buy an all you can eat buffet, or ask him to teach him some new and awesome jutsu. He supposed he was allowed to spoil the boy, just a little.

What he had not been expecting however, was to blink as Naruto's eyes seemed to have a sudden clarity to them.

"One favor? Anything?"

Rarely had the Sandaime Hokage ever had to double-think his words, and on second thought, a favor from the man who was essentially the leader of the people, could be a rather huge boon. Of course, he was not going to back out of it now.

"Within reason of course."

Naruto was grinning, grinning wildly, wilder than he had seen the boy ever grin before.

"That hat is mine-ttebayo!"

Hiruzen blinked.

Were Academy Students allowed to move that fast?

~~~~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you for visiting Yamanaka flowers, please come again."

Ino sighed to herself as she watched the customer leave with a full bouquet in hand, the young man smiling vibrantly as it was obvious he was going to give them to someone special.

No, not entirely obvious. Ino could simply tell, because of the way in which the man had eagerly yet unsurely strode into the shop, the way his eyes had roamed all over the flowers as he searched for the most beautiful ones, and the way he scratched his head and muttered under his breath over and over as to whether or not 'she' would like this or like that.

It hadn't taken her long to move over to the man and adeptly select the adequate mix and blend of roses that he had immediately smiled and possessed the expression on his face that said 'this is the one'.

She wished she had someone special who would give her flowers.

She placed her hand on her chin over the counter, staring blankly at the passing people in the streets – her eyes wishing she would come upon a familiar lock of black hair, before her train of thought stopped, entirely unbidden.

"But…" "…Isn't that the same reason why you like Sasuke-teme?"

She couldn't help the annoyance that ran through her form. Every time she even thought about Sasuke, any single second that he was brought up in her mind, those words would strike down the thought with the vengeance and brutality of a Jonin assassinating an Academy Student.

It was made even annoying because she had been unable to find or meet the person who had uttered them to her, for over an entire month now, and she had all but given up on the search. Naruto was still alive, that much was certain, and he would be at the academy again. Choji claimed that he had seen him, so all she had to do was wait, and wait, and try and re-evaluate the reasons why she liked Sasuke while conjuring up random theories as to why Naruto asked her out on a whim.

She liked Sasuke because… he looked good.

That couldn't be all right? Well, it was mostly because he was mysterious and dark and had a deep, dark and troubled past –

She slammed her head into the counter and let out a groan. No, that couldn't be it either. That'd be saying that she only liked him because he was broken and she wanted to fix his 'brokenness'. That'd also be saying that if he was a happy, perky and normal person without a tortured past she'd have no interest in him at all, which just made her a horrible, horrible person.

Her mind drew from the question of her crush and infatuation back to the knucklehead that had made her realize just how superficial it had been. She still pondered on what Shikamaru had told her, and tried to make some sense of whether or not Naruto really was observant, or not. Looking back, his grades had always been below mediocre, and he only ever tried once or twice. She could recall in class when Mizuki-sensei would ask Naruto a simple question like 'what is chakra' and he would respond 'chakra is the stuff that lets us do cool jutsu' and be berated. People would laugh and call him an idiot, Naruto would simply smile and scoff and then boisterously claim that when he was Hokage, no one would need to answer such questions. Of course, that'd just make people laugh at him even more, tell him to pipe down, and dismiss his declarations without a second thought.

Wait… now that she thought about it… he had skipped class the following three days after that event.

Then there was the time he had lost in a spar to Kiba, his Academy Style Taijutsu was filled with so many holes and openings that people had once again laughed and mocked it… whereas Kiba used his Clan's Taijutsu to beat him, and then claimed that Naruto couldn't become Hokage if he barely knew how to fight.

He didn't show up in class for about three weeks after that day.

Was it a pattern, or was her father's overly paranoid nature beginning to seep into her own mind? She groaned and let out a tired breath. Her gaze turned to the door.

"I wish the knucklehead would just barge in and save me the headache…"

Shaking her head, she turned around to organize the remaining few flowers in the display behind her, only to hear the bell ring.

"Welcome to – oh, it's just you forehead."

Ino was somewhat surprised when she did not hear the resounding shout or denial or comeback that was associated with the banter between herself and her 'rival' Sakura. The pink-haired, green-eyed girl seemed unusually subdued, making Ino's brow rise.

Now that she thought about it, what was Sakura doing here? Their rivalry over their affection of Sasuke had been one of the things that had torn a huge wedge in their friendship, and invariably ended up making them enemies. As far as she knew, Sakura had stopped branching by her house and seeing her outside of class.

"Hey Ino… are – are you alright?"

Ino's eyebrow furrowed. "I'm perfectly fine."

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them, in which Sakura seemed to be contemplating saying something, but was holding back, and Ino was slowly finding it grating on her nerves.

"So you just came to the shop for the first time in almost three years just to ask me that? What gives Sakura?"

At this, the girl seemed to regard her warily. "Ino, you still like Sasuke-kun right?"

The Yamanaka heiress had her lips somewhat thinning as the question was brought up, especially considering the fact that she had been debating the issue herself.

"Where's this coming from?"

It was at that gesture that Sakura seemed to explode. "You've not been yourself Ino! For the past one month! You don't even look in Sasuke-kun's direction anymore or pay any attention to him! Whenever the girls are talking about him you just go excuse yourself and leave! Then last week in class, you sat next to him the entire day, but you didn't even look at him once!"

That sounded like news to her. "I sat next to Sasuke?"

Sakura looked appalled. "You – you didn't even notice?"

No, no she hadn't. Her thoughts had been apparently to preoccupied with other things, but how in the world had she managed to sit near him for an entire class without even turning in his direction? Two months ago, if she sat next to the affection of her crush, she would be squealing and swooning and rubbing it in Sakura's face for the next six weeks at the very least. Now, it just seemed kind of pointless.

"Wait, just Sasuke? Not Sasuke-kun? Ino – what's going on? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me Sakura –"

Sakura vehement in her denial. "Something is wrong with you! You've been different ever since you lost that bet – you've been staring off into space, ignoring Sasuke-kun, and you've been stalking the baka of all people! You Ino!"

She was unable to help the splutter of incoherent words that came out of her mouth at the accusation. "I'm not stalking Naruto –"

Well, she technically wasn't. Stalking would assume that she was following him around, and that would work solely on the assumption that she could find him. What she had been doing was going to his most known or recently frequented locations, and then waiting for hours upon end to see if he would show up there –

Wait, that wasn't stalking was it?

Sakura seemed to heavily disagree, shaking her head back and forth.

"You've changed Ino."

There was a small part of her that felt incredibly, incredibly annoyed in the manner that Sakura had made that utterance. It was that part of her that could not absolutely stand for it, the part of her that was peeved at the manner in which Sakura had implied that her change was for the worse – as though she was the one in err.

"And why do you care?"

Sakura took a step back. "What do you mean? We're fri –"

Sakura had stopped that sentence realizing what she was going to say.

"No. No we're not friends." Ino said, her voice dropping, "We're not friends remember? We ended our friendship years ago when we both realized we liked the same guy – the same guy who still hasn't noticed us over three years later – so we're not friends."

A thick cosseting silence blanketed over them, and green orbs met violet, two eyes which had gone through the years, gazing at each other with companionship and closeness, drifted apart with jealousy, anger, rivalry – all over what?

Ino found herself asking herself that question, now that she realized it. They had become rivals over what? They had sacrificed their friendship over what? Moments spent laughing in each other's company, grooming each other's hair, sharing everything they had, discussing fantasy weddings and magnificent white knights, envisioning themselves as princesses within each other's courts, caring, joking, smiling, all of it, sacrificed, replaced with vicious name-callings, arrogant remarks, violent outbursts and confrontations – for what?

For Uchiha-bloody-Sasuke.

She had sacrificed the closest thing she had to a sister, for a boy's affection.

How stupid was she?

"Ino… you didn't answer my question. You still like Sasuke-kun, right?"

She had taken one step forward.

"Right?"

Sakura's emerald eyes were almost glistening, searching, as though trying to convince herself of something, though Ino did not know what. What Yamanaka Ino did know however, was certain.

"There are more important things in life than Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura recoiled, as though physically slapped. Her mouth opened, and then it closed, and then she shook her head.

"Sakura –"

The girl had not said a word as she departed from the store, and the door closed with a soft resounding click.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Within Interest ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kage versus Academy Student.

It was a match-up that wouldn't even be brought up as a joke, because the comedic value died quickly, similar to the Academy Student dumb enough to challenge a being whose sheer power and experience trumped theirs in lightyears. Of course, when the goal was not to defeat said Kage, but merely to steal an object from the man within a short time-frame, there was a chance of success, regardless of how utterly improbable it was. These chances of success were also aided by the fact that the Kage would not be attacking, but merely defending and staying in a stationary position.

Still, despite these advantages, Sarutobi Hiruzen was rather interested in seeing just what his foster-grandson was capable of, if he was sufficiently… interested.

He had been expecting many things, but no one could ever be prepared for Uzumaki Naruto.

Thus, the minute of truth began.

The boy had lunged forth from his place, moving at a speed that was most definitely not Academy Student caliber, and Hiruzen's eyes narrowed as he noticed a large emission of brief smoke trailing from the boy's legs, which were propelling his movement. The smoke was white and traditional, in other words, it was the chakra smoke that was emitted whenever a technique such as the bunshin, henge or kawarimi was performed, the same smoke which covered the Shunshin, and usually occurred as a result of a brief emission of excessive chakra being released into the atmosphere.

The smoke was further common when releasing or unsealing objects from scrolls, or performing the summoning technique, and traditionally, the smoke went unnoticed or ignored by shinobi, having no real use except but to provide a brief cover to their movements.

Naruto went above and beyond.

"Eat this jiji!" The charging boy placed his hands into the traditional seal for the henge "Kemurigakure no Jutsu!"

Hiding in the Smoke Technique.

Naruto had not been joking when he said he had invented a new technique. The Hokage would have burst out laughing in amazement as his entire vision, and nay, the entire training ground immediately went up in an explosion of smoke. The white, all consuming chakra smoke climbing higher and higher and forming into the shape of a giant mushroom cloud, not that Sarutobi was aware of this as he placed his hand on his hat, to stop the billowing smoke from sending it flying as his clothes flapped vividly and he had to apply a bit of chakra to his feet to stop himself from being blown backwards.

Hiruzen blinked, as he noticed that apparently not even Naruto knew the full potential of his jutsu, as the boy was flailing backwards and having difficulty stand amidst the raging pillars of smoke, despite him being the one creating the technique in the first place.

"Gah! I think I overdid it dattebayo!"

He was sent soaring into the air by his own technique, and Hiruzen couldn't help it as he burst out laughing, the aged Hokage laughing like he had not laughed in a long time. Issues of control and direction aside, Naruto's feat was still highly impressive, especially considering the fact that not even Namikaze Minato or Orochimaru had ever gone as far as using the vaguest, most obscure aspects of shinobi arts, and then turning it into an undeniably useful technique, and doing so while they were Academy Students.

It was a truly impressive and noteworthy feat, and Hiruzen would have to rank the Hiding in the Smoke Technique as a B-Rank supplementary ninjutsu, though, he had a feeling it would be A-Rank because the sheer chakra that was in the air was overwhelming, as though someone has just created a thousand hefty shadow clones – which was the most chakra extensive clone technique available. Naruto's vast pool of chakra was the only reason he could even create this much chakra smoke and still be standing, if anyone else were to try it, they'd just be exhausting their reserves.

The smoke was not suffocating however, but merely obscuring, which was why it was supplementary. If Naruto could somehow make the smoke act like actual smoke, that is, acrid and lethal to the lungs, it would be a deadly technique for any shinobi who wasn't a Wind Release Ninjutsu specialist. After all, people who died in burning houses were more than often killed by the deprivation of oxygen caused by the smoke, than by the flames themselves.

Still, Hiruzen also noticed that the smoke was evaporating fast, transforming into chakra in the atmosphere, which meant that it could not be used in prolonged encounter, but more or less used as a large diversion or smokescreen. Unless of course, the enigmatic blond could somehow make it last longer.

His musings about the technique were cut short when Naruto had rapidly broken through the smoke cloud, his form possessing a wild vivid grin as his right hand was outstretched for Hiruzen's hat, reminding the Sandaime that he had given the boy a minute to see if he could get it.

He had only twenty seconds left.

Hiruzen effortlessly negated Naruto's attempt, using his smoking pipe to smack Naruto by the wrist, destabilizing the boy and sending him to the left. Naruto to his credit, rolled with the momentum, performing an airborne cartwheel as his sandaled feet struck the ground for all of a brief second before he went in for another charge, this time with his left hand. Hiruzen's pipe came down once more, only to blink as Naruto grabbed on to the pipe wielding hand, his eyes sparkling.

"You're mine jiji!"

The Hokage realized that Naruto's grip was airtight, and rapidly came to the deduction that he was utilizing the basics of the tree-climbing technique to hold on tight, applying chakra to his palm to give it impeccable gripping quality.

Of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen was called the Professor for a reason, and what Naruto was doing was the basics of a long forgotten, Sticky Fist Taijutsu style which relied on strong grapples utilizing chakra as a base. It was a style that was hard to beat, if one did not know the counter.

"Nice try Naruto-kun."

Chakra burst forth from the tenketsu around the area, rapidly destabilizing Naruto's own chakra that was holding him in place, leaving the boy's eyes widening Hiruzen spun out of Naruto's hold, and literally spun the boy away from him, sending him airborne with nothing but a twist of his wrist.

Naruto was sent spinning in the air like he was caught in a tornado, before he landed on his butt amidst the smoke.

Fifteen Seconds remained.

"Gah! I thought I had you for certain-ttebayo! I haven't even practiced that move on anyone yet!"

Despite his words, Naruto did not look at all discouraged, instead, he rose up, amidst the smoky carapace that was their surroundings, still with a grin on his face.

"Guess I've got to show you my awesome secret technique!"

Naruto charged forward once more, legs propelling him towards the air as he made a fast grab for the Hiruzen's hat.

The Sandaime side-stepped, instincts and years of experience belaying Naruto's moves easily, the airborne boy's swing easily going wide, as he was left easily exposed and Hiruzen bumped him on the head with his pipe, sending the boy once more plummeting to the ground.

Twelve seconds remained.

Hiruzen's curiosity peaked as Naruto's feet never touched the ground. Mere millimeters away from when his blue sandaled would make impact with the earth, his form was rapidly absorbed by the familiar cloud of chakra smoke. Somehow, he rapidly regained momentum, thrusting upwards with his left arm in a sharp lunge for Hiruzen's hat.

The God of Shinobi's reflexes acted in place for his momentarily surprised mind, and he dodged once more, effortlessly twirling away from Naruto's assault, the young boy's grabby hands once more swiping futilely into the smoke, before he descended into a pile of white smoke once more.

Ten Seconds remained.

More smoke engulfed Naruto's form before he hit the ground again, and he was sent lunging towards Hiruzen at faster speeds than before, leaving the Hokage no other choice but to slip into a soft stance, one that would be eerily reminiscent to a casual observer as that of the Hyuga clan, as caught the boy by the wrist, and swung him to the side, sending him flying into the obscure hazy clouds.

Only for Naruto to come barreling back at the Hokage at twice the speeds he was thrown, rapidly tossing a rubber chicken upwards in an attempt to knock off his hat.

Hiruzen ducked beneath the wayward latex bird and had his eyes twinkling in amusement and rapid intrigue.

Eight Seconds Remained.

What Naruto was doing was the equivalent of dropping a kunai to the ground, and then mere seconds before the kunai made contact, it would veer off upwards in a diagonal angle, suddenly gaining momentum from kami knows where. Essentially, Naruto had an infinite source of momentum and kinetic energy, each and every time he was engulfed in brief smoke. The true question was where or how Naruto was getting this limitless momentum from.

Still, only seven seconds remained, and it would be over.

"I've got you now jiji!"

Six seconds.

Naruto came charging once more from his left side, arms extended wide in a comical manner of a pouncing cat.

Five.

Hiruzen extended his palm towards the boy's ankle.

Four.

Only for his eyes to go wide as his hand slipped right through.

'A bunshin?'

Three.

There was a brief gust of smoke, and Hiruzen froze as he gazed upwards, realizing his folly.

Two.

'He was the rubber chicken?'

One.

Naruto was above him, grinning, and aged brown eyes met ocean blue, one holding great determination to completing his task, the other holding a hearty pride and amazement, as the boy's hands lunged downwards descending towards the Hokage's hat, his thumb, index and middle fingers managing to softly grip against the top of the headwear and lift it a centimeter off Hiruzen's head.

Zero.

"Futon."

It was a nameless, generic wind technique that merely emitted wind-natured chakra in all directions, which was suitable enough to immediately dispel the Naruto's Kemurigakure no Jutsu, the gusts of wind vanishing the clouds of chakra smoke sending the boy soaring into the air, before eventually crashing into the ground in an undignified heap.

The fields of training ground nine were once again clear of smoke, and Naruto collapsed onto the ground, letting out a short burst of air as Hiruzen let out a soft breath, realizing that the time was up. He was uncertain if he was merely rusty from not having had any combat experience in over a decade, or if Naruto's sheer tenacity was great enough for him to have nearly succeeded in stealing his hat.

"That was not a bad attempt Naruto-kun. You – "

Naruto stood, his back was turned, and he could not see the boy's expression, but he seemed to be shuddering in place, shaking, and Hiruzen frowned.

"Naruto –"

"I DID IT! YATTA!"

Hiruzen suddenly realized that he could feel a breeze on his scalp.

The cheeky blond boy standing in front of him placed the Hokage's hat firmly placed on his head, and a wild, energetic grin on his face, his eyes twinkling in a manner that uncontrollably sent goosebumps down Hiruzen's spine.

"I win Jiji."

How had he –

Hiruzen's eyes widened.

"You applied the tree climbing technique to grab my hat."

It was a statement, not a question. Of course, Naruto did not seem to care as he jumped and paraded across the training ground with the cap on his head, leaping and whooping, throwing all manner of flips and turns without care.

Hiruzen let out a resigned breath as he watched the boy's antics. He placed his hand under his bearded chin and rubbed it slowly, trying to recall the events of the battle. He did not know how Naruto was limitlessly getting constant momentum from, which allowed the boy to rebound back faster than normal, and at the same time Naruto had henged himself into a rubber chicken, and he had sent out normal bunshins in his place, except, if he had henged himself, how had he thrown himself? The clone that had been attacking him was a basic traditional bunshin, not a solid one –

Hiruzen shook his head. Of course, he had been holding back and not taking the boy seriously, but there were too many mysteries within that display, and as much as there was a part of him that wanted the answers, he decided that every shinobi was indeed entitled to their secrets.

He also made a brief mental note to summon Enma, and find Maito Gai… it seemed that the numerous years behind the desk had truly rusted his skills. Heavens forbid a foreign village or his former student decide to attack, his rustiness would immediately be the death of him.

Or perhaps it was time to start looking into a new successor again?

Regardless, until he found a successor, he was still the Hokage, the strongest shinobi in the village, which meant that it was time to shake his old bones and start ensuring he lived up to that title.

His attention was brought back to the boy in front of him, still celebrating with his hat, and Hiruzen somewhat realized that Naruto just might be able to get a perfect score on the academy graduation exam if he put his mind to it.

Rather than have him wait around after that exam, why not make the boy a Genin immediately?

Skill-wise, Naruto met and surpassed most of the requirements. Or at least, Hiruzen was quite certainly sure that no other person in history could claim to have accomplished the feat of stealing their Kage's hat from his head, as an Academy Student –Kage holding back or no.

Then there was the feat of actually inventing that Kemurigakure technique all on his own –

There was no doubt in Hiruzen's mind, Naruto was definitely Genin material. It seemed the Genin Corps might be gaining an addition earlier than expected.

"Alright Naruto-kun, you grabbed my hat."

The boy with the large oversized hat on his head turned to him, before giving a brilliant dazzling grin.

"Does that mean I get to ask a favor from you jiji?"

The Hokage smiled. "Yes Naruto-kun, one favor, within reason."

The boy's face seem to rumple up into thought and contemplation, as he slowly, but certainly began rubbing at his cheeks.

"I want you to spend the rest of the weekend with me jiji."

The Hokage blinked. Momentary surprise entering his form, along with a wealth of disbelief.

"What?" he breathed out, not trusting his own voice.

Naruto grinned. "That's my favor jiji. The only thing I really want from you is you, is you. When I have that, why would I need anything else-ttebayo?"

Hiruzen's throat felt fairly dry.

"Ah. I-I see."

It was often easy to forget, how Naruto had grown up with no parents, and no family, and no one to so much as sit down and talk with. How so easy it was to forget.

"Jiji? Is something wrong? Your eyes are getting all misty –"

"It's just the smoke from your technique Naruto-kun, nothing to worry about."

Hiruzen rumpled the boy's hair.

"We'll get back to discussing how you came up with that technique in the first place, but now that I'm all yours for the weekend, what would you like to do first?"

Naruto's grin grew wide.

"How do you like your popcorn jiji, buttered or salted?"