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Chapter 3

Growth:Time heals all wounds

Timeskip: 3 years - Ninja Academy

"Now class, we will begin our day with the history of chakra and its-" Iruka started off with only to be zoned out by Naruto, a now 12 year old Academy student who, at this point, was the dead last of his class.

Naruto, a knucklehead the is hidden under his traditional genjutsu, taking on the image of a short stack with goggles on his forehead, a orange track suit with many pockets, and a foxy grin that he hated more than life itself.

Of course, this is still the same Naruto who took on 5 Jounin instructors without breaking a sweat. He had hidden his true potential from the Academy and the students of his class by order of both the Hokage and the council, and a friendly warning from Anko. All three were right, these children and the village as a whole would not be ready for a child with this much raw power.

Over these short three years naruto has grown as a person and a ninja.

Even though he still has his split personality and tendency to freak and/or scare the shit out of any and everyone who tries to mess with him or his new friend Anko, he has grown much more social and kinder.

He worked on having a softer side, but even though he was working harder on it, he only allowing three people to see it in his three years living in Konoha, like Kurami, Anko, and Sarutobi who he now refers to as Jiji or Grandpa. As for his training, they had discovered that his basic skill level at age 10 was high jounin, the equivalent of Kakashi and Asuma put together, now, with more focused training he had raised to ANBU levels.

It was truly remarkable how fast he had grown with a little push and focus. Thats not to say there wasn't complications.

On his first day of school which started 2 year and 6 months ago, after his probation was over he began to sercombe to something every child must go through, bullies. At first he was able to shrug of the boys nasty comments about his appearance or the scars that he couldn't cover up but one boy pushed him over the line. He called Anko a whore...the boy now has to eat out of a tub and is petrified of snakes, after that incident Naruto was expelled for the rest of the year.

Now, taking his second term of the Academy, he decided it would be in his best interest to pull back, make sure he is undetected by his fellow classmates, to make no bonds between these faceless children.

Another problem they seemed to run into more than one occasion was the civilian council. Seeing as the civilian council knows about his dark past as well as the Kyuubi resting inside of him they only have to solutions for the boy, either death or mind control, death coming from 99% of the civilian council and mind control or ROOT training from Danzo, a well respected and highly decorated Ninja in his day.

All solutions were quickly turned down by a simple vote, even though there was more civilians in the council the heads of the clans and the Hokage's vote holds higher merit.

Even though Naruto has dealt with the good and the bad, he continues to struggle to keep a hold of his sanity and at times he loses his hold, going on rampages in the forest of death, destroying everything in his path.

"Naruto!" Yelled Iruka, seeing a small bit of drool run out Naruto's sleeping mouth, his light snores being heard around the room, rising Iruka's anger to ungodly amounts. His already tan complexion turning red with rage, steam blowing from his ears and the scar on the bridge of his nose seemed to be buckling under the pressure building in him.

Unable to take this disrespect anymore he grabbed a board eraser and chucked it at the sleeping serpent who, on instinct, flipped from his chair, caught it in his hand in mid-air, and threw it back ten times harder. Now, the speeding projectile crashed into the chalkboard, missing Iruka's head by an inch, stabbing it three inches deep into the board and concret behind it.

Naruto, now snapped out of his sleeping defensive daze, blinked in surprise seeing that he was not in his desk but on top of it and crouched, almost like he was ready to attack. He looked over the classroom and saw the collective shocked faces of his class, it was kinda odd to be the main attraction in any circumstance.

"S-s-sorry Iruka-sensei" Naruto apologize, bowing slightly and slithering back into his seat and kept his now longer "blond" hair draped over his eyes, not wanting to see the awkward stares coming from all around him.

Ignoring the amazing show of reflexes by Naruto, Iruka pulled the eraser from the board and began his teaching.

The lecture continued on for another 15 minutes, once he finished the final portion of the 2nd great ninja war he ushered his herd of children outside for target practice and light sparring matches.

"Alright, you all know the rules" announced Iruka, once outside he gathered up the children in front of the three targets leaning against three different trees. "You have three targets and 10 kunal's and shurikens, you have 10 seconds to throw each weapon and hit each target. The lowest scorer shall not be competing in the spare. Now, can i have Kiba Inuzuka up at the starting line" Iruka listed off, then getting the attention of the proclaimed "Alpha" of this year's graduating class Kiba who ran to the front of the class and stood at the line drawn in the dirt.

He was handed his weapons and threw a 18 out of 20, boosting his already large ego he turned to the class and gave a toothy grin and began to yell "Thats right, Alpha on deck!" only to be tripped by a root that "suddenly" popped from the ground and retreated after tripping Kiba.

After Kiba picked himself up as to hold onto his last shred of dignity, the next to go up was Sakura Haruno, the "best" Kunoichi of the year, who scored a 14 out of 20, a truly sad example of Kunoichi's everywhere. How could this be the top Kunoichi in the field, even though they rated her on intelligence she should lose points for her god awful aim and fangirl-ish tendencies over the Rookie of the year Sasuke Uchiha, who is up next.

After the crowd died down over the now approaching Sasuke he began his test, getting a 19 out of 20 with one eye closed, show off. Naruto could stand all the other kids, the piss poor excuse for clan heads, and even the disrespect and utter bias from the teachers, but the one thing he couldn't stand was the Uchihas.

Being Orochimaru's test dummy he saw first hand the odd obsession the snake like freak had for their eyes, believing that since they can learn any and all jutsus and create the perfect illusions they were gods in a sense.

He believed once he was taken from the Snake's den he would be free from the preaching of the all mighty Uchiha's but, once Naruto met the Civilian Council he saw the "highly regarded" Council all but wipe the last Uchiha's ass to make him happy, it made him sick!

Now Naruto was "gifted" with his own pair of Sharingan eyes and to tell you the truth he believes them to be over rated. Sure, he can't flaunt the around like Sasuke could, only on fear of the "wrath" of the Civilian Council, but in any battle he was been in, wrether it be against his teachers (Anko, Sarutobi when he isn't busy, and Jiraya) or his A to S ranked missions given under the table by the Hokage he truly does not use them.

In fact, most of his bloodlines are unused and neglected in his battles unless pushed to his limit because of the following two reasons.

1). Since they were integrated into his body instead of naturally being their it takes more chakra than he wants to use, and 2). he has been taught by his sensei's that a bloodline is not as useful as the ninja that uses them. Only if you train your body can you truly get the best out of your bloodline, so he trains his body to near perfection before he began intense training for his bloodlines.

As Naruto continued to ponder those thoughts Iruka called his name at least three times before he began to yell, making Naruto jump a bit and stumble, getting a laugh from the group of children.

He dusted himself off and walked to the line, Iruka offered the weapons and he took it, readied his stance and was about to throw when he heard something, a small voices whispered "Baka" and "Dobe", "Failure", "Freak". He tightened his grip on the kunai to the point the started to crack, one of his pet peeve is mockery, behind stuttering he couldn't stand people to mock someone on the primacy of physical abilities or attractiveness, it bothered him more than almost anything in this world.

To rate another on paper thin evidence you gathered from only minutes of focus on one person is almost borderline brain dead to him.

As Naruto grew into the person he is today, be it he is still social and physically awkward at times, he has analyzed, scanned, and factored every aspect and every living creature in his class, from the type of sandals they wear to the jutsu's they know. Then, these soul sucking mouth breathers believe that only barely knowing Naruto for almost 4 years justifies their claims of him being a "Loser" or "failure"? They follow solely on his records and accusations from others in the class, sure Naruto is trying to make himself seem almost invisible but not by his own accord, he was told, even forced into holding back his powers and abilities for the sake of the people and some of the younger generations growth. How would anyone feel knowing that they can just create the "perfect" ninja by picking up children and sticking abilities into them like a game of operation?

As those thoughts ran through our otherwise calm protagonist's mind, he let out a huff of air and began to concentrate. He decided, since Graduation day was closing in, why wait till the end to show off, today and the days to follow should be the days he will always remember. The day he showed everyone at the Academy that Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is a force to be reckoned with.

Unseen by everyone, including the teachers, Naruto laced his kunais and shurikens with a thin layer of wind chakra, sharpening the blades to perfection while also giving it at least a inch or two difference in blade length. He took a sharp inhale and in the blink of an eye, all twenty projectiles were thrown, gaining a perfect 20 out of 20, with the kunais and shurikens actually cutting through the durable wooden targets and into the tree holding them up.

As Naruto made his way back to the group, his classmates and teachers alike stared at him dumbfounded by this new development. Not only did he surpass the Rookie of the Year Sasuke Uchiha in accuracy by he actually put holes through 8 inch THICK slab of wood with practice kunais, which were not designed for that level of power.

While Naruto was walking back to him spot he stopped in front of Iruka, gave him a small generous smile and asked, "so, am i in the sparring match Iruka-sensei?" which was responded with a slow nod from his still bewildered teacher.

After that show of force and power by the hidden snake known as Naruto, Iruka pulled the highest scores of the aim test to the taijutsu circle, a white circle in about 5 feet in diameter and two lines on opposite side of the circle.

Starting of the battle was Chouji Akimichi, the 16th head of the Akimichi clan and the proclaimed "fatass" of the class, or so dubbed by both Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke. His score in the accuracy test was an average 13 out of 20, being the lowest score to pass, while his opponent, Kiba Inuzuka scored his close to perfect score of 18 out of 20.

They began their battle by getting into their fighting stance, originally most Academy students would use the basic Genin stance but, since they have a clan behind him they were taught their families style at an early age. Kiba, lowering himself to the ground in his beast man style, his claws elongated and his teeth baring, showing off his sharp canine.

If you look to Chouji he took a much wider stance, his feet spread out in a horse stance with his arms stretched to the side while swaying side to side a tiny bit so he can be ready to dodge with the time comes.

They began their spare and to the naked eye it would seem they were matched in both strength and stamina but not to Naruto. HIs years of going on missions and his over analyzation has made it almost impossible for him to not notice small flaws in stances, tactics, even people.

He could see Chouji was staying more to the left in his guard, meaning he has a stronger right with both attack and defense. He also seems to be more of a heavy hitter, thinking he can take his opponent out quickly with larger more destructive attacks.

While Kiba seems to be a Stamina freak, using his overall superior speed on a larger attacker while also aiming for points on the body that are easier to take down, knees, elbows, crown of the head, etc. He does have at least two weaknesses Naruto could see, one being he is off balance.

A Inuzuka's fighting style is based solely on a dog companion which Kiba is lacking, which is allowing holes that would have been filled in his defenses by his companion to be opened and leaving him vulnerable. I guess the rumors are true, a dogless Inuzuka is a dead Inuzuka. If Chouji was skilled enough, he would have seen all of these holes and slaughtered the cocky mut. His final weakness would be his cockiness, unable to see his own problems or faulties in his fighting style, leaving his open when he continues to use the same strategy over and over, thinking it is fail proof.

The battle came to a very unsatisfying ending, Chouji passed out from exhaustion and fell forward just in time to fall under a wild swing from Kiba. The momentum of his swing carried him outside of the circle, causing a ring out victory for Chouji, even though Kiba landed outside of the ring only a second before Chouji fully lost consciousness.

Naruto chuckled at the fact, it truly is a funny decision if you think of it. A ninja has no boundaries, whether they are fighting in a designated arena like the Chuunin exams or out on the field, so in real life Chouji would be dead.

His lack of preparedness and low stamina (even though all Akimichi's suck with stamina) would have cost him his life if Kiba decided to finish what he started. Don't get him wrong, he enjoys Chouji's company, truly the only person who is friendly to him in this piss poor excuse of a class but it the truth, he needs to train harder or quiet this pointless dream of becoming a ninja.

Next up, the second lowest scorer, Shikamaru Nara, who got a score of 14 out of 20 and Shino Aburame who scored an average of 15 out of 20, a basic score that most should get if they even hope to be a proper ninja. Both stared at each other, sizing one another up after Iruka yelled for them to begin.

The continued this for a full 5 minutes before both fell over, out cold.

On closer examination you would have seen several drone insects crawling up and down Shikamaru's leg and Shikamaru's shadow attached to Shino's.

What happened was at the very beginning Shikamaru used his shadow jutsu on the walking ant farm, who intern used his natural born abilities with insects to direct the insects inside his hive to attach to Shikamaru, absorbing his chakra while also paralyzing his movements. From lack of Chakra Shikamaru fell while Shino, being spent as well since he was directing his bugs for a long period of time collapsed as well.

Another round was Sakura and Hinata, two of the highest and lowest scorers in the Kunoichi division. To Naruto is seemed odd that they separated the men and women like they were different.

In truth they are not, in a battle field there is both man and female trying to kill you for their own reasons, dividing them in school will only cause more division on the field.

The battle was pretty much a standard one sided beatdown. Hinata, being the kind hearted girl she is, couldn't bring herself to beat on Sakura so she allowed that pink haired fangirl beat her around until she was thrown from the ring.

Naruto hated to see it, Hinata was a sweetheart and he saw her as a true friend but he knew she needed a push. He knows of her crush on him and he needs to break her of it, its weakening her at this point.

Maybe if she had taken her Academy life seriously he would have tried to be with her but now...It's almost graduation time and she is still acting like a shy child.

As Hinata tried to pick herself up she grunted in pain and fell onto her side, she looked down to see she had twisted her ankle. Acting on instinct, Naruto was first on the scene, picking her up gently in a bridely style and started to walk her to the classroom, all the while with Hinata blushing a deep red.

He laid her down on one of the empty tables, then grabbed a few books and propped up her sprained ankle, getting a slight hiss of pain from Hinata.

"Its okay HInata, i know what i am doing" Naruto said plainly, pulling out some bandage from his many pockets and began to slowly wrap up her ankle.

Hinata sat there silently, observing Naruto and how tender and caring he was with her hurt appendage. Sure, she wasn't expecting him to just slap a band aid on it and shove her off the table, but the way he acted to her wound, how tenderly he would touch her ankle and how careful he would wrap the bandages around her...she felt strange. Like her stomach was feeling with butterflies that she could not sooth. She was truly falling for our hero, unlike her slightly stalkerish fascination with him before this seemed to be genuine, to bad it was not mutual.

Naruto, after wrapping her ankle he scanned the room for anyone and then said, "Hinata, i need you to promise me two things" which confused Hinata. With her trademark cuteness she playfully poked her fingers together and stuttered out, "W-w-what is it N-N-Naruto-kun?"

"One, tell no one i can do this" and with that said his hands are engulfed in a green chakra, he then hovered his glowing palms over her injured ankle.

She stares wide eyed at this technique and let out a slight "eep" from shock and a slight amount of pain.

After a minute of the treatment he pulled back his hands and started to rotate her foot, seeing as he healed most of the sprain with his medical ninjutsu.

"There, good as new. It will be rather sour for about a few days but other than that it will be fine." he said with a small smile towards Hinata who just blushed and poked her fingers together again.

"T-t-t-thank you N-N-Naruto-kun, w-w-w-what was the other thing y-y-you needed from me?" she questioned, seeing Naruto pack up his med appliances.

He quickly glanced at Hinata inched his face closer to her, so close he could feel the heat radiating off of her face. Her expression was one of nervousness and shyness while his was a blank stare, no emotion or hint of emotion could be seen.

"Hinata, i want you to stop being so nice"

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